Tale of Eldramir

Hours had passed as Ezekiel and Shine were brought to the remains of the temporary campsite made by the Cult of Light. It was little more than a mess of ripped tents and fallen debris. It seemed like several Spirits and beasts had also gone through it, as there was evidence of non-human activity in the area.

“I don’t suppose you know how long ago they left this camp?” Ezekiel asked.

“It was early in the morning. A few hours before we left my primary body.” The avatar of the Forest said. “Though it would’ve taken them several hours to move from their base and get all their members to the top of the bluffs as they have. We are, perhaps, an hour or two behind them.”

“Then in that case it looks like we’ll be cutting things a bit close.” Ezekiel muttered. “I can’t imagine it would take them that long to get through the formation. There’s a limited number of mana combinations, after all.”

“That should be fine, I think. The point right now is to get our people out of the Ruins, right?” Shine asked. “Besides, I’m sure the expedition lined the entrance with traps.”

“Well, yes, but we don’t know how fast they’ll move, and we want there to be people still there to save.” Ezekiel said.

“What is your plan? You were primarily absorbed in the book detailing Trigat, so I am unaware of what exactly you will be doing.” The avatar asked.

“Well, at the moment, I’m mainly focused on getting as many people out of the Ruins before the Cult gets in as possible.” Ezekiel explained. “Then, if possible, I want to trap the cultists inside the Ruins until such a point where we can outnumber and overpower them.”

The avatar fell silent in contemplation. From what it knew of the Ruins beneath the bluff, such a thing should be possible. But going through with it would be dangerous. Especially since they would need to access the central control node of the Spiral Paths Formation. Something that would be incredibly difficult if they were in the midst of battle.

“Are you certain that such a thing is even possible?” The avatar asked.

“It should be. The book you gave me details the location of the various entrances to the city. I’m hoping that, given my elemental affinity, I might be able to do something with the enchantments to gain access.” Ezekiel said.

“Will the focal points on the outer corners of the formation not prevent access without the specifically determined element?” The avatar asked.

“Well, yes, but that’s why I’ll be trying something new. Since only one element of mana, and a specific pattern password, is all that’s required for entry, since the lower entrances can be moved and hidden due to the nature of the Cavern aspects of the formation.” Ezekiel said.

When Ezekiel had been looking through the book detailing the city of Trigat, he noticed that the Spiral Paths formation used in this instance was slightly unique, in that it was adapted to be semi-adaptable. Most cities with such a formation had a requirement of all three mana types in order to enter any of the entrances. However, this formation actually had more entrances than usual.

A true Spiral Paths formation had four points of interest. Three at ground level in a triangular formation, with a forth below the center, creating a perfect, upside down, triangular pyramid. From this pyramid, a bubble would form over the city. Access would then be prevented from anywhere besides the three focal points that were still above ground.

Technically the fourth focal point was still a point of entry. But said entry point was usually altered to prevent unlawful access to the central command node. For Trigat, however, this was further altered, ever so slightly. To the point where all four points were accessible. But the rulers of the city knew that this was a potential danger, especially given the proximity to the central command node.

So, in order to ensure that there was some additional protection, the central command node was put into the most secure area of the city, as well as hung up well above the city with only two access points. One from below, and inside, as well as one from above, and outside.

The below entrance was constantly guarded and kept somewhat away from the populated areas of the city. Thus, somewhat more defensible if necessary. The second access point to the command center was through the heavily guarded, and previously enchanted, maze of rooms and paths that Ezekiel and another team had had to brave when they’d first discovered the entrance above.

Getting in through the top of the Spiral Paths formation would’ve been far more difficult had the internal security still been working. But, since it wasn’t, it was much easier to gain access to the city.

Regardless, it was actually the three ground points that Ezekiel was more interested in. Given the additional security given to the top focal point, parts of the formation had to be altered to make it work with the additional enchantments built into it. As such, alterations to the three ground points were made to lessen the strain, but still make them secure.

Thus, the formation was changed to require only one element at any of the entrances on the ground, Cavern, Glacial, or Tempest. Usually, this would make it easier to access. But an additional trick was included, that allowed the Spiral Paths formation to not only invert the bubble that reinforced and protected the cavern that housed the city, preventing its collapse, but also allow the formation to spin.

As such, the entrance requiring Cavern Mana may sit on the ocean one day, but then it would sit within the Caldera on another day. The same applied to all the entrances. This, combined with the pattern requirements for the mana, meant that it was now possible to hide the entrances to the city from any outside invading forces. Except for the fourth point.

As he had been reading, Ezekiel realized that, without this key information, it was likely that the expedition from Sanafalls would treat the focal point exits the same as they had the top entrance. Meaning that they would never be able to open them since they weren’t aware of the changes in their security. So, they were likely trapped inside with only the entrance at the top as their possible exit.

When Ezekiel explained all this to the Forest Spirit, the avatar in the shape of a wooden knight seemed to stare at him with a deeper intensity than before. This was incredibly awkward for Ezekiel, since he had continued walking toward the caldera side of the bluffs. All the while the avatar had its head turned at a ninety-degree angle to continue looking at him.

“I think you broke it.” Shine said after several minutes passed and the Forest Spirit remained silent. They knew this wasn’t actually possible, but they still thought it was funny that Ezekiel had managed to make a Legendary being’s thoughts process come to a halt like this.

“Possibly. But let’s hope not. It’s our ticket out of here if things go wrong after all.” Ezekiel said back. He also thought it was funny but had more important things to worry about at the moment. He figured that he could laugh about it later when he told his friends the story.

Finally, the trio made it to the caldera side of the bluffs. Ezekiel immediately began running his hand along the side of the cliff face. Letting out a few motes of mana, thin and nearly unnoticeable cuts appeared. They ran along the cliff for quite a distance before stopping. Ezekiel gave a huff of annoyance as he saw this happen.

“Looks like this may take some time.” Ezekiel muttered.

“What are you doing?” The avatar asked.

“Well, while my plan should work fine, I still need to find the entrance before I can do anything else. Luckily, enchantments like the ones around the focal points are very reinforced.” Ezekiel told the avatar. “I figured I would just cut along the cliff until I found a place that didn’t cut. Then that would indicate the stonework that was currently holding the enchantments for entry.”

“You shouldn’t be able to cut the stone at all. It’s got the same general reinforcements as the top of the bluffs.” The avatar said.

“I mean, I can’t cut it as deep as something that wasn’t reinforced. But I thought the enchantment just made sure that its shape couldn’t be altered by Cavern Mages?” Ezekiel explained and inquired. “If that’s not the case, I’m just going to attribute it to Void magic being weird. Since that’s proven to be true with every spell I’ve had so far.”

“Does that make me weird too? Since the Spells come from me.” Shine asked in a teasing tone.

“Of course, it does. That’s why you and I are both amazing. We both got Void Spells from enlightenment. We’re both weird, and we’re both amazing.” Ezekiel said. If Shine could blush, they would’ve. “Now, let’s please focus. Our friends still need to be rescued.”

That reminder forced Shine to regain their focus on the task at hand.

“Maybe we can ask the avatar to carry us? It would make covering the width of a city much easier.” They suggested.

Ezekiel asked the avatar just that. Upon thinking it over for a moment, it decided that the expended mana would be negligible. Agreeing to the suggestion, the avatar shot off at a relatively fast pace with Ezekiel in its arms. Meanwhile, Ezekiel continued to cut up the cliff face, waiting until they finally found the entrance to the city so he could save the Sanafalls expedition.

Shine and Ezekiel were starting to feel a bit of pressure as they reached the end of the first area of the bluffs and found nothing. They ended up having to backtrack and check the other side from their starting point to see where they could continue. Luckily, the entrance actually ended up being fairly close to where they had initially started. Though this was still a topic of frustration for the Void duo.

“I still can’t believe that our luck is that bad!” Shine exclaimed for the umpteenth.

Ezekiel was upset too, but his frustration translated itself into a silent intensity in his actions. He didn’t actually reply to any of Shine’s complaints as he checked over the few enchantments that they could find. They also outlined the opening of the passageway. It was fairly large, being nearly twenty feet wide and tall. This had helped when it came to mapping out the pattern needed to open it.

“What now, child of the Void? How will you gather the necessary mana?” The avatar asked after seeing Ezekiel make his preparations.

Ezekiel said nothing as he stood away from the entrance. He and Shine fell into a trance-like state as they began focusing. They were fortunate that this entrance was the Tempest one. It would have been fine if it was the Cavern entrance, but the water entrance would’ve made things a bit more difficult.

“Are you sure this will work?” Shine couldn’t help but ask before they started.

“It should. It’s not like our mana will actually be touching it after all.” Ezekiel stated.

Seeing the intense focus on Ezekiel’s face, the avatar of the Forest remained silent. It figured that it would get its answer soon, and it did. As Ezekiel closed his eyes, it could feel the sensation of the mana in the environment beginning to accumulate. While it was most attuned to the Life element, as that is what it was, given its level of power, sensing the other elements was not difficult.

But the surprising thing was not that the mana was accumulating. The thing that surprised it was the fact that Ezekiel was absorbing purely Tempest aspected mana. It was going directly into his body and seemed to be moving at a fairly decent pace. It continued to build up, to the point that a slight breeze was actually forming around Ezekiel.

Such an environmental effect was something that usually only Adepts could achieve due to their souls having the strength to visualize the nature of their element in incredibly vivid detail. Seeing this, the avatar was somewhat worried that Ezekiel was going to kill himself, as he was not attuned to Tempest mana. Yet it remained silent, as it knew that interrupting right now would guarantee his death.

From Ezekiel’s point of view, the mana that was gathering inside him was a dull gray color that clashed with the pure white of his Void mana. However, with his visualization of a continent spanning maelstrom, with various aspects and images of atmospheric conditions that he recalled from his past life, the mana was specifically attracted to a separate area of his spirit from his Void mana.

As the mana continued to accumulate, he was surprised at just how much he was gathering in this instance. He didn’t think it would be possible, but he had already nearly gathered a full Tier one Step of Tempest mana. As he pondered this, he realized that, since he was meditating in conjunction with Shine, their sense of spiritual awareness had nearly doubled alongside the speed.

Given what was going on, it took only a couple minutes more before Ezekiel had a little over three hundred motes of Tempest mana. Then, he and Shine fell out of sync, he felt a slight pressure as the Tempest mana inside of him wished to escape. But he kept his visualization steady and made sure that his will was powerful enough to keep his mana away. At least for the moment.

Shine, on the other hand, was focusing on a different task. They were using their mana to form barriers that were somewhat attached to Ezekiel’s body. Near his core muscles, where the spiritual gathering point for mana was physically represented. Three cubes with a single side missing formed.

“I’m ready.” Shine mentally called out. They then braced themself for what was about to happen.

Hearing Shine’s words, Ezekiel took a moment to focus and also brace himself. Then, using his will, he pushed his mana forward like a wall. It was shaped into a somewhat wedge-like shape as it impacted with the Tempest mana. Two wedges divided the Tempest mana into three parts.

The mana was then sent flying forward as Ezekiel used every technique that he had to ensure that his mana didn’t mix with the Tempest mana. As it exited his body, the mana was stopped from simply flying away as it was trapped within the barrier boxes that Shine had formed.

As the mana gathered outside his body, and Ezekiel was no longer at risk of exploding from conflicting mana, he fell out of his trance, instead focusing on helping Shine maintain the boxes. Carefully forming a panel to fill in the missing side, just a little off from Ezekiel’s skin to ensure that it was still sealed. Gently pushing the barrier boxes just a little bit away from himself, Ezekiel allowed himself to calm down, as a smile of triumph spread across his face.

“It worked.” He said quietly. Behind him, the avatar watched with a slight sense of awe, though it was noticeable on its featureless face.

“I suppose you will be using that to get us into the focal point.” The avatar said.

“Yeah. It’ll be difficult, but I think I can open up the passageway with this. The pattern wasn’t too hard to figure out. I just might have some difficulty with making the mana move the way I want it.” Ezekiel explained.

Honestly, the enchantments regarding the mana pattern weren’t too difficult to crack. But he figured that that was mostly because such security measures had long since advanced beyond what was used here. It was something he considered looking into at a later date.

Moving forward, he had Shine create a series of additional barriers along the entrance to the passage when he got close enough. These barriers created a surprisingly intricate pattern that Shine found difficult to maintain. But they held it up long enough for Ezekiel to place one of the cubes inside the center of the pattern. Then, allowing some of the walls to fade away, the mana was sent spiraling along the pattern, filling out the enchantments with ease.

A soft click followed by a low rumble signaled that the entrance had been unlocked. As the pattern lit up for a moment before disappearing, Ezekiel let out a sigh of relief as he backed away from the entrance. Just in time, as the wall began to open up as pieces of it spun outwards to sink into the sides.

“That was less difficult than I thought.” Ezekiel said under his breath. He and the avatar then entered the tunnel, marching forward with nothing to stop them. The entrance closed behind them.

They continued onward for a while, running as fast as they could without using up more mana. This tunnel was surprisingly short, however, and they reached the second gateway to the city within a few seconds. Ezekiel immediately repeated his previous actions, and the gateway leading to the city opened up with a rumble and a screech of stone on stone.

Right into a battlefield between the Sanafalls expedition and a massive group of Death Worms.

Scarlet and the Sanafalls expedition were not having a good time. She and Kari had led all the Mages trapped within the Ruins to the suggested location of the exit leading into the Caldera. They had even taken their injured, as they weren’t certain whether or not they’d be able to make it back if the Death Worms took out their strongest members.

The fact that Carrian was still unconscious was what ultimately prompted this decision. Had he been awake, he likely would have ensured that there were at least a few people that remained at their camp. But given the current circumstances, Scarlet didn’t want to leave anything to chance.

She’d rather have everyone nearby, than leave them to the mercies of the Cult if they broke through while she and Kari were away. Had Carrian been awake, to at least put up a token defense, then perhaps leaving a few people behind would have been fine.

At first, things were fine. They managed to make it over two thirds of the way there before the Death Worms attempted to kill them. The initial force was only composed of Adept Spirits and below as well. Kari and Scarlet easily took care of them, but things turned for the worse once they’d gotten to their destination. They were in the midst of moving the rubble out of the way when another group of Death Worms attacked. This time there were two Legendary Worms leading the attack.

Scarlet and Kari had immediately begun fighting, supported by several Adepts, from both the Church and the two Guilds. Ginny ended up being of significant support, as she was able to hide from even the Death Worm’s senses thanks to her Obscuring shadows. But given the sheer number of Death Worms, they were slowly losing ground.

Worse yet, those that weren’t fighting managed to clear the rest of the rubble, only to find out that the entrance to the tunnel didn’t respond to their mana. As such, not only could they not escape to the caldera, but they were also stuck between a swarm of Death Worms and a little wall.

Given the situation, it wasn’t that surprising that those that hadn’t been in the battle immediately joined in. The only thing pushing them forward now was the hope that they’d be able to clear a hole through the Death Worms. Only a small group of Adepts and Apprentice helpers stayed out of the battle, either too tired to fight, or feeling the need to ensure that the injured parties that they’d brought were still protected.

Seeing the situation, Scarlet couldn’t help but feel guilty. This was her plan. A make-or-break plan that she was certain would succeed. Had the enchantments on the exit not been different, they would’ve been able to escape into the open, where the Death Worms were of relatively lower danger.

“I’m sorry.” She said to Kari as she fought alongside the Legendary Hunter. Nearby, Ginny was providing assistance with sneak attacks and redirection. “I should’ve come here alone. Then only I’d be dead now.”

“We’re not dead yet.” Kari’s gentle voice came out in a whisper as she blew away a group of lower-level worms that were sneaking up on them. The Legendary Worms had pulled back for a moment to come around from a different angle.

“Nor are we gonna be dead anytime soon, so shut up and keep fighting. “Ginny exclaimed through panting gasps of breath. No matter how careful she had been with her mana, she still had significantly less than her companions, and it was beginning to show.

“Without a miracle, we will be.” Scarlet muttered angrily. Even with her fellow’s words of encouragement, she couldn’t stop blaming herself for what was happening.

Just then, a low rubbing echoed through the area, followed by a grinding screech. The battle still raged among the lower Tiers, but those that could afford to turned to look at the direction of the sound.

The large, twenty-by-twenty-foot gateway to the tunnel leading outside had opened. Standing there, dressed in the uniform of the Sanafalls Church Scholars was Ezekiel. With a new sword, and what appeared to be a Legendary knight made out of wood.

Scarlet and Kari said nothing, only feeling immense relief at what they saw. Internally, they also thanked the Ancients for the dearly desired miracle. Ginny, on the other hand, was a bit more vocal. Her words traveled across parts of the battlefield.

“Son of a bitch!”

While it probably wasn’t loud enough for most people to hear it, Ezekiel could hear Ginny’s curse of relief loud and clear, even over the still clashing battle. But he knew there was no time to waste feeling joy at Ginny’s distress. Instead, he immediately started to move. His first stop, a Tempest Hunter that was fairly close by. Ignoring the call for a retreat, and for the remaining fighters to fall back to the gateway.

“Hey! Listen, take this, and head over to the gate. It’ll close soon, but this will let you open it.” Ezekiel said as he thrust a piece of paper with the pattern necessary for opening the gate. “It can only be opened with Tempest mana. Now go!”

He pushed the Tempest Hunter and her Spirit out of the way, turning to the rest of the resting Hunters and Mages. Pausing as he saw Carrian lying on a make-shift stretcher. Only the slow rise and fall of his chest assured him that the old man was still alive.

“Ezekiel.” Shine called out in concern.

“I’m fine. Let’s focus.” Ezekiel replied before addressing the people staring at him.

“Go to the gateway. Carry the injured. If we can just get you all to the other side, then so long as the worms don’t get through with us, they’ll be stuck on this side.” The Mages continued to stare. Disbelief filled their eyes. “MOVE PEOPLE! WE NEED TO GO, NOW!”

Ezekiel channeled mana through his voice as he screamed at the Mages that still weren’t moving. They all jolted in shock as his voice spread forth, shocking even those who were in battle. Alongside several Worms that were getting closer. The people around him started moving. Carrying the injured and chasing after the Tempest Hunter that was standing near the gateway.

Next to him, the avatar of the Forest looked at him with its blank face. As if it was awaiting orders.

“You good to help with the worms?” Ezekiel asked. “I know you’re here to give me a token form of protection, but I could really use your help.”

“Allowing more humans to die in this place increases the likelihood of one of the Legendary Death Worms forcibly breaking through and running rampant. I cannot allow this.” The avatar said as it and Ezekiel made their way to the center of the battle. They both cut down lower-level Worms as they moved closer and closer to The fighting expedition leaders.

“I’ve got a trick I want to try, so I’m moving on ahead.” Ezekiel said. His presence then disappeared as he and Shine were covered in their Shroud.

“You ready?” He asked Shine. An idea was sent to the Void Spirit, composed of the plan that Ezekiel had for helping out in the battle.

“I think so. The barrier was already strong enough once, so it should be strong enough for this.” Shine replied.

By this time, seeing that their prey was escaping, the Legendary Death Worms had returned to directly attacking Scarlet and Kari. With the avatar’s help, they were keeping ground.

But while the rest of the Mages and Hunters were retreating, the Legendary members of the expedition were forced to shoulder more of the weight in keeping the Legendary worms away. This was made harder since they also had to fight the countless lower-level worms that were supporting the Legendary ones.

Luckily for Ezekiel, with all the focus going on between the Legendaries, it was easy to sneak past most of the lesser Worms and get up close and personal to one of the legendary ones.

As he had been moving, he had formed a second cube, connected with the still remaining cube of Tempest mana. Originally, this third cube was to be used to prove that he could open the gateway from the inside, or as a backup if he messed up the pattern. However, given the situation, he figured there was a more practical use for it right now.

Recalling the times when he’d expelled mana from his body in the past, before he refined his meditation technique, Ezekiel sought to repeat such dangerous effects, this time on purpose, and on a much larger scale.

He figured that, if a few motes of Tempest mana, reinforced by Void mana, were enough to make a Tier two spell when it came to destructive power, they a directed cone of over a hundred motes of Tempest mana, reinforced by nearly a thousand motes of Void mana, would be much more devastating. Especially since it would be a direct hit, rather than the glancing blows that Kari was making.

“Now!” Ezekiel called out to Shine as he pressed the connected cubes of solidified space into the body of the gigantic Death Worm. Making sure that he was on the side that was facing away from his compatriots.

The cube containing the Tempest mana opened first, forming a rectangular gun barrel as it made contact with the Death Worm, ever so slightly biting into its side. Next, the barrier between the connected cubes disappeared. The full Tier two Step of mana that Ezekiel had filled it with immediately mixed with the Tempest mana, creating a volatile reaction that formed a literal maelstrom that began to cut into the Death Worm.

The mana ended up mostly being directed toward the Death Worm, causing massive damage to its side, nearly tearing halfway through it. However, it also destroyed the remaining barriers that previously contained the mana within a second of the mana mixing.

If it wasn’t for Shine throwing up multiple barriers in front of themself and Ezekiel, it was guaranteed that they would also have been torn to shreds. As it was, the tempest tore through three of the five barriers that Shine had erected when Ezekiel called out.

The Legendary Death Worm let out a pained howl. A decent chunk of its body was now missing, and it was having difficulties staying upright to attack the expedition leaders. Taking the chance for what it was, Kari followed up with a Maelstrom of her own, sending out several blades of cutting with that bit deep into the Death Worm’s flesh. Finally, the Worm fell to the ground, dead, as motes of dark indigo mana faded away.

Knowing that its partner was now dead, the other Legendary Worm had begun to flee even before Kari had finished her attack. As had the other Worms that had been swarming the expedition.

Seeing that the battle was over, Ezekiel immediately made his way over to Scarlet and the other leaders. Each of them was catching their breath, with only the avatar looking none the worse for wear.

Standing a short distance away from them, Ezekiel stood awkwardly, not certain how he should approach this. A part of him was incredibly happy to be back with his people. But another part of him felt immensely guilty, as he knew that the Cult was likely there for him.

Luckily, he didn’t have to say anything, as Scarlet charged forward before he could open his mouth. Wrapping her arms around him, the woman gave Ezekiel a hug as she lifted him off the ground with her embrace.

“You’re back.” She said quietly. “That was stupid, and reckless. Don’t do that again. Thanks for the rescue.”

“Yeah. We’re back.” Ezekiel muttered. “Sorry we were late. We got kidnapped.”

Scarlet let out a choked laugh at Ezekiel’s absurdity. They stood there for a few moments before a throat being cleared grabbed their attention.

“I understand that this is a heartwarming moment. But we have priorities. We need to go. Now, before more worms come back.” Ginny’s voice was gruff as she gestured to the open gateway. “I don’t know about you, but I would also like to get my wounds healed. Though, I’ll admit they’re not as bad as the first time this happened.”

Looking over the expedition Leaders, Ezekiel saw that they were all covered in wounds. Some of them close to necrotizing as they were filled with Death mana. Knowing that Ginny was right, as much as he hated to admit it. Ezekiel and the rest retreated to the open gateway.

But just as they crossed the threshold to the tunnel, a massive crack of thunder and a flash of light appeared in the distance. Right below the inverted pyramid that led to the upper exit to the Ruins.