Vern looked at Durant as his face withered at an increasing speed. He grasped his stretched-out hand, but the next moment, his body collapsed. The flesh in Vern's hand decayed completely, leaving only behind the bones, which also started to become brittle.
He had no idea what was happening, and his aching body only further irritated him. But he had no time to contemplate this since Durant had just vanished right in front of him. The last of his bones turned to dust, and his rings dropped into Vern's hand.
He looked at Velvet beside him. His expression was that of outright shock, something Vern had never seen on him, even when they had first encountered the Eldritch.
He instinctively reached for the sword lying on the ground as he could only remember monsters were coming this way.
›Ah!‹, Velvet exclaimed and stepped back in fear.
Vern didn't understand what this was about, and he gripped the handle, immediately turning around to look behind him.
›What is it?‹, Vern asked as he couldn't see anything where Velvet was looking. He turned to him. ›I thought there were monsters nearby.‹
›Well … there … there are‹, Velvet replied hesitantly. ›But the horde split up when … the Eldritch died. Do you remember what happened?‹
His voice was unusually high-pitched.
›No, I don't. Is … Is Durant dead?‹ He still couldn't believe what had transpired in front of his eyes. A breeze blew away some dust off the clothing on the floor. Vern carefully touched the cloak and pushed it down as if Durant was hiding in there.
Was he really gone? Just like that? Why?
He looked at Velvet, who hadn't provided any information so far, and just stared at him instead.
›Wh … What happened?‹, Vern asked demanding, but his voice trembled.
Velvet's expression turned into one of sadness and pity. ›Well, that's kind of … complicated …‹
›Where are the others?‹, Vern asked the more important question that had suddenly entered his mind. ›Are they okay?‹
He slowly pushed himself onto his feet with the help of the tree behind him. His body felt weird. And he could tell it wasn't just the pain.
Realizing Velvet hadn't answered this important question, his heart plummeted.
›What is it? Answer me!‹
Velvet turned his head away. ›You really don't remember what happened, do you?‹
Vern's eyes darted around the area, and he spotted the open area the path of destructed vegetation led to. He quickly equipped all of Durant's rings and headed towards it. His legs became more stable with each step.
Before pushing through the last bush blocking his view, he already heard fighting in the distance.
Using his sword to make himself a way, he reached the clearing from earlier. The dead Eldritch and the corpse of a knight lay close by, and Vern vaguely remembered how the Eldritch had impaled itself on his sword. However, two monsters approaching his position stopped him from investigating and recalling the events further. In the distance, he could see a red reflection of sunlight which reassured him that Alvyn was alright.
Kill them! A voice suddenly resounded in his mind, but Vern didn't need to be told.
His blade cut through the air at first and then through the flesh of the boar in front, barely a difference noticeable in resistance between each medium.
›What happened?!‹ Vern didn't have the patience to play Velvet's stupid games. ›Tell me!‹ His blade cut down the second one.
Kill them. ›I have‹, he replied intuitively, as if speaking to Velvet, only realizing now there was something wrong with this voice. Kill them all!
The voice continued to talk, and Vern didn't know what to think. But as he spotted Alvyn's sword once again in the distance, he decided to help them out first.
›Don't go there!‹, Velvet shouted so loudly it actually felt like it hurt his ears.
›What the hell?!‹ He turned around to Velvet.
›Tell me already!‹ Vern's voice was so desperate, looking for answers, but Velvet still hesitated.
›I'll tell you if you follow me!‹, Velvet replied sternly.
Vern wanted to object, but he could tell that Velvet really was dead serious.
›Alright, but make it quick.‹ Even though some monsters still roamed around in the area, he was confident the others could handle them.
›First, what happened to this knight?‹, Vern asked as he evaluated the situation around him one last time before following Velvet.
But just as he completed his survey, he saw another human corpse on top of a bush. And it didn't have the outfit of the knights.
His eye widened, and he froze in place while he slowly recognized the familiar body outline.
No! It couldn't be! There was absolutely no way!
He forced his body to move closer against its will, but he had to confirm it.
›Don't …‹ Velvet's voice was weak, but even if he had shouted again, Vern wouldn't have listened.
With each step forward, he told himself his eyes were lying. But when he stood directly in front of her, he had to accept reality.
Irina's chest had a gaping hole. Her dead eyes stared up into the treetops. Vern lowered his gaze. He couldn't handle watching her like this.
Slowly, the situation sunk in. Feelings started to rush through his body – intense like never before.
What had happened?
He didn't know. But one thing he knew for sure. It had been his job to keep her safe. Suddenly, he remembered the ring he had gifted her beforehand, and the grief moved into the back of his mind.
There was still a chance that she had survived … maybe? But how did it work in the first place? Was she sent back in time to a different reality?
He stared at the ground for a moment, trying to figure out what was reasonable to assume and how he should feel. Then he recalled that he had a way to check if the ring had worked. He looked up again, and his eye fixated on her right hand.
Yes, if the ring wasn't there, it must have worked.
Vern slowly reached out his trembling hand, hesitating, as he didn't know if he could handle the answer he might get. But he had to find out, no matter what.
So he carefully stripped the glove of her delicate hand that still had a hint of warmth left. He already felt the rings before he saw them but hoped all of them would turn out to be silvern. However, a golden shimmer came into view from beneath the leather, and Vern closed his eyes, feeling even worse now than he had before.
No, it just couldn't be true!
He opened his eyes again and looked closely at the ring. It was undoubtedly the one he had handed to her, but from this distance, he couldn't be 100 percent sure.
Vern put his hand on Irina's and cautiously removed the ring from her finger, making sure not to hurt her body in any way.
After retrieving it, he held it up close into the sunlight. It was definitely that ring, though … maybe it just looked exactly like it?
Vern's desperate train of thought was interrupted by Velvet's voice.
›Be careful, behind you!‹
The urgency made Vern listen to him this time, and he swiftly turned around, facing a ball of flames that traveled at him. He managed to move out of the way narrowly, and behind the raging flames, Alvyn's silhouette came into view.
»It's me!«, Vern called out. »Why did you …«
But he stopped mid-sentence when he noticed Alvyn's expression. He unmistakenly glared at him hatefully as if Vern was the enemy.
Without hesitation, Alvyn ran at him. Vern's eyes widened, and he instinctively raised his sword to defend himself.
Kill him!
The mumbling voices in the back of his head suddenly spoke out as one again. Vern felt emotions flooding into his mind that didn't feel like his.
Sparks flew as the black and red swords clashed, and Vern stepped back, surprised by the force Alyn had put into his strike. It really felt like he wanted to kill him.
»Stop this!«, Vern shouted as he avoided his next strike. But Alvyn's angered face twisted even more. »What? Do you not want to kill me as well?!«
His gaze flickered over to the spot behind Vern only for just the blink of an eye.
»No … no!«, Vern replied as he noticed what Alvyn had looked at. »I didn't …«
But Alvyn cut him off by striking at him again.
›Is this true?!‹, Vern asked while blocking the attacks of his twin brother. And the few seconds that passed before Velvet spoke were all he needed as an answer.
›I'll explain somewhere else. Just leave this place for now!‹
No. It couldn't be. There was absolutely no way. Why did they both suggest this?
Anger and frustration surfaced in his mind and combined with the strange hatred that had tried to get his attention for some time now. Consequently, he stopped passively defending and avoiding and instead launched some serious attacks of his own. With each strike, his frenzy increased.
Why did everything keep failing so miserably? This just couldn't be true … his comrades at the fort, Ezra and Rewalt … and now Irina? Impossible.
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All he had wanted was to protect everyone, and yet he had achieved the opposite. Why? Was he just too weak?
In the meantime, Alvyn's expression had changed from anger to exhaustion as he had to deal with Vern's increasingly heavy attacks. In the distance, Kieran had finished off the last remaining monster and hurried towards them.
Vern didn't want to hurt Alvyn, but somehow he couldn't stop himself. Something inside wanted him to continue, to kill and become stronger. And it wasn't entirely unaligned with his own feelings.
Vern saw an opening and didn't hesitate to kick his opponent in the side with full force. Alyvn was rushed off his feet and flew several meters across the air before he hit the floor.
In this brief interruption of their engagement, Vern noticed that Velvet had talked to him the whole time, though he hadn't really realized it. Hearing his voice screaming in his head broke the spell that had kept Vern enraged, and he looked in shock at what he had just done to his brother.
Kieran looked at Vern warily as he helped Alvyn back on his feet.
›Come!‹, Velvet urged him again. ›I doubt they're going to let you off the hook.‹
›I … I didn't mean to …‹, Vern replied, just standing there and staring at his hands.
Alvyn had recovered and managed to escape Kieran's grip, who had tried to hold him back. Vern saw him running toward him for a second round, and this was when he decided to finally listen to Velvet. He turned around and ran into the forest. Alvyn groaned behind him and took up the chase.
They traversed through the thicket, around the trees, and Alvyn kept up with Vern for a while until he finally fell back when he had drained all his mana. Since Vern had Durant's rings now too, he didn't face the same problem.
But Vern didn't stop when he noticed Alvyn was gone. Instead, he even increased his pace, occupying his mind entirely with the task of guiding his body across the ground.
When he reached the other end of the forest, he finally came to a halt and caught his breath. Some time ago, he had passed the barrier, so monsters were no concern anymore. He clutched onto a tree with his body bent over and stared at the ground.
›Velvet, show me what happened.‹
›Al … Alright. But sit down first.‹
Vern followed his instructions and leaned onto the tree. Velvet moved closer, and suddenly, the surroundings changed.
He saw through Velvet's perspective how the Eldritch jumped into his blade. Its purple radiance flashed up for a moment, and as Vern dropped to his knees, Velvet went back into his body.
Then he saw through his own eyes how he stabbed the knight captain. He witnessed himself hurling a shuriken at Irina that went straight through her chest. And how Durant tackled him, which eventually made him end up on the ground. Velvet pleaded for Durant not to kill him.
That was all. Just a few minutes had passed. But the consequences of those were unforgivable. Just as Vern thought the string of memories had come to an end, the scenery blurred, and he found himself in front of snowcapped mountains.
›What is this?‹, Vern asked surprised.
›These are the memories Durant gave me before he died‹, Velvet replied. ›I thought showing you this now would be as good of a time as any.‹
Vern pushed his grief into the back of his mind for now and carefully observed the landscape he was presented with.
Durant moved his head, and two other people came into view: A woman wielding the familiar Blizzard Spear and a man with the Hurricane Bow in hand.
»You sure this is the place?«, Durant asked.
»Yes, I think so«, the woman replied. »At least that's what they told me. This path looks like the right one.« The woman pointed at something in the distance, and Vern recognized the place.
»I don't know about this. They want us to do the dirty work while they're hiding and don't even provide us with all the information they have.«
»Well, at least they gave us something«, the man replied. »Though I do agree with you … you can tell them how you feel about it when we report it to them.«
Durant grunted and followed the others. »Where are they hiding anyway?«
»It's in the great eastern forest«, the woman replied. »Their top secret place of origin is somewhere there. I got it marked on a map, so we shouldn't have too much trouble finding it after we're done here.«
The scenery changed again, and Durant and his two companions found themselves in front of the cave where Vern and the others had died. It was much larger than when he had seen it for the first time, but he still recognized this rather unique area.
In the shadows of the cave entrance, several figures watched the arriving trio. They retreated back into the cave, only leaving behind one that stepped out into the light with several wolfs following behind him.
»Stay vigilant and be ready for our combos«, the woman said as they slowly approached.
»I don't understand this«, Durant said while his gaze moved along the mountainside above them, where he spotted several more monsters that waited for the right moment to strike. »Why are they cornering themselves like this?«
»Well, let's first take care of the troublesome one before we worry about entering and running into a potential ambush«, the man replied as he aimed his bow at the approaching Eldritch Creature.
It was much bigger than the one Vern had fought. The black sword in its hand had a faint purple shimmer, and it wore an amulet around its neck.
An arrow rushed toward it at sonic speed, but it stepped aside so quickly that it looked like it had teleported.
»Oh, it has gotten even faster«, the archer complained.
When they were only about fifty meters apart from each other, the Eldritch dropped its leisurely pace and ran forward. At the same time, all the monsters hiding in the area jumped out to attack as well.
»Durant, come with me!«, the woman told him as she ran forward to engage the Eldritch. He didn't need to be told twice and immediately followed her, only glancing behind once to make sure the man with the bow could deal with the approaching monster. As he fired his bow in rapid succession, there didn't seem to be an opening for the monsters around him to come close.
The Eldritch's sword clashed with the spear, and Durant swung his flaming sword at the occupied Eldritch while his eyes remained fixated on the amulet around its neck.
The Eldritch avoided his attack, and their eyes met. It smiled as it noticed where Durant was looking.
The three of them exchanged a few more strikes without either side gaining an advantage.
»I'm free now«, the bowman shouted from behind, and Durant jumped a few steps back while the woman kept the Eldritch engaged. The flames on his sword vanished – no, they were all sucked into one spot at the tip that was the size of a hazelnut. The little ball became brighter and brighter while Durant seemed to exhaust himself quite a bit.
»I'm ready«, he shouted, and immediately after, the woman fell back behind him. Durant pointed his sword at the side of the mountain where the Eldritch stood, and the ball around the tip shot forward.
The Eldritch moved back, but since the attack wasn't even aimed at him, it mattered little. As the projectile hit the stone, it exploded, and rocks flew through the air in all directions, impossible to avoid due to their speed and number. But because the woman had erected a thick ice wall between them and the explosion, they were largely unaffected. The Eldritch, on the other hand, wasn't as fortunate.
While the dust still obscured vision and their enemy stood stationary in one place to protect itself with its arms from the rock, the archer shot an arrow through a small hole in the ice wall. It dispersed all the dust as it darted through the air, but still, the Eldritch couldn't react in time to avoid it entirely. The arrow smashed into the Eldritch's shoulder and ripped off its entire arm, making it fly away into the distance together with its sword.
Durant and the woman didn't waste any time and moved around the wall, intending to finish off the Eldritch.
Vern was very impressed by what he had just witnessed as the coordination and skill they had shown were nothing he and his friends had ever reached.
Durant stabbed his sword through the Eldritch's neck as it tried to get back to his sword, killing it immediately. The woman headed further toward the cave to retrieve the sword and look for more enemies.
»That wasn't too bad«, the archer said as he walked passed Durant towards the woman. »I thought we wouldn't get it that easily.«
Durant looked up and nodded. »Yeah, was a good shot by you.«
He watched as the archer continued walking before his eyes fixated back on the amulet.
»Hmm … yeah … this should be it«, he mumbled to himself and looked up once again. As he saw the other two were busy inspecting the cave entrance, he quickly pulled the amulet of the Eldritch corpse and put it on himself, hiding it behind his leather armor.
»It feels so weird … «, he mumbled. »I have to later look into how it works exactly…«
»Hey, Durant, what do you think about this?«, the woman asked, beckoning him over. »Should we really go in here and run into a potential ambush?«
»Hmm, I don't know«, he said and stopped next to them, looking into the dark cave. »Do we have another option?«
»Well, not really«, the other man said. »But maybe we should look for a different entry.«
»No, by that time, they could be already far away«, the woman replied. »We don't know if it's just one cave or an entire tunnel system, so we shouldn't waste too much time elsewhere … but I've got an idea for a contingency plan if things go south.« She swirled her spear through the air, and as if this was all choreographed, Durant and the man jumped backward next to each other. The flames on Durant's sword lit up and extended around them, just a few moments before a blizzard-like wave of cold hit it, freezing the remaining moisture in the air that sizzled when it came into contact with the flame cocoon.
As quickly as it had appeared, it was already over, and the entire area was covered in thick ice layers.
»That should do!«, the woman exclaimed. »If we run into serious problems in there, we just retreat and blow up the entire mountain. You think you can do that?« She looked at Durant, who approached the cave entrance again. He used his sword's pommel and smashed against some of the frozen rocks that shattered on contact.
»Well … like this, it should be possible«, he confirmed, and the woman nodded. Then she handed him the black sword she had picked up so he could store it in his unoccupied scabbard. »Let's go and finish this!«
The archer lit up a torch and followed the other two into the cave. With the frozen walls reflecting the light far ahead, they had no trouble seeing where they were going. After a few minutes of walking through the passage, it widened and led into a large vault.
»Hmm, what is this?«, Durant said as he saw something on the ground near the entrance. As they came closer, they could identify it as an Eldtrich's body.
»What the hell?«, the woman said, and she kicked it, but it didn't react. Now they saw even more of them lying on the ground. »Have they committed all suicide or what?« She inspected the next one, and it also seemed very dead.
»I don't like this …«, Durant said and readied his sword. »There is no way they would just give up like this, right?«
But none of them could answer his question. They carefully stepped over the body, making sure each one was indeed dead so they wouldn't get stabbed in the back.
»Durant, can you light the area up for a moment?«, the woman asked. He nodded, and flames formed around his sword before they traveled through the air in front.
»Ugh«, Durant groaned, and his hand went to his heart.
»Are you alright?«, the archer asked as he passed by. »Low on mana?«
»No, no, I am good«, Durant assured hastily. »Just some itching.«
»Guys look over here«, the woman said. The man gave Durant one last look before he went to check out the miscellaneous objects on the ground that had been revealed.
Durant put his hand below his armor and touched the amulet. He moved his arm around for a bit before he had a look by removing a part from his neck. Confirming with his eyes that the amulet was attached to his chest, he frantically tried to remove it but to no avail.
»What the … «, Durant mumbled in disbelief and lit up his sword again. At least it looked like he tried, although his success was marginal and made him pant.
His two companions had already moved further away to investigate this strange place. Suddenly, a scream pierced through the air. Durant looked up and saw the last traces of the black mist that had entered the man's body from one of the dead Eldritch on the ground. The woman stepped back immediately after hearing him cry out. But the man suddenly launched forward at her.
Durant ran towards them, but he was so much slower than before, his sword flickered weakly in his hand. The torch had dropped next to the two people who rolled around on the ground.
When Durant reached them, the woman had managed to distance herself and stabbed the spear through the man's body, which instantly turned into ice and shattered the next moment.
However, black mist rose from his remains, and as the woman tried to escape it, her and Durant's eyes made contact. They both were confused, not knowing what was happening, not knowing what was their foe or how to deal with it.
The mist touched the woman's body just two meters in front of Durant. With her eyes, the woman gave him one last look while she still was in control, and the very next moment, a massive wall of ice was erected between the both of them. Her right arm and hand were completely frozen inside while her spear just stuck out on the other side, ready for Durant to take it.
He stared at her briefly as she saw her eyes turn hateful, and she struggled to free herself from the shackles. With one strike into the ice, he completely ripped out the spear. It dropped to the floor next to the bow.
He picked up both of his comrade's weapons and ran away, looking only behind once to see how the mist filled the space behind the wall as it desperately tried to find a hole to get to the other side.
Durant groaned in pain as he used his mana to propel himself forward. His sword continued to flicker and lightened his way. Vern could feel his pain and desperation while he made his way to the exit. There, he turned around and pointed his sword into the darkness. The flickering became more frequent until a small ball of flame formed at the tip. Durant breathed heavily as he condensed everything into it, and when he released it, he collapsed onto the floor immediately, grasping his heart and crying in pain while an explosion shook the ground below him.
The images blurred, and instead of the frozen rocks, Vern stared at the floor of a forest. He looked up towards Velvet as his mind tried to deal with this sudden change of location. But instead of thinking about what he had just seen, he was only reminded of what had just happened a few minutes ago.
›So what do you think of it?‹, Velvet asked in his normal voice. Vern could tell that he tried to distract him but couldn't follow his lead. Instead of answering, he took out the ring he had retrieved from Irina's hand and stared at it.
In his mind, the picture of him killing her repeated over and over. What had he done? And why had this ring failed him?
Tears started to form in his eyes, and as he spent time in his mind, the voices he had pushed into the background were audible again. They talked to him, wanting him to kill and become stronger.
All those feelings overwhelmed Vern completely. On the one hand, he was terribly sad, but those other feelings that weren't his mixed into his.
Enraged, he threw the ring onto the floor.
It hadn't worked and was a worthless piece of trash.
But as he gazed at it, his attitude changed immediately and he dropped himself on top of it. He just couldn't throw away the only thing he had left of her.
The tears flooded out of his eyes, and he cried his heart out, with Velvet standing silently at his side and watching over him.