Master of the Loop

Chapter 48

  Headaches Upon Headaches

Sylas sat with a vacant look in his eyes, ‘staring’ at the faintly-green shard sitting on his desk, and the extremely distorted, handsome face barely visible within. Nothing made sense, he concluded. The world was all manner of wrong. He didn’t belong here. He wanted to go home, that much was for certain. After all, there he was—a man trapped inside a thing. No, there’s no way he’s a man, Sylas knew—after all, it didn’t work on him, but it did work on Derrek. There’s likely a connection.

“Alright, alright, stop freaking out—I swear I didn’t do it on purpose!” Sylas, rubbing the bridge of his nose, interrupted Derrek’s outburst… for a moment, at least.

“FAT CHANCE!! YOU MONGREL, HOW DARE YOU TRAP ME IN HERE?! UNCHAIN ME AT ONCE, YOU DOG! YOUR SINS SHALL CONDEMN YOU TO A THOUSAND HELLS!!” Jesus, this guy…

“Look man, I don’t care if you believe me—but I didn’t do it on purpose. Fuck, I didn’t even know what the thing did. That’s why I came to you in the first place—to figure out what it meant! Look, in my vision—yes, vision, stop looking at me like I murdered your mother—I saw some… some guy with a massive scar on his face call Dyn holding this thing and grinning menacingly while pointing at you. Then, my vision guided me to where this thing was—and I figured it had something to do with you.” Just like the last time, the mention of Dyn immediately silenced Derrek.

“How… how do you know about Dyn?” despite being… dimensions, yes, Sylas nodded inwardly, he would call it dimensions, apart, he could clearly hear Derrek’s voice as though the man was sitting right next to him.

“I don’t,” Sylas shrugged. “I already told you—only the face and the name. Clearly, though, you do know something and it all has to do with the thing that’s trapped you. What’s the story there?”

“…”

“Oh, come on,” Sylas rolled his eyes. “You know I have no reason to trap you inside. If I wanted to, I could just tell the Prince to execute you and he’d do it no questions asked. Though, seeing you like this, I don’t think that would have gone according to the plan… khm, anyway, who is Dyn? What’s his beef with you?”

“… Dyn…” Derrek sighed, slinking back. It seemed the name meant a whole lot to him, or at least what the name symbolized. “Dyn was my pupil. A bright star, in his early days. He was meant for great things but… he was led astray. The darkness touched him… and he didn’t recoil. As his Master, it was my duty to release him from the mortal bonds… and so I killed him. Dyn is dead.”

“No,” Sylas said. “He’s very much alive.”

“No, that’s impossible!” Derrek reiterated. “I put a sword through his heart myself! I’ve watched him die! I buried him!”

“And yet, among the living he walks,” Sylas said. “My suspicion is that he’s tied to the cult of the condemned.”

“… h-how… who are you?! How do you know that name?!”

“Would it be possible for them? To resurrect him, I mean,” Sylas ignored the outburst, moving on quickly, hoping to distract the man. “I don’t know much about them past their name.”

“No—wait, maybe… but if that’s the case…” FUCK! CAN YOU FINISH A WHOLE THOUGHT FOR ONE GODDAMN TIME?!! “No, I must report to my Master at once! Release me! Otherwise… otherwise we shall all—”

“—burn in the black flames, yes, yes, I know,” Sylas sighed, slinking back into his chair himself, tired. “Look, man. I just need to know the truth. No riddles, no nonsense. I’ve been ball-wrung by this world too many times already. I just want some straightforward answers, for once. So, tell me… who is Dyn? Why would the cult or whatever want to resurrect him? And what the fuck is this thing in front of me? And how the fuck did you end up inside?”

“We don’t have time—”

“Make time.”

“You—”

“I said… make time,” Sylas repeated, clearly indicating to Derrek that he wouldn’t free him until he got some answers.

“Fine! You soulless Mongrel! If the world burns, it will be on your shoulders!”

“And I shall happily bear the burden,” Sylas said. “Now speak.”

“… Dyn… Dyn was a member of my Order—Order of Moon Knights. I found him as a young pup wandering the streets and took pity on him. However, his quick mind and talent with magic surprised me, so I decided to apprentice him, take him to be my Pupil for life. He didn’t fail my expectations—quickly rising through the ranks of his peers and becoming one of the Order’s future stars. It was then… it was then that I noticed a change within him. He’d become distant, withdrawn, his mind… distraught. Until one night, when I found him trying to assassinate a fellow member of the Order. I fought him, and rather than accepting his punishment… he resisted. He fought back. But not with the Order’s Magic. But with the dark, foul, evil thing.”

“…” Wow. He… he literally said one thing worth a shit in that entire speech. Goddamn, that’s actually impressive…

“And so, I killed him. Or, at least, I thought I did,” Derrek sighed. “The reason I had come here was because of what he uttered at his dying breath—the Condemned come, the Bastion falls… Bastion of Humanity was Ethwar Castle's original name. I thought I would find some clues here, which was when I heard rumors about the criminals festering in the mountains. Seeing as there were no signs of the Condemned, I supposed they might have herded themselves in with the scummy lot." Condemned… condemned… condemned… do they really have anything to do with that thing in the sky? Going from the petty cult with some power to a creature that could likely fuck this entire peninsula dry in seconds… I don’t know…

“To answer your question—no, they couldn’t have brought him back to life,” Sylas said. “The dead cannot be brought back to the living. Not even the Gods themselves have that power. However, it is likely that they installed a failsafe in him when they corrupted him—and so, when I struck the death blow, the foul magic protected him just enough for him to live. There. Are you happy? Now, let me out!”

“This thing,” Sylas didn’t budge, pointing at the shard. “And why are you in it.”

“… tsk,” Derrek clicked his tongue, glaring daggers at Sylas. The latter knew he’ll be killed the moment he let the man out of the ‘bottle’. He didn’t mind, though. “This… as you said, it’s a Shard of Ascindium. We are not quite sure what it is ourselves,” The hell you ain’t, you lying fuck. “What we do know, however, is that it uses my Order’s intrinsic Magic Mantra against us, trapping us within the Shard’s subspace. As far as the Order is aware, we are in possession of all of them—we… we didn’t know there was another one. Especially here.” So, Dyn didn't want to kill him but capture him. Then, how'd he know there's a shard here? Besides, this fucker is 100% lying his ass off, but it's unlikely I'll get to squeeze anything more out of him.

“I’ve told you everything! Now, release me! The fate of the world depends on it!”

“I highly doubt it but, whatever. Fine, how do I release you?” Sylas asked.

“It’s simple,” Derrek said excitedly. “Just reverse the flow of the energy through the shard—guide it out.”

“…”

“What? You won’t do it?”

“N-no, it’s, it’s not that,” Sylas smiled awkwardly.

“Then what is it?! I’ve nothing more to say!”

“No, not that either,” he took a deep breath. “See, the thing is…”

“The thing is…?” Derrek edged him on.

“I don’t know magic.”

“…”

“…”

“LIAR! HOW COULD YOU USE THE SHARD IF YOU DON’T KNOW MAGIC?! DO YOU TAKE ME FOR A FOOL?!”

“No, no, seriously, dude! This thing—this thing did all that on its own! I had nothing to do with it!”

“YOU…YOU…” Derrek was… losing it. It was clear that he thought Sylas was just screwing around and never intended to release him in the first place. Even Sylas felt somewhat wronged—he truly didn’t know magic. After all, if he did, he’d be a much happier man. “F-fine… let’s… let’s say you don’t know magic.”

“I don’t.”

“Let’s say that,” Derrek said through the gritted teeth. “I… I will teach you. Then, would you release me?”

“HELL TO THE FUCKING YES!” Sylas exclaimed excitedly. After all, this was an opportunity. Though he had no clue what Order of the Moon or whatever was, there were clearly important considering how strong Dyn was, not to mention that they seemed to know a lot of things. Doubly, he could learn magic from both Ryne and Derrek, likely two different schools, and see which one suits him the most. “Khm, I mean, sure, yeah. I’m down for it. So, what do I do?”

“Hoooh,” Derrek took a deep breath, forcibly calming himself down. “Basics of magic can be learned by everyone. It’s simply a matter of patience. However, since we’re on a clock, you’ll need to learn quickly. Quickly.”

“I’ll try my best—scout’s honor!”

“Wha—never mind that. The first thing is this: energy that we channel is like the air we breathe. It's everywhere, all around us. Even within us, at all times. It's simply… invisible to most people. Some are born and able to see it and use it, but most need to learn. I'll need you to close your eyes and listen to my voice carefully. I will guide you, and you simply have to do everything I tell you to. Do you understand?”

“Aye, aye!”

“Do. You. Understand?!” Derrek repeated sternly.

“Y-yes, I understand,” Sylas nodded.

“Close your eyes, then,” Derrek commanded. “And listen to my voice. Clear your mind. Forget everything. You are no longer a person. Imagine… imagine you were the moon in the night’s sky…”