CHAPTER 22: BLACK DAGGER

Charon held his blade up while he scanned the cave’s interior.

Long shadows hugged the walls, and the constant ringing of the weapons made it impossible for him to hear anything.

Something tapped him on the arm, and he spun with terror, swinging his blade at the source.

It was parried, his blade veering off the side as Emerius grabbed his arm.

His clothes were soaked, but his hair and skin were fine, untouched by the waterfall. His eyes took in the skeleton, knives, and weapons instantly, a frown tugging at his lips.

Walking to the closest weapon, a battleaxe, Emerius flicked his sword and cut it down. He did the same with the rest, ridding them of the noise.

Charon, shaken by the candles, kept his guard up, unwilling to be surprised again.

He hissed at Emerius, hoping to clue him into the danger.

"The candles! They are still alive! The killer must be close!"

Emerius looked from Charon to the purple candles, then to the skeleton. He cocked a single eyebrow before chuckling.

"You needn’t worry. These are Everflame Candles. They burn for centuries without going dark. Our friend here could’ve been placed on that chair long before we even made first contact with the Elves."

The revelation was incredible.

’Before we even met the Elves? That long? How is that possible?’

As far as Charon knew, the humans and the Elves had been communicating for over five hundred years. For the corpse to predate that, potentially, was nothing short of a miracle.

’At least I don’t need to be worried, then.’

Approaching the poor victim of whatever happened in the cave, Charon looked at the different knives. He shivered as he imagined being in the man’s place, held down as ten daggers were thrust into his body.

Emerius seemed to be having similar thoughts; his forehead wrinkled in thought.

Then, to Charon’s surprise, his companion stepped around the chair and grabbed the hilt of the black blade, yanking it out with minimal effort.

The action caused the skeleton to collapse, falling to the stone floor with a rattle.

Grimacing, Charon moved away.

"What’d you do that for?"

Emerius flicked the dagger over in his hand, inspecting the handle and blade closely. He paused for a moment near the hilt, his lips pursed, before he extended it to Charon.

"Take this. It’s a relic. Not a very good one, but a relic nonetheless."

Trepidatiously reaching out and taking the offered weapon, Charon brought it up to the candlelight and studied it.

Its blade was dark, and the hilt purple. There weren’t any markings, trim, or other embellishments, leaving it quite plain. The only unique aspect was the gray leather that wrapped around the handle.

It felt good, comfortable even.

"What makes it a relic?"

Emerius began to walk around the cave, looking at the different weapons strewn about as he responded.

"It’s magical by nature. The enchantment on that dagger is not very good, but it is better than nothing. From what I can tell, it has an extremely strong durability effect, as well as something smaller that I can’t properly read."

Charon looked at the item with renewed interest, flipping it to try and intuit how Emerius could learn so much so quickly.

"How do you know so much about it?"

"It’s a field of study. My father had me tutored in it from a young age so I could properly identify weapons in the field. Your holo-pad can do something similar, but you’ll need to wait for us to return to the academy before you can scan it."

Smirking, Charon looked down at his robes to find a place to holster the dagger. Unable to find anything, he shrugged and stuck it through one of the chain links, tearing a piece of cloth off his pants to wrap it down.

’Not a permanent solution, but it will do for now.’

Regardless of how he was carrying it, Charon was ecstatic to have the thing. He not only wielded magic, and a rare element to boot, but now had a magic blade as well?

He was well on his way to becoming a proper hero!

’It’s a strange enchantment, though. Durability is nice, but I can’t see how that’d be very useful long term.’

He shrugged at his thoughts.

’I suppose that’s why Emerius gave it to me rather than keep it for himself.’

Just as he was thinking about him, his companion interrupted his inner monologue, offering some advice.

"You should take one of these weapons. The dagger won’t do you much good before you have proper instruction."

Agreeing with Emerius’ suggestion, Charon made a lazy circle around the cave, counting out the weapons.

He saw a sword, a dagger, a bow, a whip, an axe, a glaive, a spear, a rapier, a pair of gauntlets, and lastly a scythe.

Knowing exactly which item he wanted to practice with more, he stooped down to pick up the scythe. He lifted it with more than a little effort, surprised at how much it weighed compared to the training version.

’It must weigh double!’

Struggling to put it over his shoulder, he looked over to see Emerius watching him with a grin.

"I see you have discovered the inconsistencies between training weapons and combat weapons. It will take you a while to get used to it. You will want to begin exercising, at least a few times a week."

His eyes glanced up and down Charon’s body, his grin vanishing.

"On second thought, you may want to exercise every day."

More than a little insulted at Emerius’ comments on his thin frame, Charon shook his head and scoffed.

"I’m healthy, okay? You try eating every day when you have a couple of dozen other mouths to feed. Food isn’t cheap in the outer ring."

Emerius ignored his reply, instead snatching the sword he had given Charon earlier, sheathing it at his waist. He then wordlessly moved towards the waterfall.

"What about the skeleton? Do you not want to learn what happened here?"

That made no sense to Charon.

’Here we are in another realm, we just found a super creepy body, and he isn’t at all curious?’

"I already know what happened here."

With those words, his entire body seemed to be swallowed in darkness. His pale skin turned the color of the midnight sky, and his hair became like onyx.

He then stepped under the waterfall, vanishing in its current.

Groaning at the theatrics, Charon set off after him, dragging the scythe behind him.

’Stupid goddamn noble, thinks he is better than me, can’t be bothered to explain, good for nothing...’

Consumed by the water once more, Charon pushed through while maintaining his grip on the weapons shaft, unwilling to lose it.

A few seconds later, he breached the other side, stumbling forward but not falling.

His hair was slicked to his scalp, and his clothes were dripping wet. A cool wind ran through the jungle, making Charon shiver.

Emerius, by comparison, retained his impeccable hair, standing on the lake shore as he patted himself down. The shadows that coated his skin were gone.

’I was wondering what his magic did, and now I know. He can cover himself in shadows.’

It didn’t seem like a very useful ability as far as Charon was concerned.

’Nothing like growing an army of souls!’

"We should continue making haste for the tree. I have a bad feeling about this jungle. We shouldn’t stay here any longer, lest we tempt fate."

That’s all he said before turning towards the dark trunk and setting off, leaving no room for any questions, including what he knew about the cave.

’I miss when he was more talkative, it’s like I’m stuck here with a mute!’

Oblivious to Charon’s thoughts, Emerius continued on the path, his pace faster than before. Occasionally, he would stop, twisting his head as he listened for something, before continuing even quicker.

It was less than an hour before the duo was all but running through the brush, a question hanging in the air.

’What has Emerius so worried?’

Charon had seen his companion’s face grow ashen, his shoulders raising as he began to hold his sword more threateningly, as if an attack could come from anywhere.

The only thing that made him lower his guard was when the canopy above them would break, allowing him to see that the ebony tree had become a little larger as they came a little closer.

For another hour, they ran through the jungle, no words spoken, and no threats revealing themselves. At times, they slowed to rest, but the breaks became ever shorter until Emerius wouldn’t let them stop at all.

Until they were only a few minutes from reaching the base of the tree.

Emerius suddenly spun, grabbing the chains around Charon’s chest and throwing him towards the tree, screaming a single word.

"Run!"