Rather than rushing forward alongside Torrent as he did through certain parts of Limgrave, Onyx kept a loose hold on Torrent's reins, Melina's arms settled around his waist as they pushed into the west of the Weeping Peninsula. Given that the last time he'd been in the area had been at Irina's urgent request, much of the place was still unknown to him, he and Melina having stayed relatively close to the trail on their way back to Limgrave.
Trutfhully it wasn't too different from the region the bridge connected the peninsula to.
The darkened forest Torrent trotted them through held the same sort of wildlife, the main difference perhaps being an increased mosquito population. That could be attributed to the place's damper nature. Torrent hooves sunk into the moistened dirt with each step, the ground only a light rainfall away from becoming truly muddy.
The biggest difference by far was the lack of wind. The air wasn't dead or anything, occasional breezes rustling the foliage around them, but compared to Limgrave it wasn't a constant, at times, powerful thing. Consequently, without those winds to generally keep things cool at all hours, the place's temperature actually varied.
During the earlier hours, when the sun was out and beaming down through clouded skies, they had to contend with a humid heat that held strong for a majority of the day. It wasn't until night arrived, the sun's warm rays traded for the moon's subtle ones, that the temperature settled as it did now. The dampness of the air didn't fade, especially if the rather common bouts of rainfall had occurred beforehand, but it was significantly cooler.
Neither state stopped him from looking around.
Tribes of demihumans held up in the rubble of old ruins. Lone and, very rarely, groups of misbegotten wandering the same forest, their persistent rage still leading to reckless attacks on anything they neared. The dens of animals.
He didn't fully indulge in deep exploration but made note of it all, additions made to the map Kalé had given him. Sellen's request hadn't carried the same immediate dire need for assistance Irina's situation had called for, but she'd been desperate about the whole thing. Desperate enough to reveal the location of her real body despite their admittedly short time together.
And he was quite curious about what sort of circumstances were making her forgo her cool composure for that anxious uncertainty that'd come from her.
What would've taken quite a bit of travel at their current pace was reduced by a number of days. Between the fact that none of them had any real need for it, and Onyx no desire for it at the moment, their travels through The Weeping Peninsula pushed on throughout the nights.
As the trees and bushes came to end, they emerged from the forest line and to rounding cliffs. With time they'd be able to find a path that led up the incline, but Torrent didn't bother with anything of the sort, winds gathering around his hooves.
A bend forward.
Then a leap.
As Torrent left the ground those spectral winds turned into a powerful updraft, the three of them soaring high into the air. Far over the rounding cliffs and definitely higher than any jump Onyx himself had pulled off so far. Just like with his own mana powered leaps there was a moment of weightless before they fell, landing at the top of the cliffs that'd blocked their path.
"You're never going to stop holding out on me, right you?" Onyx questioned, patting the side of Torrent's neck as he gazed over what lied ahead.
And his interest was instantly peaked.
He'd caught sight of its golden leaves at a distance before but another minor erdtree grew out of a distant mound further inland, nearly identical to the one they'd come across in the Mistwoods. And, as he narrowed his eyes, mana further enhancing the range of his sight, he was sure he could see something massive lumbering its way through the grassy fields ahead. It was hard to say what exactly that something was with such a vast distance separating them, which only grew as it took slow, deliberate steps in the opposite direction.
There was plenty more but unless Sellen turned out to be in some desperate condition that took precedent he'd be taking a look around at all the area had to offer. Or at the very least, that tree and lumbering silhouette.
With a neigh, Torrent moved forward, taking them down towards the field of grass.
XOXO
Onyx raised his foot.
Liquid, with a distinct green coloring, dirtied his boot, all sorts of smaller stains he wasn't quite sure he wanted to know the origin of coming along for the ride. No one in their right mind, not even someone teetering on the edge of dehydration, would mistake it for something worth risking contact with. If the coloring alone wasn't enough to clue them in on something being wrong with it, the putrid scent, not far removed from a mix of rotting corpses and bile, should.
That said, the substance couldn't be completely avoided.
The green pool of liquid he stepped into surrounded a set of crumbling ruins. Like all the others it bared the trademark remains of towers, walls, and archways but all of it seemed doused in a helping of less than inviting liquid, roots growing around and between them as well.
While it didn't look much different than any other ruin that dotted the land, Sellen was here.
He could feel her. Just beneath the ground, likely in a chamber no different than the one her projection hid in, her physical body awaited.
Faint and gradually diminishing.
Honestly, he'd underestimated that woman's willpower and perhaps her pride. Faint as her presence was, barely any stronger than the projection he'd been learning from, she must've been balancing on a tightrope between life and death. A breeze, and just about every other predatory thing that prowled the Lands Between, could do her in at any moment.
Whatever she planned on giving him was secondary to making sure she survived the day.
But she wasn't alone here.
As Onyx walked forward, he drew his longsword, the Grafted Blade left with Torrent, while Melina trailed behind him, dagger sliding out of its sheath. Several odd figures emerged from behind the green tinted walls while others rose up from the pool of toxic water.
The dirty liquid leaked off the rusted cages they donned. Their arms, each possessing four covered in that same liquid, held a number of weapons. Some held four different shortswords while others held two spears in their different grasps. And some-
Familiar clicks filled the air, Onyx quick to swing his blade. With several slashes he cut apart a small barrage of arrows fired in quick succession, some of the figures holding pairs of bows. Two arms held up and aimed the weapons while the other two nocked and fired arrows in rotation, allowing for the continuous volley he was fending off.
"The archers." Onyx said as the others caged figures approached.
Melina followed his direction, rushing forward in a low sprint and dodging around the few arrows sent her way, one of the crumbling walls ascended in swift agile steps.
Those with swords and spears paid her no attention, falling upon him alone.
One slash, then another. Stabs almost in the same instant that rained upon him in quicker succession than those arrows. He parried and blocked the many blows while backpedaling. Their movements, despite being rigid and stuttery, did not lack speed and held zero hesitation, his life the primary target.
Those same movements gave away what he'd noticed from the beginning.
They gathered themselves up, heedless of whether or not their attacks damaged their allies and Onyx further back stepped, stopping just beyond the range of a spear poised to run him through as he reached for his hip. Mana flowed rapidly through his left arm as he pulled his staff up, swinging it in an arc.
A horizontal dark blue blade, born from a mix of mana and the energy produced by the staff's glintstone, cut through the crowd, some arms and weapons severed. That didn't stop or slow them, the group relentless in their pursuit. He matched that relentlessness, several more swings reducing them to a pile of severed body parts.
He returned the staff to his hip as another splash filled the air. Melina had just pulled her dagger from the center of one of the archers, already making her way back to him as she glanced around.
She stepped around the wooden limbs of those his arcs had cut apart.
These things weren't human.
Onyx met her halfway, kneeling down just enough to reach beneath one of their attacker's cage shaped armor and rip part of the cloth covering its chest. He straightened his fingers, digging into the chest and ripping away wood.
Glintstone, small and glowing, rested within the otherwise empty dark cavity.
Constructs created by the sorcerers of this land if he had to guess.
It truly was strange. First weapons that made use of magical abilities just fine on their own and now a sort of automaton that, as far as he could tell, didn't rely on a distant unseen power to maintain it. It wasn't that much of a leap for others to realize the same logic could be applied to themselves, was it?
Maybe there was something more to how this place operated that he was missing.
"I spotted a set of stairs at the ruins' center." Melina said.
Well, it's not like the answers were just going to pop into his head.
Onyx rose, following her through the toxic pool. He caught sight of the stairs she spoke of, the faint flame of torches lighting up the opening, and beckoning them in. They followed that call, Melina stepping aside to give him lead as they descended.
Roots. Thin and thick, they grew throughout the curling staircase, branching off in countless directions as if to reach everything they possibly could. The flames of the few torches still lighting the path down weren't even a threat to them, the branches so resistant to the heat that one grew directly over its embers, unbothered.
If nothing else, the Erdtree and its offshoots had a resilience that he could respect.
They reached the bottom of the steps and stepped into a chamber.
Cages, stocks, pillories, chains. The room's contents hammered its purpose as a prison of sorts into any who stepped into it.
A neglected one.
The roots were even more plentiful down here, some outright hanging from the moldy ceiling above. All the metal parts of the tools within were rusted, cages containing rotting corpses. Some had been burned to death by flames which embers still glowed within their remains.
And in the corner, stone mask hung low, robes worn and dirtied, and faint wheezing breaths drawn in, kneeled Sellen.
A frown forced its way across his face as he neared her.
His proud teacher had been brought to a kneel, arms pulled back with old metal rods driven through the palm of her hands and the stone wall behind her. That alone wouldn't have been enough to prevent escape, the crumbling structure too weak to prevent an earnest escape attempt but shining white crystals grew out from the wounds, encasing wrist and wall alike.
He stopped in front of her twitching form, all focus on the rods.
It was faint. So miniscule that there would never be any danger of death, but they were drawing a constant stream of energy from her. They would not be responsible for her end, but those rods and crystals ensured she would never gather the energy needed to break her bonds.
Her stone mask rose slightly. "It-It will do no good, I swear it…" Her voice was low, quivering just as her body was, none of the cool composure he associated with her present. Even so, the voice undeniably belonged to Sellen. "…and yet you persist, you frothing degenerates."
On the edge of death, restrained, and more than likely tortured if the blood staining parts of her clothes as well as various tools around the room were anything to go off and yet there she was. Insulting her captors and remaining steadfast despite the odds.
That was Sellen's impressive mental fortitude alright.
Kneeling, he laid down his sword. "You're not the first person to call me that."
Her shallow breaths caught in her throat. "Appre-Apprentice?" She muttered as if she didn't dare believe his presence to be genuine. "Ah, y-you came." That disbelief turned to desperate relief, her pained voice rising above her previous mutters. "I…I feared you would not. These-These desperate times take a toll on us all. I would not have blamed you for not taking this risk." She broke out in a fit of coughs and pained groans, words alone putting strain on her.
"Can't be much of an apprentice with a dead teacher." Onyx said, still looking her over. Touching the rods themselves were risky. He wasn't quite sure how they worked or how'd they'd react to his energy if any attempt was made to absorb his. He could very well end up strengthening her bonds. "And you don't look too far from that now."
"Y-Yes, it certainly feels my time here is soon to end." Sellen whispered. "That…that is why I asked you here my apprentice. Come closer." He did as she asked, leaning forward. "Y-Your hand. Place it to my chest." Again, he followed the direction, palm pressed to the dirtied robes.
"I-I entrust this to you, my apprentice. My primordial glintstone." A faint glow came to life beneath his palm as she whispered to him, his voice growing weaker. "My self. My essence." The glow intensified, Sellen's teeth grinding together as the glow made way for something else. Something intangible yet pressing heavy against his hand. "Treat it with care, my apprentice…What you hold in my very being…"
Sellen's voice trailed off, turning to agonized screams as the glowing weight began to fully emerge from her.
Her soul. Cold and infused with the essence of the sorceries she studied.
To think she would trust another with something like this. He would return that trust in full.
Onyx shifted forward, pressing his palm against her and forcing in back where it belonged.
"A-Apprentice? What…what are you…" Sellen trailed off into grunts that soon turned to outright screams, her body thrashing back and away from him.
"Focus, Sellen." Onyx said. "You can handle the pain. I know it." His assurances did nothing to ease her confusion, but her thrashing waned as his mana flowed through his arm and towards her soul.
He doubted he'd ever done as she did, but she completely given herself over to him. He was going to return that and much more.
XOXO
(A/N: Finally Sellen in the flesh.
That major milestone aside, we've got a powerstone goal this week. 200 powerstones by the end of Friday and I'll upload an extra chapter over the weekend. I was going to go with 150 but that really looks like childplay for you all to crack and I'm not going to sugar coat it. I love writing but I also love lazing around on my days off. I got to make you all work for it.
Hand over the stones if you want to put me to work. The law of equivalent exchange demands it
Now for the plug. For those who want to read ahead and/or want to show extra support, join us at patreon .com/thirdratewriter. Its a cool place? I think it is but I just might, possibly, be biased. One of these days I'll have to use it for polls or something.)