The landscape shifted, rising into a pinched plateau that overlooked another river. Ari and Eva walked along the edge of it, taking in the sights. The view was breathtaking, and he could see how the river divided the grassy plains they’d been exploring so far from a dry desert of deep golden sand.
Two massive statues stood out in a clearing visible to the southeast, bulky humanoids each over fifty feet tall. They each struck a dramatic, coordinated pose, reaching up and over to grasp each other’s hands and create an archway with their bodies. Ari noted that one of them had two massive emeralds for eyes, though only because the sun caught the right angle to cause the gems to gleam from underneath the dirt and grime that mostly covered them.
The ruined city was a little further north, perched atop the plateau like a bird’s nest on the end of a branch. The buildings were made of uniform stone bricks, or at least, they had been once. From a distance, there didn’t appear to be a single structure left untouched by the calamity that had descended upon it.
Ari slowed as they drew closer, feeling a little uneasy. The ground underneath his feet shifted, and it took him a couple of seconds to realize that he was walking on a paved road, underneath the dirt obscuring it from view.
“They had so much stone that they even used it on the ground,” he muttered. “If you’re going to do that, why not just find a cozy cave to hole up in?”
“There are certain advantages that come with living out in the open,” said Eva. “The sun, for example. Along with the amount of available space.”
“I guess,” said Ari.
They passed by two crumbled watch towers, one on either side of the road. They reminded Ari of their tower base in a certain way, though they’d fared far worse against the sands of time. The city had once had a wall, and even though it was crumbled to the point of being little more than a few decaying segments, he still found himself opting to head through where the city’s main gate had once been.
“Is there anything I should know before we head in?” asked Ari. “I don’t exactly explore ghost cities on a regular basis.”
He could already see a few mesmers moving through the streets ahead of him in their glowing, spherical forms. They were blue, like the one he’d seen in the forest, but that wasn’t really enough to set him at ease.
“Do not let your guard down,” said Eva. “Stay alert and treat the ruins with respect.”
“Will the mesmers attack me if I don’t?” he asked.
“These ones?” Eva shook her head. “No. They will not even acknowledge you. But this is a resting place. I would ask that you give it the deference it deserves.”
“Of course,” said Ari. He held his arm out with the elbow bent, gesturing for Eva to loop hers through. “Shall we?”
She gave him a small, mildly amused smile, and then her body flashed with light. Ari caught Azurelight by the hilt before the sword hit the stone and swept it in a flourish through the air.
CHAPTER 20
Ari took his time as he walked through the ruins of the city, listening to his surroundings as he moved. He tried to keep from drawing too near to the mesmers as they meandered aimlessly through the air, but there were so many of them as he made it further that it was near impossible.
He spotted something as he approached an open area that might have once been the city square or trading bazaar. A section of road had been worn down enough for vegetation to grow through underneath, and Ari recognized one of the plants in the bunch.
“Sarkin flower,” he muttered. “Growing here, of all places.”
He remembered what one of the survivors in Jed’s group had said about it spreading like a weed as he plucked the plant from the ground and pulled free the flowerhead, the part with potency. He still had the leather bag that Milo had given him, and he tucked the sarkin flower inside before retying it.
“How is a flower relevant to our current purpose, Lord Stoneblood?” asked Eva, through their bond.
“You’ll see,” said Ari. “Possibly. It might not be relevant immediately, but it’s a useful medicine.”
It was also incredibly fun to use recreationally, but Ari didn’t feel the need to point that out to her. Instead, he continued forward, scanning the city for any buildings that seemed like they might have held up well enough against the elements to have preserved their contents through the years.
“Eva,” he said. “Do you have any advice for me? I’m searching blind here.”
“Keep your eyes focused downward,” said Eva.
“Why?” he asked.
Eva didn’t reply, and after a few seconds, Ari decided that it was probably best to trust her suggestion and find out for himself. He moved slowly, staring at the city’s partially destroyed paved roads and investigating any anomalies.
With his attention focused toward his feet, he wasn’t minding the mesmers. Ari drew close enough to one for it to materialize into an ethereal, blue person. He flinched backward when he noticed, his heart racing despite the fact that he knew it posed no danger.
“Veljian!” called the woman. “Veljian! Veljian…?”
She was pretty, despite being ghostly and partially translucent. She had the same lithe, tall body type as Eva, and her hair was tied back into a tight ponytail. She wore a strange dress with slits across the back and arms, and she was clearly looking for somebody. Ari carefully stepped around her, glancing back as he continued on.
“What was it like?” Ari asked. “The Saidican Empire, as a society.”
Eva didn’t answer him right away, and her silence went on for long enough to make him wonder if he’d somehow offended her.
“Most of what little I remember is of it crumbling,” she said. “The Sai took magic for granted. It was something we relied upon, and it made many of us soft and comfortable over centuries of continued calm and peace.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad,” said Ari. “At least the civilization had a good run.”
“We were insulated from nature, and because of that, we were tragically unused to death,” said Eva. “The Weatherblight took a toll on the empire, giving the populace its first true taste of desperation.”
“Interesting,” said Ari. “Have any of your other memories returned, now that we’ve started to strengthen our bond? I want to know more about your life, not just history.”
“Unfortunately not,” said Eva. “I remember little of my own life, be it as a sword construct or the person whose imprint I was created from.”
“You mentioned your old master once,” said Ari. “Lord Mythril, was it? Do you remember anything about him?”
“Only the emotion of knowing him,” said Eva. “I remember that I despised him.”
Even though he was hearing her through the bond, Ari could still make out the bitter, unbridled contempt in her voice. As curious as he was, he had the sense not to press her for more detail. She’d tell him when she was ready, if she ever was.
He was still looking down at the ground, and he did a double take when he brushed a dirt clod aside and saw something underneath that didn’t fit with the regular pattern of smooth stone brick. He was standing over a perfect circle inset into the ground with runic lettering carved into it.
“Do you recognize whatever this is, Eva?” he asked.
Azurelight flashed with light, and Eva appeared in the sword’s place. He’d been holding it close to his body and found that he was all but embracing the slender woman as she transformed. Ari felt his face flush slightly as he caught a whiff of her sweet, feminine smell before pulling back.
“This is what we are looking for, I believe,” she said. “An access point into the labyrinth below the city.”
“Labyrinth?” asked Ari.
Eva nodded. “Smaller Saidican cities outside of the capital often expanded underground rather than outward. It was a means of protecting the residents from the Weatherblight in places with lower populations.”
“I can see the logic in that,” said Ari. “And you think we’ll hav
e a better shot at finding what we need down there?”
“Absolutely,” she said. “The labyrinths haven’t suffered the same amount of damage from the elements and the Weatherblight. However, be warned that the mesmers you will encounter down there will be far more dangerous and powerful than the ones on the surface.”
“Is there a reason for that?” asked Ari.
“Purple, black, and red mesmers are the most dangerous varieties, and they avoid the light,” said Eva. “I cannot say just why that is, as I do not know myself.”
“Fair enough,” said Ari. “Now, how do we get this thing open?”
It took the two of them a minute or two of brushing away grime to find the hatch’s handholds. Both of them were encrusted over with dirt and rock dust, but Ari dug with the toe of his shoe until they were cleared out enough to serve their original purpose.
“I think we’re both going to have to put our strength into this,” said Ari. “Ready?”
He gripped one handhold, while Eva took the other. They pulled as hard as they could, exerting themselves to the point of grimacing and sweating. The hatch held for a few seconds and then slowly began to turn. Ari was able to pull it loose after jiggling it from side to side, and he set the heavy steel cover on the ground next to the opening he’d revealed.
There was a metal ladder, and he climbed down it slowly, trying to listen for anything that might await them in the chamber below. Eva followed after him, and she took hold of his hand as she reached the bottom, letting her fingers entwine with his for an instant before turning back into her sword form.
“You should travel slowly,” said Eva. “As long as you keep your wits about you, the darkness will not be a thing to fear in itself.”
Ari smiled a little as he stared down the pitch-black tunnel ahead of them.
“I don’t fear the darkness,” he said. “The surface, up there? Now that makes me nervous. But this is what I’m used to. This is the type of place where I thrive.”
It even smelled similar to Golias Hollow, with that same dusty, dank staleness permeating every inch of the air. Ari held Azurelight at the ready as he started forward, listening to the sound of his own footsteps and breathing.
What little light extended outward from the opening they’d descended through disappeared as he rounded the first corner. Ari had better than average night vision, and he could still make out the walls and general shape of the underground environment. The tunnel exited out into a larger chamber, and he came to a sudden stop as he saw a mesmer ahead of them.
It was purple, deeper and darker in coloring than the light blue mesmers on the surface, though it still gave off light. Even as a glowing sphere, it seemed agitated, swaying back and forth and shifting through the air with jerky motions.
“Anything else I should know before I approach this thing?” Ari whispered, as quietly as he could.
“The only means through which you can damage mesmers is using magic or an enchanted weapon,” said Eva. “Their attacks will not cause physical damage to you, but they will cause pain and drain your soul essence.”
“What happens if I run out of soul essence?” asked Ari.
“You die,” said Eva. “It would not be a pleasant death, either, though I cannot remember the specifics of it. It would be best if you avoided that outcome.”
Ari rolled his eyes. “You don’t say.”
He approached the glowing sphere with cautious steps, holding the sword as tightly as he could in sweaty hands. He was nervous, despite himself. Ari had been in more sparring matches than he could count back in the Hollow, but he’d never trained with a sword before, and he’d certainly never gone up against anything like a mesmer.
The sphere flashed with light as he stepped within a dozen feet of it, manifesting as an ethereal, purple figure. It was a man clad in heavy armor, wielding a sword that was both broader and longer than Ari’s. Though honestly, given the ghostly nature of the mesmers, he wasn’t sure if that even mattered.
The ghost made for an undeniably intimidating opponent. It wasn’t the same as facing off against one of the other boys in the Hollow or even fighting and fleeing from the fishers. It was an intimidation factor born from a sense of respect and a lack of understanding. He was up against an entity that looked more suited for battle than he felt like he had any right to claim to be.
“So I should just… attack it, then?” he asked.
“That’s generally how fights work,” said Eva.
“Oh, shush,” said Ari. “I’m just making sure I haven’t—”
The mesmer took the initiative before he had the chance. Ari dodged backward on reflex as the purple knight swung its sword in a slash at neck level. He was fast enough to get out of the way of all of the blade except the tip, which nicked the edge of his shoulder. Ari felt a cold tremor run through him, along with a sharp, pulsating pain.
He brought a finger to the point of impact and glanced down at it, expecting to see blood. There wasn’t any, though the pain had been real. He felt clammy and a little lightheaded, and he wasn’t interested in finding out what would happen if he took a direct hit.
The purple mesmer attacked again. Ari moved out of the way, but he also lifted Azurelight up to deflect, just for the sake of seeing what would happen. The knight’s ethereal sword seemed to bounce off his, but there was no vibration of impact.
Ari rushed forward, seizing the small opening he’d been given. He slashed diagonally toward the side the knight had left unguarded. The mesmer dodged, but not fast enough to avoid Ari’s strike entirely. Ari’s sword cut a slash across the knight’s forearm, and though it felt like he’d swung his sword through open air, he saw the knight’s gauntlet shatter and his blade bite into the knight’s wrist underneath.
The mesmer let out a fearsome shout and launched a sudden assault, feinting and then chopping with its sword twice in quick succession. Ari blocked the first, dodged the second, and responded with a spinning cut that took the knight in the side. The mesmer fell back onto one knee. Ari brought his sword up to finish him off.
“No!” cried Eva. “Lord Stoneblood, he is—”
It was another feint. The knight surged upward at the last second, slamming the pommel of his weapon into Ari’s gut. It reminded him of the punch Jarvis had slammed into his gut back in the sparring ring, except it struck him in a place deeper than his physical body, in a manner cold enough to make his insides feel flash frozen.
Ari stumbled back, blinking away double vision as he saw the mesmer pull its sword up to issue the finishing strike. He tried to lift his own sword up to block, but it wasn’t in his hand anymore. Light flashed, and Eva was suddenly in motion.
She swept the knight off his feet with a powerful kick aimed at his ankles and delivered a ruthless stomp to his neck. Ari heard the knight let out a gag as Eva delivered a second blow, and then there was a flash of purple light as the entirety of his form disappeared.
The essence the knight had been composed of seemed to flow directly into Eva’s chest, and she let out a small shudder. Ari stood to his feet and stared at her with open awe in his expression.
“That was pretty cool,” he said. “I didn’t realize you could damage it.”
“It is part of my design,” said Eva. “My absorption rune also applies to direct physical attacks.”
“If I’d known you were that good in hand to hand combat, I’d have let you handle him in the first place,” said Ari.
She scowled at him.
“It is not something you should come to rely on,” she said. “I am much more powerful in my sword form than I am manifested like this. If I had realized that your swordsmanship was as… lacking as it is, I would have offered to instruct you in it before bringing you into a dangerous situation.”
“Yeah, I probably should have mentioned that I’ve never used a sword before,” said Ari. “Or even held one, for that matter. Speaking of which, would it be possible for you to manifest a weapon of your own, along with your bod
y? That would come in handy, since the only real weapon we have between us right now is, well, you.”
“Perhaps,” said Eva. “But that is a question we should address later, milord.”
CHAPTER 21
Ari spent a minute or two catching his breath before taking a closer look at the chamber they were in. It wasn’t large, and most of the furnishings it had once contained were broken and scattered in pieces across the floor. A single door stood at the far end of the room, and the top of it was curved in the shape of an arch.
“Lord Stoneblood,” said Eva. “Before we move on, it would be prudent to transfer the essence I just absorbed over to you.”
“Sure,” said Ari. “Just tell me what I need to…”
He trailed off as he caught sight of her eyes and noticed, for the first time, that they were giving off a subtle glow. Eva noticed his attention and gave him a small smile.
“In my incarnate form, my eyes serve as a visual indicator of the amount of essence I’ve absorbed,” she said. “It is a mechanism to keep me from absorbing too much at once and accidentally stunting my absorption ability.”
“That’s a possibility?” asked Ari.
Eva nodded. “Yes, though it shouldn’t be much of a concern for us under normal conditions. When you wield me as a sword, the essence I absorb will transfer directly through me and into you once I’m at full capacity.”
Ari nodded slowly, considering what she was saying.
“Can you use the essence for anything?” asked Ari. “I know you explained that as a human, there isn’t much that I can do with it beyond enchanting or activating wards. Is it more useful for you?”
“I can use it to repair damage from wounds,” said Eva.
"Handy,” said Ari. “Is that something I can do, too?”
Eva shook her head. “Unfortunately, that is a function limited solely to me.”
“What else should I know about your abilities?” he asked.
“If you were to find and imbue me with an offensive rune, I’d have more options available,” she said.
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