Chapter 72 - A Cascade of Regrets

  Slowly, carefully, Adam snuck further into the twisting and curving tunnel, straight towards the Thuraum and its Corrupted. While he moved behind the faceless wooden statues, Emily inched forward using the trees and bushes for cover.

  However, Emily soon had to resort to hiding behind stones, since more and more of the vegetation became withered as they progressed. Earlier, clusters of ripe purple grapes had hung from dewy green branches. Now, the twigs and trunks that remained had no leaves at all and were crumbling into lifeless, sad shadows of what they used to be. Instead of goldish-green, the patterned trail glowed in a filthy shade of red. Somehow, it caused a disturbance in the shadows, in which tiny specks of lights flickered in distracting, ever-shifting patterns. It reminded Adam of the feeling that would spread through his arm when he’d hit his elbow the wrong way.

  In a puddle on the ground, a distorted reflection could be seen of an elderly man, bawling his eyes out in an empty room. Adam hastily glanced around, but there was no one to be seen, and the puddle seemed normal again. Moments later, amidst the gnarled bushes, pale hands and locks of hair could be seen that sank away alongside waving seaweed. Quite as if they were submerged in water. When Adam got closer, the limbs and seaweed disappeared into nothing.

  “Did you see that?” Adam whispered. He held the crude dagger he’d fashioned himself in a white-knuckled grip, expecting enemies to jump at him any minute now.

  Emily nodded stiffly. She kept her eyes straight forward.

  Adam’s gaze darted from the dreary stalactites to the faceless wooden statues, hungry for clues. “What do you think this Thuraum is… err, about?”

  Emily clenched her jaw shut and looked away. “Dunno,” she breathed, as she cautiously moved hanging foliage out of the way with the spear they’d fashioned for her. Adam remembered well how the last Thuraum had impacted her—as it concerned both Caine’s and her own childhoods—and he thought it better not to press the subject.

  Voices echoed through the tunnels again, coming from the direction they were headed. Distorted screams, like a panicked crowd far away, cried out in terror. The unmistakable sounds of battle, like the shrieks of metal on metal and howls of pain, sounded in the distance. A choir of voices whispered ‘Why didn’t you come for us?’

  A shiver ran down Adam’s spine. His breaths became shorter and shallower, although he tried to stay calm. As they progressed through the tunnel, a strange pressure seemed to come over him. A prickling anxiety, coupled with the feeling he was trapped. Like a blanket of anguished hopelessness that enveloped him, telling him there was nothing he could do, there was no way out. As if every bit of joy, of excitement and pleasure, was sucked out of him. That he was worthless and alone.

  Adam pinched the loose flap of skin at the base of his thumb; an old trick to keep his mind from wandering and focus on the here and now. He exhaled deeply. Although not all of the feelings were entirely unfamiliar, he reminded himself it was just the Thuraum playing with his mind. These were Caine’s emotions the Thuraum bombarded him with, not his own. And if he wanted to come out of this alive, he needed to keep his head on straight.

  In the curved reflections on stalactites up above, Emily and Caine could be seen, standing in the hallway of their parent’s mansion. Soundlessly screaming, they pointed fingers and gestured wildly, red-faced in anger. Emily tore up a letter and threw the pieces at a sputtering Caine before she stomped through the front door. Caine’s head drooped as he kept standing in the empty hallway. A deep, empty loneliness somehow seemed to radiate from the scene before it disappeared.

  Emily looked at the same stalactites but quickly glanced away again. “Don’t ask,” she said under her breath.

  Despite his burning questions, Adam bit his tongue. Earlier on, she had mentioned Caine and herself had gotten into a couple of ‘disagreements’, sometime after the War of the Prophet. Back when they’d found Caine in the Node of Ziecherhein, he’d mentioned he regretted their arguments about the mansion and how he’d behaved. Emily had never told Adam why, after the warm bond she used to have with her brother, she’d gone no-contact. Doesn’t seem like Caine is all too happy about that having happened, at least.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  After following another twist of the tunnel, it was like they’d entered a different location altogether. Or rather, into a memory.

  It was like he was somewhere deep underwater. Reflexively, Adam held his breath as the memory manifested itself in a truly nasty experience. All around him, rocks and waving seaweed had replaced the bushes of the Node. Pale hands tried to free themselves from chains. Desperate people tried to swim up to the surface but couldn’t make it, or were hit and dragged down by sinking pieces of warships. Far above them, the bows of mighty galleons could be seen as they were locked in a merciless naval battle. Invocations and burning projectiles flew between them, visible as blurry stripes from down below. All around, soldiers, barrels, crates, and other debris sank into the depths.

  Adam’s eyes darted around for a way out. Although he knew it was an illusion, the suffocating, dead mass of water seemed all around him. Atop Caine’s haunting memories, the water brought back old traumas of his own, which he hastily tried to repress as he hurried for an exit.

  The almost ghostly shape of a woman appeared in front of them. Despite her weak, sputtering attempts to swim up, she slowly sank into the depths. Her desperate eyes bored into Adam’s as she mouthed ‘Help me…’

  Adam’s instincts screamed at him to come to her aid, but he shook his head. “It isn’t real!” He loudly reminded himself, confirming that he still stood with both feet on the ground. Still, he could almost feel again how his lungs had burned for air until he—

  “Here!” Emily cried out. She ran towards a group of rocks and ducked beneath a veil of seaweed. Gasping in relief, Adam rushed after her.

  They had entered a new memory again. This time, they were inside the dining hall of some fortress. There was no meal being served at the moment, though.

  Scores of Penduli soldiers scrambled around to barricade broad oaken doors with tables, benches, and whatever else they could find. The foul stench of sweat, urine, and pure desperation washed over Adam as the warriors grabbed their weapons. A deafening boom sounded from behind the barred doors, which immediately showed cracks all over. Some troops whimpered in the corners of the room, others tried to hold their swords straight, despite their quivering limbs, as their commanders barked orders.

  Caine stood at the back of the room. He argued with a burly white-haired woman, clearly higher up in the hierarchy, who roared at him to ‘return to base!’

  Up above, on the ceiling, a wholly different image was visible. A giant parchment map showed the streets and districts of Gotterburg, torn by war. Most of it was covered in the colours of the Penduli flag: red and blue with a bronze Pendulum in the centre. However, like an ink stain that spread over the map, more and more of the city became covered by the black, light blue, and silver of Dorenland’s flag. Streaks of blood dripped over the map as stronghold after stronghold of the Penduli fell; the Royal Army and the Starwing Order had been relentless in taking Adam’s childhood city.

  Then, with a thundering boom, a battering ram burst through the barricaded doors. Iron shaped like an owl’s head splintered the tortured wood apart, clearing the way for elite troops of Dorenland. Roaring in victory, troops with beaked helmets stormed in. Their plated armour and steel weapons formed a painful contrast with the light equipment of the Penduli.

  The white-haired commander groaned. She grabbed Caine by the shoulder and pulled him close. “You’re too valuable! Return to base, that’s an ORDER!” And she shoved him back.

  To the left of them, one of the stone walls burst apart with the unmistakable rushing noise of Shrike. Some of the screaming Penduli were sent flying by the blast, others were hit by the debris, gravel, and dust.

  “FOR AVES!” the Talons of Aves roared, dressed in their traditional attire. They leapt into the room, weaving Invocations of Marrow to slice through the leather armour of the Penduli.

  Screams came up among the Penduli, but the cornered soldiers fought back wherever they could; people who saw their end approaching, but kept standing against the overwhelming numbers of the enemy. Yet, Caine ran to the back of the room, baring his teeth while he squeezed his teary eyes shut. A terrible sense of all-encompassing guilt, alongside the bitter pain of worthlessness and self-hatred, radiated from the memory. With shivering fingers, Caine lifted his hood over his head, most likely to stay a secret agent of the Penduli within the Starwing Order. Above them, the map of Gotterburg only had a few, shrinking strongholds of the Penduli left, as the forces of Dorenland encircled them.

  Adam ripped his gaze away from what had happened and searched for a way out, to continue their way. The patterned trail led to the door Caine had just run through. Adam followed quickly, after beckoning Emily to come as well.

  Their surroundings had suddenly changed again. This time they had entered a spacious cave which reverberated with a deafening cacophony: the unmistakable clamour of combat.