Sky Jewel Legacy- Heritage

by Gregory Heal

  Jen’s life flashed before her eyes, and she was unable to move as fear paralyzed her body. Time seemed to slow down as the fire flicked toward her, triggering her most traumatic memory—getting badly burned as a child—and a recurring nightmare . . . being burned alive.

  Without thinking, she managed to dive into the cold water just as a wall of flames passed over where she had just stood. Her body seized up from the shock of the frigid water, but at that moment Jen felt the safest in the freezing water. Stubbornly, she tried staying underwater for as long as possible, all the while being bombarded with traumatic memories of when she was horribly burned by an out-of-control bonfire. She could still remember feeling the scorching flames wrap around her, hearing her parents scream in horror, smelling the stench of burnt hair and skin . . . but eventually she had to resurface or risk drowning. Frantically, she swam upward and gulped in air once she broke the surface of the water, sputtering.

  She was only able to take in one deep breath as another spurt of searing-hot fire was launched at her. Shaking, she dove back down into the water to escape the onslaught. This time, her worst nightmare took control over her mind and body—the nightmare in which she was trapped in a small room with no doors or windows and a floor of fire that kept growing and getting hotter. In the nightmare, she couldn’t move or yell for help as she was slowly burned to death.

  Wanting to never leave the eerily serene waters of the Chimera Course, Jen floated motionless as her body went catatonic. Eventually, she reverted into the fetal position, wishing Victor would rescue her from this real-life nightmare at any moment.

  When Jen thought she had used up all of her oxygen, a pulse from her ring sent a shock wave through the water. Astonished, Jen involuntarily inhaled and began to breathe . . . underwater. Looking around in shock, Jen hesitantly took in another breath and experienced the same strange paradox of feeling water flow through her nose but also breathing as easily as if she were on dry land.

  Her vision focused and she could see as clearly as if she were above the water. Relaxing her muscles, she looked toward the surface to see orange light filtering through the water, telling her that Mystra Stonebridge was keeping up his barrage of fire.

  Focus, Jen. Go forward, never backward. She imagined Victor by her side, saying those words.

  And focus she did.

  The water was crystal-clear, making it easy for Jen to get ahold of her bearings. She looked below to see how deep the pool was, but only saw it extend down into endlessness. Not interested in seeing how far down it went, she looked forward and could see the other side, which was about twelve meters in front of her. Jen had swam in college, so she equated the distance to about half of a regulation-size lap pool.

  Kicking off of the wall like a trained swimmer, Jen fell into a streamlined post and dolphin-kicked for the first several meters before transitioning into a breaststroke. She didn’t want to risk resurfacing only to get burned, so she gladly stayed fully immersed in the water.

  In to time, Jen had made it to the other side. A quick glance upward revealed no orange refractions on the surface, only sky blue, so she swallowed her fear and slowly swam toward the light.

  Breaking the water’s surface, she was relieved to see that Stonebridge didn’t shoot any more fireballs at her . . . but the ground in front of her was crackling with fire.

  Great. Thanks, Stonebridge.

  She looked behind her to see the same result on the other end. She was effectively trapped.

  She was at a loss for what to do next, until she felt a power surge through her. The ring warmed her numbing arms and feet as she looked at the wall of fire, feeling the heat on her cheeks. With just her sopping-wet head above the water, she opened her hands and felt water swirl around her buoyant body. Instinctively, Jen pointed her palms away from her, and suddenly it felt as if she was standing on something solid. Her body elevated out into the hot air until it looked as if she were standing on the surface of the water.

  She clenched her fists. Water on each side of her spewed forth at the blazing fire. The water immediately turned into steam when it made contact with the fire, but still she willed the water forward. In a matter of seconds, the blazing flames were completely extinguished and it was safe for Jen to run to the edge of the moat.

  Standing on solid ground again and amazed at what she had just done, Jen dropped her hands to her sides and inhaled deeply; a brisk wind picked up and dried her off.

  From behind the course’s starting line, Victor looked on in amazement. At first, he was worried by how long Jen had managed to stay underwater, but his worst thoughts dissipated when he saw her emerge unharmed on the other side of the pond.

  He couldn’t believe it was coming this easily to Jen. She was able to control the water like an adept terramancer. Victor glanced at Stonebridge and saw amazement reflecting back at him, and pride swelled in his chest.

  Feeling the power die down momentarily, Jen looked ahead and saw an open path of grass that led straight to the altar.

  As soon as she began to run, she heard a deep, muffled groan. A large stone slab the width of the course rose up in front of her, blocking her view of the finish line and altar. She looked across the hedges to see Mystra Étoilier motioning with his hands.

  He’s using astromancy to create another obstacle!

  When the slab stopped rising, Jen looked up and guessed it was about forty feet high—something she could not jump. It looked smooth and didn’t seem to have any foot- or handholds, so climbing it was out of the question as well. Jen also dismissed going around the hedges—that would disqualify her.

  Stepping back, she closed her eyes and breathed in slowly. Trying to mimic Étoilier’s hand movements, she twirled her hands in front of her . . . but nothing came of it; the black, shiny slab was just as solid and imposing as before.

  Okay . . . different tactic, then, thought Jen.

  She walked to the slab and ran her hands across its surface, which was smooth and slightly warm. A few seconds later, with her hands still touching the gargantuan wall, Jen’s eyes widened in surprise when she could sense the molecules that made up the slab. Its bonds were symmetrical and strong, much like her own.

  The answer came to her suddenly: it was made of carbon.

  Over the years, Jen had taken a lot of chemistry classes to prepare for medical school, so she knew the periodic table of elements like the ABCs. Jen chuckled. That was why Étoilier was able to make the barrier: his powers of astromancy could tap into not only his knowledge of the cosmos, but also the elements from which the cosmos were constructed.

  Jen backed away from the wall.

  What is the most powerful force in the universe?

  Jen said aloud with a slight smirk: “Gravity.”

  The Ring of Lancaster’s purple glow reflected in the polished slab in front of her, but now that glow was joined by—

  My eyes . . . my eyes are glowing, too!

  Jen reached out and clenched her fists. As if she had been doing this her entire life, the carbon barrier cracked under the immense pressure of gravity until it started to crumble. Before long, the once-great wall was nothing but a pile of jagged, broken shards of debris.

  Jen carefully jumped over the rubble, getting closer to the atlar step by step.

  Étoilier laughed and clapped his hands together, calling, “Bon travail, ma chérie!”

  “Well done, indeed,” Victor repeated, mostly to himself.

  He looked over at Chen, who was still standing next to him. She at first looked indifferent, but a glimmer of her old self broke through as she looked into his eyes. Fleetingly, Victor felt as if they were young again—before they both became mystras and before he was banished from the Guild.

  With sorrow creeping into his heart, he was the first to look away and again focus on Jen, who was about to encounter the next obstacle.

  Having now completed over half the course, Jen clipped along as quickly as a track star running in a race until the groun
d began to rumble beneath her. She slowed down and glanced across the hedges to see Mystra Skycap stomping on the ground like an angry elephant. The Elder let out a loud bellow akin to a pachyderm’s trumpeting call and raised her head to the sky. Jen would have laughed at the strangeness of it if the rumbling wasn’t increasing in magnitude. Focusing back on the task at hand, Jen tried to remain upright, but the tremors threw her balance off so badly that she fell to the ground.

  She could see the altar straight ahead, even though it was blurry from the ground’s seismic shaking. Jen tried getting up, but soon found herself back on the ground, unable to steady herself.

  Jen could feel the ring softly bounce on her chest as the ground continued to shake, and when she looked down at it she wasn’t surprised that it was still glowing. Preparing for another display of power from her nexus, Jen’s eyes locked onto the pedestal, making her vision clear and crisp as she felt her chest swell with a warm energy.

  She jumped—

  I’m levitating!

  Sure enough, she hadn’t come down from her leap, instead floating ten feet off the ground, safe from the effects of Skycap’s earthquake.

  “All right! Let’s go forward,” Jen said to herself.

  Testing out her newfound ability of flight, she started to drift backward when she slightly shifted her weight and twirled her arms.

  “Okay, okay, okay, no,” Jen said. “Forward, not back.”

  She tilted her arms in the opposite direction and began to hover toward the finish line.

  Is this for real?!

  She flew forward about ten yards until her arms were too exhausted to keep her airborne. Mystra Skycap was evidently pleased with Jen’s solution to her earthquake; she’d stopped stomping, and the ground settled just as Jen landed. She exhaled and wiped beads of sweat from her forehead as she stretched out her tired arms.

  Even though her surprise flying lesson had sapped a lot of energy out of her, Jen could see the altar just twenty-five yards away.

  Nothing was going to stop her—not now.

  She broke into a run again and was surprised to see that no other obstacles appeared before her, nor were any of the mystras casting spells.

  Maybe the earthquake was the last test?

  Jen ran faster, and in a few quick bounds, she was only five yards away from the altar. Her heart raced with excitement as she counted the steps to the finish line, but her smile faded when she realized she was going . . . backward. Looking down, Jen at first couldn’t comprehend what she was seeing.

  One step forward . . . was actually one step backward.

  What the . . . ?

  She looked back up and saw Cindergray standing to the right of the altar, holding a large pocket-watch which was glowing a bright white.

  Jen realized what must be happening.

  He’s manipulating time to reverse my progress through chronomancy!

  With this knowledge, she tried walking backward in hopes she would move forward, but she still moved farther away from the altar. Side to side was the same result.

  Jen was stuck.

  She looked down at her ring. “Come on, wake up.”

  The tighter Jen clenched the ring around her neck, the more powerful she felt. She opened her hand and saw the familiar purple glow emanating from her palm. Clenching her eyes shut, Jen pictured an hourglass, its sand traveling upward against gravity instead of cascading down to its base.

  Focusing so hard that she felt her neck muscles strain, Jen imagined the sand slowly reversing its trajectory and beginning to fall downward with the friendly help of gravity. Time then seemed to slow down as she felt direction right itself.

  Jen put her left foot in front of her and moved forward; she felt as though she were moving through thick molasses—but at least she was moving in the right direction. She continued to put one foot in front of the other, more determined to reach the altar with every step.

  Victor, Chen, Cindergray, and the rest of the Elder Synod looked on as Jen seemed to jump from five yards behind the finish line to a yard over it in the blink of an eye.

  Jennifer Lancaster had passed the Chimera Course, and in record time.

  Cindergray flashed a tight smile as he tucked his totem pocket-watch deep within the folds of his robes. The smirk was barely visible under his heavy beard, but Jen caught it in time. Smiling back without stopping, Jen walked to the altar to pick up the shiny, metallic orb she’d earned.

  Her hand stopped a few inches from it as a vision overtook her senses. It was hazy around the edges, but she could make out the courtyard of the Elders and—and . . . herself? And as if she were looking through a stranger’s eyes, she saw an arm thrust a spear directly toward her.

  The vision immediately dissipated and Jen heard the piercing call of Skarmor high overhead. Jen instinctively ducked and felt the whoosh! of a spear shooting over her head. It stuck deep in the ground a few yards from her. She stared at the projectile in astonishment, then looked to the top of the courtyard’s highest wall just in time to see Skarmor attack a hooded figure with his razor-sharp claws.

  Victor and Cindergray were immediately by Jen’s side, standing protectively over her as they too watched the battle between human and griffin unfold. The black cloak was so thick that it made Jen unable to distinguish if the assailant was male or female.

  The figure attempted to cast one more spell, but was instead slammed into a stone railing by Skarmor. The railing cracked like dry wood, spilling the figure over the wall’s edge. The assailant fell thirty-five feet onto the courtyard’s lawn.

  Skarmor unleashed a victory cry as he swooped down and landed next to Jen, covering her with his wing in case any other attempts at her life were made.

  The intruder was surrounded by the rest of the Elders before a move was made. Mystras Étoilier and Childahorn were already powering up their totems as Victor went over to inspect the spear. He waved his staff over the weapon, careful not to touch it. His staff glowed and faintly hummed for just a few seconds, then fell still. With a worried look on his face, Victor walked over to Cindergray and whispered in his ear.

  Cindergray’s eyes widened with surprise before he thanked Victor and marched over to the intruder, who was still motionless on the ground.

  Victor went back to where Jen sat and patted Skarmor fondly on his side. “Good job, Skar.”

  Jen looked up at Victor. She was still shaking from the adrenaline in her system. “What did you find out?”

  Victor didn’t say a word, nor did he take his eyes off Cindergray as he idly patted his griffin.

  Jen moved toward the Elders, but Victor caught her arm. “No, Jen.”

  Jen pulled her arm out of his grasp, flashing him a look of irritation “This person tried to kill me, Vic. I deserve to know.”

  Skarmor quietly offered his agreement, but before Victor could respond Jen was already on her way to where her would-be assassin lay. A few yards away, she saw Cindergray enter the circle of Elders right before she arrived. He then knelt down and pulled the hood back to reveal a face Jen didn’t recognize; but, judging by the gasps around the circle, everyone else did.

  Who is it? she wanted to shout.

  “Paladin Blake!”

  Cindergray was astonished as he looked down at one of the Guild’s most promising sorcerers.

  Blake tried to laugh, but instead he coughed up blood. It was thick and dark-red, telling Cindergray that the injury was deep and potentially fatal if left untreated. “You have no idea how long we’ve waited for a Lancaster to show up here,” Blake said through winces of pain.

  Lancaster? Cindergray thought. But how does he . . . ?

  “Why are you doing this?” It was Chen this time, who peeked over Mystra Skycap’s shoulder to look him in the eye.

  “He . . . shall rise again . . .” Blake trailed off. His face was contorted in pain as he wheezed out his last breath. His eyes glazed over and his body went limp.

  Cindergray’s head slumped to his chest as sile
nce spread over the courtyard. He softly laid Blake’s head back on the grass and touched one of his rings to the young man’s forehead, muttering a chant that would send him to his final resting place.

  The would-be assassin’s body glowed and began to disappear in front of Jen’s eyes. All that was left was his black hooded cape and totem spear, still piercing the ground a few yards away.

  Cindergray stood to his full height and turned to Jen. “You’re safe now. He can’t hurt you anymore, but we should get you indoors in case there are others.”

  Over Cindergray’s shoulder, Jen saw Mystra Skycap roll up Blake’s cape.

  “Thank you . . .” Still in a daze, Jen lazily looked at Cindergray. Never had she been the target of an assassination attempt, and she could feel her body beginning to shut down from residual fear. Her hands went clammy, her eyes narrowed to tunnel vision, her hearing became muffled, and her legs felt like lead. Trying her hardest to remain upright, she scuffled over to Skarmor and put a shaky hand on his neck for balance.

  By now, everyone was looking at her, which only heightened her level of anxiety.

  Keep it together. You’re safe now . . . safe . . .

  Feeling tears start to form, Jen bit the inside of her cheek and petted Skarmor. “Thank you too, boy. You saved my life.”

  Skarmor let out a high-pitched whine and gently pressed his forehead to hers, ruffling his feathers. The affection she felt from the griffin calmed her down a little, but she still didn’t feel like herself.

  “Let’s get you inside, Jen,” Victor said from behind her, touching her shoulder.

  Jen nearly jumped out of her skin, her nerves frayed to their limits. Shaking her head to clear the haze, she said, “What did . . . Blake . . . say?” She was trying desperately to convince herself more than anyone else that she was okay, but inside she knew she was everything but.