Oblivion's Queen

by M. H. Johnson

  "Very well, Fallen Star. You may continue to exist within this realm. But you serve me now." With that Jezabelle's eyes flashed, shimmering with the terrible darkness of Oblivion itself. The corridor shook with a ghastly screech as the blade writhed and twisted, whipping about in a mad frenzy, as if the sea of tormented souls that had been bent and forged in the deepest cauldrons of the Abyss to make that dark artifact had been effortlessly twisted about, reforged in purpose in but an instant. And just as quickly as it had been deconstructed into the screaming mass of torment that made up its constituent parts, the horrific undulations stopped and the blade instantly snapped back into existence looking much as before, though now it flowed with currents of crimson power, the sickly green of before gone as if it had never been.

  Jezabelle turned back to her loyal companions, smiling indulgently as she presented the still glowing blade to her hound. “Very well, Rage, you may keep it.” She chuckled darkly. “There are few greater pleasures than bending Mother's designs and tools to serve me, instead.”

  She blinked then, oddly confused, not entirely sure who her mother even was. Cards. Her mother enjoyed cards, gossip, and intrigue. Agda could barely use a spade, however, for all that she had always fostered Jess's green thumb, and how were her gardens doing in any case, with her gone from home so long?

  Rage barked happily, his guttural roars causing the corridor to shake and Twilight to sigh, even as his blood tendril quickly tucked his artifact of eldritch power safely away.

  At the bottom of the massive tower, down the endless spiraling stairs, the clanking sounds of the sole surviving iron golem could be heard, frantically stumbling up the stairway once more.

  Jezabelle laughed. “Come! Let us have another discussion with our dear automaton, and show it the error of its ways!”

  And shortly thereafter a terrible boom and crash could be heard, the front face of the massive tower bursting outward in a hail of stone and twisted metal as the ruptured golem exploded with such force that it tore through the very stone walls.

  The Risen Queen's dread footsteps soon followed, the world itself seeming to tremble as she crossed the deep pool of dream the tower was immersed within and entered the shallow nightmare the entire township had been trapped by. Yet the terrible fount of power roaring through Jezabelle had not diminished in the least. If anything, she could feel her connection grow stronger with each passing moment.

  The instant her feet touched the loamy soil at the base of the structure, she turned to glare with savage hate at the massive tower. Slowly she raised her vibrating sword of mithril towards the massive edifice. “Burst!” she roared, and her voice could be heard echoing through the hills, even as the massive tower before her exploded in an awful cacophony of dust and stony shrapnel. And as the powdery haze cleared, all that could be heard in the suddenly eerily quiet forest was the sound of her terrible laughter. Not a speck of debris was to be found around Jezabelle or her companions. Not a single mote, even as half the surrounding forest was presently covered in chalky gray powder and chunks of rubble.

  The Risen Queen took a deep, shuddering breath, slow as the dissipating storm overhead, clouds finally spiraling away to reveal brilliant stars twinkling overhead. And another. And a third breath and Jess opened her eyes. Still the color of rubies, her terrible hunger and black fury had banked to a low burn. Slowly sheathing her blade in a priceless dragonskin sheath designed to grip the blade without being sliced open itself, an artifact that had come into being but a heartbeat prior, for all that existence itself now remembered that ancient sheath from legends of the very first empire founded upon the face of Dawn, Jezabelle began the steady trek back to her friends.

  35

  Alex, I'm scared," Jera whispered into Alex's chest even as he held her shivering body close, both safe under the warm snug blanket of crisp, dry leaves while the terrible storm savaged the forest. Unremitting rain continued to pour down unabated from the heavens, though not more than the gentlest mist touched them under the bowers of the great oak tree they sheltered against.

  Alex gazed at the frightened girl by his side with infinite tenderness, locked upon her forest green eyes even as he kissed her shivering lips softly. “Don’t be afraid, my love. I have you. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  Shaking, Jera began to sob, holding Alex tight. "I wish we had never come here, Alex! I wish we had never sought out trouble, or trained under Rens, or done any of this. We're going to die here, Alex, cold and away from our families and everyone else who ever loved us!" She gave a bitter shake of her head. "Why couldn't we be happy with what we already had? Why were we so damn hungry for more?"

  Jera's eyes shone bright with bittersweet reflection and she chuckled softly. “Oh Alex, I can just imagine introducing you to my family, seeing you charm mother with your wit, impress father with your insights, earning their approval of you pursuing my hand.” She sighed, voice filled with longing. “I am so grateful that your family accepts me, Alex, and I just know that my own will accept you in kind.” Her smile turned tender, wistful. “We could live in one of Father’s villas, raising beautiful children together, spending every night safe and snug in each other's arms.”

  Alex held her tight, kissing her forehead, lovingly stroking her damp tangled curls. “It’s a beautiful dream, Jera. Let’s make it come true.”

  Jera sighed. "Do you mean it, Alex? You don't want to stay at the college, even if we survive this living nightmare, and spend the next decade scuttling about with ancient tomes, looking for lost secrets of power?" She smiled gently.

  Alex nodded. "At one point I would have said that was my fiercest dream, to be a great and terrible wizard out of legend." He sighed. "Now, having lived through these horrors, seen madness and death, even… killed. Killed with the art I worked so long to harness to my will. I now see that I have embraced a far bloodier and more terrible dream than I had understood it to be as a naive student, even a month ago."

  Alex shivered, grimacing, even as he gently rocked Jera in his arms. “And almost dying in that Lich’s trap that all of us, even Rens, fell for reminds me of just how fraught with peril this path truly is.” Alex shook his head. “No, my love. I will leave the pursuit of mad passions and the lust for power for those with less to lose than I. For me? I would far rather listen to the rambling stories of bards, hearing of the madcap adventures of Delvers old and new, than live these dire tales ever again, with no bardic assurance of any happy ending as the tale is being told by the Fates themselves. Far sweeter to laugh and applaud and serve visiting bards well with food and drink as I sit comfortably in our Villa, our future children in our laps, with you by my side, than partake of the tragic madness that is the pursuit of power for its own sake, ever again.” He softly stroked Jera's trembling cheek, staring deeply into her forest green eyes. “I would rather be safe, happy, and cherishing what truly matters in life. You.”

  Jera’s tear-filled smile touched Alex’s heart. “Oh, Alex!” she cried, holding him tight, kissing him deeply.

  "I love you, Jera." His voice turned husky as their gentle kisses for warmth and comfort became something far more profound.

  And so time passed, the pair cherishing the sacred sweetness of life even when surrounded by horror and death, protected and comforted by the great oak they rested under, its branches rustling watchfully over them. Eventually Alex found himself drifting between wakefulness and sleep in his lover's arms, always knowing on some level that he must not let himself fall into deep sleep, yet content to lay back, in a daze, and listen to the gentle susurrations of the leaves overhead. He knew he was in little danger of falling into too deep a daze, even as he shifted slightly for comfort's sake, for however relaxed he became, he always felt a nudging root or tickling leaf keeping him from slipping into true sleep. He smiled, strangely certain that this was no ordinary tree.

  “Alex?” called his lover softly and he turned his head to gaze into rich green eyes he found so hauntingly beautiful even as sh
e lay resting comfortably upon his chest, and his heart raced with her sweet smile as he gently stroked her frizzy hair which did not favor the wet at all.

  “Yes, my love?” He kissed her gently, and she sighed in his arms.

  “I love you, you know.” She snuggled into him.

  “I know,” he teased back, smiling warmly.

  She laughed. “I know we have jested with the idea, trying it on for size, but Alex, can you truly see yourself marrying me one day?”

  Alex paused then, hand resting gently on her shoulder, and he felt her sudden intake of breath, a subtle tension. As if, relaxed and snug in his arms, she feared she had said too much, and didn't want to lose this precious moment, this gentle safe warmth, hearing words that would break her heart. As the frisson of insight hit him, Alex was simultaneously struck with a realization so achingly profound it rocked him to his core.

  Gently, he lifted her chin with his finger, catching her suddenly shy gaze.

  “With all my heart,” he whispered, and he could feel the tension melt away from her, her smile captivating Alex as she kissed him deep.

  “Oh Alex. Don’t ever let me go.”

  "I won't, silly goose," he gently teased. "Now why are you crying, my angel? We are safe now, all will be well."

  "They are tears of happiness, you idiot!" She laughed through her sobs, resting her head against his chest once more, and Alex stroked her back and caressed her cheek, finding it strange that despite all the terror and discomfort they had survived this day, despite even the precariousness of their dreadful circumstances, he had never felt happier in all his life, holding his beloved in his arms.

  And then Jera screamed.

  "What's wrong?" Heart suddenly racing, Alex jolted upright to full alertness, terrified he had almost fallen asleep, yet certain he had only laid there but a moment. Yet even within that precious handful of seconds, their circumstances had taken a drastic change for the worse.

  Alex gasped, heart hammering, understanding at once the source of his lover’s terror even as she sprang up, naked and shivering, her side-sword held firmly in her naked grip, blade shaking only slightly as she gazed upon the horror staring back at them with dead yellow eyes, rotting worm ridden skin, and a smile so lascivious and knowing it made Alex’s flesh crawl even as Jera stumbled back, whimpering, her free hand reaching desperately for Alex’s own.

  “Monster!” Alex hissed, even as he urged his pounding heart to slow, forcing his mind into the icy blue calm that was every true mage's fortress. It took all of his considerable training and will to bring his terror to bear as he locked gazes with the hideous thing grinning at them from just beyond Jess's barrier.

  It was at that very moment that the long-forgotten drops of blood hidden within the foliage surrounding the tree started to glow a fiery red as the creature inched closer, slimy taloned fingers scratching the ground, looking like nothing so much as a vomitous cross between a frog and leprous man.

  The hideous being squatted back on massive legs of gangrenous flesh, lips stretching up into an inhuman smile that grew wider and wider even as its skull seemed to split in two as it opened its terrible mouth and roared, before closing it shut with a snap, maggots flying from its diseased flesh as it did so.

  Its gaze felt like a slimy caress, its leprous rotted nose flaring as it scented its prey. “Tasty morsels. I see… I smell… sweet pieces of flesh for I to savor and devour. Sweet pieces of midnight horror for I to embrace, as you scream and dream for I and I alone!" The creature began to hiss and sputter, choking out maggots, and Alex realized that it was actually laughing. Its bulbous yellow eyes opened wider, delighted by Jera's panicked screams even as she stumbled back and fell, barely avoiding cutting Alex with her blade.

  And yet Alex kept his gaze firmly on the creature hovering so close to the edge of the shimmering crimson barrier, even as he knelt by Jera, carefully removing the hilt of her blade from his lover's panicked, shaking grip, and he watched in horrified fascination, transfixed by the sight of the monster's pupils, even as they seemed to grow and divide, flying about the insides of the creature's massive eyes. Alex felt his stomach twist in knots, panic alone keeping him from vomiting in horror as the creature's eyes began to inflate hideously, even as the monster screamed in obvious pain and, it appeared, exquisite delight.

  The pupils seemed to multiply with ever greater rapidity, flying about its great expanding eyes, before they simultaneously burst in explosions of ichor and a stench of rotten foulness even as the beast shrieked, though in agony or release Alex couldn't tell. Yet from the ruptured eye sacks thousands upon thousands of hornets poured forth in a great, madly humming crescendo, all swarming about the beast before rushing forward in a terrible wave promising stinging agony, and eventual choking death.

  The bloodred circle of protection flashed a deep baleful crimson and the endless stream of wasps burst in hot flickers of ash, first one by one then by the thousands as the entire wave roared through the wards, only to be fried to white powder that quickly blew away to nothing on invisible winds.

  The creature howled again, gazing at Alex with its ruptured eyes, picking absently at the maggots crawling through its pustulent flesh and hissed. “How dare the meat disturb I’s flies! I will make you pay for that! Pay long! Deep! Hard! Now you shall open your ears and listen! Listen, meat, as I whisper to you the sweet secrets that will soon be yours to savor within my arms!”

  Alex grimaced even as the awful creature's words clawed at his very brain as if to pierce his soul with visions of such horror and madness as to send him broken and screaming, dashing madly right into the creatures scrabbling claws, desperate only for a quick end to the hideous whispers mocking his mind with unspeakable torments. Alex held fiercely tight to his shaking lover, suddenly desperately afraid she would snap under the pressure of the unspeakable weight that had clamped, vice-like, about each of their minds.

  The creature let loose an awful smile, well aware of the potency of its own horrific whispers. "Can you feel it, meat? Feel the delicious madness burrowing deep inside your rotting cheese brain? Can you savor the sweet screams that shall soon be yours, when I burn your flesh to a crisp, and devour your organs still living from within? Soon, meat, soon all my gifts to your ragged flesh shall be yours to savor for all time, once I drag your soul kicking and screaming into the lowest Abyss, and savor your sweet morsels for eternity!"

  Alex hissed, holding tight to a screaming Jera, his horror only growing as he saw his poor beloved frothing, spasming in his arms. “Josie!” He screamed, a reflexive cry to no avail.

  His other friends were far from here. Far and safe in the capital, free to enjoy a life of contentment and each other, free to embrace all that life had to offer, without watching their lovers die in their arms.

  Alex' panicked cry turned to a low wail when bloody froth began to pour from Jera's mouth and nose. "I will not surrender to you, demon from hell! Neither I nor my love will willingly crawl into your arms! The ward will hold, beast, lest you yourself approach, and I hope you do, so it may burn you to a crisp!"

  Hideous whispers instantly turned to low guttural growl, even as the rotting monstrosity slowly began to circle the barrier, holding its sore ridden nose so fiercely Alex was sickly certain the creature would tear it off, sniffing for any sign of weakness within the wards.

  Heart hammering with terror and relief in equal measure, he was relieved beyond words that his love had at last stopped spasming, noting a strong heartbeat and a steady breath, Alex fiercely determined to give his impatient enemy no clue as to just how close it had come to causing Jera true harm, even through the ward.

  Yet it had been only sound they had heard. Alex knew that. No magic had been allowed to pass across wards far fiercer and more terrible than any mortal had a right to cast. On some horrible level Alex had intuitively understood that from the moment Jess had summoned the bloodward.

  Yet somehow the creature's awful whispers had opened doors within his mind, w
ithin his and Jera's both, unlocking visions of nightmare beyond any terror he could possibly fathom. - Because they had always been there. Locked. Locked safely away within his soul. - When? When had he ever experienced such horrors as to allow this awful creature to summon visions of endless agony to his mind's eye? - Piercing the veil of gentle sleep.

  Alex shuddered, doing his best to push away such skittering, horrific thoughts. Already painfully aware of the hideous burden that his quest to see beyond the mundane had cost him. For he had caught shadowy glimpses not of realms of endless magic and wonder as he had so hoped lay just beyond the surface of mundane existence, but of hideous worlds of endless pain and nightmare. - All around, Alex. A sea of horror. A maelstrom of shrieking souls around a single garden of peace. You know this. You have always known this.

  It was then Alex looked overhead and noticed the dark, brooding clouds start to spin a terrible dance about an inconceivably vast nexus of power he could sense slowly approaching, even as red lightning abruptly began to flash overhead, the wind howling eerily as if doom itself rode the skies.

  A mocking, discordant laughter echoed oddly through the grove, resonating through the very heavens, somehow becoming the howling of gale-force winds, the distant crash of thunder, the shrieking wail of a thousand lost souls.

  At that moment Alex felt his heart start to hammer in sudden panic. A low despairing cry tore through him as he caught sight of the terrible figure striding forth. Possessing scarlet hair caressing her scalp like gentle flame, she strode forth eyeing all she surveyed with the imperious gaze of a queen, the very air shrieking in protest as the awful being approached.