Garus was not sure how he felt about Rijin. He made it a point to try and get along with everyone but Rijin was never truly willing to give him even an inch. They had walked throughout most of the entertainment district at this point and had already made their way into the main residential district and in that time Rijin had said…nothing. Nothing! Garus had been trying to talk to him for the past 30 minutes and all he got was a nod or a grunt of some kind. Garus had always heard that Paladins tended to be more stoic and quiet, I guess it was true, it also didn't help that he is a Midoken; they were not known for being the most welcoming people.
"So have you been to Penzamen before?" Garus asked as they walked. Again, nothing; not a word. Rijin walked forward with an uncommon amount of intent. His stride did not waiver. The pair passed under cherry blossoms and sparkling lights. The main part of the festival of love was concentrated in the entertainment district, but that did not mean it was restricted to that area. Outside of it, in the residential district, people went door to door greeting each other and being merry. Garus noticed many of the citizens of the blessings would give food or other trinkets to people around them. It was a beautiful sentiment. In Limgren the people were very connected, but the thing that connected them was usually sorrow or a common anger over oppression. It was more of a "I have your back, you have mine sort of mentality," a lot of Garus's music was focused on trying to builded a sense of community among the people of his country. To see the exact thing he hoped for at home here in this country gave him a sense of renewed hope.
Rijin continued to walk forward, while Garus got distracted with the festivities. When Garus finally noticed, Rijin was already more than 100 feet ahead of him. Garus quickly ran over to Rijin. "Rijin what are you doing the tavern is that way?" Garus said.
"Yeah you should go ahead and head to the tavern," Rijin finally said something. He tried to continue walking in a different direction.
"Woah woah woah," Garus said, flying into the air and landing in front of Rijin, "where are you going?"
"You don't need to worry about that," Rijin replied.
"I…I DON'T…what?" Garus said, confused.
"Listen I am not trying to pull anything, there is just something I need to take care of. You head to the tavern and I'll meet you later," he said, trying to push past Garus.
Garus resisted, "HA, that's laughable. Listen big guy I trust you about as far as I can throw you and we both know you would throw me before I sent you even an inch. Wherever you are going I'm going," Garus said standing his ground. Rijin looked down at Garus with intense eyes, the longer he stared the smaller Garus felt. Rijin had such an intimidating presence to him that in Garus's eyes Rijin rivaled the size of the great trees in Penzamen. Garus waved his hand behind his back, stealthy casting a quick spell. Garus's eyes began to glow slightly and voices that were not there began to fill his mind. Even though Rijin was not speaking, Garus could hear the things Rijin did not want him to.
Could I knock him out…he is pretty small…but his wings would be an issue… Rijin thought. Garus quickly flew into the air, just so he could be a head taller than Rijin.
Rijin sighed, "are you truly insistent on coming with me?"
"Yes?" Garus said, questioning himself.
"Fine," Rijin said walking forward, "just promise me you won't freak out alright? I don't want you to spook him."
"Spook who?" Garus asked, but Rijin was already walking away. Garus let him get a few feet away before deciding to follow after him. Even though he did not trust Rijin, he trusted that Rijin was much, much stronger than him.
The pair walked through the woods for a while. For some reason, Rijin went off the main path and decided to trek through the woods. Garus would admit that the night was beautiful and the walk was gorgeous, but it felt unnecessary and Rijin didn't strike him as the type to take a stroll. What could he possibly be doing? Could he be trying to walk to Midoku…that seemed far fetched. To do such a thing the man would have to walk over a mountain so that seemed unlikely. Was he trying to open a gate to bring in an invading force? No Midoku already knew how to invade Penzamen they had done it a dozen times already. Nothing made sense, the only thing Garus knew for sure was that they were meeting someone. Rijin specifically said not to spook him, but other than that there was nothing else that he had to go off of.
Suddenly, Rijin stopped. He looked around the area with his nose in the air, like he was detecting a scent. Rijin held out his hand and his trident materialized from nothingness. Just a flash of light and it was there. Garus couldn't help but think it was badass even though he really didn't want to. Rijin raised the trident into the air and stamped it into the ground. A shockwave, a pulse of energy, spread across the ground causing leaves and other plants to shake a little. Garus knew what this was.
"What are you trying to detect?" Garus asked, recognizing the spell.
"There was the smell of blood in the air, but not the blood of a beast, something malevolent is here," Rijin said seriously.
"Allow me to assist," Garus pulled out his lute and began to strum.
"I do not think…" Rijin started to say.
"Shush," Garus interrupted. He closed his eyes and felt the rhythm of the melodic tune he played. Once he felt he hit the right note, he strummed hard downward. A pulse of opaque energy rushed towards the ground and spread outward, similar to Rijin's spell. Garus opened his eyes but instead of what he had perceived before he saw things in a new way. The forest was teeming with magic and life, he could see it all. All the arcana that floated through the air, and the direction it swayed. It was beautiful, a harmonious energy that bound everything together. But something stuck out from the bunch.
"There is some kind of foreign arcana off to the northeast," Garus said pointing deeper into the woods, "it's strange, it's not like any magic I have felt in Hize before."
Rijin ran his hand down his trident and it began to glow slightly, the glow was warm and inviting, but also harsh in its own way. Like it accepted some into its warmth…and condemned others. Rijin began to walk towards the source Garus mentioned, and Garus followed closely behind with his lute at the ready. They didn't have to walk long before they started noticing some strange things. The trees were wilted, the soil was more arrid, there were little sign of life as well as almost no plant growth. The forest went from being beautiful and serene, to dark and ominous. Rijin stopped in his tracks, Garus looked around his broad shoulder to see what caused him to stop. About 10 feet away from them was a small crater in the ground, no deeper than 3 feet and no wider than 6. In the middle of the crater laid a corpse, obscured by the darkness around them.
"Rijin is that a body?" Garus asked.
Rijin nodded, "can you illuminate the area?"
Garus strummed a chord on his lute and a quarter note flew up from the lute and held itself in the air. It settled itself right over Garus's head and began to glow brightly, illuminating the area around them. They began to walk towards the crater, being as quiet and cautious as possible. When they were finally close enough to see the body using Garus's spell, he couldn't help but gasp.
"What…what is this thing…" Garus said bewildered and wide-eyed. Laying in the crater was the body of a man, but he had been mutilated and disfigured. It was like someone ripped different people apart then sewed them all back together in one crude form. Blood and other strange fluids leaked from the body. It laid there motionless.
"I don't know…but look at that," Rijin said, pointing his glowing trident towards a part of the body. On the belly of the man runes had been burned into the flesh, along with a strange script that Garus didn't recognize.
"Can you read that?" Garus asked.
"No. But I do know the runes. They are the runes of immolation," Rijin said.
"Immolation? For fire?" Garus asked.
Rijin nodded, "I don't know who this man is…but it looks like he was burned…soul and all…and this is what remains."
"What could do something like this," Garus asked. The duo felt a dark and foreboding presence, like someone had placed a weight on their shoulders. Adrenaline immediately started pumping through their veins. The eyes of the man shot open, his irises' glowed in horrible orange tint.
"RWGAAAARGH," The man screamed incoherently. He jumped up twisting and contorting his body in an unnatural manner, then lunged at Garus. Garus froze, he had trouble comprehending what he was seeing. Just before the man reached him, the spikes of a trident struck straight through the man's head. He continued to thrash and move even after the trident had fully gone through.
"CONDEMN!" Rijin yelled. The glowing trident glowed brighter and the man ignited. Golden flames appeared all over his body searing his flesh.
"AHAAHHHHHHHHHHHHAAA," the man cried out. He fought, trying to get away from the flames, before eventually going completely limp and lifeless. Rijin swung his trident backwards and the man's body flew off of the spikes and slammed against a tree. It became quiet once again, the trident stopped glowing leaving only the golden light of the burning corpse to turn away the dark of the night.
Garus began to hyperventilate, he felt the beast stirring inside.