Chapter 290 - The other end
Gaspar scowled, his grip tightening on his staff as he surveyed the narrow hallway before them. Behind him, the murmurs of his junior wizards and colleagues formed the dull hum of discussion and half-formed theories. Though he was more than loath to admit it, having the Baroness here might have been advantageous.
At the corridor’s end stood a lone figure, its features obscured by flickering robes that rippled spectrally in the ambient light. The air around it thrummed with mana, thick with arcane energy. Ancient Zuverian wards—the likes of which Gaspar had never encountered before—shimmered faintly, warping the space like a mirage.
“This is getting ridiculous,” Rosa grumbled from Gaspar’s right, sitting on the ground and slumped against the cold stone wall. Her wooden instrument lay beside her as she ran a hand through her hair, shooting a small glare towards the robed figure. “There has to be some way past that thing.”
Gaspar’s lips pressed into a thin line. He shared her sentiment, but it had been made clear this obstacle would not yield easily.
After they had left the Chamber of Remembrance through the hidden passage revealed by Baroness Hartford, their group had ventured deeper into the Hall’s depths. The Baroness’ party had marched with a quiet determination, while the wizards of the Isle—despite the gravity of their mission—moved with an undeniable excitement among them, intrigued to explore this uncharted facet of their home. Gaspar understood their enthusiasm, and even shared it to a degree, though he took care not to let it show.
At first, their progress had been smooth. Suspiciously so, even. For reasons Gaspar and the others did not know, the threatening echoes that plagued the Hall’s outer chambers were mostly absent here, allowing them to advance with relative ease. In his brief arrogance, Gaspar had even entertained the hope that they might reach the Hall’s depths mostly unchallenged. As with most good things, however, that hope did not last.
The obstacles in their path gradually changed. Subtle nuisances—such as sealed doors requiring some time to breach and the occasional group of less aggressive echoes—gave way to more tangible, yet erratic, threats. The occasional echo grew stronger, more defined, employing far more intricate formations and attacks. Traps and wards began weaving through the corridors, disrupting spells and chipping away at their defences. And with every step forward, it was as if the Hall grew more aware of their presence, working to expel them.
Still, it had been manageable until they had run into the particularly implacable adversary now before them.
While not as overtly belligerent or threatening as the echoes they’d faced before, it proved far more formidable in its ability to cut off their advance. No spell or attack seemed to touch it; every effort was deflected as if it were nothing more than a gentle breeze. Gaspar had seen few defences this impenetrable, even among accomplished Arch Wizards.
If this was an echo like the ones they had encountered before, he could only wonder what sort of mage it emulated.
“Are we sure that we have to get past it?” Allyssa asked. Sitting next to Rosa, she sorted through her remaining alchemical supplies, the vials and containers spread out in neat rows. “This is where Scarlett would’ve just disarmed that thing. Or made it vanish. Or…something.”
Gaspar glanced at the two, then flicked his attention towards the rest of the group at the mouth of the corridor. Most of his junior wizards, along with Magister Penney, Grand Wizard Clemmons, and Shin, were clustered around a Zuverian device mounted on the wall. The device was very similar to the Tabernacle artifacts that the Zuver were known to have used, and for reasons he could not explain, it seemed to involve a convoluted puzzle of some sort.