Chapter 48
We made our way through the ruins to the base of the mountain. Along the way, we noticed several corpses of Black Ring and Divine Order strewn about.
"Looks like Alexander's entourage ran into some trouble," Sebille said.
I felt bad that some of the humans died when I did my best to spare them when we confronted Alexander. But Del's body wasn't part of the newly dead so that was relief enough for me. When we arrived at the door, it was exactly what Alexander had described. Seven large alters stood around a stone rectangle, three on the left, three on the right and one in the back on the opposite end of where the entrance was. Alexander, along with the six surviving Magisters and Paladins, Del included, stood at the front of the door blocked by a green magical barrier. To the left of the Bishop, his power source rested on a square pedestal that surged with electricity. To his right, a lever stood. When we approached, he and his guards turned their attention to us.
"Ah," the bishop said. "I was starting to doubt you were going to appear."
"Our meeting took a little longer than expected," I said. "But we're here now. You can resume what you were doing."
"Very well," the Bishop said. "All the alters have been aligned accordingly and the power source has been placed. There's only one final step."
The Bishop turned around and took hold of the lever. He pulled it and with a loud clunk, all the alters around the rectangle glowed and surged with energy. The energy surged alter to alter until it jumped to the magical barrier. A moment later, the barrier fell, leaving the large stone door to be opened.
"Be on guard men," Alexander said.
A pair of his guards walked up to the large green door about to open it. But before they could, a voice shouted from behind us.
"ALEXANDER!"
All of us turned around.
"Gareth?" I said.
Gareth shuffled past us, his great sword in hand. Alexander's guards drew their weapons and stood between him and Gareth. The Seeker stood in battle ready stance, ready to take the seven humans before him.
"Be at ease, men!" Alexander said. "Stand down."
His guards sheathed their weapons but kept themselves between him and Gareth.
"Gareth," Alexander said. "I have done you a grave injustice. I was deceived, and I was too weak, too naïve to see it."
Alexander held out his hands outwards towards Gareth, his staff resting flat against his palms. It was a gesture of goodwill and peace. Gareth's arms shook, his sword twitching in his hands.
"That's it?!" Gareth said. "You defend yourself on the basis of ignorance?! You expect me to forgive you for everything you've taken from me?! Every fallen Seeker, every friend, every slain Godwoken… my own parents! No. I've forgotten nothing Alexander. You are the sinner. Yet the Gods have allowed us to suffer for it."
He pulled his sword back ready to charge into the Bishop's protection. But, like not two hours ago, I jumped in front of Gareth with my arms held up. Gareth stared at me stunned.
"What are you doing?!" Gareth shouted at me still enraged.
"What I already did for Ifan," I said. "I'm making sure a good man does not give in to revenge."
Gareth's gaze shot over to Ifan behind him.
"Do you actually forgive this swine?!"
He looked over at Sebille and the Red Prince then me again.
"All of you forgive him?"
"No," I said. "But I know that petty revenge won't make you feel any better. Remember what you told me about celebrating your parents for the love they gave you?"
The burning hate in his eye slowly started to dim. Ifan then came over and placed his hand on Gareth's shoulder.
"She's turned into quite the virtuous Knight, hasn't she?" he said with a shining grin on his face. Gareth turned his gaze back to me.
"When the time comes," I said. "We will face Alexander and one of us will ascend instead of him. He will be powerless and will no longer harm anyone. That is a promise."
Gareth's hands trembled. All of his hatred burned out of him. Slowly, his arms went limp and the tip of his sword embedded into the stone floor. He sighed deeply.
"You truly are a Godwoken," Gareth said. "Perhaps my faith can be restored even after all that's happened to me."
He pulled his sword up and sheathed it behind his back.
"I shall return to the lifeboat and await your return."
He turned around ready to leave, but the Red Prince grabbed his arm.
"Do you mind waiting here for a few minutes?" he asked Gareth. He handed the hilt of the Swornbreaker to Gareth. "The second half of the Swornbreaker Almira talked about is in there. You would do me the greatest favor by bringing both pieces safely to the Lady Vengeance."
Gareth looked around with his brows creased.
"I suppose I could do that," he said.
"Thank you, Gareth," the Red Prince bowed deeply.
With that, the Red Prince joined the rest of us while Gareth stood at attention with the hilt of the Swornbreaker in his hand. With our group back together, we looked at Alexander through all his guards.
"You may proceed, you're Holiness," Sebille said to Alexander with a dramatic bow. Alexander responded with an irritated sneer.
"Onwards men," he said. Two of his guards placed their hands on the door. Before they pushed, the two sides of the door slide open.
I looked over at the others. Their expressions were what I expected. Excited. Curious. Terrified. All the things one would feel with their long journey coming to a close. Alexander and his guards entered first followed by the four of us. Once inside, we found ourselves in a long hallway illuminated by blue and green lights, similar to the artifacts we found in the caves by the Black Pits.
Alexander's entourage stopped suddenly. When we looked through crowd, we saw something standing in front of the door at the end of the hall. It was an amphibious voidwoken with bioluminescent skin, a long tail and sharp teeth and claws.
"Step back, Hunola!" it spoke with a hissing voice like the worm monster we thought killed Alexander back at Fort Joy. "The time of Mortals draws to a close. We have returned to claim what is ours. We have returned to claim the world."
Alexander stood before the creature with his guards flanking him.
"I'm warning you, foul creature," him said. "Stand aside and allow me to claim to my birthright. Return to the void and leave our world alone."
"This is not your world!" the voidwoken snapped. "This is our world. We are not the void. You are of the Void."
Alexander retorted.
"Whatever deception you bring, it will not work monster! The Gods have tasked me to protect our world from the destruction you bring to us."
"The gods? You mean the Seven usurpers. They took our powers and used them to create you. They sent us to the Void and thought we'd never we'd never return. They were wrong. And now they will face the wrath of the King."
"Wait," I stepped around the guards to stand to the left of the Voidwoken. "The gods betrayed you?"
The Voidwoken hissed and snarled before he answered my question.
"Whatever lies your pitiful god has told you has fallen mute, mortal. Because of their betrayal, you exist. Because of what was stolen from us, you exist. Because of the powers we lost, you exist. We will have them back. But we will not fight your husk, mortal. The time will come when the thieving coward inside of you must step out. If it can still walk! You shall end then."
The voidwoken hissed and backed away. In a flash of black energy, it disappeared. I looked at Alexander down the line of his guards. He stepped forward to address them.
"Do not let that monster deceive you, men," He said. "The voidwoken are monsters who will do everything they can to destroy us. We will continue on and ensure the salvation of our world."
Alexander continued down the hall with his followers while my compatriots came over to me.
"Do you think it's true?" I asked them. "The gods created our world by betraying the beings that are now the voidwoken?"
"Could be," the Red Prince said. "We saw them fighting amongst each other when we first encountered them at Fort Joy. Instead of fighting together, they fought each other. Makes sense they would betray someone for their benefit."
"Even so, the voidwoken don't seem keen on sparing us in their quest for vengeance," Sebille said.
She was right. The voidwoken had claimed so many lives so far. They didn't care about our existence. Even if they could earn sympathy from being wronged by the gods, we were going to die either way.
"If that's how things are, then we have no choice but to fight," I said.
"And fight we will," Ifan said.
I nodded. We followed Alexander through the door. We found ourselves in another long hallway. But this time, there were two doors, one on the left, one on the right. At the very end was a flight of stairs leading to another magical barrier in the distance. We all proceeded down the stairs to the barrier. Behind it looked to be a large alter of sorts sitting at the top of a smaller flight of wide steps. Was that the entrance to the Well of Ascension?
When we looked around, there were two obelisks flanking the barrier. The top of the one on the left was broken. But the top of the right one was still intact. Along with that, there were two pedestals before the obelisks like the one Alexander put his power source on at the entrance.
"Men," Alexander said. "I shall remain here while you send a search party to find a way to bring the barrier down."
"Yes, your holiness," a paladin said with a bow. He chose two of the guards to follow him. One of them was Del. The rest stood guard in front of Alexander.
"You want our help?" I said.
"You've spared my life from your followers twice already. I believe I can trust you to not slaughter my men while they work to allow us access to the Well of Ascension."
With that, the three guards and the four of us proceeded back up the steps to the hallway with the two doors. The guards and Del went to the door on the left leaving us to go to the one on the right. The Red Prince put his hand on the door, and it slid open. We looked inside to see it was an archive of sorts. Several tables and desks were littered around the room as well as several floating bookshelves. All made out the metallic material the hallway was made of. It reminded me of the academy I attended in my youth. If the fate of the world wasn't on our agenda, I would have loved to spend some quality time here.
"Mahalia."
I turned around to see Del standing before me.
"Do you have a minute?"
I looked back at the others.
"Go on ahead," I said.
The three of them nodded and went through the door. It was only me and Del in the hallway now.
"I've been wanting to tell you something," Del said.
"What's that?" I asked. Del looked around meekly.
"Ever since your arrival here, things have changed for me."
"You mean with the whole godwoken business?"
"Yeah," Del shrugged. "Before, when Alexander came back and the Order was split, I was in a predicament. The Order still learned about what I did at Fort Joy. But Alexander and the Loyalists forgave me when I was given the opportunity to join them. At first, I believed I joined Alexander because I truly believed he was the one to save us, that he truly had changed when he separated himself from Dallis."
A stroke of realization and doubt took over his face.
"But now, I'm thinking the reason I joined him was because I needed something to believe in after my delusions were shattered after my time stationed at Fort Joy. After seeing what you did to spare my brothers from bloodshed, I'm beginning to have a hope that perhaps someone else will become the next Divine instead of him."
I raised my brows.
"I won't betray my brothers, but when the time comes, I'll be praying you will be the one to ascend. From the kindness you've shown me, I think you'd be a better god than Alexander. I'm just sorry I didn't see it earlier."
He put his hands on his hips and looked down ashamedly. I reached out and placed my hand on his shoulder.
"I can forgive you for that," I said. "Though we find ourselves on opposite ends, I'm glad to have met you."
Del smiled and put his hand on top of mine.
"Good Luck, Mahalia," Del said. With that, he proceeded to the other door returning to his brothers in arms.
"HE-HA!"
I turned around to see the Red Prince leap out the door with a large blade in his hands. When I looked closer, it was the shape of a scythe blade.
"Is that-?"
"The other half of the Swordbreaker?" the Red Prince said with a big smile on his face. "Yes, it is!"
He looked to the entrance hall rather giddily.
"Excuse me for a moment," he said before he dashed down the hall to the entrance. When my surprise wore off, I stepped into to room just in time to see what Ifan and Sebille were doing.
"Let's see what happens," Sebille said. In the back corner of the room was a large device in the wall. Sebille had found another power source and placed it into a slot on the side of the device. The device surged with energy and the crystal on the top of it shot a beam up. It reflected off another crystal on the ceiling. After that, the beam reflected off a series of other crystals across the room until it shot through a hole above the door. I followed the beam out of the room into the hall with the others behind me. The beam reflected off a crystal on the opposite wall and was redirected down the hall toward the barrier. Just then, the Red Prince came back from the entrance hall. His eyes were drawn to the beam running to the barrier.
"What happened?" he asked.
"I think we found part of the key to opening the barrier," Ifan said. "Gareth got the Swornbreaker okay?"
"He's on his way back to the Lady Vengeance to give both pieces to Almira," he said with so much hope. "Oh, I pray she can assemble it."
Just then, the soldiers emerged from the other door, two them carrying a power source each. They walked down the hall back to the barrier with the rest of us following. The beam we activated flowed into the intact obelisk, causing it glow.
"Very good, men," Alexander said. "Place the power sources onto the pedestals."
The soldiers did as they were told and both pedestals surged with energy. The intact obelisk surged as the beam passed through it into the barrier. A moment later, the barrier fell. The way was clear to the alter. Alexander was the first to approach. He put his foot onto the first step. When he did, the area around the alter illuminated with a humming energy sound. The alter shook and suddenly levitated from the floor. Suddenly, the alter separated into several pieces in the air.
"Bzzzt, bzzzt," a buzzing sound came from the assembling pieces. Eventually, the pieces formed into shape of a floating automation. I've read about these in my studies. They were like machines but with a conscious. The automation had a trapezoidal head with an optical lens that served as an eye. It turned its head to Alexander.
"You. Have. Come. To. The. Arena. Of. The. One," The automation spoke in a slow, monotone female voice. It's lens then looked over the rest of the people in the vicinity. "There. Are. Five. Godwoken. Here."
On the top of the steps, five glowing circles appeared.
"All. Godwoken. Please. Come. To. Their. Place. To. Begin. The. Battle."
It looked like the battle for Divinity was going to be an arena battle. At least we didn't have to stress about Alexander running off to obtain Divinity without us. Alexander looked back at his men.
"I thank you, my Magisters and Paladins," he said. "Your sacrifice and your courage have brought me here today. This is where I leave you now. When I return, you will have the honor to witness my rebirth as the god of this world. The war with the Voidwoken has only begun. But with your devotion to me, we will save Rivellon together."
Alexander climbed the steps to the top. He stood in the leftmost circle. The soldiers looked over at the four of us before walking to the side. The automation moved its head to us.
"Are. You. Ready. Godwoken?"
I looked at the others before I gave my answer.
"We need a minute," I said.
"The. Battle. Will. Begin. When. All. Godwoken. Are. Ready."
The automation stood at attention, patiently waiting for us. The four of us stood in a circle looking at each other. I could feel everyone's hearts pounding in their chests, not just my own. This was it.
"So…" Sebille said with her arms crossed. "This is the end of the line. Only one of us can ascend. The only question is: who?"
The eyes of the circle wandered over to the Red Prince first. He sighed deeply.
"You've kept your promise to help me find Sadha," he said with an earnest bow. "I will keep mine. I will aid you three in the arena. Whoever becomes the Divine will be between the three of you."
From the look in his eyes, he meant it. Truly. It was now between Ifan, Sebille and me. Everyone's eyes fell on Sebille next. She sighed too.
"All I've ever wanted was to be myself. And now I am myself again. The chains of the Master and the Mother Tree are gone thanks to the help of my friends."
She clasped her hands together meekly.
"I've no real desire for Divinity. I already have what I've always wanted. Freedom. And with my freedom, I choose to be here to help you. I have your backs."
He bowed her head humbly. Not as a servant, but as a loyal friend. My eyes rested on Ifan now. He placed his hands on his hips. He looked over at Alexander behind me.
"To have all that power runs the risk of having it corrupt whoever wields it. I saw what it did to Lucian, a soldier like me. I really don't want it to happen to anyone else. But if there's no other way to save our world, then the Divine needs to be someone who's the least susceptible to that corruption."
He looked directly at me now. With only a look, I knew. I felt my heart pounded harder in my chest. Ifan grinned a confident smile. He walked closer to me and placed his hand over my amulet.
"You're an honorary Dragon Knight," he said. "You've used the power Slane gave you for the good of everyone. If there's anyone who can be trusted to use this power in the best way, it's you."
He pulled his hand away from my amulet. He paused for a moment. He looked up at me with a sincere face now.
"Two days ago, we told each other what our favorite part of our adventure was. Well, I'm going to have to change mine too."
He reached up and caressed my cheek with is hand.
"You."
All I could do was look deep into his eyes.
"You're the most incredible person I've ever met. I can think of no one better to have shared this adventure with."
He took a deep uneasy breath and sighed. His thumb slowly caressed the scales on my cheek. I felt a knot in my chest tighten. Like what happened on the first day we were on Reaper's Coast, the emotions in me took over.
I cupped my hands around the back of his head and brought my lips to his.
The moment lasted only seconds, but it felt longer for me. I felt his whiskers brushing against my snout and chin while the warmth of his lips passed to me. My eyes were closed, but I felt his surprised expression change when his lips shifted against mine. He gently wrapped his arms around my waist and brought me close. Like all the other times, I felt the warmth of his body warm my cold blood. Only this time, I felt myself feel warmer inside.
I gingerly pulled my lips away and opened my eyes. Ifan smiled warmly at me. I smiled back.
"Thank you," I said.
"You're welcome," he said.
We turned our attention to the others. The Red Prince's eyes were wide open. He crossed his arms and shifted his weight back and forth. Sebille only grinned while nodding slowly. I didn't bother to see the Magisters' and Paladins' reactions. It didn't matter anyway. Ifan let go of me and stood at attention, regaining his professional demeanor. He addressed everyone in our group.
"Okay. Once we're in the arena, we focus on finishing first. We protect Mahalia and get her to where she needs to go. No hesitations. No stopping. Got it?"
"Got it," Sebille and the Red Prince said. Ifan looked directly at me next.
"Got it," I said. He nodded. We were ready.
All four of us walked up the steps and stood in the remaining four circles.
"Are. You. Prepared. Godwoken?" the machine asked. It looked over at The Red Prince first on the far right.
"Yes," the Red Prince said.
The machine went down the line.
"Yes," Sebille said.
"Yes," Ifan said.
"Yes," I said.
"Yes, I am," Alexander said.
The machine stood at attention.
"All. Godwoken. Are. Ready. I. Take. You. Now. To. The. Arena. Of. The. One."
The Machine's arms shifted and realigned themselves.
The. Wellspring. Awaits. The. Victor. There. You. May. Fall. OR. YOU. MAY. RISE."
The machine raised its realigned hands to us and in a mighty green flash, we were gone.
Author's Note: Man, these chapters always end up being longer than I anticipate even when I do my absolute best to cut as much filler as possible. But I'm happy that I'm making the most out of my extra time by making major progress with this. I couldn't have made it this far without your support and feedback.
As always, thank you for reading my story and a review goes a long way. See you next chapter.
