by Aaron Oster
SUNSCORCH
Rise To Omniscience
Book Eight
AARON OSTER
For Josh and DJ. Thank you for spending 3 hours on the phone with me, shouting random words until we came up with the title for this book.
P.S. Sour Seagull would have been much cooler!
Prologue
Gold stood high atop the freezing mountain, wind and snow whipping about him as he stared out over the vast white expanse of the frozen snowscape. His eyes were closed, and he breathed in deeply, his mind running through the memories of the last ten days. He'd introduced Morgan and Arbor, giving his second protégée a much-needed look at what he could accomplish if he only applied himself and bent his mind to the task with the same single-minded determination as Morgan.
On Morgan's part, he'd been hoping the man might learn to relax a bit, to see that despite all he'd lost, there were others who were just like him. Arbor had had a tough life. He'd lost his family and had enemies closing in from all sides. People were expecting great things of him, yet he was constantly afraid of disappointing them.
Truthfully, it had been a bit risky to bring them both together, what with them being from completely different universes and points in time. He suspected that it would not be their last meeting, although, in an ideal world, neither of them would ever have to meet again.
The meeting hadn't been a long one, and Gold had sent Arbor back to his world where he belonged. He was sure the man would need his help again soon, but he trusted his counterpart to take care of that.
However, the explanation as to what Gold had done with Sarah had not gone nearly as well as their meeting.
After Gold had explained that he'd snuck into the place where Sarah was being held, snatched her soul, and implanted it within the spear, Morgan had attacked him. Thankfully, he'd been able to talk Morgan down pretty quickly, but not before he'd been skewered in the shoulder with Morgan's spear. Gold's hand went to the spot where the weapon had pierced his flesh and winced at the heat.
The wound had closed, but it was still raw and painful, as was on par with any wound inflicted by a weapon made of Godsteel. He was lucky to have had experience with the artifact before and had therefore known how to close it. If any of the others had come into contact with it, he suspected a very different outcome, but since Herald was on their side – for his own reasons – they'd be able to count on his help and expertise.
Gold knew he'd really stepped in it this time, as he'd had to promise Morgan a way to restore Sarah's soul to her body without involving the Author, and now, he had to find it within the next few days. Morgan had given him exactly two weeks to figure it out, and of that time, he had only four days left. Gold assumed that the time constraint was Morgan's way of trying to find an out of marrying the elven queen.
Gold wasn't worried about being killed – he'd died too many times already for that to bother him. No, he was worried about losing Morgan's trust when he was this close to succeeding in the impossible.
Luckily for him, Morgan was a bit preoccupied at the moment, but he didn't doubt that the supermage would find him as soon as his time was up. Morgan could, after all, sense the presence of his kind now. He'd grown far faster than even Gold could have predicted, and now, Morgan was growing dangerously close to growing out of control.
"What’s got you all twisted up like that? The brother I knew never allowed worry to so much as show.”
Gold’s eyes snapped open, though he didn’t turn around.
“I see you’ve finally decided to come for a visit,” he said, keeping his eyes locked on the tornado forming in the distance.
Truthfully, he didn’t turn because he needed to compose himself. He’d believed his brother to be dead for thousands upon thousands of years, and hearing his voice again was almost too much to bear. Sure, the person who’d threatened severe bodily harm was an identical copy of his little brother, but he’d never quite been the same.
It was in the tone of his voice, the inflection and cadence, that was all so familiar, yet foreign at the same time.
“It took me quite some time to track you down,” the man said, remaining where he was. “What’s your excuse?”
“Oh, you know,” Gold said, mentally fighting down every stray emotion that might interfere in their conversation. “Things to do. I’ve been busy.”
Now wasn’t the time to lose himself. His job was still unfinished, and caving now would only ensure their destruction. He needed to play it cool and remain in control.
“Too busy to come and visit your little brother?”
Gold almost broke right then and there, yet, with a monumental effort of will, honed over thousands of years, he forced his emotions down and turned to face Morgan. He fixed an easy smile on his face and allowed his shoulders to relax.
“I had a lot to do. I’m afraid family business had to wait.”
Despite what he’d said and his outward appearance, Gold couldn’t help but examine Morgan. He looked exactly as he’d remembered. Well, minus the hair, which had been dyed black, and the dark, haunted look hiding behind those silver eyes.
“Loquin is on the verge of waking up,” Morgan said, still remaining rooted in place, not taking so much as a single step forward.
“Is she now? And here I thought she’d been killed,” he replied, still maintaining his lighthearted air.
“Herald seems to be doing fine as well. We saw him just the other day,” Morgan said, crossing his arms.
“Did you now?”
“Oh, stop pretending!” Morgan snapped, his voice echoing out over the barren landscape. “Everyone came. Everyone! Everyone, but you, my own brother!”
Gold’s smile faded, though he fought down a grimace.
“And what about Samuel, huh? Where did he go?!”
“A lot has happened since you’ve disappeared,” Gold said. “You don’t know the whole story.”
The two of them stood there, silent as the wind continued to howl around them, sending their cloaks flapping and swirling about. The silence stretched on, spanning minutes, then hours, yet neither spoke.
Finally, when the moon began to wane, and the first rays of sun peeked over the horizon, Morgan cracked.
“Fine,” he said with a snort, already turning to leave. “When you decide you’re ready to talk, your real family will be waiting.”
Then, he vanished, stepping into space and traversing the span of the world in just a few seconds. Gold watched him go, stepping into a pocket world and slamming the door shut, leaving him alone once more. Only then, when he was positive that no one was around, did Gold finally allow himself to break down.
Yet, even in his state of sorrow, a plan began to form. It was a solution to his problem with Sarah and one that might finally see him reunited with his little brother without the threat of the Author looming above them both.
1
Morgan sat balanced upon a mountaintop, thousands upon thousands of miles from the weeping god, his legs folded up beneath him and his eyes closed. Around him raged a storm more severe than had ever been seen in the entire history of the South Kingdom. One might be alarmed as to what someone would be doing up here, exposed to the lashing rain and hail, winds of over three-hundred miles per hour, or the forking lighting flashing across the sky, but with his current rank and accumulated strength, Morgan wasn’t worried at all.
In fact, Morgan had come here because of the storm. Well, not because of the storm itself, but because of who was causing it.
Thousands of feet below, at the very heart of the mountain, a Pinnacle King thrashed, fighting to shatter the last of its bonds. It could sense his presence, as he could sense its, a
nd both of them were preparing for what would no doubt be an extremely destructive brawl.
Having already taken down two of this beast’s kind, Morgan wasn’t too worried, especially since Beatrice had contacted him just five days ago with a dire warning. Truthfully, he hadn’t expected another Pinnacle King to rise so quickly after Pentagon’s defeat. Still, the world seemed to have been turned on its head over the past couple of months, leaving him to wonder if there was anything that couldn’t happen.
He breathed in deeply, smelling the damp and stormy air, and continued to ignore the wild elements desperately trying to hurl him from his perch. The Pinnacle King’s power was immense, blanketing the sky as the beast used his woven reiki to shatter another set of chains. It wouldn’t be long now.
For five days and nights, Morgan had sat here, waiting for the beast’s arrival. He’d thwarted the attempts of all humans who’d tried to enter the mountain and killed any beasts who’d even come close to the area.
He was focused, calm, and prepared, yet even now, as he awaited his fight with the Pinnacle King, he couldn’t help but think back to his conversation with Gold more than ten days ago. His meeting with the man named Arbor had been brief, and he’d gotten the impression that Gold had wanted him to learn something from it.
All he’d gotten was that there were fighters from other worlds with powers he could not sense. Arbor was clearly a fighter, yet he had no status, no mana, chi, or reiki. His thoughts had quickly moved from the mystery man to Gold, when he’d been sent back in a blast of rainbow-colored light that he’d almost been able to understand.
It felt kind of like the way the gods traveled, only different. It was as though there wasn’t just one person involved in the travel, like stepping from one space to another, but more like two people opening a tunnel and simultaneously pulling and pushing the achieve a similar – but far superior – result.
Finding out what Gold had done to Sarah, though, had been a completely different matter. The fact that the man had risked her very soul just to shove it into his spear was ludicrous at best and a complete and utter disregard for her safety and wellbeing at worst. In fact, had Gold not assured him that Sarah was safe from the Author and that he knew a way to restore her to her body, he probably would have killed him.
As it was, Morgan had made sure to leave Gold with a lasting mark of his displeasure in the form of a spear thrust to the man’s shoulder.
In four days, Gold would give him the answer he was looking for, and he’d finally be reunited with Sarah once again.
He’d actually attempted to contact her multiple times over the last few days, to no avail. Just as before, the spear was silent, her mind slow-moving and unresponsive. At least he finally understood why, though it pained him physically each time he looked upon the shining length of silvery Godsteel. Knowing that she was there, so close, yet so very far away, was painful beyond measure.
Morgan wasn’t foolish enough to believe that Gold would present him with an easy solution either. When he came with an answer, it would likely be one that would push him to the brink and possibly even beyond. But Morgan already knew that no matter what the price, no matter how hard he had to fight, he would see Sarah returned to him once more.
Thunder rumbled overhead, and lightning streaked, lighting up the insides of his eyelids. He felt the bolt strike next to him, shattering some of the stone and sending sharpened shards pinging off his skin.
Morgan barely felt it, ignoring the shrapnel just as he ignored everything else. All he saw was his core, shining a brilliant shade of violet and thrumming lightly in his chest.
He continued to breathe, feeling the Pinnacle King’s throes growing more and more violent by the second. It was close now. The beast would be breaking free at any minute, and Morgan would make sure to keep his promise.
No one else would die because of a Pinnacle King, at least not while he was still alive. His status, shining a bright purple and standing out against the darkness of the storm, appeared before him, and Morgan read over his current standing.
Name: Morgan
Advanced Supermage: Rank - 70
Energy to Next Rank - 112,000/230,000,000
Ability Advancement - 15,000,000/15,000,000 (Max.)
Ability - Natural Disaster
RP - 8,440/8,440 (Regen - 84.8 per second)
Strength - 725
Agility - 1,081
Constitution - 853
Intelligence - 844
Wisdom - 848
Skills - Hypersonic Flight, Maximum Increase, Maximum Stormforge, Earthen Shift, Nature’s Wrath, Compression, Gravity Tear, Sunblast, Sand Cyclone
Traits - Dense Body Max., Recovery Max., Aura Sense (inherited), Aura Flare (inherited), Perfect Self, Soul Stealer, Suppression (inherited)
Extra - Gravity Breaker (10th category), Collapsing Star (HyperNova), Shooting Star (Inferno), Massive Meteor (2nd category), Continental Crush, Soulstream
His list of ever-growing skills was getting to the point where it was hard to keep track of all of them, especially his regular ones. Almost all of them were maxed out as well, leaving him having to wait until his final advancement to the Pinnacle of power to be perfected. Unfortunately, his Perfect Self still eluded him, being stuck at 72%, which was much closer than he had been, but still not close enough.
Morgan closed his status, and he shut his eyes once again, feeling the last of the chains binding the Pinnacle King in place shatter, unleashing a storm of power into the atmosphere. A tornado started to form above his head, yet even as the funnel began to descend, Morgan continued to ignore it. He could feel the beast tearing its way free from the mountain, as well as the tremors that ran through the stone.
The next time he opened his eyes, the Pinnacle King stood before him. Or rather, hovered.
Unlike the last two, this one was in its fully-released form, opting to go all out from the start instead of trying to test him first and slowly ramping up his power. Just from the way it looked, Morgan could tell it was a male, and judging by the blazing core of power in its center, this Pinnacle King was raring to go.
Morgan would best describe this beast as a humanoid shark. He was just over twelve feet tall and had dark leathery gray skin covering his body. His head was massive, with a sharpened arrow-shaped snout and an overly large mouth filled with gleaming blue teeth. A pair of glowing violet eyes sat on the front of his head, set deep in his thick skull.
Instead of a fin, a line of bright blue hair, crackling with electricity, traced down from the top of his head to the tip of his split tail whipping in the air behind him.
He had a set of powerfully muscled arms, tipped with webbed and clawed fingers. His chest was bare and rippling with muscle, just like the last two. The gray skin went down to his waist, where the bright blue fur took over, transforming his lower half into that of a shaggy bear. He was completed with massive, wide flipper-like feet that seemed to be built more for swimming than flying.
Then again, the nearly invisible pair of wings – fluttering so fast they created a loud buzzing sound – disproved the theory that he couldn’t fight on land or in the air.
When he focused his perception, Morgan could actually see the wings. There were four of them, made from a silvery, papery material that seemed to be a mix of dragonfly and hummingbird properties. They were much smaller than those of Octagon or Pentagon, which explained why there were four of them and why they were flapping so quickly.
The beast’s mouth cracked open and Morgan heard his voice, deep and menacing, sound in his mind.
“Your hands are stained with the blood of your children. For this, I shall end you!”
Morgan finally uncurled himself, rising to his full height and ripping the sodden shirt from his back, revealing that his body was covered in powerful and corded muscle. There was little point in keeping the shirt on, and it would only slow his movements, even if not by much. But when fighting an enemy as powerful as a Pinnacle King, one simply didn’t take
chances.
Morgan examined the beast and its status appeared before him, giving him the name and rank of the monster he’d shortly be killing.
Name: Decagon the Striker, Pinnacle King of Storms
Rank - 50
Ability type - Super/Mage
Once again, he could not read past that, but Morgan hadn’t been expecting to be able to. All he’d really needed was this beast’s name and rank, and although Decagon was a full rank below that of Pentagon, he didn’t expect this fight to be much easier. Still, Morgan was stronger than he had been during that fight and had the experience to know what to expect.
He’d chosen the battlefield and kept the Pinnacle King from gaining any power. Right now, Decagon the Striker was as weak as he was ever going to be, and before he could gain even an ounce of power, Morgan was going to take him down. Permanently.
“Well, then,” he said, giving the beast a crooked smile. “Shall we?”
2
A small cottage sat at the bottom of the mountain, sheltered from the raging storm by a heavy stone shelf that had been reinforced with magesteel bars. From the way it appeared, one might have assumed it had been sitting here for decades, but in truth, it had only been constructed three days ago by order of the Queen of the South, Beatrice. It had been built in this way to withstand the powerful storm raging outside, as well as the battle now taking place near its peak.
Inside this dry and warm cabin sat the very queen who’d had this cottage built, as well as the Queen of the North Kingdom – and Morgan’s benefactor – Katherine. Grace sat next to her, as she’d managed to beg her way along, and so did Lumia, in her small cat-sized form.
Everyone else living within a hundred miles had been evacuated to the nearest city, leaving the area well and truly deserted so Morgan wouldn’t need to worry about collateral damage. A single rear-facing window was the only way to see out, and it alone showed the thickness of the walls to be well over three feet.