“We should be there soon. I can see the trees up ahead,” Aelyph said, his gravelly voice softer than usual.
“No one blames you for not wanting to return there.” Sapphire’s eyes drifted down. “Although I would be lying if I said I’m not saddened by you leaving.”
He nodded. “We will meet again.”
Sapphire smiled. “Maybe you can visit us at Crystalia Castle.”
“The last time I went to the Castle, I wasn’t given the warmest welcome.”
Sapphire waved her hands. “Oh no, the Castle has changed a lot since then, I’m sure. Riftlings and other races are a common sight around the capital now, even in the Castle towers. Why, just the other day I was at a meeting with the king where there was a young Riftling, a dwarf, and a Ranger! Why, almost every race in the kingdom was pres—”
“Okay, I will come.” He grinned at her persistence. “Maybe you and Princess Emerald can give me a tour.”
“Wow! I’ve never seen this part of the forest before!” Emerald shouted as she caught up with them.
Sapphire looked up. It seemed as though her desire to make their walk along the beach last longer had resulted in them arriving at the Fallen Wood sooner than she had hoped. The place was just as Aelyph had described it. Unlike the Acathia ruins, where the forest had grown over the preexisting city, it was obvious that these ruins had simply dropped from the sky and stabbed into the earth.
Sapphire stared at the rubble that still retained some of the dark decay that had overtaken the cursed Tower, and the group trod through trees that were nowhere near as large or dense as the Fae Wood. Aelyph led the others between slabs of stone that could have been a part of a wall or floor or even a ceiling before they had crumbled from the Tower.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been here—and the last time, I was trying to get as far away from the gateway as possible.”
Emerald screwed her face up. “If you knew about this secret gateway, why did you go through the Nether Rifts to escape the Midnight Tower? Or did you find out about this entrance later?”
“Before, actually,” Aelyph said. “This gateway leads to the outer rim of the Tower. I was locked in the Oubliette, where the only way out was through the Nether. The reason I know about this gateway is that . . . well, I’d used it as an access point to get in and out of the Tower when I was an agent of the Dark Consul.”
Emerald grinned. “So we’re using the enemy’s secret back door? Pretty sneaky, Spiky.”
“Emerald!” Sapphire shot Emerald a look.
“It’s fine,” Aelyph said. “I don’t mind the name ‘Spiky.’ Okay, I think I’ve found the right place.”
Kneeling down in front of a bush-covered boulder, he pulled away the leaves and vines to show the shape of the large rock beneath. He rubbed some of the moss off the boulder to reveal the crystal surface beneath.
“Crystal . . . Does it work like the magic in the Crystal Chamber?” Sapphire asked.
Aelyph nodded and stood from where he crouched. “That’s right. Have you used those before?”
Sapphire pointed to the sapphire in her blade. “The mystics taught us how to use our own gems to access the magic in the crystals so we can travel to different places around Crystalia.”
“Good, then that’s all you’ll need me for. You now know about the Midnight Tower’s layout, you now know how to get there, and . . .”
He turned to face Otto and put his hand out, as if for a handshake. Otto went to shake it. However, Aelyph grabbed Otto’s wrist and turned his palm faceup. He took the Dragon Lance from his back and placed it within Otto’s grip.
“. . . Now you have the weapon you need to defeat her greatest minion.”
Otto held it up. “My word, Aelyph. I can’t take this.”
“You can, and you just did.” He patted the large lance fondly. “Besides, you’ll need it more than I will if you go up against Nightsong.”
Aelyph walked over to Emerald. “I would give you a gift too, Princess Emerald, but I feel you have everything you could possibly need to overcome your enemy right here,” he said, pointing to her head. He turned to Sapphire. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to repay you for what you did for me.”
She shook her head. “You only have to do one thing for me, and that’s visit the Castle when you get the chance. I want to show you myself how much things have changed.”
He nodded. “When the time is right, I shall.”
“All right, princesses, we should get a move on,” Otto said.
Sapphire focused on the gem for a moment before saying, “Farewell, Aelyph.”
She walked up to the massive crystal boulder, drew out her sword, and held it up so the reflection of the sapphire on it caught in the reflection of the boulder’s crystal. The crystal started to glow with the transfer of magic, just as the Crystal Chamber would when teleporting a Hero to another realm.
“Emerald, Otto, grab onto me and hold on tight. And whatever you do, don’t let go until we have come out the other side.”
They both approached her, Otto grabbing Sapphire by her shoulder armor as Emerald came to her other side and grabbed her empty hand.
“Don’t be scared, Shiny.”
Otto grinned. “Are you saying that to assuage your own fears, or do you really think I’m afraid after all we’ve been through?”
Emerald shrugged. “A bit of both really.”
Sapphire’s icy gaze locked with Aelyph’s once more, then she nodded and plunged into the crystal. At first, it felt like she was being stretched from one place to another, but she could still feel the weight of Otto and Emerald holding onto her. All around her she could sense the presence of the Nether Realms, dark and foreboding.
She could see all around her its effect on their world, the darkness growing, consuming the land from the Scalding Sea to the black sand coast. She flipped her sword’s cross guard, and with a collective gasp, they tumbled out of the in-between and onto a smooth, rock surface. Rolling over, she bumped the crystal of the other half of the boulder they had just jumped from.
Is this monolith where the boulder in the Fallen Wood came from? Is their connecting magic how long-distance teleportation is possible?
She could hear Emerald groaning and the clank of armor as Otto rolled over. Sapphire knelt and peered up at the Tower that reached toward the sky in front of them. They had made it. She looked down again to see a large staircase leading to a massive, black, stone door. Just as she was getting her bearings enough to rise to her feet, there was a boom from the Tower as the doors slowly opened.
Behind them was a small army of Nether Elves.