Shades of moonlight brake through dark clouds, shedding patches of light on the dark courtyard. Alex feels a shiver run down his spine as he follows Maria towards the distant temple. A desolate statue of a hooded man with a staff in hand stands by the temple greeting the travellers as they approach the ancient doors of the once holy temple. Alex stops for a moment when a fleeting shimmer of light catches his eye. The stone figure's arms are covered in feint neon green symbols. The lad quickly examines the markings; they are unlike anything he had seen before.
"Come on in," Maria calls from within the ghost building, "You'll catch a cold."
"I'm coming…just give me a sec." The lad continues examining the figure. He feels as though it wasn't the first time he had seen it but he couldn't recall ever visiting a Dyrarsir Temple. He shrugs, brushing of the odd familiar feeling, and walks through the ancient doors into the dark temple. Alex walks down the stone passage towards a pale light creeping out of the chamber ahead of him. He enters an empty space made of stone and wood, where massive stone pillars hold up what was left of a once encompassing ceiling which was now riddled with holes to which moonlight escapes through. Maria is on a podium at the centre of chamber, sitting on a throne under one of the massive holes, which oozed moonlight.
"Bow to your master the Supreme Mage Maria Magentisia." She orders regally.
"Your Majesty," scoffs the teenager as he bows his head. "I would like to get started, if you're willing."
"Why? Doing nothing in an abandoned temple sounds like my idea of a good time."
"But it isn't mine." He looked around at the rubble surrounding them. Maria sighs and rises from the chair.
"We worked on your detachment issue. All that's left is your deep rooted fears and guilt."
"Bold of you to assume I have fears and guilt I keep buried" answers Alex. Maria giggles silently and descends from the podium to stand in front of him at arm's reach.
"I don't make assumptions." She takes his hand and draws a symbol on his forehead before doing the same on her own forehead, after which both marks begin to give off a mystifying green light. "This next part might be a little intense." She reaches into her pouch and pulls out a black and blue mushroom. The lad takes the mushroom and places it into his mouth, cautiously chewing it.
"The mushroom tastes surprisingly sweet," He thinks
"It's called Sage's eye. Mages have been using it for generations to resolve inner turmoil that prevented their students from accessing their core." Upon hearing this the sweet juices in his mouth turn sour, and his vision begins to distort his surroundings, stretching out Maria and the hall into barely recognisable swirls of bright colours. "The hallucinations will only break once you confront your fears" was the last thing Alex hears before the colours fade to black.
"Where am I?" Alex asks as he drifts alone in an empty space devoid of light.
"It's a little too late to be asking that now." An echo answers. The visage of Gavin forms within the darkness, wearing a malicious smirk on his face.
"Sir Gavin?"
"I find it hilarious."
"Find what hilarious?"
"Broin's son is so fucking pathetic" the spectre sneers. "You are such a disappointment your father sent you away to be my fucking problem." Gavin's face twists, his blond hair turns black, his skin tone darkens and his right arm falls off his socket, inciting an agonising scream from him. Alex's body trembles violently as he stands directly in front of the visage of his father.
A figure dressed in dark robes uses the distant flickering lights as a guiding beacon. The enigma walks through the forest to which similarly dressed individuals emerged from the shadows and walk besides him towards their mutual destination; the flickering light. The lone figure is swallowed by a larger collective as streams of cult members surround a blazing flame where a man dressed in a white robe sits watching the fire with a detached expressionless face. Not a single word is uttered by any of the black robed individuals, only the snapping and sizzling sound of the flames fills the silence. Finally, the man stands from his chair. He studies the fire meticulously before uttering these words;
"The master couldn't make it to the meeting."
The cult members broke into a loud rowdy chorus of discord. "What the fuck is more important than our mission!" a voice yells from the discord, these words force the white robed man to violently turn and face his congregation.
"In the nineteen years we have worked together, has she ever failed us!?" the priest shouts on top of his lungs, silencing the displeased crowd. He takes a deep breath and exhales, scratches his head and gives a satisfied smirk. "Now that we have gotten that out of our system, I have good news to share," he gazes at the masses watching his every move and listening to his every word. "The last sacrifice has been found!" he voices out with a sinister glee as he claps his hands in excitement. This riles up the cult members who begin to cheer and pray. But the priest raises his hand silencing them. "However before that, I want to hear from the team sent to exterminate the capital knight. Is there any of them among us?" A silence follows. "Anyone?" A hand rose from the crowd, "yes you, what's the report."
"I'm coming from there, I'm afraid the knight left no survivors." These words cause the congregation to fall into hushed whispers.
"Sorry friend, I don't recognize your voice. What's your name?"
"You might have heard of me. I am Gavin the Black Thorn."
"It's your fault that man died in the forest you know, what do you have to say for yourself?"
"It was a mistake." Alex answers weakly.
"Did I teach you nothing, boy?! Why don't you ever fucking do as you're told?"
"I…I didn't mean to…"
"Oh yes you did." hisses Broin as his body begins to distort and twist. Claws manifest from his fingers as a black smoke exhausts out of his mouth and eye. "If you were going to disobey me, you should have at least been strong enough to save yourself coward." Alex feels a moist sensation under his feet; a thunderous roar of rushing water becomes louder as the black void lifts, leaving the lad standing in a river bed facing the shadowy entity. Out of the black mass a leopard with five tails emerges, its eyes fixed on Alex. "Stand and face me coward." The creature said. Alex slowly backs away as tears run down his face.
"Don't run." Maria's voice echoes all around him.
"I…I can't do this!"
Suddenly the world all-around turns black, leaving him alone in the sea of darkness. A hot green flame ripples across the darkness blinding the lad. When he opens his eye the visage that greets him is a rampaging green inferno devouring his home lands coupled with the screams of a thousand souls being scotched in the blaze. Alex's eyes dart all about as he tries to make sense of the situation when suddenly the house in front of him crumbles from the heat of the flames.
"H…el...p…me" a weak voice calls out. The teenager dashed towards the cry only to find a girl child crying alone as in the hellish inferno.
"This isn't real" mutters Alex. He realizes he can only watch helplessly "But this isn't my fear, why am I seeing this?"
"Our minds are linked," says Maria. "This is my deep routed fear."
The earth shakes violently as black vines erupt from the ground, entangling the members of the cult and lifting them high into the night sky as they could only scream in horror and confusion. Gavin drops his hood revealing his blonde hair and blue eyes. "Under the authority of Letholdus, you are all under arrest for the practice of dark magic!"
"Letholdus has no authority here!" yells the white mage, in the safety of a magic force field
"Looks like you're a cut above the rest."
"All mages are equal, just on different stages of their journey." Green tentacles spring from his dome, "I will punish your body, so your soul learns humility."
Black thorn vines immediately sprout all around Gavin "This is your last warning. Stand down…" A malevolent grin appears, "…or be put down."
The mage laughs and says, "I appreciate the warning." Tentacles from his force field rocket all around them in a ferocious circular motion causing devastation to the plants all around them, but for each tree the cords cut down two more rise from the ground.
"Don't underestimate a knight of the realm!" The vines abruptly dash towards the mage at a terrifying speed. The orb encompassing the mage lifts off the ground as the tentacles lash out violently cutting down all the branches in its reach. A giant spiked thorn protrudes from the ground under the mage but is immediately intercepts by two of the tentacles wrapping around it, breaking it in a colossal grip.
Gavin swings his blade creating a lunar shaped light beam that sends the sphere flying through several trees as it curves a path through the forest. "You should have just surrendered and saved us both the trouble" Gavin said as he slowly follows after the mage on massive vine.
"We are just getting warmed up, knight." Distinct whispers become more audible and change into cryptic chanting of a strange dialect. A cloud of green flames form in the sky from the vapour escaping from the mouths and ears of the captured mages trapped in Gavin's vines. The flames descend down to the priest empowering him. A tentacle protrudes towards Gavin burning through his vines forcing him to dodge, but the force of the collision sends him crushing into a nearby rock. The mage levitated over the staggering knight, his eyes glowing with hostile intent. "Perhaps in your next life you'll show humility." Suddenly a green blade breaks through the earth between Gavin and the mage.
"Talking down on your foe after you resorted to draining your followers dry. How far you have fallen, Atlas." The shaky voice comes from an elderly man who sprouts from the depths of the forest, standing next to the unconscious knight.
"I don't need my congregation to end an old fool, Father."
"Yet you needed them to sacrifice your own son" spat back the elder causing the mages face to flare in rage.
"Don't speak to me of children!" he cried as a tentacle shoots at his adversaries, but the old man claps his hands together and creates a blinding light. The light disappears, along with Gavin and the old man.
"You're from Redwood?" Alex asks. The girl lifts the rubble off herself and approaches him.
"Mace saved me and taught me magic. When I had to resolve my feelings to control it I was forced to come back here; to this hell."
"How did you do it?"
"I…am still in the process…It might even take a lifetime, but what's important is facing your fears and guilt. Don't hide from them, because they will never hide from you."
Alex closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, exhales, and opens them. He now stands on the river bank facing the Zheng. He draws his blade as the monster charges at him. Composed, but with a courageous yell, the lad brings his sword down onto the monster, but instead of blood the creature disperses into smoke that consumes the world he stands in. Once the smoke clears, Alex is once again in the temple directly in front of Maria who had blocked his sword with sphere of green energy. Alex drops his blade to the ground with the tears that run down his face as Maria's shield disintegrates. She reaches over to touch his cheek but the lad pushes himself forward embracing her in an affectionate kiss, he didn't understand why he did that but at that moment it felt like kissing her was the only thing that made sense. She shoves him away causing him to lose balance and fall onto his bum, immediately the gravity of what he did dawns on him.
"I am sorry I shouldn't have"
"It's okay, calm down." She turns her back on him and walks up the podium to bask in the moonlight. Alex's vision blurs but from the little he could make out she looks detached from the world yet in her isolation she appears divine. Alex lays his head onto the cold floor and falls into a peaceful deep sleep.
Maria gazes down at Alex who sleeps soundly on her lap. She caresses his forehead and gives a faint smile before gently placing his head down and leaving the chamber. Outside the man dressed in a black and red robe stands in the courtyard alone, his face was drained of colour and his eyes shines with little life.
"I suppose Gavin is still breathing." Maria said coldly as she leans against the stone statue, the man nodded his head slowly.
"Graham saved him"
"No matter I'll kill them both myself."