Retribution, p.62
Retribution, page 62
“You are trying to win, but you should be trying to learn.”
Recalling how a third sword had appeared over her shoulder, then a fourth by her hip, I imagined similar blades hovering around me. Aether flowed from my core. From my peripheral vision, I watched the purple light flicker like sunbeams through stained glass. Sensing my own distraction, I closed my eyes, entirely focused on the mental image.
The aether was there, but I couldn’t shape it. Thinking perhaps it was a matter of dividing my attention, I released the blades in my hands.
Another of the things came for me. I listened as its taloned feet scratched against the smooth mana-forged surface. Although I could feel the aether infusing its body, I focused instead on the sound of air rushing over the surface of its dark flesh when it attacked. Eyes still closed, I caught one arm, then the other. A third scraped across the scales of my armor. With a swift turn, I lifted its emaciated body and tossed it, sensing as its physical form was reabsorbed by the void.
Minutes past in this state of flux. I defended myself when necessary, otherwise focused entirely on the aether. I treated it like meditation, letting myself stop worrying about whether it worked as I embraced the effort itself.
I kept track of the time by counting the monsters I slew as they crawled out one by one to attack. Five became ten, became twenty, and then forty. When I eventually lost count, I acknowledged the need for a break and took the doorway back to the others.
Mica and Lyra, who had been watching me for the last thirty minutes or so, avoided my eyes, and I realized I was scowling, my frustration bleeding through my attempts to limit my expectations and stay calm. I wiped the dour expression off my face. “I’m getting closer,” I assured them, although I wasn’t entirely sure that was true.
The twang of a bowstring drew my attention to Ellie, who was standing on the opposing edge of the platform and summoning arrow after arrow. Some she sent off into the void, directionless, while others she let dissipate. Boo watched her attentively, occasionally making deep grunting and humming noises.
She must have felt me looking at her; she glanced in my direction, but immediately refocused on her training. “I need to get faster,” she said simply.
As I watched another glowing arrow streak through the darkness, I had an epiphany.
“El,” I said, excitement practically vibrating out of me.
She stopped middraw, her lips pursing into a pouty frown. “Huh?”
“I need you to train me!” Moving to stand in front of her, I rested my hands on her shoulders, turning her body to face me directly. “The tether you use to maintain a spell's shape. That’s what I’m missing.”
Her brows furrowed, and she looked at me with obvious confusion. “I can’t teach you that, though. The spellform just kind of…does it. I don’t know—”
“But you do,” I insisted, a smile widening across my face. “The spellform may help you shape the mana, but it’s still your mana. The way it feels, the shape it takes, that’s what I need to understand.
Ellie looked to the others for support. “But I—”
Lyra cut in, saying, “It is true that the runes provide the shape of the spell, but it is the mage’s knowledge and understanding that allows them to master it. Although you are just beginning, you still know about this spell. Whether you can provide enough context into your understanding for Regent Leywin to share your insight, I can’t say.”
“I mean, of course I’ll try,” she said after a moment, smiling weakly and hanging her bow over her shoulder. “So, um, where do we start?”
Ellie sat in the center of the platform, her eyes closed. Several spheres of mana gently orbited her, each glowing with soft white light.
I was pacing slowly around her in the opposite direction of the sphere's orbit. Realmheart was active, conjuring the glowing purple runes under my eyes and across my skin and revealing the mana particles. There was a constant flow of mana from Ellie’s core into her spellform, which then sent a thread of mana out to each of the spheres: the tether that Ellie had felt.
She wasn’t manipulating the atmospheric mana, which was how a conjurer would do something similar, but utilizing her own purified mana in a method consistent with being an augmenter. But I still didn’t understand what the spellform was doing. The effect of sustaining her spell without her conscious input—or even understanding—was closer to how an artifact might work than an actively cast spell.
The important part for me, however, was whether or not I could simulate this ability to do something similar with aether.
One of the threads shone brighter suddenly. “What did you just do?” I asked, homing in on the phenomena.
“It’s sort of like…flexing a muscle,” she said slowly, thinking about each word. “Like when you are trying to relax before meditation, and you tighten and release each individual muscle. Some of them are hard because you don’t use them very often. I’ve been stretching, trying to touch the tether itself, and I think I just did.”
“I saw it,” I said, mulling over her explanation.
As I paced, I formed a sphere of aether, the amethyst light of which stained Ellie’s mana pink. At a thought, the sphere lifted out of my grasp, hovering just a few inches above my palms.
Thinking of Ellie’s description, I began to flex and release the various parts of my focus. Similar to how I’d found the gaps around the edge of the illusion in the third ruin, I needed to bring any unconscious aspects of my aether usage into my conscious mind.
It was difficult. As Grey, I’d learned the internal manipulation of ki, and become exceedingly efficient at it. Then, as a quadra-elemental mage, I’d been an augmenter, shaping mana inside myself before sending it outward as a spell. This had carried over into my aetheric abilities as well, with all my powers either being initiated within my body or channeled through a godrune.
But Ellie was an augmenter as well. She may have had the benefit of a spellform to shape the mana for her, but that didn’t change the fact that her technique was still possible.
I returned my attention to her, the spellform, and the tether of mana particles that flowed between Ellie and the orbiting sphere. The key was there. I just needed to find it.
Mica’s image in the doorway vanished as Ellie completed the connection utilizing her aether-imbued mana arrows. With one hand, I unleashed an aetheric burst that destroyed three creeping monsters. With the other, I caught a barbed tail that had lashed out at Ellie. Before the monster could react, I activated Burst Step, having already pushed aether into my muscles, joints, and tendons.
The single near-instant step took me across the platform, where my armored elbow impacted against a two-faced horror’s skull, crushing it. I still had the other monster by the tail, and its momentum carried it into two more only partially on the platform. All three went flying away into the void in a tangle of shattered limbs.
Arrows zipped past me constantly, leaving bright afterimages in the dark before impacting target after target.
Boo was back-to-back with Ellie with three of the misshapen horrors pinned beneath him. A violet blade of aether spun around the pair, chopping and hacking at anything that came too close.
By studying Ellie’s tethering ability, I had been able to visualize something similar, like an invisible third arm attached to the weapon and holding it aloft, freeing my hands and giving me a wider range of motion. It was imperfect. It took very nearly all my focus, and I had to be aware of where it was in relation to my allies at all times; my control over it was clumsy at best.
Still, after several hours of practice, I had learned how to wield the sword from up to twenty feet, which proved especially useful when I was focused on imbuing aether into Ellie’s arrows. This had allowed us to progress to the twelfth platform, where Regis, Mica, and Lyra were defending themselves against a horde of attackers.
Boo roared out a warning as a jagged, spiderish manifestation dropped from above, too many arms and legs splayed out as it plummeted toward Ellie.
Aether concentrated in my fist, quickly building up enough pressure to make the small bones ache.
Mentally reaffirming my grip on the aetheric sword, I lifted it above Ellie and slashed with all the grace of a butcher’s cleaver.
Ellie dodged away from the falling monster, but two more were clamoring onto the platform less than five feet from where she ended up.
The aether blade sheared off several limbs with the first strike then split the monster in two with the second, raining down thick black ichor. At the same time, I released the aetheric blast that had built up in my hand, obliterating the two other grasping horrors before their claws could reach her.
Lunging across the platform away from the striking tail of another, I headed for the doorway to the next platform. Ellie raced to meet me there, sending arrows back past me. I heard the mana sink into my pursuer’s flesh, and its body clatter to the floor.
Ellie conjured two arrows, and I hurried to imbue them both with aether while simultaneously swinging the hovering blade, hacking apart any enemies that got close enough. Boo rushed around the edge of the platform, his massive paws delivering crushing blows to monster after monster.
The first arrow sank into the portal right next to us. Barely an instant later, the second was arcing through the void, aimed at a door almost five hundred feet away.
I knew from the relief on Ellie’s tense face that the arrow had hit its mark, and I took Ellie by the arm with one hand as the other pressed against the door. When I channeled aether, she vanished off the platform and her image appeared in the glossy black panel.
Instantly, both arrows detonated as her connection to the mana was severed, releasing my aether into the tether her arrows created, and she vanished again.
Boo howled in pain as a headless abomination with deformed limbs covered in spurs landed on his back and tore at his tough hide, but there were three more between us.
Dismissing the tethered sword, I reconjured it into my hand, set my feet, and Burst Stepped toward the guardian bear. At the end of the step, I released my weapon. It spun away in a blur, passing through Boo’s attacker before dissolving in the void. Behind me, three corpses sloughed to the ground in pieces.
I knew when Ellie had reached the next platform because Boo vanished with a pop, and I wasted no time in entering the door myself. Within it, I could more clearly see the next platform and the series of doors surrounding it. Picking one of the three that faced back in this direction, I thought about moving to it.
I drifted forward out of the door and into open space. It was a familiar sensation by now. Little by little, I picked up speed as the void seethed with oozing shadows around me.
During the slow passage of time between the two platforms, I watched my companions battle the now constant surge of skeletally thin humanoid monsters that poured out of the inky black space between platforms.
Regis blazed with violently purple aetheric flames, which he unleashed from his mouth to engulf several monsters at a time. He never stopped moving, throwing himself between our companions and their attackers, absorbing as much punishment as possible.
Mica and Lyra fought back-to-back with Ellie in between them. Walls of jagged black void wind sprang up wherever a monster appeared, keeping the tide at bay as Mica’s hammer unleashed cannonball-sized lumps of stone and Ellie fired arrow after arrow. Whenever a creature was able to approach, the oversized hammer crushed it into the ground or a burst of void wind vibrated it apart.
The second I arrived on the platform, Regis vanished into the doorway, and I took up his role as defender. While the conjured horror’s claws weren’t slowed by the aetheric barrier any more than the mana protecting my companions, the relic armor deflected all but the most direct blows. In concert with my ability to heal rapidly, I shrugged off a number of strikes that would have killed any of the others.
Regis reappeared on the platform a moment later, and my stomach sank, fearing another dead end.
‘The exit portal is on the next platform,’ Regis thought, excitement bubbling under the surface of his thoughts.
“Hold the line!” I shouted, spinning around slashing claws before driving a blade into the attacker’s chest. “This is it, we’re almost out of here.”
Mica let out a victorious battle cry and slammed her hammer into the ground. Stone spikes stabbed up through half a dozen monsters, then burst apart, sending sharp shards of rock into as many more.
In response, Ellie gathered a silvery orb of mana and sent it into Mica, replenishing her mana levels even as she began to unleash bigger and more devastating spells.
‘Hey,’ Regis thought when he arrived on the distant platform a minute later. ‘It’s safe here. No more H. R. Giger-fever-dream-looking monstrosities.’
I refused to allow myself to relax with the end so close. A misstep now would be catastrophic. “Mica, you’re up!”
A gravity well formed to one side of the platform, dragging several monsters off it and clearing Mica’s way to the portal. She wasted no time in closing the distance, and I instantly sent her into the door. Ellie and I hurried to imbue the arrows as Lyra and Boo defended us. I supported them with the hovering blade, hacking and chopping at the endless horde.
It took almost a full minute for Mica to appear on the far platform, after which Lyra went next. To better defend ourselves now that we were down to three, Ellie, Boo, and I moved to the center of the fifty-foot-wide platform. Boo guarded Ellie from one side while I guarded the other. We became a maelstrom of aetheric blasts, mana arrows, and razor-sharp claws, keeping back the tide until I counted to sixty in my head.
“Time,” I announced, grabbing my sister and Burst Stepping to the door. We imbued the arrows in an instant, and then I sent her through.
Alone on the platform with Boo, I fell into a rhythm, moving with deadly efficiency as I carved through attacker after attacker. When the minute was up and Boo teleported away, though, I was glad to step through the door and begin my last short voyage through this zone. A smothering mental fatigue was hovering just outside my thoughts, but I could feel it pushing in like the leading edge of a storm.
“So, that’s what it looks like when you go all out…” Ellie said as I stepped out of the door a minute later. Her shoulders were sagging, and there were dark bags under her eyes like she hadn’t slept in days.
Wrapping my arm around her shoulders, I dragged her along with me to the exit portal. She was tired enough not to protest.
I wasn’t entirely sure what waited on the other side. According to my mental map, this was the last zone before reaching the final ruin, but I hadn’t interacted with any other zone that took me out of my own body. Perhaps we would just wake up, refreshed and ready to go on to the next zone. Perhaps not…
Feeling certain that I wouldn’t need the Compass, since we weren’t actually traveling anywhere, I reached for the portal.
“Wait,” Ellie said, pulling away from me. She hesitated as everyone looked in her direction.
“What is it?” I asked, searching her eyes.
“I know the ruin is important, and obviously reaching it is our goal, but…” She swallowed and took a moment to find the words. “I don’t think we’ll ever get another opportunity like this.” She gestured behind her into the void. “I came here to learn about my powers, to train and get stronger. I think we all did. It’s like you said, about the aether orb thing…that’s how you trained. Well, isn’t this a chance for us to do the same?” She looked at Mica and Lyra. “You both have gotten better already, and I definitely have.” Her eyes drifted back to me. “Even you’ve been able to progress here. You learned that flying sword thing so fast.”
She took a steadying breath, then continued. “I don’t know what’s going to happen between Dicathen and Alacrya—and even Epheotus—but I know I need to get a lot stronger if I want to be able to protect myself and…Mom. I—”
“El,” I said softly, reaching out to her.
She batted my hand away and forced herself to stand up straight. “I know what you’re going to say, that you’ll always be there to protect us, but we both know you can’t be. You don’t know where you’ll be dragged off to next. But my point, anyway, is that we have this place where we can fight and train and even if dying here sucks, we just wake back up. We should take advantage of it.”
She took a deep, steadying breath and looked defiantly into my eyes. “We should do it again.”
421
ONE LAST RUIN
The noise and turmoil of combat filled my senses as I watched each of my companions carefully. Whining squeals of pain erupted from the horde of scurrying monsters, while Boo voiced his battle fury in a roar that shook the mana that made up this platform. Mica and Lyra shouted at each other in turn as they worked side by side to hold off the surge.
Although Ellie herself was quiet, she made the most noise of all.
Three explosions rocked the small platform as Ellie jumped backward, away from the scything claws of a three-armed monster. Her attacker, along with three more of the grotesque manifestations that had only been halfway on the platform, vanished in a flash of white light. When the light faded, Boo was standing between her and the source of the blast.
It had happened so fast I had to replay it in my mind, slower and more deliberate. As she dodged inward, away from the edge, she had dropped three globes of softly glowing mana. Tucking into a roll, she then immediately sent a pulse of mana through the tether connecting her to the spheres, causing them to erupt one after the other. The contained power was enough that she cleared that corner of the platform of enemies.
In almost the same breath, she sent a ripple of mana through the air to Boo. I recognized this as a command trigger for him to teleport. As Mica had rightly pointed out, relying on emotional outbursts to trigger the guardian bear’s teleportation wasn’t an effective battle strategy, so Ellie had been practicing its control over the last few runs. At the command, Boo had disappeared from behind her and reappeared in front of her, shielding her from some of the force.
