by Dante King
“God of Death, you don’t need to search,” Ji-Ko said. “I have studied the ancient manuscripts and know the layout of the Dragon Goddess’s temple very well. If you take me to the tower’s catacombs, I’ll be able to tell you where everything is, including where her bones should be resting.”
“All right,” I said. “You come with me, Ji-Ko. And Yumo, I want you to come with me into the Dragon Temple as well. Everyone else, search the tower.”
“Me? Why me?” Yumo asked.
“You’ll see,” I said to her with a quick smile.
“I’d like to come with you,” Isu said to me. “I’m interested in the Warlock’s. . . experiments.”
I shrugged. “Fine by me.”
Ji-Ko, Yumo, Isu, and I searched the catacombs for the entrance to the Dragon Temple. We found evidence of the Warlock’s attempts to create dragons; the remains of plenty of mutant creatures littered the basement, failures of former experiments. The place stank like an unwashed slaughterhouse.
“I don’t like the look of this,” Yumo said.
“And I don’t like the smell of it,” Ji-Ko said. “Be on your guard, everyone. The Warlock is dead, but evil may still be lurking in this place.”
“I’ll remain here,” Isu said. “While these foul creations are not the work of death, there might be something to be learned.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “You’re not going to build anything from the dismembered parts, are you? Because I remember the last thing you built.” The image of my wooden cock would never be removed from my mind. “I don’t think you should put anything that’s decomposing in your you-know-what.”
Isu chuckled darkly. “Don’t be foolish, Vance. I’m just curious about these creations. Perhaps we could do something similar with corpses. You could create special troops for your army, suited to whatever requirement you might have.”
“You know what,” I said as an image of the perfect zombie warrior entered my mind, “you should stay here. See what you can learn.”
Isu smiled at me before Yumo, Ji-Ko, and I continued through the catacombs.
We found the entrance to the Dragon Temple at the rear of the basement and entered the first level. Immediately, the stink hit us, and I knew exactly what it was.
“There’s a cauldron of blood in here somewhere,” I said. “And probably plenty of corpses with slit throats. I figured the Warlock was working for the Blood God, but now I’m sure of it.”
I’d smelled this same stink in Nabu’s crypts beneath the cathedral in Erst, in the crypts of my own castle when my uncle had been sacrificing to the Blood God, and in the Temple of Blood we’d destroyed.
Sure enough, when we reached the next level down, we found many corpses in various states of decay hanging from butcher hooks, drained of their blood.
“What kind of terrible defilement has happened here?” Ji-Ko gasped. “This sacred temple has been violated in a most evil manner.”
“This is beyond fucked up,” Yumo muttered as she stared in horror at the corpses hanging from the hooks.
“Welcome to the world of the Blood God,” I said. “This is just a drop in the ocean, unfortunately, compared to what I’ve seen. It explains the rumors of the Hooded Man capturing maidens. What I don’t understand though, is why the Warlock used Storm magic instead of Blood magic.”
“Worry about that later, God of Death,” Ji-Ko said. “Come, we must find the Dragon Goddess’s bones. You must fulfil the prophecy and resurrect her.”
Ji-Ko took us down to the deepest level of the Dragon Temple. We entered a vast circular hall with a large, ornate statue of a dragon in the center. Much of the hall had been recently damaged and demolished, including a large portion of the dragon statue. It seemed that the Warlock had been looking for the Dragon Goddess’s bones. I just had to hope he hadn’t found them.
Then I felt a slight tremor in my chest, a summoning of sorts. There were definitely bones in here, and they carried great power.
“I have waited my whole life for this moment,” Ji-Ko said as he stepped up to the dragon statue and began feeling his way around its head. “As did every brother monk who led the Order of Blind Monks. The leader of our sect has always carried this.” He took off the jade necklace he always wore. “And this magic jewel is the key to retrieving the Dragon Goddess’s bones. Ah, yes, here it is,” he said when he found the dragon statue’s mouth.
He put his hand all the way down the dragon statue’s throat, and I heard a click as he clipped the magic jewel into place. The floor started to rumble and the pillars shook while puffs of masonry dust rained down on us from the ceiling. The statue’s belly opened up, and inside was a curled up skeleton.
Ji-Ko dropped down onto his hands and knees and pressed his forehead into the ground. “May you rise again, Dragon Goddess, may you rise again,” he murmured softly.
“You’ve found what you’re looking for,” Yumo said. “What now?”
“I want to ask you something,” I said.
“. . . yes?” She raised an eyebrow, and her eyes narrowed. A small smile flittered across her face. “Are you sure this is the right place? Or even the right time?”
She thought I was going to ask her to fuck me. Unfortunately, she was right. Now was neither the time nor the place.
I laughed. “Are you jealous at all that your twin sister got to become a living goddess?”
Yumo sighed. “Jealous doesn’t even begin to describe it,” she said sadly. “Rami left home a year ago and came back a fucking goddess. Me, I stayed, and look where it got me! Hell, I’m not even Fated, I’m just a regular enjarta. I’d give anything to have what Rami has.”
“How’d you like to become a living goddess? And not just any goddess, the Dragon Goddess, one of the most powerful deities who’s ever existed.”
“Seriously? You’d do that for me? I’ll do anything you want me to, pay whatever price you ask. I’d give anything, Vance.”
“Are you willing to give your heart, body, and soul for it?” I asked.
Before she could answer, Isu walked in holding two things: one was a small sparrow note, and the other was a leather pouch.
“Before you do anything, you need to see what I found,” Isu said to me.
“What’s in the pouch?” I asked.
“Whatever you do, don’t touch it,” Isu said.
She turned the pouch upside down, and a large red jewel dropped out. I could sense a deep, powerful evil radiating from it.
“A Blood Jewel,” Isu said softly. “This is what the Warlock must have found when he was just a cheap street magician. It gives the wielder immense power in whatever form of magic they choose, but as it gives them power it corrupts their mind and soul and turns them into a slave to the Blood God.”
“That explains a lot,” I said.
Isu reached down with the leather pouch, taking care not to let the Blood Jewel touch her skin, then she scooped the evil thing back into the pouch and pulled the drawstring tight. After that, she handed me the sparrow note:
We gave you your powers, and you owe us everything, you worm. The fool Vance Chauzec has proven to be more dangerous than I thought. He has left me dismembered and destroyed all of my portals. I am now trapped in Prand and cannot leave here until the portals are restored. Regardless, I achieved most of what I wanted in Yeng. It is up to you to defeat Vance now. Do whatever it takes to destroy him and his army. Do not let him leave Yeng alive.
Yours in the Crimson Depths
-Illustrious Servant of the Blood God
“This must be from the Hooded Man.” I crumpled the note into a ball and tossed it aside. “I’ll find this asshole and finish what I started with him.”
“Vance,” Yumo said. “I’ve thought about it, and I’m ready. I’m ready to sacrifice my mind, body, and soul to become a living goddess. I’ve never wanted anything more in my life than this. Please, give it to me.”
“Come a little closer,” I said, turning slightly to the side and quiet
ly drawing Grave Oath from its sheath. “This might sting a little, but the pain will only be temporary.”
Before Yumo could say anything else, I slammed Grave Oath into her heart. She gasped, thrashed against the inevitability of her own demise, and flopped into my arms, dead. It was only for a fleeting moment, though. Resurrecting long-dead goddesses had become almost as simple now as raising a regular zombie or a skeleton.
Within seconds I’d shot up into the Sea of Souls, plucked the Dragon Goddess’s lost soul from the cosmos, and shoved it into Yumo’s beautiful young body, merging it with her heart, mind, and soul.
“Yumo, open your eyes,” I said. “You’re alive … again. But you’re not just Yumo anymore. You’re Yumo—wait, what is the Dragon Goddess’s name?”
“I am Rezu,” she said. “But I am also Yumo—Yumo-Rezu.”
“Welcome back, Yumo-Rezu,” I said, giving her a bow and a charming smile.
“She lives!” Ji-Ko exclaimed excitedly, jumping up and down like a child who’d gobbled too many candies. “The Dragon Goddess lives! No one would speak it, for fear of dishonoring it. Then, after so long, it was forgotten. But now my ears, a Blind Monk’s ears, have heard it! Praise be Yumo-Rezu, the Dragon Goddess!”
“I’ve been gone for a thousand years,” Yumo-Rezu said slowly, looking around her in both awe and sadness. “It’s good to be back, but what has become of my temple? Why is it in ruins? What’s that awful smell?”
“It’ll take a while for your memories and consciousness to merge with Yumo’s,” I said. “But when it does, you’ll know everything you need to know about this time period and what’s happened. I can tell you this, though: the defiling of your temple has been done by servants of the Blood God.”
“The Blood God.”An expression of pure rage crossed her face. “That foul creature did this?”
“This, and a lot worse,” I said. “Countless innocents have been slaughtered because of him.”
“I will have my vengeance on that putrid demon for what he’s done,” Yumo-Rezu said. “Whatever the cost, I will make him pay.”
This was exactly what I’d been hoping to hear. I took her hands and gripped them tightly.
“And I promise you,” I said, “if you work with me, you’ll have it.”
“It will take a resurrected dragon to truly destroy the Blood God once and for all,” Yumo-Rezu said. “Find me what I need, and I will give you one.”
“I think I almost have,” I said. “Just one more ingredient: an embalmed dragon heart.”
Her wrathful expression became one of determination. “Then there is no time to waste … we have a dragon to resurrect and an ancient god to kill.”
End of Book 4
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Dante King is an author of Men’s Adventure fiction in various flavors. His books involve strong male protagonists who know what they want and do what’s required to get it.
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