Silver Cathedral Saga (30 page)

“You read
my mind, didn’t you?” said Ematay.

“Erm…maybe.” The anchor was pulled from the gravity field somehow,
forced out of it.

“You’re
not kidding about this guy being strong, are you,” said
Oddius, astounded with his eyes wide open.
“I advise
you all get to the garden and sync the swan. I can take care of
this guy, and whoever else is waiting on this floor.”

“Your power
is not offensive,” said Selphira. “You cannot kill them so easily,”
she said, feeling his sacrifice come out in his last words.

There
seemed to be some clanging, and all of their heads turned to where
it was coming from. It was further down the hall that hid the first
Anchor Man; and this one was hidden too.

Oddius
extended his arm to the stone wall behind, with his palm facing
upwards. A sound of waves signalled the Anchor Man in front flying
back into the rock so violently, crushing and cracking the stone on
the wall; the anchor hit it also, but not the still drenched Anchor
Man, near him.

“How’s that
for offensive,” said Oddius to Selphira. There were two deep holes
in the wall; there was a hallway down to the left and right on
either side too.

“Come on,
he can clearly handle himself here,” said Ematay pulling the
Warrior of Faith, whom did not have faith in this other warrior
also. They all ran up one more level knowing they had one more to
go, hoping to reach the syncing point in the garden that was
seeming to grow brighter every second closer they got on the map.
Ematay made sure to keep the magickal guide out at this time.

Oddius
eventually saw the second Anchor Man, who turned out to be a very
short woman; it was debatable if she was tall enough to be
completely human, but there was no other category to fall into, or
what the folks of Astora knew about. The hole the Anchor Man was
in, was so deep it looked like she had burrowed herself there for
her safe keeping. She didn’t move.

The woman
came to Oddius, closer than the other had. She threw the anchor
behind the Warrior of Faith. Her shackle on the right gave a dull
chime against the frame of the door as it bashed into it; she
floated, stumbled and got up. Although it looked as if she
purposely done this. It became that way soon enough, when she ran
to him, much faster than the other before, now in a hole in the
wall, and not as malnourished looking—the Anchor man, or woman,
then wrapped the chains around him as he created a gravity well
where the other slept in the hole in the wall.

Yet as that
happened his neck was tied, and he was shot through the air to
where he gestured the gravity well to be. He tried to turn it off
as the gasps of air were being drawn from him, but the shock of
force around his neck could make him do little else but choke and
struggle to breathe.”

“I hope
is Oddius going to be okay,” said Eleanor.

“He of all
people stands a chance to survive here, now. This is the second
time we have had to merely survive,” said Selphira. “You keep
forgetting. We adapt, we adapt very well to all situations.”

“I guess,”
replied Eleanor as they panted, talking as they went up yet another
level.

“Lookout,”
said Selphira to Christian; she quickly turned into the Original
Astorian and knocked another Anchor Man aside and into the wall.
The bash blew the drenched prisoner out of this structure, and made
him crash out of the cathedral. They all stopped and saw him look
as if he slowly dropped back into the Shade Sea from whence he
came. She saw another four from a small corridor coming towards
them faster than the one they encountered downstairs. She knew they
wouldn’t be able to understand her in this Original Astorian form,
so she just pointed up the stairs for the others to continue.
Selphira, as the large Original, thudded hard with a rage as she
charged forward, crushing the walls and whacking the enemies
back.

They
were almost on the level they needed, but still did not know what
awaited. They seemed to get to the garden, but in doing so they saw
dead bodies, bodies of the Spell-casters; the reality settled in of
it all now. It all felt serious and dark, or so Eleanor could feel
within herself. They saw a terrible lot of bodies for display on
this level, but weren’t sure why there were none on any of the
others?

They had
ran to the back, where the garden stood. The doors were closed,
strangely enough. As soon as they all looked at the doors they all
felt as if it was a bad omen.

Christian
focussed his kinetic magick so that when his palm touched the wood
it popped open with quite a force.

And there
she was—captain Mileena. With a battalion of Water Spirits. Easily
thirty. All female. All pretty, but wild looking, like the sea.

They all
turned to them, and gloated, as if they were waiting for them for a
long time now. The three came closer to the battalion through no
other choice.

“There is
no need for any of this Mileena,” said Ematay, hoping she might
come to some kind of sense.

“I would
have you know I never wanted any of this to happen,” said the
captain standing in front of many Water Spirits. “And the Anchor
Men are not under my control. There is no way I can stop them; the
balance of old magick has been broken for the first time in
thousands of years, and the residual magick inside them has drove
them crazy, and mightily strong. There has only been a few out of
thousands that have come to their senses, and only recently.”

“Then why
are you here with a battalion at your side,” said Ematay. The
children wanted to cower behind Ematay, but did not want to abandon
him and leave his side at the same time.

“I am here
to assist you in syncing the Stone Swan,” said captain Mileena.

“For what
purpose?” said the Star-caster. There seemed to be a whistling wind
that everyone could here now, and it flapped the cloth of clothes a
little before an answer was caught.

“For the
purpose to bring a new fairer system for us. I want to help, in
exchange for reviewing the job toll of our kind; looking after the
Anchor Men for an eternity. I was at the Dark Queen’s side at the
core because if I opposed her she could have easily made us
disappear, like she has said to have done to so many before. I am
and was afraid for my people, surely you can understand that?”

“I can. But
there is little to trust in your words judging on your past,” said
Ematay. All the children just listened, as well as the battalion
behind Captain Mileena.

“Then trust
the change, trust the change in my heart,” said Mileena as sincere
as she could. The words seemed to be of great reality; though
Ematay still thought this could be an act of deception.

“Tell me,
Water Spirit; how do we trust a heart that is as cold as the sea
itself,” said the Star-caster.

“You trust
it by warming it with your actions,” Replied the Water Spirits
captain. “We have done a duty to your people unwillingly; give us a
chance of willingness, and we will show you our touch can be more
than just sea water upon open wounds. We have grown in ourselves.
Let us make this plea to the king, and let us help you to prove
this new way.” Captain Mileena stopped and thought on what happened
in the core of the planet. “What is worrying, is that the Dark
Queen had the power to break free of the gravity field all along.
The darkness in her heart has ran deep, and suppressed anything
that resembles a human now. Something is upon us, hidden, I feel
this is not the end of the dominion of the Shadows, nor of their
slyness. I fear for our world. We must break light into this
darkness; and I will… all Water Spirits will—stand with you
tonight. At these soon moments of battle before Swansie.”

“Then let
me sync the swan,” said Ematay.

“Of
course,” she gestured her hand to continue. Ematay then rushed to
where the map showed him it was, and when he got within ten feet of
its radius the swan leapt from his hand, turned invisible, and
assumed it placed itself. As the magick flew around the cathedral.
And radiated a paler silver than the silver of the cathedral; a
grey in a way. Ematay knew it was activated again now.

The
children looked relieved yet also scared. Mostly because they were
scrutinised by a large number of Water Spirits before them, and did
not particularity trust them; they both felt more self-conscious
now than they could ever remember in their lives.

Ematay came
back to them, as he went farther to the right, but near the door
they came out to get into the garden.

“Okay. We
will have to trust you. If you prove yourself I will put a case
forward for what you ask, but only if you help at battle—now.”

“Agreed,”
said Mileena. “I have three hundred strong Water Spirits spare and
ready to go.”

“Let us
hope it is enough,” said Ematay, trying to cling onto hope.
“Another journey has passed, another has come.” He turned to the
children. “You stay here with the Edeolon warriors. We don’t know
if it still safe here. You will need there help.”

“No,”
replied Eleanor.

“No?” said
Ematay.

“That’s
right,” said Christian. No. We’re not one to follow rules, not when
we know we can do something to help.”

“This is
not about decrypting messages or finding something we need. This is
war. This is about death. Preserving life. You are both out of your
league here,” replied the Star-caster quite snappy and angry.

“This is
not about leagues. Everyone here knows they are out of their
league. This is about what you said. The second part,” said
Eleanor. “Preserving life. And we lost our entire families to this
war; so don’t you dare push us into a corner and tell us to pray. I
think it is time to show them we don’t need their magick in a time
of need. Now more than ever.”

“Going to
war without magick is suicide,” said Ematay.

“Not this
time,” said captain Mileena, looking at the Spirit Stone Ematay
gave to Eleanor to look after whilst he put the Stone Swan back.
“The Spirit Stone is a item said to also give power to those who
need it, as well as take from those who don’t.”

“A super
charger,” said Christian.

“Yes,” said
Captain Mileena quite close to them, they felt somewhat comfortable
now. “You just need to merely use your magick while touching the
stone to be tested upon it.”

Eleanor,
Christian and Ematay touched the stone together, and done as the
Water Spirit leader said. They all hoped it was true, but were
still worried this was part of a bigger trap on some level.

It became
clear quickly what Mileena said was in fact true. All three were
worthy. They felt immensely powerful as soon as they let go after
using their magick; like they were somehow different people.

Against

Knowing
they had the power to command made them as close as they would ever
get to a god or king, it also made them feel that way for some
time.

“We will
always be fragile beings, no matter how much power stays with us.
Sometimes we are frail in mind, and some times in body; but most of
us are both.” She paused. “You can stop all the Anchor men. Right
now,” said the Water Spirit Mileena. “But know that the power you
now posses comes from a magick that stands against everything we
believe. It does not work with nature, its elements and life, but
against it. It does not influence and work with magick the way your
Spell-caster ways do now and know of. It takes what it wants… and
it may not happen now. Or maybe not in a few years—but mark my
words—there will be consequences from doing this.”

“Once upon
a time… I was a guardian of the stone,” said the captain. “Nearly
as far back as the beginning of Astora itself. Only wounds can kill
me, not time.”

Ematay
turned to the children, as if captain Mileena just proved a point
in the words she spoke. He raised his eyebrows to make sure the
children recognised one word: “Fragile,” he said to them. Them now
very sick of hearing this in its different forms, expressing the
same message over and over. The Star-caster then aimed his head at
Mileena. “How would I do what you speak of?”

“You have
temporarily absorbed the old magick. It flows inside the veins of
you three. Each one of you can command the Anchor Men to go back to
their fields; as if they never moved, and were under such a
powerful spell all this time which was never broken. You need to
simply say the words to any Anchor man you see. Easy as that.”

“Good,
because you are all coming with me as I do it,” replied the darker
skinned one of the lot, Ematay.

They
went through the Silver Cathedral, which took them over an hour
working their fastest.

One after
one, and sometimes in divided groups, even though some Anchor Men
were unconscious or even dead and the four not knowing, they made
them go back to the Shade Sea.

They spoke
the words and would still raise from their slumber, as if they were
never dead or unconscious. Heeding to this old magick, working its
power over the pale prisoners.

Masses
at a time dropped from the flying structure.

They
encountered the Edeolon warriors on this journey round, and
everything seemed to go smoothly. At least as smoothly as could be
expected.

The sound
of many feet was a strange sense from those who only recognised few
in their wake for some time.

But it was
these many steps that led them to the Ready Room once again. This
time with all of them side by side.

As soon as
all six, including Selphira and Oddius, entered this room, everyone
could see the platforms were empty, taking a better observation
without hurry this time; except from the War Swans they brought
themselves.

“Time for
me to go little ones,” said Ematay, looking at them. He looked at
the leader of the Water Spirits, as if she knew what to do after
this Star-caster’s signal.