To Fly the Soaring Tides

In the flickering abyss, Cira held pace until more flame sprites came into view. They waded through the darkness slower as most sprites steered clear, even a few of the larger ones. For a moment, it seemed that her enchanted bubble was successfully warding them away, but as they kept walking it only got hotter.

“What should we do if a group of them attacks us?” Shores asked with good reason, stroking his light blue beard in the passing flame’s glow, “We should discuss it ahead of time.”

The Great Saint of Who Knows How Many Suns’ acolytes all nodded their heads in agreement. Cira appreciated the good Reverand’s diligence and forethought, then pushed her new robe designs out of her mind, “I think suffocating them is best. Tawny can simply enlarge the airless void while the paladins focus on light. I should be able to hold them in place with a few runes if need be. Gil, you should still be able to help with your control over fire. The brothers are free to use water, and Cedric, that will be your only choice. Lightning is not very effective against fire. Sorry Rictor, but you’re useless again—no, I take that back. You could trap them in, maybe like a metal egg or something. That should slow them down. I never taught you how to conjure tungsten, but you can manage titanium right?”

“Of course,” Rictor nodded astutely, “I’ve been practicing because I know you like it so much.”

“I—who told you that?” With an apprehensive scoff, Cira turned away, “Never mind that. Our next challenger has arrived. Let’s see how you guys figure it out.”

It wasn’t as big as the last, but it seemed hungry. Determinately floating toward Cira’s onyx, the sprite fell right into Tawny’s trap. Just outside the barrier, the flames began to dissipate. Gil practiced his hand at pushing it back and found more success than with the larger sprite before. Slowly but surely, it started to get weaker and shrink down.

“There’s another one!” Rictor pointed to their side where Cira saw a bright light funneling in from an unseen passageway.

“Looks like we’re surrounded by hallways…” She looked around and noticed there was a third pretty sizeable sprite coming from a hall on the opposite side. The burning wisps arriving from completely different directions really put a damper on her brilliant plan and she directed the others to focus on the left side.

Looks like I’ll have to step in here… I can tell by the look on Eros and Leros’ faces that another round will run them dry, so Cedric will need to assist. Since Tawny is busy, I’ll take number three.

Cira stuck the end of her quill outside the barrier and first painted a simple glyph in the air to conjure a ball of water. With a few more brushstrokes, the water took on a much more aerodynamic shape ending in a fine point. A simple projectile wouldn’t do much, so Cira needed to carve instructions into it one step at a time. It was roughly the same as if she were to cast this spell directly of her will, but tedious and rudimentary with no aura. Still, the desired result was more or less achieved.

“Now just a little propulsion…” Cira waved the quill in a circle to complete the glyph and her needlessly complex water missile shot forth. It twisted as it sped through the darkness like a gleaming arrow.

The sprite exited the hallway into the wide chamber and the moment Cira’s arrow touched it, there was an explosion of mist. Take that, you little bastard.

Her next glyph was already in the works, this time on a stone in the ground. It was tempting to walk over there and place a mana trap directly beneath the sprite, but now wasn’t a great time to find out how oppressive the darkness really was. Cira instead enchanted a brick. When it was done, she picked it up and chucked it outside the barrier.

It was heavier than she thought, or maybe she was weaker, but the brick just barely made it within range of the sprite—the bundle of sizzling mist. A magic circle spread out across the ground and glowed a pure white. There wasn’t time to do anything fancy, so she just created a space which mana couldn’t escape from and only water was allowed to enter. It would hopefully hold up against the sprite as it weakened, so now came the time to fill it up.

Water appeared and took shape before flying straight into the mana trap. The mist grew denser and there was already another shimmering arrow coming its way. Faster now with each repetition, Cira continued this for a few minutes. Water escaped as it evaporated in the heat and recondensed in heavy droplets which pooled on the ground. The mana trap stripped the water of its aethereal components on its way out, leaving behind a thick column of radiant cerulean.

“How’s it going over here?” Jimbo ran up as Tawny finished off her sprite, but the others were still working on theirs. “I’m not sure what I’m looking at.”

The shining cylinder furled like a glittering potion and was actually quite pretty, “I can’t see inside, so I’m not sure how it’s going.”

With Tawny now unoccupied, Cira let off on the water missiles and stood there for a few seconds. “Hang on… I can’t deactivate the mana trap from here.”

“Oh…” Jimbo replied. He took out his thinking flask for a moment before shrugging his shoulders, “It should be good like that, right? Won’t it go away on its own?”

“It’s just a brick, but… Probably in a few hours assuming the flame has run its course.” She continued to watch it and there was no change, except the water pouring out from beneath had slowed to a trickle. “I guess it’s fine.”

There was nothing to do about it, so she went to watch over the three water mages and the observant Rictor. No sprite would get past him, if it came to it. Cedric was full of energy after recovering from the last floor for a little while, but his water wasn’t as potent. Meanwhile, the two brothers were ready to collapse.

“Almost there…”

“Just a little more!”

Cira would have stepped in, but they were in the home stretch, and it would have felt like snatching away their victory. After this, they would have to wait for their mana to recover. It would be a shame to turn around so close to the staircase, but these sprites were really draining their resources.

“I feel so useless.” Kuja’s voice was lined with regret, “This is supposed to be my tomb to reclaim, after all.”

“I’d say we have a ways to go to reclaim it,” Cira could only imagine how many creatures lived here. At this point, reclaiming it would be like destroying a series of developed ecosystems. “If I had known we would need to douse flames as well, I would have prepared more artifacts.”

The sprites were nothing like the goblins before, so any darkness Kuja conjured would only be consumed. Her skills with other elements were significantly lower, so she had no role to place since they left the gauntlet of slimes.

The last sprite disappeared in one last plume of steam and then the tomb was dark. The smaller sprites had evidently left, and the paladins’ Lamplights barely pushed outside the barrier.

“Let’s hurry before more show up.” Cira urged everyone forward as the tomb narrowed, leading them to a passageway not even ten feet wide. A set of brittle caskets flanked the doorway and the walls beyond were bare. There were damaged spots that may have been where a torch was once held, but now it was just a dark, dusty passage.

A warm breeze brushed against Cira’s face, and it was starting to get uncomfortable to breathe. Ordinally, she would just cool the air down, but it would be a tricky sorcery to explain on the fly.

“I got a bad feeling about this…” Captain Shores wiped the sweat off his forehead and squinted his eyes trying to see down the hall. “It’s too damn dark.”

“I’m working on it, okay?” Cira’s barrier became gradually denser in response to the surrounding shadows, meaning it was slowly getting darker. While they were up against a wall on both sides, this meant it was almost impossible to see in front of them now. Cira could do nothing but keep enchanting, though it was difficult to do while keeping up with everyone.

More than a couple glyphs simply dissipated, but to Cira’s credit, she was unraveling a sorcery she had never performed. Something which made logical sense, just had never come up. A makeshift way to see in the dark—courtesy of the darkness itself.

“Looks like it can wait.” Gil was breathing heavily under the impending heat everyone else felt. It hadn’t gotten any better and the reason why was fast approaching. A flickering red and orange haze started to grow in the shadows beyond the barrier, slowly revealing a wall of flame. “W-what do we do?”

In his panic, all Gil could do was push against it to no avail. As the shadows continued to burn, a small horde of sprites could be seen approaching without relent. Dammit. This much trouble over a little bit of dark mana? Have I collected more than I thought…? Cira didn’t have time to deliberate as they ceaselessly closed the gap.

“Rictor, I need a wall. Now” He was startled back into the present and a metal wall sprouted from the floor.

“Hyahhhh!!! There!” He leaned over panting and red in the face. “How’s that?”

“How much do you have left?” Cira asked Tawny. There was no time to praise a respectable feat of geomancy yet.

“I’ll be fine.” Tawny didn’t look too spent yet, and the paladins nodded assuredly. Still, there was no time to waste. These sprites would not be impeded for long.

Shadow Quill scraped against the ground as Cira carved some warding glyphs and the titanium wall radiated with unbearable heat. A glowing orange spot appeared at about eye level. “Don’t let it get too hot, Rictor.”

“Wha—how?!” He was baffled, but it was well within the range of a proper geomancer’s expected prowess.

“You feel it getting hotter, don’t you? Just stop it! I only need a few minutes.” Just because a flame sprite was the source of the heat, didn’t mean hot metal was strictly within the realm of flame sorcery. Hot was merely another state of the material Rictor conjured.

The mage seemed to understand what Cira was getting at and his eyes turned focused with his grip around the sandstone staff. Whether or not he would make progress this lesson, she could not say as the melting spot began to grow. The only thing to do was enchant faster. One array wouldn’t be enough to stop them, so Cira frantically began another.

“Why don’t you just do the same thing you did to the last guy?” Jimbo asked earnestly.

It was tempting to trap them in a column of water, she had to admit. “I don’t think I can trap enough mana without a catalyst or more time… besides, we still have to get past them.” A hole finally melted through the wall, and it was like someone opened the door to a furnace right in Cira’s face.

I have to hurry up! This is so pitiful. I can’t believe I’ve been forced into a corner by sprites of all things. It didn’t hurt her pride any less than being completely shut out by slimes. A sorcerer of indisputably moderate caliber reduced to scrawling on the floor like an unruly child.

“I’m so sorry, Lady Cira…” She turned and the brothers were standing before her looking worn out and apologetic.

“I wish we could do more for you. But, to fail you in your time of need—” Lero was getting ahead of himself.

“Quit distracting me and focus on recovering your mana.” A glob of titanium fell to the bricks next to her array and dissipated. There was a sprite pressed up against the hole and more spots had begun to melt through. The brothers backed off and Cedric started preparing a spell, having borrowed one of their staves to focus on water alone.

The brightest sprite pushed through the wall and the cave was turning into an oven. With no other choice, Cira half-assed the last glyph of her third array and tumbled out of the way just as the ends of her hair started to singe and curl up. “Drop the shield!”

Cira was going to yell at Tawny to begin but was cut off from the gust of wind produced by the girl’s spell before Rictor even had a chance to dispel his metal wall. Titanium promptly dissolved into faint motes of light and the sprites suddenly started to shake from the sudden absence of air. The fringes of their flames quivered as the blaring Lamplight of four paladin’s converged to bathe the entire hallway in white.

It was so bright Cira watched with tightly squinted eyes through cracks in her finger, but there was nothing to be seen. The crew was all in a similar state except the four who stared right into it screaming—Tawny at least turned away.

“Are we gettin’ those bastards?” Jimbo had to raise his voice to be heard over the paladins’ passionate cries.

“Probably?” Cira didn’t have an answer for him. Only time would tell. How much time, is the question. “It’s hard to say.”

A couple minutes went on like this before the light bringers ran out of breath and eventually stopped blinding themselves, but they couldn’t hold up the spell forever.

Let’s see, I think I counted nine of them. In theory we should be able to kill a group in the same time as one of them… but that sure was a lot of mana. It was possible that the collective heat of all the sprites could work in effect to prolong their life.

“Cedric, throw some water in there.” He conjured a ball of water and did as instructed. It disappeared into the light, but the hiss of steam lasted less than a second. The sprites were alive and well. “If you think you have the mana, try and take over Eros and Leros’ job.”

“I—” Guilt flashed over his face for a second, “I don’t think I could make it last long…”

“That’s fine… Just splash them now and again to see if they’re gone.” Can we really continue? Rictor’s the only one who isn’t running out of mana, and there’s no way we can recover with sprites coming for us so often. I can easily see them spreading below where the darkness is even more abundant.

Keeping the Lamplight up didn’t seem too difficult between four men, because it was a naturally low-cost spell, but Tawny showed the first signs of fatigue. Her breath was audible though she tried to hide it and her face was starting to strain.

“Are you doing okay?” Cira asked with sincerity.

“Don’t you worry about me!” Her grip tightened around the wind staff, “Just worry about your wards breaking.”

“Why would they—” Cira froze as she noticed the third array start to flicker near a sloppy rune she made at the end. Of course…

The glyph shattered and a massive crack ran through the array before the entire thing faded out. Suddenly the light of the flames started to burn through even the radiant white and it got hotter still. Next the edges of Cira’s shadow bubble started to sizzle and wisp away as her eyes shot open in panic.

“They’re burning my barrier!” If they destroyed a single rune, it was possible her shadows would disperse on the spot. “There shouldn’t even be flame sprites here!”

“Maybe you should enchant better.” Tawny was right, but Cira was remarkably flammable these days. It was the best she could do.

“Fine then!” With newfound furious determination, Cira started sending her Mist Missiles into the fray. Each one exploded on impact and soon began to fill the hallway in a thick fog, further reducing their vision and overall idea of what was going on. Their ears were pierced by the shrill and constant sound of relentless steam.

The sprites were able to advance a little, but the other two wards still held. One was noticeably brighter from nearing its breaking point, but no cracks had formed yet.

Soon, the steam hissed just a little less violently. Ten minutes in and they were still struggling, but it was a sure sign of progress. Cira doubled down on the mist, and it wasn’t long until the air finally cooled down.

It was no more difficult than twirling a baton around for Cira, but her mages drawing from their own mana were starting to tire. Tawny wouldn’t admit it, but she was approaching the end of her rope. If this goes on any longer she’s going to get my last potion… Should I have waited to come down here? I still don’t know if we can make it through the Last Tomb without running back up for supplies.

Before Cira could second guess herself any further, the sound of water vaporizing stopped in an instant.

“Is… Is that it?” Cedric asked, tossing a couple balls of water in different spots.

“Looks like it.” Cira let out a long-held breath of relief and took in another of far cooler air before turning to the old woman next to her, “How far do we have?”

Another gust of wind ran past them as Tawny let air flow back to where it belonged, and the paladins shared an apprehensive look as the Lamplight slowly died down. There was nothing left behind and Cira pouted as the bald spot in her shadow barrier started to fill in.

“It should only be a few minutes further.” At her word, Cira hurried everyone along. A few of them were still trying to catch their breath, but everyone kept moving. Just as Kuja claimed, they found the staircase shortly after in the center of a large chamber that continued far outside their vision.

“This is it? I expected to meet the edge of the mountain again.” Cira peered down into the stepped hole in the ground and didn’t feel any suspicious mana at a glance—just a great deal of it.

“We could walk the same distance past these stairs to find the other side.” Kuja walked over to the staircase herself. “It is easier to descend here.”

Cira was in no hurry to add a few hours to their trip, but now was the time for some serious decision making.

“Okay, guys… should we continue? It would be nice to at least know what we’re up against below, but you are all running out of mana.” They all averted their eyes as Cira tried to look at them. “It’s fine if you want to return, I won’t hold it against anyone… but I don’t think we can rest here. We’re sure to be attacked by sprites.”

“Can’t we rest on the stairs?” Shores licked his finger and held it out, “I feel a cool draft. Whatever’s down there… I don’t think it’s on fire.”

Cira kept looking over the others and Jimbo shrugged, followed by a few mages deep in though before Ike spoke up.

“I think we all want to continue… If it means one less trip down here, we can push through.” The other paladins nodded while Shores looked on with pride.

“And you?” Cira asked the last living Archaean.

“I am fine. If no one else wants to return, how could I?” She took the first step onto the stairs, “We will head down and continue after a brief rest.”

She was raring to go with a determined look on her face. Kuja had hardly used any mana today, so she was basically in top condition.

“What do you think we’ll find down there?” Cira knew the others must have sensed the intense mana far more thoroughly than she could.

“I am not sure…” Kuja stared into the darkness below, “As the largest tomb, we may find a great deal of revenants down there. Hopefully with their minds intact.”

Cira hadn’t a clue what would be down there, but after her talks with Mac and feeling the overwhelming pressure beneath her feet, she didn’t expect anything that could be beaten in a fist fight.