They continued, repeating the process with every other body wraith in our way.
Holy gods. No wonder the wraiths were terrified of them.
They ate the corruption!
When the final body was cleared, they paused, hanging mid air just in front of the door. "Thank you, Weaver. When I'm well …" then they were gone, as though they had disappeared into thin air.
"Wait — what just happened?" I asked, walking to where they'd last been. And what had they meant by Weaver? I'd never heard anyone called that before …
Eli spoke behind me. "I think the cage kept them from the korra realm where they usually live. That's how mages tamed sprykes according to the old texts. Supposedly, they manipulated the metal to interrupt and deaden magic."
"I've read about a lot of relic creatures, but none quite like that. Are there more like that out there?"
"Oh, you have no idea," Lynk muttered.
My heart leapt. Perhaps if this worked out and we could pay off our debt, I'd figure out a way to explore more. To see sprykes, fleirals, vrytra, and maybe even dragons at home in nature, where they belonged. Instead of captured and tamed in relics.
"You coming?" Lynk asked as he pushed open the tall metal door.
"Shouldn't we read it, at least?"
"It's mostly been melted away," Eli said, stepping up and tracing the engravings with his fingers. "Something about — brator — "
Shrugging, I stepped past them. Hopefully, the room had some answers for us.
23
Kaiya
We stepped through the door and into a room almost as large as the main library. But judging by the neatly organized metal shelving and the active lyphos lamps … this area was currently in use.
Oh gods. I hadn't considered that someone would get here before us. And whoever this was had obviously been here a while.
I stepped forward, but my toe caught on something and I stumbled. Warm hands gripped my shoulders, holding me upright.
I looked up into swirling silver eyes and my breath caught.
"Be careful. The floors aren't even," Lynk said, his eyes dark at the edges.
He dropped his hands and walked away, stalking towards the far wall.
What in the seven hells?
I looked at the ground and gasped. The stone floors were glassy and warped, like wax exposed to a flame. Even the walls and ceiling bulged and warped in places.
What kind of heat would melt stone? Was Eli right? Could a relic have done this?
No human mages controlled fire like that. Elemental magic was the domain of the Fae.
The damage seemed to expand outwards towards the back of the room, and I stepped towards it. Perhaps there would be a clue …
No. If there had been a powerful fire relic down here, it was long gone now. And the last thing we needed was to run into the people who now possessed it.
"We're alone." Lynk's voice echoed in the room.
To my left and right were dozens of shelving units, items of different shapes and sizes displayed neatly on them. I didn't even need to touch one to know that they were tempered relics.
"What is this place?" Eli whispered, voice full of awe.
"More like whose is it?" I said, looking towards a doorway along the back of the room. "We should grab as many relics as we can and get out of here before the owner returns."
I wandered towards the nearest shelf. Was this room where the remaining relics in the ruins around Gleyma had gone?
If so, how had someone found so many of them?
A small statue tugged at me. It was made of the most beautifully golden metal that glinted in the lyphos light. Someone had molded it in the shape of a fleiral — horse-like, but with wings and a tall horn atop its head. As I watched, the feathers on the wings seemed to flutter, and I'd swear the eye closest to me blinked.
What creature was inside of it? I'd read that before the Fall, Forgesmiths were able to merge living and non-living materials together. But I'd never dreamt I'd actually see one.
Then the relic seemed to come to life in front of my eyes, its wings shaking as if in a breeze.
If I could just touch it …
"NO." Lynk's gravelly voice broke me from the trance. "I haven't seen a luring relic in ages, but trust me when I say that you do not want to go near that monstrosity."
I froze, then reached out with my korra. Sure enough, its korra had twisted into a writhing ball of dark strands. I released it and turned to Lynk. "I don't know what came over me."
He nodded, silver eyes dark.
"If I'd touched it, would I have turned into a wraith of some sort? Is that what happened to those wraiths we fought earlier?"
He shook his head. "The relics may have been what created the wraiths, but the mage would need to use the relic first. And unless it was an extremely strong relic, it would take many uses before they were twisted and turned into a wraith."
Was that any better?
Someone on the Ridge was using and storing tempered relics. But why? Were they forcing people to use the relics, and then letting them loose with the spryke once they turned? Or was the corruption happening accidentally?
"Come look at this!" Eli shouted. He stood across the room in front of a large painting leaning against the wall.
I walked over, drawn in by the scene. It showed a beautiful woman with long silver hair sitting atop a snarling blue dragon. Five smaller dragons surrounded her, each ridden by a crowned man. "Who is it?"
"The Fallen Queen.” Lynk's voice was barely above a whisper.
I looked at him, brow raised. "A queen? All I know are the five kings."
That's what we'd been taught in school, at least.
I could still remember Mr. Tilbe's droning voice.
"A thousand years ago, before The Fall, mages were the governing body on the continent. But they grew greedy and their magic became corrupted. Many bonded mages lost themselves to the corruption, but some fought back. The Five Kings reclaimed the mainland, trapping the Forsaken on their Isle forever. Those kings went on to establish the Empire in an effort to prevent a similar occurrence from occurring ever again."
It had always sounded too neat.
Eli laughed dryly, "I believe you know The Fallen Queen as The Fall Bringer. A powerful female mage with five bonded men who rode dragons?"
"The Fall Bringer." I said, voice quiet.
He was right. I had heard about her. But in the history we learned, she was blamed for the creation of everything Forsaken.
"Could she have been the one to destroy this room?"
"It's possible. She's the only human mage to use natural magic without a relic," Lynk said.
"Who's to say it wasn't a relic, though?" I said, "I've heard how powerful they can be!"
Lynk shook his head. "Very few relics are this strong, and no creature strong enough to do something like this would bend to the will of men and become a tool or companion. They could never be tempered."
I wanted to ask more questions, but we'd already been here too long. "So what do we do with all these dangerous relics? We obviously can't leave them here, but if we touch them we risk getting corrupted. Do the Reapers have a way to handle them? We wouldn't get much money for them, but at least they'd be somewhere safe."
Eli shifted on his feet. "I didn't know these would be twisted, Kaiya. I'm so sorry. I — "
I held out a hand to stop him. "I knew it was a risk when we went into it. Let's just get them to safety and worry about the rest later."
My stomach twisted. We were going to lose our home.
No. I shook off the thoughts. There would be enough time for them when I got home.
Right now, we needed to make a plan.
I strode towards the relics when something in the back corner caught my eye. The ground looked different there … less melted, perhaps?
Curious, I walked over and crouched down. An area of less melted stone stretched in an irregular circular shape towards the wall. And in the mid
dle of it were four large indents, each separated from the others by a few feet.
Eli crouched beside me, his shoulder brushing mine. It sent a tingling awareness through me, and I glanced over at him.
He stared intently at the stone. "Whatever did this, it must have been at the source."
I nodded. All the melted stone seemed to lead to this one spot. "But why? If it was the Queen, like you said, what did she want to hide so badly that she destroyed this entire library and all the people in it?"
"Who says she was hiding something? Maybe she got too angry? Or maybe her power warped, and she lost control? For all we know, she turned into a wraith right here."
"Gods. I wish there were more records from the Fall," I said, caught up in the mystery. "Can you imagine? Mages free to walk around, to rule, to be happy. Would she have really ruined that because she was angry? No. There had to be another reason."
"The best we can do is figure out what happened and maybe find what was here." Eli gestured towards the door we'd come through. "They obviously didn't bring whatever it was that way. Those doors are nowhere near large enough."
"So it has to be through that hall," I said, pointing at the exit at the back of the room. Lyphos lamps flickered in there, but it was too long for them to show us much. "That's where we should go next." The Fallen Queen was long gone and Lynk said there was no crazy relic. What could be the harm?
"No." Lynk traced one of the indents in the glassy floor, then stood and faced us. "Things have changed. This is far too dangerous. You're both leaving. Now."
I stared at him, mouth agape. What had changed? "I'm going back there, with or without you, old man."
He stared at me, those silver eyes dark.
Two could play that game. I pressed my lips together and stepped directly in front of him, meeting his glare with one of my own.
His eyes widened briefly, but he didn't back down.
We'd been staring at each other for a good minute when Eli slipped between us, holding his hands up and pushing us apart. "Come on, you two. Is this staring contest really going to solve anything? Lynk, you know Kaiya is going to explore regardless of what you say. At least if she goes now, you'll be there to help protect her. Kaiya, he has more experience than you. I hate to say this, but it would probably behoove you to listen to him. At least a little."
Lynk grunted and stepped back, letting his eyes drop.
I took a deep breath, then did the same, staring as he ran his hand through his chestnut hair, jaw tense. "Do either of you have weapons, at least?"
I slipped the little dagger from my sleeve and held it up, letting the silver metal glint in the light.
Lynk's face twisted as though he was in pain. "A weapon, little thief, not a cooking utensil."
I narrowed my eyes. "Then, no." Weapons were generally unnecessary for relic hunting, so I'd never taken to carrying them around.
"And you, kid?"
Eli tried to reply, but Lynk just kept talking. "Gods. Why am I even asking? Of course you don't have weapons. So tell me, how do you plan to fight whoever set this area up?"
I winced. He had a point.
"That's what you're here for, old man," Eli said, smiling widely.
"This is going to be bad," Lynk muttered to himself, walking away.
A sound from deeper in the halls made me stand straight, and I motioned for them to be quiet. It sounded like … metal doors slamming shut?
"Get your own tools, Topin. It's my turn to use the shocker." The gruff male voice carried down the hall, and I stared at Lynk, my eyes wide.
His face turned to stone, and he motioned for Eli and me to move behind him as he withdrew his curved blade.
We did as he asked, and he dropped into a crouch.
"Fine. But don't kill the whelp. That relic takes finesse, you know. Something your mother never taught ya," said another voice, this one pitched a bit higher.
"Oh shut up and go grab something."
I motioned towards the shelving. Perhaps if we hid back there, we could buy some time?
Lynk nodded, and we all crowded behind the nearest shelf.
A man, short and dressed in a blue cloak, stepped into the room. He stopped abruptly and tilted his head to the side. "Hey Geriomil," he shouted down the hall, "Something's wrong. The monster's gone dark."
"Fuck," muttered the other voice. "It better not have died on us. Them sprykes are damned expensive."
He sounded closer.
Fabric brushed my arm as Lynk slid from the shadows and slashed out at the first man, the curved blade of his scimitar swiping through the air.
I stared wide-eyed and waited for the blood to fly. But the blade just thunked onto the floor.
It was as though the man had disappeared where the blade touched!
"I think we found what happened to the monster, Topin," the man yelled into the hallway, his lips curling into a snide smile as he spoke. "That damned monster hunter got it. The boss ain't gonna be happy."
Another man stepped into the room, tall and wearing a bowler hat. "Oh good!" he said. "I've been wanting to try this new trick out for a while."
He let out a deep sigh, then shook his arms out. My jaw dropped as his body turned to mist and then reformed, quickly doubling and then tripling in size.
The process repeated until finally his hat bumped the ceiling and fell off, sending dust showering around us.
A giant? No. Those had disappeared before the Fall. Unless … could he be a body mage?
I ducked behind the shelving and watched as Lynk swung his blade again. It just bounced off of the man's skin, though.
"Body mages," whispered Eli. "They're either very skilled and powerful, or they're using relics. Based on this room, I'd guess relics."
I closed my eyes, reaching through the resistance I always felt to find their korras. They were too hazy to make out any details, but similar to the little golden relic, there was a darkness at the center.
"They're twisted, Eli."
He grimaced. "What can we do?"
Lynk still stood out there, defending against the mages. But they were obviously just playing with him.
Fuck it. I couldn't just stand there and let him be killed!
But Lynk was right. My little blade wouldn't be enough.
Desperate, I searched the room for a different weapon. Not the relics. That would be too dangerous.
A slim metal bar stuck out of the door leading to the spryke's prison, though. A piece of their cage?
Perhaps it could work on the twisted mages like it had on that spryke?
Checking to make sure no one was watching, I dashed back to the door and grabbed it. A strange sense of numbness instantly flooded my mind, and I shook my head to clear it. Nothing happened. It felt like I was stuck inside a damn bubble. That poor spryke, stuck in there for who knew how long!
I dashed back to the shelves with Eli, trying to ignore the strange feeling as I watched for an opening.
The shorter mage was too fast. There was no way I could dodge him while feeling so numb.
But the giant might just be slow enough …
Calming my mind, I sprinted towards the fighters, dodging past Lynk's blade and diving in-between the giant mage's legs. The rough floor scraped my knees and calves, but I ignored the pain.
Taking a deep breath, I jabbed the jagged edge of the bar into the fleshy part at the back of the giant's calf and leapt out of the way.
His skin melted like butter.
I stared, disgusted, as the entire leg collapsed in on itself and he fell into a heap on the ground.
Holy hells! That had worked better than expected!
"Good idea, Kaiya," Lynk muttered as he leaped forward and sliced the fallen man's head off. The shadowed blade made a clean cut, and with the korra disrupted, the body collapsed to its normal size.
The other mage stared, wide-eyed, then burst into smoke and took off, weaving his way towards the exit they'd come through.
Growling, Ly
nk grabbed the bar from the giant's body and chased after him, sprinting through the doorway and into the long hallway beyond.
I took off after him.
24
Kaiya
We stumbled into a large stone room that reeked of chemicals and rancid water. Lynk stood directly in front of me, staring at an open door to our right. Beyond him was a wide pool and a tall stack of wooden crates marked "Fragile". The far wall was lined with cages and tall cells. Some stretched from the floor to the ceiling, while others were smaller and carved into the stone walls.
The lyphos lamps flickered, casting eerie shadows around the room, but the strange body mage was nowhere to be seen.
"Did he escape?" I asked.
Lynk nodded and walked stiffly towards the open entryway, closing the metal door there and moving a large stone to block it. "Move fast," he said. "We need to get out of here before he comes back."
I looked around. Could the missing item be in here somewhere? Or had those mages already done something with it?
"Is that a submersible?" whispered Eli from just behind me, motioning to a metal object sticking above the pool's water.
I shrugged. If so, it would mean the pool lead to the ocean, and what a convenient way that was to get items in and out of this facility undetected.
A quiet whimper near the cages drew my attention.
Oh gods. Were there actual animals inside?
I raced over, stepping behind the wall of crates to see a metal table with strange equipment protruding from every edge. Atop it lay an adolescent vrytra, their vibrant silver scales marred with a blue sticky liquid. One brilliant blue eye met mine, swirling frantically.
Was this the "whelp" the mages had been discussing?
I stepped closer, examining a set of gashes across their body. To their left was a small frill shaped fin, the same color as the creature's body.
I gagged, imagining how it would have hurt to be removed.
Who would do something like this? I wanted to go back and stab the rod into that mage's calf again, then somewhere more tender … like his cock!
Forsaken Secrets: A slow-burn new adult fantasy romance (Isle of the Forsaken Book 1) Page 12
