"I need your help," I said between deep breaths. Strange that I was so out of breath despite the exertion being magical rather than physical. Whatever the type of strain, it still takes a toll on the body. "I can channel the power, but I don't have the experience, Aerolis. I need your guidance." I wasn't a Geomancer. I had never been trained to use that school of magic. I had no idea what I was doing.
For a moment there was nothing but silence. Try again.
I did. I reached out and felt the magic travel along the ground between me and the forest. Then Aerolis was there with me, his presence in the magical energy flowing through me. He did not take control but guided me. Through the Djinn I could feel the ground more acutely than before. I could sense where the earth was toughest, oldest. How deep the roots dug through the dirt. And I could feel the ruined Djinn city beneath me. Together we tore a chunk of forest free from its surroundings. Dozens of paces wide, and almost as deep. Twenty trees in all, each one old and tall and strong. Together we raised that chunk of earth, holding it together even as we bore it upwards towards Do'shan.
Each minute is a small eternity when you're dying from Source rejection. The Geomancy was killing me. I could feel blood leaking from my ears and nose, and even a trickle escaping from eyes. The cramps were blinding agony, spreading out from my stomach and reaching towards my limbs. I tried my best to ignore it all, but I could feel Ssserakis' panic. The horror's job was to keep Aerolis at bay, and to keep me together. The only way it could do the latter, was to take a portion of that pain into itself. To mitigate the damage being caused to me, by absorbing it. We both suffered that day, my horror and I. We both suffered, but Ssserakis sacrificed. After all, it hated the Djinn, and Aerolis would destroy Ssserakis if possible, and yet the horror still helped us.
It takes a long time to raise tons of dirt and tree up through the sky, and Do'shan sat high up. Time passed, minutes maybe passed, far too long, considering. Still we raised up the section of forest until I could barely see it. I had to rely almost entirely upon Aerolis to guide it onto the top of the mountain, and when it was done, I felt drained. The pain was excruciating. It felt as though something had broken inside of me. Still, I wasn't ready to quit.
It's too much. Ssserakis' voice was laboured.
"Can you hold out?" The question might have been directed at my horror, but I was asking it of myself also. There was no answer. I took it as a positive sign.
"Are you ready, Aerolis?"
I felt curiosity from the Djinn. We had done what we had come to do. But I wasn't done. The power of a god inside made me arrogant. Arrogant enough to do something stupid beyond reason. Arrogant enough to think I could get away with it.
I turned towards the rocks and towards the Pit. My friends and the soldiers were all staring at me in something like awe, or possibly terror. The two are quite often indistinguishable, which probably says a lot about the heroes we worship. Any enmity between the two groups was forgotten in the wake of what I had just done. They were about to see a far greater spectacle. They were about to witness the true power I could wield.
I felt Aerolis in my limbs once more as I knelt and dug my fingers into the earth at me feet. My awareness spread out to encompass everything around me. We were closer to the Pit than I had thought, much closer. I could feel it beneath us; the caverns and tunnels, heat and activity. Like a hive of ants, the terrans below us swarmed in their daily lives. Digging, digging, digging. I turned my attention away from it, there would be time to deal with the Pit and the enemies I left down there later. To the east I felt what I was looking for, the ruined Djinn city. Through Aerolis I could feel it all, and it was far larger than I had once thought. The city almost as large as Ro'shan or Do'shan. Its tunnels sat dark and abandoned for the most part, but I could feel how they wove their way through the rock. Faults and seems. Weak walls and supporting pillars. It was too much for me to comprehend. My mind was not large enough to encompass it all, to see how it all connected. I was not built for such a thing. And I didn't need to be.
"I am the conduit." A warping of my old mantra. But I suppose in some way they were also a submission. I let Aerolis take control, trusting Ssserakis to keep me me. I should quit while I was ahead.
That was when I realised exactly what the Djinn was capable of. When I realised I had been fooling myself when I threatened the creature. Its power was beyond me, beyond anything I could hope to achieve. Even together and at our strongest, Ssserakis and I were no match for Aerolis. I think it said as much about the Iron Legion also, and the gulf of power that lay between us.
The ground shook. That is an understatement. The tremors were so strong that some of the soldiers were knocked off their feet, and all crouched low to the ground, ready to run with nowhere to run to. Rocks broke free from nearby outcroppings, tumbling downhill. Nearby birds took to flight, and wildlife scattered in panic. Worms wriggled their way up to the surface and thrashed about in the dirt, unable to escape what was coming. The noise was deafening, yet I could still just about hear Hardt shouting. Luckily for us both, he didn't try to interfere.
Then the ground cracked open. Rock shattered and deep holes opened up. The tremors grew even stronger. Two of the soldiers tried to flee but keeping their feet beneath them proved too difficult and they ended up sprawling and clutching at the grass as though it could keep them safe. One soldier began crawling towards me, sword drawn and ready. Horralain intercepted the man and punched him unconscious with vicious competency.
My vision was dimming. The cramps seemed distant things, which was probably far worse than when they weren't. Blood ran from my ears and nose and eyes, and I could feel it dripping from my chin. My left arm felt — odd. Hard. Stiff. I could no longer feel my fingers. It was a bad sign, but I ignored it as Aerolis continued to wreak his power upon the world. He knew what I wanted, what I had decided to do, and was happy to sacrifice me to do it. It was a power no one had seen in years, possibly in generations. This display of Geomancy had been missing since last of the Rand and Djinn were killed or trapped. I was channelling the power of a god, and it was taking its toll.
New rocks burst from the earth, ripping their way free into the open air. Earth shook free, revealing the city that lay beneath. A ruined city, rising from the soil into the light of day. More and more and more of it broke free from its confines. I could feel the strain such a display was putting upon the Djinn. He struggled to do it, but also revelled in the act. Aerolis was enjoying making his mark upon the world once more. If only he had realised it was not his mark, but mine.
We could not raise the entire city, of course. Only a portion of it. A large portion, but far from its full extent. Even so, a hundred rooms all interconnected, two great cavernous halls. All encased in rock. It did not look like a city. It looked like a small mountain hollowed out. It would do. It would serve as the beginnings of my empire. My seat of power. The eventual resting place of the Corpse Throne.
Beneath our feet I felt the panic. The prisoners of the Pit were terrified. Understandable. The earth shaking is one thing for those on the surface, something entirely different for those trapped underground.
Eskara! Ssserakis was quiet, its voice almost lost in the noise, The strain on the horror too great. I could feel it starting to unravel, and that was something I could not allow. Something I couldn't bear.