Chapter 12–Destiny

"My destiny?" Gondar asked, disbelieving, "You're saying I have to believe that all this has been planned out by some kind of god?"
"No," said Ish'Kafel, "Not all of this, but you being here when Dire launches an attack and what you're going to do next was foreseen by me and planned out by gods, in this case Keeper of the Light, with help from Templar Assassin (speaking for her masters, of course) and myself. Until his death, Omniknight was also in on the plan, and we had in fact originally planned to use Anti-Mage, as he was the most powerful Radiant hero who didn't use any sort of magic and who has any degree of subtlety."
"Alright, so "destiny" just means any plan involving divination and gods?" asked Gondar.
"In essence," replied Ish'Kafel, and Lyralei laughed.
"I see many things," said Ish'Kafel, "but one thing that evades my sight is why you think this is funny."

This made Lyralei laugh again, before she responded "Because it's so hilarious that you actually think that your plan is destiny! It's already failed once with Anti-Mage, so obviously," she chuckled, "you calling it destiny is just to make you guys feel better."
"This is not the time for childish jokes," said Ish'Kafel, calm as ever, "the war is at stake here."
"Fine," said Gondar, "what do I need to do and why?"
"You will accompany me into a grove just outside of the Dire base. Within that grove is a door which leads to the most secret of all the artifacts within this place. Follow me."

As they followed, Yumero asked "What is this artifact?"
"The artifact is something which will, if used correctly, give Radiant the power to win the war. You're going after the egg of the Phoenix."
"What's a phoenix egg?" asked Gondar.
"The Phoenix is a fallen star. It's power eclipses that of the Fundamentals, or rather the shards that you see doing battle here. It could single-handedly defeat most of the Dire army with little difficulty if it is awoken."
His interest piqued, Gondar inquired "And how do we wake it up?"
"By bringing it to the Radiant Fountain and hatching it there."
"And then what?"

"And then," said Ish'Kafel, "We win. Unless they can get close enough to use the Divine Rapier, then there's no weapons they have which can kill Phoenix before he can
vaporize them."
"Alright," said Gondar, "I'll do it."

And so Lyralei, Gondar, Yumero and Ish'Kafel set out into the Dire jungle in search of the miracle they needed to win. Meanwhile, Slithice returned to the Radiant side in a bid to slow the Dire down any way she could.

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When they came upon it, it wasn't all that impressive; just a small staircase leading down to a simple stone door set into the earth.
"Alright," said Gondar, "Let's go in."
"No Gondar," said Ish'Kafel, "Only you can enter."
"That's ridiculous," exclaimed Gondar, "why not?"

"Because," Ish'kafel responded, "all of them possess potent magic. The Juggernaught's healing ward is magical, as is the Windrunner's control over the air. The Naga's song and illusions are equally powerful. The reason we chose Anti-Mage, and later you, was that you did not possess magic. The Dire itself placed wards in this place, that the Radiant would never acquire the might of the Phoenix, and the first ward is a great barrier which destroys magical things which enter it, including those who use magic."
"But my Jinada–"
"Is no magic at all. It is a prayer, a focusing mechanism to concentrate your tiny mind on the strike."

Gondar was taken aback by the casual disparagement of his intelligence, but at this point was had found that arguing with someone who could see the future had become pointless, tedious and futile.

"What other wards are in place?" Gondar asked, somewhat dreading the answer.
"No more than what one would expect," replied Ish'Kafel, "Huge creeps, traps and the like, as well as a Chaos Golem."

Oh lovely, a Chaos Golem. Just what I needed.
For such powerful entities, their plan seems rather shaky. Betting everything on one bounty hunter? Really?
Granted, it could be that this so-called Dark Seer is actually quite desperate under that calm, composed exterior.
Granted, what was it that I said when I was asked to join the radiant army? "No job is too big, no fee is too big"? I think that was what it was…
I was so overconfident back then.

"Alright," said Gondar, walking towards the door, "here goes nothing."
"Good luck," Yumero said curtly.
"Break a leg!" chirped Lyralei.

Gondar placed his fingers in a small slot in the door, and slid it into the side of the doorframe. He walked through the doorway, felt a tiny tingling sensation, and entered the reliquary of the Phoenix.

It was a long hallway, which Gondar knew would be full of traps. On the other side was another stone door, this time with a lever next to it. If Gondar were Lyralei, he would now break into a run and perform acrobatic feats to leap over, roll until and flip around each trap.

Of course, Gondar was not Lyralei: though he was fast, his greatest assets were his keen senses, and he intended to use them. Pricking his ears and peeling his eyes, Gondar sheathed his bulky mancatcher and reversed the grip on his knife. he then took a calm step forward, and another, and another, calmly walking forward though his mind was racing and his senses were maximally attuned.

He stopped for half a second as he noticed the first volley of darts fly from the walls, letting them fly by in front of him, then kept right on walking, letting the second volley fly by behind him.
He ducked and rolled underneath the bladed disks which flew at neck level (forehead level for Gondar), then popped up and kept right on walking. He stepped right over the next tripwire, then scampered up the wall as spikes jutted up from the floor, using his knife and claws to cling to it with ease.

The traps were well-concealed, to be sure, but not even invisible Riki could escape Gondar's notice, and so he always had enough warning to deal with each trap: he smelled the alchemical fuel that powered the tongues of flame which now whistled in front of him, and knew that he need only wait a few seconds until they ran out of fuel.

He heard the huge weight dropping from the ceiling, and knew enough to step left, rather than forward onto the carefully concealed poisoned spikes whose lethal payload he'd detected beforehand.

Before he knew it, he was on the other side. Breaking off the poisoned needles on the lever handle (It appears The Dire's trapsmith, whoever he was, was rather predictable!), he pulled the lever which opened the door into the next room.

Within was a huge, open circular chamber, near the back of which was a small pedestal upon which was balanced a small chest. Scattered about the room were several statues of various beasts. The floors were smooth, unusually small marble flagstones set up in a grid pattern with narrow yet deep scores in between them and no mortar binding them together. The ceiling was dominated by a massive mosaic of a phoenix made from two distinctive kinds of tiles, one of which seemed to not quite fit right and glint slightly in the light, but were nonetheless quite attractive. Guarding the pedestal was a huge Chaos Golem, surrounded by a deadly aura of flames. As Gondar watched, a pair of hellbears came out of alcoves in the chamber and took up positions around the Golem, though not so close as to be burned by it's flaming aura.

Here we go again. I get confronted with foes I'm absolutely no match for and as usual, I'm too stupid and proud to run away.

Gondar entered the room, getting ready for the fight of his life. He would fight his way past them, take the chest and abscond. As the hellbears bore down upon him, he realized that this was maybe not the best plan he'd had.
He dodged the first swing, throwing down a smoke bomb and hiding behind a gryphon statue to buy himself time. Gondar knew he could not remain hidden for long, however: there weren't many places to hide, and he was pretty sure the hellbears could smell him. He looked around, desperate for some solution, any solution, to his current predicament. He saw a tiny glint in the score between ha pair of flagstones at his feet, right before the statue he saw the massive Chaos Golem looming above him.

Damnit, Gondar! Focus on the fight, you moron!

He leapt back, just in time to avoid the strike. His back hit the wall. The Chaos Golem then swung again, aiming to turn him into a red stain on the wall, but Gondar was quite agile, and stepped to the side just in time.

Gondar broke into a run, all thought abandoned in the mad dash to get to the chest. He encountered a hellbear as it tried to block his way and, not caring that there was no true power in the words besides that of his own concentration and training, shouted "Jinada!" and slashed the hellbear's knee, then ducked under it's pained counterstrike and between it's legs.

Pain shot through his side as he was sent stumbling by a blindside blow by the second hellbear. His blood fell onto the ground, running into the cracks. For a moment, his eyes were caught by the scene of beauty above, a resplendent phoenix being birthed into the world from the fires of it's death, every fourth tile or so seeming to point down at him as they shimmered in the burning aura of the Chaos Golem, the selfsame aura which he felt beginning to singe his fur even as it brought this beauty above to life. For just a moment, Gondar felt content with seeing this beauty at the point of his death.

The moment passed. Gondar stumbled back, taking a small scratch on his cheek from the swiping left claw of the hellbear. His veil fell from his face, the red cloth concealing the colour of fresh blood as it slowly fluttered down to the ground. Gondar ran a few steps more, outrunning the hellbears by only the slightest amount even as the Chaos Golem gained on him. He reached the chest, and was about to take it when he noticed a detail which made him hesitate: there was a slight upwards pressure as he just started lifting it. This hesitation was enough so that he had to let go of it to duck under the Chaos Golem's swing.

He bolted for the exit. He cut off his backpack in two swift slashes, as the pack which had once sustained him with the provisions within had come into contact wit the Golem and was now on fire, as the rest of him was like to be f he didn't move quickly. He had never run so fast in his life as he ran now, his very life on the line as he raced for the exit. He knew he would never make it past the gauntlet if he didn't get some kind of head-start on the Golem who was now bearing down upon him once more. He ducked and rolled forward, barely evading the blow which cracked the flagstones beneath him.

As he sprung up, he began to feel his strength ebbing away from him, just as he had felt it once before. This time, he knew, if he fell, there would be no healing magic to save him. As he crossed the door and whipped around, facing his fate, he reflected that this was likely to be the most important shot of his life, if not the last. Dropping his hook to draw his shuriken, he aimed it in the direction of the onrushing Golem's neck.

Now or never, Gondar. Aim true.

He swung his arm forward, flicked his wrist, and released the shuriken towards it's target. It flew straight, zooming just to the left of the Golem's neck. The Golem, momentrarily surprised, looked over it's shoulder. The shuriken flew on, past the hellbears, and hit the chest at the back of the room, glancing off of it and into the wall. The chest was shifted on it's pedestal. For a hundredth of a second which seemed as a full day, the balance of the war hung in the balance of that chest. Then, moving as if in slow motion to Gondar, the chest toppled off of it's pedestal and hit the ground with an audible "thud."

Nigh instantly, the wires which were placed in the gaps betwixt the flagstones rushed up. At the same time, sword-sized coloured spikes which had been concealed as part of the mosaic in the ceiling jutted down. The Golem and hellbears were caught in a thick wire mesh net, and pulled up to the top, their huge bodies skewered on dozens of spikes apiece.

Clever clever.
A series of simple, inane traps to kill the unwary and set veteran tomb-raiders at ease, and then a nigh-inescapable killer right at the plunderer's moment of triumph.
Against anyone but me, it would have worked.
But I'm a bounty hunter, the bounty hunter, with an eye for details and highly acute natural senses plus years of practice.
Nothing escapes my notice.
Now. How do I get the chest?

The answer was a simple as it was boring: after he bound his wounds, he had to climb up the wall, then meticulously cut through wire after wire until the damn thing finally fell into his arms, which caused him to fall and hurt his legs. Then, finding the chest locked, he picked it up and took it with him out of the reliquary, dodging the traps in the gauntlet for a second time with little difficulty.

He emerged out onto a scene charged with an almost palpable anticipation. Lyralei were pacing about anxiously, checking around for ambushes. Yumero sat in silence, and Ish'Kafel seemed lost in thought, standing almost perfectly still. The moment Gondar got out, all eyes snapped onto him, and Lyralei & Ish'Kafel broke into smiles, Lyralei's joyous and Ish'Kafel's satisfied at seeing the lockbox in Gondar's arms. Gondar assumed that, under his mask, Yumero was smiling as well, though he did not know for sure.

Immediately, Ish'Kafel spoke, saying "Good, you've got the chest. Now, we must return to the Radiant fountain. Doom has started his strike and time is of the essence."

And so the band set out with not a further word spoken between them. All could sense the urgency in Ish'Kafel's words and movements. There was a battle raging outside, and a clock ticking down to the inevitable defeat of the Radiant army unless the band could get to the fountain in time.