Guardian (Part I): Last Winter

Chapter 33: Madelyn

As I informed Morgan I would, I flew to the woods south of Valedon, following my destination coordinates. I sensed an aura of darkness similar to what surrounded the necromancer in the ruins to the north as I began to fly above the snow-caked trees. I quickly changed to my combat jumpsuit as I began to fly downward. I landed in front of a small, wooden hut where this aura was coming from. I formed flaming aura blades in my hands and stepped to the door of the small building, but before I opened it, I heard something coming towards me. I recognized it instantly. It was the thruster pads from as Valkyrie, like myself. I began to sense the radiant aura of one of my many brothers and sisters, but when I turned around and looked up, I saw my biological brother, from before I was a Valkyrie.

"Hello, Mikael," I greeted.

"Hello, Maddy," said Mikael, landing in front of me. I had never been happier to see my brother than I was right now. We threw our arms around each other. I squeezed him as hard as my synthetic arms would allow me to, then released him.

"I sensed an aura in this general direction, and followed it here," said Mikael. "I had no idea you would also be here."

"I am here for a mission on behalf of Valedon," I informed. "A possible, now confirmed, necromantic ritual."

"What gave you this confirmation?" Mikael wondered. "It could turn out to be something far worse."

"I doubt it's anything that would give us trouble," I denied. "Valedon's population is approximately three million. For all that can be determined, that's how many people are in danger unless something is done. I intend to stop whatever is happening here."

"Then I intend to assist you in this mission," Mikael declared. "It would increase your chances of survival from fifty percent to ninety."

I wasn't about to argue with Mikael. A forty percent increase in my chances of survival with an encounter with a necromancer was something I was bound by protocol to accept.

"Thank you," I said. Mikael formed a broadsword-shaped aura blade with the storm enchantment, and I pushed the door to the shack open with one of my feet. About a tenth of a second later, something crashed against my aura shield. A plasma round. While the door was still open, Mikael launched a flame missile forward, setting alight the person who shot at me. They quickly burned until they collapsed, and I stepped forward to examine their body. The soldier's black armor and red visor in his helmet indicated that he was a Turned soldier. The chances that he was in this shack on his own agency, though, were three thousand eight hundred and seventy-two to one. I looked around the inside of the building with Mikael, finding a small hatch in the ground.

"A basement?" Mikael speculated.

"Possibly," I guessed. A padlock was keeping the hatch closed, but I was able to grip the piece of wood and rip it from the ground, revealing a metal ladder that led to an underground tunnel.

"Or a necromancer's ritual site," Mikael corrected. I jumped down the shaft, then I stepped forward so Mikael could follow. I switched to my night vision to allow myself to see, and advised Mikael to do the same. I kept my makhaira-shaped flame blades at my sides as we progressed forward, and Mikael held his storm blade with both of his hands. We made our way through the tunnel as silently as we could, and I was scanning every inch of the floor in front of us for any sort of trap mechanism that would impede our progress. I sent out a sonar pulse to see if anything was around any corners, and there was nothing. I couldn't see anything ahead, but I began to hear something. I increased the sensitivity of my audio receivers in order to hear it more clearly, and heard the voices of several people, not one. I estimated that there were likely six necromancers conducting a single ritual together. Mikael and I went further, though, and we sensed another aura. This one was of light, and it was powerful. It was likely masked by the combined auras of the necromancers at first, but we began to sense it more clearly. It was most likely a Guardian, considering this place's close proximity to Valedon.

"Maddy," Mikael suddenly blurted. "This new aura feels... familiar."

"It does?" I asked.

"I felt something similar in the Ice Serpent Canyon," Mikael enlightened. "On my mission to return King Aizekus to rest."

"You did?" I questioned. I decreased the sensitivity of my audio receivers back to the default setting, and set my eyes to my normal vision, as we saw a faint, red light in the hallway ahead. A seventh voice began to present itself. A man's. It was too far away to determine what he was saying, but by what he could have been saying, I concluded that he was terrified, on the verge of being consumed by his fear.

"They have a hostage," I warned, to Mikael.

"I advise we keep our distance," Mikael suggested.

"We will," I agreed. "But the hostage could be a civilian. We have to save him."

"Agreed."

Once we were at the end of the tunnel, we found we were at the top of an underground chamber, with the civilian in the center of the six dark-robed necromancers standing in a circle, all carrying candles with red flames burning on their wicks. All six of them were muttering in a language unknown to me, and the civilian was whispering the same, with blood occasionally spitting from his mouth. The only conclusion I could draw was that the necromancers were draining his life force, and keeping my distance like Mikael suggested was out of the question. I lept from the ledge to attack, sinking my flame blades into two of them as I landed. The remaining four then drew black blades before me, with their red candles in their left hands, and their swords in their right. One of them blew into their candle, blasting forth black flames. My aura shield absorbed the fire, and I stabbed my makhaira into his chest. I fired storm missiles at the other three, killing them instantly. I turned my attention to the civilian lying on the ground, shaking from what was most likely excruciating pain.

"I am... dying," he shuddered. As Mikael came down into the chamber, I bent down on my knees and laid my hand on the man's head, and sent a scanning pulse through his body. The most damage he had were broken ribs and limbs. The most likely intent with such injuries would be to make sure the person attacked would be unable to move, but I had my own personal conclusion, other than what my calculations led to. These necromancers wanted this man to suffer, but needed him alive. He was someone important to them, which meant he was important to the Dark One.

"You will live," I promised. "But we must get you out of here. Mikael, we must report what we found to my friend in Valedon."

"I cannot do that," Mikael denied. "I report to the Base of Operations."

"Mikael," I sighed. "The Base was destroyed before the end of the war. There's no one there to report to."

"The mission board is still active," Mikael argued. "There is someone."

If I ever argued with Mikael, I always felt awful afterward. He was my younger biological brother, who had suffered greater burns than I did before we became Valkyries. He wanted nothing more than to repay the people who saved our lives. I couldn't let him believe the illusion that Doctor Malchion was still alive, but I had a duty to save the life of the man who was on the floor.

"Go and report our success, then," I excused. "I must get this man to safety."

"Goodbye, sister," said Mikael. He flew to the ledge at the top of the chamber with his thruster pads, and I saw him leave through the tunnel.

"Goodbye," I whispered. I dug my hands under the stranger and lifted him off the ground.

"What is your name?" I wondered.

"I... don't... know," the man groaned.

"I'll not ask you more until you are treated for your injuries," I promised. "You have cracked bones, nothing more. You won't die."

"Why... did they... do this...?"

"My friends and I will find that out," I swore. "I will make sure of that."