The Heart is a Void: Ashes to Ashes

Chapter 150: Sea of Light

Walking deeper into the valley, they saw the silhouettes of two large, minotaur-like monsters towering over the end. The creatures grew taller than the mountains themselves, and had twisted horns growing over their shadowy heads.

A few players were fighting near the end of the valley, and soon one group broke off and fled. They reached too close to the monsters, and soon there was a loud rumble through the valley as a series of massive hands slammed down on the ground to crush the players. The monsters' horns followed soon after, goring any players still alive, and carving large rifts in the ground where they struck.

Crucis' group ran up to the cliff-face and leaned against it for stability, as the valley quaked violently beneath their feet.

"Tough crowd here, eh!" Danemy remarked. "By the way, so - were those statues alive, back in that cave? I thought we'd have to fight them!"

"Sort of. Seems the incense caused them to act alive, but they were a bit strange to begin with," Crucis said.

"Yeah, maybe something like that. The drops there were great, though, but that's probably because those weird goddesses were named after 'treasure.' What was up with 'The Aesthete'? He gave good Ivan Gold, at least."

"Ivaldi."

"Oh, yeah... Good shout, only read over it quickly."

"Sure. The Aesthete might have had something to do with Baldr appearing, since that didn't reach completion. Probably he was the incomplete result of that summoning."

"Yeah, actually, Baldr had felt way too real. It was a good thing we stopped that ritual in time, I guess."

Checking through his inventory, Crucis noticed that the worshippers in the cave had dropped a few copies of [Permit to the Room of Dreams], which claimed to allow access to the, 'Domain inhabited by Hnoss' daughter, North-East of Kaxil.'

"Did you guys also get this room of dreams thing?" he asked.

"Yeah," Danemy replied. "We seem to have more than we'd need, I'll gift some to Dicing and the rest."

"Good idea. Could make for an interesting expedition."

"I've actually seen that 'room of dreams' place, I think," Starfighter said. "Looked like a mansion, pretty fancy do, there were a few - no accounting for taste - dead, mutant animals outside. The animals were weird, stitched together or something, stuff like a snake-necked-bird and, y'know, a bipedal turtle. I don't know, maybe it's some mad scientist, or, um, a freakshow for entertainment. Well, there's no decadence aristocrats won't try for entertainment."

"And the animals were all dead?" Danemy asked.

"Yeah. It wasn't a surprise, doubt they survived being messed around with like that."

Crucis laughed. "Stands to reason. But it says it's the 'room of dreams,' so maybe they're patched together to resemble, well, creatures from dreams? Like, a horse could have a horn stuck through its head to look like a unicorn, even though it might die in the process."

"It could well be. Weird dreams, but."

"Doubtless."

As the ground stabilised, the group spread out across the valley, picking off players who had fallen or been injured by the quake.

Crucis was kneeling over one fallen, face-down male player, pulling the head up by the hair as he severed the neck, when he heard a group of three players fleeing through the middle of the valley.

Throwing away the head, he turned around and began the chase.

Danemy was already quite close to the players, and the two of them quickly caught up with the fleeing players. Before the runners could get their weapons ready, Crucis had already slashed through one's chest with the machete. He turned to another player, but was parried at the last moment.

Danemy finished this player off with a stab of his spear through the neck.

The final player made a rush for Danemy, but was caught off-guard by a [Chokehold] by Crucis, which stopped the rush with a jerk and made the player an easy piñata for Danemy's spear.

"Lots of players still fighting among themselves here," Danemy said. "I guess there's not many monsters around, so they either go to the centre or need to kill other players here."

"At least it's easier -" Starfighter began.

He was interrupted by a loud caw from above, and Crucis looked up to see a large, ghost-like raven named [Muninn] winging slowly over the valley. This one looked smaller and more frail than the Night Raven, and flew with delicate, but powerful strokes of its soft-feathered wings, but wherever it flew the sunlight turned up to an intense, searing brightness. The valley was covered by a blinding white sheen, and the group immediately dropped their eyes and raised hands to shade them.

Soon, they began to recover and look around, eyes tilted downwards. The raven was still overhead, flying a slow, stately curving path over the valley.

"A good day to suntan," Danemy remarked. "I can see some guy's moving around nearby, but it'll be hard to hunt in this light. Looks like an Assassin, too, he could be fast."

"The light is coming from above, so if we get some elevation then anyone we attack will be facing the light," Crucis replied. "You try and circle round to higher ground, then run down towards the player. I'll find somewhere to perch, if you need back-up."

Danemy saluted and walked further down the valley, climbing quickly uphill.

Looking around, Crucis used a few small rocks for elevation, then leapt onto the tall, rugged oval-shaped rock standing beside them. He had enough Divine Mana by now that his jump easily reached above the flat top of the rock, and he descended to his feet with a light elliptical trajectory. Standing up here, he got a clear view of the area around, and took note of a few players hiding in crevices of the valley.

On top of the rock, he was lit up brightly by the now-intense sun, and his skin turned a fiery pale white shade as the light radiated off it. Blinding light snaked around the folds of his outfit. He crouched down, catching his breath, and prepared for another leap.

Below, Danemy pursued his target, who set off rapidly as Danemy chased her across the cliff-face. Crucis could dimly make out that the target, far below, was a female named [BelleChaCha], who had managed to dodge Danemy's sword by a hair and raced away as he struggled to regain balance after his long spear lunge.

She was fast, and was able to outpace Danemy as she hurtled downhill with her red ponytail flying behind her. Easing to the side, she began to round the large rock which stood in her way.

However, Crucis spread his arms and leapt down from the rock, and as she looked up to parry her eyes were blinded by the blazing, white flash of the sun and she fumbled her sword. Nearing the player, Crucis looked like a comet bleached by thick fire, and kept his eyes towards the ground in order to avoid staring into the radiance from above. His sword found no obstacle, and Belle fell to the ground helplessly.

As he landed, Crucis closed his eyes for a moment, to shield against the bright glare. He relaxed slightly, and noticed a faint breeze from above as the raven's silky wings flapped at the edge of the valley.

After a few more seconds, the raven passed on, and the valley's dim lighting returned to normal.

"Not all that many people left in here," Danemy said. "After we're done, what's up next?"

"I guess we can move towards the centre, see what's up there."

"Aye aye."

After running urgently to catch a group of two players by surprise, managing to kill the stunned players without a fight, the three began to range across the valley and pick out the remaining fifteen to twenty new players scattered here. Most fell without much challenge, the rest died fighting among each other.