Jess sighed. "I know, Malek. And thank you for telling me. When you see him next, assuming you even remember this, tell him I said that I understood. He was putting the safety of Highrock first, as it was his duty to." Jess gripped her companion's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "I'll return to the college one day, don't you worry about that, shieldbrother. Today, however, we have a damsel to save!"
As she explained to a sympathetic Malek what had happened, the last of the spinning cyclone of sands parted revealing the massive structure before them once more. So too they could now clearly make out the gates to the fortress of stone and bone before them, and it was obvious that Jess's summonings had not gone unnoticed.
For now there were several black-clad figures slowly approaching, massive in stature, wielding oversized obsidian blades. Jess could sense the dark magics crackling from them, and had no doubt that they could cleave through normal steel with effortless ease.
Malek shook his helmeted head. "I am more than happy to help you save your sweetheart, but why is it that I'm always fighting for my life when we get together?"
Jess grinned. “Because I’m excellent company that never leaves you bored?”
Her friend laughed wryly. “Sounds good to me. Come, let us teach these abominations to fear the bite of Highrock Blades!”
Their foes roared at them in a language sibilant and harsh. Jess could understand every word of their dire threats and insults but was too focused on embracing the heady rush of battlefrenzy overtaking her once more to pay their words any mind. With a tactician's intuitive precision, she judged her moment and charged, she and Malek sprinting forth in deadly unison, lashing out simultaneously with their blades at the giant armor covered foe they faced, farthest from his fellows.
With a horrific roar, the creature launched a powerful blow, its massive obsidian blade expertly displaced by Malek's Zweihander, so great was Malek's Shadow infused strength, their foe's lethal weapon sliding harmlessly over Malek's head even as Jess darted in to hamstring the ironclad demon. The screech of torn metal rang in odd counterpoint to the demon's howls even as her mithril blade and hideous strength facilitated the precise shearing of flesh and bone, the protective plates covering the demon rupturing with the force of her terrible blow. Even as the creature crashed to its knees, Jess whipped her blade around in a tight overhand arc, cleaving deep into the demon's armored skull.
She laughed in gleeful madness as brain and bone showered forth, dancing away from the collapsing corps even as Malek offset a vicious slash launched by the second armor-clad horror, the great obsidian blade snapped up and deflected with masterful ease even as Malek instinctively thrust forward, plunging his blade deep into his foe's chest in a perfectly timed Absetzen maneuver.
The demon stumbled back, coughing green bile, and Malek pressed the advantage, his blade whipping forth in a vicious arc, and Jess swore she heard his crimson blade wail as it cut through the air, tearing through their foe’s stumbling legs, Malek finishing off his collapsing foe with a fierce thrust to its helmeted head, roaring his fury as he did so, twisting his serpentine blade savagely in the blood-spurting eye slit of his enemy's helm, his foe surrendering to death with a final shudder.
Jess roared her approval even as she met the battleaxe of the third armor-clad monstrosity lashing out to slice Malek from behind, Jess's mithril longsword shattering her foe's obsidian weapon into a shower of glass, so fiercely did she strike it, so terrible was her own mithril blade. Her surprised foe let out a single desperate howl, unable to deflect the fury of her lung as she launched forward, disemboweling her foe before pivoting away from desperately grasping hands, step-sliding around with a dancer's grace even as her enemy crashed to its knees, entrails spooling from its ruptured gut. Yet its abrupt howl was cut short, Jess's mithril blade lashing out once more, sending her enemy's armored head spinning through the air in a shower of blood and bile.
Their foes down, all was eerily still and Jess shook and howled with the fierce rush of pleasure suddenly coursing through her even as their foes began to crumple before Jess's very eyes. Malek's howl made it clear that he too felt the same rush of energy as their foes' terrible potency roared into their shivering bodies.
“Ye gods!” Malek cried, as their foes crumbled to ash. “This blade, it drinks their power!” He laughed with the mad pleasure of it all, feeling higher on battle lust than he had ever felt while half drunk and in the arms of his supple lover.
Jess blinked, grinning with fierce delight at feeling her utter connection to Malek rekindle itself in full, to the point she fancied she could sense both his presence and his passions as well.
“I know!” Jess laughed. “Isn’t it grand? We are gods here, Malek! Come. Our foes await, let us feast!”
Euphoria aside, they approached the fortress cautiously. “Jess, that rush. I felt something when we fought in those lands of dream and horrors before, but not this. Not like this!” Malek gazed upon his blade, its wavy metal now visibly undulating, no longer bothering to hide its terrible nature, coated and baptized as it was in the blood of hellions. “This blade, when it bit their flesh, I felt it. I felt all their power pour into me!” His voice was reverent, filled with awe.
Twilight absently scratched his ear with a back paw as he gazed up at Malek. “Well, Hound, it is the ultimate expression of Bloodmagic. Your mistress did forge it for you upon the burning embers of a dying realm, after all. But the truth of the matter, dear Malek, is that your ability to capture and tear free every last iota of the dying life force of your enemies is but the awakening of a terrible gift you and I have shared for as long as the stars have blazed across the night sky. Longer, in fact.”
Malek hissed even as Jess bent over, feeling suddenly nauseous with self-loathing. She shuddered as a terrible wave of remorse washed over her.
“I didn’t mean to,” Jess whispered. “I, I did it, didn’t I? I really did devour that whole realm.”
“Stop it!” Twilight snapped. “We already agreed, no more worthless guilt. It was one small town already lost to Shadow. You were not aware of the significance of the Abyssal Chords connecting you to the Void that your blade had awakened. You already made the choice to cut them. What is done is done. As far as I’m concerned, the whole damn world should fall on its knees in gratitude.” Her cat sighed. “All I’m saying to you, to both of you, is beware. Power comes at a price. Make sure you are willing to pay it.” Sapphire eyes bore into Jess's own. “Control the rush. Use it. Don’t let it control you.”
Malek’s nod was grim. “Good advice, cat, for all that I can do without the druidic mysticism. As far as I'm concerned, the only life worth worrying about is the one we are living right now. Come Jess, let’s go.” He gave her an encouraging smile. “We have a damsel to save, remember?”
Jess gave a resolute nod of her head. “Agreed, my brother. Let us show these creatures there is a price to pay for taking innocents out of our realm!”
“That’s the spirit!” Malek grinned. “And here we are.”
Before them, fused to the surface of the imposing fortress was a huge door of blackest iron. Jess could feel the intricate web of dark magics and abyssal spells guarding it, pulsing as the pair of adventurers approached.
Jess exhaled sharply, gazing at the complex latticework that warded the door. She peered at it carefully, wondering how best to cut the chords. Unlike those of a single cast spell or the tight interwoven network of pulsing strands of power that comprised an artifact or automaton, these webs were diffuse, complex, and the defusing of one could well set off the others.
Jess felt herself getting a bit frustrated, wondering if perhaps the best solution would be to simply plunge her blade in the thickest point and feed upon the powernet, see if she could devour it before it sprung forth in a blast of hellfire. Intuitively, she knew that in this realm at least, she could feed upon magics as well as cut through their bindings.
“Jess,” Twilight’s voice was sharp, reproving, as she girded h
erself for the telling thrust. She gave her disapproving familiar a wry smile. “I don’t see any other way to break through than this.”
“I know what you’re thinking, Jess,” Twilight sighed. “Patience and pondering through all the consequences of our actions is not our strong suite, I know, for all that your flashes of intuition shine to brilliant effect upon the battlefield, where fast decisions are the order of the day. Still, you might want to give thoughtful contemplation a try from time to time.”
“By Justice, I think I see away!” Malek grinned wide, and what appeared to be a wavering key made of liquid blood formed within the center of his crimson gauntlet.
“Are you sure?” Jess asked, gazing curiously at the key.
Malek winked. "Trust me, Jess. I got this." With no further hesitation, he strode up and boldly inserted the key in the lock. Jess heard a click, her body tingling, feeling all her energies coursing through her, ready for whatever might spring forth. She whistled in amazement when she gazed at the door with her inner eye, seeing Malek's blood magic weave itself around every spell web simultaneously, and strangle them. With a click the door opened.
“Who’s the lockmaster now?” Malek gloated in happy triumph.
Jess gave her grinning shieldbrother a congratulatory slap upon his armored shoulder. “You are, dear Malek. Come, let us see what trouble we can get into while we are here!”
With an indulgent laugh they entered as one, their swords at the ready for whatever might spring at them.
Striding forth in practiced unison, they made their way down a wide corridor of pale limestone. Jess noted multiple chandeliers of glittering crystal secured to the tiled ceiling, though instead of candles they held pulsating orbs of sickly green magelight bathing the hallway in an unhealthy glow, the chandeliers evenly spaced as far as the eye could see down the vast central hallway that seemed to fade with the distance.
Instinctively, Jess let Malek lead a step ahead, gaze facing forward while in a position to catch sight of anything approaching from left branches in the vast corridor, even as she kept her focus on the right, allowing them to instantly spring forth and face any attack, or stand back to back weaving a deadly dance of death against foes from all angles.
Twilight took that moment to leap gracefully to his mistress’s shoulder, ears alert, eyes keeping a careful watch to their rear.
They traveled for some time down the central corridor of the massive fortress, seeing no signs of life, human or otherwise, for what seemed an endless stretch of time until the corridor they traversed abruptly branched off. It was only then that they heard faint screams echoing from an unknown distance down the hallway to their right. They were the high-pitched cries of a child, one being forced to endure unspeakable pain.
“Jess?”
She nodded to her shieldbrother’s unspoken question, their careful pace turning to an effortless loping run. The cries appeared to be coming from the very end of the hallway they traversed, coming to a circular stairwell leading to both higher and lower levels. The screams appeared to be originating from below.
“I sense no hostile magics,” Jess whispered.
“Nor I,” Twilight concurred. “Let’s do this.” With that he gracefully hopped off Jessica and took the lead, darting with feline quickness down the winding staircase.
The stairs led down to a corridor bare of any living thing, filled with a ghostly light that cast no shadows, and soon Jess found herself striding down a hallway resplendent with wealth and glitter. Exquisitely made frescoes covered the walls, scenes of men feeding upon grapes and drinking deeply of wine, being sensually pleasured by grinning paramours painted in strokes of deepest red. Their elegant, sensual features were made no less beautiful by the additions cloven hooves, tails, or golden horns, at least as far as their mortal lovers were concerned, Jess noted. The figures appeared to all be having a marvelous time, even as further frescoes showed scenes of nightmarish brutality, those demons and their lovers alike tormenting hapless victims in unison and devouring their flesh.
The desperate cries they had heard had fallen off, yet still they proceeded at a cautious pace.
Malek whistled. “Seems like an infernalist's paradise, no?” Jess nodded as the gold lined frescoes they passed seemed to progress through a story, one featuring a particularly amorous and bloodthirsty young man who bore a chilling resemblance to Lessel Turnsby, first fornicating with various paramours, male and female, human and other, then performing increasingly macabre rites with deliberate abandon, and finally sitting resplendent upon a throne of bones and tormented living bodies, even as he drank from a cup of either blood or wine. To his side, always seeming to give counsel, was the depiction of an aged looking demon, if there was such a thing, appearing to fill his cup with what Jess surmised was the very essence of youth, crushing young nubile woman into the diabolist's drink before casting them off as withered old crones. The young man who had grown older and more powerful with his hair beginning to gray as the scenes had played out had once again taken on the flawless perfection of youth, cup in hand, gazing merrily at his court of sycophants, human and demonic alike.
Malek scowled. “Ye gods, Jess. What type of vile magic would turn children into ancient husks, moments away from death?”
Twilight hissed. “Old and foul magic, this. For a mortal to deliberately stop his grains of sand from passing through the hourglass of his existence is anathema to this world, forged as it was to embrace the cycles of life and rebirth. And to tear loose and absorb the sands of another soul is a blasphemy of the darkest order.” Twilight scowled, and Jess was shocked. Her cat had witnessed a great number of horrors with utter equanimity. But the pursuit of immortality seemed to offend him immensely
“Twilight?” Jess’s voice rang oddly in the air.
Brilliant sapphire eyes locked upon her own. “Immortality is the province of angels and demons alone, my Jess. What this fool is doing, if these portraits speak truth, is creating a burr in the very fabric of this realm. A burr that leaves our world vulnerable to incursions of a diabolic nature. Something you and I have fought long and hard to stamp out! A mortal life lived must end. Rebirth is the only immortality one should seek if one lives in our world, each life a new adventure. If this blasphemer wants immortality, he can try existence once again as a soul tormented for endless eons, cursed to the Hells below!”
“By the gods, I’ve never heard you angry like this before, Twilight, and don't look at me like that. Memories of our past adventures, so like a dream when I am awake, begin to return to me in all their wonder and horror, now that we are in the Shadowlands once more,” Malek said. “And I’ve heard you counsel Jess, more than once as I recall, not to berate herself too badly for the things we’ve done, dancing within these mad realms.” He shook his head. “And scholars through the ages have sought immortality, the fabled fountain of youth, the elixir of vitality. All such things. Is it truly so dangerous? And what of us, dear Twilight? From what I've gathered, adventurers who survive their Delvings can live for centuries, becoming as much myth and legend as they are living creatures of flesh and blood.”
Twilight favored Malek with a slitted gaze. “There is a difference, Hound. Any scholar worth his salt knows that there are dangers to pursuing such arts. Anyone with the craft who has studied the ancient legends knows it is only through the dance of life and rebirth that their souls have avoided plummeting into Hell for this long.”
Jess felt her heart lurch with those words, her familiar locking eyes with a solemn-faced Malek. "There is no Heaven for this world's souls, Malek. There never was. They were all damned, once upon a time, saved only by the grace of an angel's love, the Tree of life, and a great lady’s gift.” Twilight sighed. “And if David has seen fit to raise any souls, he certainly hasn’t told me about it.”
Malek paled. “By the gods, Twilight, just what are you?”
Twilight gazed thoughtfully at the pair of them before speaking. “What I am is getting off point, Hound. An
y true student of such matters knows that reincarnation, not transcendence is the journey they need to prepare their souls for. A foolish scholar is harmless. Too weak to do anything save poison his body with mystery concoctions or otherwise chase false rumors. A wise scholar seeks only succor from decrepitude's touch, eager to embrace a long life of youthful vigor, before passing away at whatever age he naturally would have, if he had always benefited from perfect health. He would not dare try to stop the actual hourglass of his life. Such a thing could pull him right over into the Abyssal realms. Even worse, his soul would gain gravity in a dimension you cannot fathom, weighing down our fragile realm as a whole, making gaps and tears in existence by which Abyssal threats could enter.”
Malek nodded. “And that would be a bad thing, I take it.”
Twilight's fur bristled. “You are damned right, Hound. It would put all of Dawn in peril! Such actions cannot and must not be allowed to occur! Anyone who would dare threaten our realm and all its splendor, anyone who would dare put at risk the beautiful lands and seas and endless supply of delicious fish one can prepare in so many delightful ways must be stopped and dealt with, with all haste and fury!”
Jess’s familiar was near spitting his outrage and Jess grinned, picking her familiar up and hugging him closely. "It's good to see my kitty feeling so passionate about something!" she cooed.
“Put me down, Jess,” Twilight sighed. “Let’s go kill something.”
"Twilight?" Malek whispered curiously as they cautiously continued down the fresco-laden corridor. "You still haven't mentioned what makes us adventurers different."
“Does it matter?”
Malek shrugged. “Not really, I guess. Just don’t tell me you’re going to sneak into our bedrooms and cut our throats if we live past one hundred, or some such.”
Jess could tell his words were only half in jest.
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