The Aspect: The Cessation's Harbinger

by Ajax Lygan

  “Fuck…you…”

  Gregoro moved up slowly, his voice growing deeper as he leaned close in to Tempest’s face. “Oh, don’t you worry, there will be plenty of time for penetration later.” As Gregoro leaned back, his terrifying demeanor shifted back to his former, chipper self.

  “As I was saying, Akatar was the last Aspect before you. The Cessation did unthinkable things to that child based on His direction, which I advised them through. They thought they were doing it in the name of progress, but it was all a ploy to have him lose hope. They kept him caged for years, under constant torture. They shielded him from all of the gods, except Nysit, who spent the same amount of time grooming him, leading him to his last offering—to kill himself in His name on the promise of getting revenge for those who had done him wrong.”

  “When he slit his own throat with a serrated rock in his cage, all of his energy and essence, comprised of the pieces of the other gods, became part of our lord.”

  “But…why…?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” Gregoro asked, chuckling. “To wage a holy war on the others and to destroy Iðna. With you, here and now, you’ve allowed him to speed up the timetable.”

  The floor settled, yet Tempest couldn’t see anything except for the hollowed-out wall. It wasn’t until Gregoro and Imina turned him, as they carried him between them, that he could see the long stone-walled hallway. It was similar to the dungeon at The Cessation’s fortress, only more horrifying.

  Metal stone slats lined the long hallway. Each slab hosted an acolyte Tempest had seen before. They were each strapped face down to the slabs, leather straps binding their arms, legs, waists, and heads. A golden bowl sat below them as a stream of blood flowed from an invisible wound.

  Qi stood nearby, swapping the bowls as they filled.

  Cries and screams for release echoed down a perpendicular hallway they passed through after they left the bloodletting room. Tears fell down Tempest’s gritted jaw as they screamed for his forgiveness, seeming to think this was his doing. They passed several empty cages until out of the corner of his eye, he saw Riika and Ella.

  They had been chained similar to how they’d found Sophia, though they were also wearing the magically draining bindings and metal helmets he could not see through. He tried to scream and barely twitched, trying to muster whatever energy he could to fight through his petrification.

  Nothing happened. Gregoro and Imina laughed as they carried him through the nearby door.

  Complete darkness shrouded the pentagonal room, save for two torches held by Arigore and Mala. The floor descended two steps with additional rune markings that Tempest did not recognize, save for one. It was the same tattoo he had seen marked on the arm that Riika had sliced off the creature at The Academy.

  Arigore, seeing Tempest’s arrival of, handed his torch off to Mala, and began feeding a chain that lay beside him into a hole in the floor. This caused a humanoid tomb, carved completely out of obsidian with coin sized holes scattered throughout, to descend from the ceiling. A ghastly screaming face was carved into its front, leaving only the mouth open to the exterior.

  With an echoing thud, Arigore stopped feeding the chain into the hole in the floor. He and Mala moved to the sides of the tomb and unlocked two pairs of locks on each side. With the locks removed, Arigore grunted as he shifted the massive slabs of obsidian far enough apart that they could shove Tempest inside.

  Tempest strained and jerked, to no avail, as Imina and Gregoro shredded the clothes from his body. They lifted him up like a piece of furniture and shoved him into the obsidian casket.

  Before closing the tomb, Gregoro walked out of Tempest’s line of sight and returned with two unique items. The first was a collar which he placed around Tempest’s neck. It glowed differently than the binders that secured his wrists.

  The second item Gregoro held up in front of Tempest’s face as he explained its use.

  “Now I’m sure you saw the holes punctured in this casket of yours, and you might have wondered why…well, that’s where these babies come in,” he said, displaying a circular tube between his two long index fingers. “The large end that’s been cut down the middle is going to act like a water chute, but for your blood. The small needle-like end is going to go straight into your body, releasing a small stream of your blood. Now there are close to a hundred holes in here, but don’t worry, we’re only going to use about a dozen or so during the ritual.”

  “I’m… going to…kill… you…”

  Gregoro looked back at the others and jerked his thumb back at Tempest. “Can you all believe the will of this man? Incredible. You’re putting together nearly full sentences after two doses of the toxin. It’s a good thing I put that immobilization collar around your neck because I have a feeling that, without that on, you’d keep your word once the toxin wore off.”

  “Should we close him up?” Arigore asked.

  “Yes, go ahead,” Gregoro said waving his fingers at Tempest as he leaned away from the casket.

  Tempest watched but could see nothing but black as the coffin was closed on him. His breathing became erratic as he prepared for the inevitable. The first piercing pain entered his lower back, causing his muscles to spasm. Gasping, he jerked forward. He couldn’t help but scream as the pain of each needle compounded that of the next one. The five of them mercilessly pin cushioned him to their heart’s content.

  “You should feel a sense of pride, your Eminence,” Gregoro shouted. “Your capture is going to speed up our Lord’s plan. You, the harbinger of Iðna’s demise, will bring about a new era. With your blood, we’re going to open a portal straight back home, large enough and stable enough to bring His entire army through.”

  The things cackled evilly. “There won’t be a damned thing anyone can do to stop it.”

  When the last needle entered his neck, Tempest listened as Gregoro spoke an incantation which the others in the room repeated. The foundation of the room shook, causing Tempest intense pain as the needles flexed inside his body. The sounds of crackling electricity echoed around him as The Gray Hand’s words rose to shouts.

  The poignant smell of sulfur filled the room as their incantation reached its climax. With one final shout of Nysit’s name, a terrible explosion sounded deep underground, spreading like a tsunami wave off in the distance.

  With the ritual complete, cheers and sounds of celebrations filled the room as The Gray Hand’s members successfully accomplished their goal.

  “Someone go get Qi and bring him in here,” Gregoro said, his tone on the verge of crying. “He needs to be a part of this moment.”

  “I’ll get him,” Arigore said, his deep voice hinting at a smile.

  When Tempest heard the creak of the wooden door opening, everything happened incredibly quickly. A gurgle, followed by a wet thud and the sound of something rolling around on the floor preceded a much larger thud and shrieks from the other members of The Gray Hand.

  “KILL HER!” Gregoro shouted.

  The grunts and screams of The Gray Hand indicated signs of an opponent. Tempest smiled through the pain, as he heard gasps from punctured lungs and the spray of arterial blood against the wall. The slicing sound of steel on flesh silenced the final remaining sounds of coughing and groaning, as the room became eerily quiet.

  “Riika…Ella…,” Tempest strained, using all the energy he had in him to call his saviors toward him. Two splashing footsteps approached. The bright light of a nearby torch hurt his eyes as it shined through the frowning opening at the front of the casket.

  But when his savior spoke, Tempest frowned. The feminine voice was unfamiliar to him.

  “Stay strong. I’m going to get you out of here.” The light pulled back and everything once again became darkness. Tempest moaned in pain as he felt the needles pulled from his body. “I’m sorry, but it’s the only way I can get you out of this… thing.”

  “Just…do… it…” Tempest gasped out, between shuddering breaths. He gritted his teeth as the ne
edles came out faster than they’d been emplaced. It was quick enough that Tempest didn’t have time to brace for the next one.

  He concentrated on his breathing as a small smile slipped over his face, knowing he’d soon be free. With the final bloodletting tube pulled, the front of the coffin opened. Tempest slowly opened his eyes to see a woman standing in front of him.

  She was tall and had dark skin, with three horns protruding from her head. He noted the scales along her high cheekbones. They shimmered purple in the torch’s light. Her reptilian tail swung behind her as she moved the light in front of him, examining his wounded body.

  His eyes went wide when she pulled down the cloth face mask that covered the bottom half of her face. He recognized her sharp facial features immediately; they mirrored her draconic form. He was sure this was Queen Kasta.

  He watched as she brought up a lit torch near his hands and neck, examining the bindings before turning around and walking over to the closest body. He noted the thin gray, broken bodies of The Gray Hand as she searched them. She went from one to the next before finding what she needed on the one furthest from Tempest.

  Holding a slim key between her fingers, she unlocked his binders. As his savior pulled the binders off him, he felt the immediate relief of his stamina, causing his body to shudder and seize. His savior froze, making sure he was okay before moving on to his collar.

  When the collar clicked open, Tempest fell face forward into a pool of his own blood. He felt Kasta’s arms wrap around his waist as she lifted him up to the two steps, gently setting him down and rolling him over to get a look at his face.

  “Are you going to make it?” she asked, her eyes scanning over his body. Tempest looked down at the host of puncture wounds all over his torso and watched them close as he focused on healing.

  “Riika! Ella!” he rasped as he jerked his body upright.

  “Don’t worry, they’re fine,” Kasta said, placing a hand on Tempest’s shoulder. “They were in no condition to fight, so I had them lead the others back to the surface.” She nodded. "Come on, I’ll take you to them.”

  Queen Kasta stood and held her hand out to Tempest, who gladly accepted it. As she pulled him up, a glow of red light caught Tempest’s eye. Like a fissure in reality, a floating image into another part of the world revealed the cost of Tempest’s capture.

  A city lay cracked into pieces, like pieces of an egg shell, floating around a massive purple sphere. Lightning crackled around the sphere, turning the nearby sand into glass wherever it struck. A howling vortex circled in the sky above, creating a blackened void in an otherwise sunny, arid waste. Faint howls and screams radiated from the opening, revealing the devastation that the spell had caused.

  Kasta’s gasp alerted Tempest of her approach. “T-that’s Obovna,” she stammered. “What in the Gods happened?”

  “I did this…” Tempest said, lowering his head. “The ones who captured me, The Gray Hand of Nysit, used my blood to open a portal to their world. They plan to attack Iðna, just like they did in Honeybrooke, Ashwreath, and at The Academy, only much worse.”

  “Come on then,” she said, pulling on Tempest’s arm. “We’ll regroup upstairs and figure out our next move.”

  “You’re Queen Kasta, aren’t you?” Tempest asked, following numbly along behind her.

  “Yes, I’m sorry, I should have introduced myself earlier, but I’ve just had this notion that we’ve known each other for a while.”

  “Why is that?”

  Queen Kasta rubbed the back of her neck before answering. “I’ve been following you since you arrived in Halairim.”

  “Wait, what?” Tempest asked, stopping. “How’s that even possible?”

  “Queen Vatia is the Queen of light, King Orum is the King of fire, and I am Kasta Shadowtongue, the Queen of shadows.”

  “And you’ve been stalking us from the shadows?” he asked, shrugging. “There’s no way we wouldn’t have seen you. Although, now that I think about it, I constantly had a feeling that I was being watched.”

  “Yeah, honestly, there were a few times that I thought you saw me, somehow,” Kasta said, smirking. “My magic gives me the ability to take an incorporeal form and travel through any shadow, much like the way dryads travel through the trees.”

  “So, you’ve been spying on us this whole time?” Tempest asked, taking a step back. “You watched us fight, almost die, fuck, get kidnapped, and almost get killed again? Is that what you’re telling me?”

  “Can we please discuss this later?” Queen Kasta begged, holding up her hands before walking quickly away.

  Tempest hurriedly caught up with her as she was almost jogging at this point. He was about to give her a piece of his mind, but the rows of dead bodies that hung, lifeless, near the entrance stilled his tongue.

  “They were dead by the time I got down here.”

  “I thought you said you were following us?”

  Queen Kasta placed her hands on her head and began pacing in a circle. “I wasn’t always with you, and it wasn’t necessarily my decision,” she said, letting out a sigh, dropping her arms to her side.

  “Our decisions are made diplomatically and both Vatia and Orum wanted you watched. We’ve all been alive through multiple Aspects, and if there is one thing that’s for certain, it’s that you can’t be certain what to expect from an Aspect.”

  “I guess I can understand that,” Tempest said, glancing over at her for a moment before looking down at the bodies.

  “I was there to observe you all and report back. After the battle at The Cessation’s fortress, that was enough for me to confirm who I thought you were, but Vatia and Orum wanted me to observe the IRC’s meetings.”

  Tempest eyes went wide and he had to take several deep breaths before he turned back to face Kasta. “That’s a bold move. I’m sure everyone would blacklist you on the council if they found out.”

  “That’s true,” Kasta said, squinting her eyes and crossing her arms. “Although I am telling you this, because I trust that you will keep it to yourself.”

  Tempest walked past her and stood on the platform. He waited until Kasta was on it as well before pulling the lever. The lift quietly ascended back to the top of the peak.

  “That’s quite a gamble, given that you just told me you’ve been spying on me for what, a little over two weeks now?”

  “Like I said, I wasn’t with you the entire time. Once the meetings concluded, I returned with Vatia and Orum to make sure that Vatia was okay. I spent a few days with her because she wasn’t acting like herself, and Orum is a brute who could give two shits about her, though she refuses to acknowledge it.”

  She rubbed her temples. “I had the castle healer watch over her as she rested. My plan was to return here, introduce myself, and come clean about everything. When I got here and found everyone gone, I knew something was wrong. I looked through the shadows and saw there was a giant hole under the building. That’s when I came down here.”

  The two were quiet the rest of the way up. Not because Tempest wanted to be still, but because he didn’t have the courage to share what was eating away at him. It wasn’t until the floor stopped moving and Kasta reached for the nearby sliding door that the words burst from him.

  “T-they screamed my name, thinking I was responsible for their suffering. I failed them, and I don’t know if I can face them.”

  “I know. I heard them,” Kasta admitted, turning halfway back to look at him. “Whatever those things were, whatever they have done, it’s our duty to Iðna to stop them. Just like the apians, use those you lost today as fuel to bring their murderers to justice.”

  Tempest broke his thousand-yard stare, took a deep, shuddering breath, and nodded. “You’re right, the battle for Iðna is upon us.”

  24

  War Drums

  “Hold on, we’re almost there!” Kasta’s draconic voice shouted, echoing loud enough to push through the high-pitched wind assaulting the group’s ears as they soared above t
he clouds. Tempest could see the sea of clouds beneath them slowly turn from a snowy white to an ashy gray. Purple lightning sprouted out of the swirling vortex that was near their destination. Kasta dove straight down, sending a tickling sensation through Tempest’s stomach that put a smile on his face. Once they burst through the clouds, it was clear, war was upon them.

  Like ants sprawled across the hot golden sands, hundreds of thousands of all different kinds of species gathered in square formations as the troops positioned themselves according to their orders. As if the entire forest had uprooted itself, the familiar fire red leaves of the Firegrove and the large gray boulders of the earth elementals held the right flank. On the left, large bodied minotaur created a horned barrier, dwarfing many of the species in the center. Furthest back were building sized contraptions being assembled by elven engineers composed of large oval-shaped pieces of glass set in front of large floating crystals.

  Kasta did one loop around the battlefield, eliciting shouts and cheers at their arrival. Tempest could see a familiar barrier around the portal, only this time, it was translucent, only showing when purple lightning shards bolted into the nearby sand. Intact fragments of the city floated around it, as if completely uprooted and ripped into chunks. The bodies of men, women, and children suspended around the debris like humanoid kites tethered to the city’s buildings.

  Tempest gripped tight to Kasta’s scales as he dredged his eyes away from the macabre sight, grounding himself in his anger.

  Off in the distance, he could see Vatia and Orum in their dragon forms, in a makeshift camp on top of a sand dune overlooking the battlefield. Kasta swooped and descended, sending people underneath them frantically grabbing onto parchments and other small items as her large wings blasted air and sand out all around them as they landed.