by M. Coulray
“Defiled! I will end you!!” shouted Votess, and she leapt forward. Her spear led the charge, thrusting ahead of her as she attacked the undead lizard priestess with everything she had. However, she hadn’t accounted for the increased density of the red mist that surrounded the altar, and the moment she reached the enemy, it mired her movements. Her legs physically slowed where it touched her, and her charge became a slog as if she was wading through knee-deep mud.
The priestess laughed, an ugly dusty sound from its ancient throat. She moved unaffected by the mist, closing to Votess, who was struggling to move. Gripping Votess by the throat, she forced her down to her knees, until her head was almost below the level of the mist. Something told me that would spell doom for my friend, and I did something foolish. I dropped the barrier spell that protected me and let my mana start to regenerate.
“Hey, fucker!’ I surged ahead, ignoring the mist that twisted around me. It was nothing to me, like a fog, but to Votess it seemed like deadly poison. With any luck, Sense Vulnerability would trigger. I hoped I could hold out until my Luck triggered my Technique. Once I was close enough, I thrust a quick strike towards the priestess’s flank. Even if it didn’t kill her, the effect of Excruciator would hopefully give her pause.
The revenant priest had other ideas. Without releasing Votess, she stood and swung an arm at me. It hit me full in the chest and sent me flying. I landed flat on my back, gasping for breath. My blade had never even come close to her. My armour absorbed a good chunk of the impact, and my enhanced Agility had me upright and ready to fight in a heartbeat, but something was grinding inside my ribcage where I’d hit a broken beam.
[Vitality: 131/190]
Well, that could have gone better, but Votess at least had her feet under her and was resisting the monster’s crushing strength. Mika was advancing to the altar, but around us, skeletal remains were beginning to form up into figures.
“Shit! She’s raising them!” I swore and waved my arm at the rising enemies. “Take them on! I’ll help Votess!”
Mika nodded and turned from the altar, leaving me to rise unsteadily and scramble through the wreckage to the altar. I would have rather had Mika attack the priestess with that sword of hers, but I was completely unable to deal with the skeletons in any effective way. I was hoping that between me and Votess, we could keep the undead occupied until Mika could join us.
Votess saw me approach and fixed her eyes on me. There was no fear there at all, only trust and commitment. I stepped widely around the priestess. I knew she knew I was there, but there was nothing else I could do. Then it spoke to me.
“Human. Your kind did this to me. Promises were made and broken! I will relish enslaving your soul after I kill you. First this one, and then you.” It spoke the same language as Mika and I!
“You talk a lotta shit for someone who’s about to be double dead!” I narrowly dodged a swing of the monster’s tail. Its only response was mocking laughter, and then it began forcing Votess down again. I heard bones breaking as my friend resisted as hard as she could, but the outcome seemed inevitable.
I prepared myself. I had to strike, while the priestess was focused on Votess. A cry of pain drew my attention; Mika was surrounded by at least six skeletal minions. She was wild-eyed and fighting like a woman possessed, but there was no chance of her surviving this. Every time her sword dropped one, another closed in, and she was already bloody from a number of wounds that my barrier and her armour couldn’t stop.
I drew back my blade, and it happened.
A red spot glittered on the back of the priestess’ garb, high on the neck. Thank you, Luck! I hoped I had enough Mana to trigger the Technique, and thrust forward. Time slowed to a near halt while I guided my hand to the exact point that my skill had marked for me.
[Sense Vulnerability: Strike!]
My blade slashed though cloth and then caught on something metallic. I had my entire body lined up perfectly to deliver the force behind the blow, and whatever the monster was wearing didn’t stand a chance of stopping me. I sank the blade deep into her neck, and the pulled it back, ready to follow up or to defend against a counterattack.
The priestess whirled on me, releasing Votess, who held her head above the mists with the strength of her arms. The monster’s eyes were filled with red energy that dripped down its scaled, ancient cheeks.
It tried to shout something, to scream at me in rage, but instead, something on its chest pulled inwards. Like a tiny black hole, its robes were sucked in. Its face elongated downwards as its arms and legs shrank towards the centre of its body. I watched in fascinated horror as the thing was compressed to an infinitely small point, then disappeared in a flash of crimson. A heavy metal medallion fell to the floor, its chain cut near the midpoint. The abomination… was gone.
24
Behind me, the sound of bones falling to the ground was music to my ears, but Mika was still in rough shape. She stood bleeding from a dozen wounds. Votess was ready to collapse, and I grabbed her arm to drag her out of the worst of the mist. I could barely keep her head above it. I really needed to focus on my physical attributes a little. Mika was there beside me, bleeding and wounded, but steady. We lowered Votess to a piece of pew that was above the level of the death fog.
“Nice work, but did you seriously tell him he was going to be double dead?” Mika was already running her hands over Votess’ neck where the monster’s talons had cut her.
“Yeah, and it was a her, actually.” I pulled one of my two healing potions out of my bandolier and forced the neck of the vial between Mika’s lips. “Drink up. You need it.”
Once the potion had stabilized the worst of Mika’s wounds, she knelt. “I need to pray for my mana recovery.” Her figure, kneeling in the flowing crimson mists, was eerie and a little ominous.
I let her alone and moved back to Votess.
My friend was in bad shape. Her legs were both broken and she gripped the sides of the pew in agony. She still managed to lock eyes with me and nod. “Thank you, Denel. You killed it.”
“I just fucked up its jewelry a little,” I said. “We need to heal you.”
“First the mist,” said Votess. She gestured toward the altar.
I looked behind it to find the source of the mist. A strange, red crystal covered part of the floor, like a splash of blood that had hardened into something beautiful and terrible. I described it to Votess.
“It is the tainted blood of our Goddess. If we cannot destroy it, she will reform wherever her holy symbol is.”
Once Mika had recovered her mana, she got up and started working on Votess. Mika set her legs and healed her with her faith in Minolt, and then set to praying. I went back up to the crystal to see what was what.
A splash of red covered the back side of the altar and flowed onto the floor. It was definitely the source of the mist. I stabbed at it with my dagger, but it didn’t chip at all. I tried my other, knife, the one made of bone, but it had the same result.
“I can’t break it,” I said to my two companions. “It’s harder than anything I’ve seen so far.”
“It is the blood of our Goddess, crystallized and tainted by the ones who killed her. It must be purified.” Votess looked at Mika, and I translated.
Mika looked pale. “I’ll see what I can do.” She walked up to the altar, and I stayed behind with Votess.
“Healing bones is itchy,” said my friend as she clawed her legs.
“Yeah, I hear that.” I’d recovered from my fair share of broken bones, and if you compressed all that itching into ten seconds with magic, well, that would suck hard. Prompts had appeared in my AR HUD, but I dismissed them. There would be time for that later. Instead, I focused on the medallion that had fallen from the priestess.
“Is this from the original worshippers of the Goddess?”
Votess looked at it and nodded. “Corrupted and evil, but yes. There is the tree reaching for the sun, her symbol. It now holds the soul of the priestess that we killed, an
d she will return.”
I slipped the medallion back in my pocket. Last thing I wanted was to lose track of it and have an angry undead asshole pop up out of nowhere while we were trying to eat or something.
Mika came back, looking exhausted. “I’m drained dry. Nothing made a dent. I even tried to stab it with my holy sword, and nothing.”
Votess hissed as I translated. “We must return to the surface. I cannot rest here, and the undead will rise with the moon. We will not need to rush if we leave now.”
“Just a minute.” I explained to Mika about the medallion, and she nodded.
“Minolt is the enemy of the undead, so part of our training is to learn about them. I underwent all of it, for immersion’s sake. This is basically a phylactery, an item that holds a soul and prevents it from dying. I’d be willing to bet that if we could purify that altar, we could purge the phylactery.”
“How do we do that?”
Mika glanced at Votess. “I’d need to work alongside someone who believed in the God or Goddess that the altar once served. Votess would be perfect, but… We’d need to perform the ritual together, and, well, there’s the language barrier.” Her face fell.
“What is she saying?” Votess had been watching us talk, and my expression must have tipped her off.
“If we could get you and Mika working together, we could purify the altar and then purge the soul from the medallion.”
Votess shook her head. “I am no priestess. I do not know the rites.”
“What if I translated for Votess?” I turned to Mika.
“Hmm. It… might work? As the believer, she needs to recite the values and aspects that her Goddess holds while I purify. To use a car analogy, she’s the steering wheel, directing the ritual energy where it needs to go, and I’m the engine, providing the oomph. Once the altar’s purified, we can shatter the bindings on the medallion.”
Between the three of us, we agreed to make the attempt. At Votess’ insistence, we went through a number of dry runs. Once she was comfortable with her role in the ritual, we all gathered at the altar. Votess was visibly in pain, but Mika couldn’t spare the mana to nullify the mist as she had before. My stoic friend bore the effects of the poison in silence.
As they began, I performed my role. Not being skilled in the magic that Mika used, I wasn’t able to understand any of it, but when she told me to prompt Votess, I did. My friend responded with words extolling the virtues and power of the Goddess. Sacrificing for the sake of the group, protecting the next generation, and remembering where you came from all figured highly into her words. It was pretty incredible to me that after such a long absence, the swamp folk still held their deity in such reverence.
Something strange began to happen. Votess and Mika’s voices became thin and distant, although they were still right there beside me. Something else whispered to me, much clearer than the voices of my friends.
Let me in. I can help you. I can grant you power.
The voice was sibilant and smooth, and I knew it was speaking the tongue of the lizard folk. The phylactery! It was still in my pocket, and my hand had somehow touched it in a moment of inattention.
Yes. Let me in. Your friends will fail. I will return. Let me in, and I will let them go free. None of you needs to die in this place.
Something clawed at the back of my mind, and I shook my head. It did nothing. I gritted my teeth as the voice became more insistent.
Stop resisting me. Let me in, Scaleless. I will have you, and it need not be painful. Submit to me and be rewarded. Resist, and I will destroy your soul and make you my puppet for an eternity.
Fuck that. I mentally clenched my will into a fist, closing as much of my mind off as possible. The voice stopped talking and began tearing at me in earnest. I could no longer hear the voices of Mika and Votess. Pain gradually filled my world, but I held fast. Pain was something I could deal with.
[Level Down!]
The fuck! I screamed in anger and frustration, but my teeth were clenched tightly. I was unable to move or even open my eyes. Inside my head the voice of the priestess’s tainted soul hissed in twisted pleasure.
Scaleless. I will drain your soul to nothing. You will become my slave.
Get out of my head! My thoughts focused entirely on the thing attempting to consume my very being. I twisted and thrashed, trying to focus my will into resisting, but the monstrous, evil thing simply laughed at my attempts.
I was ancient when this temple fell. You will never resist my will. You only delay the inevitable.
Pain, incredible pain, surged through me, firing my nerves into a screaming frenzy. I was no longer aware of anything outside of my body, or even if I was still conscious. My mind and spirit were being flayed alive by the undead’s mental assault. I retreated in agony.
[Level Down!]
That was two levels. I was level seven now. A distant, alien part of my mind wondered what would happen if I was level drained to zero. Would I even resurrect?
[Level Down!]
The monster’s words caressed my mind, and the pain relaxed. Are you ready to submit to me, Scaleless? Or will you suffer onward in vain?
Instead of answering, I concentrated and imagined my magic working in my mind rather than on my body. A glowing energy began to form over me, but as soon as the undead priestess noticed it, she shattered it with a simple blow.
Pain it is, then.
[Level Down!]
[Level Down!]
[Level Down!]
Agony became my world. I began to forget where I was, that there was a world other than the excruciation I was suffering. I pushed back as hard as I could, and began to lose hope.
My opponent must have sensed this, and once again she paused her assault. Will you yield now?
No. I had to resist. I brought back the mental barrier that I’d constructed, but this time I poured my will into it. The thing in my head cackled at my feeble resistance and began toying with me, shattering my defences piecemeal.
I had to hold out! If this thing got hold of my mind, I had no idea what it would do, but I knew it wouldn’t be good. At the very least, I needed to buy time for their ritual to finish. I bent every ounce of my will to simply surviving and let the worries about deleveling flow out of my mind.
A voice suddenly penetrated the pain of my existence. “Denel! Hold on!” It was Mika, and she sounded like she was shouting at me from a long way away. Her voice echoed through my mind and granted me just enough strength that I could gain some ground against my adversary.
Somehow, I forced my eyes to open. Votess was collapsed across the altar. Mika was nowhere to be seen. Then, a glow of liquid yellow light filled my vision.
Mika appeared, holy sword in hand and a righteous fury on her face. I did my best to ignore the screaming rage of the undead thing that threatened me, and kept my eyes on Mika. She was staring at my hand, and I realized I’d pulled the medallion out of my pocket. A red light emanated from it, battling against her purifying magic. Mika seized the medallion from my grasp with a curse. She threw it on the altar and raised her blade. Her mouth moved and a terrible light suffused her entire body. The sword came down, and the thing inside me screamed.
Inside my head the monster was tearing me apart. I was losing all sense of myself. Memories that were not my own trickled into my brain. Images of lizard folk kneeling and worshipping in this very room, and a terrible ritual that bound the creature inside me to the medallion. The I felt the suffering of the monster that was trying to steal my soul. The memory of pain that I had never experienced exploded inside my head, and it pushed aside my own, real agony.
“Fuck… YOU!” I stood and roared at the thing in my head. Mika’s eyes were wide and I looked down. The medallion was shattered, but I was still under attack! I turned away from my friends, an idea forming itself in my head. If I lost this battle, they would be next. My body would attack them, and I couldn’t bear that. My shaking hand reached for my knife. I intended to end myself. A
t least the monster in me wouldn’t get the satisfaction of victory. Its screams of fury told me it knew what I was planning, but I was beyond its ability to stop me.
A strong hand seized my shoulder and spun me around. Mika’s other hand was raised above her head, and strong yellow light filled her clenched fist. “Final Exorcism!” she shouted, and then punched me straight in the chest.
Instantly the presence and pain inside me vanished. I fell to my knees, suddenly exhausted and unable to breathe properly. It took less than two seconds to realize where I was, and two more to stand and assess the situation.
“Is Votess—”
“She’s fine. Are you all right?” There was no trace of the fun loving and silly Mika that I knew in that voice. She was all business, and her sword was suddenly drawn and held in a ready stance.
“I’m still me, if that’s what you mean.” I walked unsteadily back to where Votess was slumped on the altar. “Did it work?”
“Of course it worked. We’re all awesome.” Mika walked back to the altar and sheathed her sword. “Let’s see about this blood crystal.”
The splash of blood crystal that lay behind the altar seemed unchanged, but the mist was no longer pouring out of it. I realized that the mist was slowly clearing out, and that the skeletal remains of ancient worshippers were crumbling to dust. But Votess was still unconscious, and we weren’t safe yet.
I reached out with my fingertips. The red crystal didn’t seem so ominous now that it wasn’t literally trying to kill my friend. When my fingers touched it, my perception of time suddenly stopped and a voice manifested in my head.
Hello, Denel of Goddess Watch.
“Um, hello?” Was I talking to the crystal? Did I need to speak out loud? Why was my entire being suddenly filled with such peace and happiness?
The voice spoke again. Unlike the priestess, this didn’t hurt me at all. You have freed My blood from the control of the corrupted ones. I will grant you a boon if you release Me.