by Dante King
Talos swore in his native tongue as a Lightning Imp collided into him and drove him off the root-bridge and onto one of my platforms. Red lightning stood the paladin’s long white hair on end. Talos screamed as Infernally-infused agony flooded his veins. Before he could step on a trigger of mine, the Bladesinger lunged to the rescue. Blades sliced through my new minion from above, severed its wings, and caused the imp to scream in pain. Talos shook off the lightning with the help of the sorcerers’ aura and kicked the wingless imp into the abyss.
Puck plowed into Marlyn and covered him a blanket of shadows. The sorcerer attempted to slash at the Shade with his dagger, but Puck was already shadows and completely intangible. My champion forced Marlyn backward until his foot found a pressure trigger. The step rotated 90 degrees, but he managed to jump onto another step before he would have fallen to his death.
Unfortunately for Marlyn, the step he landed on had an Arrow Trap trigger. The click resounded throughout the Chasm and then the air was thick with crossbow bolts. My projectiles seared down toward the bridge. Puck flew upward as a bolt slammed home into the sorcerer. The projectile drove him backward and pinned him to the obsidian wall. He struggled like a butterfly on a pin for a few seconds, and Puck followed up with a volley of shadow-spheres. The sorcerer screamed and writhed before he head went limp. My siphoning stones started to consume his essence, but I forced them to stop. His corpse would remain a worthy testament to the Chasm’s treacherous depths.
Talos whirled to cut at another Lightning Imp. My minion clung to his sword and charged it with Infernally-laced electricity. The blade turned into a conduit and forced the elf to release it. Talos' main weapon bounced off one of my bridges on the way down and filled the Chasm with the sound of ringing steel.
A knife was already in Talos' hand as he grappled with an imp. He ripped at a wing and drove the imp into the bridge under his feet. Talos sliced into its body, found the gaps in the creature’s carapace, and bled it dry. Infernal Essence swirled and found its way into one of my siphoning stones nearby.
Puck hurled shadow-spheres at the remaining three invaders while the last of the Lightning Imps swooped from above. It was clear Puck and the minions were doing little more than annoying the lords, and I’d seen enough of my champions die today. I’d need Puck as an ace in my sleeve for later, so I decided to recall him.
“You’ve fought well, Puck. It’s time I introduced myself.”
Puck dodged yet another katana swing from the Bladesinger and raked his claws against flesh, but his opponent was too fast. The Bladesinger ripped through Puck’s body and cast his corpse into the abyss of the Chasm. The Shade dissolved into essence and entered my core.
“Hellwind,” I invaded the varidu’s mind. “It’s time you showed yourself.”
I filled him with rage and images of the final sorcerer, and he propelled himself up from the bottom of the Chasm. His wings beat the air and filled the abyss with the sound of a hurricane. The Bladesinger and Talos prepared themselves, but my varidu didn’t want them. Silrin was completely unaware as Hellwind snatched him from a root-bridge.
“Monster!” Talos cried as he attempted to swipe at the varidu. The Bladesinger joined in the harassment, but Hellwind leaped from the bridge, taking the sorcerer with him.
As he flew, Hellwind tossed his head side to side and clamped down harder. The sound of flesh ripping and bones breaking echoed through the deep pit. The sigils on Silrin’s robes glowed fiercely as they tried to bring him back, but Hellwind had his number. The sorcerer might’ve been powerful, but he didn’t have the strength to fend off a varidu. With a final crunch, and a decisive swallow, the sorcerer now resided in Hellwind’s stomach. The essence from the dead sorcerer didn’t flow into a siphoning stone, but remained inside the varidu.
Rather than continue to fight against the remaining pair of lords, Hellwind descended to his place at the bottom of the Chasm. I couldn’t reach his mind any longer, so I figured he had just gorged himself on essence. His stomach might not have been able to handle Nature Essence, so he could be out of the action for a while.
All my champions were defeated, but only two lords remained. The Bladesinger and Talos. It was time these fools met the Lord of Zagorath. With a single command, Von Dominus melted out of the wall in a little more than a second. I possessed the avatar and scooped up one of the small hand-crossbows I’d made. I buckled the small pouch of bolts to my belt, ratcheted the action backward, and loaded the small bolt-flinger as I heard a shout from above.
“Below us, Talos!” the Bladesinger yelled.
I dissolved Von Dominus and teleported further up the Chasm. My feet touched the platform, and I lined up my crossbow again.
“What was it?” Talos demanded of the other lord.
“He looked like an elf,” he said.
“Then it’s Von Dominus. He is tainted. The last to join the fight. They always are.”
Talos threw more seeds against my dungeon walls. A staircase curled into existence and gave the pair a straight shot down to my Throne Room.
Von Dominus spawned on my sixth bridge beside the Arrow Trap trigger. I drew a bead on the Bladesinger with my crossbow as he drew closer to me.
I pulled the trigger, and the bolt flew straight and true. It would have slammed into the Bladesinger’s head, but he ducked aside at the last moment. A flash of green showed on his chest piece, so I figured he had some kind of seal that gave him supernatural instincts. It flickered before going out completely. Had he used the last of the seal’s essence? Well, there was only one way to find out.
“Into the next room!” the Bladeslinger cried.
“No!” Talos grabbed his comrade and prevented him from entering my Throne Room. “We do not act hastily. There could be traps in there.”
“And in here? There’s a damned tainted one who can move at will!”
I teleported to the same level as the pair of lords, smiled, and bowed. “Von Dominus. Welcome to Zagorath.” I stomped on a trap trigger, and a crossbow bolt rocketed toward them.
Talos immediately grabbed the Bladesinger and pushed him toward the oncoming bolt. The thick projectile impaled the Bladesinger, and the other lord was throne from his makeshift bridge by the momentum. Rather than fall to his death, he tossed a seed in midair, and branches rose up to stop his fall.
“Enough!” Talos yelled as the branches brought him ever upward. “Face me like a true elf!”
I peered down at him. “I’m not really an elf. This is just my avatar. I’m actually a dungeon.”
Talos drew a dagger as the branches beneath his feet took him ever upward. Von Dominus vanished just as Talos threw the dagger. It thunked into the place I’d been standing a moment before. I had to admit that Talos had a hell of a throw. I reappeared at the entrance doors to my Throne Room.
“Come on in,” I said as he stormed toward me.
He drew another dagger from his belt and flung it. I teleported, and the blade passed through empty air before burying itself in my throne a hundred feet away.
I appeared on the throne and pulled the dagger free. “That has to be a seal you’re using. There’s no way you can throw that well naturally.”
He paused at the entrance. “You made a grave mistake by killing my collectors. But not as grave a mistake as coming to Eveline’s Realm.”
“Ah, but the gravest mistake of all? You coming to Zagorath. You’re far too easy to infuriate. It was anger that brought you here, Talos. Have you tried transcendental meditation? I’ve heard it can do wonders.”
Talos gritted his teeth as his eyes scanned for traps. “I might not be able to absorb your tainted essence, but I can tear your core from this dungeon.”
“An unsubstantiated threat, if I ever heard one.”
“I have done, many things, but I have never told a falsehood,” he said as he stalked ever so slowly toward my throne. “I am a Paladin of Eveline. I may not be able to destroy your core, but I can strip it from its resting place. Then,
it will be taken to the Entropy’s High Court. The Chief Inquisitors will destroy you, as all creatures of your kind should be. Lilith’s taint will not infect the rest of Sinarius.”
“Entropy, eh? It’s too early for them to know about me, so I’m afraid I can’t let you leave the dungeon.”
Talos grinned, but it was clearly an expression of mad desperation. “An unsubstantiated threat, if I ever heard one.”
“Ha! You know, the last adventurer who promised to destroy me ended up joining me. Perhaps you should make the same choice.”
I hadn’t exactly considered the proposition, but now that he’d mentioned Entropy, maybe he could be my man on the inside. He was far more powerful than Ralph had been, and I wouldn’t have given the idea much thought if I hadn’t become a Monarch. With Greater Enthrall, I might just be able to control Talos. Or at least rifle through his mind.
“I will never join you!” Talos yelled as he came within a few feet of my throne.
“We’ll see about that,” I said.
Von Dominus melted out of the ceiling. My dagger flared with Infernal magic as I dropped straight down onto Talos. I drove my dagger toward his throat, but he grabbed me and tossed me away. I skittered across the floor before I disolved myself yet again.
“Come and face me!” Talos screamed. “You hide in shadows, but you will be cleansed in light!”
He sprinted forward, his eyes never far from the ground as he watched for trap triggers. As he approached my throne, I appeared from out of the floor behind him. He seemed to sense my presence, but I delivered a flying kick before he could turn. The blow shot him backward, and it was Talos’ time to skitter across the floor.
Talos jumped to his feet, clutched his scimitar, and barrelled forward. I dissolved in an instant and reappeared behind him to strike. My dagger broke through his armor and cut into his hip. He screamed and swept his sword around, but I was gone before the blade could connect.
His fingers scrambled inside his pouch and grabbed hold of something. He cast seeds to the ground and a horde of branches burst through the obisidan tiles. They swayed as though they had minds of their own, and I realized teleporting from one part of the chamber to the other would be far more precarious now. But I’d injured Talos, and he no longer had his sorcerers to heal him.
Talos whirled around and sprinted for the Throne Room’s exit. I realized now that he’d used the seeds to cover his escape. What he didn’t know was that my teleportation wasn’t restricted to this floor. I had Dungeon Acuity, so I could move wherever I liked, whenever I liked.
Rather than race after Talos right away, I allowed him a little head start. I could feel Hellwind in the Chasm, his stomach a roaring furnace of hunger.
I reached into the mind of my new pet. Hellwind had picked the bones of Silrin clean, but hunger still raged through his body. My pet monster let out an ear-splitting screech that reverberated off the walls and seemed to shake the very roots of Zagorath itself. He launched himself upward and used his enormous, hooked claws to gain speed as he grabbed at the wall and thrusted himself to the Chasm’s zenith.
Talon’s eyes widened as he raced up the Chasm. His movements were erratic, and any step could be his last if he touched a trigger.
Hellwind landed on the bridge behind Talos and caught hold of him. The paladin screamed as my pet took him off his feet. The varidu clamped down on Talos, and razor teeth bit through his torso.
“Enough,” I said after I teleported to the Chasm. “I want him.”
Hellwind whined a little as blood trailed from his beak.
“Give him to me,” I reiterated.
Hellwind mewled again but then dropped Talos at my feet. The paladin groaned as he futilely tried to mend his brutalized torso with his hands.
I bent over the paladin and gripped either side of his head. I stared into his eyes, and my vision flooded with crimson. A strong mental barrier prevented me from tapping into the center of his consciousness, but I picked up images of a walled palace with a hundred narrow turrets. Scarlet and white banners billowed from the parapets, and guards in white gold armor walked the ramparts.
Entropy.
The word came to me from Talos’ mind. So this is where my future rivals lived. If he had seen this place, then he knew so much more.
Unfortunately, there was no way I could break through his mental barrier. Nor could I risk keeping him alive. He had given me a small insight into Entropy, and that would have to suffice. I knew now that there were people in Avalonia who could assist me with the quest Lilith had given me. The Deadeye Guild were indebted to me, and Tyria would be there to help. The Nature Realm would be mine, and this was just my first mission. The campaign was far from over.
I pulled Talos to his feet, and he attempted to grab me. I stepped aside and pushed him just a little bit closer to the bridge’s precipice. He swayed on his feet, but his eyes were half shut.
Hellwind grizzled, and it was clear he knew what came next.
I walked close to Talos, raised my foot, and kicked him square in the chest.
He tumbled down the Chasm, and I peered over the bridge to watch his descent. He crashed into a set of obsidian spikes with a satisfying splat.
There was a certain pop culture reference I could have made when I’d kicked Talos, but I was a citizen of the Sinarius Realms now. I’d left Earth behind, and there was no way I was going back.
I dusted off my hands and went to Hellwind. “Sorry, buddy. You’ll have plenty more adventurers to feed on in the coming days.”
I was about to return Von Dominus to my core when I felt another presence in my dungeon. Was some final surprise the Sap Lords had left behind?
I teleported back to the Throne Room, and all the branches Talos had summoned were gone. A lithe woman was draped over my throne, her familiar face smiling proudly. Her wings were folded comfortably over the back of the throne, and a pointed tail twitched in her lap. Leather straps crossed over her in a kind of dungeon outfit straight from my raunchiest dreams.
It was the same ensemble she’d worn when she appeared in my apartment back on Earth. That seemed like an eternity ago, and for a moment, I was no longer Von Dominus of Zagorath. I was simply Dominic Thompson, recently unemployed and soon-to-be evicted.
Lilith offered me a hypnotic smile as her forked tongue slid over her lips. “My Viceroy,” she purred. “I think it’s time we had a little chat.”
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About the Author
Dante King is an author of Men’s Adventure fiction in various flavors. His books involve strong male protagonists who know what they want and do what’s required to get it.
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