Tread Lightly

When the deal is made, I feel a flood of relief. I won't have to fight these two, for sure. A trifling amount of people would break a deal when you have shaken on it. And I don't think either of these two brothers are those kinds of men.

Not just that, but now that I have Law's Light, they are even less likely to backstab me. It's a powerful artifact, and I feel that because it is a similar Sigil, I may be a bit more resilient to it. The contest of wills, while I was in the light, makes me think so. I might not have held on for a very long while in the lumination, but surely I can resist whatever adverse effects the full-on woman's head may give when I'm not placed into its light.

Said woman's head is uncomfortable to look at, and when I hold onto it, I can feel the invisible restraints on my body tighten further than expected. I move the head up to meet my face and feel bad as I hold onto it by the hair. I can see the two brothers looking at me quite oddly. I give the brothers the reason for what I'm doing so they don't think I'm insane.

"I'm going to test its strength and see how bad its negative effect is if any while being used."

Vernon agrees with me and moves behind me while pulling Virgil with him.

"That's a good idea, Wyatt. Some of them have negatives that are always present, like Cutting Words, and others only have them when they are used, while some have both. I think it just depends on the nature of the artifact. We once acquired and sold an ear with no negative or positive effect until it was put up to your ear. Then you could hear everything within a thousand feet, but simultaneously, the noises would be thunderous and slowly deafen you. So, just be a bit careful."

I thank Vernon for the advice as I channel a thin stream of Ether into Law's Light. I'm careful not to let my mind touch the woman's head. I'd rather not have another artifact vying for my sanity. One is enough.

The instant my Ether reaches the artifact and sinks into it, the mouth opens, and a small beam of light emerges. The beam doesn't fly very far and is more similar to a small candle than a powerful lantern or fire. But it's something. And at this level of Ether input, I don't feel anything happening to me. Is that restraining affect the only negative this artifact has? Probably not. I'll just have to up the Ether to be sure.

And so, I increase the small stream of cool Ether that exits my fingertips into the hair of the artifact into a larger one. A small fire ignites in my veins from the unwelcome Ether after Strugglers Gasp, but I force it through, for it is still manageable. With the increase of Ether, the light output by the open mouth also surges. At the point that the light increases to the intensity of a large candle, I feel something.

I feel a tightness in my chest. Where my heart is. Not just that, but I feel my fingers, where I hold onto the artifact, tighten and become burdened by more invisible restraints. I slowly activate Chain Eyes, careful not to disrupt any of my other flows of Ether that are currently active, to investigate these phenomena happening to me.

With the eyes that can see the burdens of reality, I see yellow chains that grow from the hair of the artifact. Then, the yellow chains from the hair slowly latch onto my fingers, hand, and arm and become a part of me, restraining me as if they were my own while shifting into my color. That's not all, though; the more concerning issue is the one I see second.

I see it after the yellow chains graft themselves on my hands and turn orange because it's an internal issue. When I look down, I don't see any orange or yellow manacles. Worry rises within me as I imagine the inside of my body, trying to see what's inside of me. Like how I usually do when I flow Ether through, I just send it through veins or arteries.

This time though, my inner vision places itself at my heart. The beating organ that keeps me alive. But something is affecting it. With a combination of my Chain Eyes and general knowledge about my own Sigil, I sense that tendrils of ethereal yellow steel are wrapping around my heart. The tendrils gradually grow in size, number, and strength the more prolonged Law's Light shines.

This revelation makes me immediately stop the flow of Ether into Law's Light. The lack of Ether makes the mouth slowly close, and the light dims for several seconds until it's completely gone.

I wait a few seconds to see if the tightness in my heart lessens or if the grafted manacles on my right hand disappear. Only after close to thirty seconds after the light from Law's Light fades do I feel even a bit of relief in my chest and feeling return to my hand.

At the end of my wait, though, Vernon speaks up worriedly.

"You okay, Wyatt? You're just kind of standing there, holding a decapitated head."

The sound of his voice makes me spin and look at them while lowering the head. I try to explain what just happened to them as best as I can.

"It seems to make whatever you hold it with slowly tighten and lock up until it doesn't move, losing feeling. But that's just the passive effect. When I made the light emerge from the mouth, the passive increased in ferocity, and something else happened. I felt a tightness in my heart that felt like something was trying to stop it from beating. Either of you got any ideas about that?"

Vernon put his thumb on his mouth before shaking his head.

"Not really, that sounds like a fairly unique negative. Maybe you can try to carry it on your hip or something or in a backpack so you don't have the passive effect on you?"

I nod. Despite how morbid it would be to have a decapitated head hanging from your hip, that's a decent idea. I'd much rather put it in my backpack and throw things away to make room for it. Virgil speaks up with some of his advice after Vernon, and while I'm thinking about what to do with Law's Light.

"You need to be really careful when you use that, Wyatt. We came here on a lead that someone ran away with a newly found artifact months ago. The chances of us finding the man were slim, even slimmer considering he was taken by the artifact. Now that we know its effects, though, we must be cautious. The man was probably taken by the artifact from overuse of it. The combination of forcing you to hold onto the thing while stopping your heartbeat is deadly. You might not be able to stop it even when you try."

I nod once more in thanks. I already knew how dangerous artifacts can be, but this one seems more of an active usurper than the Bloody Palm that took its time taking me over. Well, it's not taking its sweet time now that it replaced my left hand, but it did before that. While I ponder over what Virgil said, a thought returns to me from earlier, and I voice it aloud.

"How come I even found this man and this artifact? I mean, we're in the middle of Bonedunes. The chances are crazy, right? And that's not to mention that it possesses the same Sigils as me. Do either of you know?"

Vernon shakes his head in denial at my question before looking at his brother, Virgil, expectantly. Who seems to have an answer to a question I didn't think had one.

"That probably has to do with a Law of Ether, well to be more precise, it's a theory. One that not many are aware of because it normally takes place at higher Sigils. It's called Resonant Attraction. The higher resonance someone has with a specific Sigil, the more they resonate and attract others with the same Sigil nearby. To make it have a significant effect, though, where it can be noticeably seen like this, your resonance with your Sigil must be ludicrous. I'm talking near perfect, perfect, or absolute."

That's the first I've ever heard of anything like that. I'm pretty sure it's not in any of the notes that Edmund left for me. It does explain many things, though, the group with Harold, another Philosopher, that just so happened to be within our ability to see rising smoke from a campfire, and now this. I thank Virgil for the information as he looks at me like I'm a golden chicken.

"That makes a lot of sense. I've never heard of it before, like you said, though. Thanks for everything so far. You two have been quite kind."

Virgil waves off my thanks.

"It's nothing; what are humans without kindness? Nothing more than demons or beasts. And now that I know you have a high enough resonance to attract others, I am even more confident that this trip will be fruitful. But we best get moving now; I am most powerful while the sun is down, and we only have a few more hours of darkness. Vernon's not as useful for travel as I am, so we normally move at night."

I agree and pick up anything that I dropped. Then, I put Law's Light in the big pocket of my primarily empty second backpack, which I've had for a long time. Now that I have two packs with things in them, though, it is a bit unwieldy and uncomfortable for Dakota. He makes some low fox-like noises every step I take to let me know that he doesn't like being near the artifact. Or at least that's what I take it as.

And my thoughts are only proven as he keeps whining and making noises from the top-sitting backpack near Law's Light, and while I can't understand the whines, I can get the idea. I know what he wants despite how much I don't want to do it. But I relent for him. He came to me, after all; the least I can do is make him happy. It's also probably unsafe to have Law's Light near the young fox.

Groaning in disgust, I take out the decapitated head that is Law's Light and tie the hair around my belt. Then, I restart the trek westward, armed to the teeth and with a decapitated head hanging from my hip. Definitely not how I imagined my first mission. If you can even call this one. At least now I got two people to help me.

We travel quickly over the dunes with a setting moon. Virgil was right; he's a great asset at night. The man is swift and nigh uncatchable when he moves with shadows licking at his heels. He can scout ahead of us and look out for danger or places we shouldn't go. It's only near dawn and the rising of the sun do I realize just how lucky I was to meet him and Vernon.

Virgil never seems to drop his vigilant gaze. He was able to keep us from running into several packs of monsters and even a den of Short Horned Serpents, which despite their name saying otherwise, are giant snakes with hollow horns capable of storing tremendous amounts of water.

Virgil kept us away from monsters by spotting them from far away and returning to us with a warning of their locations. At first, I wanted to kill these monsters to prevent the possible danger they may cause, but Virgil said we shouldn't. He said that my mission, well, I guess our mission, is to see how close the horde from the break is. He also made sure to let it be known that wasting time fighting creatures only hurts our objective.

I saw the wisdom in what he said and agreed. Many will likely die if we don't or if I don't return to Rustbank before the horde reaches it. Johnny is a powerful man, but he's no legend. His hands may work a gun faster than any other, but there's a limit to what a single man can do against an entire horde of monsters, demons, and the occasional Outlaw.

Vernon and I are busy discussing a variety of things like Ether, and I ask him about the abilities of Scholars, Trappers, and Priests. But as I am learning that Scholars tend to focus on elemental Ether with the occasional illusory or enhancement skill, the sand underneath me gives out.

A yelp escapes my lips immediately just out of reflex as I feel my body turn weightless. I fall face-first because of how the sand gives out mid-step. Next to me, I also see Vernon falling, but instead, with his feet first. I turn my attention to below us like snapping on target with a gun, and I see what has to be at least a hundred or so giant amber snakes in a ten-foot or so underground pit guarded by the aboveground.

This threat makes the Ether course in my body instantly in response. Vernon beside me is panicking as we fall into the pit. I yell at him to get it together, but just as I do, I feel something cold and smooth wrap around my leg. It's a thin black tendril that leads up behind me. I still keep falling, though, despite the object wrapped around my leg, and as I approach the ground, I see the snakes notice. Then, they all rear their massive thirty-foot or more bodies toward me.

The biggest one reacts the fastest and bursts its fanged mouth against my falling head. I can see the venom and saliva drip from its massive mouth that could easily fit my whole head as my Ether reaches a crescendo in its stand against almost certain death. I draw my daggers and prepare to fall on the snake, ignoring the odds stacked against me. Just as my serpentine blades come within a foot of the giant snake and the serpent's poorly named head with a considerable horn is covered by my body's shadow, I feel a massive force on my leg that had the tendril wrapped around it.

Right before the snake closes its ravenous and venomous jaw on my head, I am yanked up with tremendous force. I can feel the mouth of the serpent scrape the top of my head with a warm pain that suffuses my body. But after I escape the mouth of the snake, I continue to get pulled up as the serpents attempt to follow up the pit in the ground.

As I am pulled up, though, I hear a low cry as my backpack lightens. I see a puff of dark orange fall from my back and down into the pit. My heart skips a beat as the rest of my body erupts with speed to catch the falling Dakota from the hungry serpents and hold him close to my chest. When I near the top of the hole, and the snakes are trying to make their way up, I put Dakota into my coat pocket, letting him see a bit but still be secure.

I reach the top of the pit and am pulled to my feet by a sweating and panting Virgil with a pale-faced Vernon next to him. I see the struggle and recognize it. Using too much Ether. He did say that his shadows are most concrete near his body. The man probably used almost every ounce of Ether he could manage without passing out from oversaturation to pull us up.

"Thank you, Virgil, that was a nice save."

Virgil nods as he stands with his hands on his hips, trying to get himself together. I also try to take the moment to recover and check on Dakota. I pull out the little guy, and he looks up at me with his pure hazel eyes. I guess he notices my lack of reaction to our almost death and doesn't whine until he looks around me. Then, it seems he sees something behind me and growls with a flat tone.

His growl makes me immediately focus my attention in the direction he's looking, the pit. I hear the slithering and tongue flicking unique to snakes, sounds that only grow louder as I watch the hole. Realizing what's about to happen, I grab the tired Virgil and push Vernon backward away from the pit.

I move them just far enough away so that when the first snake crests the edge of the pit, none of us are within range of its maw. We back up even further, and I can see the telltale sign of Vernon using his Ether as light covers his hands. But all resistance leaves our bodies as several more snakes the size of horses and the lengths of train cars appear. A single glance is shared between the three of us with a decision that is instantly proposed, shared, and agreed to.

Fucking run.