Sorry I'm late. This was a bit of a disaster yesterday and needed some work. Hope you like the chapter!
Nishari stalked ahead of Hump to gaze out the tower door, her tail slowly waving from one side to the other, eyes locked on the distant light. A low rumble came from her throat, but Hump could feel her fear. An image of him on the ground flashed from her thoughts, his body pierced by Godfrey’s spears of light.
The light beyond the mountains was like the sun at dawn. Golden rays streaked across the sky, and the storm of essence in this barren land seemed to glow with it. In other circumstances, it might have been a spectacle. But all Hump felt now was foreboding.
They had been worried that Loften may have made arrangements with Godfrey already. The god could betray them yet.
Yet as he turned to Loften, a calmness had returned to him.
“Tobias Godfrey… I do not know this name,” Loften said.
He had changed into more fitting clothes for a god. Or at least Hump thought so. Fine trousers and a tunic, with a warm coat over the top.
“Tobias Godfrey. He is Lady Light’s former Chosen of the Ninth Circle,” Hump said. “But he betrayed her. He is working with Baelkor and the warlocks to try and ascend to godhood himself.”
“Then it is not Light that comes for me,” Loften said.
“What of my crew?” Captain Habdur said. “We must go to my ship. We must save them.”
“Nothing can be done for your ship,” Loften said. “If a Chosen of the Ninth Circle has come to this world, he is beyond your people.”
“My people came here to save you.”
“It is too late.” Loften let out a long sigh and reached into his pocket. He drew out the same round plate made of metal that Hump had seen him wield before. Prism magic pulsed from it, light expanding from the centre to produce an illusion of the Crown of the Winds. Or at least what was left of the skyship. It rained in pieces to the ground. Smoke and flame were artfully displayed by the artifact.
Habdur dropped to his knees and stared at the light beyond the door. He clutched his chest as if he were about to tear out his own heart. “I have failed them.”
“There must be something we can do,” Bud said. “These are your people. You can’t abandon them.”
“They are dead,” Loften said. “Take solace in the fact that their deaths were not in vain. But we must act swiftly or we shall meet the same end.”
“Are you not the Maker?” Captain Habdur snarled.
“I am the Maker!” Loften snapped back. “Released from a millennium of imprisonment. My strength is not what it once was. I cannot face him. But I can save you all if you do as I command.”
“What would you have us do, Lord Maker?” Princess Urella asked.
“The tower wards must be restored before this Godfrey arrives. Then I must use what time it provides to create a new nexus for the gateway network.” Loften turned from the Altari. The door to his tower closed without so much as a gesture. “Those that wish to aid me, follow.”
“Urella bowed deeply. “We are yours to command, Lord Maker.”
Hump shared a look with his party members before following. His heart pained him. He did not know many of the crew well. But they had travelled together for a month, eaten together, told stories. Dozens of altari that had grown to be his companions—gone like that. Slain by Godfrey. Slain by the traitor Chosen.
Anger rose in him. This was about more than just Godfrey. His crimes needed to be punished, but he was a symptom of a larger problem. The warlocks, all that had happened to Bud—this darkness stemmed from the gods. From the Pantheon. From Light itself.
“We should go,” Dylan said. “Our expertise will likely be useful.”
“I will stay with Captain Hadbur,” Runesmith Tatsi said. “He shouldn’t be alone right now.”
“Nonsense,” Prince Marcoff said. “You are the only runesmith we have. You must attend the Lord Maker.”
Tatsi opened her mouth to protest. “My prince—”
“—I will not hear it,” the sharpness to Marcoff’s voice could cut steel.
“I will stay with him,” Bud said softly. “I’m not sure I can be around Loften right now anyway.”
Emilia ran a hand through his hair. “Will you be alright?”
Bud nodded. “Go. I’m sure we’ll join you soon enough.”
Hump could see the smouldering anger on Bud’s face as he put a hand on Hadbur’s shoulder. They could give them a few minutes at least, even in an emergency. It took them two days to cross the mountains. Godfrey was fast, but they had some time yet.
They did not stay on the upper floors of the tower, instead descending to the antechamber below. There were even more constructs at work now than there had been before. Hundreds of them moved in tandem, clearing debris and other rubbish. Loften did not wait for them, striding through the halls with purpose. The Ohtari hurried to keep up, scurrying about the god, their heads held low, though there was a caution to them. No doubt the Maker was not what they had expected.
“What do you make of the situation?” Emilia asked. “Do you trust him?”
“No,” Hump said. “In fact, I wonder if we should not have told him that Godfrey was a traitor Chosen at all. Perhaps it would have been better for him to think that Lady Light truly had come. He would have figured it out eventually—as long as he got us home first.”
“Does it matter? You would have been making an enemy out of a god. I think that matters.”
Hump gave her a look, a small smile on his lips. “Can’t help but think we’ve been making enemies out of too many gods lately.”
“Well, what’s important now is that we keep him on our side. Loften will make a strong ally. We should assist him.”
“You seem almost eager,” Emilia said. “I thought you’d be upset after learning what we did about blessings.”
“I may be Chosen, but I was raised by Vivienne and taught to think like a wizard, ever since Hump first told us of his suspicions. I’ve been on the fence about the subject. This comes as no shock. Besides, Krioc is not one of the Twelve. He may be as much a slave to the Pantheon as we are. My focus right now is learning as much as I can from Loften. Do not forget—we are about to see the Crafter at work.”
Hump had to admit he was curious to see what Loften would do.
Loften led them to the ground floor. At first, Hump thought they were heading back to the hall leading to the Hydra’s chamber, along with the prison that had held Loften for so long. But they soon veered away towards the statue. The floor was collapsed in places here, requiring Loften to conjure pathways of stone over chasms that led to the deeps.
Soon they came to a dead end—a stone wall in an unassuming room. The surface was smooth, the brickwork not standing out in any way. Loften touched a series of stones. A complex pattern of runes took form beneath his touch. Soon, the bricks parted, moving one by one as they folded in on each other.
It was not the Grand Vault that they needed, but there was a small stash of tools, artifacts, gold, and essence stones, along with many alchemical components that Hump didn’t recognise.
“Now that is fortunate,” Loften said.
“Are you surprised to find you have anything left?” Hump asked.
“It was a storeroom I created on a whim,” Loften said. “A little project of mine while I was bored. A secret stash in case I ever had to leave in a hurry. It would seem to be the only thing in my tower to have been left untouched. Not too useful, but it should make things easier for us.”
“And what things would those be?”
“Ah, Wizard, you are in for a treat. My tower is alive once more, but its connection to the World Core was broken. If we are to restore the wards, we must restore that connection first. My original workings were hidden in the walls, but they have been removed. We will need to make something more rudimentary.”
Hump paused, considering what Loften meant. “You intend to use the Reality Anchors to connect the tower to the World Core?”
“Only something of such magnitude is powerful enough to fuel a Gateway Network,” Loften said. He gestured toward the store of items. “Bring it all with us.”
Loften didn’t wait to see if the altari followed his command. He was already moving. Now they descended to the Titra’s chamber.
What followed wasn’t the intricate runework that Hump imagined. If anything, it was fundamental elements that he was familiar with layered on top of each other and done on a grander scale. Loften melted down the gold bars with raw essence channelled directly from his hands. The metal shimmered as it bent to his will, flowing like liquid across the floor. He guided it through the chamber with casual gestures, forming elegant channels that spread out from the Reality Anchors in curling branches of golden runes.
Hump could have done a similar job, but he couldn’t imagine matching the speed and accuracy. The lines were perfectly symmetrical and balanced. Every curve and intersection fed into the larger whole, fitting the floor of the tower like a piece of art.
Dylan had wanted to learn from this, and in a way, Hump did. He’d thought he might uncover some secret that made the gods different. Something that made them greater. A key component to magic that he was missing. But watching Loften work, what became increasingly clear was that he built upon a foundation that Hump was familiar with. He didn’t recognise every rune the god used, nor the principles behind them, but those were just a matter of memorisation. What stood out most was Loften’s expertise in the art of runecraft. Perfect lines, perfect channels, and perfect runes. Everything was done so precisely and so swiftly that if Hump hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he’d struggle to believe a single person had done it in a matter of hours.
But if Loften could do it, why couldn’t he? There was nothing the god was doing that was entirely beyond Hump, but it was the many different pieces that went into each detail where the difference lay. If he practiced enough, studied all he could, then this was not an insurmountable height.
With that insight, Hump felt a weight lift. Watching Loften work made one thing very clear—the gods were not the infallible beings the priests would have them believe. Powerful—yes. But their strength was built upon the same foundation as everyone else.
Which meant they could fall just the same as well.
Bud and Captain Hadbur rejoined them part way through. They both seemed in better spirits than when Hump had left them, though he could see the tiredness on both man and altari.
“I thought you’d be helping,” Bud said.
“So did I,” Hump said.
Constructs worked tirelessly around them. The creatures of brass and steel scuttling around, carrying essence stones, positioning them in grooves, locking them in with a twist of their tool-tipped fingers. Others were at work in the rest of the tower, building a network of essence stones to conduct essence through the tower. Hours passed, and runes sparked to life. Ancient channels were restored, formations repaired, and soon, the tower truly awakened. Walls shifted, stone plates rotated to reveal hidden slots and dormant formations. A low hum of essence built in the chamber, radiating upward.
The essence returned slowly at first. A trickle through the golden veins. Then more, pulsing in rhythm. Steady. Growing. Hump felt it beneath his feet, a rising tide. The tower was drinking from the World Core once again.
Finally, Loften reached toward one of the Reality Anchors, placing the surface of its stone. The massive crystal flared with red light, runes flaring along its surface, essence seeping itward. The chamber darkened, and for a moment, all the power drawn into the room seemed to pause. Then light surged back in, bursting from the anchors, racing along the golden channels in a web of brilliance. The stones in the walls ignited in sequence. One by one, floor to ceiling, a wave of essence rippled outward.
The power now was far beyond when Loften first awoke. Above, the sound of machinery began to grind echoed downward. Cranks turning, latches snapping, heavy stone shifting in motion.
Loften stared around at his work with an unrestrained grin, like a child that had completed a puzzle.
“It is like a piece of the old world has returned,” Loften said softly.
“Is it ready?” Hump asked.
“The tower has fuel, yes. But there is much left to do. We shall restore the wards first, and then I will begin work on creating a new gateway. It is only a shame that we do all this to leave this place. There is so much work I must complete.”
“What of Godfrey?” Hump pressed.
“Drawing closer. When Light’s Chosen arrives, you must take control of the wards, Wizard. You possess an understanding of complex spell formations, do you not?”
“Depends what you define as complex. I could somewhat follow what you were doing here.”
“It will have to do. I shall explain what I can in the time we have. Come.”