Chapter 525: Chrome Gate (Patreon)

(AUTHOR'S NOTE:)

Hello,

To start off, with the important news; these last few days have been quite hectic for me and I have been unable to write as much as I’d like until now. As such, I will be releasing a CHAPTER TOMORROW as well to catch up with the regular release schedule.

Due to the Valley War’s story and the serialized style of a web novel I have been unable to give the proper attention to each character I’d like to in a reasonable manner without breaking the flow of the story (this would be much easier in a regular novel medium). Today’s chapter will be visiting a few major characters we haven’t seen in a while: The kind yet short tempered red-headed dwarf, Kithina; the deadly and beautiful lamia, Lysaila; and the intelligent but often over-confident vampire-human hybrid, Callum Veres.

Since it’s been some time since their PoV chapters I understand if some of the details of their journey are faint in your memory. As such, I have compiled a list of chapters regarding their arc if you wish to read up on what has transpired.

360-363: Return Home

403-406: House Veres & Journey North

418 (latter half) and 419-420: Hoarfrost Bay

That’s all, enjoy reading!

(AUTHOR'S NOTE END:)

Chapter 525: Chrome Gate

…Northern Region of the Ebon Realm… Hoarfrost Bay…

In the early hours of the morning, the Lazy Lady sailed out from the Bay’s mystical fog. Its mind-inducing properties had left the crew addled and paranoid, save for the three who had been shielded behind a small red dome of ward sigils. Callum, Lysaila, and Kithina walked around the ship, untying the ropes on every sailor who had strapped themselves to the boat.

Happy to be out from their ropes and the cursed fog the sailors were oddly quiet. Callum didn’t blame them. The things he had seen in the fog had left him shaken and none too eager to share. 

“First the fog and then the sirens. The gods must really not like you and your friends, hybrid,” noted Captain Greyson.

Callum glanced up at the vampire. His scarlet eyes were sunken and the scraggly beard seemed more rugged than usual. Whatever he had seen in the fog and what songs the sirens had lulled his mind had been worse than he’d ever admit.

“Thank you, for bringing us this deep into the Bay,” Callum said sincerely. “I know most sailors wouldn’t dare.”

The captain blinked and cleared his throat. “Part of the job, you’re paying us handsomely, especially on the way back, aye?”

“Of course, I am a man of my word.” He jingled the coin pouch on his belt.

“Good, well, I’ll keep you to it.” Greyson pointed past the ship’s railings, to the small grey smudge on the blue horizon.

“Is that—?”

“Aye, if your map is right. Your island. What you want to do on a hidden island this deep in these cursed waters is beyond me. We’ll get you there, but none of my men will set foot on that beach.”

“I understand,” Callum nodded. “Thank you, captain.”

Greyson nodded gruffly and walked off.

Lysaila slithered over to the bow, next to Callum, though she didn’t look at him. Her slit eyes stared at the island in the distance.

“Recognize it?” Callum asked.

“...Yes. The chrome gate lies on that isle,” she said grimly.

Callum searched the waters with his eyes, “Then that other ship and her crew must be nearby.”

“They may have already landed.”

“Wonderful.”

“It’s not.”

“I know, I was just being— never mind.”

Lysaila tore her gaze away from the island and glanced at the red-headed dwarf stopping next to each sailor, making sure they were all alright. “She’s too good for you.”

“I know.”

“If anything goes wrong out there, I want you to take her and run back to the ship.”

Callum smiled wryly, “If you know anything about Kitty, then you know you can’t make her change her mind once she’s made it up.”

“...I know.”

~~~

The Lazy Lady neared the island and dropped her anchor. Kithina, Callum, and Lysaila got onto a small rowboat attached to the Lazy Lady’s side and lowered it down into the cold water.

“We’ll be back by tomorrow morning at the latest,” shouted Lysaila.

“Wait for us if you want the rest of your gold!” said Callum.

“Aye!  Good luck, you three,” Captain Greyson shouted back.

The short ride to the shore was spent in ruminating silence. Callum and Lysaila rowed the boat while Kithina sat at the center, legs crossed, eyes closed in meditation. Snow covered the shore in a thin blanket of white and a chill breeze swept the beach.

Kithina opened her eyes with a frown and rubbed her hands for warmth. “You’d think it was winter, not summer.”

“There is no summer this far north, not really,” said Callum. “Trust me, the winters are much worse though.”

“This is why I hate the Ebon Realm,” grumbled Lysaila. “Even your warmest summers down south are still cold.”

“It’s not that bad,” said Callum.

“Speak for yourself, vampire,” said Lysaila. “Your people are from this ice rock of a land, the cold does little to you or other ebon-kin for that matter. As for the rest of us, we hate the cold.”

“That’s not true. Kitty, you’re alright, aren’t you?”

“It’d be nice if it was warmer,” Kithina said with rosy cheeks.

Callum furrowed his brow, “Oh. I didn’t… I didn’t realize that.”

“Just because she is a dwarf doesn’t mean she likes the cold,” said Lysaila.

“Dwarves are originally from the Bronze Realm. There are many mountains there. Mountains are cold,” said Callum defensively.

“And they have many volcanoes as well. Not to mention, unlike the Ebon Realm, not all mountains are cold,” said Lysaila. “If you knew anything about the Bronze dwarves you’d know that they prefer the warmth at the heart of the mountains and the fires of the volcanoes.”

“Point taken,” Callum said abashedly. He made a mental note to himself to read a book about the Bronze Realm’s topography when he had the chance.

“You’ve really seen much of the world, haven’t you?” asked Kithina, admiration clear in her voice.

Lysaila shrugged. “The other realms didn’t destroy their chrome gates when nature’s realm bridges fell at the Schism. There are still ways to travel across realms so long as you have a prime archmage by your side. I’ve learned much through my travels and one thing I know for certain is that the Ebon Realm is the coldest of the Null Realms.”

“I’ve read that the grey deserts of the Ashen Realm are quite cold at night too,” muttered Callum.

“Are their deserts covered in snow?” asked Lysaila.

“Well— no,” he admitted.

“Yeah, I think that settles that,” said Lysaila dryly.

“What’s your home like? The Amber Realm?” asked Kithina.

Lysaila closed her eyes and a small smile curled on her lips in recollection. “Warm. It isn’t scorching hot like the golden deserts of the Aurus Realm. We have grasslands, like your Dusk Valley, but we also have great jungles that span the horizon. Our beaches are as beautiful as any you’d find in the Azure Realm. Sweet fruits are abundant and they don’t require green mages to sustain them throughout the year like here. Our land is lush and filled with life, famines are practically unheard of. The cold does not touch my home. There is no snow and even when it rains, the water isn’t cold, but refreshing.”

“I don’t think I could ever live in a place without any snow,” said Callum with a small frown.

“It sounds beautiful,” smiled Kithina. “I wish I could see it for myself one day.”

“If we succeed today, then neither of us will,” said Lysaila.

The rowboat landed on the snowy beach and halted to a grinding stop on the ice. The little warmth that their conversation had brought was snuffed out by the lamia’s words and the frozen island ahead of them.

“...We’ll need to move quickly. Our enemy is sure to be nearby.” Lysaila hopped off the ship and slithered through the snow, straight to the treeline.

Callum and Kithina shared a worried glance then hurried after her.

~~~

The walk through the forest was uneventful. There were no growls of beasts or songs of birds, only the soft crunch of snow underneath their boots. Lysaila and Kithina drew the fur cloaks tightly around themselves, but even then they couldn’t stop shivering.

Callum looked at them sympathetically and began to think of the simple things he had taken for granted. It was cold for him, he could only imagine how cold it was for them.

Even as a hybrid, or perhaps because he was a hybrid, he had never worried about nature’s ‘difficulties.’ As a half-vampire, the cold had never really bothered him too much. When the temperature dropped heavily he could always just toss on a coat and he’d be fine more or less, so long as he wasn’t deep into the north.

As for sunlight, he didn’t have to wear special cloaks or try to stay indoors when the sun was shining brightly outside. Most vampires would suffer sunburns after only a few minutes without protection. He could stay out all day and be fine.

“I recognize these trees, we’re almost there,” said Lysaila.

Her words snapped him out of his thoughts. He glanced around the trees and snow-covered brush. There was nothing in sight.

“Huh, this was easier than I thought. I thought there were plenty of dangerous beasts on this island, but I guess we got lucky,” said Kithina.

“There are. The fauna left…” said Lysaila guardedly.

“And why would they do that?” asked Kithina.

“Even predators tend to run when a larger, more dangerous predator arrives,” noted Callum.

“We’re here,” said Lysaila. She gestured to a bush, then crouched and slowly drew near.

Kithina and Callum followed her lead and peered past the bush. A large snow-covered clearing lay beyond. A large round platform stood at the center of the clearing, untouched by the snow. The platform was made of polished silver metal. Ten chrome spires stood evenly around the platform’s edges, each one curling inwards, almost like giant fangs in the maw of a sea beast.

“That’s it! That’s the Chrome Gate!” Kithina said excitedly and rushed towards it.

But Lysaila grabbed her shoulder and held her back. “We’re too late…”

At her words, an entourage of men and women, clad in the furs of the Cairn Tribe’s warriors, walked into the clearing from the other edge of the forest. Behind them, were a dozen centaurs, pulling a massive wagon with a cage spanning two dozen paces atop it. A dragonbane sat curled inside its steel bars, sleeping with a deep rumble.

Lysaila narrowed her indigo eyes. “It’s grown bigger.”

“You know what that thing is?!” whispered Callum.

“That’s what you were scared of…?” Kithina swallowed hard. “That’s what you wanted to stop from getting through the gate.”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Lysaila whispered grimly.

“Okay, what’s the plan?” asked Kithina.

“You see the two on centaur-back at the head of the warriors? That’s Dawn and Vaughn. Marek’s two greatest battle mages. They’re both archmages.”

“Yeah, we’re familiar,” muttered Callum.

“Mm,” said Kithina.

Neither of them had forgotten the night they had met on Widow’s crag a year ago. 

“If there was only one of them, then maybe I could try to ambush and catch them off guard, but with both of them…” Lysaila’s voice trailed off.

“We can’t reach the gate unnoticed either with so many warriors out there,” said Callum.

“So how are we supposed to destroy the chrome gate? Shoot it with arrows?” Kithina said sarcastically.

“We don’t have any arrows, not that either of you are a good shot,” said Callum.

“And you are?” Lysaila raised her eyebrow.

“I had an extensive education growing up,” he shrugged.

Lysaila rolled her eyes. “Well, if our Master Archer over here had magical arrows capable of destroying an ancient structure forged by some of the greatest mage smiths in the entire history of our world, then this would all be solved easily, but seeing as he doesn’t, we should come up with another plan.”

“Maybe a diversion?” said Kithina. “If we had a way to distract them all, then we could sneak past and you could use your enchanted swords to destroy the chrome gate. So long as you at least damage one of the spires it should be enough, right?”

“A diversion would most likely cause a ruckus, a lot of noise. We can’t risk the Unildyr waking up. Believe me when I say we can’t kill it,” said Lysaila.

“So what then?” asked Kithina. “What do we do?”

“What if we sneak up on the Unildyr?” mused Callum. “Those warriors are keeping a pretty good distance from that monster anyway. If it’s asleep, we might just be able to sneak up on it and kill it before anyone is the wiser. That would be a good enough distraction to keep both archmages’ attention long enough for Lysaila to damage the chrome gate and escape.”

“That might just work!” said Kithina.

“Were you two not listening to a word I said? We can’t kill it. The Unildyr sleep heavily, but if any living creature nears it, they’ll sense their life aura. If there is any killing intent within that aura the Unildyr will no doubt wake up.”

“It can sense killing intent?” asked Callum, surprised.

“There are many things you can sense from someone’s life aura with the right training,” replied Lysaila. “Or in that monster’s case, simply be born with otherworldly senses. No one can sneak up on an Unildyr, awake or asleep. No one.”

“What if you masked your aura? A grand swordmaster like you can do that easily, right?” asked Callum.

“I can manipulate my life force and suppress its presence, yes, but not even I can fully hide my aura. It won’t work.”

“So what do we do?!” Kithina whispered in frustration.

Lysaila stared silently at the clearing for a long tense moment. “...I have an idea.”