Chapter I
In the mountainous ruins of Fethwyn, a nation in the southeastern corner of the continent Imasthra, laid an artifact containing insights of a lost civilization from the era previous. Its discovery was recent thanks to daring mountaineers navigating a rarely explored remote mountain range. News spread quickly among the nations of Imasthra, and it was only a matter of time when the nation of Moslogrov received word of the discovery. Moslogrov, a nation ruled by a coven of sorceresses, resided further north, thousands of kilometers away from Fethwyn. No time was wasted when the coven sent their archeologist, Nyaxi Lethulrah, to retrieve anything of value from the ruins.
Like the rest of the inhabitants of the planet Umrashka, Nyaxi belonged to the race of Dahwyr. Elvish, they resembled, with their skin of gray colors ranging from the deep charcoal to the pale white smoke. More diverse were their hair colors, from lilacs to blue grays. Their eyes, more uniform, with all their sclera colored a pale mint green, but the irises variated from ceruleans to navy blues. All differed physically but all shared a common fate as mortals, destined to perish with their souls going to the great beyond where their deity, the revered Ralmaia, reigned.
It took a month for Nyaxi to reach the boundaries of Fethwyn. Her usual mode of transportation was her enchanted carpet since reaching Fethwyn by foot would have taken a half decade. Moslogrov sent word to Fethwyn's monarchy about their delegate's mission, promising to share whatever discoveries were made from their findings as well as compensating them with a substance known as vekathiam or better known as "liquid platinum", a highly sought after resource native to the caverns of Moslogrov. With the map of Fethwyn and asking for directions from local villagers, it did not take long for her to come across the mountain range.
After one last look at the map and the mountains laying in front of her, she placed it away in her leather satchel. The sorceress looked at the scenery around her, mountains and plains of tall dead grass constituted the landscape. The wind made the grass sway like currents of the seas. The young sorceress's pale gray skin contrasted the light golden color of the field as her medium length lavender pink hair flowed against the wind, resembling an undying spring flower way past its season. She wore a robe of wool to combat the relentless frigid winds. It was dark purple in color with the edge of her sleeves and the front of her robe being adorned with silver meander-knot symbols.
"Must be the place," she whispered to herself, her words being carried away by the whooshing winds.
The sorceress marched on toward the mountains with her staff in hand used as a walking stick. The staff was minimalistic in design, the only decoration present were a few swirling vine engravings with a ring of flames below them, near the top where the crystal orb adorned the head of the staff. Nyaxi began climbing up the rugged terrain at the bottom of the mountain. Pebbles and boulders, smooth and jagged shapes would become the norm to her vision for the next several days. Her only guide to the ruins was her staff which glowed brighter, caused by a tracking spell, as the distance lessened. The climbing lasted about four days, living off of bread, dried fruits, and jerky whenever she found a decently flat spot to rest for the night for which she was not a fan of. Nyaxi always made a slight grimace whenever she pulled out her rations from her satchel followed with a depressed sigh. On the fourth night, she rested inside a small cave she came across after treading on a narrow path ready to crumble at a moment's notice, nearly losing her footing at one point. Like previous nights, she took out her measured ration and began to eat it with reluctance. Nyaxi spat a few seeds toward the small campfire in front of her as she stared with contemplation toward the barely visible entrance, otherwise invisible to the naked eye if it were not for the moonlight shining on it. The howling breeze did not relent throughout the entire day, if anything, only strengthening after the sun settled.
"D-d-damn wind, ca-can't give me a b-b-break," she shuttered after spitting out more seeds from the dried fruit she ate.
With a swift wave of her hand, the flames grew taller and brighter. Nyaxi sighed with relief, enjoying the welcome warmth.
"That's better," she said to herself, content. The sorceress lied down for a moment, staring up at the cave's ceiling. "I wonder how Ilron is doing. I hope he didn't break any flasks in my absence."
She took out a handheld mirror from her satchel. Its design was circular with the frame and handle being made of burgundy colored wood. Nyaxi concentrated on it while having her right hand out toward it. Soon enough an image began to manifest and the face of an adolescent male with short indigo curly hair. At first, he did not notice her until she cleared her throat.
"Madame Lethulrah! Sorry, I didn't notice you!" he exclaimed, his eyes filled with high regard with a hint of fear. "It's nice to hear from you. I was starting to worry after five days of silence!"
"Thank you, Ilron," said Nyaxi, appreciating the genuine concern of her assistant. "How are you faring? How have things been in the capitol?"
"I'm doing well, for now. Thank you for asking, my lady," he started off with a polite smile. "Regarding the capitol, nothing to go crazy about, the usual matters. Though, a diplomat from Vusrana came in a few days ago... wanting to increase trade ties with our government."
"Hmm, curious. They've never shown much interest in working with us," said Nyaxi, mildly skeptical about the revelation. "Any reason why?"
"We share the Glosruim Sea, he said. We would benefit a lot in exchanging goods through those routes, boosting the economies of our ports. You know, the same old reasons in any trade agreement. Negotiations are still going "
"I see..." she said, slightly rubbing her chin.
"Where are you right now, my lady? It's dark and... rocky if my eyes are working," he said, squinting.
"In a small cave, not far from the ruins."
The apprentice widened his eyes with an eager grin.
"Oh, finally! I can't wait to know what you find, my lady! I hope you find a gleaming blade!" He shrieked before composing himself and clearing his throat, realizing he was still talking to his master. "Sorry about that."
Nyaxi chuckled while shaking her head.
"It's alright, Ilron. I know things can get a little exciting when it comes to this field. Just remember it won't always be swords and crowns of legendary rulers."
"Understood, my lady."
The conversation continued on for another ten minutes with the topics shifting back and forth from what Nyaxi expects to find in the ruins to details about the negotiations with the Vusranese diplomat and who amongst the coven were involved in the talks. The assistant brought up her mother, Umraxi Lethulrah, and Henastyn Vlanduubosk, one of the few coven members Nyaxi has good relations with. Her face hardened at the mentioning of her mother's name. Ilron, aware of his master's complicated relationship with her mother, did not inquire about Nyaxi's shift of expression. Eventually, the two finished their talk with Ilron telling the sorceress to be careful and her telling him to keep up the good work maintaining the estate in her absence. They exchanged farewells and Nyaxi ended the call, with the image of Ilron dissipating away from the mirror. She placed the mirror away and took out a thick midnight blue wool blanket and matching pillow in exchange, preparing to rest for the night. Just when she finished unrolling the blanket and adjusting the pillow, she stopped herself.
"Ah, I almost forgot to do my nightly prayer. Damn you, cold winds," she whispered to herself.
Nyaxi sat down on her knees and held her hands up toward the cave's ceiling, closing her eyes to concentrate.
"Mighty Ralmaia, heed my prayer," she began reciting. "I pledge my mind and soul to thee, for I am grateful you brought my world and I to life. This mortal humbly requests your guidance and protection in my journey. Just as I ask of you, you can ask of me and answer I shall with my loyalty, undying at your service. Save us from the--"
A commotion of tumbling rocks from outside caused her to cease the prayer's recitation as she turned sharply to her left at the entrance.
"Huh?"
Nyaxi watched in total silence, a part of her baffled at the way the rocks outside fell downward. She continued looking out, waiting for any continuation of the echoing clatter but no more occurred. A part of her wanted to brush it off as the wind caused it but instincts told her the wind's direction was not quite right. For the rocks to have fallen the way they did from somewhere above, the wind had to come from the north, not from the east where it currently blew from.
"Must be the local wildlife," she said to herself, relieved after recalling seeing mountain-climbing bovid creatures the day before. "Of course, why didn't I think of that from the start?" She resumed her prayer with a calm mind and slumbered away.
Morning came with the first rays of the sun shining down at the cave's entrance. The air remained cool from last night's winds which finally tempered from their relentless blows. After cleaning up and putting everything away, Nyaxi walked toward the entrance and gave a deep breath, savoring the morning warmth as she looked out toward the expansive view of the other mountains nearby. With one last deep breath to help her concentrate, she resumed onward toward the ruins, following the intense glow of her staff. Two hours it took, for the sorceress to finally stumble upon the ruined fortress hanging on the side of a jagged cliff. She blocked the sunlight from her eyes by placing her right hand above them, getting a clearer view of the ruins. It nearly blended in with the rest of the scenery if it were not for the distinctly refined shape of the bricks compared to the sharp, natural form of the rocks near it.
Once at the entrance, Nyaxi could see the remnants of a wooden gate with fractured, rotten boards dangling at the sides of the arch. She extinguished the light of her staff, no longer needing it as well as negating any attention from curious animals, even possible hikers or hermits. The hall that greeted here was expectedly barren and devoid of life. Gaping holes were present on the ceiling, giving a view of the two floors above her which also bore apertures of their own. The cracked, hold riddled walls were draped with remnants of pine green banners, torn beyond repair, and their light yellow insignia impossible to decipher. It was unclear whether the scattered wooden fragments on the floor were parts of the gates or were part of furniture that was once in the fortress. Nothing within the main hall caught the sorceress's eye as she scoped every dimensional aspect of the room. The ambience was placid with the tame wind being the only source of sound, occasionally interrupted by the crackling footsteps of Nyaxi whenever she changed spots.
With nothing of value in sight, she moved on to the other rooms. From down below to what used to be the dungeons, a single hallway with torn down cell bars, to the third floor which contained rooms of what might have been private quarters or meeting rooms though there was little evidence to indicate either or. The common findings Nyaxi came across were cracked pottery and torn cloth, its use hard to distinguish without rigorous study. After three hours of searching back and forth, going into the same rooms, the same fireplaces, and the same hallways, before finally getting fed up and decided to rest. She sat down against the wall, near the entrance to one of the fortresses' towers.
"Damn it all. I'm starting to fear there's nothing here. Nothing but table legs and their generous gift of splinters," she said to herself just as she pulled one out of her ring finger, wincing and groaning while doing so. "All this time... for nothing?" She began to laugh from her vexed state. "No. I'm not leaving empty handed. I don't care if it's some stupid basket, I'll make do."
The sorceress began going through each floor once more, watching her step to not fall into one of the holes wide enough to swallow her. The second floor was a nexus of hallways with entrances to chambers either at the end of each hall or half-way between each junction. Some of the entrances were bare of any doors or had remnants sticking on the side of the rusted door hinges. During one particular hallway she crossed for the hundredth time, Nyaxi noticed something on a wall to her left, a distinctly marked brick stood out amongst the rest. It was engraved with a symbol that resembled two curved horns with a crescent moon in between.
"I didn't see this anywhere else," she said as she pointed at the symbol in a child-like manner. "How did I miss this... well, it's faded, you idiot."
The sorceress examined the area around the symbol, in case there were any others to see if it was some kind of puzzle or message but only the symbol she first spotted was present, even wiping any dust potentially concealing anything but still nothing. She refocused on the sole symbol, trying to recall if she has seen it before but could not bring up a single memory.
"A total unknown. I wonder which culture belonged to this place," she touched the marked brick, and when she applied slight pressure to her touch, the brick receded back, catching the sorceress by surprise. "What the--"
She heard a grinding sound behind her and with a sharp turn of her head, she saw a hidden entrance reveal itself as the brick door opened slowly and dramatically. A hidden room was revealed, notably smaller than all the others on the same floor and more intact compared to the rest of the fortress with less holes and cracks, save for the ceiling which had an imposing aperture.
"There we go, now we're onto something," said the sorceress with a grateful smile. She walked inside and looked up to see where in the third floor this room was below from, but all she saw were walls on four sides. "No wonder, in between the walls of two rooms, I couldn't see anything from up there."
The secret chamber had an altar and a wooden bookshelf that still had functioning shelves, though the few books that were there were damaged beyond restoration, most likely from water damage with wrinkly shriveled pages in all of them. Still, it did not prevent the eager sorceress from snatching the salvageable ones and putting them away in her enchanted satchel. Now, she turned toward the altar, the sunrays almost shined down on the very object of interest. A seemingly abstract glass statuette stood proudly at the center, unaffected by the environment around it. Its appearance was hard to describe but Nyaxi compared it to a twister-like being of sorts with two small insectoid wings spread out on the top, both connected to a rhombohedron shape bearing a single eye mark. The twister-like structure appeared to be the "legs" of the statuette as two swirls connected to the bottom faces of the rhombohedron. She swore the shape had a faint glow to it, but was not sure if it was an illusion caused by the sunrays.
"Oh, I can't wait to figure you out, you magnificent piece of art," she said with an adoration.
Just as she reached with her unoccupied hand to touch the statuette, two bricks fell behind her, the sound immediately made her turn around swiftly.
"What--"
A shadow covered her just as she looked up, a hooded figure with two curved daggers was pouncing straight toward her. Nyaxi quickly reacted by casting a forcefield with her staff, effectively blocking the ambush attack and knocking the assailant down on the floor.
"The hell!? Who are you?!" she demanded from the assailant.
The attacker did not answer as they stood up with a soft groan. Their entire ensemble was a simple, black tunic with a hood attached to it, matching black pants and leather boots, and a black leather belt with holsterts for their daggers and other weapons they had not taken out. They wore a black cloth mask covering mouth and nose, leaving their ultramarine iris eyes with crow's feet visible. They put themselves in an offensive stance, daggers facing forward.
"Won't talk, huh? Fine by me, assassin!" she said right before she swung her staff, conjuring glowing sharp shard-shaped projectiles.
The assailant jumped to the side as the projectile stuck to the wall behind them. They displayed an insect-like ability to land on the wall before speedily running toward Nyaxi before leaping toward her. Nyaxi did not expect this move and barely reacted on time from the attacker's swift movements. She blocked him with her staff right as the attacker lunged their daggers at her. They struggled to overpower one another as they pushed with their bodies back and forth with the attacker trying to close the distance of the daggers to the sorceress's throat and her trying to widen the gap. It went on for a half minute with the two even managing to switch positions with a spin. Finally, Nyaxi casted a spell which set her staff on fire except where her hands were holding it, effectively burning the assailant's wrists. They backed away as they yowled with deep raspy male voice.
"Silly imbecile. You shouldn't play with fire," she mocked him with a condescending wagging of her finger.
The assassin kept backing up as he was trying to extinguish the small flames that latched onto his sleeves, bumping violently against the altar. The force of the impact caused the statuette to fall and roll toward the edge of the wooden altar. Nyaxi's expression immediately turned to one of fright followed by a sharp gasp but sighed in relief when she saw it stopped rolling. The assassin extinguished the flames as he fiercely patted his sleeves. He hissed at his burn injuries before looking up at Nyaxi, growling at her.
"Come on, then!" she yelled at him, daring him to charge once more.
He impatiently charged at her as he yelled out a war cry. He crossed his arms and had the blade of the daggers facing her. With a swing of her staff, the bookshelf flew towards the assassin, pinning him down to the ground as the furniture and moldy books toppled him. The assassin stabbed and punched through the bookshelf as he pushed it aside, growling like a rabid beast. When he turned around to look at Nyaxi, she was not there. He stood up again, this time with more difficulty, wincing in pain from the impact of the heavy furniture. He violently coughed a few times from inhaling a mix of dust and mold spores from the books. He looked toward the altar to see the statuette still lying there before he staggered toward the hallway outside the chamber and saw the sorceress waiting for him to his right, her stance confident and composed.
"Let's end this now, assassin. I know you want to," she said in a cocky attitude before cracking her neck. "I'll be nice just this once and let you walk away or face your eternal end."
"Cu- cursed demon wench!" he spoke up with strain. "I was going to make it qu-quick! But now I'll make sure it's s-slow and ex-cru-ciating!"
"Committed. I'll give you that," she nodded with near admiration, her lips slightly pursed.
She tapped her staff to the floor and immediately sharp protrusions formed from the ground in a curvy, serpent-like pattern toward the assassin. He jumped forward right when the barrage of stalagmites were a few millimeters away from his feet. The assassin threw both daggers at Nyaxi mid-air which she blocked with ease as she conjured a force field, the blades bounced off and fell to the ground . Upon landing, the assassin took out a small sword from the hilt behind his back and began rushing toward Nyaxi, struggling in pain caused by his impact injuries he suffered earlier. He jumped over any stalagmites that were in his way before finally placing himself within striking distance.
Their closed combat resumed as the two feverously exchanged strikes. The assassin swung and lunged his sword at Nyaxi which she blocked with her staff or dodged to the side. In return, the sorceress used her staff to bash the assassin with the spherical tip like a club or jab him with the staff's foot whenever she could. At one point the assassin was gaining too much ground, making Nyaxi step back considerably and even managed to slash the left side of her abdomen, tearing through her wool cloak and piercing her skin. She yelped and hissed when the pain struck through. The indigo colored blood began to pour out steadily, staining her cloak. Nyaxi conjured a knockback spell in retaliation, which caused the assassin to fly away with blunt force, knocking him down on the ground. He landed a considerable distance away, with his back crashing into the bases of the stalagmites.
She rose from the ground, and began floating towards him at a rapid pace. The assassin, upon seeing what was happening, began crawling away with horrified eyes while facing her. Nyaxi hurled fireballs at him which he dodged by rolling to the side. Dark burn marks were made wherever they struck. The assassin regained his footing as he watched Nyaxi stopped her midair offense, he was panting from exhaustion and the aches which pestered most of his body. Right when he was ready to lunge, Nyaxi heated up his sword with a spell to thousands of degrees, glowing a bright orange. The assassin released the handle immediately as he screamed in agony, part of the black leather glove he wore melted away along with his skin. He looked at his newly acquired burn in horror, a dark blue patch on his light gray skin, before Nyaxi lifted him into the air with a spell and tossed him to the right wall, then to the left, and lastly to the ceiling before finally dropping him down with a wiping motion of her hand.
She brought herself back down to the stone floor before striding toward the assassin, now meekly groveling on the ground. Blots of blood were now scattered on the walls he was just thrown against and the floor around him. This time he did not try to get up, the pain too much to bear for the middle aged assassin. Nyaxi stopped right in front of him, before making his body get on his knees with her spells. She squatted down on his level, her expression hard to read.
"I'll make it quick. Now, who sent you?" she said, looking all over his attire for any insignias before shifting her eyes back toward his own.
He did not respond, only coughing out blood with some medium sized drops getting on her face. She flinched in response, wiping it off with disgust. Taking the opportunity, the assassin took out a short dagger with a straight blade from one of the pockets of his pants and jammed it into his throat before slicing it open. The indigo blood poured out like the steady streams of a river. Nyaxi stood up and took a few steps back as she looked in shock, not expecting the drastic solution he chose. He fell back down on the cold floor as he gurgled out copious amounts of his blood from his lips. A massive puddle quickly took form as the blood painted the bricks with its deep hues. The assassin gave out one last cough before the life of his eyes finally left and became still.
Almost as if on cue, the wind picked up a bit of speed as it softly whooshed through the hallway they were both in, Nyaxi's now disheveled hair swayed against it. The force of the wind created a slight ripple to the still expanding blood puddle that slowly crept closer to Nyaxi's boots. The sorceress observed his corpse with a bewildered look for several minutes, unsure on how to process what just happened. She shook her head as she brought herself back to her senses.
"Who hired you... to keep them secret..." she pondered out loud. "I will get to the bottom of this."
She collected the assassin's weapons and cleaned the blades and handles with a cloth before placing them away into her satchel. The sorceress staggered back into the secret chamber, leaning against the doorframe as exhaustion finally caught up to her from using potent enchantments in her fight with the assassin. She took a moment to catch her breath while gazing at the statuette, her costly reward for her journey. Nyaxi approached the altar with a tired closed smile.
"Finally, my prize. Come to me," she said.
All of sudden, she lost her balance as one the ancient tomes from the bookshelf caused her trip, making her to stumble forward and bump into the altar. The movement caused the statuette to continue to roll over and fall to the ground and shatter into several pieces. She gasped and shrieked, dropping her jaw down with her eyes widened, realizing what just happened. Nyaxi looked at the newly created accident for several seconds in silence before finally uttering a word.
"Fuck!"
