A Rising Tide

by Ross Buzzell

  The sound of faith in Ti’Zellor’s voice renews Konner’s confidence in himself ever so slightly. Konner allows his eyes to wander once again to the fire illuminating their surroundings. Konner notes that the fire pit rises from the rock bed then gradually changes to a make shift forging table. The young prince begins to look more intently. His brows furrow together as the realization gradually dawns on him that there is no forging hammer with them. Konner directs his attention to Ti’Zellor once more.

  “We have the ore, the table and the fire. Where is the forging hammer? Surely I cannot make my armor without one.”

  A smile forms on Ti’Zellor’s face. In silence he pushes himself off of the Energynium. Konner notes the general’s deliberate movements as he reaches behind his head to draw Starfall. Without a word the general pulls the weapon from his sheath with a smooth metallic grind ringing out. Without a moment’s hesitation, Ti’Zellor impales the base of the fire pit with the legendary blade. Konner’s eyes are drawn to the shimmering blue light that emanates from the weapon as the flames lick up the blade. Ever so gradually Starfall begins to take on the illuminous blue of the fire in which it was delved. This brings a smile to Konner’s face; it is like magic that causing the weapon to take on the characteristics of the flame. Ti’Zellor draws the weapon from the fire pit. Its gold/silver blade is now ablaze with a sustained blue flame all the way up its length. After a moment of awestruck quiet Ti’Zellor’s voice rings out in amusement.

  “You get to retrieve it. In the heart of this cavern is an ‘armory’ of sorts. It holds five forging hammers. You are to go and retrieve one.”

  Ti’Zellor holds the blade out to Konner and offers him the hilt to grasp before he continues.

  “Be sure to choose wisely for you must make it back here after the hammer’s retrieval, and the journey can be perilous.”

  Konner looks at the blade in hesitation as he remembers the events that transpired the last time he dared touch the legendary weapon. Konner looks back up at the general with deep concern welling in his gut.

  “The last time I touched that weapon, I had hellish visions. You said yourself that it would kill anyone who has touched it that was not chosen.”

  With a nod Ti’Zellor holds the flaming sword out even further toward Konner.

  “This is true; however the blade feeds off the energy of the blue flame. So long as it is alight, the sword’s energy is put into feeding from the flame, meaning none of its power will flow into you. So long as this flame is lit you are safe, but ensure that it does not extinguish while in your hand. I cannot guarantee that there will be the same effect as the last time you touched it.”

  This settles the concern within Konner who then immediately reaches out and grasps the handle of the blade. Once again the weapon radiates slight warmth. Konner notes a different sensation with this encounter from the last. A slight vibration emanates from the weapon into Konner as if it were shocking him with electricity only without the pain. The young prince looks up at his general who only nods toward the path that he is to take.

  “I will be here waiting for your return.”

  With that Konner whirls around on his heels and holds the blade outstretched allowing its light to pour into the darkness illuminating a dank passage. Konner walks toward the passage. The soft echo of water splashing catches his attention. The young prince looks down at the small brook that runs down the corridor having clearly carved out the stone sometime in the past. With each sloshing step, Konner makes his way down the tunnel as the High Council chambers gradually disappear into blackness behind him. Not once does Konner look back as he plunges into the depths of Boron. His trust in his training with the light that emanates from Starfall keeps Konner’s confidence in reaching his destination high.

  Silence consumes the dark cavern only to be broken by the sloshing of Konner’s boots in the small stream. With an outstretched arm, Konner continues to use the blue flame of the blade as a light source which aids in his noticing that the corridor is progressively growing smaller. When Konner started his journey down this dark path, he was able to stand erect with the blade in front of him held horizontally. Konner now finds himself slightly hunched to prevent him from hitting his head on the ceiling. Starfall is held before him but vertically and pointed forward as each step causes the walls to close in ever so rapidly. No fear grips Konner as small spaces do not bother him. A wave of intrigue washes over the prince instead as each step brings him into a smaller and smaller stance, while the water at his feet grows with increasing warmth.

  In the not so far distance, Konner notices the tunnel come to a short, narrow opening with a black square, not much larger than a small box. The silent sloshing is gradually replaced with the echoing, ghostly sound of water cascading through the air. Konner comes to a stop as he is unable to crouch much further and gives way to the cave. The prince drops to his hands and knees; he holds the blade upright allowing only the hilt to touch the water. The now warm water soaks into Konner’s garments as they sap the liquid up like a sponge. Before long Konner’s clothes are heavy with water and yet warm against the chilled air of the cave. As he approaches the narrow opening in the stone Konner pushes the blade of the sword through first followed closely by the arm that has grasped it. The tunnel now so narrow that Konner must lie on his back as the stone walls hug him in a damp embrace; Konner turns, wiggles his body toward the opening. Grunts of exertion leaves his lips and echo into the darkness.

  As Konner’s elbow passes the gateway into the open cavern, Konner bends it and presses the hilt of Starfall against the rock face above him. He pushes as hard as he can which causes the hilt to grind into the stone. In the meantime Konner inches forward ever so gradually. The water from the small creek now encompasses Konner as he lays in it. His shoulder scrapes the rock as he forces it through the opening. With his entire right arm through, Konner utilizes his elbow as a hoist to force his head and left shoulder through the tight squeeze. For a brief moment the prince feels the opening grip him tightly beneath his right armpit and left shoulder. Unable to move, Konner takes a deep breath before he exhales all the air in his lungs. With a grunt and a violent jerk, Konner is able to free his left arm from the canal and place it on the stone face above him. With the broadest part of his body through, Konner uses his now freed arms to push himself from the small opening only to stop at his hips. Konner sits up; his legs still inside the small tunnel and turns to face the now massive opening. He holds out the sword to cast its light into the blackness and get a feel for his surroundings. The young prince squints his eyes into the darkness as he looks past the flame in an attempt to see what is before him, nothing, only blackness. He holds the blade up and looks above him to see the ceiling of the cavern, nothing, the abyss continues upward as well. With only one more direction to look Konner looks down, still only black. With a huff he wedges himself from the safety of the tunnel and into the abyssal cavern. Using his free hand Konner grips onto a rock handle next to the small opening and swings himself from the watery opening to its side.

  With his eyesight being of no use to him here, Konner debates with himself silently if he should peer into another spectrum of light to see if there is any heat radiating around him. But he quickly dismisses the idea as the resulting headache would likely cause him to drop. Instead Konner closes his eyes and tilts a single ear out into the darkness. In the distance there is a soft drip of water onto a stone. The young prince hones his ear to that sound, drip, drip, drip. After a moment the entire cavern fills with noise. The drip of water on the far side of the cavern, Konner could now tell was almost two hundred yards away. The scurrying of tiny life forms echo throughout the entirety of the darkness which gives the cave a new life of its own, not just the dark abyss that it appeared to be. The sound of water colliding with water a few hundred feet below catches his attention; he looks down into the dark. Unable to see past the pitch blackness he is able to hear how the water falls from the tunnel to the base. The sound of two distin
ct splashes fills his ears, one against a liquid surface, and the other against a hard. Not wanting to submerge Starfall into water, Konner holds the blade outstretched. He plants his feet on a firm footing and leans from the rock as far as his arm will let him. Konner leans as far to his left as he can, opening his chest to the abyss and he releases Starfall, point down, into the darkness.

  Konner’s eyes trail the flaming sword as it pierces the blackness in a freefall as if on a mission to stab the ground. After a long pensive silence the blade embeds itself into the stone floor with a loud, echoing ‘CLANG!’ The blade itself illuminates a small circle around it and from there Konner is able to see the edge of a water basin a good hundred meters below. The young prince takes a deep breath and pushes off the rock face without a moment’s hesitation. For the briefest of moments Konner propels himself upward, that sensation is rapidly replaced with the feeling of his stomach being left in his head. The young prince flails his arms for a moment to get himself truly vertical. He looks down and gauges that the flaming sword is off to his left and rapidly approaching. Konner closes his eyes, folds his hands across his chest, slams his feet together and takes a deep breath. No sooner does he fill his lungs with the crisp cool air of the cavern, a reprieve from the damp stale air of the passageway, than the slap of his boots echoes in his ears for the briefest of moments before a torrent of water rushes over his body. As the surface of the water closes over Konner’s head the young prince unfolds his arms and separates his legs. He floats suspended in the warm bath created by the falling water of the cavern. Konner’s instincts kick in and scream at him to paddle for the surface but the prince does not listen to them. Instead Konner allows himself to float in the serenity of the pool for a few moments as he relishes the peace and quiet that being under water brings. Completely suspended with nothing touching him or he touching nothing, the silence that the water provides fills Konner with a rare sense of repose which he clings to tightly until the burning in his lungs reminds him that he must surface.

  Konner brings his legs forward and arches his back as his arms move above his head; with a powerful kick from his feet and downward thrust from his arms, the young prince begins his journey back to the surface. Having delved deeply within the pool; Konner opens his eyes and looks up to the faint blue flame of the blade skimming over the surface of the water. Gradually the flame grows brighter as Konner gets closer to the surface. Needing air Konner’s lungs begin to burn even more. Having used all of the oxygen from his inhale, the young prince opens his mouth and expels a large bubble of carbon dioxide. With one more powerful kick. Konner passes the bubble he had just released as his head breaks the surface of the water. Konner throws his head back to get his hair out of his face as he gasps for air allowing his lungs to fill with the brisk oxygen on the water’s surface. Konner treads water for a moment as he catches his breath before leaning forward and pulling himself toward the shore. The weight of his soaked robes begins to finally dawn on him. His strokes gradually become more labored since his clothing was now completely saturated with water. Firm ground. Konner’s boots make contact with the increasingly shallow stony bottom of the pool. As he gets closer to the edge, with a few more powerful pulls Konner finds himself waist deep in the water. He begins to wade toward the water’s edge and to Starfall; he fights the weight of his robes with each step as frustration begins to mount.

  Konner gives in and grabs the base of his robes. He begins to aggravatingly pull his cloak from him. As the heavy cloth slides over his head, Konner drops it into the pool and it sinks. His family crest flickers out into the darkness now that the clothing was off of him. Konner steps out of the pool, his load significantly lightened and approaches Starfall. As he approaches the blade its blue light illuminates Konner’s body suit that covers him from wrist to ankle. Konner reaches out and slowly wraps his fingers around the energetic hilt of Starfall before he pulls it from the stone earth with relative ease. “Think strategically Konner.” With no clear route to his location, Konner begins to recall his survival and strategy training. First thing first, he feels for any air movement toward an outside exit, nothing. Konner then smells the air as he paces back and forth on the uneven stone ground for any area that is cleaner or damper than the rest, again nothing. Konner’s pacing stops as a glint of light catches his eye. Something reflected the fire from Starfall. Konner takes a step back until he sees the reflection flair once again. He turns his attention to the glinting object and begins to walk toward it. As he approaches, he notes that the glint emanates off of an old blade that is broken in half, Konner notes that the top half is shattered into dozens of little pieces and scattered around him while the bottom, with the hilt has found its home dug into the earth. Konner approaches. The light from Starfall begins to pour over the shattered blade. As it reaches the hilt Konner stops, horror grips him as a chill shoots up his spine. A hand grasps the blade’s hilt. The skin is dehydrated and decomposed. Clearly the individual attached to that arm died years ago.

  In Boronian tradition it is not right for the dead to remain unburied. Konner follows the arm only to discover it had been broken, not cut but shattered, from the body which ever so clearly remains under a massive boulder. From what Konner can surmise the boulder is three meters in height and a similar size in diameter. Konner sets Starfall against the boulder and turns to the arm. Konner grips the fingers and pry’s them from the old blade. With some convincing the fingers loosen their grip on the sword that failed its owner. This allows Konner to place the arm at the base of the boulder. Konner reaches around and feels in the dark for loose stones. As he finds them, he buries the arm as close to the body as he can. Konner places the last stone on the arm. A deep groan as if a large tree being twisted, echoes through the cavern, Konner’s head whips around and his eyes pierce the darkness. He scans frantically for the source of the groan but he is unable to see past the circle of blue light provided by Starfall, a light that seems slightly less bright to Konner. Konner sits in silence for a moment, his hands on the rough cold stone. His body contorted to look behind him, not wanting to move for fear that the source of the groan would decide to charge. Konner feels something move across his hands. He looks down to see a foot long insect that is armored from tip to tip and has thousands of legs running down either side of its body. Scurrying across his hands; Konner leans back and lifts his hands off the stone to get the insect off of him. It flies into the darkness. The commotion causes Konner’s wet boot to slip. He falls back and lands on the ground with a hard ‘THUD’. The vibration of his impact causes the fallen Boronian’s blade to shift in the stone. Konner’s eyes shoot up in terror as panic begins to engulf the prince. The blade stands just out of reach. Konner, having landed on his back, ignores the throbbing pain in his ribs. His arm is outstretched toward the sword as he tries to will it not to fall with all his might. Konner’s soaked brown hair trembles under the stress of its host reaching for the blade, which slips ever so slightly more before falling over completely.

  Konner desperately tries to get up but his wet body suit and boots only aid in his slipping on the rock. The blade begins to fall and all time seems to slow down as it tumbles toward the rocks, just out of reach. Konner’s foot catches the edge of a rock; he is able to push from it but is too late. The shattered blade slams into the stone with a deafening ‘CLANG’ as Konner’s hand closes right where the blade once was. Before the sword slides further down the rocks, Konner manages to grasp its freezing handle and draw it close to him. The once long proud blade is nothing more than a long jagged dagger. Konner’s eyes shoot back into the darkness. His senses heightened as adrenalin courses through his body with such force that his heartbeat causes his body to rock with each powerful pump. Silence, maybe he is safe. Slowly Konner climbs to his feet and makes his way to Starfall. In his free hand, he grasps the flaming sword and turns slightly. He realizes that the ground has a gradual slant to it. If the cave goes down, then so should he. Konner turns and begins to walk past the fallen bou
lder and down toward the depths of the cave. A mighty, rock-addled roar echoes throughout the massive cavern. It shakes the entire structure and vibrates Konner to his core. From the far side of the darkness Konner hears massive stony steps rumbling and crushing their way toward him. Neither knowing what it is nor wanting to find out, Konner turns and begins to sprint as fast as he can down the stony decline.

  Konner catches his stride; he reaches an all-out sprint. This feat would have been difficult for the average Boronian in broad daylight, but in the darkness with wet boots and only a meter or so of light to illuminate your path, this would have been impossible. Konner is not your average Boronian however, his mind processes each and every chip in each stone his feet move to the microsecond he sees it. Ever since the Training Grounds, Konner trained his mind to pick up the tiniest details of his surroundings instantaneously. That mixed with Konner’s naturally heightened speed and unique genetic makeup, even for a Boronian, allows him to process each stride and sprint along a nearly invisible surface with relative ease. With each step Konner feels the ground gradually growing steeper and steeper but he dare not slow down. The roars and the footsteps of whatever is in the dark behind him begin to grow louder. The flames from Starfall flicker in the wind that Konner makes while he runs. He does not lift his eyes from the ground but for a second to see a stone blocking his path, save for a small hole at its base. Without losing a stride, Konner drops his body horizontally and slides under the stone. His suit protects him from the ridged ground. Konner passes the base of the stone and pushes himself back up, without losing any speed he begins to sprint once more. Moments after Konner begins his run, the sound of stone smashing against stone rings in Konner’s ears. Pebbles rain down on top of and around him as the larger pieces slide down the decline on either side of him.