He landed outside the doorway, and immediately a hulking four-armed lizard with black skin leaped out of the nearby flames, ambushing him the second he landed.
He blasted it back with a quick and overwhelming dose of golden light. He didn"t have time for this.
Alin kicked the door open, but no one was in the house.
Then where were they?
A thud sounded behind him, as though someone was playing the earth itself as a drum.
He spun around.
The Naraka Incarnation crouched across from his house, though it hadn"t been there before. Alin would have noticed this creature, as it was ten feet of ashen skin and blazing hair. It thumped its enormous lizard-tail, waving a burning hammer the size of an oak tree.
The Incarnation spilled Ilana to the ground, where her body flopped like a rag doll. She didn"t move.
It raised its other fist, which tightened around Tamara. With all her strength, she struggled to break free. Alin"s stomach tightened.
The Incarnation leaned his hammer against his own shoulder, freeing his hand to reach down for Tamara"s travel-bag.
"I smell Ragnarus," the Incarnation grumbled, in a voice like a mountain"s. "Is this your doing, Elysian Traveler?"
Tamara screamed his name, shouting for him to run away.
Alin called all the golden power of Elysia, ignoring his exhaustion, summoning from his Territory until his brain felt ready to tear itself apart.
Run away? She should know him better than that.
With orange light, Alin launched himself in the air, streaking for the Incarnation"s face. He slammed into the creature with the force of a catapult stone, halting his momentum by shielding himself with the green at the last second.
In midair, he turned, summoning his golden sword to slice off the Naraka Incarnation"s hand at the wrist.
The Incarnation howled its misery in a terrible voice, every Naraka creature in town howling along with it, but its hand tumbled to the ground. With a last-second effort of will, Alin managed to catch Tamara in a cushion of orange light before she hit the ground.
Alin landed gently beside her, beginning to summon rose-pink light for her injuries. At least he had managed to save one of his family members today.
Tamara looked behind him and her eyes widened.
"Watch*" she began.
Then the Incarnation"s flame-headed hammer caught her in the ribs.
It had swung one-handed, missing Alin by inches, but hitting Tamara square in the gut. She flew backwards, tumbling head over heels, before smacking into the walls of a brick house fifteen paces away.
Her neck was twisted almost all the way around.
No, Alin thought. Wait. That"s not right. That"s not supposed to happen.
I got here in time.
He looked from Tamara"s body to Ilana"s. Where was Shai? Surely she should be around here somewhere, unlessa aunless there was no body. Unless a monster had eaten her whole, because there was no one around to defend her.
The Naraka Incarnation loomed over him, its orange eyes glowing the color of embers. Its severed hand dissolved into ash, blowing on the wind in a solid cloud that drifted up to the end of its stump, grafting itself back on. In seconds, it had two hands again.
"I smell guilt on you, Elysian Traveler," the Incarnation rumbled. "I smell death, and arrogance like a river. Let me punish you. There can be no justice without recompense."
Alin just stared up at the hideous monster, unable to speak.
Why did it feel like his eyes were burning?
"So be it," the Incarnation said. It took its hammer in a two-handed grip and swung down onto Alin"s head.
Alin raised one hand and caught it.
His hand blazed green, in an interlocking swirl of green plates ten layers thick.
He glanced down at his body, surprised to see blood-red light swirling around all his limbs, filling his body with power. He hadn"t opened the door to the Red District.
The ground around his feet cracked under the impact of the Incarnation"s blow, but he barely felt anything.
Lights and colors swarmed his mind, where his Elysian power normally rested, as though a dozen dams had burst within him at once. So much that had once eluded him became clear. Simple. He had the answer to all the world"s problems, and he had to share them.
No, he didn"t have the answer. He was the answer.
Alin shouted, releasing a torrent of power.
Behind him, a Gate to Elysia opened. Not just the usual Gate*six feet tall, barely wide enough to walk through*but an enormous portal the length and breadth of the City of Light itself.
The Gate glowed gold, bringing with it light like a sunrise.
The creatures of Elysia heard his call, and they came.
By the thousands, they came.
Armies of white and gold marched from the Gold District, wielding blades the color of sunlight and spears like frozen lightning.
Across the village, far beyond the reach of Alin"s eyes, another Gate opened. The Green District poured out: emerald t.i.tans, shield-backed turtles the size of horses, armored figures carrying hammers and shields. There was no way Alin should be able to see them coming, not from so far away, but for some reason he could picture each detail with absolute clarity, as though part of his mind drifted freely through the city.
From the Blue District came lizards with three tails, scampering along the ground. Ethereal fish drifted through the air, and nameless tentacled creatures lurched down the streets. They latched on to the nearest Naraka monster with their sticky, twisting arms, draining life and heat from their victims. Narakan corpses fell to the ground, cold and empty.
On and on, the City of Light hurled its residents forth in a fury of power. They clashed with the burning creatures of Naraka in a dozen different armies, their battles echoing in bursts of flame throughout the village of Myria.
Alin"s senses expanded, drifting out on winds of silver light. He had been confused when Rhalia had first described silver light to him*how could light be the color of silver? But now he could see it, he could feel it drifting in the air around him. It looked like shards of metal drifting on the wind, each shard just a spark of the Silver District"s light.
The particles blew out, touching every corner of the city, searching according to his will.
In seconds, he knew that Shai wasn"t in the village at all. There was no living person of Shai"s description in range, or his silver light would have detected her. He had lost her after all*the silver light could only find the living.
Her death was his fault. It was not a matter for guilt, but for responsibility. He would have to find a way to atone.
He learned something else as well: Ilana was still alive. Barely.
Two of his sisters dead, and one with only the weakest hold on life. Despair threatened to overwhelm him, but he pushed it back with his newfound light. Despair was pointless; it never got any results.
Still holding the Incarnation"s hammer with one hand, he reached out with the other and pointed to two gold-armored soldiers.
They saluted, understanding his unspoken words, and dragged Ilana out of danger. They even took Tamara"s body with them, and he reminded himself to thank them for that later. There was no excuse for ingrat.i.tude.
Alin looked up, meeting the Naraka Incarnation"s glowing ember eyes.
Revenge, he knew, was just as pointless as despair.
But there was always the virtue that the Incarnation himself wouldn"t shut up about: justice.
Right then, Alin had some very definite ideas about how to bring this monster to justice.
The whole process of summoning Elysia had only taken, perhaps, a minute. The Naraka Incarnation kept his hammer in place out of distraction more than anything else.
Now that the spectacle had subsided, he pulled his hammer back, lashing his tail and leaning down to peer into Alin"s eyes.
"An Elysia Incarnation," it rumbled. "Yes. It"s been so longa"
The horrible, ash-skinned mouth twisted itself into a smile.
Alin flooded his body with red light, not bothering to dispel the green shield around his hand. Once, he wouldn"t have been able to maintain that shield for long. Now it seemed a paltry effort, barely worth his attention.
He gathered up all the superhuman strength of the red light, forming his shielded hand into a fist.
Just as the Incarnation looked like it was about to speak, Alin slammed his shielded fist into its jaw.
The ten-foot Incarnation"s face exploded as he shot backwards, shattering the house behind him and falling backwards into its rubble.
On wings of orange light, Alin soared after him, not giving him a moment"s rest.
He landed on the Incarnation"s chest, bringing his fist down like a hammer-blow on its ribcage.
The Naraka Incarnation howled, and Alin"s entire body burst into flames.
The pain wracked Alin"s mind; no matter what he had become, he wasn"t fireproof, and his armor blazed like an oven.
Somehow, though, the pain was a distant thing. He felt his flesh burning away, and his first thought was: I need that foot. I cannot allow it to burn.
So he summoned the rose light, flooding his body with it. He healed even faster than the Naraka flames could burn him, standing within the flames. Only five minutes ago, he would never have been able to stand the agony.
Now, he stood somewhere beyond such petty concerns.
The head of the Incarnation"s hammer caught him in the chest, and would have crumpled his armor except for an instinctive shield of green that turned the blow at the last instant.
Momentum launched Alin into the sky, but it was the work of a moment to summon orange light to stop in midair.
He hovered there for a moment, looking at the Naraka Incarnation roaring impotently below him.
This was a problem. If he remained in the sky, the Incarnation couldn"t follow him. If the Incarnation couldn"t follow him, then Alin wouldn"t be able to beat it to nothing more than a smear on the ground.
Noanot vengeance, Alin reminded himself. Justice.
Alin wouldn"t be able to beat it into a smear on the groundafor justice.
The Incarnation shouted again, and then huge, bat-like wings of ash sprouted from its back. With lumbering sweeps of its giant wings, it somehow managed to gain enough momentum to clear the rooftops of the village.
Alin felt himself smile. There was one problem solved.
The Naraka Incarnation extended one hand. A wave of fire, so intense it seemed almost solid, blasted from its palm.
Alin didn"t even move, he just surrounded himself with a ball of green light and let the fire wash harmlessly over him.
When the fire cleared, the Naraka Incarnation was there, swinging a hammer at the top of Alin"s shield. He struck with enough force to level a palace, blasting Alin and his green shield into the dust.
Alin struck with the power of a meteorite impact, sending rings of dust blasting away from his landing.
Fortunately, the shield absorbed most of the damage, leaving Alin to stand up mostly unharmed. If he had taken the hit, then he would have had to rebuild his body with the rose light, and that would have wasted precious seconds.
Black lizards the size of ponies shrieked as they ran up to him in a pack, trying to shred his flesh with their needle-sharp teeth.
Alin blasted a wave of gold light outwards, shattering those teeth and most of the other bones in the creatures" bodies.
If they hadn"t attacked him, they would have remained alive. It was only correct.
The Incarnation roared above him, diving down with its glowing hammer raised. With the silver light, Alin sensed him long before he saw him, and he simply flew out of the way.
The Incarnation crashed into the ground, blasting himself into a cloud of ash. He re-formed almost instantly, lifting his hammer back up in both hands and letting out a roar.
"I learned something new recently," Alin said. His voice didn"t sound normal, but somehow he couldn"t bring himself to care.
"Did you know," he continued, "that each Territory has its complement in Elysia? It"s true. Naraka represents justice, but what is justice without mercy?"
Alin opened his palm, and an orb of liquid blue light drifted within, like a globe of luminescent water.
The Naraka Incarnation howled and charged, its hammer leading the way.
Tendrils of blue light erupted from Alin"s hand, winding around the Incarnation, sliding around and binding its limbs. They leeching away its strength, flowing with pulses of blue light. The Incarnation struggled against the tentacles wrapping its arms and legs, trying in vain to free itself. But the more it fought, the more of its strength flowed through the blue light.
Through the blue light, and into Alin.
When the Naraka Incarnation"s thrashing had all but quieted, and it lay, breathing heavily, on the sand of Myria, Alin walked up to its head. He stood over the Incarnation, staring down at its pitiful form.
"You can consider this a mercy," Alin said.
He summoned the golden sword and brought it down on the Incarnation"s skull.