Light of the Seventh Spire Excerpt #2

After sneaking through the dark temple, Monty, Parn and Calais rescue Nora and Rev from their prison cell. But, they soon discover they are not alone. The mysterious angel, Araelius, appears and offers Monty a power greater than all others had promised her in the past. In exchange, she must help him cleanse the realm of all its imperfect souls. But, she refuses and leads her companions to the top of the pyramid-like temple where they plan to escape with a rocket ship. The plan fails…

Monty and the others turned when they heard a large number of footsteps running toward them. They had little time and little defense with Rev and Nora injured. Monty ran back to see if there was a way to close the door, but she saw none. 

“I got it,” Calais said. “The portal will activate in a few moments. We need to get to the top.”

Monty was relieved. She followed them to the top of the pyramid-like structure. Instead of a point, it was flat with the portal’s ring at the back of the platform. Calais gasped as she spun around. Hundreds of silver elves with butterfly wings hovered around the platform. Their eyes had turned red. The blue bald man flew to the group.

“Surrender, Monty, and we will let your friends go,” he said.

“What did you do to my army?” Calais said. “I can’t control them.”

“They were empty vessels and my great master Araelius poured his soul into them. They are his now, and they will destroy you all unless you comply.”

“Never,” Calais said. “I will defeat you if it’s the last thing I do.” She was angry and almost shrieking at the blue man. 

Monty put a hand on Calais’ arm to calm her friend. Her heavy breath was slowing, and Rev squeezed Calais’ hand for reassurance. The summoner briefly smiled at the elf.

“Enough talk, fight us, monster,” Rev said. “We will see who is defeated.”

“Very well, we will kill you and take…” He stopped when Parn threw a gold and silver dagger into his forehead. Before the blue man could say anything else, Parn threw four more daggers at the creature in quick succession. They pierced his throat, both eyes and chest His wings slowly stopped flapping and the blue man fell to the ground.

“Wow, that guy talked too much,” Parn said. “Good thing, I took that daggers we found.”

The silver elves descended onto the group with spears and swords. Monty looked at her friends and was uncertain on how to protect them. Then, several explosions scattered the elves.

The rocket ship zoomed through the air. Purple energy bolt flew out of an ethaerium turret mounted on the top of the ship. Confused and without direction, the silver elves scattered. A few attacked Monty and her companions while others pursued the rocket ship. Monty, Rev and Parn defended their position but did little to reduce their numbers. The barrage of energy bolts from the rocket ship cut through the swarm. Below, Monty could see the darkling armies flooding toward them. The ship slowed and dropped a rope ladder from an open hatch. Calais and Rev went first with Parn following. His progress was much slower as he carried Nora on his shoulder. Djinn leaned out of the hatch and was helping them inside. 

“This is not going as planned,” the orc said over the darkling’s cacophony. “There are way too many darklings and not enough of me.”.

Suddenly, the portal activated and a bright green torrent of energy swirled at the center. From behind Monty, a blast of energy struck the rocket ship and part of its hull exploded with smoke. The ship twisted around throwing Parn and Nora to the ground. Djinn tried to hold on to Calais and Rev, but they were thrown into the portal. Monty turned and saw Araelius standing on the platform. 

“I thought I told you to leave me alone,” she said.

“You will watch your friends die and then you will be my prisoner forever,” he said.

– Excerpt from Chapter 32, Light of the Seventh Spire