The Dark is Extending

Acton walked through the dark forest and got closer to the cabin. He tried to be as silent and careful as his abilities let him. People in this world mainly relied on technology and very few people were talented enough to use Mana. Some smaller tricks were the norm in the military, but real Magicians casting spells were looked up to.

The scar-faced man who died in the cave was the captain of the squad, due to his ability to control lightning to some degree. Acton had the same position thanks to his ability to hide with Dark Magic. But he had no idea who he was going up against.

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Elena sat on the bed that Audrey and Jake had made the previous afternoon from the pelts of monsters. Kneeling beside the bed, Audrey held her hand over Elena’s broken leg. “Really, you go on a trip alone just for a few minutes and this is what happens. How can you be a troublemaker of this caliber? Is it a talent of your race or what?” Audrey shook her head.

“You racist! It’s not my fault! How could I know that a tunnel at the bottom of a random lake in a random forest leads to another planet? This was just… luck or bad luck, call it whatever you want,” she puffed out her cheeks.

“It doesn’t matter at this point. Except for a few drones, there was nobody left who saw you, right?” Jake asked, raising a brow.

“Yes, nobody we know of,” Dred replied, raising his right paw.

“Well, one side will definitely like you. The other will probably hate you if they ever find out, though I don’t know what you plan to do with this new planet,” Jake crossed his arms in front of his chest, looking out the window.

“I don’t have any plan. I intend to go towards the capital as I said before. I am chased by the guard captain and a whole city already. I don’t need a whole empire right off the bat. Once I get into the ranks of King Atelon I can easily kill the bad guys,” she reasoned beside leaving. “We will stay here for a few days and make a carriage, pile up food and materials. Once we are done, we can leave and move towards the capital city.”

“That sounds good,” Jake said with a smile on his face.

Elena was about to continue explaining when she felt somebody using Dark Magic in her surroundings. “We’ve got a stupid rat who doesn’t know who darkness belongs to,” she said with a chuckle.

“Don’t move around,” Audrey rebuked her, grabbing her left leg. Thanks to continuous healing, her broken leg almost healed. It would hurt for a few days if not treated, but she should be able to walk on it.

“Ouch… okay.”

Acton crept to the wall of the cabin and rested his back on it. Closing his eyes, he focused on his control over his Mana and his targets’ conversation. Elena was barely able to hold back her laughter since she clearly felt everything Acton did.

“Hahaha, Ancestor, save this guy. It’s ridiculous! I’m sorry, but I can’t hold it back. He is using Dark Magic to hide from me, a being of darkness. It’s like trying to convince a mouse that the cat is her best friend!” she broke out in laughter, sensing how he was trying to move around the cabin to get a view on them.

Elena stood up from the bed and leaned out of the window. She waved at Acton, showing a bright smile on her face. The blood froze in Acton when he realized that he had been noticed. Standing up, he scratched the back of his head as he thought, How the hell should I speak to them? Is she a maniac? Does she have a high position? Does she care about hierarchy? I don’t know anything about these people, it’s no good this way, but I can’t just run away.

“I can see that you are from the other planet. What brought you here?” Jake asked as he used Shadow Step to appear behind him. Grabbing his arms, he threw him into the room through the window. Elena quickly leaned to the side and sat on the side of the bed.

Lighting started flickering and running up and down on Audrey’s right hand. Holding it towards Acton’s head, she said, “Answer his question.” Jake appeared behind him for the second time and used thick vines to tie him up. Pulling out his Uchigatana, he held its edge against Acton’s throat. “Speak,” he said with a firm tone.

Acton’s eyes were darting all over the room in his panic. He not only didn’t understand their words, he was also captured and tied up in the blink of an eye, even though he was supposed to be an elite soldier.

“Hey, hey. Stop being so pushy with him. They are using a different language,” Elena stopped her friends, seeing that Acton was starting to lose his cool.

“That’s a good point...” Audrey replied, furrowing her brows.

“I won’t risk him doing something funny,” Jake replied, tying up his hands and legs too, restricting his movements completely.

“Let go of me!” Acton spasmed on the ground, trying to break free.

“I think that he wants us to release him,” Audrey muttered in a low voice as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

“Woah, you must be a genius!” Elena teased her.

“...”

After jumping up from the bed, she squatted down in front of Acton to look into his eyes. “Fear, impatience, longing. That’s what I was feeling when I was looking into his eyes,” she said as she stood up. Looking into Jake’s eyes, she continued, “He doesn’t feel like somebody with bad intentions. You can free his arms.”

“As you wish, Elena. He doesn’t have his weapon either, so he isn’t dangerous based on what we know,” Jake replied, doing as told.

“You can object me, you know?” she remarked, tilting her head to the side.

“I know, but I trust your instincts. This isn’t because of your ‘position’. You shouldn’t bother with it anymore or it will just alienate us. Trust us as we trust you,” he answered, showing his white teeth. Nodding her head, Elena apologized.

“So why would he be impatient if he was trying to sneak up on us?” Audrey raised a brow.

“He might have a task to do, which is related to us,” Dred chimed in, catching Acton’s attention. A talking panther wasn’t a usual sight to see.

Sighing loudly, Elena hung her head, “This will be long. We’ve got to find out what he wants.”

From that point on, it turned into a game of using hand signs… Acton pointed at his tongue and the lake to show that he wanted to take them to translators, while the others tried to tell him to wait until morning by pointing at the dark sky, their bed, and mimicking sleep. It took about one hour to finally get over what each side wanted, even though they were simple things.

Still not trusting him, Jake made an earth tent outside and used stone cuffs to fix Acton in place. He started shouting when that happened, but he wasn’t strong enough to break free, though he was happy to finally sleep…

The next morning everyone took a bath in the lake separately. As Elena stomped on the ground, the stone tent went back into the earth. The light shone onto Acton’s face and woke him up.

“I won’t go anywhere with this guy. They can do their own stuff. We will do the same,” Elena remarked as she grabbed Acton’s right arm and pulled him to his feet. Untying him, she pointed towards the lake and waved her left hand, indicating that he should leave. Knowing that it would be pointless to stay this way, he nodded his head and left.

“That was pretty easy…” Audrey remarked, seeing him swimming towards the bottom of the lake. Shrugging her shoulders, Elena divided the work, and everyone left to do their tasks.

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Acton swam through the tunnel and returned to his own planet. He was happy to see that his squad was still in position, defending one of the most important spots on this battlefield. Seeing him waving his hand, nobody asked anything. It was still early in the morning, but people were already preparing for the next battle. He reached the General’s tent in a few minutes, thanks to finding a free vehicle.

After getting through the sentries, he reported everything that happened to the General. Although he felt ashamed of himself, he knew that telling everything was for the best. Just as he thought, the General reconsidered his original command and decided to invest more into the unknown Mages.

“Alright. It’s decided. We will send two of the best translators from the capital with you. Two of them can not only write but speak the ancient language too. The third one knows another ancient language. Hopefully, one of them will be able to communicate with these people. Help in preparing for the battle, and I’ll notify you when they have arrived. The king will surely agree with my decision,” he shouted, slamming on the table out of habit. Nodding his head, Acton turned around and left the tent.

Half an hour later, he was notified of the translators’ arrival. After giving them oxygen filters, they left towards the tunnel. With the help of a thick rope, which Acton prepared beforehand, they just had to climb up. Swimming to the shore with his new gun in hand, Acton looked around. But the area was devoid of souls.

“Follow me,” he whispered, walking towards the cabin Elena and her friends had built. He looked through the window, but couldn’t find them. “Wait here,” he said as he jumped into the small wooden house. “Last time I didn’t have the chance to look around, but there is nothing here… They didn’t leave, did they?” he muttered in a low voice and left through the window.

“Let’s wait for the time being. If they won’t come back in an hour-” he started planning but was interrupted by a huge paw, touching his right shoulder.

He rolled back on the ground and pointed his weapon at his ‘attacker’. Dred was sitting in front of him, calmly looking back and forth among the three new people. Seeing that it was the well-behaving panther, Acton eased up.

“You understand me?” the brown-haired, skinny guy asked aloud.

“You are strange. Trying to talk to a panther,” Dred joked with him, showing his sharp teeth, which were covered in blood…

“It talked!” all three of the translators exclaimed in their native language, feeling surprised.

“But only you can understand this language… so we are useless here. Damn it! And we thought that the Triniton language would be useful in the future!” one of them exclaimed, slapping his forehead.

“Heh- I told you guys that you were learning the wrong language!” the skinny guy stuck out his chest. Pointing towards the lake, he said, “Go back to the palace. I have my notes on my computer and I have papers too in my desk. Ask the king to get access to the archives and learn it. I’m quite sure that one person won’t be enough in the future.” Although unhappy, they did as told and left. They knew that it was best to leave before the battle would start on the other side.

“Are you done chatting?” Dred interrupted the skinny guy’s thoughts, feeling annoyed by the fact, that he had no idea what they were talking about.

“Ah, yes. I’m sorry,” the skinny guy replied slowly, trying to pronounce each word.

“You suck at it, but I can understand you so it’s fine,” Dred said with a chuckle. “Now then, my name is Dred. Why are you two here again?”

Before replying, the skinny man confirmed everything with Acton. “My name Vince, and he Acton. We here to invite your- group! I don’t know what kind of… place this or how big it, and I don’t know your standings? either, so please pardon me…”

“Firstly, just speak freely. Secondly, use auxiliary verbs. Your vocabulary seems to be okay, but you will surely get into it,” Dred advised, speaking slowly so that Vince would understand it. He also added a brief introduction, hoping that Vince would remember.

“Where are? the others,” Vince asked, his brown eyes darting around.

“Good, you are learning quickly, and they will be here soon,” Dred raised his huge paw and patted Vince’s left shoulder, freaking him out. Although he used only a tiny bit of his strength, it still felt painful to Vince’s shoulder.

I’m starting to enjoy this. His fearful face is funny, Dred thought, looking at the blue sky and the leaves, which were slowly turning orange and brown colored.

“So, you looked like mercenaries or travelers and we thought, do you want to work for us?” Vince asked hurriedly, knowing that time was pressing on the other side.

“We could be, but we don’t plan to stay here or get mixed up in the matters of your planet,” Dred replied, tilting his head to the side.

“P-Planet? What do you mean?”

“Well, this is another planet and the tunnel connects our planet and your planet,” Dred replied, lying down on the ground, still reaching two-third of Vince’s height.

“Who do we have here?” Elena asked as she appeared behind Vince and ruffled his shoulder-length brown hair. Audrey and Jake came through the thick bushes in the next second, dragging big corpses of monsters behind them.

“Why are you not helping?” Audrey shouted, feeling pissed off.

“Well, your strength stat is a bit low compared to ours…” Elena thought of an excuse on the spot.

“I’m a Mage…” she pouted.

Jake grabbed the vine that was tied around the monster and took it over from her. “Let me,” he said with a smile on his face.

“Well, I won’t turn stronger from this since it’s not hard to drag this corpse even with my strength, so… thanks,” she explained herself as she handed it over.

Elena turned into a shadow and appeared beside Dred in a flash. Coiling her arm around his neck, she started to caress his soft fur. It took time for Vince to calm down and comprehend the new information he had got. Shaking his head, he focused on his task, “Please, we request you to come and help our kingdom. We give money, house, rank in turn.”

“I don’t need those, but… you?” Elena asked, looking at the others.

“Nah, I’m good,” Audrey replied, followed by Jake, “Same here. Well, if they can make Audrey into my-” his lips got covered by Audrey’s hand.

“Don’t talk about that kind of thing now,” she said.

“Lovebirds,” Elena shook her head as she chuckled.

“Why? We-” before Vince could continue, a crack appeared under Dred and Elena. Jumping back by a few meters, they landed on the ground and looked at the ground with furrowed brows. Panicking, Acton and Vince jumped over the spreading crack.

The ground started trembling and an earthquake shook the whole forest. The crack spread in a circle, surrounding the whole lake. The water slowly started to drain, leaving a huge, hollowed out area.

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