by Aleks Canard
‘I can. Though I suspect that’s because we are being watched.’
‘And I’d say we’re being watched by them,’ Trix said. She nodded towards the walls. Hundreds, if not thousands, of statues were nestled in stone nooks. However, there seemed to be only four variations in style.
Four elements.
The statues were dormant elementals, waiting to be activated. Not a single one was missing. If Faedra had come through, she’d gained entry to the vault without setting off the security measures.
‘We must hurry,’ Altayr said. The sorcerer took off at a run. His steps echoed in the hallway. Trix and Valentine followed. Trix had to slow her pace to avoid overtaking the sorcerer. Her medallion was of no use to her in here. There was too much magic. She wasn’t able to discern one possible threat from another. Altayr had a better chance of sensing imminent danger.
A ten storey high stone door stood at the hallway’s end. It was flanked by two elementals that were half its height. Trix didn’t want to awaken them. She didn’t have enough bullets on her to kill something that size. She doubted the Fox could bring them down.
A dark web made from energy tendrils materialised when Altayr reached the door. They lashed the sorcerer. Altayr cried in pain before being flung backwards across the ground. His staff rolled away.
Trix helped him up. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Dark magic was used here, recently. It took me by surprise, that’s all.’ The sorcerer summoned his staff. ‘I don’t know how to open these doors the proper way, but I can harness the dark magic that was used to reopen a portal to the other side. Let us hope that it doesn’t consume me.’
Colour titles served as identifiers for mages. Typically, only human spell casters attributed them, though the naming convention had caught on with other races.
Grey mages practiced the healing arts, as well as light spells. Once they became masters, they became known as White. Red mages practiced both offensive magic and healing magic. So long as balance in their studies was maintained, they would graduate to Cardinal.
Then there were those who practiced dark magic. They were called Sable. Necromancy, curses, blood rituals, and other foul spells. This wasn’t to say that all dark mages were bad. Practicing necromancy didn’t make you evil any more than smacking a misbehaving child on the rear. But over time, dark mages could often hear the shadows whisper sinister things. They might ignore them at first. Shrug them off as no more than a minor inconvenience of the power to wield darkness. They could not have been more wrong. Once a mage mastered dark magic, they were known as Black. When this happened, they forsook all healing and light magic like how White mages couldn’t cast destructive spells, or perform necromancy.
Red mages were in the unique position that they could transform into the White or Black depending on how skewed their powers were. Like a bodybuilder ensuring their proportions were even, so too, did a Red mage have to train both skills constantly if they wished to remain multi-elemental.
When Altayr spoke of being consumed, he was referring to becoming Sable instead of Red. He readied himself to begin.
‘There’s only one problem,’ he said.
‘Only one? My, sorcerer, you are faring better than us mere mortals if you have but one problem.’
‘What is it?’ Trix said.
‘I have few doubts that it was Faedra who opened this portal. She would have done it as easily as opening a revolving door. Energy won’t be a hindrance. There’s plenty of it here. But the spell will take time. And in this time, I believe the security measures will activate.’
Valentine drew his weapons. Activated his helmet. He was surprised that his HUD functioned perfectly within the Conclave’s cathedral. From reading Altayr’s thesis, he understood that areas thick with pure magic tended to inhibit technology.
‘Prepare yourself,’ Trix said to Altayr. ‘And be careful.’
‘That word doesn’t apply when meddling with darkness, for to do so is to err on the wrong side of caution.’
Altayr turned towards the door. Began his spell. Trix knew she had to brief Valentine on elementals’ weaknesses. And quickly. Their job would’ve been much simpler if Altayr could’ve helped them fight. But you couldn’t always get what you wanted, to paraphrase a centuries old rock and roll tune.
‘Alright,’ Trix stood beside Valentine. ‘Elementals have weaknesses like any other monster. Earth elementals are the most straightforward, almost like golems. They’ll fall to ballistic weaponry. They all will if you can shatter the crystal inside them. Striking a fire elemental is much harder. Higher levels of them are fluid like magma. It’s hard to tell what form they’ll take, judging from the statues. If you see a water elemental, hit it with all the plasma you have. That should make its crystal visible. A slug will tear it apart.’ Trix drew her sword in her left hand. Her pistol in her right.
‘What about air elementals? How am I supposed to hit something that’s made from air?’
‘You’re not,’ Trix said. ‘I am.’
‘May they who kill the most be crowned the victor.’
‘I always beat you, you whoreson.’
‘There’s a first time for everything,’ Valentine said. He heard stones grinding. Flames ignited. Water rushed. Air whooshed. Earth quaked. The hallway’s walls were lighting up. Altayr continued his spell.
Then the elementals charged.
And hell, if it was ever chained, broke loose.
6
An elemental cavalcade rushed forth.
Terrals led the charge. Tall like baby titans with long, blocky limbs and heavy fists. Aquals behind them, moving across the stone floor like flowing rivers. Ignials and Aerals stayed on the backlines. Began firing artillery like mortars on a battlefield.
Trix had doubts about surviving this fight. Didn’t voice them.
Valentine unloaded his Cosmic Eagle’s payload into a terral’s head. The huge slugs made short work of its clay cranium. Unfortunately, it kept moving forward.
‘Son of a bitch,’ Valentine said.
Trix fired her Magnum Opus into an terral’s chest, an approximation of where the heart would be. Her slugs revealed a glowing green crystal. One of Valentine’s bullets put it down. The resulting explosion took out two more.
‘Ha, Trix, I’m already at three.’
The Valkyrie sheathed her sword. Levelled her pistol. Unlike Valentine, she didn’t need a sight to hit her marks. Her finger slammed the hair trigger like a jackhammer. If she hit dead on — which she always did — it took three bullets for a kill. With the remaining fifteen bullets in the chamber, she took out five terrals. Their resulting explosions killed another five, and maimed most of the second row.
‘Fuck’s sake,’ Valentine said.
Terrals exploded when their crystals shattered because the energy required to move their dense forms was greater, and more concentrated, than other elementals. When their crystals shattered, the energy was released, often with devastating effect.
That was when the aquals surged.
Valentine could see blue crystals shifting around inside their torsos. He unleashed plasma, just as Trix had told him. The heat caused part of the aquals to become steam, though their crystals still hovered in place. Valentine strafed backwards as he shot. There were too many elementals. He and Trix would never be able to kill them all. He felled two aquals. Ironically, their deaths didn’t create splash damage.
Trix used her sword against the aquals as fire and air came from the back lines. Her footwork allowed her to evade the slow mortars while her sword sliced through each aqual, splitting their crystals with ease.
Even with her speed, Trix was being pushed back. Towards Altayr. The sorcerer began lifting off the floor. Black lightning cracked around him. Breathing became onerous. Trix managed fine. If you only knew how to fight in ideal conditions, you weren’t a warrior. You were a pretender.
Valentine was surrounded on all sides. There was nowhere for him to run. And he couldn’t under
stand why he felt like there was an anvil pressing on his chest. Was this what a heart attack felt like?
‘Trix,’ Valentine said. He fired his SMG until its barrel hissed in defiance.
The Valkyrie cut down three aquals. Looked at her friend. She was grateful that the elementals weren’t as tough as they could’ve been. It seemed the Conclave favoured quantity over quality, no doubt as an intimidation technique. Only a madman would stay when an army was rushing him.
A fireball smacked Altayr. He was protected by a thickening dark magic cloud. Valentine was swarmed by aquals. They caught him in a vortex and reached for the ceiling. Either they were going to crush him, or raise him as high as they could, then slam him to the ground. Sophisticated aquals could turn their limbs into icy shards. Valentine was lucky that these weren’t those.
‘Shit,’ Trix said. She ran across the gap. Terrals were in her way. She didn’t waste time killing them. Trix bounded over their heads, contorting her body to avoid the artillery fire. She couldn’t shoot the aquals. Her bullets could hit Valentine. There was nothing else for it.
Time to see what her choker could do.
Trix reversed gravity, flying towards Valentine’s position. She crashed into aquals. They soaked her. Trix grabbed Valentine, then used her magic to reverse gravity again. The friends broke free of the aquals’ grasp. Supporting herself was easy. Magically carrying Valentine wasn’t.
‘Thanks for the assist,’ Valentine said. ‘I’ll take it from here.’
Trix let him go. Valentine hurtled back to the floor, turning to face the airborne aquals. He sprayed with his pistol. Some of his shots hit their marks. He was getting tunnel vision. Only the edges weren’t solid. They were like smoke. He heard whispers from inside his mind. Worms under his skin. And worst of all? His cigarillos were soaked.
Some of the aquals burst. The others fell like rain, their crystals still intact.
Trix landed back on the ground. Terrals had her surrounded. Fireballs hurled overhead. This situation was close to over.
She parried a terral’s clobbering blow. One hit her in the back. Her spine held thanks to her bone density. She was thrown across the space. The dark energy swarming around Altayr caught her. Trix felt her muscles spasm. Something inside her flared. Maybe it was Mireleth’s blessing. She shot off the barrier. A shockwave trailed behind her. Terrals fell in her wake. More aquals were coming. Trix pirouetted through the elemental army, fighting her way back to Valentine. His Cosmic Eagle had run out of bullets. He didn’t have time to reload. He was facing a terral, bobbing and weaving with increasing difficulty. His vision was almost non-existent. He would’ve been blind if it wasn’t for his helmet.
Trix reached him. She stopped a terral’s blow with a parry, forcing his gigantic clay fist onto the ground, unbalancing it. Trix couldn’t kill it with her sword. The resulting explosion could kill her at close range. She took off its other hand then launched a flying mule kick at its head. The terral stumbled backwards. That was when Trix fired.
Valentine fell to his knees beside her as the elemental exploded, mutilating others nearby. Still more came. Their hordes were endless. As unrelenting as the elements they represented.
Trix was also beginning to feel weak. She suspected her choker was working to keep the darkness at bay. Mireleth’s blessing, too, in one way or another.
Rumbling reached her combat boots’ soles. The five storey elementals were waking up on either side of the stone door.
The machina grabbed the poet under his arm.
‘Come on, old friend, this isn’t over yet.’
‘Next time I ask to come with you, tell me to fuck off.’
‘Count on it.’
Darkness lifted. Not much, but enough for Valentine to see again. He took gulping breaths. Air tasted effervescent in the Conclave’s cathedral. It was disorientating.
The elementals were being pushed back by the energy coming from the sorcerer, though they didn’t retreat completely. Trix saw a portal start flickering to life in front of him. Unlike a standard mage’s portal — which was white or reflective, unless you practiced dark magic — it was black, swirling with purple. Its texture looked like greasy velvet.
Trix and Valentine ran down the hallway. Had to move away from the awakening titanic elementals.
They wouldn’t have to kill them. They’d only have to stay alive until Altayr stabilised the portal.
The further they were from the doorway, the lighter they felt.
Elementals rained down on the duo.
And the titans walked. Their steps shook the ground.
7
One titan was born of darkness, the other, light.
Their stony wings became scales and feathers respectively. Trix planned to draw them into the hallway, possibly use the ignial artillery to land a few good hits. Then she and Valentine would skirt around the behemoths and book it for the portal.
The titans ignored Trix and Valentine at first. They bashed against Altayr’s barrier. The sorcerer howled. Trix didn’t know if he was going to survive. He had to. Without him, they would be stuck in this cathedral forever.
Valentine narrowly avoided being cremated by a fireball. An aqual was vaporised in his place. Then the titans began their campaign down the hallway. Other elementals parted for them. Trix began thinking of ways to attack. As far as she knew, elementals of light and darkness weren’t even supposed to be possible. In the stories, the only way to create them was by sacrificing yourself. Some mages believed that creating such pure elementals would allow them to preserve their consciousness inside an immortal being.
No magical research supported this claim.
But wasn’t wild fantasy and legendary possibility always more persuasive?
Trix cycled through options. From what she could tell, the titans were pure energy. She doubted that she could scale their bodies without being overwhelmed. Each one had two crystals that she could see. One for the heart. One for the brain. Both would need to be destroyed. She fired her pistol. The bullets vaporised on impact.
It looked like only magic could fell these beasts.
In her pensive state, Trix had been parrying on autopilot. And she hadn’t noticed the water that was encircling her. It surged, smacking her in the ribs. It was like being dumped at the beach, straight into the sand. Trix held onto her sword. Slashed. One crystal down. The titans were coming closer. Valentine crumbled a terral’s leg with a kick. He had to stop himself from following up with a punch. Unlike the Valkyrie, his bones would break from such a blow. He’d reloaded his Cosmic Eagle, though he was already low on ammo. The ground that the fireball had hit began melting the soles of his boots. His bionic legs — which interacted with his HUD — warned him to reach safer ground.
Safe only existed in relative terms inside the cathedral.
‘Trix, Valentine, the portal’s open, but I can’t hold it forever,’ Altayr said. His voice echoed through the hallway. It was strained, like he was holding onto weights with razors for grips.
‘Ladies first,’ Valentine said, using his remaining ammunition to kill the aquals near Trix.
She somersaulted away from an incoming mortar. Her HUD raged with unknown warnings. Her systems knew something was wrong, but because of the magic, they didn’t know what.
‘Sif, get this shit off my HUD,’ Trix said.
All readings besides shields, armour integrity, and pistol ammunition were cleared. Trix’s back wailed from the blow she’d received before. Pain was temporary. It would be absolved by victory.
Though death would do the same.
The titans readied themselves to attack. Trix used her magic to haul Valentine out of the way. Beams of light and darkness struck where he’d been standing.
‘How about we go together?’ she said.
‘Best idea I’ve heard all day.’
The two friends ran, weaving between elementals, no longer killing them. A wall of terrals was in the Valkyrie’s way. Valentine skidded underneath
one’s legs, barely avoiding being crushed by its arse.
Trix summoned her choker’s power, increasing her density. She punched through a terral’s centre, taking care not to rupture its crystal heart. Trix hit the ground with a roll. Aquals were on the other side. The machina unsheathed her sword. She saw their crystals align in slow motion. Shattered them all with one slash, transitioning into a sprint without delay. Valentine was to her left. She re-joined him. His bionic legs couldn’t keep up with her machina speed, though he fell into place behind.
Altayr struggled standing by the portal. The titans began assaulting him. His voice bellowed.
‘I am Altayr Van Eldric of the Bastion’s Conclave. This vault is mine. You shall stand down.’
The titans paused for one glorious second before continuing their onslaught.
‘You shall stand down,’ Altayr repeated. He could feel darkness hammering against his ribs. Twisted creatures fought for control of his mind. He felt poisoned, like when the wraith on Djiemlur had infected him. Though this was different. It was subtler. Cutting like invisible knives so fast you had to check your skin for wounds.
Altayr could see a fireball headed for Trix and Valentine. They didn’t seem to notice. He would have to drop his barrier to deflect it. He waited until the last possible moment.
‘This vault is mine,’ the sorcerer said, his voice shaking the cathedral’s foundations more than the mighty titans’ steps. His barrier ended. He channelled the dark energy seeking to destroy him through his staff. Fired it like a bazooka. It made impact with the fireball, right above the duo’s heads.
Dark energy snuffed the flames.
Altayr collapsed to his knees. The voices in his head sounded so sweet. Welcoming. No pain existed where they lay.
Something grabbed him by his shirt. Trix lifted him like he was a ragdoll. Threw him into the portal. Altayr dropped his staff.
Valentine skidded along the floor. Scooped it up. Pivoted as he was about to enter the portal. A movement that would’ve been impossible with his original legs.
