That was the first time my artifact led others to believe I was crazy, though I did not know it yet. And although that ended up alright the first time, the second was much worse…

Funny, because it turns out that I am… damaged. Maybe it was telling me something…

Would you believe in the Light Gem, intruder?

-

Arwen stared at herself in the mirror, and a grim reflection stared back. The dim lighting of the Inn’s room cast a grey pallor over the Princess’s pale skin, contrasting her deep black hair falling in messy waves behind her neck. Her red and gold royal uniform officiated her jaw and prominent cheeks, allowing Arwen to project a stern and ladylike visage unbefitting of her youthful age while inviting those who would gaze upon her with striking blue eyes. But that was in normal circumstances. Currently, her lips were pressed firmly in a grim line and the dark bags under her bloodshot eyes gave her an almost gothic appearance. The close brush with mana madness had taken its toll on her body and mind, yet she couldn’t find it within her to sleep.

She reached behind her back and pulled the dagger from its hiding spot between her skin and uniform hem. At first, its cold steel presence made her fear it would slice into her while walking, but now she welcomed its company. It made her feel safer, despite knowing she couldn’t exactly go into melee with it. Her aim struck true, however, and that was all she needed. She twisted the blade in her hand and idly inspected the hilt which, to her mild surprise, had an Iekean inscription carved into the coarse leather.

Remember me, your loving soulmate.

It was a nice sentiment- one that brought a slight smile to Arwen’s face. It was an odd choice to use the Helvetian Iekean language, but the dialect’s flowing letters admittedly gave it a very decorational air.

She sighed and decided to lay atop her bed. The boys were downstairs dining after demanding she get some sleep. Though they were firm, Eryk made a quiet promise to steal some food to bring up to her afterwards, which was against the inn’s policy but a nice gesture regardless.

She wondered when they would return as she kicked off her mud-covered boots. Hopefully soon…

-cut-

The next morning, a well-rested Princess sat with her retainers in the dining hall, eagerly awaiting a long overdue breakfast after she had accidentally fallen asleep and skipped the evening and night. Gwyn and Eryk were arm wrestling with each other on the table in a display of gusto which Arwen felt happy to let wash over her without much thought. A gentle slam onto the table diverted the Princess’s attention to Gwyn’s wide eyes. “You are strong,” he sounded mighty impressed, too.

Eryk laughed. “Perhaps it is just luck.”

While Arwen was asleep, her retainers had not wasted time, and had asked around for a more general feel of the town’s opinions on the Dark Entity and the mayor. Thus far, two main comments were almost always being made; Myrddin was a coward for abandoning them and his son, Hefin, would be a poor mayor, and that the Dark Entity was unkillable and had been biding its time during its absence for a massive attack. One woman had also brought up the rumour of Myrddin’s illness again, but her retainers had opted not to comment on what they were told of by the doctor. Interestingly, none of the citizens believed Helvetia were behind the attacks, either. Though this was more so a result of general feelings and intuition, rather than anything based upon fact.

They had also questioned Arwen upon her awakening over yesterday’s events, and while she still maintained she had not been hallucinating, she did admit to its possibility. With the smoky film of memory obscuring the hunter’s appearance, she began to doubt herself. What if it was mana madness, and she had inadvertently crossed into it without realising? She didn’t think such a thing could be possible with her level of training, but she was an inexperienced lightning mage in the grand scheme of things.

At one point, the mayor’s aide, Wynn, had joined and made well on his promise to breakfast with them this morning. He raised an amused brow when Arwen inhaled her food, finishing her entire plate before even the gluttonous Gwyn could reach the halfway point, but made no comment and ate in a refined and thought-out manner. “How is Hefin?”

Arwen’s question was rude in Cyfoethian custom, which thought it abrasive to ask one to speak whilst they were eating, but she needed to break the silence that was stirring her mind into overdrive as her paranoia convinced herself that she was, in fact, seeing things in that mottled forest. Wynn, despite this, was happy to reply between mouthfuls. “He is doing okay, thank you. I have tried to locate him, but with no luck so far. I will try again after our meal. I understand that his… attitude may raise some questions, but know that Myrddin’s disappearance hit Hefin hard. The townsfolk will tell you that his inactivity as a mayor, going so far as to not even make a swear-in speech, is a sign of his inherited cowardice, but grief is a nasty beast to contend with. But enough of that, Princess. Tell me about yourself. I’ve seen you only once before, when you were a child, and I find myself knowing nothing of my future Queen. I want to know the lady behind her title, if you would permit me my curiosity.”

Arwen stumbled, caught off guard. “Well… I’m the Princess and heir to Cyfoeth… uh…”

She ran out of things to say.

“Okay,” Wynn nodded encouragingly. “What are your plans when you ascend the throne? What kind of ruler will you be?”

“… Uhm,” Arwen had never thought that far ahead. She had always assumed things would simply… fall into place. “I suppose I’ll keep doing what my father has been doing…”

“Wynn,” Gwyn interjected when he noticed the Princess’s discomfort, “could you tell me what Hefin was like before Myrddin’s death?”

Arwen was thankful when Wynn turned his attention to the Sentinel.

“Hefin was always quiet,” Wynn explained, unbothered by the abrupt change in topic. “But he was a talented hunter who walked in his father’s footsteps. About two years ago, Myrddin began to demand of me to train Hefin in preparation of inheriting his mayoral position, so he was forced out of his job as a game-hunter. It was a very sudden change for the young man, but he took it well. Hefin and I are familiar with each other, not so much as I am with his father, but he used to call me uncle when he was fifteen. I may therefore be biased, but my expectation is that Hefin will make a great mayor, for he took to his training well. He is diligent, hard-working, and skilled- missing his father’s charisma, however makes up for that by action.”

In the corner of her eye, Arwen noticed Cai flash her a significant look. She suppressed a sigh. This was it. Time to use the Light Gem. Arwen was not in the mood to make excuses to herself, and there would be no more running. She fingered the artifact and raised her eyes to Wynn’s as she asked her next question. “Can you tell me about when you saw the Dark Entity?”

WYNN YARWOOD RAN towards the cries of alarm on the near-side curvature of Alaru’s protective wall. A great commotion was ongoing as the guarding soldiers began to reposition and yell commands towards each other. The fatigue and weariness that had been dragging on the aide had completely disappeared, replaced by the cold hard buzz of adrenaline coursing through his veins.

Wynn did not know whether or not it was the beast the soldiers had dubbed the ‘Dark Entity’, but at the same time… he knew. Only the beast could inspire such levels of fear in the soldier’s eyes as it did when he was interviewing them the previous day. The mere recollection of the thing was enough to send spikes of fear into their eyes, which made Wynn a mixture of anxious and excited to finally lay eyes on what was a quickly becoming an infamous legend among Alaru.

“Fire!” a soldier yelled in the distance. A volley of arrows was immediately launched downwards by the dozen or so archers who had managed to run into position in time. By now, Wynn had started to hear high-pitched clanging noises and explosions of debris as the beast commenced its attack on the wall. When he finally reached a position that was out of the way but offered an undisrupted view of the beast, Wynn’s heart froze in place.

The murky darkness of the night-painted forest made it difficult to make out, but Wynn’s dilated pupils caught just enough light to make out a billowing outline of pitch-black miasma in the shape of an impossibly tall and broad human. Glowing red eyes stared menacingly in what struck Wynn as an unfocused manner, as if it was not quite aware of what it was seeing.

What really drew the aide’s eyes, however, was the faintly glowing broadsword in the beast’s hands. It was what he estimated to be a slightly larger version of your standard soldier’s sword, which made it look comically small in such a large ‘hand’, but its semi-transparent blade glowed a starry white lustre that spilled into the sword’s white handled hilt. The ‘Dark Entity’, which Wynn now recognised as an apt description for such an unstable being, made cringe-inducing jerking movements and raised its sword into an overhead slam with a cry that grated the aide’s ears. Its voice was something he thought he could interpret as male, but it sounded far too corrupted to tell. The wall the blade had struck ruptured in a spray of dust and broken stone, but the fragile-looking sword miraculously withheld its form without so much as a crack.

“Fire!” another volley of arrows struck the entity while it slowly recovered from its brutal swing. The arrows buried themselves silently into its form, their white-feathered ends contrasting the dark murk of the entity’s ‘body’, if that was what you could call it. The thing now resembled a pin-cushion, yet it did not flinch at the soldier’s attacks. Instead, the very act of moving seemed to cause the creature pain, though as Wynn’s unblinking eyes stared helplessly at the otherworldly entity, he was given the impression that its very existence was hurting it, no arrows needed.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The Dark Entity made some sort of low muttering noise that struck an uncanny valley between human and inhuman, but Wynn couldn’t interpret any words, if the thing was even speaking. It took a few hobbled steps backwards, as if walking on a lame leg, before dragging the sword through the forest ground in an underarm swing at the wall. Wynn’s world rocked as the foundation beneath him shifted, but the structure held and the soldiers quickly recovered balance. None of this made sense to him, Wynn’s mind uselessly analysed the situation while another set of arrows embedded themselves into its form. How could it display such intense strength as to topple pure stone? And it wielded a sword capable of withstanding extreme pressures, for even the most durable of Cyfoeth’s weaponry would no doubt resemble a twisted mess by now in its hands.

A cry of alarm sounded as the entity raised its right ‘hand’, which did not hold the sword, towards its face in a gesture reminiscent of a stressed housewife, but the creature was not winding up an attack. Instead, it began to shudder and twitch violently as another shriek escaped whatever dark recess within its unrecognisable body served as its mouth and lowered its arm in jerking, hesitant movements. Completely unbidden, it began to hobble itself towards Wynn’s section of the wall in its shuddering, twitchy manner, almost stumbling as it kept up a slow and irregular pace with its tree-trunk thick legs. Stopping at seemingly random, it released another guttural cry and let loose on the undamaged section, this time following up its powerful sword swing with a jab from its right hand where it seemed to grab at rubble and scoop it violently from the gaping hole in the wall. As it did so, it seemed to stagger back as its own momentum caused it to lose balance, giving the quickly repositioning archers enough time to shoot at it once again, though Wynn wondered if all they were doing was wasting arrows.

On the other side of the wall, which thankfully was yet to be fully pierced through, townsfolk with tired but fearful miens emerged from their homes and stared wildly towards the scrambling soldiers atop the wall.

“Go!” Wynn yelled down towards them. “Run! Evacuate the homes near the wall and find shelter for the rest of the night!”

He turned back to the entity without even bothering to make sure the villagers were following his orders. Another spectacular swing sent explosions of stone high into the air as if hit by ballistae rather than a broadsword. The resulting tremors almost sent Wynn onto his back, though he just about managed to keep his balance. As he corrected himself, an unfortunate archer lost his balance and landed with a sickening thud on the outside base of the wall. Instantly, the other soldiers froze.

The entity did not appear to notice the fallen archer and stumbled backwards after its attack to twitch and shudder for reasons Wynn could not explain. He waited a couple of seconds with bated breath until the fallen archer began to move. A deep rocking noise assaulted the aide’s ears once more as the entity launched another vicious attack, though it had selected another part of the wall to try to break through. He could not understand it. If it had chosen to continuously wear down the same spot, it would have broken into Alaru within minutes. It almost appeared as if it was attacking… at random.

The fallen archer had slowly climbed to his feet at this point, but it was clear he was injured. Thankfully, the soldiers knew by now that attempting heroics with such a brutish creature was suicide, so the archer immediately chose to slowly and quietly retreat towards Wynn where a nearby gate promised the wounded man refuge from the life-threatening event he found himself in.

The Dark Entity turned to the man, and in a horrifyingly tense moment, Wynn thought it would begin to give chase, but it appeared to disregard the archer and continue its abuse of the wall. Its attacks were growing frenzied and disjointed, accompanied by its ever-rising cries of… whatever that noise was. Thankfully, this appeared to drastically reduce the damage it was now doing, though Alaru was still in grave danger should it smarten up and break down one of the damaged sections.

“Fire!” yet another torrent of arrows lodged themselves into the entity now that the archer was a safe distance away. As previously seen, the Dark Entity barely responded and continued its depraved violence even as more feathered arrow tips began to adorn its body. Eventually, after the ninth volley of arrows, the entity let loose a terrible shriek and began to hobble away, swinging its sword almost lazily at a tree and toppling it on the way back into the dense forest, where it would no doubt return in a day or two.

Wynn sighed in relief, but felt the immense burden of responsibility on his shoulders. He now had to write and give the mayor his report as well as order a hasted reconstruction of the damaged wall.

As he set off to do just that, Wynn tried to ignore his growing despair as a single thought burned into his mind.

This was not sustainable.

“It was one quiet night atop the wall when it attacked…” Wynn launched into his explanation, completely unaware of Arwen’s probing into his memory. The aide’s recollection was, to what Arwen had seen, quite descriptive and gave a solid summary of the events she had just witnessed. Still there were some insights into the Dark Entity that Arwen had made from Wynn’s memories, and she felt a growing confidence as a piece of the puzzle clicked into place.

After Wynn had answered a few more questions, he made his excuse to leave and left them to it. Gwyn was the first to turn to Arwen. “I saw your face after you asked him about the entity… what did you see?”

“It is exactly as described,” Arwen explained. “Oily black, almost billowy body, red eyes, humanoid and wields a glowing sword. But I… think I recognise the sword it wields.”

“You do?” Cai sat upright, clearly interested in what Arwen had to say. “Please tell.”

Arwen gazed at each of the boys around her. “I believe it was a Holy Sword.”

Cai leaned in a cocked his head. “A what?”

“Never heard of it.” Owen scowled.

“All of what I am going to say is private, for it relates to the Church,” Arwen warned and leaned in to match their postures. “The Church employ a group of highly skilled warriors known as the Holy Sages. These individuals always, and I mean always wield weapons that bears a striking resemblance to that sword. They have smooth white hilts, like the entity’s weapon, and have semi-transparent blades that glow a bright white colour. I have only ever seen the Holy Lance variant wielded by the Sages, but what the Dark Entity has is very similar to what I would expect a Holy Sword to look like.”

Gwyn frowned the way he always did when confused, with his eyebrows smashing together as if fighting. “How come I’ve never heard of this?”

Arwen acknowledged the question with a nod. She felt a surge of delight as she finally felt capable of contributing to the investigation for once. “The Holy Sages are incredibly secretive. They accompany Church officials to various matters, one of which is audience with Cyfoeth’s King, my father. Only he and, on occasion, my mother and I are allowed to attend such meetings. They don’t take kindly to intrusion or curiosity, and it is not uncommon for my father to receive complaints if Cyfoethian soldiers try to barge in on investigations the Holy Sages run, despite being conducted within our borders.”

“So, the Dark Entity is- what? A Church member?” Gwyn scowled at his own question.

“How could it be?” Owen interjected. “You’ve heard the descriptions; it can’t be any sort of human.”

“The Church, or more its leader, Kyi’yun, would respond harshly to any traitors who would take their holy weapons to innocent lives,” Arwen added. “It wouldn’t surprise me if they keep a tight lid on all of their Sages.”

“What if the sword warped a Sage?” Cai speculated.

“I would expect that from the Dark God’s artifices…” Arwen shot down the theory. “Not a sword crafted by the Church. I have also never seen a Holy Weapon in circulation- ever.”

Her father had made several attempts to buy them off of the Church, but his letters were always met with a single word answer: No.

“Okay,” Cai cocked his head in thought. “What if it was stolen?”

Arwen shook her head. “I’m pretty sure the Church would be up in arms. There would be bounty posters placed everywhere in Cyfoeth and its vassal towns and villages, just like when they made that discovery about that mark they were trying to find.”

Cai gave up. “Right. So, how did it get a Holy Sword?”

“I… don’t know.”

“Look,” Gwyn stared deeply into the Princess’s eyes. “Are you absolutely sure it was a Holy Sword?”

Arwen stared back, even as a creeping sensation wiggled up her spine at the confrontation. “I cannot be sure, but I can say for certain it struck me with its resemblance to what a Holy Sword would look like. Remember I have not actually laid eyes on one.”

Gwyn leaned back into his seat with a sigh. “So, we’ve gotten nowhere.”

“But surely you think I’ve got something, here. Do you not?” Arwen appealed to her retainers.

“Perhaps,” Cai’s lack of enthusiasm was wounding. “Is that all you saw?”

“Not quite…” Arwen decided to state her second observation. “What came across as odd to me was its behaviour.”

“The twitching and shit?” Owen shrugged dismissively. “We’ve heard all about that from the guards, remember?”

“Not that, I mean how it attacks. We’ve seen the damage it does to the wall,” Arwen explained its actions during Wynn’s memories, borrowing off of the aide’s personal thoughts during the attack. “If it made a concerted effort to get into Alaru, it would succeed within minutes. Yet it only breached the walls twice in multiple attacks. What Wynn was confused about in his memory was the randomness at which it was conducting itself. He got the impression it acted as if mindless, and I think I agree with it.”

“So, they’re not attacks?” Cai sounded unconvinced. Arwen suppressed a cringe.

“I think we’ve been assuming there is a mind behind the entity… but what if there isn’t? What if it’s like a dumb animal, reacting aggressively to the town walls because the first time it wondered close it got fired upon by the archers? It should’ve been on that archer the second he fell, yet it was more concerned with uselessly attacking an inanimate object.”

“You think…” Gwyn paused. “Wait… what are you thinking?”

Arwen took a deep breath. “If we suggest traps, it might delay the entity, but it wouldn’t kill it. I doubt much of what we can do would kill it, truthfully. But what if the only reason it returns to Alaru isn’t out of spite, or ill-intent? What if it’s doing it because it’s… scared?”

“That thing? Scared?” Cai scoffed. “Why would it have reason to fear the town if it’s so impervious to the soldier’s attacks?”

“If that Hopys could break our bones with a single punch, why did it flee from us?” Arwen asked rhetorically. “Because we caused it pain- we frightened it. I wonder, if Alaru let the entity be, if it would stop its attacks.”

“It already has though,” Owen pointed out. “It hasn’t attacked in over a week.”

“Maybe it will never return,” Gwyn decided to compromise with the theory-leaden Princess, “but if it does, we can recommend the guards don’t shoot.”

“I would also recommend we report this to the Church,” Arwen added. “Even if it is not a Holy Sword it wields, then at the very least the Entity itself deserves scrutiny.”

“Okay, so…” Cai paused to gather his thoughts. “We have our two primary recommendations to make to Wynn. I still think Hefin and his father, Myrddin, deserve more investigative work, since I believe Myrddin had something to do with the Dark Entity’s absence.”

“Until we get a meeting with Hefin, we’ll keep up our search of the forest in case we stumble across anything that can help us here,” Gwyn raised his eyebrows, inviting protest. Arwen inwardly groaned. She very much did not want to spend the day wandering the lacklustre Coed’s Forest, but knew that there was still a chance it could be of use. “Okay,” Gwyn continued when no one objected, “there’s our plan for today.”