All the souls were vying for some control over Isaac’s body as they gave their ideas on how they would escape. The basilisk suggested they turn the dust bunnies into statues, and the succubus suggested they mate with the bunnies, but while the first idea was plausible, it’d make Isaac heavy again and they would have to find some cloud creatures to assimilate when they get back out; the second was just… plain foolish.
The rest suggested fighting the rest of the bunnies, but their numbers would be too much for just the three of them. Neither Isaac nor Dark Isaac had awoken from unconsciousness, so those two are out of the question. It seems escaping from them would be the wisest decision, and hearing that Sera, the witch, suggested that they give everyone wings to fly, Ilvir chose her to control Isaac’s body for some time.
“You,” Ilvir called for Sera, “you take over. Give everyone wings, and make sure it makes them able to fly, especially us. This body weighs so much that I think we might need more than just wings…”
“Yes!” Sera gleefully said before taking control. She then cast a spell, which not only gave everyone (save for the air dragon) wings to fly but also gave Isaac’s body a few minutes of reduced gravity, boosting the power of his wings.
“De Aeris Dea… de Volati Deus… te invoco commodi fugato!” was what she said before the gust of wind enveloped the three of them, temporarily protecting them from the dust bunnies who were vulnerable against strong winds. Only when the gusts stopped did Nat and Ilvir see they had wings, but Ilvir was much lighter as well as flight was no herculean feat for him now.
“Fly! Fly to the top!” Ilvir told the two of them before Nat nodded and flew upwards, fleeing the battle as the air dragon escaped as well, following the cloud girl. The Excalibur was impressed by the spell, seeing that this was much more complex than the one-word spells Nat always cast.
Ilvir kept flapping his wings as he tried to quicken his flight, hearing the rabid rabbits run up the spiraling staircase. The gravity reduction spell helped immensely, but god knows how long it would last. Ilvir only hoped that he would reach the top safely as Nat and Excalibur watched from the ledge at the top.
“Nat, cast a few fire spells at the staircase to impede the dust bunnies. If they’re that vulnerable to fire, then it should be no problem to use it as a barricade,” advised Excalibur.
“But I might hit Ilvir! He’s close to the stairwell!” Nat hesitated.
“Can’t you do any wind spells, then? You could make them fall apart since they’re just made of dust!”
“Yes, but that would throw Ilvir off!”
“Good lord,” Excalibur said. “Just try not to hit Ilvir. Those rabbits might reach us before he does!”
Nat sighed before she began to focus on gathering the energy to cast one spell. It’d take longer if she cast one more; one should just do it and give enough time for Ilvir to ascend.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
When Isaac woke up in the next memory, everyone around him was in a state of panic. Either they were casting spells or cowering in fear, and some were even fleeing from the room. Whatever was happening at that time, it gave Isaac a feeling of dread as his hands gone cold.
...
“Hope! Run back to your room!” a voice called out for her. Hope only turned to see one of Crawnav’s assistants, who was casting spells left and right, mixing words and syllables from incantations with warnings for Hope.
“Where’s Daddy?!” Hope asked them.
“I don’t know! But you need to go to your room now!” he kept casting warding spells. The thing which the wizards were fighting against or repelling came from the hallway going down, so Hope couldn’t see what made everyone panic. And soon, she felt like panicking as well.
“But I need to know where Daddy is!” she pleaded, almost on the verge of crying with everyone else who cowered in the corners.
“Ghh… get out now! I’ll seal this room to prevent the corruption from spreading!”
Hope wasn’t getting any answers, but she finally acquiesced as she ran to her room to hide under her bed. She shut the door behind her, the warding runes working their magic as she couldn’t feel the strange magic in the air. However, she could hear heavy thuds as she cowered under her bed, crying profusely and wishing for her father’s comfort.
Time didn’t seem to pass in the shut room, but Hope could tell that the loud noises were becoming less frequent. She only waited for some time before she only heard silence. Taking only an old wooden staff that her father used to use, she peeked outside her room only to see— no, feel something had gone terribly wrong.
The walls were covered in purple fibers that almost looked like veins. They spread everywhere save for the warded door, which was why Hope was able to open the door without difficulty. The floor was covered in the grotesque fibers as well, and it… pulsated as Hope shivered from the sight of it. Part of her tells her to NOT go outside. Maybe she’ll just wait until her father comes back…
The days after that event were always filled with anxiety and worry for Hope. There was enough food for her to go for weeks, but she worried on what she’ll do when there was no more food anymore. As she sat in the room for hours, she wondered if her father would come back home, but she was sure that he would never leave her side. Everyday, she prayed to all the deities she knew to bring her father back, safe and sound. Everyday, she tried to save whatever food was left, trying to eat smaller portions per day.
However, the day came. She had run out of food, the chest containing their preserved goods and treats devoid of anything. Hope felt hungry as she needed to eat, but the black fibers outside her room were still there. Worse, they discolored the ground and walls as it all looked like stone. It was almost as if the fibers were eating the walls and floors.
‘I need to find food… and Daddy as well,’ she thought to herself as she took the staff again and a satchel to gather food before venturing out the corrupted caverns.
…
The memory only stopped there, and Isaac was left confused to what was the memory about.
Isaac tried to piece together the events. The wizards were fighting off… something. Hope couldn’t see it, and he couldn’t as well. From Grevialus’ letter, he knew that Crawnav worked on some teleportation spell, but it required going into another dimension, one which was Hell. It was cut off as well, so he must’ve written it during the event… but where did Crawnav go? He must’ve had time to go to his study room from the letter there when Isaac found the ring. Did he flee or did he perish?
Isaac had a feeling that Calmach didn’t have a direct connection to the corruption, but his invention of magic must’ve led to the spread of corruption. The Ring of Purity must’ve been created to fight off the corruption, though if that was the event when the corruption spread all throughout the caverns, then how did Crawnav forge the Ring of Purity? If the Ring’s purpose is to prevent corruption, then surely they must’ve had a problem like the one he saw in Hope’s memory. So, the question is “When did that memory occur?”. The Dark Knights used corruption for their own gain; then, the Paladins succeeded them and fought against it, so corruption must’ve existed for a long time.
“I see you’re trying to figure out this puzzle that plagues your mind,” Angela said as she observed Isaac’s hypothesis. “The creation of the Ring must be perplexing for you to understand, but I’ll gladly clear up anything about it if you wish.
“The Ring of Purity was created just a few months after the memory. Crawnav was safe after the event, but he realized his daughter was trapped in the caverns. He had that forged to be able to traverse the tainted area, but his time had come and he was too weak to continue onward. He only had enough energy to write one last note and left the crypt and the ring behind, lest he lose it in there.”
“But what happened to Hope?” Isaac only asked. Angela didn’t answer.
“Hope was left in the room but had to leave due to hunger. Did she…?”
“No, she didn’t die,” Angela quickly answered, sensing Isaac’s thoughts.
“But where’s she now?”
“I think it’d be best to leave that,” she said. To his chagrin, Isaac’s questions were left unanswered. The caprice of a goddess was quite annoying.
“I don’t think it’s caprice,” Angela replied to his thoughts. “I’d rather keep some facts from you because it would impede you on your mission.”