Inferno Ascended

They saw with relief the light of day at the end of the tunnel, and the slope favored the speed of their getaway vehicle. Stopping to think, a sarcophagus, and three men driving down the slope of the tunnel in a pump cart as an explosion came towards them, must have been a pathetically memorable scene for anyone watching.

The cart tipped over at the end of the slope at the tunnel exit. But they were all fine, only slightly injured. 

Adrenaline still pumping through his bloodstream had Glax laughing as they listened to the subsequent explosions and crashes on the shop floor. The other two joined him, relieved to have left at the last possible moment.

Kal walked over, wiping the soot off his face.

"Was it really necessary to get that damn coffin? Couldn't it be left to burn like the rest? You kill us with anxiety here." Though he spoke of the trio, Glax knew the grumpy grumbling was directed at the group's lochias. Him. Exactly who should display some common sense and responsibility.

"We were the only team that came here and solved the problem, Kal!" Alekos cracked a smile. "We are heroes!"

"Maybe it would be difficult to find this object in the wreckage, and that could be crucial to ending the spell. That was my reasoning." Glax justified. "What if burning it along with everything else just worsened things up?"

"Is it over?" Zotikos asked, "Has the necromancer been defeated? Can he come back?"

"I think we can only be sure of that when we can look at the wreckage," Kal replied before Glax, stepping closer. "Tychos is in bad shape, Zotikos. Can't you do anything for him?"

"Oh, uh, sure, sure." The Rhoas walked toward the warrior lying on the ground. 

Glax remembered the blow that had ripped the stocky warrior from the ground and thrown him against a machine with violence. 

Pydna was cradling the gunner, a worried expression on her face. Glax didn't get a good impression of the northern warrior's pained face. His own eyes were sore and teary, as well as his throat and aching lungs. The bruises on his body were the least of his concern. None of them but Tychos had major wounds.

They had some work to get back to the village, carrying the coffin and Tychos, who despite the young iatromancer's magical 'first aid' was still unconscious. 

::::::::::::::::::::

They returned to Thersos' house, and his family exulted when they were welcomed back. 

In the distance, the factory burned in a huge pyre whose smoke already shrouded the sky and made it difficult to breathe. 

Zotikos then, helped everyone in need, including Glax, until he grew too exhausted to continue.

Glax dozed off, and he woke up with a start to someone poking him. It was Pydna, and she had swollen eyes. Glax jumped up,

"Tychos?! How is he?"

"He woke up. And he's calling you."

Glax went into the other room, where Tychos was lying on a bed. The Aegeon warrior had his eyes open and watery, and he was lying very straight, the color of his face completely off.

"Oh, man!" Glax exclaimed, sensing the worse.

"You, Lord Glax. Don't let me stay like this forever." Tychos pleaded with a hoarse voice.

"I… I don't know how to help." Turning to Pydna, Glax asked, "Is there anything I can do?"

"Perhaps Rusa's iatromancer can help?"

"Shall we take him?"

"Not an iatromancer... My grandmother is a sorcerer." Tychos himself muttered,

"That's cool. But we should try the iatromancer first, he's closer." Glax tried to console Tychos. "Let's do this. I'll bring the iatromancer and if need be, I'll go get your grandmother."

"My grandmother doesn't leave Euriondus."

Glax wasn't a doctor, but Tychos seemed to have lost his body movements because of an injury to his spine. He was a tough, resilient man, and he'd already survived many difficult things. His scarred body was proof enough of it.

But Glax worried. Even in its original world and the most expensive technology, not everyone could return to the previous state.

If he had taken better decisions and led the group efficiently, this may not have happened.

"If necessary, I'll get her," he stated, determined to do so.

:::::::::::::::

Later, the survivors who were still hiding in Stimhena went out on the streets, and with that, they started to gather and look for other survivors.

The factory was still burning, and Glax asked Thersos to tell them to go to Marbium, a healthier environment, at least for the time being. Everyone was in front of Thersos' house, trying to help themselves and decide what was best to do. 

Glax had planned to come back to this place after a few days to check out the house that had belonged to Sarpedon. But right now he had something more important to do.

"Lord Glax," Zotikos asked as people chatted excitedly about what to do. "Are you going to open the Cauldron of Valya?"

"I imagine I'll have to," Glax replied grimly. "And I imagine I won't like to see what's inside. But…" he turned to Rhoas. "You know what it is. Have you ever seen one of these before?"

"When I was a kid, yes. My mom said that's why the vselys came here. To create more and more of these things."

"The subject had suddenly gotten interesting and Glax asked casually,

'Oh, and what did she think about that?'

"That they cultivated souls inside these containers as if they were bees to produce honey. That they came attracted by our 'wealth': souls that could be easily harvested."

Glax gasped. It was a theory that made a lot of sense. The Cauldron of Valya also had antichor. Was the antichor something native to Valya?

Zotikos, since we're talking about it…" he pushed the young iatromancer away, leading him to a place where they could talk privately. "You noticed that there is a kind of liquid with… magical properties. Something that powers these machines? It's something the vselys created?"

Ah, Lord Glax… Let me tell you? My mother was one of the first iatromancers. There were no iatromancers before the vselys' arrival. Just common sorcerers and spellcasters."

The Valosian didn't know where Zotikos was trying to lead him to when he mentioned his mother, but he nodded for him to continue. The young man wiped his glasses and spoke. "My mother was a teenager when the vselys found her. I mean, they were looking for people like her. The family agreed and my mother went to live in Pharys, where the Empress had allowed there to be a colony of vselys. There, she was taught to be a iatromancer."

"What?!"

"It was part of the agreement with the Empress. The vselys taught their healing skills in an academy. But everyone knows that. What am I doing?!" Zotikos started to change the subject, but Glax took him by the arm.

"Go on. It's a point of view I don't know." the Valosian lied.

"My mother saw and learned many things living along with vselys and being taught in their academy. She became so good at healing that she was chosen to work at the imperial court! My mom didn't bad-mouth the vselys. She admired them, and feared them too!"

"And did they tell her what the Forge of Souls is?"

"Yes, my mother reached the level where she could know many secrets about the people of Valya. But… She didn't tell me." Zotikos shook his head.

How frustrating. Glax couldn't know if it was a subterfuge or if he really didn't know.

"All right. I can find out for myself when to open the sarcophagus. I just wanted to make sure this is the best thing to do. But I will have to risk it. Did the vselys create Pharys' necromancers, too?"

"My mother said no." Zotikos returned to the subject, grateful not to be pressured. "That they didn't create the Pharys necromancers. According to her, when she went to the gym, she understood the vselys could indeed raise the dead, just as the best iatromancers could. But they didn't teach the Stygians that. My mother at least swore to that. If the Pharysians developed a kind of necromancy, it was corrupting what they learned in the vselys academy. I believe it because it was my mother who said it, and she was there for many years. She met many of them, and absorbed much of their knowledge. The iatromancers became important in the end." Zotikos lifted his chin slightly, prideful.

"Ah, if it's so, why did the emperor banish the vselys and the Prometheans? If at first, he was even for a time at Valya's court?"

"Because he knew the vselys and Prometheans wanted something more than just business relationships. He believed they were acting in the shadows and were in fact a threat to Stygia."

"And why did he banish your mother and the other iatromancers from court? No: did he banish other iatromancers from the court, but did he accept iatromancers from Pharys specifically?"

"Because the Emperor is dead, Lord Glax! And some necromancer revived him.! Because of it, the emperor is nothing but a pawn to them. And why did the imperial iatromancers who failed to escape die? Is it not obvious enough?!" Zotikos's rancor and despair made him talk more than he should, and Rhoas covered his mouth with both hands.

'Necromancers dominate the palace and the emperor himself? This isn't even an original plot.' 

"Thank you, that was something I needed to know." Glax spoke. "According to Thersos, Sarpedon was a Pharys necromancer, and was here accompanied by a vselys. Whether or not a slave, we have no way of knowing yet. But what you want to know is… Am I going to open the coffin now?"

Zotikos nodded, his eyes wide with anxiety and fear.