This story is being rewritten! The new version, A Price in Memory, can be found here. 

 I highly suggest you read the new version as this one won't be completed. Also, there has been a lot of changes so you won't be able to continue with the other where this one left off.

“Would you stop that?” Kali's voice travelled through the air.

Y’rid looked over to see her staring at Holin as he scratched at the patch of skin covering his empty eye socket.

“It’s not your face, is it?” Holin replied.

“It’s disturbing.”

“Fine,” Holin said. “I’ll stop-“

He paused mid-sentence and looked around. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“Shh.” Holin stared off into the distance.

Y’rid tilted his head, trying to catch any hint of what he had heard, but only the sounds of the forest reached his ears. Then he heard it, a faint drumming noise. But it was coming from much closer than he had expected. He looked towards the sound to see Holin taping on the skin-covered eye socket with his index and middle finger, beating it like a tiny drum.

“Oh, for the love of…” Kali said, shaking her head as a slow smile spread across Holin’s face.

Y’rid couldn’t keep from chuckling, though luckily he wasn’t the only one, as Red started laughing as well. Even Hadi joined in, though whether he actually found it funny or just enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere was a mystery.

“I’m done,” Kali said, walking ahead of the group. “I’m going to do a bit of scouting while we still have some daylight left.”

The trees slowly began to thin out as they continued, signifying the end of the forest. Four days had passed since they left the ruined city.

Rhone had wanted the group on full alert until they were clear of the forest, and Y’rid was looking forward to a full night’s sleep. These last few nights they had doubled the watch when they slept, with two of them awake at all times. This was to prevent them from being caught off guard in case anyone was following them. Even though they had not found anyone, the few hours of sleep had taken its toll.

Perhaps they could set up a few traps today. Ever since they had entered Nightwood, they had mostly stuck to dried rations, moving as quickly as they could. And after Holin’s injury, he hadn't been trapping or hunting, simply getting used to seeing with one eye. The only times they had fresh meat was when Kali managed to find and kill some small beasts during her scouting in the scant hours of daylight.

The lack of sleep and proper food had led to a weariness that slowly began to affect the group. Finally, Rhone had stated that they would set up camp early today. Originally the plan was to wait for the next city, but that was still two days away and a rest would do them all good. A weary man dropped his guard easily, and in the wilderness that led to unnecessary danger that often proved fatal.

“Finally,” Holin muttered.

“The ridge,” He said, noticing Y’rid’s gaze and nodding forwards. “It runs on for miles. Serves as the border between the Glowing Hills and NIghtwood.”

Y’rid looked to see the blue sky just visible between the trees. The ground had been sloping upwards for the last half hour and seemed as though they had finally reached its crest.

They stopped for a moment as they reached the top of the ridge. From the vantage point, Y’rid could look out over the treetops and into the distance. Past the trees, he could see the sloping rocky hills that gave the area its name. The hills were populated by stands of trees and bushes, forming thickets that ranged in size from a few dozen trees to what appeared to be small woods that covered entire hills. Far past them, he could just make out the outline of a mountain range that stretched into the sky.

“Why are they not glowing?” Hadi asked from his seat on the cart.

“The hills do not glow, only the vines do and only when it's dark,” Rhone explained. “Once night falls you’ll see the all those groves light up.”

“Really?” The boy asked, the excitement clear in his voice.

“Really,” Rhone replied with a smile.

***

“So this will start shining when it gets darker?” Y’rid asked rubbing one of the leaves of the vine between his fingers. It had a smooth, almost wax-like, texture to it. The leaves themselves were a bit longer than his hand and half its width. Like the rest of the vine, they were coloured a deep orange. From what Y'rid could see, the vines seemed to range from yellowish-brown to deep red, the slightly different shaped leaves indicating different species.

“Yes,” Holin replied.

Y’rid looked up at the rest of the plant. It covered most of the tree’s trunk on which it grew, with shoots hanging down over the branches, drooping towards the ground.

“How does it work?”

Holin shrugged. “They are parasites. They feed on the plants they grow on. It’ll keep on growing and branch out to nearby plants and trees as it does.”

He pointed to the small hook-like appendages that grew from the vine’s main body and into the bark of the tree. Y’rid grabbed one of the hooks and pulled lightly, but the plant refused to budge. He pulled harder until the hook gave way with a tearing sound.

“If you want to know how they glow, however, then you’re asking the wrong person.”

Y'rid looked at the hook. It had extended into the tree the length of his thumb, with tiny roots branching out the sides that helped to secure it in place.

“Can’t be good for the things plants feed on, right?”

“Quite the contrary, the plants tend to grow near them. These groves probably wouldn't exist without them.”

Y’rid looked at the tree’s surroundings. Sure enough, when he looked at nearby trees, it did seem as though the grass and shrubs around ones with these vines were larger and more numerous. In fact, when he looked at nearby trees without them, they seemed to be leaning towards the vines, almost as if their branches were reaching out to them.

“Strange,” He muttered.

“In any case, that’s not why we are here,” Holin said as he finished placing the snare. He looked towards Y’rid.

“You done with yours yet?” Holin asked.

“I was talking to you,” Y’rid said.

“And I was talking back. Yet when I look in front of me I see a set snare, and when I look over there, all I see is you staring at a tree.”

“Yeah-yeah,” Y’rid said shaking his head.

“Don’t place the snare directly next to one of the vines, find a place that would be hidden in shadow, and preferably on a trail, if you can find one.”

Y’rid looked around the area searching for a good spot to set up the snare which mainly consisted of a length of rope ending in a loop. He found a spot between two nearby shrubs, a few small twigs were broken of between them and he could just make out an indent on the ground that may have been a print. Tying the end of the thin rope around a low branch from a young sapling to the side, he pulled the branch down to put a bit of tension onto the rope. He then tied a stick to the rope where it reached the ground and stuck it into the earth. After this, all that remained was tying a loop to the end of the rope and laying it onto the trail, using some leaves and twigs to prop it up and hide it from sight.

When the animal, stepped through the loop it would pull on the rope, pulling the stick out of the ground which would then release the tension in the rope from the bent branch, yanking on the rope and causing the loop to tighten. The main difficulty was to strike the stick into the ground deep enough that the tension wouldn’t pull it out on its own, yet shallow enough that a passing animal’s tug on the loop would pull it out.

The simple trap relied heavily on luck and was only able to trap small animals, such as rabbits or forest lizards. But they were quick to set up and if you had enough of them, catching dinner was quite feasible.

After that, they continued through the thicket setting up a few more traps including two deadfalls and a small pitfall.

Y’rid looked up as they finished the last of the traps. The evening light of the sun was shining through the treetops, lighting the ground in patches as the chill of the night began to set in.

Once again he vowed to himself to get a proper coat next time they were in a city. The air kept getting colder as they continued their travel north, making Y’rid endlessly grateful for the blankets he had bought at Lok, which seemed like a lifetime ago. But that could only help so much. Treading along the road in the early morning with a blanket wrapped around him wasn’t the most comfortable experience he had ever had.

“We still got an hour or two left,” Holin said as he looked up at the sky. “Let’s find a clearing and see if you can remember how to swing a sword.”

***

Y’rid raised his arm, pushing against the blade with his bracer and sending it curving over his head. He thrust forward with his sword, but Holin stepped to the side and brought up his second sword in an upwards slash.

Y‘rid leaned back allowing the sword to sail past him, but Holin had already recovered the first sword and swung it forward. A dull pain shot through his side as the sword struck him with the flat of the blade.

“Four,” Came Holin’s voice, taunting him.

Y’rid took a step back and reset his stance, his blade at his side pointing forwards and slightly up, while his other arm that held the bracer was raised, in the same way he would have held a shield. A remnant of his old life that he still found hard to shake.

He launched himself forward and slashed his sword in a wide arc, forcing Holin to take a step back. He feinted a thrust to Holin’s right-side as the man stepped forward. Holin raised one of his swords to parry the blow, his eye momentarily glancing towards it.

Y’ri pulled back the thrust as he struck out with his fist, aiming at Holin’s blindside. Holin twisted to the side just as his fist reached him. Y’rid barely felt any resistance as Holin spun with the blow, his sword flashing towards Y’rid faster than he could dodge, coming to rest against his neck.

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“Five,” Holin said and pulled back his sword. “Going for the opening was good, but predictable. A good move that your opponent is expecting is worse than a bad one that he doesn’t. If I were-“

Holin’s words were cut off as Y’rid swiped forward, aiming at his feet. Holin jumped over the strike, giving Y’rid the opening he had hoped for. He swung his bracer into the man’s chest, sending him stumbling back as his feet hit the ground. Not letting the opportunity go, Y'rid grasped onto the leather vest of the man and pulled, keeping him off balance and close, where his swords would be a hindrance. Dropping his own, his now free hand darted along the bracer and pulled the knife he had secured to its side without stopping its movement, before coming to rest just below Holin’s chin.

“One,” He said, unable to keep the corner of his mouth from twisting upwards.

“Six,” Holin replied as Y’rid felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned his head to look at the tip of one of Holin’s swords.

Holin chuckled as Y’rid released him and stepped back.

“Gutsy,” Holin said. “I was wondering what you planned with that knife. In such close quarters, a knife is more useful than a sword. But dropping your main weapon…”

“Still,” He continued with a grin. “I can appreciate the move.”

Y’rid shook his head. “Not fast enough though. Mutual destruction isn’t exactly the outcome I was looking for.”

“Practice,” Holin said. “You’re getting better, two months ago and you couldn’t land a hit even when I only used a single sword. You're also starting to use your off hand more, which is good. One of the strengths of the weighted bracer over a shield is that is leaves you hand open.”

“I’m still learning how to use it,” Y’rid replied. “I’ve gotten used to the weight, but it still doesn’t seem natural.”

“I’m afraid I can’t help you much there. There’s a man at Stronghold who I’ll introduce you to. He taught me the basics and he knows a lot more about them than I do.”

Y’rid opened his mouth to reply when a light coming from the side drew his attention. He looked over to see the vine on one of the trees starting to glow. Its red surface started to shine with a deep light, quickly followed by the others as they lit up one by one.

In the span of a few moments, the surroundings were lit up by the shining vines, bathing the nearby greenery in shades of red and orange.

Y’rid stared at the grove around them, taking in the sight.

“It’s quite something, isn’t it?” Holin said.

Y’rid nodded, unable to take his eyes off of the plants.

“I think that’s enough practice for today,” Holin said after a few moments. “Let’s get back to the camp.”

Their trek back to their camp was easier with the help of the vines. Y’rid kept glancing around as they made their way back, the lighting gave the trees a completely different appearance than they had during the day, he might have gotten lost had he been alone.

He stopped in his tracks when they eventually emerged from the tree line. They had set up camp near the top of one of the hills, next to a large thicket that covered the side of the hill. Looking out over the area from here, he could see nearby hills, populated by the intermittent stands of trees, all of them awash with the glowing red and orange coming from the vines.

The glow made it seem as though fires were raging inside of the groves, just out of sight. It had an oddly beautiful quality to it.

“Take it in,” Holin said, waving his arm at the surroundings as he moved off to the fire in the centre of the camp. “Soon you’ll grow used to it.”

Y’rid saw Rhone standing with Hadi at the edge of their camp and made his way over to them.

Rhone turned as he approached. “You and Holin set up the traps?”

“Yes,” Y’rid replied. He nodded to the view. “Now I can see why the area is called the Glowing Hills.”

Rhone nodded. “I remember when I first came out here. Further up north, you have even more of the plants than here, but there is something captivating about the isolated clumps of light spanning the Hills.”

Hadi tugged at Rhone's leggings. “What is that?” He asked pointing at something far to the right.

Y’rid looked over to see a strange creature descending from the sky. It had a bulbous body with long tendril-like arms hanging down from its underside. The moonlight caught the top of it while the warm light from the grove beneath shone upon its underside, causing a strange sight as it lit up the creature.

With a start, Y’rid quickly judged the distance between the top of the hill and the grove under the beast. The fact that he could make out its shape at this distance showed its monstrous size.

“Ah,” Rhone said with a smile. “That is a cloudstrider, they live high up in the sky during the day and come down to hover over the groves of the Hills during the night.”

“Is it a threat?” Y’rid asked with a bit of hesitation. He wouldn't know where to begin, fighting something of that size. It dwarfed any beast he could think of.

“No, they are peaceful creatures,” Rhone answered. “I’ve never seen them attack anything. They don’t even have mouths as far as I can tell.”

“How do they eat?”

“Stories say that they eat light through their skin. And drink the rain in clouds. Though, a beast of that size surviving on light and rain is something I find a bit hard to believe.”

A deep moaning sound echoed through the sky from above. Y’rid’s had snapped up to see one of the creatures descend on the thicket covering the side of the hill they stood on. He quickly took a step back as he realised he had underestimated the sheer size of the creature. Its egg-shaped body was probably thirty strides across, with its numerous ‘arms’ twice as long as the body itself.

As he stared at the creature, he realised he could see through its skin and into its flesh, making out the dark organs inside of its body.

Rhone chuckled. “As I said, they are peaceful creatures. One of the few species that are.”

Y’rid looked over to them and saw Hadi looked staring up at the beast with wide eyes. With another deep groan, the creature began floating deeper over the thicket.

“Well,” Rhone said after a moment. “I’m going to start with the food. Kali managed to get a pair of rabbits while you and Holin were out”

“Can I help?” Hadi asked.

“Sure.”

Y’rid turned to him as Rhone clapped Hadi on the shoulder and walked towards the fire with the boy trailing behind him. He gave one more glance at the cloudstrider in the distance before following them. The things in this world never ceased to surprise him.

***

Y’rid laid on top of his bedroll in his tent. If he strained his hearing he could just make out the crackling of the burning firewood outside. He looked up at the ceiling, watching the movement of the hide tent as the wind brushed over it.

He knew he was distracting himself. Their travel these past few days had left him with little time to himself. Little time to delve into his memories. Now was the perfect time to do so.

Yet he was hesitant. What he had experienced last time had unnerved him more than he wanted to admit. His hand brushed over his chest as he looked at the tent ceiling. From what beast did this hide come from?

No. Enough of this. He wanted to know what lay in his mind, he needed to know. Delaying wasn’t going to help him.

Y’rid closed his eyes. Slowly and steadily he breathed in and out, focusing on the air as it filled up his lungs before it was expelled. For a few minutes, this was all he did, clearing his mind of any stray thoughts.

The previous times, when he had tried to retrieve memories he had plunged into the chaos with no plan, no course of action. This time he would try a different approach.

Carefully he turned back time in his mind’s eye, running through the events of the day. Eating the stew Rhone had prepared. Talking with the others around the fire. Looking at the cloudstriders as the descended from the sky.

He went back further to seeing the vines light up. To nearly besting Holin in a match for the first time. The corner of his mouth twitched as he replayed the memory but he drew his attention back before it could wander. He went back further, the speed at which he drew up the memories steadily increasing as he went through them. Here and there were memories from his previous life mixed in as well, those that he had regained. The beast den at Blackflow. The fight against the mutated beast. Time spent on the wall of the village as a guard during an uneventful shift. The first time he killed a steelwolf.

The moment when he bought his armour and sword at Lok. The fall of Riversedge. All the way back until he reached the rune-inscribed room he woke up in, then back to the moment his mind was flooded with memories that weren't his. The resignation of selling his own life for three gold pieces. Begging in the streets of Riversedge. Shivering in an alleyway during a cold night. The moment someone came to tell him his father had died at the hands of the horde. Flashes of a childhood that didn't really belong to him yet was a part of him all the same.

Taking a deep breath he tried going back further as he reached the end. At first, there was nothing, his memories had ended, leaving only emptiness. But he knew there was more.

Refusing to give in so easily he pressed further trying to remember what happened before he woke up in that room. It came slowly at first. Whispers of conversations, just out of his hearing. Scenes shrouded in a shadow so deep that he could barely distinguish between light and dark. These began to flit through his mind.

Before there had been some innate order to his memories. An order shaped by time itself. These, even without seeing them, he could tell they were jumbled together, jumping around without rhyme or reason. The shrouded images would change constantly, the whispers would grow softer, louder, sometimes disappearing all together only to emerge as a torrent of incomprehensible noise in his ears.

He resisted the urge to latch onto one of the scenes, to draw it into the light, to force sense onto it as he had done before. Instead, he pressed on. Deeper he went, the scenes and sounds flashing quicker and quicker until, without warning, they started fading, replaced with a darkness the seemed permeate through the surroundings.

For a moment he was confused. He thought that maybe his concentration had been broken. Then he heard it. A soft tapping noise just outside his reach. He focused on it, willed it to come closer. Slowly it did so, moving closer and closer to him, or perhaps he was moving towards it.

Hesitantly he reached out in his consciousness, trying to pull whatever it was out. As soon as he did so, the noise stopped. It left him alone in a deathly silence. Somewhere along the line, he had blocked out all the outside noise. No longer could he hear the crackling of firewood or the rustle of the winds. A cold began to spread over him. A feeling of isolation and wrongness so strong that he could barely focus.

The tapping returned as he felt a ripple around him, moving through the darkness. His instincts screamed at him to move, to run. Then he felt it. Even in the darkness, he could sense it drawing nearer. He waited no longer, retreating back to the light. But as soon as he began, it reached out and grabbed him, a force wrapping around his consciousness. A dread he had felt only once before assaulted his heart. It pulled, halting his retreat. Dread turned into terror as thoughts flashed through his mind, irrational fears threatening to steal what little remained of his reason. He felt himself being drawn deeper into whatever lay hidden within. Somehow he knew that if it got hold of him, it would tear him apart and consume him.

With an effort will he gathered his strength and pushed against the force. For a moment, he stopped moving towards it. His will clashed with the force pulling on him and, for a horrible moment, he stayed stuck between the two, unable to move back to the light, yet refusing to fall into what lay in the darkness. Then, ever so slowly, he inched away from whatever was hidden in the darkness. He felt the grip around him weaken until, finally, he broke free, ripping himself from its grasp.

Without looking back he withdrew his consciousness from the darkness.

With a gasp, Y’rid’s eyes snapped open inside the tent. He sat up and bent forward, heaving for air as a wave of nausea washed over him and his head threatened to split into two. Pushing himself to his feet, he forced his legs to move.

He threw open the hide curtain in the front of his tent and stumbled out. He could hear a voice coming from the other side of the camp but he ignored it, moving away from the tents. He only made it a few steps away from the last one before he fell to his knees and retched.

His head pounded as the contents of his stomach spilt onto the ground leaving behind the sour taste of bile in his mouth. After what felt like an hour the contractions of his gut finally stopped, his throat burning and sore.

Supporting himself with a shaking hand, he pushed off of the ground while his other hand gripped his head.

“For a moment I thought some creature had climbed down your throat while you slept,” Holin voice came from behind him. Y’rid looked over to see the man standing by the fire, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

Y’rid made his way over and slumped down next to the fire. Holin stretched out a hand holding a waterskin. Accepting it with a grateful nod, Y’rid uncorked the skin and took a gulp of water. He swirled around the cold liquid before spitting it out to one side, in an effort to remove the sour taste from his mouth.

“So?” Holin asked.

Y’rid was silent for a moment, waiting for the pounding in his head to calm down before he replied. “Must have been something I ate.”

“Really?” Holin asked with a smile, his gaze carrying a glint from the flames as it held Y'rid without blinking.

Y’rid merely nodded as he took another swig from the waterskin. Even the relief it brought to his sore throat failed to draw his attention as he stared into the flames. The warmth from the fire couldn’t suppress the shiver that ran through him.

What the fuck was that?

He had no idea, all he knew was that he had been lucky to escape. But it was still there, inside of him. Why? How?

He had fears like everyone else, yet, in the past, he could always overcome them. When the threat was in front of you had to keep moving, keep fighting. But how could a man fight his own mind?

Was it even a part of his mind? It definitely didn’t feel like it. But if it wasn’t, then what was it?

He sat there for a few minutes until felt a pang of hunger in his gut. He sighed. Now his body was turning against him as well. First it threw away the food he ate and now it wanted more.

Shaking his head he moved over to the pot standing nearby, this at least was a problem he could solve.

***

Holin grinned as he walked along the edge of the camp. He felt it again. He had always trusted his senses. So when he felt the feeling, like an itch at the back of his neck, he had looked over immediately to find Y’rid stumbling out of his tent before retching like he had drunk a tavern dry.

It was the same feeling he had felt a few times during their trip, the same he felt when he first met him. He knew something was off with the young man, something was different. This was what had sparked his interest in him. There was more to Y’rid than he let on, his intuition told him so and he trusted his intuition.

Interesting times were ahead once they reached stronghold. He started whistling through his teeth as he walked, the wind carrying the notes into the night, twisted and stretched by the half-grin that refused to leave his face.