Chapter 49

I took another step forward, stomping down onto the end of the pathway toward the doors. Another ripple shot outward from the step, and the verdant pools stilled, but only for an instant. They began to shudder, twisting and rippling as the bones that had pressed and struggled against the vines before were instead embraced by them, only somewhat humanoid forms pulling themselves upward, wrapped in vines and moss. Glowing eyes stared dimly out at me from skulls of far too many shapes and sizes to all be human; some were elongated with saw-toothed maws, others blunt with broad flat teeth and thick jawlines, some on a scale far too large to be human, eye sockets large enough to fit my head within.

A hand the size of my ribcage clawed its’ way out of the ground, reaching toward me with a speed that far belied its size, fingerbones studded with armored spikes covering each joint, tipped with shovel-like nails that scraped furrows in the stone floor as they clawed at me. A second hand, equally as large, pressed itself down against the mossy sea as it emerged, as if trying to pull itself up from the depths and into the light. I darted away from the over-large hand, pushing past it to try and make it farther down the pathway before too much more of the monstrosity managed to get free. Elsewhere, smaller creatures had begun to pull themselves free of the vines; one resembled a monkey, except with two sets of arms and digitigrade legs, a long sloping jaw studded with a carnivore’s triangular teeth. Somehow, an unearthly shriek emerged from its’ bony maw even though no throat lay behind it, the vines rubbing together like a cricket’s legs to create a seemingly endless droning scream.

I lashed out with a kick at the screaming creature, and it exploded into its’ constituent bones, scattering across a dozen feet in front of me, ending the scream. Even as I watched, startled by how easily it was defeated, I could see the bones crawling back together as if carried on the backs of hundreds of ants, the bones beginning to pile back together again. A hasty fireball burned away the animating vines from it, only for more to emerge from the sea of plants beneath and enshroud the bones, already working to rebuild the small creature.

In the time that distraction cost me, several other creatures had begun to make their escape from their verdant grave, long-rusted weapons held in bleached bone hands, carpets of moss clinging to scraps of armor. The vines entwining them held an emerald sheen, one I recognized from the Leviathan fight; they shrugged off lesser flames even as I spattered them with firebolts, forced to concentrate my attacks to do enough damage to even slow one down. A humanoid shape wielding a pair of long daggers lunged toward me, and I burned away his ribcage with a targeted attack, the arms slumping to the sides as their bindings broke. On the ground beside me, the arms began to flail and swipe as they reattached themselves, daggers cutting clumsy arcs through the air.

I jumped over the fallen shape, coming down onto the skull with a hard stomp, and the old bones exploded into white chips from the force of impact. The torso kept pulling itself together, though the arms seemed even more uncoordinated, fingerbones twitching spasmodically around the worn hilts. I stomped down on the blade of a greatsword, the hand wielding it struggling to drag its’ torso out of the vines, a hammerhead-like skull twisting back and forth as it struggled to rise. A swift kick separated the shoulder from the torso, and I slammed a flaming fist into the bridge of the skull, crunching it inward. I rose up briefly on a dense column of flame as I poured energy down around me, fire burning so hot that it scoured the stone around me, briefly driving back the all-encompassing tendrils of the living sea. Even as the flames reluctantly began to spread, other vines lashed at them, slapping down on the stray embers and dousing them, drowning every flame as soon as it began to catch.

I stumbled as a hand wrapped around my ankle, pulling me to a halt even as I tried to exploit the brief opening and charge toward the doors. The headless skeleton clawed and pulled at me, the old bones strengthened by ivy reaching deeply into the web of vines around us, tendrils crawling up my leg to try and pin me in place even as I struggled against them. I yanked backward, tearing at the greenery, my right hand extended to spill a torrent of flames over my leg and the things grappling it. I felt the heat as a vague sensation of pain, watching the plants burn away and reluctantly relinquish their grip on me even as the desiccated fingerbones cracked from the heat. I heaved against it, feeling their grip loosen abruptly, and stumbled backward a step – onto the body of the monkey-like skeleton, which wrapped itself around my foot like an ungainly boot. Even as I crunched down onto its’ ribcage, I lost my footing and fell onto my back, the hard stone beneath unrelieved by the net of vines laying overtop it. I could feel the stone rippling beneath me as more abominations clawed their way upward, hands pressing against my back, fingers pushing through the stone to wrap around my limbs, trying to drag me down into the ground.

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Unreasoning terror clawed at my mind, the thought of becoming encased in a writhing stone graveyard pricking every fear of darkness and isolation, my throat closing up against the upwelling scream that threatened to break loose. I fought, struggling to tear my hands away, fingers hooked into claws as I tried to rip into the vines, nails clawing up my skin even as I tore through the plants. Sputters of fire almost leaked out of my skin as I struggled, burning reflexively at everything that tried to touch me, every wound drawing another panicked response.

I ripped my right hand free and clutched for the amulet at my neck, the powerful source of magic that had been boosting my attributes, the supposed ‘Calamitous Ruby’. Was this the calamity it has envisaged? Did the Scribe see me lying here, tears of terror sliding down my cheeks and cutting lines through the ash and dirt clinging to my skin? It claimed I was ‘marked for greatness.’ Did my road really end here, drowned under a tide of restless bodies brought back to life by relentless nature?

No.

I gripped the amulet so hard that the edges of it dug into my palm, a sharp sensation of pain that was rapidly replaced by heat. I dragged energy out of the amulet, feeling the thrashing sense of awareness within the ruby fighting against the relentless grasp of my will, even as I fought against the entangling vines around me. I felt a crack in its’ surface form like ice breaking within my hand, and threw that energy outward.

Undirected rage spilled forth, bloodred flames that clung to everything they touched like napalm, driving the vines and skeletons into a frenzy. The greatsword I had stepped on was now being used like a splitting axe, raining down blows against the vines and stone, great chips breaking off of the pitted blade as the animated body heedlessly smashed it around. The vines trying to beat out the fires instead became enshrouded in them, wrapping around each other like warring serpents, tearing away chunks of itself. The headless dagger-wielding abomination cut into its’ own bony ribcage, sawing at the vines that wrapped its’ spinal column, the bones dropping lifelessly when its bony fingers tore out a section of its’ own old spinal column.

I could feel the energy spilling from the amulet as I struck out around myself with blades of fire, severing writhing lengths of tentacles with my frantic slashing, yanking myself upward and throwing myself to my feet, infusing myself with an agonizing amount of energy to fuel Haste, my steps a lightning-quick flurry, spreading flames everywhere I moved as I darted toward the doorway. I yanked my hand away from the amulet as it heated, feeling like it was going to explode around my neck if I kept drawing upon it; the hand that had clutched it had the smooth shape of the oval-cut ruby burnt into its’ center, the burnt flesh almost glossy. I rushed toward the doors only to arrive a moment too late; the enormous skeleton leapt from the edge of the pool to its’ center, slamming into the doorway like a runaway truck, bones briefly separating from the force of the impact as it rolled back to its’ feet. Two enormous upper arms, muscled with thick planes of moss stood out from nearly bladed shoulders, shovel-like claws digging into the floor to slow itself and twist around to face me, a smaller middle set of arms ending in grasping talons the length of my hand, their inner edge curved into blades of bone. Its’ legs were thick and squat, two set just below the middle set of arms, and two more farther back, a centaur the size of a truck with legs like tree trunks. It roared at me as I came close, the rasping sound of bark the hardness of stones grinding together in its’ chest, vines spilling from the edges of its’ mouth and from the many gaping holes in its’ chest where plants were still growing in even now. It slammed its’ palms down on the ground, causing the ocean of plants to ripple outward, stirred into frenzied action around itself.

I looked around frantically for a moment, trying to find a safe place to stand while I fought the beast, still fighting away the vines twisting at my ankles, jumping away from ensnaring hands. I pulled the wand and staff from my sash, drawing in a deep, focusing breath as I mulled over for an instant how to fight the creature, weighing the risks of trying to stay at a distance, or get in close and try to do devastating damage before it could kill me, either by cutting me to ribbons with its’ talons, or simply crushing me in its’ enormous hands. I pulled on the energy stored within the wand, channeling the streamer of flame across into the head of the staff, and made my choice.

Tucking my chin to my chest, staff held out before me defensively, I charged.