by J. Carrarn
Solus cursed. Uran was annoying, selfish, and smashed anything he didn't understand straight away. Even so, at least he wouldn't try and destroy the world as this Kaot Lord would. Stone shot up from the ground, flowing between the fingers of the great hand and Uran. Then it expanded, trying to counter the crushing force of the fingers. It shattered immediately, stone dust falling to the ground. Knowing that the stone, no matter how dense he made it, would crumble immediately, Solus stepped back.
Above his head, screams came from the skeletal dragons as they dove down to aid their stricken master. Green bursts of fiery flame lashed out at the arm, causing small blisters to appear. Green, burning tentacles shot from the fingertips, some scalding Uran in the process, and reached for the dragons. Fast and nimble, they grabbed the flying undead almost immediately, wrapping around and constricting them. A soft crunch sounded, and then another, as the dragons were crushed to pieces.
Solus felt a shiver of fear run through him as he saw the ease with which the tentacles destroyed these massive creatures.
Focusing, he drew one of the crystalline subcomponents from the stone below his feet. He needed something tougher. Thin streams of translucent yellow crystal flowed up from the ground, pooling together at his feet until it was the size of his torso. Then it shot towards the hand in the form of tendrils, wrapping around Uran and quickly hardening into a shell. Cracks appeared almost immediately, but the yellow crystal held longer than the stone had. Solus steadily increased its density as much as he could, searching further and further for more of the yellow crystal. He felt his mana being drained away at an exponential rate.
"Do something, you ancient fool!" he roared, looking around for some other way to free Uran.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Uran's projected voice rumbled back, and Solus saw a glow emanate from the struggling undead. A moment later, another one of the Kaot Lord's fingers snapped up and away from the hand, forced out at an odd angle by the broken bone within.
A loud crack followed as part of the yellow shell that Solus was using to protect Uran broke. The fingers of the immense hand curled tighter around the skeleton, and Uran's left arm snapped.
"Get me out of here!" Uran screamed. Solus was about to ask how when the claw pulled back through the portal and disappeared, taking Uran with it. The momentary silence was deafening.
Solus stared dumbly at the empty rift, realizing that Uran was gone.
After a moment, the sounds of fighting still coming from Tirella and Norg jogged him awake. The rift was empty, but the danger was not gone. He summoned his mana-field and stepped closer to the rift, trying to close it as fast he could. He hoped that Uran could slow down the Kaot Lord trying to get through, although he thought it unlikely.
There was less resistance this time, and he managed to shrink the portal until it was too small for the arm before something came through again.
A yellow skull flew out of the blackness and bounced on the ground far below before rolling to the side. Solus sighed at the sight of it and continued to close the rift until a long black finger jabbed through. Blocked from closing the rift, he jumped back when a purple tentacle lashed out from the finger. It flailed around, passing above Solus's head a few times. After waving around a dozen times, the tentacle withdrew, and the finger softly wagged from left to right as if in silent rebuttal.
Unsure what it was supposed to mean, Solus kept his distance until the finger withdrew. As soon as it did, he jumped forward and quickly continued closing the rift. When it was the size of his head, a small thing flew through. He didn't pay attention to it, focused on closing the last part of the rift first. It cost him a great deal of mana, and when it finally sealed shut, he felt a mixture of victory and loss.
Looking around for the thing that had been tossed through, he saw it on the ground not too far off. It was a mana-orb, mostly drained and with only a flicker of energy still inside. Solus picked it up and looked at it.
Uran, he thought as his mind wandered off while staring at the mana-orb. He shook his head and shoved the mana-orb inside one of his waist pouches.
He turned and examined Uran's army, which was still standing at the ready. Someone would have to deal with them later. Probably not him, though. He turned to the sounds of battle that came from behind one of the hills and jumped over it in one leap. Tirella was wielding two massive stone clubs and was slamming them down viciously atop the struggling shape of the Kaot. Long gashes covered her body, one dangerously close to one of her eyes.
Not too far off, Norg lay on the ground, unmoving.
"Norg!" Solus roared, and he glared at the Kaot Lord. He jumped forward, landed beside the tottering thing, and slammed his green hammer against the side of its head. The Kaot shuddered and sidestepped on its multiple legs. Solus moved with it, hitting it again. Tirella jumped beside him, striking the Kaot on the other side of the head.
It took a few minutes before it stopped moving, and when it did, Solus immediately tore open its skull. Inside was its angular mana-core, covered in a disgusting purplish mucus. Touching it carefully, he felt none of the black stuff that tainted the smaller mana-orbs of the smaller Kaots.
"We need to hurry. If more of these rifts are forming at other places, then more Kaot Lords might pass through, and there will be no-one to stop them!" Tirella said, her breathing heavy and labored.
Solus nodded, realizing what that meant. He would need to go, sit below the ground without his friends, for perhaps a thousand years. A wave of fear and despair flowed through him. Maybe he would never see Norg, Drys, or any of the others again.
A hand gripped his shoulder, and he felt a wave of calm flow into him. Looking up, he saw Tirella smile at him.
"Don't worry so much! If we don't go, they will all be destroyed, and then we'll definitely never see them again!"
Solus sighed and nodded before moving towards Norg.
"Give me a moment," he said as he flipped him over. The left side of Norg's face was almost destroyed, his eye socket crushed, and his normally jutting jaw stood out at an odd angle. Solus automatically searched in his waist armor for a mana-orb. There was only one. Drawing out Uran's orb, dull, dim, and almost drained, Solus grimaced. At least the troublesome ancient yellow skeleton would be able to do one good thing.
Pressing the mana-orb into Norg's palm, he waited until the orb began to glow. It wouldn't be enough to repair Norg completely, but it should be enough to wake him up. Behind him, Tirella was watching. He could feel her impatience, but he didn't want to rush. Instead, he looked up at the sky. The sun, already low in the sky, seemed more beautiful now that he knew that he might never see it again. He could see some of the stars already, shining dimly against the twilight.
Looking at Skulltown, he wished he had the time to rebuild it and to say farewell.
"Perhaps you can? Who is to say what we can or can't do when we are down there?" Tirella said, moving towards him.
Solus didn't respond but handed the mana-core to Tirella. Then he grabbed the other one from his waist armor, dismissing the large container that was now no longer needed.
Tirella's mana-field burst into existence, wrapping itself around the mana-core, and Solus quickly followed her example.
The moment his mana-field touched the mana-core, it shuddered. Instead of the familiar surge of energy that mana-orbs gave, the energy in the mana-core began to transfigure his mana-field. Around the edges, symbols started vibrating and growing, while others disintegrated to be replaced by new ones.
"This will take a while. We had better start going down," he said, taking one last look at Skulltown and Norg.
A stone square formed below them, and they shot down, the stone closing above them.
—
Standing atop the walls of Skulltown, Drys looked out into the distance. His sharp eyes had been able to make out part of what had happened.
"He is gone…" he said, sighing before turning to the others. Skull stood beside a group of Blackguards, and
behind them stood various skeletal and zombie mages. To the side stood Borl, carrying the sphere that held Sam.
"That means we are on our own from now until the foreseeable future. If they succeed, the rifts will stop growing, but we will still need to close those that have already appeared."
Drys turned to Skull.
"Do you remember Tatjie and Derin?"
"Me remember!" Skull said, bobbing his head up and down enthusiastically.
"They went to search for Galg at the school and haven't come back yet. Go and see what is taking them so long," Drys said before turning to one of the Blackguards.
"Take some guards. Go outside and gather Vingria and Norg. Bring them to the Hall."
The Blackguard nodded and ran off to carry out its orders. Drys turned to face those that remained.
"Go to Uran's army and bring them the news of his demise. Tell them they can either join us or head back to Realdeep. Tell them that if they decide to head back, they must attempt to close all the rifts they encounter along the way. They probably won't know how to do that. Explain it to them. If they find ones they can't close, they need to report their locations!"
One of the Blackguards stepped forward. "What if they attack?"
Drys thought for a moment before replying. "Without Uran, they are no match for us. If they attack, come back here to regroup, and we will end them."
The Blackguard nodded, and he and the others moved away, joined by the mages. Now alone on the wall with Borl and Sam, Drys sighed.
Borl stepped closer.
"Don't worry. We will be fine! Just fine! You have me, and Sam!" Laughing, Borl made as if to pat Drys on the shoulder. He stopped when the other glared at him.
"I know. But I can't shake the feeling that we've forgotten something. Something important."
"What?" Borl asked, cocking his head.
"If only I knew…" Drys groaned as he stared at the spot where Solus and Tirella had disappeared.
—
A scream of utter rage echoed down from the mountains.
Domain stood in front of the rift, staring at the small portal back to the world he had been built on. Grasping at the edges, he tried to pull it open, but it barely even shivered. He wasn't strong enough!
Thudding from behind made him swirl around. A host of tentacled Kaot Lords came charging towards him, shattering stone and boulders in their path.
"Nooooo!" Domain howled as he slammed his fists beside the portal. Earth and stone burst apart, creating a massive pit below the portal. Domain turned away and sped down the mountain. He would find another body, a Kaot Lord stronger than this one; anything that would allow him to open that rift wider so that he could pass through!
—
From the peak of the mountain, hiding in a crack, sharp eyes followed Domain's every move. As soon as he and the Kaot Lords had disappeared over the ridge, Sumil shot out of her hiding place and sprinted for the rift. She took a single look at the pit, four times as deep as she was tall, and the tiny rift hovering above it.
Great. Now how am I going to get back?
The long slumber
As the platform descended deeper into the ground, Solus sat cross-legged beside Tirella. Their mana-fields were intertwined, and both mana-cores glowed, causing the chamber they were in to be brightly lit. Scanning down, he sensed the vast distance they still had to bridge, even though they had been traveling down for hours now.
A ping came from his status window. Many had come before it, and Solus resisted the urge to summon it. He wasn't sure if doing so would have any adverse side effects, and with what was at stake, he didn't dare take the risk.
Looking down at the mana-core, he noticed that it lost any of its glow, and his mana-field was still swiftly transforming. It had initially been a dull dark grey, with bright green lines, but now the grey was brightening. It had a slight gleam to it, which reminded him of the sheen of metal. The green lines in the meantime had become darker, pulsating in a deep soothing green.
"Are you also hearing those pings?" Tirella asked, turning to look at him.
"Yes, it means that our status windows have updated," Solus said.
Tirella grinned as she shook her head. "I know that much. What I'm wondering is what's changing! I tried to summon it, but nothing happened."
Solus blinked. If Tirella had tried without any negative consequences, so could he. Curiously he summoned his status window, and a blurry blue box appeared in front of him with a single line.
> System automatically shut down due to imminent purity upgrade… please try again later.
He quickly told what he found to Tirella, and she just nodded.
Hours later, Solus began to grow restless. Would they make it in time? He had pushed back the feeling before, but sensing they still had a long way to go, he wondered if Viridi was even still alive.
"STILLLLL HEEERRREE."
A dull, deep voice rumbled through the small room and his mind alike.
It was weaker than he had ever heard it, and looking at Tirella, he saw her face creased with worry.
Will we be on time? he shouted in his mind, and a soft rumble came in response. Viridi's avatar was laughing. It didn't answer his question, though, and Solus wondered what was going on.
A while later, he sensed something heading up from deep underground. Its movement caused shaking and vibrations in the ground.
"VIRIIIIDDIIII COMMMMESSSSS TO YOOUUU" came the voice, and moments later, Solus felt an outside force take hold of the earth he and Tirella had been shaping. It was more powerful than anything he had ever felt.
"She is here," he said as Viridi's immense mind wrapped itself around them. It felt as if they were blanketed by ground and dirt. Calm and comforting, like a womb, a concept that seemed so alien to Solus he could barely believe he was feeling it.
The stone wall of the room ripped open, and a dull-green figure stepped through. Green and brown-leafed plants and vines wrapped around a hunched-over, elderly woman.
Viridi, Solus thought, staring at her in shock. Only the eyes glittered and glowed as brightly as he remembered.
"I thought you couldn't move?" he said after a moment, staring at her and worrying that she might fall over at any moment.
"This is the first time I have stirred in eons, and it will also be the last," a pleasant, young voice responded.
Tirella stirred beside him but kept silent. Viridi noticed, however, and turned to her.
"Ahhh, the other young one. I am so glad you have come. With you here, the chances of this old world surviving the storm have risen considerably." A smile crept up onto her ancient face, and Viridi looked at them both with a warm smile.
Solus felt a calm and a familiarity he had never experienced before, and images and ideas flowed into his mind. He knew straight away that they weren't from the first sphere's gift. These were new. These came from Viridi, and judging from Tirella's soft, contented sigh, she too was receiving them.
Viridi motioned for them to come closer, her movements slow and wearisome.
"Come… I wish I had more time to spend with you, but these last few hours have drained the remainder of my power to shore up this world's defenses. I have used what little energy I had left to come to you."
Solus and Tirella stepped before her, still holding their mana-cores. Viridi placed her hands on each of their heads. Solus realized she was much taller than they were, something he somehow hadn't noticed before. Her long thin fingers almost entirely enveloped his head.
"It will take too long for you to purify yourselves like this, but I can still do this much to help you…"
Solus felt the mana-core stir in his hands, and the energy inside burst out. If the energy output had been a small stream before, when Viridi placed her hand on their heads, it turned into a raging river of energy. His status window began constantly pinging as he saw and felt symbols and lines being removed and replaced on his mana-field. Within moments, the dark grey of his field had become a gleaming pure
silver, while the glowing green lines across had turned to an even deeper, more organic green. Tirella's mana-field had gone from a deep yellow to orange and brown, while her lines had darkened so much that they were almost black now.
A ring sounded, but not from his mana-field, and suddenly the lines and symbols began pulsing from deep green to black and back. The same was happening to Tirella's mana-field, but her patterns pulsed from a warm dark brown to a dull black.
"So much potential… If only you two had been born when the earth was younger! How much you could have seen and done!" Viridi said.
A sudden sadness overcame Solus, causing his chest to throb with pain.
"No!" Viridi said, shaking her head as if to dispel these sad thoughts.
The gentle smile returned, although it took a few moments before it reached her eyes.
"There is still a chance, as I have shown you! I should not dwell on the past like this. It does not lend dignity to a being's last moments!"
She stepped back, releasing them, and Solus felt a wave of loneliness. The fact that the mana-core had crumbled between his fingers barely registered. A loud ping from his status window jogged him awake.
"Oh right. That! Such an interesting pattern! So very much like the ancients: to take what was already whole, and try to perfect it, make it so that all could understand. Limiting and dangerous as well," Viridi said.
With a groan, she stumbled and fell down, sitting with her head slumped and taking deep breaths. "I die now… but first, I must make sure you two are capable of taking my place!" She groaned and lifted her shaking hands.
Solus stepped forward and kneeled instinctively. Tirella was right beside him, and again Viridi touched them, but this time on their chests. Her face suddenly brightened, her eyes glowing an intense green, and Solus felt something of Viridi's essence pass to him. A tight knot that had been with him ever since his evolution into a demi-earth elemental unwound and disappeared. Viridi's face softened; the deep creases of age began to fade. She was rejuvenating!