Aldr stared at the sparks and smiled slightly. His mind was well exhausted, but it was worth it. The bone sword was a fine piece of work. A smooth longsword made out of yellow ivory. A rather disheartening color, but it was better than what he had expected. But a glaring issue stood in the way.
[Name: Bone Sword
Grade: Common
Attributes: None
Aspect: None]
The blade was utterly blank. A common made blade stood at the bottom of the barrel. In his experience with The Sparks, it judged a weapon from the rarities of Common -> Well-made -> Sharpened -> Masterwork -> Pure-Forged -> Relic -> Star-forged. Common was just that, a common blade. Anything ranging from poorly made to just mediocre. And even diverting from that, it lacked an attribute, or an aspect, which was the element of its attunement. Usually a weapon under the aspect of fire would have fire related attributes, water aspect with water attributes, and so forth and so on.
'Well I wouldn't expect any less from a starting forge skill...'
Although he was disappointed, he still gained an advantage. The obsidian dagger lacked reach, even as a relic weapon, it had no attributes, and an aspect was pretty much useless without an attribute to channel it.
'What a waste of luck.'
He stood up and sighed. He had no space to carry both the obsidian dagger and the Bone Sword. So he tossed the obsidian dagger to Hunter.
"Take this. I don't have enough space to carry it along."
Hunter caught it and stared at it, his fingers made the dagger seem much smaller than what it already was. He had to be at least a foot taller than Aldr.
"It's a fine work. I wouldn't trust someone with this so easily."
Aldr shrugged.
"We are both stuck at the bottom of a pit with no escape. If I die, there's no point in getting it back, if you die, I could always just rip it off your corpse."
Hunter chuckled and put the dagger into a small sheath on his belt.
"My corpse is rather strong."
Aldr looked at the man with an odd look. Hunter noticed his odd gaze quickly.
"What is it?"
"That's just...an odd thing to say."
Hunter's gaze sturdied for a moment.
"Don't tell me you don't know."
"Don't know what?"
"Ah."
Hunter scratched his chin.
"So you're a wanderer too then."
"Something like that."
The dark caves echoed their voices as hunter continued.
"To put it simply, I cannot die. Forever at least. And neither can most of the creatures in this world. It was a bit rough when I found it out for myself but, death abandoned this land long ago. Those who have the will to withstand it, will do so."
'That wolf...'
Aldr thought back to the rotting smell of the raven's blood and the wolf.
'Dead. They were dead.'
The saintess had gone out on an expedition into the Stone Mountains. Accompanied by a party of her most loyal knights. She had that same map laid out in front of her. Letting out a sigh as she drew over it with ink and a quill.
She heard footsteps trudging through the mud of the plains. Between the Stone Mountains and the city of Elsire was a vast plain, although it was open and easy to travel, there was nowhere to hide. For creatures, and for them. She looked up to meet the gaze of a knight, wearing brilliant shining silver armor and a golden cloak. Donning a helmet of the same material.
"Saintess. We believe that there is a minor plague lord that nested itself near the mountains."
She let out a grumble and rubbed her forehead.
'Things just don't get any less stressful...'
"Something's been riling the plague beasts up. Everything was fine, not there's always more in our way."
The knight's expression was discernible through his thick helmet as he sighed.
"You don't think-"
She cut him off rather quickly.
"No. If he came back. This whole world would be in ruin."
The knight nodded.
"But there's a chance..."
She stopped him once again.
"I don't want to hear any more of this nonsense. The plague lord is dead. If he returned, we would be counting our days left."
Only a brisk distance away, two men stood in the hollow caves of the Stone Mountains. The ringing had paused for a moment. But had began once again. Aldr recognized the source. A bell, well, obviously.
'What kind of monster would have an item with a mind attack?'
Although it would make sense for a monster's main attribute to have to do with mind attacks. That didn't seem to be the case. Most monsters were mindless beasts. Only the strong had a keen intellect. And items. A monster wouldn't understand the value of an item.
"Hey...what exactly is down here?"
Hunter turned to look at him.
"I wish I knew. I've tried to evade the thing. All I know is that it's strong. And it's been waiting."
'Waiting...'
He sighed and they walked deeper into the caverns, leading into long twisting tunnels. It was dark, the air smelled rotten, and the ground was still littered with bones, although noticeably less. Their footsteps were quiet, but the echos of the cave made them loud as they rang down the seemingly endless tunnel walls.
'I can't stand this stench...'
The rotten fumes filled his nostrils, not exactly a pleasant feeling.
Though the deeper they went, the echo of their steps seem to grow louder, longer. Until they reverberated back. But this time Aldr stopped to listen, as Hunter continued. And focused on the sound.
Step. Step...Step.
Three steps. Not two.
Aldr paused.
"Hunter-"
He suddenly heard the ringing of the bell, louder than ever. Reverberating and growing louder with every wall it bounced from. Invading his ears.
'Why am I even here. This whole thing is pointless. I should just give up. I should just-'
He smacked himself out of it by releasing his willpower, vermilion sparks landed on the ground as he gripped the bone sword tight.
Hunter walked up to Aldr, the bone club resting over his shoulder. They were not walking, yet the steps kept echoing, the ringing kept going.
He grit his teeth and released his willpower again.
'Damn it.'
Fighting it would be inefficient. The bell was ringing constantly. Getting into his head, he didn't have enough willpower to take it on fully. Hunter noticed the look on his face.
"Run."
They turned around and sprinted down the tunnels in the opposite direction of the ringing. Vermilion sparks started to cloud his feet as he enforced his willpower to push him forward. But Hunter was still incredibly fast. Even with no willpower, his own sturdy muscles carried him farther than an enhanced Aldr.
And then the ringing faded, and three steps turned back into two.