Chapter 98: Stake of the Morning

Toren Daen

I rushed out of the window, jumping after the ascending serpent. I fell nearly five stories before my feet impacted liquified flesh, the squelch of rot under my feet anchoring me to the twining body.

I immediately scanned the serpent's body, paying barely any attention to the undead who ripped themselves from the flesh around me. Telekinetic rips and bursting sound grenades dealt with the creatures as they got close, but I was focused on something else entirely.

The leviathan's heartfire was further up the body. If I wanted to kill it, that was where I needed to aim.

I ran up the length of the serpent, twisting and twining as I ascended. I spotted my target before long: the still lifeforce of the monster. The gray not-pulse drew me like a beacon.

The commander was waiting for me, its baleful skull radiating malice. It stood like a sentinel over the heartfire, guarding it with its un-life. I jumped as it thrust its hand toward me, sprouting more tiny appendages that fired a myriad of spells. Small beads of gravity threatened to ruin my balance as tongues of fire kissed my skin, but I'd faced worse than this before.

I skated along the rotten flesh as I made my way closer, Oath held tightly in my fist. I brought up the sword as a metal sphere sailed past, batting it back toward the sender with the flat of my blade. As the metal impacted my red-tinged weapon, I imbued it with a bit of vibrating sound magic.

The metal sphere shot back toward the commander, humming with the contained force of my spell. It zipped straight through the monster's side, creating a splash of rot as it impacted the serpent's body. The commander took the attack without a sweat, the hulking monstrosity unphased by the hole punched in its side. But I continued to get closer.

The commander slammed its massive foot into the ground beneath us, injecting mana into the fleshy serpent's trunk. Ice slowly spread from that epicenter, coating my path with a slippery obstacle.

I grit my teeth. I was already so low on mana. Where before I could've simply charged through this undead's unholy barrage, now I had to focus on evading and slowly approaching without wasting too much energy.

I imbued my feet with a coating of fire, wincing internally as my reserves drained even further. When my boots touched the icy floor, the searing soles of my shoes melted the ice on contact, giving me a stable place to stand.

I lunged for the commander, Oath poised as I finally reached striking distance. The commander's arm erupted in a coating of earth as it reared back, ready to attack with the full weight of a hundred bodies.

In response, I threw my sword at the creature with a burst of telekinesis. The undead shifted slightly, allowing my swept-hilt saber to shear through its shoulder instead of heart. I snarled as my weapon left my hand, feeling my blood pulse in my ears.

The giant commander threw a fist augmented by earth, moving far faster than it should have with its colossal bulk. I barely ducked as the limb soared past my head, the wake blowing my hair away. I moved in close, augmenting my fists with a coating of fire. I threw an uppercut at the monster's elbow joint, feeling a satisfying crunch as my knuckles connected.

I had to weave to the side as the monster roared, lifting a foot and trying to kick me. I moved like the wind as I sidestepped, the chain on my arm flaring as I delivered two quick punches to its side in return. Each blow cut away at the undead's fleshy armor, causing it to stumble from the impacts.

It was forced back as I advanced, systematically overpowering it in hand-to-hand combat. I didn't throw extra spells or imbue my strikes with more power than was necessary. I needed to conserve energy, and dominating this monster in close quarters was the best way to do it.

Hands erupted from the thing's flesh as I zipped around, trying to hit me with conjured spells from the other undead it had subsumed. Bursts of ice, balls of fire, and a wave of sand impeded my way. A few scraped against my telekinetic shroud. Most failed to break through, but one spike of metal drew a jagged cut along my cheek.

I clenched my hand around one of the grasping wrists that sprouted, feeling the flesh squelch under my grip. Then I pulled, ripping an entire arm free from the muck. I whirled, using the fleshy appendage like a club to batter away another punch.

The limb in my hand exploded with refuse at the impact, but I was already moving. I sent a powerful kick to the commander's knee, causing it to stumble backward further with a roar.

I smiled. Every attack I delivered to this fleshy monstrosity healed over nearly instantly as it drew biomass from the serpent underneath us. But I'd been pushing it, slowly and methodically forcing it further up the leviathan's body. It fought me tooth and nail for every inch of ground gained, but I didn't need much.

I'd pushed it away from its post. The heartfire it had been standing guard over was free of defense.

I suddenly yanked my hand downward. Oath, which had been hovering high in the air after I'd thrown it, suddenly shot downward with the force of a meteor. It blurred as I applied as much telekinetic strength as I could, accelerating it toward its destination with unerring determination.

The commander roared in defiance as it realized what I had done by forcing it away from its post. It tried in vain to rush past me, a ton of rotten biomass surging like a truck back from whence it came. I used a bit of magic this time, latching onto its arms and legs with my emblem and anchoring myself in place. I was pulled along the fleshy body as the commander strained against its bonds, trying with desperate pulls to save its master's life.

Oath sunk straight through the flesh of the serpent, seeking the heartfire underneath like a bloodhound. I smirked as I felt my weapon near, my feet dragging as the commander surged forward with a rageful bellow.

Then my saber struck something. I felt the feedback like a gong as my teeth rattled, my arms shaking from the telekinetic rebound.

Oath shot out of the serpent's fleshy side at an angle, speeding toward the water far below as it was deflected by something hard. I felt horror and despair rise in my stomach as I watched my last-ditch attempt to strike at the leviathan's weakness fail. The heartfire in the serpent's chest was unscathed, some sort of defense within ignoring my attack. Through the exit wound my saber had created, I spied the barest glint of some kind of black crystal, no doubt what had dispersed my attack.

The commander changed tactics as it realized its master was safe. It twisted, pulling to the side instead of straight forward. My stance, which had been oriented to keep me stable from only one direction, crumbled under this new strain. I lurched to the side, my telekinetic pulls on the serpent's arms and legs working against me.

I arced off the monster's back, tumbling through the air. I felt panic in my gut as I realized what was happening. Hastily, I lashed at the serpent's body with telekinetic pulls, hoping to draw myself back in like a magnet. White patches of mana flared along the serpent's body where I tried to anchor myself, my sole hope. The sole hope of everyone I hoped to protect.

And hands erupted from the flesh, raising their fists like sledgehammers and slamming down on the white bursts of mana. My anchors shattered under the force, and the bare horizontal momentum I'd managed teetered off.

No! I thought desperately as I began to fall like a broken bird. No, I need to get back there!

The snake was almost to the top of the Empire State Building. Up above was the only place we could escape from: the descension portals.

I tried to lash myself to the creature once more, but a spell hurtled toward me midair. I had to cross my arms as a gale of wind impacted me, sending me arcing back over the water. The only thing I saw as I fell was the baleful gleam of violet in the commander's eyes as its attack succeded in driving me away from the snake.

I fell like a broken bird, unable to anchor myself to my target any further.

An explosion of water erupted when I hit the lake. I shot to the surface immediately, glaring upward at the sky with an expression of rage and despair. It would take too much time to reach the island again and try and ascend after the serpent. As it poised itself over the top of the massive building, I knew I had lost.

"Why?!" I yelled, feeling true fury at the Relictombs. "Why do you keep taunting me?! Keep letting me get so close to my goals?!"

I roared in anger, telekinetic bursts around me churning the waves. If only I could hit the serpent from here! I seethed, feeling my bare reserves of mana creak.

My abilities were focused on the close and medium range. When it came to such a vast distance, I was helpless. My range was broad around me: I had practically perfect area control in a forty-foot radius when in my Acquire Phase, but beyond that? How could I maintain anything that could kill?

Too broad, I thought with a hopeless laugh. My arms sagged as the glowing chain on my arm dimmed. I have all the power I need, except the ability to narrow my focus.

My shoulders slumped as I felt despair creeping up. The Unblooded Party wouldn't make it out of this place alive. I'd break another promise. They would die, just outside of my ability to save.

And the promise Aurora made to Sevren Denoir, I thought absently. I'll fail her, too.

As I gazed up from my hovering spot on the water at the serpent as it loomed over the top spire of the Empire State, I found a grim sort of irony in that. Sevren Denoir was destined to die, wasn't he? I just made it happen faster. Fate was unchanging. Nothing I did would shift the future.

No, I thought, rebelling against that thought instinctually. I remembered my talk with Norgan once more, in that strange sea of the soul. I could change this world. I would make it better, wouldn't I?

I just had to try and think outside of the box. So what if my range was too broad? Couldn't I narrow it?

I looked at the serpent's bulk as it wrapped the Empire State Building like a constrictor. It must have been thousands of feet in volume, but it didn't keep that area flat. It stretched its mass over a long, relatively narrow area.

Feeling the beginnings of an idea, I held out my hand. I funneled nearly every last drop of my mana into my palm, a long spear of solid plasma slowly forming there. It stretched and stretched, a buzzing red hasta the length of my body settling into my hand.

I panted from the exertion of packing so much mana into such a little space. My core ached and creaked as I neared backlash, my Will screeching in protest. But I wasn't done. Not yet.

I cocked my hand back, settling into a stance as I lined up my sights with the static heartfire in the serpent's body. The colossal beast was preparing to attack something at the top, a roiling rot streaming from its broken jaw. Its violet eyes burned with demented glee as it prepared to deliver a final blow.

And so I narrowed my perception. I pulled my telekinetic sense inward, restricting my range from that forty-foot radius to barely a few inches past my body. I grit my teeth from the mental effort of containing that sense, something I'd never tried before. But it was possible.

Narrow your focus, I repeated to myself like a mantra. Narrow it.

Instead of an omnidirectional sense, I let my senses expand slightly in only one direction. And as I got into the rhythm of pushing my telekinetic radius in only one direction, I felt my heartbeat rise in staccato as my blood thundered in my ears. Sweat dripped along my face, tracing a slow journey from my forehead to the edge of my clenched jaw.

It was working. From forcing my telekinetic radius into such a small area, it was flowing out in the only avenue I allowed it. Just as squeezing a balloon causes different parts to bulge outward, I was able to expand my radius much further in a single direction if I sacrificed that omnidirectional power.

Blood leaked from my nose from the effort of maintaining so much at once. The spear in my hand burned my palm, balancing its solid state only one part of the struggle. I had to keep myself floating on the water, elongate my psychic radius in one direction, and then there was the final step.

I grunted as I squeezed more mana from my core, like forcing the last bits of juice from a fruit. I felt pain lance through my new physique as I engaged my telekinesis rune one more time.

A long, straight line of white pushing telekinetic force extended in front of me, leading straight toward the still gray heartfire of the serpent. It couldn't reach all the way there, of course, but this was the boost I needed. Like flashing signs, this line would direct my spell where it needed to go.

I lined up my spear, settling into stance. I exhaled four words.

"Stake of the Morning," I whispered, then hurled my spear along the stream of pushing telekinetic force.

My solid plasma spear accelerated along the psychic stream like a bullet in a railgun. The simple red glow became less than a streak as each successive foot of telekinetic force sped it onward, forcing it to absurd speeds.

Nothing happened for the barest moments. Then I was thrown back by a sonic boom, a sound like crashing thunder echoing as I was blown into the water, my Will finally receding into my core as backlash struck.

But the clear, pristine water gave me a perfect view of the aftermath of my attack. The serpent, poised to exhale rot over the roof of the Empire State Building, stuttered. A long streak of red light blurred straight through its heartfire like a needle, then continued on through the skyscraper. The burning glow finally diffused as it exited the other side of the colossal structure, scattering into motes of nothingness as my solid plasma gave up.

Whatever that black crystal covering the serpent's heartfire was, it was insufficient to prevent my last attack.

I floated to the surface of the water, my power utterly spent. I felt the constricting force of backlash roiling through my core, making everything spasm. Despite it all, I felt the urge to laugh as I looked up at the sky. My uproarious guffaws cut out as my body churned, making me grunt.

The flesh on the serpent's body dripped off of it like wax, massive globules splashing into the water below as it drooped. The water roiled like a storm as tons upon tons of biomass crashed into it, ruining the once pristine mirror-like surface.

I was forced to try and swim for my life, my limbs locking as water crashed over my head. My body, which had felt so strong under the effects of mana coursing through my cells, was pitifully weak as I tried desperately not to drown.

But eventually, the crashing waves stopped as the serpent's body fully sloughed away. All that remained was a colossal skeleton, still wrapped around the Empire State Building like a grim monument.

My consciousness threatened to fade out, but I couldn't afford to fall asleep here. Out on this water, I was more likely to simply fall underneath and drown.

I weakly pulled myself along with flaps of my arms, slowly swimming toward the island. My breath came in gasps as my body intermittently spasmed with pain, my mana core rebelling against its overuse. Every foot I swam felt like my last, my muscles burning hotter than the sun.

But the clouds overhead, which had covered everything in their gloom since I first entered this zone what seemed like years ago, began to part. Sunlight streamed down on me from above, adding a different kind of warmth to my bones.

I finally reached the sandy shoreline, pulling myself onto it on my hands and knees. All around me, the fleshy remains of the serpent had fallen to the ground. The smell of decay was pervading, but I didn't have the energy to care.

I coughed weakly, my body seizing. My soaked hair coated my face, and when I lethargically pushed it out of the way, I stopped in shock.

A single lock of my hair was a different color than the rest. Instead of my normal strawberry blonde, it was a more orange-red color that faded to pinkish-silver. With the water darkening the color of my hair, I couldn't be sure about the exact shade.

I chuckled with a rasp. "So that's another change in my body," I said weakly. It seemed there were some outward physical changes to my physique, not just inner ones.

I looked to the side. Oath was embedded to the hilt in the sand nearby, its pristine silver handle gleaming in the sun.

I slowly, forcefully, stood to my feet, my knees quaking. I hobbled to my saber, grabbing its hilt and wrenching it free of the sand.

There was a chip along its once-spotless edge, no doubt from the ricochet it experienced striking that strange black crystal. I sighed in disappointment.

My clothes were in tatters, the black leather pauldrons and chest piece I'd purchased burned, soaked, cut, pierced, and a whole bunch of other adjectives that didn't do their experience justice. There was a gaping hole over my heart, revealing a ragged scar on a wound that should've been fatal.

But I'd gotten used to my clothing getting destroyed with each Relictombs run. Despite what had happened to Oath after Mardeth's touch, some part of me saw these weapons as indestructible. It was a shame that they weren't.

I began to hobble toward the doors of the Empire State Building, using Oath as a cane. I lethargically weaved around pools of rotten sludge, huffing slightly. I made it into the lobby, and then pulled myself toward one of the elevators.

I pressed the up button, leaning heavily on Oath's pommel. As I waited, I gently nudged my bond's tether, checking up on her. Aurora was still asleep, her exhaustion somehow deeper than my own. When she woke up, there was much I needed to tell her.

The elevator doors opened with a ding, allowing me to step in. I pressed the button for the one hundred and second floor, then leaned against the walls. As the doors closed and the little box began to ascend, familiar music played from the speakers.

Feelin' my way through the darkness,

Guided by a beatin' heart.

I can't tell where the journey will end,

But I know where to start.

They tell me I'm too young to understand,

They say I'm caught up in a dream.

Well, life will pass me by if I don't open up my eyes,

Well, that's fine by me.

So wake me up when it's all over,

When I'm wiser and I'm older.

All this time, I was findin' myself and I

Didn't know I was lost.

As the relaxing melody of the familiar song washed through my bones, I felt myself slump, my eyes closing as I smiled. I hummed along to the music, enjoying a chorus I hadn't heard in months. It was about time I woke up, wasn't it?