Think! What can you do? How can you overcome this?
Yet no matter what plans he came up with, his body simply refused to obey his commands. He squeezed his eyes shut, unable to watch his dearest friend meet her end.
Clang!
The sound of the impact wasn’t what he expected. It was the sound of metal on metal. Vir’s eyes shot open. He fought through the haze that plagued his mind and pieced together what he was seeing.
A seric talwar had stopped the devastating poleax in its tracks. The beautiful, curved blade was gripped by a tall, broad figure clad in pure white, resisting the knight’s massive weapon.
“The Ghost of Godshollow,” Vir whispered. “Why? How?” So Maiya was right. He was real, after all.
The knight aborted his swing and thrust his polearm at the stranger in white, but the Ghost blurred and vanished entirely.
Vir blinked. Were his eyes failing him? Or did the Ghost actually disappear? No, he saw true. The new stranger closed the distance in an instant, leaving no time for the knight to react. The warrior lunged and tackled the armored scout, sending both of them tumbling to the ground.
What followed was a frantic ground grapple that Vir could barely follow, with the Ghost of Godshollow eventually gaining the upper hand. The powerfully built man mounted the knight and pinned him down. Vir could feel the knight’s desperation as he wriggled uselessly under his opponent’s immense weight.
The man in white casually drew a seric knife out of his robe and slid it into the gap between the knight’s helm and breastplate. He stopped squirming soon after.
The Ghost of Godshollow’s actions were so elegant and effortless, Vir’s mind took some time to process what had transpired.
The man who trivially murdered his father had himself been easily dispatched by someone even more powerful.
What kinds of monsters existed in this world?
Maiya kneeled beside Vir and held his head, her tears falling onto his face. “Vir. Don’t die. Please…”
Her efforts had doused the flames on his back, but that still left him badly burned and dying. The only positive was that the searing pain had faded away to blissful numbness, easing his suffering.
The broad-shouldered, black-bearded stranger fixed an eagle-like gaze upon him. Vir felt as if the towering man was peering into the depths of his soul, evaluating him. Judging him.
“Struggle. Endure,” the Ghost of Godshollow bellowed in a rich baritone. “In enduring, grow strong…
“Tell me, Ashborn. Do you desire strength?”
Vir’s lips moved, but they carried no sound. Having spent the last of his strength, Vir slipped into darkness.
ARC II
10NEW BEGINNINGS
Vir awoke to dark and earthen surroundings. The only light in the room filtered in through small openings high above, with the Godshollow nowhere in sight.
He shifted—he was on a small bed inside what looked like a dome of clay. He sat up, but immediately regretted it.
“Ugh…” Pain shot through his body, and the slightest movement aggravated it.
But pain he could deal with. What was worse were the bizarre colors that polluted his vision. Significantly dimmer than before, but still very much present. The dark surroundings only highlighted his distorted eyesight.
No, not distorted… he couldn’t quite make out what it was. He saw everything he usually saw, but now he saw more layered on top. Glowing motes of various colors swam through the air, through the bed under him, and even through his very body. It was in almost everything. Vague and dim, entirely unlike before.
Also gone were the voices in his head. The voices that had spoken to him since the cultist encounter were now silenced. As if exchanged for this new sight.
The sight had shown him the bandies’ weak points, so he was sure there was more to this than met the eye. I’ll have to experiment with it, he thought in an attempt to distract himself.
He failed and broke down sobbing. Father…
Rudvik. His invincible hero had been cut down by a knight out for Vir. Guilt crushed him. His heart threatened to burst. My fault. It was my fault! How can I ever—
Then Neel jumped onto the bed and began licking his face.
“Oh, Neel,” Vir said, crying into his fur. The poor bandy was covered in bandages, but he didn’t seem to limp at least.
A weight lifted off his shoulders now that he knew his faithful companion was alive and well. He didn’t even want to think about losing Neel. “You fought so hard, didn’t you, boy?”
“Vir?” Maiya asked, bolting upright. He’d completely missed her sleeping form on the floor next to the bed.
“Vir!” She tackled him with a hug. “I was so worried, Vir. I thought… I thought you’d…” she stammered, sobbing against his chest.
They cried together for several minutes before running out of tears. They sat there, embracing each other for who-knew-how-long. “He’s really gone,” Vir whispered.
“Y-yeah.”
“But I’m alive,” Vir whispered, looking Maiya in the eye. “Why?”
“I—Vir, Rudvik gave his life for you. For us. You think he’d want you talking like this? You think he’d rather he lived and you died!” she shrieked.
“I…” Vir had no comeback. She was right. Rudvik protected them both. If given the choice, he’d do it again. But hearing that didn’t make it any easier. “Thanks, Maiya. I guess I owe you my life, too, huh? For bringing me here?”
Maiya shook her head. “I did nothing. It was all Riyan.”
“Riyan?” Vir echoed.
“He’s the one who killed the knight. He’s, uh… he’s the Ghost of Godshollow,” she said, scratching her nose in embarrassment. “Can’t believe I actually believed he was a spirit. Turned out he was just a normal old man all along. Said he’s been to the Godshollow several times, and that he wasn’t surprised ‘backwater villagers concocted such droll nonsense.’”
The memories came rushing back to Vir. The knight. His ax about to strike Maiya. And the figure in white who’d shown up at the end.
“I didn’t just imagine that. How long have I been out?” Vir asked, thankful for the distraction.
“A couple of days. Riyan said you’d have died if he hadn’t treated your burns immediately. Same with Neel. Luckily, he seems to know his way around Life Affinity magic. He used hot water, some medicinal herbs I’d never seen before, and his Life orbs on both of you. Said you’d both make a full recovery. He brought us back here on his Ash’va.”
“Huh. Didn’t think we’d be rescued by the Ghost of Godshollow, of all people.”
They’d all thought the knights would never find them in the forest. He’d chided Maiya for believing in ghost stories. He’d been wrong on both accounts. Fate seemed to have its own sense of irony.
“He lives here?” Vir asked. “Where is he?”
“Yeah, this is his place. He’s out doing something right now. Didn’t say what. It’s kind of an unusual home, but it’s way nicer than any house in the village,” she said with eyes glinting. “Can’t wait to show you around when you’re well enough to walk.”
“Maiya, I almost got us killed!” His voice was hoarse and broken. He found himself unable to meet her gaze.
“Huh? What in Vera’s name are you talking about, Vir? You fought and ran so far, even though running’s hard for you. I could hardly believe my eyes. That, and…”