The answer to his mysterious affliction continued to evade him. Nobos knew just as much as he did, which was nothing.
" I don't know, Nobos! I was kind of hoping you would tell me! But by the looks of it, you're just as useful as this skull!" Ian picked up the skull and wiggled it before him, amused at the irony.
Nobos scoffed " Please! The records state clearly that once you become the Hollow Guardian, you get a clean slate. It's like a second life!" he pragmatically stated, gesturing with his hand in the air.
"That's very pedestrian of you, Nobos! It doesn't feel like life when you're just a bloody corpse! It sounds more like a curse to me!" Ian mumbled, with his head in the scroll, leaning against the wall for support. He was still in pain, but thankfully, it had subsided.
" It may not be for you, but for those who enter the Hollow is. When they come to serve the Darkness, the burdens of their past lives go away. It's a new life, called it a second chance!" Nobos picked up a scroll and plopped himself on the boney floor, sulking like a child.
" So you keep saying, but it didn't happ- " Ian crumbled to the floor, curling up at the sudden stabbing pain in his body. He didn't scream this time. He had no more strength to scream.
Nobos threw the parchment out of his hand and kneeled beside him.
" Where does it hurt?" Nobos asked, his hands hovering over him, unsure of where to touch. Last he touched him, it felt like his arm was being ripped off.
" It started with my shoulder, but it's spreading !" Ian's said between grunts and hisses, curling up on himself, trying to deal with the pain.
Nobos pulled a dagger and cut through Ian's cloak above his shoulder " The other one!" Ian garbled, straining from the pain, still in a bundle on the floor.
Nobos moved to the other shoulder and slashed his jacket. The blade fell out of his hand, and he sat on the floor looking at him as if he had seen a ghost.
" You have a problem!" Nobos plopped himself on the floor, clasping his hands under his chin.
" What is it?" Ian barked and chuckled. He could get angry, and his voice wasn't flat and dull.
" The woman! Your souls are bound to each other! The mark is intact! You still have a sliver of soul left, and it's clinging to hers! That's why you're in pain, and you still have your memories." Nobos looked baffled, and he fell silent. The sudden revelation left him speechless, but it wasn't unlikely. Athan had said something similar when he'd dragged them into that cave.
' How is that even possible? I felt it die!" Ian pushed himself off the floor, leaning against the wall and hissing in pain.
Nobos shrugged, opened his mouth to speak but shut it the next moment and pushed himself off the floor and disappeared out of sight.
" Now what?" Ian questioned himself and banged his head against the skull wall.
This was uncharted territory. Nobos had no idea what was happening to him, and he was even more clueless. Iris kept him anchored to the realm of the living. He didn't belong to either anymore. He had made peace with himself when he took Ettricks place as a Hollow Guardian. Now he was back to nothing. He had no idea how to get out of this mess.
Nobos appeared in front of him again with a look on his face that said you need to run.
" You can't stay here!" Nobos curtly informed, giving him a wary look.
" The Hollow Lords are coming for you!" Nobos paced before him like a caged beast looking for a way out.
" You told them?" Ian pushed himself off the floor to stand but quickly realised he couldn't do that anymore and collapsed.
The moment his ass hit the ground, the Hollow Lords appeared before him, ready to take his head and place it with others that ornated the catacombs.
Huriath took a step forward. "You shouldn't stand against us!" He said and drew his sword, taking an attack stance.
Ian chuckled " How long have you been waiting for this moment, Huriath?" Ian spat and chuckled, holding his shoulder.
Huriath sighed " Longer than you think! It was my turn, but you, "Huriath's face contorted in anger " You got there before I did!"
" Sorry! I didn't know there was a waiting list!" Ian quipped and chuckled again. At that moment, he couldn't be happier. His voice wasn't flat anymore. He could make jokes again and laugh. Even though death itself stood before him, wildly grinning.
" Laugh all you want, but in the end, I will be standing on that throne commanding the darkness!" Huriath raised his sword, and Ian waved his hand.
Huriath crashed into the wall, and the other Lords charged for him with blazing fury. Ian snapped his fingers, and they all crumbled like bugs. Nobos rubbed the back of his neck and clicked his tongue, seemingly unimpressed with the little display of power. He hadn't bothered to attack along with the Lords; most likely, he saw it coming. Sensible.
" I don't understand how you can still command the Darkness!" Nobos said, but it was more for himself.
Nobos shrugged and sat beside him on the floor, looking at the pile of Hollow Lords.
" Are they dead, dead?" Ian asked with a frown, looking a the corpses that littered the catacombs floor
" No!" Nobos answered, rubbing his greyish forehead, a shred of uncertainty in his voice.
" You just expelled the darkness out of their already dead bodies. It will come back, eventually!" Nobos purple lips pulled into a wide grin. His mood had improved in a matter of moments.
" At least I will have some quiet! They talk a lot for someone dead for millennia!"
" That's why I come to visit you!" Nobos admitted with a half-shrug and an innocent look on his face.
" So you can talk my ears off instead !" Ian quipped and sighed, looking at the ceiling.
Nobos hummed " You see, you're different from the other Hollow Guardians! Less obnoxious! Ettrick used to send me to the belly of the pit each time I said something he didn't like! The one before him was even worse. He used to take away my voice! Never mind, both were equally obnoxious! You listened!" Nobos said, half shrugging, staring at the Lords.
" Wait! I can do all that?" Ian questioned in disbelief. He had no clue as to the extent of his powers.
Nobos hummed, " Yes! And so much more, but you have been so busy staring at your wife that you haven't bothered yourself even to see your domain and meet the underlings!" Nobos waved at the pile of Lords, still very much on the floor.
Ian hummed and hissed, " The pain is becoming unbearable!" Ian rubbed his shoulder and winced.
" You owe me a cloak!" Ian quipped and chuckled.
" And you owe me thirteen Lords If these don't get up!" Nobos smirked, amused.
" I think you are feeling her pain! She is suffering!" Nobos casually commented.
" She is not hurt!" Ian retorted, grimacing at the pain.
" Not physical pain. She is heartbroken! Not all pain comes from the flesh!" Nobos sighed and pushed himself off the floor.
Ian chuckled " I know that! I used to be a living being before all this, remember!" Ian pushed himself off the floor with great difficulty and stood up, giving the one last glance.
" I'll take you back to the Hollow Hall!" Nobos grabbed his arm, and they both disappeared out of the catacombs.
When they appeared in the throne room, the Hollow was blazing with blue flames. Uncontrolled spreading as far as the eye could see. They burned brighter than he had ever seen them. The once dark and glum realm was inundated with blue light.