Welcome to the Abyss

Chapter 6 -Darkness II

When Amelia walked out of the tavern, Kane was leaning on the wall beside the entrance.

"So, did you find it?" he said, seemingly out of breath

Amelia held the stick towards him.

"Did you see anything come out of the tavern?" asked Amelia, surprised by Kane's appearance.

"No, I wouldn't have anyways, I just arrived here after all."

"Why are you here in the first place?"

"I was....finding clues for the next piece of the artifact." said Kane stuttering slightly

Kane kept by the wall the whole time, his left arm hid behind his back. Amelia started to take out the moon to go back to the city.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, perfectly fine."

"Did something happen to your arm?"

Trying to shake off Amelia's questions, Kane put on a smile on his face.

"I'm fine, you go on ahead."

Amelia walked towards Kane, her face a mask of concern.

"Can you show me your arm?"

A nervous look replaced the forced smile on Kane's face. He hesitated slightly but decided to cooperate with Amelia's request.

Kane raised his arm. The skin seemed to be stripping away into thin air. Beneath the disappearing skin seemed to be a fairer, light-toned, cream-like skin.

"What happened?" asked Amelia with the utmost concern

"Nothing, this just happens sometimes. It takes me a while to get this degradation in check."

"Degradation?"

"It's nothing, don't worry about it." said Kane, " You go on ahead. I will be alright in a bit."

Not wanting to argue, Amelia quickly summoned the crescent moon and created an image of the little shack in her mind. The fresh, country air disappeared and was replaced with an urban stank. The strong tang of urine hit Amelia's nose like an avalanche.

Amelia sat down at her usual spot in the shack and started to convert the moon back into energy. Instead of converting into energy, an invisible force seemed to draw the moon towards the pole. The crescent established itself near a slightly flattened side of the pole, before plummeting towards the ground. This repeated several times before the moon finally allowed itself to be incorporated into Amelia.

Amelia could already see what the relic was. A scythe. An inscribed wooden stem supporting a large, crescent-shaped blade. The next relic has to be one that allows for the other two to attach together. Amelia concluded that it must be a clamp or a ring that went around the pole and one end of the crescent blade.

The crickets started singing, and Thane was once again cloaked in darkness. Amelia's fatigue finally bore through, and she fell into a deep slumber.

Crunch, Crunch, Crunch

Footfalls were gradually getting closer, awaking Amelia from her dreamless sleep. What time was it? Who was it? The starry sky gave no answers. With her eyes barely open, she propelled herself up and progressed to the entrance. Peeking out Amelia caught the silhouette of a figure in the distance.

A shadow was coming closer to where Amelia was. Fear possessed her, freezing her into place. Was it the shadow she had seen the afternoon before?

Where was the pole that expelled darkness with its holy light?

Wild thoughts rampaged through Amelia's head, as she remained still.

Flickers of candlelight here and there, caused an eerie environment. But that panic soon ceased as the figure came closer.

It was Kane.

He was looking quite energetic considering the time of the day, and walked towards Amelia with a bounce in his step. He looked like he was never hurt. He acted like what happened last afternoon never occurred.

Feeling that it was not her place to ask him questions, Amelia quietly went back in.

When morning broke, Kane was already gone.