Chapter Nine: The Freezing of Knothole Island
Returning to the Sanctuary the heroes gathered around the map table watching another mask vanish and its Corruption vanish from the land.
"Congratulations again, thanks to your efforts another of the agents that plague Albion has fallen, leaving thirteen who remain," Gabriel spoke.
Counting the mask Saker raised a mask, "I think you need to check your eyes...never mind, old man there's fifteen still," Saker spoke counting an additional two masks.
"What?!" Gabriel spoke looking to the map where he spotted a mask different from the other masks arriving at the shores of Westcliffe, "impossible..."
"That mask..." Logan spoke touching it then flinched when a flash of horrible images flashed through his mind followed by strings that he could almost feel strangling his neck, gasping he took a step back with his hand on his neck checking to see if the strings were there.
"Gabriel, what is that?" Tali asked watching the mask vanish from the map, "it's gone!"
"Damn! He cloaked himself so we can't track him!" Gabriel growled in anger.
"He? Who is he? What is he? Start talking old man," Saker growled cracking knuckles.
"This isn't right...he not supposed to come here in this altered timeline...damn! This is my doing...that mask belongs to one of the Corrupted Generals who moved past the ranks and now serves an even more powerful threat, that mask belongs to the Vexator, leader of the Ark of Sins, his presence here has created a new problem," Gabriel growled clenching his fist.
"So then that mask is one of the members of the Ark?" Tali asked pointing to another strange mask that has placed itself in Samarkand making its way to the palace.
"Yes, having these two here is not a good sign, the other mask belongs to the Dejestress, there is a total of eight members in the Ark of Sins each embodies the deadly sins they are named after, Vexator is Wrath, the Dejestress is Sorrow but out of the two, wrath, their leader, is the most problematic," Gabriel explained thinking about the many outcomes that could happen with the Sin of Wrath here in Albion.
"What exactly are these generals, Gabriel? Are they monsters like the Crawler?" Logan asked seeing the man shake his head.
"While they do reside in the Void where the Crawler was born the Ark of Sins were all once humans who were given the promise of glory, riches, power, revenge, whatever the reason the Corrupter exploited that and transformed them into these powerful beings, however only two of Ark of Sins serve the Corrupter now, the others have moved to serve another who promises were even greater," Gabriel spoke.
"What is the Vexator story? Maybe his past as a human can give us a weakness we can exploit," Saker spoke seeing the blind seer think.
"In his human life, the Vexator was a humble man, a marionette, who performed puppet shows to children in his village. Adored by the children all he wanted was to bring them happiness and to see their shining smiles, one day a child went missing and the only suspect there was to her disappearance was the marionette. In the dark of night, he was dragged from his home beaten and tortured, and left to die in the woods. The Corrupter offered him the power to get revenge on those who wrong him, he accepted and from there he became the Sin of Wrath. That very same night that he died he was reborn and hunted down those who wronged him and turned them into his puppets," Gabriel spoke telling the story of the Vexator.
"How horrible, all he wanted was to bring children happiness, I feel sorry for the poor creature," Tali spoke looking to the Dejestress, "is her story as tragic?"
"In her human life, the Dejestress was a beautiful woman who longed to be on the stage as an actress but back in those times, women were not allowed to perform on stage only men. Her singing voice was known by all to enchant men and make women red with envy, one day she took a chance and performed on stage disguised as a man when an actor fell sick. She was discovered and placed in capital punishment tortured for weeks on end, her mouth sewn together to silence her scream then finally killed. The Corrupter offered her a chance at revenge and so she became the sin of Sorrow," Gabriel spoke watching the mask of the sin of Sorrow vanish from the map.
"Why are they here sir Gabriel?" Jasper asked watching Gabriel turn to the heroes.
"Listen to me very carefully, right now you must place your focus on destroying the agents and building your power, if any of you tried to go into battle with one of the Sins as you are you will die, I believe Wrath coming to Albion because he knows a hero escaped their clutches in Samarkand," Gabriel spoke looking to Tali.
"I ain't afraid of them! Right, Logan? We can handle them!" Saker spoke turning to Logan who still had a hand on his neck, remembering the feeling of the strings digging into the flesh of his neck.
"Gabriel's right Saker, look at the map, they have the advantage now with the Corruption all around, we need to free Albion and regain our advantage before we take on the Sins," Gabriel spoke.
"I am gonna have to agree with Logan, if these Sins are as powerful as Gabriel says we need to have the home-field advantage, what agent should we take out next?" Tali spoke turning to Gabriel.
"Knothole Island, the Agent there has Corrupted the land and the ancient weather machine they have used for centuries, the people there are in grave danger," Gabriel spoke pointing to the changing room, "I would advise putting on the winter gear I have to provide for all of you, it's gonna be very cold."
While the heroes changed the Empress in Samarkand looked out the balcony to the kingdom seeing a Harbinger land its whispers were only heard by her, her expression turning to anger, "Idiot! Keep searching! If a hero is still in this land, I want them found now!"
It was at that moment she felt the presence of another turning to see the doors to the throne room opening and a hooded woman figure entered the room wearing an expressionless porcelain mask, the woman almost floated across the ground towards the Empress.
"I don't recall inviting you here my dear sister," the Empress spoke hearing the woman laugh softly.
"I was sent to inform you that you failed to find the hero, they have fled to Albion, he is not very happy with your failure, it has also come to our attention that you haven't sent any agents to the South Islands," the Dejestress spoke looking out to the balcony.
"Why would I? Those tiny sorry excuse of a nation isn't worth the effort, the Corruption will sink that island into the sea when the Corrupter returns," the Empress spoke seeing the woman turn to her and shake a finger.
"That island was home to two heroes in the past, that arrogance is precisely why Vex will punish you when he returns unless you find a way to make up for your slip-up," the Dejestress spoke watching the other flinch in fear thinking about the punishment the Vexator will inflict on her.
"Rest assured dear sister, I will break the hero I have captured and that collected energy will sure to please Vex," the Empress spoke.
"For your sake, I hope so, you know how our dear big brother gets when he is angered, I will head to the South Islands just to ensure no heroes escaped your lazy gaze dear sister," the Dejestress spoke standing on the ledge and jumped being caught by a Harbinger that carried her away.
Leaving the Empress entered the tower where Adam was still bound by his chains only now it appeared he was concentrating very hard, approaching the Empress reached out only to have her hand electrocuted.
"GAH! What?!" she growled seeing Adam open his eyes, his brown eyes turning blue, and faint Will markings began to form on his body, "what?! impossible! We took away all your equipment! You shouldn't be able to use Will without the gauntlets!"
"You are half right, but something happened, I felt my brother, his Will, it's like our blood is reaching out to one another, so while he lives I can focus my Will, your end is approaching fast you vile witch," Adam smiled seeing her glare.
"It took Garth ten years to free himself from the collars that restricted his Will, I will break you before a year passes! I promise you that my king!" the Empress growled leaving.
Once alone Adam closed his eyes meditating and building his Will, he remembered that Garth and his father used Will to speak telepathically in the past so was it possible to reach Logan even when they were thousands of miles apart? He had to try.
In the Sanctuary Logan had finished dressing for Knothole Island his Will marking glowing faintly when he felt another Will user reaching out to him, closing his eyes he focused opening them to find himself in a black room where he saw Adam in chains in front of him.
"Adam!" Logan yelled running towards his brother but it was like he was stuck in pace unable to reach his brother looking up Adam could see his brother's attempt to run to him.
"Logan..." Adam spoke, this was the first time in years since his wedding that he had seen his brother, he had changed so much, he was seeing a whole new person.
"Adam!" Logan yelled snapping his brother from his thoughts, "I won't give up again! Do you hear me?! I'll come and find you! I promise!"
Behind Adam massive red eyes appeared with claws slowly coming close to Adam their Will connection grew weaker sensing a dark force at work Adam yelled back, "I know you will!"
The claws then wrapped around Adam breaking the connection and sending Logan crashing to the floor, Saker then looked over and knelt down, "Are you okay there mate? What happened?"
"I just saw my brother...we must hurry! The Vexator just broke our connection, we need to hurry," Logan spoke taking Saker's hand and getting helped up and hurried from the room where Tali was waiting having finished dressing already.
"I see your bond with your brother is rebuilding," Gabriel spoke from the map table.
"You saw that too?" Logan asked approaching seeing the man shake his head.
"Felt it, the more of the Corruption you clear from Albion the stronger it will grow, but as long as the Corruption is here it will allow beings like the Vexator to interfere, and possibly track your location...best to avoid using that till we are ready to fight him," Gabriel explained.
"Enough chat, we must go after the next agent," Tali spoke touching the map and teleporting to Knothole Island.
"No, your Highness don't go ahead could be dangerous," Saker spoke sarcastically touching the map and following after her.
"Logan," Gabriel spoke getting the man's attention when he was about to touch the map, "be very careful, the generals can take on the appearance of humans so they can travel in the light, they will use any trick to get your guard down, don't allow that."
"Understood," Logan spoke teleporting to Knothole Island. Logan arrived at the docks where he made his way up the hill to join Tali and Saker to see the entire village was covered in sharp ice spikes, the houses were frozen in ice.
The sky was also dark with black clouds a red mist covering the land and Corruptions covering the island slowly engulfing.
"Help!" they could hear a muffled voice shout, running towards a house Logan could see in the ice that the villagers were trapped in their home.
"Hold on! We will get you out of there!" Logan spoke slamming his fist on the ice seeing it was too thick, it didn't even crack when Saker punched the ice and shook his hand in pain.
"Gabriel said that the island was controlled by a weather machine, right?" Tali spoke their heads turning to the center of the frozen lake where a massive chunk of ice had sealed the entrance to the weather chamber.
"That's going to be a problem," Saker spoke approaching the Cullis Gate to the weather chamber, "maybe one of your fire spells can melt the ice?"
At that moment Logan saw a spike and pulled Saker back seeing an ice spike come at Saker the three backed away as the ice spikes chased them off the lake and forced them into the forest.
Approaching the frozen waterfall, the heroes looked up to see a Sabretooth like Corrupted beast with a mask over his snout appear, half of its body was frozen Corruption, and with each large step it took, ice formed around the ground where its paw touched.
Growling the Creeper roared its call making Corrupted wolves and Balverines leave the frozen forests making the heroes form up in a circle.
"Be careful! It's using Corruption to control the ice!" Gabriel warned as the massive monster jumped down from the waterfall then landed across from them and roared again this time creating walls of ice that rose high into the air trapping them in an arena of ice.
Corruption then began to spill into the arena allowing the massive Creeper to dive into it circling with its ice spike sticking out allowing its corrupted minions to attack.
"Light!" Logan yelled casting the spell to burn off the Corruption on the first wave of Corrupted beasts allowing Saker and Tali to attack once they were exposed.
"Ha! YAH!" Tali yelled slicing her katana through Corrupted Hollowmen jumping high to kick off one's head followed by a roundhouse kick to another sending it skidding back into Saker who snap off its head before catching the wrists of a Balverine that tried to pounce on him.
Slamming his knee into the Balverine gut Logan sliced off its head, throwing a light spell into another beast and pulling out his pistol firing bullets at whatever creature he locked onto.
Jumping out of the Corruption the Creeper charged swinging its claws towards Tali who backflip to dodge the claws and held out her Will Gauntlet, "Firework!" she yelled snapping the spell at the Corrupted monster and seeing it explode against its body.
Their eyes would then widen when they saw the ice on its body protected it from Tali's spell, with a growl the Creeper spun the tip of its tail turning it into a spiked ice ball that came at Tali.
Blocking it with her sword the ball hit her hard crying out Tali rolled against the ground almost landing into the Corruption, "ngh!" Tali grunted looking at her bleeding arm and quickly stood up to see the Creeper charge at her.
"Oh no you don't!" Sake yelled stepping in front of Tali and then uppercutting the massive beast only managing to make the creature mad that it smacked the man with its claws sending him skidding across the ice.
"Fuck!" Saker grunted looking at the deep cut in his side, covering it with his hand to stop the bleeding, "Logan we need a bloody plan!"
Looking around Logan thought of something the heroes said when he got the gem, looking at the ice shards around him lining the wall he knew what to do, "forget about attacking it for now! Saker use your bombs to clear away the Corruption with Tali!"
"What? How will that help?!" Tali grunted joining Logan's side.
"Just trust me! I'll distract it! Heal up and get to work!" he yelled handing them health potions and firing his pistols at the Creeper getting its attention, "yeah over here bitch!"
Dodging its claws Logan slid under the beast while Tali use her Firework spell against the pools of Corruption and Saker through bombs each explosion burning away more of the Corruption.
Slipping on the ice Logan rolled to avoid claws that broke through the ice creating cracks under their feet along with cracks on the wall from Saker bombs.
Charging a light Logan rushed towards Tali, "Tali we're gonna combine spells on my mark!"
"Combine them? Logan, I don't think they're compatible enough for a combination attack!" Tali warned turning to see the Creeper charging towards them, "dammit!"
Charging the spell in her left hand she and Logan then faced one another and slam their palms together the spells collided and began to grow creating a push between them that almost made them slide apart on the ice but Logan reached out with his other hand locking arms with Tali.
Nodding the two then turned to face the Creeper and held out their palms to the beast, both yelling in unison, "Firework Light!"
A burst of light then shot from their hands sending the two flying back from the force of the spell where the light spun and hit the Creeper exploding in a firework show of light that grew in intensity with the light reflecting off the ice around them.
Roaring the Creeper's icy armor melted off exposing it for an attack, "now our chance!" Saker yelled looking to see the other trying to get up but the Will spell appeared to have drained energy from them, "shit! I gotta do something!"
Looking down Saker watched a puddle of water his hands were in begin to glow and formed armor gauntlets on his hands the knuckles forming blades, clenching his fists Saker charged at the Creeper.
"RAAAAAH!" Saker yelled punching the Corrupted beast hard knocking out one of its saber fangs, he then came back punching the beast several more times across its massive jaws making its mask crack with each powerful punch.
Grabbing its jaw he began to pry them apart, with a mighty battle cry he snap them open with a loud crack making the beast fall over dead where the clouds above parted a beam of sunlight melting away the beast, where Tali and Logan watched Saker pant and slowly turn to them with a smirk and hold out a thumbs up.
The ice arena then began to crumble with Saker giving it a punch shattering them an exit where they rushed back to the village to see the ice spike sinking into the ground.
Running over Saker jumped into the air and slammed both his fists down on the frozen ice blocks on the Cullis Gate his fist smash now more powerful shattering the ice block into chunks.
"Oh, hell yes! Where were these puppies a day ago?!" Saker grinned while Logan and Tali cleared off the ice chunks, his attention turning to a phantom Knothole Island knight who had similar gauntlets to his.
"Your conviction and desire to protect your friend are what made you worthy to wear the Heroes Knuckles, use them well," the phantom spoke vanishing into the woods.
"Friend huh?" Logan smirked while clearing off the ice.
"W-what?! No way! I don't know what that bloody specter is talking about! Move!" Saker denied with a brush of his arm he cleared off the ice chunks allowing Logan to reactive the gate with an inferno spell.
Entering the Weather Chamber, they looked at the three totems, "ok how the bloody hell does this work?" Logan spoke approaching the totems.
"What we need is to melt that ice so we need sun," Tali spoke watching Logan touch the sun totem that began to glow and blind them forcing them to shield their eyes.
Back on the island, they stood on the Cullis Gate noticing a massive drop into a now evaporated lake, "bloody hell!" Saker yelled almost falling into the hole.
"Is everyone ok?" Logan called walking onto the docks and watching the villagers leave the safety of their homes and begin to cheer.
A Chieftain woman then approached, "Thank you, heroes, if you hadn't come to our aid we would of all frozen to death or worse! We the citizens of Knothole Island thank you."
"We are just glad you are all ok," Tali smiled watching a family hug one another.
"I think it's time for us to be a part of Albion again, Balverine attacks are what drove us from the Glade, we need the protection of the Kingdom, Prince Logan will you allow us to be part of the great kingdom of Albion?" the Chieftain asked.
"I am not royalty any more people of Knothole Island but I promise when we save the King he will welcome you into his country with open arms, can we count on you all to fight with us? To free Albion and Samarkand of the darkness?" Logan spoke getting cheers from the people.
"We shall fight with you Logan," the Chieftain spoke shaking the hero's hand.