Sevak goes over the conversation in his mind. There is none of the fever of his dreams, or the desperation from his encounter with the naga. The nagaji seems to be himself.
His hand suspended over the blade he feels a very faint heat, as if it had been sitting in bright sunshine all day. There is the fainest golden shimmer about it, as if it is alive. A vague sense of anticipation floats off the blade but it is silent.
Sevak's resolve firms as he finds no reason to doubt his logic.
Very well. Let us strike down evil together.
His hand closes around Zhèngyì's hilt.
Yes Zhengyi exults as Sevak's hand closes on the hilt.
As the nagaji raises it, he marvels. The blade is wondrously light and balanced, more like an extension of his arm then a weapon. A steady warmth seems to trickle through him, heartening muscle and limb. It seems to drive away the clinging shadows, in both his mind and his soul.
We are bonded, warrior. Together, we can do great things The voice is clearer in his head and he can sense a great weight of duty behind it, a sense of deep loyalty. Not to Sevak but to a greater, higher purpose.
'How..how do you feel?" Hyo Soon asks, carefully.
"Well," Sevak replies to Hyo Soon, still marveling over the blade. "I think we shall work well together."
A thought crosses his mind as he examines Zhèngyì. How did you come to be here, if I may ask?
I was brought here during the Fall. This was supposed to be a center for re-building, a storehouse for the future. However, it too was overwhelmed, and all perished. So I was forced to wait. What brings you to this place?
Hyo Soon looks around but says, "I don't see any trace of what I am looking for. It should be in the vault, protected. I don't see anything like that here."
Hyo Soon is a scholar, searching for a staff she thinks was also left here, Sevak replies to Zhèngyì. It seems, from speaking to one of the ghosts, that it is also what holds them here. Know you of it?
Aloud, Sevak says, "Yes, it would seem we must press forward. Stay wary of traps and spirits."
The room is a dead end so they are forced to backtrack up the hallway. Sevak keeps a close eye and they avoid a repeat of any traps. There is no sign of the vengeful spirit.
As they walk Zhengyi says, Only a little. He is the spirit of a guard of my previous master. A loyal and brave man, it grieves me to see him trapped in this place.
Soon they arrive back at the main room, the Emperor statue staring down at them, and the golems waiting patiently.
I see. Let us release him, then.
When they arrive back in the main room, Sevak asks Zhèngyì, Do you know the passphrase for the golems? The last one I had to destroy.
Aloud he says, "Let us hope the staff is not behind the collapsed doorway."
There is a note of amusement in the sword's tone, as it sounds in Sevak's head. It has been over one hundred years. You think I recall the minor words of power for a door? This was a trivial, business-like place in the days of Imperial power. Not worth noting.
Hyo Soon makes a face as Sevak obviously listen internally, "I don't like that only you can hear that thing. Does it have any idea about the password?"
Sevak shakes his head slightly. "No. It seems that we shall have to test how well we work together now."
He carefully makes his way across the trapped floor. We shall have to destroy this one, then, it seems.
Sevak quickly finds himself in front of the silent and still golem again. Behind him Hyo Soon mutters, "Are you going to even try to guess the password or just attack in a surprise?"
An underhanded but effective tactic the sword opines.
Against an automaton, I feel no need to fight fairly, Sevak mentally replies.
"With no better idea of the password, I shall do the second," Sevak says aloud, before suddenly sprinting forward and striking with Zhèngyì.
Leaping forward Sevak slashes at the construct. Zhengyi feels light in his grip and seems to almost glow with power. The blow makes contact and he sees the force of it ripple through the machine.
Sevak slashes again, aiming to finish it quickly before it can do him much harm.
Sevak feels a surge of joy from the blade as he swings it. Not reveling in the combat or destruction, but instead joyful to be acting,t o be doing its true purpose. It fills Sevak with a strange confidence, one he has not had facing physical foes before.
The second blow slices the head off the construct, with the blade slicing the rock as if it was hot wax. With a weird groan the magical machine stumbles sideways and falls to the ground unmoving.
Sucess Zhengyi comments.
"It seems to be quite effective, at any rate." Hyo Soon comments, still eyeing the hilt mistrustfully.
"Indeed, but Zhèngyì cannot help with traps. We should proceed warily."
Together they head down the hallway, which is bigger and finer then the last. Engraved figures line the walls and the floor is a smooth marble, once polished and gleaming no doubt. Old, rotten tapestries are piled here and there, long fallen from brass hangings. It heads at a slight downward slope.
"Perhaps toward the vault?" Hyo Soon says excitedly.
Sevak has a feeling they are being watched, and wonders if the ghost is near. Hyo Soon's balls of light are the only source of illumination in the dark passage. The green light throws weird shadows on the walls.
Sevak, on the lookout for traps, notes a thin veil strung across the hallway. Careful not to touch, he sees the edges are tucked into the walls, obviously used to set off some sort of trap or device. It fills the entire passage, and it is impossible to climb under or around it as things stand.
"Hold!" Sevak hisses, holding out an arm as if to block Hyo Soon's path. He points ahead with his other hand.
"A veil is hung across the passageway ahead. Likely it is a trigger to a trap."
He considers it a moment. "I suppose we could burn it, but that might set it off. Fire from a distance might be safer, unless the trap would fill the entire hallway."
Sevak considers the hallway for a little while, then backs up thirty or forty feet, gesturing for Hyo Soon to do likewise.
"Get to the side of the passageway," he half-suggests, half-orders.
He does the same, pressing himself to one wall while getting his sling out. He puts a bullet in the sling and hurls it at the veil, seeing if they can set it off from a distance.
Hyo Soon backs up, pressing against the opposite side of the wall. Sevak sights his sling and throws a stone, cutting through the dry, dusty air. It hits the veil and tears through cleanly, making a tiny, nearly invisible hole. Then something odd happens.
About twenty feet ahead of them, darkness falls like a blanket. Hyo Soon's dancing globes are still shining but they shed no light ahead. It as if a black wall has suddenly formed, blocking all illumination. Luckily Sevak had made them retreat far enough to avoid being in that inky Abyss.
"Fascinating.." the female wizard remarks.
Sevak frowns. "Yes, but darkness alone is not a trap. Darkness is cover for another danger. Think you that it shall dissipate before too long?"
Hyo Soon stares for a long moment at the area of darkness, muttering some spell. "I detect magic inside the walls. I think it is some type of magical item the trap-maker is using. Maybe making use of some item from the vault? In any case, the object may very well project darkness for a long period of time."
The wizard coughs and looks nervously at the maw of total night ahead of them.
Sevak nods. "About where is it? I have some experience with navigating and fighting while I cannot see."
Once Hyo Soon gives him a direction, he again draws Zhèngyì and slowly advances, feeling his way along the wall while listening for any movements.
"I think it is centered on the where the veil was. I wish I had looked then before you set it off." She frets as Sevak enters the blackness alone.
As soon as he crosses that line, it is as if he has been blinded again. Total and utter blackness swallows him. Turning around, it is the same void as it is ahead. Horrible memories of his long personal walk in the dark swim to the surface. Several times he even spots the green glowing orbs of his former Mistress's stern glare. It strikes him he has not thought of her, in particular, for months.
Mind on the present young warrior.Zhengyi chides but adds, You are skilled at fighting without sight.
Sevak hears nothing but his own footsteps and beating heart as he traverses the tunnel. The nagaji walks on and on.... He must be nearing the veil, surely?
Then, without warning, he smells a weird sickening odor. Before he can move, he feels a strange, dizzying sensation.
He shakes his head, in the blackness. Quickly he searches his feelings and his mind seems to be his own...
Even as he is relieved at his metal strength, a searing pain crosses his body from head to foot, unlike anything he has felt before. It seems to sap at his very lifeforce.
Sevak feels weak and dizzy, even as the pain passes. Still, he feels nothing, no solid object in the blackness. But there must be something here....
Sevak grits his teeth against the pain and tries to listen and feel, searching for signs of anything near him.
If he can find a target, he slashes at it.
If he doesn't find a target, he'll keep moving forward cautiously, trying to find the center of the effect.
Sevak senses the air, feeling with his hand, tasting with his tongue. As he does that he tastes...a foul noxious mist on the air, barely heavier then fog. He swings his sword at this barely perceivable feeling. Sevak doesn't feel anything but Zhengyi says Something has been hurt by my blade.
Sevak feels little comfort at this. What good did it do to hurt this thing when he had no idea what it was? How close was he to the veil? How long had he been in here? Would Hyo Soon come after him?
Feeling a waft of strange pressure Sevak moves aside, just managing to avoid some clinging vapor or mist.
Sevak slashes in the direction he felt the mist moving, putting more force behind his blow now that Zhèngyì had confirmed he had hurt something.
He then takes a five-foot step in the direction he thinks the veil is.
Again Sevak feels only the slightest pressure against his blade and no sound, either of pain or even slicing into something. What was this thing?
Sevak sidesteps down the hallway, keeping the wall at his back. His questing fingers soon find it, the tattered remains of the veil. Pushing he can feel the small groove around the hallway, where it was once attached.
Sevak feels another lance of weird, sucking pain across his body. He feels weak and shaky, but still upright. The endless dark presses in, like a black cloth tied across his eyes.
Are we fighting a ghost? Sevak wondered to Zhèngyì as he gritted his teeth against the pain. Again he lashes out in the direction the attack came from.
He puts his back to the veil as he fights, cautiously stepping along it, feeling with his back for any difference.
Sevak moves along the wall and finds a spot where the groove seems to be wider, a hole crudely cut into the stone of the passage. There seems to be some sort of round item there, but ti is embedded solidly into the wall, attached strongly.
From the pitch darkness, Sevak feels the slightest breeze, a breath of movement.
Again extreme pain flashes through him, feeling like a mix between ice and fire, leaving him weak and shaking. It occurs to him he may yet die in darkness....
Sevak grits his teeth. It's clear that this isn't working. What he needs... is backup.
"Hyo Soon!" he shouts, as he runs back the way he came. "There is some sort of spirit here in the darkness! I've found the item making the darkness, but I cannot fight the spirit alone."
Sevak stumbles out of the magical darkness, and begins grasping for the healing wand. Nothing follows him, and after a few short steps he feels much safer. Hyo Soon rushes up looking worried, "Some sort of spirit? What kind?"
She peers at the darkness, 'Why didn't you simply smash the item creating the darkness?"
Sevak shakes his head as he starts healing himself.
"I am not certain, but it was draining me somehow. As for smashing the item... would that work? Is it likely it would be destroyed easily?"
The academic smiles and points at the shining blade in Sevak's hand, "I doubt many magical items would stand up to that blade. It seems quite potent."
She glances back at the crouching dark, smile fading, "How can I help? Whatever it is didn't follow you out."
Sevak continues healing himself.
"I will go back in and smash the object. Certain types of magic will harm spirits, yes? Once the darkness is dispelled, we can drive it off together if it does not flee."
He uses one last charge of his wand.
Hyo Soon delicate face shows a mix of fear and determination, 'yes, most spirits respond poorly to arcane forces. If only we knew what it was..." She shakes her head and straightens up, mentally reciting her spell,s "I will be ready....stay safe."
Sevak feels vigor and energy return to his body, re-filling him. Whatever the damage does was mostly repaired.
Do not die so soon, warrior. I wish to see the outside of this place at least.
Sevak nods, then charges back into the darkness, aiming for where he felt the magical item, ready to bring down Zhèngyì upon it.
Sevak charges into the utter blackness, once again being tossed into that strange void. Around him he hears the barest rustle, the merest whisper of movement. He ignores it, heading for the source of this blankness.
He feels that tingling, horrible sense of pain and weakness explode over him. In the corner of his mind he hears the shadow naga mocking him, but it is nothing, a mere figment.
Then he realizes he stands at the correct place. The ex-druid raises the humming blade over his head and brings Zhengyi down into that small groove.
The sword glances off the rock wall and then smashes into something. There is a purple flash of arcane power that envelops the nagaji, blinding him for a second. Then it is gone and he stands in the now lit hallway. All around him a weird, sickly green mist hangs. For an instant he sees horrible shapes writhing in that mist, of dead and dying men.
A voice cries out a spell and he sees Hyo Soon, standing tall and straight. A firebolt streaks from her hands and hits the floating mist. It shrivels with a strange keening wail and then fades into nothingness.
Sevak pants for a moment, letting the sick weakness fade, then turns back to Hyo Soon.
"Thank you," he says. "Just let me rest and heal myself a moment, and then we can continue on."
He waves his healing wand over himself.
Once he's feeling somewhat better, Sevak turns back to the veil. "Likely it is safe now to cut through this," he says. "But perhaps it is best if you check for more magic first."
The wizard quickly scans the veil, and the hallway around, I detect nothing but the fading aura of the item you destroyed. It seems to have been quite powerful. I imagine it dates back to the Imperial period here. Perhaps our trap maker plundered the vault?"
"It seems likely," Sevak agrees. "A pity we had to destroy it. Think you that the spirit... thing was due to those who died here, somehow?"
As he speaks, he cuts a rent in the veil large enough to walk through.