B2 Chapter 24: Fearshaper of Stars

The fox hesitated. 

Many creatures of frost had deigned to challenge it. All had failed, ever since it had partaken in the succour of the forest. In the very moment it had, its horizons had widened. Its understanding of the world, deepened. 

It had reveled in the helplessness of the creatures that sought its newfound power. Disgusted by his family, that had approached him, jealously seeking out its power. He had ended them, like the rest of the prey that approached him. 

Yet this one… evoked a familiar sensation at the edges of its consciousness. 

Long forgotten.  

The fox lunged forward, skating with unnatural agility as it shot past its prey to block their path to the exit. It burst forwards once more, returning to its initial position. 

Then, spires of dark ice rose from the passage of its movement, from the trails left behind in its wake,  boxing in its opponent on both sides, narrowing its freedom of movement. 

A grin widened in the darkness. 

The fox watched as the creature casually admired itself in the dark ice, heedless of its advance. The fox stalked at a distance in confusion. The sensation within it continued to grow. It bared its teeth-

A second tail peeled away from its first, and it leapt into the ice. 

It stalked its prey from within the dark towers of ice it had created, its reflection mirroring infinitely in the opposing surfaces. Its opponent held its weapon before it calmly. 

Waiting. 

As if to oblige, it rushed from within the ice, leaping back into reality, its twin tails ablur. 

It watched as its opponent uttered words that it did not recognize. 

The fox recoiled as it was buffeted with a torrent of winter winds, the blizzard filling its cavern. Guarding itself with its tails, it- 

The shard of ice slammed into it from above, piercing its hide. It let out a visceral scream, shattering the large shard into a thousand pieces. The creature lunged away, some of the shards piercing into its thigh. 

The fox tore forwards, propelled by dark ice beneath it, its jaws positioned to tear off the creature’s head. 

It watched in disbelief as the creature it hunted dodged with a dexterity which surprised it. After being inflicted with the wounds that it had, the fox had not anticipated such speed. 

A third tail blurred away from the second, and three tails lashed out behind it. It was at the height of its power, and its sensation, understanding and control over the world around it deepened further. 

None of the creatures had been able to withstand it, and neither would this one. 

It brought the world to a standstill. It stalked over to the creature, towering above it. It lowered itself, its jaws widening as it closed in over its head. 

Then it froze. 

A barrier of frost had come into being, halting the fox on its path as it formed a dome that sealed itself around its neck. 

It had been wrong.

This was no mere prey. 

The monster that it faced broke into a haunting grin, as it broke free of the fox’s control and drove its weapon forwards. 

The familiar feeling returned. The one that it could not put words to. Or that it hadn’t been able to, until this very moment, when it saw its end. As the last vestiges of its consciousness ebbed away, freed finally from the corruption that twisted it, it was enlightened as to the nature of the sensation had had taken root. That it had so forgotten.  

Fear. 

--- 

The Alarum which resulted from the strange spiritfox, threatened to overwhelm her. Shiver watched as a flickering of dark, blue Alarum mixed with sickly black emerged from the spiritfox’s body. 

“That’s… but Alarum is Alarum, I suppose.” 

Shiver drew it into her Fearcore. 

Then she screamed. 

It was not a matter of compatibility. Unlike the previous invocations she obtained, the spiritfox’s invocations easily eased themselves into her Fearcore. However, she could feel it stretching, excruciatingly testing the bounds of her Fear of ice. 

It was a curious contradiction – being compatible enough with her Fear to be abrobed, yet stretching it outwards. Shiver hastily drew more of it in, her breaths ragged as she struggle to carve the invocations across her Fearcore, and to absorb them. 

Finally, three new invocations settled in her Fearcore for her efforts. Bringing with it, a slight reprieve, quietening the screams of agony that she could hear at the edge of her consciousness, echoing from within her Fearcore. 

[Timesnap of the Spiritfox]

[Frostglide of the Spiritfox]

[Mirrordance of the Spiritfox]

Progress towards Fearcore consolidation: [100%]

Fearcore integrity: [Unstable]

READY FOR DESCENSION

Then Shiver frowned, surprised by the words that carved itself in her vision, brought by the resonance with her Fearcore. 

“Already? I was at 30% before…but then again, these invocations aren’t like the others. They felt different to absorb as well.” 

Shiver’s eyes widened, when she realised what the creature had bestowed upon her.

If they were anything like how they sounded… this went beyond mere mimicry that was the supposed purview of Trepidation, according to Lord Ratlad. 

There was another cause for celebration. 

The integrity status of her Fearcore had changed. It looked like the invocations she gained had eased Icey’s suffering to a significant degree. Although, she still couldn’t hear her guide. Descension was likely necessary to consolidate and heal her shattered Fearcore. 

At least she could take solace in the fact that the Popsicle’s suffering had lessened for the moment.  

--- 

The navigator walked between the towering trees of Iltheria. He had always admired the silver woods. He had spent many days in its midst, trying to glimpse the spirit foxes that walked its grounds. 

He had a Fear of the stars. 

Highlady Solastra had told him his Fear was a noble one, with a long lineage. Dating back centuries to the very beginning of Elucidor. She had praised him for it, nurturing him. 

House Starstrider had once been charged with a solemn duty, which now lay forgotten, along with his lineage. His house shattered, fading into obscurity with the advent of time. No… with the advent of the Rampage of Undeath. The term ‘Navigator’ was one that had been awarded to Fearshapers of his lineage. The reason? The honourable Highlady hadn’t seen fit to dignify him with it. 

The Navigator now walked the realm of Delirium. With his descension from Trepidation, he had consolidated his Fearcore successfully. The Highlady had ensured that he pushed himself to the very limits of his abilities, accumulating numerous invocations that would shape the nature of his Fearcore, and the future of his descent. 

Then, Idriel had awakened. He had not known that the path of Fear that he walked had been awarded a name, until Idriel, the Singer’s return.  

With the return of her voice, he finally learned the name of the Fearpath that he walked when it resonated with his Fearcore. 

 [Fearpath of the Falling Stars]

A beautiful encapsulation of the shape of his Fear, now made material with the consolidation of his Fearcore. The dimensions of his Fear defined. 

Even so, dread welled within him, at the thought of his anticipated meeting with Shiver, to return her to the Dawntree. 

Each of the visitors had presented a unique challenge. 

Vale Revenant, was deceptive. She was not a Fearshaper oriented towards combat, putting her undead aside. They were the crux of the threat. He had dealt with her by hurtling her straight through a tear, into Highlady Solastra’s court. Capitalising on the element of surprise. He had been fortunate that the Fearshapers of death and blades had seemed intent to follow in her wake. It would not have been such an easy capture, otherwise. 

He had underestimated her, initially thinking her undead to be similar to the hordes that he faced when the Deathbringer occasionally attempted to infiltrate the Dreadwood. Upon seeing her the skeletons with strode with her however… he realised they were more than mundane undead. 

Revenants, true to her namesake. 

A long-forgotten term that had faded into obscurity, with the passing of the elf that had founded the Revenant family. Used to describe undead that wielded the Fears that they possessed in life. Made possible because they retained their souls. Still, Vale was the least impressive or concerning of the trio – depending on how you looked at it. 

His mind shifted to Caledon Brimstone. He had a unique Fear of corruption, one that Solastra seemed fascinated with. He respected the man for felling a flame wyvern with the aid of a wandering moonbeast, and the accompanying shadow wolves. Still, he hadn’t thought much of him. The Fearshaper with a single invocation, if his Highlady’s intelligence was to be believed. 

That was until he felt the weight of his authority bearing down upon him. Stifling his [hand of the moonbeast] in its tracks, an invocation born from the creature of gravity itself. When Caledon had called his Fear forth, he felt like he was staring down the muzzle of a flame wyvern. He dreaded to imagine the designs that Highlady Solastra had for the young lord. 

Now, he hunted the final Fearshaper of the group. His Highlady had advised him to anticipate resistance. She told him that despite Shiver’s success in her hunts, she was unlikely to return willingly. 

She had the simplest Fear of them all, that of ice. 

Nothing as grand as death or as insidious as corruption. 

Still, his heartbeat reverberated in his chest, betraying his fear and self-delusion. It would not allow him to lie to himself. 

The simplest Fear? 

She was the greatest monster of them all.  

The navigator drew his phobia into being, clutching the sleek greatsword that he planted on the ground beside himself. Its blade was narrow and curved unlike his teacher’s. It reflected the night sky, with an ocean of stars reflected from its dark surface, capturing swirling nebulae far beyond Elucidor. 

‘Are you sure you do not wish for my assistance?’ 

‘No Cygni. I’m in need of the Alarum. Let me face her alone.’ 

His guide, a sleek moonbeast prowled beside him. She inclined her head, settled comfortably on a grassy patch in the Highlady’s court.  

[I walked between stars]

He called his Fear into reality and tore a rent through space. He sighed. 

This would be so much easier if he didn’t have to return her alive. 

He emerged from the tear, lunging forwards, he wouldn’t give her a chance to react. Only amateurs announced their presence before a fight. 

He called his Fear the second he emerged. 

[Presence of the moonwalker]

The trees shook around him, and he heard the cracking of branches bowing beneath the force of his Fear. 

The fragile winterlilies were crushed underfoot by the force of his Fear. 

Yet, it did not make a dent in Shiver’s [frost shield]. 

Feardamnit. She reacts quickly. 

‘So you were working for her. Nice to see you again, Virgil. Or did you lie about your name as well?’  

Virgil Starstrider cursed under his breath, as he met the girl’s piercing cerulean gaze. He could swear that they glowed in the silver forest around them. The girl continued, undeterred by his sudden appearance. 

‘I don’t like lies. The last time I was lied to, I shut down the Academy of Anhedonia with the force of my descent. Not to brag.’ 

She winked at him, bringing her Phobia into reality. A cracked, slightly curving blade of gleaming frost. A fine mist peeled off it’s surface. It bore a striking resemblance to Knight Severim’s own curved, elegant Phobia. 

Shit... If she’s anything like that monster...

‘I was under the impression that my family was dead, you see.’ 

They circled one another, walking at a steady pace, maintaining the distance between them. 

‘I didn’t mean to deceive you. Highlady Solastra wanted you in the forest as soon as poss-‘ 

‘There is good news, though!’ 

She shot him a smile, sweet enough to kill.

‘I’m tired of being at the mercy of monsters. The Terrors in the Archcity of Fear. Highlord Berevan Brimstone. Even your Highlady. Each and every time, I’ve been powerless to change any outcome.’ 

He shuddered as the smile devolved into a vicious grin. The girl continued softly.

‘The… “Singer” says that I’m ready to descend. Shall we see how far I’ve come?’ 

Shiver brought her Fear into reality, uttering the invocation. 

[Shard of the frostwolf]

Virgil rose his Phobia defensively, his eyes darting about before him, attempting to sight the ice shards that she had manifested to hurl at him. 

None hung in the air that he could see.

His eyes widened as Shiver burst forwards in a flurry of movement. 

A feint? 

She cut through the field of winterlilies beneath them on a skates called from frost, rapidly closing the distance between them. 

Virgil raised his hand in response, calling his Fear once more to halt her advance.

[Presence of the moonwalker]

He watched as Shiver grinned, leaning into a sharp turn, rapidly accelerating its apex. She pulled back her Phobia, winding up as if preparing to strike. 

Virgil stood alert, but confused. 

Then Shiver disappeared.

What is she- 

His eyes widened, as he noticed a slight resistance in the gravity field he had created with his Fear, using [presence of the moonwalker].  

Coming from above him. 

Virgil’s head snapped upwards to see Shiver spear downwards from the sky above him, emerging from a sliver thin plane of ice above him. He barely brought his greatsword up in the nick of time to meet Shiver’s cracked blade, carrying all of the force of her momentum and amplified by the gravity field he had imposed. 

The strike rang out, bringing a visceral end to the silence permeating the air around them. 

How had she-

Shiver’s blade disappeared in a shower of ice. His swing went wide, uncontrolled from the sudden lack of resistance. He watched helplessly as Shiver crouched down, and exploded forwards wielding twin wielding twin shards of ice aimed for his throat. 

[Hand of the moonwalker]

The edges of her makeshift daggers halted an inch away from his throat, embedding themselves in the small grey palms he had called from a small rent in reality. 

‘Nice one.’ 

Then he winced, as a blizzard blossomed outwards from Shiver’s location. 

[Howl of the frostwolf] 

He cursed at the sudden lack of visibility, shielding his eyes. He winced as he felt a flash of pain across his main hand, targeted by a quick slice of one of Shiver’s ice daggers. 

[I walked between the stars]

Virgil breathlessly stepped through the tear, appearing a short distance away. 

Adrenaline surged through his body, at the sudden clash that had occurred in the span between mere seconds. If he had been a millisecond too late, she would have skewered him through with his daggers. 

He was hunched over, his hands on his knees, panting from the sudden exertion. He rose to take stock of the situation. 

The blade of frost met his throat. The burn of ice began to build at the point where it met his flesh, commensurate with the dread that welled in his gut. 

How?

He slowly turned his gaze behind him, and was met with another wide plane of ice. He saw Shiver within it, a grin on her face, her blade emerging from its cloudy surface into reality. 

In the instant he had relocated, she had called the ice into existence. As he gazed back at his previous location, he saw Shiver grinning, her blade seemingly disappearing into midair before her, pushed into another plane of ice.

She used [shard of the frostwolf] to call forth the planes. Then another invocation to attack from within them, or pass through them. 

She’s stretched the bounds of her Fear already?

As he tried to raise his Phobia, he noticed that the wound which she had inflicted, had been frozen over, impeding his movement. 

Her strike had been deliberate. 

‘That was fun! Wanna go again?’ 

Feardamned Monster. 

He had been complacent. Even after hearing the Highlady’s appraisal of her, he had assumed that a Fearshaper in Trepidation stood no chance again one that strode in Delirium, despite the fact he had been wary of her. The ice devil fought like she strode in Delirium, with the scarce few invocations she had obtained. 

Worst of all, she hadn’t even seen all that Trepidation had to offer her. 

Then, the world shifted. 

The pair were driven to their knees as gravity imposed itself upon them. Far beyond what he could call with [presence of the moonwalker]. 

For in the end, his invocation was a paltry imitation. 

A poor, lacking, mimicry of a moonwalker’s true presence. 

The plane of ice behind him shattered, and he stared as the portion of Shiver’s blade that protruded from it fell to the grown, severed at its hilt. 

Gradually, the gravity field that had been imposed on him began to relent. He stared at the rippling waves that passed through the field of winterlilies as Cygni, his guide, prowled before Shiver’s crouching form, as she struggled to rise.

‘Cygni, stop!’ 

‘You will not harm Virgil. I will end you.’ 

Shiver grinned with difficulty, meeting his guide’s eyes. 

‘Hi there kitty. Just having a bit of fun.’ 

Cygni stared at Shiver in disbelief as she rose an arm to gave Cygni a friendly wave. 

Cygni stared onwards, confused by the girl’s words. It looked like she had been convinced that Shiver was about to put an end to him. Virgil sighed. He shook his head and joined his guide, stroking her head placatingly. 

‘What did I tell you about staying out of it? 

‘You were in danger.’ 

Virgil just shook his head, as he watched Shiver dismiss her Phobia, and begin to circle his guide curiously, as Cygni relented. 

He supposed it was the first time the girl had glimpsed a moonwalker in the flesh. Where the moonwalkers that strode the Dreadwood bore grey flesh, Cygni’s flesh was inky black, covered in stars in its depths, similar to the blade of his Phobia. 

‘So this is what your guide looks like. A Fear of the stars?’ 

Virgil nodded, wincing as he gently exercised the arm encased in ice.

‘Nice. Though I know you took it easy on me, you only used three invocations. Those grey hands, stepping through... space, and the force that pushed me downwards, weighing on me. Wait till I’ve descended.’

Shiver’s eyes flashed with mirth and mischief. 

“Then you won’t have to hold back.”

Virgil felt a bead of sweat drip from his temple, in the freezing cold of Iltheria. 

I’ll do everything I can in my power to never to fight you ever again.