The Eighth Entry

Behind the mansion was a garden springing with life, various flowerbeds dotting the blocky layout; a fountain pooled at the center. The garden was nestled quietly, the fountain calmly pouring, between the front of the mansion and extension at the back. From the back I left as Mira had suggested.

The city was a maze of streets, yet if you stayed in a certain direction it became easily navigable. Silently walking the roads, I discovered metal tubes that flowed from corner to corner beneath. The tubes ran the length of the city supplying the streetlamps and various other machinery. Its contents were of the magics of creation, ancient and dark. The purple energies that rippled through the gate, and the low tremors were of the same origin. Halgrim had asked for much.

Nearing the edge of the city, I found myself feeling familiarity. Not at the city, but of perhaps a past. Memories shadowed the seams of my mind, the silent homes wailing in stillness. I had seen this before, many times before. It was hard to make sense of the quietness, not only in what was physically around me, but in my consciousness. Like peeling wallpaper and finding more behind, yet I had not put any up.

I shook my head, and the quietness subsided by the clatter of my own armor. Several minutes passed before I traversed beyond the city, a dead field covering several yards around the city, and then the forest came into view. The first twig broke beneath my feet, and many more followed as I entered the forest. The trees creaked eerily as if ready to break at any moment, their leaves and bark dark and almost entirely black.

I walked among the dead leaves, my cloak brushing past them, no light peering in through the ceiling – the trees still full. Something gave life to these trees, yet also sapped them away. A symptom perhaps of Halgrim’s pact. The deeper I went into the forest – the thicker the bramble and trees became. I could feel a pulse in the air, the thing that leeched and harvested the trees beyond.

Walking out of the plant barricades, I came to a clearing – the heart of the forest. At its center was a lake, and surrounding it - the residents of Kanav. They wandered as husks, their minds molded and empty, some of them drew breath and some of them were corpses that walked still. I approached, yet they were not hostile, nor did they even acknowledge my presence. I noticed then the plant umbilical that was attached to each resident, each flowing into the lake.

Walking to the waters edge I felt the creature’s presence, feeling its pulses and energies swirl beneath the dark water. It was a creature that was yet to be fully formed, but it was close to that of the Failed – it required only a push to finally assume that form. While it was harmless, the creature still commanded great power. For the residents of Kanav even approaching this creature would sever every nerve in their body.

This is what the Failed had sent me here to find. But this task was much harder to fulfill than originally planned. The Failed required that which would make it complete – this creature would be incapable of doing that. It was not ready. This was more trouble than perhaps it had been worth, and I regretted not destroying the Failed when I had the chance. Now, without acquiring what it desired I could not return.

The creature required more time, but it would require a push more so. I left the creature to ponder on what I would need to do next. There were still many unknowns, too many to decide now.

As I passed into the city, I could feel something, as if an itching, at the back of my mind. I recognized it on instinct alone – The Obelisk was calling for me, searching for me. I could feel its hunger shatter off me, desperately. I was too far from it and as it searched for me, I could feel it draining me.

I needed to rest while the affects wore off, and time to prepare for the next step.