“Quickly destroy it and let’s get out of here,” Roven said angrily. He quickly yanked the long spike from the lifeless body and swore as a fount of blood gusted from the wound.
Karn couldn’t help but feel disgust well in his chest as he turned away. The lifeless mage had turned pale, his eyes frozen open in shock.
“Hurry,” Roven’s voice broke through Karn’s thoughts.
Karn nodded. His attention was instantly drawn to the blue book before him in the man’s dead hands. He paused, momentarily stunned. Dark, inky splotches marred the edges, as if the very essence of the book was slowly turning black.
“Destroy it,” urged Roven.
With a determination, Karn placed his hands over the corrupted covers. Instantly, the pages within trembled as an unseen energy coursed through the book.
Karn flinched, but determination gripped him, and he held even tighter as a powerful force resisted his touch. But Karn pressed on, feeling the essence of the book being drawn towards him. Like Imok’s gem, the book was about to shatter.
And then, with a sudden burst of energy, the book crackled and disintegrated before his eyes. A deafening screech erupted from the pages, echoing through the room as blotches of black ichor gushed from the pages, staining the floor and Karn’s arms with sticky ink.
"Ahhh..." Karn's shouted.
"Shut it up!" Roven ordered in return.
Karn tightened his grip on the book's cover, his knuckles turning white as he wrestled with the corrupted book. Ink gushed and splattered across the furniture, as if it was in agony, releasing its pain onto the surroundings. The room became a canvas of darkness, marked by the uncontrollable out-pour.
And then, after a few tense moments, the book flickered as if caught on fire for a split second, then dissolved completely into ash.
"What the fuck was that?" Karn's words escaped his lips in a mix of shock and disbelief.
The room fell back into silence as Roven pushed Karn out the door.
The four of them raced through the narrow corridors, their footsteps echoing behind them. Bursting out onto the deck of the ship, Karn's heart sank as his eyes met the menacing form of the skinny mage. It seemed that soldiers had materialised out of thin air, surrounding them on the deck, their weapons poised.
With a vicious grin on his face, the skinny mage held his book aloft, its pages stained with the same inky black mess as the previous mage. The air crackled with tension as they prepared themselves for bloodshed.
Roven, displaying his remarkable control over the living metal, instantly split his handle into two, transforming it into a shield and a spear. The other two villagers followed suit, extending pikes and thrusting them towards the nearest soldier, who hastily hid behind a round shield. Though their points missed their mark, the distraction created an opportunity for Roven to launch his spear.
An invisible force intercepted the spear mid-air, sending it hurtling off the side of the ship. Roven cursed in frustration, then sprouted another spear from his shield.
As the soldiers closed in for the attack, the two white-haired warriors flanking Roven skilfully parried their blows, effortlessly transforming their weapons into shields and then into short swords in a seamless motion. With swift and precise strikes, they cut a path through the line of soldiers, leaving a trail of wounded in their wake.
Karn trailed behind the skilled white-haired warriors, his heart pounding in his chest. As soon as he moved beyond the line of the wounded, he quickly scooped up a fallen shield, just in time to intercept a soldier's sword strike. The blade glanced off the shield's surface, harmlessly thudding into the wooden deck. In his panic, Karn instinctively retaliated with a punch, his fist colliding with the soldier's helmet.
Crunch!
Pain exploded through Karn's hand as his knuckles connected with the metal. "Shit!" he screamed, grasping his stupid mistake.
Momentarily stunned, the soldier stumbled back in confusion, giving Karn a brief break from his attack. Karn stared dumbfounded at his throbbing, bruised knuckles. “You dumb fuck!” he swore to himself.
Seizing the opportunity, Roven swiftly swung his weapon at the stunned guard, effortlessly truncating him. Blood sprayed onto the deck as the guard's head rolled away. Focused on his target, Roven fixed his gaze on the mage and charged forward, his weapon still dripping crimson.
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But before Roven could take more than a few steps, the mage uttered a single word, "Sleep." Suddenly, Roven collapsed face-first onto the deck, completely immobilised. Snarling with rage, the remaining villagers rushed to protect their fallen leader, but they too succumbed to the mage's second spell.
"Sleep!" the mage commanded once more, and the villagers thudded to the deck, motionless and silent. Now, Karn stood alone, his sleeves stained with ink and his mind racing with panic. All he knew was that he had to reach the book ahead and destroy it. If he could just touch the book, they might have a chance to escape.
Driven by desperation, Karn ran blindly, his senses consumed by the chaos unfolding around him. The skinny man regarded him with a mixture of disdain and amusement, uttering the simple words once again, challenging Karn's resolve.
“Sleep!”
As Karn sprinted towards the mage, his arms outstretched, a flicker of panic flashed in the mage's eyes. The spell had faltered, creating a momentary opening. Karn could almost taste victory as he closed in on the book, ready to destroy it with his touch.
But just as he was about to make contact, his senses were jarred by a shout from above.
"Ropes!" The voice boomed with a menacing tone.
Without warning, he tripped, and his body crashed to the deck with a resounding thump. Pain shot through his body as he lay sprawled on the wooden planks. His momentum abruptly halted. The mage's wicked grin returned as he saw Karn's failure. Ropes had materialised out of thin air, their serpentine forms wriggling and slithering around Karn’s legs, intent on ensnaring every limb.
Karn struggled against the constricting grip of the enchanted ropes, his muscles straining, and his breath quickened. He fought against the relentless force, but to no avail.
"Just as you predicted," the skinny mage exclaimed, barely able to contain his laughter. "They got William's though."
"He dead?" questioned the menacing voice.
Karn turned his gaze towards its source and saw a looming figure clad in black robes, his face obscured from view. Karn shivered. There was something eerily familiar about the voice, as if he had heard it before. The black robes fluttered as if caught in an invisible breeze, yet the flags on the ship remained still and lifeless. Each step the figure took down the stairs was silent, like a phantom gliding across the deck.
"Yeah, this one," the skinny mage gestured towards Roven's motionless form. "Stabbed him up pretty bad."
"No matter," the hooded figure dismissed casually. "Retrieve his book for me."
Karn strained to catch a glimpse of the figure's face hidden within the depths of the dark hood. It was as if a shadow had found sanctuary within the folds of the cloak, concealing all features. The figure knelt beside Karn, studying him intently.
"Now, let's have a little chat, shall we?" the figure hissed, his voice dripping with malevolence. "Where is it?"
Karn shook his head, feigning ignorance. "Where's what?"
A low chuckle resonated from the hooded figure as bony, grey-skinned hands emerged from the cloak. The skeletal limbs held no signs of life, with sunken skin and prominent, empty veins on full display. The figure's powerful fingers roamed up and down Karn's side, searching intently as he snarled in frustration.
"WHERE IS IT?!" the figure screamed, his voice filled with rage. He paused, sensing something within him.
Karn could only defiantly stare up at the figure as the ropes that bound him tightened its grip.
"So, it's gone, and the event linking my book has vanished," he growled.
For a moment, Karn felt a fleeting victory. The book was safe, but then dread filled his mind when the figure’s rumbling laughter echoed around him.
"You, my fine specimen, have a blood bond with my book!"
Karn shuddered at the man’s momentary shift in demeanour. It felt like he was toying with a new prize.
"Yours?" Karn asked defiantly.
The dark figure chuckled dangerously, his attention momentarily diverted to a man dressed in soldier's attire, distinguished by a black sash down one sleeve.
"You there," he commanded. "Take these three light haired ones to the pits!"
The guard nearly tripped over himself in his haste to comply, gathering his comrades to carry the unconscious villagers off the ship.
“Well, my young friend,” the figure jabbed his bony finger into Karn’s chest. “While we wait for my book to come into my possession, let’s have a little fun.”
The man's hands disappeared into the undulating folds of his dark cloak, only to emerge clutching a book of ominous black covers. Karn's breath caught in his throat as he beheld the malevolent object, sending a chill down his spine. Trembling, he watched as the book ominously fell open in the figure's hands, its pages seemingly alive with malevolence.
With a swift and forceful motion, the figure planted his foot on top of Karn's chest, pressing down with an unsettling weight. His voice, cold and commanding, pierced through the air.
"Return!"
In an instant, the world around Karn dissolved into an all-encompassing darkness. The familiar deck of the ship vanished, leaving him suspended in an abyss. The sensation was disorienting and suffocating, as if the very fabric of reality had been torn asunder.
In the void, Karn's heart raced, his senses straining to make sense of the situation.
Then gravity re-asserted itself. A sudden cold coursed through Karn's body as he lay on a stone floor, his senses overwhelmed by the stench of decay. The room was a stone chamber, its walls adorned with gruesome, monstrous body parts. Chains held the lifeless forms of both men and beasts.
His gaze flickered towards the tables lining one side of the room, their surfaces cluttered with vials containing foul and murky substances that bubbled and hissed under the dim flames, the flickering light casting eerie shadows.
Fear gripped Karn as he struggled to comprehend his surroundings.
"Where am I?" he stammered, his voice trembling. The taste of bile lingered in the back of his throat.
The hooded figure, still standing above him, let out a chilling laughter that echoed through the room. The bone-grey fingers of his skeletal hand traced the symbols on the floor as the dark lines pulsated with dark energy.
With a voice dripping with sadistic delight, the figure proclaimed, “welcome, child, to the Royal Alchemy lab!"