Chapter 16: Success

Chapter 15

Success

In her first moments within the deluge of elemental energy, June found an intoxicating mix of chaos and peace. Wrapped in a cocoon of fire, June felt truly at peace for the first time since coming to this new world. Even though all the power of magic swam around her, she felt safe. Visions of the past flittered by, just outside of her awareness, buried within the walls of flame around her. As one image formed, it was almost immediately burned to ash and replaced with a new visage. June turned her awareness toward them, and tried to comprehend the mess of intermixed colors and experiences.

Visions of her mother fluttered past, starting first with her mom’s warm smile. But almost as quickly, the images took on a darker tone. Her mother’s smile was replaced with tears and a wailing expression. If she could hear the words being screamed, they would reflect a mother’s horror at some unseen disaster. But June wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to hear those unspoken words.

Before she could even take a moment to process, a new series of images flowed to her mind. The flow of memories, both hers and not her own, became a blur. A confusing mix of sights intermingled with her experiences since coming to Duneria. Images of skulls and bones soon dominated the flow of information. A thousand skulls piled high against a dark night. But even this visage wouldn’t last long. A lone voice broke through the din.

“Did you like my show, little one?” boomed a raspy echo out of the fiery ether. Instantly, June recognized the voice, and the image of a rotten pile of mismatched rags flashed into her mind. Anger and sorrow welled up in June. Intense pain racked her being from head to toe.

“It’s time to move beyond these simple games,” echoed the raspy ethereal voice. The voice sent icy fingers over June’s bones. The surrounding fire seemed to have disappeared. “An undead doesn’t sleep, eat, or lay idle. You, in particular, certainly don’t rest. Seize this moment, feast upon the opportunity.”

The tone of the voice bore into June’s mind, like a beetle boring its way through a tree. Like a rotted tree, June felt her resolve to retort tumble.

“Your journey has been long, and soon it will be rewarding,” June could almost hear the smile on the unseen face of this rotted nightmare. “The Red Knight’s children stir, and we must prepare. They gorge on feed on power and knowledge, so you too must feed, devour...” the voice trailed off. The statement brought new images to June’s consciousness.

Through the wall of flames around her, June caught glimpses of a banner featuring the image of a bronze tree against a red backdrop. Glimpses of a grand feast and red-adorned humans floated past as well. Deep in the recesses of her mind, June wished she could have remained in the seemingly peaceful scene, as what came next kicked her flight or fight response into an even higher level. Gone was the cocoon of fire, June flew above a new scene.

A field of bones and gravestones formed amid a foggy morning. A pair of men that June recognized in that same glinting green armor stood around a stone plinth. A third man in midnight-black armor was beside them. Atop some unknown hill, surrounded by tall, dry grasses and dead trees, the men silently waited. A terrified woman lay at their feet. One of the green-armored men forced the bound and screaming captive to her knees. She spoke a language that June didn’t know, but her pain and fear were plain to anyone with eyes or ears. Hovering over the woman was a crazed-looking man with a face made of scars, adorned in midnight-black leathers. The wicked blade in his hand glinted in the sun's light. “No,” said June “No, don’t,” she cried. But she could only watch the sacrifice play out. The man smiled wickedly before he brought the blade across the woman’s throat. June could swear she tasted iron. One figure knelt next to the twitching woman as her feet kicked against the dirt. Their hands held a wooden bowl carved with simple faces. The mouths of the faces screamed in silent agony. A red river flowed into a new basin, the overflow stained the brown earth a darker color.

This horrific scene burned into June’s vision, but it was merely the beginning. Images of blood and flesh twisted into a visual orgy of violence, and screams followed behind them. Abomination wasn’t a word that June used regularly, but it fit perfectly here. The word slid through her emotional core like a knife between a ribcage. And she knew full well that the source of these visions would keep coming back to her. Whether to torment her, or for some other nefarious purpose, she didn’t know. The scared child huddled in the back of her mind, fearful of new things—wailed. But an ever-curious June ignored its nagging pleas. June had always taken lessons from life and failure, or at least tried to. But the hidden truth of this moment was a hard force to ignore. She feared what the future held if it meant losing so much of herself. Had the quest to complete her latest task broken her sanity?

June thought magic would be something fun, liberating. She didn’t sign up for this, and she certainly didn’t sign up for sacrifices. Since being put into this demented circumstance, they had forced June to forge herself into something cold, monstrous. Is that something she could handle? She didn’t seem to have a choice. And like a lucid dream, June would control her path forward. And she placed the blame for all this misfortune squarely on the hunched and rotten form she had seen in that dreamy campfire. She didn’t know how or when, but her vengeance would come. A bloody vengeance would run through them like a knife.

The voice returned for a moment more, to spoil her fantasy. “For now, child, return to your work. Learn, and find the answers you seek.”

With a raspy laugh, the voice of that revolting pile of rot and wool was gone, but its mysterious visage clung to the edges of her mind.

Angrily, June did her best to banish the thought. She pictured what she wished would happen to that undead freak. She grew wonderfully content at the prospect of cutting that ragged corpse to ribbons. In the next instant, June felt her awareness ripped out with an overwhelming pulling notion.

 

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She returned with a start from the visions, and she nearly fell from her chair.

“Are you alright, young one?” Spoke the Tome Lord as he watched the smaller skeleton with a glint in his eye.

A ragged breath escaped her mouth, before she answered, “I’m fine, just had something strange happen.” June snapped up the book she had been reading, pretending to read it and trying to hide her apprehension.

“I take it you found something of use?” came a careful question from the guardian of the library. “You’re a quick and studious servant, that will serve you well.”

Multiple elements of the statements ringing in her mind set June off. The notion of being a servant grated against her patient demeanor. And then there’s the matter of time. These visions were becoming yet another biting annoyance. Like the mosquitos and stinging flies of the swamps above, they bit at her little remaining patience.

“If another of these idiots says something cryptic to me...” Hatred for those around her burned once again. June fought back, pushing the feelings away, returning to the moment.

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An icy grip chilled the heat in her bones. Seconds, just a few seconds had passed. The Tome Lord’s presence looming over the table confirmed they had been waiting for some response, waiting for her to read and learn the secrets she was hunting. It would seem she had found them, but at what price? Was June doomed to be dogged by these visions for an eternity? And would the words from that blasted pile of rot hold true?

“If that’s so, I guess I can have fun with it.” June thought as she returned to the painful and lonely echoes of her past life. She could think of nothing she would enjoy more than burning all those who had controlled her to ash. She slammed the book shut and strode out of the library. The Tome Lord was left staring in her fuming wake.

 

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The lights from within the forge burned low, but June still cast a shadow. For just a moment, June stood as tall as a titan, stomping her foes flat. Holding tight to the anger and resentment, she let it fester. Its fire burned through June. “I’ll show you a scroll...”

Ready, June yanked out a fresh piece of parchment and focused her mana. The force pooled in her fingers, tracing down the brush onto the prepared paper. As June began tracing lines, she focused in on her anger, let it guide her. The chains locking her to this dusty old place wouldn’t hold her forever.

As she traced the basic outline of runes on the parchment, a nagging pain pulled at the edges of her consciousness. Anger. Power. Hope. The words came to her like whispers on the wind, with the gale of desperation roaring around her, threatening to push her motivation away. The image from the horrifying dream of being buried alive came back in that moment, followed by the darkness and hard stone of her first awakening here in these tombs. A desire to give in and run was strong, it was like something was trying to force her to fail. Resolutely, June pushed back. With every passing moment, June swore she could hear her need to succeed roar against the darkness of failure. The howl of her emotions chased away the darkness. Like a wildfire, it burned her anxiety to ash in that moment. June forged on as the core of her emotional being filled with renewing energy.

This was the key. Instead of letting horror dominate her mind, she calls on her own visions and fantasies, reclaiming them. Violet eye sockets burned with a deeper fire. Her mana span around her in a tighter spiral than ever before. June dreamed of that rotting mass of fabric burning to ash, she reveled in the scents and sights. The smell of rot and ash filled her senses. She saw a torrent of bugs amid a pile of rough-sewn fabrics, terrified and fleeing the burning pile of decay. June lost herself in the collected carnage, enjoying it. For several minutes, she joyously watched the freak burn.

When she broke free from the contentedness of the pile of ash, June saw she had finished her work, as if her arms and hands were guided by a force of will not her own. In a stunned moment, June stared down at the parchment. “Well, that’s not what I expected.” As she scanned the finished parchment, the runework glittered with a subtle energy.

 

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