Maxwell

  “Thrice have I made inquiry to the High Court on behalf of my expedition. Thrice have they denied me.

  They say the mission is doomed. That it cannot be done. They call it the delusion of a man possessed. A man unable to let go of his past.

  They do not understand. They never have. All they seek is my skill with the blade. I am nothing but a puppet to them. A minion to be commanded about the theater of war.

  I shall not accept this for long.” - Writings of the Sword-Saint, 2146 Post-Separation (PS).

  Darkness. An endless veil of black, stretching out in all directions, comforting in its simplicity. The liberating feeling of unconsciousness, where all the senseless problems of the world seemed so far away.

  Then… distant voices. A mess of sound, penetrating through the darkness.

  Confusion. There was not supposed to be anyone else here.

  Realization. Who am I? What am I doing here? How long have I been here?

  Awakening. My mind coming alive, telling me that I had to go back. That I had to return to the world I had abandoned.

  With hesitation, I obeyed its command, and opened my eyes.

  I was standing in a vast, empty space, surrounded by tiny motes of light. Beyond, there was nothing. No road, no forest, no people, no sky nor ground.

  Just the endless abyss with its all-consuming silence.

  What is this place?

  Without warning, a sudden boom sounded throughout the emptiness, reverberating against my eardrums with such force that it caused my head to spin. Its echo persisted in the wake, casting my thoughts into disarray.

  What is happening to me?

  HEAR ME, RIFTWALKER.

  The unknown voice, which lacked a physical presence, was deeply baritone in pitch, and seemed to be emanating from within the confines of my own mind.

  W-Who are you?!

  YOU, WHO ARE ABOUT TO AWAKEN, HAVE CHOSEN THE PATH OF ADVERSITY.

  What…?

  THIS PATH WILL NOT TAKE YOU TO THE PLACE YOU DESIRE, BUT RATHER, TO THE PLACE YOU ARE NEEDED.

  N-No… Wait a minute here! I don’t know what you’re talking about! I haven’t made a choice like that!

  EMBRACE THE INFINITE AND REJOICE AT THE DREAM. THE UNKNOWN BECKONS.

  And then, the voice was gone. I knew, because I could feel it retreating from my mind, dissipating like smoke, leaving nothing behind. For a moment, total silence reigned.

  An overwhelming pressure, the likes of which I had never experienced before, suddenly pushed my body to the nonexistent ground, making my muscles tremble in protest. The force of it was so extreme, so all-powerful and vast that I was helpless to resist. It surrounded me on all sides, preventing me from screaming, as my jaw was frozen in place together with the rest of my body.

  A brilliant beam of light appeared to envelop me in a warm cocoon of radiance, followed by a tingling sensation that caused the hair on my arms to stand on end.

  WHAT… IS THIS…

  The tingling slowly ramped up in intensity, elevating from a slight tickle to a painful burn. At the same time, the pressure from earlier vanished, allowing me to breathe normally again. For a brief moment, I thought myself free of the worst of it.

  But then, the burning sensation grew much fiercer, its scalding heat now concentrated on my back as I gasped in surprise.

  WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME?!

  The burn did not stop. In fact, it only worsened, the feeling of it now akin to a sizzling-hot fire poker scraping against my skin. The pain that accompanied it was beyond understanding, and I could not help but scream in absolute agony as intricate shapes and figures were slowly burned into my flesh, line by excruciating line.

  Trails of blood ran down the sides of my torso, coloring my white t-shirt a dark shade of crimson. Tears followed soon after, streaming down my face as I screamed, and screamed, and screamed. It felt as if someone was using my back as a canvas, painting whatever they saw fit onto it with a live torch.

  After an eternity of suffering, the searing pain at last came to an end, and I was left a broken mess of tears and blood. Yet, as fate would have it, my damnation was far from over. For no sooner had the fire on my back been extinguished than another ignited in my throat, followed swiftly by a third blazing to life in my eyes.

  Words could not convey the misery and torment I felt as the fire burned me from within, robbing me of my vision and destroying my vocal chords. My world became nothing but a blurry mess of pain and garbled screams, and for a brief moment, I craved my own death more than anything.

  But the torture was not to last. The flame that was my undoing subsided with surprising haste, disappearing as swiftly as it had arrived, leaving behind a shattered vessel. My muscles twitched and trembled a while longer, before I at last regained enough of my sanity to stop crying and whimpering. Every fiber of my being ached with discomfort, but the pain was already fading.

  Ahh… Ahh…

  My thoughts were in shambles, thrown into chaos by the vicious onslaught of misery, but I yet retained enough clarity to recognize the sound of wind that now filled my ears.

  Lifting my head, I forced my eyes to open, fighting through the sudden nausea that threatened to overwhelm me.

  To my surprise, it was not the sight of the void that awaited me.

  First, there was the difference in brightness. It was suddenly nighttime, but even that was brighter than the nothingness from which I had just emerged.

  Second, the difference in surroundings. Through some means beyond my comprehension, I was laying in the outskirts of a massive forest, looking out over a verdant hill rolling over into lush greenery. Way off in the distance, I could make out what appeared to be a settlement of some kind - its great wooden walls rising to form an imperfect circle across the landscape. A fortified town, with broad gates and looming towers.

  What in the…? How did I…?

  Pushing myself up on shaky arms, I stared out across the hill in utter bewilderment.

  Where am I?

  The terrain was utterly foreign to me, which was confusing in more ways than one. I could not recall having visited a place like this before, and I was certain there were no forests or hills quite like these anywhere near Westbrook.

  How did I end up here? … Where… Where did my school go?

  Looking around, I tried to make sense of my situation, but it was a futile endeavor. Nothing about this made any semblance of sense. Somehow, I had been transported from just outside my school to this unknown forest in a matter of minutes, but not before suffering through an abysmal void of punishment.

  The mysteries kept presenting themselves, however, as a glint of light in the corner of my eye caused me to tilt my head backwards. I felt my mouth fall open as I took in the sight, the pain from earlier all but forgotten.

  Thousands upon thousands of stars lit up the night sky above me, but they were not the same as usual. Gone were the dull, white lights I had grown so accustomed to seeing. These stars shone with all the different colors of the rainbow, painting the black velvet in a myriad of brilliant hues that danced across my eyes. Each star was different from the rest, glinting with its own distinct color.

  Amongst the dazzling displays of light, I also spotted three gargantuan spheres resembling distant planets, equidistant from each other as they slowly drifted across the sky. Each of the three spheres were tinted a different color; one was emerald, another scarlet and the last one deep purple.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  There are three moons…

  All combined, it made for a view so spectacular, so mind-blowing that I felt my eyes begin to water. Its beauty was beyond anything I had witnessed before, real or otherwise, and I instinctively knew that no such thing could possibly originate from my reality.

  I’m standing beneath the stars… of a different world.

  A million questions raced through my mind as the shockwaves of this realization rocked my body. It occurred to me that this might just be a dream, a figment of the imagination brought to life by a troubled mind, but I soon rejected the thought. This whole experience was much too vivid, much too… real, to be attributed to mere illusion. The excruciating pain I had felt stood as testament to that.

  The thought was terribly frightening to me, causing my chest to tighten and my heart to race, but… what other truth could there be?

  This simple understanding, however, only lead to further confusion. How and why had I been taken to this place? Could I go back to my own world? Was there a reason for my appearance here? And why had the pain subsided so quickly? Why did my back no longer burn or ache from the abuse it had endured just moments prior?

  Without preamble, I was ripped from my thoughts by a peculiar gargling sound emerging from somewhere behind me. Turning around, I could not help but raise my eyebrows in disbelief at what I saw.

  Standing only a few meters away from me was a bizarre and unnerving creature, its form composed entirely of pulsating crimson goo. It stood at roughly the height of an average man, but lacked any discernible features save for its semi-translucent surface, through which something horrifying was visible.

  Suspended within the creature were loose bones, floating aimlessly, as though trapped in a slow, sinister dance.

  Its gelatinous body rippled and shifted with unsettling fluidity, occasionally oozing over itself as if struggling to maintain a humanoid shape. The faint light of the stars above reflected off its wet, glistening surface, making my stomach churn. It resembled a melted pile of human sludge, as though it were the horrifying aftermath of a body boiled down to its most primal components.

  For a moment, the world stood still as I stared at the unknown creature in abject horror. But then… it started rearranging itself. Its slimy exterior pulsed, expanding and retracting at rapid intervals, as if alive and sentient, molding itself into something new, something different. A few heartbeats later, it settled on a form…

  The slime had assumed the shape of a middle-aged man with a medium build, but it was at once clear to me that this was no ordinary human. The crude replica standing before me was twisted and vile, with crimson-tinted skin, long fingernails sharpened into claws and a gaping mouth overflowing with jagged teeth.

  “What!?”

  Taking a hasty step backwards, I tried my best to remain calm as the fear now welling up in my heart threatened to claim me. The creature seemed to recognize my hesitancy, and was quick to use it to its advantage, growling and snarling in a distorted tone of voice.

  Does… Does it want to fight? I don’t… I can’t…

  I took another step away from it. The creature followed.

  “N-No! Go away!”

  As if in response to my cries, it let out another guttural growl, its teeth gnashing together with an eerie clicking sound. The message was clear: it had found its prey.

  “Leave me alone!”

  Turning around, I broke out into a sudden, fear-induced sprint, racing to get away with all my might. My heart was beating rapidly in my chest now, pumping waves of adrenalin out into every corner of my body, heightening my senses as I ran towards the distant settlement I had caught glimpse of earlier.

  If I can only make it there…!

  I dared not look behind me at what followed. For all I knew, the creature could be right there, ready to pounce.

  From the corner of my eye, I spotted yet more of the viscous monsters emerging from the darkness to give chase, sliding across the ground with surprising speed. I counted at least four or five off the top of my head.

  I tried to increase my pace, but soon realized that I had reached my limit. Any faster now, and I would risk tripping and falling. That would surely be the end of me.

  And so, I worked instead to prolong my sprint, my lungs screaming out for oxygen as my legs carried me across the hills, closer and closer to the settlement. Through tearstreaked eyes, I spotted the fuzzy outlines of three individuals some distance away, standing in a huddle just outside the wooden walls.

  Just… a little bit… further!

  To my great relief, one of them must have noticed me, as he suddenly pointed in my direction and broke off into a sprint moments later.

  Yes! Yes! I’m saved!

  The sight of these unknown people coming to my rescue imbued me with the strength I needed to continue running, and I felt warm tears of gratitude streak down the sides of my face. Under normal circumstances, such a pitiful display might have been cause for at least some embarrassment, but in that moment, I could not have cared less.

  Finally, after what felt like the longest moments of my life, our two groups met one another, a short distance away from the settlement. The three men fell into what I assumed were fighting positions, spears raised as they barked orders to each other and prepared to face the enemy.

  They did not have to wait long.

  The slimy creatures behind me all shifted to resemble different people I did not recognize as they collided with the three men in a mess of spears, shouts and chaos. Horrible screams of anger and pain filled my ears, yet I refused to slow down as I kept running right past the brave souls who had come to my rescue.

  The reasoning behind this decision was simple: even if I stopped to help, I would only be in the way. I had no weapons to fight with, nor any real combat experience. If anything, I could serve as a passable meat-shield, and that was it.

  These men, on the other hand, wore attire reminiscent of medieval guards - boiled leather, iron spears, chainmail coifs. As such, they seemed orders of magnitude more suited to face these monstrosities than I was.

  Once I made it to the torch-lit gate the guards had been protecting, I finally allowed myself to stop running, falling down into a pitiful heap right there on the dirt-paved road. Every fiber of my being screamed out for oxygen, and so I was left motionless on the ground, my chest heaving as I gulped down mouthfuls of air.

  To my left, the battle between man and monster raged on.

  “Marcus, watch your left! It’s trying to circle around you!” a gruff voice sounded.

  “Yes, sir!” came the response, followed by an odd sound that I suspected was caused by a spear piercing through one of the creatures.

  “Must be a real dimwit to be running around the woods this late on a Husknight!” the third one commented, causing the first one to scoff.

  “Never mind that, Argus, focus on the battle!”

  Turning my head, I shifted around on the ground to get a better look at the skirmish taking place. The three men were all armed with long, iron-tipped spears, but something else caught my attention as well. They all had peculiar-looking lanterns clipped to their leather belts.

  The frame was fashioned in the shape of a cage made of skeletal bone, with silver plates at the top and bottom. Crude engravings had been carved into the metal; looping scrawls that made little sense beyond the purely aesthetic, meeting at the top of each plate to form a strange pattern. A small drop of what looked to be blood hung suspended in the air inside the lantern, emitting a crimson glow. Upon closer inspection, I came to realize the droplet was actually on fire, burning with a soft radiance.

  As I stared at this foreign piece of equipment in fascination, a slime resembling a little girl jumped from some nearby bushes, bearing down on the third guard, the one called Argus. He spun around at the sound, a product of his well-trained reflexes, and crouched down low, causing the humanoid monster to go sailing above his head. The second guard stepped in to stab at the creature as it landed, and his blow struck true. His spear bore a deep gash into its viscous skin, spraying crimson liquid across his face and chest as it wriggled and twitched, before falling silent.

  “It’s dead!” the guard shouted as he wiped the strange goo from his face with a gloved hand.

  “Don’t let your guard down, there’s yet more!” the first one responded, before weaving to avoid an incoming tendril of sludge. The slime he was facing had assumed a form similar to a venus flytrap with man-legs, only standing at the height of a normal person. A plethora of red tentacles emerged from its oversized mouth, and the sight of it alone was enough to make me squeeze my eyes shut.

  I don’t want to look at it… I thought to myself with a shudder, as my stomach churned with disgust. Please don’t make me look at it…

  The sounds of battle persisted for some time, before at last, silence returned to take its rightful place. Once I was certain the battle was over, I allowed myself a sigh of relief.

  A round, bearded face poking out of a chainmail coif greeted me as I opened my eyes.

  “Oh, look. He’s alive,” the unknown man scoffed, before stepping away. “Who would’a thought?”

  “He shouldn’t be,” the second guard added. “Not after pulling a stunt like that.”

  “Stow it, the both of you,” the gruff-sounding voice cut in. “You there, on the ground. You alright?”

  I shifted my eyes towards the source of the voice.

  “Y-Yeah,” I croaked as the man came into view. He had stormy gray eyes, dark hair, and a pronounced chin covered by light stubble and faint battle-scars. A splattering of slimeblood clung to his skin, though he did not seem to mind as he continued staring at me.

  “What’s your name?” he asked, eyes hard and calculating.

  “Uhh… M-Maxwell… My name is Maxwell,” I stammered as I got to my feet in a hurry. “Maxwell Balton.”

  “Maxwell, huh… Well, Maxwell, mind telling me what you were doing out in the woods this late on a Husknight? And without a Bone-Lamp, at that?”

  A… Husknight? Bone-Lamp?

  “W-Well…” I started, quite unsure of what to say. I did not have a good answer to his question, and I somehow doubted he would believe me if I were to tell the truth. I knew I had to say something, though, and so my brain latched on to the first excuse it could conjure up. “I was out… stargazing… I think.”

  “Stargazing?” the guard blinked. “On a Husknight?”

  There’s that word again…

  “I didn’t know… it was Hus-knight,” I tried, using the strange term in a bid for credibility. It came out sounding wrong.

  At once, the guard’s eyes narrowed. “Right…” he said. “Are you a citizen of Galwen?”

  “Galwen?” I asked, the name foreign to me. “What’s that?”

  “Why, this very village, of course. Surely you must’ve heard of it, at least? Why else would you find yourself here now?”

  “That’s… a good question,” I said, attempting to steady my nerves. I needed to come up with something believable, and soon at that. There was no telling what these guards might do to me otherwise.

  “I require an answer,” the guard stated, crossing his burly arms in front of his chest.

  “I… I don’t know…” I mumbled, my voice shaky. “The… The only thing I remember is… going out to stargaze, and then… I met one of those slime monsters.”

  “You mean a Husk,” the guard with the beard said.

  “Uhh, yeah… Husk,” I corrected, pretending to know what the word meant.

  “That still does not explain why you are here, in Galwen, when you don’t even know what Galwen is,” the man questioning me continued, an eyebrow raised in suspicion.

  “I… Ehh… I…”

  “Oh, leave him alone, Sterb,” the first guard sighed. “The boy is clearly not well. Just look at his bloodshot eyes! We should take him to Miss Rachel first, and then we can question him later.”

  “If I wanted your opinion, Marcus, I would have asked for it,” the man I now knew was Sterb responded with a growl.

  “… Yes, sir,” Marcus nodded. “My apologies, sir.”

  “However…” Sterb said, dropping the strict tone. “I have to admit, you speak reason. We shall take him to Miss Rachel. Follow me, Maxwell.”

  And with that, the man walked off, keeping a brisk pace as he strode towards the gate.

  “You’d best do as he says,” Marcus said, a cold smile upon his lips. “Or you’re likely to spend the night in a dungeon cell.”

  The look in his eyes told me he was not lying.

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