Mornn
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Chapter 599 - A light in the darkness
🕑 Added 2025-01-09 17:01:30 +0000 UTC“Ahahah,” Alith nervously laughed, “let’s not jump to conclusions… But that would explain where the people went…”
“Let’s hope I’m wrong… Maybe it was just covered in the stuff. Either that or it's some kind of dead skin golem. I barely got a glimpse of it.”
“With how you described the parasites from before it wouldn’t surprise me if it really was what’s left of the people who used to live here… But that only makes me more curious about the things in the dust. Did they move at all while we were sprinting through the ruins?” Alith asked, looking back at the path they had just come from.
“Not that I could notice, no.”
“Maybe we should check what those things really are, then. If it’s safe, better to walk through the ruins where we can hide than through the open streets,” Alith suggested.
“You’re right. Especially considering the speed that thing was moving at, it’s probably only a matter of time before we run into it again.” Sofia closed her eyes and searched for the smaller creatures hiding in the dust piles through her mana senses. She quickly managed to isolate a corner where there was only one. “Found an isolated one, follow me.”
Sofia led Pareth and Alith back into the crumbling ruins. Of each house, only a few broken walls remained, while the ‘moon dust’ accumulated everywhere. “Here, in this corner,” Sofia whispered, “there’s one in that pile, and that’s the only one in the room. There are many in the surrounding rooms, though. But still no movement from any of them.”
“Should we just attack it?” Alith suggested.
“I’d rather not if we don’t have to. We should try to get a good look first. I’ll try to blow the dust away, you both stay ready to fight if needed, but whatever happens try no to let whatever the thing is touch you.”
“Understood,” Alith replied, readying her rapier.
“Alright.”
Sofia and the group were about five meters away from the dust pile, so it was well in range of [Bone Dominus]. Sofia pulled some bone out of her armor to make a hand fan, and controlled it from a distance, bringing it up close to the dust. Then, with fine controle, she started waving the fan, slowly eroding the dust pile, sending it flying through the ruins. Suddenly she stopped, and both Pareth and Alith stood ready to strike.
“It moved,” she explained, “this one only, it burrowed itself deeper into the dust.”
Alith relaxed a bit. “That’s all? Should we continue?”
Sofia thought about it for a moment, before deciding, “Yes. Let’s see what it really looks like, and what it does when it can’t burrow any further. The more we know about these things the better.”
She started swinging the fan again. The thing burrowed itself deeper and deeper until it hit the floor. Sofia then decided to swing the fan one strong final time, as strongly as [Bone Dominus] would allow, which was not very strong but enough to blow away most of the remaining dust.
The creature was uncovered, it was some kind of ugly four-legged spider-like thing the size of a man’s hand, it seemed to be made out of the dust itself, as if birthed from agglomerated big flakes of dead skin. It made a hissing sound as its hiding spot disappeared, and quickly skittered away, jumping straight into another dust pile.
“It seems like we were worried for nothing,” Alith said, sheathing her rapier back.
“Maybe,” Sofia continued as she turned to face her, “it’s not moving anymore. I guess these things only care about hiding in the dust.”
“One fewer thing to worry about. It did look like it was made of the skin dust, though, so I don’t think you saw it incorrectly with the horse one.”
“Yes. Still, I have to wonder what these really are, and how they ended up here. And most importantly, are they producing the ‘human’ skin, or are they made from it?”
“Hard to answer without capturing and studying one, but I don’t know if we’ve got time for that…” Alith commented.
“I don’t think we do. We should leave the city. Everything is too ruined here, the building in my vision was in relatively good shape for a ruin, and everything nearby too. It must have been a different city.”
Alith nodded, “Then let’s quickly get out of here.”
The group decided to return to the main road, where the horse thing had been spotted, and to follow it from the side, walking through the crumbled buildings. It was slower, but they could hide reasonably fast if the thing showed up again, and they were sure that the road would eventually lead them out of the city.
The horse-creature did not show up again, and the trio found the end of the city. The number of ruins became sparser and sparser before eventually there were none left.
“We’re out,” Alith said, pointing out the obvious. Outside the city was just plain flat-ish ground. Despite not being able to see far, it now felt almost like being back onto the normal moon.
“Strange that such a large city has no exterior walls,” Sofia commented, looking back at the ruins of the last row of houses they had just left.
“Maybe they had nothing to protect themselves from,” Alith answered looking ahead, “it’s all empty, after all.”
“Nothing says it’s always been that way… And the road continues, so it must lead somewhere.”
“Let’s see where that is,” Alith quickly decided, starting to walk again.
“Wait,” Sofia stopped her, “It’s the main road… If the horse thing comes again, we’ll have nowhere to hide.”
“Oh shit, you’re right. Then let’s follow it from a distance.”
The trio followed the road from far away, further than Sofia could see. To make sure that they stayed on track, Sofia had summoned Bookie’s rat skeleton, and he went alone to check that the road was still there every so often. It would have been faster and easier to summon Crowie instead, but Sofia didn’t want to take any chances with her favorite skeletons knowing that Deep creatures were roaming around. Especially after she found out that she lost all connection to the rat as soon as he left her field of view every time. But thankfully, he always made it back.
Several hours of this later, Sofia stopped.
What’s that?
She saw something in the sky. A glint in the distant blackness, far ahead, much farther than she could actually ‘see’. It had only lasted an instant.
“Did you see that?” Alith asked.
“You saw it too? Any idea what it was?” Sofia answered.
“No. It was too fast, like a small star bl- Again!” Alith exclaimed, pointing at the glimmer in the sky.
Sofia missed it that time, but it didn't matter, because she soon saw it again. The ambient darkness started to lift. By the second, she could see further and further away.
“What’s going on?” Alith asked.
“I don’t know!”
As the darkness vanished, Sofia could see far in all directions. Everything was the same barren dust-covered moon they had been walking through the last few hours, and she could start to see where the light had come from, the top of a dark tower. There was some kind of strange giant gem at the top, and it was progressively becoming brighter, which is what had dispelled the darkness, though the sky above was still pitch-black.
Then all of a sudden, a beam of light shot from the gem, huge and powerful, its cone shape shone brightly over the desolate landscape of the moon. Finally Sofia understood what the tower was, as the beam of light started moving.
“It’s a lighthouse…”
“I see that. Good news, finally we can see!” Alith rejoiced, but Sofia was not so enthusiastic.
The light was not a good fortune. It was dangerous. It was light from the deep. Shimmering in a myriad of incomprehensible colors. As the gem atop the lighthouse rotated on its axis, so did the light, slowly, it came toward Sofia and Alith, illuminating their surroundings.
Sofia grabbed Alith and deployed her wings. “Let’s get out of here!”
She flew forward as fast as she could, dragging Alith along, with Pareth following with quick jumps. Rushing toward the lighthouse, they only narrowly avoided the light by being too close for the beam to reach them. It harmlessly continued its course, drawing a circle around the lighthouse, and plunging this side of it back into darkness as it shone the other way.
The group did not exchange a single word, only stopping when they reached the foot of the lighthouse.
Finally Alith asked, “Do you think it was truly dangerous, that light?”
Sofia nodded, “It’s the same light and feeling I got from the parasites back then. I don’t know why, but I can tell this light isn’t good news. It’s light from the deep. It shouldn’t exist here.”
Alith looked up at the lighthouse. “Well, clearly someone had a different opinion on the matter.”
Sofia shivered, “And we can see how that worked out for them.”
Comments
Tejing
Curiouser and curiouser... I don't think I want to know what that light would do, though.
Jonathan Wint
When Sofia finishes her quests and becomes a fully accepted member of the family Thanksgiving Dinner with her Uncles will be a Hoot!
E
The creatures are hiding from the light of the Deep. Something tells me these aren't from the Deep and are instead being contained/destroyed by it. I think Sofia made a big error by not studying the round hall more closely before leaving. That structure is a significant anomaly and comes off as a sort of focal point. Speculation... planar collision? Maybe a dead god's divine plane collided with the physical plane? Maybe the reaction somehow screwed with the spirit/other planes and trapped a bunch of souls and whatnot? I could see the Deep getting involved in that scenario and the timing would make sense since Sofia now has the means to fix it.
Matt Grayson
"Maybe it's friendly!" - Sokka
Emily Gurnavage
Hm. Im tryna brainstorm why a lighthouse with light like that exists. So maybe this ancient civilization tried to study and harness the Deep to its own ends? And it worked until it didn't, or they pushed too far? I suppose the lighthouse gem could have been "normal" in the past but has since changed to what it is now and the Deep light it produces *after* whatever made the moon turn into what it now is. What else am I overlooking? Or are those the 2 big explanations? I doubt a functioning lighthouse came about on its own.
Custus
Thanks for the chapter!
Mornn
Maybe? It's not written yet, so who knows :)
Mornn
She's never actually seen this color as *light* outside of her fight against the envoy who ate her dog
Cyclone001
Tomorrow is shaping up for a cliffhanger, isn't it?
ArtTheGreat
Why would she be bothered by deep light now when she wasn’t when she actually went to the deep?
Wensber
Thanks for the chapter!
Quentin Cozzi
Thanks for the chapter!
Lazy Monster
Spooky lighthouse of DOOM. This should be interesting.
Silver Dawn
We’re really building up the suspense and spooky atmosphere
