by C. M. Carney
“Don’t let her sting you!” Gryph roared, his eyes widening in fear. The egg-like Chaos Spores pushed through her abdomen, straining pathways not designed to take the pressure. Bands of muscle forced the seeds of raw chaos up towards the tip of her tail. One was nestled inside the bulbous sack below the stinger, ready for another strike.
Gryph reached his right hand out and fed mana into his bracers. Magnetic waves flowed around his forearm and he turned his gaze towards his spear nestled atop a tangle of webbing. Gryph focused the magnetic energy and pulled with all his might, but the webbing held the spear fast. It started to tear free, but a motion from the chaos queen drew Gryph’s attention back to the battle.
Sziilloth drew her stinger back again. Lex stood his ground, waiting for her strike.
The stocky Ordonian’s chance of deflecting another blow was slim and Lex knew it. But the NPC stood fast, knowing it could infect him at any moment. Gryph thought he heard a low mumble from Lex. “I must protect Gryph.”
Too late Gryph realized Sziilloth’s posturing had been a distraction and the chaos queen smashed her front leg into Lex’s side. The NPC grunted as the impact sent him flying sideways. Gryph pushed more mana into his bracers and stretched for his spear. The extra power tore the webbing, and the spear sped towards him.
It will be too late, Gryph realized and threw his left hand upwards, casting Life Shield just as the stinger slammed down upon him. The strike shattered the flimsy barrier, turning the stinger aside. It sunk into the hard-packed earth mere inches from his head.
The War Stave of the El’Edryn King snapped into Gryph’s outstretched hand. He rolled out of the way of another stinger strike and got back to his feet and walked right into a sideways swipe of Sziilloth’s legs. The blow did over a hundred damage and knocked the wind from his lungs. Once again, Gryph ended up on his back, but at least this time he still had his spear.
Not that it’s gonna help much, Gryph lamented. The mammoth sized arachnid jabbed down with her front leg, seeking to pin Gryph down. Gryph activated Shift, his newest Tier Ability, and reality bent. One moment he was lying flat on his back with a razor-sharp claw punching towards him, and the next he was ten feet away, lying under the massive spider’s abdomen. His vision swam as his brain struggled to process the sudden dimensional shift.
Gryph thrust upwards lamely with his spear, but the close confines made it impossible to land a solid blow. It did succeed in telling the chaos queen exactly where he was and she arched her body up, ready to bring her huge abdomen smashing down onto Gryph. A moment before the blow landed Gryph used his Ring of Dual Tier Ability and activated Shift.
He blinked into the aether again, but now knowing what to expect, he managed to hit his targeted exit point. He reappeared near his friends.
Sziilloth screamed and her legs thundered the ground as she turned seeking her prey. In the brief time it took her to turn, Gryph found the rest of his Adventure Group. Vonn and Ovrym were back to back fighting the chaos corrupted spiders, and were holding their own, despite a bevy of small wounds. The xydai was acquitting himself well, despite his amputated arm. That man is one tough SOB, Gryph thought as his eyes snapped to Errat, who was protecting Lex. The NPC was prone on his back.
Lex, you okay? Gryph sent.
The bitch stunned me. I’ve got another few seconds before my debuff wears off.
I will cover friend Lex, Errat sent.
No! Lex roared. Help Gryph.
Sziilloth screeched, tearing Gryph’s attention back to the monster spider. She stared right at him, raised her scorpion tail and hissed. Gryph activated Swift as the Wind and the magic of his elven boots, increasing his speed. He tossed several explosive throwing knives towards the chaos queen, triggering the phials as they reached her. Roiling flames expanded outwards in a ten-foot sphere, and the chaos queen howled in pain, but the flames did not stop her. Lex’s shared Analyze window showed only the smallest drop in her Health.
She must have some level of Fire Resistance, Gryph sent.
Of course, she does, Lex sent, his frustration over his stun debuff clear.
Gryph tossed a few more knives, this time the freezing variety, and again they did next to nothing against the chaos corrupted monstrosity. In moments she was on him. Her stinger lashed down and Gryph activated Dodge again. He barely sidestepped away from the attack and unleashed a dual casting of Flying Stalactite.
The shards of rock found their marks and buried themselves into two of her eight eye clusters. She screeched in agony, but the pain did not slow her. Perhaps she’d had enough of Gryph. Partially blinded, she lunged forward, her jaw wide, dripping chelicerae shaking with fury.
Oh, this is going to hurt, Gryph thought, just as a blur of motion announced Errat’s arrival via Blink. The Aether Magic spell was similar to Gryph’s Shift ability and allowed the warborn to make short range jumps through the aether. From an outsider’s perspective he seemed to appear from nowhere.
Errat caught both chelicerae in his hands and with his prodigious strength, arrested the forward motion of the fanged maw. He then wrenched to the left, twisting the spider’s head sideways. The crunching sound of bursting chiton snapped though the room and Sziilloth lost control of her legs because of the pain. Errat twisted again, and the cracking grew louder.
“I am here to help friend Gryph,” Errat said, with an odd grin.
Gryph was starting to believe that Errat would take the chaos queen down, when she slammed her stinger into his chest. The warborn’s eyes went wide in shock and his arms fell limply to his side. Sziilloth’s body spasmed and the Chaos Spore exploded through the stinger and into Errat’s body.
Sziilloth let Errat go and he slumped to the ground, the area around his wound already beginning to fester with red-orange whorls of corruption. She turned to Gryph, her eyes locked to his and invisible waves of hate flew between them.
“Do not worry, little Godling, there’s plenty where that came from.”
Tears of fury and anguish welled in Gryph’s eyes as he looked upon his large friend. His eyes snapped up in rage and he extended his right hand, palm down at the corrupted spider and sent mana down his arm. “Time for you to die.”
15
In the weeks since returning from Avernia, after his partially successful mission to free Brynn, Gryph had been busy. Among the hundred tasks he’d accomplished in that time it was one simple bit of crafting that might now be the difference between victory and eternal possession.
Although it had required a steady hand, the task in question had taken less than an hour to complete. Now, as he raised his arm, he remembered how the greatest swings of fate quite often originated from the smallest decisions.
He felt the comforting pressure of the Ring of Air Shield on his right hand. The silver band was the first magical item he’d found on entering the Realms, and it had saved his life on more than one occasion. He caressed the underside of the silver and sapphire band with his thumb before extending his hand towards the spider queen.
The thin iron wire he’d wrapped around the smooth surface was an affront to the ring’s simple beauty, and Gryph remembered the silent apology he’d sent through the Aether to its unknown maker. But function was always more important than form, especially when it could mean the difference between life and death.
He poured mana into both the ring and his bracer, marveling at the odd dual sensations. His arm felt buoyant while also becoming heavier and more rigid. Directing simultaneous streams of mana had once been impossible for him, but he’d grown in both knowledge and capability since entering the Realms.
“Time for you to die,” Gryph said to Sziilloth.
Gryph could see the timeless insanity of the Princes of Chaos behind her eyes as she splayed her chelicerae wide and hissed her rage at him.
Thank you, Gryph thought and coiled the magnetic energy seething in his bracers around the ring and its ferrous iron wire. The Ring of Minor Air Shield tore off his finger and sped like a bullet
down her esophagus. It pushed into her body and through her stomach. It lodged in the small digestive tract that ran under her heart and back into her abdomen.
Gryph closed his fist activating the pent-up air energy he’d stored in the ring and the sphere of air expanded inside her. Unenhanced, the Air Shield could resist 360 points of damage before failing, but with the 1000% boost granted by the Globe of Air Elemental Essence, that reached an insane 3,600 points.
Gryph had no idea how to equate the shield’s resistance to the amount of damage it did as it expanded inside the possessed spider queen, but he was pretty sure it was a lot. The globe of air blasted outward, shattering chiton and spraying pale blue blood in all directions. Her thorax tore from her abdomen as her carapace splintered and exploded.
The front half of her body slid towards Gryph. It skidded to a halt at his feet, and the Prince of Chaos inhabiting the spider spoke one last time.
“Enjoy this victory Little Godling. I leave you with a glimpse of impending destiny.”
A flash of red-orange light pulsed into his mind and Gryph was somewhere else, somewhere alien. He stood on a floating island of rock. All around him, the eddies and swirls of raw chaos flowed like a cacophonous sea of impossibility. Jagged bolts of red lightning arced through ochre clouds, each flash revealing a monstrosity of indescribable madness.
This is the Realm of Chaos, Gryph realized and tried to tear his gaze away. Ahead of him two more floating islands plowed into each other with the violence of colliding asteroids. Gryph knew it should terrify him, but it did not. Instead, he was giddy.
His perspective switched, and he was outside of himself, gazing down upon a Gryph he barely recognized. His skin was no longer pale but writhed with torrents of magma colored energy. Vine like tendrils wormed their way through his flesh and his eyes raged with the furor of an active volcano.
The Phage, Gryph realized in horror. I am no longer me.
This Gryph’s eyes turned to the spot where Gryph’s drifting consciousness observed his hijacked body and began to laugh.
“See you soon, Little Godling.”
With a jerk, Gryph was back in the cave, back in his own body. A last distant laugh drew his gaze down in time to see the light in Sziilloth’s eyes fade. Gryph screamed and stepped down with all his might, crushing part of the corrupted creature’s head. Ichor splayed in a wide fan from the ruptured remains.
“Fuck yeah!” Lex howled, his stun debuff finally worn off. Then he saw the other chaos corrupted spiders all staring at him, their attention drawn by his outburst. “Uh, Akashiri, what are they doing?”
Before the unhatched queen could answer the swarm of spiders screeched as one and skittered towards them. The Adventure Group formed a defensive perimeter around Errat, who lay unconscious, the chaos already festering in his wound.
With Sziilloth's death they have no guidance and are driven only by the rages of their corruption.
“Can you control them?” Gryph asked as he fired a pair of Flying Stalactites at the oncoming horde.
Not until I hatch, but I am still too weak to push through the protective shell. I am truly sorry.
Gryph swallowed his disappointment but noted the irony that the spider’s choice to protect Akashiri by coalescing his body around her may doom them all. Gryph focused and prepared for yet another impossible battle. His Health was still solid, but it was his Stamina and Mana reserves that presented the real problem. Without them, he was limited to good old-fashioned spear work.
I can help, Raathiel said from deep within him.
It is too dangerous, Gryph retorted. With your XP deficit, any injury will mean your permanent death.
No, it won’t, she sent with the mental equivalent of a smile and Gryph noticed several prompts. Thanks to his recent training with Gartheniel he no longer had to read them individually. Now he just knew what they contained. The lack of distraction was a life saver, and he wondered how he’d survived so long without the technique.
You have earned Experience Points.
You have earned 250,000 XP for slaying Sziilloth the Corrupted Spider Queen.
You have earned 45,000 XP for slaying chaos corrupted spiders (x15).
You have completed a Quest.
You have earned 300,000 XP for completing the quest Corruption takes the Mother. You have slain the chaos corrupted spider queen Sziilloth, thus halting an incursion by the Princes of Chaos into the mortal realm.
You have completed a Quest.
You have earned 100,000 XP for completing the quest Return to Glory. Because of your hard work you have eliminated Raathiel’s XP deficit. She can now interact with the physical world.
You’re back? Gryph asked amazed.
Thanks to you, Raathiel sent, and a wave of gratitude, a wave of love flowed through the link.
I appreciate a love fest as much as the next guy, Lex sent. But we have other shit to worry about right now.
Hold them off for as long as you can, Raathiel sent and then a surge of warmth pushed from Gryph’s core. A sphere of light zipped upwards and began to morph and take shape. The golden light grew blinding, forcing Gryph to shield his eyes as a cascade of multihued color danced across his vision.
A powerful screech, part bird of prey and part serpent’s hiss, filled the chamber. Gryph’s eyes cleared as the once harsh light became warm. Above him hovering with ease on the updraft of her slow beating wings was Raathiel.
Although Gryph had experienced her original form in the memories Raathiel had shared with him, seeing her in the flesh was the closest Gryph had ever come to a true religious experience. Before him, an angel had been reborn.
She was a five-foot-long serpent whose iridescent scales shimmered like a cascade of raining jewels. Large wings dressed in multihued feathers sprouted from her body three quarters of the way up her length. A tuft of downy gold feathers raced down her back from her head to a spot just past her wings. Her face was more draconic than serpentine, bearing several backward flaring horns and a pair of shining gold and silver eyes. She looked down upon Gryph and her voice, strong and somehow more present than it had been before, filled his mind.
Hello Menaaire.
She was amazing and Gryph realized his mouth hung open like the most slack jawed of yokels. And that word, the name she had called him, Menaaire, it meant savior in El’Edryn. In an instant his mind flashed back to their very first encounter, deep in the Barrow.
Then she was the barest remnant of a partially consumed soul, and Gryph had bonded his soul to hers knowing that she had but the slimmest of chances of surviving without him. As he gazed upon her otherworldly wonder now, he knew she was about to repay that favor in droves.
We do not have time for this reunion Menaaire. Keep them occupied and I will help Akashiri. She turned towards the oncoming horde of spiders and a clarion call roared from her mouth. She beat her wings, soared upwards and then flew down, wrapping herself about Akashiri’s unhatched egg. Powerful muscles along her length began to constrict and small fissures skittered across the surface of the egg, cracking like ice on a pond.
Gryph spun his spear and turned his attention to the oncoming horde of spiders. “Let’s buy the ladies some time boys.”
16
The Adventure Party roared, and blades swung, and hammers smashed. They cast fewer spells as the group’s mana reserves bottomed out, but the pile of spider bodies grew. Still more spiders came.
This battle is turning against us, Ovrym said, his voice pained.
Raathiel, hurry, Gryph sent, but got no reply. He hoped that meant she was too busy to respond.
A spider leapt up behind the injured xydai almost as if it had been waiting for the comment. Ovrym spun too late, but Vonn was there, his new vorpal blade stabbing up into the beast’s thorax. With a twist the blade sliced clean through the thin waist connecting thorax and abdomen. What had been one, became two, and the spider fell to the ground dead.
Not for the first time the half-elf’s skill amaz
ed Gryph. What I wouldn’t give to have more of him, Gryph thought, but felt shame for thinking it. In the battle against the High God Aluran, Vonn had used his Dimensional Duplication ability to draw three doubles of himself to aid in their battle. They had been instrumental in their victory.
Gryph had thought they were mere copies, but the Vonns had explained that each duplicate was a real Vonn drawn from a nearby parallel dimension. Those Vonns had made slightly different choices than this reality’s Vonn, but they were real people, as real as Gryph and his friends.
All three of them had died, killed by Aluran’s own hand.
Since that day, Vonn could not use Dimensional Duplication. Whether his mysterious Source had stripped the ability from him, or it was a mental block, Gryph did not know. When asked, Vonn said he could no longer access to the ability. The victory against Aluran had come at a heavy price.
That cost would get heavier if anyone died today for the lack of more Vonns. Thoughts of death made Gryph want to check on Errat, but he couldn’t spare even a moment’s glance, so fierce was the crazed arachnid onslaught.
His leg erupted in pain, knocking him to one knee. One of the chaos spiders was close and had sunk its razor tipped leg into his calf. It lunged at him fangs bared. The spear was too bulky to maneuver, forcing Gryph to release it. He threw his hands out and caught the pair of fangs just as they were about to sink into his chest.
He barely had enough strength to arrest the spider’s motion and then the creature found purchase with its eight legs and applied more leverage. The fangs moved closer. In a panic, Gryph used the small amount of mana he had left to cast Water Blast.
