Chapter 13

July 24, 780 FF

Kiln stared at the monstrosity as it stepped over the body of Henry and toward himself. Blood slid off the oozy black blade, which Kiln suspected was part of its body, in a way that reminded him of oil and water. The two substances did not seem to mix. The black substance that the monster was made of vaguely reminded him of Dan’s wand. The thought brought back the painful separation and Kiln was forced to squash the pain and anger that he suddenly felt. He focused on the creature. The shape was totally different but the description of the creature that Hydrozeno had given him in the following months after they had left the SIlver HIlls fit what stood before him. Which meant Kiln was in trouble. That creature had left a small garrison in tatters and now Kiln was facing one with only Robert to back him up.

Kiln glanced over at the shady scout and froze. The man was gone, sprinting into the darkened landscape at top speed. Kiln gritted his teeth and focused all his attention back on the creature. He was alone. He studied the creature for a moment and his mind raced through the details Hydrozeno had mentioned. The creature could change shape. It did not like Gifted weapons and there was a black crystal behind its eye that Kiln needed to destroy, preferably without touching it. Hydrozeno had destroyed it by swallowing it, but had confessed it probably would have killed anyone else who tried that particular method. Kiln cursed his bad luck.

“Death is a dog. Hydrozeno would be helpful right now.”

The creature cocked its head curiously and looked Kiln up and down, then its mouth twisted up into a smile that was far too big to be normal.

“Sooo muuuch liiight.”

Kiln felt his blood turn to ice. The sound of the voice was cold and sounded muffled. It kind of reminded Kiln of how sounds sounded while underwater, but more clear and understandable. But that was only one of the reasons why the voice sent a shiver down his spine. This thing was not just intelligent. It could speak and that was very, very bad.

“I wiiiill eeeeat your feeeeet.”

Kiln blinked. All the terror was put on pause as the oddness of the statement tried to sink into his brain.

“Uhm, what is that- DEATH IS A TINY DOG OF DOOM!”

Kiln leapt backwards as the black blade swung towards him. He thought he had been far enough away, but the blade had extended several inches and he had barely avoided decapitation. Shapeshifting was one of its things, right. Kiln activated the speed enchantment on his boots. It only had enough for a two percent increase in his speed and would only last about a minute but Kiln needed to put as much distance between himself and that thing. The second swing of his enemy’s sword almost cut through his left leg. Kiln instinctively poured his single bit of body mana into a speed boost spell. On its own it was not a significant increase and it only lasted for a second but the speed boost spell compounded with the boots’ enchantment and gave him just enough speed to step out of the way. That and the fact that Kiln was familiar with the Banneret knight’s style of fighting were the only reasons he avoided the blow. Hundreds of hours of getting beaten black and blue during sword practice with Dan meant that he could anticipate what the next move was going to be.

With distance beginning to open up between him and the monster, Kiln drew his Longbow of Sight. A Gifted weapon, how convenient. Kiln thanked the Forger of Fates for having the foresight to bestow a weapon that might actually be totally not useless against whatever this thing was.

Kiln notched an arrow, drew back the string and released. The enemy’s massive blade deflected the arrow before it struck its chest. Kiln frowned and could not help but wonder. Was the sword part of the creature’s body? Would hitting the blade be the same as hitting any other part of the body or was it different from the rest of the goop? Whatever the case it did not matter. The creature had deflected the first shot. It failed to block the follow up shot. The arrow sank into the thing’s eye and nothing happened.

The monster let out a strangled, gurgling hiss. Kiln realized it was laughing. Without hesitation, the Nightmare Knight, as Kiln now thought of it, yanked the arrow out with a wet plopping sound then jabbed the projectile into its other eye.

“Eeeeyes arrrre nooot required, eeeelf.”

“I see that now.”

The nightmare knight began to stride forward once more, hissing its strange warbling laugh.

“I beeeelieve thaat was aaa joooke, no?”

Kiln backed up furiously. The crystal was not behind the knight’s eyes. Obviously, shapeshifting was still one of its things. It could probably move the gem around, which meant only a lucky shot on Kiln’s part would be able to hit it. So Kiln did the only thing left that he could. He ran. The boot’s effects were still active for another forty five seconds or so, so might as well make use of the precious time before it ran out.

Kiln felt something hit his kneecap and his leg flew out from beneath him. He slammed face first into the ground. His bow bounced away into the growing darkness. A ball of black goo had wrapped itself around his leg and he could feel dozens of small, yet incredibly painful sensations surge through his trapped limb. Kiln gasped at the sensation and then let out a second gasp of shock as a new sensation surged through him. The massive amount of mana stored in his boots, the mana that had taken months to charge, was sucked out of the boots. Then the single bit of mana that Kiln had to store once a week to keep the boots attuned to him was ripped out of them and he felt the connection break. With an anguished cry Kiln yanked his tortured leg away from the goop. With a wet, sucking sound it broke free and the viscous ooze flowed back toward the Knight.

Kiln crawled several steps away and examined the leg. It stung from a dozen viscous looking cuts but the bleeding was manageable. The issue was that the injuries would slow him down. He would never be able to outrun the nightmare. Kiln glanced around for his bow but it was nowhere to be seen. Kiln sighed and turned his gaze toward his opponent. The creature was convulsing as it reabsorbed the piece of its body that it had shot at Kiln.

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“Soooo muuuuch light! Sooo muuch poweeeer! You wiiiil giiiive meeee-”

The nightmare cut off suddenly.

“Whaaat?! Noooo! Iiiit is goone? Hoooow?!”

KIln watched in befuddlement as the creature spun about in anger and confusion. Kiln looked around but was not sure what he was supposed to be looking for. The nightmare let out a roar of frustration that sounded across the barren hills.

“IIIIIII WIIIILLL FIIIND YOU EEELF.”

With a hideous screech it threw itself forward, its long strides brought it within feet of where Kiln lay exposed on the ground. The knight made one particularly vicious stomp in the space that Kiln had once occupied before he had crawled away. Then it was crashing into the night, leaving Kiln to stare wordlessly after it. After a minute, Kiln gritted his teeth and staggered to his feet. His leg ached but Kiln managed to make several fumbling steps. He looked around once more for his bow but did not see it. He shrugged and staggered off in a direction that was perpendicular to the nightmare. Kiln did not want to stick around and search for the bow. The creature might come back at any moment and Kiln wanted as big of a head start as possible before it returned. He did not know what exactly had just happened but he was not going to waste this opportunity to escape. Besides, Gifts had a way of finding their ways back to their owners, which was convenient since that meant they could never be lost or stolen. A long and painful hour later Kiln found the weapon laying next to a rock. How it had gotten there was a question that nagged at Kiln but knew that it would never be answered.

July 25, 780 FF

Kiln panted as he staggered along. The sun rose high into the sky and beat down on him in all its summer glory. Summer in Friedmark was not the scorching heat of the desert lands of the Bazneer Republic or Kalistan, but it still exacted its price. Kiln was struggling to limp along, especially considering he had left his pack with his food and waterskins behind thanks to the nightmare knight’s ambush. Kiln was hot, tired, thirsty, hungry and his leg hurt. He had tried wrapping it in torn cloth from his shredded pant leg, but considering it had already been bloodied, it was a poor attempt. Kiln knew there was a stream a little further ahead based off of what he remembered from the maps he had made. Unfortunately, he was not sure how far it was exactly. The maps had been in the abandoned pack as well.

In the meantime Kiln was keeping an eye out for anything he could hunt. Eventually, he found the stream and gave up hunting by conventional means. He channeled a bit of nature mana and reached out magically to sense for any animals nearby. He found a pair of hares nearby and soon he had shot and skinned them with the hunting knife he carried on his belt. He could not do much more than simply roasting them over a fire. The few herbs and spices he carried had been in his pack. He was getting very annoyed at leaving it behind, but knew that he really had not had a choice.Half an hour later the hares were almost done roasting and Kiln had settled down on a nearby rock to rest and wait. Then he felt a familiar chill that was at odds with the burning heat of the sun. The massive form of the nightmare knight strode into the area and stopped by the fire.

“Wheeere aaare youuu elf? Your meeat and maaagic are present. Shoooow yooourseelf.”

The knight was slowly turning in a circle, staring around. At one point it stared right at Kiln, but its gaze continued on as if it had not seen anything. Kiln felt a small thrill of hope. It could not see him. It did not have the required eyes. It relied on other senses. Kiln quietly rose and slowly limped away from the searching creature. It did not notice, despite the fact that Kiln was making no attempt to hide from its line of sight. He did his best to only avoid making noise. Several minutes later he was far enough away that the knight was no longer visible. Kiln released a sigh of relief and began to think carefully.

The creature had mentioned his magic back at the cooking fire and one of the first things it had said when they had first met last night was that it was going to eat his feet. Kiln looked down at his boots. The one on his injured leg was only a little damaged but Kiln could tell that whatever that monster had done had destroyed the boots’ speed enchantment. They would be nearly impossible to fix. The amount of mana, of magic, that had gone into their creation and required to fuel them was impressive. The creature had sensed that magic. It had probably sensed the magic Kiln had used earlier to hunt. It could only sense magic.

But that did not seem right to Kiln. Henry had not used magic but the creature had been able to sense him just fine. The creature from so many years ago had also been able to sense others who were not using magic. No, there was more to the puzzle than the creature only being able to sense magic. Hydrozeno might know. If Kiln could find him then maybe there would be answers. The Bulwark Company was only a little under a week’s journey to the south of here. Kiln just had to make it there. At the very least Hydrozeno would be able to kill the creature. After all, he had technically eaten the last one. All Kiln had to do was get there. Until then he just had to be careful, quiet and, above all, avoid using magic.

Two weeks later he staggered into the camp of Bulwark Company just in time to watch the fight. He even contributed a little and Hydrozeno was kind enough to return the single arrow he had launched.

Name: Kilnoher

Age: 23

Race: Elf

Mana

Nature Mana: 1/2

Earth Mana: 1/1

Body Mana: 1/1

Blessings:

Longbow of Sight: Level 1 0/2 Doubles your bow range and darkvision

Cloak of Shadows: Shadow Stealth Level 2 0/4 Increase your stealth level by the level of this cloak

Skills:

Health: 11/26

Base Defense: 0

Longevity: Level 4 8/16 Your lifespan in increase by 4 years

Darkvision: Level 4 8/16 You can see perfectly in the dark for up to 40(80) feet.

Bow range: Level 3 1/8 You bow range is 53(106) feet

Bow Accuracy: Level 2 2/4

Bow damage: Level 2 0/4

Nature Mana: Level 2 0/4

Earth Mana: Level 1 1/2

Stealth: Level 2(4) 0/4

Tracking: Level 2 0/4

Perception: Level 1 0/2

Body Mana: Level 1 0/2

Speed Boost Spell: Level 2 2/4 2/2 points used

Speed increase: Level 1 0/2 1%

Boost Duration: Level 1 0/2 1 seconds per point of body mana used

Sense Animals: Level 1 0/2 You can sense the presence of animal in a range of up to 100 feet for 1 second per nature mana used

Cartography: Level 2 0/4

Magic Items

Destroyed Boots of speed: Increases speed by 1% for 1 minute for every 99 mana imbued

Current Mana Charge: 0