Chapter 21: The Chamber of Bones
Chapter 21: The Chamber of Bones
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Under the cover of darkness brought on by the coming of night I passed through the water fall without issue. The falling water gliding over my thick fur as the darkness of the cave enveloped me, even with the eyes of an apex predator I was unable to see.
Get low Chris, Fel commanded and I obeyed as I dragged my body against the ground and sniffed the ground to help navigate the tunnel. The smell of mildew and moisture was heavy, making it difficult to navigate.
A horrible searing pain erupted in my head as my vision splinted and I fell to the ground with a yelp, feeling as if my mind was being torn into dozens of different places. Steady Chris, those are your minions. They bear your Curse, Fel explained reassuringly, though the wisps reassurances did nothing for the pain.
This will get easier. You’re sensing them and seeing through them but your mind isn’t quite equipped for this. You need to set up a mental barrier between them and you to stem the tide of information.
I tried to do as Fel suggested, but it was impossible, like trying to drink water from a firehose. My claws dug into the rock wall of the cave as I slashed out in pain, trying to quell the pressure in my head. Roaring and howling did nothing, nether did the walls of steel and iron I imagined between them and me, the information kept coming.
Bits and pieces of broken images that I couldn’t make it, spread along the path of destruction I had left in my wake the night before. The only exception was the brief and intense bursts of agony that coursed through my body each time a minion was killed. Though the images that flashed in my mind were near unusable, I could tell enough to know the minions that had spawned in the village I had ransacked the night before were being systematically exterminated.
Chris, you need to focus. We don’t have much time. You need the strength of your Werewolf form if your going to conquer this trial. Growling in acknowledgement, I tried again to separate myself my minions, even as the pressure of their own hunger grew, an overwhelming hunger that I knew well. I kept trying and nothing seemed to work.
Until a memory visited me. A cold and distance memory I hadn’t expected. A cold snow falling in early fall when I was just a kid and my mom picked me and carried me back home from the store after my shoes had got wet from slush. That’s just the way it was when you were poor, you had to learn to compartmentalize and enjoy the little things.
That’s it, I thought as I held onto that ember of a memory that need to protect myself. My mind cleared, and suddenly I could think for myself again, all the minions under my control were still there, but their presence was subdued, all I had to do was reach out to direct them.
Well down Chris, interjected Fel as the wisp glowed in eagerness above me, illuminating the cavern. Now send them orders, try to keep it simple enough so they’ll understand.
Without a response to Fel, I reached out and directed my minions to group each with each other and feed, to chase the beasts of the field and whatever easy prey they could find to spread the plague of lycanthropy. Avoid the humans though, do not exposure yourself, do not engage with them. I knew eventually the other humans would come from me, but in the meantime I didn’t need my minions to die without any gains like the ones in the village.
Satisfied with my efforts, I turned my attention back towards the present and peered down the dark tunnel, my ears flattened against my skull and my hackles unconsciously raised as I tried to discern what was in the dark.
I directed my attention towards the wisp, mentally projecting a need for light and hoped the wisp would response by flaring like it had before. Something within this cave was telling all of my senses that danger was nearby, and in the monstrous form of the Werewolf I couldn’t help but wonder what could possibly put my inner monster on edge.
This isn’t something I can help you with Christopher. Just keep walking, one paw in front of the other in a straight line. If you can’t rely on your sense of sight, or sense of smell, use your hearing, listen for sounds that don’t belong and head towards them. Fel explained with a cryptic and heavy tone that added another layer of uncertainty to an already tense situation. Anger flared within me as my vision crew red and my thoughts murky. I knew the Sol guide was hiding something, I just hoped it wasn't dangerous.
A curious thought came to me as my anger abated as I walked through the dark, a question I directed towards the wisp and hoped it was still Curiously as I walked in the dark I whispered a follow-up question, Fel, if you can answer this, tell me. What happens to you if I win this game, if I manage to somehow kill all the other humans? What happens to you if I lose?
The air around me grew somber, and I could feel in my gut that the conversation was hard for the-wisp. If you win, I get a second chance to live again. Another chance in the next game, and if you die, you take my place as a wisp, and the dark god will trap me within an orb of creation, just as he did to Atticus for choosing not to play. I’ll become fuel for his magic. I would not betray you or led you astray if that's your worry. It is in my best interest to help you and try to make sure of your success. Just understand there are things I cannot tell you about before their time.
Though the tunnel remained dark, I was pretty sure the-wisp could see me nod my scraggly head in appreciation. Then let's make sure I win this, so you get another chance.
I intend to. Was the only respond that came from Fel.
In the distance, I could hear a steady, almost drumming sound as I started walking to move. It helped that a cool breeze was flowing in the same direction, and I followed along, making sure to keep my hearing focused and moving with a purpose to avoid bumping into the walls. It wasn't long before I saw a glimmer of green light shining through an opening and picked up the pace.
The opening was small and hard to fit through. Overgrown with roots and heavy with cobwebs, but what I saw stunned me as I forced my way through, my powerful hindlegs helping me to fit.
What I saw stunned me, I had managed to work my way into a small cave full of bones and instantly, I knew a fight was coming my way, and the bestial part of my brain lamented coming here as a bad idea, while the human part knew this would be a change to grow stronger.
Even if I had wanted to escape, it was impossible as the wall collapsed behind me in a flurry of falling stone. The thumping sound getting louder and louder until I heard an otherworldly voice muttering in the cave's darkness, a cursed presence that I knew was hungry for life, a hunger that I responded with in kind in my own as I unleashed a howl that caused power to surge through my wolf body. From the center of the cave, I could make out the vague outline of the shade of a woman in the center cave, a lingering spirit who spoke the mad mutterings as something began to emerge through a black doorway in front of the spirit.
Together once, but forever split, under a wide-eyed snarling grin.
By fang, by claw, by thrusting sword
The forests hid us not.
My sisters, whom the stars adored met doom within these copses.
Ambushed by the rambling father.
The monstrous heart was torn.
Scarring both body and soul.
I fear he wakens.