B2 Chapter 20: Authority of the Wyvern

Caledon couldn’t help but admit, that even with Zel’s prickly personality on display, his guide come through for him at every critical moment.

When he had first been absorbed into the sprawling web of corruption that had encircled his grandfather.

Next, when he had been about to put his Phobia through Vale’s skull.

Finally, providing him the insight and incentive he needed, to escape the forest of shadow and silence.

Even though Zel spoke to him with such distaste, Caledon couldn’t help but feel a sense of appreciation for his guide.

“So, Zel. Since you’re so eager to rid yourself of me. Do you know of any creatures I could-“

Reading his unspoken intention, the words appeared before him once more, as he felt a strange sensation resonate with his Fearcore.

This time, with a single difference. 

Progress to Fearcore consolidation: [0%]

Sourcing compatible generic resources in proximity:

·         Fireash bee [5% compatibility]

·         Blazebear [10% compatibility]

·         Emberhare [10% compatibility]

·         Flame wyvern [80% compatibility]

·         Phoenix [1% compatibility]

Fearcore integrity: [Unstable]

Sourcing named resources in proximity:  

·         Vivienne [Threat level: Legendary]

·         Slastraza [Threat level: Legendary]

·         Turkle [Threat level: Mythic]

He stared at the name of a single creature that had not appeared the last time he had queried the system.

Phoenix.

Then, he raised his head, his eyes widening as he saw a flash of red and gold. His stomach twisted at the sight.

The phoenix preened feathers that reminded him of his father’s guide.

Sale, the eternal phoenix.

The phoenix before him opened a dark golden beak, and fearlessly released a melodic cry into the forest.

Caledon watched as the phoenix stared at him with eyes of deep brown. It tilted its head with curiosity, devoid of fear. For there weren’t many creatures that it had reason to be wary of.

Phoenixes were beings capable of resurrection. They flew, quite literally, in the face of death, rising from the ashes they left behind.

If only Sale had left behind ashes to be born anew from. She had disappeared without a trace. Neither had his father risen from his ashes. A great irony, then that neither of them had been capable of the what the birds that flit around the Emberwood could casually achieve. 

“Perhaps-“

‘I’m not killing it. Besides… they aren’t compatible with my Fearcore. Why would they be? I’m a being of corruption, and they are the polar opposite.’

“Then languish in Trepidation for all that I care, useless elf. It was a miracle that you descended once.”

Caledon wrenched his gaze away from the phoenix, and towards the towering cliffs before him.

The sacrifices of the other creatures would have to do.

---

The guilt of putting an end to innocent creatures to obtain invocations lingered. However, the wonders of the Dreadwood kept him mercifully distracted. Each forest appeared to support a self-contained, fascinating ecosystem.

Caledon watched, concealed from behind a harmlessly burning bush, as bees the size of his fist circled a beehive. It was no ordinary beehive - smoke rose from its orifices, and its residents were similarly eclectic. The fireash bees propelled themselves with tiny jets of flame, and they bore stingers that glowed like bars of freshly smelted steel.

“Bees. You’ve certainly met your match, Dunce.”

He whispered through his teeth. His blood began to rise. For all that he appreciated his guide, his harsh words did wear on him.

‘Won’t you stop calling me that?’

“Ah now there is a creature worthy of your abilities. Perhaps if you really tried, you might get away with a couple of stings. I doubt you’ll be able to kill it.”

“Do you suppose the honey is spicey? Would you like me to save some for you Zel?’ Ah that’s right, there wouldn’t be much of a point in it seeing as you’re an eyaball. For a creature that lacks a mouth, it’s truly miraculous how you manage to talk so much shit-“

Caledon’s attention was arrested back to the scene as a flaming… bear lumbered into the clearing.

The blazebear descended upon the hive fearlessly.

The bear yawned, as it swatted a fireash bee from its hive. The bee’s stinger glowed orange, akin to fresh bars of steel pulled from Brimstone’s undercity forges. It brought to memory Sakar’s hammer, his swift strokes bringing to life myriad sparks. It plunged its stinger into the bear’s flaming hide, quite ineffectively. The blazebear yawned and idly swatted it, sending it flying into the underbrush.

As the bear lumbered on its way, no doubt in search of more honey and food, Caledon crept up to his victim. The fireash bee, twitched, barely clinging to life.

“Here goes…”

He stomped on it, putting an end to its misery.

He stared at the mess under his boot. He watched a haze appeared to emerge from the creature, and the pace of his heartbeat accelerated. Caledon recalled Quietus’ words, as he focused, attempting to draw the creature’s Alarum into his Fearcore.

He gasped. For a moment, he felt like he was aflame, and he watched helplessly as his Fearcore rejected the Alarum that he so desperately attempted to draw in.

That’s right… the words in my vision indicate that I’m only 5% compatible with it.

Still, he persisted, forcing it in. Until eventually, the haze dissipated, and he was left breathless, panting over the dead bee’s carcass.

“You truly are the epitome of honour and bravery. What a fortune it was to be paired a Fearshaper such as yourself. You really showed that bee.”

He sighed. Perhaps there was no way around it.

Caledon sighed, as he raised his gaze to seek out his next prey. He gulped, as he recalled the creature that he possessed the greatest compatibility with.

Only for time to-

Stop.

He watched as the flames that burned around him came to a halt. His body was stuck in motion despite his efforts to free it from its stasis. His consciousness was uninhibited, and he watched from the corner of his vision as a figure walked through the Emberwood.

A white fox, with multiple tails behind it, strode through the forest.

After the eternal moment, Caledon blinked and the world returned to motion.

The fox was nowhere to be seen.

‘What in Insanity was that thing? Did you see that Zel? It stopped time? But I still retained the ability to think…’

“How ignorant. Of course you would be clueless as to its true nature. It is a creature deserving of respect. Do attempt to kill it, I would fully support you.”

‘It would leave me dead on the ground.’

“A pity.”

‘Wait. Were you trying to lure me to my death?’

“Heavens no.”

---

After surveying the forest, and carefully cataloguing the creatures that he encountered – Caledon had scouted his potential targets.

The blazebear – coated in fur of flames. Rarely anything could pierce its hide before burning away.

The fireash bee – which propelled itself with the assistance of flames that burgeoned beneath its wings, a stinger glowing with the heat of a forge.

Phoenixes – that flitted around the forest heedless of threats.

Emberhares which leapt over burning trees, travelling far overhead, ascending the white cliffs on which the Emberwood was perched.

Yet these creatures – as powerful as some of them were, stood at the bottom of the food chain.

The reminder came in the form of a piercing roar that reverberated through his body, making him jump.

He glimpsed a familiar silhouette ascend from the heart of the woods, draconic wings flashing with strong wingbeats.

He had finally found his target.

Caledon gulped, as the beast took flight, coasting along the treetops, coming to a stop before an immense Blazebear.

It was easy to forget, that not all creatures of the same species were the same.

This Blazebear, was twice the size of the one he had encountered before. It didn’t spare the wyvern a single glance, as it reached out. With an idle swat of its hand, it sent a wave of heat towards the roaring wyvern, which recoiled at the intensity of the heat. Caledon winced as it washed over him in his hiding place.

The wyvern recoiled, and the two creatures stared at each other for a moment.

Before the wyvern disengaged, leaping upwards and taking flight.

He glanced down at his Phobia. He doubted he would be able to land a scratch on any of the more powerful creatures this forest housed.

Even if I wanted to… I’d sooner be roasted to a crisp than successfully felling one of these abominations.

He gritted his teeth. He felt like he was at a dead end.

For the second time that day, he encountered a familiar feeling.

Utter helplessness.

The force drove Caledon to his knees, as he felt as if he was shouldering a weight that was impossible to carry. Gravity drove him downwards, and he fell into a kneeling position, unable to rise no matter how he strained. As he craned his head, his neck muscles bulging in the effort, he glimpsed another passing creature, unlike any he had seen before.

It was quickly becoming apparent to him, that he had not accounted for the creatures that did not belong to the Emberwood.

Similarly to the white fox, this one stood out against the autumnal foliage. It looked like a panther the size of a large carriage. It had a featureless head, with its long and wiry tail whipping about dexterously behind it in the air. It was covered in slick dark grey skin alien to him, despite his familiarity with hides.

Then, Caledon glimpsed more creatures alien to the Emberwood.

He felt his muscles begin to ache from the strain as he refused to break away his gaze, enraptured by the scene.

Wolves

A pack of them, blinking into and out of existence, shadow peeling from their fur. Surrounding the strange creature, as if guarding it.

“The forest of dark. That must be their home, if their hide is anything to go by. They’re passing through.”

The realisation hit him. If he was affected by their passage…

A flash of inspiration reached him, as he watched their idle passage.

It was time to seize his opportunity.

---

Caledon crept up to the sleeping wyvern, languid from its brief conflict with the blazebear. Caledon had taken care to avoid the denizens of the forest. Curious emberhares and phoenixes approached him occasionally, unafraid of any threat that he posed them.

Of all the stupid things he had done, provoking a wannabe dragon ranked amongst the top.

That being said… he had done worse. The rage of a wyvern paled in comparison to his mother’s after all.

Caledon stuck his arm into the beast’s intense nostril and activated his Phobia. If a Blazebear’s swipe didn’t draw its ire… only a gross bodily invasion would have achieved his intent.

Caledon leapt out of the way of a stream of flames that incinerated the ground he had been standing on just a moment ago. Then he ran for it, booking it away from the wyvern. He lunged again, and flame singed his arm.

With a yell, he broke towards the trees, away from the clearing, and he heard the flapping of wings as the wyvern gave pursuit. He cast furtive glances back towards the canopy’s heights, desperately attempting to keep track of it.

There.

The wyveryn’s scream rattled his bones, but he had faced terrifying beasts before. He sparred with his sister occasionally, after all.

With a frown, he was beginning to realise that his family had prepared him oddly well for his sojourn through the Dreadwood, not that they had intended for it.

He felt the ground shake as the beast landed.

His legs burned, as he turned sharply just as he entered into the brush. He flattened his back against a burning tree, and held his breath. The wyvern, still very justifiably enraged by his egregious act, stormed right past him.

Right into the path of the creatures of darkness.

The large creature bearing featureless, dark grey skin turned its head towards the oncoming wyvern.

Caledon felt gravity envelop him, this time, severe enough that his knees buckled as a result. He felt like his organs would pop if the pressure around him were to intensify. Twisting his face into the soil towards the creatures, he saw flashes of darkness as the shadow wolves tore into their prey, for that was what the wyvern had been so quickly relegated to.

He watched as they tore rents out of its legs and wings, crippling it. Then, as soon as the threat was negated, rendered immobile, the pack flickered onwards, paying no further heed to the brief hindrance. 

Which was when Caledon struck. He lunged out of the bushes the moment that the weight was released from his shoulders. He withdrew the dagger that Vale had given him, the one that Sakar had forged with Triol’s name engraved into it. He plunged it repeatedly into the wyvern’s eye. As it burst, it found soft, occular cartilage, and drove into the wyvern’s brain.

Brimstone darksteel never failed.

Caledon was thrown off by the wyvern’s seizure, and stared as it finally stilled. He waited with bated breath, his chest rising and falling rapidly from the exertion.

What ability of the wyvern’s was compatible with his own Fear? It did have an element of flame to it, perhaps he would be able to invoke his Fear to breathe flames? Or to conjure wings of fire like his father and grandfather had possessed before him?

A golden haze emitted from the wyvern’s body. Caledon opened his Fearcore to it, drawing it in, as he did the haze that was emitted from the fireash bee.

Then, his vision went white.

He looked out over a burning forest, draconic wings propelling him forwards. He landed in a clearing, gazing at the creatures beneath him. He watched, as those wise enough to fear him bowed in deference and fear, recognising their lord. Those creatures that did not possess the will, were made to be subservient before him. The creature’s will asserted itself over the rebellious fireash bees and emberhares, who came to a standstill.

[Authority of the wyvern]

Progress to Fearcore consolidation: [30%]

Fearcore integrity: [Stable]