Chapter Three:

The fortress of Avantasia, home to the Seikishidan of Gilead, stood atop the sheer, jagged cliffs that encircled the bay where, long centuries ago, the missionaries of Eden had first made landfall. Avantasia had been built on the site of the fort that the troop of the Angel Host that had gone with the missionaries had raised to serve as home during the exploration of the island. Later, when Gilead had become the western-most outpost of Eden and the city of New Jerusalem had been founded, the small fort had been turned into the eastern watch, and the first watch tower had gone up. Around the tower had grown a small village, held within thick walls that stood over forty feet tall, home to the men who watched to the east for any signs of peril. When Eden fell during the War against Ultima Thule, Gilead had become the last sanctuary for the survivors of the Angel Host, and Avantasia had grown larger, another wall being constructed further out from the first. After the conclusion of the War, it was decreed by the Holy Father that all of the lands from Avantasia to the mountain range fifty miles to the west, known as the Gauntlet, were to be given to the men of Nihon and Miifan who had helped win the war. On that day, Avantasia became home to the elite of the Angel Host, the men and women who became known as the Seikishidan. The city continued to grow over the centuries; the inner ring had been completely redesigned when Fair Sight Tower had been erected to serve as a watchtower for airships coming to Gilead. Eventually, five rings of walls had gone up before the Seikishidan decided to built a more modern city beyond the outside of the fortress to serve as the headquarters for the Angel Host; Fair Sight Tower, which had been the highest building in all of Gilead, had been surpassed in height by the building known as the Fist. A glass and steel tower of the style of the Mechanics of Neo-Olympus, the Fist was home to the command structure of both the Angel Host and the Seikishidan. It looked over the campus of the Academy of Combat and looked to the old fortress, a symbol of the past and the future of Gilead.

Standing before the window in his office that allowed him to view the old fort, Fair Sight Tower shining in the morning sun, Toshiaki Misawa, commander of the Seikishidan, First Knight of the Cross, wondered if he had made a mistake concerning the future.

Misawa had known that there had been more to the request from Nitaru than met the eye; no one called for the most powerful fighters in the world after fifty years of silence for a minor reason. When Orochi had reported that the Black Templars, the darkest foe that Gilead knew of, were suspected of involvement, Misawa had almost ordered the two young soldiers to return to Avantasia immediately, to allow veterans to deal with it. He had decided to let Ky and Orochi remain for a rather simple reason; Ky was his nephew. And while the threat of the Templars, in most quarters, was good enough reason for caution, the fact was, many in the government would call recalling Ky an act of favoritism. And of late, Misawa had had enough troubles with New Jerusalem as it was. He sighed and turned away from the window; Misawa was a tall, lean man, perhaps showing a little of his age around his waist. He was, like most of the upper command of the Seikishidan, of Nihon ancestry; his black hair he wore short, and he had a look of perpetual exhaustion on his face, caused partly by the scruff of beard he wore on the line of his jaw. He was dressed in his duty uniform, which was much like the ones worn by the cadets at the Academy; one of his roles was headmaster of the Academy, and in fact, once this appointment was finished he was on his way there. In fact, he in many ways wished he were there now, rather than facing the two women on the other side of his desk.

The older of the two was not the main problem, though Jessica Kiske, Corps Commander of the Sixteenth Seikishidan Corps, was a troublesome lady when she chose to be. Misawa’s younger and only sister was a firebrand, as fierce a talker as she was a fighter. When the General Assembly made demands of the Corps, trying to assert control over them as they had nearly done over the Angel Host, it was Jessica that Misawa sent to speak. Her wit was as legendary as her skills with a blade, and sometimes Misawa was amazed that she had given birth to a son as quiet and composed as Ky. He supposed a great deal of that came from Ky’s late father, from whom Ky had also taken his appearance. Jessica, despite her Aeuropan name, was of pure Nihon ancestry, and was blessed with a youthful appearance despite her forty-five years; more than once cadets admiring her had been mortified of learning their error of staring at a woman who presided over the exam boards. She was dressed in her Seikishidan uniform, a match to the one Ky had worn upon leaving Gilead aboard the Ars Nova, and she was pacing around Misawa’s spartan office like a lioness, concern on her face. He understood wholly; Ky was her son, the only child she had, and she had still not come to terms with her husband’s death two years ago. Her worry was for her child as much as it was the potential ramifications of the Templars being involved in this.

And yet, Misawa was more worried by the presence of the other woman in the room, the younger one sitting in the chair opposite of him.

She was a staggeringly beautiful woman, with long legs and a figure that drew the eye, and a mane of dark hair that fell down her back to her knees. She wore an attention gaining outfit of a daringly short skirt, a low cut top that resembled a vest, and a short tie coming from a collar around her neck. The sleeves (and the top as well) were cut so they left her shoulders bare; Misawa recognized the brown outfit, trimmed in beige, as being that of the Intelligence Directorate of the Angel Host, albeit extensively modified. She stared at him through glasses that gave her heart shaped face a cast of sensual intelligence, and Misawa was not too shocked that Ky had fallen for Embla von Prios. The complication was her duties, and moreover her allegiances. Embla’s father, Gerheman von Prios, was the head of the General Assembly, and in effect the temporal leader of Gilead, his power second only to the spiritual leader, the Holy Father of the Church of the Faith. For the past few years, the General Assembly had sought to claim a greater control over the Angel Host in general and the Seikishidan in particular. They had done so by taking oversight control of the military through the Intelligence Directorate, the so-called Archangels, and Embla was on the fast track to the top of the Archangels. Embla was assigned as a liaison between the Archangels and the Seikishidan, and had spent years in Avantasia learning their ways. Her affection for Ky seemed genuine, but Misawa knew how little love meant in the broader scheme of things sometimes. She regarded Misawa and said, plainly, "I’m worried."

"We’re all worried," Misawa replied. "We’re all concerned about Ky, and…"

Embla shook her head resolutely. "I’m not referring to that, sir. I won’t deny that the idea of, well, Ky being out there with the Templars doesn’t worry me." She chewed on her lower lip for a moment, aware that Jessica was staring intently at her. "I’m concerned, as a member of the Intelligence Directorate, that we’ve missed the presence of the Templars this close to Gilead."

That was an unexpected tack, Misawa thought. "This concerns us as well, Embla," Misawa replied. "Everything we had gathered suggested the Templars were still based in Aeuropa, assembling mercenary troops for an assault on Albion. This is unsettling if they have the strength to come this far."

"Unsettling," Jessica said. "And yet you won’t reinforce Ky and Orochi. You know what they’re doing today, you read Orochi’s report."

"Yes. They’re heading to the island of Nocturnus, some one hundred miles from Nitaru. Nocturnus was the largest of the vault islands built there during the War." Misawa had not known that, but he had contacted his intelligence operatives when Orochi’s report had arrived. "Orochi’s report says that the Council of Nitaru are all capable of long range transference. Any threat too large for them to handle, they have that escape route."

Jessica stared coldly at him. "And if the Templars attack too suddenly for them to do that?"

Misawa did not blink. "If they’re that strong, my sister, then Gilead is threatened far worse than we can know. My nephew is one of the strongest fighters Gilead has ever seen, and Orochi close behind. They can handle themselves."

Embla cleared her throat. "There is another difficulty. I hate bringing this up, since, well…" Embla blushed and looked at her feet. "Ky means a lot to me, you know. Don’t think I’m not worried or don’t care. But my father will, sooner or later, want to know what’s going on here."

"I am perfectly aware of that, Embla. But the operations of the Knights of the Holy Cross in the field are controlled by me, even if they are ordered by the Assembly and the Church as this one was. He can not take control from me."

Embla frowned. "You know much of my father’s mind, it seems."

"Sadly." Misawa pondered his options. "Report to your superiors that Ky and Orochi are investigating suspected Templar activity in Nitaru. That isn’t far from the mark, really."

"Yes." Jessica stopped her pacing back and forth and crossed her arms. "And ask your superiors how they managed to miss the presence of Aeuropan mercenaries attacking Nitaru. It’ll slow them down."

Embla laughed at that. "It most certainly will. But they will want to know what your immediate response is."

"The Sixteenth is on full alert waiting for the order," Jessica responded. "We can be over Nitaru in less than two hours with a full division of the Angel Host."

Embla’s eyebrows rose expressively. "That’s a bit more…excessive than I expected."

Jessica smiled. "Our response will be measured and appropriate, my dear. But if need be, we can do that. Your father need not fear."

Embla rose to her feet. "I’m sure he doesn’t. Thank you for your time, sir, Commander Kiske." She saluted, which technically was not required, then left Misawa’s office.

Misawa looked down at his desk for a moment and then sighed. "Ky could have picked a better person to fall in love with, Jessica."

"She could have chosen a better position, you know." Jessica took the same chair Embla had just vacated. "Are we doing the right thing, Toshiaki? All the effort and time that went into making Ky what he is, and we just send him out so blithely?"

"If Ky is everything we hope he is…that we wish he is, then this will not be a problem for him." Misawa looked up. "I just wish I had known more about what we sent him into. Uncertainty is always dangerous."

"Do you really think the Templars are out there?" Jessica asked. "That they could get so close to us?"

"It would not be a shock, in all honesty. We have become too embroiled with the schemes of the Domains, of aiding Jumi in keeping the Storm Wall raised. Our arm is still long, but we care little for what happens in Aeuropa or to the west of us." Misawa’s expression darkened. "Perhaps to our error. But don’t worry, sister; Ky and Orochi are Seikishidan. They will be fine."

"My head tells me so, Toshiaki. But my heart says otherwise." Jessica fell silent, her mind on a great many things. Mostly, she worried not about the fate of Gilead, or even the machinations of the Assembly; she worried about her son. Despite all of his training and ability, despite her years of serving the ideals of the sword and the military, when it came down to it Jessica was still his mother. Take care and come back to me, Ky.

There were many types of airships in the world; ones that flew strictly combat missions, gigantic ones, their lifting hulls almost one thousand feet long, designed to carry cargo, and the smaller ships such as the Ars Nova. One design, however, that had once been more in fashion (in the days when airships traveled from Nor ‘Am to Aeuropa, back before the fragmentation of the Aeuropan nations) were the type once known as the flying boat. Put simply, the design of these ships was such that the ship could land on water as well as on the land; it was a matter of the shape of the hull, the outboard wings that served to balance the ship on the water. They had been far more extensively used one hundred years earlier, and were seen rarely these days, usually only going from one island to another across the islands of Oceanida, for example.

The sight of some thirty-five of these vessels, floating on the seas at a distance of one hundred and fifty miles off the western coast of Nitaru, therefore, would be somewhat surprising.

The ships were painted flat black, looking like the very essence of night; they had no markings or insignia to identify them, though anyone who questioned the identity of the ships would quickly be convinced to look away by the amount of cannons that bristled from the hulls. In a sense, their age gave the ships a certain amount of menace to their appearance-their thicker armor and hulking engine nacelles, due to their aged design, actually gave the ships a sense of brute power, which was the impression the owners of this air fleet wanted to give. The ships were anchored in a roughly diamond shaped formation, designed to give their guns overlapping fields of fire for proper defense of the fleet. At the center of the formation was the largest of the airships, a vessel twice as large as any other in the fleet, though of similar design; it was, of course, the flagship, the only vessel in the fleet capable of matching the war machines of Gilead in a gun to gun battle…at present. This was the ship known as the Atavism of Twilight, and the man who stood on its bridge, looking to the east, hoped that it would be the ship that would launch the first blow against the power of Gilead.

He was a man that commanded attention from the moment he walked into the room simply because of his size and his build; he stood six and a half feet tall, weighing nearly three hundred pounds. All of it was muscle, as displayed by his broad shoulder, barrel chest, and thick legs. His face had an oddly youthful quality to it, but his ice blue eyes and short-cropped blond hair overcame that impression. He was dressed in relatively simple clothes, a black shirt, black pants, and black leather boots, over which he wore a cloak. The bridge crew, who numbered five, were sweltering in the tropical heat, but Aesgir Haroy did not seem bothered by it in the least. If he was, he gave no sign of it. He looked out the view windows of the bridge, pondering the message that arrived from Kloften the previous night. So the bastards of Gilead are trying to draw me out, he thought, his hands clenching and unclenching; in truth, he wanted to engage the Seikishidan as soon as he was able, and the thought of two of them, young if Kloften’s report was accurate, going to Nocturnus, away from the protective shield of Nitaru, had tempted him. But the plan was not his to alter, his purpose far greater than slaying two children. The Brotherhood had not risked almost half of the airships that they had assembled over the past two decades, had not spent so much gold on Aeuropans to crew the ships, mercenaries to serve as cannon fodder, for him to throw it away. He had to act wisely.

Which did not mean that he could not act.

He turned to the men who stood behind him, one of whom was a pale man with white streaked black hair, dressed in similar fashion to Haroy. Where Haroy was tall and powerful, he was short, compact, and graceful. The other man, who stood to Haroy’s left, was a man of Aeuropan extraction, with a dark complexion and shoulder length black hair that he wore in curls. He was the only man on the bridge armed and armored, with leggings, a breast plate, and gauntlets over leather clothing, and he did not have Haroy’s ability to deal with the heat, for he was sweating. A sword, one with intricately carved gold grips, rested on his hip. The former man was Jaska Mickelson, a fellow sworn brother of the Templars, adept of the mystic arts and a geomancer of no small repute; the latter was Captain Turilli, commander of one of the mercenary companies the Templars had hired for this particular mission and spokesperson for the mercenaries in the fleet. He was, in Haroy’s mind, somewhat insane; he saw life in terms of being an endless struggle of light against dark, where heroes fought for their lords and died if need be. Haroy knew the world was far more complex than that, but such men made good cannon fodder.

Haroy spoke in a relatively low voice, not wishing the entire bridge crew to hear what he had to say. Morale was a bit on the edge for the crews, who had floated here for nearly a month, their food stores dwindling, their nerves fraying. Haroy did not want any more rumors flying than already were. "I have received word from Kloften. The women of Nitaru are on the move."

Mickelson’s eyebrows raised. "So soon? And to where do they head?"

"The vaults of Nocturnus. According to Kloften, they have not yet assembled the complete paratext, nor know the location of the Books. And yet they still go. Why is that, do you think?"

Turilli frowned. "Clearly they hope to draw you out of hiding, into the open."

"Naturally." Haroy considered his next words carefully; he did not want Turilli to start spouting off how he would gladly do his duty for his lord. "They’re crafty ladies, aren’t they? We send men to Nitaru to steal the paratext, solely to unnerve them, to force them to work faster to complete it, and they continue to take their time."

"They instead contacted Gilead-a move you said they would not make," Mickelson said, smiling thinly. "Now our ancient foe knows we are here."

Haroy tolerated Mickelson’s insolence for a pair of reasons; firstly, he was the most skilled of the Templars aboard the fleet in the ways of magic, especially the arts of the earth that came easiest to Templars. And second, he was right; Haroy had not thought that anyone in Nitaru could have deduced, even using the Art, that the Templars were here. The Brotherhood had sought a means of power for decades that would enable them to reclaim their lost position in the world, and the last thing he had wanted was those bastards from Avantasia interfering. In fact, hearing that only two of the enemy was there had lightened his mood considerably. "We made a mistake, my brother. Now we must play the hand we were dealt. You are certain that no one has been to Nocturnus recently, Mickelson?"

"Not since the Heavenward returned from her mission two weeks ago. The…payload they delivered is still safe and undiscovered. My senses confirm it." Mickelson’s gift was the ability to speak to the earth, to use its elemental power, and some had thought it useless to bring a geomancer to the ocean. But beneath the seas, Haroy knew, was still the earth, after all. "You seek to use them, then?"

"I placed them there for a reason, to keep people away from Nocturnus until the paratext was complete. The women of Nitaru do not guard their borders well, and I did not want to worry about airship pirates from Oceanida deciding to land there for some reason. But they will serve my purposes here. They expect us to attack them when they reach Nocturnus; well, then, let us meet their expectations. After a fashion."

"Do you want my men to make ready?" Turilli asked.

Haroy shook his head. "No, Captain. Rest assured that when the time comes to attack Nitaru, you and your men shall be at the front of the battle, earning glory for our cause." And getting slaughtered by Artists, he did not add. "Allow Brother Mickelson’s…creations to strike the first blow against Nitaru and Gilead." Mickelson nodded and left, having preparations to make in order to greet the visitors from Nitaru. Haroy turned away from Turilli, signaling that the audience was over, and in fact, he had already put the mercenary out of his mind. Across the great distance of the ocean, Haroy reached out with his power sense, one of the abilities that the Templars shared with those of Gilead, and sensed nothing but the flux field of the Domain. Which was good, as until the party leaving there was beyond the field, he could not sense them. Mickelson should have ample time to prepare for them then. Not that he expected this to cause too much trouble to the party on the way to Nocturnus, but it would make things interesting. He watched the waves as they lapped against the vessels of his fleet, waiting for the game to truly begin.

Three airships, led by the Ars Nova, left Nitaru’s airfield at midmorning.

Ky had wanted to leave at dawn, but things had not gone quite as well as planned. It had started well; Mars had brought him and Orochi to the airfield at just before dawn, where two airships were being prepared for departure. They had been met by Keiko, the pilot of the Ars Nova, a slender, pretty girl of Nihon ancestry with her hair dyed blond and in outrageous curls, who reported that the ship was ready to go, and she would be as soon as she had some coffee. Ky had laughed at that-he had never been fond of waking early-and had settled in to wait for the others. He and Orochi watched as Foxfire and Kristof, along with two women in armor similar to Mars’, loaded up men and equipment aboard the two airships. The two women, Mars explained, were two of her apprentices, Neu and Enii, and they would be going to Nocturnus as well. Mars took a moment to introduce the two of them to Ky and Orochi; Neu nodded politely, then went on her way, but Enii stopped and regarded the two Seikishidan for a moment. She was of medium height, taller than Mars yet shorter than Ky, with short brown hair with reddish highlights, her clothing matching the burgundy color of her hair; she had a bright smile, Ky noticed as she spoke. "So, has anyone told you about the frying pan yet?" she asked.

Ky blinked; Orochi shook her head. "No, no one has yet," she told Enii.

Enii laughed. "Oh, I’m sure someone will." She headed back toward one of the ships, whistling cheerfully. Ky looked towards Mars, who merely said, "I’ll explain later." Ky wondered whether or not he wanted to know as the preparations continued.

Hikari arrived next, coming to the airfield in a steam car. She carried with her a leather case that Ky surmised was filled with papers and texts. Sephira had remarked the day previous that Hikari rarely went anywhere without her references. She greeted Mars in passing, then boarded the Ars Nova-as agreed the day before, the Council and Hikari would travel on the Gilead airship. Sephira and Sakkariah arrived within half a minute of each other, both transferring to the airfield; Sephira greeted Mars cheerfully, with a quick hug. She flashed a truly winning smile at Ky and said, "Is it traditional for you soldiers to do everything so early?"

"This isn’t early, Sephira," Ky replied. "Early was first muster call at the Academy. Two hours before dawn."

"Ouch," she said, and went onboard the airship just as Sakkariah arrived. She was cloaked, and hooded, and seemed to be the very night itself, walking in the early morning sun. She passed all of them without a word, but then she stopped and looked into Ky’s eyes. "Are you sleeping well?" she asked.

In truth, he was not; his dreams were a mixture of the strangeness of the one he had had during his first night at Nitaru, the gray woman, the sound of clockwork hammering out time across the cosmos, and other, plainer dreams. Dreams of Embla, to be frank, actually of a kiss they had shared upon a balcony near the top of Fair Sight Tower. He doubted Sakkariah wanted to know about that. "As good as it can be, sleeping in a strange bed."

She considered this, then nodded and went aboard the Ars Nova. Ky shook off the strangeness of that, and waited for the last of them to arrive. And waited. And waited some more for Strawberry.

Ky took some time to study the two airships that would be going with them. They were elegant ships, designed along the lines of the ships of Jumi, as lovely as they were functional; the lines of the main hull swept back like the wings of a bird as it dove, hiding the secondary engines and, Ky realized, the solid shot guns. Mars had told him that the weapons that the Guard carried were imported from Jumi, the home of the best mage-smiths in Nor ‘Am; they fired not only normal rounds but elemental rounds that were, in effect, small scale spells, capable of delivering ice and fire attacks. They were a well-equipped force, Ky saw, but equipment did not win wars, he knew.

Sephira stuck her head out of the hatchway a few minutes later and looked around. "Where the devil is Strawberry?" she asked.

Mars grinned. "You know where she is. Why are you surprised?"

Orochi was puzzled, to say the least. "Where is she, then?" she asked.

Sephira sighed. "She’s asleep. She overslept!"

Mars shook her head. "Strawberry always does this. She stays up all hours of the night, conjuring, working on projects, and then sleeps when she remembers to. Do we leave without her?"

"Of course not." Sephira closed her eyes, and Ky and Orochi felt a force building within her, a minor swelling of energies, which she released suddenly. She looked back towards the city, waiting expectantly, and after a few moments she spoke aloud. "Of course I woke you up, silly. Everyone is waiting for you."

"Sephira is thought-casting," Mars explained in a whisper. "Sometimes we forget ourselves and speak aloud."

Ky had already deduced that-he supposed that the building of energy was Sephira sending the equivalent of a mental shout at Strawberry-and he turned his attention back towards her. "No, it was always dawn, Strawberry. Now, please, hurry here." She blinked as she finished thought casting and said, "Silly girl. She’d sleep through an invasion if the conditions were right."

Ten minutes later, with the sun having risen completely over the horizon, Strawberry arrived in a flash of light. "I…am here!" she proclaimed triumphantly. "Always save the best for last!"

"An admirable comeback," Sephira said. "Now let’s get going, shall we?"

"You always ruin my entrances." Strawberry yawned elaborately. "All right, fine. To Nocturnus then."

So it was a bit more than an hour later than Ky had wished for that the three ships lifted off and made their way towards Nocturnus. He doubted it made much difference, in the end; after all, they were going to an unoccupied island, not storming a fortress. The four women of the Council, he noticed, each took seats on separate rows, all so they could look out a window or view port. Even women of great power, he mused, wanted to have a good view. The only exception was Hikari, who sat at the center of a row, reading something. Ky decided to see what she was doing; after all, her mind had brought them here, and her discoveries were key to the entire business. He took a seat beside of her and asked, "Do you ever stop working?"

Hikari finished reading a line from the text she held in her hands-it was written in runes that Ky doubted he would understand in a lifetime-before she said, "I try not to. What we’re doing is important, as you well know. In a sense, Daimira, Gunderson, and myself are largely re-inventing the study of ancient runic writing."

"I see. So what are you doing now, then?"

Hikari looked back to the text. "There are references within the paratext we are creating, to more than just the Books of the First Cataclysm. The runic alphabet we are using, as I said, has multiple meanings for individual characters-in fact, there are runes that define two meanings at once." She closed the book before her and went on. "It’s hard to explain easily. At any rate, we keep finding references to something called, ‘the Empyreal Lexicon’."

"And that is exactly?"

Hikari’s brows furrowed. "I don’t know, entirely. It appears to be some sort of storehouse of knowledge, if we’re reading the references right. But cross-referencing them is proving difficult. There are no references to such a thing as the Empyreal Lexicon in modern works, or even ones dating back a thousand years. My hunch is, if there is such a thing, then it is very old. From the earliest ages of the rule of Ultima Thule over the northlands, perhaps." She leaned back in her seat. "Gunderson thinks that there is no such thing, or that the runes that translate to those concepts were given to another runic combination in later times." She smiled. "I doubt it has bearing on our present plight, so to speak. Just something that’s intriguing me, is all."

Ky decided that talking to Hikari was always going to leave him with a spinning head; he was by no means unintelligent, but he knew when he was in the presence of genius. He took his leave and walked back to the front of the cabin, where Orochi sat. "Pleasant conversation with her?" she asked.

"I’d settle for one that made sense."

It was not long before the island of Nocturnus grew close; Keiko had been flying at close to top speed on Ky’s orders for fear of attack. Seen from the air, it did not look like much; an island, smaller than Nitaru, but volcanic in origin. A series of low hills rose from the eastern shore, rising toward a flat-topped mountain that stood some three thousand feet above sea level. There was a jungle in the interior of the island, none too thick, but otherwise it was fairly barren. From the air, Ky could see nothing that told him that the vaults were there, which came as no shock; the entrances, according to Strawberry, were hidden away, some in the jungle, other in caves in the mountainside. Ky and Orochi had decided that for ease of landing, they would enter the vaults at an entrance where the jungle came nearest the beach. The Ars Nova could land on any terrain, but the two Nitaru ships needed relatively flat ground to land safely. Keiko circled the island once, then called the other ships over the short wave and gave them the go-ahead to land.

They swung down and landed quickly, their rear cargo hatches swinging down even as their landing gear made contact, and the two companies of the Guard disembarked, quickly assuming a defensive perimeter. Foxfire watched with some amusement as Kristof ran across the beach, one hand holding his hat down so the backwash of the airship engines did not blow it off. Neu observed this and chuckled. "What are we going to do with that lad?" she asked Foxfire.

"With that hat? Use him as a distraction. The enemy will be aiming for him and we’ll make a killing off of it."

The Ars Nova landed between the other ships, in theory covered by their guns and the Guard on perimeter duty. Ky opened the hatch and bounded out, one hand on the hilt of his sword; he scanned the area and found no power signatures other than the ones that had come with him. He made his way towards where Neu and Enii awaited, Enii having joined her while Foxfire and Kristof had rejoined their companies. The Council and Hikari quickly followed, in a somewhat ragged line, while Orochi brought up the rear. He and Orochi wore headsets similar to the ones that Keiko and the other pilots wore for short-wave radio communication, so they could call for the airships if need be. During the talks about this the day before, Ky had insisted that if any truly great danger came up, the Council and Hikari were to transfer back to Nitaru immediately. They had seemed amused by the suggestion, but had agreed. Ky looked into the jungle and saw the beginnings of a path made of worn stone, then said "This is the path to the closest of the vaults?"

"Yes," Mars replied. "If you’ll beg my pardon, Ky, I’ve been here before. Allow me to lead?" Ky nodded, and Mars fired off a rapid-fire series of orders to Neu and Enii. Half of the assembled companies would accompany them to the vault, along with Enii; Neu would remain at the beach with Foxfire and Kristof. Enii in turn passed word on to the Guard, and presently she had a group of men and women ready to march. Mars regarded Ky with a grin and said, "How are we doing, Ky?"

"So far, so good," Ky said. "Lead on, Mars." They were rather professional, relatively speaking, for the small guard of a Domain untouched by war for half a century; he hoped that would be good enough if trouble arose.

The path they followed, which went slightly uphill, at one time had probably been composed of well polished stones, but time and wind had turned them dull. The group walked in silence, with the exception of a cheerful whistle by Strawberry. Ky wondered if she was daring them to ask her to be quiet, but it truly did not matter; they had made enough noise in landing that a little thing like whistling was hardly important. There were few sounds of birds, and none of animals, which led him to believe that their arrival had scared what wildlife there was away. The group walked about a half mile inland before the path widened as it reached a flat spot. Before them, across a clearing, was a sheer cliff some seventy feet tall in the side of the foothills leading to the mountaintop above. Ky studied the cliff and determined that, from the air, the clearing would be difficult to see due to the hills. However, he saw nothing that resembled a door or any kind of entrance; he was about to ask what was going on when Mars came to a halt at the head of the group. She raised one hand, calling a halt, and peered intently before her. "Sephira, this is one of yours."

"One of yours?" Orochi asked as Sephira went to the head of the line. Hearing her, Strawberry said, "We didn’t just leave the vaults alone when we left them, Orochi. We hid the entrances behind workings that only one of us could open. Sephira raised this one. We thought it best; unless someone forced all of us to come here, not all of the vaults can be opened."

Sephira held her staff before her in her right hand and raised her left, holding it palm out towards the cliff. She closed her eyes and began chanting softly, in a language that Ky almost understood, as if he had once known it and then forgot. The air in front of them started to shimmer, and then, from nowhere, a door appeared in the cliff face. It was made of metal, thick, the surface scarred and pitted. There appeared to be no way to open or even lock the door, but Ky and Orochi were starting to take it for granted that magic would be involved. Sephira opened her eyes and raised her staff. "Unlock my charm, little friend," she said, and her staff glowed. The force that Ky had sensed within it suddenly rushed free from it, taking shape in the air above Sephira’s head. It seemed, at first glance, to be some sort of formless blob, hovering in place; then it turned and looked at Ky and revealed its origin. It was clearly a magical construct of some sort, for it had a rabbit’s face and ears, if a rabbit were drawn rather than a thing of nature, and a round, limb-less body. It cooed at Sephira and nuzzled against her cheek, then it flew at the door, golden light trailing behind it.

"Okay, I’ll ask…what is that?" Ky said aloud.

"It’s a familiar," Sakkariah spoke quietly. "It is a magical creature that Artists use as, I suppose you can call it a short cut. We imbue them with our favorite charms and small spells, and the familiar performs them for us. It allows us to control the amount of magical energy we expend."

The familiar flew a complex pattern before the door, and with a groaning sound, it began to open, ancient hinges creaking. It fell back against the cliff with a crash, shaking the ground for an instant. The familiar let out a cheerful cry and flew back to land on Sephira’s shoulder. "So, Ky, you wished to see one of the vaults," she said. "There you go."

Ky walked forward and into the entrance. All that was beyond the door was a long corridor that stretched into the darkness, and for a moment he recalled his dreams of the gray woman and the hallway that seemed to go on forever. Then his eyes adjusted, and he saw that not far in the corridor made a right hand turn. Hikari stepped up beside of him and laid her hand against the wall; he saw that the walls were covered with runes and scripts of various sizes, shapes, and colors. She uttered a single word in a foreign tongue, and the walls began glowing with a pale light. "A useful magic the builders put in, wouldn’t you say?"

"Indeed." He was starting to think his grand idea was going to be a bust, that their flight here was not going to draw the enemy out, and he was going to need a new plan. "I’m going to take a look around…just out of, well, boredom, frankly. Anyone coming with me?"

"I’ll go," Hikari said. "I have some things to check anyway, cross-references with the runes that identify specific vaults…" She stepped past Ky and walked down the hallway, seemingly lost in thought. Ky followed, smiling.

Mars thought cast to the others Sakkariah, Strawberry, go with them; Sephira and I will watch the entrance. Sephira is needed here anyway to close the doors. In times such as this, they deferred to their warrior friend, and they went with Ky and Hikari. Orochi considered following as well, but Ky stopped just before he went around the corner. "Orochi, remain here. I don’t know how well our radios will work under all this rock."

"Good point," she replied. "Be careful, Ky. Try not to die of boredom down there." He snapped her a salute and left, along with the other women. Orochi leaned against the frame of the open door and took a deep breath, wondering when something, anything, was going to happen.

Far across the ocean, Haroy still stood on the bridge of his flagship, his eyes looking to the west, in the direction of Nocturnus. He had sensed the power that had left Nitaru from the instant that it had cleared the flux field, and he was in some ways impressed. The women of Nitaru had a great deal more power than he had reckoned on, but he could deal with it. He had summoned Mickelson to the bridge as soon as he had sensed them, and now his subordinate stood behind him, eyes closed, nearly in a trance. His earth-based power was focused on Nocturnus, particularly on thirty locations either in the jungle or just offshore. "Mickelson, how close to the targets is our little surprises?"

Mickelson’s voice was a hoarse whisper. "Perhaps half are mere minutes away. A few are within ten minutes."

"So they’ll hear them coming. Oh well, it isn’t like they’re alive, now is it. Activate them."

Mickelson reached into a pocket and pulled out a small statue made of dark clay. It was a roughly human figure, broad across the shoulders, with thick legs and powerful arms. He held the statue in his hand and began to chant in a guttural voice, the sounds almost painful to listen to. The statue glowed with a dark light, and then it moved, limbs flexing as if it was a person awakening.

In the jungle, not far from where Mars, Sephira, and Enii waited, something was moving as well. If one had looked at it a moment earlier, one would have seen only a large boulder, resembling, if you looked at it in a particular fashion, a person curled in a ball. Now it stood up right, a titanic figure fifteen feet tall, made of dark stone that somehow was flexible enough to move. It was a precise copy of the figure Mickelson held in his hand. The head was that of a skull, with a single rune stamped on its forehead; in its hands it carried a heavy club. It looked around, then, impelled by the will of Mickelson, began to march uphill, towards the power the Templar sensed.

All over the island, in the hills, in the jungle, even in the water offshore, twenty-nine identical figures rose to their feet, brought to life by the earth magic of Mickelson. Thirty monstrous figures, each of them built in far away Aeuropa, by practitioners of an ancient magic, and brought by the Templars here to serve as warriors, sacrifices if need be.

The golems of Aeuropan legend walked the shores of Nocturnus.

By accident, three of the golems had been hidden just off shore of the beach where the airships had landed, and when they broke the surface they were quickly spotted. Foxfire and Kristof looked in awe as the giants approached, and then Kristof unslung the rifle that he carried and grinned. "You think you’ve seen it all, and then something like this happens," he quipped.

"Those guys," Foxfire replied, "are nearly big enough to wear your hat."

Neu drew her sword and built her power, thinking to herself that if the Council had come looking for trouble, they had found it. A few of the Guard opened fire with their guns, the conventional rounds merely chipping away at the bodies of the creatures. "Switch to blizzard rounds!" she ordered, leaping forward to meet the enemy. The first golem reached the beach and swung its club down at her; she dodged aside, the club smashing into the ground and leaving a deep crater. She shouted and swung her sword at the elbow of the golem, and her blade cut a deep gouge in the stone. She fell back, thinking that the creatures were made of more than just rock. I’ll need to raise more power to stop them, unless…

Foxfire and Kristof raised their weapons, having switched magazines from normal rounds to blizzard rounds. They followed Neu’s lead and aimed at the arm she had damaged. The rounds struck, and the golem was surrounded by a sudden blast of winter. When the effect of the blizzard rounds passed, most of the golem was covered in ice, and the damaged arm suddenly snapped in half, the ice having passed through most of the stone. Neu focused her power in her blade, and spoke a quick spell. Her sword burst into flame, and she slashed upwards, slicing the golem in two. "Not bad," she said, turning her attention to the other two…just as five more burst out of the jungle, charging them from behind. Oh this is going to be fun, she thought.

Mars and Sephira had sensed the flow of magical energies across the island, and as such were more prepared when ten golems appeared, moving quickly despite their bulk. Mars drew Lucifel and her power erupted around her in an crimson aura. Behind her, Orochi drew Bloodthorn and called into her headset for Ky to return, as quickly as possible; Sephira took a grip on her staff and shouted, "Shield!" An invisible dome appeared around the entrance, the golems smashing against it and coming to a halt. That gave Mars time to say, "Enii, support us! Guard, fall back to the vaults if it gets too rough."

Sephira stepped up beside of Mars. The golems were already battering at her shield, which she had only cast as an interim measure. "Golems. Here in the Western Ocean, they bring golems," Sephira said.

"They must not know us very well." Mars raised her sword overhead. "Time to meet the ladies of Nitaru, then."

Sephira dropped her shield, and Mars bounded forward, Lucifel blazing with power. She met the first golem’s club with a slash that sliced its club in half; she blurred behind it and Lucifel struck again, cutting through both legs and sending it toppling. As it fell forward, Mars stabbed down into its back and sent her energies through the blade. It exploded apart, and she rode the force of the explosion into two more of the golems. She scored with an impressive kick that decapitated one of the golems, then on the follow through she cut one apart at the waist; Enii, who was close behind, fell on that golem and tore it apart with an elemental blast from her sword.

Two golems stood before her, the other five turning their attention to Sephira. Mars put Lucifel away and raised her arms above her head, and began to recite a spell. "Fire of the ancients, burning in my soul, take my foes to realms below…Rain of a Thousand Flames!"

Eldritch flames exploded from the skies, rushing downward at the two golems in streaks of light. Enii whistled in admiration and dove for cover as the attack hit, creating an impressive globular explosion that knocked down trees and turned the two golems into dust. Mars stood at the edge of the crater her spell had created, and said, "If that’s your best shot, Haroy, I’m not impressed."

Sephira stood still as five golems raced towards her, bullets from the Guard bouncing from their stone skins. She grinned at the onrushing monsters, then her power blazed around her and she cast a levitation spell and shot skyward. As she did, a blur of motion hit one of the golems, and she realized it was Orochi, her blade flashing in the light as she moved. Sephira pointed one finger downward at the other golems and called out "Crimson Glory!" She had learned this particular spell from Mars, and it was easier to activate than most of the attack spells she knew. A globe of red force exploded from her finger and shot down towards the golems, which she had led away from the entrance to the vaults. The golems melted against the force that she had generated, and then exploded apart. She smiled in satisfaction…satisfaction which faded when she saw more golems making their way towards them. "How many of these things are they?" she asked.

Ky, Hikari, Sakkariah, and Strawberry had not gotten far before the attack had begun.

The hallway that they followed descended gradually before flattening again; on each side of the hall were doors, smaller than the one at the entrance but of similar design. Complex writing decorated the doors and their frames, and Hikari explained to Ky that the writing was a filing system, telling what was stored in each vault and such. She had been in the middle of explaining how the system worked when she noticed something…black runes, carved into the stone of the wall beside the door. "Hmms…what’s this?" she asked, kneeling beside of them and running a hand over the runes.

It was just then that both Strawberry and Sakkariah looked up, their heads snapping towards the direction they had came. "Uh-oh," Strawberry said. "There’s a lot of power out there, on the beach. They’ll need help." Sakkariah nodded, and the two women vanished, transferring away. Ky felt a power outside, but it wasn’t a living force…some kind of magic? Ky drew Thundercross just as Orochi called for him over his headset. Static broke up most of the message, but he got the point; they were under attack. "Hikari! Come on!" he shouted as he ran back down the hall. But Hikari remained motionless, her hand still on the runes, her eyes faraway.

On the beach, things were not going well.

Their attackers, now numbering twelve, were advancing on the Guard and the three airships. The troops had made firing lines in front of the airships, some kneeling, others standing upright. Neu moved among the golems, slicing off limbs, destroying weapons, but her efforts would be useless if they reached the airships. She destroyed a golem with a strike that sheared its head and shoulders free, cutting the number down to eleven, but they were very close to the ships. Already three Guardsmen who had gotten in the way of the golems were dead, smashed aside like toys, and even though the engines of all the ships were running, Neu knew that unless they took off soon, then they would be destroyed. She was about to give that order when Strawberry and Sakkariah appeared on the beach, just before the airships. "Neu!" Sakkariah called. "Get your troops back!"

"Volley then retreat!" she cried, sheathing her sword; the Guard fired one last time, then ran back up the beach. As Foxfire and Kristof passed the two Artists, Kristof actually paused and tipped his hat to Strawberry, who shook her head in disbelief. Sakkariah looked at the golems, who now ran down the beach at them, and said, "I’ll set them up, you break them."

"Good enough for me." Strawberry replied.

Sakkariah stepped in front of Strawberry and wrapped one hand around the pentacle that was around her neck. Her powers against the unliving were somewhat limited, but all Artists had the ability to interface with the environment. She reached into the earth, feeling some force of geomancy, probably the power controlling the golems, there. She reached beyond it and grabbed the very rock beneath them, and sent it to the surface. The ground shook as columns of stone erupted from the sand, throwing the golems into the air, driving them from their feet.

Strawberry grinned, her aura glowing yellow from the force she was building. "Light of dawn, bring me your power, grant it to me so I may see its glory," she chanted. She brought her hands before her and shouted, "Morning Glory!"

A bolt of force, immense in its power, raced from her fingers and struck the prone golems. An gigantic explosion erupted, destroying all between the water and the edge of the jungle. Thankfully, the force was directed away from them, but still it rocked the airships and prompted most of the Guard to dive to the ground. The shock wave blew sand in all directions, and nearly blew Kristof’s prized hat from his head. He clung to it, which was noticed by Foxfire. "Strawberry can do this and you want to irritate her?"

"Someone’s got to do it?" Kristof offered.

Aboard the Templar flagship, Mickelson sensed that the battle was nearly over. Only five of his golems were left, heading towards the hillside group. Perhaps, he mused, he should have done this sooner, he thought, chanting more orders to the last five. It would have made the battle last longer, but he had time to learn from his mistakes.

Mars, Sephira, and Orochi faced the five newcomers with a certain sense of ease; after all, they had already defeated so many, with only a minimum of power exerted. Mars, in fact, was thinking that Ky was going to miss the fight, when suddenly the golems glowed with power. To Mars, their power levels doubled; one of them raised its hand and energy rushed from it. Mars grabbed Sephira and jumped aside, just in time to avoid the attack; Orochi dodged it as well. "What the hell just happened?" Sephira asked.

"Their power doubled!" Mars replied. She drew Lucifel and turned back towards the golems, but one appeared, moving nearly as fast as she, its club raised to strike…

A blue white blur appeared before her, silver flashing up from it to block the club.

Mars saw that it was Ky, Thundercross holding the club back with no visible effort. The other golems stopped, all turning to look at Ky. Mars wondered why they had stopped, but that wasn’t really important. "What took you so long?" she joked.

Ky pushed the golem backward with a mere flick of his wrist, and Mars saw that his demeanor had utterly changed. Even when they had dueled, there had been a casual, easy going air about Ky, a nonchalance that belied his existence as a warrior. Now, though, his expression was utterly serious, eyes narrowed, his attention focused wholly on the five golems. "Puppets. You sent puppets against me, Haroy?" Ky took a stance and his face furrowed with concentration as he built his power. An aura exploded around him, blue-white, incredibly powerful, the most power Mars had seen a fighter generate. Arcs of electricity crackled around him and his sword, and he disappeared in a burst of bukuu-jutsu, moving with such power that he left a thunderclap behind him. He reappeared in front of the first golem, Thundercross slicing with electric power. His blow was so powerful that the golem shattered into a thousand pieces upon impact.

Ky bounded towards the last four, moving so fast all the others could see were afterimages. One of the golems generated a ball of energy from its mouth and spat it at Ky, but he deflected it into the jungle with his sword and kept going. He jumped into the air and struck downwards at the golem that had attacked him, again exploding it apart with a single blow. He ducked a swing by one of the golems and stabbed it under the arm, slicing the limb free; a backhanded blow decapitated the golem, leaving two more.

The last two golems retreated, trying to put distance between them, but Ky did not follow. His aura flared brighter, and lightning crackled around the blade of Thundercross. Ky raised his sword, cried, "Grand Lightning Cross!" and slashed at the air. Energy, in the shape of a cross, raised towards the last two golems, and obliterated them in an instant. Mars stared at Ky in disbelief. Where was he hiding all that power when we fought; even with my spells I would be hard pressed to generate that much power! Sephira got to her feet and brushed herself off. "Consider me impressed," she said.

Ky walked over to the head of the golem he had decapitated and picked it up. He looked into its empty eyes and spoke in a soft voice. "If this is the best you can do, Templar, you had better go home." He crushed the head between his fingers, then turned and regarded them as his aura faded. "Sorry I was late."

"Hey, it’s all right," Enii said. "You more than made up for lost time."

Orochi looked around them. "Where is Hikari?"

"She must still be in the vaults," Ky said, running towards the entrance. He hoped he hadn’t made a mistake, and somehow the Templars had gotten their hands on Hikari. He hadn’t sensed any power from the vaults, but that did not mean anything. Mars quickly caught up with him, and as they ran, she grinned at him. "And here I was trying to judge your power in a duel," she said. He smiled back as they turned the corner of the hallway.

Hikari was where Ky had left her, still kneeling before the runes. Her hand was against the wall, and her eyes were closed. "Hikari?" Mars called. "Hikari, are you all right?"

She did not move or look up, but she said, quietly, "You don’t hear the whispers, do you?"

"Whispers?" Ky asked.

Hikari was silent for nearly half a minute, before she opened her eyes and let her hand fall down from the wall. She stood up and shook her head. "I’m sorry. I thought…I thought I heard something. Maybe I’m working too hard. So, where did everyone go?"

"You missed a battle." Mars wondered what had just happened-she had a feeling that it was more significant than the battle they had just fought-but she decided to worry about it later. "We had best get back to Nitaru, Ky. Those golems had more power than they showed…kind of like you." She reached out with her mind to the others of the Council and thought-cast Whatever else we learned today, I think that we learned that one aspect of Sakkariah’s vision is true. Ky is powerful.

So he is, Sakkariah sent back. The only problem with that is, of course, that means that the remainder of my visions are true. The time draws near.

We will NOT let Nitaru be destroyed, Sephira interjected. But soon we’ll have to tell him what we know, and what has to be done.

And how, Strawberry asked, do you think that he will take it?

And for that none of them had an answer.

Aboard the Atavism of Twilight, Mickelson dropped the crumbled remains of the statue that he had used to control the golems and looked at Haroy. Haroy wore an expression of awe on his face, and Mickelson knew why. "So," Mickelson said, "A true Seikishidan is there. Such power for one so young."

"Yes, indeed. It makes the game all that much more interesting." Haroy clenched his fists. "So, Misawa, you send such power here. It is a shame that he will fall to me…as will Gilead." Haroy chuckled to himself. In truth, the presence of such a fighter thrilled him; it meant he could test his will against an equal. Aesgir Haroy, Templar of the Brotherhood, thanked God for the privilege of such a challenge.

In Gilead, Embla von Prios stood on a balcony that looked out from Fair Sight Tower, the same one that she had once kissed Ky on. Though Ky was hundreds of miles away, she had sensed the eruption of his true power; it was a gift she possessed, a bond of sorts. One of the many reasons the Archangels had assigned her to the duty of watching Ky Kiske, actually, was this minor empathy; that it had made it easier for her to fall for him was perhaps an unfortunate side effect. She looked to the west, her long hair blowing behind her in the wind, and she sighed. "So, it has begun. Ky is awakening." She leaned against the railing before her, at that moment not worried about her duties, or the politics of Gilead, or any of that; she just wanted to see him again, safe and sound. Strange times have come, she thought. Strange times have come.

To be continued…