[Tammo's Competition III] Meteor (ARR Chapter 32)

[MathLuk]

SPOILERS FOR A REALM REBORN

Warning: This tale contains violence, usage of a hard magic system which is too complex to be talked about here, and locations borrowed with permission from Black and White, a fanfiction by @The Grey Coincidence. Oh, and insufficient character development, but that is hardly necessary for a thriller, is it not?

P.S. Credit should be given to @Keldor for editing this massive chapter.

Spoiler

CHILLGRAVE, KINGDOM OF ICE AND SNOW, THE EARTHSHARD

The four figures ran up a flight of stairs, mossy and creaky after seasons of neglect.

"You spanked Emmeroloth?" The first of them spoke. He was a pine marten with fur as dark as pitch, and had a sense of humour to match as well.

'Well," the second and third were both moles, but one was in 'seer gear', as they put it, and the other was in plate armour. The second beast continued. "I thought of the only way to break Arbert, then applied it on the fox."

"Very funny." The other mole raised his brows and rolled his eyes. His failure to retain Verminfate was not the first failure he had received, but he took it with stride. After all, he had Finnbarr and Fatch. What need is there for a sword so big that he could not swing it without leaving himself open?

"I think he is being completely serious." The fourth beast was the only one doing nothing but running for now, but him being the fifty-seven season old General Ralos Farin, he was the slowest of them all. "Humiliation must be applied to pride like a bandage to a bad wound."

"Hey! If it works, it works!" Slyte failed to suppress a laugh when they reached the tower's top. Castle Chillgrave was a massive structure built of sandstone on the whim of a wolverine king, aspiring to imitate the Amplifying power of Redwall. A pity he did not know about Redwall's actual secret...

The tower they were on was called The Grasping Claw, back in a time when the castle was not abandoned, when there were slaves hauling bricks up towers, and kings decorating corridors with skulls of all species, woodlander and vermin alike. But it was merely a shadow of its former self now. Only the most intrepid of explorers and children dared to come here, and most returned... but not the same.

Which made the whole place a good base to strike out from, at least from Ralos's perspective.

Peering down from the tower, Ralos could almost see everything without a roof over it. Other towers, claw-shaped and sharp, jutting out from the land itself. A courtyard, neglected for six whole seasons, teeming with all the wrong sorts of plants (all withered now). A quarry from afar, where sandstone's supposed magical qualities were reaped from the earth. The sea, stretching towards where Ralos' old eyes cannot see. And the walls. The castle could very well be envied by Triel or Southsward, will walls as study and thick like this. And this masterpiece was commissioned and built by vermin!

"Alright." Arbert took on his leading position. "I sensed a presence. A strong aetherial signature. Undoubtedly Emmeroloth." His subordinates nodded.

The Warrior continued. "Once they open their pathways here, we will be waiting for them. Dagbert, you'll head to Ishgard. Ralos, Slyte, you two to the tunnels. Stop anyone from entering." Arbert pointed to himself. "I'll stay here, looking out for the fox."

"We got that." Dagbert opened his Pathway and appeared in another tower, this one not as high as the one Arbert was on. Slyte opened his own Pathway, then he walked right across it into a tunnel leading to the sea, with the squirrel in tow..

"See you on the other side." Arbert softly said as everybeast took their own positions.

Finding their way to the docks was the easy part. Isangrim's skill with Pathways had improved since the last time he went adventuring in another world, and Lorelei was grateful for that. She could not grasp or embrace Conjuration enough to open one.

"They must be up there." The fox gestured at the castle.

"I sense Conjuration." Lorelei's ears and hackles raised. "Two sources. Water."

Suddenly, seemingly in an instant, the waters around them rose in two gigantic pillars. Waves, they were, and they were as tall as beasts. The moles have Amplifiers, but how could they be so infernally strong?

Before the waves converged, Lorelei saw Isangrim had barely enough time to slink into one of his Pathways, while the waters took everything - the docks, the pillars, and even Lorelei herself into the depths.

The waters were black, lightless, churning, and even the most accomplished of swimmers could not fight such a tide. But she would not die here! She was a queen of her own realm, and the daughter of the most powerful person in the entire Source! But she could do nothing against this terrifying force of nature. Hunks of wood seemed to fly around as the world spun around the otter, and soon her eyesight seemed to dim.

Remember your training, girl. King Thordan's voice leaked into her ears. But what could she do, if not fight? Her father fought, Corrado fought, but what could she do?

The answer seemed to come in the form of her other son's books.

If you cannot attack, defend.

If you cannot defend, flee.

If you cannot flee, surrender.

If you cannot surrender, die.

Thordan yielded to Conjuration, and became all too powerful. If that frail little boy can, I will.

Then she did what she thought was impossible, as the waters took away all breath.

She surrendered completely to the will of the Fates.

Conjuration filled her - she let Conjuration fill her as bubbles of air converged around her, and she drifted up like the pieces of wood around her. Clutching one of them in her paws, she took a deep breath and waited for a moment to aid her Bonder.

But not now. It was rest she needed. If only for a minute. Or two.

To be honest, Hersent was quite nervous about this whole 'battle' thing.

She knew who their enemies were - seers who would like nothing more than Southard dominance over the Southern Realms. Why they would want that, Hersent knew not.

The tunnels below the castle were like a maze, Hersent thought. And if I just stick to the walls on the right... I'll find the exit!

She trudged along the cold, slimy ground, moistened by decades of seawater, and went into the deeper regions of the castle.

Cursing under his breath, Isangrim appeared on the walls from his fifth Pathway. He could feel his Bondbeast struggling not to drown, and could only offer silent prayers to her - and keep calm for her. She would not need more panicking, from his side of the Bond or hers. That would do no good for the both of them.

He could also feel Thaumaturgy being gripped by two others, two others that did not seem to break into fighting yet. One was Hersent, already in the castle. Who was the other?

Must be the one who killed King Thordan, then.

Though he could only feel the torrent of Thaumaturgy rush through far, far away, but it was not him that they were after. Isangrim prayed to Vulpuz that he would reach Dagbert before everybeast else. He longed to see the mole die, or better yet, beg for his life, but he would have to reach him first.

In the end, though, he had no need to do so, as the moles stepped out of their Pathways and lifted up Finnbarr and Fatch, hastily dropping into battle stances. Glass wolf in one paw, and wooden staff in the other, the black fox reached for Thaumaturgy.

Slyte slunk through the cold passages of Castle Chillgrave, as he knew the others were fighting. The battle had been joined, far, far away from the duo, yet all they did was walk. Thaumaturgy was being held in one place - the walls, and sometimes he sensed another. Had they received another recruit? Slyte could only hope that they would not have turned another vermin seer against them.

Dagbert and Arbert were the only beasts in his entire life to treat him acceptably well, and Slyte would be grateful - though the riches they offered seem to have clouded his judgement for a bit. Ralos was the slowest of them all to warm up to him, but that was still to be expected. The squirrel had used the most of his life to fight against vermin, and working with one had not really crossed his mind. Yet still, they were quite good as a team, and Ralos seemed grateful.

But then, he could have had a more leading role in any other organisation. He was the only Thaumaturge on their side, but he was simply seen as 'the vermin' in Floret or Duncton. Just because the moles were technically nobles, and the squirrel was older than his father, did not mean that he was to finish last.

Pawsteps startled the resting pair. Ralos reached for his scythe, while Slyte kept a paw on one of his daggers, and the other paw on the Augmenter Dagbert took from Emmeroloth.

"Can you help me?" The creature stepped out, revealing her features. Her long and narrow snout and pronounced ears labelled her as a fox, even though her grey fur was different than most of her kind's orange or red. "I was exploring the castle, then I got lost." Her voice was lighter than the average fox, childlike, even. "I must have left my equipment somewhere, and-"

"You do know that this is a strange place to be exploring," Ralos snorted. "And are you aware that you are too young to be here?"

"Yes!" The vixen chirped. "But I don't think I care a lot about these things. Can you tell me what all this commotion is about? There seems to be a battle going on."

"Well, lass, somebeast wants to break into the castle, and we-"

As Ralos spoke, Slyte felt his blood run cold. He revealed his dagger, and the grey vixen gasped in surprise.

"She's a Thaumaturge!" A dagger flew from his paw, which she nicely dodged, and a circle of ice materialised around the three - the vixen's work.

She wanted a battle to the death, and Slyte found himself very interested.

As Emmeroloth spun the ring of fire around the two moles, Arbert knew exactly what to do.

Conjuring the greatest of winds, he sent the flames back to the fox. The flames should do no damage at all, but the heat would travel back to its maker.

And travel back it did. The fox groaned in pain for a split second, but apparently, he was used to it, and soon bolts of lightning emerged from the skies, forcing Arbert and his brother to bid a speedy retreat. When he turned his head, Isangrim's clothing was singed, yet the beast was evidently not harmed, though cursing profusely he certainly was.

This mode of warfare would require more... psychological methods.

"Well, fox, this is not the first time you found yourself in a sticky situation. If you consider yourself lucky, only one of use get to spank you until you beg for us to stop again. But if not-"

The mole's taunting quickly stopped as a massive cloud of mist suddenly emerged from just in front of Arbert, resulting in an explosion of purple.

A whiff of the gas made Arbert collapse to his feet, coughing and sputtering. Poison! Emmeroloth knows its making!

Feeling a possible impact from Emmeroloth's wooden staff whistle past his ear, Dagbert got to his brother, who simply fell limp. Before their foe could do anything, or even say another word, the moles stumbled through another Pathway.

Hersent was never one to laugh in the face of danger, and she never intended to to as such. Maybe taking on two at once is not that great of an idea...

Ralos the squirrel shied away from Conjuration attacks in order to simply use his scythe, but he was not too fast for the grey vixen. The slippery floor did not help manners for the woodlander, as he battled this lack of friction caused by a rapidly freezing battlefield as hard as he did the Thaumaturgic vixen.

The marten, though proved troublesome. Being in possession of the little tin box meant that he could effortlessly overpower her if push came to shove, but she had the element of surprise. He was forced to divert his energy towards the narrower realm of physical fighting - which was little comfort for Hersent.

Wreathing his twin blades in the power of fire, Slyte leapt at her, which she blocked with a narrow shield of ice. Vapour quickly emerged from the contact, and the fox leaped back, eagerly waiting for a second blow from the second vermin.

But that blow never came.

Instead, a massive scythe, levitated with wind, was thrown at her with all the strength Ralos could muster. She could only gasp as a fatal blow was narrowly missed, but she felt the line of metal scratch against her face.

Then came the taste of blood, and by then she had fled through a Pathway, leaving her at where she started exactly three minutes ago, but with a massive gash down her face.

If this doesn't get healed quickly, I'll die!

Casting away her panic, she began to open another Pathway, slowly and securely.

But the time for running is over, and she will stand and fight. Until the day of her passing.

'You worried me for a second." Lorelei smiled as Isangrim sat down on the castle walls, exhausted after finally driving away his twin assailants. "I could feel you drown!"

"Well, can you feel me not die?" The otterqueen winked at the fox, who stood up. "You don't need to talk to me about doom and gloom every time you feel it from me!" She sniffed. "What about Arbert and Dagbert? Where are they?"

"They retreated. I used a foul blast on them, and they slunk away to heal." Isangrim spat. "Arbert must have known the consequences of taunting. Coward."

"We need to go after them! Now!" Lorelei felt her fists tighten as she felt what Dagbert did to Isangrim again. The spankings were horrible, and it would have broken Lorelei had that been done to her. But they still have the moles to defeat - thoughts on bloody vengeance must wait.

"Isangrim, can you take me to the tallest tower?" Lorelei turned her head back to the fox, who was in his own pensive thoughts.

He was clearly not listening.

"Hersent has fought their vermin." Isangrim trembled. Two sources of Thaumaturgy are being used close to each other! She's in danger!"

The otter huffed. "Alright. You'll drop me anywhere in the castle. I'll try to be a normal otter and walk. Happy now?"

"Very much so." The fox carved open all space to reveal a narrow room, with cupboards, fireplaces and even a big cauldron.

A kitchen, with windows towards the open sea.

"I will go for my apprentice, and you get to punch the heavens out of moles. You feeling overjoyed yet?"

Lorelei felt the corners of her mouth rise before she could control it. "Obviously."

During his first ascent into Ishgard from the Great Hall directly below, in his second sojourn into another world, Dagbert deduced that the tower's name meant 'Tower of Ice' in some Otharnic or Dravain tongue, and Dagbert was quite surprised that somebeast up north had named the tower like this.

The fool who built this clearly has no qualms about being identified as a clearly obvious villain.

He tried to scan for Conjuration, but could only sense a weak 'scent' somewhere underground - definitely Ralos. Dagbert wondered if they were alright - Ralos, of all beasts, using Conjuration was not a good sign.

Dagbert tensed.

Rapid, heavy pawsteps can be heard bit by bit as somebeast decided to ascend the narrow, clawlike tower.

They stopped.

Then he could sense Conjuration being embraced.

Then the stone under him tumbled down as a very angry otter punched through wood, brick and stone.

Dagbert quickly formed a shield around his body split seconds before Shadowbringers could destroy his bones. He had used it before, but this time there was not even one ball of blazing fire to warn him.

He should have been less surprised when the shield almost broke at the moment of her impact, but he broke the shield and sent it back at his assailant, just as he did back in Dravania.

But the shards of the shield never reached Lorelei, as Dagbert simply forgot about the otterqueen able to form shields of her own. Within a second, the mole was the one who had jagged, sharp slivers and shards of solid air hurled at him.

Instead of expending more energy, Dagbert weaved his way between the fragments of air. Skidding across the wooden base of the tower's top level, the mole found himself at the edge of the circular building.

Which is exactly where Lorelei pushed him off.

This little vixen's putting up more of a fight than many of my soldiers!

Twisting away from a blast of concentrated ruin, Ralos threw himself onto the bleeding fox, only for her to send another spell of the same make towards him, causing him to crumple onto the ground, a paw on his shoulder.

Slyte attempted to move closer, but somehow a wall of ice barred his path, forcing him to retreat across the Pathway the vixen had made, and to where Ralos slowly rose.

"Give up, vixen." Ralos was not used to being the negotiator, yet here he was. "If you would surrender, perhaps we can heal your wound, and train you properly - or something like that."

The grey vermin was not having any of it, as she sprinted across the room to her Pathway, crossing over to another part of the castle.

'"Wait!" Slyte and Ralos could do nothing but halt mere paces before the portal as the Pathway was closed, not vertically as in normal Pathways, but horizontally.

Ralos knew the significance of the vixen's last move, but he was too late to stop her. He scarcely had enough time and energy to form the shield around himself and the marten as the entire room exploded around them.

A great roar blasted into Isangrim's ears.

When the explosion hit Isangrim's nose like an explosion, as explosions tend to do, the fox raced towards the room. It used to be decorated with carpets, cushions and a marvellously crafted table, but after the castle had been abandoned, it was a shadow of its former self.

The explosion ruined all the beauty that remained of the room. Walls were reduced to rubble, and all the luxury of the room were either coated in ashes, or became ashes themselves.

In the middle of the room lay an unconscious vixen, a massive scar overtaking her head and almost her entire body burnt to a crisp.

"Hersent!' Isangrim rushed towards his apprentice, who said nothing in reply. Great Vulpuz, please let her be alive.

She seemed to remain unresponsive to him, as the black fox finally realised what had happened. She had tried to destroy a creation of Thaumaturgy, and thus released a mighty blast upon this world, and in this castle in particular.

Admittedly, healing had never been amongst his talents, but he seized Thaumaturgy anyways, and tried to reduce the size of her wounds. Every single time he opened his eyes, the slash on her head seemed less red, less hot, and the burn marks she bore seemed to fade into oblivion as well.

The vixen stirred, first slightly, then she bounced awake.

"Master Isangrim!" She tried to stand up, but fell back down onto her legs. Her paw found Isangrim's as she mustered enough strength to stand.

'Hersent." The elder of the two foxes looked at his apprentice pleadingly. 'Please do not do it again. Do not undo a Pathway in haste!"

"I would do that only if lives are at stake, Master Isangrim." She attempted to break into a jog, but her legs took a while to obey her.

Isangrim tried to approach her, only for an open paw to be shown to him as she turned her head towards her mentor, the big scar still on it - she needs a woodlander to deal with it. "I can fight still, Master, and I will."

"Then we go." The two rushed towards the heart of the castle.

"So we just wait here until Lorelei comes down?" Arbert asked. He had managed to save his falling brother by conjuring a cushion of air to protect him, and Lorelei still had no idea that he was still alive.

"Yes," Dagbert gave a sudden nervous smile. "And then we blast her with Water and Earth."

"A trap." Arbert found himself repeating the obvious.

"Once we-" Dagbert turned in the direction of pawsteps coming their way, and two foxes coming straight at them, clearly well-prepared.

Twin beams of fire and ice launched themselves at the moles, but their targets rolled out of the way, narrowly avoiding being burnt and frozen in one go. Dagbert was about to call his winds when Lorelei slid down the tower staircase, eyes blazing red with rage once more.

The effect of her arrival was mitigated by another Pathway opening, revealing two beasts with clothing almost completely burnt away. Slyte limped out of the circle, with an almost burnt out Ralos in tow.

They looked more burnt that what was expected to be found in a kitchen.

Seeing her chance, Lorelei rushed towards the weakened squirrel, twin Shadowbringers in paws. Dagbert managed a shield of air while Arbert crafted a wave of healing over his two weaker comrades.

The entire dome of solidified gas trembled and shook as the otter in Bloodwrath pummeled the shield until cracks of it seemed to fall off with every hit, only for her to stop.

Dagbert was nearly spent when he saw the spear of flame conjured by Emmeroloth, but Arbert's two accomplishes were healed, and was able to form a shield of his own, rending it apart and sending the pieces back, driving the otterqueen into the back of the room.

So Dagbert saw fit to surrender.

Not to Lorelei.

Not to Emmeroloth and his upstart apprentice.

Not even to Conjuration.

Dagbert surrendered to Arbert.

For if the two were to be one, one had to lead and the other had to submit.

Seeing what is going on, Slyte tossed the tin box to Arbert, and surrendered just as well as any woodlander as Ralos proceeded to do the same. Now, Emmeroloth was well and truly caged.

Lorelei let out an audible gasp as she snapped out of Bloodwrath, and muttered a curse; as her train of coherent thought was swiftly interrupted by a blossom of flame, forged from Arbert's Earth, Dagbert's Wind and Slyte's Fire, combined by their link into a single burst of energy in conjunction with two Amplifiers and a single Augmenter.

The three in front of Arbert stood no chance as flames, taller than even the Stalwarts, erupted from everywhere at once, though it was clear to Arbert that only four were created, one from each corner of the room.

Everyone in the room heard the piercing whine of fires exploding around the room, but only Arbert knew that it was the sound of death.

As the fires extinguished themselves, no figure in the room was standing upright.

Ralos and Slyte were unconscious, no doubt exhausted after a rapid healing and their effort in Arbert's gamble.

Lorelei was mumbling incoherently as she flopped across the wall, though her two vermin friends were in even worse states, slumped together.

And finally, Arbert and Dagbert knelt in pain as they finally saw what they had done. Though nobeast had died for sure, the hall was scorched, to the point of inability to be called a room, let alone a hall, anymore.

It was at that exact moment of false triumph that Arbert sensed a fifth source of Conjuration.

Aligning the pathway, the beast that called himself Emetselk simply walked through like he was never dead.

A mole - clearly Arbert - gasped when they saw him. "You!"

"Yeah, I think I am me indeed." Projecting his cards in a circle, he lit the surroundings in a starry circle, enough to keep his friends going for a while.

"Father!" Lorelei shouted as she stood, unable to keep the secret he had hidden for so long.

The beast that stubbornly continued to call himself Emetselk smiled. "I knew you would know. I'm not exactly subtle, you know." Then he opened another Pathway.

Clearly expecting another attack from the long-dead King Thordan, Arbert barely faltered to produce a shield, tempered with both halves of Seercraft.

But he deceived himself.

The Pathway opened within the confines of the shield, and an armoured stoat stepped through. Fandaniel raised his greatsword, and swung - only to be stopped by a moleand his steel. Blocking Fandaniel's sword-strike with Finnbarr the Sword-Amplifier, Dagbert was able to hold him - for only about two seconds as the tall stoat's sword restruck, cleaving through clothing, sinew and bone.

Dagbert screamed as his right paw was severed from him, but before the vermin and his sword could do any more damage, a burst of wind threw him back to the edge of the room, a shield was propped up, and a Pathway produced.

The beast that was King Thordan Skyward could do nothing but watch as his enemies slipped out of his grasp for the second time.

This battle did not happen in the mind or dream of another beast.

This battle did not happen in the Rift between all seven worlds.

This battle happened in a world where beasts considered it all too real.

A meteor has been dropped on all worlds, Source or Shard.

The seeds of destruction, long sown, have been watered.

Days of Ruin grow ever closer for the Earthshard, and for the others of its kind.

After all, it is etched.

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