[Beastborne: Tower of Blight] (Book 6) Chapter 2

Without fail, Hal was always stunned at the sight of his girlfriend, Noth. With her dark hair, gold eyes, and pale features, she was a stark contrast to the whiteout all around her. She reminded him of a princess, and he vowed that one day he would make that title a reality for her.

If not, then something better.

Empress has a nice ring to it, Hal thought, still smiling at Noth’s arrival. So, she brought Tristal into this? She must be really worried.

It broke his heart to leave, but he needed to get to the Abyss. The Balesian Council were the only people who knew about the Calamity and the Binding.

Hal was done putting off his need for answers, and he was willing to brave even the soul sucking Abyss to find them.

I can’t ask anyone else to come with me. I already have the stain of the Abyss on my soul. I couldn’t live with myself if that happened to Noth too.

After talking to Mira, and learning the truth about the Shard and many more like it, he realized that it was all interconnected. The Calamity, the Binding, even the Sinking, as the Ebon Star tribesmen called it.

Everything that had befallen Aldim was connected in a way only the Balesians could explain. They were, for reasons he didn’t understand, trapped within the Abyss.

It was a place Hal never wished to return to. Mithtir, one of the Balesian Mages who had begrudgingly helped him against the Drakst, said a piece of the Abyss would always stain his soul. That it would follow him until his death.

If what Mira said was true, then Hal realized he could use it to not only find the entrance to the Abyss again but gain entry once more. The last time he had been separated so long from Besal that his Khaeros nearly died from it.

That told him one thing with crystal clarity: he had to go alone. Anybody else would be lost within the Abyss. He might be lost there, but at least if he died in the Abyss, the Manatree should bring him back to life in Brightsong.

That’s a lot to ask of the Manatree, Hal realized. Not that he’d ever voice the concern aloud.

It would only give Noth more reason to worry.

“Good morning, Founder,” Tristal said, sweeping into a delicate curtsy.

“I told you, just call me Hal.”

“As you wish, but it is not–” Tristal stopped herself. She had seen the warning look in Hal’s eyes. They often had this argument.

Tristal warned Hal he was letting people see him as too common. She claimed that he needed to establish boundaries if his people were to respect him as a proper Founder. Yet he did everything in his power to shirk that mantle pressed onto his shoulders.

Sooner or later, it might come back to bite him, but Tristal’s words weren’t going to reach him. Not today, at least.

For that, Hal was glad. Tristal was a quick study. If not empathic, then at least very perceptive to the moods and desires of those around her.

In that way, she was a bit like a chameleon. Her glamour had been shed some weeks ago, returning her appearance to the small blonde woman from some no-name town in Georgia she had been before she was a Founder with a country of her own to manage.

Whenever Hal tried to ask her about how her home was doing in her absence, she told him everything was well in hand. Hal doubted that. She used that same phrase every time he asked, so it struck him as less than truthful. Whatever was going on, she was risking a great deal and likely losing more than she would gain by helping Hal.

“You have no idea how dangerous this is,” Tristal told him. “You’re risking everything to ask questions? Why? And questions you can’t even tell us about?”

Pulling up his hood, Hal tried hard not to chuckle. Noth was crossing her arms and doing her best not to nod along like an approving parent, but he could see the truth.

Raising his hands in a placating gesture, he said, “Ladies, I appreciate the concern. Truly. However, even Besal could not accompany me to the Abyss. I don’t know why. But I will not risk another person’s life. Val is still recovering. Fenrir has a long road ahead of him. Even Lurklox understands the Abyss is no place for her.”

There was a snorting sound from somewhere in the snowy shadows of the gate. Hal could just imagine his Shadow, his little koblin bodyguard, grumbling about staying home while her “Havior” went out on a dangerous mission.

He had impressed upon her numerous times that being his Shadow–a sort of magical bodyguard that was intricately tied to him–did not mean she had to be with him every step of the way. Protecting Brightsong and the Manatree was even more important than protecting his physical body.

Without the Manatree or Brightsong, Hal would have nowhere to come back to. It was, therefore, even more important that she stayed behind to keep an eye on the place.

That hadn’t gone over well, but she seemed to understand enough not to go rushing after him every time he took two steps into the Shiverglades.

“My mind is made,” Hal told them. He motioned to his normal cloak and his newly minted armor. The plates were dull, so they didn’t catch the sun, but now that it was snowy, they would make him easier to see against the reflective white backdrop of the Shiverglades. “Even Vorax isn’t coming with me this time.”

Tristal frowned. She clearly didn’t fully understand the meaning of what Hal had just said, but she could sense the gravity of the words well enough.

Noth reached out and touched his cloak, feeling it between thumb and forefinger. “You play a dangerous game, Hal Williams.”

“It is for the best,” he said, gently taking her hand in his. “I will be quick. I already know where the Abyss is. It’s not far.”

“It took you days last time,” Noth reminded him.

She shivered, and Hal squeezed her hand tightly to offer what comfort he could. “I’m stronger now. Much stronger.”

He knew all too well how narrowly Brightsong had survived the battle against the Shiverglades. Hal had barely made it back in time to turn the tide. If he had been even a few more minutes longer… he didn’t like to think about what would have happened.

If the hordes of monsters hadn’t broken through, then the Shadesblighted Kinslayer would have annihilated his home.

As it was, people still died. And many more went missing. Komachi had saved many lives that day by whisking them away to another realm of safety. However, it had been difficult bringing them back home.

Only with that last Dungeon were the wounds of that battle finally beginning to heal. Those who had lost a fragment of their souls–barring Ashera, who did not want the part of her soul that bore the mark of her Sinkeeper Class–were finally made whole once more.

Friends who had been missing were brought back, and now Brightsong was able to move on. Together.

Back then, Hal was significantly weaker. With his Monster Core supercharging his essence powers, he was far more capable of surviving the Shiverglades alone.

I’ll move faster by myself too, Hal thought, though he did not express that concern aloud. The Dungeon they had ventured into in order to retrieve Durvin’s soul fragment was in the direction of the ruins of Cirta, where he had first found the Abyss.

All he had to do was get close enough to sense the Memoria Crystal. He could use it to teleport to that Dungeon, then walk out the front door. At least half a day’s travel could be shaved off in one fell swoop.

Even with the distance limitation, most of the Shiverglades was up or down, rarely ever straight and flat. Things were far closer on a map than they were in reality.

With his various Beastborne powers, he could move easier through groups of monsters without getting drawn into protracted, unnecessary fights.

While he yearned to dive into battle against monsters, even after recently defeating Archmage Hirash, he had his mind set on finding answers in the Abyss.

Even if it cost him his life. After all, death was only temporary for a Founder like him.

He had to keep in mind that the only thing he meant to do was to reach the Abyss and talk to the Balesian Council once more. They, and their leader, had helped him once before.

It was there that he had first heard somebody call him “Brightking” and he still had no idea what it meant. Fenrir also called him that, but aside from the title, the boy did not seem to know anything more.

Even Komachi didn’t know, and the little pobul had insight into all sorts of things to do with Shards and the cosmic pecking order of Kindred, gods, and other mythological creatures.

“I’ll be fine,” Hal assured her. With another squeeze, he let go of her hand. “Brightsong is in good hands, and with the tribes on their way, I don’t know when I’ll get another chance like this. Three days, tops, promise.”

Noth looked at Tristal, though what she thought the Silver Marked Founder could do for her, Hal didn’t have the foggiest. Finally, she sighed and threw her arms around him, planting a surprisingly passionate kiss on his lips.

When they finally surfaced for air, Tristal was doing her best to look anywhere but at the couple. Some passing dwarves on their way to working on the wall cheered and hollered good-naturedly at the display, which served to only embarrass Tristal further.

“At least take the tower with you,” Noth told Hal. She reached under her armor and pulled off the necklace with the tower in miniature on a new fine mythril chain. “You can use it to rest in.”

Hal looked at it in his hand, then at her. “Are you sure? You could start exploring it while I’m gone.”

“Absolutely.” Noth prodded his chest sharply. He could feel it despite the layers of bone plating and defense his new fabled rarity equipment imparted. Sometimes it was hard to remember that Noth was a capable fighter as well. “You said you would only be a few days. Take it, rest up, and make sure you come back to me. To us.”

Hal looped the chain over his head and tucked it under his breastplate. With a thought, he willed the tower away, carrying it within the magical confines of its miniature form on the necklace.

One moment the tower stood tall and proud in Brightsong, and the next it was simply gone.

A yellow feathered karak hauling supplies to the warehouse squawked at its sudden disappearance and bolted into one of its bird-like fellows. Packages tumbled everywhere in the snow while the karaks kicked their long chicken-like legs in the air.

If not for the nature of the Abyss, he wouldn’t have minded taking a karak with him. The two-legged birds were Aldim’s version of steeds. Karaks were faster, smarter, and stronger than horses by a wide margin.

Hal chuckled. The necklace felt heavier in some undefinable way. As if he could tell when the tower was stored and when it was not just by the weight.

“Now, unless you want me to wait until it’s night out?” Hal asked, looking between the two.

“That wouldn’t change your mind,” Noth said with a frown. Her golden eyes glittered with unshed tears. She wiped them away with the back of her gauntlet. “I just wish it didn’t feel like this was the last time I’m going to see you in a long while.”

“My powers are back and stronger than ever,” Hal told her. He clenched a fist, feeling mana and Spirit surge power through his limb. For a moment, an airy bluish white haze drifted off his glove.

“Plus,” Tristal said. “He has my magicite. If he’s in trouble, he can always tap into that.” She looked Hal up and down. “Try not to break this one too, huh?”

“No promises,” Hal told her with a smirk. He patted his right wrist where the magicite bracelet was located. It was far smaller than the large one Tristal had given him, but it was mobile and he could use it without occupying his hands.

That alone made it worth more than the previous item.

I’ll keep working on fixing it when I get back, Hal told himself.

Though it was obvious Noth didn’t want to let him go, she eventually had to, or risk being dragged through the Gloamgate Pass that led out into the Shiverglades.

Hal took one last look over his shoulder halfway through the pass, arranged his hood to properly shield his face, and took off at a steady jog into the Shiverglades.