Home > False Skies (Challenger's Call #5)(3)

False Skies (Challenger's Call #5)(3)
Author: Nathan Thompson

All around me were those I had come to save thousands of years too late, and yet they danced and cheered and hugged each other fiercely, with no less joy than those I had saved far more quickly. None of them were choosing to give up, or stay in whatever madness I had just rescued them from. Instead, they sought out each other, rejoicing all the louder when they saw the regained sanity in their loved ones’ eyes. This held true for both the recently saved brown-skinned ocean folk and the aquamarine Atlanteans.

It is never too late to try to succeed, the mad king said in my heart. Seek the lost, and crown them.

I blinked again, and realized that I was still holding onto the people around me. My adopted sister was in my left arm, hugging back and shuddering at the same time. Power was pouring into her from multiple sources, changing her in just as many ways. I thought I could feel her muscles expand and tone bit by bit, and she seemed just a little taller now. The magic from her Ideal was flickering through her body, concentrating around her dark hair and closed eyes, deepening the shadows that her features cast. She was an Earthborn Challenger like myself, which meant her body and soul gained much from overcoming a global threat.

Since she had just helped overcome two, the recent one brought on by the Nuckelavee and the ancient one brought on by the sanity-devouring Flood, the power was significant. But I could feel another strand of power enter her, one flowing directly from me, letting her share in my own gains from overcoming two Tumults and rescuing a previously extinct civilization from a threat to multiple worlds.

But that last strand from me wasn’t just pouring into her.

It was pouring into every life around me.

I could feel it streaming out from my chest, where my Woadtattoo glowed hot against my skin. The sap forming its ink had come from an altered Woadfather Monarch, a Kingtree. It did not increase my power in the same way a normal Woadtattoo did, but instead enhanced my bond with those under my authority or protection. Combined somehow with the anointing I had received from the Well of Avalon, it meant that others shared in the personal power I gained. That meant Val. That meant the three Testifiers, and the Gaelguard and crew of Scholar-marines that had accompanied me to rescue Atlantis. That meant the people below me, from the newly rescued planet I had now claimed, even as they regained their bodies and sanity.

It also meant the woman that my right arm was currently embracing, the piece of Stell that had committed to protecting the Sun-Jeweled Seas.

Via was quivering more than anyone else nearby. I saw visible strands of aquamarine power rolling into her from me, and from the planet itself. She was clutching my body tightly, which let me literally feel her insides pulse with power.

But thanks to our mindlink, I knew that the caramel-colored woman was trembling for another reason.

All back, she muttered over and over in her mind, not caring that anyone else could hear her. I got them all back…

It wasn’t entirely true, I knew. Some people had died in battle, instead of being taken by the formless dark. But I could feel the emotional whiplash running through a woman that had spent untold months watching increasing numbers of people and communities she had spent centuries getting to know, disappear one by one, in spite of all her efforts to preserve every single life. She had been putting the emotional turmoil of those losses at the back of her mind, numbing herself to the fact that untold thousands of her people were probably dead, only to get them back at this last moment and see them become healthier and more whole than they had ever been.

Riding on that same victory was the recovery of a lost part of her world’s history, one supposedly forever gone except for the faintest of whispers. One I now knew she had been dreaming of for ages, constantly looking for clues of where Atlantis might have been, trying to uncover their lost secrets and majesty. She had been delighted and amazed to meet Gabin and the other true Atlanteans, and unable to rein in her curiosity regarding them in the slightest. A tiny portion of her mind was considering how the recovery of their civilization might change her world, what new advancements in medicine, technology, and food supply her island people might suddenly gain.

But the rest of her mind was too busy weeping with joy over the fact that for her entire world, sorrow had turned to joy, and mourning had turned to dancing.

I got them back, her mind continued to mutter as she pressed her beautiful face into my chest, layered armor notwithstanding. How? How did I get them all back?

I didn’t have an answer for her, but I felt Breaker pulse in its sheath.

The weapon was still in its newest form, a basket-hilted arming sword a bit under a meter long. Named Colada, the blade put both fear, and those ruled by fear, to flight. It had destroyed the power of the flood somehow, and had combined with the power inside the regalia of Atlantis to devour the entity that had been bound to the sunken city.

I turned my attention to the regalia, specifically the bracer adorning my forearm. It looked beautiful, with its golden surface, but I felt that some of its ornate details had been hidden, as if it required polishing to restore its full glory.

But I would have to think on that further later. Right now, I had thousands, probably hundreds of thousands, of people to see to. They were clearly happy and flush with power from Rising at the same time I did, but I needed to attend to more mundane needs, like food or a place to sleep. I also needed to figure out just how structurally sound this giant city was after having been submerged in water and unnatural magic for untold centuries.

Finally, Via seemed subconsciously determined to break my ribs, so that was also a thing to look into.

Status report, I sent to my retinue through the mindlink. Is everyone okay?

An intense Rise could be hard to come down from, especially if a person received other augments in the process.

And in my own case, some kind of bomb in my brain kept trying to go off whenever I became too powerful, threatening to kill me each time I grew strong enough to be the hero these worlds needed me to be.

Um, maybe? Val said. She tapped my arm as I let go of her, swaying a bit before she slowly regained her balance. Kind of a big rush this time. Even bigger than the last few Rises.

Same, Eadric chimed in, joined by Breyn, followed by the entire remainder of my retinue, with the notable exception of Breena and Via.

Yes, Breena finally spoke up, flying over me. Stell’s fairy Satellite had shrunk back to her much smaller form, and I saw the tiny pink fairy begin to dip and bob as she flew. Yes, I am okay. Definitely. And by definitely I mean I am not in fact okay. It is very hard to think and fly at the same time. Scratch that, it’s actually impossible. Going down now. Someone please catch me.

I was the closest one to her, and our special bond helped me predict her movements. I carefully held out my hand to catch her with the padded part of my gauntlet. The pink-haired sprite landed with a thud, surprising me with the impact. Then, because she was too big to fit easily in my hand, she began to roll out of my palm. I quickly pulled her close to my chest, doing what little I could to keep her from hurting herself against my scale-armored coat.

As far as I could tell, I was successful. The little woman’s wings flopped about to cushion her fall somehow, and she finally stopped rolling.

Breena! I sent worriedly. Can you hear me?

Yes, she said back quickly, but sleepily. Ish. Yes-ish. Sorry. Kind of tripping balls here. Gonna need a minute. Tell Via she’s in charge of you until I wake up.

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