Okay,” Simon announced after ten minutes of thought. “Look at the magma flow on the left and compare it to the right. See the difference?”

  Lechi and Temki, both nearly dehydrated and no longer sweating, looked over to the two circulation tunnels on the other end of the room. The flow of magma was slower than on the other side, and it didn’t seem as if all the magma was going through. After feeling as if they had been cooked in an oven for an hour, they were open to any of Simon’s ideas.

  “What about it…?” Lechi asked.

  “The magma flows in from somewhere else. Maybe from where it’s heated. But if you look at those two tunnels, the flow slows. Kind of like how a dam stops water. There’s something under the magma, like a gate or something. If we could close those gates and stop the outgoing flow…”

  “The magma would just build up in this room. Either that, or it’d cool off and harden, making it even more difficult to get under it.”

  “It will build up and overflow, since it’s coming from one direction.”

  “That’s a good plan—raise the gates so we drown in molten rock.”

  “I don’t think that’ll happen. The operators must have some way to get access to the device library, and this is one place you’d want to keep safe, right? I think something will activate to drain the magma.”

  “Huh… You really think so?”

  “It’s worth a shot. I don’t see any other way of doing anything here.”

  Simon leapt off the catwalk and onto the narrow platform hugging the wall. Temki and Lechi, still holding Tanesh, followed tiredly at a distance. Simon scoured the walls near the tunnel to see if there were any controls to work the gates. After some searching, he found a well-hidden panel that popped upward once he pressed against it.

  A small typewriter with a black and white monitor slid out. Displayed on it was what Simon had been looking for—gate controls. It was a simple computer system, with only two options. “Open” was currently highlighted, and a password was needed to change it to “Close”.

  “See? We would’ve never found this if I didn’t know where to look… Told you there had to be some kind of gate here.”

  “Odd seeing a computer in Aurra,” Lechi replied. “But I suppose the Administration would need them. Any way to get by the password?”

  “Well, I’ve done a few hacking-intos in my life, as a hobby kind of thing, but I don’t really have the equipment for that with me.”

  “So, another setback…” Lechi sighed. “What about you, Temki? Can you scan computer systems with your powers?”

  “I-I can only look at a living thing’s mind…”

  “Hey, it’s not hopeless—I do have one thing on me,” Simon assured.

  He took off his small backpack and shuffled through it. It was filled mostly with flashlights, along with a small oil lantern.

  “Why do you have all those?”

  “Mostly to practice my solar techniques. I’ve been practicing—seeing how I can change different kinds of light. Light is amazing. It comes in all manner of temperatures from all manner of sources. Supposedly, once I get good enough, I could even make something as harmless as a flashlight into a weapon. But anyway… All I’m looking for right now is this one…”

  Simon took out a tube light attached to a battery pack and holder. The surface of the light was a dark black color, and once Simon turned it on, the primitive computer glowed in a soft purple.

  “Didn’t think this one would be useful. It’s a black light.”

  “Oh… Um, okay,” Lechi replied, not quite understanding what Simon was attempting.

  “What’s a black light?” Temki wondered.

  “Ah… Well, it releases mostly light that is invisible to our eyes—like the harmful rays the sun emits. But objects still absorb and reflect the light, and we can see things that were before invisible. Like…” Simon moved the light over the typewriter keys, “…the oil left from fingers.”

  “I see,” Lechi replied. “Yeah, I can see the prints.”

  “Then the password is likely hidden among the most often pressed keys,” Simon explained. “We’d still have to figure out the actual phrase and how many times each key is pressed, but it’d give us a place to start. Looks like the letters are… R, E, N, A, S, and C… Huh… Could be worse.”

  “We have to make a password using that much help?” Lechi sighed.

  “Just let me think. Hm, well if each letter were used only once, you don’t really get anything… I think it’s an actual word though, not just a jumble of letters…”

  “It’s renascence…” Temki spoke up.

  “What was that?”

  “Renascence. I’m pretty sure it is.”

  “How can you be?”

  “Back in the prison, I often heard the Administrators get concerned about some kind ‘renascence’ project. In fact, they talked about it a lot. But I couldn’t make much sense of what anything they said meant.”

  “These letters would spell that, but what does it mean?”

  “It’s a more formal version of ‘rebirth,’” Lechi explained. “Sounds like a word you’d hear in Aurra quite often. There’s no ‘shift’ key on the typewriter… I guess you just type it and see what happens?”

  “You really think that’s the password?”

  “It’s as good a guess as any.”

  “I guess it is… Well, here goes…”

  Simon took a breath, and then typed in the password slowly and carefully. As soon as the last letter was entered, the words vanished and the word “Accepted” briefly flashed on the screen before being replaced by the gate control selection. Simon was stunned for a moment, surprised that the password had worked. He packed up his backpack again quickly before authorizing the total closure of the gate.

  “I guess they really weren’t expecting anyone to get all the way down here, or they would’ve tried harder,” he said with a small laugh as a red-hot slab of metal came out of the magma around each tunnel.

  Previously hidden lights activated in the room, and the shaft above was sealed behind a heavy blast door. For a few moments, the magma began to rise, naturally triggering a fear in the three that they’d soon be engulfed in it. But once the two gates had gone up completely, the magma began to quickly descend into a pit below, turning the ends of the tunnels it was coming out of into the tops of almost alluring magmafalls.

  Steam rose from the bowl-shaped crater below, and the metal and rock that held the magma cracked and hissed as it cooled. Within a few seconds, it was evident what had happened: underneath the magma chamber was another large gate. Now open, the molten rock flowed through until it hit another, even larger chamber maybe a mile below. But this chamber was now empty aside from the two rivers flowing over the side, and what remained was just what the three had been looking for.

  Supported by seven bus-sized reinforced beams was a large island, just prior engulfed by the deadly and hot red lake. Dozens of rows of black, heavy steel casings were all that occupied the island. The small group waited another minute to see if something else would happen—and the automated process continued on its own.

  Nozzles on all sides of the steel basin sprayed coolant intensely over the area, quickly filling it with thick vapor. Once the vapor dissipated, four segments of the basin flipped over, and small access staircases sprung out.

  After five minutes, the chamber had gone from barely survivable to a comfortable operations area with two magmafalls on the side. Whatever was in the coolant also blasted away the thick, hot black sludge remaining, and what was left in its place was a brilliant reflective metal.

  After a few more moments, the ugly but protective black steel casings lowered themselves into the floor. As expected, under them were shelves, lined with marble tablets. Each one was fit snug into a cabinet emitting a soft blue light, giving the strange location a very clean, almost futuristic look that wasn’t prevalent on most of Aurra.

  “What a place to hide something,” Simon exclaimed. “Good job sensing all of this, Temki. I mean, I wouldn’t even begin to think that this was under the magma like that.”

  “Yeah… I’m a little surprised that I was right myself.”

  “So now we’ve just gotta find the right data stones and… remove them, right?” Lechi wondered.

  “If the law isn’t accounted for, I don’t think it’d broadcast,” Simon replied. “But look at all they’ve done just to keep this place hidden and secure. Well, at least the tunnel is closed off—and we’ve got enough light now for the demirriage. But they probably already know we’re down here.”

  “Then we’ve got to be quick about this.”

  “But thorough. If even one part of the law that makes Guardsmen invincible to the rest of us is intact, this could prove to be for nothing.”

  “I might be able to help…” Temki said. “I think I can feel the waves coming from here… Lots of them, each slightly different.”

  “Must be the laws, right?”

  “I would think so. If I can find out exactly where each one comes from, then we should be able to find the right ones quickly.”

  “Man. All this makes me wonder how Rivia managed to get through this central operations area by himself… He must’ve been really amazing in his prime.”

  “And it’s really big. I mean, this whole place under City A is bigger than the City itself.”

  “Kind of like an iceberg, huh?”

  “What?”

  “Never mind. Let’s get to work.”

  The three descended into the large, metal library under them that held the thousands of laws that controlled and shaped Aurrian culture—all while completely unaware of what was going on at the battlefield. Even if they were miles and worlds apart from their friends, they knew well how much they relied on their small group to come through.

  “Feeling better?” Milla asked Jeryn as she applied another layer of ointment to his injured arm. “I think most of the burns are inside. Are you in a lot of pain?”

  “No, and trust me, I know what it’s like to be burned inside. So, it worries me. I think with the combination of the black fire attack and the close call with the fire-riding has burnt out parts of my nervous system.”

  “Hey, no pain doesn’t sound that bad to me,” Garder replied as he looked lazily out at the sunset.

  “Pain tells you when something is wrong, Garder. Sure, you might be able to endure more, but you could go down in battle even faster because you wouldn’t know the full extent of your injuries.”

  “It’s always tactics and life lessons with you, Jeryn…” Garder sighed. “Anyway, I’m just glad that today went reasonably well.”

  Osk, in a new and cleaner uniform, stepped up to the remaining members of the group and stood for a moment in an indifferent stance.

  “I lost about a third of my men out there. I would’ve expected worse. I guess what you said was true… They were all fodder.”

  “They’re removing the weak to better support some anti-revolution force,” Garder responded. “I’m sure Shin and Verim are working hard right now in Hold. Lot of people to sort through… And getting your men back together will be tough.”

  “Not to mention Simon and the kids,” Milla added. “We still don’t know how we’re going to get them back out of there.”

  “Been talking to any of the, ah, POWs?” Jeryn asked.

  Osk replied, “A few, yes. Seems some of them actually want to join us after what the Guard put them through. Not a bad idea, if you ask me. I’m sure there are plenty up in Hold’s kingdom that would give anything to return to here so long as they join our side. We could use the manpower.”

  “Nice,” Garder murmured. “Give the bad guys a chance to help, and tell them that if they don’t and they end up in the kingdom again, there’s no going back… Someone there has probably already figured as much.”

  “And going to Hold also means they no longer have their Guard implants, because they’re inorganic; shouldn’t just grow back. All said, today isn’t quite over. Shin asked us to investigate where the Palm came through. My men are busy scouring what’s left, but they’ve found no claws yet.”

  “There was a pretorian onboard, but who knows if he’s still alive. Maybe he had the pair?” Milla wondered. “Still… I can’t fathom how he’d be able to open a tear so large with only two of them.”

  “I doubt anyone other than the king or the highest pretorian would be entrusted with their only pair. Our answer may lie on the Aurrian side of those dunes.” He pointed in the direction of where the Palm emerged.

  “Then we better get out there before those on the other side retreat.”

  “Yes, and I’ll be accompanying you, so we can get a move on right now if Jeryn’s up for it.”

  “I’ll be fine…” Jeryn said with a small groan as he stood up and wrapped his robes around himself tightly. “But the highest pretorian… Who is that? Do you know?”

  “The highest hasn’t been publicly revealed for centuries. It’s mostly rumors now,” Osk replied. “From what I’ve heard, his name is Drides, and he can kill you simply by looking at you in the eyes.”

  “Really…” Garder replied with skepticism.

  “Those are the rumors, anyway. Pretty much the majority of them.”

  “Didn’t Rivia say he was sent to the Fragmented when someone looked at him?”

  “Well… Yeah, he did, actually…” Garder replied. “But how could someone have that much power? Maybe it was just a mind paralysis technique and he didn’t remember the rest of it. The king, being a mind adept could probably pull that off. But to actually kill someone by looking into their eyes? Something out of a fairy tale. Like Medusa or something.”

  “We should get going. We’ll talk about pretorians later,” Osk said.

  “I’m still running on empty,” Jeryn explained. “I’d assume you could do the sand tunneling technique, Osk?”

  “Of course. Got the claws, Milla?”

  “Always do.”

  “Right. Let’s take a peek for now, and if it looks bad, come back and plan the next step. Another army could be waiting for us for all we know.”

  Osk put three fingers together and quickly said the needed words. Under them, sand lifted up from the hard rock and formed a serpent similar in appearance to Jeryn’s—but more streamlined and elegant in appearance.

  “No matter how many times I use alchemagi on Earth, I don’t think I’ll get used to it. There’s just something not right about it.”

  “It is odd,” Milla replied. “If everyone here knew about it, it’d make this world a very strange place. Nuclear weapons would no longer be the most powerful manmade force. It makes me wonder about the Original.”

  “Could he have brought alchemagi to Earth, too?” Garder asked.

  Before any reply came, Osk’s sand serpent completed itself, and wrapped around the four. Osk’s version of the serpent was different in that its riders were kept mostly out of the body, with exception of their legs, which were securely held inside the compacted particles.

  The serpent took to the air, and then dove into a dune just enough to keep everyone’s head above the sand. Like a dolphin skimming water, it jumped in and out of the sand at high speed until it reached its target.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  The ride was short but intense, and when the serpent disappeared into the sand again, the four looked back to see how far they had come. The mesa looked like a small rock in the middle of the desert, and all around them were small dunes spreading out from a central point. An intense and focused wind had formed in the area a couple hours prior.

  “Oh…” Garder held his stomach and took a few awkward steps forward. “Captain… my insides hated that…”

  “Sorry about that. I would’ve gone faster, but I didn’t know if you were used to the speed elemental traveling can hit.”

  “You could’ve gone faster?”

  “Sure.”

  “Quite impressive, Osk,” Jeryn said, wiping away sand on his robes.

  Garder recovered as Milla took out the pair of claws and began to open a tear. Osk reached for the sunlamp at his side, but quickly realized he didn’t need it. On the other side of the opening, there was an entire field of pillars with sun spheres atop. It appeared to be a large valley or mountain pass. The jagged spires around C were in the background, but closer up was a relatively flat and serene valley. To the west was the entrance to the pass, which offered a clear view to the plains that went on a hundred miles.

  Cautiously, they entered the Aurrian valley, Milla closing the portal behind them. It was an unusually clear early morning, with Aurra’s dark red sun just starting to rise over the horizon. Strewn thinly across the plains were discarded armor and weaponry; signs that an army had been here, but not suggesting any sort of fortification. The moorings that must have held the Palm in place were further off in the distance, but the rest of the valley seemed like it hadn’t been touched.

  “Well, well…” a voice suddenly spoke up.

  Without even being aware of anyone behind them, the four turned around. It was a daunting sight.

  Sitting a few hundred feet in front of them, on a metallic, portable throne atop a stone dais, was King Lontonkon himself. He sat peacefully with no look of aggression, but perhaps he didn’t need one—as he wasn’t alone. A figure in heavy armor was next to him, and to the figure’s side was a girl no older than the twins. The silvery hair and familiar appearance with someone he knew forced Garder to look curiously at her a moment longer. And at the king’s other side was someone particularly unusual.

  A tall man with dark hair, wearing a large scarlet colored robe. Over his left eye was a mechanical device that covered it completely. He was looking beyond the group and didn’t move, as if he weren’t actually there himself, perhaps feeling that the moment was beneath his recognition.

  “Viveri. Now,” the king ordered calmly.

  The four noticed the two tall metal towers spanning half a mile apart. At their tops were glowing orbs, one red, the other blue. Milla had already put the pieces together, but she didn’t find the time to explain—Viveri, the pretorian from the Palm, had leapt out from behind the king’s throne.

  “If you say so, then here goes.”

  Viveri brought up his sword and chucked it with force. Noticing its high angle, none in the group had to dodge the crystalline weapon. It soared above their heads and planted itself firmly in the rocks behind them.

  “And now to trap them…” Viveri sneered and lifted a hand.

  A shimmering, black reflective forcefield formed between the two towers and the sword. The triangular field grew in height until it reached the tops of the towers, forming a very wide three-pronged shape.

  “It’s a… static field?” Milla explained. “It looks like Shin’s.”

  “Not quite,” Viveri replied. “But no gettin’ out of it. Those towers form an anti-alchemagi field. All kinds of it is blocked in there. All of it. That means no claws, no demirriages. Everything’s neutralized in there.”

  “I think they’ve got the idea…” the man inside the armor grumbled. “You and your flashy entrances are really starting to get annoying, Viveri.”

  “Eh… At least I don’t rely on a huge piece of metal, right?”

  “Viveri, enough,” the king scolded him. “I’m sure you all weren’t expecting to see me, were you? Thought it was too easy—what could possibly be waiting for you on the other side? The truth is, no, I didn’t care about the men I sent out there. The Palm and Palar, on the other hand…”

  “Yeah, sorry about that,” Jeryn replied.

  “No big loss. Not at all. Palar will return to me.”

  “Lontonkon… Could we speak for a moment?” Milla asked.

  “With you, Seriph? Of course. You have my respect, and I can understand why you would find Rivia’s goals… moral and just.”

  Garder sneered. He knew that Milla resented Lontonkon as much as he did, but perhaps she was doing the right thing by not jumping into a fight that couldn’t be won.

  “I don’t quite understand all that’s going on here,” Milla said. “But Rivia just wants what is best, doesn’t he? Do you really think our current system should persist? We’ve relied on it for too long, it’s barely evolved.”

  “Yet it still works, does it not?”

  “All those people you’re sending to the Fragmented Dimension… All those newsouls you’re putting into a torturous place…”

  “I won’t lie. We’ve had no other choice. City C decided to betray us, and this is what must happen. Hold is not an infinite realm. We can’t have it become saturated when it has to keep in constant motion. Once C’s connection is returned, this will no longer have to be the way things are.”

  “But I’m not sure if I can forgive you for sending people you don’t approve of to this place. We’ve been there.”

  “It’s only a temporary solution. And we’re not the ones responsible for its existence, or the anomalies known as ghosts, if that makes any difference. But think about something for a moment. If we have enough of those claws in our possession, freeing everyone in that realm will be easy.”

  “It goes beyond that…” Garder replied, trying to keep his nerves in check. “I used to be a pacifist, but after what I’ve seen, I hate judgment even more. I want to end it. Let society judge us instead of a few elites.”

  “How did you get the two claws you have to open a tear big enough to get the Palm through?” Milla asked over Garder.

  “Simple. We amplified their power using standard technology. It was my administration that helped develop the demon, Seriph. We needed a way to travel between the worlds with ease again, and after our failure to restore that old technology, we turned to biological methods instead; perhaps we could make a creature that could develop the ability on its own. But Pangs must’ve learned what we were trying to do and cut off C from the Guard and Administration. He allows the beast to terrorize his people in the process. He’s a rather scared and selfish man, wouldn’t you agree?”

  “And what else could you do with the power of those claws? Rule over Earth, as well?”

  “I… suppose I could.”

  “But don’t you see the implications?”

  “What I see are possibilities,” the king spoke more enthusiastically. “We eliminate all of the hate and fear that comes from our sister world. Then we learn from one another. Aurra and Earth become one. A beautiful connection is made. No one is afraid anymore. We essentially gain immortality—without being stuck in just one body. We could track souls as they go from life to life. A beautiful renaissance is birthed…”

  “And judgment?”

  “Gone. Just like you and Garder desire.”

  “I’ve been a judge in Hold before,” Osk added. “Let me tell you… It was a horrible feeling, looking through someone’s life, examining their very being and looking through their sins and deepest secrets. The look a child gives you when you assign them to the lower Cities. And then your partners nod in agreement and we move the line along… like a factory.

  “I’d even say we make many people feel worthless. But in the world Rivia and myself—and Garder and Milla envision, everyone has a chance for redemption. There are no rankings; all Cities are a wonderful place to live, not kept and maintained as a punishment. That goes against human nature, doesn’t it? To purposely make the place where you live terrible?”

  “So, Osk also agrees with me. No more bad Cities; I will make them all like my home of A. If we’re in agreement, I’ll let you go. We can end this confusion that Rivia brought between us. Viveri, prepare to disable the field. But wait for my command, in case they decide to be fools after all.”

  Garder noticed how poorly defended the king was, on a throne with no protection and an easy target. Already knowing that despite his words his group would refuse, he took out one of his throwing knives—a weapon he rarely used, and saved as a last resort. He knew how these fields worked: they blocked alchemagi, but not an object with no alchemagi inside it. That meant people couldn’t pass through, but a simple knife would. Otherwise, the people on the other side wouldn’t be able to attack those inside, either.

  But he found that he still couldn’t force the knife to fly out of his hand. His arm just wouldn’t do it, despite his mind’s attempts to and his sharp focus. The laws were still in place.

  “What’s that for? Trying to look tough?” Viveri laughed.

  The king almost cracked a smile, but after noticing the look of determination on Garder’s face, he came to a realization and clenched his teeth. “I don’t believe it… Would Rivia actually go so far as to…”

  “As to what, my king?” Viveri asked.

  Drides seemed to understand as well, and now turned his attention to the group—though he still kept silent. He had underestimated these people, obviously. They had a resolve that he had never seen before.

  Viveri continued, “Er, I don’t get it… what’s going on?”

  “I already know their answer. Come—we’re leaving.”

  “What? Why? I thought we were—”

  “You damned incompetent… They’ve got someone under the capital. They’re trying to reverse the laws that keep us safe.”

  At this, Viveri took a step back in surprise, while the silver-haired girl let out the smallest gasp and looked over the group for herself.

  “This pathetic bunch? They’re doing something like that? It couldn’t be Shin… I know she was with them.”

  “I don’t know who. I need to enact global martial law until we can confirm we’re safe. I can no longer waste my time on this front. Drides, I’ll take care of them. Open the portal and prepare to return us to the capital.”

  “Drides… That’s him…” Milla murmured.

  The king flicked a switch on his armrest, and two capsules popped up from the sides of the throne. He opened them to reveal the claws, and upon release from their containers, the two glowing orbs at the top of either looming spire faded. But the triangular field remained

  “You four must be punished severely for this transgression. But before I destroy you, perhaps I should allow Jeryn his freedom.”

  “What?” Jeryn replied. “What do you mean by that?”

  “I’m going to release the bonds you placed on yourself. You’ll realize who you truly are, and then… Well, your friends will mean nothing to you.”

  “Whatever’s in my past, it wouldn’t change how I feel about them.”

  “Would you wager your life on it?”

  Lontonkon raised three fingers, closed his eyes, and then reopened them. It wasn’t apparent to anyone else, but Jeryn had just been hit by an intrusive mind technique. He stumbled backward in pain.

  “Jeryn?” Milla exclaimed. “What was that?”

  He fell to the ground and covered his face with his arms. He groaned in some sort of agony—not the kind that came from physical pain, but rather from some great realization that was causing him torment.

  “What did you do to him?” Milla shouted angrily.

  “Nothing much. I simply gave him back the life he had forgotten. Don’t be surprised if he acts a little… differently.”

  “You…”

  “I’m afraid our time is coming to an end. I really must go take care of whomever was stupid enough to intrude upon my home. But first, I will show you something beautiful. Something few have ever seen.”

  He raised his hand up to his face once more. But this time, all four fingers were pointed upward. He let out a small smirk as he concentrated on an extra-lengthy technique.

  “Level four…” Osk muttered.

  “You’re kidding!” Garder exclaimed.

  “I’m afraid he’s not, boy. As ruler of this land, I am allowed certain privileges, one of those being access to the strongest alchemagi possible. I am your king, child! I still preside over all of you, with the hammer of the gods! But I pride myself in one more thing!”

  Lontonkon let out a mighty yell and thrust his palm into the air. There was a rush of energy all about the group. Milla was the first to spot the three triangles that had appeared high up in the sky. Their appearance and patterns were reminiscent of vector lines, but they seemed much more threatening. The triangles were lined up vertically and spun slowly in the air.

  It was a rather gorgeous sight at first, but then the group noticed the small sphere of energy high up in the stratosphere. Upon passing through the highest glowing triangle, it grew in size and began to descend faster. In its wake, the triangle it had passed through disintegrated into the air.

  “W-what is that?” Garder mumbled.

  “I don’t know…” Milla replied, eyeing Jeryn who was still on the ground in pain.

  “It’s the Nova Triad,” Osk answered.

  “Nova? Did you just say nova?”

  “Yes. This is the most powerful technique of the alignment… I’m old enough to remember. But it’s been so long since I’ve seen its use. Thousands of years, in fact.”

  “You’re that old, Osk?”

  “My kid’s even older. The only way the king could have access to it was if he disabled the nova law… And he may also be its sole wielder.”

  “Good guess, Captain,” Lontonkon replied. “In this age of fear and weakness, someone must possess a greater strength. I will do things you never dreamed of in your time as Queen, Milla. Though I still have respect for you, I am afraid that you and your friends must give up your Aurrian lives. I pray you have prosperous Earth lives, because when you return, your punishment may be unimaginable. Everyone, we’re leaving now.”

  Drides gave the smallest of nods, and then took the two claws needed to open the portal behind the king’s throne.

  “Ah, what about my sword?” Viveri questioned.

  “They need to be contained. You will be given a new one.”

  “Hell… I liked that one… Ah well. No hard feelings, you four.”

  Viveri, the armored pretorian, and Drides left first. Kamsa proceeded slowly, but she couldn’t seem to keep her gaze off of the spectacle above.

  “Kamsa, hurry along. If any of the blast gets through the portal…”

  “Who is that girl?” Garder asked suddenly. “There’s something about her, isn’t there? She looks just like Escellé. Is she related?”

  “Boy, why bother asking moments before your obliteration?”

  Garder looked at Kamsa’s eyes. She looked back, but quickly moved through the portal herself and disappeared. Above, the sphere of energy had just hit the second triangle. The energy it contained could now be felt on the ground below, and the entire area was beginning to reach a brightness equal to an Aurrian late morning.

  Lontonkon smiled. “Farewell, then.”

  Garder glared at him. He wasn’t even worried about the impending danger above. Every part of him wanted to take down the king, and he couldn’t explain why. Then suddenly, as he wished it, something shifted in his mind. Almost like a small release or cleansing. He became aware of some new freedom that he couldn’t recognize. Before he knew what was happening, his hand let go of the knife with a burst of pent-up energy and sent it through the air and directly towards the king.

  Unfortunately, he wasn’t aiming for any spot in particular, so the knife ended up getting lodged in the throne beside Lontonkon—who took a step back in surprise. Something normally impossible had just happened, and it made even him reel for a moment.

  Osk came to a realization immediately, and in one swift movement, removed the sword from its sheath and launched it forward at high speed. Whistling as it went through the air, Lontonkon saw the danger and dodged it at the last moment—the sword only sliced through part of his right arm.

  He covered his wound with his left hand and knelt down from the pain. It was the first time he had ever felt a sting strong enough to take his breath away in this lifetime; he had forgotten what it felt like.

  “So… you can fight us. Or, you can try to. But the peasants should never underestimate their guardians, and you’re about to find out why. You must think that you’ve started something here, yet your uprising will be crushed like all the others forgotten by history. All will become meaningless for people like you. Those who defy the circle will never break it.”

  Seeing how close the nova sphere was now, Lontonkon offered one last grimace before stepping into the portal, and it promptly disappeared.

  The winds began to pick up as the incoming object bore down. Milla quickly came to her senses and sprawled the demirriage scroll on the ground. The light from the sphere should have been enough to power the carriage, but the field was indeed blocking all forms of alchemagi.

  “Once it hits the last triangle, it’ll pick up speed again,” Osk said in a rather stately manner. “I think we have some thirty seconds before impact.”

  “Will it be strong enough to overpower the field?” Garder wondered.

  “Of course. But notice that there isn’t a portion acting as a ceiling…”

  “Yeah?”

  “So, I doubt there’s one under us. If there is, it’s probably weaker.”

  “Jeryn!” Milla pushed at him desperately. “Jeryn—you’ve got to get up! Come on, we need your help!”

  “I-I can’t, Milla… I’m sorry… I can’t…”

  “We’ve never seen him like this,” Garder told Osk. “What are we going to do?”

  “Only one option…” Osk placed his hand gently on the ground.

  He concentrated, and then unleashed a wave of energy underground strong enough to send tremors throughout the area.

  “Some kind of earth control?” Garder asked.

  “That’s right. It won’t be easy, but if I can just grab onto the sword from underneath, it should deactivate the field.”

  “This is a lightning-based barrier; the sword must be electrified. That means if you pull it under…”

  “It’d be completely grounded. But there’s some strong resistance here… It’s all bedrock, and I think there is a weak field under me.”

  Garder looked up. The sphere was so close that he could feel the reverberations of the raw alchemagi throughout. They had only moments.

  Like all nova techniques, it didn’t manipulate matter, but rather destroyed it and fed off the energy produced from the destruction. Its power was unrivaled.

  “I think I’ve almost got it here… Just a little more…”

  The ground on the other side of the field, just a few feet away, rose and crumbled. Then the sword moved as if being tugged from underneath.

  “Milla, get ready to pilot the carriage. I’ve almost got it.”

  “Right…” she replied and got Jeryn to his feet.

  He came to his senses and said solemnly. “I’m so sorry, Milla…”

  “What’d he do to you?”

  “Don’t worry about me. Get in when it forms. I’ll collect the scroll.”

  “Jeryn…”

  The sphere hit the third triangle and let off a brilliant purple aura. The sound was intensifying to the level of a rocket blasting off. Everyone would have to yell at the top of their lungs to even be heard.

  With little time to spare, the sword was pulled underground almost completely, with only its hilt remaining above. The field shimmered and vanished, and the carriage formed. Osk joined Milla and Jeryn inside the carriage, but Garder took another look back at the weapon Viveri had left them, and before he realized it, he was running towards it at full speed.

  “Garder!” Milla shouted. “We have to get out of here! Leave it!”

  “We can’t!” he yelled back as he skidded over to the blade to pull it out of the rock. “These swords are powerful! We should take it with us!”

  “You’re going to get us killed!”

  “Five seconds—I just need five seconds!”

  He strained to loosen it from the bedrock’s grip, but once it budged, it slid out completely. Stumbling at first, he hustled back to the carriage—giving one last look above at the incoming sphere of pure energy, now as brilliant as Earth’s sun. He threw himself into the demirriage, and the moment Osk closed the door, Milla slammed her palm on the pedestal.

  Garder then opened his eyes. Milla had taken them to a familiar place, but he couldn’t recognize it at first. Still, he was sure he had been there before, and after stepping out of the carriage as it disappeared and looking out of a large window, he realized where he was: Pangs’ office.

  Before anyone could give a single thought toward what they had just escaped, a vibrant flash sprung out from far beyond the mountain ranges surrounding City C. Then, the explosion—as mighty as a hydrogen bomb. It looked like a pure white bubble, in the same shape as those that protected Cities from the haze. The shock wave spread across the mountains, tearing away some peaks and casting long, dark shadows over others. A thunderous boom shook the entire tower and nearly shattered the windowpane.

  The white eventually faded into a dull orange, and then dissipated completely, leaving behind miles and miles of rising dust and ash. Clouds for tens of miles all around the blast radius had been parted, turning the overcast Aurrian day into a clear one. The released alchemagi could still be felt in the air, even at such a distance from ground zero.

  “First place I thought of…” Milla breathed out.

  “That attack was immense. How could a single person wield so much power?” Garder questioned as he looked over Viveri’s sword.

  “Nova is a unique alignment…” Jeryn replied quietly. “You don’t have to release an overwhelming amount of energy to use it. You just release enough to begin the process of atomic destruction… Spells of that size take time, but the results are… Well, now you know.”

  “Still, I guess your friends under the capital succeeded,” Osk noted.

  “Oh, we have to get them out of there!” Milla exclaimed. “I’m really worried about them. But what can we do to help them…?”

  “We seem to have a good track record of escaping the impossible,” Garder said assuringly. “Of course, if it hadn’t been for Osk…”

  “We were lucky this time,” he replied. “But Lontonkon did get away, and only one pretorian was defeated today… And he may be back.”

  “Still, with the Guard’s immortality no longer a factor, maybe Rivia’s ‘little revolution’ will actually become something.”

  “Jeryn… Are you sure you’re fine?” Milla asked worryingly.

  “I will be. Everything is clear to me now… But nothing will change.”

  “Did he really give you back your old memories?”

  “Does that matter to you? I… don’t like my true past. But that won’t change who I am now. That’s all that needs to be said.”

  Milla wanted to reach out and help, but she knew it wasn’t the time. Whatever had been brought back to him obviously caused great pain, and despite his demeanor, he would need time to sort through a forgotten past. But that the king seemed to know so much about that past, almost as if there were a direct connection, worried her greatly. And something had changed in him already. There was every chance he’d become a different person, maybe someone unrecognizable. But she had to shrug off her fears for the moment, as there was still much left to do at present.

  Pangs entered his office just then, and he was oddly unsurprised to see the four at his desk. Without so much as a breather following their escape, Osk got right to business and updated him on the situation in both of the worlds. The first battle was over with no clear victor, though a great accomplishment had yet been made in the process.

  The final stage of the beginning revolved around the nearby creature, which had been the central cause of the battle’s very undertaking.