Aftermath

Chapter 15: But You Won't

Ingressus goes into the Nether and finds Achillean in a mess and the Knights arrive at Mt Velgrin to retrieve the Tidesinger only to find that someone has beaten them to it. When Ingressus wants to make a move, he is halted at the gate and is left defenseless as he is challenged for the first time since his arrival. The Knights want the Tidesinger and they won't back down so easily

Author's note: (totally not yoinking canon lines in here or anything...)

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The Knights had scoured the perimeter of Mt Velgrin searching for any signs of a Nether portal that would lead them to the Tidesinger. They had split into teams to cover more ground, each team combined with a few of the Felden forces to protect them while they looked. Hours of fruitless searching had passed, and they grew tired of staring at equations with no solutions and they all met up again at the foot of the mountain to think of what to do next.

"You don't think the Voltaris were smart enough to build the portal at the summit?" Grek remarked, scratching his head again.

"The Voltaris may be evil but they aren't dumb. It's our last and only reasonable option, short of sitting and hoping one magically appears before our eyes. We have to get up there," Hubris sighed.

"Then we need to make sure that our asses are covered," Ria asserted. She pointed to a group of forces from the Felden army. "You are going to stay here. No-one comes up this mountain until we come back down here with the Tidesinger, understood?"

The group saluted and created a secure formation at the foot of the path that would allow them to see, from all angles, anyone going up or coming down the mountain. They were not budging for anyone, no matter what. They held their shields in front of them securely and their spears were at the ready for anything. This made Ria smile – the Knights had form, and nothing was going to stop them. Everyone else began the ascent to the top of the mountain, small groups of Felden soldiers stopping at regular intervals to secure the pathway until they hit the peak and Onyx ground them all to a halt.

"Footprints..." he whispered pointing at the fresh set of footprints that lay in the snow. "Someone has already been here..."

They all looked to the portal and saw it glowing in a powerful purple aura, swaying like water. They stood in awe at the size of it – the biggest Nether portal that they had ever seen. It had stood powerful against time for so long – the Voltaris had been thorough in their efforts to protect it for all the time they had been planning. It hummed lowly as the entrance waved, alive, the formation rolling and overlapping the different shades of indigo and violet, contrasting the pale white snow around them, as if waiting for its final use.

"It has already been activated... Someone must have just gone through it..." Senn acknowledged the footprints in the snow and realised that they were not alone on the mountain. "That's only one set of footprints and only in one direction – whoever just went in has yet to come back out..."

The Knights couldn't comprehend who could have gone through the Nether portal as it could be anyone, for all they knew. If they stuck around, they were at the mercy of whoever would return through, be it them alone or whether they had gone in there to summon an army. They feared that it could be the Nether King Pythus, himself, at they were merely there to witness the uprising in its early stages, powerless to do anything.

Nonetheless, they insisted that they stood their ground and waited.

"We can't go in there after them. We will have to wait for them." Ria clenched her fists in anticipation. "Fan out!" she commanded. "And stay hidden until I say! We must be ready to either fight or run in. Do not take your eyes off that portal."