Astral Flow

Chapter 6

Since Demea had revealed who she was things had gotten a bit quiet at the castle. It seems like though, for the most part, everyone has silently agreed to staying the night to see how things play out.

Lily sat with Eleanor and tried to talk her through all the weird language she'd been hearing up until that point, taking it surprisingly well... she was seemingly quick to understand and didn't freak out... was she truly sentient or just didn't understand?

Laurence and Demea sat in the library, trying to examine the various texts further. She explained all she knew at that point... which granted wasn't a lot, only that everything was different from the product they had actually shipped out.

Even down to the existence of a boss in this place, as originally it was nothing more than the scrapped hub area from the alpha builds.

Ryder meanwhile found himself wandering back downstairs.

Something about the boss and the arena was still stuck in his mind, it was like an unshakeable unease had taken hold of him.

With the sun set now an eerie gloom filled the castle as well, building the tensions even more.

Lantern in hand he walked down the stairs and into the arena once more.

The battle flickered through his mind for a moment, just thinking about how he fought surprised him. Ryder had never been the athletic type, nor the wisest among his peers, yet there he'd been hours earlier... fighting and beating an ancient knight with moves he had no idea would actually work.

If only he could-

"No, enough thinking like that... it won't change things." Ryder mutters to himself, snapping out of his half trance and walking up to the anvil.

It was made out of a pitch black material, something he couldn't recognize at all, it certainly wasn't obsidian.

It looked way too tough to be any material he knew, yet how, how had it been cracked?

The glowing blue markings in it were clearly from where it'd been fractured.

He couldn't recognize for certain what the glowing material was, but it almost seemed crystalline in nature.

Lightly he traced his fingers along the lines, trying to make heads or tails of the damage.

What he didn't expect however was for the material to react to his touch, glowing ever brighter and making a hushed noise, akin to that of whispering.

The noise grew louder and louder until it sounded like full blown voices in his head, voices he could not recognize at all.

"Are you sure you want to leave this here? My lord, it could serve you well yet!" a concerned voice spoke out.

"I have no need of it now, for it has served its purpose well and deserves its rest." a more masculine, wise and kind sounding voice spoke softly, as if it was speaking to a living creature. "It has let me create the tool I need, I could not ask for more. Just as I could not ask more of you."

"My Lord?"

"Erina, my time is coming to an end here, we all know that... soon the world will forget everything, that is why I cannot let you proceed with your plan."

Ryder could see them clearly now, the anvil was showing him a glimpse into what took place here.

A figure wearing a green hooded robe with gold detailing stood in front of the anvil, lightly resting a hand on it. Snow white hair peaked out from under the hood and slightly tanned skin could be seen thanks to the gap between his glove and sleeve.