Dashing around the corner of the building, Edward ran a few steps, then took a full swan dive into the ground, passing through the dirt and grass as if it were made of water. Despite no longer being made of his same ghostly essence, his clothes made the journey with him, passing through just as easily as the rest of him. He had yet to determine just how exactly that worked. Now was not the time to think about that, though.
"Where did it go?!" Asked the nasally voice from up above. He could hear it well despite the multiple feet of dirt between him and the voice. Looking up, he could slightly see them too, as if they were standing next to a light source on the ground, and the rest of the world was a deep, dark room coated in fog. Even this close to the surface, only 5 or so feet deep, he could only see about 5 feet outside, but that meant that he could see all but the very top of the head of the one chasing him.
"I dunno..." Responded a slow, groggy-sounding voice, still just as nasally as the first. The speaker was another one of the folk, this one wearing a green robe and holding a smoking... something in their hand. Thankfully, Edward couldn't smell it from down here. The smell of whatever it was reminded him of... Well, he didn't actually know, but it smelled bad. Like flatulence? Maybe.
"But there was this guy he-" The 2nd voice responded, but cut it off abruptly.
"YES?" Came the first voice, eager, annoyed.
"Naaaahhh... You wouldn't believe me if I told you..." No really, it was an AWFUL smell. Edward could do this, he could find the right word to describe it. It was like... it was like...
"Try me." Like a really stinky animal? No, not descriptive enough. Like maybe...
"Well, this guy, he came around the corner and- now you REALLY have to hear me out on this-" Like if you combined animal dung and something sharp... Cirtus maybe?
"Spit it out, Mobble." Wow, he was done with this person. The smell was sharp like their tone, Edward supposed, chuckling to himself.
"Well, I was sitting here and this guy DOVE into the ground! I don't really believe it my-"
Uh oh.
Edward scrambled to run out of the way, making a motion like stepping up a staircase. Despite his horizontal position, he still moved 'up' to his point of view, very quickly moving out of the way as the 1st speaker raised a hand in the air, bright magic flashing around it in the shaded evening air.
Only moments later, he had taken a large jump, and his hand slammed into the earth, weaving a large area of effect holy spell that penetrated deep into the ground. Just a second later, and he would have been TOAST. Ghost toast. Heh, Ghost toast. Wait, what was that smell? Was something burning?
Yes. Edward was burning.
Crying out, he scrambled further away. Seems that after the initial weaving, he had continued to force mana into the spell, causing the cylinder of light to expand outwards. That's what he gets for underestimating the cleric. The Viliffia were just always so peaceful in his memory! He had no idea when they had learned magic or built those Golems! Those Golems were no easy feat! He'd seen 5 of them since waking up in this new land. From what he can tell, they had been here for a VERY long time. Longer than they had lived in his homeland. Was this where they came from? Maybe the ones who migrated to his land were just extra peaceful? Though, that being said, he had never spent much time around them.
Thinking he should be far enough away, he stopped for a moment. Moving like this through the ground was NOT easy. He needed a moment to catch his breath. Before too long, he saw the light reaching out even further, approaching him still. Curses! How much mana does he even have?! He had already been slinging spells at Edward for a good 15 minutes before he had decided to run after his own mana had started running low. However, this new spellweaving art used more mana than he was familiar with so maybe he shouldn't be so hard on himself. Either that or he just wasn't familiar enough with it to weave as efficiently as they were. But that being said, an area this large would take an ABSURD amount of mana, regardless of how efficiently one was casting it.
He had to run again. This time, he turned slightly, stood up so that he was upright from the planet's perspective, and began running at full speed. If only he could figure out how to reference the distance in the world properly, then he could just teleport out of here easily. Unfortunately, if he tried just using the 'centre of the world' shortcut, those cult people would grab him. One of those 'acolyte' people had seen him teleport back there last time, so he didn't doubt that they had a whole team dedicated to just sitting there and waiting for him. Or at least a small army of undead.
Oh, he could feel it, creeping at the edges of his vision, his body growing heavier and slower. He needed to eat. If he didn't? Well, he wasn't 100% sure what would happen, but he didn't particularly fancy the idea of becoming corporeal while inside the ground. He started stepping as if climbing stairs, and the surface came into view. Unfortunately, there wasn't any cover to be seen anywhere. He hesitated to rise out of the ground, lest he be caught by the cleric. But the moment he felt his hand start tugging at the dirt around him, shifting it slightly, he knew that he didn't have much of a choice. Turns out that "not dying immediately" is a great motivator for risking death.
Dashing up out of the ground, he did his best to maintain his invisibility and intangibility, but doing so felt like playing tug-of-war with a bear. The moment his head broke the surface, he was looking for cover, reaching into his bag and pulling out a loaf of bread at the same time. Unfortunately, there wasn't any cover within line of sight, so he brought the loaf up to his mouth and became tangible. The leftover refractions of sunlight off the hills tingled against him, like a faint itch. He immediately began biting into the loaf of bread, imagining it dissolving into his chest as it fell. He felt his strength returning almost immediately.
The glow in the ground began to concentrate; instead of being a uniform, even glow, it began to form hard, distinct lines that, ones that looked to be in some sort of pattern. One of them ran under his foot, but instead of stinging like other holy magic, this one just felt warm. Unfortunately, it also gave him the impression of some sort of magical circle. But instead of being concerned about this change like he should have been, he instead began to nerd out.
"Did that cleric just recycle their mana into some sort of magic circle?!" He exclaimed aloud, genuinely happy to see it. Learning things about magic was one of his favorite activities, and this fight had been incredibly informative. Seeing the cleric staring at him, he called out to them.
"Did thou just alter which spell that thou were weaving after the initial mana commitment?? Who art thee?!" For a moment, the cleric looked at him, dumbfounded.
"Wait, you don't know who I am?" The cleric asked, still maintaining the circle in case this was some kind of trick.
"Not a clue, no." Edward responded, a goofy grin on his face as he shook his head slightly. Afterward, he knelt and poked the ground, touching one of the lines, now much crisper than before.
"So, how exactly art thou even doing this? The previous light caused mine body to burn, whereas this light simply tingles mine fingers..." He said, poking into the ground with the tips of his fingers. At the same time, he took another bite of the bread, feeling a bit more of his strength return.
"Are you... eating?" Asked the cleric, ignoring his questions. If Edward had been looking up at them, his face would have been that of confusion.
"Well, yes. I am hungry. It is what one does when one is hungry, no?" Edward responded nonchalantly, still examining the circle.
"Thou didn't even have this encoded into the spell intent before. I can detect none of the original intent to harm, now there is only intent to-" Edward began before suddenly, he felt a familiar heavy sensation on his entire self.
"...capture. ...Damnation." He said to himself after feeling it set in. He let himself get caught again. AGAIN. Had he learned nothing in the last 2 months? Sighing audibly, he sat back on his butt and slumped a bit under the weight of it. He could likely teleport out of here, but that would have the same problem as before. And in all honesty, he would prefer to die here to this cleric than be captured and have his essence used by that dark creature who brought him to this land.
"So... What now? Do thou destroy me?" Edward asked, quieter now that the cleric had begun to approach.
"No. Not yet, at least. I have some questions for you." Responded the cleric. Now that they were closer, Edward could see that he was breathing a bit heavily. Seems they spent enough mana to finally be worn down a bit. Good. If they had woven that spell without anything of that sort, Edward might have had to hang up his title as a spellweaver.
"What? Why now? I tried to talk to thee before. But I believe thou yelled, and I quote: 'I don't speak to undead abominations!' Why the sudden changing of thy mind?" Edward asked, his tone coming out a bit more bitter than he had intended. A product of his frustration with his own foolishness.
"Initially, I was frightened by your arrival, but I've had time to sort through my thoughts on the matter. All things considered, what I've seen doesn't match my initial assumption of you being a wraith. For one, Wraiths do not eat food. They also have a lot more hatred than you seem to have, much like revenants in that way." Explained the cleric. When the word "revenant" is mentioned, it sent a shiver down Edward's... spine? Whatever was there, it didn't really matter. In the months since he had awakened, he had connected the dots between the revenant in the story about the undead in the silent wood and "Master Rev". Honestly, he should have seen it sooner, but it didn't do any good to dwell on that now.
"Additionally, I've not known any summoned undead, such as wraiths, to even be able to cast spells, let alone cast spells as fervently or skillfully as you did earlier. You were quite the formidable opponent, if I must be honest with you." The cleric continued. Seeming convinced of this, he leaned forward, a pillar of light extending up from the bottom of the circle and becoming a walking stick for the elderly cleric.
"Wait, 'cast'? What doest thou mean 'cast' spells?" Edward asked, his irritation fading as he began to realize that he might not be destroyed. The term did not make sense to him; cast spells like one casts an ingot, maybe? Wouldn't that just mean that every single spell is the same?
There was a moment where he and the cleric just stared at each other, both confused by the other.
"Aren't you a caster? I saw you casting some rather potent spells earlier. I had not even heard of the ones you used." Asked the cleric, expressing the tiniest hint of admiration.
"Well, yes, I am a Caster. Edward Caster. Pleasure to meet thee. Now that thou art not trying to destroy me that is." Edward retorted. How did this cleric know his family's name? If he knew who he was, why did he attack him? This didn't make any sense.
"Wait, is your name Edward Caster? Or is Caster your title?"
"That is mine name, yes. I am Edward of House Caster! Mine father was a greatly skilled Magic Weaver, and slew a dragon. As a reward, King Alexander granted our family a noble status, and mine father chose 'Caster' in honor of his father, who spent his days casting weapons and tools to provide for his family." Edward explained proudly, and the cleric seemed properly impressed when Edward mentioned his father slaying a dragon. It seemed that feat held merit even in this far-off land.
"And there was not any other inspiration for the name 'Caster'?" The cleric looked amused at this. Edward couldn't for the life of him figure out what was so amusing about this situation. It was as if he were mocking his family!
"Is there something funny about my family name, good sir?!" Edward asked the cleric who smirked for a moment, then thought about something before looking back at him.
"Sir?" Asked the cleric, looking at Edward, mildly confused.
"What do you..." The cleric trailed off, then seemed to realize.
"Right, others have sexes. I had forgotten. It's been a long time since I've seen one who wasn't of the Villiffa." Continued the cleric, who smiled knowingly. This confused Edward, making him forget his previous anger, as if the cleric had just spat out a nonsense phrase and then acted like he'd said something coherent.
"...What?" Edward said after a pause, looking at the cleric in front of him, brows knitted in confusion, mouth hanging slightly ajar.
"Can't believe I have to have this talk with somebody older than 10." Said the cleric, chuckling as he sat on the ground in front of Edward, resting his walking stick on his lap. What was he talking about? Was he trying to imply that Edward was ill-informed? Had Edward not known something about the Villiffa? Well, yes, he didn't spend much time around them; they were rather bland people and seemed happy living simple lives as working class. Not that it was a bad thing, of course. Many of the men of their kind he had met worked essential services to the kingdom, Edward's own sword was even forged by a Villiffa craftsman. Though now that he was thinking about it, all of the shopkeepers had been men... and the ones tending the children were all men as well, actually. Had he ever seen a woman among the Villiffa?
"So, are you familiar with how children are made?" The cleric asked. Oh. It was that conversation. Yes, he had been taught the 'birds and the bees, so to speak.
"Yes? I was taught this as a child." Inquired Edward, slightly irritated that this cleric seemed to think that he didn't understand procreation. While yes, it was true that he was unmarried, but he had also only hit his majority a month and a year or so ago, so there was-
"Yes, well, we are Hermaphrodites." Said the cleric matter-of-factly. He had heard the word before, but to hear it applied to anything was odd. He knew that there were creatures out there that were like that, but he didn't actually know of any specifically. I was a distant concept to him, and to hear it applied to an entire race of people?
"So, wait, thou could bear a child? How do thou decide who does what role? Who works? Who cares for the children? Would it not be Chaos?" Edward questioned, confused, but he found the concept of this society fascinating. His eyes went wide as he tried to imagine the implications.
"Well, not me, I'm far beyond my child-rearing years. And I was too focused on my studies of magic as a youth to worry much about that. As for the roles we take, we just decide that. Some watch over the children, others run shops. Some couples will run a shop together and just have the pregnant one step away around the time of the birth. Do your people do it differently? I assume you follow the same gender roles system if you haven't considered that someone could be both sexes." Explained the cleric as if he- or they? Anyway, as if they had explained this numerous times to people, likely children? Or maybe people of other races like him?
"Speaking of your people, what exactly are you? You appear human, but humans can become any kind of undead, to my knowledge, so that doesn't tell me much."
"I am actually not an undead, I am an astral projection! So I am alive, I just haven't a clue where mine body is. Likely back in mine home, but I have yet to find out where that home is..." Edward said, a hint of sorrow entering into his tone of voice near the end. It had been frustrating. Not a hint of it anywhere! The maps all looked unfamiliar, the books he read in the dead of night as the people slept never had any information in them, and the few people he had spoken to in the last 2 months didnt know anything either.
Thinking for a moment, the cleric conjured a spell. The tiny glowing light floated above his- their finger, that was going to take some getting used to. It floated above their finger for a moment, then rose into the air slightly. After a few short moments, it began radiating a harsh and dangerous light. It was going to destroy him, he knew it. He had to flee! He- Wait, it was just glowing- But any moment it would surely wipe him from the face of the world! He wouldn't be- No, it was just floating there. Why was he so terrified of it? It was as if every aspect of his body was recoiling from this light. Not even the sunlight caused this kind of reaction in him. He had, on more than one occasion, casually strolled into it, causing him to begin burning away. Thankfully, even the reflections off the hills had faded. The sun had officially set without him noticing, likely because of the powerful glow of the large dome surrounding him.
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"Judging by the panic in your face, this spell is working, yes?" There was a small nod from Edward who, despite not knowing the effect or the spell, could tell it was having some sort of effect on him. After the affirmation, the cleric continued, but seemed a bit apprehensive, as if a bit worried about something.
"Well, this spell is called 'Turn Undead'. It is meant to instantly destroy weak undead. In the undead of middling strength, it causes them to flee away in terror. In Strong undead, it causes them to feel an intense and irrational fear. You resisted quite well, though..." Said the cleric, narrowing their eyes.
"Well, yes, I was able to resist because I am not undead! I share some traits with them, being outside mine body, but I am still-"
"It only works on those whose bodies have died. When I learned it, it was made clear that it was safe to use around spirits or astral projections, as it wouldn't affect them." Said the cleric. But it had affected Edward? That was odd. Why had it affected him? He was an astral projection after all. What the cleric was implying would mean that he was... No! He couldn't be. What did it matter that the one who had brought him to this land was a necromancer? They had unique control over souls after all.
"If that is the case, then why was it not fully effective against mine continence? If, as you say, I were to be among the undead, then it likely would have destroyed me, yet here I sit. Un-Destroyed. Funny." Edward retorted, finding the idea that he was actually dead to be very concerning. There was no way.
"Perhaps I may share some traits with undead souls. I was summoned to this place by necromantic spellweaving, and so that energy of magic may be what is being affected by the spell." Edward said, and as he did, he latched onto the idea. That made sense! And it was likely that the same effect was what prevented him from returning to his body! Right! That made sense!
"Hrmmm... I could see that being the case. Afterall, any undead strong enough to resist as you did would have been able to easily beat me in that contest we had earlier. So you aren't some spectral lich of some kind, nor a wraith as I originally thought before. But seeing as you don't have a connection to your body, I can't comfortably bring myself to call you a projection either..." The cleric muttered, seeming lost in their own musings. After a few moments of thinking, hand on chin, they seemed to come to a decision and nodded.
"Yes, I think I will refer to you as a Phantom. You aren't a malevolent one for certain, but I don't feel I know you well enough to determine if you are a benevolent one either. So how about you tell me of yourself, that way I can hopefully get an idea of who you are. Start from when you became like this."
Edward relayed the information. The story of how he had awoken at the origin of the world, then been drawn in by that evil force. How he had escaped, then ran. How he was searching for a way to get home. Most of his time was spent walking during the night, avoiding the sunlight as best as he could, as its light was harsh and painful to him. How he had, at first, hid from the undead, presuming them to be the servants of the Revanant. How, later, he had realized that he could destroy them. He had yet to learn many of the offensive weaving arts from his father, as he was told that, even despite his majority, he was still too young. His father told him how his master hadn't let him learn them until he had reached 20, which was still a few years away from Edward's grasp. But he had figured out a few tricks. He had taken some of the utility magic he had been taught and was able to tweak it to be a bit more offensive. Such as using the spell for lighting a small fire, and changing the target from an object, such as a stick, to being a creature, such as an undead. Or how he could use a spell that moves earth to open the ground beneath an opponent and crush them.
He did understand why it was dangerous, though. The first time he had tried altering the fire spell, he forgot to specify which creature it was targeting, so instead of lighting the shambling corpse in front of him ablaze, it instead defaulted to him. He had remembered his father talking about teaching him the 'Emission' rune, but he hadn't had the chance, and Edward had yet to figure it out himself. That being said, though, Edward had been learning somewhat of the newer forms of magic. He had found a scroll in the ruins of a rumbling tower, and after pouring some mana into it, the paper had turned to ash. The next thing he knew, he was on the ground looking up at the sky. An explosion had gone off after he had launched a small ball of fire in front of him, knocking him onto his back, and providing a view of the wonderfully blue sky.
Not long after escaping, he had found a village, and while the people had initially been scared, they had later calmed down. Apparently, the fact that the guard, a golem made out of large rocks, didn't attack him, for some reason, gave them a reason to trust him. He had explained what happened, and they told him the stories of "The Revenant". A dark creature that appeared in that forest a decade or so ago and began to conduct dark rituals. They had lost a few of their number to the creature's acolytes already, and so they were glad to shield Edward from the creature. After giving him some actual clothes and a small short sword, they did their best to answer his questions.
Where was he? The Heartland. That name made sense, considering it was incredibly close to the origin.
What time was it? About 6 am. Nice. That made it about 24 hours from his last memory, but just to be sure, he asked the date. 3rd day of the 5th month of the year 4998 p.r. With the day and month being like that, that means that it was actually the same day! Lovely! He lost no more than a few hours! Though it seems that they may use a different basis for their year. He had heard that different countries would use different 'start dates' for the beginning of their calendar. Some would be based on the birth of a great king, or Magicweaver. Maybe the year of a coronation. But to be almost 5 thousand years? This 'heartland' had quite an extensive history! Maybe once he checked in with his family, he could come back and read their lore and stories!
That being said, the people knew he couldn't stay for long, as he would have been found had he remained with them.
He had explored, searching from town to town for any indication of where he was. Any indication of where his home was. Unfortunately, he hadn't found so much as a hint of anything. No mentions of The Kingdom of Alexandar anywhere. The Revenant knew where it was, so that meant he couldn't have been ALL the way across the world or anything, but he couldn't help but feel slightly disheartened by this. Not wanting to dwell on this mounting depression, he forced himself to take a break and explore a bit, taking an occasional excursion off the path. He had found various ruins and odd, mismatched structures.
He had once found this large hut or building in the middle of a nearby swamp. It was built on struts, and inside, he had found the most incredible thing! There was a man with the head and skin of a pig! They talked briefly, and the pig revealed that they were an alchemist who lived out in the swamp. He sold to various people. Viliffa, Witches, even the occasional 'Vindilla'.
That last word was unknown to him. Apparently, the Viliffa whom he had known back in the Kingdom of Alexander had a sort of cousin race. They looked similar, but had grey skin, deep blue eyes, and more human facial features, though they still sported the sizeable nose of the Villifa. Fascinating.
He eventually bid the alchemist goodbye and made his way onward toward the next town. It would be the 4th he would visit by this point.
One day, while exploring some odd ruins he had stumbled across while on his way to the 5th village, he found that it went a bit deeper than expected. There was a great stone tower, and inside he found a deep staircase that led down into a shadowed catacomb. At first, it seemed normal, as if it were just some kind of cellar. But the deeper he went, the more unusual it had become. Eventually becoming like a damp crypt, with moss and algae growing from the cracks in the fine bricks that made up its passages. The walls were lined with overgrown skulls, and there were occasional sarcophagi in even rows, extending as far as the eye could see.
The traps had proved to not be an issue. With a small effort, he could cause them to pass completely through him harmlessly. Out of curiosity, he had opened a sarcophagus and found many golden coins and precious gems. They were stored around and within a large pile of ash, or perhaps dust.
The coins were familiar to him, as if some kind of precursor or inspiration for his own homeland's currency? After all, it didn't match the currency used by the Villifa at all. The faces on the coins were unfamiliar, though. He examined one closer and found a messy inscription: "King Edgar Alexandar the 4th, 2834 p.r.". Seems that there may have been another King Alexander, similar to his own King Alexander, though knowing how distant this land was, and how far into the past it was, he could only bring himself to chuckle at the coincidence.
Other sarcophagi contained undead. The people were long decayed, mainly skeletons with various levels of decayed flesh on the bones. He was thankfully able to deal with these very well; the air, while somewhat humid, was still dry enough to support fire. The most dangerous moment was when a dozen or more creatures stood from the ground and surrounded him. He was able to place a barrier through magic all the way around him. The glyphs were rather simple; the hardest part was specifying the area around him while leaving a space for him to not get stuck inside.
After that, he was able to create a fire on each of the creatures one-by-one, using the bones of the creatures as "kindling". After they were all reduced to dust, he drew out the glyphs to dismiss his barrier and stepped out. It was a good thing he didn't need to breathe, as he knew that lighting a fire this deep underground would only burn away the air, making a man choke on the smoke filling the air.
Deeper down, it became more and more overgrown, and the temperature seemed to rise. The air was hot and muggy. Wet. Vines grew everywhere, the catacombs being cracked and destroyed by the growing plants. There were also monsters. Some of the vines were alive and tried to choke him. There were mounds of moss or slime that moved, and a mushroom that started spewing thick clouds of spores as it detected his approach. And the spiders... Yuck. Edward had never been very fond of spiders, and these ones ranged from tiny swarms of needle-point-sized spiders to spiders the size of his palm, all the way up to spiders the size of large dogs.
The farther down he went, the hotter the air became, and eventually, it actually began to dry out, the plants and slimes disappearing. It gave way to crumbling bricks mixed with what appeared to be... congealed blood? Maybe? He wasn't completely sure about that. The more he had examined it, the more he realized that it was actually some kind of rock. It had small veins of quartz and even gold mixed throughout the deep red stone.
Once he was fully enveloped by this place, he could feel a strange magic in the air. A foreign place. And yet... this heat, this... feeling... It felt like it was familiar, yet he couldn't place his finger on why. He had never seen anything like this in his life. Maybe it was something from his dreams? That felt closer to the truth, and yet, it still wasn't accurate. He...
"And?" Asked the cleric, nudging Edward back into consciousness. It seemed as if his thoughts had gotten away from him. Things became incredibly hazy. His mind felt sleepy for a moment, and he felt as though he had forgotten something of great import. He also felt as if he comprehended something larger than himself for a moment, as if the world suddenly seemed so small in the grand view of his mind for all of a single moment.
Edward snapped back to reality, shaking himself free of the momentary fog.
"Hm? OH! Right, I was recounting the dungeon. Mine apologies, now, where was I..."
So there Edward was, standing in a place of heat and bloody stone. The atmosphere felt odd and eerie, almost as if there were whispers of secrets in the back of his mind and... No, there actually was whispering coming from somewhere. Searching for the source, he found a patch of ground that looked like a kind of soil or sand, it was brown with little white specks dancing across the surface. When he approached and touched it, the surface shifted, reaching up as if to grab hold of his finger and pull him down into it, and oddly, it nearly succeeded.
"Join ussss" The whisper came, more distinct than others, or more accurately, it was if all of the whispers had aligned for a brief moment to say that one phrase, but listening closer, he heard other words repeated over and over. "Help ussss" "Free ussss" "Join ussss" "Thirsty" "Pain" "Hartred" "Death to the humans" "Defend yourselves!"... Many different voices, many different overlaps. It sounded as if a moment in time was being replayed over and over, overlapping itself and bringing to pass a sound that slowly drifted back into the shifting of sand.
Unsettled by the odd sand, as well as the awful sinking atmosphere this place had in abundance, he had stepped into the wall and climbed his way back up to the surface, treating the solid rock beyond as if it were a staircase, stepping his way up into the night.
He had traveled a bit more after that, ending up in another village, but this time, he had run into another one of the village clerics. This one, like the one in his current location, spotted him before he had a chance to be proven harmless by the golem. That cleric had immediately cast a magic circle around Edward, who hadn't been expecting the hostility. Afraid of being destroyed by the cleric, he had attempted to teleport again and succeeded. Upon arriving back at the origin, though, he was spotted by a number of people in the distance who appeared to be some scouting party... People who were dressed in clothes that were the same violent hue of red as The Revenant. It was the reason he was so hesitant to teleport back there now, lest they be there waiting for him.
To escape them, he had fled into the ground, then traveled horizontally. Once he thought it was safe, he exited the ground and made his way, picking a new direction this time, heading for less of the humid region opposite the silent woods, and more towards a warm plains region, where he bounced from village to village, doing his best to hide from the village folk and try to find clues about his people and his land.
Still nothing.
Eventually, he had found himself here, in this village. He had managed to skim through the library, but not long after, he was almost immediately found by this cleric and...
"...And that has us mostly caught up. Thou sought me out, found me, attacked me, we fought, and eventually thou won via this wonderfully grand spell." Edward said, nibbling on another piece of bread, this one provided by the cleric who wanted to see him eat again, and was taking notes on both the story, as well as the various tests he conducted on Edward while he told his story.
"Come to think about it, how did thou find me so quickly? I know of alarm-based spells, but those all involve being placed on some sort of entryway, which I don't use. Even if thou had placed it at the perimeter of the village, that wouldn't tell thee where I was inside the village. Yet you didn't know where I was when I had dived underground?" Edward asked curiously. They had exchanged a few other questions in the past, but this is one that Edward had just realized he didn't understand.
"Ah. I have the divine sense." Said the cleric simply, as if that had explained everything. It seemed as if the expected Edward to just know what that meant. The name of it did ring a faint bell in his recent history, but it was far from flawless.
"And...? I don't exactly know what that is..." Edward responded, trying to prompt the elderly cleric into responding. This response surprised the cleric, their thick unibrow raising ever so slightly.
"I had assumed that everyone had been taught about the stories of the ancient heroes." The cleric began. That was right, the divine sense had something to do with a cleric involved in a party of heroes that had fought some great evil in the distant past. Edward hadn't heard of this story in his homeland, so he assumed it was something unique to this land.
"Ah, right, I read something about that while researching tales of my land. The story was from some... thousand years ago? two thousand? And I am searching for distant lands, not the distant past, so I only skimmed it." And with what he knew of the gold in that crypt, this land had had its own King Alexandar roughly... What was 4998 minus 2834? Edward began to mutter numbers to himself aloud, doing calculations in his head. 2164? Anyway, they had their own King Alexander a few thousand years ago, so if he dug too far into the past, he might end up hearing of that Alexander, and not his, which wouldn't help him. He was brought back to focus by the cleric humming gently to themself.
"That makes sense then... Explains why you wouldn't have heard about me as well. I'm quite renowned for this gift, and a few people, this Revenant of yours included, have tried to kill me because of it." The cleric explained after noticing Edward's questioning gaze.
"There are a lot of benefits I won't go into right now, but the one that pertains to your question is the smell. I can smell creatures whose existence revolves heavily around magic, be it fae, wizards, or undead, to list only a small number of examples. It's not the most perfectly accurate thing all the time, but it gets me where I need to go." They explained. Seemed very useful to Edward. And if that was only one of the gifts? The others must be amazing! He made a note to ask more about that later, but for now, he needed to see if he was safe to maybe stay the day in this village.
"So, by thine judgments of mine story, am I sufficiently benevolent to be allowed to exist?" Edward asked, being a bit overly formal with the cleric, partially to show respect, partially in jest, and partially to cover his own nerves.
"Hrm? Oh, yes, you passed that the moment I started really talking to you, I just wanted to hear your story." They responded, a cheeky grin on their face.
"It can get a bit dull here from time to time, and I do love a good travel story. Yours was good, I will admit." They continued, placing their stick on the ground and standing up. Edward quickly jumped up to help them, but they just waved him off.
"I'm not that fragile yet, lad. Don't worry about me." They said, then waved him to follow.
"Come now, let me show you around town..." They continued. Unfortunatly, with the night arriving, Edward really needed to take his leave. He had already peered at a number of books in the town's one library, and most of them were ones he had already read. The rest didn't seem particularly promising. What he REALLY needed was some kind of cartographer.
"Unfortunately, I must be taking mine leave now, the sun has set, and thy people's library is barren of what I need. So, while I appreciate the hospitality, I really must be making my way onward to the next village. Hopefully, you do not find this to be offensive." Edward said, giving the kind cleric a flowery and noble bow.
"No offense taken in the slightest. I might ask, though, that you allow me to at least get you a writ of travel, so that you will not be harassed by clerics in the nearby villages. They will recognize my seal." The cleric responded with a subtle nod of respect.
"That would be greatly appreciated." Responded Edward.
After receiving the writ, as well as a medallion containing the seal of the cleric, whose name he had learned was Archibald the 7-eyed, Edward made his way out of the town and began to make his way again to the next town. This was a great day. Hopefully, there will be more like this in the future.
Man, that was one nell of a light show. That magic eye fella really outdid themselves this time. The way the glow went "VWOOM!" Then formed into a "PA-CHING!". And all that after the BLAM BLAM KAPOW VSHING KRACKOW WAZAHAM from before? Honestly, Nilbog wasn't sure if he'd ever seen anything like this before. Beautiful. Amazing. Following this kid for the last few days has been fun! He talked funny, and it tickled Nilbog's brain.
"Kingdom of Alexandar, eh? Man, that place has been gone for a LONG time. Poor kid is gonna be wrecked when he finds out. Maybe I'll go introduce myself, maybe even have 'em meet Sovreign. She'd like him, I think." Nilbog mused to himself, green hand rubbing his comically sharp and short chin.
"Alright then. Fine. Guess I might as well have some fun while I'm here." Nilbog continued, slamming his fist into his other hand. Then, with a devilish grin on his little goblin face, he stepped out of the bush and was suddenly flung into the air by an invisible force.
This kind of thing, of course, was perfectly expected in the world of Nilbog, the most goblin-y guy of them all.
