Chapter 116: Change
A tremor ran through the Spiritum as Valens watched tumultuous waves rise from the great ocean of the fog, churning tides of it drawing back from the streams feeding from it. In just a second, a thousand streams dried out in the ever-stretching web of the Endless Mist as the Dread finally found its way to the surface.
Forcing the outside away proved impossibly difficult. There was a rattling, shaking feeling in the pit of his stomach, sending shivers down his spine. The reek of it seeped into the Spiritum even as Valens focused on the multiple dimensions of it with all his worth.
A part of his mind went silent at the sight. Death wasn’t something he was a stranger to. Death was everywhere in the Empire, and here it had a much stronger presence across the air. The other part, though, screamed at him.
Run away. Don’t do it.
It was past time to mull over what-ifs and whatnots. Past time now that he was deep in the fog.
His Lifesurges poured forth in crashing tides. The mist churned and twisted about in response, trying to wrap itself around the lively surges and choke them dry. More mana fed into them to keep them alive, keep them drilling further into the unknown.
He caught sight of the souls being held in those streams. Bound together in the deep craters, covered with insidious tendrils of the Endless Mist, struggling instinctively against their hold, failing desperately as it strangled them with force. They looked so small against the endless reaches of the fog, little humans waging a losing war, their minds brittle as glass.
It was delicate work saving them one by one. Valens couldn’t have done it without the Ancient Riftshards replenishing his mana source. Couldn’t have done it without Captain Edric keeping the horde occupied, Nomad holding him straight, Garran and Dain coming to his side.
The frequencies even showed him familiar figures across the square. A firestorm burned wild amongst the Shifters as Master Archibald showed his mastery over the Inferno. Other figures, stray adventurers from unknown guilds, battled out in the open by the Church’s side.
To actually force a Dread to its knees, though?
That wasn’t happening. Its presence was like a giant boulder crushing into the shoulders. Valens could feel his companions stooping ever so slowly under its pressure as the Blessed Father’s lights disintegrated into pieces of small motes, drawing back from the Haven’s Reach and being pulled toward somewhere he couldn’t see.
So much for the Divines, then.