BOOK 9: CHAPTER 72: SKY TITAN

Elijah landed for what he hoped was the final time and allowed Oscar to climb off his back. The other dogs erupted into a cacophony of barks as he set Escobar down, and at last, Elijah allowed himself to resume his human form.

As it turned out, the journey across the Gauntlet of the Sky Lords was even more frustrating than Elijah had anticipated. He’d lost track of the passage of time, but he suspected they’d been at it for the better part of a month. In that time, not only had he been responsible for ferrying the pack from one bridge to another, but he’d also discovered why the challenge had been named the way it had.

It truly had been a gauntlet, and one populated by more than just sky lords. Those were there, certainly, and they had a habit of erupting from the clouds with only a second’s worth of warning. If Elijah let his attention lapse for even a moment, he’d miss the swirl of air-attuned ethera that heralded an ambush. He’d learned that lesson early on during that first day, and he hadn’t forgotten it since.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the extent of the dangers he was forced to face. There were winged serpents just like the ones they’d fought in the Ring of Elements, some of whom were larger than even the most massive anacondas back on Earth. Those packed quite a punch, often enough to shock Elijah into unconsciousness and send him plummeting into the clouds.

That had happened more than once, and every single time his fall through the clouds had drawn the attention of sky lords. The only solace was that the elemental beings were just as likely to attack the serpents as they were to set their sights on Elijah and whichever dogs he happened to be carrying at the time.

He also discovered that there was no apparent end to the clouds. Not only did they stretch as far as he could see, but even after falling for two or three minutes, he never passed into open air.

That didn’t make sense – so long as he was attached to the logic of his own world – but reason didn’t seem to matter very much. What did matter was that the further he fell, the more powerful the sky lords became. At one point, he’d vaguely felt one that was at least the size of the leviathan he’d killed back on Earth, and its ethereal signature was even stronger than that behemoth’s.

Thankfully, it didn’t follow when Elijah regained consciousness and altitude.

They fought other creatures as well. From felines that were made of clouds and possessed eyes of sapphire to unseen assassins that attacked and fled before anyone could react – their way was harried by a wide variety of creatures that made the journey even more frustrating than Elijah had expected.

It shouldn’t have been surprising, though. If nothing else, that part was consistent with every other experience he’d been forced to endure in a Primal Realm. Still, he hated that Oscar and the pack had to go through the same thing. As much as he appreciated the company – and he very much did – he couldn’t help but think he’d have been better off alone.

Not because it would have increased his chances of survival, but rather, because his heart jumped into his throat every single time he heard a cry of pain from one of the canines. They were powerful in their own right, but Elijah couldn’t help but feel a need to protect them.

That, in turn, made his task that much more difficult, and not least because it was an impossible standard. He couldn’t keep them completely safe. No matter what else he did, they were in a dangerous place, and regardless of how attentive he was, the chances that one of them would get hurt weren’t just high. It was inevitable.

Coming to terms with that just made everything worse.

So, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief when their obvious destination came into view. Even from a hundred miles away, the silver temple was visible. It shone like a fairy tale palace, though one made entirely of the precious and shining metal. As they’d drawn closer – bridge by bridge – more details became apparent.

Like the fact that it wasn’t really a temple at all. Rather, it had more in common with an arena. Or an amphitheater. It was also surrounded by a dozen floating crystals, each one pulsing with enough ethera that Elijah could sense them from miles and miles away. Visually, those crystals were a deep blue in color, reminding him of the massive dragon he’d seen during his last core vision.

Lightning arced between them at a rhythmic pace that was difficult to track, and when they drew within a mile of the place, the heat from the electricity was enough to make him uncomfortable.

But that was nothing compared to the creature at the center of that arena.

It was hundreds of feet tall and built very similarly to the other sky lords. Draped in moss-like clouds, it featured a glassy, ten-limbed skeleton and an enormous crystal skull. Energy – denser than anything Elijah had ever felt – flowed through its skeleton, swirling thicker in some spots before reaching the skull. There it bloomed even brighter than at any other location.

Elijah knew all that even before he reached the final bridge, which stretched all the way to the arena.

“What do you think?” he asked Oscar as he reclaimed his human form.

“The crystals are the key,” Oscar said, pointing from one to the next. “I don’t know how, though there is a pattern to the pulsing ethera. A rhythm I don’t yet understand.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

For his part, Elijah couldn’t discern the rhythm either, but he had learned to accept that Oscar often saw things he didn’t. The man had been given a Tactician archetype for a reason, and where Elijah usually approached things from a straightforward – and often brutal – perspective, Oscar was far more strategic.

It was probably why he’d survived as long as he had. Meanwhile, Elijah knew that the only reason he wasn’t dead was because of his healing abilities. Otherwise, he’d have died in the first few days after the world had transformed. Something told him that Oscar had thrived from the very beginning.

Especially with the dogs, all of whom were far more intelligent and much more deliberate than any canine had a right to be. Except Escobar, who often approached the world much the same way that Elijah did. Maybe that was why Elijah got along with the chihuahua so well.

But then again, he’d bonded quite well with the entire pack. They weren’t exactly like normal dogs, and they certainly weren’t pets. However, they couldn’t escape their natures entirely, which made them crave and respond to human attention much more than if they were wild animals. Or guardians, which seemed closer to how the system saw them.

In truth, they occupied a gray area between guardians and sapient races that Elijah still didn’t quite understand. They were lovable and often cuddly animals, though, and that was all he really cared about.

“Anything else?” asked Elijah after a few moments.

Oscar held up his hand, saying, “A moment.”

He remained staring at the spectacle for a long while before Elijah realized that his hands were moving. It wasn’t more than his fingers bouncing up and down on his upper thigh, but it only took a few seconds before Elijah recognized that he was keeping a beat that coincided with the pulses of ethera.

Finally, after a few more minutes, he said, “I think I understand it. You see that – every fifth beat sends arcing lightning through the crystals. Then, there are three beats in the sky titan –”

“Is that what it’s called?”

Freddy barked.

“Freddy says not to doubt her skills.”

“Did she really say that?” Elijah asked.

The dog wagged her tail, then nosed him. Oscar didn’t look away from the titan as he said, “More or less.”

“So, what does it mean?” Elijah asked. “We have a beat. We can predict when the lightning goes through the crystals. But how does that help us kill it?”

“We must stay ahead of the beat,” he said. “We can leap from one crystal to the next to outpace it. Then, when the monster –”

It was Elijah’s turn to interrupt. “It’s not a monster. As far as I can tell, nothing in the Primal Realm is.”

“What is the difference?”

“Monsters don’t belong. They’re unnatural. These creatures here, they are in their element. I think they originate in the Plane of Air, but this is their natural habitat.”

“I see.”

“So, we stay ahead of the beat. That’s it?”

“I suspect that the beats centered on the monster…the creature…are heralds of a potential skill. Likely one that will encompass the entire arena,” Oscar stated. “We will need to take shelter or take steps to endure whatever power it brings to bear.”

It was one of the longest conversations Elijah had ever held with Oscar, who was the epitome of the strong silent type. Most of the time, Elijah didn’t mind that. He could brood just as well as anyone. But there were times when brevity was not the answer.

“How do we kill it?” he asked.

“Destroy the head.”

“Same as all the other sky lords, then,” Elijah reasoned. “Seems too simple.”

“I am certain it will not be,” Oscar stated.

Elijah took a deep breath, then said, “Me too.”

The biggest issue, as far as Elijah could see, was that the sky titan remained suspended in mid-air. For all that the silver structure looked like an arena, it wasn’t one. In fact, it seemed more like a metallic ring than anything else, because it had no bottom.

“Like a fancy silver donut,” Elijah muttered to himself.

“I miss donuts,” Oscar remarked.

“Huh?” asked a surprised Elijah.

“There was a place near the shelter. The girl there…Rachel…she used to give me free donuts. She…she loved animals, so she would come by to see the dogs. She liked playing with them during her breaks. She even adopted a few.”

Elijah wanted to ask what happened, but it only took one look at Oscar’s face to know such a question would only cause pain. He didn’t know if she’d been lost before or after the world’s transformation, but he was certain that she was gone.

He reached out to grip Oscar’s shoulder. The man flinched a little at his touch, but he reacted better than he might have only a month or two before. “When we get out of here, we’ll find you some donuts in Ironshore.”

“It wasn’t about the donuts.”

“I know, man. We’ll figure it out.”

It was yet another unnecessary reminder that everyone in the world – every survivor – had a sob story. No one had made it through unscathed, and they all bore the scars. Certainly, it was much worse for some than for others, but in the end, comparing grief and pain just wasn’t a constructive use of anyone’s time or energy. Better to simply acknowledge it and offer comfort where necessary.

“So, anything else to the plan?” Elijah asked, pulling his hand away.

“I think we will need to adjust once we know all the facts,” Oscar answered.

Elijah flashed a grin. “Good,” he said. “That’s kind of my thing.”

Oscar cut his eyes at him.

“What?”

“Don’t say that. It sounds weird.”

“But it is my thing. Demonstrably so. And it’s a common saying.”

“I stand by what I said. I don’t like it.”

Elijah rolled his eyes, then pushed himself to his feet. “So, we ready for this?” he asked.

Oscar nodded, and the dogs barked. By now, Elijah could interpret the meaning of certain tones. It wasn’t real communication, but he could definitely tell the difference between agreement and dissent. And this time, the barks meant that the pack was uniformly ready to get down to business.

So, without further ado, Elijah led them forward along the unnaturally long silver bridge. It was more than five hundred yards from one end to the other, so it took a little while for them to reach the other side. The entire time, he felt like someone was watching him. It was as if he labored under the focused attention of a god. Finally, they arrived at the end of the bridge. There, they were confronted with the giant silver ring and the attention of a sky titan.

The creature had no face, but when it tilted its crystal head, Elijah knew it was looking down on them.

“So, you have come,” it said, its voice like crackling lightning. “But you are no giants, constantly at war with themselves. Brother against brother, all in pursuit of an ideal they could never reach. Even if they did, they would be irreparably changed. Misguided fools. It will be the extinction of their entire race.

“But you are not here for a lesson. You are here to challenge a true titan. And so you shall. Come forth and die like so many who have come before you.”