Chapter Twenty-Five: A Storm Approaches

The final confrontation with Jorum now begins. The Master of Gears shows what she is truly capable of, but is Jorum more than a mutated master? And what secrets does Ryker ultimately hold? The end of Annastaria’s first chapter comes to a close, but another is ready to begin, one that will take her and her companions through a storm that cannot be avoided.

Jorum stepped forward towards Rolek, with thumps like war drums of doom. The pale master was beaten, bloody, bleeding out of his right abdomen, his face with multiple streams of blood coming down from it, and his nose crooked. But Rolek saw into his eyes; beyond all the inhuman appearances of him, was pain. There were tears in his bloodshot eyes. He was shivering, and Rolek’s own adrenaline seemed to freeze, if only for a moment. And then, “Kill me.” Jorum said, before he puffed out a pair of coughs. It was weak, raspy, and most of all, he spoke of his own admission, not by orders from Ryker or Lance.

Rolek’s eyes went wide, and his threat sensitivity gave way to confusion as he stepped backwards. “What the hell did you just say?” he said.

But Jorum went silent, and instead prepared to fight in the same bladed stance as before. Rolek didn’t know what to do; this monster was about to attack him again, and now in his spirit state, or whatever it was. Pain rushed through Jorum’s face just before he blasted a flurry of magic bursts at Rolek, who panicked and leaped out of their way, and used warps to blunt ones he could not dodge. He shifted to his right and Jorum’s left flank and unleashed his own counter-offensive of rock-based attacks. But like before, Jorum merely raised his hand and threw the rocks aside like they were just wadded paper. Jorum stood straight then, with no fighting stance, as if to mock Rolek. Then he raised his right hand up to the sky, clenched open and lowered it slowly.

Rolek went back into a fighting stance. “That’s it.” he said, “It’s time to put you down!” He set his clenched, open right hand to the ground, feeling his magicka energy move through it, pulling it upward at his own will for a quick but decisive blow towards Jorum. But his concentration was halted when an ice ball fell and shattered in front of him. Rolek paused and focused on it, but not long enough before another fell a few feet away, and then another and another. They popped and cracked as they fell, until one struck him in the back. “Agh!” he gave out to the pain. He gave up his offense and looked up to see hail coming from the sky, and no more rain.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” he blurted out before trying pitifully to dodge the hailstorm Jorum made of the falling rain, and he did it so effortlessly that Rolek didn’t even know what he did until it was pelting him, beating him, even as he took cover; the ice ploughed through the branches of the trees.

Rolek threw out fire blades to try and stop it, and warps, but the fire blades were only momentary offenses. Warps were potent defenses, but they took incredible amounts of magic energy to sustain, and he was running on fumes already. In the midst of the hailstorm, Rolek looked up and saw Jorum sprinting at him for a killing blow, and in only a moment, he was locked in another hand-to-hand fight, but Jorum was now faster than before, and he even radiated some form of heat. 

This couldn’t be good for the pale master; Jorum’s body was even giving off a slight steam. In the midst of the fight, he remembered Annastaria’s words that Jorum’s “spirit state” was actually poisoning him, and he noticed as well that Jorum’s veins were blackening. Still, the pale master gave all he had, and it was too much for Rolek, who took several clean blows to the face, chest and even legs.

Rolek wobbled, his legs locked, and he threw up blocks from strikes a second after they had landed clean on his face. His reaction time was diminished and Jorum likewise had become twice as fast as before. Finally, after a desperate attempt to go on offense that failed, Rolek was caught in an arm lock and thrown over Jorum, slamming into the ground like Elise was. His face was bruised, and split open on his left cheek. Defeat had won him. Silence followed as Jorum seemed to stop fighting. Like the others he threw down, he stood over Rolek, embracing the moment of victory for himself. The hailstorm stopped, leaving in its wake smashed ice shards mingled with the dirt and leaves, and a bloodied and battered Rolek looked up at Jorum.

He began to laugh through his agony. “I tell you what big guy,” he managed to say, “you and I both look like crap… But even with all of that, I’m still way better looking than you!” He chuckled some more before continuing, “You… You just don’t have the looks, bro! I don’t know what else to tell ya!”

Jorum’s face didn’t change, but he pitied this man. He raised his right hand, looking at his blackening veins. “I hoped you could kill me,” he said, dissipating Rolek’s mocking, “but you can’t… There is nothing left to end yet another creature that cannot end my curse.”

Before Jorum could say or do anything more, a light appeared, a quick glimmer just ahead of him, before it burst out from the dark forest. Jorum was drawn to it, as though the entire world around him had suddenly dimmed into darkness at this burst of white light. Rolek too looked and his body quaked at the blinding sight. The light glimmered, and went out like lightning, and the wind blew out from its presence. 

Rolek’s doubt of the supernatural seemed suspended–was he seeing an angelic being? Even the rain dared not touch it. But the closer he looked, the more he realized the light was surging with energy in volts of electric shock, and that in the midst of it stood Annastaria, or at least, he thought it was. Her eyes were like an explosion of pure light, and her right arm shone even more with the angelic glow.

Jorum’s own gray, whitened eyes were flushed out by Annastaria’s. Though his body glowed, it was tainted, grayed, and impure. Annastaria’s light was pure, outlined with a faint, harmonic blue glow. She was, at least in this moment and in whatever state she was in, beyond human. She was like the angels the legends spoke of. Though light came from her eyes, her irises were not beyond sight, and she set them on Jorum.

Rolek scooted away from Jorum. “Elf?” he began, “Is… is that you?”

Annastaria turned her eyes on Rolek then, like beams of energy ready to impale him. She seemed to pause before speaking, “I will take it from here, Rolek.”

Rolek was still shaking as he pulled himself up. He was terrified and yet relieved. “Sounds great.” he said, “I’ll just… go right over here.”

Annastaria wasted no more time with talk, and set her eyes on Jorum again, who likewise stood square with her. He was curious, but yet still filled with pain in his eyes. “You.” he spoke, “You are… what I was meant to be.”

“It is over, Jorum.” Annastaria said, “Surrender yourself.”

“I cannot… You must kill me.”

“There is no need. I know you are in pain… I can sense it. If you surrender, I can take it away.”

“No… You cannot. You may be able to remove this curse from my body… But you can’t remove the curse from my mind. Souls beyond the grave haunt me. I see them here… especially here. This forest is evil. Voices call out to me here–voices that I can’t find… I am cursed, ennageve… Herald of light. I can’t recount the years in which I had hoped that the gods would finally free me from these chains… They are only freed in death… As the scriptures say, salvation is found only in death.”

Annastaria may have been surging with prime energy, but her heart was wounded by his words. He quoted from Dadres, who wrote the Laments of the Prophets, found in the sacred texts. Her body felt weak, though it was filled with power. But she had no more time to weep; Jorum slid himself into a fighting stance, with his right leg forward. But he was not bladed in his stance this time. Annastaria recognized it, but more than this, she felt it, and even saw it. 

Her eyes were filled with magicka, amplified, and her vision was increased; she could see the magic energy in the air, and she could see it converging on Jorum, whose slow movement into a stance was funneling power into himself for an attack. Rolek saw from his own plain eyes, and though he could not see what Annastaria could see, he no less knew that Jorum was about to unleash his full potential on her.

He pulled himself up with a tree several feet away from them and his heart raced. “Erene, be careful!” he shouted, “This guy’s gonna kill you!”

Annastaria heard, but did not pay much attention to the words. “You do not need to do this.” she said to Jorum. 

He went still, and contemplated what he was about to do. His oath came to mind. He remembered what he promised to Ryker, who promised him that he would be a savior to this world. Then he looked and saw in the midst of the majestic power radiating from Annastaria, her necklace twinkle just between her collar bones. He knew what it was. It made him think of her own oaths she swore to her people. He looked her in the eyes again. “You must kill me here.” he said, “I have failed… And he has lied to me.” Annastaria tried to plea further, but Jorum spoke over her attempts, “I have failed! I swore by oath to be what God had called me to be… I have failed him because I swore an oath to men. Kill me, and be true to your oath.”

“It does not need to end this way–”

“Don’t let the oaths you swore to your people cloud you from the oath you must swear before God to be a herald of light. Not even the oaths of the sacred elvish tribes.”

Annastaria’s mind staggered. For a moment, she seemed to drift away from this place, but was brought back in an instant as she felt a pulse, a spike in a magic burst of energy. Jorum had launched his attack. Rolek’s heart seemed to explode as Jorum flung himself at her with the speed of an arrow, firing a flurry of magic. Annastaria leaped to her right and as soon as Jorum’s initial attack failed to land, he blasted her with magic energy bursts. Annastaria only sent her right hand to them; the cube-like enchantments wrapped around her forearm shifted and turned like mechanisms, locked in place, and the magic attacks vanished into the air. Rolek had to rub his eyes to make sure he saw what he was seeing. She wasn’t using warps of any kind; the magic attacks simply disappeared. Jorum was momentarily paralyzed at the impossible sight, but continued his attack.

Bastillina and Oden, with Ryker now as their submissive prisoner, had arrived to behold more of Annastaria’s power, and came just as Jorum was now sending beams of magic energy at Annastaria to no effect. She was simply making his attacks void and impossible to complete. Everything he tried, from pure magic energy, to elemental attacks, Annastaria’s own power simply cast out of existence. Meanwhile, the cube-like enchantments shifted on her arm nearly every time she did it. What was it doing? A question Rolek couldn’t help but continue to ask as he beheld in awe what Annastaria was doing.

For the first time, Jorum’s mutated spirit state, previously seeming to be infinite in magic resources, now seemed to be running out. He was getting slower, and it was taking more of him to throw his most spectacular combinations of attacks, lighting up the forest with an array of magic attacks that did Annastaria no harm.

“Are those… warps?” Bastillina asked.

“No.” Ryker said, “She’s not dispersing the attacks or blunting them. She’s just making them disappear. And with the elemental attacks, she’s merely sucking the power out of them.”

“Can she do that?” Oden asked.

“A prime can… You see the tattoo of square and rectangle shapes on her right arm? Wrapped around it like a gauntlet?” Oden and Bastillina looked carefully. The fight was happening so fast, and Annastaria’s tattoos were glowing, making them hard to see, but they saw them and they were rotating clockwise around her arm. “They call that the Gauntlet of Gears.” Ryker said, “The legend says those ‘tattoos’ are no tattoos at all, but raw, magic power in a form we don’t know of. The gears act as conduits to the physical world; they shift and change at the will of the one possessing them to the combination that the possessor needs to perform any limitless number of combinations of techniques and magic action.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Rolek said, from a short distance away, “You’re saying she can do literally anything she wants with that arm?”

Ryker pondered a moment as he watched Jorum be totally outmatched. “If she knew the spells and magic combinations, yes. My Jorum may have his power exhilarated beyond any normal master, but for her, she’s beyond simple amplified power. She’s controlling the battle itself; at her own desire, she can make magic disappear, return to its inactive state at nearly no cost to her own energy whatever.”

Oden didn’t know whether to be comforted or continue to be concerned for Annastaria. Bastillina was mesmerized, inspired even. If this is what Annastaria could be, could she be the same one day? She was struck with awe like the light that shone from Annastaria at what she was able to do. She was beyond human, like a goddess in battle; at certain points, Bastillina could almost swear she saw Annastaria float in the air. She was overwhelmed with excitement at the idea that this was going to be her master, to train her to become just as powerful. If she could only learn to control her unique power, she could be able to stand up to evil men like Jorum and Ryker one day.

Jorum stepped back, pausing from the fight. His breathing intensified, even as his arms glowed with the power surging through him, though his own tattoos were beginning to fade with the grayed light. He looked ahead to Annastaria and saw that she showed no sign of wavering. But as the battle settled, the glow from her vanished, and she seemed to return to normalcy, frightening Rolek, Oden and Bastillina, and even Ryker. Her eyes returned to their turquoise color; she was human again. Jorum had blood now coming out of his own eyes, not from injury, but something else. He began to choke on fluids, including blood.

“Cease this!” Annastaria said, “There is no more point!”

“Tell me, prime.” Jorum said, “When you see a creature, even one as majestic as a horse, with a broken leg, dying upon the ground, it’s lungs reaching out for air because they have no other thing they know to do, what do you do? Let it die slowly… or end its misery?” A long pause followed. Annastaria knew what he was saying, and she knew the answer because she had done it before “You know what you must do.” Jorum said, “I can see it in your eyes. No zealot has ever gone more than fifteen years of their life before they must make that choice… You must put it down.”

Annastaria’s eyes weakened as Jorum’s eyes shook, and his tears mingled with blackened blood. He would not let her let him live. Once more, she felt magic energy converge on him in a second, and blast outward as he lunged at her with a raspy and dying war cry, and just as quickly, she exploded with light again and threw her right arm out as he did. The gears blew up with light as well and began to shift on her arm, setting themselves in another formation, some connecting with one another and once their formation was formed in an instant, began to move all together counter-clockwise on her forearm, and Jorum froze in mid-flight. His body shook and quivered, and his own breathing was almost entirely stopped. Oden and the others didn’t know what they were seeing, but Ryker did.

“What’s happening?” Bastillina asked, “What’s… he doing?”

“It’s not him.” Ryker said, “It’s her…” Bastillina looked up at him, and couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Tears in Ryker’s eyes? Was this madman remorseful? “She has been hesitating this whole time.” he continued, “Trying to avoid doing what she knew he would force her to do… She’s taken captive his own magicka. It flows in his body, and her freezing it forces his own body to stop.”

“No master is that immersed in magicka!” Oden objected.

“Jorum is… He is because I made him that way.”

Oden couldn’t believe his own ears, and he stood up, squaring with Ryker. “You sick, disgusting monster!” he scolded, “How could you do something like that?”

“I brought him up beyond what he was!” Ryker shouted back, “To make him-”

“To make him what? A prime? He can’t be one! You of all people should know that!” Oden pointed to Annastaria, “Open your eyes, Ryker! Do you see her? That’s pure divine power right there! That’s not something you can replicate through science!”

Ryker paused, watching Jorum die in front of him. Then he smiled, amplifying Oden’s disgust. Ryker looked at him again. “You know so little, Oden… Maybe one day you’ll uncover the truth.”

“What truth?” Oden snapped, now getting in Ryker’s face, “Huh? What truth? Stop these cryptic games little man!” He shoved Ryker then, who stumbled and fell to the ground in despair, but still with a smile on his face.

Jorum pushed himself through Annastaria’s impossible grip. She felt him, and her face weakened further, but her grip did not. It was not the sheer power that made this difficult, it was that she was looking into the eyes of a man made into a monster. Did he try to be what she was trying to be? Could one remain in righteousness simply by virtue of desiring it? It seemed Jorum truly wanted to be righteous. But he was a monster in the end.

Finally, she looked the dying man in his blood-filled eyes and for yet another moment was calm, even for him, as though his life was not being sucked from him. “They will not control me.” she said to him.

Jorum knew what she meant and his anger gave way to bloody tears of comfort. “You…” he managed, even in his failing voice, “You must… find him… The Black…” Annastaria nearly lost focus and let him go, and her angelic eyes faded away again as her eyes went wide. Jorum was freed from her grip, but he was too weak to stand, and collapsed to his knees. “You must.” Jorum mumbled, “He is the key.”

“The Black Priest?” Annastaria asked.

Jorum gave a faint nod, one that Annastaria thought for a moment she only wished he had done. But he spoke further, “They say he hides in the shadows… In all of them. He’s everywhere, but not. I tried to find him… But I could not.”

“I am seeking him… Where? Where do I find him? Could he have been in these forests?”

“Ryker…” he said, and tried to say more, but his voice failed.

Annastaria’s heart twisted. She wanted more answers, but prolonging Jorum’s life any longer, forcing him to live, made her no better than Ryker. And if Jorum was pointing her to Ryker, then he was the one to set her mind on, as well as her hate. She felt her bag nearby, and the magic-filled blades within it. She stretched out her hand towards it, and a blade darted from the bag and into her hand. She raised it with her right hand, no longer glowing with magic. She knelt down to Jorum, placing her left hand on his right shoulder. It was okay. He couldn’t fight anymore.

She paused, looking into his eyes one more time. He couldn’t speak anymore, but his bloodshot eyes gave her the approval, and she drove it into Jorum’s heart. He gave out a painful exhale, and went stiff for a moment that lasted too long. Finally, the air he trapped in his lungs from the stab exhaled. He fell into her arms, looking up at her, into the eyes of a young girl. For once, he was able to wish good upon someone, to hope that her gentle face would not be molested by the horrors he had embraced. He could only hope she wouldn’t let it happen to her. His head lay in her arms, gentle now and his tears had dried. But Annastaria’s were beginning to swell. His life was fading. Annastaria could hear his heartbeat weaken,  and all she could think was one more thing to say to him. She didn’t know why, but scripture came to mind, and she spoke it to him in elvish:

“Lay at peace, oh broken spirit. God’s hand now brings you to that place to heal… In the rivers of life.”

She had no reason to think he understood what she said, but somehow, with a faint nod, he seemed to know it and air cast itself out of his bloodied mouth, and his eyes went still with his body. She couldn’t help but be brought back to when she first slew a majestic horse when she was only thirteen. She had to do it both for the horse, and for herself. It was dying, and her masters knew she had to learn to make those grave and unfathomable choices. Uramuun always said it was the hardening of the heart that needed hardening, not the part that needed to be soft for tender mercies, but the part that needed to be ready for the battles that had to be fought.

She wept, but softly, hoping no one else would see. She didn’t know why she cried for this man she did not know, that she did not have any reason to care for, who hurt her, who tortured her and tried to kill her friends. He reminded her of that beautiful horse, which was black, yet having a coat that gleaned in the light like the stars in the night sky, beautiful and wondrous. She’ll never forget that horse, and she did not imagine she would forget Jorum.

Calm footsteps tread their way to her as the whole forest returned to its normal state. Trickles of rainfall were heard again as the air went still. Annastaria wiped her nose and looked to the sound of the footsteps, which she knew were Rolek’s, and not far from him was the others. She didn’t look up at any of them, afraid they would see her tears. But when Ryker came to mind, and she had seen his boots in her peripheral vision, the vulnerable eyes were swallowed in anger. What hate she had for Jorum was now meant for Ryker.

“Look at what you did.” she said to him, displaying the bloodied and dead Jorum in her arms.

Ryker felt everyone’s eyes on him, but only kept his eyes on Annastaria. “His sacrifice will not be forgotten.” he said.

“Is that all you have to say?” she said, gently placing Jorum’s head on the ground so she could stand up and face him, “That he will be remembered? It must be easy for men like you to sacrifice people!”

“You can scold me all you want, young elf, it doesn’t change–”

Annastaria whipped out another dagger and charged at Ryker. But Oden and Rolek stepped in front of her. “Anna, stop!” Oden pleaded, “It’s not worth it!”

Annastaria kept her eyes on Ryker, and while she was killing him in her mind, she relented in her body. She shook with anger and hatred as she pierced him with her eyes. “You don’t want to kill me, Anna.” Ryker said, drawing a smile then, “Hmm… That’s a pretty name.” She nearly gave into her passion again, but Rolek kept pushing her back as more police were heard behind them somewhere.

“No.” she said, calming herself, “I do not wish to kill you. Not until you tell me where to find the Black Priest.”

The still air seemed to go even more still once the words left her mouth. Even Ryker was paralyzed by it. “Who?” Oden asked.

“Well, well,” Ryker said, “it seems my Jorum had some very poignant last words for you.”

“He was searching for him. He said only you would know. Tell me now.”

“What’s my guarantee you won’t slit my throat once I do?”

The voices of the police began to draw closer to them, and they saw flashlights now over the hill towards the warehouses. “Anna,” Oden said, “we need to get out of here. If we don’t leave now, we’ll be going to the jailhouse with this lowlife.”

“I’ll make you a deal.” Ryker said, “Take me with you… and I’ll tell you what I know about the Black Priest.”

“What do you know?” Annastaria snapped.

Ryker tried to calm her with words as he backed up from her, “I know enough that if I end up in an Oenkev jail, I won’t last long enough to tell you; take me with you now, and I’ll show you where to find him.”

“He’s lying.” Oden objected, “He’s trying to use you to get free again.”

“He won’t do anything funny as long as I’ve got him.” Rolek said, “If you got something to get out of this punk, Erene, I’m happy to help.”

“This guy turned a man into a mutated monster, and he tried to steal Anna’s power! He’s a thieving nutjob! And we have to go right now!”

Before another word from anyone could be said, a voice was heard, “Don’t move!” Everyone went still and looked to the source. It was Dylen, pointing his gun at them, but he was alone. He approached slowly, looking at each of them.

“Fine day, isn’t it, officer?” Rolek said with a grin.

“Definitely one to remember.” Dylen replied. He took a few more steps and then lowered his gun. “So.” he said, looking at Annastaria, “You’re the elf who’s had my partner and myself running halfway across Oenkev to find.”

Annastaria kept her guard up but calm. “It was not my intention.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t… But here we are.”

“How’s your boss-lady doing by the way?” Rolek asked.

Dylen looked at him with a pause, and a face Rolek wasn’t sure what to think of. It didn’t look good either way. He looked at the dead Jorum, who only reminded Dylen of what happened to Elise. “Not well.” he replied, “Her arm is crushed… She’ll probably lose it.” 

Rolek didn’t know what to say for a moment. “I’m sorry to hear that.” was all he could say.

Dylen shrugged off the comment, looking at Jorum again. “You got the bastard who did it anyway.” he said.

“We did.” Annastaria said, grabbing Ryker by the shoulder and throwing him at Dylen, “He is the… bastard, as you call it. I do not know what that means, but it seems fitting for him.”

Dylen grabbed Ryker’s shoulder, pulling him towards himself to let Ryker know he was now in police custody. Ryker set his eyes on Annastaria, with a look just for her to know what she had just decided to do. “So what’s next, officer?” Rolek asked.

Dylen began listening to the voices of officers somewhere behind himself, still searching the area. He turned back to Annastaria and the others. “I have one question for you.” he said to Annastaria. She prepared herself, as he seemed to take a long and agonizing pause. “What exactly are you doing here?”

She paused, hesitating. Her instincts to withhold information were still firm in her mind, but she battled with them now. “I am only passing through.” she said, “I am not intending your people any harm… I am on a mission for my clan to find one person who is not of Oenian lineage. I promise you this.”

Dylen stood silent, making Annastaria nervous. Then a smirk grew on his face. “I thought as much.” he said, “Then I suppose I’ll have to have my boys start looking for you.” An awkward silence followed, accompanied by an uncomfortable stillness through Annastaria and the others. But Dylen wasn’t finished, “So you guys went south, huh?”

Again, the others didn’t know what to say or do. Annastaria felt the need to correct him, as did Bastillina, remembering they had to go west, into Febia. “Actually.” Bastillina spoke up, “We’re… going west.”

“So south it is, then?” Dylen repeated.

Rolek and Oden looked at each other, and then at Annastaria. “Who are you?” she asked him.

Dylen smirked, “Just a friend.”

Annastaria paused, trying to figure out what he was getting at. “You realize what you’re getting yourself into by helping us, right?” Rolek asked.

Dylen was quiet as he contemplated what to say next. He looked down for a moment as he thought. But he turned back up to them and the smirk on his face grew. “I guess I do… But orders can sometimes get in the way of what’s right.” he said.

Rolek only smirked. “Sounds like good advice.” he replied, “But let’s not forget that doesn’t mean you make rules up as you go.”

Dylen shrugged at the words, “I guess it comes down to whether you got the right instincts then, doesn’t it?” Rolek had nothing else to add, but to continue to give Dylen a smile of gratitude. He was a smart young man, Rolek thought. “Whoever your target is, elf,” Dylen said, looking at Annastaria, “I hope he’s bad enough to deserve it.”

Annastaria looked at Ryker, who had a look about him filled with inquiries that itched in her mind. “May I ask a favor of you?” she said to Dylen. He stood ready to listen as Annastaria stepped forward, eyes still on Ryker for a moment before she stopped to look at Dylen, “Keep him especially safe. I would like to ask him more questions, if possible.”

“What exactly are you asking me to do?”

“I cannot take him with me, and he knows something regarding my quest.”

Ryker managed a smile. “You’re making a big mistake, Anna.” he said.

Annastaria stepped in front of him, showing him her disregard for his personal space. She stared him in the eyes for a moment. His smile never seemed to waver. “You and I are not finished.” she said, “I will have what I need from you.”

“Look at you,” he replied, as if to scoff, “all tough and authoritative… I sure hope all that prime power isn’t going to your head.”

“Be silent! I am no different than I was when I left. Unlike you, I used my power to stop evil, not to create it.”

“Really? And who gets to be the judge of that? You?”

Once more, Annastaria struggled to keep up with Ryker’s argumentation. He knew far more than she did, and it angered her. She wouldn’t let him see her struggle to keep up with his rhetoric, and maintained a glare towards him. “Mark my words… I will find the Black Priest. We will end his blight, and then I will show you and the world that the elves can return the great kingdoms. I will not make the same mistake the patriarchs made.”

At that, Ryker couldn’t help but begin to laugh, causing Annastaria to become even more angry. “Is that so?” he said in his scoff. He had to let his laughing subside before he continued, “How many people came before you with the same determination? You think you’re the only one to say that?  Ever heard of Galtrod? Benedes? Even the most recent Armadon? All men who swore to use their power and influence to stop evil, and not create it. Funny how they ended up some of history’s worst tyrants of all, isn’t it? Little lady, the worst of them made the kind of promises you’re making. Go ahead, rebuild a new elvish kingdom with your prime power. I guess I don’t mind being proven right one more time.”

Annastaria’s eyes narrowed even more at him in disdain. He even used an ancient elvish king, Galtrod as one of his examples. He was just one bad apple, she rationalized. “So confident that you are correct, are you?”

“Every tyrant began with the best intentions of the people in mind, Anna. If you think the solution to the curse upon Enussia is another monarchy, then you have learned nothing from the failure of your people… You’re gonna walk right into another dynasty doomed to fail, and kill thousands of people in the process. Like the rest of the elves, you fail to see the most important message your own scriptures you hold to such high esteem tell you.”

“And what might that be, oh wise one?” Oden interjected.

Ryker looked at him, and with no shame in his eyes for what he was saying. “That you and I are evil to our core. Great empires won’t save humanity. Great civilization, technological advancement, cultural awakenings and even religion won’t save this world.” He turned his eyes exclusively to Annastaria then. “We are cursed, my dear.” he said with a soft voice, “There is none righteous, not one. All have fallen, all have drifted away, bound to drift by the curse of the fall… Your failure to realize that this evil is present in all men is what allows such men to rule unchecked, under the false promise of providing a messiah to finally reign in an age of peace. Read your history, girl… That has never happened.”

Annastaria went silent. Yet again, she struggled to find the words to throw back at him. Dylen turned around to the sound of voices closing in on them; their time together was running on just seconds now. He reached into his pocket and handed Annastaria a card. “Take this.” he said, “It’s a number to my house. You call that whenever you find the time. Hopefully I’ll be there, if not leave a message and try again later. I’m bound to answer at some point… In the meantime, I’ll see what I can do about him.”

Annastaria looked at the card, reading his name and number and address. “Go!” Dylen said, “You have to go, now! If they see you here, then I’ll have no choice but to put you under arrest!”

Annastaria hesitated, and thanked him as Rolek pulled her away. There was nothing left for them here, except for a final look at Ryker, with the same smirk on his face to her, one she dreaded seeing, and hoped to forget.

They moved east once again, returning to familiar terrain that took them over a mile away, once more returning to the Spear of Halgarden, seeing the mountains from before that stood tall and great as ever. Bastillina took a moment to take in the sight again, as if it was the first time, with the stormy, dark clouds hovering over them.

“Well, here we are again.” said Rolek, “I feel like we just ran in a complete circle.”

“How are you feeling?” Oden asked Annastaria.

Eyes all turned to her, who was noticeably bent over more than normal, and during their walk through the woods, they noticed she would hold her abdominal area several times. “I will be fine.” she said, “It is mostly strikes I sustained from that criminal leader.”

Oden paused, battling thoughts of hatred in his mind with thoughts of concern for Annastaria. “Well,” he said, “I’m sure he won’t be a problem for us anymore.”

“That is all behind us now.”

“You can say that again.” said Rolek as he walked into the conversation, pointing his bruised face to the east, where they had come from, still able to see some of the airships several miles in the distance. “It won’t be long before they stretch their search this way.” he continued, “We don’t wanna be here when they come.”

“It seems we’re back to where we were just last night.” said Oden.

Annastaria reached into her bag to get her glove and sleeve to place over her arm, drawing spectating eyes from Rolek and the other two; they each noticed she had a new addition to the enchantments on her right forearm. Now she had a design similar to what was on her palm on her right shoulder. It was a series of circles in and around each other, with what appeared to be elvish, or nagush words wrapped around them, and at the center a grouping of four circles. 

“What are you?” Rolek asked.

Annastaria looked at him, and then Oden and Bastillina. Though they didn’t say anything, it was clear Rolek spoke what was on their minds as well. She opened her right hand to look into her palm for a moment, contemplating what she hid behind the glove, and then looked at them. “That is a question that I intend to discover soon enough.” she said.

“So even you don’t know what you are?”

“I wish I did.” she replied, stepping past him to look to the western mountains in the distance, “And I would tell each of you if I truly did… But I think I may know of someone who does.”

“And who might that be?” asked Oden.

Annastaria didn’t say it, but she knew what she had to do. The only problem was that what she had to do involved her breaking another creed. It was one of a degree of punishment and consequences she never thought she would be tempted to face. The importance of the quest returned to her mind, and the only clear thing that she knew was that she had to return to Mennix. But what happened next? After the last few days, could she truly just go back home? 

She hated the idea, but was more than willing to go through with it. Yet after all of this, what was she to do? She could hardly believe it; she felt her conscience failing to convince her to go to Forik, where her way home waited for her. She did have friends with her now, friends she knew her people would never accept, and yet she couldn’t imagine herself able to live with a clean conscience, forsaking all of them after this.

Ryker knew something; he had answers to questions for her people that needed to be learned. At this point, creedal law got in the way of these answers–her answers. After what felt like a long several minutes of internal reflection, Annastaria turned to the others. “I cannot ask any of you to come with me.” she said, “I have put you in danger… And where I am going, only more will follow, and likely far greater.”

The others looked at each other. “Where exactly am I supposed to go?” said Oden, “I mean… I don’t think they got Lance back there, which means if I turn around I’ll have him and the SIU looking for me.”

“I got a bounty to collect.” said Rolek, “And a duel to still have with you, elf.”

Annastaria couldn’t help but smile. “You know that you cannot collect that bounty anymore, do you not? The power in that artifact is now safely with me.”

Rolek smiled back, “Guess that just leaves you and me with a rematch.” Annastaria’s smile grew. Somehow she knew he was lying, and all the other times she asked him why he stuck around he was lying, but she didn’t care, at least not in this moment. She turned to Bastillina, followed by both Oden and Rolek.

“You really think I’m going back to Levaan?” the girl said, “After all of that? Pfft! I’m ready for those mountains!”

Annastaria sighed, half-regretting Bastillina’s optimism, but her smile remained. Rolek stepped towards them to look at the mountains again. His own smile disappeared as he scanned them. “Well, like before,” he began, “I have to really protest the mountains.” He turned around to them, and especially Annastaria, “Winter’s on its way, and if you intend to go towards or to the Halgador Mountains, it’s not going to go well.”

Oden stepped forward then. “As much as a stroll through the mountains always sounds fun,” he began, “after what we just went through, I’m a little tired to be hiking those things. Plus, Rolek didn’t mention the wild life we’ll encounter.”

Annastaria was reminded of her part of the quest, which was to investigate Mennix, and then return to Forik, where she would go through the Halgador Mountain pass, into the Valley of Kings, and return home. “Whatever we choose,” said Annastaria, keeping her eyes on the storm to the mountains, “there is one place I must go to first.”

“Where?” asked Rolek.

“A place in these woods… I must look at it one more time before we set off.”

“It better be important. Come on, I’ll lead us down the cliff. There’s another storm coming at us, not to mention Oenkev authorities.”

Oden and Bastillina obliged, following Rolek carefully down the cliff once more. Annastaria stood silent for a moment. The wind continued to beat against her from the north, where it always came from in this place. She stared at the storm, and to the west, thinking about Rolek’s last words. 

“Yes.” she said to herself, “A storm is coming.” The sounds of the airships behind her drew nearer, and she turned to them, watching them slowly move west. It was time to go, and she followed the others down the cliff to disappear into the woods once more.

It took another thirty minutes to reach it, and for the most part, Annastaria had to go by memory, but once she recognized the groves and a particular rock formation that almost pointed her to it, she found the opening, and saw the group of stones standing idle in the woods. As before, there was an unsettling nature to their idleness.

“What in the world?” Oden asked, almost forced to stop as he beheld the stones.

“That looks…” said Rolek slowly, “unnatural.”

“It’s just a big pile of rocks.” Bastillina said.

“It’s one thing to find shrines in the woods, kid.” said Rolek as they stopped in front of the stones, “It’s a whole different thing when you find stones standing upward like this.”

“Do you know what it is?” Annastaria asked him.

Rolek didn’t expect the question, and his gaze upon the stones relented to look at her. “Not exactly. But there’s something about this that doesn’t sit right with me. Especially with what’s happened the last few hours? I don’t like it.”

“What exactly are we looking at?” Oden asked.

Annastaria paused, looking at the stones again. “This is a prison.” she answered, drawing all eyes to her.

“Umm,” Oden said, “what kind, exactly?”

“One meant to contain a spirit. I believe that spirit haunts these woods.”

“You… you’re serious?”

“I am. I felt it yesterday. This is what I came here to find.”

“You mean… from your clan?”

Annastaria nodded, “Yes. They sent me here to investigate strange readings we uncovered in these parts.”

Rolek tossed his hands up, “And so, what… You found nothing? Now you just go home?”

Annastaria paused again. That really was it. She was just supposed to go home now. She knew something evil was kept here. But she had no means to remove it. Even were she to break one more rule and use her prime power to purge it, she knew it would bring a scorn on her she didn’t care to face. And more than this, she didn’t know what would happen if she did. But something or someone put this thing here, and now her mind began to use that as a reason to do what she was not supposed to do. 

She reached into her shirt, drawing out her pendant, looking at Kai, and then at the other one, with the flower. She stared at it. Once more, she tried to convince herself it was time to go home, but she couldn’t. 

“Yes.” she answered Rolek, “That is what I am supposed to do.” She paused again, with her mind going back and forth. She felt like a pot of boiling water, ready to burst over the sides. Then her eyes looked up at them, “But I cannot go.”

The others stood silent and awkward, like those words were supposed to impact them somehow. They only impacted Annastaria, however, and the others simply looked at each other for what they were supposed to think. “Okay,” said Oden back to Annastaria, “then I guess… we need to keep moving, right?”

“We do. But I must once more warn you: I have others out here on the same quest, but they are going to different places.”

“Why would they be going there?” Rolek asked.

“We were sent in divided groups to go to places where we drew the readings. I was sent here, and the others to other places. Those had greater readings.”

Rolek stepped forward, looking down and rubbing his mouth as he pondered his next question, “What exactly are you guys looking for out here?”

Annastaria paused again, looking directly into Rolek’s eyes. “The Black Priest.”

Rolek didn’t step back physically, but mentally he did. He couldn’t believe the words. “A legend?” he asked, “You guys are hunting… what’s most likely a ghost?”

“We are. And we cannot stop until we know if he is a ghost or not.”

“What’s a black priest?” Bastillina asked.

“I will explain it later. But you must know that I do not know how my people will receive you. Everything I told you will already put me in great trouble… Are you sure you wish to come with me?” She looked particularly at Bastillina, “I know you desire to see the world, Bella… But I am not the person to see it with.”

Bastillina stepped forward, swallowing once, but without hesitation. “I’m going with you.” she said, “There ain’t anythin’ for me back there.”

“Count me in.” Oden said, “I don’t know anything about this Black Priest… But I owe you my life, Annastaria. I’m coming with you, and I don’t care what ‘your people’ think about me.”

The three of them looked at Rolek now, as though his decision held the fate of the whole quest. He looked at each of them, and lastly Annastaria. “Alright,” he sighed, “I’m in. I bet there’s a nice, hefty reward for whoever can find this guy, or to prove he’s a big hoax to scare all the creepies away.”

Annastaria smiled, and then looked at each of them. “Then we must go.” she said, “There is no more time to waste. We must get to Bokshaer.”

To be continued…