Chapter 330 - Blazing creations
Scarlett watched as Rosa prepared to channel her Heartstone’s power, the bard glancing at her.
“So, how exactly do you want me to handle this?” Rosa asked. Her voice echoed with a strange resonance, like a whisper drifting through an empty hall.
Scarlett gestured to a section of the garden where the intricate arrays and runes carved into the ground formed a circle, now glowing faintly beneath the moonlight. “I have prepared an anchor to aid you. Simply stand within the circle.”
Despite the vast wealth of knowledge left behind by Thainnith through the legacy, she was far from an expert on the workings of demonic entities and their abilities. Even with what was likely decades or centuries of wisdom distilled and crammed into her mind, there were limits. Fortunately, Rosa’s connection to the Heartstone’s power was intuitive — so long as Scarlett provided the proper framework, the bard could likely navigate the rest herself.
Rosa stepped into the centre of the array, studying it with interest. Scarlett followed, withdrawing a polished, red-black stone and placing it in Rosa’s hand before stepping back. The seemingly inert gemstone reacted at once to Rosa’s touch, its surface pulsing with an ominous light, as if recognising the energy coursing through its new bearer.
In the back of Scarlett’s mind, the Loci stirred at the surge of foreign power within its domain. She soothed the house spirit as best she could, keeping its agitation in check as Rosa began. A ripple of forbidding force spread from the bard, raising the fine hairs on Scarlett’s arms. Fynn, watching nearby, furrowed his brow but said nothing.
Under normal circumstances, Scarlett would have hesitated before allowing Rosa to unleash her abilities so freely like this. There were always risks — prying eyes, unwanted attention, and the like. But this time, plenty of precautions had been taken. Several of the arrays Scarlett had set up were specifically to ensure that no trace of Rosa’s power would escape the garden, and with the Loci’s awareness, Scarlett had a clear view of the entire estate. If anyone approached, she would know.
Rosa stood motionless, eyes closed, as more and more energy gathered. The runes beneath her feet darkened, their glow dimming until, one by one, they flickered out. Then, her eyes snapped open—dusk-coloured irises traced with violet—just as the stone in her hand cracked with a sharp snap. Her hair lifted as the air around her warped, distorting as if reality itself was bending. Darkness condensed around her, swallowing the light.
Fynn stepped forward, but Scarlett raised a hand. “Give her a moment.”
The unnatural dark churned, writhing as colour bled back into its depths. Slowly, a new landscape took form — a twisted amalgamation of the Loci’s vibrant garden and something more grotesque. Glowing flora under a piercing blue sky merged with a realm of torment, where rivers of blackened, boiling blood cut deep through the ground like festering wounds.
An artificially constructed interstitial space, bridging the Material Realm to the Blaze of Anguish.
Such a feat should have been virtually impossible, even for major arcane factions like the Rising Isle. The Blazes were isolated from the Material Realm, and opening even a sliver of a pathway was far from easy. But through Rosa—an incarnate with a connection that pierced the veil between the realms—something like this wasn’t quite as unthinkable. Compared to conjuring Anguish’s citadel in the Material Realm, this was even somewhat mundane. And considering the Loci, a being rooted in the Wandering Realm, was helping out, it was even less surprising.