Chapter 17
The Ancient
Torry’s body was thrown to the side, her hands gripping tight to a line of pipes from the front of the skyship to the very ramp she was trying to gain traction on. It was still open, revealing the crystal blue sea and the alabaster buildings, all of which were rising to meet them. That couldn’t have been a good thing, and fighting against the force trying to yank her out of the skyship, Torry pulled herself upwards to the cabin. Terrill was gone, but the rest were all trying to hold on.
“Old man, tell me you know how to land this ship!” Floyd was shouting. The skyship buckled under a force of turbulence, and now Torry went flying for the ceiling, or what was left of it. She grunted, the wind leaving her lungs before she fell down. That was going to form a nasty bruise, presuming they could make it out of the fight with the Fiends even remotely unscathed.
“I’ll crash it on your head, Floyd, if it makes you feel any better!” Walter snapped back. He spun the wheel with maddening intensity, trying to right the ship. It scraped along the roof of one of the taller buildings, or so Torry guessed, her body bouncing along with it before Walter helped the vehicle gain some height. “There aren’t many places to land here, anyway! And the damage that hailstorm and last gust did is noticeable.”
“Find a courtyard!” Krysta screamed. The difficulty in her crystal limbs was made apparent, taking all of her strength to hold herself up. Floyd provided a support for her, but it only did so much. Walter looked at her like she was crazy. “Trust me. I know Priscus well enough. I doubt it’s changed. Find any courtyard that’s large enough and land it there!”
“Do it now!” Lumen and Charles shouted in agreement. Walter spat out, wiping sweat from his brow. Only now that he did it did Torry realize how temperate the weather had become in this city, like a place removed from the troubles of the outside world. It helped her to stand as the skyship was tossed around the calm winds, unable to maintain a steady altitude. It truly was just as damaged as Walter had said.
The greatest solace was that he soon found his mark.
“That’ll have to do. We’ll come in hot!” Walter said, angling the skyship in a new direction that caused all five of them to slide towards the chairs. Torry fanned her arms out, catching both rows but finding her feet lifting off the ground. The cabin was starting to feel aflame, their skyship on a nosedive from its place in the sky for an abandoned courtyard below.
“Floyd, cool it off!” Torry managed to grunt out between trying to get gravity to work on her. Her boyfriend glanced in her direction and she scowled. “Slow it down, already!”
“I’ll have to try. Oi, Lumen, if this doesn’t work…”
“On it!” Lumen said, nodding his head. He slid down to join Walter at the helm while Floyd closed his eyes. He had to stretch his hands out, muttering under his breath the incantation that proved what an effort slowing the skyship was.
It shuddered, the engines groaning and the metal creaking as its descent was cut in a fraction. They were still moving quick, the courtyard coming closer at an alarming rate, but it had slowed enough for Torry to maintain her balance.
POP!
“What was that?” Krysta asked. Charles groaned.
“That’ll be an engine, likely. Probably on one of the-” The skyship began to flip to the right, the wing slicing through another building, damaging the vehicle even further. Torry clambered over the chairs, straight for the right side that threatened to dig them all in a fiery grave. With a wave of her hand, a bolt of lightning seared through the metal casing, exposing the outside winds. Just as she had to get them through the hailstorm, Torry sent a blast of wind out to right their ship.
“Cooldown!” Floyd yelled, his lips puckered and his face screwed in such concentration, it was a wonder he hadn’t popped a blood vessel. Walter was trying to keep the skyship steady, but Lumen could see the imminent crash-landing.
“Luminous Shield: Maximus!” Lumen strained just as Floyd did, dropping to a knee from the exertion of magical energy. A honeycomb shield emerged around the skyship, just in the nick of time.
The courtyard was upon them, and the nose of the skyship crashed through abandoned chairs and tables, the right wing shearing off as it broke against a tree. The belly hit the ground, tearing up whatever stones made up the streets of the city, screeching with horror until it could grind to a stop. Torry only wished that were the end of it, as the nose began to tip forward without warning, striking a river or lake (she couldn’t figure out which that fast), and beginning to fill the vehicle with water. No one needed instruction to scramble for the exit, all six jumping out and onto the city walkways before the skyship was lost to the water, only its tail and the left wing sticking out of glittering blue.
“My sister’s going to kill us…” Charles lamented with a dry chuckle. Torry didn’t want to guess what the man’s sister was like.
“Priscus…” Krysta breathed out, not listening to Charles. They were all listening to her, though, and Torry began to stand, wiping some of her dampened hair from her eyes. “I’m back…”
“This is Priscus?” Floyd asked, his feet carrying him to Krysta’s side. Torry had done the same, and with awe, they looked to the great and ancient city they had landed in, heedless of the noises that told of Terrill’s battle being waged with Winifred.
Far as the eye could see, stretched buildings of white. At first, they seemed to be made of a form of clay, or marble, but even the most cursory of examinations revealed them to be white stone. Little windows were inset on everything, and the streets that wound their way through town were made of blue cobblestone. Lush, green grass painted the sides, with beautiful flowers rustling in the wind as trees shook their calming leaves to the ground.
Bisecting the city was a great river, whose sparkling blue surface reflected the sun rising higher with a clear, crisp intensity. A bridge spanned over it, made of the same white material but inlaid with gold, all leading to the larger buildings in the distance. One was familiar in size and shape, but made of the same white stone than the gray Torry had remembered. Further beyond that was a tall tower, perhaps a lighthouse of sorts, that was the defining landmark of the city, overlooking its many courtyards and plazas. The one they were in seemed to have a stage, or had once upon a time, while looking down the streets and stairs to the various levels showed each functioned as a mini-marketplace.
It was, in few words, a timeless place of beauty, unfettered by the goings-on in the wider world.
There was just one thing missing.
“Where are all the people?” Lumen asked, putting vocals to the thought that was in all of their heads.
Floyd folded his arms, turning in a circle to take the place in. “The Priscus in Adversa was just a library, wasn’t it? And there was only one person there. I guess it makes sense there’d be no one here now, or the world would have gotten screwed up a long time ago.”
“But this place is pristine…” Walter remarked. He bent to examine one of the few intact benches. As if believing it to be an illusion, he placed his hand upon it to find it was, indeed, very real. “You’d think someone inhabited it recently, but it’s quiet as the grave.”
“As it has been for millennia…” Krysta said, the breeze stealing her words, but drawing Torry’s frown.
“It’s difficult to reconcile the fact you’re as old as this city is,” she admitted, scratching at her nose. “It makes me wonder if it was your power holding this place like this, or that barrier that was broken. There’s no way an abandoned city wouldn’t just fall to the ravages of time.”
“Maybe.” It was the closest to a definitive thought Krysta had on the subject. She was cradling her arms, not looking the happiest about being here. “If there’s one thing that could be said of this place, it’s that it’s the closest thing to the nexus of all life. Where I was brought into this world as a Lifeblood.”
“So, every Lifeblood line would lead from this point…” Floyd observed, tapping his foot. “It would make it a strategically viable point for the Fiends, but I have to wonder the reason someone kept it so…untouched.”
“Maybe they just wanted company,” Charles said, the humorless joke drawing equally humorless reactions. He showed no other indication they should, bending down to sniff one of the flowers, confirming that they were also real. “I’ll leave the theorizing to you. My talents are best suited for the battlefield.”
“Right, well, we won’t get anywhere just standing here. The library would be a good place to start, right?” Torry suggested, wheeling herself around to point across the bridge. It hit her how eerie the silence was, and she wanted to keep talking, just so this abandoned city wouldn’t feel so creepy. “Maybe we can find an answer there to why the city exists in Dimidia, but not in Adversa.”
To emphasize the point, she took a step in the direction of the bridge, only to stumble. The others emulated her, none moreso than Krysta, whose breath could be heard shortening in Torry’s ears. Standing across from them, at the entrance to one of the diverting streets, was the old man, Alexander. He was still clad in robes of white with a matching beard, leaning upon his staff. The city around them flashed, the white giving way to green and gray ruins before returning to existence as they perceived it. Alexander spoke.
“Because it is the nexus of the split,” he said, his voice coming not only from the form in front of him, but all around, as if he was part of the city, itself. “And it is where the Cataclysm took place.”
“Cataclysm?” Floyd said. He was eager to step forward, but Krysta held him back. “I’ve never heard of it.”
“No, it is not a tale one would normally hear, just as one is little aware of the split.” Alexander vanished, forcing Torry to blink and rub her eyes. If it hadn’t been for Floyd’s question, she would have wondered if he had even been there at all. “It is a truth, nonetheless. The Cataclysm. The event that formed the first Fiend.”
The group turned as one, straight behind them to find Alexander now standing there. He was looking away, into the distance at the tower. Though he had spoken to them, Torry had the distinct feeling he didn’t truly see them, or care that they were even there in the first place. Perhaps that had always been his way, but the situations had been so dire before, she never noticed it. Now, however, her pores were tingling, her throat bobbing as it swallowed down the rising fear inside. Walter asked the next question. “Golbrucht?”
“Ha. No. That child is not the first Fiend,” Alexander answered. This body didn’t disappear, but another had appeared to deliver the answer, walking across the plaza. Lumen tripped backwards, falling into a table. “He is but one who could not understand: to defy fate is to ensure fate’s course.”
“Ensure…fate’s course?” Torry muttered, trying to reason out this newest riddle being spoken. When she tried to find the new Alexander, he was gone, but three others had taken his place, one sitting at a table, another atop a rooftop, and one at the sea, his staff raised high and pointed towards the tower. The cogs in her brain ran through the veritable mountain of hypotheses to try and arrive at an answer. “You mean, preserving the flow of souls. Trying to change it only causes the flow to brute force what it always has?”
“Perhaps.” This voice was right in the middle of them, and all six jumped away when Alexander was in their midst. Krysta jumped the farthest, shaking. Torry wondered if the vessel of hers was remembering something, but she was looking at Alexander with abject horror. “But you ask how this city can exist as it does in Dimidia? Because the Cataclysm stole many souls. The birth of each Fiend has been marked by destruction. The eruption of a volcano, the flooding of a previous hilly land. The creation of the original Shadow. The greater splitting of O’Della Canyon.
“And in Priscus, the destruction of the whole city, as if to demonstrate the goddess’s callous disdain for humanity.”
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“How would you know that?” Krysta gasped out. Her flesh hand was attempting to grip at her chest, but it had clearly already turned to crystal, and she was unable to. Alexander merely chuckled at the question.
“Souls were extinguished, but the Lifeblood of Light remained, its solitary defender of the beginning of the flow from which all life joins this world. Light is the progenitor of many things. Purification, illumination and illusions, all under the same, and so it and the shards of crystal that remained, became the new vessel, awaiting the return of its soul. Preserved, and not a day older. The city shrouded in time.”
“Awaiting its soul?” Torry asked, Floyd’s voice echoing with hers. They both felt disturbed, their fingers trembling with the information Alexander shared. Along with it was the way he had delivered it; not as a kindly, helpful scholar, but a man who had waited far too long to reveal some horrible truth. Someone who had waited for everything to reach this moment.
“It has been waiting for you, my dear Krysta,” Alexander said, all the copies in the area turning to point their staff at the girl. She stepped back, right up against Lumen. “For you to become the Lifeblood once again, and remind the world of its flow. Your vessel, this city, awaits you!”
Alexander, all of him, tapped their staffs upon Priscus’s ground, and Torry felt her whole body go numb. She looked down, eyes widening. Cracks appeared along the city, every porous surface glowing an angry red. It reminded her of Clay’s attacks, but far more distressing. The sky took on the burning hue, the barrier that once was cracked falling away. Floyd and Walter wasted no time in joining Lumen and surrounding Krysta, protecting her from the old man. Torry instead looked around to see that where they had broken through the ground with the skyship, shards of crystal were emerging.
“Priscus is…the Lifeblood?!” she gasped out.
Alexander did not answer her question, for he had no time. Charles came swooping in, both blades summoning darkness around them. He slashed through, only to find that Alexander was not there at all. Unlike the rest of the town, he was mere illusion.
But not all of him.
Three of the Alexanders rose, their bodies shining with the red light that was tainting the city. Krysta gagged, falling to her knees and eliciting concern from the three around her. Those Alexanders all finished their transformation, solid in form and bathed in golden light. In their hands were their staves, shining like lanterns. In spite of their corporeality, they yet seemed intangible when they floated down, their lanterns shooting rays of light.
“Shield!” Krysta shouted, pulling herself together just long enough to defend everyone with her honeycomb barrier. The attack reflected off of it, deflecting to the ground and cutting along it. True to what was said, underneath was a layer of crystal in no particular form.
“That attack was pretty real!” Floyd shouted. Krysta’s shield dropped, unable to be maintained, and one of the copies came flying down. “Why the hell is he attacking us? I thought he was on our side!”
The Alexander was there and Walter acted, slashing down with his spear, striking against the staff. With a spin and a thrust of his palm, he sent a windstorm billowing out. The copy of Alexander was sent flying, but was replaced with another.
Torry didn’t find this place as fascinating anymore.
Now it was just downright wrong.
“Element Twister!” she shouted, done with whatever Alexander was up to. From one hand came fire, and the other was water, turning into a corkscrew that pierced the copy. It hung in midair, and with a flash of light, vanished, leaving just a wisp behind that floated towards the center of the city. It didn’t stop the others from attacking.
“Well, if he was on our side before, he’s not now,” Walter commented, trying to keep them back with a wall of wind, but failing when one of the beams pierced his thigh. He slipped, and Krysta moved to heal him. “Save your strength. Regardless of Alexander’s intentions, Golbrucht is the real enemy here. We need to keep ourselves fresh for him.”
“I don’t think having a wound is fresh,” Krysta told him.
“Don’t argue!” Lumen stepped in front of Krysta, holding a shield up. He bashed it outwards, striking the Alexander in the face. Floyd leapt in on that, striking upon the copy with a flaming kick. It flew backwards, and just as Torry’s spell had done, dispersed. The city grew a greater red. “Did we beat him?”
“They might have a tangible substance, but they’re not real. Just-”
“Vessels,” Torry and Krysta said, concluding Charles’s thought.
“Right. We find the real one.” There was only one place to find the real one, and all but Lumen and Charles knew it. As one, they looked to the center of the city, where the library and great tower sat. In the end, Lumen joined them.
“He’s there. Golbrucht is there. I can feel it.”
“Then what are we waiting for? Terrill’s busy fighting that harpy, so we gotta do our part!” Floyd said, beating his fists together to create a spark of fire that looked dull amidst the crimson. “Let’s run!”
“Yes, my Lifeblood, come to me. Take your place, and destroy his soul! Let the flow be restored, and fate be unified once again!”
“Shut up!” Krysta snapped. One of the copies approached, and she turned around to grab it by the face. It hesitated, not daring to wound her, and with that she summoned a burning light that incinerated the copy. The wisp of light vanished towards their destination once again, but this time Krysta followed it. Ignoring what was happening to her body, Krysta took point. “Trying to split your soul? It won’t matter if your main body is found, Alexander!”
“More running! Less talking!” Walter grunted, drawing even with Krysta as they turned down a side street. One of the light beams struck against a building, breaking it apart. For a moment, Torry thought her feet were treading on grass instead of crystal or stone, but it soon returned to what she expected.
“Easy to say, Walter! This guy is relentless!” Floyd stopped at their rear, nodding to Torry while he drew his daggers and sent fireballs flying from them. They struck the vessels, dispersing them, but did little to stop the encroaching threat. Floyd went right back to running, their party turning for the bridge that would bring them closer to their destination. “I still don’t get why Alexander is fighting us!”
“Because he was probably never on our side,” Torry ventured a guess. The nearest building exploded, but not from Alexander’s attack. This time, it was a geyser of fire, just like those in the Abyssal Palace. The threat of the Lifebloods was reaching even here. “Just on his own, and because we’re in conflict with Golbrucht.”
“Then what’s his plan?” No one knew the answer to Lumen’s question, especially not when another beam cut across the path in front of them, a group of five vessels blocking their way to the bridge. Another two appeared behind. “I don’t get it… Are they all Alexander, or…?”
“Vessels take on the form of the soul,” Krysta said, offering herself as a case in point. “It’s possible that, unlike Golbrucht’s version, he just split his soul or sealed it. Which would mean he also has Soul Magic, but we knew that when he helped rescue Terrill.”
“We can talk about it later!” Charles interrupted, running forward with both blades held outwards at his sides. He jumped, and Walter acted just in that moment to give him a burst of wind that sent him higher. He spun. “Out of our way!”
His spinning made him like a black storm. The vessels moved aside, but two of them were slashed through, the shadows spurting into the air and causing them to vanish. Torry picked up the slack, clapping her hands together. When they pulled apart, they found Floyd’s hands, joining together and forming a barrier of flame that soon formed a set of jaws. Those jaws snapped down, devouring the other vessels. The two behind them raised their staves to attack, and Lumen threw his shield. It struck one, falling uselessly to the ground, but setting Krysta up to toss shards of light that pierced the vessels. The path was clear, if only temporarily, but they took it, dashing for the bridge that spanned the glittering river.
When they placed their feet upon it, all went silent again.
The glow disappeared, and those vessels that were in the air stopped, turning towards the library. Lumen twitched, a sure sign that Golbrucht was active in Atrum’s body, but he said nothing. All at once, the vessels vanished into wisps on the air, leaving the group as bewildered as ever. They did not stop their forward progression, but nor could they think about what needed to be said. Well, everyone but Floyd.
“Why do you think he stopped? Given what he said, he doesn’t seem like the type to give up that easily…”
“It is because he is engaged in a new conflict with our King, a battle of the centuries now coming to pass at last.” Torry knew that voice, and hated it. Her feet skidded to a stop, her fingertips crackling with lightning that was ready to skewer the Fiend that had imprisoned her and drove Floyd to accidentally trigger a war. So ready was she that the second he manifested on the bridge, Torry fired her searing bolt. He managed to tilt to the side, avoiding it but for the burn on his neck. He grimaced, but did not relent in his taunts. “You see, Alexander is not one to suffer the continued existence of those he no longer considers useful.”
Floyd and Walter also had no love for the Fiend, with the redhead charging down the bridge and leaping high into the air. He made a somersault in midair, becoming like a blazing wheel, as Walter summoned multiple air javelins behind him. Warren was unperturbed by the sight, a blade of water forming. He met Floyd head on, their clash producing steam that caused the javelins to miss, only for a whip to crack out and strike Walter on the chest. Despite his wounds, the hunter remained tall, reassuring Floyd when he’d leapt back to him. The hunter addressed the Fiend directly. “So, what are you saying? We’re not part of his plan?”
“You’re not a part of any plan,” Warren said, his twisted and knowing smirk continuing to stretch his face, even while he flinched from the pain of the burn. Torry quirked an eyebrow at the observation, starting to figure out why it had caused him lingering damage, but Warren was not one to let them suffer overlong. “Golbrucht requires Lumen to be his vessel. Alexander requires the girl to restore fate’s flow.”
“And why would he want to do that? How does he even know about Krysta?” Floyd demanded. His blades shimmered in the light, the heat radiating from them enough to brand anyone who would touch them.
“You mean you haven’t figured it out yet?” Warren laughed, stretching his arms wide, and Torry could see the river beginning to swell, the waters trickling on the bridge from every single angle. There was nowhere to run with whatever Warren was planning. “Then let it drown you in despair as we take your lives. Golbrucht is not the leader of the Fiends, and nor is he the first. That distinction falls to the one who tried to orchestrate all from the very moment of the Cataclysm: Alexander, Steward of the Flow. Or should we call him the Corrupter of the Light? He’s a Fiend, too. Now, drown in your misery, as we did.”
His hands clapped, and with it, the waves crested. Torry shifted magic, now feeling the chill run up her arms as she tried to freeze the water, only for Warren to send it crashing upon them. The river covered the bridge in its entirety, ripping Torry and the others off her feet, sending them off the bridge and into the river.
She hit the water, sinking beneath it like a weight was attached to her body, dragging her ever further under. In those clear waters, she could see Krysta and Floyd, both gasping for air, the three of them now separated by the bridge from Walter, Lumen and Charles. She chose to trust in them, and with a concentration that pooled all of her innate magic power to her, she tapped into the blessing she had received. Bubbles escaped her mouth as she tried to speak the incantation, and though that failed, the spell did not.
The waters parted, depositing Floyd to the riverbed with a splutter that spat out all the water he could from his lungs. Krysta was unaffected, but was unable to move. The waters threatened to cave in again and Torry held them with her own watery lock. On the other side of the bridge, a twister was seen, with Walter rising above the water. His control was weak, and he and the other two hit the surface, washing back ashore. Torry’s own group tried to do the same, with Krysta crawling through the dirt to hit the embankment.
She didn’t expect the giant claw to slam down and pin her to that pavement.
“Going somewhere?” Blaise growled, grinning at all of them in his mighty draconic form. Torry refused to let it deter her in holding up the waters, but felt the drain on her energy. The longer this would go on, the less she would have to fight. Floyd stumbled on the dirt, revealing the layer of crystal underneath, coursing with the power of light, or so she presumed. In his victory, Blaise leaned down, his maw and nostrils snorting upon Krysta. “I’m afraid this is the end of the line for you, servant of the goddess. Tell me, how does it feel to know you will be the last relic of her design, once all the other Lifebloods are gone?”
“Krysta, get up!” Floyd said, his limbs milling about in his attempt to gain a foothold. From the bridge leapt a shape, Warren landing upon the cobblestones. In seconds, his whip had extended, clasping around Lumen. Walter and Charles jumped for the boy, yanked back with him until they were all in close proximity to one another.
“Well, no matter. Golbrucht will ensure the system she set up fails, duplicitous as she is.”
“And we shall have revenge against the world that wronged us.”
Torry’s knee began to slip, her vision growing hazy. The large dragon became little more than a blur. Floyd was running, his speed increasing until he, too, was little more than a red blur that rammed Blaise but did nothing to remove him from Krysta’s prone form. The waters began to cave in.
Suddenly, she remembered: the searing heat of fiery plasma that had burned Warren…and of the day Floyd had battled LeBrandon, cutting away his watery attacks with fire.
Opposite elements… Torry shut her eyes tight, and then opened them wide, regaining some clarity. A guttural roar filled her throat, and before the Fiends knew she was acting, the waters obeyed her commands. “Aqua Storm!”
“Wha-?” Blaise was struck by all the fury of the river, crying out in pain as the opposite element damaged him. His claw lifted just a little and Krysta moved her free hand. The sun dimmed, and the crystal underfoot shined for a brief moment until a cannon of light blasted towards the sky, wounding the dragon’s underbelly. Blaise fell backwards, Warren avoiding his comrade’s tumble.
In that time, Torry let the waters drop, joining Floyd in picking Krysta up, while Charles severed the whip and held up Lumen. Walter, too, stood strong, and they faced the pair of Fiends, recovering from their resistance. They were already in pain, the water having depleted their energy, but they still stood facing their foes, who were less than happy to see it.
“So, this is what we’ve come down to. The heroes and the Shadow King,” Warren said, snapping his whip out like the tail of a snake. “I suppose there was never any other way. It was always going to end here, the plan. But we cannot let you interfere with either Golbrucht or Alexander.”
“They are the only way to make us whole.”
“Yeah, by stripping choices from everyone else,” Floyd retorted. He stood taller, encouraging the others to do the same. “We’re not doing that.”
“We’ve come here to make our own choices,” Krysta concurred. “Decide our own path for the world.”
“And as long as we keep standing, we’ll make that choice.” Torry was the one to take the first step forward, but the others moved in concert with her, their magical energies spiking as they faced down the Fiends that had tormented them. Both wore grins. Torry swiped her hand down, crackling with lightning and fire on each side. They were ready. One last rumble in Priscus. She sucked in one last anticipatory breath, and then pointed forward with blue eyes of steel. “We’ll save our world from Fiends like you. That’s what we’ve chosen to do, because we’re the Blessed. So, bring it on!”