“Leave us!” Sesuuk hissed at the younger snake-people who’d hurried toward him as soon as he entered the quarter.
The Lamakai Trine had been a roaming band before coming to Blackwood, and they were the first non-humans to join the small town. The original members—some sixty or so snake-people—were also refugees from an Older Zone, so they quickly became a powerful force and much-needed protection against the many incursions that the Celestial Engines threw at Blackwood.
Still, even Finn had to admit that the Lamakai didn’t exactly make themselves feel like a true part of the small city they had helped build.
The entrances to their quarter were guarded by strange sculptures that could have been abstract Lamakai heroes or their terrible gods, Finn didn’t know. They kept to themselves, and their way of life was completely different than any warm-blooded mammal.
Sesuuk hurried them past one of their birthing temples. The Lamakai had a lot of temples. This particular one was built from stone and smoked constantly from the fires that burned night and day, keeping their eggs warm. Then there were the strange incenses of their bathhouses, and of course their raucous markets where small birds and smaller mammals—voles and mice, mostly—were kept in cages while other Lamakai selected which plump victim they would take home for a meal.
But it wasn’t just their way of life, it was their nature. The snake-people came across as naturally arrogant, oftentimes not even bothering to answer when a warm-blood spoke to them. Perhaps it was the fact that the older generation of Lamakai had all come from their own Elder Zone, so the anxieties and questions that a struggling new realm like Blackwood had must have seemed trivial to them.
If their advanced knowledge helped to heal Esther, however, Finn didn’t care at all for their strangeness or aloof behavior.
“This way.” Sesuuk led the small group— Laurie Marr, Rosa, and Finn carrying Esther—toward a small stone building that Finn hadn’t seen before. It was peaked and slated with a deep iridescent green type of rock. An open archway led into darkness, and heavy incense burners hanging on each side smoldered with a blue-and-purple smoke. As they approached, a pair of Lamakai in white robes came out. They saw Sesuuk and dipped their head in respect.
“I’ve never seen this place. Is this your personal temple?” Laurie asked lightly, although there was tension in her voice.
As soon as they neared the structure, they could all feel a palpable wave of invisible eldritch power. It made the hairs on the back of Finn’s neck stand up.
>
>
> You have entered the Level 15 Shrine.
>
>
“You’ve made a shrine!? How!?” Rosa whispered.
Sesuuk made a hissing sound, apparently directed at Laurie. “You don’t know of this because you do not visit the Lamakai Quarter very often, Mayor,” he sneered before flicking his gaze to Finn and his unconscious charge. “Well, that’s resolved one thing. We know that she must be at least Level Fifteen.” He beckoned them to follow as he stepped into the dark.
At least a Level 15, Finn thought. Shrines were usually generated or created by the Celestial Engines or some Asai, weren’t they? Each was rated at a certain power level, and no soul under that level could enter.
It’s effectively a barrier, some small, distant part of his mind noted. No one under Level 15. He shook his head, ignoring that for now.
Esther was the only thing he had time to worry about. He had to find a way to heal his sister.
Inside the building was a small entrance parlor, with more incense burners and a bronze dish on a pedestal containing what looked like sand and appeared to be the focus of the Lamakai’s devotions. Sesuuk led them past that to where another drape hid an archway and a steep set of stairs, leading down.
“How big is this place?” Laurie whispered.
Sesuuk ignored her as he snapped his fingers, and a small orb of fire to materialized to light their way.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
I keep forgetting he’s the same Ascension Path as me, Finn thought a little distractedly. It was one of the reasons he had accepted Sesuuk’s offer of patronage, hoping it meant that he would learn more of his path’s abilities. So far, they’d had little time to meet and train, what with all the monster attacks and menacing warbands.
The stairs twisted down, eventually stopping at a long, wide corridor where there were multiple sturdy wooden doors. Sesuuk moved to the last one and muttered something. A golden sigil flared into existence briefly, and the door swung open.
On the other side was a large room lined with wooden racks on the walls that were full of gemstones, jars, mirrors, tubes of bubbling material, and old scrolls.
But no one was paying attention to the walls.
“What the heck is that?” Rosa said, pointing to the glowing green circle on the floor. It pulsed softly with some internal light.
“It’s a ritual circle, clearly. Really. How on the sands did you humans ever get anything done?” Sesuuk hissed, gesturing for Finn to lay Esther in the center of the circle.
Each to their own, Finn thought, but he guessed he could understand Rosa’s concern. In all the Earth movies, bad things always came from magic circles, especially ones that glowed with their own light and were decorated with incomprehensible markings… and what looked like a few bones.
Finn frowned and hesitated, glaring at Sesuuk. “I need her healed, Sesuuk—”
The Lamakai hissed in exasperation and snapped, “Yes! Indeed, she will be! This is called a Rite of Replenishment. It will restore her natural energies to her, but it will take time!” The prophet waved at the cold floor. When Finn hesitated again, Sesuuk grumbled and reached behind the door for an old woven blanket that he threw over the circle. “There. Happy now? Or would you rather watch your sister wither away with all the qlippothic energies she contains within her?”
Now, it was Laurie’s turn to hiss. “Qlippothic energies? Isn’t that the enemy of creation!? It’s dark and uncontrollable. Existing only to destroy life… How is Esther even alive?!” she asked in horror.
“It was Kano, wasn’t it?” Finn muttered fiercely. He settled Esther down on the blanket as gently as he could, brushing a lock of hair from her face. Her skin felt cold and clammy to the touch. “When he held her in that realm I had to travel to, she was in some sort of pillar of green light. It did something to her!”
“Step back!” the Lamakai demanded as he began to prepare the circle. “Yes, the qlippothic energy did something to your sister. How she is alive is a mystery even to me. The Qlippothic Realm is like our own—powered by celestial energies—but qlippothic energy is the opposite of our own. We believe that it was made by renegade Asai, or perhaps beings even older than our own Asai, beings just as powerful and who hate the Asai and their Celestial Engines…”
Finn had heard some of this when he and Esther had cornered his Adversary. Kano was an Earther like Finn and Esther, but the same dumb luck that had chosen Finn to be a Defender had somehow worked the opposite for Kano. He had been selected as an Adversary, dedicated to those beings who wanted an end to the Celestial system itself.
That much, I can understand, Finn thought distractedly as he watched Sesuuk throw pinches of something into the air. The dust or powder flashed a lurid green or red, and the magical circle throbbed again, more powerfully than before. The Asai and their games are all about fighting and surviving, aren’t they?
That was why Blackwood and Malvas were realms. Places were ranked and graded, and formed sanctuaries for those inside to train and grow stronger. Perhaps one day, if they lasted long enough, they’d become an Older Zone.
The celestial schemes were also why there was a constant stream of monster attacks against every realm. Just last week, they had encountered some rampaging, bull-like creatures whose flesh appeared made entirely of bronze. The creatures had assaulted the city with terrifying ferocity and were only barely repelled.
These celestial games were also why so many people had died. So many Earthers. So many Tierrans. It was why the Older Zones congregated at the Termulain Trading Post, using it as a staging place to launch slaving campaigns into newer world.
“So the Qlippothi want to bring down the Celestial Engines. Why is that such a bad thing?” Finn asked out loud. “And why do they want my sister!?”
It was Laurie who answered, hot and fast. “The Qlippothi won’t just stop at the engines, Finn! They’re worse than the Asai! They’ll destroy everything we love. They’ll enslave us all until we die poisoned, miserable deaths! It’s like mixing fire and paper. Or oil and water! And who knows why they want your sister, or what they have done to her, but no being from our reality should even be able to survive in theirs!”
“And yet, here she is…” Sesuuk hissed under his breath, his tone neutral. He raised his hand, and green lines of light started playing around his fingers. “This Adversary of yours, Knight-Defender, this Kano, must have their own patron. A Qlippothi so powerful that they have managed to find a way to meld the energies of our two worlds…” He sounded impressed.
“Well, it’s clearly not working… Look at her!” Rosa said.
Finn was looking at her. This was his sister, his baby sister, and she was being used as a pawn in some celestial war of realities for reasons he couldn’t even fathom. He hated the Asai, and he hated this new world with a fierce passion.
“STOP!”
There was a shout from the door as it was pushed open and in stormed Sister Alharrow, flanked by two of her largest Lycans.
“Stop in the name of all that is good and holy! You’ll kill her if you try this!” the Lycan declared.