by Dale Britton
"This is indeed what we are searching for. In fact, the answers to many of our questions may be revealed in these pages. It appears to have been written during the last demon war. Here, let me read an excerpt:
The portal has been opened. Soon, the demons will pour forth from the black tower and consume us all. I was foolish to settle here, where the walls between the dimensions are thin. But how could I know that the demon lord would escape during my lifetime? I have caused my people to flee for their lives and hope that they may find safety. I will remain. I am the only man with knowledge of this region, and if the talisman is created, I will be the one to bring it to the place where the portal may be closed."
"Wow," Johnny said. "Is that why we were able to come to Valoria? Because 'the walls of the dimensions are thin' here?"
"Makes sense," Ian said. "But how does this help us?"
"Look at this." Lylor turned to the back of the book and showed the others what was found there.
"Maps," Jordan said. "Maps of the northern region."
"And that symbol right there?" Ian pointed at the mark in the book. "Is that what I think it is?"
"Most likely." Lylor smiled grimly. "That is the location of the demon lord's tower. We now know where he dwells."
A high-pitched hollow voice spoke from the very air. "And you will take that knowledge to your grave."
Black shapes formed on the walls of the room, growing larger until they were as big as grizzly bears. Red glowing eyes flickered to life, staring hungrily at the party.
The black creatures advanced, reaching out to their victims with formless arms.
Chapter Seventy-Two
Even Lylor recoiled from the black forms with their burning eyes. "What manner of demon are these?"
"Living shadows," Johnny yelled. "At least a dozen. Don't let them touch you. Paralysis."
"Everyone get behind me," Ian said as the shadows approached. His arms shook slightly as he held up his sword. "They can only be hurt by magic weapons."
"And direct sunlight," Jordan added. "We need to get outside." Unfortunately, they were in the back corner of the room, at least twenty feet from the door. The shadows filled the space in-between, and there was no other way out. The room had no windows, likely to protect the items that had once been stored here.
Ian's sword flashed, and the nearest shadow screamed in shock and pain. It hissed and drew back from the weapon. The shadows became wary now, but the threat of pain didn't dissuade the creatures, and they were smart. They began to circle the group to try to attack Ian from two or three sides at once. Ian was holding his own, swinging his sword as fast as he could in every direction, but he wouldn't be able to do it for long. He sliced off the arm of one of the shadows, and nearly stabbed another before it backed away.
The injured shadow retreated, but as the travelers watched, his arm regrew. The creature drew a sort of black energy from the normal non-living shadows in the room to repair its injuries. In seconds the arm had regrown, and if anything, the monster was even larger than before.
"A magic sword, have we?" It hissed. "This will not save you."
"How about a magic bow?" Johnny shot an arrow at the creature's head. The shadow screamed in pain and shattered into a million black fragments. Johnny shouted in triumph, but the sound died in his throat. Not even the arrow was enough to kill the creature. Almost instantly, the fragments began to slither across the floor, combining back together and slowly reforming the shadow.
"That is so not fair," Jordan moaned.
Another shadow darted in from the side, moving too quickly for any of the party to react. It latched onto Ian's arm, and his sword clattered to the floor as he screamed in pain.
"Ian!" Johnny yelled. He shot the creature that was clinging to his brother, but when the shadow shattered the black pieces fell all over Ian, and he screamed again. Each shard was a stab of pain, and Ian could feel his entire body starting to stiffen. He crumpled to the ground and lay there unmoving, moaning in pain.
And now, without the threat of the magic sword to contain them, the entire pack of shadows moved in. Johnny shot another arrow, taking out three of the shadows at one time at this close range, but he knew it wouldn't be enough. Even without the creatures' ability to regenerate, there were too many to fight at once.
But then Jordan sprang into action. She dropped her mace and jumped over Ian, coming dangerously close to the approaching shadows. She grabbed his sword from the ground and turned to face the monsters, and the weapon became a whirlwind in her hands. Shadows flew in from every direction, but they could not get past Jordan's defense. Johnny became so mesmerized by her performance that for a moment he forgot to shoot his arrows. Jordan was amazing.
But she couldn't fight forever, and there seemed to be no way to actually destroy the creatures. To make things worse, Johnny was running out of arrows. There were just too many of the things, and they now completely filled the room between the party and their only exit like a solid wall of blackness. There could be no escape.
Johnny was distracted by a pounding sound from behind, but he dared not look away from the monsters. He aimed carefully, trying to make his shots count. A well-aimed arrow could take out several of the creatures at once. Jordan was still keeping the creatures back, but she was noticeably slowing down now, and the monster's attacks were getting closer each time.
There was another loud pounding noise from behind, and suddenly sunlight streamed into the room, forming an arc of brightness that extended several feet into the building. The nearest shadows screeched in pain as the light consumed them, causing them to shrivel into nothingness. Those that were fortunate enough to be out of the range of the light fled to the other side of the room, disappearing into the remaining natural shadows.
Johnny turned around and saw Lylor standing next to a broken wall, armed with Jordan's mace.
"I hope you don't mind that I borrowed your weapon, Jordan," the elf said, "but we were in dire need of an exit."
Jordan panted with exhaustion from her efforts, her face shining with perspiration, but she managed a wan smile. "Not at all, Lylor."
Ian made a moaning sound, and Jordan's smile disappeared. Lylor bent down to examine him while Johnny rushed to his brother's side.
"Is he alright?" Johnny asked anxiously.
"I can't move," Ian murmured. "And everything hurts."
"Let's get you outside in the full sunlight," Lylor said. "Perhaps that will help." He lifted Ian off of the ground and carried him through the opening he had made in the wall, and then laid him carefully on the ground. Ian couldn't move his arms, so Jordan poured some healing potion into his mouth.
"You do not appear to have any wounds," Lylor observed.
"How do you feel, Ian?" Johnny asked. "Any better?"
"The pain's mostly gone now."
"Can you move?"
"I've been trying." Ian was almost in tears. "I can't feel my arms or hands at all, and my legs are all tingly. It's horrible."
"Can you move anything?" Jordan asked.
"My toes. And my head. And I can shrug my shoulders."
"I think the paralysis will wear off before too long," Johnny said.
"You think?"
"Just try to rest, Ian," Johnny said. "It's going to be alright."
His brother grumbled in response.
Johnny took a moment to go back and retrieve his arrows, which were scattered throughout the storeroom. He watched closely to see if the living shadows would decide to make a last charge. They didn't. Their fear of the sunlight was too strong.
Lylor took out the book they had found to examine it some more. "Look at this," he said after a minute. He showed the others another map he'd discovered.
"Isn't that the same location that's marked on our map?" Jordan said.
"Yes," Lylor said. "But there is more detail in this one. We are indeed going to the lake, but look at this." He pointed to a mark. It wasn't on the shore of the lake. It was actually in the lak
e.
"What does that mean?" Johnny asked. "Are we going to have to look underwater?"
"I do not believe so," Lylor said. "Not if my memory is holding, at any rate. I have heard tales of this place, and not many of them good. I fear that we shall need to visit the Island of Shattered Souls."
Chapter Seventy-Three
"I don't get it," George said. The group had finally arrived at their first destination, but there was nothing there. "Are you sure this is the right place?"
Travel had been slowed somewhat by the loss of their horse. The group had been forced to take turns riding double on the three remaining horses. Fortunately, the lost horse had not been carrying any of their gear when it had run off, but they had been forced to leave some of their heavier items behind to reduce the loads on the remaining animals. Even so, it had taken four days to arrive at this point.
Ollie rubbed his hands together for warmth, then consulted the map again. "This is it. See–right at the point where this line of hills ends." The mountains that had seemed so far away just days before towered above them now. It made Ollie feel claustrophobic. He had never been near mountains before. Added to that was the fear that they were running out of time. There were less than ten days now until the demon lord would complete his portal. If this wasn't the right place, they were pretty much finished.
"Come on, guys. Think like the game," Sarah said. "What would you have to do?"
"Well," George said, "This is Ian's campaign. If it were one of mine or Ollie's there would be a really hard puzzle involved, but Ian isn't that creative. His are usually pretty obvious."
"We'd probably just have to search the area until we found something," Ollie said. "In the game, that would mean rolling the dice a bunch of times. Here, well..."
"Let us start looking," Yrabelle said. "I care not how long it takes. This is not a game. This is the lives of my people."
The day passed slowly. The terrain here was uneven, making it difficult to do a systematic search. To make things worse, the temperature had continued to drop. It got more and more frigid the farther north they traveled. The clothes they had brought on the journey weren't designed for this kind of cold. At least the sky was clear, and they didn't have to deal with snow. That would have made the search impossible.
The sun was beginning to set, and Ollie was about to call off the search for the night when he heard a shout from Yrabelle.
"Over here! I found it!" Even when she yelled her voice sounded musical.
The others ran to her side and at first were unable to see what the elf girl was pointing at. She was standing in the bottom of a shallow depression. The grass was tall here–almost to Yrabelle's waist–making it hard to discern the ground.
"Is that a ring?" Sarah asked, and then the others saw it too. A large iron ring sticking up from the ground. It was old and rusty and blended in almost perfectly with the dry grass that surrounded it.
"How the heck did you see that?" Ollie asked.
"Elves have very good eyesight," George said. "Much better than humans."
"What is it?" Sarah asked.
"Hopefully not what I think it is." Ollie moved closer to examine the object. He carefully cleared away the grass around the ring and found that it was set into a block of concrete about two feet square.
"Oh, no," George said when he saw it. "We should have guessed."
"Guessed what?" Yrabelle asked. "What's wrong?"
"This is an entrance," Ollie said. "It's just like something Ian would do."
"He loves dungeons," George said. "Big nasty dungeons."
"I don't like the sound of that," Sarah said.
"First things first," Ollie said. "It looks like it's been sealed shut for a long time. Let's see if we can even open it."
George strode forward and grabbed the ring. He was starting to get used to the idea that he was the strongest member of their group now. He braced himself against the ground beside the stone square and pulled, his new muscles bulging with the effort. For just a moment there was a loud grating sound, but then it stopped. George pulled for several more seconds, but the stone didn't budge. Finally, he let go, panting with near exhaustion.
"It's stuck," he said, even though that was obvious to everyone.
"You moved it a little," Yrabelle said. "Just rest for a minute, then you can try again. We will help this time. We may not be as strong as you, but we can add what strength we have."
George had a drink of water and then stretched his arms.
"All right," he said after a short while. "Let's do this."
He and Ollie both grabbed the ring this time. The girls held the boys around their waists.
"On three," Ollie said. "One, two..." Everybody tensed. "Three!"
The friends pulled with all of their strength. The stone resisted their efforts for several seconds, but then suddenly flipped over with a loud pop. Three humans and an elf abruptly lost their balance and fell backward into a heap on the ground. An odd odor filled the air around them.
"Peeyew," George said as they scrambled to their feet. "Smells like rotten eggs."
"Sulfur," Ollie said. "It's coming from the hole."
And there was a hole now. A gaping square-shaped black hole. For some reason it reminded Ollie of the maw of a beast, getting ready to swallow its next meal.
"We have to go in there?" Sarah's voice sounded small. "I don't know if I can do that."
Ollie crawled over to the opening and carefully looked over the edge. There was a ladder leading down into the darkness, but he couldn't see where it ended. He thought he could hear things moving in the blackness below, but it could have been his imagination. Ollie felt a chill that had nothing to do with the cold.
If Ollie needed any more proof that they weren't playing a game, this was it.
Chapter Seventy-Four
The sun was beginning to set. They would have to make a decision soon. The biggest problem, other than the fact that none of the group actually wanted to climb down into the dark scary pit, was that they couldn't leave the horses alone. That meant that someone would have to stay above and watch them. Otherwise, they would be eaten by the demons the minute darkness fell. But even though no one wanted to climb underground, nobody wanted to be left alone outside either.
"We need something that's down there," Ollie said. "We have to go.
"Maybe we could all go and still keep the horses safe," Yrabelle said. "What if we put them on a long tether, leave them enough food, and then set up a ward? That should keep the demons off of them until we're done."
Ollie could see a million things that could go wrong with that plan, but try as he might he couldn't come up with a better idea. He just knew that they were running out of time, and they had to do something before it was too late. And right now, their only choice was to climb down a ladder into certain danger without knowing what they were trying to find.
"How are we going to be able to see down there?" Sarah asked. "We didn't bring any torches, did we?"
"I can use my fire spell," Ollie said. "I'll just have to rest every once in a while." While we sit in total darkness surrounded by monsters, he didn't say.
"I've got something better," Yrabelle said. She searched through her pack and pulled out a small sphere that looked made of glass. It was about the size of a billiard ball.
"Is that what I think it is?" George asked.
Yrabelle smiled mischievously. She closed her eyes for a moment and spoke a word, and then the sphere began to glow with a soft blue light. It was a smaller version of the magic lamps that lit the pathways of Lilenoree.
"Oh, how wonderful!" Sarah exclaimed. "That is literally the coolest thing ever."
"We have several lights like this at home," Yrabelle said. "They work wonderfully for reading at night. I thought it might be useful to bring one on our journey."
"You were right about that," George said. "I am so glad you convinced your father to let you come with us."
Yrabelle blushed with pleas
ure. "Well, I told you that I can be very persuasive."
"I think we should go in tonight," Ollie said. "I don't want to spend another night listening to the demons trying to break through the ward."
The others reluctantly agreed. They spent the last half hour before sunset taking care of the horses and readying their equipment. Just before the sun went down Ollie activated the ward.
"Will the horses be alright?" Sarah asked. "I feel so bad leaving them up here all by themselves." The twisted shapes of the demons were beginning to gather outside of the magical protection, and the horses whinnied in fear.
"Their tethers are as tight as George could make them, they have some room to roam, and they have more than enough to eat," Ollie said. "The ward will last until we come back and break it. The horses are probably a lot safer here than we're going to be in that dungeon."
"If you're trying to be comforting, it's not working," Sarah said.
"Let's just get this over with," George said. "Maybe it won't be too bad."
"All right," Ollie said. "Let's see what's down there." He leaned over the opening and summoned a ball of fire, then allowed it to float down into the hole.
"So cool," George murmured.
"It's about twenty feet down," Ollie said. "There's a corridor at the bottom, going in two directions. Can't see how far it goes, but what I can see is empty. It looks like nobody's been here in ages."
"Ian likes mazes too," George said. "Just sayin'."
"Let's go." Ollie lowered himself carefully onto the ladder. It felt solid enough to hold his weight. He didn't have to tell his friends to be careful and keep their eyes open. They all understood.
As Ollie started to descend, he heard a howl of pain from above as a demon threw itself against the ward, but the sound faded as he got deeper underground. It was like he was entering another world, where the air was dry and stale and everything was silent.