by Ty Arthur
“The eternal war being waged by the being you call the Farwalker against Lord Drungomet is the unquenchable fire of the stars battling the unmoving darkness of the night sky. It's a beautiful, deadly dance that cares nothing for any variety of life. That battle will go on long after every living thing on the world has passed away into ashes, including you and I.”
Unbelievably, Erret laughed uproariously then, as though daring the rider or his monstrous mount to strike. “Perhaps not so long as all that. Your flying war machine is destroyed, and your city fallen. The light has prevailed here.”
The druid's head cocked to the side then, pausing for a brief moment as though processing the words, apparently unsure of their meaning. He shifted in his saddle, which Myrr saw now was made of sticky crimson vines, and pointed down at Tala.
“It was her presence that first shattered the levitation spells and forced the obelisk down to draw forth necessary nutrients from the land. By then the avatar of the darkness had tired of waiting and gone out into the city, sending the knights on their fruitless search. Her destruction of the tower yesterday will set their invasion plans back, of that there is no doubt.”
The response only emboldened Erret, and Myrr waited tensely for the final strike to arrive as the priest again pushed further in the face of an overwhelming enemy, “Darkness always destroys itself, and only in the light can victory be attained. That pathetic empire will be repelled and sent back south”
The mild, chiding lesson somehow continued, rather than a sudden and violent skewering that was deserved. “Sadly as your kind is now learning, hell is more hospitable towards mankind than heaven. The Empress made a deal with the darkness to stave off what is sure to come. Although among the wisest of your kind I've ever come across, she was foolish to believe that the darkness would hold up its end of the bargain.”
Hoping the babbling priest and long-suffering druid would continue their circles of conversation, Myrr looked around for any means of escape, wondering if they should make a break for the stone chapel, which would at least be more defensible, even if they lacked weapons of any potency against such an enemy.
Erret's tone changed then in his next question, no longer angrily proselytizing but genuinely uncertain, “Are you not the Empress' chosen warrior, sent out to prosecute her wars?”
With no hint of offense or boasting, the druid simply stated the fact of the matter when responding, “I am no pawn of mortal men and women. Your wars are of no concern to me.”
The missionary was unable to hide his incredulity then, openly questioning a being clearly capable of ending his life at any moment. “Then what purpose do you have in allying yourself with her? Have you willingly given yourself up to this Drungomet you speak of? Are you nothing but a puppet to the darkness that my god will one day destroy?”
Unconcerned by the boasts of deicide and the clearly insulting tone, the rider simply replied, “I've acted as his herald when needed. There will come a time when I may work against him again.”
Myrr knew Erret would be unprepared for such a calm and yet seemingly contradictory response, and could hear the wrath rising when he shouted out, “What blasphemy is in this riddle you speak? Do you follow the heretical teachings of this devil that hides from the light, or do you renounce him and turn to the truth?”
Another placid and measured response came next when the druid stated, “I claim no knowledge of the mind of any god, nor would I have a desire to.”
Cackling madly now, building up to something that could only end in his demise, Erret shrieked out, “See where your faithlessness leads. I intend to converse with my god directly, and have his mind known to me fully.”
The tone of the druid caught Myrr off guard then, sounding almost resigned. “Yes, you will, and you will also regret it until the moment of your last breath, as all who have made the same mistake before you.”
Myrr motioned to Tala to prepare to run while the priest made his pointless last theological stand, but stopped and stood firm when a new intrusion forced its way into his mind. Looking up he saw the mount's eyeless maw had swiveled over to regard him as a slithering voice slipped into his thoughts.
“You hold the gauntlet within you, yes?”
Myrr nearly opened his mouth to speak back, but instead returned the questioning thought, “What is it? Why did it choose me and not some knight that wanted to be possessed?”
The arguing of the priest and the ancient druid fell away, along with all surrounding physical sensation, as his mind was held fast by the monstrous mount. Myrr understood then that the missionary was busy screaming at the wrong half of the pair, with the far more potent of the two actually the seemingly unintelligent beast below.
“It is a piece of the darkness made manifest in our reality, able to remain so long as it possesses a willing host. It no longer wanted to remain among the Knighthood that worshiped it and chose your body. Only you know why.”
The explanation made no sense to Myrr, who called out through his thoughts, “I've never been a willing host to this thing. All I've ever wanted is to be rid of it!”
A searing flash of light cut through the fog of his connection with the beast and heavy sensation slammed back into Myrr, who gasped while noticing that Tala was shaking him and calling his name. A roar came from the eyeless maw and Myrr watched as the mount hurled its spear through the air, just a fraction of a second too late after being distracted by the unexpected bright flash that had inexplicably poured out of Erret.
The spear clattered against the stone steps just a moment behind the priest's feet and quickly evaporated into fog, reappearing in the beast's hands by some magic unknown. The beast's rider looked down at them, again speaking in his resigned and ancient tone, “After him then. What he seeks inside is of detriment to us all. It's time to fulfill your purpose.”
With only a quickly glance at each other, Myrr and Tala hurried inside the chapel away from the enigmatic creature who seemed unwilling to chase down the missionary on its own.
28 (The Lambent Chapel, High Sun)
Entering the chapel felt like walking into the darkness of the obelisk all over again when Tala stepped through the shadowed doorway. Unlike the wide open cathedral in Cestia, this place of worship immediately branched off into multiple hallways leading in different directions. With the whispered storm in her head growing in intensity, chattering away at an unbearable pace since they arrived at the devastated place of worship, she almost missed the sound of the footsteps echoing ahead.
She walked forward into the darkness, hearing Myrr following close behind, and picked up her pace when a spark of light flashed ahead. A second, brighter flash, followed by a mewling cry had her at a dead run, skidding to a stop when she reached the chapel's central chamber.
Pale light filled the room, pouring out of a gigantic mirror covering the entire far stone wall from left to right. Erret stood before the sheen of clear light, running his hand lovingly over its reflective surface. He didn't have to look back at them, instead staring through the mirror's pane while keeping up his characteristic evangelizing.
“They have their artifacts and we have ours. Coaxing angels to come through had been a problem when I first brought the faithful here, but not anymore. This is why I traveled so far to reach this barbaric land. All the bloodshed will be worth the effort soon. Those soldiers believed they were committing slaughter in the name of the darkness, but truly it was all for the sake of the light.”
Tala's breath caught in her throat when she saw her child tapping its appendages against the mirror excitedly, as though seeking a way through. A radiant glowing substance flowed freely from a fresh stab wound in his side, corresponding to the equally glowing dagger Erret gripped tightly. His other hand reached down to caress the bloody substance, which he raised up and carefully spread across the mirror.
She wouldn't beg, not to this madman, and not after all she'd experienced in the dead city. “Put that down, Erret. Death won't take him, but I'll n
ot let you make him suffer any more than he already has.”
His cackling from before returned, the priest lost in delirium ever since he saw that monstrous thing and its inhuman rider descending from the sky. “Don't you see? My followers here accomplished more than I ever could have imagined! They brought an angel through using only their own weak mortal fluids... but with the blood of this cherub, we could throw wide the gates and keep them open! A blessed army of light will spill out here and destroy that abomination before slaughtering the invading force from the south.”
Tala was taken aback when Myrr stepped forward, a low growl in his threat as he warned, “Not even your god will be able to save you if you touch him again, priest.”
Full of insane laughter and religious glee, the missionary ignored the warning, slamming his knife home again into her precious offspring, who neglected to struggle or fight back as the blade was reared up again and prepared to hit home another time. Myrr was already running forward to tackle the missionary, but he would be too late. Tala's wrath would strike first, as she lowered the shield enough to let the screams burst forth.
Instead of the expected explosion of light, Tala doubled over with a sudden bout of extreme disorientation striking. When the vertigo passed, gone was the darkened room reflected by the giant mirror, replaced by unyielding brightness that seeped from every point in space around her.
Frantically glancing around, she realized there would be no purpose in bringing back up the shield or forcing down the whispers in her mind, as now she was surrounded by them, with even more voices joining the chorus and swirling around her. While the howling maelstrom of screams cavorted within and without, the brightness faded to a dull glow and her surroundings came into focus.
Myrr stood next to her, shrieking at the top of his lungs, slamming his hands against something. Moving forward she saw then that he smashed his fists pointlessly against a wall of glass, which now looked inward at the chapel's main chamber. Turning around quickly, she searched behind to find not stone walls, but an infinite expanse of screaming shafts of light in all directions. Erret could be barely made out off in the distance, holding his hands high and crying out one praise after another, finally reaching the heaven he'd so desired all along.
The ceiling above had evaporated in the light, replaced by a deep sky that went forever, turned a sickening color that hurt her eyes to contemplate and sending her doubled over once more as vertigo crashed through her body again. Despite the unpleasant sensation, she looked up a second time when the sound of the trumpet blast rocked across the firmament above. Thick waves rippled across the surface of the crimson sky, pulling apart to reveal the brightly burning Wanderer.
Bursts of light exploded behind her eyes repeatedly, growing in intensity to giant shards of overpowering luminescence, causing Tala to stumble down onto her knees and gasp for breath in a place with no air.
Myrr's screaming stopped, and she felt his reassuring hands on her as she struggled to regain her vision. Voices continued to swirl around her in a vortex, threatening to consume all sensation and make her one with the light. Realizing she was on the verge of fading away, she desperately thought back to her years of harsh training. It had broken for only an instant just a few nights back, but the shield would remain in place if only she forced her thoughts onto a single detail.
The sight of Myrr rushing forward to save her bastard son filled her vision, overcoming the unending light and shoving down the relentless screams. He had no connection to the twisted and deformed thing, yet he was willing to risk life and limb to save it from the insane priest, even here in this unknown reality far from the chapel.
She let the scene fill her head, from every cracked stone in the room to the glint of the knife as it bit into flesh. When it fully materialized in her mind, the flashes subdued to a dull glow, allowing the insanity of the infinite expanse around her to return. Keeping her eyes focused ahead, she caught sight of Myrr again chasing after Erret, intent on doing him harm in this realm directly belonging to his god. She pushed up to her feet and fought forward against the maelstrom, not allowing her eyes to push to either side, keeping vision carefully tunneled at one sane image.
She was responsible for their predicament, foolishly opening herself up and allowing the light to overtake them as the whispers had wanted. Hearing the half-formed screams and sighs flying by, Tala was certain she could undo it all somehow, but she had no intention of leaving heaven without the man possessed by hell at her side.
29 (The Infinite Expanse of Light)
A wellspring of overflowing hate coursed through Myrr, and it wasn't just from his parasite, screaming its discontent at being so consumed by the unending bright that filled every corner of vision, suffused every thought, clouded every sound. The priest had gone too far, and he was going to die here in his paradise.
The screaming shafts of light contorted around Myrr, twisting into half-seen forms of caved-in faces and shattered bodies. He ignored their mocking cries of his failures, intent on one man alone. Lost in reverie, Erret danced to and fro, calling out to the man bearing down with death in mind, “We're almost there, Myrr, to the end of days. Rejoice! The time is at hand for the Farwalker to finally spread across all existence!”
All plans for murder abruptly fled, along with any other coherent thought, when Myrr sensed the looming form materializing ahead. The massive shape had been too big to fully comprehend until he allowed his eyes to relax and take in the immensity of their surroundings. The figure burning across the back of the light was easily the size of a city, smoldering with a radiance all its own, a conflagration taking up more space than Myrr had vision to see.
Myrr knew he was gazing upon the Farwalker, and the parasite within shrieked at him to look away from the polar opposite of the void in space he'd witnessed back in Cestia. Nothing at all like either man or beast, Myrr discovered to his dismay that god was an inky stain of light, a bad bruise burning across existence, a spreading chaotic hunger that cared nothing for dogma nor theology. Listening to his internal companion, he cast his eyes down, trying to quell the hoarse screams ripping out of his throat unbidden.
The screams increased in intensity when his gaze cast downward, sight piercing through the unending light to what lay below. A thick layer of cloud passed by, as though pushed by a strong breeze, revealing an unimaginable expanse of dark green treeline broken by periodic hilly bumps and recesses. He knew if he cast his sight just slightly to the side, a burning black dot would break the landscape. Hands reached up and covered his eyes as the scream turned to incoherent blabbering and Myrr's mind threatened to flee.
Tala was next to him suddenly, always there when needed, brazenly looking up at the god that hadn't seemed to notice them yet. He grabbed hold of her for stability, but pushed away as soon as the parasite within screamed at him yet again. The sensation of unbridled hate had tapered off, replaced instead with a desire to smother and darken.
The darkness rose within him, reaching out from his gut to his mind and mercilessly squeezing with all its dark might, demanding to be released. Gone was the priest and the insane woman with her whispers. Gone was the plane of light and the spreading stain of god.
He was back in the attic in Cestia somehow, staring in awe at the floating point of black light, resembling the outline of a gauntleted hand. The artifact the Knights had been seeking out for years, right here before him, waiting to be discovered. Waiting to be picked up and used. That it devoured all light and snuffed out all warmth was irrelevant. It might offer the power to escape, to be free. Whether he could use it to bargain for his safety out or simply to smash the gates and put the city behind him, the thief hungered to take this prize and put it to use.
All these things and more the void of un-light offered him when he reached his hand out, but it pulled away at the last moment, flashing the price across the back of his eyelids in that wordless way it used to communicate.
A woman, disheveled and bearing something awful in a cl
oak, stumbled through the night towards a line of black trees. Whispers and screams tormented her every step, and unholy light poured from her eyes. He reached out again for the artifact, assuring it he would find the woman and do anything it asked of him. Images flashed across his skull of a smothering darkness consuming the woman and swallowing up her light, ensuring he understood what was asked of him.
Myrr wailed again, back in the light as the memory reached its end. The name was building in his mind, and there was no way he would be able to stop it from bubbling out, consuming anything in its path. It screamed at him to smother the gateway to the light in the form of a woman, to do it here in the heart of the bright god's domain. He had made a deal, and it was time to hold up his end of the bargain.
Sharp, stabbing pain ripped at him from groin to sternum when he disobeyed the call, shoving Tala out of the way and shouting out Drungomet's name while hurling himself at the priest.
30 (The Lambent Chapel, Eventide)
Shattered glass and darkness surrounded Myrr when his eyes finally opened, followed by the return of the screaming, stabbing pain, his internal companion making known the price of treachery. Looking over to see Tala's unconscious form safe on the floor of the chapel, he felt the name rising again, intent on finishing the job and not being denied its prize, whether in this realm or any other.
