Blackout Ascension: Return of Primordial Heir-Chapter 63: Stubborn Mountain

The Zephyros Kingdom was built on the highest peaks of the continent. The air up here was thin, freezing cold, and constantly moving. The capital city was carved directly into the pale white stone of the mountain, connected by narrow, dangerous bridges that hung over bottomless drops.

It was a beautiful, breathtaking place. But today, Velanor Banner hated it. He stood in the center of the Cloud Pavilion, the highest council room in the kingdom. The room had no walls, just massive marble pillars holding up a domed roof. The freezing mountain wind whipped through the pavilion, but the ten Zephyros elders sitting at the curved wooden table didn’t seem to care. They wore thick, expensive robes made of silver silk and white fur.

Velanor stood before them wearing simple, worn-out leather armor and a thick brown cloak. He looked like a common mercenary, not a royal Vanguard General.

"You are asking us to mobilize the entire wind fleet based on a ghost story," Elder Faelan said. The old man skimmed his long white beard, looking down at Velanor. "We have guarded these peaks for thousands of years. No army can march up the Whispering Pass."

"It is not a normal army," Velanor argued, crossing his arms to keep his hands from shaking with frustration. "They are not humans. They are monsters corrupted by the void. The dark mist is real. I fought them in Solaris. I saw the sky turn black."

"You saw a trick of the light," a female elder named Myra scoffed. She waved her hand dismissively. "King Raezon of Solaris has always been hungry for power. He is using this fabricated threat of ’The Fallen’ to make the other kingdoms panic. He wants us to send our troops to his borders so he can control the continent’s military."

Velanor gritted his teeth. "King Raezon is not lying. I watched four Black Mist Knights teleport through thin air. I watched innocent people turn to gray ash. The Dawn Era is over. The ancient enemy is waking up, and if we do not lock down the mountain passes, they will slaughter everyone in this city."

"Enough, boy," Elder Faelan snapped, slamming his wooden cane against the stone floor. "You are not a true Zephyros royal. You possess an earth affinity. You drag your feet in the dirt while we rule the sky. You only hold the title of General because Luna Freyr is too lazy to attend military meetings. We will not bankrupt our kingdom because you had a bad dream in Solaris."

Velanor stared at the ten stubborn elders. They were blind. They were hiding behind their attitude and their political pride.

"Fine," Velanor said, his voice dropping into a cold whisper. "Sit in your fancy chairs. But when the shadows climb the mountain, do not ask me to dig your graves."

He turned his back on the council and marched out of the Cloud Pavilion. The wind howled wildly as he walked across the long, narrow stone bridge leading back to the military barracks.

Velanor stopped in the middle of the bridge and leaned against the stone railing, looking out over the tall, jagged mountain range. The sky was clear today, but he knew the peace was just a fragile illusion.

He felt alone. In Solaris, Kairos, Ignis, and Terravarous were probably training until their bones ached. They were bleeding together in the dark basement, pushing their base stats higher and higher. Velanor missed the chaotic noise of his friends. He missed Ignis’ complaining. He missed Terravarous’ quiet wisdom. He even missed Kairos’ terrifying, intense focus.

If the village boy can swing a heavy iron sword until his hands bleed, Velanor thought, gripping the cold stone railing, I can find a way to protect this stupid mountain.

"They didn’t listen, did they?"

Velanor turned his head. Captain Kael, the young commander of the border guard, was walking across the bridge toward him. Kael wore the standard silver armor of the wind troops and carried a long, curved steel bow.

"They think The Fallen is just a myth to scare children," Velanor sighed, rubbing his temples. "They think King Raezon is playing a political game."

Kael leaned against the railing next to him. "The elders haven’t fought a real battle in forty years, Velanor. They only know how to fight with words and gold. But the men on the wall... we believe you. We have felt sudden drops in the air pressure. The wild wind horses have been restless for weeks. Something is wrong."

"Just keep the archers on double shifts," Velanor ordered quietly. "Tell them to aim for the joints if they see anything moving in the dark, and tell them not to engage in close combat. The dark mist will rot their armor."

Suddenly, a loud, sharp ringing sound cut through the howling wind.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

It was the massive brass alarm bell located at the very bottom of the Whispering Pass. The Pass was the only road leading up the mountain to the capital. It was a narrow, steep path carved into the side of a massive cliff.

Velanor and Kael instantly stood up straight.

A red magical flare shot high into the sky from the lower guard post, exploding into bright, frantic sparks.

"That is a breach flare!" Kael shouted, his eyes going wide with panic. "Someone is attacking the lower gates!"

Velanor didn’t hesitate. He broke into a sprint across the stone bridge, heading straight for the steep stairs that led down to the Whispering Pass.

"Rally the wind mages!" Velanor yelled over his shoulder. "Bring them to the choke point! Now!"

Velanor ran down the winding stone stairs faster than a normal human should be able to. His heavy boots pounded against the rock. He didn’t have wind magic to make him light, but his earth magic gave him perfect traction on the stone. He didn’t even slip once.

He reached the main defensive wall overlooking the Whispering Pass. Dozens of wind guards were already standing on the wall, drawing their steel bows and shouting in total panic. They were staring down at the narrow cliff path below.

Velanor pushed his way to the front and looked over the edge, his blood running cold.

A massive, jagged tear in reality clinged in the air right in the middle of the narrow mountain road. It looked like a bleeding wound to the world, shimmering with a sick, toxic purple light.

Pouring out of the rift was a swarm of monsters. They were Mana Aberrations. There were easily thirty of them. They were twisted beasts walking on four thick, asymmetrical legs. Bulging, corrupted muscle tore through their gray skin. Thick black mist oozed steadily from their open jaws. They were trampling over each other, letting out deafening, gurgling roars as they charged up the steep mountain path toward the capital gates.

"Fire!" a lieutenant screamed.

The wind guards released their bowstrings. A volley of steel arrows rained down on the charging beasts. The archers used their wind magic to accelerate the arrows, making them fly faster and hit harder.

But it was entirely useless. The steel arrows struck the Aberrations’ bulging, corrupted muscle and simply bounced off. The dense dark magic coating the beasts acted like iron armor. A few arrows managed to pierce the beasts’ eyes, but the monsters didn’t even slow down. They didn’t feel pain. They just kept running up the path, their purple teeth snapping wildly in the air.

"The arrows aren’t working!" a guard panicked, dropping his bow. "They are too thick! The wind blades can’t cut them!"

Velanor stepped up onto the top ledge of the stone wall. He didn’t have Kairos’ blazing physical speed. He didn’t have Ignis’ compressed blue fire to melt the corrupted flesh. He didn’t have Luna’s terrifying gravity to crush them flat. He was alone.

But Velanor Banner was an earth mage standing on a mountain of solid rock. This was his domain.

"Stop shooting!" Velanor ordered loudly, his voice carrying undeniable authority. "You are just wasting arrows! Step back and let me work!"

Velanor jumped off the high defensive wall. He fell thirty feet through the freezing air, landing rigidly in the center of the narrow stone path, right between the terrified city gates and the charging swarm of Aberrations.

He didn’t draw a sword. Velanor crouched low, slamming both of his bare hands flat against the cold, solid rock of the mountain path. He felt the deep vibrations of the mountain. He felt the weight of the thirty corrupted beasts pounding against the earth.

You want to climb my mountain? Velanor thought fiercely. Then the mountain will eat you.

"Earth Shift," Velanor whispered. "Grinding Jaws."

He pushed a massive surge of his internal mana into the ground. The entire Whispering Pass frenziedly shook. The sudden earthquake was so strong it knocked the charging Aberrations off balance. The beasts stumbled, their claws sliding on the stone.

Suddenly, the solid stone path beneath the swarm split wide open. A massive, jagged trench formed instantly, stretching fifty feet down the cliff path. The front line of Aberrations shrieked as the ground vanished beneath their feet. Ten of the heavy monsters fell straight down into the dark pit.

But Velanor wasn’t finished. Creating a hole wasn’t enough to kill monsters. Before the beasts could try to climb out, Velanor twisted his wrists. The two sides of the massive stone trench deliriously slammed back together with the brutal force of a falling meteor. The rock crushed the trapped Aberrations instantly. The sound of snapping bone and popping muscle echoed up. Dark gray ash erupted from the cracks in the stone as the corrupted bodies were pulverized by the sheer crushing of the earth.

The remaining twenty beasts stopped charging. They clicked their jagged teeth, sensing the shift in the terrain.

Velanor stood up slowly, wiping a smudge of dirt from his cheek. He looked at the surviving monsters. He didn’t look like an arrogant, lazy noble anymore. He looked like a General.

"Next," Velanor challenged, raising his bare fists.

The largest Aberration in the pack let out a furious roar and lunged forward, bounding over the crushed stone. It aimed its shimmering purple jaws right at Velanor’s neck.

Velanor stomped his heavy boot into the ground. A solid pillar of sharp stone shot up from the dirt at a forty-five degree angle.

The leaping beast couldn’t change its momentum in mid-air. It impaled itself onto the sharp stone pillar. The rock tore straight through the monster’s corrupted chest, bursting out from its back. The beast shrieked, sliding down the pillar as its dark blood burned away into gray ash.

Velanor didn’t even watch it die. He was moving. He sprinted straight into the middle of the swarm. He used his earth magi, just like Terravarous had taught him. He didn’t armor his whole body. Every time an Aberration thrust a claw at him, Velanor raised his arm, coating his forearm in a thick layer of hardened rock to block the strike. The heavy claws sparked against the stone guard.

Velanor counterattacked brutally. He coated his right fist in granite, adding weight to his punch, and lunged his fist straight into the side of a beast’s knee. The joint shattered with a loud crack.

As the beast fell, Velanor summoned a sharp rock spike from the ground to pierce its skull. He moved like a dancer on a stage he entirely controlled. He turned the narrow cliff path into a deadly course. He created sudden walls of rock to block their charges, then dropped the walls to expose their blind flanks. He trapped their legs in quicksand and then hardened the sand into solid cement, leaving the beasts helpless before he crushed their heads with stone boulders.

It was a tactical slaughter.

Up on the defensive wall, the wind guards watched in stunned silence. Captain Kael lowered his bow, forgetting to breathe. The boy who the elders had mocked and dismissed was single handedly holding the pass against an army of nightmares.

Ten minutes later, the fighting stopped. The narrow mountain pass was completely silent. The purple rift in the air sparked once, then collapsed, vanishing from reality.

Velanor stood alone in the center of the path. He was breathing heavily, his chest heaving. His leather armor was torn, and a shallow scratch on his cheek was bleeding down his neck, but he was alive. The ground around him was covered in piles of gray ash. Not a single Aberration had made it past him.

He slowly let the granite armor fall off his hands, the rocks crumbling into dust. A loud commotion echoed from the stairs above. The ten Zephyros elders hurried down the stone steps, surrounded by armed royal guards. Elder Faelan looked pale and terrified. He stared at the piles of gray ash, then looked up at the empty sky where the rift had been. The elders slowly walked down to the bloody path, stopping a few feet away from Velanor. They looked at the young earth mage with new eyes. The arrogance was gone from their wrinkled faces.

"You..." Elder Faelan stammered, his hands shaking as he leaned on his wooden cane. "You were telling the truth. The dark mist... it actually came to our mountain."

Velanor turned around slowly. He looked at the old man, his eyes burning with cold, hard resolve.

"Yes, it did," Velanor said, his voice echoing off the sheer cliff walls. "And it is going to come back. The Fallen is just testing the gates."

Velanor walked past the elders, ignoring their shocked silence. He stopped in front of Captain Kael.

"Double the watch on the lower path," Velanor ordered. "Bring up heavy boulders and stack them near the edge. If the rift opens again, we drop the rocks on them. We don’t waste arrows."

"Yes, General," Kael saluted, genuine respect blazing in his eyes.

Velanor nodded. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, smooth piece of polished jade. It was a communication stone, enchanted to link with similar stones held by Kairos and Catherine.

He squeezed the jade stone tightly in his raw, bleeding hand. He closed his eyes, sending a brief pulse of his internal mana into the magical artifact.

The Wind Kingdom has been hit, Velanor projected his thoughts into the stone network, knowing his friends hundreds of miles away would hear him. Aberrations. A swarm of thirty. I held the pass, but the rifts are opening faster now. The enemy is mapping our borders.

A second later, a soft, echoing voice whispered back through the jade stone. It was Catherine Sylphyros.

We know, Catherine’s cold voice replied. Soltheia and I were attacked on the road two days ago. And we have a bigger problem, Velanor. The beasts aren’t just attacking randomly. I have studied the map of the rift openings. They are following the old magical leylines.

Velanor frowned deeply, looking down at the gray ash covering his boots. What does that mean?

It means they are not trying to conquer the borders, Catherine warned. They are testing the magical grid. The Fallen is looking for the central weak point.

Velanor slipped the jade stone back into his pocket. He looked up at the high, snowy peaks of his home. The first real skirmishes of the Great War had officially started. The kingdoms were divided, but the Vanguard Generals were firmly holding the line.

They won today, but Velanor knew this was just the beginning of a very long, very bloody nightmare.