Silver Cathedral Saga (27 page)

“That’s not
going to help,” said one of the other women in front of Eleanor.
She knew what she had to do, only she had to act quicker than ever;
she let her solar power flow out, and just stood there until
eventually the two other Water Spirits came to her, but as they
did, Eleanor powered up the fire shield, with its twisting,
rotating animation, looking like she was more in a cage than being
held safe from the power of her magic; of Emae’s magic. She knew
all magick was a borrowing game, so she tried to get her mind into
only using it when it is absolutely necessary.

The two
woman who were so close to her—started to steam, not burn like a
normal person. There was steam so thick it covered most of this
small underground hole, room. The core of the planet.

They
completely dissipate into steam, but it happened so fast, as the
heat from the fire accelerated their passing.

Captain
Mileena turned her head to see what happened, waking up. She pulled
an angry face that held those of her own kind on. The ones who had
just been evaporated into the air.

It became
hard to see now all around. The two Water Spirits that evaporated
made a dense fog so quickly. Although a shifting of light and fire
flickered through the thick mist from Eleanor’s shield.

They both
now saw a strong red burst hang above them; they had not noticed
this before, but they were so engrossed in the things what were
happening that they did not pay entire attention to their
surroundings. But now they couldn’t see what it was properly
anyway, other than a powerfully bright light that sent out a faint
noise of thick goo slushing around; the smell, it seemed to come
from this thing; eggs that had been left to rot in the open. It was
tremendously strong whatever it was.

Christian
and Eleanor then moved to Ematay, though very little could be seen
from them doing this, only the light from the shield. She powered
down the shield for a brief second to let Christian inside, and she
seemed to have gotten used to the suddenness of magick now; it felt
like an instance in reacting than a forceful long process she was
first taught about.

The
children couldn’t see much. Just two blurry figures in front of
them at this time, so they figured they were close.

“I would
advise not getting too close. Other wise your friend here will have
a very long sleep. An eternal one,” said the Dark Queen.

Eleanor and
Christian stopped as soon as they heard this.

“Power down
the shield,” said the Dark Queen. The children done as she said,
feeling defeated already.

Ematay
seemed to have noticed more so than the children from Hiva Aura
that the voice sounded young, so much like Eleanor and Christian,
or Oddius and Selphira’s, though she looked much older. It stepped
into his mind if this woman could be young, or even worse; but he
dared not think on that.

Time was
against them now more than ever. There was mere hours left before
the Shadows would reach Swansie, and take over the last city, and
with it—there last hope.

At this
time, a swooping sound erupted through the air, twice.

“Ematay, it
seems you have been betrayed,” said Selphira trying to find him
through the mist, “me and Oddius were stronger than they
thought.

“Well, that
and they didn’t know I had a gravity field shield around us both,”
replied Oddius.

The Dark
Queen turned quiet, and so did Ematay.

“Oddius,
Selphira, be careful. The Dark Queen has Ematay captured here
somewhere. It was all a trap.”

The two
Warriors of Faith instantly got ready, Oddius made their repel
shield stronger than before, and Selphira turned into an Original
Astorian again, for the coming fight; if it would ever come to
that.

There was a
sound, a popping that fell upon the air first, and a scampering,
the children and Warriors of Faith kept even more cautious as to
what was next.

There was a
running sound from someone, but none of what was left of Ematay’s
team knew what or who it was.

“Running
here will do nobody any good.” There was a sound like that of the
priest in Athana that made a black hole, then a windy breezy sucked
up the mist that lurked, and seemed to want to linger and stay
around. It was drawn to the black hole above them. They could all
see it now, and everybody in the room was clear to each other. For
all preying eyes.

The two
Edeolon Warriors ran to the children, and the children saw Ematay
pop the black ropes by growing a shield around himself slowly,
breaking them; only they did not break; they all just disappeared
and dissolved, as if they never existed, becoming black dust on the
floor like the Shadows when destroyed.

Ematay then
walked over to his friends, holding a shield up around him in case
something was projected or hurled towards his body.

He was soon
with his allies, and his friends. Although the Star-caster made
sure the shield never went down, it was starting to show its
weakness without the stars to help.

“Power down
the shield,” said Oddius, “she wont get near anytime soon if I put
a gravity wall all the way around us.”

“That’s not
what worries me,” said Ematay. “She has the power of black holes,
of dark energy. She can create all sorts of shapes out of the dark
realms energy inside. Never have I seen a potent user with a gift
so deadly. She can travel wherever she wants.”

“Space
magick users have very similar rules to you; they are at their
strongest in the night. Beneath the open sky,” said Selphira.
“Surely we can use this to our advantage?”

“We could,”
said Ematay, “if we knew where she was to begin with.” All their
heads span around the place frantically, hoping to see her in one
way, and not in another.

“I can’t
find her,” said Eleanor. “She’s not here.”

“She has to
be,” answered Selphira. “Where else could she be.” But as she said
this, a hand grew out of a shadow that seemed to blend in with the
environment too well for even the best eyes to see. It tried to
grab Eleanor, but when it got near it was repelled back, before she
was pulled out of the hole, forced by the gesture Oddius’s hand
gave. He waved his arm and she was now floating upon the air,
raising ever so quickly. But then he soon stopped her, keeping her
incredibly still, looking up.

“There,”
said Oddius. “She won’t be going anywhere without momentum for some
time.”

“Where is
the Spirit and Swan Stone?” asked Ematay with both fury and panic
in his voice.

“Somewhere
you could only get to if I allowed it,” said the queen suspended in
the air. “Do you really think this will keep me here.” She opened
black holes all around them, making it like a cage enclosing all,
including herself.

Ropes shot
out of these dark and dangerous portals, the same kind that held
the Star-caster captured for some time. Only now was different, as
Ematay’s star magick was weakening. He barely had the power to call
forth the energy then. The ropes came out from all over, though
they couldn’t get near any of them in these moments. They were
pushed away by some mystical force.

“You
underestimate me, Dark Queen. I am a Warrior of Faith. And our
faith is mightier that yours,” said Oddius. Selphira stepped in
front of her long time friend and ally.

“That makes
the two of us,” said Selphira as she transformed into an original
Astorian in good condition, unlike the one they had just seen
prior.

“Well,
well,” said the evil queen. “Survivors. But survivors don’t equal
warriors. It is more than likely you only survived because you were
cowards. Cowards of the lowest order.” Her voice sounded young, but
the echoes made it sound rough, haggard and chilling. As if they
were talking to an almighty power that already made slaves of the
people on the ground.

Christian
had been thinking all this time when they were talking before, and
he nudged Eleanor.

“The stones
are in the black hole, in this other dark world. It’s the most
obvious thing to stare at me, and it is. It’s staring at us right
now. We both have to go in. I know with you, you can always find
your way out. I’ve never quite figured out how it works, I’m just
glad it does. You with me?”

“Of course
I’m with you,” said Eleanor sounding offended. “There will be
nothing left if we don’t act now.”

“After
three,” said Eleanor.

Christian
nodded.

Both
noticed the ropes reclined back into their holes, only now black
disks shot out and tried to hit all five, yet the gravity field
deflected and protected them.

“My power
can’t run forever down here,” whispered Oddius. “Space magick is
strengthened by the night. Like our enemy here.”

“Which
means she will be running low,” said Selphira.

“We don’t
know that,” said Ematay. “Some Spell-casters are very gifted in
mobile stamina; when there magick isn’t replenished, but can use a
vast amount of it nonetheless. She might be one of those.” The
Spell-casters and warriors felt the little ones move, and saw them
run into the black hole quicker than they could react. The many
holes had merged over time into one engulfing sphere around them
now

“No,” said
Selphira in a strange language that sounded like hacking up flem.
Her eyes turned to a lost look in her gigantic form, placing
herself to looking more lost than the rest.

The others
felt as if they had already lost in this instant, and became heavy
and dragged down with these very thoughts.

Front Lines

There
was several battalions already on the battlefield before the city
of Swansie.

A great
deal of the King’s army was destroyed. Even with all the people
helping from Swansie, fighting, they simply could not compete. And
this was when they found simple steel and arrows could not kill
these Shadows.

It seemed
only magick could kill them; as well as the combined efforts of
magick and steel in unison. Many from other villages perished not
knowing this, but king Almare had watchful eyes inside every
populated location on Astora; people who kept an an eye on the
place and updated information to the king about anything
suspicious. Though that did not save the thousands dead now.

They might
of stood some chance if many of the Spell-casters and people on
Astora were not picked off over the last four days or so. As nobody
truly knew when they arrived.

There was a
foul fear lurking in the warriors minds.

Numbers
plagued their consciousness as they looked out to the field, just
waiting. For the Shadows to turn up…

Four
battalions, each with forty soldiers, were spread around the front
walls of the city of Swansie.

More
Swansie people were inside with weapons; weapons that came from
Adalas.

It made
these Spell-casters look even more drawn and stretched.

A noise
came to them. A plodding of thuds against the land led all their
eyes to widen, and their minds to awaken from daydreaming of things
they wished they didn’t think so much of. Because it was all here,
right now, in front of them.

Giant
hordes of the Shadows came over a little ditch, and they could see
the many numbers following behind now properly. The ground was
brown, with only little patches of grass here and there on the
Shrin Plains, the land before the city, as if life had been
trampled out by the numbers that had gone before on this plain.

The
darkness of their enemy went on for miles.

Soldiers
hearts started pounding so hard, almost rhythmically, with the
thuds of the Shadows. Some closed their eye lids, hoping it would
help. But it the end it did not. It could not.

Shadows
stopped just before the city, staring at the humanoids, as if to
invite them to run away now, and let them sweep away the last home
of Astora on its land.

Yet they
did not. Courage inside them was real. For they knew if they were
to run, the many thousands behind them in the city would be taken,
killed, or something in-between.

The
Battle-casters all on the ground, at the front, were all in much
thicker armour than other casters; they were shielded by them;
elemental archers: Fire-casters, Water-casters, Earth-casters.
Beast-casters were at the very back, and left with much room to
spare because of the creatures they would turn into being bigger
than anything else on the battle field. Or so they hoped.

Their
enemy stood for another few brief moments before moving again,
slowly now, not unlike before. They seemed to have moved quick,
quicker than humans in getting here; something they had not
anticipated they could do until recently also.

A voice shouted among the line of Astorians. A one
who sounded familiar. A female. “We need to buy more time
Astorians. They are not ready. Earth-casters, bring up a wall of
rock between their line—and hold it until I say
otherwise.

A rumbling erupted, and up came the rocks of brown
and grey from beneath the earth.

They were thick and stood tall, like a wall, a
prison, a fortress keeping out the enemy. There was thirty
Earth-casters, and several had to summon the energy from the ground
more than once, as the line was so great in width compared to their
own.

Earth-casters were at their strongest on ground or
land, naturally. The seas and skies never seemed to have agreed
with them, and made them temporarily week if they chose to travel
or go those ways. The same was for Water-casters, only the sea
fuelled them more than the land.

The one who spoke to the Spell-casters watched
eagerly, hoping the next action would commence soon enough. This
same person drew the sword from her hilt. All others following,
like they mimicked the person.