Kingdom Come

by James Osiris Baldwin

  “We’re leaving.” Violetta was breathing quickly, scratching obsessively at her neck with one hand. Her eyes were huge in her pale face.

  I looked to the well, and as I did, the Mark of Matir flared under my clothes. “The well. We don’t need a sacrifice… we just have to be brave enough to jump.”

  "Go. Scout the way." Ashur waved to me dismissively. "We will take care of these."

  “Yes, sire.” I turned and hopped onto the edge of the well. Before I could think better of it, I spread my arms, then put them over my head and dived.

  My sense of deja vu intensified as the darkness swallowed me. The wind whistled through my armor, and I knew - KNEW - I'd done this before. After a few seconds, the rushing in my ears faded, and the sensation of falling left my body. I floated as if in icy water, listening to my inhumanly slow heartbeat, then felt myself begin to rise. I oriented myself as soon as I could sense where 'down' was - and when a light opened up, I stepped out of a circular portal into a small, plain square room. A pair of braziers burned with a strange blue flame beside a pair of double doors made of rusted iron. In the center of the door was a pressure plate with the same symbol burned on the back of my hand.

  I took a step forward, freezing when the lights in the torches wobbled and a deep, rolling double boom passed through the floor. My teeth and eardrums vibrated as the twin sounds rattled every cell in my body, then slowly faded away. I counted, gripping the Spear tightly. The sound occurred again after exactly sixty seconds... the same instant my half-living heart took another beat.

  Hail to you, Herald of the Hidden Seed. The words formed in my mind, unbidden. It was a pleasant voice: light, masculine, even-toned, with the edge of a hiss. Hail, Paragon of the Triad.

  The mark on the door seemed to stand out in relief, surrounded by a thin corona of blue light. My brow creased, and I absently walked forward to lay a hand on the metal. When my fingers made contact, there was an invisible push of force against my palm, and then a chill that spread up through my veins. When the cold reached my head, I suddenly knew exactly where I was - and what I needed to do.

  [New Location discovered: The Dragon Gate of Endless Night]

  My throat worked as I thought back to the conversation between Ashur and Violetta: The one where Ashur had promised her that he would have me summon my dragon to fulfil some bargain. Even if I couldn't bring Karalti to my mind's eye, the memory of her beautiful voice in my mind made my heart leap. If anything happened to her, I would never forgive myself.

  “Okay, Karalti: I know where I am, but you need to stay away.” I lifted my hand, and the plate turned, then receded as the doors opened ahead of me into a corridor of pure white opal. It was lit from everywhere and nowhere... leading to a lightless doorway at the other end.

  "What? Why?" Karalti replied quickly.

  "It’s not safe for you to be here. I'll keep you updated on what's happening. When it’s time, I’ll call. Trust me."

  "But... you've already forgotten almost everything. What happens if you die again before you get them back?"

  "I don't know." I turned as the portal behind me flared to life. Ashur and Violetta stepped through, slightly worse for wear.

  “We’re getting ready anyway,” Karalti replied hotly. “Don’t do anything dumb!”

  "I’ll try. I have to go."

  Violetta's face was cold and hard and angry, and the collar of her armor had fallen to reveal a neck so badly scarred it looked like her head had been torn off and then roughly glued back onto her body. She opened her mouth to say something when the double boom made the walls and floor rumble around us.

  "The stone is resonating. It is close," Ashur rumble. "Lead the way, my thrall."

  Thrall my ass. I turned around and trotted off like a good boy.

  The opal tunnel was freezing cold - oppressively cold, the kind of chill that seemed to want to suck the heat from my bones and force my eyes shut, vampire powers or not. At the end of the corridor, it opened into a humming void of black space. There was a nose-searing, unpleasant metallic smell, the stench of ozone. A glittering white opal bridge spanned the fathomless chasm below. The bridge ended at another great stone circle, and behind that loomed a huge cherry-blossom shaped inlay made of wrought gold and silver. My eyes followed the curving lines of each petal like section to the center. As I watched, another rolling boom resounded through the cavern, and the flower-shaped door bowed outward, pulsing in time with the-

  "-Heartbeat," I murmured aloud.

  "Yes. The heart of a sleeping god pounds behind those doors." Ashur lay a hand on my shoulder. "Cross the bridge. I will be right behind you."

  "Wait." Violetta was behind us, topping off the mana reservoirs in her spellgloves. "At the Gate of Glorious Dawn, there was a difficult boss in the antechamber. This Gate is probably no different. I don't sense anything, but this is the Gate of the God of Darkness. It would stand to reason that there could be enemies we don't see."

  Does that make me the dungeon boss? I lifted my chin, looking up at the five-petaled door. There was a crushing sense of presence behind it... the sensation of something massive staring down at us, like a weight pushing down on our heads. This feeling... it's incredible.

  The gravity of the being behind that door seemed to drag the oxygen from the air as we crossed the bridge. At the end, I could see there was something at the center of the stone circle. A small, six-sided altar just with a narrow slit in the center that was the perfect size for the Spear of Nine Spheres. I approached it slowly. The Spear was numbing my fingers, vibrating in time with the magical field that beat against our faces like radiation.

  "At last." Ashur pushed me aside on his way to the altar. The scepter in his hand was glowing with a baleful black light, humming in time with the Spear. I could feel the weapon straining for it, and the Key straining back in turn. "To think this one being could contain such power. The power of multitudes... of all the souls he has ever consumed.”

  "Matir... consumes souls?" I repeated dumbly.

  Ashur looked down at me. He almost seemed concerned. "You do not know the mechanism of the Caul of Souls, Hector?"

  "No." Maybe I had, once - but if I'd known, I'd definitely forgotten.

  “The world lore has it is that every NPC who has ever died has their spirit sucked up into the Caul of Souls." Violetta walked up behind us, her boots clacking on the stone. “The power of the Nine was the spark, but the energy of souls is the fuel.”

  Ashur made a sound of agreement. "When the dragons created the Caul, they didn't just sacrifice their gods. They killed themselves and their slaves to create a stalemate, and they condemned the rest of the races of the world to join them in their torment."

  My eyes widened as the door throbbed. The air felt too thick to breathe.

  "The stupid thing is that we could have defeated them." Ashur's voice was heavy with old grief, still raw after thousands of years. "If the peoples of the world had united and the dragons had worked with us humans, we could have beaten the Drachan. But they could not give up their position as the mightiest race of Archemi."

  "Now you understand why the dragons have a Geas on them at the Eyrie," Violetta continued, falling into place on the other side of the altar. "Why the queens were subjugated and the Aesari bound them into the service of humans and the other species of the world. Because the last time they were in charge, they threw us under the bus. They created an abomination."

  A feeling of panic squeezed my chest. I couldn’t believe that – not after everything I’d gone through. Not after feeling Karalti’s simple, pure, powerful love for me.

  "Indeed. It is time to correct the ancient wrong. Hold out your hand." Ashur commanded.

  Numbly, I extended my left hand to him, the Spear resting in the right. The vampire took his scepter, and carefully plucked the Star of Endless Night from its setting. The stone almost looked like a ball of liquid oil, the star-shaped fire at the heart of it surging across its surface. It was icy-cold to touch
, chilling my fingertips through my gauntlets. I bought it up to the Spear. As it got closer, the color of the weapon's mana changed. The red tracery of light bled away, replaced by a deep, deadly, seething blackness. The Star lifted, and then slowly descended, fitting neatly into the second highest setting on the blade. My bones hummed with a flush of pure energy that thrilled from my fingertips to the rest of my body, and an alert appeared:

  The Spear of the Ender and the Maker

  Soul-bound Dark Elemental Weapon

  Slot: Two-handed

  Item Class: Relic

  Item Quality: Mastercrafted

  Damage: 277 - 352 Slashing or Piercing

  Durability: 97%

  Weight: 1lb

  Special: Soul-bound, +50 bonus Fire damage, +150 Dark damage (+300 damage to Undead), +500 HP, +10 Strength, +10 Will, +25% evasion, 1% chance to instantly kill an enemy.

  Special: Maker's Blessing - learn Crafting skills 5% faster. Nightfather's Blessing - 6% of inflicted weapon damage heals the wielder.

  "It is truly the Spear of legend," Ashur breathed. "Now, we end this. Unlock the Gate!"

  The gods here eat souls. That couldn't be true, could it? I looked up at the huge door, then took my place in front of the altar. Ashur was just behind me, watching intently as I raised the Spear, aligned it with the hole, and drove it down with all my strength.

  Chapter 53

  Before the blade touched the altar, I sprung straight up into the air. At the peak of the backflip, I hit Master of Blades V.

  A ring of ten shards of light-sucking energy flared out around me like arching wings, and in a split second, they spun and slammed down on Ashur and Violetta. There was no escape: each lance now did slightly over two thousand points of damage, two lances per target. Ashur was completely flat-footed, reeling as they took him through the chest and shoulders and blew two huge holes through his torso. Violetta barked a command word, getting a shield up just before the energy shards tore apart, regathered, and Rained down hard.

  [You deal 3092 damage to ??Zero]

  [You deal 6137 damage to Elder vampire Ashur! HP: 4863/11,000]

  I landed the Jump on Ashur’s back and drove the Spear through the back of his neck – another 2816 damage. Thanks to my old friend Type Effectiveness, he was already down to 2047 HP – less than my total pool, and I was 8 levels lower than him.

  “You! How…?” His next words choked off as he coughed a gout of black, clotted blood onto the floor.

  “Bla’pah’hai!” Violetta snarled the command words of a Water spell, flinging her glowing hands at me and Ashur both. I got out of the way as water condensed from the air and thrust forward like a giant sword. Ashur saw it coming. He teleported away, reappearing at the other end of the dais.

  With one eye on the vampire, I flung myself into a roll under her next spell and charged in with a roar. “Karalti! If you’re ready to rock and roll, now’s the time! Come in swinging!”

  Violetta slung another water blade at me. I Shadow Danced through it, soaking 500-ish damage as I burst out of the dash in a freezing cloud of darkness. I charged the Spear with Shadow Lance, and felt it reach for the Star. When it found it, the black fire rimming the blade burst into ropy coils of boiling shadow. Violetta’s eyes bled black as she threw up a desperate shield. The Spear struck it with a rolling shockwave, overloading the flickering wall of light and blowing it back into Violetta’s face. The discharge was so intense that it slashed her skin and sent her flying. I turned my focus back to Ashur then.

  “A Halfblood!?” He was clutching his wounds with his left hand, the other arm hanging uselessly by his sided. He couldn’t regenerate any of the HP he’d lost. “Me, sire a Halfblood! Has the power… urrghh… of Napath declined so much?”

  “Sorry, fang daddy. I’m a bad boy.” Violetta was trying to gain distance - I was struggling not to let her get it. She turned about twenty feet from me, close enough that I could Jump the distance and stay on her where she was weakest: up close and personal. Just before the Spear contacted her body, she rounded on me, teeth bared.

  "Chron lavan ki'mer!" She cried, slashing her hands down.

  [You resist Time Stop!]

  [You are slowed!]

  The world seemed to wind down to a crawl. I twisted to evade, but it was like trying to turn in knee-deep mud. Violetta's hands lifted, her mouth opening. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ashur down some sort of potion and snarl, hefting his sword in his off hand.

  “You are a stain on my bloodline! On my people!” He howled, his fangs lengthening, face twisting his face into a bestial, demonic mask of bone and iron. His muscles swelled. “Die!”

  The Slow debuff ended, and time snapped back to normal. I couldn’t evade in time. Ashur’s hooked sword split my armor like it wasn’t there, carving through the flesh beneath.

  [Your armor is Sundered! – 50% protection!]

  [You take 829 damage! You are Bleeding!]

  “Oof.” Something bright and hot flew toward me. I dodged on reflex, barely able to see for the pain. I scrambled around the pair of enemies on one hand and both feet, then flung a Shadow Garrote at Violetta to distract her. The loop of shadow didn't fly from my hand - it rose out of the sorceress's own shadow, dropping around her neck and drawing taut. Violetta's eyes bulged, and she forgot everything she was doing to claw desperately at her throat, drawing blood within seconds. She spun away with a small choking sob - right into the path of a gleaming black dragon who appeared out of thin air.

  Karalti drew a deep breath, jaws agape. "HRRRRROOOOOAARRR!"

  A liquid plume of blazing white fire swallowed the panicking sorceress in a sticky inferno. Her passengers jumped to the ground: a silver-skinned woman in a featureless steel mask, two spider-like automatons, and a slender, wavy-haired man who leaped down with a saber in one hand and a cocked pistol in the other.

  “You!” He levelled his sword at Ashur. The blade gleamed silver – true silver, by the way it made my skin crawl. “Stand and fight, demon!”

  Ashur snarled at him. He made an arcane gesture, glaring at me with burning gold eyes that hissed and spat like the core of a star. “Bastard half-blood! I will find you, thrall! I will debase you, kill your dragon bitch, kill your god! You have not seen the last of Ashur!”

  My ally charged him with a harsh battlecry. He fired the pistol – in an instant, Ashur’s body collapsed into sand that swirled away on an unseen wind before vanishing.

  The Mercurion and her Artifacts were butchering Violetta. She was on her back underneath them, shrieking with pain as she soaked bullets and tried to fend off the stabbing, stamping feet. "Aieee! No! Krath'uum!"

  Light pulled in around Violetta, then exploded in a shockwave that sent us all flying back - except Karalti. The dragon landed and charged in with her head lowered. Violetta whirled on her, preparing to cast another spell, but I was already flanking and ready to stab. The Spear took her through the kidney. Her words cut off as she seized in pain, and Karalti pulled her off the end of the weapon with her jaws. She shook her like a rat. Violetta gurgled - she was at barely a quarter HP, which vanished to a sliver when the dragon slammed her against the floor and then dropped her. I charged in as Violetta flung a hand up. Her eyes were wide and blue, dark with pain.

  "Mercy!" she gasped.

  “Not today, Satan.” Before she had any room to pull a fast one, I drove Shattering Darkness straight into her head. The Spear punched through Violetta's skull, freezing it solid. Her skull shattered into bloodless smoking chunks, and then her body collapsed to the ground. It shuddered, and then turned to dust - leaving a sack of goods behind.

  [The enemy commander has surrendered his forces and fled! You have defeated the invading Napathu army! You earned 2000 EXP!]

  [Quest Complete: Unto Death. You earned 3363 EXP!]

  [You are Level 22!]

  [Karalti is Level 13!]

  [Rin is Level 18!]

  [Suri reached Level 23!]

  Through the forest of
notifications, I stared at the dragon in awe. Karalti was more beautiful than I could have imagined - tall and supple, her scales gleaming with veins of bright opalescent color. She was feminine and unearthly and… was this gorgeous, incredible creature really mine?

  "Hector! Are you okay!?" She ran to me with her head low, her wings flickering against her sides. Dropping the Spear, I held my arms out as Karalti thrust her muzzle against my chest, colliding with me like a girl throwing herself in a hug. At the first touch of her burning hot scales, my temples heated with such sudden intensity that, for a second, I thought my skull was about to explode like Violetta’s had.

  "Gyaaaaaaah! GAH!” I barely felt my knees hit the ground as a massive, torrential flood of memories rushed in. Indonesia and San Fran and a house with a green door and faceless men sprawled over shattered trees and Suri falling and- “BITCH… ASS… MOTHBALLING… Gyah!”

  I clawed my face, my eyes, the floor, anything, trying to make it stop... and then it was over. It took me a second to realize where I was: lying on my side, Karalti mantled over me with piercing cries of confusion and distress.

  "Karalti! Hector! What happened?!" Rin ran up to us, pushing her mask back. Karalti snapped at her, once, then keened and pulled her head back. Gasping, I looked up to see her wide blue eyes round and worried. She felt my forehead.

  "Memory." I choked the word out through a dry, tight throat. "Download. Memory."

  Karalti drew her hands up against her chest and swung her head from side to side, moaning. “I hurt him somehow!”

  "Okay! It okay!" Words and word order were jumbled in my head, Tuun mixing with Korean and English and Vlachian. "Download... bad."

  The dragon ducked her head and nuzzled at me, then began to lick my exposed skin. I flinched at the first contact, but there was no more mental agony - just a wet dragon tongue that pulled my helmet off and mlem'd the entire length of my face.