Bloodflowers Bloom (The Astral Wanderer Book 2)

  He nodded. “They are already dealing with the fiends. While they are not all that troublesome, there are many of them. If you have fought with this beast for this long, it must be dangerous.”

  “I merely have a hard time landing a strike on the dammed thing,” the Templar muttered. He looked up as the surface on which they stood began to shake. “Here it comes.”

  The creature came from below, launched from under the water, and scattered most of it, it seemed to swallow a fair amount of it as well.

  “Watch out!” Devol yelled. Once they were close to the water’s edge, they turned to face their attacker and both felt a similar shock when the beast was illuminated by the lighting orbs.

  They stared at an abomination of scaled, sinewy muscle. It had two large arms with four claws that dug into the rocks. The large body was wide and chunky with cracked ridges along its chest and shoulder. It tapered into a long snake-like tail that drove its slithering motion. A bulbous head topped the body, and the white eyes the boy had noticed before peered coldly at them. Its mouth seemed like it was made less for function and more as a container for sharp, jagged teeth.

  “By the Astrals, what is that?” He gasped.

  Wulfsun saw a darkened glow beneath its scales and skin. The odd eyes and the dark spots that seemed to travel along its body brought a recollection to him. “This is an abyssal beast, lad. It’s an amalgamation of other beasts forced into one decrepit shell.”

  “An abyssal beast?” Devol looked at the dark creature and tightened his hold on his majestic. “We can still destroy it, right?”

  The man was silent but with a glance, Devol saw the determination in his mentor’s face. “Aye, and we have to. We don’t want this to follow us, do we?”

  He shook his head. “All right, let’s—” Devol did not have the time to complete his suggestion. The beast released the walls it was balancing on and plunged toward them with an open maw. Without a cry or a roar and with merely a showing of teeth and tongue, it dove into a vicious assault.

  The boy turned to leap but saw Wulfsun take a firm stance to stab at the creature. “Wulfsun, watch yourself!” he cried but the Templar remained steadfast and raised his barrier when it drew frighteningly close. It pounded into the shield, bit down on it, and ripped at it with its claws.

  Devol saw an opportunity. He turned and lunged at the monster while it was busy trying to reach Wulfsun, held his sword up, and thrust the blade into its side. It slid deep and flooded it with light. The beast released the barrier and flung itself to the side. The sword came free and he braced himself against the loss of weight on the blade.

  The Templar nodded to him as he dropped his barrier. “It looks like you’ll be extremely useful with this one,” he told him, a little out of breath. They turned and froze when they noticed something swirling in the beast’s mouth. “What in the—”

  The creature spewed a torrent of abyssal magic directly toward them.

  “Hells!” they both cried and used vis to race away. Their adversary vaulted onto the wall and landed with a dull thud. It burrowed inside and vanished. They came to a halt a few yards away and Devol breathed deeply while Wulfsun growled as he cracked his knuckles.

  “Devol, are you all right?” he asked through rapid breaths. “Are you already winded after a little run?”

  “I’m fine.” The swordsman grunted as he stood. “I’m a little taken aback, is all. This place is something quite strange so far but it appears we’ve learned one thing.” He looked at his sword. “My blade can damage it, at least consistently. It was the same with the fiends above. They explode with light like with Farah’s magic.”

  “That abyssal fire or whatever it is will be a problem, though,” the Templar muttered. “I don’t even want to try to use my shields against that as I’m not sure what good it would do.”

  “Maybe I can behead it or cut it into pieces,” Devol suggested. “If you can get it into position, I should have enough time to—” The ground began to rumble again and he looked down and saw the dark, ink-like magic seeping through the cracks.

  Wulfsun grabbed his arm and flung him away before he jumped the other way. A jet of abyssal magic broke through the ground before the beast emerged, turned, and focused on the Templar with its teeth bared. “Whatever your plan is, go for it. I’ll stall this creature.”

  “I’m on it,” Devol muttered through gritted teeth, held Achroma up, and strengthened his anima. He ran to the rock mound and glanced over his shoulder as the monster dove from overhead and struck at the large man. The Templar jumped to the side and ran back a little as he raised his shields and let his adversary swipe at him before he countered with a punch to its side. The blow knocked it back but it simply spun in the air and swooped at him again.

  The young swordsman continued to build his mana up but the beast and Wulfsun had moved farther away in their struggle. He wasn’t sure if he could reach it now and decided he had to get closer. He leapt onto the water and glided across it with some vello control. When he heard a yell, he turned to where his mentor now careened across the cavern, having most likely been swatted by the creature’s tail. He tightened his hold on the hilt of his sword, leapt forward, and slid down a pile of rocks to the ground. While he would have preferred a more stealthy approach, he had no other options and Wulfsun would die if he didn’t get there.

  He almost froze when the beast reared and its mouth filled with magic again. Devol’s eyes widened and he wondered desperately if he was close enough. Even the Templar was not sure if his barriers were enough to stop that magic. He held the sword with both hands, filled it with as much mana as he could muster, and hoped to force it in rather than guide it.

  The monster turned toward him and revealed its many lines of teeth again as it slithered closer and opened its mouth to fire the abyssal stream. It extended its head toward him and he vaguely heard Wulfsun cry his name. He raised the blade and released the stored mana as the beast unleashed its magic. Light consumed his vision and he held his breath and closed his eyes.

  The blade lowered to a full stop and Devol’s eyes remained closed. He felt nothing but in the darkness, he heard a loud splash as something landed in the water. The beast began to wail in pain. When he opened his eyes and looked down, his mouth dropped open. The blade glowed with a brilliant light that ran through the entire sword, the abyssal magic was gone, and the illumination from the majestic lit up the cavern. The blade, hilt, and guard all sparkled like new and glimmered brightly. Not only that, but he felt rejuvenated like his mana had gone from a still pool to a flowing fountain.

  “Devol!” Wulfsun shouted. “I don’t know what you did but by the Astrals, keep doing it.”

  “I don’t know what I did either,” he shouted in response.

  “Look out!” the Templar warned and ran forward as he gathered his mana into his gauntlets.

  The boy whirled toward the creature that once again surged forward with its mouth open to devour him. With a yell, he raised the sword and swung it and a flash of light blocked his vision.

  The cavern became suddenly and uncomfortably silent. Devol drew a deep breath, startled when he saw the inside of the beast’s maw in front of him, and took a few hasty steps back. The beast didn’t move and he frowned and focused on a white line on the top of its mouth. The line separated slowly and the creature fell into two halves that shook the ground with their impact. Despite his new influx of life from the sword, he fell to his knees. Unbelievably, he had slain the monster.

  Splashes behind him drew him back to reality as Wulfsun ran up to him. “You did it, Devol. Well done, boy!”

  “That’s it?” he asked and breathed deep. “The beast is dead? Are you sure? The fiends outside would turn to—” They stood side by side and stared as it began to melt into the inky liquid the boy had come to know as abyssal magic. The entire creature disintegrated and formed viscous strands of the magic that combined into a small blob. It floated through the hole in the ceiling.

&nbs
p; “That can’t be good.” Wulfsun helped Devol to his feet. “Come on. Let’s see how the others are doing.”

  The boy nodded. Although he felt his mana had been rejuvenated, he still struggled with extreme weariness. He frowned at the hole and tried to decide if he could even attempt the leap.

  “Do you need some help?” the Templar asked and caught hold of the back of his coat.

  “Wulfsun—wait. What are you doing?” The man made no response but picked him up and drew his arm back as he pointed at the hole with his other hand.

  Devol’s eyes widened when he realized what was about to happen. “Control yourself. There’s no need to use too much—” Wulfsun tossed him through the hole and into the temple. His instincts fortunately kicked in and he flipped himself and directed mana into his legs seconds before he pounded into the ceiling. Imprints of his boots were left when he pushed off the tiles and landed on the floor in the main chamber, his legs shaking.

  He looked at the hole as he dragged in a breath. The Templar had managed to jump high enough to catch hold of the edges of the hole. He pulled himself through quickly and dusted himself off. “I should have brought a towel,” he muttered and looked at Devol with a wide grin. “Fancy footwork there! I might have used a little too much vis, I think. The distance looked farther than it was.”

  Devol’s legs continued to shake slightly but he nodded and thanked him for the assistance. “We should go check on the others, right?”

  “Right! Let’s get movin’,” Wulfsun declared and slapped the young magi’s back enthusiastically. “I want to make sure that beastie is dead.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  When Devol and Wulfsun stepped cautiously out of the temple, they saw the others looking up at something that held their attention. They did the same, startled, as the ooze-like remains of the beast congealed into a large orb before it erupted and scattered large amounts of the dark fog around the area. They all held their mouths or sucked in their breath with the exception of Wulfsun, who began to yell, “Calm yourselves! It’s all right.” He held his arms outstretched and his palms up. “It won’t hurt ye but keep your anima up.”

  The young swordsman lowered his hands as the abyssal fog drifted around him and finally sank into the ground. “What is it doing? All the fiends turned into this too after we killed them.”

  “It’s the abyssal magic,” Wulfsun explained as the others regained their composure. “It’s something…unique it does. It seems to recycle itself in some manner.”

  “Don’t all forms of magic do that?” Jazai asked and peered at the dome as some of the remnants began to stick to the roof.

  “Magic replenishes and mana reforms, but only if there is enough to start with,” the Templar replied. He folded his arms as he focused on a trail of the remains that drifted in front of his eyes. “You create a mana missile and fire it, and once it hits, it disappears. This stuff…I am not sure what happens exactly but it leaves trace amounts that are simply absorbed into other concentrated pieces of it. It happens in the abyssal realm too and much more quickly than here. It’s one of the reasons why you don’t wanna stay there too long. No matter how many of those bastards you slay, more keep coming and simply reappear right behind ya.”

  “So it possesses bodies in its own world as well?” Farah asked. “Who lives there?”

  “Possess?” Wulfsun asked, looked around, and finally noticed the bodies around them. “Aw, hells. Were these some of yours?”

  “They were.” She nodded. “Our soldiers and scholars who were deployed here. It seems like the magic possessed their corpses, similar to how ghouls function.”

  “I can’t get away from those bastards,” Wulfsun grumbled as he knelt and examined one of the bodies. “Aye, but in the abyssal realm, that only happens if someone falls. They can simply create constructs in different forms to attack, but they all seem humanoid to some extent—although I would say it is closer to demonic.”

  “More like the pictures we saw on the way here?” Asla asked.

  Wulfsun dropped the body and nodded, “Aye. This probably wasn’t meant to be a real attack. I think this substance simply makes things at random. Although, given that beast and the possession of these soldiers and guards, this could possibly have been a way to defend itself.”

  “Defend itself?” Devol asked and turned to his mentor. “Wulfsun, you say that like this is alive and giving orders.”

  The Templar shrugged and checked the fit of his gauntlets. “It may not be alive in the traditional sense, boyo, but there’s something to this magic—something that makes me glad it’s not my profession that has to experiment with it.” He turned and nodded to Jazai. “My condolences.”

  “I beg your pardon?” the diviner countered before Farah stepped in.

  “We need to get the rupture that has enabled this closed,” she stated and put her blade away. “And as quickly as possible. If this…anomaly is reacting to us, it will only continue to escalate so we should deal with it before it gains strength.”

  Wulfsun nodded. “Agreed. Fortunately, I think this will be far easier than a trip into the realm itself. It only has a finite amount of the substance to work with but still, it’s best to not press our luck.” His mana flared as he cracked his knuckles “Stay close to me. We’re gonna rush through the rest of this. Jazai and Farah, make sure we don’t get caught in another of those damned illusions aye?”

  The two nodded. The boy checked his rings while Farah held a hand out and formed an orb of light, which she cast out in front of them. “That will shine through any illusion, assuming we’re not trapped in one at the moment. Make sure you always stay within sight of it.”

  The others exchanged glances to make sure they were all ready. Wulfsun leaped on top of the Temple and gestured for them to hurry. “Let’s get the job done, ladies and gents!”

  “Hey, Markus,” a guard by the name of Henry began and pointed behind his comrade. “Are we expecting any more support or new arrivals today?”

  “Not to my knowledge,” Markus responded and turned to see what he was pointing at. “Why do you— Who the hells is that?”

  Five figures approached from over the hill, all dressed in dark garb, but the one who walked in front had no hood and wore red shades. Their stride was swift and they marched directly to the dome with no hesitation.

  “Civilians?” Henry asked.

  His teammate shrugged. “Who knows, but they aren’t supposed to be here. Hey, Tobias—incoming!” Another guard, along with several others and a few scholars, looked at the approaching group. Tobias told a couple of guards to follow him. He had planned to simply stop them and tell them to turn back, but something was odd about them. Did he need to warn them about the massive darkness stretching before them?

  Unfortunately, Tobias and the guards would not have their chance to question the strangers. He raised a hand to signal for them to halt and the leader of the group did the same. The man pointed some kind of stick with a red crystal in the tip in their direction. A flash emitted from this and the guards were incinerated before they even had a moment to scream.

  The other guards snatched their arms up and some scholars ran while others prepared spells. The four beings behind the fire mage suddenly sprinted forward and caught some knights in the front. They used daggers or the unnatural claws on their fingers to pierce through or around the armor to eliminate them with quick strikes.

  Salvo grinned as he formed several small orbs of fire that he cast at random targets. Some were able to defend against them with shields, both enchanted and mana-created, and others were able to dodge them. Two fell to the fiery onslaught. He twisted his wand and commanded the flames that now burned the grounds to snake around and envelope more guards as his ghouls continued their attacks.

  The swift onslaught and growing fire caused massive disarray amongst the defenders. Salvo noticed a pair of scholars trying to escape on his left side. He flicked his wand toward them, ensnared them in a cage of fire, and he
ld a finger up to tell them to wait as he continued to deal with the rest.

  “Someone needs to contact the others inside!” Haldt cried “They need to know—watch out!” He held a shield up and a torrent of fire slammed into it. The flames began to spin and grow to consume him and two other guards beside him. Their armor was quite convenient for Salvo. It meant they could not run away as effectively, which might have been rather annoying.

  The fire mage finally approached the dome and stared at it in amusement. “This is only a trial run?” he remarked as he spun his wand carelessly. “I wonder what he has planned for the real thing. This seems nothing more than a novelty.” He looked at the ghouls and pointed to one. “You—go to that cage and fetch me a scholar. Slit the other.” The ghoul nodded and hurried to the fiery cage as Salvo let it fall. When he felt a thumping in the box on his waist, he opened the container, took the mask out, and smiled pleasantly at it.

  The ghoul brought one of the scholars, who was a sputtering mess from the ordeal. Salvo nodded to the gate. “Open it.”

  “You can’t be serious!” the prisoner babbled. “You want to go in there? You have killed anyone here who has any chance to contain it.”

  “It works as well,” he muttered and traced the etchings on the mask. “It wasn’t my goal but it benefits my master all the same.”

  “You know who did this?” the scholar asked, equally aghast and angry. “What are you trying to do to our kingdom?”

  “If it makes you feel any better, he’s after the world as a whole, I think. He’s been rather vague about that,” Salvo admitted and turned to look at the kneeling man. “Now, open the gate or I will after I dispose of you slowly and painfully.”

  Although he was shaking, the man grasped his knees and shook his head. “You intended to do that anyway. Like hell I’ll willingly do anything for you.”

  He gave the man a wide grin and turned the mask as he took his shades off and slid them into a pocket. “Well, you are certainly right about that first part.” He placed the mask on his face. The scholar raised an eyebrow briefly before his eyes widened in fear as the mask seemed to reshape itself and assume a darker visage of its wearer. The fire mage pointed his wand at the head of the scholar, who closed his eyes and said a prayer to the Astrals before the red crystal of Salvo’s majestic flared and the man’s body was turned instantly to ashes.