Dark Soul Silenced - Part Two (3 page)

Part Two - The Fall

Chapter Four

Ned sat on the grass, enjoying the warm sunshine on his skin.  For several minutes he simply sat, relaxing.  Finally he turned his mind back to his studies.  Focusing hard he started to draw power from his surroundings.  First the green tinged power that came from living creatures and plants, which was so important in healing.  Then the red tinged power drawn from the sun and the ground, a power useful for forming barriers and other physical tasks.  Lastly he pulled in the whitish power that could be used to channel and control the other powers.

As the levels of each power built within his body Ned visualised each differently.  The green power of healing collected near his heart.  The red power settled into his stomach, a comforting weight.  The white power settled across his body in a fine mesh.  From speaking to other students and the masters Ned knew that each person perceived the power differently.  Many could only sense one power.  They were usually more adept at using that one power than anyone who could manipulate more.  The healers who used the green power were a good example, able to create fantastically complicated patterns to save people from seemingly fatal wounds.

Now Ned moved to the next phase of the exercise.  Weaving the white power into a web in front of his face he then started allowing his stores of red and green power to flow.  Soon he had a complex structure in place, a spiral pattern of red and green energy held in place by the white web.  Once the pattern was complete Ned focused on holding it in place, fighting its natural urge to unravel.

“Very good Ned.  Very good.”  The words were accompanied by a heavy slap on Ned’s shoulder.  For a moment Ned’s concentration wavered and the structure threatened to dissolve into chaos.  Gritting his teeth he regained control, wrestling the web back into place.  Then he turned his head slightly and nodded.

“
Thank you, Master.”

Master Demotte chuckled good naturedly.  Ned had liked him since they first met.  When Ned had first arrived for training Master Demotte had taken him on despite Ned’s age.  Most apprentices arrived for training while still young, normally twelve or younger, and would spend several years as an apprentice.  During that time their powers would slowly be developed, along with their control.  At thirty-three Ned was far older than any other apprentice, and he had arrived bursting with power but with very little control.  Several Masters had turned Ned down, saying he was too old.  Master Demotte had taken one look, smiled and taken Ned on as an apprentice straight away.

Ned had been in awe of his new Master at first.  He had occasionally seen one of the powerful Masters of the Golden Order from a distance, but had never been so close.  Master Demotte was everything he’d expected them to be, carrying himself with immense dignity and radiating a palpable sense of restrained power.  The Master looked to be in his early forties yet Ned knew he was really well over one hundred.

In other ways the Master had surprised Ned though.  Rather than being aloof he was always friendly, happy to take time to speak to Ned, other apprentices and the many who worked in the keep.  Ned had never seen the Master upset let alone angry, not even during the first few weeks when Ned repeatedly demonstrated not only his raw power but also his lack of control.  When Ned summoned enough of the red power to incinerate both the Master and himself Master Demotte simply used his own power to form a shield, raising an eyebrow at Ned as a section of ground around them blackened and split.

That patience had given Ned the confidence to keep trying, to experiment, to find ways to control his power.  Ned didn’t talk to other apprentices very often, but when he did he found out that most Masters were far stricter in their training.  He also learnt that Master Demotte hadn’t taken an apprentice for many years, possibly for decades.  For some reason he had instantly taken Ned on.  Ned was determined to repay that trust.

Spurred on by his desire to prove himself Ned made rapid progress.  Within weeks he had enough control to practice on his own — if he was careful.  The extra practice allowed him to refine his control, and in turn the additional control unlocked the ability to handle even more power.

Ned had studied under the Master for almost five months now, yet was tackling tasks that most apprentices took five or six years to master.  Master Demotte had let slip the day before that many would never master those skills until their transformation.  Ned had been surprised and pleased.  The other apprentices avoided him so he had no idea that he was so far advanced.  In fact he’d been harbouring a feeling, deep inside, that he was somehow inferior due to being so much older.  Now the Master had told him that actually the opposite was true.

“
Not bad,” Master Demotte said, drawing Ned from his chain of thought.  “But can you keep it going under pressure?”

Without warning he launched a probe of power towards Ned’s structure, trying to destabilise it.  Ned strengthened the pattern, resisting the probe which disappeared almost instantly only to be replaced by another.  This one was stronger so Ned created a small barrier, deflecting the probe past his pattern.  He did the same with the next probe but this time Master Demotte made it curve back, striking at the pattern from a different direction.  Ned deflected it again.  Each time he did Master Demotte turned it to attack from another direction.

They had sparred like this many times before so Ned wasn’t surprised when Master Demotte sent out a second probe.  Now Ned had to counter attacks from two directions.  It was more difficult but he managed.  Soon there were three probes to defend against, then four.  Ned started to sweat as he desperately deflected where he could and strengthened the pattern where probes got through. 

Once before he had tried forming a shield around the entire pattern, protecting the whole pattern with a single defence.  Master Demotte had repeatedly launched attacks at the shield, weakening then demolishing it in a matter of seconds then tearing down Ned’s pattern.  He hadn’t needed to say anything.  Ned had learnt his lesson.  A static shield was easily overcome, only by changing the defence repeatedly could it prevail.

Suddenly all the probes disappeared.  Ned waited, panting for breath, certain that the contest wasn’t over.  It never was until his pattern was demolished.  The test was to see how long he could hold out before losing, not whether he could win.  Master Demotte smiled for a moment then drew something from his pocket.  It was a short cylinder, sealed at both ends.  He pointed one end at Ned then broke the seal.

Something flashed out and shot towards Ned, not his pattern.  It was a form of power he had never encountered before.  It radiated darkness.  Ned recoiled from it, throwing up a barrier of red energy to stop it.  The darkness battered against the barrier several times then drew back and drove into it again, drilling through the barrier and striking for Ned’s chest.

With a shout he stumbled backwards, dropping his pattern and focusing fully on the threat.  This time he created a slanted barrier, deflecting the darkness past.  It worked but the dark power swung in a sharp curve to attack again.  For a moment Ned wondered what was going on, why Master Demotte would unleash something so vicious.  Then it was on him again and all he could focus on was survival.  He had no doubt that the darkness would kill him if it could.  Forcing down fear he stood his ground.

This time when the darkness struck he used a different defence.  Once again it was a barrier but now he wove threads of green and white power through the red barrier.  Instead of deflecting the darkness it gave way, folding inwards and acting like a net around the dark power.  The darkness reacted with what Ned could only describe as rage.  It ripped and tore at the net of power holding it, finally shredding a hole large enough to escape through.  It pulled away for a few moments, studying Ned, then it shot towards him again.

Ned threw up the same barrier again, but this time the darkness pulled back as soon as it made contact.  It dived to the side and tried to bypass the barrier.  Ned managed to reform it but the darkness had closed the distance slightly.  Once again it pulled back slightly on contact with the net, then shot to the side.  It kept feinting and moving, each time getting slightly closer to Ned.

Ned realised that he could only lose if he didn’t try something different.  He focused on the darkness, using the time he was buying to study it.  There was structure to the darkness but it was hard to make out.  The surface was in constant flux.  Darkness was constantly welling up in some places and being dragged back inside in others.  Deflecting yet another attack he noticed something he thought was important.  The longer the darkness was on the surface the less structured it became.  By the time it was drawn back inside it seemed ragged, weakened.  The surface was in flux because it had to be.  Ned tried to think of ways to stop the process, to keep it exposed long enough to start breaking down.  He couldn’t think of any way to do it and the darkness was getting dangerously close.

Then Ned realised he was looking at the problem from the wrong direction.  With a smile he prepared to pounce.  The darkness probed his shield yet again and tried to pull back, but this time Ned flung the barrier after it.  He caught the darkness in a net once more.  The darkness immediately began to rip and tear at its bonds.  Ned knew he had no time to lose, the darkness would be free within seconds.  Focusing hard he drew energy into his body.  Not the power he normally drew.  This time he was directly absorbing the sun’s rays.

He’d never done it before, hadn’t ever been told it was possible.  He was operating on instinct alone.  As the sun’s power filled his body he wove it into the net around the darkness, which immediately started to smoke and screech.  It doubled its efforts to escape but now the net was holding strong.  Ned smiled as he forced more and more of the sun’s power into the net. 

He’d been right.  It was the sunlight that had been damaging the darkness, forcing it to keep renewing its substance.  Rather than keeping one part of the darkness exposed he had found a way to increase the sunlight striking the darkness as a whole.  As he poured more and more concentrated sunlight into the net the darkness shrank faster and faster, its substance and structure obliterated far more quickly than it could renew them.

Abruptly it was all over.  The darkness imploded.  One moment it was still there, writhing and screeching, the next it was gone.  Ned drew a shuddering breath, then another.  His gaze remained fixed on where the darkness had been and he kept the net in place.  He was still wary of the powerful foe he had faced down, not completely convinced that it was really gone.

“You can relax.  It has gone now.  You beat it.”

Ned had forgotten Master Demotte.  Wheeling round he fixed him with a furious stare.

“I could have been killed!  What the hell was that?  Why did you set it on me?  It could have killed me!”

Realising he was repeating himself he stumbled to a stop.  Master Demotte smiled calmly then replied.

“Yes, it could have killed you.  That was the point of the test.  To see how you would respond to something completely unexpected.  You’d be surprised how many fail that test the first time.  Many stay focused on protecting their pattern and don’t even consider the threat to themselves.  Or they do but still believe protecting the pattern is the most important thing.”

“
And they die?  You let it kill them?”

“
Of course not!  Ned, you should know me better than that by now.  Not only would I never allow someone to be seriously hurt in a test, you should know that I have more than enough strength to deal with something like that.”

“
I’m sorry Master, but… I’ve never seen or heard of anything like that.  What was it?”

“
Actually, you have.  Quite often.  But words can never prepare you for your first exposure to the Creeping Dark.  That is the purpose of the test.  A test which you passed with flying colours.  Your solution was novel too.  I will enjoy showing it to the other masters.  Any new technique in our arsenal is greatly appreciated.”

“
The Creeping Dark?  I never imagined that it would be so… so… cunning I suppose.  Spiteful even.”

Master Demotte’s expression became serious.  “Indeed.  Cunning and spiteful.  A good description, though there are many other words needed to fully describe it.  No one can fully appreciate how evil the Creeping Dark truly is until they have faced it.”

“But… how can you have had it?  What were you doing with a part of such darkness?”

“
A good question.  The answer is that sometimes we are able to capture sections of it.  We often talk about the Creeping Dark as if it is a single entity.  In fact it is better described as a collection of entities, each with the same aims and goals.  Many have debated whether the parts somehow communicate to create one controlling consciousness.  No one truly knows.

The sections we manage to capture are stored, either for study or to test students with.  Very few students are able to destroy the darkness in their first encounter.  Congratulations.”

“Very few… but you did, didn’t you master.”

Master Demotte laughed deeply at that.  “Very astute Ned.  Though, to be fair, I did cheat.  I realised that my Master was throwing more and more powerful tests at me.  I decided to spy on those whose training was more advanced.  I saw many fail to deal with this test but one did succeed.  When my time came I used the same technique to quickly defeat the Creeping Dark.  I felt pretty smug I can tell you.  For about five seconds.  Then my Master laid into me.  He recognised the solution and realised I’d cheated.  I very nearly got thrown out of the order.  In the end they decided I could stay, but they made me do penance for a year.