Tale of Eldramir

Ezekiel wasn’t too certain what it was he was feeling when he found himself in darkness. He knew that he was going to find nothing but shadows once he entered his mother’s trial area, but he had been expecting some sort of attack, or other form of assault from the thing that was taking action in the Legacy.

Hello? Is anyone there?

The moment he spoke he knew that something was wrong, because his mouth should’ve been making noises, even in the strange [Domain] he found himself in.

It seems like whatever this is, it is doing its best to disorient us... Can you tell if there’s an atmosphere? Shine’s voice was a comforting presence within Ezekiel’s mind, but their question made him sigh. Clearly they were just as confused as he was.

I’m not feeling an atmosphere, but I also don’t feel the same vacuum that space would create around us. Ezekiel held up a hand, but then realized that he couldn’t see it. This is even stranger than our trial. At least then, we were able to somewhat see things, since there was [Starlight] that shone from all directions. Do you think that the source of this is able to communicate with us?

Ezekiel felt a mental shrug from Shine in response. It was clear that neither of them was entirely certain regarding what to do in this situation.

Let’s try sensing the rest of the Legacy via the beacon we left behind. Then we can at least find out whether or not we’re still inside it.

Usually, Ezekiel would agree with Shine, since it was a sensible suggestion. However, this time he just shook his head.

I was paying attention to the different sensations and beacons connecting us to the Legacy when we entered that Rift. While I can tell we’re in the same world as it, the space between us and it is too great for us to [Jump].

It had been a strange sensation, feeling what was essentially a light bulb shining next to his head, then stepping out of the room, but still seeing the light, only to return to that same room, but it was a thousand times bigger. The light was now dim, and the more he tried to get closer to it the more tired he got but the light never got brighter.

If there’s nothing there physically, then perhaps we shouldn’t focus on that? The [Domain] that we’re in is clearly just a more complex version of the realm where Obscure mages and Spirits [Shadow Walk]. So perhaps we need to bring it some light?

Shine’s suggestion made Ezekiel stop and think for a moment. It was certainly feasible, but he also knew that creating a light on a [Shadow Walker] always harmed the Mage or Spirit that was using the magic. He didn’t want to hurt his mother, or anyone else trapped in this place, but it was obvious that he would need to. His senses weren’t showing him anything, so it was the only option he could think of.

[Nothingness] eats away at all magical energy, in any form, by dispersing it in its entirety. So long as you [Will] it, you should be able to separate us both from whatever it is we’re stuck in. While hopefully not harming anyone else that might be trapped in here. Although, we won’t be certain until you try, so there’s not much point in holding back right now.

Knowing that Shine was right, and with a silent sigh, Ezekiel held out his hands. A phrase from his past life passed through his mind, but he kept his lips sealed. He wasn’t in the mood for jokes like that.

Instead, the moment the darkness was filled with a light imbued with his [Nothingness], he had to refrain from clasping his hands over his ears. A cacophony of screams of different tones and loudness bombarded his ears, and his own light nearly blinded him.

“What the hell?” he couldn’t help but mutter once his vision cleared.

In front of him was a massive ball of darkness that writhed and wriggled while trying to run from Ezekiel’s light. Yet it couldn’t get anywhere, and instead it steamed and seemed to burn away in the face of Ezekiel’s light. The power of a Mythical being could be felt, but it was slowly weakening.

The ball grew smaller while Ezekiel’s light shone, and he was able to get a better look at the room he was in. It wasn’t that large, only perhaps fifty feet by fifty feet. Ezekiel could also sense the closeness of his beacon from before. As well as several smaller flickers of lights, souls of humans and Spirits, coming from inside the sphere of darkness.

“Stop it! You need to stop it! Stop it or I’ll kill them all!” A feminine voice filled his ears over the screaming, and Ezekiel turned back to the shrinking orb of shadows.

Several faces with their eyes opened, blackness filling them entirely, gazed at nothing while their mouths opened and closed.

His heart nearly stopped when he saw that they were his mother and sisters’.

He began marching forward. The light wasn’t dimming in the least. Instead, his eyes narrowed into an angry glare. His mana put pressure on the sphere that made the faces in it scream even louder.

“Did you not hear me! I said stop it!” The strange voice that didn’t belong to any of his family continued to scream. Yet Ezekiel didn’t listen. Instead, he focused on what his senses were telling him.

A pulse of mana through his body and soul sped up his perception of the world. The shrinking ball of shadows appeared to become entirely motionless. No changes could be observed due to how slowly it was now changing.

Flashes of possibility passed through his mind, but nothing that he could hold onto. His visions grew blurry the moment the dark sphere took action. The first few seconds, consisting entirely of physical attacks from shadows that lashed out to attack him, were immediately followed with blood on the ground, or fog flooding his sight.

Nothing was concrete, and the constant stream of flashes that he could not see to the end, or were interrupted, cut short, and had no resolution, began to slow as he began to figure out what was happening, and why he couldn’t predict the future.

Soon, no more scenarios filled Ezekiel’s mind. Instead, he had nothing more than a theory. One that he couldn’t be sure would work but would almost certainly get his enemy to stop. At least it should, temporarily. Perhaps, if he had a better [Understanding] or Obscure magic he would be able to accurately predict something, but for the moment

I have an idea. Tell me what you think. Ezekiel sent a plan based on what his senses were now telling him, and after a few seconds, Shine finally replied.

It should work, but how will you get them out of there?

Ezekiel mentally shrugged, but he knew that his emotions were giving away his panic. Given that I can now sense them, since I know where I’m looking, I think we have a chance. However, getting them out will be the easy part. At least on your end. It’s all the other stuff that will be an issue.

Shine gave him a mental shrug, but didn’t disagree. Given what you think we’re dealing with, we both knew that there would be risks involved.

Its words were true, and Ezekiel returned his perception to the norm. Firming up his shoulder, he stopped moving forward.

“Good! Now-”

He didn’t let the orb finish. The light in his hands grew brighter, and the sphere shrank back even further while another scream pierced the air.

Waving a hand, another light appeared behind the first, only to disappear beneath a [Shroud]. Now, only known to Ezekiel, the second ball flew toward the sphere of darkness.

The moment the ball passed into it; Ezekiel felt his connection to the orb expand his senses into the darkness. Now, with his body outside to give a point of reference, he could accurately sense the different presences within the darkness.

As well as two Mythical fires that were struggling inside it. Both shone brightly in their own way, but didn’t have the same effect as his own false light did when it came to interacting with all the elements.

His [Nothingness] was a truly unfair advantage.

“What did you do!?” the shadowed voice shrieked.

Ezekiel ignored it, and instead covered his mother and sisters in a barrier that prevented the shadows from crushing them. He then held out the light in his hand in such a way as to cast his own shadow onto the sphere.

“Let’s see if this works properly...” He closed his eyes, focusing on the presence of the Mythical shadow that was now connected to him, but not surrounding him. “Keep watch and save them for me.”

“Of course,” Shine resolutely replied. “I’ll keep the Guardian from interfering as well.”

Ezekiel nodded, and then, using his connection to his temporary beacon, he cast his soul into the shadows. The weight of his Tier six soul now standing even with the weight of another, nearly as strong as his own.

----------

Finding himself once more surrounded by darkness, Ezekiel let out a sigh of annoyance. Though, this time he was more exhausted than exasperated. Yet he could feel something this time. Not his beacons, or any other souls. Just the looming presence of an old and powerful soul. One that was even older than the Guardian of the Legacy. Even if it was merely a piece that had latched onto the closest host.

“Either you show yourself and speak to me, as an equal, or I run rampant through your soul!” Ezekiel yelled into the darkness. This time, even though he couldn’t see anything around him, he could at least see himself. His own soul glowed brightly with the opalescent light of his mana. “Show yourself! Ancient Obscurity!”

For a moment, there was nothing but silence. Then there was a rumbling, followed by a symphony of whispers that echoed in Ezekiel’s mind. Rather than be overwhelmed, however, he merely flexed his soul, and his [Understandings], [Will], [Truth], and [Rule] kept him safe.

“If you know who I am, then you know that you are not my equal!” a feminine voice whispered into his ears. “Submit to me, mortal! Perhaps I will let your power aid me in defeating the traitorous murderer!”

He couldn’t suppress the shiver that ran up and down his spine upon hearing those words. It sounded too much like his mother’s, though far more vehement in tone.

This time he did not reply with words of his own. Instead, he merely held up an arm, and filled the soul of the Ancient Obscurity with brightly shimmering light that had motes of other colors flickering throughout its entirety

A scream that would’ve shattered cliffsides rang through the space he was in. Though he had prepared himself this time and had covered himself in a film of magic that kept his ears and mind safe by muffling the Ancient’s pain.

It was only when the screaming stopped that Ezekiel’s light went out.

“You are nothing more than a small piece of a much greater shadow that departed this world millennia ago. You are not even a proper remnant! Merely a bud of the Ancient Obscurity, who perhaps contains its memories.” Ezekiel glared at the shadows surrounding him. “I do not wish to harm you! I do not wish to kill you! But you captured my people. People who put their trust in me! You threatened my family! You don’t get to dictate the terms of this conversation!”

Ezekiel felt something approaching him from behind. His [Danger Sense] flared in warning, so an even brighter light than before lit up. Pointed tendril that lanced out from a feminine silhouette faded away, and screams resounded once more.

“Your soul isn’t even half as powerful as a true Ancient’s would be! My own soul is stronger than yours, and my mana surpasses yours by several Steps!” Ezekiel felt somewhat guilty, directing his tiredness and anger at everything at this particular target, but he needed a chance to vent. “This Legacy was supposed to be a safe space for Humans, and Spirits, to learn and grow from the memories and teachings of the Ancients. Yet you perverted it and turned it into a trap! A prison where you began feasting on the Obscure magic of those that passed the trial. You feasted on the mana of my mother!”

Ezekiel’s anger flared, and so too did the light that was infused with [Nothingness]. It took several seconds for him to calm down. It was only when the soul in front of him began to whimper and cry after curling up into a ball that he dismissed the mana in his hand.

He shook his arm in disgust. A dirty feeling welling up inside him. His actions were too much like torture, and he didn’t like it. No matter how angry he might have been.

It was so much easier when I could more easily lose myself in my element, and let my emotions get lost subconsciously. Now it only happens when I [Will] it.

Such a thing had surprised him, when he had entered battle after reaching the peak of Tier five. But it had been somewhat welcome, at the time. Now he wasn’t so sure.

“Get up. I know for a fact that, while painful, the damage is not debilitating after a few seconds of recovery.” Ezekiel crossed his legs and began floating above the fallen figure. “We need to speak. You mentioned destroying the traitorous murderer. I assume you mean the Chaos Broodlord who consumed the essence of the Ancient Radiance, correct?”

Mentioning the Chaos Broodlord seemed to snap the remnant Obscurity out of its fake crying. It didn’t throw itself into another fight, however, and merely looked at Ezekiel warily.

“If you know of the enemy, then you should know why I did what I did! As an Ancient, I am the only one that can defeat another being born of the world!” Its words were shrill, and its voice shifted between feminine and featureless whispers. “I must do what I could not do before my departure! I must kill him myself for what he did!”

Ezekiel shook his head. Perhaps, when first budded into being, this remnant would’ve been more capable of making sense. Now, after millennia of loneliness, it was obviously mad. Though the mention of having to get revenge itself was interesting.

“I assume that you wish to avenge your brother... Did the other Ancients know of your plan, or did you leave them in the dark?”

The remnant of Obscurity just growled and did not reply. Ezekiel figured that meant that it hadn’t told anyone about leaving this small piece behind.

“I’m getting sick of this... I have half a mind to just snuff your soul out here and now. I’ve already figured out how to get to Tier six. To match and surpass Radiant Chaos and kill him myself. I just need to do it, and you are getting in my way!” Ezekiel flared his soul, but not his mana. He didn’t want to harm the remnant this time. Just scare it.

Which worked quite well, since his more powerful soul was able to jostle the Ancient remnant’s with ease. That was not what the Spirit in front of him focused on, however.

“You know the secret of progression? You must tell me! Tell me or I will kill all whom I have claimed!” The remnant of Obscurity leapt at Ezekiel, but he just flexed his soul, and [Willed] the remnant to stop moving. He then proceeded to backhand it away from himself.

“I’m genuinely more surprised at your focus on the method of progress than the fact that the Chaos Broodlord is besmirching your brother’s name. Though, it does put everything you’ve mentioned into question. How could you possibly have killed Radiant Chaos, whose true power is certainly at the peak of Tier six, if not halfway into seven, if you can’t reach Tier six yourself?” Ezekiel rubbed his chin, taking in the cowering figure in front of him, before his eyes widened in realization. “You have planned to either brute force your way into Tier six, by eventually consuming more and more shadows, and the mana that might be within them, or perhaps... before the Broods break free, you would consume their seals?”

He hadn’t originally thought that such a thing would be possible, but given how this sliver of the Ancient Obscurity had managed to force everyone into the shadows, even though it was only halfway to the peak of Tier five, meant that it had a way of directing the World in a way that greatly enhanced its power. Perhaps, within this [Domain] there were more possibilities than what he was seeing.

Letting out an angry sigh, Ezekiel realized what he had to do. The remnant of Obscurity was too valuable to simply kill off, like he had originally feared. It meant that this was truly going to be harder than he had expected, since he would need to do the one thing he hated doing most.

Negotiating with a crazy person.

“If you don’t tell me what I want to know, then I’ll just keep you people trapped, until you do!”

It seemed that the remnant had recovered, but Ezekiel wasn’t worried. Unlike it, who would’ve been stuck focusing on Ezekiel, much like he was stuck focusing on it, he had an ally. One that was more than capable of acting on his behalf and interfering with the shadow [Domain] that the remnant had created in the real world.

In fact, Ezekiel could now feel a message sent through his bond. It seemed that Shine had finished things up on their end.

“We’ll talk more, now that I know where to find you. I think you’ll soon realize that the world has changed. Humanity, and the Spirits, rule the world. Regardless of the chaos being spread by the Broods and their Cruor. Something that I will not allow to change.” He shot her one last glare before extracting his soul from its. “You will either fall in line, or if you are an obstacle, you will be removed.”

With those final words, he threw out a ball of light that sank into the avatar of the remnant’s soul. It wasn't something he had used in this way before, but he had been able to mark things with his mana for years. Hopefully, marking a soul would be no different. Especially since his [Will] was so much greater than its.

The last thing he saw before opening his eyes was the remnant frantically clawing at its chest in an attempt to remove the magic that he had used on it.

----------

Opening his eyes, Ezekiel immediately latched onto the shadow in front of him. He could feel it trying to escape his grapes, but that wasn’t what caught his attention.

It was the fact that there was a massive hole in the body of the previously writhing sphere.

“It seems like getting the others out was more difficult than expected. Did you have many problems?” Ezekiel turned his head while speaking. Behind him, several people who had apparently refused to leave had remained in the room.

“The extraction was annoying more than anything else. It wasn’t that difficult. Though I do think that trying to get these ones to return with the others, once they were out, was like pulling teeth.” Shine sounded amused, but Ezekiel could feel their exhaustion. They were running low on mana, and he couldn’t do anything else but convey his thanks through their bond.

“If you think I’m going to leave my husband when he’s communicating with that monster’s soul, then you clearly don’t know me very well.” Riley just huffed and crossed her arms.

“I know you just fine. That’s why I didn’t just send you away against your will. You, or the twins.” Shine spoke with a careless whimsy, but the twins, upon being mentioned, finally launched themselves forward, and Ezekiel found himself wrapped up in a hug.

“I’m sorry! I tried to fight against it, but something changed, and the Guardian interfered!” Wendy started to babble, while Ellen just stayed silent.

Ezekiel didn’t say anything. He just nodded his head and gestured for Riley to come over as well.

“It’s alright. I’ve got the remnant of Obscurity contained for now. Is mom okay? Was she also extracted?” This was Ezekiel’s primary concern, now that he had gotten out.

“Mom was fine. The healers that got out checked her over, and they said that she was just unconscious, and exhausted. It seems like her mana has been drained more than it should’ve been.” Ellen finally spoke up, and Ezekiel squeezed his family a little bit tighter.

“Thank goodness,” he sighed and some of the tension left his body. “That means that things should be going well, for now.”

“What will you be doing with that?” Riley pointed at the remnant Obscurity that was still pinned in place. “You would’ve killed it if you could’ve, which, given your strength, should be more than possible. So, why is it alive?”

Extracting themselves from Ezekiel’s hold, the twins looked over and glared, while Ezekiel could feel heat emanating from his wife.

“I’m going to try and see if it can be bound by a contract. Its ability to use the shadows to make such a massive space, as well as move through shadows that are not directly connected to each other, grants us possibilities that I hadn’t considered before. If its sanity can be improved.”

His shrug clearly didn’t give the ladies any reassurances, but he knew that he needed to at least try to make use of the remnant of Obscurity. Otherwise, an opportunity that would greatly increase his chances of making progress would be lost.

“Are you certain that it’s worth the risk?” Riley, clearly concerned, held onto his arm, and stopped him from going back to the remnant.

“I’m not going to waste more than a day on this. So, I think that the risk is worth it. If I can’t convince it to be bound by a contract by the end of the day, I will kill it, so we can sleep safely.”

Ezekiel stared Riley directly in the eyes when he said this. Though she didn’t seem to want to let him go, it was obvious that she trusted him, since she nodded and released his arm.

“Please head back to the central chambers with the rest. The Guardian shouldn’t be doing anything else that would cause you problems. Not with the authority of the remnant being unable to influence it anymore.” Ezekiel gestured for the others to leave.

They quietly backed away, and he felt Shine flare their mana before they were [Jumped] away to where the other people inside the Legacy were gathered. Then, he turned back to the remnant with a stony expression on his face.

“Please continue to keep watch. If anything happens, pull me out, and help me kill it.” Though he didn’t think that it would be as dangerous, Ezekiel still wanted Shine to keep watch.

“Are you sure?” Shine did not sound as confident. “If you think that the Guardian won’t interfere, then perhaps I should join you this time?”

It made some sense, but Ezekiel shook his head.

“Last time, I got it by surprise. This time, I can’t be certain that they won’t be prepared. So, I need you to keep watch. Not just here, but on me, from outside.”

This time, he felt Shine reluctantly agree to do as they were told.

“Thank you. Now, get ready.”

Reaching forward, Ezekiel physically planted his hand on the still struggling, and now hollow, sphere of shadows. Its formless figure could do nothing as his souls dove into it once more.