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CHAPTER FORTY
Shard of Darkness
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CONGRATULATIONS! You have completed the quest: Save the Master, Save the World! Rewards will now be distributed.
Bram didn’t need confirmation from the quest reward to tell him he’d won the loyalty of the Coven of Stargazers, though it was encouraging to see the system grow alongside his forces.
CONGRATULATIONS! The system’s knowledge base has grown! The Loom’s resources have increased by [0.10%].
Current resource rate: 1.243%
When he was a child, every victory was a chance to deny Bram the boons he so rightly deserved. Now, it seemed the opposite was true. Every successful challenge, discovery, and person who bent the knee to him was an opportunity for the Loom to shower him with gifts.
How the tables have turned.
ALERT! The reward [Earn the loyalty of the [Flametail Tribe] is suspended until a new requirement is met.
ALERT! The reward [Gain control of the [Red Ruin]] is suspended until certain conditions have been met.
“Looks like this adventure ain’t over,” Chris observed.
“Aye.” Bram’s gaze drifted to the top of the husk that was Loveless’ final form. “Did you find anything interesting in there?”
Chris nodded. “Bridget and I did find something that was giving off all kinds of bad juju. Y’all might want to check it out.”
With his report finished, the Texan turned a cool blue gaze at Merak and his friends.
“Y’all offered to help,” he grinned, “and I ain’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so let’s get to wrangling.”
The young sorcerers eyed each other with confusion.
“He means for you to follow him,” Ravi supplied.
With Ravi as a translator for Chris, the young sorcerers followed the Texan to the husk’s feet where the roots could be found.
Bram, who remained where he was, had a troubled look. “Must we go in there…?”
Despite having gone through many grueling challenges that have showered him in blood and guts, the prince still wasn’t keen on the idea of wading inside a dead monster’s innards. Not even a bard would relish the thought.
“Your Highness…” someone called in a tentative voice.
When Bram glanced over his shoulder, the young woman he’d rescued earlier stood a little behind him. She gazed at him with worry clear on her face.
“The Vice Master told me that my grandfather was fighting outside, but—”
“We’ll go out to help as soon as we’re done here,” Bram reassured her.
Relief flooded the silver-haired Alkaid’s face.
“We also wanted to thank you again for rescuing us.” She elbowed the girl fidgeting beside her. “Go on.”
Despite her pale blonde hair half-covering her heart-shaped face, Bram could still see Phecda’s reddened cheeks.
“Your Highness…” She couldn’t look him in the eye. “I…”
It was obvious from the guilt and shame mixed in her expression that Phecda was building toward an apology of some sort. Only, Bram wasn’t keen on listening to some half-baked excuses for her shaming him when they were younger just because he’d proven to her now that he was no longer the ill-fated prince that she and the other young ladies of the Sovereign’s court rejected so vehemently.
Bram turned away because he couldn’t completely hide the anger bubbling in the corners of his consciousness. It wasn’t Phecda’s fault. Not really. She was simply following rules that had been set long before she or Bram were born. In the Imperium, only those with power were truly worthy, while those without it were left at the edges of society to fend for themselves or die bereft and alone.
“I’m a little busy.” Bram grabbed Rowan’s hand, and their fingers intertwined. “We’ll talk later.”
As if he’d forgotten how much he didn’t want to wade into a dead monster’s innards, Bram ignored the rope that Chris left dangling in front of him and leaped up to the top of the husk’s stomach with Rowan in tow. Luckily, he had a few minutes of ‘Giant’s Strengthening’ left, and he managed an impressively high leap without difficulty.
“Show off,” Rowan teased.
“You’ve learned more Earth speak.” he grinned at her. “Pretty soon, you’ll be sounding exactly like Bridget.”
“Would you mind if I did?”
They locked gazes, each looking favorably at the other.
“No, I wouldn’t mind it at all.”
With some effort, Bram turned away from Rowan’s crimson-eyed gaze so that he could inspect the corpse Loveless had left behind. As he expected, the giant nymph’s burnt body had lost some of its figure, with parts of it returned to the form of the great tree she’d possessed. In a way, it looked like the chrysalis left behind by a butterfly after its metamorphosis. The hole that cut across its stomach and chest gave that sort of impression.
“The nymph I killed in the end…was it her true form?”
Rowan nodded.
“She must have realized Ravi’s spell would break her, and so the spirit chose to flee its body, leaving itself weakened enough to be slain by mortal hands…”
“Then she should have fled instead of trying to kill me.”
“If you’d done to me what you did to her, I might have risked my existence to end yours as well.”
Sweat slid down Bram’s cheek.
“I…I was hoping you were concentrating too hard on your exorcism to notice…”
“I thought you’d learned this by now”—Rowan’s tone was impish—“but I notice everything.”
Without turning to look at him, she dived into the gaping hole by their feet. Bram sighed, and with the barest hesitation, he followed her into the dead nymph’s corpse.
It wasn’t a long drop, though it did feel like Bram fell longer than he expected. Indeed, without the effects of ‘Giant Strengthening’ aiding him, the prince may have broken a bone or two when he landed hard on the ground that was like the inner bark of a tree.
Strangely, the husk’s insides were nearly as large as the hall he’d come from.
“Could this be an enchanted space…?”
“‘Tis an example of excellent charm work.”
From what Bram knew of the enchantment arts, it was indeed possible to add certain properties to an individual, object, or place that could, among other things, expand the space within them, making it many times larger than its exterior suggested. The Satchel for Storing, Pouch of Many Coins, and the more popular Dimensional Diary which sold for high prices at the capital’s enchantment emporiums were proof of this arcane concept.
Speaking of spaces that could hold items many times their weight and size, Bram recalled Chris’ heavily laden bag full of spoils and thought it might be time to invest in more storage space. Though expensive, such enchanted items would be more cost-effective than dragging porters around in future adventures.
“Surely, the sale we make from today’s spoils will buy us one diary.”
Bram could opt for the cheaper satchel for storing, but being too frugal and seen as a pauper was just one of those things a prince ought not to do.
“Over here, Prince!” came Bridget’s voice.
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She and Hajime were waving at Bram from outside a circle of young pines that reminded him of the blessed grove they’d visited the day before.
“Hajime seems to have survived his fall unscathed,” Rowan noted, adding, “I suppose he used Falling Plume properly this time.”
The pair were already walking toward their companions when Bram stopped abruptly. He glanced sideways at Rowan with surprise. “What?”
“Ravi taught him the spell whilst you were unconscious,” she revealed, further explaining, “Part of Hajime’s experiment with copying magic from another sorcerer with the Loom’s assistance.
“…And it worked?”
“After several tries and only because Falling Plume is a common enchantment.”
Bram, who’d tried and failed to learn a basic spell like ‘Power Strike’ knew how challenging it was for sorcerers to acquire new sorcery. It had a process that demanded more time than the twenty minutes he’d been passed out.
A smidge of envy bloomed in him.
“‘Tis true that his speed of learning new spells is absurdly quick,” Rowan said as if she could see the jealousy on Bram’s face, which she did. “Even considering the Loom’s support, Hajime’s potential as a sorcerer is exceptional, but we already knew that since we suspect him of being a dream walker…and isn’t this something to celebrate?”
Her praise of Hajime caused that twinge of envy to rumble in Bram’s insides, but it was quickly tempered by the reminder that his companion’s growth was exactly what the prince wanted. With this realization came the expelling of a heavy breath, and envy went with it.
“Yes, you’re right.”
“I usually am.”
They walked onward a bit more before Rowan said something else to make Bram’s steps falter.
“To be able to learn a spell that would take even trained sorcerers’ weeks of learning, understanding, and then trial to manifest properly… Truly, the Loom is an ingenious tool.”
Acquiring a spell’s formula isn’t simple memorization but requires an understanding of its sorcery’s purpose and history too. Only then can one begin the third step of basic spell craft; manifestation—and there should be much trial and error before a perfect manifestation could be achieved. However, with the processing power of what Hajime called the Loom’s ‘Neural Network’, a user needn’t dive too deeply into the inner workings of a spell and simply rely on the system to manage steps one and two so that a user like Bridget or Chris could go straight to step three. In such a case, Bram deduced that a spell’s formula was already encoded into the system’s spell list, allowing the user to use it so long as they had enough magic for casting.
“It would be as easy as notching an arrow to one’s bow and then letting it loose,” Bram pondered. “Still, without an inherent understanding of the formula, wouldn’t a spell’s power be less?”
“Yes, it might… A spell’s strength is determined by many factors such as one’s inherent magic power, but mastery of a spell is also a key factor in its potency,” Rowan conceded.
“Mastery…”
Bram wondered what might happen should Hajime decide to learn the original methodology of spell crafting. Would his power grow more compared to the Loom’s future users?
‘Ba-dump.’
Bram frowned. “Did you hear that…?”
“The sound is coming from over there,” Rowan answered.
The closer the duo got to Hajime and Bridget, the more they heard the unmistakable sound of a heartbeat.
‘Ba-dump.’
Bram’s hand instinctively flew to Dusk’s handle which was now clipped to his belt. “I thought she was dead…?”
“She is,” Bridget reported, her face paler than usual. “What you’re hearing is coming from something else…in there.”
She pointed a thumb over her shoulder.
‘Ba-dump.’
As Bram moved past her, Bridget grabbed his arm, and in a warning tone, said, “Don’t listen, if you can. Or it might drive you mad…”
He saw a strange glint in her eyes that reminded him of the hunger that had been present in the eyes of those creatures of the forest they’d defeated.
‘Ba-dump.’
“Are you alright?”
“I might not be if Hajime hadn’t pulled me out of there in time…”
Bram’s gaze drifted to Hajime, and he saw that the Japanese man’s face had become paler too.
“Interesting,” Rowan whispered. “Very interesting.”
Without another word, she crossed through a gap in the tree line. And, not wanting her to go alone, Bram followed.
Upon crossing the tree line, he was struck by a strong gust of wind that carried a toxicity that was like Loveless’ fel voice, but stronger. Much stronger. For Bram, it was as if a dozen snakes were suddenly slithering inside his head, with each one whispering sickening thoughts to his mind.
Weak, whispered one. Always trying, yet always failing.
Pitiful, said another. Envious of those with the talent you lack.
Bram felt nausea overwhelm him, and he fell to his knees on the spongy ground.
Angry, murmured a third. Dreaming of vengeance against those who mock you.
Greedy, added a fourth. Coveting even—
A hand grasped him, intertwining its fingers around his, and then the noise that scratched at his mind like nails on a chalkboard winked out.
Bram blinked. “W-What…?”
‘Ba-dump.’
“Not to worry,” Rowan said as she helped him to his feet, “I’ll protect you from the darkness within.”
“Darkness within…?” His brow creased. “I don’t understand…”
“You will soon enough.”
They walked hand in hand, treading through spongy ground that was like the inside of a mango, toward the object floating at the center of what Bram guessed was this tree’s layer of pith.
‘Ba-dump.’
Unbidden, the memory of his first meeting with his family’s source of power appeared in his mind.
“Is that…?”
Though it lacked the Dawnlight Stone’s size, the fist-sized crystal floating before them seemed quite similar. However, instead of light, there was darkness within it that was as black as the blackest pit.
‘Ba-dump.’
“What manner of devilry is this…?”
It pulsed like a beating heart, the sound of its thumps echoing throughout this inner space and sending shivers across Bram’s entire body.
‘Ba-dump.’
“‘Tis a shard of the Midnight Stone…”
“The Midnight Stone…?”
Being the seventh prince of Atlan, Bram was privy to a secret few in the Imperium knew; the existence of ancient artifacts possessing great magical power…the kind that built empires and split continents. They hailed from the Age of Dreams, the earliest of Aarde’s recorded history, a time when unholy nightmares walked the earth, and the gods still lived among their creations.
When the gods chose to rise to High Heaven, they left behind three gifts for man to wield so that our light might never dim…
It was a lecture he’d heard many times before. Not just from the clerics of the gods’ temples, but also from the many mentors who grew disappointed by a young Bram’s lacking talent.
Three stones there were, each possessing a shard of Phoebus’ light within them…
“The Dawnlight Stone, the Midlight Stone,” Bram recalled now, “and…”
He glanced down at the gold handle clipped to his belt.
“…the Dusklight Stone.”
It wasn’t until the Sovereign had shown him the treasure room underneath the throne room that Bram learned the Dawnlight Stone wasn’t a myth.
Once, when he’d accompanied his sister Camilla—the only one of his siblings who didn’t mind his company—on a visit to Delphyne for the cleansing ceremony that preceded her marriage to a noble of the Plains Kingdom of Navarra, Camilla had told him in secret that she’d been cleansed by the Dusklight Stone hidden in the catacombs underneath the Delphyne Observatory. Of course, Bram thought she was just teasing him, but now, with Dusk in his possession, he realized his sister might have been telling the truth.
As for the Midlight Stone, Bram knew it had been real for it had been the cause of a great tragedy that occurred a year before his birth. In those days, the Atlan Imperium had thirteen kingdoms. One was lost to civil war and the unleashing of terrible power strong enough to sink a piece of the western continent into the Shimmering Sea.
“I’ve never heard of a Midnight Stone…”
“Of course not.” Rowan scoffed. “The gods would never willingly reveal a memento of their greatest shame to their followers…”
This time, Bram chose not to hold his tongue. Some backstory was necessary.
“All things must come in balance…and there can be no light without darkness.” A dark smile grew on Rowan’s face. “Behold…you look upon a shard broken from the Heart of Darkness itself.”
Grave as the ‘Heart of Darkness’ sounded, Bram’s brain couldn’t help but turn its cogs, and he wondered if such a power could be wielded to the great undertaking’s benefit.
“The Stargazers must have thought the same as you do now.”
It wasn’t a reproach exactly, but Bram still felt the sting of Rowan’s words.
“They coveted what they cannot and should not touch, for humans, despite your many faults, are not made for the dark.”
“Then what do we do with it?” Bram asked, adding, “We cannot leave it here to be found by others…”
“We won’t.”
Hesitantly, Rowan stretched out her hand toward the floating shard, but Bram pulled her back before her fingers could touch it.
“What are you doing — you said we couldn’t use it!”
“I said humans couldn’t use it.”
Bram stiffened.
Rowan had become such a constant presence in his life, a ray of sunshine to his dreary world, that he almost forgot that she wasn’t the young noblewoman she pretended to be.
“The nymph—”
“Was too weak and compromised by her madness to make this shard hers…”
“And what of your…inclinations?”
Brigid’s words scrolled through his mind unbidden. But then Rowan’s hand came up to touch his cheek, and the anxiety growing within him faded.
“I will never lose control so long as you’re by my side.”
They gazed at one another, each looking favorably at the other, and then Bram’s other hand slipped from her wrist.
“I believe in you.”
“I know.”
Rowan flashed him an impish grin, and before Bram could react again, plucked the shard of the Midnight Stone from the air so that it now lay pressed in her hand.
“You’ve kept your promise.”
Ribbons of black lightning rose out of the shard to cling to the tips of her fingers.
“What promise?”
This dark energy began flowing into her hand, causing black veins to spread across her pale flesh.
“You promised that we would find relics to fuel my power and return to me what I—”
Rowan’s eyes narrowed.
“Ugh…”
Bram had never heard such a pained sound escape her lips before. Not in all the time that he’d known her.
“Rowan…?”
The trickster gasped aloud and then stumbled. She might have fallen to her knees if Bram wasn’t still holding her other hand.
“What’s wrong?!”
“Too much power…all at once… I can’t…”
As more ribbons of dark energy flowed into her, traveling the length of her arm like poison veins spreading over her flesh, Rowan began to convulse.
WARNING! The dark energy emanating from the [Shard of the Midnight Stone] will affect you as well if you continue to stay next to [Rowan Wolfe].
“Don’t tell me what I already know, dammit!” Bram snapped. “Tell me how to help her!”
…
“If she dies, I die — and it’ll be the end of you!”
…
This time, Rowan did fall to her knees, and she brought Bram down with her. To her credit, the trickster didn’t cry aloud. Even now, she was attempting to gain mastery over the shard…but Bram didn’t think she could do it alone, and the Loom agreed with him.
You may attempt to siphon off some of its energy to ease her burden…
It was the first time that the Loom had spoken to him as if it were addressing him directly. Bram had no time to ponder this strange occurrence, however, for with Rowan’s strength diminishing, the maddening snakes were once again beginning to slither inside his head.
“How…do…I—”
For the blood is the life…
It was all the hint he needed.
He didn’t have fangs to bite her with, but with the Midnight Stone’s shard wreaking havoc on her insides, wounds were beginning to appear on Rowan’s body.
“Hold on.”
A tendril of dark energy lashed at her neck, cutting deep into the flesh.
“I’m here.”
With no hesitation, Bram dived in and pressed his lips to her throat… The pain that followed was overwhelming…
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An announcement post will arrive in 30 minutes with details for the Character Creation Event! Readers will get to be part of the story with their created characters who will appear once the Loom of Ill Fates launches on Earth. Read the details in the post later!