by Ramy Vance
The platoon leader saluted Kravis. “You don’t have to say anything, sir. I understand.”
“You do?”
“Sacrifices. We all know when we have to make ‘em. Some people balk, but not the resistance. The deep gnomes are heading toward the coordinates. We might as well get going too.”
Kravis turned his hoverbike around, bolstered by the soldiers behind him in gearbox tanks and on hoverbikes. They had superior firepower and higher numbers now. All they had to do was their job.
Alex was drenched in blood as she waded through the battlefield. She’d ditched her dragon, realizing that the two of them could do more damage apart than together. The sky was full of harpies and vrosks, so many they were nearly blocking out the sky. It wasn’t any better on the ground. It was hard to see anything other than the dead. Team Boundless and some of the other forces that could fly were dealing with them, but there were so many, and even with Alex’s enhanced eyes, she struggled to understand what was going on.
Too many bodies, all fighting for…what? Freedom? Control?
A heavy fog rolled over the battlefield, moving too fast to be natural.
Alex scanned the area until she honed in on where the fog was coming from. A ghoul mage was standing atop a pile of bodies, casting a spell.
That fog wasn’t going to make anything easier for the gnomes or the goblins, and it was a terrible idea to leave a mage unattended.
Alex reached out to Chine. Hey, buddy, I need a lift!
Chine swooped in, and Alex leapt onto his back. The dragon flew toward the mage.
How much longer until the ether dragons get here? Alex asked.
A half-hour or so! he replied.
They closed on the mage. Alex disengaged her anchor and leapt off Chine to land in front of the mage.
It rolled its head and glared at Alex, raising its staff as it prepared a curse.
“Not today,” Alex said as she flexed her telekinesis, freezing the mage in place. She then conjured her scythe and decapitated the ghoul.
As the body dropped, Alex looked out over the grizzly battle. Dead gnomes and goblins were everywhere. It was difficult to tell the difference between their trampled bodies and the ground the ghouls marched relentlessly across.
In the distance, Alex could see Kravis returning with reinforcements and the deep gnomes’ mining tanks erupting from the ground, surrounding the Gate and the ghouls. Above, the dragonriders of Boundless were still trying to rid the skies of the harpies who swooped down and carried away gnomish soldiers.
It was a good effort. Alex could see that, but it wasn’t enough. She checked her Anchor, watching the estimated arrival of the ether dragons. “Remember…Thirty minutes. That’s all we gotta hold out for. Thirty minutes.”
Alex slid down the hill, hacking through the ghouls in front of her as she went and praying that the army could hold off for another half-hour.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Terra could nearly make out the pupils of the eyes looking down at them from the Dark One’s tower. She didn’t need to see them, though. She could feel the eyes creeping over her skin. They were a tangible presence, the feeling akin to having cold grapes rubbed over her.
She and Anabelle had fought through three waves of ghouls, each stronger than the one before. Terra had thought the Dark One was arrogant enough in his power to skimp on the defenses. She’d been very wrong.
The two Dark Gate Angels were catching their breath, having found a small cave away from the horde of ghouls ahead of them.
Even though Terra had felt her strength increase along with her drive for a good fight, she was exhausted. Passion wasn’t enough to get her through this; she needed rest. She hadn’t thought that she and Anabelle would have to fight through a gauntlet to get to the Dark One.
The elf pulled out a flask and took a swig, wincing as she downed the liquid. “You want some? I brought it along to share. Figured if this was going to be our last hurrah, I might as well make sure to have a good drink before it all goes down.”
Terra took the flask and smelled its contents. “And what exactly is your idea of a good last hurrah?”
“Dwarfish whiskey aged three hundred years in barrels above their smithing fires. A shot of that is usually enough to knock a human out. I figured you could probably handle it.”
Terra gulped down a slug of the whiskey. She felt like her whole body was on fire. It was hot enough to scream, but the feeling quickly subsided, replaced by warmth radiating from her stomach to the rest of her body. “Goddamn, that’s some good shit. How did you get your hands on this? Somehow, I imagine it’s not easy to find.”
“It might not look like it, but I hung out with a pretty rough and tumble bunch of dwarves back in the day.”
“Anabelle, we just fought our way through over two hundred ghouls. Why would I find it hard to believe that you hung out with tough dwarves?”
Anabelle laughed, an odd sound in the Netherverse. “Really, what do you think our odds are?”
Terra hadn’t thought much about it. She didn’t think in odds to begin with. Years ago, she would not have thought herself capable of something this important. There would never have been a reason for her to question the odds because she wouldn’t have had the confidence to try. Now there wasn’t even a conversation in her head about succeeding or failing. All she could do was try. That was the only thing she expected of herself.
“Not really thinking about it. We’re here to stop the Dark One, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Anabelle leaned against the cave’s wall, wincing when she noticed it was composed of souls. “Ugh. Can you believe this is where we go when we die? Honestly, I would have preferred something a lot less hellish. I’m not saying I bought into the elvish stories about the afterlife, but you know, it would have been nice if it wasn’t this shithole.”
“It’s not like that for everyone, remember? The lich said everyone experiences their own version of the afterlife, at least the people who aren’t ripped out of it to serve the Dark One.”
Anabelle glanced around the dismal cave and shrugged. “Eh. I’d still prefer for my soul not to be piled on top of other souls.”
Outside, there was a low, mournful wailing. It was greeted by another wail, slightly higher in pitch but sad all the same—the song of the Elder Ones. “What do you think they’re up there doing?” Terra asked. “You’d think they’d notice or care about all the shit going on beneath them?”
She poked her head out of the cave and watched the tentacles swaying behind the dark clouds. “Maybe that’s why they’re still around. They stopped caring about all this shit and just let what happens happen. We’d all be in a better situation if the Dark One didn’t care so fucking much about conquering all of existence.”
Terra took another swig from the flask. “Yeah, it’s a pretty shitty thing to care so much about. He could care about gardening. Or fly fishing. If every asshole cared more about gardening than whatever their passion project is, the realms would be nicer places.”
She handed the flask back to Anabelle, who drained it and reattached it to her hip. “We’re going to make it there, right?” the elf asked.
Terra stood and stretched her legs and arms. “You know, I thought that once I unlocked all this hidden potential, I’d be unstoppable. I remember watching Grok and seeing how she tore through everything. It’s funny, but it didn’t even cross my mind that she might have been getting tired.”
Anabelle joined Terra at the mouth of the cave. “You know, that’s not an answer.”
“That’s because I already answered it. We’re stopping the Dark One. You ready to get going?”
“Yeah. Yeah, let’s go.”
They walked out of the cave, heading toward the Dark One’s tower as the masses of screaming, unholy ghouls gathered before them. Terra knew they had to cut through the monsters, but even though she wanted to fight, her body was tired. Whatever pool of strength she was drawing from was not infinite.
Anabelle pointed to an area under the tower. “You see that up ahead? We need to cut through that.”
That was where the highest concentration of ghouls was. It was also the quickest route. “Okay. Let’s go for it.”
They quickened their pace, and Terra could feel the thirst for a fight growing in her again. It pounded along with her heartbeat. If this was going to be her last day among the living, she was glad to be spending it fighting with everything she had.
They let their bodies slip into the Path of the Lost. Terra was about to bring her wrath down on everything that stood between her and the Dark One when a loud voice boomed through the air.
The ghouls ahead froze, their dead mouths ajar as they craned their heads toward the sound.
Terra and Anabelle looked in the same direction, morbidly interested in the new danger that loomed ahead of them, but it was hidden by a fog that had descended without either of them noticing.
Cire stepped out of the dark fog, holding a staff in his hand. He was naked, his body covered in ashen war paint that gave him the look of a spirit, his dark and fiery eyes flashing in the dim light. He raised his staff, and the air rippled out from him. It headed for Anabelle and Terra, passed through them, and hit the ghouls behind them, eviscerating the creatures and leaving nothing in its wake.
Terra’s heart raced as she ran toward Cire. “Holy shit, you made it here all the way by yourself?”
Cire kissed her forehead, a gesture Terra would have once avoided and decried. Now, she prized this brief moment of intimacy before the Shaman turned his eyes to the tower. “There were no resources to spare,” he explained. “Their fight is difficult enough.”
Anabelle walked over to the orc and clasped his forearm, shaking it vigorously. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you.”
He smiled wearily. “Only the three of us are going to stand before the Dark One and challenge him? Where is Abby?”
Anabelle and Terra exchanged glances. Neither of them had spoken about Abby’s absence since she left to get Persephone. She should have been back, but the fact that she wasn’t meant she had run into trouble.
Terra had tried to keep from thinking the worst, but her heart was full of worry. Neither of them had heard from the girl. Anything could have happened.
The elf interrupted Terra’s thoughts. “Abby will get here when she gets here. We need to worry about getting to that tower. Now let’s go.”
She took off toward the ghouls who were beginning to rise from the ground, Tesla’s energy still flowing through them.
Cire caressed Terra’s cheek as he stared into her eyes. “If there is a better place to die beside my love, I cannot think of one.”
Terra blushed before leaning forward and kissing him. “Okay, can the romantic shit until we’re done with this, all right? And yeah, there really couldn’t be a better place.”
The two of them headed after Anabelle. Terra’s body flooded with the power of the Path and Cire rose into the air, his strange lich magic stretching from his body, causing roots to spring out of the ground and grip ghouls as Terra and Anabelle cut through them.
The agents made their way through the mass of ghouls, goblins, orcs, giants, and everything in between. Flames and electricity burst from Anabelle’s fists and feet, and Terra tore through anything she could get her hands on, ripping the soul-flesh. Cire’s arcane magicks conjured trees and roots with eyes and hands and mouths that grabbed ghouls and bit into them, tearing them asunder and tossing their bodies to the side as if they were garbage.
In this fashion, the three carved their way to the Dark One’s tower as the multitude of eyes glowered down on them, never taking their eyes off of the goal.
Finally, they were less than two hundred feet from the thing, which floated above as if taunting them.
Anabelle leaned over, her hands on her knees as she breathed heavily. “Okay, now what? Are we supposed to tear that thing down with our hands?”
A flash of light caused all three to jump.
Abby stood next to Anabelle, Terra at her side. “So, this is the big showdown, huh?”
Terra screamed when she saw Abby, a sound of pure joy. She grabbed the girl, hugged her tightly, and lifted her into the air. “Oh, my God, you’re alive!”
Abby tried to pry herself away from Terra. “Of course we’re alive. Did you think we couldn’t handle ourselves?”
Terra let her go, backing away and composing herself. “No. No, it’s just that you went after a big bad all on your own, one that gave us all a pretty hard time. You know, the mind wanders is all.”
Anabelle smiled lovingly at Abby as she embraced her. “I’m glad you’re safe.”
“You too,” Abby said. “Now hold on. I have a couple more loose ends to tie up.”
Abby vanished and reappeared within seconds, José and Myrddin at her side. The men looked extremely confused. She disappeared once more, reappearing with Suzuki, Alex, José, and Persephone a moment later.
“What about Rasputina and Grok? Sarah?” Anabelle asked. Abby shook her head. “Couldn’t get a lock on them. Wherever they are in this hell, they must be deep to block me.”
Myrddin’s eyes widened as he took in the scene. He finally spat, “What’s happening here?”
Abby answered, “We made adjustments to the plan. We’ve seen what happens if we don’t give this everything we have. All our heavy hitters—that’s the only way we have a chance.”
Terra looked at the girl, her heart swelling with pride. The kid had come a long way. “Okay, so we’re all here. What now?”
Myrddin stepped forward, averting his eyes from the tower that loomed overhead. “Whatever we do, we must not look into the Dark One’s eye. It would be our doom.”
Abby walked over to him, shaking her head. “All we have are his eyes, though. Why shouldn’t we look?”
The wizard, whose face had gone sheet-white, turned to her. “Because that is where his power lies. Within those eyes.”
“Then that’s what we need to attack.”
Terra laughed as she blinked rapidly. “Great. I always thought you should look your enemy in the eye.”
Cire nodded as he stared up at the tower. “I agree. One should meet their opponent’s gaze.”
Abby’s nanobots rolled off her face. “Trust me. We’ve listened to multiple versions of us explain what went wrong, and none of them stared Death in the eye.”
Anabelle’s gaze wandered over everyone present. “Then that’s what we’ll do. We face Death straight on, and we look the son of a bitch in the eye.”
The members of the DGA stared up at the shifting eye above them. After a few seconds, Cire, Alex, and José looked up at the Dark One’s eye as well. The only holdout was Myrddin, who had not taken his eyes off his hands. “So, this is it?” he murmured. “To finally look him in the eye?”
Anabelle clasped Myrddin’s shoulder. “Together. We look Death in the eye together.”
Myrddin sighed and turned his eyes to the Dark One’s. “Then let us see Death for what he truly is.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The eye of the Dark One widened, seeming to take up more space, expanding deeper and further into the Netherverse.
Everyone watched the eye, unable to look away as a chill wind blew past them, freezing them to the bone. Not one of them was free of the sense of dread that came with that wind, cutting straight to their hearts.
The eye continued to expand, growing watery and dripping on the tower it stood on as well as the earth beneath the feet of the combatants. In very little time, the Netherverse ceased to exist. There was only the all-encompassing gaze of the eye leering down on the mortals who stood beneath it.
The wind kicked up, turning to a howling sonata that was deafening to the ear. Anabelle covered hers, trying to block the incessant noise. The world around her continued to contort and change.
They were in a place that did not seem to exist within the realm of logic. Snippets of other
universes, moments in time that none of them had experienced, shifted in and out of sight while the ground beneath them ran red as if it were a river of blood.
Myrddin whipped around, trying to make sense of what it was that he saw. “This…are we…we are…”
The old wizard’s face went white. “Prepare yourselves, for we face the Dark One!”
The eye was gone. In its place was a vacant space that seemed to swallow time and space. A cavernous, multitude of voices echoed in that space. “Who dares present themselves before me?”
No one answered. Even Myrddin was frozen.
“Your end,” a weak voice said.
It was Abby, standing defiantly against the voice that spoke down to her and her companions.
Anabelle stepped forward. “Show yourself. Or are you too afraid?”
The Dark One boomed out a laugh as the world shook. “Afraid? Of you?”
A small child wearing a deer-head mask walked into the gathering of heroes. He paused for a second, looking at them as if confused, then continued walking as the DGA and the rest watched him. “Uh, okay. That was kind of weird.”
Alex’s eyes followed the boy as he wandered into a world that shifted and changed around him, resulting in the child not being there. “Huh. I haven’t seen that kid in a bit. Wasn’t sure if he was real.”
Anabelle turned to Alex. “Wait! You’ve fought the Dark One before. What are we supposed to do?”
“When I fought with him, it was all telepathic. It wasn’t anything like this.”
The ground rumbled, nearly knocking everyone off of their feet. “Perhaps this is no different. We could have been pulled into his mental space. That is why it seems as if reality is inconsistent.”
Terra slowly cracked each of her knuckles. “I didn’t come here to talk about beating the Dark One. I came here to do it. How the hell do I get up there to hit him in his stupid eye?”
Alex thought about it before answering. “We have to bring him down here.”
