A Diamond in the Darkness Pt. 02

~~~ Author's note.

I want to apologize for this chapter taking so long. I had several things come up in my personal life that made it hard to keep writing sometimes. I hope the length makes up for the wait and that you all enjoy it. ~~~

Screams pierced through Eli and Saleasi's dream like a knife. Both bolted straight up in the bed, their heads almost colliding. Eli was a bit panicked at first wondering what was happening and where his clothes were, before the events prior to this came flooding back. Quickly Eli swung himself up off the bed, and grabbed the cloth form of his armor as his magitech suit materialized across his body.

Saleasi followed behind him, pulling a short sword from the rift generated by her suit. Almost as soon as Eli and Saleasi had gotten to their feet the door burst open as Revis was flung through it. Standing in the splintered remains of the door was a shapeless form, that stood roughly eight feet tall. It seemed to move like smoke, with eyes that glowed a sickly green. Eyes that immediately locked on Saleasi and Eli. It shifted itself slightly, the green eyes narrowing as if it were trying to discern what Eli was.

Saleasi dove in slashing at it with her sword. Its silvery blue blade passing cleanly through the creature. It didn't even react to the slash. The gap that the blade had made quickly, and quietly closed, as if it had never happened. No blood or viscera, just wisps of what looked like smoke. That same smoke began to coalesce into three long and thin needle like shapes before plunging towards Saleasi. They drove deep into her shoulder before dissipating. Blood gushed quickly from the three holes left behind and Saleasi dropped to her knees, a scream of intense pain erupting from her.

The creature began to move towards her. The sounds of her scream causing it to emit a noise, that sounded like a distorted chuckle. Its form shifted again, as a section of it extended and coalesced into a long slightly curved blade. As it brought the blade down there was a loud clang that sounded like metal connecting with metal. Eli had jumped in front of the blade holding his combat knife. The small knife in his hand shook against the pressure exhibited by the creature.

"Eli!" Saleasi shouted, her mind focusing back on what was happening in front if her instead of the pain in her shoulder. Eli continued to strain against the entity, its eyes shifting to focus on the person in front of it. The blade extension shifted and dissipated as the creature moved back about three feet. It seemed to study Eli for a moment, it's eyes appearing to narrow. Another blade began to extend from its form as it prepared for another attack.

"Is Revis still alive?" Eli asked Saleasi, not taking his eyes off the creature. She moved carefully over to where the male elf had landed and placed her hand on his neck. There was a faint heartbeat, and his breathing was slow, but he didn't move. "Barely." She said her voice filled with worry.

The creature lunged at Eli with the blade it had created. Eli jumped out of the way but not before the tip of the blade connected with his leg. It left a long gash running down his the length of his calf. White hot pain shot throughout his body like lightning. His muscles seized and he crumpled into a heap as he landed on the floor.

He struggled to breathe for a moment. It was like being shocked by a high voltage stun gun, before suddenly the feeling left. Blood was still pouring profusely from the wound on his leg despite being shallow. He forced himself to stand, his eyes blurred, and he strained to focus. The amorphous shape of the creature seemed to shift in front of him, solidify, the area where the eyes were became more spherical.

"A drone..." He muttered as it turned away from him and back to Saleasi and Revis. He tried to swipe at it with the knife but the blade only met air. "Saleasi it's a drone! Aim for the eyes and you'll actually hit it." He shouted, and the creature let out a sound similar to an angry screech as some of the smoke shot out towards Eli, and the main body of the creature lunged at Saleasi.

Eli braced himself, and closed his eyes. He knew he was probably about to die, since he couldn't move out of the way in time. There was a sickening crunch sound, but he didn't feel any new pain. He waited for what felt like forever, before finally opening his eyes. He was alive, though still bleeding profusely. Saleasi was standing near by, her breathing heavy, covered in a viscous black sludge.

At her feet was a metal orb, the outside of which was crushed and twisted. Saleasi's sword was embedded deep into where one of the eye lenses had been. She gave Eli a weak smile, before her legs gave out and she flopped onto the floor next to the still unconscious Revis. The sounds of fighting continued on outside, the dying screams of those whose blades couldn't find purchase echoing throughout. Everything went black for Eli shortly afterwards.

He awoke to the flickering light from magitech torches. His eyes opened slowly, and his body ached. He looked around slowly, his vision still blurry. All he could make out was the form of someone standing near by, at what he assumed was, a terminal. "Oh, you're awake." A voice came from the form. The person sounded feminine in nature, but the voice was higher, and seemed a bit younger.

"What happened?" Eli muttered weakly, his voice raspy and his throat dry. The shape of the woman came over to him and the sound of her hitting keys on a keyboard echoed around him. "You passed out from blood loss after the encounter you and Lady Saleasi had with the creature." She replied and carefully placed a straw against Eli's lips. "Drink up, the lady will be by shortly to check on you." She said and Eli obliged.

He was expecting water, but instead it was something thick and sweet. His mind could only relate it to honey, but there was something different to it. As he drank is weakness subsided slightly, and his vision cleared. In front of him was indeed a woman, but she wasn't an elf like Revis or Saleasi. She was humanoid in nature, but she had some traits more similar to a lizard or some kind of dragon. Her face was mostly human looking, though she had onyx scales sporadically along her cheeks and jawline. Her eyes were a bright emerald color with slitted pupils, she had messy auburn hair, and he swore he could see a set of wings and a tail swaying behind her.

The unexpected appearance of this woman caused Eli to choke on what he was drinking and go into a short coughing fit. At that very moment Saleasi, and Revis both walked through the door, heard Eli coughing, and saw the woman standing over him. "What the hell happened?" Revis said immediately grabbing Saleasi by her shoulders keeping her from mauling the draconic looking woman. "I'm alright! Just got surprised and choked on my drink." Eli choked out in-between coughs.

After Eli had stopped coughing, and situated himself he looked at Saleasi and smiled. "I'm glad you're alright Saleasi. Though I'm a bit worse for wear it seems." He chuckled a bit when she looked at him with a mixture of confusion and worry, before gently grabbing her hand. "It's just a saying Saleasi. It just means I've had a hard time."

He paused for a moment, several thoughts crossing through his mind. "Alright I have a few questions. First, and most importantly. What happened to cause these attacks? There's no way this was unprovoked." He said, and watched as concern once again crossed Saleasi's face. Revis sighed and looked him dead in the eyes.

"We caused it, obviously, but our intentions weren't malicious. Our magic lets us bend aspects of reality, make fire, and teleport short distances." He paused for a second to collect his thoughts. "We figured out that we could amplify the strength of the spells with our technology. Hence the suits, armor, and the myriad of other things." He gestured to several of the things in the room. "However, we began to run out of resources for the technology we were building."

Eli sighed and shifted in the bed. "So you began looking for a new planet to harvest." He said feeling his heart sink slightly. He could feel the guilt coming from Saleasi. He squeezed her hand gently.

Revis nodded his face sullen and melancholic. "Except we were impatient, and used magitech to try and speed up the process. We tried to make a teleporter that could send a small fleet extreme distances to uninhabited planets with the right resources." He had pulled out a small device, pressed a few buttons and a three-dimensional hologram projected from the center of it showing the large ring shaped piece of magitech. "When we activated it, it appeared to work just fine. We sent a fleet of around ten ships, and for the first week everything went as planned. The workers we had sent were collecting resources at an excellent pace, until one of the diggers unearthed something."

The hologram shifted to show a set of ruins buried deep underground. The aforementioned digger laying at the center of the ruins a couple hundred feet down from the hole it had made. It shifted again and showed an expedition going into the ruins, a door, and then smoke. "This happened ten years ago, and caused the death of the late queen. We have since constructed the Gates to move around the universe. The attacks from the creatures only started a year ago." Revis put the device away again, and sighed.

"So the entirety of this planet is being destroyed because of a lack of resources and overzealous curiosity." Eli stated firmly. "You said 'we', does that mean the entire elven race or just the Dusk Elves?" Revis looked slightly confused for a moment. "The elven race as a whole was involved in making the teleporter and going on the expedition."

"I understand that the Dusk Elves are the last remaining, but the guilt doesn't fall solely on their shoulders. We will figure out how to finish this conflict without the extinction of your race." Eli said his voice calm and caring. "So why did you dismantle the teleporter ring?"

"That was my father's doing. He blamed the others for the death of my mother and had it destroyed out of spite." Saleasi said anger filling her voice. Eli squeezed her hand again and moved to the edge of the bed. "To be fair milady, long range teleporters are a bad idea anyway." The dragon woman chimed, before looking up from the terminal.

Eli looked at her confused. "I know of several planets get eaten by the rifts they create. Similarly to how this one is, piece by piece. I'm from one of those planets actually, and warned the king before the fleet went out. He didn't head my warning until they had returned and the news of the ladies death had been relayed to him." She continued. Her eyes which had been cheerful, now showed a deep sadness.

Saleasi turned to her in shock. "My father knew it was unstable and still let my mother go through it?" She started to get up but both Eli and Revis stopped her. "Now isn't the time to confront him Saleasi. He's still mad about you bringing me here. Going and confronting him now would only make things worse." Eli said slowly letting go of her arm and returning his attention to the dragon woman.

"You answered my last question, but who are you?" He asked and she bowed toward him. "My apologies sire, my name is Ilesha al Dracovia. Last of the Dracovia, and their former princess. I work for Lady Saleasi and now you."

Eli shot a look at Saleasi, and she nodded. "She was a refugee around twenty years ago, and her ship crashed in the garden just outside my mother's study. We're roughly the same age and my mother helped raise her, despite my fathers protests. We grew up together." Ilesha bowed once again before returning to her work at the terminal.

"Sire, the readings show you are back to full strength, and may leave whenever you wish. Please don't hesitate to come see me of you feel any pain or fatigue." Ilesha chimed and Saleasi giggled slightly and winked at Eli. "I think she likes you, she is usually much more crass with those who end up here." Eli gave her a confused look.

"I was unconscious most of the time I was here, so I couldn't have done anything to warrant it." He paused a moment. "Actually how long was I out?" He asked realizing he had no idea on how much time had passed since the fight. "Thankfully only a few hours have passed since you lost consciousness." Saleasi replied, her voice shaking slightly at the thought.

Revis cleared his throat and bowed to both of them. "I am completely responsible for it having gotten past me. Of which I am ashamed, and wish to apologize." Saleasi waved her hand at him, and placed it on his shoulder. "Revis, you did all you could. It threw you through the door and you were knocked out from the force of it. No blame falls upon you."

Revis stood straight again, shame and guilt still showing on his face. He was a warrior and a guard trusted to protect the heir to the throne. "Yes princess, thank you." His pride was hurt, and his voice conveyed it clearly.

"I have to check on the remaining guards." He said making an obvious excuse to leave and nurse his pride. "Eli, whenever you're free Charo said he needs a word with you, he's been working on upgrading your armor to something more fitting. I'm sure the princess will be able to show you around." Revis bowed once more and took his leave.

As the door shut, Eli stood and felt his legs wobble slightly against his weight. "I have another question Ilesha. What was in that stuff you had me drink. It tasted like a thing on Earth called honey, but creamier and my pain went away almost instantly."

Both Saleasi and Ilesha blushed slightly but Ilesha smiled. "It was indeed honey, but I mixed it with breast milk. Female Dracovia milk has a potent healing quality. Though only Saleasi and I have ever used it before sire." Eli blushed brightly at her response and sat back down on the bed in surprise.

Saleasi turned to him, her face still red. "I told her to give it to you. I know you weren't extremely hurt, but survivors of the attacks have taken weeks to heal even minor wounds." It took Eli a moment to fully process what she had said. "I see... that's an interesting ability." He said, trying to pick his words carefully to not make Saleasi angry or offend Ilesha.

He cleared his throat after a moment. "Thank you for taking good care of me while I was unconscious Ilesha." He could feel his face heating up once again and hopped off the bed. "Shall we go and see quartermaster Charo?" He said looking over to Saleasi who giggled at him. "That we shall my love." She replied and interlocked her arm with his to help hold him steady.

She gave a sly wink to Ilesha, who giggled and bowed to them both. "Do take care sire, but please don't hesitate to return. Even for just a visit, it gets lonely with only Saleasi to talk to." Saleasi gave a haughty, but playful huff in response as she lead Eli out of the medical area. Eli recognized the hallway from the last time they had come through. It was the same one they had come down after leaving the hangar bay.

His legs were still a little shaky as they walked and he felt embarrassed about leaning on Saleasi for support. "You could have died last night." She said her voice firm but caring. "You were in danger, and I couldn't just let you die." He replied and felt her grip tighten slightly.

They once again walked through the large garden, the tree showing signs of damage. The obsidian bark had large gash marks in places, showing a deep purple color of the wood underneath. A few of its large branches laid in the water at its roots. "They've never attacked the castle directly before. We thought it was a safe haven for people to hide." Saleasi's voice was downtrodden, and heavy as they walked past. Eli squeezed her arm gently.

"We'll fix this Saleasi. Your people will be safe, we just need to plan." He said as they took a split in the path and began walking into an area Eli wasn't familiar with. The hallways were in disrepair. There were bricks missing in places, and beams were either splintered or broken. Scorch marks marred the walls and broken machinery littered the ground. "What happened here?"

"Most of this was caused by Charo tinkering and inventing." Saleasi replied and let out a small sigh. "He's the best in the kingdom, but sometimes he tries things that are extremely...unstable." As she said that there was a large explosion at the end of the hall. A large reinforced metal door laid on the floor, across the hallway from where it once stood. Thick smoke billowed out of the now blown doorway.

"Ah, damn it. Warped the fucking chassis again." Charo's voice echoed out between coughs. There was an audible click, and a whir before the smoke began to dissipate. It had fully cleared by the time Saleasi and Eli made it to the door. "Ah, princess and the young master right on time." Charo said, his voice oddly chipper sounding despite his face being covered in ash and soot from whatever had exploded.

Eli took a look around the room as Saleasi lead him to a chair. There were parts of machines strewn all throughout. Swords and armor lined one of the walls, and there were pieces of technology that he had never seen before. He noticed that the drone creature from the night before was sitting, in pieces, on the table in front of Charo as he took a seat.

"What caused that explosion?" Saleasi asked, frustration in her voice. Charo gestured to the remnants of a crudely constructed automaton laying in pieces about five feet from where she and Eli were. "I've been trying to recreate this thing, with my own spin on it. Something keeps going wrong however." He replied, his brow furrowed.

"Whatever created these things, they made them complicated and extremely efficient." Charo chuckled slightly, a gleam in his eye. The same kind as someone talking about something they really enjoyed. Eli was completely confused at this point. "Why would you want to recreate that thing? It almost killed us." Eli said, his voice shaking slightly as he did.

It didn't seem to faze Charo in the slightest. In fact he laughed, a deep belly laugh. "Because young master, if I can possibly reproduce my own we can use them to fight for us. Hells if I can make it well enough we could possibly infiltrate the place those things come from and find out how to get rid of them."

Then it clicked, Charo was doing what he does best in order to save lives and stop the conflict. More than what Eli had done so far. "I'm sorry Charo, I spoke without thinking." Eli said his head down. Saleasi put her hand on his shoulder, but the older elf just laughed again. "I don't blame you, considering what you dealt with so shortly after consummating your bond with the princess."

Both of their faces went red as those words seemed to echo throughout the room. "H-how did you know what happened last night!?" Saleasi was mortified and her expression kept jumping between anger and embarrassment. "The servants talk, milady. None of them may have seen anything, but they sure heard you."

Silence hung in the air for some time before Eli cleared his throat. "So, we were told you wanted to see me?" He asked, his face still red. "Ah, right. I remade your armor and made a weapon for you." Charo quickly made his way to the back of the room as he said that.

There was a loud clatter as he moved things around in the back room. After a few minutes, he returned carrying a long box and had a new piece of the magitech armor laid on top of it. "This piece of armor should work better with your biology, and offer better protection than the first one I made you." He said to Eli while handing the dormant armor to Saleasi. "Now as for this, I have designed it to adapt to almost whomever is wielding it."

He opened the box, and inside sat a beautifully crafted arming sword. The blade appeared to be made of a mixture of metal and gemstone. With the main core of it being some sort of dark metal, and the edge a dark purple crystal. The cross-guard shined a deep bronze color, and had three more of the purple gemstones embedded into it. The handle was simple, and wrapped in a dark red leather. The pommel was the same metal as the cross-guard, a flat circle shape, and had a dragon engraved into it.