by Ian Rodgers
And the prey they desired was Dora and her companions. The half-orc swore violently as she rapidly backed away from the slavering, ravenous creations, fumbling for her crossbow.
“Stay back!” she cried, managing to get her weapon loaded, aiming it at the closest of the toothy creations. It did not back down, and in response Dora fired. The bolt slammed into it, but did no damage whatsoever, the black skin of the abominations oozing around the projectile and spitting it out.
Before the monster could lunge at Dora it was suddenly struck by a pair of rainbow-colored fireballs that sent it tumbling away, its body burning, freezing, melting and petrifying, all at once.
The two Elemental Tails then leapt protectively in front of Dora, growling at the other creatures that were approaching, the tips of their tails flickering with multicolored flames. The pair had darted over to her side the moment they’d spotted the appearance of the malformed beasts. At the sight of the Elemental Tails, the teeth-filled entities drew back, their hunger overridden by caution at the sight of the power displayed by the half-orc’s protectors.
Dora was able to see through their brave front, however. The rest of their tails were dimmed in brightness, and their fur no longer had the bright, jewel-like quality of before. Still, despite the weakened states, they pressed close to the Healer, guarding her from the abominations.
The other two members of her party were not as helpless. Ain began to rip into them with bolts of lightning, splattering their foul essence everywhere across the Elemental Plane of Dream. And Enrai was happily blasting them with gouts of fire, leaving puddles of molten tar and teeth everywhere.
Even as their remains bubbled and steamed, though, the abominations spawned from Bolgoros’ flesh refused to yield, and continued to charge at the mortals. Some even stopped to slurp up the liquified corpses of their kin, growing larger with each pool of gore cannibalized.
“Just give up!” Selquist shouted from the side where he was watching the battle. “Once my brother is done eating, he’ll just come after you next, and you won’t be able to resist anymore!”
“Never!” Dora, Ain, and Enrai shouted together, with the Elemental Tails yipping along with them.
“Fine, then, if that’s your wish…!” Selquist began, only to freeze in the midst of his no doubt condescending villainous speech. Both of his eyestalks pointed upwards, trembling slightly, while the orbs were wide with shock and fear.
In the crater, Bolgoros paused mid chew, a handful of his own entrails in his left hand, and his right halfway through stuffing some thigh meat into his mouth. He too tilted his head back a bit so he could stare at the sky in terror. The creations birthed from his blood cowered, trembling limbs shielding their heads while their massive, oversized teeth chattered.
Before Dora could even vocalize her question, the Elemental Plane seemed to tilt and contort. A thousand screams of pain, loss, rage, and a million other emotions erupted around the battlefield, the very fabric of reality cracking in some places as countless voices roared out across time and space. Worryingly, the portal back to Erafore was starting to fray, the vortex flickering in and out of existence.
Dora screamed as well and clutched at her head; her thoughts were filled with pain as Nia’s voice cried out from her soul. Next to her the Elemental Tails whined miserably, paws pressing down over their ears in an effort to block out the cacophony.
“Dora…!” Enrai tried to utter, rushing towards her, but the ground bucked and heaved, throwing him towards Ain. The Spellsword tried to grab the larger and heavier Monk, but the Elemental Plane was seething with foreign energy, making it impossible for him to do so properly.
Instead of managing to get a grip on the man, Enrai’s flight caused Ain to be dragged along with him, and the two rolled and tumbled across the surging, quaking ground to rest just a few feet from the portal back to Erafore.
Unfortunately, this put them right next to Selquist, who snapped out of his dazed state, eyestalks swiveling down to glare at the duo who were groaning in confusion and pain after colliding hard with the surface of Hyperio.
“You don’t get to escape that easily!” the Hand of Typhon snarled, and he opened his mouth wide, a crackling orb of dark grey Void energy manifesting within.
“Enrai! Ain! Look out!” Dora cried through the pain, and she desperately loaded her crossbow and aimed it at the hovering hand.
If his mouth wasn’t full of unstable and extremely deadly Void magic, Selquist might have scoffed at the thought that a puny mortal weapon like that could do so much as tickle him.
However, Dora wasn’t aiming at him, but at the growing sphere of energy inside of his mouth.
The twang of her crossbow string went unheard amidst the roaring that still filled all of existence. Even the roar of surprised pain as the bolt she had hastily enchanted on the fly with as much Light magic as her exhausted soul could supply went mostly unheard.
The subsequent explosion that tore apart Selquist’s tongue was quite loud, however. And the shockwave that rippled forth buffeted against Dora and sent her stumbling back from the portal, much to her displeasure.
“Dor-!” At that moment, Enrai tried to reach out to her, but it was too late. The shockwave that sent her backwards hit him and Ain, and in a turn of luck that would make a god of gambling jealous, sent the pair tumbling across the last few feet of ground and into the portal back to Erafore.
Dora could still see their shocked and horrified expressions before the portal snapped shut, the stress from the dimensional screaming sealing it behind them.
“Oh, Hells!” the half-orc swore.
“Cthoothen OOOONNNEEE!?!” Selquist screeched, pale white blood splashing out of his mouth courtesy of his shredded tongue. He rushed at her, trying to wrap his stubby little arms around her throat, but the Elemental Tails leapt up and wrapped their tails around Dora.
With the last of their power and taking in the aid of the unstable walls of reality thanks to the unearthly screaming, the adorable young foxes tore open one final portal for Dora, and flung the half-orc through it. The tip of Selquist’s right index finger brushed against her chin, and was immediately severed by the portal closing.
She fell backwards through time and space, crying out for her friends.
∞.∞.∞
Dora landed hard when the portal finally spat her out. She rolled for a bit, her backpack and the overgrown heart making the tumble all the more uncomfortable for her.
Instead of rising, the Healer just lay there, weeping to herself.
“Ain, Enrai… come back…” she sobbed, hands covering her face as she cried. “Don’t leave me… I don’t want to be alone again!”
She did not know how long she wept. Even after her tears had dried up, she continued to sob pitifully, her body shaking and quivering with her emotions.
It was only when it became too uncomfortable to lie on the hard ground anymore did Dora bother to move. The surface she was on was hard and unyielding, and had a smooth, metallic feel to it against her cheek and palms.
Squinting, Dora lifted her head. It was bright. Too bright. Eyes narrowed against the light trying to blind her, she peered at her surroundings.
White and gold as far as the eye could see. The sky was a piercing, blinding white that reminded her of her mother’s Healer robe when it’d been freshly starched. As for the golden color, the very ground she was lying on appeared to be a massive, seemingly endless plain of solid gold!
She rapped her knuckles against the surface, frowning. “Feels like gold,” she muttered, before scratching it with a fingernail. Some of the metal peeled away under her touch.
“Yeah, definitely feels like gold,” she muttered. “Pure gold, at that… where the heck am I?”
She looked up, trying to spot clouds or something. Instead of fluffy puffs of water vapor, she saw discs of gold floating through the air. Some appeared small, others quite big. But they each had different designs upon them.
“Am I on a gia
nt coin? Or did I shrink?” Dora wondered, wiping the last remnants of her tears away. “I don’t suppose it matters, in the end.”
She opened up her senses to the energy around her, and recoiled from the overwhelming amount of Light Element mana.
“Wow! I’ve never felt this much power before,” Dora uttered in awe to herself, feeling her vastly depleted mana steadily recover as her soul absorbed the energy surrounding her. “Maybe this much Light could purify the Wailing Tower’s heart!”
She removed her Bag of Holding and turned it over to get a better look at the titanic heart she’d been lugging through several Elemental Planes. To her surprise, it was no longer the alive and healthy – if demonically tainted – organ it had been previously. Now, it was a withered-up scrap of jerky, reduced to a fifth its former size.
“The Light magic of this place is so strong and abundant it’s actively purging the Queen’s essence from the heart!” she exclaimed. Dora laid a hand on the side of it to confirm her suspicions. Doing so caused a feeling of extreme gratitude and relief to swell up from the Titan’s remains.
“I did it, just as I promised,” Dora said weakly. “I saved you.”
Perhaps it was a trick of light, but for a brief moment Dora swore she saw a tall ghostly figure standing over her. It was gone the moment she tried to get a closer look, however.
With a sigh, Dora watched as the heart crumbled to dust and soot. No longer supported by the foul demonic energy of the Abyss, the Titan was released from its servitude and allowed to pass on, becoming one with the Aether again.
“…I wish I could be so free,” the half-orc muttered despondently as she gazed at the mound of soft white ash that was soon spread across the realm by a sudden breeze. She didn’t even have the presence of a giant, cursed heart to keep her company any more. She was utterly alone.
“I’ve got to find a way home,” she declared, standing. “And I’ve got to stop talking to myself! That’s the first sign of madness!”
Finding a way out would have to wait, however, because as soon as she made this declaration, a hole in reality tore itself open and a big, round purple colored ball was thrown into her face. She fell backwards onto her rear without a shred of grace, limbs flailing as she pried the squishy object off of her and threw it onto the ground in front of her.
Dora stared at the purple sphere that lay before her, a rune encrusted golden orb lying in the center.
‘It’s an Ooze!’ she realized with shock. She hadn’t seen one in ages! And, the longer she stared, she couldn’t help but feel that it was staring back at her, somehow.
“Watch where you’re portalling!” Dora griped, rubbing the tip of her nose where the core had smacked into her.
“Sorry, didn’t plan on that,” it apologized, body jiggling as it spoke. “Honestly I wasn’t expecting on traveling through so many portals today.”
“Yeah, me too…” Dora trailed off, staring at the Ooze. She couldn’t help but feel shocked by the fact that it was talking! Like a person! What’s more, she had the strangest feeling that she knew this Ooze from somewhere…
Dora peered at the purple Ooze intently as she felt a familiar energy coming from the core. In fact, it felt a lot like a soul. Which was impossible, of course! Everyone knew Oozes didn’t have souls! But there was something else inside the creature. A very familiar divine essence.
“No way!” the Healer exclaimed as she recognized the godly presence. “You… I mean, that energy! Are you…”
“Are you also one of Nia’s Chosen Ones?” Dora asked at the same time the Ooze did. They stared at each other for a long time, no words spoken between them.
“Um… hey there. I’m Jelly. Who are you?” the Ooze inquired after a while.
“Err, I’m Dora. Nice to meet you,” the half-orc introduced automatically.
“This is weird,” the two lifeforms uttered at the same time while staring at each other.
“I must be more tired than I thought if I think Oozes can talk!” Dora suddenly laughed awkwardly. She then leaned against her Bag of Holding, using it as a makeshift pillow. “Maybe when I wake up, things will make sense.”
In the back of her mind, however, she had a feeling they wouldn’t.
