“You’d better decide soon,” said Chanterelle, looking more distressed by the moment as she paced. “I don’t want to kill them.”
“Attack on my signal,” said Terran to his friends.
“What signal?”
Before he could lose his nerve, Terran summoned four earthen walls. He’d never attempted to bring that many into existence at once, but Della and Isabella’s lives depended on it. The barriers exploded into being, forcing the shadows to step back, as the walls surrounded the two huddled humans.
“I’ll be right back, do your best to hold them off,” said Terran, and he stepped through a pathway, traveling to the center of the protective barrier. He grabbed Della and Isabella, and picturing the Golden Kumquat’s dining area, teleported them back to their home. As he was getting more used to his ability, he found he no longer had to pop all the way to the map to move around. The only problem was it used a ton of mana when he moved this way.
Della tried to throw her arms around Terran, but he held her back. “Hide yourselves. If we lose, they’ll just come back to finish the job.”
He brought up his pathway ability and pictured the interior of the Arena sands, landing in the center. The pillars and other obstacles had already been removed, suggesting their placement had been by magic. He cupped his hands around his mouth.
“Heavenly Death, I need your help. If you don’t want your city overrun by shadows, you’ll come with me,” he shouted using his bardic voice.
He spun in a circle, hoping to see her striding from a tunnel, but the Arena was empty. He knew he didn’t have much time. Zara and Luna couldn’t hold out against the shadows forever.
Terran nearly teleported back when he felt a light touch on his shoulder. He turned to find the demigod with icy blue skin and a face scarred by countless battles standing there. She held a metal spear. He didn’t bother speaking, just grabbed her and made the final jump back to the outside of the Pit, landing right into a group of enemies.
It took a moment to get his bearings. Zara was a whirlwind of steel, her shadow axe spinning around to keep the giant Shadow Morphs at bay, but her stamina wasn’t limitless. Luna was leading the smaller shadows around the wide street, but they were firing missiles of darkness at her, which were adding up in damage.
Terran had no time to think when a lesser shadow lunged at him with claws made of darkness. It was like getting attacked by a piece of night cut from the sky. He blocked with his staff, barely deflecting the blow. The shadow, encouraged by his weak defense, threw itself at him again, but this time, Terran hummed to wake the power of his staff. He blasted the shadow on the riposte, giving him a chance to throw up a wall behind Luna’s fleeing form, before turning back to block again. Not quite ready for the outbreath, he hit the wrong note, catching a B, which did not wake his staff, but made the edges of the shadow fuzz like it was a piece of static. He smacked it right as the vibration dissipated, switching back to his F sharp to finish it off.
The street was chaos. There were only four of them, outnumbered completely, even if they were individually powerful. Zara was fighting with the three Shadow Morph giants, the deadly edge of her shadow axe making them cautious with their attacks, while Luna played a mad game of sprint and claw, turning only when they least expected it, then hurrying away before they could catch her. Outside the Arena, Heavenly Death was different. She fought with military precision, her unassuming spear simultaneously keeping her attackers at bay and dishing out brutal blows, but she lacked the vitality she exhibited in the Arena.
The only person he didn’t see was Chanterelle. His shoulder blades itched with the worry that she was right behind him, but when he turned, there was no one there. Had she abandoned the fight, or was she away causing other mischief?
But he had bigger, more immediate problems. He knew they couldn’t survive against the shadow horde. He had to find a way to tip the odds in their favor. The earlier missed note with the shadow gave him an idea. It seemed in his battles that everything had a frequency. His weapon, or the space of a room, but what if people and creatures had a note that made them more vulnerable?
He didn’t have time to try again before two shadows bracketed him, forcing him to block with his staff. He blasted one with Vocal Slam, before hitting the other. He could have used more bardic voice magic, but the pathway traveling had drained the majority of his mana.
In the space between their attacks, Terran lifted his chin and belted out a B note. The fuzz at the edge of the shadows reformed, and when he smacked them, it dealt a bit more damage than he expected. He switched to a C-flat, and the fuzz increased significantly, like a screen gone to static. The shadows recoiled from him, and as he smacked the first, it popped like a bubble.
[You have learned the Killing Harmonics spell]
Killing Harmonics - Spell (CHR)
Mana - None
Duration - Extended
Find the internal frequency of a being to make it significantly more vulnerable to attacks
Terran kept his voice up, using it to amplify his attacks against the second shadow, killing it in two short blows. The next shadow only vibrated slightly, so he modulated until he found the right frequency, before annihilating it.
There were still too many shadows, and his friends’ health was rapidly draining. He couldn’t both fight and find the Killing Harmonic. He needed room. Remembering the way he’d shaped the stone walls in the Arena, Terran imagined a pillar forming beneath his feet. The initial rumbling impact almost knocked him to the cobblestones, but within seconds, he was rising from the street level. He kept up the growth, even as it drained his remaining mana, until he was a good fifteen feet high.
Then like a rock star before an audience, Terran opened his mouth and belted out a middle C. As the edges of the shadows changed little, he switched, climbing higher until he saw the creatures shrink as if his voice injured them. Once he found the note that impacted the Shadow Morphs, the trio leaned back their heads and screamed before renewing their attacks on Zara, but now instead of being on constant defense, the redheaded berserker was carving away chunks of health.
One of the Shadow Morphs turned towards Terran and leapt into the sky, changing shape into a griffon. The enormous wings propelled it towards him, and it opened its beak to snatch him off the pillar. Terran managed to block it away with his staff, nearly tumbling off his perch, but the attack made him lose the note and Zara was once more on the defensive.
As the Shadow Morph Griffon winged around, Terran held his ground, hoping the few seconds of respite would give him enough mana for a good Vocal Slam. The shadowy bird rose high before descending like a speeding arrow, at a velocity that would be impossible for him to avoid.
Terran eyed his mana, hoping for a few more pixels, when the Shadow Morph Griffon was almost upon him. He squinted, expecting impact, but a spear hit the bird in the side, which made it veer off course, hitting the cobblestones like a bomb. Heavenly Death tackled the bird before it could resume its hunt, giving Terran a chance to belt out the killing note again.
With only two on one, and the harmonics amplifying her damage, Zara sliced the Shadow Morph Giants into ribbons, while Heavenly Death did the same to her solo griffon. Once the largest shadows had been dispatched, Terran found a new note for the lesser shadows, and within a minute the street was empty of foes.
Using the spider climb ring, Terran walked back to street level. His friends joined him, while Heavenly Death stood opposite. She stared back with such ambivalence, Terran found it hard to believe she’d just been in a life-or-death battle.
“Thank you for joining me,” said Terran.
Her icy eyes stared back. “We’re not done.”
Remembering the Exalt in the temple, and possible Chanterelle, he nodded. “No. We need to take out the source of the Lady’s power in Dagrath. Only then can the city be safe.”
They took the time to regen their health and mana. Terran looted the corpses, acquiring fourteen shadow shards. T
hey would come in handy for future weapon making. He’d also gained a number of skill ups in Battle Song, Bardic Endurance, and Earth Sense. The latter he assumed was what allowed him to modify the earthen walls into other shapes.
The temple wasn’t far away. They approached from the south and nothing on the outside suggested anything was amiss, but Terran knew the trouble that lurked within.
“That Exalt of Shadows was pretty tough last time,” said Zara. “And I’m sure there will be more shadows to fight inside. They’ve been busy converting people for quite a while.”
Luna looked up at Terran. “What about…?”
He bunched up his lips. “If it comes to that, I won’t hesitate. She picked her side. I picked mine.”
Zara’s eyes rounded. “I’m sorry, Terran.”
“Me too.”
Heavenly Death twitched her head, but said nothing.
“Is there anything we should know about what you can do?” asked Terran.
The icy mistress of gladiators stared back. “My powers are less outside the Arena. What I have are centuries of memories in battle. I will be fine.”
It wasn’t quite what he was asking, but Terran could see that more wouldn’t be forthcoming.
He gripped his crystalline staff. “Let’s finish this.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Terran led his party into the front of the Temple of Shadows. There was no reason to sneak through a side door. The Exalt would know they were coming. There was no avoiding the coming battle.
The interior of the temple was a cathedral, which Terran eyed for vocal use, but his gaze quickly fell upon the seething ball of darkness above the altar. The Exalt of Shadows pulsed with night.
“Surely it can’t be here alone?” asked Zara, letting her shadow axe fall from her shoulder, eyeing the cubbies and side rooms curiously.
“It’s rather quiet this time,” said Luna, padding forward.
Heavenly Death held her spear at an angle, scowling at the Exalt of Shadows. “I do not like this thing.”
“You’ll like it even less when it starts bleating out ‘Join or Die!’ like a preprogrammed recording,” said Terran.
A flicker of memory passed across Heavenly Death’s face. He’d almost forgotten that she’d once been an Offworlder like him, but those days were probably like the earth beneath an avalanche, buried so deep that nothing really remained.
“What should we do?” asked Zara, holding her axe as if she were expecting to bat away arrows with it. Her prismatic chitin armor had sustained damage in the fights, but the redheaded berserker had tightened the straps.
“I’m going to try and find its Killing Harmonic. I suspect that once I do, it won’t be happy. When you see the edges go fuzzy and static, rush in to attack. Hopefully we can kill it quickly before it does something bad,” said Terran.
Heavenly Death glanced at him, the corners of her eyes creasing slightly, as if she’d expected a more intricate strategy. She made a little shrug of her shoulders and turned her focus back to the front of the temple. Terran started low in his range, singing from his gut as Jondar had taught him. The Exalt’s outer edges stretched slightly, but it otherwise seemed uninterested in his singing. As he climbed through the notes, he saw signs of harmonics in the Exalt, but nothing like how he’d impacted the Shadow Morphs. He didn’t want a minor increase, but major damage. It was the only way they were going to kill something much higher than their level.
As soon as Terran hit a middle B-flat, the entire ball of darkness shrunk and expanded, as if it’d been hit like a drum. The edges fuzzed and crackled.
“STOP! STOP! IT HURTS!”
Terran’s friends rushed down the aisleway towards the Exalt of Darkness as the doorways burst open, shadows spilling into the temple at an alarming rate. Before the creatures could reach him, Terran teleported himself into the balcony, resuming the note as soon as he shook off the vertigo.
Zara reached the Exalt first, soaring through the air with the shadow axe suspended over her head until she snapped her arms forward, hitting the ball cleanly, ripping a tear in the being. Heavenly Death followed up with a spear thrust into the opening, and the Exalt screamed with the force of a thousand voices.
But the shadows were many, forcing them to break off from the Exalt, which they had damaged but not killed. They put their backs to the wall as the shadows attempted to overrun them.
While the shadows searched for Terran, he blocked off the stairs to the balcony with a stone wall—pleased he could use his earthen magic while maintaining the Killing Harmonic—hoping that would hold them. His note was keeping the Exalt from attacking, but did almost nothing against the horde. The harmonics were useless if the target wasn’t being attacked, but if he let off, the Exalt could release its tendrils and drag them towards it.
In a fit of desperation, Terran reached into his pouch and found an old moldy pinecone. He turned it to stone and flung it at the backs of the shadows to explode, dealing a negligible amount of damage. His friends were killing the shadows one or two at a time, but more kept coming from below, the months of conversions coming to fruition. The stone shards hadn’t been enough. He reached for a shadow shard and focused his energy into converting it to stone, which drained his mana quicker than the normal spell, but once it was finished, he lobbed it into the middle of the shadows.
The explosion of heat and light ripped through their enemies. Dozens winked out of existence, giving his friends a chance to resume their attacks against the nearly defenseless Exalt. They managed to hit the big ball of darkness a few times, before the horde pushed them back against the wall. Terran converted another shadow shard, but as he did, he realized the ones at the base of the stairs had nearly broken through his wall. He lobbed the explosive, annihilating the lot of them. Next, he grabbed two shards, converting them simultaneously, keeping up the note that echoed through the temple.
He killed dozens more shadows with each throw. The shadow shards made deadly weapons against the ephemeral creatures, and in the space between, his friends chipped away at the Exalt’s health, which was already below half. If they could keep this up for a little longer, they might destroy the Exalt and knock the Lady of Shadows’ presence out of Dagrath.
Terran was down to his last two shadow shards when he felt a breath of wind on his back. He turned right in time to see Chanterelle shove a dagger between his ribs, silencing the note that had been filling the temple. Her expression was in complete opposition to what she’d just done. Her lips were squeezed flat, her eyebrows knitted at the center.
“I’m sorry, Terran.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
The blade remained in his chest, filling his world with pain. He wanted to belt out the note, but the air had fled his lungs. Behind him, the Exalt had been released from its suppression, and it lashed out against his friends with its deadly tendrils, bringing screams and the beleaguered frustrations of battle. More shadows poured into the temple from below. So many it was as if he’d never killed a single one.
But this was barely a thought to Terran. He was caught in the gaze of Chanterelle, dagger slipped between his ribs.
“You don’t understand,” she said, nostrils flaring. “This is the only way.”
The icon of darkness that had formed briefly in his interface when she’d clawed him on the rooftop returned, but what did it matter now, he couldn’t breathe with the knife in his lung, and that meant he couldn’t sing, couldn’t protect his friends.
“Why?” he wheezed out, as his friends screamed behind him.
“There can only be one victor. To bring all foes together, to fight against the Howling Wind,” she said.
“I...I can be that...we can be that. The Glen, your people, our people.” Each word was like getting kicked in the chest by a fully armored barghast.
“We could be together. I know you want that,” said Chanterelle, hand resting on the hilt. “I want that. I miss you.”
He dipped his chin towards the blade
in his chest. “Strange way to express your feelings. I would have preferred a nicely written letter.”
Confusion passed across her face then transformed into an earnest smile. “Join me. If you don’t, we’ll send you back to the Glen. The shadow-touched curse I’ve placed on you will keep you from coming back too quickly, and by the time you do, we’ll have conquered the city. You’re too late.” Her forehead wrinkled as she leaned on the blade. “You never had a chance.”
Terran nearly blacked out from a wave of pain. Below, his friends were screaming as they battled the Shadows and the Exalt. He had to do something soon, or he might as well join the Lady and hope that it wasn’t as bad as he thought. As he came to, he remembered the last two shadow shards in his fists.
“I love you,” he told her and then detonated them in her face.
The explosion threw him off the balcony. He crushed the pews beneath him, shattering wood into splinters, but nothing was as bad as the pain in his chest. Terran barely climbed to his knees before a tendril from the Exalt snatched him around the waist and began dragging him towards the pulsing ball of night. He couldn’t see his friends—they were buried beneath the avalanche of shadows. Only the occasional axe blade rising above proved they were still alive at all. But what did it matter? He was out of mana, out of shadow shards, and about to be consumed by the creature of darkness. To what end, he didn’t know, but it couldn’t be pleasant.
The tendril squeezed, dealing him damage, draining him dangerously close to death. Was there anything he could do? His crystalline staff had fallen away from him. The special ability of his whisperweave tunic had been used up in the Arena fight, and without mana, he couldn’t use his pathway traveler ability. It was only a matter of time before they were all dead, and if they were converted to shadows, just like the others that had been brought to the temple, then there’d be no stopping the Lady of Shadows from taking over Dagrath.
Champion's Prophecy: A LitRPG Adventure Page 18
