Intermission #21: Etana

Etana's bare feet barely touched the ground, suspended above the earth by some grotesque creation. Waves of pain surged from her recent investment in divinity points, a relentless reminder of the toll it took on her body. Every instinct, every nerve screamed at her to reconsider, to rebalance her attribute points. Surely the forty divinity and two-thousand divinity bar she had already invested was enough. She calculated quickly in her mind, "I've still got thirty points to allocate." But she shook off her hesitation, pouring yet more points into her Divinity and suffered through the pain as a creature carried her.

When she emerged once more from a haze of pain, she observed the bizarre manifestation Anomos had assumed for itself. The entity had reshaped itself into a sprawling expanse of iridescent liquid, each hue dancing and blending like a shimmering oil slick. It seemed to be eternally overflowing, its boundaries ever-expanding, but paradoxically remaining in place. From the depths of this liquid enigma, a discordant chorus of voices echoed, their tones fluctuating between mirthful laughter and haunting laments. Plumes of kaleidoscopic smoke spiraled upwards, gathering ominously into clouds overhead.

"It approaches," The Darkness murmured, an edge of trepidation in its voice as they aimed for the distant rune-stamped pad.

With a sudden jerk, Etana found herself released, her feet roughly scraping against the ground. She stumbled after the spiked entity, her steps heavy and uncoordinated. "I need more agility," she acknowledged internally. Yet, she resisted the urge to reallocate her points. This was her chance, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to amass such divinity. Gritting her teeth, she pressed forward, the burgeoning multi-hued storm clouds above threatening to unleash a deluge of death with every passing second. However, what descended was anything but ordinary.

She saw it fall from the sky before it reached her. Tiny glass spheres rained down from overhead in a wave that swept across the twisted and fragmented terrain they navigated. Their collective clatter was deafening to her ears as they cascaded in an unavoidable curtain in front of her. The spiked creature beside her grabbed her in its strong arms, covering her with its body in an attempt to shelter her from the small projectiles as the cloud passed over them.

Etana blinked in realization, however, as she sensed the objects about to collide with them. With a thought she activated her aspect of removal and simply deleted them from existence before they fell. Each renewed attempt by the tempest above was met with her unwavering defiance. The divinity cost was miniscule, and she knew she could keep this up for a long time yet. "Release me," she instructed the creature, her voice firm. Obliging, it backed away, its spikes flexing as it looked around in astonishment.

Standing amidst an ocean of restless, rolling marbles, Etana bent down, captivated by one. Within, it pulsed with otherworldly colors. As her gaze lingered, an abrupt detonation beside her shattered the eerie stillness. She barely glimpsed the creature that had carried her dissipating in the aftermath as its twisted foot stepped on one of the orbs. Another motion, a mere blur, clenched her heart in dread. Anomos had moved.

Etana stepped forward boldly, not willing to let that happen again. She removed all of the transparent orbs immediately around her. “Don’t let anything step on them!” The much larger spiked creature stalked hesitantly behind her as it grunted an affirmative. She moved with a purpose, sweeping clean the twisted walkway. She navigated through to the runed pad, now nearly within her reach. Anomos continued to fill the area with more clouds as if to block her progress, but Etana’s divinity was barely diminished as she cleaned even the clouds above away in the next wave as she approached her goal.

The Darkness seemed to watch her with eyes filled both with anticipation and trepidation. “Step on.” It’s voice encouraged her.

Etana looked down at the blue glowing circle. The runes power was fading, but she could tell from her studies that it was still operating at extremely low divinity levels. The runes, however, entranced her for a moment. They flitted across the circle in a complex dance. The handwriting was so elegant, she knew only Trina could have written it. She swept the pad clean of Anomos’ interference and placed one bare foot onto the pad before stepping in completely. It immediately lit up blue as she felt her divinity being involuntarily drawn upon.

"Trina? What happened? I waited so long. I can’t keep Anomos protected anymore! I need divinity to restore my purpose!"

The text appeared in her vision as something spoke to her. Although no words were audible to her ears, she felt the urgency of the thing that communicated with her.

"Something is different with you. I’m checking your status now."

“Hello?” Etana said aloud. “Can you hear me?”

“Yes.” The creature beside her answered, but Etana held up her hand to quiet it.

"I can sense your desire to communicate with me through your necklace. You’re missing nearly all of your aspects, including the Aspect of Memories. I suspect you’ve forgotten me. The protections on Anomos have degraded to the point I too have forgotten how to emulate The Aspect of Sanctuary."

Etana paused, curious and confused at the words that kept appearing. By now though, she suspected the rune beneath her was somehow sentient. She closed her eyes and tried to think at her necklace. “Like this?” She asked.

"Yes! Trina, I can’t satisfy my purpose without more divinity and a new scan of The Aspect of Sanctuary."

“Who are you… and what is your purpose?” Etana asked after a moment, trying to buy time to understand what was going on.

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"You did not give me a name. I am a runic construct rigged to copy any aspect you deem worthy for a purpose. The purpose you designed me for was to protect Anomos."

“I… don’t have the Aspect of Sanctuary anymore.” Etana admitted. “Bad things have happened. We need to destroy Anomos instead.”

"I am sorry, Trina. You did not design me to destroy Anomos. You made me to protect it. You would need to remake me to satisfy a different purpose."

Etana hesitated as she looked down at the glowing runes beneath her. They were far too complex for her to ever make a change to. A moment passed and more text appeared in her vision.

"I searched the memories you stored within me. It seems doubtful that even if I was remade that you would find me sufficient for the task of destroying Anomos."

“Why can’t we destroy it?” Etana asked, staring at the morphing entity in the distance.

"Unknown."

Anomos ejected more mist, but this close to it, Etana immediately destroyed it before it could escape. An idea suddenly formed in her mind. “You said you can copy any aspect to fulfill a purpose defined by me. Is that right?”

"I can copy any aspect and activate it on any target within my target area provided I have enough divinity to activate it."

Etana nodded happily in anticipation. “Copy my Aspect of Removal. Destroy everything that Anomos makes.”

"I’ll register my new purpose. Let me scan the aspect of removal. Please wait, Trina."

Etana looked down again to see the pad light up a bright blue as several lights pointed at her necklace. They quickly flicked across her necklace until they intersected on a single stone.

“What are you doing?” The Darkness queried, the tone coming across as impatient.

“I don’t have the Aspect of Sanctuary, so I’m trying a different way to contain Anomos.” Etana answered quickly. She tried to focus when the runed pad started talking to her again.

"Due to the nature of Anomos, this might work for now to protect Palitern and Anomos simultaneously. I do apologize though, Trina. This aspect is not a perfect solution to your original desires. Can you try to obtain an aspect better suited to my original purpose?"

“I’ll try.” Etana sent back through the necklace with a smile. She wondered though, why would Trina promise to protect this being of pure chaos? She wanted to ask the runed pad more questions, but she looked up to see the pad beneath Anomos had lit up brightly as well. She felt her divinity pulled on once again as it drained over a thousand points from her. Anomos, however, had stopped producing clouds, and for the first time, sat quietly.

"At the current rate of divinity expenditure, I will require eight hundred sixty-four thousand divinity each year to contain and protect Anomos. This is a one-thousand four hundred percent increase over the Aspect of Sanctuary."

She mentally did the math and found the pad currently had just enough divinity to run for half the day. Every day she would need to return here and fill it with just under two thousand divinity to keep it running. “Damn…” she whispered. “That’s a lot.”

The creature beside her stirred at her words. “It is done.” It turned to leave, still mindful of the glass balls that seemed to still be rolling around randomly.

“Wait.” Etana called out to it. “I used The Aspect of Removal to contain Anomos, but the rune form is warning me that it isn’t a perfect solution. You need to remain here in case it is able to make something my aspect cannot destroy.”

The creature looked down at the glowing blue pad beneath her. “This one's presence is no longer required. A diminished guard will suffice for now. These orbs…” It gestured with its long claws.

“They’re evaporating. Their cost to destroy is being reduced every second. In no time at all they’ll be gone. Just keep everything still until they’re gone.” She paused before speaking again as she realized she needed one more thing but was unsure how to ask. “I need something else to keep Anomos sealed.”

“Tell me.”

“The divinity cost to keep this running is incredible. I barely have enough right now to keep it running. I need to gain more attributes in divinity. I still have attribute points to allocate, but I’m going to need even more beyond that.” She said, hinting at her need.

The creature turned its body back toward her. “You want me to sacrifice my creations to you instead of Anomos so you can progress your levels?”

Etana looked it in the eye. “Yes. I am a cheaper alternative to Anomos.”

The creature blinked its eyes in consideration, but eventually nodded. “You have yourself a mutually beneficial agreement. Amaya has agreed to allow you to keep one of the copies of her sword. Practice with it before you try to take my children’s lives; They will not be thrown away without teaching you something first. When you are ready to learn, let any part of me know.”

Etana nodded her head. “Where are you going?” she asked when the creature tried to turn away again.

“There are other threats to Palitern besides Anomos. This one and Amaya must leave to tend to the others.”

Etana frowned as she considered how the spiked creature and Amaya might leave the island. “Vina disabled the portal ring here. How are you going to leave?”

“Are you prepared to learn?” The creature asked and Etana turned her head sideways in confusion. “Come.”

~~~

Etana, Amaya, and the spiked creature stood on the beach of the large island, facing a portal ring in a broken down building. Its roof was long ago torn away through either age or some tropical storm. Only the stones of its walls and the foundation still stood. All around her, she saw scattered weapons and evidence of a fight. Off in the distance, she saw a deep trench had been dug in the jungle and filled with bodies of the dead. Both Paliternians and creatures alike filled it.

“Vina did this?” Etana asked, hesitantly as she stared at the creatures hard at work filling in the soil. Occasionally they threw themselves in for some unknown reason.

“I’ll let her tell you what transpired here, but whether I am here or not, stay away from the trench or it will kill you. There will be no escape from a death that complete.” The Darkness warned her. “Swordmaster Amaya?”

Amaya stepped forward and drew her sword along her palm. She pressed it against the portal ring. Black blood began to fill the runes.

The creature addressed her while she watched Amaya in shock. “Etana, others, like Anomos, exist in the world. Zel'alor is the next greatest risk to Palitern, but it has fooled the stigandorians into following it. The Watch would have you believe my invasion of Randar is the genocide of the Stigandorian people, but my intention is only to destroy Zel'alor or contain it, just as we did with Anomos. Do you know where Zel'alor is?”

Etana shook her head as she watched in fascination as Amaya began to dial the black blood filled portal ring. She wasn’t entirely convinced by The Darkness’ deflection toward Zel'alor. She recognized the threat they both represented still, but she couldn’t deny the shaky alliance they had just created would keep Anomos under control for a while longer still. “I travel restricted Zel'alor after it tried to abduct Vina. I know it is trying to find something, an Axe I think. But it hasn’t tried to travel through a portal ring since our last confrontation.”

“I too am unable to track its movements. I suspect it is still within Randar. For now my forces move to surround the city to prevent its escape. I will join them soon, but first I must deal with someone who stole from me.” The portal ring activated behind the creature and Amaya waited quietly behind it. She quickly examined the address, and saw where they were headed. “An isolated portal ring not far from Prosit,” she thought curiously.

Etana nodded as she looked at the sword master. “How did you do this? I thought only Vina could reactivate these portal rings.”

For a moment the woman appeared shy, but she overcame it a moment later. “I might be only the second to have accomplished this. The Darkness taught me after your sister, Vina, made me capable of doing so.”