Echoes Of The Seven

Claire, who had used a spare cloth to wipe herself (somewhat) clean, leaned forward in thought and errantly played with the handle of a closed trapdoor that appeared in the floor shortly after the walls went prophetic. Alexandra watched the Evoker work to piece all of it together in her mind, just like both Nima and Meghan.

“Okay, to recap-” Claire began. “When Eris was Gifted, she saw the ghost of Demeri the Augur, the dead goddess of fate and foresight. Demeri was also the source of the Giftings all along in an attempt to keep the world alive against the Hollow long enough until she found a person she could fully turn into an Echo that would have the best chance at saving the world?”

Alexandra and Jaxie, both still painted with glowing pink lines, shared a look then turned back to Claire with a simultaneous “Yep.”

“But humans can’t handle the power of being an Echo naturally, so it needs to be implemented with a sin to balance good and evil. Eris accidentally picked the sin of Lust, and now she gets more powerful the more slutty she becomes?”

“... Yep.”

Claire pinched between her eyebrows. “So not only does Eris actively have to become a terrible person in order to get strong enough to save the world, the way she does that is by either coming up with a way to destroy the all-powerful corruption that annihilated an entire pantheon of all the most powerful beings in existence, or finding a way to bring said powerful beings back to life to give us even the tiniest fighting chance against the end of the world.”

“Sounds about right.”

While Claire leaned back with wide eyes, Meghan grumbled sarcastically under her breath. “Oh, good. I love trying to resurrect gods in the face of impending doom.”

Nima stood and stepped over towards Claire and the trapdoor. “We should get moving. The faster we get out of here, the faster we can tell the Syndicate about all of this, including this prophecy.”

Alexandra watched Jaxie recoil instantly. “Woah, hold on. We can’t tell them.”

Nima furrowed her brow. “Of course we can. We have to. It’s our duty as initiates to inform the Syndicate of any possible advantage that could be used against the Hollow, and Eris may single-handedly be the one thing in existence capable of winning us this war.”

“The more people that know about Eris and what she is, the more danger she’s in.”

“She’s right,” Alexandra stood. “The Echoes of the old world were second in strength only to the Seven themselves- that’s why they were called Echoes. They were practically deities themselves. Countries are already waging wars over the last bits of land, so if a person appears that might have the power to make items strong enough to reshape reality, it might actually throw Kavala into chaos. Even if the Syndicate’s protecting her, that’s still going to be a colossal target on Eris and she has literally zero way to protect herself.”

Meghan squirmed. “Not to side with Rainbow, but we do have our obligations to uphold our oath. We swore to do everything in our power to destroy the Hollow when we got Gifted, and telling the Syndicate about Eris is the best thing we can do right now.”

“Eris won’t be useful to the Syndicate if she’s kidnapped or killed by some random country wanting to take control!” Jaxie growled. Alexandra could see the way the Berserker’s fingers were clenching- trying to resist the building frustration and anger.

“Jaxie…” Alex warned, to which the Berserker flicked her gaze over and took a careful breath. At that moment, Claire stood and reached for the handle of the trapdoor.

“Look, whether we tell the Syndicate or not, we can’t do anything until we actually get out of- nnf!”

The blonde was cut off instantly. The moment that the wooden trapdoor lifted a single millimeter from the stone floor, it exploded upwards with so much force that Claire was nearly launched to the ceiling. From the open hole, a heavily-armoured fist the size of a laundry basket slammed down onto and cracked the stone floor beside it. Then another. While Alexandra quickly hefted her still-glowing shield and blade, thick arms covered in plate metal pulled a huge, muscular body free.

It was completely adorned in gleaming silver armor, all the way from cloven hooves as large as dinner plates to a pair of colossal, twisted horns that could skewer a bison. A heavy, elongated snout huffed out loud breaths and guttural growls that shook the floor, and all twelve feet lowered into what was obviously a well-trained combat stance.

Even so, Jaxie struck first.

Dual axes slammed right into the joint of the minotaur’s armoured leg as she sprinted up behind, but were deflected in a shower of sparks. At the same time, a heavy kick from that same leg drove directly into the Berserker’s chest and sent the brunette skidding along the floor with metal screeching against stone.

A spectral spear materialized in the air directly behind the monster’s huge head and struck down. Just as quickly, Alexandra watched the beast move with impossibly quick reactions, pivoting in place and grabbing the mystical weapon just below the spearhead with a massive hand and wrenching it out of the air. The other hand, without even looking, spun around and backhanded the already-charging Alexandra.

Bulwark {Passive}

Whenever you would take damage, reduce the damage taken by fifty percent. Cooldown: Three seconds.

Stout {Passive}

While wielding a shield, you gain a Minor bonus to Physical Defence and Magical Defence.

Even with her shield raised to take the impact and Bulwark negating half the damage, Alexandra felt like her shoulder was nearly popped from the socket. She grunted and fell to one knee. Just as quickly, she felt the strange warmth of healing moss crawling over her arm from Meghan’s regeneration spell, and braced for the impact as a hooved foot raised to kick her.

It never happened. Thunder clapped through the chamber loud enough to make Alexandra’s ears ring and the beast suddenly staggered away as it took the brunt of a lightning bolt straight to an arm that raised to block it. However, something strange happened.

Alexandra watched as the armour sparked and crackled, glowing brighter and brighter while audibly humming with energy. The minotaur roared and swung the electrified arm towards the direction the attack had come from. When it did, Alexandra saw the plate of metal covering its forearm shatter like glass and reveal muscular, furred skin underneath. However, it also released all of that electrical energy right back at Claire.

The Evoker screamed as she was electrocuted by her own spell, in time with the beast’s own grunts of pain when Nima barely managed to swipe the tip of her spear through the now-exposed forearm. There was a splash of blackish red and Nima barely managed to duck underneath a punch that probably would have taken her head off. The minotaur also tried to jab the magical spear the girl conjured into her stomach, but Alexandra watched it vanish into the air as Nima dissipated it a millisecond before it skewered her. Instead, all the colourful-haired girl received was a gut punch that made her crumple to her knees. Still, Alexandra managed to give out a groan.

“It’s the boss!”

“No shit!” Meghan yelled, already sending a healing spell towards Nima. She probably would have been the next target of the minotaur, had Jaxie not already run back up with wild eyes and swiped her axes into the creature’s back. Even in her rage-induced state, the attacks bounced harmlessly off the armour but it still served enough as a distraction to make it turn around. Unfortunately, when the arrow-like manifestation of purple poison mist that flung out from Meghan impacted the beast’s shoulder, the energy sunk in and started making the metal vibrate and glow. It shattered a half-second later, sending a wave of toxic magic towards Jaxie. The Berserker retched and collapsed, coughing up blood onto the floor while black veins started writhing under the skin of her neck. Claire yelled.

“It’s using our magic against us!”

“But it’s breaking the armour!” Nima responded, rolling out of the way and taking a quick jab with her spear towards the now-exposed shoulder. Predictably, the monster deflected it with a gauntleted hand, but a new spectral spear materialized in the air just off to the side and struck once again into the already-wounded forearm. Alexandra could only appreciate Nima’s combat skill- being able to fight on two fronts like that let her pull off some crazy feints. “Keep casting!”

“But-” Meghan began, but Alexandra yelled and cut her off.

“Just do it!”

Both the casters tensed, but both sent out another offensive spell towards the boss. Lightning was deflected by the other, still defended arm, but the bolt of poison hit right in the chest. The minotaur roared while its armor glowed and turned back towards the two casters.

Provoke {Active}

Taunt one hostile creature into focusing their attacks on you for ten seconds. Cooldown: Twenty seconds.

Instantly, the boss screamed in ferocity and spun back around towards Alexandra while two more sections of armour exploded with magic. All Alexandra could do was lift her shield to try and deflect as much of it as she could, while praying on her Magical Defence stat to save her along with the skill that increased it while using a shield. Even so, she felt her limbs burn and go weak while poison filled her veins and every muscle in her body locked up from electrical discharge. Thankfully, there was still the warmth of regenerative healing, giving Alexandra just enough muscle control to stutter out a pained;

“K-keep g-g-g-go-g-going!”

Thankfully, all of the other girls seemed to pick up on the obvious opening that the party tank was providing- even Jaxie who was pale with blood trickling from her nostrils and shrunken eyes from being all but maxed out with Rage. What followed may very well have been the worst ten seconds of Alexandra’s life.

The minotaur, completely blinded by taunted rage, focused solely on trying to pummel Alexandra into a puddle of nothing and completely ignored every single other thing that happened- including spell after spell that shattered away plates of armour and sent magic down into the Knight who could do little more than brace for impact. Meanwhile, it also gave Jaxie and Nima free reign to start tearing their weapons through ever-increasing amounts of exposed skin.

When the taunt finally wore off, Alexandra genuinely felt like rubber. Every single one of the minotaur’s attacks felt like a magic-propelled battering ram, and those were the ones that were partially negated by Bulwark. All the others probably shattered bones with every impact. The only thing that kept her conscious through the pain was the continual healing that just barely managed to keep her from blacking out entirely.

Either way, the minotaur turned around to face both Jaxie and Nima who had been slowly cutting its back into ribbons. As it raised an arm to swing forward, Alexandra managed to grit her bloody teeth and strike out her sword with a quick jab.

Retribution {Passive}

When Bulwark triggers, your next attack gains a bonus to Physical Power equal to the amount of damage reduced.

That first attack blocked by Bulwark, then three more that managed to get squeezed in during the brief time she spent as a punching bag. One of the cool things Alexandra had learned about Retribution was that it could stack upon itself if she never actually triggered the attack. If she withstood enough punishment from a strong enough monster (like the sparring matches against Jaxie), she could store more and more power and release it all in one decisive strike when she finds her opening.

Even though Alexandra felt as weak and frail as a baby bird, her arm still surged forward with a strength that was impossible to judge. The tip of the blade sunk cleanly through bloody skin, letting inch after inch after inch of solid iron embed itself into the minotaur that abruptly staggered and lurched away from Alexandra with a howl of pain which also tore Alexandra’s sword- buried to the hilt in the beast’s spine- from her grasp. Then, it turned around with fury in its eyes.

Right as Alexandra was about to pee herself from the fear that her attack somehow wasn’t a killing blow, something strange happened.

The room seemed to grow warmer and brighter. Immediately, Alexandra’s still-glowing armour (now dented in more places than not) seemed to ramp up the light until both her and Jaxie were bright pink beacons that could rival lighthouses. At the same time, Alexandra felt her skin grow hot and cold at the same time. She went numb. Her equilibrium was turned upside-down and the air flung out of her lungs. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see all four of her companions being surrounded by a familiar black smoke. Confusion washed through her.

Not only did they not actually defeat the boss yet, (who also appeared to be looking around confused, which was beyond strange), but that wasn’t even what let a party leave. It was common knowledge, and taught to everyone who wished to traverse the Obelisk. Once inside, it was impossible to leave until the party found the miniature replica of the Obelisk within the environment and touched it just like they did to enter. That exit was also always guarded by some kind of boss that usually needed to be defeated before the party could leave.

That only meant Alexandra was completely befuddled when she suddenly fell to her knees on cobblestones in a cloud of black smoke. Looking immediately beside her, she could see Jaxie, Nima, Meghan, and Claire all also looking extremely confused. That wasn’t all of it, though.

Black smoke filled the entire park surrounding the Obelisk as thousands of people all abruptly stood and looked around with concern- all of them obviously having just been in the middle of a delve. Meanwhile, the humidity and the smell of ozone in the air almost made Alexandra think she was in the middle of a rainstorm, but when she looked up, the sky was perfectly clear and blue.

Some of the nearby warriors were looking over at both her and Jaxie with confusion, staring at their glowing armour. However, Alexandra could also see some other individuals scattered throughout the park who had little bits of equipment glowing here and there. She immediately recognized the longbow Eris had made for a commission two days ago to get some extra money. She also recognized that spear, that helmet, and that pair of boots. Not much, just a few errant pieces here and there that Eris made in between all the crafting for both her and Jaxie’s equipment. And all of it was covered in lines of pink light.

However, most of everyone’s attention was torn back to the colossal black monolith that reached up into the sky, and Alexandra’s jaw dropped. From beside her, she could hear Meghan let out a weak; “whaaaat the fuck…?”

The Knight’s eyes stayed wide as the solid black surface of the Obelisk was- just like her armour- now covered in thousands of spiderweb strands of bright pink light.

“Wait, you were that woman in the office…” Eris muttered, looking more closely at the suited Syndicate officer. She recognized those powerful grey eyes and that intense stare. Furthermore, the hand that was missing two fingers and split right down the forearm…

“First rule of business-” the woman interrupted. “-Neither of you are capable of any form of combat, so I am officially in charge. No matter what, while we are in here, you two will do anything and everything I say, then you might just make it out of here alive. I will do my absolute best to protect you, but I can only do that if you do exactly what I tell you. Do you understand?”

“What?” Bailey was hugging both arms to her chest and looking about as panicked as Eris felt. The woman’s gaze hardened.

“Do what I tell you to and you both live. Do. You. Understand?”

Both girls nodded. The woman turned her eyes back down the hallway, looking both directions.

“Our number one priority is finding the exit. The Obelisk can manifest any kind of environment, and they usually tend to follow a ‘theme’. This one appears to be some kind of castle, so my best guess is that the exit would likely be either in the throne room or some master bedroom the boss is using as a lair. We are going to do this quickly and quietly, avoiding everything we possibly can until we find the exit.”

“Wait!” Eris’s eyes widened and she reached into her pocket to pull out the silver pocketwatch. “The exit to the Obelisk always counts as magnetic north, so compasses point in that direction. I put compasses in- what?”

Eris’s brow furrowed as she stared at the small dial built into the face of the watch, eyes following the needle spinning errantly. The stern woman grabbed the watch from Eris and squinted at the compass before handing it back. “It’s either broken, or something is screwing up the magnetic fields. Either way, it looks like we need to find the exit normally.”

The woman turned towards the closed door at one end of the hallway and extended a hand forward. Eris saw some kind of odd shimmering of refracted light surrounding the doorknob before the brass fixture started slowly turning. As that happened, the woman held up her other hand- which was holding some gorgeous, watery-looking orb focus- and another shimmer rippled upwards a few feet in front of all three of them. Bailey blinked several times.

“An Abjurer?”

She was immediately shushed by the woman, letting both girls watch in silence as the door pried ever-so-slightly open outwards. When it creaked, the door stopped instantly and the woman seemed to ponder something. A few fingers flexed, then Eris saw a tiny shimmer of invisible force hover near the hinges before it vanished from view. When the door continued opening, there wasn’t a sound of creaky hinges to be heard.

Did she just… conjure up tiny barriers of force to stick inside the hinges and keep the material from rubbing as it opened?

A bit lost in admiration for such an odd way to use that kind of magic, Eris could barely focus on the dimly-lit staircase on the other side of the door leading downwards. Then, the woman seemed to stare at the thirty-foot patch of marble floor between them and the door for several seconds. Bailey offered a teeny tiny whisper.

“What are you doing?”

The woman’s eyes narrowed. “I can’t see any trigger mechanisms for traps, but there might still be pressure plates.”

With that, the woman’s hand flicked back down and Eris watched a shimmer of force stretch out over the floor. When the woman stepped forward, she did so upwards onto the invisible platform hovering a few inches above the marble. She then motioned for both girls to do the same.

It was strange. Everything about it made Eris feel as though she were walking on stable and solid ground, but she was a quarter-foot above the floor. She could only stare in amazement while she took quiet, tiny steps just behind the still-unnamed woman and they crept closer to the door. Eventually, she couldn’t take it anymore and offered a whisper of her own. “Who are you?”

The woman hesitated for several moments and visibly grit her teeth.

“Leyla Ernaline Elmas, sixteenth level Abjurer and Lieutenant Major of the Syndicate Specialist Reserve. I’m the primary individual that has been assigned to ensure your personal safety, Miss Kadell.”

That made Eris blink. “Uhh, what?”

The woman- Leyla-, gave a soft sigh.

“We knew you were lying about your Gifting back in that meeting in Professor Kull’s office. I was assigned to learn whatever information you may have been hiding and subsequently learned that you were an Artificer. Since then, I have been in charge of watching your every move to not only provide information to the Syndicate, but also to guarantee your safety since you are now our top priority. I know that the Obelisk is the Abstract of Eternity. I know you were chosen as the final Echo by the ghost of Demeri, the Augur, I know that you are empowered by the sin of Lust, I know about all of your skills, I know that both Jasmine Kerrot and Alexandra Qualley are your allies in this endeavour, and I even know that you spent the morning making various items that were infused with Lust to test their functions. Now, no more questions, and we are staying completely silent until I give either of you permission to speak again.”

“I- uhh…” Eris tried to stammer, but Leyla gave a sharp hiss with her tongue and put a finger over her lips. Eris swallowed her tongue. The Syndicate already knew? And they’ve been watching her? Wait, if that was true, and Leyla knew all that other stuff…

Did that mean Leyla had also been watching her have sex all those times?

Eris felt her cheeks flush, but the looming threat of dying let her stay quiet and focus on cautiously following Leyla. Eventually, the trio reached the doorway and peered inside. White marble floors continued down the stairs, but it was much smaller than the grandiose hallway behind them. Eris watched one of Leyla’s hands continued facing downwards and danced fingers with every step they took, obviously making invisible platforms all the way down the stairs. That was, until Eris suddenly felt herself falling three inches as the barriers of force vanished. Arms went out to steady herself, and Eris looked up to see that neither Leyla nor Bailey had fallen like her. Quite the opposite.

Whereas Eris fell onto the stairs, both Bailey and Leyla lifted up several inches further into the air. Neither were giving any reaction- floating completely still and unmoving aside from wide eyes and sputtering gasps as they struggled to breathe.

“Bire goor?”

A rich, feminine voice echoed through the small chamber, and Eris’s gaze flicked forward to the other end where a figure turned a corner. Ebony black hair so long it draped down near her bare feet that padded along the marble tiles, and dressed in what looked like a silk blue nightgown with intricate embroidery. Innocent-looking brown eyes, elegant cheekbones, soft lips and pale but very fair skin made the thirty-ish year old woman incredibly beautiful. One of her dainty hands was casually extended out towards them. Eris grit her teeth.

“Let them go!”

The woman raised a confused eyebrow, stared a bit more intently at Eris, then got a wicked look in her eye that sent chills down Eris’s spine. The woman flicked her fingers and Eris felt her feet get yanked out from under her while wrists were torn forwards. In the blink of an eye, Eris was on her hands and knees on the cold floor, iron chains literally sprouting from midair to wrap tight around her limbs and keep her secure. All she could do was lift her head and watch as the woman gently moved her hand. Bailey and Leyla both started drifting closer, gliding through the air and completely locked in place.

Then, something odd happened. The tiniest flicker of light behind the woman’s shoulder- barely thicker than a strand of hair. It swept downwards like a needle, stabbing down into the back of her neck and making the woman yelp. When she flinched, the chains around Eris’s limbs laxed and both Leyla and Bailey fell to the ground. Bailey was gasping and choking for breath, with Leyla doing much the same, but the Abjurist still moved into action.

A scarred hand flicked forward and the tiny shred of force she could manage when trapped turned into a massive blade that swept downwards. The woman hissed and managed to pivot in place to avoid most of it- only causing the skin of her left arm to open up in a long wound instead of carving her directly in two. When her hand went back up, Eris watched the air between them seem to ripple and distort. It only lasted a second before light itself tore open and a huge, red, scaled head almost as wide as the tunnel peeked into existence. Eris could smell sulfur, along with the smoke drifting upwards between dagger-like teeth. Thankfully, Leyla was already in motion.

As the disembodied dragon head reared back, the air in front of it refracted with an invisible barrier. The white-hot flames that followed parted around all three of them like a river running around a boulder. Even through the bubble of force that protected them, the heat was so intense that Eris felt like she was getting a sunburn. It only lasted a moment longer when the roar of flames abruptly ceased.

A sickening, squelching ‘thud’ followed and Eris looked up to see purple blood oozing all over the floor surrounding a decapitated dragon head. The huge blade of force would have been unseeable had it not been for the thick paint job of dragonblood now hanging in the air just beside the fleshy stump sticking out from the hole in the air. A moment later, both the head and the blood began dissolving into misty smoke that filled the hallway. Leyla wasted no time, however. She swung her arm forward and caused the table-sized weapon of pure energy to arc directly into the woman and cleave her right at the waist.

She crumbled like sand- literally. Eris expected to see… well- a person getting cut in half. Instead, her upper body seemed to fall away in particles that lost their colour and turned bland and grey. When they hit the ground, the dust melted into smoke that joined with the mist of the dragon. Then, a pained gasp came from Eris’s right along with a splatter of warm liquid on her cheek. Bailey screamed.

“No!”

Leyla coughed, back arched and both hands grasping towards the tip of a long blade that emerged from her stomach with enough force to spray her blood outwards onto Eris. Leyla’s gorgeous blue orb focus dropped to the ground and clattered on the marble. Over Leyla’s shoulder, Eris saw the black-haired woman smiling and leaning her face in while wrapping one hand around the Abjurist’s throat. Nothing was holding her down, but Eris couldn’t move. All she could do was watch in abject horror at what was unfolding in front of her.

Bailey didn’t seem to have such issues. She scrambled to her feet and, despite the fact this random woman just beat a sixteenth level, highly-trained warrior, swung out in a desperate punch. She didn’t make it halfway before every muscle in her body seemed to lock up just like before and she lifted an inch into the air. Then, something strange happened.

Both Leyla and Bailey’s eyes rolled up into their heads until only the white was showing while thick grey smoke began pouring out of them. Out of their noses, their mouths, their ears, even the corners of their eyes- every orifice in their faces was leaking smoke. It didn’t drift aimlessly, however. Instead, it curled back around like it was being sucked out an open window and flowed back towards the woman who opened her mouth.

Eris could only watch in confused horror as the woman swallowed down copious amounts of person-fog being pulled from both girls. It lasted a gruesome number of seconds before the smoke eventually tapered away and the last of it was sucked up by the creepy woman. Bailey fell to the ground, and the woman pulled free the sword impaled through Leyla’s stomach who in turn collapsed to the marble in a puddle of blood. Neither were moving.

Eris trembled and looked at the woman who took a deep, long breath with her eyes closed.

“My, the world certainly has changed.” The woman opened her eyes and turned them to Eris. “The Seven are no longer, the world all but destroyed by corruption, and the first visitors I receive in four hundred years have an Artificer among them? That’s a lot to learn so quickly.”

“What… what did you do to them?”

The woman waved a hand dismissively. “They are of no importance to me- only you.”

Eris’s eyes widened. “Wh-who are you? What do you want?”

The woman smiled and idly wiped away some of the blood dripping down her wounded arm. Actually, Eris could see that the scar seemed to have already healed completely. “I see no reason we can’t be polite and civilized. My name is Pravala, and I wish only to invite you into my home.”

Eris remained quiet for a moment. When she spoke, her voice felt weak. “This is a prison realm. You’re one of the prisoners of the Obelisk.”

Pravala smirked. “Both of us are. Although with you here, Darling, we might just be able to find ourselves a way out.”

END OF ACT ONE