Wall of Darkness

Cherryrose had tracked the lynx deep into the undercity, her heart racing with fear, excitement, and determination.

It was a difficult chase. Vulane - the 'City of Secrets' - was a permanently damp city-state due to the enchanted skies. Each step Cherryrose took on the cobblestones was awkward and forced. The lynx would often check behind herself and take side streets randomly, a tactic common in ambush predators.

Cherryrose - a new Tyrian cleric - used her long ears to follow the trail. She had noticed the lynx skittering past the temple on dark, rainy nights like this.

“Now Cherry,” her lauded grandfather had warned her, “this city is not for clerics whose faith wavers. The City of Secrets and Lies hides many a foe for our kind. Track them down. Hunt them. Convert them if you can, but remember our goal...”

‘...Protect our kind and then ascend to the Heavens when Tyr calls us,’ she whispered to herself.

The undercity - officially known as the Underdistrict - was where all the dirtiest refuse and endless rain of the City of Lies was swept. Creatures that even Vulane tried to keep hidden were here.

Cherry clutched her golden T close to her beating heart as she unfolded her long ears. With each step, Cherry knew that this was an evildoer: not only was the young hare’s quarry a predator, but “her movements suggested guilt,” as her lauded grandfather would say.

The squishing of fleet feet on soft mud echoing off ancient brickwork sewers carried the young hare doe further into the darkness. Cherryrose took a look at her once-gleaming white and red robes, now stained with mud and other unmentionable liquids from the chase into the Underdistrict.

Grandfather would be proud.

The undercity was dark: perfect for predator eyes. The sound of the lynx's light, swift steps echoed off the ancient brickwork, leading her deeper into the abyss. Cherryrose herself held aloft her holy golden amulet, made a quick prayer, and watched as her faith manifested into a small ray of light that spilled onto the pathway.

The undercity had residents other than living mammals of course, but with Tyr’s protection in her left hand and her short sword in the other, Cherry could hardly feel threatened by the living or the dead.

The upper undercity - the part that was just below the paws of the citizens of Vulane - was mostly the technologically advanced sewer system and the secret entrances and exits into the cellars of the wealthy for their own nefarious needs. The level below that was a city below the city, but even more dangerous than Vulane itself... at least for those who were not well prepared.

The light from Cherry’s amulet was highlighting the muck of the sewer system. The hare’s long ears picked up various noises including drips, footsteps, whispered voices, and the wind along with sounds that would be difficult to identify even if one spent a lifetime down in that darkness.

Round and round through the labyrinthine catacombs Cherry ran. She noted every paw print in the mud and unholy graffiti on every stone. Ignoring other sounds, she followed the secretive footsteps no matter where they led - Tyr would always show her the way back home.

He always had.

She stopped.

Right in front of Cherry was a wall of darkness... although it was not a solid wall. When the young hare held her amulet up to it, the light could not penetrate. Yet, when she put her paw-like hand out, it passed right through.

A sneer crept onto Cherry’s face. Her eyes widened. She had never been afraid - of course not. This was something else: Something she did not know about. Something that she - a cleric of Tyr - had not even heard about.

Pricking up her long ears she strained to hear what was happening in the tunnel of black. This time, she heard voices - plural. A conversation was taking place. A grin of determination took the sneer’s place as Cherryrose gripped the pommel of her shortsword and faced the wall of blackness.

“It’ll be just like stealing from Ol’ Yip when I was a child,” she told herself. The memory of outfoxing the mean old fox gave her the confidence she needed as she stepped forward.

Whoops.

Cherry landed with a splat and her sword with a CLANG into a mud puddle... at least she hoped it was a mud puddle. She looked back and the light from some far off swinging lanterns was still gathering five feet above, but then stopped. Cherry looked around and still the surroundings were pitch black.

She swung the sword in front of her and held it aloft as though the mere presence of it would protect her. Then, grabbing her amulet with her other paw hand she said a quick prayer.

I see you, a heavy, whispering voice said in her mind as the amulet snapped in half. 

Cherry skidded backwards in the muck and clutched at her eyes. In her sight she saw two weaving purple bulbs - the kind a creature would see if they glimpsed the sun. An afterimage of... something.

Now her robes would be completely ruined. Master Uldin would surely reprimand her again. Her amulet she could replace more easily.

She rubbed her eyes but this time muck got in them and she dropped her sword.

“Drat!” She hissed as the shortsword squicked onto the floor. Finding leverage with the wall she slowly made it to her feet. Her eyes were burning, so she used the back of her paws to wipe away as much as she could.

“Ack...” She whispered, still focused on the mission at hand. She lifted her ear once more, ignoring the strange purple afterimages in her vision.

“Yes, master,” a voice in the distance said. It wasn’t whispering anymore. A female’s voice, quite possibly.

Cherryrose continually tried to wipe the muck out of her eyes. Now it was truly burning. Fumbling in her cloak, she found a vial of some healing salve - but it slipped through her wet paws.

“Damn!” She swore.

“That is truly ingenious master,” the voice in the darkness continued. “All her friends will see and despair afterward.”

Cherryrose got on her hands and knees, groping for the sword even as her eyes began to burn more and more.

Are you having trouble... my little friend? The voice in Cherryrose’s mind said.

“No, no, I’m fi-fine,” she said through the pain.

“...Wandering eyeless through the halls of Justice?” The external voice was closer.

My... Little... Friend...

Clink... Cherry’s hand brushed against the vial. Shaking, she unscrewed the top and poured it in her eyes.

Oh, yikes! That wasn’t it. Whatever that was, it was definitely not a healing salve. Master Uldin will give her a long talking to, that’s for sure. Cherry desperately tried to open her eyes even a little, but the pain forced them closed.

Something was happening to the young, clever cleric. Her heart was beating very quickly and her paws were shaking. 

Hmm. Curious.

A laugh - a dark chuckle - from something she could not see. 

“Another lost soul stumbling in the dark? Now physically blind as well as mentally, eh, master?” 

“Who is your master, fiend?” Cherry said as authoritatively as she could. “I demand that you... that you dispel this unholy darkness post haste!”

“Demands, yes, always making demands.” 

You see my pupil? Tyrians are never wrong... never afraid, the voice in her head said once again.asdfh

“What?! What? Who said that?! Identify yourself!” 

“Are you certain master? I can hear her heart beating so fast.” The speaker was now addressing Cherryrose. “Do you feel it? Do you remember it? The old, old, old feelings nestled in the corners of your very skin? Hiding in your burrow from the predator?”  

Cherry’s eyes were now truly in pain. She was clawing at her face trying to remove the slime, now.

And she had no reason to follow you here, other than her own hubris. Do you now see why I detest them?

“Yes master. What a contemptible creature.” 

Cherry’s heart was thudding in her chest as she desperately tried to scrape the muck from her eyes. The burning was now overwhelming all the other senses.

The last thing she ever saw were the two violet eyes, watching her with implacable, unblinking emotionlessness from the dark.