The Rise of Felskein [Completed]

[Iron Sky]

Session 31, Part 13

<Thanks for the comments HalfOrc, glad to hear people are still enjoying it!>

“Whew,” Kormak said, wiping his brow and grinning at Suniel and Bail. “Never knew blasting ice with magic could be so much fun.”

Suniel nodded, lowering the Silver Shard, its surface still rippling with energy. “It can be... addictive.”

Bail grunted and squinted into the jagged hole they had just blasted through the glacier. “Do you suppose we've reached the Frozen Stone yet?”

Suniel murmured and made a quick series of gestures, then stared ahead of them for several minutes. “The way is clear, though we'll have to climb through that first.” He pointed to the broken jumble of sharp-edge, wet-slick, shattered ice that stretched before them for a mile or more.

“Best get started then,” Kormak said, handing the Purity Stone back to Suniel. “Let's get this whole thing over with.”

***

Bail yawned and stretched, raking up his coin-bed and stuffing the coins in his bag. Suniel was shivering in his blankets and Kormak was rubbing his arms and jumping around to get warm. Keeper sat against the wall, frost riming his features.

“Finally awake I see,” the dwarf said, glaring at Bail. “Have a good night's sleep?”

Bail shrugged. “As good as any.”

Suniel's eyes slowly opened and he sat up, blankets still pulled close. He smiled wryly. “Next time I suggest we rest for the night in the center of a glacier...”

“Well, at least you're all rested and ready for our big day,” Kormak said. Bail tossed the dwarf the Lightning Stone and took the Frozen Stone for himself.

Suniel put his things away and produced the Waterstone from his robes with his good hand, coughing as he did so.

“How do you hide that big thing in those little robes,” Kormak said. “Wait, let me guess, some wizard's tricks?”

“Same way Harold kept all those weapons in his quiver,” Bail said.

Suniel nodded. “The enchantments are similar. Anyway, at each of the places you end up, stay inside the henge, it'll be safe there even if it isn't around you, at least once you place your Stone in the henge, so put it there as soon as possible. I'll be back to get you as soon as I can.”

“Which will be what? Minutes? Hours? Days?” Kormak said, watching the sparks fall from the Lightning Stone every time he tapped it.

“Probably tomorrow before I'll be able to cast the spells to return. Be patient, I will be back.” The elf took a deep breath. “Brace yourselves, we're about to activate the Machinery of the Continent and activate the Crystal Towers Defenses. From there, I doubt there is anyone living who knows what will happen next.”

“There are several,” Keeper said quietly as he stood, the frost that covered him snapping and crunching as he moved. “Though technically one of them is not living.”

They all turned to Keeper, waiting for more. There was none.

“And?” Kormak said.

The construct shook his head. “Now is not the time. Soon.”

“You have any idea what it's talking about Suniel?” Kormak said.

The elf shook his head. “No. I'm sure he'll tell us when the time is right.”

Suniel walked over to Bail and looked the half-dragon in the eye. “Ready?”

Bail nodded, holding the Frozen Stone close. Suniel murmured and brushed a hand across Bail's shoulder and in an instant the half-dragon was gone.

 

[Sanzuo]

“How do you hide that big thing in those little robes,”

 

[Iron Sky]

Session 31, Part 14

Kormak vanished, as Bail had a moment before, and Suniel turned to Keeper. The construct regarded him with flickering eyes.

“I'm going to hold onto you tightly because we're going to be sinking.”

“Placing the Waterstone in the Azure Henge?”

Suniel nodded, not bothering to ask Keeper how he knew. “Give me a moment, I'll need some wardings to protect me from the environment we'll be in.”

A few minutes later, he took a deep breath, grabbed onto Keeper's arm, and took them to the depths.

He hadn't anticipated the absolute darkness. The pressure of the crushing depths, the lack of air, yes. He created a glowing sphere of light in his palm and saw that he and Keeper were sinking at a decent pace, judging by the tiny particulates drifting up around them.

“Keep your eye out for the – there it is!”

The henge was right below them, rising from a jutting spur of rock arcing over a watery abyss. He pulled out the Waterstone and used its power to guide them to the henge. The Stone fit exactly into the pedestal and the standing crystalline stones of the henge began to pulse with radiant, pale blue light. Suniel almost fell as a protective bubble formed around the henge, pushing the water back and leaving him standing on the damp bedrock. Around the henge the water was swirling more and more violently, a churning maelstrom of surging waters.

Above them the waters began to swirl into a whirlpool whose walls were so fast and massive that he saw a circle of daylight high above, surrounded by what must have been thousands of feet of water.

There was no to marvel, however. He touched Keeper's shoulder.

Dark clouds scudded across a plain studded with massive, nearly-transparent crystals jutting into the sky. Moonlight caught in the crystals and made them shine like liquid silver. Keeper pointed behind Suniel.

He turned to look and saw the Crystal Henge, each crystal in it perfectly formed and exactly the same height as all the others. As the Truestone of Light settled into its creche, the crystals began to glow, first just the henge then spreading to the immense crystals that surrounded them, each glowing with an ever-brighter golden light. It was almost blinding and growing more intense by the second. Suniel covered his eyes and touched Keeper's arm.

The tumult of battle flashed over the trees, distant shouts and screams and echoing booms shaking the very ground. Two brown specks floated in the skies, miles away but drawing closer even as they watched, flashing against the blue skies and sending dozens of piercing beams of energy cutting down into the burning forest.

Behind them was the mile-wide trunk of the One Tree, its branches high above stretching towards the horizons. Before them stood a familiar figure, his long hair and beard flecked with moss and twigs, behind him the dark petrified trunks of the Woodhenge, sparkling and gleaming. Suniel took High Druid Anderlan's hand in his good one, the delight at seeing his old friend again far overshadowed by the doom that drew close.

“You are ready?”

Anderlan nodded. “The Woodstone was placed just before you arrived.”

“Then that is five. I do not know how I can collect both of my companions, however. They are at two of the Henges and I am too worn to retrieve them.”

The druid gestured towards the Woodhenge. “Use it then. If five of them are active, then you can use them to travel to any of the other active Henges. That is how you can retrieve your companions.”

Suniel embraced Anderlan and stepped towards the Henge. “Hold them Anderlan, whatever it takes. Now that the Crystal Towers Defenses are active, we just need to figure out how to use them and we'll drive Iron Sky away.”

“We'll do what we can then. Just hurry, we cannot hold them for much longer.”

Suniel was almost to the Woodhenge when Anderlan called to him. Suniel stopped and turned.

“The Silver spoke to me, He will meet you at your last destination.”

“The Silver? Where is our last destination?”

Suniel was too late. Anderlan had already transformed into a massive eagle and launched into the skies with a piercing shriek, flying hard towards the smoke and rumble of the distant battle.

“We head to the Spire of Direction that sits in the center of the Radianus Sink. The Silver, the last Elarim. They are the same. He will meet us there.”

Suniel turned to Keeper and stared, wishing for the hundredth time that the construct had expressions that he could read.

“How do you know all this? The Nexus?”

Keeper shook his head. “It was He who arranged that you might find me, that we might stand at this very point after millennium of waiting and planning, that you might undo the sins of your fathers and make the world right. It was no accident that it was you who activated me and you that I serve."

Keeper glanced at the distant battle then turned back to Suniel. "Let us get the others quickly and head to the Spire, for time is short and Bahamut awaits us there.”

 

[steeldragons]

Wanted to throw you guys a "head's up." Just posted the inked version of the Rise of Felskein cast picture. Yes, finally had a chance to get some ink on it.

So it's on my art thread ( http://www.enworld.org/forum/art-ga...ures-painting/283445-steel-dragons-art-3.html ).

If you want color added to it...well, that'll take a while. lol. But certainly doable.

Enjoy, and thanks again for a great Story Hour.
--SD

 

[Dragonwriter]

I'm going to finally chime in here.

I've really enjoyed reading through this, and both eagerly anticipate the end and dread it, for I know I won't be reading any new happenings.

Thanks for posting this, IronSky!

And Steeldragons, awesome stuff!

 

[Iron Sky]

Thanks for the art and the comments. I'm hoping to get another post or two up in the next week or so. I'm guessing we're within 10 posts of completion, most likely less than that, but I'm hedging my bets.

 

[Iron Sky]

Session 31, Part 15

The Spire of Direction was a silversteel tower about twenty feet in diameter and three stories tall, sitting on a tiny grassy island in the middle of the Radianus Sink. The others had gone up the ramp inside to look around the upper level while Kormak relaxed a bit before who-knew-what was coming.

In the distance to the north, the Fae Wood was just barely visible, the occasional glint of sunlight reflecting off of something nestled within the black fringe of the forest. The other horizons were pure, sparkling blue as far as the eye could see.

Kormak leaned back against the warm silversteel of the Spire, the soft grass waving slightly in a cool breeze coming in of the Sink. It was hard to believe that elsewhere in Felskein, dozens of battles, large and small, were being fought against an implacable foe that might not stop until it had killed everything that stood between it and... what? Its endless quest to destroy the dormant Grimwythe? Had the Keeper that ran Iron Sky decided on some other plan? Conquest of Felskein and the Thousand Skylands? Something else more inscrutable?

A shadow passed overhead and he glanced up, then reflexively leapt away as something massive landed on the island with enough force that the ground shook. The biggest dragon he had ever seen was wrapped around the tower, one massive forearm resting on the top of the Spire, its tail following the curve of the island like a sea wall. Its scales shone like silversteel... Kormak looked closer. Exactly like silversteel. It's luminous white eyes shone as it stared down at him, somehow radiating immense power, sadness, and gentleness all at once.

Suniel and Bail walked out of the tower, Keeper close behind. Bail and Keeper dropped to a knee instantly and Suniel followed a moment later.

“You have done well, all of you,” Bahamut said, his voice echoing in spite of the softness of the dragon's voice. “Keeper, all is in readiness?”

Keeper nodded. “Five Stones have been set and I activated the Crystal Towers defenses. Soon the Interface will be active.”

“Excellent. I will be brief then, for we have little time.” The dragon shifted slightly, his massive tail wrapping protectively around them. “The Undercouncil is gathering to the East, on the edge of the Radianus Sink. They will be coming here to try to stop you for they still believe that they somehow will retain Felskein for themselves. Draconic arrogance knows no bounds, though in a way that could be said to be my fault since I was among those who created them. They were our first Child Race and we made them too much like ourselves. I will do what I can to stop them, but there are dozens of them and I have forbidden any others of the Overcouncil to aid me.”

Bail started to speak, but Bahamut raised a clawed finger to silence him. “All of the Overcouncil. When your work is done here, the Overcouncil will be needed to help rebuild. Listen closely, for here is what you must do...”

 

[Iron Sky]

<Took a month to notice I double posted...>

 

[Iron Sky]

Session 31, Part 16

“All the True Stones? What do you mean all?”

“There are around a thousand,” Bahamut said. “The Grimwythe will not rest – especially if the Tree that keeps them locked away is destroyed by Iron Sky - until all of them are returned to the land.”

“How will we do that? Don't the Skylands need them to keep flying?” Kormak said. “Won't the people on those Skylands want to keep theirs?”

Bahamut nodded and tapped the top of the Spire of Direction. “You have this, Keeper, and the Crystal Towers Defenses to convince them.”

“I'm not sure they'll be convinced. After all, Harold's people have lived on and around the Crystal Towers for centuries and they don't seem to know anything about them.”

“They'll learn soon enough, but that doesn't matter at the moment. You must Raise Felskein to join them, merge the Skylands to the continent, and land them together in the Endless Sands. You must do this quickly, for when the One Tree dies, the Grimwythe will come quickly for the Stones and you must return the Stones before they do or many will die in the process.”

“So, what is the Grimwythe?” Kormak said. “We've heard how bad it is, even saw... well... something in the pool on Velea's Skyland when we first visited it, but what is it?”

Bahamut glanced up at the sky and was still for a long moment. “Long ago, we found ourselves the lonely rulers of this world, a world verdant and green with vast oceans of crystal-blue waters. But we were alone. We made the first of the races to share our world, but in our ignorance made them as slaves rather than children and to make them we stole the essence of the world itself, siphoned it away into Stones of vast power. But the world was made by something older even than we, grown around an immense Seed of silversteel that our distant, primitive ancestors stared at in wonder as we roamed the land with stone clubs, wondering at our own origins. The Seed created the force we named the Grimwythe, to reclaim the power that we stole from the Seed of the World.

“We fled our problem, used the power of the Stones to lift Felskien into the skies. The other continents weren't so lucky, shattering into a thousand pieces as our stolen elemental magics ripped them from the bosom of the world. Still the Grimwythe reached for us, to the very skies. We created Iron Sky in an attempt to battle the guardians of the Seed that would take our precious True Stones from us and doom us to slavery or destruction at our slave-children's hands. Iron Sky failed us. Our children overthrew us, starting with the most powerful, the ones we made in our own image – the dragons. One by one we were hunted down despite our power, until only I remained and survived, to go into hiding and plan for a day... this day... when the world would be set to right."

Bahamut looked to the horizon. “And now they gather to finish what they started.”

Enormous silver wings unfurled, blotting out the sun like the sails on a massive ship. “I trust in you know as I have trusted in you this whole time. Let Felskein Rise from the Endless Sands, unite the Skylands, and return the True Stones to the Grimwythe. Only then will our children find the peace they deserved.”

Bail knelt at Bahamut's feet and the Elarim patted the half-dragon on the head. “You have served me well. Serve my children once I am gone.”

The gust of wind as Bahamut launched into the air nearly knocked all of them down. They stood and watched for a moment as the last Elarim flew into the west, where dragons circled like a flock of hungry crows. They did not wait for the battle between the last of the creators and the first of the created to begin, but instead turned to follow Keeper into the tower, to finish what they had started and begin the end.

 

[Iron Sky]

Session 31, Part 17

The others stood along the wall as Keeper walked to what looked like an unadorned silversteel column that rose to mid-chest height and ended in a domed top. Keeper placed his hands upon it and his eyes sparked and flashed. Kormak kept waiting for a splash of pyrotechnical magics to explode in the room, but instead, a small dot of white light appeared. Again, there was a sense of anticlimax as the dot expanded with painful slowness, taking several minutes for Kormak to even recognize it as Felskein – and he never would have recognized it if he hadn't seen the stone model on Velea's Skyland.

This model, however, was made of light, somehow acquiring the illusion of depth as it expanded. Minutes later, the room was filled with the spread of Felskein and the spray of thousands of tiny Skylands spread out through the space above their heads. Two Skylands were visible by the One Tree and dozens of others were closing in all around the continent.

“Those would be Iron Sky I'm assuming,” Bail said, pointing at the closest ones.

Keeper released the column and nodded. “Most of them are, but where you want your attention is here.”

The construct pointed at the Crystal Towers, held off the side of the continent on their fragment of land by the seemingly-tiny Span. As Keeper pointed, the Crystal Towers seemed to enlarge for closer viewing, until the individual facets of the massive crystals atop each of the towers could be seen. The crystals were spinning faster and faster and glowing with their own inner light.

“So the Crystal Tower Defenses are the towers themselves?” Bail said, rubbing his chin. “I suppose you'd need something that big to protect a continent.”

Keeper nodded again. “They are nearly active, shall I begin removing the Iron Sky threat?”

“Remove the what?” Kormak said.

“You can control it from here?” Suniel said softly, squinting at the Skylands near the One Tree.

“Like this,” Keeper said. He stuck the tip of his finger in the glowing light atop the largest of the Crystal Towers and traced a line from it to one of the two Skylands Suniel was looking at. The room flared, nearly blinding Kormak. When his vision returned, only one Skyland remained. “Shall I continue?”

Suniel, Bail, and Kormak could only stare at each other in wonder at the immense display of power Keeper has so casually demonstrated. He just destroyed a flying island with a motion of his arm. How many of those Iron Sky constructs were just destroyed? He could destroy a kingdom with a flick of his wrist, Kormak thought. He could see similar thoughts moving behind Bail and Suniel's eyes.

Finally, Suniel cleared his throat. “If they must be destroyed, then there is no time to waste. Continue Keeper.”

Another line traced from the Crystal Towers destroyed the second and the construct turned to the other Skylands that formed a loose slowly-constricting ring around the continent. After being half-blinded by the destruction of a several more, Kormak covered his eyes and found the ramp that led down by feel. “Carry on with the colossal destruction, I'm going to smell some flowers and get some fresh air."

Suniel stayed behind, but when Kormak stepped out onto the grass and the cool breeze coming in off the Radianus Sink, Bail was a step behind him. They stared out across the water for several seconds in silence before Bail spoke.

“It's hard to believe, hard to imagine what's going on in there,” the half-dragon said. “Well, I guess it's actually going on out... there...”

He was gesturing in the rough direction of the Crystal Towers when the sky flashed white. A minute later, a rumbling boom rolled past them, setting the ground beneath their feet trembling. “What was that?” Kormak said, dumbfounded.

“I think that was Keeper destroying another Skyland,” Bail said. A few minutes later, his theory was confirmed by another flash and long-delayed rumble.

“I wonder where all that power comes from?” Kormak wondered aloud. “It would take a hundred True Stones, maybe a thousand to generate enough power for one of those blasts.”

“Must be the Machinery of the Continent that Keeper mentioned before - remember feeling it in the walls and the floor below the Crystal Tower when we were going after the Lightning Stone? It was almost as if the continent was alive.”

“Um... does the tower here look a bit... reddish?” Kormak said, pointing at the outside wall of the Spire. Bail tilted his head from side to side as if trying to guage. Kormak placed his hand on the silversteel. The metal was hot, almost uncomfortably so. “Guess whatever's making it happen, it's producing a lot of heat. Hope Suniel isn't getting cooked.”

He stepped inside to check, but the silversteel inside seemed fine, maybe even a bit chilly. There was another flash outside and Bail came in blinking and almost walked into the wall. “I think Keeper just shot one on the other side of Felskien. A beam of light just flashed through the sky... at least, that's all I can see right now, just red with a glowing strip of white in it.”

“Might be safer inside,” Kormak said, leading the half-blind Bail back up the ramp to the control room. “Any hopefully they're just about out of Skylands to destroy by now.”