Chapter 3

"You said there's a Hermes blastia down there?" Judith asked skeptically as they approached their destination, ignoring the rain as it pelted against her armor. "It doesn't even look like there's much of a town left, let alone a functioning blastia."

There is a very strong aer imbalance originating from inside those ruins, Ba'ul replied firmly. It is very powerful.

"Well, if you say so, Ba'ul," Judith conceded. "You've never been wrong about these things."

There is also something else, Ba'ul continued, sounding puzzled. I am not sure what is is, but it is also very strong.

"Well, if it's not a blastia, let's not worry about it for now," Judith reassured her friend. "We can always take a look around afterward." Ba'ul grunted in agreement and the pair began their descent to the ruined town of Caer Bocram.

Built into a cliff face, Caer Bocram had been a lively town until some twenty years or so ago when an earthquake hit the town and destroyed most of the buildings, along with the town's barrier blastia. Monsters had quickly moved into the ruins, preventing anyone from rebuilding the devastated city. Instead, the Empire had decided to just build a new city farther out from the mountainside where the threat of earthquakes would be lower. Called Heliord, the Rising City, it had only just recently begun to rival Caer Bocram at its height.

That was the story that got passed around within the Empire, anyway. Whether it was true or not was anyone's guess. It didn't matter to Judith, all she cared about was that there was still an active Hermes blastia down there that needed to be shut down; preferably before she got completely soaked and caught a cold.

As Ba'ul got closer he was able to pinpoint the building at the center of the aer disturbance. It was a large square structure that was still mostly intact, which was more than could be said for most of the other buildings in the ruined city. Mud and rock covered many of the paths that weren't already blocked by crumbling stone walls and stairs, while many others had been overgrown by a variety of plant life.

As they flew over their target Judith saw a welcome sight; the roof of the building had a large hole in it that went down at least four floors. It looked like someone had dropped a giant boulder on the structure from above that smashed a hole through every floor.

"I think that hole is big enough for you to fly through, don't you?" Judith asked her friend, who snorted in agreement.

A deep rumble emanated from the ground below, accompanied by the trembling of the dilapidated buildings. It continued for several seconds before coming to an abrupt halt.

"What was that?" Judith exclaimed. Ba'ul was silent a moment, then responded.

I have discovered the other thing I felt in this ruin. Gusios is with the blastia.

"Gusios! What is he doing here?" A ruined human settlement was the last place she expected to encounter an Entelexeia.

The ground continued to shake as Ba'ul spoke, pieces of broken buildings falling everywhere. He says he is trapped by a reverse barrier blastia. There are humans attempting to harm him. He asks for our help.

"Then let's not keep him waiting!" Judith hefted her spear as Ba'ul let out an intimidating roar. Wasting no time, the massive beast flew over the top of the building holding Gusios and then flew in a three-quarter loop, leaving him pointed directly at the hole in the roof.

Judith had a clear view of the blastia as Ba'ul raced toward the ground. It was a massive silver ball the size of her entire body and pulsed with a soft white light, similar to the blastia in the weather machine at Capua Nor. The blastia core itself was wrapped in a serpentine metal body. Hovering directly above the blastia were the familiar white circles of a barrier. They looked slightly different than usual, but Judith couldn't put her finger on exactly why; probably because it was a reverse barrier...whatever that meant.

Taking careful aim at the blastia, Judith struck with as much force as she could muster as Ba'ul flew past it. The downward momentum combined with the force of her blow resulted in a sickening crunch as the blastia cracked down the middle. It had stopped working before Ba'ul even had time to pull himself to a stop near the edge of the semicircular chamber, right next to a stone walkway which circled the room.

Two groups of humans stood on opposite sides of the walkway. There were three in the group right in front of where Ba'ul had stopped, two males and one female. All three looked like they were no strangers to battle as they held their weapons with confidence. One man wore a black coat and had a massive sword the size of him, the other wore a slim yellow jacket and held small blades in both hands. The woman had some sort of boomerang slung across her back; Judith had never seen one of those before.

On the opposite side of the room, Judith was startled for the third time that evening as she recognized the same group of adventurers she'd seen in the manor at Capua Nor. The five of them were all hunched over as though they were about to pass out. It was then that she noticed the aer swirling around their feet, so thick it was visible; aer that dense would be enough to weaken even the strongest fighter. She knew it was likely a result of the aer imbalance caused by the Hermes blastia; her suspicions were confirmed as it began to dissipate before her eyes now that the blastia had stopped functioning.

Faint white lines below her revealed where another barrier had been formed as they disappeared as well, freeing the occupant below. The bottom of the room was a pit at least twenty feet deep and fifty feet across, in the middle of which sat Gusios. Massive even by Entelexeian standards, Gusios let out an intimidating roar as he stretched his cramped muscles; he must have been trapped in this chamber for quite some time. His two short back legs looked a bit comical compared to his two massive forearms, which he used to balance himself like a gorilla. His entire body gleamed a bluish-grey, light from the fading blastia reflecting off his thickly scaled skin, giving him the appearance of being covered in millions of tiny gemstones. A very thin and incredibly long tail extended from between his legs and thrashed about, indicating that he was ready for a fight with anything that got within his reach.

"You!" Judith's attention was brought forward as the man with the gigantic sword shouted at her. "I'd thought to only hunt one monster tonight, but the more the better!" Then he attacked Ba'ul with a vicious downward slash, which her companion easily batted aside. The man continued his attack, slashing with his massive sword far faster than Judith would have thought any man would have been capable of.

Not wanting to be a distraction in such a deadly game of speed and power, Judith simply watched as her friend parried every blow, though not without some difficulty. Ba'ul finally managed to disengage himself from the man and pulled back, followed quickly by a fireball launched from his mouth. The massive man blocked the blast with his sword, the aer dissipating around him.

"A good fight!" the man exclaimed, grinning in pleasure. "Now THIS is a bounty worthy of the Hunting Blades!"

A monster hunting guild? So they think Gusios and Ba'ul are monsters, do they? Judith had no more time to think as she saw the woman wind up and throw her gigantic boomerang. Watch out, Ba'ul! She warned her partner.

Seeing the danger coming, Ba'ul easily rolled to the side, watching the strange bladed weapon slice through the space he'd just vacated. Judith watched in amazement as the weapon continued across the room for a short distance, then turned in the air and came toward them again.

Ba'ul, behind!

Without turning to see the weapon, Ba'ul began rolling sideways through the air again. Judith gripped tightly with her legs to keep from falling off as she watched the boomerang follow them around the room. Ba'ul could only dodge it for so long before it would finally catch him.

In the pit below, Gusios let out a defiant roar as he slammed his massive forearms into the ground and threw his bulk against the sides of his former prison. The walls and floors of the chamber began to tremble and fall apart as the enraged Entelexeia threw his weight around. After Ba'ul's sudden attack, Judith had completely forgotten about Gusios.

Unfortunately for the second group of adventurers, Gusios' enraged assault on the building foundations caused the floor they were standing on to crumble away, throwing the entire group down into the pit. Seeing an enemy finally within his reach, Gusios moved toward the closest of the group - the man dressed in black. Judith remembered the man's eyes clearly, remembered seeing the kindness in them. Surely that man and his companions had another reason to be here other than hunting down Gusios.

They are not enemies! Judith sent the mental message to Gusios. Escape now!

The only response Gusios gave was to let out another cacophonous scream of defiance and continue to throw himself against the walls of the room.

It was then that Judith noticed the boomerang weapon had returned to its owner, who was trying to keep her footing on the quickly deteriorating chamber floor. She could see the man with the massive sword also struggling to keep his footing, but the man with the daggers had disappeared. Where did he...

"I've got you now!" A voice screamed from above. Judith looked up just in time to see the second man come flying at her through the air. She barely managed to raise her spear and deflect his initial two blows before they took her head from her shoulders.

"How did you..." Judith said as she wrestled with the man on Ba'ul's back. While falling from this height wouldn't really hurt too badly, it would make escaping a lot more difficult. She was determined to stay on Ba'ul's back, but it was proving difficult; despite being thin and wiry, the man who'd attacked her was much stronger than he looked.

"You think you're the only one who can fight in the air?" the man taunted, ending with a cackling laugh. "Think again, woman! I'll never lose to a monster lover!"

"Ba'ul is not a monster!" Judith yelled angrily. "He's my friend!" She pushed the man's two weapons away and tried to skewer him on the tip of her spear, but he deflected her thrusts.

"What kind of person is friends with a monster?!" the man countered. Judith leaned backward as the man thrust a dagger toward her head, lying horizontally along Ba'ul's back. She watched as the weapon passed only inches above her face, then swatted it to the side and sat back up in time to deflect the second dagger from her stomach. "I don't have to listen to you, monster-lover!"

Hold on, came the sudden mental warning from Ba'ul. Judith gripped tightly to him with her legs as he rolled through the air a moment later, narrowly dodging the boomerang weapon again. At the bottom of the roll Judith caught a glimpse of the chamber floor and saw Gusios fighting with the other group of warriors, then she was back upright again.

Unfortunately her attacker had managed to hang on as well. "You won't get rid of me that easily!" he taunted, shaking his daggers at her.

Ba'ul, next time that boomerang goes by, drop down! Judith yelled mentally to her friend as she fended off another rush of quick thrusts from the deadly blades.

Here it comes, Ba'ul warned a moment later.

Judith released her grip on Ba'ul with her legs, using them to kick the man attacking her in the chest. She used the momentum to roll backward, then pushed off Ba'ul's scaled hide with her hands, launching herself a few feet into the air. At the same time, Ba'ul dropped toward the ground to dodge the approaching boomerang. The weapon passed harmlessly through empty air between the two partners as Ba'ul rolled downward, righting himself again ten feet below where he'd started.

Judith's opponent had barely managed to hold on to one of Ba'ul's neck ridges and was pulling himself back up as Judith landed neatly on her feet on the great beast's back. Before the man could recover his balance Judith neatly stepped forward and thrust the butt of her spear into his chest, pushing him backward between Ba'ul's head spikes. Completely off balance, the man flew helplessly into the open air and plummeted towards the ground. Judith quickly sat back down on Ba'ul's back and held on tightly as the boomerang weapon made another pass.

Judith watched in amazement as the man she'd just pushed off Ba'ul successfully regained his balance in midair, landing neatly on the ledge where he'd started from. He looked like he was about to turn and jump for another assault when Ba'ul moved straight up, rising over the returning boomerang. The man was forced to abandon his assault as the boomerang passed underneath it's intended target and threatened to cut him in half.

"Hey, watch where you're throwing that thing!" Judith heard him yell.

Judith spared another glance below and saw Gusios still in a heated battle with the group from Capua Nor. They had spread out around the edges of the pit in order to better avoid Gusios' strong-armed assaults, a tactic that was being met with varying degrees of success. However, Judith noted that the entire group was not making any serious attempts to harm Gusios, merely trying to keep him at bay.

Gusios was just raising his arms in the air and preparing to charge the man dressed in black when Judith sent a thought message to the massive Entelexeia.

They mean you no harm! Leave them be and escape!

His fists raised high in the air, Gusios paused his assault to look up at Judith. She nodded to him slightly and he lowered his mighty arms back to the ground, then headed for the door. Before he left, however, Judith could have sworn that he looked at the pink-haired girl very intently, as if he was looking for something; something he hadn't expected to see. His massive frame quickly disappeared through the huge door that lead out of the pit.

Suddenly the destroyed barrier blastia fell from it's resting place in the ceiling, hitting the ground below with a crash. With the barrier over the rooftop completely gone, raindrops began pouring in through the collapsed ceiling, landing on the floor of the pit below.

Ba'ul, it's time to go, Judith said to her friend as she glanced around the room. I don't think they're all enemies, but I'd rather not find out which ones are which.

With one last mighty roar, Ba'ul headed for the gap in the roof they'd used to enter the chamber.

"I don't think so!" the yellow-coated man's voice came from below. Judith looked to the side in time to see the man trying one more time to reach her and Ba'ul. With inhuman speed he ran up the side of the chamber, then pushed off towards them.

Ba'ul, show him what it's really like to fly.

As the man approached Ba'ul, her partner simply spun around and slapped him away with one of his massive fins, sending the man flying back toward the ground. The last thing Judith saw of him was him flipping around and landing safely on his feet before she and Ba'ul left the room, soaring into the rainy evening sky.

Gusios waits for us beyond the forest, Ba'ul said as they emerged into the rainy evening air. We should speak with him.

"Yes, let's go," Judith agreed. She had some questions she wanted to ask the great Entelexeia.

Ba'ul flew her to the cliffs east of Caer Bocram that overlooked the ocean. Standing at full height on the edge was Gusios, looking directly at Judith and Ba'ul as they flew into view. Ba'ul touched down a few feet from imposing figure and allowed Judith to dismount. She approached the great Entelexeia and removed her helmet before giving a respectful bow.

"Hello Gusios," Judith said. "It's been quite a while since we last met."

Yes, it has been several years since I last saw you and young Ba'ul, came Gusios' mental reply. Despite being one of the older Entelexeia, Gusios was unable to speak directly to any human's mind - he could only speak with Judith using her Krityan nageeg.

"What happened to you? Who made that barrier?"

I felt the aer disturbance caused by the blastia and came to investigate. Somehow the device was still active after so many years. When I entered that building it would seem I accidentally activated the reverse barrier and trapped myself in that pit. I had been stuck there for several months. It is most fortunate you came when you did.

"Ba'ul sensed the blastia in the ruins, we were on our way to destroy it."

I see. Then this means you still continue on your quest to rid the world of Hermes' legacy? Gusios asked, a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Yes," Judith responded with conviction. "When I accepted this duty I vowed to see it through to the end, and I have no intention of breaking that vow." Her hand tightened its grip on her spear.

Gusios sighed, a deep rumbling that sounded like the earth moving. If only all humans were as willing to accept responsibility as you, there would not be a need for you to bear such a terrible burden. He folded one of his two massive arms under himself, which Judith recognized as his equivalent of kneeling. I thank you once again for releasing me, but I must be on my way. Long have I been removed from the world, and there is much work to be done.

"Take care of yourself, Gusios," Judith responded, bowing again. "I may not be around to rescue you again."

The earth rumbled again as the massive Entelexeia chuckled, then turned toward the cliffside and prepared to jump. But before he did, he turned half way back around again.

One final thing, he said. That girl with the pink hair...she is special. You should speak to Phaeroh about her.

The concern in his tone was not lost on Judith. "I will," she assured him. "Farewell."

Gusios gave a nod of his massive head and then with a mighty heave leapt from the cliff's edge, landing in the water far below with a colossal splash.

"Will he be all right, just jumping off the cliff like that?" Judith asked Ba'ul.

Entelexeia are of the earth, her friend replied, as though the answer should be obvious. It would not harm him.

"I see. I guess when you're as big and powerful as Gusios you don't really need to worry about monsters, either." She put her helmet back on and mounted Ba'ul again, motioning for him to take off. "So, where shall we go next?"

We could reach Heliord by tomorrow evening. I will take you there if you promise not to get into trouble this time.

Judith chuckled, but said nothing.

Right, sorry for that one taking so long. Been somewhat busy around here lately.

Hope you enjoyed this one. Tune in next time for the dramatic events at Heliord!