The ground shook so hard he fell to a knee. Knowing Chanterelle would use that opportunity, he threw up a wall, which forced her to dance around it, while he scrambled away. The escape was brief, as one of the Hounds moved to block. With two approaching attackers, Terran thought about cutting his losses and returning to the Glen to prepare his friends for the end, when he heard Chanterelle speak, and saw her fingers articulate with magic.
"See if you can escape now!"
The dim light he enjoyed with his shadow-touched ability disappeared as if he'd been dropped in a pool of ink. Even the Theris Stone did nothing against this absolute blackness. He was blind to the world, and fairly certain that his enemies could see him.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Terran exploded stone and created walls around him, hoping to defend himself in the chaos, but it was only a matter of time. He couldn't see the Hound or Chanterelle, and they could see him.
The chamber rumbled ominously, the keening of the Beast's annihilation mouth a reminder that their time was limited unless the staff could be restored. But he had no idea where anything was in this darkness. He reached out with bare hands, expecting to find a blade in his gut at any moment.
When he stumbled his hand brushed his chest, feeling the slight lump beneath his tunic. The Rock Leaf pendant. The gift that Chanterelle had given him so long ago.
He triggered its Clear Thinking ability, which would help him see through illusions and protect him from charms. He didn't know if it would work against magical darkness, but when the world bloomed into existence, revealing an approaching Chanterelle, his heart leapt with hope.
As he triggered the deep stone directly beneath her, throwing her across the room, he thought he caught the twitch of a grin at the corner of her lips.
The Hound bounded in right after, but he rolled forward under its formidable claws, coming back up on his feet to sprint towards the fallen staff. The remaining Hound set itself in front of him, but as he approached, he threw up a series of walls that gave him a brief passage to escape through without being open to the counterattacks of the Hound.
On the other side, he scooped up his Legendary Staff of the Void, feeling the comforting embrace of its twisted black metal beneath his fingers. It'd been made with dozens of shadow shards, and he relished the feel of the Void Blast hitting the Hound, blowing it backwards to tumble.
But they were running out of time, as the Beast was rising to its building-sized feet. Every turn of its head ate at the world, sucking up stone and dust.
Terran wanted to return the staff to the field, but if he did, the Hounds or Chanterelle would kill him. He had to deal with at least the first before he could put the Beast back to sleep.
He hit the second Hound with a Void Blast, ignoring the toll on his mana pool. The creature howled with pain, the staff's bonus damage against shadows clearly injuring it. He returned his attention to the first, hitting that one with another Void Blast, then another, sending the creature backwards like a tumbleweed in a fierce wind.
When it tried to regain its feet, Terran exploded stone, but not directly under it, only slightly in front, sending it backward yet again. Only after the fourth explosion did the Hound get near enough to the Beast That Eats the World. When the annihilation mouth was turned towards the Hound, the shadows stretched and were pulled towards its gray void expanse, until there was nothing left.
The second Hound briefly snarled at him, before bounding away, but Terran was ready for it, placing walls, forcing it closer and closer to the Beast, until it too was eliminated. A brief shadowy blur disappearing into the void.
Terran turned quickly, finding Chanterelle approaching. He nearly blasted her with his staff, but she held up her hands.
"We're safe, get that staff back in the field!"
They ran together. Terran worried that there'd been too much destruction or the Beast was too awake to be returned to slumber, but as soon as he shoved it next to the silvery sphere, the steady roar and crumbling of the cavern slowed until only small pieces of the ceiling were falling away, and the Beast was lowering itself back to the ground. Together with Chanterelle, he watched the Beast fall back asleep. Once it was no longer eating the world, he replaced the stones that held the staff, and returned to the black crystal that he'd left on the dais.
"I'm sorry, Terran. It hurt me to attack you like that," she said.
Crouched before the black crystal, he smiled. "I almost didn't remember the pendant you gave me."
She said nothing, so he returned to his task. After the fight, his body had been drained of adrenaline, so he found his cuts steady, and deliberate. It took an hour, but he finished the task of reforming the black crystal. The other thing he noticed while cutting it was that he no longer lost himself to its power. The lure was still there, but not the overwhelming presence.
You have completed the quest "Navigate the Shadow Labyrinth to find the black crystal."
You have gained experience, a new Champion's point, and a black crystal.
You are now level 26!
When he was finished, Chanterelle helped him push the stone fittings closer together to accept the smaller crystal. Sliding the black back into its former home smoothed out the song of slumber. While the void was powerful enough, there was a rough edge, an irritant that made his ear itch. With the crystal returned, he took back his staff. Chanterelle watched him, her expression flat.
"Are you going to be okay with the Lady?"
Chanterelle stared at her sandaled feet. "Once the Hounds were destroyed, she could no longer see me. I will concoct a story about how you chased me from the chamber with your staff, which is not an unreasonable story. I would not wish to be hit by that blast. I've never heard the Hounds howl like that."
"How will you get out of here? It's not like I can drop you off on my way out," he said.
"I have my ways," she said slyly, before glancing away. "Did you get what you came for?"
He stepped close. "I did." He let a grin rise. "I even got the black crystal I wanted."
Chanterelle leaned her forehead against his with her eyes closed. "I'm sorry, Terran."
"Me too." He cupped her face with his hand. "But at least we stopped the end of the world."
"Which we started."
"Shhh...no one needs to know."
"What now?" she asked.
"If the Prophecy can be trusted, which it can't, then I'd say we're headed for war. I just hope that the piece of black crystal I have will be enough to stop the Howling Wind. It's a shame that the Lady of Shadow won't join my side to keep them from the continent."
Chanterelle placed her lips against his briefly. "I can put in a good word for you."
"I'm not going to count on it."
"I should go. If I don't return soon, she'll suspect something," said Chanterelle.
Terran pressed his lips against hers. They stayed together for a minute before Chanterelle pulled away.
"Good luck."
She stepped into a shadow and disappeared, leaving Terran alone in the chamber with the Beast That Eats the World. Not wanting to linger too long, he collected his remaining gear and triggered his pathway traveling ability, returning to the autumnal forests that were his home.
Landing beneath the gold and crimson leaves, sunlight filtering through the trees, he found the sun no longer hurt his eyes. The shadow-touched ability was no longer present, which saddened him a little since it'd been Chanterelle who'd given it to him.
He arrived a few miles away from the settlement's outer barriers, so he could clear his head before he had to speak to anyone again. He brought forth the prophecy, reviewing the last stanza.
With the continent on the verge of war, a new empire beckons
But to forge itself anew, a terrible power must be revived
That which makes continents tremble and seas vanish
Only when the solution is struck will the future converge with the past
Terran eyed the words suspiciousl
y. "You almost tricked me last time. What have you in store for this one?" No answer came, nor did he expect one. "Once more into the breach, my friends, once more into the breach."
###
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Special Thanks
As always, it takes a good raid party to successfully slay all the gremlins hiding in every manuscript. So to all those people that helped make this possible: thank you! People like my editor the Tamara Blaine the fighter who deftly slayed the errors in the manuscript with her mighty pen, the beta readers (Tina Rak, Carole Carpenter, Lana Turner, Melanie Coupland, and Andie Alessandra Cáomhanach) who provided the DPS for the raid, and to the Vanguard who played crowd control on all the adds. Your time and effort have helped bring to life this moment of joy in readers' lives. Thank you!
The Hundred Halls Universe
THE HUNDRED HALLS
Trials of Magic
Web of Lies
Alchemy of Souls
Gathering of Shadows
City of Sorcery
THE RELUCTANT ASSASSIN
The Reluctant Assassin
The Sorcerous Spy
The Veiled Diplomat
Agent Unraveled
The Webs That Bind
GAMEMAKERS ONLINE
The Warped Forest
Gladiators of Warsong
Citadel of Broken Dreams
Enter the Daemon Pits
Plane of Twilight
ANIMALIANS HALL
Wild Magic
Bane of the Hunter
Mark of the Phoenix
Arcane Mutations
Untamed Destiny
Also by Thomas K. Carpenter
GAMERS TRILOGY
GAMERS
FRAGS
CODERS
ALEXANDRIAN SAGA
Fires of Alexandria
Heirs of Alexandria
Legacy of Alexandria
Warmachines of Alexandria
Empire of Alexandria
Voyage of Alexandria
Goddess of Alexandria
THE DASHKOVA MEMOIRS
Revolutionary Magic
A Cauldron of Secrets
Birds of Prophecy
The Franklin Deception
Nightfell Games
The Queen of Dreams
Dragons of Siberia
Shadows of an Empire
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Thomas and Rachel reside near St. Louis where they have hosted their bi-monthly D&D group for nearly twenty years. Before that, they were members of top raiding guilds in both Everquest and Worlds of Warcraft. When they aren't writing or playing D&D, they can be found out hiking.
Tom keeps a regular blog at www.thomaskcarpenter.com and you can follow him on twitter @thomaskcarpente. If you want to learn when his next novel will be hitting the shelves and get free stories and occasional other goodies, please sign up for his mailing list by going to: http://tinyurl.com/thomaskcarpenter. Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.
The Shadow Labyrinth: A LitRPG Adventure Page 23
