And the mind-link dropped, making Daku ball a fist and slap it against the floor as he laughed in joyful relief. The room was tense and eager as they watched the corners of his beak curl into a smile. Wiping his beak and cheeks from tear flowing hilarity, with a furry wrist, he said “Cage is gone and needs to rest, but he is most assuredly fighting tooth and nail to escape. I expect he will speak again, but wishes to pass along a message to all who doubted his return and says you are to kiss his ass.”
Megdline dropped into the sofa while Zikon released his silencing spell when the warlock’s three lovers hugged each other and shouted for joy, dancing around one another. Rena cried and ran up to hug Daku and barely got her arms around his thick neck. Sean shouted “I will tell everyone Dad’s alive! Chief Moril will want to hear this.” and ran out the door.
“Hold, Hatching.” Theresa said. “I will take you.” And Daku saw the elder dragon disappear from the opening with the cub holding her horn spikes.
In his ear Daku heard Rena sniffle “Dad’s alive?” she asked beyond hope and missing him like everyone else.
“Yes, Cub. Your dad is my partner for a good reason. We succeed where others have not. He is the first to ever contact out of The Deep. In my million years, none ever reached that point. I didn’t have the heart to tell him he won’t be able to Jump out, as he is exhausted, but from my ancestors’ memories, the worst is yet to come, but with his magic he will get out.”
“Looks like I need to ready and pucker up.” Megdline said. “You were right husband. I should have had more faith.”
Zikon grinned and fingered his staff. “The Deep was meant for the worst criminals to have ever lived. It wasn’t established to handle the likes of that boy. And rarely are the criminals allowed to carry their gems to ward off danger. The imbedded black diamonds surely have saved him several times by now. I’ll be sure to record you kissing our grandson’s ass and display it all over Twilight.”
Tohka laughed twice as hard at Megdline sticking her tongue out at her mate and it was contagious. Frill last said “I told you not to underestimate that battle mad warlock, Partner. Now look what you must look forward to?”
“If he manages to make it out, I will kiss both cheeks!” Megdline cackled.
Cage meanwhile held on, controlling his breathing as he knew would effectively recover the fastest. Shaking had stopped, but numbness made holding on more perilous, but reaching someone on the outside made him grin. It meant there was more that could be done and he could afford to really speed things up.
Deep breaths aided recovery, ridding the magic blocking air from his body by the fresh around him. Numbness turned to pain and when he regained control Cage focused inwards. The drugging effect lingered, but the mana did respond and began a complete body scan, starting first at his thigh. He sensed the makeup of the scar and the scar tissue all around the femoral artery along with the lingering thread that hadn’t dissolved, as it wasn’t designed to, but the glue had done its job and had properly been dissolved and absorbed.
Dim blue light appeared beneath the skin as Cage worked the stitching out and parted muscle, blood vessels and skin. As tiny ends started sticking out he used his fingers to pull it out the rest of the way, bringing out a drop or two of blood. Muscles had reconnected somewhat, but surgery was needed to fix some of the tissues and two nerves that had scar tissue. Once the inner workings were running properly then began work on removing the cauterizing burn marks. The dead skin flaked off and beneath grew healthy pink skin.
It was slow working and what would have taken no more than a minute, took twenty. It told that recovery will be longer than expected, not like Floranna smoke. After the leg was returned to optimal function began searching for recent anomalies and since leaving the island he had picked up four microscopic parasites, two pathogens and a tiny egg lodged in his upper intestine. Cage suspected the pathogens came from the glowing moss, parasites from the water he had to drink before diving and the egg must have been from an eel when he accidently must have sipped the lake water. A simple thought broke down and destroyed everything before compromising his health.
After fully cleansing and fixing his body, Cage finally conjured an inch wide orb in his palm. It was as big as he could forcibly make it, but it was better than tiny sparks. He wove the spell to consume a week’s worth of mana so as to retain shape and brightness without needing to focus constantly and added a sticking spell before placing it on his left shoulder. It held. And it didn’t tire him in the least, showing his mana strength hadn’t waned and didn’t require to start over as when he first arrived on Raliea.
The climb up was easy thanks to the ancient ladder that hadn’t deteriorated from the ravages of time. He had to rely more on his hands and upper body as his legs were still overwhelmed. Hand over hand he climbed, his magical light brighter than any torch or lantern. Two hundred and nine bars later they ended and led to a ledge.
The ledge was made of smooth rock, twenty feet long, ten deep and went nowhere. It was made to be a place of rest and nothing more. Cage pulled himself over, dripping with sweat and limber as a wet noodle. He rolled to his back and sprawled out before chuckling. He then closed his eyes and went to recover when there came the sound of wings beating, many wings.
Cage sat up and at the fringes of his light he saw hundreds of silent, featherless birds that would have gone unnoticed if his hearing wasn’t augmented. The birds had spear-like beaks and tiny beady eyes with bat-like ears. Each was about two feet long with double the wingspan and long legs were angling three sharp talons. Cage decided they either thought he was prey, intruding on their territory or both. Nevertheless, they were coming in a silent swarm.
His current use of magic remained limited so he linked with the diamond which controlled barriers and activated it and bound it to another which would regulate output depending to the attack incoming. Just incase these unknown creatures were resistant to magic, Like Daku, he stood and took a defensive stance, ready to kill these odd, naked birds.
Just as Cage moved to break a bird’s neck, it slammed beak first into the barrier completely surrounding him. Then the next killed itself till hundreds uselessly shrieked and tried finding a way in. An inch from any way he could reach, his barrier held them at bay with the ease of an adult blocking a baby’s efforts, barely using anything at all to maintain. Those that collided and died were cannibalized and their once strong silence was now deafening. A simple mental touch found the silencing ward and attached it to the barrier to be gifted with blissful silence. The amount of stored mana could hold their attacks back for two and a half years uninterrupted.
When it was clear they wouldn’t be able to get in anytime soon he laid down and brought out some food and water. With his magic restored, the water was purified from where it had been gathered back at the second puzzle. A putrid marble was extracted and flicked in the eye of a rather obnoxious bird pecking and clawing right in front of him.
While he replenished his body’s needs he started to wonder why these featherless birds still had eyes in the perpetual darkness. The only answer was they must go somewhere there is light as they had evolved those large ears to hunt in complete darkness too. The only reason it took them so long to attack was they had likely been far away when they heard the tunnel collapse and came right for him when they spotted the orb. It was the only explanation since the crabs and eels were blinded completely and evolved underground where no light ever reached. These birds still knew light and that meant a way out.
Attacks lessened, but didn’t end over the next few hours. Aching limbs were back to normal and the food really made a difference. The induced silence started to annoy, but every passing moment made him able to access more power. He could now create fireballs and the conjured black swords from fingertips.
“Good enough.” He said as he was able to teleport a canteen from one hand to the next without focusing hard enough to blow a vein. He put everything away and calmed his mind, picturing his island f
rom outside the pillars. Heart drumming in anticipation to return, magic began to flow, his eyes opened and blackness started swirling.
Then disintegrated.
“Sonofabitch!” he cursed in one breath. He tried three more times before sitting comfortably and latched onto the mind-link. “Daku, you there?”
“Always.” The griffin spoke and Cage could sense his partner’s happiness to speak again.
“Then maybe you can tell me how to get out. I’ve recovered enough to teleport and I’ve succeeded sending a canteen over a short distance, but I cannot manage to go to the island. Do you know what I’m doing wrong?”
Daku mentally sighed. “What do you know of The Deep?”
“Other than I’ve passed a room full of golems, dropped down and into a lake full of blind eels larger than I’ve ever imagined, glided through a valley of strong wind and ran for everything I had to climb a ladder and get attacked right now by a bunch of featherless birds… not much, why?”
“You chose the deadliest route!” Daku mentally shouted in surprise. “The Deep is riddled with thousands of passages that would have led you to the cleansing cavern, where you were able to reclaim your gifts. Cage, you took the nearest route which was the trap of all traps! If you had gone six miles from the right of where you first exited you would have only needed to swim through a forest of needle sharp stone and fought against Zeether snakes and climb a rock wall for a week to follow a tunnel before running two miles to reach the cleansing cavern. You’ve defeated the most treacherous gauntlet devised by the dragons. I tried contacting you and tried leading you to the griffin pass, but such was impossible with your power blocked. Gralla will be pissed as she was the designer of it and you defeated her.” Daku then gave a mental chuckle. “The Deep was made before my hatching, but you know my kind has genetic memory, memories passed down from each parent over thousands of generations. The greatest memories I have are against the Tiaxm as the imprinted memories were severe. The Deep’s creation was also a minor memory I can recall from my ancestors. It was designed by the dragons, griffins, sorcerer’s, Tiaxm before their unchangeable condition and another race that had gone extinct. It was originally made around forty million years ago for the worst criminals on the planet.
“What you must know is it was made using billions of sentient casters, human, dragon and Tiaxm alike and the wards are powered by the planet itself. There is no possible way to Jump out Cage. You can teleport around to where you’ve been, but out is out of the question. Where you are is halfway, if my memories can be trusted after so long. I will help where I can because you are the first to reach that area where you can reconnect with your power. Never has anyone gotten so far, but I must warn you that greater danger lays ahead.”
“Sweet!” Cage said and chuckled. “I didn’t have as much fun without my magic, but this place is like a party for me. I’m having a blast down here!”
“As I imagine, but if only I could share the fun with you. Alas it is impossible, but I will be your guide as best I can. You should know that a great spell was cast on all living beings when The Deep was truly sealed. It stripped the memory of the exit down to the genetic memory I possess so I do not know where you will leave from.
“The reason it was stripped is the exit hides the warlock, griffin and dragon Stronghold where the nexus was once made and destroyed during the hundred year war against the Tiaxm.” Daku dropped the bomb of all bombs. “Just because I know what you will face doesn’t mean I can come to you. Magics both impenetrable and subtle hide the Stronghold, making me furious I cannot dig my way down to you. It was permanently sealed from the outside after the nexus finally collapsed.”
“Alright, where do I go and what am I to face?”
“There will be dozens of tunnels like an anthill, winding all around, but they will all lead you to the Stronghold. You will face more of the featherless birds you spoke of, but they are nothing more than a nuisance, but whatever you do, do not lower your barrier or they will rip you to shreds.”
“Got it.” Cage already knew they were relentless buzzards.
“Good. Now when you decide on a path you must fly till you see a single hanging ice sickle. Land beneath it and jump forward before it drops. The ground up to that point hides spikes through illusions and breaks through magic, same with the ice sickle. Keep the barrier up, but walk till you find a dragon’s handprint and break it with your bare hands until you hear what sounds like a tree groaning. Magic will spring a trap I dare no consider mentioning. Only then can you fly again till you reach a lush valley. Otherwise you will be caught in magical webbing, unable to move or free yourself till your dying breath. There you must avoid at all costs a great tree.” Daku emphasized. “It is like the golems you fought past, but will react to the faintest magic, even the wards you cannot sense. Even if you strip your wards completely and walk and the birds somehow leave you be, the tree blocks a single hole a mile up made of gemstone. One touch will burn through you, body and spirit. Your only chance is to fly fast and accurate around the tree and get into the tunnel somehow before it grabs you.”
“What happens after the tree?”
“Contact me then. It will take a day or two to make it that far and I must speak with Rex Gralla on how to make you survive the last two challenges.” Survive, not win, Cage read between the lines on the warning. “But before we cease speaking, would you like to hear what has occurred in your absence.”
“I was just about to suggest the same thing.” Cage mused.
Daku began quickly thinking. Not surprisingly, Moril had won her way to chieftain of the Utala with Rin being her last opponent. She won by submission, choking the man unconscious between her powerful thighs. Apparently Zanza and Rin’s other mates teased him constantly about it for never had he lost to powerful thighs, especially theirs. Rena had taken well to the role as priestess, But Brooke was allowed to always sit in on conversations, helping her daughter choose the right ways. Moril and the elders were also helping. Sean had taken down his first wolf alone when he was working on his moves. Using his knife to hamstring it before slicing its throat. Consequently Sean had officially proven himself a man in the eyes of the Utala and earned his first hunters’ bead. Apparently Meeka had screamed when he returned inside bloody, dragging the wolf inside by a paw, completely stunned at what happened. Tohka and Meeka learned the blood wasn’t his. And it happened last week. And jealously from the other, older boys started thinking Sean wasn’t worthy of his bead, but Sean personally kicked six asses at the same time, not knowing Elder Shania witnessed it all and let it happen. Later the old woman told the boys if they had worked half as hard as Sean they too would get their beads. Also Sean, now a man, was told he could now offer mating challenges to any unmated woman, but declined saying he didn’t see girls that way yet and he was too busy besides. Apparently it resulted in a tribe-wide laugh.
Zikon had also informed Daku as an explanation for how Raul wasn’t taken care of. Apparently Raul was a spy for the Laqura Empire. He had secretly been sending reports for over a century, trying to destabilize Twilight from the inside. For the past year Zikon’s private aids had been finding the one responsible for information leaks only the Magical Council had discussed, often being thwarted. They had found the method, but not the culprit, plugging the leak eight months ago and trying to locate the actual traitor. It wasn’t until Cage arrived at Twilight with Daku did Raul and his Familiar start missing mandatory meetings. Without his presence and no more leaks going to the empire, Zikon knew Raul was responsible and for five days there was a manhunt that failed before Raul struck and was then pulped by Daku.
The dragons though spent every night, for six hours, with Meeka, Tohka and Brooke, asking thousands of questions while constantly being observed magically so as to understand just how Tohka suddenly became an unbreakable spirit mate when hers had died before meeting. The girls were tired after the third week of questions, but bared with it, trying to emulate a dragon’s endless patience. A
nd Cage was glad when Daku told him he sat in on all conversations to watch over the three beauties and make sure nothing was stepped over bounds.
Just before they stopped speaking mentally did Daku also tell how he punched Gralla in the face two weeks ago when she brought up for the third time where Daku would prefer to be entombed when Cage will fail. He apparently knocked her senseless in front of the four soldier dragons who didn’t raise a claw. He then told her to never underestimate his partner and he wasn’t going to ever die.
An hour before Cage initiated second contact did she voice her wrongness, when she learned of Cage’s being the first to get so far in The Deep.
Cage couldn’t wait to hear how she would react when she learned he defeated the dragon’s gauntlet.
“Well, better get off the ledge.” He told himself and looked at the still struggling birds. “You guys need a better hobby!” he laughed.
Raising a hand he focused on finding a way out. A bright white nub rose from his palm and became a string, almost like a glowing worm. It began leaning and growing to the side. As the magic expanded in an ever expanding bubble, the seeker thread translated it visually. Cage watched as he saw the ledge he stood on grow smaller as the light grew to reveal the canyon he couldn’t see on the opposite side, even without the birds obscuring the view. The canyon was beyond immense, making Cage wonder how it could be so, this deep underground without collapsing and sinking the surface. The canyon was actually starting to look circular, surrounding a mountain, with billions of jagged rocks. But one section blew into the mountain and Cage knew without a doubt is where it led to that twisting air current room he defeated. Four other passages led back into the mountain. Revealing many domes and tunnels crisscrossing around. The threads of light continued to shrink as more information was collected. Cage even noticed the single tunnel where he was teleported and where everything began. Waterways were also added, showing how everything flowed.
Ascension of the Warlock (Book 4 of the Death Incarnate Saga) Page 35
