Lanek and Liv found their way to the mouth of the cave after several hours. While Elspeth’s directions had been fairly detailed, the cave entrance had been covered with the remains of a rockfall some time in the past. The only reason they had found it was that Liv had noticed a gap in the rocks and went in for a closer look. The hunt for the cave and the ensuing clearing of the rockfall took far longer than it should have considering that Elspeth had mentioned that the cave was only fifteen to twenty minutes away.
The pair, despite being irritated at the time lost, did not blame Elspeth. After all, it wasn’t like the kelpie had misled them, she simply hadn’t been aware of much of anything for centuries.
Sanguineus led the way into the cave and down a gently sloping path that was very well-suited for a centaur’s hooves. Lanek illuminated their path with the magical lantern that he had acquired months ago in the hidden basement of the blacksmith shop in Caelis. He was glad that he hadn’t taken it with him when he fought the matriarch and lost it like his other gear.
Lanek sighed at the thought of his lost gear. He really missed his sabre and the chain whip had proven to be far more versatile than he had thought it would be. Lanek had forced himself to not purchase another sabre from the Mark, but he wasn’t sure how long that self control would last. To be fair, he wasn’t sure how long his current gear would last anyway. He had chosen his armor and weapons to make him into a tankier fighter, but his role was evolving rapidly. At this point, he spent more time fighting from a distance than up close and with magic being a potential option in the future, he might just have to look for gear that complemented a ranged support role.
He had been thinking about this for quite some time now, and he was only now coming to terms with why he hadn’t transitioned sooner. Back home, Lanek had despised the very idea of dogs in the military and law enforcement. He fully understood that these dogs saved many lives through their actions and acknowledged that as a good thing, but deep down he couldn’t get over the fact that innocent animals were being put in harm’s way due to a conflict among humans.
Sure, Lanek had sent the furballs into combat situations multiple times, but for the most part he had made himself the primary target while they provided support. That’s going to need to change. One of the furballs will likely always be faster, stronger, or tankier than I am and I need to learn to capitalize on that. Besides, I can always recall them if they get in too deep.
Lanek sighed at that train of thought. Easier said than done, I’m not sure I can put them in the front lines while I support them from the rear without feeling like a piece of shit. After a few more minutes of agonizing over the decision, he resolved to look into the Mark and the shop to see if maybe he could buff the furballs to make the decision a bit less agonizing.
In relatively short order, Lanek and Liv found themselves gazing around a large cavern dominated by a large lake with a small island at the center. Scattered throughout the cavern were side chambers that looked like they would have been the homes of the centaurs and kelpies. After a bit of exploring, the pair heard a loud cough from the lake and turned to find an irritated Elspeth sitting on the island.
“What took you so long?” The kelpie asked.
“Sorry, the cave entrance had been covered up by a rock slide. It took use a while to find it and then we had to spend a few hours clearing it to get in.” Liv explained.
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“Oh. That’s okay then.” The kelpie said before cheerily pointing at a small flower growing on the island. “This is what you were looking for, I think.”
“Do you mind if I come to the island?” Lanek asked, having noticed that the water was only chest-high on this side of the lake. However, he didn’t want to simply rush over as he remembered that the former guardian beast had apparently chosen to go to her rest in this lake.
Elspeth nodded. “It’s fine. Grandmother’s bones are in the deeper part of the lake behind me. Thanks for being considerate, though.”
Without another word, Lanek dismissed his armor and stripped down to his undergarments before wading out to the island. Liv remained behind and started building a small fire with her stock of firewood. She figured that the water was likely frigid, especially if it was connected to the mountain lake in the valley and it being winter. Lanek glanced back and nodded his thanks.
Once he stepped onto the island he was able to confirm that this was the source of the former domain. Lanek reached out and lightly touched the tiny, blue flower. At first, he felt nothing aside from his surprise that something so small and fragile had persisted for all these centuries. However, a faint stirring of power slowly grew from the flower and reached out to him, connecting to his very core.
Would you like to reclaim the Kelpie’s Domain for Eldros?
Lanek almost agreed before stopping himself. This shouldn’t be his choice. He pulled his hand back, feeling an almost tangible sense of disappointment from the flower and turned to Elspeth.
“The System wants to know if I want to reclaim the domain for Eldros. Elspeth, this isn’t my home and I can’t stay here, so it really isn’t my choice. What do you want? Eldros has been good to me and my people, but I won’t force him on anyone and he wouldn’t want me to anyway.”
Elspeth considered his words for several long moments before responding. “Please reclaim it. I want to see life come back to the valley. I want to see what it looked like in grandmother’s time, when Eldros was nurturing it.”
Lanek smiled before reaching out to the flower once more and choosing to reclaim the domain. This time, there was no rush of mana leaving his body as there had been with Caelis’ grove and the dranrid tree. Instead, a deep blue light began pulsing from the lake all around as ethereal figures slowly took shape and emerged from the depths. Some appeared in human form while others appeared as horses, but they were all familiar to Elspeth. She looked at the figures in shock before her grief overtook her at the sight of several figures that looked so much like the kelpie in her human form that they could only be her siblings and mother. One by one, the figures were absorbed by the flower, causing it to grow larger until only Elspeth’s family remained.
The human-dranrid hybrid felt something speaking to him, but his attention was focused elsewhere, specifically another soul that was slumbering deep in the lake who had yet to pass on. Acting purely on instinct, Lanek reached out and called the slumbering soul of Elspeth’s grandmother along with the souls of the sisters and mother. The kelpie turned to see why her family’s attention had snapped to Lanek and took a step back at the sight of Lanek’s eyes glowing a deep green while a similarly-colored mist rose from the ground around him.
The mist suddenly snapped out from Lanek’s body, each tendril burrowing into the chest of one of the spirits while the final one pulled the no longer slumbering soul of the former guardian from the depths. Lanek could hear Elspeth screaming at him to stop, but he paid her no mind, his sole focus on the task at hand.
Something was changing inside of Lanek as he worked. Instinctively, he knew that to continue down this path would change him irrevocably, but that didn’t interrupt his work. Change was necessary and he would embrace it if it meant achieving his goal. Dimly, he could hear the sounds of System notifications demanding his attention, but even that couldn’t pull him from this path.
One after another, the spirits bound by his mist became more defined. They didn’t regain their bodies, for that was far beyond Lanek’s abilities, but there could be no doubt that they had become something more than simple spirits of the dead. Smiling, the figures approached Elspeth and gently pulled her away from Lanek, speaking to her in an attempt to calm her.
However, Lanek still wasn’t done. His focus was now fully on the grandmother, as hers was on him. Their eyes were locked on one another in a macabre staring contest before the old woman winked at him and turned to her descendants.
“Be silent, child! It isn’t what you think.”