- Writing Levels
- Adaptable
- Genres
- I'm wary of magic with lots of rules.
...........................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................
............................... Where gas boils and solid freezes .............................
..........................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................
................................................................................................
..........................................................................................
............................. ILIUM BOOK 1: .............................
..............................................................................
....................... TRIPLE POINT .........................
..................................................................
............................................................
......................................................
................................................
..........................................
....................................
..............................
........................
..................
............
......
...
.
......................................................................................................................
............................... Where gas boils and solid freezes .............................
..........................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................
................................................................................................
..........................................................................................
............................. ILIUM BOOK 1: .............................
..............................................................................
....................... TRIPLE POINT .........................
..................................................................
............................................................
......................................................
................................................
..........................................
....................................
..............................
........................
..................
............
......
...
.
It was a miracle that the biting cold of the Pegulian north did not take Ilsa's life, yet somehow she made it back to the walls of Barvelle. She came to warn them, to give them a few days of preparation, but by the time she awoke from her comatose state it was too late to prepare anything.
Everyone knew that the soldiers should not have found the city so easily. Coul and his soldiers had been expecting the desert forces to stumble through the frozen wasteland, wasting supplies and lives in a desperate effort to find a city that wasn't supposed to exist. Yet here they were, already pounding at the walls.
Coul told himself it didn't matter. He had been prepared for the eventuality that Kaustir would find its way to their gates, and so what if this was a little sooner than expected? There was no way that Kaustir could shatter the stone skin of the city. Even if they did, they would be left to enter a few at a time, through narrow passageways that were heavily guarded. Even Kaustir didn't have the forces for that kind of siege, and the cold would eventually wear them down. The bombs from the Windfish fell flat against snow and rock tens of meters deep, their echoing vibrations scarcely felt as dull rumbling in the deeper parts of the city. Only Eirene's tower was destroyed, and the Archon was long since safely sheltered deep in the city.
But the defenders had forgotten what it might mean that Kaustir had already known where the city was. They were completely unprepared when the Wraiths appeared in their midsts, through tunnels and entrances that few had known existed.
The first few citizens fell with their throats slit. Then the gates cracked open, and within moments, Barvelle was lost to chaos.
~
K'Larr hefted the obsidian cube on scaley digits. His eyes were gaunt, stained with fear and paranoia.
His tablet had not given him the power he desired. After all, it was not K'Larr that wielded the power, but the words inscribed on the tablet. He merely channeled it, simply borrowed it. And when he realized that, when he knew his own position in the ladder of power to be replaceable, he began to perspire. He developed nervous tics, stroking the tablet, incessently making sure it was in its leather pouch over his belly, while fretting how his motions were causing the lettering to erode. He obsessively avoided moisture, and stayed in the confines of his cabin, where it was cool and dark, hissing orders over a series of brass tubes, and handing over meticulous orders to couriers.
"Hunting for fragments of wisdom, digging for shards of brilliance. How long have I sifted sand and silt hoping for something to come?" His voice rasped, although his ship was bathed in the steam wafting up from the steam engines on his ship.
He gripped the obsidian cube, his scales tightening over the smooth surface like leather straps.
~
The Undertaker’s steps grew eager the more they walked along the dark caverns. They were close. Unknowingly, their target had passed near them once before and was now making its way to their inevitable meeting point. Its beastly mind moved by instinct, driven but its taste for flesh.
The dark tendrils of fog suddenly wrapped their surroundings and Ash and the Kindly One’s visions distorted. The walls around them twisted and bulged as if the smooth rock were breathing and palpitating to the rhythm of several heartbeats. It wasn't something they could battle, nevertheless, the Kindly One rotated her blade around her in a dance that dispersed the dark fog. Her vision cleared momentarily but it wasn’t long before the cavern walls began to bubble and live again.
“Your ears!” Ash urged, “Kindly One, cover your ears!” he did as he adviced though the walls to his right began to engulf him like a mass of shimmery dark intestines pouring out of a wound. The dark tendrils dissipated around him until they feebly reached around between his fingers and all that remained was a dark liquid ooze. His vision was back to normal however, he couldn’t know what the Kindly One was seeing nor could he afford to step into her range. The sword dance continued, occasionally hitting solid stone. The echo filled the corridors, each clash of metal and stone pressuring the Undertaker to act.
With one stroke her sword made contact with a fleshy aspect of the wall, ripping it as it began to ooze the same dark liquid in Ash's ears. Her vision cleared and settled on the haggard looking Ash steps away from her darkened blade.
A tremor rippled through the seemingly solid walls and from their path a feral growl echoed out. A simple glance of communication set the duo in motion. They followed the rippled stone into an open space where the creature Grimagar half stood half knelt at its center. It's jaw drooped awkwardly to one side, and its eyes moved madly around the space while dark liquid dripped from its ears. It was disoriented, and this was their chance.
Ash gripped the fleshy ball between his index and thumb. It was a knotted, tormented piece, and it did not need Grimagar's blood to make it any more macabre. Behind him, the Kindly One was still working her sickle from the beast's skull, ruining what had been a sublime surgery.
By the beast's feet Alisah kneeled agape with shock. The lumbering goliath had appeared invulnerable to the other denizens of the labyrinth and yet in an instant he had been slain by the two treekin. She felt strangely sad for the creature who regardless had not even acknowledged her existence in the brief time she had trailed him and, like her, was a condemned criminal of the realm. She turned away as Grimagar's head thumped against the floor as the Kindly One wrenched her weapon free.
"Leave." The sickle narrowly missed the fairy's wing and sent her fluttering away by reflex, back into the darkness of the maze.
Ash enclosed the artifact in his fist. "Let's go."
~
Vydus slipped in and out of consciousness, his mind jumpstarting against the mounting fatigue. He could not feel his legs submerged in the quagmire by the tree near the Shartan's gates or the hand still gripped tightly around his sword.
The Lost Band were far away. He could only pray the Invader's eyes remained fixed on them, away from the lone lieutenant and the great prison.
Carve the path... Carve the path...
Tattersal's words reverberated round his brain. He hoped he'd done enough. Summoning the last of his energy, he pointed towards the Shartan's gaping maw. The moth on his fingertip alighted and swam in his eyes away from him and both succumbed to darkness.