Kyra and Ragnar made their way back to Stonewall after what they realised had been a five day monster hunt. They pickings were good around the canyon and they had found their fair share of monsters.
Kyra collapsed the buggy and stored it in her mirror on the cliff top, while she had her inventory to hand she pulled out one of Lucy’s notebooks she had mentioned to use. Flipping to the right page she found what she was looking for and earth-shaped a flat area of ground to draw a ritual. After the third or fourth attempt of testing and re-adjusting she had got it right. The air inside the ritual faintly shimmered like a heat haze.
“Shield maiden, while your prowess in battle has been proven many times over since I met thee this is not your forte. Are you sure the ritual will function as thou intends?” Ragnar said, warily eyeing the ritual.
Kyra rolled her eyes. “You’re welcome to take the long way down we used to get out.”
Then she walked through the ritual, careful not to disturb any of the lines or materials and straight out the other side and off the edge. She drifted down, like a great fan was underneath her trying to push her back up but she continued to fall at a walking pace. Kyra didn’t have a slow fall power, she didn’t want to rely on her essence powers to fall down the wall using the stone as a brake and didn’t want to rely on ‘borrowing’ an air step from Teddy with the natural array messing up the ambient magic and their interface connectivity. In any case Ragnar was in the same position and the slow fall ritual was as much for him as for her.
She looked up when she saw a shadow above, watching for flying monsters, instead she saw the huge man had taken the plunge, struggling to contain his beard of many braids flapping up in his face as he fell.
They both alighted on the canyon floor just inside the long drop into the depths of Stonewall but inside the city main.
“argh.” Ragnar said, untangling his beard braids. “This flying is not for me, plant mine feet, swing the axe. A happier place you cannot find.”
“To quote a wise adventurer from my planet; thats not flying, its falling, with style!”
Ragnar looked at her quizzically. “You told me you world was barren of magic?”
“Err, he was more of an intergalactic adventurer?”
Ragnars bushy eyebrows shot up. “A Diamond rank astral traveller?! You met one?”
“Err… it was more a legend or myth.”
“A most powerful individual he must be to have travelled so far to a world with no magic.” Ragnar nodded sagely.
“Well he did defeat the evil lord Zorg which none thought he would.”
A group of Stonewallers had started to approach, wearing the robes of the council they had met before. Kyra and Ragnar had been stalling, bracing their auras against the natural array before they went deeper.
“You will have to tell more of this adventurer in quiet lull of battle.” Ragnar muttered to Kyra.
“Sure, I’ll try and remember as much as I can about Buzz Lightyear.” Kyra said, making a mental note to warn off the others about not explaining that the hero was a fictional toy from a movie.
The Stonewallers faces were not entirely human. On perfectly round faces they were slightly different but Kyra could still pick out the looks of annoyance on their faces.
“Mrs Mitchell, we must summon you to the sentencing chamber with much haste.”
“Sentencing chamber? On what charges?” Kyra said in surprise. After a week of fighting alongside him Kyra felt the subtle change in Ragnars stance as he readied himself for a fight. She gently held a hand out palm down to calm him.
“Delinquency and reckless endangerment, we have suspended the hearing enough times for you to be present to defend.”
Kyra wondered what was going on, she had felt the power of the Stonewallers and knew there was no running or fighting them here in the array, especially as the rest of her family was here. The escort didn’t look like they would add anymore detail so she nodded and they lead the way to the council chambers. Kyra nodded her head sideways after them while looking at Ragnar to signal they should follow. The escort took them back into the impressive council building with the huge pillars cut into the stone walls. They were escorted into a side chamber. There were a row of officials sat on a mezzanine looking down on a solitary chair that was there to obviously hold the accused with two distinct halves of the room that would be set out for prosecution and defence.
Kyra was surprised to see the chair in the front was already occupied. A frazzled Lucy sat in the seat, secured by elaborate manacles of links of earth of different shades. As an ‘occupational interest’ Kyra studied the links as she rushed forward to her sister in law, noticing that they were imbued with magic, consisting of different ores and strains of rock.
“Lucy! What’s going on?!”
“Oh hey K, erm, bit embarrassing really. Turns out I’ve been a little naughty.”
“That is for this council to decide.” An imperious voice said from above.
Kyra glanced up at the shadowy characters before turning back to Lucy. “What did you do?”
“Well everyone was busy doing their own thing so I started playing with some rituals, you know, trying to get them to work down here, just some basic stuff like ambient magic reading, air purification, nothing specific really, just trying to baseline an adjustment criteria to the rituals. Turns out I didn’t wipe one away and one of the locals reacted quite badly to it.”
She nodded her head to one side of the chamber. Under the circumstances Kyra realised that must be the prosecution if the victim was on that side. She saw the Stonewaller in question straight away, it was holding an arm awkwardly with the other and it looked as if it had been burnt.
“Have they hurt you?” Kyra asked, a note of menace in her normally kind voice.
“Nonono, they’ve been very good to me. They explained what was happening, I went along peacefully. They explained they have a very strict justice system as it’s a self contained society. They have to follow their rules, as visitors so do we. I’m being held for charges of delinquency- leaving my ritual unattended and reckless endangerment - because it was dangerous.”
“What was the ritual?”
“A cleansing ritual. Designed to null the effect of the array within it to allow other rituals. Basically what we do to balance the ambient magic up top but with a key to the array.”
“And what’s the punishment for those charges?”
The room went quiet as the officials on the floor above rose and stepped forward to the low stone wall in front of them to look down.
“Mrs Kyra Mitchell. Do you stand here in defence of your kin?” The middle official intoned.
“I do.” Kyra replied, putting a hand on Lucy’s shoulder. The manacles that held her attached her wrists to the arms of the solid earthen chair, the chains became thin and snaked around her arms to attach to a yoke that went across her shoulders. Kyra gained an insight into the wondrous materials by touching them and struggled to maintain her stern face against the court.
“Your kin stands accused. The punishment has been decided.”
“Wait. There’s no trial? No evidence? No jury to sway?” Kyra asked in surprise.
“The punishment, shall be three days in the deeps.” The official continued as if they had not heard her. With that short statement they all started to file out of a door behind them.
Kyra looked at Lucy in surprise, the chains started to crumble and powder away from her and she stood. They hugged in relief. The deep wasn’t so bad, they had all intended to spend some time down there fighting the elementals, an exercise they had already been told that was used to punish the youths of Stonewall.
The injured Stonewaller walked over to them as they stood in the middle.
“Mrs Mitchell.” The female sounding Stonewaller said. “Thankyou for going along with this, it was not my intention to punish you when I reported the magic circle I found.”
“It’s all ok. It’s nothing I can’t handle. How’s your arm? I’m sorry our potions are no good to you and I don’t trust using a ritual of healing on you after seeing the after effect of you with the last one.”
“I will heal. We are a hardy people, lacking in healing magic but hardy nonetheless.”
“Lacking in healing magic…” Kyra said. “Sorry, what is your name?”
“I am Orshni”
“Orshni, can I try something? I’m not going to do anything other than touch your arm If that’s ok? I’m a healer most days.”
“Most days?”
“The other days she spends her time doing the other thing.” Lucy chipped in.
“The other thing?” The innocent Stonewaller said.
“Putting things in need of healing.” Lucy replied as the gangly young local held out her arm for Kyra.
She placed a hand underneath and one on top and closed her eyes concentrating. After a few seconds the corner of her mouth twitched in a slight smile.
“Orshni, may I try something? We were told that your ancestors were human, the slow subtle effect of the array changed you over time to how you are now but I can still feel the fundamental life energy inside you. Your intrinsic makeup is built on the same fundamentals while the outside of you has dramatically changed.”
“What are you saying?” The young Stonewallers parents had come closer and were now standing either side of her.
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“I’m saying that my healing magic will still work on you. It is different to the magic Lucy was using which was antithetical to the nature of the array and to your body. Life energy is life energy though and that is still part of you.”
The young woman looked at her parents then nodded to Kyra. She smiled to reassure the girl then her hands pulsed as a green light flared under her palms.
You have cast [Life Aura] on [Stonewaller]
Natural Array discorporment has changed the affect of [Life Aura]
[Life aura] healing has caused ?????????????? And ??????????
The ongoing mana and stamina regeneration has caused ??????
You have not been able to gain insight to [Stonewaller] health status
“Oh…” Kyra said.
“Oh?!” Lucy asked in alarm, wary of doing more harm than good with this interaction with the already injured Stonewaller.
Kyra had let go of the young woman’s arm in alarm, she had snatched it back and crossed her arms across her chest, already crouched to talk to the much shorter sisters in law she now went into a full squat. Her eyes rolled back into her head as she looked up, she didn’t look in pain but peaceful, a small smile on her face as her body was gently vibrating in a very unnatural way.
“What…?” Lucy started to ask but stopped as she saw the wound on the woman’s arm heal.
From the ground up the Stonewaller started to become encased in vibrant hued rock, like a kaleidoscope of gems buried in rock growing over her skin. Her parents hugged each other, a messy looking gaggle of gangly arms, the Mitchells misunderstood at first thinking that they were consoling each other but soon saw the smiles on their faces. As the rock and crystal took over their daughter they turned to the Mitchells.
“Thankyou outsiders, our daughter was a late bloomer and it has been troubling her of late. She will be most welcome amongst the Shapers.”
With no more explanation they picked up their daughter like she was a stretcher, now completely encased in the short time like a rocky sparkly cocoon and carried her out. One of the shadowy officials from up on the mezzanine saw what had happened and was quickly conferring with two of the others that were yet to leave. Even with their bronze rank hearing the effect of the array this deep affected their perception so they couldn’t hear the discussion.
“Two days only in the deeps.” He called down when they had come to a decision.
“This is bizarre.” Kyra said.
“I am glad I fell in with you fine adventurers!” Ragnar said enthusiastically, coming forward to join the girls. “The tales we will be able to tell after this will capture the wonder of many!”
The same Stonewallers that had escorted Kyra and Ragnar in approached the three of them.
“If you would come with us we will take you to your punishment.” They said with no nonsense brusqueness and turned and walked away, leaving the trio to shrug and follow on.
They wound their way back down through the depths, Kyra shielding Ragnar with her aura as much as she could while he put as much effort as he could into his aura control. They passed many Stonewallers and the outsiders were still a source of shock and surprise for many, with lots of whispers and pointing as they walked.
They reached the bottom levels and the strain was obvious on Ragnar’s face but he didn’t complain. They rounded a corner onto a long corridor to hear carnage ahead. They couldn’t see it as it was around another corner but they heard the fighting and when the fighting suddenly stopped. Footfalls came toward them, heavy with a clack on the stone floors. A huge bear rounded the corner, fur painted in blood and running heavily from his bared teeth. The sight of the huge creature made them instantly put their guard up, unable to sense with their auras pulled in so tight they realised it was Koda, made to look sinister in the dark in the alien tunnel. He reared at the sight of them, the top of his head meeting the roof of the tunnel and he had to hunch to stand as tall as he could. He dropped down and walked towards them.
Behind Koda was another huge shadow. When they could see around the fearsome familiar and saw what was behind they didn’t know how to react. A colossal creature shambled towards them. The monster of a bear made Koda look like a chihuahua next to a Rhodesian Ridgeback. The head was almost as wide as Lucy was tall. The right arm was the size of Ragnar and sheathed in a swirling sheen of metal with accents of different colour. The metal acted like skin, rolling and twisting like the fur on the other massive front leg, the metal encompassed the entire paw, leg, shoulder and then blended in naturally with the fur of the chest and spine. The monster’s back was over halfway up the height of the tunnel, there was no way that this bear could raise up the same way Koda had. It looked slightly focussed like a laser guided missile at each of them before settling on Lucy and the two guards either side of her.
The timbre of the tunnel changed, the air seemed alien and unwelcome before but now it was downright menacing. A primal energy like the nature of the dark tunnel was against them but emanating from the beast in front. His presence was already down the tunnel towards them and it was made worse as he moved forward, steady heavy footfalls that made the ground rumble and each of them want to flee and find their burrows if they had them.
The Stonewallers were locked in place, terrified. They had never felt anything like this, their own perceptions of auras were so different and so little uniqueness came into Stonewall.
Through it all Lucy looked unaffected, his rage was centred on her but she was the focus of his protective instinct. When he got close enough, still locked on the guards escorting his wife she reached up and grabbed the hair on the bottom of his jaw and pulled it down to look into one brown, almost black, eye.
“This is a self-surrender, dummy. They’re notional escorts, not prison guards.”
James in his monstrous bear form rolled his eyes from one to the other then back to Lucy. He yawned, the first time they had seen his maw, letting his aura do the snarling for him. Now they could see his teeth they were glad, they were the size of swords and thick as tree branches. He transformed back into the James they knew. He stood in his normal casual training Gi looking like the man they knew and loved with Lucy now holding his beard, but there was something different about him.
“What have you done to yourself?” Lucy asked. Looking him over.
“You can’t tell? I suppose you’re not using your aura senses because you have them retracted, Kyra too, hers are suppressed. I’ve been training down here almost non-stop.” Koda shambled back down the corridor and they heard the sound of fighting round the corner. “The elementals are basic and unchanging. But with my aura so repressed it was hard to use my powers, until I got used to it down here in critical moments. Then I adapted and my aura was easier to use, then I could use some of my powers, but they seemed to react to that and more came, so I fought harder, used more powers. I don’t think I’ve ever had aura control as fine as this, never thought it was possible. But now, down here, I feel like I can breathe as we do on the surface.”
Lucy looked at her husband and saw he wasn’t bluffing, he was comfortable while the rest of them were strained. Poor Ragnar was leaning against the wall with the pressure.
“Jeesh, we need to get him out of here, but first. What’s going on, why are you self surrendering?!”
“Oh I’ve been a little bit naughty and they sent me here to punish me, if supreme aura powers are what I can expect out of it then I’m looking forward to getting my just deserves!” She grabbed him on his upper arms and used them to lift herself onto her tiptoes and kiss him. “Take Ragnar, go see the sun. I’ll be fine down here, come and see me in a few days and check on me.”
He picked her up and hugged her tight.
“When you are ready for me to come visit, you will be able to tell me. I have full interface again.” He smiled at her, then went and put an arm under Ragnar’s shoulder and started jogging with him. Koda came running after them, looking like he was lumbering but moving with bronze rank speed and supported Ragnar from the other side.
“I should go with them, help out Ragnar until he’s out you know?” Kyra said and gave Lucy a quick hug before dashing off to catch up.
That left Lucy with the Stonewallers escort that were just getting over their interaction with James.
“So I suppose you’re just going to leave me here and trust I don’t get killed?”
As a reply they pointed over her shoulder. She saw an earth elemental shamble around the corner, looking like an uncoordinated pile of rocks. By the time she looked around it was to see the backs of the Stonewallers walking away up the corridor.
“Well I guess that answers that question then.” She muttered to herself.
She turned and drew a wand and fired it at the monster.
WARNING: [Wand of Blasting] has failed.
[Wand of Blasting] has failed to function as intended. This is due to the effect of destabilised magic in the environment.
Mana cycling through this weapon will have to be adjusted before weapon can be used in this environment.
“Bugger.” Thought Lucy as she pulled on her magically reinforced knuckle dusters and cracked her neck each way.
………
Kyra and James were almost carrying Ragnar by the time they got to the top levels. They had stopped in their issued accommodation to allow the big man to rest outside of the natural arrays effect and he was quickly picking himself back together.
“That aura control really is tight!” Kyra complimented James as she could now fully explore it with her own.
James looked a little bit smug as he mock-bowed to her.
“It’s probably something to do with the fact that I haven’t slept in five days, training non-stop and it’s all thats holding me together right now.”
Just then the door banged open and a bedraggled Teddy half flopped half bounced off the door into the room in exhaustion.
“Sensed. James. Followed you. Here. Finished it. For Ragnar. Here.” He opened a rift, the effort causing him to stagger a little and fall to one knee. He reached up and pulled out a shield.
The shield crashed to the floor, a large kite, almost as tall as Teddy, the tip of the bottom hit the floor and it pivoted to lean up against a table. Kyra rushed forward to scoop up Teddy into her lap and inspect him for injury.
“A shield for mine own hands?” Ragnar asked, his weariness forgotten from his ordeal below on firstly seeing someone else in such worse condition and secondly on the artefact in front of him.
The shield was about five foot tall, it was a traditional heavy armour kite shield with a thick lip designed to catch blows from an edge without breaking it. The front was subtly protruding triangularly to deflect high powered attacks from the front without taking the full force. It was a plain, dark steel colour but the design was captivating. Teddy had obviously taken inspiration from Ragnar’s Titan essence to personalise it. On the front was a huge man taking up most of the shield. He was portrayed in a Greek sculpture style standing atop a pinnacle of rock. He wore a loose toga across his immensely powerful frame and his beard reached almost to the rope belt. Around his feet were tiny people, obviously taking shelter beneath him. His defined muscles bulged as he crouched and held the weight of enormous storm clouds above him on his shoulders, his right hand held them up while his left was stretched out palm up, stopping a lightning bolt before it could hit the people beneath. Looking closer they could see more details. The Titan wore manacles around his wrists and ankles, with the bits of broken chains still attached, his toga had the symbols for the followers of the church of Hero around the edges and there was a stylised light emitting from around the Titan.
Ragnar stepped forward and gently turned the shield around. They were all surprised with what they saw. The inside of the shield was not the same metal as the outside. It wasn’t even metal. It looked like an extremely dark tight-grained wood that had the front wrapped in metal. It had the usual straps for carrying and using and Ragnar picked it up and slipped his arm through. He was delighted to find the shield was incredibly light, so much to almost be weightless in his bronze rank hands, which was not a given for bronze rank items which he could definitely feel this was.
James stepped forward and traced the lightning bolt running to the Titan’s hand, pulling up the description on the interface.
Item: [Shield of the Defenceless] (bronze rank, legendary)
A bespoke item, crafted with care and thought from exotic materials.
Effect: A heavy shield that can deflect the strongest blows of its rank. The magic imbued within the exotic material is recharged by ambient magic to provide a reservoir of power to negate magic based attacks.
Effect: When held in protection of others it has a strengthening effect. (-15% damage by all physical means) (-15% damage by all magical means)
Effect: When wielded by a member of the church of Hero who is pure to the teachings of Hero gain a strengthening effect. (+10% strength to user) (+10% to all protective characteristics). There is a small chance that the god Hero will take special note of this shield being employed in his name.
“Exotic materials?” James asked.
Ragnar stroked his finger on the inside of the shield showing James.
“I have never before seen the like in and shield, the weight it nothing but it is strong as the doors of temple itself!”
From a cot bed to the side they saw Kyra putting Teddy to bed. He mumbled half asleep as he went.
“Shields. Have to make shields first. Test. Worthy to forge. Made shield. Ragnar doesn’t have. Used. Bahamut scale. Stonewallers never seen…” and he was asleep as soon as Kyra pulled the blanket over him.