Sky Jewel Legacy- Heritage

by Gregory Heal

“She understands that a cleansing needs to happen, and the only sorcerer who can start it is Lord Ferox,” Draconex said.

  “I don’t believe it.” Victor’s heart ached at the thought of Simone being so corruptible.

  “Believe it, old friend. She proved her allegiance after she helped me track down and capture Charles and Jocelyn twenty years ago.”

  Cold chills ran up and down Victor’s body, leaving him sick to his stomach. “What?” he breathed. Simone was responsible for their capture?!

  “And I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” Simone said without a trace of remorse.

  Victor was speechless. How could someone he loved as much as Simone betray him in such a way? Fighting the urge to give up, he looked down at Charles and was given strength. Suddenly, he felt subtle vibrations in the ground, telling him that both Draconex and Simone were about to unleash spells of their own. With the timing of a mystra, he waited for them to fully commit to their attacks before he jumped high into the air with Charles, channeling the air around him to make him jump higher.

  Below, Victor saw the spells collide where he used to be, but only for a split second. Their combined powers released an explosion that struck both Simone and Draconex head-on, sending the former into a wall and the latter farther toward the center of the ballroom.

  As the dark sorcerer came to a stop twenty yards away and Simone lay unconscious, Victor dropped to the ground unharmed.

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  The Sacrarium was only accessible through Grand Mystra Cindergray’s office, which was on the opposite end of Watercress Castle. Jen was lucky that she had Mira and Gavin by her side to hold off several Dark Watchers who had either attempted to cut them off or follow them.

  Mira cracked her snakewhip, sending tendrils of toxic needles at their pursuers, while Jen unlocked Cindergray’s office door with the signet ring. “Got it!” Opening up the door wide enough, she slipped in, followed by Gavin and Mira.

  Slamming the door shut, Gavin reinforced the locks with a protection spell—but he wasn’t relying on it for long. “This won’t hold them forever.”

  Out of breath, Jen said, “We only need a few seconds.” She closed her eyes and thought back to when Cindergray led her to the Sacrarium. She remembered he turned one of his desk knobs two times to open up a secret stairway.

  Jen ran to Cindergray’s desk and turned the handle he had turned, and behind her, the floor fell into a staircase. “Come on!” Jen waved as she started down the stairs. Mira quickly re-coiled her whip and took Gavin’s hand, following Jen. Once they were down the stairs, it disappeared, reverting back into a flat floor.

  Even though Jen had put another barrier between her and the Dark Watchers, she refused to slow down. The more time that she spent away from Victor and Charles, the more she began to worry. She didn’t know if Charles would make it for much longer. Praying that she could return in time to help them escape before it was too late, Jen picked up the pace even more.

  She hoped that Cindergray was keeping Malcolm at bay, who seemed like a completely different person, one filled with evil of its purest form. Any glimmer of him as her loving boyfriend had been snuffed out, twisting her heart in sorrow. Pulling herself from her thoughts, Jen focused on the current objective as she led her friends down a staircase.

  Just two more turns and down one more staircase . . .

  It felt like it was taking them forever to get to the Sacrarium. Making sure Mira and Gavin were still close behind her, Jen’s heart jumped in joy when she saw the brick wall that would grant them passage into the Sacrarium.

  “Jen, please tell me you didn’t forget the way.” Concern filled Mira’s voice.

  “No, we’re right where we’re supposed to be.” Jen reached out like she was warming her hands over an invisible fire and a stand emerged from the wall.

  “Whoa,” Gavin breathed. He watched as Jen put the signet ring into the center of the stand’s wheel.

  “Hold on to me.” As her friends both grabbed an arm, she recited, “Counter-clockwise, never clockwise.” The ground they were standing on rotated them into the wall, but they went through it like a mirage. Before they knew it, they were staring at the floor of the Sacrarium.

  “Follow my lead,” Jen said.

  After a count of three, they all re-oriented themselves to their new surroundings.

  “Okay, that was trippy,” Mira admitted, hanging onto Gavin for support until her balance came back.

  “Every time,” Jen remembered, holding Mira’s hand. “It wears off.” She looked across the room and saw first the Ring of Lancaster, untouched in the same cylindrical display case. Right next to it was the glass room that housed the lost journal of Merlin and the ChronoCrystal. Running up to its entrance, Jen’s breath caught in her throat with anticipation as she slowly pushed open the glass door and approached the journal.

  Will I be able to read it? Am I the Light Bringer? she thought at she stepped closer.

  Gavin and Mira followed Jen inside, making sure to give her enough space.

  “It looks exactly as I had imagined it,” Gavin said, a smile etched across his face.

  Ready to reveal her destiny, Jen glanced at both her friends before she opened it up to the first page.

  Chapter Fifty

  Malcolm’s attacks were strong, but Cindergray had years of practice over the young Dark Watcher so that they only had weakened his spell shield by only a fraction. Praying that Jen was able to reach the Sacrarium unharmed, Cindergray noticed that his shield wasn’t repelling any more attacks.

  Commanding his pegasus to land, he walked up to the busted door and peered through to see no one in the room. Deactivating his spell, he stepped over the splintered door and stood over a large whole. Malcolm had escaped.

  Cursing, Cindergray jumped back on his pegasus and flew out into the main hall. Attempting to cut off Malcolm before he got to the Sacrarium, he took a shortcut through the ballroom, but noticed that Victor was in dire straits and needed help.

  Victor’s arms and legs quickly began to stiffen from over-exhaustion. Still clutching Charles, he was about to make his final stand when a payload of spells came raining down upon Draconex. The first one struck the dark sorcerer in the forehead, causing him to stumble to the ground, angrier than before.

  Victor glanced upward at Grand Mystra Cindergray, who was laying down cover fire for him. Grateful, he smiled weakly as he watched Draconex try to evade or block each and every spell, some managing to hit their mark.

  Draconex, having enough of this one-sided affair, jumped out of the way of Cindergray’s limitless spells and reacted almost instantly with a quick succession of his own. Cindergray’s pegasus was able to evade a few of the larger ones as Victor carried Charles farther away to safety, but one lucky shot clipped one of its wings.

  The pegasus called out in pain as it dipped downward, and Victor caught it with an air spell, taking all that was left of his nexus’s strength to place it gently on the ground. Resuming his original task of carrying Charles to safety, he caught a glimpse of Cindergray, who was still casting spells at Draconex.

  He yelled, “Enough, Orin!”

  “Don’t call me that, old man,” Draconex yelled back amidst spells of his own. His back was toward Victor, indicating that he had taken Cindergray’s bait so that Victor could get Charles to safety.

  It was a battle of two great sorcerers as spells were cast, parried, blocked, and redirected.

  Now safely out of range, Charles was going in and out of consciousness when he tapped Victor on the shoulder. “Brother, stop.”

  Victor didn’t falter. “No,” he said as he carried his brother-in-law toward a protected alcove.

  “I’m responsible for this,” Charles admitted, trying to pry himself from Victor’s grasp.

  “No, you’re not. You gave us a chance by warning us.”

  Victor was almost there. The farther Charles got from the battle, the more energy it would take him to end this . . . if
he had enough strength left inside him, that was.

  “The only reason Draconex attacked tonight was because I wouldn’t disclose the Halostone’s location.” Charles got his feet under him.

  “You didn’t have any choice!” Victor yelled, but before he could say anything else, Charles surprised him with an elbow strike to the solar plexus. Wheezing, Victor fell down, inches away from the alcove.

  “Yes, I did. I’m sorry, Vic.” Charles pushed Victor into the alcove. Turning around, he set his sights back on Draconex after making sure Simone was still out cold. “Tell Jen that I love her.” It felt like blades were stabbing his chest every time he breathed, but he limped closer to the duel.

  Charles reached into his nexus and found the strength to block out the pain. As his eyes turned bright purple, he began to walk normally—even run. Purpose flared in his eyes as he charged headfirst into Draconex, picking him up and slamming him onto the littered ground like a linebacker sacking a quarterback.

  Draconex let Charles punch him in the face, smiling all the while. He dropped his hands to the ground as he absorbed hit after hit.

  “Charles!” he heard Victor say distantly.

  “I won’t let you hurt anybody else,” Charles said as he summoned astromancy, conjuring a dagger out of compressed and pressurized carbon.

  Draconex formed his bloodied, split lips into a grin as Charles began to bring down his weapon for a final blow. An instant later, Charles found himself slammed up against a wall and his dagger shattered next to him.

  Volcanor roared, vibrating the entire frame of Watercress Castle. Whipping its tail on the floor, it stretched its mighty wings outward, claiming victory after saving its master from a deserved death.

  Draconex got up and spat out blood. “I told you. Everyone you care about . . . will die.” He tensed up, charging both of his hands with deadly, crackling energy.

  At that moment, as Charles propped himself up against the wall, he realized that it would be impossible to save both Victor and Cindergray.

  He summoned the full power of his nexus, preparing himself.

  It’s the only way . . .

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Jen couldn’t believe it.

  She couldn’t read the lost journal.

  Not one single word.

  Trawling through the pages, her heart sank.

  I’m not the Light Bringer . . .

  “Jen.” Mira’s voice intruded into her thoughts. “Jen, we have a problem.” Mira pointed at the stand that brought them into the Sacrarium. It was slowly sinking into the ground; that meant one thing.

  “They’ve discovered the Sacrarium,” Jen said, doubly disappointed now.

  “What does it say?” Gavin asked, getting closer and looking over her shoulder.

  “I can’t read it.” Jen flipped the pages, stopping at the first page.

  “You’re not going to believe this,” Gavin started, sounding completely caught off guard, “but I can.”

  “What?!” Jen and Mira asked in unison.

  “I can read it,” Gavin repeated. He pointed at the first sentence and read it aloud: “ ‘I, Grand Mystra Merlin, hereby dedicate these pages to catalog the search for the six MystiCrystals that will lead us to the Halostone.’ ”

  “You’re the Light Bringer!” Mira exclaimed.

  To the side, Jen blinked, awestruck. “But how?"

  Gavin didn’t take his eyes off of the journal as he explained: “I missed my class’s viewing of this journal when a couple of bullies dragged me to the Pit.” He looked between Jen and Mira. “That was the night that Victor saved me, but not before I fell into a coma. After I woke up, I forgot about the journal and searched for Victor so I could thank him.” Gavin lightly ran his hand across the millennia-old page. “I guess I got caught up with the League of Light so much that I never thought about my missed chance at reading the lost journal.”

  Just as Gavin finished, a loud explosion shook the ground. Looking behind him, he saw a smoldering hole where the secret entrance used to be.

  “We need to get out of here,” Jen said, closing the book and sliding it into her shoulder bag.

  “How? Dark Watchers are coming through the only entrance,” Mira pointed out, fingering her snakewhip’s handle.

  “We’ll take the back way. Follow me!”

  Jen reached over the empty podium and took the ChronoCrystal from its resting place. Surprisingly, the gem was warm to the touch, like a living entity. Its dancing colors of blue, green, and orange mesmerized Jen—but only for a second—before she tucked it in beside the journal.

  As the first wave of Dark Watchers crawled into the Sacrarium, Jen led her friends through the side door behind the Ring of Lancaster’s display case, which was now also empty.

  Feeling whole again as she slipped the Ring of Lancaster on her necklace, Jen took up the rear as they ran into the tunnel, which quickly narrowed to an opening barely wide enough for Jen’s shoulders to fit through. She could only imagine how much tighter it was for Gavin.

  At first, when Cindergray had told her of the Sacrarium’s auxiliary tunnel, Jen had wondered under what kind of circumstance would anyone need to use it, but as she was being chased by a horde of Dark Watchers through the underbelly of Watercress Castle, she finally understood.

  The tunnel looked like it hadn’t been used in the past century, though: it was filled with cobwebs and mold, and had no air circulation or light. Gavin, who was in the lead, illuminated his totem orb so they could see where they were going. Mira was behind him with Jen taking up the rear.

  “Do we know where this tunnel goes?” Mira asked, claustrophobically nudged between Gavin and Jen.

  “Grand Mystra Cindergray said it leads to an access hatch by Lac Cravath,” Jen said as she used terramancy to collapse the tunnel behind her, hoping cave-ins would slow down their pursuers.

  “I wonder if he ever had to use this tunnel,” Gavin thought aloud as he lit the way ahead.

  “Probably only to see where it went,” Jen replied, bringing down more rocks.

  No one said anything else, which led to an unsettling silence that was broken occasionally by the clatter of falling rocks, until Gavin slowed down. Tentatively shining the light upward, he looked at the girls and commented, “Time to climb.”

  The sound of their shoes on the metal rungs reverberated off the walls as they ascended toward a closed hatch. With one hand, Gavin tried turning the latch, but to no avail.

  “It’s rusted in place. Jen, can you unlock the latch with terramancy?”

  A rumble of rocks made its way to the trio on the ladder, signaling that Dark Watchers were hot on their heels.

  “I can give it a shot,” Jen said. Before she received her animancy charm, Jen had to master the hybrid forms of terramancy: steel, lightning, and blood. With those skills unlocked, Jen calmed her mind and reached out to the metal hatch. Years without maintenance had corroded the metal lock components together, but as she opened up her nexus and focused harder, the mechanism began to unlock.

  CREEEEEEAAAAKKKKK!

  The latch moved on its own. Gavin slammed his palm into the hatch, and it flew open, letting fresh night air swirl over them. After they were all out, Jen immediately welded the hatch shut by dousing it with white flames.

  “I hope Skarmor’s all right,” Jen said as she heard waves crash along Lac Cravath’s shoreline in the background.

  “Here, I’ll call him,” Mira offered, pulling out her griffin whistle. Pressing her lips together, she blew into the whistle. To the human ears of Jen and Gavin, they could only faintly hear air escaping from its small holes; but to a griffin, it was like a ship’s horn.

  Everyone looked skyward when Skarmor’s piercing call split through the night.

  “And Mystra Wingelius thought I was wasting time at the griffin stables,” Mira said, jumping and waving to catch Skarmor’s attention. She whistled once more, directing Skarmor to land near them.

  Jen felt the wind pick up
and fought to stay upright. “We need to get Victor and Charles, then we’ll be out of here!” She hopped onto Skarmor. Mira and Gavin sat behind her.

  “Jen—” Gavin began to say when the tunnel’s hatch rocketed high into the air.

  They all froze as Malcolm floated up from the tunnel. With blood trickling down his left nostril and eyes as black as soot, he shot both fists outward, unleashing a devastating energy blast so fast that it was impossible to evade.

  Jen winced as she hugged Skarmor with all her might, expecting to be immediately vaporized, but it never came. Something intercepted the blast at the last second . . . something very large and humanoid in form. Flying backward from the full force of the blast, it shrunk into a familiar friend.

  “Treeow?!” Jen said as she caught the cat.

  “A leshy saved us?!” Mira exclaimed as she looked at the cat.

  “A leshy?” Jen asked, confused.

  Gavin didn’t take his eyes off Malcolm and yelled, “Skarmor, get us outta here!”

  Skarmor must have been thinking the same thing; with a few quick flaps of his wings, he was already gaining altitude.

  Jen looked up to see that they were headed straight for Malcolm. She screamed, “Watch out!”

  Skarmor cried out and sliced Malcolm’s face with a sharp talon as he flew by.

  As Malcolm plummeted to the ground, screaming in pain, he managed to spin around and fire several spells, which harmlessly sailed off into the night.

  Jen heard another chilling yell as she set her sights on Watercress.

  “Jen!” Gavin said. “What are you doing?!”

  “Victor and Charles!” was all she yelled back, still cradling Treeow.

  “You don’t even know if they’re still inside! Jen, we need to go! The Grand Mystra entrusted us with keeping the lost journal and ChronoCrystal safe, and that’s what we need to do!” Gavin yelled, this time more forcefully.