Unbound

Shadows swirled as Felix emerged from the Shadowgate alone.

“That was beautifully uneventful,” he said, smiling at the ornate chamber around him. It looked unchanged since his last visit over four months prior.

The floor was tiled with a repeated star pattern common in Nymean ruins, while the walls were filled with shallow alcoves featuring bronze figures, hands raised and heads surrounded by discs of metal. Small creatures crowded their feet, and the inside of the alcoves were decorated with mosaics of vines, leaves, and flowers. The rest of the space was pristine, relatively untouched since he’d restored it with Unite the Lost, and Felix breathed in a deep, relieved breath.

Technically, each Shadowgate traversed a separate point in space, skimming the edges of the Corporeal Realm and the Void to move vast distances. The gate between Elderthrone and Haestus was nowhere near the one for Pax’Vrell, but still Felix had worried. Happily, his anxiety had been unfounded—either the distance or the protections from his Title and crown had kept the Whalemaw at bay. Or perhaps it was a result of pushing himself to the utter limit, speeding across his Void Sanctuary until he arrived upon a wide plain filled with luminous wildflowers and a dark, shadowy portal. What had once taken an army six hours only months prior had taken him all of sixty minutes.

Felix gripped his sword. "Karys, can you hear me?"

Green-gold motes of Mana gathered around his blade, and a strong voice carried through it. "I can, sir. Have you arrived in Haestus yet?"

"Yeah, just walked out. I’m glad the Seal is working properly again, though.”

“There are no flaws in his reconstruction that I can detect. Your voice seems clearer, too." There was some exasperation in Karys' voice, however. "Did you race through the entire gate? You've only been gone five minutes."

“Five minutes?” Felix grinned. Karys had started using Earth time with him whenever possible. It made conversations about time way easier. "That's awesome. Yeah, I didn't want to risk another encounter with our fishy friend."

"You and me both, buddy." Felix stepped forward, walking across a filigreed bridge over a deep, crystalline-clear pool. It led up to the circular, vault-like door leading out of the Shadowgate chamber, and it was decorated with more green inlay representing roots or vines. With a soft push of his arm and Authority, the door opened.

“I’ll talk to you later, though. I’ve got friends to meet.”

“Ah, of course. Tell Garox I said hello.”

The door opened into a far larger chamber, this one vaulted and filled with broken statues half-submerged in dark, opaque waters. Vines hung from the ceiling, festooned with bright blossoms, and immediately he sensed a dozen Nagafolk in the waters, watching, their eyes just barely hidden beneath the waves.

Unhidden was Garox, a Spirit Naga and second of the Deepking. He slithered across the surface of the water, not swimming so much as skimming, until he met Felix at the door, where he prostrated himself onto the broken ground.

"Returned God. Your coming was unexpected. Do you walk alone?"

"Hey there, Garox. I heard about the recent issues, and I wanted to help out." Felix sheathed his blade and looked around, but the waters were still. Aside from the few he sensed nearby, it was mostly empty. "Where's Trixie?"

"The Deepking is on the surface, aiding the defense of the Tevin Province as agreed."

Felix frowned. "What's happened?"

"War."

Between the edges of Haestus Lake and the depths of the Scarlet Forest, two armies met as the sun rose above the horizon. They were similar in many ways, and to the untrained eye, they might have been the same force, split for a simple training match. Both ranks were filled with the Knights Ghreldon and the mages of the Gallant Lotus Society. Once, they were allies, friends, even relatives, distanced only by the shattered demarcations of their kingdoms and ill-given oaths. Their armor, creed, and blood were the same, as was the grim determination that creased all of their faces.

Only the heraldry differed, and their numbers.

Etriska Lavin, Princess of Tevin, stood at the head of her army, grinding her teeth worriedly. Outnumbered, but not outmatched.

She was thankful that the ranks of her enemies were not further bolstered. The Paladins and Inquisitors that once suffused the Territory had vanished, many reportedly dying outright during what people were calling the Day of Night. The sun had blackened, and even she had felt something shudder across the world. Lavin hadn't known its cause, but soon the word could not be stopped. The Pathless was dead.

She had hoped it would mean her fellow rulers would hesitate or even abandon their intent to attack her Province, but that had been a fruitless wish. While Prince Garon, the de-facto leader of the Ghreldan Hills in all but name, remained in his capital, three of his cousins had unified and set out to attack. It was only through the Deepking's scouts that Lavin had even an inkling of the assault and arranged to meet them here, on a field of her choosing.

With these numbers against us, will that be enough?

The army before her was composed of all three Princes’ forces. While not as many as she once feared, there were still more than four times their number. Things looked bleak.

"Lower your visors, and lift your blades, my Knights!" she commanded.

Across the field, a man stood outside the silken command tent at the back of his troops. He strode forward, holding a thin saber aloft, his mithril armor polished to a mirror sheen. Prince Kael, the strongest of the three Lords arrayed against her.

"Forward march!” he cried. “Death to the usurper!"

The first ranks of the enemy started forward, and Lavin's people shifted. Knights and Gallants swapped places, readying themselves. Lavin stood before her own ranks and raised her hand.

"Steady."

The enemy's pace increased with each step, until the armored Knights were racing down the field toward their position. Blades, halberds, and spears were hoisted and gleaming with enough power that the erstwhile princess could feel it tingling against her skin. Five hundred warriors bore down on them, flaring their Journeymen Bodies to their limits.

Lavin brought her hand down. "Fire!"

Her Knights released their massive warbows, hurling thick arrows laden with Skills out into the field before them. Comets of gleaming light streaked onto the Knights, taking down a mere handful before Gallant cast shields blocked the rest. The enemy did not stop their charge.

"Hold steady," Lavin demanded.

They soon were within two hundred strides. Her men shifted, clearly uneasy, but Lavin did not relent. She held them tight.

One hundred.

Fifty.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Now!"

At her call, the field before them erupted with geysers of water. Knights were swept up, their feet torn from beneath them in a rush that caught nearly a thousand men and women. Dirt became thick mud, and the water raged, an unnatural river that lifted the Knights into the air, suspended above the earth. Nagafolk rose from the illusion of solid ground, tridents and spears in hand as they fell upon the enemy. The drowning Knights discharged fire, ice, and hardened earth Skills but few found their mark. The rest glanced off of the slickened Nagafolk, their scales too hard to be damaged by mere Journeymen.

"Take them down!" Lavin cried before leaping into the fray.

Her Knights and Gallants unleashed their own skills, demolishing their familiar foes. Lavin's heart clenched as she parried a desperate blade.

"Do not fight us," she demanded, shouting to be heard over the rush of water. “We do not wish to harm our countrymen!”

The Knight that faced her fought on, swinging a mace at her chest. The Princess caught it in her hand, Strength besting Strength, before smashing her other gauntlet into his face. He dropped like a sack of meal.

"Just like a woman! You pull your blows! You do not even have the heart to kill." Prince Kael stood just outside his silken tent and looked unconcerned for his soldiers being demolished before him. "Do you think that this is enough?"

His Adept voice echoed like thunder, even from across the battlefield, yet the thunder did not stop with his words, but rolled across the field in a wave as storm clouds gathered in the sky. A mighty boom tore into the suspended river, blasting it apart and releasing the soggy Knights to fall into the muck. Lavin and her men were thrown back by the force of that sound. But most of them kept their feet, sliding backward on the sodden earth.

He shouldn't be joining. The Princes stay behind and do not fight. It was a foundational rule among the Lords. All of them were high Adept Tiers, and joining meant their opponents would have free rein to counter them—in this case, other Princes.

“Gallants! Shields!” she cried, just as the world flashed with virulent green.

Lightning tore from the storm clouds and crashed into the Naga and her Knights. Lavin threw up an arm, a blaze igniting against her chest that she beat out with her gauntlet. Serpents and men screamed in pain, and though her Gallants raised shields of force and air, they were blown aside. Knights and Nagafolk died by the dozen, on her side and the enemy's.

Princes do not join battles for fear of other Princes…save that I am not an Adept. She gritted her teeth. They think they can fight us without consequence!

Those clouds swirled again, and Lavin clenched her jaw, fearing the words that she would have to admit in that moment. She could not retreat, but she refused to lose her people.

“Kar'casitrix!” she cried out.

It was as if the lake itself answered.

A wave rose from beside them, greater than their previous spells by dozens of times, lifted up by the back of a massive serpent so dark green as to be nearly black. A sleek head the size of a cliff rose into the sky, arcing over the battlefield like a monstrous bridge. He snapped at the lightning that crashed down, blocking all of it with the sheer size of his monstrous Body.

"Do you think that is enough?" the Deepking bellowed, and the opposing army was hurled back by the sheer force of his rage.

Prince Kael threw up his hands, erecting a shield of hardened green light just in time to block the assault, but the ground cratered around him as it was followed by a barrage of water whips. “Foul monstrosity! Go back to the depths!”

“You first,” Kar’casitrix sneered, and the Deepking’s power smashed into the Prince’s army. Knights and Gallants alike were thrown like rag dolls, hurled into the Scarlet Forest to smash through crimson trees or to splash heavily into nearby rivers.

“Advance!” Lavin rallied her soldiers, leaning down to help nearby Nagafolk back to their bellies. “Bring our fury to the Princes!”

Kael’s shield flickered against the brutality of the Naga's assault. "Stooping to relying upon monsters to fight your battles, woman? The evils you’ve subjected this Province to must be cleansed. Shine, The Brilliant Cage!"

Clouds bubbled and swirled before disgorging a new volley of green lightning. This time, however, it did not seek to destroy, but to contain. Lightning froze into form as it struck the earth, overlapping and locking together until the Deepking and all those around him were trapped in a massive cage.

"This cannot hold me," the Deepking roared, rioting against the bonds of green lightning. The cage flashed, flickering before shrinking. It clung tighter against the Nagafolk and Knights, also trapped within, sizzling against flesh and rain-soaked armor.

Kael laughed. "You're right, monster, but if you break free, your allies will burn!"

Just outside the cage, Lavin’s stomach dropped as the reinforcements marched forward. For all the enemies that were laid low or hurled into the woods, hundreds more stepped forward, emerging from behind thick, Gallant-cast shields. She glanced at the cage of lightning, feeling its crackling heat so close, and swallowed. Her forces had been effectively cut in half, and she had no more surprises left to spring.

"We must get you away, princess," Knight Covain urged her. The woman had a gash above her eye and was covered in a curtain of crimson.

"No," Lavin insisted. “This is our stand. We defend our people here and now, or else we don't deserve to rule at all."

The Princess faced forward, lifting her blade once more, as the ragged remnants of her men gathered behind her. They faced the steadily marching foe as they came across the field. Lavin raised her voice. "We fight to defend our people! We fight as one! Forward, Knights and Gallants! Forward into battle!"

A battle cry rang out from her soldiers, trailing behind them as her men charged. Skills marshaled behind impassioned eyes, gleaming across the length of sword and spear and axe, while spells spiraled through the air.

Thunder shook the sky. Lavin gritted her teeth, holding her blade in a high guard to defend against Kael's attack. With her other gauntlet, she brought forth an earthen mace from the ground beneath her—if she died, she would do so fighting.

A basso howl tore through the clouds, louder than any thunder she’d yet heard, and so visceral she felt it in her very bones. The dark sky burst, disgorging not lightning but a shape that she could not track. It fell to the earth, and a concussive blast tore through the enemy camp.

Knights and Gallants went flying, and the fighting ground to a sudden halt.

"Commander," Covain said, pointing up the hill. "The command tent—”

Destroyed. The tattered remnants of silken panels fluttered in a violent breeze, and the earth all around it was deformed, lifted by whatever had fallen from the sky.

"Enough."

The remains of the tent exploded upward, carried upon a field of stone spikes taller than a dozen men stacked atop one another. They gleamed with an opalescent sheen, and more silken scraps were trapped between them like the jaws of a mighty beast. A man stood at its center, balanced impossibly upon one of the upthrust pillars, and he held up two limp figures by the back of their armor as if they were recalcitrant children.

Figures that Lavin immediately recognized. The Princes…!

“Your allies are defeated," the man said. A black coat snagged on the wind, snapping behind him. "Surrender, Prince Kael, or I'll do the same to you and your entire army."

Felix Nevarre.

"The god returns!" bellowed the Deepking, and it was the first time Lavin had ever heard the monstrous serpent sound joyous. The Naga around her took up their king's cry, their own voices as jubilant as they were bloodthirsty.

Nevarre's eyes burned bright blue as he regarded the cage of lightning. "Release my friends, Prince."

“No.” The Prince sneered, his mithril armor dulled by a coating of thick mud. “Aric and Jaren were weak, refusing to train, let alone step onto the field of battle. They posed you no challenge! You will face me, stranger, in a duel of honor!"

Lavin bit her lip. Her men had frozen in place the same as the enemy, but a single decision could restart their bloody altercation. Accept the duel, Nevarre!

A notification had clearly showed itself to the Autarch, but the man didn't even look at it. His glowing eyes were fixed on the Prince. "I face you on your terms, and you surrender if I win?" Nevarre asked, and Kael nodded. “Fine, then.”

Kael laughed as he flourished his saber. "If you win! The terms are to the death!”

“Agreed.”

The world chimed, and Lavin winced as a great, near-physical pressure descended all around her. The Knights and Gallants under the Prince gasped aloud, many of them trembling as the man's Authority reinforced the terms of the duel.

"Begin," Kael said. "Descent of the Jagged!"

The field went silent, and not a single flicker of green lightning could be seen from above. Lavin blinked, confused for only a moment.

Neither have moved—No. She swallowed. Nevarre was there, standing just beyond Kael’s once-mighty armor.

Holding the Prince’s severed head.

A raging wind tore across the battlefield as the world caught up to what had just happened, flattening grasses and sending trembling Knights to their knees. The body of their Prince fell lifeless to the ground, and the man in black faced an entire army alone.

"Surrender. Now."

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