With the remnants of wild magic flowing through his veins, a sword charged with primordial power, and a bond with Tyr that was stronger than ever. Lan looked around at the emotionless black skeletons that seemed to pull the forest’s darkness around them like a shroud.
Taking a deep breath, Lan readied himself and then… jumped back as one of the undead animated, blurring as it stepped through the gap between them, its sword already swinging to remove his head.
Sliding to a stop, Lan turned and ran.
Much as he was getting sick of running all the time, there wasn’t anything else to do. He could have tried fighting it if it had only been one undead, but he had counted ten sets of burning green eyes. With how they could vanish and reappear like they could, getting surrounded would have led to a quick end.
As if to demonstrate the point, an undead stepped back into the world, appearing from behind a tree, its dark claymore moving to scythe Lan’s head from his shoulders.
With his mind and reactions heightened, Lan twisted under the sword before diving under the next undead’s attack, only to be faced with a corridor of skeletons.
Bracing himself, Lan threw himself into dodging, keeping up his speed as Tyr vanished from his side.
Sidestepping and ducking, blades fell around Lan, but with each near hit, the undead would reappear in front of him again, and some even tried cutting him as he passed, and either through some latent intelligence or luck, the undead appeared closer and closer together until they formed a nearly impassable wall.
Without time to think of it, Lan trusted Tyr had gone far enough, followed his link to her, and stepped just before he reached the wall of the undead’s waiting blades.
[Mp 80 > 40]
Having become more familiar with what it looked like to be thrown through the air, Lan watched the reverse play out as the world took on a silver light and blurred past him, just as five dark blades shot out to lance him, physically passing through the undead as if they were not there.
Racing to her side, Lan once again heard the sound of shattering crystal as he was wrapped up in the silver wind of wild magic. Even though he had been prepared, having nothing under his feet made him kick his legs for purchase, which only caused the silver wind to rush to support him, making him flip backwards before the magic vanished and landed on his face.
‘I’m okay,’ Lan instinctively said before realising Tyr hadn’t sent the impression of worry.
Looking around, Lan found a tranquil glade with no red and gold giants, just normal towering trees, allowing enough light to be a little jarring for Lan after so long in the dark.
More importantly, Tyr was flying away from him slowly as if in a trance.
‘Tyr?’ Lan asked, reaching out with his mind, getting no answer, only a strained focus.
Looking around and finding no signs of the undead, Lan wondered how far they had gone before following after his wisp.
Keeping an eye out for the undead, Lan tried to reach Tyr a few more times, getting nothing. Whatever it was that had wrapped her attention, it seemed to be more than just mental as she flew far slower than he had ever seen her. At times, he had to stop himself from rushing to catch her as it looked like she would fall from the air.
The thought of it being the darkness was the first thing that came to mind, but looking around at the tranquil sun-soaked trees made him want to dismiss the idea. But then, what could have been doing this?
Whatever it was, they would not find it for some time, long enough that the experience from the goblins in the clearing caught up to him, and Lan watched his mana slowly return. Enough that he had regained fifty mana points before anything different in the form of a break in the forest happened.
[Mp 40 > 90]
[Kill log]
Goblin – Level 5 = 50 Exp
Goblin – Level 5 = 50 Exp
Goblin – Level 5 = 50 Exp
[Exp 875/ 10000]
Getting closer, Lan tried to reach out to Tyr before it noticed the golden light of another trace of experience.
[Kill log]
Goblin – Level 5 = 50 Exp
[Exp 925/ 10000]
Lan only half took note of it as he moved closer. Just when the wall of light beyond the trees faded, and Lan could see a clear half-moon clearing with a cave face jutting out of it, he was greeted by one of the undead appearing between him and the cave, slowly swinging its head from left to right.
Still somewhat hidden by the tree line, Lan threw himself into some tall brush as three more undead joined the first.
Guessing that he wouldn’t be learning what was in the cave, Lan turned to search for a way out only to find more undead appear around the trees behind him, clearly looking for him. Dropping lower, Lan reasoned he wouldn’t be walking out of there and looked to Tyr.
With how much mana he had regained, he had two wisp walks, which should help them get a little further away, even if how they had found him didn’t make sense as despite appearing right on top of him, now being a stone’s throw away from him, they didn’t seem to see him.
Pushing that away, he looked to Tyr, finding her not at his side. To his horror, he found her slowly floating past the unaware undead as she flew into the cave.
‘Tyr!’ Lan hissed before he could stop himself, making one of the undead turn his way.
Trying to make himself smaller, Lan reached out to her with his mind, getting no answer.
Peering into the tree line where he was, the undead tilted its head with a soundless snapping motion and raised a hand. Calling two more undead that appeared with a goblin fighting against their grip.
Watching with a mix of confusion and curiosity, Lan saw as the undead looking in his direction turned, forming a blade out of nowhere and running the goblin through.
With a screech, the goblin fell motionless, and the undead left its blade to melt into shadows.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
For a moment, Lan wondered if this might be some kind of scare tactic before his blood ran cold, the full weight of the situation and underestimating the undead’s intelligence coming back to bite him.
Slowly, the golden light of the goblin’s experience left the body that still bore the burn marks of his fire silk, then started towards him.
In an odd moment of clarity, Lan remembered that he had only killed three goblins in the clearing, and even when the undead killed a goblin he had attacked, he gained the experience, a fact that they had been more interested in than himself, it seemed.
As if waiting for the light, the other undead stopped looking around and turned to face him, trapping him.
Seeing no other way out, Lan reached out to Tyr again. He knew that she had gone a good deal into the cave now, but that was it. He couldn’t see what was around her, and there was no doubt in his mind that this was what they were looking for. He could be jumping right into the heart of the darkness, and yet what else was there he could do? More importantly, he wouldn’t leave Tyr alone when she acting the way she was.
Taking a short breath, Lan reached out to Tyr with his mind, ready to step through the world.
{Not now.}
Suddenly hearing the voice, Lan almost gave himself away as he stifled a shout.
The Voice? Lan thought and would have questioned what was going on if not for the intense focus from the Voice. Despite everything that had happened, this threatened to break his mind.
{Focus, Lan}
‘Ah yes,’ Lan breathed. Not only was the Voice talking to him, but it was also projecting feeling. This was beyond understanding, and even if he knew something was going on with the voice, he had never thought she could act this way.
Lan thought before realising he was calling the voice she, while the light from the experience started to tint the trees, and the undead began to follow it, closing the cage around him.
{Now!}
Steadying himself, he cleared his mind, followed his link to Tyr, and stepped into the unknown.
Even as he floated in the air, Lan cringed at the sound of shattering crystals racing up and down the dark tunnel he was in. With the trace of experience still following him, Lan was on the clock, and now, anything in the cave would know that something was wrong.
‘Tyr!’ Lan hissed, watching the little light pull around the bend.
Waiting for the silver wind to lower him to the floor, Lan looked around, finding more so of a crude hallway than a cave tunnel. Built out of rough, hewed stones, there even looked to be fixtures for torches.
Lan quietly rushed after Tyr, turning the corner and almost ending his little adventure, when an undead walking from another hallway appeared and looked down his way.
Luckily, it only looked for a moment before turning, somehow having not noticed the sound his wisp walk had made. Feeling no need to look a gift horse in the mouth, Lan watched it walk in the other direction just as Tyr floated down the path the undead had just come from before quickly dashing after her.
‘So… you seem to have more to say,’ Lan thought accusingly as he followed after Tyr.
It seemed like the voice wouldn’t answer for a moment, but then she did in a tone that was trying too hard to be casual.
{Yes}
“what happened in the hollow?” Lan probed as he crept around another corner.
{Yes}
‘So what are you now?’ he asked while hiding in the shadows as a group of new things ran past him. Not undead, these things looked like little masses of black fur and manic energy, chittering and laughing while carrying blocks that looked like those making up the walls, only bearing fresh teeth marks.
{I am your Seraph as I have always been, only now, I am… more. The Voice of one that is more. A light marked and… something else.}
Despite himself, Lan smiled. Even now, she seemed to give him more questions than answers. For a start, he had thought everyone heard the same voice.
{A common belief and one not wholly wrong,} the voice started reading his mind. {seeing as you will never hear the voice of another’s Seraph. From a personal point of view, there is only one.}
‘Okay,’ Lan started as he watched Tyr pass through an arch leading to somewhere filled with green light. ‘You said there was something more than just being Light Marked?’
{I have already told you all I can on that. As the Seraph of a Light Marked, I am allowed far more freedom and awareness, but even then, there are things that I am not allowed to tell you, meaning I can not learn either.}
‘This is crazy,’ Lan breathed, waiting for another one of the little things to turn past before going after Tyr. He had seen the voice as just another part of his thoughts his whole life, but now. ‘So, do I call you something else now?’ Lan managed.
{Lan…} the voice called in a strained tone just as Tyr reached the middle of the next room, emanating a green light. No doubt she was still looking through Tyr’s eyes
Guessing it was nothing good, Lan shut up and readied himself for anything. At least, that was what he thought.
Peering into the next room, Lan saw a craggy-looking stone walkway with a chasm below that the green light came from. He couldn’t see what the Voice had warned him about until he was halfway over the bridge and made the mistake of looking down. Then he wished he hadn’t, as his body locked up. It wasn’t fear, no, not even what lay before that could spark that in Lan anymore. What struck him was a complete and total disgust bordering on insult.
Standing in a twisted parody of an army formation were bodies. Mounds of mangled bodies forced into the shape of humanoid golems standing in pools of green, glowing liquid.
Lan started to look away, trying not to see what lay below, before he recognised a golem made up of countless goblins, their individual forms made abstract by their mould. Even though he had done nothing but fight them, seeing them like this hurt but not as much as the Ornithall, its once majestic avian head propped up on the shoulders of another golem, its eyes staring through him and occasionally twitching as its nerves fired under the control of the evil puppeting it. At least, that was what Lan hoped was the case and not signs of remaining life. That and the small guilty hope that it wasn’t part of the group he had seen.
Even that small hope faltered at the sight of a stone bear head far too small to be the mother he had seen, and Lan was made to look away.
He hadn’t needed more reason to hate what lay at the heart of the darkness, he thought solemnly, for he hadn’t thought he could.
As bitterness threatened to overtake him, Lan pushed himself forward. He caught up to the still singularly focused Tyr, only to find his mood dropping even more as he watched her fly into the next hallway before increasing in elevation.
‘Tyr, no!” Lan hissed as she floated into a large hole in the ceiling. The hole was high enough that he couldn’t reach it and small enough that he didn’t think he could fit even if he could.
‘What now?” Lan breathed, watching her light fade. With his link to her, he worried more about what could be waiting for her than being away from her.
Watching her light pull deeper into the hole, Lan thought about wisp-walking.
{Not yet} the voice said
{Wait… okay, now} She went on a moment later.
Trusting her, Lan reached out to Tyr and stepped, finding himself in an even smaller round tunnel, but oddly enough, there wasn’t the sound that came with him racing through the world or, in this case, stone.
Unlike the hallway, this one did not seem made for walking, the rounded surface making each step uneven and uncomfortable. Watching Tyr fly off, Lan sighed before trying to reach out with his mind, getting nothing again.
‘So, you can see through Tyr’s eyes?’ Lan asked more to get his mind off what he had seen than needing clarification of something he could guess at.
{Because the two of you are one, I see through her eyes, just as I see through your own, along with your other senses}
‘Can you see what is going on through her mind right now?’
{It is hard to say there is a compulsion driving her.}
‘Is there anything we can do?’ Lan asked, starting to worry a little more as the tunnel started getting wider.
{I am afraid… that I can’t whatever it will it supersedes anything that I could do.}
Although Lan didn’t like the sound of that, it wouldn’t be long until he would find out what it was behind it.
After walking for what felt like ten minutes, Lan saw the mouth of the tunnel and slowed to creep up to it. Suddenly, Tyr stopped mid-flight before looking around, confused as she returned to herself.
Turning to him, Tyr sent an impression of where they were, which made him smile.
‘I should be asking you that.’ Lan whispered, not hiding his relief as he got close enough to the mouth to see into the next room. No room wasn’t the right word.
It was a black cathedral of dark grey stone and green-flamed braziers, and even still, Lan couldn’t see the hall's walls. Peeking from the darkness was what looked like a massive throne. But Lan barely noticed it as his eyes were drawn to the middle of the room.
Hovering over a round stone-walled pool was the Tear of Creation, its blue light surrounded by a dark purple glow. The source of which seemed to be the pool of black under it, the onyx goo pulling from the rest of it under the Tear as if it was weeping in reverse.
At this, along with an impression from Tyr, Lan realised what had happened. In a desperate attempt to be found, the Tear had taken over his wisp to more insistently guide them to it, and they could see why. Whatever the goo was, it had almost filled the Tear, and the few shards of thought from it that found him were filled with agony.
An agony caused by the four figures silhouetted in the glow of blue, purple and green lights. Even though Lan couldn’t see them, he knew that the one that stood closest to the Tear was the cause of all this and the one that he had been tested with bringing an end to.
The heart of his growing hatred.