Chapter 13 — Shrine of Amana 2.0
Alden's POV
"So this is Raya Lucaria?" I asked Godwyn as I admired the view in front of me.
"You bet it is, a place ruled by magic where all who have a desire to learn about the mysteries of Glinstone wish to enter, but not everyone makes it, the sorcerers of Raya Lucaria are not friendly to those who don't have great talent for magic." Godwyn answered.
"A place where you are respected depending on your talent with magic? I'm glad I didn't learn magic in such a place, Master Carhillion left Melfia's magic academy having grown tired of the scheming and machinations of the academy's nobles."
"Who is Carhillion?" Godwyn asked.
"One of my teachers of magic, I had many teachers during my journey, Carhillion of the Fold who taught me sorceries of the soul, Felkin the Outcast who initiated me into spells and abyssal miracles, Rosabeth apprentice of Carhillion who taught me pyromancies and Licia of Lindeldt who taught me miracles."
"I'm impressed, you must have been some renowned sorcerer."
"I wish I was, I arrived in Drangleic with standard equipment and basic spells, I don't know what they saw in me to take me as an apprentice, especially Straid."
"And who is that?"
"Straid was known as a powerful sorcerer versed in many branches of magic, but never took apprentices, Straid served in several courts until one day the king of Olaphis became paranoid about sorcerers and banished them from the kingdom, less for Straid himself, he was turned to stone and imprisoned in a prison in the middle of the sea."
"Hang on! Turned to stone?"
"Yes, I reversed his petrification and in return he taught me spells and pyromancy, he also made me some special weapons and spells."
"One hell of a story. Why have so many renowned sorcerers gathered in Drangleic?"
"Each of them had their motive, Carhillion sensed the dormant magic that pervaded Drangleic and decided to seek it out to improve his soul sorceries, Felkin had a similar goal but he sought the darkness in Drangleic, Rosabeth went to Drangleic in search of Carhillion , but ended up being turned to stone, I also reversed her petrification, Licia, well, she was a con artist, she pretended to be a holy woman who wanted to spread miracles around Drangleic, but in fact, she was on the run for stealing a miracle from a monastery."
"And where is Licia now?"
"Dead, she invaded my world several times under a false identity, I discovered she was the invader by approaching her with an item I found in a crypt. The item allowed me to invade the world of those who committed serious crimes, we fought and I won."
"It must have been hard for you to kill one of her teachers."
"Yes, I was shaken when I found out the identity of the attacker who tried to kill me several times, but that's in the past now. Let's go."
"If that's what you want, but I'm here if you want to talk."
"Thanks."
Godwyn and I crossed a bridge full of cages until we reached a courtyard with a fountain, in front of us was a staircase, I started to climb the staircase only to receive a barrage of magic projectiles.
"Damn it!" I screamed as I rolled to the right, but immediately jumped back when another spell came towards me, but when I jumped back I rolled to the left dodging another projectile, I immediately ducked letting a spell pass over my head, then I rolled forward dodging another spell.
Rolling and jumping all over the place, I slowly managed to approach the two sorcerers at the top of the stairs, stuck my right hand into my bottomless bag, equipped an Ornate Blade, and charged towards the sorcerer on the right.
He shot a spell in my direction, I took a step to the side letting the projectile pass me and cut the sorcerer in his chest, the sorcerer on the left raised his book and tried to hit me in the head, I used the ash of war from my staff spinning it in the air and hitting the sorcerer several times pushing him away, then I pointed my staff at the sorcerer's face on my right and cast Dark Hail at close range, the sorcerer was torn apart by the projectiles of darkness.
Then I turned my body towards the sorcerer on my left and plunged the blade into his heart, both sorcerers disappeared in runes and souls.
I started hyperventilating as some memories came back to me, that damn shrine, I can't dodge the spells as I'm fighting the knights, I can't fight the knights properly as the water slows me down, I can't get out of the water as I'm bombarded by spells, I can't dodge spells as I'm fighting knights, I can't fight knights properly as water slows me down, I can't get out of water as I'm bombarded by spells, I can't dodge spells spells, because I'm fighting the knights, I can't fight the knights properly, because the water slows me down, I can't get out of the water, because I'm bombarded by spells...
"ALDEN!" I was jolted out of my stupor by a scream from Godwyn.
"Yes?"
"Are you okay? I've been calling your name for some time now, but you've just stood there staring into space."
"Don't worry about it, I just had a bad daydream."
Godwyn gave me a worried look but didn't press on.
I opened the heavy wooden door in front of me and entered a large hall with wooden benches and pilasters on the sides and cages hanging from the ceiling, as soon as I entered the hall the sorcerer in front of me caught my attention.
"HEY! THIS BELONGS TO ME, GIVE IT BACK!" I yelled at the sorcerer.
The sorcerer in question had my Channeler Trident, the sorcerer snapped his fingers and four things fell from the ceiling, they looked like puppets with four arms and a sword on each arm, immediately the sorcerer began to dance using the art of the trident, the puppets were covered by a white aura indicating that they were empowered by the trident, when the sorcerer finished his dance he ran towards a passage on the left.
"COME BACK HERE!" I called out to the sorcerer, but had to shift my attention to the puppets.
The four puppets ran towards me, I put away the ornate blade and ignited my flame by casting Fire Dance, then an arc of fire appeared in front of me hitting two of the puppets and forcing the others to jump back, they went around the pillars of the hall, one on the left and one on the right.
I raised my staff and cast Affinity, when the puppets approached the projectiles of darkness hit the puppet coming from the left giving me time to point my flame at the puppet on the right and cast Fire Whip, the spiral of fire incinerated the puppet, three to go.
The two puppets hit by the Dance of Fire got up and when approaching one, they released a flurry of blows, I rolled to the right trying to dodge the attack, but the blows came at great speed due to the effects of the trident, the worst was that the third marionette had joined the fight, I recoiled from the blows, but I was cut several times on the chest, arms and legs.
Suddenly my back hit a wall, I was placed in a corner, I cast Iron Flesh, the puppet blades broke as they hit my body, it wasn't like being hit by Malenia where every blow slowly overcame my defense, I seized the moment when the puppets were thrown back due to their swords being broken and I cast Fire Snake, slamming my flame to the ground, pillars of fire came out of the ground and shot towards the puppets.
Two puppets were turned into ashes, now there was only one left, the remaining puppet ran towards me with its four broken swords pointed at me, when the swords hit me a sound of metal being broken echoed through the hall, what was left of the swords was scattered across the floor, the puppet lifted its head looking at me.
My response was to grab the two upper arms of the puppet and kick it in the chest, the puppet's arms stayed in my hands and the puppet hit a pillar, the puppet slowly slid towards the ground, the mark of the sole of my leggings on its chest.
Now where did that sorcerer go? I thought as I drank from the Flask of Crimson Tears.
I ran to the left passage, touched the grace that was in a small room and followed until I reached a cemetery.
"Where is that bastard?" Said while looking around.
"Was that trident one of your equipment?" Godwyn asked.
"Yes and I want it back."
As soon as I entered the graveyard, corpses with magical energy pouring out of their eyes and mouths came towards me, I quickly equipped an Ornate Blade in each hand and used their ash of war covering the swords with holy power.
"What the hell happened here? How could Rennala allow something like this to happen?" Godwyn said as he watched the corpses emerge from the tomb.
"I believe you are not responsible for these corpses coming back to life."
"Not! Look at them! There's magic coming out of their bodies and I'm not a mage!"
"Well, better put them to rest."
I started to fight as I descended through the graveyard, pierced a corpse in the stomach with both blades, knocked it out of my blades with a kick to the chest, then spun my body slashing at the chest of another approaching corpse, with the corner of my eyes I saw another corpse approaching behind me, I turned the blades in my hands, putting them in an inverted position and pushed them back piercing the corpse.
But another corpse approached in front of me, I tried to remove the blades from the corpse behind me, but they were stuck, I released the blades and put my hand inside my bottomless bag, taking out an Urn of Holy Water, I threw the urn at the corpse, steam rose from his body as the water burned him as if it were acid.
As the corpse was knocked down, I spun my body and knocked the blades off the corpse behind me with another kick, but when I turned again to look down the path ahead I saw a series of eyes glowing with magic staring at me through the graveyard mist.
What a horrible night to have a curse.
I keep fighting...
"FORBIDDEN SUN!"
And fighting...
"CHAOS STORM!"
And fighting...
"WRATH OF THE GODS!"
Until I found myself in a small cave where there were some puppets which I destroyed with a Chaos Fireball, I got a Spirit Ash from the Puppet Soldiers, I jumped out of the small cave, only to find myself surrounded by more walking corpses.
"AAAHHH!" I screamed in frustration.
And the fight continued.
"HEAVENLY THUNDER!"
And it continued...
"DARK STORM!"
And it continued...
"SOUL FOCUS!"
When my battle frenzy was over, I found myself with a shattered corpse at my feet and a set of armor in front of me, looking down at me, I saw that I was covered in wounds, I need some rest, I drank from both my flasks to restore my health and magic.
"Alden, how do you feel?" Godwyn asked.
"Tired and irritable, it's like trying to traverse the Shrine of Amana and the Undead Crypt all over again."
"What?"
"Forget what I said." I approached the set of armor in front of me and studied it.
"Oh! A carian knight's armor."
"Do you know whose armor this is?"
"Of course! Carian knights directly served the Carian royal family, this armor has a good balance between physical and magical defense."
"You seem to know a lot about Lands Between items and equipment."
"You could say it's a hobby of mine, in the capital's libraries there are entire books dedicated to weapons, armor, items, their strengths and weaknesses."
"I wish I had one of those books, I had to learn what my equipment does in practice."
Godwyn said that this armor had good physical and magic defense, I think it doesn't hurt to try it.
"Godwyn, can you look the other way?"
"Of course!" Godwyn said as he turned around.
I quickly donned the armor.
"How am I?"
"You look like a true knight of the royal family."
I had a little laugh at that "HAHA! Thank you Lord Godwyn, your words are extremely kind." I said as I bowed.
"You are welcome, my noble knight!" Godwyn said as he made a pompous voice and puffed out his chest.
"HAHAHA!" We both laugh simultaneously.
Passing through a stone crevice, I returned to the upper area of the cemetery, this time I entered a stone passage with some stairs in front, passing through a metal gate I was facing the academy's water wheel.
I waited for one of the platforms to approach, I jumped on top of one and started to go up, I jumped off the platform when I reached an area where it was safe to land, I went up some stone stairs and I was in the academy again, touched a Grace that was close and continued forward.
I reached a corridor, in that corridor there were two sorcerers reading books and a sorcerer carrying a sword and shield, he hadn't noticed me, I crouched down and approached the sorcerer, I pierced him in the heart with one of the ornate blades, one of the sorcerers stopped and He put the book down and turned toward the source of the noise, only to jump in surprise to see me.
I pointed my staff at this sorcerer and cast Crystal Soul Spear, the mage died immediately when hit by the spell, the only proof that he was there was the big hole left in the wall.
The remaining sorcerer didn't have time to react, the moment he turned around I cast Soul Greatsword, swung my staff towards the sorcerer, he was slashed in the stomach by the great soul blade that formed on my staff.
It seems that it's over, in a small room I got another parchment that I couldn't understand what was written, I put the parchment in my bag and continued advancing through the academy.
Just to immediately stop what I saw in front of me, a room full of sorcerers and among them was the sorcerer with my trident, he started to dance empowering the other sorcerers and ran out of the room.
All the other sorcerers pointed their staffs at me.
"HOLY SHIT!" I screamed as I leapt back from a pillar that graced the wall of the staircase that led into the room.
The spells collided with the pillar, tearing off a few pieces.
The sorcerers tried to advance towards me, but I didn't allow it, I pointed my staff at them and cast Soul Spear Barrage, a blast of small soul spears came out of my staff filling one of the sorcerers with holes and forcing the other three to fall back hiding behind pillars in the room.
One of the sorcerers jumped out of his cover and fired some spells towards me, I hid behind my pillar and when the spells ended, I came out of my cover and cast Soul Spear Barrage, but the sorcerer hid, the barrage just destroyed part of the pillar.
Two sorcerers came out of their cover and threw spells at me, I hid again. This isn't going anywhere! I put my hand in my bag and pulled out a fire bomb, I threw the bomb at the mage who was more to the left, seeing the bomb landing on his feet the mage came out of his cover, which gave me the opportunity to target him with a Barrage of Soul Spears.
Two sorcerers left now, I drank from my flask of cerulean tears to restore my spells, one of the sorcerers jumped out from behind his cover and ran from left to right while shooting spells at me, I decided to return the favor.
"AAAHHH!" I screamed as I broke out of my cover and cast Soul Spear Barrage, the rings on my staff spun at great speed as they released the magic projectiles, the projectiles blasted holes in walls, bookshelves, pieces of books and furniture flew everywhere.
But in the end I couldn't reach the sorcerer, this is taking too long, I lit my flame and cast Toxic Mist, a purple cloud covered the room blinding the sorcerers, I ran through the mist until I stopped behind one of the sorcerers, he didn't noticed me, I grabbed him by the shoulder turning him towards me, took Reduvia out of my bag and pierced him in his heart.
The fog dissipated, and what I saw was the remaining sorcerer swinging his staff towards my head, I was stunned by the blow, but the sorcerer did not stop, blow after blow he hit me with his staff, in the middle of one of the blows I managed to point my staff at his left leg and cast Dark Hail, the sorcerer's left leg was torn off, making him fall backwards to the ground, I pointed my staff at the sorcerer's head and cast Dark Hail again.
I supported my staff on my shoulder as smoke get out from its rings, drank from my flask of crimson tears, and continued chasing the sorcerer who had my trident.
I continued until I stopped front of a gate of yellow mist, it seems that there is a notable enemy ahead.
"It looks like we will have an tough battle." Godwyn said as he came up beside me.
"Looks like it, I think I better prepare myself." I cast some miracles to heal my wounds and used some repair powder on my armor and weapons, equipped the Lord's Worn Greatsword in my right hand and my Sunset Staff in my left hand, then walked through the mist.
And what I found on the other side was a big red wolf running towards me.
A golden sword formed in the wolf's mouth and he swung it towards me, I rolled to the right several times, dodging the cuts, when the blows ended I struck two blows to the wolf's side with my sword, the wolf jumped back, but in the middle of his jump three magic circles appeared in the air, a few seconds later these circles shot three magic swords towards me.
"CAN THIS THING USE MAGIC?!"
I ran to the right across the large hall where we were, while running I pointed my staff at the wolf and cast Dark Orb several times, the wolf was hit by an orb, but managed to dodge the others by jumping away.
The wolf then made a big jump, while spinning in the air the wolf created another golden sword and tried to cut me in two with it as I fell, I rolled to the right again letting the wolf hit the ground, while the wolf recovered from the attack I got up. I approached and cut him again, but the wolf withstood my blows and in the midst of the cuts he summoned another golden sword and managed to cut me three times in the chest, the wolf jumped back again while creating circles of magic in the air.
I crossed the hall from the right side to the left side while dodging the magic swords, now the wolf had his back to the door I used to enter the hall and I was on the other side of the hall, better to invoke some spirits, I rang the bell and invoked the new gray I acquired, two puppets appeared beside me, they carried bows and as soon as they saw the wolf they started shooting.
The wolf ran across the hall while jumping to the sides, dodging the arrows, the wolf took a big leap and invoked the golden sword trying to cut me in two again, I ran towards the wolf and when he approached I rolled forward letting him pass above me, as the wolf landed he was pierced by several arrows from the puppets, before the wolf could run away again I spun my body and cast Dark Greatsword.
With a horizontal movement I cut the wolf from left to right followed by an explosion of darkness, quickly the wolf turned towards me releasing a series of bites, I was taken by surprise and ended up being bitten a few times, then the wolf got up in his hind legs and tried to bite me, seeing that there was no time to dodge I put my staff in front of me.
The wolf bit my staff and forced me to the ground, I threw my sword to the side and used both hands to hold the staff and thrust it upwards, I was in a contest of strength with the wolf, meanwhile the back of the wolf were pierced by arrows from puppets, the wolf chose to ignore the arrows and continue disputing against me.
Suddenly three circles of magic appeared above the wolf, I knew what was about to happen, I removed my right hand from the staff, fell immediately on one of my knees, lit my pyromantic flame and pointed it at the wolf's face, simultaneously the magic circles shot the swords towards me.
I cast Fire Whip, the wolf let out a loud howl of pain before disappearing into runes and souls, but the wolf didn't disappear fast enough for its spells to dissipate, I was pierced in the chest and stomach by two of the magic swords, the force being such that I was thrown to the ground.
"Alden!" Godwyn yelled as he surged up beside me.
"Don't worry, I'm not dying yet..." I replied as I got up, I saw the puppets disappearing on the other side of the room, I dragged my feet across the floor, on the way I retrieved my sword and got some kind of necklace that was left by the wolf, I put the necklace in my bag.
On the other side of the hall appeared a place of Grace, I touched Grace and rested a while to heal my wounds.
"Damn it!" I heard Godwyn scream.
"What is Godwyn?"
"I just remembered who that wolf belonged to." Godwyn said as he gave me a nervous look.
"Serious? Who?"
"Radagon!"
"Damn it!"
"I know!" Godwyn answered.
"Will Radagon be angry about what we've done?"
"He loved that wolf!"
"I think if we just pretend like nothing happened, everything will be fine." I said to Godwyn.
"If anyone asks, say some sorcerer left the academy gates open and the wolf ran away." Godwyn said.
"I agree."
After resting I continued until I reached a large courtyard with a fountain in the center and a large staircase on the other side, I walked around the courtyard killing the enemies I found along the way, I got some interesting things, a whetstone knife, a stone key and a golden seed, after checking out the courtyard as I approached the grand staircase, I walked onto one of the stone beams that supported the staircase and started going up.
Suddenly a giant metal ball came off the top of the building at the top of the stairs and rolled down the stairs.
"Shit!" I screamed as the metal ball came towards me, I grabbed my staff and cast Repel, for a moment I was invincible, long enough for the metal ball to smash me to the ground without causing damage, I rose from the hole in the form the outline of my body and went upstairs, only for another metal ball to appear.
I repeated the process until I reached the top of the stairs, looking back I saw several holes in the shape of the outline of my body going up the stairs, I was crushed more times than I would like, moving forward I passed through a corridor until I reached a garden and there was the sorcerer with my trident, and beside the sorcerer there was a knight.
Immediately the sorcerer began to dance strengthening the knight, then the sorcerer equipped a staff, my Staff of Wisdom, the knight already put his shield on his back and drew a second weapon, it was a small piece of ivory, my Ivory Straight Sword .
"These weapons belong to me, give them back!"
The answer to my demand was the knight running towards me while the sorcerer cast spells, I rolled to the left dodging the spells, but I had to jump back when the knight jumped towards me with both swords raised, the straight ivory sword created a blade of pure energy, luckily I managed to dodge that blow.
I managed to land a few blows on the knight, but he rolled back then, I tried to run towards the knight to continue my attack, but I was interrupted by a spell that passed in front of me, almost hitting me, I turned to the sorcerer, pointed my staff at him and conjured dark orb, the sorcerer jumped to the side dodging my attack.
The knight quickly ran towards me trying to hit me with the metal sword, I blocked his blow with my sword, but that left me open to a series of cuts with the straight ivory sword, I received several wounds from the energy blade.
I rolled back away from the knight and a spell that came towards me, I put my staff away and took my bell of desire, I conjured celestial thunder, lightning fell from the sky hitting different parts of the garden, including the knight and the sorcerer.
Taking advantage that they were stunned, I turned to the sorcerer and cast lightning spear, the sorcerer was electrocuted by my miracle, which gave me a chance to approach, the sorcerer pointed the trident at me and tried to pierce me, I took a step towards the side while turning my body, when I finished my dodge I slashed the sorcerer in the chest, throwing him to the ground with his back to me.
I approached the sorcerer to end this fight soon, I can see something shiny in the sorcerer's hand, the sorcerer suddenly got up and tried to cut me with a dagger, but I was faster and pierced him in the chest with my sword, when the sorcerer died I saw the dagger that was in his hand, my Blue Dagger.
Now all that's left is the knight, turning to the knight I saw that she had put away her normal sword, and equipped a staff, I ran towards the knight, simultaneously the knight cast spells towards me, I jumped out of the way of the spells as I jumped approached, when I got close enough I cast Wrath of the Gods, the shock wave hurled the knight away, which gave me time to pierce him in the heart with my sword, the knight disappeared in runes leaving only his shield.
I tucked the shield into my bag and began collecting my stolen gear.
"So these are your equipment?" Godwyn asked.
"Only a small part, but now I have a staff suitable for using soul sorceries." I said as I showed Godwyn my gear.
"This is my blue dagger, a weapon used by the fume sorcerer who inhabits the brume tower, it is not a suitable weapon for melee combat, but it strengthens my spells in exchange for lowering my elemental defense. This is the straight ivory sword, weapon of Fabian, knight of Eleum Loyce. This blade, forged from ivory ore native to the land, can create a blade of energy. This is the Channeler Trident, a trident wielded by an old sorcerer, the tip is sharpened so smoothly that it suggests a degree of madness, if I do a ridiculous dance with this trident I can empower nearby allies."
"Could you do this dance? It would be quite a sight." Godwyn asked as he smiled.
"HAHAHA! No!" I replied.
"Worth the try." Godwyn said as he shrugged.
"And finally we have one of the finest staffs to be had in Drangleic, the Staff of Wisdom, a staff from the lost land of Olaphis, dedicated to sorcery. The crystal at the end of the staff greatly increases the strength of the spell, it is a finely crafted staff, made all the more effective by its crystal, whose luster has been polished over time with powerful magic. I upgraded it to the max with twinkling titanite and infused it with magic, increasing his already absurd power"
"Impressive, the sorcerers of Raya Lucaria would kill to have this staff and try to replicate it. You know, I'm picking up on a theme here."
"Me too. All the equipment are related to magic in some way."
"Exactly as Melina mentioned."
After packing my gear, Godwyn and I took an elevator up to a large pair of wooden doors, I opened the doors and entered a dark library.
"Remember Alden, try to talk to Rennala before starting a fight." Godwyn said to me.
"Leave it to me." I replied.
I started walking around the library "Hello, is anyone here? Miss Rennala?"
"Strange, where could she be?" Godwyn asked.
I continued walking through the dark library until my foot bumped into something, looking down I saw what appeared to be a little girl.
"Hello, little one! Sorry for kicking you. Do you know where I can find Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon?" I said as I crouched down in front of the child.
The child's response was to lift her head and stare at me with her mouth open while making strange noises.
"HAHAHA!" I heard a burst of laughter across the library and the sound of something metallic hitting the floor.
Gradually the library was lit by a series of candlesticks being carried by children just like the one I had kicked, so all the children looked up, I followed their gazes.
"Hush, little culver." A female voice said.
"I'll soon birth thee anew, a sweeting fresh and pure..." Rennala said as she stroked the amber egg in her hands.
"Godwyn, looks like we're going to have to fight." I said as I readied my sword and staff, but Godwyn didn't respond as I expected.
"Rennala, what happened to you?" Godwyn said as he looked helplessly at the woman floating in front of us.
END OF THE CHAPTER
You know, as I write this story, there are certain items that I would like Alden to find, but those items are so far away and hidden that I find it difficult to include them in the story, I don't like having Alden go to the far reaches of the Lands Between for no reason, which Same goes for some NPCs, some are in such isolated places that I can't think of any other way to include them in the story other than an exploration chapter.
I'll probably do chapters similar to Exploring Limgrave.
That's it for now, leave your comments on the story, suggestions and criticism are welcome.
Until the next chapter!