Tale of Eldramir

xxxxxxxxxxxxxThere was little to no fanfare as Ezekiel left the expedition once again. Scarlet continued to warn him to be careful, and Kari was silent as she watched him leave. But he could feel that she was concerned for his wellbeing. He wasn’t sure why, as he didn’t really have any connections to her, but appreciated the concern all the same.

Ezekiel, Shine, and the Avatar ended up moving quickly as the avatar carried Ezekiel through the jungle. Trees and other vegetation whipped by at speeds beyond his or Shine’s awareness. When they made it a fair distance away, Ezekiel requested that the avatar turn towards the bluffs to execute his plan. It wasn’t long before they had looped back to the entrance they had previously evacuated from.

Suddenly, before Ezekiel could get started, the avatar seemed to freeze up for a moment. Its eyes grew dim, and it didn’t reply to any inquiries. Seeing that they were in the open, Ezekiel picked up the avatar and moved to a well-covered area of the underbrush.

Now that they were somewhat hidden, Ezekiel took a chance to decompress and let himself go over his plan once again.

He knew that the most difficult part at the moment would be getting to the top of the cliff without being spotted. While he didn’t expect the Cult to have forces patrolling so far from the primary entrance, it wasn’t something that he wanted to risk.

“Are you okay?” Shine asked. “You’ve been sinking into your mana again.”

Ezekiel immediately released his subconscious grasp on his mana. While it seemed like the influence of the Elemental Emotional Effects wasn’t as strong since he’d reached Tier two, he knew that there was still a nagging feeling in the back of his head. It was as if the stress and concerns were still piling up in the back of his mind. His state of consciousness also had no effect on it. Although, Shine did seem to be able to sense his emotions far better than he could.

For now, it seemed like it wasn’t much, but he was worried about what would happen when he finally addressed the problem directly. He couldn’t help but feel like there was something of a dam being put under pressure at the moment. But he continued to push it aside for now.

“Thanks for the reminder. And I’m just concerned about what happened to the avatar. While the next few steps of the plan don’t involve it, I don’t want to just head off without informing it either.” Ezekiel said. “That may very well create its own problems.”

“I guess so, but we’re on a time limit. Who knows what could happen while we’re stuck here waiting.” Shine said.

“So long as the avatar can carry us, it shouldn’t be an issue. Hence the problem we need to wait for.” Ezekiel said.

The duo ended up waiting for nearly half an hour as their patience started to wear down. Finally, the lights of the avatar lit up once again, and the avatar’s faceplate seemed to shift into a look of anger. Ezekiel was almost afraid to ask what had happened. But the avatar spoke up before he could.

“The Deep have begun making moves. The conflict is spreading to this side of the island. The Glacial Spirits I am in contact with have informed me that they are facing issues as the Deep have begun making assaults on the other expeditions.” The avatar explained. “It seems like the death of their Peerage Member was enough to put them into a frenzy. Luckily, the Winged are not cooperating with them at the moment, else you humans might be facing a full-on war.”

Ezekiel and Shine were shocked. They knew that they had dealt a serious blow to the Cruor, but they hadn’t expected this bad of a response. It had been their impression that there were enough Spirits to keep things under control. The Forest Spirit had informed them that their actions would turn the tide of the cold war it was dealing with. Why were they getting drawn into the crossfire?

“Ezekiel!” Shine exclaimed. Ezekiel immediately drew himself out of his state of confusion.

“Do we know why this is happening? I thought you said that the blow we dealt to the Cruor would help change the situation to your favor?” Ezekiel asked.

“With the Winged Cruor, it had, since they cannot easily replenish their numbers.” The avatar explained. “However, the Deep are another story. Though I had been informed by my own allies that they had ample numbers to defend against the Deep. It seems they learned of your involvement, however, and that has made them focus on your human’s expeditions, rather than focusing on the Spirits.”

“So, this is my fault?!” Ezekiel exclaimed.

“Indeed. Though I admit that my failure to kill the Winged Peerage Member is likely what led to the Deep inevitably being informed so quickly.” The avatar explained. “Regardless, there is nothing you can do right now to help them. Instead, you should focus on what is in front of you.”

“It’s right! We already have something that we need to do. We can figure out what to do next when we meet up with Scarlet again.” Shine stated. This time around he allowed Ezekiel to sink partway into his mana. They knew that Ezekiel didn’t need the guilt to distract him right now.

“...Right. Can you head to the area of the Caldera near that side?” Ezekiel said as he pointed to the opposite direction of where they needed to go. “That’s where the other side entrance is. From what I know, it seems like that side doesn’t have as many Death Worms either. Since the sewer entrances are on the other side.”

The avatar nodded but paused before it left. Ezekiel wondered what was happening.

“... Be careful, child of the Void. There is still much to discuss when this is all over.” The avatar then left.

Ezekiel and Shine took a moment to take in the fact that the Forest Spirit had apparently conveyed concern for Ezekiel, when they had previously shown no remorse or worry as they dove into the Cruor’s territory not a few weeks prior.

Shaking his head, Ezekiel cast himself in his Shroud as he walked toward the cliff face. A sense of determination and focus filled him as he set out to trap the Cult of Light in the same Ruins his expedition had been sealed in not too long ago.

It was difficult getting to the top of the bluff, but Ezekiel figured that climbing up himself would be safer than trying to get past any patrols or guards that might’ve been guarding any safer paths. He successfully got to the top, but it was at the cost of a decent amount of his mana.

In order to conserve as much mana as he could, he had Shine take over creating their Shroud so that Ezekiel could focus on moving them forward. They ultimately ran into a dozen or so patrolling Cultists, but thanks to the Shroud they managed to get to the entrance without trouble.

Looking around the entrance, he let out a sigh of relief as he saw the guards around the entrance. Three guards, one for each element currently needed to open the gateway, were keeping watch. He had expected this, as they would need teams on both the inside and the outside, but there was still a slight chance that there would be no guards. At which point he’d need to gather the mana himself.

“We’re surprisingly lucky. Considering all the shit we’ve had to go through.” He mentally muttered to Shine. “Although, we still need to figure out what to do to get them to open the gate.”

Shine was silent as they and Ezekiel thought about their options. Ezekiel was almost considering just revealing themselves to the outer perimeter guards, and hoping they would open the gate to report to their Cult Leaders. But that would make things riskier for them.

“I have an idea, but I don’t know if it’s a good one.” Shine suddenly spoke up. “Could... could we get their Spirits to bleed on the keystones?”

Ezekiel’s concealed eyes lit up in thought. Spirits didn’t really bleed. Instead, they released small amounts of mana when their physical forms were damaged. Looking at the Hunters guarding the entrance, if they could cause enough damage to the Hunter’s Spirits, then they could open the gateway, for at least a second. Though it would be cutting things close, as the mana wouldn’t be channeled, just increasing the ambient mana enough to activate the gate mechanism.

There was also another thing to consider that Ezekiel was worried about.

“You do understand that the amount of mana that would need to be released would only be reached if we killed them, right?” Ezekiel asked. Shine was silent for several seconds.

“... oh...” Was all that Shine said. They had thought that the Spirits would release enough mana with a couple of cuts here and there.

“Not only that, but given our current proximity, and the lack of time we have, we would’ve needed to kill them anyways, else they simply open the gate and come after us. We’ll already need to kill the guards inside to keep things as quiet as possible.” Ezekiel explained.

Shine took another moment to think. Ezekiel was now growing antsy, as they were running out of time. Sensing Shine’s emotions through their bond, Ezekiel could feel that they were beginning to grow confused. He figured he knew why and spoke up before Shine could reply.

“It’s not that I think that this is a bad thing. I’ve grown jaded enough in this world to understand that some people need to die. I wouldn’t have done half the things I’ve done in battle if I didn’t think otherwise.” Ezekiel said. “It’s just that this is the first time you and I have directly planned peoples’ deaths before. I just feel that you need to understand the full extent of what you’re suggesting, rather than simply following me into battle like usual.”

Thinking back into the past, Ezekiel knew that it was Shine’s suggestion that resulted in the death of the Spirits when they’d been tracking down Sasha, several years ago. But that was an unexpected consequence that only occurred by chance due to the snake Spirit’s size. The attack wasn’t otherwise lethal to the Hunter at the time.

This was the first time Ezekiel had bothered to fully explain the depths of the consequences of their actions as well. He figured that, if Shine was taking a direct role in their planning and tactics, then he needed to know that they were aware of everything that could happen.

“... I know. But I do think this is the most efficient plan.” Shine said. “I don’t necessarily want to kill these Spirits. But I know that the Cultists were likely to be killed off when we meet up with our reinforcements anyways. Let’s... let’s get this over with.”

“... Okay. But, Shine, don’t think that you need to destroy the world, just to keep me safe.” Ezekiel said, getting himself ready for what he was about to do. “Don’t think you need to change who you are, as you grow stronger, just so I rely on you more.”

Shine fell silent again. This time Ezekiel could sense a hint of embarrassment at being caught. They had been wanting to help more and more, given their lack of autonomy when it came to providing aid. This became more prevalent given recent events. Given their rise in Tier, Shine had been hoping to do more for Ezekiel, and had falsely thought that they needed to prove themself.

Ezekiel moved to the center of the gateway. Glancing around at the Hunters around him, Ezekiel was grateful of the fact that they were the same Tier as him. Silently drawing Shine from their sheath, Ezekiel crouched and readied himself.

All three had their Spirits on their shoulders. One was a monkey, another a bird, and the last was a snake. Cavern, Tempest, and Glacial, all standing above the keystone areas where the mana needed to go to open the gateway. Shifting his weight ever so slightly, Ezekiel and Shine channeled their mana as one. Spinning in place, their higher Tiered mana cut through the necks of the Hunters, and the Spirits on their shoulders fell to the ground, releasing motes of mana out and into the environment.

Not bothering to look at their handy work, Ezekiel and Shine dropped through the opening gateway and into the entry chambers. Just as they landed on the ground, the gateway began closing, having only opened halfway before it began to close once again.

“What-!” A cultist standing in the entry area of the gateway barely got a word out before Ezekiel, still Shrouded by Shine, severed his neck as well. This was followed by three more guards suffering either cuts to their throat or a stab through the chest.

Only two of the internal guards had Spirits, which were also taken care of as they briefly suffered from the shock of their partners dying. All the guards were Tier two, as the ones above were. Ezekiel figured that they’d moved their heavy hitters to the Ruins proper, so as to form a defense against the Death Worms and do a thorough investigation.

As he looked around, Ezekiel was concerned that there might be other guards. But there weren’t, and the impact with the ground hadn’t been enough to dispel his Shroud now that it was powered by two Tier twos. Striding off towards the path he knew would take him to the control center, Ezekiel hardened his heart for the rest of the Cultists he might have to kill on his way down. Shine as well, focused on the task at hand.

At the bottom of the inverted pyramid that made up the top of the Ruins of Trigat, the remaining three Legendaries of the Cult of Light were having a meeting in a hastily made command center. It was basically just a large stone box where they could avoid the prying eyes of their subordinates.

“So, we have a legion of rampaging Death Worms to deal with. Worse yet, it looks like, after the initial investigation, that the expedition somehow escaped.” Meryn muttered angrily. “Is that what your summary of our continued search is telling me?”

“Yes. I would like to note, however, that this is only according to the most recent and most direct searches that we could perform given the short time we’ve been here, as well as the fact that we lack a powerful enough scout to help me.” Francis said. “If we had a third scout helping, since only you and I can stay in the air for long periods of time to search, then perhaps we could’ve found some more definitive information, but this is what we have so far.”

Meryn ignored the jab at his actions regarding Kameira. While he was regretting killing her now, he was doing his best to focus on the here and now. There was no point staying stuck in the past. Meryn also wasn’t certain how much longer Kameira would’ve been willing to continue following his orders.

“Yes. A shame.” Meryn grit out through a clenched jaw. Off to the side, Gwen was staying quiet. Having recovered from her injuries, but covered in new scars, she was angrier than any of her companions, but knew that there was little she could contribute directly.

Meryn had already taken over her place in the away forces, and she’d been stuck defending against Death Worms for the past day after her recovery.

“I think we need to pull back at this point.” Francis said. He was met by two angry glares as his fellow Legendary Mages rose in fury. “Let me explain!”

Gwen and Meryn fell silent at Francis’ exclamation.

“We are surrounded on all sides due to the Death Worms. We haven’t found the expedition we were looking for, Anathema included. Worse yet, for all we know, there are reinforcement expeditions ready to swarm us as soon as we get out of here.” Francis’ words had calmed Meryn and Gwen down as they began to look nervous.

“The mission can’t be fulfilled here. It would be better to return to our headquarters. Maybe, we can make our way to the other side of the Archipelago. Return to the more subtle tactics, and actually attempt to build up our forces, rather than just survive and force people to join us at sword point.”

Meryn and Gwen both sat down as Francis finished speaking. They hated it, but they couldn’t help but admit that Francis’ idea had merit. They had made numerous mistakes when establishing themselves previously. But if they returned, taking what they could from these Ruins, then they might be able to establish themselves, and with a little bit of work, they’d be able to begin infiltrating other islands.

“I don’t like it.” Gwen ground out through grit teeth. “But, Meryn, we might have to do as suggested. We’ve reached a dead end here. Worse, we’ll need to find our ships, since they may very well have been driven off at this point.”

All three Legendaries flinched at the thought of their ships no longer being where they were left.

Looking between his two companions, Meryn felt the weight of his decisions prior to today building up. The pressure was trying to push him forward. To make him continue in their attempt to kill the Anathema. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that they were currently lost.

“... Fine. Inform the other Followers that we need to pack up all that we’ve managed to find that was abandoned. We leave now!” Meryn stated. Francis and Gwen looked relieved as their fellow Legendary gave in and agreed to leave with them.

Suddenly, just as they were getting ready to leave the command center and sound their retreat. The ground began to rumble. Lights began to shine throughout the Ruins. Blue, gray, and dull brownish-orange lights lined the cavern. The colors of the elements in charge of the enchantments protecting the city.

As the enchantments continued flashing, the three Legendaries rushed outside. The saw that the inverted pyramid was basically a strobe-light at this point from how rapidly the lights were flashing. Then, the color of the lights began to change. They slowly became paler, but brighter, until finally, they were nothing but pure, untainted white lights with no color at all.

This was Void elemental mana. At once, the Leaders of the Followers of Radiance knew what had happened. The elemental keys to the Spiral Paths Formation had been changed. They didn’t know how all three elements had been changed, since the formation was supposed to require three elements, but they did know who had done it.

There was no other Mage in the Archipelago that they knew of that had the Void element and the knowledge necessary to do this.

“Anathema!” All three Legendaries spat out as they ran as fast as possible to the formation’s control center. Their Spirits dashed to meet them as they moved.

In a matter of seconds, they reached the previously guarded room with the large focal point for the Spiral Paths Formation. All the guards were dead. The necks cut open, or heads chopped off in the case of the few Life and Death Mages. Dispersing Motes of light showed the fading remains of the few Spirits that had been there.

But there were no signs of their target. There were no signs of any life at all, besides themselves.

For the first time since they’d reached this island, the three diehard Legendaries of the Followers of Radiance began to feel true fear. Not of death, or danger, but of the future. For they now understood, in full, why their Lord had ordered the |Anathema to die.

Just outside the entrance to the inverted pyramid, in the middle of the now Cultist campsite, Ezekiel and Shine quickly crept through the gathered Cultists as they tried to figure out what the heck had just happened.

“That was a close one.” Shine mentally said to Ezekiel. “Just a couple more seconds, and we would’ve been caught.”

Ezekiel couldn’t help but agree. They’d finished altering the formation just seconds before the Legendary Cultists had arrived. Standing just outside the door, so as to not be barreled over by the rushing Cultists they had been expecting.

“Indeed. But we succeeded, and now we need to move. That took more mana than I would’ve liked.” Ezekiel said back. “I’m just glad that the alterations the old residents did to this formation allowed me to change it all to one singular element. Feeding off the Void mana that is created when the formation mixes Tempest and Cavern Mana. I would’ve had to take a moment longer to move the entrances we won’t be using to more hidden locations than they currently are.”

After looking through the book that the Forest Spirit had given them, Ezekiel realized that the alterations didn’t just allow the entrances to be moved. They also allowed the formation to use a singular element for all three focal points.

Reading through the explanation of the formation, he realized that the reason the formation used three different elements, usually the ones most available in the vicinity, was because those elements also had the mana that fueled the formation. Thus, Cavern, Tempest, and Glacial due to the Ruin’s geography.

Doubling up on a single element, or even tripling it, would usually cause the formation to run out of mana fairly quickly. But for the purposes that the formation was made for, Ezekiel realized that he could make a slight alteration that would take the Cavern and Tempest Mana to create Void Mana to fuel the formation.

Since Void mana was like jet fuel compared to gasoline when it came to being a fuel source, that meant that the formation should be able to run just as efficiently as before, even though it was actually running on only a third of the fuel.

Even if it didn’t, it would still be decades before the formation ran out of power and faded away. That was just how powerful the Spiral Paths Formation was when it came to city defenses.

Ezekiel couldn’t help but appreciate the fact that things were finally going well for him. With his enhanced speed, even under the Shroud, he had managed to leave the camp fairly easily, and was nearly at the entrance he would be using to leave the Ruins.

Which is exactly when a Tier three Death Worm sprung up from the ground, radiating its mana all along its body as it broke through Ezekiel’s Shroud. The higher Tier Death mana seeped into his body as he tried to keep himself moving.

“Dammit!” Ezekiel exclaimed aloud. “How the hell did it know I was there!?”

Ezekiel knew he was Shrouded, which should’ve concealed his presence entirely. Only his breathing got past his Shroud, and his scent shouldn’t have been an issue at this point.

“Footsteps! These things aren’t Cavern Spirits, but they’re still worms! They must’ve sensed your footsteps!” Shine’s exclamation helped Ezekiel to focus, but he was growing weaker as the Death mana that he was struck with began to take its toll.

He considered himself lucky that he hadn’t been cut open. The mana would’ve traveled through his bloodstream much more quickly. He probably wouldn’t be able to move at this point if that was the case.

“Dammit!” Ezekiel mentally cried out as he jumped on top of a ruined building. “We can’t run on the ground if that’s the case. We’ll have to stick to the ruined buildings and structures.”

Channeling even more mana, Ezekiel began hopping from crumbled ruin to crumbled ruin. His mana expenditure increased by quite a bit, and he was beginning to grow worried that he wouldn’t make it to the entrance. The only thing he was thankful for was the fact that the Death Worm apparently wasn’t able to find him anymore.

The unfortunate thing was that there was a large expanse of open flat ground between himself and the entrance. Checking his mana, he realized that he’d be cutting things very close.

“Ezekiel...” Shine mumbled in worry.

“Be prepared to jump. Just in case.” Ezekiel said.

“That will leave me almost empty!” Shine said.

“Same for me, but we can make it.” Ezekiel reassured his Spirit.

A sense of determination coming from Shine filled Ezekiel. With a grunt and a push off from the rubble he was standing on, Ezekiel charged forward.

He barely made it a hundred feet before he had to dash to the side, jumping around frantically as Tier three and below Death Worms began gunning form him. They lost sight of him as soon as they surfaced, due to his Shroud, but he was barely reacting to the Worms that were coming up from below.

Suddenly, the world began to rumble as a much larger Death Worm surfaced.

Seeing they were only a few hundred feet from the entrance, Shine didn’t bother to say anything. They just focused their mana, and the moment before a Tier four Death Worm was going to swallow them from below, Ezekiel and Shine disappeared. They had teleported outside the Worm’s range.

Ezekiel continued to run, but as he nearly got swarmed, Shine teleported him once again. This time, they landed right in front of the entrance. Their Shroud was gone now. They couldn’t afford to use the mana to hold it.

Placing his hands against the cavern wall, Ezekiel channeled what little mana he had left. His vision growing bleary from the Death mana in his body. The wall shifted, ever so slightly. As it was barely a quarter of the way open, he stopped. Sliding in as it quickly closed, Ezekiel spun, his sword in hand, ready to take a swing at any Worms small enough to get through before it closed.

He needn’t have worried, however, as the gateway closed, shuddering slightly as something very large slammed against it. Dropping to the floor, Ezekiel was panting wearily as he suffered from yet another near-death experience.

“I need to stop feeling lucky. It never works out for me.” He muttered aloud.

“Agreed. Stop feeling lucky.” Shine chimed in.

Standing up, eyes still bleary, and feeling tired and physically exhausted, Ezekiel barely made his way over to the final exit. Placing his hand against the wall, Ezekiel opened the external gateway.

Standing in front of the gateway was the avatar of the Forest Spirit. It moved to say something to him but changed its focus to catch Ezekiel as he fell forward. The Death Mana in his system had finally taken its toll, and he could no longer keep himself awake. Vision fading to black, Ezekiel fell unconscious.