Need to Know

Ilara failed for the fifteenth time.

The ghosts appeared as beggars. They asked if she could spare them money or food. If she did so, she will be asked to defeat ten other ghosts that were bigger and stronger. If she didn’t do as asked, five ghosts will appear for her to defeat, but they would be weaker in comparison.

She attempted both scenarios. In the first scenario, she lost all five times she tried. In the second scenario, she beat her opponents easily, but more beggars appeared later that were asking for more money and food. If she agreed again, then the first scenario repeats. If she didn't, she will fight another set of weaker ghosts, but this time the beggars will fight with them and they were very tricky to go up against. She just lost at her tenth attempt.

And this was only the fourth phase of the test. She didn’t know how many more were left.

If only she could be with her guardians like the first two phases. She wondered how they fared. They were only in the third phase last time she checked.

“There’s usually a trick to it,” Jessa said all the way back in the first spire.

Maybe there was a trick, but Ilara could never figure it out alone.

The test ended and the smoky ghosts dissipated in the air, cackling like the monsters they were. The arena was left with the statue of a bald man wearing a massive necklace over his robes.

Ilara clicked her tongue and left the room of testing. 

Unlike the first three towers, the Spire of Resolve went deeper with its multiple tests, so it took her a while to get back to the surface, irritation marking her every step.

She found one of her guardians, Cias, leaning on the open door of the spire when she finally reached the main floor. 

The black-haired woman with the clever eyes and easy smile turned when she heard her approach. Cias tied her hair up like usual, but she opted to wear a simple blue tunic and skirt, instead of her dark and spiky armor.

“Hero!” Cias called out. “How did you fare today?”

Ilara shook her head. “Bad. And you?”

“I finally reached the fourth phase yesterday,” Cias replied, hazel eyes gleaming. “But the chief strategist told me to rest today.”

“I see…”

Rest? How could anybody rest when beasts of the apocalypse could strike at any moment? Ilara didn’t even want to walk out of the tower and relive her despair. They lost too many knights just a week ago.

Cias walked up to Ilara to check on her armor. She was the second oldest of their group at thirty-eight. A decade more than Ilara herself, yet she was infinitely more calm and level-headed. Perhaps that's what made the woman a trusted commander of the city guard in Esmerand, despite her sharp tongue and playful demeanor.

"You reek," Cias complained, grabbing her chin and inspecting her face. "You have bags under your eyes and your beautiful bob of blonde hair have a few grey streaks. Rest is important, Ilara."

"Fine," Ilara said, not having the mind to argue.

Cias tapped her cheek once then smiled. “Did you hear? Connei also reached the fourth phase. He’s really strong.”

“He is a royal guard monk,” Ilara replied. “I suppose its to be expected.”

Unfortunately, he was no Vysa Trellus. To think that former mercenary would leave. Just what did the ghosts show her?

At least the tower didn’t care who the guardians were, so long as they were limited to five.

“I’m going to take that rest,” Ilara said, “but I’ll try again tonight."

Ilara made for the door.

"Oh, one more thing," Cias said. "Messenger birds arrived earlier. News from Esmerand, I think. High Inquisitor Seldan wants us to hear about it tonight.”

“Understood,” Ilara replied. "I'll leave telling the others to you."

Cias raised her fist in a salute.

Ilara took a deep breath and finally stepped outside.

Beyond the spire, which was elevated on top of a hill overlooking the grasslands, were the armies of Vastille. The last bastion of humanity against the horde of the apocalypse. There were thousands of men and women hiding behind a giant slab of iron they called the shield wall. Banners of different noble houses flapped with the wind, while fires billowed like stars beneath a gloomy sky.

But no beasts.

Ilara nearly collapsed in relief. But she should at least go back to her tent before she rests. It was too cold out here. She’d only get sick.

She must be strong. She must persevere. The fate of the world rests on her shoulders.

*

Kyr could sense the beasts lurking behind the line of pine trees. He worried that using mana would reopen his third eye, but that didn’t happen in the past two days of him resting.

He tried conjuring the elements while the others watched him, but so far so good. 

“T-They’ll probably attack soon,” Roy stammered as he stood next to Kyr at the edge of the hero’s parade. “I can feel them from here. They’re bursting with mana!”

Kyr turned around and saw the few remaining tents the people abandoned. In the distance, the hero's parade left on wagons and horses flanked by men and women in armor. Former knights and mercenaries as Vysa called them.

Nowe and Cinza should have their caravan ready as well.

“Is it really just gonna be the two of us?” Roy asked tensely. “I sense a lot of monsters out there.”

“It’ll be easier if it’s just us,” Kyr said. “There are three other sorcerers in the parade, but it’ll be best if they conserve their stamina and stay with their group. It’s a long way down to Serami with a number like that.”

Kyr smiled at Roy and fixed the new sorcerer's hat his junior made for him. The old one was left beneath the ruined tower. “Relax. Didn't you always stand up to people stronger than you back in the academy? Same thing."

"This is completely different!”

Kyr laughed.

Roy was shaking, but the man could easily hold his own. He had denser mana than Kyr did, and had so far proven himself since their journey started. 

“The potions I prepared should work,” Roy muttered to himself. “I checked them three times, and—”

“Heads up,” Kyr said. “They’re coming.”

Gigantic beasts appeared just as the sun broke over the horizon. Armored lions, horned bears and elks that crackled with lightning. No fliers at least.

"Remember, our goal is to redirect them away from the parade. The longer we can hold on, the better.”

Roy nodded sharply.

"B-But don't forget to burn the potions first!" the junior sorcerer exclaimed. "The smoke will weaken them!"

"Oh, they'll burn."

Kyr summoned mana into his body and hoped his third eye didn’t open.

It didn’t. Good.

Roy was the first to float. It was a simple sorcerer’s trick that used wind to help them glide at a low altitude. 

Kyr elevated himself as well.

They looked at each other… and summoned a whirlwind of fire that lit the chemicals Roy spread along the grass.

A fountain of greenish flames rose from the ground, tall as the walls of Esmerand.

The beasts screamed at the surprise attack, and some bolted the other way. A few others, the biggest of them with their multitude of horns and scaled armor, walked past the fire like it was nothing.

“Those we focus on!” Kyr shouted. “Let’s rain lightning on them!”

*

Leatrix looked behind her as an odd color of fire billowed against the rising sun, while bursts of lightning rained like a thunderstorm. The monsters appeared sooner than expected, but Kyr and Roy should be able to handle them. At least until they made their escape.

A rider reigned their horse next to Leatrix. 

Vysa. 

“Damn!” the former mercenary shouted. “It’s a good thing I tried my luck on Kyr inside the spire. Sorcerers can store mana, but out here in the field they're downright terrifying. I guess that’s Vastille for you.”

“I take it they can’t do feats like that in the deserts out east?” Leatrix asked.

“On our side of the border, sometimes. Generally speaking, no. It’s nice to see a Deeran become a sorcerer, though. A part of me feels proud.”

“Roy talked to you?”

“Nah, but he was awkward around me. I get it. Duhalin mercenaries make a living patrolling the border.” 

"Are beasts of the apocalypse common there too?"

"Common enough, but they don't get so big until they reach Vastille." Vysa turned her horse around. “I must get going though if I am to ride all the way to the Spire of Resolve. What is it you wanted to talk to me about, lady inquisitor? Why the last minute call?”

Leatrix looked around her to make sure there was nobody in earshot. The people of the parade were only too eager to leave when the fireworks started.

She walked closer to the former guardian.

“If you can’t convince Ilara to accept Kyr’s help… tell her this. Tell her Kyr Solian has the Hero’s Codex.”

Vysa blinked in surprise.

“He what?”

“It’s just a theory,” Leatrix admitted. “But I think that horn is the codex. I think it’s the reason he can open the doors inside the spires.”

Vysa turned north to look at Kyr.

“I think,” Leatrix continued, “that in Aven’s final moments… he handed Kyr the most important thing the Hero of Creed had in his possession.”

Vysa turned back at her, and to Leatrix’s surprise, there were tears in the former mercenary's eyes. “I’ll tell Ilara,” she said, before she galloped away.

Leatrix waited until people were far enough before she turned back and headed for the rendezvous point with her companions.

She was confident in her theory, but there was a reason she hadn’t told anybody else.

Not yet. Kyr mustn’t know yet. Not until she was sure of what she noticed back at the spire.

“The enemy we fought and the enemy we needed to beat were two different things.”

Morick’s words.

They couldn’t simply join Vysa when she gives her proposal to Ilara. That would just invite Kyr to be arrested or killed before any talk could happen.

That bought them time. That bought them the chance to see the town of Lumis with their own eyes.