-We’ve got to advance the Quest to get things going,- I /murmured to the others as we sat up on the lip of Tenkarrdun, a wind hot enough to singe cloth already blowing past us.

  Three layers of protections against Fire, plus Roses of Celdon, were warding us, so we weren’t particularly worried about the flames or the Court.

  The fifty-foot tall Fire Elemental Lord with the vaguely draconic head, able to look down on Tim, was pretty impressive, however. Had a full court of Elementals in various colors, and the magma and diamond golums in the area were keeping a careful distance from it.

  The lava flowing down the outside of the caldera was actually forced up to the inside of the southern rim and then down toward the water. The inside of the crater was still red-veined solid black magma, still plenty hot, although ash and fire were also shooting up from four fountains or vents spaced around the place, the plumes expanding as they shot into the air and formed the raging ash cloud overhead. Winds seemed to be blowing it north over the ocean for now…

  -I see a Hellfire,- Briggs /stated, his grim Mask of Clarity down, something like a visored helm, fixing on the hot blue-white flames of our target Elemental. -No Behemoth, I don’t think…-

  -May have come here too fast? It always took a while for him to appear…- the Mick /murmured thoughtfully. -Still, no better time for Miss Suns-inside-Wings to go down an’ make a good impression fer us…-

  -Agreed. No wasting time. Let’s go, Lady Magos,- Briggs /directed simply, and it was so.

  Everyone else on Disks, I led them down, skimming just above the ground and ignoring the heated stones thrumming with a lot of Pyric Mana below me.

  This was indeed the source of the ley lines linked to the volcanoes on Dereth. I could only imagine where the source of this much Elemental Fire was coming from. Was it a fuel source for the unseen Wards under the island, a vent for the stresses involved, or simply a natural volcanic upflow ready to blow off being siphoned away?

  In the end, it didn’t matter all that much. We were coming down to the Court of Tenkarrdun, and that was that.

  Sound Bubbles went up as we came down, because the noise from the fumaroles made it impossible to think. However, if you actually spoke Pyric, you could understand them as basically one long sonata of praise being voiced in honor of the of the Elemental Lord here, like a choir calling out its name in exultation.

  I related that fact to the others, who all promised to be on best behavior.

  They couldn’t fail to see us coming down, especially me being as showy as I was. Those behind me were literally the coldest things in the entire crater, meaning they stood out like frozen icicles in a flame, refusing to melt or heat up. That didn’t mean they were unnatural, as the Elementals certainly knew the average temperature of this mortal world was much different from their own, but it did mean they did not naturally belong here.

  Eh, it was what it was.

  We swept by the ash plumes pouring fire and grit into the skies, the Mick remarking again how that was not something that had ever happened in all his previous runs of this Quest. Approaching the opposite end of the center area from the throne of black-veined crimson Fire Granite the Elemental Lord was seated upon, I slowed to a stop and bowed, waiting patiently to be acknowledged. The others followed suit.

  “Mortals, come to the Court of Z’rzzshszyz,” the amused half-telepathic voice came to us right through the ground, reverberating inside the Sound Bubbles. “Approach, cold ones, and tell Us why you dare to tread here.”

  “At your will, Great Elder,” I answered smoothly, gliding forwards into the center of the court. I approached no closer than a hundred feet before coasting to a stop and bowing again. Magevoice made sure my Voice could be heard over the tumult and blazing elemental song of the vents easily, and I was speaking in Pyric, which blended into the raging flames smoothly, instead of competing with them.

  “Interesting. A Bloodline of the Void Phoenix, and a Servant of the Fire and Ice together. A rare sight you are, little winged one,” the Elemental Lord remarked in Its crackling furnace of a voice, seeing right through me without any effort on Its part. “Tell Us what brings you to this place, Little One.”

  It hadn’t told me to rise, so I didn’t. “Great Elder of Flames, this one and her companions have come as a result of old Oaths Sworn in ages past, and now taken up again.”

  Lost Lights flared up on Crown, Motes of old glory strengthened by the Fires of Lethe and Esper. They swirled up and down the length of my Staff, impossible to miss, glowing with powers Sacred and Primal alike.

  Seven other Weapons - two Bows, two Axes, two Swords, and a Greathammer – touched down to hardened magma beneath them, and Lost Light lit up on all of them. The Royals had not been slow to visit Lethe and gain their Infusions as well.

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  “The Lost Light.” Z’rzzshszyz’s dragon-like head leaned forward to peer more closely at the motes of power around our Weapons. “It has been an age and more since I have beheld the Lost Light, and now a band of those Sworn to it come before me in my first visit to this realm in five millennia. How interesting.” It turned Its head slightly, including those Elementals in Its Court. “Who here is in charge of fulfilling the Oaths to the Lost Light?”

  The Hellfire was quick to step forward and bow to its Lord, saying nothing, but not needing to.

  Z’rzzshszyz turned back to us. “The ancient Oaths to the Lost Light will be upheld. Present the Infusions to those chosen by the Lost Light.”

  “As per the ancient agreements, those not taken personally by a Knight of the Lost Light will be offered to a Font of the Lost Light, Elder Z’rzzshszyz,” I agreed formally, waiting as the Hellfire strode forth on flaming legs.

  Bending without bones, the crackling Fire Elemental laid the full grouping of nine burning red Infusions before me on the ground.

  Kris was going to be irked she missed getting some of the first ones, but she could lead the Skeeters down here tomorrow, if everything went well.

  I was not the first to claim one, I was the last. Briggs led the rest off of their Disks, each stepping past me, one by one, kneeling down reverently to claim the Fires of Tenkarrdun for their Weapons, then retreating to their Disks, all without raising their heads to the titanic Lord watching us all closely.

  When they were done, I stepped forth last, claiming the last two Infusions, the illusion of Kris here just to fool any undead watchers from the distance and not even acknowledged as present by the Lord here, as indeed it was not.

  We’d all agreed to Anoint our Weapons before the Lord, completing the basic Infusions of the Lost Light. In tandem, we held the containers of force and fire over our Weapons, and the Lost Light reached into them to harvest the fire for their own.

  There was a definite shimmer to the Motes as they reached up to take the Fires and sank down into their Weapons. I felt the thrum in Crown’s heart, noting that the enhancement was definitely meant to favor Weapons over Implements, and not really designed to do both.

  Eh, didn’t matter much, when it came down to it. Mages had magic for their Tools, giving better Tools to master tool-users was only appropriate.

  The motes of Lost Light spiraling around our Weapons were scintillating through the spectrum with strength, yet somehow restrained and subdued nonetheless, resilient and enduring instead of flagrant.

  We still had one, maybe two more Infusions to claim, especially the penultimate one on Dark Island, under the Shrine to N’cthail there. Why the Radiant Infusion was found there, and a Shrine to a Dark Power was the guardian of it, didn’t strike me as all that propitious, as it meant the Dark Falatacot had to have wrested away control of it after the Order of the Lost Light fell.

  Well, we were going down in there blades first, and if they didn’t like it, tough shit. We’d take down their stolen Shrine, too!

  “This one and her fellows thank the Grand Elder for Their forbearance,” I intoned calmly, and bowed again to It, waiting calmly.

  It was a long five minutes before Z’rzzshszyz bent forward slightly, studying us carefully as we did not move until we had been dismissed, knowing our place. “Tell Us, Little One, what dealings do you have with The Deep?” It asked in a voice both curious and dangerous.

  “To the Grand Elder! Under TRUTH, this one and her allies were used by The Deep as the leaders of The Deep’s forces in a grand and lethal stroke against the Blighted forces of Ancient and Infinite-Tentacled T’Thuun! Furthermore, we have The Deep’s recognition for freeing the captive souls of its servants on the risen islands to the east of this island called Aerlinthe among our kind!” I answered immediately and forthrightly.

  The quiet Thunder accompanying the Word was still echoing vaguely off the stones of the caldera as I finished.

  “A Truthspeaker,” crackled the intensely interested Elemental Lord. “So, The Deep did not dare to Claim you, as We dare not Claim you for Fire.” I said nothing at this observation. It wasn’t selfishness so much as proper valuation of our worth and potential as mortal servants. “Was your stroke successful, Little One?”

  “To the Grand Elder! We slaughtered every adherent and servant of T’Thuun upon the Moarsman Island located to the south of the land of Dereth to the south of You, fed the Blighted to the Land, and sank its stolen temple under a mile of waters! The island entire has been Sealed, and its minions cannot incarnate there, while shelled servants of the Master of the Depths chant His Name endlessly over the decaying remnants of its Blight there for the next thousand years, burning It and letting It know the pain of facing The Deep endlessly!”

  The Elemental Lord smote Its chair, and for a hot second the blazing vents at the four corners of Its court burned with pure volcanic flame, shooting to the heavens in pillars of solid Primal Fire. The Court immediately flashed a thousand degrees hotter, and everyone was very, very happy for the layered Protections on them.

  “Well spoken!” Z’rzzshszyz proclaimed cheerfully. “And you have come to free this island of the stench of The Many-Tentacled One’s minions here?” It continued quickly.

  “To the Great Elder! That is our ultimate goal, but we do not have the power to face the Great Mistress of the Undead who claims this island as her Domain, and as long as she reigns here, we shall not be able to Seal the island against the forces she has called here to aid her!” I responded promptly.

  “She dares bargain with the Tentacled One?!” the Elemental Lord spat in a cone of fire that ended just three feet short of me, hot winds blasting back hair and cloaks. “Who is this upstart?!”

  “To the Great Elder! She is not of the Yalaini who first bargained with your people at this place! She is far, far older, and her name should be known to You! Among us, she is known as Lady Aerefalle, Leader of the Filinuvekta of the Dericost Empyrean Undead!”

  That sent the Elemental Lord back in Its throne visibly, and It was visibly pondering at my words. “That is an ancient and powerful name, indeed,” Z’rzzshszyz admitted after several moments broken only by pulses of flames alternately spewing curses upon enemies and singing of the glory of their Lord.

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