Maxwell

  “An envoy of The Baron found me today, as I was perusing some goods at a market stall in Bridgelam Row, the same place I first laid eyes upon Sarah. An unnaturally thin man, he offered me his hand to shake. I almost refused it out of fright for the potential damage I might cause with a firm grip. If he was put off by my hesitant demeanor, however, he did not show it, nor did he waste much time on further pleasantries.

  He had come to Hilfen for a simple reason; to inform me that The Baron had acquired the funds I queried about many months prior, and that his master would like to meet with me at my earliest convenience. Naturally, no such time exists, as to meet with a daemon of The Baron’s make is never a convenience, no matter how destitute or foolhardy one happens to be.

  Nevertheless, I promised the man that I would write to his master soon, which seems to have mollified him for the time being. There is no doubt in my heart, however, that The Baron will soon reach out to me again, should I fail to contact him within a fortnight at the very most. One does not ignore a man such as he, after all, no matter ones standing or reputation.” - Writings of the Sword-Saint, 2150 Post-Separation (PS).

  We passed the morning hours of the day in relative silence, lost in the quiet reverie that often follows a thoughtful discussion. I did my best to avoid making small talk as we went about our business, though the urge to do so flared strong in my chest, as I had always disliked those unsatisfying moments of silence in a conversation. Amelie seemed no less centered than before, even after our little rendezvous in the bathhouse, though that was perhaps not much of a surprise, given how very little seemed to faze her.

  True to his word, Regulus met up with us as we rode out from Taft, his jocular mood not lessened in the slightest by the preceding Husknight. If anything, he seemed more amused than he had on the evening of our first meeting, as if he had been made privy to some great secret that offered him no small amount of satisfaction. Perhaps he had spotted me and Amelie heading towards the bathhouse the night before, like a swooning couple on a romantic getaway. The thought of it brought a rising heat to my cheeks, and so I decided not to ruminate on it any longer than necessary.

  The three of us rode together for some time, speaking of small things and the weather. Regulus yet again attempted to convince Amelie to instruct me in the ways of Wielding, only to be met with curt rejection. For some reason, the raven-haired girl seemed strangely averse to the idea of acting as someone’s teacher, and so I wisely chose to hold my tongue on the matter, leaving Regulus to his struggles.

  Despite the fact that I had only known him for a grand total of two days, I found myself feeling grateful for Regulus’s company as the village of Taft slipped ever further into the horizon. His cheerful presence had the pleasant effect of breaking up any residual tension between me and Amelie, which was a welcome change of pace as far as I was concerned. Just when I thought we had hit a breakthrough during yesterday’s excursion, the invisible wall that normally separated us had seemingly come right back up again…

  It was infuriating, in more ways than one.

  Sadly, all good things must end, and so it was in Alwaar as much as anywhere else.

  “I’m afraid… this is where I leave you,” Regulus said, during a lull in conversation. We had been on the road for a good handful of hours at this point, the village of Taft drowned out beneath rolling hills and verdant trees behind us. His brown-and-black steed came to a halt as he pulled on the reins, a wistful smile upon his lips. We were standing just outside the tree-line of a grand forest, the path beyond shaded by overhanging branches.

  “So soon?” I said.

  “Yeah, well… As much as I’d like to come with you to Benadiel, I can’t leave Taft just yet,” he said. “There are still some things that need doing around here.”

  “… How do you know we are headed for Benadiel?” Amelie asked, at once suspicious.

  “Oh, please,” Regulus scoffed. “The Flame Princess herself, traveling with the bearer of the Empyrean Sigil? Come on. I’m not an idiot.”

  A remarkably unhelpful answer, as he was won’t to give.

  “Besides, you’d both be daft not to head in that direction. Last I heard, there’s people out looking for you, Amelie. Bad people. People who don’t mess around.”

  “That hardly matters,” Amelie shrugged. “I can take care of myself.”

  “Story of your life, eh?” he said. She gave a pointed huff and turned to look in a different direction.

  “Thank you for the company, Regulus,” I said, feeling a need to speak up. “And for that delicious meal you gave us a couple nights ago. I don’t think I’ve ever tasted anything quite that good before.”

  “I told you,” he grinned. “My stew has got quite the reputation.”

  “Yes, well… It was delicious,” I smiled. “So thank you.”

  “No worries. It was worth it for what I got in return,” he said. “To meet with you in person was even more delightful than I could’ve anticipated. And don’t think you’ve seen the last of me yet, either. Our paths will cross again before you know it.”

  I did not really know what to make of that statement, and so I chose to nod my head instead, before turning to look at my female companion. She had yet to say her goodbyes, despite me presenting her with the perfect excuse to do so.

  “Amelie,” Regulus said, his voice taking on a somber note. Her head twitched ever so slightly towards him at the sound of it. “Don’t go through the forest.”

  A confused frown fixed itself upon my features as Amelie suddenly spun around in the saddle, locking eyes with the old man.

  “Why not?” she asked. It did not fall as a question. More a demand for answers.

  “Don’t do it,” he said, shaking his head. “That’s all I’ll say.”

  The silence that followed was deafening in its intensity.

  “… Hm,” she said, before turning her gaze to the road ahead. “Goodbye, Regulus.”

  “Goodbye, you two,” he waved, his features displaying no discernible reaction. I waved back, though I could not say my heart was properly in it.

  I would miss that old man.

  /-0-\

  It was surprisingly nice to be camping out underneath the stars again. I had not realized it at the time, but our shared room at The Lone Blacksmith had felt strangely claustrophobic to me, with its four walls and slanted ceiling. It did not make a lot of sense, given the fact that I had spent my entire life thus far sleeping in bedrooms, but for some reason, that particular place had evoked a sense of unease in me. I had slept long, but neither deep nor well.

  Or maybe it was just that me and Amelie had been sleeping in separate beds there that had put me off. As cramped as the bedroll could sometimes feel, I had gotten used to having her close to me as I slept. The warmth of her body, the sound of her breathing… it had become my lullaby. A perpetual reminder that I was not alone, that I had someone with me whom I could trust with my life, for she had already saved it twice over.

  It was funny, really. We had bought a lot of things in Taft, small necessities that would make life on the road easier. But the one thing we had not thought to purchase, was a second bedroll. Which was, in many ways, the most obvious necessity of them all.

  Or was it a necessity? If both of us had neglected to consider it, then maybe… just maybe… we both preferred things the way they were?

  It was a dangerous thing to think. And so, I chose not to, focusing instead on the present, on the feel of her next to me. It was soothing, more so than I had ever felt it before. Already, I could feel my eyelids grow heavy, my mind still and stormless now that she was here.

  It did not take long for sleep to claim me. I welcomed it openly, and fell into a dreamless slumber.

  But then, after an indeterminate amount of time, I felt myself being pulled back from the void once more, my eyes flitting open to cloudy skies stretched over a great darkness.

  It was still nighttime. I should be asleep.

  Turning my head, I tried to make sense of my sudden wakefulness. It did not take me long to ascertain the cause. The space next to me in the bedroll was empty.

  Amelie was gone.

  A burst of adrenaline chased away the last dregs of sleep from my mind, as I flew up into a sitting position, my eyes scanning the forest around me. It was dark - very dark - and I could barely make out the contours of our little camp. The fire had long since died, the last of its embers suffocating in a mound of ash, and so I had no light to see by.

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  “Amelie…?” I tried, my voice coming out frail and timid.

  There was no response.

  “Amelie?” I tried again, with chest this time. “Where are you?”

  A dark shape moved in the corner of my eye. I swivelled around in the bedroll, heart hammering beneath my ribs.

  “Amelie?”

  “Shush!” A female voice whispered from the darkness. “Be quiet!”

  Oh thank God, I breathed to myself. The voice was instantly familiar to me. She’s still here.

  “What are you doing?” I whispered back, squinting into the blackness of the night. I could not see a damned thing.

  “Listening,” she said, creeping closer to the bedroll. At once, she was within my field of view, her body materializing from the dark like some haunted spectre. My eyes landed on the black-and-grey nightgown she had purchased in Taft the previous day, wrapped over her pale skin.

  “… What?” I blinked. “Why?”

  “Just… be quiet,” she hissed, eyes hard and narrow.

  I promptly did as told, even as confusion ran rampant in my mind. Why was she skulking about in the middle of the night, in nothing but her sleepwear? And why was she so insistent on being quiet? We were the only ones here, after all.

  Or are we?

  I ran my eyes across the woods. It was a pointless gesture. I could see naught but mist and shadow, blending together into amorphic shapes that followed no logical pattern. And so, I tried to listen instead, holding my breath as I focused on the soundscape around me.

  The wind blew a silent whisper across the terrain, stirring leaves and swaying branches. An owl let out a short hoot somewhere in the distance, followed closely by the lilting trill of some creature I could not identify. A light buzzing sounded to my right as a small insect flew past on iridescent wings.

  I turned to look at Amelie again. She stood in perfect silence, head cocked slightly to one side, listening intently to some noise or other that I was not attuned to. Her mouth was pressed into a thin line, her hands balled into fists at her sides. It was obvious that something was wrong. I just did not know what.

  It took a long time for her to break the silence. But once she did, the words that came from her caused a shiver to run down the length of my spine.

  “We are not alone,” she said. “There is something out there.”

  I swallowed hard. All of a sudden, my throat felt parched and barren. I did not know how to react, or what to do. Was I to be silent, in an attempt to mask my presence? Or was I to take action, and start packing down our things immediately?

  The decision was made for me before I could further contemplate my choices, however.

  “It is coming,” Amelie whispered, standing stock-still to my left. A quick look at her features revealed a pale face and eyes frozen wide in trepidation. And was that… a hint of fear? I had never seen her look properly scared before, not even when we had been ambushed by the Umbrals back in Galwen. The sight of it scared me more than the Husks ever had.

  A sudden cracking from the forest caused me to turn my attention back to the vacant obscurity in front of us once more, and that was when I saw it. The source of Amelie’s unease.

  The creature that came shambling out of the darkness looked, at a glance, much like a regular man. It had the proportions of a tall human male, creeping forwards with a slouched posture and drooping arms. Its head hung low towards the ground, its feet sagging with each step, as if the simple act of moving was enough to cause it great pains or exertion.

  With lumbering movements, it came ever closer, gradually revealing its features to my squinting eyes. A small wheeze of air slipped past my lips as I took in the full measure of it.

  Branches, twisted and gnarled, erupted from the creature’s sickly-green flesh at multiple points. They writhed with an insidious life of their own, wrapping themselves around its body like brown serpents, contracting and expanding at regular intervals. Its eyes, like twin splotches of ink upon a blood-tinged canvas, regarded us with clear desperation, as if calling out for help from within the mess of tree-growth. Dark lines of strange liquid ran down the length of its torso, looking like viscous paint sprayed upon its skin.

  It came to a halt some few steps from our camp, its arms and legs twitching and trembling in an irregular pattern. Its eyes remained firmly locked on us, as its mouth opened wide to reveal three rows of needle-like teeth, chunks of flesh stuck between them.

  “Do not… move…” Amelie said, her breath shallow and uneven. “It has just killed… And it is still hungry…”

  At once, I recognized the dark lines on its body for what they truly were. It was not paint, or drool. It was blood, running down its mouth and chin.

  Amelie was right. Someone had lost their life to this monster. And now, it had come for us, too.

  A cold sweat erupted across my back as I drew a loud, shivering breath past strained lips. It was not a conscious decision. My body acted of its own accord, a reflex that I was helpless to resist.

  It was also a mistake.

  The creature tensed at the sound. Its eyes locked onto me, and the twitching came to an abrupt stop.

  “Oh, no… I think it is going to-” Amelie started. She did not get to finish her sentence.

  Within the span of a heartbeat, the creature had set off into a sudden dash, racing towards me at impossible speed. I had no time to react as its hulking mass came crashing into me, knocking the air from my lungs and sending me flying backwards, tumbling across the grass. The world twisted and spun before my eyes as my body rolled, crashing into the ground in painful turns. When I at last stopped rolling, I could no longer think straight. The pain was overwhelming, casting my every thought into utter disarray.

  Somewhere in the distance, a bright flash of orange lit up the night sky, followed closely by a wave of heat that prickled against my skin. A second blast came shortly afterwards, trailed by a scream that was cut off midway through. Turning my dazed eyes in that direction, I saw the fuzzy outline of two shapes, standing close together. The larger shape was holding the smaller one up by its neck, its green-and-brown limbs showing no signs of buckling despite its thin frame.

  Amelie… I blinked, trying to clear my blurry vision. Must help… Amelie…

  As I watched, the creature let out a warbled groan, and threw Amelie to the side, much like one would a piece of discarded litter. She hit the ground hard, her head snapping backwards at the force. I tried to stand, but the world was still spinning, and a powerful nausea welled up in the pit of my stomach, forcing me to my knees.

  No… I can’t… Amelie…

  The creature turned to me, its haunting eyes still pleading. Its mouth hung open as it screamed, the sound grating against my ears.

  I had to do something. I could not kneel here and wait for death to claim me. Amelie had done too much to keep me alive for that to be my fate.

  A warm trickle of blood ran down the side of my face, and I tasted its iron-tinged scent on my tongue. Every part of my body ached; yet I forced myself up on shaky arms, my eyes watering from the pain.

  “Maxwell…” Amelie groaned from her position on the ground, barely loud enough for me to hear. “D-Don’t…”

  But how could I not? From day one, I had been nothing but a nuisance to her. A helpless child, lost in the world, with no means to protect myself from the horrors it contained. I had been scared, powerless, incompetent and weak. A pathetic excuse of a man.

  No more.

  A thousand scenes played out before my mind’s eye, taken from my time in Alwaar. The guards coming to my rescue after running away from the Husks in the forest. Rachel helping me, supporting my weight down the streets of Galwen, even though I was not injured, and she had an open wound in her leg. Amelie comforting me in the night, when I woke from terrible nightmares. The moment she told me to close my eyes as we were fleeing the Husks, and the moment I did so, knowing all too well that I would hate myself for it later.

  Every time, I had been the one in need of rescuing. The one in need of protection. The one in need of help.

  No more.

  Closing my eyes, I felt a strange sensation awaken within me. Regulus had told me that I was the bearer of the Empyrean Sigil. That I could manipulate the building blocks of the universe. And that people would chase me to the ends of the world for my power. Well… It was time to test that theory.

  No more.

  At once, I sensed a pull on my soul, a tug at my very being. My eyes, still closed, opened to the immaterial. A burning sensation erupted across my back, and my body hummed with a peculiar resonance. The sigil, carved into my flesh, came alive with a powerful roar.

  It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. Reality itself waxed and waned before me, casting the world in shades of grey.

  The plentiful Astra, imbued in the very trees around us, glowed bright upon an achromatic landscape. Like a sea of white crystal, it surrounded me on all sides. I could feel its essence calling out to me, beckoning me ever closer. It was like being reunited with an old friend. Someone who, for the longest time, had lived only in memories of the past, now brought back into the present.

  A smile spread upon my lips as I tapped into a bright vein of energy and pulled it towards me. It snaked around my arms and legs, ghosting across my skin like a summer’s breeze. And then… it entered into me, flowing through the sigil on my back. A sharp breath escaped me as I felt the Astra submerge my internal organs in a sea of divine power, filling me to the brim with vitality and strength.

  My heart pounded hale and strong in my chest. My eyelids fluttered open, shining with a radiant glow. I felt more alive than ever, my entire being a vessel for the celestial.

  In front of me, the creature approached, its three rows of teeth reflecting the light of my eyes. It had its arms out wide, as if preparing to envelop me in a hug of death. I envisioned a blade of light materializing in my hand, cutting through the monstrosity, cleaving flesh from bone. At once, I felt the power within me respond to the desire. It rushed to fulfil my wish, coursing through my veins and out into my arm and hand, filling it with a gentle warmth.

  The creature lunged, eyes wild and ferocious. I saw it coming as if from stasis, each moment slogging by at a thousandth its normal speed. The energy in my arm built ever higher, reaching towards a crescendo.

  Not yet, I thought to myself. I need more.

  The heat was becoming painful now, as the Astra strained against my skin from the inside. I was losing control of it, the stream growing to a tide. And still, I held on, refusing to let go.

  The creature was almost upon me, its arms coming down hard towards my head. The pounding in my arm sent waves of pain shooting up throughout my entire body, and a dull ache settled somewhere in the back of my skull. It was almost there now… Just a little bit more…

  I released the flood, sending it flying out through my open palm towards the creature in front of me. An array of white pinpricks exploded before my eyes as the energy assumed form, an enormous gust of wind that would tear through anything in its path. It burst forth from its human-shaped prison, slicing right through the creature’s green skin, splitting it clean in half. Then, it continued on further, way into the distance, where it shaved off a collection of trees from their trunks, before losing its momentum, and fizzling out into nothing.

  It all happened in the time it took for a man to draw a single breath.

  I felt my jaw slacken as the passage of time finally caught up with itself, and a shower of blood went up from the two halves of the creature, spraying warm liquid all over my face and body. Some of it entered my mouth and nose. It tasted of rot and corruption.

  Behind the corpse, three oak trees creaked and fell, crashing into their neighbors in a thunderous cacophony of noise. To the side, a stupefied Amelie turned her head to stare at me, her eyes wide and her mouth open.

  And then… my right arm exploded in a red mist, pieces of flesh scattering across the grass.

  I furrowed my eyebrows. What was that strange feeling? I looked down at the bloodied stump extending from my shoulder, where a white bone was peeking out from beneath strips of mangled skin. I felt no pain, as my mind could not comprehend what had just transpired. A confused frown marred my features as I looked up at Amelie again, who had gotten back to her feet and was rushing towards me.

  “Oh, Stonefather!” she screamed. “Maxwell!”

  I felt a slight cough force its way up my throat. And then, the pain hit me all at once, and my brain promptly shut itself off to prevent my fragile mind from venturing into the depths of insanity.

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