by A F Kay
They retraced their steps, but the only tunnel they found was the one they’d exited. Sift, Lylan, and Kaylin scouted ahead, and the rest of the party followed. They kept this up for half an hour, the narrow fissure sloping downward the entire time.
Ruwen caught sight of Sift up ahead and angled toward him. When they arrived, they found Lylan and Kaylin there as well.
“What’s up?” Ruwen asked.
“We found the exit. Or exits, there’s a bunch of tunnels,” Sift said.
Kaylin nodded. “Just up ahead, there’s a small hole that leads into a large debris-filled room. It looked empty, but it’s hard to tell.”
“She won’t let me scout it,” Lylan said.
“It’s not worth the risk,” Ruwen said. “Let’s enter and take the closest tunnel. Agreed?”
Everyone nodded, and they followed Lylan. Ruwen’s heart thudded as he stepped through the opening and into the mine.
Pieces of armor and weapons lay scattered across the floor. Worse, animal and human parts were mixed in with gear, and Ruwen looked away. Dozens of large boulders had fallen from the roughly-hewn ceiling fifty feet above, making it difficult to see very far.
A wolf, its pelt jagged and sharp, stepped out of the tunnel in front of them. It stood five feet high at the shoulder, and mucus dripped from its eyes and nose. Ruwen looked behind them and found an identical wolf.
“It’s rude to leave without saying hi,” a female voice said from somewhere deeper in the room.
Without a word, the group formed a half-circle against the wall.
A woman stepped out from behind a boulder twenty feet from them. Her skin looked porous, as if sculpted from pumice. Six-inch horns surrounded her face, and the ground burned around her bare feet.
“Demon filth,” Hamma hissed and then spat a name. “Plague Siren.”
“And also a Dread Lord,” Mica whispered.
Rami? Ruwen asked.
Not good, Rami said. Two Affliction Wolves and a Plague Siren all from the Infernal Realm. Those horns around her face shoot out like spears but remain attached to her. She’ll inject poison into your system and drink the essence from your body while your organs liquify.
Any good news?
Yes. I never thought to see one. They’re quite beautiful for demons, and it’s believed the spores they exude are pure despair. Try not to breathe them.
That’s your good news?
Well, it’s the best I could do. You never give me much to work with.
Ruwen couldn’t argue with that. He cleared his mind and let his Core take his fear. They needed to focus on the Dread Lord, but he didn’t want the wolves to tear them apart from the flanks. He decided the best strategy would be to take the wolves down quickly, and then they could all concentrate on the actual threat.
“The horns are spears, and don’t breathe near it,” Ruwen said. “Jagen, Juva, and Slib, you take the wolf behind us. Sift, Lylan, and Una, you have the wolf in front. Hamma, help them where needed. Mica and Kaylin, you’re with me. Go!”
The Plague Siren opened her arms as if to embrace them, and Ruwen strode toward her as his team attacked the wolves.
Chapter 19
Ruwen stopped after a few steps. He wanted the Plague Siren to focus on him, but he didn’t want to get too close.
“Can you tell how much Spirit she has?” Ruwen whispered to Mica, hoping the Plague Siren would be empty.
“A lot of distortion. I’d guess she’s full,” Mica said.
Kaylin cursed and then whispered, “We need to retreat.”
Ruwen knew the time for retreating had passed. The demon would have sensed his Spirit already and would never let him leave now. Not without a fight. Ruwen’s Spirit and the uncertainty around his abilities were likely the only reason the demon hadn’t attacked already.
“What is your name?” Ruwen called out.
The Plague Siren tilted her head.
Ruwen didn’t have any complicated spells or deadly battle forms, so he went with volume. Stopping all his Refinement flows, he concentrated on increasing his Core Velocity.
“Did the Masked Clans send another? Have you not lost enough of your leaders?” the Plague Siren asked.
Ruwen reached up and touched his wrapped face. He didn’t know who the Masked Clans were, but he wanted to keep her talking. The sound of battle behind him meant they needed more time to finish the Affliction Wolves. Slib screamed, but Ruwen resisted the urge to turn around.
“You have yet to face the Clan’s strongest,” Ruwen said. “We are here to retrieve our leaders and offer a truce.”
The Plague Siren smiled, revealing rows of sharp teeth. She waved her arm in front of her. “Retrieve away. It will take you a millennium to piece them back together.” She gnashed her teeth together, and it sounded like glass rubbing on glass.
Ruwen continued to increase his Core Velocity. His Core flowed so quickly now, it blurred in his mind’s eye, and almost looked spherical.
“You believed you’d outsmarted me,” the Plague Siren said. “You thought you discovered my patterns. All those Harvesters lost for that precious information. But instead of finding me weak and exhausted from Fortifying, you discover the opposite. And then you tried to flee, terrified of my power. Now caught, you offer a truce. Truly, I believed the Clans had more honor than this.”
The Plague Siren thought a lot of herself, and Ruwen tried to leverage that.
Ruwen bowed. “There is no honor in a fruitless task. You have proven your superiority. We only hoped to retrieve what we lost and leave you in peace.”
“And what of the precious armor?” the Plague Siren asked.
Ruwen had no idea what she meant. But the battle with the wolves sounded like it had ended behind them, and he only needed to delay a little longer. “Keep it. The armor failed its owners.”
The Plague Siren tapped a four-inch talon against her chin. “You come into my home, request something you should know takes millennia, show no regard for the Aspects, and never even mention the Elder. Who really sent you?”
Ruwen grimaced under his wraps. She had seen right through his lies, although he didn’t really believe they’d work. The rest of his group arrived, so at least the acting had bought them that advantage.
Holding up a hand, Ruwen tried one more time to avoid a fight. “We apologize for this misunderstanding. We’ll leave immediately.”
“Leave?” the Plague Siren asked. “No one is leaving. Your friends will soon be particles of dust, and you will answer all my questions as I drain that immense Core. You will propel me into the Divine.”
Ten of the horns circling the Plague Siren’s face exploded outward, each one heading for a different person. His Copper reflexes allowed him to snatch one of the bone spears out of the air, his Silver-enhanced hand gripping it tightly. Hamma and Slib screamed in pain, and Ruwen turned to see if Hamma was okay.
As Ruwen turned, he noticed movement from the corner of his eye. Another bone spear arced toward him and struck his Silver arm, bouncing off. Slimy tubes attached the spears to the Plague Siren, and they retracted in a blink, settling back into the Siren’s face.
Hamma and Slib both had bone spears embedded in their chests. The tubes pulsed and shuddered as if sucking fluid from their bodies. Rami had said the spears would inject poison and liquify the victims' organs.
Without having to say anything, Sift ripped the bone spear out of Hamma, and Juva did the same for Slib. Hamma and Slib collapsed in obvious pain, but Ruwen couldn’t help them now.
Ruwen faced the Plague Siren again. He and Rami had discussed ways to use his Spirit on the way here. At his level of understanding, battle forms were the most efficient way to manipulate his Spirit. But he didn’t really know any, and they took too long anyway. But charging the weapons had proved he could move Spirit outside his body without a form. And if he focused on a single Meridian, he didn’t need a form, just a brief movement. It would be wasteful, but quick. And he didn’t have any othe
r options.
Ruwen focused on the Stone Meridian in his right leg and stomped his right foot down while touching his Core with a mental finger. Too late, he realized that with his Core Velocity so great, just touching it equated to what had previously been a swipe.
With his mental hand, he touched the ground next to the Plague Siren and moved it toward her.
A chunk of stone ten by ten feet erupted from the ground and plowed into the Plague Siren. She immediately held up her hands, and the stone formed a wall in front of her. Ruwen used another mental hand and repeated the process on the Siren’s other side, jamming his right foot down again.
A duplicate stone chunk exploded from the ground, and slammed the Siren into Ruwen’s first stone wall, smashing her with a deafening boom.
Ruwen stared in shock at where the Siren had been. His two walls of stone had violently crashed together, creating a stone pillar. Nothing should be able to survive that. Had he succeeded on his first try?
Laughter emanated from inside the pillar, and Ruwen’s stomach dropped. Of course it hadn’t killed the Siren. Mica had said she had already Fortified into the upper gem levels. Ruwen would have to do far more than that to hurt her.
The rock crumbled around the Plague Siren, revealing her unscathed body. “I can’t believe you made me nervous. Are you an Apprentice? Did you steal your dying master’s Core?”
The size of his Core had given the demon pause, and he hadn’t capitalized on that enough. “I am no Apprentice. We were wrong to disturb you, but if you wish to keep the world you’ve built, don’t interfere with our withdrawal.”
The Plague Siren flicked her finger, and Ruwen felt more than heard music, like someone had strummed a guitar. Above each entrance, the wall melted, and as it dripped down, it formed granite pillars that blocked the exits.
“None of you will ever leave here again,” the Plague Siren said.
Ruwen’s wrappings hid his amazement at the demon’s display of power.
The Plague Siren flicked her other finger, the sound like an out-of-tune piano, and a dark bolt of energy raced toward Ruwen. Sift had expected the attack and leaped forward, taking the bolt to the chest. Sift’s entire body turned black, and Lylan gasped. A heartbeat later, the black energy disappeared.
“Yuck, that felt like tar,” Sift said.
The Plague Siren clapped her hands. “A Sifter! How exciting.”
Ruwen stepped up next to Sift. “Not one Sifter, nine of them. They will drain you dry while I crush what's left.”
The Plague Siren seemed to consider this threat and remained silent for a few seconds. Fighting this creature seemed impossible. Bluffing would be the only way to make it out of here alive.
“That would be a superb strategy,” the Plague Siren said. “The universe favors chaos, so finding a true Sifter is not nearly as rare as an Axiom, but nine? I don’t believe it, and regardless, I’m full, and it would take over nine Sifters to drain me.”
The Plague Siren went still, and Ruwen knew she’d started a spell to attack them. Ruwen’s first attempt at a spell hadn’t been effective, but this time he planned to use far more Spirit. He went stiff, activating the Order Meridian in his spine, pinched his Core, and touched the Plague Siren with a mental hand.
The Plague Siren froze as the massive amount of Spirit struck her, and Ruwen yelled as he dashed forward. “Attack!”
Everyone moved and surrounded the Siren, attacking her both high and low. Ruwen struck the Plague Siren in the throat and cursed as his Silver Fortified fist bounced off the demon, his entire body vibrating from the blow. He heard Sift’s wrist snap as his friend struck the demon. The spears and swords and talons they’d brought with them were just as useless. The Diamond Fortified body of the demon was impervious to their weapons.
Ruwen shook his hand and realized the futility of their attacks. “Kaylin, grab Hamma and Slib and take everyone to the nearest exit. Destroy the blockage and run. I’ll keep her locked up while you flee. Go!”
Chapter 20
Kaylin immediately ran past the demon, and everyone followed. Except Sift.
“Don’t you ever listen?” Ruwen shouted.
“Do you ever have a good plan?”
Ruwen shook his head. “Step back. When the spell fades, we’ll probably get some chaos orbs.”
“Chaos orbs?” Sift asked.
“Just don’t touch them. Why aren’t you using Io?”
Sift held his broken wrist against his stomach. “I didn’t want to risk him.”
They backed fifteen feet away, and Sift stepped in front of Ruwen. “I’ll take her spells, and you fight her.”
That almost sounded like a good plan, and Ruwen wondered if this might work. He quickly did the form for Major Heal and touched Sift’s back.
“Thanks,” Sift said.
Multicolored spheres appeared around the Plague Siren, and some of them even drifted into her body, melting holes in the demon. The Plague Siren remained frozen, but once her mind broke free from the Order Spirit Ruwen had drenched her in, she would destroy him and his friends.
Not wanting to cut it close, Ruwen began the simple form to activate his Order Meridian. As he touched his core, the ten spikes around the Plague Siren’s face shot toward them. Two dissolved when striking chaos orbs, four were blocked by Sift, and four struck Sift in the chest. Instead of injecting poison, they curled in his body, and then the Siren yanked them back.
Sift collapsed to his knees, and Ruwen bent down to help him, losing his concentration. A hole big enough to crawl through sat in the middle of Sift’s chest. The Plague Siren had ripped Sift’s center, along with most of his organs, from his body. Sift squeezed his eyes shut in pain, and Ruwen eased his friend to the ground.
Ruwen stood and faced the demon, cursing himself for letting Sift stay, and for getting distracted. He took a step back in shock. The Plague Siren stood right next to them, Sift’s center in her hand. Like lightning, she grabbed Ruwen by the throat and lifted him off the ground.
The Plague Siren pulled him close. “Such a waste of Spirit! Venting like you’re a newborn. It’s disgusting! Activate another Meridian, and I’ll squeeze your head off.”
Ruwen couldn’t answer since she had already crushed his throat. He fed the panic and fear and pain into the barrier around his mental island.
The Siren tossed Sift’s center away and moved, but thankfully not toward his group. He needed to buy them time to escape.
This doesn’t look great, Ruwen said to Rami.
From now on, we should just assume your plans will fail.
I know. Any ideas?
All of them are fatal to us. What terrible luck that she’s on the verge of breaking through to the next Fortification level. Her Core likely fills her entire center. Otherwise, I think your bluff would have worked.
Once again, Ruwen remembered that Rami shared his fate.
A section of the wall disappeared as the Plague Siren approached, and they entered a smaller cavern. The floor had no debris, and a throne made from empty centers sat against the back wall. People stood against the walls, but after a moment, Ruwen realized they were armor sets on display. Other items sat in alcoves dug from the wall. They had entered the Plague Siren’s lair.
The Plague Siren dropped onto her throne and dangled Ruwen from her outstretched arm. A white tube emerged from the Siren's chest, writhing like a blind worm. Two fingers wide, it moved around as if smelling the air, then like a snake, it raised up and slammed into Ruwen’s chest.
Ruwen felt the worm as it passed through his center and pressed against his Core, slowing his Core Velocity until it stopped. The pressure intensified, and Ruwen’s chest went cold. Pleasure filled the Plague Siren’s face, and Ruwen realized she’d started taking his Spirit.
“You will push me over the threshold. Finally, to become a deity after all I’ve suffered.”
I think if we can’t survive this, then she shouldn’t either, Ruwen said to Rami.
Her
body is Diamond Fortified. I’m not sure if you Spirit Vented your entire Core it would damage her for long.
Can I make my Core blow up?
I’ve heard of Cores exploding, but I don’t know how it’s done.
Maybe this tube goes both ways, and I can take her Spirit.
That’s not a bad idea.
Ruwen knew he needed to be quick, and if he failed, he’d lose his two largest Meridians. His Light Meridian sat where his head and neck met, and his Mind Meridian was inside his skull. They both had the thickest paths from his Core, and the Plague Siren would destroy those paths if she squeezed his head from his body.
Even if he lost his head, and only ten Meridians remained, it should still be enough to get them back home. It would probably ruin whatever plans Uru had for him, but he didn’t feel like he had many options. At least this way, there might be a chance of surviving.
Ruwen prepared himself and then imagined his entire body as an empty flask, creating the power of a vacuum, and concentrated on the connection between him and the Plague Siren.
But no Spirit entered his Core.
The Plague Siren had stopped smiling and stared at him but didn’t pop his head off. Ruwen quickly raised his arms into the Harvester Open pose, and he felt the power of his suction increase. His chest warmed as the flow of Spirit stopped, but it didn’t flow into him either.
The demon chuckled to herself. “That isn’t bad. You have a surprising pull for someone so inexperienced.” The Siren leaned forward until their faces were inches apart. “You will pay for this insolence. My Spirit siphon works best on a coherent host, but once you’re dry, you will suffer.”
Ruwen had stopped the demon’s feeding, and he rejoiced at the small victory. But she pulled with an equal force, resisting him, and he didn’t have the strength to overpower her. Somehow he needed to figure out how to increase his power.
“Look at this throne. Do you think you’re the first to resist me? Do you know what I am?”
Thousands of twelve-sided centers, all dark and empty of Cores, piled together to make her throne. She had done this many times before. And then, no louder than a whisper, the Plague Siren sang.