Cineraceorum - Chapter 6 Meltdown

“DAMMIT, DAMMIT, DAMMIT!”

I can’t believe I didn’t see this coming! How stupid am I?!

“Talion, we need to get back to the others now!”

“Yea I know!” He yells back as the three of us go sprinting back down the passageway.

“Knowing Leo, he probably did what you asked him to. He must’ve killed the vamps wearing the seals by accident!” Jalen exclaims.

Dammit, Jalen’s probably right! I should’ve warned him not to kill anyone just in case. After a few minutes, we reach the oasis, and see our group almost the same as we left them. Shit, the golem is missing the bottom half of his body now! Thank God, Mika is still working on the two vampires we left alive, but I see ash piles nearby and Leo’s still glowing red.

“Guys, I think we might have an issue.” Leo says to us.

“Yea, I know! The vampires knew what we were doing! Those two you killed were the ones that had the seals on them!”

“What?! Then that means”

“Yea they probably figured once their comrades got captured the mission was a bust, and decided to screw us over. Now Valoria’s gonna go straight to hell, and we’re the ones that made it happen!”

“Guys, calm down there has to be something we can do.” Armin says.

“THERE ISTIME. EARTHCHILDYOU MUSTASSIST ME.”

“What can I do for you?”

“YOU AREGIFTEDWITH THE POWEROF THE EARTH. I CAN TEACH YOUHOW TOFIX ME.”

“What’s in it for me?”

If looks could kill, I would’ve murdered Armin five times by now.

“ARE YOU [email protected]#%NG KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW! ARMIN, WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE, THAT’S WHATS IN IT FOR YOU DUMBASS!” I scream.

“Dude, death really isn’t the motivation that you think it is for me.”

“I CANTELL. YOU ARE A KINDCHILD ATHEART. EVEN IFYOU ARE DENSE. I WILLTEACH YOUTHE WAYSOF THE ANCIENTS.”

“See, now that is badass! I’ll do it just tell me what I gotta do.”

“COMECLOSER. YES. NOWPLACE YOUR HANDSON MYFOREHEAD. FIRSTYOU MUST POUR YOUR MANAINTO ME.”

Okay, this is good. There’s still a chance for us to win this. Just as I start to feeling relieved, another tremor happens. Waitis it getting hotter?

“Umguys? Is it just me or is it getting a lot warmer in here?” I ask.

“It feels good to me. So, yea that means there’s an issue.” Leo answers.

“Hey golem?”

“WHAT IS ITCHILD?”

“Please tell me that’s not the volcano I’m feeling.”

“OKAYTHAT IS NOTTHE VOLCANO.”

“did he just crack a joke?”

“Hehe, I think so.” Mika says laughing.

“You said the volcano is down the hall we just came from, right?”

“CORRECT. IF YOU CAN FEEL…THE LAVA THENIT IS TOO LATE. YOUR ONLY CHANCE ISTO STAY HEREAND FINISH MY REPAIRS. THENYOU MAY BE ABLETO SALVAGE WHATS LEFTAFTER THE ERUPTION.”

Dammit! I am NOT gonna let it end like this!

“I’ll be damned if I’m gonna sit here and watch my city burn!”

I take off running down the hallway, hoping to reach the volcano in time.

“Hey, wait up dummy!”

I recognize that voice! I turn around, and sure enough, I see Jalen and Talion following me.

“What the hell are you two doing?”

I say that , but a part of me is glad I don’t have to do this alone.

“It’s not like we’re gonna let you take all the glory Damian!” Talion yells. I slow down allowing them to catch up.

“Alright guys the golem said we’d know when we’re there, and it’s definitely getting hotter. I’m gonna get us down this hallway quicker follow me! TRANSIET!”

I start opening portals, allowing us to cover more ground. All is going smoothly until I warp us right in front of another vampire.

“RIGESCUNT INDUTAE!”

Unleashing a blast of ice, Jalen freezes the vampire completely. Well damn.

“Alright, slight delay but lets keep going.”

After a few more portals we reach a dead end. I get closer to the wall, and feel intense heat on the other side. This must be it.

“Looks like we’re next to the volcano.”

“Yea but now what? If we break this wall down, we’ll just kill ourselves.” Talion says.

“I know gimme a second.”

HmmI know!

“Come on follow me!” Opening another portal, I take us back about 20 meters. Once the others are through, I start gathering up a large amount of void and light energy. This is gonna take a lot out of me, but we don’t have time to backtrack.

“TENEBRIS CLARA!!!”

Unleashing a swirling beam of black and white I blast through the roof of the cave to the surface. Judging from our fall earlier, it has to be around seven hundred meters. Damnsometimes I impressive myself. I stumble over and my vision goes dark for a second. Yep, there goes the exhaustion.

“Huff, huff, alright guys we needto get up there. The volcanoes peakis about three thousand meters above ground. Talioncan you do it?”

“HA! Can I do it?”

His answer comes in the form of a wind column, that starts lifting us up rapidly. I then feel some of Talions mana around my head.

“Don’t worry, that’s just a barrier to make sure you can still breathe and talk after we go up that far.”

I didn’t even think about that, thanks Talion. Once we get about thirty meters over the peak of the volcano, I take a look below us. It’s bubbling up right below the mouth, but the lava still isn’t pouring over yet. Thank god we made it in time.

“Alright, this last part is gonna be very dangerous. I think we can manage it though. Talion, it’s your show.”

“Wait, what?! Do you expect me to just blow this thing out like a candle?!”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I expect from you. Look at it! We don’t have time to do anything else, and if we don’t hurry our HOME and everyone in it is going to DIE!”

With a pensive look on his face, I see Talion’ expression change as he steels his resolve. Good, he’s ready.

“Alright, but I’m going to need help. I don’t have the time to gather up enough wind on my own, so I’m going to need a lot of mana to shoot this spell of quickly. Do you think you have enough left in the tank, Damian?”

“Does it really matter?”

“Not really. If you don’t this won’t work anyway.”

“Exactly.”

“I’m going to need your help too Jalen. These winds aren’t cold enough so we need to adjust it manually. As I direct the wind, you need to cool it down. If we pull this off the lava will stop before it even gets past the mouth.”

“Alright gotcha.”

“Okay guys, lets do this!”

I place my hand on Talion and start pouring my mana into him. I really hope this doesn’t kill me. I really do believe Lana would revive me, just to kick my ass. Ugh, that’s a tiring thoughtwhoa I’m getting light-headedis he done yet?

“Alright Damian, that’s good you can stop now.”

As soon as he says that I slump over.

“Pleasejust make it count”

Then everything fades to black.

(Talion)

Alright he gave me all the mana I needed. Now I just hope this worksno, it will work!

“VENTUS CUNICULUM!!”

Unleashing a massive vortex of wind, I start to direct it towards the volcano’s mouth.

“ALRIGHT JALEN, YOUR UP!!”

“Right! GLACIES INFUSIONEM!!”

With that spell cast, Jalen starts infusing ice into my winds cooling them down. Upon contact with the volcano, the lava starts to calm down. It’s not frozen, Jalen didn’t put enough energy in for that, but the flow is cooling down. Just as it bubbles over the lip, it starts to slow down. After making it partially down the slope, the lava finally comes to a stop. Oh thank god, it worked!

“Hey Damian, look! Your plan wor-”

Oh yea, he’s knocked out. This seems to happen all the time. Thankfully he provided me with enough mana to cast that spell. Ordinarily a level eight wind spell would wipe me out for the day, but thanks to him, I’ve still got enough to get us back downthe safe way. After lowering us back into the cavern, I stagger a bit. I guess I’m a little more worn out than I thought.”

I look down at Damian anddammit!

“No, no, no! Jalen, he’s not breathing! Here help me get hi-”

Before I can finish, I hear shouting as a bunch of voices get closer, Including one I know all too well

(Damian)

Are you serious right now?! Dammit I know where I am. The nightmare again. I haven’t been here in a few days. It’s different again, those two are just standing there smiling at me.

“So, what is it this time? Are you actually going to answer my questions now?”

“Only the ones you’re ready to hear the answers for.” The male says.

Before opening my mouth, I take a second to compose myself. It’s all about asking the right questions.

“Okay, well here’s a big one. Am I dead? I wasn’t feeling too good at the end there.”

“Hahaha. No, you aren’t dead child.” The female answers.

“Phew that’s a relief. Alright, the next question is, did we win?”

“Yes, your city is safe. A splendid job by you, if I do say so myself.”

“It was a team effort. Well then I just have one more question.”

Before I can say anymore, I feel that force again, pushing me out of this place.

“Dammit, I guess it has to wait huh?”

“Yes, it does. Do your best Damian.”

“Yea, thanks!”

Ugh, I’m still tired and my head hurts. I open my eyes and see I’m in a bed, that’s a good start. This looks like a hospital room andwell look what we have here. Two of my favorite people are in here with me.

“Hey, dumbasses wake up.” Leo sits up in his chair, while Talion falls out of it.

“DAMMIT! I was having a good dream you asshole!” Talion yells.

“Dude quit yelling. You’re gonna impair my recovery.”

“Oh sorry.”

“How ya feelin Damian?” Leo asks.

“I’m actually doing a lot better now. My head’s still aching but I don’t feel completely drained.”

“Yea, sorry Damian. I feel bad for making you push yourself so hardand sorry for what I said earlier. I was out of line and-”

“Don’t sweat it Talion. We were all stressed out, I know you didn’t really mean it. Anyway, what happened after I passed out?”

“Well I’ll tell you what happened on our end first.” Leo says. “After you guys left Armin and Mika kept working on repairing the golem and undoing the seals respectively. We felt the shockwave from Talion pushing down on the volcano. The golem told us the volcano was calming down and that you guys were successful. Afterwards, the golem told us that people were approaching. I got ready to fight, until I realized that it was the sentinels. They finally showed up and started helping Mika. After making quick work of the seals, they tried to help Armin repair the golem, but the golem refused. He said the only one allowed to touch him was Armin. He’s still down there working on him, and before you say anything yes, we made sure he got some food and something comfortable to sleep on. The golem was already at about seventy percent when we left, and he should be fully functional in a day or so. Luckily, he’s already fixed up enough to suppress the tremors, so you don’t have to worry about your hard work being undone. Talion can tell you what happened on your end.”

“Alright. Well after you passed out, I used a level eight wind spell and had Jalen infuse the winds with ice to cool down the lava. Some of it did get over the mouth, but we stopped it before it made it all the way down the slope. I lowered us back into the cave and got ready to bring us back to the others when-”

Before he can finish his sentence the door opens, and I see a familiar raven-haired woman carrying a bag.

“-she showed up leading a squad of sentinels.”

“Thank you for watching over him until now. If you don’t mind, I’d like to talk to Damian now. Alone.”

“Of course. Let’s not get in their way, right Leo?” Talion says winking.

“Hey, you bastard, make sure you go say hi to Mika for me. Take REAL good care of her. Be gentle though, you know she’s tired.” I say with a smile on my face.

Talion starts to turn red again. Before he can say anything, Leo starts pushing him out of the door.

“Alright, come on let’s go. It’s good that you’re alright Damian. If you died, I wouldn’t forgive you, and something tells me neither would she.”

Leo closes the door behind him leaving just me and Lana alone.

“Somy bad Lana. I know I said I’d be late, but I didn’t plan on bei-”

Before I can finish, she jumps on my bed and pulls me into a hug. Yeplilacs and berries.

“You IDIOT! What do you think would have happened if you died? I told you not to go and do something stupid, and what do you do? You wait all of 3 hours before you go and almost kill yourself!”

“I’m sorry Lana, but if I didn’t do anything Valoria would be a pile of ash right now.”

“I know that, and that’s why I’m not beating you to a pulp right now. When I saw you and you weren’t breathing I”

I feel something wet on my cheek. Are thosetears? I raise my arms and pull her in closer.

“I’m sorry for making you worry. But I’m okay now. Don’t worry I won’t die from something as lame as mana depletion.”

I say that with a smile, but I’m not so confident. This is the second time in a month that I’ve nearly grinded myself into dust, and if my dreams are accurate, it’s only gonna get tougher from here on out. I really need to stop playing the damn heroor just get a lot stronger. I like that idea more. Lana’s sobbing slows down, and she relaxes a little bit.

“I’m sure those two explained what happened to you in the cave, so I’ll tell you the rest. There were more vampires than the ones you kids fought in the cave. While you were dealing with the team invading Manaris cavern, another group of vampires attacked the sentinel’s barracks on the east side of the city. They were a decently strong group; strong enough to distract the sentinels long enough for their mission to be completed.

“What was their mission? I thought their goal was to make the volcano erupt.”

“That was one of their secondary goals yes, but it appears their true goal was Dawnbreaker Seal.”

“Uhwhat the hell is that?”

“Hahaha! If you paid more attention in my classes, you’d remember. You know, the seal that enabled the humans to restrict the Vampire Lords’ and their blood magic, and ultimately win the war?”

“Oh no.”

“Yup, a vampire faction now has their hands on it. The sentinels are working on tracking them, but by the time everything was cleared up the intruders were gone and the seal with them. With the seal in their possession, they have the means to unlock the Vampire Lords’ greatest weapon. If they do, we could have another Sanguine Bellum on our hands.”

“Dammit! Why is it, I just can’t win?! I tried so hard and in the end, they still one upped me!”

Amidst my frustration, Lana pulls me closer and starts to whisper.

“It’s okay. You did your best today and you saved lives. That’s what matters most. They’ll think twice before messing with Valoria again now. Even if it was only a secondary objective, you still disrupted a plot conceived by beings much older than you. Beings that are so dangerous, even the sentinels have trouble dealing with them. The vampires won’t forget the kind of fighters we have here. Take the victory, heal your wounds and come back even stronger than before.”

It’s always like she knows exactly what to say to me.

“Thanks Lana. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“You’d die, but that’s beside the point.”

Opening the bag, she brought, she pulls out a box of food. “Here’s your dinner, now hurry up and eat, I know you’re starving.”

“Ah, you’re a saint.”

Chowing down I finish in about 5 minutes; all the while Lana just watches with a smile on her face.

“Alright I should get going you need your rest.” Lana says putting the box back in her bag.

“No not yet. You still haven’t eaten.”

“No, I can’t, you’re still-”

“Shut it. You can either come over here and drink on your own, or I’ll pin you down and force feed you.”

“What if the second option sounds more fun?”

I wasn’t expecting that response. That’s slightly embarrassing.

“Wha-whatever. Just come here already.”

Climbing back onto the bed Lana leans in.

“Thank youDamian.”