The Vitalis Chronicles: Tomb of the Relequim (9 page)

“
She was meant for great things.”
The Greater Being spoke gently again.

Ardin rested his arm in the grass; his forehead followed.

“
She was taken from them.”

“
She was taken from you.”

More to the point, he thought. Always more to the point with this one. It stung to have his love for her validated aloud.

“
What would you know?”

“
That when the Creator made this hall for the Magi, He made it with a very specific number of platforms and this central dais. I've always wondered why he didn't make it more flexible. When He carved it out of the rock there were but a dozen Magi, and now that the Magi are extinct there are none who are unaccounted for. This pedestal was made for two, I never understood that until now. It is your destiny to fight this battle. It is the work you were called to complete.”

“
What about those empty spaces in the hall?”

“
Annihilated, dead and nowhere. They were destroyed by the very spells and rituals you sought to invoke on Tertian. I imagine he is quite happy that you failed.”

Surprisingly, a great sense of relief washed over Ardin to hear the news. He looked at Tertian's stern statue, grim even in death. He had no love of the Mage, but was glad to know he hadn't condemned him to nonexistence. However that worked, he wanted no part in it.

“
But I knew what I was doing. Charsi's knowledge–”

“
Charsi never knew the full incantation. Few do. To truly know it is a mark of the Demon's influence. It is a rare creature that bears that mark prominently enough to master such evil.”

Ardin laid his head back down in the short grass. It was soft, moving gently as if caught in its own private breeze. Having the likeness of Alisia so close made his heart swell. He had never longed for anything or anyone so much in his life.

His failure to destroy Tertian came back to him. Perhaps he wasn't as far off the right track as he had feared. He shook the hope from his head. Of course he was. He knew it. He had intended to end Tertian, whether he had succeeded or not. He had wanted him to disappear forever.

“
The Magi have served their time on this earth, Ardin. Among them you are the last, and you are to be the greatest.”

“
I'm no Mage.” He turned to look at the strange light.

“
You are right to say so. You are something more. Much, much more.”

What were the odds he could win himself back, Ardin wondered. He was on the brink of something dark and terrible and he knew it. The asylum had proved that to him if killing Tertian hadn't. Even more so now that he enjoyed the power, even at the expense of life. Especially at the expense of life. He was discovering the cost and he was afraid he was all too willing to pay it.

“
Ardin, please. What Charsi meant for harm, for evil, you can turn to good. You will fall again, I promise you that. But you must press on. There are many people beyond yourself who depend on your ability to complete your task.”

“
Who could possibly depend on me?” Ardin shouted as he whipped back on the Being. “Who would be foolish enough? I'm just a boy! A boy who killed everyone he ever loved! If the future rides on me then you're lost! God, you're hopelessly lost.”

He turned to walk out of the room, but stopped as the spirit spoke his name.

“
You are carrying burdens that are not yours to bear, Ardin. Don't let them defeat you. Free yourself of them, or you will never be able to free your fellow man.”

Ardin started walking. He just wanted out of the place. It felt clean. He wasn't clean. He was wretched, unclean, murderous. He wanted out. He screamed it in his head; he wanted out!

The voice carried along the stone as he made his way out.

“
Make for Grandia, Ardin. It is the only path through which you will find your redemption.”

It was all he could do to keep from sprinting down the hall. The gazes of the statues around him were no longer awe-inspiring; now condemning, burning into him, they caused the tension in his neck to twist and grow hot. It felt like the base of his skull might detach itself from his spine. He just wanted to be free of the close, oppressive space.

He did run then. He ran as hard as he could and took the steps three at a time. The door was cracked open to him again and he squeezed through, not bothering to open it any wider. He stumbled onward, crying through the pain and the guilt. He wished he had never been made to feel this way, when finally he tripped and fell.

There he lay, face in the snow, crying and moaning for what felt like self-indulgent ages.

A crunch in the snow made him stop. He held his breath, unwilling to look up, wishing it was an enemy. Even a wild animal. Anyone seeking his life.

Just take it,
he thought.
Please, just take it.

A large hand rested firmly on his shoulder blade, the thumb rubbing his back softly for a moment before going still.

“
Well lad,” came a familiar voice. “You're a bugger to track down.”

S
IX

“
S
HIT, SIR
.”
Captain Brendyn Sykes wiped the blood and sweat off his forehead as he stared at the twitching mass of monsters that lay around them. “What the hell
were
those things?”

Major Anders Keaton bit his tongue as he surveyed the scene. He didn't want to believe it was possible. He wanted everything to stay simple, to stay real. But the vision he had been given weeks before hadn't been a vision after all. He had been visited by one of the Brethren. And the being hadn't been lying when he had come.

“
Get the butcher's bill, Sykes.”

Captain Sykes frowned a moment, but stood and walked off to check on his men. Keaton sighed. That would keep him busy for a minute, but not long enough. Not long enough for the answers to come. He needed time to think, to put the pieces together. This couldn't be possible.

“
All accounted for sir. Three wounded, two dead.”

“
Who?” Keaton asked the question before realizing it wouldn't matter. He didn't know any of their names. Guilt joined the realization as Sykes listed off the dead and dying.

“
You should come have a look in any case.”

“
We don't have time to bury them, Sykes.”

“
I don't mean that, sir. Larson opened one of the monsters up. Weird as hell, but it'd help to take a
minute if we have it.”

Keaton just nodded as he stood, and followed the captain dutifully. The whole situation felt surreal. Things like this didn't exist, and if they did they should be in some dark cave over on the Forbidden Continent. Not here. Not real.

“
Hey, Captain.” Larson knelt over one of the black corpses, knife in hand. The blade was streaked with what looked like tar. “These things are unbelievable, sir. Take a look.”

He stood and backed up a bit to give his superior some space.

“
The build of this thing is crazy. It's so taut you'd think every muscle on the bastard was made out of straight tendon. They're hard as rocks.” He pointed towards the gut with his knife. Its entrails were laying on the ground where he'd made the cut.

“
Look at its organs, like no animal I've ever seen before. You open something that size, say a stag or some large dog, you'll find the chest cavity opens up. Feels like more space than should be there, you know? At least everything fits right. This sucker's compact. Everything in there is under a tremendous amount of pressure. It was work getting through the skin and into the abdominal muscles, but once I did, he pretty much split himself. I recognize the liver and kidneys. But what those things are... and that? I have no idea.”

Sykes knelt down and stretched the thing's forelegs out. “Almost as long as my own arms.”

“
And look at those claws, sir. Cat's paws but the claws are like giant eagle's talons.”

“
These things looked a lot smaller when they were scurrying around.” Sykes stood back up, but his gaze remained fixed on the thing in front of him.

“
Aye, sir. Stretch em out though? If they stood they'd be close to five feet tall if not more. Their torso is really, really short for how much they've got going on in there.”

“
Practically no neck either.”

“
Weird creatures sir. Smell like hell, too. Fur's greasy, meat's beyond stringy. These things are
worthless if you're wanting to use them for anything. Couldn't even make a decent stew out of one if
you were starving.”

“
Probably choke on every bite if you did.”

“
We need to move,” Keaton finally spoke up.

“
Sir, begging your pardon, but we could really stand to learn a thing or two while we have the chance to open these suckers up.”

“
As much as I'd like to let you do that, Larson, I'm afraid we don't have time to sate your curiosity. Vasquez is supposed to meet us another five miles north, and there are no guarantees they haven't run into something similar.”

“Not to mention the possibility that there are more of these things lurking about us now.” Sykes was scanning the area again.

“
Sirs, we've gotta at least bring one along with us.”

“
We've got time to keep, Larson. Grab your gear. Sykes, your wounded good to move?”

“
Aye, sir. Just light injuries.”

“
Two dead and three scratched... the lottery of war is strange, isn't it?” Keaton mused for a moment longer. “Alright, cut the claw off that thing and stick it in your pack. It's all you have time for and more than you have room to carry. Sykes, get your men together and get some water in them. If Vasquez's convoy encountered these things, we'll have a long run ahead of us.”

A
RDIN LOOKED UP AFTER A WHILE, MAKING OUT THE MAN'S FACE AS BEST HE COULD
.
He was wearing strange armor. It was bulky and it made him look enormous.

“
Don't you recognize me lad? You can't so soon forget a long hot ride under a pile o' stinkin' fish now can ye? I know I couldn't.”

Ardin could make out his kind smile; it was framed by a white beard and slicked white hair.

“You're
... the Fisherman?”

“
Aye lad! That's me, though you can call me Cid. Realized I ne'er gave you my proper name, no, but there's always second chances.”

Ardin sat up in the snow, as confused as he was happy to see the old man.

“
I'd wager, and I'm not a bettin' man mind you, that you have no notion how relieved I am to see you, lad. I been searchin' these mountains the better part of a month for ye, knowin' you'd be alive somewheres.”

Ardin didn't know what to say. The emotional turmoil he had gone through, was going through, clamped his mouth shut. The disbelief that he had found a friendly face in the world didn't help.

“
How'd you know to find me?”

“
Well.” Cid the Fisherman smiled, proud of himself. “That near-collapsed mountain was a good place to start. What a mess that was, hey? I found it near on two months ago, but two weeks too late to do any good. Some villagers a few miles to the east later said they found some mad boy wanderin' through the hills. They said he'd been taken by some officers o' the peace to an asylum near here. But I knew better.”

He gave Ardin a knowing look. “I knew the two of you would have made for the Temple. So few know where it is, but it makes perfect sense. If you're to hide in these parts, that would be the place to do it. And where's this lass now? Where's Alisia?”

Ardin's eyes grew dim with the name. His countenance fell, and he remained silent.

“
Daughter of Magess Magnificent, as they called Charsi once. Terrible name, I always thought.”

All Ardin could do in response was shake his head. He feared if he opened his mouth the flood gates would follow suit, and he didn't want to cry in front of anyone.

The Fisherman, for his part, sat back in the snow in a shock of realization. It was written over his face, disbelief mingling with a deep personal pain. She was dead. The girl had died in the mountains and he had never even known it. He must have suspected it, certainly. But having the last of his hopes dashed clearly cut deeper than the cold.

They sat in silence for some time, neither wanting to break it for fear of committing some deep sacrilege. A few unsettled flakes of snow drifted from the trees above before the Fisherman finally ventured to ask how she had died.

“
That rat bastard general,” Ardin muttered without lifting his gaze. “Murdered her for her power. In cold blood.”

“
General?”

“
The one that killed my family.” The malice in his voice increased with each syllable. “He turned out to be some sort of... shadow creature! I thought they were all dead and gone!”

The Fisherman couldn't believe what he was hearing. He stared at the ground between them for a while, open mouthed as the words refused to form.
The Shadow King... why would he do this?
Eventually he ventured to ask another question.

“
And the mountain? I couldn't imagine she was powerful enough to do that but... she was Charsi's daughter. Was she that powerful?”

“
No,” Ardin wiped tears from his cheeks before they froze. “That was Tertian.”

“
He killed Tertian too?” Cid looked like he might topple over.

Ardin looked up after a moment. A chill entered his voice to match the breeze. “I killed him.”