“That’s incredible!” Enyo sounded genuinely impressed. “I was once told about Linked Energy Manipulation by my maid. She said that it was an ancient power thought to have been lost to the ages. She’d be really surprised to find out that there’s someone alive who still knows it.”
“I sort of stumbled upon it myself,” Jacob admitted. “It was listed in one of the books that I read in Avant Heim. I had gone there after discovering that I had no aptitude for magic. The book didn’t say much, so I had to work out how to use energy manipulation for myself. It was a lot of trial and error, but I’m pleased to say that I’m quite proud of my progress.”
“Hm!” Enyo nodded. “It’s really impressive!”
“Thank you!”
Jacob hadn’t realized how good it felt to receive praise from someone else. He’d spent so much time alone, or with campions who preferred sniping at each other, that he’d never been praised by anyone but people who were looking to use him. It was so refreshing to have someone like Enyo complimenting him. It actually made him feel proud of himself.
They had traveled much deeper into the forest. Jacob didn’t know how far they’d gone, but he could see nothing except trees in all directions. The air had become muggy. Sweat accumulated on his skin. He wiped it off, but more appeared along his forehead and neck. His clothes were beginning to stick to him.
“Why is it so hot?” he wondered out loud.
“But it isn’t,” Enyo said.
“What?”
“It’s actually quite cold.”
Jacob turned around. Now that he was looking at her, she did seem cold. Her skin had broken out into goosebumps, and she was shivering. She was cold. Why was she cold? It was stifling in this forest! It was…
“Oh…”
The world became blurred, a mass of coagulating colors that turned grainy and unfocused. Jacob stumbled forward. His foot caught another root. He tripped.
“Jacob!”
A pair of arms wrapped around his waist. A refreshingly cool body pressed against him, though the person grabbing him couldn’t hold his weight and sagged underneath him. Enyo’s scent, which reminded him of anima blossoms—a rare flower that only grew on Mount Vita—filled his nose.
“Jacob! Jacob, are you all right? Answer me!”
Jacob opened his mouth to answer her, but the words would not come, or rather, they could not come. His tongue had become too swollen for him to speak. Likewise, his mind was slowly slipping into darkness. It took him a moment, but he quickly realized why.
That arrow…
Yes, it had to be the arrow that had pierced his back. Surely, there couldn’t have been any other reason. It was clear to him what had happened.
He had been poisoned.
***
It took everything Enyo had not to panic. Jacob was unresponsive, seemingly unconscious, but she couldn’t figure out from what. His labored breathing rasped in her ear. His clothing was so covered in sweat that her clothes were beginning to get wet. She didn’t know what was happening. However, she knew that she needed to get him somewhere safe.
Having been trained in combat from a young age, Enyo was quite strong. Her leg muscles flexed as she half-carried, half-dragged Jacob through the forest. Whistles and hollers and howls of strange animals filled the air. She tried her best to ignore them. They weren’t important. Getting Jacob somewhere safe, somewhere where she could check him for injuries, that was all that mattered.
“Hey!” Durandal cried out. “What’s going on? What happened to my partner?!”
“I don’t know!” Enyo said. “I have no idea!”
“Damn it, Partner! If you die on me, who am I going to tell my dirty jokes to?!”
Enyo had long since lost track of where she was going. Everything looked the same. The trees, the plants, the ground. Even though she’d been walking in a straight line, she reached a point that she could’ve sworn she had already past half an hour ago. It was like the forest was playing tricks on her.
A strange growl to her left made Enyo’s head snap in that direction. Yellow eyes peered at her from between the trees. Multiple eyes.
A tongue darted out from within the corpse. Enyo yelped as she stumbled back, dropping Jacob, who grunted but didn’t otherwise move. The tongue flew over her head, smacking into a tree before retracting.
“What… what is—”
“It’s a toad demon!” Durandal said. “They use their tongues to snag their prey and eat them. They’ll eat just about anything, too, including people. Careful. Their tongues secrete a powerful poison that paralyses their victims!”
That was good to know.
Enyo scrambled to her feet, and then jumped to the left as another tongue shot out, striking the ground before pulling back in the blink of an eye. Another tongue came from another direction. Enyo swerved along the ground to avoid it. The air whistled past her ear. Then another came from behind her. It was another tongue, which struck the tree to her left.
There’s more than one toad demon…
This wasn’t good, not one bit. They must have surrounded her and Jacob, creating an encirclement from which she couldn’t escape—not that she intended to. She wouldn’t leave without Jacob.
What she wouldn’t give for a weapon. Damn her lack of foresight. She should have known that channeling dark magic through plain daggers would be detrimental to the daggers. If she had something that she could fight with, then…
Durandal!
More tongues shot out from the darkness. Enyo ducked and rolled along the ground, right next to Durandal, which she picked up—tried to pick up. She dropped him as pain shot through her fingers. It was a burning sensation that made her feel like her hands had been dipped in acid.
“Sorry, Enyo, but only my partner can use me,” Durandal explained. “That’s what it means to be a sentient blade.”
“I wish you would have told me that sooner!”
Enyo gritted her teeth as she jumped to her feet, shunting the pain aside as she focused on the matter at hand. More tongues shot at her from all directions. She could tell where her opponents were by the yellow of their eyes. It was troublesome, but she needed to use magic to deal with these monsters.
“Ustulo. Uro. Torro.”
A dark flame gathered on the palm of her hand. It didn’t burn, and she clenched her hand into a fist as she fed the flame with her magic. The flame burned brighter. It was a dichotomy. The flame was pure black, but she cared not for such things.
She dodged the tongues that shot at her from all directions. Left. Right. Back. Spin. She lashed out with a chopping motion at the tongue nearest her, slicing through it with ease. The two separated halves then caught fire, and that fire quickly raced up the fleshy appendage, incinerating everything until it struck the toad demon. Loud squealing erupted from the beast as it was lit on fire. It hopped in her general direction in a mad panic.
Enyo took a deep breath.
“Sepio. Preatego. Contego.”
A barrier of pure white sprung up around her, repelling the frog as it crashed into the dome. It flopped over onto its back. Black flames were still consuming it, though it didn’t last much longer. Seconds later, the toad demon disappeared, turning to ash and dust.
Enyo breathed heavily as she glared into the darkness. She waited for the other demons to attack, but it didn’t happen; no attack was forthcoming. One by one, the yellow eyes disappeared, and she was eventually left alone, in a clearing, with an injured and passed out Jacob lying on the ground.
“Jacob!”
Remembering her companion, Enyo rushed over to Jacob. He was lying on his back. His eyes were closed and his breathing was still heavy, though he seemed a little better than before.
“Durandal, how is he?” she asked.
“No change.”
“Do you know what’s wrong with him?”
“I’m guessing he was poisoned by that arrow,” Durandal surmised.
Poison…
Enyo roll
ed Jacob onto his back and searched for the arrow wound. She found it, though the wound was surprisingly small, no larger than a small nick on his skin. If an arrow had pierced him, it should have been larger.
Is it because of his Linked Energy Manipulation?
She’d heard from her maid that Linked Energy Manipulation could be used to harden the body, acting in a manner similar to armor. He’d probably been hardening his skin. However, Linked Energy Manipulation took a lot of concentration, and his had likely slipped when he saw the person fire an arrow at her.
The poison must still be in his body. I need to suck it out.
Sucking out poison was generally impossible because it would have already flowed through his bloodstream. However, Enyo had light magic, which specialized in healing and defense. She could use it to suck out the poison, though there was no cure for it unless she had a poison magic type.
Enyo leaned down and pressed her lips against his skin. The coppery and salty taste of sweat mixed with blood nearly made her gag, but she shoved aside her discomfort, channeled light magic through her mouth, and began sucking the poison out.
Blood filled her mouth. It tasted acrid. That must have been the poison. She quickly spat the blood out, and then leaned back down and sucked more of it out.
“H-hey,” Jacob murmured. “T-that tickles…”
Enyo spit what she had out of her mouth and crawled over until she was by his head. “Jacob! You’re awake!”
Staring up through half-lidded eyes, Jacob presented her with a sleepy smile. “I’ve been awake the whole time. I just couldn’t talk because getting rid of the poison required all of my attention.” The smile evaporated as he grimaced. “I’m so out of practice. Had this been three years ago, that poison would have been expelled from my body seconds before it could take effect. Hell, I wouldn’t have even let myself be poisoned like that.”
Enyo felt a relieved smile tug at her lips. She didn’t know what should have done if Jacob died.
“If you can complain, then you must be fine.”
“Mm. By the way, where are we?”
“In the Phantasma Forest.”
Jacob glared. “Let me rephrase that. I meant: do you know where we are in the Phantasma Forest?”
“I barely even know where we’re going.”
“In other words, we’re lost,” Durandal added.
Jacob sighed. “That’s great. It’s going to take forever just to find out way out, never mind locating the gate key.”
Enyo winced. “Sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. We didn’t have a whole lot of options. I’m just frustrated.” Jacob’s brows furrowed. “I hate being this weak.”
To strong people like Jacob, being in a weakened state must have been a terrible experience. The strong were not used to being weak. That feeling left them helpless. Enyo wasn’t sure if she would call herself strong, but she understood where he was coming from.
“What should we do?” she asked.
“We should find shelter,” Jacob said. “There’s no telling when those toad demons will return. If we can find shelter, then we can at least limit the chances of an ambush. A cave would be best, but even if we just find an overhang created by the trees, we can make do. Can you help me walk? My legs are still a little weak.”
“Yes, I’d be happy to help you.”
“Thanks.”
Enyo grabbed Jacob’s arm and helped him stand. His legs shook something fierce, wobbling and buckling, so she was doing most of the work. However, it was much better than before. As they stood up, he leaned on her, and she wrapped an arm around his waist, holding him close so they could walk off together.
They only forgot about one thing.
“Hey! Hey!” Durandal shouted from his place on the ground. “Don’t leave behind! Come back!!”
***
Jacob and Enyo were able to find a solid place to rest for the night, a small cave that must have belonged to some monster long ago. It had been abandoned. The remains of egg shells lay scattered around.
That night had been cold. The chill of the forest had seeped into their bones, but they didn’t have anything that they could use to keep warm—except for each other. It had been embarrassing, but Jacob and Enyo had snuggled together to keep warm. It had helped, though only a little. The coldness didn’t seem to be one of a physical nature. It reminded Jacob of the coldness of the dead.
When morning came, Jacob caught them a pair of rabbits that they could cook, and Enyo found some edible herbs. They needed to be separated because some had been poisonous. However, afterward, Jacob cooked them breakfast before they set off.
“Is it just me, or is it getting colder?” asked Enyo, who’d crossed her arms as if doing so would help her keep warm. She shivered. Goosebumps were already breaking out on her skin.
“It’s not just you.” Jacob narrowed his eyes. He observed the goosebumps on his arms before regulating his energy to warm up his body. “It’s definitely getting colder.”
Enyo shivered again. “Why is it so cold? It’s the middle of spring!”
“It’s the Curse of the Dead,” Durandal answered.
“I think I’ve heard of that somewhere before…”
“The Curse of the Dead is the reason that souls with strong emotional attachments can’t crossover,” Durandal explained. “When a soul feels intense negative emotions, like hatred and jealousy, for example, they become attached to this plane of existence. This turns them into ghouls, lost souls that attack the living.”
“Ghouls are made of ectoplasm,” Jacob continued where Durandal left off. “Ectoplasm is cold to the touch because spirits lack the warmth of flesh and blood. If enough ghouls gather in one place, I imagine it would be quite cold.”
Enyo was sharp. She seemed to realize what this meant barely a second after his explanation. “Then does that mean we’re near Kyöpelinvuori?”
“Yep.” Jacob looked back to grin at her, though it was darker than his usual ones. “Welcome to Kyöpelinvuori, home of so many ghouls that it feels like a winter wonderland.”
A thick mist had enveloped the forest. White vapor seemed to waft off the ground, making it impossible to see more than a few meters in any direction. The mist was cold, bone-chilling even. Enyo couldn’t be positive, it may have been hallucinations, but she could’ve sworn that several hands were appearing from within the mist, attempting to grab them.
She grabbed Jacob’s hand.
“Scared?”
“N-no…” she bluffed. Jacob could see the way her eyes shifted. Her pupils were also dilated. “I-it’s not like I’m afraid of ghosts or anything. I just… don’t like them.”
Jacob couldn’t figure out why, but seeing Enyo acting scared while trying to deny that she was, in fact, frightened, was somehow cute. Freya had been fearless. Not cute at all. Enyo was strong, maybe as strong as Freya, but she displayed a side that was… he didn’t know how to describe it… vulnerable? Yes, that was probably it. She could be strong and amazing one minute, fighting off trolls like they were nothing with a grin on her face, and then the next moment she was vulnerable and open, gripping his hand because she was scared of ghosts.
It was strangely endearing.
The mist cleared slightly as they left the forest, or at least part of the forest. Kyöpelinvuori was a ravine located within the Phantasma Forest. It extended for miles on either side of the forest, cutting it in half. There were no bridges leading to the other side as no one had ever built them, or, if they had, the bridges had long since been destroyed.
“This is Kyöpelinvuori?” Enyo asked, staring at the massive chasm in shock.
“I guess so.” Jacob wandered over to the edge and looked down. He couldn’t see the bottom, which covered in a thick layer of mist. “I can’t imagine this being anything else.”
Enyo also came up to the ledge and looked down, but she couldn’t seem to deal with the heights and backed up again. Her face was a little green.
“Th
at’s… really deep.”
“You’re telling me.” Jacob looked away and wandered back over to Enyo.
“F-for some reason, I don’t remember it being this deep,” she mumbled, breathless as if she’d been running without rest.
“You might have been at one of the places where the ravine isn’t as deep.”
“Maybe…”
“Ya know, seeing this place… I think I remember coming here before,” Durandal said.
Jacob and Enyo peered at the sword.
“Really?” asked Jacob.
“Really,” Durandal said seriously. “It was a really long time ago with a previous partner. I can’t remember that partner’s name, though…”
Durandal was an old sword, having been created during what was considered the first century, the founding of Terrasole. The blacksmith who’d created him had been a legendary figure. He’d also been a dirty old man, according to the sword. The first century had been around 2,700 years ago. Being that old, it didn’t surprise Jacob that Durandal couldn’t remember all of its partners.
“Do you remember what happened to that partner?” asked a curious Enyo.
“Oh, he died!” Durandal replied cheerfully. “I think he was killed by ghouls.”
Enyo paled while Jacob gave his sword a dry look. “Gee, thanks. I really wanted to know that.”
“You’re welcome. Oh! Hey! Speaking of the past, I just remembered a good joke.”
“I don’t want to hear it,” Jacob murmured.
After he and Enyo consulted with each other for a bit, they decided to follow the ravine, to see if there might have been a place where it wasn’t as deep. If they could find that place, Enyo said that she was confident about her chances of rediscovering where she’d hidden the gate key.
Unfortunately, no matter how far they traveled, the ravine didn’t seem to become any shallower. It remained an unfathomably deep chasm. Even after walking for hours, even after the sun had set, Jacob still couldn’t see the bottom.
“Let’s stop for the day,” Jacob said.
Enyo agreed. “I don’t think we’ll be able to do much more anyway. It’s getting so dark out, we won’t be able to see soon.”
Jacob nodded. “We’d probably fall into the ravine or something.”
Journey of a Betrayed Hero- Volume 1 Page 10
