The Land of the Eternally Bound

Harry turned to see the others. Lyrth was on his knees, being helped up by Rune. For his age, Lyrth, really seemed to have far too many horrible memories, powerful ones at that, not to mention a serious lack of good memories. This place was designed to feast on people like that, and it was evident, the place was doing exactly that. Rune seemed a little better off, as did Felix. That was a good sign. Seeing them all help each other was another good sign. No matter what they'd done, at their core, they all appeared to be good people. And that would mean they could survive this place long enough for them to be escorted home.

"Jen, could you scout out the top of that mountain, make absolutely sure nothing's up there, there shouldn't be but you never know, make sure the entrance to the maze is relatively clear at least," said Harry.

"Alright," said Jennifer. She tried for a quick smile that didn't quite reach her eyes and sped off in a flash of pink lightning. Stuffing his own memories away as best he could, he remembered the moments he'd shared with his team, their equally daring and equally silly escapes, the Alpha pack's exploits through time and space, and then before he knew it, he was reminded of his old crew, in the time before this one, the look on their faces in their final moments, his memories cycled back towards their ship , The Tachyon, but it blended together into its predecessor, the Altroyon, combusting as the supposedly indestructible ship was ripped apart by a force meant to shatter reality itself. Its mortal passengers stood no chance.

Harry shook himself, he wasn't meant to be the one falling prey to the memories, he had to help the others, help Lyrth. He had to lead them all to the top of the mountain.

He smiled at Rune, silently thanking him for what he was doing as he grabbed Lyrth's other arm and slung it over his shoulder. As he did, he channelled a power he hadn't used in aeons. Small tendrils of pink energy surged from his shoulder, flowing slowly into Lyrth's arm, the force of love powerful enough to shine in the perpetual darkness, an energy so powerful its color unable to be snuffed out by the world's truest darkness. Hopefully it would help Lyrth remember his best moments and hold onto them just that little bit stronger.

"Felix, since you seem relatively fine, why don't you walk in front of us please, you saw the direction my sister ran in, just head right for that particular mountain, where we need to be is on right on top of that thing, its a bit on the tall side, but we can worry about how to climb it a little bit later, for now let's get to the base of it. If at any moment, you see or hear anything besides us or our voices, just ignore it okay. Do not get distracted, no matter what you do."

Harry turned to Rune.

"Rune, thanks for being so strong in the face of all that pain, you're a lot stronger than you realize, especially considering your past, let's keep going a little longer, Lyrth here is being affected more than most. And Lyrth, I don't know if you hear me among all your horrible thoughts, but hang in there, your mind should get a little bit of support soon. Come on, let's get to that mountain, one step at a time. You can do it."

As he said that, he put one hand across Lyrth's shoulder, sending a few more waves of helpful energy through him. It had been a while since Harry was proud to be the curator of the love force. Everyone only ever took it as a joke, and he'd come to think it as such. Today however, would stant testament to the fact that even immortal beings had to occasionally be retaught some things.

Harry took the first step forward. They would slowly be getting closer to the foot of the mountain that was very appropriately named Frigovargruhenar...The Crusher of Dreams.

It had been so long since Lyrth allowed himself to think about the past. Now, forced to contemplate it all at once, it was difficult to let go, no matter how much it hurt. These memories held a version of Lyrth that he missed; a gentle boy who disliked the brutality and mindlessness of the fighting. A boy that Lyrth hadn’t been for a long time.

He felt Rune help him from the ground. Gratitude shocked him out of his stupor. However, to be perfectly honest, it was the burning embarrassment of his situation that pulled him from the farthest corners of his mind. It had been years since someone had dared to speak to him the way that Felix spoke to him. He knew the vulpine stranger meant well, but his words made Lyrth feel small and weak like he had so long ago in the arena. And it didn’t help that he was completely correct. The group had no time for Lyrth to wallow about like some sort of overgrown babe.

However, what brought him back into the present was a great warmth that emanated from Harry. Irana appeared in his mind’s eye, as the new power searched Lyrth’s mind for those he cared about. Tall and kind and good. It was those memories of his greatest friend that brought him back to real consciousness.

Lyrth cleared his throat, removing his arms from the shoulders of Rune and Harry. “My apologies, it seems I let my mind get the best of me.” He offered a weaker smile than before, but it was no less genuine. Attempting to move past the incident, as it wasn’t one of his proudest moments, he focused on beginning the journey up the rather daunting black mountain before them. Lyrth glanced up at the top of the beastly thing, reassured by the pink dot he assumed was Jennifer, and stared down at his boots pounding a comforting rhythm on the cold stone.

Rune was relieved that Lyrth had removed his arm when he had.

His shoulder still had the weight it was supposed to have; he wasn't worried about Lyrth feeling that something was off. At least, not that kind of off. The moment that Harry said that he was stronger than he thought. Harry implied that it had something to do with his past, and all that Rune could think was that he knew. Jennifer had been able to see his surface-level thoughts, and a memory like the one he had experienced moments ago had to be glaringly obvious.

But there wasn't anything off about Harry's tone. It didn't sound like a trap. When Lyrth moved on ahead, Rune was able to find his footing again. He steadied his breathing and pulled his cloak close. If he was lucky, Harry would just think it was another memory.

"Thanks," Rune softly said to Harry.

He hurried to join Lyrth.

"No problem, " said Harry, as he took a step back and let Lyrth and Rune get ahead of him. Lyrth definitely looked like he needed a little bit of space at the moment judging by how embarrassed he appeared to be and Rune was looking slightly skittish and seemed to want to get away for a bit.

Harry resorted to staying behind them. On the off chance that something unusual happened, which he had to admit was pretty much every hour or so when it came to him, he would at least be able to prevent anything that attacked from the back, and considering the kind of people imprisoned there, an attack from the back was the most likely kind of attack.

As he looked around, he could see the various souls trapped all over the place. While there certainly were a decent number of beings that were allowed to wander around, the majority of the rest, especially the oldest ones were all reduced to just mere souls, mere shadows reflecting around. He'd learnt to tune them out a long time ago, but the other three would certainly hear them calling out, a haunting cacophony asking for help. Their forms would look like nothing more than shadow to most, these beings weren't even corporeal enough to be classed as ghosts, they were mere remnants.

Harry had told him to move on ahead and, he'd been going for a while now when suddenly,

"they cant saaave, you"

Felix stopped, looking around he couldn't see much, even in fox form with night vision, the darkness was so dense he could just barely see the path and a little of the terrain around it, though,

"Come, come, we will show you the waaaay"

in the distance, it looked like, a figure, or perhaps two, wavy and distorted, like ghosts, but less solid, if that was possible, he stood rooted to the spot, they were getting closer and know It looked like it was two different things, one even gave the impression of having a hat.

It wouldn't hurt much to go talk to them, Felix thought, they couldn't hurt him.
he took a step toward them when suddenly he heard a distinct, Crunch!

jumping back and returning to human form he looked around in slight terror,

"oh, it's only them," it was just the others a little bit away from him, they seemed to be getting along alright

"what got into me," he said, voicing his thoughts, had he really just taken even one step off the path, Harry's warnings came back to him, not even looking to see whether the phantom beings were still there he reverted to fox form and hurried on along the path, every once in a while he would hear more enticing voices, telling him not to trust the strange blue beings, though whenever he heard them they simply made him run faster, he focused his mind on a steady, stay. on. the. path. train of thought, luckily this also drowned out the constant feelings of guilt, until he could almost not hear them.

after a while, he came to a part of the path that appeared to go steeply up out of sight,
here he stopped, harry had mentioned a mountain, if this was it, he should probably wait for the others.

Felix sat down in the middle of the path and waited, in fox form facing away from the mountain, if that was what it was, and eventually, fell into a very deep, somewhat uncomfortable sleep.

Any comfort that Rune had been starting to feel was dashed the moment he heard the voices. He had been so focused on the mountain up ahead that they hadn't fully registered at first. Then they had become like the whispers in the shadows of the dark tunnels of the cult. They beckoned Rune off the path. They knew. There was no way they couldn't know he was one of theirs.

When Rune glanced around them, he didn't see shadows. He didn't see apparitions. He saw actual people, all from different walks of life and different deaths. He could only guess what crimes had earned them a punishment like this.

Maybe he should have been scared of the deceased calling for him. Maybe he should have hurried on ahead like Felix had, doing his best imitation of Felix turning into something small by pulling his cloak close to him. Rune could have tricked himself into believing that they wouldn't see him, then.

But even though Rune wasn't ready to be sentenced to eternal damnation, the dead were strangely comforting in the way they always were. There had been a time where he had feared dead baby birds and broken, mangled limbs.

That wasn't now, though. Rune was all too aware of how much more he had in common with the deceased around him than the four people he was traversing this prison with.

Comforted by the dead, Rune calmly joined Felix at the foot of the mountain. He sat down next to the sleeping fox, eyes lingering on the prisoners to make sure they didn't get too close to Felix or Lyrth.

Lyrth eyed the sides of the path warily, as barely perceptible shadows shifted and whispered at the edges of his vision. If he tried to stare at one directly, it slipped away from his vision, almost like his eyes weren’t meant to see these apparitions. They seemed to be confined to the area outside of the path. The voices rustled and keened like an icy wind, desperate to seek any sort of warmth. Perhaps that was the reason for the intense cold here. These ghostly beings had consumed it all.

He strained his ears, trying to understand them. The dead knew things that Lyrth longed to know for himself, answers he had sought for the entirety of his life.

It took everything within him to continue forward, to resist the temptation of their calls, “Help usss, sssavee usss, weee will show youuu the true pathhh, the true wayyy through the darknessss. Weee can showw you every truth you sssseek. You cannottt trussst the nepphhhilim...you cannot trussst anyoneee but ussss… hhhelp usss, sssavee ussss…”

The shadows seemed to churn together, angrily, desperately. Lyrth stopped for a moment, peering deep into the shifting, twisting masses of ghostly remains. What secrets lay within? What power could these sad beings hold? A strange, unfamiliar feeling filled Lyrth’s chest; pity. He knew it was unjustified. These remnants had deserved to come here, had they not? And yet, they struggled, searching for warmth. It was a sad way to exist. He turned, moving ahead towards the base of the mountain where Felix and Rune sat.

But even as he closed his mind to the ghastly shadows, some of their words remained, floating around in his consciousness. Could he trust Harry and Jennifer? The ghosts had called them Nephilim, which made more sense in his mind than angels. All that he knew of this place, all he knew of them, had come from their very own mouths. It was a troubling thought.

Even more troubling however was its implications. Just who were they then? And why was Lyrth here? Perhaps he had died, and this would be his punishment, just like all the sorrowful ghosts in the shadows. He scowled. What good was the afterlife if Lyrth was sent to hell? No, he wasn’t innocent, but surely the sins he had committed were justified.

As he joined Rune and Felix sitting at the base of the mountain, he decided to remain wary, and withhold judgment until he knew more. Regardless of the intentions of Jennifer and Harry, they seemed like the only way out of here.

Harry trudged slowly through the path as they approached the mountain, keeping a sharp eye out for everyone in front of him. He didn't want to speed up until they'd all gotten to the foot of the mountain where they would be relatively safe from the temptations of the voices. Some of the remnants that hang around this path could be quite convincing. Of course, he'd never experienced it first hand. Every single soul here knew exactly who he was. They only ever had curses to say to him. Some of the smarter ones tried to beg for forgiveness, but that only made Harry chuckle. As if any of them could ever deserve forgiveness, after what they had all done.

Harry had a long memory, he might have forgotten a few things here and there but he remembered the crimes of every single remnant and soul imprisoned, all verified through temporal evidence. Not just anyone was sentenced to eternal doom after all, sending an innocent person here would be the worst of all crimes. Well, he had technically done that by bringing the three currently in front of them to this place, but that was a disaster that couldn't be prevented. At least, they seemed to be strong enough to make it out of this place alive.

He gave one last look to the remnants on the side. The trio had made it to the foot of the mountain. The next phase was going to be relatively easy, while the earlier path had to be walked upon to ensure they all acclimatised somewhat to the spell cocktail that made this prison what it was, the mountain itself was far too tall and far too steep to attempt any sort of climb. The safest and quickest route would be to fly them all up to the top, which would hopefully take a relatively small amount of time, provided they were all okay with it. Perhaps some of them could fly by themselves. It seemed unlikely but there was no telling sometimes.

At any rate, the process of getting into the maze was what he was worried about. He would have to open the gate, well unless all three of them were secretly illegally reincarnated spirits, or they had been subjected to the same scenario as The Phantom herself. That second one was definitely not possible. The first one though...well, hopefully everyone here would be honest as long as he made sure to ask them in private. He didn't feel like peering into anyone's mind without permission, or looking through their temporal signature.

He hurried through the last few steps, taking care to note just how many remnants had gathered there. After all, they would all quite possibly begin to mob them once they actually began to access the maze, and it was a good idea to know just how many millions would be assaulting them. One one hand, he would have to be in his true form to open the gate, which meant taking care of the millions of remnant would be as easy as snapping his fingers. On the other hand, it would probably mean the three standing there, well, one of them was napping apparently, but they would all see an ancient being not seen in centuries, and for good reason. No one ever associated the embodiment of darkness as a good thing after all. As much as he'd done for these beings over the course of countless millennia they all preferred Harry Hardy, the smiling and joking captain of the timeship tachyon, the mysterious shadow with seemingly endless power.

No one ever wanted to meet the celestial of darkness...a giant hideous pillar of darkness that radiated all things considered evil. He shook himself out of his thoughts. This would all be seen soon enough. Speculating about it was pointless.

He offered them all a smile.

"Alright everybody, we're gonna fly our way up this thing. Now does anyone here have the ability to fly. If you don't, Jen and I can fly you guys up, if you're okay with that. Otherwise, I'd have to I guess call my car or something, cause physically climbing up this mountain would just be out of the question. You'd be far too drained to be of any use in the maze itself. After all, unlike the remnants that were meant to climb this mountain, you guys aren't capable of continuously doing something without getting tired cause you're well...alive...mortals, technicalities or otherwise. Anyway, make your choice."

He turned to the top of the mountain and flashed a thumbs up. A second later, Jennifer landed next to him with a low thud, wings outstretched before she stood up and folded them again.

"Show off," he said.

"Oh shut up," she said, punching him lightly in the shoulder.

Rune glanced at the others in the group.

Lyrth had been able to cast that night vision charm earlier, but Rune doubted he could fly. Felix, on the other hand, was fast asleep. Even if he hadn't been, Rune was sure the only way he could fly was if he had wings.

"I can't fly," Rune said. Still keeping an eye on the prisoners around them, Rune picked Felix and held him in his arms. If Felix could fall asleep in a place like this, he doubted he'd wake up just because Rune was moving him too roughly.

Harry smiled as Rune picked Felix up. He didn't know exactly how Felix would respond to that should he actually wake up, but the image of the fox being in the necromancer's arms was somehow cute, and about the last thing he'd expected to run into on the plains of this desolate wasteland.

"Okay, well, would you be alright with being carried up the mountain then?" asked Harry, "and if Felix doesn't wake up and say otherwise, would be alright carrying him up with you?"

"Hmm, I don't know if he'd be able to hold on at those sorts of speeds, I think waking Felix up is the best option," said Jennifer, "cause this is a tall mountain, we shouldn't be going slow, you know what's going to happen the moment that we set foot on top."

"Right, didn't think about that. Yes, we'll have to wake him up soon. Going to sleep here is generally not the greatest idea anyway. If he gets a nightmare, well, it's not going to be good," said Harry.

Rune put Felix back down.

"I'm okay with being carried," he said. It wasn't like he had any other option.

Once Felix was on the ground, Rune gave him a poke. If he was lucky, that was all he would need to do to wake him up. He didn't want to get any closer than he had to; the last thing he wanted was for Felix to lash out him when he was startled awake.

'fwump' was the sound Felix made when woke up, to his surprise Rune and some of the others were there already
he reverted to human form so that he wasn't so small compared to them, he felt like he'd had a nightmare, and yet, yet, he couldn't remember a thing, unlike most dreams he had no recollection of what had happened simply a rather disturbing feeling of comfort, comfortable terror.

"um, ok, so question for Harry, are we supposed to climb this thing, it looks doable but with all the weird spells in this place I can't say id feel all that comfortable" he looked around at them suspiciously "also I can't say for sure if someone. picked me up but if any of you did. Never. Do. It. Again"

He hated that, although it'd only happened once it had nearly been his death.

Lyrth chuckled at the one-sided interaction between Rune and Felix. It was rather endearing. At the very least, it put him at ease. No matter what the situation with Harry and Jennifer, he felt a kinship with the other two for sure. They were all in the same boat. And he couldn’t deny it, Harry and Jennifer were the sort of people he could get along with. Those shadows did quite a number on you, didn’t they?

“Unfortunately I was not blessed with the gift of flight, so I will need to take you up on that offer of aid. Besides, I’ve always wanted to try flying,” Lyrth spoke, genuine excitement in his voice. Despite his rocky past, Lyrth was very much still a young drow, and new, adventurous things brought him joy even in a desolate place such as this.

He stared up at the great mass of black rock that rose high into the sky above him. The cold crept farther into his bones. The maze was up ahead. What horrors would they soon face? He shuddered with a strange mix of emotions; excitement, fear, and the wonderful feeling that always accompanied a new adventure.

"Very well then, flying up it is, that is if, Felix, you would agree to that as well. I believe you might have missed that bit of information while you were...otherwise occupied," said Jennifer.

"Yes, while you were napping, we did ask everyone if they wanted to be flown up or if we should do things some other way. Since the other two already said yes, we're certainly flying them up. So, if you agree with them, fell free to hop on. I sure hope you guys know how to ride a horse," said Harry, with a wink.

He dropped down to all fours and concentrated. Harry's hand began to seven feet off the ground. His limbs then began to get thicker, until they were looking far more muscled. Then his body began to change, growing longer and wider. He felt the familiar sensation of gaining weight as his mass increased to quickly be a good three thousand pounds. He braced himself for the feeling of growing a tail. It was one that he imagined he would never be fully comfortable with. His wings were next, growing longer until his wingspan was a good 80 feet from tip to tip. Folded along the length of his body, they were ridiculously large compared to what he was used to. The sensation that came next however, was always the weirdest. His head began to change shape, growing longer and thinner as it transformed into the shape of a face.

Dark cyan fur began to spread all his body, replacing his weapons and his suit. Soon everything matched the color of his feathers. He raised his front legs and let out a loud neigh. It had been a while since he'd been a horse, but his muscle memory should be more than enough. He knelt down on his two front legs so that the three of them would be able to climb on.

"Well, if anyone doesn't know how to ride a horse, lemme know so I can give you a quick crash course. But all you need to really do is to clamber on there safely, don't worry about hurting Harry over there, he's not a regular horse and will not kick you and run away. Just sorta get on there and hold on tight," she said.

"Hey, I heard that," said Harry, "I do have feelings, much like a horse. I'd be very happy if you guys tried to not hurt me."

Lyrth blinked, trying to comprehend the scene in front of him. It was not what he had expected, to say the least. Harry had turned into a pegasus. A dark turquoise pegasus with an eight-foot wingspan. At least he didn’t turn into a dragon. Although I don’t believe that is completely out of the question for him.

On the other hand, a dragon would make quite the story to tell Irana when I return home. And in that case, he could breathe a little fire to warm this achingly cold wasteland. Lyrth eyed the massive pegasus warily. He wasn’t entirely sure that Harry couldn’t breathe fire in his current form.

Lyrth clambered as carefully as he could onto Harry’s now equine back. It was unnerving to think that this gargantuan horse was the same small cheery angel-being that stood a full head lower than Lyrth. The ground seemed terribly far away now. He shuddered to imagine what the flight to the top of the mountain would look like, his former excitement fading a little.

He shivered apprehensively and turned to look at Rune and Felix still on the ground. Lyrth extended a hand to help the next person up.