The Challenger

by Harlon Banks

  "Can you tell me who might have taken Wren?" Dal axed in the dim-lit area with a whisper. Liariana's red eyes glowing softly in the low light, their gaze fixated on the woman. Dal steeling her nerves and clearing her throat, hands at her sides. "I'm asking so when I make my report if he isn't back soon the security district can have leads and have an advanta-."

  Liariana stepped forward, Dal felt her heart freeze in her chest from sheer intimidation that shook her to the core. There was another step, and then another, the Yelkath walking towards Dal in total, ominous silence. The immense weight of that unsettling red hued gaze upon her body seemed to petrify Dal with danger signals. This dangerous feeling that emanated when she had only inquired about who could have kidnapped Wren was astounding despite only being portrayed through a simple stare.

  Such intense hatred... Why?

  Liariana stopped when she were shoulder to shoulder with Dal. Liariana looking at Dal whom had her head and eyes diverted to look low in immediate submission to the vibe Liariana exerted. It was like standing shoulder to shoulder with her murderer... Why was this feeling of hatred for her and so intense? What did Dal do!? Her palms were sweaty without her realizing and she was lightly shivering. She'd not even known that her breath had caught in her throat some seconds ago and she'd been holding it this long. Liariana's cold stare never leaving the woman, that piercing gaze carrying within that shroud of emptiness a sea of hatred and madness. Then, she broke her staring and looked ahead again, her words foreboding and profound.

  "If you really want to know, I'll tell you. Though, you'll be sending everyone you tell to their deaths. She'll kill all of them and then most likely come for you next." Those words were sincere, and heavy. Dal exhaling that pent-up breath with a heavily shaky exhale. Sweat falling down her brow as her shivering calmed itself suddenly. Relieved that the hatred in Liariana's stare and body language wasn't for her, but at whomever she'd just spoke about. This clear when Liariana's vibe instantly regressed to her usual apathy and indifference to everything. It almost seemed like Liariana had just intimidated her in trying to keep her from...

  What a traumatizing experience, Dal thought...

  "S-So you'd rather I-I not k-know then... O-Okay..." Dal replied wavering in voice. To think Yelkath had such terrifying eyes that they could traumatize you so well with just a glare... Even without the full scope of their abilities due to the Lazarite towers around. However Dal couldn't just let herself settle for that answer. She needed to know more... Reaching down to fumble with her belt pulling off a small key chain and turning to hesitantly follow after Liariana. She was going to open the door for her and let her in, she didn't have much of a choice at this point.

  "Do you think Wren will be okay? He won't be killed will he?" She asked head lowered and quickly moving in front of the Yelkath to unlock the door. Liariana quietly stepping aside and giving her space, tilting her head ever so slightly with vaguely narrowed eyes in thought. That was a strange question to her. How much did Dal care about an old, decrepit bastard like Wren?

  "If they wanted Wren dead, he'd have been slain inside his study without a second thought. Though considering who took him death might have been a better blessing." Liariana said solemnly as she listened to the door click and unlock. Dal hesitating with hand on the handle, then grunting as she pushed the door open and led the way into Wren's study. As Liariana stepped in her eyes would begin looking all around the place. Everything looked relatively the same as the last time she'd been in here. There was no signs of forced entry nor a struggle. Seemed Wren went willingly with his kidnapper. A smart move in hindsight given where they were. A struggle could have gotten rather violent and harmed any students who came to investigate.

  Dal quietly stayed by the door, hands clutched together over her lap while watching silently with pretty cyan eyes Liariana's appraisal of the place. Briefly noting the sword slung around her lower back, it looked different from the one she remembered seeing. The hovering ghost blue lights that dimly illuminated the study hummed lightly in the quiet. The Yelkath stopping at the table bolted into the center of the room, red hues looking over the items. A couple of black, leather-bound and robust books with some scattered papers and quills. The glowing green runes etched into the dark wood looking viscous like syrup from the mana that flowed like magma beneath the magic sheens.

  Hmm...

  "Do you see anything? You can see things I can't with those eyes or yours. That Veralen, right?" Dal asked taking a step forward yet careful not to get too close. Watching hopefully as the Yelkath continued to walk about the circular, large room and look calmly high and low. After a few seconds, Liariana audibly sucked her teeth in annoyance. The red glow to her eyes contrasting with the low light before she turned to look at Dal.

  "Is there any possible way one could disable the influence of these Lazarite towers? My eyes can't pick up on certain details without a bit of power surged into them that goes beyond the threshold limit it seems." She rested a hand on her hip and scowled annoyed off to the side. Black hair draping over her brow and swaying across beautiful pale features. Dal initially didn't respond, having simply canted her head in thought; wondering if she should say it or not... Some seconds later she decided there was no harm in telling this little secret. Clearing her throat and peering out the door beside her before closing it to make sure nobody could hear.

  "Yes, actually... Well, maybe." She whispered, Liariana casting eyes over to her as Dal hurriedly approached the center table. Sifting through the materials on it searching for a particular book among the ones littering the surface. "Wren used to tell me about how he always found the towers to only be a temporary solution to quell the powers a Nightborn could use in the city. He always believed that eventually there would become a way, discovered by somebody, to disable the effects of Lazarite and its nullifying influence across the city." She'd trail off after realizing the book wasn't where it usually was. Wren didn't take it with him when he left did he!? She hoped to the gods he didn't!

  A bit of haste in her step now as she darted over to one of the many large bookcases lined with reading material along the walls, Liariana simply watched. A slight furrow of the brow as she did, wondering why the woman had a sudden shift in attitude. She didn't think her question would have gotten such a profound reaction. Then again she'd expected a no all the same so this was indeed a bit both astonishing and yet... underwhelming. Either way after watching for near a minute her searching through books lining shelves Liariana opened her mouth to offer some help. Better than standing here impatiently waiting...

  Before the words could get out though Dal had found what she were looking for. Pulling out a hard backed blue book that was a bit smaller than most books in both size and pages. The covers were completely blank front and back, only along the spine was there a single green sigil much like the ones etched into the wooden table near Liariana. Waving it in the air and turning to walk back to the Yelkath, Dal outstretched the small book to her. Liariana's eerie eyes looking nonchalantly over the item before her hands reached out to take it and looked over its covers.

  "He decided he'd start looking into ways to do that himself under direct permission from the Royal Guard of the Diurnal District. These are his notes about it all. I've never read them over but I'm sure if there's anything to help you find him it'd be in that book. I doubt he'd put something like this in the Codex Vault." She paused, catching her breath a moment. Liariana briefly glanced at her when she mentioned a Codex Vault, but quickly dismissed it. She didn't care about that and probably never will. Opening the book would have her eyes meet pages upon pages of hastily scribbled notes and diagrams in black ink; barely legible at that too. Seemed when he got excited Wren wrote in a way that only he could read. Scoffing slightly at how atrocious his letters were, she barely could make out most of it.

  It'd take roughly five minutes of her just flipping through the pages and skimming paragraphs and diagrams before anything could be concretely deciphered. The en
tire time Dal was simply watching with bated breath and curious eyes, wanting to peer over at the book herself but not wanting to annoy the Yelkath by doing so. Hopefully the young foreigner found something to help recover Wren.

  Liariana closed the book and offered it back to Dal. She didn't look elated over what she'd read.

  "Seems your mentor had a dark side." She said rather cryptically. Dal blinking confused, what did she mean by that? Opening the book to take a look herself. Struggling to get the same clarity as Liariana, whom with her sharper eyes and keener attention to the subtle shapes and angles of letters (even if nigh awfully scribbled) could at a much quicker rate make out full sentences. What took the Yelkath five minutes to decipher with her enhanced perception would have taken Dal fifteen minutes if not more. It made her regret not really seeing Wren's handwriting outside of signatures on a daily.

  Liariana's sweeping aside the materials on the table to the floor suddenly caused Dal to yelp in brief shock. The book shutting and clutched to her side as she saw Wren's belongings thrown to the floor, clearing the table. She'd opened her mouth a bit annoyed to ask why the woman did that but soon found herself silenced by what happened next. Liariana drawing her sword slightly from it's sheath with her left, index and middle finger dragged across razor edge cutting a thin line across the bandages and flesh underneath like a scalpel. Pushing the sword back into its sheath the woman curled her fingers in to smear the blood across her palm and then place said palm flat on the center of the table. Right over the largest swirling Jon of glowing green that now suddenly seemed to glow even brighter. What was she doing?

  "Now I know the reason you found me particularly interesting..." That revelation festered in her mind, disgusted by the fact that her first impression of Wren ever since he'd said those words about her having great potential, turned out to be true. What a pitiful thing, really. What an even sadder reminder to her as well.

  If it had been any other person who kidnapped Wren, Liariana would have never done this...

  The green runes ran red with color. The blood seeping through the solid magical shells causing a strange reaction with the etherial energy's festered within the table. Soon the hovering lights around Liariana and Dal turned blood-red and showered everything in a sinister light. Dal catching a breath in her throat, what was going on!?

  I have in my strenuous research have finally found a way to disable the effects of Lazarite upon Nightborn. However I fear that it is not as, well, easily obtained. This speaks good for the people of the city as they never have to worry about their security, at least for how. However... It speaks badly for my research... Nevertheless, with a bit of secretive ventures of my own cleverly hidden away from prying eyes aside from my disciple Dal (who even then, knows very little about my findings) I have found it. An ancient power that predates nearly all types of aether seen in the Nightborn of today save for a select few whom have acquired such power through means few and unknown to the masses.

  A sinister, more primal power that is of another plane of existence. Incomprehensible to the very nature of common magics known today... A certain variation of the already forbidden and extremely rare Blood Magic. A variation fueled by ominous, supernatural by even my standards, means.

  Dal felt a shift in the air as the table pulsed out a flare of black and red energy around the room. This aether vanishing as quickly as it came; nothing else happened afterwards. Her eyes looking over again to Liariana, about to ask on what it was she'd just did...

  Until she saw Liariana quietly look over her bandaged left arm into her palm. An eerie fuming energy of black and silver frothing off her hand like hazy black smoke, as if struggling to ignite itself. The smell of dying embers and soot filling Dal's nostrils before Liariana's now more primal glowing red eyes, turned to look at Dal. Her powers unshackled by influence of Lazarite, and her vibe all that more ominous...

  One can temporarily defy the influence of Lazarite on their bodies if their aether possesses influence of the more primal, supernatural wellsprings. Alas, to my knowledge there are no types whom still use these magics on Kynerva, for they have been either killed, banished or far worse. Luckily however, one whom could use one of these aspects walked right into my Group recently. Two, actually... What a wonderful surprise.

  A member of the Yelkath clan... A clan whom legend tells a tale about how they were bathed in the Abyssal curses... One of the most powerful categories of the Dark Arts. She arrived to me to carry out a mission. A pleasant surprise. One I can't wait to see how she evolves.

  Both Liariana and Dal had their attention snatched away by the loud, ominous ringing of a bell again. The booming, rhythmic rings causing Dal's eyes to widen in concern. Oh no... It's happening again...

  "The darkness is coming again..."

  The Eerie Irelight

  A/N - At long last a new chapter is here! Deeply sorry about the extended hiatus. It took me a while to get back into writing the story and remembering all the finer details to keep consistency. However at long last I give you the returning chapter 64! I hope you enjoy it.

  The Challenger Chapter Sixty-Four: The Eerie Irelight

  Darkness... Everything, just like that, became swallowed in a terrifying darkness. From the peaks of the Astral Mountains to the basins of Black Eagle Canyon beyond the Luminous Forest... Everything was just without warning...

  Dark...

  Jonath blinked, suddenly seeing black in every direction. It had all happened so fast. One moment he was preparing to defend himself against Kelgard for one final time, then he'd seen that shadowy figure in the distance and suddenly everything just blotted itself out in blackness. It was happening again. That primal darkness that blotted out everything without warning like it did back at the Archive Group upon his arrival. Why? Why was it happening now of all times!? What in the hell was going on around this godforsaken continent!?

  Frantically whipping his head all around searching for either that shadowy figure or Kelgard, Jonath saw nothing but darkness. The mystic power that had swelled in his eyes seemingly vanishing as soon as the darkness had settled in. A far cry from last time where he'd been able to keep up this special sight to penetrate the darkness and see the unseen. It was annoying how inconsistent his powers were. This was probably the worst time to not be able to see too... Kelgard was still right in front of him.

  Wasn't he?

  Should Jonath run? Should he try to call out for Kelgard and warn him of that figure he'd seen before it all? Should he try to focus on activating that strange ocular power he had so he could see through this raw darkness? He didn't know... What he did know, however, was that everything aside from the darkness seemed to still be here. He could hear the whipping of the wind as it breezed through the forest and still felt the ground solidly beneath his boots. They were still in the forest, Kelgard and him... Was that cloaked, skeletal figure still here too?

  While Jonath tried to make sense of what to do with himself, luckily for him, this sudden darkness caused Kelgard to stop attacking him. This brief pause giving Jonath time to turn and take off into the woods (while trying his best not to slam into a tree or large rock during his retreat). The red-eyed man calmly narrowing his eyes as he tried to see in the terrible darkness. No luck doing that... He couldn't see anything and strangely enough, also could no longer sense any aetherial aura signatures around him either. It was like he'd been suddenly locked away inside a room with his senses numbed somewhat. Stripped of his sight and aether detecting abilities, he'd begin to notice that very slowly he were also losing his other senses too. No longer being able to smell the scents of the forest or feel the ground beneath his feet. Every second the impact these senses had on him felt fainter and fainter. Though, he didn't look too concerned about it, strangely enough.

  With no hope of finding Jonath to continue his fight or simply finding his way out of it all, Kelgard merely stood there, nonchalantly. Hands moving to his pockets as he closed his eyes and just waited. He'd been caught outside in t
his darkness before. The effects of it on the body were critical only to weaker people, he'd noticed. As he never experienced any real defects within himself once it all was over and done. It should all fade away and everything will return to normal soon. Once it did, he'd pick up right where he left off and defeat Jonath. It was that simple.

  Meanwhile, Thrain had carried Melissa on his back towards the drop off point he were instructed to bring her once he defeated her when this darkness stopped his travels. The violet-haired man blinking a bit in the sudden darkness, looking around in the inky abyss while holding on to an unconscious Melissa propped up on his back, legs tucked under his arms while he slouched forward somewhat. This strange phenomena was happening again... This wasn't a very good time for it to be happening either. Sighing to himself, Thrain paused and lowered Melissa onto the ground gently. Straightening her body so that she wasn't in a bunched up, uncomfortable position before he sat down beside her and closed his eyes just waiting.