by Eric Vall
Loose bits of rubble fell from the underside of the hulking stone as Aedan let loose a mighty yell and hurled the pointed rock at the pale monsters as if it were a massive spear. It tore right through the center of the horde and tore through any demons that didn’t have the speed to twist out of the way before the rock slammed into the opposite slope to crush several more demons under its massive weight. Aedan’s’ lips curled into a self-satisfied sneer as he lumbered toward the crowd of demons flooding forward.
Brin, it seemed, was content to watch and direct, only dealing with any demons that managed to get past the elf’s endless barrage of magical arrows or the mighty strength of the bald man.
“Careful Aedan,” Quinlan said with a wry grin. “Those talons look like they could crack your armor right open.”
“You worry about yourself!” the bald man growled as he crashed into the first wave of monsters. “These beasts won’t be able to put a scratch on me.” That’s when he played more of his hand and showed more magic to me. His silver armor liquified and molded itself to the shape of his body. It now covered his entire form, making him seem to look more like a golem made out of steel than any human warrior.
Aedan let out another bellow as he threw himself into the group of demons without the slightest hesitation. Claws scraped across enchanted steel and icicles shattered across his broad chest but there wasn’t even the faintest sign of a scratch.
“My turn,” Aedan said, and his lips curled into a wicked smile. All pretense of martial discipline left the steel man as he wildly swung his fists, each blow backed by mystically enhanced strength to shatter bone and sunder flesh. His first punch turned an ice demon’s head into a pulpy bag of shattered bone as blood splattered out the back of its skull, then he swept his left arm in a broad sweep that threw four demons away from him to crash into their fellows. Laughing with the glee of a foul-tempered toddler, Aedan then snatched up the broken corpse of his first victim and wielded it like a crude club as my demons continued to claw ineffectually at his steely hide.
“There are too many of them,” Quinlan shouted over the noise of the screeching demons that fell prey to his magic arrows and Aedan’s brute strength. He was correct, as many of the ice demons had fallen but many still remained.
So, it was at that moment that I decided to unleash the ice demons that clung to the ceiling. They plummeted downward as their bloodthirsty hisses and shrieks echoed throughout the cavern.
“Brace yourselves men,” Brín said as he glowered up at the creatures. “We’ve got company.” Quinlan lowered his bow, and both he and Aedan gave the bearded man a quick nod.
“Resendán,” the two men said simultaneously, and the pulse of magic echoed through the air as they continued with their brawl with the ice demons. While there didn’t appear to be any visible reaction from the phrase, the magical energies seemed to focus and direct themselves on the bearded man, so I focused on Brin.
The man only stared up at the ice demons that hurtled down from the ceiling, and then, at the last moment, he opened his mouth.
A thunderous roar erupted from the man’s lips and echoed throughout the cavern so much that its very walls shook. The demons screeched in agony and their heads and bodies vibrated violently for a brief moment when, suddenly, they exploded in an awesome display of carnage. Blood, brains, and bone rained down on the party instead of icy death.
A twisted smile crept across Brín’s face as he simply wiped the gore off his face. Now I understood why he was so passive before. He was a ritualistic focus point, a holder of great magical power that required the others to unleash.
Fascinating. Perhaps if he lived through my questioning about Tuzakeur, I could tear those magical secrets from his mind.
Though Brín had managed to put a dent in the throng of ice demons that had leapt from the ceiling, he hadn’t slain them all, and there were still more already on the ground. Still, at this point, I knew this first battle was decided, but it mattered not to me. In fact, I barely paid attention to the three men as they tore their way through the remainder of my ice demons. Instead, I prepared the end to this, confident the three adventurers had shown me all their tricks and petty magics bestowed by their sorcerer master.
As the last ice demon fell, the blood-covered adventurers gathered at the center of the cavern once more. Aedan’s steel skin melted back into his armor as his body shrunk back to its normal size, while Brin cleaned his sword, and the elf’s last arrow flew back into his quiver.
“I suppose that was slightly entertaining,” Quinlan said with a yawn and wiped away a smear of blood from his cheek. “I have to admit, I expected more from this being after what Tuzakeur told us. Perhaps he was exaggerating, and we’re just dealing with another run of the mill fallen entity.”
“No, Tuzakeur doesn’t exaggerate.” Brín shook his head. “He obviously thinks that this deity is dangerous. Otherwise he wouldn’t have sent us to deal with him.”
Indeed I was dangerous, something they would see firsthand now that it was time to get what I wished from the trio.
“I suppose you are right,” Quinlan sighed, “but I do wish that this was a little more challenging at least. Those creatures were… hold on, what is that sound?”
The cracking sound that filled the air was the power of the lava god made manifest. The three adventurers turned to look over their shoulders. The entire wall behind them had started to seep lava from the very top which cascaded down the length of the surface.
“What in the…?” Quinlan muttered.
“Look, it’s happening to those walls too,” Aedan said interrupting the elf as he pointed to the other walls that surrounded them.
Each of the other walls of the cavern dripped with lava as though a waterfall of the molten rock cascaded down them. The lava quickly flowed down each of the walls, over the ledge of the cavern, and started to pool onto the floor and reached toward the men. The trio rushed up onto the highest of the rock formations littering the floor and to relative safety. The lava continued to rise and surrounded them with bubbling magma.
“So he intends to drown us with lava, does he?” Brín sneered as he readied his sword.
“Wonderful!” Quinlan threw his hands in the air as the lava lapped at the edges of their haven. “Look at the mess we’re in!” The elf didn’t seem so haughty now, his frustration and desperation plain in his eyes. His companions didn’t seem so cocky anymore either. “The question is what are we going to do now?”
“Aedan, can you survive in this lava if your armored form?” Brín asked as he turned to the bald man.
“Probably not.” Aedan shook his head grimly. “Even I couldn’t withstand such temperatures. Also, I’ve already used it once, you know I can’t use it again until the talisman is recharged.”
“Brilliant,” Quinlan moaned. “Why did you waste your power on those weak demons, Aedan?”
“Don’t cast blame upon him, Quinlan,” Brín snarled.
Just then the bubbling lava rippled, and the boiling sea started to churn. The men gazed on with looks of horror as great waves of magma crashed against the rocks and sent splatters of orange death within inches of my prey. I channeled my essence into the lava at that point and summoned forth a titanic duplicate of my avatar’s form out of the magma, a true lava giant with my terrible visage.
The trio of men cowered on the rock on which they stood under my awe-inspiring gaze. I savored their terror as I raised one mighty hand and slammed it down into the pool of magma, and delighted in their cries as they cowered away from the next round of waves that threatened to overwash their haven. Under normal circumstances, I would have allowed the lava to drown them and incinerate their bodies, but I wanted to savor their fear. I wanted them to know who was in control.
As the men trembled, I waded forward slowly and majestically, never once turning my burning eyes from them. My head scraped the cavern’s tall ceiling, and the hanging spikes melted into my form as I simply walked through them. As I ben
t over the snivelling trio, I smiled darkly. The swaggering men that had so boldly entered into my domain had been reduced to sniveling boys.
With that satisfaction, I scooped up the rock on which they stood and tore it free from the cavern floor. Cooling magma dripped off the stone as I lifted their perch out of the sea of lava and held it level to my titanic face. The three men hesitantly opened their eyes and looked as though they were about to faint when they realized that they were face to face with me.
“Please have mercy,” Quinlan wailed. “We were only doing as we were ordered.”
“Ah, so you wish for mercy now, do you?” I called out as I projected my voice through the giant effigy as well as my essence. “Not too long ago, you wished to slay me.”
“Oh, mighty and powerful deity, we were only doing as our master commanded us,” Quinlan whined with quivering lips.
I held back a chuckle at this. Now, he deemed me a mighty and powerful deity when his fate was in my mighty hands. He also had only seen a fraction of my power. I had only used one type of my monsters, and I had thousands at my command, and I had only used my lava abilities, and I had dozens more.
These mortals had no idea what real power was.
“Tell me of your master, and I may allow you to live,” I lied to the men. “Tell me of his power and where he resides.”
Quinlan, Brín, and Aedan exchanged fearful glances, hesitant to speak. Did they really fear Tuzakeur that much that they would not tell me the very information that would spare their lives? Still, it was of no matter to me if they responded or not. I only needed to ignite the thoughts in their small brains so that I could look into their minds and souls. As the trio continued to blubber, I began to delve into their memories.
Pictures quickly flashed across my mind. I saw images of dungeons that they’d conquered previously, pictures of the deities that they had done battle with. Suddenly, a familiar black-robed figure came into view, and my excitement rose at the sight. Draped around the man’s shoulders was a long cape of raven’s feathers that cascaded down his back and spilled onto the ground around him.
It was Tuzakeur.
I still couldn’t see the sorcerer’s’ face, only his glowing red eyes from beneath his hood. The spindly fingers of one of his hands clutched the same obsidian staff with the dragon’s head. The other hand slowly raised from his side and beckoned me with bone-thin fingers as his red eyes narrowed. This wasn’t a memory though, or even a mental block like the Valasarian soldiers. No, the sorcerer was in his servants’ mind with me.
With a snarl, I summoned up my necromantic might to channel through the mindscape at my foe, but Tuzakeur did not stay to face my wrath. Instead, he flashed a mystical sign and vanished from the men’s minds.
Coward, as were most of his kin.
Still, the sorcerer had managed one thing before he left. One by one, his servants started to convulse violently just as the soldiers that I had interrogated had. With their convulsions came streams of blood that flowed from their eyes and poured from their noses and mouths. It was happening yet again. The men released no cries of pain as their mouths hung open, and the color drained from their faces. I let out a string of curses as their convulsions grew more and more violent and their bodies thrashed and flailed until finally, their heads burst.
Blood and brain matter splattered against the rock on which they had stood, and their headless bodies crumpled into heaps as blood poured from their severed necks.
Of course, Tuzakeur could not leave his servants alive to tell tales. Very well, I had learned more things about our foe, and the most important thing I learned was that he feared me.
With a dark, rumbling laugh that echoed through my dungeon, I reveled in that knowledge. It was only a matter of time now.
I would find Tuzakeur and make his fears a reality.
Chapter 16
As my essence returned to my avatar, my eyes fluttered open to see my minions lounging on the ground around a campfire in the darkened cavern. Carmedy, Annalíse, and Morrigan were talking amongst themselves as they shared a meal while Rana kept a close watch on my body. The fox woman sat cross-legged, an elbow perched on her thigh, but upon seeing my eyes open, she sat up straight and gasped.
“He’s back!” the fox called to the others, and the other women quickly gathered around me as I rose.
“That I am,” I said as I smiled at them.
“So, what happened?” Rana said to me quickly.
“Who was in your dungeon?” Carmedy asked hurriedly.
“What were they doing there?” Annalíse questioned. “Were they in search of treasure?”
“One at a time, one at a time,” I chuckled.
Morrigan was the only one who didn’t immediately ask a question. Instead, the elf calmly handed me some food to eat and water to drink and waited patiently for me to speak. After I had taken several gulps of water and taken a few bites of food, I finally told them my story. I told them all about Quinlan, Brín, and Aedan and their reason for being there. At the mention of Tuzakeur, Rana’s face soured, and the others grimaced. When I told them of the torment that the men endured at my hand, the women laughed uproariously and showed not the slightest hint of sympathy for the trio.
“So, you weren’t able to find out any new information, huh?” Rana asked after I’d finished my story.
“Oh, I found out the most important thing of all,” I said enigmatically.
Rana squinted at me, as if she thought her glare alone would make me say more, but she gave up after a moment. “Well, if you say so, big guy.”
From there, I told them about the mystical items I tore from the intruders’ corpses, something I would have to find a way to ship or teleport to us after things were resolved with Annalíse’s father. The five of us continued to talk amongst ourselves for a while longer as we finished our meal. As we talked, I noticed that Carmedy wasn’t being her usual chatty self.
“Is there something wrong?” I asked the feline.
“No,” Carmedy shook her head as she hugged her knees against her chest. “Well yes, but… I was just worried about you, is all.”
“You have no need to worry about me, Carmedy," I said with a smile. “I destroy gods. Therefore, I do not fear men.”
“I guess it was just that you were there all alone.” She shrugged. “It’s been a while since we haven’t been with you.”
“Uhh hey, you guys just spent a night at a hot spring while Morrigan and I had to rough it in a cold dungeon,” Annalíse chuckled. “If anything, we should be the ones complaining about not having enough time with Master.”
“Oh really?” Rana asked as she wiggled her eyebrows. “You want more time with Master?”
“Well, that’s uhhh,” Annalíse glanced over at me, and her freckled face started to blush.
“Yeah, you’ve been teasing me about him for the last few hours. How’s it feel to get a taste of your own medicine?” Rana let out a laugh and then rolled on her belly when the warrior woman’s face flushed even brighter.
“I can think of something we can all do together,” I said as I gestured to the ceiling.
“What?” Carmedy asked with excitement plain in her big blue eyes.
“We can play in the snow,” I said as I recalled a distant life when my existence had been much different, and my worries divine. “We haven’t done that yet.”
“But there’s no snow.” The petite woman gestured to the surrounding grass.
“We’ll see about that,” I said with a mischievous grin as I invoked a spark of Cethin’s power inside me. “Look up.”
Carmedy slowly looked up at the cavern ceiling and gasped when she saw clouds start to form in the atmosphere. Large snowflakes began to tumble from the clouds and fell down on the grassy ground, and within a few minutes, the ground was covered in white.
“Hooray!” Carmedy exclaimed upon seeing the snow-filled cavern, and she leapt to her feet.
The feline quickly scooted past the rest of us
and started to look along the ground. Once she had decided on a spot, she turned around, spread her arms out wide on either side of her and allowed her body to fall backwards. The cat’s petite frame fell into the snow and sank in a bit. Carmedy giggled as she moved her arms back and forth and moved her legs in and out to create a snow angel.
Rana and Annalíse simply shook their heads and sighed. Morrigan raised a white eyebrow either out of amusement or annoyance, it was hard to be sure which. I chuckled at Carmedy’s excitement and walked over to join her. I lowered my body to the ground beside her and began to do the same jumping jack motions that she had done to create a snow angel.
“What in the world are you doing?” Rana said in disbelief.
“Is it really appropriate to be playing games inside a dungeon?” Annalíse added.
“This dungeon is conquered,” I said flatly as I moved my arms in and out. “Besides, I did promise Carmedy that we would make snow angels, and I take the promises I make to my minions very seriously. After this point, do you think we will have another quiet moment to do this?”
Annalíse, Rana, and Morrigan blinked at me in surprise and then exchanged glances. Rana finally shrugged her shoulders and walked over to join us, unable to counter my unassailable logic.
“You actually intend to participate in such an activity?” Annalíse asked the fox.
“I guess we might as well have a little fun while we can,” the fox woman called over her shoulder. The red-headed woman spread her arms out and fell into the snow just as Carmedy and I had and joined in Carmedy’s laughter.
“Very well.” Morrigan released a slight sigh, and she too joined as and lowered herself into the snow. She did lack Carmedy and Rana’s enthusiasm, however.