N. G. Blackwood
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Chapter 9 - First step
🕑 Added 2025-02-21 17:16:45 +0000 UTCA few images from the vision of the road made of bones and the onyx chariot flashed through his mind, but they disappeared almost immediately.
His sight cleared soon after that.
Erik found himself standing in a clearing painted in a macabre sight. Two human corpses were on the ground. One was violently mutilated, and the other's head was completely smashed while the body was covered in black runes that were smoking.
And that wasn't everything. Next to them was the torn corpse of some monstrosity.
There was blood all over the clearing.
Erik just barely managed to recognize them as two of the guards that were accompanying the noble scion in front of the library. They were the two that hadn't spoken at the time.
There was a small part of him that wanted to smirk at their misfortune because of how they all treated him, but the sight disturbed him. It was too ghastly.
Wha-What happened to them? he thought with rising panic. Would the same fate befall him?
Before he could figure things out, he felt a burning sensation on the back of his hands and saw the skin was reddening in the shape of strange runes. And he felt the same around the middle of chest.
He could also feel his medallion heating up. He glanced down, and it was glowing beneath his shirt.
The pain quickly intensified until he collapsed on his knees. With effort, he took out his waterskin and poured some water over his hands and chest.
It did not help.
He realized that this had to be the Talent Awakening.
His gaze swept through the surroundings. The ground was muddy and dark, shallow puddles of water interwove it in a poor man's patchwork. The environment was something between a forest and a swamp. Rotting, naked trees were all around him, barring him from seeing anything beyond the clearing. But he found what he was looking for—shelter.
Despite his vision blurring, he spotted that one of the larger trees had a hollow in it. He crawled towards it with every ounce of his strength, trying not to succumb to the pain and fall unconscious. He was too exposed out here in the open and didn't know what could come for him.
Slowing, Erik made his way to it and squeezed through the small hole inside the trunk. The damp and rotting guts of the decaying tree could not faze him at the moment.
Not wanting to make any loud noises, he took off his belt and bit into it.
Finally, he allowed the pain to overtake him. And a muffled scream tore through his being until his throat was raw. It was worse than the pain he went through when he bonded with Gravesight.
In a state between wakefulness and dream, he saw glimpses of the same vision. He was riding the onyx chariot through dark mist over a road made entirely of bones. And he just kept going through the unknown.
He didn't know how much time had passed, but eventually, the pain subsided. He lay there curled up into a ball, embraced by the darkness of the hollow. In time, his breathing normalized, and he pulled some dried meat from his backpack. He had used it to cover the entrance of the hollow, and it wasn't too much effort for him to find the food he needed.
Moment by moment he was starting to feel better and better. Actually, all of his pain was subsiding. The chest pain, and the headache as well.
As if a cool breeze on a hot day, clarity returned to Erik. A sliver of light had made its way inside, and as he lifted his hands, he saw pale, half-formed Blood Runes there on the back of them.
Erik frozen. Had he actually done it?
These runes, though formed from the person's blood and called Blood Runes, were only visible to the Talent Holder who bore them. If another person were to look at them, they would only see bare skin.
What was significant about them was that the ones on the backs of the hands were the Ability Rune and Skill Rune, which were deeply connected and governed by the main Talent Rune. All of these—any runes that a being wielded—were known as Blood Runes.
That said, each Blood Rune was unique and only the person to whom they belonged to truly understood them. It was an intuitive understanding, akin to one understanding how to move their own limb. But like a newborn child unable to control them properly, true mastery took a long time. True understanding took practice and time.
Thus when a person first looked at their own Blood Runes, they would get a vague instinctual feeling of what they indicated.
When Erik saw his, he knew he wasn't quite there yet. His intuition was telling him that these Blood Runes needed to absorb essence over time in order for him to truly Awaken his Talent.
It seems like Freya was right.
He pulled his shirt up and examined the Power and Talent Runes at the center of his chest. Like the others, they were pale and incomplete, so he didn't know what his Talent did, but he did get a sense for its name.
"Draugr Weaver?" Erik whispered.
Does it have something to do with the Undead?
He had no idea what it meant. He had never heard of any such Talents.
But that was alright because he would find out in time and because he felt incredible. His headache and chest pain were completely gone. And he felt full of energy and strength.
Erik concluded that his soul had grown stronger—not quite at the First-Rank, but no longer purely that of a mundane human. It was now just strong enough to bear his Gift.
In the darkness of the decaying tree, Erik finally managed to take the actual first step on the Path of Refinement. It would be a long journey, and he was yet to even reach the First-Rank—called Enkindled.
Still, he couldn't help but smile.
Squeezing his hands into fists, determination burned in his eyes. He was getting closer to his goal. Now, he only needed to survive. Survive a deadly Whisper...
Erik took a deep breath and was about to plan his next move when he realized his throat was parched. He remembered that he had dropped his waterskin in the middle of the clearing where he first appeared.
Sighing, he moved his backpack out of the way and crawled out of the hollow.
Although the sky was cloudy and the light diffused, his eyes blinked, trying to adjust. But in the next moment, he halted.
In the middle of the clearing, there was the ghastly form of a Nilgrim feasting on one of the corpses.
Erik couldn't see the Nilgrim's maw as its back was turned to him, but he could hear the horrendous, tearing noises it made as it fed on one of the dead guard.
The monster's fur was a dull blend of faded grays and blacks. It had a similar shape to a massive rat, but far larger and far more grotesque. It was closer in size to a large wolf. It had a long tail, and its limbs were gaunt and disproportionate, as though some had grown longer than they should have. And on each of them, there were dark metal shackles that had partially merged with the skin. It looked as if it could barely stay upright, forced down by the weight.
Even though he could not see all of it, he knew for a fact it was a Nilgrim by the black mist oozing out of it.
This was Erik's first time seeing one up close—it made his skin crawl with deep, primal fear. But for some reason, perhaps it was his new found strength or his regained clarity, he could still think clearly. It gave him courage.
He still knew that he could not face the monster in a fight. But he had to get his waterskin back. In this unknown environment, he couldn't risk being left without clean water.
He gulped quietly and slowly made his way forward, careful not to step on any twigs or make any loud noises. His waterskin was a half a dozen feet behind the monster.
Step by step, Erik made his way. He had to hurry because the Nilgrim was devouring its way through the corpse at a fast pace. He needed to get to his waterskin before it was done.
The closer he got, the more the iron-like stench of blood lay thicker in the air.
As he neared the Nilgrim, he saw that there was another massive shackle around its neck, pulling its head down and contorting its spine in an unnatural manner. There was also a long gash across its front right leg.
Then he saw the top of its head—there was a single Blood Rune that rested on it. The rune gave off a slight sense of power.
Finally reaching his waterskin, he quickly stashed it away as quietly as possible. He then turned around and made his way back towards the hollow, where he had left his backpack. Hoping to just leave the clearing as quickly as possible.
Almost back at the tree-line, he was starting to relax. He was almost out of there. But he celebrated too early...
As Erik was about to pass the first tree, his coat caught on a dry branch and snapped it off. He had been so focused on his footing that he forgot to pay attention to the trees.
The sickening munching stopped abruptly, and a heavy silence settled for a moment.
Erik's heart started beating wildly. He turned his head around, hoping that he hadn't attracted the attention of the monster.
But he had.
At that moment, it turned around and fixed its black eyes on him. There was only madness in its gaze.
It took only a heartbeat, but the monster bellowed out a roar and dashed for Erik. Even though it was clearly weighted down by the shackles, it was still too fast. He wouldn't be able to outrun it.
He fumbled for his hatchet and just barely took it out in time.
Erik swung for the abomination just as it collided with him. The hatchet sliced through one of its eyes and broke its momentum a bit as it recoiled from the pain. But it still tackled him and sent him flying backwards into the mud.
The monster bellowed a pained roar.
Erik groaned at his own pain but pushed through it and got back up before it pounced on him again. He evaded to the best of his ability, but it bit into the hemp of his clothing, missing his skin by a hair. It swung its head and viciously threw him down to the ground.
Mud and water flew everywhere.
A moment before it pounced for his throat, Erik manifested Gravesight. The little vulture dove towards the monster at lightning speed. The devious little bird caught it off guard and tore out its other eye.
The Nilgrim reared back and roared, trashing about wildly. For a few heartbeats, Gravesight harassed the abomination as it flew around it.
Just as Erik was about to jump in and help out, the Nilgrim knocked the side of its head against the bird. It had just barely grazed it, but it was enough to send Gravesight crashing into the trunk of a tree.
He dissolved into mist.
"NO!" Erik shouted, wide-eyed.
He looked down at his forearm in a hurry. The Blood Rune of his Gift was there—dim and worn out, but it was still there.
He had survived.
Gritting his teeth, he got up and launched for the Nilgrim, trying to split it apart. The monster heard his approach and dove out of the way.
They went back and forth. Erik tried his best to kill it, but despite the Nilgrim being slowed down by its injuries, it still managed to evade most of his attacks. He only left a few shallow cuts on it, while it left a gash on the left side of his torso.
The monster, at one point, tried to jump on Erik, but it missed him by the width of a feather. That left the abomination open, and Erik sliced its side, leaving a deeper cut. It wasn't enough.
Still, encouraged by this, he launched at it, trying to cleave its head open.
As if sensing his approach, or maybe by chance, it moved to the side at the last moment. Erik lost balance and toppled forward. He fell right on top of the corpse the monster had been eating at the beginning, mostly just the bones at this point.
Somewhere along the scuffle, they had moved back to the middle of the clearing.
His hands—now covered in blood and guts—scrambled over the bones as he tried to shuffle over them and away from the Nilgrim.
Teal mist emerged among the remains. Thinking that the Nilgrim was doing something, he began to panic.
Come on, Erik! Move, move, MOVE!
He crawled for a dozen feet forward before turning around. The beast had just stopped trashing and was sniffing the air. A moment later, it turned in his direction and slowly made its way over to him, probably guided by his scent.
Its maw full of bloody, sharp, and crooked teeth dripped with saliva as it searched for him.
Erik couldn’t take it anymore.
As the creature crossed over the skeletal remains, he shouted, "Just die already!"
And hurled the hatchet at its head.
He missed.
Cursing himself for his stupidity, he was about to make a run for it.
Then, out of nowhere, a skeletal hand holding a broken sword rose up from the ground and stabbed the Nilgrim right through the throat and brain.
Everyone froze.
The abomination with an open maw, ready to pounce and with a blade sticking out of its brain. Erik still with an outstretched hand.
A heartbeat later, the creature collapsed. It was dead.
Too flabbergasted, Erik just stood there with his mouth open.
"Wh-What?"
He followed the skeletal arm down and saw that it belonged to the corpse of the dead guard.
