Into the Hells

by Christopher Johns

  Melvaren’s body pushed through the buckling wall, carried by momentum out into the blinding sunlight.

  “Agh!” he cried, throwing his hands into the air.

  There’s a wall ahead, I heard Bokaj begin to warn, but that spurred me on harder.

  He was gonna love on that damned wall.

  Count me down, I grunted and kept pushing. He started to try and wrestle out of my grip; his hands burned on the sides of my arms and shoulders.

  Three, Yohsuke called. Melvaren growled and began to chant something in a guttural tone.

  Two, Muu continued. The chanting grew a little more fervent.

  One! Shove him! Jaken snarled.

  “Orahej– ooph!” The chanting stopped, and I canceled the aspect spell before trying to shank the General in his kidneys with my own holy dagger in hand, but he launched himself backward, turning and swatting me away. My health dropped by twenty-seven percent, putting me just above half health.

  I cast Regrowth on myself and checked the others. Jaken looked fine with being able to keep the others healed but was hovering around seventy percent HP himself, so I cast Heal on him to help out.

  Time to get hands on. I put Mercy into my inventory and then pulled Magus Bane back into my hands.

  I’m going hands on, I warned the others. Cast your spells now.

  By the time I got in there, James was slugging away at the General’s upper body, bounding off the side of the canyon walls as if they were a springboard. Balmur sprinted almost vertically up the side of the canyon and launched himself at exposed vitals as best as he could, but the demon swatted him aside.

  “You pesky flies!” Melvaren bellowed. A ring of flame burst from him and pushed James and Balmur away as I was sprinting in from where I had been tossed.

  Some of Bokaj’s arrows burst into flame as they met the wave.

  The demon summoned a large sword from somewhere and brandished it as we surrounded him.

  Zeke, Jaken, run interference, Muu grunted, and I heard his armor rattle once. I’m going to come down from above, but this will only work once.

  I activated Charge, crossing the distance between myself and Melvaren in an instant, then activated Bladed Storm, and my swings became erratic, almost to the point that I didn’t even know where they were coming from—but the momentum and the hand placements, the swings and chops just felt so right.

  I was carving into his health at a steady rate; he would parry here and there, but it was hard for him to maneuver the sword to deflect all of my blows on top of Bokaj’s arrows and Jaken’s dancing sword as it moved freely on its own off to my left.

  Yohsuke moved in to help keep the monster distracted and took a slice to his left bicep for his trouble. His HP dropped to fifty-five percent instantly, and some sort of crippling debuff appeared beneath his HP bar.

  James was there in an instant to deflect the blow, his scaled flesh covered in fine stone from his ring, to grab the fallen Spell Blade and drag him to safety.

  Bokaj, see if you can purify him, James barked as he started toward Melvaren with his fists clenched. He shot a ki blast at the demon, who dodged it deftly.

  I activated Feather Axe, and my weapon sliced through the air as if it weighed less than a ruler.

  Back away NOW! Muu ordered.

  I activated Devil’s Hammer, took the blunt end of Magus Bane, and smashed it into Melvaren’s left kneecap, hoping to drop him, but the armor he wore mitigated most of the damage. The demon was approaching sixty percent health. We were chipping away at it, just not enough at once. As I cleared from him to re-evaluate the situation, his scowl turned to a smirk.

  “Getting tired?” He cracked his neck noisily, his armor creaking. “I’m just getting started.”

  A beam of light shot straight toward the top of his head with a shriek of sliced air that reminded me of a sonic boom.

  Melvaren acted just in time, lifting the flat of his blade to intercept Saint’s Grace. A clash of metal on metal followed by a pure note of resonance rang out. The holy spear fell to the ground just outside the crater that had formed around the demon from the impact of the blow. He cursed and threw his ruined weapon aside, a group of arrows raining at him from Bokaj.

  Jaken stood defiantly in front of him, his shield tossed aside with only Righteous Brand in hand. “Still think you can take us, asswipe?”

  “I’ll enjoy breaking you, Paladin.” Melvaren whipped a hand out, pointed a meaty finger at Jaken, and a bolt of sickly green energy shot toward our friend. Suddenly, Yohsuke was there to block it with his shield bracelet, the harmful magic fizzling against the spell barrier.

  Another piercing sonic boom came, and as Melvaren tried to dive to the left, his right leg was gored by the still-airborne Fighter’s ice lance, pinning him to the ground from above. In dropped Muu like a ton of bricks, short spear held by his head and a manic grin on his face.

  “Fear me!” His weapon became covered in a black and red aura, and as soon as he was close, Melvaren trying to fend off the attack Muu used—what I could only assume was Nightmare Thrust.

  The weapon slid through the General’s left hand, into the arm, and then finally the chest before it stopped with a squelch and Melvaren’s agonized roar. His health dropped a mere twelve percent, but that was huge damage from a weapon that wasn’t holy.

  And then Balmur was there with his twin daggers slicing and dicing as he shouted, “How is this for vengeance? How is this for punishment?” He kicked the General in the side of the head as Muu went for Saint’s Grace and the others moved in to assist. “You made me kill my friends over and over again, you bastard.”

  Balmur took one of his blades and slid it slowly down the struggling Melvaren’s left eye in a mirror of his own, the holy weapons burning and slicing the skin like a hot knife cuts through snow.

  As he finished making a perfect line, Balmur slid his dagger beneath the eye there and cackled gleefully. “An eye for an eye is the demon way, eh, you sick fuck?!”

  The Dwarf was weeping now, even as the blade scooped out the orb disgustingly—for all of us to see.

  “Balmur, let’s just end it, man!” Jaken barked, but Balmur wouldn’t hear it.

  “End it?” His eyes took on a crazy gleam as he shook his head, his good green eye flitting back and forth in challenge. “I tried to end it. Several times. Tried to throw fights,” he motioned back at the General who’s bloodied face slowly began to regain control, “but he wouldn’t let me. He was the one that made me this,” he gestured to his own missing eye, “this monster.”

  As he hissed the last word, he drove his blades into whatever flesh of the demon he could find until finally, Muu and Jaken stepped in to assist him. He was at a quarter health at long last.

  A wash of sulfur and the scent of rotting meat hit my nostrils just before the demon’s right hand shot up and gripped Balmur by the throat. We were all blasted away; I smacked into the side of the palace and I noted that my health had taken a beating from that. I was at eleven percent, and the others weren’t looking any better.

  Balmur himself was only at seven percent. What the hell had that spell been?

  “You are not worthy to end me,” Melvaren spat. “I broke you, as War did me, and I will answer only to my master.”

  As the demon squeezed my friend, arrows pierced his flesh, Saint’s Grace jabbed into his side several times, and finally, he was at eighteen percent health. Yohsuke was there as well, stabbing with his vampiric dagger with both hands, trying to regain health, while I hobbled toward Melvaren after casting one last Heal on myself. I cast Regrowth on Balmur, took Magus Bane, and swung for the hills, activating Executioner. The weapon swung true and hit the big lug, but rather than killing him, it sheared through his outstretched arm.

  “GRAGH!” Melvaren roared as Jaken stepped forward with Muu and Bokaj; an arrow sprouted from between his eyes at the same time the spear pierced his heart, and a divine smiting split his head in two.

  The body fell to the gr
ound, limp. Dead.

  Balmur struggled to regain his breath. He cursed long and hard. Even as Jaken’s healing aura surrounded him, then me, and the others, he let it go.

  He let it all go.

  “He killed me. He killed me. This is hell. It’s finally over, but he killed me. I’m useless.” The Dwarf curled into the fetal position and rocked himself back and forth as he sobbed softly, his mind broken.

  Bokaj stood there, uncertain what to do but went to kneel next to him anyway. Tmont hopped out of her place in Bokaj’s hood and cuddled against Balmur. Her soft purring lent a metronome to the Dwarf’s rambling.

  But they were both there. And so were we.

  That’s what friends did, right? Even when the going got tough and shit seemed to be falling from the sky around your ears, friends stood with each other. And that’s what we did.

  We would stand by our friend and help him recover. He had earned that.

  I mean, he had been through hell, right? At least in hell, not sure how much he got to travel.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The gear that Melvaren had surprisingly dropped was garbage—a broken sword, too large for us to try and get fixed and his armor, which sported some badass stat enhancements, was so heavily cursed that it was like being near radioactive waste, and I had a feeling none of us would be getting superpowers that were worthwhile from jumping into that mess. I didn’t even want to touch them again to show you the stats because touching it had made me ill and knocked me down to like, five in all my stats.

  It felt nice not to be dim or almost so weak I couldn’t move. Having to have my friends drag me away from it on my face had been embarrassing, but the necessary action won out.

  So we just sat for a time and enjoyed our surroundings. The place was dimly lit but nothing compared to the Hells.

  “Hope bringing him back here from the Hells didn’t fuck us on that reward.” Yohsuke sighed from where he laid down on the grass.

  “Same, but I’m just too tired to go through the notifications right now. I mean, what’re the odds we’re going to have to fight something else so soon after that?” James scratched his head and inspected his fingernails as he spoke.

  “Highly likely at times, but here?” Bokaj snorted. “I don’t think that’s gonna happen just yet. Not too many high elves that want to actively kill us, right?”

  “I’m trying to make sure I didn’t shit my pants and that it’s just demon blood I’m smelling, so if you all could shut up, that’d be great,” Muu quipped sarcastically. The guy had a way with making us all shut up to question his sanity.

  “We did it.” Jaken grinned as he looked to us all. “I think there was something said about there only being five of them, and we just killed our second.”

  The grin that spread across my face was almost painful. I was sore, my brain hurt from all the casting, and I’m pretty sure I smelled terrible.

  But we did it. The rest of us smiled and quietly basked in that victory.

  We stayed there like that for some time before guards came to find us. I had notifications to go through, but they could wait. It was just so nice to just not be somewhere with every living being intent on using your soul as entertainment.

  “Here they are!” I heard one voice call.

  By now, Balmur had calmed down significantly and sat up, holding Tmont. As he slowly slid his scarred hands over her fur, the cat purred contentedly.

  A retinue of guards in full battle rattle, Questis, and a young man who looked to be in his teenage years with silvery blond hair and a ceremonial style robe of green down the length with a bright purple shoulder cape that flared out at the shoulders marched in. It was him, the robed one, that I didn’t recognize.

  “Hello, Questis!” I called and waved.

  “We are glad that you have returned to us,” Questis greeted us. “And after so long of a wait.”

  Questis turned and bowed to the man next to him. “Your Majesty, King Telfino, these are the people your mother assisted in getting to the Hells so that they could rescue their friend. I take it the individual on the ground with the kitty is he.”

  “That would be correct.” Bokaj stepped forward toward the young king, bowing at the waist. The guards made no visible move to stop him, so he stood and spoke, “My name is Bokaj, and these are my friends.”

  The young king stepped forward and pointed first at Bokaj, then to the rest of us in order and spoke our names, “Bokaj, Jaken, Zekiel, James, Yohsuke, Muu, Tmont, and I believe your Azer Dwarf friend’s name was Balmur?”

  Bokaj blinked in surprise, and we nodded for him.

  “Welcome, formally and amicably,” his light voice greeted us. He made sure to look each of us in the eyes as he spoke slowly and deliberately.

  He seemed tense as he went on, “My healers will see to your friend and ensure that he is fit to be among us,” he held up a hand to forestall our anger, “meaning he had not been somehow possessed. We will care for him, and while we do so, you are welcome among us.”

  His guards came forward with high elves behind them carrying a litter for the Dwarf. As they loomed closer, Balmur got a little twitchy, closing in on himself and eyeing potential targets.

  Before they started to try and lift him themselves, Bokaj stepped in. “It’s cool, Balmur. I’ll be right there with you, me and T’, so why don’t you go ahead and stand up so we can let them carry your fat ass out of here to get you looked at?”

  The Dwarf snorted and stood wearily but didn’t make any moves to lash out. He laid down once he was on the litter, and T’ rode on his stomach like a queen, her eyes were open and alert.

  It was good to see that she didn’t seem to be harboring any ill will against the Rogue for his actions. Likely, she may have understood that it was animal nature that he had used to survive.

  “The rest of you, if you would be so kind, we would like to have you all seen to in a similar manner, but we were most worried about his prolonged exposure, that there might be complications with his well-being. The rest of you, please follow my guard, and you will be looked over before lunch.”

  As the others walked ahead, dusting themselves off where they could. The king stood aside and waited until I was next to him to speak again.

  “Master Zekiel, I have an urgent matter to speak with you about, if I may have your ear while we walk?”

  I blinked. “Uh, certainly, your Highness.”

  We stepped out of the shadows of the palace and canyon wall into the light of a warm summer day. The city, despite the noise of our fighting, continued to function likely as it had before. Being this close to him, I could see the resemblance now to queen Silvanas in his nose and in his hair and build, but his eyes, which I had mistaken for a trick of his clothing, were a vibrant purple just like Mother Nature’s. I half expected her voice to come out of his mouth, but he stayed silent.

  The sound of life, normal life, was almost deafening compared to the dark and horrid hellscape we had returned from.

  “Queen Maebe asked that I speak to you,” the young king began, his eyes forward.

  “I’d be happy to listen, but where is she?”

  “She returned to her people more than a week ago. A matter of great import reached her, and she could wait no longer.” He smiled and waved to a few of the people we passed.

  “How long were we away?” I asked incredulously. Granted, Balmur had said he’d been there for a year and a half, but we’d been there a day or maybe a few hours more. “We were only gone for a day, day and a few hours, tops!”

  “Ah. Then my calculations were correct—you’ve been gone roughly eleven days.” He turned and looked me over once before continuing, “It seems that this time, time passed roughly eight to nine times faster there in that plane of existence compared to our own. Fascinating.” I looked at him as if he were talking gobbledygook, and he smiled. “So while you were there for a day and a half, time moved faster for us here. That’s the simple version. The more complicated version ta
kes into account the distance between the veils that are crossed, planar shift and migration, and a myriad of other factors that I can tell from the look on your face are possibly a little more than what you can handle.”

  I blinked and closed my mouth, then blinked to moisten my bugged-out eyes and asked, “So it is possible for Balmur to have been there for more than a year while only a month or more passed here?”

  King Telfino looked concerned but nodded once, confirming a lot of what I had questioned.

  “Then is Queen Maebe okay? Did she tell you what was going on?”

  “Only that the timeline for the quest she gave you has been hastened and that you are to speak to her as soon as you can.” He motioned me forward into the palace. “She said that you are a Druid in service to the Mother. Is this correct?”

  I nodded, and he began to smile genuinely. “Then I know I can trust you and yours with this urgent business of mine. My people are wary of outsiders. We are a proud people, but mainly because the last time we trusted outsiders, they stole our home from us.”

  I opened my mouth to respond, but he put a small hand on my shoulder. “I harbor no resentment against Maebe. She was not queen, nor was I even alive to know Samir as my mother did. I have known only this planet, and she nurtured our people as if we were her own. No. My problem is that some of my citizens have begun to disappear. There didn’t seem to be any sort of cause at first, but after the fourth one had gone missing, we think we know why.”

  A thought dawned on me. “They’re especially close to Mother Nature, aren’t they?”

  He looked taken aback. “Yes. Other than my mother’s funeral, it was why we held off on the solstice celebration. How did you know?”

  I didn’t want to let him know that Maebe was the reason for my suspicions, but I would give him a little. Better that he think it was a lucky guess based on my supposed hatred for the Seelie.

  “When I was trapped in the Fae Realm, I was hunted by a group of people who tried to kill my friends and I. They would stop at nothing to achieve what they wanted, and that was when Titania was queen. Now, with their new king, he’s more ambitious and ruthless than she ever was.”