Zee was more then just a little relieved to see Bastion and the others arrived. Things had not been going well ever since Dern's form was destroyed. Before her team arrived, Zee had been on the edge of being forced to flee. It was an unpleasant fact, as she would have been forced to leave Yukna behind in order to save her own life.
With the concealment arrays on the cave they might not have found Yukna, but Zee couldn't know that. Thankfully, she didn't have to find out what might happen. With the others arriving, the roles were reversed.
Now the numbers were in her favor and it was her opponents who looked desperate.
Bastion and Malden had already run after the axe thrower, leaving Zee, Allison, and Greg to take on the mace wielder. Arrows lanced down from the cliff to her side, gouging thin furrows in the Aintar's durable hide.
Zee was like an elusive cloud of metal, keeping well out of reach, and allowing her fractured sword to strike at the mace wielder's blind spots. His defensive skill protected him from any deep cuts, but dealing a single fetal blow wasn't the goal.
Every strike from the hail of metal flooded his body with more miasma and set his new wound on fire with the dark blue flames of spirit echo. It spoke to the Aintar's powerful body that it could still fight with so much pain.
Spirit echo clung to the flesh, but it was not like normal fire. The flames decayed the spirit, and unlike Allison's flames, wouldn't set a house or even clothing on fire.
Then there was the miasma, courtesy of the death spirit in her sword.
Given how many times she had already cut the mace wielder, the Aintar shouldn't be able to move, much less fight.
From personal experience, she knew just how unpleasant it was to have miasma making her body go numb.
By now, he was already a dead bull walking. Zee was no expert on the expressions of the Aintar, but some things were universal.
Judging by the set of his jaw, the flattening of his ears, and the determination in his eyes, this Aintar would fight to the death to save the high priest.
Allison seemed to recognize the same thing, not bothering to attack.
The princess appeared next to the prone, heavily injured high priest, which seemed to irk Zee's opponent immensely.
"Don't touch him," The mace wielded shouted, furry writ across his bull like face.
Allison rested her sword against the priest's neck and gave the Aintar a cold glare.
"Drop your weapon, and get on your knees or I will gut him like a fish," Allison said, her expression cold as winter.
Seeing his hesitation, Zee called back the shards of metal around them, and they returned, forming a sword mid-air. She caught the hilt with her left hand and slotted a turquoise gem into the pommel with her right.
The death spirit inside was happy as always, seeming excited as the miasma ate at the Aintar's skin and internal organs.
A spike of disappointment ran through Zee as the Aintar dropped his mace and fell to his knees. The wounds on his scaled body burned with a dark blue flame, making him look like a tree set ablaze.
Allison nodded," Good, now disable your defencive skills," Allison ordered.
With a pained grimace, he did as asked, and the effect was immediate.
With the vibrant scales of his defencive skills no longer protecting him, the full extent of damage caused by miasma, and the spiritual flames of spirit echo was revealed.
Given how many times she cut him, Zee knew he was injured, but she hadn't expected it to be this bad.
The veins across his muscled chest, neck, and back throbbed with a sickly purple hue, the corruption spreading in thick webs toward his heart.
The fact that the Aintar could still fight in that condition, was impressive. He was one tough son of a lizard.
"What's your name," Allison asked, not removing her sword from the unconscious priest's throat.
The mace wielder took deep breaths, taking a second to steady himself before he responded. "I am Nalcar of the warrior cast, scout for the holy army," The Aintar said.
Allison's expression turned thoughtful as she met Zee's eyes, or at least the one that wasn't swollen shut.
"Did you find Yukna," Allison asked.
"Yes, she is sleeping," Zee said, not willing to give up the unconscious woman's position when enemies were around.
Allison let out a soft sigh of relief before her expression turned cold as ice once more.
"Zee, what's going on here, why were you fighting these people," Allison asked.
Zee bit her lip thoughtfully. The priest had been talking about tracking a keystone earlier, which had to be the reason they found her.
Zee wasn't sure what a keystone was, but she had a guess.
There was only one interesting item in her possession that she had taken from the two Aintar who kidnapped Yukna.
She pulled the chrome metal cylinder from her spatial storage. It was surprisingly heavy, like a solid chunk of metal, covered in a dense array of strange markings. She first assumed they were etchings, but these didn't radiate any energy, which was odd.
She glanced over at Nalcar, who was glancing between her and the cylinder, giving her a look that could kill. Zee ignored the angry look, which only confirmed her thoughts about what this was.
"They are looking for this, I think it's called a gateway keystone. I overheard them saying they could track this somehow," Zee said.
Allison took it in stride," You, Nalcar, what is a keystone and what does it do," Allison asked.
Nalcar winced at the pain, as her spirit echo made his wounds bubble, but didn't respond.
"Tell me or I will cut off his ears," Allison threatened, casually resting the edge of her sword against the fallen high priest's left ear.
Chest heaving, Zee gave Nalcar a telling look.
"You better do as she asks, Allison doesn't joke around," Zee said.
Nalcar spit blood to one side, before responding.
"The keystone is an artifact that can connect to the network, and even open a gateway if a high priest uses it," Nalcar replied.
Allison raised an eyebrow, "That sounds valuable. Zee, does Dern know how it works," Allison asked.
Zee shook her head.
"We haven't had time to properly study it. Also, I'm assuming Nalcar is lying out of his ass so we don't kill the high priest over there," Zee replied.
"And what if he is telling the truth," Allison countered.
"We could keep the high priest around until we know for certain, maybe collar him," Zee said.
"That's a good idea, I guess we don't need Nalcar anymore," Allison said.
The Aintar warrior was no fool, he reached down for his mace but was too slow. Flames swirled under him, taking only a second to form a white-hot pillar of blinding heat.
His screams echoed across the scree slope, dragging on for far too long.
Zee plugged her nose as the stench of burning hair and flesh assaulted her.
"That was a bit overkill don't you think," Zee asked.
Allison shrugged. "It's best to be thorough, especially when it comes to enemies who are this tough," Allison replied.
"I see your point. So, what now," Zee asked.
"Let's clean up, take anything of value, then we will make a plan of what to do next," Allison said.
Zee nodded, swaying on her feet. She reached up, probing at her swollen eye. It was so swollen she couldn't see from it. Hopefully, she hadn't lost the eye.
"Are you alright," Allison asked.
"I will be fine in a bit," Zee said pulling a vial of merky liquid from her spatial storage. Grimacing, she removed the cork with a pop and touched it to her swollen lips. Zee tilted her head back, swallowing several large gulps of the sour liquid.
The peak F-grade concoction wasn't as potent as the E-grade pills, but neither were the adverse side effects. The foul-tasting liquid settled in her stomach, and warmth spread through her body. Her wounds tingled, her side throbbing as her injuries started to heal.
She swayed on her feet, her vision suddenly blurry as the heart of fire stopped beating.
Exhaustion hit her like a frying pan to the face, her limbs suddenly heavy.
It took all of her strength to keep on her feet, to resist her body's desire for rest. She took a minute to steady herself, all the while watching as Allison secured the high priest with a set of manacles.
The manacles actually expanded to enfold the Aintar's huge ankles, clicking closed.
The heavy metal links were covered in a dense array of etchings.
"Those look fancy, are they like suppression collars?" Zee asked.
"Ya, but these are actually better. They not only block out skills but also restrain the use of aura and even second-tier concepts," Allison said.
"Second-tier concepts?" Zee asked, cocking her head.
"Ohh, I forget, you call it an ember of insight," Allison replied.
"Ahh, that makes sense. How did you get restraints that powerful?" Zee asked.
"Remember that project Dern and I have been working on? Well, this is it," Allison replied.
"You were all secretive for months because of some fancy chains," Zee asked.
Allison rolled her eyes, pouring some liquid on the bleeding stump of the priest's arm. Wouldn't do to have him bleed to death before they could question him. Zee was honestly surprised he hadn't bled to death.
"These are not meant to contain prisoners, they are for other purposes," Allison said.
"Like what?" Zee asked.
"They are a training aide. Now, stop being so nosy and help me," Allison said.
"Fine, don't tell me," Zee grumbled. She walked around the scree slope for a few minutes, backtracking along the areas she had clashed with the Aintar.
She found what she was looking for amidst a crater of scorched rock. The dimly glowing lantern was covered in suit, but it still looked functional.
Zee used the tip of her sword, threading it between the metal loop, and picked it up.
"Well hello there," Zee said, eying the lantern closely.
The orange flame flickered, seeming to shrink away from her attention.
"Is that a flame spirit," Dern asked.
"Looks like it," Zee replied, excited.
"It looks scared of you," Dern said.
"Maybe it will warm up to me if I feed it," Zee asked.
She didn't wait for a response, infusing her sword with spirit echo. The flame spirit cowered to the back of its small cage as if trying to escape, prompting Zee to dismiss her skill.
"Huh, maybe it just doesn't like spiritual flame," Zee asked.
"Or maybe it doesn't like you," Dern said with a mental smirk.
"That would mean it doesn't like you either," Zee pointed out.
"You are right, we should break it," Dern said.
Zee sighed, "No, this is a potent weapon, you saw what it could do," Zee said.
"Yes, I know, that's why we should destroy it. It undoubtedly bonded with the priest," Dern said.
"Or, we don't do that. We are going to kill the high priest right? Why not just wait until he is dead then give it to Allison," Zee asked.
"I mean, we could do that, I guess," Dern replied begrudgingly.
"What's with your tone, don't you want the princess to have the lantern?" Zee asked.
Dern sent her a mental shrug.
"I mean, I'm not against it. It just doesn't seem fair to give it to Allison when we did all the work," Dern said.
"We could make her give us something for it," Zee asked.
"Alright fine, as long as it's something good," Dern said.
"Why are you suddenly demanding compensation, you have never cared before," Zee said.
"I died to help get that lamp, so giving it away for free doesn't feel right," Dern replied.
"Fair enough," Zee said.
With that out of the way, she returned to the corpse of the Aintar who wielded the flail.
It was a good weapon that should sell for a pile of ether crystals.
She stuffed the huge weapon in her spatial storage and rifled through the Aintar's pockets.
Her lips quirked up into a smile as she found a thick copper band.
The bracer emitted weak spatial fluctuations, the telltale sign of a spatial storage. At Dern's urging, she pulled it from his wrist, and eyed it carefully, looking for any traps.
Zee wasn't an expert on etchings, but she had helped build enough spatial storages to recognize the way they should look.
"What do you think?" Zee asked, eying the basic etchings warily.
"The etching looks like you made them," Dern replied.
"So, you think they are good," Zee asked.
"No, because they are shity etchings," Dern said.
"Well, that's because etching is boring, rituals are far superior," Zee said.
Dern snorted, "Keep telling yourself that,"
After robbing the flail, and anything else of value, she stood over the corpse. She respected the Aintar as worthy apponent's, even if he had tried to kill her. Leaving his body to be buried, or burned by his comrades would be the noble thing to do, but she couldn't be picky.
Unclasping the satchel at her hip, she steadied herself. The living book tugged itself free and flapped up in front of her. The book didn't actually need to flap its pages to hover, but it did so when it was angry.
She reached up to poke it, and it snapped its pages at her finger.
Yup, it was definitely mad. She gave it an apologetic smile.
"I know you don't like being in the satchel, but I was fighting." She pointed to the blood pooling on the screw slope. " If you behave, you can enjoy all the leftovers," Zee said.
The book perked up at that, its mood changing in an instant.
"What an idiot, it's so gullible," Dern said, his voice entering her mind.
"I wouldn't call it an idiot, it seems more like a child to me," Zee said, as the book opened, and a ritual scrawled across its pages.
"Child? Didn't Tarnival say he made it a really long time ago," Dern asked.
"He said that, but, I don't believe half of what that old geezer says," Zee admitted.
"That's where we are in agreement, he's a schemer, just like that untrustworthy ghost we have trapped in our inner world," Dern said.
"Yup, truer words have never been spoken," Zee said.
It was rare for them to quickly agree on something, but in the case of Kur Zul and Tarnival, they were of the same mind.
Dern might share a mental space with her, but that didn't mean they had to or would agree on everything, far from it.
Zee took a deep breath, wiping sweat from her brow, and steadying herself. A familiar ritual blossomed around her, forming in stages.
Performing the ritual with herself as the focal point was unsettling, but would also work just as well Dern. It was not wise, considering the stigma of taboo, but she really needed to feed Dern more souls.
After his death, her fragment now had a few more cracks, and from past experience, that was not a good thing. She supposed she could simply stuff the corpse in her spatial storage for later when she could summon Dern again, but the soul seemed to fade from the body over time.
It was why she was risking the small chance that her aura might gain traces of taboo. The ritual snapped into place around her and the soul was violently ripped from its former shell.
A ghostly version of the flail user struggled and fought with all his might but was no match against the iron grip of the ritual. A swirling vortex of darkness formed above her head and the flailing soul was dragged inside by an unseen force.
She blinked, swaying on her feet. Her mind swam, her body tingling as much of her aches and pains were simply gone. She felt as though she had been cultivating for hours, with a good quarter of her energy reserves having filled up.
Zee cocked her head. That was new!
No wonder there were people out there who ignored the universal law and practiced soul arts. Recovering energy from the dead was incredibly powerful, especially since she could potentially perform the ritual mid-combat.
If she could learn to cast her rituals faster, then it would be very possible.
Her mind raced with the possibilities. The power it could offer was so tempting, but she had to reign herself in.
She had to remember the cost of using herself as a focal point for the ritual. Becoming a hieratic was no small thing. She would be hunted, and reviled by most societies, even her own, the Lorocan Empire.
No, she had to only use herself as the focal point sparingly. This was why she used Dern, because it kept him fed, and it didn't inflict her aura with the stench of taboo.
Zee let out a deep shuddering sigh as she got accustomed to the sudden jolt of power.
Using herself as the focal point certainly was informative, even if she wouldn't do it again, probably.
Done with her experiment, she made her way carefully along the loose rocky slope, back to where Allison was kneeling next to the high priest.
"Is he still alive?" Zee asked, eying the horrific wound across the priest's chest. His armor was shattered from shoulder to hip, some of the shards of his breastplate stabbing into his torso.
His left arm missing above the elbow, and had leaked a pool of blood onto the grey stone. Allison gave the unconscious priest a thoughtful once over, taking a few seconds to respond.
"He is alive, for now. I was hoping we could use him to learn how to use the keystone, but it might be for the best if we figure that out ourselves," Allison replied.
Zee bit her lip. "He might give us false information that could get us killed," Zee replied.
In response, Allison pulled a vial of some liquid from her spatial storage. Without hesitation, she dumbed half of the liquid into the priest's chest wounds.
The concoction inside must have been something unpleasant, and the high priest opened his eyes and started screaming.
He bucked and kicked, his chains clinking as he grabbed at his chest as if on fire.
"What was that," Zee asked, over the screams.
Standing back, Allison re-corked the vial and tossed it to her.
"It's just some alcohol I keep on hand in case I need to sanitize wounds," Allison said.
Zee pulled the cork and took a whiff. One smell of the fumes was enough to make her head spin, and she recoiled back slamming the stopper back in place.
"Holy crap, that is potent, no wonder he is screaming," Zee said, tossing the vial back.
Allison caught it and gave the screaming priest an uncaring look.
"Yup, it's the most potent alcohol I could find. Having it on an open wound feels like your skin is being melted, but it gets the job done," Allison said.
Zee shuddered," Please never use that on me, it looks painful," Zee said.
The priest finally stopped his thrashing long enough to realize they were both standing by, watching him.
He was breathing heavily, his fur soaked in blood, his eyes wild, but he had gotten control of himself.
"How dare you, I am a priest of the purgatory church, you will suffer for this," He said venomously.
"The threat would be more meaningful if you weren't chained up," Zee said.
He struggled for a few more seconds, his chains clanking as he tried to sit up, and failed, realizing he didn't have one of his arms the hard way.
"You.. you did this to me," He snarled, glaring hatefully up at Zee.
She nodded. "Yes, I did, we killed your subordinates as well," Zee replied.
He flailed his head, his long curved horns gouging into the rock as he tried to sit up again.
"You are going to suffer for this, you will beg for death when the army catches you," He snarled.
Zee gave Allison a worried glance.
"What army," Zee asked conversationally.
The priest must have been delirious with pain, his mind clouded with anger, as he actually answered.
"The forces of purgation will open a gate into Tartana, burning your homes, salting your lands until there is nothing left but a dead world," The priest snarled.
Zee's worries spiked. What was this lunatic talking about?
"What about the Terlashar, I bet they will not stand by while you take their planet," Zee asked.
The priest half coughed, half snorted, foamy blood trickling between his lips.
"The Terlashar don't know what's coming, we have already infiltrated most of the major worlds in the Kelvish dominion, our victory is assured," the priest said.
"Where is this army," Zee asked.
Something dark bubbled from the priest's mouth, mixing with the blood.
Zee got a really bad feeling about it, as it reminded her of an incident back inside Yukna's warehouse.
The priest grinned," Go to hell!"
"Run!" Zee shouted, immediately activating her movement skill.
Allison wasn't one to hesitate, but she didn't have the luxury of turning to intangible mist and therefore wasn't fast enough to avoid what happened next,
The Aintar priest violently exploded in a shower of gore, drenching the scree slope in a whole lot of yuck. The stench was nauseating, but at least it wasn't as bad as burning flesh.
Her body reformed next to the princess, who was covered in steaming goo.
"You got something in your hair," Zee said.
Just then, a slimy chunk of yuck dripped from Allisons hair onto her cheek.
Allison glowered over at Zee, reaching up to wipe the yuck from her face. All it accomplished was smearing the gore across her cheek.
"You could have warned me sooner," Allison grumbled.
"I had no idea he was going to do that," Zee said, eying the large circle of steaming yuck.
Allison didn't look convinced, but she dropped the subject.
"So, where exactly are we, and where is Yukna," the princess asked.
"Come, I can fill you in while we are on route," Zee said, gesturing Allison to follow.
Walking along the loose shale Zee gestures to the desolate landscape.
"From what I can tell, based on what these Aintar have said we are in another dimension, which they call the plains of suffering," Zee said.
Allison raised an eyebrow.
"Another dimension, you mean like the tundra," Allison asked.
"Exactly. That reminds me, how did you guys get here," Zee asked.
"Your grandpa opened a gate, and sent us through," Allison said.
"Grandpa sent you? Why didn't he come himself," Zee asked.
Allison's gore-spattered face scrunched up in thought. "He gave me this amulet, and said he would follow us here in a couple of days," Allison said, showing Zee the silver and purple amulet.
Zee reached to take it, and Allison swatted her hand away," What gives?" Zee asked affronted.
"Julian specifically told me not to let you touch it, so hands off," Allison said.
"What! Why," Zee asked.
"Need I remind you that you have broken two of them amulets already," Allison said, tucking the amulet under her shirt.
"That's not fair, Dern broke the first one and I'd I hadn't broken the second one I would have died," Zee said.
Allison hummed thoughtfully. "Right.. and I'm sure you will find another excuse to break this one too. It's why I'm not letting you touch it. I have no desire to be stuck in a place with an obviously ominous name like the plains of suffering," Allison said.
Zee used her movement skill to ascend a steep rocky crag. Allison appeared next to her a few seconds later, using her own movement skill.
"So, where is she," Allison asked.
Zee gestured at the plain-looking rock wall in front of them, "Can't you see it," Zee asked.
"See what?" Allison asked, eying the barren rock face.
Zee reached forward and her hand passed right through the rock face. She grinned, "Pretty cool right?" Zee asked walking inside.
The wash of cool air hit her as she entered the radius of the arrays, revealing a small cave abound twenty feet deep. Wrapped in a sleeping bag, Yukna was sitting with her back to the cave wall, watching them.
"Your awake, how are you feeling," Zee asked.
"I'm thirsty," Yukna said raspily.
Allison pushed passed Zee and knelt in front of Yukna, proffering a canteen.
Yukna smiled, or at least tried to, her lips too bruised to form a smile. It was better than before, but the purple bruising around her eyes and lips still looked awful.
Even an E-grade healing pill would struggle to fix that much damage quickly.
"Is it that bad?" Yukna asked, coughing as she took a drink from Allison's proffered canteen.
"You look fine dear," Allison replied smoothly.
"The look on your face says otherwise," Yukna said, wincing as she swallowed another mouthful of water.
"It's nothing a healing pill won't fix," Allison said with a forced smile.
"Thanks for coming to save me, you had me worried," Yukna said.
"Sorry for taking so long, it's my fault for not checking in on you sooner. I should have been there," Allison said.
Yukna struggled to sit up straighter.
"It's not your fault. We have been over this already, I love you, but I can take care of myself," Yukna replied.
"But you were kidnapped, and tortured Yuky," Allison said, clearly disagreeing with Yukna's statement.
Zee felt suddenly awkward, it was probably best to leave the two alone for a bit.
"I'm going to go wait for the others to return," Zee said. She didn't wait for a response, fleeing back through the arrays.