“Who would guess that a curious little adventurer from a small kingdom in southern Liteo would stumble upon an ancient artifact that would eventually lead to a battle between the forces of a murderous void adept and the ferocious Cloud City Army? Most surprising, though, was the group of adepts who the victory truly belongs, for they had come from all reaches of Liteo, somehow coming together to end the battle. That wasn’t the end, however, of this tale. An assassin, at the final moments of the fight, stole the stone and fled. Now, to prevent another uprising like the Bladenheart Army, that same group of adepts shall hunt this assassin down and end this once and for all. We had no idea the sort of adventure this tale would be woven into from there…”
~Thalys Ol’Calien
“That’s likely the cave they were talking about,” Thalys said to his companion and fiancée, Karris Devyne.
“Do you think so?” Karris stated more than asked.
“Yeah…it’s the only cave around here, must be the place,” Thalys assured, moving closer towards the mouth of a cave partially covered by snow tipped foliage.
The nobleman felt a heavy glove grasp his right elbow, holding him back. He turned to see Karris, with her heavy, spiked gauntlets that she used as her weapon, a finger raised to her lips to signify silence. She tugged him into the bushes they stood beside and wrapped a hand around his mouth, holding him in place.
A creature with a lion-like body and wings like a dragon moved out of the nearby woods, moving in towards the cave. It’s head was vaguely humanoid in shape, but obviously monstrous, covered with several barbs along its head like a mane. More barbs ran down its back, and its long tail ended in a cluster of deadly spikes. Though it was rather small, it seemed quite deadly nonetheless.
“…a manticore…” Karris whispered, releasing Thalys’ mouth so he could gasp along with her. “That’s likely just a loner cub.”
“…you mean ‘I hope’,” Thalys corrected, reaching for his sabers.
“We need to take caution…there might be more in the cave,” Karris warned, tightening her gloves and clipping on the several chains ending in blades on her heavy belt wrapped around her jacket.
Thalys felt odd as he drew his sabers, for his right hand had no grasp that his left gauntlet offered, since he had lost the matching gauntlet in the Battle of Tier Bastion and replaced it with a simple glove. Not only that, but he also lost the blade he favored to wield in that hand, and replaced it with a simple saber instead of a magically enchanted one.
The two slowly crept into the cave, moving as quietly as possible, Thalys leading the way. When he suddenly heard a low growl emanating from just ahead, he knew they had been found out. Throwing away stealth and wanting a better view, Thalys lifted a finger in the air and let off a ball of light that illuminated the entire cave. Karris grasped Thalys’ shoulder in surprise, and the two nearly stumbled over at the sight they saw.
The cave reached on backwards and down further than Thalys’ light could penetrate, but just within the range they could see they spotted at least a dozen manticore cubs. Worst of all, the two could see an adult manticore, easily 10 feet in length, coming around a bend in the back, teeth baring.
With a gulp, Thalys began shoving Karris out of the cave, and as soon as the first of the manticore cubs pounced the two were bolting out of the cave and down the hillside.
Several manticore cubs took flight, others simply running after the couple, easily closing the distance with their four legs. The roar of the adult manticore in the distance and the whoosh of wind as it also took flight had the two running all the faster.
Seeing the futility of running, Karris spun around, stopping at the same time, and slammed her hands into the ground. The earth leaped up at her command, creating a natural wall. The satisfying sound of manticore cubs slamming into the wall was lost to the monk, though, for she was already off running again.
As Thalys reached the flat at the bottom of the hill, he stopped instantly, for another adult manticore, this one even larger than the one in the cave, was stomping its way up the hill. The sight of Thalys and the noise of manticore cubs growling all about caused the manticore to drop the fresh kill it had in its mouth.
Karris, focusing more on what was behind her, didn’t see the halted Thalys and ran right into him. The two fell to the ground in a heap. As Karris lifted herself up from the fall, shoving Thalys back into the ground, she let out a shout of surprise as the manticore lurked closer, its teeth showing clearly.
Thalys lifted both Karris and himself up with a pump of his arms and leaped to his feet.
“Nowhere to run…” he grumbled, spinning his sabers in his hands as he crouched in a battle ready position.
The beast glared at Thalys with eyes that showed a keen and ruthless intelligence that belied its horrific figure. Thus was the true reason why many powerful warriors feared the manticore.
The manticore clawed at the air in front of Thalys, taunting him while it growled lowly. Thalys grinned widely and shook his head. The beast’s face screwed up in surprise and pulled its head back. Just then, it snapped its head forward and let out a extremely high pitched scream that caused both Thalys and Karris to cringe and cover their ears.
Purely on instinct, for his eyes were closed at the time being, Thalys spun to the left and fell to the ground just as the manticore leaped forward. Karris, also partially aware of what was just happening, dove forward from her crouched position, her hands moving from her ears to cover her head.
The manticore landed just behind Karris and spun around, its long spiked tail scraping the ground in front of the monk as it did so.
Thalys leaped up and tried to rescue Karris, but the manticore spun again, this time snapping its wing up just in time to send Thalys flying backwards. Thalys, clearly understanding what dread they were in from the sound of all the other manticores closing in but keeping their distance, leaped up again and moved to try once more.
The manticore shoved its maw down to bite at Karris just as Thalys got up, and Thalys opened his mouth to shout but could not scream. Karris rolled to her left, her right hand molding into the ground as she stopped on her back. As she instantly spun back around, her right hand came up from the earth covered like a giant rock fist, which shattered onto the manticore’s head.
With a cry of pain, the manticore stumbled backwards, spitting rock, teeth, and blood from its mouth. Its jaw seemed broken, angling strangely to the right, but the killer glare in its eyes never faded, only intensified.
Karris was up by now, moving beside Thalys, who silently commended her for the move with a nod and grin. Karris returned the grin and turned back to the now irritated manticore.
The beast flapped its large wings, the wind buffeting the couple, and lifted into the air. Its tail pulled back and snapped forward, several of its spikes launching forward. Thalys shoved Karris to the ground and fell atop her, the needles sticking into the ground right next to them.
The nobleman was the first to get up, his sabers held before him defensively as the manticore swooped in. He knew he couldn’t possibly block the manticore’s strike, but he knew he could protect Karris, and that’s all that mattered to him.
Thalys twisted just as the manticore curved at the last second, merely slamming into the side of the nobleman. Regardless, Thalys was thrown from his protective position over Karris, slamming his back into a large tree, which dropped snow on his head in response.
Thalys shook away his daze and lifted up at his right saber, which felt oddly lighter all of a sudden. To his surprise, the blade had been shattered by the blow, leaving only the hilt and a bit of the blade. Utterly useless, Thalys tossed the blade aside and took a good look at his surroundings. To his surprise once again, he spotted the handle of a blade protruding from the side of the tree he had just been slammed into. The hilt was covered with aging wrappings, and it seemed made out of a strange wood with several carvings on it.
Thalys’ curiosity had to wait, though for his concern for Karris returned, and he turned to see that she was running towards him, the manticore swooping in right behind her.
Karris fell to the ground just as the manticore should have fell over her, but instead it spun up, it’s tail once again preparing to launch spikes.
Thalys suddenly felt a sort of pulling towards the sword in the tree as he began to rush up and futilely protect Karris by throwing his body in front of the spikes. Merely on whim, knowing either way seemed insane, Thalys gripped the sword with his free hand and leaped forward, pulling it out and holding it up in front of him for protection as he landed in front of Karris’ prone form.
As the spikes dashed towards him, Thalys closed his eyes and knew the end had come, but he felt no puncture, no pain. He peeked an eye open and looked to see the spikes bouncing off a shield that showed like distorted energy when hit upon. When the volley ended, Thalys looked at the sword in disbelief. A saber! He looked around, finding the presence of the sword oddly convenient, but could tell no other reason than mere coincidence.
Karris was quick to her feet, moving around to strike at a manticore cub that had moved in dangerously close. The beast crumbled to the ground then squirmed away, whining. The manticore landed on the ground, confused why its needles hadn’t dealt the death blow, but more concerned about its wounded cub.
The manticore rushed past Thalys, its wings wide open to close-line him, but the nobleman threw his sabers forward, both sticking into the bone of the wing. Thalys gripped the handles as the manticore rushed past him, avoiding the close-line and causing the beast to cry out in pain. It bucked around and flapped its wings, bouncing Thalys off the ground several times before it finally went into a tumble, the wing Thalys clung to being tossed upward as it did so. Thalys slid his sabers free and accepted the free launch into the air the manticore provided.
As Thalys came down upon the rolling manticore, he flipped his blades around so the points landed first. Both blades dug home, one striking the manticore in the throat as the other landed in its chest. The manticore let out a blood filled cry as it squirmed around futilely. Thalys hopped off the squirming beast and made his way towards Karris, who was already fending off the furious manticore cubs.
Another high-pitched shrill filled the woods, and the couple knew that the other adult manticore had found them. Thalys whipped around and held out the sword he found in the tree, just in time, for several spikes came bursting through the trees to bounce off the shield, which once again came at Thalys’ will.
“We’ve got to get rid of these things…” Thalys said, stating the obvious.
“If you can take care of these little ones I can easily take out the big one,” Karris offered.
“Now why would I-” Thalys began to protest.
“Thalys, stop babying me,” Karris snapped, spinning around the nobleman to rush towards the now appearing manticore, leaving Thalys to the enclosing cubs.
Stunned at first by Karris’ harsh words, it took Thalys a moment to realize that he was encircled. All the cubs jumped at him at once, giving the nobleman no chance to escape. Hardly worried, Thalys drew forth a circular wind and blast it outward, knocking all the jumping cubs backwards. The few that hadn’t jumped dashed at him instantly, but Thalys was ready. A quick twirl got him around the first one, which lost a wing to Thalys’ right blade. As the second one came on, Thalys jabbed upward with his left blade, landing a blow right in the manticore cub’s throat, lifting it up and kicking it off his blade. A third came on, this one the first thrown cubs to recover. It didn’t let Thalys spin around like its first kin, nor did it open itself to a thrust, but that didn’t deter Thalys. He waited until it spun around to launch a volley of spikes from its tail, that was his cue. Up and around came Thalys, clearing the manticore…mostly. Two blades did quick work to the manticore wings, cutting them down to clear a jump path. Both sabers dug into the cub’s hide, lifting it clear off the ground and tossing it onto another of the cubs.
So far, Thalys realized, he had only killed two of the cubs and wounded the others, it was time to get to work. Thalys dashed forward, right into the pack of the manticore cubs. The first slashed out at him, but lost its outstretched arm and got its face ripped open with one quick swipe of a saber. Still swinging his left saber, Thalys spun around and landed a thrust into the second manticore, dragging his blade all up its ribs and out its neck. Once again he spun, blinding two manticore cubs that got too close, then landed in a spinning crouch to slice open their revealed throats.
Now as he looked at his record, six lay dead at his blade, the other six wounded somehow.
Not so eager to make a strike, the cubs held back, more weary of their target. Thalys ran towards the closest one, but spun quickly and took another one by surprise, both blades coming across its face to send it crumbling to the ground. One brave little cub tried to blind sight Thalys and get a strike on his back, but the nobleman expected as much, rolling to the side to avoid the pounce. Up came the nobleman in a crouched position, smacking away a batting paw from the manticore that tried to pounce him. He leaned back on his heels and then rocked forward, springing himself with both blades leading into the face of that cub, barreling right over it. Needless to say it was dead by the time Thalys pulled his sabers out of its skull.
He looked up to see how Karris was doing with the adult one, and wasn’t surprised to see it having a hard time hitting the fast monk, who moved and ducked almost every attempt it made to strike. Still, it’d take her quite some time to take down the beast with just her gloves, so Thalys knew he had to hurry up with his current enemies and help Karris.
Forward came the nobleman, cutting the tip of a swinging tail off then swooping low to lob two legs off the beast just before he plunged his saber into the side of another. On came the second blade as he finished his leg lobbing to puncture the beast a second time, then came the kick that relieved his blades and sent the heap tumbling. Two left, and these two weren’t too brave at all.
One spun and began to fly away, but Thalys wouldn’t have it. He ran after the flapping beast, sheathing his left blade as he did so, then hopped up and caught a leg. The manticore cub kicked and snarled, trying to get the weight off, but Thalys persisted, swinging his blade around to get a good cut in. To no avail, though, for the nobleman could not aim properly while being tossed around.
Up came the second manticore cub, biting at Thalys in an attempt to help its kin. Thalys kicked at the cub, busting its nose and sent it spinning out of control. Thalys looked down to see the cub fall and noticed he had gained much altitude since he caught the cub, for he could see the treetops.
Spikes suddenly came up at him, but Thalys’ quick reactions had his shielding sword up, blocking the needles, though he noticed that one stuck, and the others didn’t bounce of as easily. The shield had its limits. Either way, when the shield faded, the stuck blade fell down as well.
Up came the manticore cub again, obviously the sniper who shot at Thalys. Once again it bit at him and he thrashed out with his feet, but a mistake, as the manticore cub eventually bit hold of his greaves, its teeth getting caught in the metal surrounding it.
With a chuckle of victory, Thalys casually swung down and decapitated the beast, its head still stuck to his foot. Wanting to end this flight show, Thalys decided to strike at the source, swinging upward to cut the tip of the right wing off.
The manticore cub howled in pain and began spinning downward towards the trees.
Thinking fast, Thalys sheathed his other blade and grabbed the remains of the right wing, moving it to control the falling direction. His aim proved correctly, for he came swooping down on top of the adult manticore. Out snapped both blades, each jabbing into the hide of the manticore. A loud thud and the sound of cracking bones indicated that the falling manticore cub had smashed into a tree, likely breaking its spine. That hardly concerned Thalys, though, who held on for dear life as the manticore kicked and bucked wildly trying to get him off.
This distraction gave Karris more than enough time to control some magic. Up came a pillar from the ground, smashing into the bottom jaw of the manticore and lifting it upward.
Wings began to flap as the manticore tried to move away, but another pillar came up, landing on the manticore’s ribs with a crack and sending it flipping head over tail into the air, only to land on the ground with a thud.
Thalys, shaken from the sudden movement, rolled off the back of the manticore and stumbled to the ground.
Karris got a running start towards the manticore then leaped forward, her right leg fully extended as she landed the blow right on the squirming manticore’s neck. A crack showed signs of giveaway, then the snap clarified a broken neck, as did the sudden lack of squirming.
With all the manticores dead, Karris plopped down on the ground next to the dazzed Thalys and laughed.
“Well that was fun…” Thalys said sarcastically, rubbing his temples.
“Why did you do that?” Karris asked, her stern voice showing she was still quite angry.
“Do…what?” Thalys asked innocently.
“You nearly got yourself killed countless times over in a simple fight trying to protect me…why?” Karris demanded, slapping Thalys in the back of the head.
“B-because I love you, Karris…and I couldn’t live without you…” Thalys answered honestly.
Karris stared at Thalys for a long moment, her stern glare showing she wasn’t satisfied. “That’s sweet, honey…but I’m a skilled warrior too! I can take care of myself in a fight. Show some respect to me and don’t try to be my guardian.”
Thalys thought over these words for a long moment, guilt filling over him. “I’m so sorry. I hadn’t thought of it that way. I was only concerned about your safety.”
“And I, yours…but you’ve got to know when is a good time to help each other and when its best to stand back and let someone do it themselves. Thalys, I don’t want to lose you because you were too stupid to let me do something myself,” Karris admonished.
“Yes, I understand…” Thalys said, standing up and offering a hand to Karris.
“Promise me you won’t go risking your life when you know I can take care of myself,” Karris pleaded, refusing the hand.
“I promise, of course!” Thalys agreed.
“You better mean it,” Karris scolded, finally accepting the hand and getting to her feet. “And yes, it was rather fun. Now if we could find more training like that.”
“I don’t like this training…it hurts a lot,” Thalys complained.
Karris giggled and wrapped an arm around Thalys’. “So, where’d you get that fancy sword? Certainly saved your butt a good bit today.”
“To tell you the truth…I found it sticking out of a tree,” Thalys said with a laugh.
************
Winter was in full force as Faux and Kara crested over another windy mountain path. The two had been traveling for almost three days now, going north of Rullenfay to the snow covered mountains which were said to house several ancient, powerful societies locked within the fallen rocks after a terrible earthquake thousands of years ago.
One particular tale was of great interest to Faux Fo, that of a magical eye that could be embedded into the eye socket and gift the owner with unknown magical properties. The water adept was intent on finding this eye, with some information he gathered at one of the libraries of Rullenfay, and use it to replace his damaged left eye, which he could no longer see from.
“According to the scrolls I read…the spot should be near here,” Faux said anxiously to Kara, who was ever willing to help.
The two continued down the ridge they were on until they reached a straight, flat path, which seemed oddly out of place. When looking over the western expanse below the path they walked, they discovered why it was so queer. Below the wall was the partial remains of a city, and they stood on the massive gate that guarded it.
Growing more anxious, Faux hurried off towards the other side, where a trail led closer to the city below. He hit the ridge and felt the ground crumbling. Thinking quickly, Faux spun and grabbed Kara’s hand, then swung her in front of him.
“Run!” Faux implored, pushing the startled paladin along as the ridge began to fall away from the gate.
The two rushed down the edge, Faux forced to skip off falling rocks all the way down. Snow and rock began to fall atop them, and they realized that the entire mountainside was falling on them.
Legs pumped furiously as the two scurried down to the slope towards one of the clear roads. The two made it, but continued running, far enough to avoid the mini-avalanche from crushing them.
Both Faux and Kara panted as they regained their breath from the run.
“That…was unexpected…” Kara said between breaths.
Faux bobbed his head stupidly in response, having no words to reply.
“So, where does your scrolls tell us to go now?” Kara asked.
“It said something about a ‘hidden cave from the mountain’s fall’…whatever that means,” Faux answered casually.
“…really now?” Kara said, her words filled with a gasp.
Faux looked up, his eyes growing wide. Kara stood next to him, equally in awe. The Cliffside that fell revealed a large cave entrance.
“I think we found your cave…” Kara said with a smirk.
“I think so too,” Faux replied as the two hurried up the fallen rocks to the hidden cave entrance.
Into the cave they went, a freezing wind blasting them in the face as they proceeded. After walking through the massive tunnel for a short while, they began to notice a change in the wall and floor structure. Where it began as simple rock slowly shifted to an icy crystalline buildup.
Soon they began to hear a low rumble within the cave. As they came into a colossal cavern filled with natural pillars and icicles everywhere they quickly found the source of the rumbling. Resting in the middle of the cavern was a gargantuan white dragon with ice covering much of its body, showing clearly that it hadn’t moved in a long, long time.
“You never said anything about a dragon…” Kara gasped, shaken by the dragon’s presence.
“Well if I knew there was a dragon I would have surely informed you,” Faux defended matter-of-factly. “We’ll just have to move around it quietly. That passage,” the rogue pointed towards the path on the exact opposite side of the cavern, “is our way out of here. Follow.”
Kara nodded and the two started off, slowly trying to move around the sleeping dragon. Kara, focused more on watching the dragon then where she was going, tripped over a frosty rock and fell into Faux. The water adept silenced her with a loud hush…too loud of a hush.
The Guardian of Light could hardly find her breath as the reptilian eyes of the dragon snapped open, and the beast rose from its frosty bed, shards of ice flaking off as it did so. A roar that would silence the bravest of warriors escaped the dragon’s mouth, disturbed by its rude awakening.
Faux spent little time in fear, knowing the fight was already on. Up came his katars as he bent his knees in battle ready position.
The dragon, seeing that Kara had yet to get over her fear, roared once more as it moved slowly, tauntingly towards her. A stream of water smacked the dragon in the eye, drawing its attention towards the water adept. Kara also turned that way, hope returning to her eyes as she saw Faux presenting his katars out wide, knowing well of their ability to grow to a massive size at the whim of the master.
A confused ad frantic look crossed Faux’s face, though, just before the white dragon sent forth a breath of sheer ice. Faux leaped backwards, waving his katars forward defensively. A dome of ice enwrapped him just as the beam of ice slammed into the shield, shoving Faux against the war wall in a thick, icy tomb.
“Faux Fo!” Kara screamed, though she knew it futile. The dragon snapped its head towards Kara, its head cocked back as another breath prepared to release. The paladin spun on her heels and rushed for the nearest pillar. The breath of ice wrapped around the pillar Kara hid behind, biting at her armor and cloak. Kara let out a sigh of relief, which crystallized almost instantly. Putting herself together, Kara prepared herself to fight back. With a silent prayer to Kaith, the paladin spun around the pillar with her bow ready. Two shimmering arrows slammed into the dragon’s snout, rocking its head back in surprise of the force behind the blow. This only infuriated the dragon further, and it sneezed and huffed while it scraped the painful arrows sticking out of its nose.
Kara used the distraction to rush towards the entrapped rogue, only to see a hole in the ice where Faux once was. The light adept spun to see her friend already atop the dragon, his katars working furiously at scratching up its back. Relieved at the sight of Faux, Kara readied her bow once more and fired off a stream of arrows, each burning away the dragon’s scales with their intense light energy.
The dragon let out a yelp of pain and stumbled away from the burning arrows, nearly shaking Faux off in the process. The crafty rogue held firm, however, clinging to the dragon’s hide with his katars. Concerned more about the stinging arrows from the paladin, the dragon ignored Faux’s continuous attempts to cause pain and let out a beam of ice right at Kara, who was already preparing to fire another arrow.
With little time to react, Kara threw her bow behind her and spun the arrow she held out in front of her. Light energy poured through the spinning arrow, creating a small shield of light energy than defeated the beam of ice. The ice beam proved to be the larger, though, and still bit and nipped at Kara’s sides as she shouted in defiance to the cold. When the beam was gone, Kara collapsed to one knee, her arrow merely fading into particles of light energy.
Trying to fight against the freezing cold and throbs in her arms, Kara hardly heard the growl of pain as Faux gained a strong hold of the dragon’s side and slid all the way down on one katar to assist his fallen comrade, leaving a nasty cut across the dragon’s side.
Faux slid-tackled Kara, throwing both of them into a small crevice just as the dragon charged forward, causing the entire cavern to shake under the momentum. Using the little healing magic he knew, Faux tended to Kara’s numbing body held her close to keep her warm.
“What…happened back…there?” Kara asked in chattering teeth.
“I don’t know, to be honest. My katars wouldn’t listen to me when I gave the command to enlarge. Ever since they still won’t heed my command,” Faux explained. “You feeling better yet?”
“Yes…thank you,” Kara answered with as large a smile as her cold fast could muster.
“I’m going to finish this…just you wait,” Faux said, determination clear in his one good eye. With that, the water adept hurried out of the hiding spot and ran around the dragon, which was already turning to stomp of Faux.
Hardly heeding her friend’s words, Kara slipped out of the crevice and readied her spear. If Faux was going to end this fight, then she would be with him when it happened.
Just as the dragon became even with Faux’s path of travel, the rogue spun around and rushed right at the dragon, which casually let out a stream of ice to halt him.
Expecting as much, Faux created watery “shoes” to cover his feet as he leaped up and skipped his way up the beam of ice right into the face of the dragon. A pump of his fine-tuned legs had Faux soaring in the air above the dragon’s head and down at its right eye, katars leading.
With a scream of sheer pain, the dragon threw its head up and roared. Up went Faux with the head toss, and down he came on the left eye. Another toss of the head and growl of pain had Faux flipping over and down the dragon’s neck to land on its back. With the precision of a killer, Faux clipped his right katar on the dragon’s left wing joint and slashed it viciously as he slid by.
The dragon’s wing fell limp, giving Kara the opportune time to jab her spear through its tough membrane. The white dragon rolled to the right, lifting Kara right off the ground and into the air with its wing. Faux Fo, on the other hand, hopped across the dragon in the opposite direction of the roll to prevent being squashed.
A beam of light energy from the tip of her spear had Kara free of the wing and into the air. Spinning her spear while it still glowed with light energy, Kara propelled herself right over the dragon’s head as it finished its roll. Kara’s spear landed right on top of the dragon’s head, piercing through its brain and out of its upper jaw, ending the dragon’s life quickly.
Kara slumped against her spear and breathed heavily. Faux scurried up the now-dead dragon’s back and beside Kara.
“I’d expect no less from the Guardian of Light,” the water adept said with a grin.
“Nor I from the Guardian of Light’s own guardian,” Kara countered with her customary smile.
“Well, y’know…” Faux said with a helpless shrug.
“Come, let us get your eye and be rid of this dreadful place,” Kara said, standing up and tugging her spear free.
The two hurried out the only other exit in the entire cavern, to find it leading up into the mountain. After traversing up the path for several minutes, Kara and Faux finally reached the true exit, which had them standing in the ruins of an ancient temple on a cliff side above the ruined city below.
Standing out in the open was the prize Faux sought. On a pedestal not far from the cave exit lay a black eye, completely unaffected by time and the weather about. Faux gently lifted the eye to examine it.
“Are you sure you want to do this? Once you’ve replaced your eye there is no going back,” Kara warned, placing a hand on Faux’s shoulder.
“And I’d have it no other way,” Faux replied, all sureness in his tone. Slowly, Faux pressed the magical eye against his left eye and held it there.
Suddenly, a burst of black energy erupted from the eye, throwing Faux’s hands aside and lifting off the ground in a display of ancient magic that stunned even Kara. Faux contorted and snapped around in what seemed like excruciating pain, yet he never cried out. All within an instant, and then the rogue fell to his knees and put both hands over his eye.
“Are you alright?!” Kara cried out, rushing to Faux and lifting his eyes away so she could see.
Faux’s left eye no longer glowed with a greenish hue, nor did his scar, which suddenly seemed much small than Kara remembered. Instead, Faux’s eye was now completely black, except the small purple pupil. Magical tattoos that seemed to gleam in the light covered around Faux’s eye, one running down his cheek.
“I’m better than alright…I can see in my eye again!” Faux exclaimed, laughing happily as he sprung to his feet.
“How is it? Does it hurt?” Kara asked, still concerned.
“Not at all…only strange thing is actually being able to see well again,” Faux said casually.
“Can you blink?” the paladin asked curiously.
Faux winked his eye and chortled. He then closed his right eye and peered around with his new left eye. “Woah!” came the awe-inspired response as the rogue saw things in an all new light. “Everything is all purplish-red when I look through just my left eye!”
“And your pupil is glowing funny,” Kara added with a giggle. “So, are you satisfied with the results?”
“Indeed! It’s so good to be able to see again. Come, let us be off before you catch your death out here in this cold,” Faux offered, suddenly growing calm as he pushed Kara back down into the cave.
“I’m fine, really…just a little chilly,” Kara argued.
“Right…that’s why you’re shaking so much. Come on. Now that I can see better we’re so getting out of here quicker,” Faux snapped.
“Oh yes, like it will make that much of a difference. Our pace will quicken with the return of your eyesight…” came the paladin’s sarcastic remark.
