It was a jarring shift.
One moment I was out in total darkness, running from a monstrous abomination, and the next I was standing before a massive campsite filled with massive bonfires. The air smelled of burning meat mixed with the horrendous stench of sweat and shit.
It was like walking through a curtain and onto a massive, unexpected audience.
All I could see were carriages, a ginormous metal cage, horses and growling dogs – both literally and figuratively. There was a strange distortion in all around them, for about a 50-metre radius. Like their surroundings weren't being properly reflected.
I didn't have time to be take it all in though as I heard the horrifying, unnatural shriek of the beast from before.
First were its claws, as they appeared from beyond what I could only call a barrier. They dug into the ground effortlessly, causing spiderweb cracks to form. Next was its elongated, bony snout, baring dirty, yellow fangs, drooling with a bounteous amount of acid saliva. Then, its jade green flames for eyes that were so firmly placed in its eye sockets that I couldn't find its eye balls.
The man holding my arms lifted me up and retreated as far back as he could.
"Archers!"
It was a single thunderous roar that seemed to manifest volleys of arrows at its command. About six archers had already fired off arrows from their bows and were already preparing another volley.
Two arrows missed, three bounced effortlessly off its snout and one landed directly in between its eyes. Unexpectedly, that was to no effect. The strands of pitch-black fur on its bony head coiled themselves around the arrow and with a swift, seemingly effortless motion, snapped the arrow's shaft.
That was when the beast finally showed itself in all its horrific glory. It easily towered over all the men here, standing at possibly 7 feet or higher. Its body looked like an improperly designed mistake. Its exposed bones groaned and cracked with each movement it took, but were forcefully kept together by rotting flesh and black fur.
Strange ooze dripped down its body in scant amounts. Perhaps it was because of the lack of a proper light source, but the creature appeared hollow, like there was nothing in it.
But that couldn't have been possible.
More volleys of arrow assaulted the creature, but all to the same effect.
The man carrying me had already made it behind ally ranks. He dropped me on the ground, then turned around quickly as he unsheathed a short sword.
"Alright ya bastards! Time ta catch us some dinner money!"
As soon as he said that, the spear combatants were already charging in, hoping to keep a relatively safe distance from the beast as they stabbed it. But much like the arrows, their spears were pointless.
Following close behind them were the melee fighters. Axes, swords and mallets, all collided with the wolf to no effect. It let out a howl, as it swiped at the combatants, but they were fast and experienced.
They managed to avoid the incoming blow and immediately went on the offensive again. This time though, one of them popped open a bottle and splashed its content on the wolf.
It snarled and glared at the man, then swiped its massive claws at him. They tore through the air, but never met him. He narrowly avoided it, beads of sweat falling down his cheeks.
Behind the beast, another man splashed it with a bottle of liquid. Possibly the same content.
It took some time, but through the mix of burning meat and shit, I could smell the liquids. It was kerosene.
My eyes widened the moment I realised what their plan was. The archers were already on it as they nocked their flaming arrows, pulling firmly on the strings.
Again, another man splashed more kerosene. It was the man who carried me to safety. But unlike the others, the beast didn't glare at him. Its gaze looked far past him, beyond the fighters, to me. Its original prey.
Then I had a thought. Perhaps, it wasn't chasing me because it needed food. That would make sense considering it ignored the corpses I left behind. It wasn't hungry. It wanted me.
The wolves never mattered. They weren't being hunted. They were in its way. What it wanted from the very start, was me.
'But, why?'
Flaming arrows whizzed through the air, barrelling towards the wolf, but they stopped mid-air. Immediately the arrows had been the shot, the wolf also howled, its voice seemed to distort the very nature of the air, turning it hard.
The arrows lost their fire and fell to the ground lifelessly. Then the wolf disappeared. It seemed to fade into the darkness.
"Palsey! Come out here, ya bastard!"
'Who's Palsey?'
Everything was so fast. If I had blinked, I would have missed it. The wolf materialised itself behind me, clawing its way out of my shadow and aiming to sever my head or perhaps dismember me. There was no time to react as a shadow flew over everybody's heads and in one swift motion, crashed into the wolf creating a bit of a dust cloud.
Once the cloud settled, I was met with the sight of claws barely an inch away from my eye, struggling to push forward. A man in a short red cloak, was currently stuck in a wrestling competition with the wolf. Although he was clearly struggling to hold back the beast, it was without a doubt, impressive that he even managed to do so.
The ground cracked under the weight of both struggling to gain the upper hand in this fight, with the wolf snapping its maw at Palsey's head and the man effortlessly avoiding each snap.
"That's not very nice, you know?", He said, then delivered a powerful head butt to the creature, stunning it a bit and causing it to falter. Using that opportunity, he punched the beast a considerable distance away.
It shook its head. The punch was effective, but somehow, I doubted it was enough to finish the job. Seeing a chance, I shot a ball of fire at the wolf. Specifically, at the kerosene on its body, igniting it. In a near instant, the wolf howled as its entire body was swallowed by the bright orange flames.
The creature rolled around, running and swinging wildly, as it shrieked in pain from the flames. But Palsey wouldn't allow its tantrum to go on further. He threw his cloak at it, and surprisingly, the cloak moved on its own, wrapping the creature's arms up and binding it, forcing it to the ground.
I quickly followed up, by forcing the ground to rise up around its legs, imprisoning it to where it stood. Still, I couldn't be sure. Just like before, it could very well disappear and reappear from my shadow. So I illuminated my surrounding, eliminating my shadow.
For a moment, I felt my heart skip a beat. I coughed up a bit of blood and the flames I created withered.
'My… mana.'
I'd been using it non stop for 2 days now. Even with how exceptional Belfry was, this was still absurd for a child.
In the end, turns out I never needed to create additional flames. Fire arrows found their way into beast's body. More bottles of kerosene were emptied, creating an even more intense flame.
In the distance, the dogs howled and the horses neighed restlessly, anxious of what was happening. The sickening scent of the burning beast – like sulphur and blood – easily overpowered any other scent from before. The heat of the flames easily overwhelmed the coolness of the evening wind.
My face was drenched and my lungs felt like they were on fire as I took in deep breaths, only staring at the beast in anticipation of another attack.
Its fur… or what I thought was fur, started to writhe about wildly. It pulled away from its body, reaching out like there was an invisible hand that would grab it.
'Huh? Is it…?', the fur wasn't reaching out wildly. It was split in two. Some tendrils reached out for Palsey, whereas the others reached out for… me. It wanted us. It was begging us to reach out to it. To save it.
From the corner of my eye, I noticed Palsey staring at me. There was a strange look in his eye. I couldn't tell what exactly it was, but I didn't like it.
Quickly, Palsey walked up to the beast and grabbed the tendrils. They faded into darkness, leaving the wolf as nothing more than rotting flesh and broken bones.
The fur… tendrils… whatever that was, had somehow morphed a regular wolf corpse into whatever the hell that monstrosity was.
I felt a rough hand on my shoulder. My neck snapped at the person.
It was the man who saved me. He had a grizzly face, with a thin pencil moustache and sharp, black eyes. His smooth, slick back hair had a reddish tint to it.
"What's yer name, kid?", He asked, as he scanned through my body.
"Belfry…", I wheezed.
He checked my face, then my arms and when his hand touched my left leg, I winced in pain. He lifted it up and observed it with a cold look in his eyes.
"Hmm, that's one nasty mark, we're gonna have ta see if there was any poison in it's claw.", He said, then stared directly at Belfry. "What were ya doing out here, kid? You travelling alone?"
My eyes bounced off the faces of all the men around me. Some had surrounded Palsey and were praising him, some were looking at the wolf corpse, some were looking at me. There were some behind me that I couldn't see.
"I… There was a massive white light and my village was destroyed. I was travelling to see my father."
"Yer travelling in the Lawless Zone by yer self? Takes a lot of balls, kid. The name's Zeb.", he said.
Zeb stared at his teammates, giving them different cues with his eyes. I couldn't understand them, but I knew something was up.
With a wound as big as the one in my leg, how tired I was plus the fact that I was almost out of mana, there was no escaping this situation. And even if I did somehow escape, I would most likely die the next time something attacked me.
Although, I wasn't so much as worried about that.
"That was some neat trick you pulled with the fire. Yer a mage, huh?"
I gulped. My head hurt and my vision blurred. My heart beat started to turn erratic as a strange weakness rapidly spread through my body.
"How about ya join us, kid? We'd love to have a mage with us.", His voice echoed in my head, as the world begun to spin. There was a loud rattling noise, like chains being dragged.
"I'm… guessing I can't say no.", I weakly responded, struggling to put the words together.
"Smart kid."
With a snap of his fingers, something cold and heavy was wrapped around my neck.
"Huh?"
Then I heard it. A voice as sweet as honey that whispered in a melodic tone.
[FE Amount requirement has been satisfied]
'This again?'
I couldn't even muster up the energy to be scared.
[Rejoice Marked One! You have been given a trial]
Trial: Hollow Theatre
Description: A merry band of performers travel. They come and they go. Never here yet always there.]
'What? The hell kind of a description is that?!'
[Sacred Hollow 'Truth Seekers' integration at 95%]