Chapter 576: Book of Memories
Stryg awoke in a world of darkness. The ground was soft like sand, almost as if he would sink into it. Small tendrils of shadow clung to his feet. He looked about, yet there was nothing but endlessness in every direction. He was alone.
“You came. I hoped you would.”
He spun around and came face to face with a woman. Her skin was a shade or two bluer than his own. Hair as silver as his was white. Deep purple eyes that stared into his own. He knew her. He had seen her once in the memories of Krikolm, kneeling at the throne of Veres.
“Stryga…”
A small smile crept on her blue lips. “I know this is a lot for you to take in. I promise, I’ll explain everything, Nalindra.”
“Nalindra?” Stryg furrowed his brow.
She wasn’t talking to him. No, Stryga Veres wasn’t here. This was a memory, similar to the ones in Krikolm.
Her smile fell and her expression grew sad. “I know you have so many questions, my sweet daughter. I never wanted to answer them. You will hate the answers you find. I don’t know if you’ll ever forgive me. I only hope that you come to understand why I did it and what you must do.”
Stryga’s eyes shifted away as if looking beyond Stryg. “Aurelia, right now you’re too young to understand any of this. I imagine if you’re seeing this, then you are now old enough to understand. I’m sorry my burden has fallen upon you. You and your brother remind me so much of Gian. Willful, powerful, and loving… You will need all three to protect this family.”
“To those who follow, if you are seeing this, it is because you are of my blood. An engraved memory in this book can only be experienced by the memory creator’s descendants. You are here because you have been burdened with what I began. I have done what little I can to prepare the way. This is my legacy to you.”
The shadows began to swallow Stryga’s body. Her gaze shifted and she was looking down at Stryg, her eyes soft. “And if you are the one we’ve been waiting for… Forgive me.”
The shadows swallowed her entirely and Stryg felt himself fall. He landed on his feet in a world of smoke. In the distance, he could make out the silhouette of a figure. He pushed through the smoke and made his way to them.
Finally, he stepped through the edge of the smoke and came to a halt in front of Stryga. She was clad in black armor and a scarlet cape, fresh stains of blood all over her body. Ash and dirt covered her face and hair. Krikolm sat snugly in her grasp, its crimson blade happy with its fill of blood.
He could feel Stryga’s exhaustion, the slick sweat underneath her armor, the blood dripping down her forearm. He could hear her thoughts as if they were his own.
Stryga’s eyes were full of horror as they stared out at the scene before her. A city with brilliant sapphire walls and soaring spires was on fire. The inferno swallowed half the city. Pillars of smoke rose from ruined buildings. Wailing cries of the dying echoed in the distance. Clanging of steel rang in her ears. Her soldiers swarmed the few city guards standing between them and the fleeing goblins.
Lunis had fallen.
“What have we done…?” Stryga mumbled.
“You should be proud, War Master. You have done what no one thought possible. The Sapphire of the East lies in ruin.”
Stryga glared at the drow walking towards her, flanked by a retinue of heavily armoured guards. He wore a cloak of snow white and golden armor underneath that gleamed in the firelight. He gave her that charming smile that had won over so many before, the smile that made one believe in themselves, the smile that had inspired thousands. Now it seemed false, a mockery of what had once been.
“You lied to me,” Stryga said in a broken spiteful voice.
Ravellan cocked his head to the side. “I told you we were going to war. I told you Holo’s Shade was counting on us to eliminate Lunis’ defenses.”
“You told me the Lunar Elects had an army gathering in the city! You told me to gather our armies and fight them with everything we had to save our own soldiers marching in the west!”
“And you did wonderful,” Ravellan gestured to the city burning all around them. “Lunis lies in ruins. The Lunisian armies in the west will be crippled.”
“But there was no army here! Only civilians!”
“Then who are the goblins our soldiers fight even now?”
“The city guards aren’t soldiers! They are only trying to protect their own!” Stryga shouted and stepped towards them, her grip tight on Krikolm.
Ravellan’s retinue closed in around him and stared at Stryga, ready to defend their lord. Ravellan smiled, this time with a calm demeanor. “I understand you are angry, Lady Veres, but be careful to whom you direct it at. We may be engaged, but I am still your liege first and foremost. Do not forget your place, Blue Rose.”
Stryga exhaled in a slow, loud breath, then bowed. “My House and I stand loyal and ready to serve House Lutharik and you, Ebon Lord.”
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“I know,” he patted her pauldron. “It’s why I made you the city’s War Master.”
“General!” A vampire mage in black robes burst into the street, running towards them.
“Syrak?” Stryga called out. He was supposed to be stationed at the east side of the city. What was he doing here?
Her captain’s usual playful demeanor was nowhere to be seen. Syrak’s eyes were hard. Blue battle mages were trained to control their emotions even under the most stressful of situations, it was necessary to cast storm magic, but the worry in Syrak’s voice betrayed him. “General, it’s Lana! Her company has fallen under attack by battle mages!”
“Were their battle mages not defending the moon temple?” Ravellan muttered.
“It seems the temple’s priestesses have already managed to flee the city,” said Stryga grimly. “Syrak, how bad is it?”
“Half of Lana’s company is dead. They’re surrounded, she can’t hold them off much longer.”
Stryga nodded and began to channel Purple. “Gather what battle mages you can and meet me there.”
“Yes, general.”
“Going off to protect our own?” Ravellan smiled playfully.
For a moment, Stryga was back in Holo’s Shade, dancing in his arms across the ballroom, laughing as he whispered a joke into her ear. Then the moment was gone and Ravellan was an Ebon Lord once more.
Stryga ignored him and turned to Syrak, placing her hand on his forehead. “Show me where they are.”
Syrak nodded and closed his eyes. Purple light glowed at the edge of her fingertips.
“Found them.” She stepped away and shifted into Orange. Her body grew lighter and she sprinted away, vaulting over fires and ruined houses with ease.
A small group of vampire and drow soldiers were huddled in a tavern, shooting arrows from the windows, and using their shields as a barricade at the door. A lone drow stood outside, dancing across the enemy battle mages and soldiers. Lana shifted from Orange’s agility to dodge a bolt of lightning, into Brown’s might to snap a goblin’s neck with a single kick, before shifting into Yellow’s defensive scales to block a sword strike, and finally returning into an agility spell.
There was not a mage in all the Realm who could switch between enhancement spells so quickly. Yet Stryga spotted several gashes between Lana’s leather armor. She was tiring, and quickly.
Blue and Orange surged out from Stryga’s heart and into her arms. Lightning crackled at her fingertips as she dashed across the street in a blur, Krikolm singing eagerly with every goblin she cut down.
~~~
The smell of charred flesh and ash filled her nostrils. The morning sun did little to wash away the dark smoke clouds that plagued the city. Stryga walked through the ruins, goblins lay scattered across the bloodstained streets. Men, women, elderly… children. They had been cut down by her own soldiers, by her commands, she had sentenced thousands to their deaths.
She stared down at Krikolm, drops of blood swirling hypnotically around the blade. “I did this,” she whispered.
“There you are,” Ravellan called out from above. He floated down next to her, the wind carrying him gently to the ground. “After you dealt with the battle mages Lana informed me you disappeared.”
“...There were a few that tried to escape.”
Ravellan glanced around at the countless bodies that riddled the street. “You’re quite effective.”
“I didn’t—” What was the point? Even if she hadn’t cut these particular people down, she had given the order to her soldiers. These innocents were dead because of her. “What do you want?”
His gaze softened. “I know this is hard, Stryga, but it is necessary for the future we wish to build. The world will remember us for this difficult but pivotal moment. We will go down in history as the ones who toppled the Great City of Lunis and ushered in a unified era of peace.”
“The world will remember us as monsters,” she said angrily.
“Victors write history and I say they will remember us as heroes.”
“Heroes?” she scoffed. “There is no honor in this war. Lunis was our ally, we betrayed them.”
Ravellan laughed, a lighthearted melodic sound. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to laugh, it’s just, honor? Really? There is no honor in war, I thought you of all people would have understood that by now. Lunis was our ally, yes, but they were a threat to the growing power of the Ebon Lords. They would have eventually attacked us and then where would we be?”
“You don’t know that for certain.”
“They refused to acknowledge our sovereignty! Even their own prime archmages refused the title of Ebon Lord. Instead, they preferred to serve at the whims of their Elects and a goddess who does not even exist. Never before have all the Ebon Lords been unified for a greater purpose. For the first time since your ancestor, Lord Koval, we have a chance to truly bring peace to the Ebon Realm, one that will survive even after our deaths. Lunis threatened that dream. They would never bow to the will of the Ebon Lords, you know this. They’d rather pray to their goddess for guidance.”
Ravellan threw his arms to the side and gestured to the destruction all around them, “Well, where is she? Hm? Where is the great and powerful Lunae? Nowhere. Do you want to know why? Because she is not real. There is no god who will lead Lunis to a better future for the Realm. Only we can do that.”
“You never did believe in the gods,” Stryga muttered.
He cocked an eyebrow, “And neither did you, or so I thought.”
“I don’t know anymore… My mother believes.”
“And your father believed the gods were just stories created by the powerful to control the masses, I remember. He was a wise man.”
“Leave my father out of this.”
Ravellan raised his hands in surrender. “Look, if the gods were real, then where is Lunae? Where was Solis when several of the other Ebon Lords claimed he was dead, that they had killed him?” He laughed at that last part, but then his expression grew dark. “There are dangerous creatures in this world, Stryga. Monsters you don’t ever wish to come across. I’ve met the one who claims to be Holo, she is only a young woman, though I admit her powers are greater than even my own. But do I believe her claim that she is an immortal? Do I believe my colleagues and I were being hunted down by some ‘dark monster’? Do I believe in gods? Not a chance. I refuse to believe that there are immortals we have never seen somewhere out there influencing our decisions throughout history.”
“You’re right, it sounds ridiculous when you put it like that,” she admitted. “But… what if we’re wrong, Ravellan? What if the gods are real?”
“No point in debating that now, is there?” He extended his hand to her, “Come, it’s time to leave this place. You and I are needed in the West. The orcs and their warlords will finish what is left of this city.”
“What are our orders?”
“A pincer maneuver. We will take our army and strike the Lunisian forces from the back as our allies attack from the front. It is time we put an end to this war before it truly even begins.”
Stryga sighed and stared for a long moment at the destruction she had wrought on these people. “Understood, my lord.” She sheathed Krikolm and followed Ravellan into the sky.