The First Descent into The Labyrinth (5)

The heat of the day had faded away quickly, as if being chased away by the bone chilling cold that replaced it. Under the starry night sky, of which a large new moon illuminated all that which was under it, two tents could be seen across from one another gently swaying in the night breeze. Such a breeze was picking up small amounts of sand as it moved across it, creating small drifts in the landscape as time passed. In between the two tents a fire could be seen, that was being tended to by a young man with a sand cloak tightly wrapped around both his body and face in order to stop sand blinding him and getting into his clothes.

The young man, was of course, none other than Cyrus whose attention was split between absentmindedly maintaining the flames in front of him and carefully watching his surrounding for any movement.

"The amount of daylight and its counterpart are most likely the same as in the real world, just that there is no obvious movement of either celestial body. Day should break soon, which means I will no longer have to worry about those terrors of the night…although it should be extremely unlikely that such an encounter happens naturally, this is not exactly a natural environment. If this is a world of the mage's creation, then everything that is happening here is most likely by the design of said mages. While the tool may mimic reality, the professors had promised an increased difficulty with added members which means that they are able to exert some level of control. Then it would not be a stretch to assume that they can artificially increase the chances of meeting the night dwellers or perhaps they might just place one right in our proximity" deduced Cyrus one after the other.

Shivering slightly in the cold, his mind began to wander as he started to regret being so magnanimous in giving away his survival blanket to his companion.

"Trying to imitate 'kind' behavior in order to foster gratitude and perhaps loyalty is such a pain. Do people really feel indebted to this kind of insane self-sacrificial behavior?" thought Cyrus in doubt as he sifted through his other half's memories, attempting to see things from his perspective.

Nonetheless, he continued to tend to the flames well into the night. From time to time he would add a log, blow on the embers, or stoke it with a metallic forked tool he had for the job. He soon entered somewhat of a lull as he mechanically carried out the tasks while looking out on the horizon, still carefully maintaining a small alertness just in case.

Silence was an apt descriptor of these fleeting moments, with nothing but the crackling of the flames and the sound of sand being tossed by the wind to be heard.

Still in a peaceful lull, making use of the down time to think upon many things, Cyrus spotted a slight movement out of the corner of his eyes. Perhaps a movement would be too intense of a description, it was more akin to the distance an ant would travel in half a second.

To Cyrus' keen eyes, however, the movement was as obvious as a sandcrawler barreling towards him at full speed. Dropping his fire tending tool from his hand, he stood up slowly and unleashed his most tried and true detection spell. A ring of Vita magic erupted from where he stood, slowly expanding away from him allowing the sense he attached to it to give him feedback of any lifeforms the ring passed.

"One…two…three…four…five…six…seven…eight" counted Cyrus in his head. As the numbers grew, so did his disbelief.

"Is this not too much? They did say an added challenge but these odds are far too stacked against us…how can we survive such terrors with no losses?" thought Cyrus, his mind spinning as he thought of all the tools he had at his disposal. Eliminating each one, starting from the useless baggage and ending with his own companions…he could only come up with one insane plan to get out of the current situation.

Slowly walking towards Cornelius' tent, taking several minutes to walk a distance that could be crossed in just a few seconds if he moved at a normal pace, he arrived at the entrance and slowly opened it.

Looking within he was greeted by the sight of five sleeping figures, and the bright blue eyes of Cornelius himself who had a questioning look on his face as he gazed back at Cyrus.

"We have a situation, one that cannot be solved by anyone else besides us two. Move slowly, we are surrounded. Our enemies cannot hear but they can detect movement if it is faster than a snails pace, come out and follow me to the center of the camp…slowly" said Cyrus in a harsh and domineering tone, which perhaps revealed the gravity of the situation.

As the two mirrored one another's movements, stepping so slowly that one might have thought that Mundus had altered the flow of time, Cyrus began to explain the predicament that both groups now found themselves in.

"Our foes go by many names, but the most common are the night dwellers. No one knows what they truly look like, even if they look like anything, but what is known is that they are deadly. Like their name, they only dwell in the night slowly hunting their prey. They move slowly, so slow that most mortal men never even realize the danger that they are in. Once they get within a certain distance, however, their speed accelerates immensely as they latch onto their pray covering them in a shadowy substance. What ensues next is a battle not between man and beast, but of two minds. The one that loses in this contest, is devoured by the other. Even those that win, however, may still be doomed as whatever they gain from the fight slowly drives them insane. I was told by my mentor that if I were to ever encounter them, and could not escape, then I must fortify my mind clearing it of all distractions and focus my will in order to best the foe. If I emerge victorious, I must then vacate the area immediately in order to avoid absorbing whatever is released from the victory" said Cyrus in a serious tone as he told all that he knew.

"What a dastardly foe, and from the way you are speaking it seems that escape is most implausible?" asked Cornelius, not even doubting for a second that he could be being lied to.

"We are completely surrounded on all sides by over twenty of them, quite frankly we should expect heavy casualties if we try to face this normally. In this case, of course, that would simply disqualify us although I have doubts about how much of an illusion all this is" revealed Cyrus.

"I understand benefactor, what plan do you have in mind then?" asked Cornelius.

"I have a simple yet dangerous one. The night dwellers fight in the realm of the mind, which means that the strength of will is required. Only one who is able to remain unmoved in the face of danger, one who can face down death itself and one who is able to withstand all other intense emotions without being moved in the slightest will be the complete counter to them. I have full confidence in myself, but I cannot do it alone as there are too many. I require one person to head to the north of the camp at the same time as I head to the south, where we will both attract all of them night dwellers to ourselves defeating them in short order. The question is, do you believe yourself capable?" demanded Cyrus.

"I have full faith in my ability to remain steadfast, to not be tempted by desires, or led astray by vices and carnal sin. You do not know, but I have undergone many a trial to attain my current state of mind; unmoved by both wind and rain. I have gone months with no food and only drank water once a week, as well as I fast every other day without fail. I have travelled the southern deserts with only the skin on my back and traveled up the eastern mountains equally so. No possessions and no comforts, I have attained a higher state of mind in line with my teachings" said Cornelius, whilst holding his odd brown bead necklace and chanting in some odd tongue.

"If you have such confidence to face these sinister foes, then so be it" said Cyrus, as both of them finally reached the center of the camp.

"I will count down, when I finish both of us will start to move towards their respective edge of the camp. Once you reach the outskirts, activate the Vita domain around you. It should theoretically light yourself up like the sun to these creatures, then dash forward at top speed so that the sudden movement solidifies the bait. I will do the same…after that, well, it all comes down to one's personal ability to overcome these creatures" finished Cyrus, as he began to count down.

3…

2…

1…

Slowly but surely they took off, walking with perfect control of their movements so as to not set off the night dwellers before they reached their respective goals. Silence once more descended upon the camp, except this time two were awake instead of one with each having their senses tuned to the max so much so that they could detect even the dropping of sweat from the other due to the intense level of control they were exerting over themselves.

Reaching their goals at around the same time, they glanced at one another and both signaled that they were ready. Immediately they each started up their Vita domain and broke into a sprint, running away from the camp as far as they could so as to not get their companions caught up in the fight.

An instant after they began their sprint, intense movement could be seen all around the camp. If one were to have a birds eye view of what was going on, they would surely be shocked to see numerous shadows wriggle to life and start moving with astonishing speed towards Cyrus and Cornelius. Without so much as making a sound, or even disturbing the sand around them, they glided forth and caught up with the two covering them completely in their darkness.

In the distance, both the guides could be seen sitting next to each other lazing about until they both stood up and broke into a run towards the camp. Hurtling across the sand, causing it to kick up as if a herd of sandcrawler were running on it, they each reached their respective charge with swords drawn as they looked upon their shadow covered visage.

Curses rang out from both of the men's mouths, as they took a seat and did the only thing that they could do: wait.