by Logan Jacobs
Still, I was glad I was the only one of our trio with the knowledge of our previous failures. If anyone should have to carry the burden, it should be the god.
“What does it say?” Mahini asked as she stared at the placard with furrowed eyebrows. “It looks like some ancient language, can you read it?”
“Of course, I can.” I grinned. I didn’t know what magic had been used to make the placard translate itself, or why it had only done it for me and not Mahini, but who was I to look a gift placard in the mouth? “It is a warning of dangers up ahead. There’s an Ancient One we must defeat if we are to survive this challenge.”
“A-A-An Ancient One?” Elissa gulped down her fear, but her emerald eyes still showed how terrified she was at the idea of facing down a lich lord.
“Don’t be afraid, my love,” I murmured in a reassuring tone. “I will make sure nothing happens to either one of you. I’m the God of Time, remember?”
“Of course,” Elissa breathed with a sigh of relief, and her shoulders sagged a little as she let some of her fear go. “We are lucky to have you leading us. I would never be brave enough without you.”
“Of course, you would,” I laughed, and the tension in the girls’ eyes dissipated. “You were a firecracker the first time I met you.”
“He’s right,” Mahini said as she bumped her shoulder against the redhead’s. “You’re Skullcrusher, remember? You’re the fearless annihilator of the undead. What’s one more, hmm?”
Our efforts paid off, and the tiny goddess giggled.
“Alright, I feel better now, thank you both,” she informed us with a decisive nod. “Let’s go kick some ass.”
“That’s more like it!” I chuckled again, and I wrapped them both in my arms to squeeze them in a tight embrace. Then I booped Mahini’s nose, tickled Elissa under the chin, and repositioned my torch and sword in my hands.
I heard them both giggle from behind me, which lifted my spirits as I entered the tiny gap between the stone walls. They were hot on my tail, and Mahini even reached out to grasp my shoulder as we squeezed into the small space.
The tunnel wound around in a twisting, turning fashion until all sense of direction was lost, and then it widened out into a small junction lit with several torches. There were three choices of paths to take through the thick cave-like walls, and I scanned over every inch of rock trying to find an indicator of the correct path to take.
“We’ll just have to go down them all,” I muttered.
I made a new save point and took the first path to my left. It was my typical strategy, but it had worked out for me in the past.
We continued to walk for another ten minutes or so until suddenly, we came back to the room we’d just left. From what I could see, we’d come out through the far-right tunnel, which didn’t make sense since we hadn’t come to a junction to cross the middle way. We must have gone under or over it somehow, but then I realized what had happened.
We’d entered a labyrinth.
I came up with a new strategy, made a new save point, and then turned to Mahini and Elissa. They were huddled together in the light of the torches, and they peered into the darkness of the tunnels with a mixture of both fear and curiosity in their beautiful eyes.
“Alright, we’re in a labyrinth, so you two are going to stay here for a second while I figure it out.” I rubbed my hands together with excitement as I thought about all the possibilities that laid before me.
This could take a while, but I was the God of Time, so it wasn’t a problem for me.
“I want to go with you!” Mahini immediately argued.
“Me, too!” Elissa pouted.
“It will be faster and easier if I go figure it out by myself first,” I insisted. Besides, they wouldn’t even remember this conversation when I reset. “I’ll be back soon.”
Then, without another word, I trotted off into the next tunnel to see where it wound up. It came to another junction, so I took the torch and rubbed it against the entrance to the next tunnel so I’d know I’d already gone that way when I ended up back in the intersection.
I trotted forward, and then I fell straight into a pit trap. As I fell, I spotted the remains of another person caught in the spike-filled hole. It was a man, but not a very big one, and then I remembered the eight teens who had unleashed the curse on Lake Balerno.
Guess I knew what happened to them now.
Chime.
“I’ll be right back,” I told the girls without waiting for a response.
I avoided the pit trap and went a little further until I ran into a pressure plate that activated a bunch of sharp metal sticks to fill the corridor. I was pierced in three spots and shoved against the far wall like a voodoo doll.
Chime.
I repeated the exploration process a dozen more times. Along the way, I found more bodies that looked like they could be the young men from the lakeside town. I counted five of them, but I had a feeling the rest were dead as well.
I paid close attention to where I went, and I marked the way with smudges from the torch. Finally, I came across an unadorned wooden door with iron fittings. I peered inside, and I found a large, cavernous room that seemed to go on forever.
This was where I needed to go.
Chime.
“Follow behind me very closely,” I instructed the two women huddled beneath the light of the torches. “There are several traps and dangers ahead, but I know the way.”
“Yes, Great One,” Mahini breathed in a low voice as her eyes widened with awe.
“You know everything,” Elissa quipped with pride. She flicked her fiery braid over her shoulder and flipped her mace up to rest in its place. “We’d get completely lost down here without you.”
“That’s the truth,” I chuckled. “But don’t worry, I’ll show you how to get through the maze.”
“Thank you, Bash,” Elissa purred in a loving voice.
Mahini gave me a small nod, but her piercing blue eyes showed how much she trusted me.
I led them through the labyrinth and past all the traps, and to me it was the hundredth or so time I’d seen the same walls, but to the girls it was magic. I loved seeing the sideways glances they would give me as I pointed out the traps and walked through the winding tunnels like I owned the place. Elissa licked her lips with desire every time I led us through an intersection without even pausing to decide which direction to go, and Mahini’s eyes filled with longing when I stopped her from setting off a tripwire.
They were impressed, and that was exactly the outcome I’d wanted. At the end of the day, I still felt incredibly lucky to have two of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen by my sides, but it was also so comfortable it seemed like we’d been together our entire lives.
It was getting harder and harder for me to remember anything about my old life, and why would I want to? In this world, I was the God of Time, and I had Elissa and Mahini at my sides. There wasn’t much more a guy could want, except maybe to be free of the reign of the duke, but I would take care of that soon enough.
Then we arrived at the wooden door, and I made a new save point before we entered the large cavernous chamber.
My gaze swept from the throne to the room around us, and my jaw nearly dropped to the floor when I took in the height of the ceiling that rose up two stories before curving inward. The room held the rotted remains of several benches lined up in front of the dais, like this was once an audience chamber, or a place of worship. It had once been grand, but time and lack of use had caused the space to start to fall apart.
Suddenly, a slow applause echoed across the chamber, and I scanned the wide-open space to find the source of the sound. Then I saw him in the shadows.
A lich lord sat upon a throne on top of a dais on the far side of the cavernous space, and he wore a gnarly looking jagged crown upon his head. He looked massive as he lounged with one leg bent over the other, and he probably stood close to seven feet tall when he was on his feet. He seemed less decayed than the
zombies we’d encountered, like some sort of magic kept him together. His thin, gray locks clung to the pale skin of his face, and he wore an ornately carved leather breast piece over his frayed tunic.
Congratulations on surviving this far, the undead king intoned inside my head. Unfortunately, your victory shall be short lived. Soon, you shall join the dead who dared venture into my hall. Leave this place before you, too, perish!
“I’m not joining any dead people,” I scoffed. “My name is Sebastian. I am the God of Time, and I demand you submit to my rule.”
The lich lord let out a dry, crackling, mirthless laugh that echoed around the room and sent shivers up my spine. I swallowed hard and reminded myself I had all the time in the world to kick this guy’s ass.
Three versus one were pretty good odds, even if our opponent was a scary undead king.
You will die before you even point your blade toward me, the lich lord declared. Then he muttered something in a strange, ancient sounding language, and skeletons and zombies began to appear out of the shadows of the room. Kill them!
There were about twenty undead surrounding us, and they were all wearing crude armor that clung to their decaying flesh. I wasn’t about to try to salvage any of their gear, though, since it would probably take a thousand lifetimes to get the stench of death off it.
“Keep your eyes peeled,” I instructed Mahini and Elissa, “and don’t let them surround you.”
“Of course, Great One,” Mahini replied with a curt nod. “I will watch your back and protect Elissa.”
“Hey, I’m getting better at taking care of myself,” Elissa pouted.
“We don’t have time for that,” I said in a stern voice. “Weapons up.”
I tossed the torch to the ground and held my feather sword at the ready. With so many undead swarming us, I wished I’d brought my shield also, but I could pick one up from my first victim.
A zombie to my right bashed his shield in a taunt, so I took him up on the challenge and charged forward.
I grabbed his shield with my left hand, parried the blow of his sword with my blade, and wrenched his shield arm off in a single yank. I held up the amputated arm that still gripped the wooden circle, and I circled my blade to break the undead’s hold on my weapon.
Then I backed up a few steps, but I saw an undead charging toward me out of the corner of my eye, and I swiveled just in time to catch a crude, rusted, two-handed axe on the shield. The first undead stabbed me in the back as soon as I turned away, though, and pain shot up my spine like the fires of hell were set loose.
Chime.
The lich lord repeated his monologue, but I attacked the shield zombie as soon as he appeared in front of me. I ripped off his arm again, and I used it to beat him off me so fast that he was in multiple pieces before the second undead lunged toward me.
I tore off the brittle remains of the undead’s hand, and I gripped the shield in my left hand just in time to block the first blow of the rusted axe. I stabbed up and under his arms straight into his heart, and when he staggered backward, I took the opening to slide my blade against his throat.
Dry, ashy crumbles fell from the wound and coated my feather sword.
“Bash!” Elissa cried out suddenly. “Help!”
I turned to see the beautiful women surrounded by undead, and a rage filled me unlike any I’d ever experienced before as I charged forward and let out a fierce battle cry.
“Die, motherfuckers!” I shouted as I ran into the line of undead. I bashed with my shield and chopped with my sword, but I was soon overwhelmed by the sheer numbers coming at me.
Then I heard Mahini’s cry of pain, and terror shot through my blood like lava.
Chime.
I took a few deep breaths to calm down my nerves as I stared at Mahini and Elissa, alive and well. I soaked in their presence like I was dehydrated, and then I opened the wooden door.
Maybe there was some kind of way to talk to the lich lord to convince him not to summon the undead.
Who was I kidding? Of course, he was always going to summon the horde, so I just had to figure out how to behead twenty undead before they hurt either one of the girls.
“I want you guys to be careful,” I instructed in a stern voice. “And stay close to me.”
“Yes, Bash,” Elissa whispered, and her emerald eyes widened with fear.
“Of course, Great One,” Mahini murmured with a bow of her head. “I will follow your lead.”
So, we entered the sanctum once more, and the lich lord intoned his ominous monologue.
“Hold up,” I said in a friendly tone. “Maybe you and I could be allies. I’m not here to do anything wrong, I was just curious.”
“Bash, what are you doing?” Elissa whispered. “What is he saying?”
“Shh,” I urged, and I shot her a reassuring smile. “Just trust me.”
The red-haired beauty gnawed her bottom lip and nodded silently, but she gripped her mace firmly and twisted her hands around it in a nervous fashion. It would have been adorable if we weren’t facing off against an undead king.
“Like I was saying,” I continued as I faced forward once more. “I came here to learn from you. Teach me the dark ways.”
You would die on your first attempt, the lich lord declared as he spread his hands for dramatic flair. My power is not meant for the living.
“How does one get your kind of power, then?” I asked in a casual tone, and I hoped I could keep him talking for a while. Knowledge was power, after all.
A sacrifice was made to the Lake Guardian, the lich lord explained before he narrowed his undead eyes at me, and a growl escaped his decayed lips. Now, you must die and surrender your life energy unto me.
Then he murmured the foreign sounding words again, and the undead horde began to appear from the shadows.
Okay, so talking got us nowhere.
Chime.
“The two of you stay out here,” I instructed Mahini and Elissa in a firm tone. “I’m going to go kill the lich lord.”
The two girls nodded silently even though I could see the desire to argue in their gorgeous eyes, but they obeyed me and remained behind while I entered the sanctum.
I charged straight for the lich lord, and I jumped up the steps of the dais to his throne in two long bounds. I managed to swing my sword and scratch from his shoulder to his collarbone before he rose on his feet and towered over me.
Then the lich lord grabbed me by the throat in one hand, and my windpipe was crushed beneath the weight of his fist. I sputtered for air while my vision grew dark.
Chime.
Undead horde it was.
“There’s going to be twenty undead coming at us,” I informed the two girls in a hurried tone. “Let’s make a triangle formation and try to stay close together. Mahini and I will sever the heads, and Elissa, you go behind and smash the skulls so they don’t get back up.”
“I can do more than that now,” the red-haired beauty pouted. “I can help more.”
“Do what you can, but don’t take unnecessary risks.” I furrowed my brow to drive in my message, and she bit her lip and nodded. “Alright, we have a plan. I don’t want either one of you to get hurt, so stay close to me.”
“Yes, Bash,” they both said in unison.
So, we entered the sanctum again, and the lich lord congratulated us in the same fashion. This time I remained silent, but he summoned the horde of undead anyway.
We prepared for the fight ahead and stood back to back. Then we inched forward little bit by little bit until I was within striking range of one of the undead. We parried swords for a second, and then I heard the sound of metal hitting metal from behind me, and I knew Mahini was also battling a zombie.
Suddenly, Elissa charged forward and swung her mace over her head, and it came crashing down on top of one of the undead. Her single blow pulverized her enemy, but then three more leapt onto her with swords and axes.
“No!” I yelled as I tried to cross the distance betwe
en us, but I was too late. Elissa was stuck full of swords like a pin cushion, and then the undead who had killed her turned to face me.
Chime.
I attempted to annihilate the undead horde too many times to count, but soon I began to memorize the movements of both the zombies and my two women. I hadn’t realized how unpredictable Elissa could be, but her fiery energy got her killed more often than not.
I ended up experimenting with her desire to pulverize, and I let her take the lead. Then I had her back up when the zombies charged toward her, and I got so good at predicting where her attackers were coming from that I practically danced around my wife as I killed zombies left and right.
One particularly successful attempt ended with all the undead taken care of, but Mahini had a deep gash on her leg that caused her to limp. I’d gotten the hang of the movements of the undead, though, and I was confident that if I tried one more time, then I could get us all through without a single scratch on us.
Chime.
I reset for what I hoped was the final time and ushered the two girls into the sanctum.
“Elissa, you take the lead,” I instructed, and I wiggled my eyebrows. “Bash anyone who gets in your way.”
“Are you sure?” she gasped, and her emerald eyes shot wide open with surprise.
“Great One, that is risky at best,” Mahini argued as a frown creased her black eyebrows. “She could be injured.”
“I’ll protect her.” I shot the desert goddess a wink. “Have no fear, my love. You are both safe with me.”
“As you wish, Great One,” Mahini acquiesced. She set her jaw into a firm line, but her blue eyes twinkled with delight.
“Are you sure?” Elissa repeated with a little more confidence in her voice.
“Absolutely.” I grinned. “You kick ass with that mace. Trust me, Skullcrusher.”
“Alright,” she said as she returned my smile. Then my feisty wife lifted the mace in her hands and wiggled it at me. “She is thirsty for brains.”
“She, huh?” I had to laugh.
Elissa shrugged. “Just feels right.”
“Most of my weapons have feminine names,” Mahini added.
“Well, let’s give the lady what she wants, shall we?” I gestured toward the wooden door, and both women nodded their agreement.