book 4 chapter 32
Climbing to the top of the steep stony crag should give a mostly open view of the area. The sheer rock face was steep and treacherous, but it had plenty of handholds. So what if she cheated by coating if her fingers in spirit echo to carve out handholds where there were none.
Pulling herself onto the peak, Zee winced as she took deep calming breaths, doing her best to ignore the pain in her side.
She was regretting climbing that rock wall with cracked ribs.
"What's the point in having a movement skill if you don't use it? Are you a masochist or something," Dern asked conversationally.
"No, I don't enjoy pain. I just wanted to try climbing that rock face," Zee said, breathing heavily.
Dern harrumphed in her mind.
"You are weird, you know that," Dern replied.
"I know right, I have a soul-sucking monster that lives in my head. Don't forget the scheming ghost either," Zee said.
"Fair point," Dern said with a mental laugh.
Pushing herself to her feet, and wiping rivulets of sweat from her neck she took in the view.
Heatwaves danced over the desolate rocky terrain below, distorting her view of the landscape. The sky was as always a mottled grey, with no sign of a star to cast a pale light on the grey and black rock.
The oppressive heat bore down on her, each breath filling her lungs with hot and dry air.
Her eyes roved over the rock below, searching for any movement. From her vantage, she could see miles of towering rocky outcroppings.
It was like a forest of rocky crags, with valleys and deep crevasses that were so deep they looked like portals to the Null realm.
Having a higher, and further viewpoint to see did not improve her opinion of the place. How did the Aintar survive here? There was nothing but desolate rock, steep gorges, and sheer cliffs. Not to mention the oppressive heat. It was like a wasteland, void of life. Aside from the Aintar, she hadn't even seen a single living creature, not even an insect since she arrived.
The absence was quite disturbing.
She took her time scanning the steep rocky foothills, her eyes tracing the edges of the crevasses.
She would have run off after Malden and Bastion but she was exhausted, both physically and mentally.
Zee had almost died today. It was a lot closer than she wanted to admit.
Her left eye was still mostly swollen shut, each breath sending sharp agony up her side. In the absence of danger, the heart of fire no longer dulled the pain.
The throbbing in her ribs and face was a stabbing agony that she endured, the cost of her failures.
Dern's mental voice filled her mind, breaking her thoughts. "Failure is a harsh teacher, as long as we learn from our mistakes, we will do better next time,"
"I didn't know you were prone to bouts of philosophy," Zee replied aloud.
A trickle of amusement leaked from the partially cracked fragment in her mind.
"I'm not, an old friend of mine once said that," Dern replied. He must have been just as drained as she was because his thoughts leaked out.
The memory of a figure leaked into her mind. They were clearly spiritual in nature, their form made of vibrant motes of gas that swirled and faced, changing color on a whim.
It made Kur Zul look plain in comparison, like just a boring ghost.
"They are so pretty, is that an Ashary like you," Zee asked.
Dern's emotions abruptly cut off, and he went quiet.
"Sorry I didn't mean to pry, you don't have to answer if you don't want to," Zee said quickly.
It took a few tense seconds for Dern to respond. "It's okay, I have had time to come to terms with what happened. Yes, she is an Ashary, though not like me, at least not anymore. She is whole, while I am broken," Dern said, softly. His tone was regretful, tinged with a bitter edge.
"You mean because they stripped away your power," Zee asked.
"Ya, I doubt she would recognize me anymore. I'm just a soul-sucking monster now," Dern said bitterly. A heavy sense of loss filled her mind, weighing down on her.
"Is she dead," Zee asked.
"Not that I am aware of," Dern replied.
"I remember you saying that you have no one to go back to. If she is still alive, that is not true. Do you want to see her again? We can go find her once we get out of this mess," Zee said.
There was a long pause before he responded. "I appreciate the willingness, but there are problems with that. I am an outcast, banished from all sectors held by the Ashary. Given I have been performing taboo rituals, if I return I will be killed on sight," Dern said.
Zee hummed softly.
"We can probably find a way to mask the taboo. And besides, some rules are meant to be broken," Zee said.
Dern raised a mental eyebrow. "Just like that? You are not worried about becoming an enemy of one of the most powerful factions in the universe," Dern asked.
Zee laughed aloud. "I mean, judging by what you have said, I am already their enemy or at least a criminal. I have commuted acts of taboo, and I have a soul-sucking monster who I can't get rid of," Zee replied.
"You have a point. Even so, let's hold off on visiting Ashary territory until we are a lot stronger," Dern said.
"Agreed," Zee said, moving closer to the edge, spotting movement below.
"It looks like they are back, let's go see if they caught our friend," Zee said.
After a few seconds to pick out her path, she descended the steep rock face, meeting Bastion Malden and Greg near the exploded corpse of the high priest.
"Any luck?" She asked, approaching them.
Malden's ears flicked apologetically.
"We ran into a big problem, and decided to return instead of continuing pursuit," Malden replied.
"What kind of problem," Zee asked, noting his concerned tone.
Bastion ran a hand through his sweaty, curly black hair," We ran into an army," Bastion said.
"An army, here?" Zee asked.
Bastion nodded," The very big, and unfriendly kind," Bastion said.
"Don't forget about the ritual sacrifice," Malden said.
"Ritual sacrifice?" Zee asked.
They all nodded.
Malden grimaced. "I have seen a lot of disturbing things over the years, but this takes the cake. They are sacrificing hundreds of people to open what looked to be some sort of gateway," Malden said.
"Does it look like a swirling disc of fire?" Zee asked, thinking of the dimensional rift she leaped through to get here.
"Ya, how did you know," Malden asked.
"Lucky guess." She let out a tired breath. "Let's go get Allison and Yukna, we can discuss what to do from here," Zee said.
She led them up the steep scree slope, into the hidden cave. Allison and Yukna were in hushed conversation which cut off as they entered.
"We need to go," Malden said without preamble.
"What, why," Allison asked.
Malden's expression turned serious. "Suffice it to say, there is a massive army nearby doing ritual sacrifice on hundreds of people to open a huge dimensional rift," Malden replied.
"Did they spot you?" Allison asked, her expression changing to one of calculation.
Malden shrugged. "It's doubtful but that's about to change. The Aintar we were chasing got away and had probably rejoined the army already," Malden said.
"Do you think they will send people after us," Allison asked.
Malden's ears flicked, as he cocked his head thoughtfully. "It would be strategically wise. From what I could gather, it looks like they are preparing for an invasion. If that's the truth, leaving unknown fighters behind to potentially harass supply lines would be a bad move," Malden said.
Allison nodded.
"Alright, let's move camp. Once we are relocated, we can scout the enemy, and decide what to do," Allison said.
"Is scouting them a good idea? That's a big army," Bastion said.
Allison leaned down and picked up Yukna in a princess carry. "It's probably not a good idea if I'm being honest. But, what choice do we have? The priest we captured told us there was an army preparing to invade Tartana, and other worlds in the Kelvish dominion. I was skeptical before, but now I'm not so certain," Allison said.
Zee glanced around at everyone's concerned faces. The implications of another invading army were bad. The Terlashar were already doing more than enough damage to the Kelvish dominion. What would happen when the purgatory church went to war with the undead to see who could conquer all those planets? It was going to be a blood bath.
Yukna wrapped her arms around Allison's neck as she was carried, her expression pained as they walked.
They left their hideout, moving away for about two hours. It had to be unpleasant to move with those injuries but they didn't really have a choice.
Finding a cave amidst the maze of towering rocky crags and crevasses was easy. Turning the narrow cave into an operating base was a different can of worms.
Defensive arrays we're Yukna's specialty, not Dern's. Zee was likewise not an expert at performing long-lasting rituals that could help hide them.
As it turns out, many stationary rituals require energy-conductive materials to last any length of time.
The Living Book had a whole list of rituals to help hide them, but most required specific materials to function properly.
For example, an energy masking ritual, which could hide their energy signatures, could be engraved into the stone of the cave.
The problem arose with the poor conductivity of the rock itself. It was a very inefficient medium.
Using the cave wall to contain the ritual was like using rotting wood for a sword. It might look like a sword, but it would break on the first swing.
Or at least that is what the notes from the living book said. Maybe not in those exact words, but she thought she understood the concept. Tarnival might be an arrogant know-it-all, especially in his writing, but he knew what he was talking about when it came to rituals.
Applying the rituals with a stone medium wasn't all bad. It was excellent practice for one, giving her plenty of room try test new rituals or modify existing ones.
It was a good way to prepare for when she finally got the courage to start on sixth-tier rituals.
Using expensive components only then to fail the ritual was not her idea of a good time. Just one attempt to perform the stabilizing ritual for her inner world was near a thousand Ether crystals.
It was a reminder of how valuable Tarnival's gift was. Back when she fought Petrie, and was grievously injured, Tarnival stabilized her inner world.
When she woke from nearly dying he told her that his ritual would keep her fragment from shattering for a year, maybe two.
He didn't want her to rely on him, so he gave her the living book which had several rituals inside which could help contain her inner world.
The first, a sixth-tier ritual, could only help delay her imminent demise. The second, and more long-term method was a tenth-tier ritual. Which she had absolutely no chance of performing anytime soon.
Thinking about her inner world reminded her of a certain unwanted ghost that was currently hiding away inside the inner world. He was awfully quiet of late, which she took as a bad sign.
She distinctly remembered the very uncomfortable feeling of getting forcefully locked away in the back of her mind. If not for Tarnival, she might still be possessed by Kur Zul. There was no telling when that scheming ghost would make another attempt. She had no doubt he would try again, she was just uncertain when he would.
Metal ground into the stone as she cut precise lines into the rock, finishing the final touches on her modified ritual.
Being able to carve the energy constructs directly into the rock was convenient, though time-consuming. Checking over the ritual diagram inlaid into the stone confirmed everything was good enough. Might not be perfect, but it wouldn't blow up.
"I find it disturbing that you use not blowing us up as a valid benchmark," Dern said in her mind.
"If it doesn't blow up, that's a good thing isn't it?" She asked, glancing across the cave to where he was finishing his own touches on another layer of the ritual.
"As I said, I find it disturbing," Dern said, straightening.
She shrugged," Are you ready," Zee asked.
"Ya, I'm ready," Dern replied.
She let out a soft breath and began infusing the etchings with her power. Streamers of energy flooded from her body, entering the ritual diagram carved in the cave mouth.
The etchings flared to life and a translucent barrier snapped into place.
The sudden absence of a quarter of her energy pool made her head swim. She suddenly felt queasy, like she might pass out from energy starvation.
Taking deep calming breaths, she leaned on the cave wall. She had been ignoring her aches an pains, as well as her exhaustion, but that all came back with a vengeance. The day's fatigue weighed on her shoulders, and her eyelids felt like they weighed as much as a cart.
The aches and pains suddenly felt bone deep, and she was hit with a weariness that she could no longer ignore. Her vision spun and her legs collapsed from under her.
She fell the the cave floor, her bleary vision fading into black.