Illusion of Fate
Chapter 4: Deepmoor
Morning had long since dawned on the village now, and the village’s somewhat dull appearance was now easily visible in the late morn. Standing near the northern entrance of the village were Lawrence and Kyle, staring at the dusty gravel path ahead of them. The two were waiting, pondering, hoping if Renee would turn up and join them, instead of staying in the village to mope. They decided to give her a few more minutes, and if she were not to join them by then they would set off ahead for the temple without her, though not with much pleasure.
Whilst they waited, an old crone exited her house nearby the entrance; wearing a tattered old shawl and bent over with age, she yawned quietly and glanced around before noticing the two adventurers by the entrance. Calling over to them, she beckoned Lawrence over to her for a word; after glancing at Kyle and shrugging, he complied and walked calmly towards the woman – she grabbed a hold of his hand and shot a startling gaze at him, her eyes wide as she began whispering in his ear.
“To beware is what you must, dear child,” she hissed, “for your fate is all but an illusion. Avoid your destiny, as the death of the beast shall take all you hold dear…forever.”
She trembled slightly as she spake the last word, quickly pulling her hand away from Lawrence’s as she hurried back inside her home. Confused and slightly uneasy, Lawrence walked over to Kyle with a shrug and pondered what her message could have meant; curious as to whether it had any connection with his dreams. After taking one last look around, the two decided that Renee wouldn’t show and began to set off for Deepmoor.
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Deep within the musty hallowed halls of Deepmoor Temple, they proceeded onward along the cold stone floors of the decaying ruins. Their way was lit by a small lantern they had found near the entrance to the ruins, the handle of which was clutched tightly by Lawrence as it provided a somewhat relaxing pool of light with which to denote their surroundings. Before them passageways wound along in curves and twists, with stony walls, floors and ceilings all coloured a mint-green. There was an ever-so-slight chill that unsettled them both as the progressed further and further into the temple; yet this was something they had to bear, as their dedication would eventually lead them to the central chamber and hopefully a king’s ransom in treasure to boot.
However, the conversation they were partaking in could be described as lacking at best; as neither of them had spoken a word to the other since entering the ruins, causing even more discomfort in the already unnerving atmosphere of the temple ruins. To break such an atmosphere and clear their minds, Kyle swallowed nervously and piped up with a simple – yet unusual – comment.
“Lawrence?” he asked timidly.
“Yes?”
“What was your childhood like?” Lawrence looked towards Kyle, raising his brow.
“What an odd question, Kyle. Why do you ask?”
“Well, it’s kind of creepy in here with all the silence, and I was wondering about it a bit myself…”
Lawrence smiled and commented, “Well, as you probably know already, it’s sometimes hard to remember things beyond this past year or so. But I do have one or two fond memories that are as clear as day in my mind…”
“Like?”
“Well, I remember one summer where I was down by the creek, not too far from my village. I remember playing with my friends near there with sticks, as we were pretending to be swordsmen,” he gestured to his sword, “something that I hoped to be as I grew up and something I did eventually become. Not much happened that day; we rough-housed, we fenced with sticks, we joked, the usual behaviour of lads at that age. But…”
He gazed ahead into the ever-reaching darkness with a wistful look in his eyes. After a few moments of silence, he finished with, “…for some reason, that particular afternoon sticks out to me. Probably because of the fondness for that memory, and how much fun I had that day.”
“It sounds great,” Kyle added, grinning.
“It was. Unfortunately,” Lawrence sighed, “it’s one of the few memories I can recall clearly. Some of them are extremely hazy, others seem quite unnatural. Like they were manufactured, somehow…silly as it sounds.”
Before Kyle could comment, they heard a loud thud ahead of them, followed by a quiet scraping. Their eyes both darted between each other’s gaze and the darkness, before they turned their heads forward; squinting his eyes, Lawrence raised the lantern closer to the darkness in an attempt to see what lay ahead. But they could see nothing. The scraping soon ceased, and after a few moments of silence, they turned to face one another; shrugging, they decided to press on. Yet after a few more steps, it returned once again; that quiet, perplexing, unsettling scraping.
And suddenly, leaping out from the darkness, the source of the noise – an undead skeletal warrior, it bore no flesh on its bone and wielded a scimitar in its right hand. Catching the duo off-guard, it swiped at Lawrence and knocked him back, the lantern dropping to the ground as he tumbled over. Kyle gulped nervously and began to swing his axe, but the bony apparition before him spun on its heels and swung at him; knocking the axe a few feet away into the darkness. Lawrence began struggling to his feet, but whatever ancient dark magic had kept this malevolent guardian awake beyond its time welled up inside the skeletal fiend, and it shot a piercing glare at Lawrence that kept him magically pinned to the ground.
The skeleton grinned – insomuch as was possible for the fiend to do so, anyway, with its face locked into the eternally-cantankerous grin of the human skull – and turned toward Kyle again. Poised to kill, it raised the blade high over its head, and bore it down towards Kyle with full force. Kyle could not move nor dodge, frozen to the spot as the unhelpful paralysis of sheer terror tempered the movement of his being. He clenched his eyes shut and prepared for the end, just like he had done less than twenty-four hours ago.
And just as the tip of the blade reached his torso, it stopped. Kyle opened his eyes slowly, then they shot open; as he saw a large crack in base of the neck, a dark shape silhouetted behind the skeleton. The skull wobbled slightly and then rolled off to the side, the rest of the skeleton collapsing into a pile. The arm wielding the blade joined in the foray, dropping off of Kyle and landing to his side with a quiet plop. Kyle stared at the arm for a few moments, breathing a sigh of relief at how he had survived a grisly fate; turning his gaze upwards, he saw now who the figure behind the skeleton truly was. It was a face he recognized well, and left his mouth agape with shock upon seeing it. No longer bound by the dark magic, Lawrence struggled to his feet and shook his head, clearing his mind; when he looked forward, his eyes widened in surprise as he saw ahead of him the last person he had expected to see here.
“…Renee?”
“Hey,” she replied nonchalantly, tossing the rusty knife in her hand to the floor.
“But…but what are you doing here?” Kyle asked as he jumped back onto his feet.
“Well, I thought you might’ve set off early, so I headed out for the temple earlier this morning,” she explained. “At first when I heard noises behind me in the passage, I though they were from old bony-boots over there,” she gestured towards the pile of bones, “but when I heard the clatter of the lantern, I thought something was up. Good thing I got here in time, huh?”
“It certainly was,” Lawrence agreed, “If not for you, Kyle and I would be naught but still corpses right now.” The mention of this sent shivers up Kyle’s spine.
“Though I do have to ask, Renee…” Lawrence continued, “Why did you set off ahead of us? For what purpose was this? What did you hope to accomplish?”
Renee turned her ahead away slightly, blushing as she did so, “Well, you see…I was looking for you so I could apologise. I acted like a real jerk yesterday when I got stressed out, and I took it out on you two. I felt awful for treating you guys that way. You’re my friends, and you deserve a lot better than that. So, why I’m trying to say is…” she looked up at them earnestly, “do you forgive me?”
Suddenly, she stumbled back as Kyle barrelled into her and gave her a big hug. “Of course we forgive you, Renee! You’re our best friend! Right, Lawrence?”
Lawrence smiled and nodded, “Right, Kyle. We’re glad to have you back with us, Renee.”
Renee grinned back at them, as Kyle let go happily. “Thanks, you guys. Now, shall we press on? I bet the treasure chamber won’t be too far now.”
“Okay, then. Let’s be off,” Lawrence responded.
Picking up their things, the trio then set off once more, journeying deeper still into the cavernous depths of the mysterious Deepmoor Temple.