Lua gazed down the tunnel, they had barely escaped the cursed mist and had managed to make it into the mines of the quarry, a path which would probably lead them into the underworld proper. The cohort cautiously went further into the darkness. As they walked, they summoned the Memories that produced light to illuminate the way.
Lua herself was at the foremost position, three essence blades hovering close as a shield, her fourth creation was a simple bright spark of essence, a glorified torch really, but it achieved the goal Lua was looking for.
Ever since mastering the first step of her Aspect Legacy she'd endeavoured to learn how to use her dormant ability in all sorts of different ways, aiming to become so overly familiar with the ability that it would take barely any concentration to do even the strangest of things.
On paper her dormant ability was incredibly simple, manipulating essence, something awakened could do naturally. But a divine aspect worked in many ways, and the vague wording of the Spell was hardly like a finite rule on what she could and couldn't do with her ability.
Raising her head, Lua stared down the dimly lit passageway, its foreboding presence easily felt. Although being as old as the ancient dark city, the mineshaft was still perfectly intact and in good condition, implying the supernatural nature of the Dream Realm and the places within.
The cohort slowly made their way down the mineshaft, delving deeper into the underworld. The group walked for a couple hours, passing multiple forks in the road, sometimes choosing the wrong ones, but they kept moving deeper and deeper.
As they travelled, the walls of the mines became more and more intricate and ornate, decorated with carvings of some long lost civilisation. At first, these carvings were strictly decorative and mostly senseless, shaped into beautiful patterns of lines and simple images. But then, slowly, something about them changed.
Lua half gazed at the carvings, reading how they spoke of an ancient civilization, bathed in sunlight. Lush forests, glistening rivers, and fields of flowers surrounded human cities built of stone.
In the next mural, the beautiful land rested under the sky that was full of stars. Suddenly, one of them fell to the ground, causing a wave of destruction to wash over the human cities. When people approached the center of the crater left behind by the falling star…
Lua turned as she watched Sunny almost stumble, his attention clearly too diverted on the carvings to walk properly. Although not particularly caring about the History of the Dream Realm, Lua had spent two and a half years stuck in this god forsaken death zone, she had grown slightly attached to it, if that was the right word. After watching Sunny try to hide her stumble, her attention turned away from the carvings.
***
Some time later, they entered a wide circular hall. In the center of it, a dark chasm opened into the depths of the mountains. Lua gazed into the deep darkness, the forbidding domain of the truly vile. She slowly looked over to her side, there were wooden ladders and platforms leading down the main shaft of the mine, as well as a system of ropes and pulleys to lower the miners and lift containers full of precious ores up. Of course, all of that had rotted and collapsed a long time ago.
With a sigh, Sunny glanced at Nephis and asked. "We are climbing down, aren't we?" Instead of answering, she simply summoned the golden rope and shrugged.
In response, Sunny's shadow darted down the cliff face and began to explore the underworld. Without wasting time, Lua simply stepped off the sear faced cliff and slid down the side, using the claws of the Blood Relic to slowly move down the hill.
Lua's boots slammed into the hard rock at the base of the cliff, looking up as she watched as Sunny descended using a hovering memory. The others were simply climbing down with the use of Nephis' rope memory.
Sunny quickly landed next to her whilst the others were still descending. Lua peered into the deep darkness, her natural night vision not even slightly piercing the darkness. She briefly considered summoning a light source, but drawing the attention of anything down here might be a horrible idea.
Her attempts to see where cut off as a loud crunch was heard under Sunny's foot. Looking over she saw his gaze piercing into the darkness. The other members of the cohort approached the ground.
This revealed what the shadow was looking at, a colossal skeleton, reminiscent of a large snake with hundreds of tiny claws growing from its belly and a terrifying, round maw. Nephis was the first one to jump down. "Guys?"
Both of them turned around at this, Sunny shook his head and spoke softly "It's dead. Nothing is moving out here."
Lua stared at the bones some more, truly thankful she didn't have to fight the damn thing, especially whilst descending down the mineshaft. For someone who was long dead, the First Lord of the Bright Castle was clearly a powerhouse, someone not to be rivaled by ordinary sleepers. 'That guy probably had a sacred aspect'
Lua missed as Sunny began walking off into the darkness, but followed when the rest of the Cohort moved. Walking through the darkness was slightly unnerving, knowing that they were teetering on entering the Underworld, Lua was especially cautious about what might happen.
After a while of walking they finally reached something, resting peacefully in the darkness was a simple campsite. A makeshift firepit was built on the rock floor, with five large stones surrounding it for the humans to sit on. A bit further, a low barricade was constructed out of the rubble, protecting the camp from unwelcomed visitors.
Slowly Effie stomped forward and plonked herself down on one of the stones. "What?" Effie tilted her head at the strange look coming from the rest of the Cohort.
The rest of the cohort quietly made their way over and sat down on the stones, a chorus of exhausted groans following. White sparks danced in the air as they dismissed their non essential memories.
Lua sat down next to Kai, the charming archer pausing slightly, an air of soft doubt radiating off of him, something Lua detected very often coming from the young man. For someone who was a world class singer before he was even 20, Kai sure was a person who suffered from quite serious self doubt.
Lua turned her head to him, her golden eyes raking over his body for just a slip second before meeting his eyes. "Kai… you shouldn't worry if you're good enough to be a part of this cohort," Lua began, Kai silently listening to her, "strength isn't why you're here, it's your will."
With those cryptic words Lua patted him on the shoulder, leaving the idol to think over her words.
***
The next day, the cohort ventured further into the tunnels of the ancient mine. No one could tell how deep underground they were exactly, but the feeling of countless tons of stone looming over their heads, ready to come crashing down and bury them under their terrible weight, was not a pleasant one.
The deeper they went into the darkness, the louder that rustle became, until finally turning into an easily discernable murmur of running water. Soon, they reached the dark shore of a wide underground river.
The running water was black as ink, but not in the way that the waves of the cursed sea had been. There was no smell of salt in the air, either. Wisps of mist were rising above the surface of the subterranean river, swirling in the silent darkness. It looked like a boundary of the Underworld.
There was a stone pillar built on the shore, and tied to it, a beautiful boat made of pale wood swayed gently on the cold black surface of the dark river.
Lua stared at the flowing black water for a moment before shutting her eyes. Cassie had previously said that no living thing should see what's on the other side, and due to Lua's innate ability, she was well within risk of accidentally looking across.
She was dragged out of her thoughts by Neph handing her part of the long golden rope, slowly each of them tied the rope round their waists. Then everyone was ready, Nephis took out six strips of cloth and a block of wax. Lighting a small white flame on her palm, she sighed and turned to Effie.
"You're first." The huntress made a complicated face, but then obediently approached their leader.
Lua followed Effie forward as they all slowly had the burnt wax put over their eyes, followed by the strips of cloth being placed over their eyes, forming makeshift blindfolds.
Lua shut her eyes as Nephis performed the procedure to her, it was a rather special case for her given her highly augmented vision, so Lua took extra steps to ensure she was rendered blind. Commanding Winter's Warmth, the snow cloak shifted forms, wrapping repeatedly over her eyes.
Being blind was a strange sensation to Lua, not because she couldn't see, but because she could still visually perceive the world around her. It was odd, like seeing just the outlines of objects or seeing everything as a fuzzy haze, almost like a smudged sketch on parchment.
Shifting her gaze to where she could 'see' Sunny, she waited for his signal. Finally it came, he led the group of staggering humans to the graceful boat, he helped them to board it and untied the rope holding it in place.
Then, Sunny found the oar and pulled on it, propelling the boat across the dark river. Soon, cold mist shrouded everything around. Lua peered into the Nothing, her perception farthing being muted, warped, and strangely hollow.
The world melted as they sailed deeper into the mist, the more it felt like they were leaving one world behind and entering another. A much darker, much more ancient, much more terrifying world. No one felt compelled to speak, so the silence was broken only by the murmur of rushing water and the creaking of the wooden oar.
Lua peered into Nothing. There were no more colors, no more souls, Nothing. More and more Lua's senses were being snuffed out. The mist, however, was not silent. It whispered through her altered sight, tendrils of impossible geometry folding just beyond perception, always on the edge of clarity.
She stared blankly into the mist for what felt like ages before the sounds of footsteps drew her attention back to the present. Twisting her head, she felt as Sunny got up and out the boat and jumped over to what Lua could only assume was a pier.
She stared at the position where she felt the Shadow, no one spoke of course, no one was in the mood to do so. A tug brought their attention to what the shadow wanted. Showly Sunny guided them forward.
The other members of the cohort had no choice but to follow him. A few seconds later, they disappeared into what Lua assumed was a tunnel, leaving the shore of the silent river behind.
The cohort moved, navigating through this more, unnatural, section of mist. Sunny paused for a moment before walking a few more steps and stopping again. Sunny remained motionless for some time. Then, he pulled on the golden rope and led the cohort further into the mist.
The cohort obediently followed, like a clutch of ducklings following their parents. Lua didn't know how long they were walking for, but it was definitely a long time. Sunny stopped, retreated a few steps then moved to Cassie, before resuming his march.
They walked further more, their footsteps echoing along Soon, the sound of rushing water reached his ears. Some time later, they came to the shore of another subterranean river. They had reached the second boundary.
The thought of them having ended up back at their starting point occurred to Lua but she quickly snuffed out the thought, not desiring to entertain the idea. But this area felt different, in a way which she could not explain, but one which was evident enough.
Sunny took up the role of guiding again, escorting the cohort over what felt like a bridge. The cohort walked on the bridge, leaving the dark maze behind. Soon, they could feel the mist surrounding them grow thinner. And at some point, it was gone.
Lua felt her sense of sight open up again, the hazy wrongness of the mist, of the Nothing, fading away and allowing her to once again properly see the environment. They crossed the river without any trouble and returned to solid ground again.
"Are we through?" Sunny said with a mildly trembling voice.
A few moments later, Cassie answered in a hesitant tone "I… I think so?"
Lua carefully scanned the environment with her rudimentary soul radar and sight before carefully removing the wax and blindfold, Winter's Warmth shifting into a cloak once again, coming to rest over the onyx of her armour.
Turning her head she gazed over the new shore that they had arrived on. Water lapped at the pebble shore, seeping into the small pebbles with each sway of the current. Off in the distance was a section of missing wall, a large tunnel visible beyond leading deeper into the festering darkness of the underworld.
'Divinity?' Lua's eyes traced the faint golden thread in front of her, the thin line almost frayed, like a worn out string of wool. 'No…. fate?' incredulous, Lua followed the path of the glimmering thread, its divine radiance muted and suppressed within the boundary they occupied.
Her gaze tracked, across the distant darkness, across the stony shore, and finally up the ivory silhouette of a peaceful skeleton, resting forlorn on this Forgotten Shore, Gazing with empty, soulless eyes across the river, towards the maze of Nothingness in which his cohort's shadows remained.
The golden thread traced round the Skelton's body, wrapping round the untainted bones, stretching out, though its back and up into where the soul core's immaterial vessel rested, and finally, curving round the brow of the skull, right where a simple but magnificent crown sat.
Lua's rose gold eyes widened as she peered into the crown, its spell weave was utterly beautiful. The ascended memory looks like a mundane, rather dull piece of simple metal, a single gem resting at the front, multiple small prongs extended upwards.
The weave of crown glowed against the dun metal of its physical form, the millions of interlocking strings, each a light with purpose, with will. Seven nodes supported this power, working in tandem to empower one singular enchantment.
Lua gazed as this, utterly captivated by the shimmering weave, missed as the golden thread of fate gradually vanished from the periphery of her senses. Her attention snapping back as Nephis slowly approached the Bright Lord's lonely skeleton.
Reaching her hand up, she grasped the crown in her gauntlets with both hands, and removed it from the Bright Lord's head. A heartbeat later, the crown suddenly broke into countless sparks of light, which then disappeared, absorbed into her soul core.
As the last spark of light disappeared, Nephis tilted her head to the side and remained silent for a few moments. Then, she lowered her gaze and said, addressing the Bright Lord "Thank you."
Lua turned as she watched Kai lean down and bow to the Bright Lord, "Thank you. We will… we will finish what you started." The group went silent following the singer's question. "I think… should we bury him?"
The members of the cohort looked at each other. Before anyone could voice their opinion, though, Sunny suddenly spoke. "No. Just leave him as he is. He wanted to be closer to his friends when he died, so… just don't touch him."
'He's right' The cohort slowly backed away, having paid their respects to the fallen lord, perhaps humanity's greatest loss.
Sunny stared at Nephis in silence for a moment then said "That headband… What is it called? No, actually, let me guess. Dawn Shard? Dusk Shard?"
Neph looked at him and didn't answer. Her ivory face was calm and inexorable.
Sunny grinned. "…Full of secrets, are we?"
A hint of some deep, sharp emotion appeared in her cold grey eyes. A few moments later, she said "Weren't you the one who made it clear that you don't want to be a true member of this cohort? You chose to be a hired blade yourself… did you not? Why should I share my secrets with you?"
Sunny remained silent for a bit, then sighed. "Well… fair enough. I did, and you have no good reason to share anything with me."
Suddenly, Nephis smiled. "You can change your mind, you know. If you do, I'll naturally tell you everything."
He stared at her for a while, then shook his head. "No, no need. Answer me one question, though. How exactly is that thing supposed to help us defeat Gunlaug?"
Nephis lingered for a bit, then simply shrugged. "See for yourself."
A moment later, the crown left behind by the First Lord weaved itself from sparks of light on her forehead. The bright gemstone in its center softly gleamed.
Lua intrinsically felt the change, her armour, the Blood Relic, the underlying enchantments and spell weave which makes up the memory glowing with a new, reinvigorated radiance, although not close to elevating the armour by a new rank, or even tier, it still bolstered the effectiveness of the gilded onyx.
Shifting her eyes to Winter's Warmth, the white cloak was mildly affected but not to the degree in which her lower ranked memories were. The transcendent cloak only receiving mild enhancements to its traits.
Her awakened memories were a different story to the lofty transcendent cloak. Their primitive spell weaves pulsing and teaming with newfound power. Their rank steadily rising from mere awakened memories to a varying quality of ascended memories.
Nephis began, interrupting Lua's prying eyes. "The Dawn Shard possesses a single, but also singularly powerful enchantment. It empowers all Memories around it. The area of effect of the enchantment is very large… but the enhancement it provides is ever larger."
Sunny, full of slight annoyance about not being informed of the citation despite largely refusing to completely cooperate with the party, stared at Nephis before speaking. "So that thing makes every Memory around you vastly more powerful?"
Nephis gave him a silent nod.
Sunny's frown deepened. "Then do you not see a problem here? Won't it enhance that damn golden armor of Gunlaug's, too? How exactly does it give you a chance against him, then?
She lingered for a few moments, then smiled slightly. "It would not, would it? But, hey… do you want me to tell you another secret?" Nephis paused for a few moments before continuing. "It will help me because the golden armor Gunalug wears is not a Memory… In fact, it is an Echo."
Glancing at Nephis, Sunny asked. "How do you even know this?"
She hesitated for a few moments, then said. "You already know that we have an ally inside the castle. She was the one who told us."
'Seishan really came in clutch with this one' Lua smiled subtly and turned away, allowing Sunny and Nephis to continue their back and forth. She slowly walked towards the large opening at the mouth of the cavern.
Beyond stretched a domain of Pure Darkness, light itself, the concept rejected in this underground ecosystem. It didn't take long for the rest of the cohort to arrive, their discussion about the seven shard memories finally concluded.
The cavern itself was as titanic as the entirety of the Dark castle and its surrounding hills and buildings, at the back of the cavern it dipped down into the darkness, going from beyond the Hollow Mountain's interior into the Underworld proper. To fall into that would be a death sentence.
Lua shivered 'Really, getting the spooks now?' glancing at the members of the cohort she missed as a faint golden threat glimmered briefly before being snuffed out by the native element of this place.
The floor of the cavern was covered by black sand, while its walls glistened like obsidian. In the center of the cavern stood a giant pillar of dark stone. It was surrounded by massive scaffolds, which nevertheless looked tiny and insignificant on its surface.
The silhouette of an unfinished statue was easily discernable, cut from the giant pillar by the unknown sculptor. Its upper torso was almost finished, while the lower half was still encased inside the stone. It was as though a dark giant was struggling to free himself from the pillar of stone that imprisoned him.
The final statue awaited them.
Lua stared down the guardian. 'It's one of them,' she thought with blatant hatred. Standing on the black sand, a monstrous creature that resembled a cross between a lion and a raven stretched its numerous limbs. Its body was pale as a corpse, while its head and chest were covered with dark feathers. It was massive in size, with muscles rolling like steel cables under the skin.
The creature had two powerful hind legs and six more protruding messily from its wide chest, each ending with a set of deadly claws. But the most terrifying feature it possessed was a long, jagged black beak.
Lua jolted back on pure instincts, the cursed herald lunged forward, exploding into a whirlwind of hunger, madness, and death.
"Messenger!" Sunny yelled as he attempted to get out of its way.
Two shields shot up to intercept the Fallen Beast's talons, a loud screeching noise echoed out as the hard ebony bone tore against the tempered steel and stone of Effie and Saint's shields.
The Messenger's beak came down aiming for Effie's head, narrowly she raised her round shield and blocked the blow. Lua took the opportunity and dove under the small shield wall. Raising a clasped hand as essence collected in her palm before solidifying into a shimmering purplely gold longsword.
The sword dug into the messenger's angle, slicing through flesh and bone as it slid into place. 'Got it' celebrating Lua attempted to swing the blade upwards to slide open the Beast's leg. The blade ground to a halt, the force of her attempted attack transferred up the blade into her hands.
'Fuck' Lua grimaced as her very bones were shaking from vibrations. 'So I can pierce it but not cut it' Lua shifted her stance, dodging a peck from the messenger's beak before its attention was drawn by Caster and Nephis who were assaulting it from the sides.
Dulling the edge of the hilt of the essence blade she brought her heel down in a kick on the hilt. Although combat was often pure instinct, Lua was a rather talented physicist and understood the principles of maximising the available force of her attacks. By abusing lever principles she hoped she could garner enough force to cut the messenger's body properly.
The blade cracked before careening upwards, casting a bright and bloodied arch through the air as it swung through the air. Lua's eyes widened as the blade kept moving even after leaving the messengers body, the sharp edge of the blade coming down and cleaving through the pauldron of her armour, the gold plated onyx doing little against a quasi-ascended weapon traveling at that velocity.
A hiss escaped her mouth as the blade burned through the undersuit and then her flesh, searing the milky skin to a horrid cracked red shade. The blade then shattered as Lua released her mental hold on the construct.
The messenger squawked like some crow before batting its wings, sending Lua, Nephis and Caster sliding back over the obsidian sand. The messenger raises its wings and took flight, its terrible beak aimed at Kai.
The messenger shot forward at Kai, who turned his body in an attempt to escape. Lua raised her hand, a lasso of essence, materialising as she threw it forward, catching the flying archer by the leg before yanking him towards her and out of the path of the razored beak.
She caught out the corner of her eye as Sunny shot up onto the back of the large bird-thing. Sunny drew his midnight tachi and painfully carved into the messenger's wings. The blade made an initial entry, struggled then cleanly slid the rest of the way, crippling the Herald's wings.
The Beast plummeted to the ground causing a cascading rain of obsidian dust, its own unwieldy form serving to further hamper its attempts at movement before it steeled itself, rose and let out a deafening crow.
Lua took a few steps in retreat, clutching her scorched shoulder, her armour already working to repair itself around the damaged section, working in tandem with Nature's Gift as it glowed with that gentle light. The burned and peeling skin already repairing itself.
'Hhmm' Lua glanced backwards, a faint feeling of a soul briefly emanating from the pit-like entrance to the Underworld proper. 'Could have sworn I felt something' thinking little of the momentary feeling, which was likely caused by the mental anguish of receiving her injury, she turned back to the task at hand.
Lua turned her wrist, white sparks collecting in the shape of a blood red spear of war. Waiting till Sunny landed on the ground she drew her uninjured left arm back and tossed the spear like a javelin.
The blood red point bit into the messenger's arm just as a blood reeking arrow came down onto its back. The herald reeled back, raising its hands as it both dislodged her spear and Kai's arrow turned into a storm of white sparks. It raised its pointed maw, aiming down at Effie before a flurry of white fire slammed into its side, sending it crashing to the ground once again.
Both Sunny and casters were sprinting towards the statue in order to complete the win condition. Leaving the battle proper to Lua, Nephis, Effie, Kai, Cassie and Saint. Overall not a bad match up when it came down to it.
Lua sprinted forward, scooping her spear off the ground before driving it up into the Herald's neck and dodging under its reciprocating blow, using her vambrace to absorb most of the impact. Still, her arm felt like it shattered from the impact.
With Lua batted aside, the messengers beak came down on Effie, its maw cracking the swarwalt shield before its arms raked across its surface, shattering the shield into a whirlwind of white sparks, Effie let out a pained groan, blood oozing from her arm as bone fragments could be seen against her olive flesh.
The Beast doubled down on Effie, attempting to finish her off as quickly as possible but was thwarted as both Lua and Saint rushed forward to relative the huntress of her predicament. The aloof shadow raised its shield to block then attack, Lua simply pushed her spear up with the hope of piercing the messenger's limp as it went for Saint.
The War spear had a far better chance of hurting the Beast than her essence blades, a proper ascended memory augmented by both her own soul essence and Nephis' crown would be far more devastating.
Nephis came next, her blade slashing at the messenger's supporting legs, aiming for keep the beast on the ground instead of repeatedly making it fall over on the relatively soft sand. Sparing a glance at the statue both Lua and Nephis noticed how close Sunny and Caster were to touching it.
'Good, that means we can finally kill it.' Lua's conviction blossomed as she dove into the frey, summoning the Talon of Unrest, she threw it towards the messenger's eye, hoping to half blind the abomination.
The small bone dagger sunk into its eyelids, blood gushing from the wound. The battle dissolved into a flurry of combat, each member of the cohort attacked at once until Caster and Sunny returned, allowing them to finally go for the kill.
Lua sidestepped a strike, blocked a blow aimed at Effie before vaulting over Nephis and landing on its half feathered back, raising her spear she prepared to drive it into its back, before her senses lit up with warning.
She barely had time as a dark shape shot out from the darkness that was the dark pit. The feeling of being crushed was instantly the only thought in her mind as a dark beak closed round her torso, its force crushing and cracking her bones.
'A-a second messenger!?' Lua tightened her grip on her spear, the pain flooding her mind, briefly catching the surprised and shocked faces of the cohort as the herald spun on its feet and flew back towards the pit of the Underworld.
'Basterd i'll kill yo-' Her thoughts were cut off with a loud crunch as the onyx plating covering her chest and ribs cracked, bright stars bursting behind her eyes as the pain blinded her, her focus slipping completely as she reeled.
***
Nephis watched in utter disbelief as a second messenger made itself known, flying out the surrounding darkness before chomping down on Lua and immediately fleeing. "NO!" Nephis yelled as soul fire ignited around her, flinging it towards the retreating messenger.
As the flames traveled Nephis eyes shined brightly before her vision flipped, her body caring through the air as the first messenger was not particularly content with being ignored. The vile abomination was severely injured and on its last legs, seemingly willing to die to take as many of them with it as possible.
Hopelessness flooded the cohort's minds as they watched their strongest member practically get eaten. But they had a job to do, quickly Kai shot after the messenger, aiming to fight it before it could flee into the underworld.
Nephis drove her sword into the injured messenger, trying to kill it as quickly as possible. Without warning Sunny lunged at the Spire Messenger, fell on his back. As momentum pushed him forward, he slid on the black sand and thrust the Midnight Shard upward.
Piercing the abdomen of the terrible creature, the razor-sharp sword easily cut through skin and muscle, gutting the abomination and causing it to stagger and fall.
'One down' Nephis though but the hope of resuming their endangered teammate was snuffed out as they witnessed Kai slide backwards on the obsidian sand, his forearm mangled from blocking a strike.
***
Lua came too, pain burning through every fibre of her body as she dazedly lowered her gaze to find a pale eye staring back at her, the pressure on her chest and back increasing rapidly as the messenger tried to snap her in half.
Raising her hand, which still miraculously held Sky's Gift, she pointed the vermillion spear til towards the vile bird's eye and drove it down.
The Beast reeled but there was little it could do as its maw opened, dropping Lua mid flight and its body going limp.
[You have slain a Fallen Beast, Cursed Herald]
[Your soul grows purer]
[You have received a Memory.]
The Spell's soft voice whispered in her ear as she plummeted to the ground, belatedly she summoned her helmet, the dragonid helm manifesting on her hand seconds before she slammed into hard stone.
Shards of dark obsidian shot into the air as Lua collided with the ground before sliding down the heavily sloped surface, plummeting deeper into the belly of the Underworld. She watched with fading consciousness as the minor lights of the cohort disappeared as she fell into the Underworld.