Down below, in the two-hundred and sixth floor, June watched in awe as Xanthy, shrouded with eternal light, raised herself up into the floors above them to deal with their attackers. This was it. It's over.
Then, the Virtakios slammed into the pit's walls. June shouted for the others to take cover as earth, ice, and centuries-worth of culture and livelihood started falling on them. Just like water parting, the Ice Capital's walls were blown aside like they're mere grass and not eras-old, compact soil.
June saw sunlight for the first time in a while. It's midday. He stared in awe at the power of the Virtakios in which Xanthy suppressed for such a long time inside of her. This was...
The glowing figure ahead of them dressed in robes, light, and magic was not Xanthy. It couldn't be her. It's like a different person entirely. The figure had all the chunks of the pit's walls suspended using its magic, hovering just above where the next floor should have been.
June saw the people from Cardovia and Synketros scrambling for any handhold in the midst of those floating chunks. June glanced at his companions and saw that they too, were staring at the figure with gaping mouths and shocked expressions as they took in the amount of magic that's going on in front of their eyes.
June's own magic frayed every time it came close to the figure's power. It's like any other magic it encountered were destroyed, absorbed, only to be remade again. It's destruction and resurrection. Death and life. Division and unity.
So this was the true might of the Virtakios.
Then, June's blood drained from his face as the figure retracted its magic from the floating chunks. "Take cover! June instinctively shouted at his companions. He thought about the ice sprite who evacuated in a courtyard somewhere in the two-hundred and sixth floor. What about them? Who's going to save them at a time like this?
Then, just as the first of the large chunks slammed into where they were, the figure's light died and Xanthy was falling. Xanthy...
She's unconscious. Her arms flailed as she fell along with the pieces of soil that was once part of the Ice Capital's walls. June's heart twisted and he launched himself forward. A chunk of soil as large as a house slammed into the floor to his left. He had to cover his head and his ears with his arms as the soil delivered a loud, booming sound when it split into a million smaller pieces.
He raised his head, swerving left and right and deflecting falling debris with his magic. His eyes strained past the cascading rocks for Xanthy's figure. There. He stretched his hands towards her and barked a slowing spell. He grunted as the weight of the rocks slammed into his arms. It was like he was carrying those large debris with his magic. How did Xanthy even do it with the rest of Penleth's soil?
June evaded another wedge and then leaped atop it, casting a flight spell into his legs. He jumped from the rock and Xanthy's form slammed into his chest, knocking the air out of him. He barked another spell to catch their fall just in time for his slowing spell to break. He cast a shield atop him and Xanthy as the biggest rocks fell onto them.
Xanthy was unconscious but breathing, her chest rising and falling as a living person would. June tucked Xanthy's head into himself and positioned his back over her. He closed his eyes as the rocks slammed into his shield. The last thing he thought of was that it's sweet of Xanthy to save them from Cardovia and the Synketros to eventually kill them all this way.
He's got to have a word with her about this.
If he lived, that was.
2412, Crescin 11, Reshpe
Nyxis didn't know who dug him out of the pile of rocks they were all buried in but he found himself lying inside a tent that smelled like burned bricks. It wasn't a revolting smell but it's annoying to wake up to.
"Look who is up," Cyrdel uncrossed his legs from his perch. He stood up from the fabric he had been sitting on and strode to Nyxis's place. Nyxis felt another strip of fabric beneath him. It was scratchy and brittle.
Nyxis groaned, clutching his head that throbbed the moment he sat up. He nodded his thanks when Cyrdel passed him a worn cup filled to the brim with clear water. Nyxis raised it to his lips and drank. He almost spat it out when lukewarm water touched his tongue. Ugh, that's the worst feeling ever.
Eventually, he managed to drink the whole cup even though it did nothing to quench his thirst. At the very least, it drove the hoarse feeling in his throat away. He coughed into his fist once and regarded Cyrdel. "What happened?" he asked.
The last thing he remembered was that he was slowly coming to when he heard the explosion and felt the incredible surge of magic. Then, he saw the rocks. The next thing in his brain was just a panel of black until the moment he woke up in this tent.
Cyrdel glanced at the tent flap that swayed with whatever breeze passed through it and into the tent. Was it morning or midday? "Before everything else went boom, a general found me and made me help evacuate the citizens through a tunnel that took us to Helinfirth," the Alkaran heir said. "That was where a shard fairy named Elred and her army came across us. We told her the story. She hurried over here to help."
Nyxis nodded. Cyrdel tapped his chin and continued. "We hid the rest of the Ice Sprites with the displaced shard fairies and pixies that survived. It was a pretty interesting night, if you ask me," he glanced briefly at Nyxis. "Then, some of the earth sprites from Elred's army volunteered to help us clear the debris here. By morning, we found all of you."
Nyxis had so many questions, in this case, Elred. The last time he heard of the shard fairy was that the Synketros was attacking Helinfirth because she's slowly losing favor with the Sovereign. Apparently, she survived the onslaught and was now on her way in building armies. Then he processed what Cyrdel said last. "Sorry, all of us?" he asked.
Cyrdel nodded. "We found Rhys huddled over Reeca," he held up a finger with every name he mentioned. "Airese, Airene, Eldan, and their friends were also retrieved. They were badly banged up but they're moving about right now. June and Xanthy were found as well. They were currently in the other tent."
Xanthy...
That means—
"Xanthy? They revived the Virtakios?" Nyxis knitted his eyebrows as a cold stone of dread dropped to his gut.
"Y-yeah," Cyrdel scratched the side of his face. "Why?"
"What about Ravalee?" Nyxis met the heir's eyes.
Cyrdel snorted. "Who?"
Oh. So that's what happened between them. To make sure that Cyrdel would be able to let her go, Ravalee made Cyrdel forget about her. Was it the right thing to do? It surely was cruel for Ravalee's part. Cyrdel didn't deserve it. None of them did.
Instead, Nyxis shook his head. "It is no one," he massaged the bridge of his nose. "Do not take me seriously. I think I hit my head under that cavern anyway."
"Either way," Cyrdel went back to beat as if nothing had happened. "We have a war at our hands now. The Virtakios pretty much declared it after she blew up the Ice Capital and announced to the world that she was willing to use her full power to flatten the island just as she flattened Penleth."
Nyxis's eyes widened. "You mean..."
"That we are currently encamped on a newly upturned ground, yes," Cyrdel said. "Flaron and Diven were no more. We are just standing, or in your case, sitting, on entirely new ground now."
Nyxis exhaled a shaky breath. So that's how mighty the Virtakios was. It could uproot cities and restart civilization. It's scary and amazing at the same time.
Cyrdel chuckled as if sensing Nyxis's internal awe. "Even now, I still can feel the vibrations of the earth as the Virtakios tore apart the Ice Capital," he said. "Sometimes, when I think about it, my knees still shake."
"Where is Xanthy now?" Nyxis pursed his lips.
Cyrdel looked towards the tent's flap. "Asleep. June is with her."
The mention of June being with Xanthy ignited another fire in Nyxis's blood. How dare he insert himself back into Xanthy's life after what he did? He should go have a word with him else June would never really learn his place.
Just then, the flap to the tent's entrance was drawn back, spitting out June. His hair was back to being white and he had an arm on a sling tied around his neck. From the looks of it, Nyxis knew that the half-blood did it himself and it's all wrong. Nyxis sighed as he picked himself up from the fabric he had been lying on.
June's chest heaved from probably running all the way here. "She is awake."
Nyxis had never walked that fast in all his life as he pushed June out of the way. He didn't even need to ask the half-blood who.