Book 4, chapter 28

Passing through the hellish portal, Zee lit with a tuck and rolled on the harsh grey stone, just as the portal slammed shut like a guillotine. Her breath left her in a whoosh as sweltering heat smashed into her from all sides.

Emerging from the cool dank basement into a scorching hot greyish-black wasteland was like taking a punch to the face.  Crouching so as to not make herself an easy target, she studied her surroundings.

She was on the edge of a wide depression in a stony crag, the only thing visible being a steep ramp upward that was covered in shale. Taking deep breaths of incredibly hot, dry air, Zee finally noticed the two Aintar about two dozen feet away, watching her. 

Their mat grey and black fur was like camouflage, blending in perfectly with the shale, rock and dirt around them. It was good that they hadn't immediately attacked her, given how disoriented she was right after coming out of that odd gateway.

"Ohh, look Fyurik, we have a guest," said the one with Yukna slung over its shoulder. The creature's voice was deep and gravely, but the bangle on her wrist translated it just fine. 

With a somber nod, the Aintar, presumably named Fyurik replied to the first.

"You are right, Lanvid, a guest indeed, what a surprise," Fyurik replied in a jovial tone.

Fyurik nodded his massive head, "She is so small, so frail. Do you think she is one of the people who attacked," Fyurik asked in a conversational tone.

"Definitely, just look at her, she looks angry," Lanvid replied, gesturing towards her drawn sword.

"Indeed, think this is her friend," Fyurik asked, reaching over and patting an unconscious Yukna who was still on Lanvid's shoulder.

Zee watched them carefully but didn't attack yet, worried they might kill Yukna if she did.

The element of surprise was gone, but all wasn't lost, they seemed in the mood for conversation. Maybe she could reason with them?

"I don't suppose you two would mind giving her back to me unharmed?" Zee asked, relaxing her posture.

They both looked at each other, before shrugging their massive shoulders.

  "Sure, as long as you do not attack us, you can have her back," Fyurik replied.

Suspecting a trap, Zee narrowed her eyes at the two Aintar. 

Their horns were thin, delicate even, and their fur was a mottled grey with an irregular coating of black. They were still just as physically imposing as the one she killed, though neither carried any sort of weapon. 

"And why would you just give her to me?" Zee asked, trying to get a sense of how strong their auras were.

"We are not of the warrior cast, we do not fight," Lanvid said, shifting nervously, glancing towards the path that led up the loose shale.

Zee raised an eyebrow, "You don't say? Is that why you are holding a rock behind your back," Zee asked. 

"No one said I couldn't act in self-defense," Lanvid replied unashamedly.

"I see... Well, I have no desire to get brained by a rock, so let's save us both the trouble. Set her down, and reopen the portal, I will take her and be on my way," Zee said conversationally.

They both glanced at each other again, though this time it seemed more nervous, their bodies tensing as if preparing for a fight.

"What is it?" Zee asked, lowering her sword to look unthreatening.

"I don't mean to throw fire on your plan, but the gate is slightly broken, it might take days to repair," Lanvid said clutching his rock tighter.

Zee pondered on the creature's words for a few seconds, before deciding on what to do.

"First off, set her down, next tell me where we are, and how I can fix this gate," Zee demanded, infusing her aura with a spark of ebb and flow.

Ethereal waves crashed around her, pushing back some of the oppressive heat, and covering the area in a suffocating pressure. 

The two Aintar looked startled, but they didn't falter, which spoke to their nerves. They clearly know it was them who had the advantage here, given their prisoner.

It was Fyurik who spoke first.

"We are in the holy land, or as some might call it, the plain of suffering," Fyurik said casually.

"Plain of suffering? Is that like another dimension, or does someone have a sick naming sense for a planet," Zee asked, scanning the barren, sweltering landscape around them. There was nothing but mottled grey rock as far as she could see, the crags towering into the sky like trees. It did look like all she would find here was heatstroke, so maybe the name was an apt description of the place.

Lanvid shifted nervously, causing Yukna to sway on his shoulder. Her hair stuck to her face, blood dripping from her nose down his elegant robes. "How perceptive, you are not as stupid as the average human," Lanvid replied.

Zee narrowed her eyes, clutching her hilt tighter. These two didn't seem willing to comply with her demands. "How do I open the portal and get out of this place?" Zee asked, ignoring the insult for now.

"You will need a high priest of the first cast to open a gate for you," Fyurik said, gesturing towards the depression in the rock behind her.

"I don't suppose either of you is a priest of the first cast?" Zee asked. As expected, they both shook their heads.

Dern's annoyed voice filled her mind," I think they are stalling," Dern chimed in. 

"I know, but it's too risky to attack before they release Yukna. I don't want to risk having them snap her neck, so let's see how this plays out," Zee replied internally. 

Outload she said, "Finding a priest of the first cast would probably be bad for my health. How about you set her down, and I promise not to attack you," Zee said.

"Do you think we were born last week? You will just kill us afterward," Lanvid said with a disgruntled huff.

Zee scowled, the ethereal waves of ebb and flow swirling into a tempest around them. 

"Then what do you propose?" Zee asked, the waves rising. 

"A trade, your sword, for the prisoner," Fyurik said, gesturing to her weapon with a massive hand.

After some hesitation, Zee agreed. Plastering a nervous look on her face, she set her sword on the scalding rock, and backed away, one hand clenched around a small turquoise gem. 

Fyurik approached and bent, keeping an eye on her as he grunted, picking up her surprisingly heavy sword.

The Aintar held it like it was a poisonous snake, clearly never having used a sword before. Zee was yet again reminded about just how large the creature was. Her sword, nearly three feet long looked like a dagger in Fyurik's hands.

"Alright, you have the weapon, set her down, and go on your way," Zee said, waving towards the shale slope.

"And why would we do that? You are unarmed now," Fyurik said, with a bullish smile. "Why don't you surrender,"

He raised her sword, holding it like a drunkard would hold the broken leg of a chair, pointing it at her. Zee had figured it would go like this, it was why she was clutching the turquoise gem in her palm. Her simmering anger bubbled back to the surface.

Seeing Yukna slung over the creature's shoulder like a sack of grain was already tough enough to watch. Now they were going back on the deal. Well, she had given them a chance to live. 

With a mental tug, her sword shattered into over a dozen pieces, suddenly glowing with a crimson sickly blue flame. 

Swallowed by the tides of ebb and flow, the shards of razor metal spun like a tornado around Fyurik, cutting him to ribbons. Pained screams filled the dry air, echoing across the desolate landscape. 

The stench of burning meat and fur filled her nose, as a deathly silence returned. She held out her hand, and the shards of metal returned, reforming into her sword mid-air. She caught the weapon by the pommel, leveling her blade at Lanvid. 

"Set her down, or you are next," Zee ordered coldly, the weight of her sword comforting in her hand.

Disbelief and horror were writ across the creature's bull-like face, "You, you killed him," Lanvid said numbly.

"Yes, I did. Now do as I say, or you are next," Zee replied coldly.

Lenvid set Yukna down gently, backing away, unable to take his large eyes off the blood dripping from her sword.

She actually had a moment of regret for what she had to do. Once he was clear of Yukna, Zee vanished and reappeared right in front of him, the ethereal river rumbling around her as she unleashed a reality slash.

The devastating slash cut him from shoulder to hip, fraying reality at the edges, and causing a rift to open. There was a loud crash as the two halves of reality came crashing back together, having ripped Lanvid and a large chunk of rock in half.

It would be beyond foolish to allow this creature to return to its base and warn others about her presence. With a flourish, she flicked the blood from her sword. As for the two corpses, and all the blood, the soul-siphoning ritual should clean up most of the mess.

She still had qualms about feeding Dern the souls of intelligent beings, but she was worried. Dern's form had been destroyed a few minutes ago and he was hungry again.

Zee did not want a repeat of what happened last time. Zee checked on the unconscious Yukna, feeding her a top-quality E-grade healing pill.

Dern's disgruntled voice filled her mind, "Did you have to kill him? We could have questioned Lanvid," Dern said.

"We could have, but I didn't want to risk him getting away," Zee said, brushing Yukna's mousy brown hair from her swollen and bloody face.

"I know, but they clearly didn't know how to fight. We could have learned why they took Yukna," Dern replied.

"Maybe you should have mentioned it before we killed the guy? We can't exactly question a corpse now can we," Zee retorted.

Dern grunted, "Well, I suppose it's fine. You did kill them both, though I wish you would have made it a little more painful, they didn't deserve such an easy death," Dern replied.

"You are never easy to please are you," Zee grumbled.

With Yukna still unconscious, she searched the mangled corpses of the Aintar for anything of value. They didn't have much, just some dark coins with a triangular shape. There was one thing of interest, Fyurik was carrying a fist-sized metal tube covered in dense etchings.

Deciding to give it over to Dern to unravel later, she performed the macabre rituals on the two corpses. The bodies turned to ash with the usual unsettling display, their souls being dragged into the abyss that was Dern's maw.

Fearing the arrival of more Aintar, Zee hefted Yukna onto her shoulders and set out, wanting to get some distance from the area of the portal. They would need to come back, and could hopefully escape using the archway, but for now, she needed to get distance.

Oddly, she found no one over the next half hour, just barren lifeless grey rock, and a punishing heat that made rivulets of sweat roll down her back. 

The place she stopped to get her baring's was in a small crag, amidst a sea of tall rocky knolls and crevasses. The place was desolate and remote, not a sign of civilization as far as she could see.

How did anyone live here, there was nothing but rock, dirt, and a suffocating heat. Or the better question, why would anyone want to live here? 

Licking her dry lips, she slid back down the steep escarpment, finding Dern, in his small form standing next to Yukna.

They were hiding in a small depression in stone, which was a sore excuse for a cave hidden in the stone crag nestled in the greyish-black rock. The meager shade was only slightly less blisteringly hot than outside.

"How is she doing?" Zee asked, crouching in the dirt beside Yukna.

"She keeps lapsing in and out of consciousness, this heat is not helping her wounds," Dern said, anger infusing his mental voice.

"Ya, I can see that. If only we could do something about the damned heat," Zee said, wiping her brow with her already-soaked shirt.

"We do have rituals, why not set one up to cool the cave?" Dern asked.

Zee glanced down at the living book in the satchel at her hip. Well, she did have a library's worth of information stored in the living book, maybe there was one to cool the cave.

Releasing the book, she reached into her spatial storage and withdrew a flask full of water. She was lucky she had all their travel supplies ready to go, as they would have been screwed otherwise. Still unconscious, Yukna coughed as she drank, water spilling down her chin onto her brown cotton shirt.

With that out of the way, Zee turned back to the living book, looking for a ritual that could solve the heat problem.

After finding a suitable ritual, Zee drew lines in the rock with the tip of her sword, doing her best to copy the symbols written on the pages of the living book.

Yukna rested in the small depression in the rock behind her, her eyes closed, her bronze skin slick with sweat. 

The oppressive heat was inescapable, even in the shadows of a rocky crag.

Glancing out the mouth of the cave towards the grey clouds, Zee wonder how it could be so damned hot without any sign of a star above. 

Wiping her sweaty hands on her pants, she focused back on her task. Carving intricate lines in the rock was not her idea of a good time, but it had to be done.

Without a physical medium, the ritual diagram would not last more than a few minutes. The sound of metal grinding on stone came from her right, to where Dern was drawing very similar markings as she was.

They were creating pathways in the rock for energy to travel. If the ritual actually worked, it should help keep out the heat, which would help Yukna recover faster. 

And of course, give them all a few hours of respite from the hellish temperature. The heat was not quite as bad as the immense cold of the tundra, but it was close. 

The dry heat was a different kind of hell. Well, at least she had company this time, which would hopefully make getting out of here easier. 

Or it might make things more difficult. What if she had to get out the same way she escaped from the Tundra? 

The thought of returning to the Null realm made her shudder. Last time some weird stuff happened, and she lost nearly a month of time inside.

Her sword drew lazy swirls across the surface of the rock, gouging narrow lines like it was made of sand. Drawing the framework of a ritual in stone was still incredibly tedious, but also hypnotic.

Time seemed to fly by, as both she and Dern etched the complex sigils into the rock, and met in the middle of the cave opening.

Once done Dern gave her work a once over, "Not bad,"

"Thank you," Zee replied, mopping the sweat from her face with a spare shirt that she pulled from her spatial storage.

"Not bad for a drunk, blindfolded lizard," Dern replied.

Zee gave him a rude gesture and collapsed on the rock next to Yukna.

"Oh shut up, just activate the damned ritual, this heat is unbearable," Zee replied, grimacing as a bead of sweat rolled into her eye. 

"Fine, I suppose it will work... Just as long as your crappy etchings don't let all the power leak out," Dern muttered.

Zee gave him a rude gesture, just as the ritual activated. The air in front of their little cave rippled, and a bubble of semi-translucent energy slowly formed. 

Zee let out an audible sigh of relief as the temperature rapidly cooled. It would sure be highly convenient right now if she had one of Rin's collars. You would think she would have stolen one, but Zee hadn't been thinking that far ahead. 

Cool air buffeted her face, the breeze rustling her vibrant red hair. She glanced back at Yukna, whose breathing had evened out, her breaths much calmer than before. Zee smiled, and sidled up next to her, noting Yukna was shivering. Wrapping an arm around her friend's shoulder, she leaned back against the grey stone.

Gazing through the translucent barrier, Zee idly watched the heat waves dance above the craft rock, listening to Yukna's steady breathing. 

Given the fact that she gave the woman a high-quality E-grade healing pill, it was no wonder she was out of it.

Those things were potent, but they did heavily tax the user's body. Sleeping for a day or two was a small price to pay for the rapid recovery from such extensive damage. 

Considering Yukna had broken ribs, a broken jaw, and extensive bruising, it might take a week to fully recover. 

If only she had a proper healer around, then Yukna would be back on her feet in hours instead of days.

The thought reminded her of Kur Zul's offer.

Zee almost immediately shook the thought from her mind. There was no way she would fall for one of that scheming ghost's lies. 

Accepting the summon skill would effectively make her unable to get rid of that ghost, which Zee would not willingly do.

Unlike Dern, Kur Zul would stab her in the back at the first opportunity. 

Leaning her head on the cold hard rock, Zee pulled a shivering Yukna against her, pondering her options.

She would have to deal with Kur Zul eventually, but not yet. The cracks along her fragment were small, her inner world contained for now. 

Whatever Tarnival did when she was out of it really did stabilize her fragment.

She shook her head. She couldn't get complacent, that was only a temporary fix. 

Her eyes landed on the living book that was floating around the small cave, studying the rock curiously. The book was like a small child, excited to explore or eat new things. It might be a pain in her ass, but it was also a font of information, an entire library in one book.

More importantly, the book housed several high-tier rituals that could help her with her inner world problem.

Well, they could help if she ever was skilled enough to actually perform the rituals. Right now, fifth-tier rituals were her limit. If she ever wanted to permanently stabilize her fragment, and by proxy her inner world, she needed to improve her knowledge of rituals.

That was good for a long-term goal. In the meantime, they needed to figure out a way out of this place, preferably without going through the Null realm.

The sounds of gravel sliding on stone broke her from her introspection.  She glanced over questioningly at Dern, who was on guard at the front of the cave. 

"What is it?" Zee asked, projecting her thoughts.

"There are four Aintar searching the area," Dern replied.

"Think they are looking for us?" Zee asked, gently pulling away from Yukna. 

Dern snorted in derision. "I don't see why else they would be searching the area," Dern replied dryly.

"Ass," Zee said pulling a wool blanket from her spatial storage. She draped the blanket over Yukna, before creeping out the front of the cave along a narrow escarpment to where Dern was held up.

Cautious, she peered down from the narrow crag they were hiding behind. It took her a few seconds to spot the four Aintar below, as they crept through a shallow ravine, their mottled grey fur blending in perfectly with the rock.

The first thing to stand out were their much thicker curving horns. The horns were darker, and larger then the two Aintar she killed earlier that day. Even more curious were the odd variety of blunt weapons they carried.

One of them, with elaborate beadwork woven in its fur, even wore armor, which had to be suffocating in this heat. 

Wearing armor was strange under normal circumstances, especially considering skills made un-enhanced metal pretty much useless. 

Finisher skills like reality slash, and even a simple skill like spirit echo could simply cut right through normal metal like it wasn't there. The only time armor was actually beneficial was when it was covered in etchings.

Her eyes narrowed on the armor, and she bit her lip thoughtfully. 

This guy must have more money than sense to be wearing that kind of gear while still in the E grade. E-grade warriors like the Aintar below and herself simply didn't have the massive energy pool required to power the armor's etchings for long.

As they watched, the four Aintar drew closer, pausing only about thirty meters away almost right below her and Dern's perch.

The one she suspected of as the leader, did not look happy about something.

"Are you sure it's here, there is nothing but rock and dirt as far as I can see," The armored one asked.

"Yes high priest, the keystone to open the dimensional gate is definitely here." Replied one of the others, a smaller Aintar with some white in its fur.

Zee raised an eyebrow, What was the keystone? Below, the priest snorted in annoyance. "Well, hurry up, lead the way, the grand Deacon will have our asses if we don't bring it back soon." The priest said.