Ascending Shadows

by Everet Martins

  Something whooshed near his head, and he turned to see a spear skittering across the stones. “Dragon!” Isa breathed, and saw another arcing back, held by an ashen hand, preparing to hurl again. It had almost killed him. His eyes bulged. Almost killed Senka.

  The pain in his knee vanished. He lunged at the beast and plunged his sword through its gut. Its spear fell, expression shocked. He grinned and dragged his sword up, splitting it in half up through the throat, bones shattering as if made of twigs. Perhaps they had been affected by the Shadow’s fall after all. Their bones broke too easily. These were mere shells of Death Spawn. Blood splashed over him in a wave of gore, hot, sticky, and stinking like rot. He spat it from his mouth, cleared it from his burning eyes.

  He pivoted to see Senka kick out a knee, cut a thigh, a gut, a bicep, then a creature’s throat in a fluid dance of death. She was amazing to watch, so skillful, a magnificent killer. He started to smile when something made the world flare with brilliant white. Unfocused and undisciplined will only get you death, he heard his voice scolding his students.

  He opened his eyes some time later. Seconds or minutes, he couldn’t be sure. The world was shaking and rocking from side to side. Pain tore at his chest. He raised his head and saw something was biting it, trying to tear a strip of ragged chest muscle free from his body. The thought felt dull. There was a gray head there, shiny and bald if not for a few strings of white hair. Sounds started to return. There was his blood, a pool of it on his chest. On its growling mouth. Screams filled the air, his and the others and the Death Spawn’s.

  He reached down and jammed two fingers into where he guessed an eye would be, striking true, tearing the shrieking head away. Greyson was above him, spear coming down and thudding into the demon’s back. It let out a gurgle and stood, turned on him. It took a staggering step back against a statue then fell with a groan.

  Greyson gasped, his eyes slitted and bending over him. “Isa… you don’t look good.” He shook his head. “What should I do?”

  “I know,” he managed to croak as he rose up, not daring to look at the damage, knowing it’d only make it feel worse. Then he just couldn’t help himself. A few strips of chewed muscle hung from his chest like sprigs from a bale of hay. Under it were bits of white, his ribs or sternum he thought. He flexed his chest to test it, pain shooting through his side like a bolt of lightning, strips of muscle wriggling like worms. Even with the horrors emerging from his chest, he felt light, uncaring, even welcoming what fate would levy.

  “What are you— stop! Oh Dragon, stop!” Greyson cupped his scarlet hand over his mouth.

  “Some minor function loss. Can,” he swallowed. “Can take care of it later. Where is—” Senka, he mouthed, finishing his thought.

  “Isa!” she called mid-movement. Senka ducked a swiping claw, her dagger going in and out of an eye socket, up a nostril and splitting it into bloody halves, through a cheek, then across a throat in a series of wicked strikes.

  A rock tumbled down beside him big enough to crush his head into nothing. A stone fragment tore across his cheek, making a bead of blood well out. He put his fingertip on his cheek, frowning at the blood as if it were his first time seeing it. He knew then that something wasn’t working right in his head, thoughts not forming right. Concerns all wrong.

  “Isa?”

  “Yeah,” he muttered, rubbing the blood between finger and thumb.

  “Get your mind together. We need you. Hurry!” Greyson screamed.

  The world came rushing back then. A great sense of panic surged through his legs, the strange calmness dashed away. “To me.” He nudged Greyson’s arm, leading him towards Senka, Juzo at her side.

  Juzo’s fist hammered against an armored chest plate so hard that the metal caved in. The beast had a giant’s square jaw, its beady glowing eyes widening at the stoved-in spot. Juzo grinned and head-butted it, made it teeter over with the stiffness of a statue.

  Isa thought the Death Spawn were far behind, gone forever in the passage of time. After the shock of seeing one again, he shouldn’t have been surprised. There were pockets of them all over the realms before the Shadow god fell. Why wouldn’t there be any now? You saw them die on the Tower’s bridge, that’s why. They should’ve all been dead now, he thought.

  He felt a grim snicker come from his throat. Only family, friends and lovers die. Enemies always return.

  More bells sounded all around, more twisted shapes filling in the square for this evening’s meal. Senka and Isa cleared a gap ahead leading down a street that went deeper into the ruins. “Run!” Isa yelled into Greyson’s ear, tore past Senka and Juzo and screamed, “Run! Run!”

  “Coming!” Senka shouted back, her steps pounding behind.

  “I’ll hold them off for a bit. Starting to enjoy myself!” Juzo called back, squaring his hips to the oncoming horde.

  “Juzo—” Isa cut off as a short beast, maybe four feet in all, dropped in front of him, rusted hooks in each of its multi-segmented arms. It started spinning like a dust-devil, hooks blurring. Isa growled and chopped at it as hard as he could, hoping he didn’t get caught on those Achilles tendon destroyers. Its blood sprayed against the wall of an ancient building, the blade cutting it from shoulder to hip. He kicked it off the blade, glanced back and saw his friends skirting around him, running onward.

  “Go!” he screamed, ran, Senka and Greyson in front of him now. He looked back and saw the horde smothering Juzo in their forms, his white fists no longer flying, his body crushed under the weight of them.

  Isa’s head was filled with clashing metal, stabbing blades, and rushing air. “Juzo!” he yelled back, somehow hoping his desperate scream would save him. It was an honorable sacrifice, a warrior’s death if there ever was one. Juzo’s parting gift was the few seconds distance they’d needed between the horde that likely just saved all of their lives.

  They rushed past ruined buildings, the figures within scrambling with danger. A pile of rubble as tall as a man stood in the center of the road. They leaped and ran up it, feet sliding, loose stones of all size shifting. Shrieks and animalistic barks bounced from the walls, growing ever closer. Senka slipped, started to fall back on a shifting stone. Isa reached out and grabbed her by the wrist, making her howl with pain as he dragged her over the rubble’s apex. “Sorry!” he shouted after her as she leaped down the other side. He’d forgotten about her wounds, but wounds wouldn’t matter if you were dead.

  Isa followed her down in a few great leaping steps. Something flashed and pounced in front of them, falling into a run. “Juzo! How?” Isa grinned then winced, pain ripping up his chest.

  “Told you I’m tough to kill!” Juzo threw back.

  Something whizzed down from above, spinning ahead of them. Another spear. Juzo bent down and snatched it up as they ran by. Another clanged from behind, and he saw at least three more of them raining down. He sucked in hard breaths, looked up to see glowing eyes emerging from the tops of buildings, spears raising. He swallowed and tried not to imagine one of them tearing into his back. Could almost imagine how it’d feel for one of them to sink in. Another sharp series of clangs rang out behind, spears missing their targets.

  “Running. Always running,” Greyson whimpered.

  “Something ahead!” Juzo screamed. “Look out!”

  Isa’s guts squirmed. Ahead of them was simply nothing. The road became a sheet of black, a yawning canyon to the arms of some infinite, timeless death.

  “Left! Left! Left!” Juzo screamed, skidding at the end of the road, and cutting hard to his left, Greyson and Senka trailing after him.

  “Keep going!” Isa yelled and ran harder, his bare feet clinging to the stone and bearing down to pivot. He felt a blister pop and open. Stones skipped from the edge, spinning and tumbling into the darkness.

  He gasped. The road and the city beyond had been swallowed by the earth itself, craggy red stone walls going down forever and about fifty feet across. The walls leading down were sheer, fading into shado
ws below. The road they turned onto was half a road, just wide enough for two people. The road had been bisected by a ragged line of cobbles, one side adjacent to buildings and the other the chasm.

  “Shit! This is shit!” Juzo yelled at the head of the group. Senka and Greyson panted ahead of Isa.

  Senka looked back and gave him a reassuring nod. “Still there,” he whispered to her, his mind feeling numb. He was still here. She was still there. He liked the others, but the reality was he wouldn’t lose any sleep over their untimely demise.

  Isa looked back and laughed while the horde roared as they tried to turn away from the chasm, demon after demon falling in with flailing limbs. Those after them dug their heels in trying to come to a halt, their brethren behind mindlessly charging on and pushing them in. Some managed to complete the turn, stumbling, clawing, and screaming. A few started climbing out of the darkness, scaling the chasm’s walls, gibbering and squawking.

  “They’re going in!” he pointed back. “Lost a lot of them.”

  Everyone turned to look, breathing hard, sweat pouring down shining bloody faces. “Can’t rest long,” Isa said, his chest working.

  “Not all of ‘em,” Juzo sucked in air.

  “Not enough,” Senka said between breaths. Even she was working now, hands resting on her knees. She rose up, leaving scarlet prints on her pants. “Have to stay moving.”

  Greyson shook his head, red hair matted against his harsh cheekbones. “Not going to die here.” He started on, spear held awkwardly in both hands.

  Isa saw smoldering eyes, jaws parting incongruously wide, twisted weapons waving and stabbing at the air.

  Juzo passed Greyson in a blur. “This way!” He pointed at a towering temple at the end of the half-road. The temple had enormous pillars carved with an oddly familiar script, spell script he realized. He had seen Bezda Lightwalker, the former Arch Wizard, writing in it. An enormous hexagonal shape of stone was mounted above the temple, hundreds of intricately carved shapes popping out in the sun’s long shadows.

  “Better be a way out of here, Juzo!” Isa barked, doing his best to keep up with his crushing speed.

  “Lots of magic,” Juzo threw back. “More than any other place here, glowing like a beacon. Has to be something here.”

  “You’d better be right,” Senka said. “Can’t run forever either way.”

  The horde of beasts screamed with a fury that seemed to make up for the loss of their numbers.

  The group ran up the temple’s modest stairs and streaked into a dark hallway. Luckily, there were remnants of an archway on the other side, showing the light of day beyond it, some rubble piled up in front. A zigzagging crack in the curved ceiling let blades of light shine down.

  “Where?” Senka hissed.

  “Don’t know.” Juzo spun.

  Isa fixed his eyes on the archway, charging on towards it and slipping around the others. He had a feeling that just beyond that archway they’d find safety, a place where they could finally rest. They just had to get through the rubble.

  A spear arced over his head and clanged a step ahead of him, spinning and thumping against a column. “Shit,” he grunted, staggering back, his feet scraping against sharp stones. Something caught his heel and sent him onto his back.

  Death Spawn spilled into the temple, fanning out on all sides. A gangly beast ran at him, the bottom half of its jaw missing, showing a row rotting black teeth. It swung at him with a jagged axe. It fell suddenly back, blood shooting out from its throat. Senka stood above it, eyes wild, face bloodied. But there were more. More than they could possibly survive. They crept around pillars, started working to circle them. Juzo was their spear, killing them in droves of two and three at a time near the entrance, but it wouldn’t be enough. Blood and limbs streaked from his form like a hero of the legends.

  “Too many! There’s too many!” Greyson shrank at the back of the temple, spear held across his body.

  “Senka, to the back!” Isa vaulted to his feet in one deft motion and ran for the blocked archway. “Clear the rubble!”

  “No time!” Senka ran anyway, grunting behind him. She screamed her desperate hate at the Death Spawn as if it’d be enough to stop them.

  “Juzo!” Isa yelled. “Need your help!” He reached the rubble and worked a stone free, its weight tremendous, making his back sing with pain. He felt tears leaking from his eyes, blurring his vision. Not like this. Not by them, he thought. Not now.

  Death Spawn grunted, growled, and swarmed down the temple after them.

  He screamed as he tried to free another stone, wet fingers slipping, its weight too great for his earthly strength. “Fuck!” He pulled and pulled, muscles twanging.

  “Come on!” Juzo roared behind him.

  “I’m trying! Shit!” Isa yelled back.

  “Try harder!” Juzo screamed, grunted with pain.

  Isa released the immovable block and pulled at what he thought was another great stone, dislodging it with ease to find it was merely a sliver. “Shit.” He tossed it over his shoulder. When it hit the ground, a rumble went through the floor.

  A great cracking split the air. Then the ground started to violently shake. One of the pillars holding up the ceiling split into halves. It roared, shifted with absurd slowness, a giant piece lurching towards the center of the hall. Chunks fell from the split piece, crushing Death Spawn like gnats.

  Another crack roared in the temple, loud enough to make his ears hurt. A lump of stone plummeted down from the ceiling and squashed a group of Death Spawn. The only sign they were ever there was the blood and organs thrown out from the slab’s side. A jagged spear and an ancient buckler skittered across the floor. The golden light of the dying sun filled the dusty hall from the gaping hole above. It would have been beautiful were they not about to die.

  The Death Spawn charged onward, undaunted by the temple’s collapse. The giant half of pillar finally fell, crushing at least ten of them under its enormous weight. Chunks of stone rained down all around with vicious cracks.

  Isa turned to face them and threw himself flat, pulling Senka down with him, trying to cover her with his aching body. Might as well make use of this old husk. He screwed his eyes shut, wrapped his arms over his head, waiting for it all to end.

  There was an ear-splitting tearing unlike anything he’d ever heard. The ground roared as if the gods were torturing the earth into some obscene form. Screaming. Shrieking. It felt like the world was falling in, a sudden feeling of weightlessness. Maybe it was. Maybe he was dead or dying. Senka’s hands burrowed into his flesh as if she were trying to tear it off his bones.

  The world trembled beneath him, his body jolting with the impact, breath forced from his lungs. Another roaring crash filled his ears, and he choked for a breath, his eyes hot. Then there was a soft scraping, stones coming to a stop and settling. Something clattered, a soft click, and then a moment of glorious peace.

  SEVENTEEN

  Prodal

  “There wasn’t a person I loved who I did not in some capacity betray.” – The diaries of Nyset Camfield

  Senka coughed and unwound the tension from her jaw. She uncurled her fingers from Isa’s flesh, muttered something that she hoped sounded like an apology. The air was filled with blinding and choking dust. It felt like something was trying to pull her down like she was sitting on the edge of a sand dune.

  She tried to move, legs still working. That was good. She rolled off Isa and lay at his side. Her hands trembled with agony. He groaned. He was still alive, also good. There was an odd grinding sound below her, the world once again starting to shift. They were on something solid and certainly moving. The hill felt suddenly steeper. She gasped and pressed herself flat against Isa’s body, just starting to rise. She felt a quiver pass through him, his body going rigid with tension. He locked his arms around her. She buried her nose against his shirt. She liked his old boot leather scent, wished she could’ve stayed here forever. It was a comfort, granted a short one, in this world o
f chaos.

  “What’s happening?” Greyson croaked from somewhere in the cloud of dust.

  She turned towards where she thought he was and started to answer. “Don’t—”

  The ground lurched down. Isa adjusted his grip, wrapped his arm around hers and she clung to it, doing her best to ignore the misery screaming from her hands. There was a soft thump as the sloping ground settled and scraped to something that felt flat.

  “Are we dead?” Juzo asked between fits of coughing. “Not the Shadow Realm. Alive then?”

  Senka sloughed dirt clinging to blood from her face and rose up to her elbows. She peered about, drenched in nervy sweat. “Don’t think so.” She squeezed the dagger in her hand, miraculously still there and not stuck in Isa. It was part of her, an appendage she could practically feel. Her muscles stiffened at the sight above, heart thumping in her ears, warmth filling her cheeks.

  Everything disappeared. The temple was gone, cracked ceiling gone, Death Spawn vanished. She squinted up and saw the sky far above, painted in a bleeding red. Her jaw fell open, unable to believe what she was seeing. “We’re in the earth,” she breathed. “Somehow… we’re inside of it.”

  She saw then that they were on a huge slab of stone that was once a section of the temple’s floor. The tiles were cracked in hundreds of places. She felt at the pitted stone wall and found a ridge to cling to for balance as the world blurred in and out of focus.

  There was a horrible scraping in the distance, like someone tapping and rubbing a cane against a vast cavern. It wasn’t the sound that put the fear in her heart, but it was the sound’s rhythm. It could only have been made by something living or something mechanical. Tap… tap… tap… Every subsequent tap seemed to draw it closer.

  “Someone’s coming,” Greyson breathed. “Someone’s coming!” His voice was full of panic.

  “Just a minute. Try and collect yourself before you worry yourself to death.” Juzo raised his crimson hand at Greyson. “If the demons of the world don’t do you in, stress will.” Juzo clicked his tongue.