Valen had no grasp of time, nor did he know exactly what was happening around him. His mind was throbbing in pain as the mental invasion subsided. After what he assumed to be hours, he became vaguely aware that he was being moved. He desperately wished to know what had abducted him, a singular hint to the nature of this world.
He had finally come to realize his first mistake, he allowed himself to move at a measured pace in the absence of immediate danger. A true rookie mistake, failing to come to a conclusion amidst the lack of signs. He was too focused on finding hints of immediate dangers that he failed to consider the more insidious nature of hidden threats.
The First hint he should have noticed was the nature of the Forest. Afterall, who would simply accept that the forest seemed to be alive? There must have been an underlying cause for even gaining the attention of the forest, especially if he was going to be immediately ignored.
He failed to realize that he had become bait. The Forest ignored him because he wasn't what it was looking for, it was his attacker that it must have been searching for. Why else would a monster capable of killing him completely unnoticed fail to finish him off and leave him to recover from the attack?
'The absolute nerve of this damned forest! Oh, you better pray to your gods that I don't return to incinerate this haughty forest!'
After a few more hours, his senses slowly began to recover, as sluggishly as seemingly possible. The first thing he realized was the bindings around his wrists and ankles. Only after coming to the conclusion that he had been blindfolded did he realize that his blurry sight had begun to return, accompanied by miscellaneous sounds prying their way into the deafening silence that had plagued that last several hours of his life.
Trying to reconnect his brain function to his limbs, he slowly began to orient himself, attempting to find the correct group of muscles to help him sit upright. He pressed the back of his shoulders into a row of small posts, pushing his hips underneath his torso, using his heels to push against the malleable soil. His bound hands ran across the wooden posts, firmly gripping them, measuring their diameter. After feeling around a bit more, Valen came to a disappointing conclusion.
Valen was currently someone's or something's captive. It was only after his other senses began to return that he would begin to paint a vivid image in his mind.
The Air was a collage of random smells, with the smell of horse stables taking the forefront. He could smell a hint of smoke, and perhaps even the presence of some spices and salt; Someone nearby seemed to be cooking after leaving the forest. As for why Valen knew that he was no longer in the forest, he could faintly hear the chains of a draw gate in the distance.
Various hushed whispers appeared in the foreground, as if the individuals speaking were still wary of something noticing their conversations. He could tell that most of the voices were men, but he struggled to make out their words. Their language seemed somewhat understandable, like it was a far far branch of a dialect of another similar ancient language. Valen hypothesized that there was likely an all-encompassing Ancestral language, perhaps it wasn't even meant to be spoken by mundane mortals. This discovery only supported his hypothesis.
He did not attempt to make his captors aware of his awakening, taking time to grasp any words he could and begin to backward engineer their language. While Valen could vaguely make out others near their vicinity, they all seemed to be heading in the direction his back had been turned to.
'I must be facing the Forest. Their Settlement must be behind me. Hm… A draw gate… The Settlement must be rather large, perhaps a young and developing city?'
Valen could make out a collection of various faint breaths nearer to him then the whispering men. Either five or six people, all seemed to be suffering from similar symptoms, none of them seemed to regain their consciousness yet. Something about these individuals was
off, disregarding their inability to control their bodies. Their presence seemed familiar almost, and his path seemed to tug on him slightly stronger in their presence.
Valen's mind was racing a mile a minute, guesses were formed and thrown out, calculating the chances of an undesirable outcome.
'They must be individuals who are relevant to the Path. I've read some accounts where Pathfinders had to find or work alongside influential individuals in order to follow their path. Perhaps the boons will be greater in that case…'
After a few more hours, Valen could finally feel the warmth of the sun peek out from behind the horizon and begin to warm his back and exposed hands. The city behind him began to crawl to life, sounds of hooves clanking across the cobblestones, and carriages rattling in tow. He thought he could even hear the distant ringing of church bells announcing the arrival of the lovely sun.
Valen was not one to distract himself with the pleasantries of the natural world. He did not care too much for marvelous views or breathtaking sunrises and sunsets. That was until his eyes were wrapped in a dreaded cloth, and that view was taken from him. Valen could feel resentment begin to find its way into the melting pot in his soul.
The Whispering Men's voice had become easier to make out as the sun had begun to rise, causing Valen's concentration to take control of the forefront in his mind. Breaking apart their words, finding common roots, and reverse engineering their grammar. Something imperceptible seemed to aid his mind in this endeavor, like it whispered enlightenment in the exact moment he needed it, allowing him to overcome the normal difficulties when learning new languages.
'Is the Path exerting its influence over my understanding of foreign languages?'
It was a reasonable conclusion given the circumstances. After the Founding Generation, less and less people began to forge their own unique paths, and even fewer returned to share their findings. Once the Founding Generation returned to the Heartland and began preparing their successors, the knowledge of Ancient Languages began to spread as a rather important part of young people's education. If this was a brand new realm, perhaps the Path was exerting its guiding direction onto the comprehension of the dead language.
"Do you … awake?"
"That one… could be. He seems … alive"
Their sentences began to form in his mind, their words falling into place in his mind, everything was clicking at astonishing speed.
"The Guard Captain should be heading this way after the next bell, we can hand them off then." The more authoritative voice informed the others, his voice was firm and gruff, as if he spent all day shouting commands to his legionnaires.
"They all seem to be alive this time, it's been quite some time since that many were found…" The second voice seemed hesitant, possibly nervous, as if the fact that all of them were alive was more concerning than them all being dead. Valen didn't appreciate his tone in the slightest.
"Indeed. That might be good news though." The Third voice sighed as he contemplated the meaning of their survival. "The Forest is growing more adept at dealing with those horrid monsters. The fact that they draw breath means that none of them were completely enthralled and devoured. The Forest must have been fast enough to save these poor lost souls."
"It is good to wish for the best." The First voice reminded his co-workers sternly, "But we must not allow ourselves to grow ignorant to the possible truths. What remains in those breathing bodies may not even be human anymore."
Valen was quite disturbed by this sudden revelation.
'What do you mean not human! I'm a hundred percent human, you disgusting, vile… Ah why bother. There are bigger problems. I'm stuck in this damn cage with them!'
Valen's head perked up at the First Voice's warning, he suppressed the desire to respond to their accusation, defending his humanity in this moment would be nothing short of suspicious. Only a mindless impersonator would instantly try to deflect such a pointless accusation, and Valen was anything but mindless.
The silence was only broken by a few measured steps in Valen's direction. The steps continued to wrap around from the far side of the cage, all the way to behind Valen. The sound of a weighty leather object rubbing against the wooden cage posts, accompanied by the sound of sloshing water just to the left of Valen's ear. He turned his head, slowly indicating his wariness of the sudden intruding of his personal space, before bringing his lips to the rim of the water-skin.
'Ah, good. That's good.'
The water wasn't just water obviously, but heavily diluted wine. It seemed that these people didn't have ready access to purified water through mystical or mechanical means. Valen withdrew his lips, and gave a slight nod to indicate that he had finished drinking.
The Individual behind him began to stir. The First Voice followed shortly after. "Well boy, you seem to have come to your wits rather quickly… Care to share why?"
Valen did not respond immediately, contemplating the question solemnly. He did recognize the interesting result of his sole consciousness; While the others drew breath, it seemed that none of them had regained their senses, so his lucidness was definitely suspicious. The only matter Valen truly had to consider though, was whether to tell the truth or not.
"I cannot say, because I am unsure myself. All I know is that while my body may be weak, my mind is not easily broken anymore." His words seemed slightly awkward coming out of his mouth, like he didn't have the nuance of their regional dialect or any dialect, instead being spoken from a textbook.
"What a strange fellow. You say that is not easily broken 'anymore', which would it mean it once was? Is that why you speak so… awkwardly?"
"Uh. To answer your first question, Yes? I had a very tumultuous childhood, being an orphan, and through that I rebuilt my mind to be far more formidable. I speak awkwardly simply because I do not speak this language natively."
"Hm. I guess that explains why you look like some ascetic or monk. Must be some sort of misty mountain recluse, right?"
"I am indeed a recluse. I pride myself on being more of a Researcher than an Ascetic though."
'Why does everyone think I'm some kind of mountain sage's disciple today? I have never even seen a monastery, or anything even close!'
"Must not be a smart Researcher to be entering that Forest, especially when the sun is not there to save you." The First Voice's tone was flat and doubtful, or perhaps he was unimpressed by Valen's lack of brains despite claiming to be a researcher.
"Ah, yes. That would seem to be the case, wouldn't it? In truth, I am not from this area. I simply stumbled into the forest by chance during my wandering. I am normally rather cautious, yet I failed to perceive the latent dangers. Would you mind enlightening me as to the nature of the Forest?"
The First Voice did not respond, instead it seemed to be calculating outcomes of its own. Valen didn't expect the seemingly wiser of the voices to buy into his story, that degree of naivety was likely to get one killed, especially when dealing with monsters of the enthrallment and possession categories. Accepting Vague stories as truths would simply walk you into the monster's jaws. Considering the weariness and depth of the voice, the First Man was experienced in traversing this forest and dealing with the aftermath of the insidious monster's tricks. Instead, after a few minutes, he responded with a question of his own: "What is your name, Boy?"
Valen gave the man a slight smile, "Valentine, Son of Agnes. I tend to go by Valen, so please call me as you wish."
"Son of Agnes…" The First voice seemed to disregard the rest of his name, following the path he took to return to his seat. None of the three returned to ask Valen anymore questions, neither did anyone feel the need to answer his own. In fact, no one uttered a word as the sun continued to rise, bathing both captive and captor in its comforting embrace.
'What is with all the seemingly inanimate objects feeling alive here? Do I need to start asking the stones for permission to walk across them?'
Shortly before the next symphony of church bells disrupting the peaceful silence of the morning sun, five more of the bodies began to stir, some of them slowly finding their way over to the posts outlining their cell. None of them spoke, unsure of the circumstances of their captivity, so they simply remained silent. The last one did not seem to be doing too well, the sound of their heartbeat was growing erratic, their breaths growing lighter.
'Well, they did say that this many survivors were cause for suspicion, perhaps this unfortunate fellow's passing will settle their nerves.'
Valen did not have much left in his heart for things like sympathy and empathy. He understood that lacking in such things would make it very difficult to have relations with other individuals, making him appear uninterested and cold-hearted. Regardless, he had no intention of changing his behavior. He had to be Cold-Hearted and overly pragmatic when trying to survive the dangers of his path.
Valen was still brimming with curiosity and anxiety when considering the identities of his fellow captives. Surely they had been rather interesting, considering their ability to recover from such a strenuous mental attack. Valen had to keep his greed and curiosity in check however, who knows what could happen during the following events. Perhaps he would have to kill every single person in this cell eventually… Hopefully not.
As promised, the sound of someone in jingling armor riding horseback made its way in their direction shortly after the sound of the rising gate. Valen could not make out much about the man, but judging by the rustle of cloth and the ringing of steel armor making contact with other steel plates, Valen knew the man was of some status in the city.
'Perhaps the Guard Captain is a big shot in this area?'
The man's voice was younger than Valen expected, like a man in his early twenties. Not harsh, but not soft. Not childish, but not very deep either. "Any abnormalities?"
'Straight to business, eh? Not even gonna introduce yourself?'
The First Man's Voice replied, "This one doesn't seem like he will make it. Those 5 began to recover with the blessing of the sun."
Valen could hear the man's leather garments ruffle as he turned to point out the young man in the cell.
"This One recovered a few hours after returning it seems. He hasn't done much besides drink some water from my skin. He did have a peculiar story to share however."
"Oh?"
"He claims to be Valentine, Son of Agnes, a recluse researcher. I am not a learned man so I will not presume to know too much about the difference between monks and researchers. He claims to have found the Forest by accident, unaware of its nature and oblivious to its dangers. He also claims to not speak our tongue natively."
"Quite talkative, aren't we? Valentine, Son of Agnes."
Valen was hesitant to answer quickly, it seemed he had already failed in dispelling their suspicions of him. Not having a comprehensive knowledge of this mind-manipulating monster had proven to be a thorn in his side. He had no basis to work with, he didn't know the behavior it's enthralled typically portrayed, or what its methods of blending into society were like. Valen already had poor social skills, so pretending to be more affable seemed to rub the captors the wrong way.
"Ah, well. When one wishes to learn, he must be willing to share his thoughts and ask questions. If you were to find yourself bound and blindfolded in an unfamiliar place after having your mind seized, I'm sure you would also be wishing to have your questions answered."
Valen did not find it necessary to hide a nugget of resentment in his answer, after all he was right. Most people would not exactly be calm and happy if they found themselves in his sandals. It would make much more sense to portray his unsettled nature after a rather harrowing experience. In fact, he suspected that his nonchalance was the seed to their misconception, he had been far too calm in a scenario that should have changed someone for the rest of their life.
"Indeed. In fact, I have many questions myself. So If you don't mind, I'll have to trouble you with answering them. Ah, just don't lie. I don't really want to have to wash your blood off my armor today."