by Marc Mulero
As soon as we try to make contact with the Imperion, she’s intercepted completely by a full squad of terrorists. Again, I think we are somehow the bait. Maybe there’s a tracker on me? Maybe someone isn’t being quite honest about their allegiance?
No. Everyone just risked their lives out there. I watched it happen. Rule that out. Next.
One thing didn’t make sense, though. Why did Seren leave first? Why wouldn’t his cronies be leading to wherever he was headed next? Unless he’s trying to retreat maybe?
He entered the code to open the main door of the shider - the widest and most open space within it – where outside trinkets panged against it, echoes ringing loudly within the hollow space.
The gravitas beads whirred to keep him steady as the shider abruptly shifted vertical for a hot second. “Oof.” He was woozy and wind burnt from suffering Mach speeds outside, and achy from being manhandled by Joodah, but had to look past it. The cockpit was in sight.
I don’t know why, but the cold trail of finding Proctor Wudon just rose in temperature in my mind. Maybe it’s just from seeing Kovella’s Quittance in full force again. Ugh, I remember the day he surrendered himself to them, brutal. But maybe it’s something more. Instinct, perhaps. Either way, if I’m right, the Dark esper wielder would be everything we needed now. I can’t face Seren alone.
He jogged up to the cockpit hatch and banged on it three times. He could hear a few gasps from the other side, some tentativeness, but eventually, steam blew out.
Chapter 41
A Sorcerer Beckons
“Eres! Holy!” Ren offered his hand to pull him up.
“Eres, thank the owins!” Ilfrid cheered. “How did you-”
“I’m fine, I’m fine. Long story.” Eres briefly glanced around at everyone and smiled. Even some of Spera’s soldiers made it, he thought to himself. And just before he could lock eyes with the Imperion, he looked past her, to the giant concave window. The ground outside had cracks throughout; the land was beige and barren. He knew this domain: The Scarred Lands. “Why the hell are we here?”
“Two reasons,” Spera said. “Two dangerous reasons. We have received word that Lasarius’ chambers have been infiltrated. Eres, we haven’t been broken into since the Sindus Guild of assassins made their point all of those years ago. This is bad. Very bad. Because apparently, I wasn’t the only target of terrorism, so this could be a combined effort with other groups. But we don’t have enough of the facts yet. To make matters worse, my role in all of this is now thrown into the spotlight.”
She held a holographic device up to her face and squinted while a message played. “The strangest part is that Lasarius has ordered Faction forces to stand down. Perhaps they got hold of a hostage. I don’t know.”
“What do we know of the intruders?” Eres peered at her, and then at the others who all seemed to be caught up already.
“I feel an intense presence of Reach.” Vindom’s brow tensed, crow’s feet lining his eyes. “Neither I nor Orchastumanu can identify who it’s coming from. The chambers are completely cutoff and it doesn’t help that we’re in the middle of barren lands. It’s like being blind, deaf and dumb in our Sindah connection.”
“A prime reason for a Tech based administration to hold headquarters here, wouldn’t you say?” Spera almost sounded annoyed at the idea. “As if the nature of Reach is evil to our society. Hmph, I’ll never understand such agendas. Those who have the gift should be praised.”
“It’s strange to hear an Eplon talk in such a way,” Eres said.
Ren hooted. “Spera Noe Donnus is no ordinary Eplon, my good Dawn.”
“I can see that! What is the other dangerous reason you mentioned, Greatness?” Eres urged.
“Just look ahead.” Ilfrid pointed. “It seems Seren Night is on a straight path for the chambers.”
“What about anti-air defenses? Isn’t he approaching the perimeter?”
“I see you are no ordinary young Dawn either, are you?” Spera looked surprised that he knew of such protocols.
“I can assure you he is not,” Proctor Ren confirmed.
“Lasarius has ordered his defense system be shut down. I can’t make sense of that either. I’m starting to think that all of my rogue missions these past two years were for nothing. Who am I chasing, really?”
“Greatness, please, what rogue missions? You were cut off before in the midst of battle. Anything you can tell me about your work, anything at all, would be a tremendous help going into this. I intend to fight Seren head on. So, uh, if I’m going to take on such a task, I need to know why you were studying him. What does he hope to gain from the Imperions? Where is Ressa’s esper?”
“Eres… I wasn’t –”
The shider suddenly shook violently.
“Hold on!” Ilfrid shouted. “KQ is on our tail, they just fired flut missiles at our engines. One hit and we’re done!”
Everyone tried to keep their balance as the cockpit fluidly rotated on its track. Evasive maneuvers were intense; the ground becoming the sky, and vice versa.
Two heavy thuds just sounded above them, making everyone look up, even Ilfrid.
“What was that?” The pilot was genuinely perplexed.
Oh no. Maybe Seren did jump ship before?
“Everyone listen! No, not you Ilfrid, you keep flying!”
“Right!”
“I latched onto the shider before it took off and suffered the whole flight from the outside.”
“What?!” Ren shouted.
“Wait. When Seren’s shider passed us up before. I saw him doing the same thing that I was. Maybe he-”
Thump!
Eres was startled again, lips curving inward. “I’m going back out.”
“Eres no! We’re almost at Lasarius’ chambers.” Ilfrid waved his hand around. “Spera, are you sure the defenses will be down?”
“I’m right here next to you. I’m literally waging my life on it.”
“If he slices a hole through the cockpit, or disables the engines, anything of the sort – then we’re all done for regardless. No more, I’m going.”
“And I’m coming with you.” Vasa dropped a hand on his shoulder. “You are not facing that murderer alone.”
“Greatness.” Orc’s daunting voice came from the shadows of the cockpit.
“Yes?”
“It is not Seren Night. I have his signature. This being has none.”
Vindom groaned, obviously concentrating all of his energy where Orc suggested. “He’s right. A powerful enchantment protects whatever it is that’s on here with us. Strong. Too strong, like a tremendous anchor has been dropped from the sky. Hm… don’t rule it out yet, it very well could still be him. Who knows if one of his nefarious allies can perform Sorcery?”
“It is not,” Orc spoke. “Spera and I have encountered this spell before.”
Pang!
Whoever was atop them was causing some damage to the aircraft.
“That’s it! I’m going!” Eres knelt, unlatched the hatch, and zipped down with the proctor close behind on his tail.
“Godspeed Er-” Ilfrid’s voice shut out as Vasa closed the hatch behind them.
“Proctor, have you done anything like this before?” Eres hopped with gravitas beads trailing him, landing where he’d departed for Dundo-Ba with Ohndee a time ago.
“The Colliding Spheres has endless variant arenas that I’ve competed in, Eres. Wind-pressurized ones are among them. Just use your judgement with impeller bursts. Against the winds – crank it to double. With the winds – small clicks. Got it?”
“Mm.”
“And don’t even think about igniting Crule against the wind. It won’t blow out, no, that’s not why. But your force will not be enough to cut Glite. With the wind however, well, you may be able to slice a person in two.”
“Noted proctor, let’s go.”
The hatch leading to the outside opened up, and Eres watched as the view changed from land to sky.
Ilfrid
… he’s helping.
The pilot slowed speeds to a point where it might have been manageable to climb out and give Eres a ground to stand on rather than having him fall to punishing depths.
“Eres, activate your flenos boots! They’ll keep you grounded!” Vasa screamed against the rushing winds as she watched him grasp the handles to straddle the open door and lean back.
There he went, flinging himself out heroically and clamping down on the shider’s surface in between two whipping trinkets. Vasa was right, the boots leveled him and even altered the pressure of his Glite armor so he could stand against the wind. It was still difficult, very difficult to balance. But he would make do.
Out flipped Vasa, her battle-corset made of Glite, jet black hair dancing behind her, metallic covering fanned out at her feet. Then she knelt forward like she was about to begin a race. “Any ideas?” she yelled, nodding to the tall hooded figure ahead of them.
“I- I’ve seen him before. Trying to place him… I got it! Proctor! I was with you at the Colliding Spheres. He was in Oz’gulo when I met with Seren. He watched my duel with Crow. I remember it clearly! Same height, same cloak. He’s with them.”
“Ask questions later, then?”
“Right.”
“You go with the wind and I’ll go against,” Vasa shouted as the cloaked man turned away from the cockpit to face them. Long and slender. Eerie. Who was this guy?
It didn’t matter. He knew he should listen to Vasa and ask questions later, because when the man held his wrist with his other hand, Eres knew what he was in for. He’d seen the sign before. Sorcery. Orc and Vindom were right.
“Proctor!” he yelled, but she was already off, weaving in between trinkets and skating around the shider. She was upside down and back up again on the other side, sword drawn.
Eres went straight in to distract him, but it was no use.
With a jolting motion, the shrouded man lifted a visible tornado of air right under Vasa’s feet, sending her instantly airborne and leaving her in the dust. But it was only for a split second. Where Vasa appeared to be spinning and flipping uncontrollably away from the moving shider, she zoomed back like a comet, impeller clicked to one-thousand. Amazing. She clamped back down harder this time, Eres could only imagine what the others must have been thinking inside.
Eres was gaining now, skating forward, blade at the ready. Yet still he was taken aback by how skilled this man must have been to cast a spell so accurately in these conditions.
And when he was done casting, he folded one layer of his cloak back to reveal a long spindly edge on his belt. A blood dagger. Eres had seen one of those before.
“Oh no, the Sindus Guild. Only those assassins carry those blades.”
But he couldn’t back down now. He was already committed and needed to move faster. Gliding like an ice skater low to the ground, he rounded the assassin to come at him with the wind. His black smoky Crule was ignited. Woosh.
He missed and the wind dragged him further than he would’ve liked. Shit. Now his back was exposed and the blood dagger was unsheathed, in position to skewer him.
Eres peered over his shoulder to see the blood blade alive with red liquid electricity – artificed Crule true to its name – descending to dig a hole in his spine. But he dropped into a sweep kick at the last second, using his failed momentum in his favor once more. Again, he hit nothing. Of course a Sindus Guild assassin would have reflexes akin to his.
He stood up to see the man glide back as if he were on flatlands with a calm breeze, not this mess of chaotic winds. Eres couldn’t help but wonder if this intruder was protected from all of the elements around them, living in a different plane of reality. An unlevel playing field.
A sorcerer and an assassin? I didn’t know the Sindus practiced such arts.
Before another thought could escape him, Vasa rushed past. She’d targeted the assassin like a bull seeing red, bursting with the force of impeller and flenos boots together. Even better, she exchanged the device for another sword mid-motion, duel wielding to make sure he was overwhelmed this time.
She spun into a tornado of metal to see how the sorcerer liked a taste of his own medicine.
He didn’t.
One slice narrowly missed his face, the other barely grazed his defensively placed dagger, but she whirled again, coming closer, aiming for critical points like a master carver. Then she stomped her foot to slow herself, ducked low, and zipped behind the assassin to deliver a crossed slash down his back.
No use. He kicked behind him, pushing the flat of both blades into her chest to drive her back, then spun and adjusted himself, sheathing his dagger and grabbing both of his forearms with opposite hands.
Another summoning.
This one looked dangerous. His clothed arms glowed as if they were embroidered specially to withstand spells, runic symbols coming to life in fiery orange. It was happening. He slung his fingers outward in a powerful motion. Out came enormous wings of fire that he clapped down on Herim.
The blazing heat was so intense, the fire so bright, that Eres had to turn away. Embers zipped past him, some hissing as they touched his Glite, and when he snapped back, he saw Vasa’s blackened shadow in the midst of the consuming flames. She was kneeling, suffering. Glite could endure fire of course, but that didn’t mean there were no effects.
She was probably suffocating in there. Why weren’t the flames dispersing?
There was no time to think about it.
Charge.
Two gliding strides forward and he was on the assassin again, breaking the sorcerer’s concentration and causing his burning wristlets to puff in smoke. The spell was broken.
“You are not Spera’s guards.” The assassin’s voice sounded familiar. Eres had heard it before. But where?
He side-stepped Eres’s wide slash that sparked against the shider, spun back, drew his blood blade and parried the next three strikes. “Do not defend a traitor. I warn you, mercenary. I see she spared no expense by hiring a former Champion of the Colliding Spheres, but this is not your fight.”
His tone was too poised to be this dangerous. Too polished. But one glance at an immobilized Vasa told Eres not to be fooled.
He was about to strike again, to keep the assassin distracted, to try and buy some time so he could figure out where he’d heard him before, but then everything shifted. His balance was suddenly thrown off. He was wobbling.
Shit, we’re descending.
That hollow weakness sprung up again in his belly, free-fall, and it was exacerbated terribly when he watched the nose of the shider dip so his entire horizon was no longer the sky, but land. The Scarred Lands. A maze of towers and roads that must’ve been the Imperion Chambers rushed closer into view. Something he never thought he’d see in person… especially not like this.
The assassin dashed forward while Eres was off-balance and yanked his wrist.
Damn it, he’s going to pull fire out of me like Kyta did. He jerked to try and get free. No luck. But he already has fire?
“You…” the assassin seethed, tone changing completely. The entire hooded black hole shrouding his face seemed to be fixated on one thing: Eres’ finger. “The Amrite esper. How could you be here? Tell me this, Eres Way.”
Fear fluttered in Eres’ heart. Hearing his name uttered from such a demonic presence made him squirm in place.
“You’re supposed to be far away from here.”
How does he know that?
So many questions, and just as he was about to begin asking them, Vasa crashed so hard into the assassin that his steadfast connection to the shider was undone. Physics took over. The assassin was tossed airborne and appeared to zoom upward as the shider was nosediving, and then disappeared into thin air.
“No!” Eres shouted. He was at his wits’ end in so many ways.
“What do you mean, no?” Vasa coughed out some blood and started pushing Eres toward the hatch.
“That man, whoever he is, is not with Seren Night. He h
ad no idea who I was until he noticed my esper.”
She groaned, holding a hand over her face to block the pressure. “This Silent War is an endless headache. A ten-thousand-piece puzzle where we only have some unconnected fragments. That means he could be of any allegiance. Or solo, for all we know.”
“We do know one thing,” Eres shouted back.
“That Spera is his target,” Vasa finished.
They both hopped back down the hatch and pressed it shut.
“Proctor, you’re coughing up black…” Eres placed a hand over her shoulder as she doubled over.
“Fine. I’m fine.” She waved him away. “Glite can’t filter everything, I suppose. Especially not such a condensed flame. I’ve never experienced anything like it.”
“That’s sorcery.”
“The dead art?” Vasa wiped her mouth and peered up.
“Only dead here in the Osa Sphere.”
“Apparently not.”
Eres quickly reached for the communication device on its sheath. “Ilfrid, come in.”
“Eres! Everything okay? I heard some nasty noises up there. Sounded like Mustae threw a party.”
“We’re alright. Apparently Spera has the Sindus Guild after her. I know she’s Greatness and all, but she has some explaining to do. Put her on.”
“Giving it over. Oh, but just to let you know, we are less than a minute from landing at Lasarius’ chambers.”
“Yes, Eres,” Spera’s voice came through, “listen. We have word that those who broke into Lasarius’ chamber, well, it was an inside job.”
Eres nearly forgot his own question after hearing those words. “W-what? What do you mean?”
“It could have been any department tasked with the maintenance or defense of the Imperions. We have reports that it was a male and a female.”
“Do you know if the schematics of your chambers are programmed to live maps?” Eres asked.
“Not the interior layout, just the exterior is public to my knowledge. If you’re thinking what I’m thinking, Eres, you won’t need a map. Just follow the smoke.”
