The Age of Solace: The Silver Wolf

Chapter 38: Sinking Darkness

"L-listen t-to m-me runt..." Meyna requested, gripping his hands, although weakly, "You must leave this place."

"I won't leave you!" Faradeigh shouted.

He was met with a very weak slap to the face, earning a groan of pain from Meyna as a result of the effort.

"Fool!" She chastised as best she could, "It is I who is leaving you. You must leave this place, they will no longer be searching for you, but if they find you they will send you back to that place or worse... I'm sorry that it ended this way."

"Don't go!" Faradeigh begged, "Please!"

He nearly collapsed, his body remembering his own wounds that needed tending to.

"You are wounded." Meyna reminded him, "If you do not treat them you could die of infection... you MUST go, that is an order RUNT!"

Faradeigh awoke as that unpleasant memory snaked its way into his thoughts. His vision was blurry and his head hurt a lot. The world around him was wavy and lacked definition. Sounds were all muffled, as if they came from behind stone walls. He could feel the cool floor beneath him, and pressed his palms to it, attempting to stand.

His vision began to clear as he stumbled back to the ground. He first noticed how dark it was, and not just inside the library. While it had been night during their time in the city, it was as though not even the light of the moon or the stars were around to illuminate the place. Yet, he could still somewhat see. More than that, he felt strength returning to him, as though his energy had been revitalized. It was strange to Faradeigh, being able to move as though he were not injured, despite still clearly having said injuries.

He flexed his fingers and raised his knees to test his movement and reflexes. The Dragon Knight was gone, as was the unconscious form of Raven. Faradeigh picked his dagger off of the floor as he made his way to the library's entrance, pulling his sword free from the confines of the floor as he made his way past it. His trek to the library's entrance was cut short by the loud buzzing of wings. Faradeigh stopped cold, bearing his weapons before him as he turned slowly to the noise. Up on the ceiling, several large wasp-like creatures were meandering about the ceiling.

'It can't be!!!' Faradeigh thought, denial taking the forefront of his mind.

They had subtle blue glows about them, both from their wings and their large eyes. Faradeigh hoped he could sneak out before the creatures that he had only read about took notice of his intrusion. There was no such luck as the hissing of one creature alerted the others to his presence, those blue glows shifting to a more unsettling red. Luckily there were only four of them within the library, a small group for such creatures.

'Better make this fast!' Faradeigh thought as he cleaved the first one that approached in half.

He swore that his reflexes had not been so fast before, yet it felt as though he had been moving naturally. But there was no time to wonder if he was correct in his observation or if he was delirious from the situation. He was being attacked by creatures from the Crevasse. Another dove at Faradeigh, but he was unable to strike as the other two fired blasts of red energy at him. He rolled to dodge one and deflected the other with his knife.

With a leap, he spun and beheaded the nearest wasp, and threw his knife between the eyes of the other. Faradeigh landed deftly, risking a glance to his fallen foes as their bodies began to disintegrate into shadow. He was tackled to the ground by the last remaining wasp, its legs clawing at his form, a silvery glow appearing around them as the wasp made contact. Without wanting to risk finding out what was happening, Faradeigh kicked it off and threw his sword into it. Breathing off the stress of the situation, he picked up his weapons and continued on towards the entrance, afraid of what he'd find.