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Chapter 59 - Lock and Key
🕑 Added 2025-02-14 15:21:00 +0000 UTCThe trio made their way through the winding corridors of the cathedral's heart, with Annelie leading them deeper into restricted areas. Her silver amulet glowed softly in the dim light as she pressed it against each new door they encountered.
The passages grew narrower as they descended, with no windows letting in light. Only magical torches on the wall illuminated their steps, being lit as they neared. Their footsteps echoed off bare stone walls that seemed to pulse with old magic.
“You really can’t learn anything from the letter?” Annelie asked as she held her amulet up to another heavy oak door. The silver disk pulsed once before the barrier swung inward with a deep groan.
Nova shook his head, watching shadows dance across the walls. “Any runes that were inside it are already gone. I could maybe do something if I had access to some of my greater analysis spells, but they require a ton of control.”
"...I'm not sure this amulet will get me all the way to the Signus," Annelie admitted, pausing at an intersection of three identical corridors. Her grey eyes scanned the branching paths with uncertainty. "So it would be nice to have a plan b."
“Just get me close enough. I should be able to feel the spatial energies from the closed dimension at a distance. Then I can try sensing what’s keeping him locked up.”
"Okay. I think it's this way." Annelie chose the rightmost path, where the torches burned with a slightly bluer flame.
Millie followed them closely, seeming a bit nervous. "Is it a big prison? Is the mad prisoner dangerous?" Her voice wavered slightly in the oppressive silence.
Annelie turned back with a reassuring smile. “He’s not mad at us, Millie. And if we release him, he’ll thank us, right?”
"Of course!" Millie's anxiety seemed to ease slightly at the thought.
Nova stopped suddenly, pressing his palm flat against the cold stone wall. His eyes drifted closed as he concentrated on the subtle vibrations flowing through the rock. "I can feel something now. It's in that direction." He pointed slightly right, where the corridor curved out of sight.
“Oh, you mean the dark thingy?” Millie asked, staring intently at the empty air where Nova had pointed.
Nova's eyes snapped open in surprise. "You could feel it earlier, Millie?"
She nodded, bouncing slightly on her toes. "I feel it all the time! It's weird, in a way." Her small face scrunched in concentration as she tried to describe the sensation.
‘She’s almost too attuned to the magical energies. But I guess it will be a great advantage in the future—as long as I teach her right. This time…’
"Can you feel anything?" he asked Annelie, who was studying the darkness ahead with narrowed eyes.
"Nope." She lifted her amulet, which gleamed in response to another sealed door. "But I can open that door."
“Then please do.”
The heavy door swung open to reveal a short passage ending in a magnificent white barrier. As they drew closer, Nova felt the spatial energies grow stronger, accompanied by an alien presence that made his skin prickle. "There's definitely something messing with the dimension."
Annelie stopped before the final door, reading the words next to it. "Well, you might have to figure it out from here. The next door is to the Signus's private quarters, and I doubt anyone else has access."
The door before them stretched from floor to ceiling, its white surface carved with layer upon layer of intricate runes. The formations were deeper and more complex than any they'd encountered, creating patterns that seemed to shift and flow in the torchlight.
“Hmm, let me try and figure out the door first.” Nova walked closer to it, checking the runes and their workings. Each layer revealed new complications—protection spells woven through locking formations, power dampeners linked to alarm triggers, and patterns he'd never encountered before.
‘Protection, of course. Locking formation with four separate keys… It would be impossible to pick open, but the lock isn’t properly integrated into the protection formation. And what’s this one? Mirroring formation? To keep his power from being felt throughout the city?’
"Well?" Annelie asked, shifting impatiently behind him.
Nova traced one final pattern before stepping back. "...Do you think you could break it open?"
"Not with the formation in place, no." Annelie studied the door with a frown. "You can't sense the stuff from here?"
Nova closed his eyes again, focusing his senses beyond the door. The spatial energies twisted strangely, colored by something familiar yet alien. "There is something coloring the spatial energy, but I can't really tell what it is from here."
"It's sort of like the hole in the sky," Millie said softly, her eyes also closed as she concentrated on the sensation.
Nova's eyes snapped open as realization struck. "Oh, maybe that’s it? But could they have opened a small rift in there?”
Annelie's fingers traced the edge of her silver amulet as she spoke. "However strong that being Shivere contacted is, I’m pretty sure he could do this much.”
Nova pressed his palm against the cold stone wall, feeling the twisted energies beyond. “That’s true… But we don’t have the power to close it from here. Or, even if we could walk right up to it, we probably can’t.”
“...Should we ask one of the Archbishops?”
“Uhh, I’d rather not." Nova's fingers drummed against the stone as he considered their options. “The only one I could trust for this is Sar, and even she might stop us. But if we can’t get inside, I guess we’ll have to." He turned back to study the intricate formations on the door. "Let me look at these runes again…”
‘The disconnect between the lock and the rest could be exploited, but I would need to get past the protection to break it… Could I try using an altered Shadow Step to get past it? Getting only my hand through the barrier?’
It was a dangerous idea that could sever his hand if he wasn’t careful, but with his regeneration, it would only be an issue for a few minutes at most.
“Okay, I’m going to try something," Nova announced, turning to Annelie. "Can you stand close to the door so you make a shadow?”
Annelie studied his face with concern. "...This sounds dangerous."
"Not for you." Nova gestured at the unmarked surface. "There’s no retaliation-formation on the door, so the worst case scenario will be me losing a hand. For a short while.”
"Oh, just a temporary dismemberment then." Annelie's voice carried forced lightness. "Nothing serious."
“Exactly. Millie, could you stand over there and watch so no one comes to disturb us?”
“Okay!” Millie's face lit up at being given an important task. The small girl bounded to the intersection, positioning herself as a vigilant sentry. She was completely oblivious to the fact that she was just being shielded from potential bloodshed.
Nova closed his eyes, mentally reviewing the complex technique. “Okay, let me just plan the skill itself first…”
‘The Shadow Step uses a swift step into the void to slip past anything, effectively teleporting me from shadow to shadow. I’ve never used it to only teleport part of me before, but as long as the distance is short, it should be possible. The hard part will be maintaining the connection throught he void. Usually, it’s just a quick switch between them.’
[Fragment of Nova Noctis equipped.]
“Here I go…”
Darkness gathered around Nova's outstretched arm like a second skin. The shadows deepened, growing impossibly dark until his hand simply ceased to exist. A heartbeat later, pale fingers emerged from Annelie's shadow on the far side of the barrier.
[You have learned the skill: Partial Shadow Step (Adept - 61%) {Grade 8}]
[You move a part of yourself through the void, using the shadows to be in several places at once.]
"That's disturbing to watch." Annelie leaned closer to the disembodied hand. "Will you mana—”
“Please don’t talk." Sweat beaded on Nova's forehead as he maintained the delicate connection. "I need full focus."
The void pulled at his consciousness through the temporary breach. Nova forced his attention to narrow down to the task at hand, carefully manipulating essence through the otherworldly gap. The lock's weak point lay just beyond his ghostly fingers.
'Steady now... One wrong move could sever more than just the magical connections...'
The thought of switching fragments to improve his concentration crossed his mind, but Nova quickly dismissed the idea. Even that brief lapse in concentration could prove catastrophic.
Nova's disembodied fingers probed the space between lock and barrier, sending careful tendrils of essence into the gap. The magical structure resisted at first, then yielded with an almost inaudible click.
"Got it." Nova withdrew his hand through the shadows, grimacing as sensation returned to his tingling fingers. "Stand back."
Immediately as the formation disappeared, a massive wave of energy started radiating from the room. Both the spatial disturbance and the power of the dimension hit them at once after the mirroring effect vanished.
‘The rift shouldn’t be enough to make anyone mad, but best not to take any chances…’
The massive door swung inward on silent hinges, revealing a circular chamber bathed in an unnatural mix of black and white marble. The walls curved upward to form a perfect dome above them, filled with light that rained from a massive crystal chandelier.
The space seemed less like a living quarters and more like a fancy entryway. And there were no doors or other notable places to look at, hiding away comfortable couches or soft beds.
Millie gasped behind them. "The dark thing is right there!"
Nova followed her pointing finger to a corner of the room. A small tear in reality hung suspended in the air, just like a miniature version of the great rift they had closed. Unlike the massive rift above Damascus, this one barely stretched wider than Nova's arm span. But the familiar wrongness radiating from its depths were just as chilling.
Next to the void tear stood a pristine white sphere reaching all the way to the ceiling. The perfect surface seemed to glow with its own inner light, only marked by a complex series of runes spiraling around it.
‘I’m guessing that’s his pocket dimension. It’s radiating power, even more obvious now that the room is unsealed.’
“You two stay out here. I’ll look at the rift alone.” Nova met Annelie's eyes, making his meaning clear. Only he could resist whatever the void might do to their minds.
She nodded, grabbing hold of Millie’s robe. “Yeah, we’ll stay here. Yell if you need anything.”
“Aww, but I want to see it!” Millie bounced on her toes.
"Millie, do you remember what happened last time?” Nova kept his voice gentle.
Millie froze for a moment, then turned around and walked out of sight. "Let’s go, Anny. It’s not that interesting after all.”
Nova chuckled as he watched Annelie get dragged away with a smile. Then the smile faded as he turned to enter the room.
The rift hung in the air above a web of runes carved into the marble floor. The formation looked fresh, added after the rift appeared, based on how it connected to the tear in space.
‘So Shivere entered this place through the rift, then she sat the formation down to keep him locked up. That’s brave.’
The rift buckled as pressure built against it. Light flared from the white sphere, triggering the formation. It absorbed the power and rerouted it to the rift, reinforcing the crack in space by disrupting the room around it.
‘Heh, it’s using the energy the Signus is using to escape to keep itself going? That’s ingenious—and mean.’
He studied the function of the formation for a while, seeing nothing too complex. In fact, it seemed like Shivere hadn’t expected anyone to enter this place, since disrupting the formation would be a simple task.
‘It’s not even protected… I just need to sever this rune right here.’
With an easy flick of essence, Nova shattered the formation surrounding the rift. It vanished without sound, simply dissipating into the rift.
“Now, great Signus. Another push should let you overcome the rift and set you free. So if you can hear me…”
The sphere lit up once again, and this time there was no formation to assist the rift. It crumbled under the force, stabilizing the energy in the space.
And then a burst of energy blasted throught the room, along with the appearance of a white silhouette. The Signus was free once again.
Comments
Gopard
Thanks for the chapter! Now lets just hope the fantasy Pope can see reason!!
