ninbinz
Master of Malign Maladies
A long short story:
It was simply an exercise in futility he knew his efforts would produce little or no result at all and yet there he sat, his back was arched beneath an ether lamp, its heatless light shining down upon him in ghostly blue tones. Few would have known him for the man he was; where his face had been full and bore the sheen of life, now it was only a gaunt semblance. His skin was once as marble but now was wrinkled putty. He hadn’t left that spot in days.
Felix looked around; the library was large and at least 5 stories tall. The walls were lined with books and scrolls. The shelves themselves were gigantic. From what he red it wasn’t quite as big as the Chronicler’s Horde but it was still awe inspiring
“Bornhald.” He heard a voice hiss; it hsattered his concentration and peeled his eyes from the meaningless words before him. His mind reeled back at the voice; it was a shock to his system. For three days he’d heard only the quiet steps of mice skittering along the shelves searching for food. “Bornhald!!” It hissed again and finally recognition bloomed.
“B-Bornhald? Why that so happens to be my name.” He rasped. Standing up; Bornhald’s bones clicked and he moaned rubbing the crook of his back. His knees struggled, his legs almost gave way but he managed to stand upright. Slowly he turned to see who was bothering him and keeping him from his studies. There before him stood a young man; Bornhald looked him over inquisitively. The fellow stood at least 6 feet and 9 inches tall, and he had skin so rich that it was almost bronze. The man had a head of messy black hair though it was cut short, his face bore a scar that started just beneath his jaw and worked its way up to his left ear. Bornhald looked into the man’s eyes and saw thst they were familiar; they were brown like bark, they sparkled with mischief but held a deep sadness that only he knew was there
Felix didn’t like what he saw; the man he knew as his teacher and friend was all but gone. “Bornhald, what’s happened to you?” He asked quietly refusing to break the sacredness of the library with his voice even though he was distressed. The old man looked at him perplexed, there were wrinkles on his face that should not have been there. Bornhald was only in his forties but now he looked to have aged at least thirty years.
“What do you mean Felix?” Bornhald asked.
Felix shook his head and instead gestured for his teacher to follow him. “There’s no time for questions my friend, we must leave.” Felix shaded his eyes as the sun shone through the stained windows that depicted the gods and their symbols amongst the glass pantheon stood Kor the patron of his country and its namesake, it was she who gifted the Koralian Hounds with their intelligence, she also gifted the hounds a secret magic that could only be unlocked by creating a bond with humans. Felix laughed at the great irony; they were standing in what was known as The Godless Halls.
Felix wiped away the sweat on his brow. They had barely walked more than two steps when he noticed the shadows deepen. He pressed on, his pace quickening .
“Hey-wait!” Bornhald protested. “For Kor’s sake boy! What in the world is going on? I’ve only been here for three days, I can’t go leaving now!”
Felix stopped “Three days?” He asked but Bornhald only nodded, confusion plain on his face. “I’ve not seen you since three years ago!” Felix said.
“Th-that’s preposterous! Why I saw you not a week ago on this very day.” Bornhald went on.
Felix shook his head yet again, but this time he dropped his shoulders and let his pack fall on the ground. He turned and went rifling through his belongings. “Ah! There it is!” he exclaimed. Felix proffered a small hand mirror, a gift.
“Here, look at what you have become and tell me that it is preposterous. You look to be seventy now and by my reckoning you are only forty-seven!”
Bornhald took the mirror skeptically. “My gods! What has happened to me?” he ran his weathered fingers across the folds of his skin. He was on the verge of weeping.
“We’ve tarried too long already old friend. We need to get out of here before the sun sets and night falls on those windows.” Felix’s voice was filled with confidence he didn’t feel. Bornhald looked as if he were about to protest further. “It’s this place Bornhald. The shadows won’t abide us any longer I’ll explain once we’re on the ship and away from here.”
The door was in sight and they were making good time. Felix looked behind him. Bornhald was huffing indignantly at being pulled like a child but he didn’t resist. Behind his now old friend Felix could see the shadows writhing, here and there were tendrils that reached out for them. Some did little more than wriggle like worms on the ground but others were more like serpents gliding silently over the red carpet. Felix gulped and looked back up to the windows and his nerves jumped when he saw a sliver of darkness hiding in a corner of the glass. Night was getting closer. Felix sped up their pace a bit more.
Suddenly Felix was pulled back, his wrist began to ache. He looked back to find Bornhald looking at him, his face was even paler than before. Unlike before, his face was now a mask, a mask of fear. “Bornhald? Bornhald! Hey, what’s the matter, why have you st....“ Felix choked off his question he had followed his friend’s gaze towards his legs. Wrapped around the old man’s left leg was a tendril of inky blackness. “J-just umm, j-just gimme a minute ok? I just need to figure out how to cut that thing off.” he stammered, panic making his voice pitch. Felix felt like a boy again, a frightened little boy sitting in the looming shadow of a dark mountain. He tried to reach for his connection with Yirra and through her his connection to magic but he couldn’t calm himself enough to summon it.
Felix took a hold of Bornhald’s shoulders and shook him like a rag doll. “I-I can’t lose you now Bornhald! We were supposed to find the Chronicler together!! We were supposed to raid his fortress! I’ve been searching for three years Bornhald! You can’t die now!” Felix protested weakly.
Bornhald shook of Felix’s grip, his own face now defiant. “Don’t you worry about me. Felix. I don’t think I was ever meant to find the Chronicler. Here, take this, I was supposed to leave this place after finding it but my curiosity got the better of me.” Bornhald fished about in his robe, from it he pulled a gold medallion inset with sapphires that bore runes and with it a small and tattered journal bound in light brown leather. Felix knew it to be Bornhald’s personal journal.
Felix took the items but didn’t move. “Bornhald I ca-I can figure out a way to get you out of here.” He pleaded but the old scribe seemed to have made up his mind. Bornhald shoved Felix away from him just as a shadow tendril lunged for the empty space where Felix had been.
“Run you fool!” Bornhald shouted and Felix ran. Behind him he could hear his friend crying, he cringed as that crying became a strangled scream.
Outside the godforsaken library Felix ran into the dark forest that shielded his friend’s toomb from the sea salt..He remembered their days on the streets of Stenniston, both vagabonds and thieves. Unlike many children on the streets, they were not orphans. No, they were the products of broken and abusive families. Bornhald was there for him when he took the Rider’s test and he was there for Bornhald when he became a royal scribe. Their paths had differed but never had Felix thought this would be how Bornhald died.
Stricken by grief and driven by fear, Felix ran until he met the bole of a thick pine tree. His collision knocked him to the ground under a rain of pine needles. Felix lay on the damp ground for some time, his belongings had spilled from his bag and he fought against the blooming pain in his forehead. Once the pain subsided; Felix went about collecting his things. Among the escaped items sat Bornhald’s journal, it lay on the ground baring its burdened pages to Felix. Curious, he read:
9th of Themescus the 3rd Era of Scilarion
I feel as though I have been here for only a day but my body…. I feel like I’ve aged a decade. My search for any clue of the Chronicler’s Horde has led me nowhere. It has only been a week since I last saw my oath brother and yet I miss him already. I wish I had allowed him to come, at least we would have found something by now. He and his partnre Yirra would have dug it up by now.
10th of Themescus(?) the 3rd Era of Scilarion
I can’t remember if I slept last night…..I swear I saw the shadows move, I think I know what is happening to me. I found a book: The Birth of The Godless Halls. I am little more than a prisoner….they feed upon my life, upon my memories. The library itself is a shell; outside time runs as smoothly as a river down the mountainside but within.....within the library time trickles as a river damned. I surmise that the builders of this place intended for it to preserve knowledge but instead it has become a trap, a spider’s web.
10th of Themescus the 3rd era of Scilarion
It is noon! The sun is at its zenith, where is my lunch! Bah! Never mind, never mind. Felix, I have found the medallion! It was hidden in a skeleton….odd, what is a skeleton doing here? Never mind, never mind. Felix I have found the medallion! The cipher is in my notes, think of when –Here the writing became illegible- ...the Vobutrigon!
Felix closed the book; he could hear something approaching. He dropped his shoulders again and let his backpack thump to the ground. Felix knelt down and drew his short sword, readying himself for an attack. The journal and medallion he placed in his shirt pocket. He moved into Peasant Pulls the Rice, a defensive stance best used against multiple targets. The pounding came nearer and Felix’s heart rate quickened. He swiveled to his left just as the bushes parted revealing a big cat.It snarled at him and pounced. He lifted his double bladed sword high, ready to pierce the beast in the maw. Against his better judgment Felix closed his eyes. He waited for the impending impact, the seconds felt like minutes but when Felix didn’t feel the sutomary whumpf of weight fall down on him; he opened his eyes to find that instead of a cat with glowing yellow eyes was a dog, a dog the size of a horse. “Good girl Yirra!!” Felix hadn’t realised that Yirra was nearby, he hadn’t even thought about it in his flight from the library.
He praised the dog. Yirra yipped loudly in the night and planted on his face a succession of slobbering wet licks. Yirra was pf Vindelian heritage, her fur was glossy and black, her undercoat was ruddy brown in the darkness and like all Koralian hounds she had a broad back and long legs that looked like they were carved from stone. Felix fought the hound off, his grief and terror forgotten for the moment. “Come on then, let’s get back to the ship, we have news to share and a journal to read.” Yirra yipped again, standing on all fours and turning to allow Felix up. Felix strapped his backpack to the back of Yirra’s saddle and he put a leg in of her stirrups and with a heave he swung his other leg over her back and they rode off into the night.
~o~
Kasha stood on the beach, her long brown hair caught in the wind’s gentle grasp. They made camp the night before. Karavar’s Fang wasn’t a particularly large island but it was big enough to host two small forests, a huge mountain, some hills and a library. At her feet lay a map held down by a border of smooth rocks. They were on the shore just to the south west of the Standing Stone. Kasha, Vodig a barbarian, he belonged to the Ulfman tribe from the country of Isol and one of Captain Arbodaan’s crew had come to the island after Felix hadn’t returned.
Their camp was nestled in between two hills that blocked the wind and hid the light of their fire. Unfortunately a smoke trail was unavoidable; the nearby shrubbery was dry and would send up billows of black smoke. Kasha couldn’t stand another night of cold food, though nor could Vodig the Ulfman. Kasha looked the barbarian over and her immediate assessment was: ‘oaf’. She sighed, the man was rough natured and had rubbed her the wrong way the first time they met. He was tall; at least two feet taller than Felix, he had a big round belly, sported a dark brown beard and possessed a mane of coarse brown hair. Despite Vodig’s vast belly, he had enough strength in his flabby arms to heft a 20 kg chest like it was a ragdoll. Kasha didn’t want to get on his bad side but she didn’t want to get on his good side either; he was a lecherous man and eyed her every now and then like a piece of meat he’d like to chew on. Captain Arbodaan’s crewman, however, was the consummate gentleman, though he was very soft spoken with a wiry frame and shaggy hair signs of his life at sea.
Kasha sat by the dying fire and stared up into the star riddled sky. She smiled as they winked in and out of sight. Sleep had fled from her so she listened to the soft whisper of the sea and the harsh growls of Vodig’s snoring. Kasha sighed; she was worried about her fiancé but she knew Yirra was with him and would bring Felix home safely to her. At times Kasha was fiercely jealous of the hound because she and Felix spent so much time together but Kasha knew better and managed to get a hold of her jealousy most time times. Then, quietly a hand snaked around her mouth and another around her chest. Kara screamed but it came out muffled, she struggled but she did little more that hurt herself. She was dragged from the camp, her legs kicking wildly; she watched as Vodig and the camp disappeared in the night as they rounded a hill. Tears streamed from her eyes, this was the last thing she expected. She would have preferred being eaten alive by a Jormand Serpent than what was happening. The hand left her chest and Kasha used the moment to get her balance but no sooner had she done that when a rock smashed into the side of her head.
When Kasha next awoke, it was to a nightmare. Her clothes had been removed and her arms were bound to a rock. There was some material in her mouth which kept her from screaming. A rough hand traveled along her body, tears streamed down her face. She knew what was coming next and she sobbed. She could feel heavy breaths against her thighs; immediately she locked her legs around his head. She grimaced when she realised he had forgotten to bind her legs. Her captor struggled against her but she her kept thighs locked around his neck. It felt like hours as her captive continued to fight against her, until his air ran out and he choked. Kasha sighed “Now what do I do?” shethought to the Pale Goddess: Lurian as she descended into the ocean.
~o~
Felix thought they were heading towards the ship but when they broke through the small woods he realised they were heading in a slightly different direction. Yirra bound towards the south western hills; it was early dawn and Felix could see a faint wisp of smoke snaking its way into the sky but they weren’t heading there either. No, they veered off to the left a bit; it seemed as though Yirra had caught a scent, Felix learned long ago to trust his partner, she knew what she was doing, sometimes more than he. They wove through the low lying hills, Yirra leaping and bounding make her way to some hidden quarry up ahead but Felix wasn’t prepared for what he would see. Yirra came to a halting stop, almost throwing Felix from her back.
Kasha tried to yell Felix’s name through the material she had in her mouth, struggling again as he jumped from Yirra’s back and ran to her side. He pulled the material from her mouth; Kasha almost gagged when she saw it was a dirty sock. “Kasha what happened!” Felix looked from her to the body between her legs. His face grew grim and angry.
“Untie me, you DOLT!” She screamed hoarsely at him, her pride and dignity all but gone. He cringed and unsheathed his short sword; with a single and fluid motion his blade severed her bonds and his hands rushed to gather her up from the ground and into a fierce hug that she returned.
They returned to camp to find Vodig sitting at the fire; he was cooking breakfast. If she hadn’t seen him lying there when she was taken, Kasha would have immediately thought it was him. “Mornin’ Lad, Lass. I wondered where ye got off te thus mornin’, I en’t seen that sailor either, was he with ye?” asked the barbarian. Kasha couldn’t believe the man slept through all of that. Just then Yirra dragged the dead sailor into the camp. Vodig got to his feet and took a few steps back towards his war-hammer. He looked suspiciously at the trio, his hand reaching towards the hilt of his hammer.
“It’s not what you think, Ulfsman, Thanomin’s Truth, it’s not what you think.” Vodig stopped and looked at Felix
“How….how de ye know me tribe’s unspoken oath!” The Ulfsmen were a warrior tribe from the nation of Isolde, known for their berserker rage and skill in battle. Kasha knew that Felix spent time among the Ulfsmen years ago, trying to form an alliance with Kor.
“Holstir…” Apparently that was all Vodig needed because he let down his guard and returned to the fire to tend the food. “Very well then, I’ll not pry if ye rather not tell,” Vodig said but Kasha could hear in his voice that he still wanted to know.
She sighed. “He tried to rape me, so I choked him to death,” she said with an air of pride.
Vodig laughed and almost toppled from his seat. “Aye, she tells it true Ulfsman, I found him dead between her legs. That’ll teach me not to go where I’m not invited.” Felix joined Vodig’s laughter with his own. Kasha glared at them both and elbowed Felix in the stomach which sent the Ulfsman to the ground in a fit.
After rowing the sailor back to the Uncanny and explaining what he had done to wind up dead, Felix found the time to properly grieve for his friend Bornhald while the sailors prepared a funeral for their own loss. Kasha sat at his side comforting him, though he knew she was trying to come to terms with what had happened to her as well. In his lap sat Bornhald’s journal and the amulet that came with it. Kasha looked at the items. Curious she picked up the amulet and turned it around in her hands. She furrowed her brow, looking closer at the runes that marked the sapphire gems. Then she snatched Bornhald’s journal from Felix’s hand and flicked through its pages, her eyes flickering back and forth.
An hour later, Kasha had gathered a map and a few papers she’d written notes on. “Felix, we can’t leave,” he said looking from Bornhald’s journal to the map and her notes.
Felix looked up at her. “What do you mean we can’t leave? The king sent us here to find Bornhald and we’ve done that, this place has taken him and I want no more of it,” he said, his disgust and grief dripping from every word like tar.
Kasha gave him a stern look. “This Island is the way to the Chronicler’s Horde,” she said excitedly to her love but she knew how stubborn he could be at times. “Bornhald was my friend too, Felix, and we both owe it to him to find it. The Chronicler has eluded the world for too long and he will no longer keep his hidden knowledge for himself,” she said, her voice rose in pitch and a smile spread across her face and Felix knew he would be staying with her or she’d jump off the ship and swim for shore himself.
In the captain’s quarters, Kasha sat down while Felix discussed with Captain Arbodaan the particulars of their quest. “…If we do not signal in a day’s time then leave. We’ll either be dead or beyond help.” The captain nodded his assent and bid them farewell. Before they could leave though, Vodig burst through the door “Ye en’t leavin’ me on this tub o’ wood lad-uh, no offense cap’n. I’ll not be denied!!” the warrior yelled. Felix could only smile at the man and silently Kasha admitted that she might just dislike him a little less. Having decided their course; the company would stay another night before going ashore
~o~
Back on shore the company headed toward Karavar’s Tomb. Kasha told them that their first clue to the Chronicler’s Horde would be at the summit. So they set off. Felix kept the pace quick so they didn’t have time to sightsee as they’d be stranded in a day’s time and they would use much of that time climbing the steep path to where King Canis, ‘The First Rider of Kor,’ had buried his partner Karavar. It was a holy place for all the Riders of Kor, past and present, though few came to visit Karavar in his afterlife. Felix found it fitting that he and Yirra were to be the first in 50 years to visit it.
When they reached the summit Felix was awestruck; it appeared as if the very peak of the mountain had been shorn off and in the center stood the broken tomb of Karavar. Outraged Felix ran to see what had happened. Yirra loped up beside him and he could feel through their bond that she was just as outraged as he. Felix came to sliding stop when he saw Karavar’s bones broken on the ground. He searched the grave for any evidence of what or who had destroyed the tomb. Both Vodig and Kasha came jogging up “Felix, who would do such a thing!?” she asked; her eyebrows furrowed in a mixture of outrage and sadness..
Vodig bent down, disappearing behind the broken rock for a moment. “Here lass, I canneh read it, tis only chicken scratch te me,” Vodig said, passing Kasha the hefty stone tablet. It took her some time to translate the tablet, she wrote on a piece of paper she’d taken from her pack and passed it to Felix who read it aloud.
Know this message as my voice and heed my words, I am Valluk master of the darkness. I claim this mountain for my own and cast off the false King Canis’ dominion. With the knowledge of the Chronicler’s I shall claim the entire world.
Felix could barely contain himself he was shaking with fury and walked to Kasha to grab the tablet from her. All he wanted to do was smash it on the ground but Kasha held out a hand. “There is more, an Indarri inscription.” She said pointing to a line of runes.
Felix nodded “Read it then,” he said, his anger getting the better of him.
In rebuke Kasha decided she would read it aloud in Indarri just to frustrate him more. “Athernan certu. Abroknan zokt. Valluk sadjur,”she recited petulantly.
Felix was about to growl at her but his anger was pushed aside as the sky darkened. A laugh cackled through the air and a shadowy form appeared out of thin air, in its core Felix could make out a body of some sort. Kasha screamed as the shadow form descended upon her, enveloping her in its writhing tentacles. Felix and Vodig jumped at the cloud of darkness but were blown back. Yirra bounded forward and leapt at the thing, but it turned to meet her, from the darkness emerged a cackling skull. Then a skeletal hand reached out and released a crackle of black energy that enveloped Yirra leaving nothing behind. Felix cried out in despair as his connection with his partner faded into nothingness. Then just as quick as it had appeared, the darkness disappeared leaving Vodig standing behind a weeping Felix.
~o~
Felix lay under the shadow of a tall boulder, the wind bit at his feet and lips. He curled up against the cold rock face, hoping for it to extend its cold arms and pity him with kind words. He closed himself off to the whispering wind, to the roaring waves and to the weak sun resting above him pillowed in soft white clouds. He lay there in silence refusing to acknowledge a world in which there wasn’t a Kasha or a Yirra. Felix had nothing left, the island had stolen it all, it had stolen every good thing and now all he wanted to do was roll over and feel nothing. He just wished the world would leave him alone and let him feel nothing.
The air was wet with the ocean’s tang and Vodig loved it; that smell was his bread and butter. Gravel crunched beneath his boot as he trudged up a small incline; he’d been looking for the boy for over five hours. Vodig understood that people died, it was something every warrior had to come to terms with and despite his age. It seemed to the Ulfman that the young Felix had not come to terms with it yet. He followed Felix’s tracks and to his fortune Felix had made it easy by leaving a trail the size of an elephant’s ass.
“Off yer arse ye’ poor excuse fer a Rider!” Vodig exclaimed as he crested the hill. Felix lay sobbing on the ground; the old warrior sneered. To him there was nothing more pitiful than a man sobbing like a child. “Gerrup Felix! Ye’er bein’ pathetic!” Vodig yelled trying to anger the man and get him to his feet but Felix would have none of it. So he decided to go a different route and sent his boot flying into his friend’s stomach. That got him little more than a grunt; Felix turned over to face the rock. Vodig had never met a man he couldn’t piss off but then he had never met a man who had lost as much as Felix had in one week. “Kasha wouldn’t want ye ter beat yeself up like thus. Nor would Yirra for tha’ matter, nor even yer friend Bornhald. They’d want ye ter git on wit yer life.” Vodig muttered even though he barely knew the people and dog from a bar of soap.
At the mention of his fiancé’s name Felix got to his feet “What right do you have to speak of her? What right do you have to speak of any of them!” Felix drew his short sword and pointed it accusingly at Vodig’s barrel chest. The Ulfman warrior moved back, his hands high in the air. “Come on now lad, I didn’t mean anythin’ by it, I just thought that they’d hate te see ya like this: givin’ up.” Felix did not let up though. Vodig’s words didn’t register to him in his sudden and hot anger. Felix pursued his erstwhile comrade further, the tip of his sword singing uncomfortably close to Vodig’s neck. “What RIGHT do you have to speak about them!?! YOU did nothing, YOU let them die, YOU wouldn’t let me go back to save them!!” Felix cried, hot tears ran down his cheeks yet again at this but he held his blade ever closer to Vodig’s neck.
“Don’t ye DARE! Don’t ye bloody well accuse me of their deaths boy! That’s on yer hands not mine, you sat there doin’ nothin’ both Kasha and Yirra laid down their lives for you! It is YOUR fault they are dead! Not mine, yours!” Vodig regretted the words the moment they left his mouth.“Look lad, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t ‘ave said them things-” Vodig tried but was cut off by Felix’s hand.
“No, you’re right Vodig, I might hate you for it but you’re right. We need to finish this once and for all.” Felix interrupted, wiping the dirt from his face
~o~
An hour later and the pair had located all of Felix’s scattered belongings, chief among them, the gold medallion and Bornhald’s journal. Felix took a seat at the foot of the stone; Vodig gave him a weary look but Felix waved him off. “Don’t worry Ulfman, I’m not about to lay down again. Something about this rock is familiar and I think I read a passage on it in Bor’s journal. Perhaps here is where we will get our next answer,” he said, his fingers flicking pages by while he scanned them looking desperately for something. “Ahhah!” he exclaimed jumping to his feet. “There’s an entry, I’m sure of it. Here! I’ll read it out.”
6th of Themescus the 3rd era of Scilarion
We’ve just landed on this demure island to find little of use. There is a building over the hill, something we’ll explore at a later date. There are more things to find here. However, I find my thoughts wandering inexplicably to that building in the distance. There is a large mountain here that splits the island almost in two. On this side there is a strange hill and upon that hill is a strange rock and upon that rock is a strange symbol indented into its sun facing side. Peculiarly, the stone appears to rotate with the sun. Perhaps later I’ll have the time to check it properly but for now I can look forward to a hot meal and a bed that doesn’t move…
Felix beamed at Vodig, perhaps he had lost those he cared for but now he was a step closer to making their deaths mean something. His father always told him “The worst fate to befall on a living being is to die without meaning.” He didn’t quite rightly understand the saying but he found that it was better than letting his fiancé die for nothing. The Ulfman helped him to his feet and Felix rounded the rock until he found its sunward side. He looked at the sapphire medallion in his hand and then at the symbol upon the rock. He had a fair idea of what he had to do, so he planted the amulet into the indent on the rock.
For a long moment nothing happened; the waves beat upon the shore and the seabirds screamed their raucous songs. Then it sounded like huge pieces of rock were grinding against one another before thumping to a stop beneath their feet. Vodig grabbed a hold of Felix’s shoulder with his giant stubby fingers trying to pull him away to pull him away. Felix was frozen in place, his own hand grasping the amulet from which glowing blue ribbons burst out, wrapping the stone. The light slowly enveloped them; to Felix it felt like he was slowly being burnt alive, the pain grew so bad that he blacked out and let the light escape him.
~o~
When Felix awoke he found himself bound and kneeling upon a crimson carpet covered in dust. Next to him Vodig had come to but had remained still and silent, he was feigning unconsciousness. Felix could tell from the audible change in Vodig’s breathing. Felix followed the red carpet with his eyes. It ran to the foot of a dais, upon which sat a throne and upon the throne sat a flame of twisting shadows. Felix hissed at the shadowy being “Let me out of these binds so I can tear you apart with my blade!” He shouted but the shadow simply writhed upon the throne like a black fire.
“I am Valluk The Darkness, The Devourer of Chroniclers. You Felix Magnam will be but another corpse,” a voice whispered. Felix thought it sounded like the low thrum of a wild fire.
“I don’t care what you are foul creature, you will pay for Kasha and Yirra. I will carve their lives from you however I can!” Felix spat and his voice began breaking.
The cold raspy voice laughed, the air filled with a putrid smell. “You mean this one?” the voice hissed. A pair of doors to Felix’s left opened with a loud creak drawing his attention. A giant bird’s cage was wheeled out by a pair of shadows.
“Where are we? If you’ve hurt my Felix, I swear!” yelled a familiar voice. She was a bit far off but from where he was he could see Kasha’s pale white skin.
“Kasha! Kasha I’m down here!” Felix called.
“Your partner Yirra is very clever Rider. She managed to escape my grasp but there is little that mangy cur could do to help you now.”
The dark voice noted, a hint of triumph in his voice. Felix could only laugh; he thought he had lost Kasha and Yirra, but now his fiancé stood in a cage and his partner was still alive. Felix couldn’t help it and slumped over, relief washed over him but then his guilt flooded him. He wasted mucho the day away feeling sorry for himself. Even then he reached out for his bond with Yirra and found that it was getting closer and closer.
As Felix lay on the ground, he felt something shift around his neck. He could feel the cold of metal, then there was a solid weight on his chest as he shifted; it was the amulet. How it got there he had no idea. Felix couldn’t help but smile; of all the things he would rather have strapped around his neck he ended up with a near useless piece of jewelry. It was nothing more than trouble so far and he probably wouldn’t last long enough to sell it off back in Kor’Tol. “You find your imminent demise to be humorous?” asked the cold voice in his head and it only served to make him a little delirious.
Felix looked at the shadow fire upon the throne as it froze for a moment; he imagined it to be frustration. “Why don’t you come and look?” Felix managed to ask through his fit of laughter.
“Very well.” the voice replied.
Felix watched as the shadow fire coalesced into a more humanoid shape. It stepped down from the dais and made its way over. It bent low and hefted Felix up by the collar of his shirt. With its other arm. Valluk reached for the chain around Felix’s neck and pulled it out. “What is this then? Some sort of trinket?” Felix could only laugh at the apparent confusion in Valluk’s voice. -Just then Vodig launched to his feet and ran shoulder first into the shadowy form of Valluk but the warrior went right through and tackled Felix to the floor instead. “Hahahahaha! Foolish Ulfman, I am a shadow! None can harm me!” Valluk cackled. Behind the shadowy figure Felix could hear a commotion. At first it was faint but as it grew louder Felix could hear Yirra’s familiar barks.
His partner crashed through a pair of oak doors seconds later, splintering them to pieces with magic. Despite having the wind knocked out of him Felix managed to get to his feet. The Kor Hound was wreathed in light; she bit a wisp of a shadow and it dissipated with a cry. Already Felix could feel the power of his bond with Yirra resurge. He focused his mind on the chains that bound him and they fell as dust to the ground beneath his will. Spurred on by his partner’s arrival, Felix focused his mind. He was never really good with magic but sometimes in the heat of the moment he managed to get what he needed done. His hands glowed with the same light that surrounded Yirra.
“Hah! What do you think you can do with your pitiful magic human?” Felix smiled and lunged toward Valluk sending his fist rocketing into where the creature’s face should have been.
Valluk was sent sprawling to the ground. Felix began advancing on the shade. “Oi! Laddy! Come and set me free an’ I’ll help ye lady while ye deal te tha’ spineless fart in the wind!” Felix hesitated; he wanted to pummel Valluk into the ground right then and there but Vodig was right. Felix returned to the Ulfman’s side and set him free. The heavyset man burst to his feet and ran for the cage.
Felix turned back to finish off Valluk but he wasn’t on the ground anymore. Felix heard a yelp and looked to where Yirra had been fighting. She lay on the ground whining; Felix turned his head to find Valluk brandishing a sword. “No!” Felix yelled, anger welled up in him; he couldn’t lose Yirra again, not so soon after finding that she was still alive.
For a moment Felix couldn’t breathe it felt like the entire world had just been flipped upside down. He could feel his connection with Yirra waning. For some reason he felt heavy; Felix looked down at the amulet and sneered; he removed it from his neck. He made to throw the necklace away but something strange was happening. The amulet began to glow in his hand. An idea occurred to him and Felix wrapped the chain around his wrist creating a knuckleduster of sorts.
“You will die now, human. You and your friends will never leave this place, not even in death!” Valluk rasped, launching himself into the air above. Felix brought his sword to bear.
Felix was a Rider of Kor, an elite warrior. Like all warriors of Kor he knew better than to waste energy on flashy moves. Felix simply dodged to his right and when Valluk landed, his sword clanging impotent against the ground. Felix moved in sending a left hook straight into Valluk’s face. The shadow creature lunged at Felix with a wide slash of his blade but Felix had already moved to the left where he sent a right haymaker straight into Valluk’s torso. Valluk let go of his sword and staggered backwards. Felix had no mercy for the creature and continued to pummel Valluk with his fists. “Please! No more….no more!” But Valluk’s cries were nothing to Felix who bore down upon the shade. Felix fed his anger into the magic and the amulet began to glow even brighter. Felix smashed his fist into Valluk’s face and he dissipated with a pitiful scream.
25th of Themescus the 3rd Era of Scilarion
I awoke three days after the incident and learned that Yirra had died of her wounds. This time Vodig allowed me to cry. A day later we held her funeral and buried her in the crypt here. We spent several more days trying to figure out where we were, until we managed to find a map. The flowing script at the top told us we were in the Chronicler’s Horde. We undertook more research. It appears that Valluk was the corrupted spirit of the last Chronicler. By possessing the amulet it appears that I will be the next chronicler and that this infernal trinket will not leave me until I find another worthy of it. We managed to figure out that we were in Dallor just below Kor’s Aegis. Kasha and I sent Vodig back to Kor to report our deaths. We agreed that the Chronicler’s Fortress and Horde had to remain a secret, for the good of the world.
It was simply an exercise in futility he knew his efforts would produce little or no result at all and yet there he sat, his back was arched beneath an ether lamp, its heatless light shining down upon him in ghostly blue tones. Few would have known him for the man he was; where his face had been full and bore the sheen of life, now it was only a gaunt semblance. His skin was once as marble but now was wrinkled putty. He hadn’t left that spot in days.
Felix looked around; the library was large and at least 5 stories tall. The walls were lined with books and scrolls. The shelves themselves were gigantic. From what he red it wasn’t quite as big as the Chronicler’s Horde but it was still awe inspiring
“Bornhald.” He heard a voice hiss; it hsattered his concentration and peeled his eyes from the meaningless words before him. His mind reeled back at the voice; it was a shock to his system. For three days he’d heard only the quiet steps of mice skittering along the shelves searching for food. “Bornhald!!” It hissed again and finally recognition bloomed.
“B-Bornhald? Why that so happens to be my name.” He rasped. Standing up; Bornhald’s bones clicked and he moaned rubbing the crook of his back. His knees struggled, his legs almost gave way but he managed to stand upright. Slowly he turned to see who was bothering him and keeping him from his studies. There before him stood a young man; Bornhald looked him over inquisitively. The fellow stood at least 6 feet and 9 inches tall, and he had skin so rich that it was almost bronze. The man had a head of messy black hair though it was cut short, his face bore a scar that started just beneath his jaw and worked its way up to his left ear. Bornhald looked into the man’s eyes and saw thst they were familiar; they were brown like bark, they sparkled with mischief but held a deep sadness that only he knew was there
Felix didn’t like what he saw; the man he knew as his teacher and friend was all but gone. “Bornhald, what’s happened to you?” He asked quietly refusing to break the sacredness of the library with his voice even though he was distressed. The old man looked at him perplexed, there were wrinkles on his face that should not have been there. Bornhald was only in his forties but now he looked to have aged at least thirty years.
“What do you mean Felix?” Bornhald asked.
Felix shook his head and instead gestured for his teacher to follow him. “There’s no time for questions my friend, we must leave.” Felix shaded his eyes as the sun shone through the stained windows that depicted the gods and their symbols amongst the glass pantheon stood Kor the patron of his country and its namesake, it was she who gifted the Koralian Hounds with their intelligence, she also gifted the hounds a secret magic that could only be unlocked by creating a bond with humans. Felix laughed at the great irony; they were standing in what was known as The Godless Halls.
Felix wiped away the sweat on his brow. They had barely walked more than two steps when he noticed the shadows deepen. He pressed on, his pace quickening .
“Hey-wait!” Bornhald protested. “For Kor’s sake boy! What in the world is going on? I’ve only been here for three days, I can’t go leaving now!”
Felix stopped “Three days?” He asked but Bornhald only nodded, confusion plain on his face. “I’ve not seen you since three years ago!” Felix said.
“Th-that’s preposterous! Why I saw you not a week ago on this very day.” Bornhald went on.
Felix shook his head yet again, but this time he dropped his shoulders and let his pack fall on the ground. He turned and went rifling through his belongings. “Ah! There it is!” he exclaimed. Felix proffered a small hand mirror, a gift.
“Here, look at what you have become and tell me that it is preposterous. You look to be seventy now and by my reckoning you are only forty-seven!”
Bornhald took the mirror skeptically. “My gods! What has happened to me?” he ran his weathered fingers across the folds of his skin. He was on the verge of weeping.
“We’ve tarried too long already old friend. We need to get out of here before the sun sets and night falls on those windows.” Felix’s voice was filled with confidence he didn’t feel. Bornhald looked as if he were about to protest further. “It’s this place Bornhald. The shadows won’t abide us any longer I’ll explain once we’re on the ship and away from here.”
The door was in sight and they were making good time. Felix looked behind him. Bornhald was huffing indignantly at being pulled like a child but he didn’t resist. Behind his now old friend Felix could see the shadows writhing, here and there were tendrils that reached out for them. Some did little more than wriggle like worms on the ground but others were more like serpents gliding silently over the red carpet. Felix gulped and looked back up to the windows and his nerves jumped when he saw a sliver of darkness hiding in a corner of the glass. Night was getting closer. Felix sped up their pace a bit more.
Suddenly Felix was pulled back, his wrist began to ache. He looked back to find Bornhald looking at him, his face was even paler than before. Unlike before, his face was now a mask, a mask of fear. “Bornhald? Bornhald! Hey, what’s the matter, why have you st....“ Felix choked off his question he had followed his friend’s gaze towards his legs. Wrapped around the old man’s left leg was a tendril of inky blackness. “J-just umm, j-just gimme a minute ok? I just need to figure out how to cut that thing off.” he stammered, panic making his voice pitch. Felix felt like a boy again, a frightened little boy sitting in the looming shadow of a dark mountain. He tried to reach for his connection with Yirra and through her his connection to magic but he couldn’t calm himself enough to summon it.
Felix took a hold of Bornhald’s shoulders and shook him like a rag doll. “I-I can’t lose you now Bornhald! We were supposed to find the Chronicler together!! We were supposed to raid his fortress! I’ve been searching for three years Bornhald! You can’t die now!” Felix protested weakly.
Bornhald shook of Felix’s grip, his own face now defiant. “Don’t you worry about me. Felix. I don’t think I was ever meant to find the Chronicler. Here, take this, I was supposed to leave this place after finding it but my curiosity got the better of me.” Bornhald fished about in his robe, from it he pulled a gold medallion inset with sapphires that bore runes and with it a small and tattered journal bound in light brown leather. Felix knew it to be Bornhald’s personal journal.
Felix took the items but didn’t move. “Bornhald I ca-I can figure out a way to get you out of here.” He pleaded but the old scribe seemed to have made up his mind. Bornhald shoved Felix away from him just as a shadow tendril lunged for the empty space where Felix had been.
“Run you fool!” Bornhald shouted and Felix ran. Behind him he could hear his friend crying, he cringed as that crying became a strangled scream.
Outside the godforsaken library Felix ran into the dark forest that shielded his friend’s toomb from the sea salt..He remembered their days on the streets of Stenniston, both vagabonds and thieves. Unlike many children on the streets, they were not orphans. No, they were the products of broken and abusive families. Bornhald was there for him when he took the Rider’s test and he was there for Bornhald when he became a royal scribe. Their paths had differed but never had Felix thought this would be how Bornhald died.
Stricken by grief and driven by fear, Felix ran until he met the bole of a thick pine tree. His collision knocked him to the ground under a rain of pine needles. Felix lay on the damp ground for some time, his belongings had spilled from his bag and he fought against the blooming pain in his forehead. Once the pain subsided; Felix went about collecting his things. Among the escaped items sat Bornhald’s journal, it lay on the ground baring its burdened pages to Felix. Curious, he read:
9th of Themescus the 3rd Era of Scilarion
I feel as though I have been here for only a day but my body…. I feel like I’ve aged a decade. My search for any clue of the Chronicler’s Horde has led me nowhere. It has only been a week since I last saw my oath brother and yet I miss him already. I wish I had allowed him to come, at least we would have found something by now. He and his partnre Yirra would have dug it up by now.
10th of Themescus(?) the 3rd Era of Scilarion
I can’t remember if I slept last night…..I swear I saw the shadows move, I think I know what is happening to me. I found a book: The Birth of The Godless Halls. I am little more than a prisoner….they feed upon my life, upon my memories. The library itself is a shell; outside time runs as smoothly as a river down the mountainside but within.....within the library time trickles as a river damned. I surmise that the builders of this place intended for it to preserve knowledge but instead it has become a trap, a spider’s web.
10th of Themescus the 3rd era of Scilarion
It is noon! The sun is at its zenith, where is my lunch! Bah! Never mind, never mind. Felix, I have found the medallion! It was hidden in a skeleton….odd, what is a skeleton doing here? Never mind, never mind. Felix I have found the medallion! The cipher is in my notes, think of when –Here the writing became illegible- ...the Vobutrigon!
Felix closed the book; he could hear something approaching. He dropped his shoulders again and let his backpack thump to the ground. Felix knelt down and drew his short sword, readying himself for an attack. The journal and medallion he placed in his shirt pocket. He moved into Peasant Pulls the Rice, a defensive stance best used against multiple targets. The pounding came nearer and Felix’s heart rate quickened. He swiveled to his left just as the bushes parted revealing a big cat.It snarled at him and pounced. He lifted his double bladed sword high, ready to pierce the beast in the maw. Against his better judgment Felix closed his eyes. He waited for the impending impact, the seconds felt like minutes but when Felix didn’t feel the sutomary whumpf of weight fall down on him; he opened his eyes to find that instead of a cat with glowing yellow eyes was a dog, a dog the size of a horse. “Good girl Yirra!!” Felix hadn’t realised that Yirra was nearby, he hadn’t even thought about it in his flight from the library.
He praised the dog. Yirra yipped loudly in the night and planted on his face a succession of slobbering wet licks. Yirra was pf Vindelian heritage, her fur was glossy and black, her undercoat was ruddy brown in the darkness and like all Koralian hounds she had a broad back and long legs that looked like they were carved from stone. Felix fought the hound off, his grief and terror forgotten for the moment. “Come on then, let’s get back to the ship, we have news to share and a journal to read.” Yirra yipped again, standing on all fours and turning to allow Felix up. Felix strapped his backpack to the back of Yirra’s saddle and he put a leg in of her stirrups and with a heave he swung his other leg over her back and they rode off into the night.
~o~
Kasha stood on the beach, her long brown hair caught in the wind’s gentle grasp. They made camp the night before. Karavar’s Fang wasn’t a particularly large island but it was big enough to host two small forests, a huge mountain, some hills and a library. At her feet lay a map held down by a border of smooth rocks. They were on the shore just to the south west of the Standing Stone. Kasha, Vodig a barbarian, he belonged to the Ulfman tribe from the country of Isol and one of Captain Arbodaan’s crew had come to the island after Felix hadn’t returned.
Their camp was nestled in between two hills that blocked the wind and hid the light of their fire. Unfortunately a smoke trail was unavoidable; the nearby shrubbery was dry and would send up billows of black smoke. Kasha couldn’t stand another night of cold food, though nor could Vodig the Ulfman. Kasha looked the barbarian over and her immediate assessment was: ‘oaf’. She sighed, the man was rough natured and had rubbed her the wrong way the first time they met. He was tall; at least two feet taller than Felix, he had a big round belly, sported a dark brown beard and possessed a mane of coarse brown hair. Despite Vodig’s vast belly, he had enough strength in his flabby arms to heft a 20 kg chest like it was a ragdoll. Kasha didn’t want to get on his bad side but she didn’t want to get on his good side either; he was a lecherous man and eyed her every now and then like a piece of meat he’d like to chew on. Captain Arbodaan’s crewman, however, was the consummate gentleman, though he was very soft spoken with a wiry frame and shaggy hair signs of his life at sea.
Kasha sat by the dying fire and stared up into the star riddled sky. She smiled as they winked in and out of sight. Sleep had fled from her so she listened to the soft whisper of the sea and the harsh growls of Vodig’s snoring. Kasha sighed; she was worried about her fiancé but she knew Yirra was with him and would bring Felix home safely to her. At times Kasha was fiercely jealous of the hound because she and Felix spent so much time together but Kasha knew better and managed to get a hold of her jealousy most time times. Then, quietly a hand snaked around her mouth and another around her chest. Kara screamed but it came out muffled, she struggled but she did little more that hurt herself. She was dragged from the camp, her legs kicking wildly; she watched as Vodig and the camp disappeared in the night as they rounded a hill. Tears streamed from her eyes, this was the last thing she expected. She would have preferred being eaten alive by a Jormand Serpent than what was happening. The hand left her chest and Kasha used the moment to get her balance but no sooner had she done that when a rock smashed into the side of her head.
When Kasha next awoke, it was to a nightmare. Her clothes had been removed and her arms were bound to a rock. There was some material in her mouth which kept her from screaming. A rough hand traveled along her body, tears streamed down her face. She knew what was coming next and she sobbed. She could feel heavy breaths against her thighs; immediately she locked her legs around his head. She grimaced when she realised he had forgotten to bind her legs. Her captor struggled against her but she her kept thighs locked around his neck. It felt like hours as her captive continued to fight against her, until his air ran out and he choked. Kasha sighed “Now what do I do?” shethought to the Pale Goddess: Lurian as she descended into the ocean.
~o~
Felix thought they were heading towards the ship but when they broke through the small woods he realised they were heading in a slightly different direction. Yirra bound towards the south western hills; it was early dawn and Felix could see a faint wisp of smoke snaking its way into the sky but they weren’t heading there either. No, they veered off to the left a bit; it seemed as though Yirra had caught a scent, Felix learned long ago to trust his partner, she knew what she was doing, sometimes more than he. They wove through the low lying hills, Yirra leaping and bounding make her way to some hidden quarry up ahead but Felix wasn’t prepared for what he would see. Yirra came to a halting stop, almost throwing Felix from her back.
Kasha tried to yell Felix’s name through the material she had in her mouth, struggling again as he jumped from Yirra’s back and ran to her side. He pulled the material from her mouth; Kasha almost gagged when she saw it was a dirty sock. “Kasha what happened!” Felix looked from her to the body between her legs. His face grew grim and angry.
“Untie me, you DOLT!” She screamed hoarsely at him, her pride and dignity all but gone. He cringed and unsheathed his short sword; with a single and fluid motion his blade severed her bonds and his hands rushed to gather her up from the ground and into a fierce hug that she returned.
They returned to camp to find Vodig sitting at the fire; he was cooking breakfast. If she hadn’t seen him lying there when she was taken, Kasha would have immediately thought it was him. “Mornin’ Lad, Lass. I wondered where ye got off te thus mornin’, I en’t seen that sailor either, was he with ye?” asked the barbarian. Kasha couldn’t believe the man slept through all of that. Just then Yirra dragged the dead sailor into the camp. Vodig got to his feet and took a few steps back towards his war-hammer. He looked suspiciously at the trio, his hand reaching towards the hilt of his hammer.
“It’s not what you think, Ulfsman, Thanomin’s Truth, it’s not what you think.” Vodig stopped and looked at Felix
“How….how de ye know me tribe’s unspoken oath!” The Ulfsmen were a warrior tribe from the nation of Isolde, known for their berserker rage and skill in battle. Kasha knew that Felix spent time among the Ulfsmen years ago, trying to form an alliance with Kor.
“Holstir…” Apparently that was all Vodig needed because he let down his guard and returned to the fire to tend the food. “Very well then, I’ll not pry if ye rather not tell,” Vodig said but Kasha could hear in his voice that he still wanted to know.
She sighed. “He tried to rape me, so I choked him to death,” she said with an air of pride.
Vodig laughed and almost toppled from his seat. “Aye, she tells it true Ulfsman, I found him dead between her legs. That’ll teach me not to go where I’m not invited.” Felix joined Vodig’s laughter with his own. Kasha glared at them both and elbowed Felix in the stomach which sent the Ulfsman to the ground in a fit.
After rowing the sailor back to the Uncanny and explaining what he had done to wind up dead, Felix found the time to properly grieve for his friend Bornhald while the sailors prepared a funeral for their own loss. Kasha sat at his side comforting him, though he knew she was trying to come to terms with what had happened to her as well. In his lap sat Bornhald’s journal and the amulet that came with it. Kasha looked at the items. Curious she picked up the amulet and turned it around in her hands. She furrowed her brow, looking closer at the runes that marked the sapphire gems. Then she snatched Bornhald’s journal from Felix’s hand and flicked through its pages, her eyes flickering back and forth.
An hour later, Kasha had gathered a map and a few papers she’d written notes on. “Felix, we can’t leave,” he said looking from Bornhald’s journal to the map and her notes.
Felix looked up at her. “What do you mean we can’t leave? The king sent us here to find Bornhald and we’ve done that, this place has taken him and I want no more of it,” he said, his disgust and grief dripping from every word like tar.
Kasha gave him a stern look. “This Island is the way to the Chronicler’s Horde,” she said excitedly to her love but she knew how stubborn he could be at times. “Bornhald was my friend too, Felix, and we both owe it to him to find it. The Chronicler has eluded the world for too long and he will no longer keep his hidden knowledge for himself,” she said, her voice rose in pitch and a smile spread across her face and Felix knew he would be staying with her or she’d jump off the ship and swim for shore himself.
In the captain’s quarters, Kasha sat down while Felix discussed with Captain Arbodaan the particulars of their quest. “…If we do not signal in a day’s time then leave. We’ll either be dead or beyond help.” The captain nodded his assent and bid them farewell. Before they could leave though, Vodig burst through the door “Ye en’t leavin’ me on this tub o’ wood lad-uh, no offense cap’n. I’ll not be denied!!” the warrior yelled. Felix could only smile at the man and silently Kasha admitted that she might just dislike him a little less. Having decided their course; the company would stay another night before going ashore
~o~
Back on shore the company headed toward Karavar’s Tomb. Kasha told them that their first clue to the Chronicler’s Horde would be at the summit. So they set off. Felix kept the pace quick so they didn’t have time to sightsee as they’d be stranded in a day’s time and they would use much of that time climbing the steep path to where King Canis, ‘The First Rider of Kor,’ had buried his partner Karavar. It was a holy place for all the Riders of Kor, past and present, though few came to visit Karavar in his afterlife. Felix found it fitting that he and Yirra were to be the first in 50 years to visit it.
When they reached the summit Felix was awestruck; it appeared as if the very peak of the mountain had been shorn off and in the center stood the broken tomb of Karavar. Outraged Felix ran to see what had happened. Yirra loped up beside him and he could feel through their bond that she was just as outraged as he. Felix came to sliding stop when he saw Karavar’s bones broken on the ground. He searched the grave for any evidence of what or who had destroyed the tomb. Both Vodig and Kasha came jogging up “Felix, who would do such a thing!?” she asked; her eyebrows furrowed in a mixture of outrage and sadness..
Vodig bent down, disappearing behind the broken rock for a moment. “Here lass, I canneh read it, tis only chicken scratch te me,” Vodig said, passing Kasha the hefty stone tablet. It took her some time to translate the tablet, she wrote on a piece of paper she’d taken from her pack and passed it to Felix who read it aloud.
Know this message as my voice and heed my words, I am Valluk master of the darkness. I claim this mountain for my own and cast off the false King Canis’ dominion. With the knowledge of the Chronicler’s I shall claim the entire world.
Felix could barely contain himself he was shaking with fury and walked to Kasha to grab the tablet from her. All he wanted to do was smash it on the ground but Kasha held out a hand. “There is more, an Indarri inscription.” She said pointing to a line of runes.
Felix nodded “Read it then,” he said, his anger getting the better of him.
In rebuke Kasha decided she would read it aloud in Indarri just to frustrate him more. “Athernan certu. Abroknan zokt. Valluk sadjur,”she recited petulantly.
Felix was about to growl at her but his anger was pushed aside as the sky darkened. A laugh cackled through the air and a shadowy form appeared out of thin air, in its core Felix could make out a body of some sort. Kasha screamed as the shadow form descended upon her, enveloping her in its writhing tentacles. Felix and Vodig jumped at the cloud of darkness but were blown back. Yirra bounded forward and leapt at the thing, but it turned to meet her, from the darkness emerged a cackling skull. Then a skeletal hand reached out and released a crackle of black energy that enveloped Yirra leaving nothing behind. Felix cried out in despair as his connection with his partner faded into nothingness. Then just as quick as it had appeared, the darkness disappeared leaving Vodig standing behind a weeping Felix.
~o~
Felix lay under the shadow of a tall boulder, the wind bit at his feet and lips. He curled up against the cold rock face, hoping for it to extend its cold arms and pity him with kind words. He closed himself off to the whispering wind, to the roaring waves and to the weak sun resting above him pillowed in soft white clouds. He lay there in silence refusing to acknowledge a world in which there wasn’t a Kasha or a Yirra. Felix had nothing left, the island had stolen it all, it had stolen every good thing and now all he wanted to do was roll over and feel nothing. He just wished the world would leave him alone and let him feel nothing.
The air was wet with the ocean’s tang and Vodig loved it; that smell was his bread and butter. Gravel crunched beneath his boot as he trudged up a small incline; he’d been looking for the boy for over five hours. Vodig understood that people died, it was something every warrior had to come to terms with and despite his age. It seemed to the Ulfman that the young Felix had not come to terms with it yet. He followed Felix’s tracks and to his fortune Felix had made it easy by leaving a trail the size of an elephant’s ass.
“Off yer arse ye’ poor excuse fer a Rider!” Vodig exclaimed as he crested the hill. Felix lay sobbing on the ground; the old warrior sneered. To him there was nothing more pitiful than a man sobbing like a child. “Gerrup Felix! Ye’er bein’ pathetic!” Vodig yelled trying to anger the man and get him to his feet but Felix would have none of it. So he decided to go a different route and sent his boot flying into his friend’s stomach. That got him little more than a grunt; Felix turned over to face the rock. Vodig had never met a man he couldn’t piss off but then he had never met a man who had lost as much as Felix had in one week. “Kasha wouldn’t want ye ter beat yeself up like thus. Nor would Yirra for tha’ matter, nor even yer friend Bornhald. They’d want ye ter git on wit yer life.” Vodig muttered even though he barely knew the people and dog from a bar of soap.
At the mention of his fiancé’s name Felix got to his feet “What right do you have to speak of her? What right do you have to speak of any of them!” Felix drew his short sword and pointed it accusingly at Vodig’s barrel chest. The Ulfman warrior moved back, his hands high in the air. “Come on now lad, I didn’t mean anythin’ by it, I just thought that they’d hate te see ya like this: givin’ up.” Felix did not let up though. Vodig’s words didn’t register to him in his sudden and hot anger. Felix pursued his erstwhile comrade further, the tip of his sword singing uncomfortably close to Vodig’s neck. “What RIGHT do you have to speak about them!?! YOU did nothing, YOU let them die, YOU wouldn’t let me go back to save them!!” Felix cried, hot tears ran down his cheeks yet again at this but he held his blade ever closer to Vodig’s neck.
“Don’t ye DARE! Don’t ye bloody well accuse me of their deaths boy! That’s on yer hands not mine, you sat there doin’ nothin’ both Kasha and Yirra laid down their lives for you! It is YOUR fault they are dead! Not mine, yours!” Vodig regretted the words the moment they left his mouth.“Look lad, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t ‘ave said them things-” Vodig tried but was cut off by Felix’s hand.
“No, you’re right Vodig, I might hate you for it but you’re right. We need to finish this once and for all.” Felix interrupted, wiping the dirt from his face
~o~
An hour later and the pair had located all of Felix’s scattered belongings, chief among them, the gold medallion and Bornhald’s journal. Felix took a seat at the foot of the stone; Vodig gave him a weary look but Felix waved him off. “Don’t worry Ulfman, I’m not about to lay down again. Something about this rock is familiar and I think I read a passage on it in Bor’s journal. Perhaps here is where we will get our next answer,” he said, his fingers flicking pages by while he scanned them looking desperately for something. “Ahhah!” he exclaimed jumping to his feet. “There’s an entry, I’m sure of it. Here! I’ll read it out.”
6th of Themescus the 3rd era of Scilarion
We’ve just landed on this demure island to find little of use. There is a building over the hill, something we’ll explore at a later date. There are more things to find here. However, I find my thoughts wandering inexplicably to that building in the distance. There is a large mountain here that splits the island almost in two. On this side there is a strange hill and upon that hill is a strange rock and upon that rock is a strange symbol indented into its sun facing side. Peculiarly, the stone appears to rotate with the sun. Perhaps later I’ll have the time to check it properly but for now I can look forward to a hot meal and a bed that doesn’t move…
Felix beamed at Vodig, perhaps he had lost those he cared for but now he was a step closer to making their deaths mean something. His father always told him “The worst fate to befall on a living being is to die without meaning.” He didn’t quite rightly understand the saying but he found that it was better than letting his fiancé die for nothing. The Ulfman helped him to his feet and Felix rounded the rock until he found its sunward side. He looked at the sapphire medallion in his hand and then at the symbol upon the rock. He had a fair idea of what he had to do, so he planted the amulet into the indent on the rock.
For a long moment nothing happened; the waves beat upon the shore and the seabirds screamed their raucous songs. Then it sounded like huge pieces of rock were grinding against one another before thumping to a stop beneath their feet. Vodig grabbed a hold of Felix’s shoulder with his giant stubby fingers trying to pull him away to pull him away. Felix was frozen in place, his own hand grasping the amulet from which glowing blue ribbons burst out, wrapping the stone. The light slowly enveloped them; to Felix it felt like he was slowly being burnt alive, the pain grew so bad that he blacked out and let the light escape him.
~o~
When Felix awoke he found himself bound and kneeling upon a crimson carpet covered in dust. Next to him Vodig had come to but had remained still and silent, he was feigning unconsciousness. Felix could tell from the audible change in Vodig’s breathing. Felix followed the red carpet with his eyes. It ran to the foot of a dais, upon which sat a throne and upon the throne sat a flame of twisting shadows. Felix hissed at the shadowy being “Let me out of these binds so I can tear you apart with my blade!” He shouted but the shadow simply writhed upon the throne like a black fire.
“I am Valluk The Darkness, The Devourer of Chroniclers. You Felix Magnam will be but another corpse,” a voice whispered. Felix thought it sounded like the low thrum of a wild fire.
“I don’t care what you are foul creature, you will pay for Kasha and Yirra. I will carve their lives from you however I can!” Felix spat and his voice began breaking.
The cold raspy voice laughed, the air filled with a putrid smell. “You mean this one?” the voice hissed. A pair of doors to Felix’s left opened with a loud creak drawing his attention. A giant bird’s cage was wheeled out by a pair of shadows.
“Where are we? If you’ve hurt my Felix, I swear!” yelled a familiar voice. She was a bit far off but from where he was he could see Kasha’s pale white skin.
“Kasha! Kasha I’m down here!” Felix called.
“Your partner Yirra is very clever Rider. She managed to escape my grasp but there is little that mangy cur could do to help you now.”
The dark voice noted, a hint of triumph in his voice. Felix could only laugh; he thought he had lost Kasha and Yirra, but now his fiancé stood in a cage and his partner was still alive. Felix couldn’t help it and slumped over, relief washed over him but then his guilt flooded him. He wasted mucho the day away feeling sorry for himself. Even then he reached out for his bond with Yirra and found that it was getting closer and closer.
As Felix lay on the ground, he felt something shift around his neck. He could feel the cold of metal, then there was a solid weight on his chest as he shifted; it was the amulet. How it got there he had no idea. Felix couldn’t help but smile; of all the things he would rather have strapped around his neck he ended up with a near useless piece of jewelry. It was nothing more than trouble so far and he probably wouldn’t last long enough to sell it off back in Kor’Tol. “You find your imminent demise to be humorous?” asked the cold voice in his head and it only served to make him a little delirious.
Felix looked at the shadow fire upon the throne as it froze for a moment; he imagined it to be frustration. “Why don’t you come and look?” Felix managed to ask through his fit of laughter.
“Very well.” the voice replied.
Felix watched as the shadow fire coalesced into a more humanoid shape. It stepped down from the dais and made its way over. It bent low and hefted Felix up by the collar of his shirt. With its other arm. Valluk reached for the chain around Felix’s neck and pulled it out. “What is this then? Some sort of trinket?” Felix could only laugh at the apparent confusion in Valluk’s voice. -Just then Vodig launched to his feet and ran shoulder first into the shadowy form of Valluk but the warrior went right through and tackled Felix to the floor instead. “Hahahahaha! Foolish Ulfman, I am a shadow! None can harm me!” Valluk cackled. Behind the shadowy figure Felix could hear a commotion. At first it was faint but as it grew louder Felix could hear Yirra’s familiar barks.
His partner crashed through a pair of oak doors seconds later, splintering them to pieces with magic. Despite having the wind knocked out of him Felix managed to get to his feet. The Kor Hound was wreathed in light; she bit a wisp of a shadow and it dissipated with a cry. Already Felix could feel the power of his bond with Yirra resurge. He focused his mind on the chains that bound him and they fell as dust to the ground beneath his will. Spurred on by his partner’s arrival, Felix focused his mind. He was never really good with magic but sometimes in the heat of the moment he managed to get what he needed done. His hands glowed with the same light that surrounded Yirra.
“Hah! What do you think you can do with your pitiful magic human?” Felix smiled and lunged toward Valluk sending his fist rocketing into where the creature’s face should have been.
Valluk was sent sprawling to the ground. Felix began advancing on the shade. “Oi! Laddy! Come and set me free an’ I’ll help ye lady while ye deal te tha’ spineless fart in the wind!” Felix hesitated; he wanted to pummel Valluk into the ground right then and there but Vodig was right. Felix returned to the Ulfman’s side and set him free. The heavyset man burst to his feet and ran for the cage.
Felix turned back to finish off Valluk but he wasn’t on the ground anymore. Felix heard a yelp and looked to where Yirra had been fighting. She lay on the ground whining; Felix turned his head to find Valluk brandishing a sword. “No!” Felix yelled, anger welled up in him; he couldn’t lose Yirra again, not so soon after finding that she was still alive.
For a moment Felix couldn’t breathe it felt like the entire world had just been flipped upside down. He could feel his connection with Yirra waning. For some reason he felt heavy; Felix looked down at the amulet and sneered; he removed it from his neck. He made to throw the necklace away but something strange was happening. The amulet began to glow in his hand. An idea occurred to him and Felix wrapped the chain around his wrist creating a knuckleduster of sorts.
“You will die now, human. You and your friends will never leave this place, not even in death!” Valluk rasped, launching himself into the air above. Felix brought his sword to bear.
Felix was a Rider of Kor, an elite warrior. Like all warriors of Kor he knew better than to waste energy on flashy moves. Felix simply dodged to his right and when Valluk landed, his sword clanging impotent against the ground. Felix moved in sending a left hook straight into Valluk’s face. The shadow creature lunged at Felix with a wide slash of his blade but Felix had already moved to the left where he sent a right haymaker straight into Valluk’s torso. Valluk let go of his sword and staggered backwards. Felix had no mercy for the creature and continued to pummel Valluk with his fists. “Please! No more….no more!” But Valluk’s cries were nothing to Felix who bore down upon the shade. Felix fed his anger into the magic and the amulet began to glow even brighter. Felix smashed his fist into Valluk’s face and he dissipated with a pitiful scream.
25th of Themescus the 3rd Era of Scilarion
I awoke three days after the incident and learned that Yirra had died of her wounds. This time Vodig allowed me to cry. A day later we held her funeral and buried her in the crypt here. We spent several more days trying to figure out where we were, until we managed to find a map. The flowing script at the top told us we were in the Chronicler’s Horde. We undertook more research. It appears that Valluk was the corrupted spirit of the last Chronicler. By possessing the amulet it appears that I will be the next chronicler and that this infernal trinket will not leave me until I find another worthy of it. We managed to figure out that we were in Dallor just below Kor’s Aegis. Kasha and I sent Vodig back to Kor to report our deaths. We agreed that the Chronicler’s Fortress and Horde had to remain a secret, for the good of the world.
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