CHAPTER 28: LIVING HEXES

The clock had hit past midnight when they finally left Point Sylvia. In the end, they decided to split up from Tyrel who chose to lead the group of unblessed the next day out of the forest. According to the route Soren had charted, the journey should take them to the Aelloran border in just a few days. That route had also been cleared of any Spirit Beasts and Malevolent Hexes so the chance of them meeting anything too dangerous was relatively small. And because the Illusionary Barrier only thwarted the advance of people trying to reach Yadria, they had no reason to worry about getting lost or off track.

Due to this decision, Soren discovered something else about The Records. The pages could be ripped off from the book and they would continue to display the information on them. He got the idea to test this because Tyrel needed a map of the route they had gone through. To test it, he first ripped a small piece from the edge of a page and when that didn’t have any consequences, he moved to ripping out an entire map. He was afraid that the information recorded would be lost, but that turned out not to be the case. Any information ripped from a page would simply regenerate the moment he commanded his Soul Weapon to do so, leaving two copies of the same information—one still in his book, the other on the ripped sheet of paper.

Unfortunately, however, the information on the ripped piece of the map was not dynamic—it didn’t magically change depending on the location they were in—it simply turned into regular ink and paper.

Still, this was an extremely useful ability to have for sharing information on the fly.

In those few hours he spent with the unblessed, Soren still managed to get attached to them, especially that little girl with freckles named Liluth. He wasn’t sure why, but she reminded him of his own childhood.

No, he did know why. That girl was extremely smart. Soren was fairly sure she knew that he was lying about Tyrel finding her brother soon. From a young age, Soren had trained his poker face to not reflect his emotions, first to thwart his own father from finding reasons to pick on him, and then he used the skill throughout his professional career as a chess player. That girl Liluth—she had the same skill as him.

The only time her stone-cold face broke was when she ate the bowl of porridge Tina had offered to them. He saw as her face melted into both relief and hope.

After talking with her for a bit, he found out that she and her brother used to work under a noble as servants—their mother was a prostitute. When they were younger, they were excessively beaten whenever they cried. At some point, she didn’t know when, but the tears stopped coming out.

After they parted ways, a part of his excitement for Yadria died. The more he heard about the place, the shittier it sounded. Still, the descriptions Myrin had told him of the sacred city made it sound so fantastical-looking. Living all his life in some messed up block in Brooklyn, New York made it hard for him to resist the urge to want to visit such a place. Though he did get the chance to visit other places briefly for chess tournaments, most of that time was spent focusing on the matches rather than admiring the views.

During the trip toward Yadria, the carriage was mostly silent. The stories they heard about the Malevolent Hexes and the spread of The Nameless Mist were all extremely horrifying. To a person without a Soul Realm to create a boundary, simply inhaling the mist was deadly. In a way, Soren was lucky that he met a Memory Void Spirit rather than a Husk when he first transmigrated to Yarian. If it had been the other kind, he would have most likely become a Malevolent Hex himself. It did get him to wonder though—if a Phantasm was corrupted by the mist, would they be any different from the Malevolent Hexes he’s been used to seeing by now? He hoped he wouldn't need to find out the answer to that question.

There was one thing he did like about the trip so far—the fact that he could sleep. Ever since they started their journey, Soren was forced to stay awake during the times they moved to make sure the Illusionary Barrier didn’t change and throw them off course. And because they were rushing toward their destination due to the issue with his lifespan, he had to stay awake for sixteen to eighteen hours a day just to keep track of the map—most of which was also spent mentally exhausting himself with overusing [Eyes of the Fairy] and practicing his Soul Realm’s expansion rate.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Now however, that was no longer necessary. An ethereal glowing string led them toward the correct path, as promised by the Saintess of Dreams, Sylia. Soren now could trade shifts with Myrin to move the carriage. Much to his surprise, the trees continued to morph themselves out of the way even when Myrin was asleep. He wondered if this was just the effect of his Soul Weapon or whether the trees simply feared his music that much. He wanted to believe in the latter—it was a much funnier conclusion.

Soren wasn’t sure what the time was, but he could slightly see the glow from the sun past the sea of crimson tree leaves. The dawn had finally reached them.

Yadria had finally reached them.

The first thing Soren saw was a colossal tree trunk that soared high into the sky. Yesterday, it had seemed distant—a vague silhouette against the clouds. But now it dominated the horizon, as if someone had picked up New York City’s Central Park and lifted it on its side, stretching it into the heavens.

And far greater than its mighty stem were the branches that unfolded the higher you tilted your neck—each carrying millions of golden leaves that radiated in energy. If he had been drunk, the chances of him mistaking the golden crown of the tree for a second sun weren’t zero.

Even its countless twigs were probably the size of buildings.

Soren awoke Myrin from his slumber. “We’re here.”

His flutist elf companion rubbed his eyes as he glanced up past the treeline, only for his gaze to meet an even taller tree. He smiled, “Just as it was 15 years ago—how mysterious. Praise the blossoms.”

As they continued down the unfolding road, a large clearing appeared within the forest. A mile or so ahead was a large stone-brick wall that extended across the clearing—the trees had merged with it, as if their branches were purposefully reinforcing the structure.

The elven city rose with the enchanted forest trees. The towers that peered up from beyond the walls were a blend of old Victorian Gothic elegance and the natural magic of the forest’s flora and fauna. Some of the roofs were covered in green or cyan grass and flowers. Others had mushrooms budding from underneath their windows.

As their carriage drew closer to the wall, Soren noticed the air thickening. It was as if there was a strange energy permeating the air that shifted colors. Myrin explained that it was the Illusionary Barrier which had gotten stronger as they closed in on the sacred city.

Suddenly, the earth shook around them. What the hell? An Earthquake?! He looked around in panic. Myrin ordered the headless ogre to stop in its tracks.

Roughly thirty something meters ahead, Soren noticed the Earth jutting upward in a strange manner—mounds of dirt and cyan grass rose up from the ground, growing rapidly. They grew larger until Soren and Myrin noticed the shape of a body forming from the liquid earth.

Soren immediately understood what they were—at least superficially: Golems. They stood on their four limbs like gorillas eyeing their prey. Their limbs themselves were made of disjointed stones that were attached together, similar to the Stonehenge monuments back on Earth. Cyan moss and grass was scattered all over their bodies—one of them even had a large, colorful mushroom cap above its head like a hat. Their emerald green eyes radiated energy—they looked fairly peaceful to Soren but he knew they were dangerous.

“Living Hexes,” Myrin explained. “These are the defenders of the city. The barrier can recognize our intentions—the moment we show signs of aggression, thousands of these golems will continue to form until we are defeated.”

Soren gulped. “Can you defeat them?”

He frowned. “That’s the wrong question to ask. You should be asking me if we can survive against them.”

“.....”

“I'm going to order the headless ogre to continue its march. We have permission from the Holy Saintess to enter the city. Just ignore their gazes and don’t even think about aggression of any kind. They should allow us to pass—at least I think so anyway.”

Soren turned to the window behind him and informed Tina of what was happening.

Myrin ordered the headless ogre to continue moving the carriage. It only took a minute or so until their carriage was literally right between the two Living Hexes. From afar, they looked huge, but it was a different story once they got up close. The golems were colossal—each one could probably peek over the walls of Yadria. Saying their carriage was dwarfed by their size was an understatement—a single boulder that composed their towering limbs was double the size of it.

Soren felt his chest tighten as they strolled past the two stone monstrosities. He could feel time slow down as sweat rolled down his cheek. Just one kick from it could probably turn their bodies and the carriage into dust.

Luckily, Myrin’s hypothesis was correct. The two Living Hexes simply watched as their carriage moved closer to the wall. In the distance a large gate appeared before them.

Myrin exhaled in relief and looked over at Soren who was trying not to piss himself. He smiled, “Welcome to the sacred city, Yadria!”