Quiet Courage

15

-You and your friends Cienn have the power to overtake these servants of her dark wishes. With our help against my former sister you can overtake the Crown and save the peoples of Bylis.- Bitepu explained. Cienn frowned.

"How can four people save an entire city against a crazed demon-goddess?" he asked. Surely the Gods were smarter than to place odds on that. As if in agreement the great cavern rattled with the greatest explosion yet. Dust trickled down into the air causing the two sorcerers to cough.

-You shall not be fighting Itellia.- Movek said, his fist punching his palm angrily. -We of the Pantheon have a few scores to settle with her from last time.- Cienn shuttered at the fury behind those words. He was, for what honestly felt like the first time, glad the Gods were on their side. -Once you defeat the Crown troops you must find a way back into Loris to protect your sister Cienn. Defeated here, Itellia's hold over the capitol will falter, giving you and the rebels a chance to insert yourselves in right under her nose. -

"But there's still no way to get back out there now before the troops overwhelm the ruins. Especially with The One romping about." Kain said with certainty, his commander personality seeing the scene before them clearly.

-But there is my son,- Movek said with a smirk. -Young Cienn here is the key.- Cienn gulped but set his jaw. Great, more good news. -You Cienn are the strongest medium the worlds have seen since the rise of true magic. You possess abilities this Plane has not seen for millennia. Search deep within yourself and you will find what you need to win the day.- He tapped Cienn's nose, leaving a spot of burning white light on the medium's nose before standing straight and holding His hands out. Brilliant white fire tinged in red surged around His fingers as His Brethren looked to the ceiling and beyond. With a heavenly roar that rattled the cavern and sent both sorcerers back to their knees the Gods charged outward and into the day.

A piercing white light burst out from the heart of Bylis Mountain, blasting through the menacing dark clouds of The One's storm. Blue sky and brilliant afternoon sunlight shown down on the ruins and quickly spread out over the far edges of the battlefield. The One looked up from her orchestration on the far ridge and snarled. The ooze that dripped form her form surged out into a new force of demons as the Gods burst forth into the daylight, their forms brilliant in their own right. The rebels cheered. With a sickening squelch The One separated her spine from the ooze on the ground and rose up into her dark thunderhead. Her laughter turned into the rumble of thunder as she charged her once heavenly brethren above the mortals' battle. The Gods met her gladly, their battle cries urging the flagging rebels onward.

As both forms surged forward they distinct shapes began to fade as the Gods' strength went into battle instead of manifestation. At collision they looked like opposing weather fronts, one as dark as night, the other a brilliant heavenly white. The colliding of these two entities brought forth a sudden deluge that swamped the battlefield. High above the Gods collided with their age old nemesis in a battle that had waged for eons beyond the reach of the mortal realms and now for the first time since The One's insurgency into Sundast, fell on mortal soil.

With the rise of the Gods above the ancient ruined city the rebel forces surged forward with renewed effort. The Crown troops fell about dazedly. Apparently the Gods arrival had broken the spell The One held over them. Many of the troops turned to run, but balked and raced headlong into enemy lines when they realized that demons cut off their escape.

The rebels ignored any troop without a weapon and let them race back to be captured by the wall guard. Those still able to fight massed in front of the ruined gates of the ancient city site. Their battle was no longer with the Crown, it was with The One and her demons now. The Elementals had fallen back behind the wall but now as one they released their souls into their ethereal forms and surged over the battlements to join the rebel mages and soldiers. They two had benefited from the Gods arrival with a return of their full powers.

United sorcerers and rebels of Bylis watched the advancing demon lines grim faced. They would wait as long as they could for this battle.

Back in the cavern the white dot on Cienn's nose spread across his face and tugged his consciousness down into his magical core. His eyes shown instantly with white light as his mind floated there in his power. He loved meditation, seeing the flow of his magic in his minds eye, feeling enveloped in its welcoming warmth. He noticed a new tug though as he floated there that had gone un-witnessed before. He turned his thoughts to the pull and felt it tug him down into a new channel. This one surged with newfound strength like never before to him, leaving his magical fingertips buzzing with electric current.

He smirked and blinked, the whiteness momentarily left returning his eyes to normal. He looked at Kain.

"Take my hands," he said, holding his hands back out to the mage. Kain looked at him in confusion as they sat there in the gloom. "Come on!" Cienn urged. They didn't have time for this. Kain's face set in a grim expression as he nodded and placed his hands in Cienn's. The young medium closed his eyes with a deep, centering breath. They opened again with a brilliant white light, white lightning bolts of power zapped across his body and into the ground around them. Kain gulped as the tips of the lightning burned his fingers slightly. Cienn continued his focus, directing all of his power into this newly discovered channel. It flowed into it, building, and building in his mind and body. He thought then of Charna and Imagehi massing for battle against the darkness outside.

In an instant it enveloped the two of them. And in a flash of white light they vanished from the cave.