Chapter 12: Turbavi

Now that Sophie was leading the way and I had my sights on trailing her, I had time to examine the uniqueness of her armor. On her head was an obsidian helmet that had jagged spikes protruding from the top. Even though the helmet didn’t cover her entire face, I couldn’t see her face no matter how hard I looked. All I could see was her dark silver eyes glaring in the darkness. Her eyes contrasted with the rest of her armor.

From what I could tell, her armor was composed of a dusky type of material, which made her blend into the darkness like a shadow. However, she wasn’t invisible.

I wondered, ‘Is she letting me see her on purpose? Or is the armor incomplete? Even if so, if I didn’t know she was there and if I wasn’t trying to follow her, it would have been hard to notice her.’

Cura appeared besides me and reassured me with a whisper, “You don’t have to worry. I can tell you where she is.”

I whispered back, “How? Her armor absorbs light.”

‘How can she even see in this darkness?’

“It’s because her armor absorbs light that I can sense her. I can’t see her, but I can tell where light is disappearing.”

“Oh. That’s useful.”

‘Something I’d like to learn.’

…

Cura added, “But you’re the one who taught me.”

I wanted to face palm, but I didn’t want to risk covering my eyes and losing sight of Sophie.

It was at that time that I noticed her eyes flicker and then stop.

‘Huh? When did she draw her sword? Is her sword composed of the same dark material as her armor?’

Even though her sword wasn’t that thick, it was a decent length, about two feet. When she turned towards me, her sword blurred along with her armor. When she had stopped moving after facing me, I could make out the faint edge of the sword’s blade.

‘I’m surprised the lost souls didn’t try to run away from her, but I guess they probably didn’t even see her coming.’

“You’re not afraid?”

I shook my head, but then Sophie called out to me, “Why’d you stop?”

I looked at her in confusion and heard another whisper, “She’s going to kill you. Look at her.”

“Whispers,” I shouted.

“We must be close by. Just ignore them.”

Sophie shrugged and resumed walking.

The whispers got louder. “Don’t trust her!”

*Sigh*

I muttered under my sigh, “This is going to be annoying.”

---

As we ventured deeper into the forest, the trees drew closer to us and their branches draped down like hands trying to hinder us from continuing.

Sophie stopped and raised her hand, gesturing me to stop as well.

“That’s enough now.”

Confused, I asked, “What do you mean?”

“Your light. Stop shining it. You’ve done a hell of a job attracting the darkness and annoying the heck out of me. Don’t you see how much the forest has closed in on us? There’s nowhere left to go.”

‘So blunt! I’m glad the whispers stopped awhile back or else I would have ignored her…’

I wanted to say something about her attitude, but I decided it would be easier to follow her directions. So I dispersed the light from my eyes and let the darkness engulf me. Sophie’s eyes continued to gleam in the darkness.

“Ah~ Much better!” Sophie sounded relieved, “But hm… What’s this firefly?”

I heard a sword swing and Cura shout, “Master, help!”

I had a guess what had happened but could not move fast enough to keep up with the situation. Cura darted behind me and a wave of energy blew me to the floor.

 “Stop it! That’s not a firefly,” I barked.

Sophie clicked her teeth and said, “Well, whatever it is, it’s annoying me. It’s ruining my night.”

I was offended but decided not to aggravate the situation.

I gritted my teeth and got back up, “This is my guardian, Cura. She is my guide through the darkness.”

“Ahhh, no wonder!” Sophie chuckled, “I thought you were just a demented person who likes talking to fireflies. To tell you the truth, I thought you were creepy. But you know, your guardian stands out too much. It’s better if you conceal her as well.”

‘This girl is too much…’

I sighed in disbelief and concealed Cura inside of me.

As Cura’s light disappeared within me, Sophie whispered to me, “Don’t worry. I’ll still be here.”

Her eyes melded into the darkness until the only thing that filled my vision was nothing.

I was left again in the darkness, but something was different. I sensed that the darkness in front of me was changing, being saturated in a darker form of darkness. Soon, it wasn’t an empty void which stood before me. Something invisible had taken its place. I could not see it, but I knew it was there.

Then, the presence of everything vanished.

There were no trees, no sounds, not even the ground. I was floating in a strange type of domain.

‘Am I being transferred? Where am I? How did I get here?’

My thoughts were more apparent than ever. I asked myself these questions, and a faint constant thud responded to my ruminations.

*Ba-dump*

*Ba-dump*

*Ba-dump*

It was a constant rhythm, neither fast nor slow. It sounded like a heart was beating from somewhere in the distance.

I tried to move closer to the sound but stumbled as my legs connected with solid ground. After I had regained my balance, I tried to see what I was standing on by tapping the ground with my foot, but the only thing I figured out was that I was standing on some sort of platform.

“This is strange. I thought that monster would appear, but it hasn’t even though we have ventured deep into the darkness.”

Her voice came from above me.

“Where are we?” I asked while looking up towards the general direction her voice had come from.

*Plop*

Something landed behind me, probably Sophie, so I turned around.

“We have somehow managed to enter into Turbavi’s central lair, where its soul is kept.”

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‘Huh? Why’s her voice coming from behind me?’

“How do you know that?” I asked while turning to face her.

She chuckled and said, “Isn’t it obvious?”

I wanted her to expand on the obvious, but she didn’t.

Instead, I felt her pull on my arm while saying, “Follow me.”

I resisted at first because I did not expect her to grab onto my arm but relented when I realized that it was her. Being led around the darkness without being able to see was frustrating, but at the same time, it felt refreshing. I felt like it was an experience I didn’t get to have a lot.

As we continued into the darkness, the sound of the heartbeat grew louder. It was steady but powerful. The vibrations that the heartbeats emitted reverberated in the air and rumbled against my chest. I could tell that we were close to whatever was making that sound.

Although I couldn’t see, I noticed that Sophie was slowing down.

‘Are we almost there? Or is she being cautious of something?’

When we stopped, she let go of me and said, “There’s an army of Monstrum blocking our way.”

I was surprised, “Serious?” but also took note of how unconcerned she sounded.

“Yeah. See for yourself. Don’t worry about me.”

I nodded my head and converted the energy in my eyes into light.

“Conspicio!”

My eyes flashed in the darkness, and the light my eyes emitted unveiled the horde of monsters surrounding us. They were scattering in all directions, trying to run away from the light that brought them out of the comforts of the veils that protected them.

“Whoa!” I exclaimed, “They’re just like insects.”

Laughing, Sophie remarked, “Your light is kind of interesting. I wonder what the world looks like through your eyes…”

‘Hm… I didn’t think much about it until now, but I guess our ways of seeing are different. What exactly does she see?’

“Anyway, let’s get going while the Monstrum are out of our way. Since they seem to be afraid of your light, you should lead the way.”

Sophie gestured for me to go in front of her, so I did. With me leading the way and her following, we advanced closer to the source of the heartbeats as the Monstrums ran from my glares of light.

‘Something’s weird.’

I looked around, and my spine shivered.

‘Something’s changed from now and before… There’s something else besides the Monstrum…’

I decided to stop for a moment and ask Sophie about it. When I turned, I noticed that her attention was averted to something else. She was staring at something in the distance, looking at something that I could not see.

‘What’s wrong with her?’

 I noticed she had her sword drawn in front of her. The air around her was tense, like she was expecting an enemy to launch a surprise attack at any moment.

“What are you looking at?” I asked.

My body was getting tense as well.

“It has finally appeared, over there,” she said while pointing into the empty void, “The monster that was trying to lure me and the girl before.”

I followed her finger and peered into the darkness but couldn’t see anything, at first. Then an outline of something organic appeared. It was beating. Its movements matching the sounds of the heartbeat I had been hearing.

I stuttered, “I-is that the monster?”

She questioned me with a bit surprised, “So you can see it?”

I nodded while keeping my eyes on it, afraid that if I looked away it would meld back into the darkness.

She asked, “What do you want to do?”

“We have to destroy it, right? Or why else did we come here?”

She laughed, “I guess you’re right. Usually when a monster as horrendous as that is calling out to you, you’d run away, not head towards it.”

“Well, it’s horrendous all right, but… what do you mean by it calling out to you?” I asked confused.

…

I couldn’t see her face, but I felt like she frowned.

“Since we entered into this weird space, what has the monster been saying to you?”

I tilted my head unsure how to respond, “Uh… It hasn’t been saying anything to me. I’ve just been hearing this throbbing heartbeat.”

I could have imagined it, but I swear that she chuckled a little before muttering under her breath, “I see…”

“Is that Turbavi’s soul?”

“No. What you are seeing is its power source.”

…

‘Why does it seem like we are on different pages all the time?’

“If you say it like that, then… Are you seeing something different?”

“Yes. I’m looking at Turbavi’s soul.”

I paused to think for a moment before asking, “Wait, so what is the difference between what I am looking at and what you are looking at?”

‘And why does she sound so sure that the monster she’s looking at is Turbavi’s soul?’

“The heart you are seeing is just Turbavi’s outer shell. If we destroy it, the maze will disappear with it but then reappear after some time. Then we’ll have to do this whole charade again, and that’s not something I’d like to do.”

‘Makes sense… But why am I getting this strange feeling again that I’m not being told everything.’

She sounded displeased, probably because of all the questions I was asking. It was like trying to be patient with a child, but the child never stopped. I had one last question for her though.

“How do you know so much about Turbavi?”

She turned to look at me with her silver black eyes that seemed to absorb the light from my eyes, and I felt a bolt of electricity run down my spine. It was killing intent. Sophie stepped towards me with her sword drawn and vanished into the darkness.

“Wha…” was all I could utter before the light in my eyes were taken away.

I was left baffled in the darkness. The only sense I could rely on was my hearing, which was filled with the beating of Turbavi’s heart.

It was no longer a steady rhythmic beat, but one that pounded along with my own heart.

*Ba-dump, Ba-dump*

*Ba-dump, Ba-dump*

*Ba-dump, Ba-dump*

…