Griidlords: The Bloodsword Saga (Book1&2 Complete, Book 3 Posting 4x Per Week)

Book 3: Chapter 64


Morningstar faced all of us. He had our attention. "This is going to be dangerous. Even for the strongest of us, Julia is a serious danger. More than usual. She's in the late stages of breaking down, there's gonna be no predicting her and little chance she holds back. She could do anything, kill anyone."

Ravyn spat on the ground, "This is the Empire's duty. She's their Griidlord. They should have euthanised her when they first realized she was breaking down. The lands are all rushing to judge Buffalo for letting Perdinger run around, but the Empire unleashed something ten times worse."

I shifted on my feet, remembering the moment Enki had intervened to save me. He had said something, or done something, to her that had broken her. "She got worse all of a sudden. It was so late in the Falling. I think they were waiting the last few weeks for the Falling to conclude. I was there…"

Ravyn said, "Oh yes. We know about that."

I raised my brows, startled. I realized all eyes were on me then. Three sets in severe judgement, one set in empathy. Livius, Morningstar, and Ravyn looked upon me darkly. I said, "The voice… it told you…"

Livius chuckled darkly, "Shit, it wasn't happy about you since that happened. All I've been hearing since is oh, I can't take it, oh I'll burn this continent to ash if I have to, oh, she must be silenced…"

Livius suddenly cocked his head to the side, listening to something the rest of us couldn't hear. He rolled his eyes but quieted.

It was surreal and strange. I'd gained some comfort being able to talk to Morningstar about Enki. Now, though, I stood in a group of five—the five suits who knew about the voice, who lived with the same secret I did.

Morningstar said, "We need to tackle this the right way. We need to assign our roles carefully. We need to deploy our SKILLs to maximum effect. I don't have any desire to see any of us walking away from this dead. But I'm also aware that none of us are teammates. I don't expect we can rely on each other to put ourselves in peril to save or defend each other. We might be a team of five, but this isn't like fighting with your team from home. We need to go into this with damage control at the forefront."

Racquel said, "How dangerous is she to you and Ravyn, at your levels?"

Morningstar cast her a doubtful glance, "In some ways the level between you and her might as well be the same as between her and me. I don't know if I can survive a full blow. Tiberius, was she using her Skills when you crossed blades during the Falling?"

I thought for a moment. "No."

Morningstar nodded, "That's a good thing. I've seen this once before. When the…" He broke off. He winced at raising the subject of the neural degeneration. We all shifted a little, even Ravyn. It was the unspoken dread of all Griidlords. We might have life eternal, a century of prime health, two even, waiting for us, but the end of the road for all of us may have been to go down Julia's path of madness and breakdown.

He cleared his throat, "When that happens, when it gets really bad, it's a feral state. She's unlikely to be organized. She'll make mistakes. Don't get me wrong, she'll attack like a demon. But it's very possible she'll no longer be able to think of her Skills. Now, speaking of, we need to talk about our Skills."

He glanced to each of our faces, a slight shyness. "My ASSESS Skill is damn good. Between intel and using Assess on you all over the years, I have a pretty good idea of the Skills you all are packing. But I don't wanna be rude. It might be nicer if you all laid me out for us rather'n me doing it."

And so we spoke of our Skills. And we spoke of strategies. It was hard to make a cohesive plan when assaulting a god whose madness made her so unpredictable. But we invested the time.

I knew Racquel had Griid-step, but didn't know what it was. She explained it for those who were unfamiliar. It sounded awesome. A once-a-day Skill that almost paused time for a second. For one second she could move at full speed while those around her were nearly motionless. With the speed of an Arrow suit she could do a lot in that second. Her other Skill, BOLT, a common Arrow Skill, let her essentially fire her body from a distance at a target. It was close to teleportation. It was generally used offensively, to make a weapon, a projectile, of the user. Morningstar observed that it would probably serve her best defensively here, allowing her to jump free of contact from Julia if cornered.

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My heart beat a little faster at the thought of Racquel being that close to Julia, of needing to use that Skill to save her life.

Livius, another Arrow, also possessed Bolt. His other Skill, Force, did not have a one-day cooldown. It let him exert force, like telekinesis almost, at range. The power of his Force matched the strength of his body. It sounded incredible, but Ravyn observed that Julia would probably be too strong for such a Skill to have any effect.

Morningstar was levelled in the 50s and had five Skills at his disposal. Assess was clearly one of them. Another was Door. Door, of all the Skills I heard of that day, made me the most envious. Door allowed him to go anywhere, in an instant. Again, just once per day, resetting at midnight, he could instantly be anywhere else no matter the distance. My mind reeled at the implications of that. The freedom.

His other three skills were all offensive Sword skills with cooldowns. One among them had some applications, Titan. A surge of power that gave him maybe a second of doubled strength. It was easy to imagine a being of his power delivering the most terrible of killing blows in a second of doubled strength.

I did not know Ravyn's exact level, but by reputation I believed her to be at least on par, and likely a little higher, than Morningstar. She did not name all of her skills. Just the ones she deemed applicable in the context of Julia. She eyed Morningstar as she listed them, as if daring him to contradict her.

"I can Phase, like most Axes. I can Double, that is project a copy of myself. It can't do any harm but it's powerful at drawing enemy attention. And I have Arrow-break."

My brows shot up. I said, "That gives three of us an advantage over Julia! Morningstar and I have type advantage—"

Livius cut in chuckling, "Nobody got advantage over Julia Rosegold."

Morningstar said, "Arrow-break is our best chance out of everything. Ravyn's the strongest among us, and with Arrow-break she might be able to deliver the one blow we need to weaken her enough. Tiberius, your turn."

I shifted. He had been right about how inappropriate it would have been for him to just list our skills for us. I felt naked, as though I was exposing myself, as I revealed my skills to the others. "The whole world knows I have Axe-break, which is useless here. I have Assess. And my other skill is Synergy…"

Ravyn whistled as I said that last. Morningstar's face was impassive, but I could tell Synergy bothered him.

I held my hands out wide, "So I don't have a skill that really helps in this situation."

Morningstar said, "You've been blessed with the power of your skills, kid, but I know the feelin. I remember my first year, hittin level 10 and bein excited to see what the Oracle would drop on me. Like so many Swords, I got Assess. I was disappointed at the time. And you're right, not a lot of offensive capability there, and no, nothin that will put a dent in Julia."

He surveyed us. It was obvious enough what would benefit us, but he said it anyway. "I'm not dying for the voice, and, not to be rude, but I won't die for any of you. I'd lay myself down for my city or my teammates, but I won't get cut in half in any of your places. That's not to cause offense, it's just layin down the truth. Best to get it out there, because that's the situation we're all dealin with. We have to know our backs aren't covered the way they would be if we were with our own teammates. That said, Ravyn and I have the best survivability. Ravyn needs a chance to hit with Arrow-break. It's one shot. With Ravyn's level it might do the job on its own, even if it doesn't it should weaken her enough to make the rest of the process a little easier."

He pointed to Livius, then Racquel. "You've both got skills to get you out of trouble. And, while you mightn't be as fast as she is, you do have speed. Ravyn and I will be the front line. You two can circle, take your chances. I know you don't want to take risks, but the longer this goes on the better the chance that one of us winds up dead, so if you get your chance it's in your own best interest to take it."

I waited to hear my role. He looked to me. "You, kid, have an unfortunate set of skills for this setup. You have nothing that will especially impact her offensively and nothing to help you get out of the way, not even the speed of these two. You're strong, too damned strong for someone who's been in the suit for less than a year, but it's nothing in the face of what she's got. We just gotta trust you make the right calls. Encircle like the rest of us, use your BEAM, get in there if the opportunity presents."

I nodded, holding his gaze. This moment felt strange. Morningstar had had my worship when I began my journey. He was still one of the most powerful Griidlords alive, and if Enki was interested in him, then he was still growing. He had given me guidance, we had fought together against the fiend in the arena. He had wanted to conspire together against Enki. Even in this moment, he seemed to look on me with something like concern, muted affection even. But something else had crept in here. I was the boy he had supported who had gone on to kill his teammate. I was the boy who he now suspected to have dreams of true conquest. He had never done anything to hurt the respect I had for him. And yet a rift threatened to run between us. It felt sad.

I just nodded to confirm I had heard his instructions.

Morningstar looked from one of us to the other. There was strange stillness there among the trees. Only the rich, lively music of a thrush seemed to break the silence. I blinked hard, cocking my head at the sound. A thrush singing here meant summer. I blinked again.

Morningstar smiled, the tension between us easing for that one moment, "That's right, kid. Get used to it. Time loses all meaning once you get these things on you. It's summer. Your Griid-suit birthday's not that far away… they all run together after a while."

Then he said, "Okay. Let's go kill the most powerful suit that's walked the earth in a generation."

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