Darkblade Guardian

by Andy Peloquin

  “I AM INEXORABLE, INEVITABLE, INESCAPABLE.”

  The Hunter reached for Soulhunger, but hesitated. What happened if Soulhunger sucked up some of the Devourer’s power? Would that weaken Kharna further? He couldn’t be sure, but couldn’t risk it.

  The Sage was no longer Abiarazi; he’d given up the last of his demonic power to enter the Empty Mountains in search of Enarium. Iron would no longer poison him as it once had. Yet he couldn’t be killed like any normal human. He was…something else. A being of flesh and bone and chaos incarnate. The taint of the Devourer of Worlds would keep him alive until it consumed him. How in the bloody hell was he to kill something unkillable?

  The eerie sound of shattering glass filled the tower and sent a chill down the Hunter’s spine.

  “FREE!” roared the Devourer’s voice through the Sage’s lips.

  Tendrils of seething blackness snaked through the cracks and pushed against the pillar. Threads of chaos slid down the smooth gemstone surface, and the rift in reality seemed to grow wider, the gaping maw of a monster that would consume everything before it. Light, breath, even life itself—all died before the power of the Devourer of Worlds.

  The Hunter bared his teeth in a snarl. No such thing as unkillable. There was only one way to destroy a being so twisted by chaos: chaos itself. The Destroyer sought the end of all things—why should a mortal vessel be any different, even if it contained threads of its essence?

  Gripping the Sage’s robes, the Hunter rose to his feet and hauled the once-demon into the air. “Escape this, you bastard!” he growled.

  With a mighty roar, he hurled the Sage’s broken, bloodied body straight at the tendrils of chaos leaking through the cracked gemstone. As the Sage crashed against the pillar, the tendrils pierced his flesh and seized him like a thousand tiny arms. Black leaked into his flesh, threaded his veins, and seeped from his eyes and ears. The sound of the Sage’s shriek echoed through the Illumina as the Destroyer tore him to shreds—not simply killed him, but unmade him, turned him from a collection of flesh, bone, and life into that swirling nothingness.

  The Hunter’s mind raced. It had taken the rift mere seconds to unmake the Swordsman, so he had to act fast as it consumed the Sage. He whirled toward the altar, his eyes scanning the glowing runes and gemstones.

  A memory from his conversation with Kharna flashed through his mind.

  The eleventh Serenii strode toward a low stone altar covered with glowing blue runes and gemstones, inserted the two halves of the Swordsman’s necklace into two slots, and twisted both in unison. The Keeps around Enarium came to life and, beyond the outer rim of the city, the red crystal-lined walls of Khar’nath glowed with blinding brilliance. Power streamed from the very floor of the towertop room, surging toward the rift into chaos. The light of the magick pushed back against the crack, sealing it slowly closed like two sheets of metal forged by an invisible hammer.

  The Hunter’s eyes flew wide. They weren’t daggers. Though they bore the shape of weapons, in truth they were keys!

  Without hesitation, he sought the two slots where he’d seen the Serenii inserting the twin daggers. His heart leapt as he spotted them, two narrow grooves on either side of the altar. He slid the first dagger, the one he held, into the aperture all the way down to its hilt. The moment it thunked home, the tower around him flared bright.

  Twenty-four beams of light shot up from the Keeps around Enarium toward the tip of the Illumina. The gemstone windows of the chamber seemed to amplify the shafts of violet radiance, concentrating them into eight narrow points of immense power aimed directly at the gemstone pillar and the seething rift into chaos.

  “NOOOOO!!!!” The terrified shriek echoed behind him, this one no longer the Sage’s voice, but the Devourer’s. “I WILL NOT BE BOUND. YOU CANNOT IMPRISON CHAOS!”

  “And yet,” the Hunter spat, “that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

  He tore the second dagger from its sheath beneath his armor’s backplate and rammed it home in the second slot. The loud thunk echoed through the chamber, and a fresh surge of power washed over the Hunter. The obsidian floors turned a bright white, and more light flooded the gemstone pillar, pushing back against the black tendrils of chaos. The Devourer’s scream rang out in the chamber again, yet the Hunter could see it retreating before the power. Like steel forged by a smith’s hammer, the cracks in the pillar began to seal.

  Through a gap in the clouds, the Hunter caught a glimpse of Enarium far below. His eyes fixed on Khar’nath, visible behind Hellsgate, and found it glowing brilliant red. White bolts of lightning crackled through the Pit.

  Horror surged through him at the sight. The people!

  Even with the entire mob that attacked Hellsgate and flooded Enarium, no way all six hundred and eighty-four thousand men, women, and children could have escaped the Pit in that time. How many more remained trapped within?

  He reached for the second blade, the one he’d inserted in the left slot. He had to pull it free, shut off Khar’nath before it killed the humans there. He’d argued with a god, fought his wife, and faced down a demon to prevent just that from happening. He couldn’t fail them now.

  “DO NOT!” a voice echoed in his mind, one he recognized as that of Kharna. “THERE IS NOT ENOUGH TO SEAL THE RIFT, BUT IT CAN BE DIMINISHED.”

  “Not at the cost of those lives!” the Hunter shouted back.

  “YOU WOULD DOOM THE WORLD WITH YOUR ACTIONS!” Kharna boomed.

  “Then upon my head, so be it!”

  With a mighty yank, the Hunter ripped the dagger free of its slot. His eyes flashed to the Pit below, and relief washed over him as the crackling white lightning ceased and the glow of the red Im’tasi crystals dimmed.

  His relief died a moment later as the threads of chaotic blackness began to press back against the light. The cracks didn’t widen, but neither did they seal. The Hunter’s heart stopped. Enarium had harnessed the power of the Er’hato Tashat to seal the rift, but what happened when the Withering passed? With nothing to stop the Destroyer, the world would end.

  He had one choice.

  He lifted Soulhunger and turned the point toward himself. “I give my life to save theirs!” he shouted.

  “Drayvin, no!” Taiana cried.

  “Hardwell!”

  Hailen’s cry snapped the Hunter’s head around, and he found the boy standing beside Taiana. Tears streamed from Hailen’s violet eyes.

  “Hailen.” A lump rose to the Hunter’s throat, and he found he couldn’t move. “Look away. Don’t watch this.”

  “But Hardwell—”

  “Listen to me, Hailen.” Tears streamed down the Hunter’s face. “You gave me the greatest gift I could have ever asked for. These last few months with you have been the happiest I can remember.”

  His eyes went to Taiana. “Let me do this.” His voice cracked, and it took him a moment to recover. “Let me save you, save him, save them all.”

  “Not like this,” Taiana begged. “There’s no return, no awakening.”

  “Then it’s up to you, my love.” A smile touched his lips. “It’s up to you to make the world a better place and save it in my stead. Tell our daughter…tell her I love her. And protect the boy. Give him the opia and save his life.”

  His wife nodded. “I will.”

  Peace washed over him, and he prepared himself for what he had to do. A life spent shedding blood and bringing death—this was the best ending he could ask for. Atonement.

  His gaze fixed on Hailen and Taiana. “I love you. More than either of you could ever know.”

  He was just about to close his eyes, to plunge the dagger into his chest, when he caught a flicker of movement in the corner of his vision. A figure, clad in blue armor, with bright red hair and beard, charging Taiana from the side. Cerran, with a long, slim sword gripped in his hand.

  The world slowed to a standstill in that moment. Cerran had survived, recovered the Sage’s sword. A weapon with an Im’tasi gemstone. And he was goin
g to use it on Taiana.

  The Hunter’s body refused to respond. For a heartbeat, could only watch helpless as the Bucelarii crossed the distance to Taiana. The sharp tip of the sword was aimed right at her side. He could almost feel it sliding through her ribs to pierce her heart, could feel the agony searing through her as the gemstone consumed her life force.

  He couldn’t let that happen.

  His arm whipped up and forward. It felt like he moved through mud, his body sluggish to respond to his commands, and he poured every shred of his inhuman speed and strength into the throw. The moment his fingers released their grip on Soulhunger’s hilt, he knew his aim was true.

  The dagger hurtled across the room. Steel flashed bright as it spun end over end, then buried itself in the side of Cerran’s neck. The impact knocked the charging Bucelarii to one side, and the red-haired man crashed into one of the now-glowing Chambers of Sustenance.

  Crimson light flared bright as Cerran’s shriek of agony echoed in the chamber. A finger of fire traced a long, ragged line down the Hunter’s chest, but he welcomed the pain. Even as power flooded his body, he felt a sudden surge rush through the room. A blast of ruby brilliance speared from the dying Bucelarii toward the gemstone pillar. The booming voice of the Devourer of Worlds unleashed one last terrifying shriek as it was pushed backward by the sealing fissures.

  With an audible snap, the pillar was whole again, the rift once more trapped in its glowing gemstone prison.

  “D-Drayvin…” A quiet voice echoed behind the Hunter.

  He turned in time to see Taiana crumple.

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  The Hunter was moving before his mind registered it. He crossed the space in two great steps and caught her body before it hit the white-shining stone floor. His eyes went to the sword protruding from her side. An inch of steel pierced her flesh, and the gemstone set in the sword’s pommel leaked red light.

  The Hunter ripped it from her side and hurled the blade across the room. With horror, he stared down at his wife’s pale face.

  “Taiana!” He shouted at her. “Taiana!”

  She gave no response. Her head lolled on her shoulders, and her body hung limp in his arms. The Hunter pressed his hand to the wound in her side in a vain attempt to stanch the flow of blood. The sword had cut into her kidneys—a fatal blow for any human. Yet he had to hope she still lived, could heal herself.

  “Speak to me, Taiana! Wake up.” He shook her body.

  Silence.

  “No!” A sob tore from his throat, and he felt as if he would shatter into a million pieces. “No, Taiana!”

  He cradled her body in his arms, rocked back and forth as tears streamed from his cheeks to splash on her pale face. Great heaving sobs shook his shoulders. He held her tight, crushing her to his chest, as if that would somehow bring her back.

  Hailen’s blood had saved him from iron, yet nothing could save her from the Im’tasi weapons. They had been crafted by the Serenii to consume life and feed it to Kharna. Taiana had given her life to save the world.

  “It should have been me,” he wept. “It should have been me.”

  He pressed his face into her neck, unwilling to let her go. He had spent a lifetime apart from her. How could they have been reunited only to have her ripped away from him again?

  The Hunter threw back his head and howled, a terrible roar that echoed off the chamber walls and drowned out the pulsing waves of power thrumming through the Illumina.

  “Kharna!” he shouted. “Damn it, Kharna! I know you can hear me.”

  A faint presence echoed in the back of his mind—the god was weak, yet there. Kharna’s life force, which flowed through the pillar, had not been enough to defeat the Devourer of Worlds, yet he had survived this battle.

  “Save her,” the Hunter begged. “Save her life, I will give you what you want. Bring her back to me and I will kill for you!”

  Again, the pulse, faint yet present. He had no idea whether it signaled acceptance or denial.

  The Hunter roared again and pressed a hand to the wound. The flow of blood from her side hadn’t yet slowed.

  His eyes flew wide as he stared at the widening pool of crimson. If she still bled, it meant her heart still beat. He pressed a bloodstained hand to her throat to feel for a pulse.

  Yes! An ember of hope flared to life within him. She was weak, a heartbeat away from death, but she still lived.

  “Tell me how to save her!” the Hunter shouted into the empty air. “Tell me what to do!”

  The pulse in the Hunter’s mind pulled his attention toward Hailen, who crouched beside him. No, not toward Hailen, but beyond. To the empty Chamber of Sustenance.

  The Hunter sprang to his feet, gathered up Taiana’s body, and raced toward the Chamber. He ignored the withered husk on the floor—what had once been a Serenii, what he’d called a god his entire life—and placed her still form gently into the stone cradle. He gasped as the coils of flexible tubing seemed to come alive like a serpent. They moved of their own accord to slither around her head, her arms, her chest. They settled into place, rendering her immobile, and faint pulses of power ran through the conduit. He jerked backward as the lid closed with a loud hiss, sealing Taiana inside the Chamber.

  The Hunter whirled and raced toward the altar, the last place he’d heard Kharna’s voice. “Will she live?” he demanded. “Tell me, damn you!”

  His eyes dropped to the altar, where he saw a gemstone similar to the one that had connected him to Kharna in the chamber far below. Without hesitation, he placed his hand to the stone.

  The Hunter floated in the void—the void within his mind, or the mind of Kharna, he knew. A total absence of sensation, yet he could somehow feel the presence of the god—no, the Serenii.

  “YOU PROMISED ME AN ABIARAZI,” Kharna rumbled in his mind.

  “The Sage was no longer Abiarazi. He gave up the last of his power to become human. It was the only way he could avoid the curse you placed on the Empty Mountains.”

  “THEN THE WAR WITH THE DESTROYER WILL CONTINUE. AND I WILL CONTINUE TO GROW WEAKER.”

  “There are more out there,” the Hunter said. “More Abiarazi hiding around Einan. I will hunt them down and bring them here to sustain you.”

  The presence of the imprisoned Kharna seemed to grow pensive.

  “And I will bring people who deserve to die and feed them to Khar’nath. I will bear the burden of keeping you alive, even if it means I have to lock myself in a Chamber. All that matters is that you heal Taiana.”

  “I CANNOT HEAL HER.”

  The words sent ice flooding through the Hunter’s veins.

  “BUT THE POWER OF ENARIUM CAN SUSTAIN HER LIFE UNTIL SHE HAS RECOVERED ENOUGH FOR HER BODY TO HEAL ITSELF.”

  Hope surged within the Hunter. “How long will that take?”

  “I DO NOT KNOW,” Kharna replied. “DECADES, PERHAPS EVEN CENTURIES. HER BODY WAS CHANGED BY HER TIME IN THE CHAMBERS. SHE HAS BECOME MORE LIKE THE SERENII THAN THE REST OF YOUR KIND. AS THE POWER GATHERED BY THE KEEPS IN ENARIUM AND THE DOLMENRATH AROUND THE WORLD FLOWS THROUGH HER, THROUGH THIS SPIRE, HER BODY WILL RECOVER. IT WILL BE A SLOW PROCESS, YET THESE CHANGES ARE WHAT MAKE HER BEST-SUITED TO SUSTAIN ME.”

  A familiar burden of despair settled on the Hunter’s shoulders, yet he forced himself not to yield to it. He had to stay strong, for Taiana’s sake.

  “Can I…speak with her?” he asked. “If you are connected to her mind as you are connected to mine...”

  Taiana’s face slowly faded into view, ethereal yet unmistakably the woman he’d crossed a world to see. The same sharp cheekbones and full lips, framed by long golden hair. The same eyes that had stared into his with such love.

  “Drayvin, I feared I would never see you again.” Her voice was faint, as if she spoke from a thousand leagues away. Yet he could see her face clear as if she stood in front of him.

  He reached out and took her hand—it felt real enough, soft and strong, warm in his.

  �
��I’m sorry,” he told her. “I’m sorry I had to lock you away again.”

  “You saved me.” A smile wreathed her beautiful face. “It is better this way, better than you sacrificing yourself.”

  “I would have done it.” His voice cracked, and he clenched his jaw to stop the tears from flowing. “I’d rather be the one lying in the Chamber.”

  “But it is better this way,” she said. Her voice held no recrimination, no anger, only acceptance. And all the love he’d seen sparkling in her eyes. “You are the one best-suited to do what needs to be done. You know this world far better than I. My place is here, for now.”

  “I’ll come back for you,” the Hunter said. “I promise I will.”

  The vision of her pulled him close and pressed a kiss to his lips. “You know where to find me when the Withering comes again.”

  “No!” the Hunter recoiled in horror. “That’s five hundred years away. I can’t be without you for that long. I’ve spent enough time without you already.”

  “It is necessary,” she said, and the commanding tone of her voice brooked no argument. “Kharna will heal me, and in return I will sustain him.”

  “Let me join you, then,” the Hunter said. “We can be together—”

  “You know what you need to do.” She pushed him away firmly, yet tenderness shone in her eyes. “You need to prepare the world for the next Withering. It is the only way to stop the Devourer once and for all.”

  “But five hundred years apart!” Sorrow drove a knife into the Hunter’s chest.

  “You’ve been gone for five thousand years already.” She smiled. “What’s a few hundred more?”

  A lump rose to his throat. He couldn’t imagine spending that much time apart, yet he knew he had no other choice. Hailen needed him. Taiana needed him. Kharna needed him. He could not escape this burden.

  “I…” He drew in a deep breath and pushed back against the emotions crashing over him. “I will miss you.”

  “I’ll be with you.” She placed one hand on his heart. “In here, in your memories, and in the knowledge that our daughter is somewhere out there.”