'Luuuciiieeennnnn…'
Lucien froze, but the tug of the rope kept him going. His eyes would've been wide open if they weren't sealed with wax.
It had learned his name. The whispers had called out to him by name. Why? How?!
As if on cue, they called again.
'Ssstorrmbooooorn…'
A sliver of disdain tainted their voice, as if the word alone garnered their ire. Lucien could hear his heart beating wildly in terror.
'No, no, no. It isn't real. Ignore it.'
He said, trying to reassure himself. They were just whispers, barely audible in the wind, worth nothing more than a grain of salt.
Right?
Scrambling, Lucien fished out a piece of scrap metal from his bag and began fidgeting with it.
'Focus,' he scratched at the metal, nearly drawing blood. The pain splashed on him like cold water, a needed distraction.
'Gods, when will this maze end?' He prayed. For it was definitely a maze they were in. Twisting and turning, Sunny guided them through it, somehow managing to navigate it.
Eventually, the sound of rushing water reached his ears again. And with it came some respite. At least now he had another sound to focus on.
Some time later, they came to the shore of another subterranean river.
They had reached the second boundary.
Lucien expected Sunny to lead them to another boat to cross the river. Instead, he guided directly towards the river and then over it. There was a bridge.
The cohort walked on the bridge, leaving the dark maze behind. Soon, they could feel the mist surrounding them grow thinner.
And at some point, it was gone.
They crossed the river without any trouble and returned to solid ground again
Then, finally Sunny opened his mouth and said in a hoarse voice:
"Are we through?"
Although Cassie had not said anything about the need to remain quiet, each of them subconsciously avoided speaking ever since entering the mist.
A few moments later, Cassie answered in a hesitant tone:
"I… I think so?"
Wasting no more time, Lucien untied the cloth covering his eyes and peeled off the wax. Then, he slowly opened his eyes.
They were standing on a stone shore inside a vast cave, through which the underground river was flowing unobstructed. Some distance away from them, the wall of the cave came down, with a mouth of a wide tunnel visible in it.
Lucien almost expected-no hoped that the voices would return to their incoherent babbling. That he would get some respite from it.
He was a fool to hope so.
'Luuuciieeen….Ssstorrrmbooorn…'
'Shut up.'
Trying to ignore those voices, he decided to take in the 'scenery' if you could call it that. In doing so, something caught his gaze. Just a few meters away from them, on the shore of the dark river, he saw a human skeleton. It was sitting on the cold stones, its back straight, facing the water.
Unlike the ferocious undead from the catacombs of the Dark City, this one was tranquil and untouched by the corruption of the Forgotten Shore.
…This was the place where the First Lord of the Bright Castle had died.
The young man whom Lucien had very faint memories of had died on the shores of the cold underground river, just a few meters away from the bridge that he had used to escape the terrible place, which, according to Cassie, no living being should have been able to escape.
Somehow, he had survived even without knowing that anyone entering the mist had to keep their eyes closed at all times. But in the end, the wounds he had received there — or somewhere up ahead, perhaps — turned out to be too grievous.
Before the last vestiges of life abandoned him, the young man — the First Lord who had wrestled the Bright Castle from the Nightmare Creatures, created a safe place for the humans sent to the Forgotten Shore to live, and lead an expedition to find a way out of this cursed place — sat down and looked in the direction of the misty, dark maze.
…The place where his friends and companions had died, leaving him alone in the darkness of this forsaken underworld.
A vast feeling of sorrow overcame Lucien as he stared at the silent skeleton. He had met the man once; that much he was certain of. It felt as though he owed him a heavy debt.
Everything that humans had on the Forgotten Shore was thanks to his bravery, power, and skill.
That he had died here, in this lonesome place, with no one to share his last moments and tell the tale of his last deeds…The world really was cruel, wasn't it?
The skeleton was strangely well-preserved. It was sitting with its legs crossed, back straight, its hands resting on the hips, as if meditating. The skull of the First Lord gazed at the river with the dark chasms of its empty eyes, strangely calm and at peace. There was a strip of metal resting on his crown, a single bright gemstone embedded on it.
After the six of them gathered around the remains of the First Lord and stood there for a while in silence to express their respect for this extraordinary human, Nephis sighed and approached the skeleton.
Gently, she took the strip of metal and removed it from the First Lord's head.
A moment later, the band suddenly broke into countless sparks of light, which then disappeared, absorbed into her soul core.
As the last spark of light disappeared, Nephis tilted her head to the side and remained silent for a few moments. Then, she lowered her gaze and said, addressing the First Lord:
"Thank you."
She hesitated, as though wishing to say more, but eventually just took a step back.
Slowly, Lucien walked over to him and knelt down in front of him so that they were eye to eye. Staring into its hollow sockets, Lucien bowed his head and whispered.
"Thank you for founding the Dark City so that people like us could live. We…will finish what you started and find a way out."
His words echoed above the cold water, eventually disappearing into the darkness. A heavy silence settled above the shore of the underground river.
A few seconds later, Kai asked with some uncertainty in his voice:
"I think… should we bury him?"
The members of the cohort looked at each other. Before anyone could voice their opinion, though, Sunny suddenly spoke:
"No. Just leave him as he is. He wanted to be closer to his friends when he died, so… just don't touch him."
Lucien nodded; he agreed. The bright lord chose to die there for a reason; it'd be best to respect his wishes.
Nearby, Sunny and Nephis were having a conversation that Lucien chose to eavesdrop on. He wasn't so much interested in the conversation itself as he was in drowning out the voices in his head.
Sunny was trying to pry out information about the new shard memory Nephis had gotten, but to no avail. Changing Star seemed content to mock his decision about not joining the cohort. Or was it teasing? He honestly couldn't tell.
But then, she summoned the new memory, and the gemstone embedded in it started to gleam.
And then, something about the world changed.
The Stone Armorsuit began emanating an eerie black fog, covering him in a thin layer of it. Frowning, Lucien stared down at the black stone. Something about it seemed different; it looked….sturdier than before.
Curious, he summoned the Storm Blade, and the same phenomenon occurred. The blade itself was wreathed in the same black mist. The only difference being the crossguard. The constellation etched into its crossguard gleamed even brighter than before, and the storm essence flowing through it spat out arcs of lightning ever so often.
He listened closely as Nephis explained the enchantment.
"The Dawn Shard possesses a single, but also singularly powerful enchantment. It empowers all Memories around it. The area of effect of the enchantment is very large… but the enhancement it provides is ever larger."
All memories?
Staring at the armour and sword, Lucien deduced that they must have jumped up by a whole rank. That crown had to be the strongest of the shard memories; the rest just didn't compare.
'Giiiiiveeee iiiiiinnnn….'
Immediately, he began focusing on their conversation again. Nephis was telling Sunny about Gunlaug's echo armour and their informant inside the castle.
It was at this point that Kai intervened.
"Uh… I am very sorry to interrupt you guys. But I just wanted to ask — since we have found the remains of the First Lord and came into possession of this Memory you were discussing… Does that mean that the expedition is over? Have we actually accomplished our goal? Really?"
'No, Kai. We have not.'
Lucien knew this was not the end of their expedition. There was still one more shard memory to get, and one more statue to touch.
It seemed Sunny had already figured things out. With a friendly smile, he shook his head.
"No. No, buddy, the goal of this expedition has not been achieved yet."
The charming archer looked at him with surprise:
"But… didn't we get the thing that will help us defeat Gunlaug?"
Nephis was staring at Sunny too, a subtle smile on her lips.
"Yeah, Sunny. What else do we have to do? Do tell."
He grinned.
"Well, it's very simple, really. Yes, you told us that the reason for this adventure of ours was to find the means of overthrowing the Bright Lord, and it certainly was a reason. But that's not the whole reason, is it?"
Lucien nodded, that was correct. They still had one more hurdle to cross.
Cassie turned her head slightly to listen to him and sighed.
Caster's face, meanwhile, had turned grim. Effie didn't seem to care one way or another.
Nephis, on the other hand, just smiled wider.
"What is the whole reason then?"
Sunny gestured at the mouth of the tunnel in front of them.
"To finish what the First Lord had started, of course."
Kai was looking between him and Changing Star, unsure of what was going on.
"Uh... what do you mean? Exactly?"
Sunny shrugged.
"Think about it, Kai. We saw the same map. What were the symbols drawn at the very edge of it, near the place where the First Lord's expedition had disappeared?"
The charming archer frowned.
"That… uh. There were… three of them? A crown, a question mark. And a red cross?"
Sunny smiled.
"Exactly. There were six crosses drawn on the map, each marking one of the headless statues. Two to the east of the Dark City, one to the north, one to the west, and two to the south. We had visited one of the two statues situated to the south already. That's where the Spider Matriarch had weaved her nest."
He turned to Nephis and said, his smile gone:
"So the truth of it all is that the First Lord never really intended to find a way through the Hollow Mountains, isn't it? He wasn't a fool who would do something so misguided. No, he came to this godforsaken place for the same reason that we are here. To find the last statue."
Changing Star was silent for a bit.
When the silence was on the verge of growing uncomfortable, she suddenly said:
"That is correct."
Kai stared at her in astonishment.
"But… Why? No, wait… what's so important about that statue?"
Lucien stepped forward, finally joining the conversation. "It's the shard memories Kai."
Throughout their expeditions in the past few months, Nephis had strategically had them find the other remaining statue and defeat its guardian, thus claiming the shard memory associated with it.
With the crown of the first bright lord, they had five shard memories already. That left only two to be claimed. One of them was with the Lord of the Dead under the city walls. And the other was in this very mountain.
"The shard memories are our ticket out of here. Well, yours anyway. The First Bright Lord came here all those years ago to claim one of those memories. Alas, his cohort fell before they could reach its guardian."
Sighing deeply, he continued. "But our cohort has survived the impossible. We have reached this far without a single casualty. The only thing left to do is find the statue and kill its guardian."
With that, he glanced pointedly at their leader.
Nephis nodded and took over.
"This is something that people can only volunteer to do. Anyone who doesn't wish to proceed can stay behind and avoid risking their lives in the battle. In fact, some of us probably should."
She turned to face the tunnel, remained silent for a bit, and then said:
"Yes, somewhere up ahead lies another ancient statue. There will be a powerful creature guarding it. I don't know what that guardian is, exactly, but we have to kill it. Anyone who is willing to fight can join me. Others can stay back and wait for my return."
She glanced at the members of the cohort and added:
"However, if you do join me, you'll have to follow one simple rule. No matter what happens, it's imperative that you don't deliver the final blow to the creature... unless you have reached and touched the statue first."
In the end, no one decided to stay back. There were two main reasons for this. The first reason was simple: the cohort had suffered through too many hardships to give up at the last moment. The second reason, however, was the fact that no one wanted to split up in these dark mountains.
Eventually, they arrived at a vast cavern situated somewhere in the depths of the draconian mountains. The cavern was large enough to fit the entire Bright Castle — and the hill it stood upon — inside of it.
Lucien froze as a tainted presence entered his storm sense. As he sensed the being, it also sensed him. He barely had the time to yell out one word:
"Messenger!"
Then, the vile abomination lunged forward, exploding into a whirlwind of hunger, madness, and death.