Or at least they did once.
Now, the interior of the courtyard could only be described as a blighted hellscape, the lush greenery that once filled the interior garden now a pale grey as it slowly crumbled to dust. Leaning forward, I carefully poked my head out around the window’s edge. Blinking repeatedly as my eyes adjusted to the light, I noticed that the heart of the courtyard had been completely cleared and that someone had thrust a dozen large crystals into the ground, each of them burning with intense crimson energy.
Movement caught my eye, and I saw the familiar form of Dorian come into view as he frantically adjusted the positioning of a crystal on the opposite end of the courtyard so that it aligned perfectly with the center, the near deafening hum vanishing the moment that he finished his adjustment.
“We are ready!” Dorian barked at someone I couldn’t see. “Bring him to the center and hold him in place. Be careful not to disrupt the crystals! The rest of you get into your positions!”
Shifting my glance inwards, I felt my heart leap as I spotted Edith come into view, dragging a blue-robed half-orc into the center of the courtyard, with four large devils following in her wake, recognizing them as the same kind that Molly and I had fought on the pier. Keeping a vicious grip on the struggling man with her powerful twisted arm, she easily forced the half-orc into the circle without disrupting the placement of any of the crystals and kicked out his feet from under him, sending him to the ground.
That’s Ransom! I realized with a start, recognizing the bright blue robes that he wore as Edith leaped on top of him, driving a knee into his back and pinning him in place. I guess he wasn’t working with Edith after all! That or he got cold feet.
Desperately trying to pull himself free of the stronger woman, the half-orc warlock thrashed wildly, his antics annoying Edith enough for her to hit him viciously in the back of the head and shove his face down into the dirt. Glancing towards the devils, I saw them move to surround the inner circle of crystals, one of them stepping right behind Edith, its large body effectively blocking her and Ransom from view. Focusing on the devils for a heartbeat, I saw four identical tags appear in my vision.
[Hellborn Brute] – Level 12
Well, it could be worse. They could all be higher levels, I thought to myself, letting out a slow sigh as I motioned for the others behind me to get ready, my eyes searching for the other man I’d heard Dorian talking to in the courtyard. Where is he? Did he somehow leave?
Worried that I had missed something, I scanned the inner courtyard a second time, my heart racing in panic, fearing that I had lost an opportunity to identify Fairfax’s killer. Squinting through the bright crimson light, I saw Dorian turn his head and scowl as an ethereal silhouette of a masked man dressed in robes stepped out from behind a glowing cluster of crystals, the mysterious voice filling the air once more.
“I am impressed, Dorian; you may actually yet succeed. After your latest failure, I did not have high hopes,” the apparition said approvingly as he walked towards Dorian, his voice then turning to one of command. “Do you understand the full scope of your orders?”
“Yes,” Dorian acknowledged through gritted teeth.
“Yes, Master,” the ghost corrected brusquely as he raised a hand in Dorian’s direction, causing the Thief Lord to wince in pain. “Regardless of the latitude I have given you, do not forget that you are my servant and that you will address me appropriately at all times.”
“I, uh, yes, Master,” Dorian ground out. “I m-meant no disrespect.”
“Of course you did,” the man countered as he lowered his hand. “But that is understandable. I have placed you in a difficult situation and you are under a great deal of stress. Fortunately for you, however, I have reconsidered your request to lend assistance.”
Damn, time to move! I mentally cursed while taking a step away from the window and gripping my sword tightly, the rest of the party doing the same as they looked at me for the sign to move. Given what we had heard so far, I had hoped we would have had a chance to learn the identity of Dorian’s master and set this whole chain of events in motion, but it looked like our time had just run out.
“You have?” I heard Dorian reply, his voice hopeful as I hefted my sword in one hand and began counting down with my fingers so the rest of the party could see.
“Indeed,” the man replied, his voice sounding amused. “I am afraid it is only limited to information, however. Nevertheless, I believe it will be most enlightening.”
I paused with a single finger in the air, curious to hear that the man would say.
“Information?” Dorian asked, poorly concealing the disappointment in his tone. “What is it?”
“There are four Adventurers behind that wall there getting ready to burst in here and kill you.”
There was a moment of silence as we all absorbed the mysterious man’s statement, the context of the words taking a few seconds to sink in.
“Oh, fuck,” I gasped, realizing that the man was referring to us. “Go, go, go!”
Wasting no time, I leaped forward, rushing through the broken window and into the blighted courtyard, hearing similar curses behind me as the rest of the party scrambled to follow. Dust billowed all around me as I plowed through the remains of a half-dissolved fern, my long strides eating up the distance between me, Dorian, and the ethereal man.
“WHAT?!” Dorian’s shout was punctuated by the vicious snarls of the four devils as my sudden appearance caused them to spin from their positions surrounding Edith at the heart of the ritual circle.
“I hope that was of some help,” the mysterious man said with a mocking laugh as he began to fade out of existence. “Good luck, Dorian. Maybe I will see you again if you survive.”
“Damn it! Keep them away from the crystals!” Dorian barked. “Edith, trigger the artifact now!”
“Lazarus! Keep Dorian busy!” Molly’s shouted from behind me as a loud clap of magic filled the air, followed by several roars as the Hellborn Brutes joined the fight. “We’ll try and disrupt the ritual!”
“You’re too late to disrupt anything!” Dorian shouted as he conjured a ball of fire in his hand and threw it in my direction. “All that you’ve done is get people killed needlessly!”
“Needlessly?!” I screamed back at the warlock, not believing what I was hearing as I somersaulted under the fireball and rolled back onto my feet, finding myself just a few feet away from the man. “You massacred an entire Noble House!”
“I didn’t have a choice!” Dorian snarled as he drew a sword from his waist and braced to meet my charge. “Your meddling forced my hand and threw everything I had worked towards into jeopardy! If it weren’t for you, they would still be alive!”
“Bullshit!” I howled at the Thief Lord as I finally closed with him and swung my sword in a wide, sweeping arc. “There is always a choice!”
“Death was the only other choice!” Dorian replied as he nimbly dodged under my wild attack and stepped within my reach, his sword moving with blinding speed, cutting a line across my bicep.
“Gah,” I grunted in surprise, reflexively shifting my body to catch the Thief Lord’s follow-up strike on the edge of my chestpiece, keeping him from burying the tip of his blade in my shoulder.
Not giving the agile man a chance to launch a third attack, I kicked out with my leg as he attempted to dance out of reach, feeling the tip of my boot connect with the Thief Lord’s hip and sending him staggering backwards. “Then you should have died!”
“That is easy for you to say!” Dorian shouted derisively as the two of us sized one another up, looking for weaknesses in one another’s stance. “Your kind is immortal! Death means nothing for you!”
“Maybe it doesn’t,” I admitted to the Thief Lord. “But, even if I weren’t immortal, there are some lines that aren’t worth crossing.”
Giving me a look that amounted to pure hate, our conversation died away as Dorian leaped at me with a renewed ferocity, causing our battle to blur into ma
d flashes of desperate parries and vicious blows as I tried to keep the Thief Lord occupied, while Molly and the others fought their way through the quartet of devils that defended the ritual circle.
As the two of us brawled, it was all I could do to keep from tapping into the burning rage of the sigil that relentlessly pulsed across my chest, fearing that either Edith or Dorian would have the Chaos Stone that I had seen earlier. The last thing that this battle needed was another supercharged spell like the one Edith had cast back on the pier yesterday.
The world regained clarity as my fist slammed into the side of Dorian’s face, feeling his jaw break under the strike, but the attack had left me far enough out of position for the Thief Lord to slap a conjured glob of green fire onto the arm that held my sword.
Recoiling in pain as the flames burned through the thin armor protecting my forearm, I reflexively went to slap it out with my free hand, causing the strange goop to splash everywhere from the impact and spreading the burning substance across my body, rapid alerts appearing in my vision.
Dorian’s [Fel Ooze] burns you for 16 points of fire damage!
Dorian’s [Fel Ooze] burns you for 11 points of fire damage!
Dorian’s [Fel Ooze] burns you for 18 points of fire damage!
Writhing in pain, I urgently tried to scrape the burning ooze off my armor as it began to catch on the thinner material, only serving to badly sear the palm of my hand as I flung chunks of it away from me. Staggering away from me in a daze, Dorian took advantage of my momentary distraction to collect his bearings and recover from the latest injury that I had given him.
Getting the worst of the Fel Ooze off of me, I took a moment to take stock of my injuries, feeling a growing fatigue in my body as the battle wore on. Like two boxers in the final rounds of a championship match, both Dorian and I stood bruised and beaten, countless injuries having piled on top of one another, but neither of us willing to be the first to fall.
A bright flash of crimson light from the ritual circle caused the both of us to flinch, Ransom’s screaming voice filling the air. Taking my eyes off Dorian for a split second, I saw Edith slowly backing away from the inner circle of crystals, a thin pillar of light having pinned Ransom in place. Fighting at the very edge of the ritual circle was Molly and the rest of the party, the four Hellborn Brutes having barely managed to keep them at bay. But despite the Hellborn Brutes’ efforts, I saw that the party had managed to knock two of the twelve crystals out of place, seemingly to no effect of the overall ritual.
“Finally!” Dorian exclaimed, his words slurring around his shattered jaw as I saw him turn to sprint towards the ritual circle, leaving me scrambling to catch up.
Turning to follow the speedy Thief Lord, I saw a second flare of magic catch my eye, followed by a deafening thunderclap as Quinn threw a fireball directly into a badly wounded devil’s face, sending it falling to the ground. Immediately, the three remaining Hellborn Brutes were forced to step back as Molly and Sawyer both pressed their attacks, driving them deeper into the ritual circle.
“Stop him!” Dorian’s commanding voice rang out ahead of me, causing the closest devil in the melee to look up from his bout and spring forward to intercept me, completely ignoring a long, gaping slash that Molly’s blade inflicted as he shoved past her.
“Lazarus, heads up!” Molly warned as she shot a glance over her shoulder to see where the devil had gone.
With only seconds to react before the devil hit me, I barely had enough time to brace myself for the impact as the charging Hellborn Brute slammed into me and tackled me to the ground. Feeling the wind rush out from my lungs as I slid through the ritual circle, the creature straddled me and began raining heavy blows down on my head.
Letting go of my sword, I threw up both my arms in front of my face as I desperately tried to buy myself a chance to recover from the devil’s attack, my head spinning violently from the repeated impacts. Cocking back an arm in a wild swing, I punched the side of the Hellborn Brute’s face, stunning it momentarily, giving me the chance to grab its other arm and hold it in place while my vision cleared.
Within seconds, my world realigned itself and I found myself gazing up at the vicious-looking devil on top of me, the horned creature baring its wicked teeth as it howled at me with rage. Feeling a surge of strength erupt from the arm I had gripped, I fought to keep it at bay as I instinctively punched out at the creature’s face once more. Teeth flew in the air as my brutal blow caught the devil square in the mouth, a second flattening its grotesque nose, a third blinding an eye.
Pushing through my relentless onslaught, the devil thrust its head downwards, the edge of its horned crown smashing into my face as it returned the favor and crushed my nose in retaliation. Stunned from the all-too-familiar feeling of yet another broken nose, my grip slackened long enough for the devil to pull itself closer, its remaining teeth biting deep into the meat of my neck.
“Ah!” I screamed in pain as I reflexively grabbed at the Hellborn Brute’s head, trying to find leverage to get the devil off me. Feeling my hand wrap itself around one of the thick horns that protruded from the devil’s head, I heaved against it, feeling flesh tear from my neck as I slowly forced the devil away from me.
Eyes widening against my superior strength, the devil growled in defiance as it forced itself against me, giving me a perfect view of its now bloody maw. Yanking hard on the horn, I twisted the devil’s head to one side to keep it off balance, hearing the bony spur crack from the motion. A desperate idea came to mind, causing me to pull on the horn even harder, the cracking sound intensifying as it shifted in my hand ominously before finally snapping free.
Howling in pain, I didn’t give the devil a chance to recover, spinning the jagged horn that I had torn from its head in my hand before stabbing it directly into the creature’s eye, driving the length of it into the creature’s brain. Like a puppet with its strings cut, the devil fell limp in my grasp, all life fading from it as black ichor began to well around the horn’s edge. Grunting, I heaved the body off of me, already feeling the otherworldly creature begin to lose substance as the spirit that possessed the body fled its mortal shell.
Grabbing my sword from where I had dropped it, I forced myself up onto my feet, feeling my head still spinning from the devil’s earlier attacks. Driving the tip of my blade into the ground to steady myself,
I looked towards the inner ring of the ritual circle, seeing both Dorian and Edith standing over Ransom’s prone body as they stared at a grey, diamond-shaped object floating in the air, directly in the center of a thin pillar of light.
That has to be the artifact! I froze as an eerie sense of déjà vu passed through me, instinctively knowing that I had seen the object before, but not being able to link a specific memory to it.
Silently cursing whatever had taken my memory away from me, I took one faltering step forward towards Dorian and Edith, just as a tearing sound filled the air. Glancing past the pair, I saw the pillar of light begin to pull itself away from the artifact, the grey stone-like object beginning to spin faster and faster as the beam of light split itself in two.
I have to stop it! I thought while taking another step towards the spinning artifact, hoping that Dorian and Edith didn’t turn around to see me. Fixating on it to the exclusion of everything else as I increased my pace, I saw the two beams of light begin to pull apart from one another, causing a hot gust of foul air to rush into the courtyard.
Gritting my teeth at the smell, I raised my sword high as I rushed into the circle, seeing both Dorian and Edith turn to look at me out of both corners of my eye, surprise written on both of their faces.
Didn’t expect me to kill that devil so fast, did you?! I mentally taunted as I leaped between the pair and brought my sword down on the floating artifact, channeling every single ounce of strength I had into the blow. A loud cracking sound filled the air as I hit the surprisingly dense artifact, the impact sheering off a chunk of it, causing the twin beams of light to vanish.
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“NO!” Dorian screamed beside me in pure terror as the artifact flared with crimson energy, its graceful spin now becoming a wild tumble.
“What the hell did you just do?!” Edith shouted, recovering from her surprise and moving to attack me, only to dodge to the side in a panic as a large beam of crimson energy shot forth from the artifact. “Ah!”
“Shit!” I exclaimed as the ground between me and Edith exploded under the beam’s power, the shockwave knocking me off my feet and sending me tumbling across the ground.
“You idiot!” Dorian roared at me as he ducked under a stray bolt of energy, the power radiating from the artifact increasing in intensity with every second that passed. “You destabilized it!”
Pushing myself up off the ground, I glanced back at the artifact, watching it continue to spin violently, gradually increasing in speed until it became a blur too fast for the eye to follow. Beams of light poured from the artifact, scouring the inner walls of the courtyard around us and raining debris downwards.
“Lazarus!” I heard Molly’s voice shout out amid all the chaos, causing me to reflexively glance towards its source. Spotting her standing in a pocket of relative safety, she beckoned to me urgently, the rest of the party surrounding her as Quinn desperately channeled his force shield in an attempt to keep the falling debris at bay. “Get up!”
Glancing once more at the now blinding artifact, I forced myself back onto my feet for what felt like the hundredth time today, my body screaming at me in protest as I surged forward towards Molly and Quinn’s protective shield. I managed to take two faltering steps before I felt a wave of energy slam into my side, the world vanishing in a bright crimson light as an impossibly loud tearing sound echoed through the courtyard.
Hell to Pay (Ascend Online Book 2) Page 31