by D N Meinster
"Yes!" Rikki replied, and she held her staff horizontally so everyone could get their hand on it. "Grab on!" She thought back to the place where they'd been forced through decontamination.
"Why do we need to go back there?" Doren asked, deflecting an incoming beam with his shield.
"They're going to kill Yuurei!" she cried out, and she wrapped her hand around Rikki's staff.
When Aros and Doren had their hands on her staff as well, they began to fade away, leaving the chrome men alone on the damaged transport.
Chapter Ten
Roamer Rescue
The unwelcoming walls of Belliore's hospital faded into view. Yet the dull white that composed the empty corridor was a soothing sight to the four of them as they finished shifting. There were no chrome men around nor employees to call for them.
Aros let go of Rikki's staff and bent over, allowing the distress of their previous location to drain away. Between the highbrow words that the intangible eDat had spouted and the attack from living metal that was shaped like men, Aros was entirely dumbfounded and overstressed. Wanting to leave every new kingdom as soon as he arrived and return home to Kytheras was becoming a tradition. Were there worse things that awaited them in Terrastream and the Twilight Islands?
"Do you know what floor you brought us to?" M'dalla asked while she held a sleeve to one of the cuts on her face.
"No," Rikki replied as she looked over the Roamer. "I can heal those for you."
"I can deal with them," M'dalla responded. "Now, come on. We have to find the elevator."
"The what?" Doren asked while he tried to smooth out his hair.
"You don't know?" she responded, not sure if they were serious. "It's the room that carries you from floor-to-floor."
"El-ev-ate-or," Aros carefully repeated. These Bellish had made up a lot of words to describe their bizarre environment. "Why not call is something simple, like lifting room?"
"I'm not Bellish. I can't answer your questions," M'dalla said with some impatience. "Now, let's go!" She scurried down the corridor to find the elevator.
Aros didn't move without glancing at Doren and Rikki first. Were they all supposed to follow her? Did they really want to save Yuurei, M'dalla, or any other Roamer? This group had no problem fighting them or fighting alongside them. Their allegiances were unclear. They did not seem to be Thalians, but they were clearly working toward their own agenda. And it might not have been the same one as Aros and his friends, despite what they said. "Should we?"
Doren, too, looked to Rikki.
"You always look to me," she noted before dashing after M'dalla.
"There's your answer," Doren said and he chased after her.
Aros nodded and then followed in Doren's footsteps. All of their hurried lunges reverberated throughout the empty passageway but failed to catch the attention of any Bellish that may have been nearby. Had this area been intentionally abandoned? Aros wondered what could be behind each of the unmarked doors as they passed. This could have been the area where they'd decontaminated him. It all looked the same. He pushed those memories from his mind and kept going. If he was going to flashback to anywhere, he wanted it to be to somewhere with Leidess.
M'dalla was waving her arms around in front of a blank door. "It won't open," she snarled, and she began punching the plain metal.
"Allow me," Rikki said, going up to M'dalla's side and extending her staff. With a slight flick, the door opened, revealing the interior of the elevator.
M'dalla bolted inside. "Floor sixteen," she shouted as the rest of them shuffled in.
"Restricted access," the eDat's voice responded. "Please confirm identity."
"Dammit," M'dalla growled, and she began twirling her flail.
Aros started reaching for Rikki's staff, figuring she was going to have to shift them somewhere again. He didn't mind the temporary paralysis so much as the genuine surprise he felt every time they wound up somewhere different.
But Rikki tugged her staff away from Aros. "I have an idea." The crystal on her necklace began to glow before she spoke again. "This is Director Keisler," she said in the Director's voice. "Confirming transportation to floor sixteen."
"Confirmed," the eDat replied, and the room began its descent.
"Fascinating," M'dalla stated, ogling Rikki.
Both Aros and Doren stared at their friend, impressed by her abilities.
"I didn't know I could do that until Emperor Boramo's voice came out of me," Rikki said with a shrug.
Aros recalled how she had ended the civil war in Faunli by speaking in their deceased Emperor's voice and disclosing the Korona dynasty's greatest secret. So he'd seen her speak as someone else before. He simply wasn't expecting her to do it again. "Can you speak as any of us?"
The light at her neck flickered and when she spoke again, it was in Doren's voice. "I can mimic anyone's voice, including the Prince."
"That's damn useful," M'dalla said. "Think you could copy more than their voice?"
"What?" Rikki replied, still using Doren's voice. "You mean polymorph?"
"That's exactly what I mean."
"Can you cut that out?" Doren begged.
"Sorry," Rikki said, the light on her necklace weakening until it was out. She let out her own unique giggle.
Aros looked away from her, his thoughts immediately going to a far more desperate place. Could she replicate Leidess' voice? He'd want to hear it again, even if it wasn't her speaking. He wanted it to exist outside of his memory. But would it hurt more knowing it wasn't real? Magenine already gave them some extra time together. Was this a step too far?
He debated if he could ever ask Rikki to speak as Leidess when the elevator opened up on the sixteenth floor. It appeared exactly as the floor they had left, and if the eDat hadn't announced they were somewhere else, they might never have known it.
"This way," M'dalla said as she lunged out of the elevator and down the hall. Presumably, she was leading them to Yuurei. But it could've been a setup. Aros and his friends remained wary of their new associate, and they all stayed several paces back while they followed her.
Aros glanced at Rikki a couple times, thinking of what he could say to her about Leidess. But as he did, he noticed he wasn't the only one keeping an eye on her. Every few seconds, Doren was looking at her. And there was something in his eyes when he did. Something familiar.
"That's far enough," a commanding growl called out from up ahead.
M'dalla had stalled mere feet away from a man dressed in unique platinum armor. There appeared to be squares etched into it, but they were actually cubes that would spin in place after a couple moments of inactivity. His entire body was covered in them, including his neck and his cranium. Only his face was exposed, so his short, shapely beard and rounded nose were in full view.
"I told you!" Rikki cried out.
Aros knew exactly what she was referencing. Though it was a different color, that armor was exactly like what Uterak had worn.
"Brag later," Doren said, and he flipped the shield off his back and into his grip.
Aros followed along, withdrawing both clawblades and waiting to attack.
M'dalla's flail dangled from her hand, the spiked ball lightly scratching the floor as it awaited use. "Where's Yuurei?"
"You do not have permission to be here," the man said. He focused on the three Kytherans. "Please, it's for your own safety."
"Who are you?" Doren demanded.
"I am Lodmac Cron, the Director of Security in Belliore," he replied.
Aros' arms fell to his side. They needed this director's support to retrieve the Key. Aros may not have been the wisest among his friends, but he knew that it was a bad idea to pick a fight with someone whose help you needed. "We might be on the wrong side of this."
"You are," Lodmac insisted. "I'll escort you off this floor. If you'll allow me..." He tried to get past M'dalla, but she wasn't moving.
"They might not care what happens to Yuurei, but I do," she told the Dire
ctor. "Where is he?"
"We got what we needed, but there's nothing more we can do for him," Lodmac said. "He's to be eradicated."
Rikki and Doren both aimed their weapons, so Aros hoisted his swords again and readied to use them. He wasn't sure why they cared so much about Yuurei, but he understood that what the Bellish were about to do to him was morally wrong.
"I see, " Lodmac said, taking an overview of his opponents. "You all retain the ancient Ghumaic ideals about morality. How unfortunate for you."
Two more Bellish in matching armor appeared in the hall, though theirs was tinged a few shades darker. However, more than just their outfits matched. These two had the exact same face as Lodmac, except they were hairless and slightly more youthful. But their sunken eyes were identical to his.
Aros might've been startled if they hadn't noticed so many of the same faces before. "Clones," he whispered to himself, though he remained unsure of the meaning of the word.
"One more chance," Lodmac said as cubes began to rise up from his armor.
M'dalla whipped her arm forward and the flail crashed into Lodmac's chest.
The Director was unfazed, and the cubes in his armor floated into the air and launched themselves at the Roamer. She tried to swat them away before they made contact, but they came at her from all sides. As soon as they latched onto her, a metallic band shot of their sides and bound her in their midst.
"I'll give you three a chance," Lodmac said.
Aros' head drooped. It figured they'd have to deal with more than an axe this time.
With a thrust of her staff, Rikki lifted one of Lodmac's clones off the ground and sent him zooming back down the length of the corridor.
Doren charged forward and engaged the other clone before his cubes could leave his suit. He tossed his shield into his head multiple times, catching it after each hit and then repeating. It wasn't until Doren bashed him directly in the face that he seemed to be making progress.
Aros went for Lodmac. He swatted away the cubes rather easily and then slashed at the impenetrable armor a couple times. He remembered how he dealt with Uterak, but he wasn't trying to land a fatal blow this time.
Lodmac smacked at Aros' clawblades and then hopped back. More cubes sailed at Aros, but they veered to the sides and stayed out of reach of his blades. Beams of blue light shot out from the cubes, but they were not targeting Aros. Instead, they targeted each other and formed a cage of blue beams. Aros swung at the beams, but his blades were unable to penetrate them. "Whoa," he said, more amazed than concerned by the predicament.
A touch of Rikki's staff and the metallic bindings that held M'dalla melted away.
"Magic isn't fair," Lodmac said as he moved past Aros and toward his companions.
More cubes came for Rikki and M'dalla, but with a single wave they dropped from the air and melted on the floor.
"Rikki!" Doren called for help as the second clone joined the battle against him. His shield was smashing into his opponents, but the damage he was able to do was negligible. He swung at the cubes as they came for him, but there were only so many he could hit before he was trapped in the same blue cage that had ensnared Aros.
"This is me going easy on you, by the way," Lodmac noted.
M'dalla's flail scraped the side of his head, but the spikes were ineffective against the platinum.
"I could say the same," Rikki said, and the floor beneath Lodmac began to melt.
Aros kept swinging wildly at the cage, but he was getting nowhere. As the two clones tried to bypass him and head for Rikki, Aros rammed the beams with his shoulder. His golden armor made it through to the other side and struck one of the clones. "It can't hurt our armor!" he informed Doren.
Within minutes, Doren and Aros were outside of their cages and re-engaging the two clones. They dodged the bronze and Ligold weapons, and more cubes floated out of their armor. This time they crafted some sort of metal log, which each of the clones grabbed onto and pointed at the Kytherans.
A powerful burst escaped from both logs, and Doren and Aros were sent flying into the walls of the corridor, where they collapsed on top of each other.
"This is familiar," Doren moaned.
Rikki pointed her staff at Lodmac's face as he continued to sink into the floor. "Call them off," she ordered.
"Use of stasis is authorized!" Lodmac yelled. Cubes rose out of his armor and began flashing white light at Rikki. She froze in place as the floating cubes circled her.
The two clones looked excited as Aros and Doren got back to their feet. Aros knew what stasis meant. "They're gonna freeze us like Hatswick."
"They won't get us so easily," Doren said, and he lunged forward and tackled one of the clones to the ground with his shield.
Aros raised a blade, and with a horizontal slash, he left a line of blood on the face of his adversary. "I can do worse," he warned.
"So can I," the clone replied, and he pointed the log at Aros.
Aros was ready for it this time and he dove for the clone's legs.
The shot went off while the clone tumbled forward. The force of the blast sent the clone rocketing to the ceiling. When he crashed back to the ground, he was still.
Doren had left his opponent with a bruised and bloody face by the time he was done with him. The log he had been holding had broken back into its cubic pieces.
Both turned their focus to Lodmac, who was pushing himself out of the floor while blocking M'dalla's attempted strikes.
"Go for Yuurei!" Doren cried as he and Aros ran over to her.
"We'll stall him," Aros asserted.
With a twirl of her cloak, M'dalla disappeared. She reappeared at the far end of the corridor, taking a glimpse back to see both Aros and Doren locked in the same stasis as their friend. He was going to come for her, now.
She dashed down the corridor and smashed through the door that would take her to the room where she had last seen Yuurei. But when she emerged inside, it was empty. Her partner was missing, as were the supervising attendants.
M'dalla leapt back into the corridor, stopping at another door and repeatedly laying her flail into it until it opened. This room was empty as well. Had they moved him because they were expecting her.
She turned to leave again, but Lodmac stood in the entryway.
"Where is he?" she demanded to know.
"Yuurei has been incinerated," Lodmac said in such a matter-of-fact way it further infuriated her. "His cloak gave them some problems though. It wouldn't burn. Magical properties, I assume?" He looked her up and down. "You can collect it, if you'd like."
M'dalla heaved her flail back, but instead of aiming for him, she twirled the rest of her body and disappeared from the building. She wasn't going to win without the trio from Kytheras. She'd have to get vengeance for Yuurei another time.
Chapter Eleven
Recruitment
1 D.R.
Neanthal slid his fingers down the arm of his new throne. It was more cushioned than the now-empty throne in Radite and better suited to his height. King Aergo had been more similar to him in body type than the former emperor of Faunli. But as the chair made for royalty seemed to have been waiting for him, the actual throne room did not. It was too bright; too colorful. The stained-glass windows facilitated an easing sort of atmosphere. This was not what he wanted, especially when the dark, foreboding castle he now resided in was so perfect.
With but a thought, black smoke consumed the genial glass. It devoured the colors, leaving them to match the dark facade of Castle Tornis.
"Better," Neanthal growled, baring his top row of teeth. He didn't know how much of his time would be spent within the room, but he would make sure every second was agreeable.
Magenine would undoubtedly make a move against him now that Her precious King Aergo was dead. The mages were the most likely to dispense Her orders, given their direct connection to Her, and the fact that most of them had gone into exile with Tunsev loyalists. Even with a tremendous victory, he was still und
er threat.
There mustn't be dawdling. His plan had to be expedited, even while the Goddess might try to disrupt it. There was only so much She could do here. This physical world was the perfect locale from which to launch a strike on Her Bastion. He only needed the army and the weapons to do so. And both had to be superior to what he had now.
Demibeasts and Ifta would only get him so far. The Early War had shown him that. Peransic had no sway with his own race, as they had avoided the battles in their entirety. Humanity presented the best option. The human souls had joined Her at the end of the war, but there was still the opportunity for them to be persuaded here in Ghumai. They knew little of the Bastion and valued more their own finite time spent in this realm than they did the bountiful existence that awaited them. With the right promises, he could win most of them over, as he had done in Faunli. For those that refused him, they would provide an illustration to convince others not to make such a dubious choice.
Neanthal closed his eyes and saw flashes of three children hiding deep within the bowels of the castle. These were the only mages that had been left behind. They were so young, but that did not mean they could not become powerful.
"Uterak," he called out.
Uterak hurried from the side of the room and took a knee at the base of the stairs. "How can I serve, King Neanthal?"
Neanthal looked down upon the black-armored guardian. This man had been sent to him on Aergo's orders, but with a simple demonstration of his might, Neanthal had convinced him to turn on his former master. "There are three children hiding amongst the shrines beneath the castle. Find them and bring them here. But be wary, for they do have magic."
"They shall be found," Uterak said before he rushed out of the room. Two demibeasts accompanied him as he headed for the lower levels of Castle Tornis, their jaws snapping in excitement.
"Keep them here when they return," Neanthal ordered one of the plated standing off to the side. It gave no response before he departed the room.
He only needed to think of where he wanted to be, and he was there. The Outer. Kytheras' dilapidated sector; one that even King Aergo couldn't fix. Of course, Neanthal had made it worse. At least a third of the structures were now merely piles of rubble, and many of those that remained standing appeared to be on the verge of collapse. As no one would want to find themselves living in such buildings of their own volition, he had decided to make use of them.