by G. Akella
Vill hung in the air, looking quite alive, but plenty weary and agitated. The god’s mantle was crumpled in several places, his lips were tightened as thin as they could go, and two deep wrinkles ran across his forehead, lending the impression as if he had just been torn away from some important matter. Like preparing a good defense for his dissertation. Or maybe planning another campaign against Karn.
"He is dead. This is just a stored message from him," I reminded a very quiet and tense Linara. But then, Vill looked around and stopped his eyes squarely on me.
"You have no idea, demon, how sick and tired I am of pursuing you," the god said wearily. "I still can't believe that I had to quarrel with Urgot and move this temple to the Underside because of you. Thankfully, you could not escape coming here, and now that you have arrived, our game comes to an end. You are tired of its ludicrous rules just as I am, aren't you?" Vill looked around again, as if trying to find something. With a melancholy smile, he continued. "Sadly, death in the game is irreversible. It even saddens me, demon, that we will never meet again. You were an interesting opponent. And now farewell... Roman."
With a clap, the image of Vill disappeared. The ground beneath my feet shuddered and filled with a network of deep cracks as the air grew heavy with the stench of decay. Splinters of stones bounced out from the sides of the square.
Attention! The first wave (1/2) of undead will arrive in 15 seconds...
14...
13...
The platform began to shake more violently, its stones moving apart and down, into the earth. Eight symmetrical sections sank below the others, and then the rest of the square shattered as huge skeletons in tattered rags of gray began climbing onto the surface.
12...
Transformed Guardians of Kangrib. Level 540, with eight billion HP each. Hell of a day...
11...
"Poison Rain! Quickly!" I shouted to Linara, who was still zoned out, then Jumped into the center of the quaking square. "Focus on me! Once you cast it, run for the gate! All I need is a couple of drops!"
10...
9...
"But..." the girl uttered helplessly, looking in horror at the undead climbing out of the ground.
8...
"Do what I say!" I roared, praying to all the gods that the girl would come to her senses.
7...
"OK..." Linara threw her hands up obediently.
6...
5...
4…
The air above the platform darkened.
3...
2...
The cloud above released its threads of green. The first of its drops spilled onto the stones around me, and Linara charged for the gate, interrupting her casting. Good girl...
1...
The twenty-foot-tall skeletons silently raised their monstrous scythes...
Fury of Primordial Chaos! I escaped the blow with a roll as a blaze of multicolored flashes filled the air, like fireworks. Forty four million poison damage, multiplied tenfold by Chaos! That translated to a mere nineteen seconds of dancing amid these clumsy oafs. So let's dance, bitches!
Their scythes cut into the stone, shaking up the square yet again. Their eight skulls turned towards me in unison. Dispersion! Infernal Rage!
I shifted away from the gate to avoid hitting Linara, dodged a scythe flashing on my right, and blocked another blow with a shield. Then, a powerful force hurled me onto the slabs. Pain exploded through my chest, but I jumped up, shield in front, and... It was over. In one fourth the time I had calculated. My AoE could score crits?! The eight massive figures burst into flames, and suddenly only puddles, dirt, and pieces of colorful ice remained in the square. The fireworks had ended as quickly they had begun.
You have gained a level!
Current level: 451.
You have 1 talent point to allocate.
Class bonus: +1 to intellect; +1 to spirit.
You have 3 stat points to allocate.
You have gained a level!
…
You have gained a level!
Current level: 453.
You have 3 talent points to allocate.
Class bonus: +1 to intellect; +1 to spirit.
You have 9 stat points to allocate.
Attention! The second wave (2/2) of undead will arrive in 120 seconds...
The blood was still pounding in my ears, but my health was already full. I returned to my starting place, and at that moment the square shook so hard it almost knocked me off my feet. Rotten water splashed in my face, and chunks of ice flew up from the ground. Crap! My AoE was on cooldown! Three minutes. I’d have to run circles around the undead for three whole minutes until it reset.
That moment, a jet of dirty gray smoke emerged from where the spike had receded into the ground. About fifteen feet above the ground, it ran into an invisible barrier and rushed back down, covering everything in sight. I Jumped towards the gate and, gritting my teeth in pain, watched the whole square fill with the gray smoke. After five seconds, it had reached the edge, beyond which it magically went no further.
"Krian, are you a god?"
"What?" I whirled around and stared blankly at Linara, who had flown to my side.
"Those undead," her voice was strangely listless, "they were at least as strong as the Guardians of Cenaria."
Linara was in a state of cognitive dissonance. That was bad. This was the kind of situation where being distracted got you killed. I could yell at the girl, of course, or toss some water on her, but...
"I explained that dungeons are for players," I explained, trying to make my voice convincing. "Things here aren’t like on the outside. They’re much simpler. You saw that even projections of gods can appear in dungeons, if the story requires. So you shouldn’t believe everything you see. Of course, help from a god would be very handy right about now, you’re right about that."
"But the Guardians-"
"The Guardians could have torn me apart in less than a second." I nodded at the fog thickening in the square. "Now something else is about to happen. Here’s what we’ll do: you call Poison Rain when I say, and then run the opposite way. I’ll turn my 'fireworks' on again, and all the bad guys will die. All clear?"
Linara nodded as I breathed a sigh of relief. I wondered what would have happened if I hadn’t unlocked my Chaos branch? I would be dead, that was certain, at least.
The mist formed a giant flat cylinder fifteen feet above the ground. I stood a few yards away, not knowing what else to do. Nothing clever came to mind. I hated situations where you had virtually no time to think. Did the "open" descriptor of this dungeon mean that disavowed could leave it? Why was the entrance to the main building still covered by film? Had Vill been forced to build this trap in strict adherence to the game rules? How then did these creatures have a level so much greater than this zone should allow?
When twenty seconds remained before the second wave, the fog disappeared, revealing a giant gray creature. It looked like a cross between a hedgehog and a crab, but its name, level and HP were all hidden. About fifteen feet tall, and with more than thirty feet between each of its powerful limbs. Unsurprisingly, it was gray, with spikes sticking out of its shell in all directions. Its two massive claws resembled those of a port loader. Next to this freak, Shiekata herself would have looked like a beauty queen. I would have to coax out every ounce of my speed and dexterity to survive.
"Remember, attack on my command. And try to stay away from that!" I reminded her just in case as I raised my shield and walked toward the beast.
I had to aggro the boss and avoid falling under his AoE. That, and Linara had to do her part.
As soon as the timer flashed its zeroes, the crab’s claws were enveloped with a green mist, and with a roared it scurried towards me, cracking the stones underneath it. I hurled a Spear of Chaos and prepared to Jump - just then the blue film behind me crumbled with a melodious chime. Two giant black spears crashed into the shell of the monster, each with a crunch, and the huge
crustacean carcass swelled and fell to dust. The scent of jasmine and lilies filled the air. I breathed a sigh of relief and looked with surprise at the figure appearing to my right.
"Hello, Krian," Celphata said as she lowered her hood in her familiar fashion. Her hair spilled out, a glistening black wave rushing onto her shoulders. "You said you could use the help, so here I am."
Wait. It’s that easy? I smirked.
"Hello, Celphata. In the world I come from, people are not happy to see Death come knocking. But here, you have no idea how thrilled I am to see you."
I nodded, then suddenly remembered Linara.
"I am not Death, only its lowly messenger," Celphata corrected. Noticing the concern on my face, she made a reassuring gesture.
"She is fine," the goddess explained, turning and nodding. "She has nothing to fear from me. This girl is special. She is just studying the wrong schools of magic."
I turned and sighed when I saw Linara’s expression. If you were ever to take your little sister to a big toy store, to the doll department, stand there for about five minutes, and then suggest she steal one of the dolls, you would see precisely what I saw then. A mix of fear and delight. Not that Alyona and I ever stole anything. Even if I made her think we did now and then. She had never let me forget that.
"Will you allow me to take the altar of this temple?" Celphata asked, unexpectedly.
I nodded. "Of course. But what need do you have of the altar of your enemy?"
"Enemies... friends..." the goddess said thoughtfully. "The New God has consumed Vill. You know this. But no one in Arkon has taken Vill’s place. That cannot be. The Great Balance is disrupted. The changes this has caused are not yet visible, but with time, they will prove catastrophic."
"And the altar..."
"The altar holds a particle of the essence of the Twice Cursed God, and with it, I may be able to prevent the coming catastrophe."
Not knowing what to say, I simply nodded in agreement. Then, the goddess came closer and peered into my eyes.
"I can sense that we will not meet again," she said with a measure of sadness. "Sometimes, premonitions can deceive anyone, even beings like myself, but just in case this one is right, farewell. And please accept this."
Celphata placed her hands on my shoulders, brought her face close, and kissed me. Her soft lips burned into my cheek.
You've earned an achievement: In Step with Death.
A death blow will end up dealing you zero damage. Cooldown: 1 month.
Your reputation has increased. All non-player characters who worship Celphata the Goddess of Death relate to you with respect.
"I hope that helps you, Dark One." The goddess pulled away and nodded, then re-donned her hood and headed for the main temple entrance. A few moments later, her silhouette evaporated.
I watched after her for a while, then sighed and rubbed my icy cheek with my hand. So I would never meet Celphata again. Everyone was in a hurry to say their final farewells to me. But why? Each of them was being so forthcoming... Did they really believe that they could tell me I was going to die and still be confident that I would see the matter to the end? Or was the System speaking through them? If so, why? Was it trying to make doubly, triply, quadruply sure that my course of action was an informed choice?
"She k-kissed you!" Linara’s stunned exclamation broke the silence hanging over the square and cleared my melancholic thoughts.
The girl floated in the air before me, her eyes shining as if I had just turned into the real Santa Claus. Or whatever they had in place of Santa here.
I feigned anxiety. "Just please don’t tell anyone, OK? I’m married..."
"Quit making fun of me!" she shouted in my face. "That was Death! Don’t you understand? Death kissed you, but you’re still alive!"
I repeated Celphata’s words. "Not Death, just its lowly messenger. And why should I die from a kiss? She's a woman, and I'm a man, so what of it? If you kissed me right now, should I expect to keel over?"
I was deliberately manipulating the girl - anger was a good cure for feelings of inadequacy. And I wasn’t in the greatest of moods, to be perfectly honest, so a little entertainment was just the thing.
Linara stared at me for a few more seconds, then closed her eyes and slowly shook her head.
"Sata give me strength to keep going without this demon driving me insane!"
Then she took a couple of deep breaths and opened her eyes again.
"Celphata’s a goddess! Why would a goddess ever kiss a demon? What does she see in you?!"
I feigned being insulted. "You’re forgetting my natural rugged good looks."
She frowned. "Of course I am! Goddesses don’t just go around kissing random men, no matter their rugged good looks!"
"Well, Vill spoke to me, too, and he didn’t kiss me."
Linara changed tactics at that. "Why do you keep making fun of me? We’re in the same party. Fighting on the same side. You said so yourself..."
I conceded with a gesture. "All right, all right. There was this time when I had a talk with a certain duke, and that prevented a war between Celphata and another god, Rakot. I was too ashamed to demand a reward, so I asked for a kiss. That worked out well, didn't it?"
Linara held her breath, peering carefully into my eyes, and exhaled.
"You’re not lying," she said quietly. "Well, you are lying, but not entirely. You didn’t ask her for anything. She kissed you on her own."
I winked at her. "Hey, you didn’t believe that at first. Now you know."
"I’m so confused. I... I don’t get it."
"I told you on our way here that those who come to this world often encounter gods when they’re on quests. That’s what happened to me. Now, tell me what’s wrong with your magic?"
That gave her a strange look in her eyes. "Huh? What’s wrong with it?"
"Didn’t you hear what Celphata said?"
She shook her head. "No, you were under a Veil of Silence. The god that showed up earlier - I didn’t hear what he said, either. I only knew he was Vill because you said so. I could not even sense any divine power within him."
"She said you’re learning the wrong magic," I said. "Apparently, Light and Nature are not your strengths. Perhaps that’s why using it costs you life?"
A silence hung over the platform for a couple of seconds, then Linara went deathly pale, shuddered and hung her head. My rage, as before, blocked the wave of extreme sadness.
"I... I’m not... Father and Tano Vilata both said it might be true..."
If Light and Nature hurt the girl, it meant she had a gift for dark magic. But there were no teachers of that school among her people. So they brought her up in what they knew, and she adjusted as best she could, healing others only at the expense of her own HP...
"Why the whining?" I snapped. "You should be happy!"
"Happy? Why would I be happy?" she objected between sobs.
"Do you realize that only Adherents of Darkness can survive being close to Celphata? High dark mages and necromancers. All of the rest perish immediately, but you’re alive. Doesn’t that suggest anything to you?"
"But... but you’re alive, too." As Linara spoke the words, her expression took on a sense of clarity.
"I’m a player. Those conditions don’t apply to me. In addition, I was fulfilling a quest given to me by Celphata. By the way, I have a temple to her in my princedom. Once we’re out of this, I can take you there, and you can ask your questions to the goddess directly. Don’t you think your people will need a Mistress of Darkness in the future?"
"But-"
"No time for buts! Let’s loot these corpses and keep moving," I nodded at the entrance to the main temple building, then made for the body of a nearby disavowed. "There'll be time for chit-chat later."
Linara caught up with me, flying nearby.
"We can talk while we loot and fly," she objected. I couldn’t argue with that. "What else did the goddess say about me?"
"'This girl is spec
ial. She is just studying the wrong schools of magic.'" I quoted Celphata, then realized immediately that I had made a terrible mistake.
Linara gasped in shock. "She said I’m special? You’re pulling my wing!"
Hart! Now why did I have to go saying that?
There were nineteen corpses in total, and nothing interesting on any of them. Still, I had to check - it was just a matter of course for me. My marauding had not once discomfited Linara. She flew beside me, literally showering me with questions about Celphata, necromancers, dark magic, and all other kinds of nonsense. At some point, her questions became rhetorical, and she began to answer them herself. I breathed a sigh of relief at being free to remain silent, and as I continued checking the corpses, I made sure to occasionally nod in agreement with her conclusions. Besides, the loot had turned into puddles of water, stones, and shards of colored ice, along with the eliminated mobs. This ice was actually quite rare and valuable, though. Would that I have brought some kind of massive dump truck to carry it all back. But what did I care if I was heading into the Flame soon, anyway? Don’t you start whining now! The familiar rage cleared my mind. I grinned and continued my looting ritual.
The buildings at the scene held nothing but mold, rats, and gorhies. Along with ruined furniture, tools, and other unremarkable household items. Strangely, I didn’t find any corpses. I had thought that most sentient beings would have preferred to take refuge under a roof in a situation of panic. But either these disavowed could no longer be classified as "sentient" at the time of their death, or their crazed superior had scattered their bodies about the square. There was no way of knowing, nor did I want to know.
The gorhies and rats scattered when I entered, or hid in the corners. They showed no aggression towards me, and so I did not kill any of them. What if these creatures, too, held a piece of the perished god within them?
