Sol Lands

by Riker Kane

  “Maybe I’ll live to be a hundred. But I always wondered what life would be like. Will I really meet a girl and settle down?”

  “I can introduce you to a Chenain if you want. Or maybe a Maloran. They’d be especially open to meeting an available man. Wild people, those Malorans.” Thinking about how ‘passionate’ the Malorans were brought a smile to my face.

  But Yuma stayed focused on his rod, his mind occupied by something heavier. “That sounds like fun. Or maybe there’s something else.”

  “You mean Pandora…” I took a seat on the sand next to him. “The Shadows are still out there even though we haven’t had to deal with any lately. Navica will always be safe as long as I’m around, if that’s what you’re concerned about.”

  “That hasn’t stopped everybody from training.”

  “Better to be on the safe side.”

  “Yeah…” He slowly turned toward me. “How about you, Virgil?”

  “Me?” I raised an eyebrow.

  “Sure. Lemme ask you this. If you could choose, would you wanna settle down in Navica and live the rest of your days here? Or would you rather pay back your debt as Ultima, save Iorus, then go back to where you came from?”

  “Big question, Yuma.”

  “Oh. I didn’t mean it like that—”

  “It’s all right,” I said with a chuckle. “That’s something I haven’t thought too much about. It’s crossed my mind but there’s no telling how long I’ll be Ultima. Maybe eternity…”

  “Do you regret it?”

  Yuma’s question made me stop to consider. At the time, it wasn’t a decision to make. Becoming the Battle God was the only way to save Iorus—and Earth in the process. But having powers that would outrank even a Prime Omega was a responsibility that most wouldn’t want for longer than they needed it.

  “I don’t regret it,” I said. “I would’ve made the same choice a hundred times out of a hundred. It’s nice being able to walk without a limp. I could fly even. Not even Omegas can do that. But if I could choose between eternal peace and being Ultima, I’d pick the former.”

  Yuma grinned with a nod of approval. “They say the best ones to wield power are the ones who don’t want it. Helps keep you focused.”

  “I’m focused, Yuma. You don’t need to worry about that. If anything, I’m beginning to wonder if there are any fish out there. We’ve been out for an hour and haven’t gotten a single bite. What are the chances the whole sea is empty?”

  “Maybe you should take a dip and see what’s down there.”

  “Ha! Funny how I’ve got the powers of every element but chilly water makes me step back. I’m just fine where I am, thanks.”

  “We’ll catch something, even if it takes all night. I’m not interested in everybody berating us if we come back with nothing. Something’s out there.”

  I looked out toward the water and watched the waves rippling over and over. “Something’s out there…” I kept staring and saw something shifting around in the sparkling blue water. Through the white foam and all the waves, it started to get clearer.

  I stood up and narrowed my eyes to get a better look at it.

  “You leaving?” Yuma asked.

  “No… There’s something out there.”

  “Yeah, I can feel a fish coming.”

  “No. I think I see a boat.”

  “A boat? What’s a boat doing in eastern waters?”

  “Has anybody left Navica besides us?”

  Yuma shook his head. “As far as I know, you and I are the only ones who left for the night.”

  The uncertainty of what was out there twisted my stomach into a knot. I couldn’t just stand here and do nothing. It was more than my curiosity getting the better of me.

  All it took was a little focus to activate the Life Rune lodged in my chest and become Ultima. White metal plates formed from the shimmering golden jewel in my chest. The metal covered me from my toes all the way to my neck. Even with how sturdy it was, the material inside molded to my skin and clothes like it was a part of me.

  My feet pushed me into the air and I sailed over the water toward the boat. Flying drained my endurance but I had more than enough to make it. I estimated it must have been at least three hundred yards away. But I kept my head down and pushed, closing the distance quickly.

  The closer I got to the boat, the clearer how bad of shape it was in. The wood was splintering as the waves battered it. The mast had been torn apart. Every rush of the tides flooded the small deck.

  As I hovered above it, I could see a man laying there. He was in a tunic and a pair of shorts, tattered and soaked in water. I rushed to kneel next to him and saw he was an older man. Head bald and wrinkled with age. White whiskers on his chin and cheeks. Skin tan and weathered. His face was gaunt like he hadn’t eaten in days.

  His mouth half-open, his teeth were chipped and gnarled. It was hard to tell he was even alive. That didn’t matter though.

  I scooped him up and flew back to shore as fast as I could.

  Yuma rushed up to me, eyes wide and face full of panic. “Who is that?”

  “I don’t know.” I laid the stranger down in the sand.

  “Is he still alive?”

  “Barely. I’ll take him back—”

  BANG!

  A loud crack of thunder in the night sky made me turn my head. I looked out to the water and saw the gray clouds billowing in the black sky. A line of purple lightning struck the water and sent a wave rippling out in every direction.

  I kept watching as a figure dropped down into the water. I didn’t see it clearly—but I didn’t have to. It was a Shadow.

  “Yuma, start helping this man to Navica. I’ll meet you on the way.”

  “Okay.” Yuma nodded and took the stranger in his arms. Despite how lanky Yuma was, he didn’t have trouble with the stranger, who was frail enough not to be a burden.

  While Yuma hustled on the path back to Navica, I stayed on the shore and watched as the figure headed toward me. I could see it clearly above the surface of the water. An irregular-shaped head like a chipped boulder. It was a smooth, featureless face except for the two glowing purple eyes.

  The closer it got to shore, the more of it began to emerge from the water. A giant frame made of black stones. Arms made of thick black bricks big enough to crush an entire car. The same for its legs. It stomped toward the shore in my direction, every step shaking the sand around me.

  “It’s been a long time since I fought a Golem.” I raised a hand and used my Radiant Channel.

  With the power granted to me as Ultima, I could control all of the elements and use them for attacks. Frozen Jet for water. Rock Bursts for stones. Dark Beams for the dark element. Radiant Beams for the light element. And fireballs for, of course, fire. I decided to go with a light beam for my first attack.

  My Radiant Beam shimmered like a rainbow, piercing through the center of the Golem’s chest like a laser. I blew a hole right through it but it kept moving forward. Both of its hands went into the air over its head. I knew what was coming next.

  I darted to the side just as the stone fists came crashing down. The ground quaked and sand scattered in a cloud in every direction.

  “All right… Try this on for size.”

  I raised my palm and summoned a pile of bowling ball-sized rocks in front of me. I sent the stones forward and crashed them against the Golem. They pelted its black frame and slowed it down some, chipping away some of the smooth stones covering its body.

  But it persisted, raising its hands again for another attack.

  “Why don’t you just stay down, eh?” I flew into the air as the fists came down on me then switched to a Frozen Jet. The burst of white energy focused on its head, the Golem’s head began to freeze solid.

  “Now we’re getting somewhere.”

  I activated my Spectral Summon. Along with being able to channel all of the elements, I could summon a familiar with those same elements. Fire Birds. Ice Owls. Dark Vipers. Stone Gole
ms of my own. And a Light Clone that could mimic me.

  I went with a Fire Bird this time.

  “Go!”

  The flaming familiar floated in the sky next to me, arms splayed out majestically like a small phoenix, then darted right at the Golem. A streak of flames followed it before it crashed into the Golem’s frozen head. Chunks of frozen rocks scattered in every direction.

  The Golem raised both hands to respond but suddenly seized in place. A few moments later, its entire body changed into Mana orbs that littered the shore.

  I floated back down to the ground and deactivated the Life Rune as I collected all of the Mana. The fight with the Golem wasn’t challenging but when I looked out toward the water, I couldn’t shake the unnerving feeling that there was something else out there. Who was I kidding? Something else was out there. I had half-a-mind to go scouting but instead decided to return to Navica to check on the stranger. I had some questions that needed answering.

  3: The Other Side Of Iorus

  A black-iron cauldron bubbled with fresh stew over an open fire. The aroma of pork, fresh vegetables, and spices wafted through the air in the pub. Everybody had cleared out to their own spot in the spacious building, which had since been expanded upon over the past year. A hundred Navicans could fit inside here now, though there were never any celebrations that called for everybody to be in here all at once.

  In the corner of the pub, just a few feet away from the burning fire, Rhiannon, Zafina, and I stared at the stranger from the sea. He’d been dried off with a bundle of linens draped over him and sat right next to the flames. Despite that, he shivered with an undeniable cold. The long fingers cupping his bowl of stew were as thin as the rest of his body. Long nails with dirt underneath them were just one indication he’d been out at sea for a long time. His hand shook with weakness, stuck between trying to satisfy his ravenous appetite and being strong enough to hold it. But with every spoonful into his mouth, there was some semblance of strength slowly returning to him.

  A big spoonful of the hearty stew made him chew for a few seconds before he let out a deep sigh through his nose. He creaked his head to look up at me. His sudden smile was reassuring though I still had so many questions.

  “Thank you.” His voice was strained like he hadn’t spoken in weeks. “You saved my life.”

  “It’s fortunate I was out on the coast,” I said. “I imagine others would have come to your aid if they were there though, so there’s no need to thank me.”

  “Then the people in your land are truly different.”

  “My name is Virgil. This is Rhiannon and Zafina.”

  He bowed his head. “I am Guillard.”

  “Guillard.” I knelt next to him. “I don’t suppose I can ask you about your land, your people, and what you’re doing out here.”

  Despite his broken teeth, he had a kind smile that made his cheeks wrinkle like a friend I’d known for years. “Even if you hadn’t saved my life, I would answer all of the questions you have for me. I have sailed here from the east.”

  “That makes sense, since that’s where we found you.”

  “The eastern lands,” Zafina said. “You are from the Sol Lands?”

  “The Sol Lands?” The old man shrugged and heaped another spoonful into his mouth. “Is that what you call them?”

  “How can you be from the eastern lands and not know what they are called?” Rhiannon asked.

  “I was not born in the eastern lands,” he said. “But I sailed there from here.”

  Even after a second of thinking about it, it still didn’t make sense to me. “If you’re not from the eastern lands, where are you from?” I asked.

  The old man paused as he chewed, his eyes staring blankly into the flame. Whatever he was thinking, he was giving himself a lot of time. “…I am from another world.”

  It should’ve been strange but I wasn’t in any position to talk. “I’m not from Iorus either.”

  “Iorus… Yes… That is the name we’ve heard. That is where we are. I come from a world that was called Qashia.”

  “Was called?”

  Guillard lowered his bowl, his eyes still focused on the flames dancing in front of him. His lips turned into a subtle frown. That was all I needed to see to know he didn’t have a happy story to tell me.

  “We prospered,” he said. “Our lives were simple, if ordinary. Everything changed when the other world arrived. Great beasts appeared. They destroyed our cities and worlds. Centuries of civilizations, gone in an instant. We tried to fight back but we did not possess the means. Our capabilities with Mana did not match theirs.

  “So we did the only thing we could do. Our greatest thinkers were able to open a gate to another world. Any world was better than a destroyed Qashia. And now my people are here.”

  “Pandora attacked and you had to flee,” I said. “How long ago was that?”

  “Not long. Perhaps a few months.”

  “Months? Then you’ve only just arrived recently…”

  “That doesn’t answer everything,” Rhiannon said in a stern voice. “The Sol Lands are at least a week’s travel away. What would make you sail across the sea by yourself?”

  Guillard spooned more of his stew into his mouth. He seemingly regained most of his strength though the somberness in his eyes remained.

  “We escaped those from the other world. Yet when we arrived, everything descended into chaos. Our families were lost. Our homes destroyed. The very base of our society had been shaken down to its core. There are hundreds of those from Qashia who survived. None of them could agree on what would be best to move our people forward. We traded a war with the other dimension for a war among ourselves.

  “It has not been long but the situation is already dire. So I did the only thing I could. I loaded up a small boat and sailed west in hopes of finding another sign of life or land… for help.”

  “That was a big risk,” I said. “You had no idea what you were looking for.”

  “I am still alive. Others begged me to stay but I did this for my people.” He slowly turned to look up at me. “Qashia has been ravaged. I can never return to the world I knew. But as long as I am alive, I will have a memory of it. As do the others. I will do whatever it takes to keep that memory alive.”

  I stared into the older man’s eyes and saw how hurt he was. But I could see a determination in him, too. The same determination that somehow got him here.

  “I fear it may all be for naught,” he sighed. “I am here. Had you not saved me, I would have certainly perished. I have no means to return to what you call the Sol Lands and contact my brethren. I would hope for them to wait for me but they have better reason to assume my body is at the bottom of the sea.”

  I wasn’t about to let him give up now. “Maybe there’s another way.”

  ~ ~ ~

  The white dimension of Zion was spotless. It was kind of unnerving for everything to go on and on with seemingly no end. Sometimes I thought about what would happen if the floor suddenly disappeared. Would I just keep falling for eternity? This is what I imagined purgatory was like.

  Thankfully, Zion was completely free of any threats. Harps played from no direction in particular to provide a peaceful ambiance. A crystal orb sitting on a podium behind me allowed me passage back to Navica if the gods didn’t bring me here by their will. And a digital display in front of me like a big-screen TV reminded me I wasn’t alone.

  A thin blue line ran across the black screen as a representation of Cybil’s voice. Cybil was one of the original gods who’d created Iorus. Now I was on a first-name basis with her. Funny how things moved along so quickly.

  I stood with my arms crossed after giving her all of the details I’d heard. “Guillard said he came here seeking help. If there are more people from Qashia, I want to do what I can to save them. That’s assuming Guillard’s story is true in the first place. Can you verify it?”

  “I recently sensed a surge of power in the east.” The line oscillated on the
screen as Cybil’s ethereal voice came through. “I cannot tell you whether or not Guillard’s story is true but there is a presence. I’m afraid I cannot offer you more insight. The power it took to give you the strength needed to defeat the World Destroyer has limited my omnipotence.”

  “If it’s limited, it’s not omnipotence,” I sighed as I put my hands on my hips. “I suppose I could just use my Mana to teleport to the Sol Lands and see for myself.”

  “I would advise against that. The eastern lands are a great distance away and would drain even you of significant Mana. Though you are Ultima, your levels are not high enough for that kind of physical transport. Should you find yourself in a precarious situation that would require an immediate return, you would not be able to do so.”

  “Then what do you suggest?”

  “You can still travel to the Sol Lands. I would recommend you do it by normal means. I detect several available Mana Points. From there, you would be able to freely travel between there, Valen, and Zion. Having Ultima there will also strengthen my ability to read the land, since you are an arbiter of the power within Zion.”

  “Go to the Sol Lands and set the Mana Points. See what’s out there for myself.” I stopped to think about it even though there wasn’t much to think about.

  “What is on your mind, Ultima?”

  “…I believe Guillard. I know there’s someone or something out there he wants to save. Nobody would turn into Christopher Columbus just to lure me into a trap. If the Heralds wanted a piece of me, they would do it right here.”

  “The truth about Guillard’s arrival appears as he told you. Though you are not walking into a trap, there will be danger in the Sol Lands if he was willing to risk himself to escape it.”

  “Now it’s a matter of figuring out what that danger is… It’s been a long time since I’ve looked at my stats. Show me, Cybil.”

  Ultima

  Level 60 Battle God

  Hit Points 300

  Endurance 200

  Earth (Strength) 20