The Stonekiller

{{Storyline
 * author=Jenna Helland
 * hasSetting=Dominia
 * storyBody====A Modest Village===

The pebble was a hazy green, like the eye of a dead fish. Like the eyes of the girl in the village yesterday.

"Runt," the green-eye girl had said. At first, Lia had no idea who the girl was talking about. And then she saw those fishy eyes looking straight into her own. "Worthless runt."

Even girls she thought of as friends joined in to mock Lia: "No one wants you here... your fingers are freakish... Are you stupid and lame?"

It was true, her fingers were curled like claws. Try as she might, Lia couldn't straighten them completely. Even her mother, who was the village healer, couldn't fix them. Lia had never cared, at least not until yesterday. She balanced the pebble on her knuckle. She didn't even know who the green-eyed girl was. She'd just asked to join their skipping game. Stupid fingers. Stupid runt.

Lia dug her toes into the sandy riverbank and stared hard at the sparkling river. Today was the first time her parents let her play by herself near the water. Her father and older brother were just over the rise in the field, but she couldn't see them, so she felt alone. Lia stared at the pebble. Make the green-eyed girl disappear. Instead, there was a popping noise, and the pebble crumbled on her knuckle. Despite herself, Lia smiled as the green dust swirled away in the warm summer breeze.

Unfortunately, she didn't have the power to make the girl disappear. She could make rocks crumble, and that was it. Mages were rare in her village, and none of the other children had any casting abilities. Her mother said it was a gift. Lia wasn't sure; it wasn't like the world needed any more dust. But her mother insisted she was special. All great mages started somewhere, and pebbles are as fine a place as any.

The village was about a mile away from Lia's family farm, and her mother was tending people there again today. Usually Lia went along, but not after what happened with the girls yesterday. I'll never go there again. The village was a ragtag collection of houses and shops built among the ruins of a castle. Before the Conflux came and remade the landscape, the castle had been one of the jewels of the Bant.

Lia was too young to remember the hellish years of torment and war that followed the merging of Alara, but she often wished she could have seen the castle in its glory days. All that was left was its high tower and the four corners of its outer wall. The elders said they were blessed because the village was in a region that was much like the old Bant. Only the southern horizon had changed during the upheaval. An unnatural mountain range had clawed its way out of the earth and forever blocked passage to the sea.

Bant had been a vast realm. A beautiful land of floating castles, seas of lush grass, and the bluest skies you can imagine. Lia loved the elders' stories about old Bant, especially about brave knights fighting hordes of undead monsters. Suddenly, she resolved not to waste any more time thinking about the green-eyed girl. Instead, she leaped to her feet and searched for sticks, which could serve as Grixis hordes. With a fistful of twigs, Lia recited the story in her mind: It was a crisp autumn day when Eos Castle was besieged by creatures too horrible to imagine.

Lia mounded up sand for a castle, and then smashed it with her fist. The stick hordes poured into the courtyard! They broke through the wall! Knight Aran fought valiantly atop his horse! She was just about to unleash the ballista when something moved in one of the trees on the other side of the river. The sunlight glinting off the water made her squint, but she glimpsed someone perched on a tree branch, hidden among the leaves. Just then, a gust of wind rattled the branches, and Lia saw her watcher. Its body was covered in spotted fur. Pointed ears stuck up from its head, and its face was more animal than human.

"Mami!" Lia screamed, even though her mother was far away. When Lia looked back, the creature was gone.

Usually, Lia's family ate together and then told stories until bedtime. But two of the village hunters were missing, and her father and brother joined a search party. Lia ate her stew alone on the little stool by the iron stove while her mother comforted the young wife of one of the missing hunters.

Lia knew better than to interrupt, although she desperately wanted to tell someone about the thing she'd seen in the tree.

"...strange signs on the road to the mountains," her mother was saying to Cele, as the young woman nervously twisted the end of her braid.

"They were tracking a herd that way," Cele said, her eyes were brimming with tears. "Maybe they went up into the mid-lands."

Her mother noticed Lia was watching them and motioned her over. As the firelight danced across the rafters, her mother slipped an arm around Lia and pulled her close.

"Did you have fun by the river today?" her mother asked. "It was such a pretty day."

Lia nodded. "Are there cats who walk like people?"

Her mother's brow furrowed. "In other lands, Lia. Why do you ask?"

"I saw a thing that had a cat face but a body like us," Lia said, half-expecting her mother wouldn't believe her. "In the trees along the river."

Cele's eyes grew enormous and suddenly her mother was saying how late it was and bundling Lia off to bed. And maybe they could have sweet bread for breakfast? Lia fell asleep and dreamed of girls with pebbles for eyes and floating sand castles.

The next morning, her father's eyes were sunken with tiredness. He hugged Lia and wanted to hear her story from the day before. People were trying to act normal, but Lia could tell something was very wrong. Everyone's faces seemed pinched too tight and she heard them whispering about the missing hunters.

At mid-day, Lia's mother sent her outside after she promised not to wander beyond the shadow of the cottage. But she grew tired of playing by herself under the eaves and decided to run circles around the house. The eagle flew over Eos Castle...With her arms outstretched like wings, Lia ran around the corner and bashed into something. She stumbled backward and was caught by strong hands. As a dark bag fell across her eyes, she glimpsed a cat-like face. They'd been waiting for her behind the cottage, where there were no windows or doors, and no one to see her disappear.

That night, the demon came to the village.

He came while the hunters' wives were weeping for their husbands. He came while Lia's parents frantically searched for their daughter. Just as the crimson sun disappeared behind the unnatural mountains, the demon seemed to materialize in the starry sky. His presence immediately afflicted the villagers. They became weak and ill and fell to their knees. A ring of black-clad servants encircled the village, and as the noose closed around them, none had the strength to raise their hands in defense.

By morning, a sickly wind blew through the open door of Lia's cottage, which was as empty as the rest of the village.

The Sculptor
The Sculptor surveyed his work with a critical eye. To the uninitiated, it must look like chaos. But to him, every clink and jangle of bone was a perfect harmony to the breathing of his master, Nefarox, who slumbered in the tunnels below the arena.

It was early morning, the servants still in their cages. Seventeen minutes until sunrise, and then the supervisors would have them working again. But for a few precious moments, the world was wonderfully peaceful. The hum of locusts in the trees on the ridges that surrounded the worksite was the loudest sound. For once there was no screaming, no wailing, no scraping of bloody meat off bone.

His worksite had once been a massive Matca arena where Nayan humans fought for sport. Everything in Alara had a former life. Even him. He had crafted bodies from etherium in Esper before he realized his work had been a perverted lie. The Sculptor sighed, angry at his misspent youth. Now, he was an old man, but at least the master had given him a purpose, a reason to keep on living.

He took a deep breath and placed one foot on the bottom rung of the ladder. Time to tally the signs. The ritual could only begin when the numbers aligned. If something was one tick off, the project would fail. The Sculptor felt a ripple of panic at the thought of disappointing his master. If he failed, it would be better to cut his own throat than face punishment.

The Sculptor counted the rungs as he climbed. Seventy-six steps, and he was at the top. From this vantage point, he could assess how his great work was progressing from a bird-eye view. Months ago, the Sculptor had removed the stone benches that encircled the arena—five-hundred sixty-six benches. The servants dug deep pits to hold the carcasses before they were skinned. One-hundred forty-two pits. Most were now brimming with discarded meat.

Ninety-two. The number of knife strokes to skin a behemoth.

Feeling very kingly, Sculptor eased himself onto the walkway, which creaked and shifted under his weight. It was constructed from the bones of a hellkite the master had slaughtered in the high peaks. The dragon's beautiful corpse had moved the Sculptor to tears. Indeed, it was the seed of inspiration for the entire project. Etherium had no life inside of it. But bone? Bone was imbued with blood and power—energy he would harness for his master.

The servants had carried the skeleton down precarious mountain paths. Once installed, the ribs branched out and down to form a cage around the arena floor. The spine was the walkway on which he now stood. When he bent down and touched the bones, he could still feel the immense power of the hellkite pulsing through the marrow.

One-hundred twelve. Number of total hands needed to move the hellkite's corpse. Three fingers lost.

The Sculptor enjoyed a gust of wind. It brought a scent of honeysuckle from the golden lowlands. The warm air rattled the bones hanging from ropes beneath his feet. Seven-hundred sixty-nine silk ropes. Seven-hundred sixty-nine bones. Sometimes he wished he were a puppet master and could make those bones dance like marionettes. But that would be the master's pleasure. And all the power derived from the ritual? That was the master's reward.

An abrasive metallic screech tore the Sculptor away from his reverie. The twisted metal gate swung open, and new recruits filed into the arena. Bant humans from the grasslands, probably that miserable little village near the ruined castle. They were bound together with rope, and the Sculptor counted carefully as they passed under the hellkite's spine.

Forty-seven bodies. Plus the two hunters they'd caught spying on them earlier. Forty-nine bodies.

The Sculptor's breathing quickened. Frantically, he tallied the figures in his mind again. Was it possible? Yes, all the numbers aligned.

It was perfect. And after such a long wait, it would be tonight.

The Sculptor dug his fingernails into the hellkite's ribs and prayed that the master liked his gift.

Cats and Keys
Lia bit the hand that pulled the bag off her head. Something yelped, but didn't strike her. Instead it set her gently on the ground and backed away.

"I'm Nira," it said softly. "And I'm sorry we had to meet this way."

Lia stared up at a cat-like person and decided it was a girl. Three more of cat-people stood warily by, as if they felt threatened by the tiny girl glowering at them. Boys, she decided. They had manes.

"I want to go home!" Lia shouted, startling all of them.

"Have you ever seen the ruins on the mountainside?" Nira asked. Her golden fur was decorated with black spots. Blue-stone jewelry dangled from her pointed ears. And the whiskers around her pink nose quivered even when she wasn't talking.

"What are you?" Lia demanded, looking around. They appeared to be inside a cave. Torches hung on the wall, and blankets had been laid out over the red-dirt floor.

"Haven't you seen a nacatl before?" Nira seemed surprised. "We're Sunstrikers. Our pride is loyal to the great teacher, Ajani. It's our sworn duty to keep his lands safe."

"These aren't his lands," Lia said petulantly.

"The demon that lives in the ruins is a threat to us all, no matter where we call home," Nira replied.

"Please?" Lia said. "I want to go home."

The Sunstriker looked over her shoulder, as if hoping her companions could make this easier. They said nothing. "The demon is harvesting the bones of creatures for a ritual. . ."

"Ritual?" Lia asked in confusion.

"He's killing countless creatures just to give himself more power," Nira explained. "We've been hunting him for a long time. Many of our pride have died, including most of our mages. He's taken your village, which I didn't expect to happen so quickly."

"Taken them where?" Lia wondered if the demon had the green-eyed girl, and then felt guilty for thinking it.

"To the ruins here in the mountains," Nira told her. "If you don't help us, they will die. I wish you didn't have to hear that, but it's the truth."

Lia thought of her father and how tall he was. She couldn't imagine anything that could hurt him. "Let's go see my father. And my mother is a mage. She helps people all the time."

The Sunstriker looked sad. "You must help her. Your family is at the ruins, too."

Lia hugged her knees and wondered why she didn't feel anything. This all seemed like part of a bedtime story. A cat that could talk. A demon in the mountains. Surely Nira was wrong. Her family was safe in the cottage, waiting for her.

"We must attack before the demon completes the ritual," Nira said. "For my plan to work, we need a stonekiller, and ours have all been killed."

"What's a stonekiller?" Lia asked.

"You are," she replied. "I watched you by the river. You'll be a powerful mage day."

"Breaking pebbles isn't very useful," Lia said doubtfully.

"Today, you break pebbles. Tomorrow, you will smash walls. Someday, castles might crumble in your passing."

Lia stared at her with awe. Lia galloped by on her white horse, and Eos Castle tumbled to the ground.

Nira unsheathed her sword. With the tip of the blade, she hurriedly drew in the red dirt. Lia watched her curiously.

"Like you, a dragon has a spine," Nira told her. "But unlike you, some dragons have a large plate that connects to every rib. It's also where the wings attach. We call it the keystone."

"Keystone?" Lia asked.

"Keystone means something important," Nira said. "If you destroy this plate, the skeleton will fall. And then the ritual can't be finished."

"You want me to kill a dragon?" Lia whispered. She didn't want to Nira to think she was weak, but she didn't want to disappoint her either.

Instead of answering, Nira sheathed her sword and took Lia's tiny hands in her own. "Can you climb?" she asked gently, inspecting Lia's curled fingers.

"Better than the other children," she promised.

"What is your name?" Nira asked.

"Lia," she said.

"Among my people, a warrior receives a new name before her first battle," Nira said. "May I give you yours?"

Lia nodded. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her, a warrior?

"In my language, kaa means 'power,' Nira said. "You are now the warrior, Kaa-lia. You will kill the keystone. And you will bring your family home."

Kaalia of the Vast
Just before sunset, Kaalia lay beneath a dead tree on the ridge overlooking the arena. Except for Nira, the ragged band of Sunstrikers had already disappeared into the trees. They would circle around and launch their assault from a different direction. Kaalia stared down at the frenzied scene in the valley. She tried to rehearse Nira's instructions, but her thoughts felt like they were moving too fast.

The pointless slaughter of innocents must stop.

The hellkite's skeleton was like a horrible house.

Kill the keystone, destroy the skeleton.

The dangling bones swayed in the breeze and made hollow, rattling music.

Destroy the skeleton, stop the demon.

Kaalia whimpered, but Nira didn't move. She was watching the scene below intently.

Stop the demon, bring your family home.

As the sun disappeared behind the dark mountaintops, a line of black-clad people shuffled silently into the arena. Strips of black cloth crisscrossed around their throats. Kaalia didn't see her family, or anyone from the village either.

"Those are his servants," Nira whispered.

"They want to be here?" Kaalia was horrified. She could smell a horrible stench coming from the ruins. How could anyone want to be there?

"They might be controlled somehow," Nira said, as a flash of red light blinked from the ridge across the valley.

"That's our signal," Nira whispered. She grasped Kaalia's hand, and the two scurried down the overgrown slope, through a gap in the crumbling wall, and crouched behind one of the massive ribs. They were only a few feet from the main floor, and Kaalia realized her teeth were chattering with fear. She clenched her jaw as the servants formed a circle around the hanging bones. Kneeling, they held out their hands with palms open to the night sky. An emaciated bald man wrapped in tattered furs strode to a platform on the northern end. He was grinning, but it was a toothless, wicked smile that made Kaalia shudder.

During an earlier reconnaissance mission, Nira had discovered pockmarks along the outside curve of the rib that would allow them to climb it and stay out of view of the floor. But just as Kaalia put her foot on the first notch, the ground bucked violently. The servants shrieked with glee, and the sound of their laughter made Kaalia feel sick with fear.

"Let's go," Nira urged. "We have to hurry."

As Kaalia climbed, the rough surface scratched her hands. The servant's chants grew louder and more demanding. A thunderous boom shook the earth, and the servants shrieked in pain. Their palms had simultaneously split open. Droplets of blood began to cascade upward into the sky. Kaalia looked down at Nira in horror. Skin couldn't rip open on its own. Blood didn't rain up.

"If you destroy the keystone, the bones will fall," Nira encouraged her. "All this madness will end."

At top of the rib, Nira leaped onto the spine first and helped Kaalia up. A strong wind seemed to rush in from all sides, and the bones swayed precariously under their feet. At Nira's direction, they flattened themselves on the walkway as sickly fumes began to rise from below.

The bones were sharp against Kaalia'a belly as she inched toward the keystone. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the other Sunstrikers fighting through a mob of armed men to attack the bald man on the platform. In his haste to escape the Sunstrikers, the bald man scampered up a ladder up to the walkway. At the top, he caught sight of them and howled with rage. Nira leapt to her feet.

Nira drew her sword. "Do it now!"" she ordered Kaalia.

Kaalia crouched in front of the keystone. Her feet kept slipping between the gaps in the spine. I'm going to fall. Just inches below her, the hanging bones undulated with magic she couldn't comprehend, fusing together and then falling apart. It was hypnotizing. Kaalia didn't want to look away. If I look away, I'll fall.

"Kaalia!" Nira shouted. She pounced at the bald man, but he dodged her strike and countered. Nira raised her sword to block, but the force of his blow almost knocked her off the walkway. For a leathery scrap of a man, he was unnaturally strong.

Kaalia tore her eyes away from the mass of bones below her. But she felt jittery, terrified. How could she make her mind calm, like it needed to be when she broke pebbles?

"Shut out the world!" Nira screamed. "Pretend you're somewhere else!"

Kaalia pressed her hand against the smooth keystone, closed her eyes, and wished she were by the river again. Bant had been a vast realm. A beautiful land of floating castles, seas of grass, and the bluest skies you can imagine. Under her fingers, the keystone grew warm. It was a crisp autumn day when Eos Castle was besieged by horrible creatures. Kaalia imagined the sparkling river rushing by her bare toes. They broke through the wall! There was rippling sound, and then her fingers felt only emptiness. Lia galloped by on her white horse, and Eos Castle tumbled to the ground. When Kaalia opened her eyes, the keystone was gone and a gaping hole nearly bisected the spine.

Triumphantly, she called out to Nira, but rough hands yanked her off the walkway. The bald man was shaking her and screaming in her face. Behind him, Nira was struggling to her feet. Blood matted the fur on the Sunstriker's head.

"You rat!" the man screamed. "You're the final number! Your blood will light the fuse!"

And he threw her off the side.

With cat-like grace, Nira leapt after her. In mid-air, she encircled Kaalia in her arms and they fell together. Just before they landed, Nira twisted her body so she cushioned Kaalia's fall. Above, there was a loud crack as the spine snapped. The bald man hung on for a moment before the hellkite's ribcage split in half and crashed down. His body slammed against the floor with a sickening thud. Bones clattered to the ground, raining down on Kaalia as she desperately tried to tend to Nira. Kaalia's vision spun dangerously.

"Nira!" Kaalia sobbed. "We stopped it! The skeleton fell to pieces."

"Well done, little warrior," Nira whispered. "Now flee from here. The rest of us are lost."

A blast of energy radiated out of the ground, which split open and left a jagged scar across the arena. Bones and bodies flew like feathers in the wind. Kaalia slammed against the arena wall, frantically shielding her face from the debris that tumbled around her. He arose from the rift that now cut across the floor. His wings cracked and snapped as he ascended slowly into the night sky.

It was as if the entire world has narrowed to a single point—him. He whipped his blade through the air, and the screams of the dying echoed through the valley. Fighting for consciousness, Kaalia glimpsed an image of the Sunstriker's face swirling in the smoke above her, and then the world went black.

When Kaalia awoke, a weak sun was rising in the east, casting a white pall over the devastation around her. Nothing moved amid the wreckage. There were no sounds except the distant hum of locusts. The bodies scattered among the wreckage were charred beyond recognition. Across the valley, half of the ridge was gone, with just a smoking crater in its place. The demon had escaped.

She knelt beside the last place Nira had laid. Kaalia felt empty. Like her insides had been ripped out, and there was just shadows left instead. I'll kill the demon. I don't know how yet, but I'll find a way to make him suffer. Out in the vast wilderness, that is where she would find her revenge. }}