It was dark. There was nothing to see in the black. Edwin was trapped in it. It was silent and uncaring. It scares him as there was nothing there for him. He felt insensate in the darkness.
"Lady Canaver!"
Edwin looked everywhere as the voice of a desperate woman was heard in the dark. He needed to find the voice as he believes that the voice might lead him a way out of the darkness. However, he was rendered immobile by the surrounding darkness.
"Go now, Dolores. Go with your husband and take my daughter away from this hell. Go and take the secret passages before they get to us. They will attempt to capture me and when they do, they will defile my body as what they have done to my husband and my two sweet sons."
"But madam! We can still escape! Please don't do this! Your daughter will be alone if you die here!"
"... no… I cannot leave. They will continuously hunt us down and no one will be able to operate the magical arrays that will protect you, your family and my daughter as you escape."
"But…"
"I grow tired of your insubordination. Go Dolores! As the last Lady of the Canaver Family, I order you to leave my property and safeguard my daughter as you leave! I will stay here to reap a bloody toll on this household's hated enemies for the last time. I will not be distracted by your pleas. Leave now, take your final pay and my daughter with you and hide her well."
"Madam…"
"Leave."
"Madam… may the Light be with you."
"Thank you. May it bless you and your family with a long and fortunate life. Hide her well and never return to our fallen home for the time being."
"Yes… we will take our leave now."
Footsteps were heard as the once black space was illuminated by the light of fires that blazed from outside the windows. There were various magical tools found there with a massive magical circle on the floor and at the center of it was a woman with blonde hair. She wore a chestplate armor tailored to fit for women and a blue dress that was soaked in blood and torn in some places. On her hand was a damaged staff that acts as her foci and on the other, a bloodsoaked sword that she used earlier on the first wave. Her blue eyes were focused on the view outside of the window.
The sounds of horns blared out as the view was shifted to what was seen outside the windows. From there, various madmen that carry banners of a pagan religion and weapons with them march out of the burning forest. They spoke in a language that is not Sorceran. However, the noblewoman understood them enough to look at the invaders with disgust.
"You filthy cultists dare to march into our home, slaughter our people and sacrifice them to your damned god!" she glowed with power as the items and circle within the room glowed, "You bastards do not deserve to be given any mercy for what you did to us!"
The room grows darker despite the light that was coming from her. The sounds of blood curdling screaming was then heard from there. The room trembled and things started to break apart.
"You took away my grandfather's home and turned my grandmother into your sacrifice. Not satisfied with your depravity, you came to these lands to look for more people to sacrifice! You've destroyed all that I hold dear for your false idol, all because you monsters wanted to appease a cretin that will never answer your prayers." The light grows brighter but everything grows darker around me, "YOU MONSTERS WILL KNOW THAT THE LIGHT CAN BE HARSH AND DESTRUCTIVE ON ITS OWN RIGHT!"
He tried to speak or get her attention. Nothing was coming out. He couldn't move as he watched the person's body break apart. He saw her body burn out as the magic she used started to turn on her and demanded its price in exchange of the power that she was leaking blood from her orifices. He was greatly disturbed by what he was seeing right now.
"I am Lady Alicia Canaver, the Lady of the House Canaver! For your crimes, I will punish you all for destroying everything I loved and cared about!"
The head of the noblewoman suddenly turned to his direction. It was then that his voice came back as he witnessed the face of something that would not be easily forgotten for the rest of his life.
He screamed at the sight as her face melted right in front of him. Bones, muscle, tendons and boiling skin were seen in full detail in front of him. He was not prepared to see the image of hell. He was not prepared to see the looks of a human person who is burning and melting right in front of him. The details of how body parts melt and burn was so horrific that he wished he could close his eyes or wake up from this nightmare he was forced to witness.
To make matters worse, the woman right in front of him… she looked like Maria's mother. The woman that he had known for a week has a nightmare fuel version of her walking towards him, hand outstretched and my body incapable of moving.
The hand was closing in, reaching towards Edwin like a talon of a predatory bird would reach its prey.
-0-0-0-0-0-
I was still screaming at what I just saw when I woke up. By the time I stopped, I rubbed my aching head. It hurts a little but it's not something that I can't handle. I looked around me and saw that I'm in a clearing deep within the Forest of the Canaver. I also saw an aged and mossy tree stump that had a skeleton wearing an old and rusted plate armor with tattered uniforms that I cannot recognize lying on top of it. It has a distinctive emblem of a sun with a face on it that gives off a stern expression on the sleeves. The skeleton looked like it tried to get up before it died there when it was alive once upon a time. I can also sense a faint trace of magic on the tree stump, which scares me even more because I'm pretty sure that if I touched that stump, I'd probably get stuck on it.
I looked around some more to see what else I could find and surprisingly enough, I found Maria, lying on the grass face first with her sword at the back. I immediately got up and went to her, hoping that she's all right and well.
"Maria!" I called the girl and jogged to the location of Maria, "Maria! Are you all-..." I was getting close to Maria, ignoring the feeling of dread that built up within me in order to help my friend.
"Edwin, stop!" the voice of Maria was heard before a pair of hands grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the body.
I turned around and saw Maria, who looked very worried and had some dirt on her face. Then looked at the place where the unconscious Maria was and saw something else there.
It was a skeleton wearing the same thing that the one on the stump was wearing. There's a sword stuck at the back of the skeleton lying on the ground. There was a faint trace of magic from that thing before it disappeared once my mind wasn't being confused by that… weird magic thing that kept on hypnotizing me… now that I think about it…
I was able to catch up to Maria earlier and… I can't remember what I said to her. All I remembered was that something covered us and Maria ran off? I think? I heard something faint screaming behind me while I was running towards Maria(?) but couldn't tell what was being screamed right behind me. I saw light as I chased after Maria and I stumbled on something and fell to the ground, face first.
"Edwin, are you okay?" her voice was clearly worried as she gripped my arm and kept me from going elsewhere, "You started to run when you got to me and you nearly went to that black thing over there."
"Black thing?" I was confused at what this is.
"By the way Edwin, your head is bleeding." she touched my forehead and felt something wet and I felt something warm drip on my eyes and made a part of my eyesight a bit red.
"Oh man… that must have come from me falling on the ground." I immediately dug into my pockets to get the handkerchief that I could use to wipe off the blood.
When I found it and took it out from my pockets, Maria's hands got warm and I saw a faint glow coming from her. The part where my head was bruised and bleeding did not feel bad anymore. In fact, I can feel my wounds closing up and the pain going away. Maria was surprised at what she did and withdrew her hand from me out of surprise. It felt warm and comforting as I felt my energy coming back to me.
The powers of the Light Magic have manifested on Maria… then again, the fact that she kept on talking about seeing black stuff earlier should have clued me in that her magic is already there. Now it was fully manifesting right in front of me and I was the first to be healed by her. Maria on the other hand, was just as awestruck as I was when she suddenly used healing magic on me. This was history in the making as Sorcier finally got blessed with a Light Mage after what had happened two centuries ago...
"What… what did I just…" the Light Mage looked at her hands that still faintly glowed with power.
"Light magic… I… I can't believe it…" I couldn't help but to blurt it out, "Wait…" then I remembered that we're still in a forest that is clearly emanating with magic that is technically Dark Magic, "Maria, your powers are amazing but we can't stand around in this forest for too long! We have to get out of here right now!"
"Wait, what about my parents? I wanted to help in finding my mama and papa, Edwin!" she snapped her sights to my direction, her hands stopped glowing when her attention was in my direction now, "I have to find them or else they're going to be in great danger!"
"My brother's looking for them already, Maria. If you want to help in finding them then we have to leave this forest and wait for them to return." I crossed my arms and shook my head at her before looking up to the skies above us that is getting darker and darker every minute, "Besides, the sun's setting now and all we have here is a lamp to keep our way lit and ourselves warm in a forest full of magical traps."
"But Edwin, I can see that they're traps! We can avoid them if I can see that they're covered with the black stuff right? Also, the black stuff can also lead us to my parents!" damn it Maria! Now's not the time to be stubborn, "I also have a sword so we can fight if we have to and magic to heal ourselves if we get injured."
I swear I did not know that Maria's like this before she discovered that she had Light Magic and was outed as a mage by the kid she healed. I mean, the anime shows that she's a soft spoken and very nice girl but was she this headstrong before she became psychologically scarred with Mr. Campbell running out of her and Mrs. Campbell and the rumors of her mother cheating on the former? I guess that going through that can change a person.
"Are you sure that you can wield that sword properly, Maria?" I asked Maria, who was bug eyed when I said those words.
"I watched Papa use it and he told me about how to use it. I'm sure that I can use it." her words were a bit shaken and hesitating but she swallowed that to try and keep searching for her parents, "Watch-..."
She tried to take out her sword and show me how she's good with it but her pose is not that great. Not only that, she is having problems unsheathing the sword from her back.
"I can…" Maria unslung the sword and finally, unsheathed it, "There! I'm able to… wield it!" she said while the sword was unsteady in her hands due to the weight that she was not used to handling.
"Maria, please sheath the sword instead." I calmly told her as I picked up the sheath that fell to the ground and handed it to her, "There's a difference between watching someone do something and actually doing it. Besides, it's dangerous to use that weapon if no one's watching over us."
"But I…" she tried to protest about what I said but I didn't say anything anymore and held the sheath up for her to grab and secure the short sword that she cannot use, "But what if we meet something dangerous?"
"Then I'll use magic to get us out of here." to be fair, grandfather said that the forest doesn't have anything or anyone that dwells within it. The true danger inside this forest would be the magical traps that were left untouched and easy to identify if you're able to use magic by enhancing one's senses.
Maria was skeptical at first. I know that she wants to save her parents but at the same time, we won't save anyone if we can't even save ourselves. I don't want Maria to be killed or be lost forever in this eldritch location that this forest had turned into. I mean, while I'm a kid physically, I'm an adult in terms of mindset and letting a kid go into a very dangerous place is something that I'd try to stop at least.
Then again… Maria saved me when I got caught in some Dark Magic trap that was left in this forest… and…
"I'll… well… I guess we should leave but do you know where to go?" Maria asked the most dreaded question that I really wished that she did not ask about.
Where do we go?
We're both lost in a forest and we just don't remember what direction we ran off from...
Yeah… this is bad.
:"I… I don't know." was all I could say as I looked around me.
Damn it… we really screwed the pooch here.
-0-0-0-0-0-
"We've disabled another Dark Magic trap, milord!" one of the companions spoke as he held an iron shovel, "The area's also marked with a magical chalk that would keep us from getting lost."
Anthony only nodded as looked around the forest that his men had gotten to the deeper parts of while holding a magical torch on one hand and a map on the other. His men had been disposing of the traps that were left behind and forgotten for so many years. He and his people had been afflicted already by the forest's influence as they began to lose some of their sense of direction. He noticed it when one of his men nearly drifted away from the group until he was snapped out of his stupor. They activated the amulets that would stave off the majority of the forest's influence and started to take precautions.
The golems they brought with them were not affected and the magical chalks still work to keep them from getting lost. One of the Earth Mages he took with him brought an enchanted compass in case of emergencies and had been using it to keep track of their direction along with the copy of the map. In addition to that, they left glowstones on every tree they marked and passed to prevent getting lost.
In his opinion, this should keep them from getting lost. But in his instincts, he knows that the forest might pull off some of its nastier tricks and darker secrets to keep them away from what they're looking for: the Campbell couples who were lost in the forest.
He swore that he'll make sure that no one will ever get into the forest after he finds those two.
"Milord! Look over there!" another of his companions, a fire mage pointed at the skies.
It was a pillar of smoke forming above the darkening skies. He can see traces of magic on it. The source of it is definitely on the farther side of the forest but if someone lit a fire over there, it means that there are people there.
It could be the two Campbells that went missing in the forest.
"All right, we're going in that direction. However, we still need to be careful and not rush over to that direction." he ordered his men as they turned to the direction of the smoke pillar.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Okay, I was able to make a bonfire using whatever branches and flammables we could find. Maria's lamp was quite useful in helping us start a fire and I used wind magic to make the smoke go upward without harming the fire that was made. I had to make sure that the bonfire's set up on bare ground and lined it up in a circle with rocks to prevent forest fires. I made a silent prayer to the remains of those that still had rags on them as I threw their possessions to the fire along with a number of scraps I could fuel the fire with.
Making a bonfire helps after all in making sure that those trying to rescue us will easily find us if they see the smoke… I think.
I am not confident with what I remembered in my first life but smoke is easier to spot and it's about to get really cold so Maria and I need to stay warm. Unlike my past life where I once lived in a tropical part of the world where the only seasons you'd have is rainy or sunny, Sorcier's in a temperate part of the world. Autumn is arriving and I noticed how things are getting cold as time passes. Not only that, nights here are colder compared to my previous life and it was quite a surprise to me.
Speaking of Maria, she is currently glum right now and looked silently at the bonfire. Her current disposition is understandable since she wanted to find her parents and ended up with us being in a lot of trouble. She's also worried about how we will even escape this horror forest and how we're just sitting in one place, doing nothing but to wait for someone, anyone to rescue us. I'm sure that being a Light Mage is at the back of her head and is thinking more about how we're stuck in a very horrific situation.
This is also what I have in mind as well. I just hope that there's no wild animals here that will see us as prey or something. The fire was cackling, the night breezes, the leaves around us rustled as the wind blew and in the distance, the search party's voices were heard… These were things that we could only hear for the time being and nothing else. The last one gave me some hope as we await rescue. Brother did prepare a lot of things before diving into this forest to prevent himself and others with him from getting lost.
"Edwin… May I ask you something?" Maria broke me out of my stupor as she called me.
"Huh? Sure, what would you like to know?" I asked while I threw dry wood and tree barks on the fire to keep it burning.
"Are you the son of Marquess Florencia?" She asked me with curiosity as I realized where this question is about to go, "A lot of people in the village know that Miss Hermione works for the Marquess and I heard from Papa that you're the second son of the family."
I was silent as she spoke about the rumors about my family only having two children and not three. I wasn't exactly the kid who went out for the most part, avoided being social and was really introverted before remembering the past. Maria got into details on the rumors about myself and it made me widen my eyes over the thoughts of being that reclusive.
"I'm not sure if it's true or not since people back at the village say that something happened to you or that the Marquess only had two children… Mama said that she thought that you were one of the children of Miss Hermione's friends." Maria finished off and looked at me with confused looks on her, "Are you really the Marquess's son, Edwin?"
Yeah… I really need to be exposed more often if I want to shake off the reputation of being the ghost of the family or the nonexistent child of the family.
"Well… I'm my Father's son, Edwin Aldus Florencia. I didn't really go out back then and I was very shy before." I answered the Light Mage as I scratched my cheeks.
"Oh… I see…" she looked a little downcast and stopped looking at me, "People said that nobles like you tend to be a bit mean like some of the noble kids I met in the village."
"Eh? Why should I be like them?" seems that she's having second thoughts in our friendship. I'd rather not see it break just because she's a commoner and I'm a noble.
"Because they say that nobles don't have time to be involved with commoners like us." she tried to look away when I tried to meet her gaze.
"Hmmm… Well, I could act like that but why should I?" I surprised Maria when I said those words, "If they want to be a bunch of snooty brats then I don't need their company. If I want to be friends with people that I like then I'll be friends with them, end of story." I scoffed at the idea of becoming a spoiled brat just because I was born in a family of elites.
"Eh… eh?!" Maria was clearly shocked at how I acted and looked at me once more, "You don't mind me at all? Even though I'm a commoner…"
"Well it's clear that you don't know me well, Maria." I smiled mischievously at her as I looked Maria in the eyes once more, "Sure I'm a noble but I'm not going to let that title go into my head or be unfriendly to people like you. Besides, I want to be friends with you Maria so why should I be like the other weirdos in my age group? I'm not them and they're not me. I refuse to act by their rules if it means things are not fun for me." I added as I did not see the idea of being like that as something that I'd consider as nice.
Then again, modern era values are speaking here. Being that snooty isn't going to be taken well in the public anyway and it will be detrimental to anyone who thinks that they can be like that.
Maria looked like she just finished processing what I just said to her. I thought that she was going to continue staring at me as if she saw something weird in my face but in the end, she smiled and began to tremble. She then laughed at what I just said.
"Edwin… that… that was really rude… of you to say bad things... to other people." she said this while laughing at what I just said.
"Yeah well, the kids you talked with and acted like as if they're the best thing in the world are stupid idiots. If they know you better, they'd know that you're not a waste of time, Maria." I shrugged my shoulders as I casted a spell to reinforce the spellwork that keeps the smoke from going all over the place instead of up.
"Do you mean everything you said?" Maria was finally able to calm herself down.
"Well, yes. Getting to know you for a short time was actually something." I chucked another dry wood and watched the stars shine above us, "I want to be friends with you, Maria. Even if you're some commoner, Light mage or not and me being a son of a Marquess who should have an ego the size of an ocean, I'd like to keep being friends with you. After all, caring for those you would consider as close to you isn't barred by class, right?"
"I…" Maria was struck at the last sentence that I've just said. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was agape at hearing what I just said. She decided to turn away from me, her back facing me and said, "Yes. Let's… let's be friends, Edwin."
And with that, I am now very good friends with Maria. I looked at the small bonfire in front of me and thought of my new life so far.
I have to admit, I'm a noble who remembered my past life as a normal guy. No extra responsibilities, no reputation to keep and all set to a life of mundanity and insignificance. It's the kind of life that I wanted to live out but well, I died and lived again as a kid who came from a family of possibly important nobles. Not only that, I'm reincarnated to this world and I'm still not over the fact that I'm now part of this world's plot where Katarina unknowingly woo people with her rather simplistic and yet innocent nature.
Maybe this life would be quite an interesting one compared to what I've led at first. I just hope that nothing happens to us-...
-0-0-0-0-0-
She was close to the spot where the smoke rose.
The smoke that appeared at the slowly darkening skies above. It disturbed her time with her daughter and her fiance as they were having a nice tea in their manor. The smoke reminded her of the past.
When the invaders of Salamanca arrived and utterly destroyed their homes and killed most of her family and friends for the sake of their debased religion. When a sacrifice was made, a pillar of smoke would arise and the source of it would be a burning person that they are going to burn alive. She can already hear the cries for help and the wishes for death, followed by the laughter of the monstrous heretics. She hated to be reminded of those dark days. She only wanted to be with her family and yet there are those who would dare to say otherwise.
She cut through the shrubs that she passed by and saw the light as she was getting closer and closer to the source. On her hand was a wand that will be used to punish the Salamancans who dare to put their foot in their lands and lay their hands on the ones who dare to raise them to her people. She swears that she will kill them all no matter what and she will not be stopped no matter what.
The last shrubbery was torn and she had found her targets. Two children who were sitting beside the campfire. The two looked at the direction where the wraith came from and screamed out of fear. The scream caused her to shout angrily before she charged at them.
"Maria, run!" The little boy held his wand and was firing wind spells at the wraith that dwelled in the forest, "Run while you still- ack!"
"You little…" Maria was shocked to see Edwin be grabbed all of the sudden by the monster of the forest and was hoisted on air by his collar, "Hoh? A Florencia? I've never seen a child like you before."
"Maria, run away! Please!" the boy struggled as he tried to fire a wind spell to the wraith to be released from its grasp, "Go! Get out of here while you still can!"
"I…" Edwin was not able to say another word as he was gagged by a black substance.
The Hag was not satisfied with simply gagging Edwin but also covered everything down from his nose with a black substance until it cocooned the little boy. He was squirming and struggling but to no avail as all he could do was to look at Maria one last time with fear and desperation in his eyes. Edwin was doing his best to keep the monster's attention to him as he tried to kick the monster with his last free leg until it was covered in darkness.
It had worked well and it gave Maria enough time to back away for a few distance and run.
Before the monstrous hag was able to look upon Maria, she was already at a good distance to conceal her and back to the darkness. She did not care who that other intruder was as she was more interested in Florencia.
The boy's voice was muffled but she can tell that it was doing its best to protect the intruder that ran away from her presence. She did not care at that point as the forest would kill the intruder regardless. She will have to deal with the boy who was once her family's old ally in the past.
"Now, let's have a talk about your alliance with that Salamancan intruder, boy." The monster spoke ominously as she began her trek back to the forest with Edwin on the tow.
Though he was an adult in the body of a child, Edwin was afraid of what would happen next. All he could do was to hope that he would be found before it gets worse and that Maria was able to escape this cursed forest.
The first one is something that he doubts will happen and he ends up like his grandfather's sibling: claimed by the anomalous forest.
Just like everyone else.
Edwin felt this dark pit of despair and desperation when he succumbed to his death in his first life.
He never thought that he would go through this again and at an early age as well.
-0-0-0-0-0-
A/N: So yeah, it's been a long time since the teaser and a lot of things happened during that time. Work got too much for me, life happened and once more, I got quarantined again for getting a fever for two days. Hopefully for the latter, I won't end up being ordered to go on a quarantine for 23 more days after being advised to quarantine for 7 days. Really annoying to go through this process, mind you.
Anyway, Part C. Edwin basically was not going to win against the creature that lurked in the forest and he told Maria to run as he futilely tried to damage the lich but failed hard. On the bright side, she's safe but on the downside, he's stuck with a clearly deluded creature. Yeah, this is his first experience in dark magic being used at such a massive scale and he's very afraid of what will happen next.
Him letting Maria escape is basically his adult mindset kicking in to protect the child from a very horrific being and telling her to run away. However, he got caught and is very afraid of what might come next.
Now, as to why they didn't escape the forest using Maria's sight? It was getting harder and harder to see the trail of black that Maria followed and it was getting really cold in the forest. Not only that, you'd rather be in one place and make any signs that would get the search party to easily get to your location than to go elsewhere and get so hopelessly lost that you won't find your way out. Not to mention the part that the whole forest is a magical death trap that they have zero experience in navigating.
Their lamp's not going to be enough to let them see where they were going so their best option was to stand by and make a smoke beacon.
Two more arcs left and it's back to the shenanigans seen on the series.
Anyway, see you all on Part D.