Chapter XVIII of Shadow, a work of fan fiction based on Christopher Paolini's InheritanceCycle.
Every Friday, a new chapter will be published, so keep checking!
I feel like I should edit a couple of chapters, my earlier, painfully short ones especially. Any suggestions (foreshadowing, fixing plotholes, fixing discontinuities, or even typos)? Make sure you tell me which chapter.
Superfluid helium has a couple strange properties: It can crawl up surfaces and slip through molecular cracks, conduct heat without losing any heat, not mentioning it remains motionless in a spinning container. What Gïrnięn does to Svellbitr is basically freezing its internal organs with the former three properties.
The fireball is basically a heat-seeking missile looking for Cïtirinus' heat signature. It can in particular, detect Cïtirinus' Eldunarí.
Cïtirinus swerved as Sundavr threw bolts of electricity at them. Gïrnięn muttered a spell and the air around him hardened, leaving just enough of a gap for Cïtirinus to flap his wings. Gïrnięn laid wards around himself and Cïtirinus as Sundavr focused on dissipating the protective air bubble. Gïrnięn mutters a string of words, struggling to keep the helium gathering in his hand together. He whispered a spell, softly, and the helium cooled down to near absolute zero, in an egglike shape centimeters away from his hand. Sundavr's eyes widened as the bullet of superfluid helium hurtled forward, crashing against Svellbitr and instantly working its way in. Svellbitr gave loose an infernal scream, a scream utterly unnatural, not dissimilar to the screech of nails on slate magnified a hundred times over. Gïrnięn reached out with his consciousness and took Svellbitr's remaining energy, storing it in Solus-harmr's pommel. Sundavr growled in pain, but the pain quickly became a scream as he fell. Sundavr managed to mutter a few words, slowing his fall and cushioning his impact. Cïtirinus spiraled down cautiously, and Gïrnięn pulled his hood over his face and read the air for disturbances. He sensed Sundavr hurling some projectile. Peering out from under his hood, Gïrnięn glimpsed the projectile and cursed. A ball of pine needles and pine sap streaked through the sky, burning with green flames.
Cïtirinus dodged out of the way of the unnatural flames, but the fireball swerved and chased after him. Gïrnięn cursed as the sickly laughter once again spiraled into his mind.
So your loyal and noble steed saved you… Yet Sundavr managed to track you down anyway… I don't know whether it's ironic or just plain funny.
Gïrnięn grits his teeth as Cïtirinus launches into a spiraling dive, simultaneously striking up a debate with Shadow about whether or not Gïrnięn should live on. Shadow seemed to find that immensely funny.
Cïtirinus dives, flying towards Ilirea. The fireball follows. All the while Cïtirinus and Shadow are arguing, insults and colorful language seeping into the conversation, bringing with them anger and clouded judgement. That was when Cïtirinus attacked Shadow mentally—in midair. Gïrnięn tried to dive in and help Cïtirinus, but the four strands of Shadow's consciousness dart around Cïtirinus' mind, combining and splitting, unraveling and reforming, so that tiny little strands of thought darted around Cïtirinus' mind, slowly working its way in. The fourth strand suddenly disentangled itself and leaped onto Gïrnięn's mind, mental claws working to shred his walls. Gïrnięn tries to attract Cïtirinus' attention, but the strands of Shadow's consciousness had completely blinded Cïtirinus to the outside world.
The outside world…
Gïrnięn jolted awake, quickly muttering a spell that gradually increased air resistance. It wasn't enough, and Gïrnięn's last reserves were melting away. Screaming, he crashed into the green and
the trees tore into him
and Cïtirinus who
slowly disentangled himself from Shadow and
all was black.
Gïrnięn groaned, sitting up. His cloak had shielded him from most of the damage, but Cïtirinus' hide had slashed Gïrnięn's legs until the fabric disintegrated and nasty red cuts and scabs marred the tender flesh. He checked his palms, which had long cuts in them—also "scraped" on Cïtirinus, he assumed.
Tentatively, he reached out with his mind towards Cïtirinus. He seemed to be sleeping, but—
Cïtirinus unleashed his full mental abilities on Gïrnięn, and would've tore Gïrnięn's mind to shreds had Gïrnięn not mentally backed away immediately.
Calm down. It's me.
Gïrnięn? No, you cannot fool me so easily, Shadow. Do you take your brother for a fool?
I'm not Shadow. In fact, you can poke and prod in my mind and you'll find that out yourself.
Cïtirinus' mind reached out and touched Gïrnięn's.
It is you.
Cïtirinus' great eye opened.
What happened to you?
Er, well, I kind of "scraped" my legs on your hide.
Cïtirinus would've launched into a tirade, but Gïrnięn simply ignored him and searched for medicinal herbs. By the time night had fallen, Gïrnięn had already had a fire going, and bandages and poultices wrapped around his wounds. He sank into his bedroll and dozed off.
Gïrnięn's rear end hurt. He expected it to—after all, the man had just taken a stick of oak and pounded him with it. The man chuckled.
"Oh dear, Gïrnięn, how do you do it? How do you manage to unveil my plans so easily? Perhaps you got it from your dear deceased mother, eh?"
Gïrnięn frowns. He thinks this is important, but he simply can't put his finger on
The hydra twists and writhes in its nest, thousands of skeletons forming its high walls, layers of skin keeping it warm. It doesn't look up. A man sits on an obsidian throne.
"It's very rude to eavesdrop, you know."
Gïrnięn whirls around to see the figure coming towards
"Ha! It's like if I told you of my ventures into Necromancy, you would remember them, word for word. Now, you would, wouldn't you?"
Gïrnięn tilts his head in confusion.
"Can you believe it? I've finally figured out how to resurrect someone, and of course my four
"I don't know how you do it, and mostly, I don't care. But I know one thing." The figure's eyes glinted.
"You need to leave." And he grabs Gïrnięn's consciousness and flings it and
"Wake up."
Gïrnięn opened his eyes, slowly. Then they burst open. A familiar dwarf stood over him.
"I take it you need some help?" asked Orœthmis.