Elias was sitting quietly on a smooth rock, staring at the small stream in front of him. Unlike his surroundings, his mind was anything but tranquil. Questions moved and pulsed around in his mind as his imagination ran wild.
Why did the new combat warrior call him?
Did he offend someone?
What could a combat warrior need from him?
His stupor was broken by a weird, otherworldly sound, as if thunder had struck right beside him. Elias however did not dare move an inch, he immediately stopped his breathing and tried to sense any movement around him.
There were myriad kinds of requim beasts after all, Elias could either run or wait, he chose to wait untill he is forced to run.
"Are you Elias Kiefer?"
Elias stayed frozen, combat warriors do not have such mystical powers, only powerful requim beasts do, who is to say that a requim beast cannot imitate human voice
Ah man my cheek is getting really really itchy
"You are a smart kid."
The voice paused for some moments, as if studying Elias's face.
"don't worry I am a priest."
Unconvinced Elias still did not move, there were two reasons for his distrust. One was that priests are quite rare even outside the woods; it would not make any sense for a priest to talk to him. Second, why would the priest lie that he was merely a combat warrior? Won't his title benefit him in a small tribe?
Elias's purple hair fluttered as he saw shadows move and change, before he could react however, he felt a sudden jolt in his body. It was like being stung by a bee; Elias jolted as the fleeting pain disappeared, before he could run he heard the mysterious sound again
"You are the heir of a false treasury of a divinity now, grow strong and find it.
You will find your father there."
A similar but much more devastating sound thundered as Elias fell to the ground; confused by the dreamlike sequence, Elias raised his head and laughed. How amusing it is, a priest or a requim beast did something to him which he could not even comprehend, then proclaimed that he is heir to the false treasury of a god and just left.
How comical!
How laughable! He had almost believed it for a second there.
After a while of waiting Elias simply left the riverbed and went straight to his sister, after all he had a plan to execute.
The orange sun swimming in the end of the horizon was long covered by the great cloud when Elias started to go through the plan once again with his sister; He was quite bitter with the waste of a whole Dawnlay for that joke of priest.
Elias stood up and stretched as his sister looked at him with a hint of confusion in her bright eyes.
"Now, enact the plan, shall we"
His sister's red eyes stared at him asking a silent question, seeing that Elias was acting oblivious to it; she simply asked
"What? You actually want to go to that pond"
"I sure do"
"Didn't you say that we are planning it for fun"
"I sure did"
"So we are not going"
"Come on, we spent so much time planning this. why would you want to waste our effort? "
…
Unnoticed, a swift shadow passed behind a man covered in bright green leaves bounded by thin vines. The man was wielding a long spear and a small knife; stationed as a guard of the pond of strength. Usually there would be more guards like him but was the festival of strength, so defenses were spread thin.
The time was of relative peace anyways so chances of an infiltration were low.
If the guard was not feeling lazy and at peace, he would have heard faint sounds of metal scrapping against a rock.
…
Elias sighed sharply as he entered the area around the pond, quickly hiding themselves in the dancing tall grass as they used animal skin to cover themself— who would like to produce the sound of leaves rustling in front of a pond with no trees in sight.
Elias's third eye widened as he saw the breathtaking pond, the pond had an extremely rich and unfathomably deep glow surrounding it. He sighed in regret for his sister who was unable to see the true beauty of the pond.
The pond's enchanting glow put Elias and his sister in a stupor,
Ah, coming here was worth it!
Going even near the pond was borderline illegal in the tribe.
Heh like he cared.
This is similar to the lights combat warriors use, but only much more ethereal and mystic, its so awe-inspiring its funny
Well Elias was not really sad about her sister not opening her third eye; He would rather have her ignorant of mystical arts and beautiful lights than have her do that gruesome ritual. Pushing ugly thoughts aside he embraced himself in the sweet smell of victory,
"Now what"
"We do something every mortal is forbidden to do, of course"
***
Is that… manifestation of death itself?
She could feel every part of her trembling under the layers and layers of animal skin; even in the chilling cold she felt damp with cold sweat and a deep sense of unease.
A slender figure was standing in front of a herd; it seemed to have no depth and was entirely black. White dots moved erratically on its black surface like twinkling stars.
Her blond hair danced in the air with the chilling breeze as the dark figure moved.
The black figure slowly raised its hand like projection towards a nearby sheep.
The ink black limb was inching closer and closer to it; as soon as it touched the sheep, the sheep disappeared without a sound. So Flieday — the girl who was frozen like ice — was finally broken from her reverie.
And she ran; with her movements jerky and her eyes franzied she ran. She quickly scooped down some ice and stuffed her mouth with it, trying her best to not slow down while sprinting.
Bitter!
She swiftly looked back hoping for the dark figure to be far away from her; but to her horror the harrowing figure was still following her. Her hair danced in the wind as color drained from her face.
The figure did not seem to move, it seemed to shorten the distance between them as if it affected space itself. Flieday was barely able to suppress the fear and think properly.
It's a new type of beast
Flieday still remembered the parade militarists did yearly with their strange beasts.
It affects space… space, space, can I use other methods to overpower it?
if I can somehow use time or energy against it… no that's futile, I just need to divert its attention
The dark figure was inching closer and closer, its chase getting more and more precise the more Flieday's movements deteriorated.
Wait, if it can only use space then
Of course there is no guarantee that the dark figure cannot manipulate or use other elements, but the world — while not fair — does give a weakness to everything, after all perfection is merely a facade. It depends on Flieday if she can use the weakness or not
The dark figure was just meters away now, Flieday took a deep breath and picked up as much snow as she could and threw it onto the dark figure. The snow disappeared instantly but Flieday did not, now merely some inches away from the dark figure she stood still, not moving an inch.
If the figure can not use energy then it should not be able to use light to see things too. The snow hopefully made it unable to perceive space for a second, now that there are no changes in space it should not sense me
Or it does not get blinded by measly snow, So Flieday did not know. To her horror the figure did not stop, undisturbed by So Flieday's desperate attempt.
It was merely a gamble anyways, she was doomed the moment a beast set its sight on her for she did not possess any beasts tamed to use, however she refused to be helpless.
The dark figure's limb reached out once again, inching closer and closer to Flieday's face.