Hope you like the chapter! I didn't get time to do my edit on this one so I'll be posting a cleaner version tomorrow.
Loften had lost his spark?
Hump’s mind raced to try and process what that might mean. Only one answer came to him—if Godfrey’s words were true, Loften had lost the very thing that made him one of the gods.
Right now, Hump wasn’t sure whether that was good or bad news.
If Loften was to be their ally, the more powerful, the better. Yet if he turned against them, perhaps it was a good thing that they hadn’t set free an evil god. Then there was the third option. Did it even matter? If Loften allied with Godfrey now, they were doomed no matter what they did.
Unless Hump tried to stop them here and now. He could concentrate the tower wards and forcefully disband Loften’s illusion. But even as he considered the possibility, he feared it might already be too late.
“It amuses me greatly that you think I have need of you,” Loften said, his voice derisive. “Even now you are but a pawn for Light. You know her power better than most. What gives you the confidence to think you could do anything to stand against the Twelve? Against the Pantheon?”
“I have done it!” Godfrey shot back feverously. “I destroyed the last of the Twelve Seals! I tore open the veil! And I am not alone—Baelkor stands with me. Together, we will set Uvdar free and take what is ours.”
“Baelkor is a worm.” Loften scoffed. “Irrelevant. A servant cloaked in delusions of grandeur. But Uvdar…” Loften’s voice darkened. “Uvdar cannot be released. Not ever. You do not know of what you speak.”
Godfrey chuckled. “I did not think you would still hold to such ideals even after what the rest of the Twelve did to you. Surely you want vengeance. Humanity has lived in the shadow of the Pantheon for far too long.”
“You have not felt the hunger of Uvdar,” Loften said. “His hunger would devour the realms. The return of Uvdar would not only mean the end of the Pantheon, but of all things.”
“You are just like the rest of them,” Godfrey growled. “Blind to the truth. Stuck in the old ways. How did you even escape your bindings? I do not believe that those altari from the ship had the capability.”
That was when Hump stepped in. With a thought, he appeared before them using a minor illusion spell conducted through the tower. “I think this conversation has become unproductive enough.”
Godfrey turned, surprise flicking across her perfect features. He looked better that way. Still irritating, but a little more human. “You find yourself in my path again, Wizard. I did not think you would survive the abyss.”
“I’m full of surprises,” Hump said. “Perhaps you should turn around here in case you don’t like the next one.”
Godfrey’s lips curled. “Amusing. Was it you who freed Loften? But how? Warlocks, demons, gods—they all seem to circle you. You’re young. Talented, perhaps. But there have been many like you in my centuries. You are not that special.”
“Special enough to thwart you,” Hump replied without hesitation.
“Indeed. A humbling moment for me. Though I fear you will come to regret stumbling upon my path again.”
“Yet you think you can stand against me?” Loften said. “Before my tower? Your arrogance is just like your former master. It is no wonder you did so well under her. Did you see her face when you betrayed her?” Loften’s face turned ugly. “How was it?”
Godfrey’s expression hardened. “It seems I was overly ambitious to think this could be solved peacefully.” He raised his arms toward the sky. “Much has changed since your exile, Lord of Craft. There is a new order. Let me show you your place in it.”
Behind him, the sky twisted. Night vanished. In its place rose two blazing suns, burning with such concentrated essence that Hump had to raise his arm to shield his eyes. They churned with fire and light, the pressure pressing on the tower ward like a great weight.
Even with the tower’s wards empowering him, and his senses extended through the very stone of the Maker’s Tower, Hump felt his illusion thinning beneath Godfrey’s light. He acted quickly, retreating to the inner tower. With a single thought, he activated the full strength of the wards. Essence surged through the structure like a tidal wave. Every rune, every channel, every bit of the barrier thrummed to life, sealing Godfrey on the other side.
Godfrey raised his arm, then swept it forward. The twin suns descended slowly, ominously
The twin suns descended slowly, ominously, moving with deliberate intent. They appeared weightless as they rolled through the sky like boulders in an avalanche, brighter than the sun at noon, and with such heat that even through the wards Hump could feel it scorch his skin.
Hump barely had a moment to process it. He reinforced his will and drew deeply on the power of the Reality Anchors. The tower responded. Essence flooded up from the base, roaring through him and the tower.
The twin suns collided with the ward.
A white flash blinded him. A roar shook the ward to its foundations. The impact reverberated through every inch of his body, the world spinning out of control. His soul trembled under the force of the blow. The tower didn’t budge, but he did, his knees nearly buckling as he braced against the staff, teeth clench, breath ragged.
He screamed, forcing his will into the wards, holding the line with all he had. Every second stretched on. He gripped tightly to his staff, unable to see through the light. Unable to sense anything but the roaring power beyond the ward. Then, at last, the light faded. The false day turned once more to night, though it seemed darker and more ominous than before.
The ward still held. Hump’s vision was a blur but he blinked back the black spots and gazed down at Godfrey through the glass windows of the tower. He stood there, a smile on his face.
Fury surged in Hump’s chest. He couldn’t just sit here. He lashed out, the tower acting as a conduit, almost like his own staff. Flame gathered outside. Red turned to organ, and orange to white, compressed by the density of power beneath him. Its intent roared back, excited and desperate for release. So energetic that he could never contain such a manifestation without the tower to guide his will, but it came easily now. All that essence packed in so tightly.
He launched it, a blazing streak of white fire aim straight at Godfrey’s heart.
Yet the traitor Chosen didn’t even flinch. With a flick of his hand, he batted the spell aside. The blaze arched away and exploded in the distance. A dome of heart swept outward as the blast cratered the land below, sending smoke billowing to the sky.
Hump leaned from foot to foot, his balance suffering, but he didn’t let the ward weaken for even a moment. A golden aura enveloped Godfrey. All Hump could do was watch as he rose into the air, carried upon radiant light. He spread his arms, floating before the tower window, staring directly in at Hump. Around him, dozens—no, hundreds—of smaller suns appeared in the air, each dense with that same power from before.
Hump’s eyes widened at the sight, but he only had a moment to process them.
“The ward shall hold, Wizard!” Came Loften’s voice from below. “So long as your will does not break!”
Easier said than done, Hump thought.
He sensed Loften’s magic at work below. A pull. A pressure. A silence that devoured all that was around it. Something was opening, like a wound in the world. Essence flooded into it and vanished, and a dark spot in Hump’s mind appeared.
Moment by moment, it widened, trapped in the runework on the obsidian plates. The stone screamed as the powerful force warped them, only for the constructs—shining spots in Hump’s mind eye—to drag them tirelessly back into place. The air rippled, like the world itself recoiled at what was being made.
Hump dug deeper, pouring more of himself into the ward. Loften needed time to tear open the sky. Only time.
His attention returned to Godfrey’s onslaught. The miniature suns descended like rain, all aiming for a single spot.
He threw himself into the wards, directing the essence to where the blows would strike. Layering his barriers, weaving new channels into place, and reinforcing the ward as much as he could.
They struck with speed and power. Light rippled across the ward in circular waves. Cracks spread from the point of impact, and Hump threw essence into them.
He gritted his teeth. As his soul shook with each impact, every instinct told him to step off the wall, to leave the spell formation, to take a break, to get away from this constant pain. It lanced through his body, icy cold, stabbing out from his soul. It crossed his mind that Loften might be trying to kill him like this, but the god's words rang true. No matter what Godfrey threw at the ward, the barrier held. All Hump had to do was stand strong, resist the pain, and focus through it.
The question was, would the tower ward break first, or would he?
Godfrey did not sustain the same attack. There were breaks in his barrage. Hump didn’t try to strike out again. It was all he could do just to stay on his feet when the breaks came. He stared out into the darkness at Godfrey, the lone source of light.
But the breaks never lasted long. Each time Godfrey tried a different mix—needles of light stabbing at the cracks, or long strings that wrapped around the entire tower, twisting from its base all the way to the top, trying to compress it. Essence surged in from all directions at once, seeking a way through. The Reality Anchors provided an almost endless source of essence, yet Godfrey did not appear to be tiring.
When the next pause came, Hump stumbled, panting, his control over the ward momentarily slipping and granting Godfrey a glimpse into the tower once more. The man sneered at the sight of him, yet Hump’s eyes went past him, to the mountains behind.
No attack had come yet.
He glimpsed the sliver of gold beyond the mountains.
Hump smiled. The night was almost over. And yet he still stood tall in the light of his rage.
Godfrey continued his bombardment. Hump felt his mind begin to falter. The cracks in the ward were like punches to the skull. His thoughts scattered. His vision swam. All he could do was cling to his staff and remain standing, pressing his will into the spell formation, maintaining it with everything he had.
The fight was not against Godfrey. It was against himself. Each hit a new burden to overcome. And each time, he forced back that inner voice telling him he’d done enough.
he blinked back his tiredness when he heard a voice. At first he thought it was Godfrey but then his eyes found Emilia standing on the platform.
Hump reinforced the ward, ensuring there was no chance Godfrey could see inside.
“Emilia?”
“It’s done,” Emilia said. “We need to go and quickly.”
“I… I’m not sure I can get anyway quickly right now.”
“Then I’ll carry you,” she said. “Tell me when you’re ready. The gateway is open, but we need to get there before Godfrey gets us.”
Hump drew a deep breath, sending one last surge of essence into the ward. He didn’t know how long it would hold, but even an extra few seconds would be valuable against someone as fast as Godfrey.
He gave Emilia a nod, and she appeared beside him in a blur. He was swept from his feet and cradled in her arms. His body jerked before he knew what was happening, and they were on the platform, descending into the tower.
As they reached the ground floor, Hump heard the barrier shatter like a thousand chiming bells. They raced through the tower into the antechamber below, so fast the world was a blur to Hump’s eyes.
It took them less than a minute to reach the room where Loften had forged the Gateway. Much had changed since Hump had left, most significantly the gaping black tear in the world hovering over the obsidian platform. The altari were already gone, along with most of Loften’s constructs. Only the god and Hump’s party remained, all of them staring at him while Emilia held him in both arms.
“Well, this makes me feel manly,” Hump said.
Emilia smirked and shot him a wink.
Hump sighed. “That’s really not helping.”
“Are you flirting with my man?” Celaine asked.
Emilia snorted, not putting Hump down as they made their way for the gateway.
“To be fair,” Hump said as they passed. “You’ve never held me like this.”
The last thing Hump saw before Emilia stepped into the portal was Celaine rolling her eyes. A feeling like cool water over his body washed over him, and then they were in another place. Darkness surrounded them on all sides, yet they were shielded from it by… something. The ground was solid—somewhere between dust and sand, with shining essence barely holding it together. It drifted through the darkness like a cloud.
The altari looked relieved to see them arrive. Moments passed, when the others followed them through. Only Loften remained on the other side.
Hump’s heart sunk, a terrible feeling rising in his chest.
Seconds dragged on. The rift remained open, yet they couldn’t see through it.
Then finally, Loften fell through, landing on the ground in a heap.