ARC 1 - SANCTITY

CHAPTER 9 - THE MONOLITH

Lord Leonhardt had been right, the battle had worn on him. Raegn fought without the Light, saving what stamina his soul had left for a moment when it might be truly needed. For now, he would pay the price for victory with aching muscles and starved lungs. The corpses of four voidlings lay strewn about his feet in the narrow streets bounded by buildings on one side and the the mountain that towered above on the other. The fighting had thinned as they climbed higher into the city and he prayed that these four would be the last for a time.

“Where are we going, father?” Raegn asked between heavy breaths.

“To perform our family’s most sacred duty,” came the distant reply. Aerich had walked ahead along the rock face while Raegn fought, forcing him to jog to catch back up.

He wiped his brow with a gloved hand, but the leather was as wet as his own skin and only spread the beads of sweat across his face. “And what, exactly, is that?”

“To protect the realm from the Void.” Another flat response.

Raegn grabbed his father by the arm and forced him to halt. “Stop being so cryptic!”

His father blinked rapidly before gazing deeply at his son. Aerich reached out his hand to give Raegn’s cheek a firm pat. “I have something to show you. A final lesson about Bastion’s charge from the Heavens.” Raegn stared back, eyes narrowed, and shook his head. His father’s voice seemed to be normal, but the words meant nothing to him. “Follow me and you will understand,” Aerich said and stepped through a crack in the mountainside wall.

Raegn’s armor scraped on the rock as he squeezed through. A narrow trail was hidden on the other side and the steep footpath snaked upward along the edge of the mountain. The trek upward did nothing to help Raegn slow his heart or steady his lungs. Far above the city, where the air was noticeably colder and bits of snow lingered in the cracks of rocks, they reached the mouth of a cave.

Aerich grabbed a torch from an unlit brazier near the entrance, holding it towards Raegn. He called the Light and a small white flame danced on his fingertip. With the torch ablaze in his father’s hand, Raegn could see the cave opened to become slightly wider than the path. Aerich ventured into the darkness, the flames throwing shadows that danced along the jagged rock walls. They journeyed on, accompanied by nothing save for the crackling sounds of the torch and the moan of the wind pushing them deeper into the mountain. Half a dozen twists and turns later and Raegn no longer knew which direction they were headed.

“How much further, Father? Should I not head to Ulrich?” he asked. The sounds of the battle had faded to whispers on the wind, but his thoughts lingered on the fight within the city—and on how long could Ulrich hold at the Horn.

“You will return by a different path, but rest assured, it will be shorter.” The voice was flat again, but Raegn renewed his patience with the knowledge. “We are almost th—”

His father stopped as they rounded a bend in the cave. Before them, a crackling ball of dark lightning appeared. A bolt from the center split the orb vertically, striking the ground and ceiling of the cave. It persisted for a moment before it opened from the middle and expanded outward into a familiar elliptical disc.

Raegn stepped forward and forced the fire within to ignite. Before his beam could reach the portal, a leg covered in a thick carapace tore through the surface of the abyss. The Light deflected off the limb, splitting and scoring the wall. Raegn released the attack as another leg appeared. The two limbs dug wildly along the ground to pull the rest of the body through. The thing was far too large to be a voidling, but wasn’t nearly the size of a behemoth, either. Its grotesque head didn’t appear to have eyes underneath a carapace-armored scalp and rows of teeth were dripping with black blood as if they had torn through its own mouth.

Raegn readied his spear against his side and charged forward, but was unable to close the distance in time. The rest of the creature entered their world and turned perpendicular to him. A tail long as two men whipped outward. With nowhere to dodge in the confined space Raegn slid in an attempt to stop. He tried to brace himself before the tail cracked against his chest but was sent tumbling across the ground and into the wall. The fire within was snuffed out as his back met the rock. He fell onto all fours and coughed while the taste of copper filled his mouth.

Raegn spat blood and managed several shallow breaths, looking upward in time to sloppily roll to his left. The tail cracked the ground where he had been a moment before. As the roll brought him to his feet he reached out for the Light and fired a blast at the monster's head. It lifted an armored leg as a shield and the lance broke apart. The beast charged forward, surprisingly quick for its size and four legs skittering like a huge insect. It lunged, snapping its jaws, but Raegn managed to duck the attack. As he danced to the side, he drove his spear upward into the joint of a front leg. The oversized voidling let out a horrid shriek and flailed as it tried to regain its footing on three useful limbs. Raegn charged again, this time forcing the creature against the wall with his spear crosswise and using all his weight to pin it there.

“Father, go!” he yelled over the gnashing teeth beside his head. He hazarded a glance over his shoulder and saw his father carefully walk around the portal and continue onward into the cave. The area fell into darkness as the light of the torch dwindled, little more than shadowy shapes visible in the portal’s violet hue.

The beast continued to flail and slipped a front leg free from the spear in the struggle. A large claw raked down Raegn’s chest. He screamed in pain and repositioned the shaft further down along the leg to pin it once more. The movement allowed the teeth to find wood, however, and the spear shattered in the middle. His pin broken, Raegn was sent sliding along the ground from another crack of the tail. He rose with his back to the portal and felt a warm liquid seeping down his chest as the beast charged.

Desperate, he hurled the top half of his spear in a bolt of Light and caught an opening in the shoulder between carapace-armored segments. The beast crumpled and slid along the ground, unable to hold its own weight. Its howls filled the cave as it crawled toward him. Raegn used the momentary reprieve to turn and run with an arm clutching his wound. He passed by the portal and paused long enough to throw a series of shockwaves at the rock above. The cave shuddered and began to crumble while he fled further into the blackness.

When the ground no longer shook and the ceiling wasn’t collapsing around him, Raegn stopped and leaned against the wall, then slide down to sit. Any relief he found in the absence of the creature’s shrieks was quickly stolen by the throb in his chest. He forced himself to look at the wound but managed only a brief glance before letting out a weak groan. Blood lingered on the jagged edges carved into his breastplate and stained everything around the broken links in the chain beneath. The sight of it sent pain blooming away from the cut and his vision narrowed.

It’s only a wound, he tried to tell himself. You’ve had them before. He knew he needed a better look but struggled to convince his eyes to move. Each gasp for air stretched the torn skin but he couldn’t slow his lungs. Just look. It can’t be that bad. You’re just tired from all the fighting. These sorts of things always look bloodier than they really are. Just look.

The unconvincing argument brought a blessed realization: even though the portal was buried beneath rock and he was not holding the Light, he could see. Raegn’s head lolled over to his right shoulder. Somewhere ahead a meager amount of light crept into the cave and offered him the ability to distinguish the various shades of brown and gray that surrounded him. An end to the cave. It had to be.

“Father!” he cried.

Wind entered from whatever opening lay ahead, but the cool air was the only reply. He called out again, his voice a wimper, but still no answer. His head fell chin-to-chest and he sat for a time, unable to prevent himself from considering if this was the end. How unremarkable. No one would even find him here.

“Meets their end alone and in agony,” he muttered, remembering his mentor’s words. “Damn you, Ulrich.”

His breathing slowed to huffs of anger, the measured pace giving him new energy. He would not die. Not here. Not while the rest of the city still fought. He forced the embers within to smolder despite his fatigue. It took several attempts, but he was able to pull the sweat-soaked glove from his hand and focusing the Light into the tips of his fingers until they glowed white. The bones themselves felt like they were being cooked, but it had to be done. He gave himself a moment’s rest with his head against the cave wall before taking a slow breath and clenching his jaw. Between muffled screams he drew his fingers through the wound, cleansing it of the Void’s taint and crudely cauterizing it to stop the bleeding.

The effort left him doubled over with tears pooling in his eyes and sweat beading off his face. He battled the lump in his throat and drowned the urge to sob. If he were to become legend he could not allow himself the comfort that crying might bring. No, a legend would not show such weakness. They would fight until victory or death! He willed his breathing to steady. When the feeling of exhaustion returned and replaced that of pain he forced himself up onto all fours. It took another bout of cursing to stand but he felt fairly steady once upright. With labored strides Raegn headed toward the faint amount of daylight, his hand sliding along the wall for balance.

Each step brought fresh air that carried new life and despite the deep ache in his body he reached the exit. He found himself high above the city on a rocky outcropping, small patches of thick-bladed mountain grass blowing listlessly in the wind. There were smooth stones of an ancient walkway leading to the edge of the precipice and at its end stood the focus of his father’s attention.

An obelisk.

Its white surface glistened oddly in the flames of the torch left on the ground nearby. The language of the Divine was scrawled across each face and on the one in front of his father a large sigil had been inscribed. Despite how distinctive the pillar was Raegn couldn’t recall ever seeing it from the city below.

“The moment I touch this stone, you must head to the Horn. Take the path to the left, there.” His father gestured towards a steep, unkempt trail that led back down to the city without turning his head. Raegn peered down the path. It looked to have several short vertical drops and parts disappeared entirely amongst the brush and stones that had rolled off the mountain. Faster to be sure, but Raegn grimaced at the thought of having to climb given his injuries. “You will not have much time. Meet with Ulrich and signal the retreat. Take everyone, even those at the western gate.”

“No, don’t do this father,” Raegn pleaded, pushing himself away from the cave wall. “Don’t abandon the city. Reinforcements will come! We can hold until then!”

“My son,” Aerich said, meeting his son halfway and gripping Raegn’s shoulder, “the Void will not make it through. I will make sure of that. Ensuring the survival of our people now falls to you.” His father seemed to tire with every word but offered a small smile.

Raegn saw his father’s arm raise, but could barely feel the coarse skin of the hand on his cheek. He waited as Aerich headed back towards the obelisk, but his father showed no signs of speaking further and the faint sounds of battle from the city below instinctively drew his legs towards the path. Standing at the top of the trail Raegn could see the broken eastern gate. The valley was a sea of movement, a relentless tide flowing toward the city. Faint dots of purple were visible within the walls and a swarm of voidlings scurried around each. Raegn looked back at his father. The Lord of Bastion reached out with a frail hand, but hesitated before touching the stone. Skin and bone hung, deciding.

There was something in father’s words, something missing. If he had only been brought to escort why not bring several of the Elite Guard instead? There was no lesson to be taught here. Perhaps his weary father had forgotten under the allure of the glistening stone and the supposed victory it would bring them. Raegn took a step away from the path. Should he not ask about this final duty of their heritage? Or at least be present for it?

The hand fell forward, palm pressing against the obelisk. The grass swayed in the wind around his father’s feet and Raegn frowned. What was supposed to happen? The moment he opened his mouth to ask the sigil on the stone flashed and a wave of Light burst forth, throwing Aerich backward.

“Father!”