Claire was a fairy dancing on the wind as she fired out bolts of black and purple. They struck the chaotic beasts, causing them to cry out as their bodies started to decay in real time. Black flames burned through their bodies and purple lines traced through their veins.
When she missed—she rarely missed—the stone walls would explode and then start to decay for a few seconds, leaving black marks on the walls.
People were fighting all across the levels, the church a scene of chaos.
She flew back quick as a sparrow, between two bridges and looped up. Blasts came from her hands as she circled over a Drafeng commander, shooting them from above instead of below.
She created a shield, stopping a blast from striking her; she in- creased her weight and shot down. Beams intersected above her.
She hit another chaotic beast with an attack. They contorted and yelled out as they dropped. With their mass, they dropped faster, passing her and Anthony.
“Hey, guys!” Anthony said as she was still dodging attacks and firing. She looked over at Aila, Damien, and Tommie, who were running across a bridge to the other side.
She saw them jump out onto the inner wall of the church and climb up it. She and Anthony were far enough down that the chaotic beasts and commanders couldn’t hit them through the bridges. Debris and rocks fell from above and she had to dodge those as they tried to clear the obstacles in their path.
Claire dodged elegantly and she came to land on the ground.
She reached the ground before Anthony.
Boom! Anthony hit the ground hard enough to make the ground shake.
Pretty good aim. The Lord of Light statue was now shattered pieces and her fiancé was now three feet below where the statue had been.
“Ow.”
Claire kicked the Lord of Light’s head out of the way and shot a blast of mana at it, turning it into powder. She moved to the right; a rock landed where she had been a second ago.
She was about to call out to Anthony when several bridges crashed down. She dodged them as she heard wing flaps and a pow- erful presence.
***
Tommie, Aila, and Damien walked through the lower floors of the Church of Light. Tommie was looking around, studying the en- chantments that ran through the building.
“Enchantments for lighting, for heating. They took the time to make the enchantments look like designs in the walls, a blend of gnome functionality and elven design. Using the strengths of both, the flowing carvings make the flow of power move through easier. This entire building is just one large machine. Though the enchant- ments are only working partially. There are some paths that are un- used and the enchantments have been missed.” Tommie fell silent as they walked across the main floor of the church.
In the middle, there was a fountain with a statue standing among brilliant white flames, a representation of the Lord of Light. He stood there with a benevolent smile on his face, his hand reach- ing out to accept others.
If one got too close, they would be burned by the flames sur- rounding him.
Tommie, Aila, and Damien were focused on a pillar in the cor- ner of the room.
Tommie looked down.
Power is still channeling through the floor, but it is being re- strained. That statue must have more to it, and the fountain too. If we remove the limiting factors on the power draw, then it should burn through the added enchantments. If this was made by a gnome, they would have added enchantments to rebuild the original enchant- ments and formations. We just need to trigger it.
He looked at the room ahead. It was one of the main support- ing pillars that ran up to the top of the church. There was a room around the pillar, covered in murals.
Aila came to a stop. “What do we do now?”
People were studying the murals in hushed, revered tones. “Too many people. Let’s go to the higher levels,” Tommie said.
Damien led the way; he knew the building like the back of his hand. He had been a Guardian acolyte before, so he had spent many days running through these same halls.
He was quiet as they headed to the next location.
They opened a door, finding two guards playing a game of cards. In the center of the room, there was a pillar covered in an en- chanted sleeve.
“What are you doing in here? This room is restricted.” One of the guards looked over.
An explosion rocked the upper floors.
“Clearing house.” Damien’s hammer came out and hit the two men. The blow knocked them out as they crumpled to the floor.
“Get working. Anthony and Claire must’ve found the Drafeng. We need to break these enchantments.” Damien moved to the sleeve.
“Wait! Let me study it for a second or else we might do more harm than good!” Tommie yelled, raising his hands.
Damien halted his movements.
Tommie studied the pillar. The work was crude but effective.
He took out charcoal and drew circles on the sleeve.
Aila cut off the men’s pants and used it to bind and gag them. “Hit the spots I have circled,” Tommie said.
Damien used his hammer. He hit one location, building up momentum. He increased his speed, striking the other locations one after another.
The sleeve started to spark mana and show cracks through it. He hit the final location and the sleeve fell apart, crumbling. The white light from before disappeared and a pillar filled with purple enchantments was revealed. The enchantments started to glow and the pillar started to repair itself, drawing power back in. The white stone around the pillar started to change.
“Good. It’s started to rebuild itself. We need to head to the oth- ers.” Tommie looked at Damien, who was now back to his original appearance.
“Get on my back. I want to see just how powerful these Light bringers are!”
Tommie didn’t think about how embarrassing it was to jump on another man’s back and ride him like a mount as Damien grabbed him and put him up there. Tommie grabbed a stun bomb from his belt as he grabbed the back of Damien’s armor.
“I’ll lead. I haven’t lost my cover and I can distract people a bit maybe,” Aila said.
“Let’s go,” Damien said.
Aila led the way and started to break into a run. Purple power was leaking from the building, drawn to the higher levels. There was an explosion; as one looked up, they could see through the en- tire church to the burning flames above. Blasts of magic and anoth- er power shot through the air. Beasts that Tommie had never seen before charged forward. Their bodies twisted to create wings and other appendages to attack the source of the magical blasts.
A man clashed with them inside the room. The waves of force blew holes in the walls before he was struck and shot out into midair. He plummeted; the source of magic dropped as well.
People screamed and ran, the guards rushing out.
The trio ran into a group of guards down the next hallway.
“I came in like a wreeaaa-aking ball!” Damien yelled as he swung, not giving them any time to react as his hammer moved. He
was true to his words as he barreled through them, sending peo- ple flying as he connected with their bodies. He staggered and kept running after Aila, who was still guiding them.
Claire grabbed Anthony and blew a hole in the side of the tow- er, crashing into a new level. The chaotic beasts from above jumped out of the room they were in, crawling across the inner walls or fly- ing from the higher level to the lower level.
Aila got to the next room, which Claire had told them about.
Damien charged it as Tommie saw a group of guards rounding the corner.
He threw out his stun bomb as they raised their bows at the gnome-riding guard charging into a door.
The stun bomb went off, discharging electricity through the guards. They stayed up for a few seconds. Every muscle in their body tensed before they collapsed. Their eyes rolled back and their muscles twitched.
“What is that?”
“Lightning attack. Messes with people
’s bodies, makes familiars go rampant and knock their masters out,” Tommie said with a pleased smile. Damien charged through the door as if it wasn’t there. Tommie ducked in time, covered in dust. The two guards in- side were thrown away, hitting the walls and groaning.
He looked at the pillar, this one too had a sleeve, his mind working as fast as possible.
Damien smacked them both, causing them to lose conscious- ness. Tommie blinked through the dust of what had been the door- way.
“Down at your knee—that corner of that L—your right side—where those four lines intersect—” Tommie started to point out the intersection point over Damien’s shoulder. Dust came off them both as they worked. A few seconds later, the sleeve was bro- ken.
“Guards coming and they’re pissed!” Aila said.
“We need to make it to the higher levels, right?” Damien asked. “Yes,” Aila said.
Damien put his hammer on his back, and grabbed an axe from his belt and reached out for Aila.
She just grinned throwing out two stone shards that hit the ground ahead of their attackers, stone golems rapidly formed from the balcony, entertaining their guests.
Aila ran and jumped over a balcony, landing on the roof of one of the bridges that criss-crossed the open space of the tower.
She threw her hands up, calling up shields of stone and air, us- ing a combination of air and earth magic to shoot out shards of stone.
Her main skills leaned towards necromancy, but she was an elf, a blessed child of mana.
Damien was less elegant, crashing ontop of the bridge, leaving cracks in it as he pulled out his second axe.
Their ranged attackers shifted their aim to him, thinking him an easier target.
With a growl his axes lashed out, sending waves of red and black force that tore apart spells and arrows alike.
“Hey guys!” a falling Anthony said as he dropped down, fol- lowed by a flying Claire, who looked like a demoness as she was insta casting several spells at the same time and dodging attacks through the air.
The bridges around the duo were being torn apart.
The bridge exploded near Damien, a near miss spell causing him to lose his footing. He slid and fell, reaching out with his axe he embedded it into the bridge with a grunt he used one arm to haul himself and Tommie back ontop of the bridge and closer to Aila who was still running down the bridge.
A dead chaotic beast hit the bridge, making it shake as Claire hit it with a fireball, punching a hole through its chest and killing it.
The dead chaotic beast flopped over the side of the bridge and fell away.
Rubble and sections of un fortunate bridges started to rain down as Aila reached the opposite side of the bridge she was run- ning across, she threw another stone shard, a golem grew from the wall and reached out, catching her as she flung herself from the bridge a spell striking the bridge and taking off its roof.
The Golem carried her upwards, its lower body still melded with the wall.
“Up we go!” Damien ran and jumped as well, using his axes he slid on the wall a bit, getting a panicked ell from Tommie who was clung to his neck.
Damien threw himself upwards, his axes digging into the wall, following the ragged stone left behind the stone golem that was protecting Aila.
A bridge was broken and dropped away, hitting the bridge that they were on and opening a section of the covered roof to the chaos above. It looked as though the spawn of hell were all rushing down toward them.
Aila jumped over a banister. Damien followed afterward, Tom- mie holding on for dear life as he tried to not look down.
“I am going to be living in a cave underground with no tall buildings around for miles,” the gnome promised himself.
Guards were charging toward them from both directions.
Aila threw out her golem stones, the ground shimmered before it formed into the humanoid golem shapes.
Aila cast spells on them, increasing their abilities and sentience.
Their bodies altered, becoming more refined, they roared be- fore charging the human guards, each of their footfalls making the ground shake as the humans showed fear in their eyes.
“Tommie!” Aila yelled, she threw a dagger, it caught a guard in the leg, a golem hitting them in the chest and sending them flying backwards.
“Uhh, that one,” Tommie pointed at a room.
Damien, to his credit, didn’t even pause, just straight up ran through another wall, with a coughing, spluttering, and nearly headless gnome.
“A little warning next time!” Tommie yelled as Damien shook back and forth. With everything going on, Tommie was just a little testy.
The two guards inside the room yelled and charged Damien. He stepped forward through their attacks as if they hadn’t ex-
isted, his right axe slid through the guard on the same side’s guard, opening their neck as his left axe, cut the second guard behind the knee, he turned and his right axe hit the second guard in the neck.
The two guards dropped to the floor dead and Damien faced the new pillar.
Tommie couldn’t take the sudden movement and the sudden killing, losing his breakfast while still maintaining a death grip on Damien’s neck.
Damien stilled. “Did you just puke on my back?”
“Well, your shoulder. I think some is inside,” Tommie said. “You were moving all over the place.”
“Gross! You puked into my shoulder joint!” “Sounded a bit squeaky? Extra lubricant.” “Dude. Not cool,” Damien complained.
Tommie snorted a bit and then got a whiff of his last meal. “Yeah, not good. Okay, so hit that squiggly line thingy right there.”
“Are you sure you know enchantments?” Damien swung at the enchantment.
“Will you two hurry up or get a room?” Aila yelled from the doorway.
“There.” Tommie pointed to a new spot. “I’m not really sure what these do, but, you know, easier to break things than build them and all that.”
“That’s something we can agree on, little buddy.” Damien chuckled as he landed a few more strikes. The sleeve fell apart, re- vealing the old enchantment that started to repair and spread faster than the others had before.
“Damn, that’s fun! Next!”
***
“Guardians.” Yakish looked down at the woman who had flown through the air, killing tens of his Drafeng regulars as well as the converted chaotic beasts that had once been saints and guards.
He had been working on a project, sending one of his serving Drafeng to meet with the other Drafeng commanders. As soon as he felt the Guardian power, he had alerted all of the Drafeng and they’d rushed to deal with the threat.
“Ah, another Drafeng commander. I smell the reek of corrup- tion upon you.” The woman looked up and let her illusion fall.
“A lich?” Yakish looked at her with surprise. “Ah, you must be a fallen Guardian. Looks like you used your powers for darkness. What is this? You’re much too late to atone for your sins. Do you think the Guardians would thank you?” Yakish laughed as he start- ed to gather power.
She fired attacks up at him.
Yakish dodged them all. He was over ten foot tall in his combat form, but his speed and control was exact. He reached out his hand,
forming a spear in four of his limbs, and hurled them toward the woman.
Szante and Inras appeared, attacking as well. She dodged them all lightly and shot back attacks of her own.
Nura rushed the woman to end her once and for all time.
The woman flashed across space, reaching out to Nura, a calm look on her face.
“Find damnation.” Her voice was sickly sweet as she touched Nura’s arm, tracing it lightly. She then disappeared in a blurry flash. Nura contorted in pain as her arm turned black and withered away. Her chaotic power spewed all over the place as her physical
body was no longer able to contain it.
The mage charged forward again, dodging through their spells.
Yakish fle
w through the air. His blades and weapons protected him as he closed with the woman and stabbed his blades into her.
Huh? He backed away, sensing something was wrong. The lady he had attacked disappeared in motes of light.
It was a projected image! He dodged to the side as five spells shot out. He was missed but Inras and Szante were hit. Yellow and black chains bound them and they dropped to the floor below, try- ing to be free of their bonds.
A glowing spell formation appeared, two of them overlapping one another as a pillar of flames slammed into the ground, followed by a column of lightning.
The bound Drafeng commanders, unable to move, could only scream out as they were torn apart by the magical forces.
Yakish burned his power, and activated the enchantments in the Church of Light. The white glowing power that traveled up the enchantments changed, turning into the rainbow of chaotic colors that clashed with one another.
Drafeng regulars and chaotic beasts landed around him, attack- ing the mage all at once.
She put up a barrier and tried using Project Image. It distracted some but there were so many attacks that it was destroyed and her location was revealed as she tried to fight back.
Inside the Church of Light, the mana was now warping and changing. Clouds started to form and rumble as mana from across Dena was drawn in. Veins of chaotic power started to extend through the church and the surrounding land.
The stone cracked in places as the chaotic veins carved their own path through it.
Yakish saw the mage being overwhelmed and charged forward with several regulars. They charged ahead. She was still powerful, even cornered and defending herself. She downed three of the Drafeng regulars when they reached her barrier and started slam- ming their weapons into it. The power started to drain from her shield and from her.
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