THE FARAWAY LANDS OF OZ - Book One

Part Seven, Chapter Thirty-Six: The Last Amethyst

THE SEEKER

She was relentless. A force that I had not seen since Miraak. A force even greater than him. It took her only a stomp of her staff to take us all. The battle was bloody yet if we had not halted her, my friends never would have stood a chance against the Morningstar with the lady helping him.
The Overlord was taken out with only one blow. The way her crystals shot into his chest, through the enchanted armor, and impaled him from within. He was dead within seconds, and she killed him without batting an eye.
The Whispmother took the safer approach: She left me to fend for myself. I did not blame her though. She was the protector of Oz's entire sea. I was merely a guest. Yet I was able to resist her; the Thu'um protected me from her magic. She took me instead, enclosing me in a purple crystal that left me conscious but also sent me to sleep.
I was only able to filter one thing from her thoughts. She knew how to block them from sight. A name. Her name: Sapphira.

*

SAPPHIRA

Their efforts to defy the Morningstar are foolish. Brave. But foolish. That they think they stand a chance against a force like him is laughable even. In the almost three thousand years that I have roamed this living world, I have never seen something as adorable as their petty efforts. He had visited me. He had warned me against it. And if I hadn't asked him for this tiny favor of scaring them, I would have had to deal with more than just two Sovereign and their Magick pet.
Their visit was a rock in the current, yet no unwelcome one. I had no contact with the outside world for sixty years, the practice was just what I needed for facing the queen herself. The initial visit of the Morningstar. His final blow that will finally break her for good before he reveals himself and strikes her down for good.
He came to tell me that he would extract her from the pocket realm and send her to the Last Amethyst. A little thing to lure the rest of her family in before the Morningstar himself can come to do the deed. I don't care about any of that. As long as my own plans can come to fruition. I have waited sixty years for this. If anything comes between me and her – even if it's the Morningstar himself – I will not hesitate to strike and get what I deserve.
Now, I was waiting for him to do what he must and for the queen to arrive in my beautiful realm. The sky was as stormy as ever. The dusty floor was wet from the acid rain that had poured down earlier today, with the break of the mist wall. Purple lightning crashed down from the anthracite clouds, hitting the amethyst crystals that grew here like trees and shrubs. Hollows escaped the lightning whenever that happened: lost souls having nowhere to go.
The Purple Cairn was the most beautiful part of the Borderlands. To most people, the Orange Peak's high tabletop mountains and deep canyons were the appealing bit. To some, it was the Crimson Plains' thick forests and luscious meadows, but my heart lay with the Purple Cairn.
I had wanted to take care of it ever since I laid eyes upon it sixty years ago. It took creating the Borderlands and wiping out an entire nation's – past and present – memories and historical records for me to achieve that. All things that never would have happened if she had not betrayed me as she did. An act that drained my energy so much that I had to rest for the past half-decade.
This will all come to an end now though. The Morningstar came to me earlier this year, offering up his help if I took care of some things for him in return. He assured me that his own plan will only work when mine does, promising me success. I almost failed to notice the contrasting green lightning that crashed down a little to my right and almost walked past my new guest.
"May I assist you, ma'am?" I asked her. She looked younger than I remembered her to be yet worn and toughened up. Her skin was dry, her muscles defined and her hair unkempt. The Big Red had truly given her a handful to deal with. But it was his pathetic failure that led the Morningstar to act and force me to right the wrongs.
I had my hand stretched out to her which she slapped away without even issuing a single word. Observing how she used to be when first entering the pocket realm, I'd say that the Morningstar had achieved his goal of breaking her. Despite plans not going as they should and as was originally the idea. This pocket realm was our unforeseeable solution.
"Where am I?" The queen snapped and fought herself to her feet. I had to hold back a laugh. She may not look like a queen, but she acted exactly like one you see from fairytales. Bossy and unpersonal.
"I would be happy about a name first before I introduce you to my kingdom," I merely replied, and her reaction was almost more amusing than the one beforehand.
"Listen here, woman: I have been through all sorts of shit recently, to hell and back most literally and I don't have the nerve to argue with some purple freak with a funny stick."
I raised my head, acting back proud and hurt. "Well, if you cannot give me something as simple as a simple name, I am afraid I cannot allow myself to assist you in your peril."
I turned around and walked away, managing to do so for a short bit before I was forced to stop by a loud 'Hey!'. When I ignored it, I heard it crackle behind me. The flash of green had not been an attempted warning shot but a supposed killing blow.
My own crystals shot from the ground, building a barrier behind me and protecting me from the green bolt of lightning. It exploded and forced my barrier to burst. The crystals were now sparkling with green, being charged by her powers. I collected the shards in the air, still without turning to face her, shooting those towards her but not even once hitting her. If I kill her, the Morningstar will do the same to me.
"Fine. If you want to have it your way, I'm glad to play along..." I raised my staff just a couple of inches off the ground before letting go of it again. It released a wave of brightly glowing crystals that caught the queen by surprise, forcing her to jump out of the way.
She caught herself though and the lightning that she thought would surprise me in return was nothing at all. I held my staff in its way and absorbed it with it. "It was you, wasn't it?" She finally talked more reasonably again, still not leaving me any room for a reply, "The one who provided my crystal prison to Lucifer."
My laugh finally escaped me and I had no control over it, "How perceptive. Yes, it was me. And you would have stayed in it a little longer if the Morningstar had not decided to preliminarily release you. Yet his plans have taken a different turn..."
I saw her eyes widen and her shoulders drop. I do not know what happened during her time in the pocket realm, the Morningstar only told me that she was finally broken. Yet her reaction hints that he has been dropping clues to her for a little while. I could barely hold back another laugh. "Well, apparently you know the drill then."

She was easy prey in her state of shock, only noticing the same crystal prison when it was already too late. The magic began to enclose her, the resistance that came from her accelerating the process. "it's just for transportation purposes. The Last Amethyst holds magic far more capable of keeping you where I need you to be."
With another clank of my staff, I had the crystal transported to my dungeon. I would have to settle her in properly in just a bit. The Morningstar had requested a call when I captured her. I took the little disk out of the deep pocket of my flowing anthracite robe. It was almost one with sky. I tossed it into the air, where it extended several spider-like legs before the holographic red image of the Morningstar appeared before me.
"You call?" His monotonous and proud voice was his trademark. The most unnerving thing about him was the mask hiding his face. An expressionless porcelain mask under a white hood.
"She arrived and is in custody, my Morningstar."
It is below me to call him like that. As if a student addresses their master. I am thousands of years older than him and by far more powerful. The only one to exceed my skills is my sister. That wretched bitch. I am doing all of this bullshit just to see her die in my hand.
Yet it's the Morningstar's assets that make him so frightening. The child that he has with him is something more than just a Magick. There was a moment of silence for him.
"You never cease to disappoint, Sapphira..." Was all that he said for yet another while. If it was anyone else, I would have inquired further. And I was debating whether to do so but he continued, and I was saved an embarrassment.
"Await further orders. Her family should catch the bait. And the person you have been waiting for all this time as well. Our plans are working out just fine. You may now reveal yourself to the remaining country."
Something that I have been waiting for longer than I originally intended to.

*

ZION

We found him only yesterday. The impact of death was visible to everyone. Preparations for the Magick's Honor were underway, and we had moved our base of operation back to the Emerald City. Now, I was taking the early shift, watching the mist and the Borderlands. Several Winkie Guards were stationed along with me, placed at regular distances so we covered the entire border.
It was my first shift watching. Aureliu had taken the night and he had described it as uneventful as I was now perceiving the last seven hours to be. But we were still two Sovereign short and I had volunteered to get them back. If one could only cross through the mist, I would have been a hundred steps further.
And as if this treacherous-looking magic had heard what I was thinking, it began to stir and gurgle, menacingly announcing danger. Like a good burp, it spat out the Whispmother, who shot out of the mist in a high arch, landing before my feet.
I hurried over to her, flipping her to her back so she could face me. She was deformed: cuts and bruises sprinkled on her face and injuries that looked like broken bones had spread over her body and limbs. She was panting and breathing very shallowly and heavily.
"Run! Flee! Leave me here!" Her words were raspy, and she had to grasp for air after every other word. "She is coming. She will take revenge. Oz's doom is knocking on the door!"
I did not even hesitate. The thought of leaving anyone behind was nothing that would even dare to knock on my head, asking for permission to enter my brain. I extended my arms, picturing the stationed Winkies, sending a rift to each of their positions. I formed a portal in front of us as well. The Emerald City came to my mind next and materialized before my mind's eye, forming the exit.
Just in time, for when I helped the Whispmother through, I could see the mist break shape and begin to flow down and towards us like a tsunami of magic. To hear the Whispmother herself say that Oz is doomed let me know that we had something coming for us. Something more than what we have ever faced before...