Chapter 4

Clive's eyes snapped open and he jolted upright with his left hand clenching his chest where his heart is supposed to be and gasping for air as if he has been underwater for long.

He looked down at his chest before looking around disoriented taking in the unfamiliar surroundings, he was standing in the middle of dense woods,surrounded by an unfamiliar environment. As a blind person his other senses had always been heightened but now with sight, everything was overwhelming. The trees towered above him, their branches reaching into the sky . The rustling of leaves and snapping of twins made him jump in fright, his heart racing.

Right before him lay nine paths each path had a different look and feel to it, a certain path looked like it was a labyrinth of twisting corridors and another path had shifting sand, all these paths were different but one stood out to clive, this path seemed to call him. 

"So this are the paths of the Pathfinders?" Clive now had a serious expression on "im guessing that path Iis the one I'm supposed to walk, and then I shall deal with Harlingen." At the last part his voice became cold.

He slowly began advancing towards the path that was calling out to him but all of a sudden dark figures emerged from the ground, the creatures infront of him gave off an eerie feeling that made his skin crawl, without warning they all lunged at him throwing their murderous claws towards him. Jumping back in fright clive decided to make a run for it

"Curse you Harlingen!curse you!" He screamed, looking back the creature's were hot on his trail, his eyes darted around as he stumbled through the dense woods. The forest's silence was broken by his loud screams as he ran for his life, taking a quick look back the creature's were gone Making himself come to a halt and almost falling over, his eyes darted around fearfully but he saw nothing out of the ordinary and right when he was about to let put a sigh a pitch black claw shot out of the ground and grabbing his leg. "N-no!" Clive screamed, thrashing wildly, trying to free himself. He clawed at the dirt, his fingers digging into the ground in a desperate attempt to hold on. But the more he struggled, the stronger their grip became.His breath came in quick, panicked gasps as fear took over. Clive tried to scream, but a large claw covered his mouth, stopping the sound. His muffled cries filled his mind as he felt himself being pulled deeper into the cold, hard ground.

Clive's vision swirled as he was dragged down the abyss by the pitch black claws. Darkness enveloped him, and it felt suffocating. Just when he thought he would be consumed entirely the grip of the claws released him and he tumbled back onto solid ground with a thud.

Groaning he slowly pushed himself up , his body hurting from the ordeal. As his vision adjusted he tried to use his other senses, this place was eerily silent and when he could finally see again he realized he was no longer in the dense living forest.but rather he found himself in a desolate landscape, the air filled with the scent of charred wood and ash. All around him the forest was nothing more than a wasteland of burnt and blackened trees, their remains jutting up in the sky like skeletal fingers.

Looking around the only thing that seemed untouch by the flame was a single , narrow path that cut through the devastion. The path was clear, against the background of the scorched earthh, as if it had been spared for a purpose. And above a crimson moon hung low, casting an eerie red glow over the land. Out of the corner of his eye he saw them—creatures of pure darkness, their forms shifting. They wandered aimlessly not even daring to spare him a glance, 

"Over here." A childlike voice called out to him from the direction of the path, turning his head that way he saw a young boy standing there dressed in black garments beckoning him to approach.

"Do not be afraid, I mean you no harm." The boy smiled at clive, still on his guard clive slowly approached the boy 

"What is this place?" He asked as he got closer to the boy, the boy seemed to study him for a while before nodding in what seemed like approval

"Oh this is your path, can't you not see? It appears this way because of the grief you feel, if only you could stop blaming yourself for things you had no control of." The boy spoke but his words were a trigger to . who immediately grabbed the boy by his garments 

"Watch your words kid, you don't know anything about me —uh." He spoke staring directly at the boy's eyes but then he noticed that the boys eyes had something moving inside of them which made him step back. 

"Actually I know you more than you know yourself, clive. Born blind to a half elden mother, your father died in the mines two years after your birth. Your mother was killed when you were seven, and you have been plotting revenge against those who murdered her. But that is not who you are really, the pryer in the shadows, that is who you are or rather you were." The boy took a step towards him but clive took two more steps backwards as he stared at the boy cautiously.

"This is the path for you, your servants have been awaiting. The path of the Shadowed veil is a hidden path created by a mighty figure of long ago, more information about the path will be available to you but only after you have crossed a threshold can information about the next rank be available to you., but there will be certain things you need to do in order to cross a threshold, certain requirements but I believe you will be able to traverse this path." The boy smiled again as he spoke, Clive could see that the boy meant him no harm so he took a deep breath and decided to ask

"Just who the hell are you?"

"Huh? Oh I'm sorry I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Zena your trusted companion." Zena spoke with a smile 

"What nonsense are you spouting kid, we have just met. Anyways tell me how do I become a pathfinder?" Clive asked calmly, 

Zena did not answer him but instead he pointed at the pathway in the middle of the destroyed forest,"You just have to start walking through there." Clive skeptical about zena's words raised a brow in doubt

"That easy?"He asked, Zena stared at him confused for a short while before bursting out in laughter "easy? Do you think the pathways to divinity is easy? You should change that mindset clive it will get you killed, traversing the pathway is only half the first step." Zena became more serious as he spoke, Clive could feel the switch in his tone so he quickly asked

"What do you mean half a step?" He was still wary of the boy since he had no clue who the boy was or where did he emerge from but he cast that aside and tried to get as much information as he can and he also realized that today he had spoken more than he had ever done since his mother was murdered. 

"The ritual is only half the step, being a pathfinder is more of a curse than a blessing. Many pathfinders have fallen to the corruption brought forth by having a mortal soul strengthen by otherworldly energies, this process known as the awakening is an unstable bridge every seeker must cross before becoming a pathfinder. Many have fallen and since their souls could not handle the change they transformed into harrowing creatures way more powerful than the defiled of the mirror realm., and the strength of these deadly creatures can also be influenced by some things that happened during the awakening process. The path is also full of trials and know that the path can reject you or even worse abandon you when you lose yourself and that is a fate worse than death, so I would advice you to follow your path and to not falter....that is all." Wirh that Zena went quiet, clive turned to the path ahead his thoughts running wild. Thinking back to tonight everything started out normal until he received that coin from Harlingen, cursing his ugly fate he began walking towards the path. 

"There's no turning back clive are you sure about this?"

"No, but I'm doing it anyways....for my mother's memory" the last part he did not say out loud.