Shadowbane

"This is it. See? There are cooked meals on their tables with only a few bites taken out. It's as if they were there one second, and then gone the next." The Teifa said.

Looking around I see plenty of goblins milling about. Most of them are talking with confused or angry expressions, while a few others are searching through the village for anything that may help them understand what happened here.

"Same as Kellog's villages." Shana's clone said.

"It's a bit late to be asking this, but you can send your clones underground while your main body is topside?"

Shana gives me a peace sign.

Strange... Teifa said marks are blocked between the two. Her ability must operate in a rather unique way if it's able to avoid the barrier that's blocking connections.

The elder walks up to us and begins speaking to Teifa.

"He thanks you for coming here, and that if you can figure out what happened here he'll give you something as a reward." Teifa points toward one of the tunnels in the back, "That's the one that leads to the crystal mines. Before you reach them you'll have to go through three medium-sized caverns and two large ones. Um... Good luck?"

I look at Shana. "What are you going to do? I plan on using my aura from here on out, for obvious reasons."

"Can you use this while invisible?" Shana asked, handing me a thumb-sized piece of wood she had just created.

"How do I use it?"

"Push one of the ends onto the ground and it'll leave a mark only I can see. Mark every cavern entrance and exit so I know where you are. You can also write words with it if necessary."

"Then there is nothing to worry about. The only things I can't touch while invisible are anything with a soul and any objects that are infused with people's mana. But if it's already in my hand it should be fine."

Shana gave me a thumbs up as I activated my aura and began sprinting toward the tunnel at the back of the village.

I begin creeping forward after pushing the wooden stick into the side of the tunnel entrance, this time going much slower.

If the second Teifa's instructions were correct, and I assume they were, then the mines should be in the next area.

The damp, musty smell of the cave slowly disappears as I progress forward, changing into something more akin to a blacksmith's workplace.

Hmm... I've only been in one crystal mine in my life, but I know it didn't smell like this. Could the goblins be using some kind of equipment that melts crystals? Either that or someone else is the cause.

The end of the tunnel comes into sight. Rays of light shine from the cavern ahead, projecting deep into this tunnel. As I get closer the light begins to hurt me, but I keep moving forward as it's well within tolerable levels. Upon reaching the end of the tunnel I slide the piece of wood along the tunnel exit.

I can just barely see her clone behind me. It'll take her a few minutes to reach me so if anything does happen in here, she should be in range to help me.

After creeping into the mine I quickly glance around hoping to spot some goblins, but there's nothing around except some annoyingly bright crystals and the overwhelming stench of something burning.

That's not all though, I think I hear an engine right now...? I was a little girl the last time I heard one, so it's obviously been a while, but I swear this is what they sounded like... The goblins didn't seem like they had the technology for something like an engine, nor does anyone on Urza for that matter. There are pillars all over the damn place blocking my view so I can only see a portion of the mine right now, but whatever is causing all these abnormalities is hidden somewhere behind one of them.

Putting my back to a nearby pillar I wait for Shana to reach the cavern entrance. When she finally does I remove my aura and hold my palm out to her. She responds by rubbing the bottom of her nose and holding her hands out to her sides, palms up. I shrug then point my thumb behind me as I reactivate my aura. I see her nod as I begin circling the pillar, heading deeper into the mine.

Looks like it's this way, straight ahead from the tunnel exit. I can hear the 'engine' getting louder with every step I advance in this direction...

As I near this end of the cavern I pass by one last pillar, and that's when I finally see it. There's a contraption made out of bone placed against the wall that is vibrating madly while roaring like an engine, and six skeletal creatures are standing at attention nearby.

They're not like my skeletons... Not even vaguely. I see a few 'human' ones, but there is something terribly wrong with all of them. Their bones are all misshapen and weird, and some portions of their bodies are held together by a thick white string. They're covered in a much lighter version of that very same string too, but I don't know what it is. It kind of looks like cobwebs...?

Two of the 'skeletons' have large greatswords for weapons, while another two are holding up an ornate skull on a metal pole as if it were a banner. The last two are in the back and unarmed, doing something to the bone engine.

... One of them is a goblin. Or it looks like it was a goblin. I'm not seeing any bodies though---

It was at that moment the human skeleton working on the engine moved back enough for me to see what it was doing. The feet of a goblin were dangling out from inside the machine, and they were slowly being sucked deeper into it.

... Well, now I know where the search party ended up.

Looking back I see Shana peeking out from the last pillar I passed by. Hiding behind the one next to me I remove my aura and hold six fingers up to her while motioning behind me. She nods and sneaks over this way, putting her back against the pillar directly next to me.

I reach out and grab her hand, reactivating my aura to extend it over both of us. She realizes what I'm going to do and sits down with me, closing her eyes. I quickly bring up my recent memories after entering my soul realm, showing her what's behind the pillar.

"... I like your skeletons more," Shana said.

"These things are rather gross, aren't they?" I continued, "Think this is enough? I see no reason to stick around any longer."

Shana nods and we both exit my soul realm. I stand up and begin making my way towards the exit when an aura hits me from behind. Normally something like this would pass over me and find nothing, but this one somehow encompasses my veil and pings it backward towards the source of the aura.

"Tsk!" Shana clicks her tongue as we both sprint at different angles toward the exit, with her going left and me to the right. A brief flash of smoke erupts in front of me and it's quickly replaced with the human skeleton wielding a greatsword. She's already in mid-air with her sword pulled back over her head.

With a shocking amount of speed, she swings it downwards and I just barely roll out of the way. At the same time, the skull on top of the banner lights up and shoots what appears to be literal plasma beams at me. Kicking the ground hard I slide out of the way but the lizardman skeleton appears in front of me low to the ground mid-swing as well. Raising my left foot I enhance it and bring it down hard onto the sword.

Lifting myself back into a standing position, I bring my other foot down onto the creature's skull and shatter it just as a third skeleton appears behind me, gripping my left shoulder hard with its bony fingers while it raises its right hand in a stabbing motion. A dagger made of bone appears in the creature's hand the second it starts swinging down at me. Unable to break its grip since it grabbed me before I could enhance that part of my body, I kick backward and break the creature's right leg, making it buckle to the right. As a result the dagger plunges deep into my right collarbone instead of the back of my skull.

Enhancing the rest of my body(aside from the area it was still gripping me) I launch myself backward toward the ground, crushing the skeleton completely. But because of this, my non-enhanced left shoulder shattered as well. I'm not used to my new strength damnit... I even broke the barrier on my armor with that hit.

Looking around, I realized that during the scuffle I had ended up in the same area the bone engine was. All of the skeletons disappeared in a flash of smoke and reappeared next to the engine in a kneeling pose with their hands pressed against it. The engine roared to life and began spewing out a dark brown smoke.

The smoke quickly formed into two different creatures. A four-meter-wide black Araneae with four spears for arms, and a six-meter tall dark-purple humanoid monster with fleshy tubes connecting to every part of its body. Both of them were faceless.

Xerath?!

The Araneae launched itself at me, closing the distance in a flash. One spear attack after another rained down upon me, but thanks to my left side being shattered I could only parry them with an enhanced right hand while dodging.

S-Shit, I can't keep this up for much longer!

Several electrified knives stuck into the Xerath, causing it to scream in anger, but it didn't relent in its assault against me. Suddenly the Araneae attacked in a way that left my right side open, allowing me to leap in that direction so I could create some space, but I immediately realized that was what the creature wanted. A dark-purple fist bigger than my entire body approached me head-on. The world moved in slow motion as I curled into a ball, over-enhancing every part of my body while praying it'd be enough.

The Xerath's fist connected, shattering my right arm and both legs while sending me backward at nearly half the speed a bullet would move. I hit the edge of a pillar and ricocheted off to the side, out of sight of the creatures. I slid along the ground for a while leaving a long trail of black blood behind me. Deeper into the cave I could hear Shana's clones battling the Xerath, obviously trying to buy me time to hide.

Before the blood pouring out of me leaves my area of influence, I force the blood around my right arm and upper thighs to turn into sharp blades while turning the rest into a thick cloth so I don't leave a trail behind me. I quickly crawl towards a nearby pillar and begin climbing it.

I thought I was going to need to make my blood sticky to get up this pillar but it can be broken thankfully.

The little blades stick into the pillar as I pull myself higher and higher. However, the cloth dragging behind me is so large now that it's starting to weigh me down.

Loud stomping approaches me from the other side of the pillar, informing me that Shana's clone had died.

It's a miracle she lasted that long. I'm honestly grateful for any time she bought me...

I try pulling the massive heap of cloth up but it proves impossible when I only have stubs left for bones in my limbs. Realizing this is all I can do at this point, I camouflage the cloth to match the pillar and turn invisible.

Normally I'd put my aura over the cloth too, but it would need way too large of an aura for that. It's a little too bright in here for me to handle that much light damage.

The purple Xerath comes running up to where I had landed after it punched me. The creature is so tall its head is currently only about ten feet to my left. It continues looking back and forth trying to find me as the Araneae wobbles around the pillar.

Three of its legs have very large chunks cut out of them. I can't believe she managed to do that with just a clone versus these two monsters.

The two Xerath scour the area, spreading out while trying to find me.

I must be outside the range of that bone machine back there. I'm assuming that's what hit me with that creepy aura, revealing my location. If they can move it to this side and re-activate it, then that's it for me. Quite literally there's nothing I can do at this point other than hope they don't find me while I try and heal my broken body...

Focusing inwards I enter a deep meditation stance. Since my left arm and shoulder were hurt through self-damage they are the least damaged part of me. I focus on healing that area of me first.

One arm is better than none after all.

The bone on my right ankle pops into place. Smiling, I drop down to the ground and try walking back and forth a little while stretching my arms.

Perfect... I'm back in fighting shape. I don't know how long I've been down here, but Shana should have told the others about what had happened to me. She won't know if I survived though...

I run to the back of the cave while scanning everything around me. Upon reaching the last pillar I see that the bone engine is in the same spot it was last time.

It's rather annoying that I don't know where they went... All I know is that about a week ago the roaring of the engine suddenly stopped. I figured there would be nothing left, but their engine thing is still here...? The Xerath were 'born' out of this thing, so for all I know the skeletons are inside of it as well. Honestly, it was stupid of me to even get this close. Being trapped against that pillar with nothing to do but heal really dulled my instincts. If this engine blasts out another aura and pings me, I doubt I'll survive this time.

Turning around I run towards the exit of the tunnel. I pass by two dead skeletons and some black flesh along the way.

I'd love to remove my aura and enhance myself so I could get out of here faster. I'm worried about what might have happened up above while I've been stuck down here... But that's obviously a horrible idea. Slow, steady, and invisible is the only option here.

A few hours later I reached the goblin village. This time however, there was nobody around.

After me and Shana disappeared they must have abandoned this place... Which was the right call.

Just in case I look through a few homes to see if anyone or any Xerath are hiding nearby, and surprisingly I find someone I recognize hiding inside a home with her eyes closed. I walk up to her and remove my aura.

"You had a clone waiting for me?"

Shana's eyes shoot open as she looks up at me. "Rei..." She said with her bottom lip quivering a little.

Is... Is she about to cry? I like Shana but I didn't think I meant all that much to her...

"Um, sorry for being late... It took a long time to heal all those broken bones and now I'm starving. The Xerath bone-engine-thing is still down there by the way. So we need to tell the goblins to avoid this entire area."

Shana stood up and nodded, wiping her eyes. "Y-Yeah, they already know. I sent a few clones down to look for you but they died before reaching the mines. The Xerath have sentries camouflaged into different parts of the walls now. The first one was directly outside the mines, and the last one was several caverns closer. They're slowly spreading out in this direction."

... Thank god I kept my aura up.

Shana punched my arm. "Aresa has been deathly worried about you. Oh, and..."

Shana went silent while looking back and forth. Apparently deliberating on whether to tell me something.

"... Did something bad happen? Did the Demon kill someone?"

"No! It's just..." Shana sighed, "We couldn't find Blackwall... Or the Demon. But it is still hunting people in Kellog. People keep being reported missing and even a few knights have disappeared in the middle of their units. But, you know... I really don't want to ask you for help when you just got back. We're all huddled in that locked area in the princess's manor. It has a bathroom, beds, and a large stock of emergency food for moments like this. She was pretty excited to finally get to use them, but it only took a few days in that place for her excitement to disappear."

Hah, I bet it would. I could easily relax in the same place for ages, but I know the average person would go insane if they were stuck in the same couple of rooms for weeks.

"Then you obviously need all the help you can get. Don't worry about me Shana I'm fine now. My pain sensors are severely dampened. It still hurt quite a bit when that Xerath punched me, but it was nothing compared to what light can do to me."

"... Are you sure?" Shana asked.

"Yes! I'll be fine so tell me what you guys found. The last thing I remember is when Ishar found nothing at the inn."

Shana nodded. "Seifer said they should look into all the missing farm animals after that. But no matter how much they searched, they found none of the corpses or where they were taken. I've even spread out my clones, searching everywhere I can, but I... I can't find anything."

"Is there nothing else? I don't even know where to begin if there isn't a single hint or clue."

Shana shook her head. "Sorry... Oh, I told the others that you're safe so they all know now."

"What did Aresa say?"

"... She said good luck on your mission," Shana said, looking away from me.

Heh... That's an obvious lie, but that's fine.

"So you guys have just been hiding while hoping I re-appeared? That can't be right. There's no way in hell Ishar just sat there patiently waiting for a savior."

"Oh no, they have a plan but it's an odd one. Keith said he was given visions of an artifact which means his god wants him to communicate directly with it through an artifact, so Alicia warped back to a 'temple' to talk to Markus. But..." Shana grits her teeth, "Fucking Viseux has him and all the other templars locked up. Godwin's family is down in the prison with them. So now Alicia is waiting for her dagger to recharge so she can bring the princess to Viseux where she'll supposedly get the artifact for us. Which I don't see happening."

Why bring the princess instead of---Oh, right. Her ability to bring people with her during warps is directly correlated with how powerful the other person is. Obviously she can't bring Aresa along then. And did Alicia tune herself to Aresa's home? I don't remember her doing that but she must have if she can warp there.

"And you've been to all of the temples and churches inside Kellog? Keith said they found the Demon inside one of those after all."

Shana nodded.

... Hmm. What else can I do then? My first thought is that they must have missed a temple. But if I consider the fact that they have access to the knowledge of a princess and a steward of the kingdom, it'd be surprising if they forgot to mention a few temples. Although it is possible there is a temple they don't know about... I need someone with more extensive knowledge into the past of Kellog. Wasn't there a knight researching the Chimera? That one in the fortress I was trying to sneak by. He was talking to his sister(the maid) about things that happened long ago. The only other idea I have is to ask the king, but the others would have already asked him anyway.

"Alright Shana, I'm heading to the fortress. You coming with?"

Shana smiles and gives me a peace sign.

I knew she would, but I'm still glad to see her agree. The Xerath would have killed me back there if she didn't delay their pursuit...