The view from Fort Augustine, the fortress built by ancient firekeepers atop the cliffs of Solton, was unmatched. The beautiful city down below, the ocean, the lush trees further inland. A waterfall could be spotted in the far distance.
Any sound in Champion’s Hall echoes. Any footsteps sound as if a great army is advancing. And there is a great army of statues between the columns supporting the ceiling. Statues of all the Champions, of all the Great Men. Those important to the Firekeepers. This is close to a throne room as could be.
It is Tykon who approaches me, dressed in the complete General’s regalia. He must be making an announcement.
He stands before me, rigid and upright, righteous fury in his eyes. Sanna told me everyone made it out?
That is correct. Well, Kazarian suffered a handful of losses in the first few minutes, but it could’ve been much worse.
He nods. Well, what happened with the oowa?
I don’t know. It didn’t follow us. Maybe the arehna and Calamity had calmed it down enough, somehow.
Understood. He then presents a crimson medallion that he had in an interior pocket. A promise is a promise, and now it’s official. Your war is our war. And I don’t mean just Solton. Know what that medallion means?
I nod. The medallion looks close to a token used in games or at arcades, or maybe even medals won at a tournament. Nondescript with no clear meaning, yet its power —
Silve and Ryden were good men. Brothers in arms. So the Hyrcanians will get the war they’ve been so desperately wanting. But now, if you’ll excuse me, I will tell the world just that.
And he walks away from me, towards the Hallowed Tower, where all speeches are given.
After he enters the tower hall, Sanna is the next to enter this great room. I say, And here I thought my destiny was to become dust.
Don’t joke about that, what if one of these days you’ll be waiting for me and you turned to stone?
What? Will a cursed woman look at me and stun me?
Perhaps. But before anything else -
She grabs my hand and kisses me. A total reversal of the typical.
You asked me to wait here for you, just for that?
Yes.
I don’t believe you. You lingered too long. You don’t know the next time you’ll see me. If you’ll ever see me.
Mhmm. You’ll be hunting down Professor Leonardo Porta. Interrogate him. Find out why he’s experimenting on the sprites. Have Maria talk to Cyra.
Understood. And the tournament. Is it still on?
It has to be. We cannot show weakness in times of war, in the media or at sea. But.
But?
Porta is a dangerous, dangerous man with dangerous allies. I hear he’s in league with Madvan Conrad. I know you, Achi, Maria, and Drakon are all premier fighters. Some of the best in the world. Your crew is good, but you’ll need to recruit some more premiers. But I promise you that Madvan Conrad can solo your crew blindfolded. Achi and Maria, too. From the stories I’ve heard and the matches I’ve seen, I believe he can go toe-to-toe with me. And you, you need more luck than what exists in this world.
Another suicide mission, then.
Seems so. And I know you’re wondering what this has to do with your mission. It’s simple. Madvan is not a pawn in this game, nor is he the grandmaster. He is a storm, a force of nature if you will. Bent on nothing but securing his legacy in history. He will tell you he is for the good of humanity. Enter Porta. The mad scientist who stumbled upon an ancient mushroom, and it is of much interest to Madvan. But Porta is loyal to the Crown, so as you can imagine, if his experiments are successful, your mission will prove to be very, very difficult. Thing is, Porta will betray Madvan if it comes down to it. Try to make that happen.
Well, I guess that leaves one thing. Where was he seen last?
I’ll send you the file. And of the files of those who might be sympathetic to your cause. But. Be careful, please.
And then, there is one last kiss.
How was the conversation between you and Cyra? I ask Maria as she walks into my office. Achi and Drakon have been here for quite a while.
She plops down on the couch. I think she’s in love with me.
She has a husband and two adorable kids.
But she gave me this. Maria presents a non-descript reader from her messenger bag. A fossil of a reader, almost. Must have been a decade old. She passes it to Drakon, who is closest to the couch.
I would never have thought these still exist. It works? Drakon asks. He passes it to Achi, who looks fond of it. Finally a device he looks confident with. And Achi passes it to me.
It does. She has incredible documents on here. Letters, articles, books, photographs, videos. Scans of writings that have been thought to have been lost to time. Incredibly sensitive material. If these were to ever land in the media, I don’t think there’d be a world left. The love letters would be the most destructive. But they’re the prettiest.
I would assume there is information about Porta, or relevant to Porta, Drakon says. Information about mushrooms, perhaps, or about past, forgotten experiments on sprites.
A big nod from Maria. She gave it to me to wage her war.
Is this another metaphor? Or some other figure of speech?
Ain’t a metaphor, she’s serious. Achi speaks. Ought to be with that look on her face.
She believes Porta, and men like him must die. Madvan Conrad must die. But they must suffer, in proportion to the devastation they left in their wake. Maria sees the look on our faces. Her words, not mine.
I never signed up to torture. Cruel, evil men or not. No torture.
She plans to give them to the Abyss.
Nothin wrong with that.
So where we will be headed first? Drakon asks.
Maria, who’s the first premier on the list?
She retrieves a current-year tablet from her bag. From there, she connects to the projector and shows us the presentation on the opposite wall from her.
Reach, the Ruins of Rage. Man known as Zeno. A tracker.
‘eard of ‘im. Know ‘im. Love ‘im. Taught my son everything he knows about tracking. Getting old, though. Told Sanna about ‘im. He was the one that retrieved Snow from the Ravagers.
Good man, then, I say.
No. He’s a wild one.
Great man, then.
Over one hundred thousand used to call Reach home, and now, it’s a ghost town. A ghost island. Yet from certain points, no one could tell anyone lived here, and that’s because Reach was an underground city built by the Nocturnal and the Masked. But Rage, an ancient blood dragon, went berserk and nothing survived. Not even Rage itself. So no knew what had truly happened. Just that one day, Reach had gone dark.
Some say that it was to be expected that a dragon named Rage would eventually well, rage. Others say that it was due to its old age, that its mind had deteriorated so much that it had hallucinated enemies or that it deemed everything as a threat. Over the past few centuries, a few had visions of something like this occurring, but they were ignored.
So why is Zeno here, you never said, I say out loud.
The file didn’t say. People say that the ghosts of Reach roam over sea and land, searching, calling, screaming, for help. And they draw people here. Many of them die. Maybe Zeno is searching for a lost one?
Could be he’s looking for the monsters that call the ruins home.
Maria shrugs. All I know is that we need to be careful.
Drakon with his Raptors scan the island from above, and I have some scouts looking for entry points and potential threats. Some of the more recognized tunnels have since collapsed, and other tunnels still smolder, the smoke smelling of ash and flesh. Its been decades, so the flesh is from…
Who throws those bodies in here? Maria says through her covered nose and mouth. Half-thinking about putting a mask on.
Achi peers in one of the holes. He grabs his pistol and shoots, emptying the magazine. I peer in, pistol drawn, and Maria stays where she is.
Dinehs, he says. He successfully killed the three. More dinehs howl, but it seems that they’re coming from the hole, far underground, rather than above ground.
But where there are dinehs, there are Ravagers. So, they’ve got to be on the island, too. And they can climb ladders. These dinehs look well-fed, well-groomed. Fresh paint on their fur.
Didnt get ‘ere too long before of us, Achi says what I’m thinking.
We’ve got to get back to the ship and regroup, then.