Ghost Ascension, Episode 25a

You snatch a throwing knife and fling it at Sophia with all your strength.

Sophia sees it coming, of course, and her sword meets the spinning blade in mid air. Your knife falls to the ground in two pieces, the cut edges glowing red-hot. Yet Lucan lunges at her, and Sophia only just manages to dodge around the blow in time.

For the first time, you see her stumble.

Giving you the opportunity to throw another knife.

This time the blade sinks into her hip, and Sophia stumbles again, her blade faltering. The ghostsilver sword slips past her guard to draw a line of blood on her cheek, and for just a moment you think that Lucan has her finished.

Then Sophia explodes into motion.

She lunges at Lucan, the crosspieces of their swords locking together, and a roll of her wrist slams her pommel into his chin. Lucan stumbles back, sword raised in guard, and Sophia spins and leaps at you, sword angled to take off your head.

You duck, the glowing sword whipping over your head, and Sophia’s boot slams into your stomach.

Getting kicked in the gut by a boot with a spiked heel hurts. A lot. Fortunately, the leather armor you’re wearing keeps the spike from stabbing you. You fall to one knee, the breath exploding out of you, and Sophia whirls to face Lucan’s attack. She drives him back, her sword flickering and stabbing faster than a striking serpent, her bladework more skilled than anything you’ve ever seen, and Lucan falls back on his heels again and again. Soon his back slams into the elaborate marble railing at the edge of Emperors’ Reach, a thousand-foot drop to Malarae behind him.

The bronze sword draws back for a killing swing.

You fling a throwing knife, the blade sinking into Sophia’s back.

And her killing stroke goes wide, shearing through the marble rail besides Lucan. He twists, sidestepping, and brings his sword down with all his strength behind. His blade takes Sophia’s sword hand at the wrist. The bronze longsword strikes the marble flagstones, bounces once, and vanishes into black smoke. Sophia stumbles in shock, eyes wide, and Lucan’s sword plunges into her chest, just below the breastbone. She rips herself free with a convulsive jerk and collapses against the shattered railing, a crimson stain spreading across her white shirt.

The Ascendant Bloodcrystal’s glow begins to fade in her left hand.

You stagger to your feet and join Lucan.

“Good timing,” he says, panting, “with that knife.”

“You barely needed the help,” you say, gazing at the Bloodcrystal.

“No,” he says. “She had me there, at the end.” He nods at the Bloodcrystal. “What should we do with…that?”

“Stab it with your sword,” you say. “Ghostsilver is proof against sorcery. That should damage or destroy the Bloodcrystal. I…don’t want touch it.”

Sophia’s eyes meet yours, fever-bright as the life drains from her wounds.

“Not a very artistic way to die,” you say, “is it?”

Sophia laughs.

“No,” she says. “But this is.”

And even as the mad glitter fades from her eyes, her arm jerks, flinging something at your face. On reflex your arm snaps up to catch it, and even as your fingers close, you realize your mistake.

The Ascendant Bloodcrystal blazes with emerald fire in your grasp.

Thunder. You hear thunder. Or drumbeats?

No. Heartbeats. Hundreds of thousands, a million. The heartbeats of everyone in Malarae, the strength of a million hearts beating.

Strength that is yours to take, to use.

Your mother’s voice fills your head.

“Use me!” she says. “You will no longer be weak, you will no longer be afraid, no one will ever hurt you again! All this will be yours, if you use me!”

The voices in your head. They aren’t hallucinations. Or a result of the damage Korthion did to your memory.

They’re real. They were always real. The Bloodcrystal wanted you all along. Is has yearned for you to use it, to fulfill its purpose, the way you once yearned for Lucan to kiss you, even if you didn’t realize it. The Bloodcrystal did not want Korthion or Sophia.

It wanted you.

The emerald flames blaze brighter, seeming to fill the world.

“Use me!” says your father’s voice. “No one you love will ever die again. Nor will you ever have to watch anyone you love ever die again! Take the power I offer, I beg you. Become strong, as you were born to be!”

A pillar of emerald flame stabs skyward, and you sway on your feet, hands trembling.

“Use me!” says Halfdan’s voice. “You can make the world clean, Caina. I can give you that power. You can kill every last one of the magi, every sorcerer in the world, put an end to their bloodlust and brutality. You can throw down the tyrants from their thrones, make them suffer as their victims have suffered. You can strike off the chains from the slaves. No one ever need suffer again, no one need ever weep. All this I can give you. Use me!”

You see the vision before you, a world scoured of evil, of tyranny, for all time. You can make it so. You need only use the Bloodcrystal, take the power that it offers you, the strength.

But that strength…that strength has to come from somewhere.

The heartbeats thunder louder in your ears.

Or someone.

You hesitate, swaying on your feet, a storm of ghostly green flame blazing around you.

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