The discovery

The night was silent. Only the sound of the wind blowing through the trees of the forest near Greyford Valley could be heard.

Nothing was moving. It was as if time itself had stopped.

In the middle of the Valley of the Dead, three bodies could be seen: two women and one strange creature.

The first woman, with short brown hair and a dirty suit, seemed to be completely panicked as she looked over the two other bodies lying on the ground, one after the other.

The second woman, with long blonde hair and blood-stained adventurer’s clothes, had cast a powerful spell just a few hours before and had now fainted. She didn’t wake up.

The strange creature was laying next to her. His hand had been healed by her spell. He was beginning to wake, roaring. He looked at the girl in front of him who was panicking.

“Saya, what happened...?”

Iwao began to regain awareness of his surroundings, but he couldn’t hear what Saya was saying. He remembered the explosion, the pain of his hand being ripped off. 

As he sat up, he looked toward the hole where the trapdoor had been. It had turned into a crater. The explosion had been so powerful that it had dug into the Valley for a good hundred meters in diameter. Inside, galleries could be seen – passages that some creatures might have used to move around. It looked like a giant anthill.

Iwao felt dizzy and held his head in both hands. He looked at Saya. She was pointing to something next to him. He turned his head and saw Celi fainted. He began asking why she was like that. He couldn’t hear anything.

Something was off. His head... He was holding it with both hands. He brought them in front of his eyes. His right hand had grown back. It just disappeared moments before, but it was still there, as if it never been ripped off.

His hearing slowly began to return. His ears were ringing painfully.

He started to hear a panicking voice, trying to cast incantations to wake someone. Or at least that was what Iwao understood.

“Saya… what happened…? Why… my hand… and Celi?” Iwao stammered, as if relearning how to speak.

Saya turned to him, relieved. She rushed toward him and took his hand in the heat of the moment. She was crying and screaming every word she spoke.

“It’s Celi! It’s Celi! She used a powerful spell on your hand!”

Iwao calmed her by placing his hand on her shoulder.

“Sorry… it’s been two hours that I’ve been trying to wake both of you. I’m stressed out.”

“Do not worry. I need to make the situation clear. Tell me everything.” Iwao asked, standing up with Saya’s help.

Saya explained everything, from the moment the black mist appeared to the moment Celi fainted after using her powerful healing spell.

“I never saw a healing spell like that, Iwao. It was the first time that someone was able to grow back a limb.”

Saya was still holding Iwao’s hairy hand. 

He was trying to assimilate all that had just been said.

“I see, so that’s what happened. And you tried to use all you knew to wake us. Do not mention the healing spell to Celi when she wakes up – we’ll talk about it after this mission so as not to disturb her. Sorry, Saya, you fought well. I'll take over.” Iwao said calmly, smiling at her.

“But… you just woke up, you’re not in good shape!” Saya shouted, choking with her tears.

“She tries to act tough, but she's really sensitive deep down. I can’t let her suffer more.” Iwao thought.

“Don’t think of me, think of yourself first. I will wake her in no time, and we’ll finally get our hands on this book.” Iwao reassured her.

He let go of Saya’s hand and approached Celi’s body. Her hair was loose, and a horrible smell of rotten zombie sheep blood was emanating from her clothes. It made Iwao's nostrils wrinkle.

He placed his hands over Celi’s head. In the distance, the howling of what seemed like four wolves echoed but Iwao didn’t care. He turned his head toward Saya.

“You know, during these two months of training, Celi taught me a lot of spells and what we can do with Firia. She said she’d never seen someone use the flow of Firia so badly… haha… like I wasn’t born with it inside me. But thanks to her, I can do many things. She even taught me how to wake someone if we ever found ourselves in a situation like this... she had thought of everything…” Iwao said, his voice painful and nostalgic.

He looked back at Celi. Then he closed his eyes, visualizing the flow of Firia around him. He traced its every movement and tried to channel it through his veins, all the way to his hands.

He placed them on Celi’s face. Even with his hairy hands, he could feel how soft her skin was.

In his palms, he formed a small thunder spell, electric shocks permanently fueled by the Firia he controlled.

“They don’t know it in this world, but this is not just thunder. This spell could be used as a basis to create electricity… if only they learned how to use it in their world too…” Iwao thought, disappointed.

The electric shocks spread inside Celi’s head. Her body trembled. Iwao stood up and waited. A few minutes later, painful gasps escaped Celi’s mouth. She was waking up.

As she sat up, Saya rushed toward her and hugged her, crying. Celi slowly regained her senses while Saya explained everything that had happened.

“Thanks, Iwao, for waking me up!” Celi said with a bright smile.

Her long hair falling down her back and her radiant face gave off a relaxing aura. Everyone was relieved. In the light of the moons, Celi’s blonde hair shone, her beauty highlighted and increased tenfold. Iwao had never seen someone so beautiful – and her smile was directed at him. 

He cursed his appearance, blaming it for placing a wall between him and what could have been the happiness he was looking for.

After a few moments, life seemed to have resumed its course – flying fish could be seen in the dark blue sky, and cicadas’ song could be heard in the distance. But nothing stirred in the Valley of the Dead. Its name suited it well if we took this aspect in consideration.

Iwao, Celi, and Saya walked toward the entrance of the cave that was destroyed earlier. Once there, they jumped into the hole that had been beneath the trapdoor.

Inside was just a room. Four walls of magic stone prevented it from being spotted or destroyed. At the end of the room was a desk – a simple wooden desk, with no chair and no drawers. On it lay a pendant and a note. 

Leaning against the desk was a completely blue humanoid creature, bald, wearing only a sheet, seemingly asleep. Only Iwao could see the nightmare rope attached to it.

They approached the desk and read the note first. The pendant was a long stone as blue as the night. Saya took the note, unfolded it, and read aloud.

“I know the royalty will never set foot in this room again now that they think I'm dead. That’s why I was able to recover my precious book. If you are inside this room, reading this despite the barrier I placed on the trapdoor, I congratulate you. You are surely here in search of my book, either because you wanted to replicate my experiments or because you are touched by a case similar to what I did to my subjects. For this, I leave you two presents. The first is this pendant – wear it and learn how to use it. I can’t say much more, it’s up to you to unlock its power. The second gift is this entity next to the desk. He’s a prototype of a perfect being I made long ago. But he’s not perfect, and that’s why I can’t take him with me. Take these two things and learn. Come find me one day when you think you will need to talk about all this. If you unlock the pendant’s power, it will react near me. It would have been easier for you with my book, but there’s only one copy. Sorry, haha. Take care!

V. L., alias The Witch.”

They were left speechless, lost in their thoughts. Iwao slammed his hands on the desk.

“We almost died for nothing?” He shouted.

“Calm down, Iwao, that’s not true. There is something.” Celi said, placing the pendant around Iwao’s neck.

Iwao didn’t say a word. He stretched out his hand towards Saya, demanding she give him the note. She hesitated but finally handed it over, still shaken by the revelations. But as she touched Iwao’s hand to give him the note, she noticed something.

“Iwao… was this rope here when we arrived?” She asked, fear in her voice.

“What rope? There isn’t any rope.” Celi replied, puzzled.

Iwao’s eyes widened.

“You… can see it, Saya? Celi, touch my hand, please.” Iwao requested.

She did as Iwao asked.

“Oh… there it is!” Celi exclaimed.

Saya grabbed the rope in her hand while still touching Iwao’s hand.

“Why can we only see it when we’re touching you, Iwao?” Saya asked.

“It’s… because this is what I use to enter nightmares. And it seems this creature is trapped in one.” Iwao confessed with a long sigh.

Saya, perplexed, touched Iwao with the rope.

“What are you doing, Saya?! No!” Iwao yelled.

First Saya, then Celi, and finally Iwao – at that instant, they were all transported into the creature’s nightmare through the rope.

Meanwhile, outside, the howling of four wolves was heard once again, like a signal. Then, the ground shook. Zombie sheep and stone golems began to awaken from all the holes in the Valley.

But something bigger was coming. Something was roaring under the ground.

The ground exploded under the pressure of a creature forcing its way to the surface.

It was a dragon – a majestic and terrifying one. It erupted from the ground, striking a pose to display its fearsome power as it spat fire

The monsters were all waiting for something – perhaps waiting for Iwao’s group to return from the nightmare.

All these creatures, this level of danger... that was the true meaning behind the name Valley of the Dead. Anyone who set foot there would perish, killed by them all.

******************************

The sound of hooves on the ground, dust rising with each step. A large group was marching toward Greyford Valley. A hundred soldiers, and two other men in beautiful armor: the king and Rufus.

Their group had finally arrived to retrieve Saya. They reached the entrance of the forest near the Valley, but the first thing they saw were all the enemies, waiting for something to kill. The soldiers were terrified but couldn’t retreat – if they deserted, a pitiful fate awaited them, a death worse than this one.

The king was shocked to see all these monsters. Not scared – he would do nothing, he would stay at the back.

“Where are they? I can’t see them from here.” The king asked Rufus, impatient.

“I can assure you they are here, my king. They are most likely near or inside that crater. But we should wait-”

“I don’t care. I want her now. My soldiers will fight. That’s all.” The king replied curtly.

Rufus didn’t reply, not wanting to offend the sovereign.

The king, on his horse, turned to his soldiers.

“My soldiers, the objective is in this crater. Go and take her.” He shouted.

But the soldiers didn’t move. They were terrified.

There was commotion in the back. About twenty soldiers were staring at something strange.

“What is happening there?” The king shouted.

One of the soldier answered.

“A small wooden puppet shaped like a sheep is looking at us, my king.”

“What are you waiting for? Slice this thing and bring me my daughter!” The king ordered.

As soon as he spoke those words, the puppet exploded, killing the twenty soldiers gathered around it.

Panic erupted. The soldiers searching around, terrified of finding more puppets.

The king had had enough. He raised his arm into the air. A green light burst from it and descended on the soldiers like a sheet falling to the ground.

The soldiers stopped panicking. They rushed toward the monsters in the Valley.

“That should do the trick. This manipulation spell is effective.” The king whispered, laughing.

Rufus forced a laugh as well.

The king looked back to the Valley. The dragon was no longer on the ground. It was already in the air above the soldiers. They weren’t the attackers – they were the prey.

It was going to be a massacre.