They were moving too fast. Of course, the little bubble of Beyond made it seem like they were stationary—or close to stationary, for Riven’s hair still blew in front of his face and his clothes flapped a little bit. But despite the blurriness of the world outside, it was easy to tell that they were zipping by fast. Very fast. Impossibly so.
Except for the Beyond.
Riven had done the same too, hadn’t he? After his talk with the broken god Alb, he had taken himself to Malachite Cell without even moving, so this mad dash across Ascension Demesne was certainly not beyond the realms of possibility.
“Does controlling the Beyond allow you to move anywhere you like?” Riven asked.
“Yes,” the Chosen replied. “Well, almost. There are certain places you cannot go.”
“Such as?”
“Other spots that have sunk into the Beyond.”
“How do you mean? I thought the Beyond existed outside of the mortal realm, though I do guess in some cases it’s more… parallel?”
The Chosen nodded, looking grave as some old sage burdened by the knowledge of the whole world upon his shoulders. “The Beyond can exist in three stages. Within you, without you, and without this plane of existence. The one we are currently employing is the last one, and this one cannot intrude on the two others. I cannot go within someone, nor can I go inside a space that exists without you but not without this world. Or parallel as you put it.”
“So the Cataclysm, the little space of Beyond that he had brought, that was the middle option?”
“Yes, without him. But we who control the Beyond can change its form between any of the three, and I imagine the Cataclysm now waits in the last option—which is what I’m using to travel.”
Riven wasn’t sure that made a whole lot of sense, but his brain was slowly piecing it together. Or trying to. He wasn’t sure how the different kinds of Beyond differed in what they did since they looked no different to him. Everything was always blurry and indistinct.
But that did give rise to one important question. “You said I had the Beyond with me, that I had channelled it or something? Which one was it?”
“The first one. The one within you. You have applied your Essence within yourself, touched your very soul with it I believe, and thus you have reached the Beyond.”
“But that…” Riven tried to get a grasp on the sudden flood of implications that avalanched in following the Chosen’s admission. “That means anyone who uses their Essence one themselves will get the Beyond within themselves. Why hasn’t any of them done it yet then? This makes me feel so alive, so indomitable, so…”
“So Beyond what most humans can do?” The Chosen smirked. It made him look weirdly boyish.
Riven snorted out a loose gust of breath. “Very funny. Now tell me, can’t any Essentier do it? Because now that I think on it, Essence is always some kind of… internal power, I guess I could call it. It doesn’t control elements the way the Deathless can with their Spirit. It’s always something tied so intricately to their wielder. All these Mortal Acts.”
“Yes. Exactly. I believe it’s something unique to you Essentiers that you can reach the Beyond one way or another with your Essence, something Deathless cannot. And once you’ve touched it, experienced it, wielded it even, you become more than what you are. Beyond, as we keep saying.”
Riven wasn’t sure that was a good thing. Yes, he felt stronger than ever, and his Essence was more powerful than before too. He had come upon some hidden secret and been able to fashion himself something more than just armour. Something that had boosted his very life.
That wasn’t normal. If there was one thing Riven was sure of, it was that there had to be some as yet unknown repercussion. One he might end up finding just when he needed not to.
“You still haven’t told me why other Essentiers haven’t done it yet,” Riven said.
The Chosen shrugged, the plates of his armour clinking softly. Definitely not metal. “I don’t know, I can’t fathom your kind anymore. I believe most of you need a trigger of some sort to reach for it. You had that, yes? You found yourself in the Beyond somehow.”
“You can tell, huh? But tell me, weren’t you one of my kind before? Aren’t you just a man who’s ascended.”
The Chosen looked taken aback at the sudden question flung at him. Maybe he wasn’t used to explaining his origins for who would dare question his might and right? He cleared his throat before answering. Oh no, did Riven now have to tuck himself in and listen to a long and sordid story? “I was a man once, yes. Long ago. Long, long ago. But that is in the past, and now, we need to think of more current and pressing matters.”
Riven gave up. At least he hadn’t been subject to some long and wild story on the Chosen’s origins. He was sure it was interesting enough, but Riven’s head was already filled with information he wasn’t sure how he was going to process. Shoving in the Chosen’s history would be like stuffing a bomb into a landmine.
Besides, they were approaching enemy territory.
“Where are we?” Riven asked.
“A little bit of the Beyond that I carry with me everywhere,” the Chosen said.
“Yes, I know that. I meant, where in the real world are we?”
“Oh. This is one of the bastions Orbray has set up.”
Riven could have told that too, to be honest. The Chosen had stopped again, this time near the peak of a mountain where a set of large buildings had taken over the top. A central compound was surrounded by thick walls with short towers rising at the corners, several smaller buildings—though still quite big in general—filling up the free spaces in between. The whole place was buzzing with soldiers.
The demons were attacking.
Hordes of Fiends were rushing up the rather steep slope. Several had taken to the air as they neared the bastion, carpeting the whole mountain as they attacked.
“They’re all going to die,” Riven said.
He didn’t understand why his heart feel as the words left his mouth. These were the enemy. What did it matter if they were eradicated? But Mother’s words boomed in his head as ever—there was more to survival than living, and there was more to success than winning.
“Don’t we want them to die?” the Chosen asked.
“What’s the point if they all die? If nothing is left after we’ve won and stopped the Scions, then what was the point to begin with?”
The Chosen took a horrific minute to consider. Then he nodded. “I see your logic.”
Logic. Riven swallowed. This was an immortal being, one who had transcended beyond the mortal rules of life and death. He had to remember that. Of course, he’d have difficulty seeing that lives were important, no matter who they belonged to.
“How do I save them though?” Riven looked everywhere, and all he saw was more death coming in. The Fiends had covered every slope, all of them arrowing straight at the bastion. Soldiers had taken up positions and were readying to fire, but it wouldn’t be enough. Not against this horde. “There’s so many of them.”
“Make them leave,” the Chosen said.
Riven stared at the man. No, not a man anymore. At the Scion’s Hand. “You mean retreat? How in the Chasm am I supposed to convince them to give up their position and flee? I’m their enemy for crying out loud.”
“What hope do these people here bear, Riven Senolan Morell?”
Riven winced. The Chosen needed to stop using his full name like that. But he looked back at the bastion, trying to see what his companion meant. Hope. What hope did these soldiers have of surviving this onslaught? What could convince them to fight against such a huge force.
It hit him like a thunderbolt. “An Essentier!”
The Chosen nodded with a satisfied smile as though he had led Riven to the answer himself. Riven tried not to roll his eyes. So what if the Chosen had a little bit of personality. It wasn’t that hard to humour him, just a little annoying at times.
“I’ll take out the Essentier then,” Riven continued, “and you can stop the Infernals for a bit, while the soldiers make their getaway.”
“I am staying back.”
“What?”
The Chosen’s ochre eyes were hard as rocks. “I cannot display my power lest I attract unwanted attention to you.”
“Nobody cares about me. What you need to do is help these soldiers before they’re all killed.”
“That is your task. You took it upon yourself. I have neither cajoled you, nor advised you to take up their cause in any way whatsoever. No, you did it all on your own, as you saw the choice best fit. I would hurry along before Orbray has all he needs to bring down the Scion.”
The Chosen’s speech was mostly impassioned, but there was certain heat to his words. It made Riven back off a little bit. He had to remember this was a warrior from ancient times, one who could crush Riven with hardly any effort. He’d grown stupidly familiar with the Chosen’s presence and he needed some distance again.
“I’ll find them,” Riven said. “And then I’ll carve out a path for the soldiers to escape through. Do you happen to know where I might find this Essentier?”
The Chosen looked like he was about to tell Riven no just because he was annoyed, but he thought better of it. “The Essentier will likely be trying to do the same thing you’re trying to do with the soldiers-break their morale. That’s the key to finding them.”
“All right then.” Riven understood exactly what the Chosen had meant. The Essentier would be hunting for the Infernal who controlled this little party. That’s how Riven was going to find the one he needed. “It’s time to go.”
#
The Chosen had a wicked sense of humour. Riven was dropped right in the midst of the approaching demons and the soldiers on guard in the bastion. Right in the middle. He needed a hiding spot, which the Chosen had provided by putting him behind a large boulder, though it only hid him from the soldiers. The Fiends would see him as soon as they got on his level on the mountainside. Shit, he needed a better hiding spot, and fast.
Riven moved, trying his best to tamp down the panic settling on his shoulders. There was some kind of noise coming from the direction of the bastion. Maybe they were calling him out or something, but he didn’t bother himself with it, only shooting forward to find where in the world that Essentier could be. They would come out to find the Infernal leading the demons, so Riven needed to find a spot where he could wait in safety until the Essentier came out of the barred bastion.
Of course, that hinged on the fact that the Essentier wouldn’t simply wait within the bastion’s walls. He shook his head as he looked for a better hiding spot. There was no time to entertain dumb doubts.
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Riven situated himself in a little depression on the mountainside, a tiny hollow behind a ridge that kept him hidden from any prying eyes, human or demon. He breathed out deep. Now to wait until they started killing each other. Hopefully, most of the soldiers would survive until the Essentier made themselves known.
If they made themselves known.
The demons charged in like a hurricane. They were barraged with shots from the soldiers atop the bastion’s walls, firing away their guns and even a few cannons here and there. Every shot, both large and small, tore through the ranks of the Fiends as they hammered themselves against the bastion walls. Several had access to their Spirit, lancing the little fort with lighting here, flames there, even flying chunks of earth at certain locations.
It was chaos. Madness. One demon lost an arms but still kept forging forwards, while another was pulling themselves along the ground after both legs had been shot from their body.
Their charge had thrown some of the soldiers from the walls and into the pit of the fighting. They didn’t last long. A few jabs with their swords, a few shots with their sabres did next to nothing, and then they were torn apart by the demons. Blood flew, and limbs as well. A head thumped down somewhere, still staring with sightless eyes.
Riven blinked heard, his head swivelling everywhere. This had to end before the whole place came down. Those walls and the meagre defence thrown up by these paltry soldiers weren’t going to last long. Where was that damn Essentier?
The Infernal thundered in. Literally. She shouted to rally her demonic troops, her every step thumping down like she bore a hundred times more weight than her frame showed. Maybe she did, who knew. Worst was the lightning flickering everywhere, every jolt cracking the air and making it shiver as it was scorched.
Lightning, just like that demon he had faced in Rattles. The same demon that had torn away Darley and killed Bartle. The same demon that had defeated him.
Riven went still. It couldn’t be, but he had the feeling that she was the same Fiend. And damn everything to the Chasm, he wasn’t going to let her do the same here as she had done in Rattles. Not while he lived and breathed and could do something about it.
He charged out with a shout of his own. Riven’s Essence was already there, the pressure boiling just beneath his skin as he called the golden aura out to armour himself with. The demons were surprised at his attack and he made good use of it. Good thing he’d stolen that sword from that dead soldier. He’d honour that man’s memory by saving his comrades with it.
Beheading the nearest demon was as easy as swinging the blade through thin air. The Fiend’s body crumpled to the ground as his head rolled away, still cursing Riven to the Chasm despite the lack of lungs. The next raised their arms in defence as Riven charged in too fast, but the scales that had bothered him so much the last time when his shots wouldn’t pierce through was now hardly better than a shield of straws. His slash still didn’t cut through it completely, but he left a jagged gash that bled fading Sept bits and was strong enough to send the demon tumbling down the mountainside.
Riven paused a moment to armour his sword with a thin film of his Essence as well. He had no idea what quality this sabre’s red Coral was, and this was the last moment he needed it to shatter and break.
Then more demons came.
Riven whirled like a golden cyclone. His blade swing everywhere, and when more than one Fiend rushed at him from different sides, he had his other limbs to help him with that. A kick sent one demon rolling away down the mountainside, taking a few more Fiends with them. Another hammered into him from the other side, but Riven’s punch broke his jaw and his shriek was a gurgled thing that stuck with him long after the demon had fallen away. He stabbed and stabbed, parried back where appropriate, slashed away limbs, heads, whole bodies even, where he could. All the while, his golden armour shielded him from the Fiend’s return onslaught. Flakes fell off and bits cracked, but it was an intricate link of chain mail now all covering the deeper plate underneath. It wasn’t going to break anytime soon, not when he had his Sept with him. Riven was nigh on invincible, far stronger and more powerful than the last time he had faced the demon.
He was going to win. He was going to make that monster pay for what she had done.
When he was finally able to pause in his mad fight, Riven nearly collapsed. He’d kept it all up for who knew how long, his exhaustion forming little fortresses within him, making his muscles turn to fibres lead. He shook himself. Not now.
The demons had given him a wide berth, but he’d done enough to disrupt their brutal strike on the Ascension bastion. Most of the Fiends were rushing away from him, deciding to attack the bastion from the other sides. Maybe if Riven could circle around the whole place, he could drive them all off. That is, if he didn’t collapse and die with his next step.
“My, my, how one can grow.” The Infernal walked in, the air crackling around her with little sparks. “Do you truly think you can face me on your own?”
Riven shook his head. “I’ll kill you.”
The Infernal laughed, but Riven wasn’t interested in stupid banter. He focused for a moment, drawing his Essence within himself. Without its life-giving, energizing force, he’d fall over and die from exhaustion. The golden Essence went within him and the exhaustion from fighting against the hordes of Fiends dulled to a low thrum. He charged forward.
The demon looked no different from when he had faced her as a Fiend, the scales still deep blue, spikes ringing her chest and bursting from her shoulders, shorter ones arrayed on her forearms. If he had to pick something out, he’d have to say the lightning dancing all over as more numerous, the arcs clothing her like threads that hadn’t stitched into any clothes yet.
Her Spirit had grown stronger.
“Don’t make me laugh,” the Infernal shouted.
Riven didn’t reply. His sword and his fist would do it for him. But the demon didn’t intend to let him get close enough to swing, shooting bolt after blue bolt at him. Riven erected a quick shield around him, though his armour was supposed to be able to take the brunt of the lightning. Why take the chance?
The shield shattered as Riven reached it, and he created another as soon as it fell, further ahead this time. A few stray bolts sneaked in, but his armour let nothing of the electricity touch him.
All of a sudden, the barrage of blue stopped. The air still crackled everywhere, and the scent of burning ozone clogged Riven’s nostrils. He kept rushing, refusing to let give the demon any opportunity to recuperate and attack again. But the Infernal had already planned her next move—she raised her hands to the heavens, her whole body shimmering bright blue. Riven jerked to a stop, a feeling of pure danger overwhelming every other sensation. He rushed faster, helped along by the fact that he was going downslope. Then the blue disappeared off the demon, tiny sparks arcing up to the sky.
True lightning rained down. Riven shouted in alarm, throwing up a hasty shield, but the very first strike from a bolt from the blue, thick as the bole of a thousand-year-old oak, broken his golden Essence. It hit the ground, the force of even an indirect impact sending him flying back. Shit, he needed to draw on more Sept.
All the while, more bolts were shooting down. The mountainside began crumbling, rocks bouldering down the slope. Riven made quick little shields to throw them off-course in their path to demolish him, keeping himself as tiny as possible so as not to get hit by the raining bolts.
Another lightning bolt struck the ground a yard away.
Once again, Riven was sent flying. This time, he tumbled down the mountain, falling faster and faster. Damn it, he had his shield, didn’t he? He focused, drawing up a horizontal plate of golden Essence to stop his fall, but it shattered on impact. Riven had been slowed though. Even as his fall started to gain speed, he created another shield, this time managing to stay on it.
Heart thundering worse than the Infernal’s barrage, Riven checked upslope. One good thing about being hit by the lightning the demon had called down was that he was now out of the danger zone.
But the Infernal had spotted him. She glared at him, standing at an angle on the steep and rocky ground. Then she began to glow blue again.
Not if Riven could help it.
He ran forward, forcing the pressure out of him as he drew on all the Sept he possessed. The golden Essence burst free in a starburst of golden lines around him, all of them zipping toward the demon. A shield formed around her, just as the blue was dissipating and shooting up. Thanks to his Essence, it never reached the sky.
The demon’s angry shout was muffled too. “I’m going to crush you to cinders!”
Riven’s shield cracked as the Infernal hammered on it. Those spikes couldn’t have been nice. But he grinned, rushing forward over the rocky ground as he threw more Essence at her to maintain his shield, fixing the cracks as soon as they popped up.
Then the shield lit up bright blue. Shit. How could he have forgotten that she could shoot her lighting from inside? This time, his shield cracked too fast for him to rectify the damage dealt. He threw more and more Essence trying to keep the shied going for as long as he could as he tried to get to the demon. It didn’t last long. His shield shattered with an explosion, lightning shooting in every direction. A tiny bolt even hit him, and Riven halted in surprise.
The lightning strike had taken off several bits of his armour, leaving tiny cracks all over the thing. But he was fine. Not a single spark had infiltrated within and left any mark.
Riven resumed his rush at the demon. So close now.
But not close enough.
“Die!” the Infernal shouted as brilliant, shimmering blue arcs blasted off her and into the sky.
Riven took one more step before the barrage of lighting hammered down once again. He was at least a little ready this time, having already thrown up a series of shields in the air above him. The lightning hammered down, bursting through his shields as though they were little better than paper. Riven kept moving anyway.
By some act of luck or fate, the bolts didn’t hit him or anywhere near him. The first landed several yards away, the second threw up a barrage of rocky shrapnel that his armour easily fended off, the third came close but Riven jumped as the ground was struck, and though the cloud of dust and stones overtook for him a moment, he burst through and out in seconds.
Riven jerked to a halt as the lightning rain slowed to a stop. The demon was glowing blue again, ready to belch out more sparks to release to the sky. Readying to call down more unstoppable lighting. Unstoppable because stupid Riven kept using shields of compressed air.
When the Infernal sent the sparks upwards again, Riven focused and sent his Essence into the earth instead. The rocks curved overhead, forming a tunnel staring at him and ending at the Infernal.
Lightning blitzed down, but the tunnel of rocks took the blows well. Dust filtered down, and Riven was sure he heard cracks overhead, but he was safe. Free to rush at the demon, who started throwing her own bolts at him. Weaker ones that were easily stopped by his armour, and he grinned as he reached her. She stood at least two feet taller than him, but he created another mid-air horizontal shield to jump on to, slashing his sword with all the force he could muster. His swing would have taken off her head, but she blocked the blow with a scaly arm and threw him back.
Riven charged back up and flew forward, slashing his sword from every direction. The Infernal blocked every blow, fiery sparks shooting off at every contact with a spike or scale. If only he had the reach of his longsword. This shorter one made things much harder.
Thankfully, his Essence meant he could hit as hard as he wanted, and he swung with as much fury as the memories of Bartle dying, of Darley struggling as she was carried away, provided him with. His blows started slipping past the demon’s guard, slicing past her arm to hit her body. Her scales were as strong as his armour, if not stronger, and the slashes left hardly any scratch. But he was hitting her. It was possible to beat her back.
The demon hardly struck back. Once or twice, she decided to ram the fist into Riven’s guts or clobber upside the head, but that gave him the perfect opportunity to slip his sword past her guard and hit her with all he had. Riven left gashes bleeding Sept across the demon’s chest, and another jab that poked a hole in her upper arm. Every time his golden armour cracked, he poured out more Essence to fix the cracks and recreate the bits that had flaked off. Outside, the barrage of lighting had slowed down, the rain of dust inside the tunnel coming to a stop.
Lightning was flickering along the demon’s arms. Riven had to act fast. He was beating the demon, but he was too slow. He needed—
The Infernal jerked an arm out, and Riven dove in to ram the sword tip into her chest. It dug into where her heart should have been. But the lightning struck out. A dozen bolts blasted out in every direction, and Riven was thrown back by the impact as the tunnel collapsed.
Riven pushed the debris away from him. His sword. Where was his sword? The dust made it difficult to see and he waved it away as he stood up. He had to get his short sword back. Guns were useless against a demon’s scaly hide. Riven charged forwards blindly in the gloom, trying to see but failing to get a glimpse of anything, much less his missing his blade. In the dusty veil, he might be going downslope and away from everything for all he knew.
Then he caught the demon charging at him. More lightning was arcing off her body and shooting in every direction. It threw up some much-needed light, and he gasped at what it revealed.
His sword was buried halfway to the hilt in the ground.
With a shout, Riven charged forward. No way was he letting that demon get the sword before him, if that was even her goal. Even if it wasn’t he needed to recover it before he got to the demon.
She was closer though. Closer, and faster. Damn it, he wasn’t going to reach it in time at this rate. Riven focused as he ran, golden Essence flying from him and coagulating at the sword-hilt. More and more Essence poured out of him, the pressure within him rising like tidal wave that had every intention of swallowing him whole. All for the best.
As soon as the demon got close enough, Riven let the Essence concentrated at the sword hit loose, expanding it out into a shield. A giant shield, one that blew up faster than the lightning the demon threw everywhere, faster than the demon could react to its growing presence.
One that smacked right into the Infernal as she was charging it.
She slammed into it so hard, the shield cracked and she stumbled forward. It was only precious seconds before she recovered, but those seconds were all that Riven needed.
He had his sword back.
The demon whirled, lightning dancing along her arms, but Riven was faster. Those precious few seconds had given a seeming eternity’s worth of a lead. He charged in, and the demon was too late in raising her arms to defend herself.
With a shout and every ounce of strength Riven could muster, he threw himself forward, swinging the sword in a vicious arc. It sliced right between her upraised arms, a fraction of a moment’s focus coating the blade with Riven’s Essence before it struck her right in the collarbone.
The Infernal screamed as she was thrown back, the angle making sure that she tumbled down the mountainside. Riven laughed. He couldn’t help it. Finally, he’d beaten that damn Infernal, that demon who had stolen the lives of Bartle and Darley. That demon who had cause so much destruction and havoc. Riven would have spat if he had the energy.
He staggered back, breathing hard. His work wasn’t done yet. He couldn’t let another Rattles happen here, and he needed to get to the soldiers before that happened.
The ground trembled. Riven had only one moment to wonder what in the Chasm it was this time before sparks shot up in the air again. The shaking grew worse, the sparks turning into a thousand lightning bolts growing up out of the ground and shooting into the sky.
Then the mountainside broke apart. Riven screamed as he fell, the rocks claiming him as he was pulled down by the landslide, his sword slipping out of his grasp.
Then the rocks gave him an early grave.