Grand Saint Alloy

Siren expected to be led down into the mine, it made a perfect prison. However, it turned out that it had been turned into living quarters for the first thousand people who arrived. The village had been constructed so quickly due to the absurd stamina of the elementals. They could not be trusted with complex tasks, but mixing mortar, laying stone, and digging holes were all within their capabilities.

No sleep and no rest made them extremely efficient. Siren could see a future where elementals serviced the Calderas’ needs. It was just as likely that the people would be put in cages to preserve space. Either situation was undesired.

Guider Daphan led Siren and Blacklake out the back door. The garden behind the house had been replaced with a gravel road. A carriage sat there and a single horse was hitched to it. Daphan climbed in followed by Blacklake.

“I’ll walk,” Siren said. He was not sure what the maximum pulling weight of a horse was, but two humans and a carriage had to be close. Siren was as heavy as two people, he couldn’t be sure the horse could handle it over gravel.

“Suite yourself,” Daphan said with a shrug, “We are going to the throne room, so it is quite a distance.”

Siren could only shake his head. Only an elderly tier three could think that the throne was a long ways away. Daphan explained what they would find when they arrived. It was constructed on the intersection of two bridges over the pit The Lord of the Underworld was originally trapped in. They had the possibility of meeting an elemental lord who called itself Custodian. Daphan was not familiar with its tier, but it was composed of water, earth, and air elementals.

He was confident that he could handle it. Water and air could be potent weapons, but elemental lords tended to reject advanced equipment, preferring to use constructs of their creation. Earth could be an issue, depending on the tier, but he would be surprised if it exceeded four.

The pit came into view, and everything about it was different. A large plaza of cobblestone expanded thirty feet out from the edge. Stairs had been cut into the wall and balconies appeared to lead to future residences. Two arches made a cross and a square building was sitting in the intersection.

To call it a building was a bit misleading, as it had no walls. Pillars held up beams that crossed over the gap between the arches. A roof was being constructed over the stone beams. The design seemed to be made to allow anyone a view of the Lord of the Underworld while being unable to approach.

The open-air design gave Siren a good view of what was inside. A throne, a cage, and an elemental lord. The cage was situated behind the throne and inside Siren could see the dirty figure of a man. He knew it was Elder Forest, though he held little resemblance to his former self. The imprisoned man had a ratty beard, torn robes, and a vacant expression. It had been quite some time and he had been suffering from solitary confinement. Siren wondered if there was anything left of the former head of the Forest Caldera.

He turned his attention to the elemental lord, who was sweeping. It was incongruous with an elemental lord’s typical pompousness, but Siren supposed that was why it had chosen to be called Custodian. They pulled up to one of the arches, and Guider Daphan exited the carriage with a groan.

“Follow me,” He said, then grumbled under his breath, “Stupid steps.”

The arches had enough of a slope that step needed to be cut into them. Both Blacklake and Siren followed behind the Guider. Blacklake was ready to kill Daphan in the event of a betrayal, while Siren was prepared to protect him because of his choice to switch sides, They made their way inside the structure without any incidents. No guards were posted and the only people who were present were the construction workers, Custodian, and the Elder.

“Good afternoon, Custodian,” Guider Daphan said with a deep bow.

Siren quickly followed Daphan’s example, though Blacklake did not. He briefly wondered why, but the elemental lord quickly supplied the answer.

“Daphan, you have thrown your lot in with the traitors? Why?” Custodian asked.

It lacked the facial expressions of a human, but Siren could still hear the curiosity in its voice. It did not sound angry or hurt, not even like this had been an unexpected outcome.

“The Laws of Predation,” Guider Daphan said simply.

“Yes, it is unfriendly to those who age. I could liberate you of your mortality and allow you to ascend unto eternity,” The elemental lord offered, it had not stopped sweeping while holding its conversation.

“No, I would cease to be, you know as well as I that you are a soul without a spirit,” Guider Daphan answered, “You are only eternal in the most finite sense, you live as long as you live, but no gods can accept into the afterlife a spirit you lack.”

“Why would you not want to meet these gods a little early then?” Custodian asked. Siren wanted to know that as well. Daphan knew much about theology but lacked the faith that underpinned it.

“Simple, I have lived an unworthy life,” Daphan said, “And we found the corpse of one of our gods.”

Siren remembered what Tristan and Vulcan claimed. The gods were people, just very high tier people. So was Daphan claiming that he had found a corpse above tier ten. Siren had no benchmark for the power of a god, tier six seemed like a nearly unreachable goal. He was not a proponent of using materials made of humans, but a corpse like that might be an exception.

“I see. I have no choice but ask you to leave my lord’s domain or face the consequences,” Custodian brandished the broom as if it were a weapon, “Otherwise, I will put your eternal souls to use in my lord’s service.”

Siren could tell when a challenge was issued. As luck would have it, the shadow of a pillar connected the three of them and Custodian. He stepped into the darkness, wrapping it around himself, and moved towards Custodian. Stealth was not a big part of Siren’s skill set, however most people couldn’t handle an invisible opponent as skilled as he was.

“You leak earth essence,” Custodian braced his broom shaft on his forearm and took the blade of Siren’s tier two axe head on.

To Siren’s surprise, his axe was the one to be chipped. Who makes a tower steel broom? Still, the block did not stop Siren’s forward momentum. He slammed into the shorter elemental lord. It weighed about the same, but Siren had speed and it was enough to knock the elemental over.

They tumbled to the ground, almost crashing into the throne. Siren was now in the sunlight, making him perfectly visible. Somehow the elemental squirmed and rolled to end up on top. An earthen spike formed in Custodian’s hands, but earth was slower to form than darkness. A black gauntlet tipped with razor sharp claws coalesced around Siren’s arm.

“What?” Custodian lurched back once he realized the claw was able to inflict damage.

He didn’t move fast enough. Siren stabbed his shadowy fingers into Custodian's flesh. The earth anima was tough, but it was still flesh-like. Once he was deep enough, Siren curled his fingers and tore out a good chunk of the elemental lord's chest.

“How does your darkness harm?” Custodian said, holding the wound that exposed his beating water kern. A sheet of ice grew over the top to protect the organ.

Siren did not answer he was back in the shadows. Turning invisible, he made his way towards Custodian. The elemental could track his movements, somehow. Tristan could do it if Siren was wearing metal armor, and what was that about him leaking essence? He was unable to evade the elemental's attention, so he created a lance of darkness and held his artifact axe in his other hand. Aiming the lance, Siren charged.

Just as before, Custodian prepared to block with his broom. He had no awareness of the lance, taking the lance to the chest. Without his ice armor to push the point to the side, he would have died. The lance still took him in the chest, punching straight through the elemental’s body. Custodian staggered backward, and Siren kept pushing.

Normally he would try to kill an elemental lord, but there was currently a faster way to deal with him. He kept the lance embedded in Custodian and kept running until it stepped back and found nothing but empty air. Custodian tried to grab the lance to save himself, but it was just a shadow with some earth forces mixed in. Once Siren stopped applying the force of cohesion, it became intangible.

The fall would most likely not hurt Custodian, but it would stall him long enough to deal with Forest. He turned back to Blacklake and Daphan, intending to move on to the next step of the plan and froze.

“Not a bad display. For a mortal.” The Lord of the Underworld said from between a trembling Daphan and pale Blacklake.

The warden had lied. It was a small detail, but his estimated time of arrival had given them a false sense of security.