Chapter 18 - A Rift of Secrets

While Adam and Emily made their way through the tunnel, the light from the patterned trail in the ground gradually dimmed to a soft glow. Although the lack of sunlight or clocks had messed with their sense of time, as they had no idea how long they’d been in there, it reminded them of night-time.

After setting up a camp, with a small bonfire and makeshift mats they had made from vegetation, they decided to prepare for upcoming combat.

At first, Emily practised with her new spear. Effortlessly, she switched between the elegant combat stances as taught in the martial arts of the Talons of Aves. In order to use a flexible fighting style, she liked training in both physical combat and Novaseering. Contrary to Oliver, who focused purely on Novaseering and long-range Invocations. He always preferred to keep his hands clean from ‘distasteful brawls up close.’

Later on, Emily moved on to conjure and throw Marrow spears at the withered trees on the other side of the tunnel. Although she was more than able to form objects like feather-shaped daggers, she had little experience with larger weaponry or controlling her Marrow from a distance. She figured that especially the last one could be useful when fighting Shepherds.

Adam started by practising his vaults and rolls, having his faulty landing during the fight with the mysterious female warrior fresh in mind. After all, as he had no armour available and couldn’t use Novaseering, he was particularly reliant on his agility to stay unharmed. Afterwards, he followed his old training routine with several kinds of punches and kicks.

Adam groaned during his push-ups from a handstand position. Sweat trickled down his forehead and his arms trembled in the effort. Gritting his teeth, he remembered how easy these exercises used to be. Back during the War of the Prophet, he was able to do way more repetitions while wearing severely weighted equipment. Now, not only his strength but his coordination and speed as well were shadows of what they used to be. Then again, there was no way to fix it but to train.

He silently wondered whether he should try to practice his Forbidden Arts. On one hand, he still felt repulsed by it. Any chance to still redeem his soul sounded appealing after all. And if he slipped up, letting the Crimson Urges take over, it would get dangerous indeed. On the other hand, enemies like the Shepherd were immensely powerful. Could he afford to ignore the advantage of Invocations? And shouldn’t he train to use the Invocations properly to maximise his chances of survival and saving his family?

Adam pushed his trembling body back up into a handstand. But how could I explain to Emily that I’ve broken my vow? Or did she notice already? I did recover quickly from—

“Oops! Look out!” Emily yelled. A Marrow disc flew off course and came straight at Adam. “Sorry! Sorry!”

Adam startled and dropped onto his shoulder. The razor-sharp disc missed him by a hair’s breadth and embedded itself into a tree trunk behind him. His arm quivered as he had hit his funny bone exactly on a small rock. He mumbled several of the exquisite swear words he’d once learned from their old captain.

“Ah, yes, an excellent way to catch enemies by surprise!” he grumbled. “Could you pick someone else for your target practice?”

“Hey! I said sorry!” she replied as she strode towards him.

Adam stood up with a fake grin. “Oh yeah, now that you mention it. My arm feels way better since you said that.” His thumb twitched uncontrollably as the fuzzy, tingling pain spread across his forearm.

"Pff, it’s not like I aimed for you,” Emily said. “I would’ve hit you if I had.”

Adam laughed and shook out his arm, glad that they were talking again, at least. “Really now? Then I guess you wouldn’t mind a little impromptu sparring match?”

Emily twirled her spear. With a smirk, she gathered Oquira, making the air around her shimmer with energy. “And I thought you were still crying about your—”

A whisper echoed through the hallways again, this time it was the eery woman’s voice they’d heard before. The words were strangely slurred this time. “Everything is my fault again, eh? Fine! Leave me here to rot! It’s not like you’ve ever cared…” The voice disappeared again.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Emily’s eyes widened; she froze in her tracks and the Oquira around her dissipated again. Pale as if she’d seen a ghost, she looked around skittishly.

Carefully, Adam approached her. “Hey, Emily, easy now. There’s no one there.” He thought about placing a reassuring hand on her arm but remembered in time she hated to be touched. “Do you... recognise the voices?” he asked softly.

Emily ignored him. She kept looking around, holding her spear ready to strike.

An angry, pulsing headache formed in the sides of Adam’s head, which he tried to ignore. “Emily, please, everything we learn about this place might increase our chances of survival.”

“Could this place be an illusion?” Emily asked suddenly.

Adam puffed out his cheeks. “Highly unlikely. I considered—”

Her eyes bore into his. “I don’t care if it’s unlikely! I never studied illusion Invocations, so, do you know if it can be done?!”

Adam was taken aback for a moment. “All of this? Schultora, the library, everything? The effort to do so would be insane. In an illusion, every detail—sound, smell, appearance, or whatever sensation—has to be explicitly created by the one who makes the illusion. That’s why most illusions occur over a short time and focus on one or two senses like sight and hearing. Usually, they’re used to distract or inform a target. With highly complex illusions covering multiple senses, there is practically no way to get all the details right. That’s how I found out about the snake’s illusion. And remember, we’ve been in this place for quite a while.”

Emily kept staring at him with a wild-eyed look.

Adam sighed. “King Albert, the guy who ruled over Dorenland 150 years ago. His six-year-old daughter nearly succumbed to fear as their citadel was besieged by Oberian invaders. He ordered Novaseers to keep her in an illusion, a dream world where she could be happy. However, the king didn’t want her to be locked up in a small place in the dream world, so he ordered the Novaseers to let her explore. It took a monstrous effort of four skilled Novaseers to maintain it, even though they made deliberately small and simple environments for her. She kept finding things that didn’t make sense and kept wandering to places the Novaseers had to imagine on the spot. So, a place as big as this? It would take thousands.”

Emily’s eyes stared glassily at the ground. “But the voices could be illusions.”

“True.” Adam was silent for a while. “If I can help you somehow—”

She squinted at him and curled her mouth in rage. “Why should I tell you?” she spat. “You’ll just shrug it off and make fun of me like always!” She stormed off before Adam could reply.

Adam stood dumbfounded. “What? No! I wouldn’t laugh, why do you think I would?”

But Emily kept walking, not showing any sign she heard. Adam frantically tried to remember when he had laughed after she had told him something serious.

After numerous cycles of what seemed like day-time and night-time in the labyrinth, there was light at the end of the tunnel. Quite literally.

As quietly as possible, Adam brushed a mass of hanging lianas and leaves to the side. He kept low to the ground and avoided the twigs and other noisy vegetation with his boots. “There,” he gestured at Emily in sign language and pointed at the orange shimmer that lit up walls and statues in the distance. It looked like the light of a fire.

Emily, who stood behind him, nodded. She drew her spear and readied her chain.

Adam sighed soundlessly. That was about as much interaction with her as he’d get, ever since their last interaction about the whispers that echoed through the tunnels. At first, he occasionally tried to theorize with her in what kind of bizarre place they had ended up. She didn’t seem interested though. So, Adam secretly hoped the strange light in the distance would break their all-too-silent rhythm of following the trail, gathering food, training, and either sleeping or keeping watch.

Slowly, quietly, they snuck their way forward. The source of the light turned out to be a ramshackle barricade that shielded a corner in the tunnel. It consisted of logs, large rocks, chopped pieces of the Overgrowth, and other rubble. It was strategically placed between the wall on one side and a thick, thorned mass of the Overgrowth on the other. A large wooden statue stood out lonely between the gnarled vines.

Trying to remain unseen, Adam and Emily got closer until a torn flag of the Dorenland Kingdom came into view: black and blue, with the silver talon of an owl in the middle. Adam’s shoulders slumped as some of the tension was released. “Civilization,” he breathed. “Finally.”

“Halt! Who goes there?” a male voice cried out from somewhere behind the barricade. “You two approach a proud fortification of the Royal Army! We have archers!”

“Emily Roosenburg!” She rose from a crouched position. “A Talon of Aves!”

“Balthasar Hase!” Adam said, effortlessly switching to the false name he’d used for years. “I served as a swordsman in the fifth legion during the War of the Prophet!”

Some indistinct muttering sounded from behind the barricade. Adam clearly felt they were being looked at.

“And with whom do we have the pleasure?” Adam yelled.

“Survivors!” a different voice said. “Oh, I mean… sorry sir… SOLDIERS OF THE THIRD LEGION!” A small, barely noticeable military flag was waved to emphasize.

“Do any of you have the plants?!” a third voice yelled, a bit too loudly.

Adam frowned. “What, you mean the Roots or the Overgrowth?”

“You know, THE PLANTS!”

“No! We don’t!” Emily shouted.

As soon as she finished talking, an arrow was clumsily fired. It landed about twelve feet to her left.

“DAMN IT, GEOFFREY!” the gruff voice shouted. “I SAID HOLD YOUR FIRE!”

“S-s-sorry sir! B-but my bowstring is all slippery!” A vague metal ‘clunk’ sounded, as if someone was hit on the helmet. “Err… sorry missus! I mean, err, madam?”

Emily tensed her jaw. Adam tried not to laugh at her grumpy expression. “Can we get in now?” she yelled.

“You have permission!”