The Sword that Binds (Book of Worlds 1) (25 page)

Uckey was still for a heartbeat before his entire body started to tremble.

“A Primal,” he finally said, awe showing in his voice. “They actually tried to tame a Primal. The fools! No wonder they chose to destroy themselves!”

“What? What do you mean a Primal? And
chose
to destroy themselves? Are you saying you actually know what happened here?” Sarena asked. The creature didn’t seem to have noticed them yet as its eyes were closed.

“Primals are the embodiment of an element. They are older than the gods themselves and created the world as we know it. There is only one for each major element, at least as far as I know. There was a theory in my time that if one was able to tame a Primal they would have unlimited power to do with as they pleased - as long as it was within that element of course. With the power of a stone Primal you could make Stewrix with just a thought,” Uckey explained.

“But it was just a theory! Not even I would actually attempt to test it! Primal are a force of nature, you can’t tame them! They must have tried to create a body to summon and enslave the Primal, and when that failed the resulting mana explosion would have wiped them out! It probably took the power of the entire gnomish race just to summon the being in the first place, which is why they were all recalled back to the city. Were my people truly become as arrogant as to think they could go against nature itself?”

“How come there is no mana storm here then? Even the grass and trees in this area are fine. It’s like nothing ever happened here,” Sarena asked.

“You can feel it can’t you? That oppressive aura. No mana storm could be stronger than a Primal’s aura! When it erupted the Primal most likely was able to force it from this area, causing it to make a ring around the city instead. That must be the reason it hasn’t ever weakened. The Primal is preventing the mana from returning to the center,” he said.

“Well, that at least solves the problem of the mana storm for us. But how are we supposed to get past it? I doubt it’s going to just let us walk by and enter the city,” Sarena said.

“It might! Primals are beyond anything we know. It definitely knows we are here, but it hasn’t reacted at all. There’s a chance it might just ignore us as we pass by. But there’s also a chance it is still upset about the attempt to enslave it. I doubt five thousand years is long enough for it to forget that! After all, it’s as old as the world itself.”

“Are we just going to try and walk past it then? And why hasn’t it just left, Uckey? This mana storm shouldn’t be able to hinder it at all if what you’ve said is true,” Sarena asked, still unsure about what Uckey had said. The gnome had lied to them more than once before, and she wasn’t sure she could trust him with something like this either.

“How am I supposed to know! It’s a Primal! I’m just making guesses here! There’s no way to understand how it thinks, if it even does! As far as I know it should just be able to leave that body and return to its normal state whenever it wants! Being stuck in that body is probably the most interesting thing it’s ever done,” the gnome said defensively.

“We don’t stand a chance in a fight against it. But we’re doomed if we just stay out here also. At least we have a chance if we try, standing out here gets us nowhere,” Sarena said, more to herself than Uckey. She nodded. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and it will ignore us. We’ll just walk past it slowly, and if it starts to turn aggressive we make a run for it. How hard it is to open those doors, Uckey?”

“Just takes a shove! They were made by the dwarves after all! Perfectly balanced! Although in truth we can’t open the full gates; that can only be done from the inside. But at the bottom on the right side of the door is another, smaller doorway. We can just sneak over to that and go through there. The Primal is too big to fit, and we might have a chance to outrun it by then.”

Sarena sighed. Their plan was probably the stupidest thing any of them had ever done - except Uckey charging headfirst into a mana storm with them on his back of course.

“Let’s go then. I really hope this works,” she said.

Uckey stepped forward cautiously, slowly moving towards the right side of the door. The Primal covered half the distance to the door while lying down. Soon enough they had reached a point even with its head, and still its eyes remained closed. In fact, the entire creature hadn’t moved at all since they arrived. It might as well have been a statue.

They were close enough that Sarena could see the faint outline of a small door in the bottom right corner of the gateway, bathed in the green glow of the Primal’s body. It was still large enough for a wagon to fit through, but compared to the masterpiece it was crafted from it was tiny. She started to feel some hope for their situation. Once they entered Stewrix they might as well be home free! Uckey had said the grimoire was easy to find, located at the center of the city in the library. It was kept at the center of the building to encourage people to try and open it. The only spell cast on it was to prevent it from moving, but Ankaros had said as long as they touched it they were fine.

As Sarena’s hopes started to rise, the pendant on her neck suddenly began to heat up. At the same time she felt Tyrus pull himself free from his sheathe while crying out. Her mind grew frantic, she had dropped her guard at one of the most critical moments. The lack of interest from the Primal next to her had made her feel as if they were already safe for a moment, and it had chosen just then to act.

Tyrus didn’t bother trying to block the attack that had been sent her way. He instead threw himself at Sarena, using the flat of the blade to knock her aside. She fell from Uckey’s back right as a massive claw slashed through where she had been just a moment before. Even with the speed Tyrus reacted, she wasn’t able to completely avoid the swing and felt an intense pain in her left arm directly above the elbow as she fell. There was a loud clashing sound of metal on rock, following by the sound of something shattering.

Another sound filled Sarena’s ears after that, one that only she could hear. A rushing sound overwhelmed her, the world began to spin. Even the pain in her arm disappeared as she felt something enter her. Everything slowed down to a stop around her. She could vaguely tell that the claw from the Primal was still mid-swing, stopped directly in the center of her arm. Once the world returned to normal it would continue, severing the limb. But in the frozen world around her there was nothing she could do to stop it. It didn’t even seem important compared to everything else that was happening.

Tyrus had pushed her out of the way, and then tried to slow the swing using himself. But instead of just being tossed away like expected, the monstrous claw had shattered the blade that housed him. Sarena could feel the core that made up his existence instantly rush into her through the bond, heading straight to the center of her body and consuming the core she had taken from him and nurtured. Her body felt like it was on fire everywhere, agony coursing through her veins. She could somewhat recall the same feeling not long after leaving Garland Keep. It didn’t really matter at this point. She was already doomed. Tyrus was already beginning to take over, even though she could feel him trying to hold his power back. It was impossible of course, he didn’t even fit within the empty space at the center of her channels. His power spilled over into the channels themselves, causing them to bulge outward.

Sarena could feel her mind fading away in that frozen world, and couldn’t help but feel the injustice of it all. She had come so far, fighting the entire way to reach this point, and in the end Uckey’s entire
race
was against her. What kind of people actually summon a Primal! She could feel the power pressing down on her from the huge construct, almost like it was trying to break in with Tyrus. A thin trace of power from it had stretched into her body and burrowed into the space at the center of her with Tyrus.

When she finally felt the last vestiges of her consciousness begin to fade away, the burning feeling on her chest from the pendant of Ardreth suddenly increased. She could feel the power detach itself from the green crystal that housed the ancient soul, entering her body and heading toward the core. It surrounded Tyrus and created a barrier within her, cutting off the power from the Primal and using its power to hold trap Tyrus within. Her mind began to clear, allowing her to muddled thoughts to return with increasing clarity. In just a few moments she realized that Ardreth was using all of his power to hold Tyrus off, giving her time.

The world suddenly lurched back into motion. Sarena screamed in agony as the Primal’s claw tore through her harm, separating it from her completely. Even though she had done her best to prepare herself for it, the pain was more than she imagined. Immediately afterward she struck the ground and rolled, gritting her teeth against the pain as she struggled to her feet.

“I’ll distract it! Run for the door Sarena!” Uckey yelled while turning around and dashing back toward the mist.

Sarena had no time to think, turning and running toward the door ahead of her. She tried to call on the wind, but there was no answer. Her power was gone, sealed away by Ardreth. Uckey’s bond would never be completed. For some reason she didn’t feel the debilitating weakness from having no power, but there was no time to think about that. All of her effort was placed towards reaching the door that seemed further away than ever.

The ground shook beneath her as the Primal stood up, its incredible weight causing the stone below itself to crack. A heartbeat later a soundless roar emitted from its mouth, visibly shattering the air. Sarena stumbled to her knees at the sound, her head ringing as she felt a warm liquid drip from her ears, the pain in her arm forgotten.

Around her the earth trembled as spikes as tall as herself jutted outward in an instant, turning the area within sight of them into a sea of sharp spikes. Even the pillars and doors had grown spikes out of their sides all the way up to the top.

Sarena barely managed to avoid being impaled when she fell to the ground, a stone spike passing a hairbreadth away from her side. She staggered back to her feet as fast as she could and continued to run forward, her ears only able to hear a constant ringing. Within her she could feel the barrier Ardreth had made begin to weaken. Already a small hole had appeared in the barrier, letting Tyrus’ power leak out. Her body began to heal with the nourishment of both mana and life power running through it, making every step more sure than the last.

The pain in her arm faded away along with the ringing in her ears. Even though there were two incredible powers within her, she could still draw on neither of them, which left her to run at a normal speed towards the door while dodging around the jutting stone spikes. Beneath her the ground still trembled as the Primal moved, but she couldn’t risk looking backwards to see what was happening. Her only hope was to reach the door in time. In just a few moments her hearing had returned, and loud crashes sounded behind her.

Sarena focused every bit of her will towards the door, letting nothing else distract her as she ran forward. She almost didn’t believe it when she passed through the door frame, not even needing to open it herself. The spikes had jammed it open for her. Her mind relaxed as she entered, instantly associating the door with safety. She turned around to see what had become of the Primal, and felt her heart sink.

The creature was standing at the edge of the mist, staring back at Sarena. Its eyes were simple black pits of stone, yet they conveyed a sense of disinterest. As if killing them was nothing but a way to pass the time. It had one of its paws raised, with a small red creature held in the middle of it. She had been hoping that Uckey had been able to escape into the mist. But she realized that was impossible. Ardreth was with her. Uckey knew he had no chance of surviving, yet he had still acted so confident.

Uckey wasn’t moving, and the Primal seemed to have lost interest in him at that moment. It shook its paw casually, and Sarena watched in despair as Uckey was flung away.

Directly into the mana storm.

His body disintegrated into nothing as he touched it, silently disappearing from the world.

The Primal was moving towards the door, its eyes never leaving Sarena. It was deceptively fast, looking as if it was moving at a leisurely walk yet still covering ground at a pace far faster than expected.

Sarena turned and ran, disappearing into the darkness of the lost city of Stewrix.

S
arena wasn’t sure how long she ran for. Her heart beat frantically as she stumbled through the dark tunnel that lead deeper into the mountain. Faintly glowing white rocks were embedded in the ground and walls, providing just enough light for her to see. It wasn’t until she felt like her chest was about to burst that she staggered to the ground. Her breath came in ragged gasps, the cloying fear still grasping at her mind. Without the calming influence of the wind she was unable to cope, and it made her realize just how much she had come to rely on the power.

When her breathing had finally stabilized she listened for the sound of pursuit, but other than her own gasps she could hear nothing. The Primal must have been satisfied with just Uckey, she thought. Looking back the way she had come she was able to see a small halo of light in the distance, and she knew it was the door she had escaped through. She had to have come almost a mile, yet the tunnel was still perfectly straight. The ceiling was shrouded in darkness high overhead, and Sarena wondered for a moment just how it was able to stay supported. If Uckey was here he would surely explain while bragging about it. But he wasn’t. He never would be again.

As much as she disliked the gnome, she never wanted him to die. He hadn’t even hesitated to sacrifice himself for her. Sarena felt her eyes water as she thought about him. Even though she hadn’t even known him for a month, the world felt a little bit
less
without him around.

She was brought back from her mourning when the world around her blurred for a moment. Suddenly she was seeing double. Everything around her had begun to glow, causing the dimly lit corridor to light up.