Glory to the Brave (Ascend Online Book 4)

by Luke Chmilenko

  “Then we’re going to have to run faster!” I exclaimed as I swept Splinter through a corrupted fox spirit, the creature promptly bursting into a spray of living shadow. “Because we’re being swarmed right now! Let’s go, everyone! Don’t stop for anything!”

  Reacting instantly to both Garr’s and my words, we all picked up our pace, our run through the garden turning into a desperate sprint as we stopped trying to fight the spirits and instead tried to outrun them. At first, the transition was a painful one, with many of the corrupted spirits already being too close to escape from unscathed. But once we managed to get our legs firmly under us and build up even greater speed, we slowly outstripped them, the straight and debris-free laneways that spaced the crops apart from one another giving us a clear path to follow. Aided by our new and rapid pace, it was only a handful of minutes afterward that we finally reached the heart of the garden, all of us bursting into the large clearing at a dead sprint. Consisting of a single ramshackle storage hut in its center, followed by a collection of wheelbarrows, carts, and other farming equipment, the clearing was mercifully empty of any waiting spirits or creatures.

  “This is the place!” Garr shouted as the garden vanished from around us, each of us quickly grinding to a halt. “Quick! Gather together before the spirits come! They will be here any moment! We will burn them all with magic the instant they arrive!”

  Not hesitating to obey the gronn’s orders, the next few seconds passed in a flurry as we rushed to form up into a tight group directly in front of the lone hut, kicking away several stray tools or vehicles in our path. Then, not even a pair of seconds after we were ready, did the spirits arrive, their disembodied horde rushing out of the garden like a tidal wave of darkness.

  Only to run into a hailstorm of magic.

  Lancing out from Garr and his fellow earthspeakers as well as Halcyon, Caius, and Theia, the corrupted spirits vanished under a blinding torrent of fire, ice, and electricity that forced me to temporarily shield my eyes, lest it blind me. Holding my arm over my face, the next few seconds passed in a thunderous roar of power as the combined chorus of spellcasters poured all the magic that they had at the pursuing spirits. Counting slowly as the magic reigned over me, it was only when I passed ten that I finally began to hear it fade, the cacophony gradually dying out. Once it did, it left the garden eerily silent of everything save for my still rapidly beating heart and panting breath, the lingering effects of our desperate sprint. Figuring that the worse was over, it was only then that I lowered the arm shielding my face, rapidly trying to blink away the afterimages that streaked my vision as I searched for any surviving spirits.

  A search that didn’t take me long to realize was futile as my eyes landed on the massive swath of charred and burning garden ahead of us.

  “W-well,” I heard a shaken and panting Constantine say as he broke the silence around us, “we made it to the center of the garden.

  “What do we do next?”

  Chapter 46

  “…next we will need a space at least twenty feet in diameter for the circle, raked as smooth as possible,” Garr announced as we all moved through the clearing, each of us picking up tasks as the gronn called them out. “As well as eight blightspikes to form the anchor for the ritual.”

  “I have three left over from earlier,” Theia called out in a hurry, the lizardwoman’s words being immediately followed by Halcyon.

  “And Caius and I have two apiece,” he said, the three spellcasters making their way over towards the druid as they spoke.

  “Good, then we will only need to carve one more!” I heard Garr state before calling to one of his earthspeakers and assigning them the job. “Next I will need something to write the ritual steps out on! Does anyone have any parchment and ink? A stick of charcoal would do as well!”

  “I have some!” I replied the moment I heard the gronn’s request, giving the wheelbarrow I was currently pushing a good shove and sending it bouncing towards the edge of the clearing where it wouldn’t get in the way. Afterward, I quickly turned and jogged back over towards Garr, pulling the requested items out my inventory as I moved.

  “Thank you, Lyrian,” the druid replied as he took the parchment and charcoal from me, only to pause as he glanced around for somewhere to write. Searching in vain for several seconds, his eyes eventually landed on the tool hut and then back to me. “Drat! I need somewhere flat so I can scribe the spell, can you hold this against the wall there?”

  “Sure thing,” I answered, taking the parchment back from the man as I moved to spread the sheet out on the side of the small building, Garr wasting no time in beginning to draw upon it.

  Working with surprising speed, I was then treated to a front-row seat of the gronn scribing out the ritual details, his motions quick and crisp. In less than two minutes, he was finished not having slowed down even once during the process, each and every stroke of the charcoal stick done with precision and confidence. It was then, once the final symbol was finished, that the ritual details finally snapped into focus for me, causing a floating description to appear in the center of my vision.

  Ritual of the Withering Blight

  Type: Ritual, Nature

  Duration: Instant

  Area of Effect: 2km by 2km circle, centered on the ritual’s origin point

  Participants: 2 or more, one of whom must be a druid.

  Spell Mastery:

  Abjuration – Level 25

  Alteration – Level 25

  Conjuration – Level 25

  Initial Mana Cost: 1,500

  Total Ritual Mana Cost: 150,000

  Special: The Total Mana required by this spell can be reduced by 500 for every Blightspike within its area of effect.

  Effect: When cast, this ritual afflicts all living plants within its area of effect with the [Withering Blight] debuff. This noxious effect will cause any living vegetation affected by it to rapidly wither, killing all but the hardiest within minutes. Once dead, the afflicted plants will then sprout a creeping mold that will spread until the entire ritual area has been covered, which until removed by either physical labor or magic will prevent any new growth taking root.

  “Whoa,” I said as I finished reading the details, my eye then shifting over towards Garr who had paused to inspect his work. “This…this ritual is really deadly.”

  “As desperate weapons in war often are,” Garr replied, turning his head so he could look at me out of the corner of his eye. “Would it be any other time, or even any other foe, I would have never considered lending my mind to create something such as this. But with us having been pushed so far…and having few other options available to us…”

  “I understand, Garr,” I said softly, only then noticing the turmoil that dwelled within the man, the gronn’s posture rigid and the hand he’d drawn the ritual details with now visibly trembling. “We’ll use it to do what we need to do here, and then we will destroy it afterward if that’ll make you feel better.”

  “Perhaps it will,” the gronn replied with a deep sigh before going on to shake his head as if clearing an intrusive thought. “Or perhaps not having it at hand will twist and fill my stomach with fear even further.”

  “Maybe,” I said, suddenly recalling something that I’d read ages ago. “But with a weapon like this, you never want to be comfortable in using it in the first place. Otherwise, it gets too easy to always rely on it.”

  “Yes, I suppose that it would,” Garr stated, turning more so he could look at me with both eyes. “And you are very wise to think that way. However, such a topic is better discussed at a later time, assuming that Fate grants us a later time to do so. Right now, we must finish this ritual before our opportunity to do so passes for good.”

  “Then what do you need us to do next?” I asked as we turned away from the hut, the gronn taking the ritual spell in hand.

  “Nothing, I believe,” Garr answered as he scanned over the clearing, his attention fixating on the spot that was being prepared for the c
asting circle, which was currently being raked smooth by Arcturus, Constantine, and a pair of other gronn. “I believe that the rest now falls on me to prepare.”

  Already moving by the time that he finished speaking, the gronn druid made his way over towards the group, their labor managing to finish just in time for his arrival. Pausing briefly to thank them as they moved out of the way, Garr then gazed over the smoothly raked patch of earth, his eyes dropping occasionally to the parchment he held in one hand. After nearly a minute of alternating between the two, the man stretched his free hand out towards the empty patch of dirt, a faint earthy glow beginning to emanate from his palm. Reacting instantly to whatever magic he was channeling, the ground rippled once in response before beginning to gradually move of its own accord, shifting and shaping itself into an intricate pattern.

  He’s drawing the circle with his magic, I realized as I watched the earth move, the once smooth surface altering itself to accommodate the mystical shapes that would be needed for the ritual. Melding itself quickly, it didn’t take long for the circle to finish forming, Garr ending the process by closing his open hand into a tight fist, causing the earth to abruptly harden and pack itself.

  “There, we are just about ready now,” he announced as he lowered his hand, the majority of us having gathered to watch the man while he’d drawn the circle, our outstanding tasks finished. “Now, where are those blightspikes?”

  “We have them right here,” Theia replied as she moved over towards the man, she and a handful of the other gronn moving to insert them throughout the circle where they were needed, the process taking only a few more seconds.

  “Very good. I believe that is the last of our preparations for the ritual,” Garr stated once the last spike was in the ground, his head turning towards us. “However, as soon as we begin, the spirits that are here in the garden will sense our magic and attempt to interfere. To their eyes, the ritual will be like a brightly lit feast that they will be unable to resist.”

  “Then we will do our best to make sure to keep them off you all,” I said, getting an idea of what the impending encounter had in store for us, which unless I was mistaken was going to be a survival marathon. We would essentially be fighting non-stop until Garr and the others finished the ritual, enduring ever-increasing waves of corrupted spirits the longer that it took.

  “Not us, or rather, not just us,” Garr corrected with a shake of his head. “It is the magic of the ritual itself that they will be attracted to, and the more that they manage to devour, the further that it will set our efforts back. And should they manage to completely drain the ritual after we’ve started, then we will be lost, for all of the blightspikes that we’ve planted throughout the garden will lose their potency, and the blight will die.”

  “I see,” I replied, frowning at that particular complication even though it made it sense to my ear based on what we knew of the corrupted spirits. “We’ll make sure to do both. We can’t afford to fail after making it this far.”

  “Certainly not,” the druid agreed, nodding once at me before continuing to speak. “Now, as for managing the ritual itself, it requires that at least two of us maintain the integrity of the spell while it gains strength and it is possible for any other participants to either join or leave its casting at any time. It is my thought that I and the other earthspeakers would manage to fuel the ritual regardless of what spirits descend on us, with those of you who are capable of lending your magic to the spell joining or leaving as the situation demands.”

  “You mean dip in and dip out,” Caius said, the warlock nodding his head as he spoke. “Yeah, that could work. If the others have everything in hand, then we don’t need to be standing around and waiting. We can do our best and lend our mana to speed things along.”

  “That you most certainly can,” Garr stated. “And make no mistake, speed will be a critical factor once we begin. For the longer that it takes us to fuel the ritual, the greater and more powerful the spirits that we will attract.”

  “And the faster things can go off the rails if we can’t handle them,” Halcyon added in a grim tone, which prompted a nod from the gronn.

  “Possibly,” he agreed, going on to motion towards the other gronn as he continued to speak. “Though if the situation becomes truly dire, a few of us can also drop from the ritual to aid you all and hopefully return to it afterward once the spirits have been thinned out.”

  “Hopefully, we won’t need to do that, but it’s a good safety net to have,” I said, making a mental note to call on them for help should the situation get truly desperate. Though as I did, my mind also drifted towards how I myself could contribute to the ritual, a loose idea forming in my mind.

  If I made it a focus to drain the spirits throughout the battle, I might be able to jump in and out of the ritual the same as the others, I thought silently as I considered what options I had available to me. I could drop as much as mana as I can spare into the spell, then run back into the fray and recharge myself. Or at least hopefully I’ll be able to since the spirits can drain mana too. I’ll be walking a razor’s edge to make sure I don’t get overwhelmed myself. I don’t know how much it would help in the end, but I’m sure it’ll be better than just standing with mana to spare while everyone else was busy contributing.

  “Indeed,” Garr replied before turning to cast a quick look at all of us, his face tightening as he did so. “Now, if there aren’t any more questions, then I believe it’s time for us to begin.”

  “I think we’re all set on our end,” I replied as everyone in our group simply shook their heads in response to the gronn’s question, the few murmurs and whispers that had filled the air quickly dying out.

  “Very well,” he said, pausing to take a deep breath before focusing his attention on the circle. “Now if all those who are planning in participating in the ritual can step forward, we will show you all where to stand.”

  With nothing else left to be said, we all moved to follow Garr’s instructions as he prepared the final steps for the ritual, positioning both his fellow earthspeakers and the spellcasters of our group in various parts of the circle. Having joined for the initial casting of the spell, I found myself placed on the outside ring of the casting area, a spot that would allow me to easily leap out and engage the corrupted spirits once they started to appear.

  Then once we were all finally in place, we began.

  Sparking into life in the form of a green orb of magic that floated lazily out from Garr’s hand, the ritual started slowly at first, the tiny wisp looking so small and fragile that a stray breeze could extinguish it.

  But as the emerald mote began to spiral into the air, it rapidly gained both in strength and in size, mana flowing from each of us as we began to pour it into the ritual. As soon as we started to do so, I saw a small counter appear in the corner my vision, outlining just how much mana the ritual had begun with courtesy of the blightspikes already in the garden.

  Total Ritual Mana Contributed: 40,500/150,000

  Starting gradually at first and rising quickly, I saw the number rapidly increase as we all contributed our energy into the spell, the initial total rising by just over half before finally slowing down as everyone emptied their mana pool. Not wanting to fail to do the same, I pushed as far as dared, straining as the hunger within me grew with the more energy I poured into the spell. For several long seconds, I did my best to distract myself from the growing sensation, watching the orb intently as it climbed. But by the time that it reached its peak high above the ritual circle, the once tiny orb now glowing like a small star, I hit the limit of what I was able to manage.

  Ugh, maybe that was a little too much at first, I thought with a loud grunt as I dropped out of the ritual, one of my hands going to clench my stomach, which had begun to twist and writhe painfully. The motion immediately brought a look of concern from the gronn closest to me that I promptly moved to wave away.

  “I’m fine, just overdid it a little,” I told them by way of explana
tion as I stepped out of the circle while drawing Splinter, completely understanding their reactions. With how fast we’d moved since our initial rescue of the group, there hadn’t been any time to tell them of my mana starved condition, let alone how it affected the corruption.

  An explanation that I’m sure I’m going to have to give once they see how the rest of this battle goes, I added mentally, my attention wandering slightly as I confirmed to myself just how much mana I had remaining. Expecting that we would face a collection of weaker spirits at first, I’d opted to contribute roughly three-quarters of my mana pool to the ritual, hoping that I’d be able to make up the loss quickly. Unfortunately, though, I hadn’t quite considered how my body would react after expending so much mana at once, leaving me off-balance until I was able to rein my hunger in. Come on, Marc, time to focus, there’ll be spirits coming in any—

  “Heads up! Here they come!” Kilgore’s voice interrupted before I could finish my thought, the sound of his greatbow releasing an arrow reaching my ears a second later.

  Twisting in the direction of his voice, it took me a second for my eyes to land on an array of birdlike spirits that were sailing towards us, the emerald light of the circle’s magic giving their jagged, shadowlike bodies an eerie look. But those were far from the only spirits that appeared hungering after the ritual’s magic, several others taking that opportunity to break free of garden’s crops and rush into the clearing.

  “I’ve got these here!” I called out as I spotted a pair of corrupted python spirits that rushed out of the garden closest to both Amaranth and me, the two of us moving to cut them off before they could reach the ritual circle.