The Grand Weave

I thought Ventus would want to make a detour and try to unfreeze one of his mates, but he said no, and we continued onward towards the Grand Hall.

"Are you sure?" I asked as we jogged through the city.

"I am. We have little time to waste, and saving our strength for what we may find inside the hall would be best," Ventus replied, his voice utterly unaffected by the long jog.

With no more questions to be asked, we spent the next ten minutes trekking through the city. It turned out that the curse affected more than just the people in the square. All around, we found citizens frozen to the spot by the curse's stone shell.

It made the city feel surreal and creepy, the kind of thing you'd look at and then turn around, never to look back. I likened it to Medusa's garden, a landscape dotted with frozen statues of people in various states of movement and action.

When we arrived, the number of statues grew to the point where we had to slow our jog to a quick walk—another five minutes passed spent having to weave through the crowd to finally approach the Grand Hall's doors.

As we pushed past the final line of people, I saw why there was a hold-up. The people nearest to the doors had tried to run away while the people behind them had tried to push inward. It created a massive traffic jam that resulted in the dense patches of people blocked together with only inches apart.

And from the many-teethed wall of tentacles and thorny flesh, I could understand why. It blocked off nearly the entire entrance, the monster having frozen mid-movement. Each tentacle planted on the floor served as pillars to hold the monstrosity up.

We stopped and collectively stared at the gap barely wide enough for a child to fit through.

"Welp, what now? You could probably get in there, Sereza," I said.

Sereza scoffed. "And get separated from you two? I'm good. Any ideas?"

She had looked to where Ventus stood. His eyes were transfixed on the stone monster guarding the building's entry.

He lowered his trident and looked upwards. "I believe there is one way for us to enter. Cyrus, Sereza, please grab onto my waist."

We glanced at each other and gave a questioning look before shrugging and approaching either side of Ventus. He waited till we got a firm hold on his leather belt and then raised his trident to the sky.

I felt a pulse of mana slowly engulf his body, then spread like a shroud over mine. The air around us was a mirage of green light, and the shroud tightened as we shot into the sky. I held back my scream as the turbulence was almost zero, with the shroud covering our bodies.

The sudden rocketing into the air shocked me, but now that I realized what Ventus was aiming for, I calmed and waited for impact. Only, the impact never came. A rush of air blasted apart the large glass window we were on collision for.

With the glass shards knocked away by the blast, we entered the building and descended downwards.

As far as movement abilities go, this is probably one of the coolest.

What we saw below us made my shoulders tense. Frozen in mid-combat were the statues of people fighting off a horde of massive creatures. They were similar to the tentacle horrors but were bigger and meaner. Their tentacles ended in razor-sharp blades that loomed mid-air, ready to cleave through flesh and bone.

We kept our silence till after we landed, Ventus using his skill to guide us to a clear spot around the center dais of the room.

There was a man dressed in an attire similar to Ventus, the plate and cloth conjuring the image of a battle cleric. But where Ventus had on simple plate, mostly unadorned and smooth, the statue before us had the fanciest armour I had ever seen.

I wasn't sure, but I saw what looked like the statue of the goddess Ysanna depicted as a scene in the center of the chestplate. On his shoulders rested the great serpent companion carved with incredible detail.

Yet the beauty of the armour was overshadowed by the massive hole that leaked stone blood in the lower stomach of the statue. Whatever had caused the damage failed to stop the man from placing a hand on a crystal thrumming with power similar to the barrier but on a larger scale. I could feel the mana as if it were mud, thickening the air to such a degree that it slowed my breathing.

"By the hells, is that an ether crystal?" Sereza whispered in awe.

I turned and glanced her way. "An ether crystal?"

"Condensed mana, it is rare for such gems to exist, but our goddess helped create this. Only it would have the power to fuel the curse on so many people for so long," Ventus explained as he stared at the statue touching the crystal.

"Does it not power the barrier as well?"

He shook his head. "No. That has a smaller mana battery tied to the fountain. The runework on the road has a set of ambient mana collection enchantments built into it. For something like this, without the barrier, the curse would have spread across the entire city."

Sereza crossed her arms. "So that means the barrier was activated first. Then something went wrong to cause who I assume is the Captain Commander to activate the curse."

"Indeed. I fear we are missing something. Even with these monsters here, it would not have been enough of a reason for the captain to resort to such drastic measures. Please look around; we must hurry."

I sent both Zharia and Áine into the air to get a better view of things. Magnus was still resting in my arm, and I chose to let him nap since we would be needing him pretty soon.

We collectively fanned out and tried to catch what we could have missed, but the more we searched, the less we found.

Yes, the hall was packed with people; the majority were guards and priests caught up in a fight with the cult and its monsters. But there was nothing else besides the two towering monsters near the back of the room.

When we reconvened in the middle, we had nothing to report. Not even my familiars could spot anything that would have warranted the force brought to bear.

"Sorry, didn't find anything unusual," Sereza reported.

"Me neither," I added.

Ventus scowled and swept his gaze over the room. He bent down and hovered his hand near the statue's injury. It was a clean wound, all things considered. The hole was perfectly round, not jagged, and it penetrated all the way through. Where the man's intestines should have been, there was nothing, barely an empty pocket.

Then the oddity clicked, and I found myself feeling a little stupid.

He's at least tier two. There are no intestines in his stomach because he doesn't need to eat.

I found myself relaxing. If the man wasn't nearly as injured as I thought, then Áine wouldn't have to be in such a rush to repair life-threatening damage. Though, now that I thought about it, such an injury would not be nearly so life-threatening to the man.

So why did he activate the curse?

"Cyrus," Ventust said as he looked at me. "Can you undo the curse on the Captain Commander?"

"Are you sure you want me to? What if something happens?"

"We'll have to be ready for anything, but we need him if we want to take the barrier down and find out what is going on."

Nodding, I walked up to the captain with Magnus held up. I gently shook him and woke him from his slumber. "Magnus, it's time. Wakey-wakey."

Magnus yawned and shook his head. I could tell he wanted to continue napping, but he understood that what we needed him to do was important.

Without a word, I extended my arms so Magnus could place both paws on the statue. The feedback from his thoughts through the link was chaotic.

The sheer mana attached to the man was enough to potentially blow Magnus up; the ether crystal had that much power stored inside. I closed my eyes and tried my best to keep Magnus' thoughts centered. Slowly breathing as one, even though the cub didn't need to, I helped calm the chaotic flood to his senses.

It took nearly three minutes for Magnus to separate the mana types. The curse was there, coating the man and penetrating his body to keep him in stasis, but there was also another type of mana.

The ether crystal itself radiated a pure mana that dominated the space. It was so strong that it masked the curse's mana, forcing Magnus to slowly pick his way through with his senses.

"Are you okay?" Sereza asked.

"Yes, just difficult to disrupt the curse. The ether crystal is getting in the way. Please let Magnus focus," I replied.

Thankfully, Sereza complied, and it took another three minutes before Magnus was finally able to separate what mana was what. He wouldn't be absorbing the ether, so he narrowed his focus and tugged on the curse's mana.

The war raged between the two, the familiar absorbing every piece he could get when he pulled. The curse resisted, trying to push in to freeze his body in stone, but the crystal along his skin redirected the mana into the receptacles inside his body. Bubbling liquid rock and static sat ready for Magnus to command, but he flopped over my arms and mentally groaned.

"Hurts, too much mana," Magnus roared.

"Don't worry, we'll fix the problem soon. Good job, buddy."

I took a step back and waited. All three of us stood at the ready with my familiars up above on the lookout.

Like what happened to Ventus, the stone around the man's body began to crack and vibrate, the flakes starting to shake off. Ventus kept his eyes glued to the man whose flesh began to show from underneath the stone. The vibration in the air distorted it to the point the area around the statue was obscured.

I had Áine approach slowly after finding nothing else in the vicinity react to the captain. Extending a hand, I let her rest on my palm while I help Magnus in the crook of my other arm.

The process didn't take long, and then the rest of the stone fell away and shattered. The spike of mental pressure made things difficult, but we all remained standing.

Pieces fell off, and others pelted our bodies, but not fast enough to leave anything more than a bruise.

Oops, I forgot about that part.

Luckily, nobody glared my way as we watched the man's body begin to slump forward. Ventus caught him before he fell, and the last of the stone casing around the man's eyes crumbled to dust.

Carefully setting him down, Ventus stood up, his hands covered in bright red blood.

"Áine, Close the wound if you can."

She hopped off my palm and landed beside the man's stomach. Gingerly placing her hands next to the wound, she began channeling mana into her skill, and I watched as the captain's breathing started to even out.

"V-Ventus? It's good to see that you're alive," the captain said, his voice deep and rough.

"And I, you, friend. Such an injury must have hurt. I remember you lecturing me about such foolish mistakes," Ventus answered.

The captain chuckled, his chest rising higher with each second that passed by. He slowly glanced down to Áine, who was busy concentrating healing mana into his body.

"A spirit? Surprising."

Ventus nodded and then gestured a hand my way. "You have him to thank for freeing the both of us. And now his spirit is helping to repair your injuries. But Callen? Why did you activate the emergency protocol? These monsters should not have posed such a threat to you and the order."

The captain didn't have a chance to answer. For what felt like the hundredth time since entering the rift, he was prevented from speaking when a rumbling shake shook the room.

I was afraid for the statues, and when one figure of an elven woman topped over, I was relieved when it simply sank to the ground rather than shatter into several pieces.

The rumbling ceased as quickly as it had come, and the ether crystal flared up with power, forcing us to our knees.

The mana was thick like mud before, but now it felt like being drowned in an ocean, the sheer quantity pressing down on our limbs, turning them into rocks.

There was another flare of power, but it was from above us this time.

Zharia was knocked out of the air by the domineering mana. I dived to catch her, barely managing to push through the ether crystal's resistance. She landed in my arms, and I held her next to Magnus, who snuggled into her side.

A series of popping sounds came from above, and then the ether crystal flashed again, bringing me to one knee. It felt suffocating like the very air around me was squeezing my body.

"Callen! What was that?" Ventus shouted.

I watched the ceiling of the building begin to distort, the roof growing distant as if the space beneath it was expanding.

Áine, who had been healing the captain despite the mana threatening to snap us in half, finally stopped and wilted. Callen caught her and cupped her in his hand gently. He stood up, his movements stable even if he favoured his left side.

"That is why I had to activate the curse. They had a dimensional horror serving as their launching pods to unleash the monsters," Callen answered, his voice calm and steady. "We don't have much time left. You, summoner!"

I raised my head, struggling to move. "What?"

"May I request further aid?"

I groaned and let the mana push my head downward.