Simultaneously, Yochan entered the private section of the factory. "Lord Ling! What is happening in here?" he asked then gaped once he saw the giant hole in the wall.
"Something blew a hole in the wall near where we keep all the kaminyte," Rey answered.
Sixiam followed him to the first floor and they cleared the smoke using their aeromancy.
"Aerous pulse!" they both yelled and spun with arms wide open and blew the smoke away.
In front of the tall pile of kaminyte there was a person clad in black, wearing a white mask with an opening for the left eye. Rey Ling froze as he stared at this strange figure. It was like seeing a ghost for the first time, as if a nightmare had come to reality. What was more frightening were the inky creatures behind the strange figure. They looked like canines with no eyes, daggers rising from their backs, black lustrous armor on their bodies, and claws like knives that slashed the ground.
"Looks like there is lots of kaminyte here," a masculine voice echoed from the white mask, speaking in a different language. Rey Ling understood those words. The man in black spoke in the common tongue of the northern countries. "Let's take what is here, for now."
"You! Who in the Odanami are you?" Rey Ling rasped. His sister hid behind him. "Sixiam, get out of here and dismiss everyone in the factory," he whispered to her.
Without hesitation she ran up the stairs to the second floor and to the door that led to the main factory room.
"Oh, I see you are the man in charge of this place," the man in black guessed.
"Who are you and what are you doing in my factory?" Rey asked, unsure if the man in black understood.
The man in black chuckled mockingly. "Sorry but I don't speak Xaianese," he said. "If you can't speak the common tongue of Odealeous, then to Necros with you."
From within his dark cloak, smoke rose and the stranger pulled a black spear. Looking at the spear Rey Ling knew that it was made of kaminyte.
"You forged a spear using kaminyte, but how?" Rey was in awe.
"I said, I don't speak Xaianese. Do you want to die?" the stranger threatened again.
"No," Rey said in the common tongue. "I won't let you take one piece of metal from Golden Gear."
"Ah! You do speak the common tongue," the stranger said, astonished. "Since you understand me I will make you a deal. Me and my pups here will take this great pile of kaminyte, leave quietly and no one gets hurt, or you can fight me, risk your life and everyone else in this place, and I still take your kaminyte. Which do you prefer?"
Rey gritted his teeth and began to sweat from nervousness. What in zehnami are these creatures? He wondered, trembling. One of the black canine creatures stepped forward. It sniffed then growled. The fact that it had no eyes was more frightening than its size. It was five feet tall, up to Rey’s shoulders.
Rey Ling panicked. He reached for the weapon hidden in his right boot. He aimed, pulled the trigger of the small gadget and, with a loud explosive sound, it shot a small metal missile and hit the canine's face. The creature yowled, dropped to the floor flailing, then turned to ashes, leaving its kaminyte armor in a heap.
"Bad move," the stranger said. "Get him!"
The dark monsters pounced at Rey and he shot another missile from his gadget. Another monster fell and turned to ashes. They threw themselves at him, Rey continued to shoot them down and, after they fell, they left behind their kaminyte armor. He saw three giant monsters, about twenty feet tall, hefting large piles of kaminyte in their arms and they walked through the hole in the wall.
"Return to the Odan from which you came," Rey yelled.
"Odan?" the stranger repeated. "Not sure what that means either. I must say it is fun watching you struggle in a different language." The man in black laughed hysterically.
"Lord Ling!" Yochan shouted from the second floor bridge.
"Get out of here!" Rey yelled. He shot down the fiends with his small gadget. When the metal missiles struck the fiends they had the power of five crossbow bolts.
"Your sword!" Yochan hurled Rey's sword.
Rey grabbed it with his left hand. He pulled it from the scabbard, quickly swung it and cut the head off one of the monsters. They were surrounding him in a circle and, as he walked backwards, his back met with the wooden air vessel he had been working on. He saw the balloon made of nylon fabric laying on the floor. "Aerious flous!" he yelled and cast an air current that made the nylon fabric billow. The monsters dashed towards him and he threw the sheet of nylon blinding them, then he ran for the stairs.
Rey looked back and saw the canines ripping the nylon sheet with their claws. As he ran up to the second floor, an ice missile grazed his shoulder and cut his clothes. He looked back and saw the stranger in black floating in the air. While running for the door he shot at the stranger. Suddenly, the man in black disappeared and, when he blinked, the man had reappeared in front of him. "Odansuh," he breathed in Xaianese.
The man in black lashed out with his spear and Rey blocked with his sword. His thin blade was light and fast, yet it was still difficult to land a blow on his foe.
Below, a twenty foot tall fiend growled. It had no eyes, fangs peeking out of its mouth, and slits for nostrils. It raised a jagged club and swung it towards Rey. The man in black quickly disappeared, fading with black smoke as the club fell on Rey. He scurried backwards and the giant club tore the steel bridge apart.
Rey hurried through the door and down another set of stairs till he made it to the main factory. All his workers were already leaving the building in a disorganized manner.
Two giant dark monsters broke through the wall that divided the factory. They growled and smashed hayunsuhs as they ran towards Rey.
"No!" he yelled, watching as the monsters destroyed his finely crafted vehicles. "Get out of my factory!"
Like a wave of shadows, more dark monsters poured through the hole in the wall and swarmed towards Rey. With fangs and claws they chased him, eyeless, only sniffing his presence. They scattered working tools and spilled hot metal as they ran towards him, destroying his factory. They stepped on toys and scratched parts of the train. They caught several workers that still remained in the building and crunched their bodies with their fangs. The twenty-foot monsters swung their clubs and destroyed his inventory. They lifted hayunsuhs and hurled them at him. He ducked and felt the vehicles flying over his head. Oh dragon's blood, in this very moment, how I wish I had a bigger weapon, he thought.
It was like nothing he had ever seen before. For years his family had managed the Golden Gear factory and nothing such as this had ever happened. People had stolen from the factory, inventions as big as a hayunsuh, and the place had a history of things catching on fire from time to time, but this was something out of a nightmare. Rey felt as if the Omungi Galou was conspiring against him.
"They got the kaminyte, so what else do they want?" Rey asked the great Galou.
The masked man appeared in front of Rey as he ran theatrically with his cloak wide open and a cloud of black smoke billowing around him. Rey tried to veer towards an exit but his body suddenly froze.
"Come over here," the man demanded. He balled his right hand into a fist and raised it up to his shoulder as if he were hefting an object.
Rey felt his body drifting towards the masked man against his will. He struggled and squirmed but there was nothing he could do. He could not even use his aeromancy. The dark monsters behind him stopped. Suddenly there was silence and he stared into the eye of the masked stranger. It was a ghoulish mask, only one eye and a broken horn right in the center of the forehead. With a clenched fist the masked man had paralyzed Rey Ling and was controlling him.
"Who are you and why do you want my kaminyte?" Rey asked with teeth clenched and voice quivering in anger.
"My name is Naunet, I am a Specter," the stranger answered. "My fiends can sniff out items with cosmo energy."
"Cosmo?" Rey questioned as he floated three feet over the ground.
"Yes, cosmo energy. I don't expect
you to know what it is," Naunet said. "Kaminyte contains both dark and cosmo energy. However, there is something else. My fiends have sensed something with greater cosmo energy and it is not part of the kaminyte."
"I have no idea what you are talking about," Rey Ling rasped. "Just take what you want and get your monsters out of my factory."
Naunet guffawed and Rey wondered what was so funny at a time like this.
"Rey Ling, I know you," Naunet said. "You are the grandson of the great inventor, Hui Ling Cho. You are quick, witty, intelligent and bossy. I am a fan of your work."
"I am flattered, but I don't do interviews," Rey said with a cocky tone.
"Hah! That mouth of yours will get you killed," Naunet replied. "You cannot fool me, Rey Ling. My fiends have been tracking you every time you teleport with that item, they can sense its energy. Now, show me where it is and I promise you that I will leave in peace."
How in Odanami does he know? Rey thought, feeling naked. Of course he had been using the Omnistar for years after his father died. He never thought that someone other than Yochan would know about it. Sorry father, you must be disappointed in me. It was a desperate moment. Rey did not want to relinquish the Omnistar and hoped this masked stranger would leave.
"I don't trust a man whose face I cannot see, so how about you remove the mask," Rey said with confidence. Although he could not move, he used the best weapon he had at the moment, his mind.
"You have some guts making requests while your life is at risk," Naunet said and chuckled. "Fascinating, but that is not going to happen. Tell me where the item is or I will destroy this place and the legacy your grandfather left for your family."
Rey Ling could not risk it. He swallowed his pride and spat out the secret. "It’s in my vest pocket, inside a pouch."
"Ah, yes, great choice." Naunet waved his hand over Rey's vest and the pouch floated over to him. He took out the item inside and held the purple glowing star; the eye in the center was closed. All of Naunet's fiends hissed vilely and stepped away. They clenched their teeth and growled as if they were being threatened.
"What's this?" Naunet looked around at his fiends. "Why are they afraid of this one?" He then looked at Rey Ling. "What is it called?"
"My father called it the Omnistar," Rey replied with a frown. He knew he was defeated but remained calm.
"The Omnistar," Naunet repeated, gazing at the cosmo item. The eye opened, moved its pupil left and right, then closed again. "Interesting jewel. Such an obvious name indicates its element. Of course, this item contains both cosmo and light energy. Its light attribute frightens my fiends."
"How unfortunate," Rey said. "You can keep it as long as you get out of here and never return."
Naunet clenched the Omnistar and chuckled while staring at it. "You know, I was never good at making promises."
"You rotten son of an Ojidana," Rey gasped and tried to swing one of his fists, but his body was still paralyzed.
"Ojidana? In Xaianese I am guessing it means bitch, am I right?" Naunet asked.
Rey could only growl and glare at the heartless masked bastard.
Suddenly, something struck Naunet's mask, forcing him to lose control of his magic. He tumbled then fell on his knees.
Rey Ling was set free from Naunet's spell. He looked to his left and saw Yochan with three armed men holding steel barrels that could shoot missiles much like Rey’s own gadget.
"Lord Ling! Are you alright," Yochan shouted from across the factory.
"No! Run! Just run! Get out of here!" Rey yelled. He lifted his sword and his gadget, then kicked the Omnistar from Naunet's hands. Immediately fiends pounced at him. He dived reaching for the jewel. Naunet grabbed one of his legs. Rey kicked the masked man then crawled like a spider towards the Omnistar.
"My head is aching terribly. Fortunately nothing can penetrate my mask," Naunet said as he stood up with his spear. "What in Necros was that thing?"
"It's called a gun," Rey Ling remarked. He spun on the ground then pointed his weapon at Naunet. As he pulled the trigger, Naunet shifted into black smoke and the missile flew right through him.
Rey Ling placed the Omnistar in his vest pocket again and ran out of the factory. He tossed his sword and reloaded his gun with more ammunition that he had in his boot. He glanced over his shoulder, saw fiends chasing him, and Naunet flying after him in the form of a dark cloud. They were like shadows from the Odanami hunting him and trying to take his soul. Like a tsunami of darkness flooding his factory, and all he could do was run.
As he ran for the exit, he saw one of his inventions. It was an air glider. It was unfinished but Rey grabbed the long wooden board with wings. "Today I am going to make this thing fly, hopefully."
Rey swirled his hand over the wooden board, enchanting it with his maju. "Aerophos aviarias," he whispered the ancient words, calling upon the wind. He threw the board on the floor and it began to spin as wind engulfed it. "Thank heavens father taught me air magic."
He jumped on the wooden glider and, just as he kicked off the ground, canine fiends lunged at him and he shot them down with his gun. With another spell he ascended. On top of the glider he lay on his belly then grabbed the handles on either side. As the glider rose the factory shrank and fiends began to take flight, sprouting wings from their back.
"It's me they want. I must lead them out of town," he plotted.
Rey Ling veered towards the hills just beyond the woods that were near his factory. He flew with the wind lashing at his face, his sleeves ruffling and he adjusted his goggles over his eyes. As long as I focus my air magic, this glider will continue flying.
He glanced back and saw winged fiends, inky and dark bat-like creatures, stalking him. They soared above him then dove with bumpy beaks and boils on their heads. Rey spun in the air, dodging the ugly fiends and, with a kick he cast a pulse of air, pushing them away. It wasn't long before hundreds of them swarmed around him as if to consume him. They were like bees but cawed like birds.
Soon he was inside a globe of fiends, an orb of shadows. He could no longer see the sun and the fiends began attacking him. The cawing became louder and Rey's heart hammered his chest, knowing that he would not survive in this darkness. Then he remembered.
He took out the Omnistar and raised it above his head. When the eye opened, the fiends all around screeched and hissed, backing away. It opened a portal and, without caring about the location, Rey shot through it.
He found himself flying over the factory again. The jewel had its own memory and it always took Rey Ling to wherever he thought was the safest place. He looked back and saw the globe of fiends just a mile away. Then he felt his magic weakening. "Come on, just a little longer." The glider began to descend gradually. "How I wish the queen's army would show up right now."
As he began to fall, Rey spotted Naunet dashing towards him. He shot at Naunet with his gun, but the masked man shifted into black smoke. Rey could feel Naunet's presence behind him. He could feel the cold maju with a murderous intent. He spun and saw his foe shifting to smoke again. From below, a laugh rose. Rey looked down and, as he was distracted, he felt the Omnistar being snatched from his hand.
"No!" he screamed.
Rey spun while standing on his glider, releasing a blast of whirling wind. The smoke cleared and he spotted Naunet. Without hesitation he aimed and pulled the trigger of his gun. Just as his foe was about to disappear again, Naunet was shot in the left arm.
Naunet grunted and Rey could see him grimacing with pain. Rey jumped off his glider, trying to catch Naunet. He caught the masked man's cloak and tried to knock the Omnistar from his hand.
"Get off me!" Naunet growled then flew, shifting into a black cloud.
"You can destroy my factory but I won't let you take my father's treasure," Rey said as he gripped Naunet's neck. They both soared over the town as a dark cloud.
Naunet flew swirling around, up and down, trying to shake Rey Ling off. "You're worse than a leech," Naunet rasped.
&nb
sp; Rey squeezed Naunet's arm and the masked man groaned. Rey was hanging on tight as the flight became wilder. "I am not afraid of heights, I can stay up here all day," Rey remarked.
Rey was trying to aim at Naunet's face but the wind pushed his arm away. Naunet flew all the way down to the street and nearly touched the ground, hoping Rey Ling would get hurt. As they rose, Rey forced his arm up against the wind current, placed the small barrel of the gun on Naunet's chest and pulled the trigger. The sound of the shot echoed through the sky and suddenly their flight stopped and they shifted from a black cloud back to normal. Inside of the black cloud they were solid and, as long as Rey held on, he could damage the masked man. Rey immediately snatched the Omnistar and kicked away from Naunet.
He fell from the sky but he was not far from the ground, about three stories high. Rey saw his landing spot, it was a roof of a farmer who was a friend of his. He turned to land on his back and fell through the roof, landing on top of a dinner table.
With a gun in his left hand and the Omnistar in his right, pain pulsed throughout his body and all he could see was light from the roof he had fallen through.
"Lord Ling, what in heaven's...?" he heard a man's voice as everything blurred and the light faded to darkness.
Omungi Galou, please, I can't die now.
Akielas
"So, they refused?" Eckxio asked as he held Willow's cold hands.
"The Effeelions refused but Caim has a mind of his own," Akielas said. "I am sure he will change his mind regardless of what the Effeelions say.
Back in the sanctum, Akielas sat with Eckxio and Auron, drinking shy leaf tea around his crystal ball. Shy leaf was a plant used for relaxation, to calm the mind, reduce anxiety and even helped those who drank to fall asleep on troubled nights.
Willow's body was in a sleeping bag. She was an empty shell now. Her body was getting cold and Akielas saw that Eckxio was worried. It was not just Willow that the Elf worried about, he did not know how he would defend her and himself now. Eckxio's Tharos sword and shield were broken by the Specters. The gorgon eye that he used to absorb maju had exploded and marred his left arm and face. Not only did he have a scar running from the left side of his forehead down his nose and to his right cheek, but now he had cuts and burns on his left cheek. Even his left pointy ear was red with cuts.
Spirit of Mages (Rift of Chaos Book 2) Page 7