Free

As Rethys walked through the dust-caked halls and into a long hallway, the pressure permeating the ether around him continued to intensify and would've threatened him if he wasn't extremely resistant to such forces with both his Origin element and the Infusion magic coursing through his body, flimsy as it was.

Eventually the long hallway ended in a large, circular room that stood out from the rest of the catacombs for being clean, brightly lit, and incomprehensibly dense in ether.

Every single brick that made this room, every single tile covering it, every single thing it contained, all of them were filled with intricate enchantments that combined together seamlessly to create a tapestry of magic that was both fascinating and terrifying to behold, even to Rethys' inexperienced eyes. The level of craftsmanship and care put into this place, as well as the downright absurd number of enchantments in it, made it more akin to a colossal magical tool than a room.

Rethys then looked upon the epicenter of this fearsome ensemble of effects, a massive ebony sword suspended in the air by ivory white chains. The sword bore a crimson heart fused into its dark metal, with an azure gem nestled into the heart in turn.

Peering into the beautiful gem, Rethys could see the soul trapped within it. This soul was not like the others he'd come across thus far however, as it did not bear the extreme scars of madness and time upon it. Regardless, his mission was clear, and there would be no exceptions.

After taking a few steps into the room however, a wave of blood suddenly erupted from the sword and headed straight towards him at frightening speeds. Releasing a torrent of Origin ether to defend himself, he prepared to weather the blade's attack, yet to his surprise, the wave split in two instead of colliding with the ether surrounding him.

The two waves continued until they crashed into the entrance to the room, where the blood surged before freezing and blocking the way with jagged blood ice spikes.

Realizing that he had walked into a trap, Rethys rushed towards the blood red barricades blocking his exit. As he struck the ice with his fist, he realized that not only was it extremely hard, but also very magically charged, the ether contained in them making his hair stand on end. That did little to dissuade him however, as he charged his own fists with more of his ether and continuously pelted the barrier barring his exit with brutal punches that harmed him just as much as his target.

Halfway through, he saw the brightness of the room intensifying around him, the stones embedded in the ceiling shining with blinding white light. A barrier was forming around the room, charged with enough power to instantly kill him regardless of his powers. He did not panic however, instead redoubling his efforts as vast amounts of ether flowed into him from the link connecting him to the great entity.

Punch after punch assaulted the wall of crimson ice with unstoppable fervor, chipping the ice and shearing the flesh off Rethys' fists. His efforts continued unimpeded however, not even noticing that the more his hands bled, the more the ice was strengthened.

Eventually he felt the strange barrier fully surrounding the room, completely isolating it from the outside world and severing his connection to the entity controlling him. Suddenly, the extreme numbness that supplanted all his emotions and suppressed his thoughts was lifted.

He stood immobile in front of the shattered red ice, his mind desperately trying to process the immense and sudden surge of feelings that washed over it.

As he fell to his knees, he could feel all the previously subdued thoughts threatening to sunder his psyche. The sorrow and grief of losing his mentor, the sheer horror of this place, the agony of pushing his body far beyond its limits; he simply couldn't handle any of it, let alone all of it at once.

Just as he was beginning to lose himself however, a tendril of blood rapidly extended from the giant sword and smacked him on his head, knocking him unconscious.

*****

When Rethys came to, he found himself once again sitting down on the same stone floor, except this time, everything felt different. The floor beneath him felt far too cold, and the air felt even colder. The darkness that didn't bother him at all before now returned as his ability to sense ether dimmed significantly, and the room was quite dark with only faint white light cascading downwards from the ceiling, emitted by strange glowing white stones that seemed like nullstones.

His body lying against the room's circular wall felt as if it had been through weeks of back-breaking labor, he could barely move his muscles. And though his body did not emit mind-shattering pain anymore, it still ached badly all over, and his arms were still a bloody mess.

He checked his belongings, he had nothing on him except the clothes on his skin and a pouch on his belt, not good.

'Oh, that's just great...' He sighed in his mind, holding his head in his hand.

His head also hurt like never before, sporting an absolutely splitting headache. The after-effects of being controlled by an all-powerful cosmic entity, he guessed.

While he was under the control of that horrifying thing, it was as if he was in a living nightmare, and though he felt nothing was wrong at the time, the utter disgust he felt now was enough to last him a lifetime.

But now, he was just glad to be feeling like himself again.

His mind was still pacified, but in a different way. If before it felt like something was violently and carelessly tearing away his free will, now it felt like a soothing influence, gently helping him adjust with his turbulent feelings. It reminded him of that middle-aged noblewoman's soothing spell, back during the last day of the expedition. And using his senses on himself he confirmed his guess, seeing the characteristic gray ether of the Mind element flowing into him from somewhere.

Turning around, he followed the trickling stream of gray ether to its source, to the massive blade of dark steel looming ominously in the room, radiating a vile aura that reeked of all things wrong and evil, but Rethys did not linger on the sword itself.

No, he followed the trail of ether further, to the azure gem embedded into the surface of the giant blade.

He worried at first if the thing trapped within the sword was a Maker's Folly, powerful artifacts bestowed life and intelligence that go on to acquire their own ambitions separate from their creators, becoming unimaginably dangerous calamities in the process. Everyone even remotely associated with magic hears of such cautionary tales, and Rethys was no exception. And even if he was of the skeptical type, he wouldn't disregard such notions, not in his current circumstances and after recent revelations.

However, he could tell that the soul contained within the azure stone was most definitely human, more human than any soul he ran into thus far in this accursed place. Whether it was kept there willingly or trapped unwillingly, he couldn't quite tell, though the security of this room as well as its appearance suggested that it was probably the latter.

Rethys however, frankly didn't care even if what was in the sword was a world-ending demon from the ancient past, after all, regardless of motives, he was clearly saved by it. But gratitude aside, he was still quite afraid of the wicked looking, living, massive dark sword.

Peering at the blade's azure gem, he vividly felt it looking back at him, making his hair stand on end. He began having second thoughts about communing with whatever's imprisoned in this room. Though thinking about it, despite everything, this remained his best chance at anything resembling help in this gods-forsaken place.

'Well, here goes nothing.' He thought, gathering his courage and clearing his throat.

"Thank you. For your help, I mean." He said after much deliberation, breaking the solemn silence of the vast chamber.

As his voice echoed throughout the circular room and he waited for an answer, he started wondering if the one he was trying to communicate with could understand him to begin with. Remembering that all the human realms, even the distant and ancient, should speak merely different dialects of the human tongue calmed him down, but if there were other issues with communication?

But what if his manner of speech disrespected whatever powerful being dwelt here? What if it were some sort of archaic arch-noble that would take offense if commoners such as Rethys so much as breathed the same air as them?

'But swords don't breathe!' He scrambled to correct himself.

But not getting any feedback for his attempts at displaying his gratitude, he began fearing the worst. He began panicking, quite badly too.

Eventually a however, an answer did arrive, snapping him out of his overthinking spree.

"You are quite welcome." Resounded a soft, mesmerizing feminine voice around the room, making Rethys shudder in fear as the murderous aura emanating from the dark blade began to intensify.

The pressure continued increasing until he was sweating and panting, his back pressed to the wall. Did he already screw it up and anger his savior?

"I-I'm sorry if I offended you!" He stammered to say.

"What do you... Oh, my apologies." The voice said as the crushing pressure subsided. "I believed you were unaffected by ether pressure from what you displayed earlier."

'Damn it, lady... I thought I was dead...' The young man thought as he fell to his knees.

Silence reigned once again in the room as Rethys, his ears ringing and body screaming in pain from the sudden movement, scrambled to catch his breath.

"Are you alright now?" The voice asked in a gentler manner.

"I'm fine..." Rethys nodded.

"I was referring to your mind." The voice interrupted him. "It seemed about to burst when I severed whatever was controlling you earlier."

"It's fine now." Rethys repeated.

Though the numbness vanished, and his emotions were no longer muted, he still couldn't process all that happened in the last day or so. The sword lady's Mind magic didn't completely solve it, but Rethys knew that now was not the time to grieve, even though he still felt like crawling into a fetal position and crying, a lot.

"I shall take your word for it then." Shrugged the voice before her voice took on a sterner tone. "I am not one for idle chatter, so I will spare you the pointless pleasantries and have you satisfy my curiosity. Why did you come here boy? Or rather, who or what brought you here and for what reason? Why are you attuned to the element of Origin?"

Rethys hesitated to tell the trapped soul everything he knew. He tried to consider the potential consequences of the knowledge and abilities he now had but understood that his sorely lacking magical knowledge prevented him from knowing what to say. He Realized that despite unlocking his element, he still knew nothing of magic.

"I admire your efforts to protect your secrets, I truly do. But you have no choice." The voice added, sensing Rethys' reluctance. "You would do well to tell me the full truth and naught but the truth. That same magic that mended your mind allows me to see through any falsehoods, so I would advise against trying to deceive me."

'That's just great.' He sighed before beginning a long explanation and hoping that the ancient powerful mage could help him.