Chapter 60: The Priestesses

  As I struggled to grasp the true repercussions of the memory I had just witnessed, a chill ran down my spine and goosebumps prickled my skin.

  This skeleton…it belonged to this Marcus.

  But Lysandra existed a thousand years ago. That meant this body had been here for a millennium. Yet, somehow, pieces of rotting flesh remained on it. Could the Axul be so unique that their bodies resisted the natural process of decay? That won’t be too far-fetched.

  And then there was Lysandra’s revelation. She claimed it was always the Axul’s purpose to become spawns of Darkness.

  What did that truly mean? It didn't make sense chronologically.

  “Mommy!” a little girl’s voice called out beside me, making me jump.

  “Hey!” I shouted instinctively, my heart racing at the possibility of a child being here. But then I shook my head, forcing myself to think rationally. How could a child even end up in this place?

  “I don’t want to die here!” a woman’s voice cried out to my left.

  I froze, my chest tightened. Distance Gauge still wasn’t picking anything up.

  Desperate to get some vision – and wary of a potential Hollowmimic attack – I swapped to Lightning Claw. Holding the dagger in my hand, I activated Lightning Arc as I swung it. The arcs of lightning illuminated my immediate surroundings, but they didn’t reveal much beyond what I could already see thanks to Lumindew.

  Calm the fuck down, Aidan!

  All these disembodied voices had pushed me into full paranoia mode. But wasting energy spamming skills that didn’t actually help wouldn’t get me anywhere.

  I took a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down.

  Just like before, I chose a direction and pressed on, figuring that if I hit a wall, I could backtrack and try a different route. The voices now continued to echo around me, making it hard to think clearly.

  “Diona!” A male voice suddenly called, reverberating through the seemingly empty space.

  Déjà vu rang sharply in my mind as a reaction.

  Wait…that voice. Didn’t it belong to that priestess’ – Diona’s – father from the Vestige I had seen earlier? Did she mention his name in the memory? Damn, I don’t think so…

  Pushing forward in the pitch-black darkness, I tried to ignore the increasing number of haunting voices calling for help, each belonging to someone different. After several minutes of tense walking, I reached a stone wall.

  I sighed heavily, frustration building inside me. Turning to my right, I continued forward, still activating Distance Gauge every few seconds, fearing an ambush. Nothing registered – no one. Not even Goren. And yet, that didn’t mean much. No Rogue in the kingdom had ever reached level 100, so their maximal capabilities weren’t known to anyone. At level 123, Goren might have a unique skill to hide his presence entirely.

  Minutes passed, the disembodied cries continued, gnawing at my nerves. Finally, I reached another wall.

  Exasperated, I sighed again, looking around me. Two directions remained unexplored. I could choose another path, but this place was starting to chip away at my sanity, keeping me on edge with every step. Goren was right – this place was a nightmare incarnate.

  As I considered my options, a faint purple light on the ground caught my attention.

  I crouched to investigate and realized it was another human skeleton.

  [Temporal Trace: Vestige of Time #14 - Available]

  Reluctant but curious, I reached out and touched it, plunging into another memory.

  There, a young man called Avos and his partner, a priestess, were called into the shortcut room, similar to Marcus and Megara.

  High Priestess Lysandra did the same thing as before, pushing Avos over the edge before pulling out a dark orb from the priestess’ chest, essentially turning her to an Undead.

  I stumbled back as the memory ended, breathing heavily. Witnessing yet another cold-blooded murder by that witch sent chills down my spine. She kept referring to the Axul as spawns of Darkness.

  A sudden thought crossed my mind, as horrifying as much as it made sense.

  Could this place be…a graveyard for the Axul? Were the voices surrounding me the remnants of the people who had died here?

  But what were they? Ghosts didn’t exist – at least, not as far as I knew…

  More important than that, why had Lysandra killed them? I don't understand a thing!

  “Oh, so you’ve met Jack, I see.” Goren’s familiar voice called from behind me.

  I spun around to face him, watching as he quite literally emerged from the darkness as if he was residing within it – a unique high-level Rogue skill, no doubt.

  “Jack?” I asked, not appreciating the joke. From what I’d seen, this person didn’t deserve the fate he met. “His name was Avos.”

  Goren raised both eyebrows and chuckled. “What? How would you know that?”

  Interesting. It seemed Goren couldn’t witness Vestiges. Otherwise, he would have already known this during his earlier visits here. Figures. The Embodiment of Deception wouldn’t possess the powers of the God of Time – who also happened to be the son of the Creator. Goren was likely clueless on such matters.

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  “It doesn’t matter.” I replied curtly, unwilling to reveal any advantage I had over him.

  He shrugged nonchalantly. “Sure. Whatever.” He then pointed to my right. “That’s where we need to go.”

  “Oh, yeah?” I asked, anger rising within me. “And where the hell were you?”

  He smirked, his smugness driving me crazy. “Scouting the area. Making sure the snake is here. It is, by the way.”

  I studied him silently, my irritation growing. Unbelievable. He operated entirely in his own world, oblivious – or indifferent – to anyone else.

  Goren smiled, clearly enjoying my angered state. “Oh, Spellsword, Spellsword…you know how we were always told that the Axul suddenly vanished from the face of the earth?”

  Before I could answer, he continued, cutting me off. “Of course, you know. That was rhetorical – we were all taught that in school. What I’m saying is, this is where they ended up.”

  His answer made sense considering the hunch I had before and the Vestiges I'd seen, but I still couldn’t be certain. “What do you mean?”

  He chuckled softly. “I’ll show you.”

  “You’ll show me, huh?” I replied warily. I prepared myself for another catch from his side. Another abandonment. Another trick. Another trap or something.

  Goren nodded, and before I could add anything else, a large glowing orb materialized in his hands. It wasn’t a skill – I was sure of that. It had to be an item, though I couldn’t know what it was.

  More importantly, as soon as the orb appeared, the entire Void lit up, and the sight was far worse than I had imagined.

  “Feast your eyes on what remains of the Axul.” Goren called out, grinning.

  Skeletal remains, some still covered in rotting flesh, were scattered everywhere. Most of them were completely black - as if they were charred - explaining why I couldn't see them properly before. But that wasn’t the worst of it. Each skeleton rested atop a pool of some dark, bubbling liquid - what I've been stepping on this entire time. It was ink-like – similar to the one the Razor Basilisk escaped to – the darkness had concealed it before. Now, under the light of Goren’s orb, the pools were disturbingly visible.

  “How do you know they’re Axul?” I probed. I knew how I had this information, but how did Goren? Was I wrong about him being able to witness Vestiges?

  He shrugged. “I mean, look at them. Those aren’t normal human remains. They’re still decaying after so many years.”

  “It could be just lost adventurers from the last decade.” I countered, fishing for more.

  “Oh, c’mon, Spellsword. Don’t insult my intelligence.” Goren replied, actually looking offended. He gestured toward one of the bodies. “Look there. Would a normal person’s remains do something as wild as this?!”

  I turned to where he was pointing, just as a creature erupted from one of the bubbling pools. Drenched in the dark liquid, its body writhed like that of a newborn. It screeched, its movements erratic and seemingly blind.

  The System reacted. Void Spider, level 65.

  “You’re joking…” I whispered, my voice trembling in disbelief.

  Goren nodded, a faint chuckle escaping his mouth as he casually approached the newly born monster and struck it down easily.

  “This is how the monsters here are created, Spellsword.” he said as he returned to my side. “They’re born from the remains of the Axul – all the ones who ended up down here. How and why and they ended up here is a whole different issue, but of this, I am certain.”

  Well, I already knew how. What I didn’t know yet was why.

  The pieces of this revelation were slowly starting to fall into place.

  “So…the Razor Basilisk…are you telling me it spawned here as well? From the remains of the Axul?” I asked.

  Goren nodded. “Seems like it. Now c’mon, follow me.”

  “Wait,” I said, halting him with another question. “How are we able to hear their voices? They’re long-dead, and ghosts don’t exist.”

  He raised an eyebrow at me, looking confused. “What voices? I didn’t hear anything.”

  ***

  I let Goren lead the way while, behind him, I struggled to understand why I was the only one between us being able to hear the voices. I mean, the Déjà vu System was obviously the reason, but why would Chronos make me endure such a haunting experience? What purpose did it serve?

  After a few minutes of walking in silence, Goren’s orb of light revealed something near the wall ahead. There, coiled and trembling, lay a large snake – not the colossal Razor Basilisk we’d fought but something far smaller, barely a twentieth of its former size. Its bladed scales were gone, replaced by a shadowy, insubstantial form.

  Even though it barely resembled the monster from before, the System confirmed its identity. Razor Basilisk, level 95. Its HP bar was lower than 10%.

  The creature was trembling, writhing in place as if in immense pain. It didn’t react to our approach, even when we were only steps away.

  “What’s it doing?” I asked, confused.

  Goren shrugged. “Hell if I know.”

  We approached closer. Still, no reaction. Its trembling persisted, pitiful and strange.

  “Kill it.” Goren said, his voice flat. “You wanted it so badly – go ahead.”

  I turned to him, skeptical. “Now I’m supposed to believe you’ll just let me?”

  He sighed, rolling his eyes. “Listen here, Spellsword, I know that things aren’t peachy between us. And yeah, I hate having this conversation with you every damn time because your amnesiac ass keeps forgetting everything, but here’s the truth: I’m not your enemy. We both want the same thing – to defeat Erebus and end this once and for all. If you say it’s important you kill it, then go for it.”

  I studied him in silence, still untrusting. Eventually, I decided to roll with it. I summoned Silverfang and approached the shape-shifting snake’s head.

  But as I raised the glaive to deliver the killing blow, the monster spoke to me.

  “Don’t do this.” It said, its voice a collective harmony of countless female voices. “We don’t want to die.”

  The sound startled me, and I stumbled backward, clutching Silverfang tightly.

  “What’s wrong?” Goren asked, looking puzzled.

  He couldn’t hear it. That much was clear. I shook my head, brushing off his concerns, and focused on the shadowy creature.

  The monster spoke again, its voice overlapping. “We – the priestesses – didn’t want this.”

  “The priestesses…” I muttered under my breath.

  The Vestiges from the skeletons I’d found here flashed in my mind. Was this abomination the result of those dark orbs Lysandra had pulled from the priestesses? Could this monster be the amalgamation of their stolen essences?

  “What are you waiting for?” Goren asked, growing impatient.

  “Quiet.” I snapped. “It…spoke to me.”

  Goren looked baffled. “Spoke to you? What?”

  I ignored him, turning back to the creature. “But you are already dead.” I said softly. “You’ve all been dead for a very long time. Lysandra killed you. I’ve seen it.”

  There was a moment of silence, the snake’s trembling slowing as it processed my words. Then, it replied, sounding confused. “Is that the truth? We…can’t remember…”

  “It is.” I nodded. “I don’t know how you became like this, or what she meant when she said the Axul were always destined for this, but Lysandra killed you, that’s for sure.”

  “What the hell, Spellsword? How are you talking to it?” Goren asked, though now he sounded confused and a lot less impatient than before.

  I again gestured for him to remain quiet, focusing on the monster’s next words.

  “We see…” the monster said. “Not alive, yet not dead…being Axul was a curse...”

  “I could release you from it.” I said, gripping Silverfang tighter. “Once and for all.”

  Assuming it was a dungeon boss like Kaelstrife, Pack Leader or even the Boomspite Goblin, if I killed it, it likely wouldn’t respawn again and the priestesses would be free.

  “Release us?” It asked, its voice thoughtful and hesitant. “We need to think.”

  I nodded, sensing no hostility or bloodlust from the shadowy creature.

  For a moment, there was only silence. Then, finally, it spoke again.

  “We’ve decided. We want this to end.” They said. “Please, make it end.”

  I nodded but before I could attack it one final time, a thought crossed my mind. “Could you help me?” I asked cautiously, trying my luck. “Before I release you, there’s something I need to know.”

  Another silence.

  “Ask.” They replied.

  I didn’t waste a second. “Please, tell me what happened here. Tell me what happened to you.”