Awaken Online: Inferno (Tarot #3)

by Travis Bagwell

  “Of course,” the AI chirped, and a thin yellow line appeared along the width of the hallway.

  “What’s our plan, then?” Malik asked, gripping his swords tightly, his knuckles white.

  Finn took a deep breath. “Given the density of the mana and the number of mages we’ve passed, my best estimate is that several million mana per second is flowing into that room.” He raised a hand as he saw the fighter’s energy fluctuate wildly. “However, Bilel is also burning quite a bit of energy to maintain the wards around the palace, the shielding around the palace structures, and the spells he is casting to assist his hounds deeper within Lahab. And that’s assuming the relic doesn’t require mana to maintain and control the hounds. Best guess? He’s probably burning as much mana as he’s receiving.”

  “You can’t know that for certain,” Abbad offered solemnly.

  “Perhaps not, but we can come close,” Kyyle retorted, raising a finger. “It’s not perfect, but we have some data to back that conclusion.”

  The earth mage swiped at the air to bring up a display showing a model of the mana absorption that Finn had used to first create the storm. “Finn’s new hand gives us an exact measure of how much mana it has absorbed. Daniel has also been recording the intensity of many different sources of mana during our journey – as well as the intensity of the mana in Finn’s hand after he created the storm.

  “That data is sufficient to let us back into a rough estimate of total mana based on the brightness of the energy. Then we can extrapolate using the same ratio to arrive at a pretty close approximation of both the mana flowing into the throne room and the rough output Bilel is expending with his various spells.

  “Based on our calculations, if Bilel maintains his casting for even a few seconds after we cut the connection, that should burn several million mana,” Kyyle concluded.

  “Which makes an implicit assumption about his total mana storage,” Abbad replied, although his expression was more measured now. “And what if the demon’s body can store mana in the tens or hundreds of millions? Normally, that absorption would continue to decay and disfigure his natural body. But with the staff’s healing properties, it’s possible that he could be storing an incredible amount of energy now. We shouldn’t underestimate him.”

  Finn nodded. “That’s a valid point. Unfortunately, we have little choice. And we’re banking almost entirely on educated guesses – that Aerys can maneuver the army into position in time, that she can take out many of the remaining hounds, that Bilel hasn’t stockpiled an obscene amount of mana. And we can only afford to wait so long after we cut the conduits before we breach the throne room. Bilel will likely notice that the stream has stopped within a few seconds, and we can’t afford to let him repair that connection.”

  He met the librarian’s eyes. “We have no choice but to roll the dice.”

  Abbad simply nodded, but Finn could see that hint of doubt and anxiety lingering in his eyes. Finn certainly had his own reservations, but what he had told him was the truth.

  They were out of options and time.

  He let out a sigh. “So, here’s the plan. Kyyle and I will cut the conduit, then Malik and Julia will charge the room. Mages will follow behind them. As for Bilel himself, well, Abbad is probably more familiar with his abilities than the rest of us combined,” Finn continued, waving at the former librarian.

  “Once we’re facing Bilel, he’ll likely cast his shields first,” Abbad said, his eyes skimming around the group. “He may have healed his body, but he’s accustomed to being incredibly fragile. His first instinct will be to protect himself. Expect to be facing several layers of shields composed of different elements. These will need to be neutralized either simultaneously or in close succession to land a hit. So, for example, an air-based shield needs to be blown apart, stone destroyed, ice melted, etc. We’ll need to time and coordinate our attacks.

  “In terms of offensive abilities, assume he can cast anything you’ve seen before… plus, a few spells you’ve likely never heard of. Bilel has spent the better part of a century working to improve his total spell channeling through the use of Multi-Casting, gems, and body augmentations. I’m not certain how the staff will affect his channeling limit. The highest I’ve personally seen him go is six simultaneous spells, but I don’t know for certain whether that’s his limit.”

  Good lord, Finn thought to himself. He could certainly understand now why Abbad was feeling nervous. Even without the staff or a magical pipeline of energy, Bilel would be incredibly difficult to take down. With those things…

  Finn wasn’t certain he wanted to finish that thought.

  “Okay. Everyone ready?” he asked, shaking off his own worries. Channeling his mana forcefully, he let the searing energy replace that anxiety with a bottomless excitement.

  He met each person’s gaze, receiving a curt nod in response. He could see their worries and fears reflected in their eyes, yet not a single member of the group backed down from this challenge. They had come too far to stop now.

  “Okay, then we go as soon as the conduit is severed.”

  Finn gestured at Kyyle, and emerald tendrils of energy soon curled around the earth mage’s hand, keeping the mana dim to avoid detection. The energy drifted out across the floor, and seconds later, the stone began to dissolve, forming a straight furrow along the width of the hallway. As the rock sank away, it revealed the thick bundles of crystals that had been embedded in the stone, their surfaces gleaming and rippling with mana.

  Finn’s fingers were already moving, words drifting from his lips. Twin metal spheres were soon wrapped in flame and sped out across the stone floor. He was forced to abandon caution, pumping more energy into the orbs to heat the metal. Fires flared brightly. Pressing his palms against one another, Finn smashed the two spheres together and then began rolling the molten substance. He repeated that movement again and again until he’d formed a long thin sheet of metal.

  With a deep breath and a final gesture, Finn flicked his wrists downward.

  The metal cut through the conduit like a guillotine, running the full width of the hallway and neatly severing those gleaming, crystalline threads. Finn flattened his palms and pressed down, smashing the molten metal into the groove along the floor. He saw the wires on the other side of the metallic barrier immediately go dark, his brow furrowing as he searched for any trickle of mana that might make it through.

  Yet he saw nothing.

  Another gesture at Kyyle and the stone began to piece itself back together, filling the gap along the hallway. Julia and Malik didn’t wait for him to finish. They were already sprinting down the hall, their weapons held aloft – the rest of the group hot on their heels. They surged down those last few yards, sprinted up the staircase on the other end of the hall, and barreled toward the massive double doors that marked Bilel’s throne room. They couldn’t afford to slow down or wait. If the demon sealed those doors before they could get through…

  Malik’s legs rippled as he lunged forward, his warded skin flashing with energy. The stone cracked under his feet, and he rushed forward in a dark blur, sailing up those final stairs. His shoulder struck the door with tremendous force, cracking the wood. The portal slammed open, and the group followed, charging into the throne room.

  They slid across the slick stone floor of the chamber before coming to a halt.

  Finn had been expecting to find Bilel perched on his throne, draining the mana from the conduits and looking out over the city. Instead, he found himself standing inside an empty chamber. The stained glass along the far wall had been repaired since their previous escape, providing a glimpse of the storm that still raged above them. Yet no raindrops splattered the glass, a byproduct of the shielding over the palace.

  “What is—?” Kyyle was cut off as the door behind them slammed shut with a resounding boom and the crack and snap of splintering wood.

  The group whirled, and in Finn’s sight, the walls of the throne room began to flicker with earth mana, tha
t glow growing until it was nearly blinding. Then the rock and stone exploded apart as though a bomb had gone off in the chamber, sending shrapnel flying away in a concentric ring. Massive bricks ripped themselves apart, hurtling out through the air. The stained-glass window along the far side of the room exploded violently, and multi-colored glass fragments blasted out into space.

  Finn spun, taking in the carnage around them as the room was literally ripped apart. Even the broad double doors weren’t unscathed, the wood exploding into a shower of ribbons and shards. And along with them went the stairs, leaving the group stranded upon this lone stone pillar at the very peak of the palace.

  As the walls broke apart, the group now had an unimpeded view of the city sprawled out below them. Its streets were half-flooded, tornadoes whipped down through roads and back alleys, and groups of hounds sprinted across muddy sand, flames licking at their bodies and sending streamers of steam curling into the air.

  The mixture of stone, wood, and glass that had once encircled the throne room sailed out into that void… only to freeze in place.

  As Finn looked on wide-eyed, that debris began to orbit them slowly, like some malevolent tornado. Despite the lack of ceiling, no rain spattered down upon them. He looked up to find a shimmering yellow canopy still stretched above the palace, blocking the wind and rain of the hurricane. Although, the occasional blast of lightning struck that barrier, and the energy forked outward, splitting again and again.

  That was when Finn heard it. The tap, tap, tap of shoes striking stone.

  He turned again, already knowing what he would find.

  Yet it didn’t make it any less surprising.

  Bilel stood there – not a wizened and aged ruler – but the same Bilel that Finn imagined had first transcribed that journal long ago. His skin was now taut and smooth, a dark auburn that belied hours spent in the sun. Thick brown hair sprung from his scalp, pulled back into a short ponytail. His robes no longer hung loose on emaciated limbs; his frame filled out the clothes. A well-muscled hand gripped that familiar golden staff, and atop that weapon sat a gem – a brilliant fire glowing within its depths.

  The heartstone.

  “Well, well, well, it’s about time the Prophet of the Flame showed up,” Bilel said, striding forward with purpose – seemingly unperturbed by the group confronting him. “And I see you brought friends. How quaint.”

  As Finn met Bilel’s eyes, he observed the only aspect of the man that remained unchanged from their previous encounter. His eyes swirled in a rainbow pattern of colors, a mesmerizing kaleidoscope of energy that revealed what he truly was – a demon.

  Bilel glanced at Abbad. “Ahh, my former student. You have been such a disappointment,” he remarked with a scowl. “Especially after I spent so long fostering your growth. You could have been so much more than a foolhardy rebel.”

  Abbad stood still and stoic, his face not giving away any emotion and his energy steady. A detail that only seemed to frustrate Bilel. The demon sniffed at him in disdain.

  “What?” he demanded, eyeing the group. “Are you suddenly all tongue-tied? No desperate, angry declarations? Accusations? Not even a mention of my new appearance?”

  Finn saw no shields swirling around the demon’s body, but given the massive whirlwind of debris still orbiting them, he suspected it would only take the demon an instant to conjure a barrier of rock and stone. If anything, his nonchalance and the almost casual destruction of the throne room indicated that he was still holding a considerable amount of mana – possibly far, far more than their calculations had estimated.

  “We’re here to finish this,” Finn said simply.

  Bilel barked out a harsh laugh. “And here I thought you might have come here with some grand plan or scheme in mind. But this… this is just too much. You’re here to ‘finish this?’ Finish what exactly? Your own life? The lives of your friends? To watch as your allies perish, cut down by fang and claw?”

  “What are you talking about?” Finn asked, already dreading the answer.

  “See for yourself,” Bilel answered.

  The demon waved out toward the city, and the debris split apart, providing an uninterrupted view of the Mage Guild along the northern side of Lahab.

  With his enhanced sight, Finn homed in on that location. He could see his soldiers – their location given away by the shimmering barriers of air mana and the cadre of earth and water mages. They seemed to be stationed inside the Mage Guild – just as he had ordered – focused on clearing out the hounds that were cornering the travelers and slaying them as they respawned, many turning into new hounds.

  “I don’t—” Finn began, but was cut off as Bilel dropped his channel.

  Suddenly, an ocean of orange energy sprung up around the Mage Guild, revealing thousands of hounds that had been hidden by Bilel’s illusion, allowing them to encircle the structure and trap Finn’s army inside the guild hall. At the same time, many of the hounds in the palace courtyard simply disappeared – revealing that only a fraction of that horde had been real. And with that realization came another…

  “This is a trap… this was all a trap…” Finn muttered, disbelief in his voice and his eyes still staring at the Mage Guild. Finn had already assumed that Bilel’s control range was extreme but seeing it in action was still jolting.

  “You planned all of this?” Finn demanded, whirling back to the demon. He summoned his fire mana then, the flames rippling across his body.

  “Indeed. I knew you would come up with some strategy to attack the city,” Bilel replied glibly. “The storm was a nice touch, by the way. I’ll need to remember that one. It was only a matter of time before you broke my shield and made it inside Lahab. I made it only difficult enough that you would believe you had truly prevailed at the gate.”

  Bilel drew his hands wide. “But what then? What would our intrepid, gods-touched mage do once he was inside the city? You’re smart enough to realize that you can’t challenge me while my hounds are still alive – too easy for me to heal. But you also couldn’t afford to only focus on slaying the hounds. I might simply flee the city. And, besides, I suspect you need this staff…” The base of the relic thunked against the stone to emphasize his point.

  “So, I planned a ruse – for both you and your army. And it seems that it worked,” Bilel declared, a low chuckle bubbling from his lips.

  He leaned forward, peering at Finn. “What did she promise you anyway – the Crone?” Bilel asked, peering at Finn. “What did she pledge in return for retrieving her relic? You never did answer my question last time.”

  Finn didn’t say a word, his fingers balling into fists.

  He used the gesture to mask his movements. His fingers twitched subtly, arcane words just barely escaping his lips – his casting obscured by the fire mana that coated his body. Finn needed to buy himself some time, just long enough to cast and cancel two spells…

  “What? Suddenly speechless?” Bilel demanded. “It seems I don’t even have to bind you and your friends this time. You all simply stand in place – dumbstruck by your own stupendous lack of imagination.”

  Bilel sighed, flicking his wrist. “Well, this was check. Shall we go ahead and finally end our little game?”

  With that statement, Bilel waved his staff at the group, fire mana exploding from the top of the gem. Those flames rushed toward them, swiftly encircling their bodies and coiling around their limbs. Yet as the seconds ticked past… nothing happened. The flames only lapped gently at their skin.

  “What is this? Why isn’t the transformation working?” Bilel demanded, those multi-colored eyes going wide with surprise.

  A grim smile tugged at Finn’s lips, his fire mana surging with renewed strength. The flames that coiled around his body flared brightly, and his eyes glowed a malevolent dark red, the cloth bandage burning away, and the flames of his crown spearing up into the air.

  Bilel’s expression faltered as Finn straightened, meeting the demon’s eyes. “That trick won’t work on
us, or the members of our army – not anymore.”

  He took a step toward the demon. “But you’re right about one thing. It is time to finish this – once and for all.”

  Without another word, Finn raised the palm of his left hand, revealing the fire curling within the depths of the Focusing Prism – the same energy he had stolen from the hounds during the battle at the gate. Finn had surreptitiously cast twice while Bilel was speaking, using this final Molten Beam to trigger his crown’s effect. Every third spell, the item increased his damage and effectiveness by 100%.

  And when combined with the mana stored in his hand…

  The effect was devastating.

  A beam of molten energy rocketed up into the air, the ray stretching nearly four feet wide. It speared up toward the shimmering yellow shield that hovered above the palace. In less than a second, the supercharged beam struck that barrier with incredible force, and the entire surface of the shield rippled, flashing with amber energy. The fires curled outward along the disc, creating a hemisphere of flame.

  And then the beam sliced through the shield – the barrier unable to withstand such a concentrated blast of pure mana. And as that energy poured up into the sky, stretching for hundreds of feet, Finn’s signal was seen from the farthest reaches of Lahab.

  The army stationed within the Mage Guild suddenly vanished, rippling away in an azure cloud of energy. The layers of that illusion had likely taken hours to craft – a necessary evil when facing an opponent that could see magic. And even as their army vanished, it reappeared again behind the hounds that ringed the guild. Earth mages pulled up massive walls of earth, trapping the hounds within a makeshift valley.

  A perfect kill-zone.

  Good job, Aerys, Finn thought to himself. She had followed his hastily whispered instructions perfectly.

  “What is this? What did you do?” Bilel demanded, the energy whirling in his eyes and spinning more rapidly now. Rain was beginning to fall on their lone stone tower through the hole that Finn had carved in Bilel’s shielding – the rest of the barrier flickering and beginning to break apart now that it had been destabilized.