School of Swords and Serpents Boxset: Books 1 - 3 (Hollow Core, Eclipse Core, Chaos Core)

by Gage Lee

  No, not gone.

  It was in her stomach. It was easy to see at my core level, and that didn’t make any sense. The jinsei should have been in her core and then gone. The fact that it wasn’t was both exciting and terrifying. If Christina had figured out a way to fundamentally change the nature of sacred energy, I’d have to make sure she never came anywhere near the Inquistor again. I didn’t know what this meant, but the Church would figure out a way to turn it to something evil. I needed to know more about this development.

  “Well,” I said. “That’s not at all what I expected. Why didn’t the jinsei go into your core?”

  “Time aspects,” Hahen said.

  “Yes,” Christina said, “those. I stripped all the impurities out of the jinsei, then put time aspects back in. Past aspects, really. They slow down absorption. People like us can control it, a little at a time, that way. See, there’s some in my channels now.”

  “How many of these do you have?” I wanted to be very sure they didn’t fall into the wrong hands. I’d never heard of time aspects before, and wasn’t sure anyone else had, either.

  “Just ten.” Christina shrugged. “I only learned to make them today.”

  “She tried to teach the other hollows, but they couldn’t get the hang of it,” Hahen said, his eyes locked on mine. He tilted to one side to show me a small open case on my desk that contained more of the vials. “Neither could I.”

  To be honest, I didn’t think I could do it, either. I’d never considered time aspects and had never read anything about them. If Christina could manipulate those, she was even more valuable than the headmistress or Inquistor Rhône knew.

  “Christina.” I kneeled in front of her and looked up into her downturned face. “Listen to me, very carefully. You’re on the verge of something amazing. But you can’t tell anyone. Do you understand?”

  “I didn’t mean to,” she whimpered, her wide eyes wet with unshed tears. “I only wanted to help. Please don’t send me off to the Church.”

  “No.” I took her hands in mine. “You haven’t done anything wrong. It’s just... unexpected. Hahen and I need to talk about this, but you’re not in trouble. It’s best if no one else knows what you’ve done, though.”

  “It’s like what you warned us about.” Her eyes went cold and hard. “You’re afraid people will want to use me if they know what I can do.”

  “Yes,” I confirmed. “I know they will. But you’re close to a breakthrough, Christina. I’ve never seen anyone do this. It’s your path. You just have to push yourself to take that next step. If you keep pushing, you’ll heal your core. I know it.”

  “Okay.” She took a deep breath. “Can I go back to my dorm?”

  “Of course.” I stood and helped her to her feet. “Mum’s the word, okay? And tell the rest of the students, too. We can discuss it at class tomorrow, but until then, everyone zips their lips.”

  She mimed locking her mouth and throwing away the key. For the first time since she’d come to the School, I saw a glimmer of hope in her eyes. Christina didn’t know it, but she’d done the impossible. If she could manipulate time aspects...

  “And thank you for trusting me with these vials,” I said. “They will be a huge help in the competition.”

  “You’re welcome,” Christina mumbled. She shuffled toward the door, then stopped and turned back to me. “And thank you. I couldn’t have done any of this without you pushing me.”

  When Christina had closed the door behind her, I turned back to the dragon and the rat.

  “Time aspects?” I couldn’t imagine that was even possible.

  “It does seem hard to believe,” Hahen said, shrugging. “But there it is. If she really is manipulating time aspects, she is in very great danger.”

  “Watch her,” I said. “Closely. There’s no telling what effect messing with those aspects will have on her.”

  “Agreed.” Hahen bowed low to me. “Something tells me your fellow hollows are going to develop interesting gifts in the coming months. We must protect them from predators.”

  “Yes, honored Spirit,” I said, bowing at the waist. “My gratitude knows no bounds for your help in this matter. Unfortunately, I must ask another favor of you.”

  “Whatever I can do for you,” Hahen said, “you have but to ask.”

  “Can you round up the rest of my team?” I asked. “Except for Hagar.”

  “Of course,” Hahen said. “Niddhogg will be happy to help me. We’ll have them back here in no time.”

  “It’s not like I have anything better to do,” the little dragon grumped and flapped into the air. “Though I could use some bacon...”

  The rat spirit dropped off my desk, scampered across the floor, and vanished through the wall. He’d be able to get through the School’s halls a lot faster than I could, and with Niddhogg helping they’d find the others quickly.

  I took one of the vials and slipped it into my belt. The slowed jinsei wasn’t of much use to someone with a functioning core. Its slow absorption would make it useless in a fight, and I still wasn’t sure exactly how those time aspects might affect whoever used them. Still, it might come in handy during the competition. I closed the case and put the rest of the vials in my desk drawer.

  I then retrieved the experiment I’d been working on for the past few weeks and placed it on the desk in front of me. The five medallions were each the size of my open hand. I’d used copper on the previous batch, but these were all made of solid gold that Hahen and I had scavenged from forgotten supply closets. These larger precious metal vessels would be able to absorb far more jinsei than the smaller, less expensive ones that had failed me during the last challenge. They were also scrivened with protective wards that would shield my core from direct attacks and harden my body against any outside dangers. Combined with the ring that hardened my aura from assault, I was as well-armored and prepared as I’d ever be.

  I took a deep breath and began stitching my new medallions to my channels.

  The Thief’s Shield talisman went over my heart. Borrowed Core was stitched to the opposite side of my chest. The Army of a Thousand Eyes attached to my right bicep, and the Thief of Souls went on my left shoulder. That just left the Eclipse Transplant, which I stitched along my left forearm. The talismans were bulkier than I would’ve liked, but I couldn’t skimp on size. Hopefully, none of these would melt if I pushed my techniques to their limits.

  By the time I’d attached the last vessel to my channels, Hahen and Niddhogg had returned with Clem, Eric, and Abi. It was good to see my friends again, though it hurt my heart to exclude Hagar from this meeting. I wanted to tell her everything, but knew it was a bad idea. Her reports to the elders could cause a leak, and we couldn’t afford that with so many enemies aligned against us. She’d be there when the challenge started, and that’s all that mattered.

  “What’s the big news?” Eric asked. “Hahen acted like you’d found the location of the Final Ark.”

  “Nothing so important as that.” I laughed. “Well, maybe it is for us.”

  I produced the lacquered box from inside my robes with a flourish and opened its lid. The orichalcum compass’s glow lit up my teammates’ faces.

  “Where did you get that, my friend?” Abi asked.

  “Nothing I tell you here can go outside this room,” I said. “But this is our reward from the second challenge.”

  “Why didn’t they hand that over after we completed it?” Eric asked.

  I filled my friends in on the whole story. Clem nodded at the right parts and offered me words of encouragement when I stumbled over the whole truth. It was hard to accept that the Church and the other schools were all willing to betray us, and humanity, for power and wealth. It was even harder to put that into words.

  “That is not good news,” Abi said with a frown. “Shouldn’t Hagar hear this?”

  “Not yet,” I said. “She’ll tell the elders, and then we could have problems.”

  They all nodded at that, th
ough the looks on their faces told me it was a bitter pill to swallow. I’d dragged my friends into a surreal world where anyone could be an unexpected enemy, and they didn’t like it.

  “First, though, we have to figure out what this is for.” I lifted the strange bit of stone from inside the case. “And soon. The challenge is in two days.”

  “That’s all we have to go on?” Eric asked. “That hardly seems fair.”

  “Yeah, well, they didn’t plan on telling us anything. If I hadn’t stolen this from Inquisitor Rhône, we’d still be in the dark.” Everyone laughed at that. “I have a feeling all of these prizes were meant to work together. I’m not sure how, though. So far we have rings and a stone eye. Now we’ve got a key with the compass, and a piece of weird rock.”

  Clem reach forward and plucked the bit of stone from my palm. She twisted it this way and that, frowning at the odd item.

  “It’s covered in tiny little bumps. And it’s got a weird crease down the middle.” She shifted it from side to side. “I don’t know what it is.”

  “Me, either,” I said. “But we need to figure it out, soon. Clem, why don’t you and Abi go down to the library cells, and Eric and I will root around on the web to see what we can dig up.”

  “We’ll take care of it,” Abi said. He reached out and clasped my hand, then pulled me into a hug. He did the same to Eric. “It won’t be nearly as hard as fighting off a horde of hungry spirits from the Far Horizon.”

  “We’ll see,” I said with a chuckle. “Good luck.”

  “I’ll go with them to the library,” Hahen said. “Perhaps my old brain can come up with something their younger minds have not considered.”

  “I’ll hang out here with you guys and make sure nobody tries to sneak in,” Niddhogg said, punctuating his offer with a tiny gust of flame. “Nobody’s getting past me.”

  “Good to know,” Eric said. “I’ll be back in five minutes with my computer.”

  “Let him in when he gets back,” I said to Niddhogg. “I’m diving in.”

  “Will do, champ,” Niddhogg said.

  I powered my computer on and let the quantic interface merge with my thoughts. Seconds later, I found myself awash in data.

  I started with a simple search to find out everything I could about the Empyrean Gauntlet. The first hits I got weren’t historical articles, but a flurry of alarming news stories about the very public threats the heretics had made against the Gauntlet over the past week or so.

  I selected a report, and the scene unfolded in my mind’s eye.

  A lone figure stood in front of a pile of burning rubble. A metal pillar emblazoned with the stylized symbol of the Empyrean Flame lay on the ground next to her, and its tip glowed red where it hung above the leaping flames. The camera wobbled and jerked from side to side, struggling to stay focused on the figure. The sound of explosions rumbled in the distance, and sirens mixed with screams from much closer.

  “We have vowed that we will not rest until we are free,” the figure shouted. Her voice was harsh and strident, and even through the recording the strength of her conviction hit me like a slap. She wasn’t just a terrorist, she was a zealot. She believed everything she said, and she was willing to die for her cause.

  “We refuse to bend the knee to the Church of the Empyrean Flame,” she continued. “And we will bow to no dragon.”

  Her finger stabbed toward the center of the scene as if to drive her point into my forehead.

  “This travesty of a Gauntlet will not be allowed to continue,” she growled. “We will stop it. At any cost.”

  Her words chilled me to the bone, and I banished the story when a talking head appeared. I didn’t need anyone to explain to me how real this threat was.

  There were more stories of heretic attacks, all over the world. No wonder the elders of my clan had been so busy. They were fighting off attacks on every continent.

  How many of those assaults had my mother organized?

  How many had she led?

  I had to find her.

  I dug through more news stories, searching for some clue as to her whereabouts. My eyes scanned the footage, looking for my mother’s familiar gait, the silhouette of a frame I’d known my whole life. Fires and flattened buildings flashed before my eyes. Men, women, and children fled from explosions and gunfire. I couldn’t tear myself away from the horror until a small blue indicator light flashed in the upper corner of my vision.

  I directed my attention to it, and Eric’s face zoomed into view.

  “Hey, I found something.” His image vanished and was replaced by a detailed illustration of a medieval festival of some sort. In the painting, humans watched something in an arena below them, while dragons soared through the skies overhead.

  “This is the first Gauntlet,” Eric said. “Or, what they think the first looked like, anyway.”

  “Great find,” I said. “When did this happen?”

  “Three thousand years ago, give or take. Right after the First Demon War.” Another picture replaced the first illustration. In this one, a human stood on a platform next to a youngling dragon. The human was adorned with a wreath of fire around his brow. The dragon, on the other hand, looked like someone had played whack-a-mole with its face. It was clear who’d won that fight.

  “Let me guess. This is when humans took over as guardians of the Grand Design.” History was written by the winners, after all.

  “Yep,” Eric said. “And then this happened.”

  A third illustration replaced the previous drawing. This one depicted humans and dragons engaged in an ugly battle. Bodies littered an open field and streaks of fire arced overhead. A human stabbed a dragon through the heart with a black lance. A dragon ripped an arm from a human with its ivory fangs. Clearly, the dragons hadn’t been amused by the sudden change in their deal with the Empyrean Flame.

  “That looks ugly,” I said. “How did it end?”

  “Like this.” Eric called up another picture.

  This one showed an older man, his eyes covered with a bloody bandage. An enormous serpentine dragon was coiled across from him, its snout bound in a heavy iron cage. Between the two of them, the Empyrean Flame glowed like an angry referee.

  “The Flame was ticked off that its most powerful creations had gone to war with each other so soon after demons had bloodied their noses. It made the Blind King and Silent Wyrm exchange blood bonds. That ended their little tiff and secured humanity’s position at the top of the heap.”

  “There’s something weird about this,” I said. “For our first prize, we got an eye. The slit pupil makes me think it’s supposed to be a dragon’s. But the dragon didn’t lose an eye. The king did. We should have gotten a human eye.”

  “And what the heck is that other piece?” Eric laughed. “A tongue?”

  “Oh, man,” I said. “You’re right. That is a tongue.”

  That didn’t make any sense, either. The Blind King hadn’t lost his tongue, and what we had in that box clearly wasn’t a dragon’s forked tongue. I mulled that over, replaying the story Eric had told me over and over.

  Suddenly, the pieces of the story fell into place and I understood what we had to do.

  “We have to get the others,” I said. “I hope we’re not already too late.”

  Eric was halfway to the door by the time I’d disconnected my computer. I snatched the case of jinsei vials off my desk.

  “Here,” I shouted, and tossed them to him. Then I grabbed the prize box, and we took off for the library with Niddhogg fluttering behind us.

  “What are you two doing?” Clem asked when we barged into her library cell.

  “No time,” I said. “Let’s go.”

  She and Abi followed us out, and Hahen scrambled onto my shoulder. We hustled through the School, ducking and dodging around students on their way to the dining hall for dinner. My stomach growled at the missed meal, and I ignored it. We didn’t have time for food. We might not have time for anything.

  The Schoo
l wasn’t as responsive as I would’ve liked. We had to backtrack more than once, and we still ended up going in a frustratingly long circle around the building’s perimeter before we reached the courtyard. The statues of the blindfolded man and muzzled dragon waited for us in the otherwise empty courtyard.

  “Here we go,” I said. I grabbed the dragon’s eye from the pouch on my belt. It was warm in my hand, throbbing with hidden life. I walked around the Silent Wyrm statue and saw that it had both eyes. My heart quickened. It looked like my theory was right.

  I scrambled over to the Blind King and climbed up its body. The robes it wore offered plenty of ridges for me to cling to, and soon enough I was perched on its shoulder. I held onto the king’s crown and reached around to the front of its face with the other. I held the stone eye over the statue’s bandaged eyes, and it warmed in my palm. It grew until it was the size of a bowling ball, then floated away. The oversized eye settled over the statue’s left eye socket for a long time and then vanished.

  “Whoa,” Eric said. “That was something.”

  “You haven’t seen anything yet.” I slithered down the statue’s body, snatched the tongue out of the prize box, then climbed up the Silent Wyrm. Its sinuous body and arched neck were more difficult to navigate than the King’s robes, but my disciple-level core gave me the strength and skill to clamber up into position. I nimbly walked down the beast’s snout, crouched at the end of its nose, and lowered the tongue toward the cage that bound its jaws. This piece of stone, too, grew until it was large enough to fit in the dragon’s mouth, and then vanished into the statue.

  “The bonds have been completed.” A man’s voice boomed through the courtyard. “As it was in days past, dragons and humans will now work together to reveal the way ahead. Follow the orichalcum path to your final challenge.”

  The dragon’s head stirred beneath me and shifted until its eyes pointed at the courtyard’s blank wall. A red-gold light blazed from the statue to illuminate a section of the wall. Several of the ancient stones shifted apart to reveal a patch of darkness between them.