Draconic Testament (19 page)

Bastion was hunched over in the corner of the first rest room, puking in the most dizzy state he had ever been in. The rest zone was a rather large room, with light crystals on the ceiling and a small pillar of magic in the middle, like Yaevinn had promised, only it was submerged and surrounded by clear, clean, natural, spring water. ”Hahaha! What’s wrong, what happened? It couldn’t have been THAT bad!” Yaevinn laughed, sitting at the rest zone. “I didn’t expect it to be that fast… it was like a rollercoaster ride without any seatbelts, like I was grabbing onto the seats for dear life. Plus, I accidentally set it off, I wasn’t ready…” Bastion said, which furthered Yaevinn’s amusement. “Shapeshifting is goddamned awful, is there any other stuff like that?”
”Yeah, the whole Shapeshifting class is called Metamorphosis. The easiest thing to change to is water, though, it’s really hard to master. It’s likely that you’d be spotted with hollow sight whatever you morph into.”
”Gah… Looks like I found that type of magic that I'm awful at, like you said before…” Bastion sighed.
”Hahaha! Goddamn…” Yaevinn laughed, washing his face. “Well, anyway… it seems like the messenger didn’t get this far, for some reason.” Yaevinn said, as he walked around the room, examining the walls and ceiling. “Each rest point we get to, we must check for any signs of kidnapping, or such. Something to explain why the messenger hasn’t gotten this far.”
”You sure the messenger had been dispatched? Why haven’t the Rhenium Magi asked where he is?” Bastion asked.
”Well, it’s custom to welcome visitors from Rhenium into their home. Plus, I don’t think the message was high priority… but they DID say he was dispatched. There’s no reason to lie, I mean, they know we’d react this way.” Yaevinn explains.
”What do YOU think happened?” Bastion asked.
”I don’t know… there have been reports of minor skirmishes outside of settlements… perhaps the messenger ran into a group from Esper who decided they wanted to amp up the action.” Yaevinn said “If that’s the case… Then it’s good for us.”
”Why?” Bastion asked.
”Because the Blue Magi would have killed a Rhenium official for no reason whatsoever, making them the villains in the conflict. If Rhenium were to see the Blue Magi for the scum they are, they would aid us tremendously in breaking them apart.” Yaevinn said.
”You don’t really like them, do you?” Bastion said, and Yaevinn sighed.
”No… They killed the last Ispii of earth, not too long ago… My parents among them... I'm alone now. There were about 14 of us, heading over to Rhenium for a meeting yearly meeting, where Blue and Red Magi of Britain get together to discuss changes and make declarations. Well, this particular year, Sanctum made an appearance, which threw Dante into a fit of rage? He ordered his blue Magi to strike them down, and in doing so, chaos erupted. The Blue Magi that were nearby invaded Rhenium, thinking the Red Magi were attacking, and many were killed. Of course, Rhenium cleaned everything up and forgave all sides, saying it was a ‘Misunderstanding’… but… I saw the brutality of the Blue Magi first hand… What they did…” Yaevinn explained, his good mood fading.
”It’s alright, Yaevinn. You need not say anymore…” Bastion said.
”Alright…” Yaevinn said, getting up. “Let’s continue, got a lot more ground to cover.”
They passed through 6 rest zones, finding no signs of struggle or escape in each, when they were advancing upon the seventh out of the tenth. Bastion came up behind Yaevinn and exited the tunnel that they were making their way through. Bastion got out of Cerastes to be greeted with a dim-litted room full of horror, and a traumatic Yaevinn. “W-What happened here?” Yaevinn asked, eyes wide with shock. He trembled as his eyes scanned the malevolence that had occurred within the zone. When Bastion’s vision returned to him fully, his jaw dropped at the carnage that lay before him. “Oh my god…” Bastion says, covering his mouth. He didn’t fear puking though, he had nothing to bring up after the wild rides through here, but if he had, the smell alone would have had him reeling. The spring water was running red with blood, surrounding the pillar of magic as if it was some evil Voodoo totem, and it looked like one, since the bruised, beaten, bloodied head of a man was mounted upon it. The smell was awful, it was obvious that the dead man was the messenger due to the fact that he had been here long enough to smell this bad. The armless body was slumped over to the right against the wall, where the blood trail from his neck starts into the spring water. The whole room had an eerie atmosphere, and even though all was still, including Bastion and Yaevinn, it felt like the danger was still present. “Y-Yaevinn…” Bastion wheezes, finally finding the courage to break the stunning silence. He looks at Yaevinn’s still, shocked face. It was obvious he saw nothing like this in his time. “This… This looks like…” Yaevinn begins, and Bastion turns towards him fully. “What happened here? Why… Who did this?” Bastion asks.
”From my time in Rhenium… I saw Blue Magi… They dress and live different from us, no dignity or honour. In that riot, there were many crimes… beheading was common…” Yaevinn explains. “But that was a riot, evil men within armies go about their sick deeds when chaos erupts. I find it hard to believe that a blue Magi would even attack a Rhenium official, as much as I wanted it to be true… let alone bruise, bloody and hack off his limbs… Besides, we’ve gone past the Blue Magi settlement. 3 more zones and-“ A snap in the corner of the room shook them out of their trance. The room was dim-litted, but one specific corner of the room was dark. Though, something was there. Still, but the outline of the thing in question was visible. Bastion trembled, as he hesitated to close his right eye, but Yaevinn beat him to the punch, since he could not take the terror and suspense. “Oh my…” Yaevinn began, and before either of them knew what was happening, a tremendous force of air hits Bastion in his stomach, knocking him to the ground.
Momentarily dazed from being knocked down, Bastion raises his head and tries to determine what was in the shadows through a woozy, dazed vision. Yaevinn could see perfectly though. The creature was malformed, hunch backed, sharp claws, but it was definitely human looking. But the two of them knew that this was no ordinary human, it was obviously a Magi. “Ah... Ah... My stomach... Food! Feed meee!!!” The malformed creature screams! It’s skin is wrinkly, and it has a beard dangling from it’s chin. It’s eyes are wide and filled with rage, and teeth are a horrible shade of yellow, thick with plaque. It’s clothes are barely clothes, more like rags, dirty rags, that are barely hanging from it’s body.“This thing… This thing is powerful! It’s like it’s a…” Yaevinn begins, but Bastion sees an attack coming. Before he could say anything, a strong spray of fire if shot at Yaevinn, and he is engulfed in flame. He screams from the searing heat on his skin, but luckily Bastion hauls himself up and towards Yaevinn, where he grabs his shirt and yanks him into the oasis of blood that was formerly the spring. The malformed creature makes a wide variety of odd, throat-contorting moans and cries, occasionally trying to say some sort of vile threat or insult. “My head! The noise! THE NOISE! Where, where is it coming from?! Help me!!! Die!!!” he screams. Wasting no time, Bastion shoots lightning at him, though the creature endures it as it charges at Bastion, arms outstretched, and claws ready to rip him apart. The creature swipes at him, over and over again, and Bastion dodges backwards, knowing that he’ll end up backed into the wall, at the creature’s mercy. Instead, he reinforces his knuckles, and delivers a knockout blow to the crazed man, though it merely knocked him back. The blow had done significant damage to his face, but the man acted as if he didn’t even feel it, as if he had no sense of pain at all! Yaevinn climbs out the water, hissing slightly. His skin was hardly wounded, he had healed himself while in the satanic spring. “Alright…” Yaevinn said, coming to Bastions aid. Yaevinn takes his sword and swipes at the bloodthirsty fiend, who dodges then kicks Yaevinn backwards. However, this puts the fiend off balance, and Bastion races in with his sword, swiping at the man. The sword connects, and the man obviously did not notice Bastion coming, as the sword makes a clean swipe through the man’s flesh effortlessly, like a searing hot blade through snow. Normal swords would have been damaged by such a feat, but Magi swords were not all that weak. The creature screams as it’s arm falls and hits the floor. Yaevinn gets back up, and takes his chance to get a hit in on the flailing monster. He casts Ifrit, and knocks the wretch into the deep spring, splashing water everywhere. Bastion gets up and makes his way towards the spring cautiously, not getting too close to the edge at Yaevinn’s warning, but upon looking into the spring, nothing happens. There is no movement in the water below. “What is that thing?” Bastion asks.
”Not now… he’s morphed. Freeze the water!” Yaevinn commanded, and Bastion began to obey, drawing mana from the pillar, when he was interrupted. The interruption made Yaevinn and Bastion jump out of their skins, and grab for their ears. The interruption came in the sound of a glass-shattering banshee-like scream. But it was a distraction, as the head on the pillar began to inflate… then it exploded with blood, though the blood was boiling hot! Yaevinn yelled at Bastion, warning him of the danger, but the sound was too loud for Bastion to hear him. Yaevinn constructed a shield, shielding him from the danger that came from the head. The blood hits Bastion, recoiling him backwards. He falls over, crying in pain. The creature jumps out of the water, claw outstretched. It’s sight locks on Bastion, who has his guard down, though Yaevinn anticipates this and comes in-between the two. Yaevinn fends off the crazed assailant with his sword, while Bastion numbs the pain and tries to cool the temperature of the blood. Yaevinn loses grip of his sword while defending, and ends up erecting a shield, which the man charges into with all his might.
Bastion thought something was off about the man. Most of his attacks were powerful, but he was just lunging at them. It takes a great deal of time to get this powerful, and master attacks, so why does he have no strategy, no tactics? He lost his arm, when with his power, he should have easily killed the two of them before they even noticed him in that corner. Alas, once the pain was gone, Bastion scrambled to his feet, grabbed his sword and came to Yaevinn’s aid. Bastion’s smarter choice would have been to turn around and run away, as he knew that the man was far too powerful, but he wasn’t the sort to abandon his friend to cowardice. The two stood side by side, intimidating the man to attack further. Their magic pool was exhausted, running low on energy to convert and use to their advantage, so keeping him at bay was the best option at the moment. The man jumps backwards, landing on the pillar, then begins to summon flames into his hand, which he intensifies tenfold, to an insane level of power. The pair gawp at this power, and Yaevinn screams for to get down. Bastion throws himself at the ground, and Yaevinn slams both hands into the floor, which caused to rocks to jut upward, keeping the balance of the caverns alright due to his excellent use in earth magic and stonemasonry. They both duck behind the rocks, and just miss an incredible blazing inferno of hellfire soaring above them. The pair duck, curled up into a ball, the rock was cracking from the pressure of the magic, and Bastion knew they’d be dead if this continued. Then an idea came to mind. “LOWER THE PILLAR!” Bastion shouted, so Yaevinn would hear. Yaevinn didn’t respond, just lay there, eyes wide with terror. “NOW! HURRY!!!” Bastion screamed at him, and Yaevinn obliged, slowly, pulling himself to position. It was a struggle, but the rocks underneath the pillar gave way and sunk, as the pillar became almost fully submerged in the springs. The man stopped channelling his insane magic, since his line of sight was off, and Bastion took this moment to pop up from behind the rock and cast Odin. The man sees what’s coming, and screams in fear, but it’s too late, the electricity hits the man and the springs, electrifying him. He was caught, and with this much power in the electricity combined with its natural enemy, water, he wouldn’t be able to escape. Bastions magic pool begins to deplete, and he squeezes the last ounces of his energy into the spell, hoping it would be enough as the electricity fades from fatigue. Unfortunately, he saw that the man was still on his feet. Bastion’s heart sunk, but after a few moments, the man slowly slumped in the springs, dying face first in the water. Bastion almost collapsed from the emotions and the pressure on his body from his magic being depleted, as he stumbled onto the rock that Yaevinn uprooted as cover. The rock was hot, burning hot, so he ended up rolling onto the floor, which was cooler. “Who- What the… hell was the-that?...” Bastion gasped, as he regains his breath. Yaevinn was laying next to Bastion, still in shock from his life flashing before his eyes from the fire. It reminded him of the fire that erupted in Rhenium, though, it wasn’t very destructive, but it certainly looked like it was. As a boy, it scared him. It wasn’t really a phobia, but a fire spell of that calibre had shocked him quite a bit. However, if a fire that powerful had anything to catch fire on, and burn away at... he didn’t know if he could withstand his fear. Bastion didn’t notice Yaevinn’s fear, he was too exhausted to notice, and he had even thought that Yaevinn had answered his question, but he didn’t hear from his magic loss. It took Bastion a good couple of minutes to get himself together, but Yaevinn had snapped out of his trauma before then, slowly looking over the rock at the body. It was still there, dead for certain. Bastion was clambering to his feet, looking at Yaevinn. Sweat dripped from his body. “So… know who, or what the hell that was?” Bastion asked.
”I… I think so…” Yaevinn replied “I think that was an Archmage… You know about the Archmage… the ones that have the blood of an Overlord?”
”Yeah… Yeah, I do…” Bastion said. “That would explain the power, but what was it doing here? Why was he… so…”
”Archmagi usually don’t last long without their master’s blood… It’s all about mental capacity… some can survive without the overlord’s blood, but the thirst for it is always there. There’s always problems… this one seems to have lost his mind, it was quite obvious from his wild moves.” Yaevinn said. “What was it doing here?” Bastion asked “It doesn’t seem like he could survive… plus…”