After having his mind invaded by the Sorrows possessing the Acathia ruins, Otto wasn’t talking as much as he had been. For this reason, Sapphire turned her attention to Aelyph and began probing his knowledge of the Midnight Tower. With Emerald scouting ahead and Otto trailing behind, she finally got another chance to talk to him alone.
“What’s it like?” she asked.
“That’s a pretty vague question,” Aelyph said. “Do you expect me to just reveal everything I know?”
Sapphire shrugged. “Sure. I’ve never even seen it before. Tell me what it looks like and afterward quiz me to see what I can remember.”
Aelyph smiled. The expression was warm on a face so dark and cold. “Well, it might help by telling you how it’s changed over the years after it was called the Goddess Tower. Before, the long, graceful arches and columns swept around the central spire. Galleries wound and wrapped around halls and clusters of small chambers. The smaller towers rose from the central structure, crowned by finely carved tiles and adornment.”
This was hundreds of years ago. How does he know all this?
“Now, though, all of this has changed. Openings in the Rifts tore the Tower free from the earth, and it rose slowly into the sky as the land below fell away into darkness and horror. Many portions of the Tower that were delicate and built farther from the strong support of the core have since fallen, and some of their ruins can still be found in the Fallen Wood.
“What remains of the architecture has turned to a sickly, festering haunt of ghosts and spiders. The stone is pitted, slimy, and often crumbles under a light touch. The sinewy arches no longer frame the light but loom over intruders. The great halls are damp, oppressive, and they distort sound—sometimes echoing the smallest noise forever, sometimes deadening even shouts so they do not carry.”
Is he trying to scare me, or does he think of this as a warning?
“Light still pours into the inner rooms, but now it is green-tinged and hurts the eyes, casting more shadows than it banishes. Everywhere, intruders can feel the Dark Consul’s spirit pressing against their minds and hearts. Dread builds until even the bravest Heroes jump at shadows. Thoughts wander to old or imagined slights, embarrassing failures, or personal disappointments, and those inside can turn on each other or falter at key moments.”
“What about monsters?” Sapphire asked.
“Since the arrival of the Midnight Queen, the creatures that inhabit the Midnight Tower have changed as well. Formerly just aggressive and twisted, they have become more cunning and cooperative, and they have taken on a more venomous character. Where once gargoyles and animate armors stalked the halls, now it is infested with all kinds of spiders, warped Riftlings . . . and the dead. Even most of the gargoyles seem to have poison dripping from their claws.”
Sapphire shivered. “Yeesh, I really hate spiders.”
“The constant battering of the Dark Consul’s spirit worsens these dangers. Many Heroes become overcautious to the point of near paranoia regarding the Tower. They touch as little as possible, and eat or drink nothing they find . . . Do you have antivenin?”
Emerald raised her hand, apparently eavesdropping on them from up ahead. “I have!”
“Good. The Midnight Queen’s presence has made the Tower more dangerous, given a focus to the evil that always suffused it, and often directed that evil out to the rest of Crystalia. Monsters hunting in the Threshold have gotten more dangerous as many of the creatures now run in packs.”
Spiders, Riftlings, and the dead. Strange how the one that is the most natural of those to come across is the one I fear the most.
“Around the Tower, whole sections of the Fae Wood have been systematically cleared of elven villages and shrines to the Goddess by mixed bands of monsters. Invariably, Nether Elves form the core and leadership of these parties, acting with a thoroughness and attention to detail that had never previously characterized their violence. They now protect its outer rim. And then there’s the madness.”
Sapphire frowned. “Madness? You spoke of this before, but I still don’t understand what you mean.”
“As I said in the prison, if you get too close to the Deeproot Tree, the magic can make you go insane. The same is true of the Midnight Tower. The Oubliette is not exempt from this. In fact, I would say that’s where the maddening influence is the worst.”
“And you spent two years in there?”
Aelyph nodded.
From where she was still in the lead, Emerald cocked her head. “Wow, poor you.”
Aelyph looked down. “When you’ve lived as long as I have, two years is a small blip on my life; but in that place, it seemed like an eternity. I’m just happy I got out alive.”
“Hey, sorry to interrupt your lamenting, Aelyph, but look!” Emerald called, pointing ahead of them. “Can you guys see that light up ahead?”
It wasn’t until a few seconds had passed that Sapphire saw it. Ahead of them was a bright light between the trees, an effect that was either caused by a clearing or the end of the forest. Sapphire grinned at Aelyph and ran toward it with Emerald. Together they burst out of the trees and gazed in awe at the vast, crumbling plains leading down into the valley and farther out toward the Scalding Sea.
When Aelyph and Otto caught up with them, they stood together, watching the sun descend in the bright afternoon sky. It was an encouraging view . . . until the sun fell behind a giant monolith in the middle of the distant sea, seeming to make the entire sky go dark. That’s when they first saw it: the Midnight Tower.
“Ooh, ominous,” Emerald said with an excitement that nobody else seemed to share.
Sapphire’s jaw clenched. “There’s still light in the day; we should see if we can get to the bay before nightfall.”
“No . . .” Aelyph said, his voice lowering.
Sapphire turned to him. “Why not?”
Emerald sighed. “You can’t see it now, but behind that valley . . . that’s where the front lines of the battle against the Dark Consul are being waged. It spreads west all the way to the Fallen Wood.”
“Which is where we’ll have to go,” Aelyph said.
“Why?” Otto asked.
Sapphire met the Riftling’s gaze. “That doesn’t sound promising.”
Aelyph shook his head. “You won’t believe me until I show you. Come on. As Princess Emerald said, we should be able to spot it right over that ridge.”
Emerald strode ahead, leading them down the hill into the valley. The sun was descending, and the grass was soft beneath their feet. Having seen the Midnight Tower, Sapphire could finally see that their goal was within reach. She could see the same realization occurring to Otto, his sorrow becoming a grim determination.
She slowed down to talk to him. “Listen, Otto, I’m sorry about your father, and I can only assume what thoughts the Sorrows put in your head.”
“It said that I would be the last.”
“The last what?”
Otto ground his teeth and sped up. “It said that without my father to lead them, the Paladins would fall apart. Divided they would be weak . . . and that by the time I got back from this journey I would be the last one.”
“Aelyph said it was only telling you your own insecurities.” Sapphire made her voice soft. “Are you so afraid of being the last Paladin?”
“The Paladins stand for something.” Otto’s eyes drifted down. “They aren’t just a force for good in the kingdom, they’re an ideal; and if I’m the last one, then it’s up to me to carry that ideal and make sure it lives on. That’s too much to live up to!”
“Just because that’s what the Sorrow said doesn’t mean it will come true. Besides . . .” Sapphire put a hand on his shoulder. “Even if you do become the only one pushing forward their ideas, maybe you can trim down their prejudice against the Riftlings a bit. You yourself have only just recently learned that some of them can be good.”
“Is that my purpose?” He looked up as they approached the upward slope. “When the Cult of the Dark Consul began its rise, even some of the Paladins were persuaded to join the forces of evil. My father fixed that and from then on led an even stronger legion. Am I to do what he did? Am I to reform the Paladins and redirect their hatred of the Riftlings toward our true enemy?”
Sapphire stared down at the long grass. “Who is our true enemy?”
“The Midnight Queen,” he said, as though it were obvious.
She rolled her eyes. “Of course.”
“You don’t think so?”
“No, I do . . . But like the Riftlings, I think she’s a little more complicated than being just pure evil. I try not to think in terms of black and white, you know?”
Otto smirked. His first smile in a while was a bitter one. “Careful. You might start saying the same of the Dark Consul.”
After traveling all day, Sapphire could hear the exhaustion in the Paladin’s voice. “You’re wrong. I know the Dark Consul is the darkness—the real enemy—but even he can be understood. Behind every villain is a tragedy.”
Emerald ran ahead and came to the crest of the hill. She raised her hand to prevent the glare of the setting sun from getting in her eyes, and then screamed.
“Wh-what is that?”
Otto and Sapphire caught up with her
“By the Goddess!” Otto gasped.
Sapphire finally spotted what they were gaping at. The base of the massive valley below them was filled with men, elves, and many other races all in full armor—an entire camp of Heroes and warriors. Not too far from them was yet another camp, closer to the coast and darker than the other camp, as dark as the deep purple of the Midnight Tower.
As a warrior herself, Sapphire knew the Dark Consul’s camp was in the worse position, having been pushed up against the sea. Except they had a colossal wall of a monster pushing onward from the rear, seeming to beat the land behind it into the Scalding Sea and down into the Nether Rifts.
“Is that . . . ?”
Aelyph nodded. “A Grim Herald, the Midnight Queen’s key defense and offense against her enemies. To get to the Midnight Tower, one would either need to destroy the Herald and sail to the Tower’s base or fly straight over.”
“Well, there’s no way we can get through that thing”—Sapphire gawked at how massive it was, even from a distance—”let alone get through the Midnight Queen’s front line . . . not without an army behind us.”
Otto shook his head. “Even with the Paladins, it would be hard to break through. And then we would have to find a boat that would give us passage across the Scalding Sea, but with the Grim Herald there . . .”
“That’s why we’re going to be heading west to the Fallen Wood,” Aelyph cut in. “Before it was called the Midnight Tower—when it was known as the Goddess Tower—its base was much larger and even had settlements surrounding it. The place had fresh soil that any crop could grow in, and a forest took root.”
Otto’s brow furrowed. “We know this, but why head there?”
Aelyph turned west and squinted into the distance as the wind caught his white hair. “When darkness took over the Tower and the Grim Heralds emerged from the Nether to begin tearing apart that land, ruins of the Tower fell into the forest. That’s the Fallen Wood, where I appeared after my first time in the Nether, and where I found an old, magic gateway from the Goddess Tower . . . it can lead right to the outer rim of the Midnight Tower.”
“A secret entrance?” Emerald’s grin stretched over her face. “Can it really take us right to the Tower?”
Aelyph nodded.
Sapphire rubbed her chin. “We could pass right through their main line and the nearest Grim Herald. We wouldn’t even need a boat to cross the Scalding Sea.”
Otto, the only one not smiling, stared pointedly at Aelyph. “Show us where it is.”