The Art of the Earth

All around them, the cavern groaned like a dying beast as the rumbling became louder. The sea of sleeping slaves was about to be buried beneath a mountain, as rock and dust showered down from the roof.

“The time has come…” Anna said.

Uetum covered her face as she yelled. Helartha gave a single, silent cry for her grandfather and her people, and Pietta turned away, unwilling to look.

With a cold, tight knot in her gut from her own terror, Anna inhaled deeply. She concentrated all of her energy and will on the one resource she had put up for this very occasion.

“NATHAN!” she screamed, her voice echoing with a power that was not her own.

Deep in the heart of the mine, at the central power conduit Anna had marked on her map, the silent chimera boy acted. He plunged his hands into a pouch filled with glowing Aetrobia leaves, and then slammed them onto the conduit.

He poured his own life force into the network, and across the vast, cavernous expanse, every leaf Nathan had planted at the cross-marked locations began to pulse in perfect, resonant unison.

The mine was filled with a rich, melodic hum that seemed like the earth itself singing. 

Pure green energy then poured out of each leaf and flowed in the direction of the slumbering slaves.

Every solitary dark beings was shielded from the raining debris by a shimmering, transparent green barrier. 

The earthquakes stopped, the disintegrating ceiling paused, and suddenly the groaning rock started to reverse its descent. 

For a few breath-taking seconds, the entire mine was filled with a brilliant, life-giving divine brightness that was more green and gold than white.

Anna, shielded by her veil stone, smiled. "Witness... The Art of the Earth!"

When the light faded, she was there. In the center of the vast cavern, standing as if she had always been, was a tall woman in a simple white robe.

She had long, brown hair and startlingly green eyes, and she was casually munching on an Aetrobia leaf. A colossal one sided war axe was rested nonchalantly on her shoulder. Her face was bored and utterly emotionless.

She swallow the leaf before asking, “Child of sorrow…” her voice echoed, “Why do you awaken me?”

Helartha, Pietta, and Uetum stared, utterly speechless.

They were in the presence of another Ars Weapon. But Anna was not shocked. She was proud. Her impossible gambit had worked.

“O Ars Terran,” Anna called out, “Save all the dark beings. This is my will.”

The ancient being did not move. Maren, a silent sword at Anna’s side, was awfully still, trembling with a fear and reverence Anna had never felt from her.

Terran’s bored, green eyes slowly fixed on Anna, a glare that seemed to weigh her very soul.

“Vampire,” Terran said, her voice flat. “Give me your name.”

This was the final test. Anna’s smile was sharp and absolute.

“Orivanne,” she declared.

The name sent a shockwave through her companions.

“And I order you to do my biddings,” Anna pressed, her will refusing to yield.

Ars Terran stared at her for a long, silent moment. Then, she gave a slow, almost imperceptible nod. “Then it shall be done,” she rumbled, her voice the law of nature itself. “As stone obeys the mountain.”

With one motion, she hefted the huge battle axe off her shoulder and pounded the bottom of its handle onto the stone floor.

The entire mine was filled with a soft, golden-green glow that swept out from the moment of contact. The bright red slave markings on their necks burst into dust as it went over each sleeping slave.

“Ars Terran…?” One of them said.

Eyes started to open slowly, one by one, then by the thousands, then by the hundreds of thousands, first with bewilderment, then with awareness, and finally with an impossibly hopeful dawn. Their slaves mark, disappearing, they can move freely.

For the first time in a long time, three hundred thousand souls knew they were free, and a growing chorus of murmurs filled the large, quiet cavern.

Uetum pulled wildly at Anna's sleeve, her eyes bright and filled with happy tears.

 “How, nyaa?!” she squeaked, her voice a mixture of awe and utter confusion. “How did you do it?!”

Anna looked down at the catgirl, then at her other companions, “The book said the summoning usually requires calm and safety,” she corrected, her voice calm and analytical.

“I focused on the exceptions.” She held up one finger.

“First: No Humans. The text was explicit. The ritual we performed earlier, to burn the bodies of the human guards was a necessary purification. Before the summoning could even begin, this sacred space had to be completely cleansed of human taint.”

Helartha and Pietta exchanged a horrified look. The grim funeral pyre had been the first, cold-blooded step in her plan.

Anna held up a second finger. “Second: The Aetrobia Leaf and the Humidity. The leaves were the catalyst, but they needed an activation medium. That was Nima’s job. By saturating the air with moisture, she is allowing the purifying magic of the leaves to spread everywhere, putting everyone into a calm, receptive state.”

She held up a third finger. “Third: The Bright Place. The Aetrobia Leaf has a unique property: it purifies both holy and dark magic. My hypothesis was that, given enough fuel would convert the darkness in this mine.” Her lips curved into a triumphant smirk. “The fifteen hundred years of suffering, despair, and corruption that saturated these rocks became the fuel to create that blinding burst of pure, sun-like holy radiance. I didn’t need to find a bright place. I made one.”

Finally, she looked at them, her eyes glowing with the light of pure, unshakeable self-confidence. “And fourth: The Final Catalyst. The prophecy didn’t just speak of peace. It called for a ‘Child of sorrow.’ I gambled that the impending, unjust death of over three hundred thousand souls would be a sorrow so profound, so absolute, that it would serve as the final call to awaken a being of pure preservation.”

Uetum just stared, her mind completely blown. “So… you… you made a sun… out of sadness…?” she whispered, her voice full of awe.

Anna didn’t confirm or deny it.

The great cavern, for the first time in centuries, was filled with the rising murmur of three hundred thousand freed voices. Anna, standing on a high ledge with her allies, raised her voice, her command echoing with a newfound power.

“Listen to me!” she called out. “The slave marks are broken. You are free. The exit is that way. Please, get out one by one. Walk. Line up in an orderly fashion. The stairs are small, but they are sturdy. Do not worry, everyone will get out safely.”

Hope was a powerful and dangerous thing. For a moment, order held. But then, the ingrained panic of a lifetime of imprisonment took over.

Some of the more powerful demons close to the front broke away from the line, pushing others out of the way in a last-ditch effort to get out. The crowd's murmur started to turn into a terrified shout.

There was a movement before Anna could even yell a warning. 

Like a rock falling off a cliff. Ars Terran, who had been leaning on her war axe, was suddenly next to the fleeing demon, swinging down her axe easily.

The demon’s head rolled across the stone floor. The body stood for a second before collapsing.

“My master said to walk slowly,” she stated.

The whole crowd plunged into a frightening hush. They gazed at the severed head, then at the bored-looking lady wielding the enormous axe, and then they all retreated into a perfectly organized and silent line.

Anna gazed with a shiver down her back. She hadn't even seen Terran move. She now truly understood why Maren called her the “scary big sister.”

Speaking of whom, Maren, now back in her small human form, was clutching the back of Anna’s coat, trembling. Terran’s bored, green eyes drifted over to her.

“I see you have submitted to this vampire as well, Maren,” the earth weapon observed.

“KYAA!!!” Maren yelped, jumping. “Submit?! No! I-I’m not submitting! I am her… her partner! A strategic ally! It’s a symbiotic relationship based on mutual respect and… and tactical objectives! And Anna is so nice!”

“You are too much like Orivaneia, Maren,” she said, her voice flat with a deep, timeless disappointment. “You should grow up.”

“I am grown up!” Maren retorted, her panic turning to indignation. “I am a legendary weapon of the sea! I am very mature! I have… legs again!”

“Legs do not equate to maturity,” Terran replied, “Orivaneia was the same. All brilliant light and chaotic feelings. No substance.”

Maren was horrified. “Lady Orivaneia has plenty of substance! And so do I! I am the Art of the Sea! And… and Anna says I have optimal efficiency!”

She turned her bored, green eyes from her sister to Anna’s other companions.

“They are all very strong,” she rumbled, her voice a detached observation, “for mere mortals.”

Anna, hearing her in her mind just nodded

Uetum, however, was already thinking ahead, her brow furrowed with worry. “But what about the surface, Anna-chan?” she asked, tugging on her sleeve. “Won’t there be many knights? And guards? What happens when three hundred thousand of us just… walk out?”

Anna looked towards the tunnel entrance, “I think not,” she said confidently. “In a panic, soldiers don’t hold a perimeter. They fall back to the most defensible position.” A small, knowing smile touched her lips.

“They’ll all run to that place… you know, the high-security prison? I forgot the official name. I believe my subordinate is already there.”