BECMI Chapter 366 - Heartburn
What I could do to the Curse of the Saber River was incinerate what was here, Burn it to vivus, break it, and force it to reconstitute itself. While that was happening, Golgrim’s Curse-breaking team could follow the proper steps to get rid of it.
Shattering the Immortal Power holding it meant it could be destroyed forever with the correct method, and wouldn’t have the strength to come back once the proper steps were taken.
The creatures behind me weren’t going to reach me in time to stop me. Dread lit up with an awful brightness of Vivic, Bane to Immortals, and Radiant energy, while I snapped a one-round Speed out and just hacked into the thing on the Rift as soon as it came into range.
The Heart pulsed, and I heard a reedy scream from somewhere far in the distance, conducted through all the waters right to here.
Chokchokchokchokchokchoksplort!
Shredded Curse-heart blazed and Burned into the waters with unnatural speed, Immortal Power ignited as Dread fed and devoured the foundation of the thing. The unnatural substance went up like oil and exploded out into the waters around us, a perfect conduit into the heart and nature of the Curse.
The saberclaws frantically flapping their way down towards me hit the expanding radius of Taint being devoured and blew apart like underwater Vivic Fireballs, accelerating the clearing process in a chain reaction through the waters around them. The incoming moving island that was a massive dragon turtle, clearly the largest I’d seen myself (and way too big to get inside here, so, no, no, no Immortals involved in this, nosiree, Bob!) hit the wave and vivus ignited all over it, inside and out, instantly sending it off-balance and away blindly as it thrashed at invisible threads being Burned out of its mind.
The sparkling purity of the waters was absolutely restored, and this underground reservoir cleared up with breathtaking speed.
“Duum, get me over in front of the outflow. I’m going to put up a Permanent Wall of Vivic Holy Water on top of that thing, which should accelerate the purification going downstream and stop it from spreading, even when it reconstitutes itself.” Ancient Curses, the highest tier, really were the hardest to get rid of, but as long as Grimgol and his team found the hilt and the blade of the Saber they were looking for which seemed crucial to the Curse, that should be able to deal with things.
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A big bubbling circle of ‘waterflames’, which basically would have been endless acid as an attack, were instead undead-slaughtering and Curse-eating Vivic holy water here. They Burned a bubbling, incandescent blue-green in front of the outflow of the reservoir. Anchored there by Permanence and bolstered by the pure Elemental water coursing through it, it would make the waters of the Saber River hostile to undead and fell magicks by its very nature, which should have all sorts of positive effects on the landscape.
Wouldn’t have to worry about lacedons, most evil water Fey, and similar things in the water, for instance, and even Evil dragons or magical creatures would find it repellent, basically opening up the entirety of the river’s shores as a decent place to settle and expand.
We had company as I finished up.
There were over a dozen Water Elementals spread out nigh-invisibly in the waters, watching me finish up the job. Primus’ Aura pulsed to them, Halcyon magic made it clear I was a servant of the Land, and they didn’t intrude on me in the slightest.
The other was the huge mass of the dragon turtle, sitting there watching Duum and I while not moving.
The Elementals were basically the smaller versions, the equivalent of ‘civilians’ among Elementals, save for the one warrior-type of Large size, something that might actually be Summoned by a competent Wizard.
“Elder,” I addressed the larger Elemental politely. “I am the Lady Edge. Have you business with me?” I asked it calmly.
The Elemental torus-swirled into a bow-equivalent, gurgling its Name as introduction in their Aquan tongue, which I understood just fine. “Thank you for freeing us from our captivity here, Great Magus! We were unable to pass back through the wormhole while the black Heart beat and poisoned this place against us.” It flowed over and patted the massive jaws of the hovering dragon turtle, too. “Old Brobble here has also been freed from the domination of the thing after it formed not long ago!”
The dragon turtle replied roughly in Aquan, “Thank you for releasing me. That was most foul,” an ocean-deep voice too big for this place said in halting words.
I realized it was inspecting me closely, likely never having seen anything like the two of us. “Have you been trapped here all your life, Elder Turtle?” I asked him calmly.
Instant regret flowed through the great eye drifting close in to me. “When I awoke here, I was already too large to pass through the wormhole or the outflow,” the massive Brobble replied sadly. “My only company has been the Elementals coming out of the wormhole to wander the chambers above, or the occasional beast coming forth chasing after them as prey.”
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And thus why he was speaking Aquan, instead of Draconic...
Running into another dragon turtle was probably not on his list of expectations, a problem that probably didn’t worry him overmuch. “Would you like to get out of here, then, Elder Brobble?” I asked him calmly.
His visible eye widened greatly. “I would do whatever you wished for such a boon, Lady Edge!” he fairly bellowed at me, the water shaking with his eagerness.
“Then that is what we are going to do, elder, except we are going to Fly our way out!” I promised him.
“If you ever have need of us or our services, merely call my Name out upon the waters of the river, and we will answer!” the Elemental leader called out solemnly.
“I shall remember your name, Elder!” I promised in reply. “Please convey my respects to Hydrosa, and let Her know She may wish to claim this place!”
Its shock rippled the water about it. “You know the Flower of the Oceans, Magus Lady Edge?” he asked, VERY respectfully now.
“I do,” I replied shortly and dismissively, impressing it all the more. “I know all four Sisters of the Primal Rose, Elder.”
There was a gushing within it, the equivalent of a nervous swallow, especially as my Aura flared for just a tiny moment, and it had a small idea of just what it was dealing with, and just how small it was in relation to Duum and I.
“I will convey your greetings personally!” it swore fervently, and then something seemed to strike it. “Lady Edge, you who freed,” he let loose a few more Elemental names, “in the ancient days? The first followers of Hydrosa, and the founders of my clan?” it gasped.
Those were the names of the Water Elementals I’d freed from the Thisbean Inn, trapped there after the Doom buried the Inn. The Sim that had become Hydrosa had later employed them as her first Elemental minions, and they had risen to power with her over the millennia since then.
“Yes. I understand they have done well over the centuries. Give your ancestors my regards.”
I was now officially a celebrity. The ecstatic Elementals were swirling around, making the water churn and bubble as I directed Duum to get up on Elder Brobble’s great shell, a thing barely marked at all despite its size, owing to the lack of fighting encounters here.
It made it a fine thing for painting a Rune on in fluid Watergold.
The Rune took shape, was Invested with a IX Slot and even a touch of Immortal Power on the front of his Shell. Elemental power swirled around him, making him tremble with eagerness.
“Elder of the Waves, there shall be coming some mortals here to make certain of the ending of the Curse, please do not forestall them when they appear!” I called to the Elemental, who happily gurgled back that they would be very pleased to help with that deed!
“Elder Brobble, prepare to see a whole new world!” I promised the dragon turtle from atop his shell.
A Dimension Door, huge and vast to cover the entirety of this ancient turtle, formed a square block and snapped over us in an instant. Elder Brobble roared his joy as he was swept out of his prison forever.
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His roar echoed off the stones and forests below, and then he flailed comically with his clawed flippers for a moment, extended long neck lashing back and forth as he looked around and instinct made him prepare for falling, wondering for a heartbeat if he had been betrayed.
Then he realized he wasn’t falling.
Power centered on the golden Rune on the front of his shell spilled forth in faint misty whorls, and he drifted down the canyon outside the Heart of the River, above the sparkling waterfall that was the outlet of his cage.
His head craned back and forth eagerly, overwhelmed by the blue sky above, the towering peaks of stone, the green of trees, the yellow of the sun, the white of clouds...
“Peace, elder,” I chided him as we drifted on. “You know the passing of years. The world will be here. Sit back, and let it come to you as we follow the river whose source you guarded for so long.”
His energetic twitching slowly subsided. Not a true dragon, his bloodline was still incredibly ancient and powerful, and now he could feel energies and powers around him he had never felt while trapped inside the mountain behind him.
His flippers worked, treating the air like water, and he spun with remarkable speed for his massive weight and bulk, looking back at the towering mountain.
He could see the exiting waters below, sparkling with purity and vivus. Within that prison of stone, he had been caged for who knew how long.
And now, now he was free!
It was only a few long minutes as he stared there, reliving years, a connection to the Heart that could not be broken or forgotten…
But it could finally, at long last, be left behind.
Duum sat atop the great dragon turtle, enjoying the ride. Wings spread, he would be much wider than the shelled elder, but tucked in and crouched as he was, he just looked like a small bat riding on top of a big turtle who was ‘swimming’ casually through the sky.
“This is Edge, initiate a Portal drop for Cirru on my Mark as soon as she is available. The elder here would like an escort to his new waters.”
Only a minute passed before the Portal flashed open beside us. Cirru shot out of it, and blurred from her humanoid to her full white-streaked, sky-colored draconic form in less than a second, spreading her wings and snapping smartly into position beside and above us.
Elder Brobble’s long neck turned to look at her in great curiosity, but he said nothing, having overheard my words and knowing she was with me.
“Cirru, this is Elder Brobble, named by the Elementals who visited him. He was trapped inside a mountain lake deep inside the peak behind us, and I have just brought him out of there. He has never met another of his kind, nor a dragon, and has not even Awakened to his other native tongue.
“He might very well end up the King of Eisen Bay.” A golden eye glanced back at me in wonder at this statement. “It would behoove him to be informed of the ways of dragons as appropriate to him, and his bloodline stirred before he has to face the world.”
“Elder has been imprisoned ALL of his life?” Cirru asked sharply, the edge of anger in her voice unfeigned. She craned her head back to look at the mountain towering behind us as Elder Brobble grunted confirmation of that, and her palest blue eyes narrowed in hatred and scorn of the casual things Immortals inflicted upon others.