Shadowbane

"You died that fast...? Things must be much more dire than I was expecting." Markus said.

Shana tapped my leg, "Did you make it to the digsite?"

"Yeah, but I ended up dying soon after I entered the prison. A ghastly spider-like monster saw through my veil and grabbed me." I continued, "Actually, hang on... I wasn't dead yet, so why did it reset? The spider is slowly siphoning the prisoners souls, and I was about to become one of its next victims."

"Our Lord must have determined you were in a dire situation from which there was no escape, and it sounds like he was right," Markus said.

"Is the prison mostly empty?" Keith asked.

"No. I don't know about the rest of the prison, but the two large cells past the entrance have at least fifty people inside of them. Ishar and Greyson were inside one of them, and the other cell had a bunch of ninjas inside it."

Shana lifted her head off my shoulder and looked at me, "You... You really saw ninjas? Are you positive? Ishar told me about them, but I've never met anyone else who had abilities like mine. Outside of my grandfather of course. He taught me everything I know."

"They wore clothes like yours, but I wasn't able to see any of their abilities. So far my only interaction with them has been one of the male ninjas threatening to reveal me to the guards if I didn't save his prince from the spider. I figured he was bluffing, but it turns out he wasn't... The fucker called for the guards just like he said he would, except none of them responded to him. Instead, the spider came into the room and captured me."

"What the hell? Did you leave something important out there? That makes no sense... Why would he sick the enemy on you?" Albel said.

"To 'save' his prince, according to him. I don't know what he thought was going to happen, but he was clearly just desperate, because like you said, it made no sense. There's no way in hell I can beat that thing. Actually, to be precise, I don't know how any of us are going to kill that spider. It's ethereal, so it can move through anything, and when it touches you, you also become ethereal." I sighed and continued, "When it touched me I immediately lost control of my body... It's like I was paralyzed. I couldn't move, use abilities, channel mana... Nothing would work."

Keith hummed, "Hmm... Elemental spells or abilities from far away sound like our only option. How much room is there to fight inside the few rooms you saw in the prison."

"The entrance and first cell area are all I saw before I 'died', but they were pretty big. However, the spider is massive, so by the time its torso was inside the room, its hands could already reach anyone it wanted."

"Hands?" Nisha asked.

"Yeah, its arms and hands are shaped like ours, but much larger."

Nisha sighed, "That sounds just as nightmarish as all the other creatures Shana and I have seen so far..."

"I know we've already talked about this, and our lord doesn't seem to know either, but seriously... What exactly is it that we're fighting here?" Albel asked.

Everyone went silent. After all, no one here had an answer to that question.

"Wait... I didn't think about this until now, but it's awfully odd that Arkaios just so happens to have a temple barely an hour away from where this is all going down. Is it really a coincidence?"

Markus tried to respond but Arkaios cut him off. {Yes. There used to be a large nation Northwest of here hundreds of years ago. My missionaries found the nation and they agreed to let them build a temple here, however, they were only allowed to build it near the prison. You see, my missionaries offer gifts in return for allowing me to spread my influence, and lots of nations accept my offerings, but find convenient excuses to put my temples in places nobody will ever see them.}

"Did you have a lot of followers here, My Lord?" Markus asked.

{No. There were a few prisoners and guards who worshiped me, but the nation fell before I could build a foothold here. Another nation razed it to the ground and they were led by an Eldritch who had no interest in anything I was offering, so the few followers I had acquired all ended up leaving this moon. One of them is still alive actually. I asked him what he knew about the prison and if there was anything underneath it. He said it was mostly a normal prison, but there were all sorts of rumors about how deep the prison went, and there seemed to be real substance behind those rumors. The guards found it weird how only those in charge were allowed to go down the stairs in the back of the prison. Also, every few months the higher ups would take a dozen or so prisoners down below, and that's the last time anyone would ever see them.}

"Sounds like this has been going on for ages. That nation must have known what was down there, but nothing came of it until the Demons forcibly unearthed... Whatever the hell all of this is." I continued, "Oh, I forgot to mention something important. The Demons have a shocking amount of influence over the area surrounding the prison. In fact, they've corrupted it so much that Eremnon's eye is in the sky looking down on the prison."

Markus stared at me agape. "How is that possible...? I've never heard of Demons having that level of influence over our world. It was already shocking enough hearing about how they're building their own damned nation on another moon, but to hear that their god has some level of access to our world is..."

{It has always been possible. That is why despite our innate desire to destroy one another, I work with Eldritch like Terra'ka. There are many forces out there just like him who understand that keeping the Demonic and Xerath threat under control is far more important than whatever squabbles we may have with one another.}

Keith stood up and willed a sword into his hand. "Alright, I've heard enough. Please lead us to the prison, Rei."

Markus bolted from his sitting position, punching a fist into his palm. "Agreed. I know our initial plan was to just pray while Rei attempted to bring the others back here, but I say we try and bring them back by force. Also, it sounds like she's going to have a really hard time getting them out of the prison, let alone dragging them back through a monster-infested foggy forest."

Shana sighed, "... I don't like this plan. My clones can't sense any attacks through the fog. I dodge some here and there, but they always end up dying in the end." Shana continued, "Rei, how many enemies did you encounter on the way to the prison?"

"Hard to say... I heard very loud footsteps every so often, and if I were to count all of those encounters, it would be uh... Maybe ten or so enemies? But those were just the ones moving around. I have no idea of how many monsters are out there lying dormant, waiting for prey to come to them."

"There might be none," Lindon said.

"And there might be dozens," Albel added.

"Let's just try and see what happens, okay?" Nisha said as she laid down. Soon after that I saw a blue mana line connecting to everyone here but me.

"Shouldn't she do that for me too?"

Albel raised his hand, "She says she tried back in Kellog, but it wasn't working. The most she could do was get a vague sense of where you were." Albel continued, "Wow... So that means you must have let her connect to you sometime after I died? I thought she wanted to kill you back then but I guess I'm remembering that part wrong..."

I vaguely remember that. I know I invited her into my soul realm to show her something, but I don't remember her trying to activate her ability when she was connected to me. My core must have completely blocked it out.

Shana tapped my leg again, "You never did tell me how you first met Eremnon. Normally I wouldn't ask in this situation, but since his presence is nearby..."

The others looked at me with surprised expressions after she said that.

"... Yeah, it was in the Xerath's realm. I spent most of my days just skulking around. When I didn't need to eat anyone, I'd follow random people or sneak into cities to see what their Xerathian god had planned. However, one day, I came across a pack of Imps. I tracked them back to a long wooden bridge that connected to a settlement on top of a plateau. I hesitated for a while before deciding to cross it. After all, I could see a lot of Demons on the other side, so it wasn't an easy decision to make. There were dozens of Satyr and all kinds of other Demons milling about. My curiosity was piqued though, so it was inevitable that I'd cross the bridge, and the second I reached the settlement I fell to my knees. There was something in the sky crushing my core... I couldn't move an inch."

"Eremnon?" Shana asked.

I nodded. "The Demons began laughing at the idiot who thought they could intrude into an area dominated by Eremnon. Eventually, one of the Demons picked me up and carried me into some kind of altar room, where Eremnon and a small hunchbacked Demon prodded my core. I don't know how long I was in there, nor do I know what they were attempting to do, but it all came to an end when a nearby nation attacked the settlement. The hunchbacked Demon must have thought they'd win because it kept investigating my core up until the point a Xerath spawn leaped into the room and began eating it. At that point, Eremnon's gaze was fully focused on the battle raging inside the settlement. Thanks to that, I was able to turn invisible and escape."

"He can prevent you from moving if he has enough influence to manifest his eye in the sky? What's to stop him from doing that to us then?" Lindon asked.

"I don't think he will. He's projecting his disgust over the entire area over there. Apparently, he isn't very happy with the creatures roaming about killing all of his Demons."

Albel raised an eyebrow, "But aren't the Demons responsible for those creatures being there in the first place?"

I shrugged.

"They might not be what the Demons were after. Regardless, I doubt he'll stop us from killing his enemies, and that's all I care about." Markus continued, "Now, I think we've discussed everything that we need to, so unless you have something else to add Rei, I suggest we get going."

"Just one more thing. There's a three-headed dog guarding the entrance to the prison. It has no eyes, but it's powerful enough to sense me through my veil. I'd say it's about the same height as the Tengu."

"Holy fuck when does it end... Are all of those damned creatures massive in size?" Albel said.

I've been wondering the same thing...

"I see... Then we'll have no choice but to kill that dog first if we want to enter the prison. That's assuming we even get that far." Markus continued, "Alright then, let's move out."

Everyone but Nisha and Shana walked out of the temple. Soon after that Shana's clones ran ahead of us and began jumping through the trees.

"She's going to use herself as bait so we know if there are any enemies around us," Markus said.

Thank god for Shana. Without her we'd have no way of knowing what's waiting for us past the fog. I can only scout in one direction after all.

One of Shana's clones drops down in front of us, halting our jog.

"One of my clones on the left side just died. I think I saw a spear hit me right before I lost vision."

"That's how it died last time too. After that, I waited for about ten minutes for the monster to walk away."

"We'll try waiting as well then," Markus said, walking over to a tree and hiding behind it.

Everyone did the same, picking a random tree to hide behind. Except me of course. Instead, I activated my veil and watched the fog ahead of us. I stared for several minutes, waiting to hear the same footsteps as last time, but all I heard were the sounds of the forest.

Off to the side I saw Keith roll to the right just as a spear smashed through the tree he was hiding behind. Seeing this, everyone came out from their hiding spots. Albel immediately fired off a medium-sized fireball straight for where the spear originated from. A large explosion sounded out from the fog, which pushed the fog away for a split second, giving us a small look at the entity barring our path.

"A Minotaur?! Shouldn't the Demons be fighting the fucking creatures coming out from the digsite?!" Lindon yelled.

No... That's not a Minotaur. Not entirely anyway. I only saw it for a second, but it looked eerily similar to that Lion creature from earlier. This Minotaur also had pure white eyes with blood dripping out of them, and its mouth was completely unhinged. At first I thought the Lion was just another creepy creature, but maybe it was originally something else that was turned into a puppet upon its death? That would mean any Demons who died here are probably puppets as well...

Another spear came flying through the fog, heading directly for Markus. The greatsword in Markus's right hand shined a bright white as he slammed it down onto the spear, shattering it completely.

Damn... I've never actually had the opportunity to see Markus fight, and I see I was missing out. That was rather impressive. He's even handling that massive sword with only one hand.

The Minotaur leapt through the fog with both of its hands raised high above its head. Markus jumped backward just as the Minotaur brought its fists down onto the ground he occupied moments ago. Keith appeared to the right of the Minotaur, cutting deep into the Demon's ankle. As a result, a bunch of blood sprayed out of the cut, covering Keith from head to toe, but Keith ignored it and sprinted behind the Demon, slicing its other ankle before the Minotaur could muster up a response.

"Uh, guys? I think there is something wrong with the Minotaur's blood. My mana is draining at an alarming rate." Lindon said.

At first I didn't understand what he was trying to say, but then I saw the blue shimmer around Keith. And not only that, there was also a sizzling sound emanating from the Minotaur's blood. The grass and trees hit by its blood all began to melt as if someone had splashed acid onto them.

Lindon continued, "I'm being serious! We need to get that blood off of him, and fast! I'm already down to seventy percent of my mana!"

Keith heard this and dove onto the ground, rolling around in an attempt to get the blood off of Lindon's barrier, and he was mostly successful.

"Whew... Okay, it looks like the damage is subsiding from the remaining blood. My regen can handle the rest." Lindon said.

The Minotaur, now unable to stand up, grabbed the ground with one hand and pulled itself toward Markus. It raised its other hand high into the air, attempting to smash him again, but Markus just repeated the same backward maneuver as last time and completely avoided the attack. At this point Keith was already on top of the Minotaur's back. He quickly sliced into the back of the Demon's neck. However, this time, he rolled out of the way before he was covered in blood. The Minotaur's head went limp as its face planted firmly into the ground.

"Okay... What the hell was that?" Albel asked.

"... I'm not sure. It had way too much blood and when it landed on Lindon's barrier, I could hear it sizzling all around me as if I was being cooked in a buttered-up pan." Keith said.

"And it seemed much weaker than what I was expecting... Did it look sluggish to anyone else?" Albel said.

Large footsteps echoed out from the left, right, and ahead of us. All of them were clearly heading in this direction.

"That was a short scuffle, but it looks like that was more than enough to alert everything here to our presence. Either that or they knew about us through the Minotaur." Markus said.

Telepathy, or maybe something connected to it like Nisha? It was a puppet after all, so I bet he's right.

"What's the plan, Markus?" Keith asked.

"We either run back, hold our ground, or rush ahead while attempting to kill any enemies who get in our way. I say we go with option three." Markus said.

Keith nodded, and that was enough for the rest of us. We all began to sprint ahead, except the second we did that, we could hear a cascade of loud footsteps from our left.

"Bah, the fucker to our left doesn't seem interested in letting us run away. Let's turn and kill it first so we don't get pincered between it and the enemy in front of us." Markus said.

We all pivoted to the left, running toward the heavy footsteps shaking the ground beneath our feet. It reached a point where it sounded like the monster was literally on top of us, but none of us could see anything. It was only a split second of confusion on our part, but that was all it took. For no apparent reason, Markus' body was suddenly crushed into the ground. His beautiful white armor shined a bright red as it broke under the weight of whatever it was on top of it.

"How?!" Albel yelled, shooting a large fireball at the area above Markus. The fireball flew through the air, harmlessly hitting a tree off in the distance. I removed my veil and fired off the sonar ball of light I stole from the Kellog knights. I didn't aim it at Markus though, I instead fired it far to the left, where I could see a slight shimmer in the air. The ball stopped in mid-air as if it stopped on nothing, but the second the sonar activated we all saw the aura of light enveloping around something that was shaped like a feline. And of course the damned thing is just as oversized as everything else we've encountered so far.

I thought maybe the monster had leapt backward after it killed Markus, but then I saw its thirty meter long tail extended outwards, hovering over where Markus' body lay.

The feline's head swivels to the right, looking directly at Keith. I was getting ready to support him when a large explosion occurred behind me, which made me jump in surprise. I turned around and saw two massive bronze-armored arms extending outward through the fog. The bronze 'hands' on the monster were in the shape of bells, and underneath the bells were the crushed bodies of Lindon and Albel.

The next thing I knew I was back inside the temple. To my left I can see Markus, Lindon, and Albel all gasping for air.

"... Okay. I think we need a different plan." Keith said.

"Y-Yeah... Holy... fuck..." Lindon stammered out between gasps.

I turned and looked at Shana after she lifted her head off my shoulder. "Did you not see that armored monster coming at us from the other side?"

Shana shook her head, "Sorry... I really don't know how it got past me. I had one clone keeping an eye on the monster in front, and my last one keeping an eye on the armored monster approaching from the right. But it just... I don't even know, Rei. It was there, and then it wasn't."

"Warp ability?"

"No... It's hard to explain but I know it didn't physically move from one point to the other. It's almost as if it was always behind us, but we perceived it as much farther away." Shana said.

Markus finally stopped gasping for air and sat up. "Well... Shit. That was pathetic on several different levels." Markus shook his head, "What are our other options? We need to retrieve Ishar and the others so we can set a new reset point. There's Ishar, a werewolf, and apparently a bunch of warriors like Shana waiting for us over there. With all of them aiding us we should be able to kill all of the monsters between us and the prison. One at a time is also an option thanks to Rei. Because of her, we can pick them off one by one."

"Can't you just make a new reset point every time we kill one? Obviously I'll absorb them anyways so we don't need to, but in that regard, you don't really need me."

Markus shook his head, "Nope. Setting a new reset point is far more taxing than actually resetting. It's already ridiculous enough that we'll be doing two back-to-back, even if it's necessary. We need to bring back any and all possible allies from the prison as soon as possible. I know you can probably manage to open their cells, but after that... I really don't know how you'll bring them back here."

"Can Nisha warp them?"

"I can't. First off, I'd need to be able to fully connect to your soul, which isn't possible. Next, I'd need to be close enough to create portal marks around you, which as you all just proved, is impossible. And lastly, my trap portals have a much shorter range. So, yeah... It's impossible." Nisha said.

I sighed.

This is obviously not going well... Just like Markus said, I already know I'll be able to find the keys for their cells, but then what...? The dog alone is going to be a nightmare to bring down, and don't even get me started on that fucking spider. Plus the ninjas aren't going to leave without their prince, so we'll have no choice but to fight the damned thing. The only option I can think of is looking through the prison for more allies that can aid me. Ones who aren't guarded by an ethereal spider. Outside of that, there's no way to---Ah... Wait a second...

"Um, just out of curiosity... Arkaios, may I ask why you were killing the Tengu's Lord when I first met you guys?"

"Huh? Why are you suddenly bringing up that abomination?" Markus asked.

{The Tengu is an unknown variable that causes untold amounts of mayhem everywhere it goes. Some of its Lords don't follow their god's creeds, so there are a few who are amiable and even something I'd happily ally with. However, most of the Tengu's Lords are as Markus described them. They're abominations.} After a slight pause, Arkaios continued. {I'll admit, I'm also curious as to why you'd ask about him right now of all times.}

"Because we need help, and the Tengu's connection to my soul is still there. If I prod it a little he might---"

Markus jumped to his feet, "ABSOLUTELY NOT!! ARE YOU INSANE?!"

Shana began laughing so hard she was doubling over. Keith looked between me and Markus, scratching his cheek.

"W-Wow, Rei... I knew you were unique, but to think you'd suggest allying with the Tengu..." Shana continued, still laughing. "Count me in! I can't wait to see how this ends... Pfft!"

{... Hmm.}

Markus looked horrified, "M-My Lord, surely you aren't considering this...?"

{I am. Like I said, some of the Tengu's Lords are honorable. I know how strange that must sound to someone who came from a moon that had only been assaulted by the evil Lords that serve their god. If we're lucky, there may be an amiable Lord on one of the nearby moons, or maybe even on Veca itself.}

"Veca?"

{The name of this moon.}

Markus sat down, "I... see... This is a hard truth to accept since I spent many years of my life hunting down Tengu Lords, but I refuse to hold us back due to my prejudice. If one of those abominations can assist us, that would be a massive boon to our cause. Actually, a single spawn would go a long way too... But I'd really prefer to have nothing to do with anyone brainwashed by the Tengu."

{The good Lords don't create spawn. So that is one moral barrier you won't need to overcome.}

Markus sighed in obvious relief and then looked at me. "Well, there you have it... Please reach out to him, Rei."

"I can't say I have much hope regarding this, but a Tengu Lord could most likely clear a path for us if we backed it up..." Keith said.

From what I saw in Kellog, he's probably right. Honestly, I'm still shocked they actually approved of this plan. I figured they'd all rebuke it the same way Markus did... But I'm glad it was affirmed. Now all that's left is to see what the Tengu's response is going to be...