Four Horsemen Book 5 - Old Histories: Chapter 18

Petor was the last to arrive at the command center. Passing through his third security check before he was allowed inside.

The room was tense with Mya over the map table. 

With a practiced gesture, she swept her hand across the surface. The magical display shifted, landscapes blurring until she settled on a specific location marked by a single indicator. Unlike Osola's section of the map which pulsed with magical activity, this area remained static.

"You can't be serious," Lianne's voice cut through the room's tense atmosphere.

Petor shot a look at Desari and Valter in question as he reached the table. Both shook their heads—they didn't know what was going on either.

"We need power, we need it quick and we know that there's a ton of power going through Draden's prison," Mya countered.

Lianne lowered her voice to a harsh whisper. "Because there are four dark gods drawing power from it! Its the most defended, cursed piece of water in Irdun."

"Good thing that most of their followers are right outside our little island here. How many do you think are at the prison? A hundred, two hundred? You think that they're going to have their best poking prisoners?" Mya asked.

"So you're going to poke the gods in the eye?" Joreck's voice was tired instead of worried—he'd already come to terms with the act.

"I'm not, he is," Mya pointed directly at Petor.

"Fuck," Petor muttered, his stomach clenching. "You know its not that pleasant to drain a god."

"So you really did kill a god?" Lianne's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Got essence and everything," Mya confirmed.

Under Lianne's scrutinizing gaze, Petor sighed. "Near as I can tell—yeah we killed a god."

Lianne's expression darkened as she looked back down at the map. "That sheds light on why Akem's nations backed away from the fight and their holy barriers started collapsing."

Petor turned to Valter. "Give me the planar gem. The power I'm pulling from the plants on the beach should give me enough to start charging it."

Valter pulled it out but Desari intercepted it and walked to the wall. "Can I have this torch?" She gestured to one mounted in a sconce.

"Uhh, sure?" Joreck replied.

She grabbed it—the metal flanges opened, and she fitted the planar gem to the torch's top, the flanges grasping onto the gem. Its circlets continued to rotate and weave around the gem.

Runes burned down the wooden shaft as she walked the torch mounted planar gem to Petor. "Here."

He took the torch.

"The torch will passively put mana into the gem, keep feeding the gem yourself directly. The wood and metal won't be able to stand up to the amount of power you're channeling through," Desari said. "Torch should make it a bit easier to carry around too."

"Thanks," Petor said, taking the newly assembled tool.

Petor gathered the energy flowing through him from the beach - a torrent of power from dying plants and fallen warriors. 

He channeled it carefully into the planar gem. It pulsed with the continuous application of mana. It was like trying to fill an ocean with a teacup.

Not filling this up anytime soon.

"As Lianne said, this place is being siphoned by four dark gods," Mya said. "Well the people within are being siphoned. If we reverse the flow like we did with Akem, we free the prisoners, drain the gods mana—maybe even kill them—and use it to fuel the gem."

"How do you know that you're going to kill the gods?" Lianne's question held a edge of skepticism.

Mya crossed her arms. "If these gods are like liches, then they need mana to sustain themselves. If we cut off their flow—like starving them—they destabilize. Their soul collapses, and their body goes with it."

Valter raised an eyebrow. "But not all gods are made entirely of mana. What if they have a physical form?"

"Then," Desari said coolly, "you destroy the vessel—the body—and leech their power. Without both, their soul won't have anything to tether to, and it collapses."

Petor turned the planar gem thoughtfully in his hands, frowning. "Do we know it'll actually collapse into nothingness? What if their souls just... go where all the other souls go?"

Mya shrugged, her expression grim. "We don't know. Honestly it doesn't really matter—if they can come back, we're going to be far away if they do return. Father than they can reach."

Petor grimaced and dropped his eyes to the map.

The dark waters on the map seemed to writhe and twist, even in the magical projection. Petor leaned closer. "Looks like a hole in the middle of the sea."

Mya activated a rune on the map and it zoomed in.

"The Prison is a two kilometer deep tower, only about twenty meters of that above the water. It is hollow in the middle, with a pillar of siphoned power that shoots up into the sky and to the dark gods. Prisoners are chained up within the tower, their power drained to the bottom to empower a ritual that sends it up into the realm of the gods," Mya said.

"The seas around it rotate counter clockwise—thirty meters away from the tower itself," Lianne picked up for where Mya stopped. "Bridges from the top of the tower reach out over the space between tower and sea so that ships might drop off people and supplies. Ships sit in the current that spins around the tower, keeping watch of the surroundings."

"The dark gods will do everything in their power to protect this location. You show up on the horizon they'll send abominations that lay dormant in the surrounding waters after you and call down the biggest storms they can come up with," Joreck said.

"And we're going right into the middle of that." Valter crossed his arms, assessing the map.

Desari leaned over the map, her sharp gaze fixed on the prison’s location. “What kind of security are we talking?”

Lianne sighed, stepping closer. “Cultists roam the place, constantly monitoring the prisoners. Then there are the abominations—twisted creatures of the depths, like the ones that attacked our shores. These are commanded directly by the dark gods themselves.”

"Don't they have anti-teleportation enchantments?" Valter asked.

"Anti-summoning so that other gods can't be called in," Lianne said. "We didn't know that teleportation or portals was a thing till you all showed up. Didn't know that there were other worlds and planes either—there are myths and rumors but I've never seen it."

"Less prominent on some worlds and especially the material world, its the root of the other planes," Desari said.

Mya turned to Desari. “The planar gem—when we use it, will it send out a wave of elemental mana?”

“I’ve gotten better control over it. There might be some leakage, but…” She looked to Petor.

“…you’re hoping I can absorb it before it trips any alarms,” Petor finished, giving her a pointed look.

“Precisely,” Desari said with a small nod.

"I love my job," Petor grumbled. Valter grinned the traitor.

Desari's eyes narrowed. “So, if we stay silent and invisible, how else can they detect us?”

Mya pointed to the map, her tone clipped and efficient. “The abominations. They don’t rely on sight. They see heat and use echolocation. They're connected directly to the dark gods. The moment they sense something wrong, their masters know.”

Petor shot Mya a curious glance. “You seem to know a lot about this.”

Before Mya could respond, Lianne cut in, her voice heavy with meaning. “Because Mya’s been planning to break out the people in that prison for nearly thirty years.”

Mya sighed, her shoulders dropping slightly as she looked around the table. “All the mana drained from the prisoners flows into the lowest level of the building, where the first prisoner is—Draden, the founder of the Mardun Traders.”

Her voice tightened with suppressed anger. “They drain him every second of every day. If he dies, he doesn’t even get to rest. The dark gods bind his soul to the same fate in the afterlife. He’s their eternal example—a warning to anyone who dares defy them.”

Valter broke the silence, his deep voice cutting through the tension. "So, we break out the prisoners. Then what?"

"Then we do what we did with Akem. Petor sticks the gods with the pointy end, drains every last drop of power from their immortal bodies, and we channel that power to fuel the planar gem. Teleport back here and then teleport everyone to Etera's Water Plane."

"Makes it sound almost simple," Desari said.

Mya turned to Lianne. "I'm going to need as many stamina and healing potions as you can spare. Also weapons melee should be enough."

Lianne nodded, her face grim, pale features set with determination. "You'll have them."

Valter said. "I'll have a look at seeing about modifying the armor we stripped from those champion juggernauts. I'll make secondary gear to render us invisible, silent and blend our heat signature into the surroundings."

"Othir is a pain in the ass to work with," Joreck said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Temperamental stuff."

"Don't worry our smith here's got a way with metal," Mya said, shooting Valter an approving look. Before her face turned into a scowl and she waved her finger at Joreck. "And don't you start thinking about all of the commissions you could get him to do!"

Joreck grimaced, caught in his merchant's calculations—clearly having his mind read.

Mya's lips curved into a faint smirk, though her eyes remained serious. "Alright well we've got a lot of work to do and quickly. Time's not on our side."

***

The storage warehouse is next to the docks then it spread into Osola's hidden bay were a scene of movement.

Carts were in constant motion, being organized, loaded and then sent across the island to keep the defenses supplied.

Shots that missed or skipped over the beach from the Irdun fleet, landed in the bay, sending up a spray of water.

Petor grimaced, he had the torch holding the planar gem strapped over his right shoulder, it had take some getting used to the spinning circlets next to his ear, but he kept flowing most of the power from the plants into the planar gem.

It was still weird having it all going on next to his head.

He devoted enough to the plants to keep them regenerating faster than was natural.

Petor sniffed the air and spotted several burnt out buildings.

"Champions tried to attack the warehouses—met the gun crews instead," Mya said before he could open his mouth.

Petor nodded—taking in the gun crews that were on the roofs, watching the warehouses and the surroundings.

Mya led the group—talking to the quarter master.

"We've Cleared out that section of the warehouse if you want to use that for your forge no one should bother you." The quartermaster pointed to the location.

" I got your request from land for the stamina and health potions you can find those on that rack over there." She pointed it out too.

"Thank you," Mya said. "Canteens?"

"Should be over there," The quarter master squinted and pointed at a rack filled with general items.

"Perfect, that should be everything."

The Quartermaster gave a quick nod before returning to her other duties.

I'll work with Valter on enchanting the armor," Desari said.

"Then that leaves two of us to go find the other supplies, good luck," Mya said.

Petor followed Mya through the racks over to where the canteens were.

"Why do we need canteens?" Petor asked.

"The prisoners are going to be in bad shape. They'll need help drinking it. Though we have rumors from the prison, we don't know what happens there really. Only the most loyal cultists are allowed there—and their most hated enemies." Mya said.

"You sure that some stamina and health potions are going to be enough?" Petor asked.

"I don't know but I know that I'd rathe give them a fighting chance—it may be the only one that they get," Mya said.

Petor felt a shiver run up his spine. To be locked away and have his power drained from him for eternity. Is that what it feels like to those I leech? Petor shook his head to derail his thoughts before they could go too far.

They reached the rack and Mya checked crates, before handing them to Petor who stored them away.

"That should be enough. We get this done quickly and we can help Desari and Valter with the gear," Mya said.

They moved through the racks, they were half empty with supplies being hauled out by the minute.

Valter and Desari had stripped the juggernauts of their armor a set infront of them inside Valter's unfolded silver-anvil forge. 

Petor saw them break apart, Valter to the hearth itself—Desari to the workspace.

He and Mya reached the racks containing potions, gun crews watched over the area as people hauled the crates away.

"Grab half of the crates, store them—then we'll go to a quiet corner and fill the canteens with the potion—I'll do health potions, you do stamina. Label the canteens so we don't mess them up. We'll have other things to worry about when we need to use them."

"Right," Petor nodded.

***

Petor took the torch-mounted planar gem and placed it on the table with bracelets and started stripping off his armor to replace it with the new armor upon a mannequin—it was Kalvor's set.

Mya and Desari finished up swapping out the Dimantium plates with the upgraded Othir version.

Valter looked worn and tired.

I'd probably look the same way if I had to rip my soul out of a set of armor and put it into another.

Valter had altered the juggernaut sets of armor to hold his broken soul—his old sets of amor were torn up and battered from fighting the champions.

The four sets stood off to the side, each armed with a melee weapon—also claimed from the juggernauts and altered.

"Alright, that's the last of it," Valter finished with a leg bracer and lifted it from the anvil. He was wearing a set of juggernaut armor he'd modified. He handed the leg bracer to Petor and then injected mana into the silver anvil emblem of his forge. Around them the forge folded back in on itself, leaving a table with bracelets atop it and the armor mannequin. Petor replaced his leg bracer with the one Valter had given him and gestured at the mannequin.

"Alright, what's this all mean?" Petor asked.

Famine’s Mythical Armor

Description: Modified by Death for Famine, one of the Four Horsemen.

Grade: Low-Mythical

Innate Characteristics: Mana Absorption, Spell Amplification

Enchantments: 1. Regenerating barrier 2. Healing 3. Vanguard

"So they didn't have a good enough Smith to turn it into a mid mythical or high mythical. I didn't really change anything about the armor other than adjusting its sizing to fit you and removing it draw upon a God's power and making it draw from your power instead," Valter said. "It will increase your natural absorption of mana it will also increase the effect of your spells. You have three enchantments. One will create a barrier that will run off of eighty percent of the power stored within the armor. A healing enchantment will keep you in top shape when you activate it. It used to be passive, but I made it require a command. Vanguard is a short-term ability which will increase your overall physical and mental attributes. Though you'll pay for it afterwards."

The forge folded into its boxed form, Valter waved his hand and stored it away.

"Chain vanguard with the healing?" Petor said as he finished changing out the leg armor and grabbed the breastplate.

"That's what I would do," Valter nodded. 

"And we got the cut up shields," Desari said.

"Oh, lovely," Mya replied.

"The shields were thicker than the armor and you both use plates that you insert into your clothing," Valter said, not rising to the bait.

Mya and Desari quirked smiles at one another as Petor kept getting armored up.

"Your plates will naturally reduce the amount of impact of whatever hits you. The armor will naturally draw in mana to regenerate itself and passively increase your regeneration. Both of you have the Regenerating barrier that will run off of the mana stored in your armor and you can also draw upon that personally ot increase your personal mana pool. Desari I wasn't able to alter the metal, but I added in an enchantment that will buff your elemental spells. Mya you have vanguard like Petor so you'll be able to move and think faster—though it comes with side effects."

Desari helped Petor and cinched the straps for  his breastplate tight.

He gave her a nod of thanks.

"The bracelets that we were working on are able to block the echolocation—keep us silent and invisible," Desari said. She picked up two and handed them to Petor.

"Thanks."

She tossed the others to Valter and Mya respectively. 

The others disappeared as they put on their bracelets.

Petor put his on and saw the other three.

Valter held up his crystal. Petor powered his in his breast pocket.

"Can only talk through the crystal and see one another. No one else can see us," Valter said as Desari cast her spells upon them.

"And now no one can hear us," Desari said.

Valter stored his other sets of armor away.

"Just to be safe, don't go casting spells once we get inside the prison—until you have to," Mya said.

Petor could read the nervousness that seemed to roll off of her as he pulled on his helmet.

"Ready Petor?" Desari asked as she picked up the planar gem.

“All right. Let’s go break into a prison," Mya said.

Everyone drew their weapons as Desari held up cores, the power flowing into the planar gem—turning them to dust.

Petor shifted in his armor and let out a breath, readying himself.

She activated the planar gem—color turning monotone—then blinding.