The Rise of the Demon Prince

by Robert Kroese

  “Eben mentioned that Radovan was one of Varastis’s students.”

  “Early on, yes. But I’m getting ahead of myself. The point, in any case, is that there is much I do not know about Bolond and Voros Korom, but I will tell you what I can.”

  Chapter Seven

  “I do not know where Bolond came from or how he learned to channel arcane energies. What I do know is that more than a thousand years ago, Bolond opened a gateway between our world and a place called Veszedelem, sometimes called the shadow world.

  “It is said that Veszedelem was once a pleasant and prosperous world, but something happened to drain it of its vitality. If you have been to Veszedelem, you understand. It is a cold, dark place where the very substance of reality seems frayed and tattered. Bolond gathered together a group of wise men to determine what had gone wrong. These men knew that all of reality was held together by an element they called tvari. Their intent was to determine why Veszedelem was bleeding tvari, and to staunch the flow.

  “The degradation of that world had caused horrible aberrations of humanity to arise, creatures that we would call monsters or demons. The most terrible of these was Arnyek, who plotted to end the suffering of Veszedelem by destroying it. To defend themselves against Arnyek’s hordes, the sorcerers built a great keep, called Sotetseg. Sotetseg was designed to be accessible only by those whose blood was infused with tvari, but the sorcerers were too few to defend it from Arnyek. Many other demon lords had arisen to challenge Arnyek, and a few of these were recruited to work inside Sotetseg. These demons were bound by accords that prevented them from harming the sorcerers or interfering with their work.

  “Sotetseg was built to attract and focus tvari, so the degradation that affected Veszedelem was minimized in its vicinity. The keep thus became a rallying point for human beings who still inhabited Veszedelem. Thousands of people settled on the plain nearby, taking refuge in the keep whenever the monsters came down from the mountains.

  “For many years, Bolond and his sorcerers toiled in Sotetseg, trying to find a cure for the ailment that afflicted Veszedelem. Outside, Arnyek raised an army of monsters to wipe out humanity and destroy the keep. Sotetseg was by this time protected by powerful enchantments and might have stood against Arnyek’s hordes forever were it not for a sorcerer named Lorenz. Lorenz had become convinced that the efforts to save Veszedelem were hopeless, and he betrayed the sorcerers to Arnyek, arranging for the gate to be left open so that Arnyek’s assassins could get inside.

  “Several of the sorcerers were killed, but Bolond succeeded in rallying the demons sworn to defend the keep, and the attackers were driven out. The defenders once again had control of the keep, but their project was in ruins. The library and laboratories had been burned, and only three of the sorcerers, along with Bolond, remained alive. Their task had always been daunting, and now it seemed impossible. The sorcerers lost faith in Bolond and they sealed themselves in the upper levels of a tower where he could not reach them.

  “Realizing his project was a failure, Bolond decided to devote his efforts to saving the few human beings left alive on Veszedelem. The forces of Arnyek continued to grow, and it was clear he would soon turn his attention to the villages on the plain in order to stamp out the last vestige of humanity. Bolond’s inquiries into the nature of tvari had revealed that Veszedelem was only one of many worlds, and he learned to harness tvari to travel between them. He traveled from world to world, looking for a safe place for the people to settle. He finally chose Orszag, in our world.

  “At this time, the Plain of Savlos was mostly unpopulated, so he thought it safe to lead the refugees there. Those who have not trained their bodies to channel tvari cannot travel from world to world the way sorcerers do, so Bolond needed to build a gateway through which the refugees could travel to the new world. While looking for a site for the gateway, Bolond came across a tiny settlement called Telepules, just south of the current location of Nagyvaros.

  “Telepules, presided over by a woman named Turelem, had been founded by a puritan group whose members had been persecuted in their homeland. Bolond met with Turelem, explaining his intention to build a permanent gateway between the two worlds. Seeing that the tranquility of Telepules would be disturbed by the gateway, Turelem refused his request. But Bolond appealed to the people of Telepules, persuading them that their lives would be improved by the union of the two worlds. Many of the people were already dissatisfied with Turelem’s rule, and Bolond made a persuasive case. Turelem was thrown into the river Zold and apparently killed. With the help of the locals, Bolond built the gateway at the current site of Nagyvaros.

  “But as the refugees began to pour through from Veszedelem, Bolond realized there was another problem: for those who had been born in the corrupted world of Veszedelem, our world had too much vitality, too much tvari. The sun blinded them, the odors of flowers nauseated them, the blandest of foods burned their tongues. Many came anyway to escape certain death at the hands of Arnyek, but they suffered greatly.

  “Bolond solved this problem too, after a fashion: because of his ousting of Turelem and his displays of arcane power, the locals now considered him a prophet, if not a god. He capitalized on this by urging them to build a great temple of his design from rock slabs taken from the Soveny Mountains. In reality, the temple was designed to absorb tvari, to make the area around Telepules a bit more like the shadow world the refugees had left—not enough to cause the horrible aberrations of that place, but enough to allow the people from Veszedelem to live in relative comfort.

  “The end result, though, made no one happy: the discomfort of the refugees, while ameliorated to some degree, was not eliminated. Some burrowed underground to avoid the glare of the sunlight and the smell of vegetation. They ate the blandest of gruels, sometimes mixed with chalk or sand to kill the taste. And as refugees continued to arrive, fights broke out for control of the land nearest the temple. A curious social structure developed, with the upper castes building homes next to—and under—the temple. People tunneled far underground and built massive towers in order to create more living space near the temple. These people are now called the Builders, and the strange city they built was called Elhalad.

  “The locals quickly realized they’d been deceived. The temple they had toiled to build to bring the favor of the gods had turned the area into a strange, dismal place inhabited by pale beings who lived like worms underground and built ugly stone towers that loomed over the plain like the spines of some huge reptile. But the locals were vastly outnumbered by the newcomers, and they could do little but build new settlements out of reach of the blight. Bolond had hoped the refugees would mix with the locals and eventually produce offspring better suited to life in our world, but instead the two groups became completely isolated and grew to hate each other.

  “Bolond feared that the locals would appeal for help to one of the four kingdoms that bordered the plain, leading to the overthrow of Elhalad and the extermination of the newcomers. Each of these kingdoms existed in a state of antipathy with the others, and Bolond determined to take advantage of this. He traveled to one of the kingdoms and met with its king, proposing an alliance against the other kingdoms. The alliance was cemented by the marriage of the king’s daughter to a man from Veszedelem, whom Bolond had set up as ‘king’ at Elhalad. The product of this strange union was an abomination. They called him Voros Korom.

  “It was clear from the beginning that Voros Korom was no ordinary child. His appearance was ordinary enough—when he appeared at all. Voros Korom sometimes seemed to flicker in and out of existence, occasionally disappearing altogether only to reappear a few seconds later, sometimes several feet away. Then Voros Korom began to grow.

  “By the age of three, Voros Korom was as tall as a full-grown man. After the child inadvertently crushed the skull of his nurse, he was placed under constant watch by men in full armor. When he was five, he killed three of these men with his bare hands. After that, Voros Korom was left alone to do as he
pleased. By the age of ten, he towered over the tallest men in Elhalad. He could break a man’s thigh with one hand. He killed frequently, though generally without malice. He walked the streets of Elhalad, eating and drinking as he pleased, leaving a wake of destruction. And someday he would be King of Elhalad.

  “Many people, both in Elhalad and in the kingdoms surrounding the plain, feared this eventuality, and one man arose to take advantage of this fear: a sorcerer named Eben.

  “Eben’s origin is nearly as mysterious as Bolond’s. What is known is that he conspired with Elhalad’s enemies against the city and used his magic to conceal their armies as they marched across the plain. Soldiers poured through the streets, murdering most of the inhabitants, who were loath to leave the city. The defenders were few and weak, although Voros Korom alone killed nearly three hundred of the attackers before finally falling in a rain of arrows. Realizing he was defeated, he disappeared, retreating to Veszedelem. Bolond was forced to flee as well; as far as I know, he has not been heard from since. Eben is said to be able to transfer his soul from one body to another, and in this way has achieved a sort of immortality. At the time of Varastis’s death, he believed Eben was still alive and waiting for the right time to work his own designs on Nagyvaros.

  “The invaders tore down the gateway to Veszedelem and the temple and dragged the stone slabs to the Maganyos Valley. Several hundred of the city’s residents, desperate to escape, attempted to flee through the gate back to Veszedelem. Some made it, but many more were trapped between worlds as the gateway was torn down. These became the wraiths that now haunt the valley.

  “Although the temple had been torn down, the blight remained at the ruins of Elhalad. It became known as a cursed place and remained uninhabited for nearly six hundred years. Eventually, the Szaszok people began to build settlements on the plain. By this time, the war had been almost entirely forgotten, except for fragmentary oral accounts. The blight had faded. Those who came to the ruins of Elhalad now found it pleasant and hospitable. Some settlers moved into the ruins and others built dwellings around or on top of them. Slowly the city we know as Nagyvaros came into being.

  “As Nagyvaros grew, so did the cult of Turelem, centered at Delivaros. I will not bore you with the details of how that detestable cult came into being; I trust you are sufficiently familiar with its history for our purposes. For most of the history of Nagyvaros, sorcery was not illegal, but knowledge of the arcane was tightly controlled. Hidden in the tunnels left behind by the Builders were numerous books and artifacts hinting at the existence of Veszedelem and the power of tvari. Agents of the Governor scoured the tunnels looking for such items, which—due to the wealth and influence of Delivaros—invariably ended up in the hands of the acolytes.

  “Then, nearly thirty years ago, a young man in the employ of the Governor’s office came across something in the tunnels of Nagyvaros that allowed him to tap into the power of the shadow world. His name was Varastis. One of Varastis’s earliest students was a man named Radovan. I was one of the last.

  “The acolytes put pressure on the city-states to outlaw sorcery and capture the sorcerers. Varastis was aware of the danger and had long planned to flee with his students to Magas Komaron, but he was betrayed by Radovan, who led the acolytes, abetted by agents of the Governor, to the school. Only Varastis and twelve of his students escaped.

  “Radovan spent many years working in secret, trying to learn what Varastis had kept secret from him, but he was thwarted in his efforts to explore the tunnels below Nagyvaros by the acolytes. The last I heard, he had taken a job working for the Arcanist’s office, but that was over ten years ago. News reaches Magas Komaron rarely if at all.”

  “Radovan became the Chief Arcanist,” I said. “Evidently what he learned in that position convinced him of the need to summon Voros Korom.”

  Domokos nodded. “He wanted unrestricted access to the tunnels. Even as Chief Arcanist, he would be closely watched by the acolytes. There are places below Nagyvaros that the Governor himself cannot go. If Voros Korom destroyed the city, no one could stop him from seeking whatever it is he hoped to find below it.”

  “But now Radovan is dead, and Voros Korom is off his leash.”

  “Thanks to you, evidently.”

  “And Eben,” I said.

  “Yes. Strange that he resurfaced after so much time. I suppose I never really believed he was still alive. Nor Bolond, for that matter. For some time I entertained the notion that I was the only sorcerer still living.”

  “Eben seems to have been hiding out in Nagyvaros, right under Radovan’s nose. He had a vast secret lair inside the Hidden Quarter. Although if his goal was to remain unnoticed, taking on this brand was a strange choice.”

  “The brand greatly enhances a sorcerer’s power. Perhaps he performed the ritual to defeat Radovan, or perhaps it was necessary for his own plans. I’m afraid I don’t know enough, either of the nature of the brand, or of Eben’s plans, to say.”

  “There is something I don’t understand,” Rodric interjected. “Eben said that Voros Korom was intent on destroying Nagyvaros, yes? But if he considers himself the rightful ruler of the city, why would he destroy it? What good does it do him to rule over a pile of ruins and corpses?”

  Domokos shook his head. “Perhaps he is motivated only by revenge. I cannot think of any other reason Radovan would have summoned him.”

  “Radovan’s motives and those of Voros Korom may differ,” I said. “Is the demon still bound by Radovan’s commands, even though Radovan is dead?”

  “That depends on the agreement they made,” said Domokos, “and whether Voros Korom intends to honor it. He is not bound by the ancient accords the way the demons of Sotetseg are. Even if Radovan lived, his control over Voros Korom would have been limited. If he intended to use Voros Korom against Nagyvaros, it is because he knew Voros Korom would lay waste to the city if given the chance.”

  “There is another complication,” I said. “Radovan intended to use my blood to summon Voros Korom. He was going to add some of his own blood to mine and then kill me, so that control over Voros Korom would default to him. Instead, the reverse happened: Radovan supplied most of the blood, with a little of mine mixed in.”

  “Then it is possible that you can command Voros Korom?” Rodric asked.

  I shrugged. Domokos seemed no more certain than I. “I’m afraid the question goes beyond my ken,” he said. “A battle between a sorcerer and a demon often comes down to a question of will. If you were to meet Voros Korom on the plain without fear and command him to return to Veszedelem, he might comply. On the other hand, he might tear you to pieces without a thought. I simply don’t know. I have some limited ability to manipulate arcane energy, but my knowledge of Veszedelem and the creatures that inhabit that world is second-hand. I have never been there. Very few have the ability to travel from one world to another.”

  My heart sank. Could it be that our only hope in helping us defeat Voros Korom knew less of the shadow world than I did? So far, nothing he had told us would help us in the slightest.

  “What other alternatives do we have?” Rodric asked. “Is it even possible to fight him?”

  Domokos nodded. “Voros Korom is a creature of flesh and blood. He is formidable, but he can be wounded and even killed. He can move between our world and Veszedelem at will, but he must be present in our world to affect it.”

  “In other words,” Rodric said, “he is vulnerable when he attacks.”

  “Precisely. Also, the wraiths weaken if he does not remain poised between the two worlds. He can neither exert his full strength nor fully retreat without the wraiths’ power diminishing. And it is the wraiths that are the true threat.”

  “Is it true,” ventured Vili quietly, “that they absorb the souls of their victims?”

  “It is,” Domokos said. “My understanding is that each wraith is in fact a collective of many souls trapped in between our world and Veszedelem. Each of these souls is constantly struggling to
escape this in-between state, and they are drawn to the souls of living beings in our world. They move like the wind, and their touch is deadly. The victim’s soul is added to the collective, but the collective’s thirst is not abated.”

  Vili nodded, swallowing hard, but said nothing. Eben had told me all this already, but I had seen no point in burdening Vili or the others with the information.

  “Do the wraiths have any weaknesses?” I asked.

  “Only one: they are dependent for their existence on Voros Korom. If he dies, they will dissipate. They cannot survive without him as a link between our worlds.”

  “Might they simply return to the ruins of Romok?” I asked.

  “It is too far. If Voros Korom were to die here, the wraiths would die as well.”

  “And they would truly die?” Vili asked. “All of the souls they have captured will be at peace?”

  “They would know the same peace that is granted to all dead men,” Domokos said. He gave Vili a curious look.

  Vili nodded but again did not elaborate. I did not feel it was my place to explain Vili’s interest in the wraiths, and Rodric followed my lead. Having eaten our fill of the soup, I’d begun to feel the full extent of my exhaustion. The others looked nearly as tired as I.

  “There are plenty of beds,” Domokos said, seeming to read my thoughts. “I will keep watch until the moon is past its zenith, but it is unlikely Voros Korom will come before tomorrow night. You may as well sleep while you can.” Rodric and Vili nodded tiredly; Ilona seemed to be lost in thought. “Konrad, you look like you are ready to pass out on the table. If the others don’t mind, I will show you to your room first.”

  I glanced at Rodric, who nodded. He had evidently come to the same conclusion as I: we had no choice but to trust Domokos. If he intended to murder us in our sleep, we might as well get it over with. Domokos got up from the table and re-lit the lantern. I followed him out of the room.