Inferno Ascended

The ship left the pair at the mouth of a river called Ioleum, in the middle of the night. The two were to arrive at Marbium Fortress on their own. Lady Nyssa and the troop of Alectryons were going to another port, where they would disembark towards Albion.

The night was freezing. Their toes had lost any sensitivity when the pair were dumped in the practically abandoned port, and the cold air froze the ends of their ears.

Now Glax could appreciate his long hair's true use. Alexander, who had a shaved head like most echelians of the warrior caste, must have been suffering more than he.

"It doesn't look like a nice place." He commented haphazardly, looking around without much hope.

"Ahh, the fortress is still a few miles inland, Lord Glax." Alexandre's chin quivered when he spoke.

"Eh, we shouldn't be standing still. The damn term ends at the first hour of today. But that doesn't mean we should be walking around in the dark, and freezing. Let's fix it." Glax grunted, picking up some sticks in a bundle and greasing them with some of the bitterwood resin he still had in his belongings.

After improvising a torch, he loaded the mythic sword with some ichor, and used a discharge of electricity to ignite the fire in the torch.

"Wow! Your sword casts lightning! When it happened back then and a bolt flashed, I thought the medusa had done it! But it was you!"

"God Hermes lent me that weapon and obviously, that must be a secret. I'd have a lot of trouble explaining where I got it from," Glax explained as he put away the valuable items again. "Besides, I don't think he'd like to hear that the mythical item was suddenly reduced to a giant lighter."

"Lighter? Oh! Lighter! Which brings lightning!" Alexander had his 'eureka' moment.

"Ah, forget it." Glax shook his head, internally musing the idea of baptizing the mythic artifact as Mighty Lighter, just for the laughs.

The facts about Marbium were not encouraging, after all. Alexandre had discovered that several calls for help had reached the twin fortresses Albion and Rusa. It all started when reports about a patrol that went east and didn't return. More patrols were sent, more soldiers didn't return.

Those who returned reported they were attacked in the forest, but they did not know how to explain what had attacked them. They said: the forest attacked us!

Glax's curious mind was inclined to make a thousand conjectures. But at the same time, he was too tired to think, so he pushed the torch into Alexandre's hand. "You have the map. Guide us. I hope they have some food. I didn't eat for over 30 hours…"

They started walking, and the small village around the port ended just after a bridge in poor condition.

Glax hadn't prepared himself mentally to come further north. Compared to the noisy activity of Stapolis and the grandeur of Echelion, it became even clearer the north was the last place where someone would like to go.

The snow-flecked mountains he saw during the crossing of Thepomesos, and the landscapes of the estuaries and coastal plains were stunning postcards, but then he remembered it was supposed to be summer. Glax guessed Valosia shouldn't be much different.

However during the chilly night, he wondered whether he had to worry about wolves and all kinds of wildlife which he was not really prepared for.

They followed the road for a while, which was now even darker because of the forest on one side and the river on the other.

"What is that?" Alexandre asked. Glax came a little way behind, while Alexandre carried the torch. They heard excited, animalistic grunts, and at the same time, Glax noticed the soft glow of a soul orb.

"I think it's a pack of wolves!"

One side of him was too lazy to get involved in this.

All his knowledge acquired over thousands of hours of internet and fictional consumption told him it was a bad idea to mess with a pack of wolves. At the same time, he didn't want to be that person being devoured by forest animals, and ignored by a lazy buck.

Now he knew that souls really existed and had a destiny after death, after all.

Glax activated the mythical sword, first testing the way it created a voltaic arc capable of reaching a small distance. He didn't want to become their dessert while discovering the weapon wasn't capable of scare them, or kill them if necessary.

Recently refilled with ichor, the artifact responded better and faster than before, creating an arc between the fork stems located at the tip of the blunt blade. The resulting flash of white light and the crackling and humming of the arch made the birds flutter in despair. Alexandre walked away. The wolves whimpered in fear.

Two or three snaps as he approached was enough to make them abandon the prey, albeit reluctantly and snarling.

"Next time, will you let me try?" Alexander exclaimed excitedly, when Glax deactivated the artifact. Glax just gave him a deadpan glare.

"There is a reason the god gave this thing to the Champion of Armorion."

"Oh, I know. Okay, I was just asking. And… Ugh, things were ugly around here," the boy deflected the subject to their surroundings.

He used the torch to light around them again, as they explored the site. The pair saw a broken cart and several crates and bales scattered and thrown in the mud. Broken weapons, and unmistakable signs of recent combat. They stopped at the same time, next to what the wolves were tearing apart moments ago.

"DAFUQ!"

"For the Invisible Old Man! Is that… a person?!"

Despite his disgust, Glax took the torch from Alexander's hand, and crouched close to the semi-devoured body. He was not sure of anything, but the female body was not entirely human. After seeing a triton, an oceanid, a minotaur, a gorgon and a satyr, he might not be surprised if he saw wings, horns or hooves.

But what she had were extra arms made of metal, and her lung, partially exposed, was made of iron and glass vials, broken. Pieces of metal came out of her torn and bloodied flesh.

It was a grotesque and disconcerting sight, and Glax stood up, looking at the orb.

"Oh, fuck. What did they do to you?!!" He didn't expect an answer, he just felt a horror that froze him even more than the mist that enveloped them.

He couldn't really leave it alone, not now that he knew about the souls. He started collecting what he could as inflammable material and tossing it on the broken wagon.

"Glax, what are you going to do?" Alexander questioned the valosian.

"I just won't leave this thing here. Help me, and we will get to Marmium faster. It may not be a luxurious funeral, but it will be one," he replied.

Something in what he saw indicated deep suffering for that being, half metal and half flesh. Unlike Nikandros, Chriseis and even the guy he nicknamed Mech-Eyes, those implants were excessive and cruel. Glax was not sure what the purpose was or how it had been done.

He didn't even want to imagine, actually.

After adding fuel to the wagon, Glax put what was left of the body there. He took a silver coin, and etched out the Echelion symbol on it with a dagger. It was as good as the one he saw, or even better.

It cost more, at least.

Alexandre set fire on the pyre, and they watched it for a while. Alexandre timidly came closer to heat himself in the warmth of the makeshift pyre. Glax surrendered to the pragmatism of the young Kroton, and did the same.

Then, the orb floated closer and closer to him…

"Hey, what is this. You do not have to thank me. Just go to…" He felt a little embarrassed, Glax just hoped it would go away like a wandering firefly, to the land of the souls. "What now?"

The orb flashed once, and then, at an impressive speed, attacked him.

::::::

Glax blinked after putting his hand in front of his face to defend himself.

"What happened?!" It was a stupid question, but he really didn't know.

"The orb! She entered you!" the other Kroton gaped at the unexpected event.

"No."Albeit, shocked, he felt nothing different. Except…

Pulling the vselys clock out of his bag, he opened the artifact. The orb's energy still bathed the mechanisms in a soft neon light, and he felt an urge to belch.

"WOW!!!" the other Kroton gaped when he saw the object in Glax's hands, and where the soul orb had embedded itself.

Glax closed the watch immediately, putting it away before Alexander came closer, with child's bright eyes, and his finger pointing at the artifact.

"Don't dare come closer with your WOWs! This is not what I intended. But if so, when I meet Hermes again, I will hand it over to him. I mean, the soul." Glax was nervous and didn't know why.

They left the burning wagon behind, and continued on their way to the fortress.

Why was he under the impression that the 'span' of the tic tocs had expanded subtly, once again?"