Devouring Darkness

by Bradley Counter

We’re going to save them.

  Temin quickly rolled up his bedroll and strapped it to his heavy pack. Once he’d climbed to his feet, he rushed to catch up to Orlon Rin as the elder lightwielder headed toward the cliff. They'd only been awake for a few minutes, but already a sense of urgency had taken hold of them.

  Temin fell in behind Orlon just as they passed between two small houses. Large amounts of blood had sprayed the side of the house on his left. A trail of it led up the side of the wall and disappeared over the edge of the roof as if someone had been dragged up onto the roof.

  He turned away from the trail of gore, disgusted, and focused his sight on the back of Orlon’s white robe. The silence and stillness around them was nearly absolute, broken only by the sound of their steady footsteps. The light crunching sound of gravel beneath their feet seemed somehow menacing: a prelude to darkness and doom.

  They emerged from between the two houses onto a small road that ran parallel to the cliff separating the houses from the fortifications. As he followed Orlon across the road, he noticed the increasing amount of gore. The blood spatter was thicker on the other side of the road nearer the cliff's edge. Dark pools of it dotted the grass around the fortifications as if a vicious battle had been fought there, but there were no bodies lying within them.

  The fortifications were raised wooden platforms seated atop brick foundations. The eight-foot-wide, square structures were surrounded on all sides with wooden spikes driven deep into the soil to repel attackers. Numerous arrows stuck out of the ground all along the cliffs edge, but, again, there were no bodies to be found.

  Temin ignored the lingering smell of decay as best he could, but it persistently assaulted his nose. Chunks of brownish-red leather and bloody cloth littered the ground and blood covered nearly everything. The top half of one of the fortifications had collapsed and fallen over the side of the cliff leaving only the broken remains of the brick foundation.

  A battle was definitely fought here. The villagers did try to protect themselves after all, but there must have been too many demons.

  “Temin,” Orlon Rin said drawing his attention. “We should not linger.”

  He had stopped walking without realizing it while he'd looked around at the aftermath of the villagers’ final battle. Temin quickly sped up and fell in behind Orlon again. Moving swiftly between two of the fortification Orlon walked right up to the cliff and without showing any signs of slowing down.

  “Master Rin, watch out!”

  “It’s all right, Temin,” Orlon said as he came to a stop, mere inches from the cliff’s edge. “I’m not about to walk over the edge of a cliff. Far too many lives are at stake to die in such a careless manner.”

  “How do you do that? You say that you’re blind, but I’ve never seen you stumble or bump into to anything. You see more than anyone I’ve ever known and you always know what I’m thinking before I even say it. How is that possible? What's hidden beneath that blindfold that you always wear across your eyes, because I don't think you're really blind?”

  “This isn’t the time or place for that discussion, but I'll explain it to you someday. For now we need to focus on this.”

  Orlon gestured to the cliff and Temin immediately forgot his anger as he saw just how large the valley was. He gingerly stepped forward to peer over the side. The cliff they stood on made up one of the walls that flanked Fellwater Valley and as far as he could see, it was a sheer drop down. There weren’t any apparent handholds or jutting rocks and only the slightest hint of a slope existed. The valley looked to him as if it had been carved with a gargantuan sword by an angry giant of unimaginable size.

  He could see the other sides of Fellwater Valley in the distance. They all appeared to have the same sheer drop as the cliff in front of him. The valley itself had no visible bottom, instead the walls all descended down into a dense layer of mist essentially forming a massive oblong hole with no visible bottom. Temin began to feel lightheaded from peering down into the misty depths far below and pulled his gaze back from the edge.

  “Why do they call this Fellwater Valley?” Temin blurted out. “It looks more like a giant hole to me.”

  “It didn’t always look like this. Long ago, before the demons started entering our world, this was shaped more like a valley and was believed to be the deepest place in the entire world. Many rivers used to flow here and the water that collected at the bottom of the valley had a sickly color to it. That is where the name comes from, but several thousand years ago the water dried up and the valley was carved into this wide hole, seemingly in an instant. Then came the demons and the rest is common knowledge.”

  “So everyone still calls this place by the name it had before?”

  “The name perfectly describes the nature of the creatures rising up from the depths. I think it fits better now than it ever would have in the past.”

  “So how are we supposed to get down the cliff; there isn’t anything to hold onto?”

  “Don’t you remember the technique that I showed you? All that you need to do is enhance your hands and feet with your inner power and then drive them into the rock to serve as anchors.”

  “Um, no offense, but you make that sound easy. Are we really going to climb the whole way down like that?”

  “Sure, that’s why I said we needed rest, so we’d have plenty of energy to make the descent.”

  Temin’s eyes widened in surprise at the thought of scaling down the cliff with only his newfound power standing between him and certain death, and he struggled to swallow the lump that had suddenly formed in his throat. Cautiously, he leaned out over the side and looked down the side of the cliff again.

  No way will I be able to do this; the cliff is way too high. It'd take forever to climb down from here like that and there’s nowhere to rest. Is Master Rin serious about this? We could both be killed.

  “Don’t worry so much, Temin. You’ll be fine. We’ll be tethered together the entire time with this.”

  Orlon pulled a long piece of rope out of his pack. He held one end out to Temin and started to wrap the other side around his waist. Temin stood staring at him as he finished tying his rope. Once done, Orlon Rin gestured to the rope Temin held.

  “You’d better tie that tight or it won’t do you any good.”

  Temin quickly followed Orlon’s lead and tied the rope securely around his waist. He glanced down at the remainder of rope and guessed that there was about 20 feet of rope hanging freely between them. He swallowed hard and tried not to think about whether or not the rope would hold him.

  It's better than nothing I guess, but only by a little.

  “Good,” Orlon said after testing the rope with his hand. “Now we’re all set, are you ready?”

  I can do this. It’s just like yesterday when I climbed up the side of that embankment to reach Master Rin after the carriage was wrecked. I only need to focus on keeping my hands enhanced and I’ll be fine.

  “I’ll go first,” Orlon explained. “You should be able to use the handholds that I make for the most part, so the climb down shouldn’t be all that bad for you.”

  “Why can't we just use the handholds that you created on your last trip down, or maybe those other three lightwielders made some that we could use?”

  “It's useless to look for anything like that. This place was created by powerful magic and that same magic is constantly working to maintain the valley's current shape. Any change made to the valley is slowly reversed in a few days, so each and every trip to The Nightlands requires a new path.”

  “How long is this going to take?” Temin asked in annoyance.

  “To be honest, I don’t quite know. The last time I made my way down the valley wall, I was alone and able to make great time. I wasn’t nearly as cautious back then as I am now, but even at a reckless pace it still took me the better part of a day. With you coming along this could easily take twice as long or longer.”

  “We're going to spend an entire day climbing down? How are we s
upposed to do that; there’s nowhere to rest?”

  “It's a good thing we got all of that rest last night, isn't it?” Orlon quickly retorted with a hint of humor.

  Orlon smiled and lowered himself over the edge of the cliff. He paused with the top half of his body still above the cliff and rested on his arms. Temin was about to ask what he was doing when he heard a sharp crack.

  Of course; he’s using his foot to make the first handhold.

  As he watched, Orlon lowered himself until he was holding the cliff with just his fingers and another sharp crack resounded. Then, Orlon disappeared over the cliff entirely. Temin stepped forward just as yet another cracking sound split the air.

  Temin could hear the sound of Orlon’s every move. Peering down over the edge, he saw that Orlon was already several feet down. The slack between them was quickly diminishing as the rope rapidly disappeared over the side. When only a few feet of slack remained between them, Orlon abruptly stopped his descent.

  “Okay, Temin, you need to lower yourself over the edge.”

  Temin looked down past Orlon to the thick layer of mist far below that concealed the valley floor. His stomach immediately clenched up and his breathing grew slightly panicked. He sat with his legs dangling over the side and tried to get his body to turn, but fear gripped him tight.

  “It’s only natural to be afraid, Temin, there’s no shame in it. Just try not to look down. Keep your focus on the cliff face, and you’ll be fine. Besides, if anything should happen, I will protect you, I promise. Now just turn around and slowly lower yourself over the edge; everything will become much easier.”

  Temin thought of all of the people whose lives were depending on the two of them slaying the demon and stopping the raids. His anger and sadness over the fate of the villagers above was focused into determination. He clung to that feeling, allowing it to fill his entire being with strength.

  Determination flowing through him, he forced his fear aside and willed his body into motion. Slowly, he turned around so that his stomach was pressed against the cliff's edge while his feet dangled, unsupported, over the side. Lowering himself the same way that Orlon had, he brushed his feet down along the rock until he found the first handhold. With his foot firmly braced within the shallow depression, he felt a wave of relief rush through him.

  Master Rin was right: it does seem better now that I’m not looking out from the cliff.

  Keeping his fear in check, he carefully followed Orlon down the side of the cliff for what seemed like hours. The cracking sound of Orlon making new handholds and the soft rustle of clothing were the only sounds to be heard. He was relieved to discover that he was able to use most of the handholds that Orlon had made for himself. Nearly every step down, however, Temin had to distract himself to keep from looking down as he searched out each handhold with his feet. Occasionally, there was simply too much space between the handholds that Orlon had left and he was forced to make a handhold of his own.

  “You seem to be doing a lot better now,” Orlon stated abruptly, breaking the silence.

  “It’s not really that bad once you get used to it.”

  “I never had a doubt that you’d be able to do this. You’ve been a natural at climbing for as long as I’ve known you. You were always climbing to the top of the giant faun trees back at the temple and snoozing when you should’ve been studying.”

  “Those trees weren’t nearly this high, and I could always see the ground.”

  “Yes, I suppose this is a bit more intimidating than climbing a tree, but here you are none-the-less.”

  Wow, he’s right. This seemed so frightening from up above, but I still managed to make myself climb down here and even now I’m still going. I'm afraid of falling, but I know that I need to do this in order to help protect everyone. Is this what it means to be brave?

  “How far do you think we’ve gone?” Temin asked and absentmindedly looked down at Orlon.

  “Still a long way from our destination,” Orlon replied, but Temin hardly heard the response.

  As he looked down for the first time since they'd begun their descent, his eyes wandered past Orlon to the eerie mist below. They were still hundreds of feet above the thick layer of mist that shrouded the valley floor. His earlier fear immediately rushed back to him. Quickly, he turned back and latched onto the cliff face.

  I... I don’t know if I can do this, anymore. If I fall, it’s all over.

  While Temin stood still, clutching the handholds in a death grip, the rope around his waist pulled tighter and tighter as the slack between him and Orlon rapidly vanished. After a few moments of clinging to the cliff face, he felt a slight tug at his waist as the rope was finally pulled taught.

  “Temin, why did you stop?” Orlon called from below. “Is something wrong?”

  “I looked down,” admitted Temin. “You were right; bad idea. It just kind of happened. It was an accident and I only looked for a few seconds, but now I can’t get my body to move.”

  “I understand your fear, believe me, but you’re safe. As long as you’re with me, I won’t let anything happen to you. Trust me, Temin; it’s okay to be afraid. We all feel fear towards something, but we must face our fear. To combat fear, we must face it head-on. This cliff is just another enemy that stands between us and our goal; you must find the strength to conquer it.”

  “You say that, but I doubt you’ve ever been scared of anything. You’re the most powerful person I’ve ever met and you’ve been that strong since long before I was even born.”

  “It’s not that I’m fearless, Temin. I feel fear just as acutely as anyone else, but I don’t have the luxury of letting it rule my actions. If the lives of others are at stake, my own safety is secondary. I can’t afford to succumb to fear, and neither can you. I wish there was a way to be nicer about this, but we haven’t the time. You need to summon your courage and face this fear or people will die.”

  Orlon’s words hit him like a physical blow. He thought of the slaughtered villagers up above, torn apart in their own homes. Images flared to life in his mind of the blood-soaked, lifeless husk that remained of the village of Seteal. He remembered the carriage driver who'd been crushed to death in the rockslide that the demons had caused.

  He’s right; too many people have suffered already, we can’t waste any more time on this. I will do this, I won’t fail.

  His grip on the hand hold loosened, and he forced his body to move down a step despite his fear. One step after another, he swiftly closed the distance between himself and Orlon. He was so intensely focused on keeping himself moving downward that he forgot to feel for handholds before he tried moving down.

  “Temin, slow down!”

  As he tried to take yet another step, Temin carelessly dipped his body down thinking that there would be a handhold to place his foot in, but there was only smooth stone. His foot slipped down along the stone and he panicked. He lost his hold on the stone hand hold above and slipped down the side of the cliff.

  Immediately, he fell down onto Orlon and rolled down along the lightwielder's back. With lightning-fast reflexes, Orlon’s hand shot back and almost grabbed him, but then it suddenly stopped just short of reaching him. Surprised by Orlon's failure to catch him and filled with absolute terror, Temin fell for another moment before the rope jerked taught against his back. Immediately, he snapped to a stop and bumped against the stone wall.

  Temin breathed hard, panting almost like an animal and his eyes were wide in shock as he stared up at Orlon struggling above him. He glanced nervously over his shoulder and saw the mist far below; it appeared eager to swallow him. His right hand and foot scrapped against the stone cliff face beside him, but there was no purchase to be found.

  “I’ve got you,” Orlon told him in a strained voice. “Don’t worry, Temin, just don’t touch-”

  Acting on instinct, Temin reached up to grab the only thing keeping him from plummeting to certain death. His fingers closed around the rope and he gripped it firmly, re
membering a moment too late that his hands were still enhanced. Fueled by his superhuman strength, his fingers tore through the rope in the blink of an eye, and he cried out as he once again started falling.

  “Temin!” Orlon Rin shouted after him.

  Air whipped at the back of his head, buffeting him around wildly. He tried in vain to grab the rock wall beside him as it rushed past, but there was nothing for him to grab a hold of. He watched, wide-eyed and panic-stricken, as Orlon leaped from the cliff face and dove through the air after him.

  Plummeting helplessly through the air, Temin could only watch as Orlon Rin closed the distance between them at blinding speed. Then, they collided in mid-air. Firm arms wrapped under his back and knees and gripped him tight. He tried to glance over at Orlon’s face, but the lightwielder's body was suddenly surrounded by a bright light making it hard to see him clearly. Beyond the blazing form of Orlon Rin, on the edge of his vision, he could barely make out the mist rushing past in place of stone.

  Am I going to die? Is Master Rin going to die now because of me?

  A violent impact with the ground was the only response to his unvoiced question. The collision was greatly diminished by the fact that he was still held in Orlon’s arms, but he couldn’t help but feel the force of the impact. The loudest sound that he'd ever heard accompanied a massive jolt of force that crushed him down against Orlon’s arms. A surge of pain shot through his back and legs where Orlon’s arms were pressed against him, and he was left momentarily breathless.

  Orlon laid him gently on the ground and crouched down beside him. Temin could hardly believe that they'd survived the fall, but the sight of Orlon Rin was even more startling. The elder lightwielder was completely covered from head to toe in a layer of blazing light that swam across his skin and clothes like liquid fire.

  The bright light surrounding Orlon proved too painful to keep looking at, so Temin was forced to avert his eyes. Only then, did he realize that he couldn't see anything else. Panic seized him and he raised his hands in front of his face. He could barely make them out through the dense cloud of mist that surrounded him, but it was enough to alleviate his fears, and he exhaled in relief.

  I thought that I'd survived the fall only to end up blind for a moment there; I guess this mist is even thicker than it looked.

  As the relief of not being blind faded, he suddenly realized that he was lying on solid ground. The touch of cold stone on his back had never felt so reassuring. Shielding his eyes with his hand, he tried to look up at Orlon, but it was useless. The glowing figure of light was simply too bright to look at for anything longer than a momentary glance.

  “I’d say that you conquered your fear successfully, but try not to overdo it next time.”

  Upon hearing Orlon’s voice, another wave of relief washed over Temin. He offered a silent prayer to Anedae and rolled onto his side. Pain raced through his back and legs, but he forced himself to stand anyway. Once he'd regained his footing, he scowled and turned to face the brilliantly glowing figure as much as he could without looking directly at him.

  “Why didn’t you just do that in the first place? That was much faster than trying to climb down the side of the cliff.”

  “Because it consumes a huge amount of power to pull off something like that, making it far from ideal,” Orlon retorted. “Besides, there was no guarantee that you’d be able to survive the fall. I cushioned the impact as much as I could for you, but you were still injured. Now imagine if I would've leapt from the top of the cliff holding you: my arms would've sliced right through you and you'd be dead, lying on the ground in three pieces right now!”

  Temin winced at the harsh, chastising tone of Orlon’s voice. The reprimand stung almost as much as the raw, aching pain that coursed through his back and thighs. He knew that his body couldn’t have endured much more than it already had without being seriously injured, but he couldn’t help but feel partially betrayed.

  An image flashed into his mind of Orlon reaching for him and then drawing back at the last moment. His anger immediately flared up.

  “Even if we couldn't have come down the cliff like that, why did you let me fall in the first place? I saw you reach your hand out as I rolled over you, but then you stopped without even trying to catch me!”

  “That’s true, I did stop myself before I grabbed you, but you should be thankful that I did so.”

  “Why’s that? We fell off a cliff because of that.”

  “You should be grateful because you still have all of your limbs, Temin. You fell because you were hasty and reckless with your powers. Do you remember what happened when you touched the rope? That could easily have been your leg. My hands were still enhanced when I reached back to grab you and I barely managed to restrain myself in time. Your injuries could've been much more severe than the few bruises that you have now.”

  Temin swallowed hard as he pictured the gruesome scene in his head. Orlon would've easily severed his leg off if he would’ve grabbed him and then he still would have fallen anyways. He glanced down towards his legs, wishing that he could see them through the mist, and grateful to still have both of them.

  On the edge of his vision, Orlon's glowing silhouette began to swiftly diminish in intensity. The fiery light faded enough that Temin was able to look directly at his master and watch as it continued to fade away. In mere moments, Orlon had disappeared completely into the mist, but Temin continued to stare at the spot where his glowing form had last been standing.

  “I’m sorry,” Temin said quietly.

  “It’s alright, what’s done is done,” came Orlon’s reply from within the mist. “From here on, though, we need to proceed much more cautiously. I was forced to use up a lot of energy during the fall and I need to conserve my strength if we’re going to survive long enough to slay the demon behind these raids.”

  “How are we supposed to go any farther, I can’t see anything?”

  “Just keep moving away from the cliff, the way will become clear shortly. Oh, and you'll need to enhance your entire body just enough to ward off the cold.”

  “What cold: it doesn’t feel any different than before?”

  “You’ll find out soon enough. Trust me; if you don’t do something now to protect yourself from the cold, it’s very likely that you’ll freeze to death in only a few minutes upon entering The Nightlands.”

  Temin decided not to argue any further. Heeding Orlon's warning, he quickly sent a wave of energy surging through his skin to keep himself warm. Though it was significantly harder than enhancing a single body part, to his own surprise, Temin managed it on his first attempt.

  As soon as he had his body protected by his warmth enhanced skin, he continued forward through the mist. Hands stretched out in front of him, Temin felt around for anything dangerous that might be hidden in the mist, but there was nothing.

  After a few minutes, he'd begun to sweat from the warmth enhancement that rushed through his skin, but there was still no difference to be seen or felt in the mist. He scoffed and almost released his hold on the enhancement when the mist abruptly thinned and disappeared from view in the span of a single step.

  Icy, winter air stung his face and he gasped in surprise. Despite his warming enhancement, he could still feel the bitter cold that Orlon had warned him of. It promptly engulfed him; threatening to rob his entire body of its warmth unless he quickly acted to counter it. He immediately strengthened his warming enhancement until the cold no longer bothered him.

  This is insane; why is it so cold here? If Master Rin hadn’t warned me, I’d be frozen solid by now.

  Soft footfalls and the rustle of clothing behind him drew his attention away from the cold. He turned in time to watch Orlon emerge from a dense wall of mist that hung in the air between two wide walls of harsh, black stone.

  “We’ve finally made it,” Orlon said. “This, Temin, is The Nightlands.”