The pillar continued to pulse as Kal looked it over one last time. It was pretty clear he wasn’t going to get anything out of just looking at it, but something told him touching it wasn’t wise. The feeling wasn’t anything he could put his finger on, it just felt wrong. Maybe it had something to do with the gods forcibly purging knowledge of the forgotten one from the universe. Kal shrugged, he was as prepared as he was ever going to be. He reached with one hand and touched the pillar.
Kal flew through a burning sky, dragged along by some unseen power. He had no body from what he could tell but he could still feel the rush of the wind against his face. Looking down his stomach sank as he realized how high up he was but he quickly forgot about it as he saw the beautiful landscape below him.
A vast city of shining white-gold towers sped by below him. Atop each of the towers were huge blue lights, illuminating the grand city. The city was huge, he moved by so quickly but it continued to stretch into the horizon. Kal moved with a burning storm like the one above the abyssal plane he was trapped in. Then the realization hit him, “Wait is this Kartha?” Of course, no reply came but he didn’t need it once he saw the first person he had seen since entering the abyss. On top of the tallest tower of the city stood an incredibly large pale woman. Her hair the purest white almost glowed to Kal’s perception as the storm closed in on the tower. Below her, on the city's streets, hundreds of thousands of similar-looking people stood their arms upraised towards the woman.
Kal’s vision blurred and he was suddenly next to the gigantic woman. She wore fine red robes of silver plate mail as she faced the fiery storm above. Behind her were several others in similar garb shouting in fear at the sight. Kal couldn’t understand them for a moment but as he thought of it a flare of pain washed over his mind, and the words suddenly became clear.
“My Lady!, you must flee this place. This world is doomed. We will hold the demons at bay,” said an elderly-looking man, his hair more gray than white. The rest all seemed to agree.
The woman raised a gauntleted hand without turning from the sky, “Enough, I have faith. We will not be fighting this enemy alone.”
The elderly man looked saddened, “Karia, please. The gods will not assist us. They have said as much.”
“Ilarch, We will not be abandoned. I am sure of it,” she tried to smile but the harshness of her gaze towards the sky didn’t seem certain.
Before Ilarch could respond the sky exploded as the tears much like the one he fell into tore across the sky. This was much faster than what he experienced though. Demons of all kinds Kal didn’t recognize immediately poured from the tears in the sky. The silence of the city below became a chorus of screams as thousands of demons began appearing out of hundreds of independent tears manifesting among them.
The horde from the sky hadn’t even reached the ground yet and it already looked like a massacre. The demons were just too powerful. Many of them were multiple times bigger than even the largest pale giant. Atop the tower, Karia cried out, “In the name of Fyborh the protector, the exterminator. I deny you!” Power seemed to gather from all around the tower, white lines of power spread across the exterior of the tower finally converging on the woman.
Karia’s skin had darkened, now tinged with red as she paused for the briefest of moments as the converging power moved to her outraised hand. Then everything stopped. The flow of power, and the massacre below stopped. Kal was suddenly overwhelmed with pain like his brain was trying to crawl out of his ears, but he could still concentrate enough to see a tall black-haired man appear next to Karia. His eyes seemed to literally burn with a blood-red power. His expression was grim as he looked around at the scene before him.
The man looked over at Karia and he frowned, “Much of my power is occupied elsewhere but I will do what I can. I will return when I can,” He reached out and touched the accumulated mana in Karia’s hand and it suddenly became a deep red that would have seared Kal’s eyes if he had any.
Kal knew that voice, he had heard it twice before. It was the man from his nightmares.
The man turned away from Karia and looked up towards the sky but then his body turned and almost instantly he was facing Kal, his eyes locked on his location.
The pain in Kal’s mind vanished, as the man smiled slightly and spoke, ”Interesting, someone has found one of my remembrance stones,” he sighed, his burning eyes dimming slightly, “I do not have a history of creating such things for my victories, “Tell me, do you know the result of this battle?”
Kal was startled at the sudden recognition and couldn’t help but ask, “How can you see me? Who are you?”
The man smirked slightly, and suddenly Kal was standing on the tower in front of the man. Kal was his normal size and stood barely above the waist of the giant man, who knelt down to look into Kal’s eyes, “ I am Fyborh,” he looked Kal up and down, “I have the sense that we have met before Kalum Lesta, from where do you hail?”
“Uh, I’m from Farninghold, in the Van’dar Empire,” Kal muttered, confused by the change of tone.
“Never heard of it,” he raised a hand to his chin, “perhaps I met you after this battle was concluded,” the area around then distorted suddenly making Kal stagger, “sorry Kalum, I can’t pause this moment for any longer.”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
The time resumed as the Fyborh vanished and a beam of soul-searing light exploded from Karia’s hand spearing towards the tears in the sky. All the demons in its path were simply gone, and the tears distorted as the lance pierced the sky. A moment later the sky exploded into a sea of crimson fire completely overwhelming the tears, as they disappeared under the onslaught. Kal felt himself being pulled away at great speed, the tower shrinking as he vanished into the horizon.
He could tell he was waking but before he did Fyborh’s voice rang into his mind, “A small victory here does not bode well for the future I fear. Farewell, and may you find your path.”
Kal awakened. He was lying on his back next to the pillar, “Well that was one way to learn about the past…”
Kal climbed to his feet and looked at the pillar. It had stopped pulsing now and simply stood there, inactive. He checked the quest’s description again to see if anything had changed.
Quest Received: The Forgotten One
Uncover the mystery of the Mountains of Revenge.
Pillars Found: 1/3
Rewards: Uncommon Chest, Title
A new entry had been added. Apparently, there were more pillars around. Kal sighed, they were going to be damned hard to find. It was pure luck that he had stumbled upon this one. Hopefully, the rest would be easier, but he doubted it.
Kal thought over the strange vision. Fyborh had to be the forgotten one, and he was clearly incredibly powerful. What Karia said before the insane attack against the sky made Kal think Fyborh was some kind of god, but Kal had never heard of a god with that name. Kal guessed that made sense though since the gods apparently wiped all knowledge of him from the universe. They clearly weren’t perfect, however. Some pieces of knowledge still existed, making Kal wonder if anyone back home knew of this god. The idea made him think of the Seven Towers again. Was it possible that the Seventh Tower used to be Fyborh’s before he was erased? Melisia would probably be the best person to ask if he ever got a chance to speak to her again.
Kal put the matter aside for the moment. He had garghounds to kill, and he would learn more after finding another one of the pillars. His increased attributes were definitely helping him remain alert but he couldn’t help but feel that he was lasting longer than he should. But everyone he knew back home required sleep every day. Sure he hadn’t really paid that much attention in camp where there were hundreds of soldiers over level sixty. But he was sure he would have learned about not needing as much sleep as you level.
It had been about a day and a half since Kal last slept, not including the time while he was rampaging. So he should probably add another six hours to that, but either way, he still felt fine. He was starting to feel hungry though but he didn’t want to head back to the bunker just yet. Kal really didn’t want to starve for several days again but he wouldn’t let it slow him down too much.
Kal crawled out of the cave and back into the clearing and looked over the pack he had killed. The meat was probably bad by now. Gods knew what kind of bacteria could be found in the bloody abyss. Besides the scales, the meat looked otherwise pretty normal. Maybe it was a decent option. Especially since he had the magma to try to cook some of it with.
Kal set off in search of another pack. Hunting them down was pretty simple since they were constantly squabbling amongst themselves, making them easy to find simply by sound. The first pack he found was another small one with only three members.
[Garghound | Abyssal Spawn 9]
[Garghound | Abyssal Spawn 8]
[Garghound | Abyssal Spawn 9]
Seeing them all at his level or lower actually disappointed Kal, if he could kill higher level ones at level six this would be too easy. Sure enough, it was. Kal simply strolled towards them and as the first one charged him Kal simply decapitated it with one easy swing. His much higher strength easily overcame any resistance from the demon's flesh and spine.
You have slain [Garghound | Abyss Spawn 9]
Kal's speed had not improved by much so the second still managed to flank him and latch onto his arm, but its teeth only just barely pierced his skin. Kal’s health dropped by a small amount but he could feel his vitality already moving to assist and prevent bleeding. Kal was impressed with himself. His heightened endurance was obviously strengthening his body more than he realized, and his vitality was finally starting to directly help with his regeneration. Soon he would benefit from both his natural regeneration and Wrathful Regeneration.
Kal slammed the second garghound into the ground and felt its neck snap with the impact. It didn’t die but Kal finished it off with his sword through the top of its skull.
You have slain [Garghound | Abyss Spawn 9]
The last hound stupidly charged Kal's head on and it died like the first.
You have slain [Garghound | Abyssal Spawn 8]
Kal shook his head, maybe this quest was going to be easier than he expected. Unless he found some stronger variants deeper into the dome. Either way, Kal honestly couldn’t complain. He needed the practice, despite how easy this fight was there would be many more in his future. He was sure of it.
Thinking he may as well try out some of this garghound meat before he ventures too far into the dome. Kal carried the carcass of the second garghound over his shoulder to one of the small magma streams that flowed around the edge of the dome. He threw down the carcass and got to work descaling it. It took him a while, Kal had never had much practice with this sort of thing. His father had shown him how when he was young. Before he was sent away. Kal ignored the bitter memory and finished his work. He had managed to prepare its hind legs relatively well so he took both of those over towards the magma stream. It was a lot harder than Kal first thought to get close enough to the magma to cook the leg without cooking his outstretched arm. The whole area around the magma was stupidly hot.
Kal dragged what was left of the carcass over and put it as close to the magma as he could bear. He then skewered the legs on his sword and rested it on the carcass so the meat was just above the stream. He didn’t think it would take long to cook so he sat back and relaxed for a while. Hopefully, this wasn’t a stupid idea.