The Revelation of the Vine: Graft

Chapter 27: Through Shadow and Mist

  We stepped onto the path through a narrow slit between a wall of jagged rocks and the side of the mountain. The sound of the stampeding horde became muffled by the barrier. The climb was steep up to the first switchback, which meant that the wolves would have a harder time getting up it than we would. After we rounded the first bend, I heard the pathetic sounds of the sludgy waterfall that had become muffled by the Corruption. It was a slow trickle, mixed with slurps and plops, as globs of the thick, black liquid bubbled and oozed from a crevice in the mountain. "Ugh," Jurgen grunted, as we walked by a group of dead birds. A thick swarm of large, black flies swirled around the carcasses, as ugly, black maggots crawled inside, feasting on their rotting meat. "Bloody Shadow, that s sick. It looks like the Corruption is even affecting the bugs." We walked past quickly, looking at the squirming larvae and the swirling swarm with transfixed stares, and most of us held a hand over our mouth and nose, as if we could actually avoid the smell. The buzzing of the flies faded as we approached the second curve, but the sound of the horde had grown significantly louder, as the pack of soul-starved wolves approached the entrance of the path. Jaw snaps and slow growls mixed with high-pitched yelps and whimpering yowls rose into the air. Some of the beasts slowed down, while others, that had been lost in their ferocity, fulfilled Jurgen's premonition by running smack into the mountain. "Crazy beasts," he said, as we heard the thumps and yaps, and felt the subtle vibrations in the ground. A few managed to press through the narrow opening of the path, before other more mindless ones all tried to force their way through at once and got stuck. We watched them from above, and they looked like small crickets bouncing along the side of the mountain. Some even tried to climb over the group that blocked the way up, but they failed and tumbled back down to the floor. Halfway up the third slope we lost visibility of the horde below. The sound of paws, thumping the ground in a mad dash, bounced up the walls of the ridge from the path below. The few wolves that had made it through the gap were already climbing the second slope. The third switchback was just ahead of us. As I waited for the last of the group to turn the corner, I saw the wolves appear in the bend below. Their ferociousness increased when they caught a glimpse of me, as I pushed Jeizen around the corner and disappeared behind the rock wall. "They're gaining on us," I yelled, "Time to pick up the pace. Everyone, watch what I do and follow after me." I focused on the wall of the fourth curve. "I hope this works," I cried, and surged forward, hoping to rebound against the wall and continue up the next slope. I sped toward the wall and hit it with my feet, crouching into the landing until my hand touched the rock, and then before gravity had a chance to pull me down, I turned my eyes up the next slope and pushed myself forward. It worked. The knights followed me, and we rebounded up the next few slopes. We didn t stop until we reached the thickest part of the mist. We rested in a small area where the path split into many directions, and the mist hung heavy around us. A few barren trees were scattered around the edges and in-between the forks. "That was cool," Teion said. "What is that called?" "Don't look at me, kiddo," Jurgen said, and laughed. "V just made that up." Then he looked at me with a bushy eyebrow raised in question, "Didn t you?" "Kinda," I laughed, rubbing the back of my neck, but took the opportunity to impart some wisdom to the rookies. "But it worked, and it just goes to show how our powers can be used in many new and exciting ways. Not even we have accessed all of them or utilized them in all of their functions. Some of them emerge during power increases, such as when one of us dies. Some only reveal themselves through reflex, based on need, not desire. And others only seem to work in certain environmental mediums. There are many new powers waiting to be discovered by you, as new challenges arise to be overcome. Always remember: your Souls are connected to the Core, and your Souls are now fully connected to your Bodies. So be mindful of the fact that you are conduits of the impossible in the Transition, and be mindful of yourselves, one another, and your surroundings." A howl cut through the mist, putting an abrupt end to our break, and my chance to teach them more about their new roles as Lemniscata. We wouldn't remain hidden for long in this little clearing. "Time to go already," Tenbu groaned, standing to his feet and looking at each of the paths, "So which way should we go?" "That way," I said, pointing toward the far-left path. "You can lower your body heat and mask your scent by channeling them into the Vine around you. The mist will only cover us partly from the Wolves." Now that the Bridge had closed there was no point in taking the usual route inside the mountain. We could just work our way up through the mist along the side. Howling winds of frigid air rushed down the mountain and through the twisting paths, shaking the skeletal branches of the barren trees. The constant whistling and rustling helped to mask the clank of our boots as we crept through the mist. The wind also helped to push our scent away from the wolves, but I worried that they would sense the Corruption in me, and kept my hand on my sword, just in case. As we crept along the dark path, the mist became so heavy that we could barely see the person in front of us. Shifting Vine-Sight to infrared made it easier to see, but more than sight was required to traverse these paths and escape the detection of the wolves. "Remember that no single part of your body is more important than any other," I whispered, as we shuffled through the mist. "They were designed to complement one another, not to exclude themselves. Utilize them together: sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and spirit. The true nature of the Lemniscata is to be one with all things, just as the Vine and the Core are one. Sense the subtle energies that flow from everything, and visualize your surroundings from them, as you become a part of it." We continued along the trail, focusing on what we heard and what we could sense, in addition to the faint thermal signatures of the Corrupted surroundings that were visible behind the swirling mist. The sounds and feeling of the airflow helped our sense of direction and gave us the advantage of being able to smell any other hidden creatures that might lie ahead. The wolves' heavy breaths and low, rumbling snarls echoed around us as they stalked us through the twisting paths, keeping us aware of their movements. We could also sense the disturbing energy that rippled toward us from the Corruption that they released through whatever monstrous form lie hidden under it. I wondered if the first tear -- the fake tear -- was meant to release the Corruption from the Rime in full once again. But I couldn't figure out who could have done such a thing. It had to have something to do with Veil. If they had the technology to create a Veil-Barrier around their entire continent, then it was possible that they could open a Breach in the sky that could summon a meteor; but was it really a meteor? For all I knew it could have been a giant ball of the Corruption emerging from a Breach. Objects entering the atmosphere blaze because of the super-heated air around them, not just because they are on fire. And the whole sky had turned to fire. It could have been a ruse to enflame the final surge of Corruption from the Shadow Realms, making it look like the tear. But what kind of chaos would the real Tear bring, if the fake one did all of this in less than a day? More worries continued to streak across my mind. The Corruption was sending doubts and fears to cloud it with confusion. The path turned, and sloped upward, leading us through a rocky copse of dead trees. Their energy signatures were cold and hollow, black in the center with outlines in hues of dark purple. The harsh burst of a bear's roar echoed from the right, and I turned to see the top half of the bear s heat-signature -- a shade of purple that was closer to red than the rest of the surroundings -- rise up on its hind legs, followed by a slash of claws and then a whiny yelp, as the black, zero-temperature Corruption streaked through the air and then boiled away. I was glad we weren't the ones who stumbled upon the corrupted bear, but I felt the infection within me grow stronger from the release of Corruption when the wolf died. It was far too similar to our own surge of power from the fallen. Tons of questions rose into my mind. Where did the Corruption go when we destroyed the All-flesh? Did it return to the Shadow Realms as a residue of negative energy, or did it enter the Vine? Was Corruption even supposed to enter the Vine? What had we been doing all these years!? Had we somehow been tricked into sending the Corruption into the Vine!? There were too many questions, and not enough answers. For the first time in seven-hundred-years, I felt completely lost. My faith in the order had been shattered. I no longer knew what we stood for. And now that the tree was gone, and there was no more fruit or leaves to keep mankind safe from Corruption, things were going to get bad. We passed by a low-pitched hum in the airflow. It sounded like the mouth of a cave. The worry that something inside might catch our scent crossed my mind. I focused my hearing to listen deeper into the cave, but it turned out to be nothing more than a shallow, empty cavern in the side of the mountain. Perhaps it had once been the den of that bear, now abandoned since being turned into All-flesh. A few snaps and rustles in the distance behind me eased the tension I started to feel, revealing the wolves' positions, as we gained distance on them in the misty labyrinth of winding pathways. The path branched out ahead in 3 directions, and I noticed the group turn their heads back and saw the three in the back look at me with questioning glances. I pointed to the middle path. We climbed up a steep slope for a while, using the dead trees as handles to pull ourselves up. The air began to get colder as we climbed further, and small patches of snow became visible on the ground within the mist. The mist began to thin eventually, and the light of the descending moon became brighter. The refracted beams it cast through the mist became wider, cutting swaths through the shadows. The first patches of the night sky appeared through the haze. We were almost there.