The world according to d.., p.5
The World According to Dragons 3, page 5
“That may prove challenging in the future, perhaps less so in Southfall. The desert holds many secrets, as they say.”
“So I’ve heard,” she told him.
“We might not encounter many people out there aside from water harvesters and Stylite monks and nuns who wouldn’t care or know anything about who you were.”
“Although they may be curious as to why a group of Icenordians are traveling alone, along with whatever form Katashi decides to take.”
“Likely so,” Twillo surmised.
A loud hiss indicated that they were closer to whatever lay at the depths of the sanctum.
“Your marriage talk can wait,” Seondzus told Twillo. “We’re close. Be ready to summon us.”
The two continued to talk as they explored the sanctum, Princess Embla just switching to the topic of warrior monks and nuns when they reached a hallway that looked to be filled with statues. Twillo knew otherwise. These were ash warriors. “Prepare yourself,” Twillo told the princess as he drew his sword.
He cut down the first ash warrior just as it was coming alive, just as the sandstone guard lunged at him with a pike.
Twillo looked ahead to the other side of the chamber, hoping it had a door that would seal in some way. If not, they would have to figure out a different way to stop the ash warriors because of their supernatural traits. As soon as their bodies crumbled, ash warriors took shape again. They could even merge together, making them almost impossible to stop.
But maybe there was another way.
Twillo slashed another one of the ash warriors aside.
Currently, he had Core Eruption, Warding Glyph, and Firebreath on deck. He decided to go for it. Twillo produced a plume of dragonessence fire from the palm of his hand, a test to see what it would do.
The flames covered the ash warrior, silver-green dragonessence flickering all over its body as it writhed in pain.
Twillo’s experiment had worked.
“Hit it with whatever dragonessence you have,” Twillo told Embla, who was already in the process of cutting away ash warriors with her dagger. She was fast on her feet, able to dodge their polearms with ease. Within moments, Embla produced a sphere of dragonessence, one that twisted forward and exploded.
This gave Twillo an idea. “Come on!”
He raced ahead, Embla soon catching him as they reached the other side of the chamber.
Using Warding Glyph, Twillo set a charge along the side walls while Embla flicked her dagger at some of the ash warriors, producing a bolt of dragonessence.
Twillo stepped back, Embla doing the same. He assumed that the ash warriors that were left would charge them and he was right. They attempted to reach the pair of Icenordians, only to be blown back by a blast of dragonessence. Flashes of green and silver fizzled across the room as the ash warriors all stopped moving, their bodies crumbling.
Dragonessence was the key to defeating ash warriors.
“For a moment there, I thought you were going to have to call me,” Seondzus said.
“What were you saying earlier?” Twillo asked Princess Embla as he caught his breath.
“I was asking what you knew about warrior monks and the skills that they use against one another.”
“I’ve seen them fight; I learned to access my dragonessence core from a Stylite nun.”
“So you know about their mudras?”
“Mudras?” Twillo asked.
“Mudras are the hand gestures that they used to orchestrate dragonessence commands. It’s quite fascinating, you know. For example, this one activates your dragonaura.”
She reached her hands out and tapped the back of her knuckles together. “Of course, you already can access this in other ways.”
“I can simply summon mine,” Twillo said as he tapped the backs of his knuckles together anyway. Nothing happened.
“There’s a reason behind that, you know,” she told him as they continued on. “And it is the story of the Kingdom of Southfall itself. Arcane cultivators, water harvesters, warrior monks and nuns—these were the first to access and use the dragonessence system. They still are able to use the system in its original form. It is not like what you see, your status screen. It is arranged differently, and they can multiclass in ways that we cannot. The Emperor’s Magi, archmages from our kingdom, and arcane artificers from the Tribute Islands—these are newer interpretations. Southfallians are the original users of the system.”
“I honestly did not know that. And Arcane Cards?”
“They can use those too.”
“But did they invent them?”
She shrugged. “That, I don’t know. But back to the point I was trying to make. Mudras are what warrior monks and nuns use. They are hand gestures that can produce effects. Aura Blast is one of those techniques. I actually know how to do that one.”
Embla turned away. She quickly sent her left hand out and punched her right hand forward, opening it as she did so. This produced a rippling bolt of dragonessence that speared off toward the chamber they just came from.
“Pretty awesome, right?”
“So they are hand gestures and movements that produce dragonessence?”
“They are.”
Twillo sighed, but it wasn’t a sigh of exasperation. It was a sigh of appreciation. There were so many ways to use dragonessence. The topic fascinated him to no end. There was the way that he had originally learned by simply feeling it out; there were Arcane Cards; there was the ability to encode magical powers in objects; and now, he was learning there were also mudras.
“And this is what the water harvesters use, right?”
“Actually, no,” she said, referring to the Southfallians responsible for freeing water veins and bringing them to the outer cities. Their efforts, and especially their voluntary service, were legendary across the Four Kingdoms. “They don’t use mudras. Well, some do if they were raised by warrior monks or nuns. When they’re eighteen, they take part in what is known as the Trine Ceremony. This is entirely by choice. They don’t have to take this path.”
“I believe I’ve heard something about that.”
“They have the system activated within them, and a water harvester’s class is chosen. There are three classes. From that point forward, they dedicate seven years of their lives to searching for these hidden water veins across the desert kingdom. To make things easier for them, their memories are wiped.”
“That part I didn’t know,” Twillo said as they came to a chamber with a high ceiling.
The hallway was nearly three times his height, yet he could reach both arms out and touch the walls.
She continued her explanation: “Not all of their memories. But memories of their parents, loved ones. These are returned to the water harvesters once they have completed their seven years, and what is known as the Rite of Fulfillment. Something like half of them die out there in the desert.”
“Surely, there is a reward.”
“There is. They are given notoriety, and prestige. But even with the money, even with the fame and the fact that they can pretty much do anything they want after they finish their service, many of them continue to work either as regional harvesters, or they go on to study to be warrior monks and nuns. There’s also the role of desert mage. And some of them, like the Stylite nun you met, some of them do things like that. Many simply have children that they then raise to take the role, even if they know that their children will forget their faces and could die during their service.”
“Crazy.” Twillo laughed. “How did we get on this subject?”
“Mudras, I believe. You asked if water harvesters use them. I went off on a tangent about water harvesters and their practices.”
“She is good at these tangents,” Seondzus said. “I suppose this comes with the territory considering her upbringing and how everyone is required to listen to her when she speaks.”
“But even I am learning things,” Adventus said.
“You are too encouraging to humans,” the red dragon told her counterpart. “Sometimes, I feel that they have this inner urge to talk incessantly just to fill the air.”
“Like you don’t always talk.”
Seondzus laughed. “I can be chatty, but the things I say are generally of importance.”
“We are about to be in Southfall; this talk seems important.”
“Jhaeros.” Princess Embla poked Twillo. “Are you listening to me?”
“Sorry. The dragons were talking in my head. What’s up?”
“Do you feel that?”
Twillo stopped walking. He noticed that there was something different about the air. It was stuffier, heavier in a strange way. He also heard more of the hissing sound that he had noticed earlier. The noise was louder now, and there was a metallic clank that joined it.
“Strange.”
“Whatever is guarding, or perhaps cursing this place, is up ahead,” she said. “How do you want to do this?”
“Please send me, please send me,” Seondzus told Twillo.
“Before we call out the big swords, let’s see what it is ourselves.”
.Chapter Four.
Sanctum Sentinel
What followed reminded Twillo of the ancient innards of an Icenordian stave church. That was the only way he could frame how the opening of the next room was shaped, the ceiling high enough that he couldn’t see the top, yet the space itself surprisingly small. In the center of the chamber stood a suit of armor, one without a head. There were chains attached to its arms and legs that dangled to the ground and pooled in front of its body.
“You think that’s what was making the noise?” Princess Embla now had her dagger at her side, prepared for whatever lay ahead. She stood next to Twillo, who had since drawn his sword.
The headless guard shifted toward them, its chains scraping against the ground.
“I would say that this is certainly a possibility.”
“Summon us,” Seondzus told Twillo. “Best we handle this one now.”
Twillo nodded in agreement. Seondzus appeared in her dragon warrior form alongside Adventus. As he had seen before, Adventus carried a large glaive, while Seondzus had an enormous sword, both of which matched their armor to the point that their weapons seemed like an extension of their beings. The two contrasted heavily against one another, Adventus in a silvery white armor, chunky and oversized; Seondzus in gold and red armor that fit her slender form. They did have one thing in common through their eyes, which glowed a bright blue.
Seondzus pointed her sword at their staggeringly large opponent. “Wherever your head is, prepare to join it.”
“Is she always like this?” Princess Embla asked Twillo.
“Generally, yes.”
While the headless guard didn’t have a face, Twillo got the sense that it was laughing at the way that Seondzus had challenged it. The armored monster lifted one of its chains, and whipped it against the ground, cracking the stone. This produced a ripple effect, one that extended all the way around the room, and up to the top of the ceiling.
It did it again, the second ripple morphing into pure dragonessence that formed into an animal made of energy, its body like that of an enormous bull, with the head of a horned lion. The armored sentinel sent one of its chains at the lion-bull, which wrapped around its neck. It pulled the bull’s body toward it with a quick tug, mounted up, and took off toward Twillo and the others.
Seondzus shot right, Adventus left.
The white dragon warrior brought his polearm to the side, prepared to cut the lion-bull’s feet out from beneath it. As he did, his weapon pressed right through the spectral bull, allowing the headless soldier to strike Adventus in the chest with his chain. This sent the dragon warrior sprawling, the sound loud and percussive.
The headless guard reared up just as Seondzus moved forward to cut it down. The guard whipped its chains at the red dragon warrior and pulled her legs out from beneath her, sending her straight onto her back.
“By Livia!” Twillo said as he jumped out of the way, his dragonaura pushing him forward just in time to avoid one of the magical chains. He ran to the side and Adventus moved in again.
“Stay away from it!” Adventus called out as he prepared to strike the headless guard. He managed to clip their armored opponent in the leg, but ultimately was tossed away as the headless guard brought its chains down against the back of Adventus’ shoulders.
Now on the sidelines, Twillo cycled through his dragonessence cards. He chose Arms of Vikan Wood, Enchanting Deception, and kept Warding Glyph on deck. Twillo used Enchanting Deception to create a clone of himself, one that he pointed toward the opposite side of the room.
“That way!”
It took off toward the other side of the chamber, the headless guard turning to the replicant just as it was about to approach Princess Embla.
Seizing upon his opportunity, Twillo dropped down to the ground and charged up some of the tiles using Warding Glyph. “Try to bring it this way,” he called to Adventus and Seondzus, who had moved back into action.
The two dragon warriors took turns feigning strikes, both jumping out of the way to avoid the headless guard’s endless barrage of chains as it ran at them, the lion-bull also prepared to strike with its horns. Adventus jumped into the air, and landed just in front of the Warding Glyphs that Twillo had charged.
The headless guard bolted toward him, but Adventus zipped out of the way at the last moment. The bull dashed his hooves against the Warding Glyphs, which caused an explosion that shot it backward, causing the lion-bull to completely disintegrate.
“That’s it!” Princess Embla said as she prepared a charge of magic. “We’re going to have to take it out with dragonessence.” She fired a twist of mana that broke into three pieces. The dragonessence oscillated around the room, amplifying as Seondzus distracted the headless guard. Princess Embla’s strike came down all at once, shattering some of their opponent’s armor.
The headless guard spun both chains in a frenzy as it cut deeper into the ground. By this point, Twillo had cycled out his Warding Glyph power for Ripple Tide. He used his next opening to unleash a wave of dragonessence.
More cracks in the armor appeared as their opponent got to its feet. The headless guard seemed to grow in size, its armor expanding as veins of glowing power connected.
Adventus ran the end of his glaive through the headless guard’s back. The tip didn’t press out the front, but he did manage to force it to stumble forward, where Seondzus struck the armored protector with her enormous sword, the dragon warrior wielding the weapon as if it were a bat.
Twillo saw a hunk of tile on the ground, one that had been dislodged in the explosions caused by his Warding Glyphs. He grabbed it, and mentally sent his Arms of Vikan Wood card away, calling upon Core Eruption. Once it was ready, and as Adventus and Seondzus continued to hack away at the headless guard, Twillo charged up the piece.
He moved close enough that he could fling it at their opponent. Twillo let it go and jumped out of the way.
The explosion caused their opponent to fly forward, where it hit the ground, cracking more of its armor. The headless soldier was struck by a spear of dragonessence, one conjured by Princess Embla. This shattered more of its armor, which fell off into huge chunks revealing a body made completely out of glimmering energy.
It was all dragonessence.
While it was the same color as the dragonessence Twillo was used to seeing, it was clear that they were dealing with some sort of titan made of pure mana. But what was it doing here? How did it get here in the first place? And what was it protecting?
Ripple Tide back on deck, Twillo struck the headless guard with another wave of dragonessence.
Their opponent was starting to lose steam. While it continued to whip its chains at Adventus and Seondzus, both of them beat it down, their strikes causing it to eventually fall to its knees.
It was Embla who delivered the death strike, the final blow that stopped their opponent.
Her blast of power shattered what was left of its armor, leaving smokey entrails of dragonessence twisting up to the ceiling. For a moment, Twillo thought they were set to fight something else, but then he looked up at the way that the ceiling glowed, a platform lowering to them.
Whatever it was on the platform, he was certain it contained a relic.
The platform settled on the ground, the sound of shifting jewels and gems filling the strange space.
“By Livia,” Twillo said as his eyes traced over what was clearly a treasure. He didn’t run into things like this as often as he would have liked but knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that this was something that had been hoarded.
He glanced over to Princess Embla, who didn’t seem as impressed. “You were expecting a relic, right? It looks like you’re getting jewels instead.” She approached the platform. “All that work for jewels and coins. We could have just raided the royal treasury.”
“You have access?”
“I’m kidding, Jhaeros.”
“Most would be happy with jewels and coins, Your Gracefulness. Myself included.”
“While you two divvy up the spoils and discuss the finer things in mortal life, I’ll check for an exit.” Seondzus flashed away and reappeared in her vordic form. She whipped her tail behind her as she spiraled toward the top of the chamber, where there was no light.
Adventus joined Twillo. “It is quite the haul.”
“That it is. Let’s take a look, shall we?”
Twillo started searching through the loot. He found ornate necklaces, ones with intricate metalwork that were covered in gleaming gemstones, everything from amethysts to garnets. There were smaller gemstone scepters, elegantly carved, their orbs inlaid with diamonds. He found jade statuettes and a variety of brooches and scattered rings. There were also coins, platinum and gold.
