Within the Ice

by LaPolla, C. J.

  In his dreams Devyn relived every single moment within the glacier over and over again. The horror of watching the men he traveled here with slaughtered one by one replayed in his mind. The sounds of Eskor’s death stood out for a long time in his neverending nightmare. Devyn had never seen Eskor die, but his screams echoed in his mind as the Maeliz tortured him. The screams he let out made it seem like the Maeliz enjoyed his pain. No matter where he went in his dreams, the echo of Eskor’s screams followed. When it came to Dorm’s death he could not withhold the tears from falling, he relived his decapitation a thousand times over. No matter how hard Devyn tried, he could not manage to wake himself from the terrible nightmares that wracked his sleep.

  It took a major jolt from the outside world to break him of his restless sleep. A hand slammed across his mouth and shook him violently.

  “Shhh. You make far too much noise. Something is coming from down below.” Graen said in a whisper as if nothing strange had happened to him before Devyn fell asleep.

  Eying him suspiciously Devyn remained quiet. Graen was dead and now he was up and moving as if the event never occurred. Legends of Aelaar spoke of their invulnerability and their ability to heal, but the legends he had grown up with never spoke of rising from the dead. There were so many questions that he knew he could not ask at this moment. They both slowly crawled their way to the ledge that overlooked a large cavern, their new position allowed them a commanding view of the entire space. For the first time since their escape, Devyn could take in his surroundings finally being unclouded from exhaustion. It was not hard to realize that this was not a natural opening. It was carved by purposeful hands with rooms built into the walls and a strange altar standing at the very center. The strange blue light still persisted over everything making the entire cavern visible, the bright blue streaks revealed a small city of frigid buildings. His attention from the strange cavern and the light was swiftly broken at the sounds of approaching footsteps.

  Six large Maeliz, deformed and terrible, shambled into the room. Their gray, heavily wrinkled skin and arms which curved inward and outward at odd angles terrified him. Their dead, milky white eyes clearly visible even at this distance. At first glance, those eyes would seem blank and dead, but now with more time to stare at them he saw they were full of intelligence and malice. These were nothing like the blue skinned creatures that Eldgrim had called minions of the Maeliz. These were creatures of intelligence. They walked with purpose around the altar and Devyn looked into Graen’s eyes begging for an explanation. It was clear that Graen had as little knowledge as to what was occurring as he did as he only frowned and shook his head.

  They took six positions around the altar, merely standing, wavering slightly as their decrepit bodies seemed incapable of remaining perfectly still. There was silence for a long time before the soft padding of steps could be heard coming from further down the cavern that Graen and Devyn could not see.

  When they finally did see what approached they wished they hadn’t. A large black beast, which stood in stark contrast to the whites and grays of the cavern, walked on all fours into view. Its head was large with thick course black hairs lightly covering dark, scaly skin. Protruding from its gigantic head were four yellow and black fangs as long as Devyn’s forearm and its back arched up slightly in the middle with black bony spikes running down its back. Its legs were powerful and seemed more like hands than paws, each hand possessed razer sharp claws. As its back arched down towards its back legs, a heavy looking tail with a large clump of course black fur protruded behind it. The final feature Devyn caught were its eyes, like the Maeliz, these were not the golden eyes of a beast but the eyes of a terrifyingly intelligent creature. It moved with slow, unhurried purpose towards the center of the Maeliz. Moving much like a cat waking up from a long nap.

  It stopped when it stood on the altar and sat on his hind legs moving its gaze to each Maeliz individually. When it spoke, Devyn’s mind raced at every word and his inner voice screamed at him to flee. He fought back the urge to run terrified into the caves as the creature’s deep and clear voice spoke in a language he did not know. A language that he was sure no human could speak. The Maeliz began to raise their crooked and deformed arms into the air and their bodies began to slowly sway from side to side. A low hum of a strange guttural language rose up from them, and Devyn felt it made them much more terrifying now that they had a language. A mindless creature that kills for food to live is one thing, but an intelligent creature which seemed to take joy in the pain of others was much more terrible.

  The black beast made a guttural call and the Maeliz fell silent. Its yell could have been nothing but a command and immediately the sounds of something from the far side of the cavern could be heard. Devyn’s ears perked up as he heard sounds that were coming from deeper in the cavern that sounded remarkably like a human whimper. Who could they have? Devyn could do nothing, he had long since exited the world that he could manipulate in any way, and with this unknown supposed ally at his side he felt even more like a child. At long last Graen released his grip over his mouth, obviously feeling satisfied Devyn would not call out, they both watched intently as a blood covered human, leaving a trail of red behind him, was dragged onto the altar before the black beast. The bloody mess that was once a man reached up in a pathetic manner with its right arm, the only appendage that remained to it. The arm quivered and shook as it reached at nothing in particular and shot back when it glanced off of the creatures black chest. The lump, which was once a man, rolled over and pure horror filled Devyn, it was Eskor who laid there. The beast had not killed him as he presumed. They only tortured and dismembered him and now he would bare witness to whatever horror he was to face. Graen could see the look in Devyn’s eyes as he put an arm on his shoulder and he did not believe it was to comfort him but to stop him from charging to try to save his friend. Devyn was no fool though, Eskor was long dead and even if he managed to survive, he would never recover from what these creatures had done to him.

  The black beast cupped Eskor’s crimson colored face and looked him in the eyes. Even from this distance Devyn could see Eskor’s eyes widen. Deep and smooth the black creature’s voice rang out in the guttural, unknown language speaking to Eskor who merely stared in fear. What remained of his legs and arm flexed and moved as he tried to escape so desperately. The deep voice of the beast continued for a long time as the Maeliz watched the scene completely still. It brought its massive head close to his and inhaled so deeply and loudly that it echoed through the cavern. A white mist was pulled from Eskor and into the beast’s mouth. Eskor convulsed wildly but remained in the monster’s hand. After many long terrible moments it stopped and Eskor’s body went limp. The black beast tossed the husk of Eskor aside and spoke clearly in the common tongue of Isiir.

  “I, Azarah, command you to feast.”

  Graen let out a slight gasp. Devyn knew he knew what this thing was and it terrified him. The Maeliz broke rank immediately, Eskor was still alive when they began to eat him, but he did not even cry out. There was nothing but a smear of his life’s blood remaining on the ice in a matter of seconds.

  The conference of monsters ended and the Maeliz and Azarah walked from the room leaving a stunned Devyn and Graen staring at the blood stains and enduring the memory of it all.

  They remained silent for a long time and Devyn finally broke the silence. “What demon was that?”

  Graen was still pale from the experience but spoke with a distant look in his eye. “I did not want to believe it was true.” His eyes drifted from Devyn to the wall but it was evident that he was focusing on neither of them.

  Devyn waited for him to continue a long time before he shook his shoulder softly. Graen started and for the first time Devyn saw focus in his eyes.

  “What was that thing?” Devyn asked again a bit slower this time.

  “Improper to start a story of such magnitude without proper introductions. I am Graen. Aelaar of Qui, student of Berosus of the line of Tha
las. And you?”

  “Devyn Lande, without any long titles. But I wanted to thank you for saving me back there.”

  Graen gave him a weak smile and continued. “Eldgrim had caused enough pain to your people. Every misfortune you all have faced in the past days has mostly been a cause of him and I. We Aelaar are a curse to you humans. No matter how hard we try to leave you untouched by our presence it always fails. The more we try, the worse it gets.”

  “Eldgrim caused the glacier?” Devyn asked stupidly.

  Graen gave him an odd look. “No… No. But he manipulated events to cause your people to come here. You were useful to him. Eldgrim is not our greatest concern though, Devyn. Our greatest concern is the black beast, Azarah. I am very old, I have walked Isiir for over one thousand years. That creature below us roamed this world when the wars between the Elder Aelaar and the great Colossi warred across the land. That was long before your race and at the early stages of my own which means he walked upon this land for over two hundred of my own life times. Azarah is one of the Jataka, the beast Aelaar. It was believed that all of them were wiped out. We were wrong. Your kind believes us to be gods, I will tell you Devyn, we are not. We are no different than any of you we just live much longer and are driven by different desires and needs. With that we also make mistakes, and my forefathers made one of the biggest mistakes of our existence.”

  Devyn listened intently as the story teller stopped and listened to something in the distance. Once he was satisfied that it was nothing of importance he continued.

  “Our stories tell of the battles against the Colossi, their outcomes were not going well for they were many and the Aelaar were few. We, Aelaar, had not yet mastered the methods of turning a mortal being into one of us and thus the experimentation began. There weren’t many worthy forms such as yourselves at that time, so the Elders experimented on the animals of the world. Most did not survive, those that did, were granted our power from the purest sources in existence. The Elder Aelaar. Their animal minds were unable to maintain calm with the new found power they were given, most turned on their masters or simply ran away. Azarah must have been one of these creatures, I could see some of his life in a vision I saw when I arrived here. He battled the Colossi and eventually escaped to live his own life. He must have escaped into the wilderness and eventually ended up on one of the great glaciers that connect and retract from our world.”

  Devyn looked down towards the ground and considered what he was saying. This was unlike the legends and myths of old that every child in Isiir heard and enjoyed over the fire. This was a legend and myth that was more than a story, for the centerpiece of this story had just exited the room beneath him and caused the death of a man he called friend.

  “What about the other creatures? What are they?” Devyn asked regardless of the fact he truly did not wish to know the answer for it would most likely make the entire situation more dire.

  Graen sighed again. “The blue skinned creatures are nothing more than beings from different ages unfortunate enough to fall victim to transformation either by the Maeliz or by another of the minions. We call them the minions of the Maeliz, they are relatively harmless in low numbers. One can be killed easily enough by separating its head from its body. The Maeliz are quite a different story.”

  Devyn screwed up his face digging for any memory of the Maeliz of the thousands of stories he heard as a child or during his time on war campaigns. Stories of the Aelaar danced across his vision of the battles of Qui and Bregidonnon and their struggles between the mighty Colossi. But he drew a complete blank when it came to this horrible race Graen referred to as the Maeliz.

  “There were two races of beings alive when the world began. The great worms who ground the hard rocks into the surface of the world you know today and the Maeliz. You witnessed some of the small species of worm on the bridge you ran across. Those little bastards are what created all of this.” He said with a flourish all around. “Well perhaps not this as this is a glacier made of ice, but all of what you used to know on land. Those are only the small cousins to what we call the great worms. They exist still, but are very few and are so large you could traverse one for hours before you realized it was alive.”

  Graen paused his story, he craned his neck out over the ledge looking out over the now empty cavern. What is he looking for?

  “The Maeliz. They truly do deserve their own attention. The Maeliz are an ancient race who were formed at the very start of our world and no one knows why. But they are full of malice and hate and enjoy nothing but to cause pain to living beings. They are not quite alive and they are not quite dead and no one knows if they can truly be killed. To be honest, you have had more encounters with them than I have. They rarely venture beyond the shadowy places of the world and I only know of them through stories of my teacher.” Graen’s voice slowly faded as he reached the end of his tale and he tilted his head towards the cavern below. “We have to go down there.”

  “We?”

  “You cannot escape this place without me. Since you need me, you are to accompany me.”

  A deep exhalation left Devyn’s lips. “This cave is destined to be my grave then. Very well, what is it we’re searching for?” Devyn conceded.

  “We’ll know it when it’s in front of us.” Graen responded cryptically.

  The walls underneath them were jagged and Graen easily found a foothold with each step. This would be considered a stroke of luck were they not about to walk into the den of a monster. Graen carefully placed each foot onto the lower level and made sure to have a secure grip with his hands. Once Graen was a safe distance away, Devyn lowered himself onto the footholds below trying his best to mimic every movement he watched Graen take. His hands slipped multiple times and he almost plummeted towards the ground. It was unlikely to kill him but he was sure the noise would surely call attention to their approach. He concentrated more fiercely on each movement and both before long were safely on the ground.

  A slight gasp escaped Devyn’s lips as he took in his surroundings, the cavern was much larger than he originally had thought. The more Devyn focused on the distant walls of the cave, the more spires and domes he could find nestled into the icy confines of the cavern. Graen sniffed into the air, changing the direction he faced multiple times. He moved slowly through the ice spires which contained small tunnels that led into different dwelling type areas. These were not dwellings that Devyn would recognize but they were clearly homes of a sort. He shivered at the thought of a group of those blue skinned minions cramming their bodies into these small domiciles, a turbulent sea of wild limbs and gnashing teeth.

  He diverted his gaze from those small openings in the hundreds of ice spires throughout the cavern. The only sound was the occasional drip of water and the soft pad of both of their feet. Graen had mastered the art of silence much better than Devyn had ever considered doing himself and he let out a cringe with every footfall. Graen’s eyes remained shut as his arms reached out in a slow methodical pattern and touched each ice spire or wall he came across. Devyn let out a slight huff at the slow walk of Graen and he looked around in all directions attempting to discern where he was leading them. They finally stopped towards the back of the cave where a large almost dome-like ice building stood. It was very dark within as the blue light emanating from the ice did not venture into the small passage. Claw marks from the creation of this passage could clearly be seen in the ice and Devyn backed away slowly.

  “It is there.” Graen pointed into the dark passage.

  “What is in there?”

  “Don’t know. I need you to climb in and find out. Grab whatever it is and we can escape.”

  Devyn tilted his head with wide eyes at Graen. “You want me to go into there?”

  A muscle in Graen’s jaw tightened and his words were more strained than before. “We are not leaving without this item.”

  A familiar voice broke the tension of the moment. “You are not leaving with the item. I will.” A much different
Eldgrim approached them with his vicious blade drawn. No longer did he appear spotless in his tan leather armor, it was torn and covered in thick black spots of blood. “Now, be a good little dog and go fetch for your master.”

  Graen drew his blade and turned his head to Devyn. “Go, please, now. Get the artifact and escape even if I fall. Head south to my master Borosus, once you have the item he will find you.”

  Devyn backed away from the approaching Eldgrim and towards the small passage with a shutter in his chest. He dove into the hole as the first sound of the blades meeting sounded. The loud sound bounced around the chamber and each subsequent clash danced off the ceiling. Devyn had to drop onto his belly to enter the passage and scurried on elbows and knees into the darkness. The grooves of the claw marks in the passage dug painfully into his forearms and he could not shake the image of those same marks tearing into his flesh. He breathed heavily by the time he entered the dimly lit main chamber. It was enough to make out the shapes in the room and in the center of the room was an altar that held a square object.

  Devyn pushed off of the ground and stood up approaching the small altar. It was a book, he realized after running his hand along the hardened leather case. It was roughly bound and held a metal insignia on the front. It creaked softly as he opened it but it was difficult to read in the low light. He had to tug forcefully as it had long frozen to its resting place but after two pulls the ice cracked and the book came free.