Chapter 19: The Foulest Creature

CHAPTER 19

“They are here right now?” I asked.

“Yes, they are standing over there.” Moirah explained pointing to a street corner ahead of us.

I, of course, could not see anything but I had no doubt it was true. Not only did I decide to trust Moirah’s words, I had also received a System message while Moirah had her eyes closed.

[Alert! Somebody in your vicinity is using the ‘Messenger of the Beyond’ ability]

I didn’t fail to note that usually when the system registered an ability, it tended to happen after I had come in close contact with it. This time I was alerted by just being nearby when it was used. I wanted to know what was so different about this ability in particular but that was far from being the priority at this moment.

“Can you talk to them?” I said.

“I am trying but they won’t respond.” Moirah sighed.

“Just tell them that if they want to show you something, you will listen to them.”

Moirah repeated my words and then we waited.

“They… they are pointing in that direction.” Moirah explained, pointing ahead of us.

I thought how it would be for the best if I could exclude Moirah from the excursion that I was about to undertake but it was hard to deny that without her, an excursion was unlikely to happen. I finally found a clue and it had to depend on putting another child in danger.

If it came down to it, giving up my life to save hers was enough to allow me to accept the risk before us. It was a pact of sorts that I chose to make with myself to lessen the guilt.

“Moirah…” I began.

Before I could say anything, she turned to me and nodded.

“I can do this!”

“Let us go then.” I said.

Moirah followed the two children which only she could see and I followed Moirah. We moved out of the village without being noticed and entered a part of the forest that I haven’t been in just yet. As a matter of fact it was in a completely different part from where I fought the wooden constructs, which was unexpected. I began to wonder even more than before what the constructs and the cave had to do with all of this.

I couldn’t help but admire Moirah’s bravery. Fear and anxiety must have been resting on her shoulders by now, both from the fact that she was following the ghosts of two kids she knew and from the fact she had no idea what sort of fate her brother was suffering while all of this was happening.

I was reminded of an incident I had suffered in childhood which I had tried to bury ever since. When I was 11 years old a man had moved into our neighborhood. He had studied abroad and was very accomplished, according to what people were saying at the time. Having returned to his hometown he had offered to tutor anyone willing in all sorts of disciplines. Thinking it would be a fun experience I had signed up for his classes in chess after discussing it with my father.

One day me and another student were at his house, playing a game of chess, when my father came to pick me up a little earlier than planned. Through the door he heard the shouts and screams of the tutor.

“You stupid, useless curse! How can you not get it right when I told you a million times! You idiot!”

I did not respond as these insults were hurled at me by a man I had no means to defend myself from. I remember clearly staring at the chessboard, my feet having the sensation of being slowly frozen, while my face felt like it was on fire. The shame, the sinking feeling, yet even then I never considered I would tell this to anyone if my father hadn’t overheard it. I never saw the man again as he moved out of the neighborhood soon after that.

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It made me think of the fragile yet endlessly durable heart of a child, how much of what we experience early in our lives is borne in silence; it was a beautiful miracle that strong adults could ever emerge in this world when our beginnings were so strained. But at the same time it made sense, it is our childish irreverence that powers the performance of our adult selves.

“They stopped moving.” Moirah’s words shook me out of my daydreaming.

Before us was a forest clearing that in some inexplicable way stood out from the rest of the scenery. The grass seemed completely trimmed compared to the rest of the landscape and around it were four large trees that almost seemed deliberately planted in the spots that they were now in.

“Where are they exactly?” I asked.

“There, in between those trees.” Moirah said.

“Are they saying anything?”

“No, but they keep staring at those trees.”

I went around and observed the trees in question. I touched the bark and it felt normal enough. I kept circling them, hoping to notice something. And after a while, I did. Although all four trees were the same type, the age and growth had twisted them into different shapes and gave them their own identity. They were all different when looked upon, save for one thing. They all had the same branch at the exact spot.

It was hard to explain but when observed from a certain direction, there was the same branch, same length, same appearance, same color, same number of leaves, protruding out of each one of the trees.

I had no idea what to do with such a discovery so I went with my first instinct: I decided to break all of them. The first branch snapped easily enough, no resistance, no wooden constructs coming to get me. It seemed like the silliest endeavor but I had no idea what else to do.

By the time I broke the fourth branch I felt a sudden gust of wind against my back and heard Moirah gasp in shock. I quickly moved over to her and instructed her to move back just in case.

In between those four trees, the image of the trimmed patch of grass slowly dissipated, it looked like somebody was swirling a glass of water around. First it shimmered, then the view turned to grey, translucent mist. Next, the scenery had transformed entirely and where there was emptiness before, a building made of stone had revealed itself. It looked like that piece of land had been covered with a green blanket and what was underneath the blanket was finally revealed.

It looked like a mausoleum or a crypt of sorts. One side of it was narrow while the rest of the building was elongated. It was built of dark grey stone where black oil or perhaps grease ran down between the gaps of stone. The entrance was right ahead of us, we could not see inside from where we stood, save for the cold, grey mist that oozed out of the open space.

I had a sinking feeling looking at this, as if something truly horrible lurked inside, which is why I decided I must go in there as soon as possible. With my dagger drawn and ‘Layer of the Abyss’ activated, I began to walk forward.

“You stay here.” I whispered to Moirah since I felt her shadowing my steps.

“No,” She protested.

“Please, let me see what’s inside and then I will tell you if it’s alright to come in.”

“Be careful,” she said after some consideration, “Laudna and Dreiss have a horrifying expression on their faces right now.”

I nodded and stepped inside.

The interior of the crypt reminded me of the dungeon I found myself in when I first ended up in this world. That strong, stale air that left a piece of itself upon you with each inhale. The cold stone under your feet, the darkness all around that somehow made you feel like a rotten skeleton making its way across the unreachable ocean floor.

There was still some light here, thankfully. The crypt or a temple, whatever this was, had enough gaps and opening that allowed the daylight to make it inside. As I passed what I believed to be the foyer of this place, I came into another room which seemed to take up the rest of the temple.

My eyes widened at the sight. The entire room was full of stone pedestals that looked like a hybrid between a casket and a hospital bed. Each of these pedestals had a sleeping child inside. These were the missing children of Tobermory, my entire being shuddered at the realization. Perhaps there should have been some gladness in this moment but the only emotions I could register were horror and disgust.

The children were pale, emaciated but from what I could see they were still breathing. Along the stone pedestals were runic writings that I could not read or decipher, they all had a dark, purple glow to them. I reached for one of the children but some invisible force caused my hand to bounce back with a painful burst of sparks.

Before I could understand what was happening, I felt a sharp pain enveloping my ribs and the next thing I knew, I was flying across the room until one of the walls stopped my flight with a painful crash. Why did this keep happening, I noted through the pain.

[Warning!] the System spoke, [you have been struck by a Grave Hag]

I forced my eyelids open and found myself staring at the foulest looking creature I had ever laid eyes upon.