As the shadows faded and Cydnar deftly parried a low-strike from the necromancer, something in the dark stirred. Beneath the shadows, and beneath the dark beneath the dark, Yrene opened his eyes with a low keen growl and spiralled from his cavern; his seat and throne of power. As magical energy flew into the last of the Salthias, the Wailing Sons of the Hummel, the World Eater rose to aid him and crush him with equal determination.
Lillian’s magic worked, but horribly so. Without warning the elf spiralled upwards, arms outstretched as if pinned by an invisible force. He began to spin mid-air, and a dense and deep hum permeated the noise of battle. At each of his fingertips dark purple lightning arced and above each palm, two small spheres of quartz of a colour Cydnar had not seen before appeared; violet, crimson and pearl in a swirling pattern of change.
The pain swelled in his chest as he caught a vision of the Snake lunging up from the pit. Realising what it was he had done, Cydnar gave in to the corruption he felt, a sickening and unending greed. He had suddenly tasted the very powers he was trying to crush, the very wealth of knowledge and magical prowess the Hummel kept at bay – he doubted himself, for was this any better than Xem’Zund? Was this simple act of sacrifice on her and his part worth the hypocrisy of being?
A vibration filled the air in the cavern, very slight at first but growing exponentially until it became audible by all but not distracting enough to test their concentration or mettle. Each pulsating rock rumbled, like a snake wavering across the desert, or a great earth worm crushing rock and pushing geode aside in a behemoth like advance. The lightning arced stronger and brighter and more violently as the transfer reached its zenith and the geomancy that was instilled in Cydnar took over with a will of its own. From the ground beneath, the great maw of the world serpent rose in all its terror and wonder.
Even a god such as he could not destroy Xem’Zund himself. Such corruption consumed would have tore Yrene apart from within, but the god could not sit idly by and watch the world come undone at the hands of the very thing he embodied and was formed to protect, so many millennia ago. As it roared, and the cavern shook with its mighty presence, it shed a single scale that plummeted down and dug into the ground with a shudder and a scattering of rock. The deep purple quartz shone in the twilight for a moment and then with the same gusto and might, the World Snake dove back into the cavern’s floor and tore a hole down into the bowels of the world.
A faint rumbling of Yrene's passing lingered long after he had gone.
The monolith of quartz sung an ancient and crackling song and Cydnar was drawn to it, like a moth to flame. As his toes slung loosely beneath his cross-like form touched the very tip, Lillian’s magic, along with Cydnar’s own pious nature and the very essence of the Hummel combined together. It unleashed a fury that was never meant to be wielded, let alone endured. His back arched, his wrists snapped straight, his eyes glowed with inner fire and vengeance.
The monolith shattered into a hundred smaller chunks, shards and a cloud of sparkling but ever deadly dust. It spun about his feet for a few moments, like a galaxy compressed into a puppet’s form. Cydnar spoke through gritted teeth to the clone he had been sparring with moments before, who held a calm and casual indigence about him, even as the elf ascended. “The Ancient Magic has spoken. The Ancient Lore tried and tested, you have been found wanting.”
The dry cracked lips spoke, “I am forever wanting, and forever tried – your words mean nothing.”
Cydnar smiled, graced and touched by his deity’s presence. As he did so his incisors lengthened, reinforced and curved into vicious fangs that leant out as his jaw lowered. For a moment, he thought it a mistake but realised suddenly that he had been chosen as a Salthias for a reason. Even if such a thing were an illusion, or an avatar of Yrene’s will, belief was a powerful weapon against the darkest of enemies and gave life and light to the weakest of men in times of need. He resisted the overwhelming surge of connection he felt to the crystal storm pent in anger beneath his floating form, and let it rush outwards across the cavern with as much force and rampant aggression as his mental will could muster.
The Salthias…the Sacrifice. The leader of leaders and the warrior who survives, only to give his life for the cause of the World Eater – falling as champion, scion, lord and master of all and none…
He passed his judgement, and arced backwards in sheer pain as Lillian’s life force acted as boon and curse, propelling the swarm of quartz to engulf all of Xem’Zund’s mirrors but also driving his own bones under thumbscrews, racks and iron maidens.
“For eternity’s sake, I succumb to destiny…”
The first wave of the storm struck the clone that was closest to Lillian, pummelling the adamantium with a torrent of larger chunks and battering it down and lose and asunder with brute force. As it spiralled around like a swarm of locusts, the fine dust and dagger sharp shards found their way into up and around the leather straps, stripping plates off the lich so that some of him lay exposed. Such was its power in consuming the energy of the first and second clone, the wounds healed with dark strands before it could notice; but that was not the storm’s purpose.
The second found itself under similar attack, as Cydnar guided the galaxy of violence to each of the Dawnbringer’s enemy’s in turn. One by one, he tore a path through the defence of Xem’Zund, inflicting nothing more than minor wounds to skin, ego and patience alike. The third and fourth lost as much, and the elf drew the quartz storm back around him like a shield of scorn. As the storm returned, the lightning shot about his body, lifting the hem of his deep purple robes into a sail stripped almost bare by a heavy hurricane's kiss.
The silence from the fifth and as yet untouched clone permeated realities far beyond its own. It spoke, slowly, and lifted a slender finger to point at the levitating Dawnbringer. “You shall certainly give your life, as will all of you.”
A black sphere erupted from his slender digit and collided with the moving shield. The feedback from the kinetic energy swirling around Cydnar rocked his mind and caused his muscles to tense, rupture and drain of energy. With the last ounce of concentration he could muster, he drew the quartz shards igam ogam* to form a solid wall before the slowly advancing spell, which even he knew would ring a death knell more transitory than simple, sudden and painless.
Energy built up and the fabric of reality in the air around the two men's will shattered. Lillian’s life-force slipped from Cydnar at last in a single finale. The quartz storm gathered in one giant mass, and drained the spell of all it’s worth. A mass of crystals fell to the floor like sleet, some evaporating from the intensity of their connection, others falling colourless and lifeless, like mosquitoes on the dawn wind.
In the last opening Cydnar rose further still and lifted his right hand back, then his left; each motion pulling the mass apart into a floating maelstrom of sundering. With a smile and a sense of ironic defeat, he pushed it forwards to strike the last clone with a downward and definite motion. It tore the armour apart and cracked bones and sinewy flesh, before tumultuously cascading onto the cavern floor like a wave of gems.
As Cydnar fell backwards, still half held aloft by the remnants of his geomancy and the wings of Yrene the fifth clone clicked upright and hissed; holding onto its unlife only through bitterness and hatred of being hurt so much by someone so meagre. The elf fell slowly, until his descent was almost suspended. There was a faint twang, like the threads of fate snapping and then he fell with the momentum of a star.
Thud.
The elf came to a standstill and fell unconscious. His swords scattered either side of him with no proof of his passing or his deeds remaining - other than a bed of crystals hidden deep within the earth.
*igam ogam, celtic (Welsh) term for zig zag.+ Cydnar damages the armour of all the clones revealing weak points. He significantly damages the clone he was fighting, but falls unconscious doing so. This will be temporary, but he cannot use The Crystalline Conflux for the remainder of the thread, and his telekinetic control of the quartz will be severely weakened.
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