Chapter 19: The Dark Heart
Tula pulled Ioz and Niddler to safety using more ecomantic powers than she anticipated. Her concentration on creating a pathway to save them had kept her from paying attention to much else other than preserving what she could of the path around them. The area had finally stopped shaking and gone quiet apart from a few more pieces of the path that crumbled and fell down the chiasm.
"Noy jitat, that took a few years off my life. And someone ought to tell this monkeybird when he wakes that his diet of minga melons and pooka looka pies is not working for him. Makes him heavier than an oaf, surprised he can even fly," Ioz said.
"Well, at least you're both in one piece and alive. Right, Ren?" Tula looked to her side, expecting Ren there, but he was gone. "Ren?"
Tula and Ioz looked around, but Ren was nowhere to be found. "By the blood of the twin moons, where did that troublesome prince run off to this time?" Ioz said, standing and brushing off his sleeves. "He's not typically the type to cut and run when his friends are in trouble. I would've thought he'd stick around to help you, Tula."
Tula studied the ground on the path towards the mysterious door leading into the heart of the temple. "Ioz, I don't think Ren went willingly. Look at these marks in the dirt." She touched them, finding her mind flooded with a vision of Ren struggling against a masked figure. She heard his muffled screams fill her mind, and her eyes snapped open.
"As I thought, Ren was captured by some fiend and dragged through a hidden entrance up ahead," Tula said, looking up at Ioz, who had a look of alarm that matched her own.
At that moment, Niddler woke, hearing enough of Tula's conversation to panic with a loud screech. "We've gotta get Ren back."
"From your beak to our feet, monkeybird," Ioz said, pulling his sword from his side. "I only hope we reach him before something horrible happens."
"I'd rather you let me walk instead of dragging me to who knows where," Ren spoke as they came to a stop in a room in the temple that held a table and chairs. Ren reasoned from the direction they'd traveled, they were on the opposite side of the temple, facing away from Din and Leria's village.
"No matter, we're where we need to be. Sit." She released his arm, Ren noticing the purpling bruise on his skin where she'd held him. He didn't say anything as he took a seat across from her. He studied her, trying to search every part of his mind for the memory of her voice and who it belonged to. He didn't know whether his recognition was just out of grasp, or if the magic surrounding her was preventing him from remembering. She had her reasons for keeping her identity a secret, but he didn't know why.
"There is no time for me to waste in telling you what I need to, Son of Primus, so I will cut to the quick: the 11th treasure is along a passage just beyond this room. Your compass should point you to it with haste. However, it's power is said to be similar to the 9th treasure of Rule you possess. It will fuse with the other treasures of Rule that you have already found, enhancing them. This will draw out the Darkdweller far more readily than he's advanced on your journey previously. He knows you're close to collecting all 13 treasures. He will try every means to kill you, or control you using those that you love."
Ren swallowed against the lump in his throat, though his expression remained serious towards the figure before him. "My companions and I are all too aware of the Darkdweller's attacks. I'm...also aware of the gravity my quest takes on."
The figure's voice grew sharper, and Ren realized he'd misspoken. "I don't think you understand anything! Especially since you know nothing about the Dark Heart part of your quest. Even I knew nothing about it, until I found myself trapped in the Darkdweller's lair."
"You were actually trapped in his lair?" Ren's jaw dropped as he struggled for word. "H-how did you escape? How are you...?"
"Still alive?" She finished his sentence, chuckling softly. "There are things much worse than death, Son of Primus. I've learned that all too well in my captivity, as I longed for death as a release many a time. I was swallowed by Dark Water and brought to his lair. I thought the Dark Water would tear my body limb from limb, but it only broke several bones, causing me agony. Many moons passed, I knew not how many, but in my recovery, I overheard many conversations between the Darkdweller and his minions. Many were conversing about the progress you and your crew were making in finding the 13 treasures of Rule. His spies would watch you as you placed the treasures and restored pieces of Octopon's former glory."
Ren narrowed his brows, folding his arms across his chest. "Good, I'm glad we're making him nervous."
"Hold. That is not all. After you found the 8 treasures of Rule, the Darkdweller started seeking methods of his own to take over Mer. He was hoping that Bloth would be the one to take the treasures of Rule."
"Little wonder. Bloth's heart is so evil that even the largest pool of Dark Water wouldn't compare to the darkness contained there."
That made the hooded woman laugh so hard she started coughing furiously. Ren thought to ask if she was all right, but she waved him off.
"I do not argue you on that point, Ren. Not in the least." She continued after taking a steady breath. "But while you may know Bloth wants the treasures for himself and the promise to rule over all of Mer, the Darkdweller wants to control the one who possesses those treasures. Bloth has been collaborating in some form with the Darkdweller to destroy you, the only heir to Octopon. But once the Darkdweller has what he wants of Bloth, he plans to turn Bloth into one of his minions, and Bloth has a powerful heart of hatred. He will fuse his powers with Bloth's heart, take over his body, and use the treasures of Rule to control Mer. The Darkdweller can't interact with the treasures directly because it would destroy him, but he can certainly manipulate or destroy them through a vessel. I fear for the fate of all Mer if Bloth becomes the Dark Heart." The woman's latter words bit with a bitterness that took Ren aback.
"Is that what you mean by the Dark Heart, then?" The recognition dawned on Ren quickly. "Well then the solution's simple: I can't let Bloth or the Darkdweller have any of the treasures of Rule! Then that prophecy can't ever come to be truth!"
The figure shook her head. "That's only one piece of the Dark Heart prophecy. The hearts and minds of mankind are weak, and prone to darkness of any kind. Think of the words that foretold your quest: the last four lines."
Ren recalled them:
...But if they fall into evil hands
Darkness descends on all the lands
For these riches two shall vie
In the realm of Dark Water where the Treasures lie
Ren repeated the lines aloud, and the woman followed up. "The Darkdweller has been waiting to see which among you and Bloth will prevail, and you are winning. You are in more danger now than you have ever been in any part of the Quest, Son of Primus. If you thought the Darkdweller was a major threat with the encounters you've had with him previously, it will only be worse as you come to the end of your journey."
"Wait," Ren paused, studying the figure in front of him. "You're not saying..."
The figure nodded. "I am. If the Darkdweller has the ability to turn an already darkened heart to darkness, he will try to convert yours too. He - and his minions - will attempt turn you to a vessel once you retrieve all 13 treasures of Rule, if not before. And if somehow Bloth takes hold of the final treasures of Rule that haven't been placed, then the Darkdweller will strike and convert him when the time is best."
"Which means I have to return all 13 treasures as soon as possible to Octopon to prevent that from happening," Ren reasoned.
"Oh, I don't think you're seeing the other part of it, Son of Primus. There is one other foretold fate that I have seen that is the worst possible fortune that could come of all this." The hooded woman removed a globe from her cloak, as well as a pedestal for it to sit upon. "Look into the crystal."
Ren did as she instructed, watching a vision play out. Ioz, Tula, and Niddler were with him in the lighthouse of Octopon, the last of the treasures of Rule (apart from the one in his heart) were placed. As the three of them stood watching as the treasures restored the last remaining parts of Octopon. Ioz and Tula looked pleased, but Ren saw that his own expression was one of sorrow.
It's because of my sacrifice, isn't it? he thought. The thought that I may die in all of this. The fact that I may be the last of my father's bloodline and Octopon will have no king to rule. I must have not told them the whole of the truth in this vision. I don't know if I can watch the rest of this...
"I see you with your comrades as the last of the treasures of Rule are delivered to Octopon. But you haven't told them of a horrible truth about the 13th treasure. The Darkdweller will seize on that truth." As the vision plays out, Ren's eyes widen with horror alongside the words of the hooded woman. "Before your sacrifice, the Darkdweller will turn your heart to darkness against your will." The vision proceeded on showing an image of Ren screaming as the Dark Water devours him, but he reforms into a shadow of his former self alongside the Darkdweller. "The upside is that Octopon will have a ruler to live among them, but since you are his eternal puppet, Mer will still succumb to the Dark Water. In other words, your Quest will all be for nought. So you see, there are fates that are worse than death for you."
"NO!" Ren rose so quickly from his seat he knocked his chair from the floor. "I refuse to believe that my quest - my father's sacrifice and possibly even my own - are futile efforts!"
The hooded woman narrowed her eyes at him. "I never said they were. This is only one vision, the worst possible fate. I remember when I showed your father his worst vision for the fate of Mer based on his projected failures. He reacted like you, angry and determined to fight. In turn, he found you, just before his own death. I had hoped that he would live, but I was mistaken. It is...comforting at least that his son seems full of the same determination."
"Who are you?" Ren repeated, his voice shaking.
The woman stood, sighing. "I suppose if you haven't guessed by now, then I'm truly different than when we last met, Son of Primus. But I bear these truths so that you know the gravity of your Quest, and what is at stake, and even further - that trust is hard to come by. Even your friends can become your enemies. Even you can become your own worst enemy. Remember this."
The woman removed her hood, and even before Ren saw her remove the mask, he knew who she was. The way her hair was pulled into its bun, the coloring of it. But he wasn't prepared for what he saw of her face and neck. One half of her body was the woman he remembered, a stern look on her brow as she looked at him with her left eye. The other half of her body had been disfigured by Dark Water. Her right eye stared back at him - black, wide and unyielding, skin pale and sagging as if barely clinging to the bone shaping it. It was if one part of her held on to life and the other had died long ago.
Ren's heart sank in his chest as he steadied himself against the opposite wall from where she stood. His voice shook both with fear and sorrow. "By the blood of the twin moons. Avagon..."