Chapter 19: A herald is born

Chapter 19: A herald is born

"You have made the right choice, Dreamwalker. Embrace my blessings!" Mordred proclaimed in his dark, prophetic voice that echoed ominously inside the temple.

A wave of fire swept the room, burning the soles of Xander's boots. His feet were suddenly lifted off the ground by some unseen force, and he felt a strange energy surging through his body.

Xander's face darkened as an inky blackness seeped into his eyes. A searing pain flared up inside his chest as he hovered between leaf and death. His face turned red, and blisters appeared all over his smooth skin.

"Make it stop!" he screamed, unable to bear the excruciating agony.

"It will all be over soon. But first, your flesh must be cleansed of all innocence," Mordred declared aloud.

Xander's arms and legs twisted violently as a dark power took hold of his body. Darkness clouded his vision, and all his senses abandoned him. A drowsy numbness lulled him to sleep, forcing him to slip out of consciousness.

"I, Mordred, the Lord of Terror and the Supreme Overlord of the Nightscape, command the darkness to obey my will and bless this mortal with my terrifying grace. Xander Nyxon, I bind your soul to my altar. Relinquish your mortal fears and be reborn as my herald!"

The dark deity's voice reverberated across the room, waking Xander from his deathly stupor. As he reopened his eyes, the swirling winds guided his feet to the floor, bringing him down again.

All the pain had suddenly disappeared, and his skin was back to normal. He could even see a lot clearer than before, but his heart kept racing inside his chest.

Once the numbness subsided, he walked up to Mordred and asked, "What have you done to me?"

"I have blessed you with my unyielding strength and my unfaltering wisdom. You are still a mortal, but your soul is now bound to me."

"I don't feel much of a difference," Xander responded, opening and closing his fists. He didn't feel particularly strong or wise. "Is this some kind of trick?" he questioned, meeting Mordred's dark gaze.

The Lord of Terror smiled at this and revealed the truth. "I have given you the power to tame corruption and bend it to your will. Use it wisely and none shall dare to stand in your path."

"I don't understand—"

"I could explain everything to you. But where's the fun in that?" Mordred chuckled, flashing a toothy grin. "Return to your world and serve me with diligence."

Mordred's last words kept echoing in Xander's ears as everything around him faded into darkness. For a few brief moments, he found his body drifting weightlessly across a void, and then suddenly a bright white light appeared in the distance.

The light started as a small glowing orb, but soon it swallowed everything in the vast emptiness, flooding the void with a numbing whiteness.

"Please wake up. Xander! I need you to wake up!"

A muffled voice reached Xander's ears. It sounded like someone was shouting from the other side of a closed door. He could barely make out the words.

"Xander, please don't do this to me! Tiva needs you."

Hearing the loud sobbing, the Dreamwalker opened his eyes, gasping for breath. Breathing fitfully in short, sporadic bursts, he sat up straight. It felt like he had been submerged under the icy cold waters of a freezing lake.

Xander's palms were as cold as the soles of his feet, and his clothes were drenched in sweat. Though he could hear everything clearly, his vision was still blurry.

"Thank God you're okay! I almost thought I lost you." Leena threw her arms around Xander, wrapping him in a tight hug that warmed him like a blanket. It eased his nerves and gradually calmed his racing heart.

"Where's Tiva? Is she alright?" Those were the first words to come out of Xander's mouth. The dryness inside his throat made him cough as he tried to continue. "Does she know..."

"Relax. She's sleeping. She doesn't know anything." Leena reassured him with a light touch on his shoulder. Her worried eyes glazed over his face and she asked, "What took you so long? What did you see inside that memory?"

Xander slowly got back on his feet with a little assistance from Leena. With shaky movements, he made his way to his bedside table and grabbed a glass of plain tap water. Pouring it down his throat in one continuous gulping motion, he heaved a relieved sigh.

"It wasn't a memory. It was a vision. A vision of things to come."

"A vision?" There was confusion in Leena's voice and a strange uneasiness about the way she looked at Xander's eyes. "There is something different about you. I can't tell what, but something's not right."

"I saw Shamura's army. Zorril was there," Xander replied. "What I'm about to tell you is very dangerous. You can't disclose it to anyone."

After giving Leena some time to ponder over his words, Xander began narrating his tale from the very beginning. He told her everything he had seen in those three fragmented scenes and finally about his encounter with Mordred.

Leena's eyes widened in horror, and her mouth fell open as Xander told her about the deal he'd struck with the dark deity.

"You shouldn't have done that," she spoke at last. "Mordred isn't some benevolent God. He is the Lord of Terror. He relishes creating horrifying nightmares and toying with humans."

"Do you think I had a choice?" Xander snapped back, staring right into her eyes. "It was the only way I could come back. I died inside that vision."

Everything Xander had told her so far painted a terrifying picture of things to come. It was all conjecture and guesswork up until this point. But now it was clear as broad daylight that Shamura was trying to cross over to their world.

"We have to inform the Dreamweavers. They are the only ones who can stop her."

The Dreamweavers were Legendary Dreamwalkers who had abandoned human society to meditate in the most hostile places on Somnium to attain true enlightenment and win the favor of Verana, the Goddess of Dreams.

Though these knowledgeable few had distanced themselves from society, other Dreamwalkers would often make the difficult pilgrimage to seek their prophetic counsel. Leena, too, had a similar idea since the Dreamweavers were the only ones who could tell them more about the dark deity and how to stop her.

"We have to put our faith in the wise ones. They will know what needs to be done." Leena got up and was about to leave when Xander grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

"The Dreamweavers are a lost cause. They will never help us, and you know it. Stop putting your faith in those senile old men. They don't care about us. Hell, they don't care about anyone."

"Then what exactly are we going to do? Do you have a better idea?"

Xander stood up from his bed and nodded. "I do. We're gonna tell everything to the Chief of Police and ask him to help us find the cultists." n.)O).v/)E))1-.B(/1((n

"We don't even know how many there are. They could have already started the summoning rituals."

"It doesn't matter. We only need to find Moreas. He is the one we need to stop," Xander replied with confidence.

Leena however, didn't seem too convinced. "They could be anywhere. There's no guarantee that all the cultists are still in Merantis, or even Somnium for that matter."

Xander looked her in the eye with dead seriousness and replied, "I'll find Moreas no matter where he's hiding. He killed Nelly. I'm not letting him walk away from this."

"And what exactly are you gonna do when you find him?" Leena asked.

"I'm gonna put a bullet through his skull," Xander answered without a second thought.