Icarus Awakens

Gadriel made a quick slash as he saw Bennar distracted by the battle’s latest development, but the man’s damned clothing spared him from harm yet again. The Hero knew now this wasn’t a real fight. Bennar had only shown three magic items, potent ones yes, but Claret had an entire armory of rings she’d used in the battle. He wasn’t just holding back, Bennar was throwing the fight.

“You may surrender now, Sir. I know you are not showing me your best.”

The Lord gave Gadriel a sad smile in response. “This is the path I have chosen. I was involved since the beginning, Hero. I cleared the assassination of Casia, knowing what would happen. In truth, you could almost say she was working for me. I fostered inadequacy and corruption in the guard, sowed misdirection to shield the Mirage, and through very difficult political manipulation kept Council seats open after making sure they were vacated.” The rest of the team was in Gadriel’s head preparing to focus Bennar but he waved them off, wanting to give the man his moment to speak. “My family’s finances are in ruin. The entire faction would fall apart in a month if this hadn’t happened. Maybe, if I hadn’t been shown the truth of this world, I could have made something truly great of this region.”

“There is yet a chance for redemption.”

“No, Hero. There is not. With respect, I have come too far to stop now.” Bennar took another breath, idly adjusting something on his collar. “I’m not going to take it easy on you now.”

“Any other time I would welcome the challenge.” Gadriel set his guard, nodding as Bennar rushed him. He half-listened as the team began to set up a combination of ice barriers and explosive bolts to try and score a lucky hit. His priority was unchanged: occupy Bennar’s attention to enable his side’s victory.

Bennar was a competent enough enemy that this required effort. Gadriel would call his swordsmanship unpolished, yet deadly when considering his enchanted sword and supreme evasion. Neither could Gadriel fight completely defensively, or else he would continuously lose ground and risk being trapped against the edge of the Eye.

He would not hold back now. His allies were counting on him to remain in position so their plan would work. The Hero sidestepped a basic overhand attack from Bennar and used his free hand to punch towards the lord’s head. The protective enchantment had some flaws in that it wasn’t adaptive enough to keep up for a long engagement. There was some kind of logic behind the equipment that could be abused if only Gadriel could find the perfect sequence. This kind of punch would consistently open Bennar’s guard for a strike at the chest. Gadriel lanced forward with his sword, which would force Bennar back and-

His sword pierced the other man straight through. The Hero almost let go of his sword in shock. The hit was to the right chest, having skated just under the shield’s edge. Quickly recovering, Gadriel drew out his sword and stepped back twice, prepared for his enemy to heal as Claret had when she’d lost her fingers.

Instead, Bennar fell to his knees. The ephemeral sword and shield dropped from the Lord’s hands and disappeared. Momentary fear and agony turned to a strange acceptance as the he examined his wound and the blood running from his chest. The Hero was suspicious of some kind of mental power affecting him, but no. This was reality. Gadriel, how did you hit him?

He let me, the Hero answered Evalyn. He knew that was what had happened. In hindsight, when the shield moved up this last time it had been slightly off. Bennar had done that himself rather than rely on his protective enchantment. The Hero saw the sad smile on the Lord’s face again and came to a sudden, terrible conclusion. They wished us to succeed. He dropped his sword and knelt next to the dying man, trying to put pressure on the wound. I need a potion!

We used our last one on Rasalia, Evalyn replied, taken aback. Gadriel, what did he tell you?

By words, nothing. By actions, they wanted us to kill him!

Why?

…

Within the Shroud summoned around the fountain, Casia nodded as she saw the last of her defenders perish. Adding Rasalia to the two nobles had been risky, but without that added pressure the fools might have seen through what they were doing. As it was, Bennar had performed perfectly and had avoided being taken alive.

She unbound her husband, that being necessary after Mark’s sleep effect had broken, and frowned at the hand penetrating through the Shroud around her. They would still be too late.

“Casia, is that you? How?”

“Yes, husband.” She reverted her image to how she’d appeared before she’d died, shedding the appearance of the robes around her. The consistency of her body was not the same, but otherwise, it was her. “Not in body, but in spirit.”

He took one moment to look into her eyes before taking in his surroundings. “Why are you doing this?”

“Armafus’ last legacy.” Aucrest’s eyes widened, going to where Bennar was bleeding out. “Yes. He is the last one. I’m using your old plan. I admire what you were trying to do, but it looks like I beat you to it.” There was as much pain in her smile as there had been in Bennar’s, at the end. What gave Daniel pause as he tried to break into the space were the tears. They appeared real, coming down Casia’s face until they reached the edge and floated away on the breeze as sand.

“I didn’t want this!” Aucrest protested weakly, struggling to escape her grasp. “Not after you died! I, I was planning on taking the last legacy, yes, but only so I could bring about reform. Break up the nobility and remodel our government to end the stagnation! This region would have had a Tyrant eventually. Better one who would throw down the class when the work was done. I had made strides in bringing the humans to my side. I could have done it! That, or given Willow to chance to. And I would never have claimed it this way.”

“I know.” Behind them, the fountain began to shift as Bennar’s heartbeat faded. The hunters were preparing to enter, one of them yelling at her to put her ‘hostage’ down. Casia didn’t understand how they’d managed it, but in the end it wouldn’t matter if this part had to be rushed. “I had more to say. More comfort to give you. Just know this. This isn’t the end. We will be together forever.” Aucrest opened his beak to reply, but before he could, Casia’s hand pierced through his chest and took his heart.

…

The entire Eye shuddered as something very strange happened to the fountain in its center. The water within poured out as if the stone were no longer physical. What Lograve didn’t immediately control soaked into the sand. The Shroud around it also vanished, but the attacks Wings of Craft let loose against Casia were of no effect.

Still in her past form, she began walking up towards the center of the fountain. Where her feet landed, stone shifted to meet them. Entire concentric sections changed in moments, the fountain now beginning to resemble a set of circular stairs. They stopped three meters off the ground, creating a blank platform.

Daniel watched as Casia mimicked taking in a breath, and then began speaking as if she was reciting an incantation. “With Armafus’ last breath, he cursed this land and those who would rule it. To the crowds chanting his death, to the once loyal servants with betrayal in their hearts, he spat on their hopes and ambitions. He declared that if any one were to claim Aughal once more, his kin would return to haunt this land.”

Oh god. Ghost Tyrant super boss. No one on the team liked the sound of that, but they'd been drawn to the center of the Eye. It was too late for any of them to reach safety, even if that meant throwing themselves off the side.

Casia continued, but her voice changed. She was declarative now, almost challenging as she continued to face away from them and toward the center of the platform. “By rights and law, the authority of Council members rendered dead by enemy hands is separated equally among those still alive. Fredreick, Ytaya, Claret, Bennar, all of their authority was passed to my husband, and then onto me with his passing. Our marriage was never annulled. Alecia is not a true claimant, it is my right and intent. I claim the last legacy. I claim your throne, Tyrant. Aughal is mine to rule.”

There was a silence that dragged on as everyone stopped to prepare for what was to come. Perhaps if the Spiritualist’s plan had gone perfectly there wouldn’t have been this delay. Despite the failings and the influence of another Tyrant in the region, what happened next was inevitable once Aucrest had stopped breathing. A throne rose out of the stone of the Eye with symbols matching those from Bennar’s weapons carved into the back. Casia took a seat as a force pushed outwards, blowing back Tak and Hunter who had reached the bottom step. They hadn’t been able to tag Casia before, but that changed now.

??? - (???, Tyrant* - 1)

An asterisk on her class? Daniel couldn’t help but wonder at that before the Eye rocked again. Cracks, small yet growing, began to form in the outer walls of the Spires as they shook.

“Slower than I would have hoped. This region has held to some of its will.” Casia’s voice addressed those present now as she looked down on them. “Without your intervention it might have taken too long for others to come and end the last of the Council. I offer you the same choice I gave Rasalia. Flee. If you oppose me, you will die as she did. The fate of Aughal has been sealed.”

Oh gods. She’s destroying the Spoke! Lograve thought rapidly, color draining from his face. I’ve never heard of this last legacy, but it must have assigned the Tyrant class. Casia used a loophole to gain control of the region!

You can just destroy a Spoke if you own it?!

No! But she’s also a monster. She doesn’t have to will anything to happen. The Spoke must be destroying itself as a defense mechanism to prevent Crest-spawn from controlling it!

So we take her down, and this ends, Evalyn concluded. Our normal attacks don’t do anything, but she’s still made of sand. Lograve, what if you harden her with water?

Water projectiles are more difficult to control than ice. He sighed. I’ll try.

“What are you doing?” Casia asked, observing them. “Telepathy? Ah, of course. You all are passingly competent to have defeated my contemporaries in honest combat.”

“No. Bennar did not truly fight us,” Gadriel commented from the side. Casia nodded.

“He knew the outcome we needed. It is no real sacrifice, considering he will be returned to life as I was. As my husband and daughter will be. To that end, I will need more material.” Her eyes flashed towards Hunter. Something within Daniel blared a warning, but too late. A sudden sensation invaded his mind, as if Lograve’s Telepathy had turned into a video call. The first terrible image the Fate had seen played out in his head as he also watched it happen in front of him, the two instances in sync.

“Hunter, run!”

The air snapped as Casia moved faster than Daniel could track visually. There was a layer of unreality and disbelief as he tried and failed to reject reality itself. The monster-Tyrant was carried off of her throne by some force, rushing down without taking a step to where Hunter had gotten back up on his feet. The hand reaching forward didn’t stop but knocked Hunter to the ground as it met his armor. His body was compressed as tremendous force was applied to it until the enchanted armor cracked open.

It was so fast Daniel didn’t have time to trigger Moment of Clarity. Even if he had, it would have changed nothing. Casia withdrew her arm out of Hunter’s torso, holding his heart in a disinterested way. Tak had received every bit of damage Hunter had up until the hand had penetrated flesh, as if even the bond had recognized how futile it was in the face of the newly crowned Tyrant.

“Hunter!” Daniel yelled again, screaming into the air. A massive burning arrow from Khiat flew directly towards Casia’s head but bounced off something in midair before it reached her.

The ringcat only had a few seconds of life left. I, I will- The thoughts came through unimaginably slow in that moment, pain and despair in the mental voice, but also a determination to hold on until his last words were said. I will never forget you.

Daniel watched the last of the aura fade from his best friend as something inside of him tore wide open.

…

In another place, far distant from the Eye, a shrill alarm sounded. This finally woke the sleeper. Earth-Daniel jumped, saw the time, and then saw the flashing lights. “I was asleep for thirteen hours!? Fuck!” He tripped on the way to the monitors, banging his head on one of the tables. Every alarm was going off. More worryingly, all the screens he had set up to receive visual information were dead. No, they weren’t turned broken, they had lost signal.

He got back on his feet, ignoring the welt that was forming. It took but moments to flip the cover off and slam his fist down on the big red button. Nothing happened. “No no no no, oh fuck!” For a moment Daniel was terrified there was just something interfering with the signal, if whatever tied his clone to this place could be blocked in that way. What if he had just triggered whatever doomsday protocol was in store because the system had glitched?

When he finally looked at the backlog of notifications for Octyrrum-Daniel on the one functioning monitor, he couldn’t breathe. As it turns out, he’d been too late.

System Alert: A Temporal Anomaly has been detected by an intrinsic Godpower of Corrupted Spoke: Time you possess. The temporal anomaly will be automatically assimilated to prevent strain on Spacetime. Spoke integrity is reduced while this assimilation is active.

-

Creature: Hunter has Died. You have lost all benefits of the Bond: Friendship shared with this individual.

-

Command received. Deploying final countermeasure. Unleashing target Spoke’s Mana Tide and suppressed Godpowers.

-

System Alert: Bond: Worldbridge has failed.

Daniel’s heart stopped for a moment, and then he tore through the notes his father had left for him. Something, somewhere, had to let him know what to do. There had to be something here. His father had thought of everything! He’d-

Four hours later, after going through the entirety of the bunker, Daniel lay on the bed. He couldn’t stop hating himself. It was all over. He’d ruined the only chance he’d had at getting his dad back. That would have been enough by itself, but Daniel had lost everyone he’d started to care about on the other side too. He had no idea what had happened, but if Hunter had died then it was likely everyone was dead.

It was all his fault.