The Dark Adept of Toreau
by Aevin
1. The Road to Toreau
The outer rim of this Angara Islet was like a vast and lonely beach, with nothing but sand and ocean to please the eye. But now, as the group of four had traveled farther inland, the terrain had given way to equally joyless plains. The flat expanse of grass was exactly the same dreary color as the sand had been, and the four travelers began to hope for any sign of civilization. They had come here searching for Jenna, Kraden and the missing Elemental Stars, but had not seen so much as a sign of intelligent life since arriving.
All they had seen for five straight days of travel were monsters. For the few that could talk, the conversation had been repetitive and tedious: "We're going to kill you, eat you, beat you, crush you." Of course, such threats were never fulfilled. The worst injury anyone had sustained was a gruesome wound to Garet's stomach, but the wound was not venomous and healed quickly with Mia's curative powers.
Two days before they could see the village of Toreau, the group already knew of its existence. Fifteen-year-old Ivan, the youngest of the group, could already sense it. A Jupiter Adept, Ivan carried the Psynergy of wind, which included minor psychic abilities. He could often predict minor events, and sometimes had intuitive feelings about a certain course of action. He also possessed the power to read peoples' minds, although he had to be touching them at the time.
"Is it safe?" asked Isaac, the group's leader, after hearing about the village's location.
But Ivan was unsure on that point. The four travelers had certainly slept in some treacherous places, such as the town of Billibin, where all the residents had turned to trees, and the flooded village of Altin--but every one of them had been in the "known world." On these unexplored islands off the shore of the Angara continent, they had no idea what to expect.
"I'm not sure," Ivan said, squinting at the horizon in front of him, as if he could read danger there. "There's something . . . strange about it."
Isaac nodded.
"What choice do we have but to try?" asked Mia, noting Isaac's indecision.
"Really," Garet agreed. "In case you forgot, we can defend ourselves. If the place is dangerous, we can just blast our way right back out!"
"You're right," Isaac decided. "It wouldn't make sense to pass up the first village we've seen just because it feels strange."
"I wasn't suggesting we should," Ivan muttered.
Isaac turned back to Ivan, who looked oddly depressed. "You make sure and tell us if anything else comes to you, okay?"
Ivan brightened visibly at mention of his usefulness. Looking at Isaac as he would a comforting older brother, he nodded.
For all five days of their journey, the sun had blazed hotly down on the beige grass and sand. During the afternoon of the sixth day, however, it began to rain, drenching the party with a fury of water instead of light. Still, the group pressed on as the weather strengthened its efforts to drive them back.
Although miserable, the four continued on toward the village, now able to see it through the storm with the help of Ivan's Reveal Psynergy. The town looked oddly like a huge stone cube, but the sight cheered them nonetheless--anything would be better than this rain.
Less than a mile from the village, Mia noticed something that posed a huge challenge to this train of thought. The group was struggling bravely on when Mia, from the back of the group, let out a shocked scream and dropped to the sodden grass.
"What's wrong?" shouted Isaac through the fury of the rain, but Mia simply sat on her knees, pointing in horror at the puddles the storm had created.
"The water!" she insisted. "Look at the water!"
Isaac glanced at Ivan, who looked sick and pale, then at Garet, who shrugged his shoulders with confusion. Then he dropped to the ground beside Mia, leaned down and put his eyes inches away from the puddle she pointed at. The thick clouds blotted out almost all of the light, but he could almost see something in the water, almost. . . .
"Garet," he called, but the other boy was a step ahead of him. Using the Psynergy of fire, he called forth a bright yellow jet of flame and sent it in a glorious arch toward the sky.
Isaac gasped. The light of Garet's fire was a faint yellowish red that reflected off the surface of the puddles, but in spite of the odd lighting, Isaac could see the cause of Mia's distress all too clearly. In the puddle that he and Mia now knelt in, as well as in the nearby pools of water, the liquid carried an unnatural, wicked red cast.
The water was red with blood.