by Ian Rodgers
“It might be possible with this,” Dora said, holding up the Depiction of Utopia. “It doesn’t have a lot of power left after being drained for three thousand straight years, but if we all channel our mana into it, we could potentially conjure up a barrier big enough for the three of us to sleep in, and it would last several hours at least.”
The two guys exchanged looks before nodding. What did they have to lose? After gathering underneath the gnarled old tree that was not visibly evil in any way, all three of them placed their hands on the impossibly ancient and holy relic, and began to pump what little mana they had left into it.
The parchment glowed purest white, bathing the trio is its blessing. Slowly, a bubble crept outwards, enveloping all of them. It grew a few more feet before the luminance began to dull and the barrier flicked. Noticing that, Dora reeled in some of her power, adjusting the size to one that was stable. They had a relatively small space, and the barrier took the form of a triangular pyramid with the tree they were hiding under forming the center of the magical barrier.
Upon finishing, the expressions of all three lit up as the dull throbbing of various aches and pains faded away. The gnawing and itching of the Miasma was gone completely, and they let out a sigh of relief.
“I could get used to this…” Enrai murmured sleepily, suddenly overwhelmed by the fatigue the Abyss had hidden.
“…Me too…” Dora yawned. Ain’s response was a snore, the elf’s head propped up against a rock as he used it like a pillow. Enrai and Dora followed his lead, and were transported to dreamland.
Before long, though, Dora found herself ‘waking’ inside of a familiar realm of quicksilver currents and endless silvery skies.
‘Another meeting with Lady Nia after all this time?’ the half-orc wondered. It’d been a while since she’d last received word from the Goddess of Love.
As she thought that, a vaguely feminine humanoid form rose up from the liquid silver and Dora felt a sensation of peace and affection radiating from it.
“Lady Nia?” the Healer asked cautiously. After all, this being could just be a random blob that’d come by to say ‘hello.’
A tinkling giggle rang out through the emptiness. “Indeed, ‘tis I, young Ildora,” Nia confirmed.
“You look… slightly more defined than last time,” Dora said, eyeing the feminine curves on the formerly shapeless entity. “And, could you not call me that?”
“Yes, with you in the Aether, I can communicate with you much easier, and my dreamscape form can look a little more… normal,” Nia responded.
“Why don’t you look, uh, human? Like in my theology books,” she inquired, and the goddess emitted a wave of sorrow.
“You don’t truly believe in me, or yourself, Ildora. Hence why I cannot manifest my true form in your dreams,” Nia said. A frown crossed Dora’s face at that.
“But… I do! I-I do believe in the Divine Family again! And please, my name is Dora!”
“You’ve turned your back on Naliot and begun to follow the teachings your mother taught you, but you still harbor resentment in your heart towards me and my family. Both for your mother’s death, and now your father’s. And I call you Ildora because that is your name, the one your parents who love you bestowed upon you. Why should I call you anything different?”
“Ildora never existed!” Dora shouted angrily, tears welling up in her eyes. “She never had a chance to! Mother never once referred to me by that name because of what Scarrot, my father, did! I’m Dora, now. Dora Halfmoon. And don’t you dare say otherwise!”
Dora panted heavily, staring at the motionless figure before her. As her rage bled away, she grew worried she had offended the goddess, but contrary to her fears, the divine woman reached down and drew her in for a hug.
“At last! You finally are starting to accept yourself!” Nia cheered. “Now, if only you could start to accept being my Chosen One, and everything will be fine!”
“Wait, what?” the half-orc gasped, confused. “Was this… a test?”
“Please, do not be upset with me,” Nia pleaded, sounding nothing like an almighty goddess at the moment. “I needed to shake your soul and your heart, to check if you were still capable of doing what needed to be done. Out of my three Chosen Ones, you’ve been the most… stubborn.”
“And that necessitated calling me names?” Dora demanded incredulously.
“Your heart is closed off,” Nia said softly, regret in her voice. “Of all my Chosen Ones, your life has been the hardest. Out of all my Chosen Ones, you are the most hurt and broken. You’ve begun to heal, but it’s been slow, and I’ve been worried about your progress.”
“At least you care,” Dora said softly, pressing her head against Nia’s ‘body’ and returning the hug. “Even though I wish you’d shown you did much sooner.”
“I wish I had been able to as well,” the Goddess of Love sighed wistfully.
“…You mentioned other Chosen Ones. Who are they?” Dora asked after a bit. “And why do you even need Chosen Ones?”
“I won’t tell you everything. That’d spoil the surprise,” Nia said, somehow giving off the sense she’d winked at Dora despite her avatar lacking eyes or even a face. “But I can tell you, that my Herald is certainly unusual, and the youngest of you three. My Paladin is a bit… complicated due to my father and brother having staked claims on him before I managed to bless him, but they’ve promised me they’ll hand him over when the time comes. And you are to take the role of my Cleric, blessing allies and smiting my foes!”
“Do those foes include the Queen Swathed in Vermillion for kidnapping your pets?” Dora inquired. Nia winced and lowered the half-orc back down to the ill-defined ‘floor’ of the silvery realm.
“About that… to be honest, you weren’t actually supposed to rescue them at all. At first, my darlings were going to act as guides for you and the Paladin when you came to the Aether. Teach you and him about responsibility and the threats you’d face in the future,” Nia admitted sheepishly. “But your rejection of Naliot angered that wretched, chained-up coward, and so he plotted against me and had his servants steal them away and hide them for revenge of sorts. Selling them to that bloated, perverse Demon Lord must have been a bonus for him.”
“Oh,” Dora said, realizing that refusing the offer the Chained God had given her was the reason she was now in the Abyss trying to rescue Nia’s pet Elemental Tails. “I guess I screwed things up, huh?”
“Somewhat,” Nia confirmed, “but if you hadn’t denied his request, your soul would be lost to me, and he’d have control of a Chosen One. Not exactly something any god wants to happen to them. With you under his control he’d have power over a portion of my own divinity, and be able to corrupt my followers. So I consider it a balancing act.”
“Well, don’t worry, I’ll be sure to save them!” Dora declared firmly.
The featureless effigy of the goddess nodded, pride in her tone as she replied, “I know you will.”
“And, here, before you wake up for real, take these,” Nia said, and Dora felt something warm settle inside of her chest. “Use those spells as soon as you can!”
“I will! But, uh, you never answered my other question: Why me? Why Chosen Ones at all?”
Fear and loathing spilled forth from Nia as the realm around them darkened and cracked, signs of Dora waking up.
“The World Rebellion calls out to the Void, child. Evil stirs in the hearts of mortals and the darkness grows strong on Erafore. Be wary, and be ready…”
With a gasp, Dora sat bolt upright, letting out an ‘Oof!’ of surprise as she banged her head against the barrier’s ‘ceiling.’ Enrai too woke with a start, snorting out “I’m awake!” as he too proceeded to mash his forehead against the top of the cramped barrier.
“Dora? What’s wrong?” Ain asked, suppressing a yawn. The half-orc turned to him with a wide smile that made the Spellsword recoil from its intensity.
“Nothing! In fact, I believe we have the solutions to
our problems,” she declared gleefully as she probed the spells Nia had left inside of her, and learned what they did.
Chapter 13: Carnage
“So, this spell of Lady Nia’s will protect all three of us from any more Miasma? And even allow us to use our magic as if we weren’t being restricted by the Abyss?” Enrai asked cautiously as Dora continued setting up the spell. It required a great deal of concentration, mana, and ingredients to be cast properly. Seeing it was a Level Nine spell, and more powerful than almost any other spell she’d ever used, the Healer wanted everything to go smoothly.
“Uh-huh,” she replied vaguely, eyes focused on the ritual she was setting up.
“Do you have the strength to pull off something of this magnitude, Dora?” Ain inquired, and she shot him an insulted look.
“Hey, if I can cast a legendary spell like Restore off, then a Divine Protection From Evil should be no problem,” the half-orc insisted, flipping her blonde ponytail over her shoulder in a huff. She went back to organizing the complex magical array she was drawing around the lone tree they’d camped out under last night.
“Fair enough,” the Grand Elf conceded, and went back to watching her work, occasionally glancing off to the side to watch the surroundings. Things were quiet and calm. Unnaturally so. Odds were demons were nearby, but waiting for the barrier to disappear before trying their luck.
The trio was still hiding inside of the barrier the Depiction of Utopia had created for them last night. It provided a safe, if cramped, space to set up the ritual. And once Dora undid the barrier, she’d immediately cast the first of the two spells Nia had given her.
“Okay, are you two ready?” Dora asked as she took her spot at the head of the triangle she’d drawn on the ground with salt. Enrai and Ain swiftly stood at one of the other points of the triangular magical array. They nodded in confirmation, and Dora dispelled the barrier.
Immediately all three of them groaned in pain and nausea as they felt the crippling touch of the Abyss’s Miasma. Dora wasted no time to activate the magical array, and with a thrum of energy that shook the trio’s very bones, the materials they’d laid out were consumed by magic.
The salt burned, the various gemstones melted, and the assorted magical reagents turned to dust. In the middle of the magical array, the tree collapsed into coal that mixed with the other items. The burning salt ignited the coal, turning it into a violet blaze that drank up the molten jewels to grow even more intense, while the dust from the other magical materials were devoured by the now brightly shining purple flames.
A strange scream of rage and disbelief rang through the air as the now royal purple bonfire exploded outwards, wrapping the trio in its burning grasp. Instead of pain, however, the group only felt relief from the Miasma as the magic of the ritual burnt away the Dark magic trying to infest them.
The glorious fire then sunk into their flesh, sinking into the depths of their souls to protect them from the corrupting influences of the Abyss.
Dora let out a sigh of relief and joy: relief for succeeding in perfectly casting Divine Protection From Evil, and joy from feeling its effects working. If she listened closely and attuned her magic to her body, the Healer could hear the hiss and pop of Dark mana being driven from her.
“Sounds like raindrops evaporating from surface of a hot pan,” Enrai said softly, doing the same as Dora and getting a feel for the full effects of the spell.
“Rather soothing,” Ain muttered, a faint grin on his lips as he felt his magic return to him, no longer repressed by the Miasma. A feral grin then split his face wide open as he spun around, drawing his saber in one smooth movement and gathering a fearsome amount of magical power to him.
A titanic purple lightning bolt fell from cloudless skies to impact a veritable tide of chittering, slavering maws, jaws, and beaks that had appeared from behind a hill. It exploded in the midst of the horde, sending countless charred and shattered demons flying. And unlike other times Ain had used his Lightning magic to fight them, this spell actually seemed to do permanent, physical damage to the demons, their wounds healing much slower, if at all.
‘No doubt a side effect of being under such a powerful anti-demon protection spell,’ Dora mused, watching as the tide of demons screeched to a halt as Ain unleashed more lightning bolts onto them.
“Seems like they were waiting for us to lower our defenses,” Enrai snorted, fire with a hint of purple spurting from his nostrils. With a casual wave of his hands, amethyst colored flames gushed forth and swallowed up the demonic horde.
Dora watched the duo annihilate the entire force of demons with little strain, a tiny smile of her face. After a few more seconds of righteous violence, she clapped her hands, the sound resounding through the area like a crack of thunder.
“Time to go, you two,” she said calmly. “We have a Demon Lord to confront.”
“Neat. How exactly are we going to find her base, though?” Enrai asked, recalling what she’d said earlier about navigating the Abyss.
“Like this: Guide my feet, my hands, my heart! Show me the way to my quest! Heroic Compass!” Dora chanted, and she felt a tugging sensation on her soul.
“Come! This way!” she declared, turning in a seemingly random direction and striding past the piles of vanquished demons. Enrai and Ain looked at each other before shrugging, and followed behind her. Wouldn’t be the first or last time they blindly followed the Healer’s directions.
∞.∞.∞
“This is the Vale of Screams?” Enrai uttered, both horrified and intrigued as he stared at the sight before him.
“It certainly fits the Abyss’ aesthetic,” Ain said, unable to tear his eyes from the scene before him.
Dora said nothing, doing her best to hold in her bile at the sights, but the tugging sensation in her soul was stronger now. This was indeed the right place.
Nestled between mountains of twisted and deformed scarlet stone, the Vale of Screams was a prime example of the Abyss. The walls of the valley were fleshy and looked and felt like raw meat, pulsating every so often in unnatural ways. Then, there was the constant howling, braying, and screaming that gave this region its name. This cacophony emanated from countless faces and heads growing out of the walls of the valley.
Some of them were little more than a pair of lips, screeching mindlessly. Others were whole heads, ranging from human, to elf, to more exotic like dragons and bird or beast-headed beings, all of them pleading and begging to be allowed to die. Their eyes, if they had them, followed the trio as they entered the horrific region.
“Gonna have nightmares after this,” the Monk grumbled as they began to walk through the Vale.
“The Wailing Tower where the Queen Swathed in Vermillion dwells should be near the center of this place,” Dora said softly, trying to ignore the foul sights around them. Which, sadly, was easier said than done when a head rapidly stretched out of its place on the Vale’s wall, its neck like a serpent, and tried to bite down on the half-orc who was leading the way.
Before freakishly large teeth could even touch her, purple flames roared up and seared the face off of the aggressive head, causing it to wail in pain and recoil, retreating back to its spot on the wall.
“Well, I see why Lady Nia insisted I use that Divine Protection spell,” Dora said, attempting to make light of the fact that she’d have had her head bitten off just now if not for the goddess’ blessing. It failed, and her trembling voice caused Enrai and Ain to form up protectively around her.
“Take it easy, Dora. We don’t need to rush, so take your time,” Enrai assured her.
“And we’ll guard you the whole- Argh! Get it off me!” Ain cried out, wildly kicking his left leg as it was grabbed by another greedy mouth. Thankfully, the spell continued to protect the elf, leaving him unharmed, if slightly embarrassed by panicking.
Dora snorted in amusement at Ain’s reaction, feeling herself grow more confident. “Yeah, with you two by my side, there’s nothing we cannot conquer or overcome!�
�� she declared joyously.
Buoyed by Dora’s cheer, the trio continued their trek into the Vale of Screams, eyes peeled for any sign of a tower, castle, or habitation at all.
“What do you think this Wailing Tower will be made of?” Enrai asked Dora as they walked through the valley.
“Could be anything, really. Odds are it’s somehow been made out of faces, or something, given the name and the location it is in,” the Healer surmised.
“Yeah, that makes sense,” the Monk sighed, punching a face that tried to nip at him. It recoiled with a squeak, and went ignored.
“This whole realm makes no sense,” Ain muttered despondently, glancing here and there as the group moved onwards.
“The Abyss is all about chaos, Ain. It defies expectations and explanations,” Dora replied with a shake of her head. “I agree with your complaint, though. Even Gaeum, as wild and random as it had been, still followed rules that were similar enough to Erafore that it made it seem… familiar, I guess? This place is just wrong. In ways both subtle, and not.”
“Hey, Dora, speaking of ‘unsubtle,’ I think we’ve found the Wailing Tower,” Enrai said as they turned a corner, his voice trembling with repressed revulsion. She turned her head and blanched, all the blood draining from her face. At her side, Ain cursed magnificently.
Sitting in the middle of the path was a titanic figure, the head and shoulders reaching up to the very tips of the surroundings peaks. It lacked skin, its muscles and organ disturbingly similar to that of a human’s.
But what was even more grotesque and unnerving was that the enormous skinned creature was bound in what could only be described as bondage fetish gear. Its eyes were covered by a red blindfold, while its hands and legs were wrapped in crimson leather bindings. A huge ball-gag made from a single massive ruby was placed in its mouth, muffling an endless, hair-raising wail that was trying to escape from the mountain-sized entity.
Yet somehow, the longer the trio looked, the more horrified they became. Holes had been carved into the mountainous creature’s body, and the inside looked to have been hollowed out with magic and transformed into a palace. Doors of fancy wood and windows made of beautiful stained glass were placed over the gaping holes that dotted its body.