A battle was the last place Riven had hoped to come upon new discoveries. All he knew was that Coral grew from the ground, always taking the shape of trees. So seeing it form mid-air from nothing was a new experience to say the least.
Coral on land manifested in the strange formations that nearly always took the shape of trees. Scholars said there was actual coral underwater, far beneath the waves of Vaunted Ocean at the south of Resplend and most other seas and oceans around the world as well. It was from this coral that the Coral on land took its name. They had a similar appearance, though the actual material was different. A hard substance somewhere between metal and wood.
Riven pushed himself up from the ground, brushing a hesitant finger against the Coral blob suspended in the air. It as the same as the tree. The same colour, the same feeling to the touch. The same exact thing if his suspicions were correct.
Suspicions were all well and good, but how in the Chasm had this Coral formed here?
The sounds of battle broke his momentary fascination. Rio and Viriya had engaged the Infernal, and it sounded like they were taking a beating. Or at the very least, they were being quite frustrated. Their curses were louder than their fired shots and the little detonations.
Of course, the detonations! Anvarroh was causing them somehow.
Swallowing a deep breath, Riven charged into the mess and tried to make sense of what was going on. The air was white as though it had been replaced by fog, heavy as though the mist would turn to ice any moment. It took too much effort to push through the barrier. Fog… no, not fog. The faint blushing hue promised it was Coral. This Infernal was controlling it somehow. His Spirit was Coral. Riven had no idea how or why that was possible, but it was what it was.
Flashes of light spiked up to guide him. Viriya’s green star weaved in and out everywhere, and there were golden glimmers of Sept. Smaller ones peppering around the glittering emerald, but a larger one too, steadier than what had to be the smaller bullets. He swallowed. Shit.
Riven hurried towards the larger golden light and found his horse, which still refused to be frightened despite all that was going on. He thrust his hand into the bag and brought out the Sept crystal. It pulsed. The black swirled and faded to reveal a glowing interior, before curtaining it again. On and on it went, blinking like a beacon in a lighthouse.
Swallowing, Riven thrust the crystal into his jacket. Maybe it was acting up thanks to the Infernal. Mhell had something about it reacting to the demons before. He didn’t have time to obsess over it.
He felt around his way around for a few steps, then stopped. Heavy. The air was slowly turning into Coral, little blobs blooming everywhere. He tested one blob’s weight. A push did nothing. He shoved harder and it still didn’t budge.
Riven almost laughed. Damn, for all his pretensions at wisdom and whatnot, Anvarroh was stupid. He had made steps right in the air for Riven to use to climb up the tree.
His heart panged a little for turning away from the battle, but he knew it to be the right decision. It was only logical he stop wasting time trying to find Rio and Viriya in the mist and get to the villagers who might be dying even as he wasted time vacillating.
Damping down his doubt, Riven started to climb. The little clumps of Coral spread out everywhere, acting like perfect hand-and-footholds. Mother and Father had always admonished him from trying to climb trees. Once, Mother had relented the day after his birthday, and when he’d fallen off the lowest branch, she had caught him awkwardly on her back. Mother had never walked right after that incident, and Riven had never dared climb another tree again. Father had never been as livid with him after he had seen Mother’s condition. There had been the tree he had climbed when facing the Deathless with fire Spirit, though. That had to count as practice, right?
The basic principle was easy. Always keep three points in his grip and explore with the fourth. At least, that was what he had learned in mountaineering camp a few years ago on a school field trip. It worked. A Coral branch appeared above his head, and he grasped it gratefully, pulling himself onto the branch and heaving out gasp after gasp of heavy air.
Riven looked around. The branch grew thicker behind him, so that was where the trunk was. But there were many other limbs near him and going farther up would be easy.
The sounds of battle distracted him though. He pushed himself forward along the branch, trying to branch a point where he was still balanced without the fear of it breaking under his weight. He had to see. He had to know they were still fighting, still alive. Sill not hurt to the point it had become fatal. Those sounds weren’t encouraging at all.
Riven saw too little, even after he reached a good point. The mist was too thick. Flashes of green weaved everywhere and golden light bloomed whenever a shot went off. Purple lines flew everywhere. Proof that Viriya and Rio were still alive. Silly of Riven to doubt them, really.
That had to do. He couldn’t wait here any longer, wasting time trying to get a glimpse of the foggy fight.
He pushed himself up against the heavy air. Branches, so many branches. Riven closed his eyes, trying to recall where exactly he had seen the man strung up on the branch in his cage of Coral and Sept. Coral and Sept. Strange. The weapons of an Essentier were made of Coral and Sept, knives and bullets. The materials fatal to all Deathless. There had to be some connection between them all, something that related the Deathless to Sept and Coral.
He reached the man without much difficulty. The branches weren’t hard to climb. Stroke of luck that he remembered the man’s location correctly, and Riven would duly thank the Scions when he was free from the mess, just as he always promised he would. And then never followed up. He had to stop doing that.
The holes between the Coral vines were large enough for Riven to thrust his hand into, and he pulled out handfuls of Sept and threw them away. Once the man was a little loose in his binds, Riven could cutaway the vines with his knife.
Though that brought up the question if Coral could cut Coral. Well, he’d find out soon, once all that damn Sept had been thrown away. Where in the Chasm did the demons find so much?
“That will be enough,” Anvarroh said from behind.
Riven froze, turning slow as though he faced a viper. He was facing much worse. The slow turn ensured he had ample time to pull out his pistol.
The Infernal wasn’t much harmed from his little scuffle. There were a few nicks and cuts all over his body, each bleeding fading Sept into the air. His carefully kept long hair, seemed frayed, frazzled, and torn.
“Don’t waste your bullets on me,” the Infernal said. “You know they won’t work.”
“I know I can still try.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to keep them close and use your Essence?”
Riven swallowed. So shrewd. He heard nothing from below. Silence. Deathly, frightening silence, the harbinger of harshest news. No, Viriya and Rio had to be all right. They couldn’t have died so easily to this demon. “I’m freeing these people and you won’t stop me.”
“Won’t I?” The demon gestured a hand, and more Coral formed in the air around him.
Riven smiled. His suspicions were true, the demon was creating the Coral. A little too much of it. Riven swallowed. Far too much.
The Infernal swiped his arm again, and the Coral solidified into a lance jutting out from his right arm. Frightened as Riven was, he had to let out a sigh of relief. If he had killed Viriya and Rio, there surly would have been blood on him.
No time to ponder. Anvarroh charged.
Riven shouted back, then the now-familiar pressure enveloped him and burst out into a thousand golden lines threading through the air. A shield formed up, and the Infernals lance was caught in a web of golden lines. The Infernal growled and tugged on his Coral lance, but it didn’t budge. Glassy cracks had formed in the golden shield, and the Infernal’s lance was stuck.
Riven grinned. “I can let you go, if you promise to let us take away the captives and leave without any trouble from you or your demons.”
Anvarroh laughed. A deep, melodious sound. Then he pushed. The golden shield held for a while, but even under Riven’s careful eyes, it began to buckle under the strain of the Infernal’s power. The aura warped around the demon’s Coral lance, and with a flash and the sound of cracking heavy glass, it broke through.
Riven jumped out of the way just in time. But the man behind him, trapped in his cage, couldn’t.
The Coral lance shot right through him, erupting out of the other end covered in blood, gore, and red-stained Sept. Riven’s mouth fell open, the scream of rage and shock and disappointment bubbling in the pit of his throat. The man had died, just like that. Stupid. So stupid of him. His Essence had failed him yet again, and now someone was dead because of it. Again.
With a sickening squelch, the Infernal pulled out his Coral lance. The Sept around the man flooded with red.
The Infernal surveyed Riven with a little smile, then jumped. Riven dived away. He landed on another branch, then turned to check the sudden crack behind. The demon’s swipe with his Coral lance had torn through one of the branches, sending it crashing down into more branches. The whole tree shuddered.
“You cannot escape, me,” Anvarroh said.
Escape? Riven had no intentions of escaping. He had his gun in his hand aimed straight at the Infernal’s head. Through the corners of his eyes, he’d found the other villagers. They were in similar cages as the dead man, all of them buried in Sept that covered everything but their faces. But if his Essence couldn’t stop the demon, then what could? “Escaping is the last thing I want to do, believe me.”
“Death awaits you then. Unless you choose to join us?”
“Better think again.” Viriya was coming up the tree. She jumped from the branch to branch, her star banishing the mist and shading everything with an emerald hue.
“You’re alive,” Riven said.
“Don’t sound so surprised.”
She really couldn’t be blaming Riven for sounding surprised. The wounds from the fight were worse than before, and she was dotted with blood, Sept, and what looked like Coral all over. Still undaunted though. Still indomitable as ever.
Without warning, Viriya levelled her gun and fired. The shot never hit Anvarroh. A dot of Coral bloomed in the air, right in the bullet’s path, exploding with a little pop at impact. More shots went in, all hitting more Coral dots. Riven grimaced. That’s what those little detonations must have been, and why the Infernal was still unhurt mostly. His shield was far stronger than Riven’s.
No time to waste. Riven left the demon to Viriya and skipped towards the nearest captive villager. But a shout behind him interrupted his efforts.
Anvarroh launched himself forward again, and Viriya leaped off just in time. His swipe with the Coral lance destroyed another branch, but this time he sent it flying upwards, crashing into the rest of the tree and the people held in the cages everywhere.
Riven shouted as the branch broke through canopy. The other branches in its way broke and bits and pieces of Coral flew everywhere, striking him like shrapnel. He covered his face to protect himself, but still caught several of the cages breaking and falling, his shout lost in the noise.
“Bastard!” Viriya screamed.
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She fired at Anvarroh again. He was below her now, and another Coral blob blocked her bullet. But it was followed by a broken branch. A huge, twisted column of Coral shot at the Infernal, glowing after Viriya had brushed her hand against it, and his eyes widened. The broken branch rushed at him too fast for him to react. It smashed through his barrier and rammed into him, the momentum carrying them both lower down the canopy.
Riven clapped a fist into a palm, smile tugging at his lips. “That’s right! Get him, Viriya.”
“Get going you idiot,” she shot back.
Right. Riven bent to his task, jumping to the next, heart thudding and smile dying at the thought of the ones who had fallen down. At the memory of the man who had been stabbed clean through. Scions, he had to hurry.
He still took pot shot glances at the fight though. Tired of having to keep diving and jumping, he’d be ready this time. Him, and his Essence. When he reached the next person in a Coral cage—a little girl who had raised his hopes but it had turned out it wasn’t Darley—he looked back.
Viriya was jumping between the branches, touching every broken piece of Coral near her. Farther below, Anvarroh had stood up from the pile of debris around him. His vicious scowl was evident even in this distance. He waved his arm, and the broken Coral around him floated up and away, fixing in the air at a different distance and directions. Then they started to grow.
A bigger cage of Coral surrounded the Infernal, growing larger every second. Roots dug into the branch he was standing on, spikes and tendrils shooting everywhere. Anvarroh was armouring himself.
Riven bent to his task, clearing away the Sept again. This time. This time, he would succeed. No matter what. But he kept one eye on developments.
Viriya had gathered an artillery army of broken Coral bits, all ready to besiege the Infernal’s impromptu fortress. She aimed her gun at the demon, then fired.
Even as the glowing green-gold bullet lanced at Anvarroh, the Infernal shouted. The air rippled as all the Coral he had gathered blasted outwards, his fortress shattering apart as pieces cannoned everywhere. Viriya jumped back, shooting her gun behind her then tapping herself with her star. She never landed. The pull of her Essence made her lurch backwards after her racing bullet as the Infernal’s Coral crashed into branches and broke everything. As more pieces hurtled in, the familiar pressure spiked up and out and threw up a shield. Thankfully, it held this time. The Coral pieces jammed into the aura and froze. Safe. Survived.
Viriya’s broken Coral crashed against the ones sent flying from the Infernal, but even those that made though didn’t connect. Her shot had lodged into another Coral blob in the demon’s hand. As the broken branches raced towards the bullet, Anvarroh clenched his fingers into a fist. All the flying Coral conjoined at the bullet, twisting and melding together until the demon had a smaller version of Coral Fort in his hands.
Riven turned back to the task at hand. Wondering what in the world that thing was in the demon’s hands and worse, what he was about to do with it, wasn’t going to help anything.
He dug out more Set from the cage and the little girl started to sag forwards. Next, he brought out his knife and sawed the Coral vines of the cage. Damn, but it was hard. The Coral refused to be cut, giving way to the blade’s edge slowly. Too slowly.
The Infernal roared behind him. Riven stared back, heart hammering, but he wasn’t in any immediate danger. Rio had interrupted whatever Anvarroh had been about to do.
Purple lines dragged out Coral from everywhere, creating spikes, blades, clubs, and an assortment of other weapons in shapes that screamed pain. Then he threw them away. Riven gawked for a moment before it clicked. Of course. If the Infernal could control the Coral, trying to use it against was a suicide attempt at best. Best to snatch it away from him.
Anvarroh swung, his miniature Coral fort crashing through everything as Rio did his best to bounce around and dodge every it. Purple lines scratched the Coral away bit by bit.
Riven cut through the first vine. He wiped of sweat. Whew. So many still left. There was no way they could keep that demon busy long enough for him to free all the other villagers, and this one wasn’t free yet.
Since sawing was taking too long, Riven started hacking at the vines. The cuts were deeper, but his blade wouldn’t likely last long if he kept it up. But who cared about one Coral knife?
The vines were flexible, so when Riven had a decent amount of them cut away, he pushed his hand into the cage and pulled them away, making the hole larger. Once the gap was big enough, he grabbed the girl and pulled her out. She was covered in Sept, but a quick check revealed there was no sign of any serious wounds. There was a pulse too, so unconscious. Not dead. He just had to get her out of here, then someone more versed in healing could look into matters.
She looked nothing like Darley, who was older and bigger. But she still reminded him of Bartle’s daughter. How was he going to explain to her that her father had passed away?
Riven was about to look for more captives, but the tree shook violently. He swayed along with the branches, keeping a tight hold on the girl’s hands to keep her falling off. If he didn’t fall off in the first place. He pulled the girl closer to him as the trembling faded, pushing himself backwards along the branch to where it was thicker. There was less chance of them falling off closer to the trunk.
Below him, Anvarroh was swinging around his giant Coral club. He had missed Rio so far, but as Riven watched, his next swing destroyed a swath of branches and Rio had no more platforms to land on his next jump. He was trapped. The Infernal saw it, grinned, and swung his massive club again.
It froze in the air. Anvarroh and Rio both stared alongside Riven as the club of Coral reversed direction and attempted to extricate itself from the Infernal’s grasp.
Viriya caught Riven’s eye. She was grinning, her gun smoking, and far off, a tiny spot glowed golden and green. Oh! She was using her Essence to Lock the broken branches that she had hit with her star and thrown at the Infernal to the bullet. Ingenious.
“What in the—?” the demon squawked as Rio threw in a dozen purple lines at him. Coral formed in the air but not fast enough, all creating bits and pieces that shielded him from some of the lines. But not all. Several purple lines attached to his body then ripped away, pulling swathes of scales free. A flood of Sept erupted from his body, flowing into the air and dying off.
Anvarroh growled, and more Coral erupted out of the club in his hands. If it had been huge before, it now got gigantic, easily outsizing a train locomotive. Where was he getting the strength to swing that thing?
He swung. It was slow and ponderous thanks to the reverse pull but Rio was in trouble. Whatever flimsy armour his Essence had created would protect him from a club like that. It would be like getting rammed by an ironclad ship.
Riven jumped. The distance was great, but there was no time to ponder. Stupid Rio had put himself in grave danger.
The landing had to have broken his legs. Riven shrieked at the impact, legs bowing as he sunk close to the ground. He’d thank the Scions for not slipping off or missing the branch entirely and then breaking his neck on the ground, but he was too busy trying to see past the tears filling his eyes.
He’d come just in time. As Rio cursed and jumped back in surprise, the familiar pressure rushed out of Riven, overtaking every sense and leaving only the descending club in his sights. Holy Scions, it was enormous this close. It crashed down, but the golden shield was up and it froze upon impact. More than that, golden lines seeped into the Coral branch Riven was on. A dozen Coral spikes erupted out from around him and Rio, thrusting into the demon’s club to keep it at bay.
“What in—what are you doing here?” Rio had jumped so hard when he had landed, Riven was sure he’d fall off.
“Returning the favour.” Riven stood on wobbling legs. Scions, it hurt.
With a mighty heave, the Infernal pulled his club free and roared at them. So much for all his noble talk. He was struggling against the pull of Viriya’s Essence again, though he tried to shoot more Coral at Rio. It didn’t help. Riven’s shield was too strong to penetrate for now. Had to be all that Sept he’d thrown away, powering his Essence as it floated in the air or dusted the branches everywhere nearby.
Viriya jumped down to a branch above them, which was still quite far given that the demon had destroyed the others. “I need you two to create an opening for me.”
There was no time for more questions, just as there had been no time for them to ask what had happened with the captives. Impossible to worry about anything else with their lives on the line.
“Follow my lead,” Rio said.
He jumped at Anvarroh. The demon swung his Coral club down but it Riven’s shield again. His force was stronger this time though, making the golden Essence warp and the Coral spikes from the branch bend under the pressure. It didn’t stop Rio. Just before he passed out of Riven’s auric aura, the demon let go of his club with a frustrated growl and jumped backwards, landing on a lower branch.
Curious. He hadn’t fought back. Only retreated.
Riven let of the shield. Safe. Then he jumped forward to where Rio stood. “Go after him, Rio. It’s working.”
Again, no time for questions. Rio only nodded, sparing a single glance at Riven before jumping forward again. His Essence blast out in every direction and latched onto the tree and branches, drawing in the Coral to form an array of faintly rosy tentacles. All of which he shot at the demon.
The Infernal caught them with his Spirit, forcing the Coral to coalesce into a single point again. Rio froze mid-jump, his armour connected via Essence and Coral to the demon. He jerked his arm, and the purple lines latched onto the demon instead of the Coral. With a yell, Anvarroh threw the Coral and Rio was flung away, the purple lines ripping away even more pieces of the demon as another wash of Sept left his body.
But Ro had done his part. He had provided the perfect distraction for Riven to jump as well.
Anvarroh turned too late. By the time he spotted Riven sailing through the air straight for him, eyes widening realization, he had no time to act. He yelled, and the Coral everywhere bubbled, threatening to erupt and impale Riven, but nothing happened.
Riven’s shield was up, the pressure expelling golden lines that wrapped the air. He collided with the much larger Infernal, sending them both tumbling off the branch. They crashed into another branch, Riven saved from the agony of the impact by the demon’s body. Anvarroh screamed, clawing at Riven and throwing him off. Riven rolled on the branches, gasping at the pain ripping through his shoulders. Damn demon had torn through his jackets and left a deep gouge spewing bright red blood.
Despite the sting, Riven laughed. “You’re done for.”
Anvarroh stood up, his legs shaking even worse than Riven’s. His eyes darted everywhere, a trapped beast seeking any signs of escape. He closed his eyes as if focusing, but nothing happened. The golden shield over both of them would let nothing happen.
Riven pulled his gun and aimed at the demon’s head. He couldn’t know that Riven wasn’t able to shoot inside the shield either, so the bluff had to keep him pinned in place.
Anvarroh slowly straightened, the tension leaving his shoulders. This close, Riven was only now fully aware of their difference in stature. The Infernal stood half again as tall as Riven. No matter. Bigger they were, the harder they fell, right?
Without warning, Anvarroh charged.
Riven hadn’t counted on the demon’s desperation. It was insane. He pulled the pistol’s trigger on instinct, but of course, no bullet was forthcoming.
Good thing Anvarroh couldn’t simply rush and rip Riven apart. The golden aura thickened to the consistency of congealed honey, and the Infernal struggled. But his struggles were minimal, his progress staggeringly fast. Riven stumbled backwards, also forced to move slower than normal. Even breathing had become difficult, the air lethargic and heavy. Chasm, even his heartbeat had become slow.
Anvarroh reached him, and Riven’s eyes couldn’t have gone any wider without popping out. The demon’s hands grabbed him around the neck, squeezing. It didn’t hurt, the force stymied by the golden aura. But he couldn’t breathe anyway. His shield was affecting the air too and now it refused to budge, refused to let his lungs pull it in.
Riven was going to die. He did his best to pummel the demon’s hands, tried his hardest to kick out with his legs. But even he succeeded, then what. His own Essence was suffocating him. And if he somehow made it stop, Anvarroh would waste no time evisceration Riven to bits. No. No, he’d survive. There had to be some way of getting rid of both the demon and his traitorous Essence.
Safe. Safe. He had to be safe. He would be safe. Safe. Damn his Essence to the depths of the Chasm. Riven. Would. Be. Safe.
The shield disappeared. Riven breathed. One rapid gulp of air, before the surprised demon’s hands got a proper grip on Riven’s neck and squeezed the life out of him. His rebelling lungs got a respite, though now his neck screamed. But not for long. Riven had the space to move, and he brought out his.
He fried. Point blank, right in the demon’s face.
Anvarroh shrieked. Very undignified. The death grip on Riven’s neck slackened ever so lightly, but it was enough. With an almighty heave, he pushed himself free form the chokehold on his neck and charged forward, ramming his shoulder right into the demon’s gut and throwing him down.
Enough. It was enough. Riven pulled himself to his feet, shooting his gun until the magazine was empty. Anvarroh screamed in rage, rolling farther back on the branch, his weigh making its end dip. Riven shot at the branch, but damn it all, he was out of bullets. His hands flew to the pouch at his waist to reload the gun, but Anvarroh charged. Chasm, Riven shouldn’t have let on he was out of ammo.
The Coral bubbled around him. Anvarroh came with the force of a stampeding bull. Riven got ready to pull his Essence again, regardless of what had happened earlier, but a shout made him pause.
Viriya.
She landed right between him and Anvarroh. The demon staggered to a pause, eyes going wide and moth gawping wide at the interruption. He swiped, but Viriya had never stopped her motion. She swerved away from his clumsy hit and was behind him before his Coral had a chance to form. Her gun was out and she fired. But not at him.
The golden-green bullet shot past and went lost into the horizon. They all froze for a second. Riven’s breath caught somewhere between his nose and his lungs. The Chasm was she aiming at?
Anvarroh laughed. “You must be add—”
Viriya punched him, her star leaving an emerald brand on his guts. Nothing happened otherwise, for a second. Then the Infernal was whisked backwards.
Riven swerved out of the way as Anvarroh was pulled by Viriya’s Essence, Locked to Viriya’s bullet. His screams faded as he shot past the branches. He tried to use his Spirit to pull in the Coral branches and stop, but Viriya’s Essence was too powerful and he broke through the barrier.
In seconds, Anvarroh was nothing more than a distant speck.
Riven stood back up, his legs shaking worse than ever. He smiled, then laughed outright. What need was there to force himself to stay on his feet. With the demon set away, there was all the time in the world to free the captives.
Rio joined them, a slow smile crawling onto his lips.
“Don’t celebrate yet,” Viriya said. She was staring up, eyes fixed on a distant cage.
“Oh, give us a break.” Rio plopped down on the branch. “Just a tiny breather before we get to the real task. I know he’s not dead as much as I’d like him to be, but damn, I need I need to rest.”
Riven followed Viriya’s gaze. The captives waited. No more Deathless, not today. “I’ll get on it. Just one moment, first.”
“We don—”
The tree shook. A violent vibration thrummed through the whole structure, broken branches and shattered pieces of Coral falling off and landing on the ground below. The shaking grew stronger. Riven staggered back, colliding with the trembling trunk, his whole body having turned into an earthquake. Viriya almost fell but grabbed the branch, and Rio had wrapped all his limbs around it. It shook so hard, his outline was nothing but a blur.
Then the entire Coral Fort pulled up. Riven had only a moment to take in a breath and let it out in a scream before he was flying. The tree exploded, a blizzard of Coral overtaking Riven and he was lost in a blanket of white and faint pink.