Ash. The Legends of the Nameless World. Progression Gamelit Story by Kirill Klevanski (ink book reader .txt) 📕

from a battle to the heavenly halls. He rode on his war ram, whose hooves were of pure flame and whose horns sparkled with lightning.

He leaped across the seas and oceans, raced across the rivers and lakes, until he met a lady whose beauty was sung about in a thousand and two ballads. Raigo fell in love with her at first sight and offered her to go with him to the halls, where the Supreme Lord, the Jasper Emperor, would make her his daughter and grant her immortality.

The girl laughed. The sound of her voice made the flowers around her bloom and the hardened warrior blush like a scorned child. She told him that she loved the potter and that she didn’t need anyone else. Her reply made Raigo furious and he killed the young woman in a fit of blind rage. Afraid of what he had done, the God ran away, and the potter, finding his beloved dead, could do nothing but grieve.

For ten days and ten nights, he played the flute, and for ten days and nights, the heavens wept black tears, drowning the forest below. From the rotten, tear-soaked soil rose what is now called The Forest of Shadows. No one knew what happened to the potter. Every bard came up with a different fate. Some said that he went to Heaven to take revenge, others that he had gone to the Abyss to find and bring back the soul of his beloved.

“That’s a nice, but sad story,” Alice said to Ash.

“Keep it down you, two,” Tul said, ducking under another branch. He was in the lead as he knew how to navigate the forest and find the hidden paths. He wasn’t afraid of the purple grass or the giant trees that loomed over them like weeping giants.

The trunks creaked and the crowns swayed, their rustling instilling fear in the soul of passersby. Every couple of steps, Alice lifted her head to look up. Because of the dense foliage, it seemed as if the sky itself was shrouded in darkness, through which only the faint light of Myristal shone occasionally.

The little girl wrapped her cloak around her and adjusted the crystal amulet. Ash could feel her fear, but he couldn’t protect her. He knew more about the forest than any of the Stumps. During his travels, he had heard many a legend of cursed places. Most of them were a hunter’s tale, but there were some that were true. Even the famous guilds avoided this cursed forest for a reason.

The group moved slowly, carefully choosing their path. Birds that looked more like bats saw only a string of light from their perches, wandering somewhere toward the depths of the abyss. The flickering torches brought the shadows to life, confusing the eyes and senses of even the most skillful of adventurers. Roots became dangerous snakes, branches – hands of mighty beasts, any hole was a gaping maw, and tree a giant, famous for their love of human flesh.

“Don’t worry, Alice.” Hearing someone whisper in her ear made the young girl jump in surprise and clutch her wand until her fingers hurt. “Don’t worry. They’ll protect you.”

Turning around, she stared in surprise at Ash, wondering why he wasn’t as pale as the rest of them, why he kept smiling even though he knew that his rags wouldn’t protect him even from the thorn bushes.

Contrary to all logic and common sense, Ash walked calmly behind all of them with a hop in his step and a smile on his face. He didn’t seem to care that he was the last in line, which was the most dangerous position to be in at the moment.

“Don’t worry,” he repeated.

“Stupid,” Alice mumbled and turned away. “Of course he isn’t afraid, he doesn’t know what he’s getting himself into. He’s just stupid.”

She walked on, feeling her fear begin to recede for some unknown reason. Breathing became easier and she no longer felt like some dangerous beast lurked in every bush.

Ash, noticing how her shoulders relaxed, nodded contentedly. He didn’t give a damn about Kessa’s words or the Master’s advice, or even if the God of all Gods came down from the Heavens and ordered him to do something. He’d just flip him off and tell him to shove it.

All he knew was that he had to help save a little girl who was suffering from a terrible fever. For her sake, he was willing to do more than oppose the Order, whose power was comparable to the combined strength of the armies of the five kingdoms.

He walked calmly along the path, his footsteps accompanied by the blows of his staff hitting the ground. Every creature that lurked among the playful, mischievous shadows remained in its place, trembling with overwhelming terror, bound by fear of Hu-Ching’s disciple, called the Blue Flame. They were more afraid that the dragon’s disciple had not only escaped his domain, but had also taken his master’s head with him.

A few hours later, the forest was colored a shimmering green. Come night, the ancient spirits woke up and began to wonder the forest, looking like what in the songs was often described as lost fireflies. Green spheres danced around the Stumps, beckoning them to follow them into the darkness of the forest.

Unable to resist, Alice reached for one, but Mary caught her hand.

“Don’t touch them,” she whispered sternly. “It’s the morguls playing. Fireflies are just a legend. You touch these and you’re lost to us.”

The girl nodded, hiding her cold hand in the pocket of her robe. Morguls were terrible creatures, similar to angler fish that lived in the deepest parts of the sea. But unlike their toothy water cousins, morguls had four legs, seventeen eyes that never blinked or closed, and a great thirst for blood. Had she overcome her fear for just a moment and looked back, she’d