-Chapter Forty-Two-
First Found Key - Part One
Saki and Lia observed the monster intently as they waited for Aelius to dispel the barrier encasing the village, located at the magic tower. It was a monster half-tangible, existing in the Real Realm, and half-metaphysical, existing in a different realm altogether.
Half of its face would flicker, made of a mere shadow, but the other half was gruesomely visible.
Morphed and warped flesh, streaks of red muscles and tendons, connected with dotted patches of brown and black skin.
Ugly claws on its lanky and gigantic arms, complimenting the murky, enlarged feet beneath it. The semi-humanoid beast the size of a building was sleeping peacefully with its head leaning on its kneecap, and Lia felt disgust well up within her.
“What actually is that?” she asked with a frown, whispering to Saki who looked back at the young girl.
“I don’t know, but whatever it is, it’s strong. If it wakes up and sees us, I don’t think we’ll be able to escape with our lives intact,” Saki grimly responded.
The two girls turned back to the monster, feeling ill in their stomachs when they suddenly heard a series of footsteps behind them, jolting them in fright.
Lia looked to the tunnel, waiting to see who it was when Saki sprung to her feet and pulled Lia by the arm to the back wall, putting a finger to her mouth.
Not Aelius, she mouthed to Lia, whose face crossed with a look of realisation, and she whipped her head back to the tunnel’s entrance. In anxiousness, she awaited the identity of the approachers.
—-----------------------
The ominous atmosphere of the dimly lit, purple floors of the magic tower belonging to Grayalla would easily cause unrest in any average visitor.
But to Aelius, especially with Asura by his side, any fear of what might ambush him was not at the forefront of his mind.
Instead, he was only concerned with pushing forward to find what Saki had wanted him to find.
He didn’t know what it was yet, but he’s certain that if he continues up the floors, he’ll eventually find it.
Leaving the jars upon jars of Pixie wings behind, Aelius advanced up the next flight of stairs.
With each floor he ascended, Asura in tow behind him, they found magic artefacts that grew more and more complex in design, until they finally reached a floor where the artefacts ceased to be magic artefacts entirely.
Arriving at the ninth floor, Aelius found several desks all with fascinating devices.
Their internal circuitry, as well as materialistic composition was entirely different from everything they had seen on the lower floors.
It was to the point of foreignness that Aelius could not even discern their functions or uses. Whatever they were, they were not designed for utilising the energy known as Mana.
The most obvious difference was that the devices on the Ninth floor were made out of entirely biological material.
But it was unlike any form of transmutational alchemy Aelius had seen.
What Grayalla was cultivating in this tower was enough for the Holy Empire to smite down this village into smithereens.
He had originally arrived here to look for a way to find Saki, and perhaps locate Raphie.
Yet instead, it felt like he had just found more questions. Questions that even he, as someone who regressed from the future, does not have the answer to.
“Aelius, can you feel that?” he heard Asura ask quietly from behind him and looked over his shoulder at her, finding her looking up above them with a frown.
“Feel what?”
“We called it… Origin energy. I thought you were already acquainted with it,” she answered and he looked up at the ceiling, seeing nothing but wooden beams.
“I have no idea what that is. Origin energy?” Aelius asked and Asura nodded.
“To you and any other being in this world, the energy above us is a foreign one. But to me and Saki… instead of foreign, it’s familiar. It’s home.”
Aelius frowned.
“Your home is above us right now?” he questioned her, sincerely trying to understand her meaning and she nodded.
“Though for me, my home is long lost, maybe Saki will find some leads. The Origin energy above us is discreetly spreading all over this village, enveloping it in a domain of authority.”
Asura approached the disgusting and revolting devices on the desks before them.
“These devices all appear to be failed prototypes, made from species that have the highest compatibility to harvesting Origin energies and controlling it.”
“What exactly is this… Origin energy?” Aelius asked Asura from behind, regarding her figure with keen interest.
“Well…” she took a moment to consider her words. “You know the power of Law, right? The powers and rules, the authority which governs the absolute principles of this world. Gravity, momentum, heat, everything.”
“Yeah, Saki explained to me the power of Law,” Aelius nodded along.
“Yes. Origin energy is the power of Law from another world. This particular Origin energy, I do not know which world it belongs to. But it does not belong to this world. It is a power that resists the principles of this world, because it is its own principle-governing power.”
“Okay, okay. Thank you.” Aelius slipped past Asura and began climbing the next set of stairs.
“I think I understand what’s going on here now.”
One floor above us, is the source of the barrier that is restricting our Awakening Arts, and Goddess-knows what other powers. Saki sensed it and wanted me to take it down. That way, we can communicate properly again. I could even potentially track Raphie down and heal her.
Unlike all the other floors, the stairs of the tenth floor were closed off by a door. It wasn’t locked however, as Aelius quickly discovered when he reached forward and nudged it open.
A blinding light suddenly stole his vision away, and as he stepped forward, the century-old wood beneath his foot creaked and crunched.
Only after a short second, his vision returned and he looked up in awe at the final floor.
This room was far larger than any of the others, but Aelius recalled the tower was only so large on the outside.
Could it have been spatial magic? But how is that possible, to Grayalla who could not even use basic storage magic until one night ago?
Lifted up on a central pillar in the middle of the room was what they had come here for. It was like a beacon of sorts, similar to a light tower, with two spotlights revolving around the room.
Everynow and then, as it passed by, its bright white light briefly blinded Aelius and Asura.
“So, how do we deal with this thing?” the mid-teen boy asked his same-aged companion, at least in appearance.
The now mid-teen girl, with her flowing red hair, stepped forward wearing a focused frown, looking up at the beacon.
“I don’t know for certain, but I think the momentum of its movement is generating force. Whatever it’s doing, it’s pulling Origin energy from somewhere, syphoning it, and redirecting it elsewhere,” she explained, pointing up.
“Right…” Aelius responded with a raised brow. “So we just stop it moving? And where exactly is it pulling Origin energy from?”
“I don’t know,” Asura shook her head unsurely. “But look at the two lights…” she gestured for his gaze to shift to one of them.
“One is moving slower than the other. This device has a vulnerability somewhere. If left long enough, I’m sure it’ll crash on its own. But, we can take advantage of this and speed up the process.”
“You’re awfully knowledgeable about these kind of devices,” Aelius remarked as he stepped forward.
“We used to have one,” Asura responded, a hint of sadness in her voice. “But it was sabotaged, just like what we’re about to do here.”
“Oh…” Aelius wanted to pry, and learn more about his partner’s past, but now was hardly the time.
So to stop it moving, I should just… Aelius approached Asura and placed his hand around her’s.
With a raised brow, she looked up at him.
“Can I have a sword, please? Like the good old days?” he humbly requested.
“Hmph.” From her fingertips, a crimson blade of black and red materialised.
“Thank you.”
Turning away, Aelius then approached the device, raising the blade.
As the lights rotated along with the large device, he observed intently until he finally found a crack in the hull of it.
Found it.
Just as he was about to plunge the blade in, however, he suddenly a series of heavy, pounding footsteps sprint up from behind him.
“Stop! Please, stop!”
It was a familiar voice, and Aelius looked over his shoulder to see Grayalla sprinting up the stairs.
“Please stop, Aelius!” She tried to desperately lunge forward, but could not even make it within three steps of him before Asura flashed forward and repelled her.
“Grayalla.” Aelius narrowed his eyes as he turned to face the tower master. “I trusted you. I helped you reach the Sixth Tier, and yet you used that power against me and my companions. I’m disappointed,” he said.
“It’s the village chief’s orders,” the older woman, with her messy long, black hair covering her forehead and eyes, softly answered.
“You could’ve chosen not to heed them and help him in this evil.”
“I’m sorry about what’s happening, I really am! But if you and your companions would just cooperate, the truth could come out. I was just trying to help get to the bottom of these murders without having to go to war with each other. There’s no need to destroy the barrier that protects the entire village over this! You know what horrors roam the sands out there. The barrier is the only thing keeping the village safe! To jeopardise all the lives of the village, just over a single murder case is uncalled for!” She sincerely tried to convince him but her eyes widened at his sudden, furious glare.
“Oh, Grayalla, you must have taken me for a fool the moment I set foot in the village,” Aelius shook his head.
“Even a blind man can see that this barrier type isn’t for keeping out monsters. And besides,” his face twisted into scorn as he glared down at her.
“It was war the moment your goons tried to lay their hands on my girls,” his aggrieved, begrudgingly low voice was enough to express his intent; that he was fed up.
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“No!” Grayalla called out, blocked by Asura as Aelius spun around and stabbed his sword into the vulnerable point of the odd device.
The white light that was coming out in a controlled beacon began to shine through the rapidly forming cracks, and the room began to grow brighter and brighter until finally, all of their eyes were blinded in the subsequent explosion.
“Noooo!” Grayalla’s voice could be heard crying out.
To a mage, seeing a legacy that persisted for generations and generations, including their own life’s work, be destroyed in a matter of seconds before their very eyes, is akin to the deepest despair.
Aelius knew this well, he could imagine the pain.
But he had no sympathy for this abomination of a device.
One that was built upon the sacrificed lives of innocents.
As he narrowed his glare, the white light filled the room and blinded them all.
—-----------------------
It’s not Aelius, Lia saw Saki’s lips mouth the words to her and she felt her heart skip a beat.
The footsteps coming around the corner were incredibly close now, and the entire underground cavern was an open space.
They had nowhere to hide.
Lia looked back to the tunnel to see the torchlight draw closer and she felt her nerves freeze up.
What do I do? The young, fifteen year old girl asked herself.
They were about to appear any second now and see her standing in the open.
Suddenly, she felt a hand grab onto her arm and pull her to the side.
Lia’s eyes widened from the force of the pull and just as she was stumbling out the way of the cave’s entrance, she caught a glimpse of a leg stepping out.
Saki helped Lia reach the nearby rocky wall and pushed her flat up against it, giving the young girl a shush with her finger to her lips, and she softly whispered.
“We need to find somewhere to hide.”
At her words, Lia nodded but looked around the cavern unsurely.
There was simply nowhere to go.
As they were stuck up against the back wall, desperately thinking of somewhere to go and remain undetected, they heard the footsteps and chatter come out into the open beside them.
“Ahh… this is so heavy,” a young man’s voice complained.
The sound drew closer, revealing itself to be wheels rolling on the soiled dirt.
Being pulled by the young man was a large wagon, and Saki and Lia both gasped to see a pile of a dozen bodies loaded onto it.
“Don’t get too close,” a second voice called out and Lia and Saki whipped their heads across to see a second person step out.
This other young man was someone they recognised; the grandson of the village chief.
Lia gave a squeak in shock, seeing an unconscious Raphie being dragged by the village chief’s grandson.
“Huh?” The two boys heard her soft voice and looked in their direction.
Lia’s breath caught in her throat as she realised they were about to be exposed, and her eyes fell shut in panic, bracing herself for what was to come.
Yet nothing ever came.
A few short seconds passed as she flung her eyes open again, confused when she noticed they had a transparent, dark blue barrier in front of them.
“Lia…!” Saki whispered to her, covering her mouth to stop more noise.
Lia looked back from Saki to the grandson.
The young man wore a frown on his face, and stepped up to the wall, staring straight at them.
“Hmm… weird.”
Scratching the back of his head, he turned away again and returned to Raphie’s body.
“W-what?” Lia quietly exclaimed, flabberghasted.
“It’s you, Lia!” Saki answered, gesturing at the weird transparent wall of blue in front of them.
“You’re doing this. Don’t stop!”
Lia looked down at her hands in awe, now able to sense the ‘zinging’ power running through her body.
Her thoughts were quickly distracted however, as she heard the boys begin to talk again.
“Uhh, chief. Do we really need to feed Raphie to this thing, though? Isn’t she the strongest Village Guardian we have?” the first boy pulling the wagon asked.
“Stop!” The grandson put an authoritative hand up. “Stop there. Don’t get too close to it,” he said and an expression of fear crossed the first young man’s face.
“O-oh.” He slowly backed away from the monster in the centre of the room.
“And yes, I’m sure we should feed Raphie to it. You fool, would we even need Raphie when we finally tame and take control of this beast?” The grandson asked.
“But is Grayalla okay with it…? Having her own sister fed to the beast?” the young man asked and received a silencing glare from the grandson.
“Stop asking so many questions and just start feeding it the bodies. I’ll take care of Raphie, anyways.”
“O-okay.” The young man fell quiet as he began to pull the bodies off the wagons.
Saki and Lia both saw they were bodies of both the Noble Knights and Village Guards, mangled and left in a bloodied mess.
The grandson pulled Raphie’s body roughly against the ground, passing the wagon and approaching closer to the beast.
“Tch,” the grandson clicked his tongue. “Besides, you don’t know what happened back then with the former tower master.”
At his words, the young man raised an eyebrow.
“The former tower master? The shamaness who taught Grayalla her magic?” he asked and the grandson nodded.
“That’s right. So, Raphie always had it coming.”
As the grandson drew closer to the beast, Saki saw Raphie’s chest lift up and fall back down, and she quickly realised Raphie was still alive.
“Oh dear…” Saki whispered, looking down to Lia. “She’s alive.”
Lia’s head whipped to Raphie and her face twisted sourly.
“T-then… we gotta save her?” Lia asked.
Saki grimly nodded.
“If they actually succeed in taming that monster, it’s all over for us. We should try to stop it from happening if we can, especially if the sacrifice is still alive!” Saki said firmly.
“H-how do we do that? ” Lia asked nervously.
“You have to do it,” Saki said lowly. “I can’t fight. But it’s okay. Aelius should be working on dispelling the barrier as we speak! All you have to do is stall for time, and then I can help you.”
Saki looked down to Lia, seeing her wearing an overwhelmed expression.
“It’s okay. You can do it. Just take a deep breath,” the older woman tried to assure and calm the younger girl.
Before her, Saki observed as Lia calmed herself down. And suddenly, the naive fifteen year old girl disappeared.
Exuding a gaze of tranquillity, Lia’s glowing royal blue eyes shot open and her power surged within her.
“Okay. I’m going.”
—-----------------------
The Village Chief’s grandson dragged Raphie’s unconscious body across the ground, and soon, he had bypassed the wagon and was drawing dangerously close to the unknown beast in the centre of the room.
Lia felt her nostrils flare up as she took a step forward and the transparent barrier dissipated.
“Hey!” she shouted as she emerged, catching the two young men’s attention. The grandson stopped in his tracks, his head whipping around to see Lia.
“Wha-?” Beside him, the other young man let out a yelp at the sudden appearance of Lia and stumbled backward, falling over the dead bodies he was meant to be porting.
“C-chief, it’s the missing fugitives!” he exclaimed. “The ones who did this to Raphie!”
“I can see that!” The chief pointed to a tip of gleaming metal poking out of the wagon, a few metres away from him.
“Hurry and pass me that!”
Before Lia could react, the grandson’s underling passed him the sharp sabre.
Dumping Raphie’s body in the dirt, the grandson caught the blade and slowly began to step forward, closing in on Lia.
“You’ve saved us the trouble of looking for you,” he said as he licked his lips and the fifteen year old girl returned a look of disgust.
“He’s not a mage but a swordsman. Will you be able to take him on?” Saki asked from over Lia’s shoulder.
The younger girl simply nodded, her eyes not straying from her opponent as they met each other and began to encircle each other.
A moment passed as both of them waited for the other to make the first move.
Finally, Lia gathered a ribbon-like manifestation of her royal blue power into her hands.
The energy morphed into a whip-like weapon but before she could begin swinging it, her opponent stepped closer to her.
The village chief’s grandson had good sense. As soon as he saw her form the ribbon in her hands, he knew he may not be able to defend himself against it at long range.
Taking the risk, he dashed into close range combat and swung his sword.
“Lia!” Saki called out in concern but the younger girl, naturally gifted with powers but not combat prowess, blocked the swing with a dark blue barrier.
The grandson suddenly felt a boost of confidence at his advance and continued forward, following swing after swing.
As he let out a furious barrage of attacks, Lia continued to step back, trying to create distance between them so she could attack.
However, he would not give her the chance, following each step she made closely.
Suddenly, Lia was attacked from the side by the second young man, who had sneakily snuck up behind her.
He tackled her to the ground in a dive and now on top of her, pinned her to the ground.
“Chief, I got her!” he called out his shoulder to the village chief’s grandson.
“Well done,” the grandson responded as he wiped the sweat from his brow, wearing a malicious grin.
“Curses,” Saki spat.
Lia was still inexperienced. Fighting two opponents at once was still too much for her. One was already hard enough, occupying all of her attention. A second one that could flank her, she could not resist.
The two young men briefly forgot about Saki at the back, as the grandson approached Lia, raising his sword over his head.
“Don’t worry, I won’t kill you just yet.”
“Ugh,” Lia struggled. “Get off me!”
Saki’s eyes darted around her, looking for something to grab onto as a weapon, but finding none.
“Oh no…” Saki took a moment to gather her courage, but Lia was about to be stabbed.
If anything, they have to prevent themselves from getting injured. Or else, Saki knew all too well how Aelius will snap.
Charging forward, Saki ran the grandson’s underling down. Neither of them saw her coming from behind and as Saki dashed past the grandson, she sent a kick square into the jaw of the other young man.
He was sent sprawling with a cry, rolling across the ground, and Lia was finally freed.
“Why you-” the grandson growled. “You just couldn’t wait your turn.”
As she sat up, Lia gasped when she looked above her.
“Saki! Look out!” she cried and Saki looked behind her just in time to see the grandson’s thrusted sword plunging toward her gut.
“Nooo!” Lia screamed in high pitch and her blue flame suddenly turned deep red and black.
That same, exhilarating energy that she felt when Aelius had first saved her was suddenly coursing through her veins.
Her thoughts faded and her vision blurred. As the clarity in her mind melted away, only one thought remained. To stop whatever it was she was seeing before her.
“Lia, no! Stop!” Saki called as all three of them were engulfed in a sudden expanding wave of her red power.
Instantly, Saki was flung off her feet, no sword ever reaching her abdomen.
The grandson opposite her was also sent off his feet, the sword clanging across the ground as it left his grip.
The wave lasted for a moment and Lia’s thoughts suddenly returned as she found herself sitting alone a few metres away from the two people she had just blown away.
“Saki, are you okay!?” Lia cried out, springing to her feet and running to her companion.
“Behind you, Lia!” Saki called out as she sat up, and Lia looked over her shoulder before freezing in fear.
Behind her, the beast’s eyes had opened, freshly awoken by the wave of energy that had knocked into it.
“Oh, we’re all dead! What have you done!?” the grandson screamed.
His underling who lay sprawled on the ground, closest to the beast of them all, slowly reawoke, looking up to see the beast towering over him.
“Oh Lord Nos!” the innocent underling cried as a large fist attached to the beast’s lanky arm came crushing down on him. Lia watched in horror as blood splattered like a popped orange across the ground, and the beast let out a thundering roar.
“Runnnn!” Saki shouted as Lia felt her heart skip beats.
Staring back at her with red eyes, the beast opened wide its mouth, revealing a row of sharp fangs, each half the size of her body, and Lia felt fear grip her.
‘Lia! Runnnn!” Saki shouted as the awoken beast pounced forward.