Jinn BLADE
Chapter 94 | Arrowfall

Chapter 94: Chapter 94 | Arrowfall

*bzzz... *Thud!

The ship let out a sharp whirr, its engines slowly winding down as it touched the ground.

With a low hiss, the landing gear extended, and steam billowed from the vents beneath.

The hull vibrated for a moment, then settled.

Inside, belts snapped open, clicks echoing through the metal walls as the group unbuckled.

Boots struck the floor, one after another, the sound of movement rising as everyone prepared to disembark.

Vox moved toward the nearest window and peered out.

A thick veil of black mist cloaked the outside world, swirling as if alive. Yet beyond that, through subtle gaps in the shroud, loomed a jagged mountain range.

It towered like a shadow over them, its massive silhouette stretching high and far, forming a crown of darkness above the veil.

With another hiss, the side doors of the ship slid open, releasing a burst of compressed air that rushed past them and into the mist.

Cold wind spilled into the interior as Venedix stepped forward, her gaze fixed ahead—eyes narrowing as she took in the hostile terrain in front of her.

"Prepare yourselves," she said, her voice calm but sharp.

She stepped through the doorway, the mists parting slightly around her form.

"No matter what happens—stay close and follow me."

Behind her, Troy and Zendrell exchanged a glance.

Troy said nothing, but Zendrell paused and looked back at the rest of the group, especially the younger ones.

"Wrap your eidra from within," Zendrell advised, his tone blunt but filled with meaning.

"Unless you want it corrupted."

He ducked slightly to pass through the exit, his hand brushing the edge of the door as he moved.

Troy followed closely behind, his dark cloak casting a long shadow through the mist.

"Well," Biyo said, stepping aside and extending his arm toward the exit,

"let’s not waste time. After you. I’ll guard the rear."

The children paused only briefly to exchange glances before stepping forward, one by one, into the eerie world outside.

As they emerged, the cold air wrapped around them instantly.

*Fwoosh!

The mist was thick and heavy, almost liquid in how it flowed. Each breath they took tasted of ash and iron. The mountain range now stood directly above them—monstrous, unmoving, ancient.

But it wasn’t the mountains that drew their eyes.

Something else pierced the sky above.

"Hey look at that!’ Kain pointed with his finger, making the rest of his friends turn their heads.

"Thats..." Orin muttered, eyes slightly widening.

A dark tower.

A humongous black tower stood far beyond, rising higher than even the peaks. The tower’s summit pulsed with violet energy that burst outward in silent eruptions.

That same energy slithered down the sides of the tower like veins of lightning, reaching out into the clouds and dyeing the heavens in a dark, malevolent hue.

"Well, that’s not intimidating at all," Verhedyn muttered, folding his arms, eyebrows furrowed.

"That’s probably where Jinn is!" Ophelia pointed out.

"I don’t like the smell of this place..." Garan growled, his nose twitching as his lips peeled back slightly in disgust.

"It reeks of pests."

"Good thing we brought you, Drakkar," Zendrell said, glancing over his shoulder armor.

"We’ll need your nose to find Jinn."

"Jinn... the leader of the children." Garan’s voice dropped to a murmur as he closed his eyes, focusing.

The world faded from his mind as he tried to remember the scent left behind by Jinn’s eidra during their encounter.

His nose twitched slightly, and he took a slow, measured breath.

"His eidra was strange," he said, face unreadable.

"It smelt like two different sources merged into one."

He turned his head toward Venedix.

"And one of them smells just like you."

Venedix heard him.

But her face remained neutral, yet something shifted in her eyes.

Still, she didn’t react nor answer, she remained quiet as usual.

But within her mind, her thoughts were already spiraling, wrapping at the words that Garan said.

Jinn carried the Sunder Surge—her eidra, her essence.

Her legacy.

But that wasn’t all.

Garan had detected another... something ancient. Something tied to the Muradryn—which for Garan, was unknown and strange.

Venedix had never known Jinn had possessed that power.

Maybe that was why she had felt the pull—the strange, impossible instinct to save the boy when she had struck him down dead.

Maybe it wasn’t mercy.

Maybe it was her soul, reaching toward its own lost shard.

A whisper of something larger at play.

Destiny, perhaps.

Still, she couldn’t dwell on it.

Not now.

Right now, they had to save him. If they failed, Malgareth would gain Muradryn.

And Jinn would die.

"Move," Venedix said plainly as she moved forward.

As commanded, the group pressed on, boots crunching over dark gravel and twisted ground.

===

Eventually, they reached an enormous gate embedded into the foot of the mountain. It stood over at least fifty feet tall, built from a metal darker than night, slick with oozing black eidra that slithered up and down its pillars like serpents.

Zendrell stepped forward, staring at the structure.

"So... what now?" he asked. "Do we go in quiet?"

Troy slightly raised his staff.

"Maybe I could use one of my—"

But before an answer could be given to Zendrell and before Troy could act, Venedix unsheathed both of her swords in a blink.

*ssshk!

In a single motion, she crossed them and brought them down.

*CRACK!!!

The air cracked as both blades slashed into the gate, carving a massive X that sheared through the thick metal like it was paper.

The halves of the gate trembled. Then, with a groaning screech, the X split open, the pieces falling inward and forming an entrance wide enough for them all to pass through.

"There’s no time for subtlety," Venedix said as she stepped through.

"We kill anything that stands in our way."

The instant the gate fell, the surrounding mists began to churn violently, the air vibrating with unseen force.

*Howl!!! *Fwoosh!!!

The world seemed to scream, announcing their trespass.

Zendrell laughed under his breath and walked through the X-shaped opening.

"You never did like sneaking around, sister."

Hector furrowed his brow in seriousness, walking just behind Zendrell.

"Let’s move. We have to save Jinn."

"You don’t have to tell us that," Orin replied.

The rest of Jinn’s friends followed without hesitation. Biyo and Garan took the rear, eyes sweeping the edges of the path behind them.

They passed through the gate and entered a corridor cut from dark stone, its walls flickering faintly with corrupted eidra.

The ground sloped upward and eventually opened into a massive stairway that spiraled upward that so tall that the steps disappeared into the clouds above.

"Well... shit," Verhedyn said, raising his neck.

"We’re actually climbing that?"

"Mhm," Zendrell smirked, turning back. "Not necessarily."

Venedix raised her swords again as if on cue.

She didn’t speak, simply extended them outward, as if feeling the shape of the world—shape of the air.

Then she moved,

*SLASH!!!

slashing them both with a precise motion that cracked the air.

A tear ripped open, jagged and glowing red, like a wound in the fabric of reality.

*BZZZZ!!!

The portal pulsed violently as she stepped through without pause, her body vanishing into the crimson rift.

"Told you," Zendrell muttered. He followed her, disappearing into the tear.

"Come on, don’t fall behind."

One after another, the others entered. The last to pass through was Biyo, who glanced back once before stepping into the unknown.

A burst of light—then silence.

They reappeared on the other side with a resounding crack, the air around them shimmering as the portal closed behind.

What greeted them was a wide battlefield at the base of the tower.

But it wasn’t empty.

Thousands of heavily armored soldiers stood in formation—hulking figures of warped flesh and metal.

Their armor was black and jagged, and their swords pulsed with dark eidra.

They weren’t alive.

Mists poured from their empty mouths and eye sockets.

They were dead, yet they moved.

And in front of them stood a woman.

She wore a horned half-crown which was obscuring half of her entire face. Yet her mouth glinted with amusement.

A staff rested in her hand, almost lazily. Her smirk twisted her lips as she stepped forward.

"Well, we’ve been expecting you," she said. Her voice was smooth and venomous.

Zendrell’s eyes locked on her. His face tightened, and his body tensed.

"Jirael," he snarked.

He stepped forward, the ground cracking beneath his stride as crimson eidra flared around him.

"I’ll take her," Zendrell growled.

"You all go ahead. I’ll catch up—after I smear this witch across the stone."

"Very well," Venedix didn’t argue.

She raised her sword and unleashed a vertical wave of eidra,

*CRACK!!!

to which sliced a clean path through the ranks of undead soldiers.

The soldiers were cut apart instantly, bodies bursting into dust and mist as she surged forward. The others followed, pouring through the opening.

"Stop them!" Jirael shouted, pointing her staff. The undead surged to intercept them.

But then Zendrell let out a roar.

*RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!

It wasn’t just a battle cry—it was something deeper, more primal.

Crimson eidra exploded from him in all directions, crashing into the advancing soldiers like a wave.

The sound alone made the air tremble.

The soldiers faltered, their momentum broken.

Even Jirael staggered, her eyes wide.

Zendrell raised his massive sword and pointed it directly at her.

"Been a while, Jirael," he said, voice like thunder.

"How’s that coward Malgareth doing?"

Jirael snarled and raised her staff, its tip crackling with dark light.

Crimson and violet clashed as the two surged toward each other.

And behind them, Venedix and her group carved their way toward the tower.

Toward Jinn.