Dungeon Master 7

by Eric Vall

  “I can make you something out of it,” the alchemist smiled as she adjusted the fur so that the bare side faced the fire and dried out properly. “Like boots, or a scarf or even a hat!”

  “No, don’t make her a hat,” Annalise shook her head as she placed the descaled fish in a cast-iron skillet and placed it on the burning coals. “It’ll cover up her hair, and it’s too pretty to hide with a hat.”

  Heijing’s round cheeks flushed pink at the compliment, and she drew her hand away from the fur and placed it in her lap. The Qianlong wasn’t used to the compliments that my minions and I rained down on her, but I would make sure that she would be someday.

  “Maybe a muff?” Rana asked with a tilt of her head, and all eyes swiveled to the redhead. “I mean, you’re always putting your hands in your sleeves, maybe if you had a muff then you could use that instead…unless it’s like a Qianlong thing…?”

  “No, I place my hands in my sleeves merely out of habit.” Heijing smiled, and all of my women grinned back.

  “Well, it doesn’t really matter why you do it,” Carmedy shrugged as she pulled the fully cooked fish out of the pan and began to remove the meat from the bone. “It’s just really cute!”

  “Thank you, when you hold your tail in your hands when you are frightened is also very adorable.” Heijing giggled as she bowed her head.

  Annalise handed out our full plates, and we began to eat in comfortable silence. I filled my belly and felt sleep tugging desperately at me, but I couldn’t let it take over me, not when Heijing promised to show me the spirit realm.

  My three minions told stories to each other until late in the night, and then cuddled up together in their usual position. Heijing sat stoically beside me and watched each of them doze off. Her icy blue eyes were sharp and alive, but a soft smile played about her plump lips.

  “What is it?” I asked over to her in a quiet tone.

  “I am glad to be here, with your women and you.” The Qianlong admitted easily, and I grinned in response.

  “We are happy to have an ally such as you, Heijing,” I told her in an honest voice. “I also wanted to thank you for looking out for them while I am gone. I saw how you were with Carmedy earlier, and it warmed my heart. You will take great care of them, I know it.”

  “I am simply doing what you asked of me,” Heijing said in her emotionless voice, but then it broke as she smiled at the sleeping pile of women in the corner. “But I will admit, my heart has warmed to them, and I wish to care for them more.”

  We sat there together for a long while and just watched my women sleep. Crickets chirped outside of the tent walls, and it was a very comforting sound. Then Heijing rose to her feet, and her icy blue eyes met mine. The fire reflected in them, and I saw the burning need within them as she held out a hand to me. I glanced down at it and then back up at the Qianlong.

  “Come, we must hurry,” Heijing told me as I placed my hand in hers, and she hauled me to my feet. “The spirit realm awaits.”

  Chapter Ten

  Heijing led me out of the tent and into the darkness of the forest. The Qianlong held tightly to my hand as she stepped surely through the tall grass and brush. In the distance, I could hear the soft chirp of crickets and even farther off, the sound of running water. I wasn’t sure where she was taking me, but it seemed as if she could sense the place on her own somehow. When she glanced over her shoulder at me in the gloom, her icy blue eyes seemed to glow.

  The dragon’s robe whispered softly through the grass, and I could almost hear the sound of faraway voices speaking in a language that I couldn’t understand. The Qianlong stopped for a split second, listened, and then she changed direction to follow after the sounds.

  We walked for a short while away from our camp, and Heijing pushed through a giant blackberry bramble. Beyond the trees and brush was a large, rippling pond. The full moon reflected in its surface as Heijing pulled me toward it, and my boots moved from lush grass to moist sand. The Qianlong stood at the edge of the water, then turned her head as if to listen to something. Her icy blue eyes swiveled up to the glowing moon then back to the rippling water.

  Heijing turned to me, and our eyes connected immediately. A sense of calm washed over me in this strange place. The water steadily moved from a low waterfall at the far end, and I could make out moving ferns and other wild plants on the edge of the other side. Even in the dark, the water was crystal clear, and I could see all the way down to the sandy bottom. Fireflies bobbed and floated through the air like tiny lanterns, and a few came close to Heijing and illuminated her smooth, pale face.

  “The spirits are very loud this evening so this place will do perfectly,” Heijing stated in her cold, emotionless voice as her hands worked at the ties of her robe. “You heard them too, did you not?”

  “I did,” I nodded as I tore my eyes away from her tiny hands as they worked at her clothing. “But may I ask what you are doing?”

  “It is the only way, I hope you will not think badly of me,” Heijing uttered as her robe slipped lower on her and exposed her white, unblemished shoulders. “Please disrobe and follow me into the water.”

  Heijing let her robe drop, and I couldn’t avert my eyes. The Qianlong wasn’t completely naked underneath the robe, but the sheer bodysuit underneath left very little to the imagination. I knew this was part of the ritual, but I hardened in my pants despite myself. The dragon’s hands lifted, and she began to work at the delicate knots in her lengthy, cerulean hair, and before long, it swung down to the middle of her back in waves.

  Her icy blue eyes met mine one last time as she stepped into the water first. I used my telekinetic power to peel my armor away, then followed after her. The water was warm, and the sand soft as my feet sunk into it. The voices around us seemed louder here, and I could pick out a few words in the god’s language.

  Heijing motioned for me to come and stand in front of her, and I followed her instructions. She held out her hands palm up to me on the surface of the water, and I intertwined our fingers. The Qianlong’s eyes formed into slits as she tilted her head and listened to a voice that I couldn’t hear. A soft smile played about her lips, then her icy blue eyes found mine in the half-light.

  Heijing was bathed in a blue glow that always seemed to follow her, and I drank her ethereal face in for a short moment. Her cheeks were round, almost like a baby’s, and her lips were full. Her small nose was pointed just like her chin, but they suited her serious and severe eyes. Her cerulean eyebrows were arched perfectly, and in the flickering light from the fireflies, I noticed the light smattering of freckles across her face. She resembled Guoshe from the pictures I’d seen, but I personally thought the Qianlong was more beautiful than her mother.

  “The voices are persistent,” the Qianlong stated as she looked into my eyes. “It seems there are a few spirits that wish to speak to from the beyond. Is there someone in particular that you wish to speak to?”

  “Yes…” I murmured back as Isolda’s face swam up in my memory, and I felt an ache deep in my chest.

  The space of water between our bodies began to move in a swirl, faster and faster as I watched it, then it stopped suddenly. A golden light emanated from the place between us, and I stared down at it in wonder. This window into the spirit realm wasn’t like the one I’d created for the Kitsune. Mine was unnatural and forced, a literal tear between time and space, but this was totally different.

  The water took on a reflective quality to it, more like a mirror than liquid and shadows of people began to pass behind it. I glanced up at Heijing, but she wasn’t looking at me, the Qianlong was staring up at the moon as her mouth moved soundlessly. Her expression was smooth, but her blue eyes held a deep concern within them that set me off balance.

  As soon as I shifted, the portal between us warbled, and Heijing’s eyes slammed down to mine and her lips pressed into a hard line. Her tiny hands tightened on mine and the portal stabilized. The Qianlong’s eyes fluttered closed, and the mirror began to clear a
s she concentrated.

  “You wish to see the one you lost, correct?” Heijing asked with her eyes still closed, and I felt baffled for a moment.

  “Yes, I want to see Isolda,” I uttered in a voice that held back any emotion, and the Qianlong’s eyes met mine.

  “There is no reason to hide, you are holding back so much,” Heijing stated in her undulating voice. “There is no one else here but us and the spirits.”

  I breathed in deeply through my nose and nodded firmly for her to continue. Heijing gave me the softest of smiles and trained her eyes on the portal between us. Colors swirled within it, changing every second to different shades and hues until a form began to take shape. I knew it immediately, and I gritted my teeth tightly as waves of emotion overcame me.

  She looked exactly as I remembered her, her straight, honey-blonde hair laying flat against her shoulders, and her cornflower blue eyes shined with tears as she stared into my face. Isolda’s mouth moved as if to speak, but she quickly closed it and just gazed up at me from the portal. She reached out to me with her right hand but stopped as it brushed the surface of the water. My hand twitched in Heijing’s, but the Qianlong held tightly to me and gave me a dismissive shake of her head.

  Isolda’s eyes lifted and connected with Heijing’s and the Qianlong bowed her head respectfully to my past lover. I couldn’t believe my eyes, never in a thousand years had I thought that I would see my first love again. I didn’t know how or when she died, but I knew from what the four other gods had told me she had moved on and had children. I wondered how long it had taken her to forget me and the time we spent together, but from the sadness in her eyes, I realized that she hadn’t done either of those things.

  I had been her Master before I became Rana, Carmedy, Annalise, and Morrigan’s. Isolda was my first disciple all because she’d summoned me completely by mistake. I’d been so in love with her and had given up my place in the heavens just because I fell in love with her. I would give anything to reach out and touch her at this moment, but I knew that I couldn’t. My first love had died and moved on to the next world where I couldn’t caress her.

  “Isolda…” I murmured in a voice saturated with sadness, and the blonde’s eyes crinkled as she smiled widely up at me.

  “Kazama…it’s been so long… you are here.” Isolda grinned as she wiped tears away from her eyes, and I felt a deep ache within my chest looking down at her.

  “What happened…?” I whispered into the darkness around me as I fell deeply into the ocean blue of her eyes. “What happened after I fell, Isolda? Did you look for me? Wait for me?”

  My deep, gruff voice sounded just as desperate for answers as I felt. It’d been so long, and there were so many unanswered questions about what happened to her after I was cast down from the heavens and locked in my dungeon. I wanted to know everything, especially since I’d been informed that the Holy Order was holding one of her bloodline captive to lure me out.

  “I thought you were dead, Kazama,” Isolda told me in a whisper, and my eyes widened as she went on. “I was visited by Eris, and she told me that the god’s condemned you to death and that you were forever lost to me.”

  “The gods could never kill me, even then I was too powerful for them to take on,” I chuckled softly as my hands tightened on Heijing’s and the Qianlong gave them a comforting squeeze back. “What happened to you after? You…you had children…”

  “I was nineteen and unmarried when you were lost to me, Kazama,” Isolda stated in a sad voice as her eyes met mine. “I made... the best of the life I was given. I had children. But despite my life’s changes, you never left me even after all those years.”

  “…Isolda, how did you die?” I questioned as I leaned the tiniest bit closer.

  “As most mortals do, of old age,” the blonde told me as her eyes closed painfully for a second. “I had to accept the life that I was given and that the single, true love I’d found was forever lost to me.”

  “I’m so sorry…” I murmured as I tried to pull my hand away from Heijing’s to stroke the water, but the Qianlong held onto me tightly and shot me a disapproving look.

  “It comforts me that you’ve reached the spirit realm, tell me, are you happy there?” I questioned as I examined her beautiful face.

  “It is peaceful, and I often dream of you so, yes, I am happy here,” Isolda nodded as she tucked a stray lock of blonde hair behind an ear. “But what about you, Kazama? Are you happy where you are? I see you’ve escaped the dungeon and wander the mortal realm freely.”

  “I am happy, I’d like to believe that I’m happier than I have ever been,” I told Isolda, and she smiled genuinely as she listened intently. “My minions found me in the dungeon and set me free. I’ve defeated many gods and a few enemies, but more are waiting for me on the horizon.”

  “I see that you’ve picked up one of the spirit guides. You are in good hands.” Isolda smiled even wider as her blue eyes swiveled to Heijing.

  The Qianlong’s eyes looked away, and a slight pink blush appeared over her round cheeks. I didn’t understand what Isolda meant when she called Heijing a spirit guide, and I made a mental note to ask the Qianlong about it later. What Isolda said seemed to embarrass the dragon, but she simply cleared her throat and looked to the edge of the water awkwardly.

  “Heijing has been of great help to us,” I stated in my deep voice as I looked back onto the blonde’s face. “My women and I are grateful to her for everything she’s done for us so far.”

  “Ah, yes, your minions,” Isolda nodded excitedly, and my eyebrows furrowed slightly. “Annalise, the high queen. Morrigan, the mage and elf. Rana, the spitfire fox. Carmedy, the alchemist and Haruhi, the newest and resourceful librarian.”

  “How do you know of them, Isolda?” I asked in a hushed voice, and my past lover giggled softly.

  “I watch over you whenever I get the chance,” Isolda admitted shyly, and I felt my heart bloom with emotion. “I’ve watched you build the relationships one by one, and it makes me incredibly proud, Kazama. My only wish is that I could somehow be there with you, but that is impossible.”

  I knew that I could never bring Isolda back. Once someone died, they were gone, and no matter how much necromancy was performed, they would stay dead. Even if I managed to bring her soul back from the other side, she wouldn’t come back the same. I’d heard horror stories about people trying to bring back their loved once and terrible things happening after. The people who were brought back were in constant pain and sorrow since their souls had been acclimated with the spirit realm. They were no longer of the earth, and there was no reversing it.

  I wished there was something I could do, but even for a god like me, it was simply impossible. The only thing I could hope for was this, one of the best things that Heijing had given me yet. I had promised the Qianlong that I would teach her something new each day for the rest of her life, but instead, she’d taught me something new. I was eternally grateful to her as my eyes lifted and connected with hers. Heijing gave me a small smile, then her icy blue eyes dropped back to Isolda.

  The blonde’s face was blurry, and I could tell that our connection was fading. All of this was possible because of Heijing, but the Qianlong looked exhausted, her icy blue eyes glossy and tired as she held onto my hands for strength. It was almost time to say goodbye, and yet, I didn’t want to leave my first love. I had known Isolda eons ago, and everything was so different from when she’d been alive. I wanted to show her all the things she’d missed, but it seemed she’d already seen them while watching over me. It gave me a sense of comfort that she looked over my women and me like a guardian.

  Isolda seemed to sense the change in, not only our connection, but Heijing too. The Qianlong was barely able to keep on her feet in the warm water, and her hands loosened on mine as she tried to focus on my face.

  “It seems that our time together has come to a close,” Isolda stated in a soft, sad voice, and I nodded in agreement as I tightened my hands on Heiji
ng.

  “Yes, it seems so,” I muttered as I gazed down at her and memorized her stunning face. “I have missed you so much, and I will continue to do so for the rest of my days.”

  “I will love you until the end of time, Kazama,” Isolda smiled softly as she stared up at me with her honest, blue eyes. “But I am only a spirit now, don’t forget about me but…don’t let me hold you back. I love you in the beyond, but your women…they are there with you, please take the love you store for me and shower it on them.”

  I didn’t feel my heart break from her words, but I felt all the air leave my lungs. The woman I’d pined after for thousands of years while trapped in my dungeon was telling me indirectly to let her go. I wasn’t sure if I was ready for that, but I nodded softly to let her know I understood.

  “Goodbye, Isolda...” I murmured, and the blonde grinned up at me as tears spilled down her cheeks.

  “Goodbye, Kazama... remember, I am always watching,” Isolda whispered back as her face and form began to fade from the portal.

  Heijing fell forward, and warm water sloshed up onto my chest as I caught her easily. The Qianlong gasped for air as I held her tightly to me, and she held onto me with desperate hands. I could tell that opening the portal had been difficult for her, but it was something she wanted to do for me. I looked deeply into her eyes, and they stared back hazily.

  Effortlessly, I lifted the tiny Qianlong into my arms and carried her out of the water. I laid her down on the soft sand as I used my telekinetic power to redress myself quickly. Once I finished, I held her tenderly and helped her back into her robe. Her long, cerulean hair was damp, but it would dry quickly in the warm air.

  Heijing stood shakily and moved to start back for the camp, but she was dangerously unsteady on her feet. I swept the small dragon off her feet effortlessly, and she breathed a deep sigh. I knew that she wanted to protest, but she was too exhausted to do so. Surprisingly, Heijing went limp and buried her face into my chest. Her natural scent overtook me, and it comforted me as I made my way back to the camp where the rest of my women rested.