Novels2Search
Hollow — A Souless Fantasy
CH #2 — A Light Ceasing to Shine

CH #2 — A Light Ceasing to Shine

"Ah yes. Time to start walking, I presume.”

He rose, sliding his gaze across that green plain — a beautiful natural field, filled with a sight he would’ve never have in his former reality. Just below him was a bed of small yellow flowers of a completely unknown species.

The sky stretched out entirely blue like an infinite mantle, and not a single cloud bothered to fight against that movement. A gentle breeze made the nearby grass and trees rustle, allowing the multicolored and bizarre-looking birds to let their melody fill the air as they perched on some fallen logs in the distance.

The boy cracked the vertebrae in his neck, taking a good amount of that clean air, closing his eyes. There his new life would begin.

Before finally starting to walk however, he stopped, noticing that something was different about him. Until few seconds ago, he was crying desperately at the sight of his deceased relatives, and still could even feel wetness on his face, under each eye. The difference was that, now, he couldn't feel anything.

He looked down at his hands, studying his body. He was still the same: dark skin, rather large and bony hands, somewhat thin and long-limbed physique, black leather winter coat, orange jeans, white undershirt, black shoes and a white fabric belt.

His appearance remained unchanged, yet something felt indisputably different — something within his very existence. An empty linger. Not good, not bad — just nothing.

“Huh... So this is the result of taking away a person's heart and reality. This is interesting." He reasoned with himself, speaking a little too loudly.

And that wasn't the only difference. His reasoning also appeared to be much clearer, as conclusions about various things reached his consciousness every second, painting clear and categorical pictures about everything.

The experience was comparable to that of being a real machine — a supercomputer, achieving precise results on a fast and exact scale.

“I feel like I could get to the truth behind anything with this.” He spoke, only so the plain could hear. "I still don't quite understand what's going on, but I think the explanations will eventually come by themselves."

In any case, the only path to be followed stretched right in front of him, a few meters towards the bluish mountains visible in the distance. A relatively wide dirt road cut that plain in two. Behind was a forest that had medium-sized trees, deciduous or subtropical in appearance.

"They're not exactly pines, but look quite similar to them..." He concluded, inspecting some of the trees he could see in the distance. “Seems to be some sort of related species to them, I would say.”

Just as you have cypress and spruce — trees similar to the stereotypical pine — those plants also had that characteristic. Looking at their tops, one could see a clear similarity in the pointed shape and dark colors of the leaves, however, the bark color was much lighter, as well as the morphology of the plant, which differed a lot, being much thinner in its main stem, growing in a tortuous and dispersed way.

“I've never seen a pine that grows like a bush...” He brought a hand to his chin, capturing how this tree had weird stems that intertwined like ropes. "That looks like a giant piece of tumbleweed... The kind you see rolling across the desert in Western movies."

He could also tell that it was indeed a temperate zone from the mere sensation of temperature — it was too cold for a day of radiant sunshine.

“It doesn't look like I have much to see here. Better to just follow that path and see where I get to walking that road.” He concluded, averting his gaze from the strange tree. “But before that, I have to get my bearings, of course.”

Walking to the middle of the road without any movement, the boy allowed himself to look around once more. If there was anyone else there with him, they would say that a deeply inquisitive and analytical look was made in his brow that cut, in a 360 degree system, all that plain full of slight undulations, surrounded by forests and mountains on all sides and horizons.

"Excellent. I already understood everything. The mountains are to the east. I remember seeing the sun lower in that region before, and now, it's a little higher, meaning that's where the sun rises..." He said, staring at the bluish peaks that stretched upwards in blunt summits, at extreme distance.

"So if that's east, that can only mean that... West is that way, toward that part of the woods." He pointed his right hand towards the forest, keeping his left pointed towards the mountains.

His reasoning could already be considered complete from there. Having a sense of east and west, geography classes at school would finally come in handy. Topography might not be his favorite subject, but the young man always had a strong and sharp sense of space.

“... So whatever is in front of me now is south, and behind me is north. Right. Survival guides usually say that you should choose a single direction and follow it... But the presence of the road ends up making West and East unfeasible. The simple fact that there are no other paths to follow there, and that there are only mountains and forests, proves, first of all, that there is a potentially smaller chance of finding civilization... Yes. It's a wild land... In that case, either north or south.”

The wide dirt road devoid of any blades of grass ran north-south, leaving him with only two options. It was a well-defined path to either destination, but that would mean he would have to gamble. There was no indication of a nearby city or town, so finding the closest place to stay would depend heavily on luck.

"Well... Looks like the game here will be picking one of two directions and pray it's the right one, huh...?" He brought a hand to his chin. "Whatever. Standing here won't do anything for me.”

He finally chose to take a direction, going with the classic north chosen by all. He could have gone south the same way, but the cliché ended up taking over in the end, and as he started to walk, he reflected, observant, on the whole path he was taking.

“There is forest on both sides. It means that this path was literally cut through the woods… I wonder how many miles of vegetation they had to clear from here…?”

Wooden fences, quite simple, divided the road from the forest, a seemingly silly protection, since anyone could pass through there with relative ease.

He approached, and as soon as he touched his hand on one of the fences...

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“So this is how it works… I see.” He studied the burn mark left on his hand.

The fence manifested a kind of force field the instant it was touched, and a shock wave took over the boy's body, sending him away as a signal, generating a slight local burn, a warning to stay away from that forest.

“I just remembered that voice said something about Magic. This must be something like that.” He once again spoke only to himself.

The voice told him that this was a magical world, a place that evolved in a different way due to a special kind of energy that surrounds this reality, what the people here call "Magic Power". The Magic Power serves, among other things, to maintain the very order of this world, since plants and animals of this universe would not survive in its absence. Taking the Magic out of this place would be like taking the water out of the world he came from.

The Entity did not delve into teachings about Magic, telling him only as much as it could afford with its self-reported “lack of time”. The rest he was to discover for himself, walking and exploring this world.

“Is it difficult to use Magic? Well, I think a lot depends on the system that this world works under, in the end.”

He held out his hand, ceasing his pacing for a few seconds. Focusing on the newly acquired emptiness of his clearer, more efficient mind, he aimed at a single thought. The image of a small ball of fire was made in his consciousness, gaining temperature, brightness and shape...

... And he concentrated, pulling on some kind of internal energy, trying to materialize that thought. Deep breaths followed by a feeling of complete peace came by, and finally...

“As I expected… Nothing happened.” He concluded, seeing that he hadn't gotten any results. “I would really be surprised if it were that easy, though.”

The use of Magic was supposed to be inherently complicated — that was a truth that existed in the minds of at least of good portion of writers. If anything, Magic should bring its user far more harm than good — a ginormous effort for something as small as a tiny fireball. Such was the First Law of Magic.

"But... What must the average aptitude of the people of this world be like with Magic?"

The writer's mind was still a part of him, and above all, it existed as something that would never stop. Walking, the boy recognized that, no matter what happened, that side of him would never go away.

Right after that, he continued walking. The humidity of the forest did nothing to improve comfort, as the droplets of water that came out of evapotranspiration increased the feeling of heat. After some time, though, he managed to hear the sound of running water inside amid the trees, mixed with other rather dubious things.

“Is that … Screaming and crying?” Straining his ears to pick up that sound pattern, the teen turned his right one toward the only open space in the fence.

There was no doubt. These weren't just ordinary screams, but cries for help and desperate pleas. Among these, inverse patterns were also mixed, of laughter and fun with the situation.

“But these voices are clearly human… Or at least belong to sentient beings. I should go check.”

He entered cautiously, following the sounds, low murmurs that intensified into deafening screams of sheer terror.

The boy explored the vegetation. The watercourse in question was not very deep inside the forest, and that made getting there easy. There, in the vicinity of the river, was the presence of a small deforested area, and in it, a group of people.

The young man decided to just observe for a while, hiding his presence behind one of the trees that was in the way, to have a better view of the scene that unfolded there.

***

“Give us that ring you found and I promise none of you will be hurt.” A man in a black cloak pointed to the object held by one of the young women.

Fear was reeking at that moment. Two girls, one boy. All quite young and pressed by a group twice as large of suspicious hooded people. The boy kept his sword in hand with a lot of terror and was shaking intensely at all times.

The first girl remained lying on the ground, three of that group took her over, and they held her by the neck, grasping hard. Moans and pleas for help were almost impossible to be heard given her condition.

"Please... Let her go..." The young girl who kept the golden ring shaped as an amulet in her hand was crying. Her tears flowed in complete despair.

The same hooded man raised his voice in laughter, again demanding the piece of jewelry, dangling from a golden cord.

“Give us that piece of treasure and none of you will be harmed. This I promise! We just want this tiny little ring, nothing more!” The man chuckled, waving his hands up in a gesture that would have been comical in any other context.

She was lying on the ground, and for a few seconds, she observed the state of her companions. The boy was wounded, tired, and he hadn't been able to fight off that powerful group of strangers, but kept up in his feet anyway, trying to guarantee a sense of security for her. He was never going to win that fight though, and she kept that in mind.

Her friend continued to plead, asking every second for some air. Before long, she would reach her limit and thus it would be too late to do anything. Her legs wobbled catatonic, and the moans were already inaudible. Her throat was being crushed a little more by the second.

That was her choice. Would she save her companions and lose a dumb golden amulet, or die trying to escape with the thing, leaving her friends behind and cowering?

Definitely the first option. She got up, and even though her body was shaking completely, still managed to walk. The girl held out her trembling hands like a book page in the wind, showing the object to the leader of the hooded ones.

“You want this, don't you…? Please... Leave my friends alone... I beg you!” She cried harder in that situation, lowering her head helplessly as she offered the jewel.

The man once more laughed, and taking the amulet from her hands, he turned back, walking with satisfaction.

“Let them go!” He gives one last order to his subordinates.

"What...? So simply… like that…?”

The young girl could not believe what she heard. Would they really let her and the couple of friends go like that, after all the trouble that was caused, just because of a ring that was found in the middle of the forest...?

Certainly, that ring was the result of a transport mission that group had taken. They were told to take it from a blacksmith in a nearby village all the way back to the Capital. It was a bit too weird of a request...

There was no need to sending adventurers to get a simple piece of gold with a hole in the middle, which could be perfectly replicated by any local worker.

No further details were revealed for that weird mission. In their minds, all there was to remember is that they should hand the ring over to a Guild Chief. The village was going through difficulties, but none of the residents wanted to talk much about it.

Coming to think of it, everything about the quest was at least a little absurd from start to finish...

But that didn't matter now. Their reputations as adventurers would drop heavily, as would their rankings in the company — which weren't even that high to begin with — but at least everyone would have the main gift — their own lives.

No more thinking about the details of the mission or other superfluous things. Just the fact they could come out alive after that situation was—

“AAAAAAH!”

“What—” Her mind questioned itself upon hearing that scream.

“DAMN YOU...! GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER!” The boy's voice shouting, tired, woke her from her trance.

Her eyes went to the image of her friend, who was once again threatened by that cruel group. The leader had the poor girl captured in his hand... Yes, just a single hand. With the strength of only one arm, the hooded man who before laughed like a hyena, now delighted in the girl's screams of pure terror.

She couldn't bear to see it, and ended up vomiting all over herself, staining the clothes and light chainmail armor in a grotesque shade of yellow. The girl even choked on her own puke, coughing hard.

“Ah, this kind of scene melts my heart! Don't you think that's amazing? Death... The most glorious moment of all life! These people are so theatrical that way!” He said, facing forward.

She could no longer speak, and was only able to stare in sheer horror at the figures of those people, as every second it became clearer that they would die there.

If only there was someone to intervene...