Chapter 2-56

A large section of the gray stone wall in front of us began to dissolve. First it crumbled to sand, and then the sand flowed back into the gargantuan stone cube, revealing the antechamber. I’d seen the phenomenon before, albeit not for a long time. The facade of the pure monk I was wearing allowed me to keep my bored, annoyed expression in place as I stepped into the room beyond.

Inside, the antechamber was strange. Its aesthetic was nothing I was familiar with from any other place in the Shattered Lands. The walls were seemingly composed of metal, even the door as it reformed looked to be made of the same dull gray metal on the inside, and it looked as though it had flowed like liquid and then frozen into shape. Only the work of woodweavers, who grew living plants to their design, looked even vaguely similar.

“About time,” I growled aloud, knowing the watchers inside the monolith could hear me. Their response was predictable, their irate tones sounding loud, but somehow distant. As though they were shouting from inside a cave, which caused their voices to echo slightly.

“You’re late Arkaith, not our fault you can’t keep a schedule.”

“Just open the door,” I snarled. ”I’ll break your nose, again, if you keep me waiting.” I didn’t even try to explain, or throw a clever barb. I wondered how anyone as boring and petty as the monk I was imitating had come to lead anything, much less something as vital as supply retrieval inside hostile territory.

Despite my internal critique, the inner door began to open as soon as the outer door had closed. This was our moment of greatest vulnerability, as those inside would be able to sense our mana before we could physically pass inside. Sati was maintaining our disguise still, including showing false aspects, but Myta’s support was less skilled.

“Did you eat something you shouldn’t have? Your whole group feels contaminated.”

The personality I was mimicking couldn’t provide an answer for this question. It wasn’t routine, and it wasn’t like Sati had replicated the man’s entire mind, just some basic knowledge and mannerisms. It couldn’t tell me what to say here, just how to say it.

“Some fucking savage came at us with a flame rod,” I improvised. “Not that he could hurt us, but our gear got tarnished by his filthy mana.”

It wasn't a terribly plausible explanation, but the uses and effects of mana were incredibly varied. Not terribly plausible was a long step from impossible, and I was betting these monks weren’t scholars in any case.

“We’ll call the examination team,” came the swift reply. I just nodded, which the illusion told me was the only acceptable response.

Sati was sweating at this point, and even with Myta’s support she was steadily losing her grip on the edges of the illusion. Fortunately the ‘examination team’ was prompt. After only a couple of extra minutes a trio of sorcerers approached, and the inner door resumed opening.

The presence of the new arrivals swept over us, testing the boundaries of our domain. One of them furrowed his brow, opening his mouth to say something I could see the alarm rising on his face. We didn’t have much time, and the door wasn’t open quite far enough for us to get through, it crumbled away from the top down, and as matters stood only I could get through it.

Without thinking I lashed out with my lancet, splitting the monk’s throat node. I hadn’t had the time or energy to reinforce it however, not with some of my central nodes still compromised. The monk gagged silently, clutching his throat, but his companions were slow to react, and the one who was controlling the door was watching us, not his fellows. I’d bought us a few moments, but my fractured anima shattered apart under the strain.

I managed to restrain my scream as the guard cried out in confusion, and the two uninjured members of the inspection team peppered the third with questions. My action had been too swift for them to follow, and my broken anima was rapidly disssolving into mana, fouling their senses like smoke in the air. Fortunately the guard’s first reaction was not to close the door, as it should have been. Instead, he took a few steps toward the injured man, as though to somehow offer aid.

That was it, it was all the time our ruse could buy us. Sati’s concentration finally failed, and the illusion fell apart, but it had been just enough. Jito and Kari were able to launch themselves through the gap at the top of the door, their nearly perfect bodily control allowing them to slip through the gap. They cut down the door guard before he had a chance to return to the controls, then fended off the **** of the other guards as the door opened enough for the rest of us to follow.

I was next to useless, nearly crippled with spiritual pain. My lancet was gone, as well as the flexible channel that it was attached to, and it took all the concentration I could muster to keep from bleeding all of my mana out. Our domain had collapsed completely, or I would have had a far easier time, but Sati and I were both too strained to try reforming it.

Even Myta was in less than perfect condition, but my injury and Sati’s vulnerability had stoked her fire. My first vas hit the Pure guards like a lightning strike, an angry lightning strike, moving with lethal intent. We didn’t want or need to take these Pure alive, and so her summoned glaive moved with deadly efficiency. With one thrust she pierced a monk’s heart, then she cut out of his chest and into the arm of another, severing her second target’s arm near the elbow.

I couldn’t focus longer on her dance of carnage. Everyone had gotten out of the antechamber. Oisten’s large frame had been the last to exit, and he rapidly shoved the carts out ahead of him. I sent the druid a silent thanks as I slapped at the controls for the door, a sort of runic tablet attached to a he wall.

Now that I knew more about runes, the urge to study this ancient sorcery was nearly overwhelming, but that had to wait. What was important was that I knew how to work the door. My own presence was sluggish and difficult to control, like numbed fingers, but I fed my mana into the rune that would close the inner door.

“Oistin, shove those carts into the corridor and break the wheels! Jito, Kari, flank the door!” Myta’s voice was terse, not quite shouting as she barked out her orders, and even the Druid hopped to her command. I wanted to laugh, but couldn’t quite catch my breath enough to do so.

“Your bleeding, badly.” Sati’s voice almost interrupted my concentration on the door and its controls, and I ignored her at first. But when her hands grabbed my face to turn it towards her, I blinked owlishly into her worried gaze.

“I didn’t get hit, I’m fine.” I tried to turn back to the runes, but she shook me gently.

“Not your body, you’re bleeding mana. We need to stop it now, or you won’t live long enough to get he others inside.”

My thoughts were fuzzy and slow, but Sati’s calm insistence managed to pierce my mental fog. I had an injury, a bad one, I knew that. The first thing I needed to do was stabilize myself. First rule of triage, heal yourself.

“Myta, I need you!” My voice slurred the words, but I got them out. My flame was at my side in a moment, though she shot glances back over her shoulder to the hall.

“I need you to cauterize my spirit.” I said to her. “I can’t close this wound now, but you should be able to. Focus on stopping my bleeding, making scar tissue, that’s your intent.”

Myta nodded with fear in her eyes. She didn’t speak, or hesitate, just gathered up her presence and pushed, her ruddy mana turning golden as she altered her aspect. I had known what it felt like to have a branding iron pressed to your flesh. First the heat of proximity, followed by the weird cold shock of contact as your flesh refuses to acknowledge the damage, and then the searing, all-consuming pain. Myta showed me what it was like to have a branding iron pressed to my spirit.

All the air left my body, and I couldn’t even scream as my muscles locked up in a rictus of agony. Some part of my mind detached and observed, unable to think or act, as my anima bubbled and warped. The lancet had been linked to my core node, and I was fortunate in that, as I had already reforged that node. The thicker, harder anima was able to survive the process of twisting into a puckered mess of golden-stained ruin. It was ugly, and would need to be fixed later, but I wouldn’t die in the next few minutes.

“Whatever lets you tolerate the pain of me working on your spirits, I don’t think I have it.” I let out a coughing laugh as I regained control of my lungs. “Thank you Myta, go.”

I nodded my head at the hall, where more shouts heralded the arrival of Pure reinforcements, and my flame slipped on a mask of stoic resolve before nodding. Even as she left, I was turning back to the tablet. My mana was extremely weak and my control was shaky, but I had a task to perform. Sati fed me what little trickles of mana that she could spare, bolstering my flagging reserves as I began opening the outer doors.

Unfortunately, there was no way to hurry this process that I had ever found or heard about. Applying more mana to the runes that controlled the doors just caused them to cease functioning, and any intent in the mana was negated. I suspected that if I had time I could alter the runes themselves now, but to do something like that risked disabling the mechanism altogether. Even under the best of circumstances it was an unacceptable risk.

When the outer door was half open, the waiting members of the company began climbing through, I halted the door there to save time, closing it again as soon as our last waiting fighter was pulled bodily inside. Behind me, screams and the clash of steel tried to grab my attention. I even felt heat scorching at my skin more than once. I refused to imagine the rays of solar mana I was sure were passing near me. Instead I sought solace in light meditation, narrowing my word to the door, waiting for the instant I could act again.

Interminable minutes later the inner door was open enough to allow the rest of our forces in. I sagged against the wall, soaked in sweat and leaned against Sati as our allies ran past.

That was the time for the real battle to begin.