Seek no glory in this domain

What lies ahead, eternal pain

Sanity lost, let chaos reign

Until only dust will remain.

Translation from Effylscript found on the Vardheir Portal in Hyrfvar.

It did not take long for Kollyn to realize there was no day and night cycle in Iodigar. In fact, he wasn’t even sure if he could call the current time day. There was nothing up above except the endless ceiling and yet they could see everywhere around them as clear as day.

They ran for what felt like at least four more hours until eventually both he and Tirril had to admit they needed a full rest.

“There’s a small rock formation over there,” Tirril said and pointed. “That should be the safest place to get some rest.”

When they reached the rocks a few minutes later, Tirril motioned for him to stop.

“This is no natural formation,” she said precariously. “Those boulders have been brought here by someone.”

“Or something,” Kollyn said, noticing the strangely spherical pattern the boulders were placed in. “I’ll go around, we each approach from one side. I doubt we’ll find anything, but best to be safe.”

Tirril nodded and Kollyn moved in a large circle around the structure. Once on the other side, he began his approach counting on Tirril to do the same. Hand on sword hilt, he slowly edged closer to the boulders. They were placed in a large circle, positioned in layers so that what was in its midst could not be seen from the outside.

He reached the first boulders and found a manageable passage. To his surprise, the ground beneath his feet looked as if it had been treaded on before. Readying himself for whatever it was he would find, Kollyn drew his sword and continued through the small passage. It curved slightly, shaped so by whoever had placed the boulders, and eventually led out into the centre of the circle.

There was nobody to be seen. But there was something.

A thick, head-high obelisk stood in the very centre. When Tirril emerged from the other side, he motioned her over and pointed at the obelisk.

“Don’t touch it,” Tirril warned as she reached the obelisk as well.

“There’s Effylscript on all four sides,” Kollyn said, “but it’s almost faded. I can barely read any of it.”

“The word for chance is still readable here,” Tirril responded. “And this is the same symbol I saw on one of the rings in the Elseworld.”

Kollyn rounded the obelisk but couldn’t derive anything else from the faded script.

“What is this place?” Tirril asked.

“Your guess is as good as mine. All I know for sure is that people have been here before, there’s a clearly used path the way I walked.”

“On my side as well. I’m beginning to doubt if this place is so safe after all.”

Kollyn shrugged. “If we climb onto one of these boulders, we’ll have a nice overview of our surrounding and we’ll be largely hidden from sight.”

“I’m not looking forward to sleeping on such a hard surface,” Tirril muttered, but she didn’t object the idea.

They climbed their way up onto one of the larger boulders and positioned themselves as comfortable as possible. Kollyn lost the coin toss and readied himself for first watch while Tirril dozed off.

He took in their surroundings. They’d ran quite the distance since arriving, yet the mountains in the distance seemed not an inch closer. The plains themselves had been never changing with only the occasional river that needed crossing. There had been no trees or plants larger than the grass so far and neither had they seen any sign of fauna. If this keeps on, Kollyn wondered, how long till we run out of rations?

Only the souls, an endless line of translucent figures some eight hundred feet in the distance, had been a constant presence. The further the line stretched, the less visible the souls became until they vanished entirely. If they hadn’t been following them for several hours now, Kollyn would have assumed there were only as many souls as the ones he could currently see.

Where were they going? They’d concluded a while ago they were headed straight for the mountains, but from this distance it was nigh impossible to spot anything that was out of the ordinary. What would they find at the end of the line?

These thoughts and more raced through his mind for a while until eventually Tirril woke up and it was his turn to get some rest. In a matter of seconds, Kollyn dozed off and was fast asleep.

He found himself surrounded by eternal darkness, void of body. He had no mouth, yet he could speak, no ears yet he could hear and no eyes, yet he could see. An ancient power surrounded him. Invisible, yet clear as day. He knew this power.

“You are close.” The power reverberated. “I can sense you more vibrant than ever. Are you finally accepting? Have you perhaps traversed into Jurmheir? The boundaries keeping us apart are fading.”

Kollyn looked around with eyes that did not exist. The darkness was all-enveloping, but he could sense someone, or something, was around him.

“Who are you?” he asked despite the absence of mouth and tongue.

“You know who I am,” the power said, its voice vibrating and echoing in the infinity around them. “The real question is, are you ready to accept me? Are you ready to become what I chose you to be?”

Kollyn’s anxiety grew, and in that anxiety, he found an underlying emotion. A desire to be free again.

Free from what?

In response to Kollyn’s confusion, the power began to twist and turn in on itself, a deep sense of self-loathing and anger washing over him. It grew larger and larger, until only the rage remained.

He pushed down the rush with all his might and forced it to subdue. He’d felt this pure, destructive power once before and, too much dismay, had failed to control it. The memories of that day surfaced. Her dead eyes staring up to him...

He roared and pushed back. The power fought and raged against Kollyn’s pressure, and almost it managed to break free. It took his every drop of willpower to hold it off, but eventually it relented and became dormant yet alert.

Kollyn panted. Never had the power spoken to him. Never had it been so strong and persistent. Never had the memories been so vibrant.

Its voice was now but a whisper, gentler than it had been just moments ago. “I sense your grief as if it was my own. Know that you are not to blame. One day you will accept this truth,” it said almost apologetically. “I sense now where you are. For what it’s worth, I will help you face the dangers of Iodigar. You are no use to me dead and Feill-Dar-Lhef must be stopped. What she does is wrong, even for one of us.

“Wake, Vessel. Death is coming.”

With a start, Kollyn woke up with Tirril hovering over him. Her concerned look turned to surprise as she shied back at his sudden awakening.

“You were trashing in your sleep,” she said hesitantly. “What happened?”

“No idea,” Kollyn said truthfully. “Some sort of weird dream.”

Death is coming.

The words vibrated in his head and forced him to attention. Standing up, he did a quick check of their surroundings in search of any signs of danger.

“There!” he exclaimed and Tirril looked to where he was pointing. A singular soul was walking across the plains not too far a distance away, its step haggard and arms slightly flailing at its sides. It had a red shine to it, visible even from a distance.

“It’s headed this way,” Tirril muttered. “Whatever it is.”

The soul stopped some two hundred feet away and turned around frantically, its head swaying in all directions. Finally, it jerked one last time and stood completely still, its gaze set upon Kollyn and Tirril.

Slowly, the soul lifted an arm and pointed it towards them before letting out a deafening, high-pitched scream. When the screaming stopped, it began running towards them on all fours like a wild, unhinged beast.

Tirril stood up and drew her sword. “Haegan’s Curse, that’s a Vren!”