Endless Online: Oblivion's Blade

by M. H. Johnson

  Elise nodded. "High mana levels change boiling points and vapor pressures. It can be erratic, for all that it never effects resonances vital for life. Only at higher pressures and temperatures, the realm of steam, if you will, do we see problems."

  Val frowned. "Let me make sure I have this straight. A wizard casts a spell and your high tech laser, computer, spaceship, has circuits fried. But a steam engine will go along chugging just fine. Unless your steam engine is mining for Elementium or other magic minerals. Then it too will go kaput, and all you have then is muscle to mine out that ore."

  Elise nodded. "Correct, for the most part. For all that spells disrupt mana-electromagnetic coupling, rendering technology all but worthless around a wizard, steam-powered machinery is fine to use around them. But spells aren't the same as a vast field of Elementium rich ore one is suddenly only inches away from, in a mine."

  "You know a lot about magecraft," Val complimented.

  "Hardly, Val. I was trapped on the giant ship above our heads for years, and knowing the politics and strengths and weaknesses of the tribes below is the duty of any Highlord. One must know these things to elevate those who are worthy, and to crush those that dare to defy you." She swallowed and looked away. "At least, that is the philosophy we were taught to embrace."

  Val grimaced. "So basically, my choices in life are to learn to read by the time I'm considered an adult, or look forward to a life toiling with a pickaxe in a mine."

  "Got it in one, Val," the captain said. "Now let's get that Silbion, and focus on getting the hell out of this mine. "

  14

  "That, lad, was impressive," Halvar said, clapping Val on the shoulder.

  "Well done, Val," Sten quietly commended. "A useful trick for anyone in our profession."

  Val grinned, thankful that his ability to store the Silbion Gregor had been so afraid to leave behind had worked without a hitch, even with the weight of everyone staring at him. And he was able to summon it forth again with ease when Gregor had suddenly accused him of somehow absorbing all their wealth forever. And save for a grumbling Gregor's certainty that this proved his status as a homunculus beyond any reasonable doubt, the others were seeing him less as a burden, and more as a useful ally. And that, to Val, was worth its weight in gold.

  "Just how deep does this mine go?" Gregor grumbled.

  Val knew exactly how he felt. Though grateful they had encountered no more spirits, specters, or shadowknights since passing the vile cathedral, it seemed that they had just scratched the surface of the byzantine maze of tunnels snaking through the ground, an increasingly grim Sten picking tunnels seemingly at random, and Val could all but feel the weight of a hundred tons of stone pressing down upon him. The thought of being trapped in a dizzying maze of tunnels as he slowly died of thirst was not an appealing one. And for all that this universe sometimes felt like the most exciting of adventure games and the sense of growing in potency was incredible, Val was painfully certain that he had no backup saves. Should he die in these tunnels, it just might be forever.

  Elise frowned, gazing at Halvar.

  "Sorry, darling. My eye and map matrix are both down. No point in even trying to tweak my blaster, unless the situation is dire. The breakers will just flip out of sync again within minutes. And even if I could hold it all together, I risk frying it to slag if I dare use it with the arcane fields this high. The important thing is we're leaving markers. We won't end up going in circles, and we have the route if we need to go back. But as far as figuring out the best route forward? The captain's hunches are our best bet."

  Val took a deep breath, steadying himself, knowing that they were trusting in the captain's intuition, that infamous luck that had landed Sten into just as many hot spots as it had pulled him out of, if Halvar's gregarious tales of an hour or two ago had even a grain of truth to them. They had shared a quiet camaraderie for awhile, when they had thought the worst was over. Now, realizing they were going deeper than ever, the tight knots in their bellies, the fear that only death awaited them below, had taken its toll. Heavy silence had descended upon them all once more.

  Val sighed, looking down at his feet. For all that Gregor was a disparaging pain in the butt, Val wouldn't forget that he was also the only one who had thought to whip together the strips of strangely resilient fabric attached to the frames of what must have been ancient tapestries into more than serviceable slippers. They did nothing for shock absorption, but they protected his feet from the sometimes rough stone they now walked across, shimmering bits of green gold fire to be seen sparkling deep within, like veins of brilliant quartz, even now.

  Gregor whistled. "By the Ancestors, this place is still rich in Elementium." He gave a rueful sigh. "We could make our fortune as legitimate miners, assuming it didn't bore us to tears."

  Halvar's throaty chuckle boomed through the air. "Let's focus on survival first, my friend. Wealth second." His brows furrowed, looking at the raw veins of Elementium. "I don't care if these tunnels were made centuries ago. Ore this rich would never have been left unplundered without a damn good reason. Their refining process was a nightmare, but lives were cheap back then, and I haven't heard of even virgin mines playing out ore this rich in a very, very long time."

  Gregor grimaced. "You just had to say it, didn't you?"

  Halvar smirked. "What, that we are five lost fools with only a day's worth of water, two if we stretch it, trapped inside a vast mining empire that saw fit to abandon this enterprise at the height of its wealth and glory? With all their resources to fight off whatever threat was here?"

  Gregor did not look happy. "Yes, you damned fool, exactly that."

  Sten hissed and raised his hand. "Cover it!" He snapped, Val instantly understanding without needing explanation, slipping the glow stick he had been supplied within its sheath in a heartbeat, icy coldness flowing over him, letting his mind blend in with the darkness all around.

  Then Val heard it. An awful gibbous roar, and it was all he could do to keep his icy calm, not to snap back into himself as dread pricked his very soul.

  Gregor whimpered, terror clearly writ on his gnomish features.

  A subtle flash of blue deeper than color, Val could feel the tingly sense of Psionic energy being released, catching sight of Elise standing as resolute as he, her hand gripping the hilt of her deadly blade.

  Val was struck by a wave of mortal terror even as Gregor began to sob and whimper. And with the same cold resolution he embraced every night he saw combat a lifetime ago, he let it all fade away. Sinking into the darkness of his bleak, killer's soul.

  He did not fear the dark and the horrors it held. He was the dark. The most savage predator of all.

  Icy eyes looked back at a startled Sten. He did not hear his own words, for how could shadow speak? Only knowing that his intent was understood. He would scout ahead and report back.

  "Val, what the hell are you doing?" Furious alarm. Val ignored Sten, approaching the end of the tunnel as it opened into a vast, glittering cavern.

  "Where the hell did he go?"

  "He's using Shadowmind, Sten. Let him do what he was trained to do." Elise, seeking to calm, her voice almost fatalistic.

  "He's just a child, Elise. That's either howling wind or death ahead. And my luck is telling me nothing."

  "You're assuming he's real at all. And if he is, he is an adult by the laws of his tribe, and he has fought in battles as savage as any we have seen." She sighed. "Besides, there is nothing we can do. He's in so deep I can barely sense him."

  Their words faded away like the babbles of a distant brook, Val slipping into currents eerie and strange. Sinking his sense of self deep into the cavern, he could feel the currents of power flowing through it. The brilliant flicker of the crystals lining the ceiling overhead, shafts of light not from the sun but from Elementium flashing, minute amounts of potential energy flickering from the arcane to the electromagnetic spectrum in a collision of quantum probabilities that Val did not fathom so much as feel,
sense, and accept. He could taste the stone's potential energy, and a part of the darkness that was Van wondered if he could somehow harness it for the mission at hand.

  Whatever that might be.

  Shadows, slipping through the darkness.

  An awful roar cut through the vast cavern once more.

  A presence vast and terrible, utterly dwarfing Val's own.

  Flashes of a hideous psyche he sensed then. Unending hunger, the screaming death rattles of a thousand souls. Furious spirits trapped in unending torment. Devouring the souls they held captive and themselves in an endless swarm of agony and sacrifice that perpetuated and renewed the dark curse trapping them in nightmare unending. (Wait, how could he sense all this?) He shuddered. Ruthlessly subsuming his personal ego even in the instant the hideous presence ahead stopped its furious howls.

  Sensing him.

  For the barest second.

  Then nothing.

  For he was already around the monstrosity just yards away from a single point of his being. He was the cavern. The night. And had known this hideous creature since the first black mages catalyzed it into existence in a bitter struggle for control of the mines. Ruthless wizards reveling in their twisted mastery, seeking control over that which had once brought so much wealth to the empire that had once stood tall and proud, with glittering cities of glass and bronze.

  Endless centuries ago.

  This creature had been but one of many, forged and catalyzed into being in a hideous war that had left no survivors, save those wise or terrified enough to flee at the first exchange of magics, the mines themselves becoming a battleground of death and despair that continued long after every mortal soul had perished.

  For some things still persisted. Feeding off trace amounts of Elementium.

  Ravenous in its hunger for richer, more vibrant sources of nourishment still.

  The body of Val shivered, for all that his mind was one with the darkness, glittering crystals above piercing not at all the shadows below, the awful construct slipping past him as his body seemed to move of its own accord. If the foul creature had a nose, it was psychic senses it seemed to rely on now, for it paid Val no heed.

  Even as Val stood stock still, inches away from hideous black death, his dispersed psyche had slipped into the roaring tides of potency and deepest magic that finally explained why this mine had been the sight of so much horror. Endless constructs of living nightmare fading only with centuries of disuse, mischance, and folly, save for abominations like the one slithering about the vast chamber, reliving battles it had fought, kills it had made endless years ago.

  The primal power of magic in its purest form.

  He could taste it.

  The terror and thrill of it washed through him.

  "Trouble."

  Sten hissed and jumped back, his blaster pointed straight at Val before his look of panicked fury faded to one of supreme exasperation. "What the hell are you doing, Val? Don't sneak up on us like that."

  Sten frowned, gazing strangely at Val. "Val, are you alright?" He swallowed. "You look... strange."

  Halvar, normally of the bemused smile and wry quip, was now gazing at Val warily, as if he was himself a threat. "Sten, why don't you step back and give Val some room? Val, I think it's time for you sit down and relax." Gentle words that nonetheless expected to be obeyed, Sten frowning after the fact, realizing, perhaps, that Halvar's former deference was based on friendship, not obsequiousness, the giant soldier ready to take command, should the situation warrant it, at any time.

  Elise was gazing almost sadly at Val, her blade held at the ready, he noticed.

  He did not let their wariness bother him. He had no ego. He was no damaged child dealing with horrors most young soldiers were rarely equipped to face. He was the deliverer of those horrors, and felt only icy satisfaction at seeing a job well done. He was the night itself, the cavern, and all its lost, terrible secrets.

  Shadowmind Rank 3 achieved! Congratulations, Val. When you embrace your darkness, you don't go half-way! What do hideous abominations of shadowy darkness have that you don't? Creatures that normally taste horror and fear sense nothing from you. It's like you're invisible! Or perhaps you're just a little bit too comfortable with the screams of tortured souls echoing through your psyche? Here's to hoping you don't snap in a killer's frenzy. Fresh starts and all that!

  Val ignored the message flashing in his mind's eye. It was just one more detail of this place, this time. He was not horrified, fearing he was trapped in a game, or that he had sprung from an even more arbitrary simulation. There was only this moment, the dark truths he knew, the tools at his disposal. Quantified power was information, itself another useful tool. That was all there was, that was all that mattered.

  "Okay, Val, if you're going for the warrior's gaze, I'd say you got it in one. Let's save it for the bad guys though, alright? You're really making Halvar uncomfortable with that stare." The captain flashed a smile, but Val could taste his fear.

  And that alone made him feel ashamed.

  Val lowered his head, snapping out of the hideous darkness he had embraced so fervently, dizzy and shaking.

  His heart lurched. Breath coming out in ragged gasps, realizing how close he had stood to the most hideous of nightmares. Living death looking for fresh prey.

  Val swallowed, fighting to keep his calm. "Captain, that... thing. By god, it's... it's..."

  "What?"

  Val shivered. "It's like hell given sentience and form. Living death. Endless torment. An ancient abomination, given awareness and life and a thousand souls to feast upon. And all of it is twisted into a hideous matrix, chords of force wrapping all the parts tightly together." Val swallowed. "Those...demons feed upon the souls butchered in its creation. Feed as well upon the screams of whatever poor fools it catches in these mines. Not allowed to die, never that. Eternal agony gives this thing too much energy. Enough energy to survive for centuries."

  Elise's gaze was one of horror. "No. Ancestors, no. Such a thing cannot exist. Cannot be allowed to exist."

  "Can we stop it with these awful flights of fancy?" Gregor pleaded. "Look, why are we spooking ourselves for no reason? We know this kid's eccentric at best. If it's not the wind blowing through cracks that might actually point the way to the surface, it's probably just another one of those vile specters."

  Val took a grateful sip of water, the flask silently handed to him, his companions seemingly comfortable with him once more, before closing his eyes. Breathing deep. Retreating from the frightened boy. Becoming his true self once more.

  He opened his eyes.

  Gregor hissed and lurched back. "I hate it when he does that."

  "What is it, Val?" Sten, his gaze a mixture of respect and apprehension.

  "The tunnels branch endlessly. I cannot sense the way out yet. But the tunnel you seek, the one leading to ancient water cisterns somewhere deep below is at the farmost end of the cavern ahead." He flashed an icy smile. "And that is the one this horror is guarding."

  Gregor's eyes widened. "I don't care how good you are at giving cold stares, Val. How the hell do you know where water is? How the hell did you sneak past that thing, if there is even anything there at all?"

  Val shrugged. To analyze his state was to disrupt it. He was the darkness. He was the cavern. He knew its secrets, or was just a heartbeat away from truly slipping back into that state; half Val, half darkness at that moment. All that mattered was that he could sense the cavern and the tunnels beyond.

  Sten frowned, shaking his head. "So how the hell do we get past that thing?"

  Val shrugged. "You can't." He flashed a bleak smile. "Many have tried before. None have succeeded. It is very good at finding desperate prey."

  Gregor paled. "There is no way you can know this. No way. You're making this whole thing up. Admit it!"

  Elise trembled. "Val, what are you, really?"

  Val did not answer either of them. He turned to the captain. "The only way you can possibly
hope to pass and survive is to defeat your foe."

  Sten frowned, dark eyes gazing right back into Val's own. "Alright, Val, what do you suggest?"

  Val took a deep breath, and shared his plan.

  "That's madness," Gregor hissed. "Pure madness! Catalyzations like that are never used deliberately. Never! Millions of credits worth of resources, and it breaks every treaty and law of war!"

  "It doesn't bloody matter if we die in here!" Sten snapped, taking a deep breath. "I don't care if his plan is crazy. I only care that it works." He turned to Val, eyes hard. "I can only assume by your idea that you already have the tools we need to catalyze it?"

  Gregor paled. "You mean he's been carrying both elements with him?"

  Sten smirked. "Credit where its due. He did negotiate for himself the right to take what we left behind. And though I'm not happy that he put our lives at risk, I won't deny that it will come in useful now."

  Gregor's pallor had only grown. "Oh, Heaven's mercy. Wasn't he stumbling on the ground at one point? How the hell are we not all blown up?"

  Sten shook his head. "Questions for another time." His gaze was hard, but forgiving. "Don't worry, Val. If your mad little caper actually works, I won't condemn you for what foolishness you committed that helped us in the end. But in the future you clear carrying volatiles with me, understood?"

  Val flashed the tiniest of smiles. "Don't worry, Captain. I won't endanger you." He turned to Gregor. "Pull yourself together. We need you focused."

  Gregor's dread turned to speechless outrage. "You presume to counsel me? You naive, arrogant, illiterate whelp? Of all the nerve... how dare you!"

  Val nodded. "Good. Anger is better than fear. Anger makes you impulsive, but fear can unman you entirely. Far better to be angry than afraid. Best to be cold as the dark, if you can embrace it." Val frowned. "But I see that you can't. So anger will do."

  Gregor looked all the more irate for Val's cold assessment.