Cyil didn't sleep that night. The gold chain around his neck chafed through his fur for the first time since he put it on. The red gem hanging on it felt heavy. A strange heat was peeling off of it and penetrating his skin.
Cyil took the gem off and looked at it. A brilliant spherical red crystal letting off a flickering red light, a reflection of the swirling flames encased in it. Living flames that seemed to react to Cyil's emotions.
Cyil carefully made his way to the top of one of the towers in Azor's castle. Coincidentally, it was the one with the orb on it, the same orb they saw when they first arrived.
Cyil lit a flame on the stone floor in front of him and stared at it.
The burning heat didn't penetrate past his fur.
I haven't been like this since Aavern joined us.
Cyil closed his eyes.
Tomorrow, we'll go attack Ezarik. Then, we'll be able to get into the void.
Cyil gritted his teeth. Azor said that the shadow was in the void. Cyil didn't think they could win against it.
No use thinking about it. We'll see what happens when the time comes.
Cyil stared into the flame in front of him.
I guess it's going to be another sleepless night.
-
They didn't even wait for Azor to get up the next morning. Qassot and Cyil met Riselus outside the castle and left immediately. Azor had already given them the directions. Ezarik's castle at the far end of a wasteland near the Raik Mountains.
"I don't think we can win," Cyil suddenly said.
"Against Ezarik?" Qassot asked.
"No, against the shadow."
Riselus sighed. "Worry about defeating Ezarik first. We can get Azor's help for the shadow."
"Why couldn't Azor just defeat Ezarik?" Cyil grumbled.
"Why can't he?" Qassot mumbled quietly.
For some reason, Qassot didn't feel too good about the plan. She tried and failed to comb her mind for a reason, but the only thing she got was an uneasy feeling that something was missing. A blank spot in her mind.
"Oi," Cyil said suddenly, breaking Qassot out of her thoughts. "Which way are we going? I wasn't paying attention."
Qassot snapped up and looked around. They had made it over the mountains around Azor's castle and had already arrived at the river.
"That way," she said, pointing towards the unsettling peak in the Raik Mountains nobody wanted to approach. They began walking again.
"Do you think Ezarik has something to do with that mountain?" Cyil asked.
"I guess we'll find out eventually," Qassot said.
"Let me try something," Riselus suddenly said.
"Try wha-AAH!" Cyil asked, before the ground underneath the group suddenly snapped forwards, dragging them with it, and hurling them towards the mountain.
The ground snapped to a stop suddenly, throwing them onto the ground at the foot of the mountain, and launching Cyil headlong into a boulder a few paces before them.
"Ow," Cyil said, peeling himself off of the rock. "That was fast."
"I didn't think it would work this well," Riselus muttered. "Need to do something about stopping, though."
Qassot looked up the mountain. Her supernatural sense was tingling. There was something very ominous about the mountain.
Cyil began to fly up it.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Qassot asked.
"Going up," Cyil said, glancing back.
"Why?" Riselus asked.
"I've always wanted to know what's at the top," Cyil said. "Those dark bird things probably keep circling the peak for a reason, y'know?
"What a waste of time," Riselus grumbled.
Qassot tried to follow Cyil, but her legs wouldn't move. Every inch of her body was telling her not to approach the mountain. She could only watch as a small golden dot got smaller and smaller.
The golden dot suddenly erupted with red as tiny black shapes engulfed it.
-
Cyil flew up the mountain. He wasn't sure why, but he wanted to see the top. There was some sort of warmth lingering within the mountain that felt very similar to the heat of the fire gem, except it felt far more powerful than normal flames.
Something black suddenly swooped by him, and there was a sting in his side. Cyil snapped around. It was a black bird.
"I thought the Krie Clan got rid of all of you," Cyil said.
He wrapped the bird in flames and watched its pain-filled writing slow and it burnt.
He heard squawking behind him.
He turned around, feeling a smile spread across his face.
Flames wrapped around him as he rushed headlong into the fray.
Burn it all.
A voice was speaking into Cyil's mind.
Burn it down.
Cyil let the fire from the gem spill over, wrapping himself in a ball of fire.
It felt warm and comforting.
Reduce it all to ashes.
Cyil hadn't felt this exhilarated in a long time.
It was a long time before Cyil came back to his senses. He was lying, panting, near the top of the mountain. Charred corpses littered the mountain slopes around him.
"That must've been what Dracoa felt like when that strange light goes into her eyes," Cyil said breathlessly.
He suddenly noticed he was grinning broadly.
Come here.
It was the voice again.
Cyil glanced up at the peak. Unlike most mountains, this one was flattened at its peak. Thin streams of smoke had started spilling out of the top.
"I didn't imagine that voice, did I?" Cyil asked himself.
Come to me.
"How about no," Cyil said. "You're creepy."
Wielder of flame, why do you refuse?
Cyil shook his head. He was starting to get a bad feeling about this.
We are alike. Come up.
"That's even creepier," Cyil said, turning to go back down.
Wake me up.
"Be quiet."
I will show you fire more intense than that which you wield.
Cyil scoffed. "How about you wake yourself up with that fire." He turned and continued downwards.
You were enjoying yourself just then, were you not?
Cyil didn't respond.
Come with me, and we will reduce the world to ashes.
"Screw it," Cyil muttered. He turned back and flew to the top of the mountain. He was surprised by what he saw. It resembled a small pond, but not filled with water. It was deep, a hole that reached down into the mountain, and at the bottom was a glowing red fluid that radiated immense heat. It was a liquid fire that Cyil found fascinating.
However, not fascinating enough.
Good. Now-
"SHUT IT!" Cyil shouted. His irritation spilled over in a burst of fire. "YOU'RE CREEPY!"
He threw a fireball into the lake of liquid fire for good measure.
You insolent little-
Cyil flew back down the mountain, ignoring the angry cries from within the mountain.
-
When Cyil came back down, Qassot noticed that he looked significantly more satisfied.
"You done?" Qassot asked.
"Yep," Cyil said. "That felt great."
"You could've just told us that you wanted to go set those black birds on fire."
Cyil shrugged.
The group turned towards the depths of the wasteland looming in front of them, a barren, gravelly, lumpy expanse of cold sand, looming shadows, and tall overhanging rocks that might have been structures at some point.
Tall rock spires and rings of rubble-like debris littered the ground, radiating in a wide pattern from some point in the distance. Even the mountains near the wasteland were partially collapsed, as if some massive explosion in the past had reduced a once-lively land to ashes.
Wide fissures were opened here and there, along with lingering magic power that made Qassot shudder.
It was an old magic, a powerful destruction that withstood the test of time and prevented any life from growing where it lingered. Not even rot could take over in this dry area.
"I don't like this place," Riselus grumbled.
"There's a castle over there," Cyil said, gently tossing a ball of fire towards a looming black castle in the distance.
The fire landed on a piece of black rock sticking out of the ground and stayed lit, burning gently.
It was a piece of petrified wood.
"This place is really strange," Qassot said. "Do you think Ezarik caused all this?"
"Doesn't matter," Riselus grunted. He warped the earth again, clearly not wanting to spend any more time lingering in the wasteland, throwing the three of them towards Ezarik's castle.
They arrived at the front door in an instant.
Unlike Azor's castle, whose walls were a clean white, Ezarik's castle was made of dark rock, blackened in some places, charred and weathered but fully intact. Behind the castle, Qassot could feel the presence of water as the land rose up slightly and suddenly dropped at a steep incline towards the ocean.
"Well," Cyil suddenly said, "If I remember correctly, Azor's castle's front door was a trap, right?"
Qassot nodded.
"So that means that we shouldn't just walk into the front door."
"I don't think the two would have identical castles," Riselus grunted.
"Really?" Cyil asked.
Riselus looked at Cyil like he was crazy.
"Okay, I get it," Cyil grumbled. "But still. We should be careful."
Qassot walked up to the front door and pushed on it.
It was unlocked.
Qassot watched the doors slowly swing inwards.
"This feels like a trap," Qassot said, staring into the shadowy interior.
"See?" Cyil said. "Even Qassot agrees with me."
"Do you have a better way inside?" Riselus asked.
"How about we blow up the castle until we get Ezarik's attention?" Cyil suggested.
"That's… not a bad idea," Qassot said.
Without warning, Cyil began to hurl fire at the castle walls. He threw streams of flame, condensed fireballs, and even himself (lit on fire) at the walls.
But every time, a red shimmer materialized on top of the stones and blocked the attack, leaving the castle unscathed.
"This isn't working," Cyil grumbled.
Qassot walked up and felt the stone walls. Her supernatural sense told her that there was magic imbued into the bricks.
"I don't think we can-" Qassot said as she turned around, but was interrupted by a massive rock flying over her head and smashing into the castle over her head.
"-break this," Qassot finished, wiping debris off her face.
"You're in the way," Riselus grunted.
Before Qassot could respond, a barrage of flames flew over her head.
"Don't worry," Cyil said, "I won't hit you. Probably."
Qassot suddenly understood why Dracoa liked to whack Cyil around.
"Just stop it," Qassot said. "This stuff is reinforced with magic."
"We can just keep attacking until it breaks," Cyil suggested.
Qassot scratched the wall with her claws. The shallow furrows left behind quickly disappeared.
"It repairs itself."
"Oh," Cyil said. "How are we supposed to get in, then?"
"The front door."
"But it's a trap."
"It's the only way."
Riselus sighed and turned back to the door. "Let's just go in."
The three friends walked through a single dark hallway. The walls were smooth, with no blemishes. Just an empty, long, almost perfect hallway. It was lit with the reddish shimmer on the walls. The hallway split into three in front. The walls contracted.
"What shall we do?" Cyil asked.
"Go into each tunnel? Each one is a different size," Qassot suggested.
Riselus sighed, "I feel like Ezarik wants us to split up."
"The walls are squeezing us," Qassot said.
They walked forwards into the tunnels.