Writetober Day 22 (Ghost)

Writetober Day 22

Ghost

                The third pillar loomed high above the group.  They were beaten and tired, fear, confusion and determination splattered across their faces.  Kyle forced air out of his lungs hard as he approached the carved altar that mirrored the previous two pillars.

Tom was quiet, he had been quiet since his interaction with the corruption.  Almost killing his best friend was unforgivable in his mind.  Tom focused on the silver ring on his finger, it brought him peace and comfort.

“Last one.”  Kyle spoke to himself as he placed the orb on the altar.

The sphere began to glow in a brilliant light.  It pulsated as it reached its peak brightness; as before the rippling light coursed through the spire as it climbed to the top.  Erupting from the tip of the obelisk, the light didn’t mushroom creating a bubble around the spires area of influence.  Instead, it blasted through the haze, tunneling toward the previous spire.  They were connected, the light pierced through the corruption and created safe and peaceful passage to the previous towering structures.  In all the beauty, Kyle was filled with worry, the obsidian ring still hugged his finger.

“Why isn’t all the corruption gone?”  Tom stared outside the spire’s ring of influence.

“Because this is ground zero.”  Michelle studied what she could with her eyes.  She noticed how the silver light struggled but succeeded at keeping the corruption at bay.  “We haven’t seen this depth of corruption anywhere else, The Wild must be it’s home, its origin.  Your grandpa must have built these to have some safe travel here.”

“Your words couldn’t be more correct.”  The male voice leapt from the shimmering orb that hovered just above the altar.

“The ring is still black…it’s still corrupt.”  Kyle was too defeated to here the voice in front of him.

“Kyle, look!”  Michelle and Tom spoke in unison.

The orb rippled violently as it began to eat itself from within.  Spears of light tore holes in what was left of the decaying orb, a white mist flowed to the floor out of the holes.  The mist piled and formed into a ghastly apparition, standing feet in front of Kyle.

“You look like your mother.”  The ghost spoke, a smile seemed to form on the non-existent face.

“Are you Nathaniel?”  Michelle spoke for her shocked husband.

“What remains of him, yes.”  The essence paused, seemingly staring at the black ring.  “It’s good to finally meet you Kyle, I’m sure you have plenty of questions.”

“What is going on?  How are you here?  Why is the ring still corrupt?  Who is Vordmir?”  The questions spilled from Kyle, he couldn’t stop them.  As the last questions left his mouth, tears filled his eyes.

The apparition prepared itself to answer.  “I died in these lands long ago, my bones lost within the haze of The Wild.  It was my choice, and I wouldn’t change what I did.  As Michelle said, the corruption grows and festers here.  It oozes from the very land, strengthening to pierce the veil between worlds.  Vordmir is nothing but a pawn, he was simply the first to discover The Wild.  In doing so, it granted the man unimaginable powers.  In return he vowed to spread the corruption to his world.  Once the corruption was thick in his land, Vordmir turned his eyes to your world, the world that shared the veil to The Wild.  Luckily, Welton found us first, he recruited me, and I blindly followed.”  The ghost paused, allowing the group to take in what he said.

“But their world doesn’t look like The Wild.”  Tom didn’t know where to look on the apparition.

“Because I did my job.  For the first decade of wielding the ring, I fought the corruption and Vordmir.  Slowly, villages and towns were erected with new hope and dreams.  The corruptive mist was all but gone, but Vordmir was left.  It is true, my ring was tainted during its forging process, but that corruption was weak, easy enough for me to destroy it, but I didn’t.  I needed it to stay within my ring.  I murdered Vordmir time and time again, but the corruption kept bringing back it’s herald.  My final battle took me to The Wild, where it all started, facing Vordmir in his master’s lands.  I trapped him, I trapped his soul in my ring.  I wasn’t strong enough to defeat the corruption, but I could take away it’s slave.”

“He’s still alive.”  Kyle looked at the scar on his arm, the teeth marks still clearly visible.

“The corruption is still alive, the Vordmir you’ve encountered is the manifestation of the corruption.  Just as I am chained to these lands, he is chained to your ring.”

“What do you mean chained?”  Kyle asked.

“It’s the pillars isn’t it?”  Michelle interjected.

“You are right again.  I put so much of myself into the spires, that I have cemented my being in The Wild.  With the spires connected, I am able to take the form you see before you.”

An inhuman roar drowned the words that left Nathaniel.  Rushing air enveloped the area as a black shadow cast across the earth from high above.  The air was suddenly cold, frozen breath left Kyle’s mouth.

The dragon roared once more, the earth-shattering sound careened to the ground below.  Kyle buckled beneath the power of dominance, his grandfather’s ghost shouting muted words into the air.  Tom gripped Kyle’s studded leather vest and hauled him to his feet.

“We need to move!”  Tom was confident in his actions, he lived for this.

A molten ball rocketed where Kyle stood moments before.  The dragon high above seethed in anger.  The world rang in Michelle’s ears as she stood from the blast, her vision obscured by the freshly kicked up dirt.

“I will erase your existence from all worlds!”  The corruption bellowed.

“Focus on the rings!”  Nathaniel’s apparition got the words out as hellfire began to rain.

Fireballs spewed from the monster’s mouth and rained down, obliterating whatever stood below.  The symphony of destruction put Krinkledag’s obliteration to shame, death was the only thing that would be left in The Wild.