Rise to omniscience box.., p.92
Rise to Omniscience Box Set 1-3, page 92
part #1 of Rise to Omniscience Series
“He’s rank 43,” Sarah confirmed in a quiet voice. “I knew he was probably going to come, but I didn’t actually expect to see him.”
“You won’t,” Morgan replied, placing a hand on her shoulder. “We’re only here to get information on the Ruined City, and then we’re leaving.”
Sarah took a deep, shuddering breath, then turned away from the scene below. He knew she was still conflicted about how she felt toward the man. On the one hand, she hated him, but on the other, he was her father. Morgan couldn’t really relate as he’d never met his real parents and the one person who had cared for him, had been forced to abandon him and wiped his memories of her.
“Yeah, you’re right,” she said, giving him a weak smile. “Thanks.”
He nodded, then scooped her into his arms and shot toward the castle. He knew she liked it when he carried her this way, instead of on his back. It would cheer her up and make their mission all the more likely to succeed. His thoughts were confirmed just a moment later, when she wrapped her arms around his neck, and buried her face into his chest.
I think I’m really getting the hang of this more and more by the day, Morgan thought with some satisfaction. Maybe his body was correcting itself on its own, and he wouldn’t have to worry about finding a way to restore himself after all.
The castle loomed suddenly before them and Morgan felt the slight resistance as he slammed into the defenses. They tried to dampen his power, but they were too old, and he was too strong. He blasted straight through them and angled upward, heading for the window. He’d already smashed it before, and now simply glided in, landing on the ground and dropping Sarah there gently.
She hung onto him a moment longer, before finally untangling herself with a sigh.
“You ready for this?”
She nodded and Morgan turned to examine the small room they’d landed in.
It was dark and dusty, filled with cobwebs and old rotten furniture. He guessed that they were in some sort of storage room, somewhere that hadn’t been disturbed in years.
“Where to?” he asked, allowing Sarah to take the lead.
Looking around the room for a moment, she pointed to a folded up ladder against the far wall. They headed over to it and Sarah had him push at a panel in the floor. It wasn’t hard to move, but it was difficult to do so without splintering the half-rotted wood.
“They’ve really let this place go,” Morgan said, once he’d finally gotten it free.
He didn’t bother lowering the ladder, instead, floating to the stone floor below with Sarah, before flying back up to close off the attic.
“What part of the castle is this?” he asked, landing back down next to her.
“I’m guessing that we’re in one of the guest quarters, but one that hasn’t been used in quite some time,” she replied, pointing to a dusty bed and dresser against the far wall.
“Not a very nice guest room,” Morgan replied as they headed for the door.
Cracking the door open, the two of them headed into a darkened corridor. They could barely see a thing and were forced to walk along by keeping their hands pressed against one of the walls. After another minute, they came to a long spiral staircase heading down and Sarah motioned him to follow her.
Taking a peek down, Morgan couldn’t see the bottom. He didn’t have to see them, to know that he didn’t have the patience to walk all those stairs. So lifting Sarah once again, he leaped straight over the railing. They descended at a careful pace, as neither of them could see the bottom yet, and Morgan didn’t feel like snapping his legs upon impact with the floor.
They must have been really high up in the castle, as it took them - according to Sarah’s count - nearly a full minute to reach the bottom. They passed several floors on the way down, each one dark and musty.
Once they reached the bottom of the staircase, the first signs of habitation showed themselves. There was a door in front of them, and the light of a flickering torch showed at the crack underneath the frame. Placing his ear to the door, Morgan carefully listened for any sound that would indicate people were there. After a few tense moments, he pulled away from the door and opened it.
Sarah went ahead of him and Morgan followed, closing the very heavy and very loudly creaking door behind him.
“Looks like I was wrong in my earlier assessment,” Sarah said in a low voice as Morgan turned to face her.
They were standing in a library, of all places, and an extremely fancy one by the looks of it. Rows upon rows of bookshelves stretched before them, containing untold knowledge, waiting to be told.
“So, where do we go from here?” Morgan asked.
The mystery of all the hidden knowledge was lost on him, as he had absolutely no interest in reading. Sarah, on the other hand, just shook her head with a disbelieving grin.
“We don’t have to go anywhere!” she answered with an excited whisper. “This isn’t a library Morgan. These are the Kingdom archives!”
“You’re kidding,” Morgan replied, looking at their surroundings with new interest.
What were the chances that they would immediately find the room they were looking for, and all without bumping into a single person? If he was superstitious, he’d think someone had guided him here.
“How can you tell?” he asked after a few seconds.
“Simple,” Sarah replied, walking forward and motioning to the closest shelf. “You see this marking here?”
Morgan nodded as she pointed to a triangular making carved into the wood, with the numbers 8474-6 marked inside.
“These are yea and month markers. We have similar archives back in City Four, though they’re much smaller and likely less extensive.”
Morgan nodded, looking to his right and seeing a shelf marked with the numbers 8841-12. Then looked to his left, and saw 8099-2.
“Guess we head right?” he asked, motioning to the shelves.
“Yup,” Sarah said, heading to the right at a brisk pace. “Right now, we are located by the archives of the seventh month of year 16,098. So we’re looking for records from the year 16,087, though I’m not sure exactly what month it would be.”
Morgan nodded again, his mind beginning to race once more. He couldn’t believe they were finally here. After wondering about it his entire life, he was finally about to find out who he was and what had happened to his parents.
Sarah began slowing down, counting the shelves quietly to herself. She walked past one shelf, then stopped and headed back to the previous one.
“Down here,” she motioned, and Morgan followed her into the maze of paper.
He looked around at the ancient and dust-covered tomes, noting that some shelves were sparse, while others were stuffed to bursting.
“Here we are,” Sarah said, snapping Morgan from his thoughts.
Sarah stood beside a shelf, marked with the first month of the year they were looking for. Motioning behind her, Morgan saw that the rest of the papers, folders, and books, were arranged in ascending order, with the last month likely being eleven rows over.
“I’ll start at the other end,” Morgan said. “If I spot anything, I’ll give you a shout.”
Sarah nodded her agreement and immediately began searching along the bottom-most shelf.
Morgan headed quickly down to the last aisle, the one marked with 16,087-12, and headed to the far side of the bookcase. This one didn’t seem to be too full, so he began all the way on the top corner. He began scanning over the labels placed under the books and folders, reading over names and places he didn’t recognize.
He wasn’t the fastest reader, so it took him nearly half an hour to clear the last row of documents and head to check the previous shelf. Looking down the long aisle, he could see Sarah already halfway through the third. Shaking his head, Morgan moved onto the next shelf, slowly making his way through, and still not finding any mention of Mitten or the Ruined City.
This shelf contained far more information, so it took quite a bit longer to clear through it. By the time he moved onto the tenth month, he could already feel his patience beginning to strain. Sarah had already made it to the sixth month, and he was sorely tempted to just let her do all the work. Then, he mentally kicked himself for being so lazy and began searching the next shelf.
About five minutes after he began, he heard Sarah’s excited voice calling out to him.
“Hey, I think I’ve found something!”
Morgan looked up from a document titled The Grempire, and headed quickly over to her. Sarah had pulled a massive folder from one of the shelves and was rapidly shuffling through it.
“Is this it?” he asked as she moved through the papers with astonishing speed.
“This is the only folder I’ve found so far that even remotely mentions the city of Mitten,” Sarah said distractedly. “It’s almost as though someone came in here and removed all the pertinent information on that time.”
“How right you are, my dear!”
Both Morgan and Sarah jumped, then spun as guards streamed in through every opening in the bookcases, completely blocking off their retreat. Grimacing, Morgan placed his back to Sarah’s and began examining the guards one by one. He couldn’t get a read on a single one of them, which did not bode well for their odds.
The guards didn’t move in to attack however, merely standing there and blocking off their escape. This gave Morgan an idea and his eyes flicked up to the tops of the bookcases. He felt his blood freeze when he saw several men standing up there as well.
“Someone set us up,” Morgan whispered as his mind raced to try and figure out who had done it.
“Without a doubt,” Sarah replied, voice grim.
Morgan’s eyes moved over the crowd of men dressed in black and silver, but not a single one so much as twitched. He also couldn’t spot the person who had spoken to them originally. Suddenly, a pulse rippled out from one of the men, and Sarah let out a low gasp.
Morgan knew why. The man had just dampened her ability. He could see it even now, a small, dense layer of red that wrapped itself around Sarah’s core. He saw it attempting to wrap around his, but one deep breath later and his core dispersed the chi.
Morgan kept any sort of expression off his face however. He wasn’t about to give away the fact that they were unable to bock his ability, even partially.
“Have their abilities been blocked?” The same voice came from the back of the crowd.
“Yes, ma’am!” one of the guards answered.
“Excellent. Move aside so I can speak to them face to face.”
Sarah turned on the spot and moved to stand next to him, her face tense and drawn. Morgan nudged her lightly. When she looked at him, he opened his palm and allowed a bit of reiki to leak out. She didn’t so much as twitch, but he could tell by the subtle shift in her demeanor that she was a lot more comfortable now that she knew they had an escape.
Morgan wasn’t so sure they could, though he was formulating a plan for their best escape options. For now, he would wait for whoever had ordered this ambush. They were both still alive, so they clearly wanted something.
A moment later, a woman appearing to be in her early fifties pushed through the last of the soldiers and gave them a wide, triumphant grin. She was wearing a long silver gown, and her iron-gray hair was done up in an intricate braid. Her posture was perfect, and she had an air of authority about her. However, the most telling detail, was the silver circlet around her brow.
“Her Majesty, Queen Hu Vah of the West Kingdom!”
One of the soldiers announced, as though expecting them to be impressed.
Neither of them reacted, and the Queen’s smile wavered, then vanished.
“Bow, you unworthy peasants! I am a Queen!”
“No thanks,” Morgan replied, keeping his tone neutral. “I’d rather not.”
She motioned to someone behind him, and a moment later, Morgan felt a hard blow to the back of his knees. It didn’t so much as make him budge, but judging by the cry of pain and Sarah’s knees crashing to the floor beside him, it had most definitely hurt her.
He whirled on the spot, lashing out with a punch, but the guards who had moved in were already back-peddling. Gritting his teeth, Morgan spun back to face the attack he was sure was coming from behind, but was surprised to see the Queen smiling again.
She brought her hands together in a slow clap, her smile growing wider all the time.
“Excellent! She was right about you. You do have some backbone, after all!”
Ignoring the Queen, Morgan bent down and helped Sarah back to her feet. She winced a bit as he helped her up, and he was sure that the guard’s attack would cause some bruising.
“She who?” Sarah asked, despite her obvious discomfort. “How did you know we were going to be here?”
The Queen stopped clapping, but the smile didn’t diminish in the slightest.
“That is none of your concern. Suffice it to say that I received some information that a person of interest would be breaking into my archives looking for information on the Ruined City. Naturally, I had all the information removed and stored in a safe location. I then set guards to watch the room, and low and behold, you showed up. They warned me that you were a slippery one, so I had to make sure everything was in place before I sprung my trap.”
Morgan felt his hands balling into fists as he tried to figure out who would have betrayed them. He was sure it wasn’t Katherine, which left him with only one other option. Gwendolyn. She would be the only other person who could have known they would be here tonight. The question still remained as to why she would do something like this to him. From his memories, he knew that she cared for him, so why would she send him here, only to rat him out to some foreign Queen?
“What are you hoping to accomplish here?” Morgan asked, moving just a bit closer to Sarah and preparing to spring his escape plan.
He would use his Explosive impact skill and his Advanced flight at the same time. That would give him the power and speed to bust through the ceiling and make his escape. Both he and Sarah would end up a little banged up, but at least they would be free.
“I’ve come to offer you a deal,” the Queen replied. “As you know, the Skyflare Tournament is set to begin in less than four day’s time. I have yet to submit my choice for champion, and I believe that the West would be best suited if you would represent them.”
“And why, pray tell, would you want me - a thief who snuck in to steal some documents - to represent your Kingdom?”
“Because,” Hu Vah said, her grin turning predatory. “None of the other Kingdoms will have a supermage fighting for them.”
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Morgan felt his heart sink when he heard those words - metaphorically sink that was, as his reiki core no longer reacted as a normal heart would. His secret was out. Even if he escaped now, all of the Five Kingdoms would know who and what he was within a matter of hours. Or at least, the most powerful and influential people would, which was just as bad.
“How many people know?” he asked in a quiet voice.
“The entire palace. I had a runner sent to make the announcement as soon as my sentries spotted you. The other kingdoms have already made their submissions, and the deadline was just a few hours away. I had already selected my champion, but I’d been holding out just in case my informant’s information turned out to be correct.”
He felt Sarah’s arm interlock with his, as she pulled herself close, just as Morgan felt an emotion that had only surfaced once before in recent memory. Rage. It began boiling to the surface, clouding his thoughts and threatening to overwhelm his reason. The only thing keeping him grounded was Sarah’s arm wrapped around his.
“I won’t compete in your tournament,” Morgan said, after taking a few deep breaths. “I’m no one's puppet.”
“Really?” the Queen said with a raised eyebrow. “The way I see it, you don’t have a choice. You’re surrounded and while we can’t completely block your ability, it has been severely weakened. So, you can either fight for us or die here. Your choice.”
When she said those words, all the guard’s energies flared around them and they aimed their various attacks at him and Sarah.
“Alternatively,” she continued. “You can agree to fight for me and should you win, I will give you the information you’ve been after.”
“What about the prize for the winner?” Morgan asked, feeling his anger mounting, despite his best effort to keep it in check.
Who exactly did this woman think she was to trap and strong-arm him into fighting for her?!
“The prize will go to me, of course,” she replied with a light, tittering laugh that set his teeth on edge. “The other Kingdoms have put up a quarter-million platinum and an extremely powerful core each to give to the winning Kingdom.”
“I’m not talking about that prize. I’m talking about the Skyflare.”
The Queen’s eyes bulged when Morgan said that, and she quickly looked to her guards to make sure they hadn’t heard.
Morgan knew that the nobility actively worked to keep the Skyflare a secret from the masses, so announcing it to over thirty guards would make her very uncomfortable.
“That will go to me as well,” she answered after a few more moments of silence.
“So, you get all the money, three rare cores and the ultimate prize, while I get what? A stack of paper? Go find your own champion,” Morgan said with a snort, preparing once again to make his escape.
“You get to leave with your life! That should be reward enough!” Hu Vah yelled, her face going red. “You will fight for me, peasant, or both you and your friend will die, and I can assure you that your deaths will not be swift!”
Morgan snapped then, feeling his anger boil over. He disentangled himself from Sarah, and moved in front of her, facing the angry woman down. She was only doing this because she didn’t truly understand the kind of power she was messing with. He would teach her that lesson and then, he would kill them all.
Morgan used Aura flare for the first time.
His entire body was engulfed in an aura of flickering violet tinged with black, and his power pulsed out from him in waves, washing over the Queen and her guards. His eyes blazed with red and blue light, and his features took on a demonic cast.
