Finally, something happened to alleviate the boredom that was starting to weigh heavily on her. She was sitting barefoot in a patch of Shadow that she had drawn about her in the middle of a sunny patch on the grass in front of the massive structure that was at the center of the university when Aren walked up to her. “Enjoying yourself?” he asked, seemingly amused at how she was spending her time.
Selth gave a shrug of her shoulders, letting the shadow dispel around her. “Of course,” she said sarcastically, “Can you imagine anything more fun than sitting in shadows all day with nothing to do?”
“Ah, I should have guessed.” he said, affecting despair, “You want no part in my upcoming excursion from the academy. It’s drawn you in and now you never want to leave!” he shook his head sadly, “I am sorry for disturbing you, my young prodigy. I shall leave you in peace.” Selth scrambled to her feet in horror, opening her mouth to protest, but Aren rode over her, “No. no. Say nothing to try and soothe me. I’ll be on my way as soon as possible, so sorry for disturbing you. Please, go back to sitting in your shadows.”
He started walking away, not looking back at Selth who stood in confusion for a moment then hurried after him. When she caught up she grabbed his cloak and spun him around. “What excursion from the academy?” she demanded, the words bursting from her mouth uncontrollably.
Aren doubled over laughing and for several minutes Selth could get nothing out of him. “I knew you’d be falling all over yourself to get out of here.” he said when he finally managed to calm down, “People like you and me can only take so much of being cooped up before we have to go out into the world and do something.”
Selth nodded sagely along with what he said, as though she too had such lofty thoughts, but her mind was racing ahead to the possibilities of an adventure outside of the university, and with Aren too. There were so many exciting places that the mage could bring her. Abruptly she realized that he was staring down at her. “Sorry.” she said, shame faced, “What was that, again?”
He chuckled, nearly falling back into uncontrollable laughter, but with an effort calmed himself, “Lost in thought, huh? Well I suppose I can humor you and say what you obviously thought was unimportant enough to ignore. I said I wanted you to come with me to confront the beast you mentioned to me upon your arrival, the one in the underground.”
Selth jerked back in surprise, she could still remember the rank smell of its breath and the reverberating horror of its voice in her head a year after meeting it. Fear in her voice, she answered him, “I thought you were going to send a team of magi to kill it. What happened to them?” Already, images of what might have occurred were flashing through her head. Helpless magi rushing to and fro as the great beast leapt among them, killing and devouring at will. Aren’s next words seemed to confirm her thoughts.
“I did. A full cadre of red cloaks. They found the stairs you described but when they went down them we lost contact and they’ve been missing since.” he appeared slightly worried by that but he still looked at her hopefully, as though she should be excited to go on such an interesting trip to observe a deadly creature. One that might have killed ten advanced magi.
Something else about his statement caught her attention though, “When did you send the team if you’re only now getting worried about them?” she asked slyly.
Aren appeared a bit embarrassed at her question, he harrumphed a few times, clearing his throat and obviously not wanting to answer. As Selth opened her mouth to ask again though, he broke into speech, “Well, it’s just that the idea slipped my mind until a few weeks ago when I was back in Redtower and I remembered that you had mentioned a creature in the underground so I got a team together to do what I said I was going to do when you first got here.”
Selth looked open mouthed at him, sometimes the empty headedness of the mage shocked her. “What makes you think that we’ll succeed where ten red cloaks failed?” she asked, putting emphasis on the number ten.
Aren beamed down at her, all embarrassment forgotten. “So you’ll do it? Oh good. I thought you would. We can leave at once.” he turned as though he was about to hurry towards the portal and leave the academy that instant.
“What?” No!” Selth said, jumping into Aren’s way, “I want to know why you think we can succeed if a cadre of red magi were killed.”
Aren sighed and rolled his eyes, “Look,” he said, “If need be you can just teleport yourself out of danger. Now, I’m going to go no matter what you do so make a decision because the truth is I don’t know what’s going to happen once we get there.”
Selth pursed her lips, thinking deeply. Finally, she nodded her head, “Hang on a second, let me grab my stuff.” she fell back into darkness and appeared in her room. Working quickly, she threw on a pair of calf skin boots and pulled a cloak around her. Both were things she had taken to going without as the weather grew warmer at the academy. Teleporting back to where Aren was standing she hurried to his side and the two of them walked towards the portal building.
It was the one place she hadn’t had a chance to get a good look since it was the one building that no one was allowed in or near without permission from a Shayden or the head of the academy, the silver robed Archmage. It was simply too dangerous to let magi go through the portals whenever they wished, the potential for misuse was too high and terrible deaths had resulted from the unwary entering into a portal left open by an unthinking mage. The building itself was wide and low to the ground; no decorations adorned the surface and no plants grew near it aside from the grass that covered all the ground at the academy. Stepping inside of it, Selth was faced with the same stone portal she had seen upon coming to the academy that first day, what felt like years ago. The gems were the same, the gray of the stones was the same, even the metal walls of the building were the same.
Aren broke her observation by moving up to the side of the portal. He winked at her “None of that pesky waiting around when we leave the academy. I’ve got a key to activate this portal.” he swung his staff around and slotted the crystal into an indent in the side of the portal which Selth hadn’t noticed before, it certainly hadn’t been on the portal in Redtower. Before she could ask him more about it the portal started spinning. Faster and faster, the gemstones glowed and the inside of the portal turned opaque blue, spinning into a maelstrom of power. Aren and Selth hurried through and came out in an identical looking building. She glanced behind her, just to check, but there was no indent in this portal. Aren saw her look and explained, “It’s only possible to activate the portals from the academy. To get back we have to follow a schedule set up before hand for preset portal opening times.”
The two of them walked out of the building and Aren moved forward with his long strides, Selth hurrying to keep up. They walked down streets she hadn’t seen in a year and the redbrick facade of many of the houses struck a pang of home sickness in her heart. But that was soothed over as she saw the varied attire of the people who called Redtower home. Shabby clothing mixing with nicer as people moved past each other in the streets, trying to reach stores or call out to old friends. It was a nice change after the monotonous dress of the academy. Without thinking, Selth started marking people as potential thieving targets. She stopped herself, though, not wanting Aren to be displeased with her. He didn’t approve of that sort of thing and, as diverting as it might be, picking a few pockets on the street couldn’t compare to exploring the underground and facing off with a deadly beast.
The two of them moved quickly through the crowded streets, the mage weaving a web of magic over them so that people moved out of their way without realizing what was happening. Soon they were back in the streets that seemed to simultaneously exist and not exist. “A bit of academy magic so that people don’t find the entrance by accident.” Aren explained to Selth as she clutched at her head. He reached over and tapped her forehead and suddenly the street resolved itself, the double image fading to nothing. She muttered her thanks but he said nothing in reply as the t
wo of them reached the alley that she had followed him through all that time ago.
Aren muttered a word under his breath and a portal opened between the two buildings. Passing through together he turned around and watched it close, making sure nobody could sneak in behind them. “Never say I don’t learn from my mistakes.” he muttered as the portal closed, giving Selth an amused look. Then the two of them turned and walked down the hallways, Aren lighting the way with his staff. He led her down the twisting corridors and rooms, retracing the path Selth had taken to the great hall where the Shadow had lain and then poured into her. As if just by thinking about it the Shadows inside her sparked to life, the tattoos on her hands started moving and her daggers flickered in and out of existence. Aren looked at her with worry but all he said was, “Calm yourself child. This is nothing you haven’t faced before.”
After reaching the great hall the two of them walked towards the back of the room where the massive doorway to the labyrinth of the underground awaited. Without saying a word, Aren fell into step behind Selth. She had been here before, even if it had been a long time ago, so she was going to lead the way. As they stepped inside, a map popped up in her head. The same trail she had followed earlier, though she hadn’t realized she was mapping it while she wandered, lost in the corridors of the underground. Silently the two of them moved through the passageways. Turn followed turn and it felt as though they were heading to a place that would be impossible to escape. Aren’s light shone in a circle around them, but Selth’s eyes picked out every shape in the underground even if they fell beyond the circle that he kept bright.
When she noticed the spot where she had first seen her new tattoos she knew that they were close. Following the last several turns they came out onto the stairway that led to the lair of the beast.
“That’s it?” Aren’s whisper was as loud as a gunshot in the prevailing silence of the underground. Selth whipped around to look at him, anger flashing on her face, but she nodded. Without another word the two of them moved to the stairs and made their way slowly down it. By the time they reached the bottom both of them were out of breath and the top of the stairs was a distant memory. Selth kept having flash backs to her last time in the lair, when the doors had slammed shut behind her of their own accord, and she looked worriedly at the two massive pieces as she moved into the enormous hall.
Aren had put out his light and was hanging onto Selth’s shoulder as she scanned the room, looking for the great beast she had seen last time she was here. With a grating sound, the doors to the hall slammed shut and the enormous dog-like beast padded out of the darkness that permeated the far end of the room. She tugged on his robe to let him know that the beast had appeared but he had stiffened in apparent recognition as it came forward.
Thrusting his staff straight into the air, he yelled in a commanding voice, “Leyidainé Tendalin!” The whole chamber burst into light, the stones shining purest white and Aren’s staff was so bright that Selth could hardly bear to look at it. The enormous creature, revealed to both of them, flinched back as though in pain and she got her first good look at it. The enormous head and glowing yellow eyes were as she remembered, the creature was massive and the spikes of the shoulders oozed a sickly green liquid, but that was all she had seen last time. The back of the creature ended all resemblance to a massive rottweiler. The fur of the head transitioned into plated scales like those of a lizard and wings were folded along its back. A barbed tail lashed back and forth under the affront of the light and the massive back legs looked like those of the dragons depicted on the sides of the towers at the academy, taloned feet digging into the ground and tearing deep gouges in the stone. It roared in pain and as it did, a black fog spread from its mouth, consuming the light that Aren had created.
“A Díryen!” he gasped, falling back, the light fading, “No wonder the cadre never came back!”
Despite the horror at seeing him fall, Selth gave him a scathing look at his casual disregard for the deaths of ten magi. Glancing back at the creature, though, all annoyance with Aren vanished. Whereas before hunger had driven it now its eyes burned with hatred, seeming to cut through Selth and pinning her where she stood. “How dare you!” its voice roared through her mind like a wild fire, “You come here with your filthy, burning light and expect to conquer me! I who have stood sentinel of these halls for eight thousand years! You will know agony at your death! No quick destruction for you, no. You shall rot in the fields of darkness and death for eternity. You shall never escape your torment! That is the price you pay, foul creatures of light.” The Díryen’s tail lashed back and forth and black fog roiled from its mouth. Fangs the size of swords dripped the same poisonous looking green matter as the spikes on its shoulders as the beast stalked towards them.
“Aren.” Selth whispered, “Aren, what do we do?” she tried to move but the gaze of the Díryen held her rooted to the spot where she stood, a force of terror holding her feet in place.
Aren was sitting up, muttering under his breath and holding his staff in front of him. At her question he broke off what he was saying and spoke aloud, “give me a minute. I just need to finish this up and then I can send it away.” he swung to look at her then waved his hand in front of her face and it was as though the weight of the world had lifted from Selth’s shoulders. Whatever dark spell the creature had placed on her was gone. “Keep it distracted!” he whispered to her then he bent back to muttering over his staff.
Selth held out her hands and her twin daggers of shadow appeared, “Happily.” She tried for confidence but it came out as a whisper. Then, slashing one of the knives over her head, she teleported. When she came out of the darkness the neck of the Díryen was right over her and her blade cut deep into its neck. The beast roared in pain but Selth was already teleporting away from it. She appeared fifty feet to its right, opposite the side from Aren and threw a dagger at it. The dagger pierced one of the massive shoulders and with another roar of pain, which nearly drove her to her knees, the Díryen turned to face her. Selth recalled the dagger she had thrown and it appeared in her hand. Spinning it in a flashy manner she had mastered while bored at the academy, she forced a mocking laugh through her trembling lips.
It charged her, great claws ripping up the ground as it moved but she teleported behind it and with a motion of her hand shadows from across the room swarmed towards the Díryen. They wrapped up around the beast’s feet, living entities unto themselves, and brought it crashing to the ground. More and more shadows swarmed over the beast until it was just a massive pile of black and gray twisting shapes. Then the shadows exploded, torn down to nothing, and the Díryen climbed heavily to its feet, turning to face her once more. With a shake of its shoulders green ooze spattered across the remaining shadows, destroying them. Selth felt a devastating loss as the shadows she had been controlling were destroyed but she grimly shook it off. The Díryen moved more slowly towards her now, its great head lolling back and forth in a mockery of a grin as though to emphasize her failure. Her mind raced, it wouldn’t be fooled by a teleport now. It was going slow enough not to be knocked off balance and if she did that there was every possibility it would ignore her and carry on towards Aren. An idea burst like a flower into her mind. Pointing her finger at the shadow of the Díryen she channeled her power, trying to make it rise to her command. She felt the shadow stiffen and as it did so the Díryen’s pace was slowed to a crawl. Then Selth’s control shattered and with a cry she collapsed to the ground, quivering in pain, a thousand knives slashing across her mind.
The Díryen laughed, “You’re not the first wielder of shadow to come into my halls.” its great voice echoed through her head, “Nor are you the most powerful. There was one man who came and cast me down with his power. Never again! I am my own master now and nothing can sway what I control.” The beast came until it was nearly on top of Selth who was still lying in pain on the ground; its massive fangs filled her gaze as it bent to finish her.
An enormous blast of black,
violet and green flame flew over Selth’s head and smashed into the chest of the Díryen. A screeching roar shattered the darkness all around and through the fire she saw the enormous beat thrashing about in agony. The flame burned for five minutes and she felt the skin on her face growing crispy, her clothes dry as tinder. When the flame went out, a hole stretched from one end of the Díryen to the other and silently it toppled towards the ground. A resounding crash echoed through the enormous hall when the beast hit and as it fell, the end of the hall, which had been obscured by darkness, lightened until it was a more normal dark rather than the pure black of the Díryen’s breath.
“That was a close one!” Aren said cheerfully from behind Selth but his voice held a note of fatigue which he couldn’t hide. She whirled on him, ready to scream at him for almost burning her alive or hug him for saving her life. Maybe both, but he had already turned towards the lightening side of the room. “I wonder what’s down there.” he mused to himself. Turning to her he pointed to the other side of the room, “Want to go take a look?”
Selth felt her anger and fear melt away, Aren might have nearly gotten her killed and brought them both into this situation without even knowing what the hell he was dealing with but there was an irrepressibility to his spirits that she had to admire. Letting her daggers fade to nothing, she walked over to him, “Yes. I would love to see what that nasty creature thought was so important that he stayed down here and killed everyone who came for eight thousand years.”
The God in the Shadows (The Story at the Heart of the Void Book 1) Page 11