Emptiness

by Viktor Zólyomi

  He did. When I struck towards him with the sword in my left hand he moved his staff to a parry. He moved it with speed enough to counter the expected impact of a real sword. But the blade was just an illusion. Upon impact, it disappeared, and his staff swung by. He could not slow it down fast enough. While I, with my real sword, already struck.

  Before he could pull his staff back to defend himself against my real attack, I cut deep into his left arm. He cried out in pain as I cut through the scales and the flesh, all the way to the bone. And then through the bone. Before I could cut further, however, I had to pull back, as his staff was approaching dangerously close to me.

  But by then, he could no longer wield the staff with two hands, as his left arm was hanging limp by his side, severely bleeding.

  With just one hand, his moves were now much slower. I parried his first attack and counterattacked without mercy. He parried two of my blows before I got through with my third. I thrust the sword in his chest, then quickly pulled back. He did not strike back. He fell on one knee, and held his staff up in defense. I knocked it aside easily, and cut deep into his right shoulder. Then, he dropped his staff. I moved in to finish it. I swung the blade towards his neck, and a moment later his head fell to the ground. The first guardian was defeated.

  I did not have even a minute to rest. The statue with the flail began to glow, and in a few moments the stone cover shattered and a flail-wielding half-dragon stood before me. As I stared at his reddishly glowing weapon, I knew I was in for a hard fight. Unlike Doorn's flail, this was severely enchanted. No way I could cut it in half like I did with Doorn's...

  He was faster than Doorn, that was to be expected after my previous fight. Thankfully, he was still much slower than the first guardian had been, and slow enough for me to easily evade his every move. But too fast for me to injure him...

  Recalling the fight with Doorn, I knew I had to disarm the half-dragon. I had only one chance. I had to let the chain of his flail wrap around my sword, and then try to pull his weapon from his hand. It was risky, but I had no other choice.

  For a while, I fought him like I had fought Doorn. I wanted to test his strength, see the power of his blows, estimate how much strength it would take to disarm him. When I thought I was readily aware of what to expect, I made my move.

  After evading his last attack I swung my sword towards him in a way that I knew he could knock the blade aside with his flail. He did as I expected. I slightly pulled my sword higher, and the ball of the flail passed beneath it. As I pulled the sword down a bit, the chain was wrapped around the blade. I had his flail wrapped around my sword!

  I pulled him towards myself as strong as I could, but he would not let go. Instead he tried to pull back, to disarm me. I felt he was a bit stronger than I estimated during the fight, but I was able to hold the sword steady.

  It was a stalemate, and with our weapons wrapped together it was a near-impossible stalemate. Neither of us would release our weapon, so what could we do?

  With a sudden thought I drew my dagger with my left hand. By the time he noticed, I was already throwing it towards his throat. He tried to duck, but he was too slow. He got the dagger in his face, just below his right eye.

  Needless to say, I used my magic to accelerate the dagger. With such high momentum, the blade pierced not only his scales and flesh, but his cheekbone as well. The dagger was deep in his face all the way to the hilt.

  He screamed in pain, and he fell, releasing his weapon. I shook my sword and the flail fell off. I lunged forward and swiftly thrust towards his chest. I pierced his heart. Then I pulled the dagger from him, sheathed it, and finally I beheaded him. The second guardian was no more.

  Again, I had no rest. In mere moments the third guardian stood before me. He broke out of the stone much like the others. But there was no glow this time. He had no weapon.

  This I did not understand. Doorn had fought me with his katana in the last round of the test, but this guardian was unarmed.

  Before I could ponder on it for long, the guardian made me understand through his actions. He launched himself forward and as I struck towards him with my sword, he caught the blade between his palms. He held it firmly like that for several seconds, and I thought he was trying to disarm me in this impossible manner. But then he released, and stepped back. He held his palms together in front of himself, and they began to glow in a reddish color.

  A moment later, out of nowhere, a reddishly glowing katana appeared between his hands, its blade held between his two palms. He released the sword, and caught it by the hilt in mid air with his right hand. Then, he attacked me.

  As we fought, I was more hard pressed than ever. He countered my every move and it almost felt like he was reading my thoughts. But how could that be? It was like he knew my fighting style perfectly. Then I understood.

  While I was fighting the other two, he was already watching me. Watching, studying, learning. And now, he had a distinct advantage over me.

  Quickly he forced me into defensive fighting. I could barely keep him from cutting me. I knew that one slash was all he needed to defeat me...

  Hard pressed as I was, I did the only thing I could. I resorted to magic once more. I was still hasted and I could not increase the effect of that spell any more. So I tried to slow him down instead.

  The spell worked, but it made little difference. He was still way too fast for me. Then I thought it was time to return to my origins. I conjured a magic missile in my left hand and fired it at him from point blank distance. It got him in the chest, but it didn't hurt him much. His scales protected him from such a weak projectile, but I didn't give up.

  I launched another magic missile at him, and then another, and another. I could see the frustration on his face. I was beginning to succeed at distracting him. Indeed, his attacks seemed to be getting less focused, it became easier to defend myself against them.

  Trying to take advantage of his momentary distraught state of mind, I initiated a counterattack. He did not bother to parry, and my sword cut into his flesh, on the left arm. At the same time he struck towards me. My magical shield deflected his attack, but it was dangerously close to my body. Also, I felt that the shield was weakened greatly by that one blow.

  I returned to defensive fighting, and used my magic to restrengthen my shield. Then I decided to try one more time.

  This time I conjured over a half dozen magic missiles at the same time and hurled them all at him simultaneously. He didn't bother to defend himself, and just continued his assault even as the magic missiles scorched his scale-covered chest. But his face was contorted by the pain.

  Then I remembered a simple little spell that I was taught in Re'Cas at the beginning of my studies. It lets one set one's weapon aflame for a short time. I drew my dagger, and while I was desperately defending myself against his attacks, I cast that spell on my dagger.

  I made several attempts to cut his chest with the flaming dagger. But this was just a feint. I was too far to reach his chest, and I knew that well. I just meant to distract him with the flame. Then, as he tried to cut me and I barely parried with my sword, when he didn't expect it, I thrust the dagger towards his sword wielding right forearm, which was more than close enough to reach.

  I stabbed the dagger deep into him, through his arm. The blade avoided the bone, but the tip came out on the other side of his arm. The blade was still flaming. His arm caught on fire.

  He screamed in pain like neither of the other two ever did. Still, he would not let go of his sword, or stop his attacks. But he was now unable to put as much strength and speed in his attacks as before. Soon I found an opening, and could cut into his right side. I cut deep in his flesh, between ribs. He then made several steps back and firmly placed his left hand on the wound. He was clearly in great pain. His right hand was still on fire.

  He attacked again, striking towards my head. I easily parried, and quickly countered by slashing my sword deep into his left shoulder. He screamed, and desperat
ely tried to counterattack. He struck towards my left side. I could have easily parried, but I decided to instead evade the blow. I ducked, and in a kneeling position I turned around. His blow had such a momentum that his sword passed by above my head swiftly and he could not pull back. I arose, and turned towards him, sweeping my sword towards the elbow of his flaming right arm. He could not parry.

  My sword cut through scales, flesh, bone, flesh, and scales once more, and a moment later his right forearm fell to the ground.

  He fell on his knees in agony, and grabbed the end of his profusely bleeding right arm with his left hand. I quickly struck with my sword towards his neck.

  It was over. I leaned down and picked up his severed forearm. It was no longer burning. I pulled my dagger out of it and sheathed it. It was time to carry on with my quest.

  The guardians lay defeated, and Drabangar awaited me, somewhere in the depths of the old ruins.

  *

  With the three guardians beaten, I proceeded deeper. Several chambers away I found a stairway leading down. I descended it, and entered a large rectangular chamber. Eerie lights illuminated it, emanating from various objects in the room. The tables, the chairs, everything in the room was glowing with a dim bluish light. In the far end of the chamber, a throne was standing, and a man was sitting on it. I approached slowly.

  He was sitting there with his eyes closed, as if asleep. He appeared old, seemingly in his late fifties. His hair was mostly black, in some parts gray. He was wearing a robe with a peculiar symbol on the chest: a dragon's claw holding a glowing orb. I was certain I had seen that symbol before, but to this day I do not remember where, nor have I seen it again in the time since past.

  When I was just a few steps from him, he slowly opened his eyes, and spoke.

  `It's been a long time that someone destroyed my servants, but not long enough. No matter. I shall recreate them again. Better than they were. Then, perhaps, meddlers like you will not reach this far again.'

  I stood there, staring at him in silence. Studying his expression, trying to figure out his nature. Doorn had told me that I would not be able to defeat him without the demon's aid, but I was reluctant to let the demon loose. I was hoping I wouldn't need to do it, that there'd be another way.

  The old man took my silence as a sign of fear.

  `Did I just scare you so much that you bit off your tongue?' he asked sarcastically.

  `Are you Drabangar?'

  `Why yes. And yes, I am the one who guards what you seek. That is what you came for, isn't it?'

  `I am here for the Amulet of Darkness.'

  `Aren't you all? All the hapless fools that ever managed to get this far were interested in the amulet. No-one ever comes for gold or riches. What is with you people today? Well, however it is, you will not have it! I will give you one chance to turn around and walk out of here. One chance only. Take it, and live!'

  I stood there in silence for a while. His demeanor fascinated me. He gesticulated a lot. For example, when he said turn around and walk out of here, he gestured with his hand, moving his index and middle finger in a way that imitated walking. He was clearly annoyed by my presence, and clearly - and understandably - he did not want to give me the amulet. He however seemed like he was not intent on killing me. He saw guarding the amulet as his duty, that much was clear. He almost made it sound like he didn't want people to die over the amulet, yet, his guardians whom I've defeated were Hell bent on killing me. For a second, a strange thought occurred to me. Perhaps he was afraid, perhaps he didn't want to fight me.

  I slowly grabbed the hilt of my sheathed sword, but did not yet draw it. I stood there, waiting like that. but I didn't have to wait long.

  `Fine, fine...' he said. `If it's a death you want, it's a death you'll get.'

  Then he sighed, and waved his hand toward me in a fashion that mimicked the way monarchs would dismiss their servants. But he in fact cast a spell at me with that simple gesture. All I could feel was a powerful gust of wind and a moment later I was in the air. I landed almost twenty feet from him. I got up as quickly as I could and I turned towards him. He was already standing, and his body shimmered, full of magical energy.

  He pointed his finger at me, and a blue magical missile was fired from it, straight at my chest. I jumped aside, but it was a target tracking projectile. It followed me, and struck me in the side. My magical shield protected me from it, but it became considerably weaker after the impact. Drabangar of course noticed my shield when that happened.

  `A mage, are you? How intriguing!' he said, and he launched another magical projectile towards me.

  His power was immense. That became clear very swiftly. I had never fought another mage in a battle to the death before, but I had participated in many practice sessions in Re'Cas. As apprentices, we would shoot magic missiles of varying strength at each other's magical shield, trying to weaken it. I remember how I learned to form a shield that I thought was very strong. Carrie, with all her power, had to shoot more than a dozen of her most powerful magical projectiles at me to bring the shield close to collapsing.

  Drabangar was a totally different category. My shield did rebound his first attack, yes, but his second attack completely destroyed my shield instantly.

  `Now that this is taken care of, let's get back to what I promised you.' he said. `What was it...? Ah, yes. Of course. A death!'

  He pointed at me again, and fired a third projectile at me.

  I tried to renew my shield immediately, but I was too late. The shot got me right in the chest before I could finish the spell. It scorched my chest, burnt my skin, and tossed me backwards. It was immensely painful. I remember that I screamed in pain.

  `Yes, yes. Soon we will get there. No need to be impatient...'

  As he pointed his hand at me to fire another projectile, I felt that Doorn was right. I can't fight such a powerful mage, not with my meager magical powers. I had to reach down to the demon. I attempted to call it forth, to trigger the transformation.

  Inside, I felt that the demon was amused, and the transformation did not commence. Drabangar's next magical missile struck me.

  I screamed and writhed on the floor in pain. Drabangar sighed, as if in boredom.

  `That's what they all say... Argh this, and argh that. There's just no imagination in adventurers nowadays...'

  I tried to call forth the demon again, but all I got was another sense of amusement. As if the demon was trying to say: You asked for it, kid! Now deal with it!

  Yet another missile hit me, and I felt for certain that I would not survive one more. His projectiles were much more powerful than any other magic projectile I had seen before. I desperately tried to bring the demon forth one more time. This time, I felt something different than before. The demon was still amused, but no longer did it refuse me. It was like he was saying: I told you so. Now stand aside, weakling, and let me show you how it's done!

  Then came the same sharp pain in my heart that I've come to know so well.

  `My, my, what have we here?' asked Drabangar of himself, witnessing my transformation. Moments later, the demon towered above him, and the look on his face changed drastically. No longer was he bored, no longer was he phlegmatic. No longer was he merely annoyed. He was suddenly angry.

  `No demons are allowed in here! Get out of my lair!' he screamed into the demon's face, and pointed towards the door.

  The demon had other plans. Much like it did with Kurt Aurach many years back, it breathed a large ball of fire into Drabangar's face. Like Aurach, Drabangar was left unharmed by the explosion and the fire. But unlike Aurach, Drabangar was blown away...

  The explosion knocked him against the wall, but he bounced back from it, unharmed. He was furious.

  `That's it! No more games! I'm going to kill you now!'

  It was his turn to attack. He launched a flurry of magical projectiles at the demon. The same ones that he almost killed me with. I felt each one of them as they struck the demon. I felt great pain. I also f
elt that the demon did not care, that the wounds caused by the magic missiles were not severe. It laughed, and spitted a ball of fire at Drabangar once more.

  The old mage held both his palms in front of him, and he somehow strengthened the front part of his magical shield. The fireball exploded right in his face, but he was not blown away this time. He stayed standing and he was ready to fight back. In his battlecry, he cried out the name of the ancient leader of the long forgotten Draconian Brotherhood of Arghard, who knows why.

  `In the name of the mighty Voi'Shek, in the name of the Dreamer... Die! Die!'

  Then he cast a much more powerful attack spell than before. A large, blue spear of light appeared in front of him, and was hurled at the demon. The creature was impaled by it, and knocked back by several feet. It fell on it's back, and I felt that it was frustrated. The wound was very, very painful.

  It slowly stood up, and grabbed the spear, trying to pull it out. Meanwhile, Drabangar continued his assault. He conjured a multitude of metal shards and hurled them at the demon. The shards ripped into the demon's flesh and I felt enormous pain after each hit. The demon was still only frustrated. Amidst the flurry of sharp metal shards it somehow managed to pull out the light spear, and hurled it back towards Drabangar.

  The old mage couldn't evade the spear, and it got him right in the chest. It didn't actually reach him however, as his magical shield absorbed the spear of light. But I could see that his shield was severely weakened after the impact.

  `Now you're pissing me off, you ugly son of a bitch!'

  In response, the demon then lunged at him, and knocked him to the ground. He was now stuck beneath the monster, and could not crawl to safety. I wonder why, but he did not even attempt to teleport.

  The demon tried to rip him apart, striking him over and over again. His shield held, he was still safe. He tried his best to throw the demon off him. He cast a powerful lightning bolt at it, hoping the impact and the shock would throw it off him. The demon merely laughed, like the lightning was no more than an itch. I, however, felt the pain it caused...