The campfire flickered weakly against the cold night breeze, casting long, wavering shadows across the faces of Orin and the others. Nyron sat at the edge of the clearing, his expression unreadable as he stared into the fire. The silence that followed his revelation was deafening, the weight of his words sinking into everyone like an anchor dragging them into a dark abyss.
Orin leaned forward, his hands clasped tightly together, the Nexus Blade resting against his knees. "Nyron," he began carefully, "what do you mean they're sentient? What exactly are we dealing with?"
Nyron glanced up, his shadowed eyes glinting with the fire's reflection. "What I found…" he paused, choosing his words with care, "it wasn't just information. It was… an encounter."
Riven, lounging lazily against a log, sat upright at this. "Hold up. Encounter? You mean you actually saw one of these ancient powers?"
"Not just saw," Nyron replied, his voice low. "It spoke to me."
A chill ran through the group. Zaria, who had been quietly observing, finally broke her silence. "You… you spoke to it? How? Where?"
Nyron's fingers curled into fists, his knuckles whitening. "I went to the Obsidian Spire. It's a place even the shadows avoid. I'd heard rumors about it—stories of how it connects to the void, the same void that fuels Tenebris. I thought it might lead me to answers about what Aelric said." His voice grew quieter, almost as if he didn't want to recall the experience. "And I was right. Something was there, waiting."
The Obsidian Spire. Orin had heard tales of it—a towering relic from a forgotten age, shrouded in mystery and fear. Stories told of travelers who ventured there only to return hollow shells of their former selves, their minds broken by what they'd encountered.
Riven, ever the skeptic, raised an eyebrow. "And it just decided to have a chat with you, huh? Didn't try to, I don't know, kill you?"
"It didn't need to," Nyron said simply, his gaze cold. "Its power was overwhelming. It wasn't like fighting Tenebris, or any of his forces. This was something far older, far more dangerous. It didn't see me as a threat. It saw me as… insignificant."
Orin frowned, his grip tightening on the Blade. "Then why speak to you at all?"
Nyron hesitated, his jaw tightening. "Because of the Nexus Blade. It knew I was connected to you. It called the Blade a 'key'—a key to unlocking something vast, something that's been sealed away for eons."
"A key to what?" Zaria asked, her tone sharp.
Nyron's gaze met hers, and for a moment, the fire in his eyes flickered with something raw, something close to fear. "To its freedom."
The words hung in the air, heavy and foreboding. The implications were clear: the Nexus Blade wasn't just a weapon; it was a prison lock. And by wielding it, Orin had unwittingly drawn the attention of whatever was trapped behind it.
The group spent the next several hours discussing Nyron's findings, though it felt less like a conversation and more like piecing together fragments of a shattered puzzle. Nyron described the being he had encountered—its voice like a whisper echoing across eternity, its form intangible but suffocating. He hadn't seen it in its entirety, only glimpses of shifting shadows and a presence that pressed down on his soul like a crushing weight.
"It called itself Vaelor," Nyron said, his voice a hushed whisper. "But I don't think that's its true name. It felt… incomplete. Like it's just a fragment of something much larger."
Orin exhaled slowly, his mind racing. Vaelor. The name felt familiar, though he couldn't place it. Was it mentioned in the texts Zaria had been studying? Or perhaps in the fragmented memories he sometimes glimpsed when the Nexus Blade resonated with his thoughts?
"We need to learn more about this Vaelor," Orin said, his tone resolute. "If it's connected to the Blade, then it's connected to us. And we need to understand what we're up against."
"That's easier said than done," Zaria interjected. "Nyron said this thing is older than Tenebris. It's probably older than the Nine Worlds themselves. We don't have records that go back that far."
"Then we make our own," Orin said firmly. "We'll piece together what we can. Every clue, every fragment of information, no matter how small. There has to be something out there."
Riven let out a low whistle. "Sounds like a lot of work. Can't we just, I don't know, stab Tenebris and call it a day?"
Zaria shot him a withering glare. "If Vaelor is as powerful as Nyron says, stabbing Tenebris would be the least of our worries. We'd be unleashing something far worse in the process."
"Great," Riven muttered. "Another ancient evil to add to the list."
Nyron stood abruptly, his movements sharp and deliberate. "I need rest," he said curtly. "If we're going to face this, I'll need my strength."
The others watched him go, the weight of his encounter still heavy in the air. Orin couldn't blame him. Whatever Nyron had faced at the Obsidian Spire, it had shaken him to his core.
As the night deepened, Orin found himself unable to sleep. He stood at the edge of the clearing, the Nexus Blade glowing faintly at his side. The Blade felt… restless, its hum more pronounced than usual, as if responding to the unease in his mind.
"You're thinking too much," Zaria's voice broke through his thoughts.
Orin turned to see her approaching, her expression soft but concerned. "Can you blame me?" he asked, gesturing to the Blade. "This thing is supposed to be our salvation, and now we find out it might be the key to unleashing some ancient evil. How am I supposed to lead us when I don't even know what I'm leading us into?"
Zaria stepped closer, her gaze steady. "You don't have to know everything, Orin. That's why we're here. To figure it out together."
He smiled faintly, her words offering a small measure of comfort. "Thanks, Zaria. I needed that."
She nodded, her expression softening further. "Get some rest. You'll think clearer in the morning."
As she walked away, Orin turned back to the Blade, its glow pulsing faintly in the darkness. He didn't know what the future held, but one thing was certain: he wouldn't face it alone. Together, they would unravel the mysteries of Vaelor, the Nexus Blade, and whatever else stood in their way.
But deep down, Orin couldn't shake the feeling that their journey was only just beginning.