Chapter 14 – Crepuscule
“I’ll be back!”
– The Terminator.
– ***** –
Six days before breakdown, late afternoon (IGT)
Shadows lengthened as the sun initiated its imperceptible descent to the low horizon, shadows of houses and trees, not people, except for two solitary silhouettes stretching on the dirt of the main street. Birds perched on rooftops let their cries echoed through the eerie silence, otherwise broken only by the faint creaking of badly closed shutters, behind which hid uneasy faces. A slight gale rose twirling clouds of dust, and tension hang heavily in the air. Only were missing some rolling tumbleweed, and the spooky harmonica background, and one wouldn’t have been surprised at any moment to hear the sounds of colts firing.
However, this wasn’t some western town, only Kansas, which was far too quiet for so early in the day. Following the Elder though the deserted hamlet, Elric looked around, but couldn’t spot any of the inhabitants, who should have yet been going about their business at this hour. Only here and there did he caught glimpses of shutters being swiftly closed. Exasperated, he murmured a hearing enhancement spell, and could then perceive the anxious breathings of the invisible villagers, mixed sometimes with muffled sobbing.
Are you that uncomfortable with facing the one you worked, ate and laughed with as you send him to his probable doom? Bah! Come one, it’s not like I’ll die for good or anything… But I guess locals in such a remote place would have still some difficulties grasping the nature of an adventurer. Can’t blame them for being a bit fainthearted. I guess. Or maybe there’s something more I don’t know about…again. It’s starting to become an habit, isn’t it?
While the Wandering Knight grew more irritated and edgy by the minute, the Elder persisted in acting like nothing was out of the ordinary. Back to his usual happy-go-lucky self, he was merrily walking towards his own home, maintaining the speed of a narcoleptic crippled tortoise under morphine, and constantly stopping in his tracks, pretending to be out of breath, or to show supposedly important… stuff to his agitated companion.
I can’t believe it! I can’t figure out this guy. Tsh. One moment, he acts like a cheerful swindler with Alzheimer, who couldn’t even make a five-years-old believe in Santa, and the next instant, he shows glimpses of ancient wisdom, tremendous power, and weighty secrets he had concealed all along without a single damn slip! AAAAAH!! That pisses me off! I’m the one supposed to be surprising and unfathomable, here! Tsh. My only guess is that either the kind grandpa is a total lie, or he hasn’t dealt with outsiders for so long he isn’t any good anymore at this whole telling-just-the-amount-of-info-and-screw-you thingy ancients usually. Well, he still got the “screw me” part done though. Aaaah… What did he say last time, again? Nobody has entered the valley for the last three centuries, was it? “Nowhere”, what a charming name… Like I don’t know I’m always going nowhere. Why does this game feel obliged to shove the obvious up my nose all the time? … Three hundred years… Could this crumbling bastard be older than that? …hey. Doesn’t that coincide with the first reports of undead in Erwyn? Does it mean that sealed-up place has something to do with this wide-scaled necrotic curse? Or is it the other way around? Have the roaming corpses prevented anyone from reaching Kansas for hundreds of years? Which could mean Dennis is the result of repetitive inbreeding? But that’s not the point. I guess such a large area spell like the [Misty Soul Barrier] wouldn’t probably be too difficult to spot if more people were walking around in the woo- OH! FOR FUCK’S SAKE!! That’s a FLY! A freakin’ FLY!! Stop pretending this is some extremely rare local bug! AAAAAAAAARRRRH!!! STOP WASTING TIME SO OBVIOUSLY!!!! WHERE’S YOUR OVERLORD AURA NOW?!?!?! AND WALK FASTER!!!!!
After almost an hour of this circus, during which the duo had barely traipsed more than two hundred metres away from Martha’s house and its still visible blue tiles, the out-of-patience knight finally snapped, and interrupted the soliloquizing wrinkled pest by a growl filled with barely concealed threats:
“Old man, what was that about?”
He was evidently talking about the little military routine and power show that took place earlier, not about the small twisted chestnut tree the old man had been discoursing about for the past five minutes.
Not trying to play dumb for once, the Elder glared disapprovingly at the cross-armed Elric, and answered flatly:
“Internal affairs. None of your business.”
“Perhaps. But If Dorothy is involved, it becomes my business.”
Hearing the concern in Elric’s voice, the secretive chief’s expression softened. He sighed, then half-turned to face the young anxious Big Brother.
“I cannot reveal you the whole truth.”
The Elder quickly raised his skeletal hand, cutting short Elric’s impending retort.
“Not because I fear you would go back on your word and refuse to enter the valley, but because I reckon you are not ready yet to hear my tale. No… In fact, it would be more accurate to say it is better for you not to hear it from me. I have lived for so long, young one, and there is so much you are ignorant of… However, that might be for the best. I know you desire answers, and you will get them, in time. I simply believe you should discover the truth by yourself, and not be influenced by the words of this biased old relic, or those of any of the villagers who share my burden.
I haven’t been completely honest with you, an understatement if anything is, but please trust me when I say what you seek, both power and responses, awaits you at Bluerose… Although what you shall obtain may not be what you expected. Kekeke. After all, strength and truth are but what you make of it. All you need is the wits to use what you get to your advantage. And I believe you do have the brains. Trust me, for I speak of experience when I say even power rivalling the gods is nothing in the hands of a fool, nothing but his own doom and the one of all he holds dear.”
He marked a small pause, catching his breath, and let out a chuckle with no clear meaning, before continuing:
“Besides, if you actually manage to reach the castle, meet with the Immortal Princess, AND come back to the village, I guarantee everything will become clear as day… yes… most definetly.
Now, concerning Martha and Dorothy, they are currently having a long delayed mother-daughter talk about matters that should be known when inhabiting this particular village. Nothing harmful will happen to the little one, not anymore. On this you have my word.”
The Elder’s expression suddenly turned grim, and Elric could feel some of the power he showed earlier seep from his emaciated carcass, when he added:
“And know I always keep my word.”
Elric blinked, and the old grandpa was back.
“So… Kekeke. Does this much suffice for you, young one? … And for now?”
The Sage of the Wild was obviously far from satisfied, but it was as obviously clear that, regardless of his answer, the dangerous Elder would remain tight-lipped, so he just glanced back at the blue-tiled house, and gave a whispered reply littered with resigned annoyance.
“No, it doesn’t. But fine. I won’t ask you anything more.”
But the pissed knight couldn’t resist letting out some of his frustration.
“I won’t ask you why you pretend to be an inoffensive crippled village chief. I won’t ask you what your true relationship with Martha is. Hell! I even won’t ask you why it feels like every single of your fellow citizens, even the mentally retarded one, has the physical dispositions of an out-of-practise veteran, nor how that’s even freakin’ possible!? In a shut-in hamlet without even a militia?! HAHA! And I won’t either ask you why Dorothy needs to be told about those ‘matters’ before we reach this cursed valley, its cursed castle, and its cursed PRINCESS – What was it again? Vikious? Viking? Oh! Riiiiight! Victoria, I suppose! – which is the reason why you have been gaining time in such an irritatingly blatant and stupid way for THE PAST FREAKIN’ HOUR!!! …Nor will I ask you to answer any of the bazillion other questions I have in mind.”
He took a deep breath.
“HOWEVER! If I’m to keep my mouth shut, and pretend to gobble all your half-assed half-truths, I want you to stop taking me for the simpleton we BOTH know I’m not, and cease those insufferable pauses we again BOTH know you don’t need. GODS!! If you even try to show me another weirdly forked crack in a wall, I don’t guarantee I will be able to keep what little is left of my already unstable cool… And could you please walk a bit faster?! … Does this much suffice for you, old one?”
Hearing the knight’s ranting, the Elder looked sideway before letting out a self-derisive chuckle. He then straightened up, and conclusively hit the ground once with his cane, nodding.
“I hear you, son. Very well.”
With these words, the old hunched cripple turned around, and began walking, again at an absurdly slow pace. However, after a few steps, as if abruptly changing gears, his speed suddenly increased tenfold. Whistling and carrying his useless walking stick on his shoulder, the wrinkled pretender started to nimbly link long supple strides, instantaneously leaving the dumbfounded Elric in the dust.
“You… YOU FUCKING SHRIVELLED FRAUD!!!”
“Stop complaining, young one. Didn’t I tell you? Truth is but what you make of it! KEKEKEkeke...”
– *** –
After another hour of doing nothing, Elric was napping in the grass near the chiefly log cabin. The sun was gradually setting down, and stars were timidly making their appearance in the darkening sky. Finally catching glimpse of movements atop the huge rock the old roadrunner was sitting on, the knight got up, and returned the gaze of the man, along with a raised eyebrow.
“That should have been enough,” said the Elder.
And he agilely jumped down, to the ground three metres below. This total disavowal of all his previous displays of terminal arthritis earned the old perfectly-fine man a derisive chuckle from the amused knight. Elric could be rather quick to forgive and forget, depending on the reason and, mostly, on his versatile mood.
“Tsss… Didn’t you say something about a ‘powerless old man’ living around here?”
The Elder nimbly played majorette with his cane, while replying:
“Oh… But I am sure there should be one somewhere, if you search long enough.”
“Who are you then?”
“Nice try.”
“Tsh.”
“Kekeke.”
“By the way, don’t I get a quest for this?”
Despite knowing nothing about adventurers, most locals were nevertheless familiar with the idea of “quest”. Go figure the logic behind that. Although it is true implementing the concept of a formal verbal agreement, based on exchanging a given service for a set reward, shouldn’t have been too much of a breach of protocol in the realistocracy of Whatever.
The Elder just shrugged.
“This does not depend on me. Only on yourself… and on Victoria too, somehow… But me? No. I am but a humble ferryman showing you the path you wish to go down.”
“But of course… And which path is that?”
“Kekeke. Does it really matter?”
“Not really.”
“I thought so.”
Glancing at the sun like one would at a clock, he continued:
“Jests aside, we should get going…”
However, despite his distractedly murmured statement, the ancient chief didn’t move away from his spot, and instead motionlessly looked down, towards his village at the bottom of the hill, seemingly losing himself in thoughts. After a few minutes, he let out a deep sight, like he was letting go of some heavy burden, and then straightened up, a fierce resolve burning in his golden eyes.
“Right. I have laid idle for too long. Little matters what happens to this old soul, those foolish kids cannot be allowed to run amok any longer…” he mumbled more for himself than for Elric. “Kekeke. Fate and Irony indeed do work in mysterious ways. Maybe this time... Kekeke. After all, who better than a deranged hero could tame the madness and face the threat of Sanity?”
Flashing a menacing predatory grin, the old, crazy-looking, and secretly powerful wrinkled enigma finally directed his attention towards the slightly circumspect young fellow beside him.
“Kekeke. Let us show them, son, what happens when you tickle the nostrils of a sleeping dragon!”
The Reckless Imbecile didn’t laugh at the metaphor.
Experience had made him all too aware of what would happen. Whoever “them” might be, and whatever demented plan the undercover archmagus had in store, he could only sympathized with the poor idiots about to face their ineluctable, and very painful, doom. Although, Elric mostly was concerned about the role the Elder apparently destined him in this undertaking. He sincerely hoped the job of “bait” had already been attributed to someone else.
“Now, young knight, there still something I would like you to do befo-”
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“BIIIIIIIIIG BROTHEEEEEEER!!! STOOOOOP!!!”
At the call, both rapidly turned towards its source. On the gentle grassy slope, running up toward the mismatched pair, Dorothy was crying and shouting, and chased by Martha, who was holding her nose for some reason. Once she reached her Brother’s side, the little girl grabbed his hand, turned around, and vigorously started to pull him in the direction of the village.
“You mustn’t go, Big Brother! Let’s go back home. If you need something, Dorothy will help you find it. Big Brother doesn’t need the help of that mean witch!”
Taken aback by his little sister vehement behaviour, Elric raised a puzzled gaze towards Martha. The woman seemed about to speak up, but the Elder silenced her with a raised hand and a shake of the head. Understanding no answer would come that way, the Big Brother looked down to the inefficiently pulling girl, and anchored himself in place, waiting for her to turn back.
When she eventually did, showing him teary upturned eyes, he knelt before her, and took her tiny hands between his large palms.
“I can’t, kitten. I promised to the Elder I’d go. And what did I tell you about keeping your promises?”
“But mother said th-”
Elric stopped her by putting a finger on her lips.
“And Big Brother also promised not to pry too much into it.”
Dorothy swallowed, and let out a sobbing chuckle:
“Hihi...*snif* Big Brother really is an idiot.”
“Haha. Can’t deny that. Even the gods keep telling me so.”
Still laughing without smiling, Dorothy looked around like if she could find some more arguments lying about in the grass. Tears started to swell up once more in her eyes, and in desperation, she let out, in a broken voice:
“Can’t Big Brother just stay here? Is that something so important? More important than Dorothy?”
Elric hugged the crying girl.
“Of course it isn’t, sugarcube. But didn’t I tell you I’d be back no matter what?”
She opened her mouth, frowning, like about to say something she thought important, but a glance at the straing Martha apparently dissuaded her, and she closed it.
She then swallowed, and fervently asked:
“Big Brother will come back, right?! You will escape from the evil witch, right?!”
Escape from the evil witch? That doesn’t sound good…
“I promised, didn’t I?” He grinned. “And what did I tell you about promises?”
However Dorothy didn’t seem to find his little wordplay funny.
“YOU MUST!!! Dorothy will be waiting…”
She looked away, visibly uneasy, and added in a murmur:
“…promise.”
*ting*
New Quest: There's no place like home
The little Dorothy seems terrified of once again losing a member of her newfound family. She asked your absolute word you would come back whatever it took. She promised to be waiting for you, but it looks like she is hiding something.
Difficulty Unknown
Success Conditions:
Coming back to Kansas, and visiting Dorothy. (No time limit)
Consequences:
Unkonwn
----------------------------------------
- Do you accept? -
And she started sobbing uncontrollably, jumping at the neck of her Big Brother, and squeezing him like he could suddenly disappear at any moment and that they would never see each other again. Deeply shaken by her complete distress, Elric wordlessly rested her head on his shoulder, while reassuringly stroking her hair.
However, behind her back, the Wandering Knight’s eyes gradually grew cold, calculating, devoid of humanity, while anger, worry, and even the constant underlying folly slowly withdrew, leaving behind nothing but a scary black hole swirling around a single massive thought. Crossing his gaze, even the icy Martha took a step back and unwillingly reach for her waist, like searching for an absent sword.
Hugging his Little Sister, he kissed her forehead, and answered in a dark foreboding tone:
“I will, Dorothy. I will.”
You have accepted the quest “There's no place like home”.
– *** –
Standing atop of the hill, bathed in the last blood red rays of the twilight, Elric stared silently at the two women’s backs until they eventually disappeared between the houses of the hamlet. Then, he turned back to face the waiting Elder, and asked in a low emotionless voice:
“You were saying something?”
It was now the turn of the old lord to feel shivers run down his spine, seeing the usually careless moody knight suddenly show a serious expression, of which were utterly absent his habitual unfocused curiosity and crazy childish intensity. The knight’s green-blue eyes had become fixed and dull, but at the same time, they shone more than ever, inhabited by a whirlpool of subdued chaos that seemed to draw one in, to break and crush them, to grind every ounce of their being, until less than atoms were left, leaving nothing but pure and objective information, that was in its turn swallowed mercilessly.
Wiping the sweat off his scalp, the ancient lord stumbled on his words:
“Ah! Did I? Righ- I wan- Eeeh… Ah, yes!”
He pointed the rock he had been sitting on just before.
“Simply destroy this, and we shall be on our way.”
Being once more denied any form of explanation, Dark Elric lifted a disdainful eyebrow, but surprisingly didn’t comment. He then looked at the large stone, and raised a hand, palm facing his target, before gravely chanting:
“I am the Ruler of the Day, and you the fool blocking My path. I command you to free the way. Now obey Me, or feel My wrath. [Solar Flare]”
At the Solar Knight’s words, his open hand suddenly erupted in a cluster of thick orange-red filaments, blinding threads of liquid fire weaving together, swooping down hungrily on their designed prey, and indiscriminately burning the air on their way with a roaring wheeze. At the impact, a blazing pillar of scorching light exploded, an inferno that by far dwarfed the puny [Purity Blaze] he had endured on his first day in Kansas.
Once the flames receded, everything in a radius of ten metres, around where the rock used to stand, had been reduced to ashes, leaving nothing but a smoking crater without even a trace of solidified lava. Utter destruction. That was the difference there was between a spell of the first tier and one of the second. And the difference there was between the Solar Knight and other Paladins. Most Light Gods provided blessings, purified Evil, protected the land, and cured their followers. The Sun provided daylight, purified Darkness, burned everything, and at best gave skin cancer. Much less nice.
Without more than a brief clinical glance at the result, Elric turned back towards the Elder, who started once more under the knight’s intense stare.
“What now?”
– *** –
In the wall of green, hidden by the grove that grew behind the chief’s cabin, opened a tunnel, leading inside the natural enclosure. For several minutes already, the duo had progressed without a word. Often, the preceding elderly sent wary looks over his shoulder, towards a usually talkative knight, who was now clad in silver and silence. The old man really didn’t know how to react to Elric’s sudden and unexpected change. He had never seen the young man behave this way. Not many had, in fact. One, to be precise, Lautrek, who had once accompanied his over-motivated friend in one of his crazy adventures. Up to this day, the dwarf painter still shivered every time he thought back on what he saw back then.
Thankfully, they eventually reached the end of the underground passage, whose exit was blocked by a translucent rainbow-coloured barrier. Relieved to finally have an excuse to breach the oppressive silence, the Elder turned back to his companion, and held out a hand in which laid a small pendant. It was a simple silver chain, on which hang a single tear-shaped blood red jewel, no bigger than a thumbnail. Nothing fancy, but the old man was handling it with open care, and near reverence.
“Take this, sonny. You will need it. It will enable you to cross the barrier… amongst other things.”
Still without unsealing his lips, the Wandering Knight took the item, put it around his neck, and slid the solid blood tear under his breastplate.
“And one last thing. In the castle of Bluerose, search for the Lion of Courage. Don’t ask me what it is.”
Despite the obvious taunt, Elric show no signs of acknowledging the old man’s words.
“Eeeeh…”
Incapable of finding anything else to add, the Elder opened and closed his mouth several times like a fish out of the water. Then apparently gave up and started walking again, gradually disappearing as he crossed the rainbow. Elric followed, and emerged on a narrow ledge, mid-height on the wall, more than three hundred metres above ground, contemplating an unbelievable landscape.
The sight truly was breath-taking.
The inside the “mountain” was actually a vast bowl-shaped valley, surrounded by green cliffs coated in dim multicolour ever-changing brocades of light, which also efficiently camouflaged the entrance of the tunnel that led them here. The bottom of the large canyon was filled with huge trees, of which only the dark green foliage could be seen from their upper viewpoint. Swarms of bats flew around, constantly emerging from the sombre canopy, then diving back in, only sharing the skies with disorganised flocks of huge cawing black crows. Wolves could be heard howling every now and then, along with the raging calls of other unidentified beasts, sometimes covered by the loud rumble of thunder. Above their heads, furrowed by incessant lightning that unexplainably never struck the ground, ominous clouds blocked all moonlight. The nebulous mass whirled around the centre of the vale, where stood a bleak greyish castle, with half-crumbled walls covered in vines. Inside the seemingly abandoned fortress, a spotless obsidian tower was erected, and a reddish glow seeped out of its sole window, like a crimson beacon to guide the souls of the dead through the underworld, or a bloody will-o'-the-wisp enticing the careless travellers to follow it to their cruel demise.
The Elder pore over the landscape with something like a mix of nostalgia and sorrow in his eyes, then, without looking back at the young man he was about to cast into the cursed cirque, he opened his arms wide, encompassing everything before him, and declared in an over-enthusiastic voice:
“Welcome, young one, to Nowhere!”
“ ♫ Hmhmhmhmmm ♩ Hmm Hmhm Hmmm ♪ ”
He then pointed the collapsing citadel.
“As you have probably already guessed, this unappealing ruin over there is the once magnificent castle of Bluerose, prided secret retreat of the old Erwynian royalty, long forgotten by almost everyone, sadly. Of course, Victoria lives in the highest room of the tower. Classic. Kekeke. I guess one never changes a winning team, right?”
“ ♩ Hmmhmhmhmm ♫ Hmm Hm hm Hmm ♪ ”
“Well, we still are somewhat high, but there is a path down. Just follow the cliff this wa-”
“ ♩ Hmmhmhmhmm ♫ Hmm Hm hm Hmm ♩ ”
*whoosh*
As the old guide turned around to indicate the narrow pathway, a humming silver blur rushed past him, and jumped down, rapidly falling towards the dark woods.
The disconcerted Elder blinked.
“…or not.”
– ***** –
----------------------------------------
AAAAAAAAAAND… There we are! Bluerose Castle is finally in sight! Finally!
Next chapter shall be the first real fight sequence! YAHOOOO!! …I really have no idea how that will come out. Well, that’s only if I manage to prevent Elric from facegrounding himself to death. “A cliffhanger”, I told him! “Hang” not “jump”!! Why do my characters never do what I intended them to do in the first place?
What shall he face? Who are “them”? Who is the Elder? What’s the secret of Kansas? Does the word “realistocracy” really exist? Is Chaos going to be a pain, or help for once? Will Martha ever succeed in melting chocolate? What does really happen when plucking a sleeping dragon’s nasal hair? Will we ever see Dorothy again? Has Elric finally lost it? Will someone rate my fanfic?
So many questions! So many possible comments! Such an attention-seeking author!
Well, anyway, nevertheless, as usual, [insert random adverb], thank you for reading, and see you next… wait for it… chapter!
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