Worshipper Arc: Chapter 11. The Power of Words.
Valoran moves closer to the Leader of the Party (the demon adventurer).
"I'll make sure you will never stomp on anyone's dream ever again" Valoran states with anger.
The leader is moving backwards, shivering and dominated by fear.
"Stay away from me" The leader says, tears beginning to drop, legs shaking due to fear.
"Do you have any idea how much pain your words can cause?" Valoran questions with his nirvana's eye still gazing at him.
"Words don't hurt at all" The leader replies to Valoran with his voice shaking in fear.
"You may not realise. Words have great power to cause pain, in fact they perhaps can cause the worst pain imaginable. Look toward that young elf"
The demon and Valoran look at the elf who is still hurt by the words told by his former adventurer party.
"So?... That does not prove anything… Actually it just proves how weak he is if words can hurt him" The leader states with a slight cocky tone but still dominated by fear.
Valoran faces the leader once again.
"Well let's see if words can't hurt you then shall we?" Valoran questions.
Valoran then peers into the leader's mind to extract all the memories and knowledge from him at an instant.
"Hmm…Let's see if this would do the trick" Valoran declares.
Valoran begins to state one word. "Sister"
The leader's eyes widen and blood begins to spill from his mouth and across his whole body without a single cut on his body.
Everyone is shocked to see what just happened.
"What did you do to me?" The leader asks in disbelief
Valoran proceeds to answer the confused leader who's still emitting blood heavily across his body.
"It's called Silenenis an attack that hurts you with the power of words It will take any negative emotion no matter how infinitesimal and turn that into weapons of self harm." Valoran explains.
The elf who was previously on the floor and upset , gets on his feet and walks over to Valoran.
"W-What? There are no wounds on him?" The elf asks in confusion.
"That's because you can't see it." Valoran replies.
The elf looks confused at Valoran.
"You can't see the wounds because Silenenis is an attack on the spiritual plane" Valoran explains.
"Wait what?" The elf questions now in even more confusion.
"The spiritual plane both exists and does not exist, a plane both parallel to ours and yet not…A plane where logic has no meaning. Here take a look…" Valoran states.
The elf looks toward the leader and now thanks to Valoran temporarily enhancing the elves eyes can now see hundreds of daggers puncturing the leader.
"When I looked into his mind I saw his entire life. His sister was a great warrior he looked up to, however… She despised him for being weak calling him a failure and a disgrace toward his family. He carries that pain until this very day. I used that pain you carry and turned them into blades on the spiritual plane which directly attacks even your soul causing more pain than in the physical reality" Valoran reveals.
The elf seeing his former leader in pain can't no longer watch and closes his eyes.
"I know a demon can regenerate but here it won't matter, neither will your magic, feel the pain you cause upon others by using words-" Valoran is cut off.
"- Stop this." The elf orders.
Valoran is stunned to see that the one person asking for Valoran to stop this, is the same individual who has been harmed by the same person.
"As you wish." Valoran replies.
Valoran casts Vita (healing magic) to heal the leader.
The leader drops to the ground.
"Are you okay?" The elf asks in worry.
The leader, shocked to see that after everything he has done to this elf, is still worried about him.
"You?...Why?... Why do you ask about me after all the things I have done to you?" The leader asks in confusion.
"It's true. What all of you said to me over the years has hurt me deeply but, I still consider you my friends because of the adventures we all have been on as a party" The elf explains with a smile.
The leader and the others realise the mistake they made and begin to understand that he is just as valuable as the rest of them.
"I'm sorry for what we did. I-I was a fool to say these awful things to you" The leader apologises bowing down with sincerity and regret.
The other members of the party also apologise and bow to the elf.
Valoran is satisfied to see that he managed to bring them all closer, and makes his way toward the exit.
Tiara who has seen the entire thing is speechless just like all the other adventurers who are present at the guild.
"Wait." A male voice speaks to Valoran.
He turns around to see that it was the other male adventurer in the party.
"Thank you" He states with sincerity.
Valoran nods slightly and leaves the guild to prepare for tomorrow's quest.
Egore (the demon adventurer who despises Valoran) has also watched the entire scene and begins to question himself one thing.
"The way he spoke…the way he defended the weak reminds me off…"
The next day
Valoran arrives at the guild at 8 in the morning.
Tiara and the other party members are all present and go over the quest one more time to avoid any confusion.
The leader of the party Alistor begins to speak.
"Good morning everyone. I hope you are all well. Today's quest will be the exploration of a cave believed to contain valuables and find any missing adventurers who also attempted to go down there. Don't worry these caves are just huge and it's easy to lose track down there, it's likely that's what happened to them."
"What will ensure that this won't happen to us?" Tiara asks in worry with her squeaky voice.
Cera reassures the worried Tiara "Don't worry the reason why these adventurers are missing is due to the lack of experience, and preparations. We made sure to get familiar with the cave. Please do not worry." She says reassuringly.
"Thank you." Tiara is more at ease.
"Don't forget that today we will evaluate your performance for your grade so keep that in mind." Alesia reminds them both.
"We know we will not disappoint" Valoran firmly replies with dedication.
"Let's head out." Aleister says.
With that the party consisting of Aleister the leader, Sage as the second in command and scout, Cera as the mage with her staff in hand, Aleisa as the tracker and Egor as the brawler head out for the cave.
They exit the guild and head for the caves with all supplies ready for this quest.
Tiara walks close to Valoran as she thinks he can protect her if anything should happen.
They arrive at the entrance of the cave.
They see a black abyss in front.
"I can't see a thing." Tiara says anxiously.
"I can fix that slight issue" Cera states.
Cera the mage walks in front and with her staff she creates a small flame to emit light.
"Thank you, Cera." Aleister says with gratitude.
Aleister walks with Cera at the front to lead the group.
Valoran and Tiara also enter.
Tiara stays even closer as she sees darkness from her left and right side as the flame Cena cast mainly illuminates the front.
As they continue to walk deeper into the cave they see many pathways that look identical to each other leading in completely different directions.
"As I am sure you noticed by now, this is like a maze down here one wrong turn and you will never see the light of day again." Alesiter explains.
"Keep close, we still have a long way to go." Sage says with caution to Valoran and Tiara.
They head further and further into the cave's tunnel system making sure to also listen out or find any clues of the missing adventurers who have most likely lost their way while exploring for riches.
The further in they go the darker everything becomes inside the cave.
They can hear the sounds of animals coming from the darkness.
Tiara is immediately frightened by those sounds, she holds her hands close to her body as a defensive reflex and does not move an inch further as her whole body is shaking in fear.
"It's okay, creatures who live down here in darkness fear the light, they won't come close to us" Cena explains.
"Don't worry Tiara I promise you will see the light of day again" Valoran promises with a tiny smile of his.
Tiara looks up at Valoran. "Okay. I'm sorry" She says with her squeaky voice.
Egor, who is behind the rest to protect the rear of the group, notices again that Valoran resembles someone he once knew.
"The way he speaks. The way he reassures the people around him reminds me of my old friend. Could he be the one?" Egor questions himself.
"Are you alright?" Sage asks the both of them for reassurance.
"We are." Valoran replies.
They head further into the cave.
Valoran then begins to think about something. "I feel evil in these caves. Something is wrong"...