190 Darkbeast Ambush (1/2)
”The forest floor is wet,” observed Li as he took a step forward, boots squelching as he stepped into grimy, muddy dirt. ”And yet, there hasn't been rain.”
The mud was no ordinary mud either. It rang with the same static interference that Darkbeasts emitted, meaning that they were most definitely in Darkbeast territory.
”A sign that we are in the depths of the forest,” said Launcelot. ”None ever travel here for the threat of the Darkbeasts is far higher here.”
Li looked around him. The forest itself was the same. Pitch black, the only light coming from the bright fire that Faye generated from her hands. The chattering still echoed, but this time, there were some echoes that Li could not accurately discern.
”Then we're almost there. Let's keep moving,” said Li.
As they waded through the muddy depths of the Chattering Forest, Li asked Launcelot, ”What compelled you to travel this forest? It must have been unimaginably dangerous for you. The outer layers of this forest are already a challenge, but if Darkbeasts spawn here, then I would put my bets on you not surviving most of the time.”
”For me, most certainly,” nodded Launcelot. ”My magic has precious little effect upon Darkbeasts, but the heroic might of my friends works wonders. When they are not pretending to be lower leveled mages and rangers, they are fiercesome forces indeed.”
At the mention of the word 'friends', Faye frowned a little and said, ”That's right. Were it not for my flames, you'd have been wrapped up in some silken cocoon somewhere, left to rot.”
”And for that, I am eternally grateful,” said Launcelot. He thought about Li's question for a second and answered. ”I came here when I was yet investigating the nature of heroes, for then, I would understand better the duchess's goals for them.
Celeste, I had saved from the clutches of an Arcana mage obsessed with heroes who had chained her, using her gift to generate explosions to fuel some strange mechanical contraption – no doubt sourced by elves who likely were funding the unhinged man.”
Li heard Celeste, a small, slight girl wrapped up in a sturdy green robe, shiver, recalling painful memories.
”When I slew the mage,” continued Launcelot. ”I went through every floor of his tower and pored through all his notes. It was there that I came to understand that heroes do not derive their power from the blessings of the gods, but from something living within them.
”And you connected those questions to this forest?”
Launcelot nodded as he carefully made his way between two trees, his shield at face level so he could immediately raise it overhead if needs be.
”There is a tale that has become legend, but it is said that before the last demon war, there was a hero that took up residence here. The Chattering Forests then were more vibrant, more welcoming of man. That hero, or, well, he would not have been considered a hero in that age. Merely a monster, but I shall call him hero regardless.
That hero took residence here when he was driven from his village, and here, he awakened his power. A power to create all manner of monstrosities from his flesh, monsters that no adventurers had ever seen before. With these beasts, he lived in isolation and safety.
Then, the demons attacked. The hero fought to keep the monsters whom he considered family safe, but alas, he, though mighty, was no match for the might of demons.
In his dying breath, he became a monstrosity himself, merging with the forest as it rotted under demonic influence, and since then, this forest has always been plagued with Darkbeasts.”
Li paused. It made sense why the mud gave off Darkbeast interference. ”We're stepping on that hero's corpse, or whatever thing he became when he merged with this place.”
”A morbid thought,” said Launcelot. ”But indeed, yes. Where I will lead you to is a small swamp at this forest's center where I believe, according to aged records, at the least, his body rotted.”
Li thought of the implications of this. At the very least, it meant that upon reaching the heart of the forest, there would be some fight in order if the hero was still alive in some capacity and spawning Darkbeasts. He could theorize a little as to what he thought was happening.
The heart of the forest was where all paths of life intersected within a forest, and where, if a deity had a shrine, it could direct the flow of life, creating and destroying as needed. Likely, this hero had somehow merged with the heart and was spawning Darkbeasts with his power.
Meaning Li had to uproot the hero from the heart before he himself could link with it.
”Still,” said Li. ”How would this hero's death clue you into the questions you want answers to about the origins of heroes?”
”At first, I thought perhaps to capture a Darkbeast and bring him before a friend of mine who is excommuned from the Arcana and yet proficient in their research. That way, I could understand how it is the heroic mutation can alter life.”
Launcelot paused. ”But I found something of more significance. A small village near these woods has folk tales regarding the hero, and they recorded his last words, words that echoed through the entirety of the forests, as he expelled his power to his body's limit as 'The gate. I will reach the gate.'”.
”The ravings of a man on his deathbed weakened with delirium,” suggested Li.
”Or a strange folk tale,” said Launcelot. ”But I have come to realize from aiding heroes that there is one thing in common between all of them: when they manifested their power, even if they were born with it, they have a distinct memory of seeing a passageway of some sort manifesting before them.”
”I was a street rat in Trieste. Considered myself lucky, but when my luck spilled and they were to cut my hands for thievery, I gained my powers,” said Faye with a reflective nod. ”I saw darkness at first, and then a red door flash in front of me. When I came out that vision, I'd burned everything to cinders.”
”I saw an orb of iridescent green,” muttered Celeste quietly.
”As was the same with me,” said Ava. ”Though I awakened two years after sister Faye did, and in my sleep, when all was peaceful.”
Launcelot spoke, his voice grave. ”With these common threads in mind, I have come to the belief that it is not a matter of how these powers are created, but who or what is granting them.
I had thought to affirm my belief by reaching the center of the forest and retrieving the hero's corpse, but alas, it is far too fiercely guarded to even think of breaching.”
”I see,” said Li. He too had been slightly curious of heroes, though he had mostly hand waived their irregularities as simply beings summoned from another world.
”Well, today is the day all these mysteries will be unraveled, for with me at your side, there is no barrier we cannot cross.”
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It did not take long before the first Darkbeast attack.