Luminosity

Into the Shadow

Her order did have a high bar. Lunaia's servants had to be dependable and effective, because if they weren't, it was the people who were put in danger, the people who suffered. They had to be able to trust that if a white robed warrior came to them, the threat to them would be put to rest. And Iseldis had failed in that.

She took the waterskin and forced a close-lipped smile, taking a drink. She was frustrated, but she could at least recognize a few things. First, this wasn't truly her fault. Her order was supposed to correctly identify the strength of a threat before sending an initiate like her for a trial. This threat called for a veteran, perhaps a team of them, not a single initiate and an escort. Someone had made a horrible mistake.

Second, she recognized that Roland was attempting to make her feel better. It wasn't really working at the moment, but Iseldis knew that letting despair have free reign wasn't going to help either of them. There would be time to sort things out later, assuming they lived through this.

"Okay," she answered, nodding. "So what's our plan? We've no idea what's out there, but we can't turn back." Caught between the unknown and the witch, Iseldis figured the unknown was the better choice. Or at least the better risk to take.

Into the Shadow

Truth be told, Iseldis didn't have much of an appetite. Maybe it was the queasy feeling lingering in the pit of her stomach, the exhaustion, or some effect of the magic she'd been hit with. Still, Roland was right, she'd lose what little strength she had left if she didn't eat. Her pack was quite small, given that she hadn't expected their trip to last more than a day and a night, but she did at least have some rations.

She lowered herself carefully to the ground against the rock wall, wary of straining the partially unhealed wounds in her leg and shoulder. She wanted to lie down, but knew that if she did, sleep would probably take her, and they couldn't afford to rest for that long here. She focused on eating while Roland refilled the water sacks.

"I feel like a fraud in these robes now," she admitted, not sure why exactly she was speaking. Something to help keep her awake perhaps, and it was the thing weighing most heavily on her mind. "My first real task, my test to become a full-fledged priestess, and I'm running for my life. My magic was supposed to cut that witch down, but she cast it aside like it was nothing."

The confidence she'd had felt so foolish in hindsight. Like an adolescent thinking she was invincible, when she was really more vulnerable than she possibly could've known. She hated the feeling.

"If it wasn't for that quick thinking of yours back there I suppose I'd be dead already. Or worse."

Into the Shadow

Iseldis walked more or less in a daze, tugged forward by Roland's hand. She kept glancing behind them, hearing something in the dark, but at this point she couldn't be sure if she was imagining it or not. Roland didn't seem inclined to stop, so Iseldis was willing to accept that the dark elf had just gotten into her head.

And then they stumbled out into that subterranean environment, and all thoughts of their pursuer fled from her head. "How... how far did we fall?" she murmured. She'd never seen anything like this, and while it was beautiful to look at from a distance, she couldn't help but feel uneasy about it. No one that she'd ever spoken to had heard of this place, not even any of her brothers or sisters. Was this where the dark elf lived, in hiding? Were there more?

They were important questions, but the sound of running water was enough to make Iseldis put them off. She let go of Roland's hand to lead the way up the rise on the left, and there found a sheltered cave of sorts in the rock wall. A running stream from somewhere above turned into a waterfall that spilled over the mouth of the cave, close enough for Iseldis to reach it at the edge.

She washed her hands clean of the dried blood that coated them, and then cupped her hands to gather enough to drink. It was cool and refreshing this far beneath the surface of the earth. She washed her face next, the water helping to clear her senses some.

"I'm not sure how long we should stop here," she said to Roland, "wherever here is. She's probably still on our trail."

Into the Shadow

For a time Iseldis couldn't comprehend much of anything beyond the pain, lancing white hot through her body and blinding her to all else. She knew nothing of the magic save that she didn't have the faintest idea how to defend against it, and the weightlessness and the fall were afterthoughts until they were almost through. That was when she spilled onto the ground next to Roland, their descent complete and her senses returning.

His quiet words barely reached her through the pounding in her ears. Her heart, she supposed. "I'm--agh." She'd tried to rise at least to hands and knees, but a sharp pain raced along her right arm and that side of her chest, and when the tears cleared from her eyes she saw blood dripping down from the stab wound she'd suffered. There was another in her right leg, on the outside of her thigh.

She gave up on trying to rise, instead rolling over onto her back and lighting a spell on her palms. They glowed with a soft white light, and she pressed one hand to her shoulder, the other down against her leg, searching until she found the torn hole in her leggings. It was difficult to pinpoint the source while there was still so much reverberating pain. Even with the dark elf's spell passed it was significant.

"I can... slow the bleeding at least," she said between exhausted breaths. She didn't have enough in her to heal the wounds properly, and they had to be able to keep moving. From her back she looked around. "Goddess, where are we?" By the looks of thing they were simply deeper in the darkness.

When she'd effectively slowed her own blood loss she sat up and did the same for Roland, pressing both blood-soaked hands to his shoulder and willing reserves of magic from deep within her. She was a mess, beads of sweat rolling down the sides of her face, her white robes dusted, spattered with her own blood, and clinging uncomfortably to her skin. Despite all that she felt chilled, and cold.

Her hands were shaking from exhaustion before she was satisfied with her work on Roland's injury, and the tremor extended to her legs when she tried to stand. She felt dizzy, sick, weak, and entirely unsteady. She was quite confident she'd never felt worse. She just needed to lean on her--

"My staff," she exclaimed suddenly. "It's..." It didn't need saying: it was back up above where they'd fought, where she had so swiftly lost. She knew she'd be lucky to conjure so much as a dagger in her current state. It took everything in her to keep despair from taking over.

This couldn't be how it ended. This couldn't be how she died.

And then that chilling voice echoed down from somewhere above. "The two of you have the sweetest smelling blood. Fresh and full of life. Run if you wish... but I do hope you're not finished yet. We've only just begun."

Whatever Roland did to her clearly hadn't kept her down long. "We need to move," Iseldis said urgently. "Find... some way out of here. If there is one."

Into the Shadow

Iseldis meant to flank the dark elf while Roland had her momentarily preoccupied, but a cracking burst of stone behind her drew her attention, just as the cold, scratchy grip of a draugr seized her left arm. They were starting to rise from their sarcophagi, perhaps willed back to life by the foul magic of the elf. Iseldis reacted quickly, pushing one end of her staff into the coffin before the draugr could escape and sending a blast of her magic through it. With a bright flash the undead was put to rest again, and the grip on her arm lessened until she escaped from it.

Roland hadn't fared well in the meantime, though. He'd sliced into one of the elf's legs, but it wasn't severed, and he'd received a wound to his shoulder for his trouble. Iseldis weighed their options quickly; the quarters were tight, making fighting her two on one difficult with all these coffins around, and they'd have little way of seeing draugr coming. But maybe it was worth the risk.

"My magic can hold her," she said quietly, a hint of nervousness seeping through. "Try to get around her, but watch for draugr. We need to make this fast."

A brilliant spear of light formed in her hand, and she hurled it at the dark elf, only for it to be shattered against a shield of dark magic, bursting into a thousand tiny, fading lights. Goddess, she was strong if she could do that.

Nevertheless Iseldis charged forward into close combat with a flurry of staff attacks. The elf fought barehanded, but it was as though she had eight limbs to work with, and getting through was nearly impossible. Before long the attack was turned on Iseldis, and she found herself backing up, desperately on the defense.

One of the spear-like spider legs went low, the first to slip through when it stabbed into her upper leg. She cried out, blocking aside further stabs with her staff, but she stumbled back into a sarcophagus unexpectedly, and her defense momentarily fell apart. A punch caught her across the cheek bone, dazing her, a second slammed into her midsection, driving breath from her lungs, and then a fierce pain erupted in her shoulder, as she suffered a similar stab wound to Roland's.

"What was it he said?" the elf said, smiling wickedly at her. "Not a princess, are you?" Iseldis caught the meaning quickly enough. She'd been watching them this whole time. It sent a chill through her, even as she struggled to remove the leg stabbed into her shoulder. "Scream for me, princess."

The dark elf released a surge of black, inky magic from her hands, and it hit Iseldis point-black in the chest, knocking her free of the leg and sending her tumbling over the sarcophagus to the ground. Blood ran from her wounds, but the real agony was the wicked magic that surged through her body from head to toe, inflicting constant pain. She writhed on the ground, tears springing to her eyes and blurring her vision. And she screamed.

Into the Shadow

Iseldis was surprised that Roland offered his hand to her, and just as surprised that she felt like taking it. There wasn't anything tactical to it; neither of them were blinded by the fog or at risk of losing each other, and it certainly wouldn't help them fight any better, but Iseldis did find that it slowed the beating of her heart, helped her focus on the present and not let wandering thoughts get the better of her.

It didn't last long though, as Roland soon needed both hands to carry torch and sword, and Iseldis returned both hands to a ready grip on her staff. The darkness billowed out of the coffin that they passed through, momentarily swirling up around their waists, but once they were inside it settled down again. Iseldis lifted her staff out towards the walls where the torchlight didn't reach, studying what she saw.

The architecture of this place... it wasn't like any tomb or burial grounds she'd seen. Black shimmering stone lined the walls, and there was ancient writing beneath bodies inlaid in those walls, and she couldn't read any of it. The dead here looked barely human, and any that seemed like they might rise from their sleep Iseldis preemptively took care of, conjuring a small knife of white light and sliding it into their skulls, ending threats before they could begin. She didn't speak, or couldn't. It felt like any sound here could bring the dead down on them.

They arrived at what seemed to be a large central chamber, circular and littered with closed stone coffins, the floor hard rock beneath their boots. An ominous sight awaited them on the far wall: a large face carved in the stone, expression locked in a furious roar. Black, inky darkness poured from its mouth and nostrils and eyes, spreading along the floor.

"This," Iseldis breathed, approaching it slowly. "This must be the source. Not sure I can do this, but I guess we'll find out." It was indeed worse than anything she'd seen done by her brothers and sisters, and considering how drained they'd been, she knew she'd be lucky to walk out of her under her own power. But there was something else. Some familiar feeling that something was watching her again...

Iseldis heard it drop from the ceiling before she saw it, a dark feminine shape out of the corner of her eye. Next thing she knew she was hit by a blast of forceful magic that hurled her forward, separating her from Roland, who'd be lucky not to get tossed back. Iseldis slammed into the stone face and crashed to the ground. Though she was dazed she recovered quickly, pulling herself up out of the darkness with the help of her staff, and she laid eyes on her foe.

She didn't look human, with angular and alien facial structure, dark purple skin, sharply pointed ears, and completely black eyes, but by her shape she was definitely a woman. Long black hair tumbled down her back, but the most striking thing about her were the four spider-like limbs protruding from her back, each covered in some hard plating, and ending in sharpened tips like spears.

"You're a dark elf," Iseldis said breathlessly. "I thought your kind were gone."

"Exterminated, you mean?" she hissed, her voice oozing hatred. "Not yet, despite your kind's best efforts. My people are few, but we endure, and now we take revenge."

Thoughts raced through Iseldis's mind. Dark elves were thought extinct hundreds of years now, and indeed they had been hunted for their love of dark magic and corrupting themselves with it, as this woman clearly had. But they were said to each be very powerful in their own right. Far more dangerous than any draugr could hope to be.

"You won't get away with this," Iseldis assured her. "We'll stop you, and cleanse this darkness."

The dark elf laughed, checking carefully for any sign of attack from either of them. "You'll bleed and fall at my feet, girl. The Master demanded one of your kind, and I will deliver you to him. As for you," she turned her head to Roland. "He can make use of warriors like you in his army. A fine revenant you'll make."

This didn't feel right. She was too ready for them, and it had all been too easy up to this point, when a dark elf could have been throwing the worst at them at every turn. Iseldis felt the chill more strongly than ever, creeping up her back, and though she shuddered, she held her ground, staff at the ready.

"The only one who falls here is you," she said, conjuring the light to her hand.

The dark elf gave her a wicked smile. "I'll enjoy every moment of your suffering." With that, she rushed forward with immense speed at Iseldis, away from Roland, just as the first of the coffins around him burst, and draugr began to emerge from their resting places.

Into the Shadow

Iseldis had been about to comment on her abilities to Roland, and perhaps compliment his own, but then the crypt door behind him opened seemingly of its own accord. Or maybe not, as another draugr emerged, this one wielding a bow. Lacking the time to conjure up her own again, Iseldis summoned a smaller dart of light magic, and hurled it at the draugr. It whistled through the air and pierced the undead's upper body, throwing it off balance.

That was long enough for Iseldis to rush it, drawing out her staff, its white glow illuminating several feet around the priestess. When she neared the draugr Iseldis planted one end of the staff in the ground and vaulted at it, landing a strong kick to its head that knocked it back into the wall of the crypt's entrance. It was resilient, and it swiped its clawed hands at her, nearly catching her across her upper body, but Iseldis flowed backwards out of reach, twirling her staff around. She channeled her magic into it, summoning of wave of light which she launched from one end, a vertical line that cut through the darkness and then the draugr. Again as a creature of darkness it was especially vulnerable to her spell, and was burned vertically clean in two, the separate halves sliding down the stone wall to the ground.

It seemed calm again, and Iseldis worked to catch her breath. Powerful though her magic was, she was yet inexperienced, and it took a lot out of her. She needed to pace herself. Still... three more draugr had fallen before them, far easier than the two back in the village. She smiled again when she turned to Roland.

"Well, that brings us one step closer to-"

But she cut herself off, as her attention was drawn to the ground around her. Out of the crypt leaked a black fog, lingering along the ground no higher than a foot, but thick and plainly malicious. It coiled around the leather of her boots, and tendrils of it seemed it to grasp at the ends of her robes. It didn't even seem to care for the light of the staff she'd planted in the dirt. It wasn't directly dangerous, but it was a symptom of something that sent an unsettling feeling into the pit of her stomach.

"This is... worse than anything I saw at corrupted sites I was taken to as an initiate," she said to Roland, a bit of uncertainty creeping into her tone. "It's coming from inside the crypt, no surprise there. I should still be able to cleanse it, but I imagine it'll take a lot out of me." She winced. "Might need to hold back on the magic in the meantime." Little spells she could still manage without expending much, but combat magic was another matter.

She restored the hovering light spell, and tilted her head towards the entrance. "Ready for this?"

Into the Shadow

Iseldis had to admit she was glad to have Roland along. Veteran travelers of her priesthood were known to take on these kinds of tasks alone, dangerous though they were, but she couldn't imagine facing this without help. The dark woods and fog clinging to the ground were unnerving, unlike the city streets she was so used to, but having Roland there gave her the confidence to keep moving with a steady ease, and perhaps something approaching grace.

When they neared the crypt Iseldis snuffed out the floating light above their heads and returned her staff to its place on her belt. The moonlight filtered well enough through the clouds into the clearing to allow them to see, and Iseldis figured it was better to not announce her location to the draugr with a bright white light. As for her staff, she had more dangerous weapons to call upon at night...

When Roland alerted her to the draugr, she lowered herself to take cover behind a gravestone as he drew his sword. Visibility was a little limited, but she soon saw two, aimlessly wandering perhaps twenty strides from one another. Perhaps there were more lurking in the fog, but these were the two she could see. The entrance to Blackglass was somewhere beyond, but these draugr needed to be dealt with before they wandered off.

She glanced to Roland with a bright little smile. "I'll take out the one on the left. The other should rush us. You can take him, and I'll keep you covered if there are any more."

Iseldis had been waiting all day for the chance to push herself and test her abilities, and here it was. She drew in a deep breath, centering herself, and as she softly exhaled, a silvery-white light wreathed her arms. She stood to her full height, lifting her arms out before her, and the light rushed to solidify in the air as a large, glimmering bow, an arrow of light already nocked and ready to be drawn.

The draugr noticed, but by the time the one on the left turned to face her Iseldis had released the glowing string. The arrow lanced to its target almost instantly, faster than a typical arrow could, leaving a bright trail of light behind in the air that slowly faded into darkness. The arrow not only pierced the draugr's dark chest, it burst into a shower of light particles that tore the creature asunder from the waist up. What was left of it fell in a heap to the ground.

Exhilaration rushed through the priestess, and though she smiled she tried to suppress her excitement for the moment, for the other was charging them, and more could be lurking near. She'd save the celebration for when she no longer felt the eerie presence of the darkness around her.

Into the Shadow

It probably seemed unusual to the villagers for their guests to depart in the dark, but Iseldis was used to long days and longer nights. Drawing from the moon helped her partially replace the need to sleep, and tonight the moonlight often pierced through scattered crowds and the trees over their heads. She'd have to be sure not to push her partner over his limits, but no doubt Roland was used to long nights as well, if he had experience soldiering.

Iseldis led the way with her glowing white staff in hand, a floating ball of magic leading the way for her, illuminating the darkness of the forest. It cast strangely shaped, twisting and shifting shadows into the distance as they moved, and while it could be unsettling at times, Iseldis preferred it to the impenetrable darkness they'd be faced with otherwise.

Iseldis felt confident, far more so than she had leaving the city this morning. What little time she'd spent in her robes helped her feel comfortable in them, and her time among the villagers helped her feel like she might belong in them. The chance to battle a few isolated draugr was fortunate as well. Though it hadn't gone perfectly, she didn't freeze in battle, and now she knew how they moved, how they sounded, how they fought. It would make the real danger in this Blackglass place more manageable.

But still...

"Can't help but feel like we're being watched." She didn't hardly need to speak in more than a whisper to be heard by Roland. "But I doubt draugr would stalk us without attacking. Not the first time I've felt this way today, to be honest." There were times when the rustling in the trees seemed like more than just the wind, but it never amounted to anything.

She tried to shake off the feeling. "I'll be very annoyed if anyone from the village followed us." That she said a little louder, no doubt to be heard if in fact they were being followed. This was their business to resolve, and too dangerous for untrained villagers.

Into the Shadow

Iseldis was pretty proud of her work. Roland's cut wouldn't even scar too much. "The night helps, the moon helps more." She smiled. "We're not powerless when there's cloud cover. We wouldn't be too threatening then." The region saw fairly frequent rains, and while some of her order found the absence of the moon's light more difficult than others, Iseldis has never been overly taxed by it. The night time was key, though. She'd exhaust herself far too quickly to be useful slinging spells and magic weapons in the daylight. At least until she could better hone her abilities.

She wasn't surprised to hear he'd been through battles before. Iseldis had healed soldiers returning from war before, and they shared a look that she saw in Roland. She got the sense that none of them were the same people that they were when the first battle started. Perhaps draugr were more frightening than the average man, but killing draugr didn't leave the same mark on a soul killing a man would.

Before long the townsfolk were swarming them, just as Roland was trying to leave. She would've been against it anyway, but now it seemed they had no choice but to stay. "It can't hurt to rest a while and eat," she said. "I need to see to some of the villagers, and we can see what they know about the source of the draugr. It'd be best to confront them after dark, anyway."

...

Evening came quicker than expected, but Iseldis was kept busy healing the villagers injured in the draugr attack. They told her wild tales about where the draugr came from, most repeating the names Rottengild and Therzun, but they sounded more like stories to Iseldis, things to keep the children from running away from the village. They did speak of a nearby cave, however, a place they called Blackglass, and a place they'd avoided for years. It was possible it was actually a crypt, once used by the ancestors of the land but long since forgotten. It seemed like the best place to start, so she acquired directions.

In the evening the villagers treated them to a feast in their main hall, one they'd been planning to have anyway. Iseldis ate lightly, knowing they'd be on the move later in the night, and spent most of the time conversing with the villagers. Clearly today was the most exciting day they'd had in perhaps years, and Iseldis found their excitement infectious.

"You're set on exploring Blackglass then?" asked a boy named Owen from across the table of Iseldis. He was eighteen at most, and after she'd healed his leg today he was plainly infatuated with her, which she dutifully ignored. "We never go there. Back to my grandparents' time, no one goes there."

"Well, Roland and I will go there," she answered. "If that's the source of the draugr, we'll clean them out, and I'll cleanse the source. Simple, really." She turned her head to Roland seated beside her. "Sounds like a plan, right?" She wasn't sure how much he was enjoying the attention, if at all. He seemed a bit awkward before, but Iseldis couldn't help but enjoy herself.

It felt good to see all these people smiling because of something she'd helped to do.