The rumbling waterfall receded, and silence fell over us like a heavy cloak. I had to be careful to conceal my breathing, and spent the trip in relearning the limits of my character, scheming and planning. I had three branches of skills now: my combat abilities, the Mark of Matir abilities, and the Shadowlord powers. There were only two of those to worry about:
Rite: Shadow of the Sun (Level 1)
Suund'karon, Karalt', Binah!
You may call and bind the spirits of the dead to your will. You may enact Shadow of the Sun over a corpse and extract the creature's wraith to serve you. To qualify for extraction, the target must be an NPC of any species that possesses a Wisdom score. This excludes certain monsters and constructs. Constructs animated by a spirit may qualify for extraction, as you can extract and bind the spirit contained within the construct - assuming you are strong enough to defeat the wards and magic laid on the construct by its creator.
You have a default 80% chance to summon an individual creature's wraithform. The chance of failure increases or decreases depending on the extracted creature's level (10% +/- per level relative to your level). For example, at Level 21, you have an 80% chance to bind another Level 21 creature, a 100% chance of binding any creature below Level 19, and a 70% chance of binding a Level 22 creature.
Bound shadows are permanently available to be summoned. The number of summoned shadows you can retain depends on your Will score - 1 shadow per 5 Will points (current Will: 60]. You may permanently dismiss any or all of your Bound shadows to regain a slot and summon a new minion. A dismissed bound shadow cannot be resummoned.
Shadows retain all magical and combat abilities they had in life - however, any Light elemental abilities are transmuted to Dark elemental abilities instead.
Your bound shadows cannot be healed in combat, and must be rested for 1 minute per 1HP/MP to recover.
Summoned shadows do not drain MP once called; however, if a shadow is slain, you will lose 20MP. If you reach 0 MP, all of your summons will vanish.
To increase this mastery of Shadow of the Sun, you must study Necromancy (Incorporeal) or Invocation (Summoning) at the appropriate level.
Ability: Imbue Shadow
Your shadows are capable of growing alongside you, gaining levels and experience of their own. Every time you attain a new character level, your shadows will gain EXP. Each time a shadow increases in level, you may manually assign their stat points, combat ability points, and skill points.
Tempest glided out into a massive cylindrical chamber - a space big enough to seat five hundred dragons of his size. There were alcoves set into the walls, each one containing what looked like the crumbling remains of a nest. Great hexagonal columns supported a high, towering roof. At the center of the chamber was a tall dais, tiered like a wedding cake... and at the top of that was a stone circle. Cleverly placed magelights lit the dais from high above, painting nine long, painted shadows in a starburst shape across the well.
"There." Ashur sniffed and snorted, bearing his fangs, and held up the scepter. The stone mounted in the head of it emitted a baleful light. “We fly toward the dais.”
Violetta did not reply, except to tap Tempest at the base of his neck. The dragon let out a mournful moan, and coasted toward the circle. As he came up on it, I saw there was a large well at the center. The whole arrangement - stones, well, altar - was strangely familiar.
“That is a sacrificial well,” I said. “The entry to the Gate is through there.”
“Sacrificial well?” Ashur frowned. “Hmmph. Had I known we needed sacrifices, I would have bought them.”
“We can teleport back to Karhad and then back to here,” Violetta said. “Or have Hector call his dragon and use her. Whatever we do to her here is better than what the Emperor has planned for her.”
I saw her glance at me, waiting for a reaction. I shrugged.
Tempest circled the altar, the membranes of his wings rippling. When he couldn't find a place to land, he swung around and clung to the wall of the towering dais like a bat. He beat his wings stiffly to keep his grip, and lay his neck against the edge so that we could climb over it to jump down. Ashur went first, his sword in one hand, the staff in the other. I was next, with Violetta following up the rear. The hollow-eyed woman raised a hand, and light pulsed through the intricate glass and crystal filigree worked into the leather. A greenish pulse of magic radiated from her, sliding over and caressing the varied surfaces of the cavern around us.
A flash of movement caught my eye - a streak of shadow flowing down the side of the well. I pulled the Spear and twisted around as the shadow bubbled to the floor like thick black ink, then rose up into a humanoid form that resolved into... me.
My doppelganger stared at us with feverish, filmy blue-white eyes. His skin was mottled with a rash; his breathing was raspy, thick with phlegm. He clutched a copy of the Spear in his hands, the blade dripping with black ichor that sizzled on the ground.
"What the hell?" I took a step back as an awful, gnawing fear took hold of my guts. Everything about this creature caused my lizard brain to scream 'disease'!
A HP ring appeared over the thing's head, along with a name: [Darkform: Level 30].
Chapter 52
The monster's lips parted, letting out a thin stream of toxic smoke. It lifted its corrupted Spear and plunged it into the stone floor.
"AoE!" I Jumped straight up into the air on reflex as the floor erupted with oily, putrid spear blades. Ashur and Violetta both flew up into the air, avoiding the ground entirely - and ran right into a phalanx of shadow spears lancing in from all directions. They manifested with a sound like breaking glass, thrusting and then vanishing, reappearing somewhere else. It was all I could do to avoid the weapons as they formed from the air. Violetta made a stifled sound of pain as several pierced her at once, but she was such a high level that it barely chipped her HP. Ashur avoided them all with supernatural alacrity.
"Bathos prava!" The sorceress leveled her hands at the Darkform.
A white fireball tore free from her fingers, smashing into the boss... and passed right through it, leaving it unharmed.
Violetta gasped, taking a step back. "What?!"
The Darkform's eyes got big, and its lips peeled back as it gave an unnatural, wooden laugh - and then transformed again, morphing into an elegant, richly dressed female lich. Her clothing and fingers dripped with gold and copper, jewels and magical talismans. She fixed Ashur with a piercing, eyeless gaze.
“Seheru, my love?” He stepped in beside me, his fangs bared. "No... an illusion. And yet -"
"Bathos prava." The lich made an arcane gesture, repeating Violetta's spell.
A glowing fireball twice the size of the one she had cast curled to life and then blew at us like a meteor. Violetta and Ashur both snarled words of power, and magical shields sprung to life in front of us. The ball turned back, smashing into the edge of the well and spraying chunks of stone everywhere. The lich laughed as she flew to the side and dodged: the same unpleasant, grating sound that had come out of my doppelganger's mouth.
"Azul ha'rath!" It rasped.
Bolts of foul energy shot out, homing in on me. I struck out at them with a shout - and to my surprise, the Spear turned the projectiles, sending them shooting back at the caster. The lich dodged, but the bolts followed - and hit her hard, shaving off almost a third of her HP. She wailed with an unearthly sound, momentarily freezing in place.
Violetta circled around. "Azul ha'rath!"
The shadow-morphed lich turned the second round of projectiles with a contemptuous wave of her hand as Ashur's formed blurred. In a split second, she teleported above us, avoiding the glint of the vampire's sword. He snarled and launched himself into the air, but the doppelganger avoided every blurring strike, laughing at him the entire time.
"Ridiculous." Violetta scowled, and bought her hands around to charge another spell.
"Wait. I get it. We have to turn its attacks back at it." I watched as the Level 30 Vampire
chased the lich too fast for the eyes to follow. A fireball exploded from the air - and Ashur thrust the staff forward, barking a command. The dark crystal flared, and the fire splashed around an invisible wall of force as it impacted, harmlessly deflected by Ashur's magic. The magic missiles followed - Ashur swung the staff like a tennis racquet, and the magic missiles turned back on the lich like a pair of glowing boomerangs, slicing her form apart.
"Pitiful." The vampire exclaimed, dropping smoothly to the ground. "This is the only protection Matir has? No monsters, no army... not even interesting treasure."
I was about to agree when I saw a pillar of shadow form behind Violetta. It took the form of a tall, handsome albino man, with cruel pink eyes so pale they almost looked silvered. He smirked, and reached up to wrap his hands around her neck.
Violetta turned, and when she saw the man, her eyes flew open wide. She crumpled with a mewl of terror as he squeezed, clawing at his hands. The move left both of them wide open. Ashur and I came in from either side, stabbing and slicing as Violetta's eyes rolled back in her head. She was catatonic with fear, so much so that she didn't even really try to defend herself. She hung there, plucking weakly at the man's hands as foam collected in the corners of her mouth.
“What is this!?” Ashur snarled. He thrust the crystal stave into the monster's chest, crystal and all. The white-haired man's grin faltered, and then his face sloughed away as he howled. His body collapsed like melting wax.
[You have defeated Darkform!]
[You gain 813 exp!]
"There. It is done." Ashur pulled the staff free. The Darkform collapsed and melted back into the shadows around us. Violetta dropped to the ground, coughing. Tempest bellowed in reply to her, his voice echoing and distant.
813 EXP? That was hardly anything for a boss. Frowning, I peered out into the huge chamber, and then backpedaled toward the well. "No. No, it's not."
Darkforms crouched in every one of the nest alcoves: copies of me, copies of the white-haired man, copies of amorphous creatures with too many mouths and not enough eyes. They leered at us from every shadow - thousands of them, each one wearing a face out of our worst nightmares.
“We’re leaving.” Violetta was breathing quickly, scratching obsessively at her neck with one hand. Her eyes were huge in her pale face.
I looked to the well, and as I did, the Mark of Matir flared under my clothes. “The well. We don’t need a sacrifice… we just have to be brave enough to jump.”
"Go. Scout the way." Ashur waved to me dismissively. "We will take care of these."
“Yes, sire.” I turned and hopped onto the edge of the well. Before I could think better of it, I spread my arms, then put them over my head and dived.
My sense of deja vu intensified as the darkness swallowed me. The wind whistled through my armor, and I knew - KNEW - I'd done this before. After a few seconds, the rushing in my ears faded, and the sensation of falling left my body. I floated as if in icy water, listening to my inhumanly slow heartbeat, then felt myself begin to rise. I oriented myself as soon as I could sense where 'down' was - and when a light opened up, I stepped out of a circular portal into a small, plain square room. A pair of braziers burned with a strange blue flame beside a pair of double doors made of rusted iron. In the center of the door was a pressure plate with the same symbol burned on the back of my hand.
I took a step forward, freezing when the lights in the torches wobbled and a deep, rolling double boom passed through the floor. My teeth and eardrums vibrated as the twin sounds rattled every cell in my body, then slowly faded away. I counted, gripping the Spear tightly. The sound occurred again after exactly sixty seconds... the same instant my half-living heart took another beat.
Hail to you, Herald of the Hidden Seed. The words formed in my mind, unbidden. It was a pleasant voice: light, masculine, even-toned, with the edge of a hiss. Hail, Paragon of the Triad.
The mark on the door seemed to stand out in relief, surrounded by a thin corona of blue light. My brow creased, and I absently walked forward to lay a hand on the metal. When my fingers made contact, there was an invisible push of force against my palm, and then a chill that spread up through my veins. When the cold reached my head, I suddenly knew exactly where I was - and what I needed to do.
[New Location discovered: The Dragon Gate of Endless Night]
My throat worked as I thought back to the conversation between Ashur and Violetta: The one where Ashur had promised her that he would have me summon my dragon to fulfil some bargain. Even if I couldn't bring Karalti to my mind's eye, the memory of her beautiful voice in my mind made my heart leap. If anything happened to her, I would never forgive myself.
“Okay, Karalti: I know where I am, but you need to stay away.” I lifted my hand, and the plate turned, then receded as the doors opened ahead of me into a corridor of pure white opal. It was lit from everywhere and nowhere... leading to a lightless doorway at the other end.
"What? Why?" Karalti replied quickly.
"It’s not safe for you to be here. I'll keep you updated on what's happening. When it’s time, I’ll call. Trust me."
"But... you've already forgotten almost everything. What happens if you die again before you get them back?"
"I don't know." I turned as the portal behind me flared to life. Ashur and Violetta stepped through, slightly worse for wear.
“We’re getting ready anyway,” Karalti replied hotly. “Don’t do anything dumb!”
"I’ll try. I have to go."
Violetta's face was cold and hard and angry, and the collar of her armor had fallen to reveal a neck so badly scarred it looked like her head had been torn off and then roughly glued back onto her body. She opened her mouth to say something when the double boom made the walls and floor rumble around us.
"The stone is resonating. It is close," Ashur rumble. "Lead the way, my thrall."
Thrall my ass. I turned around and trotted off like a good boy.
The opal tunnel was freezing cold - oppressively cold, the kind of chill that seemed to want to suck the heat from my bones and force my eyes shut, vampire powers or not. At the end of the corridor, it opened into a humming void of black space. There was a nose-searing, unpleasant metallic smell, the stench of ozone. A glittering white opal bridge spanned the fathomless chasm below. The bridge ended at another great stone circle, and behind that loomed a huge cherry-blossom shaped inlay made of wrought gold and silver. My eyes followed the curving lines of each petal like section to the center. As I watched, another rolling boom resounded through the cavern, and the flower-shaped door bowed outward, pulsing in time with the-
"-Heartbeat," I murmured aloud.
"Yes. The heart of a sleeping god pounds behind those doors." Ashur lay a hand on my shoulder. "Cross the bridge. I will be right behind you."
"Wait." Violetta was behind us, topping off the mana reservoirs in her spellgloves. "At the Gate of Glorious Dawn, there was a difficult boss in the antechamber. This Gate is probably no different. I don't sense anything, but this is the Gate of the God of Darkness. It would stand to reason that there could be enemies we don't see."
Does that make me the dungeon boss? I lifted my chin, looking up at the five-petaled door. There was a crushing sense of presence behind it... the sensation of something massive staring down at us, like a weight pushing down on our heads. This feeling... it's incredible.
The gravity of the being behind that door seemed to drag the oxygen from the air as we crossed the bridge. At the end, I could see there was something at the center of the stone circle. A small, six-sided altar just with a narrow slit in the center that was the perfect size for the Spear of Nine Spheres. I approached it slowly. The Spear was numbing my fingers, vibrating in time with the magical field that beat against our faces like radiation.
"At last." Ashur pushed me aside on his way to the altar. The scepter in his hand was glowing with a baleful black light, humming in time with the Spear. I could feel the weapon straining for it, and the Key
straining back in turn. "To think this one being could contain such power. The power of multitudes... of all the souls he has ever consumed.”
"Matir... consumes souls?" I repeated dumbly.
Ashur looked down at me. He almost seemed concerned. "You do not know the mechanism of the Caul of Souls, Hector?"
"No." Maybe I had, once - but if I'd known, I'd definitely forgotten.
“The world lore has it is that every NPC who has ever died has their spirit sucked up into the Caul of Souls." Violetta walked up behind us, her boots clacking on the stone. “The power of the Nine was the spark, but the energy of souls is the fuel.”
Ashur made a sound of agreement. "When the dragons created the Caul, they didn't just sacrifice their gods. They killed themselves and their slaves to create a stalemate, and they condemned the rest of the races of the world to join them in their torment."
My eyes widened as the door throbbed. The air felt too thick to breathe.
"The stupid thing is that we could have defeated them." Ashur's voice was heavy with old grief, still raw after thousands of years. "If the peoples of the world had united and the dragons had worked with us humans, we could have beaten the Drachan. But they could not give up their position as the mightiest race of Archemi."
"Now you understand why the dragons have a Geas on them at the Eyrie," Violetta continued, falling into place on the other side of the altar. "Why the queens were subjugated and the Aesari bound them into the service of humans and the other species of the world. Because the last time they were in charge, they threw us under the bus. They created an abomination."
A feeling of panic squeezed my chest. I couldn’t believe that – not after everything I’d gone through. Not after feeling Karalti’s simple, pure, powerful love for me.
"Indeed. It is time to correct the ancient wrong. Hold out your hand." Ashur commanded.
Numbly, I extended my left hand to him, the Spear resting in the right. The vampire took his scepter, and carefully plucked the Star of Endless Night from its setting. The stone almost looked like a ball of liquid oil, the star-shaped fire at the heart of it surging across its surface. It was icy-cold to touch, chilling my fingertips through my gauntlets. I bought it up to the Spear. As it got closer, the color of the weapon's mana changed. The red tracery of light bled away, replaced by a deep, deadly, seething blackness. The Star lifted, and then slowly descended, fitting neatly into the second highest setting on the blade. My bones hummed with a flush of pure energy that thrilled from my fingertips to the rest of my body, and an alert appeared:
Archemi Online Chronicles Boxset Page 126
