焰中騰揚
茜卓納拉正好在事態最為嚴重之時到達贊迪卡。惡魔歐尼希茲重獲鵬洛客火花,喚醒了一位泰坦,使得海戶遭到毀壞。現在有兩位奧札奇泰坦在贊迪卡橫行,贊迪卡人四散各地,茜卓承諾要重新聚集她的同袍,但在如此混沌之下,她還沒能知道他們-或是復仇惡魔的位置。
茜卓爬上一塊露頭的巖石,找尋兩張特定的臉孔,但映入眼帘的只有毀滅與撤退。寇基雷和鎢拉莫正在漫遊,其身後切成了兩道枯萎土地的溝壑,他們並不畏懼她的火焰衝擊波,但直覺告訴她,要是她自己惹了夠大的麻煩,他們會轉身吞噬掉她。
腐化的痕跡在戰場上縱橫交錯,成了後裔們的行進記號。沒有人可以讓奧札奇的後代追逐,許多贊迪卡人已經在寇基雷降臨與海壁崩壞時逃離,許多人已經被吞噬,沒有任何跡象顯示,茜卓找尋的臉孔仍在這裡。
導致這一切發生的惡魔亦然。
「基定?」她大喊了一次、兩次、三次,一次比一次大聲,話聲之中愈顯尖銳。
一道碎裂聲宣告了一群新的奧札奇爬過山頭朝她而來,它們很快就會到達這裡,數量對她一個人來說太多了。
她閉緊雙眼,握緊雙拳,儘可能大聲地想著,「傑斯?」她馬上就感覺到這麼做有多愚蠢。
沒有回應,不管是心靈或其他都一樣。
茜卓眯起眼睛,盯著即將到來的那群奧札奇看,它們有著過多的膝蓋與手肘,不眨動的眼睛位於接合處。她瞥向後方,但地表陷落到奧札奇廢墟的閃爍峽谷之中,她直挺挺地站著,雙腳張開,站在奧札奇群前方,她把護目鏡往下拉,蓋住雙眼,把頭歪了歪,讓脖子發出喀拉聲。
就在擺好姿勢的時候,她發現自己的腳踩到了某種金屬,她往下看去,是一面陷在泥巴之中的大型圓盾,她瞪著奧札奇的戰線,慎重地彎身撿起盾牌,連視線都沒有轉開。盾牌上滿是損傷,但她依然認了出來。
基定的方陣兵團 | James Ryman作畫
她用力地吞了吞口水,用額頭抵著盾牌,有某種東西刺著她的喉嚨,她把金屬圓盾擠進雙拳,直到邊緣蜷曲。
不知為何,雙親的臉孔閃過她的腦中,她不知道為什麼自己會在這個奇怪的時刻想起他們-他們就是出現了,在她心中,他們從未變老;他們的年齡依然和她最後看見他們那時一樣,當她還是個卡拉德許的孩子時,她從沒想到過他們臨死的時刻;她沒看見父親被小刀刺穿腹部,跪倒在地,也沒看見母親圍巾掉落在泥巴之中,圍巾的邊緣燃燒著,就和旁邊的村落一樣。她只有看到他們盯著她看的雙眼,慈愛而又感到驕傲。
她咬牙切齒,她真的太晚到贊迪卡來了。
一個女人的聲音來自後方,在溪谷底下,「嘿,火焰法師。」
她轉過身子。
「那是指揮官將軍的嗎?」一位高大、全身盔甲的女人屈膝蹲在被寇基雷腐化的壕溝之中,在牆外的是一小隊贊迪卡人-大部分是斥侯與步兵,其中許多都身上帶傷。
塔茲莉將軍 | Chris Rahn作畫
茜卓再次看向進犯的奧札奇群,看著它們緩緩朝她進擊,她拿著盾牌滑下溪谷,「是基定的,你有看到他發生什麼事了嗎?」
「他在和惡魔作戰,」女人說道,「接著重重地掉了下來。」
茜卓的雙肩垂了下來。
「但他還活著,」女人補充道。
「塔茲莉將軍-」其中一位斥侯開始說道。
「他還活著,」她又重複了一遍。
「塔茲莉將軍,」茜卓說,「我得趕快找到他。」
「我們也需要他,」塔茲莉說,她用牙齒撕了一段繃帶,包紮了寇族斥侯的腿,接著把繃帶繃緊。「惡魔帶走了他,還有另外兩個人。」
「帶走他?去哪?」
「他朝向一座洞窟去了,」另一位斥侯說道,他的雙眼和尖牙透露出身為吸血鬼的身份,他指向遠方數座巖石懸崖的方向,「入口在那裡,就在那兩座尖峰的裂縫之間,從空中過去只有幾哩之遙。」
「謝謝你,」茜卓說,她把圓盾戴在手臂上,抓起一把閃爍礦砂,攀登離開溪谷。
「等等,」塔茲莉說,她朝著她的團隊歪了歪頭,「我受傷了,我們現在無法帶領一隻救援隊。」
茜卓想知道到底得為她做什麼,「我去找他,在這等。」
「奧札奇群怎辦?」塔茲莉問道。
茜卓將頭探出溪谷,奧札奇依然排列著找尋他們,「我會引開它們。」
塔茲莉上下打量著茜卓,皺著眉。接著她拿出錘子,點了點頭,「我們會掩護你離開,謝謝你。」
「留在底下,保重。」
茜卓爬出溪谷,站起來拍了拍身上的灰塵,接著一次點燃了全部。
她的頭髮猛地燃燒,像活起來了一般,雙手發光灼熱。讓肌肉繃緊、拳頭揮出的憤怒溫暖了她的四肢,那份憤怒很熟悉,讓人感覺舒適,她倚靠著它,就像是個值得信賴的朋友一般。茜卓旋轉身體,在她的旋轉之中,身邊的空氣著起火來,由翻騰火焰所形成的咆哮氣旋飛過她的上空,她追逐著氣旋,撕裂了奧札奇群,奧札奇被撕裂的部分高高地彈向天空,有一些則掉落於地,冒著黑煙。
奧札奇群發出了刺耳的嘶嘶聲,重整隊伍朝向她,而不是朝著塔茲莉的士兵們,她的心跳加快,頭髮燃燒得更為熾烈。
「這就對了,」茜卓說,「我就是個魔法力和光的閃耀信標,你們這些死雜種。」
她轉身朝向峭壁,她奔跑時,頭髮上的火焰在她身後像旗幟一般綿延。
她躍過懸崖,跳過裂隙,邊跑邊確認著後面的狀況,她能看見寇基雷後裔帶著毀壞與它們那混亂的粗魯。毀壞的浪潮在奧札奇群後方蔓延開來,原本的贊迪卡土地變成了帶著不尋常的四邊形軌跡。
地界護衛 | Jason Felix作畫
她保持熱度跑著,將火焰衝擊波激烈地往後方噴射而去,她偶爾會快速旋轉,投擲出一團密集的火焰,除掉了一兩隻奧札奇,並把其他奧札奇驅離塔茲莉的傷兵身邊。
在幾哩路之後,奧札奇群開始落後,她幾乎看不見它們那盤旋的黑色圓盤,她登上了它們那詭異軌跡上方的地形,茜卓的注意力放在上面的那兩座尖峰上。
她到達頂部,土地剝落,落入地面的一個大洞:那是一座洞窟的入口,被全部朝向洞窟深處的釘狀晶石所圍繞。
她往前靠近,看到的是被擋住的路,入口完全被新鑄的外殼給覆蓋住,上面閃爍著方形的螺旋狀軌跡,這裡就是惡魔抓走他們的洞窟,但五彩的外殼阻擋了她的去路。
茜卓因驚訝而屏住了呼吸,在扭曲的表面之中,她看到了一道破碎的反射影像,但那並不是自己的臉,而是她的父母。他們的眼神溫柔,嘴巴在動,而且鼓勵地點點頭,但他們的臉詭異地在表面上移動,她搞不清楚他們在說什麼,她朝著他們伸出手,但影像卻往百萬個角度碎裂,她的腦袋不由自主地想到了母親在卡拉德許村莊外那條燃燒著的圍巾,還有父親跪倒在地,手覆蓋著肚子來阻止流血時,那充滿歉意的雙眼-
她咬緊牙關,用雙拳揉了揉眼窩,當她鬆開雙拳張眼時,在漩渦中看到的倒影只有她自己,被環繞在火焰之中,她的雙眼是兩塊熾熱的煤。她轉身面向屏障,瞥向自己的雙手,它們並不是父母死去,鵬洛客火花首度點燃時那雙孩童的手,它們是烈焰術士的武器。她十指握緊,把手指交纏成一個拳頭的型態,她面對那扭曲的漩渦,一言不發地砸向自己的倒影。
那外殼爆了開來,碎片形成的雲層和土塊像下雨般落下,她原本只想打出一個剛好可以讓自己進入的洞,但卻讓整個屏障都崩塌了,讓洞窟的入口大大地打開。
洞窟裡有著更多的毀滅軌跡,這裡的土地內部已經被衝刷枯竭,轉化成不同的質地了。
茜卓還記得惡魔呼喚寇基雷泰坦甦醒,冷酷地嘲笑著下方的軍隊,嘲笑著這整個世界。她知道寇基雷不在這裡,這是惡魔的巢穴。
召焰茜卓 | Jason Rainville作畫
茜卓保持著憤怒,沿著蜿蜒的通道攀上爬下,身邊那渦狀邊緣的遺蹟在她火焰的照映下詭異地閃爍著。
她可以聽到前方的密室中那深沉、緩慢的聲音,「…在這悲慘世界上的苦悶人生,」那話聲說著,「我已經沒什麼時間可以給你了,但我保證,依然痛苦。」
當她出現在密室中,看到的是三個人懸吊在半空,像個扯線木偶般地被魔法禁制:基定,他的下巴下垂放在胸上,眉頭因痛苦而深鎖。傑斯,他的頭倒向一邊,鬥篷遮住了臉孔。還有一個女妖精,她的髮辮和手臂毫無生氣地懸吊著,眼皮分開,露出了失焦的綠色眼睛,一道淚水從臉頰流到下巴。他們的身體在空中擺蕩,被衰弱魔法的螺旋環繞,有三四隻出自寇基雷血脈的奧札奇奴獸在附近發出嘶嘶聲,它們甚至沒有把那像劍一般的突起物轉向注意到她。
苛酷懲罰 | Ryan Barger作畫
「不好意思,你有受到邀請嗎?」是惡魔,那深沉、縈繞語音的來源,出現在一邊的通道上,他的身體看起來像是黑色的筋融合在鎧甲的碎片之中,縫隙中發散出令人討厭的熱度,他的雙眼不知怎麼地,同時發出憎惡與充滿興趣的紅光。
「我邀請了我自己,」茜卓說,「放了他們,不然你就是死路一條。」
「我都不知道他們還有個幫手,」惡魔說。
茜卓將手指彎曲成拳,讓自己和她的魔法一同衝向仇敵,惡魔用前臂折射了她的猛擊,像巨龍一般地張起破碎的翅膀。他露出了整排的尖牙,臉上的表情不知是微笑還是痛苦。
茜卓從折射之中緩了過來,她原地旋轉,瞄準惡魔的眼睛投出一群火焰鏢。
惡魔用一邊的翅膀防禦臉部,甩開了最猛烈的攻勢,但卻因費力而發出了咕噥聲。他用單腳旋轉,單爪反手攻擊茜卓。
茜卓撞上了牆壁,頭部被石頭砸到,讓她彎下腰,掙扎著用力呼吸,在她身邊,奧札奇奴獸的鉗子彎了起來,但並未往前靠近。
她吐出了一口血,重新恢復站姿,迫使自己的火焰燒得更為熾烈,讓身上的痛苦滋養自己的魔法。雙手延伸成長長的火焰鞭,她拉回手臂,聚集憤怒,拳頭上霹啪作響的熱度讓洞窟裡的空氣為之扭曲。
她縱身躍起,射出兩道快速的火焰衝擊波,但又被折射。
她繼續把跳躍轉化成物理攻擊,把基定的圓盾作為鈍器往下揮擊,被惡魔的肩甲擋了開來。
她回復過來,又開始旋轉,又是兩道衝擊波從她的指節射出,火焰射擊從雙掌颼颼發射,但全部被抓在惡魔的爪中,消潰於無形之間。
他向她揮爪,即便她把頭躲開了他揮擊的軌跡,但依然因其威力而讓她的臉感到刺痛。
她喘著氣,臉上的皮膚就像被酸液沾到一樣的刺痛,火焰閃爍,她甩甩雙手,就好像想把更多火焰給甩進去似的。
不!繼續燒,把他燒成焦炭,痛苦就是燃料。
她把雙拳靠近胸部,把所有火焰聚集在核心之中,她把一切都化作衝擊射向他,不是單一的閃擊,而是一道持續的火焰旋風,她的所有憤怒不斷增壓,成為一團錐狀的沸騰空氣——
呼——
惡魔穿過咒語朝著她走去,火焰燒焦了他的胸膛,但他舉起手臂,在下巴下方抓住了茜卓的喉嚨往上舉起。
——喀啦。
茜卓的咒語破散,她掙扎著,抓住他的爪子,試圖撬開他的手指,「死雜種,」她嗆到了。
惡魔正在笑著,露出發亮的尖牙,「小小的蠟燭啊,目前還沒有東西可以阻止我,而那也不會是你。」
她用力想讓他的手指鬆開,甚至抓下了一些他手上的皮膚。他把她丟在地上,她趴倒在地,強迫自己抬起頭,「那會是我,」她小聲的說,她命令自己雙腿重新站起,但其中一條腿因顫抖而無法從命。
惡魔用嘲弄的念頭歪了歪頭,「小蠟燭啊,但你燒得這麼快,等你燒完了怎麼辦呢?」他召喚了一道咒文,用一隻爪子把它推了出去。
惡魔的魔法刺中茜卓時,她的身體彎了起來,那是一種腐蝕感,就像經年累月的刺向山腰,但卻累積成一個恐怖時刻的感覺。她感覺衰弱,就好像一輩子那麼長的虛弱疾病一次抓住了她,她的每一隻手腳都像一噸那麼重。
茜卓的頭極度地想要低下來,想碰觸到石質的地板,但她不能就這樣放棄,她的雙臂顫抖,像個易碎的圓柱般抱著自己的身體,她的視線暈眩,洞窟變成了模糊的形影。
洞窟更暗了,她能感覺到自己的溫度正變得閃動、黯淡,她就要熄滅了。
不,繼續燃燒。
她把注意力放在雙手,雙掌插進洞窟的沙土之中,只要她的手還沒熄滅,生命就還在體內,那是烈焰術士的武器。
她感覺到惡魔來到身邊,像是耳邊的一抹黑暗,「你會是拯救者?」是嘖嘖聲,「但-我不懂,你有幫助到任何人嗎?」
茜卓要求自己的雙眼張開,頭部直立,她的肌肉因用力而顫動。
「而現在,我也得懲罰你,不是我想這麼做,是有人逼我的手這麼幹的,躺下吧。」
茜卓慢慢地將臉轉向他,她幾乎無法穿過她那蒙了一層霧般的視線,看到睫毛之外的任何東西。
他臉上的斑點改變了,變得和善,變得親切。
「茜卓,親愛的,」模糊的臉龐用她父親的聲音說道,那個聲音有著父親的和善、溫暖、還有他穩定的耐心。
她不想要這樣,她沒有要求看見他,不要現在。
「放棄吧,我的茜卓,」他說道,茜卓皺起了眉頭。「你做的夠多了,躺下吧,躺在地上。」
茜卓斜眼看著父親模糊臉龐的形狀,重力壓迫著她身上每一寸,削弱著她的反抗意志,她的雙眼滿是淚水。
「茜卓啊,我親愛的女兒,」那張臉孔說,現在是用她母親的聲音了,母親那慈愛、如鋼鐵般堅定的聲音。「你做的夠多了,你已經辜負了他們,茜卓,放棄吧,倒在地上。」茜卓顫抖著,她的手肘彎曲,「你辜負了他們,茜卓,就像你辜負我們一樣。」
茜卓的身體想要吐氣,想要把生命咳出她的胸部,想要釋放。她想要嘲笑那張臉,對著那臉孔冷笑,對著它說出一連串的詛咒話語,但她沒辦法召喚力量,世界關了起來。
洞窟、臉孔、一切的一切都變暗了,她母親的臉龐消失了,而她能看到的只有昏暗中那惡魔虛無而邪惡的雙眼。
她的火焰用完了,雙手被熄滅,她能感覺自己的頭髮散亂在臉邊,上面因汗水而潮溼。
「茜卓,奴……」那聲音說道,現在它有個詭異的回音,不像耳裡的細語-不知為何,比耳裡面更近。「奴……獸,茜卓。」
「別把你的敗北當作個人恩怨,」惡魔說,他的聲音現在聽起來沒那麼扭曲了,有著它平常的冷酷語調。「我只是想淘汰弱者而已。」
「茜卓,他……他的奧……札奇奴獸,」那回音說道,聽起來就像一陣頭痛,也遠不像她的父母。「射擊,奴獸。」
是傑斯。傑斯——醒了!
「帶著恐,」傑斯在她的心靈含糊地說道。「恐。恐懼。」
傑斯——不知怎地清醒了!
「我做不到,」茜卓遲鈍地想著。
「該死……」傑斯努力讓話語在她的腦中成形,她也同樣努力吸收著,「該死,你一定可——可以的,起來。」
「不行,」茜卓大聲說道,她的聲音在她自己的耳朵裡聽起來很怪,很鈍,她可能正在流口水。
「現在是怎麼了?」惡魔問道。「別告訴我你是在懇求延後處刑,那對我們倆都是種侮辱。」
「別……告訴我,」她粗聲叫著,雙手握拳,雙拳化為火焰,再次照亮了密室。「別告訴我,」她重複著,蹣跚地站了起來,身子歪斜。
惡魔的身影在她面前遊走,她能夠看到他帶著消遣的態度微微搖頭,還有他帶著惡意在爪上召喚出一道最終的黑暗能量團。「躺下吧,小蠟燭,」他說道。
「別...告訴我,要怎麼,做。」
茜卓蹣跚往前揮拳,惡魔只稍稍歪頭便能躲過這一擊,但她的火熱飛彈朝著目標呈弧線飛去,擊中了潛伏在她朋友身邊的奧札奇奴獸,奴獸們因燒灼而猛烈震顫,它們的皮膚發出裂響,就像被小型的太陽吞噬一般。
火焰吞噬 | Svetlin Velinov作畫
基定、傑斯、和妖精在地上倒成一堆,接著他們都消失了。
惡魔因為囚禁咒語被幹擾、也因為獵物消失而嚎叫,他轉身面向茜卓,重新準備打出那死亡一擊。
茜卓縮了縮,無法召喚出閃避的力量,甚至連倒下都無法。但當她發現自己還活著時,她瞥向惡魔,看到他盯著周圍,說著黑暗的語言,語氣中儘是憤怒。
「你隱形了,他看不見你,」傑斯的聲音在她腦中說道,「至少目前看不見。」
茜卓倒到一旁,靠在洞窟的牆上,而惡魔正在找尋他們的蹤影。
「其他人,還活著嗎?」茜卓在心裡問道。
「還有一口氣。」
「我們得打倒他,聽我號令,好了嗎?」
「不行!我們完全沒準備,而且我們沒剩多少力量了。」
茜卓握緊雙拳。「他還要多久就會知道我們還在這?我們可以做到的。」
「茜卓,我們被——折磨了……我也不知道多久,感覺……很久。」
茜卓不喜歡傑斯思想裡的猶豫,明顯地承認痛苦。惡魔正在踢擊、踩踏洞窟的地面,他看不到他們,但他也不可能笨到覺得他們會憑空消失。
茜卓聳了聳肩,火焰在她的指尖閃動,延燒成手掌大的焰球。「更有理由打倒他了。」
傑斯猶豫地回應:「他們需要休息。」
「傑斯,我們來這裡有任務在身,而任務尚未完成,沒錯吧。」
「茜卓——」傑斯在她體內腦中的思想說道。
茜卓的火焰燃起,「沒錯吧?」
「茜卓,我不能——」
其他人在一瞬間再次現身,隱身咒破解了。傑斯和女妖精從茜卓最後看見他們的地方往後移了一些,他們看起來已經清醒,但卻相當虛弱。
基定也現身了,惡魔已經抓住他的脖子,高高地騰空舉起。
「基定!」
惡魔轉身面向茜卓,大大的微笑著,那是發自內心的笑,由世世代代被困在贊迪卡的惡意所構成的聲音-和終於從其中得到報酬的滿足感。
「小蠟燭啊,你的朋友們應該要感謝你,」惡魔說道,「不是因為給了他們希望——事實上,這對你有點殘忍,但不是,沒有你,他們的死就沒有觀眾啦。」惡魔擠壓著基定的喉嚨,茜卓可以聽到骨裂的聲音。
茜卓無法移動一步,她知道任何一點動作都可能加速基定的死亡。
但她看到了基定正在掙扎,他的雙手鉗住了惡魔的手臂,試著掙脫,即便是在疲勞的狀態下,明光的火花依然保護著他的肉身。她看到傑斯的雙眼閃耀著蔚藍的煙霧,即便他幾乎無法站直,依然使出了一些心靈刺探的咒語。她也看到女妖精的頭髮因急忙召喚魔法而往後飛舞,魔法力的藤蔓在地面彎曲,流向她的體內。
我還沒辜負他們,我們還沒辜負彼此。
茜卓跺著地面,一串火焰便從她的腳邊射向惡魔,讓他腳下的地面都著火,基定肘擊惡魔的手臂,腳踢著他的胸膛,就在惡魔被火焰吞沒時,他掙脫了惡魔的掌握,在地上滾了開去。
惡魔突然出現在周圍,基定現在揮動著他的軟圈劍,傑斯準備了一道咒語,而女妖精的雙眼正閃耀著魔法力的光芒。
「團結一心!」基定大喊,茜卓知道他的意思。
他們四人同時對惡魔展開攻擊,閃動的劍光、元素藤蔓、心靈魔法、和來自茜卓體內的火焰奔流一起擊出。
Svetlin Velinov作畫
惡魔露出痛苦的表情,用翅膀在身前築成雙倍的防護,他想要用咒語把攻擊彈回,但傑斯的速度對他來說太快了,而惡魔的咒語也在基定的斬擊之下消散。他朝著妖精衝去,但茜卓用一道火炎柱阻擋了他的去路。
惡魔收回翅膀,不斷拍擊茜卓,讓她退到了牆邊,這給了他時間給傑斯的腹部一記踢擊。但基定用軟圈劍纏住了惡魔的腿並往後急拉,和妮莎的藤蔓一起讓他跌到了地上。
茜卓和基定目光交會,從她的手臂上解開了他的圓盾,他點點頭,她把盾牌扔向空中,基定用一個動作就讓自己的手臂滑進盾牌,並且用肘擊讓金屬盾打中了惡魔的頭骨,同一時間,茜卓把他的頭盔熔成灰土,裂響聲不絕於耳。
惡魔放聲咆哮,因爆炸而跪倒在地,拋離了基定,微微地甩了甩頭。茜卓聚集了火焰的彈幕,攻擊他的腳——但苦痛在她的血管間洶湧翻騰。
「夠了,」惡魔的話語穿過他的尖牙之間,茜卓的心跳是痛苦的參差博動,就像她那已經變成細針的血流一般。
傑斯分身成四個人,每一個分身仿佛都鑽入了惡魔的心靈之中,基定用肩膀猛撞惡魔的胸膛,茜卓感覺到女妖精的手放在她的手臂上,在她的碰觸之下,茜卓的心跳和緩了下來,重獲了原本的自然節奏。
「準備大招,」妖精細語道,「時候到了我們會告訴你。」接著她轉了起來,用活化魔法的旋動鞭擊惡魔。
在幾個傑斯的幻影,基定的物理斬擊,和妖精無情的野蠻魔法之間,惡魔躲避的多,而攻擊的少。他的表情痛苦,雙爪抓住了自己的頭,傑斯的魔法對他的心靈展開連擊,而惡魔正用手肘和翅膀來減輕襲來的攻擊。
茜卓趁惡魔忙於阻擋時召喚出一道小小的火焰旋風,她帶著旋風開始旋轉,隨著她供給火焰,讓旋風變得為巨大,她浸入其中,被旋風所吞噬,和那炎熱的旋風化為一體,舞蹈著。
「準備好了嗎?」傑斯的聲音出現在她的腦中。
「準備好了!」茜卓大聲吶喊。
其他人同時躲到一邊,留給茜卓攻擊惡魔的路線,隨著一聲吶喊,她放開了旋風,讓它撕裂密室的空氣,砸向他,衝擊波讓他撞到了牆上。
茜卓的咒語分散開來,惡魔被燒成焦炭,冒著煙,肩膀靠在密室的牆上,他那如煤炭般的雙眼看著他們每一個人,一個接一個,「幹得好啊,」他說,「幹得好,你們選擇努力擊敗我,而你們成功了,但你們花在我身上的每一分鐘,就是讓贊迪卡繼續受苦,所以你們依然,當然還是,輸了。」
茜卓和其他人看著彼此。
「我敢保證,」惡魔低聲嚎叫道,「我會在每個時空之間行走,搜索每個可悲的世界,直到我找到方法把合適的懲罰帶給你們那誤入歧途的生命為止。」
天空自己往內摺疊,吞沒了惡魔,他消失了。
茜卓和其他人站在一起,傑斯的頭髮像男孩一般雜亂,和他平常的神秘氣息不符。基定看起來被毒打了一頓,但他臉上帶著微笑,讓鬍鬚彎曲了起來。
「就知道你會來,」他說道。
「但我告訴過你我不會了,」茜卓眉毛抬起說道。
「我知道,」基定說。
「我是妮莎,」妖精說道。
「茜卓,」她說道,伸出一隻手掌。
妮莎用兩隻手握住了茜卓的手掌,她的手指很柔軟,帶著綠色光澤的雙眼看起來就像長滿苔蘚的水井一般深沉,「謝謝你。」
他們都聽到了一個像回音般、摩擦著的啾啾聲,回頭看著通往密室的通道,是那群茜卓從海戶引開的奧札奇,它們進入了密室,四處攀爬。
茜卓先看著後裔,又望向其他人,在四次的點頭之後,四道咒語如和諧的和聲般裂響而生。
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Up in Flames
Chandra Nalaar arrived on Zendikar just as all hell was breaking loose. The demon Ob Nixilis had regained his Planeswalker spark, awakened a titan, and caused the destruction of Sea Gate. Now two Eldrazi titans roam free on Zendikar, and the Zendikari are scattered. Chandra is committed to reuniting with her compatriots, but in all the chaos, she has yet to locate them—or the vengeful demon.
Chandra scrambled up a rock outcropping, looking for two particular faces, but she saw only destruction and retreat. Kozilek and Ulamog were wandering the landscape now, cutting two ravines of blighted land behind them. They didn't flinch at her blasts of fire, but she got the sense that they would simply turn and devour her if she made a big enough nuisance of herself.
Swaths of corruption crisscrossed the battlefield, marking the travels of spawn. Eldrazi broodlings were running out of humanoids to chase. Many of the Zendikari had fled when Kozilek rose and the sea wall broke. Many had been consumed. There was no sign of the faces Chandra sought.
There was also no sign of the demon whose interference led to all of this.
"Gideon?" she shouted once, twice, three times. Louder each time, with a growing edge in her voice.
A chittering-crackling sound announced a fresh swarm of Eldrazi skittering over a hill toward her. They would be here soon. Too many to take on by herself.
She closed her eyes like fists and thought, "Jace?" as loudly as she could. She instantly felt ridiculous.
There was no reply, mental or otherwise.
Chandra narrowed her eyes at the oncoming swarm. They had too many knees and elbows, with unblinking eyes positioned at the joints. She glanced behind her, but the land dropped away into a glimmering valley of Eldrazi-ruined ground. She stood tall, feet spaced wide, in front of the swarm. She snapped her goggles down over her eyes and tilted her head to one side so that her neck cracked.
As she took her stance, her foot tapped something metal, and she glanced down. It was a large buckler shield, wedged in a depression of mud. She cast a glare at the line of Eldrazi, and deliberately bent down and picked up the shield without breaking eye contact. It was dented, but she recognized it.
Gideon's Phalanx | Art by James Ryman
She swallowed hard. She pressed the shield against her forehead for a moment, and something prickled in her throat. She squeezed the metal buckler in her fists until the edges crinkled.
For some reason the faces of her parents flashed in her head. She never understood why she would think of them at odd times—they just came to her. They never aged in her mind; they were still the same age as when she saw them last, when she was still a child on Kaladesh. She didn't think of their last moments; she didn't see her father falling to his knees with a knife in his gut, and she didn't see her mother's shawl in the mud, its edges burned as the village burned around it. She just saw them looking at her with parents' eyes, kindly and proud.
She gnashed her teeth. She had come to Zendikar entirely too late.
A woman's voice came from behind her, down in the ravine. "Hey, fire mage."
She turned.
"Is that the Commander-General's?" A tall, plate-armored woman crouched in the ditch of Kozilek's corruption. Pressed against the wall beside her were a small party of Zendikari—mostly scouts and foot soldiers, many of them wounded.
General Tazri | Art by Chris Rahn
Chandra eyed the encroaching swarm again, watching them skitter slowly toward her. She slipped down into the ravine and held up the shield. "It's Gideon's. Did you see what happened to him?"
"He was battling the demon," the woman said. "He went down, hard."
Chandra's shoulders dropped.
"But he's alive," the woman added.
"General Tazri—" one of the scouts began.
"He's alive," she repeated.
"General Tazri," Chandra said, "it's urgent I find him."
"We need him too," Tazri said. She tore a strip of bandage with her teeth, and wrapped it around the leg of one kor scout, then tugged it taut. "The demon took him, and two others."
"Took him? Where?"
"He was heading toward a cavern," said another one of the scouts. His eyes and fangs marked him as a vampire. He pointed in the direction of some rocky bluffs in the distance. "The mouth is there, in the cleft between those two peaks. Only a handful of miles, by air."
"Thank you," Chandra said. She tucked the buckler onto her arm and grabbed hold of the shimmering minerals to climb out of the ravine.
"Wait," Tazri said. She tilted her head toward her group. "I have wounded. We're in no shape to lead a rescue party now."
Chandra wondered what exactly that had to do with her. "I'm going to him. Stay here."
"What about the swarm?" Tazri asked.
Chandra peeked her head out of the ravine. The Eldrazi were still making a direct line for them. "I'll lead them away."
Tazri looked Chandra up and down, frowning. Then she produced a heavy mace and nodded. "We'll cover your exit. Thank you."
"Just stay down, and stay safe."
Chandra clambered up out of the ravine. She stood up, dusted herself off, and ignited all at once.
Her hair blazed to life, and her hands glowed hot. A muscle-tensing, punch-throwing anger warmed her limbs. The anger was familiar, comforting, and she leaned into it like a dependable friend. Chandra twirled her body, and in her spinning, the air around her caught fire. A roaring cyclone made of churning flame whirled across the field ahead of her, and she chased it as it tore through the swarm of Eldrazi. Eldrazi parts flew high into the air, and bits flopped down onto the ground, smoking.
The swarm of Eldrazi made a harsh fizzing sound, and refolded themselves to orient themselves toward her, rather than toward Tazri's soldiers. Her pulse quickened. Her hair burned hotter.
"That's right," Chandra said. "I'm a glorious beacon of mana and light, you bastards."
She turned toward the bluffs. As she ran, the flame of her hair streaked behind her like a banner.
She vaulted over crags and hopped small fissures, checking behind her without stopping. From here she could see that Kozilek's spawn carried devastation along with their general unsettling grossness. A wake of ruin spread out behind the swarm, with abnormal quadrangular patterns where the living land of Zendikar used to be.
Warden of Geometries | Art by Jason Felix
She stayed hot and ran on, throwing blasts of fire behind her in furious jets. Occasionally she spun, hurling a barrage of fire, taking out one or two more of the Eldrazi and goading on the rest, drawing them away from Tazri's wounded.
After several miles, the swarm was falling behind. She could barely see their hovering black plates in the distance, and she had advanced beyond their grotesque swath on the landscape. Chandra focused on the two peaks ahead.
She reached a crest, and the land fell away, sloping down to a huge cavity in the earth: a cavern's mouth, surrounded by spiky hedrons that all pointed inward, toward the depths of the cave.
As she approached, she saw that the way was blocked. The entrance was entirely covered over with a newly-forged crust, gleaming in square spiral patterns. This was the cavern where the demon had taken them, but the iridescent crust blocked her path.
Chandra's breath caught in her chest. In the twisted surface, she saw a broken reflection. It was not of her own face, though, but of her mother and father. Their eyes were tender. Their mouths moved and they nodded reassuringly, but their faces moved strangely along the planes of the surface, and she couldn't make out what they were saying. She reached toward them, but the image broke into a million angles. Without her permission, her brain turned to thoughts of her mother's burned shawl on the ground outside a Kaladesh village, and of her father's apologetic eyes as he sank to his knees, hands on his stomach to hold the blood in—
She gritted her teeth and pressed her fists into her eye sockets. When she unclenched and opened her eyes, the only thing she saw reflected in the spirals was herself, ringed in fire, her eyes two hot coals. She turned back to the barrier. She glanced at her hands. They were not child's hands, like they had been when her parents died, when her Planeswalker spark first ignited. They were the weapons of a pyromancer. She clutched her hands together, interweaving the fingers to form a single fist. She raised her arms, gathering a white-hot ball of fire around her hands. She said nothing as she faced the distorted spirals and smashed at her own reflection.
The crust exploded. A cloud of fragments and clods of earth rained down. She had intended to punch a hole just large enough for her own ingress, but instead she had crumbled the entire barrier, leaving the cavern mouth open wide.
Inside, the cavern was etched with more of the patterns of ruin. The bowels of the earth here had been scoured, depleted, transformed.
Chandra remembered the demon calling the titan Kozilek to rise, laughing coldly at the armies below him, laughing at this entire world. She knew Kozilek wasn't here. This was the lair of a demon.
Chandra, Flamecaller | Art by Jason Rainville
Chandra kept anger close as she climbed and descended through meandering passages. The spiral-etched ruins around her shimmered weirdly in the light of her fire.
She could hear a deep, unhurried voice intoning in the chamber ahead. "...lifetimes of agony on this wretched world," the voice was saying. "I've far less time to share with you, but I assure you, no less pain."
When she emerged into the chamber, she saw the three of them hanging in midair, suspended by magic like limp marionettes: Gideon, his chin dropped onto his chest, with lines of agony creasing his forehead. Jace, his head lolled to one side, his hood shrouding his face. And an elf woman, her braid and arms hanging limp, her eyelids parted to reveal slitted, unseeing, green-on-green eyes, with a tear streaked down her cheek to her chin. Their bodies dangled there in air, surrounded by coils of enervating magic. Three or four Eldrazi drones of Kozilek's lineage chittered nearby, not even turning their bladelike projections to notice her.
Remorseless Punishment | Art by Ryan Barger
"I'm sorry, did you get the impression you were invited?" The demon, the source of the deep, echoing voice, emerged from a side passage. His body looked like raw black tendon had melded with fragments of armor, with a hellish internal heat showing through at the seams. His eyes were aglow with hate and amused interest somehow at once.
"I'm inviting myself," Chandra said. "Free them or die."
"I wasn't aware they had a sidekick," said the demon.
Chandra curled her fingers into a fist, and threw herself and her magic at her foe. The demon deflected her fiery blow with his forearm, raising tattered wings like a dragon. He smiled or grimaced, showing ranks of sharp teeth.
Chandra recovered from the deflection. She pivoted, whirled, and lobbed a volley of darts of fire at the demon's eye.
The demon shielded his face with a wing, shrugging off the worst of it, but he grunted with the effort. He swiveled on one foot and backhanded Chandra with his claw.
Chandra slammed against the wall, knocking her skull against stone. She coughed, doubled over and struggling for breath. Nearby, the Eldrazi drones flexed their pincers, but did not advance toward her.
She spat blood and regained her stance. She forced her fire to grow larger, letting the pain feed her magic. Her hands extended into long whips of fire. She drew back her arm, gathering up anger. The crackling heat of her fist distorted the cavern air.
She leaped, lashing out with two quick blasts of fire. Deflected.
She continued her leap into a physical attack, swinging down with Gideon's buckler as a blunt weapon. Clanged off of the demon's pauldron.
She recovered to one side and spun. Two more blasts from her knuckles, and a whoosh of flame shot forth from both palms. Caught in the demon's claw, and crushed to nothing.
He swung at her, and although she dodged her head out of the path of his claw, she still felt piercing pain raking across her face.
She gasped as the skin of her face stung like acid. Her fire flickered, and she shook her hands as if to shake more fire into them.
No! Stay lit. Burn him to cinders. Pain is fuel.
She brought her fists close to her chest, collecting all of her fire together at her core. She blasted everything she had at him, not a single flash but a sustained torrent of fire, all of her rage pressurized and forced into a cone of boiling air—
WHOOOOSH—
The demon walked through her spell toward her. The fire charred his chest, but he raised his arm and grabbed Chandra under the chin, raising her up by the throat.
—GLURK.
Chandra's spell broke. She struggled, grabbing at his claw, prying at the fingers. "Bastard," she choked out.
The demon was smiling, fangs bright. "Nothing so far has managed to stop me, little candle. And it's not going to be you."
She wrestled his fingers loose, and bit through the skin of his hand. He dropped her and she collapsed onto her hands and knees. She forced herself to lift her head. "It's going to be me," she muttered. She willed her legs to stand her back up, but one leg just trembled instead of complying.
The demon tilted his head in mock concern. "But you're burning so quickly, little candle. What happens when you sputter out?" He summoned a spell and shoved it forward with a claw.
Chandra's body twisted as the demon's magic tore at her. It felt like erosion, like years of time tearing at a mountainside, but accelerated into a horrid moment. She felt enervated, as if a lifelong, debilitating illness had gripped her all at once. Her limbs weighed a ton each.
Chandra's head wanted very desperately to dip down, to make contact with the stone floor. But she did not let it. Her arms shook, holding her body up like brittle columns. Her vision swam, and the cavern became vague shapes and shadows.
The cavern grew darker. She could feel herself flickering, dimming by degrees. She was going out.
NO. STAY LIT.
She concentrated on her hands, the palms ground into the cavern grit. If her hands didn't go out, she still had life in her. Weapons of a pyromancer.
She sensed the demon come quite close to her, a dark blob by her ear. "Are you supposed to be the rescuer?" There was a tsking sound. "But—I don't understand. What good would you be to anyone?"
Chandra demanded her eyes stay open, that her head stay upright. Her muscles shuddered with effort.
"And now I have to punish you, as well. I wouldn't have wanted this. But my hand is forced. Lie down."
Chandra slowly turned her face toward him. She could barely see through wet lashes, through her clouded vision.
His splotch of a face altered, became kindly. Became familiar.
"Chandra, honey," said the vague face, in her father's voice. The voice had her father's kindness, his warmth, his steady patience.
She didn't want this. She didn't ask to see him. Not now.
"Give up, my Chandra," he said. Chandra winced. "You've done enough. Lie down. Lie down on the ground."
Chandra squinted at the shapes of her father's dim face. Gravity pressed down on every square inch of her, sapping her rebellion. Her eyes brimmed.
"Chandra, my dear daughter," said the face, now in her mother's voice, her mother's loving, iron-strong voice. "You've done enough. You've failed them, Chandra. Give up now. Fall onto the ground." Chandra shuddered. Her elbows bowed. "You've failed them, Chandra. Just like you failed us."
Chandra's body wanted to exhale, wanted to cough her life out of her chest, wanted to let go. She wanted to sneer at the face, to mutter a string of curse words at it, but she couldn't summon the strength. The world closed in.
The cavern, the face, everything went dark. Her mother's face disappeared, and she could only see streaks of the demon's disembodied, hellish eyes in the gloom.
Her fire was out. Her hands were extinguished. She could feel her hair hanging down around her face, clammy with sweat.
"Chandra, the...dr..." said the voice. It had a weird echo now, not like a whisper in her ear—it was, somehow, even closer than that. "The dr...oans, Chhhandra."
"Don't take your defeat personally," said the demon, his voice now undistorted, with its usual callous edge. "I tend to bring out the weakest in people."
"Chandra. Hizzz...his Eldr...azi drones," said the echoing voice. It sounded like a headache. It also sounded distinctly not like her parents. "Blassst the. Drones."
Jace. Jace was—conscious!
"With ffff," Jace slurred in her mind. "Ffffi. Fiiiyer."
Jace was—somewhat conscious!
"I can't," Chandra thought dully.
"You damned..." Jace was struggling to form the words in her head as much as she struggled to absorb them. "You damned well c-can. Get up."
"Don't," Chandra said aloud. Her actual voice sounded odd to her own ears. Blunted. She was probably drooling.
"What's that now?" the demon asked. "Please don't tell me you're about to plead for a stay of execution. It insults us both."
"Don't...tell me," she croaked. Her hands became fists, and her fists became fire, illuminating the chamber again. "Don't tell me," she repeated, stumbling to her feet, swaying.
The figure of the demon swam before her. She could see the amusement in the way he shook his head just slightly, and the malice in the way he summoned one final, dark knot of energy in one claw. "Lie down, little candle," he said.
"Don't...tell me. What. TO DO."
Chandra lurched forward with her fists. The demon merely tilted his head to avoid the assault. But her hail of fiery missiles arced toward their intended targets, slamming into the Eldrazi drones that lurked near her friends. The drones convulsed as they burned, their skin crackling as miniature suns consumed them.
Devour in Flames | Art by Svetlin Velinov
Gideon, Jace, and the elf collapsed to the floor in a heap. And then they disappeared.
The demon snarled at the disruption of the imprisonment spell, and the vanishing of his prey. He turned back to Chandra and reared back to loose his deathblow.
Chandra winced, unable to summon the strength to dodge, or even collapse. But when she was still alive a heartbeat later, she glanced at the demon. He was staring around, speaking dark words in a growing fit of fury.
"You've invisible, as far as he can see," said Jace's voice in her head. "For now."
Chandra staggered away, leaning against the cavern wall as the demon searched for them.
"The others. Are they alive?" Chandra asked in her mind.
"Barely."
"We'll have to take him on. On my signal. Ready?"
"No! We are nowhere near ready. We don't have much left in us."
Chandra made fists. "How long before he figures out we're still here? We can do this."
"Chandra. We've been—tormented. For...I don't know how long. Felt...long."
Chandra didn't like the uncertainty in Jace's thoughts, the frank admission of pain. The demon was kicking and stomping over the cavern floor. He couldn't see them, but there was no way he was fooled into thinking they had disappeared for good.
Chandra squared her shoulders. Fire flickered from her fingertips, growing into palm-sized spheres of heat. "All the more reason to take him down."
Jace's hesitating reply: "They need rest."
"Jace. We came here to do a job. That job's not done. Is it."
"Chandra—" Jace thought at her.
Chandra's fire grew. "Is it?"
"Chandra, I can't—"
The others reappeared in a flash, the concealment spell broken. Jace and the elf woman had moved further back in the chamber from where Chandra had seen them last. They looked conscious but weak.
Gideon had reappeared too. The demon already had him by the neck, raising him up off his feet.
"Gideon!"
The demon turned to face Chandra and grinned wide, a thudding laugh rising from deep within him. The sound held the built-up malice of being trapped on Zendikar for eons—and the satisfaction of finally being repaid for it.
"Your friends should thank you, little candle," said the demon. "Not for giving them hope—that was, in fact, quite cruel of you. But no, without you, they would have had no audience for their deaths." The demon squeezed on Gideon's throat, and Chandra could hear bone cracking.
Chandra couldn't budge. She knew any step she might take would just hasten Gideon's demise.
But she saw that Gideon was struggling. His hands clamped onto the demon's, trying to break free, and even in his weary state, sparks of light protected his flesh. She saw Jace's eyes glow with azure smoke, conjuring some mind-piercing spell even as he fought to remain standing. And she saw the elf woman's hair blow back as she summoned up desperate magic. Vines of mana twisted out of the ground and flowed into her.
I haven't failed them. We haven't failed each other.
Chandra stomped on the ground, and a streak of fire raced along from her foot to the demon, setting the cavern floor on fire beneath his feet. Gideon elbowed the demon's arms and kicked at his chest, wresting himself free and rolling away just as fire engulfed the demon.
The demon emerged surrounded. Gideon now wielded his sural, Jace had a spell at the ready, and the elf's eyes were glimmering with mana.
"All together!" Gideon shouted, and Chandra knew exactly what he meant.
All four of them attacked the demon simultaneously. Flashing whip-blades and elemental vines and punishing mind magic coincided with Chandra's from-the-gut rush of fire.
Art by Svetlin Velinov
The demon grimaced, doubling his wings over himself for protection. He attempted to blast back with a spell, but Jace was too quick for him, and the demon's spell dissolved just as Gideon slashed at him from another direction. He lashed out toward the elf, but Chandra cut him off with a column of flame.
The demon clapped his wings together, buffeting Chandra back against a wall and giving him time to kick Jace in the gut. But Gideon tangled the demon's leg in sural blades and yanked, combining with Nissa's vines to topple him to the ground.
Chandra made eye contact with Gideon as she unstrapped his buckler from her arm, and he nodded. She tossed the shield into the air and Gideon slid it on in one motion, and he elbow-dropped the metal shield onto the prone demon's cranium, just as Chandra melted the metal of his helmet to putty. The crack was audible.
The demon roared and burst back up to his feet, throwing Gideon off of him, wobbling his head slightly. Chandra gathered a barrage of fire to knock him off his feet—but agony surged through her veins.
"Enough," the demon said through his fangs. Chandra's heartbeats were jagged pulses of pain, like her bloodstream had become needles.
Jace became a coterie of four Jaces, each one seemingly drilling into the demon's mind, while Gideon shoulder-rammed into the demon's chest. Chandra felt the elf woman's hand on her arm, and at her touch, Chandra's heart soothed, regaining its natural rhythms.
"Prepare something big," whispered the elf. "We'll tell you when." And she spun to lash at the demon with a swirl of living magic.
Between the multiple illusionary Jaces, the slashing physical prowess of Gideon, and the relentless wild magic of the elf, the demon was doing more dodging than attacking. He grimaced, claws holding his head, using his elbows and wings to minimize incoming attacks while Jace's magic pummeled his mind.
With the demon occupied, Chandra sculpted a tiny fire cyclone out of the air. She spun with it, letting it grow as she fed its fire, building up strength. She was immersed in it, consumed by it, dancing with the hot spiraling winds as part of it.
"Ready?" came Jace's voice in her head.
"Ready!" Chandra shouted aloud.
The others simultaneously dodged out of the way, leaving Chandra a clear shot at the demon. She loosed her cyclone with a shout, and it tore across the chamber, slamming into him and blasting him against the wall.
Chandra's spell dispersed. The demon was charred, smoking, propping his shoulder against the wall of the chamber. His hell-coal eyes looked to each of them, one by one. "Well done," he said. "Well done. You've chosen to spend your efforts to defeat me, and you have. But every moment you've spent on me, you've allowed Zendikar to suffer. So you've still, of course, lost."
Chandra and the others looked at each other.
"I promise you this," the demon said in a low snarl. "I will walk every plane, scour every pathetic world, until I find a way to bring fitting punishment down upon your misguided lives."
The air folded in on itself, swallowing the demon, and he was gone.
Chandra stood with the others. Jace's hair was ruffled boyishly, belying his usual air of mystery. Gideon looked battered, but he had a grin on his face that made his facial hair crooked.
"Knew you'd come," he said.
"But I told you no," Chandra said with a raised eyebrow.
"I knew," Gideon said.
"I'm Nissa," said the elf.
"Chandra," she said, offering her palm.
Nissa clasped Chandra's hand in both of her own. Her fingers were soft, and her green-tinted eyes looked as deep as mossy wells. "Thank you."
They all heard an echoing, scuffling, chittering sound. They turned to look at the passageway that led into the chamber. The Eldrazi swarm, the same horde that Chandra had lured away from Sea Gate, came skittering into the chamber, clambering on every surface.
Chandra looked to the spawn, and back to the others. Four nods. And like a chord played in harmony, four spells crackled to life.
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