Descent Into Darkness (Book 2)

by James R. Vernon

  "Do you really think this will work?" the Yulari asked quietly, her voice breaking the silence. They were deep enough into the mine now that the entrance was barely visible.

  "I would hope so, or else the trip here was a waste of time."

  "Well, I had suggested we stay at your master's old lair. With the village below it completely wiped out by Lav'zernathar, we wouldn't have been bothered. I don't like having Ean's old village and all its people sitting right outside."

  They had found Ulundkin completely destroyed once they had healed up enough to head outside. Lav'zernathar hadn't been lying when he said he was going to pay the villagers back for whatever they had done to him. Every single house had lay in smoking ruins or was still on fire when they had left. Zin couldn't help but shudder knowing that Lav was out there somewhere, completely free to do whatever he wished.

  "Did you really want to stay in that cursed land?" Zin asked. "I don't know about you, but the Plague twisted my stomach. I had no desire to stay in a place that constantly made me feel sick."

  "Maybe..."

  Did the Yulari actually fear humans now that much that she would rather constantly feel sick than live in a place this close to them, even when they were a constant source of food for her? The girl was more messed up than Zin had realized. He almost felt bad now for his little prank in Wethrintir. Almost.

  They continued on in silence after that, following the gently downward sloping path deeper into the mine. They began to pass random bones lying about, leftovers from the lizard creature's meals, no doubt. When the sound of ripping and the occasional growl reached them, coming from somewhere ahead, they slowed in unison.

  "That has to be the hound, right?" Zin said, hoping he was right.

  "I'm sure it is. That lizard thing is dead."

  Zin found it humorous that the Yulari was terrified of humans, but disregarded anything else that might be a threat.

  "And the villagers didn't mention anything else being down here. But what could he possibly be eating?"

  At the back of the mine they found where the lizard creature had made its home. Large collections of bones and torn clothes lay scattered about, even a few decaying pieces of villagers here and there, adding a rotten smell to the air. In the middle lay what was left of the lizard creature, minus its head. Yeager had his jaws sunk into one of its legs. Bran must have left it where it fell, and now the hound was getting a meal out of its carcass.

  "You want to do this here?" Azalea wrinkled her nose in disgust. "It stinks in here."

  "We can clean it out after we've done what we need to do."

  "Well, how long will that take?"

  "I have no idea."

  Throwing her hands in the air, the Yulari stalked a few paces away before sitting down on the ground with her back up against the stone wall. Pulling her knees in close to her chest, Azalea wrapped her arms around her legs and rested the side of her head on her knees so that she was still watching Zin.

  With a sigh, Zin began kicking aside various bones, rocks, and other things that he would rather not know what they had been. The hound lifted his head once when a random bone struck him in the nose, letting out a small growl before returning to his meal. He seemed to be struggling with the lizard's scales, but was slowly making progress with the help of his saliva. Zin was just glad the hound was keeping itself occupied.

  When a suitable space had been cleared to Zin's liking, he sat down in the center and glanced over at Azalea. "Can you toss me the stone?"

  Azalea sat up long enough to throw a black stone the size of the imp's palm to him, and then curled herself back up into a ball. She truly looked pathetic compared to her former self. Zin was starting to hope this worked just so that the Yulari might get some confidence back. Or she would just end up hiding down in the mine the rest of her long, long life. Didn't much matter to Zin either way. At least that's what he told himself.

  Taking the stone, he drew the one symbol he needed into the ground. The symbol for the Abyss.

  "Here goes nothing," he said, and then dropped the stone onto the symbol before leaping back to watch the light show.

  WHITE LIGHT. FLOATING, DRIFTING along in nothingness. No pain, no fear, no memories. Ean had never been so at peace. A thousand seconds versus a thousand years--they were all the same here--in this state of perfection.

  And then the light flared, ruining everything.

  Memories washed over him like a flood, each one eliciting emotion. Happiness, pain, love, disappointment, joy, loss, determination. Each memory filled him with the emotions that had been missing, each one making him feel more alive. And making him question if he wanted to be.

  Physical sensations came next, and unfortunately the only thing he felt was a burning pain everywhere. He tried to scream, but nothing came out, or nothing was there to make the scream. He had no idea. There was just the pain and the memories.

  The light grew in intensity, the pain growing with it. Another sensation slowly started to surface amidst the pain as well. It was cold, a chill, that originated from his hands and legs until it coated his entire body, mixing in with the pain. Except he had no body, no arms or legs. All that existed was the light.

  No, that wasn't true. He felt more than cold, the rough feeling of stone, pressing against his palms. He tried moving his fingers and the tips brush against the surface, one finger even moving a small object. So his hands did exist. But all he could still see was the light. And feel the pain. It was intense, scouring his mind, making it difficult to think.

  "Calm. Find calm. It's almost done."

  That voice. He had heard that voice before. He tried to search his memories. The pain made it difficult. That all of his memories had only moments before returned in a jumble of pictures and emotions made it impossible.

  Something else was out there in the light. Something familiar. He tried reaching for it and immediately regretted it as the pain tripled in intensity. But every time he was able to block out some of the pain and focus his mind, he felt that familiar presence. It felt so close and comforting, like a warm fire after a cold day spent in the marshes of Rottwealth. If he could just touch it...

  Instead of reaching out for it with his hand, he reached with his mind. With his soul. He grasped it, and the energy of the Abyss trickled into him.

  Pain tore through his body and he threw his head back, his arms flung out wide as he tried to scream again. It started as a gurgle, at least having some sound now, and then grew into an actual yell. Colors filled his vision for the briefest moment before eyelids slammed shut, bringing darkness but not an escape from the pain. It felt like he was being torn apart into the tiniest of pieces and then slammed back together, over and over again. His voice became hoarse as he continued to yell.

  And then the pain was gone and the energy of the Abyss rushed into him like a flood. It almost overwhelmed him, but he somehow wrestled it under control. It filled his being, gave him strength and comfort, made him feel alive. He and the energy felt one and the same.

  Bright spots were all Ean saw at first as he opened his eyes, little round balls that danced around his vision and mingled with a faint blue light. Ean increased the flow of energy again into his body and the light increased. The spots faded away and Ean stood, then immediately regretted it as black spots raced across his vision, his head suddenly going light. Falling to his knees, he winced as they smashed into the hard ground and then immediately fell forward onto his hands before emptying his stomach. At least his body tried to empty his stomach, but all that came out was bile. When he was finished, he remained on his hands and knees, taking a moment to catch his breath and get his bearings. Clearly his body had yet to really recover from...whatever it was that had happened.

  "Well, that was gross."

  Zin. Turning his head slightly to the right, Ean found the imp leaning up against a stone wall. His small arms were crossed in front of his chest and he wore a satisfied smirk, the right edge of his mouth showing off the tiniest bit
of teeth.

  "What happened..." Even talking made Ean's stomach gurgle at him and he returned to looking at the ground. The floor was like the wall Zin was leaning against, nothing but stone and rock, but roughly cut unlike the smooth stone paths of the lair of Zin's old master.

  "Well," Zin replied, pushing himself away from the wall and moving closer. "You were going to die, and I had put way too much time and effort into you to let that happen."

  "Zin..."

  "Ok, ok. So maybe it had been part of my plan all along. Well, not the part where you almost died. You didn't need to be on the verge of death for it to work."

  Taking a deep breath, Ean sat up straight. His head grew light again but he fought off the nausea. "Zin, start from--"

  A pair of arms and legs suddenly wrapped around him. The impact would have knocked him over had he not tensed up immediately, thinking he was under attack. But the smell of lavender or lilies quickly made him realize it was Azalea even before she spoke.

  "I thought you were gone forever." She sobbed, which alone almost made Ean fall over. Azalea was not one to sob. Or even tear up for that matter. "I'm so glad you are alive."

  "Yes, well..." Ean had no idea how to react to this side of Azalea. The fact that she was squeezing him tighter and tighter wasn't helping either. "Azalea, you need to lighten up a little, it's getting hard to breath."

  "Oh, sorry." She stopped squeezing as tightly but made no move to detangle herself from around him. Instead she rested her head on his shoulder. Even in his weakened state, Ean couldn't help but enjoy her touch.

  A cough brought his attention back to his surroundings. He shot Zin an annoyed look. "You were about to tell me exactly what your plan had been?"

  "Yes, um, right." The imp moved around until he was in front of Ean then took a seat. "Well, to sum it up, the plan was to get those tattoos on your body, have you use your power as often as possible so they spread, and then get you to my master's old lair to complete the process."

  "Complete the process?" He shifted around into a more comfortable sitting position, Azalea moving with him, before he continued. "What process, Zin?"

  "Well, to keep with telling you the summarized version, to make you immortal like my old master."

  "What?!"

  "I said, to make you--"

  "Yes, I heard you, I heard you. I'm immortal? Wait, your master was killed..." Ean considered himself fairly intelligent, but he was completely lost now.

  "Ok, well, it's mostly immortal. Your life is tied to that."

  Ean followed the imp's pointing finger to the side of the room, past where his hound was apparently snacking on something with scales, and found a small white orb floating just a small ways off the ground. It was a perfect sphere, rotating slowly in the air and giving off a faint light. A closer look revealed that the orb looked almost translucent with small clouds floating along inside of it. Now that he realized it was there, he could feel it in the same way that he could feel Azalea and the hound through their bonds.

  "What is that?"

  I am Auz.

  That voice! It was the same--

  "Think of that as your heart," Zin said, interrupting his thoughts. "From what I could figure out, it keeps you alive even when you receive wounds that would kill even the strongest person. It also connects you to the Abyss somehow." The imp shrugged. "To be honest, my master never talked about it, but I knew it was important. When my master was alive, he acted like it was more important than anything. It was also much, much larger which makes me think yours will grow as well."

  A flash of a memory raced through Ean's mind. Sitting in the center of the throne room of Zin's old master had been a huge sphere, its surface scorched and cracked. It had seemed unimportant at the time, just a piece of art or something to fill the room. Was that what Zin was talking about?

  Yes, that was corpse of Auz. Now, I am Auz.

  The voice was confusing Ean. "The sphere?"

  Yes.

  "Yes," Zin replied, then tilted his head slightly as he regarded Ean. "Are you alright? You look strange. Besides just coming back from being nothing a few moments ago and having a Yulari wrapped around your body, of course."

  "I'm just getting used to the thing speaking in my head".

  Zin blinked rapidly. "What?"

  "The sphere, it's talking to me."

  Not an It. Auz.

  "Fine, fine," Ean said, looking over at the sphere. "Your name is Auz." A feeling of satisfaction flowed back to him from the little sphere.

  "Oh, right. Talking to the orb..." Zin said slowly.

  "You didn't know it was alive!"

  "Listen, like I said, my old master didn't tell me anything about the orb. I just knew it was somehow connected to his power and we would need at least a piece of it to create the same thing for you."

  "So, that's what you put in my hand when I was about to die."

  "Yes." Getting up, Zin walked a few paces over to the orb, leaning over it to take a closer look. "I had no idea exactly how it worked. I just knew that touching it to those runes on your body would start...well, whatever it is that connects the two of you. The plan wasn't for you to be mortally wounded when we tried to make the connection though. I was worried, but thankfully, it worked."

  "Otherwise, I would be dead." Ean winced slightly as Azalea squeezed him a little tighter.

  "Yes, pretty much."

  "And so it took my body, and then did what? Why did it bring me back here? Where are we anyway?"

  The imp shrugged, rubbing his hands together. "I know as much as you do about it. As for where we are, I brought you back home. We're in the mine at Rottwealth."

  "Home?" A dozen thoughts ran through Ean's head and just as quickly poured from his mouth. "But what about the monster?" A quick look at what the hound was chewing on quickly answered that question. "What killed it? Was it the hound? Or did Bran and Jaslen return with some way to kill it. Have you seen them? Have you seen Old Cleff?"

  Turning away, Zin shrugged again. "You were gone for over thirty days. That's how long it took for the three of us to get back here. The lizard thing was killed by Bran the night before we got back. Everything else, we can catch up later. We have more important things to discuss."

  The absence of news about both Cleff and Jaslen was obvious. "Zin, tell me--"

  "Ean, I really haven't heard much in the short amount of time we've been back. Bran killed the monster with some weapon he was given or found sometime after he left us. Jaslen didn't come back with him, and since she snuck away, most of the village thinks she became one of the monster's victims."

  "But we know that's not true. Bran must have some idea--"

  "We can discuss that later, too. At the very least, the first thing you need to do is get some clothing. It's making me uncomfortable having to talk to you while you are naked."

  His eyes going wide, Ean looked down and saw that the imp was telling the truth. He wasn't wearing a single piece of clothing. The only reason he probably wasn't shivering from the cold was because Azalea was providing him with plenty of warmth. Heat certainly was filling his cheeks.

  "I can't walk into town naked..." Ean mumbled trying his best to ignore the feel of Azalea against his body. "Someone needs to go get me some clothes. And figure out what's been happening since I've been gone. Maybe Azalea could go get me some clothes and use her charms to--"

  He cut off as she squeezed him tight. "Don't make me go alone. There are so many people. I couldn't stand it."

  "Couldn't stand it?" Turning his head, which was all he could move at this point, Ean shot Zin a confused look. "What's going on?"

  "Nothing. She just has some fear of humans now. No big deal."

  Sighing, Ean began to carefully unwrap Azalea from his body. She made a small whining sound but otherwise let him.

  "I guess I could sneak into the village and try to steal some clothes. Shouldn't be too difficult at night."

  No. Impossible.

  "What?" The voi
ce in his head had sounded very serious.

  Cannot leave. Must stay close. Rule.

  "What rule? What are you talking about?" Both Azalea and Zin were looking at Ean now, faces completely blank. "It's the orb. It's telling me--"

  Auz. Name is Auz.

  "Fine, Auz is telling me I have to stay close to it."

  Zin walked back over to stare at the sphere. "Maybe it's got attachment issues. Or maybe Azalea has already rubbed off on it."

  "Go and rot, you stupid imp!" Azalea lunged for him, but Zin was too quick. He leapt away from Azalea and right into the side of the hound. That earned the imp a growl and he moved away, finally ending at the path back out of the mine. When Azalea made to lunge again, Ean rose and stood in front of her, cutting her off. He expected to have to struggle to rise, but he felt surprising strong now.

  "Enough. I have enough to deal with right now without having to keep the two of you from each other's throats."

  "Fine." They both said in unison, and then shot each other similar dark looks.

  "Good. Now, I'm going into town. I'll be right back."

  Cannot go.

  "I'll be right back, Auz."

  Ean turned and began walking away, passing Zin and moving further out of the mine.

  CANNOT GO.

  Ignoring the booming voice in his head, Ean continued on. Until he hit a wall. At least that's what it felt like, his nose pressing against his face, his knee smacking up painfully against some invisible barrier. Raising his hands, Ean could actually feel a smooth surface preventing him from going further. It covered the entire opening, effectively blocking off the only way out of the mine. Making it impossible to leave.

  Spinning around, he stormed back to where everyone was gathered.

  "Did you do that?" It felt somewhat weird yelling at a small floating orb, but it also made him feel better.

  Cannot go.

  Throwing his hands in the air, Ean began to pace around. Almost killed, ripped apart, and then brought back. Naked. A Yulari that was afraid of people, an imp that had given him the gift of immortality without knowing any of the details, and a hound that listened when it felt like it. And now a sentient orb with a control problem. Rounding on the orb, and feeling stupid for what he was about to do, Ean glared at it while pointing a finger.