Ipseity (The Stork Tower Book 5)

by Tony Corden

  It was the first time she had misted in the cavern, and she hadn’t thought anything of it. Suddenly the minions went berserk. Not only the twelve who faced them but every minion in the cavern. Leah didn’t have time to make the connection because the incensed minions almost drove her to her knees. She responded automatically, un-equipping the Amber Dragon and misting her arms before extending her claws and shredding the three minions that were almost on her.

  She went full vampire and tore into everything in her path. She’d moved halfway to the exit before she realised that the creatures were actually trying to escape. Moments later, she and her four companions reached the safety of the tunnel leading to the fourth level. As they turned to look at the minions who, having let Leah pass, had turned and like the others. They were now straining and writhing in senseless rage at the boundary which was stopping them from reaching her. Jack opened his mouth to say something when a roar filled the whole cavern, and a voice thundered and echoed around the chamber, “You shall die, I will rend you limb from limb. You will suffer for eternity. I curse you, you most hated of enemies.”

  As the voice continued to scream threats, the minions became silent and still. Suddenly K’calama’s face appeared next to Leah, and she said, “Oops, I should have warned you that Lord Kötü Niyetli and his dark offspring hate vampires more than any other creature. A rabid clan killed Lord Kötü’s mate and left his children motherless. Oh well, I guess you won’t be seeing my brother after all. Have fun.”

  Atherleah, two different storylines have come together, and one has precedence over the other. The conditions for entry to this mine have been cancelled. Lord Kötü Niyetli and his offspring are committed to the destruction of each and every vampire they come across. Your companions are free to leave the mine with whatever you have excavated to date, but they must leave you behind. Should they remain with you, they will suffer your fate. You have five minutes to decide, and then every minion in the mine and Lady S’yah Kaltak herself will be hunting you and whoever is with you. Should you escape the mine, understand that Lord Kötü Niyetli and his offspring will continue to pursue you until you leave the lands of the Dark Elves.

  Leah looked up and could see the rest of the group were still reading whatever message they had been sent. She waited until they’d finished then said, “I’ll give you all the Darkness Diamonds I collected as well as the loot. When this is finished I’ll either meet you in Batislar or contact you somehow to get my share.”

  Jack said, “Leah, we don’t leave a teammate behind.”

  Leah smiled and said, “You will this time, Jack. If we stay together, not only will we all die but we’ll most likely lose some of the loot. If we separate, then at least you guys will survive, and we’ll have salvaged a goodly number of Diamonds. Don’t worry about me. I’m not giving up. I’ve killed a dragon before, and I still have a quest to finish. The fact that someone set this up so I’d be killed makes me a little angry, and I plan on doing whatever I can to mess up their plans. Now take the stuff and go.”

  None of the other players liked it, but they all knew it was the only smart thing to do. As soon as Leah had passed over all the Darkness Diamonds and the loot she’d collected, she dissolved the group. As Jack led the others up toward the fourth level, Leah turned to face the unmoving minions.

  She still had a few minutes before they would attack and she had Gèng put a countdown where she could see it. She Misted and tried to move through the MOBs but received a message.

  Atherleah, you are unable to move from this position until the five minutes set aside for decision have elapsed. You have one minute and thirty-five seconds remaining.

  Leah stepped back into the shadows and watched the clock countdown. As the timer reached zero, the minions surged forward, and Leah misted. Even though they couldn’t touch her, they knew where she was, and they continued to slash and bite as she moved further into the mine looking to go deeper. When she reached the far end, she stepped into the tunnel and had a brief moment of peace because none of the creatures could fit in the shaft although she could hear them frantically trying to make the space bigger so they could get at her.

  She unmisted, and the ferocity of their scrambling increased. Leah checked her BSL and taking out several vials of blood she topped it up. She had 24,650 BSP. One thing she’d observed while moving through the attacking minions was that each time they tried to shred or bite her misted form, it increased the rate at which her BSP dropped.

  She was about to step out onto the sixth level when the dragon’s voice echoed through the caverns again, cursing Leah and promising endless pain. Leah could understand the anger but still wasn’t going to just roll over and die. Just as she had done on the fifth level, Leah misted and moved across the sixth level and then the seventh, eighth and ninth. Each time she travelled through the connecting tunnel she replenished her BSP, but she was slowly coming to the end of her blood supply.

  She was halfway down the final tunnel to the tenth level when a wave of Shadow Fire rushed up the tunnel and engulfed Leah. Her armour absorbed most of the damage although it did lose over half its durability. Leah quickly took a potion to restore her health and equipped her blue set of armour instead of the red. When the second burst of shadow fire shot up the tunnel the darkness diamond dust absorbed the mana, strengthening the armour. Leah had been warned though not to overload the diamonds. The suit had developed an aura of Dark Shadow and T’sar Rimci said the aura would begin to pulse if the diamond dust coating was close to its limit. The faster the pulse, the closer it was to failing.

  Moving quickly, Leah looked out into the lowest level of the mine. A black dragon with dark grey highlights which swirled across her body was waiting.

  LADY S’YAH KALTAK - DARK SHADOW DRAGON (Level 1135) 14,621,354HP (567,500EP)

  Lady S’Yah wasn’t as big as Lady A’lev Sevgilisi had been but she exuded a ferocity and anger that Leah hadn’t felt in dealing with Lady A’lev.

  Leah gave a small bow and said, “Lady S’Yah, I did not come with the intent to cause you such distress. I was ignorant of the pain your family has suffered at the hand of vampires in the past. If I could, I would look for a way to help you find peace. Even so, I will defend myself if attacked.”

  “Defend yourself! Ha, you are a nothing! A cursed disease which must be destroyed. It is irrelevant whether you caused my pain. You are a foul creature and your kind must be extinguished from this world.”

  As soon as she finished talking she shot another wave of Shadow Fire at Leah. As it engulfed Leah, she brought both her hands forward and cast Dark Chain Lightning with both hands. The lightning surged into S’Yah and drove her back a few steps, the scales on her head were singed, and smoke rolled off her. The dragon’s health had dropped by several hundred thousand points, but she had more than enough to spare. Leah’s armour began to pulse slowly.

  Leah teleported onto S’Yah’s back and equipping Tufek Horozu’s War Axe, she brought it down and buried it between S’Yah’s shoulder blades. S’Yah’s body tensed in pain as the axe blade stuck deep into her flesh. Unfortunately for Leah when S’Yah had moved Leah lost her grip and was shaken off the dragon, landing heavily on the cavern floor. S’Yah dropped her body, smashing it into the ground and although Leah rolled out of the way as fast as she could, her left arm was caught by the falling dragon and crushed against the floor. Leah was lying on her front with her arm pinned and crushed. She equipped the Amber Dragon and thrust it into S’Yah’s side, causing the dragon to flinch just enough for Leah to roll free and get to her feet.

  Leah’s arm was broken in numerous places, and her health was hovering around sixty per cent. She was slightly dazed and yet still aware enough to throw herself backwards just in time to evade S’Yah’s right wing which she’d extended and brought crashing down in an attempt to crush Leah. Leah landed awkwardly, the pain of falling on her damaged arm brought tears to her eyes and made her clench her jaw and eyes. Because her eyes were shut she didn’
t see S’Yah’s left foreleg which the dragon raked backwards like an angry bull. The claws slammed into Leah, piercing her right thigh and throwing her almost twenty metres through the air. As she landed, her body tumbled along the ground doing further damage to her broken arm and inflicting bruises over much of her body. Her health was now below thirty per cent and dropping.

  Leah stumbled to her feet and was hit by another blast of Shadow Fire. Her armour absorbed most of the blast but it started to pulse rapidly and then it dissolved into ash. The remaining fire burnt Leah across the front of her body and face, her hair was gone and her scalp blistered. Leah knew she was almost done. Her health was flickering at five per cent. Her stamina was just above ten, and her Ki was hovering just below thirty. Leah’s mana was the only resource she had left, and it was just over half full. In desperation, Leah cast Grow and then as she expanded to a height of eighty metres, her head slammed into the roof, and she fell forward onto the dragon. As she landed Leah extended her fangs and finding the dragon’s neck, she fed.

  S’Yah’s blood flooded into Leah. It was stronger and more magical than anything she’d experienced before. She could feel the wave of magic as it engulfed her, healing every damaged cell. Within moments, Leah was satiated and saturated until her body wasn’t able to hold in any more of S’Yah’s life force. Leah could feel the magic begin to seep through her pores. She lifted her head, withdrew her fangs and cancelled Grow. With preternatural speed and grace, she moved to stand in front of S’Yah and looked her in the eye. S’Yah was beaten, her health holding steady at just over thirty per cent but she was drained of energy.

  Leah said, “I don’t want to kill you, Lady S’Yah. Can you offer me no hope of peace between us?”

  S’Yah’s voice was soft, “You did not kill me. Why?”

  “You are not my enemy except in your own mind.”

  “Vampires are evil, they have no souls, and they have no honour.”

  “Some vampires are evil, and some have no honour. I have fought such creatures, and I felt no regret when I shredded their hearts. Some live endlessly seeking to preserve lives—they act with honour and integrity. I imagine that not all dragons have the same values as every other one of their kind.”

  “You confuse me. You are one of the races of light. You are an abomination because of your mixed heritage. You are cursed with the evilest of afflictions, and yet you talk of hope, peace, and honour. I am struggling not to try and kill you. Seeking your death is at the very centre of who I am. My mind approves of your search for peace, but my very nature drives me to continue the attack.”

  “I have the same struggle every day. Always there wars within a battle for control. Which of the things I believe in will determine who I am? Am I to be controlled by fear, by hatred, by vengeance, by mercy or by compassion? In my experience the battle must be fought each and every day until I become the person I wish to be. I don’t see any dishonour in the struggle. Dishonour comes when you allow the hateful side to have the victory.”

  “My sire approaches.”

  “Now I have a battle raging within. Do I escape and hide? Or do I try and change his mind and free him from this senseless path of destruction?”

  “I suggest you run.”

  “But then how will he treat you?”

  “Either way, I am disgraced.”

  “Then perhaps our only hope, yours and mine, is to change his mind.”

  At that, Leah turned her back on Lady S’Yah and followed the cavern until she came to an opening which led to the floor of a deep valley. Unless you knew exactly where it was, it would be almost impossible to find. Leah walked onto the floor of the valley and sat down on a small boulder to wait.

  She wasn’t sure if anything could be gained from talking and so she had a teleport destination fixed in her head in case she was attacked. She hoped she didn’t have to use it because she didn’t want to be hunted all over the Dark Elf territory.

  There was hardly any warning as Lord Kötü Niyetli dropped into the valley, his wings snapped into place, and with a tremendous down thrust of his wings, he landed. Dirt, gravel, and stones were flung around the valley as he came to rest.

  LORD KÖTÜ NIYETLI - DARK SHADOW DRAGON (Level 2017) 82,057,389HP (1,008,500EP)

  Lord Kötü spoke in a voice which brought small avalanches of rock and dirt sliding down the valley walls, “I smell my daughter’s lifeblood upon your breath. I will bring darkness to the lands of Light and cleanse them of your entire breed.”

  Before Leah could respond, there was movement behind her.

  S’Yah said, “Why, Father? For what would you destroy a whole people?”

  “For justice. Tell me, why does this vermin still live?”

  “She lives because of justice. For what crime would you destroy her?”

  “Are you enslaved by this abomination? Her death is demanded for the sake of your mother.”

  “My mother died centuries before this one was born. What would her death achieve?”

  “All vampires must die. They are evil, crazed, accursed and they are beyond redemption.”

  “I am alive. I was granted mercy by this vampire. I was shown compassion by this vampire. How can a creature which shows compassion, which grants mercy, and which acts honourably be beyond redemption?”

  “Do you align yourself with this abomination? Will you deny your heritage? Deny both your family and your honour?”

  “I do not align myself with this person. I align myself with a desire for peace. I align myself with a hunger for truth. I align myself with a justice which seeks to punish the guilty and not the innocent.”

  “How are you ensnared? By magic or with words?”

  “I was ensnared by hatred, by custom, by pain. I have been set free by actions. I was defeated, and I yet I live because this creature, this vampire, hopes for peace. She allowed her dream to become a reality. She sits here because she would not let me face you alone.”

  Lord Kötü’s face, which had been held aloft by his sinuous neck while he talked with his daughter, was thrust low and stopped just inches from Leah. He said, “What is your scheme, you creature of the cursed ones? What will my daughter’s life cost me?”

  Leah said, “Lord Kötü, my name is Atherleah not ‘creature of the cursed ones’ or ‘the abomination’ or ‘vermin’. At least you didn’t call me ‘bitch’ because that really does annoy me. I don’t have a scheme and I don’t have any hold on your daughter’s life. Her life is hers, not mine and not yours. I didn’t save her for you. If I am honest, I didn’t even save her for herself. I let her live for my own reasons, because of how I want to live my life.”

  “If I let you live, I demand that you leave these lands and never return. I will grant this boon as the reward for her life.”

  “‘Let’? ‘Demand’? ‘Grant’? Lord Kötü? You are sadly mistaken if you think I was sitting here and waiting for you to turn up and grant me a boon. I am not here looking for your favour, and I am not beholden to you in any way. I am a free creature. I will go where I will, stay where I wish, and leave when I want to.”

  “Take care, creature known as Atherleah. I am Lord Kötü Niyetli, Ruler of the Dark Lands and Sovereign over the Dragons of Darkness.”

  “Cool. I am Empress Atherleah, Overlady of the Elfauns, Queen of the Dragonblood Dryads, Markiz, a Noble of the Road of the Kings, K’lbimizin, Lady of the Forest, Lady of Heykel, Lady of the Deep Forest, Dragon Slayer, God Slayer, Slayer of Büyük, Friend of Utzal, Counsellor of the Gods, The Champion of Hope and on and on. But you don’t see me getting in your face and trying to make you feel small, unimportant and irrelevant.”

  “I have heard of you, Empress Atherleah. Do you seek to enslave me and join my people to your empire? We will not serve you.”

  “I have no wish to enslave you. I hadn’t thought about asking you to join the empire, but I’m not sure I’d want you. I mean, what benefit would you bring to the empire? You are isolated, angry, and serve no productive purpo
se. You have nothing to offer.”

  “My people have purpose.”

  “Good, I’m glad. But enough of this talk. I have more business in this forest and in these lands that you claim as yours. I am not leaving and I will stay as long as I need to. Do I need to watch my back against some unwarranted attack by you or your people, or am I safe from your so-called vengeance?”

  “The words of my daughter bear consideration. She was wise to choose an honourable path. I have no love of your kind, and I still consider vampires to be a disease upon the land. Your actions have given me pause to consider the possibility that not all your kind are deserving of my enmity and hatred. Neither I nor my offspring will seek your life unless you do evil unto the land or unto us. For the life of my daughter and as recompense for my undeserved hatred I grant you a gift.”

  A small chest appeared on the ground in front of Leah. Before she could say thank you, the Dragon Lord had thrust himself into the sky and disappeared. Leah turned to look at Lady S’Yah.

  S’Yah said, “For the gift of my life and for the lesson on mercy I also gift you this small favour. You are welcome to visit as you will but I am weary and must rest, and I ask that you excuse me.”

  A second chest had appeared in front of Leah as S’Yah finished speaking and disappeared back into the cave. Leah opened the gift from Lord Kötü.