Shadowbane

The warriors over here begin doing a one-armed salute, pounding their chest several times with their left hand. The Templars stomp their feet in response. They must be enhancing their feet because it's reverberating through the ground, and it actually sounds kind of nice.

As this is happening, I activate my aura behind Godwin's large frame and then begin running towards what is left of the plaza.

It didn't take long to find it, floating right where the Eldritch died, surrounded by smoke as the creature's remains were still burning. The soul looks like a glass orb with a sickly purple mist swirling around inside of it.

Such a disgusting sight... I'll never understand why these are the souls I need. It's a question I may never find an answer to sadly.

I grab the soul, putting it into my mouth, where it is hungrily devoured by the entity inside. Immediately I run far into the back of the village and enter one of the few homes still mostly intact. After walking to the back of the stairs I quickly sit down underneath them and enter my soul realm.

A desolate landscape appears before me again, corrupted beyond repair. Almost on cue, the soul is shattered inside my vessel. I begin the long work of reforming the soul into my own source of ether.

This is going to take a while, but it's a good problem to have. If I miss either the Satyr attack or whatever the Templars are doing, then so be it. This is far more important. I can always find Keith's group later.

Slowly opening my eyes, I exhale as an indescribable calm comes down over me.

Whole at last... I may have only filled the first tier of the vessel, but honestly, this is the most important step.

If there is one thing I'm grateful for above all else, it's the ability to turn invisible. Generally speaking, unless something rare happens, like the Eldritch blasting me with light earlier, I'm normally given plenty of time to plan ahead or escape. Not that any plan ever goes perfectly, but compared to others I'd say I'm in one hell of a great position. I have yet to see or hear of anyone else having such an ability. I saw creatures in the other realm that were able to hide themselves, but not only were they rare, they were also slightly visible. When you looked at them, the area they occupied was... Shimmering? Hazy? Whatever the term is, it was a limitation that I do not have. They had no issues with light though, so it's not all pros on my end.

Looking at the screen showing my real body, I see it's back underwater again. Well, I'd be surprised if it wasn't there considering how long it took me to absorb that soul.

Exiting my soul realm, I jump through the ice, rushing off towards the village. I need to pick up my clothes before I go chasing after the Templars.

So they're about to do something related to a power that can dominate thousands of souls? I honestly can't even imagine how they pulled that off. I'm excited to find out though...

Through the trees I can see the torches from the village.

It feels so damn good being able to enhance my speed again... I'm up to about twenty-five miles an hour now. I reached the village so much faster this time.

Turning the corner I see Hera putting down my clothes in the usual spot. As soon as I remove my aura she draws her sword.

I put up my hands, "Whoa now, it's just me."

"H-Holy shit, that scared me Rei!" Hera sheaths her sword, "You got here really fast this time. Is this related to, uh..." She glances back towards the now-destroyed village.

"Yes! You have no idea of how happy I am right now. Thanks to you guys killing that thing I'm back to my old self, and I also prevented it from coming back. Nothing but good news for everyone."

As I begin getting dressed again, Hera looks away while speaking.

"Except now we have to deal with the worst part... I can't fight them. Nisha is the only friend I've ever had. Father is in there chopping the heads off of training dummies with the name 'Keith' written on their faces. But I, I just..."

Well, that explains why I can hear Godwin off in the distance screaming something about Justice.

"You don't have to take part in what comes next if you don't want to. Is your brother planning to join? He must be completely tapped out of mana, and receiving more from Aresa would be a bad idea. Temporary ether or mana transfers should be limited or you'll end up harming yourself badly. He seems smart though, so I'm sure he knows this."

"Yeah he knows, and he has no interest in what happens to Keith's group. 'It's the consequences of their own actions, now leave me be', is what he said as he went back to studying the blue flowers. And, well... I'm not entirely sure if any of us are going anyway?" Hera said.

"What do you mean? Did something happen?"

"We told Devon about what Keith did, and while he was disgusted, he also told us not to bother dealing with them. He didn't go into specifics... All he said was that he had to go contact someone immediately, and then assured us that they would not escape Lord Rai'ga. He sounded very certain of this."

"That's good if true... But uh, does he truly have someone powerful enough on call to take on a Satyr and the group over there? I don't have a full grasp of their strength, but that Brian guy's ability was enhanced with enough mana to pierce any god I've ever met."

"From what Nisha told me, that's a major reason they lost Rachel. Nobody blamed him, but Brian had a bad habit of blasting potential threats with his maximum strength, which left him with nothing when the Demon appeared. He was supposed to be the one to bring down the barrier, yet he couldn't. The group had been providing him with infusions of mana throughout the entire mission, but at that point, he couldn't handle any more mana from outside sources."

"That explains why his attacks to fend me off were so weak after I grabbed him. Those three human souls should never have been enough to hold off a man of his strength." That explains one part of it anyway. But I have no idea who this Rachel is nor why she thinks I would know?

Hera winced, going silent.

"Right... Not something you want to hear. Well, if Devon truly has allies like that, then at least you don't have to fight them. Is that why your father is back there attacking dummies?"

Hera sighed, "Yeah, he's not happy about being told to sit this one out. Don't worry, he won't risk his men for his own satisfaction. Whether he'll run out there alone though... That I'm not sure about. Blackwall is watching over him to make sure that doesn't happen."

"Blackwall?"

"The man sitting to his left, the one who asked you about eating souls."

Ahh, that one. Must be his right-hand man.

"Alright, thanks for the heads up. I'm going to chase after the Templars now. I want to see how this ends with my own eyes."

"Tell me how it goes. Father only tells us that 'it's beautiful' and refuses to elaborate further."

"Will do, see ya later."

I waved to Hera as I turned around, reactivating my aura and sprinting off towards the Templars.

They're traveling the same way as I did while chasing after Aresa before. There's only one thing of note in this direction, but did they really reset everything here so they could prevent that massive raven Lord from fleeing?

As the Templars come into view, my theory turns into conviction. Their group has stopped in a very familiar spot. They're about twenty-five yards ahead of a wooden barrier that's sitting at the end of a field of ice.

I no longer have Brian's soul so I can't take it back, but it's shocking to see that it still hasn't disintegrated... Aresa must have really pumped that wall full of mana.

I leap up onto the barrier, sitting down with my legs dangling over the side. This spot will make for a great view of what's to come.

The templars aren't moving at all while the people in robes are in a circle holding hands, channeling into something between them that I can't see. Eventually they let go of each other, slowly raising their hands to the sky, and just as their hands are straight above their heads, they whip them back down towards the object between them. Immediately, with no time lag whatsoever, The Tengu Lord appears before them.

I've seen warps plenty of times... But none of them looked like that. One second he wasn't there, and then a millisecond later he was. Did they reset the Lord? Only the Lord? They must have... I'm still here after all.

A bright white light flashes in front of me, forcing my eyes shut. By the time I re-open them the entire area has been reconstructed into something else entirely.

I've never thought of fog as 'beautiful' until this very moment. A dense white fog surrounds us, but it doesn't feel like it's dark here, not even a little. Large rays of light beam down through the fog, making the Templars almost look godly. Dozens of pure white birds fly around the area, leaving streaks of pure ether behind them.

I don't know when it happened, but The Tengu's face is being pushed into the ground by a hard contraption around its neck. Its legs are also pinned to the Earth, while there are chains from the sky wrapped around its arms, lifting them high in the air.

The Templars all draw their swords at the same time, holding them skyward in front of their masks. Bells start ringing from somewhere as their swords shine in a light white aura, slowly ramping up to a blinding white light. All at once, they raise the swords above their heads, firing off a white ether blast deep into the sky past the fog. Moments later, a wave of energy falls from the sky directly onto The Tengu. It begins screaming as the energy surrounding it slowly disintegrates its body bit by bit. The first thing to go is its feathers, as they quickly break apart into nothing. Then its limbs, its beak, and finally the rest of its body is vaporized.

The scene playing out in front of me had left me completely stunned, because I know what this is. We weren't transported to another world... No, the being responsible had moved its realm here. And yet, we're still on Urza... Only the old gods are capable of such a feat. There are two known old gods, or at least I thought there were. Apparently one more popped up while I was dead.

The first old god is Meizha'thul The Celebrated, first among the ancient ones. She is where the Eldritch come from. With the other being Eremnon The All-Seeing, the god of Demons who created beings like the Satyr. They're against each other just as much as they're against us. However, an old god that is directly assisting humans? I've never heard of such a god before, but it does explain a lot. The reset is definitely possible if such a being is on your side. I've been inside Eremnon's domain before, it made me fucking sick being stuck under his Eye. Yet, this area makes me feel... Wonderful. While it's not speaking, the intentions of the god are made clear to all here, and apparently, even I am accepted. There is one other message it is conveying as well, one I am more than happy to accept.

{Purge the Demon}

The Templars begin marching back the other way, stomping past me with nary a glance. There is no need after all, our acceptance of the mission was known to all, and now it is time to fulfill the duty. It's not as if I became a worshiper, it merely understood that I wanted to kill the Satyr, just as it does, so it brought us together for this one mission. However, they will need time to reach the hive, and according to the god, the Satyr is preparing to unleash its attack soon. And to that end...

I feel a mark connecting to my soul from the artifact that the robed men are channeling mana into. As they lower their hands in unison again, I appear underwater inside of my reset hole.

I'm a little sad that it's finally time to say goodbye to this place, but it needs to be done. My job is to prevent the Satyr from fleeing before the Templars arrive. Easier said than done obviously...

I burst out of the ice one last time, sprinting off towards the hive. Barely a minute later I see a dark red vortex appearing in the sky.

The long wait is over, it's finally time. Hopefully the spider Eldritch survives... I'm going to need all the help I can get.