by Pedro Urvi
The great army of the all-powerful Nocean Empire had arrived.
The Sun and the Moon
After crossing the portal, the chamber they came out in was very similar in size and shape to the one they had left, so that Kayti guessed they were in another Ilenian temple of some kind. The adverse effects of crossing the portal took their toll on all of them, and it took them a good while to recover: all except Yakumo, who seemed impervious to pain and suffering. In an instant the Assassin had fully recovered and was exploring the chamber.
“There’s no danger,” he told them.
They climbed the stairs and found the trap-door to the upper floor open.
“Someone left in a hurry and forgot to close it,” Hartz joked.
This upper chamber left Kayti open-mouthed. Floor, walls and ceiling were bright silver, which shone, giving out sporadic flashes in all directions. In the center of the chamber, on the floor, she saw a pool of some viscous substance the color of silver, as if it were molten steel, and beside it an empty pedestal.
“Look,” Sonea said. She pointed at the ceiling.
Kayti looked closely. In the light of one of the flashes, she saw that the ceiling of the chamber was completely round. She looked more closely and noticed that the circle was not exactly that but a representation of a star…
“It looks like… the Moon…” Lindaro said.
“Yes, I’d agree. It looks like a moon, a full moon…” Lasgol concurred.
Sonea and Lindaro bent over the pool, as some inscriptions carved on the floor had caught their attention. They began to examine them avidly, trying to find out where they were.
“So, what do we do now?” Hartz asked in some confusion while the scholars went on with their work. “There doesn’t seem to be a way out.” He walked around, tapping the walls to check they did not yield.
Lasgol and Yakumo helped him, but found no secret door, spring or passage which would allow them to leave the chamber.
“Very interesting…” muttered Sonea.
“It certainly is…” Lindaro agreed, crouching beside her.
The others turned to them.
“You see… the way I interpret these inscriptions, we’re in a sacred Temple… in honor of the Moon…”
Lindaro knelt down beside her.
“More than that, there are also some symbols which seem to indicate knowledge and if I’m not wrong, that symbol over there is…”
“Power, that’s the symbol of power,” Sonea confirmed.
Suddenly the representation of the Moon on the ceiling began to glow intensely golden, the gold of Ilenian magic.
Kayti was afraid, since Ilenian magic had never led to anything good. But this time her fear was accompanied by a particular unease: they were in what might well be an Ilenian Temple of the Moon. And that reminded her of the words of the Captain General of the Custodian Brotherhood. Words which came from the sacred writings of the Brotherhood, from their secret texts —writings that were as secret as they were unquestionable. Words she had been repeating to herself day and night since she had left her kingdom of Irinel. The words which by now were a creed to her and helped her follow the path of the Order:
Look for the Sun, look for the Moon, far to the West. Walk with the one who possesses the power to find where lies the Ancient Civilization, for there you shall find the most powerful and evil Object of Power. You must bring it back to the custody of the Brotherhood, or else with you will perish the hope of mankind. We must save the world from the final doom. The Sun and the Moon must you find, for they shall bring the end of all men.
But Kayti would not fail, she would attain what she sought, what she had spent so long searching for. Since the day she had stumbled on Komir she had known deep within her that he would be the one who would guide her to her goal. The discovery of the Temple of Ether bore out her intuition. That was why she had stayed close to him. The mission the Brotherhood had charged her with was of ultimate importance. The doom of all mankind depended on it, so she had to see it through regardless of any obstacle, whatever anybody else might do or say. Nothing and no-one will stop me. I’ll fulfill my sacred mission. I’ll save mankind and avoid the end of days proclaimed in the sacred texts, the ones the Founding Mother wrote in her own hand and left as testament to the Brotherhood she created, to prevent the great holocaust.
The golden brightness of the Moon on the ceiling increased in intensity alarming Kayti. Suddenly, with the dry sound of rock cracking, it separated into two symmetrical halves. They all looked up in surprise. Kayti felt her unease growing with every heartbeat. Before their stunned eyes, a warrior in shining white armor began to descend, as if floating down from the opening, on the beam of golden light. They stepped back and reached for their weapons. The warrior landed softly on the pedestal. His armor was of a white so pure that it blinded them, and completely covered him from head to foot. The face of the stranger was covered under a helmet decorated with a white feather. Nothing could be seen of his face except two golden eyes. On his chest was a rune which Kayti could not recognize. It shone with the gold of Ilenian magic.
The warrior stepped off the pedestal. Before he even reached for his sword Hartz had launched at him.
“Damned Ilenian monster!” cried the big Norriel, and launched a two-handed blow at the warrior’s chest. But the great Ilenian sword bounced off the armor without even causing a scratch. The warrior appeared not to feel the impact of the blow.
“This is impossible!” Hartz cried, and struck again with all his strength. The result was the same. Disconcerted, he took a step back.
The warrior unsheathed his sword.
“Follow me, quickly!” Kayti called, and pushed Sonea and Lindaro into a corner, protecting them with her own body.
Iruki drew her sword and stood beside Kayti to help her.
Yakumo attacked the warrior, trying to penetrate his armor with his lethal daggers in combination with his dark arts, but like the big Norriel he achieved nothing.
The warrior launched a powerful stroke against Yakumo, who avoided it by rolling out of the way. The Assassin tried to stab him in the back, but there seemed to be no weak point in his armor.
Komir joined the fray, striking with sword and knife, but his blows and stabs glanced off the armor without even scratching or denting it.
Lasgol let fly two arrows with the same result. Nothing could penetrate the mysterious armor.
“It must be made of some material we don’t know, or else it’s been strengthened with magic,” Lasgol said as he activated his power to try to perceive the nature of that magic.
“What are we going to do?” Hartz asked. He was blocking the attacks of the armored enemy, helped by Yakumo, who kept hitting him using his demonic speed.
Komir took a step back. “Keep him busy!” he told his friends, and went to Sonea and Iruki with an air of determination.
“Keep him busy, he says!” Hartz complained ironically.
“I’m coming to help you,” Kayti said as she saw Komir come to their side, and joined Hartz and Yakumo. The three of them circled around the warrior and attacked simultaneously.
“Lindaro, Sonea, think, how can we defeat this armored being?” Komir asked. “Weapons are no use, as you can see.”
Lindaro who was watching the fight, looked worriedly at Komir. “I can only suggest magic… but that’s not my area of expertise…”
Sonea nodded energetically. “It has to be magic, yes, I think so too.”
“Hurry up!” said Kayti, shaking her right arm vigorously. “We can’t go on holding off his blows, he has the strength of an ox!”
“It’s an evil spirit,” Iruki said, “his eyes shine strongly, and they’re the color of the evening sun on the steppes. No man has that glow in his eyes. It’s unnatural, it must be an evil spirit from Beyond.”
“More like an Ilenian Guardian of some sort,” Sonea said. “I wonder what he guards in this chamber. There’s nothing here but that pool on the ground.”
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“We’ll have time to find out when we finish him off. Now we have to find a way of doing that. How?” Komir insisted, his eyes on Sonea.
“Sorry… I can’t help…” the petite Librarian apologized with a shrug.
Lindaro was looking at the ceiling thoughtfully. Komir followed his gaze to the representation of the moon and the powerful golden light it shed.
“Golden eyes… possessed spirit…” the man of faith was muttering.
“Any ideas, Lindaro?”
The sound of metal on metal bounced off the silver walls, the prelude to approaching death. If they did not hurry, that monstrous creature would kill one of their comrades.
Sonea began to gesture excitedly. “I’ve got it, I’ve got it!”
“Explain, quick!” Komir said.
“The golden light is what gives life to that creature. We have to stop it!”
“How?”
“All together,” said Iruki, nodding confidently. She grasped Komir and Sonea by the hands. “Between the three of us, we’ll be able to do it.”
The three Bearers closed their eyes. Kayti watched them out of the corner of her eye; her strength had reached its limit. She hoped with all her soul that they would be right, as she could barely defend herself. Even Hartz seemed to be blocking the blows more slowly. Yakumo made a spectacular sweeping move with his whole body, hitting the legs of the being, and the warrior fell backwards. Yakumo stood up with a groan of pain and limped a few steps.
“It’s like hitting a rock wall,” he said. He was obviously in pain.
The monstrous creature rose and delivered a terrible blow to Kayti. She managed to block it but lost her sword. She was forced to go down on one knee not to fall and was left breathless.
The creature raised its sword.
Hartz tried to get between them, but he was too slow.
In that same moment the medallions of the three bearers glowed, each with its own characteristic color. Kayti saw the creature’s sword rise above her head. A combined flash shot to the ceiling and the golden light flowing from the moon-symbol vanished. All at once the two halves closed, forming a full moon once again.
Kayti looked at the warrior. The sword was coming down to kill her.
And the golden light of his eyes went out.
His arm dropped to one side, and the sword clattered to the floor. The monstrous creature remained inert.
“Thanks be to the Light! It worked!” Lindaro gasped in relief.
“You might have thought of that earlier!” Hartz burst out, and collapsed against the silver wall behind him. Yakumo did the same, his face twisted in pain. Iruki ran to his side and kissed him tenderly.
“It seems the danger is over,” Lindaro said as he looked up at the ceiling.
And at that moment the silvery, viscous liquid of the pool began to boil.
“By the goddesses! And now what?” Hartz protested.
Komir unsheathed his sword and went up to the pool. Kayti followed him. They gazed at the strange liquid, like molten silver shimmering on both people and walls. Under that light it was as though they had all been turned into silver statues. Kayti looked at the pool with worry in her eyes. A small altar began to rise from the center, with the molten liquid dripping down its sides. On the altar rested an object which immediately caught the Kayti’s attention.
A thick Grimoire with brilliant silver covers.
Kayti’s heart skipped a beat.
Sonea and Lindaro came up at once to look at the new discovery.
“Bah, a book!” said Hartz, and he and Yakumo leaned back against the wall when they saw there was no danger.
Sonea rushed to the Grimoire before anybody could stop her, and looked at it in wonder as she gathered it up in her arms. Kayti felt a pang of worry, but she relaxed once she looked at the Librarian. She knew the little scholar was harmless. The great volume looked ancient and was huge, its covers glimmering with a silvery radiance, as if it shed a light of its own. Rows of strange Ilenian symbols lined the cover.
“How thick it is, and how much it weighs, it seems to be made of pure silver,” Sonea said. “I can barely hold it.”
Lindaro helped her support it, and both inspected it avidly, carefully examining the Ilenian inscriptions on the covers. When they had finished they opened the book and began to search inside it; the pages were silver and the inscriptions in it apparently of gold. They took their time, having noticed that the others were resting.
Kayti was gazing at the apparition in white armor. She felt curiously attracted by that armor; it was beautiful, much more so than her old Custodian Brotherhood armor. She felt it calling to her… and the call steadily increased in intensity. She was staring at it so intently that Hartz noticed. He joined her.
“What’s up?” he asked her, sounding concerned.
“The armor… I don’t know, it’s as if… it is somehow calling to me… claiming me…”
Hartz looked at the Guardian, then at Kayti.
“It’s a man’s armor. I don’t think it would fit you.”
“I know it makes no sense… but my intuition is telling me to put it on.”
“Well, let’s follow your intuition!” Hartz replied with a smile. He began to strip off the creature’s armor.
Now that the magic was not active, the fastenings of the armor were visible. Even so, Hartz had difficulty undoing it as the design made it hard to find the openings. When they had finished, they saw that the being inside was nothing more than a dried up, gaunt thing, like a mummy, which must have been dead for more than a thousand years… Hartz shrugged, smiled at his beloved and helped her put on the strange armor. Komir looked on in silence, lost in thought.
“There you go…” said Hartz. “But it’s too big, you won’t be able to use it.”
Kayti looked at the rune on her chest and passed her hand over it. It was beautiful. At the touch of her skin the rune flashed golden and Kayti felt as if the rune were piercing her chest, penetrating deep into her soul. For a moment she was breathless, and fear got the better of her.
“Ilenian magic!” Hartz cried in alarm.
The golden flash spread through the whole armor. As if the metal were contracting, it began to mold itself around Kayti’s body piece by piece, from head to foot, until it formed a whole. The fastenings disappeared, leaving the armor sealed, with no crack or weak point visible. When the process ended the armor was perfectly adapted and molded to Kayti’s body, better even than if the greatest armorers in all Tremia had made it specially for her.
“It’s very light, incredibly light… I can barely feel any weight on my body. It’s as if it were made of silk…”
“And impenetrable,” said Yakumo, who was watching with great curiosity.
“I don’t like this damned Ilenian magic at all…” Hartz protested.
“Don’t worry, the spells in this armor will be to protect its wearer, like those in your sword, Hartz. I don’t think they’ll harm me, on the contrary, I think they’ll protect me in battle in a way that no other could. I certainly won’t be tired anymore from wearing heavy armor.”
“If you want to wear it, suit yourself. But be careful, these Ilenian objects have unexpected… effects…”
“It’s Nature’s way of balancing the extremes,” Lasgol said, pointing to the mummified being on the floor. “All magic has its cost, its price…”
Kayti took two steps in the Ilenian armor. It felt almost like a second skin.
“It has the same rune engraved on the back,” said Lasgol. “It must have some meaning. You’d better be careful…”
“I will,” Kayti said, smiling, as she put on the plumed helmet. Like the rest of the armor, it adjusted itself perfectly to her head and face.
“I think… I think we’ve found an Ilenian Grimoire of enormous relevance…” stammered Sonea.
“Yes, it is extremely valuable…” Lindaro agreed.
Komir came up to them and looked at the great book.
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�Why do you think that?” he asked the two scholars.
Sonea looked at him with excited eyes.
“This is the Ilenian Book of the Moon. From what little we’ve managed to piece out, it seems to contain very valuable knowledge about the Lost Civilization and its powerful magic. It tells of the power of Moon magic, death magic… We’ll need time to decipher the mysteries in it, but I have no doubt that we’re in the presence of an incredibly relevant Grimoire.”
Lindaro nodded energetically.
“This temple has been built to venerate and protect this precious Grimoire.”
“And will it get us out of here?” Hartz asked, his brow furrowed.
“I’m afraid we’ll have to find the way ourselves…” Lindaro said with a worried frown. “The book is a compendium of Ilenian magic. With the help of the Light it’ll give us the answers to how to operate the portal.”
“But it’s not going to be easy. It might take us days or even weeks… or perhaps we won’t find out at all…” Sonea said, sounding worried.
“We’ll find out,” Kayti said with conviction as she stared intently at the great Grimoire.
Sonea looked at Kayti’s chest and pointed to the rune.
“That’s the rune of the Soul.”
They looked at Kayti in her shining white armor.
Lindaro came to her side and nodded, his eyes on the rune.
“Let’s hope you’re right, White Soul.”
To the last man
The four First Generals of the Norghanian forces were arguing heatedly over what strategy to follow in order to take the walls of the besieged city. The tension in Count Volgren’s command tent grew greater with every opinion expressed. The difficulties involved in the attack were now evident, since the siege weapons were lost. The casualties of a frontal assault on the walls would be high, and the arrival of the Nocean Legions were making the Count decidedly uneasy.
The horns sounded shrilly, announcing the arrival of a delegation.
“And now what?” Count Volgren exclaimed in annoyance.
“No idea, sire,” General Rangulfsen replied as he bent over a plan of the city. The brilliant soldier had marked the defenses and the weak points where the attacks had to be concentrated in order to conquer the city.
