by Dante King
“Do you miss it?” I asked.
She chuckled softly and shook her head. “Truth be told, I don’t. When you first took my divinity for yourself, it was rather difficult for me to adjust to being mortal again. Needing to sleep, growing tired, having all these limitations placed on me. But after hundreds of years of being a goddess, I’d come to realize that I missed all these things. I now enjoy a good night’s sleep and feeling refreshed when I awaken. For the longest time after I lost my divinity and you became the new God of Death, I was angry. I resented you, and I plotted ways to take it back. But I couldn’t bring myself to complete any of my schemes. It was clear that you were a better, stronger Death deity than I ever could have been… but there was more. I felt—feel—something for you, Vance. I lost a part of myself very long ago when I first became the Goddess of Death. I forgot what it was to… to love a man. Until you came along.”
Now, this was something. Isu had gone from being a cold-hearted killer to saying that she loved me? I wasn’t sure how to respond, but before I could say anything, she continued.
“I don’t expect you to love me in return.” She smiled softly, and her violet eyes glistened with happy tears. “I imagine it would be quite difficult to love so many women at once.”
I took her by the hand. “I have a lot of love to give.” I wasn’t sure whether I could explicitly state to Isu that I loved her, but this felt like the right thing to do. I could be a cold asshole to my enemies, but I would always treat my women well.
“Understood,” Isu said as she squeezed my hand. “I did have feelings of jealousy to contend with for a long time. To be quite honest, such feelings made me a nasty bitch a lot of the time.”
“I can’t disagree with that,” I said with a laugh, and Isu narrowed her eyes before chuckling sweetly.
“I’ve accepted that sharing you with the other women is the best way to love you, because it’s loving you for who you really are.”
“Thank you, Isu,” I said. “Everything you’ve said... it means a lot to me. You gave me everything, and I’ll always owe what I am now to you. I won’t forget that.”
We both stopped walking, and she looked up at me with something I’d never before seen in her eyes: warmth. Genuine affection. She kissed me on the cheek, something else she’d never done.
“I’ll always be here for you, Vance.” She gave my hands another squeeze. “Always. But come, enough of this talk,” she continued before I could say anything else. “We need to determine how to lift the curse my younger self so rashly placed on this city all those years ago. I have a hunch you’re going to need Layna with you in Yeng, and the only way that’s going to happen is if we can break the curse.”
“You cursed the city using your newly acquired Death powers,” I said to her as we strolled along a deserted cobblestone street, wispy spiderwebs fluttering like pennants on the tops of buildings in a sudden night wind. “I’ve never done anything like it, or wanted to either. Why don’t I have this skill, if, as you say, I’m a more powerful Death god?”
“I’ve been pondering that question myself. And I think it’s because you and I are quite distinct types of gods.”
“I’m the God of Death, you were the Goddess of Death; how’s that any different, aside from what’s between our respective legs?”
“What hangs between your legs sets you apart from most men, let alone women.” Isu shot a hungry glance down at the bulge in my crotch. “But as for you and me, you’re a deity drawing from the same pool of power that I used when I was a goddess—Death—but you’re implementing it in a very different way. You’re a warrior god, a fighter using your Death powers mostly for combat. Your skill tree is leading you in that direction, the direction of a mighty conqueror, a leader of armies. When I was a goddess, my skill tree led me on a different path. I possessed a few skills that were useful for fighting, but the bulk of the skills I developed were not for that. Laying curses on people and places was one of my specialties, in the same way that you have some exceptional skills in battle, like corpse explosion spells.”
“Then how do I lift this curse?”
Isu thought about this for a while as we walked along in silence.
“Perhaps you don’t need those sorts of skills to lift the curse,” she eventually said. “After all, you don’t need to be a tailor to destroy a dress. You only have to be a tailor to make a dress. And you don’t need to be a surgeon to kill a human being; you only need to be a surgeon to repair a person’s body. You just need to be able to see it. You’re the God of Death, Vance. All you need to do is look in the right place, see the curse, and dismantle it. You have the power.”
I nodded slowly in understanding. “If it’s made with Death magic, I should be able to see the essential strands of that magic. And if I can see them, I can cut them, I can rip them up.”
“Let’s go to the fountain in the middle of the city,” Isu suggested. “That’s where I created the curse. I did it in response to Lucielle’s Beauty Blessing she gave to that fountain, which turned all the citizens into narcissists. Despite the folly of my youth, I still don’t quite regret it. Ignorant twists. . .”
She muttered the final sentence under her breath, and it ended with a venomous hiss as a familiar anger flickered across her eyes. I had to let out a chuckle. Isu hadn’t gone soft. I was glad to see that some of her sharp edges remained; she wouldn’t be the Isu I knew without them.
We walked to the old fountain in the center of Aith, where every Arachne in the city would take a daily drink. Isu sauntered over to a cobblestone near the rim of the fountain. It was much darker than the other stones.
She pointed to the dark stone. “This is where I stood when I created the curse.”
“Let’s see what I can do,” I said as I stepped onto it.
I would have to draw on the power of Death; that had to be part of it. I had done this—dived through the layers of dirt underneath our feet—many times. On those previous occasions, I’d drawn on the lingering dark energy of death that festered in the earth, where thousands, tens of thousands, millions of bones lay buried as they rotted and turned to dirt. Usually, I channeled this kind of power into a weapon, a potent striking force, but now, I’d have to do something very different with it.
“What I did,” Isu said, “was pull the power of death apart into thousands of little threads rather than concentrate it into a powerful beam like you do. Think of it as unraveling the fibers at one end of a thick rope, making it all frayed and splayed out. Separate each little fiber from the rope, but leave the other end of the rope, the one rooted deep in the core of the earth, intact. This rope is tight and intact at one end, anchored to the depths of the earth and frayed at the other. Each separate fiber is woven through the stones and bricks and mortar of this city, like the wick of an oil lamp. Imagine the rope being made of very dry, absorbent material, and imagine the power of Death deep below the ground as icy oil. So, this frayed rope would be sucking that power up from the ground, slowly, like the wick drawing oil. The curse I created would be like a flame, burning slowly at the ends of every little fiber woven through the structures of this city, a fire slowly roasting every person living here.”
I simply nodded, and proceeded. With a lurch, my soul blasted through the dirt beneath Aith like a meteor crashing through the earth. There was Death energy here, oh yes, and plenty of it. It called out to me like blazing light in a dark night.
Except the inverse: a pure darkness, blacker than anything one could imagine. It produced sensations colder than the eternal snow and monumental glaciers beyond the Northern Wastes. As I focused on this energy, I saw the strands of Death magic connecting the millions of dead things in all the layers of soil below Aith. Like a horde of giant black fingers, they wound a passage up through the dirt and rocks and skeletons and fossils. They pierced the surface and spread like choking vines through the city, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions.
Isu had done a thorough job her
e. And I had to somehow unravel it.
Even though it was my soul traveling through the layers of soil, I felt a physical presence appear in my spirit hand. When I glanced down, I saw my fingers gripping Grave Oath. The dagger’s blade, however, was now the same intense hue of black as the fibers of Death energy. It was perfect to sever the numerous cords, but cutting each and every strand near the surface would take days, weeks even. I remembered what Isu had said about one end of the wick being like an intact rope, deep down in the earth. If I could find that and slash through it, I would kill everything above it.
I pushed myself deeper, like a diver swimming ever deeper below the waves, past where the skeletons of men and familiar creatures rotted in the dirt. Here, there were skeletons so old that the bones had turned to black stone, huge, lizard-like things resembling dragons but of a great variety of species. Creatures that certainly didn’t exist today, and hadn’t existed, I was sure, for millions of years. It was here, in these most ancient depths, that I finally found the end of the wick Isu had planted hundreds of years ago. It was as thick as the trunk of an ancient cyprus tree.
I wasn’t sure how long it would take to cut through so large a thread with only a dagger, but I had to try. Layna wanted the curse lifted, but her people would benefit too. And my motives weren’t completely altruistic either. If I vanquished this ailment from the city, the Arachne would likely worship me, providing me with more power as I ascended toward the heights of divinity.
With this in mind, I swam through the icy soil and started hacking at the massive black cord. At first, only small chips broke away from the cord. I growled in frustration after what felt like hours proceeded with little effect and a whole lot of effort.
Still, I continued. I was starting to get exhausted when the massive cord seemed to groan and shudder, as though it was somehow alive and my cuts were harming it. I smiled at the cord’s response and used it to invigorate my efforts. Soon, Grave Oath sheared through the energy rope with ease. From there, it took only a couple of minutes of slashing. The instant I cut through the final fibers, an earthquake jolted my spirit to the surface. With a tremendous snap, like a giant’s crossbow string, I was launched back into my body.
I opened my eyes and saw that the whole city was shaking. The earthquake I had heard before was clearly a literal one. Dust blasted in angry puffs from the buildings while the ground rumbled and shuddered. Potted plants and other items fell from rooftops and smashed to the ground. Torches flared up in the windows all around us as the citizens of Aith were roused from their slumber.
“What did you do?” Isu asked, her eyes wide.
“Exactly what you told me to,” I answered with a shrug. “This is the curse’s death rattle.”
I could feel the strands of Death energy withering and dying, all the while still interwoven with the earthen materials of the city of Aith and the flesh of the Arachne.
But then it stopped. The earth stopped quaking, and the air seemed to grow lighter, crisper, and fresher. A smile broke across Isu’s pale, beautiful face.
“You did it, Vance! You destroyed my curse!”
I grinned. “Damn right I did. Let’s go find Layna.”
“She’s probably sleeping.”
“I doubt it. Even if the tremors didn’t wake her, don’t you think being freed of a centuries-old curse is worth rousing her?”
Isu chuckled—another rarity. “You’re right. Besides, the sands of the hourglass are falling. And you now have two major enemies closing their pincers around you. We cannot afford to waste any time.”
Chapter Four
Isu and I went to Aith Palace, where we were met with no opposition. Layna had given the guards and servants strict orders that I was to be admitted to the palace at any time, day or night, where I had free reign. I went straight to Layna’s chambers, Isu striding briskly along behind me, and bashed on the door. To my surprise, it opened almost immediately.
Layna stood in the doorway, dressed not in her nightgown but in the queenly robes she wore during the daytime.
“I’ve been expecting you,” she said with a smile. “I felt it, half an hour ago, as I’m sure every other Arachne in this city did. You lifted the curse. You gave us freedom, true freedom, something we have longed for for hundreds of years! Something we thought would never arrive, but which, against all odds, finally has. Every Arachne in Aith was woken when the curse was lifted. They won’t be sleeping again until the excitement has worn off. They will feast. Perhaps for days on end.”
“Almost makes me want to hang around for a bit,” I said.
“You have a mission to complete,” Isu reminded me.
“That I do,” I said with a sigh.
“And I will help you,” Layna said. “I’ll send out an announcement along the webs.”
“Along the webs?” I asked.
“You have noticed that every building in Aith is connected by spiderwebs, haven’t you?”
“I just thought, where there’s spiders, there’s webs, and where there’s fucking huge spiders, there’s fucking huge webs.”
“They serve other purposes too; come, observe.” She beckoned Isu and me.
We followed her into her chamber, which was enormous and opulent, fitted with every luxury one would expect of a queen’s private chamber. A set of gigantic drapes made of glistening spider silk hung from the rafters beside the window. With a wave of Layna’s hand, they parted; it seemed that she could telekinetically manipulate anything made of spider silk.
“Why didn’t you tell me about your arachnid magic before?” I asked.
“You didn’t ask,” she retorted with a cheeky grin.
Beyond the drapes was a broad balcony overlooking Aith’s main square a couple hundred feet below. Layna approached the tangle of webs that stretched out into the city from the pillars of the balcony. She started to pluck the threads with her spider arms. The action created a strange resonance that hummed on the cords, almost as if they were the strings of some vast harp. I watched, fascinated, as the vibrations rippled at great speed along the threads of the web in all directions.
“That’s spooky,” I said.
“Have you ever closely observed a spider and its web?” Layna asked. “How it reacts immediately to any movement on its web, no matter how far?”
I nodded.
“Well, the Arachne have developed the vibrations in our webs into a form of communication. Depending on the speed and force used to pluck the strings, it creates a different vibration. Each can be ‘read’ as a word. The vibrations I’ve just sent out will travel all across the city, to every building via the spiderwebs. Every Arachne will read the call to assemble below in the city square. It’s quite an efficient means of mass communication, isn’t it? Unfortunately, it doesn’t have much use beyond Aith, and certainly wouldn’t be useful for anyone who is not an Arachne.”
“Don’t be so sure,” I said.
I had a contingent of zombie war spiders who could weave some pretty impressive webs, and with the intelligent Layna joining my party, we could probably think of a way to use this language..
Half an hour later, the city square below us was packed. The sight was something to behold. The entire square was a mass of Arachne, like some vast army. Every street and alley leading off the main square was crammed with Arachne too. The buzz of their excitement was an almost tangible energy.
“Arachne of Aith, welcome!” Layna’s voice echoed across the square. “Tonight is a night we will all remember for the rest of our days.”
A great cheer erupted from the crowd below.
“As you have all no doubt felt,” she continued, “the curse that has plagued our city and our people for centuries has finally been lifted. Our life force is no longer bound to this city.”
The crowd let out another roaring cheer.
“Arachne of Aith, standing beside me is the one responsible for destroying this terrible curse: Lord Vance Chauzec, God of Death!”
The cheer that
exploded from the crowd at the mention of my name was longer, louder, and prouder than any that had come before it. The roar pealed across the square like glorious thunder, and the hairs on my arms rose and tingled. It took almost five minutes for the crowd to quiet down enough for Layna to continue.
“As Webmaven of Aith, I now award Lord Chauzec with lifetime Freedom of Aith. He will always be welcome here, and what is more, if he ever needs us or our war spiders, we will always come to his aid, no matter where or when it is required.”
Everyone bellowed out a vociferous “Aye!”
“We are known as a cold people by outsiders, as a cruel and dangerous people, even, but we are more than that; we are a loyal people like no other. We are deadly to our foes, but fiercely loyal to our friends, and from this moment on, we will forever be loyal to Lord Chauzec, will we not?”
“Aye!” they all roared, the sound crashing like a glorious wave against my ear drums. “LORD CHAU-ZEC! LORD CHAU-ZEC! GOD OF DEATH! GOD OF DEATH!” they chanted as they drummed their spider legs together to make a thunderous beat go along with this chant, like a massive army thumping their spears against their shields in perfect time.
Layna turned to me while the crowd continued to chant.
“They adore you, Vance.” She beamed at me. “Which comes as no surprise, considering what you’ve done for them. Is there anything else, beyond our undying loyalty, that you would ask of me and the rest of the Arachne?”
“There is one thing, yes,” I said. “I will establish a church of the Temple of Necrosis here and consecrate the altar myself. Any Arachne warriors who wish to dedicate their kills to me will be given special coins to carry. Anyone else who wishes to offer me sacrifices will be welcome to—even the small sacrifice of time, in the form of prayers. It all adds up, and all of my worshipers help me in some small way. The more worshipers I have, the better.”
