NBB2 - The chaos rifts - chapter 36

"No! You stay back and coordinate the defense!" Solus roared at Drys as he jumped through the city without holding back. Buildings crumbled in his wake, undead fled in panic. It didn't matter. He could fix that later.

Drys flew beside him, moving as fast as he could. "Are you sure? If that thing has any abilities you can't resist, what will you do?"

"I'll be there!" Tirella shouted as she jumped up beside them.

Drys finally gave in as they jumped across the wall. He hung back, his projected voice following them as they sprinted across the wasteland before Skulltown.

"Alright! If you get another mana-core and go down, will the rifts close?"

"The rifts won't close! They just won't be able to grow any bigger! After we go down, you have to close them yourself, as I explained. I'll try and close this one if I can, but I don't know how much time I have left."

"Alright. I'll begin discussing with Borl and Sam to find a way to close the rifts faster!"

Solus nodded, remembered Drys couldn't see him anymore, and projected back.

"Good idea. But hurry!"

Then he focused on increasing his speed. Using the earth to propel himself forward, he was impressed to see how quickly Tirela copied his technique.

"Another one is coming through!" Tirela shouted at him.

Looking ahead, Solus saw a second massive Kaot try and force its way through the portal. Just its head and shoulders fit, but it wouldn't take a long time before it would be shoved through.

"We need to stop it!" Solus roared back.

When they reached the foot of the hills, they lost their view of the Kaot Lord and the rift, and Solus hurried up. Halfway up, explosions and high-pitched screeching rang from above, followed by an angry roar. He recognized that immediately, it was Norg, and he was furious.

As he and Tirella jumped across the last hill, they saw the Kaot strike at a quickly dodging Norg. Every time the Kaot failed to hit him, Norg turned and slashed at it from far away. Long green lines of energy flew from his nails, slamming into the Kaot. They only left scratches but seemed to infuriate the Kaot.

Where is Vingria? Solus thought as he jumped across the last distance.

"Someone is trying to stop the other one from coming through!" Tirella shouted, and Solus looked at the rift.

Vingria stood there, slamming a massive stone boulder against the Kaot that was trying to climb out. Every time it got a foot on the ground, she would ram it back in a bit. Still, the boulder was starting to crack and break.

"I'll go and help the other one. You go and close that rift!" Tirella shouted as she landed not too far from where Norg was standing.

Solus took one look at Norg and nodded. The other had battle frenzy on his mind, his eyes solely on the large Kaot as he slashed again and again. Jumping towards the rift, Solus landed beside Vingria. He immediately solidified the boulder she was holding, hollowing it out in the middle to thicken the outside.

"What took you?" Vingria yelled, slamming the boulder into the Kaots face.

Solus stepped forward, his mana-field blazing outward, enveloping the rift.

"This isn't the time to show off! Why don't you shove this guy back?"

Ignoring the other, Solus felt an unknown resistance as he tried to close the rift. It felt as if something was pushing back, hard. Growling, he summoned a stone tendril, the tip as dense as he could make it, and stabbed at the Kaot. The tip pierced into its chest, but only partially.

He created more and more tendrils, but none got further in than a hand length.

We need to push it back, Solus thought.

"Back up!" Solus said before sucking in air. When he saw Vingria had jumped out of the way, he roared at the Kaot as it tried to struggle through the slowly expanding rift. A massive funnel of shimmering air struck it in the middle of its gaping maw, shoving it back.

Vingria began cheering but stopped when Solus was out of breath, while the Kaot was still partially sticking out.

"Again!" Vingria shouted, and Solus took a deep breath, roaring again. It took four full roars, leaving him dizzy before he managed to push the last part of the Kaot back through. He immediately focused on his mana-field.

After a short moment of struggling against the other thing beyond the rift,  the rift shuddered and began shrinking. It was slow going, and after a few seconds, a massive claw shot through it.

Solus barely managed to dodge to the side. A loud, startled cry behind him caused him to spin around. The hand had grabbed Vingria by her leg, heaving her up in the air and slamming her on the ground.

Solus cursed, grabbed his hammer, and jumped atop the massive arm. He slammed the hammer down at the elbow joint, but it just bounced off, barely leaving a mark. As the arm snapped up and down, he was hurled off and slammed into to ground nearby. Quickly struggling up, he saw Vingria was barely flailing now, her eyes closed.

He snarled and summoned stone tendrils from the earth and tried to lock the arm in place. It seemed to hold for a second, then the arm slammed Vingria into the ground again, and the stone just cracked and fell away.

Vingria stopped moving as she was dangling from the hand and limply slammed into the ground again and again.

Cursing himself for being slow-minded, Solus retracted the ground below her impact point. The stone groaned and cracked as it shrunk down, and the arm uselessly flung her in the air a few times. Then it stopped and tossed Vingria away before searching around.

Solus backed up, out of reach of the arm. He took a quick look at Vingria but knew he didn't have the time to check up on her. He needed that thing to get out, or he couldn't close the rift!

A loud gong from the city made him roar in anger as he turned. What was it now?

Dozens of white flying dots hung above the hills at the other side of the valley in which Skulltown lay. A massive stream of running and jumping figures was rushing down. In the lead was a yellowish figure, jumping far and high as he quickly outpaced the army.

"Uran…" Solus muttered in confusion. Somehow, he had the feeling the ancient skeleton wasn't here to help them out.

Jumping away from the portal, he sucked in a deep breath as he stared at the distant figure. Not using his skill this time, he just roared as loud as he could.

"Uran, get over here if you want a mana-core!"

The yellow skeleton stopped jumping and looked towards him. A moment later, the army behind him slowed down, and the yellow dot sprinted towards Solus, six of the flying things above him.

Thinking of Vingria, Solus quickly looked at her mangled, unmoving body lying halfway down the hill. With Uran heading this way, things were bound to become even more dangerous, and he needed to make sure she wasn't caught in any crossfire. Norg would be too sad if anything happened to her. The ground below Vingria flattened, forming a square surface before lowering into the ground, and the stone closed above her. He had left a few holes in it, so she would know how to get out when she woke up. If she woke up.

Pushing his worry away, Solus turned back to the arm that was still flailing around, searching for something to attack. He tried binding it a few times, but it was far too powerful, so he waited for Uran.

He didn't have to wait too long, and the immense Skeletals arrival was paired with a massive boom as he landed not too far from solus. The flying monstrosities began circling above them, and a single look at them caused a word to pop up in Solus' head. Dragons. With it came a host of images and concepts that caused him to groan in worry.

"Give me that mana-core, or I'll return your ugly city to the rubble it was!" Uran growled, staring at him with clasping hands.

Solus pointed at the arm behind him. "That thing will come through if we don't stop it. When it does, it will destroy everything on this planet, you included!"

Uran turned his yellow skull to the arm before a derisive grunt followed. "I don't believe you. It's just some overgrown Kaot that I'll destroy if it does manage to come through."

Solus blinked, looking at Uran before barking a laugh. The whole idea of Uran trying to rip apart the immensely powerful Kaot Lord that was trying to force its way through the gate seemed far too funny. The hilarity lasted only a moment, and then he stopped and smiled at Uran.

"If you can rip apart that arm, I will gladly give you the mana-core!" He said, almost breaking out laughing again.

Uran was quiet for a bit, and then he laughed too. But his laugh was crazed. "Ahhh, young one, you know so little of true strength! Fine, let me demonstrate!"

Uran jumped forward,  landed on the arm, and slammed his massive fists down on top. When they struck, they glowed with dim yellow light, and the skin on the arm began bubbling. The flailing, grasping arm froze as a bone snapped in one finger, sharp-edged bone sticking through the skin. Uran laughed again.

"See? Flesh is weak! There is only power in-"

Uran's words were cut short as the arm drew back and rotated in one abrupt motion, palm up. Uran landed in the middle, and immediately the fingers clamped shut. Uran roared and struggled as he was squished in an awkward position.

Solus cursed. Uran was annoying, smashed anything he came across, and tried to lord over all of the undead. But still, even he wouldn't try and destroy the world as the Kaot Lord would. Stone shot up from the ground, flowing between the fingers and between the body of Uran. Then it expanded, trying to counter the crushing force of the fingers. It shattered immediately, stone dust falling to the ground. Knowing that the stone, no matter how dense he made it, would crumble immediately, Solus stepped back.

Above his head, screams came from the skeletal dragons as they dove down in aid of Uran. Green bursts of fiery flame struck the arm, causing small blisters to appear. Purple tentacles burst from the fingertips, some scalding Uran in the process, and reached for the dragons. Fast, and nimble they grabbed the flying undead almost immediately, wrapping around them constricting. A soft crunch came, and then the dragons were crushed to bone debris and dust.

Solus felt a shiver of fear run through him as he saw the ease with which the tentacles destroyed the massive things.

Focusing, he drew one of the crystalline sub-components from the stone below his feet. Thin streams of yellow, translucent crystal came from the ground, pooling together at his feet until it was the size of his torso. Then it shot in the form of tendrils towards the hand, wrapping around Uran. Cracks appeared in the yellow crystal but much slower than with the stone, and Solus increased its density as much as he could. He felt his mana drain away exponentially.

"Do something, you ancient fool!" he roared, looking around for some other way to free Uran.

"What does it look like I'm doing?!" Uran's projected voice rumbled back, and Solus saw a glow emanate from the struggling undead.  A moment later, another of the Kaot Lord's fingers snapped up and away from the hand, forced in an odd angle by the bone within.

A crack followed as part of the yellow shell that Solus was using to protect Uran broke. The fingers of the immense hand curled tighter around the skeleton, and Uran's left arm snapped.

"Get me out of here!" Uran screamed. Solus was about to ask how when the claw pulled back through the portal and disappeared, taking Uran with it.

Solus stared dumbly at the empty rift, realizing that Uran was gone.

After a moment, the sounds of fighting still coming from Tirella and Norg jogged him awake. The rift was empty,  but the danger was not gone. He summoned his mana-field and stepped closer to the rift, trying to close it as fast he could. He hoped that Uran could slow down the Kaot Lord trying to get through, although remembering the power difference, he knew it was unlikely.

There was less resistance this time, and he managed to shrink the portal until it was almost as large as he was before something came through again.

A yellow skull flew out of the crawling blackness, bounced on the ground far below before rolling to the side. Looking at it, Solus sighed and continued to close the rift when a long black finger suddenly jabbed through. Blocked from closing the rift, he jumped back when a purple tentacle lashed out from the finger. It flailed around, passing above Solus' head a few times. After waving around a dozen times, the tentacle withdrew, and the finger softly wagged from left to right as if in some silent rebuttal.

Unsure what it was supposed to mean, Solus kept his distance until the finger withdrew. As soon as it did, he jumped forward and started closing the rift again. When it was the size of his head, a small thing flew through. He didn't pay attention, focused on closing the last part of it. It cost him a great deal of mana, and when it finally closed, he felt a mixture of victory and loss.

Looking around for the thing that had been tossed through, he saw it lie on the ground not too far off. It was a mana-orb, mostly drained with only a flicker of energy still inside. Solus picked it up and looked at it.

Uran, he thought as his mind wandered off while staring at the mana-orb. He shook his head and shoving the mana-orb inside one of his waist pouches.

He turned and examined Uran's army, which was still standing at the ready. Someone would need to deal with those later. Probably not him, though. Turning to the sounds of battle from behind one of the hills, he jumped across it in one leap. Tirella was wielding two massive stone clubs, slamming them down atop the struggling shape of the Kaot. Long gashes covered her body, one passing dangerously close to one of her eyes.

Not too far off, Norg lay on the ground, unmoving.

"Norg!" Solus roared, and he glared at the Kaot. Jumping forward, he landed beside the tottering Kaot, and rammed his green hammer against its head. The Kaot shuddered, taking another sidestep on it's multiple legs and Solus hit it again. Tirela joined him, and together they pounded the struggling form.

It took minutes before it stopped moving, and when it did, Solus immediately ripped open its skull. Inside was another angular mana-core, covered in purple grey mucus. Touching it carefully, he felt none of the black, disgusting stuff that the kaot-orbs had.

"We need to hurry. If more of these rifts are forming at other places, those enormous things might pass through without someone to stop them!" Tirela said, her breathing heavy and labored.

Solus nodded, realizing what that meant. He would need to go, sit below the ground without his friends, for perhaps a thousand years? A wave of fear and despair flowed through him. Maybe he would never see Norg or Drys again.

A hand gripped his shoulder, and he felt a wave of calm flow into him from it. Looking up, he saw Tirela smile at him.

"Don't worry so much! If you don't go, they will all be destroyed, and you won't see them again either!"

Solus sighed and nodded before moving towards Norg.

"Give me a moment," he said as he flipped the undead over. The side of Norg's face was almost destroyed, his eye socket crushed, and his normally jutting jaw stood at an odd angle. Solus automatically searched in his waist armor for a mana-orb. There was only one. Drawing out Uran's orb, dull, dim, and almost drained, Solus grimaced. At least the ancient yellow skeleton could do one good thing.

Pressing the mana-orb in Norg's hand, he waited until the orb began glowing. It wouldn't be enough to repair Norg completely, but it should be enough to wake him. Behind him, Tirela was watching. He could feel her impatience, but he didn't want to rush. Instead, he looked up at the sky. The sun, already low in the sky, seemed more beautiful than he remembered. He could see some of the stars already, vague but visible.

Looking at Skulltown, he wished he could repair it, fix it.

"Perhaps you can? Who is to say what we can or can't do when we are down there?" Tirella said, moving towards him.

Solus didn't respond but handed the mana-core he just got to Tirela. Then he grabbed the other from his waist, dismissing the now no longer needed large container.

Tirela's mana-field burst into existence, wrapping itself around the mana-core, and Solus quickly followed her example.

The moment his mana-field touched the mana-core, it shuddered. Instead of the familiar surge of energy that mana-orbs gave, the energy in the mana-core began changing his very mana-field. Symbols started vibrating, while others seemed to disintegrate to be replaced by something that came from the mana-core.

"This will take a while. We had better start going down," he said, taking a last look at Skulltown and Norg.

A stone square formed below them, and they shot down, the stone closing above them.

Norg's unmoving shape remained behind.

--

Standing atop the walls of Skulltown, Drys looked into the distance. His sharp eyes had been able to make out part of what had happened.

"He is gone…" he said, turning to the others. Skull stood beside a group of Blackguards, and behind them stood various skeletal and zombie mages. To the side stood Borl, carrying the sphere that held Sam.

"That means we are on our own from now until the foreseeable future. If they succeed, the rifts should not grow anymore, but we will still need to close those that have opened."

Drys turned to Skull.

"Do you remember Tatjie and Derin?"

"Me remember!" Skull said, bobbing his head up and down.

"They went to search for Galg at the school and haven't come back yet. Go and see what is taking them so long," Drys said before turning to one of the Blackguards.

"Go outside and gather Vingria and Norg. Bring them to the pattern hall."

The Blackguard nodded and ran off. Drys didn't wait, turning to those that remained.

"Go to Uran's army and explain that he is no more. Tell them they can either join us or head back to Realdeep. But whatever they do, they must close all rifts they find. They probably don't know how to. Explain it to them."

One of the Blackguards stepped forward. "What if they attack?"

Drys thought for a moment before replying. "Without Uran, they are no match for us. If they attack, come back, and we will end them."

The Blackguard nodded, and he and the others moved away together with the mages. Now alone on the wall with Borl and Sam, Drys sighed.

Borl stepped closer.

"Don't worry. We will be fine! You have me, and Sam!" Laughing, Borl made as if to pat Drys on the shoulder. He stopped when the other glared at him.

"I know. But I can't shake the feeling that we've forgotten something. Something important."

"What?" Borl asked, cocking his head.

"If only I knew…" Drys groaned as he stared at the spot Solus and Tirela had disappeared.

--

A scream of utter rage echoed down from the mountains.

Domain stood in front of the rift, staring at the small portal, back to the world he was made on. Grasping the edges, he tried tearing it open, but it barely even shivered. He wasn't strong enough!

Thudding from behind made him swirl around. A host of tentacled Kaot Lords came running towards him, shattering stone and boulders in their path.

"Noooo!" Domain howled. He slammed his fists beside the portal, creating a massive pit below it before turning away and rushing down the mountain. He would find another body, a Kaot Lord, anything that would allow him to open that rift wider so he could pass through.

Far away on the mountain, hiding in a crack, a shape followed Domain's every move. As soon as he ran, the shape shot forward, and Sumil sprinted towards the rift. She took a single look at the pit, four times as deep as she was tall, and the rift hovering above.

Great. Now how am I going to get back?