Ember closed her palms around something, and it filled her with the sensation of relief. All the other entities nearby mimicked the Mage’s behavior, calming as she did. “Yes. You, you are perfect.”
Ever so barely parting her hands, she kissed her chosen creature sweetly. “Fly. Find. Give, and let me know.”
She released the chosen just as a blackened skeletal arm punched its way out of the ground. Angered by how the undead thought it was wise to delay her further, she altered her vision. Ember saw a great multitude of unfriendly shambling shapes come up from the ruined, burning ground. Survivors that had been buried instead of having the decency to be crushed. There was an unpleasantly great number of them, and most were crawling from the place Jian had once stood.
She didn’t have time for this, and she was seeing thousands, and thousands more crawl from the ground. Some of them didn’t stand up to the Manastorm, but far too many did. While Ember didn’t know it, removing ‘Favor’ as an intermediary had latched the skeletal control of the fallen horde to someone a tier higher on the rung. Someone with actual power was now holding the reins of these puppets, and the increased power tier connecting to the undead boosted their power, blackening their bones in the process. What Ember did know was that she’d seen the effect before. This wasn’t her first anti-undead war.
Unlike the last time, she looked around. Where previously she’d faced such a group alone, this time she had an impromptu army of her own; eager and willing to receive identity. Her words were terse and with her little sweetling carrying the fate of all her hopes on its tiny wings, she did something she was good at. No, something she was excellent at. It was time for war. “Destroy all undead. Everywhere. Forever.”
Sapience burst into being within the army of the Eternal Pyre. They chose to call themselves this as they received Ember’s strength through an utterly overabundant stream of Mana. While it was ordinarily folly to give anything enough power to self-sustain past the point where easy control was ineffective, Ember did not care. She was not here to babysit, she was here to survive. Her hand slowly reached out, and a blazing suit of armor dropped to a knee, offering fealty and blade.
Ember had wanted a swordspear, but subconsciously she knew that it was swords that were held by the hand of a leader. She didn’t know why it was that weapon specifically which inspired such a connection, but that is what her subconscious told her. Ember took the jian. Granted by a soldier that knew no fear, knew not what it was like to tire, knew not of disloyalty. It, like every other scorching entity was an inferno of purpose. Together or not, they would fight and persist to the last drop of their Mana before fizzling out.
Their duty was paramount. It was prime. The Eternal Pyre turned to face its enemy, and a spark of righteous might flickered with the touch of celestial influence from within them. Lifting the jian, Ember rose the tip to the sky and twisted on her heel. Her order boomed through what was now a valley, and individualism bloomed in each burning warrior as they set forth to carry out the order.
“Charge!
Chapter Eleven
The world caved in. Blight was crushed, entrapped, and smothered in the avalanche of dirt, rock, and… heat? The Skyspear survivors didn’t have the luxury to really think about it as the massive cavity they occupied decided to cease being a cavity.
Huddled together, screams and outpoured Essence were all that kept a hexagon shaped area of space from collapsing in on itself. Earth Essence students and anyone with even a hint of an earth affinity was pouring out energy to support those who were trying to keep them all alive.
The shape they occupied cramped and crunched to become smaller and smaller, but now was not the time to be picky. People were shouting as emergency backup ideas sprung into existence. Ideas certain people had never wished to use again; had hoped they’d never use again.
Ali had been the saving grace, shouting the intended hexagonal shape out with the idea of repulsing earthen matter in that particular formation. It was just a shape, they could do shapes. All the earth Essence students had been through the ringer when the self-important Cataphron had still been a quasi-instructor.
That man wasn’t one for treating his students like anything other than expendable workhorses. However, it did make for exceptionally gifted students that had been forced to work their butts off in an attempt to sate their instructor. A feat much harder than the critical predicament they found themselves in now, and this was do or die.
Everyone was tired, but tired wasn’t a good enough reason not to challenge fate when it was bearing down on you with unknowable tons of dirt. To Astrea’s surprise, it had not been the impending threat of being crushed to death that was the most dangerous thing in their little hexagon. Oh no, that had come when her Fringe elder spat out an idea—or maybe an imperative—that made them believe he may have gone insane. A real Fringe order.
“Everyone give me your refined Essence so I can give it to the earth affinities!” While the earth affinity students led by Ali didn’t see this as too big of a problem, considering they were all holding the ceiling up, everyone else did not like what had just been demanded. Another student snapped at their Headmaster.
“That’s not possible!”
Jiivra was far less inquisitive on the how or the why. If there was anyone who could pull off such a strange idea, it was certainly the codger. Worst of all, deep down in her soul, she somehow felt responsible for this mess.
“Explain how, now!” While most others were still coping with personal concerns, Jiivra lived in the moment. If they could get enough refined Essence to the people currently keeping them alive, the only bottleneck given they were plenty motivated, they could make it out of this! Seeing the looks sent her way, she snapped back at the students. “Personal growth is worthless if you didn’t live to use it!”
Artorian responded, his left hand pressed against the back of the earth student showing the most physical strain; a good indicator they were bottoming out. “Razor! When I tell you, drop into active cultivation! I need you to pull.”
Concern washed over the young man’s face, as his current efforts were entirely dedicated to preventing imminent death. Active cultivation was going to force him out of helping, and stuff him full of corruption. This was not a place to turn the technique on!
Even if it was underground, and otherwise likely perfect for earth Essence, underground was still just too dangerous, you had no idea what sort of rogue elements could be at play. He also was one of the students with two affinity channels: earth and fire. Starting his cycle without fire present was just… abyss!
“Headmaster, I don’t think that’s-”
His reply was cut short by a surprisingly calm voice as the Headmaster spoke. “My boy, do you trust me?”
Razor felt his teeth click together as his jaw snapped shut. He closed his eyes, reassessed his life, and exhaled a reply. This was a hill, and he might have a chance to save people even if it meant… oddities. He chose to fight and die on this hill. “Just say when, Headmaster.”
A nod was all the reply he got before Artorian’s right hand reached out for anyone willing to grasp it. Jiivra clasped it and felt the pull. What a… familiar sensation. She could do the opposite of this. Healing was giving, and this… this was taking. She didn’t have the time to ask what she needed to do; instruction flowed from the old man like water down a stream.
“Drop your Aura, all of it. Let my Presence connect to your hand, and just shove. Shove refined Essence into your hand like you’re trying to charge grip strength. You’re going to feel like you’re losing it… because you are. I’m going to channel all your refined Essence straight into Razor’s spine so it floods his center.”
Jiivra got the jist, but Razor froze up. “Do… do I need to drop something?”
He felt a supportive tap against his spine. “I’m already through the little you had in place. You didn’t get to the stage where Auras are important yet, just don’t resist, and pull! In three… two…”
Jiivra dumped refined Essence into her hand exactly as she would if trying to vastly empower her grip strength. Since Artorian had only specified ‘refined’, that’s all she fueled. Her ranks dropped so fast that she felt nauseous and sick, but the glow on the old man’s Aura strengthened. Soothing comfort washed over everyone present, and that did wonders for morale.
“One… now!”
Razor took a shuddering breath, and prepared to get wrecked. He dropped his support to the group technique, but his addition had been so minimal that the loss wasn’t noticed. Can’t help without Essence, even if the structural pattern of the effect was boosted via inclusion. While in his center, Razor began to pull, dipping into active cultivation.
The shuddered breath hiccupped into a sharp inhale. His ranks jumped! Again and again his power flooded until he felt like he was drowning. His entire center was drenched in refined Essence, the influx ending when there was roughly no more room left for it to go. It could have gone into his cells, but while it was in the center it was ready for immediate use. For a cultivator at Razor’s level, that’s exactly where it needed to be for him to be useful.
“Razor! Stop cultivating! Hexagon!” The student snapped out of it, reactively slapping his hands back on the hexagonal shape of their little self-made prison cell. He flooded the technique with enough juice to suddenly be of significant assistance to the rest of the team. He smiled wide; now this was helping!
“Ali, you’re next! Don’t pretend I don’t see that sweat! Jii, let go! You’re too close to dropping below your death plane Essence level. You dying is not worth the rest of us making it. Someone else grab my hand!”
Jiivra weakly trembled as her hand released. Her hand felt desiccated and cramped. Letting go was so, so difficult to do. A great amount of Skyspear students couldn’t give Essence without hitting the death plane, but since their combat instructor had set the example, those who could, did. Astrea stepped in to follow suit.
Her ability had been forcibly cut along with the destruction of their surroundings, so she knew their foe was going to quickly recover now that she wasn’t actively causing problems for it. She’d likely not manage to fire her nightmare effect off a second time. The chance the Caligene’s mental defenses would be ‘as down’ a second time was unlikely even in the best circumstances.
Astrea grabbed hold of her grandfather’s hand, and joined Jiivra after a weakened tumble. Seven ranks had vanished from her body in a flash, and the loss had been violently disorienting. She dropped like a rock, caught by now prepared students after seeing it happen the first time. Their little hole wasn’t much of a hexagon right now; more a squeezed down bubble that was trying to bounce back into shape.
Ali’s improved output became a turning point when she woke back up from active cultivation. Slamming fresh Essence into the technique once more. Alone, this would not have been successful. As a group? It made all the difference.
Sharing their ranks wasn’t something they wanted to do, not really. Still, refined Essence was transferred to the students whose skills were directly relevant to all of them making it out of this predicament. When the ground tremors ceased, the strain on students holding the hexagon together visibly lessened. Razor and some of his friends groaned, falling to their butts to recover. Ali exhaled out relief, and coughed out the first spot of good news: “The crushing stopped. We’re stable.”
Astrea pushed herself up against the slanted dirt wall, very much aware they weren’t out of this yet. “What’s next? We might not be doing so well on air.”
Eyes turned to their Headmaster, who was doing something… odd. Then again, judgement was withheld since odd might be exactly what they needed. He was whispering to some of the moss? Alright, maybe not that kind of odd.
Touching it with a finger, a luminous plasma wave sparked along the bleached greenery, which glowed in response as a pulse shot through the rock and stone surrounding them. He grit his jaw, borrowed Essence cycling in his eyes. “Abyss. I have the worst of it against earth. Earth affinity students, which one of you can cycle Essence into their eyes well enough to find the closest cavity or passage?”
The huddled mass of students broke into hushed arguments amongst themselves, pointing out strengths and flaws. Boasting was no good here, as they needed to pin down exactly who had the skill set for the next task. They were also aware they were about to lose whatever refined Essence they might have left, so it was a swift game of pass-the-baton.
Jiminus became the final choice. Artorian couldn’t say he was surprised, given the lad was the second earth and fire affinity mix. He did not like the Blight, but there was something to that one statement it had gleefully lectured him about: affinity channels were everything.
That thought was dismissed. No amount of natural gifts could beat out sustained practice and hard effort. Artorian momentarily considered a well-trained single-affinity user and an untrained all-affinity user, and didn’t like that he’d probably just… proven the Blight correct.
He despised how much accurate information that awful mass had given him. Lies would have easily been dealt with. That annoying blob likely deduced as much, and had told him mostly truths, successfully unseating him from a position of comfort. The gall. He loved comfort! “Jiminus, you’re up. Do you know what you’re doing?”
The boy jumped up and shuffled closer. “Find a cavity or open space closest to this position so someone else can tunnel to it before we run out of air.”
That shut the Headmaster up. Both because it was grim, and… right on the nose. No other explanation or questions were needed, so Artorian channeled refined Essence into Jim’s spine. The boy needed as much Essence as his eyes could hold.
It took a few minutes, but the announcement arrived nice and quick. “I’ve got something.”
The congregation thought that was… too fast? They didn’t complain, fast was good! Artorian’s curiosity still got the better of him. He had to know. “So swiftly? How did you accomplish this?”
Jiminus pointed at a hexagonal corner going down. Sharply down. Down was not a good direction to go, but if it meant a new source of air… new sources of air were a positive.
“While it’s not the closest, there’s a tunnel network there that has remained mostly intact. It’s a metal tunnel rather than an earthen one, so it held up against the crushing. When I cycle my vision, I normally see all the rock. I had the thought to invert it instead, so instead of the rock, I see the empty space as big black blobs while the earth is just see through. I couldn’t do this without so much Essence powering me.”
Razor frowned as Artorian cut in. “Why aren’t we taking the closest?”
That sentiment was shared by a few, but Jiminus started moving his hand in a wavy circle. “The closest one is actually right on the other side of that part of the hexagonal wall, but particles of dirt are somehow very wildly swirling inside of it. It reminds me a lot of…”
“Blight,” Astrea pitched in, finishing Jim’s sentence. She was squinting at the wall, confirming the worry with a thumbs down. She was cycling the bare minimum she could, but it was more than enough for her to pick up the flailing infernal cloud on the other side. “Definitely Blight. Very active, not happy. If that came into contact with something it could consume… that’s the end of our road. Jiminus did a good job not choosing that direction.”
With that information, Astrea pulled some of her refined Essence back. There was a limited amount to go around, but that was incredibly important information for their survival. She regarded her grandfather, and swallowed, “Call it, old man.”
Artorian smiled and nodded at her. His hands went to Razor and Ali’s backs, and Essence fluxed into their centers. “Get us to that metal tube.”
Chapter Twelve
Fresh air met them as Ali and Razor pried apart the stubborn wall of metal. The headache they all shared began to fade as the influx of breathable space provided exactly what they needed. Air students had pulled the breathable ox
ygen along with them, but were glad for a break as the tunnel behind their backs filled in. There was no other way to make a tunnel, that dirt needed somewhere to go.
Skyspear students spilled into the sizable metal tube as soon as they were able. It was malformed and difficult to traverse, but they didn’t care. This tunnel offered one more step on the path to survival. Jiivra called out, “Jiminus, Astrea, where to?”
“Not that way, for certain.” Astrea tiredly pointed at the tail end of the dark tunnel while holding the side of her head with her free hand. The lack of air hadn’t done her any good, and she was the only one who didn’t currently benefit from her grandfather’s soothing Aura. Sure it was… nice. Her infernal Essence simply didn’t agree.
Jiminus spent a little longer looking around as the rest of the students spilled in. He had less Essence to work with, but made due. Some of it needed to go back to the tunnelers for them to actually make it. Well, they’d made it. “I’m seeing nothing from this position, I can’t even see what Astrea is talking about. If we can walk to the mouth end that goes up a little, I might see something after some climbing. For now, it’s all bad in all directions.”
With no better options, they made their way up the tunnel. The passage lacked the expected cave thematic. No stalactites or stalagmites, no damp walls or anything of the sort. Just a big, fat tunnel that seemed to go on forever in an upwards direction they were happy about; it meant plenty of air.
“Hold up… I see an opening.” Jiminus pointed at the ceiling, but Astrea didn’t agree.
“No good. It is there, just not moving. There’s a big patch of nothing past that though.”
The earth and fire affinity student grumbled, “Also no other open space that I can see nearby. We…”
He stopped when Astrea squeezed his shoulder, her head snapping to look behind her. Her voice carried the same tone from when she was calling out instructions to avoid infernal tentacles. “We need to run. It got in, and it’s catching up fast.”
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