The Carnival at Moonbright
Empathic Costs

1:20 AM

Pushing through the portal, Myla found herself in a dimly lit room. The soil beneath her sank an inch as her feet touched the ground.

Soil?

Above her, tiny globes of light revolved around the room, along with a small cloud, gently raining upon the ground below, of which large plants of various colors and shapes soaked it in. Behind her, Myla investigated the stairwell to find it sealed above and below her.

Lyla? She thought outwardly, hoping to hear her sister’s voice in her mind, but no reply came. Taking her time, she studied the plants around her, checking for traps. Confident there was no immediate worry, she slowly paced around the room, looking for anything that would clue her into the floor of the tower she was on or where the others might be.

Across the room, Myla saw a metallic table sitting in front of a tree. Tubes were placed in the tree, where a red liquid, almost like blood, flowed through to small vials on a rotating disc. As the liquid dripped into the vial, reaching nearly the top, the weight of it would push it down, causing it to move slowly, rotating another vial into its place. Inside each vial, a small amount of slightly sparkling powder sat at the bottom, which would agitate from the red liquid and dissolve. Myla had seen healing potions, which looked almost identical, but she didn’t want to leave it to chance. Maybe if she had the party with her, they could identify it, but without them, it was a gamble that she didn’t want to risk. She quickly corked a few of the finished vials and placed them in her pack, hoping to find out later if they were helpful. Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh the FɪndNøvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

She turned around and saw a small chain hidden in the shade behind the tree. Myla moved over towards it. Taking a few seconds to follow the chain up the ceiling with her eyes, she could see it stretch across the room to the stairwell. She placed the chain in her hands and pulled it down towards her. The chain recoiled back after her second pull, and Myla could hear a spring snap and the stone move across the ceiling, giving an exit to this odd, terrarium-esque space.

Walking up the stairs, Myla could see the Astral Sea above her. It was clear to her that moving back and forth through the Astral Sea might be her only way through to her sister and friends. She took a breath, readied herself, and walked through.

1:24 AM

What the fuck? She thought as the feeling of being kicked in her stomach took the air from her lungs, then landed on her feet as if she had been falling instead of walking upwards. Onto a platform in the Astral Sea, she could hear creatures talking in a language she didn’t understand. She looked over her shoulder and saw two elder shades and three small shade creatures looking around, confused. Myla realized they were unprepared for what was happening, but they jumped to attention and moved quickly toward her, weapons at the ready.

Myla pulled her daggers out and aimed. Throwing Lead, she felt the energy of it leave her hands and strike one of the elder shades. Moving around one of the smaller ones, she spun around and threw Follow behind her back, hearing the shriek from one of the creatures as it made its mark. Seeing that she was unarmed, the smaller one in front of her moved forward to attack with its blade, but that’s what Myla wanted.

Pulling out to defend herself, the daggers vanished and reappeared in her hands, giving her seconds to parry the shade’s attack. The creature, not ready for parry, was pushed to Myla’s side in an unbalanced off-step. She pulled her dagger down and grazed it across its neck, feeling the blood run down her hands as it slumped and fell, hitting the platform with a heavy THUNK.

Myla! Her sister’s voice rang through her mind. Across the platform, Lyla appeared, landing on the platform.

What is going on?

Duck!

Myla could see the elder shade moving towards her sister. Taking Lead in her hand, she threw it at her sister. Lyla dropped down, swinging her leg around her. It connected with the side of the dagger, redirecting it and sending it careening into the neck of the creature. Lyla stood, readying herself for another attack as Myla pulled her blade back to her hand. Before she could do more, she saw the elder shade produce a ball of black energy in its hands and then release it. It moved to the center of the platform, and then she couldn’t see anything.

It was as if she was blinded. The area was gone entirely from her vision. She listened for anything near her, but too many things were happening to discern her sister from the creatures.

1:25 AM

“Ow!” Lyla cried out.

“Sorry! Didn’t know you were there!” Gisela yelled back.

“Gisela! Myla’s here, and there are shades everywhere in this place!”

Myla became confused. She could hear others moving and people talking that weren’t there beforehand. Her confusion didn’t last long, though, as the darkness seemed to fade as quickly as it came, and she saw Gisela, Leaf, Lyla, and Rhokhishi standing near the stairwell.

Leaf had large stones attached to his arms, and he was bleeding. He approached Rhokhishi as a small, furry creature dropped from above onto the platform. The winged fox grew in size as soon as it hit the ground, taking the shape of a hurt Mr. Muffins.

“That… was terrible,” He gasped.

“Can you help me get these off?” Leaf asked, holding the amber stone in his hand, covered in blood and skin.

“My gods, yes,” Rhokhishi replied, holding her hands over his. Quietly, Myla watched as Rhokhishi prayed, and the magic glowed in her hands as it slowly healed Leaf’s arm, then removed the amber stone.

“These are cursed items. I don’t have much magic left in me today. Tomorrow, we can try to take more off.”

“If we get through to tomorrow,” Lyla’s sarcasm pierced the air.

“This is the platform under the third floor. We should be close.” Leaf said, looking around at the others.

“The stairway is open already to the floor beneath. That’s where I ended up,” Myla stated, her calm expression barely hiding the worry.

“We need to rest first. I know we’re in a hurry, but we must check our resources.” Leaf stated, sitting and trying not to move.

“We have potions. I found some,” Myla replied, handing them to the group.

“We rest, then we move,” Rhokhishi stated.

2:30 AM

Rested enough, the party gathered their things and descended the stairwell to the second floor. They felt the ground beneath them give as their combined weight pushed down a plate, and the opening for the stairs led them to what they hoped was the last platform of the Astral Sea. Inside Myla’s mind, she could hear a voice she didn’t recognize. Though the voice was telepathic, it sounded rough, wheezed, and strained.

“I guess I underestimated you all. Since they’ve been hiding under your noses this entire time, I assumed that you were fools… No matter, I’ll kill you, then I’ll finish off the Archmage…”

Ahead of them, a doorway appeared and opened, leading to a stairwell that went down.

2:31 AM

Descending, Myla felt uneasy. The narrow staircase caused her lungs to feel tight as she followed in between her party. The torchlight from the doorway at the bottom illuminated the bottom of the stairwell but little else. She watched those before her readied themselves as they moved into the next room. Taking a breath and then preparing herself, she followed.

Unlike the platforms in the Astral Sea and the Archmage’s Tower, the space seemed to contain a mixture of both areas. The walls climbed high to a domed ceiling, but there was no disconnect between any space. It seemed as if the room bent and was shaped into what it was from a single piece of material. She saw smaller shades standing guard around some domed barrier in the middle of the large chamber. It looked like glass, but it shifted and swayed. Inside, Archmage Orin stood. It was hard to tell from the distance, but his body was slumped, as if asleep, even though his eyes were focused on something in the corner across from them.

In the corner, two elder darklings stood at the ready with weapons drawn in a protective stance. Behind them was a foul-looking creature. Standing eight feet tall, the hunchbacked creature wore what looked like leather made from human skin. Long, elongated arms protruded forward in grotesque angles, showing the beast having an extra joint in its arms. It watched the group as they surveyed the scene, its eyes milky white and teeth completely rotten or missing. Breathing in a wheeze, it smiled as a cockroach ran across its lips, drool and bile already running down her chin. In a strained whisper, she spoke.

“Welcome, children... Welcome to your oblivion. Come closer and let the Hag of Annis see you better so that I can watch your life drain from your eyes.”

Her hand raised, and then everything moved at once. Myla aimed her daggers and let them fly through the air. With precision, she weaved between creatures, letting her blades touch her hands only when reappearing before tossing them back into the fray. She watched as multiple creatures surrounded her sister. Mr. Muffins pulled out a small cannon-like device with legs. Gisela grew larger and larger as she took flight. Spells and weapons were flung around the room. She felt confident that they were doing well, even in their tired state, but it wasn’t until she had gotten closer to Orin that she realized she was wrong. Having only time to move out of the way, she saw Gisela try to get through the barrier with no luck, but Orin’s incantation was complete. Walls of stone and ice rose from the ground, knocking the party back and separating the hag from them.

“She must be the one controlling him!” Leaf yelled.

“Got it!” Gisela answered back as Rhokhishi and Gisela moved up and over the wall towards where the hag was last.

“It seems you don’t understand what is happening here…” Myla could hear the hag in her mind. Looking around, she could tell that they heard it, too. Next to the barrier surrounding Archmage Orin, she could see the hag pushing against it. The dome seemed to solidify further.

“I will kill each and every last one of you, then receive my payment from her. She’ll leave, and I’ll be here, underneath the town. I will take control, and no one will stop me!”

The hag pointed at Orin, and Myla watched as he began casting another spell. Leaf moved forward, trying to make his way through the shades, but there were too many. The dome filled with gas, almost blocking any visual within, except for a shadowed silhouette of Orin inside.

“Orin, NO!” Leaf yelled out, his hand reaching out to try and get to the dome.

Myla saw the spark in Orin’s hand, and then a wave of heat engulfed the room as flames erupted from his fingers and filled the dome. Within seconds, the gas dissipated, leaving only ashes on the floor.

The voices in Myla’s head grew louder and louder until they burst through her mind, causing her to drop to her knees. Looking around, she couldn’t see the battlefield anymore. Instead, flashes of memories ran in front of her eyes.

A younger Leaf being offered a mentorship by the Archmage in a castle covered in snow. She saw images of his training over the past few years, quiet moments of study, laughter… Then, all of it became fire. She screamed, the emotions ripping through her mind and body, feeling Leaf’s reaction to Orin’s death. She cried out, tears running down her face before the images vanished, returning her to the fight. In anger, she pulled the dagger from the creature’s chest before her and flung it at the hag. She rushed past Rhokhishi and Mr. Muffins, who were trying to heal Lyla and Gisela with potions and magic.

She thrust her daggers through the air, making contact and slicing into the hag’s arms, stomach, and face. Instead of blood, bugs crawled and poured out of the wounds.

The hag walked slowly towards Myla and Leaf, their party behind them. Myla could feel spells rush past her, but nothing else mattered. Her voice echoed Leaf’s as he screamed spells at the hag. It laughed, then started to pull coins from its pockets. The gold and silver pieces hit the floor, and she walked forward.

“You don’t seem to understand... If she succeeds, we all succeed. My death tonight will mean nothing. The moon will tremble in her wake, and all will be lost for you…”

Leaf and Myla reached out. Myla’s dagger dug into the hag’s abdomen, and Leaf uttered one last incantation. She could see the light of the spell form over his fingers, but her mind retook hold and lost sight of the creature before her.

Looking around, she was standing in a dark sewer. Her eyes seemed to be able to see comfortably enough. Hunchbacked and heavy-breathed, Myla felt the body she was in move forward through the water and refuse in the sewers below Moonbright. Coming to a small calendar, just peeking out of the grime, she watched through the eyes of the hag as she picked it up. Circled on it was the 16th of Fogblum. The same day that the carnival arrived in Moonbright.

She blinked and found herself in front of the hag again. She watched as it smiled one last time before its eyes rolled back, and it slumped to the ground.

6 PM

After leaving the main front doors, the party turned around and walked back in. They were unsure of their next steps. The room had returned to its typical space, and there was no evidence of an attack.

Now, hours later, Myla woke and rushed out of the room. As she moved into the main room, her sister barely had time to wake up in the bed next to her. Leaf was sitting near the fireplace, staring into the flames.

“Leaf, we need to see what’s outside.”

“What’s wrong?”

“What’s going on?” Mr. Muffins asked, coming out of his room.

“I’m not sure, but I can feel it.”

Moments later, with the party all sitting around the room, Leaf turned the pages in his spellbook.

“Ah, there it is.”

He moved his hands and spoke the incantation, and the party watched as the walls became translucent. Unable to be noticed from the outside, the party could now see out into the town of Moonbright.

Myla felt her blood run cold as she looked out. Hundreds of citizens, all with blank stares, faced the Archmage’s Tower. In their right hands, they carried various farming tools and weapons. In their left, they held up a singular gold or silver coin.

She thought back, recollecting memories of the past two weeks. She held up her coin purse. She remembered being in the carnival tent, speaking with the troupe. Ramona pointing down at a random coin. She recalled Ramona tripping into Rhokhishi and giving her a coin as well.

The moon will tremble in her wake…

Myla turned to everyone. Her eyes open in shock at the realization.

“It’s Ramona Moontremble.”

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