Ch 43: The Tower of Judgement

The group moves to rescue Serius and escape Xandaris. Will they find him somewhere within the Tower of Judgement?

            Splitting up and scouring the entire dungeon in an attempt to see if Serius had merely been taken to a different cell, Amy and the others could not seem to find any trace of him. As they regrouped and discussed their lack of success, Gwen realized something and said, “Wait, he might have been placed in the Tower of Judgment! It’s where our highest courts meet to pass sentences on serious offenders, and it also has cells for maximum security prisoners.” With a sour face, Fox said, “Oh, I see how it is! Serius get’s all this special treatment while we’re left down here with the regular schmucks!” At this remark, Pyro shot Fox a cold stare, and he quickly cringed away from her. Ignoring the two, Amy turned to Gwen and said, “We don’t really know our way around here. Just how do we get to the Tower of Judgment?” 

Trying to plot it out in her head for a moment, Gwen explained, “Well, uh, first we need to get out of the dungeon and head up through the lower floors of the citadel until we reach the tenth floor. I haven’t been to the Tower of Judgment myself, but if it’s like the Tower of Grace, there should be a hover ferry that runs across an energy rail leading out of the citadel and directly to the tower itself.” Hearing this, Archon quickly said, “I have only dealt with the security measures in the dungeon. If we go up into the citadel itself, we’ll have guards and surveillance cameras to worry about.” Clapping him on the back, Fox said, “Sounds like it’s time to strut your stuff then! If you could handle the dungeon on your own, clearing out the citadel should be a breeze with us backing you up!” Voicing his concern, Cortez said, “I’m grateful for how you came to our aid, but this all is starting to sound too dangerous for my students.” With an aggravated sigh, Johnny said, “Dangerous?! Who do you think I am?!” Glancing at him, Pyro answered, “An idiot.” 

While Johnny merely stuck his tongue out at Pyro defiantly, Gwen commented, “There will be innocent civilians in the Citadel as well.” Taking this into account, Amy said, “You’re right, we don’t want to hurt anyone. Even the guards themselves are just following orders.” With a serious expression, Fox said, “When it comes down to it, that’s just how things are in a war.” Turning to him with a stubborn look in her eyes, Amy said, “We’re not waging any wars against the halmans! The whole reason we came here was to show them that war isn’t the answer!” Staring at her in surprise for a moment, Fox finally smiled reluctantly as he said, “Well, you got me there. Still, how’re we gonna save Serius without hurting anyone?” 

As everyone fell silent, struggling to think of something, a cold breeze swept through the hall. Noticing it, Amy said, “A draft? Aren’t we underground?” Gwen nodded and simply said, “Yes, it’s probably just coming from an air vent somewhere.” As an idea dawned on him, Fox said, “Air vent huh? You wouldn’t know if they happen to run up through the citadel would you?” Realizing what he was planning, Gwen said, “They do, but they’re far too narrow to crawl through.” Clutching his head in frustration, Fox muttered, “Damn.” Then Cortez reached into his clothes as he said, “Perhaps we can use them in a different way…”

            Billowing clouds of a strange blue smoke pouring from the air vents and filling the halls all throughout the Holy Citadel, coming from a magically enchanted candle Cortez had lit and placed in one of the dungeon’s air vents, as fire alarms blared and Elite Guard troopers ran about in disarray searching for the nonexistent fire, Gwen led the group out of the dungeon into the halls. The elevators disabled due to the fire warning, they made their way to a stairway and climbed through the floors to the tenth floor. Reaching it at last, they rushed down even more hallways, which were lined with ornate archway after ornate archway, the floors made of stained wood, the walls made of marble and lined with ornate lamps and grand tapestries. Turning down a hallway with tall stained glass windows, multicolored light shined through at them as they rushed down it, Gwen saying, “It should be just up ahead!” 

Reaching a door leading out to a wide platform jutting out of the side of the citadel, there were four white and gold hover vehicles parked on the edge of the platform, their polished metal exterior glinting in the orange light of the setting sun. Though they were not really any different from a hover trolley, they had no driver’s seat or controls, only an activation button and a large area of standing room surrounded by a golden metal railing. Reading the angelic writing on the small signs next to each of them, Gwen pointed to one and said, “That one there!” Rushing up the boarding ramp, once all of them had gotten onboard, Gwen pushed the activation button. Just beneath the edge of the platform, a device activated and began emitting a stream of EDE that formed an energy rail pathway for the hover ferry to follow, twisting all the way around the citadel and heading to a tower at the very northern edges of the city.

            As the hover ferry wound its way around the citadel, Johnny and Pyro stood by the railing looking out at the city. The largest halman city by far, from a bird’s eye view it would be circular in shape, surrounded all the way around by a sturdy wall. In the center of that circle was the Holy Citadel of Xandaris, and to the north, south, east, and west were four towers built just within the city walls, the Tower of Judgment, the Tower of Grace, the Tower of Virtue, and the Tower of Reverence respectively. There were other smaller towers in the city as well, all part of a commercial transportation service using hover ferries that ran on energy rails from one part of the city to another, though the one they rode on now was intended for exclusive use by highly ranked officials. Staring down at the brown roofs and lighted windows of the homes and buildings below, Johnny said, “Man, the place looks even bigger from up here!” Walking over to look as well, Cortez said, “It is the home of almost half the halman population on this continent after all. The very heart of the halman theocracy, Xandaris.” 

As Cortez started to go into a dreary history lesson, Amy closed her eyes and concentrated. Projecting her thoughts, she called out, “Grey? Grey, can you hear me? It’s me, Amy!” There was no response, but putting her concern aside she tired to reach out to Alexander now, calling out with her mind, “Alexander? Please answer! We need you and the others! Even if we get Serius out of the Tower of Judgment, I don’t know how we’ll get out of the city!” Amy thought she could hear a faint trace of Alexander’s voice, but she could not hear what he was saying. As she strained to hear him, Fox suddenly put a hand on her shoulder and said, “Hey, Amy? C’mon, we’re here!” Not having noticed the ferry had stopped, Amy was red with embarrassment as she turned to him and said, “Oh, sorry I guess I spaced out…”

            As they were making their way down the boarding ramp onto the platform, two guards wielding EDE rifles rushed out of the entrance into the tower’s top floor. Seeing them coming, Fox formed his steel gloves and leaped off the hover ferry into the air above them to intercept. Coming down fist first as flames swirled around him, he shouted, “Meteor Strike!” Slamming hard into the platform right in front of the oncoming guards, as Fox struck like a meteor, the explosive shockwave of his impact blew both guards off their feet, laying them both out on their backs. As they lay there unconscious upon the platform, Fox shrugged his shoulders and muttered, “Well, the whole pacifist approach isn’t really my style, but at least I didn’t kill em.” 

Walking up to one of the fallen guards, Gwen stared down at him with a sad look as she said, “It feels so wrong, having to fight against my own people like this…” With a sigh, Fox exclaimed, “I just said he’s not dead! We may not be at war yet, but Altera Veritas is sure working on it! We can’t afford be stuck in a jail cell with our thumbs up our asses!” Glaring at him, Pyro shouted, “Do I have to kick you in the shin again?!” Mustering her determination, Gwen smiled and said, “No Erika, he’s right. As a captain and a noble, I should be focusing on what’s important. We must rescue Lord Serius and warn my father before this madness goes any further!” Nodding, Cortez said, “Well said.” Smiling as well, Amy said, “Right, let’s go!” Way ahead of her and everyone else for that matter, Archon leaned against the wall next to the door into the tower as he impatiently said, “Yes, let’s go already…”

            As they all moved towards the door, Amy suddenly stopped and said, “Wait.” Everyone coming to a halt and looking back at her questioningly, as he saw the worried look on her face, Fox said, “What’s up?” Having suddenly sensed great danger, Amy said, “My powers are telling me something very dangerous is in the tower. An enemy may be waiting for us.” Confused, Gwen said, “Your powers?” Nodding, Johnny said, “Yeah, she’s one of those sages, the Sage of… uhm…” Trying to speed things up any way he could, Archon finished for him, saying, “Memories.” Laughing nervously, Johnny said, “Yeah… What he said…” Looking like she’d seen a ghost, Gwen bowed her head and said, “The… The Sage of Memories?! My apologies, I had no idea!” Not sure what to make of her reaction, Amy reassuringly said, “It’s not a big deal, really…” 

Then looking back at the door, Amy said, “It’s too dangerous for everyone to go. Archon, Fox and I are probably the only ones who are strong enough.” Eyeing Archon suspiciously for a brief moment, Fox said, “We can’t leave the others unguarded though. I say you and I go, and we have Archon stay here with them. You got any problems with that Archon?” Calmly, Archon said, “None at all, but do remember you need to be alive to show me that shard.” Confused by Fox’s decision, Amy was about to question his judgment, but Fox quickly moved to the door and said, “Alright then, let’s go!” Hurrying after him, Amy exclaimed, “Wait, don’t just go and leave me behind!” Watching them enter the doors and vanish from sight, Johnny sighed in frustration and said, “There they go again, leavin Johnny Spark out of all the fun…”

            Stepping into a room with a large circular elevator in the center, as Fox and Amy stepped onboard, Fox began to work the controls. Looking back at the door, Amy said, “You know, Archon is probably stronger than both of us. Wouldn’t it have been better if one of us stayed behind?” As the elevator began to descend, Fox said, “I don’t know about him being stronger than I am, but if you sensed something dangerous in here, I’d be willing to bet good money this is some sort of trap. To be perfectly blunt, I don’t feel like trusting that he isn’t a part of it.” Not having suspected Archon of anything until now, Amy said, “It is a bit odd that he just showed up, but I didn’t sense any danger from him. If you’re right though, isn’t it kind of worse to leave him alone with the others anyway?” Casually, Fox said, “Nah! I doubt he’d bother with those small fries…” Giving him a sour look, Amy muttered, “You’re horrible!” 

As the elevator came to a halt, they had arrived at a room that had a single doorway leading down a hallway faintly lit with white lights. Staring down the hall, Amy asked, “What makes you think this is the right way?” Hurrying into the hall, Fox said, “It says on the elevator that this is the ‘Ethereal Containment Floor’. Sounds like the right place to me!” Reaching the end of the hall, they arrived at a solid looking black cell door. Swiping the keycard and entering the code, Amy was startled as a red light flashed on the controls and a buzzing sound blared from a speaker. Readying his fist, Fox said, “Access denied huh? We’ll see about that! Stand back little lady, I’m gonna huff and puff and blow this door down!”

            Fox smashing his explosive fist into the door again and again, little by little it gave way, and finally he broke it out of its frame with one last flaming punch. The beat up door sailing into the room beyond and landing on the floor with a clank, Fox and Amy stepped inside, and as they took a look around, Amy said, “What is this place?” Transparent pipes embedded in the walls, all connected to a large machine on the far side of the room from the door, EDE flowed through the pipes into the machine. The EDE in the pipes the only source of light in the room, as Amy and Fox moved closer to get a better look, a voice suddenly said, “Oh? Well now, this is a surprise!” Having been standing at a control panel on a low level catwalk around the machine, High Priest Nicholas Adeodatus V turned to face them, his staff in hand and a smile in his face. 

Dropping into a battle stance, Fox said, “Where’s Serius?!” His smile unwavering, the High Priest gestured to the machine as he replied, “He is right here, currently being prepared for transport back to Mautau. Unfortunately, he has been scheduled for execution as soon as his younger brother, the esteemed Barinus Arcus Matuia, ascends to the throne.” With a fearful expression, Amy exclaimed, “Execution?!” Nodding somberly, the High Priest made his way down a stairway that led from the catwalk down to the floor as he said, “It is the will of the gods I’m afraid. He is currently being forcibly converted into his holy form so he can be more easily transported back to Mautau. I know you’ve come to save him, but I’m afraid that as the High Priest of the Church of Light, it is my duty to stop you.” Rushing at Nicholas with his fists trailing flames, Fox shouted, “Bring it on small fry!” 

Moving with what seemed like near light speed, Nicholas dodged effortlessly as Fox lashed out with fiery punches. Sidestepping another punch, he twirled with a roundhouse kick and struck Fox in the face, an explosion of light energy erupting around his foot, blowing Fox away. Flipping in the air and landing on his feet, Fox muttered, “Light user eh? A pretty good one too!” Raising his staff at Fox, the yellow gem in the top end glowed as Nicholas channeled EDE into it and said, “In the name of the gods, you must be purged.”

            Moving in front of Fox, Amy formed a large vertical psychic wall in defense just as Nicholas fired a yellow laser beam from the gem in his staff. Striking upon it, the laser seemed to be being held back by the wall at first, but was actually burning through it, and seeing this Fox quickly gathered flames into his hands and hurled bolts of fire at the floor in front of Amy that kicked up a smokescreen as they exploded. Moving away from each other as the laser burned through, Amy readied the golem’s shard in her Insigne Memoriae and Fox donned his Arma Fusile, both of them bursting out from opposite sides of the cloud of smoke Fox kicked up and coming around at him from both sides. 

Slipping behind Fox at the speed of light just as he lunged at him and struck out, Nicholas caught him in the back of the head with his staff. As Fox stumbled and fell forward, Nicholas then began to dodge as now Amy came swinging her fists at him with the golem’s might behind her punches. Sidestepping another punch, Nicholas swept his staff under her feet and tripped her, and then raised his staff at her to open fire as she landed flat on her face. Suddenly flying across the distance with flames surrounding him, Fox shot like a rocket through the air and rammed himself headfirst into Nicholas’ side, carrying him along as he continued straight into the wall. A mighty explosion erupting as Fox slammed Nicholas into the wall, Fox jumped back out of the aftermath with a grin as he said, “Oh yeah, who’s the rocket man?! I’m the rocket man!” 

Suddenly appearing behind Fox, a blade of light energy extending from the gem in his staff, Nicholas raised the blade to cut Fox down. Yet before he could, he was struck by a concentrated burst of psychic power from Amy’s outstretched hand, knocking him off his feet and onto the floor. Rolling across the floor a short ways, just as Nicholas started to get up, Amy came down at him with a mighty punch, but he quickly moved away with his lightspeed movement as her fist smashed through the floor. Dusting himself off, his smile gone, Nicholas said, “You’re both quite good, but I don’t think this business of two against one is very fair.” Flames burning in his hand, Fox mockingly said, “You’re a holy man aren’t ya? Maybe you should ask your gods for help!” 

As Fox fired a storm of fireballs at Nicholas from his hand, Nicholas quickly raised his staff, and multiple laser beams shot out at each fireball, detonating them. Rushing through the smoke from the blast, Amy lashed out again, using her mind reading to predict his movements this time. Struggling to dodge her, Nicholas finally received a crushing knee kick to the gut, and as he buckled over, Amy stepped back and used a burst of psychic energy to propel herself forward, giving herself more momentum as she rammed him in the face with her elbow. Sailing through the air to land flat on his back, as Nicholas struggled up, he wiped his bloody nose and muttered, “You doubt the gods do you? Very well, I’ll call upon their aid and let you see for yourself their absolute power!”

            Raising his staff up, Nicholas called out, “Oh sacred will of Mautau, grant me the blessing to lead your armies against the unfaithful! Heed my call, Divine Soldiers!” A blinding light shined from his staff, and as it finally died out, Amy and Fox found themselves surrounded by soldiers made of light, weapons and all. Backing away from the soldiers, as Amy and Fox bumped into each other, Amy glanced back at him and said, “Well, he called on the help of the gods. What now?” With a nervous laugh, Fox muttered, “I didn’t think he’d actually do it…” Then he formed a cinder blade over his hand and raised it at the soldiers before him as he said, “Who cares anyways?! They don’t look so tough to me!” 

Taking aim with his cinder blade and unleashing a mighty beam of pure heat at the soldiers, Fox shouted, “Heat Wave!” Passing over the soldiers of light harmlessly, the heat beam merely burned a hole in the wall behind them. Lowering his blade with a confused look, Fox grit his teeth and rushed one of the soldiers as he said, “Alright then, we can do this the hard way!” Swiping at one of the soldiers with his cinder blade, as his blade passed through it harmlessly, Fox exclaimed, “No way!” As Fox stared in disbelief, the soldier raised its weapon, and he moved away just in time, the sword of light grazing his cheek. Backing away from the front lines as the soldiers started to advance, Fox wiped away the blood seeping from his graze and muttered, “Ok, maybe we’ve got a slight problem here...” As she stood back to back with him, Amy said, “I guess if they’re made purely of light energy, we have to hit them with something that counters light.” Standing behind his vanguard of Divine Soldiers, Nicholas said, “Quite astute. However, I doubt you can wield darkness strong enough to blot out the sacred light of the gods.”

            Leaping over the soldiers, as Fox came down at Nicholas with an explosive punch, he shouted, “Guess that means we gotta take down the man in charge then!” Nicholas merely raised his staff and fired a powerful laser beam at him, and hard pressed to dodge in midair, Fox seemed doomed. As the laser contacted his fist though, the heat conducting metallic material that made up the fists of his Arma Fusile’s guantlets were so reflective that it scattered the intense beam of light. Quickly moving aside with his light speed as he saw Fox was still coming down at him, Nicholas barely escaped as his fist struck like a falling meteor. Ripping his fist from the crater he’d made in the floor, Fox took a moment to look at the metallic material on his hand appraisingly, and then gleefully looked around for Nicholas to gloat, calling out, “HA! What now Sparky?! I’ve got magic fingers!” 

Seeing him standing a ways away with his staff raised again, Fox heard him say, “Oh sacred will of Mautau, grant me the aid of your mighty hammer that smites all heretics! Be my strength, Divine Judgement!” Light gathering around the top of his staff into a massive hammer head made of light itself, Nicholas took hold of his weapon with both hands and sped at Fox with light speed. Fox readied to dodge with his own Fireflash Speed, but watching the shining light of the hammer coming at him, it was almost like he had somehow experienced the same phenomena as a deer staring into a pair of oncoming headlights, as he simply stood there staring. 

Amy watched in shock as he took the full brunt of the hammer’s divine strike. Speeding after Fox as he went flying through the air, Nicholas got behind him again and swung upwards, his hammer sending him crashing into the ceiling. Fox hung there in the dent he’d made briefly and then quickly plummeted to land hard on the floor in front of Nicholas, who merely looked down at him and muttered, “So hotheaded, his lack of discipline only led him to ruin. This is why faith must be restored. We must bring discipline and order back into our people’s way of life. Such is the will of Mautau.”

            As the soldiers of light closed in on her, Amy called out, “High Priest, we didn’t come here to fight! You’re being tricked by Count Ferid and Altera Veritas! The demonfolk and Angelorum Lux had nothing to do with what happened to Gatria!” Unmoved, Nicholas merely replied, “I’m aware of your innocence. We merely used the destruction of Gatria as an excuse to capture Serius the Unbound, who has been abusing his position to stall his fellow gods from their sacred duties. Even the change in the sky has worked to our advantage. All we have to do is claim it is a sign that the people must rise up against the unfaithful. Whatever Ferid and his allies plan, we’ve already taken appropriate measures.” 

Struggling to get to his hands and knees, Fox muttered, “Putting aside what kind of gods you think need to use such cheap tricks, don’t you remember that the halmans revere Angelorum Lux? You really think you can restore people’s faith by slandering us?” His hammer at the ready as he looked down at Fox trying to pull himself together, Nicholas raised it to strike again as he said, “Angelorum Lux may have saved the world, but they have never been in accordance with the wishes of the gods. I was rather disappointed with the blasphemies Lord Serius himself uttered during our meeting. It is just as Dyne said, we must return to when the people revered Mautau and Mautau alone.” 

As he started to bring his weapon down, Nicholas suddenly stopped and looked over at his soldiers in surprise. The light that formed them turning red, one by one they seemed to collapse in on themselves and become nothing more than random floating geometric shapes of red light. Staring in disbelief as the remains of his soldiers quickly faded away, Nicholas said, “What just happened?!” Suddenly the machine behind him let out a low whirring noise, and turning around quickly, he saw Archon standing at the controls. As the machine opened up, Archon raised his staff and an unconscious Serius floated out of the machine at his command. Surprised and relieved to see him, Amy exclaimed, “Archon, you came to help us!” With a reluctant smile, Archon said, “As I said, I cannot view your shard if you fall here.” 

Staring up at him, Nicholas agitatedly shouted, “Stop! Whoever you are, I order you to get away from there!” Seeming to look back down at him with his belted gaze, Archon said, “Nicholas Adeodatus V… From what I’ve seen, you’re just like your predecessors. Another worthless zealot.” Gesturing over at Amy and Fox, Archon admonished, “These people, despite the odds against them, took great care to avoid confrontation with you and your people in concern for your safety. You on the other hand value the lives of your people as much as you would a grain of salt, casting them into war just to satisfy the goals of your revered masters, turning them against those who would be their allies in this dark time.” Turning his back on Nicholas to continue guiding Serius through the air, Archon said, “Were it my place, I would end your rule and restore order here and now, however I will leave that honor to Angelorum Lux.” 

Glaring at him, Nicholas raised his staff and said, “Such insolence!” Just as he was about to attack, Nicholas felt a hand grab hold of him by the shoulder, and he heard Fox’s voice say, “Hey Nick, I got a present for ya…” As Nicholas started to turn his head, Fox plowed his fist straight into the side of his face, sending him crashing into the machine with an explosive punch. Archon jumped down from the machine with Serius in tow, and as Fox hurried over to take custody of his unconscious friend, Archon said, “We should hurry along, your friends are already on their way.” Lifting Serius up onto his shoulder, Fox said, “Our friends?”

            Stepping through the door and back onto the platform where they’d gotten off of the hover ferry, as Fox and Archon followed her out, Amy heard the sounds of cannon fire. Looking past the others who’d been waiting outside, to her disbelief she saw the new and improved Audentia sailing through the skies over the city towards the Tower of Judgment, the Elite Guard struggling to shoot it down with their perimeter defense EDE cannons. Try as they might though, their fire struck against an invisible barrier of EDE surrounding the airship like a force field. Approaching the tower, the Audentia made a sharp turn so that the side of the airship faced the platform, the force of the repulsion engines sending waves of air washing over them all. As the main door opened and the gangplank slid out, Schmitt’s hearty laugh blared across the ship’s speakers, and then his voice called out, “Anybody lookin’ fer a ride?!” 

Laughing himself, Fox said, “Talk about luck!” With a chuckle, Archon smiled at Amy and said, “Lucky indeed…” As they hurried over to join the others, Amy said, “We’ve got Serius, let’s get out of here!” Having been staring at the airship in awe, Gwen turned to her and said, “This airship, does it belong to Angelorum Lux?!” With a giggle, Amy said, “Yep, pretty cool huh?” Rushing up the gangplank, Johnny exclaimed, “Alright! We’re actually gonna fly on an airship!” Hurrying after him, Pyro shouted, “Hey! You’d better not fall off you moron!” Walking up it as well, moving very cautiously, Cortez nervously said, “Erika, please don’t joke about such things!” Everyone else making their way onboard, as the gangplank retracted and the doors closed, the Audentia made its escape from Xandaris as the defense cannons fired after it.

Author's Note

Originally titled, "Rescue Mission." Wasn't quite up to standard I felt.