Chapter 4
If we fight this thing together there's a chance that we may win
I swirled the cloak around my shoulders and secured it with the golden cord, getting a feel for the fit and it looked and felt pretty good.
"Oh, what is this?" I exclaimed to myself in a very exaggerated way. "A note under the cloak? Whoever could it be from?" I picked it up and unfolded it. "Put this on and be ready to fly, meet me outside," it said. I looked myself over, decided to "disguise" myself with my original looks but left my regular clothes untouched. With no idea where we might go but there wasn't any line in the note saying "wear the pretty dress" or anything like that, I figured it would be fine. I headed outside, starting to tell the others in passing we were going out but both said Malachite had told them and to have fun. The draig himself was wearing a similar black cloak and again seemed out of sorts. A cloak with huge holes in it for wings? He pulls it off. Or I will be later, that is...
"It looks good on you," he finally decided.
I gave him a twirl. "Thank you for it, weather is starting to turn after all."
"Especially when flying, I would bet. You ready?" He opened his arms.
Surprise destination eh? Okay, turn about is fair play after all. "Sure thing." He swept me up and we took off, with me shoving my emotions in the box and repeating to myself he wasn't going to drop me. Still, I mentally reviewed the telekinesis spell engraved on my mana core for no reason at all, and after a moment we passed the city walls and he slowed a bit.
"Can I get a boost?" he asked.
I rolled my eyes and freed a hand, gesturing. "Enlarge!" I commanded, casting my grow spell. I stopped at only twice as large, more might have unbalanced me or him causing the aforementioned dropping.
"Good enough!" With a mighty flap of his wings we shot forward.
We followed the river a time, it was getting fairly dark but I could tell that much at least, and we finally landed by a waterfall. Romantic! Naturally Malachite shrank down again as I had cast the magic to last until we did so, and he gestured that I should sit, so I did. His hands seemed to be shaking a bit but my emotions were locked down in the box, I was breathing evenly, trying not to jump to any conclusions about what was happening. He wasn't on one knee or anything so… He pulled out a piece of paper and looked it over. I waited patiently, this seemed important to him so his pace was fine. He started to read.
"I'm bad at words so I tried to write them down instead. Although I've never said it, and tried my best to hide it, I've had feelings for you since before we came to this town and found our new 'family.' I also have seen how much your curse bothers you, and wished I could help, but also didn't want you to no longer need me and decide you didn't need me in your life anymore, so maybe I didn't try too hard to look. However, now that I know you feel the same way, and I started to think about our life together, I wanted to do something really special for you. So, I went out and got the best answers I could find. It's not the instant cure I hoped for, but I think it's something that will get you there. Please know I love you, no matter what you look like, or your physical limitations. Even though you can kick my ass, to me you'll always be my precious, delicate flower. No matter what choices you have to make, I will be there at your side to the end."
He looked away, and I realized at some point during all that I had stopped concentrating on my box. He loves me. He really loves me. I realized he was handing something to me, it was a piece of paper sealed with black wax, and I numbly took it. Where do I even start after all that?
"I wouldn't just throw you away, you know," I decided. I canceled the spell hiding my true appearance, there was no need for that either. "It isn't like this is what kept us together. As far as most of the world knows, I don't even look like this. Yes, it's a pain to remember to do the spell when I leave the house but curse or not, I'll always need someone to watch my back." Yes, yes, I have my 'pets' now let's not mention that. "If my condition cleared up tomorrow by some miracle I wouldn't just say 'see ya' to all of you. I still wouldn't be what my family demanded I be. For better or worse you're stuck with me, big guy. To the end of the Gloom and beyond." I mean selling our house would be a huge hassle, who needs that in their life? And where would Snarly go?
"You mean it?" he mumbled.
"Yes you big lug!" I said with a trace of annoyance, jumping up again. "I love you too!" I embraced him, and he startled and hugged me back.
"You do?"
"Would I really lie about it?"
"It just doesn't seem right."
"Let me worry about that." And what I'm going to do with you if you really do turn into a fully realized dragon one day. Even if it takes a hundred years, I'll still be around to see it. I held him a moment and let go, stepping back and looking him up and down. "I probably could kick your ass, couldn't I?"
"Oh!" he said with a grin. "Is that a challenge?"
"Maybe if you agree to get rid of all the magic I provide you. I'm not fighting myself after all. Now, what's this all about?"
"Read it. I don't understand it but maybe you will?"
"Okay." I wonder… "Unlock!" I cast, magic briefly swirling around the seal. It popped open without harm. "Ah ha!" I cast my light spell and looked it over, scowling at as I did.
In the cave where time's whispers weave,
a nexus dormant, secrets to retrieve.
Magewar's echo, a past unmade,
unlock the key across the temporal cascade.
Three points in time, where choices unfold,
Fragments reveal the story untold.
Magician's folly, power they sought,
Grasp the essence, change the course wrought.
Cure or merge, the nexus bids,
A choice of fate where destiny skids.
Gloom's shadow looms, a threat profound,
In crystalline echoes, the answer is found.
"Ah," I said simply after a moment.
"What? What is it? Do you know what it means?"
"Humm? No, no, this is clearly the result of the more advanced divination spell. I say 'advanced' on purpose instead of something like 'more useful' or 'more helpful.' Basically there are two other spells, prophesy and the true question spell. It's probably prophesy because I think true question is limited to maybe ten or fifteen words? I would have to go back and look at my families' books. It's the reason I didn't learn either one and stuck to my question spell. A simple yes or no answer, far more useful most of the time. Otherwise you get this," I shook the paper it him. "Basically more questions than answers."
"So does it help at all?"
I hummed. "Do we have time to check every single cave in the local area and listen for whispers?" Though what does time whispering sound like, exactly?
"Not tonight but probably eventually, sure."
I looked back up at him in surprise. "Huh, we do, don't we? Nexus, huh? It repeats that twice, so it must be critical in some way. I could maybe ask where 'the nexus referred to in this poem' is, I have an idea how to use my spell to narrow it down. I'll work on it. Thanks for doing this, the spell must have cost you an arm and a leg. And hopefully doesn't actually cost us an arm and a leg trying to track it down. I can't heal that. Let's see Snarly through this whole worm dragon slaying quest he's on at the moment, look into that flying creature for the town to clear out our schedule, and we'll have some time to dig into this. I won't waste the opportunity you've created here."
"Okay. It's yours to do with as you wish. I'll support you whatever you decide, like I said. Oh, I will say one other thing though. The wizard said it doesn't seem to be a curse because they usually have a specific condition that breaks it."
"Well, saying 'it's a curse' is just a shorthand I use if someone does catch a glimpse of me. It's something even a child understands exists in the world, at least in the abstract. I sort of knew that, basically why I didn't go looking for a cure right away when it happened. I figured it was just my life now. But maybe it's something else entirely." Cure or merge? Could I be some kind of crystal elemental, like Malachite has been shown to actually be an evolving dragon? It seems I have a choice, could I become even more of what I seem to be or less? And what does each of those choices mean for me? To have a whole body made of this crystal stuff would have to come with some really, really fantastic perks, not that my disguise spell would be any less effective covering it up. But I want to get better, not worse! Though you do see the occasional earth elemental wandering around, or rock based cohesion, so they are at least a bit more accepted in society than-
"Hey did you fall asleep on me?" Malachite joked.
"What? No, sorry, just thinking. Come sit down, we flew all the way out here after all. Shame to waste it."
We did, holding hands and not talking much, just watching the waterfall and thinking. But we finally did head home, finding Snarly had gone to bed. I told Hanz about the 'prophesy' and he said he would devote some CPU cycles to decoding the meaning, whatever that meant, and we both went up to bed.
The next morning Snarly looked pretty rough, and admitted he hadn't slept all that well last night.
"I mean, what if iths not me on that wall?" he mused. "What if I have some twinth brother I don't know abouth? Maybe those hobgoblinth got us confusthed?"
"Is that all you're worried about?" I scoffed. "You should have come talk to me, I can answer that question easily!" I made with the magic, asking the universe "is Snarly the beastfolk spoken of in the hobgoblin prophesy?"
Yes
"You see? Your victory is assured. Don't worry, I'll apply the same magic to your new sword as to your daggers. You'll be about the equivalent of a decade of practice with the blade just from drawing it when the time comes. Plus you'll still have the invisible one you can draw, and it's not like you'll be alone. We'll be right at your side."
"I supothe there's no help for it."
"The alternative is to return to the hobgoblin encampment, if you will," Hanz told him, "and tell them the vision was incorrect. They cannot stay here, we need the area clear so the townspeople can investigate the treatment plant. They will either have to leave or be driven out. Possibly killed."
"It's what we should have done in the first place," Malachite muttered.
That attack still fresh in the mind, is it? I agree, it's a bit odd to have killed them by the dozens out by the walls, but these specific ones we're trying to make friends with.
"You either trust the visions of the seer or you do not," Hanz went on. "They have given you the sword, so their power does seem legitimate. We can at least head to the site and see what the situation is."
"Many dragon-like creatures can talk, don't forget," Malachite told him. "Maybe we can simply ask him to move. The picture is just you showing him the blade or maybe you could trade it to him in exchange for him finding some other place to live. It's not like it was passed down in your family or anything. Yeah it would be nice but it is dangerous to have around. I doubt you would miss it that much."
"You don't know!" he retorted.
"I guess not. Shall we get going?"
"Let me go grab that nice cloak I got from someone!" I protested. We might need it as a burial shroud. I snorted and ran off before I cracked up, it wasn't nice to think that way about poor Snarly and he was about to face a huge dragon-worm thing which took courage and he should be praised. So there. I mean we all were, but Malachite would be huge no doubt to counter it, and Hanz could keep firing, and I had all my magic. Snarly was the only one who should really be worried.
It had rained heavily the night before so while we soared to our destination Malachite announced he was going to land, he had spotted something on the road below us. We fell from the sky, to a scene of circus wagons heading into the city stuck in the mud of the road. Because it's simply too much to ask that a couple of mages create stone out of seemingly thin air, and shape it into a decent road into and out of the city. No, no, keep the road dirt and mud, that's the best way to do it. Like magic doesn't even exist, that's what we've decided to go with. Heck I could do it myself in just a week or two, depending on how long you wanted it.
We were looking around seeing if we might be needed, it seemed two wagons were still stuck and bogged down, when a brownie in a top hat came over to us. "Hail travelers, interesting mode of transportation you use! Shame we can't all enjoy the ease of air travel. What can we do for you?"
"Air travel was at one time quite easy," Hanz whispered to me. "Until they got complacent and doors and such started falling off planes. While in the air, no less. Nasty time, but it did wake some regulators up."
Meanwhile, Malachite had stepped up. "Think we can help somehow?" I caught him finishing up saying.
"You seem fairly strong, we can always use more muscle. My strongmen are just getting some chains put around the next cart. Madam Delilah's, I believe. Yes, yes, your help would be appreciated."
"Actually, I was thinking more Orchid here," he said, turning to me. "I mean after a whole pirate ship this should be pretty easy, right?"
No doubt.
"I say," said the brownie, looking me over. Naturally I had dropped the disguise spell once out of town, I figured I wouldn't need it. Stupid, I always need it. "With your physique you would be right at home in the circus, have you ever considered the traveling lifestyle?"
Malachite and I looked at each other and burst out laughing, leaving the brownie a bit out of sorts.
"Wow," I finally managed. "Yes, come see the magical freak. Heck, I could even be an attraction, get a ring on the stone lady. No thanks," I told him. "Anyway, no can do, Malachite, I was thinking of just making you bigger again. Using my magic to directly get the carts moving I would have to charge him. But making you bigger, and you simply choosing to help in that form, well… I cast that spell on you all the time it's for my own benefit of flying around. I can't stop you if you want to help before we get into the air again."
"Oh right that whole guild thing," he admitted. "Suits me. Let's go give the madam the good news."
We walked over to the wagon and a hideous looking woman peered out at us. "Just as I foresaw!' she cackled. "I'll go make sure there are no candles burning and such." She pulled her head back in.
"That's not creepy," Malachite muttered.
"She wath quite beautiful, in her own way," Snarly protested.
"Uh huh. Whenever you're ready, Orchid."
In the end it was a matter of moments for the once again enlarged Malachite to carefully yank the wagons out of the mud and place them on more solid ground. The brownie, who introduced himself as the leader of the troupe, gave us free tickets for the show "Coming soon to Gloomhaven, if we don't get stuck again!" He laughed. We thanked him, and were about to take off again when the madam ran up to us.
"I have had a vision!" she cried, hands in the air.
"Oh here we go," the brownie muttered.
"Your path is dark and cursed. There is a shadow around you- a Gloom. You must leave this place. Be rid of it before it consumes you. That is all!" she spun on her heel and squelched back to her wagon.
"I knew it, I'm tho dead," Snarly wailed. "I need to get rid of tha thowd or it'll conthume me."
"I wouldn't put much stock in her," the brownie told him.
"She did mention the Gloom though," Hanz mused. "How else would she have known unless it was a true vision? Strange, to encounter so many with that talent in such a short amount of time. Perhaps they are being drawn here by the threads of destiny."
I shook my head. "We knew our path was dark," I told them. "And we can't stray from it. If it's going to consume us it's going to consume everything. We have to stay and fight." We may be the only ones, in the end, who can. Because we've been doing it, learning the Gloom's tricks. Seeing how they fight. It's the 'be rid of it' part that worries me. Was she talking about the light and dark crystals we picked up? Is that the shadow? It's what light and dark do make after all. Maybe I should get rid of them...
Malachite beamed with pride and stood a little straighter. Not that you could tell, he was the size of a fully grown dragon at the moment. "That's right," he boomed. "Let them come!"
Not long after we landed in the rough area marked on the map and started to look around. We found a crack in a nearby hill that seemed promising, but there were two major problems. One, the crack was only big enough for Snarly, and two- something seemed to be wrong with magic in the area.