Part 15 - Shadows, Memories, Rehm, and Portals

By morning the giant retreats. Isaac pulls out the marauder’s map and spots Araja, who is a long distance away. How did she get over there?

We decide to walk, following Araja’s marker on the map, to hopefully not attract the giants attention if he were still near by. Rekka asks Isaac if he notices any magic, particularly in the shadows in the trees.

Isaac: “Everything is magic,” he says with exasperation.

Rekka: “There’s something there,” she points to some of the shadows, flanking us.

Isaac pulls out Hubert, and I my weapon handle. The shadows are definitely following us.

Rekka: “The shadows are people!” she whispered.

Isaac: “I know, there’s a lot of undead around.”

Rekka: “Their watching us!”

Gideon: “They appear to be neutral, so as long as we leave them alone then maybe they’ll leave us alone.”

Isaac: “Unless their intelligent.”

Rekka: “So Araja was right. There were people here,” she said dryly.

We keep moving. The undead follow us through the shadows. It looks like their trying to say something, but no sound comes out. Are they trying to warn us? We devise a way to communicate with the shady people. Bar Wench writes a message in the ground. The shadows pass over the message and move a way.

Shadows: “Hello.”

Bar Wench: “What do you need?”

Shadows: “To escape.”

Bar Wench: “How?”

The shadows don’t respond. Bar Wench tries again.

Bar Wench: “Do you know how we can help you?”

Cortanna: “Why should we help them?”

Shadows: “We are the lost souls of Erythnull. We don’t know how to free ourselves.”

Bar Wench: “Do you know Billy Hill?”

Shadows: “He was once part of us.”

Suddenly the unicorn runs off, abandoning us, and without saying a word, “Whatever!” I mutter after him.

Isaac: “I have a plan.” Suddenly a large number of the shady people flee. Isaac’s eyes glaze over as he speaks with the shady people. Then Isaac starts reciting the eerie chant that we heard in the silver mines long ago, but it’s almost as if Isaac has no control over his voice. He tells them how he freed Billy and if they followed us, they might be freed as well. The shady people think it over, but eventually agree. In return, Isaac wishes to control one of them as a means to be in constant communion with the other shady people. The shady people agree, and a guy named Ash bonds himself to Isaac.

We continue on. Suddenly Araja and the unicorn return! Araja’s eyes are blood shot as if she’s been crying…a lot. And there’s blood on her hands!

Isaac: “What happened?”

Araja is clearly distraught and won’t budge. We tell Araja what we’ve been doing. Rekka asks Ash where Rehm is.

Araja: “Daaaad?”

Ash: “Araja?” the shadow responds, “That’s impossible. My daughter’s dead.” He takes a better look at Araja and bouths words to her.”

Araja: “I thought you were marked?”

Ash: “Yes, and you mom, and the whole village shortly after your sister died.”

Araja: “Do you know anything about Merith being part of this?”

Ash: “Merith?” he says in confusion, “You were the special one.”

Araja: “Dad, do you know what happened to the holy hosts?”

Ash: “They fell. Where have you been?”

Araja: “I’ve lost a lot of memories…”

Ash: “Oh, they’ve been destroyed.”

Araja and Ash spend some more time catching up. I wish I could see my mom again…She would be so proud of me…and, and so would my dad! If he saw me like this, with my companions, he’d no longer see me as the scared little girl! I’d be more like Simon... I shook my head when I realized I was only comparing my self to the man that my father had turned my brother into, not what Simon wanted to turn into…But that was then and this is now, You’ll see dad, one day you’ll see.

Isaac: “What happened to this continent?”

Ash: “After the war, Erythnul reconstructed this land to hide the truths of the past.”

With the new information, we continue toward Rehm. Ash leads us. The other shady people follow, and so do other creatures, but they keep their distance. Ash tells us he may have found someone who can answer our questions. He’s a dangerous creature called a night walker. As Ash talks, we begin to see more creatures wondering about aimlessly through the forest.

Bar Wench: “I think we may have a problem. The creatures eyes are blacked out.”

Isaac erects the Starbug as night begins to fall and we hide underground. The creatures of the night and shadows seem to become more restless. Rekka and I keep watch. The creatures paw at the ground where the Starbug sunk down, as if they can smell us.

Ash turns with his acquaintance. He’s a tall, skinny, shadow of a man.

Isaac: “How can we reveal the clues of what happened to this continent?” he asks.

Mr. Skinny: “You want to know how to undo it? I kind of like the way things are!”

They start talking of the girl named Malphia. Wasn’t that Araja’s sister? I thought her naym was Merith? Apparently Mr. Skinny man is of her spawn. He says only the blade of his mother could slay Erythnull. Apparently Malphia has some control over the gods. Isaac asks about the Sangrial, but Mr. Skinny is reluctant to answer. Something about the Sangrial obviously makes him uncomfortable, and extremely irritated.

Bar Wench: “I know stuff!” she suddenly blurts.

Mr. Skinny gives her a sideways glance.

Isaac: “So are you going to eat us?” Isaac says after a moment’s silence.

Mr. Skinny pats Bar Wench and retreats. Isaac tries to get Bar Wench’s attention, but it takes a minute for her to come to.

Bar Wench: “He was in my head!” she began, “The gods killed all the Sangrial, except Rekka.”

After a while I decide to go to sleep. When I wake, its morning and all the creatures are gone…In fact, now that I think about it, they were never around when Mr. Skinny was here…

Araja tells us she has Malphia’s dagger. Wha-wha-whaaat? It has Erythnull and Hyronious’ souls trapped inside. She used it to slay Malphia! So that’s why she was crying…

We continue on to Rehm. Ash tells us that the night walkers are all around, but fortunately, during the day they are much more docile. The trek to Rehm is much longer then I expected. Each night we get closer, the creatures get more and more fractious. They desperately claw at the force field, trying to gain entrance. I can only hope it holds out.

In the evening, at the end of the 5^th week, Gideon and I are keeping watch at the control tower of the Starbug. I see Isaac standing on the roof of the barraks. He spots me and waves, and then proceeds to fly over to us. I don’t remember him putting his flying boots on…Why would he need them now? He wants to trade spots with me because he’s scared. Isaac? Scared? Since when…? Suddenly he presses the button on the console to lower the shield. I press it again to raise it and as Isaac reaches for the button again I slap his hand away.

Cortanna: “Who are you?” I demand, drawing my weapon handle, “Araya, Rekka, Bar Wench, Isaac is not himself and is trying to commandeer the Starbug!” I see a shadow plastered to Isaac’s back. Ash?

Isaac goes to take a swing at me, but suddenly a dragon lifts Isaac in the air and he turns into a sheep! The dragon returns the sheep to the ground and turns into Rekka. We all gather in the court yard staring at Isaac’s sheepish form.

Araja: “How long will he stay like that?”

Rekka: “Uh, a week,” she says sheepishly, “Unless someone can dispel him.” Rekka casts a protection from evil spell on Isaac for now.

The next day the unicorn mentions he can simply teleport us to Rehm to get us there faster. A second later we’re there, in the center of the town, where there’s a stone hut.

Araja: “Raeain, who lives in that house?” she says to the unicorn.

Unicorn: “The ruler of the forest. Probably Erythnull, Hyronious, or someone close to them.”

Cortanna: “Well if it’s anyone of deific status, they probably know we’re here.”

Gideon and Bar Wench go knock on the door. The door opens. “Oh!” we hear them exclaim, and then they walk in.

I follow the others into the hut. Well if it isn’t Barrack that greets us! I’m so happy I want to hug him, but refrain. He touches the sheep on the head and turns Isaac back into a real boy…awwww. We berate Barrack with questions, but he stops us short. He tells us we are in the middle of a very evil place, “The Well of Evil.”

Barrack: “Did you bring it?” he said to Araja knowingly, “Portals were open in the world from elemental planes of evil and good so Erythnull could have access. A blood sacrifice of a good deity or creature would help seal a portal. I know where 2 other portals are located. One is in the silver mine at Podunk, and the other in Threll. I can help you with one, but you can only use the same blood once. After then the other portals will remember that blood. I am willing to help by giving some of my blood.”

Cortanna: Wha-wha-what? So that means he’s a god, or something like that? “How much blood is needed?”

Barrack: “Enough,” he said expansively, “I will be temporarily weakened. Erythnull and Hyronious could kill me. They could be watching us right now, waiting.”

Cortanna: “Can you go into hiding?”

Barrack: “Yes, I have a few hiding places, but I could be discovered.”

Araja: “You’ve been very helpful to us. Why?”

Barrack: “I am the last of the deities who was a Sangrial.” – Wha-wha-what?

Barrack talks the issue over with us some more trying to soothe our worries. A portion of me wants to go with him, to protect him. The decision is made. We leave the hut and go over to the well where the hidden portal was. Araja takes the dagger and stabs Barrack. His blood flows freely. The ground trembles beneath our feet. Barrack weakens from the loss of blood.

Barrack: “That will do,” he says with a measure of finality. In the next moment, Barrack is gone.

The quaking ground increases in magnitude. The earth begins to crack. Water rises up, threatening to engulf the entire continent. The unicorn is unable to teleport us to a safer place for some reason. Rekka turns into a dragon again and takes everyone except Araja and Isaac into the air. The ground moves up, closing in over the water, turning the continent anew. The land is restored, and the evil vanquished. Isaac releases Ash, knowing Barrack should be able to release the shady people once he’s recovered.