Chapter 52 - SECOND DRAFT

Chapter 52 - LOT

The Central Ceremony Building was filled with an ornate collection of relics, gathered over the years. Many of them had symbolic importance to the Magma Clan, like the Callodon Sword used in ceremonial dinners, or the Symbol of Velf, used in Coming-Of-Age ceremonies for the descendants of the Burn Lords.

These relics had little value outside the Clan, but the symbolism and history behind them led to the creating of the extremely secure building. The walls of the fort were built out of Durastine Rock, an incredibly tough, and expensive, material that was resistant to impacts and heat. The fortified building had been raised more than hundreds of years ago, by the order of an ancient Empyrean Lord.

Several large ceremonial hallways circled the outside of the main building, where Jack and the others currently were. The central part of the building was an enormous hall, with three large towers rising into the sky. The only way to access it was from one of two doors, built into the east and west sides of the hallways.

Jack, Bale, and Evan quickly moved through the southern portion of the hallway, arriving in the western side of the Central Ceremony Building. They moved through an open arch, and found themselves in a large, empty reception room. A few long tables were set up, with a magnificent red carpet on the ground, and some stone chairs off to the side. A grand doorway was set into the wall, leading to the central chamber of the facility.

Jack exchanged glances with the others and then rushed to the doorway. He checked his Spatial Compass. It was pointing directly in, towards the central chamber.

The door was sealed shut, with no opening or gap, made out of the same black Durastine Rock as the rest of the building. A grey circle with a keyhole lay on the left side of the door, some type of unlocking mechanism.

Jack tried pushing on the door. It was, not unexpectedly, locked. He turned to look at Bale and Evan.

“Do you think y’all can get it open?” Their natural abilities were far better suited to something like this than his.

“Probably.” Bale responded, glancing at Evan. They nodded and each stepped to one side of the door, placing their hands on it.

Jack took a few steps back, watching with interest. He’d seen Liren use his Space Natural Ability before while on missions together, but hadn’t often gone out with Bale or Evan. They were technically his friends, but the duo really only ever talked to Liren.

“Huph!” Bale grunted, slamming his hands down. Evan quickly followed suit, slapping the door in front of them. The two then began to focus, staring at the door intensely.

A few seconds passed. Looks of strain began to appear on their faces and they began to sweat their arms starting to tremble.

Gradually, after a few more seconds, the door began to shake and tremble. Jack’s eyes lit up as he saw this, stepping back a few more steps.

“Almost…!” Bale muttered out loud, pushing harder. Evan followed suit.

Abruptly, the door’s frame seemed to warm, and a loud crashing noise exploded out as the door crumpled, blasting backwards. Jack ducked his head to the right as he dodged a few stray pieces of rock.

BOOM

The door mage a loud noise as it slammed into the ground, its edges ripped and frayed. It tumbled down solidly on the floor of the inner chamber, still trembling from the effects of Bale and Evan’s Natural Ability.

“Just barely… The door wasn't reinforced to block Space Energy, yet it could hold out for so long…” Evan muttered, wiping a sheen of sweat away from his forehead.

“The door falling was pretty loud… Let’s get in and out quick in case anyone decides to check on it.” Jack jumped forward into the room, taking it all in in a glance. They were lucky the ceremonial guards had left to help defend the Stronghold proper.

The central chamber was an enormous hall, with three towers that rose into the sky. Each of these towers was heavily protected, far more so than the rest of the chamber, reinforced to protect the sacred relics they stored.

The rest of the chamber was full of small tables, each one with a pristine relic or artifact. The walls of the chamber were painted a rich gold, with long green and blue tapestries with fantastic images coating the walls. A warm, golden light lit the room up, coming from a huge golden crystal that was hung from the ceiling.

"Where do you think it is?" Bale's voice was tense, and harried, as he looked over the chamber, and then back behind them surreptitiously.

Jack pulled out his compass, watching it turn and deviate till it pointed at a specific spot in the room.

"This way!"

He quickly hurried over in that direction, followed by Bale and Evan.

The compass came to a rest pointing at a large chunk of solidified obsidian rock, resting atop a grey stone pedestal.

He walked around the pedestal, ensuring that the compass was pointing at the rock. It was.

He exchanged glances with Bale and Evan.

According to the ancient letter he’d read, the Spatial Gauntlet had been sealed away in Time, by a fallen member of the Time Clan, Dale Iyorn. The Spatial Gauntlet was an incredible treasure created at the peak of the Space Clan, and even when sealed away, it would still give off spatial waves.

Therefore, if the Gauntlet was truly here… It would be sealed in Time, within this chunk of rock.

Only… How was he to unseal it?

Jack stared at the rock in consternation.

“Give me a second.” Jack took a deep breath, focusing his mind. He looked over his Soul, over the Clan Leader’s Imprint in his head, and the mental map of all the Time Sealed Spaces that existed in his memory. He still knew far too little about how to operate his own powers. If only some of those spaces had been closer to the Magma Lands, he might have been able to forage off and check for clues.

He opened his eyes, blinking in excitement as an idea came into his mind. His Clan Leader’s Imprint allowed him unfettered access to all Time Sealed Spaces, Vaults, or anything of that nature that was created by a Time Clan member. Following that logic, it might be possible he could use the imprint to open this rock.

It all depended on if the member of the Time Clan that sealed this in time intended for the gauntlet to be retrieved or not.

Jack’s eyes lit up. He stretched his hand forward, resting it on the obsidian rock. In his Soul, he focused on the small, Clan Leader’s Imprint that was emblazoned there so long ago, given to him by the remnant of his mother in his scar. He closed his eyes as he focused.

He drew fully upon it, feeling its authority settle on his shoulders, something he hadn’t activated in a long time.

As he did so, he opened his eyes. Faintly, from the rock in front of him, Jack could make out a very pale glow. He felt a tiny feeling of resonance with the rock.

Inexplicably, he knew what he needed to do.

He light tapped the top of the rock.

WHOOSH

The air in the central chamber shivered for a second, and then the rock seemed to collapse in on itself, black rubble and dust falling to the ground, scattering across the pillar.

CLUNK

As the rocks faded away, a solid, metallic thunk rang out.

Without waiting, Jack eagerly brushed away the dirt and rock debris, moving them out of the way to unveil an aged, silver gauntlet, complete with a fully armored glove.

His hands trembled slightly as he picked it up, feeling its solid, heavy weight. On the palm of the glove, a small indention could be seen. On the other side, on the back of the hand, Jack found a similar indention, this one filled by a small, very pale red gem.

Jack instantly recognized it. He paused for a moment before pulling an identical gem out of his Space Sealed Pouch.

The Spatial Gem he had found in that Time Sealed Vault when he had first arrived in the Magma Lands, so many years ago.

As soon as he pulled the small gem out, he felt it pull towards the gauntlet. He released the gem, watching as it flew through the air and landed in the indention at the palm of the gauntlet, settling in nicely.

WHOOSH

As soon as it settled, a small wave of energy blasted out of the gauntlet. The silver metallic gleam brightened slightly, and Jack felt a small electric shock run through as he held onto it.

He grinned, a smile going from ear to ear.

He’d found the Spatial Gauntlet! One of the Seven Great Spatial Treasures! Exactly what they needed for their plans!

Finally, after all this planning, they had finally achieved their goal.

He turned to look at Bale and Evan. The duo were currently smiling dumbly back. Jack laughed, the pain and harrowing last few hours sloughing off, at least temporarily, as they celebrated a much needed victory.

As he was in the midst of celebration, a sharp, cold voice cut through their cheer like a merciless blade.

“What do you think you’re doing here?! Especially now, in the middle of an attack!” A red glow lit up the entrance of the central chamber as a familiar figure walked into the room, her eyes glaring suspicion at Jack and the others. Crimson fire surrounded her body as she moved, giving off a powerful aura.

A familiar voice and figure. Arial Burnheart.

..

Liren kept to the ceiling using his Natural Ability to sliding along the air slowly as he moved through the hallway. He had felt, just a moment ago, a powerful spatial wave wrack his body. Well, the wave itself might not have been that powerful. Rather, his sensitivity had increased enormously, making even a small wave seem much stronger.

Instantly he had followed the trial of it through the building. He soon arrived in the western hall of the Central Ceremony Building, and found the remnants of the destroyed door. He spread his senses out, and then almost leapt off the ceiling in a mixture of surprise, joy, and confusion.

Jack, Bale, and Evan were all in the room! They’d made it here despite the chaos! This was perfect. And, from what he could tell, Jack was holding onto the Spatial Gauntlet, in its completed form.

Well, not its completed form, he corrected himself. Just its base form.

They were currently being confronted by someone from the Magma Clan. His eyes narrowed as he recognized who it was. Arial Burnheart, the daughter of the White Lion.

His eyes narrowed even further as he felt something inside him twitch sightly at the sight of her. A small tendril of distorted darkness fluttered across his eyesight.

It was at that moment he noticed another presence. Hidden on the ceiling, hiding its presence from others, some type of powerful guard was watching over Arial. Liren could sense that the man was on edge, and about to jump out and attack Jack and the others as he watched Arial confront them.

Liren frowned. The man hadn’t detected his presence yet. Slowly, Liren built up a heavy concentration of Space Energy on his finger. He waited a few, split seconds.

He then moved his hands together in a quiet clapping motion.

*whoosh*

A faint noise, like a light breeze brushing past, rang out, and Liren appeared directly behind the guard hiding on the ceiling.

The guard twisted, starting to spin around, finally noticing something off. His movements were incredibly quick, far faster than a regular fighter. Liren’s evaluation of the man went up.

Before he could do anything, however, Liren had already flicked out a finger.

CREEEEAAAK

Unlike the faint spatial fractures he had experimented with earlier on the volcano, Liren went all out, creating a several meter long fracture in space.

Creating spatial fractures was one of the strongest ability any Space Natural Ability user had. The technique itself required a prohibitive level of precision, such that one was able to perfectly control their powers. Liren, before he absorbed the Master Seed, was touching on this level of power, but had yet to achieve it.

Now, however, he was able to create spatial fractures with a certain level of comfort.

This type of attack wasn’t like a normal blow or energy strike. It was one of the reasons why the Space Clan was listed as the most powerful Clan in all of existence, tied only with the Time Clan.

Such an attack was almost impossible to defend against.

Liren couldn’t see the masked guards face, but he was sure the look was one of shock as the man’s body split along the spatial fracture, instantly torn apart. He waved his hand as the corpse began to fall, throwing aside the body and blood before it spattered on the floor directly below.

He then stopped using his Space Natural Ability to hide his presence, fully unveiling himself as he jumped down, landing on the ground outside the room.

He looked up with a smile at the shocked expressions of his companions, and of the girl currently covered in flames before him, waving towards his best friend.

“Heyo Jack.”

..

In the distance, Ayalda Burnheart stumbled in mid air, looking over at a white bracelet on his hand. Eight glowing crystals in the shape of a tree were present on the bracelet.

It was a rare Artifact known as a Root Tracker. One could track the life and condition of one's subordinates using it, as long as they willingly allowed you to plant a root in their soul.

Ayalda used it to track the lives of his generals, and the specialized Smoke Guards he'd designated to watch over Arial, and ensure her safety.

And, just a second ago, he'd felt a change in it.

As he watched, one of the trees shriveled up and shattered.

The tree that watched over the life of Gaven.

The guard that was currently protecting his daughter.

His eyes opened wide in shock.

In the split second that Ayalda was distracted, the Third Torch of the Golden Flame Clan, Jirong, burst forth from the pillars of fire he had launched, stabbing forward with a small dagger, gleaming with an incredible, golden light.