The clean up after the battle was slow, as most of the Hunters were tired, but due to the preparations Sanafalls had made, they didn’t suffer as much damage to the city itself. Unlike when the Kindled family managed to infiltrate the city and attack from within.
“Do we have a record of the deceased?” Wolken asked one of the Adepts that was assisting with the after efforts. “We’ll need to figure out who we need to contact regarding this incident.”
The Adept rattled off a number of names. Ezekiel tried to keep track of it, but he was simply not involved with the majority of the Guilds that had taken part. Not after the years away, and even before then, he still wasn’t the most social of people.
“How’s your sister?” Wolken’s question dragged Ezekiel from his thoughts. “She was trapped inside the compound, right?”
He just sighed before standing up and looking out the window. They were currently stationed on the walls of Sanafalls, looking out over the devastated landscape. A small office had been constructed to more easily keep watch in case the Imperial forces tried to attack once more.
“Unfortunately, while the defensive formations managed to hold against that final attack, the quakes released during the battle shook it up enough that the internal mechanisms were jostled out of place.” In the distance, Ezekiel focused on the large property that was currently being worked on by several hundred Scholars and Hunters.
“At the moment, the chambers have been totally sealed, and likely will be for at least a few more hours.” This was one of the defenses that Ezekiel was starting to regret.
He had originally designed a massive number of runic enchantments for defensive purposes. But now that they had activated, he realized that the timer he had created to ensure that the rooms would remain sealed, keeping the person inside safe from external attacks, was now causing him worry.
It wasn’t as if he could check on his sister when he had specifically made it impossible to pierce through the chamber with any sort of magical senses.
‘We’d be able to sense it if we could figure out what the next step is.’ Shine’s grumbling made Ezekiel smile, just a bit, since he knew that the Void Spirit was doing it to help distract him. ‘I think we need to stop with the Artifacts. It’s time to focus on breaking through again.’
Ezekiel frowned; this was something he had been trying to avoid for the moment. Hoping he could just wait until Shine reached a point where they were ready to reach Tier five and allow Ezekiel to ascend with them.
It wasn’t the ideal method. Since it would mean that Ezekiel was bound to Shine in regard to his eventual Tier, but it had the benefit of being the safe path.
“I’m going to go check on the compound. Do you need anything from me here?” Ezekiel grabbed a coat off one of the chairs in the office.
“I’ll be fine. When Riley gets back, I’ll have her head your way.” Wolken waved Ezekiel off= before grumbling over the stack of paperwork piles in front of him.
“Maybe Riley’s found something that can help me out.” Though he doubted it, Ezekiel did hold out some hope that the fleeing Imperials might have something valuable to their plans. “We’ll need to accelerate our departure. I had been hoping that my mother would’ve awakened before we left... Perhaps it’s better this way.”
Ezekiel’s muttering was ignored as he passively maintained a privacy barrier around himself. It had basically become second nature at this point, and it took so little mana that he regained it faster than he spent it.
‘Don’t change the subject. You need to focus on breaking through.’ Shine shifted gears, this time preventing Ezekiel from getting distracted. ‘Why do you suddenly not want to break through anymore?’
Thoughts filled Ezekiel’s head. Memories of his discovery regarding the Cruor and the power of the Ancients and their [Will]. ‘I still want to break through. Don’t think that I don’t. I’m just realizing that our rush to reach higher Tiers is revealing more to this world, not less.’
Allowing his mana to flow between his fingers, Ezekiel watched the opalescent light flicker in and out of existence. ‘I’m concerned that if I reach Tier five before I’m properly prepared, then something will change. I’ll lose something that I can’t get back. I'm already on the bounday between mortal and not. Even if Tier fives still have a limited life span.’
‘... but don’t you have more to lose if you don’t break through?’
Ezekiel just sighed, unable to dispute Shine’s point. ‘Yeah... I’m just overthinking things again. I’ve already got some ideas regarding how to break through. It’s honestly quite surprising just how simple it seems to be. It’s been more difficult reaching this point, but it’s like, once I reached Legendary, I simply began to understand things more easily.’
‘Only you could say something like that.’ Shine mentally shook their head in exasperation at their partner’s statement.
‘Well, that’s what happens when your soul spends ten thousand years traveling through the cosmos in order to reincarnate.’ Ezekiel stopped his conversation and focused on his destination as he arrived at the compound.
‘Fine. I’ll drop it for now. But I want to know what you’ve come up with as soon as we’re done here. Even if we need to pull a late night.’ The sun was already setting, and from what Ezekiel could tell, it was apparent that barely a tenth of the necessary repair work for the landscape was completed.
Large areas were still composed of glass from where the Radiant abominations attacked.
For now, however, Ezekiel only cared about the buildings in front of him. Where there were small cracks that could be seen here and there, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed within another day or so.
It was apparent that the minor damage had been repaired quite easily, but he still took the time to look over everything himself. The vast majority of the inner enchanted arrays were original designs he had created using runes he had learned from his time in the Ancient Legacy, after all.
“Anything that seems out of the ordinary; besides the obvious, of course?” Ezekiel called out to one of the Legendary Scholars, a middle-aged man, one who had apparently benefited from Ezekiel’s discoveries regarding Mage breakthroughs to Legendary.
The two began descending into the compound where the mana chambers were located.
“Nothing yet, sir. But the repairs should be done within an hour. We’re being as meticulous as possible, but without the control sequences, these arrays are difficult to work around.”
Ezekiel just smiled at the man’s complaint. All that this meant was that the arrays were doing as they were designed to do. “Don’t worry about it too much. The chambers were designed to create a timer lock so that the person inside wouldn’t accidentally exit into a battlefield unaware. But they should also open if the person inside is injured.”
Arriving at his destination, he stood in front of the room where Wendy was residing. “If anything happens to those inside, not only will the door open on its own, but an alarm will sound, indicating who needs help and where.”
The Scholar just sighed. Ezekiel could tell that the man was frustrated, but also in awe of what he had proven capable of.
“You don’t have to worry about the enchantments inside failing either.” Ezekiel cut the man off before he could speak. “They’re five times more reinforced than the enchantments out here. Not including the primary barrier, at least.”
Giving up, the Scholar left the area to go back to examining the damage up top. In the meantime, Ezekiel found a chair, and decided to sit, until his sister got out.
The repairs were underway, so it wasn’t like he had much more to do right now.
‘So, since you apparently have the time, what were those ideas you mentioned?’
Ezekiel just sighed but didn’t bother brushing off his Spirit this time. Though he did take some pleasure in the confusion Shine felt as they failed to comprehend what he was talking about.
----------
----------------------------------------
It was well after sunset when the chambers finally opened. Several people stumbled out from their respective rooms. Looking around, they were mostly confused, and Ezekiel could see the worry and concern plastered on their faces.
Several Scholars and medics had been brought in to supervise, so as to ensure that there were no lingering issues with those that had been trapped within the chambers all day.
It wasn’t as if Ezekiel had been expecting to have his defensive contingencies put into place so quickly. So, it was nice to have some support to make sure that everyone was okay.
There was a lot of grumbling, but the people who had come in were all informed of the defensive enchantments beforehand. They had all been forced to sign contracts stating that there weren’t going to be any repercussions due to problems brought about by external factors. Ezekiel knew he wasn’t at fault regarding the current circumstances, so he wasn’t too concerned about what others thought about it.
Right now, he only really cared about his sister, who nearly collapsed once she exited the chamber. Rushing forward, Ezekiel caught her before she fell over.
“Brother?” Wendy’s voice was quiet and dazed, like she wasn’t fully awake. “What happened? I thought that you weren’t going to let me train for that long.”
Ezekiel helped her onto one of the simple gurneys that had been brought over by the healers. She tried to wave him off, but he wasn’t having any of it.
“Enough. Let the healers check you over.” His stern and stressed-out tone caught her attention, and Wendy stopped struggling.
“I’m fine. I’m just tired from being locked up for so long.” Her voice was becoming stronger, and her mind was clearly coming into focus. “Now, are you going to tell me what happened?”
Ezekiel looked at the healer, receiving a positive response in turn, before turning back to his sister. “Let’s just say that not everyone in the world is happy with what I’ve created. Specifically, they’re not happy I didn’t create it for them.”
“Was anybody hurt?!” All tiredness fled her body when she realized what Ezekiel meant. “Who attacked? Was it the Kindled bastards again?”
While he wasn’t surprised at her concern, the venom in his sister’s voice didn’t sound right to Ezekiel. “There were casualties. This wasn't a small attack. But we drove them off without too many issues. Riley is still out there hunting down the stragglers. I think.”
Now that he thought about it, it was somewhat strange that Riley hadn’t returned yet, but hopefully it was a good thing. If she found something that caused her to divert from returning earlier, then it probably meant that it was something that the Cult valued.
The healer moved, and Ezekiel saw that she was wrapping up her examination. “Any problems?”
The healer shook her head. “No. She’s just tired and mentally stressed from the environment she was locked in all day. Given that she’s an obscure Hutner, she actually did much better than some of the others, despite being so young. She’s also right on the verge of Tier three, so you should be incredibly proud. I don’t think anyone else her age has reached that level in a while. Not including you, of course.”
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
“Her soul isn’t stressed? She’s not put too much pressure on herself?” These were Ezekiel’s biggest concerns.
“Everything is fine. She just needs time to find and open her chakra. Given the strength of her soul, she should be able to become an Adept without issue. Though, I wouldn’t recommend going for Step two right away once she does. Even if her soul is strong enough, it’ll take some time for her mana to settle.”
Left unsaid was the fact that Ezekiel hadn’t had to do this. Though, he had been born in this world with a Soul that was comparable to Legendaries. This had meant that he hadn’t needed to worry about his mana going out of control when breaking through the lower Tiers. With his soul growing even stronger since then, he hadn’t even had to worry about it while he was in Tier four.
“That’s good. That means that you’ll have something else to focus on. For now.” Ezekiel smiled as he turned back to his sister. “After you break through, we’ll work on expanding your repertoire of spells. I’m sure there are a few Hunters that can help with your training.”
Wendy smiled in return, though it was far less enthusiastic than before. The fact that it wouldn’t be their mother teaching Wendy weighed on both the sibling’s minds.
“Come on. We’ll get you upstairs and settle into one of the rooms. Even if you’re healthy, you should still get some rest.” Ezekiel saw the healer nod at his words before she headed off to help deal with one of the other Mages who hadn’t dealt with the situation quite as well as Wendy had.
Yawning in response, Wendy just allowed him to lead her up and out from the mana chambers.
They were only halfway to the room that Ezekiel was taking her to when the sky seemed to light up with a bright blue flame.
Riley descended on the group in a rush, and if it weren’t for the passkey Artifact that Ezekiel had given her, he was certain that the defensive arrays would’ve stopped her from entering as she had.
“What’s wrong?” Ezekiel grew concerned, and Wendy forced herself to wake up again. “Did the Empire leave any unexpected surprises?”
Riley shook her head. “No. It just took some time to root out the ones that were hiding in the different towns and cities. Getting permission to have a large number of Legendaries enter and inspect cities that they weren’t based in was the time-consuming part.”
That was to be expected, though he supposed that having such a large fighting force barreling into a different city’s territory wasn’t something that their council members would’ve been happy about.
“The problem is that we ended up looping around the island, so I cut through the city to get here, but when I did, I was forced to go calm someone down at the Cathedral.”
Ezekiel grew confused, and Wendy seemed to be the same. “Who did you have to calm down?”
“Your mother.” Riley’s words made the siblings freeze, the shock and hope conflicted within them, and they didn’t know how to respond. “She’s awake now, but she won’t calm down unless she sees the both of you. Right now!”
Stretching his senses as far as he could, Ezekiel grabbed Wendy before she could start running and wrapped the three of them, and their Spirits, in a barrier.
Half a second later they were gone, with nothing to indicate that they had ever been there in the first place.
----------
----------------------------------------
The commotion Ezekiel made when he, his sister, and Riley appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the Cathedral was mostly ignored. Few people were in the area, and those that were present had other things to worry about.
“Run! Get to the outer courtyards at least! Grand Scholars and other Legendaries are the only ones that are to remain within the inner sections!” One of the new Legendary Scholars was doing his best to direct the various Adepts in the area to leave as quickly as possible.
Stone shifted into different positions, creating miniature labyrinths to turn the area into an utter horror to traverse. But only behind the fleeing Scholars. Making sure that those running away had a clear path in front of them.
The reason for this situation was obvious, as the shadows themselves were lashing out at anything that got too close to the central building where Evelyn had been recovering in.
A swarm of feline constructs, something that his mother never used before, leapt toward a couple of Scholars that were carrying scrolls with their hands. The Void Pouches on their belts torn to shreds.
“Ahh!” One of them stumbled, falling to the ground and dropping what she was carrying. The other one paused and turned back, but there was nothing he could do.
The shadows failed to get the fallen Scholar, however, as Ezekiel had interposed himself between them. A barrier raised to keep the Adepts safe.
“You heard the Grand Scholar! Get out of here!” Ezekiel called out while he blocked the continuing onslaught that was racing toward him. The two Adepts voiced their thanks before running. The dropped scrolls and books were now ignored.
“What the hell is going on here?!” Moving back to his group, Ezekiel looked to Riley for an answer, but she just shook her head.
“It wasn’t this bad when I left.” Riley let loose a torrent of flame that dispersed several constructs that got too close for comfort. “These cats... did Reya get out of her cage?”
“That would make sense.” Ezekiel recalled how filled with rage Reya had been when she hadn’t recognized him. It had been to the point where she was wilder than most Wild Spirits he had met before. “Should we help here first, or head inside?”
Before Riley could answer, Wendy rushed forward, her own shadows spreading outward and getting tangled up in the constructs that were thrashing about.
“Wendy! Get back here!” Ezekiel ran after his sister, but a wave of shadows pushed back against him. “What the hell!?”
“Legend Ezekiel!” The Scholar that had been directing the Adepts called out. “Thank the Ancients you’re here. We need your help. I don’t know what happened, but one of the retreating healers mentioned something that they said you needed to know when you got here.”
Distracted for a second, Ezekiel lost track of Wendy’s position, but could still make her out with his Void senses. Much to his shock, she wasn’t being attacked. Instead, she was being drawn in. Toward the area that Ezekiel knew his mother’s room was.
“What did they say?” He returned his attention to defending against the tendrils of shadows that were still attacking him. Though it seemed that their power had lessened.
Given his mother’s health, he wasn’t sure that was a good thing.
“Your mother’s undergone a soul mutation.”
“What!?” Ezekiel’s shock was so immediate that he turned away from a series of spikes that tried to skewer him.
“Ezekiel!” Riley moved to cut apart the tendril with a swing of her spear. But Ezekiel just ignored this. He was too focused on what the Scholar had said, so it was up to her to keep them safe.
“Soul mutation? That’s not possible. The records of any such thing happening are only myths. Theories and suppositions based on the words of the Ancients when they first taught us how to use magic and spoke of the strength and growth of the soul. No confirmed cases of soul mutation have ever existed before.” Ezekiel wished that he sounded more certain, but he was clearly feeling conflicted.
‘None that were natural, at least.’ Shine’s morbid words made Ezekiel realize that he had seen several mutations occur in the world. Each one was caused by a foreign energy or substance, and each of which had horrible ends.
“Has anyone been hurt from this?” Shaking his head, Ezekiel did his best to dispel his disbelief.
“A few major injuries, but no fatalities. This chaos only occurred after Legend Riley went to fetch you.” The Scholar gestured to Riley. “Most of the building had already been evacuated when it was obvious how distressed your mother was. Grand Scholar Scarlet charged in, with the intention of restraining her. But the moment her Spirit realized the Grand Scholar’s intentions, it immediately dove toward you mother and forced her to don their Spirit Armor. Immediately after, the events you currently see began. The Grand Scholar was forced to evacuate with the rest, and is currently recovering from her injuries.”
Ezekiel’s mind began racing as he tried to figure out what was going on. Worry for the Scholars and his mother filled his mind, and he wasn’t sure what to do.
‘Ezekiel! You won’t figure out anything at this rate. You need to go and see them. Only then will you be able to figure out what happened.’ Shine mentally smacked Ezekiel upside the head, jarring him from his thoughts.
‘You’re right. Sorry.’ Ezekiel shook his head.
“Thank you, Scholar, I’ll head in and see if there’s anything I can do.”
The Scholar looked like he wanted to say something, but a glare from Ezekiel shut him up quickly.
“Riley! Let’s go.” He stretched out his senses once more, double checking if Wendy was still safe. She was still moving slowly but wasn’t being harmed. It seemed like her mana was more easily distinguished by his mother’s senses than his own was.
Given it had been almost a year since they’d last seen each other, and he’d jumped multiple Steps since then, this was not much of a surprise.
He watched Riley pull back to where he was striding forward. His steps were slow and measured so as to not attract attention due to being too aggressive with his movements. Once Riley was beside him, he surrounded them both with a barrier that blocked the shadows from getting too close to them. He used a hint of his [Nothingness] to dispel any attacking magic from doing too much damage.
The strain was noticeable, but ultimately negligible when Ezekiel thought about the difference in strength between himself and his mother. Even with her new power.
Stepping into the darkened and shadow covered building, Riley lit a small flame that emitted the only light that was present. The shadows seemed to reel back but didn’t let up.
Though Ezekiel realized that the attacks were still growing weaker.
He decided to walk just a little bit faster.
----------
----------------------------------------
The darkness was somewhat like what Wendy had felt inside the Spirit Haven, as well as the mana chamber that her brother had made. But it was less filling, and more comforting.
When she had been in the Spirit Haven, she had felt like she was wrapped up in a big fluffy blanket. Inside the mana chamber felt like being inside a warm bath.
This felt like she was being held by her mother on a dark night. The fireplace was lit, and she was being read to, or told stories. It was just like when she was a child, before they were forced to flee the Willowbrush Empire.
“Momma...” Her voice came out as barely a whisper, even though she knew she had screamed it at the top of her lungs.
She could feel her mother’s presence. It was above her and to the side. But she couldn’t seem to get any closer, even though the shadows weren’t doing anything to hinder her.
The darkness was just too much. Even as an Obscure Hunter herself, Wendy couldn’t see through the shadows her mother had created to protect herself.
They tugged Wendy in different directions, as if to help her get closer to where her mother was. But their sense of direction made her dizzy. She had even run into several different walls and had tripped on a flight of stairs. She carefully crawled up the steps at a much slower pace. But now she had to worry about falling down the stairs if she got lost again.
Several sharp points dug into her shoulder where Kare had been perched. The Spirit had held on for dear life when Wendy had first run in. She knew her Spirit was just as lost as she was and was almost thankful for the stabbing pain in her arm.
It meant that she was not alone, and that she wasn’t the only one that was blind.
A tapping sound rang out from behind her. Something was here.
She spun around, channeling her mana to send a stabbing thorn of shadows at whatever was coming her way. Her panic and terror stopped her from thinking it might be an ally that was approaching.
With a loud ‘clang’ her spear hit an invisible wall, and she was blinded by the dim light of the fire in Riley’s hand. She immediately started crying when she saw her brother standing there.
The stress from the attack, as well as finding out that something was wrong with her mother finally became too much for her.
Falling limp, she didn’t even realize it when her brother caught her in his arms. Picking her up and moving forward. The shadows now no longer attacking, but also not disappearing.
----------
----------------------------------------
“Poor girl... she’s really been through a lot these past few months.” Riley’s voice was gentle and quiet. Ezekiel felt thankful that she wasn’t panicking about their current circumstances.
“Yeah... I hate to see her like this. I’d hoped that, since my sisters had elements, that they wouldn’t have to go through the same things I had.” Ezekiel still vividly remembered all the pain and misery he had been forced to go through when he was younger.
The fact that he was such an old soul was the only reason he hadn’t broken from all the stress. He couldn’t imagine what it had been like for his sisters, who were actually children.
Although Ezekiel looked over his shoulder for a moment, and compared his sisters’ lives to that of Riley’s. It had happened at different times, but it was obvious that they had all gone through terrible situations.
Seeing Riley give him a questioning glance, he just shook his head and turned. Repositioning Riley as he carried her, he allowed Kare to roost on his shoulder.
The Spirit looked puffier, like they were trying to get bigger to protect Riley.
‘Their swollen. Not puffy.’ Shine pointed out. ‘I imagine that this darkness is making her feel bloated. We need to settle this soon, or else she might suffer from mana overload.’
“... Kare, release as much mana as you can at that wall.” Ezekiel said after a few seconds of thought. His pace didn’t slow, and they were approaching the stairs leading to the next floor. “Do it Kare.”
His voice took on a razor edge as he ordered the Spirit to do as he said.
After a second, she reluctantly released a large amount of mana in the form of a black gas. It mixed with the darkness around them and disappeared. Immediately afterward, she looked much healthier, and far less strained.
“It’s good that you wanted to protect my sister, but you can’t just force yourself to overexert yourself like that.” Ezekiel had been almost shocked to see how much mana Kare had built up.
The Spirit just huffed and looked away, jumping down to rest on Wendy, who Ezekiel held across his arms. She nestled in and fell asleep, leaving Ezekiel and Riley to move forward on their own.
The rest of the walk occurred in silence. It felt like time slowed down as they walked through the darkness. It was only thanks to Ezekiel’s senses, with a little bit of help from Riley’s light, that they didn’t run into any walls like Wendy had.
They stopped in front of a closed door. A name plate that was barely visible in the darkness was attached to it.
Evelyn Luminance.
Taking in a deep breath, Ezekiel gently pushed the door open. Only to be nearly blasted backward as a chilling force rammed against his barrier.
Steeling himself once more, he pushed the door the rest of the way open. What he saw nearly made his heart stop. It was as though the floor had fallen out from under him. He was so shocked that Shine had to take over maintaining the barrier when he lost his focus.
Perched atop the only bed, and angry beyond belief, a humanoid shadow with feline features hissed angrily. The overall size of this being was the same as what he remembered his mother being. As well as the fact that this creature was only a middle Step Legendary. A power level that was fluctuating.
But beyond that, the inhuman aspects reminded him of the Cult of Light’s abominations.
Behind him, he could hear Riley gasp, even as her flame flickered for a second as Celia had to take control of the spell from her Hunter.
The thing that was his mother began to growl and snarl, having seen that the hissing hadn’t been enough to make him turn back.
Taking in a deep breath, Ezekiel stepped into the room.