BOOK 9: CHAPTER 85: FREE-FOR-ALL

Elijah fell.

Instinctively, he shifted into the Shape of the Sky, but it wasn’t long before a rock smashed into his back. It sent him cartwheeling into a glassy hunk of pyramid, which in turn knocked him backward into what was left of the titan. Somehow, the creature was still alive – even without a head – and Elijah’s close proximity resulted in a flurry of wind blades that cut a hundred holes in his wings.

But still, he managed to snap them out and arrest his fall. At least a little. That afforded him a tiny measure of control that he used to locate the dogs. A simple fall wouldn’t kill them, but a few dozen tons of rock certainly would. Elijah flapped his wings and dove, quickly grabbing Ray and Maymay, one in each claw. The two dogs yelped, but Elijah ignored their cries as he swooped close to Jackson, who climbed onto his back.

The dog had ridden back there a couple of times, so he didn’t hesitate to latch his jaws onto one of the subtle ridges running along Elijah’s back. The same was true for Sophie, who followed the other defender’s lead. Freddy and Digby came next, and finally, Oscar and Escobar.

With the entire pack accounted for, Elijah focused on controlling his fall. Wild Resurgence had healed some of the wounds in his wings, but he still couldn’t do much more than guide himself downward.

And they kept falling for more than a mile, well below the point where the ground should have been. Another mile, and Elijah saw a steep but uniform slope. It crumbled when the titan’s torso hit it, falling to pieces a second later.

Suddenly, Elijah realized that the pyramid he’d seen was only the top of a much larger structure that went on for multiple miles beneath the surface. And now, it had collapsed in on itself. What’s more, when Elijah looked down to see where he was going, he couldn’t help but notice a swirl of dense ethera miles and miles below.

As they drew closer, Elijah saw that it was a spear that had been thrust vertically into the ground, shaft first. The tip was an enormous and jagged red crystal, webbed with white energy that looked like veins.

The titan hit it, and a second later, the crystal erupted from the creature’s chest. Finally, Elijah felt a wave of experience that sent him surging toward the next threshold. However, he was far too distracted to check his status. It was all he could handle to guide himself toward the ground and give the dogs a chance to leap free before he crashed.

They managed it, though not without injuries. Meanwhile, Elijah hit hard, tumbling across the rocky ground and getting pelted by smaller stones until he came to rest only a few feet from the spear.

Its haft was nearly three feet wide and made of stone – sized to fit a titan. Yet, Elijah could barely stand being in its presence, it was so powerful. Elemental energy swirled around it, hot and sharp and bludgeoning at the same time. Elijah resumed his human form, healing himself the second his spells were available.

He rose to his hands and knees, but with the dust hanging in the air, he could scarcely see anything.

Except the pulsing crystal.

The second Elijah focused on it, he knew he wanted it. The shaft wasn’t magical – he could see that at a glance – but the crystal was powerful. He had no idea what it was, but he didn’t need to.

Before he could take his prize, Elijah turned away and searched for the pack. He found Jackson first, then Sophie soon after. Both were injured, so he took the time get them healing before he went off to hunt the others. Over the next ten minutes, he managed to gather everyone, including Oscar, who was so covered in dust that he looked almost like a ghost.

Fortunately, he’d avoided any major injuries, though the fight had drained him of ethera so thoroughly that he could barely stand. Elijah had been there, and multiple times, so he could empathize with his friend’s plight. After a while, though, he’d managed to get everyone in the same area so he could flood them with healing.

No one had been grievously injured. Just a few broken bones here and there. A host of minor lacerations. Bruises all over the place. And poor Digby had a concussion. But Elijah had the tools to fix the collection of injuries. They just needed a little time.

So, as he healed, he passed out a veritable feast to speed them toward that destination. Food wasn’t a restorative – not exactly – but a full belly and an extra source of ethera never hurt when it came to recovery. He also passed around some of his grove water, which was even more effective. And lastly, he gave everyone the last of his stored grove fruits, which were natural treasures in their own right. They weren’t as effective as potions, but they definitely helped with both ethera and health recovery.

Still, recuperation didn’t happen instantly, so Elijah was at it for more than three hours before everyone was ready to move on.

In that time, he’d gotten a decent survey of their surroundings. At first, the dust blocked everything, casting the entire area in a cloak of subtle darkness. However, after a while, it all settled and gave him a good view of the aftermath. It soon became clear that they were at the bottom of an enormous crater. Elijah couldn’t see the other side – not even with Eyes of the Eagle. Nor could he truly perceive the curvature of the crater itself. That gave him some hints as to its enormity.

The rest, he needed to piece together from what he’d seen during the fall. The pyramid they’d seen was really just the top of a much larger structure, the scale of which was difficult for Elijah to wrap his mind around. If the width was any narrower than the eye at the center of the Elemental Maelstrom, he would have been surprised. And given the duration of his fall, he suspected it was much, much larger.

Or at least it had been before it had crumbled to nothing.

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Elijah still wasn’t certain what had happened there. Certainly, the impact of the titan wasn’t nearly enough to crumple such a structure. Clearly, magic was at play, though he didn’t know exactly how.

But that was the thing about the world. Sometimes, he wouldn’t know everything. Often, his curiosity would necessarily go unsated.

In any case, once the pack had recovered sufficiently, Elijah turned to Oscar and asked, “You know this isn’t over, right?”

The man blinked. He’d taken advantage of Blessing of the Grove’s localized rainstorm to rid himself of most of the dust, but it still clung to his clothes. “Why do you say that?” he asked.

Elijah shrugged. “You didn’t get a completion notification, did you? There’s something else we need to do.”

“What?”

Elijah glanced toward the spear. “It’s something to do with that,” he answered. “I’m going to snag it.”

“Snag it?”

“Yeah. It’s powerful. I don’t know what it does, but I want it. I’ll take it to Atticus when we’re done and get it appraised. Then we can figure out what to do with it,” Elijah explained. “Same with the geode natural treasure. It’s as much yours as it is mine. Anyway, I get the feeling that we need to get this thing moving sooner rather than later.”

“What? Do you sense danger?”

Elijah shook his head. “Not as such, but if there’s one thing I’ve figured out about this kind of thing – you’re not safe until you get the final reward. And we haven’t gotten it yet.”

As if to reassure himself, Elijah looked at the notification he’d received upon entering the Primal Realm:

You have entered the Elemental Maelstrom. To conquer this Primal Realm, you must undergo the four ancestral challenges and prove yourself worthy of the Titans’ Legacy.

“I guess killing their Memory of Titans isn’t proof that we’re worthy,” Elijah said. “You get a bunch of levels for that, too?”

Oscar nodded, and one of the dogs barked. The rest were busy resting.

“Anyway – I’m going to go snag that thing. Watch my back. If it explodes or something…well, come drag what’s left of me back here.”

With that, Elijah climbed the pile of rubble that had collected at the base of the spear. As he did so, he shifted into the Shape of Thorn – just in case. He didn’t think the thing was going to explode, but he wanted to be in his most durable form just in case he was wrong. Soon enough, he reached the haft and shimmied up the rocky pillar.

He made a point not to acknowledge the slain titan. The thing might’ve had a few valuable bits and pieces, but there was no way Elijah could fit the whole corpse in his Arcane Loop. And he definitely wasn’t in the mood to lug it back to Stillstone. If he could have found the head, he might’ve taken the crown, though. That had seemed valuable enough. But it had been lost among the rubble, and he suspected it would take weeks to find it.

Abandoning that ideas as infeasible, he reached the crystal spearhead, but he was more than a little disappointed when he couldn’t work it free. So, he resorted to using the mining pick Carmen had made for him. It bit deep into the black stone, but still, it took almost an hour before he managed to pry the crystal free. The second it broke loose, he dismissed it into his storage space.

It was not a moment too soon, either. As the crystal disappeared, filling his storage space completely, two things happened. The notification that they’d completed the Primal Realm and would receive their reward upon escape was welcome – if slightly expected. However, the second change was the complete opposite.

In the distance, Elijah saw a horde of giants racing in their direction. Among them were water, earth, air, and fire giants. They jostled for position as they charged forward, every single one of them with their eyes locked on Elijah.

They knew he’d taken the crystal.

“Shit,” he muttered, leaping free of the pillar. He landed a second later, then sprinted toward Oscar and the pack. “Get ready to leave!” he shouted, waving frantically to get their attention.

The dogs lifted their heads lazily, but Oscar came to the rescue when he used the entirety of his recovered ethera to send a surge of alarm through the pack. They perked up, practically vibrating with energy. Soon enough, they noticed Elijah, then followed his wild gestures toward the oncoming horde of giants.

That got their attention.

They leaped to their feet, then arrayed themselves appropriately.

Elijah shifted back into his human form, then threw Oscar over his shoulder. The man protested, claiming that he could walk on his own. But Elijah knew the truth. He could feel it. Recovery from ethera deprivation was a long and grueling process, and one Oscar hadn’t had time to complete. He was currently useless.

But that was the thing about the pack.

Elijah might not have been an official member, but they’d definitely accepted him like he was one. And in turn, he had embraced the responsibilities that came with it. So, he didn’t think twice about telling Oscar to shut up as he prepared to meet the horde. Initially, he’d hoped that they didn’t have a fight on their minds, but that hope was shattered the second the first wave of giants reached them.

There was no hesitation. No attempt at conversation. Just an attack. And given that it came from a member of the Cinderpeak Clan, Elijah felt certain that he wouldn’t see any better from the rest of the horde.

“Surrender the Legacy!” the giant roared.

Elijah leaped to neck-level and lopped his head off. “Run!” he shouted to the pack.

They didn’t need his prodding, and they followed close on his heels, surrounding and protecting him from the massive onslaught of giants. As they fought, Elijah added spells and heals to the mix, keeping everyone moving forward.

His initial idea was to run in the opposite direction, but he’d discarded that almost immediately. He didn’t know what lay on the other side of the crater, but the way he figured it, they stood a better chance of survival if they cut through the horde, then made a bee-line toward Stillstone. It would take a while to reach the city, but with their attributes, there was a good chance they would outpace the giants.

But first, they needed to punch through.

As they attempted just that, Elijah saw that all was not peaceful within the horde. They fought one another at least as much as they sought to kill Elijah and the pack. Probably more. That was likely the only reason they managed to make it through.

Still, amidst the carnage – with elemental abilities crashing down all around them – they had quite a few close calls. Elijah was nearly melted by a fire giant’s burning breath, then almost lost an arm to an incredibly fast air giant. But each time he faced danger, the dogs were there. Jackson and Sophie shielded him. Digby and Freddy provided melee damage while Ray and Maymay restricted their enemies and controlled the battlefield. Escobar spat fireballs like a machine gun.

And in return, Elijah kept them all alive.

But the real star was Oscar. Whatever spell he’d used before the giants had reached them might have drained what was left of his ethera, but it empowered the dogs as much as any ability he’d used so far. It didn’t come without a cost, and the pack leader wavered between consciousness and passing out.

It didn’t matter, though. Elijah intended to get everyone out alive. Even if he needed to sacrifice himself to make it happen.

As it turned out, that wasn’t necessary, and they tore through the horde of giants and onto open ground after only an hour. They didn’t stop, though. They couldn’t. Not until they reached Stillstone.

It only took Elijah a few minutes of running to notice something truly odd, though.

Panting, he said, “The maelstrom. It’s…gone.”