Perdition's Rest

by J. C. Placeres

  The two Tormos quickly back peddled as Tulinda thrust her arms forward. The undead instantly began pouring into the room, however just as they entered, they were suddenly crushed into pulp as portions of the ceiling collapsed sealing the doorway off in a wall of rock. The Vesnians, beaten, battered, bloodied, tired and disheartened were cast into total darkness from the closure of the passage.

  * * *

  Lorne, Corvul and Sielan spent the next hour in total darkness. While the Tormos could see in even the darkest of night, the Phlebos lacked that luxury. Gowinda and Tulinda remained near the Phlebos, all of which were huddled in a corner, while Zeranidul scouted ahead deeper into whatever complex they found themselves in. Vuurbin was quiet as usual and skulked about the far recesses of the room away from the rest of the group. Tulinda had described the room they currently resided in to the blind Phlebos. She explained how it was unlike any of the previous structures they had seen before in the ruined city. The area was large with many chairs made of steel which were bolted to the ground. There were also giant pillars of iron that supported the ceiling. If the geomancer had to guess, she would have proffered that they were in some sort of waiting room. Metal signs adorned the steel walls, but the message and words conveyed on them had long since faded with the passage of time. While most of the other structures in the ancient human city had been made of wood and brick, this building which was carved into the very rock itself was made of steel and iron.

  Zeranidul returned after only a brief absence to report that he had scouted several rooms and found no undead. While he did find human corpses, they were not animated, and it appeared they really were dead. He said the room immediately beyond this one was a hallway that branched into three directions. He had explored both the left and right halls and they led to what he guessed were some sort of laboratories, all of them small. He said each one had examining tables made of iron. He believed each room was at one time full of medical ingredients or herbs, as there were numerous glass jars in each room. All the containers were now empty and shattered though.

  Not long after Zeranidul returned Thelais regained consciousness, she was still incredibly weak and fatigued from the massive spell she had conjured. She was able to at least summon a small glow sphere so that the Phlebos party members could finally see. With Thelais able to move again, albeit not briskly, the group went about deciding what the next step would be. Zeranidul explained that while he did not find any other exits or entrances to the strange complex they were in; he believed the structure was incredibly massive and that there must be other avenues of entrance. Lorne stated the obvious that whether or not the Heaven's Light existed was irrelevant, their current goal was now to escape the complex and get far away from the undead city. Once they were able to find safe haven, they would all debate their next step.

  Thus, the group prepared themselves to move out and explore the complex. Lorne and Zeranidul took point followed by the spell casters, Sielan and Vuurbin. Gowinda and Corvul brought up the rear to prevent a surprise attack from behind. After exiting the large waiting room, the group continued down the largest hall heading west which sloped downward and continued to delve even further into the crust of the planet. The tunnel they traversed was wide enough for a dozen Vesnians to walk through shoulder to shoulder. The floor, walls and ceiling were all made of steel plating and supported the carved-out stone which the structure was built into. As they walked deeper into the complex, they passed by doors to adjacent rooms, but each room was empty with only broken furniture present, what purpose the rooms once served now a mystery. Occasionally they would find human corpses strewn about, but they were always inanimate. Eventually the corridor took a sharp turn and the group switched directions, heading to the east and as always going deeper into Nualn. In parts of the hallway the steel plating had been damaged from age or other means and the rocks that the structure was carved into could be seen. It was clear that they were deep into the planet now, far below sea level as the sections where bare rock was present had heavy moisture and dripping water. In some parts of their journey, entire portions of the ceiling had totally caved in narrowing the passage and forcing them to pass through the opening one at a time.

  After half an hour or so of walking and passing by countless smaller connecting hallways and rooms the group came to a large circular area with multiple paths branching off. Lorne figured that they were directly below the initial waiting room but hundreds of feet deeper. One hallway, the passage still heading due east, was larger than all the rest, thus Lorne figured to continue following what he assumed was the main path in whatever structure they now explored. As they continued downwards, they stumbled across side rooms that were much larger than before. They resembled the ones further above though with long steel tables and broken jars. In some of the rooms skeletons were present on tables or on the floor, the humans apparently having dropped dead the instant Juxon sucked the life essence out of them.

  "Have you ever seen anything like this before?" Thelais asked Sielan the question as the group left one of the rooms with several human skeletons in them.

  "Never," replied Sielan. “I’ve explored and excavated hundreds of human settlements and never, anywhere, do we have any recorded evidence of anything like this. We've only known humans to make buildings of brick or wood, but this massive steel complex, it's unheard of. I've never seen any evidence humans could build such a structure, and while Deep Ridge and Juxon City may be larger, the sheer amount of steel, craftsmanship and detail that went into this place is astonishing."

  "Maybe the humans didn't build it," said Vuurbin quietly from the rear of the group, "maybe Juxon built it."

  Lorne turned and sneered at the priest. "Why would Juxon need to build this structure? Our Father had no need of buildings or mortal constructs."

  Vuurbin continued speaking, quietly following the group as they moved onward. "I'm not saying it as fact; it's just a guess to explain why we've never seen this sort of advanced construction anywhere on Vesnia before."

  Lorne ignored the priest of the flesh and continued walking but suddenly stopped, the rest of the group coming to a halt directly behind him. Before them stood a large set of double doors and above it hung a sign which had been tarnished through the ages, however the message could still be read: "WARNING: Restricted Area."

  Lorne turned to Sielan who was likewise looking at the sign. "What about this? Is this a first as well?"

  Sielan faintly nodded her head affirmatively. "While the humans spoke the same language we do, we've rarely recovered any actual writing from dig sites. In fact, I only know of two books recovered that were intact enough to read, but both were just diaries about their daily lives, nothing of significance. We've never discovered any public signs amongst human ruins, but I imagine they did have them. Most likely by the time we got to them they had decayed and crumbled away into nothing."

  Corvul stepped forward towards the large double doors. "Well, it's not restricted anymore, let's see what's in there." The officer, using both hands, gave the double doors a mighty push and they slowly flung wide open, the rusty and ancient hinges squeaking in the process. A fine mist of dust billowed into the air and slowly settled once the doors came to a stop. Before them was a large room supported by four massive steel pillars that vaguely resembled the initial waiting area but even bigger. As the group stepped into the room their breaths caught in their throats. Thelais, still weakened from her exertion earlier, suddenly felt dizzy due to the sight before her. All along the northern and southern walls of the large room were rock golems, the predecessors to the Vesnians, the third generation of children created by Juxon and Lunara.

  "Wh-what are they doing here?" Lorne stammered in disbelief as he slowly moved over to the northern wall to get a closer look at the golems. The rock creatures resembled the Vesnians but were slightly larger and their faces were not as defined, all of them uniform and identical. Some of them had been destroyed by time, their bodies broken into stone shards; others were
missing a head or fractured into several pieces. A great many of the golems though remained in perfect form.

  "This must be where Juxon deposited them, locking them deep beneath the planet," said Sielan running her hand across one of their rocky bodies. "They refused to live, not seeing the logic in existence, and thus they were entombed deep beneath the planet to live, or rather not live. This structure may have been built by Juxon after all, to store his wayward children, or maybe he simply commandeered it from the humans as a storage area."

  "Why is there not more of them?" Gowinda asked his question as he moved towards the southern side to inspect the silent golems on that wall. "The Book of the Flesh teaches us that there are thousands upon thousands of rock golems. There are only perhaps fifty in this room."

  "Something is not right here," said Tulinda quietly, standing back from the group and looking around the room, her face as usual obscured by the folds of her hood. "I sense something incredibly powerful that I have never felt before." The warriors of the group drew their weapons in response to Tulinda's warning. Sielan, Thelais and Vuurbin all started backing away from the golems they were looking at.

  "What is it?" Corvul asked aloud as all the warriors spread out in search of whatever danger Tulinda was sensing.

  "It's getting stronger," said the geomancer, her eyes closed beneath her hood while trying to take in the full effect of the forces bombarding her. "It...it’s the golems, the ancient spell work holding them together, it's activating."

  "What?" Lorne asked his question in exasperation. "What do you mean the spells are activating?"

  Tulinda opened her eyes, a frantic expression on her face as her gaze swept across the room. "It means that..."

  Loud grinding sounds echoed out across the hallway and a thud resounded from behind Lorne. He spun around to see the rock golem directly behind him step forward. The elemental creature roared; its bellowed cry quickly matched by dozens more as those golems which were still intact began moving away from their previous sentinel positions. As Lorne watched in awe, the golem, belying its cumbersome form, swung its mighty arm backwards pulverizing Lorne with a blow that sent him flying, his long sword flung from his hand. Lorne hit the steel ground hard and skidded a short distance finally stopping when his body plowed into one of the large support pillars. A burning pain shot through his back, but he ignored it and quickly got back on his feet to the sight of three golems charging at him with alarming speed. He withdrew a short sword from his belt and dodged backwards avoiding a massive two-handed smash from one that caused a dent in the steel floor.

  Another golem was upon him in quick succession; he ducked a punch that might have taken off his head if it had connected. Lorne yelled and with all his might thrust forward with his sword at the golem's abdomen. The sword penetrated the golem's rocky body, but unfortunately the creature didn't show the slightest discomfort at a sword being lodged in its gut. Lorne held onto the sword and as the golem backed away the sword released from the body, sand and pebbles falling out of the gash in its belly.

  Lorne had lost track of the third golem when a hard rocky shoulder slammed into his side knocking him to the floor again and causing him to lose all sense of direction. He flipped onto his back only to see the bottom of a granite foot descending towards his head. He quickly rolled as the foot came crashing down on the floor. Lorne's body cried in agony, but he quickly shuffled backwards with frantic movement. He heard a loud thudding sound and looked up to see the head of the golem before him hitting the floor, a louder thud followed as the creature's body fell shattering into hundreds of fragments. Zeranidul was suddenly next to Lorne and extended a hand to quickly helping the high commander to his feet.

  "Their heads, take off their heads!" Yelled Zeranidul as the nimble Tormos dodged a series of quick and ferocious attacks from one of the golems. Lorne likewise rolled to avoid an attack from a rock construct and quickly darted across open space. The high commander dove and slid across the steel floor grabbing his long sword in the process from where it had landed near the center of the room. He lithely rolled to his feet and side stepped the pursuing golem, as it passed him the high commander spun, swinging his long blade in the process and decapitating the creature in one fluid motion from behind.

  He quickly glanced around the room, Corvul and Gowinda were holding their own but there were so many golems they would soon be overrun, he counted at least twenty golems still standing. The third golem he had initially been assaulted by was ferociously swinging at Zeranidul. Lorne ran up from behind the golem and ran his sword through its head, he pulled hard and tore off the majority of its skull which went flying across the room. Sand and debris poured out of the head wound, the creature fell lifelessly causing its body to crack and fragment from the impact with the steel floor.

  "Go help them!" Lorne yelled to Zeranidul while motioning towards Gowinda and Corvul. "I'll be over in a second." The lean Tormos grunted in acknowledgement and rushed over to lend aid to Gowinda who was doing nothing more than dodging an endless onslaught from six golems.

  Lorne, cringed in pain as he limped over to Thelais, Tulinda, Vuurbin and Sielan. As he approached, he saw horror on Thelais face. Lorne reached up and touched his face, when he withdrew his hand, he found it covered in blood. He had been so embroiled in the battle that he had not realized he had been wounded badly from the initial assault. The high commander could only imagine what his face looked like.

  "Tulinda, they are made entirely of stone, sand and gravel. Can't you do anything to dismember them?" Lorne pleaded to the geomancer who stood motionless while taking in the whole scene.

  "It's possible," began Tulinda with a waiver of uncertainty in her voice. "The magic that is holding them together and giving them life is a power I have never felt before. These creatures are empowered by the very will of the Gods themselves. While I do not need to cast spells when commanding rocks, the strain I will undergo to dismember the network of spells Juxton and Lunara used to create these beings will be massive. Even if I succeeded in dismantling them, I will be left as weak and fatigued as Thelais was after her meteor. You are literally asking me to undo the work of Juxon and Lunara."

  Lorne looked out and saw Gowinda take a mighty blow, his body slamming into the southern wall. While Zeranidul had managed to decapitate another one of the golems, the warriors were fighting a losing battle. The golems were faster, stronger and seemed to have no thought of self-preservation, attacking with reckless aggression. If something wasn't done soon one or more of the group may die in the fight with the golems.

  "Do it! We'll hold them off as long as we can, but we need your help." Lorne stated his command and reached out to touch the shoulder of the geomancer. He noticed her head turn slightly to look at the hand touching her, as if perplexed by his action. She gave no outward sign of approval, but he knew she would do as he asked, they had no other choice. With that Lorne turned and ran to the other side of the room where the rest of the group was fighting. Two golems lay dead around Corvul, but he was being overrun by three constructs.

  Lorne bellowed and charged at one of the golems which turned in his direction and counter charged the high commander. At the last-minute Lorne juked to the side while swinging his sword low and cut off one of the elemental's legs at the knee. The creature stumbled and fell on its face. Lorne quickly raced over to where it lay. As the monstrosity began pushing itself up Lorne brought his blade down cleanly cutting the head off. A mighty blow immediately impacted Lorne's side and he heard a cracking sound, one or more of his ribs breaking followed by fiery intense pain shooting through his body. He fell backwards landing hard on the steel floor, one of the other golems had broken off from combat with Gowinda and attacked Lorne from a blind spot.

  Lorne's face contorted in pain and out of instinct he began rolling, a second later he saw a fist impact the ground where his skull would have been. Lorne pushed himself up in time to avoid another arching smash from the beast, the mighty blow denting the metallic floor
. The high commander began back peddling as the golem pushed the assault. Lorne spun and swung his sword but missed. Another hard granite fist slammed into his face and sent him sprawling. Lorne tasted copper and coughed as he hit the floor, blood spurting from his mouth. He looked up; his vision slightly glazed over from the disorienting blow and saw Corvul jump on the back of the golem that had been assaulting him.

  Corvul shoved a sword through the neck of the construct but before he could wrench it to finish the job, the golem bucked its back and flung Corvul off. The creature turned to pursue Corvul, the sword still protruding from its neck, when it stopped abruptly, froze perfectly still, and then instantly crumbled, its entire body being reduced to nothing but a fine sand.

  Lorne, his head pounding, shifted his gaze to the far wall and saw the same occur across the room, the last remaining golems all froze in place and then disintegrated as if their very life had been ripped from their bodies. The high commander rolled over and pushed himself up to a sitting position, his whole body crying in pain from the movement. He glanced to the main group and saw Tulinda collapse unconscious into the arms of Thelais. Lorne faintly smiled, they had survived yet again, there was still hope. The high commander tried to stand up, however the room began to dim and swirl around him. The last thing he remembered hearing right before he blacked out was screaming.

  CHAPTER 12

  The Long Goodbye

  Lorne jerked awake taking in a deep breath. His heart pounded in his chest and every inch of his body, especially his head and side, screamed in agony. He sat up to get a bearing on where he was, but the room started spinning due to his sudden movement. He gripped his forehead with one hand while supporting himself with the other, shutting his eyes and willing the pain and dizziness to dissipate. After a moment he slowly opened his eyes and took in his surroundings. He was still in the room where the stone golems had attacked them. He noticed where his head had been laying was now a small pool of blood. About twenty feet away from him near the opposite door of where they had entered from sat Gowinda, Zeranidul and Corvul, all three of them appeared as injured as Lorne. Thelais was moving amongst them trying to mend the minor cuts and bruises with what limited resources she had deep in this nightmarish subterranean labyrinth.