“HAGH! HAGH! HAGH!” he laughed cruelly while the two golems fought around us.
He spun the staff and struck my swords with enough force that they returned to the netherworld. I quickly created a shield to block his next attack, but it, too, was immediately destroyed. With each weapon I summoned, Byron knocked it away. I kicked him in the groin and forced him away from me.
He dropped to his knees for only a moment before raising his hands, bringing the lava from the fountain up around us. The large fist of the iron golem passed through the fire, splashing lava over us. My fire resistance spell protected me from being blistered.
Byron then sent lava from the wall to swirl around me and wear away at my resistance, but I pushed the heat of the lava way, causing it to solidify. He telekinetically pushed me through the frozen ore into the battling golems, and I had to move quickly to keep from being squashed beneath their feet as they punched and grappled one another.
The iron golem struck Bones with a fist covered in burning lava. A chunk from his shoulder burst loose and fell nearby. The bodies that made up the shoulder hurried back to the golem and was absorbed into the mass. Bones caught the iron golem’s next attack and threw him to the ground.
The floor could no longer bear the colossal weight. It split and caved in, causing all of us to slide into a deep crevasse. Byron and I were last to slip into the fissure, so we were above the golems as we fell.
The lava that had been flowing into the fountain poured into the hole from various passages, casting an abysmal light on the wall of rock that surrounded us as we fell deeper into the earth. The two golems broke away large portions of stone during their decent, widening the crevasse.
Byron dropped onto a large stone that had broken loose, and he launched a barrage of energy bolts up at me. The thin, white missiles sped toward me, but I created an energy shield while I fell through the earth. The magic missiles exploded on contact with the barrier.
Byron sent a shockwave through the stone he was on, obliterating it to dust. I was temporarily blinded as I passed through it, so I didn’t notice the wily necromancer slipping by to be above me during our descent.
A crushing energy field enveloped me, and lightning arced to me from its spherical surface. My extremities pulled and contorted with the flow of electricity, charring my skin in its wake. I felt pain, but I knew it was only temporary and that the blood which now flowed through my veins was already working to repair the damage.
I couldn’t see much of what was happening beyond the energy field, but I knew I was still falling. My mind reached for the arcing bolts of electricity until they were caught, and I pushed them away. They pierced the barrier and broke the spell that held me. The electricity popped across the rock walls, stirring up more rock and debris that put Byron on the defensive.
Far below us, beyond the battling golems, I began to see light. Whether the bottom was liquid or solid, I knew I wasn’t going to like the impact, so I commanded Bones to “Divide!”
“YES, MASTER!”
The magical bond that held the dead soldiers together broke to allow them to act independently. The massive golem appeared to crumble as the hundreds of skeletons, zombie dwarves and goblins began separating. As they disconnected, I issued another command to take hold of each other. The undead army’s decent slowed, distancing them from the iron golem that fell ahead, and the detached dead took hold of those nearest to them to form a large net. Those around the edge of the undead web plunged swords into the rock to stop their decent.
I fell into the net and looked up to see large rocks raining down. The skeletons and zombies that filled the chasm opened and shut holes in their net to allow the rocks to pass through until Byron reached them. Pointing their weapons upward, they created a deadly trap of blades for him to land in, but Byron avoided it by halting his fall.
I struggled to stand on the uneven surface of bones and armor to look up at him. “Why are you doing this? What do you want from me?”
While holding his position above me, he answered, “I want a younger, more perfect vessel, so I need to know your limitations if I’m going to transfer my mind into your body.” His green robes flowed in the hot air that blew up from the deep. “And I will no longer be affected by time. I will unlock the secrets of the undead and grow beyond your need for blood, beyond your need for darkness. I will be truly immortal and god over all life.”
“Your desire for power and control makes you no different from dragons.”
“Oh, but you lack the vision to see the difference.”
“Enlighten me,” I asked of him.
“Very well.”
Byron formed a ball of black fire within his hands and launched it at me. I sprang away from the blast, but it began burning away the undead like dried leaves.
“NO!” I yelled, but there was nothing I could do to stop it. I fell through the disintegrating web of bones, and the green light that held them together burned out. Above me, I could see the last of my army turn to dust.
“I’ll be down here, waiting for you,” I told Byron through a hard smile as I fell.
Down, down I fell toward the center of the Earth. The iron golem had fallen out of sight but left a gaping crevasse to pass through. It finally opened into an immense cavern illuminated by a lake of molten rock. Not far away, I could see the shoreline, so I guided my fall and slowed my descent to land on the course, black sand.
A hot wind blew from the beautiful red waters, and I remembered being out on the ocean with Lorena. She was gone now. Perhaps she was sailing again with her friend in the afterlife she had believed in. But Pop and Jinxie were still dead, and I desperately needed them back. I looked down at my hands as I opened and closed them. “I need to get back to Ashwood,” I reminded myself.
Thunder cracked, and I shielded my eyes from the flash of light. A bolt of lightning struck the sand nearby, leaving Byron on the black shore.
“Where the dragons rule to control their food supply, I will rule to give all life purpose,” he began to explain, walking toward me.
“And what purpose is that?”
“Building my empire.”
“Life needs the freedom to choose how to live,” I argued. “You can’t crown yourself king and expect everyone to remain happy under your rule forever.”
“That’s exactly what I expect. My world will be made perfect!” he shouted, rising slowly above the sand to look down on me. “And no one will have the power to overthrow me, nor corrupt my kingdom,” he added, raising his hands.
“Only you will be the corruptor,” I corrected him. “You must live among your people as one of them and be an example for them to strive for.”
The wind changed directions, pulling back to sea. It swirled and drew funnels of magma up to create boiling storms on the red lake. Four magma cyclones headed to shore.
“Just because you look like my father doesn’t mean I won’t kill you,” I yelled at him over the roar of the approaching storms.
“HAGH! This body simply acts as a focal point for my power in the physical realm. You can’t destroy me.”
The cyclones reached shore and stirred up sand, making it impossible to see more than a few feet. As the cyclones moved closer together, red lightning arced between them and began striking me. The protection from fire spell that I had cast earlier was eroded away, and the swirling lava closed in around me. The four cyclones merged as one, and I stood at its core as the intense heat burned away my hair and scorched my skin.
I levitated and pulled my extremities in close to my body. Focusing my thoughts, I pushed the searing heat of the lava away while I absorbed multiple lightning strikes. I then released a powerful pulse of electrical energy that destroyed the magma cyclone.
I saw the molten ore splash over a protective barrier that Byron had conjured. “Impressive,” he commented.
My entire body felt raw. I looked down at myself for a moment to see black sand clinging to a charred, naked body.
Byron b
egan concentrating intently, but I didn’t wait for him to cast whatever spell he was conjuring. I whipped him with a powerful bolt of lightning. The white, jagged light reached from my hand to entangle him. I lifted him up and slammed him on the ground. Before attempting to get up, he pointed at me, and through gritted teeth, he threw me back several yards.
“You are a clever sorcerer, much like your father,” Byron hissed, getting to his feet. He extended a hand toward the lake, causing the lava to give birth to an enormous dragon composed of molten earth.
“Now that’s one big dragon,” I commented.
I then noticed ashes falling down around us. It was the remains of my army Byron disintegrated. They had floated down from high above to settle on the beach. I suddenly realized that the soil and sand that covered the earth wasn’t just eroded stone, but it was also the decomposed remains of all that once lived. It was life broken down to its basic elements.
I clenched my fingers and raised my fists. I fell to my knees upon the black sand, and with all the power within me, I called for the dead. “RISE!”
Particles of sand clumped together all around us to form the skeletons and bodies of not just people but of giants and even dragons that had died long ago.
Byron levitated several feet into the air to escape the charging dead. He launched bolts of energy, causing his targets to explode.
The magma dragon passed over us, breathing fire. The extreme heat turned many of my black sand soldiers into glass.
Byron quickly raised a rigid hand, causing an area of black sand to solidify into a long spike and jut toward me. My unnatural reflexes allowed me to dodge the six foot spike. I ran across the beach toward him, calling a spear from the ethereal realm to my hands. Byron continued creating spikes, impaling my summoned warriors, but I avoided them all as I traced a large circle in the sand with my spear. I then leaped into the air to kill the ancient necromancer.
“You’ve come far enough,” he said, holding me in midair. He pulled his fists in near his chest, and his body glowed a bright white. He pushed his hands out and the light exploded from him across the beach to turn my army to glass. “I’ve already told you, you cannot destroy me. Even if you separate my head from my body, I will…”
A dragon under my command came up from beneath the black sand beach and swallowed the ancient necromancer. The great beast disappeared back into the sand.
“I know,” I said to the space in front of me where Byron once levitated. “I just wanted to bring you discomfort.”
The dragon he had called for immediately lost its form and splashed across the beach, far from where I was standing.
“Well, I wasn’t going to ride you out of here, anyway!” I yelled, picking up and throwing a severed glass foot. “Perhaps I should do something about this skin before trying to find my way out.”
I closed my eyes and blocked out the sound of the churning lake. I focused on my heartbeat as it pumped unnatural blood through my veins. I willed more blood to the surface where it could heal my charred skin quicker. Within just a few beats, I was back to normal. I had skin and a fresh set of clothing.
Where the magma dragon fell, I could see a doorway carved into the black stone wall.
“I don’t want to go that way,” I said aloud to myself. I looked up into the darkness for the crevasse I had fallen through, but I couldn’t see it. “Perhaps I can pass through rock like Byron did when he pulled me into the floor. I read his journal. I should be able to do it.”
I closed my eyes and clinched my fists. My muscles drew tighter and tighter. The tension suddenly released, and I opened my eyes again to that strange dimension. I felt no heat from the nearby lake of lava. I stood on the black sand beach, but I couldn’t feel the tiny particles beneath my feet. I could see the physical world, but I didn’t seem to be a part of it. Looking down, I could see Byron far below me. He launched bolts of energy only to have them reflected back on himself from the walls of his dragon prison that I captured him in.
“Run while you can,” I heard him say as though nothing lay between us. “You can’t hide from me. I will find you. I will find you!”
“I won’t play hard to get. When you’re ready, come see me. Oh, and don’t be surprised when you don’t find Hela waiting up for you; she’s dead.”
“What? You lie!”
“I’m sorry,” I apologized sincerely. “I know all too well that losing those we love is worse than death.”
“No!” he cried. “NO!”
I looked up and willed myself through the volcano to the dwarven ruins above while Byron’s screams faded into the darkness below.
CHAPTER XIII
THE CHEST IS OPENED
Through the transparent world around me, my sharp, vampire vision spotted two people sitting in the distance. One of them appeared to be waving to get my attention, but that couldn’t be because I was many levels beneath them. I passed through walls of stone like an apparition to reach a sloping passage where the couple sat.
“Ambros,” a dark-skinned woman said before I materialized.
I felt the weight of my body again as I anchored myself back into the physical world.
“It’s so good to see you,” the woman said, standing to hug me. “My name is Vistilia, and you’ve already met Manius.”
That’s when I finally noticed who the other person was in the wide passageway. A flood of memories and feelings washed over me.
“It looks like you’ve grown up,” Manius said.
“Not quite enough, it seems; you’re still taller,” I laughed and shook his hand, but he pulled me close for a hug.
“How’ve you been?” Manius asked, sitting down again on a rock and leaning back against the wall of the dimly lit tunnel.
I chuckled and raised my hands, answering sarcastically, “Fantastic!”
I then felt a familiar sensation and looked up and down the long, sloping tunnel. It was suspiciously clear except for the three of us and the rock that Manius sat upon. I suddenly realized it wasn’t just any old rock. It was a carved chunk of black obsidian.
I pointed to it and asked, “What is that you’re sitting on?”
A grin cracked his face that confirmed my suspicion, and I, too, smiled.
“May I see her?” I asked politely.
Manius stood from the chest. He picked it up and sat it at my feet. I kneeled next to it and rubbed my hands over its cold surface, feeling the carved handles on its sides. I was about to lift the lid when Manius spoke.
“Ambrosius still lives.”
I stopped what I was doing and looked up at him.
He nodded his head. “He has been nudging me in the right direction all these years.”
“How? How is he communicating to you?”
“That night in Ashwood, he drank a special elixir that allowed his consciousness to pass on to me through the drinking of his blood.”
“Can he hear me right, now?”
“I don’t know. He doesn’t speak to me often, but I know he is with me.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this before leaving Ashwood with his corpse over your shoulder?” I asked angrily.
“Ambrosius told us both what we needed to know,” he answered sharply.
“Why did you give him to Byron?” I spat.
“I needed his help fighting the giants, and I had nothing else that he wanted.”
I was about to yell again when I caught myself; I didn’t like the feeling of anger swelling within me. I took a deep breath to calm myself. Moving on, I said, “I read what happened to Eve in Byron’s journal.”
Vistilia walked over and hugged me.
“I’m sorry,” Manius finally said, wiping his eyes.
“So why are you still down here?” I asked to change the subject.
While keeping his eyes on me, Manius extended his arm, and his fist struck a magical barrier. He then leaned against it.
I walked over to the invisible barrier but was not blocked by it. I was able to pass throu
gh it unhindered like the one I stepped through earlier.
“Until the spell is broken, I am trapped down here. I sent word to Dirk and Byron that I had found Arethil’s remains and that I would send a group of dwarves to deliver the chest to them. Dirk warned me of Byron’s true motives, so I had the dwarves hide the chest before Byron came in search of it. I reclaimed it when a zombie goblin found it and began dragging it back to his master.”
I laughed. “That was one of my goblins. I sent several in search of the chest while I fought Byron’s army.”
“Did you kill him?” Manius asked nervously.
Rubbing my chin, I answered, “I believe Dirk may have killed that one.”
Confused, he clarified, “No, I mean Byron. Did you kill Byron?”
“Oh, no. He can’t be killed, but I did lock him in a temporary prison.”
Manius exhaled a sigh of relief. “Good; I still need him to break this spell,” he explained, tapping his fist against the barrier. “But I can’t let him get his hands on this chest.”
I nodded in agreement.
“So you must be the one to take it to the surface,” he told me.
“What will happen?”
“I don’t know, but legend says that sunlight will resurrect the phoenix where moonlight will awaken the dragon.”
“I am quite familiar with the legend, and it also says that Shadowrath and Arethil remain in an eternal struggle within the dark dimension. We can’t release one expecting the other to remain imprisoned,” I argued.
Manius thought on it for a moment, pacing the floor. “Ambrosius has led me this far. I must have faith that releasing Arethil is for the best.”
“I wish I could speak to him.”
Manius put a hand on my shoulder. “I know you do, son. I know you do.”
For a moment, I thought Pop was speaking through Manius, but it may have just been his choice of words.
“Well, I should probably get going. I don’t imagine that prison will hold Byron for very long,” I said, stepping over to the chest. “How heavy is this thing, anyway?”
Immortal Genesis Page 15