Descent Into Darkness (Book 2)

by James R. Vernon

  "Hopefully," Ean replied, and they continued on in silence.

  After a dozen more twists and turns, they came upon a large pair of stone doors standing open. Stepping through the opening, the tunnel opened up into a huge cavern. Stalagmites and small pockets in the stone littered the room, which was three times the size of the average barn. Ean took in more of the energy of the Abyss, letting the tattoos on his body flare up and illuminate the large room even more. Shadows danced everywhere as the light coming off of him grew in intensity, made even creepier by the silence all around them.

  "Carnslug hatchery," Zin said quietly, his eyes darting around.

  "Expecting something dangerous to leap out at us?"

  "No. Just looking for a left over meal. Carnslugs are pretty hardy, and I thought a few might have survived. I haven't had anything to eat in a while."

  Ean shook his head as he began walking around the room. "I can't imagine how something with 'slug' in its name could be that appetizing."

  "You say that now, but if you tried one you would like it. They taste like chicken, but with a bit more flavor."

  "Mmhmm."

  "I don't think there are any in here. Best if we move on. We still have to pass through the second hatchery before we reach the kitchens."

  "Fine with me."

  Glancing around, Ean found another set of open doors with a tunnel behind them. When Ean nodded in its direction, Zin returned the nod, and they both made their way towards the doors. The hound had its back to them, its head down low to the ground as it sniffed around.

  "Looks like the hound has picked up a scent. You sure there couldn't be any of these Carnslugs left around?"

  "I guess there could be. They eat the fungus and dirt off of cave walls, so in theory they could live down here forever. They multiply like crazy though, which is why they are such a good source for food, and they simply split apart to breed. If there was even one left a few days ago we would have found dozens today."

  Ean urged the hound to follow through the bond they shared. It looked up at him, sniffed at the air a few times and trotted over. Ean felt boredom coming though their bond. What did a hound do for fun anyway?

  The hound looked over at Zin. Licking its lips a few times, the hound's mouth opened up into a toothy smile. Zin caught the look and began to shift about nervously.

  "Don't even think about it," Ean said, shaking a finger at the hound.

  Annoyance was all Ean received through the bond, the hound's mouth closing as it pushed its way past Ean. The beast almost knocked him over as it went past, not making any effort to go around him. It took a few steps past the door and then turned its head and looked back.

  "Did I mention before how nervous that hound makes me?" Zin said, walking up to Ean's side.

  "Yes, many times. But I'm almost positive that it will listen to my commands and not turn you into a meal."

  "So reassuring." Gesturing with a clawed hand towards the tunnel ahead, the imp made a mock bow. "After you."

  Rolling his eyes at the imp, Ean walked up and past the hound. The tunnel stretched ahead of him into darkness, a sharp turn barely visible at the edge of his vision. He kept the energy of the Abyss flowing through him, the tattoos on his arms lighting up the tunnel as brightly as any torch. They had been walking long enough to make him think that they had left those monsters behind for good.

  The faint sound of a moan echoing far behind them sent a shiver down his spine.

  Zin rubbed his hands together nervously. "You need to close the doors."

  Ean hurried over to the big stone doors and gave one of them a push. He might as well have been pushing the wall. Bracing himself, he put all of his strength into trying to move one of the doors. Again, nothing. Across the empty hatchery he could hear the moan growing louder.

  Ean was about to try and wedge himself between the door and the wall when Zin tugged at his pants.

  "They are too heavy for you."

  "Yes, I realize that now," Ean grunted, still pushing on the door. "If you knew it was too heavy, why did you tell me to close it in the first place?"

  "My old master used to be able to shut the doors using his power. Something about the runes. I figured you might be able to find a way to close them the same way".

  "You should have said that right away!" he growled, then immediately regretted it. The moans coming from the opposite tunnel paused for a few moments before starting up again, much louder than they had been before. Ean looked down at the imp.

  "What do I do?"

  Zin frowned, his shoulders rising and falling. "I'm not completely sure. He would place his hands on the doors, runes would light up, and the doors would swing closed."

  Ean looked at the bare stone doors, bereft of any markings. Moving around to the front of them, he tried his best to find the slightest etch in the stone. They were completely blank.

  "There is nothing here. The doors are completely bare. How can I activate runes that have worn away over time?"

  "I don't know."

  A flicker of movement caught Ean's attention and he turned around. Just starting to walk through the opposite doorway was one of the monstrosities, its body covered in slashes with one of its bone blades completely broken off. As Ean's eyes met the creature's, it let out a long moan and began shuffling towards him.

  Both surprised and thankful that the thing hadn't broken out into a sprint at the sight of him, Ean turned his attention back to the door.

  "Zin, tell me if that thing starts moving faster or if any more of them show up."

  "Absolutely." The imp ran up next to him, his small body tensed.

  Running his hands over the smooth surface of the door, Ean tried to think. Zin's old master had just placed his hand over the door, no magic words, no tracing new runes on top of the surface.

  "Two more just came through the doorway." Zin's voice was low, as if the creatures didn't already know they were there.

  Placing his right palm on the door, Ean tried to concentrate. He let his senses reach out through the energy of the Abyss. Immediately he felt the thrumming of Abysmal energy running through the place. The energy saturated the lair, making it feel alive in the same way it felt in Ean's body. Maybe that was the key...

  "The closest one is about halfway across the room. We might want to think about leaving..."

  No, not leaving yet. He was on to something.

  The energy, it was in everything. Did that mean whatever magic or runes had been inscribed were still there? Carefully, Ean let a small amount of the energy inside of him flow out from his hands and into the door. The two energies merged as if reunited. Hundreds of different runes suddenly rushed through his mind, less than a dozen of which he knew.

  "We're just about out of time..."

  Glancing back, Ean saw that Zin was right. The closest flesh monster was almost on top of them. This close, Ean could see the drool coming out of its mouth and the trickling of blood from its dozens of wounds. The whole sight filled him with dread. If only they had a little more time...

  A black blur darted past him, causing Zin to jump out of its way. Ean watched in shock as the hound sped towards the closest monster, its legs pumping faster than Ean had seen before. Its nails sounded like chisels as they stabbed into the rock, propelling its body along the floor.

  The flesh monster stopped for a moment, as if considering what to do. Then it, too, started sprinting forward. In only a moment, the two creatures were right on top of each other. The monster's four arms and their protruding blades went wide in anticipation while the hound went low, looking like it was about to launch itself up onto its opponent.

  The creature's four blades stabbed as one, directly at the hound, but the hound was smarter. Instead of launching itself at the flesh monster and into its waiting blades, the hound threw itself at its feet, smashing into its legs and launching the monster into the air. It came down hard with a thud as its bone blades and protrusions hit the stone floor, its face smashing into th
e ground.

  The hound was back on its feet, spinning around with its mouth open wide. It leapt onto the back of the monster and bit down hard into a fleshy arm. Even from a decent distance away, Ean could hear the hiss as the hound's saliva began eating away at the flesh. He clenched his left hand slightly. He knew the damage that saliva could do all too well.

  Coming to its senses, the monster tried to buck the hound off its back, trying and failing to get its bone blades around to stab at the beast. It rolled left and right, arching its back, but the hound hung on. The area began to reek of burning skin as the hound's saliva did its work.

  "Ean, the door! The other two are almost to the hound!"

  Zin's voice brought him back and he returned his attention to where it should have been all along. The hound was out there buying him time, and he had been wasting it like a fool. Focusing on the door again made the multitude of symbols flash through his mind.

  "Zin, what is the symbol for 'closed'?"

  "It's, uh...well, it looks kind of like, I guess, like two doors closing."

  Frowning, Ean searched the library running through his mind until he thought he found what he was looking for. At least, it did look like two doors closing. Focusing on that rune, Ean tried to picture it on the door.

  Sure enough, right on the center of the smooth surface of the stone door, the rune appeared. With a groan the two doors, which had probably remained immobile for hundreds of years, began to swing slowly shut. With a yell of triumph, Ean stepped through the doorway.

  His yell quickly turned to one of agony as a sudden sharp pain pierced his side. Falling to the ground, he tried to roll so he could see his attacker. What he found instead was Zin staring at him with a confused look on his face. Looking past the imp, through the slowly closing doors, he gasped at what he saw.

  The other two flesh beasts had reached their fallen partner. One had the hound pinned to the ground, its bone pike piercing the hound's side. The hound was squirming around, trying its best to bite the arm that was holding it down. The other flesh monster was moving in, two bone blades raised high and ready to strike.

  Ignoring the pain in his side, Ean pushed himself up and scrambled towards his fallen hound.

  "What are you doing?!" Zin screamed, standing in his way.

  "I'm not losing anyone else," he grunted, taking another step.

  It was hopeless, though. Ean couldn't move fast enough, and even if he could there wasn't anything he could do. Those monsters would tear him apart easier than they had the Living Dead. It tore at Ean's heart as he watched the doors close...

  "Give it your strength..."

  That voice again, like a whisper in his mind. This time Ean didn't bother questioning it. He reached into the bond, feeling the pain and worry of the hound and pushed all of himself into it. All his anger, his strength, every bit of energy that his connection to the Abyss was providing him.

  The hound quivered for a moment and leapt up, dragging the monster's arm and the rest with it. It dodged out of the way of a second flesh monster, all while still impaled by the other beast. After bounding away a few steps and dragging the one monster with it, the hound was finally able to dislodge itself. Instead of rushing to Ean's side though, the hound rounded on the three monsters.

  Ean's strength gave out and he fell forward. His outstretched arms kept his face and body from smacking into the ground, but just barely. The impact of his knees hitting the floor sent a burst of pain up his body. His arms felt only slightly stronger than his non-functioning legs. Every bit of his strength was going into the hound. Ean's chest felt heavy, each breath becoming more and more difficult. All the while, the doors continued to swing slowly shut.

  The hound on the other hand was sending feelings of excitement and hunger through the bond. Eagerness and the desire to kill rushed over Ean, with the slightest hint of joy. If the hound kept attacking though, the strain of what Ean was doing might kill him, and at the very least, the doors would shut and trap the hound on the other side. Not wanting either option to come about, Ean sent a strong desire for the hound to return to his side. He received anger and defiance in return, the desire to kill rising in the animal. Fighting to keep himself from completely falling over, Ean sent his desperation and fear through.

  One of the two seemed to work, as the hound looked over quickly and then took off in his direction. It dodged a few attacks on the way but quickly covered the distance and entered the diminishing gap between the doors. As the hound reached Ean, it stopped and placed itself between him and the door. Ean looked past it, allowing himself a smile as he saw the flesh beasts moving too slowly to get to the door before it closed. He still watched until the doors closed completely before he let himself relax and stop feeding his energy into the hound.

  Both collapsed then, Ean with a grunt and the hound with a whimper. Zin came running up to both of them and looked down at Ean.

  "What in the darkest reaches of the Abyss was that?"

  "I gave the hound..." Ean panted, "some of my energy. Most...most of my energy."

  "What? How did you know you could even do that? Or that it wouldn't kill you?"

  "The voice told me."

  "What?" The imp started getting even more agitated. "What voice?"

  "The same voice that told me how to take the hound's rune onto my body." Ean's strength was slowly starting to return, which was good since Zin looked like he was about to murder someone.

  "That's just great," Zin said, pacing away from him, and away from the hound, who was still collapsed on the ground with his legs splayed out in every direction. It was still conscious and watching them both. "You start hearing things, and of course your first instinct is to listen to the voice. Which could just be you going insane."

  Before Ean could say anything, Zin waved him off and continued on. "You're probably not going insane. My previous master wasn't insane; he just became power-hungry and evil. He also wasn't stupid enough that he would just blindly listen to some voice in his head. How do you know that's not just one of the gods messing with you? You know the Goddess of the Soul already has some sort of an agenda concerning you. What's to say the others don't as well?"

  "Zin, I know the sound of Kaz'ren's voices, and this wasn't..."

  "Don't say her name! You said that makes it a million times easier for them to find you."

  "Zin, I really don't think it was her."

  "Fine, fine, then who was it? I don't like this, Ean. First I have to worry about Azalea, then the gods themselves, and now this mystery voice. I'm telling you, every one of them has an agenda."

  Ean reached up and grabbed the imp without thinking. The fact that he caught him at all, let alone at his weakest, made both of their mouths gape. Relaxing his grip some, Ean held on to the anger he was feeling.

  "Don't lump Azalea in with the gods. We've already gone over this; she has more than proven her loyalty. As for the voice, we can figure that out later." Releasing Zin, Ean slowly got to a kneeling position. Not quite trusting his legs, he crawled over to check on his hound.

  The hound watched him come, its body rising and falling heavily with each breath. The only feelings Ean got from it were exhaustion, but surprisingly no pain. His own side didn't hurt either. Had the previous pain been from the hound or something different? That was something he would unfortunately have to just wait and see if it happened again.

  Reaching the hound, he was even more surprised to find that there wasn't a single wound in the side of the beast that he had seen impaled. He even ran his hand over the hound's body to make sure. Thankfully the hound let him and didn't try to bite him like it had done in the past. Had he not only strengthened the hound but healed him as well?

  Placing his hands on the ground, Ean slowly pushed himself to his feet and immediately regretted it. His head grew light, dark spots started swimming in his vision and his legs wobbled. He began to fall...and found the hound standing, braced to catch him. His hands dug into the hound's fur, the hair course
and oily against his skin. Ean's arms shook but he was able to keep himself up. The hound hadn't wavered under his weight. Apparently it was recovering a lot faster than he was. Ean let himself take a few moments to gather his strength as he leaned on the hound before trying to stand again. This time it was a success, but he kept one hand on the hound, petting it lightly.

  "I think you've earned the right to a name," he said, looking down at the hound. It looked back up at him, confusion and curiosity rolling across their bond. "It has to be a good name, of course, something fitting." Thinking for a few moments, Ean smiled. "I've got it. Yaeger."

  "Yaeger?" Zin said, wrinkling his nose. "That doesn't sound very tough."

  "It's Crux," Ean replied, still not understanding how he knew the race's entire language. "It means 'to devour.' At least I think it does, I'm not entirely sure I understand the language completely."

  "Well, you apparently know it better than I do." Flashing a sarcastic smile, the imp pointed a thumb over his shoulder. "Now if this big show of affection is over, can we move on? We still have a ways to go before we reach the throne room."

  "Sounds good to me." Actually it didn't sound that good. His legs were still wobbly, and he felt like he needed a week's worth of sleep. He removed his hands from the hound's back and took a few tentative steps.

  "Alright, you lead the way, Zin."

  "Sounds good. Hopefully there is a Carnslug or two left in the next hatchery. I'm famished."

  IT WAS A FAIRLY straight shot to the next hatchery, with only a few twists and turns and not incredibly long. Unfortunately a new problem presented itself upon their arrival. The enormous stone doors were shut.

  "Well," Zin said. "Open them up."

  "Hold on, it's not that simple. For one, I don't know the symbol for open..."

  "It's the same as the symbol for closed, except there is a space in-between."

  "And second," he cut back in, letting a touch of annoyance enter his voice. "We don't know what's on the other side."