Solar Oracle/Running the Gauntlet
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
Contents |
Today
The thrum of guttural chanting from a legion of graveled voices pulled Jace into consciousness.
The young Demigod stared up into the hate filled eyes of the cultist, the ceremonial blade hovering just over his bare chest. Restrained at both his wrists and ankles, he couldn’t move. The effects of the spell cast on him were only just beginning to wane. His head listed groggily to the side and he realized he was surrounded. The source of the low chanting sound that had roused him became apparent. Other cultists made a circle around the dais upon which his naked form laid, their faces stained with blood and their eyes echoing the same hate as the man with the dagger. The rhythm of their chanting increased in tempo and the pitch rose with a fever, their desire for his life driving them.
“The abominations must be cleansed,” said the man with the ornate knife. “Divine blood shall no more run through the veins of mortal men…” He pulled the dagger skyward and it began its descent towards Jace’s heart…
Four Days Ago
Feeling proud and full of confidence Jace continued his barrage on Azuria, though she’d been less than forthcoming so far. “You’ve got to know something,” he said for what must have been the fourth time.
“I’m really sorry, Mr. Bastion,” said the unassuming liaison of MAGI. “Jayden Michaels is in here rather frequently so I’m not sure I can direct you to anything in particular. And he did not mention where it was he was going or for what purpose.”
Jace knew this much. She’d said it already. He sighed deeply and shook his head. “Alright, then what can you tell me about demon warding gauntlets,” he asked folding his arms over his chest.
“That they can ward off demons I suppose,” Azuria replied, her humorless tone shrouding any evidence that she may be speaking in jest.
“Just tell me where somebody might go look for something like that… In Turkey…” He’d felt guilty about rifling through Jayden’s desk in his office at OMG, but he’d also felt it completely necessary. Putting pieces together from a few scrawled notes on the desk, his internet history, and a cryptic exchange between Albert, Jayden, and some other guy Jace didn’t know on Formspring, the young demigod had a framework for what might have initiated the young warlocks trip to Turkey. “I think that’s what Jayden was looking for – demon warding gauntlets,” he repeated again.
“All I can do for you is give you access to some lost artifact catalogues we have on file,” she offered with open hands. “If you cross-reference them by possible location you might be able to narrow your search.”
“Yes,” Jace said, grasping at anything she would offer. And moments later he was poring through old dusty books as thick as bricks and stacked as high as his waist…
Three Days Ago
The bitter cold air stung Jace’s face as he flew. Since his first time escaping the clutches of gravity, the young man had loved the feelings that flight offered him. At thirteen years old, he’d realized that the hold of this planet did not apply to him like it did to so many others and he’d taken full advantage of that fact ever since. At first and in his younger days, he’d only flown under cover of night to keep his secret safe. But as time went on he had given himself over to the practice with abandon. And it had always brought him joy.
This day, however, high over the Atlantic Ocean, with the freezing air of the higher atmosphere burning in his lungs, Jace missed the feeling of terra firma beneath his feet. He’d been moving as fast as he could for hours and the strain was beginning to wear on him. While the sun was out, he felt fine. The rays from the Earth’s primary star had energized him and made him strong. But when the sun set and he passed into darkness, the extended strain on his powers became evident. He’d long suspected a connection existed between the sun and his abilities, but this trip confirmed it. Considering his supposed heritage, it made sense. Pressing through the exhaustion, the Solar Oracle increased his velocity and sped on towards his goal, halfway around the world.
Hours later and just as the sun was peaking over the horizon before him, Jace finally set foot on solid ground. He rested only a moment before moving on. His first stop was Ankara, Turkey’s capitol city. His research had indicated three possible matches for demon warding gauntlets that might be found in Turkey. He’d been shocked that there was even more than one. If he opened the search to Mediterranean countries in general, the possibilities increased to dozens of possible matches. Some were traditional gauntlets, and others were simply listed as gloves or wrist-wear. But he’d included all possibilities to make sure his search was as inclusive as possible. He’d debated including rings as well, but the possible candidates went into the hundreds at that point.
After a brief trek on foot through the city, Jace came to his first destination. The Column of Julianus stood tall and ancient reaching towards the heavens. According to tradition and legend, Julianus the Apostate, in an attempt to drive Christianity from the ruling elite, attempted to reestablish Hellenistic paganism as the state religion of Rome almost two thousand years prior. The column in Ankara marked an historic visit from the Caesar in 362, and from what Jace had learned it also housed artifacts the Apostate was attempting to seed into the Empire in order to spread a web of pagan power in the process. The Gage of Helios, a gauntlet said to stave off angry spirits and dark power, was rumored to be hidden in the base of the column.
The young demigod circled the Column and examined it, looking for signs that perhaps it had been tampered with. There were none. Sighing deeply he stepped forward and ran his hands over the ancient pedestal. Suddenly a surge of energy snapped out from the stone and shocked Jace on the underside of his wrist, leaving a black mark.
“What the hell,” he exclaimed pulling his hand to his chest protectively. Clearly something of power existed in the column and it had reacted violently to him. He considered his next move.
Obviously, the stone was unmarred and whatever was inside still existed there. So if this was what Jayden had been searching for he’d yet to make it this far. That fact left Jace at a loss. After moments of thought, he decided to check the other sites for more clues. He could always return to Ankara at a later time. Unconcerned with being discovered, he launched himself skyward and set off for his next stop.
Two Days Ago
The Hagia Sophia, proud epitome of Byzantium architecture, stood pristine despite its age in Istanbul. Jace had found very little sleep in a hostel for the night and roused himself early to make his way to the site of the second rumored Gauntlet. He’d been unprepared for the beauty that was the ancient cathedral and mosque.
The second gauntlet, supposedly a death ward for dark hexes and hecatombs, had been tucked away in a lustration urn from Pergamon centuries before. The urn too looked unscathed, and Jace puzzled over the fact that such items of power could be concealed in such public places. But perhaps the catalogues of MAGI were much more secret than he’d first thought. If that was the case he needed to send flowers to Azuria.
Jace circled the urn slowly, looking for any sign that it had been tampered with. The spot on his wrist still burned from the strange energy that had burned him in Ankara. He rubbed it absently and hesitated before reaching to touch the urn. Nothing happened. The marble was smooth, cold, and solid.
“Might I be of assistance, sir,” said a man in dark robes. His broken English was not easy to understand.
“No,” said Jace after pulling his hand from the urn. Something in his being shivered at the man’s presence. There was both a familiarity and a foreboding emanating from the elder. “I’m just visiting the museum.”
“I see you take interest in the urn…” a wicked smile crept up the side of the old man’s face. “They are quite old, you know.”
Jace nodded. “I think I’ve seen enough old stuff for today though, so…” With that he turned his body, but kept his eyes on the man.
“Ah… a shame, to be sure.” His pace matched Jace’s and he floated along with the demigod for a moment. He reached out a hand in greeting, “I do hope you will return.”
Jace paused and against his better judgment he went to shake the man’s hand. In a flash, the man snagged his hand and flipped over his wrist, examining the darkened flesh on his wrist. When he saw the burned spot, the man’s eyes went wild with rage. “Scion…” His voice seethed from his mouth in a harsh whisper. He cast his attention to the sides of the cathedral and nodded. Men in similarly dressed robes sprang from corners and from behind pillars.
Jace reacted quickly. Pulling his hand from the man’s grasp he flung himself skyward, his countenance illuminating with divine brilliance. He hovered only a moment, but that was too long. A metal arrow pierced his shoulder an agony erupted from the wound. He cried out and attempted to fly towards the exit, but found himself anchored to the spot. The arrow was tethered to the bow from which it was launched, and so was Jace.
His face screwed up in rage, he instinctively grabbed at the shaft and let his gift flow. Tendrils of energy sprang from his hands and devoured the metal arrow wiping it from existence. Free for the moment, the young demigod wasted no time. With more tethered arrows filling the air, and with the crowd of the cathedral diving for cover below him, Jace spun and twisted in flight. As he sped towards the door, his instincts took over again and placing a brilliant glowing hand on the wound in his shoulder, he drew on his birthright and mended the flesh beneath his fingers. The pain dwindled as the wound closed.
Jace took his altitude to zero and sped along the floor, keeping his head down. Patrons to the museum dove out of his way as the moved. With the exit in sight, the young demigod squeezed his arms tightly to his side and focused on increasing his speed. Two robed figures moved into view from just outside blocking the exit. With a new focus he directed the power inside him forward. When he used his abilities it felt as if hot water were moving about in his body to the areas he willed it. In this moment, the hot water feeling moved into his head and to his forehead as sharp beams of dynamism erupted from his onyx eyes and pierced one of the men unfortunate enough to be in his gaze knocking him from view. Jace used the newly cleared flight path from the building and in flash of color, sprang from the main exit of the Hagia Sophia and into the hot summer sky of Istanbul.
The old man who'd first encountered Jace ran headlong from the building and watched as the young scion diminished to a point and vanished in the blue yonder.
One Day Ago
The following morning, Jace woke on the ground. The morning warmth had arrived before the sun, but the sky was just turning from dark to light. The young man lay quietly for a moment considering his trip thus far. In theory, he now knew the location of two artifacts that were at least candidates for what Jayden had been searching for before he went missing. Neither had been moved. If indeed one of them were the item in question, that meant Jayden hadn’t even arrived at his destination before he vanished and the trail would end. Jace would have to start from scratch.
The young man sat up on the hill, which had been his bed for the night, and surveyed the landscape at Hisarlik, where the final Gauntlet was said to have been resting. This one was more mysterious in nature and nothing was listed in Azuria’s catalogues other than a possible location. And this location was the most remote and expansive of all. As the sun came up, Jace gazed down the hill across the plain of Illium and down to the Aegean Sea. The view sparked an emotion. Elation and grief mingled in his gut and a single tear of relief and sadness streamed down his cheek. He had no idea why.
“Did you feel that?”
Jace spun to face the unannounced voice and found himself looking into the maternal eyes of Lacie.
“What the hell,” said the young man in reaction. “You startled me.”
“What you just felt was a memory,” she said with a light smile as she stepped forward easily to stand next to him. The wind caught her dark hair and moved it around her face. “Did you know you’re standing on the sight of the Trojan War?”
“No… I didn’t…”
She nodded and looked down the hill to the coast. “The strands of fate were taut for a decade while gods and men set the course for the whole world in those days. Your father had a vested interest in that war and took part.” She placed a hand on his shoulder and continued, “At one point he stood in almost this exact spot and gazed down just as you are… That was the last day of the war when Troy fell. What you felt just now is what he felt. You somehow tapped into that memory… You’ve more of your mother in you than any of us feared…”
“My mother was a good person,” Jace said defensively. “There’s nothing wrong with me being like her…”
Lacie nodded and said nothing. Then she changed the subject. “Stay wary, Jace. It’s not safe for you here.” Lacie looked serious but not terribly alarmed. “It’s the reason your mother took you so far away in the first place. There are wards and warning spells in place all over this part of the world to detect creatures like you…”
Jace looked at the mark on his wrist and put two and two together. “I think I already stumbled into one. Who’d do something like that? What do those crazy guys want?”
Lacie shook her head. “There are those who believe that the offspring of the gods are an offense to the natural order. The old cults use any means necessary to destroy scions or scions of scions on down the line to remove any divine lineage from the mortal world.”
“Oh well,” said Jace. “I’m here for a reason and I’m not leaving just cuz some tweaked out goons are after me. I can take care of myself.” He looked out over the expanse of land again. “Any chance you can help me out? I’m looking for a…”
“It’s not here anymore, Jace. Men excavated this site years ago and took many powerful things away. What you seek is in Ephesus,” she said with no fanfare.
Jace’s mouth fell open and he stared in astonishment. “You couldn’t tell me that back in Paragon?”
She shrugged and offered him a sweet smirk and a pained look. “You never asked… Besides, this is your first trial. And it’s not about the Gauntlets you seek. It’s not about the witch… Not yet anyway.”
“What do you mean?” Jace threw his hands up in frustration.
“Be strong, Pheobus.” She began to fade from existence. “It’s going to be a bumpy night.”
As she vanished, Jace caught sight of them. A cadre of robed figures erupted from over the hill, bows in hand, hoods covering their heads. He didn’t have time to react before another tethered arrow slammed into the meat of his thigh and a second pierced him through his back. The demigod looked down to see his own blood spill out over his chest. He ignited his body with healing energy and cried out in anguish as he tried to hurl himself into the sky. He only made it about the length of his height before he was violently thrown to the ground by the tethers.
The old man from the Hagia Sophia stood over him and said words he couldn’t understand. Jace felt magic wrap him up and smother him. His body, aflame with light and divine fury seared the retinas of those around him as he became brighter than the sun and he heard some of them cry out. Fighting against the impending dark magic, Jace focused on staying conscious. But the darkness was too deep. He felt like he was falling into a hole. Screams pierced his ears and almost deafened him. Before everything went black, he realized the screams were his own.
Today
The thrum of guttural chanting from a legion of graveled voices pulled Jace into consciousness.
As he opened his eyes he could see that he was in a cavern or a dark cavernous building. Candles washed the room in shadows and eerie light. He turned his head and stared up into the hate filled eyes of the old man –a cultist. He held a ceremonial blade aloft over Jace’s chest. Restrained at both his wrists and ankles, he couldn’t move. The wounds in his leg and back throbbed terribly. It felt as though the effects of the spell cast on him were only just beginning to wane. His head listed groggily to the side and he realized was surrounded.
The source of the low chanting sound that had roused him became apparent. Other cultists surrounded the dais upon which his naked form laid, their faces stained with blood and their eyes echoing the same hate as the man with the dagger. The rhythm of their chanting increased in tempo and the pitch rose with a fever, their desire for his life driving them.
“The abominations must be cleansed,” said the man with the ornate knife. “Divine blood shall no more run through the veins of mortal men…” He pulled the dagger skyward and it began its descent towards Jace’s heart.
Time stood still and Jace watched as if he were not inside his own body. Oddly, he knew this was not his end. He sensed the strands of time stretching before his mortal life beyond this moment. He also sensed the strands of life stretching out from those around him. Without exception, they all ended today. Suddenly everything snapped into focus. Not just the scene playing out around him, but the scene all over the world. Things made sense. He could see the pattern. The eyes of the Oracle opened and destiny became a book to be read and known.
Blades of solar flame erupted from Jace’s hands and washed the room in light. With a quick twist of both wrists, the blades sliced his restraints in two and freed his upper body. He rolled in a blur and the dagger slashed the granite dais beneath him, creating sparks as metal scraped stone. His feet were still bound, so he used it to his advantage. He jerked in his knees in and dragged himself down the granite toward the foot of the dais. Once at the bottom, he flicked his wrists one after the other cutting through the leather binding his feet. Then he flipped off the stone table and became a spinning ball of furious flame. Silently, he thanked Key for the training. His muscle memory kicked in and thought was not required.
Blades were drawn in vain. Bows never made it to bear and arrows never left their quiver. The fight was over before it began until Jace faced the old man, the bodies of his compatriots littering the floor around him. Fire lit his Onyx Eyes and his face was intense. He stood naked, and smeared in his own blood as well as that of those he had felled.
The old man stepped backwards and tripped over his robe landing hard on the floor beneath him. He tried to scoot away from Jace as quickly as he could, but that wasn’t very quick. Fear played on the corners of his mouth and in his eyes. He held up his hand to shield himself from the inevitable onslaught.
“Wh…Who are you?” said the man, his voice trembling.
Jace froze, his eyes still burning. His answer resounded from his lips with quiet confidence as the denial in which he’d spent his existence faded finally and with certainty. “I’m Jace Bastion… Scion of Apollo.”
Then the old man’s life was over.
Later - The Epilogue
Jace heaved himself from the ruins that had housed the battle. He’d tried to heal himself, but he felt exhausted. There was no more strength in him. Limping, wrapped in the tatters of his clothes, and clutching the wound in his chest, he emerged into daylight. The clarity he’d felt just before embracing his power had vanished. He remembered seeing the world with those eyes, but now…things felt normal.
“Your first trial is passed,” said Lacie compassionately.
“I still haven’t found Jayden,” Jace said soberly. “I still don’t know where he is.”
Lacie shook her head and took a step forward. “Finding yourself was the first trial. The acceptance of who you are was tantamount to slaying the hydra.”
“It’s nothing like that, Lacie,” Jace answered pitifully. He hurt. And he felt battered.
“On the contrary, little Pythius…” She smiled at him. “You’ve always hidden from yourself and others. You’ve hidden from your father. I know wounds remain, but you’ve taken your first steps into a much larger world. In that moment, had you not accepted the reality of who you are, you would have perished. Fate saw otherwise.”
“Fate be damned,” said Jace icily. “My choice saw otherwise.”
Lacie laughed with great mirth. “Sometimes not even I know the difference.” She stepped forward and cupped his cheek. “I really enjoy you godlings… In many ways, your humanity makes you so much more than what your parents could ever be.” She beheld him with a smile. “Where will you go now?”
