Tower of Ancients

by Jaeger Mitchells

  He offered me his hand and took the bomb from me wearily.

  “Why can’t you do it?” he asked. Someone else might have snapped at him, or even went so far as to kill the blacksmith, but not me. I still had some shred of Humanity in me. Or at least I liked to believe so.

  “Because I want you to learn how to kill. Once we’ve moved to the tower, there will be some things we won’t like and if your conscience makes you disloyal, that would be a bad thing for everyone.”

  Harlan let out a deep sigh before he nodded.

  “I understand, my Lord. I wish you would stop putting such burden on my shoulders, but I guess one needs to prove himself over and over again that he’s still as useful.”

  “If you say so,” I replied, a weak smile on my face. “Good luck and stay safe. We’ll draw the enemy toward the No Man’s land so they don’t come snooping around these forests. You keep living and working as it’s just another day while we do what we’re paid for.”

  “Paid by whom?” he laughed. “But yeah, you’re right. Good luck, my Lord. I’ll pray to Mara she takes our enemies and spares you and our men.”

  Mara, the Goddess of death. Right, as if someone had seen her and lived to tell about it. Whatever. I wouldn’t crush their hopes and dreams, especially not during such a situation.

  “I’m off, old friend. Take care of your family while I’m gone.”

  “You too. Come back alive. I’ve still got a great number of interesting things to develop for you.”

  I placed my hand on his shoulder and got up, leaving the man sitting there by himself. I felt his wife come out and join him even before I was twenty feet out. Good, at least he would have someone to help keep him on the right path.

  I found myself standing in front of Rennes’ place. I kept watching over the house during the night, taking in what the small camp had grown into. If the old man could have seen it he would have drunk himself to death. At least it was one of the things Rennes wouldn’t do, or at least I hoped so. Humans and drinking never went well together.

  The door opened and stayed that way. I looked inside using my perfect vision. She sat there on a chair facing me from the inside, a bottle of that shit in her hand she drank the first time we were at her place. I sighed and walked in.

  “You think that’s a good way to show I can trust you while we’re gone?” I asked, pulling the flask out of her hand and throwing it out the door.

  “What do you think will happen to us if you die trying to get wherever it is you’re going?” she pleaded, her voice weak. “First that snake, then those Razorbacks from the quarry! They’ll kill us all!”

  “No, they won’t,” I replied firmly. “Trust me on this and keep your head cool. All our civilians are staying behind along with a small force. I can’t have you lose your head right about now, alright? Keep it together.”

  “She will, I promise,” Rohan said as he appeared on the staircase. “We pray for your safe return, Lord Raziel.”

  I nodded as I walked up to Rennes and placed my long finger on her chin, pushed up, and stared into her eyes.

  “Don’t disappoint me.”

  She nodded hurriedly before she got up and hid behind Rohan. As if that would help. Somehow I got a very bad feeling about all of this. Still, it needed to be done. The Vampire army was already on its way, I was sure of it. After all, ten days had already passed.

  I turned around and left the house only to go on a search for my officers. The soldiers had all geared up and stood at attention near the northern gate along with my most trusted. Slayer, Sentinel, Stalker, Calina, and Grestal had already mounted their horses. The men wore their usual dark, steel armors while Calina wore a dress and very short leather pants that stuck just from beneath the fabric. It was better than what it used to be in any case when it came to pleasing my eyes.

  Sylvana, Helena, and the Vampires stood to the side and busied themselves with low chatter. I coughed once for everyone to shut up and proceeded to speak.

  “We ride North to the No Man’s land!” I yelled so everyone could hear me. “We’ll split into multiple groups and every single one of them will be led by one of our officers! Make haste and time as if your lives depended on it.”

  “Yes, my Lord,” the chorus of soldiers boomed. Their voices resounded throughout the village. What a sight to behold. Every single man and woman was outfitted and ready for battle with the best we had to offer.

  “Good! You will march as if your lives depend on it! Well, let me tell you something! They do! We have a goal and we know our opponents! Death to the enemy!!”

  “Death to the enemy!” the soldiers echoed again. I looked over the formation and was proud of what I had to work with. Every single one of them would give their life for the Coven, and I would do my best so they wouldn’t have to.

  “You really don’t know how to give a really motivating speech, huh?” Sylvana asked. I shook my head slightly.

  “No, I don’t, and I never will. I’ll always be the one giving the orders instead of trying to pep someone up.”

  “Bah! It won’t do any harm to try and get them riled up, right? They’ll fight harder.”

  I sighed.

  “Yeah, whatever you say, but we got a tree to catch.”

  I pulled my horse up next to my officers, nodded once, and moved on to the last group: Dimas and his family.

  “Are you ready?” I asked with a broad grin on my face. He nodded.

  “This is just an appetizer, Raziel. Lefrand won’t know what hit him!”

  “Thank you, my friend. Please take care of the army as you move toward No Man’s land. We’ll catch up as soon as we can.”

  He offered me his meaty paw of a hand. I shook it and nodded in appreciation.

  “Dimas is your acting commander until I catch up! If he orders you to die, you follow his orders! Is that understood?”

  “Yes, my Lord!” they boomed again. Quite a number of the civilians had turned up to see us off and it made me feel slightly better that they cared. At least they respected the soldiers enough and showed that by coming to see them off.

  “Good hunting!”

  It was a somber day. At least for me. The same kind of unwanted emotions threatened to rise from the depths of my being like when we left the Vampire capital. It was different this time, however. We would face the full wrath of Lefrand’s army, not just a small skirmish like in Newfolk. This battle could be very well the one that ended us.

  “What’s on your mind?” Sylvana asked as she pulled up beside me. Our horses were in full gallop, yet I could still hear her clearly. Magic, what a strange thing.

  “Our life and death, little Elf. And you? Aren’t you afraid?”

  She scoffed, even going so far as to wave me off.

  “Me? Afraid? You’ve seen me fight, haven’t you?”

  I couldn’t help but flash her a smile. Indeed I had. The Elf was a master with the blades, and then some.

  “On another matter, do you know the direction we’re supposed to be taking?”

  “Ugh! Really? And you just ask now over two hours in the journey?” Helena hissed. “Just because it was a vision doesn’t mean I’m stupid!”

  I groaned and shook my head.

  “Sylvana, why can’t she be any friendlier and more lovable like you?”

  “W-what? What did you just say?” Helena demanded. “I’m as pretty as she is, even prettier!”

  “What? You want to say that I’m not pretty?” Sylvana lashed out, throwing an icicle at her sister which barely missed.”

  “Sis!” Helena snapped. “What the fuck?”

  “Alright, alright. Enough of that. I’m sorry to have started this. Now please, tell me where we’re going.”

  Helena let out a deep sigh before she started talking again.

  “We’re slightly detouring from the No Man’s land direction West. We’ll be going in the direction of the Vampire border. I saw us sitting on a tree overlooking the ruined land where we chanted an Eld
er Magic spell after which the tower rose from the ground.”

  “I see. It’s a good thing you had the vision then or we might have never found it.”

  “A good thing indeed,” Helena replied worriedly. “We’ll see if it’s as good once we get there.”

  The sisters shut up and were lost in their own thoughts, or whatever they were doing as we made time. Forests gave way to a barren, desolate land that didn’t do much to please the eye. The dry air was something you could feel immediately despite the temperature being pretty low.

  We rode on until we finally reached another thick patch of forest with trees that were far taller than everywhere else. I suddenly remembered this place. It was a battleground a thousand years ago where the Vampires massacred a coalition of Faye and Elves if I remembered correctly. An immensely large amount of bodies had been buried where the forest now lays. Or not. At least that’s what was passed down.

  I looked to my left where the sisters were riding their horses. They looked worried and unwell. Did they feel the magical residue of their ancestors? If not that, then something else must have been worrying them. I was sure of it.

  “This here is an evil place,” Sylvana said after she visibly calmed down and we were almost at the forests’ edge. “So much death and suffering, but I have no idea what happened. I’m not even sure I want to know.”

  “Yeah, it feels off to me as well,” I replied, deciding to go with a lie. They didn’t need to know what it was just yet.

  “There, up ahead,” Helena said, pointing her finger at a slightly taller tree than the rest. The crown was thick and lush with vegetation. One could even build a wooden house up there without worrying that it might fall, or at least that’s what I assumed. Did the Elves like to build their homes because of the view up there?

  I became nervous the moment we set foot in the forest. For some reason, something was pressing down on me, as if this was a cursed place for Vampires. It was so abrupt that I was barely able to hold onto my reins. Sylvana noticed it and helped me from falling off my horse.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?” she asked worriedly as I stopped and sat there, unable to will myself to go any further. Maybe it was a stupid thing, but I decided to come clean. Having seen all kinds of magic, maybe it would help.

  “This is a burial ground for a coalition of the Fay and Elves,” I growled, trying to push the feelings of me. “Or at least that’s what I think. This place isn’t welcoming me as a Vampire.”

  “Shit, so that’s why I feel such a strong pull inside this place,” Helena whispered. “Just feel the sorrow and pain around us. These kinds of places aren’t good to be in. We need to do what we came to and get out of here.”

  Sylvana nodded as she pulled on my horses’ rein. I looked on in bewilderment as we moved deeper into the forest. Both sisters were perfectly silent, only the horses neighed and cracked branches underneath their hooves. A small pond surrounded the tree we stopped at. It was perfectly still and clear as air. Inside a single, large fish swam around. A faint, white glow surrounded the creature, becoming ever brighter as we stepped in closer.

  The fish suddenly started flapping its tail wildly and swam up to the surface. Just as suddenly, it flew out of the water and landed on the grass only to turn into a white, three-tailed fox. Its fur was pale as the moon, while the tails had red and black accents running down their entire length. A fiery-red paw scratched its side as it sat there, observing us.

  Helena’s eyes grew wide followed by Sylvana’s as they seemed to realize something. They dropped to their knees and lowered their foreheads near the ground.

  “Goddess Yrneha!”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  “Rise, children,” a soothing voice spoke. It sounded like it came from all around us at once. It wasn’t even similar to mind projection or telepathy, no, the forest boomed with power.

  The Elven sisters got up but held their heads low, staring down at their feet.

  “Goddess, why are you here? Why live in such a—?”

  “Place?” she chuckled. “Why not? It’s the Elven resting place, but let’s not dwell over that right now. No, there are far more important things to address, and one of them is the Tower of Ancients.”

  “Is that the tower I saw in my vision, Goddess?” Helena asked, interrupting Yrneha.

  “It is, my child. I felt you reach out through a crystal fragment so I used the chance to give you this warning.”

  “Goddess?” I asked, finally finding my bearing and able to stand without any pain and nausea. “Am I allowed to speak?”

  I wasn’t used to asking except when it came to Lefrand, and even he never refused me. Still, if the sisters thought of this being a Goddess, it would be a smart thing to play it smoothly.

  “I wouldn’t have allowed you entry otherwise, Vampire Lord Raziel,” she replied with a slight chuckle. “You’ve treated the only direct descendants of the two noble lines with care and spared their lives. That’s the only reason why you’re here today, to share their fate.”

  “I see. Please, can you tell me what really happened here?”

  The creature started shifting and twitching before it turned into a woman even more beautiful than the sisters. Her delicate lines, smooth skin, long blonde hair, and pointy ears were all a sign she belonged to the Elven race. But how could an Elf become a God? Or Goddess in this case.

  “You would have found out within the tower anyway, so I guess there’s no harm in me telling you. This here was the result of a combined effort between the Fay and Elven races to put an end to the original Vampire and the destruction his armies laid down on the surrounding lands. We caught him, cut off his limbs, and put him away for good.”

  I frowned. The stories I heard were different, but why would she lie? She wouldn’t gain anything from it. No, I was looking at it wrong. They did invade, but to put a stop to him, not to take the land. It was fertile, sure, but I doubted they would be as stupid to lose tens of thousands of people for the reason.

  Instead of questioning her about something that didn’t matter anymore, I hurriedly asked another question; one that was far more important right now.

  “What do you mean we would find it out in the tower?”

  “The tower houses the greatest library this continent has ever seen. You will find many books recording history, both ours and that of other races. Many things will seem like a lie, but trust me at least in this, the books kept there are all a hundred percent authentic.”

  “Please, Raziel, can we have a moment with our Goddess?” Helena asked as she got up. I nodded and distanced myself. Sure, I’d still be able to hear them from fifty-foot away if I concentrated, or that’s what I thought. All I heard was—nothing. It bothered me for the first moment, but then I started thinking. This tower was far more than just a habitat to the Elves. Sure, it was strange for the Elves to live in a tower, but even stranger was the fact that everything was desolate around the tower.

  “You can come,” Sylvana said after a while. I cut off my train of thought and joined them. “Goddess Yrneha has taught us the Elder Magic needed to set everything in motion. Are you ready?”

  I nodded. Why wouldn’t I be? My army was marching to No Man’s land and would probably die there unless we took care of this. After all, we had no idea what awaited us there but for a fierce battle with the Vampire army.

  “We can start whenever. But what do I do? Protect you from no-one?”

  “No. Just be there with us. We’ll feel much safer,” Sylvana replied as she traced her hand along my left arm. Sure, why not. I had nothing better to do anyway.

  “Can you follow us up top? We need to be there to channel the power needed,” Helena asked. “The center tree over there,” she added, pointing at the tree beyond the pond. I nodded and waited for them to move.

  The tree itself made me pause a couple of times as we climbed. Never in my life had I seen anything stranger. It was almost as if the tree had given birth to ‘floors’ where huts could be b
uilt. Every floor was connected by a spiral stairway made from thick, sturdy branches. Everything was interweaved with vines and leaves, giving off the feeling that it was much more alive than seemed at first glance. Sure, trees were alive technically, but this was more than just a tree.

  We finally reached the top and I couldn’t help but appreciate the view. It was spectacular. For some strange reason, I could see tens of miles out as if it was nothing. Was that also a part of the power that coursed through this patch of forest?

  The sisters sat down and took each-other’s hands, then started humming and channeling magic. Or whatever it was. I stood there and looked around, searching for any possible threat, but there was nothing and no one here.

  “Tyela neuma. Men imya ram en' templa. Cormamin niuve tenna' ta elea lle au,” the sisters chanted over and over again, the same words for what felt like hours. I finally sat down, not seeing any danger in the situation. Suddenly, they turned to me as a purple glow surrounded them.

  “It’s starting,” Sylvana whispered. A blue flame rose from the top of the tree and seemed as if it was aiming for the heavens, burning brightly, but it didn’t harm us. The Elves' hair and their dresses started rising as a gale picked up, almost lifting us off the top. The soil started trembling, first gently and slowly, only to pick up in pace and strength. The tree started shaking as if it was about to crack and topple over. Everything stopped abruptly just as it had started and the gale let off along with the swaying trees.

  I looked around and saw nothing changed in the landscape around us; all but a single thing. Far, far away at the No Man’s land, a tower rose from the ground. It kept on rising and rising, seemingly climbing into infinity.

  The tower really was that; a tower. I was too far out to see any details, but it looked as armored as a fortress with thick walls and a very small number of windows. I started counting the floors and finally ended up on 113. If every floor was ten feet tall, this thing stretched over a thousand feet from top to bottom.