From - Journey to a Mystery

Dusk was falling when the last vestiges of the small village faded into the horizon. They were on the only road leading out of town, and it headed northeast. The poor old villager, Jos, had barely been able to keep up with the fast moving adventurers, and had to stop to rest on numerous occasions. Obviously he hadn't been outside the village often, much less on any long journeys. He did know where the next town was, and all they had to do was follow the road they were on to get there. Jos told them the name of the village as they were leaving his own. Tscon thought the name sounded familiar, and when that memory returned a dark and sad feeling went over the monk.

Kronheim was a name that should have stayed in Tscon's memory forever. It was the name of the village where his young apprentice Ketch had lost his life. As they walked along the road, Tscon's memory went back to that painful time in his past. He could still remember clearly everything that had happened to the young boy, and even though he'd finally come to terms with what had happened, the sting of it's memory was still strong. He began to wonder if he'd really have to strength to walk back into that village again. Perhaps, he thought, he wouldn't need to. After all, his main purpose in coming this way was to visit Ketch's grave. Maybe that would be enough. After all, what good could a mere apology really offer?

Tscon suddenly remembered his, 'vision', when he had seen his apprentice in a kind of dream, after he and Naeid had trapped the evil entity in Ghuise. He could hear Ketch telling him to return to the village, and see what it was like now, and what had come of the terrible tragedies that had befallen it. In his heart, Tscon was beginning to realize what Ketch had really meant. Tscon had to return to the village and apologize to the people who lived there now. Perhaps the destruction Tscon had seen in that vision was the aftermath of what he'd left behind. If so, it was Tscon's duty to return there and offer his apologies, to try and make amends for what he had done.

It wouldn't be easy. The memory of what the villagers had done to Ketch was slowly returning to his mind, as well as the feelings that went along with them. Tscon had to remind himself of what Ketch had said when he'd seen him. Ketch was at peace now, and soon Tscon would be as well. He took a deep breath and tried to let all the anger and resentment of that time fall away.

And so here he was, about to come full circle, and return to the place where all his misery had started. He was still dwelling on this when they stopped for the night. Jos informed them that they probably had another days march to reach Kronheim, so they decided to rest for the night there on the side of the road. None of them could really sleep, the sight of the eerily empty village still fresh on their minds. Tscon was equally restless, although he had another village on his mind that night. They got up before dawn even rose over the horizon and continued on their way.

The sun rose to it's peak and began to fall as they traveled, and as the sun's lower circle dipped to touch the ground far away, they saw what had to be the village of Kronheim. From this distance, it seemed to be much bigger than Jos' village, as they could see many more houses stretched across their view. Their pace quickened when they saw those few buildings, and a smile even began to find it's way onto their faces. Soon they even saw someone on the road, walking toward them. It seemed to be only one person, so it probably wasn't a town guard. If it was a fellow traveler, going south to Jos' village, they could warn them about what had happened. But as they approached this stranger, Tscon got the feeling that this wasn't a guard, nor a mere fellow traveler.

When this new person was a mere ten feet away from them, she stopped. Tscon stopped as well, holding his hand up for the others to halt. Daenna and Jos looked up at the monk at his sudden stop, curiosity on their faces. When they saw both the monk and Naeid staring straight ahead at the stranger, the two turned their attention in that direction. They didn't recognize the woman standing before them in red robes with the thin, shoulder length black hair, but Tscon and Naeid seemed to. She was tall, and seemed slender beneath the robes that billowed around her in the evening breeze. Her skin was pale, her face slightly gaunt, but they gasped when they noticed her eyes. No pupils at all could be seen; the eyes of this stranger were solid black.

Their old adversary smiled as she looked them up and down, one after another, the same self-satisfied look they remembered from weeks earlier. Something was different about her though, something they couldn't quite put a finger on. Right now it didn't seem to make much difference. Both Tscon and Naeid had to protect two innocent people from this deadly assassin. After considering them all for a few brief minutes, Ashila smiled wider.

"Well, master monk, it seems your company hasn't improved since our last meeting. You've even replaced your cook with a common merchant, how droll." Her gaze went to Jos for just a moment, then she looked back at Tscon. Ashila's voice sounded very different from the feminine one he remembered. It was deeper, and somewhat hollow. And her voice reverberated, as if two people were speaking with that voice at the same time. Ashila's head turned slightly, and she was looking straight at Daenna.

"And who do we have here? Another lost puppy for our brave monk to protect? Or fail to protect, I should say? You're about to die, little one, I trust you're realizing that. Just like the other people our brave monk failed to protect. In fact, everyone the monk has ever known is going to die, including his cook. What do you think of that, little girl?"

The sinister grin on Ashila's face seemed to grow at her remark to Daenna. Little D was terrified at this point, and she inched closer to Jos. The assassin's gaze rested on the young woman a moment longer before her head turned again to face the monk.

"Speaking of your cook, I'm very sorry about what happened between you. I really am. I was looking forward to killing all of you at once, but when I attacked the caravan, that captain threw your friend over his horse and rode away. At that point I had to choose whom to pursue first, and naturally I picked you and your raven haired slut-princess."

Naeid's blade leapt from it's place at her side at Ashila's last remark, and was pointed straight at Ashila's chest. The move didn't startle her in the least, but when Ashila caught sight of Naeid's new weapon, a look of concern flashed across her face. The self-assuredness immediately returned, but Tscon had noticed the look. Something was quite different about their antagonist. Ashila's confession about the caravan, and her new sound and appearance, suddenly gave Tscon a thought he wished he hadn't had. He hoped he was wrong. Ashila wasn't giving him time to dwell on it, though.

"O I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," Ashila continued sarcastically, turning her gaze to Naeid, "please don't stick me with your toy."

Naeid had all she could stand from the red robed assassin at that point, and charged in and swung Krenhavnar in a blow that would have separated the robed woman's chest and abdomen, had Ashila still been standing in the same place, but she wasn't. She was now standing right next to Naeid, her face still holding that same sarcastic grin. Naeid swung again, and again Ashila was gone by the time her sword would have found it's mark. This time she seemed gone completely, until they looked behind them, to see Ashila standing right next to Daenna. She was looking at the diminutive young woman as if she were studying a curious object. Daenna could not even bare to raise her head, so imposing was this woman’s presence.

Both Tscon and Naeid began to walk over toward them when Ashila raised her right hand. Their eyes widened as they looked at it. Her hand was black, and deformed. It appeared as though the skin and flesh had rotted, and were wasting away. They stopped, waiting to see if Ashila were about to do something to poor Daenna with that withered hand.

"You can see that didn't heal so good, but I've come to realize that's okay. You see, now I can do this to you, and it'll all be evened out."

Ashila let her hand drop slowly toward the top of Daenna's head. Tscon was afraid he wouldn't be able to reach the girl in time, but he had to try, so he prepared to leap. Suddenly Ashila went flying, landing on the ground in a heap, with Jos on top of her. She quickly threw him off, sending the old man flying through the air, to land hard on his back, crying in pain. Ashila leapt to her feet, rage displaying on her cold face.

"Fool. You'll suffer an eternity of torment for interfering with me."

She reached out her withered hand toward the terrified shopkeeper and pointed a finger. Black bolts of lightning shot out from that finger, heading straight toward Jos. Suddenly, the dark energy turned in midair, and went straight toward Naeid. The bolts struck Naeid's sword. The blade glowed for a few seconds, then faded. Ashila's face was aghast.

"What? How did you do that?"

She raised her hand again, and this time threw her black bolts straight at Naeid, and again the sword absorbed every bit of the dark, negative energy. Rage flashed across the assassin's face. Suddenly, Ashila's jet black eyes flashed red. Tscon felt a sudden rage come over him, and anger at everything and everyone around him. Naeid's sword began to glow, brightly, and the anger Tscon felt immediately began to melt away. He stood, confused for a moment over what had happened. Then he noticed Ashila's red eyes go from him, over to Naeid. The sword continued to glow. After a moment, the red light faded from the robed woman's black eyes, and Krenhavnar's glow subsided. Ashila took a step back, regarding Naeid first, then looking over at Tscon.

"This is not over, Lightbringer. We will meet again."

She looked over at Daenna, then cast a dangerous look at the old shopkeeper.

"And your interference will cost you dearly."

Ashila took a few more steps back, then leapt into the air. When her jump had reached it's zenith, the red robed woman simply stopped moving, standing straight up some ten feet off the ground. A thick black smoke began to emanate from her body, and it enveloped her as she hovered in mid-air. When she was completely obscured, the smoke began to fade away, and she was gone.

For a moment, no one moved, nor made any sound or said anything. After a few minutes, Naeid finally looked over at Tscon.

"Okay, well she seems to be a little more powerful than the last time we saw her doesn't she. And what was with her eyes. And that magic. She didn't even try to attack us with her hands, and where was her staff? "

Tscon was wondering the same thing. He shared the sentiment he had been harboring since he'd heard her voice echoing as if from some distant place.

"I think that, somehow, that entity we thought we sealed up when we cut down it's tree has possessed her. Remember, she claimed to have killed everyone in the militia’s caravan, but as I recall some of those men killed each other. Do you remember the last time something like that happened?"

Naeid at first seemed confused by what the monk was referring to, then understanding suddenly leapt into her eyes. The village of Ghuise.

"O well that's great," Naeid proclaimed, "so now she has magical powers? "

Naeid suddenly looked down at her sword, Krenhavnar. The warrior woman stared at the weapon intently. Tscon quickly realized it might be talking to her again. It was not glowing now, except for the runes spelling out it's name, which always seemed to be glowing dimly. A smile crossed her face while she gazed at the weapon, a proud smile as if she had been paid a high complement by a lord, or a king. She was too preoccupied to notice Tscon walking over to the old shopkeeper Jos, who was still sitting in the spot where he'd landed after knocking Ashila away from Daenna. He lowered his hand, and Jos slowly reached up and took it, raising himself up with Tscon's help.

"That was a brave gesture for a shopkeeper." Tscon said.

Jos looked at Tscon, then down at Daenna, who was also just now getting up, still stunned by everything that had just happened.

"I don't know what came over me, I just didn't want to see this poor young woman get hurt. Who was that red robed woman anyway? You seemed to know her, at least she seemed to know you."

"Her name is Ashila," Tscon replied," she is an assassin, originally sent to bring me back to the Temple of the Order, although somewhere along the line, she decided she'd rather take me back dead, than alive. I'm not really sure we understand her true motivations, if indeed she has any besides pure evil. As for her powers, those are new since the last time we saw her, and I suspect another entity is involved with those. We shall see. Anyway, Kronheim is close and we should get there as soon as possible. Come."

Tscon looked back at Naeid as Jos and Daenna took the first few steps toward the nearby village. The warrior woman was sheathing her weapon, a look of concern on her face. The monk looked behind him to see if the others were watching them, then drew up near his friend.

“We may have a problem,” Naeid began in a low hushed tone, “Kren says he's never felt energy like that, ever, and he was forged over two-thousand years ago. He's known sorcerers, and dragon-magic, most everything this world's thrown at him, but never anything like she just threw at us. He said if she'd kept it up much longer, it would've shattered him. He thinks something's inside of her, something not of this world at all. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?”

He was, in fact, but was loathe to put it into words.

“The book in Ghuise referred to something called a Revenant. That must be it. As powerful as something like that is, I wonder if it can be destroyed at all.”

Somehow, Naeid's look became even darker.

“What if it can't be killed, and we've somehow let it loose?”

Tscon felt his blood go cold at that thought. The last thing he needed was to be responsible for more tragedies.

“I thought we trapped it in Ghuise when we cut down it's lair.” Tscon replied. “This could be something else entirely.”

Naeid locked her gaze on him, chastising him with her eyes, she no more believed that than he did.

“Telling yourself that won't help it become true, you know. We have to find out what's really going on with her, and soon.”

Tscon let his head nod as he began to realize she was right. But he had other business to see to first. Then perhaps they could find out more about Ashila, and this thing called a Revenant.

The monk and warrior-woman hurried their steps to catch up with the other two, who were making their way slowly up the road. As they caught up, Tscon noticed Daenna was staring at the ground, simply moving her feet one in front of the other, without looking at all where she was going.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked as he drew near his friend.

"Who was that woman, Tscon? And who was she talking about, that died?" Daenna asked, without looking up at the monk.

Tscon took a deep breath as the painful memory of his friend's deaths returned. Somehow Ashila knew that was still haunting him, somewhere deep inside. The assassin was still finding ways to hurt him, even when she was gone. Tscon took a deep breath, and confronted yet another painful memory.

"She's a lost soul really, full of hate and anger. She killed two of my friends, in an effort to torment me, and throw me off-balance so it would be easier for her to kill me. Naeid and I managed to chase her off, well, Naeid actually did it. But somehow she's found us again. Don't worry, we can fight her, and we're not going to let anything happen to you. You're going to be fine."

Little D didn't look up, Tscon wasn't even sure if she'd heard anything he'd said. She finally gave him a half-hearted reply.

"I'll be fine as long as I'm with you, or someone who can fight for me."

Tscon slowed his steps as he realized what was really bothering his companion. Were Naeid's words still stinging the young woman? Or was it something else? Tscon looked down and sighed, becoming lost for a moment in a sea of self-pity. So many people around him were needing his help, how could he help himself? He struggled internally with all the emotions clashing inside him. It wasn't until he heard Naeid's loud whistle that the monk realized he'd stopped completely. The other three had also come to a standstill and were now staring at the monk. Tscon quickly hurried back up to meet his friends.

"Sorry about that, just thinking for a moment." the monk said.

"Everything okay?" Naeid asked.

"Yes, sure.", he replied, the shaking in his voice giving away the fact that everything was not okay at all.

All assembled they made their way to the nearby village. The sun was below the horizon now, and they hoped an inn would still be open when they arrived.