Lightning Blade and Dynamic Entry

Lighting strikes the stones and shakes the earth.

Coryn weaved through stingers and talons and rusted swords of crude steel. It was like a game for him.

Aurelio was further ahead, slicing through flesh and bone like air. No wasted motion and not a nick of a blade on his pale flesh. He took down the left, slicing from collar blade to pelvis, splitting the poor beast in half and leaving it a puddle of green blood and entrails. The right tried smashing his head in, but the swordsman blocked and took its face from it.

They had been moving as they fought, slowly ascending the thousand floors and, unbeknownst to them, leaving Robin to the darkness below. He could hear them scurry around him, clicking and hissing like craven hunters. But the dark halls were not so different from the dangers of the slums. The rule in those streets, the only way to survive… was silence.

*-*-*

The wyvern had dove onto the rocks that Arian had stood upon, and was low enough that the crews aboard the Kaminos could witness it, fear it.

"My Lord…" one of his soldiers spoke as he held the chancellor at the arm.

"It will not come too close. It's focused on another…" Oswyn replied, seeing the black of Arian's robes hang upon the shattered rocks.

The beast screamed a violent, blood-curdling song as it felt the thrill of a fresh kill. But its bravado was cut short by the clanking of chains, and soon, the feel of them wrapped around its throat. Arian stood firm, wiping away the blood from the cut above his eye and breathing heavily. He pulled the chain harshly, almost pulling the beast out of the air, screeching as it flapped its giant wings.

"Think you can just hit your cheap shot and get away?!" He roared at the terror, which honed in on him with murder in its gaze. Thunder gathered in its throat, but before it got the chance to hit him with another bolt, he yanked the chain again. The breath launched high, showering him with rock shards as he cursed. "I'm gonna cut off your wings and make you fucking eat them!"

It did not fear his words, thrashing and snapping at his face millimetres away from his flesh. He struggled to keep the beast contained as the chains slipped away from his blood-soaked hands. It was a revelation that did not bode well, and the longer it fought with its ungodly strength, the more Arian felt his life flicker before his eyes.

Inside the monolith, Aurelio was close to the exit, but his reach would not find sanctuary. He reached for it, and a fresh batch of Orkus stumbled onto the battlefield between him and his goal. He snarled at them, like a starved dog, and they in turn snapped back.

They had been bested before, and Aurelio was undoubtedly skilled enough to repeat his work. But so close to the end of the corridor left him with little room to work with, and he was starting to tire. In that moment, as he caught his breath, he noticed the weapons held by one of the beasts. A bronze Morningstar slick with infected green blood. On its arm, a shield sheared at the top but tall enough to cover the creature's frame. The bulwark was dark wood, flecks of marsh green paint peeling away at the edges, and a bronze hound howling etched at its core. A curious heirloom to find in the arms of a beast in a place like this…

Of course, there was meaning to it. Their father, the king, was in command of the silver swords. One such soldier was sent on a mission near the Isles and never returned. It just so happened that the missing sword was Rourke of the Calcyx, a house whose sigil was a howling bronze hound in a sea of marshy green.

"So this is where you ended up..." Aurelio spoke, to armaments of a dead man. "To steal from a soldier is to steal from a king!" He called out to their new owner. "In my kingdom, thieves lose hands. I think I'll make an example of you. I'll take your head."

Coryn and Aurelio drowned in blood and bodies, but Robin was the opposite. He drowned in nothingness. He watched one go by, scanning the halls, but the shadows kept the young one safe. There was silence in those pockets of emptiness, and Robin knew how to bend them to his will. The only problem was how to weave his way back around to his brothers without bumping into any more dangers. Surely, they were capable enough to realise they could block off the exit, let him find his way back and bludgeon him then. It was a thought not worth pondering, and just as he was ready to skip from doorway to doorway, another rounded the corner. He held back just enough to pivot and spin around the creature before it could spot him, but it felt the breeze against its skin. He could see it searching the darkness for him.

Relief rolled over him like a soothing wave when the beast moved on, and he swiftly crept back to the entrance. Much like he thought however, the road ahead was not so easy. Four blocked the narrow path back to the grand hallway, all tall, burly, and angry-looking.

Great! He thought. How the hell am I gonna get through?!

As he pondered, another of his pursuers caught a glimpse of what it thought was Robin and sliced it, screeching loud enough to see the beasts' attention at the entrance.

Two went over to investigate, but another two were still keeping watch. He knew this was his best chance at slipping past. Looking below, there were sharp stones at his feet. Not sharp enough to kill, but good enough to distract.

He launched one further down the hall, and it rattled off the wall, attracting one of the guards. Still, one remained, so he threw the second stone at the door bars so he could slip by to the other side unseen. It worked, but he was no closer. Eventually, he would have to move the last away or dart past, and that window of opportunity was quickly closing. There were no more stones to throw or cheap distractions to use. But there was something in the corner of his eye that would prove all the more critical. He noticed a hidden hatch dug into the floor when he moved across the opening ahead of the exit. Stones lay atop it, but he dug it clear and clambered inside. Why? Because there was air, and in the narrow, man-made corridors of a mountain, air meant exit.

*-*-*

The first and third sons were still fighting in the halls. Coryn danced around the steel and picked his moments of action. It wasn't much, but his dagger kept him alive. He fought for every inch, and now he was near neck and neck with his brother, fighting tooth and nail.

But now it wasn't just the Orkus he needed to fear. Azura flashed, cut, and sang in the air, leaving corpses all around. He was a whirlwind of blood and steel. They circled around him, and he responded with death. They would wildly lash at him with claw, sword or pincer and graze the skin but it was never enough to keep him still.

All of it, a show of pure domination. And when he stopped to recharge, breathe in and wipe the sweat from his brow, he saw another sea of them charging in from the bottom. An unending horde. There had to be a way to destroy them. Cutting down the few only to have them replaced like the crashing waves, the water breaches the shore sooner or later and drowns it all.

But it gave him an idea. He saw his brother barely hanging on further down the hall with Orkus swarming, much like flies to a fresh kill. The rest swarmed him instead... all of them in such a packed space. And all that talk of waves. He realised what he needed to do.

"Coryn!" He called. His younger brother looked his way and saw Aurelio bleed out a blue light into his blade. So much flooded into it that it started to glow, the same as his eyes. "Plight and disease, all are cleansed by the sacred waters!"

Though cryptic, Coryn was quick to realise the intention and his face dropped. "Aurelio?!"

"See you at the bottom." He replied as he put every ounce of strength into a final swing of his sword. The blade cut no flesh, rendered no sinew. His mana erupted from the swing and transformed into a maelstrom, a giant tsunami engulfing everything in its path, including Coryn. The torrent pulled them in and washed them away to the depths.

Coryn had mere seconds to react before the waters pulled him in, like damned souls gripping at his colours and dragging him to the grave. But he fought against them, swimming to the path's edges as much as possible. And his resolve was rewarded. He reached out and with his fingertips, managed to grab ahold of a doorframe. He held on for dear life as the Orkus washed away to nothingness.

Aurelio felt splash-back; the spell drained him of mana, and now he felt the aftermath. There was no strength in him. He dropped to a knee, blood poured from his nose, and his cold, calloused hands shook.

Regardless. He pushed on Azura back to his feet and stumbled to the peak.

*-*-*

Aurelio reached the top, Coryn was still below struggling, and Arian was nowhere to be seen. He was soon to be Stormcaller's master, but… Robin held its guard. He wrenched with all his might to free the blade, but it would not budge from the stone. The hatch he had found wrapped around and to a backup exit to the thin air and ice. Though it was not the peak, it was close. He desperately pulled himself to the top and dug his nails into the surface when he reached it.

And now, he held the goal in his palms, though it was proving difficult to claim. Even still, the eldest prince panicked and hurled a string of water towards him. Though Robin was quick enough to move and take cover behind one of the spires, he had to leave the blade. Aurelio continued firing his blades into the rock, cutting deep into it, enough to keep Robin pinned behind it as Aurelio moved closer to the sword. That was when Coryn found his way past the door and onto the peak. Azura's magic also launched his way, and Coryn had to retreat behind more of the outcroppings, giving Robin room.

Though Aurelio retained the upper hand, keeping his siblings at bay, they didn't know he was running low on mana. Not many in the kingdom could use spells. Only Oswyn practised it regularly. Naturally, Aurelio relied more on his strong arm and swift sword, but now Azura gifted him more than that. There were no circles to draw and no words to speak. Using the blade was easy. But it drained mana like a drunkard drains a brewery. The golden one had shaky legs, and though he tried to hide it, he choked on the air. If they kept going, kept patient and wise... they could win this.

Both Coryn and Robin were ready to pounce, let their brother tire himself out entirely and take the caller. But their struggles narrowed their minds to Aurelio and the sword... they hadn't stopped to consider where Arian was.

All movement atop the mountain ceased at the sound of lightning. And off the western edge, a low wing beat caught their attention. The wyvern shot up from the depths and stalled above them. But it was not alone. Chains held its jaws in place and sat atop the beast was Arian himself.

The lightning spitter launched a crackling volley at the peak, spiking down into the ground where the three heirs stood. Aurelio and Robin were lucky. They had more time to react and move. Coryn was not afforded that luck.

The bolt crashed at his feet, and the explosion blasted him backwards. He slammed into one of the outcroppings he had used as cover moments before.

His head slumped, and he moved no more.