Divine Apostasy Book 12 - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

In a cavern at the bottom of the Death Tower, Ruwen sat silently across from Echo. His three friends remained safely submerged in their Fortification Cocoons, and he stopped himself from glancing over at them. Instead, he stared intently at the ground halfway between himself and Echo. He couldn’t remember a time he felt so useless, uncomfortable, and necessary.

Ruwen’s blood and Echo’s tears, both now dry, stained his shirt. It hung in strips, mostly shredded by Echo’s desperate attempts to escape his hold as they fled the Zealot and Lalquinrial’s final moments. For the hundredth time he considered changing his shirt, but it didn’t feel right, so he sat there, mirroring Echo’s silence.

Echo had stopped crying half an hour before but Ruwen sensed the massive swings in emotion that swelled and faded like some type of emotional tide.

“He’s not dead,” Echo stated matter-of-factly.

Ruwen’s response surprised him, but it was honest. “I hope not.”

“We need to go back. He’s probably hurt.”

“You know the power of a Crossing Ring, and your father detonated two of them.”

“He’s not dead,” Echo screamed.

Ruwen glanced up. Tears covered Echo’s cheeks again, and her expression had returned to one of rage.

“It’s your fault!” Echo shouted, pointing a finger at Ruwen. “You’re a coward! We could have saved him.”

Ruwen let the accusations slide off him. “Your father gave us a chance to escape certain death. He saved our lives.”

Ruwen might have survived a battle with the Zealot—maybe even won. But there was no outcome where Echo survived as well. Keeping himself alive while trying to shield Echo would have certainly also resulted in both their deaths. Lalquinrial had recognized this, and sacrificed himself so Echo could live. Ruwen would never, ever, say that out loud. The last thing he wanted was for Echo to blame herself. She was already lost in a sea of despair, and he didn’t want to push her under.

“You left him to die,” Echo hissed.

Ruwen didn’t break eye contact with Echo. “Your father loved you. More than his beliefs. More than his own life.”

“You killed him!” Echo shouted.

Echo channeled a beam of dense red energy at Ruwen as she continued to scream. He absorbed the Spirit into his Core without thinking, although the front of his shirt disintegrated from the heat. The desire to be anywhere but here made sitting painful.

Ruwen wished Hamma or Lylan or even Sift were here to help Echo. They all had a better understanding of how to handle situations like this. He had a hard time grasping his own emotions and felt completely inadequate to help Echo.

Hamma had taken care of Ruwen after the Aspects had murdered most of his Step Master class on Savage Island. He thought back to that time and what she’d done. It consisted of one thing mostly. He suppressed a sigh. Mirroring Hamma in this circumstance was probably a terrible idea. Now, in addition to the knot of sympathy and sorrow in his stomach, anxiety appeared and filled up the remaining space.

Echo still screamed and channeled her beam of destruction. Ruwen’s body weighed what felt like a million pounds. He slowly stood and crossed the ten feet that separated them.

Ruwen placed his back against the wall, the rough stone cold against the skin exposed by his tattered shirt. He slid down until he sat just inches from Echo.

Echo stopped the beam of magic and turned toward Ruwen. She gripped his neck and tried to choke and shake him. When he didn’t move, she resorted to just pounding on his arm and chest.

“I hate you!” Echo screamed.

“I know,” Ruwen whispered.

“He’s not dead!” Echo shouted.

Ruwen didn’t respond. He sat there until Echo exhausted herself. Slowly he raised his arm, the bruises already vanishing, and gently placed it around her shoulders. He could feel her shuddering breaths, and the scent of cinnamon was so strong it burned his nostrils. She collapsed against him, the last of her energy gone, and he held her as she slept.

It crossed Ruwen’s mind this would be awkward to explain if Hamma suddenly appeared. Truthfully, he wouldn’t need to explain, because Hamma would understand the situation immediately. Plus, Hamma and Lylan always laughed whenever Sift tried to get Ruwen in trouble with stories involving Echo. Even when Hamma wasn’t as secure as she was now, she’d never considered Echo a threat to their relationship.

Ruwen considered the last hour. After Lalquinrial had detonated the two Crossing Rings, Ruwen had completely focused on getting himself and Echo to safety. He’d come to this cavern because he wanted to check on his friends. Once here, he’d spent a frustrating twenty minutes stopping Echo from launching herself out into the Void. That’s when her real breakdown occurred. Hopefully she’d feel better when she woke up.

Then the problems would start again, including what Ruwen should do with Echo. He couldn’t leave her alone. She’d almost certainly die in the void trying to find her father. Plus, if the Zealot had survived, he’d represent another route to certain death.

Ruwen’s gut told him the Zealot had survived the initial blast. The Crossing Rings held concentrated Soul energy. The Zealot consisted of a much higher quality Soul power, so that likely impacted the effectiveness of the explosion.

Not only that, the Zealot certainly had protections against sudden danger. He could have teleported away, or shielded himself, or instantly healed. If the Zealot did die, it would most likely be from the void itself.

Unless the construction method of the Void Wyrms was especially durable, the Crossing Ring blast had undoubtedly destroyed the island that served as an anchor for the void bridge. The island had vaporized which meant any survivors would need to survive and navigate the void.

Ruwen knew from experience the difficulty surrounding travel through the void. Thankfully he’d had Echo’s connection to the Death Tower to follow. He knew the roots of the five towers existed somewhere near the island, but they hadn’t been visible.

So while Ruwen’s curiosity wanted him to venture into the void again to check on the damage, he was partly afraid he’d find a very angry Zealot floating there waiting for a way to return to the Universe. Better to wait and let the void finish off the Zealot if he still survived.

Ruwen also felt some urgency about the damage he’d done to the bottom of the Destruction Realm. His new core had forcefully rerouted the river of energy Lalquinrial was using to fight the angels on the island, and this rerouting had damaged the base of the Destruction Realm. There was a chance none of this mattered, because if the Destruction Realm collapsed it would bring the Material and Creation Realms along with it.

If something so catastrophic had occurred, Ruwen believed the Death Tower would have materialized to chide or scold him. Since that hadn’t happened, he extrapolated complete destruction wasn’t imminent.

Echo whimpered and Ruwen tilted his head down to check on her. He felt awful for her. She had lost her mother, and now her father. When he’d been dealing with the deaths of his friends on Savage Island, Hamma had spent the most time just holding him. That’s why he sat here holding Echo now.

Ruwen’s feelings for Echo were complicated. He’d severely injured her mother while defending himself, but Echo hadn’t seen it that way. She’d tried her best to get him killed while remaining true to the oaths she’d taken as disciple of the Bamboo Viper Step Clan. But he could never shake that first impression during the Journeyman’s Step trail when he’d saved her. He’d sensed something worth saving her at that moment.

Echo wasn’t that much older than Ruwen in the grand scheme of things, and she was figuring out life just like he was. Mistakes were easy to make. Somehow despite her being older, he viewed her like a little sister. An irritating and frustrating little sister.

One thing was for sure, death surrounded Echo, which perhaps was appropriate for someone with her destiny. She shivered and Ruwen pulled her a little tighter to his side. What was he going to do with her? He was scared what might happen if he left her alone. Maybe the Death Tower would show up and offer to take her.

If not, Ruwen would try and convince Echo to return to the Master’s Grove. Dusk, Thorn, and Mist would know how to help Echo, and the bamboo and ocean would soothe her damaged heart.

Thoughts of the three sisters brought up memories of the Step Master trial, which led Ruwen to the Shadow Realm being he’d met in the swamp, Zylkin.

Zylkin had turned out to be far more than a simple guardian of the Destruction Realm. He’d been an assassin sent here by an apocalyptic church trying to bring someone they called the Last Emperor into existence. Unfortunately, Zylkin now believed that person from prophecy was Ruwen.

Zylkin had given up returning to the Outerverse to serve Ruwen here. The Shadowmancer had recklessly thrown his life away trying to help Ruwen against the Zealot. Vex had saved the man, dropping him off on the bridge that led to the Outerverse. Ruwen wondered if the Crossing Ring explosion had killed Zylkin directly or perhaps destroyed the bridge that offered the only path home.

Ruwen pictured Zylkin sprinting across a bridge that arced into the nothingness of the void. He hoped the Shadowmancer had survived.

An eight-foot white Saraph appeared five feet in front of Ruwen. It sat cross-legged and gave Ruwen a small bow. He returned the greeting with a nod, not wanting to wake up Echo by bowing.

The Death Tower’s avatar had arrived.