"I didn't want to talk about it. Knowing my idiot clansmen, they'd probably set voyage for revenge. But with you here, I hope you can convince them otherwise," he coughed heavily then took a large breath. "It happened when my crew and I journeyed through The Barren...."
Those two words shook the tent. Even I had heard of The Barren, Bertolt describing it as a place of nightmarish creatures and relics old. Few can say they have been there and back. For many, the very place itself was synonymous with death, fearing to even speak the name. Even Richard slightly twitched at its mentioning.
"We-we had come across a dead-mine and found something." Reiners nodded to his friend to the side of him. Who pulled out a black box and held it out towards Richard. He grasped it gently, opening it and taking out a glossy black stone.
"Soul crystal," he said grimly.
The giant black crystal shard radiated darkness, faint whispers and echoed moans emanated from it.
"What is a soul crystal?" I accidentally mutter. Richard hears me.
"To put it in the most basic sense, it is a material used to house dead souls," he stated bluntly. After which he carefully placed the stone back within the box, hid it within his cape. He pondered for a moment then proceeded to ask,
"Was there more?"
"Yes," Reiners cut off, "yes and lots more. We managed to destroy most of it, that piece was what we could grab before we were attacked....."
"By what?!" The chief asked anger in his voice.
Reiners sighed and gave Richard a meaningful look before replying.
"Remnants" he finally disclosed.
Everyone instantly became tense,
"You were ambushed by a necromancer?" The chief asked fearing the answer.
"Yes.....and his crest was that of the dark legion,"
"Im-Im-Impossible..." someone cried out too scared to acknowledge what this meant.
"They didn't take too kindly to the fact we wrecked all their crystals. Attacked us with waves of remnants. We took off quickly. Reckoned that'd be the end of it. Started making our way home. But as we were crossing the Badlands, they ambushed us with an even stronger force. A dark general leading the charge this time. The guy even brought along some lieutenants and a small army of remnants. We held out and won eventually. I managed to heavily injure the dark general, forcing it and the others into retreat. But not before getting wounded myself. Wasn't as bad at first, but as we got here, it just got worse," he painfully retold.
Richard looked at Reiners weirdly for a moment then went back to his usual gaze. There seemed to be something more, something missing. The fact that a dark general appeared, just what was it after? Revenge? The soul crystal? Neither seemed worth it.
The chief went into a rage.
"Come on ye, call me bannermen. Ye army of the dead dares to think it can harm the son of me Gunnar! We will bury them back in the graves they so wish to leave." All the other giants began getting worked up in agreement.
"OLD MAN NO!" Reiners shouted. His state weakened, almost falling unconscious afterwards. The blackness in his veins moved faster up his neck, he was going critical. Everyone went into a panic, Gunnar's face went grim, and Richard took action immediately.
'You can save him,' a voice called out to me in my head.
Richard shot a stream of blue lightning from his hands, trying to charge it into Reiners's body. The dark shroud reacted violently, blocking Richard's magic. The two entities clashed, and the collision sparked out around them. Everyone stepped back and away in fear and caution.
'Help him' the voice called again.
Richard's face took a turn, drips of sweat began appearing on his forehead. The dark shroud was simply eating up Richard's magic, growing larger. It started creeping up Richard's stream, getting closer and closer to his hands.
'Quickly! before its too late.'
I felt a weird power start to surge through me, seeping into my veins. A blue misty aura began appearing around my hands. Sabre startled, jumped off me and onto Bertolt. Everyone was so focussed on Reiners and Richard, that no noticed me as I approached Richard from behind. He was losing. The dark shroud was about to devour his hands, I hugged him tightly. My power began to transfer over, his magic stream got bigger and purer, almost translucent. The shroud was pushed back, it seemed to nearly shriek as if in pain, squirming and writhing. Richard turned to me in astonishment as he kept it at bay with my help. His look afterwards was complicated, he met gazes with Gunnar and yelled out, "Take your people and leave, I may just have a way to save your son."
Gunnar nodded, the unruly and stubborn man happily taking orders if to save his son. He commanded all the giants in the tent to leave, going with them. Leaving me, Sabre, Bertolt, Richard and Reiners.
"You can release me now," Richard said with a smile.
I backed away and felt my power begin to surge again. No longer transferring to Richard, it started to quickly build up. My hands glowed intensely, my eyes and my hair became blue spotlights.
"This is going to be a lot of power for you to handle but try and focus it on the black shroud," Richard tried to coach me.
I kept calm, focusing on my breathing as I edged towards Reiners. I could hear the shroud, hear its screams of pain and fear as I closed the distance. I placed my hands on the sides of his head, and my magic rushed through him. It flowed through his veins, purifying them and dissolving the shroud. Reiners was healed. I suddenly felt incredibly weak, almost falling to the ground. Bertolt caught me, and my body slowly shrank down. Sabre on his shoulder started shrinking as well, the powder wearing off. Richard knew his turn was next, so he dosed himself again. Then walked over to Bertolt who now had me and Sabre perched on his shoulder.
"This is brilliant, your powers have finally awakened. As soon as Madam Mopta hears this, she will be elated." Richard happily reassured.
I palely smiled, wanting to ask him something.
"I know you have questions, but right now isn't the time to address them. You should regain your strength in a while." Richard assured
I forced a nod.
He silently acknowledged it and walked out of the tent to announce the good news. Reiners suddenly jolted awake, breathing heavily and quickly. He slowly sat up, tho healed, he was still physically exhausted. Bertolt ran and hugged him, crying into his abdomen. "You're ok Reiners," he sobbed, but Reiners seemed unfazed by it. His eyes stared directly at me, with gratitude, admiration and worship.
"You're a Spi-"
"You're awake, Reiners, good," Richard interrupted, "Oh, I forget to mention, it seems your elf friend has runoff."
"What?!" Bertolt and I spat in unison.
"Yes, he'd quietly left a few minutes ago, I sensed it the moment he passed through my barrier. If you hurry now maybe you might catch him, he won't make it far with his injuries."
Bertolt turned to me, wiping his tears.
"Let's go," I told him, and he gave one last glance at Reiners, waving bye. Reiners mustered what he could to return the gesture.
"Now, that we have a few minutes alone.....what was the real reason the dark legion ambushed you?"
"I had a feeling you would ask me that, that is no ordinary soul stone..."
A crowd still surrounded the tent outside, awaiting Reiners's exit. Some tried to question us on the situation, but Bertolt ran past them, ignoring everyone as he made his way out. The village gates were left open, in all the hysteria over Reiners. The guards had forgotten to close them. We walked out, and Sabre flew down and began sniffing out the ground. He quickly hooked onto the elf's trail and took off with us behind.
Meanwhile-
Three little goblin men were walking through the forest not to far from Madam Mopta's Cabin. The little creatures were noticeable by their flappy thin pointed ears and brown-tinted, dry, leathery skin. One goblin was slightly bulkier than the others. He wore an Iron helmet over his head, that left his face exposed. As well as two oversized brass shoulder pads, two metal arm guards that didn't match in size. Both wrapped loosely around his wrists. He looked like a mismatched mini centurion, especially with a velvet cape drooping down his back. The cape stretching a little over 2.5 metres, almost three times the height of the goblin. He held two long bone daggers in his hands, along with a wooden bow on his back. Same in fact was said of the other two, the group all with bows. Of the other two goblins, one was bald, excessively bald. His head seemed like a marvel ball, polished and glistening. The last one wore a cap, he was the quietest of the three, his clothes were slightly puffed, making him appear fat. He walked slumped, his back arched significantly while a short sword was sheathed on his side. The bald goblin looked a bit fearful as he walked with the rest, his every movement an attempt to stay quiet.
"Bill, you sure backstabbing that elf was a good idea, he's got awfully far." the bald goblin asked with nervousness as they continued to follow the elf's blood trail.
"There ain't nothing to worry about, after that good stabbing we gave him," the helmet goblin, named Bill, said confidently.
But the bald goblin's fear didn't go away; instead, he recalled the horrors of the elf boys strength.
"But what if he comes back, he was good at killing them hobgoblins just by himself, we wouldn't stand a chance if he came back".
The captain got angrier quickly,
"And that why we sneakily stabbed him remember, so shut it Sid!" he yelled, and the bald goblin went quiet.
They continued walking for a few moments before Bill suddenly spoke again,
"Hey, Sid," Bill began.
"Hm"
"Did you remember to clean up all that elf blood at the randevu point?" he asked.
Sid's face lost colour, and he weakly replied, "noo....."
Bill's brownish-green face lit up like a tomato, ignoring common sense.
"You idiot, what if the hobgoblins use the trail to follow us, then we're done for sure," he raged about to beat the cowering Sid. The cap goblin watching them in laughter, all three unaware that they were no longer alone.
"Hobgoblins are the least of your worries at the moment"-