The Gate of Eight Worlds

Chapter 32:The Chain Breaker

The heat radiating off the white sand dunes was relentless, but the dry desert air carried none of the suffocating iron soot of the foundries. As the party pressed down the sloping ridge toward the base of the floating marble mesa, the shadow of the colossal plateau fell over them like a sudden wave of cool relief.

Anchoring the floating landmass to the desert floor were four massive, iron-bound chains, each link forged from black steel thicker than a man’s torso. Around the base of the eastern chain, the Iron Sovereign’s vanguard had established a heavily fortified forward post. Steam-driven siege engines hissed continuously in the shade of the brass barricades, while two dozen brass automata—their hulls polished to a mirror shine to reflect the scorching rays of the twin suns—marched in rigid patrol lines around the anchor pins.

"They've bolted high-pressure steam winches directly into the chain mounts," Caleb noted, crouching behind a wind-carved dune alongside Queen Natasha. "They're attempting to pull the entire mesa down to their level."

"They won't get the chance," Alex said.

He stepped into the open, allowing the double sunlight of the twin suns to wash over his raised right hand. The Sun-Crest on his palm flared with a blinding, incandescent white radiance that cut straight through the shimmering thermal haze. The energy coursed down his arm into his broadsword, enveloping the steel in a soaring pillar of solar flame.

The brass sentinels turned in unison, their crimson optical lenses locking onto the sudden surge of power.

"Intruders detected," a hollow, mechanical voice echoed across the dunes. "Purge the crest-wielder!"

The automata raised heavy repeating crossbows and pressurized flame-lances, opening fire as they surged forward. Iron bolts rained down like hail, while torrents of liquid steam-fire scorched the sand.

"Barnaby, sweep the flank!" Princess Rose shouted, unstringing her longbow and dropping to one knee.

Above the dunes, the crest-griffin let out a piercing screech, diving straight out of the golden suns. Barnaby snapped his golden wings inward, using his terrifying speed to rake his heavy talons across the front line of brass sentinels, smashing three of the automata into the sand before climbing back into the thermal updrafts. Rose followed instantly, firing three broadhead arrows in rapid succession that shattered the exposed steam valves on the heavy winches.

Queen Natasha and Caleb charged the left flank, their blades flashing in the double sunlight as they cut through the disoriented guard ranks. Natasha’s silver sword cleaved clean through the brass armor of an overseer construct, while Caleb drove his hatchet into the primary pneumatic line of the steam-fortress, causing the entire brass bunker to vent its pressure in a deafening roar.

Alex sprinted straight down the center toward the primary anchor pin. The lead vanguard commander—a towering automaton clad in heavy, heat-resistant brass plate—stepped into his path, swinging a massive dual-bladed halberd that hissed with pressurized steam.

Alex didn't slow his stride. Channeling the combined resonance of the five key shards humming in Dwaho's satchel, he unleashed a sweeping, upward strike with his sun-fire blade.

The white-hot solar energy sliced through the halberd's shaft like parchment, cutting straight through the commander's brass chestplate and detonating its internal steam core in a brilliant flash of golden light.

Without pausing, Alex leaped onto the base of the giant eastern chain. He drove his blazed sword straight into the central iron pin securing the chain to the desert bedrock.

"Dwaho, clear!" Alex yelled.

Dwaho, watching through the electric-blue glare of the Sight, shouted back, "The pin's structural load is at its peak! Strike it now!"

Alex unleashed the full power of the Sun-Crest, sending a wave of concentrated thermal energy through the steel. The massive iron pin shattered into glowing fragments.

With a thunderous, echoing SNAP, the eastern chain recoiled upward like a striking serpent, whipping into the air as the floating marble mesa surged fifty feet higher into the sky, breaking free of the Sovereign's iron winch.

"The mesa is rising!" Queen Natasha called out over the grinding roar of stone and steel. "We have to reach the climbing vines before the remaining chains hold!"

Alex turned toward the suspended landing ramp as Barnaby swept low over the dunes, ready to carry the party up to the rising citadel.