"It… It happened so fast, I can't really remember most of it. I often took the boy with me to hunt, as Curo didn't really like to spend time with him. Rather, it pained him, since Luni probably reminded him of his late wife. She died right after giving birth."
Aloysius grabbed one of the remaining liquor bottles, gulping it in one go. He may have still been drunk, but there was no trace of the mellow and inept man they had first been introduced to.
This time, he was focused - he had a goal in mind. Aeden guessed that whatever just happened to his daughter helped him remember the reason why he didn't want to mingle with the rest of Cochlinia anymore.
"It came out of nowhere… a creature ethereal like mist and darker than a moonless night. It loomed over us, and I instinctively tried to stab it with my hunting spear. Fear made me close my eyes, and it took a single thrust… When I opened them again, blood was gushing from Luni's throat…-" he emptied another small bottle, finding the memories too painful to remember with a clear mind. "I still don't know what happened. I… I… I simply left him there and rushed home. I threw everything away, and just clutched at Vita… my Vita… I don't want her to die, I can't bear the thought of it."
He let go of the flask, looking at his slumbering daughter. Megissa and Nihil checked her earlier but concluded that nothing was life-endangering apart from the apparent physical injuries. Whatever that "sigil" etched on her face was, its true nature remained hidden.
"Perhaps Junia could've found him and saved his life? Though if he's been stabbed in the throat, the timing seems like a stretch." mused Nihil while putting a blanket over the injured little girl.
"How likely is it that he could've survived long enough on his own?" Aeden asked, still pondering about the possibilities.
"Long enough for what exactly?"
"Weren't there a lot more spellcasters in Cochlinia before? Maybe one of them could heal others too."
"What are the chances that Aloysius wouldn't hear of it? Wasn't his late wife a spellcaster, too? Surely, if the chief's only son was found gravely injured and subsequently saved, he would've at least caught a few talks about it."
"Guys, you're asking the wrong questions!" Megissa quickly interrupted the exchange between Aeden and Nihil.
"What was a Nightmare doing inside the barrier? And more importantly, why did he disappear right after Aloysius stabbed Luni?"
Both sunk into deep thoughts, though the lack of answers started to irritate some of them.
"This feels wrong. Aloysius, why were you begging Luni not to take Vita away? As far as I'm concerned, the boy's 'death' seems like a separate issue from today's event."
"I…" the man mouthed some words, mostly hidden by his beard. He then spoke in an unusually clear voice. "I can't say."
"Another bloody Oath!" Megissa shook her head in frustration. The whole issue was getting on her nerves.
"Perhaps the answer is much simpler than we've thought. A supposedly dead child coming back to life, what's the most likely scenario?"
"You're saying it could be necromancy, Aeden? It works, but there are a lot of holes to fill. It's safe to assume that none of the known spellcasters would be the Necromancer, since we're going with the hypothesis that the 'dead' Luni is linked to the danger they were fleeing from in the first place."
"An infiltrated enemy, maybe?"
"Unlikely, Cochlinia's barrier seems to be absolute. Curo controls whoever enters and leaves, and even if he's not a spellcaster, his position as the settlement's chief links him directly to the forest, and by extension this place's protection. Anoth-..."
"There is no use in trailing off, Nihil." Megissa sharply cut him off. "The Luni we spent these two days with is a breathing, living being. Necromancy leaves very obvious traces and not even my teacher, the Sorcerer of Knowledge and Father of Necromancers, could bring back the dead with such perfection. There must be another explanation."
"You're complicating things, guys." Decima suddenly spoke, this time with a serious tone and expression, very unlike the ones she usually has. "Grasping at straws will lead us nowhere, and there's no need to. Someone who has all the answers stands before us now, and he has made his decision, right, Aloysius?" She looked straight at the man, her sharp gaze seemingly waking him up from deep sleep.
The middle-aged drunk simply sighed as he slowly rose from his chair, the clattering of bottles echoing through the now silent hut.
"I need to be sure that she'll be safe. Vita… I want you to save her if I'm to do it."
"Of course, don't worry about th-..." Megissa started to answer before she was cut off.
"You, the boy with hidden eyes. Swear it to me. I want an Oath. You're spellcasters, so you know how to do it right?" he looked directly at Aeden.
"Absolutely not! This is too dangerous!"
"She's right! Let me do it instead, I'll give you your Oath."
Nihil and Megissa started arguing with the man, though his resolve never wavered. He kept his gaze fixed on their leader, seemingly not hearing the others' protests.
"Very well."
He did it in an instant. Aeden cut his wrist with his sidearm as he dropped on one knee, blood flowing vigorously from his wound. The shock froze his friends, yet he turned his bleeding hand downward, chanting:
"By my blood, this Oath shall immure both flesh and mind." the red liquid suddenly went up instead of down, slithering like snakes around his arm. "I swear to thee that I will save Vita from Cochlinia's curse." his ichor finally stuck to his skin like burning chains, searing itself as a temporary brand.
"Argh! Why are you always so brazen? One of us could've done it instead. At least, if the worst happens, you wouldn't be affected." Megissa was fuming, but she still took a step back, a sign of respect for the sanctitude of the Oath.
"Of course it would affect me. You're my friends. I couldn't bear to let you endanger yourselves like this, and it's for Aloysius' peace of mind too." he slowly got up, ethereal smoke exiting his self-inflicted injury due to the regeneration process. "Now, I suppose that you're ready?" Aeden looked at the man, trying his best to hide any sign of pity out of genuine respect.
"Yes." following a short answer, the father took out a hunting knife from a small cupboard. After which, he stood before the group. "Tell her that I didn't abandon her, please."
Just then, Aloysius stabbed himself with the blade. His thrust was well-aimed and precise, smoothly entering his body as he grunted from the pain. Blood exited the wound in small bursts, and tears flowed from his eyes.
They needed to hurry.
An Oath naturally etched itself on someone's body and acted more like a secondary, dormant organ than a spell. It would activate should someone break its conditions or rules and kill its host from the inside. While this property made it unbreakable by other spellcasters, it also had inherent weaknesses.
For example, should the body suffer mortal wounds, the ensuing perturbation would temporarily keep it from taking effect, though it'd be only delaying the inevitable. In Aloysius's case, it'll lend him the necessary time to answer the party's questions.
"A stab to the liver. Judging from the amount of blood, he cut a big artery. It's definitely lethal, he's a hunter alright. We have about ten minutes. Aeden, you start." Megissa's cold analysis was spot on. The young man could only nod before asking:
"Why did react that way towards Luni earlier?"
Aloysius' was visibly strained, yet he answered nonetheless:
"I saw him the same day after I stabbed the boy. He came out of the shadows with lifeless eyes and pale skin. I remember that smile, terrifying and inhuman. It still haunts me. I figured he'd try to get my daughter."
"People who are chosen to go the Prius Woods never come back. Why's that?"
"It started two years ago. Curo assembled everyone and told us that the barrier was weakening, that we needed high-quality sacrifices for it to properly function again."
"By high quality, he meant spellcasters, right?"
"Yes-..." Aloysius spat a mouthful of blood before resuming. "Since it was for the good of everyone, they accepted. It started with only the older folk, once every two months, then it became more and more frequent. At some point, Curo asked for five spellcasters in a single week. Obviously, they refused." he scrambled to grab his chair, dropping heavily on it. "My wife was the last one. She did it to buy enough time for the younger generation, the last remaining Cochlinian spellcasters, to escape. Those idiots-...!" another burst of pain made him wince.
"They tried to assault the forest instead. Those brats wouldn't listen… they didn't know how dangerous the Prius Woods could be. They barely fled with their lives."
"Dangerous? How so?"
"It's linked to that creature… the one that took the boy's appearance. I made the connection as soon as I saw the sigil on Vita's face. My wife had the same mark shortly before she went into the forest. That monster's the one that attacked my daughter!" Aloysius suddenly rose in anger, but his expression quickly turned into that of extreme suffering.
"Aloysius? What's happening?" Aeden tried to walk up to him, though Decima stopped him from approaching.
"Help! Help me please! HELP! It hurts, it hurts so much! Vita!"
The man's limbs suddenly went red as he bellowed a petrifying screech of agony. His veins ruptured everywhere, his lungs filled with blood, and his skin started melting in a revolting show of pure torture.
"KILL ME! Kill meeeeeee…"
Eyes rolling backwards, he kept screaming until his larynx burst and his flesh expanded outwards, turning him into a suffering pile of meat.
"K-..ll-..meeeee…."
Only then did Aeden recuperate enough from the shock to end his pain.
"Ul Augue." he softly whispered before a flaming sphere burned Aloysius' very life to a crisp.
…
A moment of silence followed, though for different reasons. Aeden was mourning, and Megissa felt a mix of guilt and sadness. Nihil didn't utter a word out of respect for his friend, but Decima did it to honour the death of someone she considered a great person.
"At the Academia, we used to say that an Oath has a memory. While the punishment for its violation is death, the ways to reach it are different for each violator. Some theorized that the more severe the infringement is, the more painful the retribution will be." Megissa finally broke the heavy stillness, though it didn't sit well with Aeden.
"Couldn't you have told me that sooner?" he snapped. "I could've spared him all of that suffering. He was a brave man, he deserved none of it!"
The young woman shrank, not used to her friend yelling. "I was surprised too! The Oath acted way too soon, I was caught off-guard."
"How useless can you be if you can't even mention a detail like that?"
She could sense the fury in Aeden's eyes, even hidden behind that pitch-black cloth of his. Her retort stuck to her throat, and she simply walked away towards the still unconscious Vita.
"I'll get her to Junia." Megissa spoke softly, though her words had noticeable heaviness as if she was about to cry.
She took the little girl's frail body between her arms and silently set off towards the centre of the settlement.
"You were a too harsh there, lil' guy. Megi's a nag, but definitely not useless." Decima carefully patted him on the shoulder before exiting the hut. "Let's return to our lodgings, it's getting dark."
Moonlight shone on them like an appeasing veil, the barrier distortion giving it a comforting blue radiance. They strode quietly into the night, blissfully ignorant of the monstrous gaze carefully following their steps.
__
As Megissa walked through the now empty streets of Cochlinia, she reflected on her earlier altercation with Aeden. Perhaps she had been too insensitive? Yet, she couldn't understand at what point she was wrong.
Aloysius should have been well prepared for these consequences. He knew about the Oath's weakness, which meant that his wife imparted at least some fundamental knowledge regarding spells to him.
She hadn't even taken the time to absorb what new information they gathered. A barrier that worked with human sacrifices and was somehow linked to a dangerous creature. One with enough sentience to willingly scare Vita's father.
It couldn't be a Nightmare. Even intelligent ones leave traces, and why would the first Cochlinians build a settlement around that kind of entity?
'No,' she mused, 'I'm thinking about it the wrong way.'
By the time Cochlinia was built, the Prius Woods already existed. This means that it predated the Profane War six centuries ago and, by extension, the Mana disaster that it had provoked.
Nightmares can only exist in places with dense Mana, meaning virtually anywhere in the current atmosphere, except inside protective barriers such as these.
The only explanation would be another type of monster, but most other sentient species tended to avoid human agglomerations, and she doubted they wouldn't have been discovered by now.
'No, focus!' she thought.
According to Aloysius, Curo was the one who announced the need for sacrifices. Also, he told them that the entity had a connection with that particular ritual. Since the settlement's chief controlled those, he had to know something about the existing danger.
Maybe he's the instigator?
But they've already established that it didn't make sense. Curo had nothing to gain from that. Cochlinia didn't have much to offer, so whoever was behind the incidents had a goal beyond the village.
'Think.'
Curo, the creature, human sacrifices, an Oath, the barrier, the Prius Woods, Luni, the deserters…
Megissa's train of thought was interrupted by a sudden yelp. She stopped near a blackened alley, turning her head towards the source of the noise.
A small, bloodied child leaned against a stone arch, barely holding on to life. The Mathematician's eyes immediately shone with the greyish light of Mana Oculus.
After what they've learned, such a bait could only be apparent. If the monster managed to mimic Luni's appearance, it could shapeshift.
What are the odds of encountering an injured boy in a deserted corner of the settlement? It was bait. Yet, despite knowing that, she still had an ominous feeling.
"This is bad…." She shouldn't have separated from her friends, but she wasn't thinking clearly when she ran away from the hut. Plus, she was carrying Vita. There was no way she could efficiently fight an enemy that dangerous.
The infant let out another cry of pain, making Megissa smirk.
"Do you think I'm that dumb? I don't know why I haven't seen it before, but the effluvium of Alteration Spells flows abundantly from your body. Only an amateur wouldn't notice-..."
A wrinkled hand emerged from the shadowy alley next to the young woman, interrupting her. It stopped right before her face, emitting diaphanous, purple miasma from the palm.
'I need to move. This is an Alterati-...' Even her thoughts were cut off as the enchanted malodor took hold of her body and mind, freezing her in place.
Before the inevitable loss of consciousness settled in, she could glimpse the fake child slowly changing form. He reverted into a familiar middle-aged man, whose body language showed extreme and fearful quivering.
Curo's usually stern voice broke into frightened stuttering as he almost whispered:
"I-.. I'm so-... so sorry."
__
In the party's lodgings, Aeden and the Homunculi siblings were still waiting for Megissa.
"Isn't she taking too much time? Maybe I should've gone with her." Decima nervously rose from her seat, preparing to go search for her.
"You're right. It was dumb to let her go alone. I shouldn't have spoken like that to her too… She's a precious friend and comrade."
Aeden was still reflecting on his actions, regret audible in his voice. He briefly checked through their window for any sign of his friend since their elevated position provided an excellent vantage point.
However, what he saw made him momentarily freeze.
"Hey, Deci, Nihil, come look at this!" he managed to yell while pointing towards the abnormality.
They both hurried over, following his indication.
A young woman, clothed with an immaculate white robe, slowly exited the shade of the Prius Woods. She stopped at the sacred forest's entrance, her flowing silver hair mimicking the sheen of moonlight. Cochlinian floral patterns danced freely on her long sleeves as she gracefully raised her hands towards the night sky.
Her pale skin glistened under the sea of stars, and like a praying maiden, quietly abandoned herself to the embrace of the nocturnal wind.
Then, when the world itself seemed to plunge into haunting stillness, she sang.
Her euphonious chant carried over in tuneful bliss, delicately grasping at their most primeval emotions. Joy and sadness overlapped between harmonious notes, yet her melody guided them with dulcet hands.
Unknown words flew together into stirring verses, and memories of a peaceful existence laid them in spiritual slumber.
As her voice went higher and higher, their senses heightened, and their focus followed, for in that final, exultant moment, they became one. Her happiness, her sorrow, her exuberance were all theirs.
Locked in that euphoric trance, Aeden could barely think. He drunkenly turned towards his friends, only to see their bodies, half-unconscious, on the ground.
"...-reful, it's an Artist-..." was the last whisper he caught before the spell plunged him, too, into oblivion.