Crystalline Chaos

by Gabriela Voelske

  Drake threw Ciel a worried look, his friend appeared rather traumatised at the edge of the campfire. Amnur tried to keep himself calm, however much resentment he held for his family, Ciel had not done anything worth damning, not yet anyway.

  “What happened out there anyway?” Crono spoke up from behind them, turning the subject of the conversation; it came as a welcome relief for Ciel, who could see Amnur’s distaste for his blood relations across his face.

  They spent the next half hour explaining the fight and answering all the questions regarding the strange creatures; Ferdan even spoke up and mentioned the strange immunity to non-physical magic, a fact that worried Amnur greatly. The tension lightened as the conversation continued, only to be replaced with anxiety as Amnur relayed his findings in the town of Wintergate. News that Lauri had potentially pulled herself out of the situation perked up Ferdan, though it had confirmed the others were indeed dead.

  As they talked, the absent members of Linlake started to return, bringing a menagerie of items with them. Although it was strange, Crono offered for them to stay for something to eat, with Sakura ensuring them that it wouldn’t be poisoned. It might, however, be rather different to their usual tastes. They hesitantly accepted the offer; despite what had happened earlier, the demons were friendly to them.

  Amnur had left after the conversation to help his daughter over to one of the houses in order to change her clothing, as her current attire was bloodied and torn from the fight.

  Not long after they left, Sakura was now clad in a fresh set of body fitting leathers and it showed off her slender form beautifully. Ciel ended up finding himself blushing, which he quickly hid. Still exhausted, she had to lean on her father for support and she was limping slightly; the only problem with standard magical healing was that the mind was not as quick at picking up on its effects. It still believed the leg to be wounded, thus responding with pain as she bore weight onto it.

  The day progressed quietly, Amnur remained silent while sat next to her. Even without words, they knew it was a warning. As the background chatter filled the air, something attracted the mages attention to the north-east, back towards the Isthmus. The others turned and looked but could see nothing, curious as to what had drawn their attention. A bright flash of light flew through the air, originating from the Commons and heading off into the distance but it appeared to do nothing. Ferdan and Amnur, however, were very apprehensive. Where the bolt had travelled through the air, the aetherial mana had become warped; this was not a natural occurrence.

  Low rumbling became audible in the air, garnering worried looks from those present. Rumbling turned rapidly to the sound of the ground creaking and breaking; the demons huddled in close together, weapons ready, looking out for an opponent.

  The horizon twisted in a demented way as massive crystalline structures rent the ground apart and burst into the sky, their perverted aura twisting the clouds into vicious black abominations that writhed with corrupted mana. Thick waves of smothering cloud expanded out from the spires, heading in the direction of the waiting demons.

  The village stood dumbstruck, unable to comprehend what they were seeing. Something was twisting the very mana of the isles to its whim, perverting it so despicably from its pure nature.

  Something very dangerous, that fact was clear.

  Chapter 6: Creeping Chaos

  Nearly a week after the emergence of the crystalline spires, the state of the swamp had started to rapidly decline and the twisted mana that spilt out had welled up into a colossal blanket of cloud that extended as far as anyone could see. Small flecks of snow had begun to fall as the temperature continued to drop; they knew it would not be long until it worsened. Their supplies would not survive such a brutal storm, as the swampland would soon yield its resources to a thick covering of snow. So far no further attacks by the unknown creatures had been reported. A temporary saving grace at best, it had given the West time to shore up its defences.

  Messages were constantly being relayed between the stranded towns, with offers of sanctuary being passed to the human towns for them to bolster the defences of the swamp settlements. They would last better actively working together, the human settlements were out in the open, something that could be easily exploited. The boggy swamps offered some protection, although evidently some of the creatures could actively utilise the bog themselves, it was assumed more were unable use the bog than could.

  It became agreed upon that the humans would join up with the three demon villages, however, the problem arose of actually getting their populations over to the destination. Moving a lot of civilians would prove difficult. If they were attacked they would be slaughtered, losing the whole population of the town they were trying to save. Knowing that the weather was not going to become any better began to force their hand; decreased visibility, increasingly treacherous terrain and bitter winds were not conditions they wished to put themselves through.

  Eventually, they had decided for themselves to leave when the snows came in heavier; the treks towards the demon villages had been rather uneventful, save for a few snow-covered bog incidents. Why it was so uneventful was a worry, however, was whatever that was controlling the whole thing just waiting for them to be all gathered together before choosing to decimate them all? Or perhaps, did it wish to play games with their lives, enjoying the panic and suffering that was going to occur if it went on for a long period of time?

  Ferdan wished he knew, for the last few days, he had been unsuccessfully trying to contact the Magi Council. Amnur offered to help channel the small communication pendant with mana, in an attempt to provide it with enough power to reach the other side. After a few more failed attempts Ferdan had conceded to his offer; the two of them tried together for a while but still obtained nothing. It had, however, felt to be going further than it had when he tried by himself.

  “That crystalline mass must be blocking it, creating some form of barrier,” Amnur noted, drawing a resigned sigh from Ferdan. The one he felt he needed the help of now was the Magi Council; it sounded impossible that such an event like this had not been seen before, even if it was on a much smaller scale. “You felt it go further, though, so I would guess that it’s not impenetrable.”

  The demon was deep in thought, it would require a massive effort to even punch a hole into the barrier, which then could just seal itself up again. Ferdan glanced over to him, picking up on what he was possibly suggesting but to what end? They still had nothing tangible to fight against. The creatures had no evident master yet, although the signs pointed to one existing. “How much do you know about chaos magic, pray tell?”

  Amnur’s question was almost rhetorical, the implications of his statement put Ferdan into a stunned silence. Chaos magic was a devastating element, comprised of pure disorder; it could be used to twist other elements into abominable versions of themselves and drive men to madness.

  It sounded like exactly what they had been observing over the last few weeks, Ferdan realised. “Short of the observations we’ve seen, do you have any other proof?” Ferdan enquired, as much as Amnur’s suggestion had made sense, the ramifications of such a potent chaos mage were not something he wished to think on.

  “I’ve been observing the sky at night. It glows a deep purple, sometimes changing to pink; the pattern changes wildly,” Amnur remarked, each element had a recognisable colour when used; purple and pink matched none of the other elements, it was the indicating factor of chaos elemental magic.

  “The Council put the only known chaos user to death a few years,” Ferdan responded vaguely, the acts were not common knowledge even within the Magi Council itself; if it became known that they routinely committed such a thing there would be an outcry, the process was hardly humane. The same fate he would be condemning Amnur and his daughter to; Ferdan could, however, suffer the same if he chose not to tell, insubordination was not taken lightly.

  “What if they didn’t die?” Amnur spoke after some deliberation. It was not a thought Ferd
an wanted to consider, if somehow he had survived that…

  He would resent everything, even possibly going as far as exact revenge on the ones who tried to take his life. The fact the creatures were resistant to magic supported the argument, what better way to make those who wronged him than to leave them to suffer a painful and terrifying death?

  Creating life from the ground up was nearly impossible, however, more so for the element of disorder; the creatures he was using had to be pulled from somewhere. “The origin of these creatures would be a good target to find more information about,” Ferdan said; if they could cut the supply from the source it would greatly aid them in future efforts. Finding out such information would be difficult, more so when the largest libraries existed on the other isle.

  Amnur was still deep in thought, trying to recall things he had read from his private collection. He had many old tomes, some of which Ferdan would raise an eyebrow at. Small, slow flaps of his wings indicated his frustration as he clenched his eyes shut, still reeling through the troves of information. His memory turned back to a roughly bound leather book; it was bulky, battered and written in a demon-tongue older than the one that was used in the present era. It contained details about many oddities, from the original angels to strange tales about monsters.

  “I recall something about a place referred as the Nether Plane.” Amnur’s mind had managed to recall those words, but nothing else regarding it. Ferdan regarded him curiously, another plane that could support life was an interesting titbit; judging by the strange body structures of the creatures combined with the overwhelming amount of mana that had been strewn into the world, the plane must be rife with aether, several times more concentrated than on Fyir. “The book in question is back in my house, which is unfortunately about half an hour’s walk from here.”

  It had been too good to be true to think the item they wanted was within arm’s reach, but the existence of such a tome was good news. “I will go fetch it, send someone after me if I’m not back within a few hours,” Amnur quickly remarked and set off in a westerly direction before Ferdan even had time to respond.

  * * *

  Soon after Amnur had left a fierce blizzard began to lash the swamp, causing demons and humans to go running towards their houses and temporary accommodation. Tents had been set up to house the human evacuees, built in the shelter of the huts upon hastily constructed wooden platforms to keep the bottoms dry. A few were still unaccounted for, mainly scouts and those who still braved the wilds for resources. Not long after the rest started to file in, shivering from being caught out in the sudden onset of cold, blasting winds.

  It had been a few hours and Ferdan was starting to worry, something that surprised him in a way. Sakura had just walked in from performing a scouting round and was looking rather dissatisfied with the weather. Her armour glistened with snow, as did her wings and hair. He pulled her aside for a second to relay his concerns to her, with the onset of this weather he knew Amnur had not been wearing anything thick when he had left. She was rather concerned, her body had been chilled thoroughly, though and ideally she needed to warm up first. Sakura knew, however, the longer she left her father outside the worse it would get; if he had been injured the cold would be continuing to sap his strength.

  Taking a strange furred cape from a hook on the wall, she brushed the snow off her body and tucked her wings in tight before dragging the cape over her shoulders. It tied together in many places, slowly dragging the warm cape over her wings, eventually covering them completely. Due to the stretched, thin membrane of a demon’s wing they were capable of losing heat very quickly, even as far as having the skin splitting into cracks if the conditions were bitter enough. Such a cover would keep her wings warm and protected but immobile; she would have to navigate without them for now.

  Sakura thanked Ferdan and rushed back out the door, startled demons watching her as she went.

  Already the snow had started to lie heavily, hiding the dangerous ground below. Although she knew the path towards her house well, the greatly reduced visibility was hindering her, limiting her ability to climb from tree to tree. She carefully moved across the ground, using the tree trunks to guide her way. Their bark was starting to become slippery, though, causing her to slip more than once and grind her sharp fingers into the trunk, trying to keep herself from falling.

  As she progressed, a strong feeling of being watched overcame her. Stopping still, she drew her blades, warily scanning the area around her. Nothing was visible but even a dark bodied creature could remain hidden during conditions like this; her hearing would have to make up the slack. Trees rustled violently in the constant assault of the blizzard, creating an environment of constant noise. She listened intently for a second, picking up on a shuffling sound coming towards her. The culprit was still not within sight, however.

  Quietly, two dark sets of claws grabbed onto a tree, as the creature peering its head from around a tree trunk. Five barbs lay set at the back of its head and its extended snout was covered in small pointed crystals which glowed pink-purple in colour. The creature almost appeared afraid of her, but in this case, she had been the prey; what suddenly made it change its mind? She had no intent to trust it, however, considering the attacks she had suffered previously. Two wings emerged from its hiding place; they were branched flat plates, it was dubious that it could even fly, without being able to support the creature’s weight. They remained staring at one another for a moment before Sakura ran forward, seizing the first move, driving her blades at the creature’s hands. As she dug the blades in she saw the creature flare its crystals, but nothing followed as it slipped back, separating one of the hands clean from its body. Seeing the lack of retaliation she pushed in again, aiming straight for the revealed head this time. It watched her come but did not move; it just emitted a short laugh as she came closer and closer, bearing down on its vulnerable head. Her hands gripped tightly on the hilts as she impaled the creature, through the face and cleanly through the neck, returning her blades to her side. She watched the creature collapse onto the floor, breaking into shards with a firm follow-up kick. Satisfied that the target was deceased, the demon shifted her direction, intent to carry on down the correct path.

  The tree in front of her suddenly warped and shot murky crystals into her skin, ripping her chest into holes through the thick leather. Pain seethed through her body, causing her to collapse to her knees, gripping at the shredded leather. It appeared a relatively petty attack for the creature to sacrifice itself over, it could have easily caught her more than once in a drawn out battle.

  Slowly, the burning faded to be replaced with a more consistent, stinging pain. She examined her wounds more closely; the skin had been punctured but the damage was less than the pain had led her to believe. Blood dripped down her front slowly; gradually enough that she would be able to continue what she was doing before it weakened her substantially. She sheathed her blades and carried on, keeping a keen eye out for any other unwelcomed guests.

  Not long after she arrived at the lone house and went up to the door, trying out the lock. Unsurprisingly it was open, her father had arrived this far. She let herself in, closing the door behind her. Although the house had not been warmed, it provided a welcome relief from the prevailing winds. It was oddly dark, however, if her father was around still Sakura would expect to find at least some lights flaring.

  “Is anyone there?” Sakura shouted to the darkness, listening to her voice echo through the closed walls. No one responded to her call, to her distress. Walking to the end of the corridor she rested her hand against the far door, watching as a familiar magical seal appeared and unravelled itself. Sakura could not use magic herself so Amnur had set the seal up to respond to her mana signature; all beings still possessed mana even if they are incapable of utilising it, in her case, it was because the mana levels in her blood were too low. It was something that had always puzzled Amnur, as her mother was also a mage she too should have possessed high levels of mana,
instead it was much lower than even a low standard.

  The door opened itself and revealed its contents; an expansive room stacked full of different books and symbols and a carved, angular table that sat in the middle of the room. Any worthy mage would have a similar table within his or her chambers; the item was most commonly used for enchantments or small scale magical experimentation, the deep runes carved into the wood or stone provided a stable base for such spells to function from.

  There was no sign of her father within the room, but on closer inspection, she did notice the book Ferdan had mentioned to her to be missing. Sakura knew that her father had already left if he was not present within this room, the question remained, however, of where he had wandered to on the trek back. She strode back out of the house, although it did now come over strange that he had not locked the main door if he had already left. Something came over peculiar to her, his departure from the house had appeared very rushed as if he had been driven away.

  Snowy winds still came on viscously, stinging her wounds and sapping the heat from her skin. She knew, however, that she would need to search around the outside of the house for anything that indicated Amnur’s current whereabouts. Abnormal marks on nearby trees attracted her attention so she decided to investigate with blades drawn; she knew not what sort of stunts the strange creatures could pull.

  Closer inspection told her that it was burn marks she was looking at, such a thing was the result of Amnur blasting something with spells as opposed to the opposite. Her father was pronounced in his mastery of the fiery element. For her to be seeing such a thing indicated her father had been in trouble, the burn marks were still fresh and slightly warm to touch. She followed the trail, running as fast as the cold ground would allow her, furiously blinking the freezing snow from her eyes.