Excerpt from Alexan’s Third Journal, Tour of the Shadowed Depths

The difference between a beast and monster is a simple one. Beasts are creatures of instinct that are unable to utilize the aether that all living things naturally possess. A monster is a beast of instinct that has an inborn seed and uses that seed as naturally as it moves or breathes.

Linavrone is the land of shadow and is just as likely to have creatures of its associated element as any of the continents.

But why does there have to be so many snakes?

Unnammed Tal

[Idiot! Run!]

“What?” Tal mumbled to himself. The voice was strange, deep, resounding in his head.

“Is that the deep beast?” Easil shouted out in surprise, having to shout to be heard over the crashing and snarling of the two monsters.

“No!” Ouran replied, ducking back inside the shelter, “I’ve never seen anything like that.”

“We should run,” Tal spoke up.

“Are you daft!?” Nisk complained.

“That’s a good idea Tal’s got,” Ouran agreed, “The wyrm is bigger and very dangerous, and even if they do fight to a stalemate, we might get caught up in it and this wood ball won't hold. You said this place is familiar Easil?”

“Uh, yes… If we’re gonna run…” Easil looked out from the only entrance of their hiding spot, scanning around to get his bearings. “That way ahead of us is the old entrance, but we know that’s sealed and we don’t want to go that way anyways…” The crashing of the glittering black monster wrapped up in armoured white coils punctuated Easil’s point. Easil looked back at Tal for a long moment. “Ouran, you’ll need to help Tal of course, follow me.”

Tal climbed to his feet and gingerly tested his ankle. He hissed at first but found he was able to put at least some pressure on it. He tried a bit more and almost fell back to the ground, only for Ouran to catch him.

“Torn, broken?” Ouran asked as he lifted Tal’s arm over his shoulder, “Or just strained?”

“It hurts, but I don’t think it’s broken.”

“Strained, good, let’s go.”

They ducked through the opening of the shelter and followed Easil around the side. Tal hadn’t even realized they were on some sort of suspended platform until they were outside again. The group couldn’t exactly stop to look, but they were walking on a wide hollowed-out shaft of wood, and approaching what might have been someone’s house at one point. More and more of the pillar strands reached inwards from the walls of the cavity to a large building in what Tal now knew was the center of the hollow. It looked grown in place, much like the terraces of the spiral village on top of the tree.

But it was grown over and dark, any civilized life now long gone.

Easil took them around a natural pathway that led around the building and then down a ramp off to the side of it.

Tal grunted periodically when he put too much pressure on the strained ankle. Another crash, followed by a growl paired with a deep hiss stifled any potential complaints.

The hollow was a great empty sphere, but as they headed down, Tal realized he could see the main source of the blue-green light that illuminated the cavern, a glowing pool of water on the bottom. In the moment that he was looking down, things suddenly got more serious.

There was a crash, followed by a pained howl. The four-legged creature with its shining black scales flew over their heads and smashed into a wooden pillar, then fell past the ramp their group had already started descending. An orange glow lit up behind them, probably thanks to Nisk.

Nisk had remained close but silent the moment escape was decided. All of a sudden he started climbing up Tal’s backside, quickly coming to a rest on the top of the rucksack.

“Tal, channel more fire mana and feed it to me raw!”

“Nisk?” Ouran called in surprise.

“Bulbcutter Layessa can channel fire too! She and I work together often, I can use it!”

Unlike the glow torch, Tal hadn’t dropped the char wand, the pale wood was still clutched in his left hand. He reached across Ouran to grab it with his right hand, then placed the wand against one of his body’s focal points at his chest. The end of the wand stuck out past his head and Nisk grabbed it with one hand while facing backwards.

A crunching, slithering noise was coming up behind them. Tal dared a peek even as he started circulating aether to the wand. He pushed a faint tendril of burning mana out for Nisk to take, only for the gnome to seize that tendril and pull. The head of the wyrm was just coming over the ramp as Tal felt the desperate draw of mana. The feel of heat in his shoulder almost burned as Nisk dragged hard and Tal felt his hand spasm in pain. He grit his teeth to hold the link, forcing the pain away and concentrating as hard as he could.

The head of the wyrm rose above them, glaring down on the four of them. The white creature followed almost casually as they hobbled away. Ouran drew his short sword, the black mana-infused wood of the blade glinting dully in the light.

Nisk whispered furiously, his impromptu chant reinforcing the mental work of growing the spell. “Gather light and fire, spread the roots. Focus bright, a blazing torch, grow the core."

A long split tongue tasted the air as the wyrm drew its head back, it's head wobbled slightly as it rose and the sickly pale snake's eyes glinted in the odd glowing light.

"A pinprick lantern, blazing bright!" Even shouting, Nisk’s voice was small in the face of the monster. Tal could feel the white heat in his shoulder.

Even as it approached, body winding side to side, the wyrm's head drew back.

And lunged forward.

"Burn!"

A blinding, searing spear of light met the face of the wyrm. The light hit the wyrm just below its right eye and the monster twisted away, roiling as the creature attempted to escape the flesh-melting heat. Not done yet, the spear drew a smoking line across the monster's face before fading away.

The pale wyrm continued to writhe, the heat of its new burn still flaring bright. Blinded by the light of the spell, the creature rolled sideways from the ramp, splashing into the water below.

"We must keep moving!" Ouran hissed as he dragged Tal along, "Nisk has bought us a blessed moment, but now it will be enraged!"

And so they ran.

The bottom of the long ramp ended at a doorway covered with green and brown vines and roots, the light of the water underneath glittering in the wake and the ripples caused by the thrashing wyrm.

Ouran raised his ebon sword and slashed through the vines once, twice, three times. Tal pushed the severed greenery out of the way and Ouran stepped through first, pulling Tal through the opening after him and into the utter darkness of the tunnel.

A deep hiss and the sound of splashing water followed.

"The left leads upwards!" Easil shouted.

Ouran turned, following Easil’s words without hesitation. His hooves clacked on the wood, steps uneven with the weight of Tal on his shoulder. Tal could only do his best not to stumble on what he could not see.

A crash of splintering wood announced the resumption of the chase.

"Close!" Nisk called out, his voice barely audible.

Tal could hear the wyrm thumping against the walls of the tunnel. It was too quick!

"It will be on the right!" Easil called.

Ouran pulled them through a small gap in the wall. Again they escaped the weight of the scaled pale wyrm smashing into them. Shards of wood flew in after them, thrown into the chamber by the serrated scales of the wyrm.

Tal hobbled away from Ouran, taking a step into this small hollow. A shaft of light sifted down through the roots to provide dim light. The ceiling of the room was invisible to him, high as it was. Half the floor of the room was a pool of clear water and half was a snarl of roots. Extending over the water was a tree of white wood streaked with black lines. An Aether tree with colourful fruit hanging from its branches.

Most importantly, Tal saw no way out.

"Whoa there!" Ouran called out. Tal turned to see small Nisk laying in Ouran’s arms, groaning with pain. It was obvious why he'd fallen from Tal’s back. Nisk looked terrible.

The chest of Nisk’s shirt had burned away along with his sleeves leaving only the blackened cuffs of his shirt. His arms were lined with small black fissures. From within those fissures glowed the orange light typical of fire mana burn. The lines tracked up his arms to two burnt pits near his collarbones. Channeling too much unfamiliar mana had cost Nisk dearly.

The sound of the snake receding down the tunnel ceased. Then resumed. It had turned around.

Ouran set Nisk down at the water opposite the Aether tree. Tal moved beside the small gnome, casting about for anything to use as a weapon.

As Ouran moved up to take his place at the door with weapon ready Tal saw something move at the base of the tree. A round multi-coloured ball, as large as a gnomes head lay on the ground, newly fallen. As he looked, black mist seeped from the root tangle of the floor, gathering about the fruit and taking form. A beastly form resembling the wolf symbol upon the sign of the weapons carvers of home.

[Human. My vessel is broken, there is little I can do for you now.]

Tal stared dumbly at the head, then turned to look at his companions. Easil was caring for Nisk at the water. Ouran stood to the side of the door, black sword at the ready.

[They cannot hear me, only you.]

Tal looked back at the glittering onyx head, the creature's eyes as dark as the rest of it. The voice of the thing growled as it spoke, raising the hairs on the back of Tal’s neck and causing his blood to run cold.

"What do I do?" Tal whispered, his voice cracking with fear.

[I have turned the aether of this fruit to dark mana. Eat it and use the power.]

“Eat that raw? It might kill me!”

[Yes, it might. What choice do you have?]

With that, the head dissolved back into black mist, only for that mist to draw into the fruit. The fruit had visibly changed, now mottled with gray and black instead of the original riot of colour. Tal picked up the fruit. It was heavy, heavy enough to make him grunt like he was picking up a stone.

With both hands he raised it to his mouth, and hesitated.

Tal looked sideways in time to see the wyrm burst through the doorway. Ouran struck, his sword biting into the face of the wyrm, only for the weapon to be pulled from Ouran’s hands. The almost white snake pushed past Ouran and into the water, raising its head high to look at the one who dared to strike it. The sword was wedged into the armoured ridge above its left eye. Its right eye had burst, cooked by the heat of Nisk’s spear of light. A bubbling trail of burnt flesh from its eye seeped clear fluid.

Tal took a massive bite of the fruit. It was soft, making it easy to swallow. It was sweet, so much so he felt as if his teeth would rot out with one bite. It radiated mana as it slid down his throat and hit his stomach like a stone.

It was soft like the red waterball fruits that sometimes came down from the upper lake, fruits that only arrived for celebrations and always started messy, face staining eating contests. Tal jammed more into his mouth and swallowed.

The snake jerked forwards, then recoiled when Tal shouted with pain.

He dropped to the ground and spasmed with the sheer weight and pressure of the thing in his belly.

[Circulate!]

The voice of the beast was in his head! Tal did as he was told, pulling the weight of the mana out. It hit his legs first, then rose up to his chest, arms and head.

Suddenly the world was bright, yet tinged with grey. He could see all the way to the tangled ceiling of the room. Tal flopped onto his hands and knees, groaning under the unrelenting weight of the mana.

[Form it!]

"I can't!" Tal hissed back. It felt like the mana was trying to burst out of his body! He could feel the aether channels and nodes within his body as they thumped with pressure.

"Tal!" Easil shouted. "What have you done?!"

Tal threw himself sideways as the wyrm lunged. With dark-enhanced weight and strength, Tal smashed through the thin wooden wall of the chamber. There was a bloom of heat in his lower back, followed by the sudden feeling of a stone lump in his gut.

Fueled by pain and adrenaline, Tal jumped to his feet, hands raised high for what he knew was coming. The pale wyrm darted forwards, having doubled back through the larger door. As it approached Tal struck while focusing everything into his leaden hands.

Tal’s mana-infused fists smashed the wyrm's armoured head into the floor.

In the momentary silence, Easil’s voice quietly called out.

"Tal?"

End Chapter