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Wyatt Graves

 

My eyes flutter open at nighttime, a low light peeking in from the empty canvas above. The gap in time is surprising from when I entered Tranquility, but I shake it away as I move and stretch my body. The stars' endless beauty and the twin orbs above the sky bring light to an otherwise nightmarishly murky world.

 

The wagon is still moving, but everyone is asleep except for Silas. Even Lennox. Didn't know he could sleep. Undead don't need to sleep, though, so he's eternally on watch. Then, finally, he notices my wakefulness and nods to me, whispering softly not to wake anyone else.

 

"Can't sleep?"

 

Carefully, I move toward the front of the wagon and sit beside him.

 

"Yeah, something like that."

 

Trees pass by us with impressive speed as my attention moves to Darkmane, the Ghosthorse. She's quite something. I can see why so many were willing to fight over one down in the Underworld. She's not as fast or as powerful as a steam train, the peak of human ingenuity in the east, but she's just as untiring.

 

Quietly, we sit together for hours as we move toward our destination. In the distance, several times, we see movement, but we don't comment on it. All of it is moving toward the east, away from the frontier. News must have spread about Kai's death. Some guilt passes for uprooting all these people, but it is not my fault.

 

Aniwye was going to kill Kai whether I was there or not. The demon is mighty and knows how to use her skills and artifacts to the best of their capabilities. The only difference would have been whether or not his wife lived.

 

Eventually, though, Silas opens up just before the sun rises on the far horizon. His tone is questioning, as if he is asking permission to talk.

 

"Wyatt?"

 

I respond, telling him to continue.

 

"Yeah? What's up?"

 

The undead man clears his throat before glancing at me, his flames of Undeath provoking my eyes against the rising sun.

 

"If I die, will you do something for me?"

 

Surprised by his words, I question him on his negativity. Why even think about dying? Plus, isn't he already dead?

 

"Why do you assume you will die?"

 

Silas only shakes his head, giving me a short answer.

 

"Doesn't matter. The world is vast, and an undead like me has little place up here."

 

I finally agree, seemingly unable to change his mind without further argument that may wake others.

 

"Sure, but don't say that. You fought hard to make it up here. Make a place for yourself, Silas. You don't just have to come with us, y'know?"

 

I see a slight smile stretch on Silas' face, but he doesn't linger on my words.

 

"If I die, don't make a grave for me. I already have one, and a second will only confuse my wife. I don't know where her soul is, but I hope she wanders, looking for me, as I couldn't find her below. Some souls do that after death, for many years, in fact. She's a stubborn one. Perhaps… I should have been the same, and maybe we would have found each other as ghosts."

 

I agree with his request; it's doing less work, even if I want to bury him. Also, I can't help but feel something when he mentions finding her as a ghost. It feels... so raw. I just try to convince him he won't die.

 

"Yea, I will, Silas. Don't worry about that, though, okay? You'll be fine."

 

He just nods, and we return to silence. A few more hours pass, and the sun rises, which causes some others to wake up as well. We return to the traveling setup, and I move back into the wagon's rear as I start to train my senses. I use all of the sense-blocking skills except for Blind as I try to spot things in the distance.

 

The overlaying of imagination and reality actually doesn't hurt my vision, either. On the contrary, it kind of lets me look at two images of the same things and determine what they are more effortlessly. And as I do this longer and longer throughout a few days of practice, I begin to notice I can see a bit further just as the trees of Timberlands are replaced by more rocky terrain.

 

Slowly, ever slowly, we are reaching Starkbluffs. Eh, not really slowly. The rocky plains are just really far away, and I'm impatient. I return to this sensory practice as I move on to do the same with my touch, then hearing, the sense I find most important, along with sight.

 

In one of these sessions of vision practice, Blake comes over to me and looks out with me, searching for whatever I'm looking at. But after a few minutes, the quiet lady, unwilling to give up or talk immediately, asks me what I'm doing.

 

"What are you doing? Are you really that bored that you're just looking out into nothing? Want me to give you the Daemonomicon to read?"

 

I shake my head at her offer, but I appreciate the gesture. I know how much she cares about books. For her to offer one that she is reading is telling. And so, because of her openness, I open up a bit to her. After a promise, of course.

 

"I'm doing something, but you have to promise me something, okay?"

 

She nods at me, eager to know.

 

"Of course? What do I need to promise?"

 

I look at her from the distance of the moving trees. I was trying to find an acorn on the ground, but now my vision refocuses on her face. The close proximity makes me notice her more than usual. The scars on her face, the slight gray tint to her eyes, and the cut running along her cheek from a recent fight. Shit, I'm staring.

 

"I– uh. Promise that you won't tell Johnny what I'm doing? It's not dangerous, I swear, but he won't even let me practice with Ether."

 

I glance over her back toward Johnny as I whisper quietly. The Gunfighter has powerful ears, and I'm unwilling to risk it. She agrees and makes the promise without much hesitation.

 

"Sure. You look fine, so I promise I won't tell him. You don't even look the slightest bit injured at this point. I think he's just a bit overprotective from what Birdie said."

 

I nod at her. Of course, I'm fine. I've honestly not felt better. The weeks to heal alongside the Draughts that Johnny gave me made me feel like a new person. And so, with her promise, I quietly open up to her about what I've been doing.

 

"I've been using a teaching from this book Johnny gave me. It helps one train their senses. See further, hear further, etcetera. It just takes Ether and time. Wanna learn?"

 

She nods enthusiastically but keeps it quiet.

 

"Of course. That sounds awesome. How about I teach you something I learned then?"

 

Her offer surprises me, but I agree. Who would turn down free information?

 

"Do you even need to ask? What is it, though?

 

She smiles and whispers to me her answer.

 

"A way to strengthen your body. An excellent way, too, and it's based on demons."

 

I smile back as we begin practicing together. She is learning how to enhance her senses while I read a few passages from the Daemonomicon, with her helping me understand it.

 

It's a… unique way to strengthen yourself, but it works rather well for Blake, who can take ghosts into herself.

 

Some demons can strengthen themselves through the souls of those they kill. These are Acheri, skeletal demons with a hunger for souls. But, the manipulation of souls is not limited to them. Souls have power, being the way to control Ether and where cognition comes from. I've found a way to copy their abilities through extensive study. Upon the release of a spirit, ghost, or anything that has a soul from a body or container, one can take the soul and force it into one's body. This will strengthen it slightly at the cost of sanity. The whispers and mind of the soul will battle yours, but upon triumph, that strength is permanent, even if small.

 

Should you grow adept enough and are willing to push the soul onto your mind, you may assimilate some of its memories. That is the highest form of the Acheri, the Devourers.

 

The bit about assimilating memories made me think of that God in the sky of the Underworld. Is… no way. That's impossible. The Gods were around before the Mother Below. Right?

 

…

 

I hope so.

 

Shaking my head slightly, I focus on my growth.

 

I am unsure of how I will be able to do the same as indicated in the text. Still, perhaps I could repeat what happened with Edmund and instead push the soul into my body and not just let it sit there. But as I move the idea for later, Blake pulls the spirit she recently acquired, one from one of the Naked Bears, and she pushes it toward me. It's a tiny light of effervescent green, slightly shifting in her hands. That's where her previous ones have been going! She's been doing this… this Devouring.

 

"Try it. If anything goes wrong, I can pull it back, but just follow the directions."

 

I nod at her and reach out, coating my hand in Leash to pull the Naked Bear's soul. Gingerly, I bring it onto my hand and grasp the greenish soul. It's barely visible through my usual world of chains and invisible to my normal eyes. But, under Insight, as the world of chains replaces my standard, it is clear as day. I follow the directions of the Daemonimon with Blake's guidance while Johnny is distracted by Lennox's ramblings.

 

Thank you, you little man.

 

I push Ether around the soul and create several braids that act like ropes that slowly compress the soul into a smaller and smaller form. I do this carefully, and it goes from the size of a ball to a peanut.

 

Then, with Blake constantly telling me what to do step by step, I push the soul into the soft flesh of my palm. The second I do, I feel a stinging pain, but Blake holds onto me. She, the resident expert in souls, continues to guide me.

 

"Push through it. You got this. It's not physical pain, just spiritual. You've got a radiant soul, Wyatt. You got this."

 

A chill runs down my back as she… compliments me? Ignoring the compliment, and with a deep breath, I bring myself back to focus and peer at the peanut-sized soul going into my flesh. And with her encouragement, I complete the final steps. I take a small bundle of Ether and compress it with my mind before doing that repeatedly until it is a tiny bomb of Ether, just barely weak enough to control and not slip from my fingers.

 

Once that is done, I push that bomb inside the peanut, spiritually shocking me, and let it explode. The second it does, I am inundated with a thousand and one thoughts, but it doesn't faze me like Blake said it would. It goes away after just a few minutes. I guess that's the benefit of having the Bloody Palm? Hard to lose much sanity when you likely don't have much left.

 

And when the voices and thoughts that are not mine disappear, I feel a slight current of warmth run through my hand as a… purr comes from the Bloody Palm. The sensation is uncomfortable from the artifact, but the feeling of warmth is quite good. I don't notice any strengthening; as Blake did say, it takes many to see much improvement, but it is vastly faster than slowly gaining muscle. The only limit is how much you kill and how much to can take.

 

She smiles at my success, giddy at the fact I learned from her. I thank her for teaching me an uncomfortable, rare, and powerful new skill as we separate. The skill could be tremendous in growing my strength over time, but I just have to be able to extract the souls of dead things like she can. Which I'm not sure I can do unless it's a situation like in the Underworld, where souls can fly quite freely when they die. Up here, it's a bit more complicated.

 

Maybe with Insight, Leash, or some other combination, I can both see and take the souls. Nevertheless, I know I won't be as good as Blake is at it. She can just look at a soul leaving its body and pull it toward her.

 

I go back to my sensory practice after our few hours together. Devouring is helpful, but I feel it is better for her. I can't use it extensively like she can, even if I'm pretty resistant to the side effects.

 

****************************

 

After a few more days, we finally reach the demarcation of Starkbluffs, an eight-foot-tall lip of stone that we must climb, and are forced to leave the wagon. Darkmane could handle swamp, prairie, and forest, but sharp rocky terrain with massive spires? Yeah… Darkmane can't handle cliff scaling or constant spikes. That's all Starkbluffs is, after all.

 

We also haven't found anyone on our way into Starbluffs, and the regular roads leading in are deserted, bereft of any recent travel. Johnny waved it off by saying the region isn't too favored to outsiders, but it feels off to me.

 

I step forward off the wagon, my eyes skipping over the lip of stone and scanning the massive pillars of rock that jut out from the earth like giant, jagged teeth, allowing me to appreciate their wonder even from here. The average seems to be pillars that reach dozens of feet tall, but some go hundreds of feet into the sky before abruptly ending at a cliff face. The wind whips through the crevices and valleys between them, creating a haunting howl that echoes across the land and over our heads.

 

This place, Starkbluffs, is truly awe-inspiring. Every Territory I enter is more impressive than the last.

 

Tornridge, my home, merely had many ravines and was known for the Vainspring River that ran through it, leaving a vast canal that could eventually be used if the Territory was ours for longer than the measly twenty years or so it was. But ever since then, it's been incredible. The world's vastness never ceases to amaze, even if it is dangerous.

 

The ground beneath my feet is uneven, rocky, and treacherous. Sharp rocks stick out from the stone beneath, forcing us to walk carefully to avoid getting stabbed. Moving my eyes up toward the towering cliffs, I can see small streams of water trickling down the cliffs in some places, seemingly coming from nowhere. The sheer size of the pillars makes me feel small and insignificant, like an ant crawling through a maze of boulders.

 

As I examine the terrain from a distance, my newly improved eyes spot more detail than before. I notice the intricate details of the stone pillars. Some have grooves and cracks that form patterns like the veins on a leaf, while others are smooth and unblemished. I can't help but wonder how this place was created and what secrets it holds within the walls of the pillars. Doubtless, there is something inside them, right?

 

I know that some cities are built up and within the periphery of the pillar, but that means something at the core must be unique.

 

The sun's morning light illuminates the cliffs, casting long shadows across the landscape. The natural wonder basking in the sunshine is mesmerizing, but Silas knocks me out of this amazement.

 

"Get a move on, kid. We gotta find your people."

 

He taps my hat as he walks past, whistling so that Darkmane turns back into a cloud of darkness that goes to him. Shuffling my feet, I hurry up after him. Johnny, Blake, Lennox, and even Dakota are in front of me, the not-so-little fox needing to get up and move after weeks of a wagon.

 

It only takes us a few minutes to climb over the Crest, as Johnny put it, before entering the proper rocky region of Starkbluffs.

 

The heights above us and the terrain slow us down, but now Johnny is in the lead, looking for any signs of Sacate. The man was supposed to leave behind symbols that only the old friends would know. And after these weeks of travel, the Gunfighter has not just one eye back but both.

 

Blake even taught him that sense-enhancing technique; as it had no name, he named it Temper. After that, Johnny was able to spend several days just focusing on his sight, and we even made a little game of it, placing bets on who could find something first with their eyes.

 

Johnny never lost.

 

I just kind of walk through Starkbluffs on the rear, looking around. I spot several places with caves high up on some of the pillars, but no one is inside them. At least not that I can see. The spiky and rocky terrain is also highly annoying, forcing me to always pay attention to my feet. Eventually, I get annoyed and funnel Ether into my feet for Chainlink Boots feeling awfully dumb for not using it before. Immediately, I get relief as the skill gives me some foot protection on top of my boots.

 

Just a few minutes in, and after passing a few pillars, something already feels off. Johnny is the first to notice it and calls it out.

 

"Where are all the people? Usually, small towns are set up beside some of the outer spires. Did something happen to them?"

 

Johnny tells us to stay put and moves over to one of the spires, looking into the mouth of an open cave. He disappears for a few moments before coming back. His face is furrowed and confused even as he debriefs us.

 

"There are signs of life, but none within the past month or so. Seems like everyone left in a hurry but managed to take all their tents with them."

 

The news unsettles us further but doesn't dissuade us from continuing our trek. We must find our friends and then head to the Vault together.

 

After a few hours of Johnny searching and me gazing around like Lennox, the Gunfighter finds something, calling us all to him. I move over from the bit of distance we had and peer at the symbol carved into stone. It looks like a circle with a checkmark on it.

 

Johnny turns to us with a smile, the excitement in his voice returning for the first time since we entered the rocky region.

 

"This is from Sacate! We just need to follow the opposite direction of the arrow on the check, and we should find them soon!"

 

However, the second he finishes talking, a screech, one more metallic than animal, rings through the air of Starkbluffs, echoing along each high pillar. Rocks fall from high above and force us all to jump away from the tower with the symbol.

 

I glance over at Johnny as the man curses.

 

"Sounds like Tlanuwa. Giant birds with metallic feathers. The Nahullo Councilmembers of their lofty High Table sometimes ride them. Seems like Howard Strafe is also being challenged for his strength. How–"

 

As he talks, another screech rings out once more that cuts him off before letting him continue.

 

"Howard's main shtick is flight and corroding things with a diseasing smoke, Blight Raven, right? We better get going. The man is unlikely to die as he is quite mobile, but we don't want to get caught in the crossfire if he loses. Nahullos will stream in crazily to occupy this Territory and likely move onto Timberlands or the Green Hallows, but at least at either point, the Hallowed One or the Underground Tree should hold them off."

 

Johnny starts moving in the direction indicated by the symbol as he finishes his thought, pointing to the colossal stone pillars.

 

"And when they come in, thousands will hide within these stone pillars, invading the seemingly absent towns. Starkbluffs has been invaded before, but it is near impossible to take fully. We need to find Sacate before they all do the same, or they will be near impossible to find without getting armies of Nahullo trying to kill us."