He finally stops laughing, and continues.
`Anyway, I made her believe that I didn't know Voi'Shek's whereabouts, and I made you believe it, too!
When she finally spitted out the truth, I pretended to be shocked, surprised. So that you, too, would believe, that I had no idea. I pretended that I was pissed off about it! Well, actually, I wasn't pretending that. I really was pissed off about how Voi'Shek did this to my best friend, and I still am...
But the point is, I made you believe that all of that was new to me. This helped me to convince you that I needed Mel's help. That wasn't enough, of course. So, I went out of my way to convince you even more.
Our next stop was the Great Library. I made the Librarian show us the book which I secretly already saw months ago. I pretended being worried sick about the upcoming battle as we read the tale of Voi'Shek's imprisonment, all to make you believe that I was not only afraid of Voi'Shek, but that I feared him because I did not have the power to defeat him. I had to make you believe, that I needed Mel's help to deal with the Dreamer. Which I did! So, I was able to get Mel's army to help me, without drawing your suspicion.
You may think that it was not necessary to keep you in the dark like this, but the truth is that I had to make sure that you suspected nothing because otherwise, Mel' may have noticed it on your behavior and then she'd have smelled a rat. She may have refused to aid me, and I needed her army. That's why I played you the way I did. That's why I made you believe what I eventually made you believe.'
`You are the king of deceivers...' I tell him.
He smiles, opens his arms, and bows like an actor would on a stage. Son of a bitch...
`Fine, you pulled off a big act.' I continue. `You made me believe that you needed Meliorath's help. But why? Why involve the Dragon Queen at all? You could have come here and killed Voi'Shek all by yourself. As you did in the end. I don't believe that you really needed her just to be a diversion...'
`Of course I didn't need a diversion! I needed the undead.'
`Why?'
`I'll get there soon, don't worry. Now where was I? Right. After the Great Library, we went to see Mel'. I talked her into helping me. It wasn't difficult. I knew exactly how much she hates the Dreamer. She is the last dragon who was already alive during the time when the Draconian Brotherhood controlled all the dragons of Draconia. She and the other two Dragon Lords, the ones that were killed a thousand years ago, felt unparalleled hatred towards the lessers exactly because of that. All three of them were born back in that age, and they wanted revenge for it. So to speak, the Great War was just payback for what Voi'Shek and his buddies did to the dragons millennia ago.
I knew that Mel's feelings hadn't changed a bit. I knew, that once she finds out that Voi'Shek is alive, she'll do anything to kill him. That's exactly what happened. Despite what I did to her the day before, she was more than eager to take my offer!
Then I killed off her prisoners and created the chaos wraiths for her. The damn critters weren't easy to create, but Mel' had enough prisoners in her dungeon for it fortunately. Once I was done with that, we marched against the Keep.
Or at least, that's what I made her believe. As the siege began, I pretended that I was shocked at how the undead were unable to injure the alter golems. I told Mel' that it must have been Voi'Shek's doing. When I knew all along that the undead couldn't harm the golems! And she ate it!
When I told her I would try something else, she got a little suspicious. So, she sent one of her half-dragon lieutenants with me. Now you understand why he had to die. I had to make sure he wouldn't live to tell the truth to Mel', so that she would continue the siege, and more and more of her troops would fall, and so more and more undead minions would be raised by those monstrosities that I had created. Undead, who are all under my control. With every soldier she loses, my army grows.'
`Why the Hell do you need that army of undead?'
`We're almost there. But first, I will tell you what you asked me at the beginning. I'll tell you how I killed that motherfucker Voi'Shek.'
`Fine... Go on...'
`As you recall, we teleported in here after dealing with Mel's spy. Then, we entered the chamber where Voi'Shek waited for us. If you recall, I told you to just let me handle it. You thought I was insane. Or reckless, perhaps. Well, maybe you heard this about me. A lot of people say that I'm reckless, but that's not true... I simply like to have fun!
That's just about what went down with Voi'Shek. It was fun to kill him the way I did!'
`How come you had the power to do it?'
`Because he was weak. Why do you think he didn't hunt you in person to take your amulet? He himself knew well, that he is but a shadow of his former self. He spent five thousand years in a stasis void. He's lucky to have escaped without going insane. He may have retained much of his power, but he lost five thousand years worth of experience.
You see, magic evolves over time. That's something not many people know. But that's the way it is. Magic evolves over time, it changes as time passes. Spells one knows are not the same a thousand years later. A mage must evolve with magic as magic evolves. Which they do. They just don't notice, because it's so slow and seamless.
But Voi'Shek missed five thousand years. Magic changed in this time, while he did not. Magic evolved, and he was not there to assimilate to it. A mere year is not enough to catch up. He didn't have time to assimilate to present day magic. That left him with limited power. He still had a lot of power, sure, but he was no more powerful than let's say Councilor Johnny Boy was on the day when Jason killed him. Compared to his former self, Voi'Shek was totally out of shape. Moreover, he was a stranger in a strange land. Arghard is no longer what it used to be so long ago. He was at the disadvantage all along, and he knew well. This is why I let his lackeys capture us. I had to make him believe that against me, he had the upper hand. To make him underestimate me.
When we faced him, I pretended to be a conceited idiot. I taunted him, bragged that I could take him on. He still remembered how I had trembled in his presence not so long ago. So, he reacted like I wanted him to. He cast the most powerful instant death spell on us that he was able to with his limited power.
You felt it. You felt how powerful this spell was. As an undead vampire, you're immune to the instant death effect of such spells. They can only weaken you, but you felt just how much they could weaken you. I'm actually surprised you recovered so fast... I'd have expected you'd be out cold for hours.'
So... it seems the ring of the mercenary I met in Port Mor'peri has done me a great service this day. If I hadn't caught up to Zack so quickly, I bet he'd have left this place with my stone by the time I come to. Son of a bitch...
`Me, I should have died on the spot, it was such a powerful spell.' he continues. `But I had a little trick up my sleeve. Something I learned from Danny Boy.
I slowed down the flow of time. I did it with but a thought, and you and Voi'Shek never noticed. I slowed it down by a thousand fold, but not only for myself, but in a large area around me. Time slowed down for you and him as well, that is why you never noticed anything. All that took place between the time that we stepped into that chamber and the time that I killed him, was less than two seconds in real time!
But where did that help me?
That's the trick! When he cast his spell on me, I absorbed the magical energy of the spell into myself. That's why it did not harm me. But it was an insanely large amount of magical energy. So much, that I could only keep it within for a second or two without ending up dead. But with time slowed down, I was able to keep it in myself all the way until he finished casting the third spell!
Then, I released it out of myself. I channeled it, all of it, into the ice dart!
That ice dart... It's a fun little toy! If a sufficient amount of magical energy is channeled into it, it changes into a spear. A spear which penetrates any magical shield, no matter how powerful it is. But it's hard to aim. That's where all that magical energy came in handy. I u
sed part of it to imbue the spear with the ability to home in on a target. Once I channeled all that power into it, all I had to do was let it go, and it would track Voi'Shek to the end of the world!
If you recall, even teleporting around didn't save his ass! My spear pinned him to the wall, and froze him solid! Then, he was fucked. No way out. The ice dart was not only imbued with the ability to pierce any magical shield, but also with an anti-magic effect. Once the target is frozen, he can't use magic for a few minutes. That was all I needed...'
`I can't believe that you were able to pull this off...'
`Yeah, me neither. But that was the point of making him believe what I wanted him to believe. Had he expected such a turn of events, had he expected that I had power enough to kick his sorry ass, he may have prepared a means of escape. Or better defenses. But he didn't. I made him underestimate me. That was his demise.
In other words, I outsmarted him! Outsmarted him real good!'
`And then you killed him.'
`Yes. That's when I finally had the chance to get even for what he did to Danny Boy. I didn't just kill him. I performed the Blackest Ritual upon him. I devoured his fucking soul!'
`The Blackest Ritual... So, that's what left Voi'Shek's corpse in such a state...'
`You've never seen it before, I take it?' he continues, with a surprisingly serious voice. `Well, that's what it's like. Very painful. It destroys the soul of the victim. Final death, no Afterlife. Kurt has always taught me to choose carefully whom I take as my victim each time I need to perform the Blackest Ritual. I rarely bothered to, actually, but sometimes I tried to choose the kind of assholes that I felt really deserved such a fate. I think, knowing Voi'Shek, Kurt would be proud of what I did today.
Of course, this was not about choosing the proper asshole to kill. I could have waited a couple more decades with my next Blackest Ritual. No, I did this to get even with him. Killing him would not have been punishment enough for what he did. But devouring his soul was ample punishment.'
`So, you killed him. All by yourself. Why did you even bother to bring me along? You clearly didn't need me.'
`You were my backup plan.'
`What?'
`Didn't you know? You always, always gotta have a backup plan!
In this case, that was you. You are immune to Voi'Shek's instant death spells, and you're a tough little girl. I made you drink that half-dragon's blood to make sure you'd be at full strength when we enter the Keep. Had I somehow screwed up, you could still have tried to kill Voi'Shek. You were the insurance that Danny Boy would be free, even if I fucked up with my plan.'
`But you didn't fuck up. You killed him, and then just left me there. Now here you are. With my stone in your possession...'
`Yes, and with an army of undead waiting outside, and with the return of my best friend just minutes away.'
`What do you want with that army?'
`Well, this leads me back to the Shadestone. As I said, it gives me the power to open a planar Rift to the Shadowland. I intend to do just that!'
`Rift?'
`Yeah. A planar Rift is an uncontrolled passageway between two worlds. Unlike Portals, these things don't decay. I mean, they don't close by themselves. They remain open indefinitely. They are among the most intriguing things in the Multiverse! Some of them have a special use, in fact. My sword, the Sword of Fury, was originally a Riftblade. Riftblades are magically forged from a special kind of planar Rift, one which opens to the space between the Planes. The endless empty void, in which there is nothing, and in which nothing can survive. You can't pass through such a Rift, and touching it causes untold pain. But since it's open indefinitely, certain magics allow one to shape it, turn it into a blade, and then make it possible to carry it. That's how Riftblades are made. My sword is now much more than that, but that's what it once was.
Anyway, what I want to open, is a Rift between Arghard and the Shadowland. As a Rift, it cannot be closed. Those cretin denizens of the Shadowland may be able to stop me from opening a Portal to their world, but they can't fuck me in the ass by closing this! So screw them, I will open a Rift and I will explore their world, whether they fucking like it or not!'
`What of the undead?'
`Ah yes. Them. Well, first there's Danny Boy. Now that Voi'Shek is dead, he will soon break free from the stasis void. Then he'll come here. By then, I'll have the Rift conjured. I can do it so quick because I made sure to conserve my magical power against Voi'Shek. That's why I needed the ice dart. You see, as I told you back in Re'Cas, Danny Boy is a little bit insane. It sucks, but what can I do?
Anyway, as crazy as he is, there's no telling how he'd react if I told him that I wanted to conjure a Rift. So, I'll just make him face the facts, and conjure the Rift before he even shows up. So he won't have a chance to argue. Well, maybe he'll argue anyway, but it won't make much difference, haha!
Besides... once he understands where we are going, he will not complain!'
`What makes you so sure?'
`You don't know what he and I went through together. He and I have visited countless worlds together. Once, we said that we would explore every Spiritual Plane together. We did explore all but one. We've even been to the Afterlife once. It wasn't easy to open a Portal there, but I managed. The Shadowland is the only Spiritual World that we have not been able to explore. I promised him that one day I'd find us a way in. I intend to make good on that promise!
Danny Boy lives and dies for adventure, he is eagerly waiting for the chance to visit the Shadowland. Today, he and I will finally explore the Shadowland!'
`What about all the undead?'
`They are our escort.'
`Escort?'
`Yes. I told you, the denizens of the Shadowland are unfriendly. That very world will thrive to expel us from itself. You know well that I'm no coward, but I'm also not an idiot. We need protection. That's why I needed this army of undead. They're coming with us and they'll be our bodyguards. Every last one of them. Especially the undead dragons! They'll be pretty useful.'
`And the golems?'
`What about them?'
`They seemed pretty powerful to me. Why the Hell would you bother with these undead, when you could just take the golems?'
`Well, because I know Danny Boy. He will insist that something must stay and guard the Rift, to thwart any attempts of invasion, and I know he will insist that his alter golems do that, so we wouldn't be able to take them along.'
I don't like the sound of this...
`Invasion?' I ask, shaking my head.
`Well, yeah. I told you, the Rift will stay open indefinitely. Just as it offers us free passage into the Shadowland, it will offer free passage to the denizens of the Shadowland into our world. Fact is, I know nothing about those creatures. For all we know, they might be so pissed off at our intrusion of their world, that they might think about returning the favor, and attempt to invade our world, and try to conquer it, or destroy it, or both.'
`What?!'
`Yeah, shit happens. You know how it is...'
`That Rift would allow them to invade our world like that?!'
`Yeah.'
`How can you even consider opening the Rift if you know this?!'
`The golems will hold them off.'
`What if they can't?! How can you be sure that the golems can hold them back?'
`Well, if the alter golems screw it up, then the denizens of the Shadowland will do whatever they want with Arghard.'
`How can you even think about going along with such a risk?!'
`Hey, look! If they invade, it will be survival of the fittest. If the people of Arghard have what it takes to survive the invasion, they will. If they don't, they'll die. Survival of the fittest. There's nothing wrong with that.'
`This is madness! You are out of your mind!'
`Me? Why?'
`You can't just risk unleashing a horde of shadow creatures on this world! You can't just force everyone in Arghard to fight for their lives against the
m!'
`Since when is that a big deal? At least they'll earn themselves a living if they have to fight for their lives. If you haven't fought for it, you haven't earned it.'
`It's one thing to fight for what you believe in. I agree with that. But this... This is despicable!'
`Despicable? What, that I am selfish? Is that despicable? Gimme a break, that's what survival of the fittest is about, we all fight for ourselves, for the things we want. Those of us that are worthy, survive.'
`You really will do this, won't you?'
`Of course I will!'
`To think that I trusted you...'
`I am the king of deceivers!' he says, smiling. `You said it!'
Son of a bitch!
`What you are doing, touches the lives of every living creature in this world. You are not even letting them fight for what they would choose. You are not letting them step forward and try to stop you if they so wish.'
`Is it my fault that no-one's here but me? They should have known better and should have been around.' he says, laughing mockingly. `What do I care for this fucked-up world, anyway?'
`They're not here, but I am.'
`Yeah, I see that you're here. So?'
`I will stop you.'
`You will do what?'
`I won't let you do this. I won't let you risk the destruction of this world.'
`Since when do you care about this world so much, huh? You're a vampire, fuck you!'
`I know what I am, and what I was. And...'
`And?'
And I know that this would make Jason proud...
*
`And?' he asks again, but I will not answer. The time of words is over.
He suddenly smiles and steps closer. He just won't shut his mouth, it seems.
`You know, I think I know why you don't want me to do this. You are still mourning Jason. You feel that you can honor his memory by stopping me.'
I look at him intently, but he just continues.
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