Mystic Heart Odyssey

Part 6: In the Shadows of Kryckwood

Chapter 14

A somber, mysterious end to a dark and perilous journey. Just what did Lykou and Kuna really experience? The truth may just be another strange story forever locked away… in the Shadows of Kryckwood.

-Llox

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Lykou and Kuna both groaned as they woke up some time later- slowly at first, then quickly snapping to their senses when they remembered their previous situation. Much to their surprise, they appeared to be in a slightly less ominous looking version of Kryckwood. It was still a creepy, not entirely normal forest with half-dead trees and perpetually cloudy skies, but there were no signs of dead bodies, shadow spirits, hideous monsters, or floating orbs. And there was a lot less fog than before. The Wraith’s greyscale effect was completely gone, too. Oddly enough, the trees were spaced out as well, leaving larger open areas in the spotty wilderness.

“What… the…?” Kuna said quietly as he slowly looked around.

“I… I think we did it,” Lykou said, leaning on the axe as he got up. He looked himself over, then reached over to help Kuna up. “Looks like the draught’s effects are gone, too. How long were we out?”

“No telling,” Kuna replied as he slowly got to his feet, wincing at the aches and pains as he did so. He suddenly hugged the konuul, then furrowed his brow, glancing around a bit. “Everything looks a bit… different, now.”

“I… guess the Wraith’s gone, and the curse is lifted?” Lykou suggested, returning the embrace, then scratched his head as he looked around. “Wait, where’s Marja?”

“Or all the ghouls and… whatever-the-fucks, for that matter,” Kuna pondered along with him. “N-not that I particularly want to see them again.”

“Yeah, why would they all just… vanish??” the konuul asked, then frowned. “If nothing else, I hope Marja’s okay…”

“She dead, Kou,” Kuna remarked, arching a brow. “Can’t get much less ‘okay’ than that, generally.”

“You know what I mean,” Lykou retorted, then sighed. “I… guess I just hope she passed on alright. Still, would’ve been nice to at least say goodbye.”

“Not like we knew her very long, but yeah,” Kuna responded. “Would have been nice to thank her for helping us out.”

They both stood in silence for a minute, examining the quiet forest around them. Finally, Lykou slung the axe over his shoulder and nodded towards the southwest. “Well… with all that out of the way, hopefully the walk to Algrytha’s will be safer.”

“Yeah,” Kuna said, then nudged him lightly as they started walking. “Which means you can focus on that thing a bit more. Did the fight give you any insight about it?”

“Maybe a little. I kind of tried to remember what it was like fighting Elzahn,” the canid replied. “I think it actually helped a bit at the end. At least, I definitely felt something. It was super faint, but better than nothing.”

“Well it looks like it worked, either way, and that’s the important thing,” Kuna said.

Lykuou smiled and nodded. “Yep. Looks like we freed this place after all. Feels fucking good.”

“...it does, doesn’t it?” Kuna agreed. “Still not the kind of place I’d want to live in, though. Can’t wait to get out of here.”

“I’ll second that,” the konuul said.

They hiked through the woods quietly for a while. After some more nudging from Kuna, Lykou started looking over the axe more and trying to recall what he’d felt before, while the sereva kept alert for any signs of danger. If anything, it was eerie just how quiet and empty the forest felt. Other than a stray crow or the remaining odd squirrels, there wasn’t much around. Whereas before the woods had a vaguely ominous atmosphere, it now felt almost melancholy and forlorn.

Eventually, Kuna paused to get Lykou’s attention, then pointed up ahead. The konuul looked up and squinted at the large masses in the distance. The worn down, crumbling stones definitely didn’t look entirely natural, but they also didn’t resemble the walls they’d come to associate with the Aberrant Garden. The two shared an uneasy look.

“...this feels… bad,” Kuna commented quietly. “Something’s definitely not right.”

“Tell me about it,” Lykou agreed.

Kuna fidgeted with the walking stick a bit. “After everything Elzhan and Jingrayl said, I’m not sure I even trust her anymore.”

Lykou thought for a moment, then pressed forward, waving for the sereva to follow. “Well, she’s done nothing but help us so far. And she’s still the best chance we have to find that key stone right now.”

“… I guess,” the sereva said, following him nervously. “But still, we should be careful.”

“No argument there,” Lykou agreed.

As they got closer, the difference was more noticeable. The walls were in shambles, covered in a mixture of rot and decay. The garden grounds themselves were largely empty. Occasional puddles of still water were scattered around, with the larger ones holding a fair amount of pond scum and algae. The only other living plants that remained, besides the patchy grass that covered most of the empty space, were scattered, malnourished-looking weeds and a few patches of unhealthy-looking moss. There were no footprints or any other signs of recent activity. It looked like the place had been abandoned for a very long time.

Most surprising of all, they ended up at the old hut surprisingly quickly, compared to their previous visits. In fact, they found it while being distracted by how worn down and abandoned everything looked, spotting it when they rounded a corner. The wooden portions were heavily rotted away, and most of the roof was gone, with the remnants having long since collapsed.

They both spent a few minutes gawking at the ruins in disbelief, then Lykou cautiously approached and looked inside was was left of the place, despite Kuna tugging on his arm and trying to convince him not to. The canid peered inside, then, after making sure it was reasonably safe, urged Kuna to follow him and look around. With the roof gone, they had plenty of light, though there wasn’t much to see. The tables and other furniture were destroyed and rotten, and the ground had scattered fragments of old pots and tools laying around under all the dust and decay.

The two looked around, taking it all in. Then Kuna gasped and covered his mouth as he stared into the area where Algrytha’s little bedroom would have been. Lykou came to see what had caught his attention, then stared, dumbfounded at what he saw. On what were probably the remains of the bed, sat the strangest skeleton he’d ever seen. Besides the odd shape, the most striking oddity was that the bones were seemingly made of petrified wood. There were ancient, rotting scraps of plant matter still hanging off some of them. And while he couldn’t be sure it wasn’t just his imagination, he could swear the skull had a perpetual, familiar-looking mischievous grin on it. He almost expected it to turn and look at him or start snickering any moment.

Kuna started backing away, trembling. “...w-what the fuck…”

Lykou walked away with him. “I… I’ll second that…”

The sereva turned to him after they left the ruined cottage. “D… did we get help… dealing with ghosts and shit…. FROM a ghost??’

“It… certainly looks that way,” Lykou replied, looking around the abandoned garden again. “What now?”

“… I dunno, l-let’s just get out of h-here,” Kuna said after a moment, clearly shaken. “W-we can go back to the ruins and m-make camp, then figure it out from there. We could... h-head south to l-look for one of the villages tomorrow”

Lykou sighed and nodded. “I guess we don’t have much choice.”

They wound their way through the garden again, noting that nothing seemed to move this time around. They just followed the same path they took in, and before they knew it, they were leaving the crumbling walls behind.

“N-none of this makes sense,” Kuna suggested after they’d been hiking in silence for a bit. “Why did everything l-look like it’d been abandoned for ages?? And why did she hide things from us?”

“She was… strange, sure, but she seemed perfectly alive,” Lykou replied, trying to wrap his head around the situation.

“You know… does it seem to you like the forest itself is older now, too?” Kuna asked, eyeing the landscape around them warily.

Lykou looked around, then gulped. “Now that you mention it… m-maybe it does. Trees in different places, some bigger looking and others missing. I wonder how much that curse affected?” he pondered out loud, then looked over at the sereva. “What the heck is going on around here?”

“I don’t know Kou,” Kuna replied, shivering as a brief, chilly breeze momentarily blew over them. “I just don’t know…”

*****

A hunched figure stalked through the dark forest. The sky, nearly always grey to begin with, was starting to show signs of an approaching storm. She could feel the charge in the air. It was perfect, in her mind- a great way to signal her farewell to the twisted place. She’d enjoyed herself quite a bit in a forest nearly as twisted as her own heart, but she’d spent altogether far more time there than she’d have liked, and it was at long last time to leave.

“C’mon, it’ll be bloomin’ somewhere around here any time now,” she snapped at the pair of shambling monstrosities helping her search the woods for the fruit of her long wait. “After all these years, there’s certainly been enough death ta feed it. I’m ready ta be done with this place, now that the fucker’s gone fer good.”

Finally, she spotted something standing out in the dim forest floor- a single sprig of vibrant green, with a single white flower blooming at the top. It was small, and surrounded in a faint sparkling light. Its petals were shaped like teardrops, and twisted, thorny vines surrounded the plant’s base. Its glow clashed strongly against the grey, dismal atmosphere of the Kryck.

“Ah, there you are,” she said with a grin as she sauntered over to the blossoming flower. “Aren’t you lovely? I’ve been waiting a long time fer this,” she said as she bent down to carefully pluck the flower. The vines seemed to shift and move around the base of the plant, even rearing up to snap at her with jagged little mouths full of prickly teeth. But she ignored them, swatting them away nonchalantly when they got too close. She was, after all, used to larger and more dangerous flora. She squeezed at the base of the bud, then plucked it off, then stood up to marvel at the small thing. “Ta think, hundreds, if not thousands’a lost souls over all these years, just ta make one pretty lil’ bloom like you,” she mused aloud. She then turned to talk to the beasts that’d been helping her. “Well, with this ingredient, I’ll be able ta…. Uh…”

She trailed off when she realized she was alone in the shadowy forest. She’d been so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she’d failed to notice the fading noise around her while she was harvesting the flower. “Where the fuck did ya go?” she asked, turning around on the spot. She wasn’t used to being the one thrown off. Ordinarily, she was quite perceptive and attentive to details, even if she didn’t always immediately show it. “Well fine, stay here for all I care,” she snapped after a moment, then smirked and looked at the flower in her hand again. “Once I make this potion, that damn exile won’t matter fer shit. I’m comin’ fer ya, Sylthea!”

She let out a long, loud cackle which echoed through the forest. Then she stopped abruptly and stared in a mixture of confusion and anger as she noticed the flower fading from her hand. “What the-?! NononoNONO WHAT DO YA THINK YER DOIN’?!”

“Silly little witch… did you really think you could escape your fate?” a strange voice said from all around her.

“What?!” she retorted, whirling around to try and find the source of the voice. But she didn’t see anyone around. “Who’s there?! Don’t toy with me! I’ll eat yer dreams fer breakfast!”

“Even you can’t truly return from death, Algrytha,” the voice continued. “Not in the Kryck. Or have you forgotten… again?”

“The hell I’m not!” the angry witch replied, conjuring up a sickly green glow riddled with sparkls around her moss-covered arms. “Show yerself if ya think yer so mighty! I’ll teach ya ta mess with ol’ Dark Aggy!”

Suddenly, she realized she couldn’t latch onto anything with her magic. She noticed the glow fading- and so, too, were her hands. “W...wait… WAIT! No, dammit! I overcame this!” she snarled as the moss on her body started to darken and crumble, then fade away into thin air. “That damn fool was defeated! I ain’t trapped here no more!”

A faint glow slowly appeared in the mists that had started to build up thicker than ever throughout the forest. “Now, now Aggy… you were never here at all. You’ve been gone a long time. Remember? ...oh, of course you don’t.”

“What the fuck are ya talkin’ about?!” she said, stalking forward to try and meet the glowing light. As she got closer, she slowed to a stop as her eyes widened at the hovering ball of pale flame. “Wait… no, no! Not you! Not this again! I’m real, I’m still here!” she said, clutching her head and tearing at the mossy vines that made up her ‘hair’. She then tried to take several swipes at the floating ball of fire, though it had no effect other than to make her start fading away a bit faster. “DAMN YOU! Someone actually beat ‘im this time! With my help!! I deserve ta come back!”

“Tsk-tsk… farewell again, Aggy.”

“No! I refuse! Not this time! I won’t… stay… dead….” the witch’s voice faded away into silence as she vanished completely. The forest was silent, aside from the occasional breeze and some very dim, distant thunder as the hovering flame began to disappear.

*****

When the boys reached the bog, they realized it, too was affected by the changes that’d occurred to everything. None of the bodies that previously gave the place such a foreboding atmosphere were present. There were also a few more insects buzzing around, though it was by and large still almost as quiet as the rest of the Kryck. The watery patches were also a little murkier, and occasionally disturbed by the odd tadpole, waterstrider, or even a frog or two. And while they were sometimes strange colors- most of the frogs were jet black with vibrant green eyes, for example- none of them seemed particularly large or dangerous.

The ruins also looked a lot older and more worn down than they remembered. In fact, they didn’t even need to find the entrance they’d previously used; rather, they were able to enter by one of several large gaps in the outer wall where it had collapsed over the years. Vines, weeds, and trees had reclaimed much of the place. Even when they passed near the scene of a certain horrible, bloody battle from the distant past, the ruddy reddish-brown marks left by the terrors of that day were long gone.

Lykou and Kuna looked around with wide-eyed confusion and disbelief at how things had changed. They found themselves wondering if the last couple of days even happened, but the axe stood as a testament that they hadn’t somehow hallucinated it all. Kuna’s shoulder, though almost completely healed, still attested to that as well with its occasional twinge of pain.

When they rounded the corner of the courtyard entrance, they made several important discoveries. First, the bodies- including Elzhan’s- were gone. The tombs that once housed them were also worn down and cracked from the ages. The box that once house the axe was missing completely. But most importantly, the gate that had previously blocked the arch was gone as well.

They stared at it for a moment, then checked with one another to see if they were dreaming. After confirming that they were very much awake to the best of their ability, they began to slowly approach the arch, worried about being ambushed by some fresh new terror at any moment. So they nearly jumped out of their skins and whirled around when a voice spoke up behind them.

“Ah, hello there,” an elderly individual said as he slowly came walking into the courtyard behind them. He was bent over slightly, leaning on a cane as he walked. They could only see the lower half of his face, given that he was wearing a slightly oversized cloak with its hood drawn up and hanging over his eyes. “Not many other folks visit this place.”

“Who are you??” Kuna immediately demanded to know, huddling up to Lykou warily. He found himself wondering how the stranger could see with his eyes obscured like that.

“The name’s Wodryck,” the old man replied, pulling back the hood. It looked like he might be the same species as Marja had been. More importantly, he looked completely alive and normal, albeit fairly old, and lacked any visible weapons. “Don’t mind me, I just visit this place from time to time to sit and think. Places like this have a sort of… spiritual feel to them, you know? Good for meditation.”

Lykou kept a tight grip on the axe’s handle, ready to wield it at any moment. Ordinarily, he’d have tried to be friendly and not so prone to suspicion, but after their adventures in the Kryck, he was on edge. And after Kairangi, he knew to be wary of even friendly elderly folks from time to time. “Spiritual? You mean all the ghosts??”

“This is hardly what I’d call a good meditating spot,” Kuna added, arching a brow at him suspiciously. “Where’d you even come from?? There’s no villages anywhere near here.”

“Easy, now. I mean no harm,” Wodryck replied, holding up a hand as he finally slowed to a stop several yards away. “I’m a bit odd, I’ll admit. But there’s something to be said for a place as quiet and somber as this for sorting through old memories and thoughts. Every now and then I take a walk out here on my own. It’s a long hike and gets longer for me every year,” he explained, then looked around as he leaned on the cane. “But every year I have more to think about, so it’s worth it.”

“It’s dangerous out there!” Lykou pointed out. “Or at least… it was…”

“Yeah!” Kuna agreed. “How the heck do you survive the hike, with all the ghouls and shit out there??”

Wodryck stared at them in silence for an uncomfortable minute or so before replying in a quiet tone. “...ghouls, you say? There haven’t been any such things around here in a long time.”

“Bullshit! I know better, one of them bit me!” Kuna retorted irritably, rubbing his shoulder lightly at the thought. Overhead, the cloud cover grew a bit denser. “If hadn’t been for Kou here and that witch-”

“Ah, I see,” Wodryck interrupted, nodding. A light breeze started to pick up and become a bit more frequent. “It seems you’ve been shown a story.”

“Story?? What??” Lykou asked in confusion, then brought the axe around to show him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but this is real. I fought the revenant for this!”

Kuna nodded and joined in, growing increasingly frazzled. “We met a strange witch named Algrytha and she helped us with some magic potions! Lykou had to brave the terrors of the night to get ingredients for one of them to save my life!”

“And then another one helped me beat the revenant! Then we fought a terrifying wraith with the help of a friendly ghost girl and… and...”

“Mhmm,” Wodryck replied patiently as the konuul trailed off. A few tiny droplets of rain started to fall from the sky. “The Kryck is a strange place. Countless stories have been made, retold, and eventually forgotten about it. It has a mind and soul of its own. It remembers everything that happens within its shadows, and sometimes it chooses to drag visitors into one of the old tales. If someone is brave enough and strong enough to survive, it may leave them a few trinkets of their experience there in return.”

“W… what?” Lykou asked quietly, struggling to understand, let alone accept what he was hearing.

Kuna shook his head slightly. “That… doesn’t make sense. We… we were there. We have the bruises and cuts to show for it. We nearly died numerous times. It was terrifying!”

“I’m not disputing that,” Wodryck assured him. “I think I recognize the story you’re talking about. I congratulate you for surviving.”

“I… I still don’t understand,” the konuul said, rubbing his head in confusion. “Are you saying we… we went into the past or something?”

“Yes, no, maybe? Who can say? The Kryck works in mysterious and strange ways.”

Kuna stared off into the distance, lost in his thoughts. “What the fuck…”

“W… well if you know the story, what the heck happened?” Lykou asked, desperate to make sense of things. “Whatever happened to Algrytha? Was she lying about the story or what??”

“Hmm… the details have been lost over time, but there’s an old rhyme,” Wodryck said, pausing to think for a moment before reciting,

“A noble warrior stood watch, never to grow old,

‘til overzealous duty turned his heart cold.

A traitor’s heart filled with powerful ambition,

‘till he lost his pulse, his mind, and his mission.

A trickster’s tangled web ensnared those two,

But her hubris doomed the false sage, too.”

The old man cleared his throat. “I think there’s more to it, but I can’t recall it right now, I’m afraid.”

“False sage? Trickster??” Lykou asked, bewildered.

“So she was hiding something,” Kuna remarked, frowning. “But why did she help us? That rhyme just raises more questions…”

Wodryck shrugged. “There’s no telling, I’m afraid. Just one of this place’s many mysteries.”

“Wait, how have you been able to visit so often without it pulling you into one of its stories??” Kuna asked suspiciously.

“It probably wouldn’t find me a particularly interesting participant. And anyway I’m already at least somewhat familiar with some of its stories,” Wodryck replied, then looked up at the sky briefly as a distant, dull rumble of thunder rolled across the sky. Rain was starting in earnest, albeit still very light. “I’d tell you a few, but it looks like we should both get going. I’m sure you have places to be, and I suppose I’ll have to save my meditation for another day.”

“Y… you’re just going to hike back in a rainstorm? You village must be miles away from here!”

“A little wet never bothered me,” the old man replied, chuckling lightly. “Besides, I know a few places I can shelter along the way if it gets bad enough. You best get goin’ though… before the Kryck decides ta keep ya,” he added with a wink, then pulled his hood back over and turned to walk away, pulling something out of the bag he was carrying with him. It appeared to be some kind of crude gourd-based lantern. “Safe travels, you two.”

Lykou and Kuna exchanged a look, then glanced back at the arch. “...fuck it, let’s just go while we can,” Kuna said urgently.

“Yeah, sounds good,” Lykou quickly agreed. They both rushed over as the rain began to pick up. Kuna summoned up his magic and opened the magical portal, and they both wasted no time rushing through it, eager to leave the eerie realm of Kryckwood behind before it decided to involve them in any more stories.

As they vanished behind him, Wodryck looked back for a moment with a small smile, momentarily lifting the edge of his hood, then turned and chuckled some more. He lit his lantern by unknown means and lifted it up to guide the way through the growing shadows brought by the approaching storm. Lightning danced across the sky as he began reciting another poem to nobody in particular while he walked:

“Once, a village thrived in defiance of fear.

Then a traitor with a dark heart appeared.

A mysterious voice made him feel blessed,

And gave him dreams of great conquest.

He stole their hope and returned with ambition,

And a bloody, selfish, and wicked mission.

A great fight ensued, many innocents were slain,

And the villain soon fled, his bloodshed in vain.

But the temptress returned with new tricks and lies,

And convinced him to make a choice most unwise.

For revenge, the village warriors soon came,

Though they found naught but a husk bearing his name.

For the axe, a noble bearer was chosen,

One whose heart was neither twisted nor frozen.

He would stand firm and keep it from evil hands,

For as long as he walked and breathed in these lands.

But the deceiver ensnared him with fear too,

For when he perished, who might the axe fall to?

She gave him a spell, to guard it after death,

Which he bound himself to, upon his last breath.

For centuries he guarded and watched his home,

As would-be thieves defiled his family’s bones.

Till bitterness cooled his honorable heart.

Never more would he allow the axe to part.

The false sage led them both astray from their goal;

She brought chaos and ensnared many lost souls.

But in her hubris she became trapped as well,

In the curse laid by the one who she helped fell.

She sought a rare bloom fertilized by much death,

Hoping to survive even her own last breath.

But Kryckwood is not home to anyone’s hope,

Only bold fools bound to hang from their own rope.

Fortunate you are for seeing your way out,

With your predecessors corpses all about.

The Kryck collects tales of mysterious woe,

And it is reluctant to ever let go.”

As he walked off through the ruins, the pale, flickering soulfire flame of the strange old man’s lantern was unbothered by the rain, until he and it both gradually began to fade away into the misty shadows of Kryckwood. And the forest awaited another chance to begin a new dark tale.