How Black the Sky

by T J Marquis

  How Black the Sky

  Hero's Metal - Book I

  T. J. Marquis

  Copyright © 2020 T. J. Marquis

  All rights reserved

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  See the World Stats page for acceptable usage in roleplay and gaming.

  Made in the United States of America

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Foreword

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  About The Author

  Foreword

  I debated whether to include this foreword and decided yes, because since when is a debut novel not a momentous occasion?

  How Black the Sky arose from the premise, 'Heavy Metal Fantasy Novel'. However, I didn't want to just rehash existing metal fiction and games such as Metalocalypse or Brutal Legend, so I let it become its own thing, and boy did it ever.

  It truly is the product of a gen Y mind, with notes of general Sword and Sorcery, Masters of the Universe, Conan the Barbarian, Castlevania, and every weird and crazy 80s cartoon world swirling into a delicious and brutal brain matter tea.

  I had the secondary goal of actually personifying the instruments of a metal band without actually naming them - my silliness enters in other ways. Everyone's there, from the hotshot lead shredder to the sexy female bassist, stalwart rhythm guitar, face-blasting drummer and esoteric synth wizard.

  When I added my tertiary goal, to let some humor shine, the magic really started happening. How Black the Sky truly became its own thing - the prose for a concept album I'd never be talented enough to record properly. It pulled at me relentlessly, driving like a blast beat, and who was I to rein it in?

  Letting the madness come out to play was one of the most enjoyable things I've ever done, and I dearly - *cough* I mean, brutally - hope that it comes across on the page.

  So that's all, and I just want to thank --

  Psych! You want to know about the soundtrack, don't you?

  A number of extremely talented artists sauced my brain noodles on this one. I'll just list them for your enjoyment:

  Chorder, Silent Planet, 7Horns7Eyes, Rhapsody of Fire, Intervals, Anup Sastry, Devin Townsend, Demon Hunter, and many, many more.

  My predilection for progressive metal in particular really influenced the novel's themes of transcendence and grandiosity. You may once have sensed there was a very large bit of the universe hiding just beyond some ethereal corner. If only you could peel it back and peer out, there is no telling the sights you might see...

  That's part of what I wanted to get at with this piece. Above all, though, I wanted it to be fun! Let's see if I succeeded.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Pierce

  His sabatons kept slipping in the thin layer of muck that covered the stony ground, and every time he stumbled, the Monstrosity began to close the distance between them. His footfalls clanked and splashed dully, beating out a rhythm of haste that matched the pounding of his heart. He could hear the creature's breath, even at a distance - a struggling sound, as if the huge thing could hardly bear its own weight.

  That didn't stop it from crashing forward, driving fists into the slimy ground when it gauged itself close enough to try and crush Pierce to a pulp. Every time it missed, it roared and uttered a booming curse in its unfathomable language. Every time it missed, Pierce gave a prayer of thanks that he would not walk the Glorious Paths this day.

  Not that it would be so bad, of course, when it was time to die.

  "I'm just too young," he gasped as he ran. He choked on the foul stench of the Monstrosity. It smelled much like the rest of the Underlands - musty, half-rotted - only much stronger. Probably because it was so close...

  Pierce slipped again and heard the rush of air as the Monstrosity's foot came falling toward the earth. He caught a glimpse of the horrid thing as he righted himself. It towered overhead, easily seventy feet tall, and though most of its features were obscured in the darkness, he could see its long beard wagging back and forth, soggy and dripping with an oily substance.

  "Yuck," Pierce muttered and bounded away.

  He'd already been running for days. His training really had paid off. More than that, as bad as his luck could get, he was swaddled in physical boons. The Blacksmith had given him many gifts.

  Silver moonlight glistened on the slick ground, revealing just enough of what was ahead for him to avoid the odd stalagmite sticking up to bar his way. Occasionally the Monstrosity would rip one from the ground and throw it at Pierce, a stone missile exploding into thousands of fragments that bounced off his bright armor. Only a holy blessing kept him from being crushed.

  A shadowy structure appeared up ahead, an old castle left to rot in the endless mire of the Underlands. It had a modest outer wall that had been breached in several places, with tall, spindly parapets, dozens of narrow walkways spanning the gaps between them. Were any of them tall enough for what he had in mind?

  Pierce sprinted along the south side of the ruined castle, making as if to continue past it. Nimbly he dodged into a shadowy forest of columns that no longer had a roof to support. He found what he had hoped for there - an intact stairwell leading up into a central tower. If he could get up high... The stairs were damp with condensation, every step a risky venture.

  The stairwell terminated in a hallway that had been barricaded with furniture at some time long past. He charged toward this, barrelling through it with an armored shoulder. Moldy splinters of wood burst forth as he crashed into the hall beyond. He glanced to the left and right, looking for a way to get higher. Outside, the Monstrosity reached the castle and pounded on its remaining walls. Pierce heard the ancient stone blocks tumbling to the hard ground, splatting into the coating of muck, scraping along the wet stone beneath.

  A fist the size of a boulder tore through the wall at the other end of the hallway, ripping apart a huge portion of the castle structure. Crashing sounds echoed from every direction. Pierce looked up and moisture from the ceiling dripped onto his faceplate. He looked at the gauntlet on his right hand. Two of the five gems set into it still glowed a deep orange. He growled.

  One for the ceiling, one for the giant's skull.

  He thrust his gauntleted hand upward and triggered the blast with his mind. A lance of red-orange fire b
ore into the blocks of dark stone, reducing them to clouds of hot dust. With a mighty thrust, Pierce leaped through the hole and onto the roof. He was met by the Monstrosity's contorted face, skin gnarly like the bark of a tree. Its wet beard dripped black sludge onto the castle roof.

  Pierce dashed for its right eye as it opened a mouth full of broken teeth to roar. He drew his longsword from a sheath at his side, its blade glowing bright blue. The giant's attention went immediately to the weapon, and its eyes widened in fear or rage. Pierce cocked his fist back, then thrust it toward the giant's eye and triggered his final blast.

  His aim would have been perfect, but for the massive fist that backhanded him by surprise. He nearly lost his grip on his precious sword as he careened through the air, away from the ruined castle. He hit the ground hard, splashing down in the thin layer of muck, feeling it seep into the seams between the pieces of his armor.

  "Wasted the shot," he muttered, getting up and starting to run again. The ground was softer here, and it made the boot-sticking worse.

  He needed to find a way out of the Underlands. If he didn't get back up to Overland to tell everyone about the invasion, well, there was no one else who knew. The Underlord's plans would proceed unchecked.

  The Monstrosity didn't give him another moment to think. It had easily spotted the shining blue blade and came stomp-jogging to catch up. Pierce could see where his desperate gauntlet blast had hit, blowing off the giant's ear, which now dangled from the side of its skull, dripping blood or sludge. The thing didn't seem fazed by this and came on as if no head trauma had been suffered.

  Pierce sheathed the sword and scanned the environment desperately for hope. If the ruined castle was anything less than a few thousand years old, it would have been near a temple, and a temple should have been built around a convergence. He could use that to get back up to Overland.

  So where was the temple?

  There, a mound of earth with a spire protruding upward. That could be it, but if it wasn't... He committed himself. Pierce sprinted toward the mound, searching for that peculiar feeling of unease he knew should be there. He felt nothing.

  Then, he did feel something. Right near the spire, not quite where the center of the temple should have been. It was the feeling, like the need to vomit, like his guts desired to crawl out of his body and into the muck. He tried to focus.

  "Imagine climbing," he said to himself. The Monstrosity was almost on him. His voice quavered in a whine. "Come on..."

  He felt a tingle, then an itch across the surface of his skin, the sensation of moving backward, being pulled up by the neck. The slithering moon faded away, to be replaced by the roiling red fire of the sun. He'd never been so happy to see its bloody tendrils flicking about the black sky, pulling it across the vault of day. Now he was standing on a grassy knoll, the muck of the Underlands slipping off his sabatons. The grass recoiled, but couldn't escape.

  Pierce let out a breath of relief.

  The ground beneath him heaved abruptly upward, tossing him several feet to the side. Pierce recovered to see that the Monstrosity had appeared, buried from the knees down in the soft earth. It had heaved one foot out of the ground and was working on the other, screaming at Pierce unintelligibly.

  He was in shock. People had always said the Monstrosities wouldn't come up to Overland, for they hated the light of the sun. But here it was. He shook his thoughts away and turned to run. There had to be a town around here somewhere.

  "So you've paid him up to Jubilee?" Scythia asked her husband.

  He grinned and put a rough hand over hers.

  "The place is ours till then, darling!" he said. "We don't have to take just any old cliff-licking jobs anymore. Just the good ones."

  "There are good cliff-licking jobs?" she quipped. Her husband laughed.

  She loved seeing him happy like this, his smile surfacing from beneath that thick red beard. He'd been so proud of that last bounty, so insistent on taking it despite the danger. She had to admit it had paid off. New armor, lots of food, and rent paid for the next five years. She'd been looking to settle down for a while.

  "We did good, Axie," she smiled at him, crowning his hand with hers. He blushed a little at the nickname, looking around as if he were concerned that someone had heard. His grin returned when he saw no one was near enough to hear.

  "So it's more mead for us then. Celebration demands it!" he said, motioning to the barkeep to refresh their steins, taking a long draught to drain his own.

  Scythia winced as a sudden stab of pain shot through her temples, igniting the red gems in her silver circlet. Axebourne saw them light up and surged to his feet.

  "Which direction?" he hissed, peering out the windows and into the street. She shook her head.

  "I don't know. But it's coming fast, whatever it is" she said as the sharp pain dissipated. Her Circlet of Knowing could be a cruel accessory.

  Together they rushed out into the muddy street and searched for danger in both directions. Scythia felt the ground tremble beneath her feet, rippling the puddles of water left by the morning mists.

  "West," she said, and they both sprinted off in that direction, mud splashing up onto their treated leather boots.

  Axebourne had drawn his weapon, a halberd with an extendable steel shaft that snapped out to full length at his touch. The edges of its blade were lit with yellow fire. Scythia followed suit, resting the chain of her spiked flail on her shoulder.

  Then she saw it, a sickly face of black, scarred skin stretched over a skull the size of a potter's hut. When was the last time a Monstrosity this big had come to Overland? The thing groaned as it came, chasing after something Scythia couldn't see, swiping at structures in its way with those gnarled, massive hands. Townsfolk screamed, buildings sagged and collapsed, dogs were barking, cats yowled as they fled.

  "It's fixated on something below!" Scythia hollered to her husband. "Let's get up high before engaging!"

  He nodded and they altered their course to head for the temple. It wasn't as tall as one in a big city might be, but she would take any elevation she could get against that thing.

  They raced down muddy roads until they came to the main street, the one that led to the temple. There were still hundreds of feet between them and the monster. Now she could see its prey, a lanky man encased in bright armor splashed with mud and black goo. He too sprinted for the temple, and Scythia saw his posture straighten when he caught sight of her and Axebourne.

  She kept glancing back at him as she followed Axebourne to the temple.

  On this stretch, lamps lined the street, their gems unlit but visible behind their glass casings. The tall armored man flicked his sword out at one of the lampposts, severing the post, causing it to crash to the ground. He plunged a hand through the glass to grab the gemstone inside, looking back to check the Monstrosity's position. He dashed up to the next lamp and repeated the process.

  Scythia and her husband made it to the temple, and she paused on its steps while he went on ahead. The armored man had collected several gems and struggled to insert them into his gauntlet while he ran. The giant gained on him.

  Scythia hailed him with one hand and pointed up into the temple to indicate her plan. He nodded as he ran, but she thought she saw him slowing down as he neared. She shot through the temple's open doors and into its foyer. Twin staircases led up to an open mezzanine on the second floor. With long legs she bounded up the steps four at a time.

  When she joined Axebourne on a balcony overlooking the temple grounds, she saw that the armored man had stopped to await the Monstrosity in the street beyond. Brave? Or stupid? She figured he must have a plan.

  "You've chased me from the depths of that sickly pit you call home," the man cried at the giant. His voice sounded young. "I'm tired of it! Come on, come get it you cliff-licker!"

  Such language near a temple, Scythia thought. He's not orthodox.

  The Monstrosity obliged, surging forward at the sound of the man's voice. It closed the d
istance, cocking an arm back, ready to swing and swat the man into paste. When only a few meters separated the two, the man drew his longsword. It blazed blue, its vibrancy jarring amid the grey and brown of the town's buildings, the red and gold of the temple ground's bricks and ornaments. The Monstrosity flinched, squinting at the unusual color and its bright light, and the man fired a mighty blast of orange fire into its lower leg. Flesh blew away like smoke, leaving only white bone. One of the gems on the man's gauntlet went dark.

  The giant fell to one knee, swinging its arms blindly toward the ground in search of the armored man. It obliterated an ornate fountain, uprooted an old tree, but missed the man.

  The armored warrior rushed the giant and fired a second blast of fire at the ground beneath his feet, propelling himself up into the air. He soared, and Scythia smiled. She'd never seen someone use a blast gauntlet that way before. It was amazing his arm didn't break, but some Overlanders were just naturally tough. A third blast sent the man flying even higher. A fourth blast, aimed behind, sent him closer to the giant's head, and a final shot deflected the huge creature's hand as it tried to knock the man away. It lurched, screaming in pain as its hand disintegrated into a mess of black skin and white bone. The armored man cleaved down the center of its horrid face with his blade, setting its wet beard afire with blue flame.

  The Monstrosity toppled backward, the man falling with it. He impacted its chest and rolled down to the ground.

  Pierce lay in a heap next to the giant as it twitched with the final impulses of its wretched life. He winced, trying to catch his breath.

  "You alright, stranger?" came a voice from up the street. "That wasn't pretty!"

  Pierce tried to blink his eyes into focus, but they wouldn't obey. A black and red blur approached. It was tall. Its voice was husky. Pierce flipped up his faceplate, took off his left gauntlet, and rubbed at his eyes. The blur resolved. She offered him a hand.