Flight of the Owl

Idahol followed her master through the labyrinth of black trees lit only by a hint of moonlight. She felt the cool night air on whatever skin that wasn’t covered by the simple brown tunic that hung to her knees which she cinched at the waist with her sword belt. In the distance, she heard the hoot of an owl ring out to any creature within hearing distance. The sound mixed with the soft crunching of leaves and twigs underfoot as she walked. Each step onto the layers of dead leaves kicked up more of the earthy smell which permeated the forest.

“Hurry, apprentice!” Ademan whispered behind him. “I saw it fly in this direction.”

“Yes, master,” she huffed as she picked up her pace. They have been in the forest outside Haramar village for hours, looking for an owl that Ademan had seen in a vision. It will lead us to those who wish to do harm to our order, he had said excitedly when he went to her hut to fetch her. This was despite the fact that Ademan was only the village shaman, and "their order" only comprised a handful of mages-in-training apprenticed to him. And here was roughly a third of the order, traipsing around the forest in the middle of the night, attempting to seek members of a so-called cult. But Ademan was always right, so Idahol kept following.

“There!” Ademan said, pointing up into black trees. Idahol looked up and saw nothing at first. Then she saw a faint bluish glow from a pair of eyes in the branches above. The owl from Ademan’s vision. A twig snapped under Idahol’s shoes, and the owl took off, flying further into the forest. She could faintly make out its body as it flew through the thin rays of moonlight filtering through the thick canopy of branches.

“Come, apprentice, we must hurry!” He shouted as he took off at a sprint. Only the brilliant orange glow of Vertorem’s Grace radiating from the jewel atop his staff kept him from running headlong into a tree or down an unseen cliff. Idahol ran after him, using her own ability to call upon blessings of the goddess of light to help amplify what little light there was in the forest so she could see well enough to make it through. The moonlight quickly faded, obstructed by a large outcropping of rock. She stopped near her master, catching her breath from her exertions.

“There,” Ademan pointed straight ahead. “Do you see it?”

Idahol focused, drawing upon more of her powers to bolster her vision. It was enough to see that there was a darker spot in the shape of an oval in the middle of the outcropping.

“A cave,” Idahol said, astonished. “Strange that we are just now discovering a cave here, master. How many before us have charted these woods and never seen this?”

“Many,” Ademan said. “The owl went this way. Come.” Ademan said, hefting his staff, adorned with the massive jewel that was said to have focused his powers. He stepped forward, and the darkness of the cave entrance swallowed him whole. Idahol sighed and followed, silently wondering if this could wait until daylight. And when they brought some warriors with them. Despite the admiration she held for her master, she was growing increasingly apprehensive about their venture.

As she stepped inside, she saw the jewel on top of Ademan's staff glow, casing a fan of golden light ahead of them. At first glance, the inside of the cave was unremarkable. There was no evidence of tools being used to carve the tunnel, meaning that it must have formed naturally. However, as Idahol followed Adaman deeper into the cave, she noticed it twisted and turned too much to be anything but human-made. At one point, the cave forked in two different directions. Ademan guessed the proper direction, but the cave ended abruptly, so they double-backed and tried the other direction. Further down this next path, the cave rewarded them with the shining eyes of the owl.

After hours of navigating this subterranean labyrinth, Idahol saw a faint orange glow illuminating the path ahead. The two crept along the illuminated path and came upon a large, circular chamber with walls made of stone blocks. The walls were lined with lit braziers, washing the gray stones in orange light and throwing unnatural shadows along the walls and ceiling. Idahol stared at the shadows as they flickered, and for a second she thought they were telling a story. One was the image of someone running through a forest. Then the person came upon another with feminine features and watched as she rose into the sky.

"Look," Ademan said, pointing at the center of the chamber. Idahol looked and saw a stone altar, adorned with carvings similar to the ones she had just seen cast on the ceiling. The person running, the woman, and…

“It’s the story of Vertorem’s ascension. But who is the other person?”

“I do not know, apprentice.” Ademan sighed wearily and rubbed his temples. “I am beginning to think that I led us towards certain doom.”

“Is this not how the vision played out, master?”

“No, it is not. It appears that Vertorem’s vision betrayed me. Or it was not from her.”

"It was because the vision was from my master, Ademan," a voice croaked from behind them. They turned and saw a figure standing in the entrance to the cave path, clad in black robes, with a hood that obscured his face. Perched on his arm was the same owl they had been following, with glowing eyes.

"And who is that?" Ademan said while giving Idahol a brief look that seemed to say Prepare yourself for battle. Idahol put her hand on the hilt of her sword, infusing it with Vertorem’s Grace.

"Rak'gal, the one enslaved by the goddess of light to an eternity of darkness," he said as the owl took off and flew towards the ceiling and passed clean through it. The lights from the braziers dimmed and part of the ceiling that the owl passed through turned black. The darkness spread from the spot evenly across the entire ceiling, radiating outward until the walls were black. Idahol unsheathed her word, which glowed with Vertorem's radiant light. Suddenly, a dozen pairs of eyes opened in the darkness, glowing with the same brilliance as those of the owl. Those eyes were attached to figures dressed the same as the person standing in the cave entrance. Each unsheathed a sword in unison, which also glowed in the same brilliant light.

"You two will make fine sacrifices to fuel my lord’s escape from his prison," the figure in the doorway said, drawing a strange-looking knife. The knife seemed to be solid, yet the twisting, translucent blade cast a faint blue light and shimmered when moved as if it were an apparition.

Warriors leaped from the shadows. Some of them attacked Idahol, but most of them attacked Adaman. Idahol dodged and parried attacks from all sides while countering with blows of her own. One warrior fell after a savage strike to the chest, but their body dematerialized before it even hit the floor. Idahol dispatched the other warriors attacking her with relative ease, then turned her attention towards Ademan. He turned to face her briefly, his eyes and the jewel atop his staff glowing with the orange brilliance of Vertorem's Grace. He slammed the bottom of the staff into the ground and a burst of energy radiated from the staff all around him. It caught all of the warriors unaware, and their bodies writhed in agony as the light consumed them. The warriors crumpled to the floor and vanished just as the ones Idahol defeated had done.

Ademan and Idahol turned towards the chamber entrance, but the cult leader was no longer there. They both turned in opposite directions scanning the area to look for them. Idahol heard the sounds of someone scrambling behind her. She turned just in time to see the cult leader leap from out of nowhere and plunge the shimmering blade deep into Ademan’s back. Ademan cried out in agony as the blue light spread from the knife through his body. His eyes glowed with a brilliance that rivaled the energy of Vertorem’s grace. Tendrils of blue light snaked out of his mouth as he shouted.

Idahol shouted and threw her blade at the cult leader, which to her astonishment transformed into a bolt of pure orange energy and struck the cult leader in the chest. The burst of energy sent his corpse sprawling to the floor. Idahol grabbed the hilt of the shimmery knife and pulled it from Vertorem’s back. Ademan collapsed to the ground, and Idahol threw the knife to the ground as she knelt by her master’s side. As it hit the ground, the twisting blue blade vanished, leaving only the hilt, which appeared to be made of carved bone.

“Apprentice, you have fought spectacularly. Transforming your sword into the goddess’s light was astonishing. However, I am afraid our efforts have been in vain.”

“Master, no, I am sure that the healers back at the village can tend to your wounds.” Idahol looked at the wound. Despite having pulled the knife out, a beam of blue light shined from the wound, causing it to pulsate.

“I can feel the corruption begin to take hold. Whoever this Rak’gal is, I can feel their foul presence taking over my body; showing me unspeakable images of death and destruction.” He handed her his staff. The jewel at the stop stopped glowing with Vertorem’s Grace and began to glow with a faint blue light. “Take this and go. It will prove your rightful place as my successor. Keep our order alive, Idahol.”

Idahol took the staff from his hand. At once, the blue light was purged from the jewel, replaced by the orange glow of Vertorem’s Grace. Idahol remained crouched next to her master for a brief second, not wanting to accept what she knew to be true. The great Ademan would soon succumb to the corruption of whatever force this “Rak’gal” was.

"Goodbye, master," she whispered as she stood. In response, Ademan cried out in agony, more of the blue light escaping from his mouth as he shouted. She turned and ran out of the chamber as it began to shake. She turned once more as she left and saw Ademan lying on the floor of the cave, writhing in agony as blue light shined from growing fissures in his skin. It appeared to her that the corruption was devouring him from the inside out.

As Ademan screamed, stones began to fall from the ceiling of the chamber. Small ones at first, then larger ones. They fell onto Ademan's body as it lay on the ground, piling up on top of him. She stared at the pile for a moment, and it began to shift, letting loose a ray of light from under the debris. Idahol turned and ran down the tunnel to the cave entrance as the rest of the ceiling collapsed, burying the chamber and her master. As she ran, the destruction of the tunnel followed her with astonishing speed. She focused her thoughts and called upon more blessing to aid her speed. She exited the cave, falling to the ground just as the rest of it had collapsed. Its dying breath exhaled a cloud of dust and debris.

Idahol lay on the ground among dead leaves and twigs and looked at the cliff. It was daytime now, and her eyes strained to see in the bright sunlight after hours of being in the near-dark cave. The cliff began to shake and shimmer, fading into nothingness for a moment then coming back. The ground below her shook with each time the cliff faded out of existence. Finally, the cliff disappeared completely, leaving no proof that it had ever existed. Except for the hilt of the knife that killed Ademan lying on the ground.