Into the Hells

by Christopher Johns

  I closed my eyes, corralled my intent, and focused my will. I used my Elemental Tinkering to give my mana the flame aspect and began to feed it into the engraving. Giving normal mana to it while Coal fed fire to it may not mesh well. So I used the fire mana. It seemed the best course of action.

  “Now, Coal,” I whispered.

  I didn’t have my eyes open so that I wouldn’t be blinded accidentally. Even with my eyes closed, the impression of a deep orange flame crossed my eyes, inches from me, and the inside of the heat was suffocating.

  It was almost to the point where I felt my will wavering. I wanted to be out of that damned heat. I gritted my teeth and collected myself. I wasn’t going to bitch out now. After a long few minutes of funneling the mana into the engraving, we stopped; I had spent 650 MP.

  Coal was panting and didn’t look so hot anymore. His fur had gone a little darker black than I would’ve liked. I cast Filgus’ Flame Blade and gave it to him, like a bone. The wolf gobbled it up and looked a little healthier. I admired my handiwork.

  The crown now had a red and orange sheen to it and looked as if it truly were ablaze. I took a deep breath and sighed. There. That was done.

  The enchantment for the lower half went well too, and with it, the cost was 457 MP. The two would hold, so far as I could see. There was no way for me to check the enchantment until the flames were introduced. I found a large lump of coal that Rowland had. The fuel for this thing alone to burn as hot as it needed to was going to be immense. He would likely need to stop forging to keep the flames fed. That was unsatisfactory.

  “Love, do you have a ruby I could buy from you?” Maebe held her hand into the shadows and pulled her hand out with a ruby the size of my palm.

  “I will give you a steep discount, or you can share a portion of the Dragon’s hoard with me when we find it.” She grinned at me, and I knew then and there that I was going to have a hell of a time with this woman.

  “A share of the hoard is fine—thank you.” I dismissed the notification about entering into deals with the Fae and took the offered ruby. I pulled out a large sack and grabbed a handful of the contents. I used my mana to engrave a flaming lemniscate—infinity symbol for those of you who don’t like big words—then began to charge it with my mana. Halfway to the mana limit of the item, I began sprinkling my powdered mana. It took the whole handful, greedily absorbing it and only filled a little. I grabbed another handful. And another. I fed more of my mana into it, this time with the flame aspect, and it began to heat in my hand.

  Throw! I heard Coal bark savagely and tossed the gem into the forge.

  “GET DOWN!” I roared as a wave of pressure and flame hit us, knocking everyone from their feet.

  Rowland had scooped Mini into his arm and tossed her out of the forge where I lost her in the light.

  Coal leaped in front of Rowland, and I shielded myself as best as I could.

  Maebe’s quick thinking saved her from being thrown through a wall; a thick blanket of shadows rose behind her and stopped her.

  She’ll be okay, I thought. The rush of relief going through my heart and body was immense—even as I was flung high into the air by a second gout of searing fire. Heat ate at me, and I fell unconscious.

  * * *

  I woke up to Maebe standing next to me and Vilmas sobbing. I tried to sit up, but Vrawn put a hand on my chest.

  “Don’t move,” she spoke softly.

  Since I wasn’t allowed to move, I took inventory of my body. I was burnt—badly. I was sore, and hurt all over.

  “Where is he?” I heard Jaken’s voice somewhere off to my right.

  “Hey, how’s Rowland?” I rasped at Vrawn.

  “He’s here, Master Jaken,” she called before floating back into view. “He is alright, bruised and beside himself that you got hurt, but Coal took the brunt of the blast for him.”

  “I am fine as well—you stupid, idiotic fool,” Maebe spat vehemently.

  She leaned over me, and I saw worry in her gaze. “What were you thinking? How could you risk yourself like that?”

  “Get out!” I heard Jaken bellow. Vrawn fled, and I heard other boots scattering behind them. Maebe stayed where she was, tears gathering her eyes.

  “Maebe. Maebe! You need to move so we can start healing him. If we don’t now, the damage will be worse!” Jaken tried to reason with her.

  I saw Willem come into view as well, and Maebe blinked, a single tear falling on to my cheek.

  I wanted desperately to reach out and let her know I was sorry, that I hadn’t meant to do something so stupid. I thought I had it under control. I tried to reach up with my right hand and couldn’t.

  I felt a rent tear the air and radiant light. “Yes, summoner?”

  “Help us heal my friend—please!” There was an edge of panic to Jaken’s voice, and then there was a searing pain in my chest.

  “AAhhhrgh! Fuck! Me!” I screamed. Tears sprang to my eyes as the wrathful pain flashed through my body in waves that robbed me of all sense of time and reason.

  I was gone.

  * * *

  Sometime later, I woke up drenched in sweat, panting, and trying to remember the dreams that I had been having. I sat up.

  The only person in the room with me was Vilmas, bathed in the light of a candle.

  “Why?” she whispered.

  “Why what?” My throat felt dry, but it wasn’t the worst.

  “Why’d ye do it?” She looked up at me, her eyes puffy and swollen from crying. “Why’d ye try and enchant an item so far above yer realm o’ understandin’?”

  I had never heard her speak this way before, and now I knew I had fucked up.

  “I thought I had it under control,” I muttered. “I knew that if I tried to do all that I needed to at the same time, it would overwhelm my mana reserves, so I split the work up. Top, bottom, and then the fuel issue.”

  “Why did ye no’ come to me then, lad?” she shrieked. “I’m responsible for ye! I was to be trainin’ ye! ME! And ye went off and enchanted somethin’ so far outside yer realm that ye… ye almost killed Rowland. If it weren’t for tha’ strong containment enchantment ye did, lad—you could’ve taken half the village with that explosion.”

  My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach. I couldn’t believe that. It had only been a ruby. Barely larger than my palm. How could it have caused that much damage?

  “Ye used the mana powder.” She stood and stalked toward me. “Ye used handfuls of it, much too far before ye were ready, and then ye shoveled in still more mana, fire aspected mana into a flame type gem. Zeke, tha’ were a powerful bomb ye made withou’ knowin’. Ye’ll ne’er do tha’ again.”

  “No, I wo–” I began, but she slapped me so hard across the face that it turned my head to the right.

  My gaze fell to my arm, and she whispered her forcefulness bringing back her usual cadence and speech, “No. You will never do that again because now you have a reminder of what it could do to you and those around you.”

  My forearm from just below the crease of my elbow was gone. Hand and all. Tears came to my eyes at the realization of what I had done. In my hubris—my foolishness—I had thought myself better than the other enchanters before me and had overstepped. I had looked into the void of my own lack of knowledge and thrown my arm in digging for results. And something had bitten me.

  Chapter Six

  I stayed inside my room at the tavern while the others helped Vilmas enchant the wall. I was too numb and angry at myself to go through the notifications that blinked at me in the lower right corner of my vision. I just laid there—alone with my self-loathing and rage.

  I tried to cast Regrowth, but all it did was make the appendage itch a little. The scabs that still leaked a minute amount of blood here and there didn’t even heal. They just stayed.

  I did my best not to think about anything and went to sleep shortly after. Coal was out and about. I could feel him. He felt stronger now. Much stronger. I closed my eyes and wept. I
had fucked up. I had fucked up so badly, and now, our mission was in jeopardy.

  Going to get Balmur was at risk now. Going to beat the other minions? Fuck. Don’t even get me started on the damned Generals.

  None of my friends came to me that night. For the first time in a while. I was truly alone.

  Darkness claimed me just before exhaustion, and I fell into a fitful slumber inlaid with nightmares of laughing demons.

  I felt a burning like a brand on my chest, a crushing pressure, cold, and then something wet. I scrabbled to get the blankets away from me to see what the hell was going on.

  The four symbols of my gifts with the Primordial Elementals had migrated from my hand to my chest around the white-inked pentagram tattooed over my heart. They each had taken a place corresponding to a tip in the pentagram, but outside the circle, as it had been before—the top point of the star was gone. It belonged to Storm Caller who resided in my inventory.

  The flame symbol that had been on my right hand had shifted from a normal-looking flame to an image of the flaming crown, a deep red on top and blue at the bottom near the top right tip.

  Little flame, you thought yourself much hotter than you were and have suffered for it. You now know that all that burns bright too quickly fades in time. Do not fade away. Do not burn out. Carry your torch farther and see that you learn to burn more efficiently. Thank you for the monument. Now—burn brighter with my flame.

  The wall of white diamond tattoo that had surrounded the flame previously had turned into a mountain of platinum diamond on the top left tip.

  Do not allow this loss to crush you, tiny Druid, a rumble of stone and pressure inside my mind spoke softly. I have felt the loss of much of my blood in the mountain near you. Someone digs swiftly for what they think they need—and I give it to them readily. Regain yourself, and feel the calming of the stone as my blessing.

  The wind tattoo that had been on my left hand as a small swirl of blue was now a tornado of deep green at the bottom right tip of the pentagram.

  You still will never tame me, Druid—but I see that the gusts of your work have begun to affect the lands. You have fought alongside the children of the sky and blown away your enemies, tamed Lightning and the Storm and call them friend. I delight in seeing where the winds of change take you and your friends. I gift you my breath that you might last longer than a fleeting breeze.

  And finally, the green river that had surrounded the wind tattoo now resided at the bottom left tip as a tsunami wave in bright blue that looked as though it would drench your hand if you touched it.

  Hail, Druid of the elements. The Mother’s Primal Warrior. He who filled a lake once and saved a bunch of trees after. You still fear me, and that fear will be addressed soon—but I sense respect. I sense potential. You have caused a fire to burn bright but kept it contained. I will cool your skin and heal your wounds, but there is only so much water to fill such a broken vase. Know succor, droplet—and know I will call upon you soon.

  I hissed as cold water that smelled heavily of salt ravaged my wounded arm, making me stand. The scabs peeled painfully away, and a yellowed, brackish ooze seeped from the flesh beneath and coated the floor beneath my feet. I instantly felt a little better even though the salt in the water stung like a motherfucker.

  Eventually, the pain subsided and all that remained was flesh around the nub—that seemed insensitive, so need to find a better name for it—seemingly whole, though scarred. I sat back down to contemplate what I had just learned and what had happened.

  Monument? Call on me soon? Who was digging out metal in the mountains? And fuck, was that wind Primordial a dick or what?

  What would I do?

  “Hey!” I heard a voice growl from the outside of the door. Yohsuke kicked it in and charged right for me. “Smells like shit in here, fucking gross. You done being a lumpy, sad sack of shit or what?”

  “Fuck you, man,” I spat back. “I was just about to come out there and see what was going on.”

  “You lying asshole.” He punched me in the shoulder; it didn’t hurt. “You lost an arm—so what?! Balmur is in the Hells, and I fucking died, remember?”

  “Yeah, I do! You gonna get out of my face so I can get myself sorted the fuck out or not?”

  Yohsuke grumbled something, and I shot out of the bed at him. “You wanna call me a pussy to my face?”

  I lifted him with my one good arm by his shirt and cloak and pinned him against the wall.

  “And what’re you gonna do about it?” He shot me a shit-eating grin and looked right at my cocked right arm. “Give me a good thump?”

  It took me a second to get what he was saying, but when I did—I didn’t know whether to be pissed off or to laugh, so I let him down and laughed. We both laughed until it hurt. We laughed until I was in tears.

  “Don’t you ever do something so asinine and shitty again, fuckstick. Or I’ll kill you myself. You feel me?”

  I looked at him and pulled him into a fierce hug. “Yeah, yeah—tough guy.”

  “Man, you better get your Luke Skywalker ass away from me. Fuckin’ scally-wop lookin’ ass.” He grunted and tried to push me away, but I was much too strong to budge.

  “Speaking of, maybe we can get a prosthetic?” I began to think on it a little while longer, but I figured it would be a good idea to check my notifications.

  CONGRATULATIONS!

  Enchanting level up!

  Level 40 enchanting reached!

  Welcome to the Adept ranks of enchanting!

  LEVEL UP!

  ALERT!

  You have created an artifact worth having. This is a secret best kept, and you should be aware that there are those who would see it fall into their hands and don’t care how much blood is spilled. Watch your back and that forge, Traveler.

  Holy. Fucking. Shit.

  First, I allocated my points. Two to strength and dexterity. One to wisdom. Maybe that would help me be a little less apt to making idiotic mistakes?

  Probably not—but I gotta try, right?

  I also saw that Coal was level 11 now. Three natural points—one for each level—had gone to charisma, intelligence, and wisdom. So the other nine, I could play with. After some thought, I put three apiece in strength, constitution, and dexterity.

  I cast Mental Message and called to Maebe, “Mae? Where are you?”

  It took her a minute to answer, but she did, and she didn’t sound happy. “I am making preparations for something I hope will help rectify your mistake. Do. Not. Do. Anything.”

  That last word had been a hissed order, and I blinked in surprise. Fair enough.

  I wandered out into the tavern’s dining area in search of food and found Rowland, Mini, Vilmas, and Vrawn sitting at a table. Coal thumped his tail against the ground as I entered the room, and he sauntered over to walk around me.

  Rowland sat Mini on the floor and lunged at me. He was on top of me so fast it was like being taken out by a race car.

  “Oh, lad,” he crushed me in his grip even though he laid on top of me, “thank the Mountain ye only lost the arm. Ye saved me life again, damn ye! Ye gave me the best forge, and ye still managed to protect me and me girls. I cannae thank ye enough, Ze– Oof!”

  Vrawn had pulled Rowland off of me and tossed him—gently—away. She reached down gruffly and hauled me to my feet, then higher until I was eye-level with her.

  “If you ever risk yourself or Lady Maebe like that again—I won’t be responsible for what I do to you. Okay?” I could only nod mutely at her sudden rage. She had seemed so concerned when I had woken up that first time.

  Satisfied, she pulled me into a bear hug then kissed me roughly on the muzzle before dropping me to my feet. I took it. I wasn’t in any shape to fight.

  Nor did I have any right to fight. I’d take my lumps. I’d earned them.

  Vilmas called, “Come and eat, Zeke. You’ve been asleep in that room a day and a half. Wait, how are you healed like that already? None of us could get that infec
tion out.”

  “The Water Primordial. She wants me as healthy as I can be. I guess she’ll be calling on me sometime soon.” I came over to the table and sat down.

  Vrawn sat a plate of eggs, toast, and that lovely tea in front of me. I sipped the tea slowly. It helped me recover a little more of what truly little sanity I had left.

  I picked up the fork and carefully began to eat with it. It wasn’t as efficient as with my right hand, but my time training in the Marine Corps to be able to work with things as well with my left hand helped immensely. I wasn’t at square one, but I wasn’t too far from it to be where I needed, either.

  “I recovered yer rings for ye as well, lad.” Rowland laid two rings on the table—my Ring of Inferno and Ring of Storing. “They had just been blown away by the blast. Cleaned em for ye.”

  “Thank you, Rowland. I appreciate that, man.” I took them, and Vrawn put them on to my left hand for me.

  My Elemental Bracelet was full to the brim of what looked like fire magic. If that was the case—I would have taken even more damage from that blast. Fuck.

  No time to dwell, man. Move on. Grow.

  “Where is everyone?” I asked between bites.

  “Queen Maebe has gone to collect ore and her people to come and protect the village, as well as to help with a project,” Vrawn explained. “She advised me that she will return as soon as she can.”

  Yohsuke popped out of the kitchen. “Muu is still out with Sam, hunting and learning to skin shit. Jaken is pissed off that he couldn’t do more about your arm, so Sir Dillon is out trying to track him down with James helping. Bokaj is doing his whole music thing. Being a puto. You’re here. Being a puto.”

  “Right on.” I shrugged. “I’m level 30 now, you?”

  “I hit thirty-two days ago, fool.” He smiled. “I got to forty in cooking, and now I’m learning shit faster than ever. My intelligence is sixty-seven. What’s yours at?”

  “Seventy, but my other stats except for charisma are all pretty even except for strength. Which is why you can’t move me when you hit me.” He just shrugged and played it off.