by Jak Koke
The floor opened up like the wall, and fire burst from the cracks. Lava followed the fire, spilling out of the wall, the heat hitting Sarbeneck like a hail of stones, palpable, singeing his hair and skin.
“No!” cried the merged obsidimen. “Not yet!” Then it was swallowed in a gush of molten rock.
“Let’s get out of here,” Sarbeneck croaked, lurching to his feet. But Pontin and his bodyguards were already scrambling out. Sarbeneck felt strong hands help him to his feet — Gingreth’s hands.
The humming approached again as they plunged down the slope of the tunnel. The cracks formed and the lava exploded from the roof of the tunnel behind them. What in all this Raggok-cursed wilderness is going on?
His legs pumped as fast as they could, hurtling him toward the exit. More cracks and more explosions sent chunks of rock and drops of lava flying past Sarbeneck’s head just as he passed through the exit and into the dark jungle.
He did not look back until he was a safe distance away.
And when he did, he saw fissures in the surface of the cliff face, glowing deep red. Fire red. The fissures were not natural for This Book Belongs to: Andrew Tobin (black _ [email protected]) Liferock
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they followed perfectly straight lines across the surface of the rock. The entirety of the tunnel was filled with lava now, gush-ing forth like a river of flame, igniting trees and undergrowth in its path.
Looking around, Sarbeneck spied Nancri, Pontin and Gingreth with the guards a few yards away, dripping with sweat and trying to catch their breath. They had all made it out alive and relatively unscathed.
Except those obsidimen. They are gone . . . gone with my payment!
“The strange thing is,” Nancri said, her eyes focused else-where. “Even though the cavern is gone, the astral rope spell, or whatever, is still connected to the pattern of the liferock.
But its color has changed from red and black to indigo and magenta. Perhaps the liferock is gaining control of it.”
“Who cares,” Sarbeneck said. “I’m sick of this place.” He watched Pontin and his entourage mount up and head quickly back toward Rabneth without so much as a backward glance.
Sarbeneck glared after Pontin, reluctantly letting the whiny dwarf ride away; there would be time to deal with him soon enough. Sarbeneck raised his eyes to see the dirty tents of his encampment and the crowd of exhausted workers staring up with frightened eyes at the radiant sight of the tepuis. He had brought all these good Name-givers a long way from their homes. They had fought harsh weather and the encroaching jungle. They all deserved to go home.
This is over, he realized. It is time to leave this place.
Luckily, Sarbeneck still had his little insurance fund —the extra orichalcum he had secretly stashed away from Pontin. He had learned over the years that such precautions were necessary for a healthy business. With the down payment gems and the stashed orichalcum, Sarbeneck figured he could pay off the orks and his workers, plus have enough for a good long vacation. Maybe he’d invite Nancri along.
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“Gingreth,” Sarbeneck said, “I want everybody mobilized as soon as possible. We’re moving camp now. If that lava continues unabated, it will reach our camp before morning.”
This Book Belongs to: Andrew Tobin (black _ [email protected]) Chapter Thirty-Eight
In the Sangolin cave, Vecrix had just made a move to release Pabl when a tremor shook the ground. Light crystals rattled in their sockets. Someone cried out in Pabl’s mind, like the distant specter of an obsidiman brother. But the words meant nothing to him, and he did not recognize the voice.
“What by Dis was that?” Vecrix said.
The large silhouette of an obsidiman came running down the tunnel. “Pabl!” It was Chaiel’s voice. “We’ve got to get out of here.”
The ground shook again, this time knocking light crystals to ground. One after another, the glowing gemstones dislodged and fell. Soon there was a rain of them, hard and bright, shattering into bursts of tiny shards. They exploded on impact, each one popping into constellation of sparks.
Loose rocks fell from the ceiling. The entire roof shifted and soon vast sections of it came crashing to floor around them. The cave was collapsing.
Vecrix looked toward Sangolin, an expression of realization crossing his face. “No,” he said. “We cannot lose this one. I 266
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planned it out. There was no flaw.” Then he stepped up to the surface of Sangolin and merged with the gray stone.
Pabl found he could move freely again. Vecrix had released him.
Chaiel’s rapid steps approached, and when he stepped into the dimming light, Pabl saw his face. His red-striped skin paint smeared around his mouth and eyes. He stepped up next to Pabl, breathing heavily from the run. “We must leave here now,” he said. “Ganwetrammus has been strengthened; it has released me from Sangolin and the two of them are battling. Don’t you feel it? Killing Reid must have worked.”
Pabl didn’t care about any of that. He was free. And he wanted — no, he needed — his sweet rapture. He had been waiting for so very long, and now it was finally time. His heart pounded a staccato rhythm in his chest. His skin was ice, his mouth dry. Nothing would stop him now.
Pabl barely saw the expression of surprise on Chaiel’s face when he stepped up to Sangolin and surrendered to the exquisite pleasure of the merge.
This Book Belongs to: Andrew Tobin (black _ [email protected]) Chapter Thirty-Nine
The shimmering blue glow brightened along Gvint’s skin as he and Jibn dived into the rock and continued their dance inside Ganwetrammus. The blue fire itched slightly like a static charge before a lightning strike. It was the signal for the final stage.
Jibn and Gvint converged in the last steps of the dance, and passed underneath the skin of stone. As they traversed the rocky interior of the mesa, magically coursing through it at breakneck speed, they maintained the graceful rhythm of their dance. The chanting grew in volume and intensity, magically amplified as the two Elders passed along the remaining filaments in the liferock’s pattern.
Strength infused Ganwetrammus. Gvint felt it now, astral power channeling through the web matrix into himself and through him to charge the pattern of the rock. With astral sight, he saw Ganwetrammus in its entirety. The drained areas, once gray, now glowed gold and red. The rest shone a blinding white.
There was no Horror to ensnare this time, so Jibn and Gvint finished the Ritual of Protection by narrowing in on 268
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the cavern and the invaders. Gvint was eldest, and he had accepted that he would be the one to sacrifice himself. The ritual required it.
But as the two of them wove a tighter and tighter knot on the intruders in the cavern, Jibn advanced to the fore. This time, I will go. Jibn’s thoughts came into Gvint’s mind. Garen sacrificed himself to save Ganwetrammus . . . because of me. It is my turn.
No! You are the younger. It is not your role.
My brother, you told me yourself: “Jibn, your liferock needs you now. Your brotherhood needs you.” Well, here I am. I can’t let you die for this. It is my place.
Not so. Gvint wasn’t ready to let Jibn give up his life. You’re not prepared —You have been guiding the brotherhood for years, and you should continue to do so; you are far better at it than I would be. You awakened me, showed me that I am guiltless. You saved me from my self-imposed exile for this very purpose — to right my wrong. I am ready; it is my time.
Without waiting for a response, Jibn edged past Gvint into the lead. Gvint had no choice but to switch with him or let the ritual fail. He adjusted his pat
tern of dancing, not missing a single step. They switched positions in that final moment, and Jibn slammed into the two intruders with the force of a volcanic avalanche.
Gvint slowed at the end, acutely aware that Jibn had saved his life. He watched as Jibn assimilated the intruders’ patterns into his own, and attached the massive astral thread to himself.
Jibn’s body exited the mining tunnel like a ballista missile, and with it went the astral thread. Stretched, the magical um-bilical snapped like a broken lute string.
Gvint stopped at the edge of the rock, watching as Jibn’s body — a blaze with blue fire — launched from the tunnel and This Book Belongs to: Andrew Tobin (black _ [email protected]) Liferock
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arched over the canopy of trees, disappearing into the distant Jungle.
Tepuis Garen is safe, and beyond all expectation I am still alive. The heat of the molten rock around him dried the tears streaming down his face.
This Book Belongs to: Andrew Tobin (black _ [email protected]) Chapter Forty
His skin burned with ecstasy, penetrating into his chest and head in a wave of pure pleasure. He was complete, whole beyond anything he had ever experienced. The moment stretched on and on. He had no concept of the passage of time, just thrill. Just rush.
Nothing mattered anymore. Sangolin was all he needed.
His quest to purify the universe meant nothing. His search for understanding . . . meaningless. Pabl ceased to exist as he had before; his mind and body became an extension of Sangolin —a part of the amalgam of pure obsidiman forms.
Then it was all gone. Sangolin began to fracture. Pain flushed through the armored shell of pleasure which protected Pabl. He heard a distant chanting cry. The call was in the obsidiman language, a melodious low hum, ringing across vast distances. The hum penetrated Sangolin and pulled at Pabl.
Ganwetrammus.
Pabl emerged feeling empty and alone. The chamber was dark except for a few remaining light crystals in the arc of the cavern’s ceiling high above. The shadows of many, many ob-271
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sidimen filled the chamber, some pressing on Pabl, trying to merge. Others, like Pabl, were now free from Sangolin, lost and confused.
Rock fragments crashed to the ground around him as he tried to remember where he was. All he wanted to do was get back to Sangolin. Then he remembered Reid Quo and Garen Dne. The memories of Ganwetrammus came flooding back on him and made him shiver.
He touched the Mynbruje pendant hanging from his chest. How could I have succumbed? But even as he asked himself the question, part of him longed for another rush.
“Pabl, we’ve got to get out of here.” It was Chaiel’s voice.
“Before the whole place comes down.” The shadow of his brother edged through the crowd of strangers around him and grabbed his arm. Chaiel didn’t wait for a response; he tugged at Pabl’s elbow, pulling him into a run. They moved down the tunnel as fast as they could, plowing against the tide of obsidiman bodies coming and going.
Pabl heard the grinding crack of boulders loosening in the arch of the ceiling. The crash of falling rock echoed in the chamber behind them as they pushed their way clear of the tunnel and entered the hollow beyond.
The night glowed red from the Scarlet Sea. The rocks in the hollow, moist from condensed steam, gleamed with the sea’s reflection as though they had been dipped in blood. Obsidimen ran chaotically, some toward the cavern to get to Sangolin, and some away, bolting up the trail in an effort to escape. Many weren’t sure what to do now that they were free to make their own decisions.
A massive explosion shook the ground around them as Pabl searched for Jan and Celagri. The volcano shot fire and sparks high into the sky, lighting up the clearing. The ground shook again, cracks ripping across the clearing.
“Pabl! Over here!” It was Jan.
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Pabl looked in the direction of the voice to see the dwarf standing by the trail which led up and out of the clearing. Celagri stood next to him.
“Chaiel,” Pabl said. “Where’s Reid’s body?”
“Why?”
“We have to get it. I promised that I’d return it to Ganwetrammus.”
“It’s there,” Chaiel said, pointing, “next to the fire.” Chaiel swallowed.
“Will you help me carry him?”
Chaiel nodded. “Yes.”
Pabl dashed across to the center of the clearing, dodg-ing obsidimen and the hail of volcanic debris. Chaiel hesitated for a second, then followed behind him. The fissures in the ground widened with a sharp crack that echoed loudly off the mountains. Pabl took Reid’s ankles and Chaiel grabbed his wrists.
Blazing volcanic ash showered down onto the hollow, chunks of burning rock bouncing next to Pabl and Chaiel as they hefted Reid and marched in the direction of Jan and Celagri.
Reid’s body was heavy, bulky and awkward to carry. A widening crevasse in the ground prevented them from heading straight for the trail, but Pabl found a narrow enough spot to jump across. They threw Reid’s body over first, and it landed with a heavy thud on the far edge of the rift.
The ground shuddered again, and the floor of the hollow started to tilt. Pabl looked up to see the chasm widening.
Soon it would be too far for them to jump. He glanced frantically along the rim of the widening gap, desperate to find another way across.
Nothing.
Chaiel took charge, tugging on Pabl’s hand and pulling him back a few steps. “Now run,” he yelled.
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“I can’t clear that gap.”
“I will help you,” Chaiel said. “Trust me.”
They ran.
“Jump now!”
Pabl leaped into the air, blindly. He knew he wouldn’t make it and neither would Chaiel. The fissure was too wide.
He started to fall.
Chaiel didn’t sink however. He magically glided on air, sailing out over the maw of the crevice. And he tightened his grip on Pabl, holding him up.
Pabl clutched tightly to Chaiel’s hand and tried not to look down. And as his magic ran out Chaiel threw Pabl, tossing him bodily through the air. Off-balance and awkward, Pabl hurtled over the narrowing gap.
Moments later he slammed into ground on the other side.
He’d made it!
Chaiel hadn’t fared so well.
“Dis take this place!” Chaiel’s yell echoed in the chasm behind.
Pabl rolled to a stop, and started to get to his feet, frantically searching for his brother. Chaiel was nowhere to be seen.
Wait, there he was, scrabbling up over the cliff edge. Jan and Celagri were already there, trying to pull Chaiel onto level ground. Pabl ran to help them.
“Thank you,” Chaiel panted as he stood. His gaze lingered on Jan and Celagri. “I am in your debt.”
Celagri’s response was lost in another deafening eruption of the volcano. The mountain spewed noxious ash and fire into the clouds. Flaming boulders the size of thundra beasts rained down from the sky.
“Our time is up,” Pabl said. “Let’s get out of here.”
Pabl and Chaiel hefted Reid and moved to the trail as fast as they could. Jan and Celagri led the way, running up the slope. Pabl and Chaiel brought up the rear, toting Reid’s body.
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Sparks and fire rained from sky, burning holes in their clothes, singeing their skin in many places before they reached the top. The rockfall in the hollow below had been fused by
Sangolin’s magic into a solid mass of stone, and it now shattered and collapsed, burying the core and the obsidimen who brawled to merge with it.
Then suddenly, the ground quaked again, nearly throwing Pabl off the trail. He stopped, pressing himself up against the mountainside for fear that the trail would break away and fall.
A deafening crack split open the night as the entire shelf lost hold on the mountains.
The ledge lurched askew, leaning precariously toward the fiery bath of the Scarlet Sea far below. Pabl could see the tiny shadows of obsidimen sliding down the once horizontal slope and off the cliff edge into the fire.
“Pabl!” Jan’s voice seemed far away. “Chaiel!”
Then the whole shelf of rock gave way, the crevasse breaking into a cliff as Sangolin tumbled with agonizing slowness.
It slid and lurched, rocks and obsidimen flying behind and over it, until finally it rolled completely upside down on its journey down the slope to the ocean of lava below. And when it hit the Scarlet Sea, molten rock splashed hundreds of feet into the air.
It was a sight of both beauty and anguish from up so high.
Exquisite catastrophe. Droplets of magma glowed red against the deep black of night. Magnificent sadness. The chunk of cliff that had been Sangolin slowly melted into the sea of lava.
“Come on, Pabl!” Jan yelled, closer now. He and Celagri had come back down the trail to where Pabl and Chaiel stood, unable to take their eyes from the Sangolin’s destruction.
Grief flooded Pabl as he watched. His muscles gave in to the exhaustion and fatigue he’d been ignoring. He sank to the ground, setting Reid’s body on the hard stone trail. He felt intense sadness at the huge loss of life — all the innocent obsidi-This Book Belongs to: Andrew Tobin (black _ [email protected]) Liferock
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men who hadn’t made it, who had died for their addiction.
Pabl sat and breathed, staring in awe at the ravaged landscape below. And after a while the grief passed, giving way to relief. Ganwetrammus is safe. Finally, I can go home again.