Sorcerer's Creed Books 1-3

by N. P. Martin

  It seemed like for every damned soul we put down, half a dozen more were ready to take their place. The odds--and the noise--were becoming overwhelming. It was also becoming increasingly difficult to avoid falling into the blood pits, which were everywhere.

  Just as despair threatened to overcome me, something happened. Something like a shock wave passed through me, and a circle of blue energy appeared that widened out to pass right through the hordes of bodies surrounding us as well.

  I spun around to see Ray standing with his staff planted into the hard ground, and I realized that he had used his magick in a last ditch attempt to keep back the advancing horde.

  Everything seemed to stop for a moment, and a stillness fell over us. Then, all at once, every single blood pit dweller fell to the ground like dominos. Everyone waited with bated breath to see if the damned souls would get back up again, but they didn't. They stayed down.

  Which would have been something if more bodies were not still pulling themselves out of the blood pits.

  We all seemed to have the same idea at the same time, but Ray vocalized it. "RUN!"

  The three of us bolted across the hard, rocky ground. Blaez was beside me and Barney screeched as he flew overhead. Soon, I realized the blood pits had ended, but we kept running until the once again growing horde of damned souls was far behind us, and only their continued moaning sounds were audible in the distance.

  "Alright," I said eventually, hardly able to breathe. "Stop...fucking stop..."

  Ray was seriously out of puff as well. Sanaka less so. They both stopped when I did. "The citadel is just there anyway," Sanaka said, his face and hands streaked with blood, as was Ray's and my own.

  "What?" I said, focusing forward, surprised to see the citadel a few hundred yards ahead. I was surprised because I could have sworn the citadel was a lot further away the last time I checked. It was like the ominous stone construction had come to meet us half way.

  "We should proceed with caution," Ray said, taking huge breaths of the hot air around us in an attempt to keep from hyperventilating, or so it seemed. That could have just been me nearly hyperventilating. It certainly felt like I was.

  "I thought we were proceeding with caution," I said, or rather gasped.

  "Shut up, boy," Ray gasped back. "You know what I mean."

  I couldn't help but laugh. For some reason, I found his response funny. So did Ray himself a second later, and joined me in smiling. "What do you always tell me, Ray?" I said. "If you can't laugh in the face of danger--"

  "You have no business being there in the first place," he finished.

  Sanaka shook his head at us and was about to say something when a hugely loud and terrifyingly familiar voice seemed to cut through everything, instantly wiping the smile of my face. "Gentlemen," the voice boomed. "Welcome to my domain. May it be the last place you ever see."

  A cold laughter followed, and my blood chilled.

  31

  Face Off

  Baal was standing up on a turret that jutted out just above the main gate of the citadel. The citadel itself was made from huge stone blocks, and its walls seemed to expand out for miles, encompassing whatever hellish city lay within them. The huge door to the citadel looked to be made from a kind of dark wood that was supported by thick metal straps. Not the kind of door you could knock down in a hurry, even with magick.

  As I stood staring up at Baal, who was in his full demon form, his four arms outstretched as if to welcome us, I couldn't help wondering where Leona was. "Where is she, Baal?" I shouted up at the demon in sudden anger.

  Baal's glowing orange eyes glared down at me. "Who do you mean?" he asked. "The lovely Leona or the spiteful Margot? Perhaps you mean them both." He laughed then like he was enjoying the whole situation. "Would you like to see your girlfriends, Creed?"

  Before I could even answer, Baal raised one of his four hands and clicked his fingers. A second later, two demon figures stepped out of the shadows behind Baal and came forward. My breath caught in my throat when I realized Leona and Margot were being held by the guards. "Leona!" I shouted as I ran forward a few steps.

  Leona didn't respond, however. Neither of the women did. Both were naked and covered from head to foot in blood, almost like they had been dipped into one of the blood pits behind me. But I knew the blood was their own, which turned my stomach. "What have you done to them?"

  "Nothing compared to what I will do," Baal said. "Nothing compared to what I plan on doing to you, Creed."

  I couldn't just stand there while Leona and Margot were being paraded in front of me like meat puppets. Without giving it much thought, I fired a blast of magick at the massive door of the citadel. It was a move born out of frustration and anger, and not one which I expected to work. Indeed, the blast of magick never even hit the door. Instead, it was somehow redirected back towards Ray, who used his staff to block it at the last second. The force of the magick still knocked him back on his ass, though.

  Baal laughed. "This is my world, Sorcerer," he bellowed. "I control what happens here. Not you!"

  "Prove it then," Ray said as he walked forward, his attention on Baal. "You want our souls, why don't you come down here and get them yourself?"

  "Yes," Sanaka said, also speaking up as he went and stood by Ray. "If you are truly the master of this domain, then you will come down and defend it yourself."

  Baal stood with his massive chest pushed out, his four arms held tensely by his side as he looked at each of us in turn. "I had planned to raise one of my monstrously beautiful creations out of the very ground you stand on so I could watch it kill all of you." He paused while he stared at us, then laughed arrogantly. "Filthy humans. You never know your place, do you? Or your limitations. Not until it is too late." He looked at Margot then, who like Leona, could barely stand and was just about able to raise her head enough to take in what was going on around her. "So be it. If it's a lesson in pain and humility you want, a lesson you all shall have."

  The demon leaped down off the turret then, landing with a heavy thump on the hard ground below. His burning orange eyes blazed at us, the stripes along his body now cracked open and spurting flames. Baal looked even bigger than he did when I first summoned him, which seemed like a lifetime ago by now. The power and utter conviction of him were terrifying, and I realized then just how much he must have been holding back when I fought him at the summoning. I doubted it would be that easy this time around.

  Instinctively, I fell in beside Ray and Sanaka. Blaez stayed by my side, Barney by the side of him. Three sorcerers, a Garra Wolf and a barn owl. Christ, it was the like the start of some bad joke.

  Only it was no joke, not when our souls were at stake.

  The first part of the plan had worked. We had gotten Baal to face off against us. Now all we had to do was keep him occupied long enough so Ray could cast a Holding Spell without Baal noticing.

  But as Ray had said, magick didn't always work as expected in the Underworld. My attempt to blast the citadel doors was proof of that.

  Baal looked like he couldn't wait to get his claws bloody. "I think I will enjoy this," he said, looking at each of us in turn as if marking us for death. "Three legends in their own insignificant lifetimes, about to be wiped from existence like they were never even here. Yes, I will enjoy this."

  The demon leaped into the air then like he had rockets on his feet, reaching a height of twenty feet before coming back down again right towards me, his fist drawn back and ready to strike.

  Of course, he would have to come at me first, I thought in a panic as I jumped back just in time as Baal landed, his massive fist pounding into the dry ground. Even though I managed to avoid him, the sheer explosive energy from his driving fist hitting the ground was enough to blast me back off my feet, and I landed hard on my back, the wind knocked out of me.

  I sat up quickly, having no wish to stay lying down so Baal could stomp me with his taloned feet, which he seemed to be planning on doing as he came towards me. "Yo
u will pay the price for your insolence, Creed!" he shouted, jumping into the air once more.

  But as he came screaming back down again, Barney suddenly swooped in and pushed Baal off course with his feet, sending the demon careening to one side before landing and rolling across the dirt. Baal jumped immediately to his feet and looked up at the barn owl, who was hovering not far above. I then watched as Baal formed a dark energy ball in one of his hands before firing it at Barney. The barn owl veered to one side, but the energy ball clipped his wing and sent him into a tail spin that ended with him crashing into the ground.

  Blaez growled aggressively at Baal when he saw what the demon had done to Barney. With a customary lack of fear, Blaez went charging at Baal, the Garra Wolf's body now a burning mass of flame.

  "Blaez no!" I shouted, knowing full well that Baal would kill the Garra Wolf as soon as he got his hands on it. Blaez was tough and a fucking fighting machine, but there was no way he would win against a demon like Baal.

  As Blaez continued his charge at the waiting Baal, I scrambled to my feet and without thinking, threw the Rune Axe that was still in my hand. It was a move I had never tried before, not even in practice, so I was shocked when I saw the bone blade of the axe penetrate into Baal's fiery chest.

  The demon screamed when the axe hit, more out of anger than out of any real pain. As Baal gripped the axe to pull it out, Blaez launched himself at the demon. The Garra Wolf's flaming jaws were wide open as they aimed for Baal's throat. Baal had two of his hands wrapped around the Rune Axe that was still buried deep in his chest, but he still had two other hands which he used to catch Blaez in mid air as the Garra Wolf's jaws neared the demon's throat. Blaez was so big and heavy that Baal was forced back, and he lost balance and landed on the ground with Blaez on top of him.

  While the demon struggled to keep Blaez from tearing his throat out, my eyes quickly found Ray who was standing some ways behind where Baal lay. Ray's hands were facing Baal as my uncle worked on securing the Holding Spell. It wouldn't be an easy spell to cast considering the power the spell had to hold, so the casting of it would take longer than normal. But if anyone could do it, it was Ray.

  Sanaka was now running at the downed demon, having seen an opportunity to inflict some real damage now that Blaez was keeping Baal occupied. Sanaka ran low to the ground with his sword pointing out behind him as he got ready to bring it up and stab it down into Baal's skull.

  But before Sanaka could reach the demon, Baal managed to throw Blaez off, and then get immediately to his feet just as Sanaka came screaming at him with the sword. Sanaka swung the sword at Baal's neck and Baal ducked at the same time as pulling the Rune Axe out of his chest with barely a grunt of pain. I was slightly aghast to see the massive wound close itself up in Baal's chest as if it never happened.

  Baal laughed at Sanaka as they now circled each other, the demon swinging the Rune Axe around with one hand. "Let's see how good you are with that sword, Sanaka," Baal said.

  For someone about to go blade to blade with a demon, Sanaka looked pretty composed and indeed made the first move, charging in with a downward blow which Baal easily sidestepped. Sanaka could have attacked again, but didn't. Instead, he started circling the demon, speaking to it in some ancient tongue. It was then that I realized what Sanaka was doing. He was keeping Baal distracted so Ray could finish the Holding Spell.

  And so I could open up the vortex to Dimension X. Which I had almost forgotten about in the heat of the moment.

  As I turned around to face away from the citadel, I saw Blaez out of the corner of my eye as he rolled up to his feet, and then I saw Barney swoop over the top of him. At least those two were alright. I'd already lost Blaez once. The thought of losing him again was too much to bear.

  Wasting no more time, I raised my hands up and closed my eyes as I entered the Chaosphere within my mind, drawing to me the strands of magick I would need to create the vortex. The only thing I was worried about was the possibility of the magick not working properly. In theory, the magick I was about to use should open the vortex, but magickal theory didn't seem to apply in the Underworld. The Underworld had its own rules, of which I was not familiar.

  I tried hard to cast the doubt from my mind though, knowing it wouldn't help the magick any. The magick needed my absolute conviction if it was to work as intended.

  When I had conjured the required amount of magick in the Chaosphere, I opened my eyes again and immediately looked towards Baal, who was still fighting Sanaka. Although something seemed off about the demon. He was moving slower as if his body were weighted down by some powerful gravitational force. Consequently, he wasn't quick enough to avoid Sanaka's next attack and Sanaka's sword lopped off one of the demon's arms.

  Baal roared in pain and frustration as he realized something wasn't right.

  And something wasn't, for Ray was lurking in the shadows near the citadel, hiding from Baal as he cast the Holding Spell on the demon.

  At some point, Baal must have realized what was going on. The demon soon located Ray and tried to run towards him, but as Ray had almost completed the Holding Spell, Baal could barely move.

  "Open the vortex!" Sanaka shouted at me, just before he went running at Baal with his sword held up high at an angle as if he intended to cut the demon's head off.

  But Sanaka only got to within a few feet of Baal before some winged creature flew down from the Citadel and grabbed hold of Sanaka before he even knew what was happening. Once the creature had Sanaka secured (which took all of a second), the thing flew up and away into the dark, menacing sky, screaming as it went as if in victory.

  "No!" I said as I could only look on helplessly while Sanaka disappeared into the distance.

  Then more screaming sounds split the air as the sky above began to fill with screeching dark shapes.

  "I will break free of this spell soon enough," Baal shouted. "Until then, your hands will be full."

  Instinctively, I ran towards Ray who was standing near the citadel gates. On the way, I couldn't resist looking up to the turret to see if Leona and Margot were still there, which they were, still being held by the two demons. Leona's head was still hanging as if she was barely conscious, but Margot's face was up and seemingly alert now. Our eyes met only for a split second, but it was long enough for me to see something there. A look that somehow promised everything was going to be alright, which I dismissed instantly as a figment of my imagination, for how could she know something like that?

  "August!" Ray shouted before I even got near him. "Open the vortex now!"

  A demon swooped down above my head, and I ducked just in time to miss its grasping hands. "What about these fucking demons?"

  "We'll take care of them," Ray said, with Blaez on one side of him and Barney hovering just above him. "Just open that damn vortex so we can put an end to this!"

  Nodding, I stood with my back to the citadel gates, my hands held out before me as I started casting the magick and speaking the words that would open the vortex.

  It proved difficult to concentrate, however, what with Baal staring over at me and screaming demons flying overhead. Ray, Blaez and Barney did a good enough job of keeping the demons away from me, but I still had Baal shouting over at me from his fixed position several feet away. "Your bitch thought she had known pain before she came here," he said. "I showed her the true meaning of the word, as I will show you as well, Creed. The depths of your suffering will know no bounds. Your soul will scream for all eternity, and those screams will fall on deaf ears...except your own."

  As Baal gave out a rumbling laugh, I did my best to ignore his comments so I could focus on opening the vortex. I was glad a few moments later when the air seemed to split in two in front of me and then pull apart like something was ripping a hole from the other side. As soon as the vortex appeared, I felt the energy of it pull me forwards as if it wanted to swallow me up.

  "What is this?" Baal roared, suddenly realizing what I was doing. "A vortex?" As I stood well back f
rom the portal, its swirling dark energy began to pull loose rocks and dirt into itself. When I looked at Baal again, his eyes were full of rage as he struggled to free himself from the Holding Spell that still secured him. "That's your plan? You will never get me into that portal, Creed, you hear me? Never!" Another roar of frustration erupted from him, sounding like a trapped animal now, the hint of panic in the demon's voice unmistakable.

  The vortex had fully formed by the time I rushed back over to where Ray was standing, just as he was swinging his staff at a screeching demon hovering overhead. Then I saw Blaez do an almighty leap into the air and latch his jaws around the leg of the demon, who screeched louder in response as Blaez pulled the demon down to the ground and all but disemboweled the thing in a matter of seconds, flames and sparks flying from Blaez's frantically moving head as his jaws viciously tore at the demon's flesh. And while this was happening, demon body parts also began to rain from the sky as high above Barney ripped and tore the demons with his razor sharp talons and beak. I had to jump aside quickly to avoid getting splatted by half a demon body that hit the hard ground with a thump right beside me.

  Above us on the turret, the two demon guards still held the women in place, still obeying their master's orders it seemed. I was thankful for the demons' obedience, for otherwise they probably would have taken Leona and Margot deep into the citadel, making it difficult for me to retrieve them.

  Which they yet might do, I thought.

  "Alright," I said to Ray. "Let's banish this demon motherfucker for good so we can all get home."

  Ray nodded in agreement, but I also swore I saw something in his eyes right then, like there was something he wasn't telling me. I wanted to question him on it, but there was no time.

  For Baal was beginning to move again.

  32

  Vortex

  The demon couldn't move much as yet, but he was getting there. The fact that he could move at all was enough for me to want to get the bastard into the vortex as quickly as possible.