Eldritch Night

by J M Hamm

Before I had to worry about that, I still needed to get past the first step of my plan.

  I let out a breath before taking a step into the dome. The dome was solid, but I was able to push through with only minimal resistance.

  It was like submerging myself in a pool of liquid lightning. The snapping clicks of static drowned out the howls of the wind and a chilling tingle ran up my spine. As the tingling sensation grew, a soft pressure began to fight against my push inwards.

  Red sparks crackled and clung to me like the coils of a fiery serpent.

  The pressure gradually became stronger as I pressed forward. The feeling was like trying to press together opposite sides of a magnet, if that magnet were fighting its way through a hurricane and had really pissed of Zeus.

  My pace was slowed, but only slightly. I pushed further into the wall of energy and before long found myself completely cut off from the outside world. I could see only darkness and concussive flashes that were preceded by twisted lines of crimson lightning that held briefly upon the sky like a skeletal hand. No other light could break through the thick fog that billowed up from beneath my feet.

  Hiding within the fog were eyes. I could feel them on me, watching and darting around me. The wind carried barely heard murmurs, whispers just low enough that I was unsure if they were real or imagined. Whenever I turned to confront these phantasms, I would find nothing but an empty red haze.

  My feet became heavier with each step. My mind began to race with half-formed paranoia.

  As I continued forward I could feel a pressure beginning to form in the back of my head. It was like the precursor of a headache that was quickly gaining in intensity.

  A feeling of vertigo caused me to stumble and I landed on one knee. As I pushed myself up a face appeared before me. The quickness with which it arrived startled me, and I yelled out. It was a disembodied and gruesome visage, a shifting mask of translucent smoke. It was not alone.

  A wall of ghostly figures had sprung up unseen. If I tried to focus on one for too long it would disappear into the constantly moving horde. Their forms were hazy and inconsistent, each was constantly shifting both shape and location.

  I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing for a moment. I could sense the attack on my mind. It was much like the fear caused by the Eye of Madness, but different at the same time. This feeling was less primal, and lacked the feeling of revealed truth. It was an insubstantial fear, but nonetheless one that was as insidious as it was infectious.

  This was only my second interaction with a dungeon core, but I was beginning to form an understanding of them. Each contained some deep emotion that colored and shaped the energy it produced. Perhaps this was not only true for the cores, but eldritch energy in general.

  I kept my eyes closed and launched myself forward. By blocking off my more mundane senses I could see the phantoms for what they were, constructs meant to torment me. They were pale echoes of that which should long ago have faded into death; no more real than my own shadowy illusions.

  I felt the resistance increase as I broke through the ring of specters. This only caused me to increase my speed. I was battered back by wind and an invisible power, but I refused to be slowed. Each step forward was an agonizing ordeal, like molten lead had been poured into my limbs.

  I had reached the limit of my pain tolerance, and fear made me doubt my actions. I could turn around and save myself. Was this really that important? The voices whispered, but I ignored them and carried myself forward through sheer spite.

  The pain and pressure nearly broke me both mentally and physically.

  But then it was gone as if I had imagined the whole thing. I opened my eyes and found myself floating in darkness. Around me was a near perfect void, but I could still make out the fog and electricity just outside the small bubble of nothingness. I breathed inward but my chest tightened and cramped. My heart began to beat erratically, and my hands grew cold and clammy. I clutched at my chest and noticed a trail of vapor rising from my fingertips. I exhaled, relieving some of the pressure, but I soon felt a bubbling sensation on my tongue and eyes.

  My vision blurred, and I began to feel light headed.

  I pushed down the desire to run as every nerve in my body cried out for relief. Instead, I ran forward. My fear and regret rose with each step, but a surge of vindication rose up within me when an object came into view.

  The pedestal was small, and half hidden in shadow. It was no higher than my waist and had a wide circular platform at each end. It was like a small table; its top was plated in copper and curved inward like a bowl. The column depicted carvings of human sacrifice and dismemberment being watched over by a great eye wreathed in flame. The eye looked familiar, but so too did the pillar. I had seen it before.

  The carvings had changed as if come alive, but the pillar was the same. The last time I had seen it was crammed into the back of a moving van right before my two best friends told me they were leaving. Only hours before the end of the world.

  Is this real? No. There had to be some other explanation, a trick of memory and perception.

  Placed atop the pillar was a small, faintly glowing stone. It was perfectly centered atop the dais and had been partially wrapped in purple velvet lined with gold stitching. Splintered cracks of fiery red crisscrossed the stone as if it were coal freshly pulled from the fire. A heavy stream of eldritch energy poured out of the stone and into the sky like thick, black smoke.

  I tried to speak in my excitement, but my lungs were empty. I was unable to form the words. The stone was a smooth sphere rather than a heart, and the color was different than what I had been shown, but this was clearly a dungeon core. One much more powerful than what Sebbit used during his show and tell.

  With such a stone I could have a near infinite amount of eldritch energy to shape and command as I wished. Its uses were limitless. It could power spells, formations, and could probably be used to create dungeons — hence the name. I had a different plan in mind for it. One that should cause Sebbit and his Peacekeepers to take notice.

  Anything that released this much energy would only have one reaction if that energy were no longer able to vent. As the energy built up, so too would the pressure it created. The result would no doubt be powerful, but I had no idea how long it would need to be contained before becoming critical.

  I reached out and took the stone with my right hand and folded the purple cloth around it. As my fingers brushed the surface of the sphere, small arcs of lightning struck my hand, causing the hair on my arm to stand on end. I was surprised that the black colored arm could be affected in such a way. Many fantastical things had crossed my path recently, and yet static electricity affecting artificial hair follicles is what took me aback.

  The arm was a construct of pure energy, and yet it seemed to follow all the rules of flesh and blood. It even tingled slightly at the touch of electricity. I just couldn’t understand why it would do so — it was no more flesh and blood than any other construct I had created. Perhaps it was as simple as feeling what I expected it to, much like how amputees could still feel phantom limbs.

  Regardless, I had the core. I turned and walked out of the dome of darkness and swirling energy. With the core in hand I encountered none of the obstacles that had slowed me on my way in.

  Finally, my foot came down on grass and the outside world became visible once more. I could see amber fields flanked by hills and tall trees beneath a dim and reddening sky. The air was still heavy with fog, but it clung low to the ground, swelling and falling with the turns and hills of the earth.

  I shaped a fold of eldritch energy in my arm and placed the core within it. I could feel a slight tingle as the arm began to absorb as much energy as it could hold. It didn’t feel any stronger, but it would be more durable, and I would have an extra store of energy to call on for a rainy day.

  I began to leave but turned back when I heard a sound that was halfway between cracking glass and the gentle song of wind chimes. A single note reverbera
ted for a moment, clinging to life briefly before fading into silence. The wall of the dome was now a smooth plane, no longer was the surface of the dome dancing with crimson sparks. The golden runes still spiraled upwards but were beginning to slow and fade.

  The structure supporting the entire dome was beginning to weaken. The dome had stopped spinning and was no longer slowly contracting. It was still an effective barrier but no longer threatened to crush everything that was contained within. I mentally cursed. I had known this would happen, but I was hoping to be able to get at least one more core before it did.

  Telvy worked much slower than I did, but she would destroy her core soon and the entire dome would collapse. Once that happened she would rush back to join Sebbit at the Yorktown. I had to get there first.

  I began to run back towards Patriot’s Point, where the old aircraft carrier was moored. I moved forward with explosive speed, each step flinging clumps of dirt and grass behind me. My stride would send me forward several meters with each step, and I felt as though I were floating above the ground. My path was a straight line, so I quickly reached the outskirts of the pier. I leaped above a short concrete barrier and plowed through a chain-link fence as if it were cobweb.

  Gunfire and bestial roars rang out to the south. When Sebbit had freed me, he had claimed to be going to personally oversee the battle, and it was unlikely that he would leave many guards at the Yorktown. To him this great piece of American history was nothing more than a temporary base to be discarded.

  Hopefully my errand wouldn’t take long. I would have to join the battle soon myself, but it was important to make a proper entrance.

  Finding a single prisoner on an aircraft carrier seems like a difficult prospect, especially under time constraints. I had the advantage, however, of knowing how the Peacekeepers kept their prisoners. I was especially familiar with how they kept those they considered corrupted by the eldritch. The energy was light here, only the smallest wisp remained, but it once again flowed freely through the passages and bulkheads of the old ship — further proof that Telvy’s task would soon be finished.

  I identified several spots that were completely sealed off from the eldritch energy. They stood out like beacons to my sight. They may as well have been black holes floating in a sea of white.

  It was time to go see an old friend.

  Chapter Forty-eight: Overt Operations

  My search was over almost before it began. Even aircraft carriers are surprisingly small when you ignore minor details like ‘stairs’ or ‘walls.’ I instead choose the shortest distance between two points — a straight line.

  Obstacles like the concrete barriers and a chain link fence hadn’t slowed me down on the way in, and I was past the rain-slickened pier in a half dozen bounding steps. Several turrets, certainly new additions, had caught my eye, but they ignored my infiltration. It was possible that they didn’t see me as a threat, or that I was designated as an ally.

  I didn’t buy that for a second. Sebbit would murder me given half an excuse. Most likely the dome was interfering with the technology. I knew firsthand that the Peacekeeper communications disks were not always reliable when exposed to heavy levels of eldritch energy.

  I had run past a dozen turrets and two abandoned watchtowers before reaching the ramp leading up into the labyrinthine aircraft carrier. Rather than search for a way through the confusing corridors of the massive ship, I activated mana shield and charged through walls like the Juggernaut.

  I had three targets, and immediately aimed for the closest.

  I crashed through several thin bulkheads before I found myself face to face with two peacekeeper guards. They were standing on either side of a closed hatch, behind which was one the areas that had been sealed off from my sight.

  My chances were one in three, and yet I was still amazed to find what I was looking for on the first attempt. I couldn’t be so lucky. Unless they had more than one prisoner?

  The guards were even more surprised than I was. The one on the right stumbled back and smacked her head on the wall behind her. The other soldier was more alert but failed to use appropriate close-range tactics. She was already holding her rifle in a low-ready position, and her first instinct was to raise the gun towards me. The barrel never managed to raise more than a single centimeter.

  I lunged forward, pushing Gun Girl’s barrel down with the palm of my right hand. I spun and rammed my left elbow into the sternum of her clumsier partner. At the same moment that my elbow landed in the middle of Clumsy’s chest, I reached up with my left hand and grabbed behind her shoulder. I pulled forward, dropping my shoulder, and tightening my core muscles as I did so. The clumsy guard was much taller, and probably stronger, than I was, but the element of surprise and my lower center of gravity proved to be enough to overcome her advantage.

  Clumsy flew over my shoulder and collided with the wall on the other side of the narrow passageway. A new hole had appeared in the bulkhead, right next to the one I had made during my surprise entrance.

  I didn’t have time to see where Clumsy had fallen. Gun Girl had placed both hands on the barrel of her rifle and was trying to pull away. My new arm proved to be stronger in that competition, but her greater weight was enough to pull me toward her. She focused on controlling her weapon rather than striking or grappling with me. This was despite having a collapsible baton on her belt and being at least a foot taller than I was.

  I hoped she hadn’t been trained by Talith. If so, the old lizard was bound to skin and mount her on the wall as a warning to others.

  This only solidified my original assessment of Gun Girl’s skills. She was probably well trained but had developed bad habits. Her stats and skills levels were no doubt stellar, probably better than my own, but I doubt she’d ever faced a truly life or death situation. She had what Troy would have called, “gym muscles.”

  This realization probably saved her a lot of pain. I could have kicked out her kneecaps or nailed her limbs to the deck with spikes of eldritch energy; instead I conjured a chain and used one end of it to bind her legs. I held the other side of the chain with my left hand, while the fingers of my right hand tightly grasped the barrel of Gun Girl’s rifle.

  I flung my left hand backward with as much force as I could muster. The guard was at least twice my weight when she was fully armored, but she was still unbalanced in the fraction of a second after she had tried to wrest her gun away. Once her feet were pulled out from under her, it was all downhill.

  She crashed to the ground with a crunching thud that echoed down the narrow corridor. As her back struck the floor she let out a loud gasp, and began sucking in deep, frantic breaths. She had abandoned the grip on her rifle and held both hands to her throat.

  I looked down at her and realized that I was enjoying the violence way too much. Tears had filled her eyes, while I was standing over her with a terrifying grin on my face. My smile faded, and I focused on keeping a neutral expression.

  It was much more difficult than I was comfortable with.

  “Don’t move,” I placed a foot on her chest.

  I tried not to use too much weight, as I had no idea what injuries she had sustained. She probably only had the wind knocked out of her, but I was hardly an expert on alien biology. If she was dead Sebbit was likely to be a lot more difficult to negotiate with.

  I released the half of the chain I still held and let it wrap around her torso. It pinned her arms to her chest while her hands still grasped uselessly at her throat.

  I kept my foot on her chest and her own rifle trained on her head as I turned to look for her partner.

  Clumsy was lying face down on the floor. Her black armor looked almost grey under a thick cover of dust and metal debris. The slow rise and fall of her chest told me she was at least still breathing; which didn’t rule out that she might be faking.

  I looked down at the Peacekeeper under my foot and waved the barrel of the gun slightly. It was unlikely she spoke English, so I was hoping she would unde
rstand the motion as the universal sign for, “move and I will fucking shoot you.” If she failed to understand I wasn’t entirely sure I could shoot her in cold blood.

  I was also terrified that I could.

  I took a step towards the possibly unconscious guard, but quickly realized that it didn’t matter if she was awake or not. I just needed her to stay still for a moment. I created another chain and she was quickly bound in the same manner as her friend. I have to say — if she was acting, she gave one hell of a performance.

  “Now, you girls be good.” Clumsy showed no reaction while Gun Girl glared at me murderously. I’d never really given bondage much thought, but it seemed a handy skillset I should have developed earlier. Is that why my dad always encouraged me to join the Boy Scouts?

  I turned to look at the steel hatch. It was little more than a grey, oval door made of thick metal. The bottom of the door was raised about four inches above the floor and a ring of metal clamps held it shut. A spinning handle had been built into its center.

  I reached out and grasped the handle and spun it counter-clockwise. The hatch began to spin, but quickly met resistance. I turned it the other direction but ran into the same problem. Of course, it was locked. Things were never that easy in real life.

  I looked down at the two guards. I was already trying to figure out a way to communicate with them. They might have translators, and I could probably mime out what a key was. Even if they understood, I was sure they would try to play dumb and stall as much as possible.

  I would just have to search them and hope I found something useful.

  Before I could do so the entire world shifted. My vision blurred and the chains I had constructed loosened for a fraction of a second. The feeling quickly passed, and the guards gave no indication they had noticed.

  “Shit, titty fucking Crist,” I yelled.

  The dome had come down and Telvy would be flying back to the Yorktown at that very moment. I turned back towards the hatch and began gathering every ounce of energy I could into each of my legs. It was much like what I had done during my battle with the King Behemoth, but on a larger scale.