Ether and Abyss

Chapter 5: Forged

Eerily, the whole citadel was silent, the only sound the whistling of wind through the broken roof. Crimson and blue carpeting split the center of the building, with beige stone benches lining either side between pillars inscribed with glyphs and pictures that evaded Artemis's understanding. She pulled her mask up over her lips, gripping the blade with both hands and holding it above her shoulders, pacing forward with gentle steps. Instead of any altar, another archway much similar to the ones on the bridge lay almost formed into the overgrown walls, looking oddly untouched and timeless, like a pocket in time. Luna sat with her head bowed on the carpet before the raised platform holding the archway, and Artemis placed a hand upon her scales, the drake's eyes seeming oddly open for once. Then, she stepped up to the gateway.
Whispers split the air,
Thine gates be guard
By Aegis dark and deathless
And quell thou charge, relentless, hard
Lest the Chaos sweep to the plane of man.
What did that mean? Aegis? Artemis stepped to the archway, running a hand over the side. Like a miracle, Artemis felt a sonic wave echo through her body, and she flew back to the carpet, landing with a tumble on the floor as her vision swam.

*****

Seif was fighting another giant, this one a long, wiry being with a single ruby eye for a face. It swung its long arms, and Seif rolled under them, finding its legs, which were cracked and lined like tree bark. He stabbed his greatsword hilt deep through its left knee, and it roared, stomping it's good leg and shaking the sword free. Seif dove and caught it as it clattered to the ground, sliding to his feet. But he noticed something behind the giant. The gate was swirling, towering up like a tornado. Additionally, the giant seemed drawn to it, stumbling back into it with hesitation, and it groaned. Seif knew what this was. Freedom.
He made an unwise decision. The Aegis charged, sword upside down in his hand and behind him, then leaped greatly, stabbing the blade into the giant's chest. Despite the beast's size, it fell back with the impact, and both beast and Titan went tumbling through the Abyss Gate. Home.

*****

Groaning, Artemis got to her feet and recovered her blade, and just in time as the archway buckled and groaned, before the two things tumbled down the risen platform of the archway.
Artemis had to adjust her eyes to understand what these things were.
From where Artemis stood on the carpet about a yard or two away from the gateway, the first thing she noted was the black wall crashing down toward her, two arms about the size of boat masts flailing slowly. Artemis teleported once again, this time with noticeably better recover, between two of the columns. Luna was on the other side, darting up to the top of the column to hide. Smart drake.
With a thud that jarred the teeth within her skull, the giant landed on the ground, with a crouched glittering shape on the center of the chest. She didn't have time to figure out who or what the thing was before the giant groaned, swinging out an arm and toppling a nearby column. Artemis dove, which was a mistake, as she rolled close enough to the giant's tree-bark skin that she could feel the heat of its skin. Its arm attempted to swipe at the thing on its chest, but just then the glittering thing-it was a person, she noticed-leaped above the sweep of the arm, severing it so that the big, lanky limb tumbled over the single eye of the strange giant. With one final groan, the giant died, its body slowly dissolving into a weird shadowy essence. The figure leaped to the ground, just in front of Artemis. Her breathing ceased. Whoever it was, the form of the armor was obviously made for a male, and the helmet had a visor over it. Made of a silvery metal, a tawny cloak was wrapped around the neck of the armor, and draped back to the man's mid-thigh. He wielded a black and silver greatsword, and a long shield was attached to his arm as well. Rising, the man was a little bit above Artemis's eye level, and breathed inaudibly inside his helmet.
Artemis did nothing, and the man stepped back, providing a few yards of space between them, the blackened carpet between them. He one-handed his sword and bowed low, his sword hand down near his ankle. Likewise, Artemis bowed, her pulse rising in her chest. She whispered the Arc enchantment under her breath and the blade glowed with a silver aura. When she straightened back up, she found that the knight was silent, holding the blade over one armored shoulder with the other side of the blade facing the sky, legs set and arm slightly cocked as to move quickly to block the first attack. Artemis held the blade perpendicular to the ground over her shoulder, both hands over the blade. She made slow sidesteps, as to force him into circling, but he did not move, merely turning his head as to watch her. Seeing this, Artemis stopped and attacked first with a left diagonal feint, before spinning and striking from the right. She never got the chance. As she spun, the knight kicked, and she tumbled, recovering quickly a few feet away from her. His next move was to kill himself.
Seif plunged the blade into his chest, and instantly it glowed with golden flames. Despite the life aura of the Abyss being gone, he could still do spells like this. Unsheathing the blade, Seif spun it deftly in his hands so that the edge was down. He didn't attack yet, but the spell had startled his dueling partner. His dueling partner. With beautiful black locks tumbled across her face and deep indigo eyes, this human female was easily the most gorgeous being the Aegis had ever seen. A crossbow was slung over her shoulder, but she didn't use it, the same way he hadn't used the throwing knife. Honor was hard to find in sparring partner, but she showed it as if it was second nature. Plus, the bravery to attack first was clear. Maybe he'd been wrong to kick, but it had created space to enchant his blade. After another silent moment, Seif swung his blade in an uppercut, but she dodged that with relative ease. Barely enough time remained for Seif to raise his shield to the side, batting away her next cut. He back stepped, deciding on a two-handed approach as he unlatched his shield and tossed it to the side. Swiftly, the girl clenched her fist, which was wrapped in the special ways of human magic, and she shouted a spell as she splayed out her hand. "Lumente!" A flash blinded the Aegis, and instinctively he dived into a roll back towards the crumpled door of the castle. If this was the human plane, where was the Abyss Gate? The land around it had been called something. Dragon Range? Or was it Phoenix Range?
Recovering from the bright flash, Seif parried the next attack. Apparently the force of this was enough to hit the girl's jian blade hard enough that the sword slammed out of her hand, falling back to the toppled column. But that did nothing to deter the girl. She dodged another swing, and Seif felt her feet kick up at his sword hand, the wrist feeling numb with the hard sole of her foot. The greatsword clattered to the ground, and the girl threw her body into Seif. Her force knocked him over, and she pulled herself up, pressing a knee into Seif's armored chest, while the other pinned one arm and her right arm pinned his other arm. For the first time in his life, Seif had been defeated.
"I submit," Seif spoke, and the sound of his voice seemed to almost shock her. But she nodded, rising from his chest and stepping back. With a cry, a slim shape glided down from the rafters on leathery, dragon-like wings, landing lightly next to the girl. Seif immediately identified this as a drake, smaller than the dragon but more adept in speed, stealth, and adaptability. It bared its teeth at him, but stayed by the girl's side as she retrieved her blade, and then Seif's greatsword. She huffed as she pulled it onto her shoulder, and for a moment Seif wondered if she would leave him there without a greatsword and an unstable Abyss Gate. But she didn't. With a grunt, she hurled it to him, and he caught it with a single hand, swinging it down so that it impaled through the carpet and the stone beneath it. Her honor was clear, so he would show her the same.
"You've bested me in combat," he said, and Artemis found the voice smooth but not too deep, unlike most knights who were of marrying age in their mid 30's. Artemis didn't have to worry about wondering though, as the knight put a hand on the top of his helmet and pulled it off.
Sharp cheekbones lined the side of his face, and unkempt black hair swished over his forehead. His eyes were narrowed, almost like a cat, with the color of storm clouds poured into his irises. But this was not his strangest detail. Upon beige skin lay golden paint around his eyes like three layers of a spider web. This boy before her surely could not be much older than she.
He bowed low again. "My name is Seif. I am a Titan from the Ether Realms. You saved my life."
Seif waited until he was able to look up again, and realized the strange girl looking at him apprehensively. His cheeks almost felt warm at her glances, but he was able to contain it. Then, sighing, the girl pulled down her face mask.
She was, avowedly, the prettiest being in any realm or plane in Seif's universe. Her lips were thin, but what was visible looked soft to the touch. Tan skin that looked as though it was embraced by the sun every day made her black hair stand out even more, and her purple eyes glowed over her golden coat. A long, thin white scar stretched over her left hand. Despite her fighting ability and magic use, the girl looked as untouched by age as a newborn, and as beautiful and timeless as a Valkyrie.
"Artemis Misra," every word that passed her lips was singsong and beautiful, with the deep texture of a queen or a goddess. "Well met."
"Indeed," Seif replied, hefting his sword onto his shoulder, picking up his greatshield in the same movement. Just then, the gate began to howl, like wind over a canyon, and both of them looked towards the gate. The stones looked ready to buckle, and the dark portal within swirled harder. Becoming small twisters of darkness, six branches of the matter swirled through the air like tentacles, before rooting into the ground and materializing Shades in their place. Seif raised his shield, blade on his shoulder, and Artemis held her blade at her side in her right hand, pulling out her loaded crossbow with one hand. All of the beasts held identical spears and dragon wings, and all of them turned their faceless gazes to the two of them.
Seif turned to his new friend as he got his helmet on over his face, "May I ask one more thing of you?"
Artemis pulled her hood up and her face mask, and stared ahead with a careful gaze, "Go for it."
Seif hefted his sword just above his shoulder, "One more favor?"
Artemis laughed, a light reverberating sound that was unforgettable, "You'll owe me."
Seif nodded forward, and charged, flanked by a drake and a crossbow bolt, for his first fight on earth.