Chapter 13

“What? There is no way my sister could have been taken with her abilities, let alone with no one noticing!” Antony shoved off of Silas, who was still lying on his back underneath the panicked twin. He stepped towards Xavi and pulled his bow in a flash; the arrow knocked, glowing bright orange, “Where were you, imp?!”

“Antony, you need to relax and think clearly,” Silas said as he stood, hands raised defensively, and stepped in front of the man. We have been traveling together for days. If we had wanted to harm either of you, we could have done so many times now, but we are friends. We will find Kara and bring her back safely; you have my word. Right, Xavi?”

Xavi rolled his eyes. “Not if we keep wasting time standing about arguing. We must hurry, master, if we wish to keep its trail. I only noticed a flicker of its presence when it took her, and even that is fading quickly. Make your choice, human. Let go of your suspicions, or let her die.”

Antony held his white-knuckle grip on his bow for a moment longer, tears welling in his eyes before growling through his teeth and releasing the arrow over Silas’ shoulder. He followed it in surprise as it slammed into a tree with a loud thump; the next second, it imploded, sucking in everything in a three-foot radius of the impact. All that was left behind was a small, condensed ball of earth and wood. The tree collapsed to the ground under its weight with a resounding crash.

Silas looked back at the man with a newfound respect before continuing, “We will find her.” Placing a hand on his shoulder. “Xavi, lead the way.”

“Wait,” Antony held up a hand, “what about Yuki? We can’t just leave her.”

Silas regarded him with confusion plastered across his face for a long moment, “Who?”

“Your muskox, you heartless idiot. I named her, and she likes it. You need to have more compassion for those in your care if you want to get the most out of them. Maintaining proper hygiene for her would go a long way, too, you barbarian.”

Silas raised his hands in defeat, “You’re completely right. I should have more respect for her, and I will.” Silas turned to Xavi, “Right after we save Kara. Xavi, store Yuki and the cart in your core space, let’s move.”

“What?” Antony asked in shock.

Xavi laughed, “Yes, master.” He flew over to the draft animal that had been grazing like usual, tapped it on the hind leg before it disappeared, and then turned and did the same with the cart.

Antony looked at Silas, “Seriously!”

Again, Silas clasped him on the shoulder reassuringly, “I promise, when this is done, I will pamper her and bath her myself. Once we have your sister and when we are free of this place, I will give her the respect she deserves. For now, let’s hurry. Xavi, show us the way.”

He nodded, “This way, master. And try to keep up; we must move quickly.”

The three of them sped off through the trees, guided by his familiar and their mage lights. They wove through the trees, following the path only Xavi knew. Silas kept his mana senses pushed out to the max, trying to sense any information the imp had been tracking. So far, he hadn’t picked up the trail himself. Antony continued to cycle his Keen Eye skill, giving off regular orange flashes that lit up the nearby trees to no avail.

They climbed up a large hill after an hour, thick with trees, well off the path they had followed. Once they reached the crest, Xavi stopped and closed his eyes. Before either man could ask the question they both had, he raised a finger for silence. They froze.

He concentrated for a long moment, “They turned, master. This way, we are closing in.” Xavi shot off, veering to the left as he rocketed down the steep hill. Wordlessly, they followed.

The moonlight finally broke through the dense clouds, giving them a reprieve from the darkness. On their descent, they were able to finally see the giant trees standing in a broad valley packed so close together that it became harder and harder to pass between them. The tops of the trees barely dropped over the large expanse even though the sharpness of their descent increased, revealing the tremendous size of the ancient valley. Their pace slowed through the massive trunks, but they kept the path.

Bark and grass became a blur as they reached the valley floor, and the trees opened up, giving them more freedom with their speed. Silas noticed a glint in the distance and broke the ranks to inspect it. Twenty yards away, he found a hilt sticking out of the base of a tree, teeming with mana. After checking it with his mana sense, he confirmed it was Kara’s, just as the others joined him.

“Is it hers?” Handing the dagger to Antony. “Her mana is all over it.”

“It is. She must have woken up, tried to break free, and dropped it.” He bent down and examined the hole, “or she left it as a marker for us. Either way, we need to hurry; if she is awake, she may not be for long. My sister has a knack for pissing off the wrong sort.”

A snap off to the side broke the conversation as they all went still. Several breaths later, the first sign of life on their trek burst into the clearing between the trees fifty yards away. Five mutated earth bears with sharpened, jagged branches protruding from their backs started to charge them simultaneously. Silas noticed something odd about their jerky movements. They skidded and stumbled in strange ways as they ran, almost like marionettes being poorly guided along.

Silas turned to the others, “Put them down fast. We need to hurry,” pulling his sword from its sheath as he began to charge.

Antony immediately fired off two arrows. The first sunk deep into the crown of the nearest earth bears’ skull, killing it instantly. The second shot was missed due to their erratic movement. He let loose a third shot at the furthest two. It hit the ground in a puff of dirt and then imploded, pulling in half of each animal. The remains splashed across the ground as they skidded to a stop, spreading blood and viscera several yards away.

Silas met the final two head-on with a horizontal slash. He jumped just as one tried to turn its body to gore him, wildly unsung its momentum for the extra force. He ignited the runes on the blade and cleaved its head in a spray of blood. As he landed, the final earth bear tried to slap at him with its paddle-like paws, but Silas dodged to the side, claws barely grazing his robes. He returned a backhand chop, putting it off balance, then released his fireball into its face. Regular movements returned, and it attempted to flee, only to be met by Xavi, who lifted it and ripped out the animal's throat with a clawed hand. It fell to the ground, shaking in the throws of death.

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The three stood back to back for many heartbeats, expecting another attack, but none came. Finally, after a couple of minutes, he slowly walked to the one he had cleaved and bent down to examine the body.

“What is wrong with them? Did you see how they moved?” He asked as he broke off a branch. “And what could have caused this?”

“I believe they were under compulsion, master. It's a very strong one, too. They tried to fight it but were unsuccessful, to say the least. Good work, both of you.”

Antony stepped forward, “We need to move on before more come. Which way?”

Silas reached out with his senses and found a faint trail of mana twisting through the giant forest. He looked over at his friend, who had a toothy smile on his face, “About time, master. Lead the way.”

They returned to the hunt with Silas in the lead, racing along the growing intensity of Kara’s trail.

Five minutes later, the trail ended at the base of an enormous tree over two hundred feet tall. The two humans searched around the thirty-foot-wide base, breathing heavily, trying to find an entrance. After several minutes, they met back up at the position they had started.

“Anything?” Antony asked.

Silas shook his head. “The trail ends here. This is it. Xavi?”

The imp placed a hand on the bark and closed his eyes. Silas and Antony turned and scanned the area for any potential threats. Xavi’s eyes sprung open, and he looked at them both. “This is it. I feel both mana signatures inside. Place your hands next to mine and push your mana into the trunk.”

They complied, and a shimmering doorway appeared right before them as soon as they did. Xavi smiled and whispered, “You can’t hide from me now, beast.”

The familiar looked to his master, “I’ll hold the door open while you enter. I’ll be right behind you. Be ready for anything, master.”

Silas was the first to pass through the shimmering bark. As soon as he entered, all of his senses disappeared into nothingness. Losing all five senses simultaneously was nerve-wracking, and he panicked for a moment but continued pushing forward past the threshold, each step feeling like his entire body was submerged in thick oil. Sluggishly, he stepped out into a pitch-black crevasse, followed quickly by Antony and Xavi.

After igniting his mage light, Antony was the first to speak, “Well, that was unpleasant.”

The smell of wet and decomposing earth was the first thing Silas noticed, followed by the coppery scent of blood. They stood at the mouth of an eight-foot-tall tunnel that burrowed deep into the earth. It was just wide enough for the two humans to walk side by side as they descended the winding grooves.

Silas bent down and ran his hands over the tunnel walls in thought. “This appears to be a root system, but it has been pushed back by some means. Is it possible that this travels the expanse of the valley?”

Xavi joined the space next to him, “I would guess it is much larger than that. With how we felt the rumbling and screams of this creature throughout the last few days, I would assume it may even cover the entirety of this forest. It would explain why we were unable to feel it directly but were able to feel the effects. I fear this narrows down the possibilities of what this creature is; however, none of them are great for us. Anything powerful enough to accomplish this may be well beyond our abilities here. We may be dealing with an ancient keeper; if we are, this rescue may not be possible, master.”

Silas looked at Xavi curiously, “I’ve never heard of an ancient keeper. What is it?”

“I’m not surprised, master. Very little is known about them directly. They are one of the final stages of evolution for beasts. The original stage is the animal itself, whatever species that may be. The second is the evolved form, like the kniphorn, or the earth bears, that everyone sees regularly. From there, they have the elder forms you’ve met before, which are very strong, cunning, and dangerous. After that, there is the king or queen that sits at the top of their territory. Very few survive a run-in with one of those monsters, and those who do never return whole. Finally, there is the rarest of them all, the ancient keepers. They reign over whole ecosystems, literally becoming the spirits of the terrain. Oceans, mountains, forests, deserts, all of them, they all have keepers that act as protectors of their domains. The amount of time and mana absorption it takes to evolve that far is not measured in centuries or millennia but eons. They are the true ancestors of the continent. If we meet one here, there is no hope.”

Silas turned to Antony, who had a determined look in his eye as he stared down into the darkness.

“We continue,” Silas said. “I refuse to leave her behind. It’s my fault you are here in the first place, and I will not leave without her. I gave you my word, and I intend to keep it. Xavi, take the forward position, scout ahead, and see what you find. Antony, take the rear.” Silas began circulating mana through his channels as they set off.

The tunnel wound down, deeper and deeper into the earth, as the smell of rot and blood grew more robust. The occasional rumble and their footsteps were the only sounds for several minutes. Silas kept searching the walls and ceiling for traps of any kind as they slowly progressed, but he found nothing. ‘How monstrous is this creature that its only defense is a magically concealed doorway?’ he thought.

Slight pressure built in his head, and he paused as Xavi reached through their connection, “There is some minor interference between us, master, but I have traveled far ahead, and this path does not deviate at all. I will continue, but whatever hinders us seems to be growing stronger as we progress. Be careful.”

“Wait there until we get closer. Let’s not take any chances,” He said before speaking to his companion, “Xavi says the way is clear for quite some ways. We should hurry and catch up to him before we get separated further. Something is weakening our connection, and we will need him if we are to be successful.”

Antony nodded, and then the two took off down the tunnel. Fifteen minutes later, they reached the imp, who was sitting on a fat root between two branching corridors. Xavi smiled and raised himself in the air, “I have been scanning the area, and I believe we still have a ways to go, but there are what I believe to be footprints leading to the left,” motioning to several deep indentations, “There is only one set, but they are enormous and uneven so keep up and keep silent. We are closing in on them.” Then he shot off through the opening and disappeared out of sight.

Their progress slowed with their silent movements, but with that, they noticed the tunnel walls expanding until they reached ten feet tall and just as wide. Now, they could see the tell-tell signs of digging. Small holes started to appear, periodically spotting the walls and ceiling with small dirt mounds underneath them. They were roughly one foot around, and the shifting dirt inside them said they were incredibly unstable. They tried to peer down them, but they were too deep to pierce the darkness even with their light. It was worrying, but all they could do was continue moving forward. After a while, they began to hear echoes of movement coming from them. Something was down there.

“I have found something, master. Come quickly.”

Silas relayed the message, and they hurried off. This time, when they reached the imp, he silently stared off into a large cavern that opened up in front of them.

“Several tunnels lead out of this area, but something feels off. We should stick together from here on out, master.”

The three entered the enormous cavern. The ceiling was over two hundred feet high and around. Silas could see the other paths Xavi had mentioned, but he couldn’t shake the feeling of wrongness to it. “You were right, Xavi; something is off here. Scan again, please.”

Xavi took a deep breath and began his search again. “Oh gods,” he gasped, “it’s here. I know what this is, master, and we need to run. Now.”

“No, I will not run until we have Kara. What is it?”

“It is what I feared, master. A Dryad. The ancient keeper of the forest.”