“It won’t be long now,” Josh said to the large wolfkin beside him wearing a large gray cloak.
“Today we sow the fate of Emerilia,” Bob said, his voice deep and filled with melancholy.
“I hope they stay safe.” Josh sighed, filled with the exhaustion and weight of responsibility upon his shoulders.
“I think they’ll be okay.” Bob gave Josh a reassuring pat.
***
Dave looked to the rest of the forces that they had rallied together to break into Dark’s hall.
All of Party Zero was there: Deia, Malsour, Induca, Suzy, Jung Lee, Steve, Gurren, Lox, and himself. With them, was the Lady of Air, Fire, and Lord of Water.
The teleport pad in front of them activated. They headed through the event horizon, leaving Terra and entering Ecora.
“Seems it’s changed a bit.” Deia looked through the city. Here it was late afternoon, with people winding down for the day. Far from Markolm, there was a relaxed air to the place.
Deia led the way through Ecora, seeing people talking to one another about their days and their troubles, reminiscing about good times, laughing, having food and drink or just going home to their loved ones.
The city was more packed than ever, but in the spirit of Emerilians, they had come together to once again fight the creatures they shared their land with.
Party Zero and their companions walked through the city, taking in these sights, smiling to themselves as if they were looking at a painting but not being a part of it. They reached the gate and steeled themselves for what was to come.
“Whoa there, nobody is allowed out of the gates without permission of the mayor and a protection detail,” one of the guards near the gate said, noticing the group.
Deia pulled out a medallion and tossed it to the guard.
He caught it. A look of confusion turned to one of shock as flames curled around Deia.
“Ah, air travel, no need for that,” Dave said.
A spell formation appeared around the group, glowing with gray light, imprinting onto the soil below.
One moment, they stood in front of the gate; the next, they were in the midst of a forest.
All gods and goddesses could teleport, so since Dave had become the Earth Lord, it allowed him to use his teleportation skill with the AI ignoring him even though it was him or his constructs doing it and not Jackie.
It also would allow him to use more powerful spells, without tripping the Jukal AIs.
“Show-off,” Fire said.
Dave chuckled and scratched the side of his head awkwardly, not denying anything.
Water had an amused look on his face as Air ascended into the heavens.
“Not far to go,” Air said.
“I ho, I ho, it’s off to work I go!” Steve started before a massive shovel was conjured in Gurren’s hand, making a satisfying noise as it connected with Steve’s armored head.
“What was that for?” Steve complained.
“You were singing.” Gurren shrugged.
“You just did it for no reason!” Steve argued.
“You think we’ll ever go on a trip with them and it’ll be quiet?” Induca asked.
“Nope,” Malsour replied but smiled slightly. Lox, Gurren, and Steve argued about something with the occasional noise of a shovel smacking Steve’s head as he tried to do something ridiculous.
“Aren’t we supposed to be all stealthy and James Bondy?” Steve asked.
Dong!
“Sorry. Hand slipped.” Lox destroyed the conjured shovel and looked to Gurren. “This is good fun.”
“I know, right? Nothing quite so satisfying. Wonder why it’s taken us so long to come up with it.” Gurren sighed as if thinking of all the lost opportunities to smack Steve’s head.
It wasn’t long before the forest started to thin out and mountains of the Densaou Ring of Fire could be seen in the distance.
The group was letting a bit of their aura leak out, keeping the animals and creatures in the area at bay.
Air moved her hands and pointed to the ground. A boat made of air appeared, with stairs leading up to it.
The others looked to her.
“What? I’m the goddess of Air. You think I want to walk everywhere? It would destroy my shoes.” She looked at them as if they were being unreasonable, her shoulders almost around her ears as she complained.
“Thank you, little sis.” In a burst of flames, Fire moved from where she was to the flying ship.
“Very nice, riding in style,” Steve said as the rest of the group got up on the boat.
They pushed off and headed for the mountain at speed, weaving between the trees that were becoming more and more sparse. The green and rich forest fell away as the ground turned black and then red as magma flows could be seen here and there.
Air’s ship descended lower and lower until it was just barely above the ground. No one spoke as the air whipped over them, their Mana barriers stopping it from slamming them straight on. They reached the edge of the mountains and turned south, heading toward the way point.
Dave cast his Touch of the Land spell. Now he could use his full strength and his remote orbs, stretching out over an area of nearly fifty kilometers in every direction.
He made a way point outside of the different traps. His mind worked overtime as he used his spell to build a three-dimensional model of the traps that the Dark Lord had laid down and shared them with Shard, Jeeves, and Steve.
Between the four of them, they worked out the best route with what the group had.
Dave altered the way point a bit as they rose over the smoking and bubbling magma.
Suddenly, a chill ran through everyone as a thick aura of Dark Mana ran through them. Only Malsour felt strength flooding through him.
Air’s boat came to a stop. The different parts of it disintegrated as the floor lowered them down to the ground gently before it, too, dissipated.
“All right everyone, remember, seal off your Mana—only use it if you absolutely need to. No floating, levitating, or anything that consumes Mana,” Deia said.
Air sighed as she pulled out a pair of sneakers from her bag of holding, sitting down on a chair of air to change them.
“She has shoes for everything,” Fire said, used to her sister’s odd ways.
Once Air was done, Deia turned toward their next way point. “Let’s get running.”
The group set off toward their next way point. It was nearly night by the time they reached it. Without needing to say anything, Water pulled out a miner; with his time on the ice planet, he was the one with the greatest knowledge of mining among them. Especially when it came to working with automated miners.
The miner activated and started to dig its path through the Densaou Ring of Fire’s mountains.
They fell into the same routine as they’d had when breaking into the Earth Lord’s hall. The miner would circumvent or get close to a trap, stopping to allow one of the group to move up and deactivate it before they continued forward.
***
As Party Zero and their group continued forward, the battle continued to rage above Heval on Markolm. The Dark Lord watched as the Alturarans continued to fall from the sky.
He laughed to himself. “The angels used to come down from their island to try to kill our forces before, but now they are the prey below for the Alturarans.”
“It will be only a matter of time till they are destroyed and you can cut off that witch’s head,” Boran-al said.
“Oh, killing her would be too easy. I will cut her off from her divine wells to let her come to know an existence worse than death. She will beg and rave for the end before you and all of my Dark Champions are done with her.”
“Master, your benevolence knows no bounds.” Boran-al kowtowed to him, his normally aloof look now turning emotional.
The Dark Lord smiled with approval at Boran-al’s actions. “I could at any time destroy her forces and then take her, but it would take all the joy out of it.” The Dar
k Lord held out his hand to the side; a glass appeared with a smoking liquid that seemed to be moving inside.
If one was to look close, they would see a person’s face on the liquid. This was not a drink but rather tortured souls, a bare imprint of the person who the energy had been ripped from.
Dark drank from the glass. A number of the souls within the glass were devoured by him as he continued to sit on his throne in the middle of the black storm clouds above Markolm. With but a wave of his hand, black lightning would descend or pillars of Dark light would make Markolm shudder.
This was the power of a god.
He frowned as an alert appeared in front of him. It told him that one of the traps around his hall had picked up something, but it had activated and there was now nothing left.
Dark dismissed it. No one had ever made it to his hall since he had been alive. Traps went off here and there, but it was nothing to worry about.
***
“That was a close one,” Steve said as the shields he, Gurren, Lox, and Dave had been holding up smoked. They’d only barely had time to raise their shields and direct them toward the trap they’d accidentally activated.
It was a dissolving spell; it ejected a black miasma that melted through everything it touched.
The four dropped their shields, making sure not to touch the smoking liquid eating their shields. Most of the liquid had fallen on the ground, making holes that disappeared into the depths of Emerilia.
The group was fine but they all looked to the miner. Large sections of it had been melted apart, revealing open sections of soul gem and runic lining that lay inside.
“Well, good thing I have a few backups. However, getting around this will be a pain.” Water frowned.
They ambled forward with a bag of holding, getting the old miner into it.
Water pulled out the second one and they continued on their path.
They had a few more close calls but thankfully they were able to disable them before they activated.
“Okay, from here to the room where the divine wells are held, there’s nearly five hundred meters of rock in the way. However, we can’t pick through it. It’s too close together so we’re going to be using the disposable mining lasers. Then Fire, Deia, and Induca will burn through the rest with Jung Lee’s help. Malsour and I will stabilize the tunnel and make it so we don’t melt from the heat,” Dave said.
They had now been mining through the Densaou Ring of Fire for two days. They’d had to backtrack a few times as they’d come across lava flows and other obstacles that they couldn’t cross.
Now, finally they were ready to make the last push. In this last rush, they would be betting everything. Everyone had solemn faces, ready for what was next.
They knew that the Dark Lord would sense them as well as all of the traps that were in their way. Steve, Gurren, Lox, and Air would be working to create shields and barriers to protect the rest of the group from the activating traps they would hit as they burned their way into Dark’s hall.
Once they were within the hall, they didn’t know what to expect. The Dark aura and the Mana in the hall was too thick for Dave to fully see through. As they got closer, he was able to get a better idea of where things were; however, it was like a rough sketch that was covered by fog. With one Touch of the Land spell, things might look completely different from the next Touch of the Land spell.
Everyone moved into position: Jung Lee at the front; Deia, Induca, and Fire behind him; Dave, Water, and Malsour making up the third layer; with Air, Steve, Lox, and Gurren taking up the rear.
Dave, Gurren, Lox, and Steve all held orbs in their hands, ready to activate them in a moment’s notice.
“Ready!” Deia called out to them all.
“Ready!” the others yelled back.
“Forward!” Deia’s voice set them into motion as everything changed within a split second.
The orbs rushed around the group, each covering a different direction as more and more orbs were thrown out, creating a net of them around the group.
The spirits within Jung Lee raced through his body. Gray smoke radiated from him as his eyes turned silver, and gray Mana turned into a drill in front of his sword. Jung Lee’s drill passed through the stone ahead with barely any resistance. Unleashing his full speed, he shot forward and let out a yell as power surged through his body. His muscles bulged as blood rushed through his body.
Induca and Deia funneled power into Fire, who unleashed her full power for the first time in centuries.
The traps around them all started to activate upon feeling the power coming from their bodies.
Dave pulled heat from the melted walls, cooling them almost instantly so they weren’t burned as they rushed past. Malsour made supports as Water assisted in regulating the heat and guiding those up front; with his knowledge, he was in charge of this part of the operation.
The activated traps surged with power; explosions rocked the tunnel and the group as they rushed forward, crossing tens of meters in but a moment, not pausing their charge for anything. Steve, Lox, Air, and Gurren glowed with power; Air used her own abilities while the others used the shield orbs to deflect power away and protect the others.
Here and there, orbs cracked under the power backlash from the traps, but there were tens of them in the tunnel. Two others would take up their place with ease as more orbs were thrown out by the group.
“You dare attack my hall!” Dark’s voice reached them. His power locked onto them as they crossed the three-hundred-meter mark.
Fire grunted and her hair whipped around wildly; the walls evaporated under her power as Jung Lee and the group’s speed surged once again.
More and more traps were activated and a number of creatures that patrolled the area around Dark’s hall tried to attack. Air snorted and waved her hand, cleaving a number of these creatures apart before they could reach the tunnels. Dave was inwardly shocked at the power she displayed with that light wave of her hand.
The rock cleared away and a dark, obsidian-like surface was ahead of them. Jung Lee circulated his power even more as Fire, Deia, and Induca channeled a spell together. A pillar of flame appeared ahead of Jung Lee. It smashed through the material ahead, melting them apart in mid-air as the pillar shot through the room. Pain-screams could be heard as the pillar killed and wounded those inside.
Jung Lee retracted his power into his sword and body once again, turning into a gray blur as he rushed to meet the creatures inside. The hole in front of him opened up; rocks and metal shot out in every direction as the rest of the party followed.
They had entered what looked like a treasury. A black fog hovered over everything. There were faces on the walls of people in pain, as well as torture tools and blood stains.
Dave didn’t hesitate. Using the orbs, he teleported them all within Dark’s hall.
Instantly, they all felt their power being suppressed now that they had entered the domain of the Dark Lord. They appeared in the midst of twisted and mangled creatures. However broken they looked, the aura that swept over the group made them feel a cold chill.
Fire let out a low growl. Flames appeared across her body as a staff of solidified flames appeared in her hands. Induca and Malsour immediately changed into their dragon forms, unleashing their breaths, scouring those in the near area. Gurren, Lox, and Steve pulled out or conjured their weapons and leapt into battle.
Deia’s bow appeared. Runes and spell formations appeared around her as her fingers flashed over her bow’s controls. Arrow after arrow left red streaks in the air. Each of them hit a vital spot, causing the creatures to cry out in pain or flop down to never rise again.
Water created a trident of water; he stabbed forward streams of water and cut all of those down in his path. His long hair whipped around his head crazily, a smile on his face.
Air pulled out what looked like a recorder. None of the group could hear anything but the creatures that were attacking them bowed their heads in pain, a dozen of them d
ying from their hesitation.
Dave closed his eyes and spread out his senses, looking for the divine wells. A moment later, they snapped open. He made to teleport again but found something stopping him.
“You want to stop me with your spell formations and Magical Circuits!” Dave snarled and smashed his fist into the floor.
His cloak fluttered with power as his gray runic lines turned silver. His eyes opened; silver, like liquid mercury, covered his eyes until they were turned completely silver. His armor pulsated with power as his armbands started to shake and move.
A screen appeared in front of his face.
“Hah! Break for me!” Dave yelled, accepting the box in front of him.
Across the Dark Lord’s hall, runes flashed with incredible power. Dave drove the power of his armor, as well as that of his party and their stored-up vault soul gems.
The power raged through the Dark Lord’s hall. The dark smoke that covered the hall dissipated in a moment and the creatures inside grew weaker, their auras declining as Dave and his group felt their full power return to them.
They increased their efforts, killing more and more of the creatures as Dave put down a way point to the main hall that was above them.
The Dark Lord’s hall shook and shuddered, taking away the Magical Circuits and formations that weaved through the entirety of the Dark Lord’s hall that had weakened it.
Suddenly, a massive wave of pressure overcame them all.
The Dark Lord had arrived.
***
“The attack on the Dark Lord’s hall has begun. All forces, ready flight drives!” Josh barked.
“Time I went to work,” Bob said. A silver aura came from him as he seemed to step into the air onto a black plate that appeared under his feet. He shot forward toward Markolm, his cloak fluttering behind him.
Josh’s heart shuddered at the bit of power that Bob had accidentally leaked out.
He looked toward Markolm as the forces of the Terra Alliances moved forward. Sixteen flying citadels moved in formation as the mountains of Gorlei, Donsk, and Zolu shook. Massive trap doors opened and slid out of the way as the mountain cannons of the dwarves were revealed.
The Pantheon Moves Page 32
