Chapter Eleven

Alder pressed aside a slowly curling scroll and cleared the space before him, readying it for his next wonderful foray into the poorly recorded annals of  history. The library around him was filled with a few scholars in similar positions of irritation at their provided works. Mehonoris was small and as such had a limited supply of texts and documents for one to draw upon, but there he had had a hand in the goings on. He’d secured tomes from the far eastern towns, and inscribed runes from recovered walls found in desert villages. 

Here, sitting in a small alcove on the second floor of Dominas City Library, Alder found himself desperately wishing he could return home. Not to quit, just to have a decent selection to choose from! The texts that littered the walls were useless and held no more information that one could find in a basic year of study. How was he supposed to cure, or Hesta forbid dispel, some curse if there wasn’t anything to even go on! In a huff he groaned and slumped onto the table, feeling marginally defeated by ignorance.

“Not going well?” Jeann asked. She was dressed down into more casual attire, but kept an arming sword on her hip. She made her way over to the chair nearest Alders and pulled it closer to his secluded cove of incompetence.

“You could say that…” He muttered “Theres nothing here!”

“Nothing? You’ve been here one day and night, theres no way you could have gone through everything.”

“I haven’t, but my research so far has left me with very little to go by.” Alder sighed and turned to face Jeann properly. “The most helpful information i’ve gotten so far has been from the Counts own library. Something about a similar attack a few decades back.”

“Similar attack? Possession and all?” Jeann raised an eyebrow skeptically, but alder simply shrugged.

“No, just the creatures appearance. Though if they are similar enough, then that may be the case. The issue returns to the fact that I can’t find anything on it anywhere. No reports, no rumours, not even an order for more food for the surrounding taverns to accommodate the influx. So unless Old Town, Giistle Markets, Rose District, and Mist Mile refused to record or document the issue there should be something.”

“So you’re stuck?”

“No,” Alder breathed “I’m not stuck, just currently lost.”

“Right,” Jeann frowned “Well it sounds like you’re stuck, so in that case come with me.” She turned and Alder obediently rose to follow. He had little else to do, and the library wasn’t going to go anywhere.

“Where are we going?” As he passed a sprawl of clothes, Alders that had been discarded and thrown into a pile for when he would bathe and change, and retrieved his cloak. The winds of the mountains were scenting the valley Domina rested in in a cool clean air, the result was beautiful but often freezing. 

“To see Lady Elizabeth.”

“In the Keep?”

“In the lower levels. We can access the chambers through a building in Giistle nearest the Eastern Wall.” They passed a trio of muttering scholars, seeming to be in a heated debate over the existence of a certain fruit in the west. 

“Well, it can’t hurt to stop by. I need to see how bad the symptoms are and if I can even do anything.”

“Don’t resign yourself to failure yet,” Jeann chided “We know little to nothing yet, I’m sure you’ll manage well enough.”

At the entrance sat a table occupied by a elderly female Tsenfle, dressed in the attire of the Libraries Master Historian and Operator. We a quick word Alder informed the woman of his plans and when likely he would return, it was best that someone not come through and clean his work by accident, then left a silver sen sliver and trodded down the front steps to regroup with Jeann. 

The Library sat along the edge of the Rose Districts Square and had a direct view to the passing crowds in their versions of the latest fashion. The city seemed so peaceful, everyone worked and laughed without a single thought to the monster occupying their Counts Daughter, and the dangers it could wreck should it run loose again. 

The Giistle market was less of an organized grouping of shop, than it was a chaotic free for all on spacing and placement. Signs swung in the wind widely indicating stores on first floors, second floors, basements, some of which were competing merchants. The road felt narrower as the first floors supported extending boards for the next level.. The result left a normal alley feeling enclosed in a canopy of creaking woods and stomping feet. 

“Where exactly here?” Alder asked. 

“Just up ahead, there’s a tax collector in the area. Thats where we need to go.”

“A tax collector, really? They hid a secret passage there?”

“As a commoner, would you think that the small building in the middle of a busy market held anything of value within it when its entire purpose is to direct the guards on Tax days?”

“Sen, perhaps?” He offered. Jeann rolled her eyes. 

“They don’t take the Sen, they instruct the locals and lead the guards. They’re nothing.”

“I suppose,” Alder didn’t exactly agree, but there was no point in arguing with Jeann over something so trivial. 

Another ten minutes of walking through cramped alleys and packed streets, deposited the duo before the ramshackle building bearing the title “Dominia Giistle Tax Office.”. The paint had faded in spots and the chips of age were visible on the sign, but the door remained a single solid green with the letters of “Open” in the common languages. Jeann led them inside and entered into a well furnished room occupied by a Ugup-fle, one of the Stone-skin cousins of Alders own appearance. 

“Ah,” The man said, dragging the words out as he inspected the pair. “You’re the two that Count Philistine instructed to let pass.” He frowned before saying “You’re earlier than I expected.”

“Is that an issue?” Jeann asked. The Ugup-fle just sighed and rose from his chair near the rear of the room. 

“No no, just stating a fact.” He pulled a book on a rear bookshelf and the room filled momentarily with a click. The man pushed on the bookshelf and it swung back to reveal a passage lit by wavering lamps. “Knock twice when you’re back, then step back a bit so I can open it again.”

Jeann and Alder nodded their understanding before stepping past the man and through the threshold. The lamps threaten to die as the air thrown from the door closing swept past, followed by another click, only this time louder thanks to being on the actual mechanics side. Alder could spot the small set of gears, one starting no smaller than a few fingers, with the largest being nearly the size of a mans chest. They were old, and years of use showed on the exterior, but the intricate details shone through with perfect clarity. 

“These are…” Alder trailed off as he noticed the inconsistent details of the walls and their support pillars. It looked exactly like the Keeps halls had, only older and less cared for. The creatures weren’t the same and the designs on the walls that remained were of a higher complexity, but all in all it was the same. Same design, same intentions, same feelings. 

“Mhmm, same makers allegedly.” Jeann Said. “Come on, we’ve got a bit of a walk ahead of us before we reach the stairs to the cells.” 

The halls remained in their state of shamble for the entirety of their journey, even growing more decript at the door to the Lower levels stairs. While the early sides had only minor levels of degradation, the ones closest to the door were nearly gone entirely. Cracked stone and flaked chips of paint crunched beneath the pairs steady motion. 

The cells as it turned out, were an interconnected grouping of levels and halls that sprawled beneath the Keep in strange and uneven directions. They found a patrolling guard with ease, and after explaining their reasons for arriving, were led through the winding passages and into a far removed cylindrical chamber dominated at its center by a smaller Cylinder of bars.

The bars and gate to the cell gave a faint glow from the inscriptions dotting them, and bathed the sole occupant in a purple-green huegh of ever shifting colors. Inside the cell sat a young woman, Tsen-fle like her father, and garbed in the dirtiest gown of white that Alder had ever seen. It was coated in blood and dirt, torn at the right shoulder, and missing the length of the left arms sleeve entirely. Her face was hollow, eyes sunken and staring off into the distance. 

“Lady Elizabeth?” Alder said. No response. The guard left them to their work, either too busy or too uncomfortable to watch over them. Jeann leaned back against the stone wall, motioning for Alder to continue. “I’m Alder, a Pere sent by your father to help you.”

Still nothing. Alder drew closer to the bars.

“What happened to you? You look as if you had survived the fall of Hesta herself.” 

The girl said nothing. Alder stepped closer again. 

“I need to know what happened. I’m going to have to try something, but I need you to trust me.” 

She said nothing, but she turned her head slowly to face Alder. The dead stare of her near lifeless body bore into his very being, filling him with a sense of despair and dredd. 

“What are you going to do?” Jeann asked. She pressed herself from the wall and strode to his side. 

“Mindreading, of a sort.” 

“You can do that? I thought that was only for people with actual talent in those Arts.” 

Alder shot Jeann a look of annoyance and the woman retreated with a smile. 

“Look,” He started “it isn’t like how the other Arcanists do it. You’re right, usually only people with incredible skill can manage it.”

“And you’re one of those rare people?”

“No,” Alder said “I’ve only ever been able to read the minds of fish and lesser creatures.”

“Ah, so Elizabeth is a monster now, maybe she’s as dumb as a fish.” Jeann laughed “Excellent idea.”

“Well… Its the only one I have.”

“Please, by all means. Perform your dark work O’ powerful Arcanist.” Jeann knelt mockingly, giving a sign of respect that Alder felt incredibly annoyed at. 

Alder sat at the edge of the cell and reached a hand through the bars, he felt a sizzle as the barrier of magic split to allow his arm. The tear was only wide enough to fit a single arm, and shaped itself like a vertical eye slit. With a desperate thought, Alder reached within himself for the miniscule well of power he could contain. 

His well was there, as it always was, he could feel the energy flowing within and stinging the corners of his consciousness. He pushed back the familiar sensation that threatened to overwhelm him and tried to visualize a cup dragging through water. Filling to the brim, ready to be poured into something. With that feeling in place, Alder tried to extend his mind towards Elizabeth. The feeling always left him shivering, it felt as if all the warmth of his body would fade as the sensations of fuzzy thoughts spiraled around him. 

He could sense the rats and insects around them, but their minds were so direct and prime that the emotions and feelings were obvious from the surface. Jeanns mind roared into life behind him, threatening to destroy his concentration entirely, but he forced the noise away and kept listening. He kept spreading out, encompassing everything before and around. 

The cup was draining, though he willed the feeling to remain, the sense of complete control over the effort began to give way to nervous scrambling as he desperately extended the last he could offer. Just before Alder felt the despair of failure pull his heart down, he heard a strange monotone note. It wasn’t fuzz like the others, it sounded stable. It sounded comfortable. It was welcoming… It was…

Who! A womans scared voice boomed through Alders mind. Bursts of fear and panic sprinkled into his senses and he struggled to breathe through a tightening chest. Who are you! Why are you here!? Where…. Where am I?

“Are you okay?” Alder asked. He spoke the words aloud as communication mentally both ways was more than he could handle. 

I-I don’t know…. I can’t move, but I… I think I can see you… The voice sounded distant,

“I’m Alder, A Pere sent by your Father to help cure you. Do you understand?” Alder Hated to be so condescending, but the circumstances required exact language and that wasn’t something that he could do by making assumptions.

“Is she responding?” Jeann asked. Alder shh’ed her silent and refocused his mind in time to hear the response.

-ather sent you? Pere? The soldiers of the King, right? You can help me…?

“I plan to try.” Alder breathed a sigh of relief. She was still in there, still clinging to her soul and body. “Are you the Young Lady Elizabeth?”

Yes. But only this voice, or mind… it is strange sir Alder… I can’t control my body… Something has me here, I can’t leave

“What happened to you? Do you remember where you were when you were attacked and possessed?”

I… I was in Old Town, near the Church by the Small Crown Gate. It was dark. 

“Were you alone?”

I wasn’t. I was with people… friends I think. Were going to do something for the people of Old Town. Feeding.... Something… 

“Your father mentioned you often helped the less fortunate. Was that why?”

...Yes. I was…. Helping the people of Old Town. Were going to help with the hunger and crime, but something happened. There was some disturbance near the Giistle market. We… We fled and tried to retreat to the keep, but something stopped us. I-I don’t…. 

“What? What had you? Something near Giistle and Old Town? The Old Church near the Gate?”

It grabbed and tore at us… Oh Goddess! It has me, it’s living in me! What has it made me do! What have I done?!

Elizabeths mind was screaming in fear, it was too much for Alder to focus through and without enough energy to return the connection silence returned to his mind. It was a chilling feeling, being forced form someones mind by pure emotion, so primal and forceful. He withdrew his arm and turned to Jeann, placing a hand to his head to help muddle through the crashing of nausea. 

“Well, that was so-” A grip like steel tightened around Alders neck and he felt the crushing strength on his throat. He gasped for air and struggled desperately for release. The fingers coiled like serpents around their prey, constricting and forcing the life from him with each second. 

Jeann leapt across the room and yanked the arms from their positions, snapping a bone in the process. The sound of a scream filled the room, but it was gargled by a deep bellowing echo coming from somewhere. Alder scrambled back and fell floundering to the floor, his eyes streaked tears and each cough filled his mind with burning energy. 

“W-What..” Alder wheezed, but his question was answered in the scene before him. Elizabeths body had closed the distance from the center of the chamber and had tried to strangle him. Jeann had riped the two apart and snapped one of the girls limbs. She was screaming and writhing in fits of pain, lashing arms and globs of inky miasmic goo against the Arcane barrier. 

“YOU WILL DIE!” Possessed Elizabeth screamed “YOU ALL WILL DIE A THOUSAND DEATHS! HE IS YOUR REAPER!”

She repeated the phrases in variations of the screaming tone, forcing the words to bounce off the walls and through the chambers beyond. Guards rushed into the room and readied spears at the contained girl, loosing larger and larger globs of the ink. Her body shook and bubbled in disturbing, unnatural ways, it engorged limbs to monstrous descriptions and spilled blade-like claws from its hands. 

“What do we do here Alder?!” Jeann ripped the arming sword from her hip and entered a defensive stance to protect the still collapsed Alder. 

“I don’t…” Alders throat still felt tight, and every word felt like a dagger through his lungs. “We don’t… know yet…” 

“That isn’t going to be enough if it breaks free!” 

The soldiers around the room instantly took up their trained stances and looked to Jeann, her natural aura was that of command, and in a situation so volatile it was best to rely on experience. Jeann nodded to the room and stepped back. 

“What. Do. We. DO. THEN?!”

“I Don’t know!” Alder Shouted “I’m thinking!” His mind was alight with life now that breathing could continue unabbedded, but the issue now became his ignorance on the situation. If we had any Mental Arcanists we could calm it, but the only person here who could is me. It was a foolish idea to try, if it worked and he used too much to force the effect then he could be seriously injured, if he failed… Well worst case scenario was already unfolding before his eyes, there wasn’t much worse that could be done. 

With a shaking hand Alder tried to pull anything more from himself, any drops that still danced and swirled in the cup. He needed just enough to calm whatever held Elizabeth, He could talk to her mind within, so the connection was complex. That meant she was little more than an animal currently, and if she was an animal, in theory he could make the anger subside… Probably.

“Okay, I have a plan.” Alder steadied himself on Jeanns shoulder and stood. “I’m gunna calm its emotions.”

“Again, are you sure you can do that? You’re not exactly the strong-”

“I Know!” He shouted. Alder didn’t need the doubts right now, he had enough in his own mind. “I have to try something though!”

The form of Elizabeth was slowly being swallowed by a growing pool of black goo, each limb it touched grew and became darker. Crooked legs that bended backwards cracked through the pool and lifted the figure to a growing height. The barred cell was designed for the creatures height it seemed, but the wards were failing fast. Through the cracks Alder could feel the nonexistent breeze of Ethereal Energy spilling from the holes. 

“Do it then!” Jeann yelled. The roars and screams of the monster Elizabeth nearly drowned the woman out. 

I just have to find it. Alder thought. Once more he tried to focus on filling the cup in his mind with what energy he could muster. It was far less than before, but he held the drops with dear life and stretched his mind once more. The power of the Ethereal bleed acted like a current of water forcing Alders attempts back. Each mental step felt as if he would collapse then and there, straining against the invisible force of power. 

“Elizabeth!” A man called! It was the Count, rushing through the door and nearly stumbling in the chamber. He looked to be fighting some current of air, pressing his whole body out of the room.

Is she firing something at him? Or is the Ethereal Energy just that strong… If the energy was enough to send Philistine into a straining walk, then Alder was beyond lucky for Jeanns steady frame to act as his anchor. Come on, you have to try, Come on. Come on. The spear of his mind tried to seek the gaps in the currents, but when his fifth attempt ended in his collapse, Alder felt a pang of guilt wash over. 

“I don’t think I can do it.” Alder said. Jeann did her best to lift Alder back to his feet, but the strength exerted was taking its toll, and pressure of energy didn’t help. 

“Elizabeth! STOP!” Philistine bellowed and forced a hand onto the bars. During Alder attempts the Count must have made enough progress to reach them. “Enough!”

A flash of lightning spilled from the bars and collided with the center mass of the creature within. It convulsed and spasmed before falling lifeless to the ground. The globs of black slowly sinking back into the earth and stone beneath, and leaving Elizabeth unconscious in a heap at the cells center. 

Silence fell over the surrounding guards, each looked from their left to their right as if to determine what had just saved them. Some began to rise, as the waves of crashing invisible power had sent them to the floor. Alder was similarly confused, but the encroaching embrace of sleep warmed him and beckoned his entrance. He tried to fight the heaviness overtaking him, tried to hear whatever the Count was now saying to the soldiers, but instead he found silent, inky, darkness.