A/N: I apologize for two things- the delay and the fact that so much happens in this chapter. Hope you enjoy and thank you for the new reviews!
-BRISINGR-
Madness.
Would they be enough? Circling above Absolearet, Eragon's mind filled with an encroaching dread.
Then, action forced Eragon's thoughts to flee from him.
THORN roared, bellowing cries shaking away errant fireflies of embers that rose from the city below. Eragon raised his sword, gripping it with both hands as Thorn turned his snout downward.
Shining in the night, the duo descended with a screaming blaze, basking Absolearet in a fresh coat of red flame intermixed with Eragon's own lethal conflagration. The surrounding buildings disintegrated in hissing whines-
Absolearet shrieked in pain, a sound louder and more sorrowful than ever before. The demon pushed through the vortex-like orb of fire, lingering pockets of superheated glass charring remnants of pale skin.
The mass of flesh swayed to and fro as it clambered through toppled buildings and cracked streets, dozens of freshly sprouted arms pulling a bleeding body forward.
Eragon narrowed his eyes.
She's not trying to fight us. Before, she waited outside Gillendel, but now she's..
Absolearet thrashed ahead, weeping uncontrollably. Thorn continued his dive, bringing Eragon closer to the side of Absoleartet's quivering belly. The Rider closed his eyes as he thrust his blade harshly, dragging it lengthwise across veined skin as Thorn propelled forward.
The behemoth let out a cry in retaliation- a series of arms sprouted from the monster's mouth, some of them ending in human heads that spat wisps of black fire.
Eragon stood from between Thorn's horns, and then jumped off of the dragon as Thorn ascended into the air.
Eragon's world was then a quiet free fall- dark colors passed across his pupils as the wind carried him backwards.
Eragon smiled.
He felt Saphira's mind join with his. A chill crept across his skin, as if plunged into freezing water. For a moment, he wasn't in Gillendel. He wasn't fighting for his life. For a moment, he remembered what a day without suffering was like.
For a moment, he was just a boy who had found an egg.
Eragon closed his eyes, Saphira passing under him. He drew himself to her back with magic, finding purchase at the base of her neck.
Saphira-
Emotions exploded between them. All of their suffering, their fear, their loss..
Eragon opened his eyes at the sound of Saphira's voice.
Murtagh-
Eragon felt his pupils constrict into fine slits as a fresh maw of anger curled.
She killed him. Murtagh.. he knew she was here. He knew something.. and she killed him.
Eragon felt Saphira's thoughts drift to Thorn.
The loneliness that Thorn was now home to resonated within Saphira in such intensity Eragon snarled. They had a duty to avenge Thorn's loss.
They would kill Alauinel- and they would do so without any mercy.
Saphira slipped between two towers, snaking across black clouds as she turned onto Absolearet. Despite the growing chaos, Saphira recognized where they were heading.
Rethulianel, Saphira intoned within Eragon.
He understood instantly.
Within their shared thoughts, Eragon saw Arya from Saphira's eyes as if he had been in the fabled city just days before, instructing them to the South to help Roran and the others.
Now, Alauinel was forcing Absolearet there as well.
Eragon heard it once more- that curling, shrieking scream. That feeling of certain death.
Power thrummed across Eragon's fingers, guided by a seething anger that sparked behind sharpening teeth.
"We stop her here." Eragon said aloud and within the minds of Saphira and Thorn.
The red dragon twisted from the skies, spinning in the air with wings closed against a long body.
Thorn opened them as he fell, hovering above Absolearet.
Saphira roared, rounding this time to the left. Eragon turned-
Absolearet's flesh opened.
Avela pounced from a bloody pocket, naked and covered in pus. A corded tube of flesh grew from deeper within Absolearet, and webbed into smaller tendril-like branches that met at Avela's back. At her waist, nearly a dozen elongated arms held themselves, replacing her legs while gripping the sides of Absolearet's open skin.
Dark brown hair curtained even darker eyes.
Alauinel's puppet said nothing- she raised her palm, flat to the air, at Eragon.
A flash.
Thunder crackled-
Then came heat. Eragon's senses warned him as Saphira did.
A sliver of light creased the air with a hissing pop.
Suddenly there was something else beside Eragon.
It made strange, human moans in pale imitation of speech- almost like it was asking you to repeat yourself.
"Huh..?...Huh?" It whined in dragging syllables.
Eragon flipped his head backwards as the creature clawed for him. It vanished-
Eragon's eyes darted about.
The air on his neck rose as Saphira broke away from Absolearet. Thorn, still above the demon, clawed at the creature's wings with his talons.
Gillendel swirled below-
The air suddenly hissed, then popped.
Then, a flash of light.
Then, heat.
Eragon heard it again, those haunting imitations of human speech.
Huh...?..Huh?
The creature sped from below Saphira, clapping its hands together rhythmically. From between pallid palms, onyx shapes cut forth- spinning in the air. They seemed darker than the night yet somehow brighter than the flames.
Eragon leaned forward, cutting one of the black figures lengthwise with his sword-
It was as if a bell had sounded off within his subconsciousness.
Eragon! Saphira's voice was unable to curtail the growing panic that the Rider felt growing within him.
He felt the air, felt the swaying of Saphira's neck as she fought against cruel winds. He heard the sobs of Absolearet. He could hear Thorn as he harried from on high.
There was another pop in the air.
Then, the telltale heat.
He heard it again.
"Huuuh...? Huuh..?" The creature begged.
Eragon had to keep himself from frantically using all he had, sending his mana forward in a desperate attempt of an all-out defense.
Eragon! Answer me! Saphira's voice brought him back from panic's brink, but even then it was only a temporary salve.
The Rider swallowed harshly.
I can't see.
"Finally moving."
Roran woke with a start. His head thrummed in pain, but in seconds he was standing. His vision spun, dark colors passing across brown eyes like running water.
"Calm yourself, Roran."
Cambion's voice accompanied a gentle touch that held tense shoulders.
Roran stopped moving, falling to his knees as Cambion stepped away from him. Roran's hair fell over his face, darkly covering a tired gaze that met Cambion's own.
"They're continuing west- back towards the inner rings of Gillendel. Back towards Rethulianel."
Roran grimly understood.
"So that.. thing is trying to get there, too."
Cambion stood before a series of ruined elven homes, while the city proper burned further in the distance. The song of the Sealed was louder now, it was a constant hymn ringing within Roran's mind.
Behind Roran an alley curled. He reached for his left- and found his hammer waiting.
"You have Elonubum to thank." Cambion said with a nod.
Almost as if summoned, Elonubum broke into view beside Cambion, breathless as sweat beaded down her high cheekbones.
"We have to move. The Sealed- they're almost upon us. I saw.. Ra'zac amongst them."
Cambion furrowed his brow.
"That's not possible. I would've sensed them. Since that beast appeared, there haven't been any Ra'zac."
Elonubum's eyes shadowed.
"I am not here to tell you what is or isn't possible. I am here to tell you we need to run."
Cambion looked down at Roran.
"There are arts at work here beyond even my understanding. Can you move, Roran?"
Roran shivered. Cambion offered him his hand, which the man accepted with a hollow smile.
Roran set his eyes forward, further down the alley.
"Eragon and Arya. If there's any hope for us, it's there."
Elonubum scoffed.
She jogged past the both of them with silent footfalls, blanketed by the shade of two rows of smoldering structures intermixed within fine Laen artsmanship.
"There's no hope for us. Not anymore." She finished, finally.
Roran and Cambion followed closely behind in silence.
OSORION had never seen anything like it.
Massive vines curled upwards into the magnificent light of a burning red sun, one several times larger than Alagaesia's. They swam in the air, swaying from branches offered by trees hundreds of feet high. Sound was rife within Osorion's ears, it seemed as if the wood itself was alive. Creatures called, cackled, and cried at one another in an almost rhythmic, beastial song.
Osorion also noticed that despite the sun's coloring, the light here seemed normal- greens were green- purples were purple. But still.. the red sun.
He looked ahead.
Alauinel, or what used to be Alauinel, stood motionless.
Black hair wavered across her back, while similarly colored flames crawled across her waist and legs.
Osorion was silent. He had tried speaking to her- to no avail. Alauinel seemed to not even view him on her same level of consciousness- and when she did address him, it was only to tell him to follow.
Did we fail? Osorion curled his hands into fists.
The power he felt was incomprehensible. Despite whatever happened to Alauinel when she came in contact with the Dark God, their connection as Rider and Dragon seemed to be growing stronger.
Alauinel looked back at Osorion. Her eyes were dark brown now- almost black. He swallowed heavily.
Come.
Osorion moved-
A flash of light sparkled before his eyes. He felt the air before he felt the slight twang of a Rider's blade cut for his neck.
Alauinel was beside Osorion in impossible seconds. A thin arm pulled him backwards-
With matched speed, Osorion saw the silhouette of their attacker vanish in the air before him. Despite the power that he inherited from Alauinel, his eyes were still untrained, unable to keep up-
Osorion's dark hair fled past his ears, Alauinel throwing him to the left. Osorion tumbled through the air. Swearing, he underwent a partial transformation, calling insect-like wings from newly ruptured skin.
His eyes widened.
Below him, Alauinel bounded from the jungle's high cliff-like clearing, meeting him between swaying vines. She grabbed him by the waist as she pulled him deeper into the jungle.
The red sun's light chased them, but before long darkness was a dim, however steady song that seemed to inch from the pits of the forest's floor in grasping
handfuls.
Alauinel was silent as she moved. The forest opened for her, a path tunneled them deeper and deeper as it closed behind them.
Their attacker still followed.
Osorion could hear as the blade that almost killed him made quick work of the thick trees that came to defend their descent. There were even flashes of light, explosions of sound that carried the silent and lethal lick of spell work in underlying tones.
Osorion could feel sweat as it gathered upon his brow.
Other than Galbatorix, there was only one other that could generate this sensation.
Morzan.
Alauinel jerked her body (and Osorion) sharply, sliding across an extended stretch of stone that jutted amongst the jungle's cavernous floor. Osorion noticed that there was even more below them, but fog obscured even his keen eyes.
Fangs of stone rose from the depths. There were vines covering them, but despite this Osorion could see runic markings-
He nearly shouted in surprise as Alauinel dropped him.
He clambered to his feet, running to the closest stalagmite. It was impossibly huge, towering over him as it threatened the underbelly of the forest's upper canopy.
There was no mistake.
"This is Elvish." Osorion furrowed his brows.
Not just Elvish. Laen Elvish.
If they were truly in the Old World..
This land predated the existence of Laen Elves for hundreds of thousands of years. It would make sense to possibly, eventually discover an old language that could be linked to what would become Laen-
But to find immediately intelligible Laen runes..
A shiver ran across Osorion's shoulders.
Where are we Alauinel?
Osorion felt heat at his back.
Osorion turned, baring his fangs. A bubble of black flame burst from above, engulfing vines and leaves that screamed in audible protest.
From the smoke, a cloaked figure swam through the air, sword trailing behind him.
Morzan went straight for Alauinel.
Osorion blinked.
Morzan's sword hit the stone pathway, sparks flying from the impact. Alauinel was beside Osorion once more.
In terrifying seconds, Morzan's shadow was above them, sword raised.
Alauinel raised her finger, poking Morzan in the stomach as his cloak wavered. Morzan's body faded away with the wind.
Osorion stepped forward-
From Osorion's own shadow, Morzan emerged, his sword primed for Osorion's neck. Alauinel raised her hand- and Osorion felt a ward of protection fall upon him. Morzan instantly recoiled, his shadow jumping away and then coiling around one of the nearby stalagmites.
It was then Morzan finally spoke. His voice was as light as Osorion had remembered. There was a tremble of unmistakable anger in his speech however, a rage that was barely contained within Morzan's polite whispers.
"Osorion."
Osorion smiled despite himself.
It was so strange hearing Morzan say his name. It almost brought him back- back before all of this.
"Lord Morzan." Osorion nodded.
"She failed." Morzan said, his shadow motioning toward's Alauinel. Alauinel stared ahead blankly, still standing between Osorion and where Morzan hid in the darkness.
Osorion smirked.
"Possibly."
I need to ensure that he's wary. Despite our strength, without Alauinel's mind, this body may very well be killed.
Osorion's mind clicked.
Murtaghen.
Alauinel had programmed Vizcelia to bring Murtaghen to them once they emerged- they would need his Eldunari. However, if Murtaghen was here, he had no idea where.
But..
Osorion smiled darkly.
"Aren't you wondering where he is?"