Moonlight Relic, Ch 5: Bones of the Ancestor (Patreon)

The red glow intensified, pulsing like the beat of a magmatic heart. It was accompanied by a thundering accompaniment in Sam’s ears as his own heart accelerated. The end of the tunnel was a dark haze covered over by the light and space that seemed to be twisting in on itself. Before he could determine anything else, the gleam brightened, flashing twice with a sanguine intensity that bit into his eyes.

Two dark forms leapt out from the distortion, surrounded by a coruscating dark aura. They were as tall as Sam’s shoulders, and their overall build resembled a large, ferocious dog, with some differences. They had twisted features with two long, snake-like fangs, and a scaled tail that ended in a heavy club. Their backs were covered in spines like a cloak.

As he watched, the spines rippled, almost as if they had a mind of their own. The World Law’s notification rang in his mind at the same time as the Guardian Star pulsed in warning.

An Outsider intrusion has been detected in your vicinity. The World Law’s voice was cold and bright as it crashed down on the area like a thousand pounds of stone. Guardian of Aster Fall, you are tasked to eliminate it and to discover the source.

Rewards are variable depending on the outcome.

A name for the creatures spun into his mind an instant later.

Venomspine Hound. Outsider. Level 95.

The Outsiders let out a low, eerie growl that thrummed off the walls as their front shoulders dipped toward the ground. Their spiked backs rippled as two dozen six-inch long needles shot toward Sam. There was no sound to accompany the attack except a soft whisper of air.

An Essence Shield that Sam had been preparing hardened in front of him in an instant, covering the tunnel from one side to the other in a hasty, geometric dome. The spines stabbed into the shield with a shattering crack that made it ripple, and his essence dipped slightly as he reinforced the shield. The force behind the spines was far stronger than it seemed.

“By the Mother,” Raelia’s muttered oath was accompanied by the smooth sound of a bowstring humming and the chime of Ice mana in the air. Without needing to say anything else, the four of them spread out as much as possible. Then a wave of attacks flew toward the Venomspine Hounds.

Sam compressed a spiral of crystal flame into a cutting arc and flung it down the tunnel, followed immediately after by a wave of arrows. Near his shoulders, two arrows and a long spike of ice that looked like a thorn hurtled by. He reflexively dropped the Essence Shield to let the attacks pass, slamming the energy down toward the tunnel floor.

The two Outsider hounds were fierce, but it was four against two and all three of the sylphs were at the First Evolution. The attacks all arrived at the same time. Sam’s arrows and the spiral of flame tore through the monsters’ skulls as a long, white arrow sprouted from an eye of the hound on the left. Another arrow took the hound on the right in the throat as a thorn of ice stabbed through its chest.

It was over in an instant.

The hounds were blown backward by the force of the attack, their bodies tearing apart in an explosion of mana and essence. Scales, blood, and spines shattered across the tunnel as what remained of them slammed into the far wall.

Silence fell across the tunnel, accompanied by the whisper of a bowstring and the hum of shielding spells. Nothing moved except for the slow, bloody ripple of the spatial distortion. The splattered corpses of the two hounds were almost unnoticeable in the wash of red light.

“What is going on here?” Danir muttered as he relaxed the grip on his bow slightly, letting it slant toward the floor. His fingers were still on the string, ready to draw back another arrow.

“That must be a portal of some type,” Raelia added, frowning as she looked toward it. Her staff was solidly in front of her, surrounded by a shimmer of Ice mana and the miniature shape of a bramble-marked shield.

“This should not be here,” Siwasir said grimly as he shook his head. “Or at least, it could not have been here for long. Something has awoken it. But for it to be buried so deeply...this feels like old trouble.”

“I think the Icebloods woke something up down here,” Sam said, frowning as he studied the distortion. “I doubt it couldn’t have lasted in this state for long. If the curseborn came from here, then there must be something on the other side, perhaps a lair or a monster den.”

The distortion reminded him of a flaw, but it wasn’t the same. Those were a rainbow gash that tore through space and they had a strange attraction for him, something that tugged at his essence and promised change. They also felt hungry, as if they wanted to consume the world around them. This distortion didn’t. Instead, it felt like the effect when a dimensional bag was opened, but more complex.

He’d heard of teleportation enchantments, like the ones that were engraved on platforms in the ruins, and also of spatial nodes, areas where vast amounts of space could be folded to be larger inside than outside. If he had to guess, this was some version of the second. The scent of old blood poured out from the end of the tunnel with an aura so thick it created ripples of red-streaked light that the sylphs could see.

He held another Essence Shield half-formed in front of him as he stepped forward. Despite the intense aura emanating from the area, nothing else charged out at them. As he got closer, the twisting of the space became more evident and he was able to distinguish a warped, oblong portal at the center that was nearly obscured by the aura pouring out from it.

What is this? he muttered at the Guardian Star. The star was glimmering with energy on all of its nine points as it sent out repeated pulses and scanned the area. After a moment, it replied.

Analysis suggests this is an unstable spatial distortion that is being sustained by a source of Outsider essence. The signature matches with the Path of Blood. However, for it to occur now, something must have triggered it. The star’s words were measured, even as it continued analyzing the area.

Additionally, the intensity of the essence indicates the presence of a Third Evolution being or artifact. Possibly deceased. Caution is advised.

Sam paused, his hand freezing as he processed the star’s words. The Third Evolution meant an Outsider over Level 300. That was an insurmountable difference at the moment. The hounds guarding the door had been Level 95, which was dangerous enough, but if there was something that much more powerful here, they would be dead before they knew what was happening.

Fortunately, nothing was attacking them at the moment.

He had to hope that whatever was on the other side, it was as dead as the star had suggested. A remnant of something older. He moved slowly toward the distortion as he tried to sense inside it.

The Path of Blood was an option he’d been able to choose when he first started on his essence constellation, along with the Path of Elements and a few others. It was associated with the Demon of Sundered Blood, just like his elemental path was associated with the Demon of Shattered Skies.

Along with the Demon of Demented Passion, those were the three original Outsiders who had come to the Nexus, the origin point in the stars that had somehow become Aster Fall an uncountable number of years ago, before even the Moonlight Relic had been created.

That information had come to him in fragmented dreams, some of them closer to nightmares. He’d asked the Guardian Star for information on it too, as much as the star could tell him from its scan of the relic. He still didn’t know for sure where the dreams came from, but his best guess was that they were messages left behind in the World Core by the creator of his class.

The memory of a woman’s voice speaking to him, telling him to train all of his abilities before he evolved, came back to him as he stared at the crimson light. The feeling of the distortion was similar to the aura the curseborn had, that red-black gleam that had burned their core.

Was that curse related to the Demon of Sundered Blood? It wasn’t clear, but he felt certain that both were connected to this place. Perhaps this was why the Icebloods had come to Highfold. At that moment, the star finished analyzing the area and delivered its verdict.

Based on the rate of expenditure and the fluctuation of the surrounding space, this spatial distortion will close on its own in 47 days. However, it would be better to dissipate the source of the essence inside and allow the World Core to claim it.

If left uncontained, the aura here will begin to corrupt the local area. Monsters will evolve more quickly and become chaotic, enchantments will erode, and other effects may occur.

Sam grimaced when he heard that. He’d been planning to deal with the problem, but there had been a sliver of hope that it would just go away. Now, that hope was dashed.

He had to get rid of it. He just needed to figure out how.

Is it possible to travel through this to whatever is on the other side? he asked, focusing his attention on the star.

Affirmative. The distortion is stable for now. The curseborn probably also traveled through it. Be careful, however. The pressure of essence inside is very high and it could affect your state of mind.

Additionally, the space appears to be isolated from the World Core’s influence. It may not be possible to request its assistance on the other side. Different laws could apply to the dimension.

Sam turned, looking over his shoulder as he gave the sylphs a condensed version of what the star had just told him.

“I’m going inside,” he added, his hands clenching and unfurling again as he considered the options he had available. “Whatever is in there, it’s a threat, and I don’t want to sit here for 47 days to see if it disappears. It might cause more trouble for the village, whether it’s curseborn or something worse. I need to know if something is going to attack again.”

More than that, the star was right. If this blood aura continued seeping out, there was no telling what would happen. It could attract monsters, erode the sylph’s enchantments on the valley, or maybe even act as a beacon for more Outsiders. If the Icebloods had been after this, other Outsiders might want it too.

Siwasir folded his arms across his chest as he studied the distortion, but he didn’t disagree. The red glow turned his pale features to a swirl of garish red and purple, as if he were bathed in blood.

“Very well,” he said as he came to the same decision. His voice was grave. “We will enter, but be alert. If this place is connected to the Demon’s Shoulder or an Outsider war, there is no telling what’s in there. If it is the Demon of Blood...” his voice trailed off before he shook his head. “It will threaten more than just our valley.”

With that, they all tried to send a message out, but the pressure of the spatial distortion kept them from hearing any answer. Sam lifted his hand from his amulet as the troubled feeling that had been present ever since he’d seen the curseborn flared higher.

He tried to shake it off as he turned, tearing the essence out of the two Outsider hounds. The energy flared out of them in red-dark stars and flew toward him, changing to blue as they crashed into him like a hundred burning quills.

The stars sank into his body, flowing into the essence constellation he was constructing. This was the third layer, and it was far larger than the first two had been. He still wasn’t sure how it all worked or what the end result would be, but it was somehow instinctive. Slightly more than four hundred new stars joined into the massive formation.

Essence Constellation (Third Layer): 8,366 / 15,000.

He ignored the two corpses as he turned back to the portal. Then he stepped forward into the bloody light.

---

Ripples of a strange and intense aura flooded over him as the world shifted. There was a sense of something folding as up and down twisted together. A rainbow of shades between red and black tangled together with pulsing sparks of essence, all of it pervaded by the heavy stench of blood. A force struck his body like a hammer hitting a gong, knocking the breath from him and leaving behind a dull sense of pain.

Then he was through, his eyes still blinded by the intensity of what he’d seen. He could feel stone beneath his feet. An Essence Shield sprang up around him as Crystal Focus spun outward, flowing through the area as he tried to get his bearings.

After an interminable instant, the room resolved itself and he blinked open eyes that were still watering, forcing himself to look around. Behind him, the three sylphs staggered to a halt, their normal grace disrupted by the transfer. They spun outward, raising their weapons as they searched for enemies, but their movements were jerky.

Nothing living registered within the reach of his aura, but as he pushed his senses outward and his eyes cleared, he got a feeling for the size of the area. It was large, but still enclosed. From the portal behind him, the room stretched ahead for nearly four hundred feet and it was almost a hundred feet wide. Tall pillars held up a roof that arched together fifty feet above his head.

It looked as if it had once been some type of great hall. Now, however, the pillars were cracked and loose stone was scattered along the walls. Great rifts were torn in the stone of the ceiling, giving way to gaps that looked out on a dark nothingness.

There were tracks on the ground near the portal and a few broken spines where the Venomspine Hounds must have been, but no other sign of monsters. Instead, the area had a solemn air about it, one that was augmented by the steady pulse of red light from farther in that made it seem like a demonic temple. The aura came in waves, accompanied by a hammering pressure that weighed on his mind and skin.

Now that he was inside, it was so intense that the essence constellation in his body was pressed down by it. He felt a strange, internal twist as the stars condensed, and then condensed again, their pattern realigning until they locked into place and refused to go any farther. Then they responded. A brilliant flare of energy ran along his veins and sapphire sparks flared along his skin as the constellation lashed out.

A pattern like a swirling field of stars surrounded him, rising against the blood aura. It had a sharp, piercing presence that stretched into the distance, fading away beyond sight. It was similar to elemental energy in some ways, or perhaps to the rainbow aura that made up the Guardian Star, but different at the same time. All he could tell for sure was that it was part of him.

The blood aura was far stronger, but after a moment, it shifted away and no longer pressed on him so heavily. It was not at all welcoming. Instead, there was a restless hunger to it, like a predator that had temporarily decided to look another way.

The Path of Elements and the Path of Blood share a common origin. The Guardian Star’s voice resonated in his mind, although it sounded subdued, as if it wanted to avoid attention. But they are still opposed to one another.

Sam grimaced as he pulled the flare of essence back within his blood. The more he learned about the Outsiders, the more he had to wonder what their civilization was like, and if they had one. What would have happened if he’d had a different type of essence, one that the aura didn’t recognize?

It probably would have eaten him. Given the devouring nature of essence, the answer was obvious. At the same time, it had seemed like the blood aura and his essence constellation exchanged a greeting of some type. What would a world built on principles like that be like?

Aster Fall had once welcomed all types of Outsiders, before the First War. There was a complexity there that he wanted to learn more about. Perhaps Outsiders greeted one another by flaring their essence, and interpreted the pressure they felt as a confirmation of level or status. Without the World Law, it would be difficult to measure everything.

He pushed the question out of his mind as he looked around, taking in the damage to the area. He’d expected cages or a monster lair, but this place resembled some type of temple hall. The two hounds by the door had been guards, but there was nothing else here. Despite the tracks that led to this tunnel under the mountain, the curseborn couldn’t have come from here.

Perhaps the portal led to more than one place?

The thought floated through his mind as he turned around, looking for the Ice Sylphs. They were behind him, their expressions troubled as they looked around the room. They didn’t seem to know what to make of it. He doubted they’d expected to find a giant hall buried below the mountain they called home.

Halfway down the hall, the overflowing aura pulled him closer. The light was most intense there, obscuring what was at the center of it, even as the energy from it flooded outward. After a moment, he found himself standing at the edge of it.

Positioned exactly at the center of the light, there was a small bone bowl. It was four inches wide with a shallow lip that left only two inches of space inside. It floated in the air above a bone altar that was covered in totems very similar to the ones the Icebloods had used.

A series of spidery black runes crawled along the outside of the bowl, shifting as he watched. He felt an unfamiliar sense of disgust well up in him as they pulled at his attention. These things did not belong in his world. His lip curled into a snarl before he could stop himself.

He didn’t know why, but he despised that bowl.

He yanked his gaze away from it and glanced around it, examining the totems and the formation that was carved into the bone altar below the artifact. The bowl looked empty, but the aura coming from it was far from harmless.

There is an 81% similarity between these totems and those used by the Iceblood Shamans, the star chimed in. However, these are more complex. The bones are from Outsiders at the First Evolution and they share a bloodline resonance with the bone that forms the bowl.

As Sam looked back at the bowl, the inscriptions on it began to move more quickly, flowing across its surface like black fingers trailing along the edge of a grave. The aura from it intensified, making him feel like he was wading through a tide of blood that was slowly pushing him back.
Before he could brace himself, his feet slid across the ground as he was pushed back a dozen feet. A deep and low note thrummed through the area like a giant striking a gong. In response, his pulse hammered in his veins, echoing out a minor resonance that called back to it.

Then the bowl began to spin, the spidery runes on its surface growing darker and thicker as they expanded, covering more of the surface. Slowly, dark crimson liquid began to fill the bowl.