B2 Chapter 15: Soulsight

Vale had awoken to find that Caledon had left her. She was all alone in the Dreadwood, abandoned.

For a moment, she had been stunned to silence. Casting stray glances in her periphery.

Perhaps… he went to ward off a threat? No, he would have woken me. Does he really despise me that much?

Then, her thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of a flower.

A single black rose, edged in gold rose from the ground before her, bearing a message in the midst of its petals.

Vale Revenant.

Welcome to my Dreadwood. You come seeking invocations to facilitate your descent through Trepidation, and I invite you to indulge in the fruits of my garden.

Caledon Brimstone has departed for the Emberwoods. You can ask your guide to explain the young man’s actions, he was watching.

Your friend Shiver, has departed to Iltheria – my ice glades in search of her own invocations.

Descend into the Gravewoods before you to acquire the invocations needed to stabilise your Fearcore.

I will give you a single day to descend.

Make the most of it.

-        Solastra Flora

“Lord Quietus… What happened?”

The flash of anger that ran through Vale when she awoke to find that Caledon had abandoned her, turned to confusion. The green flames that flickered in her guide’s eye sockets dimmed.

“Vale… Caledon did not desert you on his own accord. He mistook you for an enemy, likely the result of his Fear. A hallucination. He was appalled that he had posed a threat to you. Then, he departed from you, under the influence of another, more insidious, mistruth. His guide even made a rare appearance to assist him from the second hallucination, but it was to no avail. His Fear was altering his perception.”

“Why didn’t you wake me? He could be in danger, all by himself!”

“Vale… he posed a threat to you. The boy needs to descend, to stabilise his Fearcore. All of you have created vast Fearcores, that come at the expense of your Sanity. Your safety was my priority. Besides… the message from Solastra guarantees you a degree of safety.”

Vale’s shoulders slumped.

She stared into the land that sloped down before her, into what Highlady Solastra had termed the “Gravewoods”. She regretted her outburst towards her guide. Quietus had looked out for her, and in her haze of anger and angst, she had resorted to blaming him.

“Quietus… I’m sorry.”

Silence filled the air between them.

“Are you frustrated, to be chained to a Fearshaper like me?’

The words came out in a whisper.

She felt a flash of resentment at even uttering them, immediately followed by shame at the very act of desperately seeking reassurance from the very guide she had insulted.

For a terrifying moment, Lord Quietus Vingrave paused, seated on her shoulder. Vale continued, her thoughts spilling out inelegantly before her, as she finally confronted the path that laid itself before her.

“First, I let my anger get the better of me, and I blame you for protecting me. Now, I’m paralysed. Hesitant to continue onwards, to kill the creatures that I need to, in order to descend.”

She shook her head, as tears welled in her eyes.

“What am I doing here, Quietus? Triol was right, about me. I was arrogant to think I could kill my father. Then, I lost sight of Shiver, and it turns out that Solastra got her hands on her. What am I even doing in this Feardamned forest?”

Vale expressed her thoughts in a haze of delirium. Her regrets piled on top of one another, even if she knew that some of them were irrational.

Then, her guide’s voice cut through the ugly silence that hung before them, and half-formed brooding thoughts.

“Since your descension from Anhedonia, I’ve recalled some of my memories. More of myself.”

Vale’s surprise momentarily snapped her out of her haze of self-loathing and frustration.

‘Wait, you have? What do you remember?’

‘Longing, and sadness.’

Vale felt her heart ache as she saw her guide’s eyes dim, the green sparks retreating into themselves.

The regal Lord Quietus Vingrave, a shadow of his former self.

‘I was a Gravelord. A lich king, with a kingdom. Beyond that, I recall little. Except, of my irregulars. My beloved, trusted companions, who walked with me in death.’

Quietus paused, and the green eyes in his sockets winked out for a moment. As if closing his eyes in reminiscence.

‘My revenants.’

A chill washed over her, as her guide uttered a term, a name, with such love. One that she had only ever heard uttered in hatred and vitriol. She felt her heart twist into a knot. 

‘At my end, I remember war. We fought against a foe, whose name, features and purpose I cannot remember. Only that we were utterly defeated, even at the height of my power. But-‘

For a moment, Vale stood on an alien world.

She glimpsed chains, that eclipsed the scale of anything she had glimpsed, even the entirety of Solastra’s Dreadwood that she found herself enveloped in. They hovered in the atmosphere, encircling Quietus’ unfamiliar world. The result of a flash of her guide’s own agony, through an empathetic link that they shared, that she had been none the wiser to.

‘We were lowly undead, doomed to languish on a Tombworld. Cursed. We only got as far as we did, with one another.’

Quietus erupted in low, regal laughter.

‘Do not despair, Vale. Your brother lost hope, then his way. He believed that the only way to defeat his father was through subservience. You are not powerless, especially against your father who takes such joy in death.’

Quietus paused, as he regarded her.

‘Those who revel in it, will never grasp its depths, Vale. You ask me how to accomplish an impossible task? To kill the Deathbringer, whose nightmares would be enough to snuff you out without a second thought? How do you think we lived?’

Glorious laughter erupted from her guide, and her lips turned to form a small smile.

‘With spite for our doomed fate. You, are no different than we were. So, continue.’

Vale couldn’t help but let out an incredulous giggle.

‘With only spite to drive me? Is that truly a good enough reason?’

‘It was for us. So, descend. There is plenty of room for regret in death.’

Lord Quietus’ words came quietly and gently. Like an idle breeze over a corpse strewn battlefield, bringing with it reprieve.

‘I owe you an apology. For delaying us as I have.’

Vale’s eyes hardened, as she cast her gaze before. She stood at the boundary where the verdant forest ended and the barren trees began. Death was all around her, and she knew that she had stumbled into the right place.

Taking a deep breath, she unchained herself from the mess of worries that still plagued her. Quietus’ words would not instantly resolve the conflict that roiled within, but he did provide her with one, invaluable gift.

Focus. 

She relinquished all that held her back.

Her yearning for redemption – for herself, and for the atrocities committed by her family.

Her yearning for release – from the guilt of being a source of Caledon’s torment.

Her yearning for love – from a sister she had left at the hands of a monster.

Vale embraced spite, as she walked into the bowels of the Dreadwood.

Whether by chance, fate, or a Highlady’s meddling, she had reached her destination.

The Gravewoods.

Identifying possible resources…

Progress to Fearcore consolidation: [0%]

Sourcing compatible generic resources in proximity:

·        Griefwalker [100% compatibility]

·        Witness [100% compatibility]

·        Bodysnatcher [100% compatibility]

·        Deathstalker [5% compatibility]

---

Vale walked onwards, losing all sense of time, as she delved deeper into the cave system.

Finally, it levelled out, and she glimpsed a sweeping cavern.

From the moment she entered, she knew she was in the right place.

She watched, as eerie quadrupedal creatures strode, towering in the distance. They bore wrinkled white skin, and a long, thin, featureless head protruded from their body. They walked in ethereal silence, in a land cloaked in death.

The very same creature depicted in the painting in Soulhaven. The vast creature that her father had triumphed over.

‘Death begets life. I’m not surprised that such a sweeping forest would house such vast griefwalkers.’

‘You’re familiar with these creatures?’

“I… remembered them upon seeing them.”

“Your contextual memory.”

“Yes… They must be native to your world, its original masters of death. Though I’m surprised that these have managed to grow to the size they have.’

‘Are they… aggressive? Do I have to avoid them?

Vale certainly wanted to avoid them.

‘Gentle giants, they are. See what walks beneath them.’

Vale’s eyes widened, as she saw a collection of undead creatures, walking beneath the haunting creatures. Corpses and skeletons of all shapes and sizes.

Even those of elves.

She recoiled, with a sharp intake of breath.

‘The griefwalkers did not bring those elves to their end. They simply consolidate death, to foster life where none previously existed. Their abilities facilitate the degradation of the dead, amplifying their resulting fertility. Without them, I wonder how long it would take for the forest to collapse upon itself.’

Death begetting life.

‘My father obtained his invocations from felling a griefwalker. Even in their innocence, the sight of them repulses me.’

Triol’s skeleton stared at her, in silent accusation.

‘All manner of denizens of death dwell here. It is finally time for you to bring your Fear into reality.’

---

It wasn’t long before Vale stumbled across her second creature.

As Vale trudged through the undergrowth, lit by trees of swirling dark, wood, imbued with bioluminescence. From the trees hung fruits that cast a dark orange hue. They almost looked like lanterns that her old village put out during festivals.

As she walked past an especially large tree, she bit back a scream as it unravelled.

They looked like bats, with wide eyes of blinding white. They turned to stare at her in unison, locked onto her diminutive figure. They covered every inch of the tree.

‘Q-Quietus… What are those?’

‘Ah… those are witnesses! Adorable, aren’t they?’

She recognised the name, one of the few that the system had identified as being compatible with her Fearshaping.

They looked like bats, with big, wide eyes and drooping ears.

‘Adorable? They most certainly are not.’

‘You have no taste. They are said to witness, and feed off wandering, errant souls.’

Vale ground her teeth and made a concerted effort to avoid meeting Quietus’ gaze. Her guide just stood, whirling his walking bone smugly.

‘I’m going to have to kill one, aren’t I.’

‘Yep.’

‘What are you searching for?’

She felt their gazes linger on her shoulders, their blinding white eyes leaving not a single movement of hers unwitnessed.

If she was going to do this, she would do it her way. Though, she was not so naïve to think that she could descend through Trepidation bloodlessly. She steeled herself for what she would have to do if her plan was fruitless.

Mercifully, it wasn’t.

A single witness had fallen from its perch. Unlike the others, which were cloaked in black skin, this one’s was grey, with tufts of fur covering its exterior. It was old, ripe for the picking for any stray predator that wondered by.

It was injured by the fall, one of its wings bent at an odd angle,

Vale cradled it, whispering a soft apology.

Drawing a dagger from her side, she swiftly drove it gently into the creature’s chest, sending it into death’s hands.

I will not look away.

A haze began to emerge from the body of the creature she had killed. Her eyes widened, for she instinctually knew, that she could draw it into herself.

“The creature’s Alarum… The witness is a creature of death, and I have little doubt that it will birth an invocation compatible with your Fear. Take it into your Fearcore, Vale.”

Vale concentrated, and she felt her Fearcore welcome the Alarum. She watched the haze drift within her, and seamlessly settle into her core birthed from the death of an Archcity. She was not greeted with even the slightest resistance, as the invocation carved itself across her Fearcore, irrevocably becoming a part of her.

Then, her eyes widened in shock as a flash of memory reached her.

The witness scanned the Dreadwood’s depths for sustenance for its wing. It swept its gaze over the towering griefwalkers and the dead that strode beneath them, unthreatened by their movements. Tiny lights emanated from within the corpses that wandered under the gentle giants-

Vale gasped, as the vision passed.

[Soulsight of the witness]

Quietus watched as Vale’s lavender eyes came alight, shining a bright hue, similarly to the silent white gazes of the witnesses above them. Similarly to her vision, she spotted fleeting glimpses of white light floating amidst the undead hordes lumbering beneath the griefwalkers.

Their souls. I can see them.

Progress to Fearcore consolidation: [10%]

Vale steeled herself, and she felt her heartbeat begin to race.

It worked!

She forced her gaze towards Triol’s skeleton.

A mixture of relief and sadness washed over her, as she glimpsed the soft glow of silver light emanating from within his ribcage. She blinked away tears that threatened to run down her cheeks.

He’s still there.

Lord Quietus patted Vale gently on her trembling shoulders. His voice was soft, and reassuring.

‘Well done, Vale. Do you see now? How your fixation on your Fear, begets understanding.’

Vale gingerly lowered the corpse of the Witness to the ground. She looked up at the witnesses in the tree above her. Their blinding white gazes fixed on her. Yet, she detected not a hint of animosity from them.

‘They should despise me for what I did.’

‘They are creatures of death. They do not Fear its advent, as you do. I know, that you will not let its sacrifice be in vain.’

The rat that sat on her shoulder turns it head towards her.

‘It’s a ruthless system, don’t you think? Killing creatures in order to invoke our Fear?’

Quietus hummed his assent.

‘Indeed, but a necessary one. Without their aid in Trepidation, Fearshapers would be driven to Insanity.’

Vale turned her head towards her guide.

‘To Insanity? There is truly such a great risk?’

‘At each stage of Fear, Fearshapers deepen their ability to bring their Fears to reality. In Trepidation, a rudimentary understanding of your Fear is explored. Through mimicry, you create a foundation for invocations of your Fear that go beyond the mundane. From Delirium, your invocations are derived and crafted from your nightmares– departing further still from reality. Without a foundation in Trepidation, a Fearshaper would surely be driven Insane if they sought to invoke the power obtained from their nightmares directly.’

‘It makes me wonder, Lord Quietus. How did Fearshaping come about? Was it always a power granted to elves, or inherent in us? Besides… who built the temples? Was someone responsible for designing the system?’

In a flurry, Vale unleashed the questions that had been burning within her since her visit to the Archcity of Fear. She cast a hopeful glance towards her guide. Perhaps he remembered something, since her descent from Anhedonia, having regained more of himself and his memories.

She was greeted with a regretful shake of his head.

‘Pertinent questions, none of which I have the answer to. Perhaps answers lie in the floors of Anedonia’s Academy.’

Vale sighed, and broke into a slight smile.

‘Something to ask our favourite archaeologist about the next time we see him. Where to next?’