Arc One: Awakening

Chapter 19: Phoenix Hospitality

Lysander shuffled across the grit in muffled clicks, leaving imprints in the dirt and dust. At the base of the stage, Oscar knelt with his eyes closed, measured breaths pushing and pulling at his chest. In the muck at his side lay his coat, his sleeves rolled up to his pale elbows, and his head dipped. The folded fingers in his lap twitched, and Lysander listened entranced by the ethereal words tumbling from his lips. The invisible column pulsed like a raindrop in a puddle, rippling up and dissolving into the light.

"All is quiet," the Phoenix guard announced softly. "Nothing followed us and nothing living remains here."

Oscar continued to murmur. The column billowed again.

"I did try to find something that might help, but the place seems to have been cleared out. Have you had no luck?"

"The gateway is still active," Oscar said, "but the surrounding magic is not like it was when I arrived."

"Has it been tampered with?" Lysander asked.

With a shrug, the mage opened his eyes and picked himself up off the ground, brushing the dirt off his coat and shaking it to loosen the stubborn flecks. "It's not an enchantment, that much I'm certain of, but whatever magic it uses, it can no longer sustain it."

"And there's no way to bolster it?"

"Not that I know of." Oscar circled the malfunctioning portal and noted the engravings chiselled into the verges and down the steps. Corresponding patterns adorned the stone fences protecting the balconies, and he tapped into them for any lingering magic.

"What are those symbols?" he asked, pointing to the overhanging levels.

Lysander approached the nearest and gazed up at the complex pattern. Straining to see it properly, he clambered up onto a threadbare sofa and swept aside the layers of dust and decay from the withering stone. "They look like reversed demon letters," he answered. "Even the right way round, they make little sense."

Oscar's fingers worked up to the bridge of his nose, massaging the tension away. There has to be something, he thought to himself.

He stared at the fizzling tablet on the side table, fists flexing as it flung messages into the ether and returned with a series of errors. He tried a second time, and the device whined in defiance.

"Nothing I send is getting through to Professor Spark," the mage huffed. The walls seemed to inch closer, suffocating him in a world that wasn't his own, and the frantic thought of never seeing Solgarde again almost consumed him. With the nine worlds in disarray and his friends on their own missions, he doubted any sort of rescue would arrive quick. He was stranded and had to rely on his own strength to make it home.

"Okay," he said, denying the panic the chance to settle until he'd tried everything in his power. He tightened the straps on his fingerless gloves and flicked smoking embers from his nails. "I'd advise you stand back. This could fail spectacularly."

Retreating to the tunnel entryway, Lysander huddled close to the shadows as a wave of magic coursed through the room. The smell of coal smoke and ashes accompanied every pulse until the wedge of grey light behind the working mage clustered into a four-legged creature. Oscar spread his arms and the towering beast extended its wings, membrane shimmering and scales alight.

The monster's multi-layered maw glowed with a fiery rage and a bone-shaking roar rose from its throat in the seconds before it unleashed a stream of concentrated fire at the gateway. Brittle furniture and aged frames quivered. Lysander winced as the cracked ornaments tumbled and exploded into a million irreparable pieces.

"Come on," Oscar grunted, constricting his muscles to drive more magic from his body. "Break, damn you. Shatter!"

In a curdling screech, the giant lizard lifted itself onto its hind legs. Descending residue singed Oscar's shirt and his feet began to slide in the grime. Sweat poured down his temples and dribbled from his chin. "Just a little more," he encouraged. "Please. Please."