Chapter 50

“There are many tools that one can use to further one’s goals, but none that must be used more sparingly than betrayal. When used correctly, it can allow for spectacular things, ridding oneself of rivals, plots, and conspiracies in a single fell stroke. However should that stroke falter, should it be anything but absolute, then one risks of creating an entrenched opponent unlike any other, one that will stop at nothing to see their vengeance.”

—The Necessity, Valtoris Blackstar

Sylvas, wake up! Mira’s warning shout ripped through his mind at a louder volume than he’d ever heard from her until that moment. You need to wake up right now!

What’s hap— Sylvas started to reply, only to cut himself off as an intense surge of adrenaline shot through him, sending his body, his arm specifically, moving before he even knew what he was doing.

Whereupon it hit something hard, a crack followed by a pained yelp filling the air an instant later.

It was then that his eyes finally snapped open, doing so just in time to see a thin, white armored figure, one of the two elves that were part of his security detail, clutching at what was obviously a badly broken arm. Horror and regret instantly filled Sylvas’ mind as he realized what he had done, the emotion barely having time to crest before Mira’s voice tore through his mind once more.

No! Be angry! She shouted while simultaneously projecting barrage of moving images into his head. They just tried to poison you!

And they truly had, Sylvas discovered as the premonition played out in his mind, his eyes quickly dropping down towards a small, spray like device that had fallen to the floor of his tent. At a glance he could see that it radiated a truly mindboggling mix of poison, dream, and mental affinity mana. So much in fact that he was certain that if he so much as touched a drop of it that he would end up a coma for days.

“Damn it,” Sylvas cursed as he then realized what was happening, that a member of his own security detail had just attempted to betray him. It was that thought that prompted Sylvas’ immediate follow up strike at his would be abductor as he pushed himself up from his prone position, his fist tearing through an all too weak shield before impacting upon the guard’s helmet. The blow, and the impossible weight that it had arrived with, was enough to not only instantly shatter the protective armor but to also activate the Ardent crest upon the traitor’s body, enveloping them in a protective aura of white.

“Hina! What is—” A low pitched voice started to demand right as another white helmet appeared in the tent’s open entranceway. But those few words were all that they were able to get out before Sylvas’ gravity spike hit them in the throat, turning their voice into an incoherent gurgle before another white light of an activating crest filled the air. However by that point, Sylvas was airborne, gravity shear tearing apart his tent all around him as he ascended upwards and the rage that Mira had called for rapidly blooming in his chest.

“Shit, he’s awake!” A panicked voice from below called out right as a wave of fire rose up to try and envelop Sylvas only to be buffeted aside by the well of gravity protecting him. 

Where the hell is Vaelith? Sylvas wondered as he scowled at the all too weak magic being sent at him, discovering that there was another three Ardent from his security detail and what looked a like a single member of the research team standing before the remains of his tent.

She was here, Mira answered as Sylvas shot forward towards them, his hand clawing out in a slashing gesture. It was enough to send one of the four instantly to the ground as a crescent of gravity lashed itself across their back, all but shattering their spine in a blink. But she woke up and left a short while ago.

The answer only served to deepen Sylvas’ anger, especially as another wave of hastily cast magic was unleashed to meet him, this time a barrage of ice and lightning. Unlike before however, he didn’t wait for the attack to reach him, instead burning a portion of the prodigious amount of mana that he carried within to cast a teleport spell. Shifting places as fast as the universe would allow him, Sylvas then reappeared on the ground below directly amidst his attackers. 

With just enough time to hear a panicked yelp from the three of them, Sylvas snapped out two massively overpowered gravity spikes in quick succession. The first crumpled the arm and shoulder of the ice-wielding traitor mid cast as if it were paper, the damage more than enough to activate their crest and send them into a white-hued oblivion. As for the second, the lightning wielder, it was no less fierce, except directed towards their feet. The result had the better part of Sylvas’ attacker being literally torn from their feet with enough force to create a small crater on the ground from the resulting impact. 

From which of course a pale light began to emanate from.

With that final act, all of Sylvas’ armored attackers had been accounted for, leaving him hovering just before the last and final member of the traitorous group, an elven woman, one of the eidolon experts from the expedition team.

“T-This isn’t… this isn’t what it looks like!” She stammered as the shock of what Sylvas had just done set into her, eyes going wide with terror. “W-we, were just—”

“Trying to poison me.” Sylvas interrupted in a cool rage, a part of him trying to force himself into Clearmind but for the first time in a long time, failing. “Don’t try and lie to me, I already know.”

Terror filled the woman’s face as she started to shake her head fervently. 

“N-n-no! We weren’t!” She practically shouted while starting to take rapid steps backwards. “W-we were trying to protect—”

“Then why are you trying to run?” Sylvas cut in once again as he effortlessly floated after her. “You must know that if you do that, I’ll have to stop you.”

But no sooner did Sylvas begin to do so, did she abruptly reverse course and charge directly at him, a flash of magic appearing in her hands.

His reaction was immediate in the instant that followed, his hand instinctively coming up to stop her. Or, rather, as he very quickly discovered, to stop the kinds of the threats that he was used to facing. For when his outstretched hand connected with her chest, it did not halt her in place, rather instead it plowed straight through into her heart and out her back.

“What—” Sylvas’ surprise eyes went wide for the split second it took to realize what the traitorous researcher had done. She hadn’t been built for war like him and the other Ardent. She had been normal, weak, completely devoid of any protections that he was used to fighting. Including the Ardent crest that had saved her other companions.

She chose to kill herself rather than let you capture her, Mira pointed out in a soft voice as Sylvas withdrew his arm from the now dead woman and let her fall, blood, bones, and gore clinging to him. It was a mess that prompted to him close his eyes and take deep breath to steady himself. And before you ask, no, I didn’t see it. Not in time. The paradigm isn’t fully reliable yet…there are too many paths appearing all at once still.

She must have known something important, something that she didn’t want me finding out, Sylvas replied once he was able to force Clearmind upon himself, masking the simmering cauldron of rage that filled his heart. He had let his guard down on this expedition, around his security team as well as the researchers, thinking that they were safe, thinking that he could trust them based on Wartback’s word alone. But the fallen bodies surrounding him had proven that he’d been wrong. Very wrong.

We need to find Vaelith and figure out what— Sylvas started to say to Mira only to cut himself off when a flash of revelation shot through the both of them, having been masked in the immediate chaos that had followed his waking.

Wait…it’s gone, Mira whispered from within his mind, her shock mirroring his own. The blood wolf, it’s…gone.

And it truly was Sylvas discovered as he stretched out his senses and realized that the overwhelming presence of the eidolon was nowhere to be found. After having been immersed it in for as long as he had been, its absence felt like a palpable, physical thing.

One that was understandably terrifying too.

It can’t have been set loose. We would have absolutely noticed that, Sylvas said quickly as he checked his internal slate, discovering that it had been roughly five hours since he’d gone to sleep. That made it roughly the exact middle of the night as time went on Strife, the time when the most people were asleep and resting. The perfect opportunity for the traitors to spring their attack. They must have moved or banished it somehow. I can’t think of anything else that would explain it being gone.

Me either, Mira offered as Sylvas began to move, leaving the remains of his tent behind in favor of rushing down the side tunnel that he and several others had set their sleeping quarters up in, if only so they could be away from the near blinding glare of the worldsoul. As he moved, Sylvas paused to check the nearest tents only to discover that they were empty. None of the researchers, his friends, or remainder of his security detail where here.

Where is everyone? It’s too quiet, even for this late, he eventually said after finding his third empty tent and getting close enough to the main chamber that he should have heard something. It was a puzzle that filled him with worry and anticipation until he finally rounded the last bend that led to the main chamber and found the worse possible answer to his question.

He found Ironeyes and the rest of his security team.

They all lay in pools of their own blood amid one of the shared meal areas, draped across the tables and chairs as if they had been dropped there by some mad giant. Letting out a strangled cry as he rushed forward, it didn’t take long for Sylvas to reach his friend who had fallen against a table, his throat slit from ear to ear and his crest nowhere to be seen. Glancing downward at the dwarf’s body, he saw that some sort of metal rod had been stabbed through his thigh. It was charred and partially melted, the dark patches scarring the stone all around him telling Sylvas all he needed to know. 

He’d tried to fight back, even when they ambushed him, he said to Mira, doing his best to hang onto Clearmind. But whoever did this…they planned ahead, they knew what he could do. They knew what…what everyone could do.

A quick sweep of the others confirmed that assessment, for upon each body that he looked at was a similar device of some kind.

A nullification spike? I’ve read something about—

Don’t think about all that right now, darling. Mira interrupted. We need to keep moving, keep searching.

To what end?

To vengeance’s end. Someone has absconded with a planetary annihilator, tried to poison you, killed one of your friends, and who knows what else. We need to find out why. We need to find out if they’re still here. Can you do that for us Sylvas?

He felt his heart harden, even from under his paradigm. I can. I can do this.

Letting his senses rush out in every direction at once as he shifted his focus, it didn’t long for Sylvas to confirm that he was entirely alone down here. Kalisdrothan, Bael, Malachai, all the others who should have otherwise been down here were missing. In his mind that meant only one thing, his senses stretching out towards the gate that had brought them here and discovering an all too familiar dip. One that shouldn’t have been there.

“They closed the gate.” He stated, no longer concerned if there was someone around to hear him. “They closed the gate and locked us down here.”

Then it’s a good thing that we have a key.