Chapter 6 - A gorilla, an imp, and the beast

Skyle couldn’t bear to close his eyes, enraptured as he was by the spectacle this “True Sight” displayed before him. He had been waiting his whole life for this moment, and now that it had finally come to pass, it had even exceeded his wildest dreams.

A slight ripple spread through the streams of elemental essence in the air around Skyle, and he shivered at the wonder of watching these subtle waves slowly spread through the air and clash against other glowing objects of elemental essence. Laid bare before his vision, every object had its own elemental aura, and as Skyle slowly lowered his hand to look at a rock at his feet, he could see that what his physical sight perceived as a dead, unmoving object was in fact pulsing and rippling with these constant waves spreading through the air, the ground, everything. It was as though the rock was no mere rock, and was in fact a spectacularly intricate set of nets of elemental essence strands, constantly shifting and swaying to the constant pulses radiating through it. Though the rock seemed to be composed of all kinds of different colors, it was predominantly brown. These flecks of brown would sometimes fall away to gently sway in an invisible breeze, before slowly dissipating in the air.

So mesmerized was Skyle by his study of a mere rock at his feet, that he was only brought out of his reverie when a thick current of yellow elemental energy entered his vision, rapidly approaching him. By the time Skyle took notice and jumped back, it had already reached towards him and hauled him up by his neck.

“Brave or foolish, little manling, you will still die by my hand,” Vissus stated flatly, holding Skyle aloft with one powerful arm.

Skyle grunted as the sudden motion pulled at his broken ribs, and he was abruptly jolted out of the spirit vision. Instantly, the world lost its previous vibrancy and clarity, and Skyle’s lips curled back in a fierce snarl as an animal sound of loss and rage escaped his lungs. Immediately, he brought the dagger still gripped in his hand in a reflexive stab towards his attacker’s arm. Still, the clumsy move was far from enough to surprise his opponent, as Vissus didn’t even shift his eyes from Skyle’s face even as a numbing pain stung the boy’s forearm and his dagger flew spinning out of his numb fingers and up into the air harmlessly.

Vissus kept his eyes on Skyle while he nonchalantly snatched the dagger out of the air by the hilt, but then started visibly, his eyes widening in shock as he stared at the dagger in his hand. A moment later, his features instantly resumed his previous aloof expression, but there was a fire in his eyes that hadn’t been there previously, not even when he had seen his underling savagely butchered before him.

“How did you come by this blade, little beast?” Vissus asked in a clipped, even tone, but there was a quiet intensity to his voice that could not be mistaken.

Skyle couldn’t utter anything but a low growl of frustration in reply. He had been so close to being able to hear the song inside him, one that had hinted of a mysterious power, of depths he hadn’t even dreamed of. He had been but a step away from it, but this vile creature had interrupted him. No, if Skyle hadn’t stopped to look at a stupid rock, if he had been more disciplined, more focused.

Vissus narrowed his eyes slightly as the iron grip on Skyle’s throat tightened minutely, but it was enough to emit an alarming creaking sound from the boy’s fragile bones.

“Where did you find this blade?” Vissus repeated, his voice gaining more heat. “Who gave it to you? How are you able to wield it?”

Skyle gagged and struggled to draw breath past the hand clawing at his throat, and Vissus seemed to finally realize this as he relaxed his grip just enough so that Skyle could take a convulsive, gasping breath.

“Speak boy, or I will make you speak. You will tell me of this blade!” Vissus demanded, his eyes slightly bloodshot.

“I.. I found it by the ruins..” Skyle managed hoarsely, his last words giving way to a wet coughing fit that flecked his lips in blood.

Vissus narrowed his eyes even further at Skyle’s words, and within burned a fire that frightened Skyle more than any of the experiences he had been through earlier.

“Manling, you will-”

“Lord Vissus!” came the alarmed shout from somewhere behind Vissus’ back.

“Not now,” Vissus growled, his previous indifference and aloofness melted away like wax under the heat of his glare.

“My lord, it’s urgent! There’s an anomaly at the rift. The protective wards are under attack. The outer perimeter is already strained to its limit, and as we speak the final two-”

A massive explosion suddenly rippled from the direction of the voice, accompanied by a blinding flash of light and multiple screams of pain.

“Arrgh! Help me!”

“The outer layer has been breached!”

“Reinforce the inner perimeter!”

“What are the casualties?”

“Healers! I need help here!”

Vissus glanced over his shoulder and growled in his throat before throwing Skyle towards a couple soldiers standing at attention nearby. “Watch him, I will be back shortly. Guard him well, or your lives shall be forfeit.”

The soldiers quickly caught Skyle and saluted by striking their fists against their chests.

“My lord, by your command!”

Vissus threw one last look towards Skyle before unceremoniously ripping a strip out of an elaborate cape worn on his back and carefully wrapping the dagger in it. Tucking it into his belt, Vissus swiftly turned on his heel and marched away.

As the crowd of soldiers around them hurriedly parted to make way for Vissus, Skyle finally caught sight of the rift that had brought him here. It looked much like the archway through which he had been pulled, standing at about 8 feet tall and 4 feet wide with complex symbols glowing with power all around it, and a black void swirling at its center. However, this time the dark, smoky mass seemed to be pulsing inwards in waves, as though some great power were attempting to force its way through from the other side.

“The attack is at the 6th circle level of power! The wards won’t hold, rift collapse is imminent!” a desperate voice shouted, and a chorus of alarmed responses followed.

“You will hold!” Vissus’ steely voice rang out, immediately silencing the panicked shouts and bringing a semblance of order to the chaos. “Rift mages, untether the rift anchors and sever the aether connection.”

“Bu.. but my lord! The rift anchors will-”

“Do it,” Vissus repeated in the same tone. “Better to risk damaging the anchors rather than losing them completely. Wards of this realm won’t hold for much longer against a 6th circle assault.”

“By your command, my lord!”

“Som.. something is coming through!”

“Brace! Brace!”

“Guards, establish a perimeter around the rift. Mages, untether those anchors now!” Vissus growled while slowly drawing a magnificent one-edged sword from its sheath and clutching a round object in his other hand. “I will deal with the intruder.”

The ripples from the rift grew more violent and unstable as not only the inky darkness in the middle churned and boiled, but the rift’s frame itself began to shake and flash with bright flashes of light every, as though an irresistible power were forcing it beyond its breaking point.

“Hold your ground!” Vissus stated coldly, staring at the seething rift threatening to collapse, and loud shouts of assent could be heard as multiple sounds of weapons being drawn and shields being lifted rang out across the small clearing.

The two guards tasked with watching Skyle had been restraining him with a firm, professional grip as they immobilized both his arms and legs, heedless of Skyle’s battered appearance. The fact that he was a 12 year old child with a broken leg and covered in wounds and blood seemed to matter very little to these soldiers. Then again, the gutted remains of Mencius likely served as a powerful reminder not to underestimate him.

Thus, Skyle could do little but watch the rift along with Vissus and the rest of this huge host. What could possibly be so powerful as to threaten such a large force? Surely, it could not be the troll?

The rift suddenly stilled for a moment, the churning mass of darkness abruptly calming until there was hardly a ripple in its surface, the symbols crackling with barely contained energies around its edges finally going inert.

A collective sigh of relief seemed to echo around the grim faced soldiers standing guard around the rift.

“Mages, untether NOW!” Vissus suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs, while crushing the object in his grip and lifting the sword held in his other hand high above his head. A shimmering globe of energy exploded forth from Vissus’ hand, but all the light was swiftly absorbed into his skin. Vissus’ eyes seemed to suddenly glow with incredible radiance, and the sword in his upraised fist began to crackle with energy.

Confused looks crossed the faces of the soldiers around the rift, when it exploded with a blinding flash of light, all its symbols burning with scarlet energies. The black mass surged outward as some terrifying power stretched the trembling layer of darkness taut. Then, it suddenly collapsed and a clear point of glowing gold could be seen penetrating from the other side, making the darkness of the rift recoil from it like shadows fleeing the light.

“Red Crescent Blade!” Vissus immediately cried out, releasing a spectacular wave of scarlet light from his sword that rippled with power as it cleaved the air in its way to the rift.

The golden light from the rift solidified into a massive, gold-furred claw that was almost as wide as the entire rift itself. It brutally forced its way forward, producing a keening sound from the rift as the edges warped and stretched around the terrifying power of the claw.

Just as the claw was about to fully cross the threshold of the rift, Vissus’ attack struck it dead on with a deafening explosion, scarlet waves of flame bursting forth in a blinding flash.

Numerous men were knocked down in huge waves from the aftershock of the collision, but shockingly, the claw seemed to be resisting the power of Vissus’ attack. However, the combined power of the rift and the Red Crescent Blade seemed to be too much for even the formidable attacker. The crimson energy from Vissus’ sword crackled with power as it released wave after wave of intense heat, slowly pushing the claw back until it was enough to loosen its grip on the rift, and it was pushed back into its inky depths as the boiling darkness swiftly closed in on it.

The scarlet fire was still burning in a painful aftervision in Skyle’s eyes when a shadow abruptly flashed from the middle of the rift right before the last of the light was completely banished and the rift once again seethed with darkness, drawing closed once more. The shadow hurtled through the air and landed in front of the rift with a loud crash.

“Intruder!” voices cried out.

“To arms!”

“Exterminate the.. eh, threat?”

As Skyle’s eyes finally adjusted back from the glare, the first thing he noticed were the stupefied expressions on the guards faces as they stared at the figure that had launched itself from the rift.

“Rift mages!” Vissus growled once more, while glaring at the rift.

Indeed, once more the dark mass of the rift began to churn furiously, but this time a loud cracking sound ecchoed across the rift, and several symbols on its frame seemed to shudder before slowly crumbling to dust. Instantly, the rift began to shrink down, and along with it, the struggles from the other side diminished greatly.

Right before the final point of darkness in the rift finally disintegrated, it rippled explosively one final time, and a spine-shuddering growl of fury could be heard from the other side. Then the rift finally closed and the last of the darkness blinked out of existence, leaving only a blank stone surface once more.

This roar, it was somewhat familiar by now, as Skyle had heard it before crossing the rift. It had been the same beastly roar from the forest.

Skyle nearly failed to notice all this, of course, as most of his attention was riveted on the unexpected “threat” that had sprung forth from the rift right before it closed.

As dozens of sharp instruments of death and mayhem were pointed at his face, neck, heart and other vital parts by grim-faced men reeking of murder and destruction, Leon Draxas Di Adrausier slowly stood up and dusted himself with one hand while the other hung limply at his side, dripping blood from where it obviously had been broken.

Leon’s eyebrows shot up as he eyed the massive host surrounding him, the whites of his eyes widening further and further as his lips parted slightly in a wordless expression of stunned disbelief. His roaming eyes finally stopped as they latched on to Skyle’s gaze, and for a moment many complex expressions seemed to flicker across them as the two boys stared at each other across hundreds, thousands of hostile swords.

“Who are you?” A soldier prompted in an imperious voice, and one of the spears leveled at Leon waved threateningly at his face.

Leon sighed deeply before muttering under his breath, words that no one’s ears could catch, but which Skyle was somehow certain he had correctly read in his lips. And for once, Skyle wholeheartedly agreed.

“A stupid gorilla following a moronic imp..”