Warper: Echoes of Etangria

by Riley Tune

  Can you hear me? My head jerked back some as the voice I just heard talking was now inside my head. She looked at me for a second and then back to the young man standing in front of us. Before I could figure out what was going on, I felt the energy from the man flood the area as he said the word, “now.”

  The Clipasie on the roof lunged at us. I warped out of the way, leaving her there in the same spot. Darkness exploded from around her as the Clipasie closest to her became engulfed in darkness. It wrapped him up. His entire nine- foot frame was covered in pure darkness, and then he simply began to float in the sky.

  I watched it float away for a moment and then it was so far out of view that it couldn’t even be seen in the night's sky. I took my eyes away from the sky as a massive hand swung at me and caught me in the stomach. I flew back, falling backwards and rolled off the roof.

  I came crashing down on the ground below. I could hear movement all around me as guards continued to battle in the streets. Just as I got to my feet, two of the rooftop Clipasie fell to the ground as I heard another let out a scream pain from above us.

  Seems Kula was doing well against her opponent. “Kill the Warper,” the large, red skin Clipasie in front of me screamed as he rushed forward and tried to wrap his arms around me. I warped to the side of him and slashed at his leg in a spot that gave support to a normal man.

  I was hoping that the crystal dagger of Rewling may have held another secret and was able to cut Clipasie skin. I was wrong. As the beast turned around, his partner, an orange skin male Clipasie went to attack, but black tendrils came from the shadows and wrapped around his arm as it moved in the air. He looked at his arm confused, and so did his red- skinned friend.

  I warped on top of the one with his hand wrapped in tendrils, landing on his shoulders.

  He stumbled to try and shake me off, but I held on. I felt like a child sitting on its parent’s shoulders. I grabbed the long brown ponytail and held on, leaned over and allowed the end of my dagger to find the soft spot under the chin.

  Instantly the Clipasie fell to its knees and the tendrils vanished from its arms. The red Clipasie screamed as more energy flooded the streets below. I looked up and standing on the ledge was the young man. Still pushing the monster to fight.

  I touched my own power and healed myself slightly. My aches from being punched and falling off a building went away.

  The red Clipasie moved on me, but as he did so, tendril after tendril exploded from the darkness once more. Under the chin? I heard the voice in my head again. I thought the word yes, in my head and almost instantly the tendrils, at least five of them, punctured the Clipasie through his chin and exited through his skull.

  The tendrils faded away as the Clipasie fell. I looked up again and warped. I appeared on the ledge of the roof beside the boy and wasted no time. His fire had seemed to die out with his Clipasie minions gone, but he still looked at me defiantly as I stabbed him in the throat with my crystal dagger.

  His hands grasped at his own neck trying to slow the blood, but it was a pointless effort. He tried to speak but as he slumped to the ground all that came out was a deathly gurgle. The energy radiating from him was gone now, as the darkness around us moved and she stepped out and stood beside me.

  In my head, I heard that was the last of them. I didn’t think anything. I looked down at my forearm at the swirling mist. I had seen her use the same thing on her partner. That’s how they were communicating. It was some sort of mental link.

  Her abilities were more powerful than I gave her credit for and had she wanted to, she could have killed me on every encounter we had before tonight, but for some reason she didn’t.

  I needed to get to the palace. To save what little part of Thera I could but I still had so many questions. You will have answers. I heard a voice reply back in my head. Even that quickly, I had forgotten about the mental link.

  “Take this off of me,” I said to her as I held up my forearm. The swirling band fell away and dispelled in the air. “What are you?” I asked as I stepped away to look at her. “Lox, I’m your sister.”

  “No, my sister is in the palace.” I said as I pointed my dagger in the direction the palace. “She’s trapped in a tomb. A casualty of a god's decisions.” She nodded. “She is also here in front of you.”

  She sighed as she looked down and away. “Luka and I,” she paused as if just saying the name gave her great sadness. “We are from another time, a time that hasn’t happened for you yet.”

  I could feel my face twist in confusion. “You’re saying you're from the future?” I asked as I looked at her. I was a killer who could move long distances in a matter of moments, that had talked to two gods not too long ago, and still this seemed hard to believe.

  As much as I was confused that would explain why they looked so much older. “I wrapped us in my power and brought us here to this time.” She really was powerful. Sure, I could travel across a city, but her powers were godlike in themselves. She continued to talk. “Back to when you were still you. We decided to make things right. To do that, you had to die.”

  I shook my head. Even with all the madness happening around me in the city, it all seemed to fall silent. “You,” I was searching for a way to form my question. “Used your power to travel back in time, because you and Luka, wanted to kill me?”

  She shook her head as she spoke. “Yes.” I had figured they were sent by a person to kill me. After all they seemed like assassins but everything else was so confusing. “Why would you want to kill your brother? Why would you want to kill me?”

  “Rune said that with my power I could save everything. He said Luka and I could go back, and kill you before you agreed to be the vessel.” At these words, my eyes grew wide. “Vessel?”

  She shook her head. “In my time, you have agreed to become the vessel of The Grim God. With his power, you made all of the lands yours. Death and destruction on a global scale followed.”

  I shook my head. “That’s not possible. I wouldn’t do that.” “But you did.” she said. “Why. Why would I agree to be the vessel of an insane god?” I asked. “We don’t know. Luka and I serve as your personal guard, and Rune is one of the Holders of Knowledge.”

  “I don’t know a Rune,” I said to her. “You will in about a year. He is Remy’s son.” My brow raised. “Stop. Just stop talking.”

  I could hear a rush of screams in the city. I looked over my shoulder and touched some of my power. More guards had flooded the streets now. Different guards. Guards covered from head to toe in blue armor. Walden guards. I smiled some. I don’t know why, or if Jolin simply made a deal, but Walden was here.

  Help from Noel Walden would allow us to win this war. All wasn’t lost after all. “I need to get to the palace.” The darkness around her began to move as it became thick and then faded away. As it faded away, the lifeless body of Luka appeared at her feet.

  “I’m going back. I have lost one brother, and I don’t have it in me to kill the other one.” She paused as she looked up at the sky. The blue orbs had stopped falling for the moment. “I hope the future I left is different when I return. I have great power, but only enough to travel here and back once.”

  She paused as she placed her hand on my cheek. “There will be a time soon, when something happens. Something so horrible that it forces you to give in to The Grim God. Whatever it is, don't give in. Look to your friends, to your allies.” She looked down at Luka.

  “To your family. Once you agree to be the vessel, it becomes your beginning to our end.” She smiled. “Don’t let your legacy be one of destruction. Warpers keep the balance. Never forget it.”

  The smoke and darkness began to swirl violently around the two of them. Creating a barrier between us as they became encased in darkness. As it faded away, so did they. They were gone and only myself, and the bodies of our previous attackers were left on the roof of the warring city.

  23

  So much was happening in
the city as I warped across its rooftops to the palace. Galcon soldiers were still fighting back, but it was clear that they were losing the battle. As the bodies began to pile up in the streets of Thera, Walden soldiers slowly began to gain an upper-hand and aided Thera in its cause.

  Rogue Clipasie roamed the streets and rooftops destroying anything in their path. Without the tongue, or his music, to control them, they attacked anybody that stood in their way, regardless of which kingdom they served.

  The amount of blood that flowed in the streets was more than even I could tolerate. I saw Walden guards executing Galcon guards, Thera guards falling to the blades of Galcon guards, and Asa, the prince of Galcon, still continued to overpower all that came before him. Even he was growing tired now, though.

  I paused for a second to watch him fight once more. His counter moves and attacks were slowing down in speed, and lacking the accuracy they did earlier. He must have assumed the war would have ended by now. In time, he too would fall. I had wanted to be the hand holding the knife that killed him, but the palace was the important thing now.

  I warped again, moving closer and closer to the palace. The air smelled different as I got closer to my destination. Things always smelled different when blood was in the air. Many people didn’t notice it, but many people weren’t around blood as much as I was. It had a smell that lingered in the air, turning it into something different all together.

  I hated seeing my home like this. Buildings destroyed, entire streets in flames, and people panicking in their race to escape. Yet, all of this could have been avoided if Queen Sumina would have waited. I could have told her what I found out. Then I thought about it.

  Would she have even believed me? I didn’t find a solution, only a reason as to why the orbs were coming. They were just byproducts of another god’s power. A god that, for all purposes, wasn’t even a god. Not truly. They were worshiped like gods, but in reality, they were just normal people who were changed long ago. “Yeah that does sound crazy,” I said to myself as the palace came into view.

  I looked it over from where I was. Oddly enough, it looked the same. Most of the damage was done outside of its walls. That was good. Likely everybody was still fine. I found a random window to a corridor and used it as my warp point.

  Once inside the palace, I could see that everything was not okay at all. On this corridor alone, I found three guards, all dead. What was curious was how they were killed. There was no blood at all. No cuts, but there was considerable bruising on their face, and all of their necks seemed to be broken.

  “Mom,” I said to myself, as I continued to cover more ground. I didn’t know what or who was in the palace, but if the guards had failed, that only left my mom, Jolin, Cloud and Remy. None of them were great fighters. Jolin was learning, but still he had aways to go. Remy was a scholar, likely to throw a book at you, but that’s all. My mom was in no condition to fight, and Cloud was so sweet she wouldn’t hurt a fly.

  I had finally made it my my mom’s room, well the room she was held up in with the twins. I tried to push the door open, but it seemed stuck on something. “Mom. Mom.” I said as I banged the door.

  Nobody opened up. This made me panic initially. If she was able, she would have opened it up after hearing my voice. I dropped to a knee, squinted my eye and looked through a keyhole. This was all I needed, and for the second time in only a few months, I was warping into a palace locked room, via keyhole.

  As I reappeared on the other side of the door, I saw what was blocking it. Another guard lay lifeless. He was as banged up and bruised as the others, and had his neck snapped too. The bed was empty. My mom and the twins were gone. The room didn’t look like a struggle had taken place. Maybe they were gone before the war started, or before the guard even got here.

  I slammed my fist against the wall. Where could they have gone? I paced the room for a moment. “Jolin” I said to myself. They must have been with Jolin. Before we left he mentioned that he would be using the study on the fifth floor as his base of operations to deal with Galcon and Walden. This was my last hope, and I clung to that slither of hope and refused to let it go. My family was okay. They had to be.

  I took a breath and made my way to the fifth- floor study. The hallway leading to the door was littered with bodies. Easily ten of them. Despite the guards having weapons, they were all dead. Each and every one with the same snapped neck killing blow.

  The door to the study was ajar and I could hear grunting from the inside. As I moved closer, not only did I hear grunting but chairs seemed to be sliding and something heavy sounded like it had fallen to the ground.

  Daggers drawn, I opened the door to see what was causing the noise. What I saw was something that made my mouth gape open, as my eyes blinked several times to make sure what I was seeing was real.

  I saw Jolin. Dressed in a blue uniform that only a king would wear. His white cape was torn and his medals were both on his chest, and on the floor. He had a cut on his forehead, a black eye, and blood was coming from the corner of his mouth. In his hands were two wooden rods about a foot long each.

  I recognized the rods he had in his hands. I knew he had been learning to fight with them, I just didn’t know if he was adept at them yet. It was a rare fighting style being taught to him, one I had seen first- hand done before. Months ago, when I launched my assault to take down the emperor and his wife, one of the personal guards hired was a man fluent in the same style and he put up quite the fight.

  What bothered me wasn’t Jolin’s condition, it was the person he was fighting. While Jolin was barely holding on, the person standing behind him, with their arm firmly wrapped around his neck, was a face I had grown to show respect to. A face of a person I called friend, and would never consider a foe.

  Yet, there she was. White hair in shambles and a minor cut on her cheek. She was wearing a cream- colored shirt with no sleeves, showing her toned arms, that seemed even more pronounced because they were wrapped around Jolin’s neck. Some brown trousers, and a sturdy pair of boots. She looked at me and applied more pressure.

  It was Cloud.

  I didn’t understand why Cloud would be attacking Jolin. She loved him for Keeper’s sake. Maybe it was a person like Vida, able to change their appearance at will? “Mr. Lox,” Jolin gasped between short breaths as he tried to raise his arm towards me and pointed.

  I couldn’t figure out why he was pointing at me, and then. My mind began to race, as something hit me in the back of the head. I fell to the ground and rolled somewhat, letting my eyes focus to a far part of the room. I warped to the other end of the study as I rolled and reappeared across the room on my feet.

  I touched the back of my head and winced as I looked at my fingers and saw blood. I touched the power inside myself and used to heal my wounds. I had no such luck. It stopped the pain some, but my head still hurt and was still bleeding.

  I looked back to the door where I was standing and saw Asa, Prince of Galcon, standing in the door. He looked like a madman. His beard, once groomed and clean was now mangled and bloody. His long black hair looked like it had been pulled in all directions, and his royal clothing and armor was covered in dirt.

  I realized that Jolin wasn’t pointing at me at all, he was pointing behind me. “Why haven’t you finished yet?” Asa said through gritted teeth. “There were more guards than you expected,” Cloud replied.

  The muscles in her arms seemed to flex a little more and then Jolin’s rods fell to the ground, and his eyes slowly began to close. As he slipped into unconsciousness, Cloud slammed him down on the ground. Jolin was stretched out at her feet now, out of it, but still breathing nonetheless.

  “You knew your role, and couldn’t even do that right,” Asa said to her. “Get close to him, make him fall for you, and then kill him. That’s what you were paid for.” I looked to Cloud. I didn’t want to believe what Asa was saying was true. Cloud had been a friend to us. She had helped my mother with the twins. She was aro
und my friends and family at their times of need, and all this time she was what, a spy? An assassin?

  I could feel my breathing quicken. Then I remembered that Asa had employed Jolin and Vida in his time. Hiring an assassin to do his dirty work didn’t seem so far out of character for him.

  Asa moved a few feet from the door and looked at Jolin’s body. “He’s still alive. We have to kill them both.” They both glanced at me, as if only remembering that I was still in the room. Asa moved back to the entrance door, and closed it. Not only did he close it, he locked it as well.

  “Nowhere to run, boy.” he said as he began to spin his staff around. What he said didn’t bother me. I didn’t care about him either way. His fate was sealed from the moment he hit me with that staff.

  What took my breath away was Cloud and what she was doing. She paused for a second, and then the air around her began to shimmer. I couldn’t believe my eyes, but I knew what I was seeing. Then it happened. She warped.

  I couldn’t believe it, and likely wouldn’t have believed it had I not seen it. Cloud warped from where she was standing, and reappeared beside a window. She pushed over one of the large bookshelves and, as the books fell, the shelf itself toppled over and blocked the window.

  She did this several more times as she warped around the room. I suddenly realized what she was doing. She was trying to block my view outside. To hinder me from warping away. Between her and Asa, they thought they had me trapped, and in a way, they were right.

  Only I wasn’t trapped. You couldn’t trap a person who had no intentions of escaping, and between Asa sending a warper to befriend us and kill Jolin, and Cloud betraying us all, I felt like somebody owed me blood.

  I smiled some as a thought popped in my head. “What are you smiling at?” Cloud said in almost a hiss. Funny, even her voice didn’t sound the same anymore. Her ruse was very well executed.

  “Nothing. It’s just that, Vida never liked you. Not truly. When this is all over she’s going to be very upset that she couldn’t kill you herself.” I let out a little laugh. “Well, who’s first? Let’s get this over with. I still have to find my mother.”