by Sarah Lin
"That is an excellent question." Bloodwraith found himself getting to his feet even before his mind had fully developed his plan. "Staying here would be a mistake. Even if it isn't a trap planned for us, he'll have others watching. We need to move to a safer location."
The others followed, though Meara eyed him skeptically. "He knows who you are, so he should know that you'd be familiar with the enchantment. If it's an ambush, it's an extraordinarily stupid one."
"Which would not be unexpected. But no, you're correct... it's more likely that he wants to participate for some other reason. I just... have a strong feeling that it would be dangerous to simply observe and wait. We need to take this chance to confront Elbarith, because we can't wait a month for the next."
They made their way below, but of course the path to the chambers for special guests was guarded and not open to just anyone. Meara flattened into a generic merchant and went to explore all possible entrances while the rest of them waited. Since they were waiting, Bloodwraith leaned closer to Gharavi.
"When we leave, I need you to cast a necromancy spell exactly like this." He demonstrated the exact flourish he could no longer perform and she picked it up immediately, though she gave him an odd look when he passed over his necromantic signature.
"Won't this do nothing? Except leave a signature, of course."
"That is what I'm counting on. Trust me, it will work according to plan."
"I would have preferred to discuss it first, but alright. I'll trust you this time."
Before they could speak further, Meara returned. "The western passage is less defended, and I see an easy way to barricade us inside, but I don't see how we can set everything up properly."
"Umm..." Danniah glanced around the group. "Sorry if I have the wrong idea, but shouldn't we warn people that Raigar is out there? He's probably going to hurt someone, after all, and giving advance warning could save lives."
"But announcing that would set off a panic and make Elbarith leave."
"No," Bloodwraith said, "she might be right. We could potentially use that panic to our advantage, though it would be a delicate thing. I'm not sure if we can afford the risk, but if no other opportunities present themselves..."
Meara nodded thoughtfully. "What's our strategy if we do manage to face him?"
"We need him to underestimate us. Given that he likely has access to powerful magic that can take him to safety, he can't perceive a threat until it's too late. Let me lead with the weakest threat, one he won't take seriously, while the rest of y-"
At that moment there was a commotion from within the private chambers. They turned to look, along with the guards, but there was nothing they could see. Abruptly Gharavi's eyes widened.
"He's moving! He's walking from his seat back - we may not have much time!"
Bloodwraith considered striking the guards and rushing in, since they needed to make the most of this chance. But the administrator of the Arena and his guests were close, there were rumors that the Governor would attend, and Raigar was present for unknown reasons. Too many unknown variables. "We need to call it off. I don't like it, but the risk is too-"
"There you are."
A rush of shadowy magic rippled through the room and abruptly Elbarith stood across from them. Was it really happening like this, in a random guard room beneath the arena with no warning? Yet there Elbarith stood, wearing ornate robes and an imperious look. His gaze seemed to be fixed entirely on Bloodwraith.
"Just what nonsense are you humans up to now? I came here to relax, not to get involved with your strange games." His voice was filled with an arrogance that put even Bloodwraith to shame. "But I suppose your masters didn't tell you a thing about how this works?"
Completely out of his depth, Bloodwraith stuck to the plan: acting like an idiot. He shouted "Who the hell are you?" and rushed directly at Elbarith, swinging a fist.
Seconds later, his back slammed to the floor. Bloodwraith had planned to attack clumsily, but it had barely been necessary: Elbarith had grabbed and thrown him with startling speed. Even with his armor cushioning the blow, his body ached. Elbarith put a foot on his chest, stared down at him, and sighed.
"Why is it that only the most foolish members of your species seem to travel other worlds? Your best are dangerous enough for even the Courts to take notice, yet they seem to work for your worst. Listen here, boy... I have been traveling between worlds since before you were born. You and your friend will leave this place or I shall become cross."
Bloodwraith grabbed his leg and tested his strength. He thought he was stronger than Elbarith, but not by much. Now that his opponent was overconfident, it was time to gain more information. "I don't know who you are. I'm just playing a game."
"Yes, yes... you humans are so fond of your games, you would think that you'd be more fun." Elbarith sighed and pulled his foot off Bloodwraith's chest. "I am Elbarith of the Aesidh, and I have no interest in lecturing you on the basics of all this. My offer remains the same: take your feud with your friend elsewhere. It was bad enough with him booming over the city, but now interfering with the Arena? That is the only fun to be had in this miserable place."
"I don't control him." Bloodwraith slowly sat up, rubbing his head. "He's trying to ruin my game. Maybe we can work tog-"
"Don't be absurd. Your people are the ones who are constantly striving toward goals. I am merely here to entertain myself, and this no longer amuses. Heed my warning and be gone with you."
"Die!" Bloodwraith roared and punched at Elbarith. His attack accomplished nothing and Elbarith easily slammed him back to the ground, then drew a spear from his back.
But Bloodwraith hadn't been yelling at him, but to his allies. Before Elbarith could bring down his spear, a bolt of lightning seared straight through his chest.
Remarkably, Elbarith staggered but didn't fall. He let out a hiss, but before he could attack, Danniah slammed into him from the side, putting everything she had into her shield and knocking him back. Izilthor came in low, cutting at both his legs, and though she didn't manage to break his armor, her blows staggered him further.
Now that he was completely off-balance, Bloodwraith swung with everything he had. Not because he wanted to kill Elbarith, but because he knew that if they didn't use their full capabilities, the battle would turn against them.
His sword struck... and it failed to cut through. The edge did bite through Elbarith's side and release a flow of blue blood, but it should have cleaved through his body. Elbarith smirked and clamped his arm around the sword, binding it in place.
When Danniah and Izilthor tried to attack again, he fended them off with his spear. Gharavi sent another bolt of lighting at him, yet he managed to deflect it with one hand. Though a bit battered, Elbarith still stared down his nose at them.
"Such brutes. Perhaps it would be better to leave this world for a time." His free hand touched something in his robe and Bloodwraith chose that moment to stop holding back.
His burst of force exploded from him, striking the delicate object that Elbarith held and sending it flying. Surprisingly, the Aesidh man recovered so quickly that he reached out to catch it, but a bolt of lightning seared both it and his hand.
When Elbarith recoiled, the others set upon him and Bloodwraith joined them. Strong as he was, their opponent had arrogantly squandered his advantages. Several times he tried to activate some other item, but the relentless blows from all sides battered them away until he lay crumpled on the ground.
Bloodwraith reached down and tore off his outer robe, just in case he was hiding something else. Grabbing the man by the front of his shirt, Bloodwraith lifted him to eye level. He hadn't wanted things to turn out this way, but it was too late to second-guess this path.
"You obviously consider yourself a higher being," he said quietly, "but you seem to like pleasure and dislike pain. Answer our questions and we can make an arrangement along those lines."
"Now I see." Despite his position, Elbarith sneered at him. "I
was defeated because I never imagined that someone would stoop so low to play a brute. You're so impressed with your own intelligence, but it means less than nothing."
"What does mean something, then?"
"Eventually you younger races will learn that there is no meaning behind any of it. No matter what world we call home, we live and we die without purpose. Even the Court of Dominion is only playing a game."
This rambling was getting them nowhere, and Bloodwraith needed answers before anyone came to investigate the disturbance. "You kept referring to 'you humans' - what do you mean?"
"How can you not know? Are all of you that stupid?"
Gharavi moved behind him and stuck her axe into his back. The way she twisted must have hurt, because the arrogance of his expression was replaced with pain for a moment before Elbarith regained control.
"Wait..." Elbarith's eyes widened just slightly. "You aren't one of them, are you?"
Bloodwraith shook the Aesidh, driving him against Gharavi's axe. "Answer the question."
"The... humans are miserable apes who infest many worlds. But in one of them, somehow they mastered both great technology and the magic of worlds. For only the third time in our history, we had to accept another force as our equals."
"And these humans from another world are the ones controlling things here?"
"Oh, without question. The power you wield was developed by them - they do like their games, though they are rather strident for my taste. We had an agreement with them... an agreement you are now violating, by the way." Though his situation hadn't improved, Elbarith was again looking at him scornfully. "Have I answered enough of your asinine questions? Can I go on my way now?"
"No." Gharavi stepped up behind him, her axe to his neck. "If it wasn't you, Outsiders much like you distorted my people. You will tell us how they did it."
"I will not."
Though he felt as though he was losing control of the situation, Bloodwraith shook him again. "Give us your contact information for the humans who develop the system."
To his surprise, Elbarith let out a burst of laughter at that. "Oh, you really have no idea what you're doing, do you? I hail from the Wandering Court, not the Mirror Court. Truly, you are utterly wasting your time asking questions from a position of such ignorance."
"That isn't acceptable." Though Gharavi stopped threatening him with her axe, her tone dropped and her eyes became much harder. "I seek revenge, Outsider. If you will not cooperate, we can take you back with us and torture you until you do."
"Hmph. You bestial races are always so cowardly. You cannot imagine that someone would rather face death than such a tedious disgrace."
As soon as he stopped speaking, light exploded from every part of his body. For a time Bloodwraith was utterly blinded and he gripped tighter to prevent an escape, but none came. The light didn't seem to have harmed him in the slightest, either, so he struggled to understand the goal.
When his vision returned, Elbarith hung dead from his hand.
Everyone else was recovering as well, staring in disbelief. Bloodwraith found himself glaring at the corpse, infuriated by the entire conversation. He ran over it again in his mind, wishing that he could have forced it to take a more productive direction. Instead he had only useless, mocking fragments.
"We need to move." Meara stepped up first, reaching to take Elbarith's body. To his surprise, she managed to sweep the entire thing inside her cloak. "It's a miracle we haven't been discovered already."
"There was a privacy spell," Gharavi said, "but it disappeared when he died. Guards will be coming soon."
"Then we need to run. Let's escape before anything gets even worse."
Bloodwraith nodded in agreement and they hastened to depart. The boxes chose that moment to put the next box directly in his path.
[Victory! You received 81,661 EXP and one Aesidh Body.]
[Congratulations! You gained a level!
Current Level: 13
Current EXP: 78,764/194,400
Unassigned Stat Points: 5]
The unprecedented reward made it seem more like even more of a cruel joke. This had been far from a victory.
Chapter 23
After a tense retreat from Manascas, the entire group became increasingly frustrated. They took out their frustration on the Aesidh corpse, Bloodwraith joining Gharavi to run magical tests on the body. By physical appearances he looked like little more than someone from another continent, but magically there were unusual distinctions that her spells could barely pick up.
Though his ability to assist was limited, Bloodwraith's own nature had a different set of distinctions. By comparing directly, Gharavi was able to fine tune her spells further, though there would be a great deal more work yet to do. When they finally finished, Bloodwraith came out of the haze of magic, looking around him as if recalling he was in a physical location at all.
Meara had wandered away to confirm they weren't followed. Danniah was gone, but he dimly remembered that she had removed her armor and said she was going to clean up. Izilthor still crouched nearby, eyeing the body and snapping her teeth together.
Bloodwraith touched her hair gently. "Not yet, Izilthor. Gharavi needs to finish doing some more tests, first."
"I can wait." Her eyes glimmered very bright red, however.
Gharavi stood up and stretched before walking over to him. "I need to take a break. But I wanted to mention that I executed the spell just as you asked. That was still the right decision despite the changes to the plan, right?"
"Yes, it was." Bloodwraith frowned, wishing that he had better magical defenses like in his old lair. "The simple truth is that I don't think I'll be able to take control of the undead Raigar can command. But he's acting so little like myself, I'm sure his subordinates have noticed. If I can make contact with them, I may be able to lure them away from him."
"What?" Gharavi stabbed a finger into his chest. "You mean that spell was designed to be tracked? Meaning that we could be attacked at any moment now? You should have discussed that with the rest of us."
"That... may be true." He hadn't wanted to discuss his failure, but now that she pointed it out, it did seem foolish to make the decision unilaterally. "But I think it is the right decision regardless. Herskeh is not very powerful on his own, so if he refuses to cooperate, we can destroy him and still remove a significant source of Raigar's strength."
"And if he comes with an army instead of alone?"
"I don't think he will - he'll recognize my necromantic signature. Remember that I worked with him for years, Gharavi. I know how he thinks."
"You'd better be right." Gharavi stalked back to the body and it was clear that she no longer wanted his help.
Sighing, Bloodwraith headed out toward the entrance to the crypt. He wasn't sure exactly what intuition he was following, but it took him to Meara, who stood looking out into the darkening desert. She knew he was there but didn't acknowledge him until she abruptly spoke.
"So... now we face the possibility that these 'box gods' are just mortals like us."
"Yes." He folded his arms and stared out into the shadows alongside her. "From what we have learned, the Aesidh seem to be simply people who have mastered the magic to move between worlds. I had wondered if the Outsiders who were behind Raigar might be different, but having met him..."
"I never really thought that." Meara wrapped her arm around his and leaned against him. "After meeting so many of them, I knew that they had to be essentially like us. Strange as they might seem at times, they have the same range of lusts and desires that people in our world do. They simply have the strength to create them at the expense of others."
"What do you think is the source of the strangeness? Perhaps their world is different than ours, even if occupied by the same manner of people?"
"Perhaps, but I can think of two other possibilities. One is that we are seeing only a single faction of these other humans, one with a specific set of rules. But I think the most likely expl
anation is that our world fundamentally lacks a frame of reference. Perhaps a religion of numbers. It might seem like madness from our perspective, but I think it probably makes sense, given other information."
Bloodwraith shook his head slowly. "It might make more sense, but I still believe it to be madness. The cost to move people or even information between worlds is immense, so much so that I cannot believe it would be done on a whim."
"Elbarith seemed ruled by whims."
"But he also made it clear that we do not know enough of the Aesidh to understand them. Many more questions remain."
They remained silent for a time, a silence that did not trouble him. Eventually Meara looked up at him and spoke more softly. "I cannot prove it, but I believe the Outsiders go to other worlds to fulfill desires they cannot sate in their own. Heroic or hedonistic, they are essentially seeking an experience. If you had the same power, or if we gain it, would you want to do the same thing?"
"I... am not sure."
"What I'm asking is why you fight them. Do you believe that what they're doing is wrong, or do you just object to the fact that they are meddling in your world?"
The right answer was clearly the former, but Bloodwraith remained silent for a long time. It would have been so easy to lie... "This is my world. And it is my life that they ruined with their games. I understand that they also ruined the lives of others, and I feel sympathy for Gharavi, but... in the end, what I cannot tolerate is that they treated me like a tool. I'm sorry if that isn't what you wanted to hear."
"Oh, Bloodwraith..." Meara laughed in a low voice. "I'm not going to lecture you on morality, and I'm certainly not going to try to turn you into a paragon of virtue."
"You'll leave that to Danniah."
"Heh. But truly, what matters is that your loyalty to me is not merely some temporary alliance of convenience."
"No." Bloodwraith turned and grasped her shoulders gently. "I am uncertain about many things, Meara, but not this."
Her only answer was a slight smile. It was enough. They stayed together, silent until the last of the light vanished.