Tale of Eldramir

As Ezekiel leapt through the portal created by the remnant of the Ancient Void, thoughts flashed through his mind regarding how the battle he was about to begin was going to happen.

He believed that there would be a great deal of dodging on his part.

Aldor would turn and attack with a wave of fire, while Ezekiel did his best to get out of the way so as to get close enough to land a hit.

None of this occurred as he expected it to.

As it was, the portal let him out just behind Aldor, roughly a few feet away.

Neither Aldor nor his bonded Spirit were aware of what was happening at first, but as Ezekiel’s foot hit the ground, causing a small ‘tap’ to echo through the hallway, the two of them turned around.

Neither one was prepared for what they saw.

A circle made of darkness and stars hung in the air behind Ezekiel.

Ezekiel himself had reared his fist back and had charged so much mana into his fist that it was beginning to hurt both his hand and his soul to contain it as he did.

Not expecting such a thing to happen, neither Aldor nor his Spirit were able to react in time.

The rage that had directed Aldor’s actions previously had faded as they failed to open any of the Void gates.

The time setting up his trap had taken much of Aldor’s focus as well, so he was in no way prepared for what was about to happen.

The moment Ezekiel’s foot hit the ground, he launched himself forward, having seen that Aldor had yet to register Ezekiel’s sudden appearance so close to his person.

Aldor had barely started channeling his mana into his arm to throw the wave of Flames that Ezekiel had been expecting when a fist hit him in the stomach.

The fist that Ezekiel had filled with Void mana released its energy directly into Aldor’s core.

The Flame mana within Aldor was immediately amplified by a significant magnitude.

Had he not been in the midst of channeling his mana, then perhaps the effects would not have been as serious. A paralyzing pain and sudden ignition of his soul would cause him to possibly self-destruct, but the difference in their Tiers meant that that was only a high probability, not a guarantee.

Instead, not only did the mana in his core become amplified beyond what his soul and body could currently withstand, but the mana he was channeling to create an attack was also magnified.

Red lines crossed through Aldor’s body as the mana ignited before it was released from inside of him. Smoke began to emanate from his body as he was burned from the inside out.

Thus, the already aggressive mana that was traveling through Aldor’s arm went wild, and instead of being released in a torrent of directed fire that was meant to strike Ezekiel, his arm and half his torso exploded in a shower of fire, blood, and charcoal.

Aldor died without a sound, without a fight.

The enemy that had haunted Ezekiel for several years, who had thrown away his own family due to hatred and obsessive worship of an unrecognized Spirit, was now dead.

A look of rage was still plastered on his face as Aldor’s corpse fell to the side. Even in death, the hatred that he felt towards Ezekiel, towards all Void Mages, still consumed him.

Now that he was dead, Ezekiel also found himself with a chance to examine Aldor in the brief period of time he had before Aldor hit the floor.

The eyes he remembered as a blazing red had indeed turned red and gold, like he thought he had seen when he was running from Aldor before.

But as the life and soul drained from Aldor’s body, so too did the gold drain from his eyes, not turning back to red, as he had expected, but fading in color entirely, until nothing remained but a milky hazy whiteness.

Barely taking a moment to realize what he’d just done; Ezekiel was snapped out of his thoughts as he heard Aldor’s snake Spirit writhing on the ground.

The feedback of losing its bonded Mage had forced it to endure the pain of Aldor’s final moments.

Taking out his sword but making sure not to channel any mana into it, Ezekiel quickly swung with all his might, cutting roughly halfway through its body before the blade came to a stop.

Unfortunately, without his mana running through it the sword wasn’t tough enough to cut all the way through a Tier two Spirit’s body. Luckily, because the snake was still fairly small, the amount of damage that was done was enough to kill it.

Ezekiel watched with tired eyes as the snake Spirit stopped moving.

Having just killed someone for the first time, he paused for a moment, looking over the bodies of Aldor and his Spirit with a sense of confusion, wariness, and regret.

It was as if he didn’t realize what he had just done. Suddenly all thoughts of what had happened and what he was supposed to do flew away as he continued to stare at the blood pooling on the ground, and the red snake that was slowly fading away.

“EZEKIEL!”

A shout reverberated from behind him as the remnant called his name, the portal having yet to fully close. The time since he’d stepped out from the Core room was only a handful of seconds.

Snapping out of his daze, Ezekiel made a mad dash towards the contraption next to the Void Lock. It was a somewhat shoddy culmination of different Relics that were put together solely for the purpose of exploding once something happened to disturb them enough to trigger their activation mechanisms.

Luckily, given his training at his mother’s professional enchanting hands, Ezekiel was able to quickly discern that the Relics needed a power source to activate. That power source was the bundle of mana crystals that were connected to, and inserted in, the various Relics.

Removing them wasn’t an issue, and while a couple Relics were damaged during the dismantling, nothing happened that would cause them to explode.

Finally, the Relics were removed, and Ezekiel was able to safely place his hand on the Void Lock.

As the inky blackness filled with stars disappeared, Ezekiel’s first sight was an approaching fist entirely made of stone aiming straight for his face.

It was not long before morning when Gerome, who had been meditating so as to regain his mana as fast as he could, was awoken from his trance due to a minor shift in what he felt in his bond with Westly.

The Ferret Spirit in question also felt this shift in their bond, and upon noticing it the two of them immediately examined the chain of mana on their Spirit that determined the state of the Spirit Covenant that had been made so many weeks ago.

However, the fact that there was just a shift in their bond, rather than a complete severance meant that there was something strange happening.

Gerome instantly knew that Ezekiel was in danger. The young Void Mage’s life was possibly on the brink of ending, but that didn’t mean that he was dead just yet.

Quickly standing up, Gerome exited his tent and made a quick round of the camp that had been set up in one of the destroyed buildings.

“Garrad!”

Gerome’s voice brought focus onto himself from the other watchers that had been awake and keeping guard over the camp.

Garrad, who was a part of this shift, immediately dashed over to Gerome.

“Yes?”

“Send a runner to the Roaring Ruin’s camp. I may need to move faster than expected, and they may need to be ready to retreat with the rest of you.”

If the pale light of the torches lit and maintained by the Hunters keeping guard, Garrad’s face paled as he realized what Gerome meant.

It seemed like something had happened, and it was much more likely that Gerome would lose his Spirit if he didn’t take action now. Something was wrong with the ruined Temple of the Void.

“Should I prepare our Hunters for a battle, just in case?” Garrad asked, his voice filled with concern and wariness.

“Not yet. I’ve almost finished fully replenishing my mana. Our best bet is still to wait until the clouds lighten. Once we’re no longer in pitch black darkness, I’ll set out with a few volunteers and crack open the Void Lock” Gerome responded with a tired sigh.

“Regardless of whether or not I’m still a Hunter at the time, we must pay our debts to the Roaring Ruins. I told them they’d get all our spoils. Even if he dies, I should at least attempt to get Ezekiel’s body, as well as what I can from the Temple.”

Garrad grit his teeth but didn’t say anything to oppose Gerome’s decision.

Turning away from his grandfather, he set out to get a couple of runners to warn the Roaring Ruins about what was happening.

It was roughly an hour later that Gerome headed out to the Temple.

However, much to his displeasure, he had more company with him than he’d expected.

“Why are you still here, Trissy?”

The gray haired and eyed leader of the Roaring Ruins Guild was accompanying Gerome to the Temple of the Void.

He had thought that she would stay behind and help with the retreat if necessary.

“I’m not about to stay alone to fight off two Tier fours by myself. Our best bet right now is to get your ward and get out together.”

“And what about the rest of our Guilds’ Hunters? If we’re here, then who will protect them if Kameira and Meryn attack once again?”

“Honestly, I don’t think we need to worry about that right now. It’s already been nearly a full ‘day’ since they ran off.” Trissy explained as she and the rest from her Guild marched toward the Temple ruins.

“Neither one of them is likely to have regained all their mana by this time, as they wouldn’t have the ability to set up a camp with how far from the Ruins they’d have to get to stay out of our range of sensing and patrols.”

Gerome begrudgingly agreed with her assessment, even though he’d much rather she remain behind to stay guard just in case.

Radiant and Lightning Mages were the only ones that were better when it came to movement speed than Tempest Mages. So, while the odds weren’t high, it was still possible that they would attack out of nowhere if they let their guard down.

Nothing more was said as Gerome led several members of the Wandering Titans, including a couple of the Tier three captains, towards the ruined Temple.

Garrad and the rest of the team Ezekiel was a part of hadn’t accompanied them.

Garrad was mostly fine by now, but they were either still seriously injured from the battle previously or wanted to stay back and watch over their teammates.

As they entered the Temple, Gerome strode forward at the front of the group.

Suddenly, he stopped, nearly flinching as he felt his bond with Westly return to full strength.

He took a look around the room for a moment, to throw the rest of the Hunters off so as to keep the changes in his mannerisms hidden.

He didn’t know why his bond had returned to full power, but he knew that he didn’t have the time to let things continue as they were.

“Stand back. I’m not certain what the fallout of the Void Lock will be. It could just collapse the floor, or it could cause another blast to release whatever might be inside.” Gerome said as he channeled his mana into his fist.

A stone Gauntlet formed over his hand and arm as he approached the Void Lock.

“I thought it was confirmed there were no more Rot inside?” Trissy asked curiously.

“These Temples tend to have multiple rooms and sections sealed by Void Locks. Even if it was confirmed that there weren’t any behind this one when Ezekiel and the Reaching Spires ambushed our Hunters, there’s the possibility that another section was opened, and more were released last night.”

Trissy nodded in understanding. Holding back and retreating to the entrance of the cavernous area. The Hunters at Tier three and Tier two also retreated a bit.

“I also doubt that the little Fire Mage from the Spires didn’t put up traps and such for whomever breaks open the Lock. No offense, but I can take a harder hit than you can.”

Trissy silently agreed. As a Tempest Hunter, she was well aware that her best defense was avoiding attacks, rather than just blocking or deflecting like a Cavern Mage.

Standing in front of the still closed Void Lock, Gerome raised his fist, intent on bringing it down like a meteor to break open the dome of star-filled space before him.

Suddenly, the Void Lock disappeared. Ezekiel now stood in front of Gerome’s incoming fist.

CRASH!!!

At the very last second, Gerome diverted his fist to the side, causing a blast of wind and rubble as his stone gauntlet impacted with the floor of the cavern within the Temple.

Gerome let out a sigh of relief as he looked at Ezekiel’s newly revealed figure.

Behind him, noises of surprise were heard as the rest of the Hunters looked on in shock.

On the other hand, Ezekiel’s face was white with fright as his life flashed before his eyes.

The sight of Gerome’s stone covered fist coming straight for his head was the most terrifying thing he’d ever seen.

For a moment, he had forgotten to breathe. The immense metaphysical weight created by the power that Gerome had focused into his attack had weighed on Ezekiel’s still recovering soul. Something that he felt as a searing pain running across most of his body.

Gerome knelt down beside him, checking over Ezekiel’s body to make sure that he was alright.

“Ezekiel! Kid, are you alright!?”

Ezekiel didn’t say anything. He just forced himself to look at the destroyed floor where the Void Lock previously formed from.

“...close it...” Ezekiel’s voice was incredibly quiet as he tried to tell Gerome what to do.

“What?”

Ezekiel opened his mouth to repeat himself.

“SSSSSCCCCCRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!”

A loud shrieking reverberated through the cavern from the now opened corridor.

“Collapse the floor! Collapse the floor right now!” Ezekiel said, panic running through his veins.

Gerome finally understood what Ezekiel was trying to say as he pushed Ezekiel backwards.

One of the Captains from the Titans stepped forward to catch him when he nearly fell over.

Gerome then stomped on the ground as hard as he could, channeling his mana to close the entrance to the underground passage and the rest of the Temple in the process.

The shrieks were immediately quieted, but it didn’t take long for the sound of claws on stone and quiet cracking sounds to be heard as the Rot started to dig their way through the ground.

“There’s hundreds of Rot down there, over a dozen are Tier three at the least! We need to leave!”

Ezekiel tried his best to explain what needed to be done.

However, Gerome and Trissy didn’t seem to be that worried as the rest of the hunters entered the cavern. All of them looked to be raring for a fight.

Ezekiel, being able to sense Void Mana now that the other Void Locks were broken, could sense a buildup of mana below them.

Seeing that no one was trying to run, Ezekiel called out once again.

“Gerome! Please! When I found the control emblem for the Temple, the entire Temple was set to explode! We only have maybe ten minutes to get out of the City!”

That brought the attention of all the Hunters in the cavern down on Ezekiel.

“What did you say?” Trissy asked as Gerome turned his focus back to the ground beneath them.

He was attempting to make things more difficult for the Rot to get back up, but now that he could sense how many there were he realized that this would be difficult, even with two Tier fours in the area.

“It happened when I was stuck in the relatively safe area in the Temple.” Ezekiel said as he pulled out the emblem that let him control and command the Temple enchantments.

“I was lucky enough to find the control emblem for the Temple enchantments. While I was down there, I found the corpse of the previous Gran Scholar of the Temple. Her journal explained the fall of the city, as well as the fact that she intended to kill all the Rot that had invaded the Temple.”

Trissy took the emblem from Ezekiel, who removed his mana and unattuned himself from it to allow her to take control of it.

“I don’t know what stopped it from exploding before now, but I found out that the Void Locks were damaged. Breaking open the first one nearly broke them all, and while Gerome didn’t break the Lock, he still broke the enchantments tied to it.”

“This let the Rot escape from the deeper floors. Which also set the Void Core at the bottom of this temple to self-destruct. If you enter a trance, you’ll see all the mana in the area rushing downwards. It’s getting ready to explode!”

Ezekiel felt a little bit bad for technically lying about what was about to happen, but he didn’t think things would go over well if he explained how the destruction of the Void core wasn’t an accident.

He knew that he didn’t have enough time to explain things in full. Nor did he think they’d believe him without any proof.

Better to use what was actually happening to get them to do what he wanted right now.

Trissy attuned to the emblem, and the information Ezekiel had conveyed regarding the enchantments passed through her mind.

The explosion of the Void Core wasn’t included, as it was something that remnant had chosen to do on its own and wasn’t a command that was tied to the emblem, but given what Ezekiel said was happening, he hoped that they would listen to his explanation.

A few of the Hunters from the Titans, including Gerome took a moment to enter their meditative trances. They were immediately shocked by what they saw.

“Everybody gets out! Now!” Gerome yelled as he slammed his feet in the ground, reinforcing the ground beneath them one more time before he dashed forward with Westly to grab Ezekiel and began running up the stairs to the surface.

Seeing their Guild leader running away, the rest of the Titans immediately followed suit, not even bothering to attempt to dispute what Ezekiel had told them.

“You heard the man! Move!”

Trissy, seeing the Titans retreating, and having also noticed what was happening to the mana in their surroundings, as well as having the information from the emblem, directly ordered a retreat as the mana continued flowing downward.

While the areas of the Desolate Lands weren’t in any way abundant in mana of any particular types, most of it being eaten by the Cruor and Umbral Beasts whenever possible, there was still enough within a city sized area that they’d be able to see when all the mana in the area was rushing towards a single direction.

The moment they reached the surface, Gerome, Trissy, and all the Tier three Hunters had their Spirits grow to their maximum size.

All the Tier two Hunters and their Spirits climbed onto the enlarged Spirits as fast as they could. Once there wasn’t anyone left on the ground, the Tier three Spirits immediately started running in the direction of the camps for both of the Guilds.

“Ezekiel, how big will the blast be!” Gerome asked in a hurried tone.

“I think the whole city will be destroyed.” Ezekiel vaguely explained. “Since the Temple isn’t in the direct center of the Ruins, I think we should just keep running until the explosion stops.”

“Spirits Dammit!” Gerome cursed with vitriol as he tried to get Westly to move faster.

Taking a moment to go over everything that had happened in the last day, Ezekiel couldn’t help but look down in shame.

“I’m sorry...” Ezekiel quietly muttered.

“...It’s not your fault. Given the circumstances, the fact that you were there to warn us means that we have a chance of getting away. If you weren’t then we might still be in the Temple as the Void Core was charging.”

Gerome attempted to reassure Ezekiel, as he knew full well that things could be much worse right now.

At least now they had a chance of getting out of this unscathed.

Ezekiel didn’t say anything, just holding onto Westly tighter as they dashed through the Ruins.

It took the group less than a minute to get to the camp. Gerome didn’t bother slowing down as they approached. Instead, he just raised his hand to his mouth and screamed.

“RETREAT!!!”

“EVACUATE!!!”

Gerome and Trissy’s voices echoed outward, paying no heed to anything else that might’ve heard them, they only wanted to get the message out to their Guilds as soon as possible.

Hearing the call, the Guild Hunters immediately fell into a controlled panic. Most of the injured were now in a state where they were able to move, but it was still difficult to get them onto the enlarged Tier three Spirits.

Nothing was said as all the Hunters were forced into a retreat.

Many of them were confused but seeing two Tier four Hunters running away as fast as they could meant that there wasn’t any time for questions.

As they all approached the walls of the Ruins, the regular Guild members assumed that that was as far as they needed to go.

“KEEP RUNNING!”

Gerome’s order was followed with confusion as the Hunters continued to run.

“SSSSSSCCCCCCRRRRRREEEEEEEEEE!!!!”

From behind, a cacophony of screeching screams could be heard from the direction of the Temple of the Void.

Some of the Hunters felt their blood run cold, believing that the inside of the Temple might’ve had a Tier four Rot Cruor hiding within the Temple’s underground areas.

The fact that they were running, rather than fighting, meant that there were likely to be more than one as well.

The Hunters of the Guild continued running, getting further and further from the city.

Suddenly, the dimly lit surroundings turned pitch black.

It didn’t matter if it was light from a Radiant Mage or Spirit, or a Flame Mage or Spirit.

No light was able to be seen.

Similarly, it seemed like no one was moving either.

The wind had stopped blowing, and the sound of breathing and earth being pounded as giant Spirits trampled over the land had disappeared.

Along with the light, all sound had disappeared as well.

It was as if time and space had stopped for a second.

Nothing was happening, and many of the Hunters, and even some of the Spirits, began to think that they had died.

Then, as quickly as it had disappeared, all the light and sound that had left was returned.

KABOOM!!!!!

The sound of a deafening explosion could be heard from the direction of the Ruins. A light that would’ve seared the eyes of whoever looked upon it still nearly blinded the Hunters that were running away.

As the light faded away, and the Guilds realized that they were still alive, the Hunters all slowed to a stop, turning to take a look at what had happened to the Ruins that they had been hoping to explore.

A mere few kilometers behind them, there was nothing.

Where once were the Ruins of an ancient city, possibly filled with Relics and mana crystals, long since sealed away for protection, had disappeared.

As had the majority of the earth, creating a massive crater in the earth, as if the Ruin had been scooped out and taken away.

Nothing remained.

Everyone was pale as they looked at the aftermath of what could have been their deaths.

Raaaaaawwwrrrrrrr!!!

Off to the side, the call of several Umbral beasts could be heard from a distance.

Gerome took a moment to look over his Guild. He wanted to make sure that as many people as possible were still alive and relatively healthy.

Seeing that there were no additional issues that had happened during this time, Gerome turned to Ezekiel, who was still looking at the hole in the landscape in shock and horror.

“Ezekiel.”

Ezekiel turned his head up to look at Gerome. Eyes still wide and heart still pounding.

“I think that when we get to a safe place to set up camp, we will need to have a talk. Specifically, regarding what exactly happened when you were stuck in the Temple.”

“Yes sir.” Ezekiel muttered.

He wasn’t looking forward to the talk that was going to be had. Especially since he knew that Trissy would most certainly be there as well.

But at least he was still alive.

For his first expedition, and at a Tier that was lower than the average Hunter, Ezekiel felt that that could be considered as a win.

Off in the distance, on the far side of what were once the Ruins of the city of Senera.

Meryn and Kameira were staring at the now empty space where there once stood a grand Ruin that may very well have brought them countless riches had it been properly explored.

Kameira stood with her mouth hanging open, looking like a fool as she failed to form a coherent thought.

Meryn stood straight as he held his hands to his sides. Blood was slowly dripping to the ground as his nails dug into the palms of his hands.

A part of him was grateful that he’d stopped Kameira from running off and trying to kill Ezekiel with a sneak attack, but another, smaller, part regretted his failure even more.

Countless thoughts ran through his mind, a stark contrast to Kameira, but chief among them was the fact that he needed to report to the rest of the Followers of Radiance.

The current plan to kill Ezekiel and remove Gerome as an obstacle would have to wait.