A Blood-soaked Legacy
XIII
A Vengeance of Water
(Shard II)
(Shard II)
“The only god whose work I've seen in my life is that of Vaekas, the god of war.” Tyverus slid his hand away from hers on the railing. “More than that, I only see the power of humanity. The power to destroy, to enslave, to corrupt, and to squander.” He paused for a moment and leaned on the rail to look at Isilda. “My apologies for the morose words. I do wish I could see as you do. I wish I could see the beauty of the world through your eyes.”
“You can. You just have to open yourself to it.” She slid her hand a few more inches after his. She looked at him with determined eyes and her lips tightened with a smirk of wisdom.
“If the world is filled with such beauty, answer me this…” Tyverus leaned further into the rail and sideways into Isilda’s ear. “Why do you fear the waves and the sea? Can’t you see the beauty in this living sea around us?”
“I do, but I fear it.” Isilda’s voice was filled with energy at the prospect of Tyverus’ philosophical challenge. “Is it not the nature of us all to fear what we don’t know?” She lifted her hand to point at the waters around the boat. “Like I said, I come from a land of deserts and mesas. A body of water this wide and deep is beyond my understanding. It doesn’t cease to be beautiful, any more than a dire wolf or wyvern ceases to be beautiful. Yet, each must be respected and feared.”
Tyverus gave a nod and looked at the still water for a moment. “I understand.” He turned back with an inquisitive look on his face. “So how do you travel in the lands of the Alsira, then? I know there are river ships in Haaken Vaultaen to your south, but how do you traverse the deserts and plateaus? Surely horses couldn’t stand such harsh lands.”
Isilda openly laughed and patted her side. “You call that place, Haaken Vaultaen? Only the Haakuenth call it that. We call it Gullcrest City, and it’s not a part of our lands anymore.”
Tyverus remained silent for a moment and took in the information that Isilda was giving him. He knew from several knights who had been stationed near the Alsira lands that the Haakuenth and the Alsira had squabbles. He had always heard that name for the city in the Haakuenth language, hearing its name in common Hoelatha was strange.
“Anyway, as for how we travel. We do so by air or by foot. I guess it’s all traditions really. We don’t really believe in beasts of burden, or in building strange contraptions like this ship.”
“How do you fly by air? Do you fly on brooms like witches, or do you soar by the currents of magic like sorcerers?” Tyverus gave a chuckle at the absurd notion.
“Authrocs.” Isilda said curtly. “We raise them from chicks. Each member of the Authrakallin Order is bonded to an Authroc from the time they are born. They are our soul-animals.”
“Authrocs…” Tyverus furrowed his brow and pursed his lips at the word. “Those birds are descended from the ancient Phoenixes. How on earth do you domesticate them to use as mounts?” The thought of this demure oracle before him riding a bird twice the size of the ship they were now on was perplexing to Tyverus’ mind.
“We don’t domesticate them, silly.” Isilda crossed her arms for a moment and then lifted one of her hands palm up. “We are soul-bound to them. They are like our…” She looked up to recall the word. “…Familiars. We don’t ‘mount’ them, they help us and we care for them.”
“You fly these giant birds around.” Tyverus turned and pushed his back against the railing. “You soar across the skies, with nothing beneath you but open air.” He held his hands up, together, mimicking the wings of a bird soaring around. Isilda nodded at his words and smiled. “With all that danger. One slip. One fall. One well-placed arrow in the heart of your bird, and you fall to the earth…”
“I know where you’re going with this.” Isilda looked at him with a deadpan expression. “I can handle the dangers and fear of the air, but I can’t handle the dangers and fear of the seas.”
“Exactly. They are both elements. They are both things to be conquered.”
Isilda looked at Tyverus with a slacked jaw, her eyes were wide. “Conquered, you say. I think that’s the difference between us.”
Tyverus turned and leaned back on the railing. He had set lines in the sand between them with his words. He had failed in building trust and companionship between them. She no doubt thought of him as just another meat-headed soldier, now.
Isilda leaned in and got up on her toes to whisper in Tyverus’ ear. “I suppose that is what one must do with fear. I suppose that is what the knights and the oracles do. We both conquer things in our own way. Whether its the elements of nature or the mysteries of the past. To conquer something is to understand it, and by knowing it, you strip the fear of it away.”
Isilda reached forward and placed her hand on Tyverus’. He lifted his gaze to look up into her beautiful green eyes. She gave a genuine smile and took a step towards him. She pressed her body between him and the rail, lifting up his arms and putting them around her.
“You conquered the seas for me. You showed me their beauty without fear. I hope I can do that for you in the future, in my own way.”
Beneath the surface of the underground river, Tyverus continued to wait for his end to come. The moments dragged on as his lungs continued to burn hungrily for air. Other than a few rocks falling into the water around him, the moments continued to drag on.
The memories of Isilda popped up in his mind and he wished her soul could reach out to him and pull him away from all this pain and suffering. If he could seal away Merithault once and for all, maybe he would be rewarded by whatever gods existed by being reunited with the woman he missed so much. If all of his life lead to this moment, this final sacrifice, that was worth it to save the world from such a fiend.
The moments continued, making Tyverus begin to wonder if the gods had chosen a different fate for him. Maybe he was trapped in a hell of this eternal moment. Maybe he had made wrong choices in his life, or this was the price he was to pay for all the lives he took in battles and wars. He was doomed to sit here in the cold waters waiting for the end but it never coming for him.
He resolved to break the cycle of hellish waiting as he put his left hand and feet beneath him. He pressed himself up to a standing position on the bottom of the river. The rock and metal still clinging to his ravaged body allowed him to stand firmly despite the soft current of the water flowing past him.
One step and then the next through the cold water. His lungs screamed for air, but he continued on with one foot ahead of the next until his face broke over the surface of the water. He took in a large gulp of air and spit out the ice-water that had filled his mouth and throat. The world around him hadn’t ended as he expected.
All around him he was blinded for a moment by veins and ribbons of overpowering energy. He could feel the crackle of power on his exposed and torn flesh. The very air, the very rock, the very water of this place was alive with some unholy energy. If this was the end, it was something he had not expected.
Tyverus looked up from the surface of the water towards the ceiling of the cavern and instinctively stepped back into the water at what he saw. Above the entire roof, the cavern had collapsed under his power, yet every rock, every chunk of ice, and every vein of ore was suspended like dancing planets above his head. Flows of sea water from far above flowed in between the pieces of slowly rotating rocks with no regard for gravity. Ribbons of shadowy power shot through the air like chaotic lightning.
A resounding crackle echoed throughout the cavern and slowly the sound changed to the semi-human cackling of Merithault. “You dare to try and destroy my home?” The monster’s voice seemed to be omnipresent throughout this place that had turned into a realm of chaos. “You think you could just seal me away like that?” The cackle intensified. Overhead several boulders of rock impacted each other and exploded with terrible force.
Tyverus took a few steps forward until the water was only up to his hips. He looked around to see the monster standing at the arch of the bridge. The tendrils of indigo energy around her were busy in a dance conducting the shards of this place above her. Her icy eyes narrowed at him and that same predatory snarl returned.
The gods had forsaken him, his sacrifice was for naught, and nothing he could do seemed to stop this abomination given life from some dark power. It was not yet time for him to be reunited beyond the veil of death with Isilda. The fighting had to continue, the pain had to be endured, and the rage within him burned all the brighter.
Tyverus raised up his left hand at the creature above him and clenched his fingers into a fist. The water of the river around him responded to his command and began to slowly spiral around him. The monster looked on in a state of amusement as the waters spiraled away from Tyverus’ feet and into a whirlwind with him at its center.
With a sharp pull, Tyverus brought his fist close to his shoulder and the river moved with his limb. The whirlwind formed into a giant tentacle of water and ice. With a swipe of his hand, the tentacle impacted the body of Merithault, lifting her from her perch. The tentacle of frozen water pounded upon her, lifting her from the ground, and then with one more motion, sent her flying with extreme force toward the far wall of the cavern.
Merithault’s body flew through the air until she impacted the stone altar by her wall of skulls. The altar cracked and shattered beneath the force of her body. The force of the water continued to assault her and shear at her flesh with shards of ice. The wall behind her cracked, sending hundreds of skulls to fall behind her.
With some powers of air and water, small rivulets of elemental power lifted Tyverus from the empty riverbed and up to the crest of the bridge. The water continued to flow around him, creating spirals around the bridge. The energy he commanded continue to grow with each moment as he barraged the monster with everything he had.
“You should not be!” Tyverus screamed at Merithault from the higher ground of the bridge. The water continued to attack her, pinning her against the debris of her altar. “Die already!”
Shards of ice the size of a grown man tore away at Merithault’s prone form. The water pinned her against the rock as Tyverus’ rage-filled assault continued upon her. Her left arm broke backward at a sharp angle under the force of the river. A chunk of ice tore away fingers from her right hand. Her legs were twisted behind her with bones sticking out from torn flesh. Still, the monster had light in her eyes which shone at him with mirth and a cold rage.
A sound like rusted metal being dragged on granite began to echo up from the fiend. Slowly the sound turned back into the same inhuman cackling as before. No human could withstand such an onslaught. No mortal frame could still survive the crushing weight of an entire river wielded in rage.
Tyverus focused harder while drawing more water into his attack. He would drown the beast in his rage if he had to. He would keep going until all the dwindling energy in his mantle had been spent. Even when that had been exhausted he would choke whatever substituted life from Merithault with his bare hands if he needed to.
The cackling stopped and all that remained in the cavern was the constant roar of waters flowing faster than a mortal eye could fathom. Tyverus was about to let up, but he resolved to press on. It wasn’t until he began to doubt himself, that he noticed the tonnes of boulders flying toward him from above and to his sides. The monster still had energy and she was now using the ceiling of the cavern as a weapon against him.
Tyverus managed to dodge the first few volleys, but the rest struck him hard. One rock knocked him in the head, sending him dizzy spin. Several others impacted his chest and legs. Between flashes of light, he could feel the dull pain of his legs breaking as he was cast backward with tremendous force.
Sparks from the metal he used as armor went off around his eyes. Chunks of his elemental armor went flying as it shattered around him. Beneath all the impacts, he could feel the cold ground of the cavern hit his back. He slid for a moment as more rocks and pebbles took their turns pummeling him. Eventually, his head hit the far wall of the cavern and everything went blissfully dark.
“You can. You just have to open yourself to it.” She slid her hand a few more inches after his. She looked at him with determined eyes and her lips tightened with a smirk of wisdom.
“If the world is filled with such beauty, answer me this…” Tyverus leaned further into the rail and sideways into Isilda’s ear. “Why do you fear the waves and the sea? Can’t you see the beauty in this living sea around us?”
“I do, but I fear it.” Isilda’s voice was filled with energy at the prospect of Tyverus’ philosophical challenge. “Is it not the nature of us all to fear what we don’t know?” She lifted her hand to point at the waters around the boat. “Like I said, I come from a land of deserts and mesas. A body of water this wide and deep is beyond my understanding. It doesn’t cease to be beautiful, any more than a dire wolf or wyvern ceases to be beautiful. Yet, each must be respected and feared.”
Tyverus gave a nod and looked at the still water for a moment. “I understand.” He turned back with an inquisitive look on his face. “So how do you travel in the lands of the Alsira, then? I know there are river ships in Haaken Vaultaen to your south, but how do you traverse the deserts and plateaus? Surely horses couldn’t stand such harsh lands.”
Isilda openly laughed and patted her side. “You call that place, Haaken Vaultaen? Only the Haakuenth call it that. We call it Gullcrest City, and it’s not a part of our lands anymore.”
Tyverus remained silent for a moment and took in the information that Isilda was giving him. He knew from several knights who had been stationed near the Alsira lands that the Haakuenth and the Alsira had squabbles. He had always heard that name for the city in the Haakuenth language, hearing its name in common Hoelatha was strange.
“Anyway, as for how we travel. We do so by air or by foot. I guess it’s all traditions really. We don’t really believe in beasts of burden, or in building strange contraptions like this ship.”
“How do you fly by air? Do you fly on brooms like witches, or do you soar by the currents of magic like sorcerers?” Tyverus gave a chuckle at the absurd notion.
“Authrocs.” Isilda said curtly. “We raise them from chicks. Each member of the Authrakallin Order is bonded to an Authroc from the time they are born. They are our soul-animals.”
“Authrocs…” Tyverus furrowed his brow and pursed his lips at the word. “Those birds are descended from the ancient Phoenixes. How on earth do you domesticate them to use as mounts?” The thought of this demure oracle before him riding a bird twice the size of the ship they were now on was perplexing to Tyverus’ mind.
“We don’t domesticate them, silly.” Isilda crossed her arms for a moment and then lifted one of her hands palm up. “We are soul-bound to them. They are like our…” She looked up to recall the word. “…Familiars. We don’t ‘mount’ them, they help us and we care for them.”
“You fly these giant birds around.” Tyverus turned and pushed his back against the railing. “You soar across the skies, with nothing beneath you but open air.” He held his hands up, together, mimicking the wings of a bird soaring around. Isilda nodded at his words and smiled. “With all that danger. One slip. One fall. One well-placed arrow in the heart of your bird, and you fall to the earth…”
“I know where you’re going with this.” Isilda looked at him with a deadpan expression. “I can handle the dangers and fear of the air, but I can’t handle the dangers and fear of the seas.”
“Exactly. They are both elements. They are both things to be conquered.”
Isilda looked at Tyverus with a slacked jaw, her eyes were wide. “Conquered, you say. I think that’s the difference between us.”
Tyverus turned and leaned back on the railing. He had set lines in the sand between them with his words. He had failed in building trust and companionship between them. She no doubt thought of him as just another meat-headed soldier, now.
Isilda leaned in and got up on her toes to whisper in Tyverus’ ear. “I suppose that is what one must do with fear. I suppose that is what the knights and the oracles do. We both conquer things in our own way. Whether its the elements of nature or the mysteries of the past. To conquer something is to understand it, and by knowing it, you strip the fear of it away.”
Isilda reached forward and placed her hand on Tyverus’. He lifted his gaze to look up into her beautiful green eyes. She gave a genuine smile and took a step towards him. She pressed her body between him and the rail, lifting up his arms and putting them around her.
“You conquered the seas for me. You showed me their beauty without fear. I hope I can do that for you in the future, in my own way.”
* * *
Beneath the surface of the underground river, Tyverus continued to wait for his end to come. The moments dragged on as his lungs continued to burn hungrily for air. Other than a few rocks falling into the water around him, the moments continued to drag on.
The memories of Isilda popped up in his mind and he wished her soul could reach out to him and pull him away from all this pain and suffering. If he could seal away Merithault once and for all, maybe he would be rewarded by whatever gods existed by being reunited with the woman he missed so much. If all of his life lead to this moment, this final sacrifice, that was worth it to save the world from such a fiend.
The moments continued, making Tyverus begin to wonder if the gods had chosen a different fate for him. Maybe he was trapped in a hell of this eternal moment. Maybe he had made wrong choices in his life, or this was the price he was to pay for all the lives he took in battles and wars. He was doomed to sit here in the cold waters waiting for the end but it never coming for him.
He resolved to break the cycle of hellish waiting as he put his left hand and feet beneath him. He pressed himself up to a standing position on the bottom of the river. The rock and metal still clinging to his ravaged body allowed him to stand firmly despite the soft current of the water flowing past him.
One step and then the next through the cold water. His lungs screamed for air, but he continued on with one foot ahead of the next until his face broke over the surface of the water. He took in a large gulp of air and spit out the ice-water that had filled his mouth and throat. The world around him hadn’t ended as he expected.
All around him he was blinded for a moment by veins and ribbons of overpowering energy. He could feel the crackle of power on his exposed and torn flesh. The very air, the very rock, the very water of this place was alive with some unholy energy. If this was the end, it was something he had not expected.
Tyverus looked up from the surface of the water towards the ceiling of the cavern and instinctively stepped back into the water at what he saw. Above the entire roof, the cavern had collapsed under his power, yet every rock, every chunk of ice, and every vein of ore was suspended like dancing planets above his head. Flows of sea water from far above flowed in between the pieces of slowly rotating rocks with no regard for gravity. Ribbons of shadowy power shot through the air like chaotic lightning.
A resounding crackle echoed throughout the cavern and slowly the sound changed to the semi-human cackling of Merithault. “You dare to try and destroy my home?” The monster’s voice seemed to be omnipresent throughout this place that had turned into a realm of chaos. “You think you could just seal me away like that?” The cackle intensified. Overhead several boulders of rock impacted each other and exploded with terrible force.
Tyverus took a few steps forward until the water was only up to his hips. He looked around to see the monster standing at the arch of the bridge. The tendrils of indigo energy around her were busy in a dance conducting the shards of this place above her. Her icy eyes narrowed at him and that same predatory snarl returned.
The gods had forsaken him, his sacrifice was for naught, and nothing he could do seemed to stop this abomination given life from some dark power. It was not yet time for him to be reunited beyond the veil of death with Isilda. The fighting had to continue, the pain had to be endured, and the rage within him burned all the brighter.
Tyverus raised up his left hand at the creature above him and clenched his fingers into a fist. The water of the river around him responded to his command and began to slowly spiral around him. The monster looked on in a state of amusement as the waters spiraled away from Tyverus’ feet and into a whirlwind with him at its center.
With a sharp pull, Tyverus brought his fist close to his shoulder and the river moved with his limb. The whirlwind formed into a giant tentacle of water and ice. With a swipe of his hand, the tentacle impacted the body of Merithault, lifting her from her perch. The tentacle of frozen water pounded upon her, lifting her from the ground, and then with one more motion, sent her flying with extreme force toward the far wall of the cavern.
Merithault’s body flew through the air until she impacted the stone altar by her wall of skulls. The altar cracked and shattered beneath the force of her body. The force of the water continued to assault her and shear at her flesh with shards of ice. The wall behind her cracked, sending hundreds of skulls to fall behind her.
With some powers of air and water, small rivulets of elemental power lifted Tyverus from the empty riverbed and up to the crest of the bridge. The water continued to flow around him, creating spirals around the bridge. The energy he commanded continue to grow with each moment as he barraged the monster with everything he had.
“You should not be!” Tyverus screamed at Merithault from the higher ground of the bridge. The water continued to attack her, pinning her against the debris of her altar. “Die already!”
Shards of ice the size of a grown man tore away at Merithault’s prone form. The water pinned her against the rock as Tyverus’ rage-filled assault continued upon her. Her left arm broke backward at a sharp angle under the force of the river. A chunk of ice tore away fingers from her right hand. Her legs were twisted behind her with bones sticking out from torn flesh. Still, the monster had light in her eyes which shone at him with mirth and a cold rage.
A sound like rusted metal being dragged on granite began to echo up from the fiend. Slowly the sound turned back into the same inhuman cackling as before. No human could withstand such an onslaught. No mortal frame could still survive the crushing weight of an entire river wielded in rage.
Tyverus focused harder while drawing more water into his attack. He would drown the beast in his rage if he had to. He would keep going until all the dwindling energy in his mantle had been spent. Even when that had been exhausted he would choke whatever substituted life from Merithault with his bare hands if he needed to.
The cackling stopped and all that remained in the cavern was the constant roar of waters flowing faster than a mortal eye could fathom. Tyverus was about to let up, but he resolved to press on. It wasn’t until he began to doubt himself, that he noticed the tonnes of boulders flying toward him from above and to his sides. The monster still had energy and she was now using the ceiling of the cavern as a weapon against him.
Tyverus managed to dodge the first few volleys, but the rest struck him hard. One rock knocked him in the head, sending him dizzy spin. Several others impacted his chest and legs. Between flashes of light, he could feel the dull pain of his legs breaking as he was cast backward with tremendous force.
Sparks from the metal he used as armor went off around his eyes. Chunks of his elemental armor went flying as it shattered around him. Beneath all the impacts, he could feel the cold ground of the cavern hit his back. He slid for a moment as more rocks and pebbles took their turns pummeling him. Eventually, his head hit the far wall of the cavern and everything went blissfully dark.
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