by Jani Griot
“He hated slaves until he met Vola,” the man mumbled to himself as though he were the only one there. “I guess his kind can still infect the minds of nobility.”
He looked Ezra directly in her eyes. “Promise me if I die here, you will not let the old blood wretches survive. If their blood is left to prosper, we the Honorborn will cease to rule. Maybe even live. Do you understand, child?” Avery asked.
This was a statement and an inquiry that could only be given one answer. For this was the final order, a privilege given to all Honorborn who fought one another for their lives. Ezra nodded in response.
“And you?” Avery asked.
“Release the slave into my father's custody if I am felled,” Ezra demanded immediately, as if she had not needed to think on it. Avery's eyebrows rose. Since the man had initiated the death rights ritual, there was no going back.
“Very well,” Avery said, lifting his swords to us and charging while his writhing tentacles defended him.
The battle was unlike anything I had witnessed. Without the lady’s support, I would have died on my own. Thick, black, and sharp-pointed needles sprouted from the suckers of Avery’s tentacles. The strength Avery had exhibited, prior to Ezra’s arrival was nothing compared to the heavy blows he now dealt. The force of their deathmatch swayed the boat in time with their clashes.
Waves of energy spilled free of the Honorborn as they fought. I did my best to keep up, dodging and lunging in sync with Ezra. Waves formed under the effect of the massive reservoir of power the two used for battle. The ship crested and crashed back down, smashing against the gate at the far side of the cove.
The Honorborn held their stance as I sailed into one side of the ship. Waves still crashed against the ship, and water poured in through the open roof.
Ezra jabbed a sword at Avery as the tornado of weapons and tentacles spun and snapped around us. Memories of my lady’s whip flashing out in an unexpected instant, caused me to be far more apprehensive of the razor-edged tentacles than the floating storm of swords soaring about.
She laughed. “You brought me here to kill me. I will make sure, as my first Honorborn kill, you will be remembered.”
The boat rose on a cresting wave, careening over the side of the gate, and the waves grew fiercer by the second. One moment I was on my back against the wall, and the next I lay against the wet floor. The two Honorborn fought each other at the boat’s bottom as if gravity were inconsequential. I charged toward the purple-blooded captain, rearing back my shield arm, running up the incline with relentless vigor.
I flew back as wall became ceiling. Sails snapped and folded over the open hole above the cabin. I was forced to drop and transition into a run as the boat rolled its way into an immediate free-falling crisis. Dodging blades from both wielders of univers while attempting to retaliate against the pirate king proved challenging.
The first rotation, I attempted a swing and missed entirely. The second, the unpredictable path of the spinning vessel almost made me strike Lady Ezra. Finally, after two failed attempts to strike the man, I continued my path up the boat’s side toward the ceiling. The moment I was above Avery, I seized what I hoped to be an opportunity.
I dove, coming down directly over him. My movement stole his concentration long enough for Ezra to maim the man, slicing into his belly with two separate swords. He covered his wounds with his hands. The swords dropped from his hands, landing in the grasp of his wretched tentacles. He continued to fight with the runes, converging them to a single point. This created a wall of tar-like black goo, from which the tentacles, ever-reaching, attempted to grasp me. Aside from that problem, I was also stuck before a barrage of weapons.
I twisted in the air as gravity shifted the boat back into my favor, sending me directly down through the air toward my target. Our ride ended in a resounding crash on shore after the impossible journey down the waterfall at Sand Mountain’s rear. The ship was unmistakably totaled after the bumpy trek down the side of a mountain.
I spun through the impossible wall of tentacles, cutting every inch of exposed skin as I came down. The resultant smell was horrendous. I had to hold my breath if I wanted to survive. That stench alone could kill leagues of warriors. My momentum was just enough to break through the wall of tentacles, revealing Avery’s crouched and bleeding form on the other side.
I roared and brought down the gleaming glass I held with all my might. The weapon sank shoulder deep and the sound of the bone snapping echoed throughout the area. Avery’s pain-filled yells boomed over the adjacent waterfall and the screams of the remaining crewman, which were silenced forever in short order. With his arm cleaved nearly all the way through, I used my shield hand to rip it clean from his body. Avery's scream was even more violent.
He batted me back into the captain’s quarters with a single hand, as though I were an insect buzzing about. I stood and forced myself to move. I passed a golden chest piece with a sideways hourglass on its breast. Vola spun into existence from nowhere as he always did.
This relic hasn't been seen by our family in countless cycles, son. You must retrieve it!
I charged back out into the fight, not glancing in Vola's direction. It was a fine piece, but Ezra was in danger. Avery had spawned a tentacle in place of the arm I’d sliced off. And made me pay for my haste in reentering the fight, by punching me so hard with the half-formed limb; I flew through the damaged wall at our side, bursting through the destroyed wood and onto the beach.
I stood slowly and headed back toward the ship. I took a single step and was affronted by the same sensation that came to the cloak before I was struck by projectiles. I had to step back as an arrow whipped straight past my chest.
When I searched for the arrow’s source, I saw where we had landed. I stood on the beach that housed the army meant to destroy Vassilious—formed by four of the most powerful families in both sand and sea. A large group stampeded toward the boat at full speed. Looking between the boat and the enemies running at me, there was nothing I could do to stop what would occur. A voice tore through the air like the warning crack of thunder before a disastrous storm.
“AVERY!”
Ochloc’s voice carried through the air as if the highest realm itself was yelling. The large crowd of warriors that stood before me blew in every direction as if they’d been hit by an explosion and swept away by the wind. I could now see Ochloc, walking red-faced up the beach toward the boat, sand swirling around him in a torrent, bodies raining down around him.
“AVERY!”
Endless Cycle
Ochloc walked past me, his normally youthful face tensed with lines of worry. The kind of face only another person who has experienced tutelage could understand or decipher. It was like he didn’t see me at all. Anger flooded his voice with depth, univers filled the man's body with power, giving his voice a presence like rolling thunder. The bass of it boomed through me. It rippled the sand at his feet as he charged Avery’s boat.
The vessel had once been comparable to a battleship—the largest, most lavish ship the kingdom of Vassilious had ever seen. After the fights that had taken place and the short trip down the waterfall at the back of Sand Mountain, Ochloc charged more toward a hobbled vessel than a war-hardened attack ship.
“AVERY!”
The sky darkened above Ochloc, his emotional state the most dangerous force in the kingdom. Univers pumped through the king's veins, emerging as a catalyst to destruction.
“Avery,” Ochloc started.
Boom!
The side of the boat exploded its contents now visible. Ezra's body was almost masked by splintered wooden planks. She spun in the air as she soared, righting herself to an upright position, then landed on her feet, her boots making two identical trenches in a parallel shape as she slid backward, still facing the boat. The storm above the king disappeared the moment he laid eyes on his daughter. I ran past, still unnoticed by the lord I served, charging to Ezra's side.
Avery let loose a powerful yel
l as his near phantasmal form burst free of the boat. He breached the remaining wood connecting the deck to the wall Ezra had just come through. His muscles flared with energy while his legs pedaled in the air toward Ezra and the dome of whirling blades she still controlled. The arm I’d liberated the pirate king of was still forming, but the tentacle that took its place was thick and had a wide reach. Ligaments formed and veins grew along with the appendage.
My lord invoked a deadly amount of energy in the cloud above.
I would have seen the imminent threat, but I had already changed course and rushed the pirate captain. Avery was so far gone, rage gave him a tunnel vision that blanketed my approach from his left flank.
Bang!
Everything collided at once, with a sound like stone striking metal in the distance. I hit Avery's side with a resounding smack from the lion shield. The lightning above snapped out from the cloud and penetrated the air without resistance, until it touched the shield I held. The beast within alighted at its contact with pure energy.
I jumped toward his midsection, accidentally pushing the man out of the way of the powerful bolt, his course through the air abruptly changed. White hot energy, devoured instantly, before being redirected into the power of my attack.
Avery's body dropped directly downward, smashing into the sands with weight worthy of the large impression he made. I came down on the pirate with a knee that landed on the still-reforming appendage, dodging the remaining tentacles that tried to defend him.
Avery cried out as I crushed unprotected nerve endings. Ezra lifted the only sword she physically held and pointed it at her father while I took one of Avery's tentacles in my hand, something that should have been impossible. As the tentacles were supposed to be ethereal in nature, but weren’t, due to Avery’s lack of talent with univers.
“This is a death rights ritual, Father,” Ezra started.
The glass blade I held was still wet with thick, black liquid and red blood, as I severed an additional tentacle.
“This is between me and mine against him.”
Avery wailed as she spoke.
She pointed to herself with her blade tip, then at me and Avery. After, she swept her blade toward the slowly encroaching army that battled behind her father. “And anyone else who dares confront me,” Ezra finished, turning her attention back toward the task at hand.
I glanced at Ochloc, who wore a treacherous smile. The whites of his teeth gleamed; he couldn’t contain the pride he felt for his daughter. He only noticed me after I tossed one of Avery’s tentacles at his feet, still clutching the blade of a sword master. The severed magic wriggled straight through the king’s feet as if he were a ghost. The sword in its grasp cut shallow crescents into the sand as the king analyzed it in its now useless state.
“I told you in our youth that you would pay for your inexperience with univers, Avery. It seems today will be that day, brother.” Ochloc laughed as he paced, watching our battle patiently.
It didn’t matter if he wanted to interfere or not. Interfering with an Honorborn death ritual was the equivalent to being a spineless coward in the eyes of the royal families. No matter how the tide of battle fared in either direction, Ochloc would lose standing in both the kingdoms of air and sea if he did not stay his hand. There would be no interruption from the lord, regardless of our fates.
Avery screamed with a burst of adrenaline and might. We may have harmed the man, but he was resilient. More beast than man at this point, consumed by rage; fueled by pure, envious hatred and blinded by the power of univers.
“I will rid the world of you and your halfblooded offspring!” he yelled at Ochloc.
Avery's words were rampant with spittle as he barked them. His arms came up quickly, but I barely blocked his heavy-fisted blow. My path through the air ended with a sandy collision near the water. By the time I was back on my feet, Avery was once again bounding toward the princess. Her swords sliced air as they raced to Lady Ezra's defense.
The army brought to the gate of Vassilious had surrounded us, giving us a wide berth as the three of us battled. By right, any there under the command of Lord Avery were allotted the ability to enter the battle and fight for their lord.
None did. Most were slaves, while others held grudges or were too scared to join. A flicker of steel at the edge of the mob warned me to an incoming threat. One look from Ochloc made the girl warrior give up any thrill she had for battle, she stepped back into the group behind.
“I will feast on your soul, Atlantean!” yelled Ezra.
She kicked Avery in the chest after slipping past his guard, sending him right into my blade. The hammer fist he smashed over my shoulders forced the blade from my hand, its glass turning to sand at my toes. I dived for the weapon, but a tentacle caught me by the ankle and Avery defended himself against Ezra. The tentacle that clutched me swung me over Avery’s head and into the sand with a thud, close enough to the princess that I knocked one of the swords she controlled free of her mental grasp.
Before the princess or I had time to react, I was used as a mace to smash into the side of Ezra. She had been guarding her face from the burst of sand that had wafted up when I struck ground. Swords flew in a frenzy all around. A tentacle still held me by the ankle. I found it hard to breathe dangling from the grip of Avery’s magic, feeling near lifeless as he screamed in my face.
“I will rid the world of this simple pest!” he yelled.
The sky was darkening, from what I thought to be Ochloc’s anger, as I groggily looked up. Avery had smashed me into the ground once more after swinging me overhead, the impact causing me to black out momentarily. He stood over me then, spitting directly in my face, the bloody mixture thick and slimy.
The first punch came when I lifted my hand to wipe my eyes clean. It was so heavy I saw stars and tridents.
By the time my vision cleared, a group of people were holding Ezra captive. She fought and flailed as they tried to bind her powers. The damage she caused to herself by straining to use univers without her gauntlets was visible now, taking on a pattern like lightning bolts. Blue tendrils ran from the tips of her fingers to her elbows as they shackled her.
I looked Avery in the eye before he struck me again.
“Think yourself my equal, do you?” He spoke down to me as the sky continued to darken.
Then, the punches came over and over at an increasing rate. He drummed me into the ground making his arms move at a supernatural speed. His appendages became a blurred devastation, until he focused on his runes, drew back the only sword left in the clutches of his tentacles, and sliced my shirt open.
I cried out as the blade sliced into my chest, the only area unguarded by the cloak. He lifted me, blood rushing to my head as I hung by my ankle.
“Here dies the Epistem!” Avery paraded me about like a trophy, showing every man and woman the symbol Dara Vivek had carved into my chest.
Ochloc's face flashed between shock and rage. Many others gasped and crossed themselves with symbols of their own deities as they backed further into the crowd. Even the group holding Ezra seemed apprehensive. Fear of the unknown and its power will have that impact.
The look on the princess's face confused me. Her tears brought a sinking feeling to the pit of my chest, even through my own pain.
“Goodbye, you simple, little boy.”
Avery spoke with a venomous whisper as he sunk his blade into the center of my chest. I gasped as he pulled it free. I heard a high-pitched scream, from what seemed like miles away. It was somehow familiar. My eyes fluttered as I struggled to keep them open.
The next second, I was passing over sand, then sea. My back smashed into something, but I broke through, landing in a pool of shallow water and scattered objects. I tried to keep my eyes open, but the pain was bone deep. It was my time to sleep, as I had seen many do over the past few days. Something I wished I hadn’t experienced or wouldn't ever want to experience again. If only life were so easy.
Womb. Womb. Womb.
The noise penetrated the deep sleep that was taking me as it charged.
Electricity surged into me, making me buck involuntarily. I still grasped the shield, which crackled with electricity that spread from my fingertips throughout my body. I sat up with a gasp of air, followed by instant pain in my head. There was something floating toward me and as it came closer, my head throbbed.
You are the first child of Vassilious to wear The Torso of Ark in over a dozen generations.
The ghost of Vola spoke at my side. The man floated atop the water in which I sat waist deep.
The armor floated to me, as if it had its own will. Chasing me down almost like its hand would force my fate. My life was over the moment I took the cloak. It began anew the moment that breast plate met my skin.
The white gold piece melted as it poured over me. Forming to my body like a second skin, flowing like water until it hardened to a steel-like consistency. A new symbol seared into the flesh of my chest—the symbol of my family. The sideways hourglass, with a crown surrounding a sun at its center. Lightning and sand in a chaotic storm on both sides. I was filled with pure univers, and the chest plate served as a conduit to life force itself.
My mind had evolved, thought it was still young. But now I knew emotion. Univers flowed through me, and it empowered my most familiar sensation. Rage.
And there stood Vola, once more. He shook his head as I floated to my feet. Lightheaded and still in a half-conscious dream state, I didn’t understand how I had gotten to my feet. It seemed as though I floated into the position.
Great power is wasted on you, my son. Vola continued to shake his head, for his son was once more heading into a battle for which he was unprepared.
The power filled my very being. Every sense was at its peak. I could hear a conversation being had outside the boat, almost as well as if I had been standing next to the speakers.
“You can’t expect me to let your abominations live, do you, brother Loc?” Avery asked, still wrapped in madness.