INFERNUS ARC

Massive pillars of flames rocketed into the sky at random intervals from cracks and holes in the destroyed and broken ground. Rivers of lava flowed down from tiny volcanoes strewn about the area. Ruins of what was once Randess were covered in soot and ash as far as the eye could see. Entire portions of the ground were upheaved giving the landscape a jagged and unearthly appearance.

Amrin looked up into the air and, even though it was night, the thick black ash and cloud cover above the ruins of the city could be seen perfectly, swirling and churning, due to light from the raging fires and lava below. This must have been what Lestith was speaking of when he said that arriving at night would not pose a problem.

“This is what a group wide Cataclysm looks like...” Grandall said somberly.

Standing at what was once the entrance to Randess, Lestith and Grandall placed the strongbox on the ground with a satisfied and audible sigh of relief. If not for the Frost Barrier that Amrin had cast on them, they would be on the verge of passing out from heat stroke and exhaustion.

“This is what you had to do in order to defeat the Demon?” Lestith asked, witnessing the devastation that lay before him.

“Defeat? No. This is what we had to do in order to keep it from escaping.” Grandall said simply. “After throwing everything we had at it for two days and not making a scratch…I can’t help but think that it’s still alive…that its buried in all of this, waiting…biding its time.”

Amrin felt guilty for knowing that the demon was indeed still alive, and didn’t tell Grandall. If everything went smoothly here, no one would have to find out, or deal with it assuming they did know about it.

Grandall and Lestith began to put their gauntlets and tassets on. Even though they could have done so on the way here after the relief Amrin gave them, there was no real reason to do so until now. Upon seeing them do this, Kaia began to do the same. The occasional clanking sound could be heard as their armor was fitted into place.

Kaia watched as Amrin began to survey the area, his eyes were narrowed and the feeling he gave off put her on edge. Quickly wanting to ascertain whether or not there was an enemy nearby she too began to check their surroundings. The only thing she could see was fire, earth and the ruins of a once great city. The only sound that filled her ears was the roar of flames from the pillars of fire that erupted from the cracks in the earth.

“Well now that we’re here, I say we get the Adamantine and make a hasty return to Newrand.” Lestith said while securing his right gauntlet. “While I appreciate the Frost Barrier you have given us, I do not like being here…something is…off.”

“Off?” Grandall asked, his head titled in confusion.

“Yes, I can’t explain it.”

“Maybe you’re just hungry? Did you get something to eat in the village?” he said jokingly.

Lestith gave Grandall a sidelong glance and frowned. Now wasn’t the time to be making jokes, although he appreciated the attempt to lighten the mood.

“I agree with Captain Lestith. I believe making haste is the best course of action.” Kaia said. Not having the same sense of unease as him, she still believed lingering around such a dangerous place would only serve to cause problems.

“Speaking of…how’re we gonna get this Adamantine anyway?” Grandall asked.

It didn’t occur to the others until now, but none of them knew of any way they could locate or excavate the ore. None of the items in the saddlebags came close to a tool that could be used for mining. Each of them turned to face Amrin who was still inspecting the surroundings, eyes narrowed and serious.

“Amrin?”

There was no change in his behavior.

“Master?” Kaia said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Hm, what?” he shook his head and looked at each of them, just now noticing they were all staring at him. “What?”

“The ore. How are we going to locate it, let alone mine it?” Lestith asked.

“Oh! Right. None of you brought any mining tools?” he asked and tilted his head to the side in an overly sarcastic manner.

“…”

“Wow, nothing.” He straightened himself out and cleared his throat. “You can leave that to me. Just…keep an eye out.”

“An eye out for what?” Grandall asks.

“Just in case. Never know what’ll happen in a place like this.” He said with a smile.

Amrin figured it wouldn’t be a good idea to cause them any further anxiety. They were already in a hellish environment and Lestith was uneasy about something. Most likely the same thing he noticed, although he didn’t know how he could tell.

“As you say. It’s never a bad thing to be prepared for a worst case scenario.” Lestith agreed. “Grandall, prepare yourself as well.”

Grandall nodded at the command. Lowering his head and closing his eyes, he raised his right hand to his chest and began to utter an incantation.

“Steadfast, immovable and firm. Reinforcement to stand against the mightiest of blows. Bulwark.”

A shimmer of green light enveloped his body, slowly turning into a diamond pattern and then disappearing. It was invisible to the naked eye, but Grandall was now protected by a layer of earth magic. It was powerful enough to protect him from all but the most powerful of blows or magical attacks.

After he had finished the incantation, Grandall unsheathed his sword and held it firmly in two hands and assumed a defensive posture. To make sure he could still move after the long journey from Arestoth, he slashed the sword into the air in a multitude or directions. The sharp whipping sound of the blade cutting through the air rang in his ears. Even though Grandall was a rather large man, the speed and precision of each of the sword strikes was impressive.

“Good to go for me sir.” Grandall said to Lestith as he lowered the sword and stood at attention.

Lestith nodded and unsheathed his sword this time. Following the same pattern as Grandall, he closed his eyes and lowered his head. But instead of placing a hand on his chest, Lestith brought the blade up horizontal to the ground in front of him. His right hand firmly grasping the handle, while his left index and middle finger were placed at the tip of the blade.

“Radiant spark and blinding speed. Pierce the darkness with blazing light. Luminous Blade.”

As he finished the incantation, the blade of his sword flared up in a blinding flash of light. What was once glimmering and shining metal was now a solid beam of blinding light. Lestith opened his eyes, lowered his stance, legs open and bent. Bringing the sword up to the side of his face, once again horizontal to the ground, his target was a large boulder.

It was at least a dozen feet away and would normally be foolish to hit a sword on it. Ignoring these factors, Lestith quickly thrust his blade forward faster than a normal human eye could perceive and just as fast pulled the sword back into its original position next to his face. He stood upright once more and let out a deep breath, bringing the glowing sword to rest beside him.

“Quite impressive Captain Lestith.” Kaia commended him.

Even though Lestith hadn’t moved from his position, the boulder he was facing had a massive hole, large enough to place your arm in, straight through it. No signs of cracks, abrasions or marring to be seen. It was a perfectly circular tunnel directly through the massive boulder.

“Gahahaha! I’ll never get tired of seeing that!” Grandall shouted in amazement.

“It’s far from perfect though.” Lestith said as he raised the blade to look at it. “I can only use the power to pierce. One day I hope to be able to cut with it just as well.” A narrow and hollow smile on his face.

“And you, Lady Kaia? Is there anything you need to prepare?” Grandall asked.

“No, I am fine.” She said politely and simply drew her sword from its sheath.

Amrin nodded in surprise at the skill both Grandall and Lestith displayed. He figured them for simple Knights with a basic understanding of magic. But Grandall was able to use an even higher, albeit only very slightly, version of Bulwark than Braddock. While Lestith, was able to utilize his light element in a physical capacity and with incredible precision and speed.

“And you Amrin? Is there anything that you need to prepare?” Lestith asked, his eyes firm and unwavering as he watched every move Amrin made.

“No, I’m good. I’ll just need you three to stay here and be on guard.”

“Stay here?” Kaia asked quickly. The prospect that Amrin would leave her side was not one she wanted to experience in this place. Her duty to protect him would be impossible. “Master, you can’t…”

“I’ll be fine.” He interrupted. “And by the way, why are you calling me master all of a sudden?”

“It is a decision I have come to. Just as Lady Elena has deemed you worthy to call master, so to, do I.”

Kaia was glad she had her helmet on this time. She didn’t know when it started, but she had become self-conscious of the things she said in regards to Amrin. But she meant every word and respected him greatly after the things she had witnessed and learned.

Among demi-humans, a mate was determined by their strength, wisdom, prowess in battle and physical stature. But why was she thinking about how a mate was determined all of a sudden? She didn’t consider him to be a candidate. Even if she did, he was human, no human would lay with a demi-human.

Even if by chance the situation did occur…it would be for naught. This thought caused Kaia’s eyes to cringe and hear heart skipped a beat.

“Well, just as long as you know you can call me Amrin and not master.” He frowned but wasn’t upset.

Amrin began to walk further into the ruined city, making sure not to step on anything that could collapse under his weight.

“Amrin, before you go. How long do we have?” Lestith asked.

“Have for what?” He answered, pursing his lips in confusion.

“The Frost Barrier. It’s been active for quite some time now, you must surely be exhausted from it. How much longer do you think you can keep it active?”

“Oh…uhh…as long as it needs to?”

He was convinced that saying, forever or whenever I say so, would only cause more unwanted questions he didn’t have the patience for.

“I see. As soon as you find the Adamantine, we will place it into the strongbox and make haste to Newrand.”

“Sounds good.” He nodded in acknowledgement.

Amrin once again began to walk carefully into the burning ruins of the city. Occasionally hopping from one foot hold to another, keeping an eye on any cracks or spouts of fire. He was confident that nothing would happen to him, but he was quite aware that his clothing was not fireproof. Coming to a large wall that blocked his way, the only thing he could do was climb over it. Luckily there were plenty of places he could jump to in order to traverse to the top.

With little effort he jumped from one ledge to another, some being more than a dozen feet high, but just as if it was the most natural thing in the world, Amrin bounded from one to another until he finally came to rest at the top of the wall. Peering over the devastation, he puffed his cheeks with air and quickly blew it out in surprise. He decided earlier to hold reservation on whether using multiple chanters to cast Cataclysm was overkill, but what lay before him was all the convincing he needed. The level of destruction was massive.

Portions of whole buildings buried underneath rock and rubble of other nearby buildings. Fire and pools of lava setting anything that could still be burned on fire, while a flurry of ash and dust rained from above. The light that was emitted from the flames was blinding, and the heat was so intense that stones nearby began to melt, adding to the already large flowing lava that snaked throughout the destruction.

“Quite the sight. It’s far worse than I imagined.” A voice said from beside Amrin.

He quickly whipped his head to the side and saw who it was.

“Kaia?!”

“Yes?”

“I thought I told you to stay there!”

“You did. But it was Lady Elena that has tasked me with the duty of protecting you whilst you gather the Adamantine. I am unable to perform that task if I am not by your side.” She said simply.

Amrin let out an exasperated sigh and shook his head in disbelief. Now that she’s followed him to this point there was no real point in sending her back. Although he couldn’t help but notice that she was able to follow him all the way here and not make a single sound or alert him to her presence. He was starting to wonder just how much more impressed with her he would become.

“Alright, fine. Just…don’t leave my side. There’s no telling what’s going to happen once I start.”

“Start?” she asked.

“This spot is just as good as any that I can see to start probing for Adamantine.”

Closing his eyes and raising both arms out in front of him hand open and palms down, Amrin began to concentrate on locating the ore. Releasing magic from his fingers, invisible strands of energy dropped to the earth and began to scatter throughout the stones of the destroyed buildings, dig deep into the earth, and pulse with energy as it found something other than simple rock or dirt.

It was quite similar to how a spider built its web. Spreading out the strands of silk in a wide area and the second something foreign touched any of the strands, it vibrated, alerting the spider. The invisible strands of magic from his fingers were the web, and Amrin was the spider.

Every once in a while his fingers would twitch and move with the resonance of the items located by the strands of magic. Kaia couldn’t help but be fascinated at what he was doing. She couldn’t see, feel or hear anything happening, but the fact that it was something that Amrin had to close his eye and concentrate for is what made her aware that it was something amazing.

As she was admiring him, he opened his eyes quickly turned to face her and frowned.

“I’m sorry. Am I in your way?” She was quick to ask.

“No. I just realized something.”

“Yes?”

“I have no idea what Adamantine looks like or feels like.”

“…”

The two of them stood silently on top of a broken wall surrounded by fire and lava, to search for a very specific item. Relying on the skill and power of Amrin to find and extract it from the earth. And he had no idea what it was.

“A-are you being serious?” she asked, cautiously.

“Yes. I’m positive that I’ve come across it before, but the name is most likely something that was adopted after my time away.”

“I see. Well...what is it that you require to know in order to find it?”

“Well, it’s density, typical size of the ore, if it has any elemental properties…”

“I-I’m afraid that I don’t have those answers. I’m sorry. The only experience I have with Adamantine is after it has been processed.”

“Damn.” He lowered his hands and exhaled loudly.

“I’m sorry.”

“No, there’s nothing you need to apologize for. I should have asked these questions before we left. This is my screw up.”

He placed his face in his hands and rubbed up and down in frustration while groaning.

“Wait…why does it need to be put into a strongbox before processing?” he said quickly moving his hands away from his face.

“Oh, the ore radiates a toxic aura that will cause anyone to become incredibly ill, draining them of their strength and ultimately causes them to fall unconscious. If exposed for too long, the effects will be irreversible, causing death.”

As Kaia described the effects of the ore he was searching for, his expression grew grim. His jaw clenched and his brow knitted in frustration and concern. Once more he rubbed his face in frustration, only this time it was because he knew exactly what they called Adamantine really was.

“Master?”

“Oblivion Stone…” he said, muffled through his hands.

“Oblivion….stone?” she repeated.

She had never heard of it called that before. But the effects of the toxin and the name Amrin had mentioned was more than an apt pairing.

“Adamantine is Oblivion Stone. Ugh…this is just great.”

“You know what to look for now?” she asked, the tone of her voice sounding hopeful.

“Oh yeah, I know exactly what to look for.”

“Is that not a good thing?”

“Yes and no. I’ve already found some, a rather large deposit of it, actually…”

“And the, no?”

“I hate the stuff. I’d rather not have to touch the stuff.”

“It can kill you?”

“What? No. I just said I just don’t like touching it. It makes me feel like a thousand tiny insects are crawling all over your body.”

Kaia’s eyes went wide at the mental image and she shook her shoulders and head to shake it away.

“I see. So the magic you used just then…it locates things?”

“Well, it only locates and tells me about items in the earth. So if you’re thinking it can locate people or items, then no, it doesn’t do that.”

Kaia simply nodded her head in acknowledgement. There wasn’t anyone she wanted to locate, but she was just curious as to the extent of the searching capability the magic he used had.

Once more Amrin held out his hands, palms down, and closed his eyes. Taking a deep breath he retraces the steps the magic strands took to locate the Oblivion Stone, or as it was called now, Adamantine.

“This Obli…Adamantine, is quite rare and expensive right?” he asked, eyes still closed and hands outstretched.

“Yes, that’s correct. Even the smallest amount should fetch a great amount of coin.”

“Well, how about we make this trip worth the effort then, hmm?”

The ground began to rumble as Amrin smiled. Small pebbles and cracked bits of stone began to fall, clicking along the ground or falling into the pools of lava that dotted the open area they stood above. The rumbling increased its volume as well as the force behind it, soon large portions of the ruined buildings broke apart and collapsed.

Kaia swallowed hard and steadied her footing as the rumblings turned into full on quakes. She looked at the wall they were standing on and couldn’t help but think that it would be a very bad thing for it to collapse while they were standing on it.

“M-master...I do not believe the wall will be safer for much longer at this rate!” she shouted, her balance being strained due to the excess shaking.

“Almost got it!”

He was clenching his eyes shut even more and tilted his head in concentration. The effort wasn’t giving him any strain or causing any pain, but he had to concentrate in order to extract a sizeable chunk of the ore and rip it out of the earth without causing the surrounding area to become even more unstable than it already was.

His arms still outstretched and hands open, palm facing down, he decided it was now or never. Quickly flipping his hands around so they faced palm up, the ground just below the wall shattered, causing a deafening boom to echo throughout Infernus Pass. Keeping his eyes closed, Amrin breathed a huge sigh of relief. Mostly because he didn’t cause the wall to collapse, making him to go down with it.

Kaia was stunned. She was standing with her posture lowered, knees slightly bent and arms out to keep from falling. As soon as the loud booming sound caused her to flinch in surprise and fear her eyes fell on the objet that caused it. It was a large shimmering black chunk of stone with flecks of green and purple. There was something else about it that Kaia noticed. The stone appeared as if it was releasing some kind of spark, or pop of energy. The only way she could describe it was tiny explosions of darkness.

“Whew…that was more annoying that I thought it would be.” Amrin sighed once more as he opened his eyes.

“H-how are you keeping it in the air like that? In fact….how did you pull it out of the ground to begin with?”

“Gravity.”

She didn’t know what she was expecting. This was a man that couldn’t die and claimed domain over twelve different elements of magic, why should she be surprised at gravity being one of them. She thought she would be able to digest the answer, but it was still too incredible to accept.

“Gravity…can do this?”

They both stood atop the wall and admired the floating chunk of incredibly rare and expensive ore.

“Well, I can make gravity do this. I isolate a specific area with earth magic and shatter the bonds within it, then the gravity claims the now free chunk of ore and I gently force it through to the surface.”

“You make it all sound so simple.” She frowned. “Also, I do not believe what we experienced could be considered, gently forcing it out.”

Amrin chuckled and was glad that she was able to make jokes after witnessing something that no doubt made her question all she knew.

“You say that, but you don’t want to know what would have happened if I was rough.” He said giving her a sidelong glance and smiled. “Well, let’s take this back to Lestith and close it up in that strongbox.”

“But how are we to carry it? Would it not cause even you troubles?” she said, turning to head back towards the two who waited at the entrance.

“I can just keep it floating above me like this until we get to Lestith. It’s not a problem.”

Amrin looked down from the wall from where he came and noticed that the footholds he used to climb to the top were now gone, no doubt due to the earthquakes he caused. He cringed a bit and glanced at Kaia.

“You able to jump from here?”

“It is no problem.” She said simply and without hesitation stepped off the edge and fell towards the ground.

“Just full of surprises aren’t you?” he said under his breath, and followed behind.

After the two had landed on the ground they made their way back to Lestith and Grandall, the path they took was now completely different. Rivers of lava cut off certain sections and gouts of fire spewed forth in places they didn’t before he extracted the Adamantine. It took them much longer to make it back than it did to venture into it.

Lestith and Grandall has fallen back to a flat open area further from where they initially parted ways. The sudden tremors put them on edge and caused them to retreat to more stable footing. Both of them were beginning to get nervous and impatient as to where Amrin and Kaia could be. They had been gone far too long and the tremors worried them even more. The only solace they took was the fact that Frost Barrier had not broken. If it had, it would have meant that Amrin either fell unconscious or died, but it did little to placate their worries of Kaia’s wellbeing.

“There they are sir!” Grandall shouted.

“Finally! Are they safe?”

“It appears they are, sir. But…what is that?”

Both of them noticed the giant black rock floating above Amrin. It was easily the size of a grown man’s head, but they have never seen a rock or ore like it. Deciding it would be best to wait until they were reunited to begin asking questions, the two of them waited patiently for them to come closer.

“Lestith, you have the strongbox ready?” Amrin said the moment they were in speaking distance.

Lestith frowned that it was the first thing he would ask for, and not whether they were safe after the tremors had caused everything in their field of view to be either engulfed in flame, or shatter and crumble. Rather than arguing, he kicked the strongbox forward and opened it from behind.

In one quick motion Amrin brought the chunk of ore down into the box, which it barely fit in, and Lestith quickly closed it, latching it shut.

“Sorry about that. You two ok?” He finally asked.

“Yes, I’m glad you two are fine. Those tremors came out of nowhere so we got a little worried.” Grandall explained.

“Ah, that was uhh…That was my fault. Sorry.” Amrin admitted.

Lestith shook his head and exhaled loudly. Pinching the bridge of his nose with his right hand.

“There are quite a few questions I have for you, Amrin. After we get back to Newrand, I expect some answers.” He said, the annoyance plain in his voice.

“Oh you do, do you?” Amrin said, raising an eyebrow.

“Apologies. I have questions, and I would greatly appreciate it if I could have answers to them….please.” Lestith corrected himself.

Even if he was frustrated, confused and curious about everything that had happened, he was out of line to demand answers from someone that didn’t owe them.

“Very well. Once we get back to town, I’ll answer any questions…” he paused momentarily “I deem worth answering.”

Lestith didn’t want to hear that, but it was an opportunity that he wouldn’t pass up. Some answers were better than no answers.

“You have my gratitude.” He said bowing his head slightly.

“I believe now would be a great time to make our retreat from here.” Kaia chimed in.

“Agreed, who knows what’ll happen after all those tremors shook everything up.” Grandall said.

Not a moment after they picked up the strongbox and began to make their way towards New Randess, the ground began to shake once more. The low rumbling started out faint, but was rapidly increasing in strength. The three Knights quickly flashed a glance at Amrin. Knowing exactly what they were thinking he quickly shook his head and put his arms up in surrender.

“Not me!”

“We need to get out of here, now!” Lestith shouted.

A huge explosion erupted from the middle of the destroyed city. A shower of flaming debris, globules of magma, and stone rained down upon them. If not for the Frost Barrier, Kaia and Lestith would have been burned by the globs of lava that fell upon their heads. The barrier doing its job, the second the lava touched their bodies, it instantly became inert and cold to the touch, in essence nothing but chunks of rock. Grandall not only having Frost Barrier, but Bulwark active was perfectly safe from the lava and chunks of stones that fell upon him.

Amrin wasn’t concerned with any of the items falling upon them. Instead, his eyes were focused on the massive object that erupted from the ground, the one that caused the explosion of debris. He was able to see it clearly as it began to fall back down to the earth. Even though he had heard the description from Grandall, he couldn’t believe it. They were extinct. He was sure of it.

Two large shimmering black horns atop its head. Bright yellow glowing eyes. A snout with razor sharp teeth. Scales and thick tough hide covering its massive body. A long serpent-like tail.

“Behemoth…”

The word went unnoticed due to sound of falling fire and rubble.