Lileth’s eyes snapped wide, sending a spike of panic into their bond as she gazed towards the rear of the valley. They all prodded her with their minds, searching for the answer that she seemed momentarily incapable of. After several tense seconds, a single word escaped her mind.
Colossus.
Chapter 22
Coronation
Cole turned to face the ocean. A mountain of a head rose with the unassuming speed of a distant cloud, followed by a pair of shoulders wide enough to fill the valley. Flickering dread wriggled in Cole’s guts. It was impossible to tell how big the titan was, but it was certainly larger than the Alpha Colossus at Morthain.
Valen sent a surge of energy into the unit-bond, snapping them from their awe. They made for the Elders on the ledge, shooting up in a tight formation. Gale whipped across their path, giving them a trumpeting screech as he dashed out of the valley. Cole had a vague impression that Goran was nearby as they raced up the valley walls, though he could not see his friend anywhere. They came to a crunching halt atop the ledge. All eyes were upon the Elders.
“The lord of Hatred and Despair has arrived,” Chiron said in a soft tone.
Alvani entwined her hands around Roth’s arm, resting her head against his shoulder. “How do you know, Chiron?”
Roth’s grating voice answered her, “Only Sorronis could have raised the Alpha Colossus from the floors of the White Sands. Looks like it took that rock wurm’s plating for armor.”
“And those are no storm clouds rolling in,” Chiron added.
Billowing over the head of the Colossus was a black thunderhead. Veins of bloody lightning darted over its surface. The Colossus was entirely out of the water now, standing still at the valley entrance, a dark monolith nearly as tall as the Fangshards. The clouds continued to gather above it.
“Can we stop it?” Valen asked, unable to hide the trembling in his voice.
“You can’t,” Roth said. “You’re going to plant yourselves right here. This one’s a far shot out of your league.”
The Unit let out a collective sigh of relief. There was no training to prepare them for an enemy of this scale. Cole’s Rage wanted him to object, but what could he hope to accomplish? Even fully shrouded it would take him an hour just to dig his way to the bone nest. The Colossus swayed at the valley entrance, waiting for some unknown reason.
Chiron placed his hands on Alvani’s and Roth’s shoulders, rousing them with a gentle shake. “My dear friends, let us show Sorronis the might of the Unbound.”
Alvani set a hand over Chiron’s, giving him a warm smile. A look of dread washed over her as the valley took on a crimson glow.
“Hatefire!” Alvani screamed, throwing her arms out and pushing the group back with invisible force. Cole slammed into the others as if kicked by a horse.
The black thunderhead churned with bloody light, swirling to a fine point below. With a deafening roar, the bottom of the vortex opened, splitting the skies with a tornado of roaring fire. The whirlwind collided with the valley floor, filling it with unrelenting destruction. The tornado lurched forward through the valley, scorching the walls and obliterating everything in its path. Alvani threw her arms out, casting a glistening opalescent shield over the ledge.
Cole squinted, covering his ears as the roaring became unbearable. He wrapped his arms around his head as the Hatefire passed over them. When the light violence faded, he cracked his eyes open, checking his body to make sure the shroud had held up. He was not confident that his Rage would protect him from whatever that fire was made of.
Alvani’s form blazed in a hazy silhouette as the torrent passed, her arms outstretched and breast pumping. Her eyes were locked in cold fury as she followed the column of fire. The tornado passed through the Domina, crisping them to charred heaps. Cole leapt to his feet, pressing his face against Alvani’s shield. To his horror Oberon’s forces had fared no better than the Domina. Megorien and her army were no more.
After annihilating all the length of the valley, the Hatefire swirled back up into the clouds above. The Colossus lumbered after the wreckage, running an island-sized hand along what was left of the paved trail. It scooped the charred bodies of the Domina into its maw. Somehow, the Domina were still alive, bleating and screaming all the while.
Chiron and Roth took up positions next to Alvani, bolstering her shield with their own Passion, which they projected from their palms.
Cole felt a smooth hand close on his munisica. Lileth looked up at him, Fear pooling in her eyes. Cole dismissed his Rage and embraced her, pulling her away from the view of the valley floor. He poured his Passion into her, but her mind was befuddled and resisted his touch.
He whispered into her ear, trying his best to make his words ring true, “We’re gonna be okay. The elders will protect us.”
“That complicates things a bit,” Chiron said, watching the Colossus devour the last of the Domina.
“What is it?” Roth demanded.
“Sorronis may be mad, but he is as clever as the last time we met. Those Domina were chosen before the battle. The Hatefire acts as a substitute for the odium.” Even as he said it, the Colossus bulged all over, swelling with new growth as the Domina’s bodies were assimilated.
“Bet I can have that head off in ten minutes,” Roth growled.
Chiron smirked, casting him a sideways glance. “Please Rothael, I’d be embarrassed to call you Unbound if it took you that long.” A neat pair of jade wings curled out of Chiron’s back.
Roth flexed his shoulders forward as his broad emerald wings erupted. “You coming, Alvi?”
She held her chin high as she maintained her shield with a single hand. “I will remain here to protect the young ones. You will both take my grace before you leave this ledge.”
Roth shook his head, taking a step towards the edge. “No, keep it. We can look after ourselves.”
She spoke with ironclad authority: “It wasn’t an offer.”
Faster than Cole could see, her free hand was suddenly on Roth’s chest, fuchsia rays pouring in. A tingling sensation pricked over Cole’s skin. He had no idea what Alvani had done, but he could feel an ocean of power in the transfer.
Roth’s face slackened as his nostrils and eyes flared. His body took an aura similar to Oberon’s chromatic surface. She repeated the process with Chiron, who did not object. When finished, she opened a hole in her shield. “Go now, last of the Unbound.”
With a gust of wind, Chiron and Roth dove from the ledge. The air seemed to tear in protest to their speed. Alvani closed the gap in her shield and watched as the Colossus drew closer to their ledge. It was entirely unaware of two winged missiles blazing right for it. Inky droplets began to fall from the valley’s clouded ceiling, staining the rock and rolling off Alvani’s barrier.
Cole released Lileth, who trembled as she mumbled to herself. “Eliza, can you look her over? Something is wrong with her. Nothing I’m doing is helping.”
“Of course,” Eliza said, cradling Lileth against the valley wall.
Cole looked back to the Colossus. It was close enough now that he could make out individual bodies and smell their undying reek. The armor plating of the rock wurm lined its chest and arms in no discernable order, though it wore the beast’s skull over its own in a crude battle-crown. Roth and Chiron were nowhere to be found. Cole rubbed his fingers to his eyes, sharpening his sight to the limits of his Wisdom. He saw a short curved pair of wings and a glinting body hanging in the air before the titan. Chiron was impossibly small, appearing no larger than the most diminutive insect.
An azure flash lit the space between Chiron and the Alpha Colossus, lifting its feet from the ground as if it had been struck by a battering ram. The titan collided with the opposite valley wall, causing numerous landslides. Seconds later, the noise from the spell reached the ledge, sucking all sound into an empty silence before a thunderous crack reverberated down the valley. The chaotic chatter of an avalanche came next.
Cole picked up a flicker of motion
from above. Roth’s wings were folded, his scintillating form stretched out into a living spear. Before the Colossus could gather itself, Roth buried himself in its neck, becoming a blur of wings and claws as pieces fell from the titan. To the Colossus he was hardly bigger than a grain of rice, but the damage already added up to a wide hole in its neck. Cole let out a nervous laugh. There was no way Roth would need ten minutes to decapitate the Colossus.
“Yes!” Sitra whooped, slashing the air. “Look at them go!”
“They had better end it quickly,” Valen noted. “Sorronis’s Harbinger has yet to show himself.”
Cole’s eyes scanned the bloody clouds. “Where would he be hiding?”
Alvani spoke in a steely tone. “The Harbinger is in the heart of the Colossus. They are attempting to draw him out into open combat.”
Cole shivered. Even from this distance he could sense the power surging from Chiron and Roth. Thunderous magic reverberated down the valley, slamming into Cole’s chest like a fist. The Colossus grabbed at the valley walls, pulling itself to its feet while explosions rippled from the hole in its neck. Cole found Chiron hovering chest-height to the titan. The elder gathered a ball of blue light in his hands.
The Colossus rose to its full height. Its chest swelled as smoke poured from its maw. Roth shot out of its neck, black soot dripping from his wings. With its gaze on the Bonebreaker, the Colossus wrenched open its jaw and spewed forth a geyser of rusty brown liquid. Roth dodged the attack, drawing it away, though its endless arms kept him from getting too far.
The azure orb in Chiron’s grasp was now as large as he was. By unseen command, Roth changed direction, shooting for the stars as both of the titan’s hands followed. Chiron thrust the magic towards the Colossus. The ball split in two, each half rocketing for the titan’s shoulders. The resulting explosions were too bright to behold. Everyone on the ledge shut their eyes, and covered their ears before the sound could reach them, Alvani included. When the smoke and thunder had cleared, the Colossus stood readying another gout of vomit, except this time it had no arms. The limbs rolled down the valley wall, carried by rocky avalanches.
Before the Colossus could spray again, Chiron released a hail of the blue energy into its chest, smashing through its armor. The titan sputtered and fumbled, seeming to choke on its vomit. Seizing the hesitation, Roth dove in for a series of cleaving blows, cutting deeper into its neck.
The inky rain continued to shower the valley, growing thicker and obstructing visibility of the distant battle. The bloody clouds groaned overhead, looking as though they would release another tower of Hatefire at any moment.
Though Cole could hardly see Roth and Chiron, the Colossus was clearly losing energy. It took a knee, unable to stand under the bombardment of Chiron’s destructive magic. Every blast of sapphire energy shattered its armor and sent hundreds of chosen raining to the ground. Roth’s wings blazed with green light as they stretched to several times their size. With a final swoop, the head of the Colossus tilted and fell from its shoulders like a great tree. The rest of its body collapsed in a heap on top of its severed arms. Chiron gathered another orb, raising it over his head as it swelled larger than a house. He whipped his arms down, sending the magic screaming towards the Colossus.
Cole ducked, shutting his eyes and ears. The concussion knocked him off his feet. His back smacked the slate, driving the breath from his lungs. When he opened his eyes, there was a white mushroom-cloud rising up to the black cloud above. The others rose shakily to their feet. Alvani was still standing, however, her face locked in elegant wrath.
A moment later, a hole opened in the shield as Chiron and Roth flew in. They were both covered in the cloud’s black water, though it hovered an inch off their skin. The taint dripped and fell from their barriers where it pooled on the slate at their feet.
“Do not touch the liquid,” Chiron said quickly. “It is some wickedness of Sorronis.”
They jumped back as Roth scraped dirt and stone onto the puddles. Cole gazed upon his Masters with newfound awe. They appeared no worse for wear, as if they had just returned from a stroll through the markets. Cole couldn’t help but compare himself to the two Masters, feeling as if he could almost keep up with Roth. He was after all the only person to master Rage since before the banishing. If only he knew how to shoot those blasts of raw energy that Chiron used. Cole decided he would stand on Chiron’s head until the elder showed him how to use such powerful destructive magic.
Sitra flexed her munisica. “That was carnage! There’s no way that heap of shit is getting up from that!”
Valen peered over the ledge, inspecting the smoking remains of the Colossus. “I suppose he’s not dead. Are those not Sorronis’s clouds above us?”
Chiron swept over each of them, inspecting and filling them with Passion. “I’m afraid we only showed Sorronis that he will need more than an Alpha Colossus to best us.” His voice dropped to a grim whisper. “Ready your hearts, children. The Harbinger approaches.”
They all turned, slowly bringing their gaze upon the ruddy mountain of chosen. The Colossus undulated as it rose into the sky in an amorphous mass. The severed arms of the Colossus rose into the air carried by unseen forces, joining the throbbing city of broken corpses as it moved towards their ledge.
“Let him come!” Roth bellowed. His munisica snapped wide as the shroud crawled over almost all of his body. “I’ll rip him in half and feast on his heart! Draw your blades, Warriors of The Sill! Let the Rage burn your bones!”
It was as if Roth’s words were saturated with the red magic. White hot needles pricked their way up Cole’s scalp as his Rage flared to life. His fingers lengthened and stretched, agonizingly yet gratifyingly. The shroud pooled over him from the inside out, bolstering every fiber of his body with Master’s Rage. Every muscle in his body twitched, demanding violence. Cole filled his lungs and joined in the unit’s battle cry, demanding Sorronis come face their fury.
The oily torrent surged in a thick deluge, casting the valley in dense shadow. Flashes of crimson lightning showed the progress of the floating remains of the Colossus.
After a tense minute, the writhing mass arrived directly in front of the ledge. The bodies were soaked with the greasy rain, though it wasn’t enough to mask the stench from their charred flesh. Chiron slashed his palm over his head, bathing the whole area in brilliant white light.
“GET OUT HERE YOU SLIMY BASTARD!” Roth stamped his bladed feet, rattling the entire ledge. “YOU THINK YOU KNOW DESPAIR? BRING YOUR BEST OUT HERE AND BEHOLD THE MEANING OF SUFFERING!”
Thousands of bodies cried out in anguish as a fissure opened in the center of the heap. The gap stretched wider as the entire mass heaved, emitting a wrenching, wet lurch. The screams of the chosen rose as a nest of spiked bones the size of a city block hacked its way to the fore of the gap. A door hinged forward, slamming to the ledge like a drawbridge. From the shadows of the bone nest walked a man dressed in a neat charcoal suit. He was missing an eye and held a bundle of rags against his chest with one arm. He looked young and would have been handsome if not for the soot that stained his mouth and nose. Every feature of his face was etched with profound malice, as though he had been bred for the sole purpose of causing pain in others. The man stood upon his bony bridge, glaring at them with a bloodshot eye as he bared a mouth full of shattered, blackened teeth.
Cole shuddered as a horrible memory from the Devotion came to him. When Decreath had entered Kreed his face was stained in the same manner, broken teeth and all. This man was the Harbinger of Sorronis.
Alvani was first to speak. Her voice shook with horror. “Talin…my dear Talin…what have they done to you?”
The name clicked in Cole’s memory. Talin was a unit-leader from The Sill. He’d seen him in between lessons and heard good things about the man. What misfortune could have brought Sorronis into his heart? Was he a traitor?
Talin’s eye blazed as spit flew from the cracks in his teeth. He looked as if he would like n
othing more than to murder Alvani on the spot.
Chiron reached out with a gentle hand. He spoke in a soft, timid tone, as if afraid Talin might explode any moment. “It’s not too late, Talin. We can help you. There is still beauty and love in this world. Think of your family. Think of sweet Penelope.”
Talin’s head jerked as a fleeting, anguished expression twisted his features. He brought his glare to Chiron as he ground his broken teeth together. Blackened shards fell from his lips as he opened his mouth, his voice a smoky whisper. “Liar.”
Stung, Chiron turned his head and closed his eyes in a look of resigned disappointment.
“Save your sympathies,” Roth grunted. “The boy’s made his choice. I only wish I had the opportunity to kill him before he dishonored himself.” He inclined his head, sneering at Talin. “What did you sell yourself for anyhow? How much did they give you? Wait, don’t tell me. It was a release from the suffering, wasn’t it? They tortured you a bit and you folded like wet paper.”
Talin’s lip curled in a wicked smile. “To live is to suffer, Bonebreaker.”
Roth crossed his arms, sneering. “You don’t say?”
Talin’s head twitched again as he patted his free hand over the bundle that rested in his arm. “Your words are but empty lies. All of you. You sent children to fight for you. Filled them with promises of victory and glory. I see a few of your favorites managed to escape, but they’ll join the others before long. They burn for me. They Hate for me, just as I Hate for you.”
Alvani stepped off the ledge, joining Talin. Her shield bent and swelled with her, protecting her from the oily rain. Talin’s face softened as her warm glow touched his skin. She reached for him, cupping his cheek with a hand saturated with strawberry light. Her voice was powerful and clear: “I release you from your Hatred.”
There was a shuddering boom as Alvani’s magic flooded into Talin, fixing his broken teeth and lifting the malice from his face. He inhaled, eyes searching as though he only just realized where he was. Alvani readied another spell, placing another hand on his breast.
Saving The Dark Side Book 2: The Harbingers Page 48
