Chapter 14: An Ancient Evil Stirs (1)

“Wait!” Magus let out a shout, but to no avail. The woman vanished in the blink of an eye. Mana continued to coalesce, the waves collapsing into that same spot all the same. The cathedral began to shake violently, and dust filled the air. He ran forward, clawing at the air, but she was completely gone.

“Magus, we need to get out of here!” Wyn pleaded, eyes wide at the quaking. She desperately dragged Magus’ arms towards the exit.

“You didn’t answer anything! Who am I?” Magus shoved Wyn aside, ignoring the tremors. “Who were you? Tell me!” He beat at the ground, clawing at where she once was, as though she were just buried under the ground. “Please… tell me… anything!”

With a blast of wind, Wyn knocked Magus into the air, scurrying him out of the cathedral. He watched as that spot shrank further and further into the distance. He could still see her, watching him. No, he knew. She wasn’t there anymore. Why did that hurt?

If only that were where it ended. Tendrils of pure mana shot from the cracks in the walls. They washed over Wyn. She felt as though she were suffocating, freezing, unable to raise so much as a finger. They ignored her, she was just an obstacle between them and their target. No different than a pebble on the ground. They wrapped around the golden string that connected the two, tugging at it. The thin mana between Wyn and Magus began to fray.

“What do you think you’re doing!” Wyn cried. She groaned, her fingers wrapping around the hilt of her sword. It felt like it weighed worlds. She flexed her fingers, launching a fireball at each tendril. The tendrils dispersed into the air as they exploded.

Over and over, she cut through the tendrils, but like an ever-regenerating hydra, for every one tendril severed two more grew in its place. Each explosion pushed back the torrent, until finally she was able to stand back on her feet.

“A little help?” She called, but Magus didn’t respond. She glanced backward, finding Magus simply collapsed prone on the ground. He was completely despondent, not at all reacting even when attacked. Her teeth grit, slashing away at the tendrils, not slowing until at last the waves began to recede.

She wiped the sweat from her brow, turning tail. She scooped Magus like a sack of flour, hoisting him on her shoulder as she sprinted away.

Run. Far, far away. With no other plan, the woman’s last words seemed to be advice worth heeding.

“What is the point of running?” Magus whispered. “She’s gone. All the answers, gone.”

“You don’t know that! She said she was just a message! We’ll find her again!”

Glancing backwards, she watched as the tendrils of mana gathered around themselves, hardening, taking shape. She felt the weight of the construct as it solidified, landing on the ground. It was shaped like a person, but massive. Similar to the woman, it was like a not-person, an approximation. Something distinctly inhuman in a shoddy masquerade, with elongated, jelly-like limbs and a complexion like an unfinished statue. It raised its arm high into the air, reaching into the canopy. It slammed down right in front of Wyn, causing her to skid to a halt. With its other fingers, it pinched on the back of her jacket, hoisting and tossing her to the side. It dragged its hand across the ground, its fingers like a net churning dirt and toppling trees, dragging Magus’ body back towards itself. It didn’t seem to be any more durable than an individual tendril, though, as Wyn was able to slice through its arm with relative ease.

It turned its gaze towards Wyn, its hollow eyes lighting up as it spoke.

“Why do you interfere?” Its head tilted in confusion, as though finally seeing Wyn for the first time.

“Why do you keep chasing us?” Wyn shot back.

“I do not chase you. You can leave.” The creature’s gaze fixated back on Magus, only for Wyn to kick aside its hand again. Despite the size, it was surprisingly light, like it didn’t weigh a thing.

“What do you want from him?”

“It must sleep. It must not awaken. It must not become aware.”

“Well, it's a bit too late for that, isn’t it? He’s already up and about, and has been for a while now.”

“No.” From then on, the creature didn’t address Wyn in any way. Focused solely on dragging Magus toward itself, it paid no mind even when Wyn hacked apart its limbs or blasted it with fireballs, content to regenerate itself as she struck. The thing’s fingers were tight around Magus’ body, unmoving even as she hacked away at its hand, the fingers regenerating before Wyn could remove him from its grasp.

“Hey!” Wyn shouted, kicking away the severed nub of its arm, only to watch as it regrew its hand. “You want to do something? This thing’s after you, after all!”

“What’s the point…” Magus said, to which Wyn delivered a swift kick to his head.

“What’s the point?” Wyn shouted. “Just cause the answer was right there in front of you, and slipped between your fingers, you should give up?” She slashed at the creature’s reaching palm. “That woman’s probably still out there! If you two knew each other, she must also have been some kind of amazing person, so she’s definitely still out there! If you give up now, how will you ever see her again?”

“Are you sure?”

“Definitely!” Wyn nodded. “We’ll travel the whole world, and we won’t stop until we find her! Until we find everything, all the answers you're looking for!”

“Fine.” Magus grabbed Wyn’s shoulder, pointing a finger at the creature. A massive blast of purple light erupted, blasting away everything between them.

Yet the creature stood tall.

“Unacceptable.” The creature trembled. “Such a thing can not be allowed. It must stay asleep. It must not awaken. You transgress upon divine law. Thus, the punishment is death.”

It reached a palm out toward Wyn, only for it to be met by another blast from Magus.

“Cease your foolishness. I was created to suppress you. I am made from you. Your spells will have no effect upon me. Even now, I devour your mana.”

A massive stone pillar rammed itself up on the creature's chin.

“Mine seem to work fine though!” Wyn shouted. She leapt from another pillar, knocking the creature onto its back.

“Fool!” Its neck stretched out further than Wyn had thought possible, as though it were stretchy rubber. Its smooth head split apart, fingers unfurling from a clenched fist. What was once its left hand clenched into a fist, its digits flattening into that smooth, empty visage. Two hollow holes bore into Wyn.

The hand slammed Wyn down into the ground, wrapping its fingers around her body. The digits split apart into numerous tendrils, like a million grubs crawling around her body.

“I will rip the mana from your body. Thus you shall die.”

A rock flew into the creature’s face.

“Over here!” Magus shouted, before turning tail and running. Immediately, it dropped Wyn, turning all of its attention onto the fleeing Magus.

“Reduce to dust, and be swallowed by earth!”

As the creature ran, its feet sank into the ground. Massive pillars of earth pincered its limbs, clamping them to the ground.

“Drown under the torrent!”

Wyn leapt into the air, slashing downwards. A massive bubble of water erupts, washing down over it. Before the water had time to fully wash away, she pressed her sword against the muddy tomb.

“Freeze!” In an instant, all the summoned water flashed frozen. Wyn wiped the sweat from her brow, sprinting over to Magus before turning to appreciate her prison.

“I don’t think that’s going to hold it for long.” Magus noted.

And he was right. The prison was empty, long before even the bubble had burst. Massive hands exploded from the ground in a shower of dirt and stone.

“Magus, run!” Wyn screamed, hacking away at its fingers. Magus needed no encouragement. As long as he retreated, the creature's focus would be pulled to him, leaving Wyn free to attack. Given enough time and enough strikes, at least one would do something, right?

Wyn took a deep breath, carving a circle into the ground with the tip of her sword. She watched as the creature stormed away, clawing in front of it like a mad man. Her hands shook, but not out of exhaustion.

“I yield myself unto the world…”

This was probably quite stupid.

“Through me the world becomes…”

She would probably, no, most likely die.

“To the world I bare my heart…”

But this would even the field.

“To myself I bare my fate…”

The ground churned under her feet. The creature stopped, its head turning back.

“In this world we share one beat…”

This creature subsided from Magus’ mana. Just as Magus did her. She could see it clearly now. The way its tendrils dig through the ground like roots. Ripping his mana right from the ground.

“In this world I become one.”

In an instant, white light envelops all of their visions.