Chapter 3
The Sanctuary
Terrill didn’t hesitate. He grabbed Krysta, Torry and Floyd within moments and ushered them through the gate before it slammed shut. The resonant sound caused him to flinch, but no more than Walter landing next to them, wisps of wind swirling around him. Now alone on the path, though for no idea how long, the quintet looked to all of the bodies that were strewn about.
“They’re not vanishing…” Torry remarked. She was frozen in place, shaking her head. “I thought Adversan bodies disappeared, because of what we are.”
“You’re forgetting a key ingredient to that equation, Miss Torry,” Walter said. His good eye was twitching at the vision before them and he bent down to touch his fingers to one of the soldiers’ necks. He looked up to Krysta and shook his head before standing. “Adversan bodies remain in place long enough to maintain balance. Isn’t that what Warren said?”
“In other words, they disappear if they weren’t meant to die there, or if they’re dead and buried,” Floyd said. He blew out, a stream of mist issuing forth. “Which means they were killed and left here in Dimidia, huh?”
“It makes sense,” Terrill said. He joined Walter by the first of the bodies, but didn’t touch it. There was no need in order to make his observations; they were obvious enough at a glance. The body was frozen, a look of horror on the man’s face as he was perfectly preserved. The only part that wasn’t was the general shape of his body, which looked bloated and purple. There was no doubt what had befallen these soldiers when they were sent to investigate the sanctuary. “If the Lifeblood is being affected, it would show up in Dimidia, too, right? Soldiers would be bound to come and investigate, and he’d be waiting.”
“Speaking of him, we’d best not dally. It won’t be too long before someone notices that those soldiers are knocked out.” Krysta took to the steps in front of them at her words, careful not to slip. She had to step over more bodies, but Terrill agreed with her point, drawing away from the body and working his way upwards.
“The bodies are perfectly preserved. Are we sure this didn’t happen recently?” Torry asked, taking up the middle of their pack with Floyd. A glance back told Terrill that the boy was trying to melt the path up and make it easier for themselves, but was failing to do so. Whatever they were on, it was not pure ice, and Terrill made note of that by pressing his hands to the huge glacier that formed the border around them. It was cold like ice, but had an almost eerie quality to it.
“The cold will have kept them from decomposing too quickly,” came Walter’s answer to the inquisitive girl. “Our esteemed general could not have moved them, of course, so he made sure to seal the gate. Warren is a crafty one.”
“It’s the same reason the asshole wants us dead. Terrill, are we sure this is gonna work?” Floyd asked. He was grunting with every step, and Terrill realized the path was becoming steeper and slicker with every step upwards. He placed the sole of his boot down, only to need to wheel his arms to maintain balance. Torry and Floyd were behind him, propping him up, while Walter continued to watch the rear, fearful of the gate opening once more. Only Krysta moved with a measure of speed, clutching at her chest with heaving gasps. That encouraged Terrill to get moving again.
“It has to work. We’re out of options, otherwise.” Terrill could say no more. With the ice underfoot impossible to melt, Terrill made a move to instead bring the ground upwards. Not wanting to struggle any more than they had to, he bent low, his eyes closed and his soul communing with the earth. It stirred inside, and from where his hands rested, a carpet of stone was formed, a perfect pathway to get up without slipping.
Or it would have been, if it didn’t decide to start freezing over the second he started forming it.
There was no time to debate their options. With their path forward quickly getting sealed off, Terrill led the charge forward, his feet pounding against the frigid stone. Torry and Floyd were quick behind him and Walter didn’t lag, either. When they’d caught up to Krysta, Terrill took her by the hand, dragging her upwards towards the top of the mountain where the sanctuary rested, its snowy peak glistening like the ice that made their path. The stone of the mountain hung over the building like icicles, creating a natural covering that did nothing to invite visitors.
“We’re not gonna make it at this speed. Hold tight. Old man Walter.”
“Quit it with the ‘old man’ jokes, Floyd.” He acquiesced to Floyd’s request all the same. Jumping over a patch of ice that had formed, both Floyd and Walter grabbed the rest of them, and with a windy burst of steam, their quintet catapulted themselves over the rest of the ice. It was only as they neared the beautiful building that was the sanctuary that Terrill realized whatever force was attempting to keep them out was not giving up in the slightest. This time, it was spikes of ice emerging from the ground that attempted to bar them from entry, or kill them in the process.
“Break on through! Torry, we’re up!” Terrill clenched his fist, focusing on the ground underneath the spikes. It rumbled a moment, and then the earth erupted from underneath, supplanting the ice and providing a way in once Terrill retracted his own spike. The ice attempted to fill in, but Torry was prepared. Her hands snapped outwards, an orb of flame in each palm that was sending out turrets of fire. It warded off the ice, if only for a moment, and then the five were inside, rolling across the cold ground and to the foot of the sanctuary. A crash and boom signaled the sealing of the ice, now locking them in place. There was no going back. It was freeing the Lifeblood or bust. Terrill stood and peered through the open door to the depths of the sanctuary, causing a grimace to rise on his face.
“It’s here… Atrum’s darkness.”
“You can tell?” Floyd said with a groan, dusting himself. He went to help Torry up, but the girl was already at Krysta’s side. Terrill knew the young woman was struggling, gripping at her chest, and it brought his words more into focus. She was far more attuned to these things, so if she was feeling it, he knew he was right on the mark. It didn’t help that his scar twinged at the mere thought of entering, and he had to wonder if she was here, too. Terrill turned away to help Krysta up, alongside Torry.
“Will you be okay?” Torry was asking, and Krysta offered her a reassuring smile.
“It’s just cold,” she answered. The blonde reached up to grip Terrill’s shoulder and stare into the abyss alongside him. Light blossomed at her fingertips. “Once we free it, everything should be okay… Come on.”
She threw off the both of them, and with a fearless gait, proceeded into the darkness of the sanctuary. Terrill knew she was pushing herself, her sensing of the Lifebloods and that which corroded them felt within her soul, but there was no other path to take. He quickened his steps and came to stand by her side, instead, as they entered the atrium of the sanctuary and everything brightened.
“Well, I think we know where Invaria got its architecture ideas…” Floyd expressed with awe.
Terrill didn’t feel nearly so awestruck as his companion, in large part because the architecture of the sanctuary’s interior was something similar to Invaria’s capital. It had high arches, and beautiful, shimmering alabaster walls that hadn’t at all been reflected by the outside. Perhaps, Terrill started to think, it wasn’t so much that Invaria had gotten its design ideas from the sanctuary, but more that the sanctuary had been built to enshrine the Lifeblood, crafted from pre-existing Invarian architecture and then some. The walls glowed with flowing waterfalls that created pools inside the structure, granting it a luminescence that rendered Krysta’s light pointless. Had Terrill not known they were in Sheeris, he would have guessed they were in a room within the Invarian Palace.
“Strange that the waters are flowing here,” Walter said, running his hand beneath one of the falls and frowning.
“The Lifeblood is hurting, but this is it’s domain. The endpoint of the pathway,” Krysta explained. In fact, the longer Terrill looked, the better she seemed. Her eyes were closed, basking in the warmth of this hall; and it was, indeed, warm, the glow from the walls heating their bodies of the fatigue inside. Now that Terrill thought about it, his mind no longer stuck from the cold, Krysta always did seem to perk up inside the radiance of a Lifeblood. No matter what she sensed before, once she was within contact range, then the darkness inside it was irrelevant. She always returned to normal. “It’s close.”
Her words were a whisper, but one they all heard over the trickle of the falls hitting the pools on the floor. They faced the deeper halls of the sanctuary alongside her, and from the shiver that passed down Walter’s spine, Terrill knew they could all feel it too. This was the Lifeblood’s domain, but the shadow lay thick upon it. There was no way to guess what lay in wait.
“I’ll take point with Krysta. Floyd, Walter, watch our rear. Torry, our sides. Monsters can manifest from anywhere. Eyes peeled.”
They pushed forward. Their steps echoed over the atrium, bouncing back at them in a discordant rhythm. Torry had nocked one of the arrows she’d stolen, and Terrill took it as his own cue to withdraw his blade as they proceeded down a hallway. The brightness of the atrium faded away, replaced with a pale blue glow, and watery reflections on the walls. It made the path trickier to see, but the object from which the glow emanated never remained beyond their sight, beckoning them from the end of the hallway. It was accentuated by the darkness that pooled in the hall and Terrill was forced to stop when his foot hit against something.
“More bodies…” he spat, finding the sight distasteful. This time, Krysta created a light to shine upon the larger room they found themselves in. It was at least five times as large as the atrium, enough to fit a couple of the houses from Sheeris within, and it was here that the water flowed from. Or used to, at any rate. Terrill kicked the body over, finding it to be of another Invarian soldier, except for a very disturbing detail. “Where’s his face?”
“Looks like it was sucked clean off…” Floyd said with a retching noise. Indeed, that appeared to be the case for the numerous bodies that littered in the sanctuary’s halls. It wasn’t just soldiers, either, as some of the maidens had been felled on the opposite side of the room, indicated by their pure white robes. “What kind of monster are we dealing with here…?”
“No monster should form within the domain of the Lifeblood. At least, not a natural monster.”
“There’s nothing natural about this, Krysta,” Torry said, receiving a nod in turn. Her warning heeded, the group closed ranks as they walked deeper into the room. It was as dark as the cavern in Luster Mines, the more that Terrill looked, with the only source of light being the Lifeblood in the room, and flickering torches of blue flame upon pillars. They reflected off the water the group sloshed through, contributing to the eerie stillness.
As Terrill passed by one of the flames, he noted that it didn’t seem to be fire at all, but a sort of ice that flickered and wavered like it was. When he noticed this, there was a sudden pulsing from the end of the room, and the Lifeblood at last became apparent in all of its full glory.
“Crystalline. Why am I not surprised it’s crystalline?” Floyd said with a sigh. Having realized there was no fire in the room, the boy had taken it upon himself to call flame to his hands, illuminating the room further. The pillars came to an end as the room opened up to the dais where the Lifeblood sat, an icy structure that thrummed with magical power set in the shape of a person. It looked similar to those of earth and fire, but for one key difference that Floyd was the first to remark upon. “It’s dark.”
Indeed, even through the piercing light of the Lifeblood that made the room visible, Terrill could see the smoky wisps and tendrils surrounding the crystal structure of ice. Torry came close, her fascination over the Lifeblood piqued as usual, while Walter kept his eye behind, in case any monsters decided they wanted a snack. Terrill’s eyes narrowed on the Lifeblood. He was familiar with the darkness holding the Lifebloods in thrall; he’d seen it with both of the other ones, but this seemed a different matter entirely. Krysta must have known so, too, because she walked up to it and, despite all the previous warnings she’d given, touched a hand to it.
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“The Shadow…” she said, her voice combining with that of the trickling water in the room. “The Shadow is growing, laying thick upon the Lifebloods. Choking them. Throttling them. Since the war has begun, it has only grown. Tell me. Tell me what I should do.”
An odd trickle made Terrill look away and grip his sword tighter. There was no harm in being too on edge. Convinced they remained safe, he turned back to see the Lifeblood attempting to shine through the darkness. He could see the human form straining against that black string, but unlike the Lifeblood of Earth, it did not have the energy to form. Only a watery, muddled voice echoed within the room of its disturbing portents.
“…bound by string…cut the bonds…” Terrill came closer at the voice, though Torry remained the most intrigued. She didn’t touch the crystal before them, heeding Krysta’s words, but the voice had drawn her attention. “Cut the darkness… Close the…rift… Only…you…”
It was the only words the Lifeblood could manage to get out, its energy waning and disappearing back inside the structure. Terrill followed the light, watching it disappear down the roots of the icy glacier and into the earth itself. Krysta’s hand slipped from it, causing Terrill to step around. She lifted her arm before he could confirm it, but she looked to be crying. Or had been, given she wiped at her eyes before summoning a shard of light to her hand.
“Yes, I’ll free you.”
“Go ahead and try, but as long as Warren survives, he’ll hold it in his grasp. And Warren’s as old as the hills.” Terrill whipped towards the darkness and, without thinking, stomped his foot. The stony spikes raced through the room, splashing water high into the air as they grew in altitude before slamming against an incomplete pillar. A shape flew from the darkness, and with perfect dexterity, landed in the water with a grin. Winifred straightened, her locket jingling upon her chest as she came into the glow of the Lifeblood. “You see, this was the whole point in tying our souls together, and binding us by string. So long as we live, the Shadow will never die. It will grow and grow and-hey!”
Terrill and Floyd didn’t let her finish her statement. The two boys flew at the Fiend that had appeared before them. Terrill’s sword crashed down, causing the woman to backstep, only to find herself in range of the fireball that Floyd created between his daggers. With a grunt, he fired it, forcing the woman to whip her hand across, deflecting it with wind. The ball of flame went off course, colliding with the ceiling.
“I’m not here to fight this time, heroes! Oh, come on!” Walter had joined the fray, bounding off a nearby pillar with wind surrounding him. Winifred took annoyance and flicked her finger in his direction. Their gales clashed, but the Fiend’s won out, sending Walter sprawling back through the water. “Ugh, and here I go through all this effort to find you and this is the thanks I get.”
“Oh, forgive us for wanting to beat you senseless,” Terrill mocked her, holding his sword up enough that it was ready to run her through if she so much as blinked. “My scar seems to be itching.”
“Not enough to teach you your lesson, though, is it, Terrill?” Winifred wagged her finger at him, causing a scowl to rise upon his face. Floyd crouched, but without delay, Winifred flicked said finger in his direction, hitting him with a shot of wind that drove him into Torry and Krysta. “In either case, I’m not here as a Fiend today, but of my own volition.”
“Bullshit,” Terrill said. He plunged his sword towards the pool of water, and a spire of earth erupted beneath Winifred. She sighed with boredom, leaping up to kick off it and send herself across the room to stand opposite Krysta, facing the Lifeblood. Terrill raced over, joined by Floyd and Walter as the five faced the Fiend that had appeared before them.
“Terrill, did you really think we’re under his control all the time?”
“Whether you are or aren’t, you’re still a sadistic harpy.”
Winifred didn’t appreciate being called that. Her taunting smirk gave way to an annoyed scowl, her fingers twitching at her side before she got control of herself and scoffed. It had been a brief second, but it was the most affected he had ever seen the woman, outside the time she had created the gash on his chest. “Fair enough.”
“What is it you want, Winifred?” Krysta asked. The shard of light she had created turned to a rapier made of it, and the young woman looked ready to hurl it straight into Winifred’s chest.
“What I want is vastly more complicated than anything you could give me, but let’s say I was curious. You’re still in Adversa, Terrill. Why?” For that fraction of a second, Terrill lowered his sword, taken aback by her question. Rather, he was surprised about how she had asked it. Softly, without any malice. No anger, but almost an understanding, or a burning need to know how he thought for some reason he couldn’t discern. “You know the truth about this world and your role in the game we’ve been playing, yet you decided to stay, even after learning it from the old man. I’m curious as to why.”
“That’s simple: because these people are worth protecting.” Winifred offered a deriding laugh at that, one which faded away at the next thing Terrill spoke. “Plus, I figure that Atrum wanted so badly to remove me from Adversa after we got the war kickstarted that I figured, no matter what damage I might cause by remaining here, me sticking around is infinitely worse for your plan.”
“So, the hero wants to play hero. Predictable.” Winifred’s tempestuous side got the better of her, and with an outstretched hand, she sent a gale roaring out. Terrill planted himself, and the others did the same, refusing to be swept away by this bitter, angry Fiend. “You know, at first, I thought it was just Atrum’s memories of you providing the roadmap, but the more we meet, the more you’re so easy to get a read on. You’re simple in the worst of ways. You can’t help yourself. No matter what, you want to save everyone else, and it makes every single move you make easy to predict. That’s why it wasn’t actually hard to find you. That’s why you haven’t learned there’s nothing you can do!”
“Aha!” Walter’s chortle took Terrill by surprise, but when it became a guffaw, even Winifred was forced to drop her mask of anger. “Ahahahaha! And you think we’re transparent?”
“Walter, buddy? You cracked or something?” Floyd asked, but the hunter didn’t address him.
“It’s beyond obvious why you’re here. You talk of teaching Terrill a lesson, showing us there’s nothing he can do, that any of us can do,” Walter said, stepping forward. His spear snapped out, pointing in the direction of the Fiend. “The truth of it is, however, that the only reason you’re working so hard to convince us of that is because there’s something we can do!”
“You?! Hah!” Winifred joined Walter’s laughter with her own, but the confident expression on Walter’s face didn’t fade away. If anything, he looked even more emboldened. “You’re nothing but souls and ether! There’s nothing you can do! If there was, we’d have taken you out in Dimidia long ago.”
“I wonder about that… Finding a few people in this wide world wouldn’t be an easy task, even for Fiends such as yourself. I would know. I’ve spent years looking for that accursed knight.” Walter’s wind burst beneath his feet, flinging him forward as his spear attempted to impale Winifred. She blocked it, holding the man in place. “So, where is he? Where is that Phantom Knight of yours?!”
“Go away.” Winifred’s cold tones preceded her equally cold wind that sent Walter flying to the side, into one of the pillars. Her flippantness gone, the woman stalked forward, her blonde hair rising in the air, curling and twisting with every step. Terrill prepared for battle, the others at his side with each of their weapons. The Lifeblood pulsed, sending a glow that highlighted the harsh lines upon Winifred’s face. “Terrill, you’re a fool. All that pain and you didn’t learn a thing. You might have gotten lucky, cutting the shadow out of you, but people can’t do that! There is misery, pain, despair and hopelessness that lays thick upon the people like a shadow. It grows in rancor and discontent, garroting the very pillars that support this world. Regret and despair are all that’s left until the world is a ball of resentment and pain! You think you could stop that? Or do you think you were better than him?!”
“Him?” Terrill asked. Winifred lunged, no longer able to control herself. Her wind became lances, aiming right for Terrill, who was too slow to move. The wind wasn’t black like the one that had wounded him, but was aimed at his heart.
Or it was, until a dagger sliced straight through it, the air burning.
“Of course, there’s a lot of pain, but who the hell are you to decide what we can or can’t do?” Floyd shouted. He thumped Terrill on the back, the two boys standing together as they faced Winifred. “We don’t give a damn if we’re souls or ether or any of that shadow nonsense. But we made a mistake, and we’ll be damned if we don’t clean up our own mess.”
“Tough talk from someone so selfish they sparked a war. But then again, I guess he’s rubbing off on you!” Winifred kicked around, sending her harrowing gale over them once again, but this time it was Torry who made her move. An arrow flew forward, spinning in the air before tendrils of ice emerged like a spinning saw, slicing apart the winds before it broke into shimmery pieces.
“Yeah, maybe he is,” Floyd said, flicking a finger across his nose. “And that’s how I know we can beat you. Because the world isn’t all about darkness and despair. We just gotta cut through it and be better. And when that’s done, Terrill can go home with his head held high.”
“And there is a way home for him!” Torry declared. Her own footsteps splashed more water on Terrill but she stood strong against the scowling Winifred. “That’s what that rift is, isn’t it? All magic needs a source, which has commonly been believed to be the soul. That means manifesting it in Adversa. But you keep insisting we in Adversa can’t do anything with lasting value…which means you need a link to Dimidia.”
“They opened a corridor…?” Krysta’s shocked voice was matched only by Winifred’s expulsion of wind around her figure. It proved to Terrill that Torry’s hypothesis, ever astute from the researcher, was exactly right. Behind them, however, Krysta’s own rage grew, her light manifesting around her in pointed shards, each aimed at Winifred. “Atrum created a rift between Dimidia and Adversa so that his Shadow can manifest in physical form… Where? What did you do to the Lifebloods?!”
“You’ll be dead before you-”
“Enough.” Winifred had sprung upon them, but in seconds was rebuffed by a watery wall, skidding backwards as the whirl of water parted. Warren had appeared. “What are you doing here, Winifred?”
“None of your damn business, Warren! Out of the way!”
“No. You’ve done more than enough damage already. What have you told them?” Terrill shifted a foot backwards, ready for the deadly general to attack at any time. He paid no mind to them, gripping Winifred by the wrist before she jerked it away without answering. “Ever petulant. You know that’s what got Eric killed.”
“Shut up!” Winifred lunged for her own comrade, only to be caught by the snap of a whip. She was enraged, and not at all like the cool and collected woman that had been taunting him. Like something within had snapped by seeing them continue to fight. Warren flicked her to the side, but she escaped before hitting a pillar. “I can handle them myself, Warren!”
“Don’t you have other tasks to accomplish in this war?”
“I did my part. The Valordan ship has the tailwind, the forces are clashing near Carzentaurian and King Phillip has pulled back to Fort Tierial. It’s your job to make sure the Invarian Navy gets there! I did my part, now let me-”
“Calm yourself, Winifred.” It was the same hiss as always, making Terrill’s skin crawl. He watched Warren, looking for the best way to attack. Walter was standing, levying a glare of hatred in the man’s direction, and Terrill hoped he wouldn’t move without consideration of his actions, first. Floyd, at the very least, was considerate, if tense like Torry. Only Krysta looked to have stopped moving, her points of light fading away as she stared blankly at Winifred, the Fiend standing. Warren continued to address her and ignore them. “Now is not the time to go off like this. We must be diligent and regimented ere the Shadow is formed. Your task does not lie here. They are for me.”
“Like hell, Warren!”
“WINIFRED!” The shout boomed throughout the room and Terrill felt a wave of nausea come over him. His knees threatened to buckle, and from behind, the Shadow erupted from the Lifeblood. Krysta dropped to the ground, retching, more receptive to that stench of darkness that filled the room. Winifred straightened, her body looking to have taken control while Warren’s eyes glowed red in the dim light. There was no more fight from Winifred, brought under that command. Terrill steadied himself, looking back to see how the darkness hung ever thicker upon the Lifeblood in Warren’s presence, and with this, the general turned at last to face them. “I will extinguish these souls. These abhorrent ghosts.”
“Ghosts or…no…” Floyd said, clutching at his chest while he regained himself, “there are still things we can do.”
“There is nothing you can do. No future you can hope to attain. You are nothing, and you will drown like nothing! Flood!” The waters rose from the pools on the ground, coalescing to a single wave with the intention of snuffing them out. It was black.
“Get behind me!” Terrill shouted, lifting his foot. He wasn’t going to let that dark wave crash into them. He descended, preparing to split it in two with stone.
He never completed the arc. Krysta had moved first, her javelin of light flashing through the air and dividing the wave. The light shined bright, causing Warren to recoil as the wave fell away and Krysta stood tall.
“You are wrong, Fiend.” Just as Winifred had surrounded herself with an aura of wind, Krysta was now glowing with pure light. It was something Terrill had recalled only once before, and he had been borderline unconscious during the events. Seeing Krysta stand now, though, with fury scrawled across her entire body, he could feel the power she was waiting to unleash upon this Fiend. “Souls are not so easily broken. They are not so easy for you to use! You will use them no further, Defiler of Waters!”
“Your body and soul are breaking, anyway! There’s nothing you can do, Absent One!”
CLAP!
The sound of a single droplet piercing a pool echoed, driving Warren to silence. Something in the air changed, and Terrill couldn’t figure it out, not until he realized that something was receding: the darkness. He looked behind him, and all in the room were surprised by what they found there.
Torry had placed her hand atop the Lifeblood, the construct beginning to glow alongside her.
“We won’t break,” she said, her most venomous expression leveled at Warren. “Souls or not, we’re stronger. Our magic is more than you could ever contend with.
“Because we’re the Blessed Ones. Bring it!”