Author's Notes: I apologize for the lengthy delay in updating. I have been working between seventy and eighty hours a week at work for the past month. That doesn't leave a whole lot of time for writing. The overtime however, has been glorious! Anywho, thanks to everyone who decided to continue the journey that Saito and Co. began in book one. During the past month I have been continuing to develop the plot and I have decided to change the format of this book.
I was originally going to tell the story of what happened to the elves and the mages in a series of flashbacks that intersected with the main story, but I have come to the realization that the sheer complexity of that story might end up getting confusing. So instead I am going to divide this volume into three parts. Part one will be Saito, Robert and the mages investigating why the stars are being attacked, and part two will be the story of how the mages were exterminated five hundred years previously. Part three will pick up with Saito, Louise and the others again as they try to save Halkeginia and Earth from a similar fate as the other worlds.
Again, I am sorry for the length of time between updates, I will try to get better. But remember, no matter how long it takes me to put another chapter up, you have my word that I will not let this end up as just another abandoned fic.
I will finish this.
One way or another.
Enjoy the new chapter!
In the Sistan province in Southeastern Iran, lays a vast desert, a barren outstretched rock face that continues uninterrupted for miles in all directions. However, near the edge of the Iranian border, the lifeless landscape is punctuated by a marshy wetland dotted with lakes and ponds that are fed by snowmelt in the nearby Hindu Kush Mountains of Afghanistan.
Within this marsh is Lake Hamun, part of a string of lakes that circulate water throughout the oasis and provide a natural highway for native species to spawn during the spring melting season. The marsh itself is a flat plain, however in the center of the lake is an anomaly.
Mt. Khajeh, a flat topped basalt outcropping, rose defiantly against the pristine order of the otherwise unbroken landscape, a raised fist of non conformity.
It was at the top of this oddity that sits the ruins of an ancient fire temple of the Zoroaster religion. The Zoroastrians of the third or fourth century BCE were fire worshippers. They believed that fire was a purifier and cleanser of nature and practiced rituals where the bright white ash of their burned incense was slathered all over their bodies as a sign of purity.
By the end of the seventh century CE, warriors of the prophet Mohammed and his Islamic followers had driven out the practitioners of Zoroastrianism and their temples were either buried or destroyed.
All that remained of the temple that once stood proudly at the top of Mt. Khajeh was a foundation and ground plan. No one had worshipped here in centuries.
And yet on this warm and star lit evening, a fire was once again lit atop this mountain, and its light beckoned across the outstretched oasis as the sounds of the nocturnal species drifted up with the ash and smoke. And silhouetted against the flickering lights of the fire, were three hooded figures who engaged in nervous conversation while they awaited the arrival of a fourth.
"Welcome Vindalfr" said one of the figures to the most recently arrived of the three.
"A welcome to you too Brother Lifdrasr" he replied. "And to you as well Myozunitonirun, I trust your journey was a pleasant one."
"As pleasant as can be expected under the circumstances Vindalfr."
"Yes of course, where is Gandalfr?"
"He should be along any moment."
"Correction Brothers, he is already here."
All three turned to greet the arrival of their fourth and final member.
"Ahh welcome brother Gandalfr."
"We are honored by your presence."
"Most happy to see you Brother Gandalfr."
"And to you as well Brothers." replied Gandalfr, "Now that we are here, we may begin."
The hooded man known as Gandalfr brought the meeting to order.
"Now my Brothers it is with a heavy heart that I share with you that we have experienced a setback in our plans. It would seem that one of our recruits has been less than successful in supporting our cause." He then turned to one of his associates.
"Care to explain Brother Myozunitonirun?"
"Uhh it was a minor inconvenience Brother Gandalfr." The hooded man said while bowing low.
"Your operative was tasked to recover a very important artifact for us, a task that he failed to accomplish. Now we must take other more extreme measures to secure the prize, hardly what I would characterize as a minor inconvenience."
"I have already set plans in motion. I assure you Brother; the Founder's Blessing will be in our possession before the next eclipse."
"Yes, but acquiring a prize such as that from the clutches of the military will be nothing short of a coup, however that coup will be for naught if we do not also have the four elemental rings of the Founder's descendents."
The gaze of the one who called himself Gandalfr bored into that of the other unfortunate man who stood before him.
"Now it has come to my attention that the same operative that failed to acquire the Blessing has also been tasked to secure us the rings, a development that I find to be most disturbing."
Gandalfr narrowed his eyes, "what assurances do we have that he will succeed?"
Myozunitonirun slowly pursed his lips before responding.
"He will succeed because he fears for the safety of his compatriots."
"Compatriots?" one member asked.
"Yes Brother Lifdrasr" replied Gandalfr. "It seems that I was correct in my theory that the Founder's Blessing was also a means to open portals through time. And instead of bringing the artifact to us, the android Derflinger decided to use it to travel back in time and alter history."
"How have you come by this information?" asked Vindalfr.
"Myozunitonirun managed to secretly record and download the android's memories upon his return."
"And analysis of those memories has confirmed that not only is Saito Hiraga the Destroyer and the one responsible for the coming catastrophe, but that the android brought the Destroyer and his master to our present day, along with several other Markey" added Myozunitonirun.
Lifdrasr and Vindalfr gasped.
"Markey here, alive!"
"After five hundred years?"
"Not only that," continued Myozunitonirun, but in addition to Louise Valliere, two other Void Mages are among those the android brought with him."
"Three?" Vindalfr gasped. "Brother Gandalfr I must protest that we were not made aware of this development. The presence of three living Void Mages completely alters our calculus-"
"It changes nothing!" Snapped Gandalfr, "In the five hundred years since the extinction of the Founder's tribe our Order, The Familiars of Void, have been the keepers of the legacy of a once proud institution! We have worked quietly in the shadows to bring about the Founder's resurrection so that one day when the catastrophe does arrive; his enlightened wisdom will guide us through its aftermath."
"And while we're on the topic," Gandalfr continued. "What is the status of ourcandidate?"
"He has just been confirmed the party's nominee, as predicted the eclipse takes place the day before the election and will ensure the maximum impact on the outcome."
"Uhh excuse me." Lifdrasr slowly raised his hand. "What of the Gate? We still have not managed to locate it and if I am not mistaken the success of the plan depends upon it."
"That my brothers, is where Mr. Mason comes in."
"Robert Mason?"
"Yes Lifdrasr, Robert Mason was the one who discovered the Founder's Blessing and determined its true purpose. He disappeared two years ago, and now thanks to the android's memories we know that he used the Blessing to go back in time and also attempted to alter history."
Gandalfr relaxed his stance and eyed his fellow members.
"Even now he is on his way to investigate the latest star collapse, where he will no doubt discover the temple, and the secret that it holds."
"But if he discovers the temple, won't he also discover the Plague?"
"Yes, and that discovery will lead him to search for Shaitan's Gate."
"Brother Gandalfr, the Gate disappeared five hundred years ago on the day of Starfall, no one has been able to find it and even if, as you believe, this Robert Mason will be able to locate it, how do you know that he'll succeed before the next eclipse?"
"It has been foretold by the prophets, and until that day comes, no one is to interfere with Robert or any of his Markey companions."
"And once the Gate is found?"
"Robert's usefulness will have run out. Eliminate him and the Markey."
"Eliminate them? What about the Void Mages?"
"Their presence will only complicate matters and besides, once the Founder stands before us restored to his full glory, we will not need the Void Mages that Robert and the android brought back with them. The catastrophe will unfold as the prophets Elim and Malka predicted and when the dust settles and the blood is washed away, only those favored few whom the Founder deems worthy will share in what remains."
Gandalfr smiled broadly and spread his hands toward the heavens, the glittering stars reflected brightly in his eyes.
"The Founder will bring us a new dawn, and we shall be its heirs."
"Mr. Gramont!"
Guiche suddenly broke free of his daydream as he looked up at the woman leaning over him.
"Are you paying attention?"
"Y-yes" he said meekly.
"Good, because these suits are the only thing that's gonna keep your ass alive down there and I wouldn't want you to freeze to death."
She walked away slowly from Guiche as Montmorency delivered him a powerful slap to the back of the head.
"Oh and one other thing Mr. Gramont." The woman said as she reached the head of the conference table.
"My eyes are up here."
"Yes ma'am."
"Now, continuing on, these SAS suits are designed for maximum mobility without sacrificing protection….."
Guiche rested his chin on his hand and soon his eyes began to wander once more. This woman, this angel, this…..absolutely gorgeous creature was clad in the most revealing thing he'd ever seen. Sure every inch of her was covered, but the garment conformed so perfectly with the shape of her body that it still left little to the imagination. The suit she was currently demonstrating for them reminded Guiche of a good servant: it came in and went out in all the right places and stayed close to the job.
Very close.
A gentle sigh escaped Guiche's lips as he traced her gentle curves with his gaze. Reaching the point where those kinky contours yielded to a pair of supple, luscious, and curvilinear breasts, Guiche found himself wiping away a small trickle of drool that had formed at the corner of his mouth.
"Now the planet has been without its sun for about a week so surface temperatures are going to be well below freezing, these suits are designed to keep you warm. Now there is still breathable air down there but it is so cold it could very well freeze your lungs, so you will be carrying oxygen just in case."
A noble raised her hand.
"Yes Miss… Montmorency."
"Are we really going to wear these things? This isn't armor; it looks more like a pair of pajamas."
"If you feel uncomfortable going on this mission you are more than welcome to remain on board the Ivaldi. I can take your place instead."
Montmorency looked at Guiche who was seated next to her. He still had that dreamy eyed expression and was now drooling all over the table, her faced twisted into a look of rage.
No way am I leaving Guiche alone with her!
"I-I'll be just fine thank you."
The woman nodded, "Very well."
She turned to face everyone at seated at the table in the Ivaldi's conference room and continued her demonstration.
"Now your suit's fabric is actually coated with millions of tiny fluid filled capsules that break open if the suit gets torn, so if you are wounded or get snagged on something…"
She then proceeded carefully slice open her suit's leg with a knife. Suddenly a foamy substance emerged from the suit and formed a hard, white scar covering the tear.
"….the capsules rupture and release their fluid, which quickly hardens and seals the rip, thus keeping you protected from the outside."
"Wow!" all the mages said at once.
"One last thing, keep your helmets on at all times. Any exposure to the air will freeze your skin solid fast."
"Thank you Tamina" Said Alexander from the back of the room.
Tamina nodded and stood off to the side.
Robert then stood up and took his place at the front of the room.
"Ladies and Gentlemen now that we are well on our way, I can reveal to you exactly what we will be doing once we arrive."
Robert then inserted a data rod into the wall console and a piece of the room's wall that appeared to the mages to be made out a transparent panel suddenly lit up and displayed an image.
"This is a picture of a city on the surface of Glisa 4, the world we will be landing on."
Robert then punched a button and another image appeared right next to the other one.
"What do you notice here?"
The Saito and the nobles all leaned forward in their seats and studies the two pictures that were now side by side on the wall screen.
They appeared to be the exact same picture.
Except
Saito spoke out.
"There is an extra building there."
"Very good Saito, yes everyone this image here on the left depicts the city just before the planet's sun went out, while the image on the right depicts the city just after. Our people were busy trying to evacuate the planet's indigenous population, when they noticed this structure had appeared out of nowhere. We don't who built it or why, but we do know that this building or temple was not there before the destruction of this world's sun."
Robert turned away from the screen as it went blank.
"We will land on the surface and enter the temple. As a precaution I am asking Alexander to return your wands to you, however I must stress that they are not to be used except in an extreme emergency. There will be troops awaiting our arrival on the surface and I don't want them witnessing anything suspicious, understand?"
All heads at the table nodded weakly.
"Good, now suit up people, we touchdown in twenty minutes."
Robert and the mages stood in the Ivaldi's aft cargo hold waiting for the ramp to drop.
Robert pressed his finger against the side of his helmet.
"Aright everyone this is Robert with a radio check over."
Standing in their skin tight SAS suits, the mages merely looked at one another and shrugged.
Robert sighed loudly and shook his head.
"Can everyone hear me?"
The nobles nodded their affirmative.
"Good now listen when the ramp drops we go straight for the temple entrance, I don't want anyone trying to wander off-"
Roberts voice trailed off suddenly as he looked over to two figures snickering in their suits.
"Saito, Mr. Gramont, care to drag your heads out of the gutter and join us at some point?"
Saito and Guiche straightened up and looked at Robert. Saito had been quite taken by seeing Louise in her suit. However when his eyes reached the part of her body that would normally be the realm of the lady lumps, Saito's face fell as flat as the surface of Louise's chest.
Fortunately for Saito, Louise failed to notice.
Guiche, on the other hand was looking rather lustfully at Montmorency, Henrietta, Tiffania and Kirche, as their suits accentuated their lascivious curves quite nicely.
Robert, however then noticed that he was not the only one.
"Professor?" He asked in a sly tone.
Colbert's head snapped briskly toward Robert's direction.
"Yes" his voice sounding out in Robert's helmet speakers.
Robert merely shook his head and chuckled.
"Et tu Professor? Et tu?"
"I beg your pardon?" Colbert asked indignantly.
"Honestly Professor they're half your age."
"I-I have no idea what you're talking about."
Kirche sidled up to Professor Colbert and took his arm. She gazed at him with a come-hither smile.
"Sooooooo." Kirche, said playfully. "You really are a man after all."
"R-really Miss Zerbst I was just—"
"Checking me out?" Kirche finished for him.
"I…..I…..I…."
"It's okay Jean, you can look all you want."
Kirche leaned in close and placed the front or her helmet up against the Professor's and kissed the glass.
"If you want to see more, you need only ask." she said coyly.
"Ahem"
Robert set a bundle wrapped in cloth on the floor and opened it in front of the mages.
"Your wands."
One by one Robert passed their wands to them.
"Your Majesty Queen Charlotte and Professor Colbert, your staffs provide a logistical challenge in maintaining concealment, however I do believe that I have the solution."
Robert showed Tabitha and the Professor two long, rounded containers sealed by a zipper.
"Simply pull this tab," Robert explained while demonstrating the zipper mechanism, "and you will see that your staff is hidden inside."
Tabitha and Colbert took the containers and slung them over their shoulders.
"Do not display them unless absolutely necessary" warned Robert.
"Alright everyone, the ramp drops in thirty seconds. Just a friendly reminder, the temperature on the surface is minus one hundred degrees with wind gusts of about fifty miles per hour plus. Make sure your suit's heating elements are active."
After Captain Alexander Dufresne's announcement, Robert went to each mage and checked the readout display on the wrist of his or her suit to make sure the embedded heating elements in the fabric was indeed on.
The aft boarding ramp dropped and the wind rushed in from the outside.
Robert's voice rang out over the com system embedded in each suit's helmet.
"The entrance to the temple is about fifty yards straight ahead. Remember, you are on an alien world, do not wander off and stay with the group. Also….." Robert faced them with a stern expression. "No magic unless I say so."
The mages nodded.
"Right then, follow me."
The group descended the ramp into the cold darkness. Tabitha and Colbert both looked up and gazed star struck at the alien sky. The star patterns were completely foreign to them. A wispy band of pinkish glowing dust stretched out over the heavens above as thousands of bright points of light beckoned seductively from behind.
The scene was gorgeous.
Robert activated a pair of bright lights that were attached to the wrists of his suit and pointed the way to the entrance of the stone structure.
"This way."
Henrietta stuck close to Robert and with great trepidation, she entered the temple.
The group first encountered a long inclined hallway with walls adorned with glyphs and symbols the Robert said were meant to bless anyone who entered the temple. After a time they came to a wide open chamber, Kirche pulled out her wand and pointed to the ceiling, prepared to cast a spell to flood the chamber with light from a fireball.
Robert shook his head no, and pointed to his set of wrist lights on his suit, and then pointed to the mages. Saito went to each of them and helped show them how to turn the lights on. Now by pointing their wrists, they could see where ever they wished.
"It appears to be a holy shrine or place of worship."
As Robert and the mages looked around the chamber, Saito approached Robert and asked him a question.
"Hey, I thought someone was supposed to meet us here."
"That's just what I was thinking."
"Any idea where they are?"
"None whatsoever. Here, take a look at this!"
Robert had stopped in front of a pillar toward the rear of the chamber.
"Take a look at these markings."
The pillar was decorated with several glyphs depicting a circle being slowly eaten away, an image evoking the phases of the moon back on Earth.
They moved to the next pillar, and there was a glyph depicting the temple and the moon above it. The moon had a slight aura around it, as if there was something behind it. The truth dawned on Robert immediately.
These pictures were depicting a solar eclipse.
There was an outline of a structure that Robert guessed symbolized the temple. Within the outline were stick figures, with hands stretched out toward the sky as the eclipse completely obscured the sun.
"It's the eclipse!" Robert exclaimed. "They said that this temple only appeared after the sun went out!"
Robert turned and grasped Saito by his shoulders.
"This temple must only be visible during an eclipse."
Robert turned back to the pillar, and gently brushed his hands against the glyphs etched into its stone surface.
"Now that the system's parent star has gone out, the eclipse is eternal."
"So whoever caused the star to collapse must have done it so that they could enter this temple." Saito said.
"Yes, but why?"
Robert pointed his wrist at various points throughout the chamber, lighting them up with his lights.
"What does this temple possess that would be worth destroying a star over?"
"Saito!"
Saito looked up and immediately ran toward the sound of his wife's voice. Soon he found her, and from behind the glass that made up her helmet face shield, Saito could see Louise's terrified and surprised expression.
"Louise!" Saito said grasping his master by the shoulders. "Louise what is it?"
Louise merely pointed straight ahead with her left hand, the twin beams from the firmly attached wrist lights melding together to form a spotlight's beam on the wall.
She slowly turned her head and faced her husband.
"Saito" she said carefully. "W-we're on another world right?"
"Yeah." He replied.
"Then what is that doing here?"
Saito gradually followed the beams emanating from Louise's wrists to the point where they illuminated the wall.
"What is what doing…?" Saito stopped.
Whoa!
Saito stood there with his wife staring at the five pointed star carved into the ancient stone wall.
The seal of the Founder.
The star was contained within a circle, and outside of the circle, lining up with each point on the star, was a symbol. Each symbol represented one of the four elements, water, fire, earth, and wind. But the symbol on the star's topmost point was just a circle.
Saito carefully advanced on the carving, and studied the empty circle representing the fifth and final element.
Void
It has to be Void, Saito thought. What else could an empty circle mean?
Saito spun around in place.
"Hey Robert!"
Henrietta stood in the darkness of the temple's holy room, looking around at the various glyphs carved into the walls. She was just about to ask Robert about a one depicting a man climbing a set of steps into the sky when she noticed something strange about his demeanor.
Robert stood there with a piece of stone his hand as if contemplating it. His eyes moved back and forth, as if he were reading something.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm just trying to determine how old this temple is."
"You can tell that just by staring at a rock?"
Robert chuckled. "This is a piece of stone from the temple wall. Sensors contained within the glove of my suit can tell me all sorts of things about it. Everything from what this piece of stone is made of to how old it is. The information is then displayed on the inside of my helmet."
Henrietta brought her face close to Robert. He blinked reflexively and took a step back as he looked back at her suspiciously.
"What?"
"I don't see anything."
"See what."
"The inside of your helmet, you said that the information about the stone would be displayed in the inside."
Robert smiled. "You can only see it from the inside." Suddenly he dropped his smile, and almost dropped the piece of stone as well.
"What's wrong?" Henrietta asked, sensing the change in Robert.
"No, that can't be right."
"What is it?"
Robert stared closely at the fragment of stone masonry in his hand. His face bore an expression of absolute astonishment.
"According to the sensor analysis, this temple is over 200,000 years old!"
Suddenly, a voice from across the room got their attention.
"Hey Robert!"
On the starship Ivaldi's bridge, Irukkuku paced nervously. It had been nearly an hour since she had last seen her master Tabitha and her other friends leave the ship for that frozen world below. She had asked, no begged Tabitha to allow her to go with them. But the tiny blue haired mage merely shook her head and quietly gave her refusal.
"Too cold." She had said simply.
Now with nothing to do but pace and worry, Irukkuku was quickly losing patience. Of course patience had never been one of Irukkuku's defining traits.
She was after all still a child.
True, the rhyme dragon was over two hundred years of age, but that was nothing when compared to the average rhyme dragon's lifespan of over two thousand years.
She had only reached one tenth that age, which was comparable to a human reaching the age of about seven and one half years.
Definitely still a child.
Irukkuku still remembered the day that the summoning portal opened before her in the middle of the rhyme dragon colony. Despite her elders warning her not to touch it, her curiosity got the better of her and soon found herself standing in a strange place surrounded by strange people.
She found her master, the one who had summoned her, to be an enigmatic one. She briefly considered eating the petite mage, but after taking one look in Tabitha's eyes and seeing the cold seriousness and determination that resided in there, she wisely reconsidered.
And after a time she found herself beginning to care for the mage that she had been brought involuntarily to serve.
That was not to say that she did not miss her family. She did, terribly in fact. But after discovering that the summoning portal had flung her several thousand years into the future, and that she was now the last of her kind, Irukkuku had come regard her master and her friends as her new family. She loved them, all of them.
She was vital in her role in warning Saito and the others about Bidashal and Joseph's plans to kidnap and incapacitate Tabitha.
She even accompanied them into Gallia on the mission to rescue her Big Sis from the clutches of the elf and the Mad King of Gallia.
Now she felt helpless as her master went boldly into the unknown.
And the more she thought about it the more restless she became. It was maddening. She wanted to go down there. She wanted to help, to…
The disguised rhyme dragon shook her head.
Well anything is better than just sitting here!
"Captain Alexander!"
Irukkuku looked up. She recognized that voice, but its owner was nowhere to be found.
Alexander Dufresne, Captain of the starship Ivaldi walked up to a console and flipped a switch.
"Mr. Mason." He said plainly. "How is it going down there?"
We're fine. Listen. Switch to a secure frequency, we need to have a private conversation."
Henrietta stood confused as she watched Robert.
No, not confused, concerned.
After telling Captain Alexander that he wanted their conversation to be private, Henrietta could no longer hear either of their voices in her helmet, but she could still see Robert, and he looked…..rather distressed.
Robert paced, waved excitedly with his hands as spoke rather forcefully with what seemed to be no one in particular. Henrietta could only assume that whatever scrying device he was using to speak to Captain Alexander back on the Ivaldi was still working, and that she and her fellow mages simply could no longer hear them.
Whatever it was that they were talking about, Robert looked very angry.
"Would you mind telling me how the Seal of Brimir ended up in a two hundred thousand year old temple that is light years from Halkeginia?"
Alexander picked up a handset so that those on the bridge could not hear Robert.
"What makes you think I would know anything about that?"
"Look, I agreed to keep your true identity a secret Derflinger, and I also agreed not to let Saito or anyone else in on the fact that a future version of him is the one that is ultimately responsible for these stellar collapses, but if you expect any further cooperation from me, you're going to have to start sharing what you know."
"I give you my word: I don't know anything about temples or the Founder going to other worlds."
"This temple appeared here only after the star went out, and I have glyphs here on the temple walls depicting people worshipping in here during an eclipse."
"So you think that the star was destroyed to make the temple appear?"
"That's exactly what I think. The glyphs also show people ascending a bridge leading to a doorway during the eclipse."
Alexander stood in silent surprise as the pieces began to fall into place in his mind.
"A portal!"
"Yep. A stellar collapse means a permanent eclipse, so somewhere out there is a portal that will never close. We need to find out where it leads to."
"I use the Ivaldi's sensors to try and locate it."
"Do that. I'm still trying to find out what happened to our military escort. They don't seem to be around."
"Copy, I'll let you know if I find anyth—"
Alexander didn't get to finish. He was interrupted by the blood curdling feminine scream that erupted from the handset earpiece.
Kirche von Zerbst pulled out her wand and conjured a flame at its tip. She wasn't sure exactly why she decided to wander, curiosity maybe?
Leaving the rest of the group behind, Kirche walked slowly along the rear wall of the worship chamber, the flame at the tip of her wand produced ghostly flickers that licked the symbols and pictures covering the stone wall.
Suddenly Kirche stopped, a certain set of symbols catching her attention. Even though she could not read them, she had seen these before.
Specifically, she'd seen them carved into the top of Saito's hand, and into every other familiar that she had seen including her own.
Runes.
"Jean?" She called out loud.
Professor Colbert came running over, his face already bearing the rebuke that he would soon commit to words.
"Miss Zerbst, Mr. Robert specifically said no magic while we are on this world."
Kirche ignored the Professor's chiding and gestured toward the wall.
"Look!"
Colbert gasped at the sight of the runes carved into the stone wall, and knelt before them.
"Incredible! Runic lettering here on another world!"
He ran his gloved fingers along the runes and felt the impressions they made on the wall. Clearing his throat he began translating them.
After a time he was able to dictate their meaning.
"Take a look here Miss Zerbst." His finger traced the runes as he narrated for Kirche.
"The runes tell of a Destroyer who would come from the stars bringing a great Evil. The door to hell would open, and the armies of the devil would come and destroy the Gods. The sun would become as black as the abyss, and night would reign for eternity."
At the bottom of the runes there was a depiction of a monstrous beast, with great horns and hands of fire doing battle with the Gods as the mortals below succumbed to death. There was another set of runes directly below the beast.
Galdr
But as the Professor continued to read and translate the runes, Kirche's attention was already elsewhere. Off to the right, a further thirty feet down the wall, there was a rounded corner. Kirche held up her wand and peered over to it.
It was a small alcove, recessed into where the two walls should meet to form a corner of the room. But instead of a seam and a right angle, there was a curved space. Kirche walked over to it and gasped as she spotted what was carved into the floor. Seated perfectly into the alcove floor was another round seal of the Founder Brimir.
Kirche carefully stepped back.
She was about to turn and call the professor, when she slipped and fell. Kirche then picked up her wand and shined the flaming tip over the spot where she had fallen.
She sighted a large, frozen puddle. The extreme cold of the sunless world had frozen solid what had been a puddle of liquid, and formed a slippery trap for the unsuspecting in the process.
Kirche ran her hand along the icy pool. The heated fabric of Kirche's suit glove melted a portion of the liquid, causing some of it to adhere to her fingers. From beneath flickering light of her flaming wand the liquid appeared to be red.
Blood
Just then an object fell from above and slammed into the frozen stone floor almost directly in front of her. Kirche looked at the shattered object with curiosity, until her brain began to process the scattered fragments she saw into a recognizable pattern with a meaningful context.
It was a human face. Almost as though it was the result of someone's careless handling of a porcelain doll.
Kirche was staring at a shattered human head.
Slowly, the fire mage turned her gaze upward. As they reached the ceiling, her eyes widened, her breathing stopped, and her body trembled.
Then Kirche opened her mouth and screamed.
"Stand by Captain", Said Robert. As he ran towards the sound of the terrified scream, he switched to back to the open frequency so that everyone could hear him.
Robert spotted Kirche standing near the corner of the rear wall with her head tilted up to the ceiling; her face was contorted in a visage of terror.
"Kirche! What is it?" Asked Robert as Saito and the rest of the mages came running up behind him.
The terrified fire mage could only point.
Robert, Saito, and the others followed Kirche's pointed finger until they saw the object of her consternation.
There were at least twenty of them hanging cemented to the worship sanctuary's vaunted ceiling, their arms outstretched by gravity's pull, their faces frozen in a grim visage of horror and agony.
At least one was headless, its cranium now comprised of several fragments lying on the chamber's stone floor.
"Robert! Robert do you copy? Report!"
"Were fine Captain Dufresne." Robert replied. "Miss Zerbst just found our military escort."
There was a long pause from the Captain's end until finally…
"How many?"
"I'd say about twenty."
"Survivors?"
"None."
"Get out of there, were coming back down to get you."
"Copy, give us a few moments to get the bodies down, we may be able to figure out how they-"
"Robert!"
It was Henrietta pointing back up at the bodies hanging from the ceiling.
"What is that?"
A thick viscous black fluid began to ooze out of the open mouths of the frozen corpses. It dripped heavily down to the stone floor as Robert and the mages darted out of the way.
In a seemingly impossible scenario, the fluid began to rise up from the pools formed on the floor. Shape came to the shapeless. First it was nothing more than a rough outline. A head, limbs, indentations on the head began to form a monstrous face. The fluid condensed further, and from the shiny black liquid came eyes, teeth, and the slick sheen gave way to the rough texture of skin. Soon where there was once a puddle of liquid, there was a small hideous creature, of the approximate size of a small child or an alviss doll.
And as more liquid continued to pour from the mouths and wounds of the dead soldiers above the mage's heads, it was a process repeated over and over.
Again.
And again.
Until the mages and their archeologist escort faced a small army of what could only be described as hissing, snarling little demons.
"Louise?"
Saito pulled Derflinger from his hip. His familiar's runes shone brightly as he brandished the sentient katana and turned to face his master behind him.
"Start chanting."
The tiny pink haired void mage nodded her helmeted head and pulled out her wand that she had tucked into her suit's belt.
Robert cocked a plasma rifle.
"No point in being subtle now I suppose."
Colbert and Tabitha each unzipped their staffs concealed in their container tubes they had slung over their shoulders. Kirche began launching fireballs at the advancing horde, while Guiche summoned his Valkyries.
Saito could feel his courage rising as Louise's chanting pounded against his ears from the speakers contained within his helmet.
However, before Louise could complete her chant, Tabitha unleashed an Explosion of her own.
The energy of the Void spell completely enveloped the swarm of pint sized demons coming to feast on the flesh of their unwelcome guests.
However, when the smoke cleared, the swarm seemed unaffected.
At first.
The creatures unleashed a unified scream and soon began to swarm all over each other, forming a massive pile of wriggling, and squealing bodies.
Those bodies began to soften and turn back into a liquid, the demons began to mix and merge with one another.
Robert and the mages watched in horror as the swirling, and churning bead of black fluid began to condense and take on another form.
A form that seemed to come straight from Hell.
And this form was considerably larger. Saito could not help but notice that this new demon was only slightly shorter that Fouquet's golem.
Except that Fouquet's golem didn't have two large horns that rose out of the top of its head and then curved straight back, or rows upon rows of sharp pointed teeth nestled in a menacing snout like mouth with a fiery glow that shone from the back of its throat.
The golem also didn't have leathery skin, a long lizard like tail, or razor sharp claws at the ends of its fingers and toes.
Other than that, Saito mused, the similarities are striking.
The demon reared its head back and roared at the Robert and the mages.
The golem didn't do that either.
The beast lunged forward, its massive tooth filled jaws going straight for Louise.
Clang!
Saito delivered a sword strike directly across the monster's front teeth, the impact lifting him off of his feet and flinging him against the rear wall of the temple like a rag doll. The massive demon roared in pain as Saito slowly struggled to his feet.
Guiche set his Valkyries on the demon. The small golems vanished and reappeared hovering next to the demon, slashing and stabbing with their pikes and swords. The demon reached with its mouth and crushed them one by one in its jaws.
Professor Colbert and Kirche began launching fireball after fireball at the creature's face while Henrietta waved down Montmorency with a plan of her own.
"Go for the wrists!"
Montmorency nodded and both water mages pointed their wands and wrapped up the demon's wrists with swirling streams of water. Like a pair of bridge golems tugging a chain they slowly dragged the demon's wrists toward one another, intending to bind them together.
Suddenly, the demon flung its arms outward, sending Henrietta and Montmorency flying through the air.
Colbert and Guiche caught them with Levitation spells before they came crashing back to the ground with fatal results.
The demon roared again, and again made lunge toward Louise, who was still standing in the middle of the commotion, eyes closed, wand raised and chanting.
The beast opened its mouth and prepared to swallow the Void Mage whole.
Stick!
The fiend broke off and shrieked in pain.
Saito was directly beneath the demon, plunging Derflinger into its massive leg over and over again.
Now that he had the beast's attention he broke off his assault and ran.
"Guiche now!"
Guiche raised his wand, and the floor beneath the demon's feet opened up and began to swallow them. Unable to move forward, the hellion began swiping at anyone within reach of its clawed fingers.
Louise's eyes snapped open. Her spell was finally complete.
Explosion!
Louise's spell detonated right in between the fiend's wide open jaws. She and the other mages stood and watched as it screamed.
When abruptly…..
Snap!
The beast's jaws shut tight and its throat heaved with a loud Gulp!
"It swallowed the spell?" asked Montmorency incredulously.
"Okay… That's new." Saito said.
They all staggered back as the demon dropped to all fours. The beast's back arched upward and its abdominal section convulsed as it began hacking and dry heaving.
"What's it doing?" asked Kirche.
"It looks like it's trying to hack something up." replied Saito.
"The spell?" asked Robert.
Its massive claws dug channels into the temple's stone floor as the demon's breathing became even more labored. Soon Saito and the others could see dark green phlegm beginning to ooze out its mouth, coating its teeth and tongue.
And then…..
Splat!
The mages looked on in utter disgust as a giant phlegm filled sac fell out of the demon's mouth and splattered onto the frozen stone floor.
"Oh gross, what is that?" asked Montmorency.
Kirche slowly walked up a few paces to get a better look.
"Kirche what are you doing? That beast is still alive!"
Suddenly the sac began to ripple and furrow.
Something was alive inside of it.
The sac split open, and a long wriggling worm or serpent fell out and began flailing about. After a few seconds it could move on its own and support its own head and weight.
The serpent looked around and hissed.
Then it attacked.
Brandishing its fangs, it coiled like a spring and launched itself at the closest adversary it could find.
Kirche
Fangs extended and already spewing venom, the black serpent went straight for Kirche's throat.
The fire mage closed her eyes and raised her arm in defense and awaited the inevitable.
Whack!
Kirche opened her eyes and saw Professor Colbert finish swinging his staff and belting the wriggling creature back toward the massive demon that had spawned it.
He had saved her again.
"Miss Zerbst, get back!"
The dark snake lunged again, but Colbert was ready with a serpent of his own.
Colbert pointed his staff and proved to all why he was once known as the Flame Snake.
A swirling column of fire emerged from his staff and terminated in a flaming head of fangs and scales. A snake made entirely of flame.
The two serpents faced each other, hissing and snapping, each feeling the other out and searching for an opening in the other's defenses.
Colbert pulled back his staff and whirled his flame snake like long whip, snapping it toward the dark snake and driving it back and away from Kirche.
Meanwhile the large demon continued to struggle against the stone floor that Guiche had managed to mold around its feet, and anchor it in place.
The demon snake dodged another attack by Colbert's flame serpent; it gave a hiss in reply and dodged again. The demon snake waited patiently for an opportunity.
It didn't have to wait long.
Colbert pressed forward and attacked again, his flame snake extended itself fully and went for the dark serpent's throat.
Again it dodged and launched itself directly at the Professor.
Colbert screamed in agony as the demon serpent sank its fangs directly into the meaty flesh of his left thigh.
Kirche screamed, "Jean!"
The serpent released Colbert and reared back to strike again…
And was engulfed in a sphere of fire.
With eyes full of cold fury, Kirche stepped in front of Colbert, and faced the demonic serpent.
She twisted her wand as she consolidated the swirling flames around the snake.
Kirche was running on pure emotion, her rage fueled her magic as the temperature inside the spinning flames raced ever higher.
A small spherical indentation appeared in the otherwise frozen stone floor as the flame melted its way through.
The serpent squealed in agony, and soon it was nothing but ashes.
And when the object of her fury no longer endured, Kirche extinguished her flames and returned to normal.
She knelt next to the professor, her sight blurring as the tears welled up in her eyes. Kriche checked his wound and found that the suit had sealed itself with a foam like substance just as Tamina demonstrated back on the Ivaldi.
Grasping both sides of the Professor's helmet, Kirche looked into the eyes of the man she loved, and gasped in horror at what she saw.
The whites of Professor Colbert's eyes had begun to turn black.
That wasn't all, his skin was turning grey, his breathing was raspy and labored, and his face was warped in pain.
The Professor was dying.
The snake's venom was destroying his body, and now he was going to die in Kirche's arms.
"Jean," Kirche cried. "Please…don't die, don't leave me."
Montmorency and Henrietta both arrived next to them, and had already began chanting their healing spells, both desperately trying to stabilize Jean Colbert's rapidly deteriorating condition.
Their spells were not having any effect.
Ccccccrack!
The mages turned to the full piercing noise that announced that the large demon had managed to free itself from the temple floor.
It growled and snarled as it stalked toward Kirche and the Professor.
Henrietta and Montmorency sent water blasts towards its face, hoping to divert its attention away from the wounded professor, as Kirche began to slowly drag him away from the combat zone.
Henrietta watched as Robert held up his strange rifle, and a small round tube with a reddish tinted glass end sprang up from the top of the rifle.
Robert looked into the tube and fired a yellow blast of plasma that struck the beast directly in its left eye.
The demon screamed again, and charged toward Robert, who dove to one side just as the fiend's snapping jaws reached his position.
Saito began to press his own attack. The superior speed and strength from his Gandalfr's runes enabled him to stay a step ahead of the flailing beast as he drove swung and slashed with Derflinger repeatedly at the beast's legs.
But all of this was only able to keep the creature occupied and off balance, it would not be enough to defeat it.
Something else was needed.
"Derf!" Saito shouted, "Do you know what this thing is?"
"It is a creature from the realm of Void, but in truth I have never seen one until we fought the Ancient Dragon. Before that, I thought they were merely legends."
"The Ancient Dragon, wait you mean that this thing is the same type of creature as the Ancient Dragon?"
"Yes, but Louise was able to hurt the Dragon with her Void Magic. This demon only seems to get stronger with it."
"So how are we supposed to stop this thing?"
The sentient Katana thought for a moment.
"It has a resistance to magic, so physical attacks would seem to be your best weapon against it."
Saito looked at Derflinger. The sword was right; he and Robert were the only ones that had managed to hurt the creature.
Saito looked at Robert, who was just getting back to his feet.
"Robert!" Saito shouted. "Magic doesn't work against this thing, only physical attacks can hurt it."
Robert nodded and aimed his rifle again.
He sent shot after shot of hot plasma streaming toward the demon.
Robert was succeeding in getting its attention.
The demon spun and swung its tail, catching Robert and Saito and flinging them both against the wall.
In the meantime Kirche had been able to drag Jean Colbert away from the demon and into the recessed alcove that she had found minutes earlier. Kirche cradled the Professor's head in her arms as they lay on top of the Founder's Seal that marked the alcoves interior.
The demon once again turned its attention toward KIrche and the Professor. Whatever venom or magic that the dark serpent had managed to inject Colbert with seemed to be drawing the demon toward them.
Suddenly the round Founder's Seal that Kirche and Jean were perched on began to glow, dimly at first, but soon it radiated a bright white light that utterly consumed them.
As Robert slowly staggered to his feet, he watched Kirche and Professor Colbert become immolated in a vertical beam of pure white light.
He gasped as their bodies dissolved away into the light, which then shot toward the cold, starry sky through a hole that had appeared suddenly in the temple roof.
Robert became shocked as he realized what he had just witnessed.
The floor seal in the corner is a matter transporter!
Robert fired off another shot of his plasma rifle.
"Get to the Seal in the corner!"
"What?" screamed Henrietta, "after what you just saw happen to Colbert and Kriche?"
"Just do it! It's our ticket out of here!"
"But we don't know where they went."
"Wherever they went it's got to be better than here!"
He fired off yet another shot.
Tabitha, Guiche, Montmorency, Tiffa, Henrietta, and Robert moved to the Founder's Seal in the corner alcove.
Louise began tugging on Saito's sleeve.
"Let's go you stupid dog!"
"Go ahead Louise, I'll be right behind you."
"I'm not leaving without you!"
"GO!"
Maybe it was the look in Saito's eyes, or maybe it was just that she had never heard him shout like that before. But whatever the reason Louise obeyed, she turned around and went to the Founder's Seal.
Saito charged toward the demon.
The seal platform began to glow and everyone on board was being engulfed in light.
"Saito!" screamed Louise.
Louise watched in horror as Saito single handedly engaged the giant demon in combat. He was a blur as he ran back and forth, slashing at the beasts hands and feet at every turn.
Robert and the other mages understood precisely what Saito was doing.
He was buying them time.
Louise however was not having it.
She strained and struggled against the other mages who desperately held on to Louise as she tried to escape the platform to help her familiar.
Her hand and head broke the perimeter of the seal.
"Saito!"
"Dammit! Pull her back in before we go, otherwise her head will be left behind!"Robert shouted.
The demon raised its foot, meaning to bring it crashing down on Saito, crushing him under its weight.
Saito stabbed Derflinger upward, impaling the creature's foot.
Louise's head was pulled back into the light, then just as her hand crossed back into the perimeter…..
Zoom!
Louise and the other mages dissolved away and streaked into the starlit sky.