Warper: Echoes of Etangria

by Riley Tune

  Grimsby Glen laughed as he in returned moved his hands. The water around us shot up in the air as if it was alive and came crashing down on The Keeper. I warped away, reappearing just in time to see that the water had closed around The Keeper, trapping him inside a sphere of swirling liquid. I could see him inside of the sphere. He was calm and his eyes were now glowing pools of yellow. His hands began to glow, just as the water around him began to turn solid.

  I looked at Grimsby Glen as his wings twitched with each breath he took to laugh. I reacted and warped to him. As I came out of my warp, I slashed at his neck while spinning around. An attack I had done time and time again, only this time, I was attacking a god. As my blade made to connect with his neck, he moved so fast that I couldn’t see it until it was over.

  He had held up a finger, a single finger, and stopped my blade midair. He looked at me, and as he did so, I could feel heat coming from his open wounds that emitted that blue glow. As if I were a mere child, he smacked me with the back of his hand.

  Pain, so intense that I almost passed out, consumed me as I rocketed through the air. In seconds, I found myself crashing into something. As I rolled over, I realized that the dome of the yellow city is what I had crashed down on. The surface was cool, warm, and wet, all at the same time. It was solid enough to stop me, yet as I placed my hands on it, ripples moved across the surface.

  It was unlike anything I had ever seen. I was positioned on top of the orb, and was so high up that as I looked down, I could see the various glowing buildings inside below me. Not only could I see the buildings, but I saw a figure. I touched my power to heal myself some, and then again to enhance my vision. As I looked down, there was a man, or something similar to a man. He appeared to be made out of some sort of metal. He had the proportions of a man, but despite being unclothed, he didn’t have any male genitals. Nor did he have a mouth. His face only had thin slits, where eyes would have been.

  “What are you,” I said as I looked down on him. It was no doubt in my mind, that he was looking directly at me, and then he shook his head. For some reason, I felt the same feeling a child got when it let their parent down.

  The area around me began to shake. I looked over my shoulder, and could see Grimsby Glen moving fast towards the sphere that held The Keeper. As he did so, his body became a living flame and he was set to collide with the sphere. As he was only feet away the sphere began to glow as beams of yellow energy punched holes around the sphere causing it to explode.

  I closed my eyes and turned my head as the glow filled the area. I looked down once more, but the man- like creature inside the city was gone, and the surface I was on had changed. Now it was very slick, and no matter how I tried, I couldn’t hold on. I looked back down and warped to where The Keeper was.

  Even with my healing, I was still sore from the hit Grimsby Glen gave me. The Keeper, was breathing heavily as he looked at me. The Grim God, however, looked as if he wasn’t even in a fight. He held a single finger to his lips.

  “Lox, go. I’ll hold him off as long as I can,” The Keeper said to me as he reached for my hand. I wanted to protest, even though I had been standing there, holding my daggers and doing nothing as if I were a child.

  His hand wrapped around my arm, and in a second I was gone from Etangria. Warped away by the Keeper’s power. Not only was I warped away, but I reappeared on a rooftop in Thera, daggers still in hand, and now I somehow had my cloak back.

  Destruction rained down all around me as soldiers of Galcon had begun to flood the streets as they collided with Thera guards.

  The blue orbs were still falling. Those orbs had been sent here by a god that had grown too powerful for his own good. It was ironic that the same god responsible for the rain and snow I had known all of my life, was the same cause of the orbs that had quickly become their replacement.

  The light from the orbs, mixed with the glow from fires that were set ablaze in the city, made it almost hard to see things in the distance, but what I could see startled me. A Clipasie, standing almost nine feet tall, with pale yellow skin, and orange hair, was fighting Thera guards.

  How had Galcon been able to bring a Clipasie with them? This bothered me, but I didn't have time to figure it out just yet. I needed to check on my family. My mother, the twins, Jolin, Remy. all of them needed my help, wherever they were.

  I warped to another building close by as I began making my way to the palace. That would likely be the best place to look for the king. I enhanced my vision by touching my power and holding onto it.

  I looked over the city around me. There was yet another Clipasie fighting in the streets. This one was just as large as the first, but his skin was purple and his hair was blue. Not only did I see the Clipasie fighting, but I also saw Asa, the Prince of Galcon.

  He spun around, twirling his staff around him as guard after guard fell. He moved like the wind, as he deflected strikes from Thera guards and delivered powerful blows of his own to the heads and bodies of his attackers. He was alone, and seemingly outnumbered but his boasting of his own skills seemed to be living up to the legend he had created for himself.

  Just from watching him here, he seemed to be too much for normal Thera guards. He would have made a great Warper.

  Thera guards were one thing, but how would he fare against a warper? I had never killed royalty before, and now seemed like the appropriate time to start. Plus, that staff, while not a knife, would go well with my collection.

  I reached inside myself and warped, only to feel something wrap around my body and slam me down, making me hit the roof so hard that my crystal daggers flew out of my hands.

  I instantly warped them both back to me, as I quickly got to my feet. Breathing heavy, I began using my own power to wash away the pain from the attack. The darkness around me began to dance as the whip- like tendrils slowly crept back to their master.

  As the darkness began to move, I saw them. One, was standing, with two daggers of pure flame in his hands. His entire arms were consumed with fire, and eye his eyes seem to be living flames. The other assassin was standing, arms stretched out, and swirling darkness began to surround the three of us.

  The darkness was slowly creating a dome. He intended to trap me inside of it with himself and his flaming partner. Quickly I warped and reappeared on a nearby roof. They looked around for a moment until they saw me standing above them.

  The man of fire let his flaming daggers fade away and instead hurled a ball of flame in my direction. The ball came towards me so fast that I didn’t have time to warp. A rare occurrence indeed. All I could do was hold the crystal daggers up and protect my face.

  The fireball hit the daggers, and instead of being pushed back from the force of the attack, the fireball became absorbed in the crystal daggers.

  I could feel my brow raise as I looked at my weapons. They had a red glow for a moment and then the glow faded away. Not only did it fade away, but it returned to normal. The crystal daggers of Rewling somehow were able to absorb the heat this assassin created. I smiled as I saw a means to his end.

  I didn’t know how to stop the one who controlled darkness, but that was a problem I could figure out when the time came. Instead, I locked my eyes on the one who created fire. Now his entire body was consumed in flame, and he hovered off the ground a few inches.

  I warped again, returning to the same roof they stood on. I didn’t have time to run, or play cat and mouse games. My friends needed me. My family needed me, and most of all Thera needed me. I was going to end this war, and these two before me would be the first to witness just how adept at killing, I really was.

  21

  I removed my cloak and dropped it to my side. From where I stood, these two looked like they were almost gods themselves. “It didn’t have to be this way you know.” I said to them as both men watched me from under their covered faces.

  “I don’t know who wants me dead, or why they felt the needed to send you after me, but you wil
l not kill me.” I swallowed some as I tighten my grip around the handles of my daggers. “You can leave now. Go back to where you came from, and allow me to save my home. My people. My family.” The man who was composed of nothing but fire moved closer to me. The heat, he gave off as he hovered began to make parts of the roof sizzle.

  “My brother and sister are out there. Trapped and fighting for their lives. I don’t even know if I can save them, but I intend to try. I’m sorry it has come to this, but you have forced my hand. They have been bloodstained before, and it seems they will be again.”

  The man who could control darkness put his hand to the one made of fire and stopped his approach. For some reason, the fire didn’t burn him. He touched the flaming arm as if nothing was there.

  As he rested his hand on him, a swirling circle of darkness wrapped around his arm once more. They looked at each other for a moment, and quickly the one made of fire, snatched his arm away from his partner. “You know what he becomes,” the man of fire said.

  It was the first time I had heard one of them speak, and his voice was oddly raspy for a man so thin. Who became something, though?

  While the one who wielded darkness stood his ground, his fiery counterpart did not He was on me in a second, slashing at me with a longsword he had created out of pure fire. I warped, and quickly glanced at the one who controlled the darkness. Why had he not attacked? Where they taking turns? And what had he meant?

  I had begun to think he was just letting the fiery one have some fun with me before he stepped in. Before, I could think of how to close the gap in on this beast of fire, several fireballs came flying at me. I tried to warp the fireball away, but nothing happened, once again, as I was forced to dodge out of the way.

  I decided to try a trick I had seen Ember do, long ago on my first solo contract. It was a contract for a man called Ashland and I had failed miserably. I would later correct that mistake, and kill Ashland, but not before Ember had had to save me. Thinking about him made me wish he was here now to help me with these two.

  He may not have been here, but I had seen him do this, enough times, that I could pull it off. I released one of my daggers and let it fly at the man of fire. As soon as the knife was from my hand I warped behind him. The first knife was easily slashed away by the man, as it fell to the ground and rolled near the one who could control darkness.

  While the man of fire was busy diverting my first attack, I launched another. I was behind him now. So close, that the heat he gave off felt like it was scorching my hair. I wanted to place a hand or arm around his neck to ensure he didn’t move but if I did that, my hand would burn as bad, or worse than before.

  Instead of holding him in place, I thrust my crystal dagger into his back three times. As the blade crossed the barrier of fire the man had created around him, the flames seemed to be sucked into the end of the blade itself. The man of fire gasped as my dagger glowed a faint orange color.

  Instantly the heat died and the fire around the assassin faded away. I wasted no time, and warped in front of him, spinning and extending my dagger to his neck while doing so. While a god could have blocked this attack, this man could not. A slash opened up in his neck and blood began to flow. It splattered on my hands and made his odd clothing seem extremely dark in some spots.

  “Luka, a voice cried out. Hearing the name being shouted, here of all places, had made my heart skip a beat. Not only that but the voice that screamed out was female. Female. Soft and fragile as if holding back tears.

  I spun around as the fire wielding man bleed out on the ground, looking for the source of the voice. Who would be screaming out the name of my brother. What I found shook me to my very core. The other assassin was the only person on the roof.

  He became wrapped in darkness and vanished, appearing right beside the body of the fire assassin. “Luka” the assassin that controlled darkness said again as she, for it was a woman apparently, removed the mask from her fallen partner.

  “No, no, no, Luka,” she said. My eyes grew wide as I looked down at the man’s face. There he was. A man who seemed to be even older than me, with sunken features, and dark circles around his eyes, but even with the fragile appearance, and added age, it was unmistakable. It was, Luka.

  How many times had I looked into those eyes. Those same eyes that my mother had. “How. But.” I stammered as I dropped my dagger and stepped back. What was going on here? How could this man, this older and extremely thin man be Luka? My little brother. My brother was trapped in a tomb. “Luka,” I said in a voice just above a whisper.

  As the second assassin continued to hold the body, she slowly began to rock back and forth. I knew the answer before I even asked it. Before I even tried to prove it. “Kula?” I slowly asked as I looked at her. The assassin who controlled darkness, jerked her head up and looked at me as if it was the first time she had seen me standing there.

  She removed her hood and mask, then looked up at me as tears glazed her face. She had the same features of my mother. Specifically, her nose. Her hair was cut low, and her face too seemed oddly thin and sunken.

  I shook my head as I tried to piece it all together. I slowly moved in closer as she continued to hold his thin body on the ground. Her sobs were easily heard over the destruction that was happening around the city.

  I reached my hand out slowly to touch her shoulder, to comfort her. A woman that somehow was my sister, but just as my hand was inches away from her, several things happened all at once.

  Four large Clipasie leaped from out of the darkness and fell upon the roof around us. All of them were over nine feet tall and, and each had different skin tones. The fact that the building was holding up to their weight was impressive.

  As they landed I could hear music playing in the air. Soft, soothing music. Combined with this music I also felt a rush of harmony and power. It was strong. So strong, that I had to drop to one knee as the power rippled around me. The power of a Tongue.

  I warped my daggers to myself as I strained to stand on my own two feet. I glanced over at the two assassins nearby. She continued to hold him, and then after looking at me, they both became surrounded in misty darkness and vanished. “No,” I screamed as I stared at the empty spot they were once in.

  Just then a fifth Clipasie landed on the building, only this one had a person in his hands. Holding him gently as a child holding a toy. The person in the Clipasie’s hand was a man. A young man.

  As he was placed on the ground by the Clipasie I recognized him. That appearance of a beggar. Those gray and dirty clothes that were so worn out that holes were in them. Most of all that slender stick with holes in it that his father called a flute.

  “You killed my father,” the young man shouted at me. Rage seemed to fill his red face as he screamed. His hand, one squeezing his flute, was shaking as a vein in his forehead protruded, and redness crept into his neck.

  “Killed him, and left him there like trash.” he continued to scream. He was right, though. No denying it. I had killed his father, and given the task I’d do it again. He was the same young man from the edges of Thera that night Jolin sent me to stop that Clipasie army.

  I had left him alive to spread the words of my story. Just as Ember always did. I was seeing that was a mistake now.

  “You’re a Tongue too, aren’t you?” I asked him slowly. “I can feel your power from here as you control these five.” This explained why Galcon had Clipasie fighting on their side. “Why are you helping Galcon?” I asked him.

  “To see the man who sent death to my father fall. Finding his killer was something I hoped for, and The Keeper saw fit to grant my wish. I may not be as strong as my father, I may not even kill you, but while you fend me off, your precious Thera will continue to die.”

  Well he was certainly wrong about The Keeper part, but he was spot on about Thera falling. From the looks of it many more buildings had begun to burn, and more and more Galcon guards seemed to be running through the stre
ets than Thera guards. I could only hope that the palace hadn’t fallen.

  I wanted to warp that flute away, but doing that would only release the Clipasie from his control and they would become even more dangerous than they already were. I needed a plan and I had none.

  They boy had clearly learned from our last encounter because none of the Clipasie had weapons. No weapons meant I couldn’t warp them away to use on them like last time. I reached inside myself to warp, and just then something happened that made me pause.

  The darkness all around us began to change. It began to move. The Clipasie and their master looked all around them, eyes wide and confused, as they tried to figure out what was going on. A large area of darkness began to appear beside me and as the smoke faded, there stood the female assassin.

  There stood my sister. Somehow older, but I couldn’t deny anymore that somehow, this was Kula. If I wasn’t sure already, what she said next solidified it for me.

  “Leave my brother alone,”

  22

  “Your brother killed my father,” he shouted to her. She took in a deep breath. “He has killed many men, and will continue to kill hundreds more in the years to come. Regardless of what he becomes, for now, he is my brother, and you will not harm him.”

  What did she mean by regardless of what he becomes, or that I will kill hundreds of people? I repeated it over and over in my head, and it sounded even more confusing each time. I glanced to her. She was still shorter than me. Looks like she had my mother's height as well as her looks.

  She flexed her hand quickly, and almost instantly a swirling band of smoke wrapped itself around my forearm. I had seen her do this a few times before, with the other assassin. The one who apparently was Luka.