Through Darkest Knight

[demonofwhite]

Constance had stood on the sidelines the whole time. The Dark One was familiar, but was from a different life. Then, she remembered..."We can't go anywhere." She breathed, mystified. "This mist is a maze. Now matter how far we go or how much we see, we cannot leave until it clears..." She sat down and put her head in her hands. She was remembering things from her other lives. This wasn't supposed to happen and it scared her. Why was this happening to her?!  

[Gredar]

Marten walked forward and squatted in front of Constance, the satisfied look on his face rapidly sagging into concern. "Are you alright?"  

[demonofwhite]

"I don't know..." Her voice shook with fear. "To many things...I don't understand..."  

[Masamune 5.0]

"Do not underestimate Dracquis..." Mirado stood still. "He's a dark and ancient spirit. I was only the most recent one to 'kill' him. Each time he returns he wreaks havoc on the land. We were lucky to have fought before he attained full strength."

There was a pause as he stared at the ground.

"But... he shouldn't have been able to come back. Last time we completely destroyed him, body and soul. We broke all his bonds to this world... he shouldn't be able to return..." He continued to stare at the ground, searching for an answer.  

[Gredar]

Marten didn't look up, but answered Mirado. "There are other ways to bring the dead back. A necromancer could have summoned him through the Well of Souls, or he could have left a fragment of his soul here to tether himself to life." He moved over and sat next to Constance. "Death isn't a barrier for the truly determined."  

[Masamune 5.0]

"Look... maybe I wasn't clear... We completely destroyed him body and soul. Listen, we don't have time right now for me to explain everything. Let's just get out of here. Which way were the footprints?" Mirado asked.  

[Gredar]

"The soul can't be destroyed. At worst it's stored in hell, but if he was tethered he'd be stuck in limbo. And we can't go yet," he added. "Didn't you hear Constance? We're stuck here until the fog lifts."  

[Masamune 5.0]

"For one, we did find a way to destroy his soul. Though apparently, not entirely. And two, I can get us through the fog." Mirado finished his explanation and aimed his fist at the sky. The mist was drawn towards it, but was then dispelled in all directions.

"I can explain that, too, but I want to get out of here now."  

[Gredar]

Marten shook his head, but he let the issue drop. He stood up and stretched, feeling the sun once again on his back and wings. "Look down, you see the prints. They're muddled here where the knights chased their victims through the town, but if you follow the bulk of them you find the gate. They're clearer there. None of them lead elsewhere for any real distance."  

[demonofwhite]

Constance stood up slowly. She didn't understand the concept of destroying souls. If you could, she would probably be dead by now. She looked at Mirado. "Lead the way then?" She said a bit shakily.  

[Masamune 5.0]

Mirado scanned the ground. There were footprints in the dusty earth, many of them. But there were several that stood out. They were larger and seemed to have been formed by some heavy metal boot. The footprints headed out of the village to the east. Mirado followed them.

After several minutes the footprints ended. The ground was all grass instead of dirt, so footprints weren't left so easily. He stopped and turned around to the others.

"This will do for now," Mirado sat down on a nearby log. "So do you want me to explain things first or should we figure out where to go next?"  

[demonofwhite]

Constance shrugged and sat down next to him on the log. "I'd like to hear your story." She smiled slightly and looked at him in interest, forgetting her own worries for the moment. This would be a great distractor and an interesting way of seeing his life.  

[Demonix13]

"I agree. Tell us your story." said Alpheus, and with that he plopped himself down on a log and waited.  

[Masamune 5.0]

Mirado smiled back and prepared to tell his tale. He cleared his throat and thought for a short while. "Now then... where to begin? Ok, I got it. Eh-hem... At age eight, I found a Tome of spells that had drifted down a river. It had black pages and was written in some language I couldn't understand. It was the Tome of Dracquis the Dark One, although I didn't know it at the time. I opened it and looked at one of the pages. I know of one other person who's done the same. Anyway, the Tome gave me my magic abilities and that's why I could dispel Dracquis's mist. My magic is his magic."

Mirado paused, having finished explaining the first part. Now he would answer the second question. "Dracquis had been destroyed only a couple of decades before we fought him. Though the last person hadn't managed to destroy all of Dracquis's ties to this world and unfortunately died in the process of defeating him. We had taken note of this and discovered a way to stop his reincarnations, or so we thought anyway. Long story short, we used three demon-slayers, two holy incarnates, an ancient song, and a demi-god to seperate Dracquis's soul from his body and destroy both. Turned out it didn't work. I left out some details, but it's a long story in whole. Ok, any questions?"  

[Gredar]

"Where's the book now?" Marten asked. He wasn't sure why, whether he wanted to study it or destroy it, but the question burned in his mind strongly.