章節 276: Only One Shot
The [Portcullis Key] was a copy made by the Spell, but even the original artifact had been altered by a sorcerer.
That sorcerer, Noble now knew, was Ender.
What a strange thing!
Noble thought back to when she had received the Key.
Her student Catphine had only been a sleeper then. The girl had not fully understood her power.
When Noble had asked if she could see the future, her student's response was frustratingly vague.
Now Catphine knew that her Aspect involved finding where things belonged.
Finding their home.
And for some unknown reason, Cat felt strongly that the Key belonged with Noble.
Well, it had taken years, but Noble finally knew the reason that the strange black ball had ended up in her care.
The Key was with her to unlock their freedom from this Nightmare.
Or at least she hoped so.
'We will find out soon enough.' Noble ran over the logistics one last time in her mind.
Ideally, the ball would enter above the platform a split second before the shards so it had time to get centered.
Noble wasn't positive if it was contact with the stone or simply being over it that activated the enchantment, so she planned for every eventuality.
The lack of certainty is also why the shards were placed around the platform and not gathered in one spot.
Even if this worked, one shard taking all the power at once might short-circuit the system.
And ruin all of Noble's hard work.
"Such nice shards," Nickle lamented, eyeing one of them with admiration.
"They better be! They have to replace the ones belonging to the Tyrant!" The Queen huffed.
"They are perfect," Sarai held up her thumb to encourage her.
When the soul shards of the Lord of the Mountain were missing, Noble knew that they must have been part of what fused with the Heart.
That explained how Ender had grown so powerful so quickly. When he absorbed the heart: he had taken in a vast amount of essence as well.
By extension, when Counsel was destroyed, the Tyrant was weakened considerably from the loss.
The Heart was a mysterious creation.
Since the Portcullis Key was a Memory instead of a gift from Ariel, Noble did not believe it had any Soul Shards residing deep within it.
The only shards anywhere close to the same value were within the Bloom of Doubt.
So Noble had killed the Terror.
Now it was time to see if her effort was enough.
Noble looked at the platform with a complicated expression. This was the crux of the Nightmare.
Not just protecting Crestfall from a Tyrant, but protecting Crestfall from all of the things seeking to destroy it.
Ender, King Kraii, and the vicious blossom were all a threat to the city-state's well-being. They were gone.
Now, all that was left was to replace the barrier to preserve what was left of the land.
"Here goes nothing." Noble put on a bright smile even though her insides were in turmoil.
She had been under so many outside influences for months that it felt weird to have the emotions be all her own.
Excitement, fear, hope, and anxiety…all of them and more churned inside her as she checked one last time to make sure everything was right.
It was as perfect as it would ever be. Any additional delay would be stalling. The night would all too soon be over.
Letting her eyes swirl naturally, Noble placed her entire attention on the task.
'Better get this right the first time.'
The ball lifted out of her hand, spinning slightly as three small trails of silver whizzed across its surface.
The three of them were afraid, but not enough to power the ball, so it remained idle.
Under Noble's guidance, the five soul shards lifted too, hovering at the edge of the vertebrae with invisible energy.
Everything froze in the air like a held breath.
Then, all at once, the ball moved to the center of the large circle followed almost immediately by the shards.
All three humans froze, bracing themselves for an unexpected calamity.
But nothing happened.
A small worry sprouted in Noble's mind that the platform might be broken. But before she could entertain it, she let go of all six objects to rest on the ancient bone.
The instant they touched the surface, the world around them changed, humming to life.
"Noble?" Nickel furrowed his brow.
"It's not me!" The Queen said quickly.
Whatever was happening was now in the hands of the chamber, not her. Their fates were no longer in their hands.
If they ever had been…
The five shards spun like ballerinas on a stage around the key. Slowly at first, then moving at increasingly frightening speeds.
The ball itself began to rattle as if trying to find a rhythm of its own.
'No, a beat…a heartbeat,' Noble corrected herself.
The dancers spun so fast that they began to crack. The cracks grew until the shards disintegrated into a beautiful mist.
'Is that what essence looks like?'
Noble watched in awe.
She couldn't describe what she saw, but it was nothing short of magical. The ethereal mist raced toward the ball and coalesced around the bouncing orb.
The Key shimmered darkly as it stopped rattling and started rolling in a circle.
The mist thinned into translucent strings. As the ball rolled, the strands began to wrap around the key like yarn.
By the end, the ball looked the same and also completely different.
Everything went still.
'Did it work?'
In answer to her question, the Spell whispered in her ear.
[Your Memory has been destroyed.]
Noble hung her head.
But the Spell wasn't done. Its voice seemed to sing.
[You have received an Attribute: Kingdom Keeper.]
'What?' Stunned, Noble didn't hear the rest of the words.
When she lifted her eyes, she saw the ball's shimmery surface begin to thump.
Once. Twice. The third time jump started a beat that mirrored Noble's, own heart.
It was the most beautiful sound that the Queen could have heard.
Energy flowed from the pedestal into the ground. With each beat, the world around them became a little brighter.
Soon Sarai doused her flame, letting the cavern wall bathe them in crimson light instead.
"Arteries?" Nickle studied the patterns on the wall.
"Blood!" Sarai clapped her hands excitedly. "The Beast God is the God of Blood. Does that mean…Did we do it?"
Nickel pursed his lips. "We did something."
Noble nodded.
Holding out her arms, Noble showed them the gold bands on her wrists. They were warm and humming with energy.
"We did it!"
In the corner of her consciousness, Noble could feel the edges of the Nightmare begin to fray.
The world wavered like a bubble about to pop.
That could only mean one thing.
Noble's joy could not be contained. She was finally getting out!
The three friends exchanged relieved smiles.
All they had to do was wait a moment longer.
That moment felt like an eternity.
Finally, everything around Noble went dark and the starry void appeared before her vision.
Then she heard the second most beautiful sound that had graced her ears that day.
It was the voice of the Spell.
[Prepare for Appraisal…]
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票