Excerpt from Alexan’s First Journal, Tour of the Shining Lands.

Learning to channel aether into light mana has been a painful return to the days of my childhood. The novice level spells of light cost little to create and maintain, but when attempting great works, the burden increases greatly. As always, being unfamiliar with the element of light makes every effort all the more dangerous.

There is a careful balance that can be struck to avoid irreversible damage of overusing elemental mana. It is a balance I am intimately familiar with.

It has been awhile since I have burnt my channels so badly, I didn’t enjoy leaking pure blood like a sieve then, and I don’t enjoy it now. Fortunately, I am accustomed to the pain.

Unnammed Tal

Shadow seeped from his hands and out the sides of the wyrm's mouth. Momentarily stunned, the white snake stopped in place

"Tal?" Easil asked, voice weak with worry and fear.

[The sword!]

Tal moved at the same time as the wyrm. His hand closed around the grip of the ebonwood sword and the wyrm pulled away, causing the sword to come loose from the face of the monster.

Tal groaned and bent over as another wave of pressure radiated from the stone in his belly and he quickly resumed the mental effort of pushing the mana through his body. The suddenly unnaturally heavy sword dropped to the ground with a thunk, sticking into the softer wood of the tunnel floor.

"Tal!" Easil shouted.

He looked up and Tal blanched as the snake rose above him. He tugged on the sword. It shifted, but Tal only pulled himself towards Ouran’s embedded weapon.

A hard bullet of darkness flew out and bounced off the tip of the wyrm's nose. Ineffectual, but it hit a snout already tender from Tal’s blow, more than enough to distract the monster. The dark bullet thudded to the floor between Tal and the wyrm.

Ouran stood on the tunnel side of the hole Tal had made, recovering from his bad throw. His hands were coated with shining black liquid.

Realizing it was still there, Tal lunged and picked up the black ball, his hands closing around a slimy and spiky core within a dark smog. It was the pit of the aether fruit, still packed to the brim with mana.

Tal pushed some of the leaden mana in his channels into the pit, feeling the thing turn heavier in his grip. As he did so, Tal drew it back and threw the pit with all his strength. He could feel the weight of the mana in his hand depart.

Unlike Ouran, Tal was a good throw. Unlike Ouran, Tal hit the snake's nose on purpose.

It hissed a deep, leaden scream and recoiled back, smashing into the wall behind the pool. Smoke poured from the wound, the pit that had sunk into its flesh.

Ouran ran up and grunted as he levered his sword out of the wood. There was a creak of wood on wood and it came out with a shout from the Erlkin.

Tal fell to his knees as another wave of pain hit him, coupled with a surge of nausea right behind it. Desperately he started pushing the mana around once again. It was so much more than he expected!

The wyrm thrashed, tangled in the roots and shattered wall of the chamber. Ouran shouted as he took a heavy swipe at a passing coil, the sword biting deep in with greater sharpness and weight than it had possessed before.

The wyrm whipped back, huge armoured mouth snapping with a massive clack on empty air. Ouran didn’t miss the chance given to him by the monster, bringing his sword into play with an upswing that took a chunk out of the wyrm’s neck.

Shouting echoed from up the hall, new voices unfamiliar with Tal and heavy with authority and tension. Two sets of legs placed themselves between Tal and the Wym, extended hands firing bullets of heavy dark mana at the wyrm. A third individual crouched next to Tal. He could barely concentrate on them, an elder Erlkin with a severe expression. Hair deep ebony and seeping shadow, with horns curling around his temples and then pointing straight up. Tal glanced at him and then broke eye contact, consumed with circulating and radiating all the mana out of his body.

His world shrunk, concentrated on the lump of mana attempting to melt its way out of his stomach. Distant voices thundered in his ears along with the splintering of old wood and the hissing scream of a wyrm fighting for its life.

The world shrunk further yet until Tal could only hear the roaring of his own blood in his ears.

In Darkness

He came to, but slowly.

Awareness arrived, but with it came no light, nor enlightenment. But the pain was still there. The world was the deepest possible black, without even the merest spark of illumination.

Tal shifted, and groaned. He could barely even twitch without suffering for the effort.

Everything ached, but especially the major nodes at his sides, collarbones and upper arms. His primary channelling nodes all burned with pain, still swollen and thick in his channels. He moved his arms and felt the crackling of mana burnt pits shedding damaged flesh with hardened, scabbed edges grinding against themselves. And his stomach…

He’d never felt so terrible in his life.

He stared blankly into the dark, involuntarily straining his senses for anything that might be felt, heard, seen or smelt. Smell he could do, although carefully. Taking shallow breaths to avoid aggravating his body further, Tal could smell the damp and earthy scents of the deep wood around him, the old roots still carrying traces of moisture and holding onto remnants of life.

Once in his long wait he heard the gentlest rustling of a small rodent, or a large insect. Tal considered searching for it, only to flinch and groan when he started moving. The last thing his body wanted to do was move. So he concentrated on doing the only thing likely to help.

Carefully, Tal worked on gradually trickling aether through his channels. It hurt. Alot. But the effort did bring slow relief. Like exercising to work out the kinks, Tal could feel the pain coming down. For a moment he circulated a portion of the mana into his eyes, to benefit from the ability to see in darkness. The regret was instant and severe. Sure he got to see the entirety of the wooden wall he was facing, but the pain that followed in the next moment was blinding in a different way.

Coughing and spasming, Tal ceased trying to see and concentrated on slowly and steadily pushing the mana around and radiating it out anywhere that didn’t hurt too much.

Slowly. As long as he didn’t move. Dear Gods and Incarnates both, as long as he didn’t move. Forever passed, each moment pulled taut by the pain in his body.

Somehow, he fell back to sleep.

Tal wouldn't have believed he'd fallen asleep, but he’d heard something. It was the hearing that woke him up. Although he was unsure of what had garnered his attention. While he’d managed to maintain the trickling circulation of raw aether through his channels through pure practice, he’d otherwise been gone to the world.

He puzzled over what had drawn him awake, Tal still felt exhausted, still racked with pain.

Then it clicked. Or clopped.

Tal could hear the sound of hooves clacking on the dull wooden floor of the Deepwood tunnels.

The approach was slow, seemingly slower yet for the pain radiating through Tal with every thump of his heart. And the sound of his heart pumping away was the only competition for the sound of those footsteps. Tal strained hard as he listened, desperate as he was for the slightest distraction.

Suddenly he realized he could see, just barely. A slight glow pulled his head around and Tal, very carefully, rolled over on the hard wooden floor. A small misshapen blob of green light floated in the air. Finally Tal could see.

Thanks to the light, Tal could see the faint outline of wooden roots extending from the floor to the invisible ceiling above. Roots that had been directed to form a wall of bars to create a natural cell. He could also see the faint outline of a face above the blob of light. A chin, lips, the nose and angular cheekbones and eyes totally hidden in shadow. Their own misty shadow, an Erlkin, although Tal's poor eyesight failed to tell him anything else.

The person crouched and the light shifted. A small slot of wood allowed them to push the glowing object into the cell.

“Where- cough, Whuh, cough, cough, Hack!” Tal tried to speak and quickly groaned as a coughing fit took over and stole any other perception of the world other than the pained wreckage of his body.

After the coughing had finally ceased and he had the presence of mind to concentrate again, the figure was long gone. All that remained was the plate of food with the glowing mushrooms and a small jug of water. Tal strained his ears, but even if the cloven hooves of the Erlkin was still in range, his own haggard breathing masked any other sounds.

Tal slowly, and very carefully, shifted onto his side from his back. Gathering his strength, Tal pushed himself onto his hands and knees. He gasped as a sharp pain shot through the burnt nodes near his collarbones and he felt one crack. Or at least, he felt the results of the scabbed wound breaking open when drops of warm liquid landed on his right hand.

A careful taste test told him what he expected, not quite life blood, it lacked the unique tang. Yellowish pure blood fluids were leaking from the damaged node he'd strained during the fight.

Cold shock washed across Tal as he realized he'd forgotten all about his companions!

Easil would be worried sick about Tal! Was Ouran okay? And Nisk! The gnome would be in similar shape to Tal, but with such wicked burns!

Mushrooms, roots, bread. Just enough to sustain him. Tal felt his stomach clench, nearly rebelling as the food mixed badly with the remains of the aether fruit he’d consumed. He’d eaten poison to fight that snake. Poison that sat in the belly far longer than normal food and ate away at the fool who had dared to eat of it.

His damaged hands shook as he shoved the food into his mouth. The hardest was the water, keeping his hands steady as he tipped the cup to his lips was its own challenge. A challenge in which he didn’t fully succeed. He used the bread to mop up what water he could. Tal couldn’t believe how hungry he was.

Food done, he went back to pushing aether.

[You are good at circulation, if only you could hold it.]

The foreign voice broke his conversation. Unfortunately for Tal his resulting frightened twitch from hearing a voice in his head resulted in a coughing fit that sent his body into painful convulsions. It didn’t speak again until Tal had gained control of himself.

[I apologize, but don’t stop circulating. You’re doing more good than you realize.]

Tal did as advised, pushing the aether about despite the pain. It still hurt, just not as much.

As the circulation resumed and the weight in his stomach lightened, Tal spoke to the voice. “You’re the-.”

[Stop,] It spoke in his mind, the sheer force of it halting Tal in mid sentence. [The darkness carries your whispering to listening ears. Speak to me not by voice but by thought.]

Thought? Tal’s confusion only increased. [Like this?] he wondered to himself, his mind reaching into the darkness aimlessly.

[I am close enough that you don’t have to send your thoughts. Simply focus on each word, one by one.]

And so he did, carefully forming the question that came to him first. [Why did you save us?]

[I have saved you, to be specific.]

That surprised Tal, but not as much as he expected. [Me? Why?]

A ripple of irritation crawled over Tal’s skin. Irritation that wasn’t his but came from a place so close to his heart that he felt it as if it was.

[The Elder continues to act against the chosen,] the voice complained, [I saved you because you are the current chosen. You are the key to the seal of the barrier.]

Tal’s concentration faltered and a fresh wave of pain radiated out. The voice remained silent until he’d resumed his efforts.

[It’s reasonable to be full of questions,] the voice spoke, [I can feel them roiling about in your mind. Think carefully on what you wish to know, when you have purged that lump of aether, you will have purged me as well.]

That certainly didn't help much, but knowing this voice was temporary didn't change Tal’s next question.

[I am the key to the seal? You mean the barrier? I can open it?]

[You may be able to open it. You can choose to renew the seal as well.]

Tal didn't miss the unspoken warning. [I 'may' be able to open the barrier… if I don't do it right I'll fail? That sounds… bad.]

[Reckless as any youth, but no fool are you I see,] the voice rippled slightly with impressed mirth. [But in truth, simply interacting with the sealstone may kill you, your life and birth blessing taken for the sake of restoring the prison.]

[Prison? Birth Blessing?]

[The six prisons of the Devourer and the chosen reborn. Pure souls of potential brought into the barriers and given a chance to shine. But Linumbra's embrace has remained shrouded for seven centuries now.]

[Those don't sound like good odds,] Tal complained.

[Perhaps not, but there are two differences between you and all the others.]

[What's that?]

[You are the first Human Latch Key to be sent here, and you, you crazy young lad, you ate me. I am the sentinel of the seal stone, and when you have rested, we can speak further.]

Tal opened his mouth to object, then had to stifle a yawn that sent him into spasms of pain. The sentinel was right, Tal was exhausted.

[Sleep well, your dreams will have what answers I can share.]

End Chapter