The Dark Wind, the fast ship of the Maritime Kingdoms, sliced through the dark water. Lyall stood with difficulty on the deck, his new cloak swirling around him. The bodily heaviness was less crushing than the day before, but it was still present, a constant reminder of the price of wielding the Selithe of Teral.
Kalas, the gruff captain, pointed toward the horizon. "The Relay-Depot."
There were no flags from House Aerum, but a column of smoke and bright red flares. The Monks of the Subterranean Flame had arrived.
"They've started demolition," Elara said. "They are attacking the raw nexium stocks. We don't have time to go around."
Lyall clenched the Teral. "We go through. Kalas, anchor immediately. Be ready to sail."
Kalas nodded, the disgust visible on his face. "That's not a man's war; that's the chaos of crystals. But my Lady has spoken." He immobilized the ship in a sheltered cove.
Lyall and Elara boarded the island. The Depot was just a small concrete and steel structure at the base of a cliff. The ground was already a burning battlefield.
A Monk in torn robes saw them and rushed forward, his selithe of ignar activated. The Monk used the Furnace style, creating a suffocating heatwave around him to tire Lyall.
"Impure! Nexium will devour you!" the Monk shouted.
Lyall activated the teral. The Monk, who relied on dehydration to win, was surprised. Lyall did not aim to strike. He used the teral to densify the cool air between them, creating a pocket of breathable air a subtle, defensive pyrelans application.
Elara seized the opportunity. "Let me!" She used her arm to sweep the Monk's leg. Distracted by the failure of his ignar attack, the Monk lost his footing. Lyall increased the Monk's mass, pinning him to the ground with the teral's residual bodily heaviness effect.
"He's neutralized," Lyall gasped, feeling his own energy drop. "The Depot!"
The Depot entrance, strangely intact, was guarded by a Ferix Agent. He maintained a shining spherical shield with his selithe of pressa. The Agent used the reflector style, passively waiting for the Monks to exhaust themselves.
"Stop, heretics," the Agent growled. His Pressa shield could redirect any kinetic force, rendering Elara's attack or Lyall's punch futile.
Lyall focused. He used the anchor style, advancing slowly in his heavy stance. He did not strike the shield. He targeted the very core of the Agent's cause.
Lyall injected the teral, focusing the gravity element directly into the Ferix Agent's chest and pelvis.
The voraks reflector was useless. It could not deflect a force applied within its own mass. The Ferix agent cried out in pain as his body instantly became too heavy. His stance, anchored by his own fighting style, collapsed. His selithe of pressa overheated, its flux disorganized, and the shield flickered. Lyall had annihilated the cause of his stability.
"The data!" Lyall pointed toward the door.
Elara rushed inside. The Depot was filled with nexium canisters and crates of raw crystals. She found the console, ripped out the data relay, and secured the valuable intelligence on Vane's list of selithes and production coordinates.
"I have the proof!" she yelled.
At the same moment, a blast shook the island. The Monks had reached the main reserves. Time was up.
As they fled, a group of Monks intercepted them. Lyall felt his muscles seizing up from the Teral's effect. He turned back.
He released one last, immense wave of flux into the Teral, aiming not at the Monks, but at the ground behind him. An area of crushing gravity activated. The Monks were suddenly pinned to the floor, unable to lift a foot. Lyall used the Teral as a trap, his body utterly depleted.
Elara dragged the now barely conscious Lyall toward the Dark Wind. Kalas was waiting. He saw Lyall's state, the island's explosion, and the trapped Monks.
"Cast off!" Kalas commanded.
The Dark Wind pulled away just as the Relay-Depot disappeared in a fireball. Lyall had passed the Lady's test. He had the Anchor, and now, the proof.