Chapter 270 - Truly Cursed

After a short rest, Nilya pushed himself to his feet, still cradling the smouldering black egg in his arms. The cracks in the egg pulsed with a fiery light from within that lit his arms and torso aflame. Strangely though he felt the intense heat on his skin and saw that his clothes were singed and blackened by the flames, his own flesh wasn’t damaged. 

He didn’t think too much on it as he set off through the forest, using his spiritual intuition to guide the way out.

Before long he was running down the rocky path toward the cliffside where the hawk boy was waiting for him, a feeling of accomplishment welling up inside him as he realized that he had actually succeeded in his task of bringing back a hollow ember.

Even though the guide had told him that there were no hollow embers left on the mountain he had actually found one!

“I did it!” He announced, holding up the egg.

The stone hawk guide had already noticed him. The child-sized demi-human tilted its head at various angles as it hopped excitedly in place, greeting Nilya with a few short bows.

“Esteemed one is excellent! That is indeed a hollow ember!” It chirped.

At present Nilya came to a stop a few metres away from the guide, who stood at between Nilya and the white marble basin in a formal pose. With a ceremonial air it bowed low, “Esteemed one, present the hollow ember to the basin, and the trial will be complete.”

It turned and stepped to the side, gesturing with its wing to the white marble basin at the top of the cliff.

However Nilya didn’t step forward right away. Something was happening with the guide. Though the bird was acting normally, a black aura had begun to shimmer around its body. A feeling of malevolence was bubbling from within the guide, setting off Nilya’s spiritual intuition.

He hesitated, feeling a twinge of fear, but the guide remained in a low bow with its wing stretched out to the side toward the basin.

Nilya stepped forward gingerly, cradling the oversized egg in his arms as he kept his eyes on the guide. It was so still that it had the appearance of a stone statue, but as Nilya approached the black aura grew stronger. Wisps of black smoke and fog steamed off of the guide’s body, as if it were smouldering from the inside.

Nilya stepped past the guide, subconsciously tilting his body slightly away from it to protect the egg. 

Still, it didn’t move, but Nilya’s entire body was tense as he fought an incredible urge to run away. He didn’t even dare to breathe, feeling as if any sudden movement might set off the malevolent presence within the hawk. He set his eyes on the basin, using all his willpower to stop himself from dashing up to it and slamming the ember into its bowl.

He took a step toward the basin, fully passing the guide who was now out of his peripheral vision.

He took another step, and felt a change in the air around him as previously unseen runes on the basin began to glow with a fiery light in response to the hollow ember. The runes started by lighting up at the base and slowly spiralled up.

A ring of floating lights materialized in a circle around the bowl as the arrangements of the trial activated. The stars in the sky shimmered as their silver light concentrated onto the white marble bowl. 

Behind him, the stone guide remained frozen in place but the malevolent aura continued to increase.

With each step forward the runes continued to ignite, traveling up the bowl. A low hum filled the air, reverberating through Nilya’s bones.

The entire area around the basin was filled with an otherworldly light.

Nilya was only ten steps away from the basin when he heard a noise from the guide behind him that filled him with terror. A gurgling choke that stifled a sob, a quivering breath of a creature struggling in pain.

A shiver traveled up Nilya’s spine as he couldn’t help but turn his head to look behind him.

His eyes widened as he saw the guide, still bent over in a deep bow, but contorted as tendrils of black sinewy flesh were sprouting out of its stone body. These tendrils wrapped around the guide, constricting its throat and wings and beak as it let out another pitiful squack.

Nilya felt the flesh behind his ear squirm rapidly as his master’s voice said, “Quick! Complete the trial!”

The panic and urgency in his master’s voice scared him more than the terrifying image in his eyes.

Nilya turned on his heels, summoning all his strength to kick off and race toward the basin. He had only taken two steps when he heard the sound of cords whipping through the air behind him. 

Danger!

The young boy instinctively dodged to the side, twisting at the limits of his abilities as he just barely dodged a sinewy muscular cord that was aimed directly at the back of his heart. 

He tumbled on the ground, bouncing dynamically off the rough stone, skidding backward as he landed on his feet.

The black cord continued on its trajectory smashing into the earth a metre away from the basin. At the end of the cord was a hand with long, sinewy fingers. 

Three new black arms sprouted out of the guide’s back and whipped toward Nilya so quickly that Nilya could only cringe and shut his eyes!

He felt his shoulder blades explode, and heard the sound of flesh smacking against rock. All the muscles on his body groaned in exertion as he suddenly felt ten times heavier.

The strike from the black arms didn’t come.

Instead he heard the soft, raspy chuckle behind his ear.

“Keh keh keh.” His master’s voice projected loudly, “You have really sunk into depravity, Bacchi.”

Nilya opened his eyes, his mouth opening in shock. The three impossibly long, thin black arms were extended above his head, their tendons creaking and stretching from stress. Above him two massive stone arms rippling with thick muscles held onto the wrists of the black arms, two in one thick-fingered hand and one in the other.

Those comically massive stone arms had grown out of the back of his shoulder blades! His legs shook as he supported the intense weight of the arms which were each three times the size of his own body.

Nilya and the stone guide teetered on the ground, trembling as their small bodies supported the arms which struggled against each other.

“Somm… Are you not afraid of disqualifying your oji, interfering with the trial in this way?” A sneering, deep voice spoke. 

Another set of muscles emerged from the stone hawk’s back, twisting up, forming the trapezius and sternocleidomastoid muscles as veins and arteries snaked around the boneless mass. The flesh continued to grow, forming the bottom of a jaw and thin, toothless lips curved in a sinister smile.

“You’re one to chastise me, elder brother.” Somm’s lips replied with no less venom in his words, “You have defiled the spirit guide with your pneuma. Have you no deference for the sanctity of the Trial?”

“I considered this for a long time, my dear junior brother.” Bacchi preached boldly, “The prophecy only restricts the instructions and guidance that we provide our oji. We have spent the last millennia bending more and more of the rules, to no perceivable benefit or detriment.”

Even as Bacchi spoke, the two guru-chi struggled fiercely against each other.

Bacchi’s first arm withdrew from where it had smashed into the ground and whipped toward the hollow ember held in Nilya’s arms. Nilya was restricted by the weight of the stone arms and couldn’t dodge. 

The left giant stone arm suddenly dropped its elbow in front of Nilya, blocking the strike.

“We guru-chi are truly cursed. Helpless slaves scraping at the dregs of a hopeless prophecy.” Somm chuckled darkly, “For the sake of our Lord, we persisted to now. And now that the time of prophecy has certainly come, we all feel the pressure to fulfill it. But to destroy the embers, you have gone too far!”

“Ah? I did not destroy the embers.” Bacchi stopped attacking with his free arm, but brought it to stroke his ‘chin’, “That was the doing of third brother.”

“Keh keh keh.” Nilya felt his ear warp as the lips behind his ears sneered wide at the information, “Aphos? Didn’t his oji already pass the trial long ago? Keh keh keh! I see! He truly had the guts to raise a false candidate to destroy the trial and seal the chances of his oji truly being the one.”

“The trial has been ruined. Now only the current oji who have passed the trial are eligible.” Bacchi sneered, “Whether we will be redeemed or damned, our roles as the guru-chi are coming to an end.”

“It is not ruined yet! There is still one last ember to sacrifice!” Somm let out a growl of exertion as he channeled all his strength. The muscles in his massive stone arms bulged as Somm crushed the three black arms and smashed them into the ground on either side of Nilya.

Nilya didn’t understand the conversation between the two guru-chi, but he understood immediately that his master was creating an opportunity for him. 

He spun around and ran toward the white marble basin, the stones under his feet cracking from the pressure. As he ran the stone arms defended him, his tiny body swaying back and forth as the giant arms swung around to block Bacchi’s attacks.

The final runes on the basin lit aflame Nilya climbed up onto the stone dais at the bowl’s base. An intense orange glow burst out of from within as bright as sunlight.

Above him, Somm had managed to grab ahold of the four black arms, keeping them at bay.

However just as Nilya was about to thrust the black egg into the bowl, the ground beneath his feet shattered, and two black, sinewy feet shot up from below like spears.

One foot collided with the hollow ember in Nilya’s arms, plunging deep into the core of the egg. An oily liquid burst out from within, lighting everything around it aflame.

The other foot rose high above the basin, then chopped down like an axe, smashing the marble bowl into pieces.

“Bacchi!!!” Somm’s voice thundered with rage.

The ritual’s energy immediately became unstable as the ground around Nilya shook violently. A deafening roar filled the air, the concentrated star light bloomed and exploded outward.

The entire cliff side cracked apart as Nilya and the stone guide both fell into the void below.