Ever wondered what the void felt like?
Not the unconscious emptiness that predates our birth nor the pallid oblivion that concludes our life.
Complete, vivid sentience amidst pure whiteness. Sometimes, you can catch a glimpse of it when your fearful and feeble mind tries to imagine death.
Oh, how beautiful would that be. A peaceful, permanent demise that plunges us into a mindless stupor.
However, I do not seem ever to be able to experience it. A blessing, you might say? Wrong. Awfully, dreadfully, exceedingly WRONG.
I am unable to see, I am unable to speak, I am unable to smell, I am unable to hear, I am unable to move, I am unable to touch.
I can only exist, I can only think, I can only suffer.
In the middle of nothingness, I am aware of its vastness, yet it crushes me.
Like a human locked inside a hand-sized box, it painfully stifles me.
I do not need to breathe, but I am constantly suffocating.
Sheer agony courses through my nonexistent limbs, torturing my mind, forever ripping it apart.
Still, this stands far from the worst of it. I can sense them, my brother, my mother, my father, my family, my people.
Their screams resonate within me, blending with my shrieks.
The screeching of tormented infants, the howling of maddened parents, the wailing of broken elders - merging into warped melody as He watches, as He listens, as He preaches.
"Magnificent," He always whispers, His enthralling voice coated with sanctified malice. "There is no greater form of worship, my children. Endure, withstand, sustain, for that is the truest of virtues."
- Augur Renheit of Lichtenhimmel, shortly before he went mad.
Megissa's eyes opened as she slowly exited her artificial slumber, helped by cyclical pulses of Mana. It started with mere thumps, then escalated into irksome pounding. The last throb came directly from her Anima, jolting her awake with extreme force.
"By the Everchild… I swear that one nearly made me spit my heart out." Her faint whisper echoed through the darkened room, dim light escaping the few cracks on the rock ceiling. "Now, where am I…?"
The phenomenon that woke her up was the An Vena spell from the Enhancement category. It strengthened the constant flow of internal Mana from her Anima, forcefully stimulating the part of the brain stem responsible for wakefulness.
Its effects weren't that handy in regular battles but were extremely useful against spellcasters proficient in illusions or hypnotic spells, usually very tricky opponents.
Fortunately, she had managed to slip in a delayed version before the perfume completely stunned her, gambling on the fact that she wouldn't be killed on the spot. She was right.
"Well, for one, they aren't very thorough," she tried to move her limbs, and the rattle of chains answered her. "I guess they were really confident in their abilities. Il Tabeo."
Yellow Mana covered Megissa's shackles, instantly liquefying them as she nimbly landed on the ground. Instinctively, the ethereal gray of Mana Oculus shone through her gaze, unveiling any hidden trap or concealed presence.
"I'm alone," she concluded. "Judging by my internal clock, I've been asleep for about ten hours. That spell was potent, but, surprisingly, I'm still alive." Mathematicians could easily tell time through the perfectly calculated beats of their Anima, and most were able to act as a living compass.
She pressed her hands against the cavern wall, gently emitting Mana pulses on its surface. "Ul Recino." Her chant rang weakly inside the stone prison as the small vibrations turned into soundwaves, bouncing off throughout the entire gallery. When the echo came back, it gave her a basic layout of the whole structure, though the deeper chambers were still vague.
"It seems like I'm under the Prius Woods. What a surprise." rolling her eyes, she elegantly swept the air with her hand. Sparkling Mana glyphs followed her gesture, initiating intricate calculations while she spoke the formulaic incantation: "Mana Aequatio."
The primary tool of Mathematicians, Mana Aequatio, radically reduces the strain, time, and energy necessary to perform complex thaumaturgy while guaranteeing extreme efficiency for the final output. There's a reason this category of spellcasters, despite having the lowest average of Mana reserves, shows supreme effectiveness in most areas.
After the basis for her spellcast was set, Megissa slowly opened her palm towards the ground.
"Please don't collapse. Il Harenae." The entire room started shaking as precise portions of the craggy network reshaped themselves, opening passageways through the lower levels. It used her previous echolocating spell as a framework, creating stable and discrete tunnels to the nearest living beings detected.
'Alright!' she mentally applauded herself before hopping on to the first level beneath.
However, the moment she landed, she wished to crawl up again and forever close that hole.
Rancid odors wafted through the darkened room, drilling into Megissa's nostrils and almost tearing them apart. The smell nearly made her vomit, though she won over nausea with pure will as she needed to stay focused.
She conjured a tiny wisp of Mana, lighting the stone chamber while looking around for the source of the putrid scent. To her surprise, that section of the cavern was quite extensive, with ruined artificial columns she had confused with stalactites earlier.
Ancient paintings adorned the walls, mostly intact, and various pitch-black cocoons were scattered everywhere, broken and shredded. Some of them were still pulsating with frail but vain signs of life.
Her Mana Oculus naturally activated - Megissa made sure to scrutinize those objects, though quickly learned that they were no threat. She could observe the twinkles and throbs of Mana escaping small, damaged Animae.
"These are fetuses… dying ones. But of what creature?"
She turned towards the mural inscriptions, hoping for a clue. Yet, another discovery stunned her.
"I can barely read this." her hand gently caressed the archaic glyphs, slithering down towards the depictions as her wisp of light followed behind. "This predates Numidea… Sygian perhaps? No, their influence never made it past the Sibylline Peaks. It seems to be proto-Illian, though the reason northern tribes would come all the way here escapes me." she brushed off the accumulated dust, squinting to decipher whatever she could.
"Hold... curse? No, miasma. Eggs of ink…- a nest of shadows… Tagata 'ai. This one is repeated several times. Tagata 'ai… It means… Devourer? By the Everchild! We need to get out of this settlement-.." Megissa gasped, and the entire underground network trembled, nearly burying her alive.
Evading the stone rain was simple enough, but she had suddenly picked up Aeden's Mana signature, reverberating throughout the cave. It was hostile, so he was most likely fighting.
She needed to warn him. If she went by the scattered myths transmitted at the Academia, Devourers weren't opponents you could easily take on, especially if the specimen were mature.
Running through the subsequent tunnels was smooth and easy, but each time she crossed an underground level, more ruined rooms appeared, with even more destroyed nests. Sometimes, she'd stumble upon half-digested human corpses, blackened by the inky liquid each one oozed. It only filled her with dread.
The person behind Cochlinia's curse was trying to successfully hatch a Devourer's egg, and it's been going on for quite some time. If even one survived until the imago stage, they'd stand no chance against it.
'I must hurry,' she kept telling herself, starting to panic.
Columns, inscriptions, and black shells blurred in her vision as she picked up speed, only stopping once she reached her goal.
She came across a circular space with two unconscious people chained to a central rock pillar.
Megissa's wisp danced around them to give her more light, though her eyes widened when she recognized their faces.
"Deci, Nihil!" she hurried over, her hands shining with golden Mana. "Il Tabeo." with a simple touch, their iron chains melted, yet none of them seemed to wake up.
"Guys, wake up! We need to find Aeden and get away from here!" She started by shaking Decima, but her slumber was profound. Perhaps they had been captured by another spell?
The young woman grabbed both their faces, channeling pure Mana directly across her arms. "Sorry, I'll be a little rough. An Vena!" The flow of power went straight to their brain, forcefully tearing them out from sleep.
The Homunculi siblings opened their eyes. However, they were still dazed, at the edge of oblivion. Decima barely managed to utter:
"Me…-gi… where are we?"
"We're under the Prius Woods. You got captured by the enemy. Come on, wake up, An Vena!"
Another jolt of Mana practically made them jump, this time with full awareness. Nihil looked at her with barely concealed shock.
"What happen-..," Decima started to trail off before the memories came back. "Damn it! There was an Artist in Cochlinia! She caught us in her spell, so easily too… Damn it!"
"It doesn't matter right now. We need to get Aeden and escape. They've awakened a Devourer. It's too dangerous to stay here."
"A Devour-... What?! Ho-.. why?" Nihil's reaction made it clear he knew what that creature's wrath could incur. Decima, however, was clueless.
"What's a Devourer.?"
"Later, Deci! Aeden's surely fighting it right now. We need to help him."
"We can't," the boy's answer was clear, his tone betraying his fear "the Artist's spell still lingers. It's anti-Homunculus thaumaturgy. Our Anima is completely frozen right now. We're lucky Aeden is a hybrid. Since he can still channel Mana, it probably wasn't effective on him."
"Argh! Focus, Megissa…" she spoke to herself, her fingers massaging her temples. "Right, you two need to get out of the cavern. Just follow the tunnels I made. You'll be able to figure it out from there. Try to warn the villagers, tell them Curo is being manipulated."
"Manipulated by whom?"
"I don't know yet. Since there's another spellcaster here, we can't be sure of anything. I'll go help Aeden, and then we'll meet outside."
"Right." they both answered, quickly crawling through the artificial burrows.
They all knew there was no time to lose, especially Megissa. She continued further down without missing a beat, hoping it wasn't too late yet.
__
"Praying to deities became obsolete after their demise centuries ago. So tell me, boy, to whom will your last words be directed?" Junia spoke with that mocking voice of hers, sneering in-between each pause.
Like a musician's notes, each sound she made pushed the creature to move closer. Its arm slowly morphed into another blade, oozing the black liquid that served as the entity's ichor.
Aeden chuckled despite his situation, painful throbs making him well aware of the wounds it inflicted on him. He never thought he'd be pushed that far, even with all of his training, all of his preparations…
Had he been alone, he'd surely have accepted it. The closure of death - slain in combat by such an opponent, a glorious end as far as Numidean teachings went.
However, his friends were still there, and he had sworn to protect Vita. It wasn't his decision alone. For the sake of them all, he'd swallow his promise, the very first one he had made to his mother.
Not because she had asked him, but because he hadn't felt worthy enough to use that gift. The one that coursed through his veins - the legacy of Damara, the Sorceress of Slaughter.
The ambient temperature suddenly rose as if prompted by his newfound resolution. His smile twisted into a terrifying caricature of the infamous Witch, feared by all. It froze the old spellcaster, making her monster switch to a defensive stance.
"What's this?" her expression was much more severe, wary of the complete shift.
Aeden gently touched the pitch-black cloth that shrouded his eyes, preparing to rip it off - to break his pledge for good.
Yet, an unexpected blast caught them both off-guard. Half of the cavern instantly crumbled, and a white silhouette emerged from the ensuing rain of stalagmites. He immediately recognized her.
'Megi!' he mentally yelled, nearly crying from relief.
She seemed somewhat troubled by his state but remained focused. Aptly weaving her spells as only other Mathematicians could, she spread her Mana threads in a delicate web around the falling rocks. Then, she moved her hands like a puppeteer, guiding the debris towards Junia and the creature in a single, fluid assault.
He felt the strings gently wrap up around him at the exact moment, lifting his body towards her.
"No!" the old hag bellowed, though she didn't act nor prepare any spellcast. Instead, the entity protected her, hacking and slashing endlessly at the rocks with enough freedom to even try and attack them.
Its sides sprouted a pair of darkened claws that launched themselves at their new target: Vita. She was still being pulled by his friend and thus was easy prey.
Aeden raised his remaining hand towards its limbs, fire sprouting from his palm while chanting: "Ul Incoendia!"
The sizzle of pure incandescence rang amidst the landing boulders as the Sorcerer released a rain of flaming comets, crashing mercilessly on the creature and its master.
Ensuing explosions fragilized the underground structure even more, radically accelerating its inevitable collapse.
Megissa barely made it out with them - the earth moved by itself under her feet, probably thanks to an Alteration spell, with the unconscious Vita and the bleeding Aeden hovering closely behind her.
BOOM!
The instant they rose to the surface, a deafening blast came from the tunnel and nearly sent them flying away.
Whatever kind of sanctuary laid under the Prius Woods was buried forever, hopefully.
__
Despite the fierce fight under it, the forest still seemed peaceful and tranquil.
"I sent Deci and Nihil out before us, but I can't sense them around here. Maybe they left the woods to warn the others." She gently put the sleeping Vita on the ground while staying alert for any nearby danger.
"Thanks for saving me, Megi… Even after I spoke to you like that." he apologized, his voice weakening from the strain and blood loss.
"Don't worry about that. We're friends. We'll always help each other. Stay put. I'll give you some Mana. Just use it to stop the bleeding for now." her answer was brief; she was still on edge. "Mana Datio." golden Mana emerged from her raised hand, warmly covering Aeden's body.
Its moderate speed helped his Anima adapt and absorb the foreign energy, which was used to immediately mend his most dangerous wounds - though he'd need much more to regenerate his arm.
"I must admit, you're the only person I know who'd willingly fight a Devourer head-first." After a few tense seconds, mostly from anticipation, Megissa finally sighed.
"What? So that's what it was? The damned thing was unkillable." he slowly stood up, picking up Vita on his only functional shoulder.
"We were lucky. It took me a single look to determine that it was still a larva. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been nearly brave enough to face it directly." she followed, moving away from the entrance.
It was barely visible amidst the vegetation, covered by numerous trees and plants. The only giveaway would be the various stone statues randomly erected, with faceless men and women seemingly praying towards it.
"How did you know, and why were you there in the first place? You didn't come back last night, so we were worried."
"It's obvious, I got captured, though not by an Artist. That vile crow played us like a fiddle. She's probably the one who got me." she was fuming, not liking one bit how easily they got manipulated. "As for the Devourer, it's easy enough once you know their evolution process."
"Hm..? What do you mean?"
"From what Teacher told me, Devourers are holometabolous - meaning they go through four distinct stages during their life. We know that they lay some sorts of eggs at first. I've seen many destroyed ones while searching for you."
"Oh," something clicked in his mind. "It emerged from a cocoon when I fought it."
"So it came to life very recently. The form you've battled is most likely a larva, the next stage. They haven't settled on a physical shape yet and possess no intellect."
"It seemed scarily intelligent to me, being able to mimic my fighting style and all."
"Pure instinct, that's all there is to it. Some myths suggest that Devourers favor eating sentient beings. It could be why they're so well-equipped to deal with them. However, the scary part is when they go through the next evolutive set."
Rays of light warmly shone on them as the foliage got thinner, meaning they were close to the edge of the forest.
"You see, Devourers don't simply eat to satisfy their hunger. They assimilate anything they consume and copy its neural functions while keeping its Anima intact."
"Wait, that means…"
"Yes. Should it devour a spellcaster, it'll be able to assume his shape and reproduce his abilities. It's only temporary, though, since they instinctively seek stability."
"They'll choose a permanent form, sooner or later?"
"Most accounts confirm this, so it's plausible. They'd pick favorable traits from each person they ingurgitated and construct their own personality. At that point, they'd have gone through the pupa stage, where they nest for a few years. An Imaginal Devourer is powerful enough to contend against a Sorcerer, so I'd rather not fight that. But something seemed off to me."
"How so?" They finally arrived at the boundary, near the stairs leading down towards the rest of the settlement.
"We're nearly there," he added.
"Devourers can't be tamed, so I don't know how she got him to protect her. Plus, her Mana flow was strangely stiff…" Megissa trailed off, a golden luster shining through her eyes. "From the inscriptions I read, ancient Cochlinians probably used Devourer eggs as cores for their barrier. They forcefully fed them the atmospheric Mana, and its density kept them into permanent stasis-..."
Aeden quickly lost track of the conversation, though the shift in his friends' expression worried him. She suddenly lifted her head towards the barrier, ghastly realization settling on her face.
"We're not done…" she whispered. "It's still alive. The barrier is still intact, so it didn't die-..."
Enormous explosions rose from the central square as cries of panic rang throughout the settlement, merging into a chaotic melody. They sensed the same foul, familiar miasma encountered under the Prius Woods. However, this time, it felt much more different.
"It's… more powerful."