Divine Apostasy Book 7 - Chapter 79

[Authors's Note-I updated this chapter from the first time I posted it to get rid of a plot hole.]

Chapter 79

Shelly’s bellyflop created a massive wave, which at Ruwen’s current speed, he couldn’t avoid. Harden solidified the water in front of him into a wall and he crashed through it.

“Don’t hurt my turtle,” Sift screamed.

A large depression in the water where Shelly had landed caused Ruwen to suddenly lose the ability to create ice, and he soared over the opening. He could see Sift with his own eyes now, hovering twenty-five feet in the air. Sift shot forward toward Shelly, the Aspects, and Ruwen, transferring the sword he called Pointer to his left hand.

War, Drought, and Poison rose out of the water.

As Sift neared them, he flicked his right wrist forward, extending his index finger, and Ruwen witnessed an activated Relic Mark for the first time.

Sift had told Ruwen the first card Tarot revealed during Sift’s reading, The Tower, would create fire and lightning in a fifty-foot radius for five seconds. Thankfully, it only affected enemies, because the world seemed to shift into an active apocalypse, or at least, fifty feet of one.

Fire fell from the sky like a thunderstorm, blue-white lightning weaving itself through the molten drops. The Aspects had all gained shields and they activated. Ruwen glanced up and found the fifty-foot radius extended upward, and had caught both Pestilence and Plague in its fury. The horses the pair rode evaporated, and they plunged downward.

Ruwen landed on the far side of the depression Shelly had made and Harden created a landing area for him. He stopped running but his momentum pushed him forward, and he continued to slide.

Overlord? Ruwen asked.

Almost to the Masters.

Ruwen found Overlord and the other four Fallen Heroes dashing down the beach.

Catch, Ruwen said.

Ruwen dragged his right foot like a rudder, keeping his slide trajectory straight, opened his Void Band, and launched the portal chalk Sift had loaned him toward Overlord.

It was a toss that even Bliz would admit neared perfection. Overlord caught the portal chalk in stride.

Ruwen slowed to a stop and turned to face the destruction out on the lake. Do you have the gate runes for the village?

Yeah, I took them from your memory, Overlord responded.

Get them home.

Ruwen focused on Whiskers for a moment and saw the confused look on Prythus and the other Masters’ faces at seeing five Ruwen’s rapidly approaching. He told Whiskers to scout for Overlord and warn Ruwen about any danger.

The lightning and fire ended as suddenly as it began, and disappointment filled Ruwen at seeing all five Aspects standing on the water thirty feet from a hovering Sift.

Ruwen activated Glow, creating his Crazor Sword and still channeling Harden, ran toward Sift. His Diamond hearing caught the Aspects’ conversation.

“Divine golem magic,” Drought whispered to War.

“Unpleasant,” War responded.

Poison looked around. “It might be worth splitting up to look for it. Our Lord would rejoice at such a find. It would offset our recent embarrassment.”

War shook his head. “No. We can search after. First, I want these black belts for my collection.”

“He listens,” Plague said.

War shrugged. “It matters not. His fate is sealed, along with his companions.”

Overlord? Ruwen asked.

Drawing the door now.

Relief flooded Ruwen. Overlord could draw gate runes as fast as Ruwen, and in less than a minute, all the new Masters would be safe.

A faint whistling reached Ruwen along with a small pressure wave. War swiped his sword upward, deflecting a glowing white blade that had descended from above like a bird of prey. The blade disappeared into the sky.

Pestilence spoke quietly. “How many pearls does the boy carry? Such a dreadful waste of soul energy? He should have exhausted himself by now.”

Drought studied the water. “The Elder Tortoise approaches.”

“A complication we don’t need,” War said. His red horse appeared below him and he galloped toward the shore, angling past Sift. The rest of the Aspects followed, and Pestilence and Plague climbed into the air again. None of the Aspects seemed in a hurry or worried at all.

Ruwen wondered if his Aspect had a horse as well but couldn’t risk finding out right now.

Are they through? Ruwen asked Overlord.

There’s a problem, Overlord responded.

Ruwen’s heart skipped a beat and he calmed himself. What is it?

The portal doesn’t work.

Are the runes correct?

I’ve triple-checked them, but they’re already fading. I’m worried I know what’s wrong.

What?

Overlord paused a moment as Ruwen ran toward the beach and Sift circled above.

Remember the very first thing Simandreial said to us when we landed in the Infernal Realm?

Ruwen did and he fought down panic. The Plague Siren, Echo’s mother, had greeted Ruwen with these words. Hello again, Ruwen Starfield. Welcome to your new home. You probably already know your Inventory doesn’t work. Not even that wretched wyrm can reach you now. Just to save us all some time, know the ground you stand on is desecrated, and Divine blood is powerless. Any portal chalk you have is useless.

Plague’s laughter fell from the sky like an awful thunderstorm. Ruwen looked up at her. She and her brother hovered a hundred and fifty feet above the Red Forest, looking down at, presumably, Overlord and the Masters.

“You just don’t listen,” Plague said, glancing at Ruwen, and knowing he would hear her. “When will you realize? When will you understand? We prepared for you.”

The Aspects had desecrated the ground and Ruwen, along with everyone else, remained trapped here.

Shelly rose out of the water like an island and Sift landed on her shell.

Overlord, ask Uruziel how we counter desecrated ground. Ruwen shifted his focus to Sift and spoke to him over their mental connection. There’s a problem with the portal chalk. Let’s use Shelly to escape.

Ruwen arrived at the beach. He strode onto the sand, turning it into diamonds, and he stopped channeling Harden. “There is no need to kill everyone. I have the Infernal Crossing Rings you want.”

Poison tilted his head. “You have nothing to give. Everything you have, your very soul, belongs to our Lord already.”

“The Elder,” War said to Drought.

Drought slid off his horse and into the water, disappearing from view like he’d fallen into a well. He reappeared almost immediately on the water ten feet in front of Shelly and Sift.

Run! Ruwen yelled at Sift.

Drought pointed a fist at Shelly, displaying a ring that held three glowing red stones. A surge of energy erupted from one of the stones, striking Shelly.

The Elder Star Tortoise disappeared.

“Shelly!” Sift screamed as he tumbled into the water.

The air made a snapping sound as it rushed to fill the area Shelly had left. One of the three stones on Drought’s ring faded. Sift exploded upward in a spray of water and white soul energy, but by the time he turned to attack Drought, the Aspect had disappeared into the water.

“It’s done,” Drought said to War as he rose from the water along the beach. He remounted his horse. “I was worried it wouldn’t work on something so big.”

“Excellent,” War replied before looking up and addressing the two Aspects in the sky. “Leave me a few. The belts mean more if I harvest them myself.”

“As you wish, War,” Pestilence responded.

“You should hurry,” Plague added. “You know we lack your precision.”

Ruwen sensed Sift rapidly approaching, likely to take revenge on Drought. We need you in the sky. Attack Plague and Pestilence.

They killed Shelly! Sift yelled across their mental link.

Shelly is fine. No spell can harm that star eater. The only way to help her is to leave here alive. Focus on the flying ones.

Sift didn’t respond, but he angled away from the beach and into the sky. Ruwen had reassured Sift about Shelly’s health, not because Ruwen actually knew, but because he needed all of Sift’s concentration here, not on something out of their control.

“Drought?” War asked.

Drought studied Ruwen. “I believe it safe. Not a speck of Spirit has left his body, despite a situation he thought dire. I believe him crippled, and we can proceed as planned.”

Dreadful realization struck Ruwen. The Aspects truly had planned this. They had acted vulnerable and hesitant with a purpose. The small hope he’d nursed that they had a chance to match these Aspects on the battlefield, or at least get everyone else to safety, died. All the Aspects had done was try and prod him into using his Spirit. Lalquinrial likely guessed that if Ruwen survived the Sixth Rune, it wouldn’t be without damage.

They had planned for Ruwen, but how did they know he was here? Or that he would return? Two immediate possibilities came to mind.

One, the demon survivors of the underground cavern had described Ruwen well enough for Lalquinrial to know it was him. Or maybe he, or one of the Aspects, had access to the demons’ memories here.

The more likely explanation, Ruwen guessed, was Echo had informed her father’s assets here during the last visit, and they had passed it on to the Infernal god.

Had Echo found a way around the Bamboo Viper oath to not harm her own Clan? Or maybe passing along information didn’t trigger any issues because it was too vague, too far removed, from actual harm.

Amid the horror of Ruwen’s situation, he felt disappointment as well. In himself, because he had believed Echo could change, and in Echo, that she could rationalize what happened next to everyone here.

Ruwen moved into the third mediation to stop the horrifying conclusions of what he’d sown.

Whiskers sneezed and something damaged the cat, causing Whiskers to dematerialize, and Ruwen’s connection to disappear.

The apparitions are taking damage, Overlord said. There is something in the air.

The red bar under the portrait of Nymthus in Ruwen’s party display, ticked downward. She, just like the apparitions, had begun taking damage.

“No,” Ruwen whispered, as he understood the full extent of his situation.

Plague cackled from above. “Finally.”