The Aspect: The Cessation's Harbinger

by Ajax Lygan

  “No,” he said, his hands shaking. “You don’t understand. These are priceless artifacts created by the worldsmith, himself. There’s no one who could, not unless I was in the worldforge.”

  “We’ll figure it out just like we always do,” the patriarch said, patting him on the back.

  That was enough waiting for Tempest. Sophia’s pain fanned Tempest’s growing rage. He thought about the fear, sorrow, and suffering she went through just by being associated with Tempest. He thought about Z’Korra, Kiri, and how terrifying their last moments would be. He’d never get to see their smiles or taste Z’Korra’s honied sweets ever again. These people robbed them of their lives and created a dark hole in Sophia’s. He was not about to let them do this to anyone ever again.

  Tempest stood and reached out with both hands, gripping the five individuals in his force magic. He turned them to face him as he lifted them into the air. Their dysmorphic faces were lit with horror as they recognized Tempest and his crew.

  Sophia wasted no time screaming and stabbing the patriarch over and over into his oversized gut with Tempest’s swordstaff. It wasn’t until she stopped, panting, that his massive entrails slipped through the large lacerations, smacking wetly onto the stone floor below.

  The remaining four let out audible grunts and moans as their bodies jerked, trying to free themselves from Tempest’s grasp. Tempest looked into Lady Kalynna’s eyes as tears rolled down her face. “P-ple…” Her words were cut off as Tempest pressed the force around her throat.

  “Ask all those you made to suffer for forgiveness, for I have none.”

  At that moment, Tempest increased his force magic’s pressure on them, giving vent to all of his anger. Their bodies compacted into themselves. Sprays of blood, bone shards, and sinew showered the floor as their frames pierced through their fragile skin.

  It was over in an instant. Tempest’s fists were still shaking when he felt Sophia’s hand on his arm. With her touch, he released his grip, and the bodies slapped to the floor like a pile of sludge. With the patriarch’s blood painting her body, she reached out and gripped his hand.

  “We did it,” she whispered with tear-filled eyes.

  “Yes, we did.”

  14

  A Needed Distraction

  “Captain, that’s the signal!” One-eye shouted from the top of the crow’s nest. Riika ran toward the edge of the bow as the red and blue explosion lit up the night sky.

  “Drop sail and raise the anchor!” Captain Helmrunner shouted, sending the crew scurrying to their positions. The crew hands on the deck unrolled the sails, tying them into position. As everyone tended to their tasks, Riika ran toward the ship’s wheel where Captain Helmrunner stood.

  “How long until we’re moving?” Riika asked, hurriedly.

  “Should be any moment now as soon as the anchor is up,” Captain Helmrunner replied. Riika quickly nodded as she shot back toward the front of the ship. Her fingers tapped along her plated arm bracers, slowly picking up pace as her patience wavered. She chewed on the edge of her nails as she turned toward the Captain who was glaring at the center of the deck where the cargo hatch was. Riika watched as the Captain took a few steps forward, leaned over the railing, and shouted.

  “This is no time for lollygagging, hurry your asses up!”

  Riika could hear the bickering and yelling below deck. When she turned toward Captain Helmrunner, the Captain pointed down at the cargo hatch.

  “Go see if you can lend them that strength of yours.”

  Riika didn’t hesitate and sprinted down the stairs to the quarterdeck, then slid down into the lower deck. She ducked under the hammocks in the crew’s quarters and made her way through the kitchen toward the cargo hold.

  Once she cleared their stash, she made her way past the galley where there was a wooden crank in the middle of the room with a large chain wrapped around it. Three men were trying to pull the anchor through the porthole. When she looked to her left, she could see the crank that was used to raise the anchor was missing its arms.

  “Move!” Riika shouted at the three men as she assumed their position. She propped both feet onto the hull and pulled with all her might. An underwater thud echoed beneath the boat as Riika fell back with the chain. It snaked its way through the porthole until there was no remaining chain left. “We’ll come back for it later,” she said as she made her way back to the quarterdeck.

  “Did you get it?” Captain Helmrunner asked as Riika jumped up the stairs.

  “Yeah, but you no longer have an anchor. We’ll have to grab it on our way back.”

  “Whale shit!”

  “What’s wrong now?” Riika said, throwing up her arms.

  “We’re not getting any wind. No wind, no speed.”

  Riika slid her hand down her face while she made a sound that mimicked an animal dying.

  Captain Helmrunner ran past her, smacked her in the shoulder and then waved Riika toward her. “Come on and follow me.”

  Riika followed the Captain into her quarters.

  Captain Helmrunner slammed open the door and began sliding toward one of her locked chests. “Open that one and start searching,” she said, pointing to the chest right next to her.

  Riika pulled the lock clean from the wood and opened the chest. It was half full of various coins and half full of other valuables like jewels and gems.

  “What am I looking for?” Riika asked as she kneeled toward the floor.

  “It’s a hexagonal blue box. Once you open it, it will have sparkling blue powder.”

  Riika began rummaging through the various trinkets. There were silver mirrors, pearl necklaces, gem encrusted crowns, everything, except for a blue box. On a whim, she dug her arm into the coins and fished around. She grasped a squarish object and pulled it up.

  “This it?” Riika asked, producing a blue hexagonal box.

  The Captain’s face lit up, and she snatched it from Riika’s hand before she could blink.

  Riika followed the Captain back to the helm where she opened the container very slowly. She poured a few speckles of the powder into her other hand before clamping the top of the container shut and shoving it into her pocket.

  “Everyone hold on to your asses!” the Captain shouted. She turned toward Riika and pointed toward the quarterdeck’s railing. “You best grab that rail and hold on tight.”

  Riika did as she was told and watched the Captain grab the ship’s wheel with her right hand and pulled her left arm back before throwing the powder forward.

  An enormous gust of wind propelled the ship forward, and it took off—far above and beyond its normal speed, headed toward the island. The ship’s hull creaked and groaned as it strained under the enormous pressure created by the magical wind.

  Riika could see the island come into view as the ship cut through the waves. When the magical spell finally faded, Riika heard the Captain shouting to her crew.

  “I’m running her aground, boys! Everyone get ready!”

  Riika wasted no time and sprinted to the front of the boat. She timed her next maneuver carefully as the boat came closer to the dagger-like rocks lining the nearby fortress’ walls. She took off at a full sprint just before the ship ran aground.

  The fear in the cultist’s eyes, when Riika jumped from the ship’s bowsprit onto the top of the thirty-foot wall surrounding the island, brought a smile to her face. He screamed in horror as she brought Lightning Breath overhead, slamming the weight of the blade through his body and into the stone.

  An arrow grazed along her cheekbone, bringing her attention to her next victim. She sprinted down the wall, each swing taking another life as the blade slipped carelessly through the skin of her foes. Panting, she stopped to turn around, seeing the grappling hooks from Captain Helmrunner’s crew lock on the edge of the wall. She took a second to scan her surroundings.

  There were only a few guards along the walls, likely because of their attention being brought to the complex’s interior after the signal bo
mb exploded over the center of the complex. However, once they noticed her, they all decided to jump off of the wall into the rocky shoreline below. Why the fuck did they do that? she asked herself.

  Riika’s attention looked toward the opposite side of the island as a sequence of bombs went off deeper into the complex. She shuffled over toward the hooks and leaned over to address the crew. “I’m heading for the main building. You all deal with the guards on the walls and courtyard.”

  “Wait!” Killer shouted. “We’ll go with you.” Riika ignored him, turned, sprinted a few steps, and leaped as far as she could. When she hit the ground, she rolled into an immediate sprint. She checked her surroundings as she headed for the front door.

  Where the fuck are all the guards, she wondered. She threw her shoulder into the twin wood doors, smashing through them like a battering ram. Unexpectedly, there was no one there.

  “Tempest!” she shouted. She waited for a moment, expecting a response, but received nothing. She ran down toward the end of the foyer, which led to an elegant central stairwell and two perpendicular hallways.

  “Tempest! Ella! Saïgra!” Again, there was no response. She pointed her nose in the air, looking for any kind of smell she could use. In the last second, she got a strong hint of blood and smoke coming from upstairs.

  She sprinted up the stairs, toward the second level, letting the scent lead her toward her companions. It led her toward the right hallway, and that’s where she found the first pile of bodies. She gripped her weapon and brought it up toward her shoulder as she crept around the corpses.

  Cloaked and armored cultists funneled through a doorway, lying motionless. Some of the bodies looked like someone had smashed them with a rock, while others had been peppered with the bolts from Ella’s crossbow. As Riika rounded the doorway, more and more bodies lay packed into the small area.

  The defensive line that her companions held was quite apparent as the bodies stacked on top of one another like a small hill, making it difficult for her to climb through. The back wall was on fire around a large makeshift opening, likely made by one of Ella’s bombs. When she reached the hole, she gasped at what she saw.

  Ella, Tempest, and Saïgra were sitting back-to-back-to-back covered in blood, on top of a small cylindrical piece of earth. The entire courtyard surrounding them was a massive, spiked pit of Saïgra’s thorns. Hundreds of trapped cultists screamed as every subtle movement sent a fresh wave of agony coursing through their bodies.

  Riika clasped lightning breath on her back and called out to her friends. “Are you guys all right?”

  They all looked up at her, and Tempest gave a small wave.

  Riika leaned over a bit to see if there was a clear path to get to them. She noticed a small door on the right wing of the complex that had enough cleared dirt to reach them. She brought her hands to her mouth as she shouted. “I am going to make my way to the door over there, and will try to get to you.” She wasn’t sure if the wave Tempest gave was an acknowledgement for her to go there or for her to shut up.

  Riika nearly made it out of the room before slipping on a mixture of brain and fecal matter. She cursed as she pushed herself back up and wiped her boot off. When she got to her feet, she heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

  She slowly stepped to the edge of the corner, readying her blade. When she was certain they were within striking distance, she stepped around the corner and swung as hard as she could. Luckily, she noticed Anchor’s weirdly shaped head before she connected and twisted her wrists to angle her blade into the air.

  “Shit, Riika, you nearly took m’ head off,” Anchor said tapping all around his face, making sure it was still there.

  “What the hell are you doing here? I thought I told you to take care of the walls and courtyard.”

  “We did, Riika. There weren’t but a few stragglers hiding among the ruckus.”

  “I think I know why,” she said, placing her weapon on her back. “There’s a few dozen down the hallway, but there are hundreds out back. It looks like the other three already did all the heavy lifting.”

  “You saying they killed all of ‘em?”

  Riika nodded, as she led the group downstairs and toward the hallway. As they passed several rooms, Riika noted the number of dead bodies that lined the floors. There were no signs of blood or combat.

  This place is huge and going to take time to clear, she thought. There’s likely a few that are still hiding.

  She put that thought to the side as she ran toward the side door she had seen from the second floor. She heard and felt the ground vibrating outside as she reached for the handle. The door opened before she could pull on it.

  Tempest, Ella, and Saïgra stood on the other side. Their blood-soaked bodies and long faces told the story of their exhaustion. Riika looked behind them and saw no trace of the gruesome scene she’d seen from the makeshift balcony. She looked toward Tempest as his swords crashed to the ground.

  “Nice of you all to finally show up.”

  Tempest broke through the surface of the water, gasping for air. He leaned back and floated, looking up at the night sky. The two moons created a serene painting, like two proud parents sitting with their thousands of little children. A sound of bubbling nearby took him out of his relaxed state. He stood, pulled one of his blades toward his hands, and turned, ready to strike.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Brutus said, with his arms stretched out. “I’m sorry to disturb you, but we’ve got the Amnesty loaded full. The Captain said she’s ready to depart whenever everyone is on board.” Tempest let out a sigh and nodded. He began to turn before Brutus called back out to him. “Should I tell them you’re coming, sir?”

  “Does anyone know I am out here?” Tempest asked.

  “I don’t think so.”

  Tempest turned back toward the man and cocked his brow. “Then how did you find me?”

  “I could smell all the blood in the water. Given that you, Ella, and Saïgra were covered head to toe, and the two ladies are back aboard the ship, I took a wild guess.”

  “That’s good, I would appreciate it if you don’t tell anyone I am here, but I’ll head toward the ship shortly.”

  “Can do, sir,” Brutus said with a big smile before his head disappeared underneath the waves.

  Tempest slogged his way up the shore toward where his weapons and clothes were. He had placed them on large boulders hoping to dry them off. His first priority, after they had cleared the grounds, was to get the stench of blood off of him. He didn’t wait for anyone, figuring they could take care of anything that needed doing.

  That wasn’t all, though. He needed some time to himself.

  His hands hadn’t stopped shaking since he’d killed The Cessation’s leaders. He reflected on the anger and pain he felt when he first realized he’d lost Z’Korra and Kiri. Kiri’s soft lips and Z’Korra’s sweets lingered like phantom tastes on his tongue.

  Then, when he saw what they had done to Sophia, there was no more room for forgiveness. He crossed a line he was unsure he could come back from. He had killed dozens of men and women today, and it scared him that he’d felt nothing as he’d crushed and sliced their bodies apart.

  Where do I go from here, he wondered? Is this really my path? The path of the Aspect?

  He pushed such thoughts out of his mind as he grabbed his wet pants and struggled to slip his legs through. Once he had them around his waist, he grabbed the rest of his gear and headed toward the ship. He met up with Killer, who was carrying sacks of food on his shoulder; the last plundering of The Cessation’s fortress.

  “Hey Master Tempest, how are you feeling, sir.”

  “I’m ok, Killer,” Tempest said, giving his best smile. “Brutus told me the ship was full. Is that the last of the cargo?”

  “Yeah, yeah, just a bit more food for us. I’ve never seen the Amnesty packed to the brim as she is. I hope she can float.” The two shared a laugh as they made their approach down the cobblestone hallways leading toward
the inner dock. “Oh, by the way, we found a few cultists who were hiding around in the castle.”

  “You did? They didn’t kill themselves?”

  “Nope, seems like they didn’t have the stones.”

  “Have you talked to them? Have they said anything?”

  Killer just shook his head. “Nope, not a word, even after the boys threatened and smacked them around a bit. We’ve got a brig in the boat we’ve thrown them in until we get back to Halairim. The boys will keep an eye on them in the interim.”

  Tempest nodded as they continued their walk.

  As they entered the dock, Killer announced their presence to the crew. “Hey look who I found.”

  Captain Helmrunner made her way toward the loading ramp and clasped Tempest’s arm as he came on board.

  “Glad to have you back,” she said with a wide smile. “I never would have imagined this would become the most lucrative adventure of my life.”

  “Well, you deserve it,” Tempest said, throwing his shirt over his shoulder. “Without you and the crew, we wouldn’t have been able to save Sophia and get the justice our friends deserved.”

  Samara gave a slight bow before looking him up and down. “Why don’t you check with one of the crew and borrow someone’s trousers, unless you prefer to go all natural,” she said with a wink.

  Tempest chuckled and shook his head. “I’m quite all right. I’ll just lay these out to dry when I go to sleep. Speaking of which, have you seen the others?”

  Samara nodded and turned to the back of the ship.

  “Ella and Riika are back in the room. They went there after they got Ella cleaned up. As you can see on the back of the quarterdeck, Saïgra has planted herself. I heard from the crew that she was pretty worn out from all the action.”

  The Captain pointed to the top of the mast. “Sophia climbed up into the crow’s nest with a few bottles of wine. I told the crew not to bother her, but it might be a good idea for you to check on her.”