The Epic Tale of Cregan

Chapter 13: Lark and Nightingale

"You know, Sara..." he starts. "That night, by the river... I remember what you said, and I have heeded the message. You told me that with my skill of getting into people's heads, it would only be a matter of time before I... became like you. You know, manipulative," he says. His voice is threateningly dark.

"At the time, this thought terrified me. But as time went on, I think I've come to realize that... You were right," he continues. No one says anything as they all just watch Regan with looming apprehension.

"The power of the mind is one that not many wield, yet it can be just as dangerous as any weapon. If not more," he says. Sara starts slowly lowering her hand, curious and afraid of where he's going with this.

Regan stands firm, tightening his hold on the necklace. "But I've realized that... It matters not the weapon you wield..." Regan nods to himself as he sharply meets Sara's eyes with a glare.

"...But the intent on which you use it."

Before Sara has time to react, Regan looks to the wall and throws the crystal necklace with all his strength.

"NO!" Sara roars.

"Regan, NO!" Reela cries, but it's already too late.

As the crystal hits the wall, it shatters like broken glass. From the broken stone, a black mist with glimmering purple specks emerges and latches onto Regan's body, engulfing him in a dark cloak before he merely collapses to the floor of the cave with a pained cry, and the darkness sets into his body.

"Regan!" Cree sprints to his side, kneeling beside him and holding his head in his lap, tightly clutching to him, trying to bring him back to consciousness. With his full attention on Regan, he doesn't notice Reela drop to her knees and hold her head with her eyes shut tight and tears streaming down her face.

"You fucking asinal!" Sara bellows and runs over to the broken shards of the crystal. The color has faded to a dull grey. Any calm Sara once had has dissolved into nothing but pure rage.

Cree desperately clings to Regan. "What the fuck just happened? What did it do to him?!" he shouts.

Sara glares back at him and steps away from the shards. Her eyes land on Regan and hold disgust as she sees the dark mist faintly lingering on his skin. "It doesn't matter now... Once the magic sets in, it will destroy him from the inside out. At least I can take comfort in knowing I won't have to put up with the insufferable bard any longer," she seethes, her words are coated in venom.

She starts walking out of the cave without another word, but Cree growls at her which gets her to pause and look back at him.

"Where the hell are you going?" he snaps. He didn't intend to choke over his words against the building tears in his throat, but his voice didn't sound any less furious.

Sara scowls. "I must return to the Dev'al Ordon and inform them of what has happened here. I'm not going to wait around for a pathetic idiot to die. At least you will finally be rid of him." Before anyone can say anything else, she storms out of sight along the darkened coast.

Cree returns his focus onto Regan. His eyes are shut tight and he's weakly panting and tossing his head from side to side, the pain he's in shows clear on his face. "Regan! Come on, stay with me!" he shouts, trying to hold his head steady.

Reela looks over at him from across the cave.

"He's going to die!" she cries.

Cree looks back at her to see she's hunched over with her arms wrapped tightly around herself. It's hard to tell in the dark since she's out of range of the campfire light, but it looks like her pale white skin is radiating the same dark mist as Regan is.