Chapter 17: Whispering Vaults of Ashrest Hollow
[Lower Crags of Stonehide Pass – Dusk Shadows]
The sun had just slipped behind the broken spine of the crags, casting long shadows that danced across the cracked ravine. Jumong crouched behind a moss-slick boulder, the dried bloodfruit clutched in his fingers. A steady rhythm pounded through the earth. Not thunder—hooves.
Ashwing perched above, silent and tense. Barkhide lay coiled and still in the underbrush behind him, breathing in low, controlled intervals.
Jumong's mouth was dry. He had prepared for this.
"One bull. Young. Subadult. Alone," he whispered. "Stick to the plan. Don't panic."
His trip ropes were stretched across a narrow path, anchored to stakes wedged deep into rock. A net soaked in ground root sap—sticky and near invisible in twilight—hung above, ready to drop with the slightest trigger.
The younger Stonehide Bull stepped into the trap zone.
Monster Class Identification - Hunter's Beastiary & Class Index
Species: Lesser Stonehide (Subadult)
Classification: Class B
Threat Profile: Thick stone-like hide, blunt tusks, moderate intelligence, aggressive if startled. Weak point under neck and behind front legs. Vulnerable when charging downhill.
"Mmmmuuurggghhh..."
Its guttural growl was deep and metallic, like two grinding plates. Jumong felt it in his ribs.
He tossed the bloodfruit gently down the slope.
The bull sniffed the air. Its nostrils flared. It took the bait.
Jumong waited until both of its front legs stepped into the narrow ravine.
"Now."
He yanked the rope.
The net dropped.
The trap fell, but it wasn't perfect.
The Stonehide roared in surprise—
"RRRAAGGHHH—KUKKHHH!"
—and thrashed sideways, cracking the net bindings against a sharp boulder. Jumong lunged with a lasso line and fired an ember-tagged dart from his bracer.
The dart embedded itself behind its foreleg. A flash of orange flared.
The beast screamed again, rearing and slamming into the rock wall. The lasso loop tightened around its front limb, holding it briefly in place.
But the creature was strong.
With one violent twist, it tore loose, staggering toward Jumong.
"Back! Barkhide, shield!"
Barkhide leapt in, smashing shoulder-first into the beast's side. The two collided like falling trees.
Ashwing dove in, slashing at the bull's eyes with razor talons.
Jumong slid backward and notched another dart.
"Don't aim to kill. Wear it down. Aim for the joints."
His hands trembled, but he held his focus.
The second dart struck lower. The beast flinched, buckling on one side.
"RRMMMUUUGGGHH!!"
The wounded bull staggered, blood mixed with gray oil seeping through its hide. But it didn't fall.
Instead, it charged.
Jumong ran.
Not away—but around, drawing it through the second trapline he had laid beyond the ridge. The beast followed, bellowing rage.
He dove behind a hollow tree stump and yanked the second rope.
A heavier counterweight dropped—a bundle of bound stones—smashing into the beast's flank and knocking it sideways. It crashed onto its side, dazed.
Barkhide and Ashwing pounced.
Jumong moved fast, pulling a sealing ring from his satchel—a taming device etched with Embercraft glyphs.
He jammed it against the beast's exposed throat and activated it.
A pulse of glowing energy surged outward.
The beast twitched—
Snorted—
Struggled—
Then stilled.
Ashwing stepped back. Barkhide snarled low but didn't move.
Jumong stood over the bull, panting.
"You're mine now."
That night, Jumong sat beside the bull, now docile, its head lowered. Embercraft chains of soft firelight pulsed faintly around its limbs, a sign of partial bond.
"I'll call you Stonegrip," he said softly.
He glanced at Barkhide, who gave a huff of disapproval, then at Ashwing, who looked amused.
"No, you're not being replaced."
He looked toward the distant mountains.
"This... this is just the beginning. The world beyond Emberwatch isn't waiting for me. I'll have to carve my place with claw, string, and grit."
He tightened the strap on his bracer and fed another ember crystal into the cartridge.
Tomorrow, they would move again.
Toward the southern ruins. Toward the trail of the Black-Eyed Huntsman.
And toward whatever would try to kill them next.
---
Southern Fringe – Edge of Ashrest Hollow
Three days had passed since the taming of Stonegrip.
The forest thinned here, its trees crooked with age, their bark twisted in black ash veins. The wind whispered oddly, carrying faint echoes that didn't belong to bird nor beast.
Jumong paused at the tree line, scanning the terrain. Ashwing circled above. Barkhide padded low, tense and watchful. Stonegrip brought up the rear, heavier and slower, but unflinching.
Ahead lay a small valley swallowed by vines and fog. A crumbling archway half-buried in ivy stood like a broken tooth at its center.
"Ashrest Hollow," Jumong muttered. "This should be where the old map pointed."
He tugged the weathered scroll from his pouch, comparing the markings etched into bark.
---
From above, Ashwing saw clearer than any map.
The ruins below were not empty.
Shadows moved within the moss-covered halls, hulking and misshapen.
Grrk-krawwk.
A warning shriek echoed from Ashwing's throat, prompting Jumong to raise his eyes.
"Trouble already?"
---
The stone archway bore glyphs faded with age but recognizable to Jumong after his studies at Emberwatch.
"Old Emberseal runes... burial sigils. This place used to be a vault. Maybe a sanctuary?"
He pressed his palm to the carved stone. It felt warm.
"There's ember residue still. Faint, but recent. Someone or something's been here."
He turned to the beasts.
"We go in quiet. Barkhide, forward scout. Ashwing, eyes in the dark. Stonegrip... hold the rear."
Together, they passed the archway and stepped into the forgotten halls of Ashrest Hollow.
---
Monster Identification – Hunter's Beastiary & Class Index
Species: Graveback Thralls
Classification: Class C (Swarm)
Threat Profile: Animated bone-and-vine constructs. Low intelligence but move in packs. Vulnerable to fire and precision strikes. Often found guarding ancient ruins with ember resonance.
"Ssssskkkrrrhhh..."
"Claaaak-kaaak!"
Their skittering filled the chambers. A dozen malformed creatures with snapped bone armor and plant tendrils erupting from cracked skulls crept along the broken floor.
Jumong raised his bow and whispered.
"Barkhide, left. Ashwing, strike fast. I'll thin the middle."
He drew a triplet of Ember-Tipped Arrows.
Twang. Twang. Twang.
Each shot pierced a thrall, setting its vines ablaze. They shrieked, smoke curling from their joints.
Barkhide slammed into a pair of them, crushing their cores.
Ashwing spun from the shadows, talons precise, eyes glowing orange in the lowlight.
"No time to waste!"
The hallway beyond the swarm split into two directions. One tunnel collapsed. The other breathed faint heat.
---
They chose the right path.
Ahead was a chamber veiled in mist and glowing from beneath the floor—hexagonal tiles inscribed with shifting emberlines. At the center sat an altar, half-sunken, and a sealed iron box humming faintly.
Jumong approached cautiously.
"Ashwing, look for sigils. Barkhide, hold the flanks."
The box was old. Embercraft—but not any school he'd learned.
"This seal... it doesn't match the Emberwatch scripts. It's older. Maybe pre-Fall?"
He activated a minor flare from his bracer and tapped it gently to the lock.
A sudden whum filled the air as the lock dissolved into flickering strands of flame.
Inside the box lay:
A folded map etched on flameleaf.
A cracked crystal vial containing pale ember.
And a bracer. Old. Yet functional. Shaped for a tamer.
"A relic tamer's kit... and this... is a route. A trail northward. Ember-stamped. This might lead to another vault."
---
Jumong pocketed the relics, but not without hesitation.
"This wasn't left unguarded for nothing. Someone wanted this hidden."
Stonegrip snorted. Ashwing growled low.
Then the ground trembled.
A guttural moan, deeper than any thrall.
"RUUUUKKKKKHHHH..."
Barkhide's fur bristled.
From the shattered wall emerged a towering Graveback horror—larger than the rest, its ribcage etched in fused iron and embers glowing in its spine.
Monster Class Identification
Species: Gravehowl Warden
Classification: Class B+
Threat Profile: High resilience, moderate ember-affinity, enhanced strength. Emits disruptive resonance to weaken Embercraft users nearby.
> "KKKKUUUUURRRRGHHHHHH!"
It charged.
Jumong dropped to one knee and aimed.
"This one's not going down easy... prepare for a full fight!"
The battle had only begun.
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