The Clutch of Sharys: Chapter Ten
Chapter 10: Shatter before Us
This anger drove several dragons to despise the void, moving away to the farthest reaches of the globe to avoid its whispers, though many more were corrupted.
Eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness, Cara made a concerted attempt not to trip over anything as she made her way forward, clutching her baby dragon to her chest. She could faintly make out some outlines in the darkness where it looked like tall furniture stood near the dim shape of curtained windows. Straining her eyes to see further forward, Cara missed the desk on her left and rammed her hip into the corner. "Nepthy’s Nip-" Cara cut herself off, forcing the rest of the expletive down inside as she rubbed at the sharp pain the furniture had imparted on her.
"Sorry about that, I wasn't paying attention. My assistants gathered some notes on your sister and parents testing, and I was curious to look and see what their alignments were." Helicity's polite voice rang out from right behind Cara's shoulder, sending her heartbeat flying as she jumped slightly in surprise. "A little to the left now, quick, quick!" Two smaller hands pushed against Cara's back as she was herded away from any objects that she could hurt herself on. "How can you see in here?" Cara asked as the hands left her alone in the nearly complete darkness.
"Why, the same way bats do! Tiny sounds that tell me where things are at." The researcher's voice got slightly quieter as she wandered away, walking back towards the open door and shutting it, leaving the entire room dark save for faint outlines near the curtains.
Cara waited for something to happen and was quickly rewarded with the sound of stone smoothly sliding against stone, a gentle grinding that seemed to come from all around her. "Why is it dark?" She said, talking to keep reminding herself that she wasn't alone or back in the crushing shadows of the portal. "Mmmm, I've heard something about the lack of stimulus making it easier to focus, but mostly I think it's just pageantry." The researcher's voice called out, sounding slightly distracted.
A lantern flickered to life overhead, casting light down on Cara and the ten square pillars which slowly rose from the ground, surrounding her in a circle. They were evenly spaced, and made of the same blue stone of the floor, leading Cara to believe that they were what she had heard earlier. She could make out a couple of silhouettes that she had thought to be tall shadows lurking near the windows, the orange light now revealing them to be the figures of the 'assistants' that Helicity had mentioned earlier. Cara swallowed hard, looking around at the pillars and still feeling like she was on the back foot. The little dragon nervously butted the underside of Cara's jaw with her little head, seeking comfort from her partner. "It's alright, baby girl." Cara murmured, leaning her head into the dragon's movements slightly.
A whispering sound began to hiss overhead, and Cara looked up to see orbs descending, held aloft by swirling cushions of air that slowed their descent until all ten of the spheres were neatly resting on their own individual pillar. Turning and gazing at them, Cara glimpsed a glittering geode, a glowing crystal, and a puddle of water, all immortalized in clear glass. "Uh…" she trailed off, looking back toward Helicity's voice.
"Your only job is to interact with them; how you do so is up to you." The voice called out, offering absolutely no help to Cara in how to proceed. The hatchling squeaked in her ear, and Cara slowly reached up and gently took the dragon in both hands, looking around at the circle of orbs. The nearest one, a twisted spire of liquid rock, still glowing molten inside the sphere, seemed as good a target as any. Throwing caution to the wind, Cara lifted her dragon by the stomach and pointed her attention towards the globe in front of her.
The hatchling let out a curious coo, struggling and waving its clawed feet in an attempt to get closer, and Cara took a step forward, cautiously placing the dragon's front legs on the pedestal, still holding the creature upright.
Tiny claws quickly scribbled against stone, and Cara put the dragon on top of the pedestal as it stretched its scaly little neck forward in interest, curious about the object on top. Once she let go, the hatchling quickly darted forward, examining its reflection in the sphere before violently head-butting the orb off the pedestal.
Falling to the floor with a loud clunk, the ball began rolling away, still flickering as Cara darted forward to catch it. Standing upright after snatching it up, she heard another thud behind her as another globe, this one with a thin, spinning snowflake, began rolling across the floor. Her dragon had hopped from pedestal to pedestal and was now happily attempting to eat the orb containing the shining geode. Cara quickly chased down the ball with the snowflake, and took both of the escaped spheres back to their pedestals, and placed them down.
"You're a little scamp." She told her hatchling, scooping her up off the pedestals and placing her back on her shoulder. "And also not helping." The dragon squeaked indignantly in her ear as though it had been helping, and Cara shook her head. Rolling up her sleeve, she went to wipe away the clear film of spittle a certain curious creature trying to eat the shiny rock inside had left behind. Much to her surprise, when she went to polish the glass, her hand instead fell through. Releasing the cloth of her sleeve, Cara poked at the Geode, which caused the glass surrounding the rock to crack, the entire orb dissolving into a pile of white, whispering sand.
Glancing wildly around, Cara waited for someone to stop or tell her she was an earth-aligned rider, but no one spoke a word. Empty silence and her anxiety prompted Cara to keep moving, looking down at the next orb, the one containing a purple crystal perfectly cut into the shape of a thin diamond, purple light pulsing from within its facets as Cara got closer. When she touched the transparent sphere, the good news was that it didn't immediately disintegrate, but it also did nothing else after glowing once initially. Confused, Cara let go and grasped the solid, cold glass several times, only to have the same thing happen. She tapped a fingernail on the orb, the crystal flaring each time the soft clink sounded.
"Yes, I don't think that's going to do anything else, Miss Myzanti." Helicity's high voice rang out from behind her, urging Cara to move on. The little creature on her shoulder shot back a sharp cry which was not that loud considering the size of its source.
A small tornado spun around, constantly rotating inside of the next glass ball, air sending circular gusts of some light-catching dust in its conical swirl. Grasping the orb, Cara felt a small rush as the tornado inside spun even faster, splitting apart into three separate tornados, all spinning in tilted tandem. She shook her hand, seeing if the small cyclones would react further or merge back to one, but nothing happened. Placing the orb back down, Cara turned to see the cloudy ball on the next pedestal, innocently waiting for her to approach. Sadly, it also turned out to be unresponsive, its obscure contents swirling as she shook it but imparting no other effects.
Moving quicker now, Cara's outstretched hand passed through the sphere containing the puddle, the fluid inside rapidly avoiding her fingers as though sentient, and after a few minutes of chasing it around, she gave up. "Hm." The darkness behind her commented in Helicity's high tones, and Cara briefly caught the scratching of a pencil before the room fell silent once more.
Flickering gently, the fire orb was one of the most obvious to identify, its light casting small rays around the pedestal upon which it rested. A touch from Cara's finger sent it twisting and forking away, the tongues splitting apart and combining as the flame slightly grew. The light of the fire brought Cara's gaze to the one part of the circle which seemed to consume whatever light touched it, the clear orb containing the flat, black disc of darkness.
Twisting up her mouth, Cara went for a bit of variety this time around and slapped the flat of her hand on top of the glove several times, like she was roughly patting someone on the head. The circle bubbled and churned as though set to boil from the pats, looking like a tarry soup that she had put on the stove."Oh, that's quite surprising." Helicity remarked, moving closer for the first time and examining the orb. Cara looked back to where the bubbling had continued after she placed it down, the darkness within spreading in an inky blur throughout the globe, quickly consuming all that was clear and disappearing into the shadows of the room completely.
"Continue, please. You’re almost finished." The researcher said, flapping a hand at Cara. Passing over the two orbs that had done nothing when she picked them up, Cara settled in front of the final orb, praying something that had happened so far would be enough to indicate her alignment.
The light flickering within this sphere was in a flat disc, much like the bubbling, consuming circle from the now destroyed globe. The little dragon cooed gently into Cara's ear as she picked it up, waiting for something to happen. When it was still the same a moment later, she tried shaking it, gripping it harder, and tapping it like an egg on the pedestal. Cara was tossing it up in the air when it changed, the shining disc tearing apart like fabric, fading to a mixture of green and blue light that hung through the orb-like ribbons in the glass.
"Well! That quite completes the first portion of our testing. There will be an opportunity for you to test out your power on some targets within the room should you so choose." Helicity said, sounding happy and slightly intrigued at the same time.
Seconds after she finished speaking, more lanterns flared across the room, the bright light causing Cara to need a moment to squint while her vision focused. She could now see the long stone length of the room, the surrounding pillars slowly sinking back into the ground as the assistants swept in, efficiently cleaning the orbs away.
Once their task was complete, they returned to the back of the room, where Helicity's messy blonde head was bowed as she scribbled something in notes. "Well! Are you ready to learn more about your magic?" She asked, looking up at Cara, who eagerly nodded. "Now it says here that your mother hatched a Rank Seven flame dragon whereas your father…?" The researchers trailed off, and Cara had to grit her teeth as she responded. "Rank Five shadow." She got out, waiting for the judgemental remarks that almost always followed.
"Tsk. Archetype alignments are so wishy-washy below rank ten." Helicity offered, laying her pen down and looking up at Cara. "Still though, a rather poetic combination considering the outcome." Without waiting for Cara to ask what she meant by that, the researcher swept past her, adjusting her oversized, knit coat of brown wool as she passed. The covering was in line with the fashions of Kitalasal’s riders, and Cara wondered what a woman from a different country was doing testing Netian nobles for basic elemental alignment.
"Now. What do you say you try to hit one of the targets down there?" The researcher vaguely gestured with her hand at the far end of the room where round hay bales on stands that were painted red and white. Cara looked back and forth between the targets and the researcher in confusion and asked, "With what? You haven't told me the results yet."
Tilting her head slightly, Helicity looked at her. "I would've thought they were obvious, but it appears as though you have a proclivity to Light." Cara swallowed in disappointment at the proclamation, walking towards the line the researcher indicated for her to stand on.
"Yes, yes, I know, everyone wants pure elemental magic, but the versatility offered to you as an archetypal rider will be very useful." Helicity comforting her and patting her on the head. "The unfortunate reality is that when magics mix, new ones are made, but not all that is new is stronger." Cara nodded, the lump in her throat easing slightly but still very much there.
"Well, the upside is that having a Face Card rank dragon means that the two of you will have a unique skill set. Higher concentrations of the Godbeast’s blood tend to impart… unexpected qualities to magic." Spotting the look on Cara's face, Helicity rushed to continue, "Good ones. Just because you share an elemental alignment with many others does not mean that they will compare to you."
Giving her a slight push in the back, the motivational speech now over, Helicity directed her once more towards the targets lining the back of the room. Cara inhaled, lifting her arms and extending her hands, fingers splayed in a loose array. She waited a moment, then a few more, and nothing happened. Cara pinched her lips together and pushed her will out, feeling energy leave her but seeing nothing visibly changed.
"Hmm, Varner? Be a dear and take out target three, would you?" Helicity seemed markedly unbothered by Cara's lack of production and instead directed one of her assistants, a tall, reedy boy with light brown hair, towards the end of the room. Extending one arm out towards the target and raising the other in a fist directly by his cheek, the boy looked to Cara as though he were miming firing a bow badly. Inhaling sharply, the assistant quickly jabbed his fist at the target as though throwing a punch, his hand returning to its position perpendicular to his face.
Across the room, the target blew to splinters as though ripped apart from within, pieces of wood and hay raining down around where it had stood only moments before. "Apologies, Miss, I only meant to knock it over." The young man bowed his head towards Helicity, who waved him off. "That's more or less what I expected." She sighed, turning to look at Cara, clearly deep in thought.
Unsure of what to do next, Cara nervously bounced on the balls of her feet, sending the hatchling bobbing up and down on her shoulder with the movement. Helicity suddenly gasped, snapping her fingers and grabbing Cara by the arm. Dragging her from the room without explanation, Helicity briskly said, "Come now, we'll need to hurry because I doubt there are many others left testing."
Ignoring Cara's protests and marching her through the narrow antechamber, Helicity marched Cara over towards the end of the hall, where a small group of people stood gathered near a closed wooden door. "In here." The researcher murmured, guiding her towards the entrance. They were a few feet away when a man's voice rang out, cutting across the gentle hubbub of casual conversation.
"What do you think you're doing?" It asked, the voice warm but holding the stiff edge of forced distant dignity in it. Behind them, Cara saw the small group of people part as a man stood up, all tan skin, loose dark curls, high aristocratic cheekbones, and striking eyes. He strode over to them, a frown firmly planted on his mouth, movements sharp and aggressive in the way that Cara had seen Keti move when she was upset. She wondered if he was also one of the four Generals that were celebrated across Netis, though he looked a bit young to fit the role.
"Prince Fane." Helicity gave the facsimile of a quick curtsy, dragging Cara down with her. "We have a few last-minute tests that I need to consult with a colleague on." The man's eyes quickly flicked over Cara, their bright yellow surprising her and stirring old memories of lessons about the different noble houses of her country.
"Not a general then, one of the princes." Cara thought. She could vaguely recall a family being described as having 'the eyes of hawks,’ but her attempt at recollection was interrupted by the man moving to solidly block their way. "Discuss it with another one. My brother is not to be disturbed while his testing takes place."
Helicity gave Cara a slight shove forward, "Head on in and sit down, I'll take care of this." She murmured, stepping around her to address the aggressive man.
While Helicity navigated the angry princeling, Cara tried to scoot towards the door, making it only a few steps before her progress was rudely halted. A shadow near the door pooled, a wave shooting out and hitting Cara squarely in the chest, roughly knocking her backward and sending her stumbling away from the entrance. Cara got a powerful sensation of the crushing emptiness inside the portal, scuttling back towards the sunny windows where it probably couldn't follow.
Helicity erupted in scolding at the same time as the prince, and another cut their voices off, sharply ringing out from the end of the hall. "What is the meaning of this?" Keti snarled, boots clicking on the floor as she strode forward, gripping Cara under one armpit and pulling her up. "Prince Fane, there had best be an explanation why you deemed it prudent to attack my sister."
The man's shoulders twitched lightly, and he turned to give Keti a sharp look of respectful displeasure. "Ah, General Myzanti. I should have known that your sister would be just as much of an insurrectionist as you." He said coldly, looking down his nose at the woman in front of him.
Keti scoffed at his remark, guiding Cara back over to the pair by the door. Cara was acutely aware of the small huddle of nobles goggling at the exchange and ducked her head down to avoid being stared at. "If you call not listening to every single one of Alexander's ego-filled plans an act of insurrection, then so be it. But leave the personal attacks on my family out of your head unless you prefer making enemies before you even have a chance at the throne." Keti spat.
Helicity quickly jumped in as the Prince's amber eyes narrowed at the threat, babbling as she wheeled Cara towards the door. "Anyway, we just need to slip in rather quickly; if you are concerned about it affecting your brother's testing, we can wait-"
The door opened behind them, and one of the white-jacketed Kitisalian assistants came out, bowing quickly to the prince. "Your highness. As you asked, we are notifying you of your brother's results, indicating his magical alignment to the element of earth."
Helicity clapped her hands once, propelling Cara forward as she stepped around the prince. "Wonderful! His testing will be all done, so we won't be ruining anything. Come, come!" Hesitantly, Cara followed her, keeping a wary eye on the man who had assaulted her as she walked past, a quick, rude gesture made behind her back.
Keti's presence was apparently enough to dissuade the prince from stopping them again, and instead, he followed them into the testing room and through the receiving area. "Cultas, I've brought a surprise!" Helicity sang out, quickly trotting over and comparing whatever gibberish she had scribbled about Cara in her notes with an older man in a matching brown overcoat.
Waiting for them to finish, Cara shot and received another nasty look at the man, glancing past the assistants lined up and settling on the pale-haired young man standing at the same line she had been minutes earlier. His regal bearing, high cheekbones, and aquiline nose reminded Cara of Prince Fane, though the effect was much more attractive when she wasn't being looked down on by its owner.
"Lady Myzanti." The younger prince gave a quick nod to her; expression puzzled as he looked back at his brother and the two huddled researchers. Cara gave him a smooth curtsy, lifting the sides of her tunic like a small skirt as she bent. "Your highness." She responded, voice wobbling slightly. Clamping her mouth shut around her embarrassment, Cara offered him a quick, red-cheeked smile, which was lightly returned before the pair was descended upon by the researchers. "All right. Glad you've been acquainted if we could have you stay here, Prince Kimon, Lady Cara, this way." Helicity quickly herded Cara off to the side of the testing room, a few feet away from one of the heavily curtained windows.
Cara assumed her position, looking back and forth between the researchers and the prince who she offered what she hoped was a quick, friendly smile. "Now raise your arm at him as you did before." Helicity ordered, walking over to Cara's left side, which was pointed towards the curtain. Cara raised her right hand and pointed it at the prince, fingers loosely spread apart once again. Repetition seemed to win out for her magic, too, because once again, nothing happened. Unbothered by this, Helicity nodded, and the old man with the long brown coat gestured to Prince Kimon, who turned to a box of rocks placed in front of him.
A green light slowly began shimmering out of his eyes, and his hatchling sat up straighter on the ground by his feet, ruffling back its golden-green wings. Scooping his hand downward and thrusting it out, the prince pushed his power into the box, and several of the rocks lifted, shivering with his wavering control.
"Now, then, Helicity?" Called the older researcher, and in response, Helicity yanked back the curtain, letting sunlight flood the room around them, easily overpowering the dim lantern light. The first thing Cara felt was an immeasurable warmth and security flowing around her before it moved past, a glowing line of shimmering white gold flowing from her hand and flooding the space her fingers pointed towards.
Illuminated, the prince turned, eyes widening as the rest of the box's contents rose, the vibrating cloud threatening to drop as his control nearly broke because of his surprise. His eyes flicked up towards the target, focusing on where he wanted them to fly. Twisting his wrist around, Kimon flicked two fingers towards the target, and the mass of stone accelerated as though shot from a catapult, obliterating the target and colliding into the wall. A loud cracking sound rang out, followed by the sounds of stones clattering against one another as they fell. Where once there had been a solid wall, a decently large hole now stood, surrounded by rubble and smooth white practice stones.
"That, Your Highness, is why I needed to use your brother's magic and not my own. A hatchling rider's magic is still weak because their dragon is still young. If I had tested my theory about Lady Myzanti's powers with my own magic as a rider of nearly forty years, as I said earlier, her inability to control-" Helicity cut off as both Cara and Prince Kimon crumpled to the floor, breathing heavily from the sudden drain to their bodies.
Cara's world quickly faded to a burning red haze of pain, stinging and torturing every inch of being and filling her lungs with the scent of blood. Her mouth felt thick, her tongue leadenly dull in her mouth, the thud of her heartbeat the only companion in her ears. Cara simultaneously felt the urge to lie down and rest and to lean over to throw up but settled for wrapping her arms around herself as she remained sitting on the floor. She could feel something warm trickling down her face and was dully aware of people's voices raised around her, but Cara at that moment was only a being of pain, existing to experience only agony and nothing else.