Elijah knight pov:
we touched down on the frost-covered peak of the mountain with the Castle following us in tow a few hundred kilometres behind us, I could feel the mana in the air severely disturbed from whatever the fuck had happened down there.
Just as we started running down into the tunnels We saw Al's soldiers running towards us, their eyes lighting up as a spark of hope ignited in their empty eyes.
"What happened!?" Claire grabbed one of the soldiers by their shoulders shaking him back and forth. His teeth gnashed together as he pointed towards the back of the group of soldiers.
The three of us pushed our ways through the 50 Elite soldiers Al led, Once we neared the back we Saw zephyr with a face crushed In guilt and Worry as he escorted the soldiers out of the tunnels behind them.
"Zeph! Where is Alexander?" Claire's voice sounded desperate with worry before our eyes were drawn to the hundreds of disfigured corpses riding on Floating stretchers of ice atop a small storm that the sight of made Doradrea's severe head look like a children's toy.
"My god..." I whispered in a hushed tone while Claire and Tessia threw up from the Stomach wrenching Sight in front of us, I was only barely able to stop myself from the same action by choking down my emotions.
But two of them stuck out as they were directed at the sides of Zephyr.
One was an elf, whose body had Been sexually abused brutally and had holes cut in her that seemed to only be for the same purpose of sexual abuse. But her face was one any could recognize.
Alea...
I pulled a tarp from my Ring and covered her body leaving only her face exposed with it, There was no need for Claire and especially Tessia to see such a sight.
"No... This Can't be true... You're a lance, ALEAA!!" Tessia Weapt as she slammed her hands on the platform of ice holding her up.
I placed a hand on her back as I looked at the other Platform The body only had one limb remaining and it looked like it had been used as a pincushion and ripped open.
But The red hair and the Scar across the nose were All it took for a Chill to run up my spine and realize why Alexander had gone off on his own and Why the Castle had been affected by his mental state.
"I-Is that..." Claire's voice trailed off.
"Adam Died in his Arm's But that's not What's the problem we need to Get to him Now!" he spoke the urgency evident as we pulled Tessia off Alea's dead body and ran after him.
We rushed through the tunnels after Zephyr using mana to quicken our pace. "What the Hell happened down there?" Claire Asked once again As we cycled mana through our bodies preparing for a fight.
"Al is fighting a Scythe, He used his Third phase a couple of minutes ago but after that, he lost consciousness." his Horned bond Spoke as I reopened a collapsed tunnel and we kept running through the twisting network of caves.
"WHAT!?" I shouted, All of the Laces were terrifyingly strong and I knew that well that trained me along with their retainers in the different kinds of their magic.
"Who was it? which Scythe is he up against?" I called out as we all quickened our pace, rushing through the piles of jagged rock from Al's mad dash here that cracked the ground.
"Cadell, I know he could hold him off for a while but I'm not sure if he could win without the help of Boreas." He shot back as we reached a busted-down door with a piece of Ice blocking the entrance.
"He used his Hydra's will a lot so augment your lungs and nose, Make sure you avoid any black or green water," I Said sensing the Absurd amount of Soulfire, Poison, and Stasis in the air through the wall.
Everyone augmented themselves like I asked As I broke down the door with a thundering Explosion of Earth mana and my body's perfectly honed Body courtesy of my training with Kordri and his assistant.
Suddenly I fell to my knees coughing blood, my lungs burning from the sheer amount of poison left in the air that negated my defences. A soothing warmth spread through me from Claire's Golden flams as she entered her first stage to bolster her defences.
Claire being a wind mage faired better than me by filtering the air, Tess being able to use Poison to an extent had a natural resistance through it was nothing compared to Al who's body had to physically evolve to resist the hydra's poison.
I looked up to See Something I should have stopped the others from seeing, A enormous cavern Melted by acid and filled with countless partially dissolved skeletons. The stalagmites growing from the floor had corpses with only the blackened and dissolving stubs of limbs remaining impaled on them like meat on a rotisserie.
In the center on a pile of bones among other skulls sat an ethereal being made of countless aurora's and nebulas, atop a jagged and regal throne made of the same such material made his presence that had been restrained seem genuinely godlike. His robes were pure white with teal accents and A purple sash across his waist and the wide cuffs of his long robe.
That's when I recognized him.
"Boreas?" I stammered out as the young man in his early 20's stood like a greater regalness, power, refinement, and overall sense of divinity that made Kezess look like a rowdy toddler throwing a tantrum.
"Alexander is alive and well," he spoke in a reassuring tone that didn't indicate any affinity towards us positive as he gestured towards Alexander floating on a small cloud of stasis as he pushed it towards us with a wave of his hand.
His body was covered in Cuts, Scars, and burn marks. His skin was ghastly pale and looked to have stretch marks all over his body, his hair was burned and singed.
"Al!!" Claire Shouted rushing up to him and holding him in her arms, the could of stasis dissipating and returning to Boreas who had sat back on his throne and was resting his cheek upon his closed fist as he gazed down upon us from the pile bones he seated was on.
"No, I'm Not Losing You." She wept as she immediately activated her second stage and used her strongest healing spell. A phoenix with feathers of soulfire and wreathed in golden Fire flew out of her back hovering over Alexander.
Its wings wrapped around the two of them as A tear of pure Mana with the separated Healing powers of soulfire and its flames appeared on from the Goldeneyes of the Blazing bird.
The teardrop brimming with mana fell from its eyes into Alexander's open mouth that's breathing was laboured and bleeding from his severely cracked lips.
A golden Sheen spread from his body as his wounds and scars both new and old healed over as if they were never there. His unconscious expression softened as his breathing stabilized, His ghostly pale skin Regained its normal complexion.
His eyelids tensed and wained before his eyes opened, His lips mouthed Claire's name but only a scream of Pure torturous agony of a thousand souls ripped out of his mouth. His lips tore open again as his body convulsed.
I Conjured restraints pinning him to the ground as he thrashed about clawing at his chest as a tortured howl Echoed from the cave. before I could get closer Boreas Appeared next to him placing a hand on his chest.
"Sleep." His voice was but a whisper but boomed with power.
Alexander's body went limp as his self-inflicted wounds glowed with the power of Stasis before sealing over. Everyone was In shock about what had just happened as we turned to boreas.
"I Put his soul into a deep slumber, he will survive," he spoke holding his hands behind his back.
"What happened? I healed him perfectly- I Healed him!" Claire questioned him with tears in her eyes, clearly shaken by what had just happened. hell we were all in shock to see him in that shape, Even using Ragnarok didn't have him in this much pain.
"He didn't have the mana needed to finish Cadell before he could heal from his attacks, So he chose to Enter his Third phase to have enough control over his mana arts to buy the need time to kill him with a blast of Stasis." he pointed towards a massive gash in the cave that light from the Surface was peaking out of.
"My god..." I breathed out in a hushed tone looking at him.
"You have no contract to me therefore I am not your God." He said with a raised eyebrow before realizing the figure of speech.
"He exhausted 70% of his Stasis reserves in that attack, I was forced to take control of his mana core and his stasis to shrink the core and keep his core from shattering. Had I not been watching over him and taking action when needed his core would be shattered and he would be likely dead or crippled for life." he finished speaking.
"Thank you for saving him, Boreas." claire spoke between sobs as she held his unconscious body.
"Your thanks are appreciated but unnecessary. I will be glad to accept them once I'm done pricing his core together." He replied as he was shrouded in an aura of Stasis that swirled and shifted constantly like smoke in a glass.
"take him back to the Typhon he summoned it in his rage unintentionally. I ordered in to land just outside. Alexander will remain unconscious until I have mended his core which was causing his pain, I do not know how long it will take for this process as I am not the god of healing Nor craft." Boreas finished as his body dissolved into the Aura around Alexander. Once he was fully in the could of Stasis around Alexander His mana signature disappeared completely, There was no intake of mana at all, no slight influence in the atmospheric mana, it was as if he wasn't even a mage.
I picked up Alexander's two swords that were on the ground and brought them to his Dimension ring where Boreas seemed to have pulled them in which was odd considering I sense the mana allowing this to happen come from the air and not Alexander at all.
We picked him up and carried him back to the assault castle on Zephyr's partially Transformed back, Like boreas said it had landed right in front of where the camp of Alexanders Soldiers was at.
We walked up to the base of the entrance where I pulled out the medallion that Alexander had given to the Rest of the paladins that granted the same authority over it he had although he could overwrite any order we gave the castle.
Infusing mana into it I touched the medallion that bore the Emblem of the Storm clan to the Gate, the hulking doors opened revealing the elevator up the base of the giant spire that dug into the earth.
we stepped onto the massive elevator that could easily hold a storm dragon comfortably as long as he curled up his tail we looked behind us to see Al's troops led by Feyrith following inside they were carrying the Dead soldiers, civilians, Alea, and Adam...
with a loud click, they stepped on the doors closed and the elevator rose up to the main floors.
Claire and Zephyr had taken Al to his bedroom while I had walked towards the communication room, The room was dark and dimly lit with the mana conduits glowing with Storm magic it slowly generated if it wasn't manually filled with mana.
I placed my hand on the Stone pillar engraved with numerous glyphs and pictured in my mind who I wished to connect to. "Helen Shard," I spoke aloud as the orb in front of me Glowed as it homed in on her and showed Alexanders Adoptive mother atop the Wall shooting down at mana beasts. Her face had a new scar running along the length of her left still intact eye from her forehead to her lip, Her eyes seemed empty and drowning in guilt.
"Helen, Can you hear me?" I spoke as the Castle transmitted it to her medallion Alexander had Forced her to take and bonded with.
"Yes, I can She spoke pulling her medallion from the chain around her neck, Which Also held Adams that was stained with blood.
"Adam is..."
"I know... He threw me his Medallion and told us to run when a Force of Alacryans ambushed us, He stayed behind and took on all 60 of him by himself... By the time we came back with reinforcements, he was gone and all that was left in that dungeon where we were stationed was 50 dead alacryans." Helen recounted what had happened to them as she choke back tears.
"Don't tell Alexande-"
"He found his body." I cut her off as she collapsed to her knees sobbing.
"How bad was his body's condition." She spoke through gnashed teeth as the Medalion perfectly transmitted her voice and showed me the visual of her.
"He was tortured brutally before they tore off his limbs leaving him to die in that room just as he arrived." my voice was sombre as I stated only the facts remembering the gruesome details.
Helen didn't reply but only had choked sobs as the other members of the twin horns arrived next to her wondering what had happened.
"Adam Died in Alexander's arms, Alexander in his rage killed well over a thousand Alacryans though it's hard to tell the exact number." I transmitted shocking the other members of Alexander's family.
"Where is Al, He needs us," Durden Spoke in he gentle tone.
"That won't be possible for a while. He fought a Scythe and Won, Although his mana core nearly shattered, His god Boreas put him in a coma while he is fixing his core we don't know when he will wake up."
"we'll see you at Xyrus as soon as we can." Duden placed a scar-laden hand on Helen's back as he spoke into the Medalion.