A sound drifted over the howling wind outside. Several more joined it. Although her head throbbed, Irmina frowned. It was a bark ending in a roar or piercing growl.
She reached her senses out and recoiled as her mind touched another consciousness. It was like slamming her fist into a brick wall. She gasped.
“What is it,” High Shin Cantor asked, his voice a dull rumble steeped in pain.
“Daggerpaws,” Irmina replied. “Hundreds of them.”
Chapter 32
Ancel drew the sword. The Etchings running down the blade glowed. As they did so, the essences rushed into its surface and bonded. In a burst of luminance, the weapon transformed, its width increasing to massive proportions made up entirely of completed elements. The Etchings spelled out a single word.
Antonjur.
He pointed the sword skyward, to the heavens above Jenoah.
Elemental power roiled across the sky as if the gods of Streams and Flows battled for supremacy. No, not as if. They did indeed battle. He felt them. The threads of their power, of their essences, flowed and congealed all around him. He imagined their fear-inspiring visages clad in the finest armors, only their sparkling eyes showing through slits in their helms.
Ilumni and Amuni wielded the elements of Streams. The essences of light and shade within each comingled. The god of light’s power resonated in the lightning flashes and in the wan afternoon sun. Amuni’s taint bubbled everywhere, from the foliage below, infected and decaying with his shade, to the darkness choking the air. Even the sun appeared diminished here in Hydae.
Opposite those two, Ancel sensed the twin goddess and god of Flows lashing out together. Their power sent prickles across his skin as if he stood naked instead of in his silversteel armor filigreed with Etchings. Aeoli commanded the void, using the air itself to form the storm winds. Hyzenki paired with his sister in the fight, breaking the thunderheads to make water join the fray. Black rain pelted down before howling winds whipped the drops sideways like arrows shot from a million bows.
However, the attacks were not aimed at each other. The blasts soared through the sky, across the lands and seas, headed toward Ancel and the hundreds of thousands of people in Jenoah. A single word echoed in Ancel’s mind.
Protect.
Energy coruscated from his sword. It formed a dome many miles wide and high, encompassing the entire city. From his Etchings came a Matersurge. It joined that in the air. The primal essences were his to command. A towering figure wreathed in light formed.
The attack of the four gods struck. The world went white. He screamed.
Mouth open in a soundless shriek, Ancel jerked upright. Sweat poured down his face. His heart felt as if it would burst from his chest. “Mother, Da …” his voice trailed off as the greenery around him caught his eye. A dream. He gulped in air, let out a slow breath, and then frowned. Green? And why was it so warm? The last he remembered was dragging Ryne-. He froze, his heart thundering once more. Where am I?
Dotted by occasional blooms, verdant plains of grass spread down from the slope where he sat. Beyond them was a lake, its waters glinting with the sunlight, and a forest with so many different shades of color it appeared as if someone draped a rainbow atop the trees. The aroma of fruits and flowers was so overwhelming he could taste them. The expansive forest continued to where a mountain sprouted in the distance, a titan of earth and stone wearing a green cloak, its shoulders and peaks disappearing in mists and clouds. He scrubbed at his eyes and licked his lips, but neither the sights nor the tastes wavered.
Although he couldn’t see them, he felt the pull of essences as if they wanted to snatch the skin from his body. It brought memories of the night the man in black took his mother. He slid his hand to where the link said his sword should be next to him and closed his fingers around the hilt.
“You’re awake, finally.”
Ancel almost leapt out of his skin. He snapped his head around. Behind him, Ryne stood with a hand on his hip. Eyes narrowed, the giant man, stared at him.
After swallowing a few deep breaths that he hoped Ryne didn’t notice, Ancel found words. “What happened?” He somehow felt more refreshed than he had in a long time.
“You Forged too much Mater in your efforts to help me. You not only depleted your sela, but you damaged your aura.” Ryne still squinted.
Ancel remembered what he saw leaking from Ryne and the cracks in the man’s aura. He nodded.
“It’s why I needed to get here and brought you.” The tightness in Ryne’s eyes eased. “There are several outcomes to a broken aura. Madness can be a result. Death is inevitable if the damage isn’t completely sealed. This,” Ryne gestured around them, “is one of the few places where such a mending can take place. It’s also one the few places where an Eztezian can empower their Etchings.”
Ancel took in the rest of their surroundings. Sparkling with minerals, canyon walls rose behind them, stretching up so high they appeared endless. A waterfall splashed down a sheer cliff face that was black and green from the water flow and the vegetation thriving there. It crashed into an emerald pool below. From there, the water flowed off into a twisting yet short river pouring into the center of the valley to form the enormous lake.
Whistles and singing calls played a medley of life, each refrain higher than the next. Multicolored birds flew in a dozen or more flocks toward fruit trees along the plains. Small herds grazed on the grassy slopes. Among them he spotted sheep and goats. Slotopes rolled along the ground in their shells, then uncoiled to reveal six legs, four they used to stand on while reaching up, tongues snaking out to snag leaves. There were also slainen, with their leathery hide, long necks, and backs lined with several small humps, as well as other creatures he’d never seen before.
One in particular caught his eye. They were horse-like in appearance but with a longer, more tapered face. They stood maybe two hands taller than any horse. They ranged in color from an almost pure white to a light shade of gold. On their heads, about where horses normally had forelocks, stood what could have passed for horns, except they were blue in color and moved on their own. Not the flutter of hair from a breeze, but the purposeful twitch of life when the creatures flicked their heads or bent to graze. The appendages grew one above the other with the higher one twice as long as the lower. On some of the animals, their golden manes stretched down their backs meeting their tails before stretching out behind them. Those particular ones strutted majestically most of the time and made trumpeting calls.
“What are those?” Ancel pointed at the beasts.
“Kentens. The fastest animal alive if you can somehow manage to tame one. They can use Mater to port from one location to the next, similar to Materializing.”
A large herd of deer pranced and played along the edge of the big lake, while other animals settled closer to the small pools dotting the landscape like glittering jewels. Several deer began drinking from the water when the lake abruptly roiled. Two long, scaled necks shot up from what had been a shadow on the water. The deer bounded away, but some were too slow. Large jaws with many rows of teeth and an eye on either side snapped down on two of the animals. The creature recoiled, the murky waters swallowing it and its prey.
Ancel gaped.
“This place is a circle of life and harmony much as Mater itself is the same,” Ryne said.