by E K Baxter
He’d taken down three of them when a huge sizzling white fireball came tearing through the cavern straight at him. Max threw himself flat on the ground just in time as it went whistling over his head. It was hot enough that it singed his hair in passing before crashing into the far wall of the cavern and exploding in a flare of light and flame.
Lord Mespar, who had thrown the fireball, screamed in rage and lifted his arms to fling another one. Max didn’t wait for it. He ran.
Fireballs rained down around him, some crashing into the ground, some slamming against the wall and some missing entirely and hitting the acolytes instead who went up like blazing torches. Lord Mespar didn’t seem to care. All he was bothered about was stopping Max from breaking the seals.
A quick glance up showed Max that three levels of runes were now lit up on each pillar and that the figure in the gate was bigger than ever. Only two more levels and the power would have reached full strength. If that happened and the demon came through, he dreaded to think what would happen to Nightshade. Hell, he dreaded to think what would happen to all of them.
Terra and Max were still fighting. They’d managed to pin Kalrick back to the left side of the dais, keeping him away from both Nightshade and Max but now a group of acolytes had turned and were massing behind them. They’d soon be fighting a battle on two fronts. Max hesitated, resisting the urge to run to his friends’ aid, knowing that his task lay elsewhere. He had to break the pillars or they were all dead.
A fireball slammed into the ground at his feet and he was hurled backwards, landing heavily and whacking his elbows on the hard stone. At his feet the stone became a molten pool of magma, the fireball chewing through the granite as though it was ice cream.
An idea came to Max. It was risky, some might say suicidal, but it was the only chance he had.
He climbed to his feet. “Is that the best you can do?” he yelled at Lord Mespar. “You’re pathetic, just like your master is pathetic! Look at you—kidnapping innocent women and enslaving peasants! And you call yourself a lord? You’re no lord! You’re a worthless coward!”
Lord Mespar’s eyes flew wide and his skin flushed with rage. “How dare you?” he screeched. “Do you know who you’re speaking to? I am the lord of this city! I’ll teach you some manners!”
“Oh yeah?” Max replied, plastering a cocky grin onto his face. “You and whose army? You think you scare me? I’ve faced more impressive enemies before I’ve even eaten breakfast!”
“Really?” Lord Mespar hissed. “We’ll see about that.”
He jabbed his hands towards Max and another fireball came hurtling. Max had been expecting this and he leapt out of the way, rolling and coming to his feet facing Mespar.
“See?” he cried. “Useless! My grandmother could do better!”
Mespar gave a wordless howl of rage and threw more fireballs, one after the other in quick succession. Max dashed away and Mespar followed him, flinging fireball after fireball, so blinded by his rage that he didn’t see where Max was headed. Max threw himself behind one of the pillars just as another fireball came flying at him but instead of incinerating Max where he stood, the fireball smashed into the pillar. There was an almighty crash and the pillar exploded, raining dust and debris down on the cavern floor.
Max scrambled out of the way, coughing and spluttering, then flung his arms wide.
“Thank you, Lord Mespar!” he called. “For destroying one of your seals. I don’t think your master is going to be very pleased with you. Look!”
Inside the gate the figure was gesticulating wildly, pointing from Lord Mespar to Max.
Seeing this, Lord Mespar’s face paled. “Worm!” he growled. “I will finish you!”
He didn’t throw any more fireballs but instead strode down the dais and straight at Max. Max gulped.
Mespar looked furious. His face was twisted into an almost unrecognizable mask and his eyes blazed. Even as he moved towards Max his lips were moving, forming the words of some arcane spell. Black smoke came pouring out of Lord Mespar’s mouth, shooting straight at Max.
Max instinctively threw out a hand as if that could stop the black smoke, although of course it couldn’t. At the same time, with his mana now restored, he cast Winter’s Breath—more in desperation than in hope. White fog erupted around him.
The fog collided with Mespar’s black smoke with a hiss of steam, mingling, coalescing, hardening into drops of hard black rain like the onyx that made up the walls of the cavern. The droplets fell to the floor like glass beads.
Max let out a sigh of relief then quickly, before Mespar could throw anything else his way, cast Stealth and activated its Find function. The world faded to gray around him.
Lord Mespar let out a howl of fury. “You think you can hide from me? Fool!”
Max raised his arms to attack Lord Mespar but then froze, his eyes locked on the Devil’s Gate. In the strange half-world of Stealth, with Find activated, the true nature of the creature coming through the Devil’s Gate was revealed.
The creature was no longer an indistinct silhouette but was uncovered in all its terrifying glory. It was a man, tall and broad-shouldered, covered in a thick armor of shining black plates. A pair of leathery black wings circled his body. His skin was as pale as a maggot and riddled through with deep purple veins. He had an angular face with sharp cheekbones and arched eyebrows above eyes that burned with flame.
Name: Agiel Level: 50
A Greater Demon of the Abyss, Agiel is one of The Five. Centuries ago he was the scourge of the Napathans, the ancient civilization of the Rogue Lands. They worshipped him as a god but he soon enslaved them and brought humanity to its knees. With the aid of the great hero, Horion, the Napathans created the Staff of Syrithia and used it to banish Agiel back to the abyss. Agiel has sworn revenge.
I see you, True Worlder, a voice boomed in Max’s head. I am Agiel and I will eat your heart.
Max cried out and released Stealth. It might expose him to Lord Mespar but he had no desire to become visible to Agiel’s terrible gaze. Here, on the normal plane, the figure had become shadowy once more and Max was glad he could no longer see that demonic, terrifying gaze.
Max knew he had to stop Agiel coming through that gate at all costs.
Lord Mespar though, had other ideas.
Another fireball erupted at Max’s feet, sending him hurtling backwards. He crashed into one of the pillars with a crunch and a wave of pain exploded along his nerves. His HP dropped by 20%. Dazed and groggy, Max rolled to his knees and forced his screaming muscles to push him to standing. Only just in time. Lord Mespar came rushing at him, a sword blade made from fizzing white energy swinging for Max’s head.
Max ducked and the sword-blade sliced into the pillar behind him and stuck there. Max took his opportunity. He equipped his ax and brought it down on Lord Mespar’s blade, slicing it in two before chopping down into Lord Mespar’s body. The man bellowed in pain as a gout of blood sheeted down his side. He tossed away the broken blade and advanced on Max, power crackling between his outstretched hands.
Max’s blow had barely affected him.
You won’t beat him by using strength or spells, Max thought. He has too much of both.
Max had put his points into Wisdom. That had to count for something. If he couldn’t outfight his enemy he had to outthink him instead.
Max dashed behind the pillar and quickly cast Acid Rain. The little cloud appeared, raining down its molten drops onto the smooth stone. Almost all the runes were ablaze now. Only one more level to go until it the dark power reached full strength and the gate’s portal was fully open.
“Come here, curse you!” Lord Mespar screeched.
He dashed around the pillar after Max who darted around the other side, keeping the pillar between him and the crazed despot. Max swung his ax at the pillar. Chips of stone went flying but the pillar was otherwise undamaged.
“Fight me!” Mespar snarled. “Or are you a coward who only knows how to hide?”
>
Max ignored Mespar’s taunts. He wasn’t a coward, only a realist, and he would beat Mespar any way he could—and that meant being smarter.
“What’s wrong, Mespar?” Max called from behind the pillar. “Too clumsy to hit me instead of the seal? I don’t think your master would be too happy if you broke another one, would he?”
Mespar growled but didn’t throw any more fireballs. Max had guessed right. After accidentally destroying the second seal in his rage Mespar wouldn’t risk it again. Instead, he’d play cat and mouse with Max until one of them made a mistake.
It was a risky strategy. A desperate one. Any moment now Max would be a fraction too slow and Lord Mespar would catch him. Having used most of his mana to cast Acid Rain on the pillar, Max only had enough left to cast another spell and he didn’t have anything that might cause sufficient damage to Lord Mespar. One wrong move and Max was dead.
Lord Mespar knew that, of course, so he kept following Max around the pillar, trying to force him into a mistake or move fast enough to catch him off guard. Max did his best to keep his wits about him but it was hard with the cacophony in the cavern. Terra and Sam’s battle with Kalrick had moved to an all-out assault involving Kalrick and the acolytes on one side and Terra and Sam on the other. Both had little more than 30% health left.
Max gritted his teeth and swung his ax at the pillar again. More stone chips flew and he darted away, out of Lord Mespar’s reach. He glanced up, saw that Acid Rain was doing its job. Already the top of the pillar was starting to erode.
He swung his ax again and this time tiny hairline cracks spider-webbed their way up the smooth stone and widened when they reached the part already eroded by his spell. Max hesitated for a heartbeat, not sure if he’d done enough, but the sound of Lord Mespar’s footsteps hot on his tail decided him.
This time, when Lord Mespar came for him Max didn’t run away. He stepped out to meet him. Lord Mespar was so surprised that he froze for an instant. It was all the time Max needed.
He cast Winter’s Breath, using up the last of his mana, and the white fog enveloped Lord Mespar, freezing him in place.
“Sam!” he bellowed. “I need your help!”
His friend glanced over from where he was battling a red-robed acolyte. He was covered in blood – hopefully not his own. Seeing Max with Lord Mespar, Sam quickly dispatched his opponent and then pelted across the cavern. This left Terra to hold back both the acolytes and Kalrick and she was grossly overmatched but there was nothing to be done about that for the moment.
“Quickly!” Max gasped. “I need your strength. Help me.”
He set his shoulder to the cracked pillar and pushed. Grasping his intent, Sam joined him, adding his considerable strength to Max’s and they began heaving against the stone with all their might. Nothing happened.
Max felt a moment of despair. They weren’t strong enough. Even with Acid Rain dissolving the stone and the cracks Max had caused with his ax, the pillar would defeat them. In a moment Winter’s Breath would expire and Lord Mespar would cut them down. It was over.
Then he heard something. It was the unmistakable sound of cracking stone.
“It’s working!” Sam cried. “It’s going to fall!”
With renewed energy the two of them pushed, puffing and groaning, Max straining so hard he could feel the blood vessels standing out in his neck. The cracking sound came again and the pillar began to topple.
They scrambled back and watched, wide-eyed, as the pillar crashed to the ground— straight on top of Lord Mespar.
Still frozen by Winter’s Breath, Lord Mespar could only watch in horror as several tons of stone came crashing down atop him. He disappeared under a pile of rubble and dust.
Max sagged, his legs suddenly weak, leaning on the wall of the cavern to steady himself. He felt like an empty waterskin, completely drained of energy. It had taken everything he had to kill Lord Mespar but the battle was far from over.
He allowed himself the luxury of closing his eyes for a moment and taking a few slow, deep breaths before opening them again.
A scene of carnage met his eyes. The perimeter of the cavern was filled with the rubble of the collapsed seals and dust floated through the air. With dismay, he saw that both Terra and Sam were down. He knelt by their sides anxiously. They were still alive but knocked out by flying debris. Damn it. Until they came around, he was on his own.
He straightened, scanning for enemies. Red-robed figures lay strewn about, none of them remaining on their feet. They must have been linked to Lord Mespar and had died when he had. Thank god. One less thing to worry about.
A quick glance up though, showed that the Devil’s Gate was still very much active. One of the pillars still crackled with dark energy, feeding the gate. Within the gate’s vortex Agiel was closer than ever, his clawed hands reaching into the cavern. In moments he would pass through.
Max ran over to the dais where Nightshade was still imprisoned by the black tendrils. Her eyes were closed, her skin clammy with sweat and her dark hair plastered to the sides of her face. She looked vulnerable and very human. Max scanned her body, taking in the black tendrils that were attached to her at throat, heart and forehead. Even as he watched a pulse of dark power passed along them into Nightshade’s body and she writhed, her lips pulling back in pain.
Max equipped his knife and raised it, ready to slice through those tendrils.
Then a figure rose up on the other side of the dais. Blood sheeted down his face and a chunk of his hair was gone. The sight of him stirred a wave of anger in Max’s belly.
Kalrick.
“Step aside,” Kalrick rasped. “Step away from the Vessel.”
“The vessel?” Max replied. “Her name is Nightshade. What the hell have you done to her?”
Kalrick’s eyes moved from Nightshade to the gate and something lit his eyes. Fear? Or reverence? “You couldn’t possibly understand.”
“Oh, I understand plenty. I understand you brought Nightshade here against her will. I understand this is some kind of punishment for losing the tournament.”
“Punishment?” Kalrick laughed. “I don’t think so! To become the Vessel of the Master is the highest honor.”
“I don’t think she sees it that way. This is what is going to happen, Kalrick. You’re going to back off. I’m going to take Nightshade and we are going to get the hell out of here. You’re not going to stop us.”
“Ah, wrong again, Maxwell. I’m going to kill you,” Kalrick growled. “Slowly.”
“You didn’t do too good a job of it in the real world,” Max shot back. “What makes you think you’ll do any better here?”
Max didn’t wait for his reply. He quickly sliced through one of the black tendrils attached to Nightshade. A shockwave of power went up his arm, akin to being electrocuted, and the black tendril snapped, whipping around like the severed tentacle of an octopus.
Kalrick snarled and clamped his fingers around Max’s arm just as he was about to slice another of the tendrils. Kalrick’s face was only inches from Max’s own, so close that he could smell the man’s sour breath. Max strained, trying to push Kalrick back but the man’s grip was like iron. They grappled, each trying to force the other back, Max grunting and straining with the effort. The knife quivered between them, its blade glinting.
With a growl, Max took one hand off the knife, pulled back his arm and punched Kalrick in the face with all his strength. More from surprise than hurt, Kalrick staggered back. Max’s punch hadn’t done any damage but boy, it had felt good.
He took advantage of Kalrick’s momentary distraction to slice through the remaining tendrils attached to Nightshade then stooped to pick her up.
“No!” Kalrick yelled. He threw himself across the platform, just as Max lifted the unconscious woman.
The black tendrils, waving like severed tentacles, suddenly snapped back into place on the platform. But this time it wasn’t Nightshade sprawled there.
It was Kalrick.
At the same time, the final set of runes at the very top of the remaining seal burst into incandescent life. Power surged into the gate and Agiel lifted his head and howled triumphantly. A high-pitched whining filled the air, as if something were charging. Kalrick, writhing on the dais with the black tentacles attached to his body, let out a cry of fear and pain.
Then a silent explosion shook the cavern. Everything went white and Max was thrown to the floor, Nightshade’s insensate body falling atop him.
For a second or an hour or a year Max lost consciousness. When he opened his eyes he saw that his HP had taken another hit. A sharp, stabbing pain lit his head where he’d hit it on the hard stone of the cavern floor.
Groggily he pushed himself up to a sitting position and lifted Nightshade off him, laying her down at his side. She hadn’t regained consciousness and her head flopped on her neck. Was she even still alive?
He took a potion then looked around for his friends but couldn’t see them amid the rubble and dust. He shook Nightshade’s shoulder.
“Nightshade?” he croaked. “Can you hear me?”
She didn’t respond. Footsteps echoed behind him and Max looked up to see a figure standing on the steps in front of the Devil’s Gate. It was Kalrick.
The black tendrils were gone. The lines of power crackling up and down the seal were gone. The runes, having done their job were burned out, their pattern charred and unrecognizable.
There was no sign of Agiel.
Kalrick threw his head back and laughed. It sounded unnatural, echoing, as though many voices issued from that one throat.
“Ah! Life! A body! It feels good!”
His eyes swept the room and Max saw that they were no longer that icy blue he’d come to know so well. Now they were a roiling mix of red and gold, like flames.
