Four Hundred And Fifty-Seven

Four Hundred And Fifty-Seven

I was soon joined by two of the golden golems my sis sent over. I still found it both awkward and somehow amusing that they seemed to resemble my girlfriends, which did make me wonder about my sister’s sanity sometimes. I guess she has always liked poking fun at me, and she laments that the old jokes don’t work anymore. Maybe this is just some new sibling teasing? Oh well, it is performance that matters. These two were Shaeula, though on a larger scale of course, being some six feet tall, and she was carrying a heavy golden staff, while the other was Asha, wielding a wicked double-headed axe, in extremely bad taste, considering she was a Dryad whose other half was a tree.

“Oh hey bro!” My sis spoke out over the equipment on the Shaeula golem, a wireless speaker under the camera around her chest. “This is pretty crazy, how does technology like this even work here?”

“I wish I knew.” I laughed, still having never resolved why I often felt breathless here, despite not needing to breathe, and not even being truly sure if there was even air in the Boundary. No, there’s an analogue, as some of my previous attacks have shown. “But that aside...”

“I know.” My sis replied, now all serious. “It’s the crunch time now. We can’t let her get away, right? She’s too dangerous. And also, cornered rats bite, right?”

“Yes.” I agreed. “That’s my concern. She just can’t ignore my incursion. Although the question is, just how much does she know? She’s been stuck playing a warped version of the greater struggle Earth is facing here, so she might not fully be aware of how Conqueror works. But I have to assume she does. If so... she can’t just slip away like you fear, or else the loss of her Anchor will ruin her when I destroy it.”

“Yeah, that’s too easy. Nothing goes that way for you, does it bro?” my sis said over the wireless. We were moving deeper into the shadowy building and could hear the occasional scuttling of creatures down the distant, twisting corridors which seemed to be longer and turn in directions that shouldn’t have been possible, often descending. Worse, the walls were damp, and the floor was slippery, covered in a thin sheet of ice that shimmered under the dark lights of the torches and lanterns spluttering around us. The footing is terrible, but I’m sure that’s not the point. The ice is probably laced with her water too.

“No, though if I say I’ve been unlucky, I’ll probably get divine retribution. I’ve had my struggles, but in adversity we’ve always found opportunity. And this is no different.” I took a moment to speak to my sis seriously. “I picked up a Favour from one of the dead. It’s an archery one, and it also involves sunlight. I’m almost certain it’d be a good fit for you.”

The golden statues stopped and there was silence, before Aiko let out a long humming sound. “Wow, cheers bro. You’re always thinking of me. You truly are the king of brocons, but I don’t hate it. You know...” I imagined she was biting her lips as she watched the cameras and listened to me. “...before, I’d have ripped your hand off for it, bro. But now... is it fair, taking it? What about those who need one and don’t have one? Besides... I competed against Shaeula’s brother, and I intend to do so again. With my own talents, not those cribbed from some God. Get me?”

I did. Yeah, that’s just like you sis, confident in your sporting, and now I guess in your combat talents. And you’re kind too. “Don’t regret it then, okay? But if I can’t find anyone for it soon, then it’d be a waste me breaking it down, you’ll get it then.”

“Wow, sure. Makes sense. Waste not, want not. But... no, I doubt it’s suitable for Eri, she’s not the brightest of girls, more like the moon than the sun. Motoko and Natsumi, maybe. Though they lack sunlight, but... if I work Ren-kun hard and help out myself, we can make it work, maybe? Or then there’s Bell-chan and Teare-chan.” Teare-chan? That’s a new one...

We rounded the corner of one corridor that sloped sharply downwards into the bowels of the earth, and we discovered that instead of the building we were in before, it opened into a large cavern, stalactites and stalagmites forming toothy jaws in all directions, the obsidian ground slick with water and ice, droplets falling from above. As I carefully explored the underground area, feeling the abnormally high ether density, the golden golems followed me, my sis still talking. “Hinata-chan’s no good, she’s got no combat sense at all, poor girl. Hey, even Ren-kun could probably take it if I beat some archery into him, but... you’d rather give it to someone close to you, right?” she said shrewdly, and I couldn’t lie.

“Of course. I don’t know if it’s possible, but I want every one of you to have a Favour eventually. If I manage to get hold of enough, then even mom, father, uncle and auntie, the families of the girls... but such is clearly impossible.”

“Yeah, seems a long shot.” My sis agreed. “But as you no doubt learnt from me...” I could hear the smile in her voice, despite her obvious exhaustion. “...training and practice never betray you. Whether they get Favours or not, everyone’s growing in their own way. And we’ll continue to do so. So... uh, we got off-topic a bit. If she doesn’t run, then she’ll have to defend the Territory, right? In which case you’ll grab her in the Material. I’d say she’s screwed either way.”

“Oops, there goes more equipment. Don’t bill me, bro, it’s a business expense, right?” she joked through the wireless speak on the Asha, though her tone was awestruck. “So... that’s a dragon, right?”

“No, not a dragon. A Wyrm. Kind of like a wyvern, I guess, just more Eastern?” It was bigger than the one Shaeula, Grulgor and I had fought back at the start of our acquaintance, and the white scales were tinted blue. Opening a mouth easily big enough to swallow even a troll whole, it fixed an angry gaze on me, as if seeing me as a threat.

“Okay, so who would put their Anchor in the lair of a Wyrm?” my sis asked, only to regret it as her voice drew attention. The Wyrm took a deep breath, water element swirling in like an orange maelstrom, fortifying the shining aetheric energy it was gathering.

“Over here, jackass!” I called, focussing light down to as fine a beam as I could, almost invisible as the indigo shaded to violet, then invisible ultra-violet. The Wyrm screamed, one eyeball bursting, hot liquid sizzling, and its breath went wide, blasting a great groove in the cavern, an eruption of hot steam rising, bathing me and the Golden Sister in a searing embrace. Ouch, warm!

“I can’t see anything. The camera was waterproof, but not... not dragon-proof!” my sis complained. “You still fine bro, you must be, right?”

“Yeah, just leave it to me. Huh...” My Eye detected the answer to her earlier question, and it was one that I expected. As the Wyrm whipped one massive foot at me, talons like broadswords sweeping towards me, I ducked under them, and using the Wyrm’s blind spot, I thrust, blade piercing deep. I wrenched the blade free, and Foehn flared as I poured what I had left into the bleeding wound, the hungry fires eagerly soaking inside and spreading over the scales, blazing merrily, making the wyrm scream, hurting my ears a little.

“By the sound... here maybe?” my sis had her Asha swinging the axe, and landed several blows, striking faint gashes in the scales, before it batted the statue into the lake, where it sank without trace. The momentary distraction allowed me to fire rocky projectiles at the Wyrm, striking the blinded eye, squeezing out more blood and pus, making it bellow in enraged fury.

“So, she adulterated the water, huh? And therefore you’re her little pet and Anchor guard? Pretty impressive. So, come on then!” I waved my sword, its one good eye narrowing balefully as it behld me, the pest that had wounded it twice. “Compared to that piece of ... well, Akoman, I guess, from what my Eye said... earlier, you’re nothing but an overgrown snake!”

The Wyrm was powerful, yes, but the sort of power one could find in the lower Astral aplenty. There was no reason for me to fear him, as long as I kept my calm. As it drew in water element for another breath attack, the Water of Morana also being drawn in, I realised the actual genius of this scheme, as my Spirt Water was surging within me, constantly expelling dark mist. Citrine flame flickered, burning away the mist around me in a brilliant circle, and then my remaining darkness element surged, squeezing myself dry to form another Prominence Dusk, the vivid ring of darkness surrounded by a second halo of light illuminating the cave filled with fog and steam. “Although if it wasn’t me, I don’t see how anyone would get to the Anchor without being controlled by Morana’s Water. You’re sucking it in every time to go for a breath, and swimming in that...” I nodded at the great lake. “...strikes me as an awful plan.”

As the Wyrm roared angrily in reply, blind eye weeping and Foehn burning in the gash I had cut in him, I waited for my opportunity to strike back, while in the Material, I had reached my destination, the long hallway where the broadcasting room, principal’s office and several other key facilities lurked. Those traps continued to be annoying, but they were no match for me. I had avoided them all, especially when a certain other condition was present, and now I stepped forwards to the heavy, soundproof door and twisted the handle. Obviously it was locked, but as I rattled it, I knew the one inside would be listening. True to form, moments later the wall-mounted speaker above the door crackled with static, before a frantic voice came from it.

“Stay back! I... I won’t go quietly! I have a knife!” the voice of a young girl, melodious and cute, though the words were tremulous, laced with fear, and in English. “I’ll stab you to death! Or if that won’t work, I’ll... I’ll kill myself! I won’t go into the hands of those blood-crazed monsters, and I won’t be one of her slaves! I’d rather die!” she declared weakly.

Turning my attention to the speaker, I pointed, and a green light changed to red, and a second light lit green, so I addressed it. “I see. Then you’re in luck, as I’m not with them. I’ve been sent to secure all the survivors and take them to safety. Though I’m the only one left.” I put on an aggrieved face. “There are traps everywhere, explosives and all sorts of nasty water traps. I would have said those were just pranks before this, but...” my expression changed to one of sadness. “...I saw what happened to those who got touched by water or blood. I’m fortunate I take my appearance and cleanliness seriously and have been avoiding getting wet before that.”

There was a long silence, before the lights blinked again. “Yes, that... that is fortunate.” She agreed. “I’ve seen it all myself, lived through it. It was terrible, terrible! So... you’ll really save me? Take me away from here? Are you strong then? Some of the others who came to save us claimed to be, but the two siblings, they... they killed some and the others became slaves. Those of us who hid, we were like trapped animals.” Her tone was impassioned now, full of anger. “The stronger turned on the weaker, and we were just food, or an outlet for sorrow and anger. I... barely managed to escape to here, where I’ve been holed up for a while. So... do you promise? Do you promise to save me?”

I waited for the lights to change, before nodding slowly. “I’ll take you out of here, I promise.” I declared, and with that, the locked door made a clicking noise, and I slowly pulled the handle, the heavy door sliding open with a dull groan, scraping along the floor...