“Much longer than that. And yet there it is. The warrior is there and you must go there as well.”
“How? The obelisk is destroyed. I used a tré and it took all I had to get here,” said Sylk.
“Come see me when you are done with Grawl,” said the Keeper as he headed back to the construction.
Sylk searched the area for the elder Rah Ven, knowing the Keeper bringing him this way was not a coincidence. He found him on the edges of the Watch tending to the graves of the fallen.
Sylk walked up to the Rah Ven and waited while the group laid their brethren to rest on a series of pyres. Grawl in human form took a torch and lit each one. Sylk counted twenty. After each one was blazing, Grawl came over to Sylk, his face somber.
“Peace, Karashihan,” he said.
“Peace, Ancient One,” said Sylk.
“I am afraid there will be little of that in the coming days. The destroyer has regained his instrument of death,” said Grawl.
“And the warrior?”
“He lives still, for how long I cannot see.”
“Are you certain?” said Sylk. If this is true it means Dante is stripped of Maelstrom. He should be dead and yet he is alive somehow?
“I am Rah Ven. This is not a soft lie. We speak plain among the pack leaders,” said Grawl.
“You used me,” said Sylk.
“I set you on a path.”
“A path you knew would lead to a meeting with Cane. In a tré. How did a tré get there?”
“The circle of claws does not belong to any one people. Many planes have circles like this,” said Grawl. “I knew one day the Rah Ven too would need this circle.”
“I cannot lead Rah Ven. I am not Rah Ven,” said Sylk as he began taking off the pendant.
Grawl stopped him, placing his hand on the pendant and keeping it in place.
“You are my voice and my hands while I remain here. You are Rah Ven, by blood and blade. No one will contest that. Do not forget your purpose. Stop the hunters of our young. Root out the cancer that lies in my people. I am too old now. My fangs and claws are not as sharp as they once were.”
Grawl paused and looked out into the endless sand.
“Soon I will head out into the desert for the last time. When the time comes, a new pack leader will arise and my people will be strong again. You will make sure of this, I have seen it,” said Grawl.
Sylk remained silent a moment and then faced away from the pyres to look out into the desolation of the desert.
“I cannot escape the blood, Ancient One,” he whispered.
“You cannot escape what you are. Accept it and be free,” said Grawl. “You must go now. Run long and run fast, Karashihan.”
“Long days to you, Ancient One,” said Sylk as the Rah Ven shimmered and disappeared.
Sylk continued looking out into the desert as the Keeper materialized beside him.
“Are you ready?” said the Keeper.
“How is the warrior still alive? Everything is lost if the destroyer has regained the weapon,” said Sylk.
“And yet we are still here. Go and make sure it remains that way,” said the Keeper.
His staff began to glow with a white light, matching the lines in Sylk’s arm.
“Time to go,” he said and touched the staff to Sylk’s chest, sending him to the lost triad.
FORTY-FIVE
I DON’T KNOW how I didn’t break every bone in my body as I rag-dolled across the garden. I saw three figures in blue come at me and was helpless to do anything. Any signal I gave my limbs to move was short-circuited by intense pain. They carried me over to another part of the garden and began to heal me. I could see the crater and Roman as he picked up his hammer.
“It’s only a matter of time now,” said Lucius. “My Harbinger will destroy the remaining ascendants and the barrier will fall.”
Maelstrom pulsed in his hand. The blades had grown in size and were almost the size of the staff.
“The barrier hasn’t fallen yet. Perhaps he can’t find them? It appears your Harbinger is failing you,” said Roman.
“What have you done?” said Lucius.
“The remaining ascendants are under Aurora’s protection. Your Harbinger will not find them such easy targets. Or it could be his heart is not up to this task. Perhaps the yoke is too tight,” said Roman.
“No tighter than yours, and yet you serve your mistress willingly,” said Lucius. “Why not join me? Together we can purge the planes of this infestation of warriors.”
“I serve my mistress by choice. Did you give your Harbinger a choice?” said Roman as he began to spin his hammer.
“Choice? Choice is for the weak. Where was my choice when my family was butchered? My little ones’ broken bodies cast across my home like so much discarded rubbish? My wife murdered protecting them? What choice was given to them?” said Lucius as a vortex formed around him.
“All must pay for the crimes of few?”
“The corruption still exists, enforcer. The Order of the Warriors will be erased,” said Lucius.
Even from this distance I could feel the energy emanating from the both of them. The figures had restored my body and I felt almost normal again. I couldn’t feel my chi, but my body didn’t feel like a raw open wound either. I started to make my way toward Lucius. One of the figures grabbed me by the arm and stopped me.
“You cannot,” she said.
“I have to,” I said. I feel different somehow.
“You will die.”
“What’s your name?” I said.
“Adra, daughter of Aurora.”
“Adra, if I die here, you tell them I tried,” I said.
She stepped back and nodded as I ran to the crater.
What the hell am I doing? This is certain death.
Behind me I could hear footsteps matching mine. Are Roman’s people following me?
I turned and saw a familiar face. Gray eyes took me in, assessing me in seconds. He held a gleaming white sword in his left hand. His right arm was laced with silver lines that shone brightly.
“It looks as if you are racing to your death, warrior. Would you mind some company?” said Sylk.
“Not at all,” I said as we headed to the crater.
“Make sure you stay in the crater. It may be partially destroyed, but it is still a tré. There is latent power there,” he said as five Gyrevex materialized around us. “Go, I will deal with these.”
I rolled under a bell that would have removed my head. Sylk unleashed a barrage of orbs that drew their attention. How is he accessing chi?
Then I understood. The circle Roman had partially destroyed had released its power. That was the source of chi in this plane. I reached the edge of the circle and power coursed through my body. It wasn’t my chi. This was raw power flowing in every direction. I let it fill me and time slowed. Behind me Sylk was moving in an intricate dance of death as bells flew by him, missing him by fractions of an inch as he dispatched the Gyrevex. One would fall only to have another take its place seconds later.
“Dante, I will deal with the shadow, but you must cut off the source of its power. I cannot do both.”
It was Roman. He had joined me at the edge of the circle as vortices spun off from the main one surrounding Lucius.
“Shadow? That isn’t Lucius?” I said, unbelieving.
“The destroyer is two planes away from this one. This is his shadow. We could not stand before the first Karashihan so easily.”
I looked around at the destruction. I remembered the power of the tré as he stripped Maelstrom from me with a gesture, and this was his shadow.
“He is fearsome, yes? Even as a shadow his power eclipses most,” said Roman and then he began laughing. He turned serious and looked at me, putting an arm on my shoulder. “I don’t wish to die today. Go to the center of the circle and tap into the power. Cut off the source or this will be the last day any of us see.”
He launched himself into the air to avoid the vortex and
dove for Lucius’s shadow.
He is insane. I ran to the center of the circle without a clue about what I needed to do.
You need a focus. Use the power from the circle to manifest a weapon. Hurry, warrior.
It was Owl.
I stood in the center and the power coursed through me. I stilled my breathing and focused. In the air above me I could hear Roman and the shadow of Lucius clash. Behind me Sylk dodged a bell, cut the chain and removed a Gyrevex while another materialized behind him. Beyond that I could feel the sun on my skin and the wind in the air. I could sense the trees in the garden and the soft blooms of the cherry blossoms as the petals fell to the ground. A golden staff formed itself in my hands and I drove it end-first into the center of the circle.
“You insignificant mote of dust, what are you doing?” said shadow Lucius as he came at me. Roman intercepted him, cutting off his attack. He swung his hammer as shadow Lucius planted his feet next to mine and met the hammer with Maelstrom. It sounded like a tuning fork amplified a thousand times. The force of energy around me was overwhelming.
From the center of the circle a rush of wind gusted, threatening to sweep me off my feet. I gripped the staff with both hands, my knuckles white. The roar was deafening. All of the energy initially dispersed by Roman’s hammer strike began to coalesce in the staff, making it glow.
Don’t let go, warrior.
The Gyrevex began to fall and disappear. The last Gyrevex disintegrated and Sylk ran over to where Roman was attacking shadow Lucius.
I held on, but had to look away as the wind buffeted me. The intensity of the light from the staff kept increasing. My face felt sunburned and it blinded me even with my eyes closed. It wasn’t just the chi from the tré that was filling the staff. All the chi from the plane was being siphoned in. I sensed when all the trees around the garden began to wither and die. The once fertile soil turned to dust and began to swirl around, lifeless. The relentless wind uprooted them and flung them away. In moments I was in the center of a wasteland, and still the energy flowed in.
Prepare yourself, warrior.
Sylk had closed the distance, his gleaming sword thrusting in while Roman slammed his hammer to the ground. The amount of energy they sent my way didn’t register compared to energy flowing from the staff I held onto.
Shadow Lucius thrusted with Maelstrom, burying it in Sylk’s leg and driving him to one knee. Lucius laughed and I could hear the familiar dissonance in his voice.
“I will make sure you suffer. You will beg me for death, progeny, and I will deny you,” said Lucius.
Roman brought his hammer around for a killing blow and Lucius stopped it with his other hand. He was still laughing as he began to force Roman’s hammer down to the ground while driving the blade of Maelstrom in to Sylk’s leg.
Now, warrior. You must strike.
I removed the staff from the ground and thrust it into the back of shadow Lucius. The end of the staff penetrated his body and protruded from his chest. I could see Sylk tracing symbols in the air. Shadow Lucius stepped back and tried to remove the staff. The moment his hands touched it, I felt a thump hit my chest. The wind stopped blowing and there was a silent pause. For a brief moment everything stood still. Then a rumbling started deep in the ground and Sylk pulled me down as he traced the last symbol, enclosing us in a cylinder of silver light. It wasn’t enough.
“Brace your—” he began.
The blast cut the cylinder of light, shredding it and throwing us back out of the circle and past what used to be the tree line of the garden. I could see Roman kneeling behind his hammer as the blast washed over him. Somehow he remained in place, but the blast scorched his skin raw. The chi of the plane was rebalancing. A convex shield of silver light had formed before us and I could see Sylk with his arm extended keeping it in place. The blast died down and I was about to stand up when he pulled me behind the wall of light.
“It’s not over yet. Stay behind the wall,” he said through gritted teeth.
Sweat was running down his face as he maintained the wall. Another thump punched me in the abdomen and sat me down. A stronger wave of energy and fire rushed past us. His robes fluttered behind him. It felt like sitting in a wind tunnel with hurricane force winds swirling around you. I threw myself on my stomach and stayed there. When the second blast stopped I could see that Sylk held his right arm to his chest.
“It’s broken,” he said matter of factly.
We had just managed to survive the equivalent of a small-scale nuclear explosion and he had a broken arm. Note to self:do not piss Sylk off. I looked around us and noticed the earth was scorched. In some places I noticed patches of glass.
We headed back to the circle and I realized we were much farther than I thought. It took us a good two minutes before we reached the edge of the circle where Roman stood. His hammer was on the ground next to him and he looked into the center of the circle where a figure lay.
“The shadow lingers,” said Roman.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. Shadow Lucius had not been destroyed by the blast. When we got closer I could see he had a gaping hole in his chest and he wasn’t moving.
“Is he dead?” I said.
“He was never alive,” said Roman. He moved the figure with his boot and the shadow’s eyes fluttered.
“You cannot hide the ascendants indefinitely. They will need to return to the hub or the barriers will fall. When they do, my Harbinger will destroy them,” said the shadow.
“We will stop Rael and send him back to join you,” said Sylk.
“He cannot die. I have ensured it. You will fail and then I will be free. I will find you. Your pain will be of the highest order, my child, and I will bathe in your agony,” said the shadow.
“We will create more ascendants, more than your Harbinger can kill. We have a core ascendant now. You have failed, destroyer,” said Roman.
The shadow began to laugh. “He is useless to you. I seared his ability to access his chi. He is a fallen warrior now, good for nothing except a quick death.”
The shadow began turning transparent.
“What you have done can be undone,” said Roman.
“Not by anyone alive today — not even the Samadhi can undo my work. Not even you of my bloodline,” he said, looking at Sylk.
“We shall see, destroyer,” said Roman.
The shadow was almost gone now. I could see the ground clearly under its body.
“The next time we meet, warrior, I will be merciful and make your death swift,” said the shadow as it disappeared.
“We must leave this place. He will regain his strength in time. I do not look forward to facing him again,” said Roman.
“How do you propose we do that? The tré is gone. Even if it weren’t I can’t make a portal until my arm is healed,” said Sylk.
I looked back and only a vague outline remained of what was the golden tré. The two inner concentric circles had vanished and the third outer circle was in broken sections.
“I don’t have the energy to get us back. That blast took all I had left,” said Roman.
“Can we use this?” I said as I fished out the area wide retriever.
Sylk held out his hand and I placed it in his palm.
“How did you get this?” he said.
“Devin gave it to me in the dojo, right before Rael brought me here.”
“Devin? I thought him dead,” said Sylk as he looked at Roman.
“I gave him a good pounding, but I didn’t kill him. He left the hall of Sherfym before I could hit him further. I always did enjoy our fights,” said Roman as he swung his hammer over his shoulder. “Will this work? Devin was always a clever one.”
“Who is it keyed to? I don’t want to end up in the middle of another fight for my life. One group of ever-spawning Gyrevex is an experience I would not like to revisit,” said Sylk as he handed the retriever back to me.
“It’s keyed to Meja. Where is she?” I said.
Sylk moved me to t
he center of what used to be the tré.
“Use it here. The latent energy should give it the boost we need. I hope,” said Sylk.
“You hope?” I said.
Behind Sylk, Roman nodded.
“This is the lost triad. The connection to these planes has been severed. The energy needed…” said Roman.
“We need a lot of energy to get in and even more to get out of this place. I don’t know if that has enough in it for all of us. I still don’t know how the Keeper did it,” said Sylk.
I had to ‘kill’ Rael before the portal worked before.
Two of the blue clad figures joined us in the circle. I saw that one of them was Adra. She nodded at me.
“Felix?” said Roman.
Adra shook her head. “The Gyrevex, sir.”
Roman nodded, his face grim.
“Hand it to me, warrior,” said Sylk. “Gather close and maintain contact.”
We stood close to each other making sure we touched one another. Sylk placed the card in his broken right hand pressed his thumb down on the depression. He sent his chi down his arm and the lines flared silver as the rectangle flashed blue once and transported us.
FORTY-SIX
THE HEALER WAS adjusting vials when the group appeared. She gave a curt nod to Sylk. “Alpha. Who be these?”
She eyed the hammer that Roman carried and stepped close to him.
“This is the warrior, Dante, and this is—”
“You be the hammer?” she interrupted. “Many of my people have fallen before that weapon.”
“Only in battle, and many times it was chance that spared me from the dreaded Rah Ven time skipping,” said Roman.
She snorted. “You have been lucky. Death in battle is honorable. I’ll hold no grudge if my people died as warriors should. There are others with kin in the Watch who are not as forgiving. Do not tarry here. Not even the alpha can prevent a drawing of claws for the fallen,” she said, looking at Sylk.
“I’ll not abuse your hospitality and I do not wish to bring you any trouble. I can reach my plane from here. The warrior and I will take our leave,” said Roman.
Warriors of the Way-Pentalogy Page 36