Chapter 52-53 The End

Crystal Magic

A few days later, Rienna found herself staring at the bread and cheese meant for her lunch. She was hungry, but she just didn't want to eat it. She slowly picked it up and took another measly bite.

She was constantly bored but tense, which was an awful combination. She'd read through three of the books in the room already, just as something to do. In each, Jenni maintained an attitude that she had done no wrong.

According to the history book, one year, a hundred years after the beginning, the Sun burned a hole through The Suppression right over the palace, killing off the last of the royalty. Jenni, on the other hand, explained how it had been an attempt to remove the smog and that the royals had simply withdrawn themselves from any affairs outside their palace.

Rienna sighed and laid on the stone floor so she could stare up at the sky. This was the other way she passed the time: staring up at the clouds that decorated the beautiful blue sky. She preferred it at times like now, when the sun was hidden by cloud cover and her eyes didn’t hurt. It was certainly a lot more relaxing than reading Jenni's books, which only served to anger her.

Suddenly, something had shot across the sky, hardly visible and landing below the dome with a flash of light.

What was that?

Rienna stood and looked for another sign in the sky that something had happened.

There was a loud crash from below and shouts. What was happening? She approached the blocked trapdoor and stooped down to listen. There was fighting, far below, and lots of loud crashing noises.

Had someone finally come to save her?

There was loud stomping as someone began angrily climbing the stairs. Rienna rushed back to the bed and the trapdoor opened violently, flinging the furniture off it like they were nothing. The Sovereign appeared, glaring and wearing probably an entire shop’s worth of crystal jewelry. "Get up. Let's go."

"What? What's happening?" Rienna asked as the Sovereign dragged her down the stairs.

"Friends of yours are attacking. You will either tell them that you came here yourself and that I have done nothing to you, or I will drain all the magic from your body to be used against them."

"What if they keep attacking anyway?"

"The only reason they would attack this place is to save you and your friends," the Sovereign said. "Just tell them you're perfectly fine or else I will kill them all.”

Did she not know that the royals were trying to take back their power? Surely she would have guessed something was wrong after she found citizens outside Vieryen.

They traveled through stone stairways and passages, quickly going towards the sound of angry shouting. They came through a door and stood on a balcony over a large, open room. Below them a large group of people wielding strange contraptions were yelling and poking long spears at a rather pathetic looking line of fairyeld guards. They stopped once they saw the Sovereign and Rienna above them.

"I am Sovereign Jenni, ruler of you all. Cease this at once. We have no quarrel." Her hand tightened on Rienna's shoulder, reminding her not to move.

"You've kidnapped three people!" someone shouted. From her vantage point, Rienna couldn't see who. "Of course we have 'quarrel!'" There were shouts of agreement.

"Silence! I kidnapped no one! Let Rienna here explain." She looked pointedly at Rienna.

"No! Help us! She's kept us locked up for days!"

"What are you complaining about? You've had a nice room with a full bath and a view of the sky!" Jenni said angrily. "You have been perfectly comfortable! You condemn these people to death!"

"Let me go!" Rienna felt the familiar sensation of becoming lighter and saw a fuzzy tail out of the corner of her eye. "You lie! You don’t have enough power to kill them all without risking the collapse of The Suppression. You would have killed them anyway now that they know the truth! I will not help you!"

"Without you, I would have had enough power to finish this in a second while still keeping The Suppression up," Jenni growled. "But you will help me rectify that. With your magicka." She gripped Rienna's shoulder tightly and began to steal her magic.

Rienna did all she could to keep her magic out of the sorceress's grasp, but it was no use, she was being drained. But before Jenni could even steal half of Rienna's magic, she started yelling in pain and pushing Rienna away. "What-why?! What did you do?"

Even out of breath, and feeling terrible after losing so much magic at once, Rienna couldn't help but smirk. "Even after centuries, you don't know that two magickas cannot mix? What have you been doing this whole time?"

Jenni yelled as the last of Rienna's magic shot out of her in a flash of light, along with a good portion of crystal magicka as well. She turned to Rienna and stalked forward. "Get back here you little brat."

"Yeah, no," Rienna said backing up. "I'm good." She spun around and jumped effortlessly off the balcony.

People gasped below her, but she felt Xia’s magic quickly catch her. She was guided into a slow fall into the crowd and to her parents, who were waiting near the front.

She landed, returning to her normal weight, and rushed forward to hug her parents. They quickly embraced and looked up at the fuming Sovereign. Rienna glanced at the strange machines they were holding, but they didn't explain.

"You have all… made a terrible mistake," the Sovereign hissed, still breathing heavily. She grabbed a crystal pendant that hung around her neck and Rienna saw her take its magic.

"She's casting a spell!" Rienna shouted.

As Jenni shot a shower of fiery purple energy at the crowd, a dozen people lifted large shields over their heads, creating an umbrella for at least two other people next to them. The spell rained down on the shields and bounced off in a flare. Some went straight up and crashed into the ceiling, but many shot back at the Sovereign or towards the fairyeld.

"WHAT?" Jenni screeched, barely creating a shield to protect herself in time. Meanwhile, fairyeld attempted to dodge the scorching flames without magical help. Though they were mostly successful in avoiding the magic, only receiving a few glancing burns at worse, a wave a doubt washed over the group of fairyeld, more damaging than if the flame had hit them.

The Sovereign attempted another spell, much to the same effect. The ceiling was now looking a little unstable as darts of magic slammed into it, pieces of rock crumbled down and a few stones wobbled.

"Kill them!" the Sovereign ordered angrily. She twisted and shoved her way back off the balcony and out of sight.

The fairyeld hesitated, and a couple actually fled, but they still charged, swinging their enchanted swords.

Those with melee weapons fought off the wall of guards as people around them began loading their machines. Moments later, flaming balls were catapulted towards the guards. They burst in midair and bolts of force shot at the fairyeld. A couple turned into bluish bubble shields, hovering in the air.

Rienna turned to her parents. "My spells!" she realized.

Evie smiled and Christia came up behind her, grinning. "The idiots who kidnapped you left the wax. We couldn't tell which spells were which, but we figured that whatever you had made would be good enough to stage a rescue," the alchemist explained.

Above them, a fireball burst into three and shot down at the fairyeld.

"The moment someone cames out the Vieryen, we tells them what happened!" Xio piped up from Rienna's feet. "We hid in da grass for them."

Rienna beamed. "I'm so glad you found us. Where's Luke and Hana?"

The fairyeld started to retreat out of the room, followed by the cheering from the Order of the Jevitan. A few were tied up on the ground bleeding or otherwise pleading for mercy. The shields had rendered the magic swords less than useless, causing the swords to act unpredictably, leaving the guards with no choice but to surrender or flee.

Dave looked worried. "We haven't found either of them, yet. Do you know where they are?"

Rienna shook her head in dismay. "No! We were kept totally separate. I almost escaped once and found them, but they were moved somewhere else. I don’t know where they could have gone." The fortress wasn't small, either; they could be anywhere.

The doors shut behind the last retreating fairyeld and the crowd broke into a raucous cheer. A man Rienna recognized from the table at meetings climbed towards the balcony so he could be easily seen. He almost fell off the wall twice, so he contented himself with hanging halfway up.

"Fellow members of the Order!" he called. "The forces of the Sovereign are no match for our shields and weapons! We have rescued one of three, the other two could be in danger. Split yourselves into groups, making sure each has shields and weapons, and search the fort!"

People immediately obeyed and Rienna and her parents joined a group heading up the fort. They walked quietly through the halls, two shields both in front and behind the party. Rienna was forced to stay in the center of the group, where it was cramped, but still quite exhilarating.

They encountered no fairyeld as they traveled room to room. Rienna had a feeling that a lot of their loyalty lay in Jenni's power, and now that the omnipotence of that power was in doubt, they had chosen to flee and save themselves.

All of the rooms were as full of crystals as the halls, and just as lacking in prisoners. The most life they found was a garden that was growing cabbage. There was nothing and no one. The Sovereign herself seemed to have completely disappeared as well.

They were the first group back to the large room. The next had captured a few fairyeld, but otherwise found nothing. The excitement of the crowd became tense as everyone wondered where the last group was.

"Do you think something happened to them?" Rienna asked.

"I don't know," Christia said. "I can't imagine what. There's hardly anyone in this place, and they should be protected from magic."

Rienna nodded solemnly and scanned the doors again for any sign of the final group. Did the Sovereign go after her remaining two prisoners? Even if she had implied that she planned on killing them, why would she do that now? She had no use for them. But the question of where Jenni went lingered in Rienna’s mind.

Suddenly, the doors at the end burst open and the last group stumbled inside, slamming the doors behind them. Many people were being supported by others as they walked, and shields and weapons dragged along the ground. Everyone looked injured in some way.

Someone rushed forward to meet them. "What happened? Are you guys okay?"

A tattered woman at the front stepped forward to explain. "We were attacked by Sovereign Jenni and a handful of fairyeld. She cast her spell beneath our shields. We managed to rescue the two prisoners before being forced to retreat."

"You found them?!" Rienna pushed her way through the crowd to see better.

Luke and Hana made their way to the front of the group. They weren't as injured as everyone else but Luke was limping and Hana's hair looked like it had been through a hurricane.

Rienna ran up to them. She hadn't seen either of them since they'd been split and she was forced to talk to Sovereign. "Are you okay? Where did they keep you?"

"I tripped on my way out of my room, but otherwise I'm fine," Luke said. "We each got a tiny room by a staircase. It was… nicer than what I expected after last time."

Hana chuckled. "It certainly was. I still fought them every time they tried to feed me though. Ha! Got a few bruises, but I'm good."

The man who had clearly been made leader had reassumed his position below the balcony and was commanding everyone's attention. "Is everyone here? Can you all hear me? Now that we have rescued all three of our members, we have one last thing to do," he said. "We must find and defeat our long-time oppressor, Sovereign Jenni!" There were cheers. "I ask you all to split again, one group staying here with the injured and the others searching for signs of the Sovereign. Any critical information should be reported to me, here. On your way, grab as many crystals as you can, they are her source of power. Be back here in thirty minutes! And do not confront the Sovereign alone! We do this together."

Evie made her way to the former prisoners. "You three are staying here with me," she told them.

"What?!" they said together.

"I'm going after Jenni," Hana said. "I'm not going to just stay here. I'll go with that group there."

"No, you're not. We don't need any of you being captured again. Especially you, Rienna."

"But I want to help!" Rienna said halfheartedly. She knew already that there was nothing she could say to sway her mother.

“You can help here,” Evie said. “Not with the groups searching for the Sovereign.”

Rienna sighed and took a seat on the ground. The room had mostly cleared out, with the third group and a few other individuals staying to guard the wounded.

Minutes passed with no news of the Sovereign. Occasionally, groups of people would drop off a batch of stolen crystals, but they never had anything new to report. Rienna mostly passed the time by talking about her room and Jenni and the threats she had made. Luke and Hana reported similar threats against all their lives, especially Rienna's.

After that, Evie looked like she may never let Rienna out of her sight again.

A half hour later, the two groups returned with armfuls of crystals and no idea as to where the Sovereign went. They did announce that the majority of the crystals in the fort now lay in the mound piled next to the door near Rienna; all the crystals left were in chandeliers or embedded in furniture or walls.

No one knew where Sovereign Jenni had gone. Both groups had searched where she was last spotted and didn't even find any of the fairyeld guard. Some speculated that she had run, but Rienna wasn't sure. The Sovereign seemed too prideful, and a little too crazy, to just run away.

One group brought back rations stolen from around the fort and began handing them out. Everyone ate bread and cheese and any random foods found. Some people slept, but most just rested. Everyone agreed that they shouldn't leave until they at least knew where the Sovereign had gone.

Just when they decided to go searching again, the doors near Rienna burst open and a disheveled looking fairyeld ran into the room. "She's coming! She's coming for you all!" he shouted frantically. "You've made a huge mistake! She's going to-"

"That's enough, thank you." A bolt of pink and purple slammed into the man's head from behind and he collapsed to the ground, motionless. The Sovereign strode into the room and past the fallen fairyeld. Everyone froze and she smiled evilly. "Hello again. My, what a beautiful horde of crystals you have!" She walked over and reached to touch one.

"No!" Rienna cried, shooting force and knocking Jenni's hand away from the crystals. "Don't." She stood, clenched fists shaking with fear and the sudden burst of adrenaline.

Jenni looked at her and laughed disbelievingly. "What? You think that puny burst will stop me? That you can stop me? Fool." She reached again, quicker this time, but Rienna stopped her again. She grimaced. "You will run out of magic eventually, young mage. You cannot stop me."

"I can try," Rienna said, trying to sound defiant. She could tell that the Sovereign had hardly any magicka, and she knew that she had to touch the crystals to get any more. "Could someone please restrain her?!" she called desperately, making sure she was still paying attention to Jenni's every move.

Broken out of their trance, three people rushed forward. Jenni laughed again, her eyes darkening. She created a shield that bounced them violently back into the group. Rienna made the mistake of turning to see if they were okay and the Sovereign threw herself at the crystals.

Rienna tried to throw her back, but she just lifted a hand and blocked her spell. Jenni’s eyes began turning a brighter purple as she started to infuse herself with the crystals' magic.

Rienna did the only thing she could think of to combat such an imbalance of power: she threw all her remaining magic into her locket and grabbed for the crystals. She absorbed the crystalline energy so fast that it was painful. The moment she had enough magicka, she sent a powerful blast at the Sovereign, knocking her back and away from the crystals.

Jenni looked at her in shock. It seemed she had forgotten that anyone could use the crystal’s energy, not just her. Unfortunately, she had still managed to absorb a terrifying amount of magicka.

Rienna circled and blocked incoming spells until she stood between the Sovereign and the magic crystals. She stepped back until her feet were touching the pile, allowing her to take in more magicka, if need be.

They both stood there for a moment, breathlessly. Then Rienna glanced nervously at the people watching and Jenni grinned sinisterly. She lifted her arms and Rienna saw a wave of magic being formed.

Just in time, she thrust a giant shield over the people as a tsunami of darkness descended horribly onto the sparkling purple shield. Both spells crashed together and slid uselessly into the floor.

The Sovereign shot a bolt of violent purple fire at Rienna, and she just barely managed to stop it in time, letting another pink-purple shield of her own take the damage.

No words were spoken as they exchanged spells, Jenni becoming increasingly frantic but also more subtle and clever. Soon enough, she was casting multiple spells at once with an expertise that only came with centuries of practice. It was all Rienna could do to prevent any damage from coming to her or the Order of the Jevitan, and even so, a few spells got past her defenses and blasted into the crowd.

They both paused in their magic for a moment, considering each other. They were both at a disadvantage, Rienna with her inferior ability, and the Sovereign with her limited amount of magic. From what Rienna could tell, the woman wouldn’t last much longer if she kept up at this pace.

She risked a glance at the crowd. Why weren’t they doing anything? All their faces were full of fear, many so terrified that they had darted to the other side of the room to hide behind each other. With a jolt, Rienna remembered that these people had hardly seen any magic before and had lived lives of luxury and wealth. They had no real gauge for magical power besides the existence of The Suppression

The Suppression. What if… She recalled The Suppression the day Dabon had fallen in the river. She thought of the magicka lattice it was made of and the heat it created. Could she replicate that on a smaller scale? Create a bubble without magic around the Sovereign?

She closed her eyes and focused solely on the magicka around her. The Sovereign's form shone clear as day ahead of her. Rienna swirled the magicka around in front of her, slowly weaving a closing sphere. The Sovereign saw her preparing magic and started preparing another spell of her own. Rienna quickened, tightening the gaps between threads and finally shoving it around the Sovereign.

Jenni gasped as her magicka stiffened and she struggled to pull it out. Rienna added another layer of stifling lattice, and the woman’s movements became almost sluggish as she tried to stretch the magic into something useful. Her eyes were full of panic as Rienna approached the bubble. Only Rienna could see inside, looking through the realm of magic.

Rienna, somehow knowing she could, reached through the trap and grabbed Jenni's hand. Without saying anything, she took her magic for herself and stepped back. She turned to her shocked audience. "She no longer has magic," she said simply. With the seemingly infinite amount of magic within her, she had all the courage in the world. "Did anyone find a room without any crystals in it?"

The various leaders of the groups shook their heads. "We took as many as we could, but there was still some hanging from the ceiling and in frames and such." They looked at Rienna as if they thought she could explode at any moment.

Rienna sighed tiredly. "I'll bring her to where she kept me. I know there's no crystals there." There wasn't any audible response as she walked away, magically making the bubble float ahead of her.

She climbed through the fortress, Jenni’s bubble trailing behind her. If the Sovereign was saying anything, she couldn’t hear it through the magic. They passed a mirror and she glanced over at her reflection, coming to a stop. Her eyes were like Jenni’s, bright purple, no visible pupil as she kept an eye on the magical realm… soulless. No wonder they had looked at her that way.

Rienna was still processing what had happened herself. Just like that, the Sovereign had been neutralized, defeated. And she had been the one to do it. She was still full of magicka coursing through her body. She felt unimaginably powerful. She could easily imagine how Jenni had turned so evil; it was easy to feel like no one else mattered when you had so much power.

It was wonderful, but addicting, and somewhat sickening. Though that could be because she had probably absorbed twice as much magicka as her body could naturally handle. It was the opposite feeling to the pressure that she felt when she used up her magicka. Like maybe she actually could explode at any moment.

Jenni said nothing as she was dumbed into her new prison. Rienna made sure there was no magic within reach and evaporated the mini Suppression, taking any magicka within Jenni as well except for a small store that was probably necessary for life. "You can stay in here for now. It's really quite comfortable," she told Jenni. There was no answer. "If you're hungry, I never got around to finishing my lunch," she added.

She stepped down the ladder and closed the trapdoor. The key hung on a hook on the wall. She locked the door and took the key with her.

She walked listlessly back down to the giant room where everyone was. There was a loud chatter that she could hear long before she opened the door. There was so much excitement and relief. People were hugging, laughing, crying. Very few people even noticed when Rienna came in.

Her parents quickly saw her and ran to her side. “There you are!” "That was amazing!" "Never do that again!" "Are you okay?" "Where is she now?" Even with their enthusiasm, there was a hint of fear, not for her but of her.

Rienna took a deep breath. "I'm fine. She's in the room she kept me in. I have the key. It's locked."

Her father sighed gratefully. “Everyone was so shocked after what happened that by the time any of us tried to go after you we couldn’t tell where you’d gone.”

Her mother hugged her. "I'm so proud of you."

Strangers and friends alike thanked her and gave her their praise. Many of them seemed to think she was a second coming of the Sovereign, ‘but good this time.’ Many regarded her with a look of fear and awe in their eyes, something she was not at all used to.

Eventually, they gathered the captured fairyeld and locked them in prison cells, and after she was certain they were contained, Rienna released the magic within her to the crystals and restored her own. She handed one of the leaders the key to Jenni’s prison, assuring them that she no longer had magic and never would so long as they kept her from touching any crystals or any other magical objects.

Cheerful and victorious, almost everyone packed up and started the journey back to Vieryen, about a third staying behind to manage the new prisoners.

Rienna hurried out the door and looked out at where The Suppression once was. It had quickly faded the moment Jenni had lost her magic. Haze and smoke were still clearing out, but in the fading daylight, Rienna could see the whole of Vieryen below her. And high above the rest of the kingdom, the sandy spires of the palace jutted out of the clouds, glowing golden in the light of the setting sun.

After

The days after the Sovereign's defeat were… tedious, to put it lightly. While the rescue was being staged, the royalty and anyone who had stayed behind had done their best to warn the Kingdom. Unfortunately, their warnings hadn’t been heeded and there had been a lot of panic once The Suppression had started to fade. People were still locking themselves in their basements to avoid the light and refusing to answer the door.

There were a few conspiracies going around that didn't make things easy either. Some thought the Order of the Jevitan and the royalty must be demons, or at least bewitched. Others thought it was all a test of their loyalty to the Sovereign, and refused anyone who claimed she had lost her magic or that the royal family were the true rulers of Vieryen.

There were also those who, while believing what had happened, criticized giving people who hadn't been involved in Vieryen for decades any control. Rienna actually kind of agreed with that, to a certain extent. But at least the royals knew something about the rest of the world, thanks to Luke, and had passed down knowledge of ruling throughout those isolated generations.

For Rienna, the hardest thing was the aftermath of her battle with the Sovereign. She was still recovering from the overload, which had left her aching and sore. For the most part, she just stayed in bed all day, relatively unaware of what was going on in the rest of Vieryen.

Soon convoys were sent to the three nearest societies that Luke had told them about. Rienna gave them a letter to give to Jen in Rufdand and Luke went back to Westrikov. The final destination was a kingdom on the edge of a desert that was recorded as the most advanced and populated area in the upper continent. Hopefully they would find something worth trading with Vieryen.

Also, the start of school was postponed due to a lack of history, science, or magic studies programs that were based on facts. They were hoping the convoys might bring back a few teachers who could help re-teach the Kingdom these things.

As the people finally settled into a confused acceptance of what had happened, everything slowed down. The gossip mill wasn't running overtime anymore, the farmers quickly noticed and appreciated the sudden boon in their crops' health, and people were glad to finally have leadership that was present within the Kingdom.

Although, Rienna knew from listening to her parents that once people realized they had to start paying taxes things wouldn't be so celebratory.

Meanwhile, the fairyeld presence in foreign territories was quickly put to a stop, thanks to the weapons Christia had made and a few escaped fairyeld from the fort who had warned their Westrikov counterparts of the Sovereign’s defeat. Most fairyeld were left as prisoners in the fort with a small staff from the Order attending them, but some were granted to Rufdand, especially the ones that had been controlling the remaining two labor camps.

Rufdand and Westrikov were surprisingly generous, though not necessarily forgiving of all that had been done in the name of Vieryen. King Hoyand promised to send an emissary who would represent Rufdand and help bring Vieryen back into the modern world.

That was the most Rienna could understand, at least. The politics were remarkably complicated, and seemed sort of ridiculous at times. Anyway, there wasn’t much she could help with at this point. Her magic couldn’t make the transition of power easier, and if anything, it would cause more problems with Rufdand and Westrikov if they weren’t careful.

So Rienna chose to just enjoy herself and trust that the adults knew what they were doing. It was the first time in two months where she had nothing to worry about. Jenni was in a dungeon, fairyeld were being rooted out from all over, and she was free to do whatever she liked.

Which was, of course, spending time with Xio and Xia, who could now use their magic freely within Vieryen.

She didn’t know what she would do without them. Really, if it wasn’t for them, Jenni would still be in power and the Order would still be years away from any true progress. And Rienna wouldn’t have magic. She’d just be sitting here, waiting for school to start, believing the sun was a fairy.