BOOK 9: CHAPTER 82: SEAT OF ELEMENTS

Chelsea’s heart beat out of her chest as she watched the two ragged men and that pack of terrifying dogs leave the temporary settlement known as Littlestone. Before that meeting, she had thought herself powerful. And at level one-thirty-two, she was one of the strongest members of her guild. Perhaps the strongest, though she couldn’t be certain because she hadn’t checked in for quite some time.

But now she saw how little any of that mattered.

“You okay, boss?” asked her second-in-command, Leonard. “You want I should follow ‘em?”

“No. If the maelstrom doesn’t rip you to pieces, then they would do it themselves,” she answered.

Of course, she’d heard tales of Elijah Hart. Everyone had. He’d spent so long in the top ten on the power rankings, won first place in the Trial of Primacy, and most recently destroyed an entire pirate enclave before dumping the bodies on the steps of the most powerful city on the planet.

But even with all that, she’d doubted his power.

After all, if she wanted to kill a few hundred people herself, she wouldn’t have had too many issues. A whole city, maybe. The attributes that came with her Spearman class were more than enough to set her entirely apart from normal people, and that wasn’t even counting the boosts she’d gotten upon reaching ascension and evolving the class into the Wind Spearman.

When that had happened, she’d gone from needing an entire group to deal with the giants outside the Primal Realm to occasionally fighting them one-on-one and winning. And she’d grown even stronger since then.

So, when she’d heard about two newcomers, she had been more than willing to assert her dominance over what amounted to trespassers. According to the Four Corners Accord, recently signed by the most powerful guilds on Earth, once a guild laid claim to a Primal Realm or a tower, they had complete control over who entered.

And her guild, the League of Ancients, had long since laid claim to the Elemental Maelstrom. They’d been the first to arrive in Bogotá, and they’d been fighting their way to the Primal Realm for months before finally reaching the entrance. So, as far as Chelsea was concerned, nobody else had any right to be there.

But the accord had a blind spot that the meeting with Elijah Hart and Oscar Ramirez had laid bare. There were no guidelines for how to deal with people like them. They were anomalies, and Chelsea knew without a doubt that, if pushed, those two men could single-handedly lay waste to her entire guild.

“What’choo wanna do?” asked Leonard in his thick and laconic cockney accent.

“Nothing. This place is about to explode,” she said. “We need to be ready when it does.”

“And those two?” he asked, nodding toward the retreating backs of the two most powerful men in the world.

“Leave them the hell alone. You heard what happened to Bloodrock Bay. You know what he did in Seattle. They couldn’t do anything to Hart. You think we’d do much better?” she demanded, letting some of her frustration show. “Get the others. I want to be together when the peace breaks.”

Leonard asked, “You think it’ll be bad?”

“Guaranteed,” she hissed. “Go.”

Indeed, she had been around the giants for long enough to know just how deep their prejudices went. The only reason they hadn’t all killed one another was because of the enforced peace of Stillstone. Without it, they would have long since erupted into war. And now that they were outside its influence, it was only a matter of time before the hatred they held for each other boiled over.

There was a tentative agreement between the leaders of each clan, but in Chelsea’s experience, words were cheap. It would only take a spark before it all exploded. And she intended to be ready. After all, she hadn’t survived as long as she had by taking stupid risks.

If she’d known who those people were – or taken the time to realize just how powerful they felt – she never would have confronted them in the first place. Now, she could only hope to stay out of their way.

And maybe get a few benefits for herself and her guild along the way.

* * *

The bite of the Elemental Maelstrom was weakened by the Mark of Elements, but it hadn’t been entirely nullified. Because of that, Elijah still needed to heal, though most of his spells were aimed at the dogs rather than himself. He sensed he could take whatever the storm could dish out.

A tap on his shoulder got his attention, and when he turned, he saw Oscar pointing to their right. At first, Elijah couldn’t make out what he’d meant to indicate, but then, he saw it. A line of earth giants, their backs hunched against the wind as they fought to take one step after another. With every stride, their bodies degraded, but they never slowed. Even when they’d been stripped down to nothing, they didn’t stop.

Not until whatever life force they possessed couldn’t push them forward any longer.

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

The leader fell first, but the others went down soon after. Within moments, their entire bodies had been scoured by the storm and redistributed by the howling wind.

It wasn’t the first time Elijah had seen giants attempting to endure the Elemental Maelstrom. Some had the benefit of one or two glyphs, evidence that they’d overcome those trials. But without the full set, they were incapable of standing against the storm of elemental forces.

Even the earth giants, which epitomized the titan and were more durable than any of the other giants, fell before it.

Meanwhile, Elijah and Oscar left the site of the giants’ death behind as they steadily marched toward the center of the storm.

In some ways, it reminded him of the cyclone around Chimera Island, though it was far more destructive in nature. The shape was similar, though.

Elijah lost track of time as they waded through the storm. After everything they’d been through, the way wasn’t difficult. The damage they took was easily manageable, though with every few hundred yards, it grew more powerful. Eventually, Elijah needed to ramp up the healing. However, it still wasn’t on the same level of what they’d endured in the trials.

Hours passed into multiple days, though there was very little to indicate how long they spent in the Maelstrom. But then, suddenly, they passed into the eye of the storm. The elements died away, leaving only peace.

Elijah gaped at the landscape, which was overgrown with vegetation. However, none of the plants were familiar. Instead, they all seemed to represent one element or the other, with fiery flowers, earthen trees, and vines drifting in the wind. A light drizzle fell from the sky, suffusing the air with humidity and casting a vivid rainbow across the space.

Even the sound of the Elemental Maelstrom had faded.

“This…is not what I expected,” Oscar said, staring at a trio of hills floating hundreds of feet above the earth. They were covered in vegetation, with a waterfall cascading toward the ground below.

“It’s beautiful.”

One of the dogs let out a bark of agreement, but Elijah barely noticed. Instead, he focused entirely on the structure in the distance. In a lot of ways, it reminded him of Chichén Itzá. Not that the building was all that similar, aside from being a stepped pyramid. That was part of it. But mostly, it was because the place had that same ancient and weathered look to it.

It was also enormous. Maybe five thousand feet tall and twice that at its base, it featured steps on all four sides.

But it was the top that truly drew Elijah’s attention.

“That’s a real titan,” Elijah said, staring at the creature.

He used Eyes of the Eagle to get a better look. Other than having four arms, it seemed to possess a humanoid shape. However, each arm represented a different element. On the right were air and fire, the first being made of crystal with the other looking like molten rock given shape. The water arm held a trident and was wrapped in seaweed. Finally, the earth arm looked like black shale, layered and thicker than all the others.

Disparate elements clashed all around it, creating a miniature maelstrom atop the pyramid.

On its head was a golden crown set with four jewels. Ruby for fire. Diamond for air. Sapphire for water. And citrine for earth.

And it was staring right at Elijah. Even from so far away, when he was forced to use Eyes of the Eagle just to make out the details, the titan was looking right into his soul.

“Demi-god,” Elijah said.

“Not quite,” Oscar stated. “Freddy says it’s only level two-twenty-five. It is called the Memory of Titans.”

“Memory,” Elijah muttered. He’d long since established that the Primal Realms were themed around the elder races. Some, like the one in Hong Kong, only represented their natures. Others like the Chimeric Forge gave some insight into their history. Elijah felt that the Legacy of Titans was one of the latter. “How should we approach this?”

“Carefully,” Oscar answered, squatting next to one of the dogs. He stared at the pyramid in the distance, idly scratching behind Digby’s ears.

Elijah could recognize when the man was planning, so he sat cross-legged on the ground and began to meditate as Oscar came up with a plan of attack. Their options were extremely limited, especially considering that the Memory was well aware of their presence. The fact that it hadn’t shifted from its throne was the only reason the fight hadn’t already begun.

“Does Freddy have any insight into what this place is called?” Elijah asked. “I keep thinking of it as the eye of the storm, but that’s probably not right.”

“Seat of the Elements,” Oscar answered without pulling his gaze away from the pyramid.

“More like a throne,” Elijah remarked.

After a while, Oscar let out a sigh. “I don’t know what to do. There are too many variables. Freddy can’t see everything.”

She let out a little whine of apology.

“It’s alright,” Elijah said, reaching out to pet her. As he ran his fingers through her fur, he added, “I’m pretty good at improvisation. I basically never plan anything, and it usually works out.”

“That is…not smart.”

Elijah pushed himself to his feet. “I really can’t disagree with that assessment,” he admitted. “But like I said, it’s worked so far. It’s not always possible to plan everything. Sometimes, you just have to charge in and adapt.”

“I don’t like that.”

“I know you don’t,” Elijah said, extending his hand. Oscar took it, and he hauled the other man upright. “But we don’t always get what we want, right? Let’s get to it. I’ll take the lead. You all just play off me.”

He glanced from one dog to the next, then added, “We’ve got a long way to go. That pyramid is at least forty miles away. So, maybe we’ll think of something better by the time we get there.”

As it turned out, they could cover forty miles extremely quickly. Elijah couldn’t help but marvel at their speed of travel, but in retrospect, it shouldn’t have been surprising. After all, there were no monsters in the Seat of Elements. Just an uninhabited forest that felt anything but natural.

It only took Elijah a few minutes to realize that his unease came from the lack of vitality. There was an undercurrent of life, but it was buried so deep beneath the elements that it was almost imperceptible, even to his senses. He felt more out-of-place there than he had in a long time, and the feeling only grew worse the closer he came to the pyramid.

Then, they reached the base, and Elijah was forced to acknowledge that it was far more magical a place than his initial inspection had indicated. The basic shape was as he’d first observed, but each side was obviously dedicated to one of the four elements.

“Fire,” Elijah said, gazing up the molten stairs. Heat shimmered in the air, and even more than a hundred feet away, he was sweating. “Seems fitting.” He glanced toward Oscar and asked, “You want to try one of the other sides?”

“One element is as good as any,” Oscar stated.

“No great ideas along the way?”

Oscar shook his head.

“Alright then. Nothing for it but to do it,” Elijah said. “Keep your heads on a swivel, and stay frosty.”

Escobar barked angrily.

“Well, not you.”

With that, they group stepped forward and began the climb to the top, where they would face off against what Elijah hoped was the Primal Realm’s final obstacle. And given what he’d experienced in the Chimeric Forge, he expected it to push him to his limits.