by Aaron Oster
The creature rushed him, and although Morgan tried to raise his arms to defend himself, he found that he was physically unable. It was all he could do to remain standing, and even that was a chore. Still, he didn’t back down, staring right at the creature as it struck at his face.
The blow never made contact. The silver fist vanished just an inch from his face, and the silver mists around him began to dissipate.
Morgan stared in exhaustion as a door appeared in the air before him, silver lines tracing its outline before it swung wide. He didn’t wait for even a second, staggering inside and feeling immediate relief as the massive weight that had been pressing down on him vanished in an instant.
He staggered, dropping to his knees on the rough, stone floor and gasping for air. Morgan was so tired that he felt like he was about to pass out, but when the cloaked figure appeared before him, he forced his chin upward so he could at least face the creature. As with the last Gatekeeper, Morgan could see nothing but the eyes, a pair of blue orbs this time, burning with the intensity of twin suns.
“Welcome, King of Beasts, to the Well of Eternal Youth. I see that you have already visited the Well of Souls, and now, you have come here.”
The voice echoed both in his mind and out loud, seeming to come from the hood as Morgan remembered. Yet there was no movement of any kind to indicate as to whether this creature had a mouth or not.
“So, have I passed?” Morgan asked, still breathing hard.
“To enter the Well of Eternal Youth, one must be at the point of exhaustion,” the Gatekeeper said. “Your body and mind must be pushed to the brink of collapse. Only then can you face the true test of worthiness. However, before you proceed, I must warn you that you are not ready. Your body and soul are in conflict, and proceeding past this point would be the height of folly.”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” Morgan said, pushing himself to his feet and managing to keep his balance this time.
“Making your way through the Well of Eternal Youth is an experience that breaks nearly all who attempt it,” the Gatekeeper said, its voice and tone unchanged. “Even one such as you, who has cleared the Well of Souls, may not be prepared to pay the price needed to pass.”
“What more can I give?” Morgan asked, crossing his arms. “I have already lost just about everything I care about. In the past few years, I lost my closest friend, my mother, and the woman I loved more than life itself. I have bled, been beaten, and battered. Hell, I’ve even died. What more can I possibly endure?”
Morgan felt his entire body trembling as anger and grief threatened to overwhelm him. It had been quite some time since he’d had an outburst like this. Normally, he’d be in perfect control, but in his state of exhaustion and with memories of his loss being dragged up, it was hard to keep a straight head.
“The price will be whatever the Well deems fit,” the Gatekeeper replied. “You do not have what it takes to proceed.”
Morgan let out an angry snort, then walked past the Gatekeeper and stepped into the boat.
“I’ve heard that before, yet here I am.”
The Gatekeeper didn’t say anything more, merely stepping into the boat beside him and pulling a long pole from seemingly nowhere. Morgan settled down, fighting hard to stay awake as the Gatekeeper began punting the boat downstream. Unlike the Well of Souls, this place was not dark.
Instead, he found himself surrounded by a blue, cloudless sky with white mists curling on the sides of both banks.
There was no sunlight, though it was still quite bright, making the world appear oddly flat. As they moved forward, the mists slowly started to creep in, closing closer and closer in until they were in the thick of it.
Despite having experienced this before, it was still quite disorienting when the world vanished around him, slowly reappearing on a very familiar scene.
Morgan was standing in the air, looking down on the battle that had cost him everything and nearly caused him to take his own life.
Below him, Sarah and several others battled against the Pinnacle King, Octagon. His eyes flicked to the far side of the massive, glacial cavern, and Morgan saw a younger version of himself, hands pressed to the ground as he worked to recharge the scripts that would allow them to bind Octagon and lock him away for good.
Even as he watched, Octagon froze the entire room, taking out a large chunk of the fighters. Sarah was now fighting with one other woman, the two of them barely managing to keep up. The last fighter went down, leaving Sarah to face the monster on her own.
Morgan could feel his rage beginning to build as he stared down. A moment later, he could feel the panic threatening to take hold as he watched Sarah desperately fight against Octagon the Bitter as he remained trapped where he was, unable to do anything but watch as Octagon grabbed Sarah by her head, hauling her off the ground.
He saw his younger self, struggling with all his might and trying to tear his own arm off in a futile effort to make it to her in time.
Morgan was forced to relive the moment. Even from here, he could hear Sarah’s last words.
“I love you, Morgan. I love you more than life itself. Remember that, always.”
Morgan felt his heart torn in two as the massive spike of ice pierced her chest, and the Pinnacle King dropped her lifeless body to the ground.
The pain he felt was worse than he remembered. The absolute agony of seeing her die right before his eyes tore at him. He could feel the tears falling down his cheeks, the pain of her loss cutting him deeper than ever before.
Then, his perspective suddenly shifted. No longer was he standing above the scene, but right in the middle of it. Sarah lay on the ground beside him, her blood pooling on the icy ground.
“This is all your fault!”
Morgan turned at the sound of his own voice roaring in grief. He saw the younger version of himself rising to his feet as the Beast King took over. The rage and pain he saw reflected, a mirror of his own, directed at himself. Two massive hammers appeared in the Beast King’s hands, and his face contorted into a mask of rage.
“I’ll kill you for this,” he said, his voice somehow filling the entire space.
Then, the Beast King attacked.
27
Grace rubbed tired eyes and blinked through the early-morning gloom as they approached City Six. It had been over a week of hard traveling to get here, and although she hadn’t really had to do any of the flying, the constant beast attacks and continual movement was beginning to wear on her. The fact that she’d been crying herself to sleep every night hadn’t helped either.
Even with her belief that Morgan was still alive, it was the not knowing where he was that was eating her up inside. After all, if he were alive, why hadn’t he come for her yet?
She was sure Morgan wouldn’t just leave her to suffer needlessly, which was what began to plant the worms of doubt. Grace had thought that the tears would stop eventually, that she could overcome her sadness, fear, and uncertainty, but the only peace she ever got was when she trained or fought. Then again, not even sleep offered her a reprieve from her suffering, as she was constantly plagued by nightmares.
Lumia had been doing her best to help her through this, but she was exhausted after forcing the breakneck pace she had to get them here so quickly. It wasn’t just the flying, but the constant beast attacks and thoughts of their friends back in the South that kept her on edge as well.
“How close are we?” Grace asked, her voice cracking.
“We should arrive within the hour,” Lumia replied. “Why don’t you try and get a little more sleep?”
Grace nodded and closed her eyes. There was no way she was going to be able to fall asleep, not after the nightmare that had woken her in the first place. But she could always look over her status with her eyes closed, and it would make Lumia feel better if she tried. Of course, she knew she wasn’t fooling the drake, but it was the thought that counted.
It was sometimes hard to remember that despite being far older
than her, Lumia missed Morgan. She had been just as close – if not closer than Grace – to Morgan. His disappearance must have hurt her more than Grace could ever imagine, and while Lumia comforted her, she had to do her best to return it in kind.
Grace’s status opened before her, and she examined her progress, knowing that Morgan would be proud of how much she’d grown since he’d vanished.
Name: Grace
Supermage: Rank - 13
Energy to Next Rank - 19,480/26,000
Ability - Sound Self
RP - 630/630 (Regen - 6.3 per second)
Strength - 81
Agility - 53
Constitution - 78
Intelligence - 63
Wisdom - 63
Skills - Expand Blows II, Body Shift+, Siren Scream, Echolocation+, Sound Burst
Traits - Perception Field, Sharpen Mind, Aura Sense (inherited)
Extra - Wail Wall
She’d progressed quite nicely, managing to grow two full ranks in her fights with the beasts. She still had a bit to go before she was ready to advance to the next, but Grace was positive she’d be there before she knew it.
Looking over her status didn’t take much time, even when she looked over and read each of her skills. So, she kept her eyes closed and tried to rest as they made their final approach to City Six.
After fifteen more minutes, Grace couldn’t keep her eyes closed any further. All she saw was the blast and Morgan’s body vanishing within, and she couldn’t keep the image out of her mind, no matter how hard she tried. When she opened her eyes, the landscape didn’t exactly put her mind at ease, though it did distract her.
City Six was fast approaching, and now that they were close enough, she could see the destroyed remains of the walls. Ruined farms and farmhouses flashed by as they flew over them, and beasts milled about, nosing around the remains of the area.
“How long has Garrison Blue been trying to clear this place?” Grace asked.
They didn’t seem to be doing a very good job.
“They’ve been here for at least three months,” Lumia said. “But clearing an entire region of beasts and rebuilding a wall is no easy task, even for a commander like Nathan.”
As they approached a section of ruined wall, an alarm went up, and Grace silently cursed as she realized what this probably looked like. Lumia was a massive beast, well over forty feet long, and weighed over a dozen tons. The fighters in Garrison Blue would take one look at her and perceive a threat.
Not wanting them to attack her, Grace quickly leaned over the side of her back and yelled for all she was worth.
“Don’t attack! We’re friendly!”
They reached the walls then, and Grace felt an odd sense of amusement as they flew through one of the many gaps and saw the shocked expressions on soldiers’ faces as they passed.
Lumia didn’t continue any deeper into the destroyed city, landing in the courtyard and curling up into a ball.
“I’m going to sleep for a bit,” she said in a low enough voice that only Grace could overhear. “You talk to the commander and explain our current predicament.”
“But what if they don’t believe me or want to listen?” she asked worriedly.
With Lumia speaking, they’d have no choice but to listen, but who in their right minds would believe a fourteen-year-old girl?
“Make them believe,” Lumia said. “You’re far stronger than you give yourself credit for, and people will listen when you speak. Remember, you’re a supermage who was trained by Morgan himself. Everyone shows him the respect he's due, and they’ll do the same for you.”
Grace could see soldiers converging quickly on their location with weapons drawn, so she slid off Lumia’s back and tried to collect herself. Though Lumia believed in her, it was hard for her to do the same. Still, she had to remind herself why she was here and what needed to be done.
Her friends’ lives were in danger, and if Elyssa died, the humans would have to go to war with the races of Faeland. She was the only one who knew they were trapped, and the commander of this army was the only one they knew for certain that could break the siege. She steeled herself and turned to the approaching soldiers.
“My name is Grace. Take me to your commander.”
She was surprised with how steady her voice came out, strong and firm. But what really surprised her was that the soldiers didn’t even argue. The one in command, a woman with a pair of twin stripes on her shoulders, bowed slightly at the waist.
“Very well. If you will, please follow me.”
She turned and began to head into the city. Grace followed, making sure to call back over her shoulder, “Leave Lumia be. That is unless you’d like to lose that arm.”
The soldier that had been extending his sword to poke at Lumia’s side recoiled, looking more like a scolded child than the adult he was. The experience was an extremely odd one, especially where she was involved.
Though she couldn’t see how strong these soldiers were, her Aura Sense told her that they were all many times more powerful than she. It was why they’d come all the way here, and she was glad to see that their long trip hadn’t been a complete waste of time. Then again, she still had to convince Nathan she was telling the truth and get him to return with her to the South Kingdom.
She followed the woman through the streets, noting the half-collapsed buildings and piles of rubble littering the area. This city looked as though it had taken a serious pounding, and only now that she was walking through, could she truly appreciate the level of destruction the first Pinnacle King had caused.
When she thought about something like this happening to the East Kingdom, it made her shiver in fear. She’d seen Morgan take out one of the Pinnacle Kings and had been present with his battle against another. But this was a stark reminder that those beasts’ true strengths didn’t lie within the power of their own fists, but rather in their ability to create puppets and control them.
Although Morgan had been a good deal stronger when facing this most recent Pinnacle King, she had a feeling that it would have taken him much longer to win had he already collected a bunch of minions. The war with Octagon the Bitter and the toll it had taken on the North was something that had just slid to the back of her mind. But walking through this one city and seeing the level of devastation reminded her just how dangerous these beasts were.
Had Morgan not stopped the last two Pinnacle Kings, both the South and West Kingdoms could very well have suffered the same fate.
One thing Grace did notice, though, was the distinct lack of beasts in the area. Even her Aura Sense couldn’t pick any up, which told her that despite her initial impressions of this group, it seemed that they’d already managed to clear the city.
As they continued to wind their way through the streets, Grace also began to notice less and less rubble. Sure, the buildings were still wrecked, but the streets themselves were much cleaner.
“Have you guys been cleaning up the city?” Grace asked.
“We have,” the woman replied. “Although it’s not technically part of our mission, the commander feels it necessary to at least make the job easier for the architects when they come to rebuild. Clear roads mean easier access for wagons and supplies to make it through. It’s slowed us down a bit, and the beasts outside the walls have yet to be dealt with, but he believes that taking a little extra work on ourselves will shave months off of the rebuilding effort.”
“You sound proud of him for doing this,” Grace noted.
The woman half-turned and smiled at her.
“City Six used to be my home, so I won’t complain about a little extra work if my family can move back here a few months sooner.”
“How do you manage to keep the beasts out?” she asked, noting that they were now approaching one of the only clean-looking buildings in the city.
“Guards around the perimeter, mostly,” she replied. “Though the beast attacks have been far less frequent. They might be hungry, but they’re not stupid
enough to enter an area where none of their kind has come out of alive.”
Grace nodded, looking up as they entered the building and noticing that while the structure did seem undamaged at a distance, she could now see cracks running up along the frame. She could also see deep gouges in the stone and had to wonder what type of creature would be tall enough to cut through a stone archway that was over ten feet tall.
Her thoughts moved back to the task at hand as she strode through the building. In here, she saw dozens of soldiers, all moving about and performing various tasks. Some were sleeping in small bundles against the far walls, and she wondered why none of them chose to sleep in any of the beds. When she asked, she received a very unexpected answer.
“We will not sleep in the beds of the dead.”
And when she thought about it, Grace supposed that she probably wouldn’t want to either.
The woman led her through a maze of corridors, finally stopping outside a normal-looking wooden door. She knocked once, then pushed it open and walked in.
Grace followed, then immediately averted her eyes, feeling her cheeks burn red as she saw two people with their faces all but smashed together, as well as a very distinct lack of clothing.
“I think I’ll just wait outside until you’re done,” she said, then quickly fled the room to collect herself.
28
“Again, I do apologize about that,” Nathan said, looking both embarrassed and mortified. “Tai is supposed to wait for me to invite her in before entering.”
The woman who’d guided her here – Tai, apparently – didn’t look sorry in the slightest, though she had apologized to Grace for the mental scarring Nathan’s hideous form had likely caused.
“Let’s just forget about it, okay?” Grace said, having to fight herself to maintain eye contact with the commander of Garrison Blue.
She was old enough to understand what had been happening, though she had never witnessed it in person. To walk in on someone doing that was just horrifying.