Absalom’s Trials

by J. D. L. Rosell

  “Marrow, we need to decide now,” Farelle said urgently.

  I took a deep breath, then set aside the careful strategic part of me I’d so carefully culled. This wasn’t the Trial of Strategy, after all. It was time to be brave.

  “We’re going after her.” I sprinted down the stairs, taking them three at a time. “Coming?”

  Every one of my companions followed after.

  30

  The Broodmother

  Reaching the hallway again, we set off for the other end, glancing to either side for any passages we may have missed, but nothing jumped out at us. Only windows lining one wall, barely wide enough for us to squeeze out of, but a quick glance out showed nothing to climb or grab onto, just smooth, gray rock in either direction. And when we reached the stairs at the other end, all they led to were the stairs down.

  I ground my teeth in frustration. “There can’t just be one way in! There can’t be!”

  Brandeur crossed his arms over his broad chest and shook his head. “It’s a shame. I suppose she’ll be brood food now.”

  His words sparked a thought. “Her brood — of course! They must have a way of getting to their mother!”

  The other three looked at me with varying degrees of skepticism. “Duh,” Farelle said, exasperated. “But we can’t fly.”

  A grin spread across my face. “Not yet we can’t. But I think I have a way we might be able to.” I looked at Sarai. “Can you call your goddess to us? In person?”

  The priestess looked aghast. “Summon Isvalla herself? I would never do that!”

  “You have to. Otherwise, this whole thing is over. But don’t worry — I think she’ll come. She’ll want to see how this all plays out.”

  Sarai continued to look skeptical, but nodded slowly. “I suppose she is responsible for me being her. She must have some vested interest in our success.”

  I looked to the other two. “Hope neither of you are scared of heights. Because I have a feeling we’re going to be getting high tonight.”

  Brandeur clapped me on the shoulder. “My friend, there is nothing in all the Everlands that scares me.”

  “I thought magic did,” Farelle observed drily.

  “Er, no. It just gives me the willies.”

  “Shall I try to call her now?” Sarai interrupted with exasperation.

  I nodded. “Better do it before these two get out of hand.”

  The autumn elf closed her eyes and sank to her knees in the middle of the stone floor. I paced up to her, turning the bracer on my arm around. I hoped my plan was going to work. I was far from certain it would, but for Sheika’s sake — and maybe for the success of the whole trial — I knew I had to try.

  I watched the priestess as she prayed this time, and noticed the gathering white glow around her. So she was acquiring holiness at least — that seemed promising. But her prayer was going on for a long time, much longer than before.

  I paced faster. If Sheika had triggered a trap and was fighting the Broodmother all alone, I doubted she could last much longer. But then again, the former dev had constantly surprised me, and literally knew the game inside and out. Maybe there was hope after all.

  The glow seemed to be reaching a climax sort. But still, Sarai didn’t open her eyes. “Come on,” I muttered, not looking away for a moment, afraid I might miss something. I strained to hear signs of combat above, but I’d only heard one roar followed by a hum-filled silence. “Come on.”

  Suddenly, the hallway filled with a blinding flash of light. I cried out and reflexively threw an arm up against it.

  “Marrow Catalyst. So nice to see you again.”

  I lowered my arm and blinked rapidly through the dark spots in my vision. “Isvalla?”

  The same voluptuous goddess who had first lured me away for these trials smiled winningly down at me. She glowed like the sun with divine light, her blue eyes most of all. “You had my faithful servant call me in person, a thing priestesses hesitate to do even on their deathbeds. Why?”

  I swallowed. “I have a request.”

  The Goddess of Adoration arched a fine eyebrow. “I have already assisted you in this trial once. I do not intend to do so again.”

  Denied before I’d even made my request. And what I asked would be no more palatable. I sighed. “I’m sorry, then. You must understand, I have no other choice.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

  I held up the Bracer of Compulsion. She hissed with recognition and seemed about to flee, but I shouted first, “Isvalla! I humbly request that you use your powers to enthrall Jin’Thal’s brood to obey mine and my party’s commands for the duration of this trial!”

  For a moment, nothing changed. I feared that, despite the item’s description, it wouldn’t actually work as it said it would. Being able to command a deity to do something seemed beyond overpowered.

  But the goddess went rigid and her expression blank as a wiped whiteboard. “That seems like… a reasonable request.”

  I let out a sigh as the goddess turned and pointed a hand out the window. White light flashed from her. A few moments later, I heard the whooshing of dragon wings coming close. Even knowing they were on our side for the moment, I felt a thrill of fear at their approach. I hadn’t forgotten how it felt to fight the beasts.

  The goddess turned back to me. “Your request is accomplished,” she said in that same monotone voice. “Now I am released from my obligation.”

  “Time to go!” I shouted to the rest of my party. “Out the windows!” Without waiting for an answer, I took my own advice and squeezed halfway out the nearest window, startling when a dragon’s snout hovered not a foot from the window sill. The black eye stared at me with what seemed the same hate as before, but it didn’t try and take a bite as I emerged from the opening. It seemed that the goddess’ charm was holding for now. But I had a feeling that as soon as she came out of my bracer’s trance, she might not be so inclined to keep things that way.

  Pushing aside my doubts, I leaped for the dragon and wound my arms awkwardly around its neck. Even divinely charmed, the beast shrieked in protest, flapping rapidly to try and regain its balance. I held desperately on, kicking to try and get a firmer grip on it. Only my armor made of the scales of its own kind kept me from gathering nasty scrapes up and down my body. As the wyvern righted its balance, I just managed to slide enough onto the top part of its neck and gasp, “Go to your mother!”

  The scaly beast gave a massive surge into the air, and we soared straight upward.

  The flight was far more terrifying than when I’d flown on a sun-flier. I was all too aware of the sheer power of the dragon I’d wrapped myself around, and the ease with which it could kill me if Isvalla’s charm lifted. Whether the goddess was held under the bracer’s sway still or didn’t retract her power for some other reason, I didn’t know. All I knew was that the castle soared away from me until we reached the end of the broken wall and rose above it.

  The sight that greeted me there took away what little breath I had left. Staring down through the broken parts of the roof of the castle, I glimpsed the most massive monster I had ever seen. The top floor of the palace must have spread several football fields in either direction, and the dragon almost reached either end. Jin’Thal was the apex not only of dragons, but of anything I could imagine facing in the Everlands.

  And I was supposed to kill her.

  I tried not to think about it. One step at a time. First, we had to find and save Sheika. Then I could think about the rest.

  I pointed and shouted, “Go down in there!”

  The dragon dove for one of the gaps in the ceiling. Air cut into me despite my armor, and my cloak flapped rapidly behind me. I feared almost that I wouldn’t have the strength to hold on. The dragon dove through the gap, and a wave of superheated air crashed into me as we entered the glowing orange chamber.

  Jin’Thal spread out before us, a sea of scales, horns, and gargantuan limbs. Her color was red and splotchy with an u
gly purple, like some sort of disease infected her armor. But even for that, I didn’t doubt that she was as strong as ever, and had every one of those hundred thousand health points.

  She was actually so massive that it took me a second to locate her head, only spotting it by a splash of blue flames. Fearing what that meant, I urged my dragon forward. It was the last place I wanted to go, but I knew it was the likely that those flames were directed at Sheika.

  My heart was in my throat as we approached, and not only because I feared for my friend. The slightest movement from Jin’Thal could end us, a fact of which I was all too aware. Yet I didn’t stop my dragon, but let it weave in and out of the ceiling as it saw fit. The head of the elder dragon was suddenly before us.

  And facing it was the illusion of a giant Sheika.

  “Is that the best you have, Jin’Thal?” she roared, swiping at it with one huge dagger. It didn’t do anything, of course, but the elder dragon flinched back all the same.

  I will find your true form, little fleshling, a voice boomed in my head. It was as deep a voice as I’d ever heard, and not male or female in any way I was familiar with. All I knew was that it was domineering, and as Jin’Thal spoke, it shook me to the core of my being.

  It took me a second to remember where I was as my dragon swooped over her head. Jin’Thal’s black eye, big as a suburban swimming pool, followed our flight. Ah, my children return, she spoke with the voice that wasn’t a voice. Now they will make a sport of you with their sharp vision.

  I realized as we flew past that oversized lizard hadn’t seen me on the dragon’s back. She was going blind! I grinned. There was something I could use to my advantage.

  Sheika, however, had, and her huge eyes crinkled with amusement as she threw her head back and laughed. “Perhaps they will, Jin’Thal! Shall we find out?”

  The elder dragon roared and reared suddenly, so that my dragon had to pivot out of the way of her rising back. Do not mock me, fleshling, nor prod me with your steel claws! I will burn you out! As she spoke, she opened her mouth again, and blue fire flooded out at Sheika’s illusion. The giant version of her was lost in the inferno. Worry sprang up in me once again.

  I shook my head, snapping out of my stupor. I couldn’t just fly around and watch — I had to help. Prying one hand loose of my grip, I held it up and withdrew the Everstone from my inventory. Even one hour of unlimited spirit would go fast once I used it, and this would be my one shot. But I’d committed this much already. I took a deep breath, then activated the stone.

  Instantly, I felt like I was soaring — or rather, doubly so. Power filled me from my fingers to my toes to the very tips of my hairs. Holy, unholy — distinctions didn’t matter in the face of this. I knew I could do anything now, even the impossible.

  I would kill Jin’Thal.

  Summoning Unholy Smite as we flew, I projected it onto Jin’Thal’s back. A second later, the column of dark light slammed into her with the same force as I’d seen used on the smaller dragons down below. But unlike with them, it did not crush her to the ground, nor even move her much at all. All it did was bring her long, serpentine neck around so her huge black eye could stare at me.

  I have been betrayed, I see now, the elder dragon noted. For that, new fleshling, I will roast you slowly. Her mouth gaped, and I saw blue fire building at the back of her throat.

  “Up!” I shouted desperately, hauling at my dragon’s scales as if it would help. The beast was already rising of its own accord, but not quite fast enough. Just as we flew behind a patch of stone roof, Jin’Thal’s breath caught the dragon’s tail and blew the the little cover we had to smithereens. As flames licked over me and fragments of stones buffeted me, my health dropped to 50%. And that was in one glancing blow.

  My dragon seemed worse for the wear, though whether its shrieks were more because of its mother turning on it or from its injuries, I couldn’t tell.

  “No time to lick your wounds!” I shouted at it over the wind. “We’ve got to get back in there!” As I spoke, I cast Minor Healing — what now seemed a woefully inadequate spell — three times in a row so that I was back up to full health. The power inside me didn’t even take a dent, but pressed out as if begging for release.

  I urged my dragon to soar back under the roof, greeting Jin’Thal with another Unholy Smite. As the column thudded into her back again, the huge dragon roared. The crashing wave of sound nearly threw me off my perch. I vaguely saw a Stunned status appear. I tried focusing my eyes through my swimming vision and let loose another unholy attack, but I only knew I hit Jin’Thal when she screamed in protest again.

  Yet for three hits on her, I doubted I had even scratched her. I had a long battle ahead of me.

  “Marrow!”

  I turned at the faint call and saw three more dragons with riders flying through the orange haze of the sky. The reinforcement had finally arrived.

  I pointed down. “Sheika needs our help!”

  “Then what are you doing up here?” Farelle shouted with a grin, and she and her dragon dove under the ruined roof.

  A fair point. I followed her down.

  We rained as much destruction on her as we could. I channeled Unholy Smite as quickly as I was able, hitting her at various points as I tested for which spot was most vulnerable. Farelle also aimed for what she assumed were tender spots, holding onto her dragon’s neck with only her legs as she shot her dragonbone bow. As for Sarai, I couldn’t tell what she did, but the flashes of light she sent cascading toward Jin’Thal at least drew her attention, and none of us fell under her thrall. Amazingly, Brandeur’s antics were the most impressive and foolish of us all. Sweeping his dragon in close, he swiped at Jin’Thal with his falchion to little if any effect. Yet he screamed like a madman and kept at it, grinning all the while. I shook my head and kept up my barrage of channels. At least the mercenary was having fun.

  Sheika, on the other hand, was in a bad way. After her brief stint trying to get me, Jin’Thal had refocused on the Ja’qual, swiping with huge claws, biting with humongous jaws, and blasting apart the castle with fire that burned hotter than any forge could muster. But somehow, using every trick and spell she knew, Sheika had escaped death so far.

  But it wasn’t enough. None of it was enough. I tried examining Jin’Thal to no avail, but I knew that none of our efforts could have hurt her much. She was just too massive and too invulnerable. She had to have a weakness. I scanned her long body as my dragon wheeled through the air for another pass. It had to be somewhere on the belly or her face — everywhere else was covered in scales. And considering it was unlikely she was going to roll over and expose her belly, that left just one option.

  I turned my dragon back toward her head and we sped back downward. I channeled Unholy Smite at her eyes, but with the delay of the spell, I was never accurate enough to land a direct hit. But even from a peripheral hit, I could tell it wasn't going be enough. Whether it was her natural draconian resistance or something else protecting her, not even her eyes were very vulnerable.

  As another of my attacks hit over her brow, Jin’Thal rolled one night-black eye toward me. Enough of your petty resistance, fleshling.

  I didn't wonder long what she meant. The next moment, a wave of psychic energy poured over me. Now I understood why I needed my fortitude high, and how woefully inadequate mine was.

  I felt the dragon’s thrall seize me.

  It was like I looked out of someone else's eyes. To my horror, I found myself raising my hand and pointing it toward Sheika. Unbidden, the knowledge of Unholy Smite came to my mind. I couldn't squash the impulse; someone else drove the channel from thought to formation, and I felt the divine energy surging inside me press forth.

  As Sheika dove back from another of Jin'Thal's attacks, her eyes rose to meet mine for an instant. Seeing my upraised hand and how my dragon dove toward her, she must have understood, for her eyes widened.

  A column of black light slammed into my friend.

  No! I screamed
in my head, but I couldn't form the word. Jin'Thal's thrall held me still, even after I may have killed my friend, and consequently failed the rest of my party and the trial. And doomed myself to Faze-Aught, never to return to the real world.

  Then, for a moment, I stuck on that thought. The real world. No matter how real this game felt, I had to remind myself it wasn't reality. No; it was formed of computers and connections. It was formed by all the players who played it.

  I felt myself drifting apart from my body plummeting downward still, but I didn't try and hold on. I followed the thought on. Absalom had found ways to circumvent the game rules and recreate them, but even he was still bound by the game. Nothing was free. But it was the Everlands, wasn't it? A game of infinite realities and possibilities. So why did I seem so restricted by it?

  My dragon didn't pull up, but dove still for the spot where my column had hit the ground, where a cloud rose up and swirled. Of Sheika, there was still no sign. I didn't resist the flight path. To resist was to acknowledge their rules and be bound by them. As I drifted even further apart, I realized that this whole time, I'd been trying desperately to figure out the rules to this game because I thought it was the only way to win. Three trials had been put before me, so I tried passing each of them without looking beyond. But why had I submitted to them in the first place? What would they give me that I couldn’t seize for myself?

  The ground was a dozen feet away, yet still we dove fast, too fast, too late to change course. Still I was caught betwixt my thoughts and the thrall. I believed in Absalom's power over me. I believed he could do whatever he wished to me. But I'd seen his limitations after the second trial. Even working within the rules, I'd outsmarted the closest thing to artificial intelligence we had ever known. But did that mean that the rules were unbendable after all, even for the Everlands’ gods?