Sometimes I dream... I see myself in another sphere, in a different body—one strange yet oddly familiar, like it was mine—sitting in a comfy chair in a dark room that felt too off and strange.
My hands writing some strange symbols on a blank, glass-like pad... each word fading the moment it was written.
I call it a dream... but it felt so vivid and immersive. So over time, I finally decided to conclude it was...
A lingering forgotten memory..." —Mephis Meredith
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Chapter Two: The Caster and the Snow piercer
The silence that hung in the windy, cold air was too depressing, making him restless... and bored.
And he hated boredom—it always made him get all sentimental. He gazed at his fellow occupants, both wearing equally depressing looks. The cool, detached fellow had his head dropped over his shoulders, seeming to have ceased his incessant tappings... but there was still something cool about the way his head was slumped, like a glorious martyr. That was why he had termed him the "cool detached fellow."
His eyes wavered to his beautiful captor, whose head was resting against the wall... her silver hair flowing freely downwards, mimicking the color of the snow, along with her oddly pale skin. Her breath came out foggy.
He exhaled. Time out—the atmosphere was too depressing. Someone had to mutter something... and from the look of things, it seemed he was the only one willing to be that someone.
Clap.
The sound of his clap reverberated around the entirety of the dark cage. The effects were the angry glares of his two occupants fixed on him... not that he cared. No, even this was better—far better than those earlier depressive states.
"Anyways, sorry for jolting you out of whatever depressive and nostalgic train of thoughts you both were brooding on," he added, looking them lamely in the eyes
He swore he saw veins popping on the cool fellow's temple, while the blue-eyed girl gave a resigned heave... with a gaze that told him he was hopeless.
"I've been wanting to ask... this powerful winter monster or whatever... what are the occurrences of us running into it? You know, since we're heading into its lair and such," he inquired.
But what replied was a dead silence from the cool fellow at the end, with a recoil... while a roll of eyes from the blue-eyed beauty before resuming her normal camaraderie.
He smiled. He had expected this, so he made a counter.
Clap. Clap.
He clapped twice simultaneously, a smirk on his face. He watched their gazes fire at him again.
"Now that I have both of your attention again, I'd like to specify that I'm going to continue clapping until I have an answer or at least a reply... or I might even make it a bang this time around," he muttered, resuming his nonchalant relaxation with his hands crossed behind his head.
"Just how petty and slow can you be? Your incessant clapping could attract monsters nearby," his blue-eyed captor blurted out, her eyes starting to rekindle the bluish glow he had seen earlier.
Ow, she was really furious. The last thing he wanted was a taste of that ocular witchery of hers.
"Easy there," he smoothly bellowed, his hands wafting defensively and apologetically in front of him. "I didn't mean to. I just wanted some answers, and you both were giving me the silent treatment, so I wanted to take laws into my own hands... you see, nothing much," he added with a shrug.
Deflated, he watched her sigh, the glow in her eyes dying down. Seemed she had cooled down.
"So what's it... your question?" she finally said. "And sorry for latching on to you earlier," she added, her eyes indifferent so the apology felt more like a forced resignation. But anyway, he maintained his cool—that ability of hers was scary enough to deter any resentment he had.
"The probability of us running into the monster you mentioned... what is it?" he replied, his voice laced with the very curiosity he had tried to hide.
"It's a 20... or at most a 30," she said, hugging her knees. "It mostly hibernates, so it's pretty normal for us to set no sights on it... although there've been cases of sighting it, and it always ends in death. So at the end, all I can say is..." she added, her eyes glimmering at him, "it all comes down to luck. Now can I have my peace?" she rhetorically asked, shutting her eyes, signaling the conversation's end.
But that wasn't for his mind, which was now frantically in a turmoil. Because if an encounter with the monster came down to luck... then he was almost certain they would likely share the same fate. After all, he had a knack for bad luck.
He sighed. He had one more question: their survival probability in an encounter. Maybe their abductor—or whatever he was—if he had the power to enslave a girl with terrifyingly weird ocular sorcery, then he probably would have some little buff ups. But he had to be sure.
"Our survival rate if we hypothetically encounter our frosty friend... what would it be?" he muttered, not that he was expecting a reply from these two laid-back fellows.
What followed was a silence, as predicted—one that permeated the dark cage, with the only sound being the whistle of the cold wind and the occasional shivers from them.
Until...
"It's a zero percent," the cool detached fellow muttered, his crimson eyes glowing in the dark. "The winter monstrosity is a corrupted with the rank of Harbinger... so unless whoever ourabductor is has enough prowess to subdue it—which is unlikely, for someone with high prowess wouldn't succumb to abduction—so for now, it's a zero." The cool fellow added, his hands beginning his incessant tapping on the cold metallic floorboard.
"Oh... that's brilliant," he muttered amidst his internal confusion.
"I don't need someone as dumb as you to acknowledge it. I already know," the cool fellow added, his head now drooped towards the floor, resting against his hands which were supported on his knee.
The words pierced him. He understood he hadn't fully grasped terms like "corrupted" and "rank of Harbinger," but he wasn't dumb. Even he understood enough to be certain the winter monstrosity was a scary monster. After all, the name "Harbinger" wasn't one that made you feel fluffy in the clouds.
But anyway, it seemed both of his occupants possessed far greater knowledge than his. He was the least here in that aspect. A feminine voice tore him out of his thoughts, but it wasn't directed at him.
"How'd you know about all that?" the blue-eyed girl asked, her eyes narrowing at the cool detached fellow who seemed unperturbed. "Information like this ain't common among normal folks. How'd you get your hands on it?" she inquired further.
Her gaze was intense, so much that he thought she might downright attack the cool detached fellow, who was still behaving unperturbed... before replying back with a sigh.
"I have my means," the cool detached fellow merely stated.
"What means, if I may ask?" the blue-eyed girl fired back, her tone sharpening like a blade in the frost.
"I don't feel compelled to answer to you. I mean, why should I?" the cool detached fellow coldly replied, his crimson eyes now clashing in a glare against his blue-eyed captor.
He heaved. He wasn't an expert in settling animosities, let alone when he didn't even know what they were clashing about. So all he was praying for was that these banters of theirs would attract the attention of their abductor, who would come to check. Then he'd swipe out the key, make sure he was gone, and as soon as the cart started, he would open the gates and away he'd make into the frost and snowy plain... where he wished he would see some monster that would kill him, and he would reset his awakening to before this fiasco, making sure he avoided the market itself.
Quite a good plan, wasn't it? All he just needed was for these fellows of his to at least raise their volume.
"Pestering me for how I got these knowledge, huh?" the cool detached fellow answered, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Speaking of which, you seem to know all about it yourself, given your questions. So tell me, how'd *you* know about it?" The cool detached fellow's voice was low yet calculated as he turned the tables, his crimson eyes narrowing in challenge.
Her eyes flared with that bluish glow again, but she reined it in, exhaling fog into the air. "Fine, keep your secrets. But if whatever you know could get us out of this alive, hoarding it makes you no better than our captor.."
The exchange hung tense, like a storm brewing in the confined space, their words weaving accusation and deflection without escalating to blows.
He sighed again. Guess they were still conversing... it was hard to believe he had started it all. Both of them were quite the talkative types than he had expected. Anyway, he was glad they were now getting along... all thanks to him.
He smiled.
His eyes wavered from them to the white snowy landscape and the great peak that was becoming distant... but its size still posing as a pillar suspending the earth and the heavens. Quite a beauty—it was rare to see such sights at Valen. Mountains were rarer; only industrial districts and people. So a breath of the countryside wasn't bad at all.
His eyes scanned more, noting the trees which were crowded far away in a distance, partially obstructed by the snowy winds. The cage bumped, jolting him up.
He could no longer hear the incessant voices of his fellow two occupants. Seems they've halted their little scuffle... which meant goodbye to his key-stealing plan.
His mind wept internal tears. So he was stuck with these fellow abductees till his further death.
How depressing.
His eyes wandered back to the serene snowy scape. Something caught his eyes, though obstructed by the winds and slight snow storm... he squinted.
He could see a burrowed, elevated arc of a canal dragging across the snow from the distance towards them at an alarming speed.
What was that?
Was it a monster... the winter monstrosity, perhaps? Elation and fear surged through him—elation because he could now die and reset his awakening, fear because of the thought of being gnawed to death by that thing and the probability he could truly die this time... a thought that had wonderfully never crossed him throughout the voluminous amount of times he had died.
Maybe he was a little dumb... a little.
But anyway, he had to warn his fellow weird occupants, for the trail was now a few feet away from them... it was catching up to their slow cart.
"Sorry to disturb... but I guess we have a monster coming at us from behind," he lamely added.
The response was immediate. Both of their eyes now wide awake in apprehension, fear visible in their faces. They skidded to where he was, afront the bars marring the locked entrance.
That was when he noticed fully the features of the cool detached fellow. His black hair was short compared to his—Meredith's—which was almost at shoulder length. His eyes crimson, his skin tanned but still had a bright sheen. His build slightly smaller than his. Overall, he was an attractive fellow... and a well-dressed one at that, with a white bright tunic, clean and scented.
"It's the Snow Piercer," the cool detached fellow finally spoke, his eyes widening. He could see he was petrified by the way his trembling hands were tightly clutching the bars.
"So what's this Snow Piercer monster of a thing?" he calmly inquired, slightly happy that it hadn't been the winter monstrosity. His eyes glanced to the approaching tunnel, which had a visible sharp, scaly arch on the top of it..
"Aren't you a little too calm for—" his beautiful blue-eyed captor's apprehensive voice trailed off.
"It's a class Serpentine... a lesser condemnation but known for moving in crowds. You hardly meet just one," the cool fellow continued, his eyes frantically scanning the peaks.
Now he knew those terms. "Condemnation" referred to dangerous monsters roaming around, while the class "Serpentine" meant the limbless but swift ones. He had read about it in the Condemnation Resource Journal at the library—he had just curiously glanced through, so he didn't know much.
But he knew enough to know monsters like such were bloodthirsty. He shuddered; he didn't want traumatic deaths.
"Bang at the walls! We have to alert the abductor—he has the power to defeat that monster!"the indifferent..Lazy yet urgent voice of the blue-eyed beauty tore through the air.
"How are you certain of that?" the cool detached fellow bellowed back.
His eyes were still stuck on the monster, now about 10 feet before them. This was his first time seeing a condemnation real before his eyes. He could see the upper part of its body—it was scaly and glittering with an oily sheen, with a protruding arch of huge dark scales rising from its back as large as his arms, the tips pointed and sharp.
Bang... bang.
The sounds of fists bumping against metal tore his ears. He glanced back to see both of his frightened occupants already banging at the metal wall, but he could see his beautiful blue-eyed captor was relatively more calmer than the cool detached guy, whose eyes never left the coming monster. Right now, he-the cool detached fellow, looked... uncool.
Death really strips you of your facades, he muttered with a smirk.
His body tumbled forward, slamming against the bars when the cart suddenly went to a halt. Wincing, he clasped the occipital part of his skull whilst he tore his eyes from the sight of the disheveled and shocked occupants back to the source of the shadow that now loomed above him.
His eyes met the tall, broad shoulders of a man. When had he appeared here? His eyes scanned him further—he had dark brown hair and a muscular back. He was wearing some sort of weird armor. He couldn't see his eyes, for his back was to him.
What about the Snow Piercer monster they had sighted moments ago?
He strained his eyes, standing up as the remaining occupants had done. It was then he saw it...
A serpentine monster with a scaly back and a huge protruding metal-like arch at its spine, a ragged chain of bones visible like some exoskeleton, its bony ribs securing the chest region like some bony armor. Its head was a grotesque maw of jagged, disarrayed teeth sprouting unevenly from elongated jaws, crowned by a single twisted horn that curved backward like a scythe. The creature was bounded by crimson liquid-like threads which seemed to spindle around it like a net, pinning it to the ground while oozing a scary red-black miasma.
"A caster... from the mages' pathway... he's a caster," the cool detached fellow muttered more to himself behind him, his voice echoing disbelief.
Whatever he said must have had a certain amount of meaning to him—the cool detached fellow—but to him, it was still jumble.
But it all started to make sense when the broad man in front of him muttered slowly:
"From the Depth of The Abyss,
I summon you...
From the Veil of the Void..
I call on you..
Descentd Upon thy vile..
O'Divine flame of the Blazing Eternal..
A fiery red blaze emerged from his hands; the red threads binding the snarling creature seemed to burn with such latent power. Two huge blazing red halos shimmered into existence around the snarling monster—one from above, the other from below.
The sheer heat melted the ice around the monster. Then, with a cold voice, the man finalized... with a clutch of his hands.
The two glowing halos interloped together—one rising above while the other from below. Particles of snow, now droplets of water, hung suspended in the air like time had ceased at that spot. The moment they clashed, the entirety of the monster erupted in eerie crimson and black flames... towering above the cage they were in, casting a red hue on their faces.
"Purgatory."