Chapter 271 - The Mirror Lake

Deep in the forests in the south eastern limits of Kumin, a calm lake reflected the waxing moon’s silver light. This lake was far from any village or town, hidden in the valleys of a mountain range. The water was so calm it had the appearance of a mirror, reflecting the nearly-full moon amidst a star-filled sky.

Not a single leaf rustled in the trees, not a single bird or cricket chirped. Nothing interrupted the stillness of the night.

A tall thin man meditated on the edge of the lake. His eyes were relaxed and only slightly open. His ears were each pierced with seven silver rings, his silver hair was tied into a bun. His black robes were embroidered with silver thread.

He was Deacon Glass, former Abbott of the Cloud Peak Monastery. He had been on the run from Lord Noga’s forces since Prince Deka’s failed resurrection almost two months prior. He had been the head of the most prestigious monastery in the three provinces, but now he was alone. His companions, his friends, his disciples were all dead or captured by Lord Noga. 

He had tried to save them, to help them escape, but they were fleeing from enemy territory. As far as he knew he was the last free Cloud Peak monk.

News traveled on the wind, through the trees.

Noga’s forces were coming for him.

The wrinkles on his face were deeper. His clothes were worn and tattered. He now had a long white beard that gave him a sagely appearance.

He sat motionless in lotus position, as still as the lake before him. His mind was silent and still.

A tremor rippled in his heart, his heart that had stopped beating in this silent, serene moment.

The faintest crack formed in the space as the monk’s eyes flickered ever so slightly.

The peaceful scene suddenly exploded into life as the stasis effect over the monk shattered!

Glass’s eyes shot open, his nostrils inhaling sharply as his spiritual intuition roared to life.

In that instant three rifts sliced through his neck and chest, bisecting him. A third rift sliced through his shoulder, just barely missing his head as he dodged the lethal blow.

Blood gushed out of his body in exaggerated torrents, his body liquifying into the earth.

“He broke the freeze, target is active!” 

“Don’t let him escape!”

“Fencing off the area, I need five seconds.”

A squad of black uniformed Noga soldiers acted in unison to engage the blood monk in battle. They had been called into action by Finn, whose team had managed to track the former Abbott’s movements as he fled toward Fuha.

This was the third operation undertaken to capture the Abbott, though that did not mean the previous two were failures. The Abbott was a dual-path Disciple of the Life and Spirit Domains. He had incredible fighting prowess as well as regeneration and escape abilities. Even alone he was a formidable opponent.

In the previous two battles the soldiers had injured the Abbott and weakened him, while not overcommitting and leaving themselves open to casualties. Each time they closed the trap on the Abbott they gave him a line of escape, but each escape was at a cost to his energy and strength.

Now the soldiers were moving in for the finishing blow.

The Abbott sank into a pool of blood, reaching out around him for a living creature to blood-jump to. However to his shock he couldn’t sense any suitable targets in range. In the time that the Abbott had been trapped in time the soldiers had ported out the large animals in the area. Only small prey with insufficient amounts of blood remained.

His spiritual intuition told him that a trap had been laid in the air if he tried to escape by moonlight.

These avenues of escape had been used by the Abbott before, the soldiers definitely wouldn’t let him run away that easily.

In the fraction of time that it took the Abbott to scan the area half of his blood pool was frozen and then cut off from him by a spatial rift. He was forced to emerge from the blood, his white blade shining brightly as he slashed at the soldiers in the trees nearest to him.

The white slashes flew at a blinding speed as trees crashed to the ground. The soldiers reacted calmly to the attacks, teleporting away cleanly so as to not even allow the blades to make the tiniest cut that would give the Abbott access to the fresh blood that he needed for his powers.

His body was a terrible sight as he was unable to reform completely. His left arm was missing and bleeding profusely, his skin was bloated and purple. He had failed twice to create a chance to escape. Before he had a chance to try again a rift sliced off his right arm at the elbow.

The white sword clattered to the floor. He felt his movements grow sluggish as a slow-field restricted his movements.

“Hah hah hah,” He laughed, seeing that the end had come. This regretful, self-deprecating laugh was directed at himself as he accepted his fate.

“No!” The captain panicked as he saw the look in the Abbott’s eyes, he splayed out his hand to catch the Abbott in a full stasis but it was too late.

The Abbott exploded in a spray of blood as he self-detonated, choosing to die rather than end up captured by the soldiers.

An unfathomable amount of blood spewed out over the entire surroundings as the Abbott’s Exalted essence dissipated entirely.

The captain sighed softly, watching as a deep crimson colour slowly spread out across the lake, dyeing it completely under the silver moonlight.

After carefully surveying the surroundings his men gathered next to him. Several of them were holding glass vials filled with blood red sarira that they had managed to gather. They were small and few in number, the Abbott had clearly intentionally chosen this method of dying to make it difficult for Lord Noga. 

The turned them over carefully in his hand with a frown, feeling a faint corrupted energy within the crystals that rendered them useless.

“It seems that the stress of the battle and the Abbott’s already weakened state had pushed him already to the brink of corruption. Even if we captured him alive, he probably wouldn’t last long.” One of his men observed. “We’re lucky he didn’t turn into a corrupted one. It would have been much harder for us.”

The captain nodded, carefully storing the vials for official disposal. He looked pensively across the crimson lake. 

“He would have known that he was on the brink of breaking. Knowing this, perhaps he purposefully sought to end his life in this way, rather than risk turning into a monster.” The captain sighed, “I heard that the Abbott was a kind and honourable man in the past. Perhaps in his last moments he repented for the crimes he committed and didn’t give in completely to evil.”

“Thousands of people died because of him. Even more suffered. If he was honourable he would have turned himself in.” The other man snuffed dismissively, “Monsters like him don’t get to repent.”

~

On the other side of the lake a deer ran through the trees in a panicked gallop. As she saw the moonlight reflecting off the silver waters her eyes took on a human look of grief.

She stopped short of the lake staying within the cover of the foliage, a thousand thoughts running through her mind.

She could feel the energies of life that flowed through the forest. She could sense the heartbeats of each of the soldiers as they took their time to secure the area.

The Abbott’s life force was still fresh in the area but the Abbott’s soul was gone, never to return.

Memories of the last few weeks flashed through her mind. Of the Abbott escaping with her from Noga City while nursing her back to health. Memories of the confusion and terror and wonder of discovering that somehow she had inherited Deka’s powers, yet kept her identity and soul.

Praise the Maiden.

The Abbott had tasked himself with seeing her safely to Fuha out of reach of Lord Noga. Out of luck or coincidence Lord Noga’s forces didn’t actually seem to be aware of her. To keep it that way he had kept her existence a secret even from his own people, only entrusting himself to carry out this critical mission.

In the few peaceful moments that they’d had together over the past weeks the Abbott had expressed his grief at the loss of his friends. He’d shared his remorse and shame of being manipulated by Markus Gantt.

He had done many cruel and evil things, things which he couldn’t forgive himself and would never forgive himself for.

He confided in her his abject guilt of nearly bringing upon the calamity of a corrupted god into the world, and his gratitude to the heavens for having it not coming to pass.

Praise the Maiden.

Even as they’d fled, the Abbott never let her interfere out of fear that Lord Noga would learn of her existence. His conviction was so strong that she listened to him, staying hidden and out of sight. However she promised herself that she would act to save his life if it got to that point.

She had taken the form of a deer, as her new powers allowed her to do. Out of luck or coincidence the soldiers had ported her away from his side at the beginning of the battle, not realizing her true nature.

Fuha was only days away. They had nearly been safe. 

She could hear the Abbott’s voice in her thoughts urging her to escape and make it to safety. From the way the soldiers were acting they were still completely unaware of her existence. The Abbott had done his part bringing her all this way and not giving up their secret even in his dying moments.

Go, Lyssa. His memory urged. She could still see his face, his kind yet stern eyes that betrayed the pain he was in, even as he reassured her that he was fine.

A dark look clouded Lyssa’s eyes as she looked across the lake at the soldiers. There were twelve of them sent by Lord Noga to take them out. They had been cruel and ruthless in their assault. 

Lyssa found herself walking out of the foliage toward the soldiers. The silver moonlight bathed her body as she emerged from the shadows. With each step forward her normal deer form began to change. Her fur turned into a thick, dark olive moss. Her body hollowed out as her flesh turned into interweaving branches and vines began to grow from within.

She stepped out onto the lake, her delicate hooves creating ripples on the surface of the crimson water as her eyes began to glow with a sinister green light from within.

The captain across the lake was getting ready to depart when something across the lake triggered his spiritual intuition. He looked out and saw the silver lit deer standing on the middle of the bloody lake.

They made eye contact, but only for a second.

He was skewered and entangled by vines that shot out of the forest floor. The soldiers were only able to let out short screams of surprise as they were dragged into the mulch.

One by one the twelve heartbeats were silenced and devoured by the forest.

Lyssa stood tall in the center of the lake as she felt no remorse for those men.

She had simply killed them ruthlessly and without mercy, just as they’d done to the Abbott.

As she walked back into the forest the crimson lake grew still. A blood red moon shone in the mirror-like surface of the lake, amidst a sky of blood red stars.