by M. Coulray
“It’s blood loss,” said Mika. “There’s nothing I can—”
Suddenly Mika’s eyes widened, and her back arched. Agony filled her face, and she shrieked and twisted. I leaned and turned to see what had happened.
Gerlit was there, with my dagger! He held it up and looked at the blade, where Mika’s blood was dripping down. “A fine weapon you have here, boy. It’s going to be of some use to me.”
I got up and advanced towards Gerlit, but he simply raised a hand and twitched his fingers. My body froze and I fell forward on my face. A force bound my muscles! I tried desperately to fight off the effects of his magic.
[Strength check: Failed.]
[Willpower check: Failed.]
Votess was still on the floor, her breath growing even more shallow. Where was Unmat? I couldn’t turn to see him. Beside me, I heard a gentle tinkling sound as Mika died and her body disappeared.
Gerlit knelt beside me. “You’re pretty smart, but not smart enough. I thought the mission was finished when I was finally able to move again. Those three idiots you killed were having second thoughts, and without five warm bodies, well, we weren’t getting through that door anytime soon.”
He slowly cut into me with my own dagger. I felt firsthand the agony of its effect. His smile was gentle and his movements like a caress, but the pain was incredible. Where he’d laid my arm open, every sort of torment imaginable was competing for access to my afferent nerves. The pain of the wound itself was barely registering in my mind. If I could have moved, I would have screamed.
“Don’t know what spell froze time for us, but it doesn’t matter now. We’ve got what we came for. Thanks for the help, fools.” Gerlit poked me in the cheek with my knife, pressing until the blade pierced through and grated on my teeth. He continued working on me, carving me and injuring me with the intent to cause pain rather than death.
“Enough. Kill it and be done.” Unmat’s voice came from above me.
“I don’t think so,” said Gerlit. “I think I’ll just come back here once we’ve taken what we want, and this one can be my first slave.” He kicked Votess where she lay gasping. “If she’s still alive, I’ll take her too.”
I couldn’t even blink. Gerlit grinned at me. “I know what you’re thinking. You thought the priestess was the traitor, and she was. Your mistake was assuming there was only one. But he played his role well, didn’t he? Got you where I needed you, made sure there was enough of you. Sorry about the arm, Unmat. When I told Frill to get your crystal, I didn’t think he’d actually try to kill you.”
“It is nothing that will not heal,” said the traitorous bastard lizard. “And Frill is dead.”
Gerlit laughed. “Too right! Come on, now. Let’s go eat us a goddess.” He got up and stepped over me, with Unmat at his side. The lizardman stared down at me in disgust, and the pair of them descended into the depths of the temple.
29
I swore and cursed and screamed, but only inside my head. Beside me, Votess was struggling to breathe. I knew she was in trouble, but I couldn’t help her! My limbs weren’t obeying me and my own injuries felt severe.
[Vitality: 64/210
Status: Paralzyed
Come on. I tried my hardest to move, but there was nothing. The magic that held me was impossibly strong. I might as well have been encased in concrete.
I took a deep breath. My friend needed me. Mika was gone, headed back to her respawn point, and that would be after the six hour death penalty. If I didn’t get back there before she did, there was a good chance the lizard folk would assume she betrayed us. But what could I do while I was laying flat on my face?
There was one thing I could do, that in the stress of the moment I hadn’t yet. I cancelled the shields on all of us and my mana began returning to me. I hoped that bastard lizard got stabbed in the junk while my shield was off him.
My eyes ached with the need to blink. I tried to focus inward, thinking about the spell that held me. If only I’d had Mana Barrier up! Too late now.
Or was it?
I’d never considered the radius of the spells I cast. They had targets and the spell fit the target, and I’d never thought beyond that. But what if I could adjust the radius downward? What if I could cast Mana Barrier inside my body? If the spell that locked me down wasn’t somehow affecting my nerves, maybe I could block it out.
My first attempt was useless. The spell appeared and surrounded me, but I was still paralyzed. The second time was no better. I spent a moment considering, then cast it a third time. I didn’t bother trying to cast it inside myself. Instead, the moment the spell stabilized, I concentrated on drawing it inward.
My entire body began to tingle, like the sensation of licking a battery. The tingling rapidly turned into burning, and then into agony. My barrier competed with the paralysis magic, and I was becoming collateral damage. The magic was touching my eyeballs and it felt like they were about to boil, but I could still see, so I assumed that it was only pain.
I could deal with pain. We weren’t old friends, but we’d known each other a long time.
I kept at it. The pain increased, but the spell remained. My mana was depleting rapidly, though, so my barrier was fighting it! I endured as well as I could, knowing I could make it stop, knowing that if I did my friend would die beside me.
[Mana: 13/311]
With a burst of light and an underwhelming popping noise, the spell dissipated. If it wasn’t for the ring that buffed my mana, I wouldn’t have had enough to burn off that spell. I gave thanks to Telix and Krees for letting me use those items. I flexed my hand and sat up, ignoring the pain in my arm and the rest of me. My fingers touched my face and I winced at the pain in my mouth, but I had more important things to do.
I fumbled around in the tiny shoulder satchel that Votess carted her few items in. When I found what I was looking for, I sighed in relief. She’d brought three of the regeneration potions I’d helped work on. With some effort, I lifted her head until it rested on my lap and then tore open one of her leather potion flasks. I upended it into her mouth and then held her jaws closed.
She choked and sputtered and some of the fluid seeped from between her teeth. I closed my eyes, praying to the Goddess that I knew existed. God hadn’t done me much good on Earth, but maybe the deities here were a little more responsive.
Just save my friend, and I’ll do whatever needs to be done to protect you here.
Had She heard? I had no idea. I held Votess and rocked her slightly, trying to pour my will into her, trying to force her into surviving. Without her I’d be lost. My hands stroked her scales and I closed my eyes. Please.
With a shiver that went through her entire body, Votess awoke. She looked up at me and turned her head from side to side. “What is this, Denel?”
I laughed and cried a little. “You’re back!”
“Yes,” she said. “But Denel, I am not sure what you are doing. A courtship ritual?”
I realized I was still caressing her, and I blushed and scrambled away. Votess bonked her head against the floor and then tried to sit up with me, but we both wound up falling backwards in exhaustion. I was still exhausted and injured, and she was still weak from the blood loss of the door ritual. We laid there, side by side, for just a moment, before I sat up and pulled a potion from my bandolier.
As the alchemical magic began knitting my flesh closed, I sighed in relief. Votess stared at me while I guzzled down potions. I took every potion I had, and I still wasn’t fully healed.
[Vitality: 191/210]
All that fighting and suffering and bullshit and I hadn’t even gained a damn level.
“Where are Mika and the other two?”
In the confusion and struggle, I’d forgotten that Votess had been out of it while Gerlit and Unmat fucked us over. I trembled in anger while I recounted the actions of the two.
Votess flicked her tail and her teeth flashed. “So they killed Mika and stole away into the depths. We will find them and we
will kill them.”
“I’m with you. But this time we’re gonna be smart.” I handed her one of my invisibility potions. I hoped it would work on her like it would work on me. “We find them, figure out a plan, then kill them both.”
I was kicking myself. The whole time that we’d been with them, we’d helped Unmat and Gerlit. But I’d never gotten a notification of a relationship status increase like I had with Votess. That kind of error was a rookie move. I had access to a lot of meta gaming information and I just hadn’t thought to use it. Going forward I wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
Beyond the door, darkness ruled. Votess nodded to me and we descended into a place that no lizard folk had rightfully entered in centuries. As we could both see in the dark, no light was required, which was a good thing. None of the ghost lights seemed to exist down here.
Unlike the rest of the temple, this area was hewn roughy from the surrounding rock. Here and there a natural cave wall narrowed the descend stairs, and where I touched it, the stone was damp with moisture. The air was heavy and humid, and Votess dealt with it much better than I did.
The stairs went on and on without any marking to indicate how deep we’d gone. They were at times almost level, and at other times steep enough that I had to take great care not to fall down. Here and there they spiralled downward around some central stone pillar. There was no decoration and no sense of anything constructed beyond what was necessary to create the stairs. A feeling of antiquity surrounded me.
“Hold,” said Votess in a whisper. “I smell the human ahead.” She raised her spear and advanced slowly. For the first time, we encountered a landing broad enough for us to comfortably stand on. Leaning against the wall was Gerlit, and he had seen better days.
The man was clutching his belly, trying to hold in his organs. A vicious cut had opened him from hip to ribcage, and he stank of punctured bowel. His breathing was fast and shallow and his eyes, unseeing in the dark, darted from side to side. In the pitch black, only Votess and I could see.
“I know someone’s there! Who is it? Help me…”
“I don’t think so, fucko.”
At the sound of my voice, Gerlit froze, then forced a grin. “You. I should have killed you. Too late now. Wouldn’t have saved me anyway.” Blood oozed from his mouth with every word. “Can’t believe I didn’t see it coming. Unmat—” He coughed and vomited, and I watched with disgust as his open belly spasmed with the effort. Ropy, wet organs slipped past his fingers as he shifted in agony.
“Tell us what you know. You cannot be saved. We will obtain your vengeance.” Votess spoke clearly, but I could see from her face and tail that she was coldly furious.
“Unmat. The traitor. Turns out… you can’t trust someone who will betray their own kind for power.” Gerlit leaned forward. Blind as he was, he couldn’t see that Votess held her spear tip barely an inch from his throat. “He gutted me, left me here. I came here to bind your Goddess to me, to steal her power. He’s going to kill her and take her place.”
Votess hissed and stood up straight. “Never! We will end him!”
Gerlit laughed. His voice bubbled with each word, and I was amazed that he could summon such humour at this state. “I don’t think so. He’s more powerful than he let on. By now he’s there, at the place of secrets that even your priests rarely visit, tearing into her, bleeding her out and drinking it down. How will you replace that energy? Sacrifice yourselves?” He spit blood and smiled with crimson teeth. “Kill me. I’m done. There’s nothing but suffering for me now.”
I knelt down and gently took my enchanted dagger from where he’d tucked it into his sash belt. I touched the blade to his throat. “You’re right,” I said.
“What?”
“There’s nothing but suffering for you now.”
I kicked him over, crushed his hands under my boot, and kept walking. Behind us Gerlit’s weak cries faded as we put distance between us.
Votess hadn’t said anything to me. I glanced at her, but I couldn’t read her expression. “Sorry, Votess. I know it’s not honourable, but fuck that guy.”
My friend hissed out a sibilant breath. “There is no dishonour in what you did, or did not do. He did not deserve an honourable death.” She paused for a moment. “With every word that passed his teeth, I wondered what he would taste like if I ate him alive. Your way was better. Less degenerate. Thank you.”
“If you’re that hungry, there’s still more food in my magic bag.”
Votess shook her head at me and turned, continuing downward.
We walked for another ten minutes. The air steadily became heavier, and an oppressive sensation of ancient magic exuded out of the stones surrounding us. Where I looked directly, I saw nothing. Out of the corners of my eyes, I saw flickers of movement, of red and black that weren’t there when I focused on them. A glance at my friend told me she was seeing it too. Her head turned here and there, continually tracking something that I couldn’t see and she couldn’t catch.
The walkway levelled out. A vermillion glow gradually illuminated the hall as we proceeded. Votess seemed awed, and I couldn’t blame her. The heat and magic in the air was almost unbearable. Accompanying it was the rich smell of spilled blood, in a quantity I’d never experienced before. If I could smell it, then it was definitely overwhelming for Votess. Ahead I could see the source of the light. We advanced until we stepped into a wide gallery.
The path branched, circling a central room that filled me with horror. The walls were raw stone, a natural cavern. Entombed in the far wall was a being that I couldn’t bear to look directly in the face. She was three times the size of any lizard folk I had ever seen, and She wore alabaster scales on Her belly and limbs. I knew it to be the Goddess, and I knew She was in pain. Blood flowed from wounds in Her nude form, pooling in a depression that filled the gallery below. Her mouth and body didn’t move, but still She screamed and contorted in agony, sending Her pain directly into my mind, or perhaps my soul. I was in the presence of the divine.
Below us, on hands and knees in the pool of divine blood, was Unmat. His arm was regrown, and his muzzle was red with the essence of divinity. His eyes glowed crimson. His tongue flicked out and licked blood from his jaws, and then he returned to what he had been doing: drinking the blood of the Goddess as it flowed from Her.
It was horrific and unnatural. Unmat was draining Her of everything that made Her divine. He swallowed Her blood at a rate that seemed unimaginable. He didn’t spare us a glance. From this distance I could see that he had grown, and was still growing. Already he was a foot taller than Votess.
Beside me Votess was quivering in fear and fury at the abomination we were witnessing. She lifted her spear, and held her back.
“Wait,” I said. I pulled out my invisibility potion.
Votess nodded and took hers as well. As one, we lifted and drank.
The room faded into monochrome. I could still see myself, but not Votess. I cursed mentally, realizing too late that we’d be invisible to each other as well.
“I will descend.” I couldn’t see what she was doing. I held my breath and hoped I would be able to improvise.
Unmat suddenly lifted his head from his bloody consumption. He turned himself slowly and his eyes passed over my position. I held my breath, but he didn’t pause. He couldn’t see me after all. Hopefully Votess was ready to go.
Suddenly my friend appeared in midair, leaping toward Unmat’s unguarded rear. Her spear was held overhand, and she brought it down in a mighty arc, using her momentum to add power to the strike. Her entire body curved to lend its power to her blow. I imagined her doing that to me and cringed. That much force would impale anything, I was sure.
I was wrong. The weapon shattered on Unmat’s back, not even scratching him. He turned lazily and looked at Votess. His jaws split wide, wider than they should have. It brought to mind the faces of the degenerated lizardmen we’d slain in the swamp.
“Your arrival is timely,” said Unmat
. His voice hurt my ears; his sibilant hisses were nails on a chalkboard to me. “Behold the birth of a new god! Kneel to me and I shall make you my first concubine! The people will once again devour the Scaleless, and we shall rule the land in all directions.”
Unmat’s laugh filled the gallery as he paced through the blood of the Goddess to where Votess stood warily. I clutched my enchanted dagger in my hand. I had a chance. I descended from the walkway that surrounded the gallery and paced around the blood pool.
“Will you submit to me? Your line need not die here. You have seen the secret of the Goddess, and know Her to be dying. Her power is mine!” Unmat reached a clawed hand towards Votess. “Kill the Scaleless and join me. There is distinction in being the first of my thousands of servants to come. You will bear my sons and daughters.”
Votess didn’t even look at me. I hoped that meant my invisibility was still active. I didn’t want Unmat to realize what I was doing. I approached him with even, silent footsteps, careful not to set foot in the blood of the Goddess.
The Goddess cried tears of molten agony in my mind, and I felt the link between Unmat and Her. If he died, surely she’d recover. That was how this kind of thing worked. As long as I could kill Unmat, She’d be all right. She had to be.
When I struck, Unmat didn’t even turn. Sense Vulnerability hadn’t triggered, but I didn’t think it would have mattered. My knife touched nothing, sliding through space and leaving no evidence of any wound behind. I stabbed him again, and again, and again. My blade could do nothing to him. I looked at Votess in panic. She widened her eyes. My invisibility had worn off or been canceled when I attacked, and now it was just me and her facing off against the last ancient lizardman.
Unmat turned and fixed his eyes on me. His arm flickered out and seized me by the throat, lifting me easily in the air. I grabbed his arm, trying to find a position that would let me get free, but Unmat just tightened his grip on me.