Empyrean 12: Getting Out

Amelia Winter here :)

I am the new author Tom is working with to write the second instalment of Elana's story, Empyrean's Flight. I just wanted to introduce myself, and also share the first chapter (WIP) of the book!

I'm a first-time author, and Empyrean's Flight will be my first full-length novel, so please, any and all feedback will be welcome!

Specifically, I would love to hear what you liked, what you didn't, where would you like to see the story go, and any inconsistencies you identified with the Grand Game lore. This is very much a 'first draft', so edit suggestions are more than welcome, and you can also expect to see our own edits coming soon when the official chapter releases start on royal road.

I am posting here for now so we can share this exciting work with you, but there will be a new Patreon page coming soon specifically for the Grand Game, Elana series. Look out for more info on that soon.

Otherwise, thank you so much for your support, and happy reading!

(PS. In future, all posts made by me will be marked with #amelia)

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The early morning sun warmed my back as we weaved through the streets in the poor quarter of Mesina. The Devils were hot on our trail and had been since we left our little shack.

We were moving quickly, but the howls and shouts coming from the streets we left behind led me to believe that Cantos had sent the entire Devils’ cordon after us. Time was running out, and I was running out of breath.

“What is the plan? We can’t keep running forever,” Alon asked, struggling to get his words out.

“We keep going!” Soren spat out, similarly short-winded. “We can outrun them.”

“Who’s to say they’ll stop chasing us, Soren?” Alon snapped back at my brother.

I closed my eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. I tried to block out the incessant bickering between my companions. I couldn’t afford to lose focus now, especially since we were not out of the woods yet.  But we were also aimless, and I knew Alon had a point.

“Alon is right, Soren, we need some kind of plan,” I said.

There was silence while Soren contemplated what I said. “Okay, but let’s just try and get somewhere safe first,” he finally replied.

“Follow me, I know a place,” Alon piped up before I could respond.

“Alright, let’s go,” I confirmed. I didn’t have time to argue. Alon, at the very least, was taking charge of the situation. Following him, we ran straight up the muddy path we were on before the axeman indicated to move left around a corner. We turned into a begrimed street that was bereft of any people. I trusted Alon to find us a place to rest; he knew these paths as well as Soren and I did. We all grew up here.

I had to fight to keep that trust in my friend as we continued running. I knew all the holes we could hide in as well as he could have, and I knew that he wasn’t leading us to any of them. Had he found a place we didn’t know about before?

I didn’t find the time to truly question where he was going. I was panting heavily, and my exhaustion was making it difficult not to slip on the gravelly roads we had to follow. Thankfully, there were still no people around, so I wasn’t in danger of running into anyone.

After a few more minutes of navigating small alleyways, Alon came to a stop. I skid slightly on my feet and halted next to him, studying our surroundings.

We had arrived in a courtyard. It wasn’t big, and the sun had come out enough now that we were exposed under its rays. In front of us was a large gate that housed a larger building. On our left was a stone wall with a single closed door, and on our right was a brick wall with scaffolding alongside it. I looked at Alon quizzically. “Are we safe here? This courtyard doesn’t lead anywhere.”

“For a moment,” he said with a wry grin. “The Devils should be here soon.”

“Should be here soon? What are you on about?” Soren snapped.

“We need to fight!” Alon said loudly. “Now we have some space to prepare.” He gestured around the courtyard.

Soren cursed before he stomped on the ground. “You trapped us!”

“It’s either this or we die running,” Alon growled and lifted his axe. “We have my axe and a player, what could possibly stand in our way?”

“What?” Soren asked. For a fleeting moment, confusion substituted his anger.

My eyes widened. I couldn’t believe Alon had just exposed my secret. “Quiet, both of you!” I hollered, my voice breaking a little. At Soren’s sideward glance, I continued, “We have very little time to form a plan. Alon shouldn’t have led us into a fight,” I shot a glare at Alon, “but this is where we are now. So, let’s figure something out before this fails miserably.”

My companions fell silent. “I have an idea,” I said. “Here’s what we do…”

✵ ✵ ✵

We had minutes to execute my haphazard plan. The first step was climbing to the top of the brick building. At the very least, I thought it would give us a slight advantage over our foes, and we could use the scaffolding as a platform for intimidation.

“Adalinda, you can come out now,” I said to my celestial companion. We would need all the help we could get, especially because we had no real idea how many Devils were coming for us. She didn’t hesitate to heed my request.

Adalinda has taken the form of a fire lizard. She has 20% psi remaining.

As she appeared next to me, I heard cackles from below us. “We know you’re here,” an intimidating voice bellowed. “Come out and play!”

The Devils had arrived.

I looked at Alon and Soren, who were both on my right. I gave them a slight nod, then Alon moved onto a wooden plank that lay on top of the scaffolding and held his axe above his head. “Come and get me!” he shouted down to our foes.

As he taunted the Devils, Soren, Adalinda and I moved further away from the edge of the building. The roof was flat, so it afforded us an opportunity to get out of sight.

“Where are your friends, boy?” A Devil shouted to Alon.

“Ha! As if you’ll ever know,” Alon retorted.

He was keeping them distracted. So far, everything was going as smoothly as it could, given our predicament. The three of us continued to crouch down and move slowly toward the shorter side of the building that faced away from the courtyard. It was tall enough that we could hide ourselves, but not so tall that we couldn’t jump down quietly. Our cover depended on Alon’s ability to hold the Devils’ attention.

Soren was tall, so he slid down into the alleyway on the side of the structure and helped me down. As I landed, I held my arms up to catch Adalinda. Quite gracefully, she leapt into my arms, and we had made it off the roof with no problems.

I took a moment to listen if the Devils heard us, but it seemed that they were staying focused on our blonde companion.

Once I believed we went undetected, Soren and Adalinda hung back in the small alleyway, and I crawled forward slowly to scout. When I reached the corner of the building, I sat and peered around to study the thugs. There were six Devils in total, and the one who was talking with Alon looked to be their ‘leader’. It was a formidable number, but I had to trust we could fight them off.

They were standing about a yard away from the corner, close to the scaffolding, and none of them had noticed me yet. Close enough for an easy ambush, I thought. I waved at Soren and Adalinda to move toward my position. When they reached me, I walked around the corner and let out a mighty yell. “HEY!”

All the Devils swung around to stare us down. As they turned, Alon leapt down from the scaffolding and ran toward the four Devils standing closest to him. With one swing, he decapitated a smaller-looking thug.

A level 5 human has died!

Chaos ensued. The Devils split, trying to get away from our brawling friend. Taking the opportunity to strike, I lunged forward with Adalinda in tow. I channeled my mana and grabbed onto the shoulders of the Devil closest to me.

You have cast light’s fury. A level 8 human has been critically injured!

As I held the thug, Adalinda moved to my left and let out a breath of fire across the two standing just behind my captured foe.

The smell of burning flesh permeated the air. In a single motion, I slid my stiletto out and plunged it into the neck of the thug I was holding.

You have killed a level 8 human.

A slight smile came over my face. As I pulled my dagger out of the Devil, I saw Soren had moved to the Devils Adalinda set on fire. Unlike Alon, he was more graceful in his movements. He swung his sword across the gut of the first Devil and twirled to stab it into the neck of the second.

A level 6 human has died!

Alon started moving toward us, and Adalinda snapped her jaws at the Devil Soren had cut through, grabbing onto his calf muscle and ripping it out.

With a scream, he fell to the ground. I rolled forward to him and plunged my dagger into his neck, ending his life.

“Enough!” I heard the leader scream. For a second, my focus turned to him. He was standing away from the group, and didn’t seem to care enough to take part in the fight. I tried to run toward him, but in my distraction, another thug grabbed me from behind and held my arms.

I tried to wriggle free, but to no avail.  Alon and Adalinda were taking on another thug together, and couldn’t come to my aid. Where is Soren? I wondered, panicking slightly. I might die here.

Then my arms came loose. I turned around to find the Devil who grabbed me with a sword through his head. As his body dropped to the ground, I saw Soren’s blood-spattered face appear.  “You’re welcome,” he said with a smile.

A level 5 human has died!

Now free, I ran toward the leader. He was standing closer to the scaffolding, still away from the group. It took me less than two seconds to reach him, but when I did, he disappeared.

What?

I turned frantically in circles, looking for my foe. Behind me, my companions had taken care of the last of the thugs.

So where is the leader?

A level 5 human has died!

I ran back towards Alon, who was pulling his axe from the chest of a Devil. “Have you seen the leader?” I asked hurriedly.

He just shook his head and looked around.

My celestial scurried back to my side. “Ada, why can’t I see the leader?”

Her paws lifted slightly off the ground in what I assumed was a shrug. I turned frantically in a circle and saw my brother wiping his sword down. Distracted and unaware of the situation, the leader took a chance and appeared behind him—seemingly out of nowhere.

“Soren, look out!” I shouted.

Soren dodged just in time to avoid a killing blow, but the leader cut a dagger across his cheek. I started running toward them, light’s fury at the ready.

But as I reached them the leader disappeared again.

I reached down to Soren, who had fallen to the ground. “Are you okay, brother?”

Holding his cheek, he said, “Yes, I’ll be fine. What is happening?”

I couldn’t answer his question. The leader seemed to have abilities that were eluding me. I looked around again to try and spot him, but all I saw were my companions and the bodies of the Devils we killed.

“We need to get out of here,” I said, reaching a hand down to Soren.

“But you won’t,” a voice behind me said.

You have been backstabbed for 1.5x damage! Your health is at 60%.

I arched my back in reaction to the leader stabbing me. He had just missed my spine. Seconds later, I turned around to and swung my dagger blindly.

Your target has evaded your attack.

The leader dodged out of my way. Behind him, I saw Alon and Adalinda rush our way. Axe at the ready, Alon thrust down to hit the Devil. The main thug, however, rolled to the side and out of Alon’s reach.

As he moved, he vanished from sight again.

Alon let out a frustrated roar as his axe hit the ground. I reached my hand to Soren again, who had stayed sitting. As I pulled him up, I turned my back to him. “Put your back against mine,” I said abruptly.

I held my dagger at the ready, waiting for the leader’s next appearance. Alon and Adalinda saw what we were doing and followed suit. Adalinda did not protect Alon’s back in the same way, but she served as eyes, at the very least.

The four of us stood like that for five minutes, waiting. The courtyard was eerily quiet. It had turned into a still, sunny morning.

“I think he’s gone,” Soren said quietly.

“Don’t assume anything,” I whispered. “We have to be sure.”

As the words escaped my mouth, I heard something like a faint whistle of wind above me. I looked up to see the leader had finally appeared again and was jumping straight onto Soren and me from the scaffolding.

I could barely shout “Move!” before he hit the ground. As he landed, he twirled his legs in the air and gave me a swift kick in my gut.

Your health is at 50%.

Half my health gone, and we had still not figured out how to deal with the last Devil.

As he finished his kick, the leader lost his balance slightly and planted both hands on the ground. Seeing an opportunity, Adalinda leapt toward and released fire from her mouth. Thankfully, she acted quickly enough to catch his dark cloak.

The Devil’s cloak crackled slowly under the heat, and as Adalinda continued breathing her fire, it burst into flame. The leader screamed in response and tore the cloak off, throwing it at his feet.

Trying to ignore the sharp pain in my stomach, I lunged forward. Infusing my dagger with light, I plunged it into his right arm.

You have critically injured a level 14 human rogue!

That explains the vanishing act, I thought. As I struggled to hold the leader at bay, Soren and Alon rushed toward us. With a leap and a yell, Alon pushed the Devil down, taking me with him.

Alon has injured you! Your health is at 45%.

Wriggling free from Alon’s grasp, I stood over the Devil and ground my foot into his neck. As we held him down, Soren sunk his sword into the leader’s abdomen and sliced. Blood flowed and entrails bulged out of the cut.

I looked down to the face of the Devil. He was… smiling, and a bright red was coating his teeth. He spluttered and grabbed my arm. “You will not survive the war…”

Before he could finish speaking, his body went limp.

You have killed a human rogue. Congratulations, Elana! You and Adalinda have gained 2 levels. Adalinda’s fire magic has increased to 12, reaching rank 1. Your light magic has increased to 13.
Celestial trait triggered! Your fire magic has increased to level 12, mirroring your companion’s skill. Adalinda’s light magic has increased to level 13, mirroring your skill.

I wiped a bead of sweat dripping down my brow. Turning to Alon, I scolded, “We could have died.”

He shrugged. “But we didn’t. Now we can travel peacefully.”

Soren threw his sword to the ground and grabbed Alon by his shoulders, shaking him. “Have you seen the bodies we have left lying around? They are not going to let this go.” He pushed Alon away and put his palm to his forehead. “You have put us in an endless run of danger,” he growled.

Alon scowled. “We were in danger already! I got us out of it!”

Without answering, Soren curled his hand into a fist and swung it in Alon’s face. “Don’t make me hit you.”

“Do it! I dare you!”

“Stop this,” I said firmly, standing between them. “Alon, Soren is right. You should not have led us on the way you did.” I looked at my brother. “And you, fighting will not solve anything. Stand back.”

My companions folded their arms and turned away from each other. I couldn’t help but let out a sigh. “We need to get going. What is the plan from here?” I asked.

Soren turned his head slightly toward me, arms still crossed. “I know a place we will actually be safe. Follow me.” Then he started walking out of the courtyard.

Alon did not follow initially, but I pulled on his arm. “No need to be theatrical,” I quipped. With a grunt, he stomped forward and followed Soren.

I looked at Adalinda, who had started lapping up the blood soaking into the floor of the courtyard. “Come, Ada” I said. “We don’t need to worry about cleaning up now. We have to go.”

She gave me a worried look before complying and returning to rest in my chest. I shook my head at myself. If we carried on like this, we had no chance of surviving. We had to work together.

We will not survive the war, I thought. Those were his last words.

There was more trouble coming our way.