Remnant's Past- The Fall of Stoneholt

by Beaux Riley

  A final golem, much larger than the rest, jumped the chasm and shook the land as it roared. Illoke noticed something flaming that it carried in its right arm, like a mother guarding a child. He saw the figure of a woman and quickly realized what was happening. Stratus, the paladins and Caliya had been guarded by several of the elven soldiers who came between them and three of the golems that had targeted them.

  "Asa!" The paladin looked back at Illoke as the King pointed to the larger golem. Asa fixated his view on the distant monstrosity and could see what Illoke was aiming his sights at. Stratus heard Illoke's comment and shook his head in disbelief. The King had his eyes pointed at the massive stone giant that appeared last from the destroyed Stoneholt. A fiery red and orange being in the shape of a woman. Illoke placed his palms on the ground, roots emerged from beneath him, entangling the three golems as his soldiers tried to strike at them. The paladins dropped their hoods and Asa removed his faceguard, rushing towards the gigantic golem carrying Sinesca.

  The Commander of the Zirris stopped in his tracks among the chaos ensuing. He began to weep as he saw his long-dead son rushing a monster.

  "Asa! Wait!" Stratus rushed behind his son, trying to not lose him a second time. His mind flooded with images of him searching the wreckage of buildings, searching every nook and cranny of the destruction for his son's body. Nothing remained of Asa nor Crowlis. Stratus was not nearly as fast as his son but he was gaining on the three paladins.

  The golem was watching its brothers being subdued by the fighters and as it listened to its master, it began to move slowly away from the fighting. Asa began serpentine between golems and soldiers until he was right near the giant. He opened both of his palms right at what would be its nether regions and unleashed a powerful bolt of the Light. The golem cried out as its right arm and leg were removed from its body. The woman fell to the ground, burning the grass around her. She coughed and the flame form dissipated, revealing Sinesca. Asa not recognizing her built up another focus of elemental power in his right hand, ready to strike at her, when his father finally caught up. Stratus looked down, shocked by what was happening. He threw Asa aside, forcing his son to flip and hit the dirt hard. Angaea and Cray both aimed their palms at Stratus.

  "Wait! You need to stop!" He said. Standing in front of the blind woman, he raised his hands in the directions of the still standing paladins.

  "She is a Char, father!" Asa yelled at Stratus, coughing slightly.

  "She is your mother." Said Stratus. The blind Sinesca looked up at the voice of her long-lost husband. She was awestruck and tried backing away, knowing she couldn't see him. He stared at his wife, her face paler than he mental images he kept of her. But her hair was as long and as beautiful as ever. The harshness than she displayed reminded him that she had been gone for the better part of two decades. She was no longer his. She belonged to the Char. Memories flooded the old man as he stared at eyes that were pale white and devoid of the pale green he so loved.

  ***

  It was cold that day.

  Stratus sat outside his modest housing in the outskirts of Lossetta. On his knee sat Asa, happily playing with blocks until a sound from the door to his home opened. Outstepped Sinesca, with a look of grimace on her otherwise beautiful face. Sinesca's black hair covered most of her features, as though she didn't want her face to be seen. Stratus looked behind her to see a bag containing some small amount of her possessions. He began to dread the worst.

  "Sinesca, Where are you off to?" Stratus said in an obvious bout with worry. His normally handsome face, torn with grief, stared at Sinesca through his deep green eyes. Sinesca reached out to Stratus' hand and held it to her chest in such a way that he could feel her heartbeat. A moment of silence is all that Stratus was given. He wanted the moment to last forever, but it didn't. She stared sadly at her son. Mother and son met gazes and Asa was genuinely happy and blissfully unaware as to the distress his parent's had.

  Before Sinesca could give Stratus the answer she felt he deserved, a flash of red and white hit the ground near them. A small burn in the ground, no wider than a petite woman, appeared with the very familiar face of Vinesca, Sinesca's older sister. Stratus eyed Vinesca with an emotionless gaze. Stratus knew that the sisters were in the same league as Zahn. They manipulated the elements under their own twisted control.

  "She has other priorities, my dear brother-in-law." Vinesca said in such a way that her tone was snarky and factual. "I'll let you two sort out what you need to, as I've no idea when we'll return." Vinesca seemed to show a caring side that no one ever saw from her until now. She bent down near Asa and began to examine her nephew playing with different sized blocks and cubes.

  Stratus and Sinesca walked inside and sat at their dining table, neat and clean, as always. He allowed Sinesca to sit, but she did not and sat himself, sighing heavily.

  "What are you hiding from me, Sin?" Stratus asked plainly. He raised his head and looked up at the ceiling, then to her expression-filled face.

  "Our father has orders for us to go north, to Ethra." Sinesca paused and said no more before being interrupted by Stratus.

  "Ethra?! That far north into a place you've never been? You told me after disappearing for a year that this wouldn't happen again." Stratus showed signs of stress as he reached for Sinesca, clearly worried for her.

  "I have you to thank for much of my strength. You're helping me get through this in ways you and our son won't understand. All I can tell you is that this is supposed to be our final journey and things can go back to normal." Sinesca hugged Stratus deeply, trying to calm him. "I don't know when I'll be able to come back, but I will return to you, I promise."

  Stratus wanted to believe her. After all, she was his wife. Sinesca never did try to hurt her trust to Stratus nor her son, but this time seemed different, it was painful.

  "There is word that Zahn is calling all of his students, myself included to Lossetta. Asa and I will be-" Sinesca placed her finger over Stratus' lips, softly trying to stop him from saying that he'd be leaving the cottage and joining Zahn's ranks.

  "That crazy practitioner has corrupted all of Vathra. The elves left when we were children, don't you remember? Stay here and wait for me." Sinesca pleaded. She couldn't reveal her true purpose to Stratus, not until after the deed was done.

  "Your hidden life of being married to me and keeping us out of whatever it is you plan to do has my hair turning white." Sinesca did notice that a few strands of Stratus' long black hair did begin to succumb to the stress he'd suffered wondering when she would return the first time.

  "Forgive me." The words struck him in his heart. He watched her leave for the last time.

  Sinesca quickly left out the door and Vinesca stood up from watching Asa for what seemed to be a small eternity. Vinesca was mildly amused at her nephew playing, realizing she might not see him again, she dismissed him immediately. Growing any attachment to Stratus or Asa would make their goals that much harder trying to avoid casualties. Vinesca motioned over to Sinesca and the two hugged. Sinesca then turned to Asa and whispered to him.

  "Momma's got to go now. Don't forget me, ok?" Asa smiled back at Sinesca. She hugged Asa as tight as she could and set him down to play with his blocks once again.

  The sisters looked to the sky and their bodies turned into a fiery white and red and sprang up leaving a streak headed towards Ethra. Stratus watched from the opening to their home. Suddenly, he felt determined to go after Sinesca. Nothing could keep him from finding her and keeping their family together. Stratus packed what little belongings he wanted to take with him and left with Asa to Lossetta to supply for the trip to Ethra.

  He wouldn't lose her again.

  ***

  "Stratus...?" Sinesca said weakly. The grass around her smelled of burning coal. Her dress was in tatters from the waist down and she was shaking with worry. Asa stood, walking over to his father, and drew out his sword.

  "I don't care who she is. You lied to me all my life about who
my mother was. Now that I know she is a Char, I can do this much easier." Asa said darkly. The others tried understanding him. Cray whispered Asa's name under his breath, finding the Knight Lord's disposition to be very harsh, but left them all in a delicate situation. "If I have to go through you, Commander, I will."

  The massive golem fell inert as it failed to stand. Sinesca's focus was dwindling. She tasted copper in her mouth. Hearing the voice of her son made her happy and sad all at once. She realized her mistakes, but the position she took when Asa was only a baby never changed. While they belonged to different goals, they were still a family.

  "My son, you are more important to me than anything in this world. I'm sorry. I truly am." Sinesca said as wholeheartedly as she could. She turned to her flame form again and tried flying back to the golem. As she did three blasts of Light struck the ethereal form of fire. She landed right at the left leg of the lifeless golem and cried out in pain. She pulled from her pocket a rune much like those used by Kaydren's dwarves and struck it against the golem. Asa sucker punched his father in the jaw, bringing down the old Commander with one blow. Stratus went down hard into the grass. His body went limp and for a brief moment, Asa believed he might have killed him. He pushed the thought aside. The paladins trapped Sinesca from all sides as she back as close to the golem as she could.

  "Being who you are now, could never have pushed you further from me, Mother." Asa said in a cold tone. "You and your cohort killed my teacher, a man I idolized. I saw him dead in a pool of his own blood!" He cried out at her. Sinesca showed no emotion nor response to Asa's outburst. "You are better off dead, here and now. You have been in my mind, and for all of my life!"

  "Wait...Please..." She tried to reason, raising a palm weakly in the direction of Asa’s voice. "We wanted nothing more than to bring back our father."

  "Enough to slaughter innocent people in their sleep in Lossetta?! I know everything about the incident in Vathra!" Asa had begun to imbue his hand. "You will answer me one thing, before I take your life. Where is Kilo?"

  "I don't know the names of your Paladine. The only one I encountered is now bleeding in the darkness of that failed city behind us." Sinesca said in an apathetic tone. She pulled another rune stone out as she saw Asa look behind himself at Stoneholt. He turned back to his mother to see the pulsing of runes being etched into the golem he had taken down. The monstrosity dug its damaged arm and leg into the ground and the broken pieces began to reform. Asa backed away, trying and failing to pull Angaea in time from the strike the golem made. She had for a split second conjured a shield and the impact from the Light protecting her shattered part of the golem’s reformed hand, causing it to look in awe. Angaea was thrown across the grassy plain and she landed, clearly knocked unconscious. Cray called out to her and rushed out to her, leaving Asa alone to face the golem once again.

  Its body and destroyed left hand reformed, now lined with black marks that resembled runic designs all over surface. It glowed orange and gray and roared fiercely at the paladin. Swooping up its mistress, the golem began to retreat into the plains, passing the knocked out Angaea.

  Cray kneeled beside Angaea, scared. He lifted her up and placed his ear beside her mouth, praying and hoping to feel breathing. Her breath was raspy and uneven, though she was stable.

  He held her close while several of the elven soldiers surrounded them. Elves dressed in long robes pulled Angaea from Cray and poured a white liquid down her throat. She coughed and rose up as throwing a fit and spitting the strange liquid from her mouth. Angaea looked up to a woman dressed in all gray. She was glowing in a slight green and Angaea could taste salt on her tongue.

  “Eck, what did you do to me?” She said trying to get the taste of the mysterious concoction out of her mouth.

  “A wakening syrup. Works wonders for many things.” The woman said. Angaea recognized it to be the elf who was teaching Jaya, Een. She smiled at the paladin and helped her up.

  Asa had chosen to return to the clutch of gryphons and mounted one similar, if not the same one he’d travelled to Midian and back. The paladin made two kicks on both sides of the beast’s stomach and it promptly jumped and flew into the air. It was motioned north and flying high, he could see his mother’s golems being taken down by magic, weaponry and even Illoke breaking them into dust with his root technique. The battle with the golems would be ended much faster with the aid of Stratus’s Zirris soldiers and the unified Ela’syn army. As he rode this strange creature, he continued to follow Sinesca until he could see a fortress in the distance. While his geographical skills were lacking at best and remembering every town or village in the entirety of Ethra was hard for anyone not Lizoke, he knew this place had to be where Kimura had not taken them...Imrosyn. He made a quick realization that Sinesca was intending to escape into the prison, something he couldn’t allow. If she had a chance to call for any reinforcements that didn’t come from the ground or rocks, it could mean disaster for everyone in Ethra.

  With no form of back up beyond the bird that he was flying with, Asa carefully thought of how he could deal with her. The golem ahead of him was crossing the plains as fast as the gryphon was flying above them. Massive jumps forward allowed it to cover a hundred feet or more.

  “Fly faster, damn you!” Asa cursed at the gryphon as it flapped its massive wings and pushed forward. Asa pulled at its reigns to go down and the bird responded by making a nose dive towards the massive golem. It was at that moment that he believed he could save everyone.

  ***

  Kilo and Zimae struggled back through the dirty, bone riddled floor of Stoneholt. The rumbling had died down, but there was what sounded like a roar of commotion outside of the now shattered entrance to the city. Natural sunlight poured into the dead halls. Zimae looked about, seeing the remnants of corpses and pieces of the structure missing, most likely what was used to create those strange creatures. Kilo seemed to be struggling beside her, perhaps from her loss of sight and trying to get a footing or even the possibility that Kilo was hurt in some other place that Zimae hadn’t seen. She tapped on Kilo’s shoulder with the arm that she was helping carry the paladin and spoke out softly.

  “Are you…are you going to be ok? I’m worried about you.” Said Zimae. She felt Kilo grip onto her arm for support.

  “A lot of things going through my head right now. I just….want to get back to the others.” Said Kilo.

  “You’ll be soon enough. But you are in no shape to fight. You are done for now, accept that, for both our sakes.” Zimae pulled on Kilo and the two walked for several minutes.

  As Zimae finally reached the ledge in which her bird was snatched up, she could see the armies of both human and Ela’syn. Zimae tried signaling them, but to no avail. The bridge was formerly about fifty feet in length and she was struggling to bring Kilo with her. Without a second thought she conjured some Light to her free arm and threw it hard at the opposite side of the bridge, causing a small explosion. The faces of several thousand people turned to see her small frame and the dark dressed paladin in the distance. Zimae fell under the weight of Kilo and the loss of her own strength as the two waited for rescue.

  “Hopefully Illoke is still there, else we’ll be here a while.” Kilo almost laughed, wishing she’d remembered the face of her savior.

  “What is happening?” Asked Kilo, pointing her head in Zimae’s general direction.

  “Something grand.” She said with no further explanation.

  The armies had taken down the golems with some ease. The rock creatures were susceptible to all things that rock could be, and the magic powering them was dismantled by Illoke’s control over roots. As the giants would attack, he brought the roots below to seep into every crack and break the creatures from the inside. The army had become spread out as none but the King could take on a golem one on one. Several elves had been smashed or crushed under the strength of stone giants. It was that luck of being spread out that the armies were able to recognize the peril that Zimae and Kilo were
in. As Zimae threw her orb, Illoke called for his troops to send themselves towards Sinesca’s escort and to pass orders along to Stratus’s second in command. This was an unfortunate turn as they were one of the first to be rushed by the fierce creations of the Char. He took it upon himself to rescue the two women. Considering how much of his stamina had been spent already fighting, restoring a bridge lost once again, would take much from him.

  “Daughter.” Illoke called out to Caliya. She had been tending to any wounded soldiers until hearing her father’s summons. The Princess, poised to help others, temporarily removed herself to come to him and watched as Illoke removed his outer robe and placed his hands on the exact same spot that he had three years ago.

  “The roots have been severed by a malicious magic. I have to build an entirely new system.” Said Illoke. “The world is suffering. I can feel it.”

  The elven King’s body began to glow a soft color of green. His hands pulsed the deepest parts of the land. As the broken roots fell and died, Illoke summoned what looked to be hundreds of vines that gripped across the chasm into Stoneholt.

  “Vines, father?” Caliya asked curiously. Illoke looked to be sweating profusely. The magic he was conjuring was great and cost him dearly in physical strength.

  “There is no way to rebuild the bridge that was lost. The old roots of trees long passed are gone forever. Now go, get those two while I can hold this.” Illoke stated. Caliya called for others to assist her and she was greeted by Shaeth and Mal’ka. The three elves watched as Illoke was on his hands and knees, holding the thin vine bridge for them to cross. “Daughter, stay with me. I need your help.”

  “You are afraid I will fall?” She asked curiously.

  “I am afraid I will fail to keep it up, so yes.” Illoke dug his fingers into the dirt deeper.

  “I am glad you care.” She said and ran across the structurally sound bridge of vines. The other two elves followed behind and found it surprising that Caliya was leading them. The King could be heard as he called out to her to come back, but she ignored him, choosing to help the survivors.