Chapter Sixteen: A Fearful Mind

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The sound of battle echoed across the Valkyr Town. Countless bodies already littered the ground, friend and foe alike. But Isaac could only clench his teeth and stay out of sight while he bided his time.

After he’d relayed the message, he’d manipulated his Shadow Discipline to wrap darkness around him so he could advance ahead of the rest. He wasn’t a part of the official raid group. No, his job was specific to his specialization, stealth.

Aiden had personally assigned the capture or assassination of the Valkyr Candidate to him, and Isaac was more than willing to fulfill that duty. However, waiting for the vanguard to reach the inner gate where the wolfish Candidate, Valkyr elites, and Angelic leader set his nerves on edge.

Especially that Angel. Every so often, she would look at where he hid within the shadows and smile, but never once did she move to accost him. With her specialty in light magic, he was sure it wouldn’t even have taken much effort to reveal him.

Just what’s going on in this camp? he idly wondered, watching as Aiden barreled over the inner gate. That’s my cue!

Now that the elites were distracted and wouldn’t pick up on his subtle movements, he slinked around them and into the central building, one on the same scope of the Town Hall back in Zion. However, this one was nothing similar.

Countless corpses hung from various positions where they’d been mounted to the wall, many in various stages of decomposition. The smell of it all nearly caused him to gag, but this was the first time he’d been in the building or his first experience with the gruesome environment.

He crept through the shadows, the building emptied aside from his target. Only the Candidate resided within the massive structure by his command, not wishing any of his own people or the Valkyr to carelessly displace or contaminate all the experiments and efforts to discover… whatever he searched for.

As Isaac made his way up the stairs to the second floor, he felt rather than saw Shadow slinking in the darkness around him. His trusty panther advanced far faster than he did. There were a few things he wanted to check out before making his way to where he knew the Candidate would be.

After seeing the compendium and hearing Aiden talk about what the Shadowborn dungeon contained, he realized he’d heard of and seen what was described elsewhere. It had taken him quite some time to remember why it all sounded so familiar, but when he understood, he knew he had a second mission for coming to the Candidate’s lair.

Each experiment, whether still living, breathing, and suffering the reality of their fates or already dead and decayed to nothing but skeletal remains, all of them had traces of strange writing carved into them in a language he couldn’t identify. At first, Isaac had thought this was just some gruesome method of torture, but hearing Aiden talk about the magical language made him realize a thing or two.

First, the building might’ve been a torture chamber, but it also may have been a laboratory hellbent on discovering the truths behind the magical language. If the wolfish Candidate had more than a basic understanding, his immoral and inhumane method of advancing his understanding with living subjects might’ve been a truthful and genuine progression of his knowledge in the pursuit of a deeper meaning of magic.

But his methodology?

Downright damning.

Second, the results of the experiments were all noted with excruciating detail. Every aspect had been recorded, from where carvings were made in the flesh, to the types of carvings, to how much Essence was imbued into each subject. Despite being an absolutely despicable monster, the Valkyr Candidate was thorough.

Something in here can be used by Aiden and Olivia to develop their understanding, but… Isaac heard cackling from the top floor, and Shadow’s prompting across their Companion bond made it hard to focus. Accepting the shared vision, he saw through the panther’s eyes. He’s back at it again…

Hanging from the walls, limbs shackled and a gag in their mouth, one of the strange wolfish folk was being carved into, the Candidate’s hand glowing with Essence. The magic cauterized most wounds as they formed, sinking deeper into the bones.

Isaac had no clue for what reason or goal the Candidate wanted to achieve, but he didn’t really have to care. He had one goal, and he’d see to it that he completed what was expected of him.

So he moved, slinking through the shadows, until he appeared next to his panther Companion. He canceled the shared vision ability and crouched forward, his daggers silently pulled into his hands by invisible strings of Essence. Every step forward caused his heart to race in his ears, overcoming the sound of explosions from the battle outside.

The shadows grew closer as he pulled with all the power he could. He could feel the massive energy building up as he held that power with every fabric of control he could maintain. Slow, silent movements carried him forward. This is what he’d trained for, his specialty, and he wouldn’t mess it up now.

He couldn’t fail now. Too much was at risk.

The Candidate leaned forward slightly, and Isaac snapped forward through the shadows. Both daggers slammed forward with the accumulated shadow magic, the torrential explosion of Essence bearing down on the Candidate.

Unlike the gummy, sludge-like consistency shadow Essence normally had, Isaac had trained, tested, and refined the current attack. The air split as the Essence formed at the tip of his blades met resistance, drowning the room in a font of darkness.

I—I can’t move! No matter how hard he tried, he was frozen in place. A paralysis effect displayed in the corner of his vision, and he clenched his teeth as he tried to override the effect and force himself forward to continue his assault. Just… What happened?!

A laugh cut through the silence, and the fog of darkness began to fade. Then, all at once, a golden shield blasted everything back, Isaac included. The wolfish Candidate had tripled in size. Similar to all the other wolfish people hanging from the wall, different marks had been carved into his flesh.

To make matters work, the amulet dangling around his neck shined brilliantly with the power of the barrier ability, its golden radiance almost blinding Isaac completely. It dulled slowly, and the barrier receded into nothingness. The milky white gem in the middle of the amulet had been reduced by a large amount, but there was still power within.

A protective item? He seethed with hatred as the wolfish man’s armor rose from where it had been discarded and floated toward the Candidate. As it did so, the sections of the armor split and magically adapted to the Candidate’s increased size, fitting snugly into place and clamping down. And adaptive armor?! I knew it was fancy and expensive, but this has got to be too much…

Realizing how screwed he was, Isaac could only bg the system to expunge the paralytic effect so he could make his getaway. With the items the Candidate had equipped, he might as well have been a walking fortress. There was no way for Isaac to get through the armor and protective enchantment. Even attempting to do so would just result in a waste of time and more risk to his own safety.

Aiden’s gonna have my ass for this, he thought, sighing internally. His heart skipped a beat as the Candidate moved towards him. If I survive, that is.

Shadow, as loyal as ever, summoned a clone to leap out from behind the Candidate with tooth and claw aimed to kill. As the golden barrier popped into place, Shadow’s true self appeared next to Isaac and body slammed him away.

The panther hissed and growled, but it was still young. Had it not used Essence to send him flying, he wouldn’t have budged. So naturally, the Candidate’s booming laughter filled the room as it considered the two of them, would-be assassins that were clearly outmatched in every way.

Retreat, Isaac commanded, feeling starting to return to his limbs. He did his best to drag himself away, coalescing shadows around him as slowly as he could. His attack had drained him of all available Essence, and regeneration was not his strong suit.

His Companion launched forward towards the magically-enhanced, psycho wolfman scientist.

I said retreat! he roared across their bond, but Shadow didn’t stop his charge. Seeing the amusement fade from the Candidate’s face and a large amount of energy charging in the armor, he tried to move, to stop what he knew would come next. Shadow, back!

The panther split into three, then six, then twelve copies of itself and bomb rushed the Candidate. Again, the golden shield popped into place. The force of the shield alone caused half the clones to dissipate. However, as the remaining clones leapt forward, the shield collapsed. The amulet flashed red, kind of like a battery out of energy, and then went still.

But even without the amulet active, the wolfish Candidate was not to be underestimated. With great speed, it slashed its armored claws in a whirlwind, blasting all the clones into shadowy residue and Shadow to the opposite side of the room from Isaac.

Get out, and do it now!

He could feel the pain, desperation, and determination in his Companion and grit his teeth. Shadow was stubborn and wouldn’t stop, not while Isaac remained. Acting as fast as he could, he drew as much energy around himself and slipped through the floor to the one below. With labored breaths and a shaky body, he pushed himself to do it again and again, wrapping the shadows around himself and slipping through until he was on the first floor.

Thirty seconds passed. In that time, he could do nothing as he felt Shadow realize he’d disappeared, filled with hope, and then had that hope crushed as the panther tried and failed to escape towards Isaac. Instead, the little panther had to escape out the window, leaving Isaac alone in the building with the wolfish Candidate.

Within half a second, the building shook and the Candidate’s voice echoed through the halls. Then, the paralysis faded. As fast as he could move, Isaac collected as much research material as he could—amounting to a few journals with various diagrams, a bunch of loose papers strewn randomly about, and some important-looking crystals—before slinking through the shadows with what little Essence he had remaining and out into the open of the Valkyr Town.

The first thing Isaac witnessed was Aiden slaughtering his way through a whole team of Elite Valkyr, but he couldn’t stop and watch in awe at the prowess of Zion’s leader and his friend. There were more important things to take care of than stand there and gawk like he’d never seen the other boy fight before.

But still, even the Valkyr can’t match him.

Which was reconfirmed when he almost instantly killed the Angelic Valkyr who doted on the wolfish Candidate, providing him with all the equipment Isaac just got screwed over by. It was perfectly reasonable for Isaac to throw a small celebratory party as he made his escape as fast as possible.

He vaulted over the inner wall, made his way to the second, and then the third and final. When he reached the top, he looked back. Aiden reengaged the Angel again, though she now had a silvery-gold glowing arm.

Then, Aiden got serious.

Shit!

Isaac’s entire body screamed in absolute fear as a presence unlike any other descended in full force. The force of a true, unmatched predator, the force in which Aiden held back at all points in time.

The effect of Apex Predator.

And the Angelic Valkyr handled it no better than Isaac, Aiden’s blade at her throat in the split second she’d faltered.

If he wasn’t trying to overcome the effects of the insane power behind that ability himself, Isaac would’ve shouted in support of Aiden as he pressed his advantage. Instantly, a blinding flash of light lit the world. Through starstruck eyes and mindnumbing terror, Isaac watched a black meteor explode right where he’d last seen the two leaders clash.

Shit! he thought for the second time. The blinding light didn’t last much longer, giving Isaac a clear view of the situation. He’s in trouble! But…

Isaac looked down at the research in his hands and back towards the building with the Candidate. He didn’t have enough energy, had failed his mission, and could only take what he had as a consolation prize.

But if Aiden were captured there, the research wouldn’t amount to much. Knowing this, Isaac knew he needed to do something, anything, to help!

He couldn’t move.

The absolute fear he felt wouldn’t let him take a step towards his friend and ally, wouldn’t let him move any direction other than away as fast as he could go. And he did go, slipping away from the Valkyr Town into the forest.

Shadow’s disapproval radiating in waves across the bond, but Isaac couldn’t fight who he was. He was a coward. That’s how he survived as long as he had. He wasn’t like Aiden and couldn’t stand on the frontlines like some warrior out of Conan or Rambo.

That’s just not me…

So he fled.

The thought to remain behind to report whatever transpired crossed his mind, but he rejected the possibility. They would all know if Aiden fell. The Valkyr would take control of Zion and its people.

Knowing that, he internally screamed and raged to go back, to defend his friend or his freedom or the freedom of the others. But no, the war raged in his mind while his body continued to move away, returning to the place it felt safe.

Zion.

His body took him home, the fear and uncertainty almost pushing him away from the conflict as fast as it could.

At some point, he found the other retreating groups. Josh’s group looked like they’d went to a tomato throwing contest, their bodies visibly dyed even in the limited luminescence provided by the moon. James’ group, on the other hand, looked like they’d seen better days.

The closer he looked, the more he realized many people had seen their last days.

Just how many did we lose for this attack? he wondered, though he refused to look back the way he’d come, the direction the sound of combat still echoed from. He’d slipped away, past the bodies of Valkyr and the people of Zion alike, and ran. Even now, people were falling in combat, and he could’ve helped or saved many, but he fled to save himself. What’s wrong with me? Why did I run? Why didn’t I do anything? It’s just fear! Why did I let it control me? Why am I still letting it control me? My power has returned enough for me to go back, but… I can’t.

I can’t…

I can’t…

I…

Can’t…

Can’t.