《I Am as God as You》
Chapter 1: A Beginning at the End
Ends come for all things.
Everything that is, everything that was, everything that could have been.
I was there on that ancient day in the heart of Dellium, I bore witness to mans lust for power. The day of mans end.
It began at mans finest hour, united in victory against the forces of a darkness, so ancient, not even I remember whence it came. Man united with the gods drove back the darkness cleansing the taint infecting Eronel, once the greatest and wisest of the gods.
But the darkness deceives even in defeat, for it alone could not kill a god. Whispers of a flame capable of unharnessing the very power of the Eronel reached ancient Dellium.
The hearts of man are fickle, swayed by power. What should have been mans final victory was twisted to seal their eventual defeat. A great flame was constructed to prevent man from ever suffering another war against the dark.
Eronel was stripped of his power and in the struggle against the gods the once great city of Dellium was lost. Yet the flame worked, the Kings of Alendria ruled with divine power and the gods retreated from the domain of man.
Ages pass; memories fade. Oaths once spoken fade into whispers. The enduring stones surrender their memories to dust. And now few remain who remember the tale.
For ten thousand years, the once great bonfire raged in the heart of Alendria, a shining beacon at the heart of humanity. Now but a candle flickers on the edge of life. For not even a god''s power can resist the passage of time. Even a god has an end.
Where a light dims, darkness grows. Agents of the ancient foe, not seen in centuries scour the land.
Man stands alone, betrayer of the gods.
In the growing dark of the final years of man, destiny weaves its final tapestry and I alone stand on the edge. If I do nothing, mans fate is sealed.
Yet hope remains as long as the flame burns true.
Intricate threads of fate fray, and those with the strength to shape the dawn of a new era may yet arise.
For what was lost in the ancient days of Dellium may once again be found.
The cold white stretched unending. The Cliffs of Dunnel, once domineering and ever present on the horizon, lay unseen, lost in a violent clash of ice and snow. Elias trudged on, alone, unprotected, each step less sure than the last.
The storm raged. Ice and snow bit into his exposed skin. Each step required focus, each step harder than the last, each step inviting disaster. If he fell, Elias doubted he had the strength to get back up.
The storm ahead terrified Elias, but what he left behind was worse. His breath caught in his throat at the thought of the Drask. His parents told tales of creatures, savage and wild, but the reality seemed much, much worse than words could convey. Being near one felt like an aura of dread enveloped him. The primal hunters'' bodies wrought with wiry muscle and sinew. Their teeth were rotten and chipped. Even their eyes, set deep in their face, glinted with a feral glee at catching their next meal.
The previous day Elias was out hunting when the Drask attacked, hunting him as he hunted his prey. Once he spotted at the very edge of his vision then, the chase began. Their larger bodies closing the distance, kilometre by kilometre. Where once they were specs on the horizon, quickly they, with an unending stamina, closed in. With each step, they forced him away from his tribe, away from safety, until the first snow of winter began.
The snow started out as a blessing, helping him lose his pursuers, but quickly turned against him as night fell far from warmth and safety.
Elias longed for the small campsite he made that night, the warmth of the fire dancing between two rocks, the shelter against the wind. It felt like a distant memory. He wouldn''t make it back, even if he could find the rocky outcrop in the storm again. His only choice was to continue forward, across the flat barren plain before the cliffs.
Elias cursed him for a fool to have thought it safe to make a fire. The Drask attacked at morning''s light, finding his fire. He fled into the growing storm before they saw him. He had quickly got turned around in the snow, unable to see more than a few meters ahead of him. His only chance to survive lay across the plains, away from the Drask, who surely waited only for the storm to clear to continue their hunt. He could shelter against the storm in the shadows in the cliff face, riddled with caves and crevices and find his way back to his tribe once the weather cleared.
Each step through the heavy snow brought less pain than the last as numbness took hold amidst the howling wind.
Elias cried out as he fell to his knees, stumbling. His voice drowned out into nothing against the howl of ice and snow. Snow quickly collected and covered his calves. Tears froze in his eyes, his muscles strained and trembled with exhaustion as his strength left his body. Numb and frozen, Elias pushed up, mentally forcing his body through the pain as he slowly lifted off the ground, inch by inch.
He fell back to his knees, his head spinning, chest heaving, fighting for breath. Each breath filled with pain, bringing the frozen air inside.
"Eronel, Solanar, Veloria, Ardin, Theryn, anyone," Elias cried, naming the gods in desperation. He could not explain why. The gods had left the world of man. They would not come. If anything they were why he was going to die. He cursed them in his mind.
Moments stretched into minutes. Elias did not return to his feet. Cold and defeated, the white engulfed him up to his thighs. No strength remained as he faced the storm, unable to continue, unable to admit defeat.
Elias didn''t remember falling. A warmth spread through his body as he lay in the snow.
No one will ever find me, Elias thought.
His tribe, the Moorhaven, would not pause their migration to look for him. Winter coming early would force them to hurry through the passage in the cliffs into the temperate Kingdom of Alendria.
Elias reached forward, dragging a handful of snow back as he crawled forward, fighting for each inch. Each inch was a victory in battle with the storm.
Figures danced in the corners of his vision. The ground would not move, or was it his body that refused to obey? He could not tell. The warmth in his body slowly morphed into an unbearable heat as he lay face down in the snow. He weakly pulled at his tunic as rational thought fled his mind and darkness took over.
Elias woke up to the most annoying tune he had ever heard.
The snow killed me, there is no other explanation, Elias thought.
The Caldewey family cart rocked back and forth, following the Moorhaven migration baggage train on its endless journey towards the Dunnel foothills. Towering cliffs loomed in the distance, never getting any closer. Elias''s father whistled the awful tune of "Ode to the Vale" from the cart box seat. In his father''s defence, the tune hadn''t started out that way. Almost a year waking up to the same tune would do that to any song. A year of the same day repeating itself over and over.
Eldar Holloway isn''t going to like those clouds, Elias thought, predicting the next words to come out of his father''s mouth.
"Eldar Holloway isn''t going to like those clouds," Fenwick, Elias''s father, said, interrupting his melody.
Elias sighed.
It was the same every day, every day he woke up on the same piece of road. His father whistling the same song. The same conversations, everyone exactly where they were the day before, doing the same things, and only Elias seemed to remember.
Ever since he passed out in the snow, he was trapped. Three days before he presumed he had died, living the day in a never ending repeat for over a year.
Hey o father, Elias thought.
"Hey o father!"
Elias didn''t bother to turn to the sound of a trotting horse. He knew Zane, his oldest brother, would rein his horse alongside the family cart. Zane was 5 years older than him and had recently become a Moorhaven tracker, riding out each day, finding game and ensuring the path ahead was safe for the convoy slowing making its way towards Alendria through the Dunnel Cliffs.
"Back so soon?" Fenwick, Elias''s father, asked his oldest son.
"Eldar Holloway called the trackers back to the convoy. He doesn''t like the clouds. The front of the convoy is making camp an hour or so ahead."
"Ah! Did I not say Eldar Holloway wouldn''t like the clouds just moments ago!" Fenwick, the boy''s father, proudly exclaimed.
The same thing every day.
"He really called it this time Zane." Elias said dryly. Elias had long since found things went easier if he just played along as if he hadn''t sat through this same conversation this over and over.
"This time?" His father mocked outrage.
Zane chuckled, "Eldar Holloway, I daresay, is the most stubbornly set in his ways of anyone in Moorhaven. A mule would know he would stop us early for the night seeing those clouds!"
Elias''s father scoffed. "I can think of a few others more stubborn!"
I am definitely dead. Elias thought. Next, Zane would tell him Master Pelgeway, the Moorhaven bowmaster at arms, wanted him to ride ahead to the camp to continue his lessons. After that he he be free to leave.
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"Oh, before I forget, Elias, Master Pelgeway wanted you to ride up to the camp to continue your bow practice."
"That man keeps Elias too busy. Who is going to help me with the cart?"
Zane smiled. "I will keep you company. If you can beat me in a game of Runes, I might even help you unpack once we reach camp."
Thank Eronel that is over, Elias thought.
Elias stabled Zane''s horse with the other horse gathered at the entrance of the emerging Moorhaven campsite. He waved at Emea, the Moorhaven horsemaster, making sure she saw him return the horse. Emea smiled and flashed him a thumbs up.
"No visits from Eldar Holloway today, Elias." Emea shouted.
Elias pressed his hands together in thanks towards Emea. One of the most annoying ways the day could go was to receive a visit from Eldar Holloway. The horses were the most valuable resource the Moorhaven owned. When a family failed to return a horse on time, Eldar Holloway would often show up at their doorsteps. Elias rolled his eyes, remembering the last speech about why it was important to return the horses on time, how without the horse stock, it would be impossible to continue the migration. He had even threatened Elias with becoming a farmer and having to stay on one small patch of land his entire life, answering to whatever local lord claimed ownership of the land he lived on.
The lecture had been especially painful to listen to knowing everything would just reset in the morning. He found it hard to care about any of this.
Elias entered the emerging camp; he had a routine that kept his interactions with others to an absolute minimum. If he just went and sat in the clearing in the centre of the campsite, everyone would be too busy to speak to him for hours. He could go hunting, which accomplished the same thing, and there was always something new to see out in nature. However, while months of solid of hunting had drastically improved his bow work and animal tracking, he no longer found much joy in it. The world felt real, but without his actions leaving any trace, it all felt empty.
A chilly wind brushed his cheek.
"Huh, strange..." Elias said aloud.
He had never felt the wind being that cold. He brushed it off. Even after all this time, he did always find new small things happening. Things he was fairly sure had not happened the first time he experienced this day, before he had died.
Wandering through the camp, Elias avoided where he knew Master Pelgeway was. After over a year in the time loop, he knew Master Pelgeway couldn''t teach him anything more. He could hit the centre of the target about often than the elderly bow master could. And that was simple compared to hitting a live target he had taught himself to hit while hunting.
Some of the Moorhaven hunter''s skills astounded Elias. He wondered if there was a way to get them to teach him instead.
Elias avoided the west of the camp, not wanting to find his family either. They would want him to help set up the family tent if they saw him. The rest of his family, his mother, grandparents and three sisters had travelled on the giant flatbeds with the rest of the Moorhaven people while Elias and his father had been part of the baggage train. Elias had gained a newfound respect for his sisters having to set up the camp every day. Angia, Vel and Hina. He regretted not spending any time with them before he had died. He didn''t regret riding with his father on the baggage train. Raising the tents lining the path he walked through was harder work than it looked.
Elias walked with purpose through the camp. The cold wind coming down from the distant Dunnel cliffs caused goosebumps to raise on his arms. It was different. Elias doubted he would ever fully forget the memory of walking through the snow. He could almost feel it in his fingers.
He walked down the main roadway leading to the camp centre where a giant fire would rage tonight. The people of Moorhaven hoisted colourful tents into the air as Elias walked past. The cheerful sounds of a lute started up.
"Lift the poles to the sky,
Where our dreams and journeys lie.
Fix the ropes with knots so true,
As we chase the dawn, ever new."
Elias had never bothered to investigate who was playing the lute, but he recognised the voice of Berry Candery. He had never spoken to the white-haired old lady before he had got locked in this never ending time loop. Ever since he had spoken to everyone in Moorhaven, he had even sung with her around the fire in one of the loops.
Vasda Lillery, a short middle-aged lady, stopped to wave at Elias as he walked by with a warm smile.
"Say hi to your mom for me Elias, ask if she would like to come round for some tea for me?"
"Will Do!" Elias said, choosing to ignore what the lady really thought of his mother. He had learned so many secrets living the same day over and over.
The Moorhaven tribe had 50 families in it, which was large for a nomadic tribe, or so Elias had been told. The elders of the tribe were very proud of that fact. But it was still small enough that Elias had got to know most people, at least on a surface level, since he had died and the time loop began. Elias couldn''t truly say he was dead, he just couldn''t think of a different explanation.
Elias took a seat on a rock along the edge of the clearing at the centre of the campsite. He had sat on this exact rock every day for a few weeks. A cold breeze blew through the clearing, Elias shivered.
The wind is too cold...
The day had been warm when he had woken up; it was always warm. Elias''s eyes shot open and his heart beat in his throat.
A well-rounded man stood on a large rock surrounded by several people. This was new, not something he had just missed. Elias knew this man had never been here before. He was not even part of Moorhaven; he had never seen the man before.
The man''s curly, long black hair floated in the wind. He wore a strange light blue travel coat of a style Elias had never seen before. He started shaking, a tambourine in one hand and a rattle in the other.
"The pieces are finally in place. The story can begin!" The well-rounded man flourished his arms, letting out a hearty laugh. "I apologise for the delay. I feel like it has taken a year."
Had the stranger just winked at him?
"I am called many things. You may call me Teller, and today I bring you a story long forgotten that the world must remember." Teller said addressing the growing crowd who stopped to watch him.
Elias found himself staring, unable to look away as if an unseen force commanded his attention as the strange man started his tale.
"Attend the tale of King Jerald''s reign,
In Dellium''s splendour, under mighty Eronel''s domain.
When mankind, united, drove darkness away,
Yet in victory''s shadow, their hearts led astray!"
"Whispers of power, a flame to enthral,
In ancient Dellium, would be man''s great fall.
Eronel''s might, in struggle, was drained,
And in that fierce battle, the city was chained."
"This forgotten tale must again be known!"
"For..."
"Diojyen''s dark dance dominates, drives, dictates, dread...
In anchored hearts, corruption''s seed is swiftly spread."
Teller''s sombre words with carried to Elias on the wind itself as if spoken directly into his ear.
Wind rushed down the cliffs in the distance and howled over the Dunnel foothills. The icy wind swept threw the clearing over Elias.
The man suddenly rose his voice, unaffected by the growing storm.
"From antiquities annuals, perhaps a familiar verse I''ll snatch,
to kindle our tale from an age-old match...."
"Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Dellium, where we lay our scene,
One royal, one not, yet both esteemed, in the city once serene."
"One King Jerald, most noble, most naive,
The other, the Keeper of Crows, a crown he would soon relieve.
Heart anchored in Rivanhall, a Crows true home,
the flame, the power, he wished for his own."
Thunder rumbled in the distance adding weight to the story tellers words. Elias stared transfixed, bound by more than words as the story teller stared directly into his soul.
"No one remembers whence the tale of the fire came,
But that the origin was in the darkness is most plain,
To harness the power, a gods light would pay the price,
King Jerald was against, the Crow thought twice."
"Betrayal most foul befell the king that night,
A flame created, the gods betrayed, a Crows delight."
Teller paused mid tale and let the silence build. His words captivated Elias''s attention beyond the natural. They called to him to listen.
"In the shadow of betrayal, man''s fate was etched in stone,
The day the gods were scorned, and left humanity alone.
Forgotten now, the stories of a doom self-made,
As ancient darkness once again stirs, where divine light''s flame has frayed."
"But humanity''s fate may once again be swain,
A young mans death march in the snow may yet have a part to play."
A shiver ran down Elias''s spine. Teller looked directly into his eyes and the world fell away under his spell.
"A beginning at the end, if the young man is saved,
destiny''s final tapestry may yet come unfrayed.
With a pure heart, into the darkness, he must go,
a forgotten city awaits under mountain and snow."
"A new era, a new god may yet begin anew,
Diojyen''s dark dance undone, a prophecy rung true...."
Silence filled the absence of Teller''s words. Elias could finally, for the first time see clearly. There was no Moorhaven camp, the cliffs in the distance were an illusion. Elias couldn''t tell when the spell had been broken, only that he was face to face with Teller. The mans face was solemn.
"Above all else, I am sorry for everything that is to come."
Elias open his eyes, haze of bright light hurt his eyes forcing him to look away. Every part of his body ached from the cold.
Where am I?, Elias thought.
Memory of the storm surrounding the storyteller and the cold flooded his mind unbidden and his heart sank. Was it his imagination?
I am not on the cart...
Despite the pain Elias laughed. He was out.
Elias''s eyes slowly focused. He was in a cave, the walls dancing with the light from the flickering fire. The fire crackled, echoed in the cave. The wind and snow beat against the ground outside.
Elias''s joy ended in a snap as memories of the snow, he thought he had died in returned. The days fleeing the hulking Drask brutes, being forced out into the snow storm trying to find shelter. Collapsing. It was real, all of it.
A silhouette moved, catching Elias''s eye. It was a large figure hunched overlooking out of the cave exit next to the fire. Flash''s of the hulking Drask brutes standing over him, froze Elias in place.
The silhouette turned to face him. Seeing he was awake, it rushed over, kneeling next to him.
"Elias? Thank Eronel, star of the north. You are awake."
"Zane?"
Chapter 2: Divinity in Fraternity
Elias sat in the cave entrance, by the fire, watching the snow fall, a haze of beauty and remembered danger. He glanced at Zane. His brother avoided eye contact, refusing to meet his eye.
He studied his brother. Zane looked gaunt, the lines that didn''t exist before now marked his forehead and corners of his mouth.
Neither brother had spoken since Elias had woken up moments ago.
The cave walls flickered with the small dancing fire illuminating a small rough cavern a few meters deep with a slanted, jagged ceiling. Elias could barely stand in at the tallest side. of the cavern. The entrance narrowed to a waist high opening.
Elias fastened the winter coat Zane gave him button by button, warming himself by the fire. The wind from the snowstorm outside pulled the smoke from the fire out into the open air.
Is it the same storm? How long was I out cold?
The stream of questions erupted in Elias''s mind. The time loop had felt like a year, but if that was real, he would be dead. It had to be a couple of hours ago at most, if not minutes. Elias couldn''t think of how else he could have survived.
The uncomfortable silence hung in the air, demanding to be filled. Elias didn''t know where to begin.
Zane reached into his pack and pulled out a cloth-wrapped bundle and handed it to Elias.
"Eat this, if you can."
Elias opened the bundle, finding some biscuits and dried bread. He forced himself to take his first bite despite not being hungry. The food was hard and unsatisfying. He ate it as quickly as his stomach would allow.
"Elias," Zane began tentatively. "How are you feeling?"
Elias took a moment. "My muscles hurt and I feel stiff, but... I should be dead. How long was I in the snow?"
"Longer than you should have been."
Elias could see the tension in his brother. His knuckles were which gripping the folds in his trousers.
"There is so much to explain, but I need you to trust me. This is neither the time nor the place. We have to leave as soon as you are ready. The Drask hunt nearby." Zane said.
Memories of the cold, lifeless eyes, the unnatural gauntness, sent shivers down Elias''s spine. He swallowed, trying to get rid of the lump forming in his throat.
"Three Drask attacked me," Elias paused, his voice came out as a croak. "They chased me into the snow."
Zane nodded. "We guessed they had something to do with it. Everyone thought you were dead."
Zane let the silence hang in the air. He looked uncomfortable.
"I need you to trust me. I know this will seem strange. But I cannot keep this from you. It has been over a year since you disappeared and much has changed. Little for the good."
Elias wanted to deny it. It felt impossible, but he knew it was true. It felt too real, living the same day over and over, to be just a figment of his dying mind. The days did not slip away as a dream would; he remembered all of it. The strange man, Teller, most of all. If anyone had answers, he would.
"It is impossible, but.... I was somewhere," Elias trailed off, searching for the words to make him living the same day over and over seem more than a figment of wild imagination.
"What has happened?" Elias said, abandoning what he was saying.
Zane let out a sigh. A look of pain crossed his brother''s face.
"Moorhaven was ambushed by the Drask shortly after you disappeared before the cliffs."
"Is everyone okay?" Elias asked, his heart beating faster.
Zane shrugged. "Our family lives. Father took a wound to his leg and needs a crutch to walk. The girls and Mother weren''t physically harmed. We got into Alendria by foot, running from the attack. Many... no, most were not so lucky. The convoy was destroyed. They all live in Alendria now."
"They? You don''t?" Elias asked.
"No, I haven''t seen them in over a year. Last I heard, the survivors of the Moorhaven massacre were creating a village inside Alendria''s borders."
Elias didn''t know what to think. At least his family was alive. He didn''t have the heart to ask who hadn''t made it.
"Don''t look at me like that, Elias." Zane said.
Elias hadn''t realised he had been staring.
"I couldn''t continue that life, not after everything."
Silence hung in the air. Zane did not look at Elias.
"How did you find me?" Elias asked.
Zane held up his hand towards Elias, motioning for silence. Moments lingered without a sound. Zane''s jaw tightened, his brow creased. He drew a small worn hunting knife from his belt as he raised into a crouching position.
Seconds hung in the air. Elias opened his mouth to speak, then he heard it, the soft sound of footsteps running through the snow. Softly at first, getting louder and louder. A howl, hollow and unnatural, pieced through the storm.
"Get back!" Zane shouted, backing away from the entrance.
Elias panicked and scrambled away from the entrance, and a dark shape formed through the storm before bursting through the wall of ice and snow. A sickening hound like beast burst through the small cave entrance, skidding into the fire, sending coal and ash flying. The beast reared up, shrieking in pain with an unnatural howl as it shied away from the hot coal remains of the fire. It sank, lean and menacing, close to the ground at the entrance of the cave, watching, growling from across the scattered remains of the fire.
The fires'' flickering flames danced across the tainted hound''s face, casting an eerie glow, punctuated by shadows in the depths of its features. Sickly pale blue skin peeked through its shaggy coat of wiry black hair. The smell of rot, as Elias had only smelled on a week old carcass, filled the cave.
Malice burned bright behind the eyes of the beast, piercing Elias''s soul. It shifted its gaze back and forth between Zane and Elias, choosing its prey. A moment hung in the air before chaos erupted.
With sudden, terrifying speed, the taint hound launched itself directly at Elias through the remains of the fire, its teeth aimed with deadly intent at his throat. Elias froze as if the world around him moved at double the speed.
Zane smashed into the side of the tainted hound, driving his knife into the side of its neck moments before the hound''s fangs would have sunk into his neck.
The hound let out a hollow cry, and it landed on the ground, Zane on top of it. It snapped at Zane, trying to hold it down. He reaches for his knife still lodged in the hound''s neck. Blood pooled out of the wound, flowing across the cave floor.
"Elias!" Zane shouted. "Help!"
Elias snapped out of his stupor, looking around.
"They fear the fire!"
Elias, panicking, ran to the edge of the small cave, tripping half way before finding his feet. He grabbed a branch from the remnants of fire and ran towards the tangled mess of his brother and hound, fighting for dominance on the ground.
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Zane cried out as the hound bit into his arm, ripping its head back and forth.
"Elias!"
Elias stood over the struggle, jabbing the hot coals into the hound, where he could find an opening. The hound did not release its grip, thrashing around. Elias struck wildly, hitting only half the time. He jabbed with all his strength, catching the hound if the eye. It immediately released Zane''s arm and thrashed, forcing Zane off of it before running for the cave entrance. It looked back, ignoring Zane staring directly at Elias, half its face and one eye burnt, Zane''s knife still in its neck. Zane held the branch, the end still on fire between him and the hound. The hound turned and fled into the storm.
Zane pulled back as Elias tightened the bandage around his brother''s forearm, his knuckles white forcing his hands into balls.
"Galdor''s Rain! That stings." Zane said through clenched teeth, naming the oldest god.
The punctures and tears in his arm had stopped bleeding quickly after Elias had washed the wound with melted snow, leaving a red, swollen mess that stung to the touch.
"We can stitch it later," Zane said. "That was a Hound of Lupenval. It will return with its master. We don''t want to be here for that."
"His master?" Elias asked, helping his brother to his feet.
"The Drask. The Hounds can smell blood even in this storm."
Elias paused, looking at his brother. Something was very different about him than when he last saw him. The Zane he knew would never leave his family. He would never name a god in anger.
"How do you know this stuff? I doubt even Master Venn would have seen one of those hounds before."
"It has been a long and strange year, Elias. Come, let''s go."
Zane led the way out of the small cave into the storm. A fear overcame Elias immediately. He trembled with each step towards the exit.
Stop it, we have no choice.
Elias ducked under the cave entrance, out into the snow. The wind immediately stung his face. Biting into his skin, the jacket his brother had given him helped protect him from the cold and wind.
Zane stood waiting for him a few steps out into the storm.
"We should head west, along the cliffs to the pass through to Alendira!" Zane shouted over the wind.
Zane set a relentless pace through the storm, hugging the cliff face tightly, sheltering against the worst of the storm. Step after step, Elias followed his older brother into the wind and snow. Elias jogged on smashed rock fallen from the cliff face, covered by a thick layer of snow. The cliff face was frozen to the touch riddled with large vertical cracks large enough for a man to walk into before disappearing into darkness
"How much further is it?" Elais shouted at his brother. He couldn''t be sure how long had passed. Time moved differently in the snow.
"Half a day in good weather? A full day in this?"
A howl cut into the storm from behind them. Zane snapped around to look.
"We have to hurry,"
Another howl, this time from ahead of them.
"They are searching for us. We have to hide," Zane called.
He ducked into one of the larger cracks in the cliff face, looking for something before coming out and running to the next, Elias struggled to keep up with his older brother, barely getting to the crack Zane had ducked into before he ran to the next.
After 5 minutes of frantic running, Elias could feel his heart in his ears. His breath was heavy and his head light. Zane disappeared into the endless snow, running faster than Elias could match. He trusted his brother.
He wouldn''t abandon me. He found me when no one else did. Elias thought.
Zane pulled him into a crack as he ran past.
"Your arm!" Elias said, noticing the blood seeping through his brother''s bandage.
"Forget it! The hounds are going to find us at any moment. They can smell the blood even amid this tempest. Where they go, their Drask masters won''t be far behind."
Zane pulled Elias further into the crack in the cliff, walking deeper and deeper into the darkness, out of the wind and snow. The crack narrowed as they ran down it. The ground became uneven, making running impossible. It took moments for Elias''s eyes to adjust to the growing dark.
"We need to climb to where the Hounds cannot follow."
The sides of the rock face were less than an arm''s span apart. Zane wedged himself between the two rock faces and used them to climb off the ground.
Elias followed his brother, his arms and legs not as long, nor as powerful, as he struggled to climb as easily as his brother. He logged his back against one side of the rock face and pressed his legs and arms against the other of the rock, allowing him to shimmy up the crack in the rock, trusting his brother that they were heading somewhere.
He climbed with sounds of the hounds running below. Barks echoed up the rock face and three hounds of Lupenval jumped, snapping at him.
"Zane!" Elias cried.
"Keep climbing, there is an opening above!" Zane shouted several meters above Elias.
Elias''s body shook, the cold on the stone absorbed by his body as he shimmied up the crack in the cliff.
The climb felt like an eternity, each meter harder than the last. Elias was 10 meters up above the ground where he started when he reached the opening and Zane pulled him in.
The opening was barely high enough to fit in. Elias had to crawl on his stomach to move.
He and Zane stared out of the opening in the rock face as humanoid figures ran through the darkness towards them. They didn''t wait to see anymore and turned and crawled into the darkness of the cramped, narrow passage.
Elias crawled and crawled as fast as he could behind his brother. Zane held a small lantern, lighting their way forward into the darkness. The ceiling lowered in places, preventing them from getting through, forcing them to backtrack and find a different path into depths of the mountain, desperate to find a place where the Drask could not follow. Already they could hear snarls and the sounds of rocks tumbling, crashing on the ground.
The cave seemed to go on forever. With each moment that passed, the air tasted more and more stale. Adrenaline fuelled Elias''s crawl forward, ignoring the cuts and bruises collecting on his arms.
"Careful!" Zane whispered back to him. "There is a cavern below!"
The light and Zane disappeared with a thud, leaving Elias alone in the dark. He rushed forward as fast as he could, pulling himself forward, finding the ledge. Zane stood below, holding the light in a large open chamber.
"Quickly!" Zane urged.
With no space to turn, Elias spilled out of the opening, head first, out of the chest high opening in the cave wall. Zane helped him no fall to the floor.
The lantern''s light revealed minor cuts covered Zane and Elias from crawling through the tight passageway. Blood soaked through the bandage around Zane''s forearm from the Hound of Lupenval. Drops of blood collected on his own arms.
The sounds of the Drask followed them out of the passageway. They were bigger than Elias or Zane and sounded like they were having trouble in the narrow passage.
"Why are they still following us? We cannot be worth the effort?" Elias asked.
"I don''t know. We just need to get deeper into the caves and wait a day if needed. Maybe find another path out? They won''t chase forever. I have enough food and water for a few days." Zane said, patting his pack.
Zane walked swiftly through the cave, heading deeper and deeper into the earth. There was no path to follow. They climbed over rocks twice Elias''s height, crawled under others as narrow as the passage that lead them here. Taking whatever route was open to them. At every turn, Zane marked the passageway out. Elias doubted he could find his way out without them.
The sound of the Drask quickly faded behind them the further they got from the passageway.
Elias ignored the stitch developing in his side. Moving through the cave took all the effort Elias could muster, Zane set a gruelling pace. Elias dared not ask him to slow down.
A screech echoed through the cave.
"Run!" Zane said.
Elias moved as quick as he could, collecting cuts on his arms and legs with each fall. The sounds of running behind them getting closer and closer.
Shouts filled the cave in an alien tongue.
They jumped over a boulder and landed on cut stone.
"What?"
Elias looked at the stone in confusion.
"Run!" Zane whispered.
Glowing balls of light turned on, illuminating the surroundings. They were in a tunnel; the roof made of intricate brickwork, the floor a road of carved stone matched over by the roads Elias had seen in Rivenhall, the capital of Alendria, as a child.
The walls stopped, and they ran surrounded by darkness along the road, the glowing balls of light activating as they approached, illuminating the path ahead.
Zane skidded to a stop ahead, scrambling to find his feet ahead of Elias, and held out his arm, holding Elias back.
Elias stared at the broken roadway ahead, creating a fall into darkness.
"Is this a bridge?" Zane asked, confused.
The cold chink of metal on metal rang behind them, getting closer and closer, slowing down to a walk, understanding its prey was no longer running.
Elias watched as three figures walked slowly down the badge towards them. He and Zane backed up to the edge of the bridge, looking around for somewhere to go. The lantern did not cast enough light to see beyond the darkness.
"No where to run..."
The broken voice attacked Elias''s ears, sending a wave of fear through his body as the Drask approached.
The Drask leader wore broken metal armour studded with gold. It looked like it might have once been a helm from the story books of a long-dead king. It had several dents in it and was covered in rust. A blade dragged behind the towering Drask, long and curved, the edge catching in the light, chipped and jagged.
Two smaller Drask flanked him on either side, wearing equally destroyed chain mail with holes gaped.
"We mean you no harm." Zane said. "We just want passage back to the human lands."
The Drask leader smiled, revealing his rotting teeth.
"He warned us there may be someone coming to this ancient place. He told us to make sure none survived." The Drask leader raised his jagged blade and advanced on Zane and Elias, giving no other warning.
Elias watched death approach. The Drask leader towered over them. The malice and evil radiating from the Drask leader held his feet in place.
Zane spun, grabbed Elias by the waist and pulled him off the end of the broken bridge, falling into darkness.
Chapter 3: Tales in the Deep
Elias fell.
Plunging into the darkness, Elias twisted himself free from Zane''s grip. The bridge vanished above, as the void swallowed him.
The air rushing past pulled a scream from his lungs. He entered a world devoid of light for only a moment. Abruptly, an unseen force gripped him, as if a giant hand wrapped its fingers around his body, slowing his fall.
The breath burst from Elias''s lungs as he crashed back first, fading into unconsciousness debris raining down around him.
Elias opened his eyes in the pitch black. HIs head swam in circles, unable to think he lay in the pitch black dark. He pushed mindlessly at something on top of him. The large rough object hit the floor with the thud and Elias rolled onto his side, a fit of coughing over taking him.
It took several minutes laying unthinking on his side when he heard Zane moan.
Zane?
Elias struggled to gain his footing, stubbing as he tried, flailing around, feeling for anything he could use to steady himself. He hobbled over to the source of the moans, almost tripping over Zane laying on the ground. He reached down, feeling for his brother. A large bar lay across his chest.
"Are you okay?"
Zane reached up and gripped Elias''s hand.
"Help me get it off. I cannot move it."
Careful not to use it to steady his own legs, Elias followed the bar to its end, unable to see how big it was in the darkness. It was about twice as long as Elias was tall and as wide, and smooth to the touch like cut stone. Elias squatted and pulled up on the cylinder, struggling to get any movement, only able to lift the stone a few inches.
Zane shimmed out from under the stone, rolling clear.
"Thank you. I might not have been able to escape that." Zane said.
Elias let himself collapse down to the floor against staring up at nothing. He couldn''t even see the strange light of the blowing balls on the bridge above. The only sound he could hear was Zane breathing heavily.
In the minutes that passed, Elias''s brain slowly caught up with the last few hours. Aside from a few brief moments in the cave, it was the first time he wasn''t running for his life. Elias didn''t know where the Drask were nor how far they had fallen, but he wasn''t in any condition to run yet.
"I think it might have been better if you had left me in the snow." Elias said dryly, only half joking.
"What do you mean?"
"Gods be dammed, did I even wake up two hours ago?" Elias asked rhetorically. "I spent what seemed like the last year living the same day over and over and over again for a year. Some strange person told me a tale and said there was a city under a mountain of snow or something like that and I should go there."
"What?"
"I don''t know." Elias said. "I then wake up in a cave, find out I maybe died a year ago, maybe not. The gods only know. Got attacked by the most vicious dog I have ever seen."
"It was a Hound of Lupenval." Zane interjected.
"I was then chased through a snowstorm by beasts that if the stories are to be believed, are trying to literally eat me. For the second time in my life, I might add." Elias said, feeling himself ranting.
"I think they are guarding something. Drask don''t normally stay in an area for long." Zane said.
"My brother is apparently an expert on all things Drask. Our family and friends, all of Moorhaven are, either dead, or are living in a village somewhere ending our entire way of life."
Elias waited for Zane to say something. He didn''t.
"I got sidetracked. After we got chased through the snow, we climb into the earth to a place so dark I cannot even see my hand in front of my face."
Elias held up his hand in front of his face as if to illustrate, but he could not see it.
"We get chased into the very stone of the mountain. Unless my mind and failed me and this is a dream, found a bridge or road or something that definitely doesn''t belong in a cave with strange glowing balls I cannot make sense of."
Elias paused and sat up.
"The strange storyteller, his name was Teller by the way, a little on the nose. If he is right about there being a city under this mountain, I think I will actually freak out." Elias knew full well he was ranting at this point.
"A lot has happened," Zane said.
"Oh, you pulled me off the bridge. Did you know we were at least somewhat close to the ground?" Elias asked. He didn''t know if he was mad about that or at the situation.
"They would have killed us. I didn''t see another choice." Zane said.
"And that thing that happened when we fell, it felt like a hand gripped me, trying to stop my fall. Do you know anything about that?" Elias asked.
Zane didn''t answer immediately. moments past.
"I do, a lot has happened over the last year, lets get up. I will tell you about it while we find our way out of here. Hopefully, my lantern survived the fall. " Zane said.
"Gods have mercy, I definitely think I would have preferred staying dead in the snow."
The lantern flickered to life, revealing a dusty room littered with debris. Part of the roof had caved and burst where the brothers had fallen through. The large stone bar looked to be some sort of giant flattening device with the remains of its handles on each end, the wood long since rotted away.
"It is a bloody city, isn''t it?" Elias exclaimed, taking in the ancient building interior.
Zane lead Elias out of a building holding the small lantern. They could not decide the purpose of the ruins of the old building, but it appeared to be some sort of workshop that made something. Anything that might have once been wooden had long since rotted away, leaving trails of rotted wood everywhere, its original shape lost to time. The stone and mortar of the structure of the building appeared preserved with minor damage. Large portions of the roof had collapsed on their own over Elias'' presumed centuries. He didn''t know how long this would take, leaving piles of broken and chipped clay tiles on the floor.
Exiting the workshop, they walked onto a street of the same finely cut stone that the bridge had used. Balls of light activated near them, illuminating the surrounding ruins.
"Well, whatever they are, they still work at least. Don''t need this. We should hurry. If the Drask are guarding this place, they will see the lights and know we didn''t die in the fall." Zane blew out the small lantern.
Elias walked up to the ball of light. It sat atop an ornate stone pillar. He reached out and touched it. It felt rough to the touch and was colder than the air in the cave. The cold of the storm above hadn''t full penetrated the mountain to this place.
"I think they activate we someone is close to it. Maybe we can turn it off? THey will lead anyone watching right to us." Elias said.
Zane shrugged. "They are magic. We would have to destroy them or know how they were made."
Elias quickly pulled his hand away in shock. "Magic?! I have never seen magic to know what it looked like. How do you know?"
"This city is filled with magic. More than I have ever seen."
"When have you ever seen magic?" Elias asked, shocked. The Moorhaven was mistrustful of magic. His father had been careful to keep it away from his children in the rare case they came in contact with the Church.
"Maybe you should tell me about this Teller character before I fill you in on my year. I don''t trust coincidence. I think this Teller spoke to me as well." Zane said.
Elias and Zane started walking down the street, each light lighting up as they approached and the ones behind turning off. Elias eyed them wearily, knowing they were magic. They were beautiful, but the idea unsettled him. A force he couldn''t see or explain.
Elias started his story by telling Zane about leaving the Moorhaven convey to practise bow hunting as Master Pelgeway instructed.
"He does that to his better students to keep them humble. Hitting a live animal is much harder than a target. He especially doesn''t like it when someone actually returns successful." Zane flashed Elias a grin.
It was the first smile Elias had seen on Zane''s face since he had woken up. Given what was happening, Elias hadn''t found it strange. He doubted he had smiled himself, but something about Zane differed from the brother he knew.
Zane listened to Elias recount the tale of how the Drask hunting him and his collapse in the snow as they walked through the ancient abandoned city. Zane didn''t know what to make of the time loop.
"I tried everything to get it to stop, running away, looking for secrets, confronting nearly every person in Moorhaven in case it was a trick. It didn''t matter I woke up on the same day at the same time no matter what I did and I tried everything short of killing myself."
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
"Well, I am glad you didn''t try that." Zane said.
"I have far too big an opinion of myself for that."
"I am not sure that is how it works. Anyway, what happened?" Zane said.
"One day, exactly like any other, someone new was in the Moorhaven camp I had never seen before. A large man who said his name was Teller. He told a gathering crowd a story in the form of a poem. It was the story of a place called Dellium and its king. King Gerald or something like that, I don''t really remember. He was betrayed by someone called the Crow. Have you ever heard of Dellium?"
"No."
Elias paused. The idea of Eronel was dead, and Rivenhall had usurped his power was beyond blasphemous. If the wrong person heard he could be arrested. His brother would understand, but repeating it in the wrong company would at best put him in jail.
Zane noticed his pause.
"What is it?" Zane asked.
"Teller spoke in rhymes. Maybe I am mistaking his meaning."
"What did he say?"
"The crow betrayed the king and built a flame capturing the power of Eronel, killing the god."
Shock overtook Zane''s features. "Never repeat that in public."
"I know a few people who would get a laugh out of it." Elias said joking.
"Never, if the church heard of it, they would execute you." Zane said, not acknowledging the joke.
The look in Zane''s eyes made Elias pause. "I promise. It has to be lies, anyway."
"It is. The gods no longer communicate with us, but they are alive."
Elias shrugged. He didn''t know how anyone could know there were even any gods to begin with. If proof existed, Elias had seen none. The Moorhaven often travelled through lands that took the gods seriously, Elias''s father had ensured he understood the rules, but the Moorhaven never practised the gods'' teachings.
"Any way at the end of his story I could see nothing I had lived through had been the real Moorhaven. Teller told me in the story I should go to the city under the mountain and snow," said Elias, trying to change the topic.
Zane let the moment pass and relaxed.
"That has to be this city, right?" Zane said.
"I suppose." Elias said, relieved the tension was gone.
Elias couldn''t see far ahead, only having the light nearest them on at a time, but even from the short walk the place was bigger than most of the small towns the Moorhaven passed through.
The quiet of the city felt surreal compared to everything that had happened since he woke up. Not even the sound of the wind disturbed this place.
The roads were all as finely cut and smooth as the main roads of Rivenhall, the richest city Elias had ever been in. Every side road in this city was made from the same stone. From the outside, the buildings looked intact, seeing only the stone, but inside each building.
Elias and Zane stepped into the centre of the biggest road they had found yet. The glowing lights were much brighter here. The street looked big enough to fit ten carts side by side in it.
"Which way do we go? Big roads go to important places or the exit, I assume." Zane.
"How am I supposed to know?" Elias asked.
"Hey you are the one that weird guy from your story told to come here."
"Hilarious," Elias said dryly. "Lets go right."
The lights in the Castle grounds activated as Elias and Zane entered.
Elias and Zane stood before a castle that rivalled Rivenhall Palace itself. If not in splendour, but in grandeur. The Moorhaven had only travelled to Rivenhall once in Elias''s life; the guards kept the common folk away from the centre of the city where the palace was located. But even from the outer ring, he had been awestruck by the massive palace''s massive size and elegance. Elias had never expected to see it''s like in his lifetime again.
The giant three black stone spires grouped together that reached into the sky before Elias dwarfed the white marble of Rivenhall Palace. Shrouded in darkness, Elias hadn''t seen the massive castle until the lights activated. He suspected you could have seen the castle from anywhere in the city if it wasn''t dark. Light cast by the strange glowing orbs cast no shadow on the carved rock walls. He imagined once great banners would have cascaded down the castle walls from up in the darkness above. The base of the spires expanded into a large, sprawling base. A white cross like symbol that Elias recognised almost shone, reflecting light, from the centre of the middle tower.
"That''s the symbol of the church of Eronel." Elias said.
"It is," Zane looked uncomfortable.
"We should turn around," Elias said, not wanting to return to the topic of the gods. He had never given them much thought. The Moorhaven never treated the gods with the reverence other places they travelled to seemed to. He guessed it was part of the reason locals sometimes looked at them with mistrust. He hadn''t known the topic made Zane so uncomfortable.
Zane looked nervous.
"No, I think we should go in."
"Why?!" Elias didn''t understand.
"I have put it off long enough. Once you hear the story of the last year, I hope you will understand."
"But the Drask might find us."
"The sooner we are off the streets away from these lights telling anyone who looks where we are, the better. Maybe we can shelter overnight."
Trusting his brother, Elias followed Zane into the castle, the door left open wide, waiting for them. The inner chamber lit up as they entered, revealing a large open room in the same state of disarray as the other buildings in the city. The stone ceiling was higher than most buildings Elias had seen. Once the room may have been a grand sight, time had taken its toll, leaving nothing but an empty husk.
Zane pulled him aside into the first door he could find behind a podium of the end of the room into a passageway. He waited for the lights in the main chamber to turn off.
"We should be safe here. The lights here won''t reach outside."
Elias let out his breath and sank to the floor, leaning against the corridor wall. He was glad they came inside; he needed the rest. If the Drask had found them he wasn''t sure he could run much further.
"The night the Drask attacked Moorhaven it was chaos. They caught us almost unprepared. They went from tent to tent indiscriminately killing as they went. Our tent was one of the first. I was at home. Father was the first to react, grabbing our family sword and got injured badly in the leg. His sword flung across the room and I picked it up. The Drask ignored him once he was down and advanced on the rest of us. I stepped forward, trying to stop it. He easily over powered me, grabbing me. Then something I didn''t understand at the time happened."
Zane paused. "Maybe it will be easier if I just show you. Hold up your hand."
Elias looked at his brother funnily, but did as he asked. Nothing happened for a few moments. Something pushed softly against his hand. Elias pulled his hand back in fright. His eyes open wide.
"What is that?" Elias asked, staring at his brother in shock. He already knew the answer and his stomach sank.
"Magic," Zane said.
"Wha... how?" Elias stammered
"I was told the gods choose people to bless certain people. It is one way they still interact with us. Or so I was taught."
Elias didn''t know how to feel. The idea of magic made him uneasy. His father and all the Moorhaven spoke of it as an evil.
"So it''s not something you looked for?" Elias asked.
"Not at first, I felt the blessing in the moment the Drask held me, the power entering my body burned the beast''s hands, father stabbed it in the back withy a knife as it howled in pain and we escaped."
"I can only imagine how father must have reacted." Elias said.
Zane nodded. "Word spread as we entered Alendria and I was sent away. It wasn''t really father, I think he might have accepted it eventually. You know how it was in Moorhaven."
A silence fell over the corridor in the Blackstone castle.
"What do you think?" Zane asked.
"I don''t love it," Elias admitted truthfully. "But you are still my brother."
Zane let out a breath.
"To keep it short, I ended up joining the church in Rivenhall and study magic under their tutelage."
"Ah, that explains the reaction to what Teller said. I didn''t know you believed." Elias said. "Sorry."
"You don''t know how relieved I am having told you, I was sure you would turn your back on me like everyone else." Zane said. It looked like a weight that had been on his shoulders since Elias had woken up had lifted.
"It''s definitely a strange change. But I just spent a year reliving the same day over and over. Its not the strangest thing going on right now." Elias said.
Zane laughed.
"True. and I have to admit, it''s why I want to explore this place. The Drask leader implied they were guarding this place. They are the ancient enemy of the Church for longer than the records go back. The Church will want to investigate this place, but they likely won''t even believe what I tell them it is so outlandish."
Elias admitted to himself he wouldn''t believe it if someone told him this tale.
"Whoever these ancient people were, the Eronel was clearly very important to them. They built a city filled with more magic than I have ever seen doing things I cannot even begin to understand. This city is likely to be the greatest discovery in magic that I can think of. If I can find something small and complex enough to take back to them they will at least believe enough of the story to come look. My mind explodes thinking about all that we could learn from this place. I doubt even the masters of the church could create a single one of the lights we saw outside. You lack the sense to see magic so you wouldn''t know, but the very stone of this city was cut using magic."
"You can see all this?" Elias asked.
Zane got more animated the longer he talked.
He really is interested in this magic?
"Yes, the very first mantra they teach you is, time does not touch magic, and magic does not touch time. Once magic is cast, the story will always remain. If at the end of the world someone were to come into this corridor, they could tell that someone exerted force where I touched your hand. But equally, magic can affect many things. The one thing it cannot affect is the passage of time, as the passage of time does not touch it."
Elias sat in stunned silence. The longer he sat, the more the events of the day hit him. A thought entered his mind unbidden.
Nothing would be the same ever again.
He could go find his family, but even that wouldn''t be the same. All his life he lived on the road, stopping from town to town and now his family lived the life of the farmers they were so proud not to be.
Could I do that? Do I want to?
"Elias... are you okay? If you want, we can leave. I didn''t mean to overwhelm you." Zane said.
Elias shook his head.
"No, it''s not that. I do want to leave. I want nothing to do with magic. I wish everything could go back to how things were. No matter what I do, nothing is ever going to be the same again."
Zane nodded sympathetically.
Elias continued, "but that has nothing to do with you, or that you can use magic, nor even that you chose to join the church. Just look at where we are, what has happened. I don''t think I could avoid any of this, even if I ran in the other direction. Something has led me here."
The more Elias spoke, the more sure he was.
"I am going to have more questions than you will answer later. But all of this started in one place. Why did you come looking for me? How did you find me in the snow? From Teller telling me to come here, you finding me, us getting here. Nothing that has happened feels like happenstance. And I cannot explain it."
Zane walked over and sat down next to Elias.
"I don''t have the answers. Over the last year, I felt like I abandoned you. No one even went to look for you. Everyone just assumed you were dead."
"What could you do? The Drask attacked. Only a fool would have stayed." Elias said.
"Then I should have been a fool." Zane snapped, anger in his voice. "My family abandoned me, just like I abandoned you."
Neither Elias nor Zane spoke. Elias didn''t know what to say.
"Around a month ago, a man appeared in my dreams. He had neither form nor voice, yet I knew he was real. He told me you survived. I did not believe and. He came the second night and told me to find you. Still, I am now ashamed to say I did not believe."
Zane did not look at Elias as he spoke.
"For a month he came, each night my guilt growing. Until one day I couldn''t take it anymore and I requested leave and travelled south to do what I should have done over a year ago."
Elias stood up and look down each corridor.
"What are you doing?" Zane asked.
"This church stuff is pretty important to you know, isn''t it?" Elias asked.
"Yes," Zane admitted.
"Then let''s see what this place has to offer."
"You are sure?" Zane asked.
"We are definitely going to die." Elias forced a smile and offered Zane his hand to help him to his feet.