It was early in the morning when Hasan walked into Ossian & Dua's room. Ossian roused up and rubbed his face before stretching up. His bones cracking.
"Well, isn't she a little beauty?" Hasan remarked eyeing Dua who was sprawled naked on the bed. Ossian pulled the bed sheet over her and sat up. Bone covering up his entire body swiftly into an exoskeleton armor.
"Glad you finally became a man, little brother." Hasan joked. "Ready to roll out?"
Ossian sighed, staring out the round window at the city.
"What? Don't tell me you actually okay with marrying this crazy lass?" Hasan raised an eyebrow, "Not that we mind."
"I am not marrying anyone. My beloved awaits in Etheria." Ossian finally spoke resolutely. "Let's go."
"Tamir and Ali are waiting outside with horses. Take a moment if you like." Hasan said and exited the room.
Ossian turned and half climbed the bed, resting a palm near Dua. He tucked away a lock of her hair as she slept peacefully in all her innocence. Another sigh escaped Ossian as he gazed at her. Then silently, he pressed his lips against her cheek for a kiss and walked out. He knew that she'd understand. He had already given her all that he could. Any more was not possible.
---
Ossian's team rode for 6 hours through solid ground. The desert was now far behind. The current landscape was filled with grassy plains, ponds, and trees. It was quite a beautiful sight to behold. Ossian no longer covered his face in a skull helmet. He liked the feeling of cool clean winds billowing at his face.
Soon the next city came into sight. It was on a plateau. A border city of a small kingdom, but certainly larger than all the one-city kingdoms and monarchies Ossian had come across so far.
They were able to easily enter the city and exchange horses. They intended to leave after a good meal and some rest when suddenly there was a small ruckus. The galloping sounds of horse alarmed the team and they all turned to find Armaan riding over on a very exhausted horse that huffed and foamed heavily.
"There you are!" Armaan exclaimed, jumping off the horse and falling onto his knees. "Ossian! Please I beg you! Come back with me to my sister. She is at her deathbed!"
Ossian's pallor paled immediately. The team responded swiftly, procuring a new horse for Armaan and riding back towards the City of Mirrors.
"What happened to her?" Ossian asked with a frown. Dua was fine when he left her.
"It's her heart. She had a stroke or something. We arranged to take her to the royal healer who had treated her in the past." Armaan revealed, "But Dua wanted to see you before that; silly girl."
Ossian felt a mix of pity and guilt. If only he had stuck with her another day, he'd be with her and able to help.
Dust billowed as they all sped up towards the City of Mirrors.
---
Upon reaching the city, they went straight towards the palace where Dua had been taken to.
"We can't let you in." A guard at the entrance said. "Not with your weapons."
"How the hell did you even dare to try to get in with weapons?" Another guard asked, perplexed.
"Investigate these men." The chief guard commanded.
"These weapons are for safety. We've been travelling and only returned due to the sudden illness of our friend's sister." Hasan explained.
"Lies. Guards, take them into custody!" The chief guard said.
"Please listen to me. My sister is inside. She's dying! The royal doctor is treating her; I need to be in there!" Armaan exclaimed.
"Like hell the royal doctor would treat a commoner." The chief guard frowned.
"For sure, this is the only entrance of the palace." Ossian pointed out calmly. "It cannot be that none of you saw her brought in. You're just stalling for time, aren't you?"
The guards exchanged glances; some of them reaching for their swords.
Shwak! Shwak! Shwak! Bone spikes flew stabbing the guards who exclaimed in pain and shock. A moment later, the chief guard's head rolled as Ossian decapitated him. His team made quick work of the rest. Armaan watched in shock at the manslaughter.
"You…what have you..!" He uttered.
"No time to explain. Work your brain while you move." Ossian said to him, barging into the palace. "We must find Dua quickly and ensure her safety. I don't trust this royal doctor."
---
A bell rang in the palace alarming all guards of intrusion. The lot of them could be seen running everywhere; their images reflecting in the massive mirrors stuck on all the outer walls of the palace. The guards were looking for the unknown infiltrators who had killed the entry guards.
"Which way the medical ward?" Ossian asked Armaan who was fidgeting and sweating. He, a soldier, was now an enemy of the state! But his sister was more important than anything.
"That way," he pointed towards a whole building section on the right of the palace.
'There they are! Catch them!" Guards shouted, rushing at them. Ossian stepped forth but Hasan stretched an arm to halt him.
"We'll keep them busy and attract the others. You two should slip out and look for the girl." Hasan said.
"There are too many guards." Ossian frowned.
"Go. We'll be fine. We know how to escape and hide if needed." Tamir said and Ali nodded.
"…" Ossian lingered a few moments but then nodded. He raised his palms up and shot about a hundred bone spikes that rained down on the incoming guards, injuring, startling and distracting them. Then he sped away with Armaan towards the medical block.
---
It took several more minutes but Ossian and Armaan managed to reach the inner section where the royal doctor ought to be present. By now Armaan had forgotten about his own safety. He did not even bother to ask about Ossian's mysterious bone power. Nor did he care about what was to come. His only thoughts were about his sister's safety and seeing her one last time otherwise.
"Ha!" A guard ambushed them, jumping from behind a pillar. The sword slashed deep on Armaan's neck. He winced and swerved, throwing a knife at the guard's chest. They both slumped down.
"Armaan…" Ossian squatted down worriedly.
"Leave me. Go find my sister." Armaan said, clutching his neck but the blood gushed out from the gap of his fingers. He was done for.
"Don't move your neck. Look only straight. Remove your hand." Ossian said, touching his neck over the wound.
Perplexed, Armaan obeyed. The blood poured out like a fountain! But the next moment it was sealed away by a layer of bone that covered his neck entirely and tightly.
"It'll feel restricted. You can't possibly do any physical labor until the wound heals on its own enough. Still, the chances are…" Ossian said.
"I'll be fine. Just go!" Armaan said. Ossian nodded curtly and sped away.
---
It was brightly lit in the mini hall. Dua was panting, sweating and trembling as she found herself tied to a pillar with metal chains. Her mouth was gagged and her upper body was naked. An old man was groping about, right over her heart.
"How long will it take, doctor? Is she not ready yet?" A woman asked from behind. Dua peered at her over the old man's shoulder. The woman was none other than the Queen herself! Dressed in all her finery, though her hair were a mess and her crown was askew.
"Almost ready. Just a few more minutes. We have waited 10 years, your Highness." The old doctor said.
"I cannot wait any longer. Just rip her heart out and give it to me!" The Queen shouted and Dua paled. Rip her heart out?
"That will mess up the crystallization. A glass heart will take its time, your Highness. It wasn't easy to finally perfect the incomplete written process from the archive." The doctor spoke, "So many citizens we sacrificed for its perfection before succeeding in this girl's case. A few more minutes is all it'll take."
"Hmph! Indeed, spreading that heart illness through poisoned vegetables to obtain test subjects was quite a hustle," the Queen frowned remembering her sins. "Not one of those useless people survived the shard implant.
"Yet, but she did. The shard of a glass heart can only be cultivated in a living heart. Only a rare few hearts can adapt to it. This girl's did. Ten years it took for her heart to slowly crystallize and finally it has reached near perfection. The moment her heart stops, it will become a glass heart! Then we can harvest it and create all sort of magical equipment! Weapons, machinery, ornaments, mirrors! Hahaha!"
"Mmmmh… I'd so love a full-sized magic mirror!" Queen moaned and giggled.
Dua's heartbeat plummeted. She was afraid. Her heart was supposed to be racing wildly instead of slowing down. As the laughter of the doctor and the Queen echoed in the chamber, Dua realized that this was the end for her. She was a host for a glass heart. Her life had been robbed by this wicked queen and the doctor.
Gasping in fear, Dua thought of her short life. Her childhood, her parents, her bossy brother, the countless mirrors that surrounded her in this city, and she thought of the one person that didn't belong to any of them, any of it. An outsider who had smitten her with his beauty & genuineness.
"Ossian…" Dua murmured as the vignette in her sight enveloped her vision entirely, pulling her into the lull of darkness and silence.
"There, it is done…!" The doctor uttered in a hushed excited voice. He put his palm over Dua's heart, checking and confirming that the heart beat no more. The Queen giggled and moaned crazily in the background. The doctor pulled out a glass knife; with magical property no doubt. "Lay her on the table." He commanded the assistants who started towards Dua.
Shwak! A bone spike pierced the doctor's hand, making him scream aloud and sending his knife clattering down.
"Intruder!" The Queen barked as Ossian barged into the room, panting. He stared at Dua with wide eyes and observed no movement in her. She wasn't even breathing. "Kill him!" The Queen shouted while Ossian ran straight to Dua; the doctor shuffling away in fright.
"Dua!" Ossian exclaimed and slapped her cheeks lightly, trying to rouse her up futilely. His neck jerked towards the doctor and he growled, "what have you done to her? Fix her right now!"
"Hehehe…" The doctor chuckled, shuffling further back while the guards surrounded Ossian. "That girl is dead. Her heart is now a glass heart that we're going to extract and use for our mirrors."
Ossian felt as though he was falling and falling. He stared stunned. The guards hacked at him futilely. The full body exoskeleton protected his body well. He could only be stabbed but that would take much force. The guards were far from figuring that out.
Swoosh! Ossian suddenly spun on his heal, swinging with a long bone sword which had emerged from his palm rapidly.
The guards yelped and fell back; each cut badly on the bellies with the bone sword. Some of theirs' guts spilled out while some clutched their stomachs and lunged at Ossian again.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Shwak! Shwak! "Gyaah!" In a quick short skirmish, Ossian killed the guards. His swordsmanship might not be up to the standard but the way his strange power manipulated the length of his bone sword duped, perplexed and caught the guards off-guard; resulting in their demise.
Ossian glared at the Queen who stepped back in fear and stumbled on her own long dress, falling on her behind. Her crown fell off her head as she scrambled backwards. "Help! Help! Guards! Soldiers!" she screamed before glaring at the doctor and his assistants. "Stop him! Why are you all standing there like cowards?"
But cowards they were. Healers; not warriors. And wicked ones at that. None of them was willing to sacrifice for the Queen.
Ossian's shadow fell upon the Queen as he stared down. Everything was obvious to him. This Queen was the main criminal. The doctor was simply her goon. Dua had died for this woman's greed!
"Y-you! W-what a handsome boy you are!" The Queen fumbled with her words. Fear & hysteria pasted upon her ashen face. "W-why don't you work for me? I'll make you my General. You liked that girl? You can have any number of beautiful girls at your service! Y-you can even have me!" She offered.
Bones grew up Ossian's neck and the Queen witnessed in horror as the skull helmet formed on Ossian's head, obscuring his eyes in the dark.
"D-demon!" Queen screeched.
Swoosh! Ossian hacked down with the bone sword, cutting off her left arm.
"Aaahhh!!" A horrid scream echoed in the chamber. The Queen writhing on the floor as a blood fountain spurted out of her shoulder stump.
The sword swung down again, and again, and again. The screams continued to reverberate. When Ossian stopped, the Queen had been reduced to a mess of chopped up body pieces; blood pooled underneath them and spreading. Her head rolled to a stop; eyes wide open.
Then he turned to kill the rest but paused, finding no one there. They had all disappeared along with Dua's body. At once Ossian felt dumbfounded. He hadn't heard them escape due to the Queen's screams.
But no matter, he was going to find them and kill them. He turned towards the only open door from where he had entered, best-guessing that's where they had fled from. He halted suddenly.
Something had moved just a smidge for a moment, caught during his turning moment. Ossian stared in that direction, wondering if he had been mistaken as there was nothing but an empty chamber and some pillars.
He raised his left palm and shot a bone spike just to ensure.
Crack! The bone spike created a crack in the air, striking something invisible. Immediately afterwards a large mirror became visible. It was more like a lot of mirrors sewn onto a sheet held up by an assistant whose face was pale with fear. Ossian understood clearly what was going on.
Shwak! Shwak! Crack! Crack! Crack! Four mirror sheet turned visible as bone spikes crushed the mirrors, undoing their little magic that had provided them a near perfect camouflage. Behind the assistants which had been holding up the mirror sheets, was the evil doctor; his hands held up, holding a heart that dripped with blood. Dua's body was still hung onto the pillar behind him, now with an open cavity in her torso. The evil doctor had extracted her heart!
"You- bastard!" Ossian roared, lunging towards the doctor. The assistant in his way, although paralyzed by fear.
Ossian hacked at them with his bone sword, butchering them in rage. The doctor wiped the glass heart on his robe and retreated haphazardly, reaching for the door.
The screams of the assistants echoed as Ossian killed the last of them and discovered that the doctor had fled with Dua's heart.
But no matter; he was going to hunt him down. He was going to kill everyone in his path. He was hurting, he was angry, he was mad with rage. He could not save Flora, he could not save Nursena, and now he had failed to save Dua as well.
Ossian halted before Dua and sighed, caressing her cheek with the back of his blood smeared hand. He unbound her and wrapped a mirror sheet around her body. Then he put her on a table and exhaled, "I'm sorry…" This was all he could say.
Glancing one last time at Dua's innocent face, he walked away. He'd come back for her after murdering everyone. Soldiers confronted him almost immediately; having been sprinting towards the chamber. Bone spikes flew everywhere, and they all fell, groaning as death inched towards them.
Ossian absorbed the bone sword and unsheathed his metal one. He knew the limitation of his bones against metal. More soldiers emerged, rushing towards him. Metal clanged, screams and shouts echoed. It took Ossian longer this time. The sneak attacks with the bone spikes helped him win but he realized one thing clearer now…
"I'm not trained like them," Ossian thought, "in martial arts & warfare. My immortal body and bone power wins me most of the fights but that's hardly sufficient." Scenes of his terrible defeat back in Etheria against other immortals, and then the difficulty in beating Liyaqat in the land of Barqat, his submission to the magical rope artefact, his inability to save Flora and Nursena weighed on him.
"If divested of my power and natural healing, I'd be an ordinary person." Ossian thought. "I must learn to fight pro-
More soldiers. Bone spikes. Sword fighting and screams.
Ossian stumbled forward minutes later. His clothes were torn, revealing his exoskeleton. Swords and spear were embedded into his body at different angles but he ignored them and continued ahead. As his body heals, it'd push the weapons out gradually.
After another skirmish, Ossian finally got out of the medical building and faced the open area that gradually merged with the garden. This was where he had left his team behind. Now they were gone, and the whole place was filled with large mirrors.
"…" Ossian stared in silence at the numerous mirrors that were everywhere. Then suddenly they moved and rose up and surrounded Ossian in a dome.
"There wasn't a sound that seeped inside the mirror dome. This was the method that the army of city of mirrors employed to completely defeat their enemies. Surrounding them in glass domes. Each dome was manipulated by a team of skilled mirror warriors.
Ossian spread his arms and let the bone spikes fly out from his entire body, stabbing into the mirror, cracking and breaking them.
But the mirrors recovered quickly; the glass morphing. Ossian pondered in silence. What was the point in the mirror dome? It was just surrounding him and doing nothing. Perhaps that was all it did. Cutting off air and keeping one hostage. After a few hours, the captive would die from lack of air. The dome couldn't be broken through. It was the perfect cage of death.
"How utterly childish." Ossian frowned. "All this magic and trickery, but this was all they could achieve?"
Kachankk!! The mirror dome was completely destroyed by the giant pillar-like bones jutting out from Ossian's body. He extracted himself from them to find the dumbstruck soldiers gawking at him. Almost a battalion had already gathered around the dome by now.
Ossian cracked his neck. His clothes had all torn away, revealing his nightmarish skeletal appearance.
"Kill that demon!" The doctor shouted from above a roof, surrounded by guards. "He murdered the Queen!"
Swoosh-swoosh-swoosh-swoosh! Volleys of arrows immediately rained down on Ossian; many stabbing into his exoskeleton, making him resemble a porcupine.
Then the front rows marched, carrying pikes. Their synced footsteps echoing impressively. Ossian took a deep breath, observing everything.
"Odd. I don't feel as tired as the last time I used that bone pillar move," he thought. "Perhaps my capacity has increased somehow? Then again, I know not much about how the power core behaves in different situations." He focused on his power core inside his body, at the center of the chest. All Etherians drew their power from their core. It'd replenish slowly after exhaustion, like a little natural source of mountain water. Currently Ossian's power core was almost a quarter full. This was not enough to fight an entire battalion but…
Ossian looked up at the roof where the wicked doctor was. Bones morphed in Ossian's hands, quickly creating a miniature version of an arbalest. A bone crossbow to be accurate. He raised it to the roof, took aim and released a bolt.
Ktagg! The bone bolt flew up. The aim a bit off. It broke through the roof wall but fell with the brick chunks at the doctor's feet who stared at it with wide eyes and hastily retreated. His heart thumping wildly.
"Tch." Ossian released a sound, disappointed with himself. The soldiers were now running towards him. A battle was unavoidable.
"Well, that's just fine. I intended to kill everyone in my way anyway." Ossian muttered while the bone crossbow morphed into a bone scythe with sharp jagged teeth. He slashed ahead and blood splattered. The noise of the battle echoed afar.