The Aspect: The Cessation's Harbinger Read online

  “Whatever it was, it moved through here quickly, and they died before they realized anything was happening. They are all positioned at their stations, performing their duties. They weren’t running down the halls, scared for their lives.”

  “What could have done this?” Tempest asked.

  “My guess,” Ella said, shaking the vial with the ichor-soaked cloth. “Some sort of magical airborne poison.” After hearing that, Riika quickly clasped her hand over her mouth. Ella snorted as she slotted the vial back into her vest. “If it was still airborne, we would have died as soon as we opened the basement door. It’s the same reason why I think it was magical. If it wasn’t, it would likely still be lingering in the air.”

  Riika let out a gasp as she leaned into the nearby wall. “Well, that’s a relief. The last thing I would want is to end up like them.”

  “I think that’s a little insensitive,” Saïgra said.

  “Well, I don’t think they will mind; they are dead.”

  “Riika, really?” Ella asked, placing her hands on her hips.

  “All right,” Tempest interjected. “Ella, if you don’t think we’re in any danger from the gas to continue on, then let’s keep moving. We’re short on time here.”

  Ella nodded and began moving further down the hallway. “There should be a stairwell nearby, which should put us near the classrooms.” Ella chose speed instead of stealth, given Tempest’s reminder about time. The group jogged down the hallway, doing their best to avoid the bodies of the dead, eventually coming to a stone stairwell that led upward.

  At the top of the stairwell was a service door propped open with an old boot. The interior of The Academy main floor was a stark difference from the dark and damp cobblestone servants’ quarters. A pristine shine off of the mosaic floor helped reflect the beautiful crisscrossed stone decor that gave the impression of stone spider webs on top of the thirty-foot ceilings. Thick pillars lined the walkways like soldiers standing at attention, crested by giant windows filling the entire building with the red hue of the barrier that encompassed the island. Giant doorways intersected on opposite sides of the walls leading into the various classrooms.

  Saïgra’s gasp echoed down the corridor as the group entered from the stairs. The hallway was littered with bodies of the dead. Men, women, and children of The Academy laid motionless in their last resting places. Their long, bright blue and silver-lined robes acted as ornamental body bags that swathed the floors. As they moved deeper into the complex, the group agreed to perform quick checks for any hopes of survivors. They knew it was highly unlikely, but the grip on that hope helped keep them grounded.

  But the scenes only got worse.

  Hundreds of rows of wooden desks were populated with ossified bodies with screaming expressions, each permanently imprinting itself on each of their minds, but Ella’s was worse. Tempest’s gift of love was now nothing short of a curse. It was when she rounded her old homeroom that Ella hit her breaking point. Her old herbalist professor, Professor Monicia, laid on the ground looking up at her in the doorway.

  Before Professor Monicia, Ella had no interest in potions, herbalism, or alchemy. She wanted to be a sorcerer like her gifted peers. She held on to the dream that through study and practice, she could learn the ways of magic or receive a blessing by one of the divine. Her constant failures pulled her into her lowest point, to the point where she was ready to give up and leave The Academy.

  However, it was Professor Monicia that brought her under her wing and showed her the power of nature’s gifts that were all around her. Much like one of her plants, Professor Monicia fed her, groomed her, and fostered her growth. This was it. The final blow that broke through her hard shell. Tears poured down her eyes like streams in cascading rapids. She did her best to hold back her high-pitched sobs, but it only seemed to make it worse. She felt an arm pull her close, and she buried herself into the familiar cloak of her new lover.

  The familiar smell of spiced vanilla seemed to calm her. She felt safe wrapped in his muscular arms and longed for nothing more than to stay locked in them, never to leave them again. His rough hand slid along her cheek as she looked up at him in his beautiful eyes. She reached up and clasped her fingers into his own as she leaned into his palm. Ella’s ears twitched toward the left at the sudden sound of rustling echoing down the hallway. The pair quickly pulled away and everyone took defensive positions.

  “It came from the main hall,” Ella said, sighting her crossbow down the hallway. As the sound of rustling continued, Ella wiped her eyes and sprinted down the hallway. The images of the dead flashed a painful vision into her mind as her fury burned within her. Her feelings clouded her perception, drowning out the shouts from her companions further behind her.

  The main foyer was a massive rectangular section of The Academy with a giant glass dome window in the middle. It connected all the multiple wings with a stairway on the far end leading up to the second and third levels. When Ella entered the room, her ears peaked up, listening intently for the direction of the sound. What she didn’t expect was to hear the electrical hum coming further down the foyer toward the end of the room. The dotted bodies along the floor gave the impression of a blue checkered floor pattern contrasting with the gray elaborate stone work.

  Ella’s ears pulled back as she growled at the abrupt crashing coming from behind a nearby closet. She sprinted across the room. The jiggling vials that lined her vest drowned out her quickened, repeated footsteps. As soon as her hand touched the door, Ella yanked it open and pressed her wrist mounted crossbow at the foe. The shriek of the familiar mousefolk caused Ella to freeze in confusion. The aged and portly mousefolk woman was attempting to hide under a stack of clean linen.

  “Headmistress Krenik, is that you?” Ella asked, lowering her arm. “I-It’s me, Ellazarra Fleetfoot.”

  The gray haired mousefolk woman slowly peaked her head out from under the cover. “Ella, is that really you?” she asked.

  “Yes,” Ella sniffed, trying to wipe away the encroaching heat in her cheeks.

  Headmistress Krenik took a few steps from the closet and squeezed her arms around Ella’s legs. “Oh, thank the creator. I never thought I would see another live person again. I was almost certain this was going to be my tomb.”

  Ella leaned down on her knees and squeezed her old mentor. She wiped her nose as she pulled away. The stench of sulfur was heavy in the foyer. Ella turned to see her approaching companions and smiled.

  “Everyone, this is Headmistress Krenik. She’s the head librarian at The Academy.” The rest of the group gave a quick wave as they worked on catching their breath. Ella turned back to the erratic faculty member. Her ears drooped as she violently rocked, her eyes darting between all the dead bodies. She finally grabbed onto Ella’s vest and began violently pulling.

  “Ella, you have to get me out of here. We’re all going to die!”

  Ella grabbed onto Headmistress Krenik’s hands and held them out in front of her. “You have my word that we will get you out of here, but we have to stop what’s going on. We need to know what happened here.”

  Headmistress Krenik nodded quickly as she cleared her throat. “I-I don’t know much.”

  “Just tell us what you can, and I promise to take you out of here.”

  “Yeah, like why you’re the only one alive,” Riika said, glaring at the mousefolk.

  Headmistress Krenik flinched at Riika’s words, resulting in Ella looking back and hushing Riika. Ella rubbed Headmistress Krenik’s hands as she waited for the response.

  “Every morning I take a walk along the beach before the classes begin. I prefer the northwest side of the island because it has a higher abundance of seashells. When I was out there this morning, I heard this loud boom and breaking glass come from behind me. When I turned around, there was a giant pink beam of energy shooting into the sky. At the same time, a bubble began to form from the middle of it. Now, as much as I love the ocean, I am a terrible swimmer. I decided to run back
into the building as the bubble discharged bolts of electricity. As I was running up the hillside, hundreds of apians began pouring out of every which way. That’s when I saw this blackened smoke pour from the building. When they got close to the barrier it electrocuted all of them.” Tears began to swell in Headmistress Krenik’s eyes as she continued. “I remember their screams as it burned their bodies. The smell, oh gods the smell…”

  “You said there was black smoke pouring from the building. Were the apians running from it?”

  “Yes, but only a few.” Headmistress answered, pulling back. “There were ones that fell out of the building gasping, their bodies twisted like they had some sort of muscular disorder. Their skin shrank and tightened like their bodily fluids were replaced with salt. I was so worried the barrier was going to fill with the smoke, that I just dropped to my knees, trying to hide under the dead bodies, praying for Yuria’s guidance. That’s when this giant electrical dragon showed up. I didn’t see the smoke inside, so I hoped for the best and ran into the closet. I’ve been in here until you showed up.”

  “Do you know where the origin point is?”

  Headmistress Krenik slowly turned her head left and raised her shaking finger toward the end of the foyer. “Based on the sounds coming from down there, I’d say they are in the main archive. I almost ran in there, but as I got close, there was this awful humming noise, and I heard movement coming from behind the doors.”

  “Wait a minute,” Riika drawled. “You just said you ran into the closet as soon as you came in here. Now you’re saying you almost ran into the main archive. Which is it?”

  The Headmistress stuttered over her words as she pulled away from Ella and ran back into the closet.

  Ella jerked up, stomped toward Riika and shoved her.

  “Why are you the way you are? Can’t you see she’s terrified? She watched everyone around her die, and now YOU are questioning her about what happened.”

  Riika tried to place her hand on Ella’s shoulder only to have her pull away.

  “You’re not thinking clearly, Ella. You haven’t been thinking clearly since you arrived here.”

  Ella stormed back toward the closet and did her best to lighten her expression. She leaned into the closet, noticing the shaking pile of linen.

  “Headmistress, please stay here. We’ll come back to you once we’ve taken care of everything.” Ella closed the door behind her, staring at Riika, until she walked off down the corridor. It was a long walk until she got to the end of the hallway. Endless images of the dead’s faces flashed in front of her eyes like the light of a spinning lighthouse. She gritted her teeth and grunted, trying to shove them out of her mind. However, her inexperience in using her new abilities only fueled her frustrations.

  As she opened her eyes, she was standing in front of the main archive doors. Symbols representing the eight sub-schools of magic encircled a pointed triangle of the three primary types of magic. The ominous hum was loud, only kept at bay by the thick doors. As she reached for the door, she felt a hand grip her shoulder and pull her around. She expected to see Riika’s angry golden eyes, but it was Tempest. His eyes were soft, but his grip was firm.

  “Ella, stop! We can’t go into this unprepared. We have no idea what’s waiting for us behind those doors.”

  “I don’t care what’s waiting for us behind that door. I’m going to kill it.”

  Tempest smiled and rubbed the side of her shoulder. “I believe you will, but we need to do this together as a team.”

  Ella looked behind Tempest at their two other companions. Saïgra held her hand on her mouth as she looked at the dead bodies. As she noticed Ella’s gaze, she gave a quick smile to try to reassure her. It didn’t instill confidence in Ella about how she would handle herself, but she was happy to have her there. Riika was looking at her blankly, which made her blood pressure rise, but she clicked her tooth and gave her a wink as she rested Lightning Breath on her shoulder. Ella looked back at Tempest and smiled.

  “All right, let’s do this together.” Tempest moved past her and opened the large doors using his force magic. The oval room was ten stories tall with a wooden bookshelf planted along the sides every ten feet. The center of the room opened up into a circular clearing where a mirror-like portal, nearing thirty feet tall, left a jagged shaped opening like an open scar of reality.

  Like the massive bookshelves in front of the portal, stood a being nearly as tall. Its thin, emaciated body hovered stiffly as it sifted through comprehensive books in each of its four arms. A blackened robe with gold etching complimented the four golden crescent moon shaped blades on its back. At the sound of the approaching footsteps, it shut all the books at once and twirled in place with the grace of a ballerina. It was at that moment they could see its face. It was humanoid and just as emaciated as the rest of its body. However, it had no mouth, instead it had 4 vertical slits that opened as it spoke.

  “Ah, it looks like we have a few rodents still alive in the cage,” the creature said with disdain in its voice. “Brismick, Walthur, please continue gathering the remaining books while I deal with these insolent creatures.” It was at that time that the group noticed the twenty or so hooded figures that were rummaging through the floors of the archive.

  The thin creature began floating toward the group before it abruptly halted, its eyes going wide with surprise. “Wait a minute, you’re not from The Academy. I recognize you three,” it said, pointing to Ella, Riika, and Tempest. “Yes, you were the ones who killed Ortughal the Devourer. The explosion merely left him scarred, but it was the inextinguishable flame that slowly killed him. His screams echoed for days as the fire crawled throughout all of his wriggling tentacles. But that wasn’t all,” he said, his inflection adding just a hint of excitement. “Then not long after, we lost contact with Ymek The Svengali. Our scryers said he was split in half by an explosion from a single man.” He leaned over, casting a thin shadow over the group. “Please tell me you’re the ones who killed him.” His squinted eyes and elongated jaw gave the perception of a smile. The group looked between each other, adjusting their weapons before they spoke.

  “Yes, it was I who landed the final blow,” Tempest said, pulling his swordstaff toward his chest.

  “Oh, yes!” The creature shouted as it twirled upwards into a circle and then drifted down like a leaf falling from a tree. “It’s been centuries since I have fought a worthy opponent. I was so disappointed when our plan to attack went as well as it did. I had hoped that Iðna’s best would have put up a bit of a fight, but alas, nothing.”

  That was the last straw for Ella. She raised her crossbow and fired off a three-shot volley. In a flash, the creature pulled the blades from its back and deflected each of the bolts.

  “You derisive pile of shit! I’ll make you pay for every life you took today!” Ella shouted.

  The creature began to sway back and forth, spinning the blades in each hand. His chuckle building to a perverted laughter. “Yes, give me your rage. Give me everything you have, and when you take your last breath, know that Tarsus the Brume owns your soul! I’ll do what Ortughal could not and reap you from your flesh!” The creature leaned back, taking a large breath. As it exhaled, black smoke began to fill the room.

  Ella quickly turned and shouted toward Tempest. “Shield now!”

  Tempest cast his shield around his companions as the smoke filled their entire vision. Loud thumps echoed inside the shield as blow after blow connected.

  “The shield won’t hold up for long if he continues like this!” Tempest shouted. “It’s like he’s hitting the shield at every direction at once.”

  Saïgra said an incantation and rooted into the floor. She concentrated a moment before leaning into Tempest. “It’s not seeping through the ground. When I give you the signal, open up the shield underneath us.”

  “You want me to do what?!” Tempest shouted.

  “Just trust me!”

  Tempest nodded, and Saïgra waited for the right moment
in between strikes.

  “Now!”

  In that moment, Tempest manipulated the shield to open underneath them. He felt the vines push through his barrier and spread out into the room. A rainbow of light washed over Saïgra’s armor as she channeled her spell. Slowly, the black smoke faded and the air cleared around them. Hundreds of vines spread throughout the wooden bookcases in the room. They produced black pedaled flowers that cleared the air in a matter of seconds.

  With their vision cleared, they could see the speed that their foe was moving. His thin body moved like a sea serpent in water, contorting himself backwards and forwards to his next direction. He was so fast, it made it difficult for Tempest to notice the pattern. For every forward movement he did, he would slide back to the previous spot like a springboard before issuing the following strike.

  I got you now, you bastard, Tempest thought. He looked back and forth to all of his companions. “Get ready!”

  “For what?” Riika shouted.

  “You’ll know it once you see it.” Tempest bided his time until Tarsus rotated back in front of the group. As it sprung back, he reached out and forced it into place. He gritted his teeth as the creature attempted to move from its spot. Tarsus’ body looked like a blur as the speed of its supernatural movements created micro-vibrations around it.

  When Riika realized what had happened, she smiled, jumped, and swung. Tempest felt the resistance from Tarsus fade as he let go of his magic, panting from the exhaustion. Clattering metal echoed throughout the chamber, followed by twin thuds as everything from the creature fell to the floor. Black blood poured along the white stone floor.