The Adventure of the Light-Bearer

CH. 33 - Dancing in the Dark Night

Levin stood on the slightly fragile wooden floor with the other people around him. He hardened the muscles of his hands and feet getting ready to leave, he had to perform the ritual immediately before sunrise.

"But it's too dangerous, especially when you're a kid. Rest here and let the royal army handle it." said one Hartloviant.

"There's no time. It'll be too late if we don't kill him before sunrise. Now let me go, or I'll cut you all down. Since the fate of everyone in Ydaya is in my hands now, only I can kill the creature" Levin said. The soldiers were silent, they were staring at each other.

"Then it's okay, we'll help you" said the guard.

"And leave the inhabitants of this village alone? Seems like a bad idea. And also, while we're debating here the creature must be doing something, you should throw away your stupid formalities immediately and let me go." Levin said, in a moment of silence, a Hartloviant then gave Levin the torch he was holding.

"Then go, and don't disappoint us. May Hartlova light your way and give you strength." said the priest as he touched Levin's chest with his thumb, a blessing gesture from the Hartloviants. A guard there stepped one step.

"I will escort you to the Clerrin cave, it will be difficult if we explain the direction to you" he said.

"Okay, thank you very much. Please take care of the people here as long as I'm gone" Levin said with a smile.

"That's for sure" said the priest.

Levin and the guard then ran while brandishing the torch upwards. There was the sound of iron colliding with each other and the sound of quite loud footsteps in the dark forest. They stopped stepping, the guard looked to his left for a moment, the dark night blurred his memory, he pointed in a direction. "Where!" he said, they continued to run.

There's a not-so-deep chasm to Levin's left. Carefully he ran past her. Levin's eyes were fixed on the street, he felt a strange feeling, his instincts trying to tell him a gaffe there.

Levin ran away leaving the guard a few steps, though he could feel the guard running after him. A few moments later Levin stopped and looked back, the guard was not there. "Tu.. Lord keeper?" levin shouted as he stepped back. Levin walked back and stepped for a few steps, then he saw the light and saw the guard running towards him while carrying a torch.

"Where should we go now?" levin asked somewhat breathlessly.

The guard pointed towards the forest. "Well, we have to break through if we want to hurry" he said.

"Oh yeah? But the forest is very dark, and staying off this trail is very dangerous" Levin said

"There will be another path ahead. Don't stay away from me, or you'll get lost."

"Baa.. All right, sorry."

Levin and the guard walked through the bushes. The leaves that swiped Levin's hand made it itchy, even the little thorns of the plants there swiped and made his hands bleed. Levin looked at the caretaker who was walking blindly not caring about plants that were quite lush and wet, it seemed like the person was used to it. The guard then stopped, his foot stepping on something.

"A.. What'sthis?" said the guard while stopping and kicking something under him. Levin approached.

"What's wrong?" tanyakanya.

"Look, there's a body here. Quickly get rid of the obstructing plants, I will pull them out" said the guard, Levin nodded and removed the stems of the plants covering the corpse, leaving behind, the guard pulled a leg and turned the body of the corpse on the ground that was not too covered with plants.

Levin and the guard were shocked. The guard himself retreated backwards and was flustered as he looked at the face of the corpse, which was the same shape as him.

"Ti.. It's impossible." he said in a panic.

"He.. Was you? How's it possible?" ask Levin.

"Magic! It must be magic, that guy... It wasn't me.."

Levin approached the corpse to see it more clearly, he squatted down and pointed his torch at the corpse's face. "Indeed very similar, his clothes too" Levin said, putting his left hand on the body. "His body was still warm, his neck was slit by a sharp object and almost broke off. Surprisingly I couldn't detect the magic in his body, as if this body was real."

The guard retreated backwards in panic. "Ti.. Just leave him alone, we should go back to that village and tell the people."

Levin stands. "Whatchu mean? We've come this far, you know that it must be finished before sunrise, we must find it!"

"A.. Whahuh? Why before sunrise?" ask the guard.

"Ritual, if I don't kill him before sunrise the ritual will fail and things will get harder." Levin looked towards the horrifying corpse back. "The story is long and I can't tell you now, all we have to do is..." Levin looked back and just saw the trees, the guard disappeared. Levin's face shrunk.

"I'm indestructible... I should have slashed your neck with that stupid guard sword instead of using my magic. It turns out you're immune to magic, I should know that." said the lizard man in a terrible voice. Levin stood up quickly and brandished his sword.

"Not only are you careless, you're stupid. You should have gone to the village with the body of the guard and left me here if your destination was the villagers." said Levin, he walked to the side staring at Genta.

"Stupid? Bah, the only fool is you. You knew the body was real and didn't doubt me at all. Besides my goal is to stop you, stupidly you tell me about the ritual, now look for me until sunrise, your ritual will fail and everything will be easier for me to find Ramon, and Akemon's prophecy will be a myth!" the lizard man then disappeared very quickly from Levin's sight. Levin did not believe the creature could run at such a fast speed, even teleporting would take a few microseconds.

Not a few seconds after the creature disappeared, a light appeared above Levin's head and made a very loud sound. The lizard creature then slammed down and penetrated the bushes quite thick. Levin was surprised, he thought the creature was running and had disappeared.

"Ka.. That lizard? The lizard did not run, but jumped! That's why he can disappear instantly." Levin said in his heart.

Levin looked to his left. A young woman was pointing her wand upwards. The woman was dressed all in black, her hair black short to the neck and slightly curly. He was the same height as Levin and Clea, it seemed to be the same age. The woman ran towards Levin.

"Go, he's very dangerous" said the girl.

"The.. Who're you?" ask Levin.

"It doesn't matter, the creature is very fast, go before him." the lizard quickly ran towards the girl while brandishing the guard's sword. The girl then brandished her wand and pointed it at the creature, waiting for him and casting her magic as it was right in front of her, a very dazzling light shot out from the stick and made the creature bounce off the tree and destroy it, making the tree fall towards the two young men.

"Revelation!" levin shouted, he jumped up and pulled the woman with him, Levin's torch that had fallen off was now completely extinguished, making the place pitch-black. The fallen tree fell far to the right.

"A.. Aw" said the woman in pain, her hands and back stuck in the stems of plants where she was lying.

"I'm sorry, I thought the tree fell here" Levin said.

The woman then stood up and directed her gaze towards Genta, but she was not there. "That thing... Where's she?" muttered the woman. Levin looked at her in awe, the woman was very beautiful, her skin was pure white and her eyes were blue, she was not even angry when Levin made her fall earlier.

"Don't let her get away, or we'll lose her" said the woman, Levin standing up and clenching his pants.

"I think he ran away. It's useless for him to fight us. I don't know what he's really for but he said he's gonna hide until sunrise" Levin said, annoyed, looking left-right, his eyeballs went back and forth observing the dark forest without any lighting. Levin then brandished his sword and let out a light, strangely the light did not spread throughout the forest, the light was straight up, as if reflecting the moonlight.

"A.. Whahuh? Why is this light so long?" levin asked in his heart. The sword light turned little by little, then it hit something, it was the shape of the Genta lizard man, he was dancing on a large tree trunk. "There is only the shape of the lizard in my head. Don't-don't... This light seeks out enemies when I think about it?" levin asked, he dimmed the light back.

"I thought you were a Sorcerer, too. You need a lot of practice to find your other magical abilities. I can teach you if you want." said the woman. "But we don't have time now."

Levin nodded. "Sodes.. The sodoker? What'sthat?" confused Levin.

"Yes, and it looks like the lizard man is doing something. We have to be careful" Levin said.

"No, she's just dancing. He didn't do any magic, nor did his strength increase" the woman said.

"Then he must be crazy, probably because his brain hit earlier. We have to think of a strategy, we can't hurt him if he sees the attack" Levin said, their eyes both fixed on the lizard dancing on the tree trunk. Even so, the dance looks very beautiful, especially the moonlight reflected so that it only shows the silhouette of the creature.

"I knew. If your attack is read by him his body will harden. We have to hide and attack him, but it will be difficult to kill him with magic, we have to rely on your sword." said the woman, Levin raised his eyebrows.

"Is plan?"

The woman was silent for a moment, she looked towards the moon which was gradually descending down. "I think the real question is... Any time?" said the woman. The sound of the cock crowing then rang out, as if the woman knew from the beginning. Levin looked at her in admiration.

"Actually the creature can change shape. He was a human who was possessed by something so that it was shaped like that. But if he changes his original form or becomes a human being, we will be able to kill him easily." continued the woman. Levin then remembered to the guard, the creature must have turned into the guard and killed him when he had left the guard.

"Then that's his weakness. But what's our plan?" ask Levin. The woman smiled when she heard Levin's words.

"Weaknesses yes... I think I got an idea."

end of Chapter :)