Aetherian(Part 1): A War Begins

Trevor

 The dark and dreary catacombs beneath the Ivory Tower were straight out of Trevor's worst nightmares. For almost an hour, he was walking straight down a spiral corridor, with his blue lightsword as his only light source, until he came to a gate. It was a huge, stone door, with an image of the head of a dragon pointing downward carved into it. The dragon was the sigil of the ten-thousand-year-old House Karvine, Trevor's family. In front of the door was a thin pedestal that had a small, sharp rock on the top. Trevor recognized the contraption. It was a blood lock, which could only be unlocked by blood, hence the name, and Trevor had little question of whose blood would open the door in front of him.

"Great," he complained, as he took off one of his gauntlets. He put his hand on the sharp rock, which stung him already, then he quickly jerked it back, spraying his blood behind him. The blood on the sharp rock slowly dripped down the pedestal, and the dragon door slowly opened. Trevor flashed a golden light around his hand, which quickly healed, and he put his metal gauntlet back on. When he began into the darkness beyond the dragon door, he already began to sense a strong, dark presence. He held his lightsword out in front of him to guide himself, and he saw exactly what he expected to see. The path in front of him seemed to be paved with the bones of people, but there were more skulls than any other. As he continued down the path, it seemed to only lead into a deeper darkness. Suddenly, he heard a noise behind him, and he quickly turned around to find only one of the bones bounce and roll his way.

No one else is down here, right? Trevor thought and hoped. No one could have known of his mission other than the Archmagi Warwick, Commander Vestarr, Darien, and Damien. Suddenly, the bone that rolled to him rolled backward, and a loud clattering sound could be heard from the darkness behind him. When the noise stopped, Trevor heard footsteps rushing after him. From the darkness came a bonewalker animated from a Draconian body instead of a human's. It swung a greatsword of glass malakyte at Trevor, and he quickly dodged the attack. The Draconian bonewalker stood at twice his size, with the skull of a dragon, and it wore a suit of armor that was glass as well, which was one of the few materials a lightsword couldn't cut through.

Oh, I'm in big trouble, Trevor thought to himself. The Draconian bonewalker charged at Trevor again, swinging its glass greatsword. Trevor blocked the attack, but he heard the blade of his lightsword crack from the strength of the blow. He could barely keep the blade of glass from touching him, and he was terrified that his own blade would actually break. Trevor stepped from under the greatsword, spinning his lightsword. The bonewalker's sword slammed on the ground, then Trevor jumped over it, and sliced its skull off with his glowing blade. When he landed on the ground, he heard the Draconian bonewalker's skeleton collapse, with its bones and armor clattering on the ground.

Why did you come alive? Trevor thought to himself. The warriors in the catacombs seem to have been dormant for ten thousand years, and nothing could explain why they were coming back to life after all this time. The only answer was probably deeper in the crypts, or maybe in the armor that the Draconian and human bonewalkers wore. All he could do was bring it in to examine it. Trevor took out a small device called an inventory cube, then held it over the huge sword that the Draconian bonewalker used. When he pressed the small button on the side of the device, a blue light surrounded the glass greatsword, and it disappeared into the inventory cube. He did the same with the glass armor, then he went further into the dark catacombs. The aura of darkness grew stronger and stronger with every step Trevor took, with his lightsword as his only source of light. The eerie darkness gave him an uneasy feeling as he heard his armor-plated feet crunch against the bones that paved the path in front of him. Soon, he began to hear the ringing of blades echoing in the distance. The light of his blade revealed huge greataxes with black blades dangling like scissors from a rod on the ceiling that stood between him and another dragon door with a blood lock.

Well, Gunnar wasn't an idiot, but damn him for his paranoia, Trevor thought to himself. He couldn't blame his ancestor for not wanting intruders in his crypts, but he had no idea how he was going to get past the swinging blades. There was a dozen of them over a distance of twenty feet of corridor, and the Guardians' warping could only take them about half that distance. Maybe Gunnar Karvine foresaw that the Guardians would eventually adopt that ability.

How will I do this? Trevor asked himself. Maybe he could clash his lightsword with the black axes, but that would depend on how strong the swinging blades were. He had no choice other than to time himself as he ran through the blades. When the first blade swung upward, he rushed forward, just before it came down. Trevor flashed a blue light around himself and warped to the other side of the next one. He rolled forward past the next blade right as it swung downwards, and warped past the next one. Trevor lost track of how many times he repeated his roll-then-warp strategy, but when he saw that there were no more swinging blades in front of him, he was relieved.

Another blood lock, Trevor complained to himself, taking off his gauntlet. He cupped the palm of his hand on the sharp rock, and jerked it back again, drawing his blood. As he healed his hand, the dragon door opened. The aura of darkness was still present, but what awaited Trevor ahead wasn't dark at all. A bright cavern that was illuminated with the light of raw radiant malakyte on the ceiling acting as an artificial sun housed a massive fortress that was surrounded by a wide moat at the bottom of the cavern. Trevor was on a cliff that seemed to run along the walls of the cave, and then to a portcullis on the shore of the lake.

Did my ancestors really build this? Trevor wondered, with awe. The fortress in the center of the moat had thick walls, with four, tall towers, and a large keep in the center. It must have been meant to survive attacks from the largest armies in history, but when he saw ballistae and scorpions on the top of the towers, his thoughts changed. The fortress was meant to survive attacks from dragons, and it seems to have. The path on the cliff led all around the wall of the cave, stopping with a few tunnels, and slanting down as it went further around. It ended at the portcullis on the shore of the lake, but there was no bridge to take Trevor to the gates of the fortress.

I guess I'll have to find my own way inside, he thought to himself, though he thought another blood lock awaited him in the portcullis. He was growing rather tired of having to cut his hand. When he began to follow the path on the cliff, he suddenly sensed something else, another darkness rushing towards him, and a roar shook the whole cavern. A shadow flew over Trevor, and he looked up to see a nightmare. A drake flew around the fortress, spraying black fire from between its jaws. It looked small next to the castle, but it must have been sixty feet long, with a wingspan of twice that size. It wasn't a normal drake, though. It barely had any wing membrane, which created a wonder as to how it could stay in the air, with a lot of its flesh and black scales rotted off its body, hanging from its bones. It was a dracolich, sprawling at the top of one of the castle's towers on its four, huge legs, balancing itself with its long tail. Trevor had to find a way to sneak past the dracolich, but he found no other way than the tunnels that segmented the path on the cliff, and there was a lot of exposed path between them.

I'll have to go for it, Trevor admitted to himself. While the dracolich seemed distracted, he rushed for the first tunnel with all of his speed. He heard his boots clunking against the ground, echoing throughout the cavern as he reached the first tunnel. He pressed his back against the wall of the round tunnel as he heard another roar from the dracolich. He felt the undead drake's darkness pass right behind him as yet another roar shook the cavern. It must have been flying in circles around the fortress, looking for him.

Gods, it knows I'm here, Trevor thought, with dread. He had no idea of how he would get to the keep without going unnoticed. He couldn't. He had to just gun it at any risk of the dracolich finding him. Trevor crept to the end of the first tunnel and peeked outside. There were no bonewalkers, but the dracolich was still flying all around the castle and the cavern, looking for him.

Just go back to sleep, Trevor hoped, but the dead never slept.