The Northern coats of Argwyll seemed oddly tranquil compared to the land they’d left behind. Tara lounged on his back, teasing Klax every now and then, while Fauna kept perched on his shoulderblade to keep him company, chatting about the recent news from Arkona.
“We should’ve been there,” Ethan said as she told him of the valiant defense they’d mounted against the army of the East. “They should’ve called us. We knew they’d come eventually.”
“I got the impression from Mara that Borlor and the council wanted to demonstrate that they were capable of defending themselves,” Fauna answered, ruffling a few feathers on his hind wing absent-mindedly.
“And they kicked ass,” Tara added. “Wish I could’ve been there to see them wipe the last Greys off the face of the earth.”
“Our people have grown strong,” Klax said. “Jun, Lamphrey, everyone who didn’t make it – I think they would be proud.”
“And now comes the final hurdle,” Fauna said.
The three of them grew silent, each one looking at Ethan’s hat form atop the angel’s head. As usual his single eye had been focused ever on the horizon – on the destiny that awaited them.
Their silence was that which Ethan knew would come just before the end – the sigh before the last chapter of the Archon’s story. And they weren’t alone.
It almost doesn’t seem real, huh? Sys murmured as Ethan took them through more clouds. Facing a God. Ending the cycle.
Ethan didn’t respond. Right now, too much was swirling in his head besides Sys.
Spirit Cores Gained (Garm, Cardinal Assassin): +9000
As if he needed more. This was the first thing he’d seen once Sys had come back-online. It might very well have been the last kill he ever made on Argwyll.
…but I believe, Sys was saying – his voice echoing through the cloudcover so that the entire party could hear him. Do I? Hah! It seems I really do.
“We’re right there with you,” Fauna said. “But it’s not us who need to believe.”
Ethan dimly heard her words as he broke through another section of cloud and dove towards the shadowed form of…something.
Something that he’d seen in his waking dreams for months.
“We…we’re here.”
The party practically hopped to his shoulders to see what he saw. There, jutting out of the ocean like a small craggy palm, was Mistborne Isle.
It was just as Jun’Ei and Lamphrey had shown him. The place was a fog-coated series of jagged rocks and jungle overgrowths. From above, he could see how the mists played around the tiny isle’s tree boughs and snaked their way into the ocean, giving them impression that something living there was slowly spilling into the seas.
And at the center of the island stood a cluster of grey-black ruins surrounding a single, solitary tower.
The Headquarters of the Umbral Order.
“This is it,” Ethan whispered – echoing the thoughts that were running rampant through all their minds in this moment. “This – this is where it’ll all end.”
All eyes glued to the tower on the isle, Ethan took them in slowly and calmly, gliding seamlessly on calm, peaceful winds.
“Y’know, after all this time, is it weird that I’m kinda expecting – oh, I dunno – a massive hydra to appear and start fishin’ for us?”
Tara wasn’t alone in that thought.
“It is…strange,” Klax concurred. “Ever since Ethan defeated the Lightborn, Kaedmon himself has done little to impede our progress. The actions of all who have tried – be they the Cardinals, Greycloak, or otherwise – have all been taken out of desperation, not because they follow the direct commandments of their Lord.”
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“You think he knows we’re here?” Fauna asked.
Oh he knows, alright.
Everyone but Ethan balked at that.
He’s known we’ve been coming for a while. Ever since Ethan – well – ever since he made sure the Lightborn would never rise again.
“How do you know?” Tara asked.
Call it a System’s intuition, Sys replied with a hint of humor. Me and him have been a part of this world together before he’d even given this land a name. And now that we’re this close to his birthplace…I can sense him.
Everyone fell silent, watching the island come closer and closer into view.
He’s waiting.
“Then let’s go meet him,” Ethan said, and without another word he summoned up a [Wing Buffet] and dove straight for the central ruins.
…
Ethan set them down just outside the ruin perimeter, in a little patch of cleared jungle that looked as though it had been recently prepared just for him.
He deactivated [Enlarge] and surveyed his surroundings with the rest of the team. A few long-necked pelican-like birds perched in the tropical tree boughs and pecked at some coconuts. Below, some critters bathed in the muddy puddles that covered the earth. The only sounds besides those of the birds was that of the ocean waves crashing against the craggy rocks at the island’s base.
As soon as they stepped onto the dirt of the Isle, Ethan had closed his eyes, breathed in the dank, moist air, and searched Lamphrey’s memories.
This was the place – of that, he was certain. He saw her moving among these trees once before – in the time after Karfanng’s death, when her people had retreated to this final, secluded place and made it their own. Then, the towers of the Umbral Order had stood tall, shrouded by the misty skies. Now, only one tower remained.
And Ethan knew what awaited him inside.
“Let’s go,” he said.
The Hybrids tensed slightly as they followed him, each one keeping their respective weapon close, watching the skies, the verdant, overgrown fauna, and the ancient walls of the ruined stronghold just in case.
“Shit,” Tara muttered. “Since when did I become so jumpy?”
“Since every place we’ve ever been to has had someone try and attack us by way of welcome?” Klax offered.
“Not this time,” Ethan said, cutting through a section of overgrown fauna with a single swipe of one blade. “Sys is right – Kaedmon’s presence here is strong. But he also seems oddly…calm. Like he’s been expecting us for a while.”
“Sorry to keep him waitin,’” Tara snorted. “But doesn’t he know that he didn’t exactly help us along?”
“Maybe he didn’t have a choice in the matter.”
Fauna said this quietly, as though she were speaking to herself. But the looks of confusion it drew from the rest of the group demanded elaboration.
“I mean – think about it,” she said. “He’s had his Lightborn and his Greycloak and all of humanity on his side for so long. And he’s had us – the bad guys – always afraid. But now that the tables have turned, what’s he actually done to protect his so-called ‘natural order’?”
Ethan was listening to her now, narrowing his eyes as he kept slicing through more section of jungle towards their goal.
“Nothing,” Fauna continued. “Couldn’t he have rained fire down on us from above if he was so afraid of Ethan coming here? Couldn’t he have caused a tsunami and drowned the Umbral Sisters before they could help us?”
“That…is a good point,” Klax admitted. “You think his power is limited after all? That perhaps he only has the power of manipulation or suggestion on his side?”
“I dunno,” Tara said. “He gave the Lightborn boyscout all those OP Skills, didn’t he?”
“Only because old Arty wanted them,” Ethan suddenly broke in. “He cried out in the dark for something that would make him stronger. And his God answered. Only, Kaedmon didn’t give his Lightborn what he really needed.”
“Which was what?” Tara asked.
“Conviction,” Ethan smiled. “I know it now like I never knew it before. After all, he’s part of me now.”
“…I hate it when he talks like that.”
Tara’s quip was swallowed by the sight of the great onyx tower that emerged before them as the final overgrown leaf parted. Ethan led the way through the old ruins, checking for any signs of life at all.
“These walls,” Klax murmured as he passed a paw over them. “They’ve stood for…centuries.”
“At least since the time of Karfaang’s fall,” Ethan agreed.
“You really think there’s anyone in there who’s still alive?”
“Only one way to find out.”
Ethan knocked at the gatehouse door that was still miraculously preserved – still standing as proud and ancient as it had when Lamphrey and Jun’Ei had walked this very same path, drenched in ocean waves, to see their Sisters. To prepare for exactly this moment.
Ethan and the Hybrids held their breaths as they heard movement behind the great door.
And when it then creaked open, the most ancient Tialax any of them had ever laid eyes on poked its hooded head out.
The Hybrid’s skin was like cracked stone, and its sunken eyes were glazed over and without pupils. As Ethan stared down at the little creature, it was like looking into two panes of translucent glass.
“Archon Ethan,” the Tialax spoke. “You have come.”
“I have. Let me guess: you were expecting me?”
The tiniest of smiles twitched at the edge of the Tialax’s mouth.
“Sister Lamphrey?”
“Gone, I’m afraid. She gave her life to protect us, so that we would make it here today. But you know that already, don’t you?”
The Tialax retreated into the depths of its tower.
“It is good to ask,” she said. “To hear the words from another – and thereby know the sight seen in the dreams to be true.”
“Great, another cryptic lizardwoman,” Tara mumbled.
“It seems like our sis really has followed us to the end,” Fauna smiled.
If the hooded creature heard them, she made no comment. It seemed that her blind eyes were only interested in Ethan. And as she beckoned them forward, it was to Ethan whom she spoke.
“Welcome, Archon Ethan,” she said. “Welcome to the end of your Path.”
Why has Kaedmon not opposed Ethan directly?
