WIEDERGEBURT Act VI: Chapter 4

I was right when I thought Kari would enjoy the architecture of this place. The moment we entered the palace, she immediately began looking over everything within the entrance hall, studying the glowing crystals on the wall, looking at the colonnades lining the walls, and observing the seamless floor that was polished to a shine.

“I wonder how the floor has managed to remain spotless even after thousands of years of disuse,” Kari murmured to herself. “Could it be magic? Are there runes embedded inside of the floor somewhere?”

Siv and I stood off to the side and watched the woman as she meticulously catalogued everything in a leather bound book she had summoned from her storage ring. She was probably drawing out the architecture so she’d be able to refer back to it later on.

“I know you’re excited to see all this, but we really do need to keep going,” I said to Kari.

“R-right. I know that.” Kari looked sheepish as she turned to me and Siv. “I understand that we’re here for a very important reason. I do get that. It’s just…”

She glanced around again, and I sighed as I felt my own will to deny her a chance to study this place slipping. It really was hard for me to deny this woman anything. However, just this once, I knew I had to be firm.

“You can come back and study this place later,” I said. “Right now, we should focus on defeating the Great Overlord of the Seventh Plain first.”

“You’re right,” Kari said morosely. I almost flinched at the anguish in her voice, and I opened my mouth again, tempted to tell her we could spend a few more minutes here.

Then I saw her smile.

“Vixen,” I growled with a fake scowl. “Don’t lead me on like that.”

“I can’t help it,” Kari said. “And I’m not really leading you on. I really do want to explore this place.”

“Adventure addict,” Siv said with a nod.

“Right. Right.” Kari nodded as well. “I’m an adventure addict.”

“Let’s just go,” I said with an amused smile. “The sooner we deal with the Great Overlord of the Seventh Plain, the better.”

Just like in my last life, we traveled down the brightly lit stairs. Unlike last time, there were no Sekbeist waiting for us.

After the stairs were the hallways. I remember that many of the traps had previously been tripped by the Sekbeists the last time I came here, but this time, we had to deal with the traps.

“Whoa!”

Kari leapt back as flames exploded from beneath her feet, forming a pillar that traveled up to the ceiling. The blue flames were so intense all of us began to sweat. Being the one closest to this fire, Kari took several steps back and wiped at her brow.

“That was too close,” she murmured. “That trap was very well hidden. I didn’t even see the runes until they began glowing. This trap must have been set up using some kind of ink that remains invisible until the trap is sprung.”

“We’ll need to be even more careful from now on,” I said.

“Right.” Kari nodded in agreement, then turned to our other companion. “Siv, please stay behind Eryk and me.”

Siv nodded once as she moved closer to me. “Mm. I will.”

We continued traveling, deactivating any traps we came across and overcoming the ones we didn’t see until it was too late. The easiest traps to spot were the axes that fell from the ceiling. You could always tell where they were because the ceiling had a line running through it where the axe was hidden. Trapdoors were harder to spot since whoever had built this place made the trapdoors only activate if you stepped on the invisible rune above it.

Despite the traps littering the hallways, we eventually reached the massive chamber that was so large I couldn’t see the other side. Several dozen meters from the door was an abyss. I still didn’t know how far down this abyss went, but I imagine it honestly couldn’t be that far, considering this floating island had a limited amount of space.

In my past life, we had to use a gondola.

In this life, we simply flew over the chasm.

Because there were no enemies ambushing us from our own shadows, we made it to the underground maze in record time. I couldn’t remember the exact route we had taken last time to exit it. This meant we sometimes found ourselves at a dead end or triggering a trap. Several times they had to double back, pick a different route, and try their luck. It was honestly the maze that cost them the largest amount of time.

After what felt like several hours of walking, we eventually reached a massive door, one that was three or four times larger than a human, made from an alloy I didn’t recognize and covered in runes. Kari walked up to the door and began examining the runes.

“Let’s see… there’s Uruz, Thurisaz, Kenaz, Gebo, Hagalaz, Isa, and Tiwaz.” Kari stroked her jaw as she listed the runes off, then reached out and traced them with her index finger. “It looks like they are all connected in a spider web. See here how the lines of power are flowing to reach rune? It creates a circular flow of Spiritual Power that somehow keeps any from actually leaking. Whoever enchanted this must have been a master rune-crafter.”

“What does it do?” asked Siv.

“It seals whatever is beyond this door into another dimension,” Kari explained. “These runes are somewhat similar to the ones Dunherr used when he opened that Warp Gate in the middle of Midgard, but these are even more complex and delicate. Dunherr’s use of our runes was crude. This is a masterpiece.”

“Can you undo it?” I asked.

Kari looked over at me and grinned. “Of course I can. Who do you--”

I frowned when Kari suddenly stopped talking, spun around, and placed her hands back on the runes. She began muttering under her breath. Even my enhanced hearing couldn’t pick up whatever she said.

“Kari? Is something wrong?”

She didn’t answer me at first, just continued to mutter under her breath, but then she turned around again. The grave expression on her face set me on edge.

“These runes have been tampered with,” she announced.

“What?” I asked.

“Someone tampered with these runes,” she repeated, gesturing toward the door. “I almost missed it, but it looks like the runes on this door was already undone. Then someone remade the runes differently and activated them a second time. You can tell because the lines of power have been redistributed incorrectly. If I had undone these without knowing that, we would have been blown to bits.”

Siv gulped as a grave expression crossed my face, as a chill entered my heart, though I did my best to shove those feelings aside.

“Can you undo them?” I asked.

“Of course. Just give me a minute.”

Kari turned back to the door, her finger lighting up as she began to use the skill Rune Writing to draw her own counterunes of the runes that had been engraved onto the door. This was a skill that I had as well. However, my talent at Rune Writing lacked the finesse of my wife’s. She moved her finger with an elegance and surety that I would never be able to replicate.

It was breathtaking.

It did not take more than ten minutes for Kari to undo the runes. As the glow around them faded, Siv and I stepped forward, placed our hands on the door, and pushed them open. I remember the last time requiring a doze of us to open this door. I was much stronger now than I was back then. Now it only needed me and Siv.

Kari, Siv, and I entered the massive room on the other side. It looked the same as I remembered. The columns that stood in two lines on either side of us was the same and the intricately ribbed ceiling was the same. As we walked further into the room, there were only two things I noticed that was different.

The first was that the two Sekbeists I encountered in my past were not there.

The second was that the the crystal coffin situated on the platform… was empty.

My breathing stopped.

“What… what is this?”

I walked up to the crystal coffin and stared inside. I don’t know what I was expecting to find. A shrunken body maybe? Perhaps I was hoping the Great Overlord of the Seventh Plain would randomly appear? Whatever the case may have been, the fact that we had traveled all this way only to find an empty coffin rattled me.

“I don’t understand.” I turned around and faced Kari and Siv, who were looking at me in concern. “The coffin is empty. Why? The Great Overlord of the Seventh Plain should be here, so why isn’t he here?!”

“I don’t know, but I think we should calm down and think about this,” Kari said as she walked up the platform’s steps and placed a hand on my arm. “Something has obviously changed from your past life. The problem is that we don’t know what. Could it be that the Sekbeists came early without our knowledge and managed to release him?”

I shook my head. “That can’t be it. If it was, I’m sure he would have already attacked us by now. He seemed to have the ability to sense my presence across vast distances. That’s how he found us when we were living in Capistrana.”

Kari bit her lip and went into deep thought, but I could tell she was just as stumped by this whole situation as I was. She probably had it even worse than me. She hadn’t gone on the mission when the Great Overlord of the Seventh Plain was released. All she had to go on was my word.

I looked back at the empty coffin and felt a chill enter my heart. Clutching my chest, I took several deep breaths to keep myself calm, but no matter how calm I tried to act, I was a stormy mess on the inside.

“You two,” Siv suddenly said. “I hear Vydet. She’s crying out.”

“What?”

“Vydet,” Siv repeated. “I can hear her.”

Kari and I could not hear a thing, but our hearing was not as good as Siv’s, so we chose to believe her.

Since there was nothing left for us here, we traveled back up the island’s interior, exited the palace door, and found ourselves standing beside Vydet, Dozziss, and Chiro. The moment we appeared, Vydet turned. I couldn’t be sure, but I was certain I sensed relief coming from the dragons.

“Thank Tiamat you three finally came out! I have grave news,” Vydet said. The chill that had speared my heart suddenly expanded to encompass the rest of my chest. “I just received a telepathic message from my brood. Meerand says people are pouring out of the Warp Gate at your branch office in Midgard. According to him, Nevaria is being attacked by an unknown but very powerful enemy.”

I thought my heart had stopped at his words. A powerful enemy was attacking Nevaria? Who else could it be if not the Great Overlord of the Seventh Plain? I looked at Siv and Kari. While Siv did seem startled, she didn’t seem worried. Kari, on the other hand, had gone pale.

Concentrating, I focused on the Ring of Marji that Lin had given me, and then focused even deeper to find my connection with Fay. We were always connected, but it required me to concentrate to really feel it. It was easier when I was using their elements. This time, when I sought out the connection, I felt intense emotions burst through. That was all I could feel, sadly. This connection didn’t allow me to experience more than vague sensations.

“We need to leave immediately,” I said, opening my eyes.

“Even if you fly there day and night, it will still take you a long time to reach Nevaria,” Dozziss said. “You won’t make it in time.”

“Our family is in Nevaria,” Kari told him. “You can’t expect us to just stand here and do nothing.”

“Of course, I do not expect you to do nothing. I am merely proposing a different method of traveling.”

“What is it?” I asked.

Dozziss didn’t hesitate, though I could tell he was uncertain. “You know that I have touched the Fifth State of Spiritualism. I can, to some degree, manipulate the concept of Space. Ever since our battle five years ago, I have been experimenting with this concept more, and I believe I have reached the point where I can use it to warp space around someone and transport them across vast distances.”

It didn’t take a genius to understand what he was saying. That said, I did find it a little hard to believe.

“You think you can transport us to Nevaria like we were traveling through a Warp Gate?” asked Kari.

“I still do not have complete confidence with this, so the coordinates might be a little off, but I believe I can teleport you close to Nevaria,” Dozziss confirmed. “That said, I have never transported more than myself, and never across such a vast distance.”

I considered what he was saying. Given what he was telling us, I felt we should be cautious since it sounded like he hadn’t mastered this power. This was normally something we should consider carefully, but we didn’t have the time.

“Do it,” I said.

“Very well,” Dozziss said in a grave voice. “I need you three to get close together. It will be best if you hold onto each other. That way I don’t accidentally send you to different locations.”

I didn’t know such a concerning issue could happen, but we didn’t question him and gathered together, all three of us holding each other tightly. At that moment, the area around us grew distorted. Strange fractures appeared in the air. They were like small black slash marks within the sky. The next thing I knew, a black nebula like the Warp Gates appeared around us, and I felt a strange sucking sensation like I was being pulled into a tornado. Everything around us vanished for but an instant, and then we were standing in the middle of an abandoned area.

“Where… are we?” asked Siv.

Letting go of Kari and Siv, I looked around at the moss and vine covered buildings. We were standing on a wide road made of sediment, but the road was cracked and broken, with weeds growing out from between the cracks. Most of the structures were several stories tall. With a startled gasp, I realized where we’d been transported to.

“This is Bucharest!”

“Then we aren’t far from Nevaria,” Kari said with a grim look in her eyes. “Let’s hurry up and move.”

“Right.”

Myself, Siv, and Kari ascended into the air and took off toward Nevaria at speeds that broke the sound barrier.

***

Raul was the youngest person in his class at only eight years old, while everyone else in his class was twelve. Despite this, no one treated him with disrespect. Most of the people around him acted with so much respect it actually made him uncomfortable. Part of that was because he hadn’t done anything to earn that respect himself, but the rest was because he knew they were only treating him this way because of his parents.

While he was the youngest and many people walked on eggshells when they spoke to him, that did not mean he had no friends. Raul had two very good friends. One of them was Jaina Krieger--the newest member of the Kreiger Family. She was Catalyna’s youngest sister, an eleven year old girl who was cheerful and outgoing. She often dragged Raul around and sometimes got him into trouble with his parents. His second friend was Leif Eieran. He was twelve, the oldest among them, and kind of greedy, but he wasn’t a bad person.

Classes had just ended, so Raul was walking out of the academy with Leif and Jaina. He didn’t speak much. That was just how he was. He instead listened to his friends as they argued over what to do now that class was over.

“I think we should go and train!” Jaina was saying. “Mom taught me a new Spiritual Technique that I want to try, and Raul would make the perfect guinea pig--I mean, the perfect sparring partner!”

“Did you just call me a guinea pig?” asked Raul in a dry voice.

Jaine flipped her hair back and blushed. “Of course not. You must be hearing things.”

Though she said that, Jaina often used Raul as a guinea pig of sorts, demanding he spar with her so she could try out her new Spiritual Techniques. She was considered a prodigy when it came to learning them. Raul was also called a prodigy, but that was because he didn’t need to use movements and dances like most Spiritualists to use Spiritual Techniques. He was like his father in that regard. Raul thought that was why Jaine often asked him to spar with her when she was trying out new Spiritual Techniques.

“You know I hate training,” Leif said. “I think we should go into the shopping district and compare the prices of goods sold there.”

“Ugh, but that’s so boring!” Jaine complained.

Just as they entered Nevaria proper, leaving behind the academy grounds, Raul abruptly stopped walking as a shudder traveled down his spine. He looked left. Then he looked right. People were walking all around him. No one seemed to be acting strange, no one was looking around oddly like he was, and yet, Raul suddenly felt as if he’d been dropped in a tub of frozen water.

“Raul?” Jaina asked when she noticed he was no longer walking alongside them. “What is it? Is something wrong?”

“I… I don’t know,” he admitted. “Just feel… like something bad is about to happen… I guess. A bad feeling?”

“I’m sure you are just imagining things,” Leif said. “Maybe you forgot something back home that you know will upset your parents. When the new showers were installed in our manor, I kept forgetting to shut them off. Mother would always complain to me about how I shouldn’t be wasteful when I did that.”

While Raul wanted to believe Leif was right, to forget this feeling and play it off as just a feeling, he could not. He knew that something was going to happen.

Just as this thought was occurring to him, a shrill cry pierced the air. Raul craned his neck to look up. Floating in the sky were three massive birds. He didn’t know how big they were, but it looked like they were at least the size of a two-story house. They were all very beautiful, with a brilliant plume of differently colored feathers. One had brown feathers, another had yellow, and the last had pure white feathers.

Raul felt as if something had gripped his heart.

He was not the only one who noticed these birds either. Everyone in the street was looking up at the creatures and pointing. No one seemed too afraid yet, but Raul was certain that was because they couldn’t understand what was happening. He was confused as well. However, he somehow knew instinctively that whatever these creatures were, they were not friendly.

“What are those? Birds” Jaina suddenly asked.

“Awfully big to be birds,” Leif muttered.

“You guys… I think we should find my mom and Aunt Lin,” Raul said.

Jaine and Leif turned to him.

“Why?” asked Jaina.

Before Raul could even give her a response, lightning crackled around the yellow bird. Massive arches of power shot from its plumage and slammed into several buildings. None of them were very close to Raul and his group, but even they felt the force as the buildings exploded, sending a shower of sparking stone fragments shooting in all directions.

The explosion did far more than just destroy the buildings. Every person near the blasts was destroyed. Their bodies were struck by the incredible power, and then they disappeared as if they’d been turned to ash. However, Raul thought they might be lucky. There were many people who hadn’t been that close to blast zone, and they were struck down by debris covered in electric currents. Some had holes blasted through their chests. Others were struck on the head so hard their heads exploded. A few of the unlucky ones were hit in such a way that their arms or legs were torn off.

Leif turned green, bent over, and began vomiting as screams rent the air. Jaina’s face turned pale. She didn’t throw up, but she had become too frightened to even move. Raul was also frightened. Vague memories from when he was just a child played out within his mind, of a strange monster trying to kill him, of his Sissy using her body to shield him. He pushed the memories back and took a deep breath.

“We need to get out of here,” Raul said, grabbing his friends’ hands. “Come on! Let’s go find my mom! She’ll know what to do!”

His mom was Fay Valstine, one of the strongest Spiritualists in the entire world. Surely, she would know what to do.

***

Lin had been working on some papers when the first explosions struck Nevaria. A distant rumble echoed in her ear. It wasn’t loud enough to cause her concern. Were it just the rumbling of something detonating, she would have played it off as someone practicing a Spiritual Technique or some kids playing with fireworks.

But that wasn’t all she felt.

An intense Spiritual Pressure was pushing down on her.

Getting up from her desk, Lin sped out of her office and traveled outside. There was already a large crowd gathered near the Nevarian Braves’ main entrance. She recognized many of these people since they worked underneath her, but she didn’t know them by name. That wasn’t important anyway.

What was were the massive birds floating in the sky and attacking Nevaria.

One of them was shooting lightning from its plumage, releasing large bolts that struck buildings and the ground, annihilating everything they touched. Even from this distance, Lin could see the people and buildings that disappeared in an intense explosion of lightning. Another bird with white feathers shot beams of light into the ground, tearing out gouges of earth, slicing through roads and buildings with ease. The people those beams touched disappeared. It was like their bodies were made of water that evaporated after touching one of Fay’s flames.

“What… are those?” asked someone.

“I don’t know… but they’re attacking the city!”

“Are they Demon Beasts?!”

“Must be!”

“Why are they attacking Nevaria?!”

Lin listened to the people as they shouted questions that no one could answer. Lin would like some answers herself.

“Lin!” Fay’s shout caused Lin to turn her head. “Lin, I think those are the elemental birds Eryk fought in his past!”

Lin didn’t understand what she meant at first, but then she recalled what Darling said when he told them about the future he came from. Before he was sent to the past, he fought against six elemental birds that had reached the Fourth State of Spiritualism, killing four of them. Yes. These must be the three that got away.

But how come they were here? And why did they appear now?

She shook her head. Now was not the time.

“Fay! Can you distract those creatures? You don’t have to kill them. Just keep them from attacking long enough for this princess to coordinate with Empress Hilda and get an evacuation going! We’ll use the Warp Gates to transport everyone we can to Midgard and Capistrana!”

There were three Warp Gates in Nevaria. Two of them were located in the Nevarian Braves’ headquarters. One of them was at the Imperial Royal Palace.

“I’ll do what I can, but be quick,” Fay said. “Eryk said those birds had reached the Fourth State of Spiritualism. If that’s the case, then they’re SS-Rank Demon Beasts. I might be able to fight off one of them, but I won’t last long against three.”

“Don’t worry! This princess will hurry up and come to help you as quickly as she can!”

Fay nodded before her Spiritual Power exploded out of her, was sucked back in, and then transformed into an intense heat. The Spiritualists near them backed away as Fay turned into a human-shaped fireball. Her body was so hot that heat waves distorted the air.

Bending her knees, Fay blasted off the ground and began traveling toward the elemental birds.

“Everyone!” Lin suddenly shouted, projecting voice so everyone could hear her. Once she was sure she had their attention, she began issuing orders. “Listen up! We are about to begin evacuating civilians through the Warp Gates! This princess wants all of you to form up into groups of six, protect the civilians, and escort them here! If you find anyone else from our sect, tell them what is going on and what their orders are! Do not worry about the giant Demon Beasts! Let Fay and this princess take care of them! Is that understood?!”

Some of the Spiritualists looked afraid, and Lin didn’t think she could blame them, but now was not the time for cowardice.

Bjark and Ingrid stepped forward. They were former mercenaries who had joined the Nevarian Braves early on and were some of its first members. Both of them had also reached the Third State of Spiritualism, making them some of their strongest members.

“Don’t worry, Lin.” Bjark slammed a fist against his chest. “We will make sure to protect and escort all the civilians we can.”

“Just leave this to us,” Ingrid added.

Lin nodded once. “This princess will leave matters here to you then. She has to speak with Empress Hilda and help her coordinate a large scale evacuation before helping Fay.”

Everyone soon broke up, the members of her sect splitting off into groups of six so they could do their jobs. Lin didn’t stick around to watch them. With but a thought, she entered the Fourth State of Spiritualism, merged into the ground, and traveled to the Imperial Royal Palace.