The cyclops advanced, hefting its enormous club, but became wedged in the door frame. It was standing just a few feet away from Lori’s position, its grubby fingers reaching out to grab her. With a grunt of displeasure the beast retreated a step, then smashed the club into the side of the wall. Dust and chinks of stone rained through the hallway. Lori raised her hands above her head instinctively as a cloud of white dust showered her blouse, feeling tiny pebbles assault her bared arms. The cyclops was roaring in anger, thrashing the club relentlessly against the walls and reducing them to piles of rubble.
A smirk of satisfaction twisted its ugly features as the cyclops now stepped into the hallway, its enormous shadow completely engulfing Lori as it bore down upon her. She jumped to the side as the club came arcing down yet again, smashing the wooden floorboards. It advanced on her, the top of its head brushing against the ceiling, and with a rather clumsy movement swiped its club at her again.
Lori leapt aside nimbly, rolling across the gleaming wooden floor and leaping to her feet with her knife raised. The monster cocked its head, its lone eye fixed on the knife, looking appraisingly at the weapon.
Then it let out a loud, derisive laugh. It was that more than anything that hardened Lori’s resolve. Despite the anger flaring within her, she was able to assess the situation more calmly. Lori flicked the blade of her knife and uttered a single word: “Aurum!”
The knife blade blazed with a scorching white light, filling the hallway with its radiance.
The cyclops stopped laughing. Now it was surveying the weapon—and indeed its wielder—with apprehension. The monster was big, but it was slow, and clearly not that quick-witted. Lori seized the opportunity to retaliate as she saw it pause; she could almost hear the gears turning inside its dull brain, wondering how to proceed now. She charged directly at the monster, bobbing and weaving from side to side to throw it off. It raised its club again but too late—Lori had struck like a viper rearing from tall grass, quick and vicious, and the knife scored a long, deep gash in its knee.
The cyclops howled in pain and dropped the club, directly onto its other foot, which caused it to roar even more ferociously in agony. Not giving it even a moment to recover, Lori jumped, bounding straight for the biggest target the monster had presented to her: its eye.
It saw her coming and raised its hand, which was as large as the polished bronze shields gathering dust in their armoury. The blade sank deeply into its palm. Another deep, guttural cry filled the corridor and the monster shook its hand violently. Lori held on for dear life, wind rushing in her ears as she swung from side-to-side. Then the monster grabbed her with its other arm and flung her straight into the wall. She fell limply to the ground, a small gasp of pain erupting from her as she rolled onto the floor, completely winded. What it lacked in speed it clearly made up for in strength.
Furious, the monster turned and glared down at her, advancing with a bad limp and green blood flowing profusely from both its knee and hand. It was right above her, reaching down towards her. Then—
“Get away from her!”
The shout came from the other end of the corridor, and both Lori and her adversary looked up to see a boy of nineteen standing at the other end, holding an expertly crafted archer’s bow and a quiver of arrows strung across his back. His hair was dark brown, the same colour as Lori’s, and his eyes, stormy-grey like their mother’s, were hard and fierce as they surveyed the creature.
“Not another step.”
His tone was deep and commanding, but otherwise completely calm. The cyclops growled and moved off towards the boy instead. Less than three seconds had passed, then several sharp thwacks! followed as a volley of arrows embedded themselves into the cyclops’s skin. The final arrow had lodged itself directly in the center of its eye, the dark iris like a great bullseye. For a moment it seemed the cyclops had frozen. It didn’t so much as breathe. Then it keeled over and landed heavily onto the floor; a dull thud echoed through the hallways as it hit the ground, unmistakably dead.
Steven looked at the corpse for only a moment, then he was rushing towards Lori’s side. “You all right?” he said, offering a hand to help her up.
“Fine now, thanks.” The clips that had held up her hair had fallen out upon impact with the wall, and now her dark braid hung from the side of her head. She didn’t bother to tuck it back in place, but merely tossed it behind her impatiently.
“That was really reckless, taking on a creature like that by yourself. You don’t have the kind of training necessary to deal with something like that. You could have been killed.”
“You sound like Grandfather,” Lori said in exasperation. “What was I supposed to do? Ask it to hold patiently while I fetched one of the Dimension Warriors so it could fight them instead?”
Steven ground his jaw. “I see your point. Just…be more careful next time. I’m assuming you’re the one that took out its knee?” he added, glancing at the monster once more. Lori nodded. “Nicely done.”
“Save the compliments for later. Where did this thing even come from? Isn’t the Sanctuary protected by a barrier?”
Steven beckoned her forward and they stepped past the felled cyclops’s body, which was staining the floor with a grimy emerald fluid. “It is. We don’t know how it got in, or the others—”
“Others?” Lori’s eyes went wide, gaping up at her brother.
“We’re not sure of how many there are in all, but there are at least two more monsters. Grandfather sent me to make sure you were okay while the other Warriors handled the rest.”
“Steven…there was blood on its club…Did it—?”
“No, it didn’t kill anyone for us,” Steven said, with so much conviction that Lori stared at him. He noticed her expression and she saw a somewhat awkward look flit over his face. He cleared his throat and said, “Not that I know of. There haven’t been reports of any other bodies in the Sanctuary so far. It seems whatever it did, it may have happened before it ended up in here.”
“Does Grandfather have any ideas how it could have happened?”
“He didn’t say, but it looks pretty bad.”
“I think something’s wrong with the Tree,” said Lori as they turned a corner at a swift trot, still looking carefully around to spot any more monsters.
Steven cast her a sharp look. “Why do you say that?”
Lori shrugged. “There was a grey streak on one of the branches, and an orb had a crack in it. They seemed pretty small to me but Grandfather got really weird when he noticed it. He said we had to go immediately, and then this happens right after! Do you think they’re related somehow?”
Steven frowned, contemplating the question. “I don’t know,” he said slowly. “It could be…” But judging by the look on his face he wasn’t convinced. Lori was burning with more questions, but before she could ask them, a loud bang echoed very close at hand. Steven looked down at her, his face pale and stricken. “If I told you to run and stay hidden until this mess is sorted out, would you listen?”
“Absolutely not,” said Lori promptly.
Steven sighed. “I figured. Just stay close to me—and tell Grandfather I tried to keep you out of it, okay?”
“Deal.” Lori nodded and the duo broke into a run, heading around the corner to their left and moving in the direction of the screams. They were at the scene in only a few seconds, and what a scene it was.
They had come to a halt outside the doors of the Dining Hall, great slabs of gold that were fitted with shining silver knockers shaped like swans. Inside was a cavernous space fitted with many sleek wooden benches around oval tables draped with white cloth. It was usually a very clean, neat space, but now it was almost unrecognizable. Benches had been overturned and huge chunks had been taken out of the tables, littering the ground with dust. The pantries had been ravaged, causing fruits, meats and other kinds of food items to spill onto the usually gleaming floor.
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The other residents of the Stardust Sanctuary were spread out across the Dining Hall, screaming and running for their lives as several large creatures chased them around the hall.
They were creatures unlike any Lori had ever seen: large and mud-brown, with very small eyes and long snouts that ended in multiple writhing feelers, like long, skinny worms extending from their noses.
Lori watched as one of the creatures advanced on Jeremy Sears, a boy even younger than she was, who had tripped and now lay, crying, on the floor. “No!” she cried out, and she flung the knife. It seemed like a silly thing to do in hindsight, throwing her only defense away while pandemonium reigned around her, but in the moment it had felt like the only thing she could do. The knife whistled through the air and, to her very great surprise, actually pierced the monster’s snout with a sicking sloshing sound.
It screeched in a mixture of pain and fury, rounding on her, but she had succeeded in getting its attention away from Jeremy.
With impossible speed, the monster advanced on her, growling furiously. But the growls turned at once into whimpers of pain as an array of arrows sprouted suddenly from its side. The beast keeled over and fell with a thud that shook the hall around them.
It really was amazing what Steven could do with that bow.
Steven rushed up to the fallen monster’s side, extracted the knife and flung it to Lori. It was glowing again, suffused with the power of Soulfire, which flowed through the Sanctuary’s very walls. The light was so intense that it was almost harsh to look at, but its heat was warm and comfortable, like a cool breath of wind on a pleasant Summer day.
“Take Jeremy and go, just go!” Steven shouted, reaching for his quiver again as another creature came to avenge its fallen companion.
Lori did as she was told, albeit reluctantly. Grabbing hold of Jeremy, she turned and beckoned to the other civilians in the room and rushed outside. They wove through the labyrinthine corridors ahead until at last they came to the Armoury, which was the most heavily protected room in the entire Stardust Sanctuary. They locked the door behind them, opening it every now and then as someone came pounding against the door and shrieking to be let in. They could still hear the sounds of fighting while they waited, albeit a bit muffled. Lori saw the people around her shivering, but the room was not cold.
At last, after what felt like an eternity, one of the Dimension Warriors appeared, bruised and bleeding but a wan smile on his face. “It’s over,” he said. “The monsters have all been handled, and the Sanctuary checked thrice over. There’s nothing else out there. You’re safe now.”
“Is anyone—?”
“Just one.” The man grimaced as he spoke. “We managed to limit the casualties. Our Healing Ward is full but they’ll manage. But we lost Franklyn.”
Gasps erupted all around. To Lori’s right, one woman fell to her knees and broke into heart-wrenching sobs. The fallen Frank’s wife. Tears welled in Lori’s eyes. She had known Frank, and a kinder man was very difficult to find. Wiping away her tears, she followed the remainder of the group as they returned to the Mess Hall, still very shaken.
Already people were beginning to clean up the damage, but it was so extensive that it didn’t seem it would be complete for another few years if they were lucky. It was as she caught a glimpse of another of those large, brown creatures that she had saved Jeremy from that a sudden decision formed in her mind and she peeled away from the group, turning instead to the direction of the Warriors’ training grounds.
There she found Grandfather and the Dimension Warriors gathered, having some kind of meeting.
Grandfather stopped speaking immediately the moment he saw her. He crossed the room with the speed of a much younger man and roped her into a firm hug. “Thank goodness you’re safe,” he said. “I was about to check on you soon.” He continued, rather awkwardly, “I’m sorry, my dear, but this is a private meeting. Just wait outside for a few minutes and then—”
“Hold on,” interrupted Steven. “Grandfather, I think she needs to hear this too.” Several faces turned to Steven at that, including their grandfather’s, all looking incredulous. “She was the one who noticed something was wrong with the Tree, and she did assist us with evacuating the civilians. She even helped to take down two monsters. I think she deserves to know.”
Grandfather contemplated Steven, his jaw working furiously. “Very well,” he said at last, taking no care to hide the reluctance in his voice. “You can stay, Lorelei.”
Fighting hard not to grin, Lori made her way over to Steven’s side.
“We were just discussing the most unfortunate set of events that occurred today,” said Grandfather. “Our home has been infiltrated, something that has never been thought possible before now. A great barrier protects our home, and that barrier is the result of some of the most powerful spellwork ever cast in the history of the Stardust Sanctuary’s existence. No magical creature has ever been allowed through the barrier without the authorization of someone inside, and even then, there are strict procedures to be followed.”
A storm of dark murmuring rent the air. Some of the Dimension Warriors were looking mutinous.
“Not only that, but the sacred Tree that protects our home, fuels our way of life and maintains the system designed to keep these magical fugitives bound and powerless, has also been poisoned.”
Gasps erupted all around. Poisoned? Lori thought blankly.
Grandfather reached into his robes and very carefully extracted a crystal phial with a small amount of dark yellow fluid. Some of the Warriors actually recoiled at the sight.
“This, for those of you unaware, is known as the Jester’s Kiss. It is one of the rarest and deadliest poisons in recorded history. It can only be obtained in very few regions, and those places have some of the harshest conditions you can imagine. It was extracted from the Tree just moments after the attack.”
“So you’re saying that someone deliberately went out to get that, so that they could poison the Tree of Eternity?” said Aliyah, a tall, red-haired woman, who was one of the few female Dimension Warriors.
“That appears to be the case,” Grandfather said somberly. “Luckily, the Tree has powerful magic of its own. The Jester’s Kiss was not enough to completely destroy it, and our Healers are trying their best to mitigate the damage, but the Tree is dying. There is only one known antidote to Jester’s Kiss, but it is almost as treacherous to obtain as the poison itself.”
One of the Warriors stepped forward, a man with sandy hair, bright green eyes and a large scar across his face. “We are no strangers to death and danger, Andreas. If I will have your permission, I’ll be glad to take this quest.”
“So will I,” said a second man.
“And I,” said a third.
Grandfather smiled. “Then you must prepare to depart, you leave immediately.”
They nodded and rushed out of the room.
“And that handles one of our more pressing concerns, but there are more. While the Tree is weakened, our barrier may not be strong enough to keep more magical creatures from entering. For the time being, we are too vulnerable. I am suspending all other quests, bar one. The second pressing issue, is that several of our magical fugitives have escaped.”
Gasps again. Lori’s jaw fell open.
“Impossible!” one man shouted.
“So I believed as well,” Grandfather said calmly. “But it is very much the truth. Thirteen in total have disappeared, and judging by our Trackers, they have all been scattered across a nearby dimension known as Earth. The situation is far worse than imagined, for the Earthlings are one of the few species that have no magical defenses of their own. If left unchecked, they will be slaughtered.
“Which is why,” Grandfather continued heavily, “I shall be the one to take this quest.”
“What?” Lori demanded. She looked around at Steven, who looked positively flabbergasted.
“Unfortunately, there is no other choice. We cannot afford to spare the manpower. The Sanctuary needs the Dimension Warriors more than it needs me.”
“That’s not true, Grandfather,” Lori said. “You’re the leader of the Sanctuary, its heart and soul. The Sanctuary needs its Prophet more than ever! But… I can—”
“We have had this discussion before, Lorelei,” he said sternly. “I grow weary of repeating myself. You are not rea—”
“Yes she is,” Steven interrupted, for the second time. “I saw her with my own eyes, Grandfather. The only reason you think she’s not ready is because you don’t want her to be. You can say she’s not experienced enough, but how will she ever get the experience she needs if you never give her a chance? We all had to learn somehow.”
Grandfather was frowning at Steven, but Lori could tell that he was considering the matter. He was silent for nearly a whole minute. Then—
“Very—very well,” he said. “You may go, but you will not go alone. Steven will accompany you.”
Lori expected to see Steven looking as excited as she felt, but he looked as if Grandfather had just told him he had to swallow a bucket of salt. “But…Grandfather, surely someone else—more experienced and knowledgeable than me? Don’t you think I would be of more help here, with you?”
“No, I think this quest is exactly where you should be,” said Grandfather firmly. “Both of you start packing, then meet me in the Tracking Room. I will provide you further details there.”
Both Lori and Steven left the room, excitement coursing within her. She couldn’t understand why Steven looked so displeased with this new update, but she could barely focus on him. She had finally been given a quest! After all the pleading, after all the “no’s” and “you’re not ready’s”, she was finally going to have the chance to prove herself. Lori broke into a run and rushed towards the Armoury, unable to keep the grin off her face.