Chapter 103: You Are The Key

The moment Veyris said those words, even though it was the truth, he knew that he had just made a mistake, because he had just pushed this into a realm that his hard-headed brother thrived in, and he was not wrong.

Calyx’s hand dropped to the hilt of his sword, and he smirked, a dangerous glow in his eyes that was eerily similar to the same glow in Veyris’s eyes.

“You all in the Central Palace are the same. After I was exiled to this city for refusing to kneel, I took that punishment without saying a word, because I will not play your power games. Because I believed our strength still mattered in places like this, despite the burden of the Heavenly Restriction over our heads. Why the fuck would I care what the crown wants when my city has been abandoned for thousands of years? Do you know the sacrifices I have made for this city?”

Veyris smiled, and he took a step back while shaking his head in disappointment,

“Strength matters until it doesn’t. And right now, I am here, so what you want does not really matter; you will give me what I want, because I am just a messenger of the crown, and everyone bows to the crown… even its own children.”

The air between them crackled, despite Veyris stepping backward, and Calyx was about to speak when the doors at the end of the hall opened again.

A robed figure entered, with hood drawn low, and hands folded in sleeves; it was the Dreadmind. The guards in the hall tensed when they detected the presence of this being, but Calyx raised a hand again, and they settled.

The Dreadmind approached Veyris without a sound. He leaned in and whispered into his ear.

With the power of Calyx, he should be able to hear the wings of a fly beating a mile away, but this close to Veyris, he could not hear a word that the Dreadmind was saying, and he suppressed a shudder of fear and disgust in his heart as he looked at the Dreadmind, and then he took several steps back.

Power was expensive, but he believed that there were some prices that were too high to pay because of power, and the Dreadmind had gone far beyond his tolerance limit to chase power.

Veyris listened to whatever the Dreadmind was saying, and his expression did not change, but the golden light in his eyes flared brighter, and it began to rotate like a key turning in a lock.

After he finished with his report, Veyris only said one word to the Dreadmind, “Proceed,” and the hooded figure bowed and withdrew in silence.

Veyris looked at Calyx.

“You have a problem,” he said softly.

Calyx’s hand tightened on his sword.

“What did it say?”

Veyris tilted his head.

“The archive records you’ve been hiding. The ones marked ’Classified – Pre-God-Death.’ The ones that detail the original construction of the Stoneward Asylum. They’re missing. Not destroyed. Not redacted. Missing. As though someone walked in and took them.”

Calyx’s face went very still before he replied, “I see you also did the same. I don’t remember authorizing your Dreadmind to check my records. If there are any problems, I shall resolve them.”

Veyris shrugged, “That does not matter, I have already sent word to the Central Archive for the records of the Stoneward Asylum to be sent over, good thing they always have a copy.” Then he stepped closer, close enough that only his brother could hear.

“And the boy,” he whispered, “was seen speaking to the statues of Asulon. Not praying. Speaking. As though they answered. It is a rumor, but you and I know what that could mean. Are you sure that your precious Commander is not hiding more from you than you know?”

Calyx exhaled through his nose, slow, controlled. “I read the same report six years ago; that means nothing, and you are chasing after ghosts. If this is your plan to destabilize my city, brother, for some petty feud from the past, it is beneath you.”

Veyris paused, and then he shook his head, “I think,” Veyris said, “that your city should not exist and an Angel like Commander Yseult should not be here. I think there are secrets locked here, and the only key I can find to open that door has to be the boy.”

He turned toward the doors.

“Where are you going?” Calyx asked.

Veyris did not look back.

“To find out what happens when the key turns.”

Calyx debated stopping his brother from any actions against the Stoneward Asylum, but he paused; perhaps this might lead to an outcome that would favor him.

Turning to the guards, he spoke, “Ready the regiments, trouble comes for my city.”

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From the moment Elias stretched out his spear to the leader of the cannibals, the black eyes of the giant changed, and whatever levity in them vanished, and Elias instantly felt the touch of death in his soul, and he had to consciously stop the smile that wanted to touch his lips.

It was a good thing that he had great control over his body, or he would have another embarrassing moment as his body mistook the fear of death for arousal.

The leader stepped forward, and the clearing seemed to shrink around him. The silver mist around him thickened into a roiling shroud, and suddenly, at the edges of the mist, red-orange flames erupted before dying away, as it seemed as if anytime the wind brushed against the silver mist, it combusted.

Elias’s eyes widened in shock as he began to feel the air grow hot and heavy. Deep in his throat, he could taste what seemed like scorched iron and ozone, and in a second, every breath Elias took burned his throat. He did not need to check to know that his Vitality was ticking down and going up.

He had no idea that the mist surrounding a Mist Phantom was combustible, or if this was the talent of the leader, not that it would matter anyway. If he were caught close to the giant, he would burn.

And yet, this was not the only effect of the mist, as the giant began to come closer to him, the invisible silver mist that had diffused far from the giant began to press against his skin like invisible hands, trying to smother him, sear him, and crush him.

This was the sheer tyranny of a higher stage made manifest: Lumina externalized, weaponized, almost alive.

The giant slowly spun his greatclub with a grace that a weapon of this size should not hold. The weapon alone was longer than Elias was tall, studded with sharpened bones that gleamed wetly in the firelight, and as the leader’s black void eyes fixed on Elias, he felt something colder than bloodlust crawl up his spine.

That recognition that this was an enemy that could actually kill him grew stronger, and Elias could not hold it back any longer; he smiled.

The giant paused for a moment when he saw his smile, but something seemed to have changed inside him, and he simply swung.

“WHOOSHH… CRACK… BOOM!”

The club moved like a falling tree, slow at first, then accelerating into a blur of bone and wood that split the air with a sonic crack. Elias leaped sideways, Agility 104 carrying him in a blur, but the shockwave of the swing still clipped him.

It felt like being hit by a battering ram. His left arm went numb as his ribs creaked in protest. The force hurled him backward ten feet, boots skidding through blood and mud.

He landed in a crouch, his left claws digging into the earth for purchase, and the moment the force over his body dissipated, he was already rising. The giant was coming.

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