Chapter 58– The Price of Trespassing

Savage Lands –Temple of the Sun Stone- 17-03-08 (18:00 Estimated time)

Ancient One         

The Ancient One breathed heavily as she stared off at her two remaining opponents. One wore a crown of dinosaur teeth, while the other the head of a saber-tooth tiger. She had injured and downed the one that wore a crown of boar tusks, but could still hear him complaining in their tongue. So she couldn’t count the man out quite yet.

She had lost her bow in their bout, but it had cost the Sun people their staves. And they were as winded as she, so the Ancient One counted this as a win. She could hear Wong gasping nearby, so she asked. “How are you doing over there Master Wong?”

He coughed twice before answering. “Still alive… They sure made a lot of these bastards.”

“Ten a season.” The man in the tiger headdress muttered. He too coughed before adding. “One and a half thousand in my lifetime.”

"You give our secrets away?" Dino Teeth asked.

"They are both worthy and wouldn't be the first outsiders to join our people." Tiger countered.

The two men turned enough to watch each other but still watch her. Her war fan was already bloody from fighting them after all. However, the flapping of wings made whatever teeth crown was about to say be reduced to nothing as everyone looked up at the winged man and glowing woman about to descend upon them.

If not for her recognizing the woman in the red training robes, she might have attacked them on sight, as the winged man looked like a fiend from beyond their reality. However, the sight of both of them made the Ancient relook at the fiend, and in his eyes, she saw a glimmer of the Founder they had recovered earlier today.

‘He’s still alive, we beat him here. Thank the ancestors.’ The almost a millennia-old woman thought.

Nath’aniel aimed his staff passed Wong, and from its crystal poured forth a blast of blue energy, he dragged the blast across the hall. Where the energy passed, a chuck of dark blue ice appeared in its wake, blocking the large warriors from reaching Wong and her.

Then he and his mutant disciple landed. The girl maintained a red aura around herself while the Founder wrote a rune into the air. As it faded, so did his fiendish features. The Ancient One let out a sigh of relief knowing now that the battle had turned in their favor.

“Who are you? Are you with this woman?” Teeth crown demanded.

"Well, that's a touch rude, to ask my name without giving your own." Nath'aniel turned to his disciple before he added. "Do not do what he just did." The woman in red robes nodded once at the advice.

Tiger's head bowed slightly and introduced himself. “I am Hor-naf, I have the position of High Priest of the Moon for the Sun people, and you are?”

The Founder nodded instead of bowing but returned the greeting. "I am Nath'aniel, son of Path’aniel. I am the acting Master of the Citadel. And I am here to stop your ritual.”

“You dare dictate…” teeth crown snapped.

Nath’aniel wrote a sickly yellow rune into the air. It shoots out as a mote of light and hits the rather aggressive and large sorcerer in the chest. Everyone blinked when they could now see the man's astral projection floating behind him, except that his astral self-had wire sown into his lips, locking his mouth shut.

However, the oddity was suddenly dwarfed by the feeling of an oppressive force appearing behind them. The Ancient One stared at the sudden appearance of a massive red orb floating out over the city.

“Huh, a reality marble. I guess I shouldn't have been that surprised, she is descended from noble blood after all." The Founder muttered before watching the two primitive sorcerers again.

“What is that?!” Hor-naf shouted and pointed at the orb.

Nath’aniel repeated himself. “A reality marble, were you not listening?”

"Looks like an orb of blood to me," Wong muttered.

A thought occurred to her so the Ancient One asked him. “How is that different from a standard pocket dimension?”

The Founder mused in thought for a moment before answering. “A ’pocket dimension’, what an apt term. The major difference I suppose would be that one is made either through ascended will, or ritual magic. Meanwhile, a reality marble is made and bound to a mortal soul naturally. Well pseudo naturally, in this case, Psylocke got hers when I bound her as my Servant."

‘He admits what he did to her.’ She thought after hearing his explanation.

“And what will she do with it?” the Savage Land’s sorcerer asked.

"What she is currently doing with it, is trapping a third of your armed forces inside of it." Nath'aniel answered flatly like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Dino teeth then suddenly dropped to his knees and spasmed as if under intense pain. Then she saw that his astral self had tried to say something, and the wiring stretched and wove down his face and neck.

"Ah soul shackle, such an effective spell, a pity I only learned to cast it at the journeyman level. If I learned the more advanced forms I could add more restrictions to the casting… Well, this has been fun, but I have a ritual to stop." The mage said before he started to walk passed the enemy sorcerers.

Hor-naf moved to stop him, but then the man was blasted in the legs by raw abyssal bolts, causing the man to fall on his backside. “I’d rather not have to kill you if I don’t have to.” The disciple in red robes told the man.

The Ancient One had honestly forgotten that the girl had been there. She was about to jog after the Founder when she felt a shiver down her spine. Causing her to turn around and scan the skies. Then she retriggered the mobility spell that had gotten her here, before she leaped through the temple's open roof and landed atop one of the slabs of stone.

She squinted at a blue light in the west that seemed to be growing or rather was getting closer. She then shouted down to Wong. "Master Wong, assist the Founder, I will delay the Asgardians.”

She then leaped away and into the air, just before she began to descend, she conjured an astral foothold and leaped again. A dozen times she did this, before donning her sling ring and waving open a portal between her and the flying longship. She again widened it to be large enough to capture the vessel and its crew. Then she and it flew into the mirror dimension.

She stood atop the top of a tree before she turned around and faced the now-stopped ship. Its nose had cracked the reflection in front of it, but it and its crew were still there. The Ancient One heard the laughing godling before she saw him. He stood atop his now-flying sword, he crossed his arms as he got closer to her.

"How fares your investigation into the cause of the meteors?" the blonde-haired brute asked her.

“It was postponed due to recent discoveries and more pressing matters.” She admitted. She then waved the blood off of her fan. She watched as the ship reversed and began to turn to face its now unveiled weapons at her.

"Oh?" He now was only a couple of arm's lengths away, and while he would fall, she believed that his sword would reach her before she could get out of the way.

“Have you heard of the Lost Sanctum of the Magi?” the Ancient One asked. She shifted her stance so one of her hands was concealed by her body.

The godling cocked his head before saying. “I have.”

“It was they that sent your sending stone, and asked for aid.” She revealed.

“That boy in the message was no mage.” He argued.

“The boy is one of their staff.” The Ancient One explained.

“The woman then?” He seemed happy at the prospect.

“She would be the Sanctum’s thought engine.” She also explained.

The godling seemed to deflate at that answer. “So they had copies of the records, and no mages survived.” The Ancient One bit her lip in contemplation. As she debated to reveal the truth, but as she feared this godling was cunning. Seeing her reaction to his comment he muttered. “So one mage did survive, who?”

She sighed in defeat, to cover the noise of her starting a spell in her offhand. Then she admitted "The Warden's son."

The Asgardian raised his hand, and the ship stopped its turn. Then he said. “It was said he died.”

“I think the Warden faked the boy’s death to hide him.” She guessed.

His next words surprised her. "Well, that tracks." She cocked an eyebrow at him and the godling added. “While there were not many, my father has one of the Envoy’s dream stones. Both my sisters and I had to listen to it and its lesson on diplomacy. I may have only used it once, but even as a recording he seemed protective of the boy… damn it, that means he is even older than me.”

“What will you do with this information?” She asked him. Their talking had given her the time to charge her hidden hand. It was ready to unleash a bolt of astral energy at him at a moment’s notice.

He shrugged before answering. "If his wish is to remain hidden, then unless asked directly by my king or father I will say nothing of this. And I kind of doubt the possibility of a mage being alive has even entered their minds in years… The hardest part will be keeping it from my sister. She took their deaths quite hard. That just leaves your punishment."

“What punishment?” The Ancient One asked in honest surprise.

“You boarded a ship of Asgard without message or permission. That is trespassing. My squire wants your hand for the offense. And some of the more sticklers of my people may ask for more.” As he explained her offense the Ancient One readied itself for the coming battle. “So as punishment, you must treat me and my crew to a meal, preferably your own cooking.”

She was dumbfounded by his sentence, but the Ancient One still was clear-minded enough to state. "I am not sleeping with you."

The godling started to ride his sword back up higher in the air as he said. "I didn't say that you had to. And seeing as you owe us, it would be in my best interest to aid your current struggle. Unless all those spells we detected were just some light-sparing for you. So shall we go?" He then gestured to the reflections around them.

The Ancient One nodded, and she started conjuring more foot holds up towards the Asgard ship, as the moved she explained. “We are not trying to kill them, we’re trying to stop their ritual that will awaken an ancient fire giant.”

The godling smiled as he said. “Excellent, giants make for glorious foes… Should he awaken of course.”

 

 

Crimson Dimension- 3rd day of Vanahiem’s Month the 6983 GR (Evening)

Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Braddock- (Assassin /Psylocke)

The ankle-deep blood was thick and clingy. It slowed down Sun people's foot work making them appear to be standing still as Assassin trusted and slashed with her two swords. Not that she needed to use the blades. Once they entered here, all it would take was a thought and she could make the blood in here freeze and impale them on it.

On top of that, she needed to practice. 'Betsy' just wasn't getting them the exercise and practice that they needed. She dodged backward to avoid a half-blood's fist. Then willed the blood to open up under her. The Enhanced dove after her as she sunk into the floor, but didn't find the Servant. Instead, he smacked his face onto the very solid floor.

She reemerged behind two warriors, each of their throats was fed a blade. Then she took their stone-tipped spears and threw them into the half-blood's back side. They hated it when she did that. Then she retrieved her blades and did the sinking into the floor trick again.

It was time to harass another group. There were several of them in here, but not all of them were the group attacking the two bullmen. Somehow if there was enough bloodshed in the streets of the city she could pull people in here. So she did, to give her Master the time that he needed.

‘Betsy’ couldn’t handle the scope of this place, so she was taking a back seat to this work. Assassin was fine with that. All was for her Master. So she would cut and slash and end his enemies. Just like the three warriors falling down before her. Their bodies’ blood and water adding to her world before their meat is discarded.

She frowned at the other eight standing before her. They weren’t even trying to fight back, they just cowered and shivered while staring at her. She tilted her head. Not because of them. Her powers told her that their minds were at the breaking point and they were as good as dead.

No, something was in here, trying to reshape her world. She sank in the blood again and moved to it.

She couldn’t become a spirit in here. In here she was as solid as the rest of them. However, this world moved and molded as Assassin willed it. She felt with her powers before she emerged. There were four minds in the chamber above her, two were half-bloods and one was a sorcerer, but the last. The last was not a mind she let in here.

She fell from the ceiling, both of her blades impaling one of the half-bloods. Assassin kicked the dead body into the sorcerer. She got ready to face and kill the other half-blood, but as it was about to move and attack her, the outsider spoke.

“{HOLD.}” The large man stopped, but Assassin did not.

She trusted her sword in between his ribs, and he fell over dead after his heart was torn apart. As the half-blood fell, Assassin twisted her psychic sword into a kunai and threw it into the neck of the rising sorcerer. The dirty blonde woman fell back into the blood puddles of the floor.

Assassin gazed at the outsider. It was a massive man. Swollen with fat and muscle, easily it was as wide as it was tall. It had somehow stolen some of her realm to mold it into a throne for it to sit upon. And yet it was clearly not a man, as it had a toad's head in place of a human one.

It opened its wide mouth and its tongue shot out and pulled the dead remains of one of the half-bloods to it. It reached and squeezed the leg off of the remains, as she studied it. It ate the severed limb, bone, and all.

“You do not belong here.” Assassin warned it.

“{AND YOU DO NOT DESERVE THAT SWORD. I MADE THAT WEAPON, AND MY RIVALS DESTROYED IT. YET HERE IT IS. AND HERE YOU ARE, DAUGHTER OF THE HAND.}” It didn’t talk so much as willed words into the chamber.

She tried to read its mind, but it didn't really think. It just craved things and acted.

“Leave, or I will kill you.” She demanded of it.

“{YOU MEAN YOU WILL TRY. BUT I AM NOT HERE FOR THAT, I AM PLEASED MY SWORD IS HERE AGAIN, BUT YOUR MASTER TOOK FROM ME, WHEN HE MADE YOU. FOR THAT I WILL COLLECT, BUT NOT TODAY. BUT KNOW THAT SO LONG AS YOU HAVE IT, I WILL ALWAYS BE BACK.}” Then shadows crawled out of the blood and covered it, and when they passed it was gone.