“Go away,” I moaned, raising a hand to my painfully throbbing temple. Another round of sickness hit me, and I barely had time to roll onto one arm to vomit before I choked on it. I wiped the cold sweat from my brow and curled into a fetal position. “Why are you doing this to me?”
Me? I’m not doing anything, she pouted indignantly, cold detachment entering her voice once again. If anything, you should be thanking me. I warned you that this was coming, didn’t I? You’d be a lot worse off than just that hand without me.
“Cut the bullshit,” I spat. I held both hands over my eyes to block out the dim light of the plaza that only served to exacerbate my pounding head. “What good was a warning for all of that? It’s not like I—” I cut myself off as my brain finally processed everything she had said. “My hand?” I cracked open an eye and extended my sword hand. While the foreign energy had dissipated, the black lines that had with it had not; dark, jagged scars still covered my fingers and palm, fading away just as they reached my wrist.
Even if you didn’t understand my warning, some part of your subconscious did. The only reason you still exist is the constant healing spell you channeled during your little...episode. Without that, you’d be a burnt-out husk by now. Her voice paused as I continued to stare at the disfiguring lines wound around my hand. What, you don’t like it? I think it looks cool. She let out a cruel laugh. Besides, those marks are a good thing. Now you’ll never forget what you are, no matter how hard your brain tries to convince you otherwise.
“No…” I whispered, desperate to deny the obvious truth, “that’s not who I am.” The world spun before my eyes, so I shut them tightly and pulled myself into a tighter ball. I pushed whatever dregs of mana I had left within me out into a circulating pattern, and my withdrawal symptoms lessened slightly. “Just...leave me, please. I need to be alone.”
Oh, stop it with all the self pity. It’s pathetic. The harsh response took me by surprise. You still have work to do. Get up, wipe the bile off your chin, and finish what you started.
I didn’t trust the motivations of Amaya’s voice, but our goals shared a common thread: I had to get up and help Lia. It didn’t matter what greater forces were at play, or how much pain I felt as I rolled up onto my knees; I had to make sure Lia and Val were okay. They were fighting on my orders, to destroy my enemy, and I wasn’t. It was unacceptable. I grabbed my sword and pushed the tip down into the stone with both hands, using the leverage to climb unsteadily to my feet.
Look at you, already up and walking around! Bravo. I growled wordlessly as she continued to mock me on my slow trip across the plaza. Maybe by the time you get inside, you’ll even be able to stand without your cane? As long as THEY don’t know you’re at the brink of collapse, you can still pretend to be the smooth-talking hero you always impersonate.
“Unless you have any more helpful tips,” I grunted with some effort, “you’re free to shut up anytime. Preferably now.”
Oh, I wouldn’t want to distract you from your work. But remember one thing, Elden. Her voice grew to a thunderous boom all at once. Just like the scars on your hand, I’m part of you. No matter where you go or what you do, I’ll be watching you.
As quickly as it had arrived, Amaya’s voice faded from my head, leaving me in the silence of the empty plaza. My staggering path to the long stone staircase brought me through a large pool of blood, still oozing its way through the cracks of the pavilion. A gentle breeze blew by, carrying with it large flecks of black ash that stuck to every bloody stone and filled my nose with the smell of smoke. I glanced down at my blackened hand and felt a twinge of revulsion rise in my gut, but I pushed it away; I didn’t have time to process the events that had transpired behind me.
When I reached the statehouse stairs, I took a deep breath and sheathed my sword. One careful step at a time, I made my way up to the large double doors at the top. “I’m not breaking any more promises,” I whispered under my breath. “I’ll find you again, before it’s over.”
***
14. I DID SOMETHING RIGHT
The statehouse door swung open silently to reveal a dark, abandoned lobby. I poked my head inside to scan the immediate area and, finding nothing out of the ordinary, made my way inside. Four hallways extended out into darkness around me; one each to my left and right, and two more in parallel leading straight back on each side of the large wooden welcome desk. Lush drapes, beautiful tapestries, and finely crafted furniture would have made the entryway an impressive sight to behold if not for the ransacking; while it was obvious the office was no longer functioning as intended from the stacks of paper scattered across the floor covered in dirt and boot prints, there were also clear signs of the current military occupation. Tables were flipped over to create guard posts at various points along the hallways, and a random assortment of military gear was strewn across the front desk.
As I walked across the empty lobby, my boots echoed loudly off the tile floors, accentuating how quiet the room was. Though I was in no shape for another fight, the lack of guards at the entrance bothered me. If the Strategist was aptly named, he would never have left the front doors to his base of operations unguarded, which meant the guards had recently moved somewhere else. As I hadn’t seen any reinforcements enter the plaza via the statehouse doors, it could only mean one thing: they had been called deeper into the building. Lia.
Before deciding on a hallway at random, I instinctively reached out with Detection to map my path forward. The mana rushed down my legs and spread out across the room, but it had barely traveled forty feet out before it stopped abruptly. My headache returned in full force, and I took a staggered step forward as I rubbed my temples. I’m really that low, huh? With a sigh, I pulled the energy back into my body and sent it back to work maintaining my already fragile physical state. Though I had only discovered the Detection ability little more than a month prior, I had clearly grown dependent on it already, much to my chagrin.
I decided on one of the two parallel halls leading straight back into the building and set off in search of Lia and Val. Due to a lack of both windows and lanterns, my path faded quickly into complete darkness, and I had to once again reassign my mana into a small ring of Detection just to keep myself from tripping on clutter. At my significantly slowed pace, it felt as though I traveled through the black hall for hours until my eyes finally saw light again. Off in the distance, a single lantern bravely fought off the shadows around it, but based on the weakness of the flickering light, it was about to burn out.
As I approached, the source of the flame’s distress came into focus: an oil lamp was lying on its side, with the glass panels surrounding it shattered. I reached down and righted the metal frame, and the fire sputtered back up to full strength, revealing another detail: The lantern’s apparent owner, a young man with messy brown hair dressed in Unbound gear, was sprawled out against the far wall with his neck snapped sideways at a grotesque angle. A thin, bloody crater running along the right side of his head was the only visible wound; it had been an instant death from a single, blunt force blow.
I held the lantern out and scanned my surroundings. The hallway branched off to the left and right a few feet ahead of me, leaving me with yet another random choice in my exploration. When I peeked around the corner, however, my decision was made for me; two more bodies came into view down the right corridor, collapsed on top of one another. Carefully, I moved to the pile and flipped the top corpse over with my boot to more closely inspect their injuries. Both men had multiple stab wounds, and the top guard was missing most of his left forearm, chopped just below the elbow with one clean cut.
The bodies continued to appear in a similar fashion as I crept down the passage, each one adding another clue as to what had happened during my fight outside. My pace increased at the sight of each crushed skull and bloodied wall in hopes that they would eventually lead me to my hale and hearty companions. The path of destruction through the statehouse became more erratic as I moved on, turning down various ha
llways and passing through small office rooms to avoid what looked like entrenched guard positions, which now stood empty.
A pool of blood partially obscured by a flipped conference table caught my attention as I followed the trail through a small meeting hall. There were no bodies anywhere inside the room, and I couldn’t find a single drop leading to or from the puddle. My mind began to make stories of what had transpired, each more torturous than the last; I could see Lia, a crossbow bolt protruding from her gut, being carried away by Val while writing in agony the whole way. I shook my head in an attempt to banish the scene from my mind and moved towards the open hall door.
My body froze in the doorway as I picked up the first sound I had heard since I entered the building: running feet, coming towards me. I slipped back into the room and pressed myself flat against the wall beside the door, inverting my lantern to extinguish the flame. They don’t know you’re here. Just wait it out. The scuff of leather against polished stone pounded closer and closer as I tried to quiet my breathing, and I wrapped my hand around the grip of my sword. They have no reason to come into the room. They’ll run right by.
There was a loud squeak as my approaching foe turned hard and dove into the room, barely a shadow in the already pitch black space. Before I had a chance to react, my attacker rammed me back into the wall with a headlong tackle. The blow knocked the air from my lungs, and stars danced before my eyes as I tried weakly to slip out from my pinned position. A hand reached up from the darkness and grabbed a fistful of my hair, then yanked my head forward. As I gasped for air, the familiar scent of mint filled my nose before the shadow’s lips pressed roughly against mine.
All of my tensed muscles relaxed, although it took my frazzled brain an extra second to finish processing all of the information. I returned Lia’s kiss, wrapping her tightly in my arms as overwhelming relief washed over me. All of the weight I had carried with me through the dark corridor maze dissolved away, and I smiled against her lips. “Ow,” I chuckled quietly when we finally broke apart.
She looked up at me with a mixture of emotions impossible to read through the darkness. A single, laughing sob escaped her lips before she pulled me in for another kiss full of the passion of a love thought lost. “You’re okay,” she finally managed as she pushed her forehead against my chest. “Thank the Primes you’re okay.”
“Of course I am. I promised I’d find you again,” I said softly, brushing my fingers through her hair. “Though I guess you found me instead. I say it still counts.”
“Sure,” she said with a small laugh. She took a few steps back to look me over. “What happened out there, Lux? I hardly recognized you when you showed up at the edge of my Detection. Your mana is usually so bright that it sort of hurts to look at, but there’s...almost nothing there now.”
I pushed off from the wall and put my good hand on her shoulder. “That’s a story for when we’re not in a hornets’ nest. For now, there’s nobody out there coming after us, and I’m tired.”
She eyed me suspiciously. “Are you sure you’re alright?”
“I’d rather avoid a fight, if I can, but I’ve got enough left in me to help,” I said confidently, standing a bit straighter to sell the idea. “Enough about me. Where’s Val? Did you find the Conduit?”
“Val’s at the door to the Council chambers,” she answered. “I know that the Strategist and the General are in there, along with some other guards, but...I haven’t seen anyone that might be the Conduit yet.”
I pursed my lips and nodded. “Wherever they are, the Strategist will know. Let’s go ask him.”
Lia led the way out the door and back into the hallway. “It’s only a few halls down this way, and then we’ll—” Her head snapped to the side and stared directly into the wall. “There are more guards heading towards Val.” Without another word, we both broke out into a sprint down the dark corridor. Though I felt better as more time passed since the fight in the plaza, every footfall still sent a shockwave through my body that ached in every joint and muscle.
As we sped around a sharp corner, the sound of metal impacting metal pealed out from somewhere ahead of us. I dropped my head and pushed my muscles harder, panting loudly from the effort. Lia increased her speed to match mine, clearly having held back to ensure I didn’t fall behind in my impaired state. Our goal came into view just ahead; light spilled into our hallway around a ninety-degree turn, and the sounds of combat echoed close by.
My momentum sent me skidding across the polished stone floor into the light of the next hallway as I followed Lia around the final corner. There was a brilliant rainbow flash as Val’s shield twirled around her wrist and extended out to its full length, catching an Unbound soldier under the jaw with a sickening snap. Without a pause, she bent back and heaved the full length of the shield over her head in a dazzling crescent down onto the skull of the last soldier who stood behind her, who crumpled without a sound. With a single pump of her arm, the greatshield slid up the length of her arm and clicked itself back into a centered position.
I bounced off of the wall at the far side of the hall and spun awkwardly to keep my balance. Val turned to us with her arm pulled back in a ready position, her face set in the familiar scowl of life-or-death combat. Her jaw dropped in tandem with her shield when she recognized us, and she ran to meet us on our approach. She slipped past Lia without acknowledgement and stood before me silently.
“Hey, Val,” I said, panting lightly, “thanks for waiting for—”
My thought was interrupted as she stepped forward and hugged me tightly against her chest, wrapping her shield-covered arm around me. I had the odd feeling that I was being cocooned as her shield covered my back and my chin rested on her armored shoulder. My eyes opened wide with shock as I stood motionless, confused as to whether I should return the gesture or not. Before I could decide, she pulled away and moved back a few arms lengths, looking down at my feet as she spoke. “Lux. I did not think...I would see you again.”
I caught Lia watching the display with an arched eyebrow out of the corner of my eye, and I quickly took a step and patted Val on the shoulder in an effort to dispel the uncomfortable aura. “And yet, here I am.” I scanned past her down the hallway towards the large wooden double doors and the large pile of bodies around it. “It looks like we’ll each have a story to tell when we’re not...” I motioned around in a vague circle with my good hand, “...finishing up business.”
Val nodded, and the three of us moved back to the Council chamber doors. “They have no doubt readied an ambush for us on the opposite side,” Val whispered, gesturing to each wall. “I would guess the door is barricaded as well.”
I turned to Lia and found her with her eyes closed, breathing deeply as she focused on her mana. “The door is secured with a big metal crossbar. Four men are watching it with crossbows, two on each side behind some benches. The General and the Strategist are at the back of the room behind the councilors’ bench. The lady in white robes from the speech is there too.” Her brow furrowed for a moment before her eyes popped open and met mine with concern. “Is she...a wizard?”
“She’s definitely trained to use magic,” I answered quietly. “Val, do you have any experience fighting magic users?”
She nodded. “I have countermeasures for most traditional forms of combat magic.”
“Alright then.” I took a deep breath and readied myself for the imminent danger ahead of us. “Lia will break the crossbar, which will let Val kick open the doors. The guards will take their shots, which Val will block, and then we’ll move in. Lia takes care of the guards on the right, Val goes left. When they’re taken care of, we can push into the center of the room behind Val’s shield.”
“Wait,” Lia cut in, “I’ll break the crossbar?”
“That’s right,” I answered. “Val, does that plan work for you?”
Val gave me an affirmative nod, then moved to her place at the center of the doors. “No, wait,” Lia continued to protest, “I’ve never d
one that before. I don’t know how to do it.”
“You’ll do great,” I whispered, moving behind her to guide her gently into place behind Val. “I’ll help you, I promise. You just have to trust me.” Looking between my two companions, I felt a sudden surge of confidence. I have a team again. “Are we ready?”
Val turned her head back to us. “Ready,” she said, her body sinking into a low stance with her shield held out before her.
Lia looked up at me in distress. “I’m not sure…”
I placed my hands gently on her shoulders and leaned down to whisper in her ear. “You are the strongest person out of the three of us right now. You can absolutely do this.” My remaining mana flowed down through my fingertips and across the surface of her body. “Imagine that the crossbar is your sword, and you’re going to suffuse it with energy the same way you’ve done a thousand times.”
There was a tingle in my fingertips as her mana began to move, and I followed it out through the doors to the metal beam that secured them closed. “Focus on the metal in your mind. Look at every fold, every crack, every imperfection in its creation: those are the weaknesses you can exploit. Picture what you want to happen, and then say the word.” With a soft breath of exertion, I closed my eyes and tried to impart my memories of using the spell onto her.
“Shatter,” she intoned under her breath. There was a quiet moment of hesitation where I assumed the spell had failed, but the silence was broken by a jarring explosion that rocked the heavy wooden door on its hinges. Lia turned to look at me excitedly, but I placed a firm hand on her shoulder and shoved her down as Val reared back and kicked the door open. From somewhere inside the room a chorus of crossbows whirred angrily, and I heard a bolt swish past my face.
Restart Again: Volume 2 Page 27
