Chapter 217 – Floor 36: Part 1
Floor 35 – The Wrongs of the Past (Complete)
You have successfully prevented an attack on the Harboured city of Haven by going on the offensive. The Kelestrians will be unable to attack the city while you are within their territory.
Reward: The Second Verse of a Celestial Spell – A Bloody Moon
When all light is extinguished, and the stars themselves are removed from the sky, a blood moon will rise to take their place.
Floor 36 – A Lasting Peace
The Harboured will only be safe as long as their Dark Sovereign protects them. Find a way to forge a lasting peace between these two peoples.
Reward: The Third Verse of a Celestial Spell.
Lirael watched the horizon while standing next to her mentor, Dominic, for the approaching Harboured vessel. The terror of the sun disappearing in the middle of the day and darkness swallowing their world had left her shaken.
News had arrived shortly after the light returned that the Harboured had breached the barrier that left them safely contained in the wastelands far away from Kelestria. Lirael hadn’t been the only one to tremble at the thought of what those murderous savages would do to the Kelestrians now that they were free.
But they were ready; the barriers around the city were strong enough to keep them out. And, if the unthinkable happened and they managed to enter Kelestria itself, there were tens of thousands of their finest Enchanters ready to fight them.
Lirael wondered how they had managed to create a flying ship in the first place. The wastelands lacked resources, and the Harboured had been denied any training or assistance since their failed rebellion over a century ago.
She had grown up on stories of how the tattooed barbarians had killed countless Kelestrians after her people had only tried to help them by guiding their cursed magic in a constructive and helpful way. She didn’t know why they rebelled, but it had probably been due to jealousy.
Or perhaps it was just in their nature.
Whatever the reason, the Harboured had returned and shattered the barrier that kept them away from Kelestria. The shield had stood since the Harboured had first been banished, but Dominic assured her that it was very weak compared to the shield around the city itself.
They had nothing to worry about, even if the Harboured possessed some strange magic to blot out the sun. It had only been temporary and not enough to cause real damage.
Or so she hoped.
Lirael took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She had faith in the Lumina Arcanum an their abilities. She could feel the magic around her as she stood next to the east wing, at a platform that looked out over the city below and far into the distance.
Dominic, noticing her anxiety, placed a calming hand on her shoulder.
“All will be well, Lirael. We have dealt with the Harboured in the past; we shall do so again without trouble. Even if they have suddenly found a spine, it won’t be enough to threaten our greatness.” Dominic assured her, his tone confident.
She felt better after his words, and she nodded. The shield would hold, but there was no chance that it wouldn’t.
“Look, there it is!” Lirael exclaimed, her keen eyes having found the approaching ship. It was a small, black dot on the horizon. It quickly grew larger in only a few moments, a testament to its speed.
When it slowed to a stop on the outskirts of the city, the ship was eye level with the floating Lumina Arcanum. Lirael studied it with a critical eye, her curious nature already trying to find how it worked and if she would be able to recreate such a thing.
Harboured magic was different from their own; they relied on the materials used as well as the runes and sigils that their magics had in common.
But even she, with her years of study under the best teachers doubted she would be able to build such a ship. Especially when considering they had done so in a wasteland without access to proper materials.
“How in the world did they think to make this?” Lirael whispered softly to herself, but her mentor heard her and replied.
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“How indeed. I suspect it has something to do with him.” Dominic responded gravely, his eyes locked onto a figure that was standing at the front of the flying ship. Lirael tore her eyes away from the marvel of magical engineering before her and looked at the man who led the Harboured.
After her first look, she wished she had never seen him at all. He was absolutely terrifying.
Lirael shivered as she saw the armoured man standing at the prow of the flying ship, just outside the city, and spoke. His voice boomed loudly and clearly for all to hear.
“Kelestrians.” The armoured figure’s voice echoed off the wall of the Lumina Arcanum, and Lirael winced slightly at the harsh tone. He said their name like he was cursing, the word clipped and short at the end.
“I am The Enduring, Apostle of the god of Unyielding Declaration and Sovereign of the Harboured. I have been tasked by the gods with raising the Harboured from their life of deprivation and providing them with safety and security.”
His voice resonated through the gathered crowd; each word was imbued with a weight that pressed against Lirael’s chest. The Enduring’s presence was commanding, and the air around him crackled with a palpable energy that made her skin prickle even from a wide distance.
“You’re people stand in the way of that. You’re plans to attack the home of the Harboured has failed. There will be peace between the Kelestrians and the Harboured. I would suggest you send out your leaders to forge a pact to seal this new accord, or I will force it upon you.” The Enduring said, his voice trailing off in echoes.
The result was immediate.
The people of Kelestria erupted into a furious uproar, a wave of anger and disbelief that shook the very stones beneath Lirael’s feet. She felt the tremors of their discontent vibrate in her bones, a wild chorus that drowned out reason.
These shouts continued for a few minutes while The Enduring seemed indifferent to the fury his words elicited. He waited patiently, until, after a few moments, a ripple of anticipation swept through the crowd as a large figure began to materialize above the Lumina Arcanum. It was a projection of the Guardian of Kelestria.
The Guardian was a magnificent construct, an embodiment of the city’s heart and soul. It had started as a simple automaton, a tool for the Kelestrians to assist with their enchanting. But as the enchantments woven into the city grew stronger over the centuries, it had evolved into something more.
It was the city’s sentient protector, its first line of defence that powered its barrier. Its luminous form shimmered with a soft, golden light that was vaguely humanoid.
“The Guardian will protect us.” Lirael said with assurance, but Dominic frowned. The armoured figure was strangely relaxed despite facing such a powerful entity.
“No peace with the Harboured!” A single voice started the chant, but dozens soon carried it, then hundreds before tens of thousands of people were shouting it out. Lirael found herself joining in, righteous anger burning inside her.
How dare these barbarians that had spurned the Kelestrian's goodwill a century ago come back and try to force demands upon them!
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Mathew let the anger of an entire nation of people wash over him. He could feel the power in the glowing shape hovering above the flying structure before him, but he was unconcerned. He could tell that it was tied to the enchanted barrier; it was unable to strike out at him from this distance.
“My Lord, I told you they hate us with all their being. Peace can never be reached between our peoples.” Hilo sadly spoke from behind him.
The Harboured were deeply affected by the anger on display. None of them had ever even had a single interaction with a Kelestrian, yet this nation was determined to see them destroyed. Mathew nodded and gestured for Hilo to step back.
“So be it.” Mathew said, his amplified voice booming out across the city. He raised both his hands and looked toward the sky. Focusing his mind, he called upon the power of the Celestial Magic.
“A Starless Night.” Mathew said, his voice heard by every soul in the city below him. As before, a strange and oppressive power descended upon them. The sun in the sky flared for a moment before it was extinguished.
There were no stars, and each light in the world winked out, one after another. With the darkness came a silence so overwhelming that it forced itself upon all sound. No one, not a single person in the multitude amongst those around them, could make a noise.
The silence was deafening and unbroken, aside from the noise of their own hearts pounding. A chilling wind blew in from the east, a frigid gust that froze the ground.
But, unlike the barrier keeping the Harboured imprisoned, this shield resisted the cold and the dark. It flashed with a golden light that drove back the darkness and the frost. The terror that gripped the Kelestrians was eased as they saw their Guardian resist this strange magic.
Lirael felt like she could cheer it on once more, but she couldn’t find the words inside her. The silence was still there, hanging over them, and even the Guardian couldn’t help her.
Mathew frowned as he felt the spell starting to slip from him. Whatever this entity was, its power was greater than the first verse of the Celestial Magic. Gathering his energy again, he combined the second verse with the first.
“A Starless Night, A Bloody Moon.”
A red light appeared in the void above them. It started as a faint glow, a tinge of colour against the black, before the rim of a celestial object rose.
The blood moon rose slowly from the horizon, a deep crimson orb that seemed to pulse with a life of its own. As it ascended, its surface shimmered with shades of red and dark marron, casting an otherworldly glow across the landscape.
The moon’s light washed over the terrain, illumining the world in a surreal, blood-tinged radiance. Shadows elongated, twisting and curling like tendrils reaching out from the earth.
As it reached its zenith, the moon bathed everything beneath it in a haunting light, transforming the familiar cityscape into something malevolent and foreboding.
The oppressive feeling returned tenfold, drowning out the hope that the Guardian’s resistance had inspired. The wind howled, carrying with it the smell of blood and death. The chill air grew colder, and terror swept through the population.
The light of the Guardian, once bright and golden, faded away to a dull bronze before going dim. The barrier gave a loud ‘crack’ as the enchantment fell.
The city was defenceless.