by Heath Pfaff
"I have knowledge about the workings of the Great Vault. I can free all of your people. You needn't struggle through existence loosely tied to husks." Xandrith insisted, hoping that this more human creature might be better capable of listening and communicating. Xan knew that the Drayid were not mindless monsters. He'd spoken to one of them before, though that hadn't exactly ended well.
Another surge of magical energy struck the barrier spell. This one almost tore it to pieces. Using his magic was drawing out Xan's dark side, even though he wasn't using it directly for violence. His patience was running thin. "I know you can hear me, damn it! Do you really want to exist the way you do now?"
To his surprise, the other answered. "We will take your knowledge as our own. Humans are not to be trusted."
"It won't do you any good to take my knowledge. I have abilities that you can't replicate and that are needed to perform the task of setting you free." Xandrith tried to explain, hoping that he was getting through to the Drayid. "You have to have learned something of the sanguine mages, correct?"
The Drayid didn't respond, but neither did it continue its attack. From the corner of Xan's eye he saw more of the creatures crawling from side streets and alleyways. There was nowhere for Kassa and Xan to run to. They'd used up all their time and Xan didn't have the bargaining chip he'd hoped to have.
Xan went on. "I am a sanguine mage. I can access magic that most human mages cannot, and with that power I can set right what the mages did to your people."
"Words are pretty things, human, but you have no proof of what you claim. We know who you are, Xandrith Dalt. We have the memories of all those we've taken, or did you forget? You are the assassin wanted for countless murders and acts of violence against your own people. What would make us trust you when you would turn your back on even your own kind?" The once human creature was questioning, but the fact that he hadn't yet restarted his attack told Xan that he had at least gotten the Drayid's attention.
"My past is what it is. I'm not here to make excuses for those things I've done. I'm here to try and find hope for all the people of this world, myself included. I am doing this because no one else can. You can trust me because if I fail at my task, we will all be lost." Xandrith pleaded.
The Drayid seemed to shrug as one, their various metal bodies gesturing their group indifference. "So you speak, but we know much of what is happening in the world. The humans are suffering from a plague, and trolls are rising to the surface and wiping out the remains. Is this the destruction you so fear? We do not fear this change. We will wait for the trolls to decimate humanity, and then we will take them as we have taken you. We have all the time in the world. We cannot die."
The assassin tried again. "The trolls destroying humanity is only the beginning. There is a force behind the trolls that wants to wipe all creation from this world. If it is allowed to reach the pinnacle of its power, we will all be unmade. Even those things that remain of your own culture, the cities you built, the art and history you've left behind, all of that will be gone forever. This enemy wants only our complete annihilation."
"And what do you want, Xandrith Dalt? You've come to us for the Great Vault, that much is clear, and with the power to free us, so you say, but that certainly isn't your goal. Is it? Are you here to be our savior, little human?" There was a mocking tone in the voice.
"I'm not here to save you, but what I need to do will free you in the process. Do you really want the rest of your existence to be spent borrowing time away from the Great Vault, but never truly being free of that prison? I understand how that magic works. Even when you're in these bodies your existence is still tied to the void in the Vault. Is that what you want for your people?"
The entire audience of mechanna creatures seemed to swell up, and for just a moment Xan was certain they would descend to destroy Kassa and himself. The moment of tension passed. "You don't know what suffering is, human. For thousands of years we have sat in a shifting void of suffering and pain surrounded by nothing but the anguished screams of our own people. Women, children, loved ones, strangers, echoes of suffering strung out through a terrifying blackness that was without end." The creature in front of Xan raised its metallic hand and closed the three clawed fingers. "This stolen flesh is agonized. It screams as we bend it into submission, and it aches and burns as the flesh rots from the metal we've forced together, but even this is nothing compared to the void. Seated in this decaying shell, we can look out at the world again and feel the light and life that has been denied to us. Still the void waits behind us. We are never truly free, but after the long years of suffering in darkness, suffering in the light is preferable. What alternative are you offering us? Will you free us from the void and give us back our bodies, human?"
The words of the mechanna were hard hitting and filled with an immeasurable amount of pain. Xandrith had thought the Drayid were insane, and he might have even been right, but they had every reason to be completely mad. What was Xan really offering them in exchange for their cooperation?
"I'm going to break the Void entirely. When I'm done it will be gone, and the Great Vault itself will falter shortly after that." Xandrith answered, skirting the question.
"What of the Drayid? What happens to those trapped within that void when you destroy it, Xandrith?" He took a step forward and placed his metal hand against the surface of Xan's barrier. "What exactly are you offering us, assassin?"
"I don't know." Xandrith said quietly, almost too quietly to be heard.
"You do know, human. If you won't speak it plainly then we're done talking. What are you, the representative of humanity standing at the end of the world, going to offer to the only people who can help you get what you want?" The Drayid emphasized his last four words with a tap against the barrier on each word.
Kassa spoke first. "There is no way to answer that question. What do you want from us?" Her voice was dark and calm.
"We want the truth from you!" The Drayid's voice was metallic and harsh, echoing from his modified throat. "You destroyed our people, now tell us what you intend to do to us next!"
Kassa looked about to speak again, but Xan put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. This was his burden. He'd come a long way, had done many horrible things, but this would be the pinnacle of the evils he'd committed.
"I'm going to kill you. All of you. I will release you from the void into nothingness." Xan said with a voice that didn't waver as much as he feared it would.
The Drayid took a step back from the barrier. "Yes. You're going to kill us. And you want us to agree to this?"
Xan nodded before speaking. "If you don't agree to it, I'm still going to do it. I have to."
"Honesty from the mouth of a human. We are surprised." The Drayid turned in place, apparently looking at his fellows, and then at the sky above. "We will welcome oblivion, Xandrith the Assassin. We will welcome an end to the eternal suffering, but you will not be so lucky. Our lives, all of them, will rest on your shoulders until the day you die. The mages began our destruction, but you shall mark its end."
"That is a burden I will have to carry. No one else can." Xan answered flatly.
The Drayid turned back to Xandrith and gave a single nod. "Indeed. Follow us." He went out and around Xan's border as though he could see exactly where it stood. Xandrith and Kassa exchanged looks. Kassa's seemed to be asking, "What do we do now?" Xan answered her with an uncertain shrug. This is why they'd come to the Reach. It was too late to back out.
"What happens if Xandrith fails?" Kassa asked, cutting through the strained silence. "What he's doing is a monumental task. What if something goes wrong?"
Xandrith spoke up quickly. "I won't fail. I can't afford to make a mistake."
The Drayid responded as well. "If he fails us, we will break both of you apart and make use of your bodies to free more of our kind. You might try to resist, but there are far too many of us, and Xandrith Dalt will be unable to fight back after attempting to open the Great Vault. In fact
, it is unlikely that Dalt will be able to ever contact the conduits of his magic again whether he succeeds or not. The amount of power he will need to draw will strip his magical channels as effectively as running molten lead through a living thing’s veins would destroy their ability to pump blood through their body. If the surge doesn't rip him apart from the inside out, we will be surprised."
"That's not going to happen." Xandrith began to say, but Kassa cut him off.
"You knew that was a risk and you still came here to do this?" Her voice was angry, but distant. There was concern, but it seemed somehow empty.
Xandrith looked at Kassa but she wouldn't meet his eyes. He shrugged. "Allegedly, when the Drayid were first entrapped the mage who performed the magic, a sanguine, was killed immediately after the ceremony was performed because the mages were terrified of the power she possessed. How could those mages have possibly killed a woman that powerful? That question bothered me for a long time, but I've built more experience with using and controlling magic since then. I believe that they were able to kill her because she'd either completely burned out her ability to cast magic, or she'd at least seriously damaged it and was vulnerable. A sanguine mage who could draw unlimited power without any kind of backlash would be a god. Any time I form magic and use it I can feel the surge of magic through my body, and I imagine with the amount of power I plan on channeling to end the Vault I'm probably going to do serious damage to myself. It can't be helped, though. There isn't any way to share the burden."
"Then why would you come here, Xan? I don't understand why you'd come here knowing that you could rip yourself apart just attempting this." Kassa voice was sad, but still distant. Something was very off. Was it her fear? Was she that concerned about him?
Xandrith forced a cocky grin. "I'm just arrogant enough to believe I can do this and come out of it fine." He held up his hands to show off the patch-worked of healed flesh that he had pieced together on his own. "Nothing has been able to stop me yet."
"If Haley and I hadn't come for you just in time you ..." Kassa began, but it was Xan's turn to interrupt.
"... would have escaped on my own within hours. Everything was perfectly under control." Xan insisted reassuringly.
Xan looked over in time to see a small smile cross Kassa's features. "You're a very stupid man."
"I think you meant to say, 'incredible,' but I'll forgive you this time." Xan let the punch he received in reply land on his shoulder. It hurt considerably less than the pain of forcing the smile onto his face. In his gut he felt certain that the situation was about to slip out of his grasp. Disaster was coming.
Chapter 5
Will it Hurt?
Xandrith found the silence of his mechanna guards unsettling. They led the way through the deserted streets with nary a second glance at the two humans in their midst. The only sound accompanying their travel at all was the varied footfalls of their haphazardly constructed bodies. A metal clink or the dull thud of mangled flesh slapping the ground made for macabre travel music. Xan would have given a good sum of money to have a talented bard along for the trek. Of course he would have stolen the money back later, but he'd have let the musician enjoy the promise of the money for a while first.
"Have you considered what is going to happen if you can't do this?" Kassa broke the silence in the only way Xan could have imagined he would have preferred it not be broken.
"It doesn't do a lot of good to dwell on failure." Xan quipped, though in fact the nagging concern of failure had been exceedingly prominent in his mind for days.
The Drayid creature that had been acting as their main conduit of conversation spoke up, startling Xan. "If you fail to do what you have promised, we will break both of you down into components and use you to free more of our people."
Xan frowned. "That isn't the sort of encouragement I like to work with." The Drayid didn't respond.
Kassa looked even more worried than she had before. "I don't think you're taking this situation as seriously as you should, Xandrith." Her dark eyes flitted about, landing anywhere but on Xan.
The assassin shrugged and sighed. "You know me well enough, Kassa. I am taking this situation very seriously, but if I can't make light of it a bit, I'm not sure if I can get through this. We've worked very hard to get to this point, and now everything is resting on me doing something that has never been attempted. All so I can attempt to communicate with a being that has been imprisoned for thousands of years in a box, that may or may not be sympathetic to our plight. I am taking this very seriously." He tried to meet Kassa's eyes, but she looked away. That sent a shock of sadness through Xan's heart. For some reason, at that moment, he'd really hoped to meet her eyes and find support there. "I will do this." He insisted. Kassa's recent hesitance to meet his eyes was becoming a matter of concern for the assassin. She seemed so distant.
"You spoke of communicating with a being within the box?" The Drayid spoke, its curiosity apparently piqued. "There is nothing else living within the box beyond our people. Further in is only silence."
Xandrith shook his head, just happy to have the subject changed away from his own competence. "That's not true. Long, long before the mages betrayed your people, the Great Vault was built by a creature akin to a god. He wanted to use it to seal away a rival of his, but the rival discovered what was happening and sealed him away instead. The mages had no idea that's what the Vault was for when they … did what they did."
"We know the history of the Vault, human, but we also know the nature of its insides far better than you do. Beyond the darkness in which my people are trapped there is indeed another place, but nothing lives within it. We would know if there were a being within that realm. Beyond the darkness is only silence and emptiness. If you hope to find something more than that you will be disappointed." He spoke plainly, like a teacher reciting facts.
"What does that mean?" Kassa asked.
Xan just shook his head. It was obvious that the Drayid didn't understand the nature of their prison as clearly as they thought they did. "We will open the Vault, and when we do all will be clear." Xandrith didn't need to start an argument with the Drayid just then. They already posed a distinct threat. "How much further to the Vault?" Xan asked, though he didn't really need to. He could sense that they were very close.
"It lies just ahead." The Drayid pointed to a seemingly innocuous house along the side of the road. "We moved it after we took it from the mages’ tower. We thought it better to keep it within our control."
"I'm going to need as many of your mechanna bodies as you can get here. I don't know how much energy this is going to take, but I can't afford to not have enough once the process is started. The energy must be used for something once I take it because it will be too great for me to return." Xandrith explained, trying to sound calmer than he felt. The moment of truth was approaching.
"We are already assembling." The Drayid answered. "I warn you, assassin, if this turns into some sort of betrayal, we will not treat you mercifully. We have had thousands of years to think of ways to make your kind pay for what has been done to us, and we will employ as many of them as possible on you and the female if you have deceived us in any way."
"And I warn you, Drayid. If you interfere with this process, or do anything to hurt Kassa before I am finished, I will cut a rift in reality and shove the Vault so far into emptiness that your people will never, ever see the mortal world again. I will do what I have said I will, so don't get in my way." Xan's voice was as cold as the steel he'd regularly passed through the hearts of men and women.
He met the Drayid's glass eyes and they stood locked in silent measure for a moment. The Drayid nodded. "So be it. Let us be done with this business." With that, the Drayid led them the rest of the way to the small home and pushed the door open. There were at least ten more Drayid inside all standing around a seemingly ordinary kitchen table. It looked a bit like the worst family meal Xan could imagine having to attend. "I hope uncle Wilclith didn't eat all the cream pi
e." Xan said softly. He chuckled dryly, though no one else seemed to be paying him any mind.
Atop the table stood a nondescript wood box that appeared to be made of ancient drift wood. It had a rusted steel lock fastened to the front, but there was no indication the box could be opened anyway. There were no apparent seems or hinges anywhere in the wood. To Xan the entire box seemed to thrum with a magical pulse, like the heart of some great beast. This was the Great Vault. Xandrith found himself caught somewhere between awe and disappointment. This box had existed longer than humanity, and yet at the same time it was so unimpressive in appearance as to be almost boring. He took a step forward into the room, and then another, until he was standing just before the box. All eyes were heavily upon his back.
With a single cautious hand he reached out and touched the surface of the box. As his fingers passed over the smooth wood surface a strange symbol formed on the top. It looked as though it had been burned there. Xan didn't know what it meant or if it was simply some form of decoration, but the unusual shape resonated in his mind. This is where it begins. He thought to himself. The thought was his own, but it still seemed foreign.
"Are your people gathered?" Xandrith asked the Drayid, his eyes still locked on the symbol on top of the wooden box. He traced it with his finger.
"You may begin when you are ready." Came the reply.
Xandrith took a deep breath and let it out slowly, removing his hands from the box for a moment. The symbol atop the box faded as he did so. He glanced over to Kassa, but she wasn't looking his way. Her eyes were scanning the growing number of Drayid that were filling the room. He wished he could have a moment to talk to her, to reassure her, but it was too late for that. The time had come for him to do what he'd come to do, if he could. He dropped his gaze to the simple box in front of him again and reached for it. As his fingers touched the surface the symbol reappeared. He let his thoughts spiral backwards into his mind.