[Fsh] Chapter 54: Void Temple

Something was amiss in the Dreadwood.

It was an instinctual, visceral reaction, that sunk into Shiver’s skin the moment she stepped out of Rael’s Inheritance. She struggled to describe it, or to identify the source of the disquieting feeling.

However, her unexplainable feelings were validated by the appearance of Iltheria, the ice glades.

The familiar snowy landscape filled with tranquil trees with burnished silver bark and glittering winterlilies had been consumed by a raging blizzard that hurtled through the glades.  

Shiver’s eyes narrowed as she scanned the snowy landscape, attempting to discern the cause of the sudden storm. Every fibre in her body was telling her that it had not been brought by natural causes.

Vale and Caledon raised an arm over their faces, attempting to hold at bay the harsh gusts of wind and snow that hurtled towards them.

“Vale, Caledon – let’s go.”

They turned to Virgil in surprise, barely perceiving the man’s shout over the howl of the winter winds.

“So soon? Aren’t we helping Shiver with her final Inheritance? Virgil, what’s going on-”

Then the air snapped still, rendered motionless in a second.

The howl of Iltheria’s winds was silenced and all was still around them.

A familiar white fox strode out of the shadows of the silver woods. Caledon’s eyes widened, recognising the creature that had made its way through the emberwoods during his time there. The creature that effortlessly halted the flickering flames of the Emberwoods in its passage through the forest of flame.

“Hurry, Starstrider. Leave this little troublemaker with me. We will quieten her together.”

“Thank you, Lady Vivienne. My... condolences.”

Virgil inclined his head reverentially to the spiritfox guide.

Shiver’s eyes lingered on the familiar spiritfox, Vivienne. The guide who assisted her in halting the creeping advance of her Fear. Providing Icey with a moment of reprieve. The same guide that had sent her to slay the strange, corrupted spiritfox which had bestowed her with her most potent invocations.

“W-what?”

Vale was gaping at the unfamiliar guide, struck speechless by her appearance and abilities.

Vivienne had a sleek, long body with white fur that perfectly blended into Iltheria’s surrounds. Vale blinked and stared as the fox’s singular tail blurred into another, before reverting to its original form. She tore her gaze away with some difficulty and rounded on Virgil.

“We’re not leaving Shiv-“

Vivienne’s voice cut through Vale’s own.

“You would only hold her back, Revenant. Not to worry, Shiver will be in safe hands. You can trust her to me.”

“Who are you-“

“Vale, Vivienne’s a [legendary] guide. I’ll be fine.”

Shiver strode up to Vale, and smiled reassuringly as she took her friend’s hands into her own. Vale’s concern was clear to read on her expression. Her friend had never been very good at concealing her emotions. It only added to her charm.

“I wish you the best of luck in your descent, young ones.”

For a moment, Vale, Shiver and Caledon stared at one other, without words to exchange. Their adventures through the Inheritances coming to a premature halt, one that none of them had expected.

Vale rushed forwards to envelop her friend in a tight hug, refusing to let go even as the cold burrowed into her skin.

“You’d better come back to us in one piece, crazy orphan. Otherwise, I’ll raise you as a revenant and have you kiss my noble feet.”

“Aye, young Shiver. You may not honour my stature as a Gravelord, but I too desire your safe return.”

“Take care of her, Lord Ratlad. If we make it to Delirium alive, I might just bump you up to my favourite deathguide.”

Vale’s bright lavender eyes drilled into her own.

“Bring her back.”

“I will.”

They remained in their embrace for a moment more before Vale eventually relented.

Caledon shot Shiver a grin and a firm nod, which she returned in kind.

“Better stay alive. There’ll be no tormenting any Brimstones if you’re dead.”

“I would never abandon my favourite hobby. Stay safe lordling. Take care of each other.”

They regarded each other for a moment, preparing to embark on the final leg of their journey into Trepidation, that Solastra Flora had intended for them.

They all doubted the Highlady’s intentions. The sudden departure from their plans, and abandonment of the final inheritance, Stonehollow.

Still, Shiver trusted that she had a reason for it, and the unnatural storm that raged in Iltheria was proof of it.

Shiver watched as her friends retreated to Virgil. Caledon leaned towards the Fearshaper of stars, and Shiver watched as Virgil hesitated for a moment, before opening another tear in reality to their next location.  

Vale and Caledon stepped through, casting final glances back towards her.

As much as they distrusted the sudden departure from their plans, each of them knew that they stood on the precipice of their descension.

They were united in their resolve.

They would reunite as Fearshapers in Delirium…

Or not at all.  

---

Caledon gripped Virgil’s arm.

“Virgil, I know we’re in a rush – but I have one last request. It won’t take long.”

Virgil raised an eyebrow at Caledon’s words.

“I want to go to the Emberwood.”

Caledon cast a sidelong glance back towards Shiver, who had turned away from them, and was speaking to the [legendary] guide that effortlessly stilled the raging winter winds around them.

Caledon exchanged a soft smile with Vale, even if her furrowed brows betrayed her worry for her friend, and her reluctance to leave her.

“There’s one final invocation I’d like to acquire.”  

---

Having completed their brief detour into the Emberwoods, Caledon and Vale strode through the tear in reality to their final destination.

Caledon felt goosebumps erupt across his body the moment he crossed the threshold.

Every single instinct screamed for him to leave, to jump through the portal he had entered.

They emerged into a temple.

A structure comprised of monolithic slabs of pale-grey stone towered far above them. They stepped out onto an immaculate, reflective marble floor. Gargantuan rectangular stone columns lined the hall that they found themselves in. There wasn’t a single curving fixture or surface to be found in the strange structure. Caledon looked to the ceiling, and his eyes widened when he realised that it was at such a distance above them that it was encased in shadow.

The only feature that characterised it as a temple was a loose connection to the one they had awakened in.

At the end of the path between two, long rectangular pools filled with black liquid was a small tree sporting black leaves. Beneath it, was a familiar statue of an elf with wings comprised of innumerable small shards of stone that floated in the air at its back.

On either side of the walkway leading to the statue and tree, were long, rectangular pools filled with a familiar black liquid.

“Vale? Are you alright?”

The girl nodded to him, tearing her gaze away from the liquid before following suit. Her revenants brought up the rear as they passed through the Virgil’s tear.

Now that I’m reminded of it… it resembles the liquid that poured from Triol’s mouth when we saw him… changed, in Brimstone Manor. We’ve also seen it in the temple in which we awakened as Fearshapers. Then again, when we entered the pods in the academy that locked us into our nightmares.

“Virgil, what is this place?”

“No time. Caledon, you will know that you are under the influence of your Fear if I ever reveal the purpose of this place to you. If I give you any orders to destroy any objects that you find, disobey them.”

Caledon and Vale stared at Virgil incredulously as the man spoke concisely and with an authority that had been absent from his voice throughout the entirety of their foray through the Inheritances.

“Our purpose here is to obtain your final invocations. Do not, under any circumstances, depart from my instructions.”

Virgil’s curving greatsword of stars was gripped tightly in his hands, held at the ready. Cygni, his guide, was nowhere to be seen.

What could have him so on edge? I’ve only seen him this alert… once before. In the lair of the vampress – when it had threatened his guide.

Then they watched as they heard the patter of feet on the reflective marble flooring, in the distance. Caledon heaved a sigh of relief as he watched Clona, Rathos and Severim stride towards them, emerging from the temple’s depths.

The sight of no less than three Dreadwalkers joining their party was cause for relief.

Then his blood froze in its tracks.

Something had torn through the Dreadwood armour donned by Clona and Rathos.

The same armour that had resisted the infernal flames of the Terror they had encountered in the Archcity of Fear, and that had saved Lord Semille from the blade of the academy’s terror of frost.

Their armour was in tatters, and as they neared the group, Caledon noticed that they looked worse for wear. Only Severim seemed to be unharmed or unaffected from their endeavours.

The Dreadwalkers made their way to Virgil, and a bubble of shadow called by Rathos enveloped them. Even as Vale hurriedly shook her head, attempting to deter him, Caledon crept closer to the bubble. He attempted to make out the whispers from the voices within.

“…weakened… overwhe….”

“….surge… quickl…”

“…escap….”

Then, the bubble broke and Caledon stepped back from where he had been eavesdropping. If any of them had noticed, none of them revealed it in their expressions. Virgil was pale, and worry marred his expression.

“Knights Clona, Severim and Rathos are here to assist us. Still, do not let down your guard. We will continue onwards as a group, and kill each creature, one after the other.”

Caledon’s eyes narrowed.

There are only two creatures to kill? What has them so on edge? Did they… already attempt to slay them?

He paled as at the thought of Dreadwalkers failing to kill creatures from which they would derive their invocations. Many of those they had faced had been deadly… at least to them.

What invocations would they derive from creatures that even Dreadwalkers failed to fell?

Virgil interrupted him as he continued.

“The situation has… changed. Allow the Dreadwalkers to kill the creatures, and absorb the Alarum as quickly as you can.”

Caledon and Vale exchanged a glance.

What in Insanity is going on?

“Virgil, could you at least tell us what creatures we’ll be-“

Caledon stared as the pools of black liquid around them began to vibrate, resonating at a frequency imperceptible to their hearing.

A silent scream tore through the temple.

Caledon’s vision flickered, and he struggled to right himself as his head swam. He touched his cheek, to realise that two lines of blood were trailing from his ears, that rung from the force of the sound. He turned to find Virgil and Vale similarly affected.

The Dreadwalkers were the only ones that hadn’t been harmed from the eerie scream. They turned their heads in unison in a single direction. Presumably, in the direction of the origin of the sound.

Beyond the single tree with black leaves, and the Fearshaper with wings comprised from thousands of grey shards, were two rectangular doorways of void, leading deeper into the temple.

Their destination awaited.

---

[Regeneration of the skinsweller]

Vale’s invocation took hold, and the pain in her eardrums eased instantly. The constant ache subsided, and she let out a small sigh of relief. She advanced to where Virgil and Caledon were walking in front of her.

“Do either of you need healing?”

Virgil nodded his assent, and he breathed a small sigh when her invocation took.

“Caledon?”

The young lord just shook his head, his gaze far away.

He must be worried about his Fear. After… his hallucinations in the Dreadwood, where his Fear separated him from me, he must be worried about how it will manifest with the withdrawals.

Vale could empathise with Caledon’s concerns. The force of the withdrawals when accompanied by whatever in Insanity this place that Virgil had brought them to was, was sure to trigger the symptoms of their Fears.

Vale’s hand hovered over Caledon’s back, as she considered breaking the silence to reassure him. She eventually relented, and dropped her hand. Cheap words of reassurance would do nothing to ease his thoughts. The best thing they could do for one another, was felling their targets, and completing their descent through Trepidation.

After all, she understood his terror.

Virgil wavered in his advance through the corridor when he caught a glimpse of her eyes.

“Vale, are you alright? What’s wrong?”

The tight smile she returned twitched as she failed to steady her expression.

“Nothing Virgil, I’m alright.”

Behind her, the vicious curve of a burgundy smile, paired with dark lavender eyes widened in their ceaseless hunger.

Her mother’s breath alighted on her neck.