Ilus Rises: Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

Valter drew his hand back, the ink sinking into the table’s wood.

Ambient mana moved through the inscription smoothly.

Essence trickled into his core, stirring and adding more flecks of green to his yellow core.

“That should do it.” He looked up. The room was tall, tall enough to fit him and give him some head room. It was split into two parts, Mya’s small bedroom to the rear and then a room covered in maps. Desks and cupboards filled with them on either side. The middle of the room dominated by a large multi-sided table.

An ingenious little counterweight system allowed it to be raised and lowered, locking bolts pulled out to flip the table. A few false panels removed revealed the scrying formation underneath that they’d heavily modified.

Desari stepped forward and poured in a concoction that smelt like burnt rocks and hair. Petor, himself had gained essence, Desari had broken through to the next stage, her yellow core mixing with green.

He blew out the irritating scent from his nose and backed away.

Petor and Mya were on watch as the afternoon slipped into night, magical lanterns lighting the quarters.

“Little more complicated than I thought it would be,” Valter checked the plans against the inscription. It was tight but it was just as they’d drawn out.

“I’m just glad that Mya had all of this. Would have taken a lot longer starting from scratch than two days.”

Tomorrow afternoon we’ll get a look at this convergence point.

Desari held up the bottle holding the white paste with silver and black flecks, scanning the table.

“Well I think we’re about ready to get started.”

Boots walked over top of them as Mya yelled something.

Her boots thumped onto the upper deck as she opened the door.

“Lets see what this new contraption is capable of.” She looked back at Petor who was scrabbling down the mast.

Desari drew out another potion and tilted it into the bowl at the center of the scrying formation. The liquid was an almost gelatinous black as it fell into the bowl, spreading out without a ripple.

“That mast is fucking tall,” Petor said as he jogged over to catch the door and follow Mya into the room.

She held out four pieces of paper.

“Each has a number on it saying in which order I do the scrying.”

Valter took one. “One.”

“Three,” Petor held up his.

Desari pulled out one. “Four.”

“Lets get this thing started. Petor you good to power me up?”

“Sure,” He closed his eyes. Valter felt a coldness run through his center, making him shift from foot to foot.

“There we are. You feel the mana?”

“Yeah, that’s good. Alright.” Mya stood at one side of the formation. Valter moved to the other side, the bowl in the middle.

He placed down his hands on twin circular formations.

“Picture in your mind a place or person that you have a deep connection to and we’ll see what we can’t pull up.”

White flames appeared in Mya’s eyes as her power spread through the inscription, activating different sections. The black sludge in the bowl started to bubble and boil, the smoke rising into a thickening cloud floating in the air.

Valter focused, remembering Devin, his laughter, a dozen inane questions he asked. Sticking his tongue out as he hammered on a piece of metal with both hands on his hammer. The way he giggled when tickled.

His favorite stories, his mother’s eyes and his hair.

The cloud shifted and shuddered as if it was alive. Dim possibilities of colors dotted the different parts of the cloud, shifting in a way no cloud would.

“This is a far one,” Mya muttered. “Thanks Petor.”

The image cleared up. A boy no longer, but a man. Stout like his father, a shadow of a beard on his face. Simple clothes as he hammered a post into the ground with his hands, then tapped it with a sledgehammer.

He looked back over the fields, beasts ate from the grass and the hay. Beyond were different fields of all kinds.

“Guess he took up farming,” Valter chuckled, his face melting into a smile. In the distance was a familiar mountain range. One he knew from his childhood.

Devin turned his head at something Valter couldn’t hear, towards the edge of the field. A small head of black hair ran across the field as the color disappeared from the clouds.

Mya breathed out, trembling.

Valter quelled his desire to see more. Devin had been happy, working. He wore no armor anymore and well. I might have a grandkid.His somach roiled, how much had he lost to his vengeance? It pricked at his eyes. He’d been so selfish, so blind.

“Thank you Mya,” Valter stepped away from the table, his voice filling the room.

“Not a problem, looks like you have a handsome lad there.” She said, exhaling as she released her hands from the inscription. The cloud rained down on the bowl, less than there had been before.

“He’s grown quick.” Valter smiled, a brittle thing. Just how much had he missed, with one fight or another. How long had anger filled him, revenge his only thought.

“Lets see if I got any messages.” Mya shook her shoulders and her hands, putting them back on the inscription.

He hadn’t noticed Petor’s eyes glowing with green flames as Mya’s illuminated with white versions and a black cloud rose above the bowl.

A rock on a cliff’s edge looking over the sea appeared with words carved into it.

‘Betrayed by Braden to free his father. Gods are all working against us. Though they are not the masters of the sea. The Mardun still trade on new routes. Ella be fair. -L’

Mya smiled as the cloud collapsed back into the bowl and her eyes returned to normal.

“Looks like my crew made it out alive and they’ve been keeping the trade going. Hard working bastards. Petor you’re next.”

“Need more mana?”

“I’m topped off enough,” Mya said.

“Alright,” Petor stepped up to the twin inscribed circles and put his hands into them.

The cloud rose and shimmered into half-color. A woman wearing a rough dress moved through people, checking on them, smiling and offering them a word where she could.

She darted into an alleyway, removing and storing the rough wrapping, revealing her pristine white robes and the medallion that hung from her neck.

“She’s helping the people but in service to Yasseen still?”

Troops saluted her as they passed.

“Lots of fighting forces. Yasseen must have gotten her war.”

The image switched. An older man, weathered by the years and his labors. “He’s added a bit of mass since I last saw him.” Petor chuckled. The man walked on a strong timber wall. Behind him were homes of stone and wood. He glanced over people training in a fenced off area.

The cloud followed him as he turned suddenly. Fields freshly planted lay beyond defensive earthworks cut into the ground. Farmers looked up from their labors at a column of caravans heading for the village.

The man grinned, tapping his hand on the wall and headed for a set of stairs, yelling, his words passing unsaid.

The light dimmed.

“Well gives me some more questions, looks like Yasseen got her war and Aelof started another village.” Petor forced a smile, pulling his hands from the formation. He nodded to Desari before moving to the side, lost in his own thoughts.

Desari stepped forward into his place.

“Gimme a second to gather up some power, I have a feeling I might need it,” Mya said.

Night had set around them, the oars still creaking.

“Who are the dead below decks?” Valter asked.

“Champions of dark gods, pirates. I locked their souls into their bodies and command them. They’re awake endlessly. Endlessly in the near dark of the bottom of the ship, rowing. You ready Desari?” Mya asked.

“Yeah.” She placed her hands in the circle and Mya did the same on her side of the table.

The cloud rose up.

A walled city built in a rough circle, with a section carved out of it. Instead of a harbor and the sea, Magma falls and an abyss lay beyond. Docks still stretched out over the falls. Eccentric towers of all kinds poking out of the city, new bridges spanned magma channels cutting through the city to fall from the cliff it was perched upon.

Flashes of color illuminated the walls of the city.

The view changed to the wall.

Desari let out a pained breath. A middle-aged man with brown hair greying at the sides wearing red-leather armor and various magical devices raised a yellow wooden staff with crystal carved into its sides and poking out of the top.

He reached out and light illuminated his face as he unleashed spells.

Guards drew him back, hardened people with fanged teeth and horns sticking out of their foreheads.

The view changed again. Lava flowed from a volcano, across a plain, creating red rivers that bisected a large city perched on the edge of a cliff measured in kilometers. Lava flowed over the edge into an endless sea of magma.

Rough outposts dotted the plains, each of them fighting off creatures.

The tide was slowing, hundreds fled, leaving the bodies of the dead behind.

The clouds came apart and dissolved, leaving nothing in the bowl.

Desari let out a yell mixed with a sigh, pushing away from the table and walking across the deck as she ran her fingers through her hair.

“Egrin never wanted to have to use his magic to fight. I argued with him on that.”

“Yasseen marches her forces to war. The people I tried to save look safe and have taken steps to protect themselves. I know that it will take a lot to disrupt Yasseen’s rule and bring about the truth of her actions. It has been near three decades since she killed my family. I can wait,” Petor said.

“Well I’m aiming to take on the gods of my entire planet. Right now they don’t know where I am. That’s my best armor. The longer they don’t know about me, the stronger I can get, before sneaking up and shoving a cannon up their arses till they taste the gunpowder.” Mya’s smile was pleasant enough, but the swirling flame in her eyes and the resolute stance belied any part of her words being a joke.

“Devin is safe for now. If he knew that Xander was being resurrected he would be doing something about it I think. Farms have sprouted up and look well tended. War has fallen away, or it at least doesn’t affect where he is.” Valter though on his next words. “I am not a subtle man and well known to people in the area, at least in my armor. If I was to appear it would drive the people that are trying to bring Xander back, into the light, but it would likely make them hide more.”

His eyes flicked to the table. “I shattered his soul. Now I need the power to kill him and beyond that, protect the souls of my wife and daughter that live within his celestial realm Akadia.” His eyes moved to Desari. “Will your Ilus have more information on killing gods?”

“I can’t guarantee the information, but,” She looked at the others, studying each of them before taking a breath. Her eyes boring into the table. “If you help me protect Ilus I will owe you a debt and a promise.”

She rose to her full height, looking into each of their eyes.

Valter stood straighter, crossing his arms.

“Help Ilus, help me and I promise I will be with you when you take on your own tasks.”

They had sworn not to lie, to be true and not attack one another on their first meeting. Thrust together through death, rebirth and singular purposes.

This was deeper, there was no oath, no magic, just their words. Their honor and character upon the line. It wouldn’t be just him facing Xander, it would be all of them bringing their ability their knowledge against him.

Valter looked at the others. Mya with her sharp wit, her abilities in the dark realms of necromancy but with a directness and loyalty reflected in her eyes when she’d smiled at the scrying of her crew. Petor, a warrior, honed through his years that sharpened instead of dulled him. A calm man, appearing with a soft exterior, but solid steel underneath. Valter would have trusted him at his side in any battle. A man eager to learn and know more.

Desari, a woman with a past and a history he hadn’t started to unravel. She cut herself off from others as he had done with new recruits that would join the graves of the unnamed at the end of battle. A woman that shouldn’t care for anyone, but had gradually come to trust them more and more. Under it, a woman that loved to learn, to teach. Who had hardened herself against others, but under it all, if one was to get through, they would find a loyalty few understood.

He had never seen her true self as clearly as he did now. The worry worked into her features, her anxiety.

“I will help you,” Valter said.

“I’m hoping you have a section on necromancy and weapon enchantments. Failing that a good extra spicy romance section,” Mya winked.

“I’m starting to get really attached to the name four horsemen. Think it would sound weird with any other number,” Petor smirked, looping his thumb into his belt to rest his hand on his sling.

Hope filled her eyes, tinged with a worry.

Desari rendered a perfect bow. “Thank you.”

“The decking ain’t that interesting,” Mya moved over and patted Desari on the back, aptly ruining the serious moment.

“We got a lot ahead of us, and we still need to get out of here to wherever Ilus is,” Petor said. “You think that you have enough information to teleport us there?”

Desari shook her head. “No. It could be the fire plane, or the abyssal plane. Though I have also heard of places looking like that in the material plane’s underdark. Knowing the inscription they used I’m pretty sure that it isn’t in another realm or world.”

“When you say realm, what do you mean?” Petor asked.

“A realm is the material plane or world and all associated planes,” Desari said.

Petor nodded.

“So we know that it isn’t here at the very least,” Mya said. “Then does this change anything?”

“No, we still need to get to the material plane and contact my elementals and then Limos.”

“I can support you with mana to increase your stores. I’ve also been working on drawing mana from specific places so I won’t drain Mesurial.”

Desari lowered her head. “Thank you.”

“We’re in this together right?”

“Right,” Valter said.

“Well, with a bit of a push we could reach this convergence by midday tomorrow instead of afternoon,” Mya said, she patted Desari on the back and then headed for the door, kicking a locking pin and turning a handle. The table rose, the paneling sliding back into place as it flipped over back to the map table with a series of locking click’s.