Rise of the Devourer

Book 2: Chapter 51 — To the castle

Snow walked through the dingy broken house, following behind the Noah-projection. She watched him do his thing, as he put his hand into the disgusting pile of flesh till it turned to ash, removing all the nastiness from the area. They’d been traveling together for quite a few days now, taking out blobs like this from everywhere. Occasionally they’d also run into adventuring parties.

Most of them were dead, or undead. The one party they’d found alive was being eaten by a monster. Snow had seen it herself, even before she found this Noah. The cultists had been moving around through the rifts, killing the different adventuring groups one by one. But when they noticed her, they simply ignored her presence.

She walked behind, watching the not-Noah, as she’d come to call him, open a rusted iron door with a kick, coughing at the dust that rose up. He was weird, and not in the same way that Noah was. He was quieter, more serious, and more scary. She sometimes thought maybe she was being fooled. She’d heard of mimics before, although never as a person. But he was always kind to her, making sure she never had to do anything. She almost wished he let her help more.

“You should come in here, I’d rather not have a monster see you there and think there’s easy prey to be had,” the not-Noah said, poking his head out from the dark chamber.

Snow got up, dusting her cloak and new clothes that they’d found from a nearby house and walked in. That was another weird thing she had now. Clothes. They fit her, unlike most clothing she had worn. It was a simple skirt and some sandals, alongside a shirt that was just a little larger than her, with little threading sewn in. It looked like it belonged to a young girl. Likely younger than her. She wondered what happened to her. With the state this place was in… she could guess.

“Oh hey, look at that. An entire ritual altar,” not-Noah said, walking down the stairs into the dark chamber. Snow followed behind, asking for shadow’s help as her eyes changed, allowing her to see through the darkness.

The sight made her freeze. There were books and tomes scattered around, with a giant circle of runes marked in the center. Only the thin cracks between the wooden beams let in any light, with melted candles around the walls as the last signs of any life around here.

“Something wrong?” Not-Noah asked, looking at her. She shook her head, calming herself down as she walked further in. She was not back in the cult. No one was going to try to harm her here.

A creak of the wooden board made Snow jump up in surprise, and she saw a rat run out from the gaps, before escaping. Her heart pounded in her chest, before she continued on her way down into the dark chamber.

“Looks like this place was a cellar, before the cultists likely re-purposed it. Makes me wonder how long they’d been here, if they had the time to do so much.”

Snow looked at the not-Noah. It was things like this that made Snow wonder whether he knew or not. She wished she could tell him the truth, but her collar would kill her if she did. And when she tried, he told her he knew, that he understood what she was trying to say. But at the same time, if he knew… why wasn’t he trying to run away? He told her they would save the real Noah, but if he really knew, then why wouldn’t he tell Noah the truth. Then they could all run away from here.

All except her.

The thought gave her pause. She’d been unable to shake the idea that it was because of her that he was not running away. Because she’d be left behind. She didn’t want to think it was like that. The last thing she wanted to do was to have someone else die because of her. But what if that was true? She’d tried to deny it, but she couldn’t think of any other reason not to run from here, especially if he knew.

The jumble of thoughts made her head hurt, until Shadow grew restless. Snow apologized to the wolf, allowing him to go back to sleep. Shadow had been working all day and night, keeping watch when she needed rest. Not-Noah had offered to keep her in a Dimensional Pocket but it was her own insistence to not be a burden that she tried to keep up with him, even when her body couldn’t. And Shadow had to be the one to do the work because she was stubborn.

More and more, Snow found herself feeling like a burden. She really didn’t want to be one. But at the same time, she was seeing so many new places. When was the last time she had gone out of the Pit? She barely remembered anymore. It had been over a year. And now she was out here in this fascinating place, wearing comfortable clothes. And she didn’t want to leave.

She really was selfish. Even though the longer she stayed here, the more she put Noah in danger.

Feeling her legs start to ache, Snow walked around the cellar, before she found a dusty chair with one leg that was broken, and sat down on it. She hadn’t had much time to sleep. Not-Noah barely slept, and even with Shadow’s help, she was getting tired. There wasn’t much to eat around here except the monsters not-Noah hunted for her, and she struggled to eat those without getting herself sick.

She watched the projection walking around the chamber, picking books one after the other. She wanted to ask him what he was doing, but didn’t want to disturb him. The projection read a book, scratching his head as he did, before he moved on to another one.

Trying to push herself, she let her thoughts out. “W-what are you… looking for?”

Not-Noah glanced at her, before closing the book in his hands. “Trying to see if I can find some information about the kind of spells they were building, but most of this stuff is beyond my understanding. I do think I know what that big circle is for though.”

Snow looked down at said big circle, as it spanned nearly the entire chamber they were in. “What’s it for?” she asked, finding it a little easier to speak the second time. She had slowly been improving in her ability to talk. Normally, the only one she had to talk to was Shadow, and with him, she needed no words. But being with Noah for so long, she was forced to make herself speak things out loud for once.

“It’s a teleportation spell. I can vaguely tell that it leads somewhere near the castle, but I can’t tell exactly where. I do think I can override it with my abilities, which is why I’m trying to see if there’s anything I can use here.”

“I-I’ll help,” Snow said, getting up from where she sat.

“Sure, maybe check in that pile of books,” Noah asked. Snow walked over to the pile, picking them up. Then she realized a flaw in her plan. She didn’t know how to read.

No, that wasn’t true. She knew some words and letters. Her sister had taught her when she was little. She just forgot most of it.

Slowly, letter by letter, Snow began to go through the books, trying to read what they had inside of them. The effort made her head hurt, but at least it was something she could do. And she didn’t need Shadow for this!

Painstakingly, Snow went through each book, trying to understand what it may be about before she sorted them in a pile to show not-Noah. As she was trying to read the cover of one book in particular, she noticed a diagram drawn in it that looked awfully familiar.

“I-I found something… I think…” Snow said, looking back at not-Noah.

The projection walked closer and she handed him the book.

“Oh yeah, this is it. There’s a bunch here. I think I can use this,” not-Noah said, gently putting his hand on Snow’s head. “Thanks for the help.”

Snow smiled, ducking her head to hide her face from him as the projection walked away. She had helped him! She felt a little better now.

Walking back to her chair, Snow took a seat, and began to watch the projection work. Taking a reference from the book, he began to slowly make changes to the spell with a piece of rock, carving them into the floor itself and erasing portions as he went through.

After a lot of scratching and squiggling, she watched the projection close the book at last.

“I think it’s done. But I’m not sure if it’s safe, so if you want, you can stay here as well. I’ve cleared the area out so you should be safe. And if I die, Noah will know where you are and come find you,” the projection said.

Snow got up shaking her head in a rush. She didn’t want to be left behind! “I-I want to come…”

The projection frowned, glancing down at the spell circle. “Alright, then hold my hand and stick to me.”

Snow beamed, rushing closer as she grabbed the projection’s hand. She felt mana flowing through it into her, as the spell circle beneath her lit up. For a moment, the old fear took over her heart, but she clutched the projection’s hand tighter, and closed her eyes.

A moment later, the world twisted around her as Snow found herself falling onto something wet and mushy.

She opened her eyes, and saw an arm poking out from a pile of something. A rotten stink covered the area, overpowering her sense of smell and making her eyes water. It took her a moment to realize where she was.

She was sitting on a pile of corpses.

Snow almost screamed, but before she could, she felt Noah pick her up and jump down from the disgusting heap of flesh. “Stay quiet,” he said, moving around the pile silently as he pressed a hand over her mouth.

With tears in her eyes, Snow nodded. A moment later, she heard the noise. Something was there. Snow could feel it, eating through the pile of corpses. She glanced up and saw the bodies, broken and rotting here. Were these all the villagers? Was one of them the girl whose dress she wore?

She didn’t want to think about it.

“A zombie rat. Level 122,” the not-Noah whispered, looking at her. “It probably can’t infect me. So I’m going to go out there to fight and kill it, in the meantime, you should look for a chance and run out of here. I can feel Tony nearby, so Noah should be with him too. Try and find him.”

Snow looked at the not-Noah, afraid to go on her own. But she pushed the thought away, and gave him a nod.

The projection nodded, getting up from where he was, before he shouted. “Come here you idiot rat!”

The monster raised its head as the projection punched its face. Snow made a run for it. The giant monster shrieked, launching at the projection as Snow began to make her way out. Other rats, almost half her size began to crawl out, most rushing towards Noah, yet some chased her down.

She ran, panting, her legs hurt as she put everything she had into running. Shadow stirred, but he was too tired, she had to run by herself. She felt the claws and teeth scratch her legs and back but she didn’t stop. She was probably bleeding. The injuries hurt.

Snow continued to make a run for it, moving towards an open door that she stumbled through, before closing the door behind her. The rats slammed into the door, and she moved away, trying to see if it would hold or not. After a few moments, she turned around and began to move quickly. She needed to find Noah.

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