Two months after Dan and Sully discussed killing the head priest, the opportunity arose.

A commotion in the centralized camp roused every slave except those too far gone. The cultists were out in droves, sporting full unified apparel and each channeling magic through their identical staves. They chanted in rough scratchy voices that pushed beyond reality, ushering in power from their religion.

The ground shook with excitement, the blood grass chittered ready for a free meal. Their magic connected to one another, latching into the open air and pulling. The song of the void ripped through the camp, highlighting the cultists’ words like lyrics to a song. Minutes passed as they grew louder, culminating in an abrupt cut off. All sound and movement stopped at that moment, a slice in reality fully opened.

The high priest stepped up, his regrown arms out wide. Through a beaming smile, the man spoke in eerie silence. His mouth moved, words came out, but there was no sound. The man paused, nodding. In a single smooth movement, he removed a corked vial and threw it into the hole.

The hole in reality exploded with blood. Sound returned not a breath later.

“I said get your Master, last warning,” the high priest yelled, his smile never faltering.

Dan looked to Sully for an answer, finding the spot next to him empty. He spun through the crowd, trying to find the old man, but a presence stopped him. It tore open the hole, pushing itself through like a worm breaching the surface.

The air in the camp instantly went stale and heavy as the being inhaled. Not even the high priest was immune to the effect. While most of the slaves fell to their knees unable to breathe, the smiling man stood tall, albeit labored.

Dan instinctually removed his eyes away from the being’s presence before it entered fully. Even without seeing the dreadful monster, his head felt like firecrackers detonated inside. He held close to his core, having strengthened it significantly in the last few months. It guided him to the path of full lungs and allowed him protection from the being.

He dared not look at the beast, as he knew madness would easily befall him like it had to others nearby. A woman who stared too long found her eyes turn to acid, forcing her to scream as she tore away the boiled flesh. A man’s insides burst into black flame, extruding miniature flumes from his mouth and nostrils.

Multiple were drooling, the part of them that gave them personality lost in the horror. A few were simply dead on the spot, while others charged the being with improvised weapons. A woman with scales for skin was vaporized after hoisting a wooden chair above her head. A miner had his legs removed in a spray of blood for taking a single step closer.

Dan did what he could for those closest to him, blocking their line of sight or shoving them to the ground. He did anything to save as many lives as he could, forgoing all past grievances and expelling his lack of confidence.

As he had come to learn and utilize, filtering magic through his core didn’t only protect him against the madness or let him bring to life beautiful magic. His core pushed down all negative emotions, limiting his fear and anxiety. He could heal who he wanted, talk to who he needed, all the while intrusive thoughts were left behind.

The only issue was it took his full concentration and often left him winded and bleeding from the nose. Depending on the extremes of the situation, Dan could only empower himself for mere minutes.

Against the being from outside reality, however, he lasted less than twenty seconds.

Dan fell to his knees, his back turned to the chaos. Crunching sounds emitted from the being as the high priest yelled chants and powerwords. The ground shook like a scared puppy, fractures opening along the soft blood grass. Green ooze burst from cracks like a freshly opened oil rig.

Dan smiled at the familiar sight, his mind weak and grasping for anything he found recognizable. The green ooze collided against the top of the dome, outstretching and taking to gravity. It fell in globs, mucus connecting the geyser into a horrendous umbrella. Then he made the connection to the muscle cavern.

It’s the-

An explosion threw Dan across the camp, breaking his arm in the process. Something pulled at him, dragging him through the dirt back toward the being and high priest. A rebound of void magic purged the effect, taking along with it the nearby air. A second explosion sounded not a moment later, along with it the deathly screams of all those affected.

Dan could hear the high priest yelling something to his cult, ordering them to clean up. He slowly traced the destruction, finding the hole in reality gone as well as the being. Only a semicircle of blood remained, along with the perfectly carved legs of the monster.

A hand clasped Dan’s shoulder rousing him from the carnage.

“Come with me, quickly,” Sully said, dragging the human to his feet.

They moved silently, finding refuge in the dead field. Dan felt the warmth of healing magic bolster his body as Sully pumped him with power. His arm was swiftly set and reconnected, his nose and sinuses easily clotted, and his mind soothed like a relaxing bath at the end of a long day.

Dan tried to speak, but the old man simply pushed him down and told him to rest.

He woke hours later, alone and with a crick in his neck from the awkward sleeping position. A quick orb of healing magic later, his spine was straight and he was walking through the camp. Green slime covered everything in the area around the broken ground. Buildings were drenched, trees, livestock, dead bodies…

Dan didn’t look at the bodies if he couldn’t. He kept his eyes down and focused on keeping his lunch in his stomach. Everything smelled, rotten and rancid. Although, he found the smell familiar. He knew it was from past the massive red double doors, although he desperately didn’t want to relive the memories.

He found Sully crouched over a body, touching their forehead with three fingers. Last rites, as Dan realized. Eventually the old man finished and came over.

“Dan, when I die please burn me in a pyre. It was how my people were supposed to be laid to rest, not like this,” the elder spat.

“I’ll… try.”

Sully shook his head, sorrow across his face. “I apologize. I do not wish to burden you like that. Forget my request, the cultists will only harm you for it.”

Dan, not knowing what to say, changed the subject. “What was all of that earlier?”

Together they dragged the corpse to a pile of bodies before Sully performed the same small speech for another. The elder moved sluggish and slow, his old bones failing under the physical stress.

“That was the start,” Sully began, after sitting and accepting a mug of water. “It only gets worse from here.”

“The start of what?”

“Of the cult’s attempt to open the door in the cave.”

They'd had this conversation before, but never the details. Dan understood that the cult wanted something behind the doors, but he had no clue what or how they were going to go about getting it. Summoning a being from beyond reality was not within his wheelhouse of guesses.

Sully took the moment of silence to explain, “The thing summoned today was nothing more than a prophet - a monster from the Void, the same place the high priest is from.”

“The Void?” Dan asked.

“Indeed. A barren land full of pain and anguish. The beings that reside there are uniquely powerful. Like the prophet monster and the high priest.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“And what did the prophet see?”

“Nothing much. It is bound by rules they do not understand, limiting its views into the future. It always gives a name, however, the one they are going to sacrifice. If you ask me, it’s a glorified lottery.”

Dan was speechless. The horror of the situation was well beyond anything he could justify. What was beyond the doors that led the cult to such extremes? What could be worth summoning a being that could kill by just being looked at?

“What do they want beyond the doors?” Dan asked.

Sully shrugged. “Their god slumbers there, what they want with it, I have no idea.”

Something else came to Dan from the answer. “How often are these sacrifices?”

“Every few months or so, why?”

“Why did so many look at the monster? If this isn’t that rare of an occurrence, why did they let themselves look at it?”

Sully took a long deep breath and gestured around. “Look around, where is everyone?”

Dan paused, opening and closing his mouth a few times. “I-I do not know.”

“They are asleep. The monster does something to them, makes them forget. Most of the cultists as well, in fact. That was why I pushed you to rest. Because I thought you were moments from falling asleep. Which, you were, but you didn’t forget.”

“Why are we immune?”

“Power, I would guess. Our cores are more armored. That is one plus of having to deal with the cave’s madness on a daily basis. We gain the experience while the cultists don’t.”

Dan frowned. “The cultists don’t feel the madness?”

“They do, but not in the same way as you or me,” Sully explained. “The high priest has a spell that protects all of them somewhat. They also have formal training, which they used to create weak shields. The void monster is powerful enough to rip right through them, however.”

Dan fell back, his eyes finding the dyed green ceiling of the dome. “Who’s name was drawn?”

“One of the miners.”

“What can we do?”

This time, Sully fell to his back. “Kill the high priest. Now is probably the best time to do so, while the majority of the cultists are out of commission.”

Dan sat up, his eyes growing sharp. “Okay, where is he?”

Sully mimicked the movement. “In the caves, at the doors. He’s preparing the sacrifice.”

A silent agreement passed through both men, and they quickly got up and prepared. Since the idea had been brought up two months ago, many plans of action had been created, appended, and discarded. Frankly neither man knew how to kill the high priest simply because they didn’t know just how powerful he was. Sully had an idea, but the high priest usually kept his true magic and power well-guarded.

That created a problem. Dan was hardly a novice when it came to anything regarding magic. How useful he’d be in a battle had yet to be seen, which put all the stress onto the old man. Sully was confident in his ability to hold his own against the high priest, at least for a few minutes to allow Dan to land a fatal blow.

Sully didn’t have much in the way of preparations, his body, mind, and core were weapon enough. Dan, however, had spent some time over the past few weeks gathering items and equipment. As the two men entered the cave, the younger held a sharpened shovel, carried two small daggers, and had faceted scrap metal around his forearms and shins.

Would any of that help against void magic? No, not at all. To Dan, the small layers of protection, along with the mundane weapons, were a source of confidence. Lucky charms, as he called them.

They scraped through the cave, keeping close to the walls and moving slowly. As they went, Dan shivered in cold fear. This was his first time back in the cave since his initial journey. While he was stronger than before, he still felt anxiety. Something in his mind told him to turn back, that he was being led astray.

Dan crushed the feeling with a pulse from his core. Warmth basked within his chest, fueling his legs to keep moving. Looking at Sully, he could see the old man doing much the same.

Through the past months, the old man had talked about his history within the camp a few times. While he was born a slave, his childhood was nothing more than miraculous. It was rare for a person, especially his race, to have unbridled talent in magic. As Sully explained it, most spent years working under a Magus, learning their ways before ever attempting a spell.

Sully had solidified his core at the age of three. He said it was survival. That he, even as a child, was constrained by the madness. Magic came to him easily because the madness wanted him to submit, it pushed him to the breaking point over and over again. In a way, the madness helped him become the man he was today.

As they neared the sacrificial room, a pang of doubt surfaced in Dan’s mind. This time it wasn’t anxiety about killing the high priest or escaping the camp. It was about Sully and if he’d survive the encounter. Dan had never seen the old man truly use his magic, but he had seen the high priest shear apart monsters. Not to mention summoning beings from the Void.

How could anyone battle against-

Sully held up a hand, stopping Dan from peering around the corner. “This is it,” he said. “Stick to the shadows.”

Dan solemnly nodded, entering the large cavern first. He quickly found a patch of thick stalactites, hiding himself and keeping to the edge. Circling around the room, he found a clear path to the center and lay in wait. As he did so, he scouted the high priest.

The man in question was standing before the sacrificial slab, a miner strapped on top. The high priest wore sleek black robes, carted around a moldy tome, and gestured in the air with a golden dagger. He hummed silent words of warship, each resonating with the room and dagger. A ball of void drifted aimlessly over his head, it shook and squeezed with the prayer, increasing with blight.

The sound and scene induced chills through Dan’s body. Watching the orb of void, he felt incomplete. Like standing and giving himself to the high priest was the best course of action. The void sang to him, drawing gratitude and wonderment. Nothing mattered in the Void, there was no pain or heartbreak, sadness or worry. There was only the-

Dan pulled himself away from the orb, his breath labored and sick. His core quickly brought heat back to his frozen skin, pushing his mind back to the situation. He looked for Sully, finding the old man stalking closer to the high priest.

A flash of light kickstarted the battle. A gavel of raw power, glowing in exceptional pure white, formed within Sully’s outstretched hand. Before the high priest could turn, it grew to the size of a bus.

As Sully swung, light formed from within his frail body and condensed at the base of his throat. He roared, unleashing a tight beam from his maw and heating the air of the cavern. The beam and gavel collided at the same time, shattering the stone around the sacrificial table and crunching bone.

Dust exploded out, blanketing the arena in obscuring particulate. A bolt of black lightning spun to life within, pulling in the nearby air. The bolt came fast and without sound. It ripped through the dust, inhaling the cloud as it went and leaving the cavern open again.

A dome of white easily blocked the bolt before Sully pushed his core to its limit. Growing from his hand, a grape sized ball of pure light condensed and redoubled. It grew to the size of a fist before launching into the area above the battlefield. It stuck along the stalagmites, casting shadows to the ground below.

Dan moved, one shadow at a time.

A ripping green-black skull infiltrated reality and screeched in silent pain. The high priest commanded it forward, aiding the slow projectile with minor balls of void. The flurry of attacks pinned Sully within his dome, as each explosion sent cracks through the light construct.

The skull collided without recourse, sending sparkling black streams of pain through the air. The world warped from the impact, sundering the dome. Sully emerged from the wreckage, his left arm and leg mangled and broken. He wrapped glimmering thread of power around himself, the wounds disappearing almost instantly.

Dan stepped closer, the red doors leading deeper came into view. He shuddered, the feeling of being watched compounding in his bones. An explosion rang out, along with the vile pull of the void, but he didn’t care to look. He kept his head down behind any source of cover, moving through the artificial shadows with careful consideration.

He was teetering on the edge of the effective range for his magic. Dan did not know any grand attack spell like bombs of light or beams of superheat. He contemplated attempting a long range javelin throw, but decided on something more reliable.

Dan charged, his shovel raised over his head. It glowed with a golden hue as magic filtered from his core into his hands. Light: War slotted into his power, joining forces with the sharpened metal spade. It coalesced in the blade, arcing with blinding light.

The high priest reacted in mild surprise, his smile dipping as he moved to guard. The shovel cut into his forearms, easily bypassing his bones and muscle. Blood sprayed for only a moment, a shadowy suit of armor forming around his body.

An open palmed punch sent Dan spiraling across the cavern. He smashed through multiple stalagmites before finding a landing spot against the hard stone wall. His back was broken, his arm and leg as well. Bruises quickly formed along his tattered chest, creating a boundary of pain when he tried to interact with his core.

He fought through the anguish, however, creating healing light. A ring of gold found purchase around his broken body, a pillar of light detonating not a moment later. His arm and leg healed first, but his back took multiple treatments. Each passing second used more energy than Dan had, however, limiting his consciousness to create proper images.

His core ran dry after setting his spine back in place. He wiggled all fingers and toes, making sure nothing took precedence. In the down time of waiting for his core to regrow, Dan watched the battle continue.

The high priest was winning, there was no contest.

How could we have been so stupid? Dan asked himself. This was a suicide mission the moment it was brought up.

Tears formed in Dan’s eyes as he watched the high priest slice Sully’s chest in half. White light glowed through the injury pulling at reality. A new lower half of the old man was created nearly instantly.

Dan paused. What was that?

His question went unanswered as a black sphere of shaking power came into view. It was the orb of power that called to him, that sang the sweet nothings of the Void. Dan tried to pull enough magic from his core to defend himself, finding hardly enough to create a simple orb. Still, it was the best defense he had in that moment.

The ball of void ignored the pitiful light, like a bucket of water versus a candle flame. The ball landed on Dan’s recovering body, inhaling it.

The world went black. There was nothing, there was… there was… Dan couldn’t remember. What had he been doing?

The buzz of his phone woke him. Internally he cursed, knowing that a phone call at this hour could only mean one thing. Work. With the speed and urgency of a snail, he reached over to his nightstand and snatched his phone.

“Hello?” he asked, hearing nothing but static from the other end.

His nose bled.