Before Justin could ask, Lila explained. “He’s been like that all morning. Probably using some skill of his.”
Justin looked back at Ignis, who showed no sign of breaking his fixation. He sighed. “I guess I’ll just leave him be.”
He joined the others for a quick meal, and by the time he finished, Ignis snapped out of his spell. The flames around his body flared briefly as though stretching after a long rest.
Then he turned to Justin. “Good morning,” he said in perfectly accented English.
Justin replied in kind, still a little taken aback. “Good morning. Did you make much progress?”
Ignis nodded, switching back to Aranthian. “Well, after you went to sleep, I continued on my own. You taught me just enough so that I could carry on without you.”
Justin couldn’t hide his surprise. “Really?”
Ignis gave a small, mysterious smile and picked up one of the nearby English volumes—the one Justin recognized as the book of plays he had found.
“You went into my pack?” Justin asked incredulously.
“Hardly,” Ignis said. “I needed learning material. It was right at the top, anyway. I didn’t touch anything else.”
Justin gave him a hard stare. “You had no right, Ignis.”
“Listen,” the Fyrspawn said.
With confidence, Ignis turned to a marked page and began to read in English:
Lo, the hour draws nigh when wisdom’s flame
Doth dance within its fragile glass.
Canst thou not see how trembling hands may falter,
And that which illuminates might one day consume?
If knowledge be thy lantern, then guard it well—
For one spark dropped may set the world aflame.
He closed the book, flames flickering with excitement. “Well. What do you think?”
Justin stared in awe, then swallowed. “I’d say you’ve made excellent progress. But there’s a difference between reading words and understanding their meaning. What made you select that passage?”
Ignis shrugged, once again speaking in Aranthian for the other’s benefit. “I enjoyed it. It’s from a play called ‘The Scholar’s Flame.’ These words were spoken to the main character, Edmund Harrow. He was a brilliant court philosopher who discovered a book that promised ‘the knowledge of gods.’ But his ambition blinded him to the dangers of that knowledge. Then, in the final act, the book consumed both him and the kingdom he sought to elevate.” Ignis blinked. “The play speaks to the danger of wielding knowledge; it not only shapes the world around us, but it shapes us in kind. I imagine it’s also a product of its time. It’s natural that a society seeing a quick acceleration of technological progress would feel a certain anxiety about it.”
“Huh,” Justin said. “It sounds like a warning.”
Ignis shrugged, his flames flickering in mild concession. “I suppose it could be taken as a cautionary tale, but it’s still just a play. I doubt anyone ever intended to stifle real progress. Besides,” he added with a dismissive wave, “there’s too much at stake here to let some old drama decide our destiny.”
“Maybe,” Justin allowed, but for him, Ignis’s words hit a bit too close to home.
He needed to make sure Ignis didn’t use his knowledge of English for ill. That could be accomplished with a simple Gentleman’s Agreement. It was hours yet before it became available, though, and Justin wasn’t sure if he might need it with the Sphinx.
He would just have to play it by ear. If Ignis was right, then teaching him English, and by extension Zantheran, had been a necessary step.
Within minutes, Ignis had eaten and looked no worse for wear, despite having pulled an all-nighter. They left the alcove and made their way back through the main level of the library toward the transit station. When they reached the plaza, they kept to the shadows, but it turned out such caution wasn’t even necessary. The Pyrophinx was still there, and like before, it didn’t seem to see them.
Justin wondered, though. Maybe the Sphinx could see them, but simply chose not to leave the gate unattended. That was a somewhat chilling thought, but it also meant, perhaps, they had free rein over the city.
Once back in the transit station, Ignis scanned the various archways that were still powered. About a dozen were immediately visible, but there seemed to be more deeper in. He pointed to an archway off to their right.
“That’s it,” he said. “Those two glyphs mean ‘Ether Foundry.’”
“Let’s move,” Emberlyn said.
They headed for the elevator and stepped inside. Emberlyn reached for the ether crystal, and it glowed at her touch. The clear glass door slid shut, and the elevator began to move down through the rock. For about twenty seconds, they descended until they passed below the bottom of the island, where they were met with a blindingly bright view of the Vein of Aetherus—a vast, cloudy expanse of light blue energy.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
This close, Justin could see the stuff roiling as if it were water. Every few seconds, there seemed to be a faint pulse, hardly discernible but steady, almost like a heartbeat.
Was it literally a vein of the world, while ether was like blood? And if he followed this vein, would it eventually lead to a heart, literal or metaphorical? If that was true, Justin didn’t know what to think.
The elevator shifted course, traveling sideways along the underside of the island. Justin realized that whatever this apparatus was, it wasn’t just an elevator—more like a horizontal transport system.
From the bottom of the floating island, a massive stone protuberance jutted from the rock, accompanied by a long tube-like structure that plunged into the roiling mist below. This had to be the Ether Foundry.
As they approached, it proved to be much larger than Justin had first imagined. In moments, they slid into a sort of docking berth, revealing a grand lobby with towering pillars, marble floors, and broken masonry.
And right outside the elevator doors crouched at least six spider constructs. Justin’s monocle quickly registered them: five were Level 22 and designated as “common,” while one, slightly larger, was Level 24 and marked as a Champion.
This fight was going to be a bit tougher.
“Get ready,” Justin said.
“I’ll…just stay here,” Ignis said.
The clear elevator door slid open. In an instant, the spider constructs whirred to life, turning toward the group with alarming speed.
Justin stepped out of the elevator first, not wasting time and hitting them with a blast of his Drake’s Breath to slow them down, giving the others time to fan out into position. Lila hung to his left, Eldrin to his right, and Emberlyn directly behind.
He launched himself forward. The lead common spider lunged, serrated legs clattering. Justin easily sidestepped the clunky attack with an almost lazy pirouette. Elegance in Motion activated, allowing him to move with additional grace. With a quick flurry of strikes, some of which spread ice into its joints, it collapsed and powered off.
Lila vaulted into action, boosting Coordination with Bardic Inspiration while hurling a barrage of knives. Two spiders reeled as the blade storm lodged in joints and metallic plating. One spider clattered to the floor, twitching, while the other hissed in mechanical protest.
Lila cartwheeled over a snapping pincer, retreating behind Justin as she waited for her knives to return, never dropping her lively tune.
On his right, Eldrin fired two rapid arrows into a spider’s thorax, sparks dancing where steel met metal plating. When that same spider lunged at him, he dropped his bow, whipping out his longsword in a single fluid motion.
“Watch my back!” he shouted to Emberlyn.
She responded by channeling her Metal Melt spell. Threads of molten fire wreathed her arms as she targeted the spider about to flank Eldrin. The creature’s metal carapace glowed bright orange, giving off a foul hiss of superheated metal. Cracks formed, and the spider collapsed.
Lila took care of the last common spider with another volley of her knives.
Which just left the Champion. The massive construct clicked ominously, razor-sharp limbs slamming down with enough force to crack the marble.
Emberlyn continued casting her fire magic, but this one seemed resistant to her Metal Melt spell. It would heat up, but not enough to have its defenses overwhelmed. Eldrin continued firing arrows, aiming for its red eye sensors, but this wasn’t very effective; it appeared to be immune to the Darkness effect.
Justin didn’t waste any more time. He ducked low, cane sweeping the front two legs.
But with surprising speed, the Champion screeched, lifting those legs and lunging straight for Justin’s midsection.
Justin activated Gentleman’s Sidestep. With an almost casual step, he evaded the blow, the spider’s legs cracking the floor where he had once stood.
Something caught Justin’s eye directly beneath the construct’s carapace: an exposed gearbox.
Wasting no time, he drove the tip of his cane right into it. Gears shrieked in protest as Justin stepped out of reach of its counterattack. But as he gained some distance, the ether crystal flashed on the construct’s top, releasing an arc of lightning, of all things.
There was no dodging that; it was a direct hit that sent Justin flying back. He cried out at the burning pain, but it was only for a moment. His Ring of Regeneration kicked in, instantly healing the damage with blessed coolness and leaving him none the worse for wear.
But now, the spider was focused on the others. Lila lobbed a new volley of knives, pummeling the champion’s flank. Emberlyn switched tactics, summoning a controlled burst of flame to deal steady damage. Eldrin started slashing the spider’s side, denting the metal and breaking down the legs.
He had to regain the spider’s attention. He ran back into its vision, activating Dandy’s Swagger, executing a swift spin that grazed the construct’s forward right leg.
Justin retreated a bit to gain distance, but the crystal flashed once again, telling Justin what to expect. When it shot another lightning bolt, Justin was ready and easily dodged it. Elegance in Motion once again activated.
Time to finish the job.
He charged. Justin easily parried a limb as he closed in, then hopped over a second, twisting midair to bring his cane crashing down on the Champion’s head.
He felt metal crumple beneath the impact.
“All those legs and you still can’t keep up?”
The spider shrieked, going utterly still. Poison Barb had taken hold.
It had to be close to death. And he wouldn’t waste the opportunity.
He threw everything he had into the final blow while activating A Proper Sendoff. He hammered the cane down again as hard as he could, completely shattering the head in an etheric burst of light.
[A Proper Sendoff has been refreshed.]
Everyone paused to catch their breath, looking at the downed mechanical monstrosity. It had been a close call.
Justin straightened his coat. “Is everyone all right?”
They nodded, still catching their breath.
“That was…lively,” Emberlyn said, flames fading from her palms. “I don’t even want to know what level that was.”
“Twenty-five,” Justin said.
She shuddered.
Ignis came out of the elevator, looking around in bewilderment, his eyes locking onto Justin with newfound respect. “Well done. Of course, I had read that Charisma classes can be underestimated on the battlefield. But after that display, I will never doubt again.”
Justin nodded. “It’s just a matter of teamwork.”
Ignis’s attention turned to the fallen spiders. “Now, if we can actually turn these things to our side, we’ll be in a damn good spot.”
“Let’s hope so,” Eldrin said. He nodded across the lobby. “Looks like we need to go that way.”
“Right,” Ignis said. “I’ll stay in the middle, if you don’t mind. And lend my expertise, such as I can. If we run into any more of those things, go for the crystal, or, failing that, the head. The guardian had a gearbox underneath that Justin exploited; that’s another weak point.”
“A little too late for that,” Lila said.
“I’m afraid so,” Ignis said. “I must admit, I’m no warrior. But I have my own tricks that can help in a pinch. If we come across any more enemies, I have a skill called Deduce Weakness. It lets me see where a potential enemy is weak.”
“Seriously?” Justin asked. “That could have saved us so much trouble!”
“I’m sorry, I clam up in a fight. I’m not a fighter like all of you. I’ll try to be better next time. For all our sakes.” He nodded ahead. “Shall we?”
“I’ll take the lead since I can detect traps,” Justin said. “Keep an eye out.”
The group moved forward, stepping over mechanical husks and fractured crystals, deeper into the Ether Foundry.