“What is the cause of this?” Lucien asked as he extended his ears all the way up, trying to pick up any hint of sound. Zarius did the same, and he could not hear anything save the slight sigh of wind.
“Graveyards are like this. Cemeteries, ancient battlefields – anywhere that you can find a Ghost Type, you will find the atmosphere having been permanently changed to this dull state. A reminder of the finality of death and how it constantly persists. This is what happens when Ghost elemental energy is present for a long period of time.”
Zarius drew his sword and whispered a short prayer, “Gods above; show me the words of the divine that I may know my capabilities.”
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The language of the gods appeared in front of Zarius, and it was...different. As if his brain found it more sensible and logical. Not just words flitting across his vision - they were organized in a pattern of symbols that appeared more pleasing to the eye.
Lucien walked up, tapping a paw against the phantasmal image. “Ah, you took my advice.”
“Yeah,” Zarius replied. “That time around town was meditative enough. Just walking and taking in the sights while not doing much activity.” He pointed to the words, “I start out with a Double Team, then Taunt, and Bite. I can close in, and you’ll do your Growl, Sand Attack, Helping Hand, and then you can use Bite from a distance.” He smiled, "I know I have more Moves available, but these ones are good for now."
Lucien smiled and glanced back at him, “You listened to my advice. That is appreciated.”
“Of course, we’re a team,” Zarius replied as he closed his eyes and whispered a quick prayer. “Thank you, gods above.” The vision of the words vanished.
“In the future, you can just ask me – no need for prayer,” Yveltal stated.
Zarius gripped the weapon in his hand and walked down the path. The slight hills grew more prominent, covered with graves that had stone markers with inscriptions. A few were wood, instead, and they looked relatively new.
A few more minutes brought them to the graveyard gateway. A large, wrought-iron gate with a spiked top matching the surrounding fence that wrapped the perimeter. Easily twenty feet high. Why such a high fence? He thought.
“To keep graverobbers out. Some have no thought for the sanctity of the grave.”
Zarius could feel Yveltal’s anger as if it were his own. People who rob the dead deserve an end that is just as swift. The Dark energy coruscated from his palm into the blade, mixing with the crimson that seeped into the glow from the gemstone at the center.
“What are you doing?” Lucien asked as he glanced sideways at him.
“We are growing closer,” Yveltal replied. “It appears that Zarius can now shift my Claw between both Normal and Dark types of damage.”
Zarius felt that kernel of hatred for those who would desecrate others still in his chest, and going to the gate he tested it to find that the old metal moved easily. Pushing it inward, he let Lucien pass by before he shut it behind his companion. “Towards the center part,” he muttered as he walked down the cobblestone path.
The graveyard was not laid out in a logical fashion, at all. It was circular, from what he recalled looking down from above. The tree would be at the center, he knew. “Why design it like this?” he asked.
“Circles are shapes of power. Concentric ones, even more so, when ancient magi controlled elemental energies without the bond of a Pokémon. Some places still practice magecraft; the controlling of elemental energies by raw will and internal fortitude.” His voice became laced with disgust, “Balancing their life essence with every Move they use.”
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Lucien sniffed, “Smell that?”
Zarius closed his eyes and sniffed, nodding. “Yeah…something…musty. Old. And copper.” He opened his eyes and glanced down at Lucien, whose rings had turned their crimson red. That caused Zarius to raise his weapon into a combative pose – the past people Yveltal had merged with, their muscle memory and fighting instinct – flooding into his limbs and thoughts. Double Team, he thought as his limbs began to vibrate ever-so-slightly.
Then, he heard it. The snap of something cracking. A stick, perhaps, from one of the several trees that somehow survived in the rocky garden of sepulchers and sarcophagi. He felt his heart beating rapidly as a deep, heavy fog settled around them seemingly from nowhere.
Lucien let out a yelp of pain and danced away from Zarius’ side. “Behind us!”
Zarius wheeled around and did not see anything. But he smelled something. To his left. Then, an impact to his shoulder that sent him reeling. Lashing out with his blade, he felt it bite into something that was impossible to see in the fog. But the blow struck true nonetheless, and the Dark energy-powered Claw was covered with a slight, glowing, green ichor.
The scent of mint mixed with iron filled the air, and Zarius knew he had struck something that had some type of vital essence. He felt the slight bit of life surge into him, running down the blade and into his palm before diffusing through his body. The thing he hit was nowhere to be seen, but closing his eyes he trusted his sense of smell.
He could smell the exact location. To his left, a few feet above his shoulder and out of reach of his blade. But not his Moves. “Bite!” he shouted as he raised a hand, fingers extended into a claw, and squeezed down.
Phantasmal, shadowy jaws bit down on the figure, eliciting a cry of “Shu!” from the Ghost Type he had struck. The film of Dark energy from his Shadow Brand outlined the figure. It had a wide, almost skirt-like bottom half that came to a thin radius – not unlike a waistline – and then a bulbous upper section that ended in a point.
Lucien, now able to spot and smell it, used a Bite of his own, and the Shadow Brand was consumed as the teeth bit down into the Pokémon. More blood dripped onto the ground before vanishing into a mist and joining the surrounding fog. Not only that, though, but as the detonation of the Dark energy occurred, the creature fell to the ground and dissipated into mist. A deep, purple Pokémon that looked like a child’s drawing of a ghost. But it vanished and faded to nothingness.
“The encounter is not over,” Lucien growled as he spun around to the direction they had been traveling. “Something else approaches.”
The pulsing of blood through Zarius’ temples faded and he heard what Lucien was warning about. A clattering, clanking noise of someone walking down the path. Three distinct noises of travel. Zarius walked forward into the mist, with Lucien right behind him.
Double Team, he thought as he ensured the Move was active. Lucien used Helping Hand, and the heat near Zarius’ chest filled him with encouragement that they could handle anything they came across.
Then, Lucien let out a roar. A deep, terrifying roar that bled over into a howl, before finally ending in a monstrous Growl. This seemed to get the attention of whatever was stalking toward them, as Zarius heard a loud gasping, moaning noise from directly ahead.
The mist parted as three figures charged forward on shambling, rotting legs. People who used to be alive, now dead and beginning to putrefy. The undead, he presumed, that he was told about. Given their still-holding-them-together dark hued attire, he presumed they were not there to pay respects. People who intended to desecrate the graves, and were killed for it. Now returned.
“A perversion!” Yveltal practically howled, his roar of fury echoing through Zarius’ mind and spurring him to rage. “We will slaughter them and end this usurpation of the order!”
Zarius screamed a war cry as Yveltal’s rage exploded through his body. Dark, shadowy tendrils wrapped around him as his Aura surged with menacing power. The mist immediately cleared as whatever Ghost Type Pokémon were nearby and either watching or planned on attacking fled the Dark…their natural weakness.
The undead, however, did not seem perturbed, and they rushed forward to engage with Zarius. They had different weapons – a light mace, a dagger, and a crossbow that was being wielded like a club as the string had been snapped.
Zarius used Taunt, shouting at each of them in turn, “Fight me!” “Die!” and “I’ll slaughter you!” he closed the gap and in one swift, smooth swing was able to cut through the crossbow with ease. The blade then sank into the head, lopping the top-half clean off. And yet the body moved forward, stabbing at him with the broken shards of its weapon. The wooden stakes bounced off of his sewn-in armor plates, but the fact it was fighting without half its head was quite concerning.
The one with the mace lashed out and Zarius’ body instinctively moved a hand to the inside of the elbow, redirecting the strike as he kicked out into the torso – or rather through it, as his foot exploded through its abdomen and became lodged. The thing rushed forward and also grappled him, bringing the mace to bear onto his back and striking the armored plate there ineffectually. The one with the sword moved in behind its two fellows and stabbed between them, the blade deflecting from the chest armored plate. But, it slipped sideways, and Zarius let out a hiss of pain as the sword cut through the cloth and into flesh, scoring a glancing wound.
Lucien released a rapid series of Bites, targeting each of the foes. The jaws of shadowy energy clamped around each of them and sinking in before ripping back and taking chunks out of them.
And yet the hits kept coming. Zarius tried to shake himself free, but the grip of the undead were vice-like and he could not break free. He felt the sword keep snaking past his guard, and the mace slamming into his back hit the flesh and muscle to the sides. “Get off me!” he shouted as he activated Lash Out – the Dark energy exploding and flinging the undead back.
Then, Zarius felt the pain. A wooden shard lodged in his neck. He gripped it and ripped it out, feeling the blood gush for a few seconds before the shadows healed them. The undead began to get up, but Zarius, Yveltal – both – were infuriated.
“You dare defy Death!” both shouted, their voices entwined as the red crystalline eye on the blade surged with divine might. With a scream of hatred they dashed forward and brought the blade down through the center of the undead with the sword – cutting it cleanly in two as black and crimson flames devoured the body utterly. Spinning to his right, they cut the one holding the mace in half, and reaching a hand out, used Bite twice in quick succession on the upper and lower half.
The shadow, normally black-and-purple spectral maw that appeared was tinged with deep crimson, and as the black flame gnashed down the corpse was utterly annihilated. They could feel the heat against their torso as Lucien used Helping Hand, and with a roar of hatred, they cleaved the last one from skull to groin, splitting it in half as it exploded with crimson fire.
“This is Divine Dark. This is Divine Death,” they said. As the graveyard fell silent, the crimson and black flames died out, leaving the billowing shadows around Zarius. He sucked in a deep, shaky breath as he felt exhausted. Staggering over to one of the sarcophagi, he sat down and felt the sweat pouring off of him.
Lucien padded over and nudged his leg. “You okay?”
Zarius was heaving but nodded as he swallowed. “I’m…I’m good. Yveltal and I…wow…”
The gods’ voice was calm as he spoke, “That is the true nature of our power. Divine Dark, the black flames, and Divine Death, those of crimson. Nothing can survive a lethal injury inflicted whilst we are in that state.”
“You should have a name for it,” Lucien said as he popped his front legs onto the gravestone and leaned up to give Zarius’ neck wound that was still healing an affectionate lick. “Something profound.”
Zarius chuckled and scratched behind Lucien’s ear, the Claw of Yveltal still gripped in his other hand. “Maybe I should call it “Legend Mode”. Has a nice ring to it.”
“We can only maintain such a state for six seconds per ten levels. And it resets each day.”
Zarius nodded. “We should have received a message in the tongue of the gods,” he said. “Since we killed a Pokémon. Experience.”
Lucien shook his head, “Not until we leave a hostile area or have dealt with all threats present.”
Zarius pushed himself to his feet, “Then we keep moving. We clear out this graveyard, get that Apricorn, finish the Quest.” He began walking down the path, ears pricked, and nose sniffing. He was distracted, for a moment, as a message from the gods flicked across his vision.
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[New Ability Gained]
- (Chosen) Legend Mode
- Legend Mode changes depending on the type of Divine Bond. Each use resets daily.
- Chosen – gain full access to a god’s domains for 6 seconds per 10 levels. Must be used in 6 second intervals.
- Herald – perform one miracle aligned to a god’s domains.
- Blessed – choose one existing Move, change that Move Type to a god’s domain Type.
- Legend Mode changes depending on the type of Divine Bond. Each use resets daily.
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“Ah. Yes. Heralds and the Blessed. I should tell you about them, in case we encounter them.”