Chapter 34

Rhordan's index finger glowed with bright purple energy, illuminating the room instantly. Leading her finger in an intricate pattern of confusing array of shapes and lines, a trail of purple light trailed behind her finger, leaving a beautiful image of a painting floating in the air. Seconds ticked by as Rhordan drew the rune in the air, focusing her entire attention on the rune itself rather than the world around her.

She had braced herself for another burst of chaos energy as she knew Gideon couldn't keep blocking it continuously, but it never came. Gideon had seen the energy and the focus that Rhordan put into her work, he knew that whatever this was could save their lives and he let a spark of hope bloom in his heart. Putting in every ounce of mana he could, he held the leak with a steel like resolve, refusing to let even a drop of chaos energy slip by on his watch.

The rune expanded greatly and spun in a shifting array of shimmering purple light, its brightness nearly blinded Rhordan, but for some reason she could see it perfectly. With a great strain of effort, she slammed her palm against the centre of the rune. The rune burned brightly with an intensity akin to the sun before enveloping both of them in purple light, a shell appeared around their bodies that prevented the chaos energy from getting to them.

Gideon had held the leak as best as he could, but the moment the rune activated he lost concentration, breaking the hold he had over it. He braced for a sudden wall of agony, yet it never arrived. Cautiously opening his eyes, he found himself coated in a purple light.

In all my years, I never thought I could be this far wrong in my assessment. Kagaras' voiced called to them, drawing them out of the immense relief flooding them, glad that they had found a way to survive. Kagaras' words confused them, they thought the Ent had given them vital information that could help them in the future, specifically Rhordan's element and the knowledge of what it was to be a mystic. Little mystics, may I ask a favour of you?

Certainly, Kagaras. Rhordan answered immediately, eager to repay the debt they owed the old Ent. She also knew that Gideon would have said the same if he wasn't trying to breathe through the trembling agony still roaring through his body, though the rune barred any chaos energy from harming them, it didn't ease the aftereffects already afflicting them. We owe you for giving us a chance.

Honourable… a commendable trait… though one you should be wary of… it can get you into far greater trouble than the favour given to you. Kagaras cautioned them, imparting a last piece of advice he could to the little mystics. If both of you are anywhere close to what I believe you to be, then I must ask that you take my magic core to the resting place of the Ents, a place that no living being or spirit can go. The Great Forest.

Rhordan sat stunned, she had thought that the Great Forest was just a religious belief of the dryads, one that they used to explain the existence of beings beyond their comprehension. The thought that the Great Forest actually exists blew her mind, and the possibility of actually seeing such a place had her speechless.

In truth, this task is an impossibility… Kagaras' voice was losing its life with each passing moment. The enclosed space suddenly started shifting, opening up and revealing the pair's location at the bottom of a pitch-black abyss, not even the light from above shone through, only the light from Rhordan's runes illuminated their surroundings. I do not expect you to succeed… but if there is a chance… then I could rest in peace among my kin…

Kagaras voice trailed off as the massive dark oak hand broke apart, inside the last shard to shatter laid an impressively large green and yellow orb. Rushing forward, Rhordan quickly stored Kagaras' magical core into the ring before it could be corrupted by the chaos energy, only taking a split second to admire its crystal-like quality before it disappeared into the ring. It had measured nearly a metre in diameter, but with the three-metre squared space inside the ring, it fit fairly easily.

"The mental link is gone…" Gideon gruffly spoke, his voice hoarse from the month of being inactive and the excruciating pain holding the chaos energy back. He had tried to use the mental link to no avail, he realised that Kagaras must have been the one that held the link and with his death, the link was gone. "We should get moving quickly… don't want to spend too much… time… in this abyss…"

Rhordan nodded, scanning their surroundings fruitlessly. The pitch blackness of the abyss prevented any shred of light existing anywhere within its depths, they could see nothing beyond the light of the rune shields. They only knew they were against one side of the abyss, the dark wall behind them only gave them a minor reference of their location.

"These runes run off our mana sources… if they are anywhere close to what I think they are…" Rhordan partially doubted her work, though she knew the effects and purpose of the rune, how well it will hold up to their surroundings was another matter. There was one significant drawback, the rune had to be supplied with an internal energy source as she didn't know how to supply it externally yet. "How much mana do you have left?"

"Not sure…" Gideon closed his eyes, hoping to look within himself and find his magic core. His attempt proved fruitless, not knowing what to look for was, and has been, the main issue for a while now. "I think I used nearly all of my mana containing the leak, considering I am still standing, and my head is only partially trying to kill me… I'd say that I'd have roughly less than thirty percent left."

"Not good, these runes take a great deal of mana to run efficiently." Rhordan worried over their problem, though casting the rune didn't take a lot of her mana, she wouldn't be able to apply another one atop of the first nor did they have anywhere they could stay until Gideon's mana recharges. Their options were strictly limited to two. "Alright, we can either scale the walls and hopefully make it to the top before your mana runs out…"

"Pass." Gideon shook his head as he interrupted her, staring at the wall behind them. "We are at three leagues deep, scaling that would be near impossible, not to mention how sheer it is and that we don't know if its stable higher up."

"Then that leaves option two." Rhordan reluctantly agreed with him, she knew scaling the wall would be insanely difficult. They could barely see beyond their arms' length, they would have to be mad to try scale the wall without visibility, though they could see where they would hold onto, they would be unable to see further above to plot their journey. One mistake, and it was all over. "We hope luck is on our side and scour the abyss for anything that may help us, or at the very least house us long enough to restore your mana."

"I starting to think the word impossible either doesn't apply to us, or it loves following us around." Gideon quipped, shaking his head as he looked around the abyss, debating which direction to go in. Rhordan chuckled slightly before starting off into the abyss, the wall to her left as a reference point, and to ensure they didn't get lost in the darkness.

The walked quietly for what felt like hours, the darkness revealed absolutely nothing as their time slowly ran out. Gideon had been slowly deteriorating as they walked, becoming sluggish and somewhat unresponsive, his movements akin to a drunkard. Rhordan tried her best to help him, trying to get him to stay awake and moving. She had wanted to attempt a mana transfer, but with the shields in place it would be impossible without taking them down, not that she actually knew how to transfer mana to another person anyway.

There was something else that troubled Rhordan, she only caught a few glimpses of it now and then, but she was sure she wasn't imagining it. Gideon's eyes would suddenly change colour, parts of his skin took on dark notes, and he would occasionally stop and stare at Rhordan with utter hatred blazing in his eyes for a split second, yet when Rhordan caught him he would turn away and smack himself on the head. She didn't know what it meant, or why, only thing she did know was that Gideon couldn't stay within the abyss any longer.

Travelling through the darkness wasn't just a physical difficulty, there was a mental aspect to it as well. Without any other reference guide other than the wall, they had no idea how far they travelled, nor if they came across something that could have saved them from the abyss. It was demoralising just thinking about how little they knew of their surroundings, and how many possible escapes or safe areas they missed.

Disheartened, weary, troubled, and losing hope, the pair pressed onwards.

Gideon could feel something at the edge of his consciousness trying to peel back the layers of his mind and tear it apart, whatever it was wanted to shred his mind into tatters and turn him into a rabid animal. He knew it wasn't the runes work as the effects of mana depletion gave him a major headache all over his head, whatever this was, it was far from mana depletion.

It felt like a darkness slowly but surely creeping into his mind, twisting his thoughts and pushing him to attack Rhordan out of hatred. He didn't know why he hated Rhordan, but whatever this was sparked this response inside him. Gideon tried hard to continue into the darkness, but he was losing the battle badly, even with him digging his fingernails into his arm he still couldn't rid himself of the dark thoughts.

He wished there was something he could do, anything that would prevent himself from hurting Rhordan, but only one option came to mind. Sighing to himself, Gideon stopped dead in his tracks, turning around to face Rhordan.

"I'm sorry, Rho…" Gideon had used that curt version of her fake name, it made him remember his nickname for her back at the tower, he rather liked both of them. Rhordan had stopped just short of him, baffled by his apology. "I can't go on anymore… not with you… I'm sorry but… you have to leave me here."

His words were like thunder through Rhordan, she shook her head, refusing to believe he had said that. She stepped forward, trying to tell him that he was being stupid and that they just needed to continue onwards, hope could be lying just around the next corner, but Gideon held up a hand that silenced her.

"I think… I think that the chaos energy has corrupted me…" Gideon painfully admitted the truth that was lurking in his mind after the first time the sudden urge to kill Rhordan appeared, he was surprised that she had been spared by the chaos effects, though he figured that since he had been in contact with it far longer than her then it could have easily corrupted him and left her alone. "My mind is leaving me… I don't know how long I have left before I lose control and…"

Gideon left his sentence unfinished, unable to utter what his mind was demanding him to do. Rhordan shuddered, unsure of what to do next. She tried to think of a rune combination that might save him, that might ease the effects of the corruption, but nothing came to mind. Nothing that would work with the barrier in the way.

"Don't be sad…" Gideon smiled sweetly at her, he could see the tears forming at the edge of her eyes. "We had a good run… but now you have to go on alone… I can die happily if I know that you are safe…"

"Shut up, you idiot!" Tears fell from Rhordan's face, she glared angrily at him, unwilling to listen to him any longer. "We can make it out of here, we have done the impossible before, we can do it again!"

"Not this time… not here…" Gideon's mind was slowly unravelling, he struggled to form sentences as he felt the darkness take hold of his mind. He had to get Rhordan far away from him, but she wouldn't relent, she paced back and forth before turning to him. Before she could speak, Gideon roared at her. "Enough! Just stop… We knew this day would come for one of us… that no matter how hard we try… there would always be a chance that one of us died…"

"We have artefacts… Items of power in the spatial ring…" Rhordan was grasping at straws, watching helplessly as Gideon rested himself against the wall, his eyes slowly closing as he slide down the wall.

"The chaos corrupts quickly… only a powerful item… could last long…" Gideon struggled to think, his words slurred and his breathing ragged. "Plus… we would have to… lower the barrier… and I… doubt I could… survive another bout…"

Gideon's words were growing too slow, his mouth mumbled the last of his sentence, but no sound escaped him. He laid there, still and lifeless, unmoving. Rhordan couldn't think, she held a hand out to him but refused to move to him. The mere thought of touching him would shatter any thoughts that he was still alive, that he wasn't gone but rather sleeping.

One small step forward was enough for her to feel his cheek, finding it stone cold and clammy to touch. He remained unresponsive, unmoving, immobile. Sliding down the rock wall beside him, she sat staring at his face, tears falling from her eyes. She didn't believe that he was gone, that his skin wasn't changing colour to the same pitch blackness of the abyss. She refused to believe that the only person who had been beside her throughout this hell was leaving her.

She pulled Gideon into her side, resting her head on top of his, letting her tears fall freely as she just held him. Rhordan hoped that the aura would come back, that it would suddenly restore him back to life, that their extremely good luck hadn't just come to a grinding halt.

A sudden low growl emanated from below her, reeling back Rhordan hoped that Gideon was fine, just play acting to mess with her. Instead, what was staring at her with utter hatred in its eyes, was a pure black-eyed Gideon. His skin was far darker shade of grey than hers ever was in their old world, black veins bulging out his skin around his eyes.

Gideon shoved her to the ground, his hands wrapped around her throat, choking her. Rhordan tried to fight, but she lacked the will or the conviction to try. She stared helplessly at Gideon, looking into the dark empty eyes that gazed back at her with nothing except lifelessness and hatred. As she felt her breath leaving her, Rhordan simply held out her hand and placed it gently against his cheek, a small smile on her face as she closed her eyes.

As much as Rhordan wanted to live, she couldn't bear to do so without him. She had no idea why, why she preferred death over living alone, or rather living without Gideon, but at that moment she didn't care. She wanted to be by Gideon's side to the end.

They entered this world together, they would leave it together…