The Torch that Ignites the Stars (Arcane Ascension Book 3)

by Andrew Rowe

  “Apologies for the effects. It seems we’re clear here, so we can take a brief break.” Len sat down as well, apparently completely unbothered. She fished a flask of something out of her pack and offered it to us.

  We both accepted. If we were taking the risk of having her teleport us somewhere, accepting a drink was relatively minor by comparison. I then took a swig, and passed it to Sera. “What is that…peppermint?”

  “Helps with the stomach, I find.”

  She was right: it did help, at least a little. “What is this place?” I asked.

  “An ancient continental gate.” Len smiled, patting the stone beneath us. “Don’t get too excited. It’s long inactive. Ruined in a war thousands of years ago. It still functions as an anchor point for teleportation spells, however, especially when it has an active power source. Using places like this is both safer and more efficient than just teleporting to random spots.”

  “But more likely for us to encounter others,” Sera noted.

  “Yes.” Len acknowledged. “The Tails do know about a few of them, but not this far out. When we get further east, we’ll have to be more cautious.”

  “What about the crystal?” I asked.

  “One of my own mana crystals, currently functioning as that temporary power source I mentioned. I put one up every few months, replacing them as they run out of mana.”

  “…I don’t suppose you’d be willing to make me something like that?”

  “I’d consider it, but one on this scale is days of work. It would be a discussion for a future time.”

  I nodded. “Could you use something like that crystal to get the gate itself operational, even temporarily?”

  “I’ve been working on that for some time, but there’s simply too much damage right now. Many of the runes aren’t simply unpowered — they were obliterated, and I don’t have the knowledge necessary to reconstruct them. Yet.” She smiled. “Maybe someday, we’ll have a functional portal network across the entire continent. It’s a long-term project of mine, but keep it quiet. The major nations would be…displeased to know about the existence of such a portal network, and I’m not ready to have these sites defended, either physically or politically.”

  We spent a bit longer discussing the politics behind such a gateway network while we had some water and food. I also wrote down the runes that were still visible on the gateway.

  Then, we grudgingly stood back up, took Len’s hands again, and teleported to the next spot.

  The next three teleports were to similar inactive gates, but in different areas. One was atop a mountainside, the next a pitch-black forest, and the final one a small island in the middle of a lake.

  “We’ll need to stop for you to recharge my mana here,” Len explained. “The next jump will take us to one of the sword shrines, and we’ll need to be prepared to run immediately.”

  I nodded. I used my Arbiter attunement to recharge her mana using both my own and the mana from each of my batteries. I kept a fraction of my mana for emergencies, but still managed to give her the amount she needed. Then, I pulled a flask of mana water out of the Jaden Box and drank it, hoping to accelerate my mana recovery.

  We took about a half hour break, but by that point it was getting dark. Nightfall in the Unclaimed Lands had greater risks, so we chose to go ahead with the next teleportation without waiting for my mana to completely recharge. It made me mildly uncomfortable, but we’d be relying on Len’s mana to get us out regardless of my mana pool, so it didn’t matter all that much.

  My hand trembled just a bit as we prepared for the jump to the shrine, and not from the overuse of mana.

  “Superior Teleport.”

  My mind lurched as we moved…

  And found ourselves completely alone outside of a titanic stone building.

  A sword shrine. I’d love to get a better look at these someday. It’s a shame we have a specific task to deal with.

  I scanned the area with Detect Aura just in case, but I found nothing. My shoulders slumped in relief.

  “I’ll scout the region a bit, just to make sure no one is nearby. Stay here and keep resting,” Len instructed us.

  We rested. Sera summoned Vanniv for airborne surveillance, but he found no one anywhere close to nearby.

  When Len returned, she rested with us, satisfied that the area was unoccupied.

  During that time, I got a better look at the sword shrine. Or, at least, the entrance.

  The sword shrine was a single-story stone structure built on the shores of a lake. The entire exterior was flat, uniform gray stone, unmarred by any signs of age. It looked like the entire thing had been carved out of a single gigantic block of stone, implying the structure had been formed with magic.

  The only thing disturbing the stone was the presence of twin doors made of solid, silvery metal. Each of the doors was etched with runes (which I wrote down, of course). Unlike the shrine Keras described, this one didn’t have any statues out front. It did, however, have a symbol of an upward-raised sword etched into the metal of each door.

  The top of the building was slanted downward, toward the water’s edge, and I strongly suspected that implied the existence of more of the structure underground.

  I processed that, then in a moment of shock, I realized something that may have been obvious. “Wait. Sword shrine. Lake. Is this one of Flowbreaker’s sword shrines?”

  “It was, once.” Len gave me a sad smile. “Of course, the shrines themselves predate the sacred swords — but yes, this is a shrine one might have visited to earn Flowbreaker’s amulets, back when Flowbreaker was intact.”

  I was suddenly much more interested. “What are the odds the amulet is still in there?”

  “None.” Len shook her head. “They’re all out in the world now.”

  “Does that imply you know their locations?” Sera asked.

  “Indeed, it does. Ah, your interest is due to Selys-Lyann, yes?” Len gestured at the sword at my hip. “I’ve heard speculation that the swords are the same, or otherwise related. Have you learned anything of interest on the subject?”

  “Nothing conclusive.” I didn’t want to immediately tell her what Keras had told me. Given how long it had taken him to admit to any connection at all, I suspected that information was valuable. That might have just implied personal value to Keras, rather than any broader significance, but I still didn’t feel like giving it away for free. “But I’m interested in exploring it further. Would the crystals in the shrines know more?”

  “Absolutely. Asking about the connection may be a worthwhile use of a boon if you complete a shrine. For the moment, however, I’ll have to ask you to refrain from taking the risk of entering this place. I need you intact for your meeting.”

  “Now that we’re out here, care to share some more details about what is going on?” Sera asked.

  Len paused, considering, then raised a finger. “Hold on a moment. Detect Scrying.”

  She closed her eyes, concentrated, then shook her head. “No, we’re still in an observable region. It’ll have to wait until we get into the proximity of our destination.”

  I groaned a bit at that, but I couldn’t begrudge her for being cautious. We rested a bit longer, chatting a bit here and there, and then resumed the teleportation process.

  It was past nightfall when we finally reached our destination, but fortunately, we didn’t encounter any dangers along the way.

  When our final teleportation spell ended, my eyes were immediately drawn upward toward the colossal sight ahead of me.

  A tower. A gigantic, formidable tower, wrought from the same strange gray stone as the sword shrine had been. I gawked as my head turned upward further, seeking the top of the cylindrical structure, but failing to find it. The building disappeared into the clouds.

  “…Is that…?” I asked.

  “The Seventh Spire?” Len released my hand, then stepped forward. “No. I’m afraid that’s further to the south. This is, in my humble opinion, something fa
r more fascinating. A structure built not by the goddess, not by the makers…but by mortal hands.”

  She turned, smiled, and waved to the tower’s entrance. “Welcome to the Sorcerer’s Spire. Home of the Ascendant Arbiter.”

  As if on cue, the massive wooden doors of the tower opened of their own accord.

  Len cracked a grin. “I believe he’s been expecting you.”

  Chapter XVIII – Arbiters

  As soon as the tower’s doors opened, we were greeted by monsters.

  A line of golems marched out first. A dozen squat constructs of stone, followed by six made of solid metal. Behind those were another squad of six wrought from what looked like living wood.

  They moved efficiently in straight lines, allowing for more and more creatures to follow them out of the spire.

  A pair of gargoyles descended from the upper reaches of the spire, landing to perch atop the shoulders of two of the lead stone golems.

  After that, a sequence of mismatched humanoid beings with little resemblance to one another. An orange-skinned man with hair made of pure fire. A woman with pale skin and a tornado making up the lower half of her body. A hairless and androgynous entity with purple skin and wearing a matching purple suit with twin curved swords on their hips.

  Elementals, most likely, but significantly less human-looking ones that Researcher and the others I was generally familiar with. I wasn’t sure if that indicated anything about their level of power or if they were simply different categories of creatures. I knew elementals came in staggering varieties, and I knew many of those types, but I couldn’t reliably identify them all at a glance.

  Finally, a pair of silvery-white haired people that looked near identical to each other, wearing pure-white robes and each having a straight sword sheathed on their hips. Aside from their strange hair, at a glance they looked more human than the rest of the creatures that had emerged.

  That didn’t mean much. Mizuchi had looked mostly human at a first glance, save for her own strange hair, too.

  My jaw tightened at the sight. It reminded me of nothing more than the incidents with the monsters spewing forth from the Serpent Spire back at the academy — signs of Katashi’s displeasure that caused terrible chaos and destruction. The recollection of Mizuchi only helped solidify that image.

  Where those demonstrations of righteous anger had taken lives, this one had a different feel: the monsters all stopped in what must have been pre-specified positions, then turned toward the tower entrance…and fell to their knees.

  That’s…a little intimidating.

  I took a deep breath at the sight, trying to steady myself.

  Don’t panic. Don’t screw this up. Tristan needs your help. Failure is not an option.

  Then, alone, he finally appeared.

  The figure that walked out of the tower doors last was nothing like the monsters that had come before. He looked to be about forty-years old, with a brown beard and hair showing healthy amounts of gray. He walked with a heavy staff in hand with a peculiar white sphere on the top, very likely some sort of magical crystal.

  He was draped from head-to-toe with jewelry. A heavy, heart-shaped amulet sat over his chest. He had jewel-encrusted rings on every single finger, all of which glowed with inner light. A broad golden circlet sat on his head in a position that looked like it was probably upside down, but I couldn’t say for certain.

  His heavy robes were covered in the widest variety of runes I’d ever seen on a single magical item. There must have been hundreds of symbols on them. This ordinarily would have been extremely intimidating, except I was an Enchanter, and I could tell at a glance that the overwhelming majority of those runes had no function whatsoever aside from generating a mild glow effect.

  My initial impression was intense confusion.

  This man was, it seemed, an extremely powerful individual that was trying very hard to look like a charlatan.

  Detect Aura.

  A flash of colors overwhelmed my vision. Most of the creatures ahead of me registered as Citrine, with the exception to those nearest the tower door. The white-haired people had brilliant green auras, and finally, the strange man near the door had no visible aura at all.

  The older man walked down the steps of his tower and toward us, straight through the crowd of kneeling monsters. Then he turned to Len and waved wildly toward Sera and me. “Who are they? Why’d you bring them here? Are others coming? Are they coming? Is it happening?”

  Len raised a hand in a placating gesture. “Easy there, Master Constantine. This is Corin Cadence, the one I spoke to you about before, and his sister, Sera Cadence. You had said you wanted to talk to Corin.”

  “Did I?” He frowned, then looked at me. There was a flash across his deep-brown eyes and for just an instant, they turned completely black.

  No, not completely. For a heartbeat, I could see glimmering flecks of white in them, like tiny stars.

  Then his eyes fluttered shut and returned to their normal brown when he reopened them. “Ah. It’s him. The Cadence boy. Why didn’t you say so?”

  Len, of course, had said so, but neither of us spoke to correct him. Instead, I simply chose to introduce myself properly. “That’s right, I’m Corin Cadence. I’m a fellow Arbiter. Len mentioned you had a problem I could help with?”

  “A problem?” He shot her a look. “A problem? How much did you say? Where did you say it? How secure—”

  “It’s okay, Warren. I was extremely vague with him. We knew not to speak outside of your tower. Can we go inside so we can speak more freely? I’m sure our young friend has many questions.”

  “Dangerous things, questions,” Warren Constantine mused to no one in particular. “Almost as dangerous as answers.”

  He spun on his heels and walked toward the tower entrance. “Come. Quickly. Before they hear us.”

  It was only at that point that I saw that beneath his gilded robes, Warren Constantine was wearing a floppy pair of worn sandals.

  …What.

  I shook my head at the incongruity of the image, then cautiously followed Warren Constantine into his strange, terrifying tower.

  ***

  There was a flash of light as we walked through the doors, then I was in a different environment. You’d think that I might have expected that, given my prior experience with spires, but this was not a spire. Not a true one anyway.

  Still, somehow, it approximated the same effect.

  I found myself standing in a circular chamber with a carpeted floor, a central staircase, and a table in the center with four chairs. The walls were lined with bookcases.

  And, worryingly, there were no obvious entrances or exits.

  Warren shifted his staff into his arms and capped his hands as soon as we materialized inside. “Tea!”

  A glowing ball of light manifested in the center of the room, holding a teapot. It began to tilt the pot over…

  …and spilled the liquid directly onto the table.

  “No, no!” Warren shouted, running to the table. “Into cups! Cups!”

  I blinked at the sight.

  Warren grimaced, whistled, and then dropped his staff onto the floor. “You!” He pointed at the glowing ball. “Get the others, clean up this mess!”

  The sound of something like a “huff” came from the glowing light ball, then it vanished.

  Warren turned toward me, his expression shifting in an instant from perturbed to suspicious. “And you. You. Why are you here?”

  I stared at him, then pointed at Len. “She brought me?”

  Len nodded. “And you asked me to bring him as soon as possible, remember?”

  Warren scratched at his head. “Did…did I? I think I should remember such a thing. Perhaps I should….”

  Len’s eyes widened in alarm. “Warren, don’t!”

  He smiled and tapped his forehead. “Restore Memory.”

  For a moment, his eyes shut, then he staggered backward. Len shot forward and caught him before he could fall over bac
kward.

  When he reopened his eyes, he shuddered. “Oh…oh. That…that was a mistake, wasn’t it?”

  Len winced. “Warren, you need to be more careful. That type of sorcery will…”

  “I know, I know. The erosion. It’s getting worse, isn’t it?” He sighed, and Len helped him stand back up more completely. “But I remember now. For the moment, at least.” He turned and shook his head like a wet dog trying to clear off water, then turned to me with a groan. “Master Cadence. Miss Cadence. Forgive me for the poor greeting and the poorer company. If we had met a mere few years earlier, perhaps I could have offered you the proper hospitality you deserve.”

  His tone sounded entirely different. Less suspicious, more lucid and collected. That might have been comforting if not for the hint of overwhelming sadness in his words. “Think nothing of it. I’m pleased to meet you.”

  “Likewise.” Sera gave a little bow, then glanced around the room, presumably scanning for any threats. The golems and other monsters hadn’t appeared behind us: perhaps if they’d returned, they’d been transported directly to different places in the tower.

  “You may think differently soon enough.” He grunted, then hobbled his way down to a chair and sat heavily in it with a groan. “Please, sit. I…think there will be proper tea soon.”

  I nodded and sat down on the opposite side of the table. Sera sat down next to me. Len moved to sit next to Warren, giving him a look of concern.

  “Now,” Warren began, “thank you for coming here. I recognize it required a high degree of trust. Len, have you checked them both?”

  “I have. They’ve been to the lab, but they’re still unmarked.”

  I quirked an eyebrow at that. “Care to explain what you mean?”

  “No artificial attunements or sigils of employ for Farren Labs,” Len explained. “If you had those, Master Constantine would not have permitted your entry.”

  “They’re compromised in some way?” Sera asked.

  “Precisely, young miss.” Warren nodded to her. “Tracking and scrying functions. Perhaps worse, depending on just how far that horrible creature has gone in recent years.”