Reality's Plaything 4: Savants Ascendant
Page 43
The ascendant of forces raised her arm, and the gem started to glow brighter.
Behind them near the water, Bannor felt a sudden twisting of threads. He turned to look as a huge humanoid creature with black scaly skin flared into being. It looked something like a man but had a canine’s head, and carried a massive battlestaff made of glossy black stone topped with a skull. Bannor’s guts twisted and he felt the taint of something powerfully evil. This thing was an avatar!
“Wren Kergatha!” the creature boomed. “Finally, you show yourself. Turn and face Xygon of Set!”
She didn’t turn around, in fact she barely reacted. Attention still on the device she growled. “Kiss off, Peon, we’re busy.”
“You dare!” Xygon blared. He raised a dagger. “You will feel the kiss of my master’s—”
The weapon exploded in his hand.
He staggered back. “Who did that?” His head jerked left and right. “Tricks will not avail you!” He lowered his staff. “Now you will—”
The staff snapped in half, the pieces bursting into fragments of molten smoking rock that dribbled in the sand.
The avatar glared around the group. “Fools. You only delay the inevitable!”
“Damn, Wren,” Loric moaned with hand over his face. “You’ve killed so many of Set’s avatars he’s down to recruiting imbeciles.”
“I heard that!” Xygon snarled, pointing a finger. “Feel the folly of insulting the great Xygon!”
He gestured to the sky. The atmosphere darkened and clouds began swirling overhead.
“Is this guy for real?” Radian asked.
“He obviously hasn’t been keeping up with current events,” Desiray remarked with a shake of her head.
“That’s a pretty good conjuration he’s got going there,” Cassandra commented studying the sky. “Tenth order abyssal summoning. Nice atmospheric theatrics. He’s done his homework.”
“Isn’t anybody concerned?” Janai said clutching Daena’s arm. “That’s an avatar!”
“Jan, Idun is a pantheon lady,” Sarai said.
“Oh, right,” her face reddened. “I just forget because she’s so nice.”
Idun raised an eyebrow. She raised a finger and started to point at Xygon. “Shall I?”
“No, wait,” Ziedra hushed, lowering Idun’s hand and grinning. “Let’s see what he does.”
Lightning crashed down all around them. Where each bolt struck down, a monstrous six-armed creature with red skin and a dragonhead appeared. Each demon was easily half the size of a rhinotaur with armor plates on their bodies thicker than Bannor’s fist. Scaly arms ended in massive clawed hands big enough to wrap around a barrel. The charnel smell of death flooded over the beach.
Over twenty of the creatures roared and beat their chests.
“Now!” Xygon blared. “Kill—!”
Ziedra rolled her eyes and made a dismissing gesture. “Scythe of oblivion.”
It was as if the demons were bubbles of soap and someone pricked them with a pin. In order around the circle the demons each imploded like a squashed fruit, grisly remains bursting into blue flame and vanishing.
“Oooh, nicely done,” Idun lauded.
The canine-headed avatar’s red glowing eyes widened and its fanged mouth hung open.
“Somebody just get rid of him,” Wren said with a sigh. “I can’t concentrate with all that yelling.”
“Xydumb—” Idun yelled.
“That’s Xygon!” the avatar bellowed.
“Whatever,” the pantheon lady said. “Just call Set. Bring him here. Don’t even bother to manifest. Then, we’ll just kill you and him and save a little time.”
“Errr,” Xygon looked around. “Well…”
Idun put hands on hips. “Can’t summon him?”
“Of course I can!” Xygon bristled. “I don’t need his help to defeat the likes of you!”
“Can’t manifest either, huh?”
“Well…” he toed the sand.
Idun rocked her head back. “Oh please.” She flicked at hand at the avatar. Everyone winced as the creature exploded in a burst of blood, smoke, and broken bones. “Come back when you’re a threat.” The goddess shook her head. “Set should slit his own throat for even sucorrunding such an embarrassment.”
“It was kinda funny,” Azir said. “In a sad way…”
Wren concentrated on the key again, the light from the amber jewel growing gradually brighter until a lance of light shrieked out and hit the base of the cliff. The ground rumbled as gold, red, and blue sparks churned in a growing whirlpool of light.
Tongues of flame erupted upward out of the surface, resolving into two gigantic upraised wings. A sound so loud it made the cliff shudder blasted across the landscape. Then in a plume of fire and molten lava an enormous winged bird appeared.
Bannor reeled back, putting Sarai behind him as the heat from the creature rushed over the group and the monster soared into the sky above them and wheeled around. Its bright feathers lit up the entire beach and illuminated the cliff side. Even colossal Tymoril and formidable Kegari would be small compared to this titanic creature.
“A phoenix!” Corim breathed. “I never thought I would ever see one. It’s incredible!”
The phoenix hovered above them, shield-sized dark eyes flashing as it stared down. It slowly lowered itself until Bannor could hear the crackling of flames around the creature’s mammoth body.
Wren drew a breath. “Sentinel of Prime, child of fire, light of rebirth,” she spoke the words in a halting rhythm as if reciting from a page or memory. “Grant me the way, open thy path and be at peace.”
The phoenix dipped its head, massive beak clicking with the sound of logs smashing together.
The giant creature dropped to the ground with a boom, and a golden light spread down its form. With its wing tips, it drew a circular arc, where the tongues of fire went they left a white cut in the air. Rays of light spilled from the slashes in the ether, accompanied by a gust of air that stirred clothing and caused hair to flutter. The light around the phoenix changed color and the atmosphere pulsed and flexed as though they were seeing the creature through a giant sphere of water. In a crack of thunder, the creature folded out of sight leaving what looked like an opening leading into a tunnel.
“Step lively, it doesn’t stay open long,” Wren said gesturing everyone to follow as she ran forward and hopped in.
“That was frellin wizard!” Daena breathed, pulling Janai along behind her and leaping in.
Bannor took Sarai’s hand and together they stepped into the portal. As they crossed the threshold, a tingle shot across the surface of his skin as though he was splashed with icy water. There was a twisting and sense of taking an infinitely long step.
The two of them emerged from what appeared like a solid wall, landing with a gentle thump as if they had stepped down off a tall stair. Bannor pulled Sarai down the long hexagonal corridor to make room for the others appearing behind them.
In ones, twos, and threes the nineteen-member team crossed into the ancient smelling passage. Loric came through last, landing with a thump. Instants later, the glossy, mirror-like surface of the portal dwindled to a pinpoint and vanished.
Bannor stared down the long passage. The walls slanted away from the floor to either side then angled up to an apex at the ceiling. The stone had a shiny reflective sheen that made distorted reflections. Every thirty paces or so a thick ridge etched with gold runes acted like a support.
“So this is it, Wren?” Cassandra said. “That place you came without me?”
Hands on hips, Wren glanced back from the head of the group. “Yup.” She sniffed, and her brow furrowed. “Feels different.”
Rubbing her arms, Desiray glanced around. “Yeah, it does.”
“Perhaps it is because you locked it,” Euriel offered, running her hand along the smooth stone.
&
nbsp; “There are definitely some high order warp screens in place,” Marna remarked.
“He’ll probably meet us in the creation lab where Des and I first met him.” She looked around. “I probably don’t need to say this, but try not to touch anything. This is only the second time I’ve been here. Make sure you keep one of the savants near you just in case.”
“Creation lab?” Cassandra said with a raised eyebrow and grin.
Wren shook her head. “You’ll see plenty of stuff that will amaze you.”
“She’s not kidding,” Desiray said.
The gold mage clapped her hands together and rubbed them together. “Lead on! Lead on!”
Wren strode forward with Idun at her shoulder.
As the blonde woman walked forward, the segments of the corridor lit up around her. Behind them as the last members of the group left each segment the area went dark again.
Bannor glanced back to Octavia, the mecha physician. The cool red-haired female studied everything with intense interest, walking along next to Marna her arm hooked through the elder Kriar’s elbow.
“You can feel the age in these walls,” Sarai said leaning close. “How does it feel to be here? This place is where your ancestors first lived.”
“I don’t know. Part of me feels like I’m coming home… there’s another part that just feels…threatened.”
Wren looked back from the head of the party. “Yeah, that’s exactly how I felt—there’s still a little of that feeling left.”
They walked for a long ways, came to an intersection and turned right.
“What’s with the long passage and no doors?” Daena asked.
Wren waved a hand. “I didn’t design it. I won’t tell you the pain Des and I went through just finding the bloody door in.”
“You mean you don’t know where the front door is,” Marna said.
“That too. So, bear with me, it’s a little bit of a hike yet.”
It was over three hundred steps from the intersection before the corridor turned. Wren walked down about a hundred steps and stopped. She looked down at the floor.
“Huh, I guess something cleans up in here,” she looked to Desiray. “Your revealing sand isn’t there anymore.”
She stepped toward the wall and vanished.
“Whoa,” Daena said.
Idun frowned at the wall. “A very sophisticated illusion. I cannot see through it.”
Wren’s arm extended out of the wall to Idun. “Step carefully.” The goddess took Wren’s hand and disappeared through the wall. “I’ll pull you all in one at time. Just watch your step and don’t move fast. There are security things in here that will zap you.”
Bannor and Sarai waited as Wren lead Daena and Janai through, then Ziedra and Radian. With his arm around Sarai’s waist he took Wren’s hand and pushed into the solid appearing wall. Where the surface began there was something that felt vaguely wet that tingled as it passed over his skin.
The team bunched up on the other side of the illusion. The passage had a different feel now. Powerful threads of energy flickered in the walls.
“Okay move slow,” Wren said. “I never did figure out why it zapped me the first time.”
“Those black spheres overhead are the security nodes, yes?” Marna asked.
“Right,” Wren said. “They open up, something sticks out, and pow! So, keep an eye on them.”
Nothing untoward happened as the blonde savant escorted them into a rectangular chamber that looked like some form of common area. Passages headed off in two directions. Counters of a slate-like material lined two walls. Cabinets for storage lay directly beneath them. Though the shape was unusually rounded, there were two of what the first ones must have used for couches. Tall cylinders of what looked like glass stood in opposite corners, and flecks of green light spiraled slowly inside.
Cassandra was humming a little tune. “Oh I so want to pinch you two, coming here without me. This is beyond enormous. Nothing was known about the first ones and here you have a whole intact living area.”
Wren pointed to a cabinet where what looked like black scraps of cloth hung. “You want one of their symbiotes? There’s three more.”
“Symbiotes?” Daena repeated.
“Remember that black thing you were dressed in right after you merged with Hella?”
“Yeah, it was misery getting out of that thing, I remember you had to do something to get it to come off.”
“You have to scare them off,” Ziedra said. “I had to teach miss wise-arse there how to do it.” She winked at Wren.
The Kel’Varan shot a wounded look at her.
“Li, do you know what are in those green cases?” Vanidaar asked.
“No clue,” she responded.
“Something alive,” Marna remarked, looking at it.
“Yes, I thought as much,” the red-haired mage said. “It is not life-force that I would associate with something sentient though.”
“They are control systems,” Octavia said. “Or what serves the same purpose—probably for the security devices. These creatures use an amalgam of techniques, what I can only call pseudo-artifices.”
“This way,” Wren said, taking one of the archways out of the chamber. The passage became a round tube. The walls had a crystalline appearance, the surface shimmering with light and shadow as if they were underwater.
Cassandra reached a finger toward it.
“Cass…” Loric growled.
The gold mage pulled her hand away with a sheepish frown. “Just curious.”
“I know you can breathe water, but I don’t relish having to go out and get you if you get sucked in.”
“It does have the appearance of a transition membrane,” Marna said. “It’s an awfully big interface though.”
“It’s a big place,” Wren said over her shoulder.
“What’s a ‘transition membrane’?” Daena asked.
“A way to go in and out of place that’s underwater,” Cassandra explained. “Usually only the very advanced non-magical cultures have them though. There are some magical equivalents.”
“How did we get under water?”
“You’ll see,” the Kel’Varan said, still moving forward.
After about a hundred paces the crystal passage ended, giving way to a grayish material that looked like cloth. As they moved, Bannor began to feel a pulsing. It seemed to make his bones vibrate.
“Does anyone else feel that?” he asked.
“We’re getting close,” Wren said stopping at a hexagonal depression in the wall. She raised her hand upon which she still wore Gaea’s key.
Bannor saw different colors flash in the jewel of the device. The section slid inward with a hiss and ground aside. Beyond was a chamber some hundred paces on a side and toward the center it stair-stepped down. The air that rolled in their face was cold and smelled like it did after a thunderstorm.
“Watch your footing,” Wren said stepping in. “The floor is kind of bouncy.”
As they moved in, Bannor glanced around feeling uneasy. There was so much power in here, primordial threads ran through everything. The walls had a jade color and glistened as though wet. Cylinders like the ones they saw in the entry area lined one entire wall. In that same area, stood waist high pallets with metal tops.
“This is it, the creation lab,” the Kel’Varan said. She pointed to a doorway on the far side of the chamber. “Last we were here, Hyperion was in that—”
The door indicated slid open and a tremendously burly humanoid male swayed out. The creature wore a white bodysuit like those used by the Kriar. The tight fitting cloth only called attention to the ancient’s truly massive build. It was nearly as wide as it was tall, with arms and legs like bridge supports. Its bald head pivoted on a neck thicker than Bannor’s thigh, glowing green eyes focused their direction and narrowed.
“At least he has clothes on now,” Desiray said. “If you can call th
at thing clothes.”
The ancient stomped forward across the chamber and stopped in front of Wren. A thought voice so powerful it seemed to rattle Bannor’s skull echoed in his mind.
* * *
Preview of Gaea’s Legacy: Infinity Annihilator
Making a Goddess
« ^ »
…“Loric, are you ready?”
He frowned. He chanted a few words and his body left the ground and floated up to where he was within arm’s reach of Gaea’s essence cage. With a rasp, he drew Mon’istiaga out of its magically concealed case. The blade of the destroyer sparked and flared with reddish light, the material shimmering like the surface of water illuminated by a bright sun.
“Ready,” the elder said.
Below they had backed well away from the case. Bannor’s heart was thumping. They were going to witness something truly unique.
“When you strike,” Gaea said. “I would get back a good distance.” There was a pause. “I am prepared. Go, when you are ready.”
Loric looked down to Ziedra. “Ready Zee?”
“Yes,” the ascendant of magic said, leaning on her gold husband.
“Ready Octavia?”
“I am prepared.”
“Okay, here we go.”
Loric gestured and a sheen of golden light swelled around his limbs, then another dimmer light seemed to fold around that, and then a series of dimmer illuminations layered themselves overtop those. After that was done, he landed on the upper side of the globe, and took hold of the thick support that held it in place and braced himself. He took a couple of test swings, getting the path he wanted. Bannor noticed he was bracing his feet not only to get leverage to make the attack but lunge away from the construct as well.