…
Huh?
Celia was staring at Ashtor. The latter was staring back at her, crouched near the door. The huntress’s neurons started working as hard as they could to comprehend what was going on. Why was he here? Was he not dead the previous day while protecting her?
- Eidolons do not die.
The young woman turned to Elemiah who was sitting not too far, fastening his shin guards.
- When they are defeated or banished, the aasimar continued while putting on his armor, eidolons are sent back to their original plane where they regain their strength, after what they can be summoned again by their master. As long as they stay alive, their servant will survive.
Celia sighed with relief and sudden understanding. It explained why nobody had pointed out Ashtor’s death and why Séliss did not seem to be affected by it. The human woman thought that her new teammate was strong-willed enough to not show her sorrow and that the others did not talk about it to not hurt her. Being unskilled in social interactions, Celia preferred to follow the rest of the group’s example. But Elemiah’s explanation was way more logical.
Ashtor raised his head, looking like he was examining some point further away in the cavern. After a few seconds of silence, he stood up and turned his attention back to the two humanoids in front of him.
- Séliss and Konrad found something, he said.
Celia jumped when the eidolon spoke. Elemiah, him, cleared his throat to hold a laughter which was threatening to burst because of her reaction. Admittedly, eidolons were extremely rare creatures, but it was still pretty refreshing to see someone so surprised by how those entities worked while thinking it was normal to walk around with a stegosaurus, a creature almost unheard of in the area.
- Some eidolons are endowed with speech as well, the aasimar explained, his amusement audible in his voice despite his best efforts.
While Celia was digesting this new info, Elemiah and her gathered the rest of the group and their belongings, before setting off to the tunnel in which Séliss and Konrad went adventuring a few hours before, offering to go look for a route to the surface while the others were preparing themselves and waking up.
On the road, the tension in the air was almost palpable. Horgus and Anevia were walking each on opposite sides of the group, as far away as possible from each other without getting separated from the others and doing a conscious effort to not make eye contact. Where Anevia was trying to hide her irritation, the best she could do being an expression of muffled anger, Horgus, him, had his eyebrows so furrowed one could think they were attempting to fuse with his eyes, and was walking with his chin high and his arms crossed. The three other humanoids did not really know what to say, and kept an awkward silence.
Celia and Elemiah were so distracted by keeping an eye on the two humans so they do not jump at each other’s throat that they were surprised to hear a sound of an impact followed by Aravashnial’s voice cursing in elven. The elf, certain of being able to walk without help despite his blindness, had insisted on taking care of himself… and got quickly separated from the group before crashing on a wall. After that, despite the blind wizard’s demands, Celia did not let go of Aravashnial’s arm for the whole trip.
Luckily for the sanity of the two valid fighters in the group, Ashtor, thanks to his mental link with his summoner, was able to guide the group relatively quickly to their two scouts. When they met up, Séliss seemed to be deep in thoughts, holding her chin in her hand, while Konrad, holding a makeshift torch, leaning back against the wall, was passing time by playing with a stone.
Before they even had the time to react to their comrades approaching, Horgus moved toward them at an angry pace and exclaimed, with an irritated voice:
- I thought you found an exit! We’re still in the middle of those fucking tunnels! Your money, you want it or not!?
No, they did not miss the merchant one bit during the few hours they were away from him. The invective had made Séliss come back to her senses and she was then glaring at Horgus, annoyed.
- If you’re not happy, she answered, help instead of sitting on your butt.
Horgus was visibly caught unaware by this response. He was not used to being talked to that way. Anevia had to make a considerable effort to not burst out laughing.
- We found something weird, Konrad said with an amused smile, but we’ll have to climb. We wanted to check if we could make everyone get up there before continuing.
He pointed at the top of one of the walls near them, showing a natural chimney starting at the border between the wall and the ceiling. The chimney was slightly tilted: enough to make an experienced climber’s ascension easier, but not enough for any random person. Celia and Mali approached the wall and started examining it, thinking, while the others regrouped to discuss how they were going to do it.
- There are weird statues up there, the brawler continued.
Hearing those words, Aravashnial straightened up, his expression beaming. Statues? Now that was becoming interesting!
- If that’s the case, onward! he launched with an authoritarian voice. I have to examine this as quickly as possible!
- Before that, we have to climb up there with a rope to make everyone get up there, Séliss interrupted. Konrad?
The young man nodded. He pulled out of the bag Ashtor was carrying the rope they found the day prior in the camp’s ruins, coiled it across his chest so it would not fall, and put the torch between his teeth in order to carry it without burning himself. Climbing was not his expertise, but, during his first ascension, Konrad had created grips to make his work easier. For once he was allowed to damage structures without being yelled at, he was not going to be asked twice.
During all those years in the streets of Kenabres, he had developed a peculiar fighting style, based on spotting items’ weak spots: by finding their weakness, he was then able to break them without hurting himself. He used this technique to dislodge the stoup from the wall the previous day, and he reused it to dig rough grips in the stone composing the chimney’s wall.
While he was going further up the chimney and was about to catch one of the grips, Konrad felt another rope bounce on his back. Weird. He lifted his head and…
- Huh!?
Konrad’s yelp attracted the rest of the group under the tunnel to see what was going on. They were surprised as well when they saw a stegosaurus some meters above their comrade!
While the rest of the group was talking to each other, Celia and Mail had begun to ascend through the chimney. And they were pretty quick! Celia was ahead, climbing at top speed, jumping from wall to wall like a monkey and ignoring some of Konrad’s grips for others she judged more suitable. Behind her, the huge dinosaur seemed like she was walking on the wall at a constant speed, her flank against the wall like an ibex, obediently following her mistress. She held in her beak the rope that got half uncoiled and had hit Konrad.
The hunter and her animal companion reached the top of the chimney in but a short moment under the stunned gaze of their companions and disappeared out of their sight. The tip of a rope emerged from the darkness and fell in the middle of the group, the light “plop” it did when hitting the floor being the only sound interrupting the shocked silence that set in.
- … Did they…, Séliss started, dumbstruck.
- Yes…, Elemiah responded, as speechless as her.
While Konrad resumed his ascension and everyone was regaining their composure in front of this impossible spectacle, they decided to make Séliss, Elemiah and Ashtor climb last so they could bring up the rear and not let the other three behind and defenseless. Aravashnal, being the most lightweight thanks to his elven physique, was the first to be harnessed to the rope. When Konrad stepped foot at the chimney’s summit, Celia and Mali just finished pulling the wizard next to them.
Celia was about to free Aravashnial from the rope when a horrible and sudden pain in her back made her yelp. She lost her balance, fell on the wizard, and both of them fell flat on the floor. Alerted by the young woman’s scream, Mali let out a worried lowing, dropping the rope which fell through the chimney and crashed at the feet of the rest of the group. Konrad grabbed his torch and brandished it as far as possible so he could see what was going on. That is when he realized that he was no longer able to see the statues he had spotted earlier. He could not see Celia, Mali and Aravashnial either, not even the chimney he came from. All he could see was his arm holding the torch, its light seemingly swallowed by the darkness. Celia tried to activate her power to see in the dark, but stopped immediately when she realized it was useless.
Magic darkness! Her power was ineffective against that!
- What is happening!? Elemiah’s voice reached her.
Konrad tried to answer, but a dark silhouette suddenly entered his field of view and hit him in the face. He got slightly stunned by the hit and fell on the ground. The pain caused by pointy rocks plunging in his flesh surprised him and he let the torch go, which got quickly swallowed by the supernatural obscurity.
He was then completely in the dark. He could not even see his own hands. When he tried to get up, other sharp rocks cut his hands. Anxiety started to set in his mind clouded by the shock and the pain. He who was used to resolve conflicts through combat had never been in a situation where he could not see his opponent and where he was not able to counter-attack.
His heart skipped a beat when a whistling sound, like the one made by something dashing through the air above him, got closer to him at high speed. He crossed his arms in front of him, preparing himself for the impact. A metallic swish reached his ears, followed by the moist sound of cut flesh and an ear-splitting cry. He felt something warm splash on him while wing flaps and panicked grindings moved away. When something caught his arm, his instinct told him to strike. He held back just in time when he heard Celia’s voice just a few centimeters from him, yelling in the direction of the chimney:
- I-I can hear t-two flying creatures! But they move too quickly, I-I-I can’t spot them!
- Hang on! Séliss responded to her. We’re coming!
Celia grabbed Konrad’s arm and helped him get up. Sword in hand, her and her unfortunate companion each took a defensive posture. Adrenaline enhanced all their other senses, as if to replace their missing sight. They felt like they could hear everything, from the rustling of cloth and knocked rocks from Aravashnial, who was trying as much as he could to get up, to the sound of their own heart pumping in their chest. Their mind was racing, their muscles tense. Konrad was so focused he could not feel the blood dripping from his tight fists, nor the pain of his fingers digging through his wounds.
Konrad nonetheless sensed the second attack coming too late and got hit in the shoulder. A sinister crack filled the cavern. Their invisible opponents’ attacks came one after another, announced solely by a swish. Sometimes, he could feel the air moving just in time to react, the sound of the strike against the brawler’s bracers and the whistling of the huntress’s blade slicing the void reaching his ears. But they often reacted too late, and the hits were starting to pile up. Adrenaline allowed them to ignore the increasing pain. From time to time, they could feel some kind of tentacles try to hold onto them and engulf them. At the moment, they still had enough strength to free themselves. However, they were getting more and more tired and had no way to counter-attack. Without light, they were at risk of not being able to hold on until the reinforcements reached them.
Comments (0)
See all