Black Crystal Part 1 - The Origin

Chapter Fourteen ~ Running Away

They walked for hours on end through the freezing fog. It seemed that the further north they headed, the weather only got colder. Even Garen and Lenora embraced each other as they walked to keep each other warm.

"Damn, it's cold," the Bishop whispered, which shocked Garen, Peter, and Lucius. They had never heard the Bishop use language like that before, but they were all too afraid to say anything. Garen almost sensed that the other three knew there was something up with the Bishop. Finally, the Bishop stopped walking and looked around. "I'm going to go look ahead," he said. "Wait here for me." As soon as the Bishop was out of view, Garen, Peter, Lucius, and Lenora all huddled up together not only to stay warm, but to converse in secret.

"That's not the Bishop I knew when I started learning to become a Cleric..." Lucius whispered. "I don't know why I never saw it before. Perhaps Anita was right after all..."

"Wait a minute!" Garen gasped. "Lucius, you knew a woman named Anita? Who is she? Is she at all connected to me?"

"Slow down a bit," Peter whispered. "Before the Bishop comes back, can we please talk about this weird feeling we suddenly have about him? Like, how he seems to be the opposite of what he should be?"

"I have a similar feeling," Lenora replied. Garen nodded and breathed deeply, the cold air stinging like ice daggers.

"A mysterious voice warned me about him," Garen whispered. "I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out."

"Considering we all have doubts about the man," Lucius began, "I don't think a mysterious voice warning you about him is too far off the sanity radar at this moment."

"Okay." Garen nodded and finally began to explain it. "She said that we have to abandon him as soon as we get the opportunity. The four of us are in incredible danger if we don't."

"Then what are we waiting for!?" Peter hissed. "Let's run!"

"Where?" asked Lenora. All four of them went silent as they heard the Bishop's footsteps. Lucius pointed to what he assumed to be the west, and the four of them began to run as quickly as possible. "Won't we make it to the beach if we run this way?" asked Lenora.

"Well," Lucius panted as they ran, "if we can manage to lose the Bishop in all this fog, we could rest in the closest village, then see if we could make our way to the Capitol without him. And hopefully as soon as possible. If he returns to the village..."

"Don't stress out about it now," Garen panted. "Right now, let's just focus on getting as far away from him as we can." He slightly turned his head to listen for footsteps behind them, but it was hard to tell if there even were any with the frantic footsteps of himself and the others. Suddenly, leaving their old village sounded like a good idea, and they seemed to be gaining speed until two of the shapeless demons suddenly appeared as if from nowhere right in front of them.

"Th-them...!?" Lenora stammered, suddenly feeling incredibly terrified. She started to back away before remembering that she had a weapon. All four of them brandished their weapons and looked at the demons with great fear. Garen went to unsheathe both the old tarnished sword and the Bishop's sword, but he stopped before grabbing it.

I'm not going to use his sword, he thought to himself. Not after this. He pulled the Bishop's sword out of the sheath, and with a lot of effort, he threw it right at one of the demons. The blessed blade distracted it long enough for the rest of the party to act. Lucius tossed one of his daggers at the eye of the other demon, and as it was distracted, he stabbed into its chest with the other dagger. Lenora shot an arrow from her crossbow through the head of the demon that Garen threw the Bishop's sword at, and Peter pierced its body with his spear. The black figure dissipated, and Lenora quickly removed one of the knives from her belt and spun around, stabbing the last demon right where its heart was supposed to be. That one faded away as well.

"Where are they all coming from?" Lucius panted. "You don't think the Bishop is summoning them, do you?"

"While that's not too far of a stretch at this point," Peter began, "he's the one who purified our weapons."

"What use would he have in summoning demons to... do whatever to me?" asked Lenora. They went silent as they heard more footsteps behind them. The Bishop was getting close.

"Keep going!" Lucius hissed. "Leave that sword there!"

The four of them continued running, Garen carelessly stepping on the Bishop's sword as they tried to escape. Where they were to go, they had no idea. Not anymore.