Back! I'm still trying to do one every week; I just had stuff going on at the end of last week and got too busy to post the chapter on time! Sorry! Here it is though!
When Seth stepped off of the boat, he was on the bank of a river he didn't recognize. Not that he'd ever recognized anywhere it had taken him on one of his adventures- at least, not yet. He wasn't quite sure how it had gotten to a river from open ocean, but he figured that was the magic of a clever boat and a moving magical island and decided not to ask questions.
He anchored the boat the best he could by tying it to a tree and hoping it would still be there when he got back. And also that he'd be able to find his way back. It didn't seem like a very reliable strategy, but it had worked so far!
Seth turned around and almost started walking in a straight path before realizing that he should probably at least attempt to figure out where he was before he went anywhere. For sure pick out some landmarks that would help him find his way back to the boat, maybe figure out in what general area at least of the world he was in, if not a specific sanctuary.
Unfortunately, he could not immediately recognize where he was.
A forest stretched out around the stream, as far as Seth could see. Densely packed trees made that distance not very long. But even from the small area he could see, Seth could tell that this was no normal forest.
It was abnormally dark for this time of day, even more than it should've been from the dense foliage doing its best to block out the sun. In the dim light, it was harder to be sure, but Seth thought that the trees looked more gray than brown, and the branches definitely had more menacing shapes to them than those of most trees. And none of these were the most out-of-the-ordinary part of this forest: it absolutely radiated malicious energy.
If he had been anyone else, Seth would've been scared.
As it was, he was the Underking, and he was not scared (not that he would've been scared even if he wasn't the Underking!). He could create that same amount of dark energy and much more- easily.
He couldn't quite tell from where he was if the dark magic and the magical fear that came with it were coming from one being or from the entire forest itself, but either would mean no threat to him. Many magical creatures could give off profound auras of dark magic, unsettlement, and then magical fear that could amount to more irrational terror than one would otherwise experience in one's whole life. And Seth just so happened to be the most powerful of all the dark creatures. He could be a million times worse than this- if he wanted to.
But he didn't. He did not emanate fear unless he specifically needed to, and he had spent long periods of time debating with himself over why. The conclusion he had come to was that that was simply not who he was.
Having lost his identity only meant he'd lost what he already had. He still had the ability to make a choice every day to be who he wanted to be. Whether that was the same person as he had been or not was a different story. But even if he didn't know who he had been, he knew who he was.
So he set off into the dark and foreboding forest without fear of whatever darkness it hid. He was much worse than whatever was the worst force here.
There wasn't much to distinguish this particular area of forest, aside from the river. Hopefully there weren't many other rivers around here. He figured he could probably find his way back to this point if he could find the river; all he'd have to know was whether he was upstream it downstream from this point and then follow it back. And if he got lost, he could get directions from whatever magical creatures inevitably lurked nearby.
Seth carved a path perpendicular to the river, heading straight away from it. He didn't know where he was, and he figured any direction would get him somewhere.
Maybe he could try to find the source of the dark magic that clung to every aspect of his surroundings. Whatever it was, it made all of the living plants, trees and grass and moss and sparse shrubbery, appear sickly. The atmosphere seemed to be permanently dreary, with fog clouding what the trees didn't.
While Seth knew that whatever being had caused this- be it something that lived here or something that had cursed this place long ago- was something of his kind, none of this sat well with him. He'd always loved the outdoors, and it was troubling to see the plants and everything that made up the outdoors here so… deadened.
Frowning slightly, he was careful to pay attention for any signs of some other living creature showing up. He could handle whatever might, but he didn't want to be caught by surprise.
Seth took a deep breath and raised his eyebrows for a few seconds, then let them drop, erasing the frown with it. No way was he letting anything ruin his adventure. He felt his spirit lighten with the thought of all the possibilities that could happen on an adventure, and the almost-bad-mood disappeared just as fast as it had shown up.
He walked in the same general direction for quite some time, occasionally taking detours around more difficult obstructions. The whole forest seemed dampened by whatever force dwelt within it, grayed and muted. All the same, Seth was glad to be on a walk outside. If this walk was all the adventure he got today, it would still be worth it. He wondered if the dark being in the forest would confront an intruder, and if it would back off or try to challenge him once it realized who he was.
Seth was willing to write it off as nothing until the third time it happened: what sounded like a whisper floated through the trees. He froze in place, straining his ears to try to hear it again. His efforts were met with only silence.
In fact- it was too silent. Only now did he finally put a finger on another of the factors that went into making this forest seem so wrong: it was dead silent. No birds singing, no insects buzzing, no small animals scurrying around in the brush. That was not reassuring in the slightest.
Now that he really registered it, the silence seemed oppressive, almost smothering. The uneasy feeling mounted. Just as Seth was about to continue walking anyway, he heard the whisper again.
It was gone just as soon as it happened, and no matter how long he stood still and tried to listen, it didn't come again. It had been indistinct; he didn't recognize the voice or know where it came from. It was almost quick enough to write off as a figment of his imagination.
Seth shook it off and kept going, but it continued to weigh on his mind for the rest of the adventure for one reason.
He could've sworn it said his name.
in the cradle of the deep
did you say my name?
