by N M Thorn
Gunz nodded. “Karma and I will try to take down as many mercenaries as we can quietly. But once they realize that they’re under attack, you need to step in. Both of you. Use your swords to bring them down for as long as you can. Try not to use your magic. Your fire energy signatures are too powerful, and it will alert that evil bitch as soon as you start using it. Keep in mind—this is not the real fight. These people are nothing but a decoy, a hurdle Demidova threw to slow us down and to make us use our magic to weaken us. So, try not overexerting yourselves. And we’ll join you as soon as we can.”
Mrak Delar, Karma and Gunz walked up the hill and took a position behind the shrubbery. Mrak channeled his power and with a light flick of his wrist, commanded the winds to stop. The winds ceased all at once and silence ascended upon the forest.
“Your Master of Power is amazing. Can I borrow him for my next job?” muttered Karma, staring into her scope. “Zane, do you see those few strays on the far left and right of the entrance? About ten on each side. You think they’ll be missed?”
“Mrak, the sound suppression please,” hissed Gunz, pressing the stock of his rifle against his shoulder.
He found his first target through the scope and held his breath, softly pressing the trigger. He felt the kickback but there was no characteristic barking sound of a gunshot. The first man silently fell with the others none the wiser. He noticed another man going down on the right side of the entrance and threw a quick glance at Karma. She was lying on the ground with her scope at her eye, searching for the next target.
They were able to take down quite a few mercenaries before the rest of them noticed that something was going on. Someone shouted something, and they all came to motion. Gunz sent a small amount of fire energy to Kal to attract his attention. Kal glanced at him and immediately vanished together with Semargl. A moment later, Gunz saw them both with flaming swords in their hands, unleashing their wrath at the mercenaries.
“I’ll keep the winds down, and you keep doing whatever it is you two were doing,” said Mrak Delar. “I need to help Kal and Semargl and block the entrance into the Mount. Do try not to shoot me.” He snapped his fingers and vanished.
A moment later Mrak Delar materialized between Kal and Semargl with a sword in his hand. His giant silhouette prominent against the gray surface of the mountain was making a perfect target. Through his scope, Gunz noticed a man, ready to take a shot at Mrak. Gunz cringed inwardly, thinking that a bullet could bring down Mrak Delar and even though the Ancient Master had the power to heal himself and others, he would be hurt and weakened. Gunz fixed on the man in his scope and pressed the trigger. The man yelped, throwing his arms up and fell.
Mrak Delar glanced over his shoulder in the direction of the hill and a dark smile crossed his face. The Ancient Master channeled more of his power and a magical energy field spiked around him. The mercenaries screamed as a powerful gust of wind slammed them against the mountain. A few of them managed to recover and rushed toward the entrance, but as soon as they attempted to enter the cave, they hit an invisible wall and were thrown back. Gunz didn’t have to guess what happened—Mrak Delar erected a power field, blocking the entrance.
The mercenaries realized that whoever attacked them weren’t just humans and resorted to their magic. Mrak Delar shouted a spell, blocking their magic and unfolded a second shield, pinning as many men as he could to the wall.
Kal and Semargl launched forward with flaming swords in their hands. More men came rushing from both sides to help those who were disabled by Mrak’s magic. Gunz could see the flashes of the gunshots, but there was no sound. Mrak took care of that too. It was like watching a terrifying silent movie.
With horror, Gunz thought that the Master of Power was using too much of his magic, draining himself. At least Kal and Semargl, cutting and slashing with their giant swords left and right, weren’t utilizing their full power. He saw a bullet catching Mrak Delar on his shoulder. The Master of Power staggered back but didn’t fall, keeping up his spells.
Gunz pressed the scope to his eyes, checking the area. He knew that soon all this was going to be over, but he needed to make sure that no one else could shoot Mrak Delar. He saw another man aiming at the Master and he didn’t give him a chance, silently taking him out.
Karma kept reloading her rifle, taking out one mercenary at the time. Kal channeled more of his elemental power, rising slightly above the ground. A powerful stream of fire erupted from his flaming sword, carrying death to anyone before him. Semargl laughed, adding his fire blast to Kal’s.
A few minutes later, it was all over. The small flat area between Mount Karasova and the lake was covered in dead bodies. Some of the corps were still burning and the suffocating stench of burnt flesh was polluting the air. Kal and Semargl lowered their swords. Mrak Delar released his magic and lowered himself to his knees, clutching his hand to his bleeding shoulder.
Gunz scanned the area with his Salamander’s sight and dropped his rifle on the ground. All the mercenaries were dead. They never had the opportunity to use their magic to defend themselves. Fighting against a Master of Power as wizards or even mages, they stood no chance. And with the added assault of the Fire Elemental and the god of Fire, it was all over for them before it started. The only negative side to all this was that the three of them still had to use a lot of magic and elemental powers. As much as he was trying to avoid it, Gunz was positive that Valeria Demidova knew about their arrival by now.
Gunz sighed and opened his fire portal.
“Karma, let’s go,” he said, watching her slowly rising.
She grabbed her sling bag, throwing it over her shoulder, but before she could come closer to the fire-curtain, Gunz stopped her. In one move he lifted her and walked through the portal with her in his arms.
They walked out next to Mrak Delar and Gunz lowered Karma carefully down. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she twisted and punched him in the shoulder. Gunz gasped and massaged his shoulder, snickering.
“Do it again and the next time—”
“And the next time you try to walk on your own through a Fire Salamander’s portal, you’ll die,” interjected Kal chuckling. “You should be kissing my son, girl, not punching him.”
“Kissing him? Ew!” A mix of disgust and fury reflected on Karma’s face. “He can dream about it! In his wet dreams!”
Mrak Delar laughed and immediately winced. “Okay, people, you need to give me a chance to heal before you can continue with this… Whatever it is…”—he twirled his hand—“amusing conversation."
He connected with the healing power of Earth, circulating it through the bleeding hole on his shoulder. A few seconds later, the bleeding stopped, and the wound closed up. Mrak Delar got up and flexed his shoulders.
“Still a little sore, but it’ll do. We should get moving,” he said, picking up his black sword from the ground and sheathing it in the black leather scabbard attached to his belt.
As they started to walk toward the entrance, the ground shook. Gunz stopped in his tracks, staring at the mountain in astonishment. Mount Karasova trembled and its outline became distorted, like he was looking at a photo with a computer glitch. A low rumbling sound erupted from the depth of the mountain, as if a giant beast was waking up and roaring, displeased by the intrusion of the morning light. The sound was so deep and so loud that there was no doubt, anyone could hear it within a few miles’ radius.
Mount Karasova shook again and a thick cloud of sand spread around it in all directions. The winds picked up, howling and bending the trees to the ground. They carried the sand far away from the mountain, clearing the air. A few seconds later, the mountain stilled, and the winds slowed down.
“It’s happening,” said Semargl. “We need to hurry.”
Gunz glanced at him. The mighty god of Fire looked troubled. Even more so, he could see the signs of fear on the Slavic deity’s hardened face. Quietly they passed through the threshold and walked into the belly of Mount Karasova.
Inside, the darkness was absolute. Gunz rubbed his eyes, trying to readjust his vision to no avail. It reminded him of the Dark Nav, and he shuddered inwardly. Mrak Delar opened his hand and a few glowing blue orbs manifested in his palm. He threw them high in the air and a shimmering blue light filled the cave.
The cave didn’t look like any caves he had ever seen before. It seemed that everything here was built out of sand, compressed by magic and time. His Salamander senses screamed, overwhelmed by the magical energy that was permeating from the walls of the cave. Gunz took a ragged breath, all of a sudden feeling weak and disoriented.
“What is all this magic?” he asked, fighting the dizziness.
“This is the magic that my brother Stribog used to create this mountain and keep anyone from entering it,” Semargl explained in a hushed voice. “We should keep moving. The farther we go from the entrance, the better we all will feel.”
Gunz surveyed the cave and found a single passage that was leading farther into the depth of the mountain. They followed the passage. It was just as dark as the cave and a musty smell seemed to be permanently embedded into the walls. The only light they had was produced by the shimmering orbs that Mrak conjured. As they moved farther away from the cave, the effect of Stribog’s magic started to fade away.
The passage was moving down, curving slightly to the left. Soon they saw a weak gray light at the far end of it. Gunz raised his hand, asking everyone to stop. He came closer to Mrak Delar.
“We don’t know what to expect,” he whispered. “How are you feeling? Can you conjure a shield? At least to cover yourself and Karma.”
The Ancient Master smirked. “I’m fine, Gunz. This wound was nothing to me. Don’t worry, I can protect us all. Let’s just keep moving.” He unfolded his power shield, covering all of them.
As they were nearing the end of the passage, a soft humming reached his ears. At the beginning, it reminded him of the soft buzzing of a beehive. But soon, it became louder, and now he could clearly hear the sound of human voices. They were chanting something—one continuous stream of words he couldn’t recognize.
“They started,” whispered Karma. For the first time, Gunz noticed the tones of fear in her voice. “Are we too late?”
“No,” replied Mrak Delar, “we’re perfectly on time.”
They reached the end of the passage and stopped. The passage opened up into a wide cave, generously lit by the light of torches. The cave was so tall that its ceiling seemed to be disappearing into nowhere. In the center of the cave, there was a massive stone monolith that looked like an ancient sacrificial table. Three hooded persons were standing around the monolith, chanting.
Surrounding them, there was a second circle of people, veiled by long gray cloaks from shoulders to toes. Their faces were concealed under ugly masks. Their hands were joined, and they were swaying from side to side in unison, also chanting.
One of the three cloaked figured turned around and Gunz recognized Agent Zvereva, a.k.a. Valeria Demidova. Her eyes were glowing with a poisonous yellow light. Dark veins were slithering across her cheeks and forehead, originating around her eyes.
She recognized him too and a predatory smile distorted her features, turning her face into a horrendous evil mask. She clapped her hands and at least twenty more people materialized in the cave. Their bodies were covered in strange armor that reminded him of medieval chainmail. Some of them had swords in their hands, but most of them were armed with magic. Their combined dark magical energy washed over Gunz and his stomach knotted.
Valeria Demidova cackled, the sound of her laughter more nauseating than the malignant magical energy she was exuding. She waved her hand in their direction and ordered, “You know the drill. Kill them all. Restrain those who can’t be killed. They cannot interrupt my work.” Then she turned around and continued chanting like nothing was going on around her.
All her men turned around at once and blasted them with their magic. Their spells impacted Mrak Delar’s shield with astounding strength. Mrak grunted but withheld the attack, channeling more of his power into his shield. The muscles on his arms and shoulders tensed and a pulsing blue vein popped up on his neck.
“I like what she said,” growled Gunz, pulling Kal and Semargl outside the protective shield. “Kill them all!”
All three of them connected to the elemental Fire at the same time and a wall of scorching flames rose around them. Gunz manifested his sword, channeling his power through it for better targeting. The evil army didn’t have time for the next attack when the fire reached their front row. They screamed in anguish, their long robes devoured by flames. A thick gray smoke rose in the air, making it hard to see what was going on around the stone monolith.
The others didn’t try to help them. They pushed screaming people aside, meeting the fire attack with their own magic. To Gunz’s surprise, they weren’t trying to defend themselves. Instead, they moved directly into the attack, striking them with the next set of spells.
“Praecidio Amnia,” shouted Gunz, raising his own shield of protective magic.
Kal laughed, the excitement of the fight setting his giant figure in flames, and a powerful wave of fire energy rushed through the cave, pushing the dark mages a few feet back. They regrouped fast, retaliating with a blast of water. Kal twirled in place, avoiding the stream of water.
“Ventus!” shouted Mrak Delar.
Gunz turned around to see the Master of Power standing right behind him, his eyes swirling with all the colors of the power, his obsidian hair surrounding his face like a dark cloud. A hurricane force wind slammed the rows of the dark mages, sending them flying across the cave. Gunz expected at least a few of them to hit the three hooded figures around the stone monolith, but it didn’t happen. Valeria Demidova and the other two were surrounded by some kind of a powerful magical shield.
“I’ll look into it,” shouted Semargl. Rising in the air, he started exploring the size and the strength of the shield surrounding the monolith.
Mrak Delar pulled his sword out and attacked the men who were still recovering after his air-strike. Gunz and Kal joined him. As Gunz swung his sword, decapitating one of the men, he heard the sound of a blade swooshing through the air somewhere behind him. He spun around and saw another mage, his face twisted into an angry scowl, lowering his sword at him. He ducked, knowing perfectly well that he was bound to get hurt.
The sword lowered on his shoulder. He cried out in pain, but luckily the wound wasn’t deep. In the last moment, the attacker’s grip failed, and his sword dropped on the floor. Another blade penetrated the man’s chest. He grabbed the blade with both hands, thick streams of blood, dripping from his mouth. He coughed, splattering the blood, and crashed forward, dead.
“I got your back, firetwat,” said Karma, pulling her blade out of the dead body.
“Thanks, now watch yours,” said Gunz. “I need to heal, and it’s about to get really hot here.”
He channeled his power allowing himself to revert into his natural state for a quick moment. Another wave of the fire energy rushed through the cave. Those mages, who managed to get back to their feet, got knocked out again and Kal, Karma and Mrak Delar finished them all.
The ground shook again, and an overwhelming surge of dark energy swept through the cave. For a moment, everything around got distorted into a computer glitch-like image. Demidova cackled and turned around, meeting Gunz’s deadpan gaze. She glanced around and stamped her foot, noticing that her main army was destroyed.
“I need a few more minutes,” she shouted at the men in cloaks. “Keep them busy.”
She turned back and continued chanting, seemingly ignoring the mayhem that unfolded outside her protective shield, as well as Semargl’s fire attacks from the air.
“I can’t break this protective shield!” shouted Semargl, sending a ray of undiluted power at the shield, but it didn’t budge.
The last circle of mages seemed to be a lot more powerful than the other group. Their comba
t magic was doing some damage. Gunz saw Karma catching an energy ball in her stomach, flying across the floor. Mrak Delar darted to her side to check if she was alive. While he was down, another mage hit him with a spell. Kal stepped in the way of the spell, covering Mrak Delar and Karma with his body. The energy ball didn’t hurt him, but still knocked him off his feet.
“Father!” yelled Gunz, spinning in place, his sword finding his next target.
“I’m fine.”
Gunz heard Kal’s voice and moved into offense. “Ventius,” he hissed, sending a couple of mages flying, while his sword went over his head and crashed down on his opponent.
“Aw, little Fire Salamander!” Gunz took his eyes off the remaining two attackers and saw Valeria Demidova staring at him, a cold smirk splitting her face. “I was expecting you to show up here today, so I prepared something especially for you, boy!” She hissed a spell, making a circular motion with her hand.
A ring of black flames burst out, surrounding him. Gunz spun around. It was fire, but it didn’t feel like his element. There was something dark and sinister about it. If it’s a fire, it should obey my command, thought Gunz. He reached with his hand toward it but halted in the last moment. Valeria Demidova was too smart. She would know that as a Fire Salamander, he could control the fire. Elemental Fire as a weapon was useless against him and she wouldn’t use it.
“Gunz, don’t move!” Kal’s voice was thick with fear. “Do not touch it.”
Gunz heard Kal growl as he got hit by an energy ball. “Mrak,” shouted the Great Salamander. “Take care of those remaining assholes while I help my son.”
“Father, what is this fire?” shouted Gunz, shifting back into the center of the circle.
“Gunz, I never told you this,” yelled Kal. “I thought you were still too young, and you didn’t need to know that. This is the Black Fire. The only fire that we as Fire Salamanders cannot control.”
