8 - A White Beam of Light

A horrid mood surrounded Desmion as he made his way through the forest. Thoughts of unease radiated from him as he contemplated on whether his choice was the right one. In trying to force her into a corner, he did the one thing he shouldn’t have. Though the risk was a calculated one, he could not predict what would tick Amy off and what wouldn’t.

He, like most her acquaintances knew her pettiness was indeed world-class and though as annoying her guile jests could be, it was probably for the better. Though, to someone like Desmion who she had been pestering since their reunion a few nights ago, it did little to dampen his irritation. He continued his utterance of complaints behind her back quite loudly. He was alone in the forest where no one can hear him, so he was free to pour out his bitterness knowing she couldn’t see.

‘This much whining only solidifies your childishness’�"or something along those lines is probably what would’ve been said if she could hear him in this moment; which of course, would only sour his mood even further.  

‘The absolute audacity of hers to have me deal with a 2-tonne carcass in the middle of the forest!’, his temper rose only more as he went deeper in his rant. He soon noticed bulging veins of glowing white erupting though his skin; from that he knew he needed to calm himself down. His fisted hands slowly hung as he continued his trek with a blank mind.

He continued his walk down the rugged cobble-path without much occurrence after. Arriving at the mouth of Spire cave where he was greeted by a small wagon and a number of crates.

            ‘Desmion, my dear. Greetings.’, Karak greeted him with a slight bow. Though she had arrived as they discussed with the wares requested, she had no reason to be here. She had on her a business smile and from that alone he knew she was about to pull something off that he would dislike.     

He could himself erupting yet again as soon as he pieced together a hypothesis, but at this point he was just too drained to act out. Feeling a forming itch at his chest, he decides to settle this quick.

            ‘I would not be done with your part of the deal until the end of the week.’, he spoke to her in a bit of a patronizing way, as he looked at the pile of materials behind her.

            ‘Ah, no. You must be mistaken, I do not mean to intrude on your craft’, she notices his brash attitude and quickly dismantles the misunderstanding. ‘I’m here for something else or more accurately someone else. Perhaps an acquaintance of yours?’

            He quickly picks up on her true purpose just from the glint in her eyes and decides to just let the situation pass as quickly as he could.

            ‘Be quick about it.’

            Karak, quite pleased with his response offers him a delighted bow. ‘A lovely young miss came over looking for you. Is she…’, Karak trails off on her words as she shoots him a curious look.

‘A nuisance.’, Desmion responds flatly without hesitation. A single girl appeared on his mind and already he started to walk away from Karak. With a dull whisper, the crates slowly unloaded themselves from the cart and into the cave.

Looking at the crates, Karak was quite disappointed to see the first magic she would ever see from a grand magus was something as bland as this. Though, it was indeed impressive to see the spell be casted with little to no effort, it was a spell capable of being casted by most magic users if they tried hard enough.

‘The young miss told me to inform you that she is not pleased with you and that she would not be returning the book she borrowed.’, Karak held back a laugh as she watched Desmion’s steps stutter.

‘Did she talk exactly why?’, Desmion couldn’t help but inquire. He was certain she could not possibly have acted out to what had just occurred an hour ago, yet he could never be absolute about her.

‘She told me it was the two ‘miscreants’ you’ve sent her way a night ago.’, she revealed to him much to his pleasure. ‘She also came into the cave and knocked down a stone gargoyle and broke it.’, she added as she pointed at a place much deeper into the cave. She could hear a heavy sigh escape Desmion as he turns around to meet her with a tired look.

‘Is that all?’

‘Fortunately, it is.’, she answers him comfortingly with a smile.

Hearing that, Desmion fades deeper into the cave carrying the fractured statue in his arms. The mouth of the cave slowly dimmed as an invisible membrane made it seems as nothing more than an ordinary cave.

Inside the cave, it was surprisingly well lit even with the absence of any light source. The cave itself looked the part of being a proper lair befitting of a grand magus with shelves and shelves of books and stands for his staves and swords. The walls and the floors themselves were properly set in a way that one would not expect this to be a cave in the middle of the forest. The centerpiece to this cave however, was an enormous black cauldron almost as wide as Desmion is tall. 

Letting the statue down on a table, he removes his robes showing a figure more befitting a brute than a magus. His skin itself was littered with countless scars some of cuts and stabs while some of much more painful and magical origin. What was more eye-catching however, was a hole that punctured through his right lung and back. It was clear no normal human could survive with such a wound, but not only could he walk, he was able to deal with Nova with as much effort as stretch.

Looking closer at the wound, while it had already closed up, small patches of frostbite had formed around it so much so that his skin was slowly turning purple. He grabs a dagger from the table and with the wound serving as the center of the circle, he creates one with his skin as the canvas, being so careful as to not bleed even a single drop of blood.

Taking out a gold gilded scroll, he utters a spell and in the circle, the same runic alphabet as the one in the scrolls seared themselves into his skin. After the final letter was marked, the scroll crumbles into dust and his flesh turning back to a healthy color.

He grimaced at his feeble state, even more so knowing how easily his situation could be dealt with if he were to bow his head�"but of course, his pride couldn’t allow it. He looks around to see a couple missing books from his studies and shelves and lets out a tired laugh.

You seemed to have ‘borrowed’ a lot more than last time

At this point, he had his fill of stressing against Amy for the day and downs an entire bottle of wine with a single swig. Elixirs do not brew themselves after all.   

Going back to Karak, after seeing Desmion fade into the darkness of the cave, she calls her job done and takes a stroll through the forest back to the southeast gate, tossing around a gold cube she got from the girl before. She had enjoyed seeing the troubled sides of Desmion, she could not help but wonder who the girl was from before. She showed no worry even after trespassing into a grand magus’ lair and his reaction to hearing about her was definitely strange. Any other person would’ve warranted a death in Desmion’s list; Karak knew that for certain.

Hearing a howl from afar, she shakes off any musings she has to save for later. She needed to be wary of any danger she might encounter. Though, she had confidence in her own abilities to defend or flee from anything present here, she would much rather prefer to avoid danger.

Her stroll without much interference, but after being half-way there, she heard a single strike of lightning from the distance. She looked up to see even through the thick canopy the clear afternoon sky.

‘Strange, was it a spell perhaps?’

She shrugged it off as something not needing any of her concerns and continues, but from behind her, she could sense an elating power coming from the distance. It was a different power from what Desmion emitted, rather, it was the polar opposite�"it was heavenly.

She begins to run; the thought of fighting did not even cross her mind. She ran and ran, and at this speed and pace, she was certain she had lost her pursuer; not feeling its presence move since she found it. Slowing down her pace, she hears a gentle chiming of bells. Before long, a soft whisper danced around her ears and mind and before she knew it, everything she saw was white. Trying to blink, it did not change a thing as all was still a bright haze.

Some similarities can be pointed out to what Nova had experienced, yet unlike Nova where only her mouth and body was sealed, Karak’s mind became empty with even the voice in her head being ever so silent while she was still very much awake.

Not a single feeling of warmth flowed through her soul, yet her body still moved. Her eyes soon opened, the whisperings now no longer, but the Karak from before was no longer present.