The Quintessence: Crucible Book 2 - Blighted: (A Cultivation Progression Fantasy) by C.M. Carney

Author:C.M. Carney [Carney, C.M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Book Room Press
Published: 2021-09-24T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

The group moved through the long antechamber and past tall columns carved in the shape of a humanoid species Aryc had never seen before. Tall and lean to the point of looking frail, the alien species towered over Aryc and the other humans. Their overly large heads bore oval eyes the size of chicken eggs, and their long, spindly arms ended with three-fingered hands that danced mere inches from the floor.

Whether fanciful or actual representations of those who’d built the temple, Aryc could not guess.

The Vinguardi were legends among my people, like the Quarn are to humans.

Duhrn’s tone bordered on awe, and he begged Aryc to give him a closer look. He stepped away from the group and closer to the nearest column. Benjy sent a quizzical look after him and ordered the group to pause.

That this temple is so well preserved suggests the use of powerful eternals.

Aryc felt the truth of Duhrn’s words as his eyes fell across the nearest statue. Eternals were arcanes of incredible power cast by numerous spiritual artists and designed to last far longer than single-use arcanes. The name eternal remained fanciful, for even the most powerful human-made eternals would last no more than a few millennia.

If the Vinguardi built this place, then they did so over thirty thousand years ago.

They built to last, Aryc sent, and reached out a hand.

“Quit wasting time. They are nothing but statues,” Ishaara said, her voice tight.

Aryc paused, his palm hovering just above the Vinguardi’s stone skin. The hair on the back of his hand stood on end as a mild electrical buzz moved up his arm. Before he could second guess himself, Aryc pressed his hand to the statue.

In an instant, Aryc was elsewhere, or more accurately, elsewhen. He still stood in the same temple, but instead of the malevolent hum of the Dome, the wondrous hooting of dozens of voices raised in song filled the air.

Aryc spun to find a host of Vinguardi surrounding him, their arms raised towards the sky as they sang and danced. Their skin was brilliant shades of blue and purple, mottled through with patches of bright green, red and yellow.

The power of their spirits flowed over Aryc, and his eyes brimmed with tears. The raw joy pulsing from the tall aliens filled him with purpose, with power, with a sense of belonging. He cried out, trying to put words to what he felt, when the closest Vinguardi, one he deemed female, looked down on him and smiled.

Welcome, young human, a voice like the hooting of birds said in his mind. Though a language never heard by humanity, Aryc somehow understood her words. We have been waiting for you, but you are not yet ready. Return to us once the darkness blazes with light.

The Vinguardi woman blinked down upon him in a manner Aryc took to be their smile, and then the world flashed. He stumbled back, nearly falling before Benjy caught him.

“What just happened?” the older boy asked.

“I saw them, the Vinguardi.

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