Chapter 29

“And down in the deep land, Scroogy found his very first gemstone, and he thought to himself that it was as fine and shiny as any sun he’d ever seen, and that if it were up to him, then the big black tunnel-top would be decorated with these instead. So he walked on down the mine some more, and he found another gem, then another, three big gems, each as big as his eyeballs, and they were all his. Or so he thought. If Scroogy had been listening when he was in school, like he was meant to be, then he would have known about mineral rights, but Scroogy had been daydreaming instead. Daydreaming about coming down into this tunnel he’d found! What a silly Scroogy he was! Oh, all the plans he made for those shining stars. All the things he’d buy and eat and build. With gems like these, he could get a mining pick all of his own and even start his own mine. He wouldn’t have to go down anyone else’s mine like he was doing now, when he could make his own.”

—The Ballad of the Scroogy Fhatna, Dwarvish Folktale

Leitnir 7 was unsettlingly quiet when they arrived. It had never been an inhabited world throughout known history. Its position in the borderlands between two warring empires had made it unappealing to settlers. Nobody wanted to start farming on a future war front. The temperature was lower than Sylvas was used to, even colder than his home world, with frost glazing the strange purple grass that grew all over the place, up and down the rolling dales. The combination of ice and deep purple gave the place an oddly confectionery look, like it was a big cake. Sylvas was just relieved that there wasn’t a horde of eidolons waiting when they made their landing.

The ship had touched down gently, and the Ardent disgorged themselves without hesitation. Kaya had remained behind with the ship, on the basis that she was strong enough to take on anything that might come along and interfere with their only way off the planet, while also taking some of the pressure off her to be combat-ready when she was still getting accustomed to her integrated eidolon. Sylvas regretted leaving her there, as his trust in the Ardent was at an all-time low, but then again, that was why he had to leave her there, given that Vaelith had decided it was in her best interests to stay with the ship, too.

In spite of the high tensions, Rania seemed to be in high spirits, bouncing along with her slate in hand and a barely controlled grin on her face. Seeing the look on Sylvas’ face, she leaned in beside him. “I might be a little excited to explore a completely untouched Aion vault.”

He glanced at her. “You might be?”

The grin never quite left her face, even when she was trying to maintain a serious and professional appearance. “I might be willing to admit to that, yes.”

“Generous of you.” He bumped against her shoulder as they walked.

“How often does anyone get this kind of opportunity?” She was talking faster than usual, excitement making her mind run ahead of her voice. “Let alone someone like me, with nobody backing them?”

Sylvas chuckled. “I’m guessing not often?”

“Never, might be a better guess.”

“Well, congratulations then?” His attention was dragged away from her to the distant sense of movement beyond the horizon.

She was just as distracted as he was. “Based on the Seekers’ shoddy research, we’re about a mile out from the vault entrance.

“Shoddy?” Sylvas asked, even as he picked up the pace to make sure they were the first to the Aion ruins.

“I mean, if all you care about is finding vaults as fast as possible, I’m sure it is fine, but it would have been nice for them to at least acknowledge that there might be other things of historical interest at the various sites they plundered.” Rania gave up on trying to keep up with Sylvas and just jumped onto his back to be carried like a little spider monkey.

“That cannot be comfortable.” Sylvas glanced back only to find his field of view filled with her hair.

She locked her arms around his neck, making him glad once again that he didn’t really need to breathe. “Beats talking to myself.”

The Ardent and Sylvas’ friends had broken into a run when he started launching himself ahead, and given enough distance, he had no doubt they would have caught up, but the foothills rolled up in front of him before they had the opportunity, and there, in the midst of those foothills, was the dark crack into the earth that would lead them to the vault. The earth was a richer purple, giving the whole experience a surreal edge as Sylvas ducked down into the dim passage beneath the earth. 

He had anticipated something like they had found on Cantobus, some vast underground complex, but the reality was vastly different. There were no tricks and traps, nothing to impede their progress down into the deeper earth, where dirt finally gave way to stone, and plain stone gave away to carvings.

The motion that Sylvas had sensed up ahead as they were traipsing across the planetary surface was concentrated up ahead, and from the jerky motions and the odd positioning of the living matter he could sense, he already knew what they were facing. He came to a halt and waited for the rest of their group to arrive in the broad underground chamber. Malachai caught up to him, obviously detecting much the same as Sylvas himself had, albeit with a whole different sensory array. “Shikari?”

“I don’t sense a queen anywhere.” Pulsing gravity and reaching out his senses, Sylvas sought out any sign of the planet-killing monster, but there was nothing except the smaller people-killing monsters.

Rania piped up, “Historically, there have been very few shikari queens discovered with vaults. We just got really unlucky last time.”

Malachai deadpanned. “One must assume that the Aions trusted in the strength of their locks in this instance.”

“Do you feel up to clearing them yourself?”

Malachai cocked his head to one side. “Is this an attempt to make me feel better after the cluster? Because I can assure you that my mental state—”

“Oh no.” Sylvas realized a moment too late how this might look. “No, I just… your magic won’t damage anything. Mine might trash the place if I clear them out.”

“It heartens me to know you can always be relied upon to treat me with practicality, even if Kaya cannot.” He didn’t roll his eyes, as such, but there was something in his tone that suggested eyes might have been rolled in the recent past and were liable to be rolled again in the near future.

Sylvas took a step back and gestured forward. “Have at it.”

Kaya had unlocked her covenant, and Sylvas had plunged headfirst into every possible method of improving and expanding his spellcasting, from the dozens of techniques he’d burned through to his bodily alterations and beyond, yet despite all of that, Malachai was often the most powerful and dangerous of them all. Even without any progression beyond the norm, his natural mastery of death magic made him almost as dangerous.

The necromancer summoned up flights of wraiths, infused them with so much death mana that Sylvas’ hair began to grey, and then sent them soaring off through the cavern to wipe out anything that lived. A tidal wave of death rolled and roiled through every inch of open air, and all of it without a covenant or any noticeable strain.

Sylvas knew that his friend was actively seeking to bond with an eidolon and access the next level of progression, that he had already planned out the spells and rituals that would allow for such a thing to occur smoothly, and he had every intention of sealing such a pact at the earliest opportunity. The idea of Malachai with even more power, even as an ally, was frightening. He already seemed nearly limitless in his power, so what would he look like with an eidolon of death granting him infinite mana and instant casting on top of everything he’d already been able to assemble with just the basics of magic?

The movement up ahead ceased. All of the shikari who could have slaughtered their way through the Ardent, and would have without hesitation, dropped like flies. There was a single tense moment as they all stretched out their awareness, seeking any sign of more trouble, and then it was over. They were all dead. They’d been here, hiding in the darkness like the demons of myth since before time was even recorded, and with barely a flex of his power, Malachai had wiped them clean off the world.

Progress resumed, at a slightly slower pace than Sylvas’ initial mad rush. They might not have encountered any booby traps or spells buried down here with the vault yet, but that did not preclude the possibility of them appearing at the worst possible moment.

Malachai stuck close to Sylvas now that he could see that there wasn’t going to be any social awkwardness, but Rania had to work with the various specialist mages among the Ardent, feeding them the information they needed to make sense of their own scrying spells, determining what represented a normal part of Aion ruins and what had the possibility of being a trap.

It was slow work, but Sylvas was quite content to stroll through the dark caverns in companionable silence. Malachai didn’t feel the same way, it seemed. “I appreciate your restraint.”

“In general or…?”

Malachai cleared his throat. “When it became clear that my family was hostile to our cause, you would have been entirely justified in eliminating them, and instead, you chose diplomacy. I just want you to know that I appreciate it.”

“You’re my friend, Malachai. And it was your choice to make on how we handled things. I’m not your boss. I mean, I know I act like the leader in front of the Ardent, but that’s because they don’t really understand… You know what I mean.”

For the first time since Dusont, something like a wry smile played over Malachai’s lips. “I do.”

They were suddenly illuminated. A white shield had sprung into being in between them—a sending from the Ardent. Sylvas touched it, following old instincts, and Vaelith’s voice echoed out. “Seeker flagship just entered orbit. We don’t think they’ve detected us, but we’re bracing for hostilities…and leaving them alone until they make the first move.”

So they survived, Sylvas thought, unsure of what to make of the emotions that the realization brought.

There was a chance they would have, Mira added, sharing her own mixed opinions. What are you going to do? You know they’re going to come down here.

It was a good question, and it was one that Sylvas had no answer for as they continued forward. Two bolts of crackling light leapt forward from Kerbo’s hands, blossoming into torches bright enough to illuminate the whole chamber as they entered. The vault loomed from between them. A structure so similar in shape to the one that they’d found on Cantobus that, for a moment, it was almost as if they were back there. Another jet-black monolith, so dark that Sylvas could barely even make out the Aion script on its sides, even with the flames burning close. 

Where the last had displayed a smooth expanse for him to lay his hand against and unlock it, this one differed. There was a distinct shape carved into the side of the stone, a great hollow where a vast wolf might fit, if it were to leap up. The eidolon Strife, in bas-relief.

“Where worship was bound, torn now from its anchor. Open wide eyes, or blind them as thou wilt. Face now the old fear, reaver banished homeward. Make your war, Starbreaker, for the end is nigh.” Rania recited the fragment of prophecy from the side of the vault, still vibrating with barely contained excitement.

That prophecy fragment seemed very specifically pointed, telling him to do exactly what Vaelith wanted, to join the war against the eidolons in the core. But prophecies had historically always been difficult to interpret, and what might have seemed obvious in this moment of discovery might have meant something completely different by the time the dust settled.

Sylvas set his shoulders, took a deep breath, and tried to make a rational decision. Rania and Malachai stepped up at his sides. She saw his expression, so contrary to her own excitement, and asked, “What is it?”

He turned to address the Ardent. “There is a Seeker ship in orbit. They’re likely making landfall as we speak. We do not have the time to fight them, but we also do not have the option to give them what they want. I’m going to try and negotiate a way out of this, but if that fails, we all need to be ready to fight a running battle back to the ship. Also… I’m about to do some things that you might not understand… or that might be difficult to… Just please stay back from the vault until I have it open, and let the Seekers come to me unmolested.”

Good phrase, darling, unmolested. Makes them feel perverse if they do set anyone on fire.

The corner of Sylvas’ mouth tugged up despite him feeling very little happiness with their great find here. With a push, he ejected the eidolon from his body.