“Oh, you know about that,” I said.
“I do indeed.”
“He’s had numerous occasions where the voices mumble in his head,” Freya said. “But something more drastic than that happened a while ago. One of the voices seemed to have taken control of him.”
“What?” The elven witch’s eyes widened for the first time. She looked at me. “Is this true?”
“Well, I’m not really sure if it took control of me,” I said. “I blacked out for a moment, and when I woke up all the Valdar were—”
“Valdar?!” Ijyela’s eyes shot to Freya. “The Valdar appeared?!”
Freya bit her lip. “Yeah,” she said. “I was going to tell you about that after we sorted out this voice issue.”
“I’m sorry, but the Valdar appearing is a much more important issue to discuss,” she said. “I want details, Freya. Where did you meet them? What happened?”
Freya told her everything, about how those creatures had suddenly appeared out of the darkness and attacked us. The entire time I held my breath in anticipation, wondering if this was the moment I found out why the Valdar were such an important issue.
“This is worrying,” Ijyela whispered at the end of it, her hand on her cheek.
“Does this mean what I think it does?” Freya asked.
“It is extremely likely.”
They still haven’t mentioned why the Valdar are such a big deal, I realized, and so I intervened on my own behalf.
“Can someone explain things to me, please?” I asked. “Why exactly is the Valdar’s appearance such an important issue?”
Freya sighed. “It’s because of one simple reason,” she said. “The Valdar were the men of the Phantom Lord.”
“Who?” I blinked. Don’t think I remember anything about him, I realized.
“The Phantom Lord was one of the Eternals found in the ancient documents,” Freya said. “Very few texts mention him, since he was believed to be one of the few Eternals that used his power for pain and destruction.”
“Ouch,” I said.
“Just saying he caused pain and power does not tell the whole tale, Freya,” Ijyela said. “The Phantom Lord, though not properly acknowledged anywhere, is in fact the strongest of all the Eternals, and the strongest by a good stretch at that.”
Uh-oh, I thought. “And these Valdar were the men of the Phantom Lord?”
“Yeah,” Freya said. “That’s what many documents say. However, I’ve never seen a Valdar before today.”
A thought clicked in my head, and my eyes widened. “Does this mean…” I paused.
“That the Phantom Lord is walking these lands again?” Freya asked.
“Yeah.” I nodded.
“I don’t know,” she sighed. “I don’t know if the Valdar can exist without their leader, but it would not be wrong on our part to be wary of this event. If the Phantom Lord has indeed reappeared, then things are going to be very different very soon.”
“So, things would turn really bad if the Phantom Lord rose again, right?” I asked.
“The lands would be thrown into chaos if he rose to power again, young Eternal,” Ijyela said.
“Exactly. We need to assume the worst-case scenario from now on,” Freya said.
I looked at her, agreeing with everything that was said, and yet struggling to comprehend what it meant to me.
“Freya,” the elven witch said. “I do not know if you have already considered this, but it is entirely possible that the Dark Alliance was the one that caused the Phantom Lord to reemerge, and that does not bode well for anyone.”
I blinked. “The Phantom Lord leads the Dark Alliance?”
Ijyela shook her head. “There is another Eternal, aptly called the Dark Lord, who created and led the Dark Alliance in the olden times. He was a formidable foe to Aingard’s Lord of the Light, but was eventually forced to surrender. The Phantom Lord is one who exists outside of the Alliance of Light and the Dark Alliance, but make no mistake, his motivations have always been evil, and always against the interests of the Alliance of Light.”
Damn, I cursed. Attacked on two fronts.
“Why do you think the Dark Alliance would do something like cause the Phantom Lord to reemerge?” Freya asked. “It doesn’t seem like they hold a particular affection for the man. They’ve had quite a conflicted history with him as well.”
“Indeed, but given the situation, I find it very suspicious that a man of the Dark Alliance captured Zoran, knowing he’s an Eternal, and then a while later we face the Phantom Lord’s men.”
“Yeah…”
Ijyela sighed. “It might be best to let this go for now. The answers are not within our grasp just yet.” She turned to me. “Zoran, would you mind if I tried to see what the voices you hear are all about?”
“You can do that?” I asked.
“Ijyela, while you’re at it, the young one seems to have lost his memories as well,” Freya said, as if it was some low-profile problem. “See if you can find anything about that.”
“Lost memories?” The witch raised an eyebrow. “Was this the case when you first woke up? Or did it happen afterwards?”
“When I first woke up,” I said.
She smiled. “Voices, an odd presence and now amnesia. You are quite the puzzle, Eternal.”
“I try my best.” I grinned.
“Anyway,” she chuckled, “I’m going to use one of my spells to look into your mind, alright?”
I nodded.
The elven witch reached out and grabbed my wrist. Her hand glowed with a green hue, and the tinge transferred over to my hand, covering it completely. Her mouth moved, but I didn’t hear a voice. A circle of gentle wind surged from us, and the flames in the fireplace flickered for a moment. Heat surged through my arms, as if warm water was coursing through my blood, making rounds through my body.
Ijyela suddenly dropped her hand and the sensation disappeared. The elf looked at me, her eyes blank.
“What you have is not amnesia,” she said.
“It isn’t?” I blinked.
“Your memories are not lost,” she said. “They were forcefully removed.”
My chest tightened. “What?”
“If you believed that your memory loss was but an unfortunate incident, then I’m afraid it is not so,” she said. “It seems someone has tampered with your memories. I cannot tell what kind of spell they used, but I can tell that it is not reminiscent of the kind of magic that is good. This magic reeks of a certain familiar presence.”
“Oh gods,” Freya said. “Don’t tell me…”
Ijyela nodded. “The Phantom Lord.”
“What?” My eyes widened.
“I had my hunches before,” she said. “Every time I felt your presence, I felt a certain unease along with it. But now that I’ve had the chance to examine it up close, I can tell with assurance that the Phantom Lord has afflicted your memories somehow, whether directly or indirectly I do not know.”
“Then the voices I hear—”
She shook her head. “They were not caused by the Phantom Lord,” she said. “In fact, I can’t even find the presence I’d felt before, when you first woke up in the forest. It is quite a mysterious thing. I apologize, but at the moment I have no clue what is causing those voices in your head.”
“That’s…fine,” I said. The Phantom Lord has afflicted me? I wondered.
The elven witch bit her lip. “There is, however, one more thing.” She paused. “When I was searching your mind, I found a certain mark deep within it. It is something rare and is referred to by the ancient scriptures as the Death Seal.”
Freya gasped.
“What?” My eyes shot to her.
“The Death Seal is a marking the Phantom Lord is said to put in the minds of his enemies,” Ijyela said. “It will appear on a man right after the Phantom Lord deems him his victim.”
“What?” A numbness filled my head.
“He’s been after Zoran all along,” Freya whispe
red.
“But that doesn’t make sense!” I said. “Didn’t you say all the Eternals had vanished millennia ago? How is the Phantom Lord even here, then?”
“You came back,” she said. “What’s to say he didn’t?”
I stared at her. That can’t be true, I thought. Why would a man like the Phantom Lord even come after me? It makes no sense!
“It isn’t certain that the Phantom Lord has returned,” Ijyela said.
“But you found traces of the Phantom Lord’s power when you looked for Zoran’s memories,” Freya said. “You even found the Death Seal within his mind.”
“I still can’t tell for sure if that is proof of the Phantom Lord’s existence.”
We all stayed silent.
“All of…this has turned out to be more complicated than I’d expected,” Ijyela said. “I can’t determine anything for certain for the time being.”
Another moment of silence passed between us before someone else spoke.
“I’m going to go clear my head for a moment,” Freya said and walked out of the room. The outer door creaked open and slammed shut a second later.
“I hope she’s fine,” I said softly.
“I’m more worried about how you are doing, young one,” Ijyela said. “This must all be quite hard on you.”
“I…I’m not really sure what to make of this,” I said. “The Phantom Lord, the Valdar, the Death Seal. Too many things are happening at once.”
“That is true,” she sighed. “The only advice I have for you is to keep a clear mind. One that is riddled with confusion will do you no good.”
“I will. Thank you.”
“Is there anything else you wish to ask me then? Surely these were not the only questions you came here with. Maybe asking them will help distract your mind from these heavy matters for a few moments.”
“Well,” I said, “there’s one other thing that has been bothering me.”
“And what would that be?”
“Everyone seems certain I am an Eternal, but the strength that I hold almost seems like proof that I’m not.”
“You are not wrong in thinking so,” she said. “But remember this. It’s quite likely that the Phantom Lord was the one that tampered with your memories. Tampering with your strength is also something that he could have done.”
“He could have restricted my strength?” I asked. “That’s possible?”
“He is the most powerful Eternal in existence, Zoran.” She smiled. “For him, almost nothing is in the realm of impossibility.”
“But why would such a man want anything to do with me?” I asked. “Tampering with my memories, restricting my strength. Why would he do that? Why me?”
“First of all, I am still not completely sure if your issues were indeed caused by him,” she said. “But regarding why he would do that…I hate to say it, but that Death Seal speaks for itself. It does not bode well for you to possess such a thing. I do not know what kind of Eternal you were, Zoran, but the Phantom Lord definitely didn’t like you.”
I stayed silent. Things had blown up in complexity in the span of a few minutes, so I was still working on just processing everything I’d heard.
She sighed. “I apologize if I scared you. Sometimes I share more information than I should.”
“It’s fine,” I said. “I’ve been searching for answers ever since I woke up in the Viridian Forest, and now, thanks to you, I have obtained leads for a few of them.”
“I am glad.”
“How do you even know so much about the Eternals?” I asked. “Did you also study them?”
She smiled. “I guess you could say that.”
I blinked. What does that mean?
“Of course, I know a lot more than what you might find in the documents they have these days,” she said. “That is the main reason why I know more about the Phantom Lord than possibly any other scholar researching his existence.”
“Interesting,” I said, and I wondered how she would know things that weren’t in present documentation. Well, she IS an elf, I thought. And they live for a very, very long time. Maybe the scrolls she read hundreds of years ago have been destroyed since?
Ijyela chuckled. “Believe it or not, the Phantom Lord was an interesting man to study.”
“Really? How so?”
“You find odd pieces of information.” She smiled. “For instance, one thing I found amusing was that the people closest to him called him Diablo.”
“Wait, really?” A small smile curled onto my lips as well. I didn’t know why, but I found it funny that a man with such a dominant stature would allow people to give him a nickname.
“I thought Diablo was his nickname, or something he wanted to be called,” Ijyela said. “But it seems that was his actual name.”
“Oh, his actual name.” I blinked.
“Indeed,” she said.
“Does that mean I could also have a title like the Phantom Lord and the Lord of the Light do?”
“It is likely, yes,” she said. “It probably exists somewhere in the olden documents, but it might be a stretch to go find it.”
“I see,” I said. “Also, the only Eternals I’ve heard of so far are the Lord of the Light, the Dark Lord and the Phantom Lord, and all three of them seem to be amazingly powerful. Were there ever any…normal Eternals?”
“What do you mean?” she chuckled. “Every Eternal was special, but not all of them seemed so in the most obvious sense. If you are questioning your ability as an Eternal, then do not. The very fact that you are an Eternal is testament to the power you hold, even if you cannot wield it yet.”
“Like I said before, I’m still not entirely sure I’m an Eternal,” I sighed. “I mean, my Ga’em menu, for one, still says I’m human.”
“Eternals were born along with the Ga’em and the world, young one,” she said. “For you to have a Ga’em menu that does not yet represent you is perfectly normal. Just give it time. I’m sure you have heard this before, but the fact that you have a Resurrection ability is proof enough that you are an Eternal.”
“So I’ve been told,” I said.
“Do you worry that you might have been a part of the Dark Alliance in the past?” she asked.
I hesitated. “Sometimes…”
“I could tell,” she chuckled. “However, I would not worry about that if I were you. Sure, when I looked into your mind, I could tell your presence is riddled with mystery, but between those complex layers, I could also sense a brightness within you. If anything, it is possible you were with the Alliance of Light in your past. But certainly not the Dark Alliance.”
The door creaked open and Freya walked back in, a calmer expression on her face and vigor within her eyes.
“Ijyela,” she said, “you’re sure the Phantom Lord has come back?”
“Ninety percent sure,” she said.
Whoa, that’s pretty high, I thought, feeling uneasy.
“Would someone else have come to this conclusion as well?” Freya asked.
“I doubt it,” Ijyela said. “Especially since my only sources of information were the Valdar who attacked you, and the tampering of Zoran’s memories.”
“So, at this moment, it’s safe to assume only we know of the Phantom Lord’s reemergence.”
“Exactly,” she said. “I should also point out that with Zoran and the Phantom Lord’s existence, it is possible there might be other Eternals who have emerged as well.”
“That is true,” Freya muttered. “I pray they are not enemies of the Alliance of Light. Having to deal with the Phantom Lord alone is enough.”
“Are either of you part of the Alliance of Light?” I blurted out.
The two elves looked at me, and an amused smile curled onto their faces.
“Never mind.” I covered my mouth, embarrassed.
“Neither of us are part of any Alignment,” Freya said. “We support justice, and if any Alliance chooses to go against that, then we will resist them.”
“Oh,” I said, realizing in part that that was what I wanted to be as well. “Wait, so does the Phantom Lord have an Alignment that he leads?”
“He does not,” Ijyela said. “It is odd, but that is the case.”
“Yeah,” Freya said. “A lot of the documents I read seemed confused that he didn’t have an Alignment. Apparently, he didn’t like the idea of having big groups battle for him. He was strong enough to take everyone on alone.”
“Wow,” I said. He seems a very confident guy, I thought. The Phantom Lord wanted to take everyone on alone, and here I was still working on using a sword. Yet, we were both Eternals.
Are we really alike in any way? I wondered. Maybe it’s a good thing if we’re not.
“As far as your question goes, Freya,” Ijyela said, “you seem to be wondering what your next step should be.”
“Yeah,” she said.
“I know of a man far east from here, toward the edge of the forest,” she said. “I am certain that if any other information about the Phantom Lord has emerged, he would be the one to know of it.”
“Wait, who is this?”
“Grand Wizard Krof.”
She blinked. “The one who lost his sanity?”
Uhh. That doesn’t sound good, I thought.
Ijyela chuckled. “He’s perfectly sane,” she said. “But a little eccentric.”
Freya rolled her eyes. “A little?”
“Regardless, he is the best option you have.”
“Fine,” she sighed. “I’ll go visit him.”
“Good. Meanwhile, I will try to see if I can learn anything more of the Phantom Lord. I will be sure to alert you if I find something.”
“Got it,” she said.
DING!
Congratulations! You have completed the quest:
The Mysteries of the Self II!
You have found answers to a few of your questions. Though you still haven’t found out anything about the presence, you have now found another person you can go talk to. Reward: The Mysteries of the Self III.
DING!
Congratulations! You have obtained a quest:
The Mysteries of the Self III!
The Eternal: A Boxed Set (World of Ga'em Book 6) Page 13
