บท 3: A Light in the Dark

From the guild hall, we set out to the town of Kelos. The midday sun beats down on our backs as we take to the road. Valkah skips ahead, and I pick up my pace to match hers. We continue to walk in silence for a while down the forested road. The dull whispering and crunching of the midsummer leaves in the breeze offer a time to think and an orchestra for meditation. I absentmindedly pick up a stone off of the cobblestone path we are traveling down and stroke the smooth white surface. Soon the flat roads of the town turn to arching dirt paths wide enough for a carriage.

"So why don't you wear any form of armor?"

Startled from my peace of mind, I look to Valkah who had stopped and is leaning towards me hands behind her back.

"Uhm. We never had much money in the first place, and I never needed to fight. Normally I would just train on my own or train with my father."

"Well, welcome to the real world now, you kind of need it." She says with a smirk smeared on her face.

She falls into step beside me and we continue walking and talking.

"I'm not opposed to armor, I just don't have enough to custom order armor to my size," I say gesturing to my small build.

"Well, you're in a guild now, filled with some damn good armorsmiths," she says innocently.

"That is true, but I'm not sure I know anyone well enough for them to do me such a favor,"

Quietly she says, "I'm sure there's someone that would be willing to make one for cheap, that and as you've seen we have a good amount of metal at the forge."

"That's true..." I say letting my voice trail off.

My thoughts turn inwards again stoked by the flames of curiosity. What is up with Valkah? I try to be nice and usually end up eating sass in the end. Perhaps there is something that is bugging her that I keep skirting. Satisfied with my solution I look up and a wave of confusion washes over me. Where did Valkah go? I turn around and see her lagging behind, a lot less happy than before. I slow my pace down, but hopefully not enough for her to notice that I am trying to match her pace. Then there's the inner tree. I never expected the tree to actually contain martial arts. What even is this cultivation? I feel it is doing something, but I am not sure what? At the very least it can replace sleep. I might as well keep doing it. There seems to be no apparent harm. That brings up another point, I know that the Selvarin Empire, the enemies of our country of Mulonad, were primarily martial artists. Why then is there such a stigma against them in our country? Additionally, the Selvarin Empire was destroyed in the war ages ago. Most if not all of their knowledge was destroyed too in the chaos, with or without purpose. I look up again to see that Valkah has fallen into step with me.

We continue walking until the sun starts to flirt with the horizon. Slowing the pace to a stop I look to Valkah.

"Guess we are setting up camp?" I ask raising an eyebrow.

"Sure, Might as well." She says shrugging.

"What do you want to do about watches or distance from the road?"

"Distance doesn't matter, and you're on first watch."

She seems adamant about that. I better not contest.

"No arguments here."

I unlatch my bag and rummage through it retrieving a book and place it on a nearby stump. I also retrieve a flint and steel and start working at lighting a fire. It would be so nice to be able to understand how to use magic. Lighting a fire, I retrieve some rations and begin to cook something to eat. After we had eaten, Valkah walks over to a nearby tree and curls up in the niche of its roots and falls asleep. I pick up my book off the stump and flip it open. The title "Solid Leaf" is sunk into the dark leather cover. From it, I continue to read about alchemy. Every page or so I look up and scan the dark treeline for any possible threats. Time continued to drag on and the chapters of the book continued to pass. Occasionally I would have to re-read a chapter in order to understand it. Finally, my watch ended and I walk over to where Valkah was nestled. Now how do I wake her without dying? Perhaps I should nudge her? Grabbing and using a nearby stick, I poke her in the shoulder.

"NO!" she screams, springing to life and drawing a dagger from her sleeve

"Woah settle down there!" I say backing up. Seems like I made the right choice.

I walk over to the base of another large tree and sit down.

"There something you want to talk about?" I ask concerned. It's not like everyone reacts like that when they wake up.

"No, I'm fine just a bad dream that's all," she says with concern and dread thick in her voice.

I stare at her concerned for a moment more then sit down and begin to cultivate.

"Bright... Ugh" I grunt opening my eyes. I sit for a moment longer. Well, we are still alive staying this close to the road. Guess that is a good thing. I stand up and place my book back into my bag. The morning heat causing my skin to stick to damn near anything it touched. Turning my attention from my state, I glance around again looking for Valkah. Catching a flash out of the corner of my eye. I turn to see the dance of a sword and its partner. Why did she not wake me? It's almost the fifth hour of the day. Glancing around again I move back to the fire pit and rekindle the flames from the coals. I pull out some meat and begin to cook it over the fire. After collecting the fillets I turn and begin to approach Valkah.

"So why didn't you wake me, so we can keep moving?" I ask.

"Thought you needed the rest, besides it not that much after daybreak."

"Normally we would be moving a short while after the sun was up. It looks like two hours have passed," I say dejectedly.

"Fine, next time you take second shift."

"Don't get me wrong. I appreciate the thought, but we can rest when we get to the job site."

"You're not wrong, but we are heading to Kelos - trust me you're going to want your rest."

"I'll trust your judgment then." Nodding I offer the fillet I cooked earlier.

She stabs a piece with her dagger "Not bad, could have used a bit of salt though."

"Right then, we will be heading out soon then, Yes?"

She sighs. "Yes, hell we could leave now if you wanted to."

"Well do you have all your stuff ready?"

She looks over to her pack. "Looks like it to me." She says in a matter-of-fact kind of tone.

"Then let's head out."

She walks over grabs her pack and we step back onto the main road and continue our journey towards Kelos.

The journey continues on for a while as we trek down the wooded road. The only solace in the melting heat was the gentle wind which blessed us with its caress. I continue to fade in and out of thought between small talk. Oh! I wonder if there are any reagents nearby!? We are in a rather densely wooded forest. Quickly I begin to scan the edges of the roads for medicinal herbs. There was not much on the edge of the road that hadn't already been picked through, however, I managed to scrape together some common usable materials. The sun, once again finishing its walk across the sky, began to settle in for the night, and so do we. We both sit down after a long day of hiking, and we silently agree to keep the same schedule as last time. And by silently agreed, I mean Valkah passed out after eating. After swapping watches, I awoke later to being poked in the forehead.

"Doesn't feel too good now does it?"

Groaning I open my eyes. This time the sun is halfway across the horizon. I fell asleep again while cultivating. Dammit.

"We can head out in a moment. I need to check something first."

I close my eyes again and I am greeted once again with the starry path. I walk to the end and look at the crossing lines. Unlike last time there is not a dimly shining node, nor is there a brightly shining node past cultivation. Perhaps I am not cultivating properly? Or maybe I have not steeled my resolve enough. Opening my eyes I see Valkah staring at me once again, her face only a foot away. Startled I scramble back briefly. I then stand up and nod to Valkah.

"Let's eat and then go."

"Sounds good!" she says in a cheery manner.

The days continue to pass with roughly the same routine until we arrived at the gates of Kelos. The town unraveled itself before us, the main square busy with the small town hustle and bustle. We walk through the crowd of people in front of us and make our way to the small wooden house with a sign that says "Town Hall" above the doorway. Compared to the other wooden building containing stores and inns, this house was slightly larger and made of a dark wood uncommon to the oak forest region. Upon entering the building, a warm woody aroma enveloped us. I placed my hand on the finely detailed counter, and from behind it, faint snoring tickles my ears. Leaning over the counter, I notice a small but built human passed out on the counter. Her black ponytail laying on the table in front of her flittered with the battering of her snore. Somewhat surprised, I poke her face in an attempt to wake her up, but to no avail.

"Do you poke everyone you try to wake up in the face?" blurted Valkah.

"W... We... Well, it's not like poking in the face can be considered violent, nor improper."

"You know there's a bell right next to her head for a reason, Feyrind is a really heavy sleeper."

Glancing across the counter I notice the handbell mentioned by Valkah. Grabbing it, I ring it gently. Seeing as there is no reaction, I ring it a bit louder, and louder until this Feyrind rolls over then jolts awake.

"WAh! I wasn't sleeping!" she shouts.

"Yeah, sure you weren't, and I'm tall."

I use my hand to compare heights between the three of us and deem that I am the tallest while Feyrind is the shortest. Satisfied I lower my hand to receive a fierce glare from Feyrind.

"So whose mister funny guy over here Valkah." Feyrind grumbles gesturing sharply at me.

"New guy, well, party member, you know how it is." Valkah replies nonchalantly.

Feyrind glances over at me again, grimacing.

"Still drawing the short end of the stick I see."

Valkah sighs. "Yeah, but at least he's not as bad as the last one. So far anyway."

Feyrind nods.

Their conversation continues while ignoring me. I pace around while they catch up and look about the finely crafted wooden building. I focus on a carving of a lion sitting atop a vine carved into the table. The surface of the wood carries much more texture and volume than I thought possible. The carving carries that fluffiness similar to fur while the vines carved into the table radiated their verdure. I manage to peel my attention away from the carving and tune back into the conversation.

"... golems need to be dealt with." Feyrind says

"You know, it feels like the guild is up here every other week dealing with them. Which mine is it this time?"

"The mine south of the one you dealt with last time. This one goes much deeper though."

"Don't think I've been in that one, how deep are we talking?"

"Deep into the metamorphic layer next to an igneous intrusion. The boundary there caused some interesting formations. Roughly 4 miles deep."

"The meta what now? You know I don't speak rock."

"Yet you like metal rock."

"Doesn't mean I know the other shit." Valkah says irritatedly.

"Then you would know this is where mithril can crystallize," Feyrind says smiling.

"Well, I... Umm... Shut up"

Overhearing this I step into the conversation.

"So when can we go..." I shudder "...beat some hard men."

Feyrind snickers. "I see you aren't good with women, are you?"

I look away from Feyrind. "Not like I've had many experiences with them, I grew up reading books, working in a smithy, and working in the kitchen."

Feyrind's snicker falls into a smirk.

"That and you did say yourself that they were hard men in the quest papers" shot Valkah.

"That is true. You know me though," the smirk on her face fades away and turns towards a more business-like grimace.

"Sadly, " Valkah replies.

Thankful for the attention to turn away from me, I say "Let's head to the mines then."

"Yeah, sooner we get this done, the sooner we can move to the next one"

With the decision being made we turn and head out of the building. Valkah takes the lead and I follow her up to the side of the mountain. As we walk along the cold gray shale wall, we see bits of granite from time to time. These must be the intrusions, which means we are close. Sure enough, a few minutes later we stop in front of a mine.

"That's one big hole."

"Could we not do this before a fight?" I ask somewhat sarcastically.

"Do what?" She replies innocently.

"Let's just go," I say.

I set foot into the large wood bordered mouth of the mine. Striking a light, I ignite a torch on the wall and remove it from its metal holder. I pass the torch to Valkah and follow her down the mine. After an hour of walking the shale wall that was surrounding us began to be striped with granite. What's that on the wall ahead? Could it be a golem hiding? No, they aren't smart enough for that.

"Valkah, stop." I hiss quietly

"Hmm, why?" She asks.

Her normal tone was deafening as it bounced off the walls.

"Keep quiet! What's that on the wall up ahead?"

"A rock?" She says. Although I could feel her rolling her eyes.

A rock...A Rock! I crouch down and retrieve a small stone from the surrounding area and huck it down the shaft at the unknown object. The stone skips as it hit the rough floor, causing an almost deafening echo.

"There!" I hiss again, pointing at the slowly approaching figure.

As it approached, the light allowed us to see it. Before us, a smooth humanoid granite sculpture approached us, stone bending like rubber. It was a golem, and it knew we were there.

"Well, I'm not a hundred percent wrong, it's a really big, moving rock. Wait, wasn't there more than one of these things?" Valkah says.

"I suppose you aren't, but that doesn't solve our issue now," I reply.

"You're right, but swords do." She replied

She turns and begins to approach the golem. This isn't going to go well, is it? She was about six feet from the golem, and it still showed nothing. It's not attacking her? What's going on? The thought rung through my head. Now she was facing the chest of the golem an arms reach away.

"Hi there mister golem, I'm going to have to ask you and your friend, if you have one with you, to leave this mine." She says.

The golem appears to be confused.

Placing her hand on the golems wrist she says "Look, your going to need to leave or myself and that twig behind me will have to remove you, and you really don't want that,"

Immediately the golems face contorted from confusion to burning rage. Moments later Valkah is sent limp flying through the air deeper into the cave. A ringing followed, echoing across the walls of the cave, leaving a golem open after a punch.

Shit she's unconscious, and I can't catch her... I start to approach the golem, oddly calm for watching my coworker get slugged by a stone fist. A voice shocks me from my trance. "HEY ROOK! I need you to punch it, anywhere should do but preferably the chest." She wasn't unconscious? Right, Armor. Maybe she can catch herself? A dull 'wumpf' followed by silence said all I needed to hear. The golem had turned to me and too was approaching me.

The golems thick frame grows larger as we continue to approach one another. Then a spark. A fist shoots at my head, only countered by a swift tilt. Ducking to strike its stomach, I drop my guard and duck under its arm, only to catch the other fist in the side. My stomach catches on fire. Arg, that felt like a ton of bricks. Well... Twisting I kick off the fast approaching wall and skid to the ground. Dashing back to the golem I manage to slip past another punch into its guard. Striking its side my gauntlets ring in confirmation but to no avail. Suddenly my back ignites with pain as I receive a downward elbow strike from the golem. Again the same fire ignites in my stomach and back. Why is my back not broken? That was an elbow from a golem? Rolling out of the way of a stomp, I jump back to my feet. I avoid another strike and move to intercept the next. Catching the second fist with my left hand I send my other fist at its stomach. Only to catch a knee to the stomach in return. Recovering I dodge out of its reach. Why is my stomach still on fire? The pain normally doesn't last this long during a fight. If only this fire was in my hands. Dodging back into the fray we continue our waltz of punches wearing more on me. When will Valkah come too? I hope she isn't too injured. Remembering Valkah, anger ignites. I Dodge out of another strike and behind the golem. Tightening my fist I send it flying holding all of my anger and will. There was no ring. The only sound that returned was a crunch. Shit. I broke my hand. But no pain followed. Refocusing on the fight, the torso of the golem lay face up while the legs lay one on top of another covered in a thin layer of dust. Wha- "What." I say. The floor began to groan and shudder. What? What awakened? I gather my scattered thoughts scoop up Valkah and run away from the noise, deeper into the mines, and further from the light.

The caves seemed to continue forever. I slow my pace and eventually stop. Setting Valkah down I pace around and check for the wind. Good, there's another way out. Scooping up Valkah again I piggyback her and continue down the winding mineshaft, cool breeze at my back. The wind is cool and blowing away from the way we came in. The entrance must have been blocked off. What in the hell happened? I punched the golem when I was mad and it pretty much obliterated. If it weren't for the collapse I might have been able to collect something from the golem. My book! Maybe that was the Ki it talked about? Mom is a descendant from the other empire, although I'm not supposed to talk about that... My mind wanders off as the drudging weighs down on me. The dark passage was only barely perceptible, and the echo of clicking metal and footsteps accompanied me. Wish I had grabbed that torch Valkah dropped. The darkness soon diverged and I followed the path which the wind followed. A common phrase among miners was to follow the wind, and it will lead you to the sky. I hope that phrase is right. In the darkness not only does the details melt away but so does time. Aching. Sore. How long has it been? I shift the dead weight on my back and run my hand along the cool corse wall. This comforts me for a while until the wall disappeared from my touch. The echos changed their tone and became much more distant and separated. A cavern? Is this where the mine broke into? This could be bad. I gently set Valkah down on the ground and retrieve black wood logs from my bag. I wish I didn't have to use my reagents in this way. After mourning the soon to be lost darkwood, I fumble around in my bag a bit more for my flint and steel. Where are they? I need them. I continue to fumble until I finally remove my hand and close the bag with a huff. What if? A thought crosses my mind. I have the regent fire. Could I light the wood with that? I'm already exhausted. A pang in my feet and back confirmed that. It might be dangerous, but we need the light for sanity.

"How long was I out for?" Valkah says with a dryness to her voice. Her voice was like daggers to my ears, but they were also a great comfort. An odd happy pain.

"WAHGH" I cry tumbling over my bag. "I uhhh... I don't know.." I say quietly. "Are you okay? I haven't been able to look at your wounds."

"A headache, nothing major."

"One moment I'm going to try and light this fire."

Turning back to the wood I focus for a moment and the familiar blue fire flickers forth. Its brilliance blinds me for a moment and my concentration fails, causing it the wink out once again.

"Ignitvish," she says as a spark of light appears in her hand.

The dull warm light floods into the cavern revealing a massive cavern glittering with a dull cyan and white crystal matrices. The light bounces off every which way revealing new and different shapes of glittering cyan or white crystal. Then my eyes dropped to the floor a few feet away from me. There was a cliff, which we happened to be on top of.

"...Wow..." I barely utter. Turning to Valkah, her beautiful smile diminishes to a small grin.

"Lot of shiny bits eh?"

I nod. "Can you light that fire with that spark? Or is it not hot enough? Or is it even a fire?"

Shuffling closer to Valkah I grab her hand and inspect the little spark of light. It is almost imperceptible in size, yet it gives off so much light for its size.

"Umm... can you let go of my hand?" she says with a slight quiver in her voice. "I should be able to."

I hop back a bit releasing her hand. "Ah sorry, I got curious," I say scratching my head.

"It's fine just don't make a habit of it, okay?" she says in a quiet chirpy manner.

Soon a crackling fire joined our company. After rummaging through my bag, I determined all of its contents.

"4 pieces of Wood, Flint and Steel, A day or so worth of rations, and a few miscellaneous regents," I mumble.

"And I thought I packed light" Valkah chuckles.

"What did you bring then?" I ask.

"Ummm... two pieces of wood, half a day of food and... nope that's it"

"Hmm, yes you packed heavy compared to me," I say frowning slightly.

"Hey! I didn't expect to be in this mine for long, that and I thought I packed more."

Right, the golem. Might have lost some stuff there. "Mmm, also we won't be able to go back the way we came. The entrance collapsed." The severity of the situation finally began to sink in, along with the fatigue.

"IT WHAT?!" Valkah shouted, causing her face to contort into a mixture of disbelief and fear.

"I followed this path because I felt the air flowing in it. Usually, that means it leads to the surface, or that's what the miners would say." Grunting I move to sit near the fire opposite of Valkah. "Plus with this massive cavern, there's bound to be another way out!" I say trying to reassure the unsettled Valkah.

She sighs "Well at least the golem is dead right? I can't see this getting any worse, things can only get better."

"I suppose, but luck has never been one to favor me. Also, I am tired. I'm going to meditate." Thankful that Valkah didn't press the matter of how I killed the golem or why the mine collapsed, I began to meditate.

"Okay, I'll stay on watch then."

Clearing my mind I enter a meditative state. The clinking and clattering of whatever Valkah was doing reached me, but was not disturbing. Soon the familiar void engulfed me and every muscle relaxed. This time, however, was different. Normally I would just float on the surface of this void like a cork in water. Never before had I entered it. The dark was soothing, but not restricting. My senses felt as if they had melted and could spread unattached to my body. Pulling my senses together, I once again felt that burning, however, this time it was not as painful. It felt warm like a small sprite floating below my stomach. Upon "inspecting" this sprite-like existence I found that it was more akin to a mass of energy that gave off a dull warmth. This little niter of comfort too could disperse and flow through me. My muscles reminded me of their discomfort. Taking the small flame I dispersed it throughout my body evenly. This ceased the cry of my muscles and allowed me to continue meditating. Keeping that flame, if it even is a fire, dispersed through my body took effort. But as time passed it came much easier. I opened my eyes.

"So, is that the way he is going? I guess time will tell," she mumbles.

"I didn't think that far ahead. I was just extremely tired getting to here. But now-" A yawning gurgle interrupts me. "we need to eat," I say grinning stupidly.

"Hmmm?" she turns to look at me "Oh shit you're awake, how much did you hear?"

"Not enough it seems," grabbing my bag I pull out some rations and begin to eat.

After finishing we talk briefly about the cave and its layout. Apparently, there are four more passageways that we can take excluding the one we came from. Valkah didn't encounter anything out of the ordinary, nor anything living. She also collected a large number of crystals indiscriminately.

"So, we still haven't finished the quest. And we didn't take a trophy from the last golem, so we have nothing to prove so far... It seems we will have to go and find another one. And this time let's assume it is hostile."

"Well, now I know the power these ones hold, so I am prepared now," she says rubbing the back of her head.

"How odd, the veteran underestimates her opponent and the rookie saves her," I say grinning and shrugging sarcastically. Seeing her eyes flare up I shout "IM JOKING, IM JOKING! DON'T PunCH ME!" My voice cracked. I'm never going to hear the end of this.

"Just because I am a vet doesn't mean I have fought them before. I wish people would get that through their heads," she says calming herself down some.

"Well, shall we continue?" I ask.

"Might as well, got nothing better to do."

I light a torch, extinguish the fire, and head towards the nearest passageway. The wind blows out from this passage, but who knows what we will find?

"Let's go!" I say excitedly.