As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting the forest of Stel into twilight, Savi, Emeric, and Keyon set up camp. The flames of their campfire danced hypnotically, casting flickering shadows on the bark of the trees that towered above them. The air was thick with the scent of loam and the musky scent of the nearby river. Savi sighed, her emotions churning as she recalled the harrowing experience in the temple. "After I... I entered the temple," she began, her voice wavering, "I heard voices, clawing at my mind, tearing my ears from the inside out, commanding me to bend my will to Zartek’s command." She shuddered, her emerald eyes haunted by the memory. “I refused, and… shadowy apparitions of goblins raced down the tunnel at the three of us, striking the two of you down. I was powerless to save you, and you blamed me, just as I blame myself for not saving my village when it was razed to the ground by the goblins years ago. They were mindless then, nowhere near what we’ve seen these past few days. But even still, their forces… they were evil embodied, and all I could do was crumple and submit myself to my guilt.” Emeric nodded, silent, glancing at Keyon, stoic as ever, leaning against a tree looking as much at home as the water in a river.
As they bedded down for the night, each of them lost in their thoughts, the wind picked up, carrying with it the distant sound of cries and the clash of steel on steel. A chill ran down their spines, a warning that their time was running out. With the first light of dawn, they would set out to find the goblin encampments, to warn humanity of where the flow of the goblin’s destruction would begin. The darkness crept closer, like tendrils of spilled ink, and the three companions drifted off to fitful slumber, their dreams haunted by visions of the impending doom that loomed over the Kingdom of Stel.
- - -
In the dead of night, a blood-curdling roar shattered the silence of the forest clearing. Emeric and Savi bolted upright, their hands reaching for their weapons as they scanned the darkness for the source of the noise. Their eyes, accustomed to the gloom, found Keyon thrashing on the ground, his body contorting in agony as primal nature magics surged through him. "By the gods, what's happening to him?" Emeric hissed, scrambling to his feet.
Savi's eyes widened, frightened and as in the dark as Emeric was. "I’ve never seen anything like this, it’s as though the earth itself is flowing through him," her voice breathless as they try to make sense of what is happening to their companion. Working together, they managed to restrain Keyon as the wild energies coursed through his veins, reshaping his very being. His roar settled into a low growl, and within moments, the storm raging within him had subsided, leaving in its wake an unnatural stillness.
Keyon lay panting on the ground, his chest heaving as he struggled to regain his bearings. Emeric and Savi released their grips on him, uncertain of what this newfound power would mean for their quest.
"Are you... alright?" Savi asked tentatively, extending a comforting hand. Keyon pushed himself to his feet, flexing his recently writhing limbs. “I… I think so. I felt as though… the forest was running through me.” Emeric eyed him warily. “Divine energies from the gods, magic honed from years of study… perhaps your life in the wilds has caused the wilds to embrace you.”
"Might be," Keyon replied, his voice now laced with the faintest of growls. "It's... a lot to process."
"We don't have time for a biology lesson," Emeric grunted. "We've got a goblin army to stop. Get some rest, and we’ll break camp in the morning’s light."
- - -
With grim determination, the trio broke camp and resumed their journey. Keyon found himself more in tune with his surroundings, every rustle of the leaves and snap of a twig resonating within him like a symphony. The forest had become his ally, whispering secrets only the initiated could hear. As they traveled, they discussed their next move. Time was of the essence, and they knew it. Goblins were not known for their patience, and they couldn't afford to underestimate the scope of their spread.
"We need to find out more about this dark cabal" Emeric said, his brow furrowed in thought. "They must be involved in this somehow. Their connection to Zartek must be linked to the spread of darkness, but what do the goblin incursions have to do with their scheme?" Savi shuddered at the question. "Monsters evolving, beasts of the depths being called to the surface once more… something is amiss in Heren now." Emeric cut her off. "We need information, and fast."
Keyon’s ears twitch, the sounds of the forest ahead alerting him to a disturbance. The forest ahead seemed to hush, as if the trees themselves were holding their breaths in anticipation of what lay ahead. Raising his hand, Keyon came to a halt, crouching in the midst of the underbrush. Emeric looks on in curiosity… noting Keyon’s rough skin looking almost like the bark to his right. Still, Keyon stood as still and unwavering as the oak of the forest. Shadows lengthened beside them, the daylight fading, when Keyon was satisfied that whatever was ahead had passed. The forest grew more oppressive as they continued, and the canopy above their heads seemed to weave itself together into a thick lattice. In the distance, the faint sound of running water broke the deafening silence. “Goblins ahead. We aren’t alone.” Keyon’s always abrasive tone was even more curt than usual, the gravity of the situation laid bare to his companions. Ahead, through the tangle of vines and undergrowth, the trio spied a clearing. In the center of the clearing, a roiling, pulsating mass of shadows swirled and churned, staining the very air around it with its malevolent aura. In front of the dark pool, a figure knelt, draped from head to toe in a dark, hooded cloak. As one, the trio crept closer, stealth their only ally against the dark forces they were about to confront. The air grew colder, and the forest floor beneath their feet felt like icy tendrils wrapping around their ankles, slowing their progress. “Careful,” Savi mouthed, her eyes narrowing. “We’re being watched.”
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Indeed, shadowy forms seemed to shift and dance at the very edge of their vision, never quite solid enough to make out, but there nonetheless. Emeric’s hand twitched in the air, ready to unleash the full might of his arcane fury at a moment’s notice. Keyon, for his part, was no less tense. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, his animalistic senses screaming at him to flee this accursed place. But no, they couldn’t afford to back down now. Too much was at stake. Slowly, they circled around the clearing, at the edge of the remaining light, hoping to remain unseen as they drew closer to the kneeling figure and the churning mass of shadow before them. As they drew near, the figure’s mumblings became audible. An ancient, flowing language in the guttural tongue of a goblin that seemed to twist and writhe like the shadows themselves. The air around them grew colder still, and a chill that penetrated bone and marrow alike permeated the air. With one final prayer to whatever higher powers might be listening, the trio launched themselves from their hiding spots.
In an instant, Emeric unleashed a torrent of searing flames, engulfing the kneeling figure and the surrounding shadows in an inferno of cacophonous light and hear. Keyon, meanwhile, leaped towards the writhing mass of shadows, thorns rising from his balled fists, ready to rend and tear the very fabric of the abomination in front of him. Savi, for her part, began spinning her divine light around Keyon and the writing darkness, her eyes narrowed and her heart pounding in her chest, knowing Keyon’s life may depend on her bolstering his strength. As the flames of Emeric’s fury died down, and the last echoes of Keyon’s roar faded into the night, they beheld the source of the darkness before them, their faces etched with a mix of horror and disbelief. Laying before them, bloody and broken, was a goblin shaman, a single goblin shaman, its animalistic eyes losing their luster with every passing moment.
“If one… only one shaman could weave darkness this potent,” Emeric trailed off, unable to find the words as he stared at a harbinger of the destruction the three feared so much. “We cannot dwell on that, Emeric,” Savi interjects. “We must fight on, lest we allow this darkness to grow and fester.” Keyon nodded grimly, his expression stoic yet for the faintest spike of fear in his eyes. Together, the trio turned back to the forest, their resolve hardening like the steel of their weapons in the face of the trials yet to come.
Continuing their journey through the forest, attempting to locate the encampments of the goblins seemed an impossible task. Keyon’s sharp eyes saw tracks seemingly at every turn, each one traveling the opposite direction of the last. “This pursuit is futile, I fear,” Savi begins, shoulders slumping in defeat, when Keyon speaks up one last time “Here. A short time ago, a small band. We have a chance.” Emeric nods, following Keyon’s lead traveling through the underbrush silently. His eyes fixated on the frenzied path of the goblins, Keyon leads the group to a small clearing, with the guttural cries of goblins echoing through the forest out of it. Peering out from the trees, the trio sees a small band of goblins butchering the carcasses of some forest foxes. Blanching, Savi averts her eyes, the cruelty of the goblins too much to bear. Keyon’s teeth clench, his rage, the pure unbridled rage of the forest at the perversion the goblins have wrought, too hot to contain. Erupting from the underbrush once again, the trio move with a now-familiar expertise. Their precision in dispatching the goblin scouting party left the only survivor standing, speechless. Emeric’s magic swirled around him, obscuring his eyes, and humming in his ears. Savi’s chants penetrated his very mind, pacifying him, while Keyon pounced on him, immobilizing him completely.
“You know we cannot understand his speech, Emeric,” Savi calls out from the edge of the clearing, staring pitifully at the foxes. With a grim nod, Emeric bowed his head, focusing all his arcane energy into a swirling mass around his head. Flinging his eyes open, the blackness swirling like tempests in his gaze, the energy shoots forward, at the goblin’s head, but there is no thunderclap of energy, as there was with the chieftain before. There is no explosion of skull fragments and viscera, as Savi flinched away, expecting. Emeric’s eyes roll back in his head, the energy bridging their heads, an etheric link of their consciousness. His lips flutter, moving rapidly, forming words too quickly to be discerned by his companions. Keyon backs away from the linked minds, his eyes wide with fear. The energy begins to vibrate, fluctuating faster than anything Savi or Keyon has seen before, as Emeric’s back arches, his mouth flung open, a horrifying scream hurtling forth from the depths of his soul. As quickly as it formed, the energy began to wane, as more tendrils of energy began to snake into the clearing, twining into Emeric’s fading connection at the last moment before he slumps to the ground next to the goblin, now dead, his eyes scorched out of his skull, the skin around his head bearing scorch marks from the power of the energy flowing through him. Emeric groans, eyes filled with still blackness once more, limbs twitching faintly as Savi and Keyon try to make sense of what just happened to their companion. Pulling Emeric over his shoulders, Keyon motions for Savi to follow. “We must return to the village,” he says, his voice a gravelly rasp. “That connection bears an ill tiding. The village will be safe.” Savi nods somberly, her fists clenched at her sides, concern for Emeric shining through. As they begin walking through the forest once more, Savi beings whispering chants and incantations behind Emeric’s battered body, weaving her warmth across his figure, trying desperately to bolster his vitality once more.
Thus, the companions once more turned their backs on the bloodied remains of their battle and the echoes of a new unknown power, their footsteps resolute as they began the long, arduous journey back to the village of Brookhaven. The spirits of the forest, or even the higher powers themselves, watched their departure with bated breath, the smoking remains of the goblin a beacon of a new age that threatened to consume them all. Their path home would not be easy, the two knew, but united by purpose, they trudge onwards, determined to reach Brookhaven and discover what overtook Emeric.
And so their journey continues, the path of destruction in their wake a lingering reminder of the hardship one must face, and the fires of the crucible forging them into weapons of justice. The shadows of the forest gave way to the dappled light of the open road, but the shadows within their hearts lingered, a reminder of the battles yet to come.