by Wolfe Locke
The power disappeared in the air as if it had never been there at all. Then the dead started to rise in its wake.
It started with the rattle of bone on bone, a sound that John dreaded. He watched as the undead bodies began to form, jumping over each other to recreate the forms that they had taken in life.
Skeletons began to assemble from the mass of bones until John was surrounded by the undead. There had to be at least twenty of them. They stood watching John and gradually the eye sockets of their skulls began to fill with a bright green light.
They turned those eyes toward John now and began ambling toward him. He stood rooted to the spot, unaware for a moment that he was no longer forced to stay in place. He retrieved his other axe from his side and raised them. He would have preferred to have his back to a wall against so many, but they surrounded him, cutting off all of the viable paths forward.
The only thing to John’s back was the torch. It burned with it’s pure light and the slight heat that it gave off was like a caress to his skin.
There has to be some way out of this. There always had been before, even though the path did not always seem clear. I just need to figure it out. I need to do something. They were drawing closer. The clattering of their bones on the floor echoed through the room.
The undead were not something to trifle with. I need to be careful. Undead possessed a strength that they never had in life. Hordes of undead had been known to plow through entire companies of hardened soldiers, ripping them limb from limb and sending their bodies flying. It was never good to underestimate any opponent. I won’t make that mistake twice.
Although John had never encountered this many undead at a time, he knew the stories. Unlike many who believed them to just be fables, he took them seriously. That was why John had survived so long where others had not. Over the years he had learned which sources to trust and which to disregard.
Chapter 16: Light the Beacon
* * *
When it came to the monsters of the world, John had always followed a particular rule on the subject. Never believe the young and untested. Don't follow some fool on a doomed quest for glory. Listen to the ones, the hardened veterans, the survivors with their haunted eyes. Learn what they know and follow them. Most of all, stay alive.
John knew without needing to pull from the things he'd learned over his life that his situation was dangerous and dire. But really, what can I do? It's not like all of the old-timers had any advice for a situation like this. One piece of advice came to him. When you're up against a crowd, use that to your advantage. Numbers don't matter much if you can funnel them.
Light the braziers John and be on your way to the next floor. This is a challenge unworthy of you.
Maybe so. He looked around, trying to assess the situation. The undead were legion, and they were everywhere. Dark sockets that glowed with eldritch energies glared back at him and slowly approached. I won't be able to get through all of them with the torch to light up each individual brazier.
They move slowly now, but they have only just been called from the Great Empty. The longer this undeath lasts, the faster they will move. You do not have long.
So maybe I need to take them head-on before I run out of time. John knew he had to use any advantage he could find to survive.
As the undead drew closer, John saw he had another advantage. The ring of light cast by the Everburning torch in his hand might not have stretched far, only a foot or so in every direction, but it did have an effect, and John was within the area of that effect.
It had happened when one of the undead had gotten close enough to feel the sting of the torch. John had been about to lash out with his axe. He saw the skeleton hit the light and stop abruptly, like it had come up against some kind of barrier. A barrier that made its bones smoke. It had a secondary effect. A consequence. The flame wavered. So much for Everburning.
Although his body was on edge and everything within him was screaming to attack before the skeleton got the chance to tear him apart, John hesitated. I need to know. He let the undead get closer until enough of them came up against that barrier. The flame wavered again, but seemed to hold steady.
I’m not sure if it’s a holy object or not, but it seems to keep the undead away. So long as I don’t overuse it, I should be ok.
That’s the puzzle, then. John had to use this torch to light the braziers while trying to make sure the undead didn’t overwhelm him. And while keeping the flame strong.
It was not as simple as it seemed. As he had seen, the halo of the Everburning torch only extended so far. Even if John took it and held it directly overhead so that he had a circle of protection around himself, he would have to lower it to light the braziers once he got to them, and at that moment, the undead would attack.
He would have to go about this delicately. Carefully, John grabbed the torch from its stand and held it above him.
The movement sent the undead into a frenzy. Snapping teeth gnashed together in grim chorus. It was like nothing John had never heard before. Skeletons ran towards him, throwing themselves against the barrier and striking it with their weapons. The flame dimmed noticeably.
Each strike at the barrier nearly knocked him over and John found himself scrambling to hold on tight lest the Everburning torch be forced out of his hands by the undead and more than once was forced to knock the undead away.
How am I going to manage this? There were so many of them, and they kept throwing themselves at him. The undead don’t tire, but I do. The only thing that was keeping John from an untimely and gruesome death was the light of the torch.
The glowing green eyes of the undead bore into him like daggers to his chest. They were all around him, closing in. Those glowing eyes hungry and waiting for a moment of weakness to devour him.
John felt a moment of panic. His palms started to sweat. His grip on the Everburning torch lessened and the flame diminished. No. Don’t give up. Keep moving forward. Take the next step.
John Younger had dealt with monsters and horrors. He had beheld gods, both heinous and righteous. He would get through this as he had gotten through everything else. With his skills and his will to keep moving forward. To him, the undead were nothing.
If the skeletons wanted to come at him, then he would do so in kind.
If the light of the Everburning torch was like anathema to the undead, then it was time to use it.
Sometimes the only way out is through. This you will learn. A time to do and do well.
So, John attacked. He thrust a thrice blessed axe through the flame of the torch and pulled it out. Suddenly it illuminated the weapon with the holy flame. This will work. He attacked; each swing a vicious haymaker of all the force within him. Every undead that was on the receiving end of his attack went flying away in an explosion of bones as the enchanted weapon made quick work of them.
Even if the undead were capable of thought, it was unlikely anyone, any of the adventurers who had made it this far had even decided to go on the offensive. First time for everything.
John used that moment of violence to dash to the first brazier. The undead that came between him and the brazier met a similar fate thanks to his makeshift mace of purity. Before those that still stood could register and react to what was happening, the first brazier was burning once more and with it, the Everburning torch blazed brighter too.
With the resurgent power, John held the torch high, re-centering the protective bubble on himself as he held the thrice blessed axe steady in his other hand.
Around him, what undead he had knocked down and thought he’d destroyed stirred. The scattered bones coming together to reform into animated skeletons. They did not come streaking back at him. Not at first. They simply watched him.
Although they could show no expression, a crimson aura glowed. John knew they had become enraged and empowered. I might be the first one to even try a
ttacking them. Has anyone else made it past them?
The ordinary people who made it this far were likely no match for this small army of undead. But John was not an ordinary person. There was a pause in the action as John looked on, ready for the undead to lunge at him. Finally, the tension that had been hanging in the air broke, and the undead rushed him once more.
He allowed that first wave of skeletons to smash into his barrier, the muscles of his arms straining to keep the torch directly overhead while attacking with his thrice blessed axe to keep them at bay.
One of the undead crashing into him from behind, and John went sprawling. He only barely kept hold of the torch, though with his leg exposed, one of the undead raked him with a bony claw. John kicked it away and scrambled to his feet.
It planned that. John realized. That one had waited, anticipating that John would try the same tactic again. It had come at him when his back was exposed.
John didn’t get as far as he wanted to, but the pain he had expected after the undead had slipped through his guard didn’t come. In its place was a dull warmth on his hand. He glanced down to see that the Ring of Temperance was glowing, though the metal band seemed to have lost some of its shine.
John offered a silent prayer to that fragment of a god and got back to his feet before the undead knew what was happening, before they realized he was unharmed. I can’t assume they’re unintelligent. That ring will only save me so many times.
He reached the second brazier and lit it before they could regroup once more. John breathed easier seeing the flame flare back to life.
In response, the undead roared. An otherworldly sound of the realm of the dead. They rushed him again, a sea of bones crashing against his impenetrable barrier. They threw themselves at him with the reckless abandon that only the dead had.
John waved the torch through the air, striking bones and sending them flying to the far corners of the room. This time, he was careful to watch his back and he sent the same skeleton from before, now reformed, sprawling with the rest in a heavy attack with the flaming thrice blessed axe.
I can do this.
Chapter 17: What Was Lost
* * *
The undead surged forward, but John was relentless. Wielding the Everburning torch in one hand, and the axe in the other, he made quick work of the undead. John used the item’s magical properties to repel and harm the undead.
Each time one of the skeletons was hit with an attack bearing the holy attribute of the flames from the Everburning torch the undead would burst apart into fragments of bone. They never stayed that way for long. Almost as soon as they were scattered, the bones began the process of reforming again. But there was a brief window of time where they were immobile. Just piles of undulating, reforming bones. A moment I can use.
John exploited that small window to light the third brazier. His determination fueled his tired muscles as he scattered enough of the horde to give himself a moment to breathe and the space to move. He quickly placed the torch into the brazier. A fire started up with a whoosh.
Now, with half of the braziers burning once more, the cold air dissipated. The burning flames dramatically increased the heat in the room. Sweat began to run down John’s face as he continued to exert himself against the undead horde.
The room was now brightly illuminated. There were no more dark corners for the undead to hide in. No more could any of the monsters lurk and wait for an opening. It was just him, and the horde. Each laid bare and revealed a struggle against life and death.
Once again, the undead rushed him, the crimson aura about them increased in intensity. For a moment, John felt a sensation of dread pass through him. I need to be careful.
Like he had many times before, John raised the Everburning torch and used the holy barrier to repel the dead and push them back, not wanting to get surrounded again. John braced himself as he headed towards the fourth brazier. But the undead changed. Instead of rushing him on the ground as they had been before, several of the skeletons were launched into the air, propelled by the force of some of the others.
The undead smashed into the highest point of the holy shield cast by the Everburning torch. Though John had used it as a physical barrier while he smashed the undead, it now became his undoing. The weight of each skeletal that crashed into the shield caused him to further lose his balance, until finally the torch was sent careening sideways, falling uselessly to one side of the room. John was left exposed, and the torch was dangerously low.
Before he could right himself, the undead were upon him.
Only John’s reflexes saved him. After dropping the Everburning torch he pulled out his other thrice blessed axe in one fluid motion. He met the undead that now charged at him, bony hands outstretched as the teeth of grinning skulls clattered.
Against the entire horde, John’s thrice blessed axes without the enchantment from the torch and enough of them had been temporarily turned to bones after knocking the Everburning torch away from him that he had a chance.
As has been said, sometimes the only way out is through. Shatter that which is not hallow. Break that which is not divine. Carve thine path through the darkness.
That’s exactly what I’ll do. John thought as he slashed and struck. Each blow sending shards of bone flying. Every shard laid still where it landed to never again reform. John was a flurry of movements as he moved among the undead, taking down the skeletons with his thrice blessed axes and moving on towards brazier. The power that imbued the sharpened blades was anathema to them.
Over and over, he struck, shrugging off the few blows the undead landed on him. His resilience added by the Ring of Temperance. I should have tried this from the beginning. This is what the voice hinted at.
John smashed the last skeleton that was in his way and retrieved the Everburning torch. It barely held a flame, but all he needed was a little. Using the gap that now lay before him, he walked through the shattered bones, and lit the fourth brazier. Unlike before, the torch was not completely renewed. John’s heart sank. It didn’t work. The flame on his thrice blessed axes went out.
Although he had managed to fell some of the undead permanently, there were still many of the skeletons to contend with. He had cleared away about a third of them.
Only two of the braziers are left. John moved, keeping the torch as closed to his body as he could. I won’t make the same mistake again. Soon, he stood in the center of the room, right where the torch had originally been. The two dormant braziers stood to each side of him. He had a clear line of sight to both. It was as if the undead were daring him to try and light them.
The stand that the torch had originally been in was still there. John used it now, placing the torch back so that he could free up his hands while still being protected.
Using one of his thrice blessed axes he cut a portion of his tunic into strips and began wrapping it around one of his arms.
He sheathed his axes and once more grabbed the torch. I really hope this is going to work.
John took the Everburning torch and held the little bit of fire to the cloth that he had tied to his arm. As he suspected, it was not as hot as normal fire, but it still burned. His Ring of Temperance flashed but kept him safe as the fire spread to his arm. He had worried that it might take on the quality of normal fire once it was separated from the torch, but it was the same.
The fire burned on him, but he nor his clothing burned. Though the protection of the flames now extended to him, he did not know for how long the fire would last, or for how long the Ring of Temperance would keep him safe.
Long enough. Long enough if you do not tarry. Once the braziers are all lit, the undead, and the torch will no longer be a concern. The others are waiting.
Here’s hoping my aim is true then.
John threw the Everburning torch in an arch through the air. In the moments that it sailed, the undead did not move. They simply tracked that beacon of light, unsur
e of what was happening. Then, it landed on the fifth brazier, and up it went in flames.
Seeing that it had worked, John took off running toward the sixth and last brazier, holding his burning arm out in front of him as he passed through the undead. Those skeletons that stood in his way were not batted aside by the holy light from before but instead immolated in flames, rapidly turning to bone dust as he left their burning bones in his wake.
The burning fire was barely felt by John. It was more of a sensation of warmth then pain, though the closer he got to the brazier, the less light shone from the Ring of Temperance. The sensation of warmth gradually gave way to pain, but John endured with his goal in sight, until finally, he thrust his arm into the last brazier, illuminating it.
The undead roared a terrible scream and collapsed into a pile of bones as the fire went out on his body. John roared back, into the void and into the darkness, screaming in defiance at the dead and their god.
John’s arm ached. He looked down and saw it was burnt, though not severely. The Ring of Temperance snapped and fell to the ground.
You have squandered my gift. The gift of a goddess and thus have lost my favor.
Petty. How petty. In front of him, the gate slowly lifted and revealed the path forward. I‘ll make it without you.
