Delvers LLC: Adventure Capital

by Blaise Corvin

  “Join us, join the forces of Asag, and your lives will be spared. You will also live luxuriously, and your talents will be appreciated.”

  The other figure on the platform looked agitated. “This was not part of the plan,” the man said. His regular speaking voice was also amplified by whatever magic the woman was using.

  “Oh no, that voice,” whispered Jason. Uluula cocked her head. What was her husband talking about? Why was he staring at Mareen?

  “Yelm.” Mareen spoke the name softly, but with all the venom and malice of the deepest, darkest curse.

  ***

  Mareen had been glad she was proficient with her bow during the battle so far. Every time she had felt a surge of fear, or adrenaline, the blood magic inside her had strained at the chains she’d placed on it. Luckily, she’d been able to contribute with her mundane skills, helping protect their position with arrow after arrow.

  She’d been practicing her magic, but she still hadn’t wanted to reveal her new power to the rest of the group, especially after having discovered what she could do with it. It had scared her that the Deepwater Rose could offer hints and tricks on how to wield her magic better the more she used it, too. If she started to draw heavily on her blood magic, who knew what she could do? Who knew what she’d be tempted to do?

  It was not time for her to use her forbidden new power yet, if ever. She’d figured the battle was a lost cause, they’d all eventually retreat, and maybe make another stand in front of the village they were protecting.

  All of these thoughts and concerns vanished the moment that Yelm had appeared. Yelm. Outwardly, Mareen was calm and composed, watching the scene unfold before her. Inwardly, she was a sea of cresting emotions, all vying for dominance.

  “You were supposed to kill them all,” snarled Yelm, his voice still amplified as he shared the platform with the woman. “Those fuckers that killed my son are out there, and we can just exterminate them. Don’t even try to make them suffer, just kill them. That little stuck up, arrogant bitch, Mareen, is different, though. Let’s keep her alive and introduce her to some of the demons, especially the ones that like women.

  “I wish I’d had the option to give her useless, soft-headed grandfather to some demons before. We had to make do with smashing all his bones and bleeding him out before the rotting bastard managed to choke on his own tongue. Shame. My Jeth didn’t get that kind of mercy.”

  Celina’s voice cracked out like a whip. “You fool. Bringing you up here was a mistake, and I cannot believe I let you convince me otherwise. No mortal may deny the will of great Asag. Be thankful I allow you to live.” The woman in the dark cloak waved her hand, and Yelm floated back down the column of red light. The way he flailed and shook his fist, he was probably not going quietly, but his voice was no longer amplified.

  The woman continued, “I am Priestess Celina, and I have been instructed to parlay with you. Now you know our seriousness, but we have not crushed you yet. You have held out well until now, but know that you face an army of loyal Asag followers including orb-Bonded and mages. Plus, we are about to open a gate, a helldoor.

  “When this is done, you will truly have no hope of survival if you oppose us. This entire region is being sacrificed to Dread Asag! The children of Asag will spill into the world. These children will include those too difficult for us to usually summon, or too special to exist in this world for long. When they join us now, their time on Ludus will be enough.

  “Join us, or die. These are your choices. If you make the intelligent move to worship Dread Asag, you will conquer the world with us! As one of the Asag Triumphant, if you have unfinished business with the fool I just dismissed from this platform, know that blood feuds are allowed within our ranks.”

  The priestess of Asag paused for dramatic effect, then said, “This is all. I care not which choice you make, but I suggest you choose wisely. To join us, throw down your weapons and armor and walk forward unarmed. Any other action will seal your fate.”

  With that, the woman’s platform lowered. The red grow in the distance grew brighter, and the sky flashed with oily, unnatural lightning.

  Rage bloomed in Mareen’s heart, creeping up, devouring her reason. She fought it at first, but her will eroded as she asked herself why. Why was she fighting her hatred? The war within her raged on, and she barely heard her friends talking.

  Jason said, “I have a hard time believing this isn’t a trap, despite the offer to join up. There is no way they could be stupid enough to think having Yelm up there would do anything other than piss us off. These people haven’t been brilliant yet, but they also haven’t been complete morons.”

  “What do you think is going on then, Husband?” Uluula asked.

  “I think Yelm is being used. I’m guessing the priestess was playing it straight that her god wanted to offer us a job, but she doesn’t have any intention of actually doing so.”

  “Politics,” said Gonzo, nodding. “Your hunch feels right.”

  In the distance, the red light grew deeper. The feeling of dread in the air grew stronger, more insistent. Natural lighting flashed in the darkening sky for a moment before all of it spiked towards the ground, terminating at the same point.

  “That’s probably the helldoor opening,” said Uluula. “I have heard of such things. Areva marines sometimes encounter wormhole gates on truly evil worlds. These gates generally lead to the realms of one of the Fallen. I am guessing that a helldoor is the same sort of thing, but created with magic.”

  “I have heard the same,” said Gonzo. “Helldoors have not been common on Ludus, but they have appeared at times. In most cases, many heroic orb-Bonded have given their lives to close them. Unfortunately, I’m not sure that anyone knows how they did it. I never expected to encounter a helldoor in my life.”

  Jason breathed deeply and covered his eyes. “Great. This was actually a well-planned attack when you think about it. If the Asag cultists are experimenting with their helldoor, or they really want to kill us, they knew just how to keep us around. Uluula, Gonzo, do you have any reason to believe they were lying that this area would be destroyed?”

  “No.” Gonzo’s voice was flat. “We aren’t very far from the edge of Berber farmland, either. It will be a massacre. Our little group is definitely not enough to deal with a helldoor. I just summoned a MMB. I’m going to dispatch a message to the Berber military, and hopefully it will get through. If we are going to survive this, much less hold these things off, we need a plan.”

  “How do we know the new demons aren’t going to just run all over the place?” asked Vitaliya. “They don’t need to come for us.”

  Uluula shook her head and said, “The demons that come through a gate from a hell realm are mindless killing machines. They’re usually sent in a single direction. We have no reason to believe a helldoor will be any different.”

  “Well, one thing is sure,” said Jason. “We are all tired. I think we all agree to stay and try to hold these things off until reinforcements arrive.” Jason frowned and turned to face Gonzo. “Wait, if you can use a MMB to summon help, why didn’t you do it before?”

  Gonzo looked embarrassed. “I actually did. This new message will be a report of the increased threat. Hopefully it will make everything move faster.”

  Jason put a hand over his eyes. “If Henry was here, he’d say the army never changes.”

  With no warning, a magic messenger bird flew down to land in front of Gonzo. The spy immediately began giving it a coded message to deliver. Mareen barely even noticed. The overwhelming tide of righteous anger inside of her kept growing, and she wasn’t sure that she cared. Her blood magic pulsed in sympathy with her darkest emotions.

  Uluula moved over and touched Mareen’s hand. “Are you well? That man was connected with the murder of your grandfather, yes?” As attempts to comfort went, it was fairly terrible, but Mareen knew her friend was trying. The gesture even helped stem the tide of her rage slightly. She was about to respond when the first of
the new demons appeared across the burning battlefield, the light from the flickering fires illuminating parts of them, but the night hid other portions in shadow.

  Mareen’s friends hissed or sucked in a breath at the sight. The demons they’d been fighting before had been horrible and dangerous, but these new creatures were on another level.

  No single demon was alike. They were covered in plates, muscle, scales, fur, spikes, and claws. Some had pulsing, exposed guts. Many of the ones with humanoid heads were missing cheeks, exposing their teeth.

  Some carried weapons, and some wore armor. “Hellknights,” spat Uluula. “Shock troops of the Fallen.”

  “Wait, you’ve seen these things before?” Jason was aghast.

  “Yes, but not in person. Areva marines sometimes encounter colony worlds that have been overrun by these things. At least these ones are young. They get larger and more powerful as they grow older.”

  Jason shook his head. “How in the hell are other races scared of Terrans, humans from Earth like me, when there’s shit like this out there?” he asked, pointing at the massing demons.

  Uluula turned fully towards her husband and said with complete seriousness, “Because Terrans are more frightening. Hellknights are savage, but stupid. Terrans are also savage, but can cobble together atomic weapons. This fact is common knowledge. I love you, Jason, but Terrans are used to scare Areva children into obeying their parents.”

  Jason blinked. “I definitely want to talk more about this later. More importantly, we are about to have a huge fight on our hands. We only probably have a couple more minutes until those things charge, and we need a plan. Nobody should do anything until then. We have to move as one and—”

  Mareen had stopped listening. The rage had finally overtaken her reason, fed by the dark magic within her. Her world had simplified, separated between allies and enemies. A growing army of enemies was facing her, and now this fact was all that mattered.

  She finally allowed her blood magic out of its cage. The liquid in her veins became part of her will, entirely controlled by her need. Mareen’s eyes blazed red, and her body floated up as she levitated all of her own blood.

  Her friends all fell back, gasping, but Mareen ignored them. All that mattered now was getting to Yelm, creating justice for her good-hearted grandfather, George.

  Mareen distantly heart someone yelling behind her, but ignored it. Her friends might be upset, but she needed to do this. As she touched down on battlefield and began walking forward, the gathered demons on the other side of the killing zone charged. Mareen ordered her blood to carry her forward, and her body obeyed.

  Power sang through her body, carried everywhere by her magic, surging through her veins. She remembered every lesson she’d ever had, every fact she’d ever learned. But more importantly, she felt the creatures before her. They were evil, alien, and terrible, but they were still alive, at least in the loosest sense.

  The first demon finally got close enough for Mareen to reach it with her power. It never even had a chance. The dusky-skinned, red-eyed woman clenched her fist and pulled, her third rank orb-Bonded strength used the attachments made through magic to rip the demon’s body apart. With her power, Mareen gathered up all the blood...and absorbed it.

  Her eyes grew deeper, and Mareen turned her terrible gaze towards the rest of the incoming enemies. The moment stretched as she instructed her brain to think faster.

  Increased strain on her body created tears, micro wounds throughout her tissue, but Mareen repaired them with her enhanced body magic as soon as they appeared. Blood magic sang through her limbs as she began processing the life force of the demon she’d just ripped apart. Aspects of its bestial nature were absorbed along with the power of its essence, but that was unavoidable, just a price of using blood magic.

  The next hellknight to get close to Mareen didn’t have a chance, either. She hit sideways with her bronze hammer, the heavy metal backed by her superhuman strength caved the demon’s skull in. It fell, and Mareen absorbed its blood too.

  In the space of seconds, dozens of chitin barbs slammed into her body from nearby chucker demons. Mareen wasn’t even fazed. She suppressed the pain, isolated each barb, ejected the venom, and then pushed the projectiles themselves out. Each tear, each rip in her skin closed up, aided by the power of the blood she was still collecting, still processing.

  Mareen held up a hand and her fingertips erupted into deep wounds before sharp crystals of blood, forged by her will, erupted outwards to impale the distant chuckers, tearing them apart.

  Then the main force of hellknights were upon her, attacking, and Mareen let her power run wild. The blood magic responded like a living thing, eager to kill.

  That suited Mareen just fine.

  She moved like violence incarnate, hammer flashing, destroying the bodies of towering, slavering demons. For each demon she killed, she absorbed at least a portion of their blood, building her own reserves back up, expanding her limits, her power responding to the new stimuli.

  A couple of speedy demons jumped over the gaggle of their fellows, claws and grasping hands reaching for her. Mareen saw them coming, like they were moving with glacial slowness. She gestured, and the blood on the ground around her turned to a crimson blade that she scythed through the air, cutting the attacking hellknights in half.

  Part of her had always admired how Henry could make armor and blades for himself. Now she could too. Mareen instructed the blood on her body to form armor plates, replacing the wood armor she already wore. More blood flowed up, connecting to the armor and strengthening it.

  She turned, bringing some of the blood she’d absorbed through her body and out her mouth, injecting it with magic. Phlegm mixed with the volatile, crimson fluid erupted from her mouth. Each projectile launched with incredible speed, driven by her enhanced strength and her magic. The caustic spittle exploded on impact, creating bloody, steaming, horrific corpses of demons. The hideous things screamed and bellowed, still attempting to reach her as they died.

  Mareen waded through the hellknights, teaching the unnatural things to fear. Her blood magic witnessed everything she did and approved, growing with her, giving her tools to destroy her enemies.

  She lashed out with the hammer in one hand, and rents in her fingers allowed her to launch wave after wave of hardened, crystallized, crimson shards. Her power tore her enemies apart.

  Suddenly, she sensed something new, a human heartbeat. Mareen ducked underneath a muscular, powerful hellknight’s swing, ripped its arm off with her free hand, and tore the blood from its body before she levitated herself, zipping over the battlefield to the heartbeat she’d felt. Her eyes saw nothing, but her blood magic didn’t lie.

  As she closed, she launched several crystallized blood spears at the new source of blood. A Terran woman in a dark robe appeared in an instant to the naked eye, erecting a magic shield that stopped the crystal attack, the impact shattering the spears.

  A LEDF crossed Mareen’s vision:

  Nesee Gerile, Terran, Berban

  Dolos Orb, Light Barriers

  First Rank

  “Blood magic!” the cultist, Nesee, screamed. Her blue eyes were wild, her blonde hair was burned and in disarray. “How dare you profane the most holy of magics with your—”

  Mareen grabbed one of the woman’s wrists and crushed the bones. The cultist screamed, and Mareen hooked her hammer around the woman’s back to pull her close and prevent her from running away. The orb-Bonded cultist tried erecting a barrier between them, but Mareen just clamped down on the woman’s ruined arm again, making her convulse and lose concentration. Then Mareen let go of the arm, her hand going up to the cultists’ throat before she efficiently tore the woman’s throat out.

  Mareen used her magic, ripping the life from the cultist and absorbing the dying woman’s blood and power through her mouth. Then she turned, covered in dripping crimson, her lips wet with the blood of the slain woman. The shiny, red armor around her body gleamed in the f
irelight, and her eyes glowed in the darkness of the newly fallen night.

  Retribution had come to Ludus. Mareen had not been able to protect George. She had failed her grandfather, but at least she could avenge him.

  Magic power and her enemies’ life force stirred inside Mareen, climbing out of her skin, changing her appearance. Mareen smiled, showing her new fangs. She moved forward silently, hovering above the battlefield. Her bronze hammer dripped, and she let blood flow out of her wrist down to the hammer, forming an enormous, steel-hard blade of crystallized crimson from the head of the weapon.

  Using her new, terrible blade, Mareen moved onward, inexorably heading toward the glow of the distant helldoor. That was where Yelm would be, she was sure of it.

  She split two demons at once with her new, giant weapon, lifting her whole arm until the hellknights were cut in half, their awful, steaming innards forming pools on the ground. Caught up in her bloodlust, Mareen absently absorbed the blood around her and levitated up high enough to twist the head off a humanoid hellknight. Everything around her seemed slow and weak, like the whole world was turning to paper. Paper made of meat.

  With every beat of her heart, the blood magic explained new ways to destroy her enemies. Mareen listened.

  Eyes in the Sky

  Keeja hissed in a breath as she watched Mareen wield blood magic, absorbing the essence of demons and descending into a kind of focused madness. “So that’s what ‘Ol-Tentacles-in-the-lake was up to.”

  Philana looked puzzled. “What do you mean? Xethuaniistcka shields its domain. We couldn’t watch the meeting they had, but we’d already seen Mareen practicing with blood magic. We knew she had forbidden power. More surprising than that, I can’t believe Dolos refuses to do anything about the shield over the lake.”