`What's wrong? Worked like I said it would... Oh, I forgot to mention the fire, didn't I? The explosion, too, I guess. Awfully sorry about that...'
Looking annoyed, she mumbles to herself incomprehensibly for a few moments while the cat by her side looks to her curiously. Then she stares at me in silence for a minute with a sort of look in her eyes that I swear she could kill someone with those eyes.
`Now you've done it you blasted fool!' she says. `Now we'll never capture them all!'
`Oh, I'm terribly sorry. My mistake. Tell you what... Let's do the next best thing! We can still kill them all before they run away...'
`Bah! Get out of my way!' she says and she walks towards the village. `Stay here!'
`Why?' I ask, suppressing laughter.
She stops and turns around. She walks back to me and...
Argh...
Fuck!
Now why did she have to kick me in the balls?!
`I don't need you to kill them, you worthless clown! I can do that myself!' she says in anger and she turns back to the village. She heads towards the burning houses while her cat goes after her. Despite the pain I smile and put the SMG 11000 back in my belt, wondering how a woman of such good looks could ever possibly develop such strong leg muscles...
Eh, no matter.
I sink my hands in my pockets and slowly walk after her, whistling. This might be interesting to watch!
As she approaches the village, locals start pouring out of the houses. Some of them bring buckets of water, they try putting out the flames. Some of them spot her and look at her curiously, but they do not acknowledge her, being as busy as they are, trying to douse the flames. She stops and looks around. She waves her hands towards a house and begins chanting. A moment later a gigantic ball of fire materializes in her hands and begins speeding towards the house. The fireball explodes violently, tearing down the front wall of the house and setting the rest of it ablaze.
The villagers are shocked and freeze in place as they realize why she's there. A moment later she sends another fireball at a third house and sets it on fire. Then, the villagers begin to approach her.
She casts another spell and the approaching villagers are knocked off their feet. Then she reaches her right hand to the sky and begins chanting. A few seconds later a short jet of flame appears in her hand. It is shaped like a sword, but is nothing but flames. Some villagers approach her and attack her with whatever weapons they have in their hands. She cuts towards one of them and the fucker is set on fire as the blade of the flame sword touches him.
Well if she ain't a pyromaniac I don't know what she is...
As I watch her fight the villagers, suddenly a man approaches me with a four tined pitchfork flung over his shoulder.
`Stranger!' he shouts. `Help us!'
`Help you?' I ask, with a surprised voice. `Why?'
`The witch! She's killing us!'
`I can see that, I'm not blind, you fucking moron!'
`Then help us!'
`Seriously, how fucking dumb are you? She's with me! Get it? So go fuck yourself!' I tell him.
His eyes go wide in anger and he thrusts towards me with the pitchfork. I push it aside with my magic and kick him in the gut. As he cringes, I push him on the ground with telekinesis and pick up his pitchfork.
`Motherfucking dumbass! You call this a weapon?! It's fucking useless! Here, let me show you!'
I step beside him and strike down with the pitchfork. I pin him to the ground by the stomach. He screams, and then begins to cough. I proceed to pull the pitchfork out, but it's stuck in his innards.
`See that, you stupid toothless peasant? See how fucking hard it is to pull it back out? Well... I guess I should pull it stronger. Hmmm... It's harvest time!'
As I tell him this, I begin moving the pitchfork back and forth, like a scythe. He screams. After a while, I manage to pull it out of him. Along with his intestines...
Hmmm... Not that bad...
`Well... Maybe I was wrong. It's not that useless.'
I shrug my shoulders and proceed to clean the pitchfork, then sink it in my magic pouch. It'll make a nice souvenir. I don't plan on coming back here anytime soon anyway...
I turn back to the battle and see that Irea is still doing fine. Beside her, I see a large white tiger-like creature. The tiger is attacking the villagers. and has the throat of one of them between his teeth. The peasant is screaming in horror.
I guess that must be her cat when he means business. Not bad... A cat that can shapechange into a fearsome tiger...
Nice kitty, ha ha!
Irea meanwhile casts another spell and the sword shaped flames in her hand suddenly take a different appearance. The basic shape remains, but the flames become crystalline, like some transparent crystal. She cuts into a villager with it, and her victim cries out in pain and steps away from her. A few moments later the flesh around the wounds begins to rot, like the guy started decomposing, even though he's not dead yet. What can I say, I'd hate to be on the wrong side of that blade...
She cuts another man and he soon suffers the same fate as the previous one. The villagers around her then decide to run for it. Ha! Cowards. Well, whatever, these fuckers really suck anyway.
She makes the sword disappear and begins casting a spell. Her tiger stays beside her as she chants. She's taking her time. After a while, she finishes the spell, but nothing happens. At least nothing I could see. Then, she turns to the sky and starts chanting again.
It takes her almost a minute, but when she finishes the spell, balls of fire start falling out of the sky, raining down on the village. House after house is set on fire, and in a few moments the entire village is engulfed in a storm of flames. Strangely, none of the villagers seem to be trying to escape from the burning houses.
Ah, now I know what she was doing before she called the firestorm, ha!
She looks at the flames in satisfaction for a while and then turns around and comes this way. Her cat follows behind.
She stands in front of me and looks at me. She is angry, I can tell... Then she glances at the dying villager beside me.
`I told you not to interfere.' she tells me.
`He attacked me.' I tell her shrugging my shoulders.
She silently walks past me, back towards the woods. She points at the dying villager as she walks past and a moment later his body is set on fire. I jump aside quickly before my coat could catch on fire, and then walk after her, frowning.
She stops beside the nearest tree and turns around. She moves swiftly towards me and I jump back just in time to avoid another kick in the balls.
`Hey! Watch it with that thing!' I tell her. `Kick your enemies, not me, dammit!'
`Well done.' she says, sounding sarcastic. `Real well done. Truly. Thanks for your help.'
`You're welcome!' I tell her, smiling. `Can we go now?'
She gives me a cold look while I just smile at her, ready to jump back in case she tries to kick my balls again. After a while she blinks. Then she sighs and reaches out her left arm. A moment later, a scepter-like object appears in her hand. She waves at the ground with it, and a moment later a Teleport Gate appears there.
`Let's go!' she says, and we step through.
*
We arrive near the black walled palace where we started from. She leads me inside.
`Well, I suppose it's time for you to go. Hold still!' she says. She begins casting a spell, and about half a minute later I sense it taking effect. The curse is lifted. Finally!
`There.' she said. `Let no-one say I don't keep my word. Even to a moron like you that screwed up my plans in that village. Now you should get out of here before I accidentally set you on fire.'
`I'm really sorry about that...'
`No you're not. I know you better than you think. Although, if your head wasn't so full of chaos, I'd know you even better. In light of what happened in Ergha, that would have been quite useful.'
`My head is full of chaos? What do you mean with tha
t?'
`Just go, Zack. You are in a hurry, aren't you? You don't need to understand everything about me right away. Maybe we'll meet again, and then I will tell you about the chaotic nature of your mind and how I know it is chaotic.'
`There's nothing wrong with a little chaos...' I tell her, smiling widely.
`Maybe, but there's more than a little in your mind you stubborn bastard.'
`Ha! That's a good one! Well, I do need to go, so, see you around sometime!'
I raise my hand and prepare to open the Portal, but she grabs my wrist.
`What are you doing?' she says. For a moment she looks at me in a weird way as she touches me, but then she just shakes her head. `Don't even think about it!'
`What?'
`I have special protection wards all around the palace. Anyone attempting planar travel other than me is doomed! If you try it, you die!'
`Hunny, listen...' I tell her. She blinks as I call her that, but says nothing. `I know about the wards.'
`You do? How?' she asks.
`I am an experienced planar traveler. Did you think I wouldn't notice? Do you think they can keep me here? Let me show you!'
`No! You'll die! Cutie will destroy you! Don't...' she says strictly.
But I wave my hands and a moment later the Portal opens before me. She looks at me in shock. Then at the Portal. Then me again.
`See? Told you!' I tell her with a smile. Then I ask: `Who's Cutie?'
`Cutie?' she asks, sounding confused. `You don't want to meet her. You look at her and you die.'
`Ha! That's a good one!' I tell her, laughing. But she looks at me like she was serious about that. Dead fucking serious.
`The wards should have sent you to her chambers. How did you manage this?'
`I told you, I'm an expert. Your wards are strong, they can keep me out, yes, but they can't keep me in... What's the matter? Did I impress you?'
She looks at me silently for a while.
`In a way.' she says after some time.
`Well, that's a start. I have to go. Until we... what the...?'
The Portal I just opened suddenly flashes brightly and abruptly closes shut. What the fuck just happened?!
I look at Irea and she calmly returns my gaze. She seems amused.
`Maybe you're not such a big expert after all. Care to try again?' she says, smiling.
Fuck that, I don't want to end up chopped in half by an unstable Portal that closes while I'm stepping through it.
`Forget it, I'd rather do it outside.' I tell her.
We step out in front of her home and I open the Portal again. I wait for a minute, but nothing happens. Good...
`Okay, this looks stable enough. So, until we meet again.'
I step towards the Portal but she stops me.
`Wait... Zack?' she says, looking at me like she was thinking of something else.
`Yeah?'
`You should be careful. Something bad is bound to happen to you soon.'
`Like what?'
`Something very bad. You might even die.'
`That's no big deal. No-one lives forever anyway!' I tell her, smiling.
`I'm serious.' she says, sounding annoyed. `I have such a premonition. You need to be careful.'
`Errr... sure, I'll be careful. Thanks for the warning.' I tell her.
`You don't believe me, do you?'
`I didn't say that.'
`You didn't have to. Just be careful. Even if you don't believe me.' she says, and then she waves me goodbye and waits for me to step through the Portal.
Premonition... Bah! Premonition my ass! She's delusional... Eh, whatever.
I step through the Portal and as I do so, I can't help but think back to this crazy adventure I had. To all the idiot villagers, to the way she was throwing around fireballs like there's no tomorrow, and all the bullshit she said about that karma thing and her torture chambers. Torture chambers...
This woman is a psycho...
But somehow... I like her!
I think she likes me, too...
Ghaubel
Somewhere in the Multiverse, present day (1 day and 16 hours before Twilightfall)
Stepping through the Portal, I arrive at the place where I defeated Grenshaur earlier.
The moment the Portal closes behind me, Flora appears with the quickness of a panther.
`Where the fuck have you been so long?' she asks. `And don't smile like that!'
`Let's just say I had a surreal experience.' I tell her. `But at least I got my fucking vision back. Now, where's Grenshaur?'
`Right over there.' she says, pointing towards a tree to my left. `He's pretty angry.'
`Did he say anything?'
`Just swearing, nothing more.'
`You didn't feed on him, right?'
`I was tempted, but no, I didn't feed on him. Yet.'
`Good. Let's make him talk!'
We head towards the tree she pointed at. Indeed, the big ugly cretin is right there, bound to the tree. He raises his head as we approach him.
`Zack, you son of a bitch! How much longer do you want to keep this up? I've had enough of this! I've had enough of you! And of that vampire bitch especially!'
`You know, Grenshaur... You're the one who took the job, so quit whining!' I tell him. `And start talking!'
`About what?' he asks, frowning.
`Who are you working for?'
`Some guy called Drabangar.'
`Drabangar?' I ask, surprised. `Who the fuck is Drabangar?'
`Some mage.'
`Some mage? That's it? That's all you know of him?'
`He offered a large sum for her amulet.' he says, nodding towards Flora. `That's enough for me. I don't really care who he is.'
`Fine. Whatever. Where the fuck is he?'
`In Draconia.'
Oh, this is going well!
`Where in Draconia?'
`Everywhere!'
`What the fuck is that supposed to mean?'
`It means, that he always meets me elsewhere. He is always the one to contact me when he wants an update. I don't know how to find him.'
I pull the SMG 11000 out of my belt and aim it at his forehead.
`You have seen my magic gun, haven't you? You do know that if I pull the trigger, your brains will be scattered all over that dead tree behind you?'
`So?'
`So, you'd better answer me. Where the fuck is he?'
`I told you. Somewhere in Draconia.' he says, calmly.
I stare him in the eye as I aim the SMG 11000 at him. After half a minute, I lower the weapon and put it back in my belt.
`Fine. That will do. I'll find him!'
I reach out my arm and call forth the Sword of Fury. I step beside Grenshaur and cut the ropes with a quick slash of my sword. As he is set loose, I step back from him and reach into my pocket.
`Here, catch!' I tell him, as I toss him his ring back. `Now get out of here before I change my mind.'
`What?!' exclaims Flora. `You can't be serious!'
She moves towards him, probably with the intent of killing him. Grenshaur quickly pulls the ring on his finger, and a moment later, he disappears.
`Calm down, Flora! He's no threat to us any more.'
`No threat?!' she asks, full of anger. `That son of a bitch has been chasing me for months, and he's been trying to take a very personal item of mine! I want him dead!'
`No, you want this Drabangar guy dead, whoever he is. Now we're on to him.'
`Are we?! All we know is that he is somewhere in Draconia. Just how the fuck do you want to find him?'
`Don't worry! I've got a plan!'
`What plan?'
`Just a second.' I tell her, and I turn away from her. Slowly, I conjure a Portal to Draconia. To a specific place in Draconia.
`Come, let's go!' I tell her, and I step through the Portal. She follows me, and in a moment we both arrive in Draconia.
*
`Where are we?' asks Flora, as she looks around. We are at the
bottom of a tall mountain, not far from the road which leads up. In all other directions, there is nothing to see but a vast barren plain.
`See that fortress up there?' I ask her, as I point up towards the top of the mountain.
`Just a silhouette. What is it?'
`It is Sil Velies.'
Flora turns towards me and looks at me in great surprise, and with even greater suspicion.
`The fortress of Ghaubel? That night elf witch? The one who rules the eastern edge of Draconia?'
`Yeah. That one.'
`Why are we here?'
`Because we're going to ask her for help.'
`Are you kidding?'
`No. She will find that mage for us. She has certain... talents.'
`You expect her to help?'
`Yes.'
She shakes her head, and then she turns away and starts walking up the mountain.
`Hey, where are you going? Teleportation is faster!'
She stops and turns around.
`Why didn't you just open the Portal right up there?'
`Because her guards get a bit nervous if they see a Portal opening up right in front of the gates.'
`Alright, now teleport us!'
`Just one thing before we go. If you talk to her, don't tell her what you are. Let her think that you're a night elf. It might make things easier.'
`I'm not stupid, Zack!'
`Good! Now, grab my arm, we're teleporting!'
*
We arrive right in front of the main gates to the fortress. Ah, it's been a while since I've seen Sil Velies, but nothing's changed. A gigantic brick wall surrounds her fortress. The main gate to the courtyard is massive, and two bastions tower above on the two sides of the gate. Several night elf guards are stationed outside the gate, all of them wearing enchanted chainmail armor, and armed with various weaponry.
They eye us with suspicion. I call out to one of them.
`Hey, you! Paleface! Remember me?'
He looks at me with narrowed eyes, but after a while, he nods.
`You're that bloody black magician. Yes, I remember you.'
`Good! So let us in!'
`Why should I?'
`I have business with your Mistress. I don't think she'd be too pleased to learn that you stalled me.'
Twilightfall Page 9
