by Erik Weir
Young Victor looked up as his father moved to his mother in the wheelchair. Victor looked to Lily, not turning to see what was happening. The room took jagged edges as Victor’s father stood over the sobbing woman, fists tight at his sides.
“That FUCKING NOISE! SHUT IT! SHUT THE FUCK UP,” Victor’s father screamed.
Young Victor jumped to his feet, hurling himself at his father. The older man turned to see his son, tears in his eyes right before he started punching him. The older man snarled as he grabbed his son and punched him in the gut. The shock caused young Victor’s eyes to widen as he bent over and gasped for air. The older man took advantage and pummeled the younger one.
“Lily…Don’t watch,” Victor whispered.
The succubus couldn’t turn away as young Victor hit the floor, coughing and spitting up blood. The older man turned to Victor’s mother in the wheelchair.
“Shut that fucking noise,” Victor’s father said in a menacing whisper before he raised his fist and brought it down.
Lily’s staff appeared in her hand as she tried to launch herself past Victor’s body. The Blade grabbed her before she could get past and pushed her in the opposite direction as Victor’s mother screamed, a fist rising up and crashing down again and again.
“NO! NO!” Lily screamed as Victor pushed her through the kitchen, out the backdoor and into the green yard.
“Please…Lily,” Victor said calmly.
“We have to stop him! We have to…” Lily tried to scream but her voice cracked.
The succubus tried to push past again when Victor grabbed the demoness and hugged her tight.
“Let go! We need to …”
“It’s already happened. There is nothing we can do. They are ghosts in my life,” Victor said in an understanding tone.
The succubus stopped struggling and stared into Victor’s dark eyes. “I…I’m so sorry.”
“I never thought…you would see that,” Victor said with a sad edge.
“Victor…,” Lily said before embracing him.
The Blade and Shield held each other as moans and sobbing spilled from the dark house. Sirens sounded off in the distance. Victor couldn’t push down the pain so he decided to wake up.
***
The Blade opened his eyes, still lying on his stomach. Pushing up, Victor slid to the ground and began to get dressed. Memories slammed into him like a relentless tide during a storm. The edges of Zen became frayed. The Blade couldn’t calm his heart as it thudded in his chest. Fully dressed, the Blade made his way to the front door and opened it.
Lily was standing there with wide, wet eyes. Victor said nothing as he stepped past her and into the street. The succubus moved and stood before him, halting him in the street. Moonlight caused their faces to glow as they stood before each other.
“Victor…,” Lily began.
“I now understand what you mean by our connection. You didn’t want me to stumble onto your past but instead you stumbled into mine. I…I wasn’t sure I would ever tell you…but it seems fate had other plans.”
“I don’t know what to say,” the succubus said, her head tilting forward to the Blade.
Victor gave the demoness a sad smile. “There is nothing to say. I need to take a walk, clear my head.”
Victor stepped past the demoness and started walking toward the stairs. Lily didn’t move to stop or follow, her heart beating with shards of pain. The crescent moon lit up the mountainside as Victor made his way down.
At the bottom, Victor walked with heavy shoulders. The dream played out like some twisted play. He thought he was past it, and yet it reared up like a monster from the deep ocean. The Blade walked along the wet grass, each step bringing him closer to the misty fog. Emotions spun but the Blade kept them at bay, not caring to relive them again.
There is no way to heal a scar. You learn to live with it. She will understand when she calms down.
Victor nodded to himself as he slowed and soon stood before the wall of mists. Looking into the gloomy fog, part of him wondered if he should step through and see if he could return to his realm if he really wanted. The Blade shook his head and smiled, knowing there wasn’t anything to return to. His old home was nothing more than a world filled with bad memories.
Turning around and looking to Vala’s mountain, new light breathed into his heart. Purpose had taken root and he wanted to be here, continuing the crusade to bring the goddess of love back from the dead. It was something special, a deep need to right a wrong in a universe of wrongs.
The Blade sighed, heart calming in his chest. He was at the beginning of a grand adventure, grateful to be a Champion of Vala. A faint memory caressed his thoughts, speaking of things he thought he long forgot. The glimmer of understanding touched his mind, but before he could recognize it, something cold touched his arm.
Victor turned his head, looking down with widening eyes. A black tentacle caressed his arm like a lover in the night before it wrapped around the elbow. Victor pulled before several more wrapped around his limbs and waist. The Blade tried to yell as another one coiled around his mouth. With muffled yells, he tried to fight as the black tentacles picked him up. Victor shouted for Lily, but his mouth was sealed shut and there was no one around to hear him.
The Blade struggled, ready to influence his strength when the tentacles snatched him away; pulling him into the mists and fading from sight, the glowing crescent moon the only witness in a forever night sky.
Fifteen
Sand and dirt shifted between Victor’s fingers. Chaos stormed along his senses, the Blade desperately trying to mentally shake it off. Lifting his head, gloom, darkness, and bare lands spread out before him. A pounding headache throbbed as Victor pushed up to his hands and knees. Eyes taking it all in, he shook off the remaining mental cobwebs as he sat on his rump, head moving from side to side.
A vast black desert stretched out in all directions. Tall, craggy mountains dotted the desolate landscape while the sky was filled with stars, moons and ringed planets. The Blade blinked, thinking it was an illusion but past the many moons in the sky, several ringed planets glowed. Victor couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It was almost like the sky was crammed with as many celestial bodies as it could hold. Stars burned bright and seemed to be closer than the stars back on earth. It caused Victor’s head to spin as he basked in the light reflected off the planets and moons.
Victor slowly stood up, looking at the black sand encrusted along his fingers and palms. It was fine, almost powdery. Sliding his palms together, the sand fell away as he looked to the mountains. Massive gashes ran along most of them in crisscross patterns. The Blade guessed if he climbed one, he wouldn’t be able to climb over the gashes because they were too wide and deep.
“This is great,” the Blade said sarcastically to himself as he spun around.
The black desert went on for miles. Faint memories of the tentacles caused Victor to check himself. Looking down, his body was unmarked. A relieved sigh fell from his lips as he felt a little more relaxed.
It must be one of the realms but which one? Night Sun or Dark Spire?
“Whichever one it is, I don’t belong here just yet. Best to find a spot I can sleep and see about getting back to Luna Springs,” Victor whispered to himself.
Sleep here?
Victor started walking, eyes taking it all in with every step. “Chill out. There must be a cave or something where I can lay down.”
The Blade continued his steady pace, eyes glancing up at the moons and planets every few feet.
“I thought there would be more horrors, the way Lily talked about it,” Victor whispered.
Thoughts flowed back to Lily and Victor’s heart clenched in his chest. Watching her see what happened in his past was too much. The sickening feeling gnawed at him as he walked. Lily was his partner, but he never thought they would actually get in each other’s head. The Blade should have figured that would happen since she was first to tell her past, afraid Victor would find ou
t anyway.
But she saw your past. We didn’t see hers.
“I don’t need to see it. I trust her enough to know it hurt,” Victor said to the voice in his head. “Important thing now is to get back home before…”
The ground shook. Victor stopped and looked around, cursing under his breath that he didn’t move to one of the mountains for protection. The ground rumbled again, and then for a short moment, silence. Victor eyed the nearest mountain and made a beeline for it, his legs pumping as hard as they could. The ground shuddered once again, sand shifting and small rubble rolling down destroyed mountains.
The Blade could see he was about two-hundred feet away from the base of a mountain. Legs pumping, he just had to reach it and maybe hide in one of the cracks. It would be his only chance if some monster was getting closer. Patches of sand bounced into the air as the ground shook like an earthquake.
“Come on,” Victor hissed through clenched teeth as he was slowly closing the distance.
Use your influence to go faster.
Victor mentally kicked himself for not doing it sooner. Ready to spend a point of strength, the Blade gritted his teeth until a sound blasted the area. Air rippled as the dark horn like sound crashed into him, tossing his body into the air like a ragdoll. The world spun before Victor crashed into the black sand and rolled onto his back. Coughing up sand, the Blade sat up when his eyes glimpsed something horrific.
A two-legged thing walked, the ground shaking with each step. It stood taller than a mountain with green skin and leaking sores covering its body. There was no head, but a gaping razor mouth on top of two massive shoulders and long flowing emerald green tentacles around it. Its arms were long and nearly touching the sandy floor as it moved with heavy steps. The things feet were like elephant feet, round with sharp claws circling around in boney toes. Puss and foul ichor slid down from the sores as the tentacles moved in all directions. The mouth opened and closed, triangular teeth sliding against each other. Sounds dripped from the giant monster like chewing meat.
Victor’s eyes were the size of saucers as he watched the thing walk indifferently. It never turned in his direction or lashed out, but fear stabbed into Victor’s mind and heart. He found it impossible to look away as reality rippled and twisted his vision. The giant abomination continued on its path, a long arm curling up and slashing across a mountain. The ground shook like a full-fledged earthquake but the Blade found it impossible to look away.
Close your eyes!
Victor couldn’t as his mind began to slip away. Red crawled into his vision as his mind’s eye took on jagged shapes. Emotions ripped at his insides as bloody tears flowed over his cheeks. Pain cut through his body as he readied himself to surrender to the abomination, his life meaningless.
A spark screamed from the void. Victor tried to listen but logic and sanity clashed like furies. The spark was still there, burning what little light it could to stay with him. Victor pulled his wits together, spending a point of intelligence. Emotions died down as logic took root. The Blade laughed for a brief moment, he understood what was happening. Closing his eyes, darkness swelled and crashed down on him. The pain and torment fell away as the Blade passed out.
***
Victor opened his eyes, a familiar face with horns looked down on him, planets and moons painting the sky behind her.
“Victor,” Lily whispered.
The Blade was silent for a moment before a small smile appeared. “How did you find me?”
“I felt you get pulled from Vala’s Realm by a terrible darkness,” Lily said as she helped the Blade sit up.
“Cassandra told me she felt tentacles and I could only guess it was to the Dark Spire Realm,” Lily continued as she wiped away dried blood from Victor’s cheek. “You saw one of the Elders?”
Victor rubbed his head, a throbbing headache pulsating along his mind. “Is that what they’re called? I just saw a giant monster bigger than a mountain walk by. It didn’t even notice or care I was there.”
Lily nodded. “Elders are cosmic beings beyond the minds of people and gods. Dark Spire has about a dozen that walk the lands. They don’t see anything beyond their mental plane of existence. Gods and Goddesses are the only beings that stand a chance against them.”
“Now I know why you were against coming here,” Victor grunted as the succubus helped him to his feet.
“The mere sight of them can cause madness. If you look too long, you can forever lose your mind. How did you survive seeing one of them?”
“I was staring at the monster and I couldn’t even blink. Something told me to use my Intelligence influence to close my eyes.”
Lily looked around while holding Victor’s hand, “That makes sense. The Abyss Sphere is connected to intelligence. That last moment may have saved your life, but we have to go before another Elder comes this way.
Lily began marching, pulling Victor along with her. The Blade’s head was still swimming in dim confusion as he kept to Lily’s pace.
“It feels like hornets had a party in my skull,” the Blade said as he rubbed an eye.
“I healed the little damage you took, but I can’t heal the mind. It may take some time before your back to normal,” Lily said with a frantic edge.
“There’s nothing here. We should find a cave and try to sleep so we can return to Vala’s realm,” Victor said.
Lily stopped and turned her head from side to side, “We can’t stay out here. It’s not just the Elders here. We need to find the city of Koth before something else finds us.”
“That doesn’t sound promising,” Victor smiled before Lily pulled him along.
“I’ve been here a few times. My people from Night Sun have a resistance to the Elders and many of the horrors in this realm. We have to get to one of the spire cities before anything else notices us. We are lucky in that you were brought close to the city of Koth. I just have to remember the landmarks and we should…”
The succubus trailed off as red eyes glanced at a slightly curved mountain. “It’s over there, on the other side.”
Victor looked to the curved mountain, “We have to climb it?”
Lily pulled him along, “No, go around it. Last thing we want is to be on a mountain if an Elder walks by. They lay waste to everything within reach.”
Victor shook his head slightly before taking in the distance to the mountain and around it. The Blade guessed it would take hours to make that journey and since time was of the essence, it wouldn’t do to take their time. The Blade thought out his options before an idea formed.
Lily glanced around, “We have to be quick. It will take some time to get there, but if keep a good pace, we might make it there with little trouble.”
“I have a better idea,” Victor smiled as he scooped Lily into his arms and spent a point in strength.
Lily eyed the Blade, “What are you doing? We don’t have time for this!”
“Hold on as I test out my new ability,” Victor said as power poured into his limbs and muscles.
The Blade didn’t know the extent of his abilities, but now was the perfect time to test it. Since he gained increased strength and speed from the Tempest realm, the Blade guessed he could use it longer than when he used the spheres of influence before. Before they only lasted a few moments, but now he could feel the difference.
Legs bending, power surged as Victor took a quick breath. Winking at Lily, the Blade readied himself and burst forward like a cannonball. Black sand kicked up as the Blade’s legs became a blur. Lily clutched to Victor’s neck as his body moved like bullet train across the desert.
Victor couldn’t stop smiling as power pushed him faster than he’d ever gone before. Even with the increased speed, his arms felt strong, holding the succubus like she weighed nothing. The Blade quickly noticed that he was fast, but not fast like the Flash or Superman. It felt a few degrees less than the superheroes he read about and saw on the big screen, but it was still fast enough to cut down their trip to the mysterious cit
y. Wind whipped at them as they moved across the black sands. Lily couldn’t hide her smirk as she held tightly to the Blade.
The mountain turned in his vision as Victor ran alongside it. Legs pumping, the Blade didn’t feel tired, as if running like this was a normal everyday jog. The pair zipped along when a light shined in the distance. Victor and Lily looked on a long spire stabbing into the sky, a glowing white crystal above the black tip. At the base of the black spike, a long circular city surrounded the spire for miles. Stone structures stood at various sizes and heights while dim white light touched the top of buildings.
Victor stared as he ran, seeing the perfect circle below the light. Turning, the Blade blazed toward the city. Once the pair cleared the mountain side, they rushed toward the city in the distance.
“Is that Koth?”
Lily nodded. “It is one of several cities here on Dark Spire.”
“I assume they call it Dark Spire because of the tall spires in the cities.”
Lily looked up while holding onto Victor, “Because of the Elders, there was no civilization in this realm for the warp spawn; people who took residence here. They functioned like beasts until a being entered the realm with a gift. Some of the first books here tell the legend of how an angel appeared and gifted them one of those massive crystals. The spawn took it as the angel showed them how it will save them from the unfeeling Elders. With a wave of his hand, a spire rose up under the crystal, thrusting it high into the sky. Dozens of warp spawn cowered at the base of the spire when an Elder walked toward them. The angel stood his ground as the Elder approached.
“The light from the crystal shined down and the Elder thing did something it had never done before in a millennia. It was touched by the edge of the light and it turned and marched in a different direction. The legends say the Elder didn’t scream or thrash. It simply turned away and walked on. This was an amazing feat for the people who lived here. They couldn’t build anything here because of the Elders, not even tunnels. The ground is too soft from the constant pounding of the Elder things. Warp Spawn moved in tribes, trying to keep their distance from the Elders. Now that they had a light that protected them from being crushed, they were able to create a society to live and grow.”