by Edward Brody
Mordok stepped to the table, placed his finger in a small pool of black liquid that had formed atop it and smelled his finger. He snarled and ran his finger across the table until it carried over several speckles of loose, white powder. He lifted his finger to his eyes and began to inspect it. “I’m certain that this is some sort of necromantic act.”
“Necrosyths?” I asked.
“Perhaps,” Mordok said.
“I’ve never heard of a necrosyth going this far,” Rithnar said. “It must be something else.”
Mordok shook his head. “I’m not sure…” His eyes scanned over the bodies. “This may be something in the name of Gilgaroth that we don’t understand. I feel certain that these are some of the children who were sacrificed to the ancient beast. Look at this one.” He pointed to a short stump where a child orc’s leg had been. “The blood of this one is still dripping. He hasn’t been here long…”
Rithnar gripped his axe tightly and clenched his teeth. “I cannot accept this.”
“Whatever is going on here, it does us no good staying,” Mordok said. “We have an objective and limited time. Let’s see what’s in the hallway.”
Rithnar growled in anger but agreed.
As we exited the horrifying room, I had the sinking sensation to just leave the Cataclysm right there. The desecrated children had been orcs, which technically made them monsters, but their humanoid appearance, and the fact that I had gotten to know two orcs on a closer level, made seeing such barbarism a bit traumatizing.
It was strange, I admitted to myself, that it bothered me so much, given the terrible things that I had seen and done in the Sands—to humans even. But that had been survival, conflict, and war. There was no good reason why the orcs’ young would be hacked and left to rot the way they had. Necromancy? But who? Why?
We weaved through the rock formations until we were at the hallway near the back of the room and started down it cautiously. Mordok took the lead as it was just big enough for us to fit through in single file.
The hallway only went on for about a hundred meters before ending, but at the end of the hall on the right side was a wooden door. Meticulously carved into the wood of the door were several runes which looked similar to the runes that I had seen on runestones throughout Eden’s Gate. Above the runes was a sloppy graffiti-like knife carving that read, “DEATH BELOW. DO NOT ENTER.”
There was no door handle, so when Mordok pressed on it, it easily swung open. Inside was a smaller hallway that sloped down at a dangerous angle and ran further than our eyes could see.
“This is it,” Mordok said. “It leads straight downward as the text describes. The Gilgaroth must be here.”
“Yes!” I cheered, slapping my hands together.
Rithnar tightened his fists and snarled.
Mordok turned to him and placed his hand on his shoulders. “Do you see? We didn’t waste our time.”
“And let’s not waste any further,” Rithnar said and took a step towards the hall.
“Wait,” Mordok said, placing his hand on Rithnar’s chest. “We do not know what to expect down here, but we must be prepared.”
“What do I do?” I asked.
“I’m not sure, myself,” Mordok said. “But once we’re sure the Gilgaroth is down here, we’ll place the shards somewhere nearby and flee.”
“How do we know the shards will work?” Rithnar asked.
Mordok shook his head. “I don’t know. There isn’t exactly an instructional archive to all of this. The main thing is to make sure we’re not attacked by the Gilgaroth as there’s no chance we’ll survive it. None of us could survive an attack from an ancient beast, much less the Gilgaroth.”
I grinned at the comment, knowing that I had almost survived an attack from a dragon on Dragon’s Crest with the help of my Liar’s Mask. If it hadn’t been for my fall into a Hydropodra’s nest, I may have done what he claimed I couldn’t. Still, I couldn’t disagree with his advice… The last thing we needed was an ancient beast attacking us, and if the Gilgaroth was half as strong as the dragons, our chance of survival was virtually nil.
“So, we enter quietly, locate the Gilgaroth, and leave quietly,” Rithnar said.
“Yes,” Mordok answered with a nod. “And always stay on guard. We have no idea if there is anything else down there. I might even be wrong, and this may not be the Gilgaroth’s seal.”
Rithnar growled and stepped close to Mordok. “It better be, or we’re done here. If this isn’t the seal, I will challenge Ergoth before it’s too late.”
Mordok just stared at him a moment but didn’t say anything back. He just turned and entered the hall.
The hallway was not tall enough that any of us could fully stand as we travelled down it. Each of us had to bend our knees halfway and press our hands against the ceiling to avoid bumping our heads. The slope was uncomfortably steep—steep enough that a slip could make you fall and slide, but gradual enough that you could just barely maintain your footing. The small, awkward steps made the trek down slow and tiring, and I imagined it would be even more cumbersome climbing back up out of the seal.
The door above suddenly closed on its own, and we all looked at each other, unsure what had caused it. No one called it into question, however, as we were in a cave, so it could have just been the wind forcing itself inside somehow. The sudden occurrence made me more uneasy than I already was.
We traveled down the hall at least ten or fifteen minutes before Mordok stopped as the hall ended and opened a few feet ahead of us. At the angle the hall was sloped, it was impossible to see what was ahead, but Mordok cautioned us again and reminded us to be on alert before moving forward.
We continued the last few feet and exited the hall one by one as quietly as possible.
I was left in awe as we entered a massive underground cavity bigger than any cave I had ever seen. It must have risen fifteen or more stories tall and was just as long and wide. There were a few random stalagmites rising from the ground, but most of them were broken. Huge rocks and rubble were strewn everywhere.
A low, gravelly moan echoed across the room.
Rithnar’s eyes went wide, and Mordok just placed his finger up to his lips.
My heart was racing, as I knew the loud sound had come from a huge creature. It was too throaty and deep to have come from anything less. Strangely, the moan sounded more desperate than dangerous, like whatever had made it was in pain. Even so, I still couldn’t help but wonder if I was once again going to walk into the jaws of an ancient beast.
We followed Mordok as he started around a tall boulder that was obstructing our view, and as we shuffled ahead, I noticed light flickering off one of the walls. We were all using Divine Sight to allow us to see in any darkness, but it was still possible to make out changes in light from things like fire and lanterns, and there was definitely a light source nearby.
Mordok seemed to notice it too and walked even slower as we began to walk around the corner of the boulder, but he stopped when he saw a torch had been hung on the corner of that same boulder. There was only a small flame dancing from it, as it was almost burnt out.
“Someone has been here recently…” Mordok muttered as he started to inspect the torch, but when he stepped closer, he caught something out of the corner of his eyes and immediately stepped back behind the boulder, a look of terror etched across his face.
“What is it?” Rithnar asked.
“It is here,” Mordok whispered. “The Gilgaroth is here.”
Rithnar reached for his axe, and Mordok raised his hand to him. “No, no, no… We must be subtle.” He started rummaging in his bag until he pulled out his infinite mana shard. He held the shard out and looked to me. “Now we must act.”
I reached into my unburdening bag until I found the shard that I had stolen and pulled it out as well. I held it out from me, looked to Mordok and nodded. “Ready.”
Mordok led the way again, cautiously creeping around the tall boulder. His body was incredibly t
ense as he got another look, but this time, he almost immediately relaxed after fully rounding the corner.
I followed him around the boulder and finally got a look at what had caused him a fright.
Across the enormous, hollowed out cavity were countless rocks and broken stalagmites, but right at the opposite wall was a mammoth creature that seemed to be pinned to the ground. Its head lay sideways on the floor and two horns, each bigger than a tractor trailer, rose straight from its head. Its eyes were slanted, two holes marked its nose, and its leathery mouth hung open, revealing rows of sharp yellowed teeth that were each bigger than me. Its face was covered in a thin, grey fur, and a long black hair hung from the side of its face, below leathery ears that ended with a point.
Its body was covered in a pile of rock and rubble that seemed to form a virtual mountain inside the massive cave, so only an arm, which was jutting from the bottom of the rubble near its head, and long, scaly tail at the opposite end were visible. Its arm was covered in a thin, black fur, but the fur was thin enough to see the creature’s scaly skin and thick muscles underneath. Its hand ended with four long, black claws, and its tail, which looked big enough to take down a building, ended with two sharp points—horns, stingers, or just something to impale someone with, I wasn’t sure.
Curiously, hardened molten rock was sprayed about the ground near the monster, and a small amount of vapor or gas was rising from the rubble near the creature’s tail.
Mordok tilted his head back and looked up to the enormous pile of wreckage that rose nearly to the ceiling.
“What is this?” Rithnar whispered.
“It seems that the chamber has collapsed somehow and immobilized the Gilgaroth,” Mordok said. “It looks as if it can’t move.”
“That’s one hell of a cave-in,” I said as I eyed the impossible mountain of rock.
“Remember how far from the surface we are,” Mordok said. “And if that part of the seal has fallen, we should move quickly or else we risk rock falling on us as well.” He held up his infinite mana shard and started walking towards the beast. “Come…”
I mimicked Mordok and held up my mana shard as if I were warding off a spirit as we walked closer and closer to the Gilgaroth. Even with the creature being pinned to the ground, I was still intimidated and scared as the sheer size of its head, arm and tail were unlike anything I had ever seen. I felt like we were ants in the presence of a monstrous god.
The Gilgaroth finally seemed to notice us as we made it halfway across the cavern and slowly shifted its head against the ground. It scraped one of its claws against the hard rock, and moaned low before narrowing its eyes and closing its mouth tight, setting it in a straight line. Its gaze alone sent chills running up my spine, and I saw Mordok hesitate and take a step back before continuing forward again.
“Don’t go any further…” a deep, raspy voice said from behind us.
My heart jumped, and we all turned at the same time to see an old, ragged orc slowly approaching us. The orc had a hood pulled over his head, but it didn’t hide his wrinkled green face and thick dark beard. The orc was missing a leg and held a long, wooden cane with a horned-skull tip in his hand to support the other side of his body as he hobbled forward. While the cane-holding arm was thick and strong like any warrior orcs would be, his other arm was made of nothing but bone, and the bone fingertips of his hand had been sharpened into claws.
The orc wore plate armor on his only leg, a shoulder piece with tall spikes over his skeletal arm, and a chestpiece made of black leather. His hood, cape, and partial robe that was slung over his body were all heavily torn and battered, but they were etched in fine gold. He had a belt wrapped around his waist with several gold rings attached, and a huge, mallet-shaped hammer with beautiful engravings rose from above his back. Clearly his equipment had once been very valuable.
The orc stopped a few steps after we turned. He straightened his shoulders, puffed his chest, and narrowed his eyes. “Bow to your King…” he said proudly.
Mordok and Rithnar both looked stunned and unsure what to do.
“King Xurrak…” Rithnar muttered. “How are you—?”
The one-legged orc snarled and interrupted by saying, “Bow to your King…” once again and louder.
Mordok licked his lips, swallowed, and fell to one knee. Rithnar seemed to tremble as he dropped to his knees as well.
“But how?” Rithnar questioned again in his kneeled state.
“How what?” the strange orc asked.
“King Ergoth killed you,” Mordok stated. “He chopped off your arm and kicked you into the Cataclysm during your duel. You’ve been dead for—”
“King Ergoth?” the orc interrupted and laughed. “Ergoth is no King!” He slapped his skeletal arm against his chest. “I am King Xurrak, the one and only King of the orcs of the Wastelands, King of the Scourge!”
Rithnar and Mordok’s mouths hung wide.
“How?” Mordok asked. “How are you alive? You’ve not been seen in years.”
King Xurrak turned to me and pointed a pointy skeletal finger my way. “First, tell me what this is. Why do you two orcs travel with human scum?”
“He is a member of the Mages Guild,” Mordok explained. “He’s come to assist us, um…” Mordok stuttered. “We’ve uh… We’ve come to try to calm the Gilgaroth as a case to stop Ergoth from marching the Scourge further into war. This human is helping.” He suddenly realized he was still holding the infinite mana shard in his hand and shoved it into his bag.
“So, I see…” Xurrak muttered. “A mission that would benefit both the humans and the Scourge. An interesting alliance, given the state of things.”
“The state of things?” Rithnar asked. “What do you mean?”
“Your phony King Ergoth plans to level Highcastle, take the Freelands, and will likely march you into an endless campaign of war across Eden’s Gate,” Xurrak said. “I know, I know… I have been far too slow to return to my throne.”
Mordok and Rithnar glanced at each other before Mordok said, “I don’t understand. I mean, we don’t understand. How are you here? Why are you in the Gilgaroth’s seal? How are you alive after your battle with Ergoth, after you were shoved into the Cataclysm?”
Xurrak snarled and chuckled before he spoke. “I was careless when Ergoth challenged me to a duel. He was a much better fighter than I expected, and yes, I lost my arm, and yes, he got lucky and kicked me into the Cataclysm.” He took a deep breath, looked down, and hobbled a couple paces to his side. “What are they calling Ergoth now? ‘The greatest orc who ever lived’?”
The two orcs were hesitant to answer, but they both eventually nodded at nearly the same time.
“Nonsense.” Xurrak snorted and held his skeletal hand in front of him before squeezing it into a tight fist. “I was the Immortal King.” He raised his voice. “I am the Immortal King!” He glared in our direction, his dark eyes slowly shifting between us as if measuring our reactions. “When I fell into the Cataclysm, my leg caught on to a ledge and was nearly torn entirely from my body during the fall. The final impact would’ve killed a normal orc, but they call me the Immortal King for a reason. It’s because I possess Unyielding Sacrifice, an unrivalled spell that allows me to trade half of my statistics to immediately heal myself to full health and cure myself of all negative effects and wounds.” He looked down to his leg. “Right as I took what was to be my last breath, I cast the spell, but it cannot restore lost limbs, unfortunately.”
“Unyielding Sacrifice…” Mordok muttered. “You possess that ability?”
“Yes,” Xurrak said. “Which means the duel between Ergoth and I was never finished. I am still alive and thus, I am still the true King of the Scourge.”
“You’ve been down here the whole time?” Rithnar asked.
Xurrak nodded. “I crawled around like an animal, eating what I could find and killing what I could manage in my weakened state. It was quite difficult to survive with only a single arm and leg, but I adjust
ed. I vowed to one day exit the Cataclysm and finish the duel that Ergoth and I began. My progress has been slow, but I am gradually regaining my stats and will soon have my leg restored as well. Once finished, I’ll climb out of this hell hole, and Ergoth’s head will be mine.”
“How do you know Ergoth’s plans?” Mordok asked. “And your leg—how? Your arm?”
Xurrak laughed, hobbled, and repositioned his cane to get a better balance. “Do you believe in fate?”
“Fate?” Mordok muttered.
“Fate isn’t some divine magic controlling us all, but when inordinate things happen outside of our control that ultimately determine our future, that is fate.” He lifted his cane briefly, pointed it towards the Gilgaroth, and quickly jerked it back to the ground. “The Gilgaroth has helped determine my fate.”
We all glanced back towards the Gilgaroth who was quietly watching our interaction through its angry slanted eyes. Its gaze seemed particularly focused on Xurrak, as if he were the first thing he would kill if he ever made it out from under the mountain of rubble.
Xurrak hobbled a few steps closer to the Gilgaroth and stared at it. “Something has been happening, something that has aggravated the Gilgaroth and set him thrashing about here in his seal.” He chuckled again and shook his head. “His seal may still hold, but even the hardest of rock bends and shifts under the load of a monster this size. It seems that the weight and power of his movements rocked the volcanic plates under our feet, increasing the pressure in the magma chamber under Mount Ardorflame.”
“So, the Gilgaroth caused the eruption?” Mordok asked.
Xurrak nodded. “That is my belief. But this seal is partially under Mount Ardorflame and partially over the magma chamber below. When the volcano erupted, a smaller volcanic explosion happened simultaneously inside here, blowing out part of the ground, right under the heavy Gilgaroth’s feet. Judging by the gas rising near its lower body, a leg of the Gilgaroth is stuck in a volcanic cavity in the ground. I believe its struggle to free itself is what caused the collapse above—trapping itself more with its own mindless power.”
