Chapter Twenty-Three
“What the fuck is the Straight Path?” I asked.
“Of course, you wouldn’t know,” Horix said with a look of disdain. “Xilarion is a great warrior and Augmenter, but his views of the world are absurdly skewed. His obsession with peace would prevent him from showing his students other, better paths.”
“Let me guess. Your path is the shortest distance between two points to reach power.”
“Indeed.” Horix nodded. “The Straight Path is the path of purity and righteousness. It is unbending adherence to the superiority of Augmentation and of those who learn it in a studious, disciplined fashion. It is the purging of corruption and aberration from our world, to make it clean once more.”
“You mean getting rid of the Wilds,” I said. “People like the fishfolk who don’t fit your ideal model. Or those who hold to other paths that emphasize peace. Or different forms of learning.”
“You are a testament to the superiority of traditional Augmentation,”Horix said as he gestured to his dead disciple at my feet. “Our paths converge, Ethan. You must see that.”
“I’m doing the Swordslinger thing,” I said. “The one that protects people and opposes those who would wield their power to destroy others. People exactly like you. ”
Horix laughed. “There hasn’t been a Swordslinger in centuries. Every time a young hopeful sets out along that journey, those of the Straight Path recruit or eradicate them. We have a better world to build, and your meddling simply slows the process.”
“So, academically, you’ll be surprised when I kick you off this balcony and into the ocean?”
I turned my attention inward to the Vigor flowing through my body. I called forth the power of water and let it rise to the surface. My Frozen Armor repaired its own cracks and dents, smoothed off the broken stubs of spikes, and reinforced the plates that had been weakened by Cadrin.
“Well, well.” Horix raised an eyebrow. “You’ve taken to our arts faster than any I’ve seen. And yet you are only scraping the surface of your powers. Think on it, Ethan. With the Depthless Dream in our hands, all of the Diamond Coast will finally find peace and prosperity. And then we can look beyond this small part of the world.”
“You been down there lately?” I asked as Sunlight Ichor ran into the joints of the ice armor and joined the plates into a sealed, flexible exoskeleton. “You brought war on these people. This is what you wanted. You can stand there all day and talk to me about prosperity and learning, but you’re just a maniac with delusions of grandeur.”
I extended the ice and sap all the way down my hands to the tips of my fingers to create jointed gauntlets. The ichor sealed the suit, and a slight relief eased the wounds and scrapes from the battle below. It gave the joints of the Frozen Armor more flexibility.
Horix observed me for a long moment and raised his hand. Ice crackled into being around his hand as fire flared between his fingertips. Both elements worked together, the fire not melting the ice, and the ice not dousing the flames. It was a different way of combining elements, not into something new but to complement each other.
“Do you really wish to strike me down, Ethan?” he asked. “I’m not just another Augmenter like the ones you have faced. Like you, I am an elementalist. And unlike you, I have decades of experience bending them to my will. You’re outmatched.”
I wasn’t going to be intimidated by a show of force, but that didn’t mean I shouldn’t pay attention. The powers running across his hand were a reminder that by combining fire and water, he could create acid. My additional powers of wood and sap would only get me so far against a guy that could probably melt flesh like wax.
I dug into another of my sources of power and called forth a layer of ash underneath my armor. Fire Immunity wouldn’t stop pure acid, but it would slow the process. It took a lot of Vigor and left my reserves dangerously depleted, but I didn’t want to be left vulnerable to anything this asshole could throw at me.
“Thanks for the invitation to join your little club,” I said. “But my answer remains what you’d expect from a simple disciple of Xilarion. My path might not be the straight one, but it’s taking me where I want to go.”
I advanced cautiously and raised the Sundered Heart.
“The Depthless Dream. Has he activated it?” I thought to Nydarth.
“He’s simply using it as a conduit for his power,” she whispered urgently. “He outmatches you, sweet man, but he still requires time. His little speech was simply a ruse.”
There was a surge of energy, and Horix stood coated in his own elegant set of curved Frozen Armor. He flung pale green Ice Spears toward me. I cut one out of the air, and the shards hissed as they touched the frosted marble beneath my feet. Another hissed past my cheek as I pulled up a Flame Shield to deflect the last one.
My armor held true against his attacks, but I knew that the Guildmaster was toying with me. I needed an advantage that gave me an edge against him. My environment had some promise, so I melted acidic Ice Spears with Untamed Torch as I soaked in my surroundings.
We stood on a wide, open balcony formed of rough-surfaced ice edged with a well-carved balustrade. The ocean stood out to our left, and to our right, the green haze of Horix’s Toxic Blizzard began to fade as he turned his attention entirely toward me.
Horix pointed the Depthless Dream and formed a green haze that stung my face, melted my armor, and burned with each indrawn breath. An Acidic Cloud. I had never been on the receiving end
