BrokenShade/ChapterEleven

Dust and masonry continued to fall, as the circle surveyed the ruined building around them. High above, a lone vulture could be seen circling.

For a moment, all was still. And then, in haste, they were off towards the central Spire of Shestra to report to the queen.

On the way, they were met by a brigade of the reptilian creatures, armed for conflict and heading towards the Faded district. With a little explanation on the heroes part, they soon had an escort back to the spire.

Queen Alyx was waiting for them in a resplendant reception room on the second highest floor of the Spire. She was appreciative of their help, gave Archer a Sea Jade Goblet which she said would turn black on contact with poison and did a little explaining too. Apparently Shestra had been built with the specific aim in mind of protecting the Heart of Ligier. The Heart was used as a power source, and the city would be diminished without it. There were two more representations of the bindings on Ligier, his "mind" and "soul". One of the two was kept in Meru (the headquarters of the Solar Deliberative on the side of the Pole of Earth), and the other in Rathess ... these cities being the greatest in creation should not be too hard to find.

The heroes of course pointed out what was not known to the reptiles - creation had changed slightly. They had heard of neither Meru nor Rathess. Nevertheless, they needed to return to creation, and would now be leaving the city.

The queen bid them farewell, and Karaxis and his entourage of blood apes led them to the gates of the city. When asked, he said that he was unable to return the characters to creation - but he knew of someone who might be able to. The Sand Spider. Giving Archer a mystical cylinder containing a pointer stone, he chanted some words and the stone turned to face out into the desert in the direction the group would need to go.

And so they set off into the black sands of Cecylene.

At first the trip was quiet, though the heat intensified and the sand became softer and harder to walk through as they progressed. Sand spouts rose and fell in the desert. Then one of the sandspouts blew mere feet away, and a huge sand shark rose up out of the sands.

Quick as a flash, Archer jumped onto its back and balanced there. As it brushed past Krod and Shada (who desperately jumped out of the way, but were savaged as the creature passed) he pried a scale loose and pushed an arrow into the exposed region. The creature corkscrewed, its fins swirling as archer kept his balance and ran along it to pry another scale from its now exposed underbelly. This time, with an arrow irritating it and a rope attached to the arrow, Archer was able to control its movements.

Moments later, after returning for the others, Archer was steering the sand shark off towards the Spider.

Again there was peace - but it was once more short lived. Howling, screaming winds desended, and shards of metal and bone blown in the wind began to shred the heroes' clothing. The shark began to submerge, and it was clear that there was great need for shelter - this was literally a killing wind.

Spotting an outcropping of rock, Archer steered the shark close. Finally it submerged totally, and the circle made for the rock and dove deep under the sand (Shada slithering under like a snake, and going into suspended animation and feigned death deep below the surface). The winds continued to blow, and the sound was impossible to drown out. Air was in short supply. It was agony, and for a while Archer and Krod were driven insane.

When they came to, the sounds were gone. They had survived, battered and bruised, but they had survived what they later found to be Adorjan - a primordial, like Gaia and Malfeas. The rock outcropping was yellow crystal, and above them (100 feet in the air) they could see an enormous floating yellow tower.

But how were they to get into the tower, or alert its inhabitants to their presence? Shada soon found a way, striking the crystal with her daiklave and setting it ringing loudly. Moments later, a slightly furry human with a bald tattooed head landed in the sands next to them - and carried them one by one up to the tower, jumping the distance with ease.

It turned out that this creature was the Sand Spider, an ancient Solar who knew nothing of the Usurpation - and was incensed by the news of it. He led them up half a mile of stairs too large for comfort, into a door in the tower where it bulged outwards. Inside was a room with an octagonal chamber, with shapes that moved and flouresced as Spider manipulated them.

Hearing of Ligier's imminent escape, he summoned and bound the demon to service for a year and a day (requiring the circle to keep their eyes closed as a green light intensified in the chamber), questioning him but obtaining little new inforamtion. After Ligier had left, he informed the circle that the Ligier need no longer obey him if the bindings on his mind and soul were destroyed too. He would send them to Meru, or what remained of it. But first, they must rest and recuperate. The Sand Spider also removed the green gemstone from Krod's chest plunging his hand in to tear it out and then healing the gaping wound that remained.

In two days of rest, miraculously, they were healed of all their wounds - which had been grievous indeed. The chambers where they rested seemed to have great healing properties. In addition, they found three suits of Orichalcum Articulated Plate waiting for them in the central chamber - along with a small chest that could minituarise and contain all three suits of armour. Archer exchanged an Orichalcum suit for a Moonsilver one, and Shada obtained a Hearthstone and attuned to the Spider's manse instead of using hers. Krod however put his on immediately, and the smile on his face was broad indeed!

The Sand Spider now warned them to be ready when they returned to creation. If his suspicions were correct, the only way for the Solars to have been defeated would have been betrayal. And this could only have been by their Viziers, the Sidereal champions of the five Maidens. If so, they would be able to predict the return of the heroes ...

So it was that the circle passed through a shifting violet and purple gate in the sands, and returned to creation at the Elemental Pole of Earth on the Blessed Isle - at the heart of the Realm. Meru was gone, razed to its foundations. But as the Spider had feared, there was a welcoming committee - four Fire Aspected Immaculates and eight other Dragon Blooded.

Being fully prepared, and having developed good tactics against such opponents, the circle made short work of their opponents, though three of the Immaculates escaped. This was indeed a cinematic battle ... with Shada vaulting over an Earth Aspect to plunge her sword into the Air Aspects behind, Krod jumping onto one of his foes and while encircling him with his legs plunging his daiklave again and again into his back, and Archer firing everywhere but at the Fire Immaculates before felling one with a single blow.

And once more, there was peace on the mountain, as Shada felt a tugging from the orb in her pocket towards the northeast. ^_^

---

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Comments

Thanks for the Sea Jade Goblet idea, Quendalon! -- BrokenShade

Yay, sea jade goblet!  :) So what is the nature of these three bindings, and why are they unique to Ligier (or are they)? - Quendalon

Ok, obviously this is only the way it works in my story, but here is a little information on the bindings. ^_^

These bindings are not unique to Ligier, they apply to all third circle demons - though only the fetich soul has three (not always the same three, though). They are twofold bindings, both representing the oaths made by the Yozis and the oaths made by their smaller selves (the third circle demons). The bindings were crafted by Twilights and sanctified by Eclipses ... the gods could not act directly in this for the usual reason.

The bindings have physical representations, and these are kept in the most secure of places - though never Yu Shan, as that primordial (I regard it as a primordial) was not totally trusted in this matter. These places were made very secure indeed at the beginning of the first age, but much time has passed. ^_^ Many of the bindings are still watched over by Gaia, some are held by the Lunars, and some are kept by the Sidereals. A very few have been lost or forgotten, as was the case with Ligier's heart (which was spirited away from creation by Sand Spider and given to the Dragon Kings of Shestra for safe keeping).

By their very nature (affecting the actions of primordials) the bindings are outside fate. This effect is being studied by at the Heptagram, where the Sidereals have Ligier's mind binding ... ^_^

Now, as each binding is broken on a fetich soul, that soul gains a little more freedom. When all bindings are broken, it is free to act - and it will work to free the rest of the Yozi and for revenge.

And the same applies to the Yozi itself ... as each binding on one of its souls is broken, it gains a little room in which to work. When all the bindings on a Yozi's third circle souls are removed, the Yozi is totally free once more. Its not easy to free a Yozi this way. But it is possible.

Summoning sorcery is also affected. Such sorcery uses these bindings to compel demons to do the will of the caster, so summoning of the demon or its first and second circle inferiors becomes less and less reliable as bindings are broken.

And of course there is no-one today who can re-create the bindings once broken, though records of the required Solar Sorcery might be found somewhere - if they were not destroyed in the Usurpation with most other records of such sorcery only performed by Anathema. -- BrokenShade

Interesting stuff. As to the binding spells, surely they were recorded in the Book of Three Circles? - Quendalon

Good question. No, and its not that simple either. ^_^ The Book of Three Circles (I think its actually three books?) doesn't contain every spell ever devised, and these binding spells are not the kind of things a sorceror would share. Ever. They are simply too powerful and too dangerous if they can even bind a primordial.

Each binding requires several spells, including one to aid in the manufacture of the container and one to aid in the sealing of the oath. Each part would have been devised and cast by a separate Twilight sorceror, who wrote down clues to the spell that were designed to only reveal the procedure to his own solar shard. And while e.g. a spell could enable an Eclipse to sanctify the primordial's oath, once that oath had been broken how would one get that primordial to take the oath again (so that it could be bound)?

And by the way, thanks for helping me think some of these things through, Quendalon! You ask really good questions! ^_^ - BrokenShade