*****Chapter 4: Long Road Ahead*****
AN: Heyo! Still alive! Just had a lot of trouble finding time to sit down and write. Oh, and summer festivals exist, and there are a lot of them here in Japan. So that's a thing. Anyway, onto the story…
Several weeks worth of travel from Nazarick, near half a continent away in the south, an unnatural creature of malice and hate sat in the shade of a palm tree at an oasis in the great desert that split the continent in half, feeding off the ambient magic energy of the animals and insects gathered there. It held no name, as it was but a mere summon of those infinitely its greater, yet in spite of that, the shadow demon felt a great deal of pride at being a servant of the supreme beings.
Its master, Lord Demiurge, had charged it with examining an anomaly in the south: a crater of glass, with little evidence of what created it. It was told to look for signs of a fight, or anything resembling dragon scales, but even if nothing like that was found, it was to examine the area for anything out of the ordinary. The Supreme One had ordered no teleportation because of the chance of it potentially being detected over such a large distance, so it had to travel the old fashioned way.
So far, the journey was uneventful. It had traveled most of the distance to its destination over the prior two nights, moving through forests, fields, and dunes alike at speeds most humans were incapable of even noticing, before spotting this oasis right before dawn earlier today, and deciding to wait it out until nightfall.
Unlike lesser vampires, and other creatures of the night, it would not be harmed by sunlight. However, its ability to travel and fade into darkness was greatly diminished, and having been told staying unseen was preferable to speed, it followed the command accordingly (not that it was complaining; while capable of it, moving around in the sun was far from comfortable for one of its origin).
While enjoying the cool shade, it noticed the sun was in the process of setting, and with it, dusk approached. Realizing this, it readied itself for travel, and waited. Being an immortal creature, time held very little meaning, and before long the final rays of sunlight disappeared on the horizon; the sweet chill of night creeping in to replace the day's rapidly vanishing heat.
As soon as dusk set in, the shadow demon shot out from the tree, speeding across the desert as fast as possible. It knew the location was nearby – the landscape was described to it before it left the Great Tomb, and it got an aerial view before sunrise – so the demon expected to find the beginnings of the crater before long. Sure enough, a few hundred dunes later, it saw an area in the desert ahead of it that glistened in the moonlight, and it picked up the pace now that its suspicions were confirmed.
When it finally arrived at the edge of the crater, it paused to examine the unnatural geographical feature in its entirety: the fractured glass, half covered in sand – the practical cavern that was formed at its center, being the size of a hill if flipped upside down, that even after however many days still had yet to be filled in – the areas in the glass that were seemingly shattered by a blunt object, though there wasn't a way to tell what specifically did it – and, perhaps most curious, the massive clawed footprints still left in the glass at its center leading out that slowly grew smaller and smaller until they disappeared entirely. Where they began in size as competition for the most ancient dragons known to exist, said dragons capable of shattering or melting mountains as if they were made from ice, they ended as footprints barely larger than those of a freshly hatched wyrm.
Going in for a closer look, the shadow demon examined the smallest footprints thoroughly, taking note of how the prints became more elongated rather than wide as they shrank, and how the toes/claws shrank dramatically when compared to the rest of the foot. Not understanding the significance of this, it settled on examining the rest of the crater. However, aside from the obvious signs of the desert steadily reclaiming its lost territory, and the faint lingering magical energy that was spent to create the phenomenon in the first place, there wasn't anything of interest.
Just to be sure, it made one more sweep of the crater, and as expected, found nothing else. Its task completed, it contacted its master through the connection Lord Demiurge had with all his summoned minions, giving a summary of its journey and what it found.
"-though as I traced the footprints, their size diminished, to the point of no longer leaving an impression on the glass."
"Show me," its master demanded, viewing the shadow demon's surroundings through its eyes, and it complied, moving to the center of the crater and following the trail out to where it ended.
Lord Demiurge stayed silent for a long period before chuckling, though it had no idea as to why. "Interesting… very interesting. It seems the Supreme One's wisdom and intuition is even greater than I imagined. You have performed adequately. Remain in the area for another ten days and report on any visitors to the site so long as you remain undetected. Doubtless we were not the only ones to notice the anomaly."
And with that, its master ended the connection, and orders given, it began its vigil.
Samuel hummed a pleasant tune to himself as he rode atop his horse, his merry band of 50 or so bandits all walking or riding behind him. They were all pretty well equipped, well fed, and well rested all things considered; and being fresh off a raid, they were in pretty high spirits.
He knew for a fact that they'd left several future bastard children behind; which always seemed to relieve the men of their frustration (even if Samuel didn't participate himself). And now, they marched towards another village, or rather a small town if what his scouts had told him was correct.
Neither he nor his men had heard of a town in this area before now, so it was a bit odd, considering that it seemed to hold a few hundred people within its wooden walls; but when one considered the possibility of a sorcerer or sorceress having placed an enchantment on it to hide it, things started to make sense.
Normally, he'd never even consider raiding a town most likely guarded by a magic wielder; but since whatever enchantment that had hidden it from sight had worn off, Samuel was willing to bet that the sorcerer that protected the town had either died or moved elsewhere. Which meant free pickings, since a town like that would doubtlessly have some treasures they could use.
"You seem cheerful," the rider next to him commented.
Samuel glanced to his left and smirked. "That's 'cause I am. And I'd be even more if you'd let me have some fun."
Behind her half-mask/scarf combo, the mask covering most of her face, his friend Alaya seemed to smile in turn; her brown eyes flashing with amusement. "Please. I'd need at least five pints in me before I'd let your ugly face even come close to seeing mine under the scarf."
Samuel snorted and shook his head ruefully.
Theirs was a mixed group, to say the least. Most were like him and were from the Empire, some were from the Theocracy, and some were from Roble. Alaya and her two cousins were from the south, further south than even the Theocracy, in that desert Sultanate or whatever it was called. He couldn't pronounce the name, and didn't truly care if he was frank.
Still, Alaya was one of the few women in the band; and she never showed her face to anyone outside of her cousins, which teased him to no end trying to figure out what she looked like underneath. Supposedly, it was a cultural practice for the women of her land to show their face only to family and lovers after reaching their age of maturity, and she'd been quite effective at concealing it.
Shaking his head, Samuel noticed something across an open field and blinked in surprise, then grinned widely. There were twenty armored men lined up in a shield wall, very clearly ready for a fight, all of them facing him and his small column of men; along with a man and a woman on mounts in front of the guards.
The woman in particular was what drew his attention. Even from this distance, her perfectly styled brown hair seemed to glisten in the sunlight, momentarily turning into a deep red as a result, a shining gold tiara on her head marking her as the leader; while her armor, a fairly standard affair of chestplate and arm guards, appeared to glow with a strange aura that had his guard up.
But then he noticed what she was riding, and it gave him pause for a moment. Instead of a horse, she was riding a massive wolf the size of a horse; and it even had a saddle she was sitting on.
He frowned, all thoughts about the woman and what he'd do with her expelled as his mind started to work.
"Hm…" He hummed, the rest of his men all stopping as they realized what they were looking at.
"We outnumber them three to one." Alaya pointed out to him, though she didn't sound all too certain about it.
Samuel grunted, turning his head to look at her. "They're all well armed and armored, undoubtedly professionally trained too given the quality of their equipment. We're armed and armored as well, but the only training we have is on how to not gut ourselves, and I don't think I need to comment on the condition of our gear. We need to be careful on how we deal with them."
Alaya hummed, "We could ride forwards for a par-" She froze for a moment, her eyes bulging in terror as she stared ahead, then spurred her horse on towards the line of soldiers.
Samuel had survived as long as he had in his profession by not asking questions, and instead jammed his heels into his steed; sending his horse jolting forwards just behind Alaya.
That's when he saw what had prompted Alaya's panicked flight.
The armored woman had jumped from the saddle of her wolf and into the air, floating there with a bow in her hands and three arrows drawn on the string; all of them glowing with a dark and malevolent black and red energy.
It was strange how one could notice tiny little details when they stared death in the face.
Samuel could see the sorceress's hair, blown by the wind, turning an even darker shade of red in her bow's mystic light, taking on an otherworldly appearance; Alaya's panicked shouting at her horse to move faster, in the hopes to take out the most dangerous opponent on the field; his own horse's sudden breaths between each gallop, spurred further on by its fear of the unnatural spike in magic in front of it.
He could make out every single detail of the field they found themselves in, down to the last strand of grass, as every instinct in his body was telling him he had only one chance of surviving what came next.
Then the sorceress released the drawstring.
A roaring sound filled Samuel's ears as the bolts of energy flew over his head, and then slammed into the ground behind him with an explosion of bright crimson light.
His horse shrieked in terror and dug its hooves into the ground, almost throwing him off, with a strange quiet settling in after the explosion. A moment later though, spare gear that hadn't really been secured properly flew off his saddle and was sucked backwards; the wind suddenly turning into something like that of a hurricane, tearing at him like a fierce beast.
Samuel clenched his legs and leaned forward in the saddle, worried that his horse would be pulled into whatever magic was causing this. But in spite of the horse kicking and running as hard as it could, he still felt like he was being sucked backwards, and he looked behind him.
He nearly vomited at the sight.
All of his men, along with their horses and equipment, were being sucked into three perfect spheres of black energy, screaming as they scrabbled at the ground or grabbed onto trees and rocks to try and anchor themselves; all to no avail, as they were sucked into the orbs, trees and rocks going with them, their bodies being stretched impossibly before vanishing into the abyssal blackness.
Only he and Alaya were still holding on, having been farther away than the rest thanks to getting a head start. However, he knew that they couldn't outrun the pull of the orbs forever, as even now, he could feel his horse losing its grip on the ground beneath it, the old mare having burnt itself out in its mad dash to escape the bottomless holes; Alaya's horse in much the same condition. He could feel his heart beating, panic and fear running rampent in his mind, and he sent a silent prayer to whatever gods cared to listen to the pleas of scum like him.
Then, just as Samuel thought the two horses had finally given out, the Sorceress seemed to take mercy on them.
The blights on reality that were the orbs shrunk and disappeared, allowing Samuel to breathe a sigh of relief, only for it to end as his horse gave one final huff before collapsing sideways. He only had a second to jump from it, but jump he did, his well honed reflexes coming to save him from a potentially serious injury.
As he got up, he noticed how Alaya's horse had collapsed in a similar manner, but unlike him, she hadn't gotten away unscathed, a foot having been caught in the stirrup. Thankfully, it wasn't the side now between her horse and the ground, but judging by how she held her leg, he knew it was certainly a painful experience regardless.
Quickly making his way over to her, too shaken to notice or care about the sorceress and her guards at the moment, he knelt down next to Alaya and examined her leg. "How bad is it?"
She glared at him briefly before turning her head away, taking her hands off the offending leg and letting him get a better look. "I've had worse. Nothing that won't heal on its own given a day or two."
Checking it over, he eventually arrived at the same conclusion and pulled away, realization now settling in. "All the men… the horses, the carts, the gold, everyone… they're gone."
Alaya was silent for a moment before whispering something he barely caught, still looking away from him. "My cousins… they're gone too…"
Turning to look at the dangerous magic caster in the distance, Samuel felt a pit of dread forming in his stomach, staring at the Sorceress as she casually climbed back onto her wolf and gestured forward. Forward at them.
Feeling a shiver run through him at the utterly blank expression on the armored woman's face, he turned back to Alaya and held a hand out.
"I can stand on my own," she muttered weakly, the waver in her voice betraying her.
Taking a breath, he held it and released it slowly. "I'm not saying you can't. But with her," he gestured at the source of their newfound problems, "and her soldiers coming over, do you really want to stumble on the way up?"
She thought for a few seconds before grudgingly taking his hand, and he pulled her to her feet without issue.
"Thank you," she said, just loud enough for him to hear, and he acknowledged it with a nod. "But what now? We're the only ones left."
Rather than answer, Samuel simply bowed his head and prayed for mercy as the sorceress and her troops rapidly approached, now within earshot of them.
Hopefully, they would get it.
Zesshi Zetsumei, the strongest Godkin, Guardian of the Gods' treasure vault, half elf, Extra Seat of the Black Scripture, and trump card of the Slaine Theocracy, was bored.
This wasn't a surprise to her. It had been months since the Cardinals had last allowed her to venture outside the vaults, and the First Seat of the Black Scripture hadn't visited throughout that time. Not that she truly cared, but he was at least a better conversation partner than the pathetically weak messengers and servants that typically delivered the Cardinal's orders, along with food to her.
She was used to the solitude, in truth, and the week prior had started another try at solving the puzzle left behind by the Six Gods: the six-sided rubix cube proving itself just as vexing as always. It served to distract from the boredom at least.
Alas, in spite of her best efforts at passing the time, even she grew tired of doing nothing but standing in front of the vault door twisting and turning the cube.
Perhaps I'll go eat something for once. The servants should've delivered a meal to my room recently.
Twirling her scythe lazily as she contemplated it, something about the God-slaying weapon caught her eye; odd considering she had been its wielder for nigh on a century now, and knew its winged and angelic design almost as well as her own hands. What made it different at that moment, however, was a strange, wavering, barely noticeable blue-white glow on its reflective blade; and when she looked closer at it, a young, feminine face with reddish-brown hair and a closed eye covered by some marking stared back at Zesshi, expressionless, startling her and temporarily making her lose her grip on the weapon.
Decades of practice meant her speed and reflexes were honed to the point that she caught it again before it had even wavered, but when she once more stared at the reflective surface, all she saw was her own face in the blade. Before she could do anything else, an alien sensation made itself known to her; a tingling of her senses telling her that something was wrong, even if she had no idea what. And as if in answer to the unasked question, a strange woman's quiet, almost whispering voice echoed in Zesshi's mind.
"Ah. 'Twould seem a final remnant of Grace lives once more, crossing the fog yet again. Though not to the Lands Between to claim the throne as she has time and time before, but this foreign and mysterious realm. Interesting… a shame, however, that as she yet breathes, so does the Last Elden Lord begin the never-ending cycle anew, as is her curse."
What trickery is this?! Zesshi thought angrily, readying her scythe, only to freeze at noticing the woman from the reflection now appearing in front of her like a ghost; clearly having no real presence, given her near transparency and the fact all of Zesshi's senses bar her eyes told her nothing and no one was there.
"Who are you?" Zesshi found herself asking, the sheer absurdity of the situation cracking her normally uninterested demeanor.
"Naught but a lost maiden, in search of my Tarnished and tormented Lord, to bring an end to her suffering however I can," was the woman's casual response, throwing Zesshi off balance entirely.
"And what, pray tell, is that supposed to-" she paused, hearing the door to her hall opening, and judging from the muttered "What the-" a moment later, it was the Cardinal of Darkness, Maximilian Oreio Lagier.
Before she could turn around to address him, Zesshi saw the 'maiden' disappear, as suddenly as she came, leaving behind a light blue mist that vanished after a second.
How strange, she found herself thinking, only for the now rambling Cardinal to draw her attention.
"But the journal said… Surshana believed she had… Gods, could the lost Goddess be real?"
Narrowing her eyes slightly, Zesshi stared at him, her mind working overtime going over what he said. "Cardinal? What Goddess?"
Blinking as if he just noticed her, the Cardinal frowned in thought. "Lady Zesshi, did the Maiden tell you anything?"
The godkin narrowed her eyes further at his non-answer, but did as he requested. "She mentioned something about grace being alive once more, a different land, a never-ending cycle, and searching for her tormented Lord."
The Cardinal was noticeably stunned by her words, and he mouthed the words 'so it's true' before straightening up and returning to the stiff and flat expression she was used to seeing on him. "Follow me. We need to report this situation to the other Cardinals."
After saying that, he turned around and started walking out, and not having anything better to do, Zesshi followed him. One way or another, she would find answers for what just happened.
Edge A/N: Right then, great to be here again! So… yeah, to be honest, kinda drawing a blank right now. Oh! Hope y'all liked the change in perspective for this chapter. Figured it wouldn't hurt to look at things outside of a player's mind for a bit; to ground it more in reality, so to speak.
Hmm… well, other than that, I got nothing. Arch! You're up!
Pilot A/N: Hey guys, been a good long while since we updated. Well, both our muses decided to go AWOL for a good while and we had to hunt them down. Then we had the misfortune of discovering a very good AI Art Generator App that kinda took our respective attention for a bit.
As it stands, you guys will have to wait a good long while for a new chapter (assuming Edge doesn't end up deciding to do it himself); given that I'll be leaving for basic training soon (and may even be in it by the time this gets released), and then following it up with my MOS Training (11c Indirect Fire Infantryman for those curious).
Hopefully this will give me time to foment on potential writing stuff and all that.
Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter, and I will see ya when I see ya.
Edge: Indeed. Oh and great news: the cookies have been found! Now just be sure to grab them while you can, because if you don- annnnd they're already gone. Uhhh… guess I'll bring more next time. Till then!