Elpis

by Aaron McGowan

  “The whole place is probably like this,” Jujor said. “We’ll have to go deeper into the city to find the Elpis fragment, though.”

  They made their way between fallen buildings, their piles of stones reaching tens of meters in height at times. How Emoser Helena had been destroyed, Terico could only guess. If going by Jujor’s stories though, it wouldn’t be unlikely for the Elpis to have been involved.

  Terico and Jujor sometimes paused to look in what was still standing of some of the structures, many of which had been built straight into the walls of the cave. Jujor was certain the Elpis would be glowing bright, so it wouldn’t be hard to recognize it once they found a shining light. This was still a great city, however. It would take time to figure out where the stone was hidden.

  The cave erupted with the blood-curdling screams of forsaken. All at once, tens of shrieks rang off the distant walls of the fallen city.

  “We need to hurry,” Jujor said. “Every forsaken in the city will hear this racket, and suddenly we’ll have a thousand of them to deal with.”

  Terico, Jujor, and their seven puppet forsaken ran down the battered street of the city, weaving between the fallen stonework of the homes and shops the forsaken must have occupied back when they were human. Terico readied his sword and Nexi stones, but kept his eyes searching for the glowing light of the Elpis fragment.

  Three—no, five—forsaken leaped from holes in a wrecked building about twenty meters ahead. Terico forced three of his forsaken to rush for them, while Jujor sent two of his to take care of the others. They caused their forsaken to claw away at their enemies, until all of them were wrestling and snarling amidst the piles of sharp rocks and rubble.

  Another forsaken slipped out from a hole in a giant stone platform. Terico sent one of his forsaken to fight it, and another struggle ensued. All around him, the creatures were clawing at each other, sometimes tearing open great, bloody wounds—and even shredding apart entire limbs in the process.

  Terico and Jujor used their indigo Nexi to catch more of the creatures’ souls, and within a minute all the forsaken were weakened enough for all of them to fall under Terico and Jujor’s control.

  “Hurry,” Jujor said. “We won’t be able to keep this up forever.”

  Terico forced his forsaken to run to either side of him, following Jujor and his growing unit of forsaken. He could hear more of the creatures rushing for them from side roads and fallen buildings, the scraping of their monstrous claws giving them away beneath the constant noise of their screeches.

  Terico and Jujor sent their captured forsaken off to fend against the new assailants. The creatures crashed into one another on all fours, swiping their claws against each other’s faces. Terico followed Jujor’s lead and continued capturing more forsaken as they ran through the battlefield. Those that they captured were often torn apart to varying degrees, but they could still run and fight with little hindrance from their injuries. Neither alive nor dead, nothing slowed the creatures from their ravenous bloodlust.

  More and more of the forsaken ran for Terico and Jujor, some in groups of ten—some in twenty. The strain of controlling so many creatures was taxing, but Terico kept all his forsaken always running, always clawing. Again and again, he used his soul catcher to bring more of the forsaken into his ranks. Every now and then a forsaken or two would slip through and leap for Terico, but he would use his Nexi stones and sword to fend them off long enough for Jujor to capture them with his soul catcher.

  The city boomed with the shrieks of tens of forsaken. Hundreds. All around him, Terico heard more and more of them charging toward them, howling, hissing, snarling, snapping their teeth. There were probably at least a hundred forsaken Terico was controlling now, and his whole body felt weak—each step he took, his limbs ached incessantly.

  Keep moving, he told himself. Don’t stop for even a second!

  “I see something!” Jujor said.

  Terico looked to where the old man pointed. On the other side of a massive chasm, a small glint of light glowed with ever-shifting hues and colors. It wasn’t blinding, but it was intense. The glow that emanated from the small rock spread far wider than the glow of any Nexi stone Terico had seen before. It was going to be difficult to get to it, with it so high up and on the other side of a giant gorge.

  And with a thousand forsaken in the way.

  “Just plow through them, Jujor!” Terico yelled.

  Tens of forsaken rushed out of cracks in a long wall to Terico’s left. He sent as many of his own forsaken as he could spare toward them and continued to run. Three creatures slipped by, and at the same time a couple more leaped from the third story of a half-destroyed structure above Terico. Meanwhile, Jujor controlled tens of forsaken to hack away at the hordes rushing from the trail ahead, while blasting fire at several more coming for him from behind.

  Terico activated his light blue Nexi, freezing the ground in front of the three forsaken charging for him. As the creatures slipped on the ice, Terico turned to the ones leaping for him from above. He used his dark blue Nexi to blast them away with water. His controlled forsaken continued to fight off tens of others, and Terico blasted away with his soul catcher to force as many more of the creatures to his side as possible. Jujor continued to push his way forward, only pausing a few seconds at a time to blind large groups of forsaken swarming around him. Terico rushed into the fray with a few dozen puppet forsaken encircling him. The wolf people tore at each other’s throats, spilling blood around Terico in a hellish rampage.

  Terico sprinted through the multitude of forsaken, swinging his sword in a mad, blind frenzy. Limbs, heads, blood, and gore flew from his blade and the claws of his forsaken army, as blasts of blinding light and fiery explosions pushed back tens of the undying creatures around him.

  Terico and Jujor continued using their soul catchers, but the strain was too much to continue like this. There were still hundreds of forsaken between them and the cliff, and then a bottomless pit between the cliff and the Elpis fragment.

  A forsaken lunged for Terico’s throat. Terico avoided its claws and continued to fight his way forward, at times running across the sharp metallic-spined backs of the forsaken in the process. Which of the creatures were under Terico and Jujor’s control at this point was impossible to tell—as far as Terico could see, the world was a sea of claws, fur, flesh, and blood.

  A couple forsaken slipped past Terico’s captured creatures. Terico used his green Nexi to bind one, then readied his light blue Nexi to freeze the other. The instant the first forsaken was bound by vines, the second creature immediately latched its teeth on the vine and pulled. It wrenched the stone straight from Terico’s grasp, almost making him lose all his other stones in the process.

  Another forsaken leaped for Terico from behind. Terico turned and swung his sword into the creature’s chest. He stumbled back, crashing against the back of a forsaken standing upright. The beast turned and swiped its claws for Terico, who swung his sword for it with the first forsaken still impaled in it. Two more forsaken rushed through the multitude, straight for Terico. He left his blade and sprinted forward, blasting the two with light from his white Nexi. The beasts leaped for him blindly, and one of them crashed atop of him with its torso.

  Terico struggled against the frantic forsaken, which clawed the rocks to either side of him in a mad, screeching craze. Terico shoved against it, and the beast slammed the end of its paw against his arm, flinging away all of his Nexi stones. With his free arm, Terico reached for the soul catcher and forced one of his forsaken to leap into the side of the creature attacking him. The tens of forsaken to either side of Terico brawled unceasingly, tearing each other apart until their enemies were in pieces. Terico lost sight of all his remaining Nexi save for the light blue one, so he grabbed it and ran.

  “Keep going!” Jujor screamed above the wild cries of the forsaken.

  How the old man was holding up, Terico couldn’t stop to tell. He ran onward, his heart racing, his lungs nearl
y giving out. On and on, more of the creatures rushed for him, screeching and yelping. Terico controlled as many forsaken as he could manage, stopping the legions of monsters dead in their tracks.

  The end was in sight. The cliff was near, but Terico didn’t have a feasible way of crossing the massive abyss. The gap had to be at least ten meters long, and Terico didn’t have his green Nexi. He almost considered running back for it, knowing he’d be able to reach the Elpis with vines if he still had it. There was no way to find it now though, lost amidst the mobs of bleeding, growling creatures.

  Terico kept running. He kept sending in more forsaken to protect him, kept capturing more of the beasts whenever the opportunity arose—but his mind was a whirlwind of chaos, sheer madness.

  He sprinted toward the cliff, pushing past fighting forsaken with every step, many of the beasts crawling atop one another to get at their prey. Terico’s mind was weary, barely able to formulate coherent thoughts as he struggled to maintain control of so many forsaken. His entire body burned and trembled from the pain and exhaustion of so much running, so much Nexi use, so much fighting, so much screaming, so much insanity.

  With a light blue Nexi in one hand and the soul catcher in the other, Terico reached the edge of the cliff.

  He stopped and turned around, an entire wave of forsaken leaping for him from every direction possible. Terico’s forsaken bashed and clawed against the hordes of mindless beasts, but it only temporarily slowed the swarms down.

  Terico got an idea. I have it.

  He forced all his puppet forsaken to turn to him and run as fast as they possibly could. Terico turned to the nearest forsaken and with all his might, blasted frozen air from his light blue Nexi stone.

  His body nearly collapsed from the effort, but the forsaken froze instantly, encased in a large sheet of ice grafted to the floor and rubble of the cavern and side of the cliff. Terico guided the next several of his creatures to rush to the frozen forsaken. Terico froze the second forsaken to the end of the first, then froze the third to the end of the second. He had to use all his strength to make the ice strong enough to hold, and he had to get the forsaken to leap out with their arms and legs stretched as far as possible. It wouldn’t take much more of this though for Terico to black out from overusing the Nexi.

  Terico turned to the tens of forsaken leaping for him. He ducked beneath some, letting them jump off the cliff, then rushed for the creatures he froze to the side of the cliff. With the power of his indigo Nexi, Terico forced more of his controlled forsaken to rush up the slowly-forming ice bridge of frozen forsaken. He kept some of his beasts fighting off the enemy forsaken, though they were quickly being torn apart by the ravenous monsters. Terico made his way up his ice bridge and forced more of his forsaken to run up after him. The creatures would leap over Terico and run on to the end of the bridge, where Terico would freeze them to the ends of the previously frozen forsaken. The bridge was slick and narrow, and would likely only have the strength to last this one trip across.

  But Terico only needed to reach the Elpis fragment. Once it was in his hands, it would all be over.

  More and more of Terico’s forsaken ran up the slowly-growing ice bridge, but several of the opposing creatures forced their way after them, and fighting between the beasts ensued atop the weak, crackling bridge. Terico slid down and shoved the beasts off, then ordered more of his puppet forsaken to leap past him and on up to the top of the bridge.

  What seemed like a hundred more of the wolf-like creatures leaped out from the anarchy of beasts amongst the shadowy stone rubble. Terico turned and ran after the puppet forsaken ahead of him. Dizzy and nauseous, he felt as if he was slipping off the edge every step of the way.

  He kept running, and with all his might he froze the forsaken running forward in front of him. He jumped atop of each frozen forsaken and kept freezing more of them until he reached the other side of the cliff. Moments after he collapsed on the stone ground, the swarms of fighting forsaken rushed onto the bridge of ice and beasts, collapsing it.

  Terico took deep, painful breaths, but knew he couldn’t stop to rest. Jujor was still out there, fighting off an entire city of the foul creatures.

  Terico looked up to the Elpis fragment several meters above him. It was only a matter of climbing now, and there were plenty of nooks and protrusions to use as footholds. Standing back up made his vision black out for a moment. Fighting against the pain, Terico slipped his Nexi stones in his bag and climbed up toward the glowing Elpis.

  His muscles strained and a part of him just wanted to shut his eyes and lose consciousness, but he kept pushing himself upward. As soon as he was in reach of the Elpis, Terico placed his hand on its smooth opal surface.

  A surge of energy shot through his entire body. All his pain, fatigue, headache, and injury vanished instantly.

  Only to be replaced by an overwhelming blast of agonizing torture. Terico felt as if his insides were on fire, his lungs were breathing in water, his body was constricted in vines, and his mind was freezing in stinging ice. He felt as if he were screaming, but heard nothing. The entire world turned silent, and an all-encompassing light of changing colors consumed everything in Terico’s vision.

  He pulled his hand back, but the Elpis stuck to the palm of his hand. Terico fell backward, losing his grip and footing on the cavern wall.

  But he didn’t fall. The jolt of pain coursing through his body vanished as suddenly as it came, and Terico continued to lie in the air. It was obviously through the power of the Elpis that he was defying gravity, but he did not know how he was wielding it.

  He turned down toward the endless masses of forsaken and took out his soul catcher and light blue Nexi. In the light of the Elpis, both of the Nexi stones shattered into dust. The power of even a fragment of the Elpis overwhelmed that of entire Nexi—even those as rare as the indigo soul catcher.

  The thought came to Terico that with the energy of the Elpis, he should be able to take the souls of all the forsaken. He had felt the fire, the water, the vines, and the ice within the Elpis when he touched it. It made sense that the stone would have the power of all Nexi.

  With a mere thought, the thousands of forsaken turned toward the cliff and sprinted right off the end of it. Every forsaken within Terico’s sight ran as fast as they could, straight for the abyss beneath him.

  With unnatural sight, Terico could see Jujor amidst the bloodstained rubble clearly, as if the old man were standing just a few meters in front of him. The darkness did nothing to hinder Terico’s vision, as glowing light poured from his eyes, lighting everything he gazed at. Jujor looked badly hurt, but he was still standing.

  This power... Terico thought. This is how I will kill Delkol. I will kill him with the very power he sought for. The very thing he destroyed my entire village for!

  Every bone in Terico’s body cracked simultaneously. He stumbled back against the cavern wall, then fell to the hard ground beneath him. He screamed and writhed in pain as he felt all the blood in his body freeze, and every pore of his skin erupt in flames.

  He could hear Jujor yelling Terico’s name, but it felt distant, as if a cry from some long-forgotten memory. Terico tried to let go of the Elpis fragment, but it stuck to him. He screamed and flailed, the pain coursing through his body like a waterfall of blades.

  Terico opened his eyes, gasping for breath.

  He was still underground, enveloped in darkness. He lay on cold, hard stone, but saw Jujor with the dim red glow of his Nexi nearby.

  “Good, you’re alive,” Jujor said. “You weren’t even breathing for a while, there.”

  It took a couple minutes for Terico to slow his breathing a bit and regain his composure. His mind pounded with a terrible headache, but otherwise his body wasn’t in any more of that terrible pain the Elpis gave him. He looked in his hand and saw it wasn’t there.

  “Don’t worry, I’ve got it,” Jujor said. “I’ve got it in its own bag. It seems that it released some of its energy into you when
you touched it. Have to learn how to control it to keep from being overwhelmed by it all. Probably takes a Nexi master to even think of attempting it.”

  “I’ll need it in order to bring Delkol to me,” Terico said.

  “That’s fine,” Jujor said. “I’ll give it back to you. But first we’ll have to figure out a way back out of the city. There are sure to be more forsaken out there. And I’m in no condition to fight anymore.”

  “Were you hurt?” Terico asked.

  “I got clawed in the back,” Jujor said. “I’ve already taken care of it though, while you were unconscious.”

  Terico looked around and saw he was back on the other side of the cliff. “How did you get me back over here?”

  “You dropped this.” Jujor slipped a green Nexi out of his pocket and handed it back to Terico. He apparently used vines to bring Terico across the ravine.

  After Terico explained how he lost all his Nexi stones, Jujor took a light blue Nexi from his pouch and gave it to Terico.

  “Thanks, Jujor,” Terico said. “You’ve helped me a lot already.”

  “It’s thanks to you we’ve got the Elpis fragment, though,” Jujor said, smiling. “This opens up a whole world of possibilities.

  Terico wondered what possibilities Jujor was thinking of, but decided not to bring it up. It was still unclear what Jujor’s goals were in all this, and the fact that he possessed the stone at the moment forced Terico to not do anything rash or suspicious.

  “Judging by the size of the fragment,” Jujor said, “I’d say we have a quarter of the stone. There are three more pieces out there, but who knows how many Delkol has.”

  “He may already have the other three,” Terico said. “We’ll have to make sure he never gets this one.”