Shadows In The Firelight

The shadows are flitting about the clearing, where the fire pops and crackles gently.

Kaiza and Mina, quietly, as the faint light twined around and made their faces glow.

Between them lay the Blade of the Abyss, its edge still glinting faintly in the shadows.

The weapon hummed, as if alive.

"What do you think the hermit will tell you?" And then the silence was broken.

Mina asked, her voice low, but the question hit like a ton of bricks.

Kaiza was focused wholly on the blade. "If he's alive, he knows what to do.

But we need to be cautious. A weapon like that … that's definitely going to stand out."

The fire was hot, if one could find warmth in it, but Mina was shivering.

"So you believe that those creatures at the sanctuary were … attracted to it? "

Kaiza nodded slowly. I had set the guardians to protect it, but their corruption… the influence of the blade, perhaps… wore them down over time." That kind of power is all but never free."

Mina focused on the weapon. "And if it changes us?"

Kaiza finally looked over at her, and the lines of his face softened.

"Then we'll find another way. Whatever it is, we still move."

As night progressed, the forest started to come alive with the nighttime creatures.

Mina slept poorly, dreams starring guardians and the blade's mournful glow jostling in her head.

Kaiza stood watch, keenly sensitive to signs of danger.

The events of the day weighed heavily on him but wouldn't crush him.

A sudden rustle from the underbrush had him sitting up.

He snarled, his hand automatically going to his sword.

Now you could hear it closer, amid the mild crackle of the leaves.

"Mina," he shouted, shaking her awake. "Stay behind me."

She jolted, eyes snapping open and processing the panic that had laced his voice.

It was all magic and luck, and I had no idea how much he had planned and pinned his hopes upon.

The rustling ceased, and for a moment there was silence.

Then somebody came into the clearing. It was in shadow, the face obscured by a hood.

The air rippled around it, reality bending away from the thing.

"You," the figure said, voice muted, echoing, "are the one who hurts." "Do you know what you carry?"

Kaiza gripped his sword hard. "Who are you?"

The figure kept ignoring his question and stepped closer.

"The Blade of the Abyss should never rest in mortal hands.

It'll swallow you whole, just as it has so many before you."

Mina's voice quaked as she spoke. "If it's that dangerous, why was it in the sanctuary?

The figure turned its hooded head in her direction.

"Because it's a curse and also a weapon." Those who want it either do not know what they are getting or have no choice. Which are you?"

Kaiza came forward tentatively, sword upraised. "We're neither. The sword is just a means to a higher end. "If you're here to take it, then you're going to have to get over me."

The man laughed; the sound made Mina's spine tingle. "I do not need the blade. I intend to make sure it does not fall into the wrong hands. But tell us, warrior, what will you do with it? "

Kaiza paused, mind churning. He didn't know, the truth was, entirely.

You have but the blade to guide you. But how could he explain that to a stranger draped in mystery?

"It's none of your business," he eventually said.

The figure sighed. "So be it. But be warned: wielding the blade has a price.

"The longer you own it, the more it will extract from you."

The figure turned, disappearing into the dark and leaving Kaiza and Mina alone yet again.

The clearing was colder, as though the figure had sucked the heat from the air.

"Who was that?" Mina said, her voice too quiet for me to hear.

Kaiza drew a sword and sheathed a sword, jaw set. "I don't know.

But we can't stay here. We need to move."

They put out the fire and packed to leave.

And every place his shadow could hear the wind, the hiss of the trees was as menacing as he had ever heard it.

By morning, they arrived at a narrow ravine.

A rickety wooden bridge crossed the gap, the planks crooked and splintered. Kaiza crept the first few steps and motioned for Mina to follow.

"Careful," he said. "One wrong step and…"

Then a strong gust blew down the ravine, shaking the bridge violently.

Mina gripped the ropes, her heart racing. Midway over, we heard a sound like cracking wood.

"Kaiza!" She cried as the bridge shook violently.

"Keep moving!" he roared, as if to deny danger its due. "Don't look down!"

They sprinted across the bridge, which groaned with their weight.

As Mina had just grazed her feet towards firm earth, both ends of the frayed ropes snapped, and the bridge fell with her into the suckered air many feet below.

"I am Kaiza," he said, trying to catch his breath as he grabbed at the cliff edge and grunted as he pulled himself up.

"It was a close call," he replied, brushing dirt off of his hands.

Mina nodded, her knees trembling. "What now?"

Kaiza consulted the map. "The hermit's cave isn't far. If we just keep at it, we'll be there by sundown."

Much of the day was spent in awkward silence as they traversed the rugged terrain.

And when the sun sank below the horizon, they glanced up and found themselves in the mouth of a cave.

It was cool, and the air dripped with the smell of moss and earth.

"It's time," Kaiza said softly. "Stay close."

Their footsteps echoed softly as they stepped into the cave.

There were fungi, not your common garden variety of fungus; they had stumbled into caves, within which bioluminescent fungi that grew on the walls cast an otherworldly light.

Deeper in, they discovered the hermit, a stringy, wiry man with a long beard and piercing eyes.

He sat upon a woven mat with crossed legs, half a dozen doors on either side of him, in front of him a cart filled with crates, boxes, and barrels stacked high but held still with a narrow slot in the front to slip things in or out, on each side of him shelves filled with ancient tomes and artifacts.

"You found it," the hermit said, his eyes following the dagger strapped to Kaiza's hip.

"The Blade of the Abyss."

Kaiza nodded. "We need your help. And then how do we use that to break the curse? "

The hermit's expression darkened beyond all bearing.

"The night blade is harder to tame, however. 'You have to know where it came from in order to use it without being corrupted by it.'"

He gestured for them to sit. "Listen closely. Its blade was forged long before, in an age gone by, when gods walked amongst men on the earth.

It was forged to seal away a great evil but sullied in the process with the very darkness it was meant to entrap. Now, it is both a tool for and a jailer of war."

Mina's eyes widened. "A prison for what?"

The hermit's stare drilled deep into her eyes.

"Something that was never meant to be released. "If you are going to use the blade, you better be ready for what comes after."

Kaiza's jaw tightened. "We don't have a choice. Tell us what we need to do."

The hermit sighed and slumped his shoulders.

"Very well. But once you start down this road, you never come back.'

And when the hermit started to gesture and explain the ritual needed to bring forth the blade's power, Mina couldn't shake the feeling that somebody was watching.

The shadows in the cave shivered of their own accord, and the air grew ever chillier.

Kaiza's Blade of the Abyss throbbed dully at his side, as if it, too, was aware of the tempest swirling in the air.