The excitement builds as the release
of
Kriki's Gift, Book Two of the Geometry
of Power
draws near.
"Hold
fast!" she commanded as she projected her thoughts around them to anchor
them to sanity. "Think of the Spirit and all that you hold most dear in this
life." She took the full brunt of the Kwetwer's attack to give the others
a chance to recover.
Kalmar
and Gegen rallied behind Flindra's mental shield and steeled their thoughts
against the madness. They were soldiers and immediately counterattacked by
filling their minds with all things positive to counter the poisoned Darkness.
Their efforts released her from having to stave off the full battering. Just
as she had done when facing the evil seed, Flindra drove her focus deep into
her extended memories until she experienced the sense of oneness with all that
was now and all that gone before her. Due to the overlapping proximity of
Kalmar and Gegen's thoughts, she dragged them with her so they, too, became
aware of the encompassing wholeness and interconnectivity of life. Existence
was an exquisitely complex tapestry with the color and grandeur of the weft
threads fully interwoven and supported by the sturdy warp filaments, in a
masterful pattern of the Spirit's design.
Fortified
by this experience, the champions struck back at the Valkea and through her to
the Kwetwer beyond. If the power of the Nameless Ones was experienced as a
paralyzing coldness, the answering challenge of the Champions was expressed as
blindingly bright light, which produced a heat capable of melting a cold and
evil heart. For several moments, the opposing forces cancelled each other into
nullity, but then Flindra, Kalmar, and Gegen drew deeper into their personal
energies and the crystals responded with a power increase of three to the power
of three.
Within
the confined sphere they had projected around her, the Valkea could do nothing
to hold off the energy of the crystals. She was in a furnace fueled by the
focus of the Champions and felt her will weaken. The Nameless Ones had to rely
upon her strength to keep open the hole that allowed them to broadcast forth
their evil energies, so they became unable to respond to the Champion's assault
when the Valkea could no longer maintain the connection. She had become so
dependent upon the power of the Nameless Ones to fuel her attacks that she had
no reserves of energy of her own to fight with. Pushed by the growing force
surrounding her, she collapsed inward much like a hollow gourd will wither and
shrink when exposed to heat and sunlight.
The
Champions pressed inexorably onward with their assault and the Valkea weakened
and faded. It was difficult to say when she actually perished - she merely
vanished beyond the limits of perception.
"She's
gone," Flindra finally announced. "Let's drop the barrier. Kalmar
why don't you assess the situation around us while Gegen and I see what's
happening inside the caverns? We can enter the caverns now that the Valkea's
power has been broken. Before we attack the nursery we should be aware of the
full situation."
"An
excellent suggestion," Kalmar agreed. "It shouldn't take me long to
talk with my men. Then we will end this horror."
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