-[Chapter 002]-

A ragged band of heroes cautiously advanced down the smoke filled hallway. They were surrounded on all sides by a field of carnage and ruin. The mauled remains of demons and beasts lay scattered across the blood drenched floor, their armor sundered and weapons broken. Rising up from the lake of blood the remains of black stone golems—once proud guardians of the dungeon—now stuck out like ashen islands; beaten, broken and crumbling like so many piles of dried out clay. Even as the last vestiges of magic left their ruined bodies, the emerald gemstone eyes of the arcane constructs still burned with vicious hatred for the victorious heroes as they advanced deeper into the dungeon.

The stone sentinels and demon warriors had clearly failed in their task of protecting the innermost sanctum of their home. Yet, unknown to the heroes, this was exactly what their dark master had intended for his minions. The heroes would advance, as they had every single time before, and then, when the last defender had been slain; the last minion had laid down his life for the besieged heart of darkness, the soul of the dungeon—its core—then and only then would the intruders have the honor of facing the master of this place most unholy and grim.

At least that is how the tradition known among monsters as dungeon running or delving went. It was in equal parts a ritual and a test, designed to impart a more sentimental meaning into the Cycle of Ruin by venerating the most worthy of its victims through battle. Thus, the challengers were not to be cuddled to their prize. They had to fight room to room, floor by floor, if they were to prove themselves worthy of facing the dungeon keeper below. Of the one hundred-something brave souls that had embarked on this perilous quest now only twenty six remained. Drawn together from all of the three major branches of kith-kind, on this occasion the ranks of the intruders were filled out by elves, dwarves and humans. United by faith in Maiden Solar and bonded by the deaths of their comrades, their paltry number would now have to face the most dangerous of all the monsters that dwelled within these halls—a creature so sinister that it commanded the respect and loyalty of all the minions that they had slain along the way—the dungeon keeper, Basil von Doom.

By now a sense of grim foreboding had burrowed deep into the hearts and minds of the remaining members of the expedition. With bruised, bloodied hands they clutched tight to their holy talismans and precious relics as they prayed to their goddess for protection: “Maiden Solar, watch over your flock… Keep us from harm and bless the immortal souls of your faithful sons and daughters… Empire Solar—empire eternal…”

Their prayers to their beloved Maiden Solar had gone unanswered for a while now. Only the pain filled howls of their dying enemies remained to bolster their resolve. Weighed down by the dreams and hopes of a million souls back home, they marched on, rightfully dreading the coming encounter with the dark lord of this realm.

As the last of the stone sentinels crumbled away into dust, the path ahead became clear again. The veil of shadows was lifted and a passage was revealed—a doorway to a room as of yet unexplored; a gateway into a chamber that was almost certain to be more dangerous than the ones before.

“This has to be it,” Aidan said and pressed his armor clad fingers up against the polished bronze surface of the throne room door. “The fated battle is at hand. By Maiden’s grace, we have been delivered to the heart of the monster’s lair.”

The passage that stood closed before the heroes was as tall as a mountain giant and at least half as wide. On any sensible occasion it could have served as the main gate of a prosperous merchant city or an imperial palace, but to lay one’s eyes upon such a marvelous thing in a place like this—the deepest, darkest corner of a dungeon—was an experience that nothing could have prepared them for. Given the severity of their task, their lives they had forfeited already, but up until this moment at least a modicum of hope had still remained.

It was here, in the heart of his enemy’s lair, that Aidan found himself hesitating for the first time since they embarked on their fateful quest. Concerned by the unknown horrors that dwelled on the opposite side of the ominous gate, he couldn’t help but to doubt his decision to launch this attack. The lives already lost and those that would soon perish under his command weighed heavily on his consciousness.

“Maiden, forgive me,” Aidan whispered in lamentation. “Slay the keeper of the dungeon—save our world. But what if we can’t… What if we are not strong enough? Will you have the strength to finish the task? How can we bloody your blessed hands with our failure?”

He glanced back at his companions to take measure of their resolve. A large man by any account, Aidan towered over the scene and his fellow heroes. But even a warrior of his size and experience had a heart as frail as the next man. Maybe one of his comrades could find the words of encouragement so badly needed? Alas, looking back at the passage behind them turned out to be a mistake, as his hopes were further dashed by the sheer scale of the unholy realm that was now revealed to him.

With the veil of shadows and mist much diminished the true size of the black marble hall was made clear to the heroes. The entire length of the passage was cast in fiendish red light that fell from massive iron chandeliers. The chains that bore their weight reached up into the swirling black mist that shrouded the ceiling above them.

Gazing up at the shifting darkness Aidan felt like he was staring into an abyss. Even more disheartening to him was the nagging sensation that someone—or something—might be staring back at him from the reaches above.

This brand of paranoia was shared among many of his friends, it would seem. When he looked to his companions Aidan recognized the signs of despair hiding just below the surface of their battle-weary expressions. Unfortunately for Aidan, not one among them seemed to have the fortitude to offer the words of encouragement that they all so badly needed. Too much had already been said; too many vows broken. Too few of their comrades had survived, so it felt like folly to promise them glory and vindication on a quest where only death had so far been found.

The few companions that now remained standing at Aidan’s side did so quietly—their determination expressed in rigid silence where lesser folk would have long since cried out in despair. They awaited his decision to advance—or not to. Since he was the senior fighter among them, the decision to confront the greatest of all evils fell on Aidan’s shoulders alone.

As it turned out, this unspoken call for guidance from his companions was exactly what Aidan had been searching for. It was a silent call to action that helped to reaffirm his commitment to the cause. He was their leader and, by the Maiden’s light, he would lead them against the darkness to the bitter end. Alongside his sister, Nadia, the gray haired warrior was the most experienced and capable of heroes in all of the land, and he was not going to let his people down. Not when complete victory over the forces of darkness was finally within his grasp.

Not much of a poet, Aidan took to rousing his companions for the final battle in his own stoic way. “Take heart!” he said. “Much has been lost, I know… but the sacrifices we have made here today will prove us worthy in the eyes of our beloved Maiden Solar! We are her chosen champions and we cannot fail in our holy task!

“The monstrous armies of the Dark Lord gather around our capital city at this very moment. They seek to extinguish the light of our age, but they shall find only death before its walls! Our righteous work here will inspire our people for one final stand against the encroaching monsters. We will drive the beasts from our sacred lands when we return triumphant with the Dark Lord’s head in hand! That I promise to you all—we will be victorious today!”

Aidan raised his sword as he issued his rallying call. “Thank the Maiden for her blessings, for it is under her guidance that we will put an end to Basil’s reign of terror! We are her chosen few and we shall not stray from her golden path!”

His companions replied to his challenge with a loud and courageous roar—an expression of their willingness to press onwards, no matter what horrors dwelled beyond the glistening bronze gate. They were the best that their world had to offer, after all. Who else could possibly stand against the greatest of all evils?

Having delivered his address, Aidan turned to the grey haired priestess at the back of their group. “Nadia?” he asked. “Have you tended to the wounded?”

“As well as I could, given the circumstances,” the old woman replied.

She approached the bronze gate and checked the passageway for arcane traps or any other such trickery. Her search turned up no signs of malicious tampering, so she turned to address the heroes instead. “The Maiden’s blessings have carried us this far,” she announced. “We will succeed in our task, for her golden spirit, ever bright as the sun, walks among us. Even in these dark halls… Look into your hearts and you shall find it.”

To further uplift their spirits, Nadia cast a spell of [Mass Divine Protection] over their entire group. The old priestess then took her place among the other spell-casters at the back of their formation and gave her brother the signal to advance.

Having kissed the golden sun emblem on the hilt of his sword for good luck, Aidan launched their incursion of the throne room. The burly human warrior pushed himself up against the massive bronze doors. It took him a moment to force the bronze slabs into motion, but once the doors parted the passage swung open with surprising ease. As Aidan stepped into the chamber beyond he gripped his sword with both hands, ready for the onslaught that was to come.

His companions were quick to follow. They clustered together at the threshold, ready and willing to charge in after their commander. Once they cast their eyes upon the scenery that welcomed them on the other side, however, their zeal for battle was dispersed quickly enough. They had expected a room and a throne, but having passed through the bronze gate they found a chamber as vast as it was awe inspiring. In the wake of the discovery their already slow advance ground to a halt as the foolish kith were made to realize the mind-numbing scale of the unholy seat of power that they sought to destroy.

Tall pillars of grey stone ran in endless rows towards the far end of the vast chamber. Fiendish whispers echoed from the shadows around them and both, the ground below and the ceiling above was shrouded in what looked to be a carpet of black mist. Crude iron braziers clung to the massive stone columns and drowned the smoke filled chamber in a violent red glow. The hungry flames licked their black iron cages with gluttonous tongues. Untamed, unnatural and entirely hostile to all that was holy and pure, the lively red flames were the birthmark of chaos and its creatures, the greatest of which this ragged band of mortals was now about to engage in a fight to the bitter end.

As Aidan advanced deeper into the chamber he sighted his goal—the pyramid-like construct at the top of which his enemy’s throne stood. The black, glassy surface of the obsidian steps glistened in the red light cast by the demonic fires, but the throne at the top remained covered in an ominous dusk.

His brave companions followed Aidan into the chamber and spread themselves out in-between several rows of pillars, mindful of the loose treasure scattered beneath their feet. They cared not for the hoard of gold coins and jewels that littered the chamber around them, but still had to take care not to slip on them once the battle was joined. Human knights in full plate armor took up positions standing shoulder to shoulder with heavy chainmail-laden dwarven warriors at the front of their group. Behind them skulked a few elven rangers and roguish looking types. Lastly, several mages and priests of various creeds and magic schools took to surveying the battlefield from the relative safety of the backline.

They kept a loose formation. The party had positioned itself in such a manner as to cover more ground in the case of a powerful area-of-effect spell being cast in their direction. The disadvantage of such a tactical decision was that it left them more vulnerable to any remaining enemy minions that might seek to isolate and overwhelm them one by one. None had appeared so far, but the heroes did not lower their guard.

“See to the flanks,” Aidan ordered his fighters while he himself took to the front of the formation. As the greatest of all the warriors, standing tall and proud at the front of his group, he would serve as its driving force—the tip of the spear.

Nadia abandoned the relative safety of the rear line, pushed past the other warriors and took up position at her brother’s side. Her wrinkled hands held fast to her main weapon—a pearl white staff adorned with holy scripture. As a priestess of considerable age, experience and worldwide renown, she was the only mage on par in sheer power and combat ability with the champion warrior leading their group. Likewise, she was the only support caster and healer in all of Empire Solar who could keep up with him in a heated battle.

“This is it, brother,” she told Aidan and levitated her spell book before her. “Either we kill the beast or the Maiden will. This is our finest moment, so let’s not disappoint her.”

Nadia’s heavy leather bound tome remained hovering in the air as she turned to channeling its arcane power for the battle to come. The pages flipped over one by one and symbols of red, blue and gold flashed in and out of existence around the spellcaster as she used her divine magic to bolster her companions’ combat abilities and resolve.

Just as the heroes were done with positioning themselves for the fight, the sound of fiendish, guttural laughter rang out across the chamber. It immediately gripped the minds of the intruders and drew their attention to the throne. At first the source of the laughter remained hidden from their sight, but through the twisting smoke the faint outline of a hulking beast slowly emerged to welcome them.

A thunderous voice now addressed the intruders. “By all means,” Basil said, “take your time. Prepare yourselves for the slaughter, my little kith heroes. Pray to your Maiden Solar for courage, if you must. Unlike your crumbling empire, I have all the time in the world to waste, if I so desire.”

Once more the heroes grew hesitant and their advance sputtered.

“Will you be my entertainment for the evening?” Basil asked. The hulking shape of the dungeon keeper leaned forward in the throne, but his full features remained shrouded in darkness. “Or have you come here to fall at my feet and beg for mercy? Which one is it: death or submission? Oh, I so very much hope that it is not the latter…”

Aidan remained wary of an ambush. “Reveal yourself, foul beast!” he commanded in an attempt to goad the dungeon keeper into dispersing the dusk. “We’ve delved deep in search of your lair, but we did not expect to find you cowering behind a magic veil in your very own throne room!”

Basil laughed. “I’m not the one lurking from pillar to pillar like a frightened child,” the dungeon keeper replied. “But if your desire to witness my glory with your own eyes was so great, then you should have simply asked. I have nothing to hide but my splendor, for it might leave you blinded.”

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Following a loud snap of Basil’s fingers the dusk surrounding the top of the obsidian pyramid began to fade and the demon prince was revealed in full. His body was clad in thick slabs of metal armor the crude shapes of which struck out like the thorns of a particularly degenerate rose. His hulking form was half wrapped in crimson cloth and the helmet resting at the foot of the throne resembled the gaping maw of a dragon—an artistic recreation of a fearsome beast in its own right, but not quite as fierce as the unholy creature that reigned in this realm of darkness.

Aidan had come here expecting the worst and had steeled his heart accordingly. Yet the striking visage of the dungeon keeper seemed to defy his innate warrior class ability to resist fear. Although the aura of dread emanating from the throne failed to overwhelm him, Aidan could do nothing to disperse the sense of doom that now weighed heavily on his consciousness.

“Keep your mind focused on the task at hand,” Nadia advised her brother. “The dungeon keeper must die—that must be your only concern. Forget our friends. We will meet them in the afterlife, in the summer gardens of our Maiden Solar.”

Aidan winced. “It is as I feared,” he said and cast his compassionate gaze across the scattered ranks of his brave companions. “Few of us will live to tell of this battle.”

Nadia nodded. “Their sacrifice will be honored,” she said. “Now focus—we have one last monster to slay.”

Aidan nodded and pressed on, advancing with zeal in his eyes towards the throne of his enemy.

***

Basil von Doom patiently observed the interlopers drawing—nay, shuffling—ever closer to his throne. His apprentice, Elnora, remained standing at his side, unmoved… unimpressed by the sight of the heroes. Half-shrouded by the mist that enveloped the throne and overshadowed by the presence of her master, the succubus had likewise not yet been noticed by the intruders.

“They are so slow to advance,” Basil noted with a hint of disappointment in his voice. “I have all the time in the world, but that doesn’t mean that I have nothing better to with it than wait on them.”

“Maybe they suspect foul play?” Elnora suggested. “They would have expected to face more minions in this chamber.”

“You might be right,” Basil replied. “Well, we better hurry them along then.”

Eager for the battle to be joined, the dungeon keeper addressed the overcautious heroes, assuring them of his honest intentions. “There are no traps set here,” he said. “Through cunning or strength, you have made your way to the heart of my realm. I intend to reward your valiant efforts with glorious combat, not petty tricks or false enticements.”

Given the brutal track record of the dungeon keeper, the kith intruders were not inclined to believe him just on his word alone. It would obviously take more than his promise to hasten their advance.

“Keep an eye on the dungeon keeper while I search the room,” Nadia told her brother as she cast a divination spell on herself. Her eyes lit up with a golden glow and she proceeded to scan the chamber around them for any hints of trickery or hidden foes.

“I see no traps, arcane or mundane,” Nadia soon announced. “It would appear that the demon is speaking truthfully, brother.”

“That seems a little too convenient for us,” Aidan pointed out.

“Perhaps the beast is overconfident,” the sister suggested. “He can’t possibly know of our plan…”

“Could it be that he really is that powerful?” Aidan asked.

Nadia’s burning gaze narrowed as she examined the dungeon keeper sitting on the throne. “I can’t read his power level through the arcane interference of the black mist... but I have no doubt that it won’t be an easy task taking him down,” she said. “He fits the descriptions of the dungeon keepers of old, but I sense a strange power dwelling within him; burning, yearning to break free.

“This demon’s aura is like none other I have ever seen. No telling how it fights or how strong a spell caster the monster is. We should make the bastard come to us, not the other way around,” she concluded.

“Agreed,” Aidan said. “It would be better if we could fight him out here in the open. We have the advantage in numbers so we should seek to surround him.”

The veteran warrior signaled for his companions to advance along the flanks while he himself took to the vanguard. Aidan resolved to face the monster head on while the others would seek to strike the beast from the sides and rear.

Basil maintained his passive disposition as the kith heroes adjusted their formation for the battle. Having reached the middle portion of the chamber, Aidan pointed his sword at the dungeon keeper in a taunt. “Come down from your throne, you wretched cur!” he said. “We have done away with your pathetic minions. Face us in battle and know that your end is nigh!”

Basil made a show of slowly leaning back into his throne. “You don’t get to make any demands here, puny human,” he said. “If you have come all this way to ask something of me, then you must show me the same respect you would give to any other lord of a castle.”

He waved for the intruders to approach. “Come closer, if you dare,” Basil said. “Kneel before me and I might just accept your challenge.”

Aidan hesitated for a moment. While he knew not if the demon had some sort of a surprise planned, he understood that nothing would be gained by stalling for time. Aidan decided to press towards the throne, just as the demon had requested.

Nadia took him by the hand. “Don’t,” she said. “This is obviously some sort of a ruse.”

“We don’t have a choice,” Aidan said and freed himself from her grip. “Time favors him more than us. Whatever monsters have survived our purge must surely be gathering behind us. We have to strike now, before his minions have had a chance to regroup!”

“That’s right,” Basil said. “Don’t forget whose house you have entered into. I will do as I please, and you—as you must.

“Come closer,” he beckoned them. “It is the duty of the challenger to approach the champion. Show me the respect that I am due. Then I will decide if you are worthy enough to die by my hand.”

Reluctantly, Aidan and Nadia approached the steps of the throne.

As the heroes drew closer the flames in the iron braziers rose steadily until the chamber was all but drowned in their red glow. Yet the light somehow seemed to avoid the horned demon atop of the throne. Shrouded in an aura of dusk, his finer features remained elusive to the prying eyes of the trespassers.

What was finally revealed to them, however, was the second figure standing atop of the pyramid. From her position at the dungeon keeper’s side Elnora observed the approaching kith with unbridled contempt. Her sharp, yet seductive gaze traced the bodies of the intruders, finer details included. At any given time her halberd was ever so slightly tilted towards the nearest enemy, no doubt so that the succubus could leverage its cutting edge towards them as soon as they charged.

“I have heard much about you and your famous exploits in service to the realm,” Basil said and casually gestured at the two siblings standing in the middle of the chamber beneath him. “You, children born on a night blessed by a twin tailed comet, raised in poverty and elevated to heroic acclaim through hardship and merit—a fine destiny for any mortal creature to have. A fine destiny to have indeed…”

Basil extended his open palm in an offering gesture. “You have come so far that even I must admit that I am impressed. If you were anything but the heroes of your realm, I would gladly welcome you as my minions. For your undying loyalty I would find a fitting reward—pleasures and honors beyond your wildest dreams.”

“Never!” Aidan proclaimed, cutting short the dungeon keeper’s monologue. “We have come here to do one thing and one thing only! We will cut the heart from your army when we cut off your head, monster! Maiden Solar has blessed us with this holy task and her light will not be drowned out by your darkness. Not even here, in these wretched halls that you call home! We will defeat you, foul beast!”

Basil shrugged in response to Aidan’s declaration of defiance and withdrew his hand. “As I said,” he continued, “if you were anything other than heroes, I would have bothered to think of a worthy bribe. That is to say, I would have prepared an offer that you could not refuse. But, instead, I have decided that your lives have run their course. Much like your empire, the last pages of your storied lives are mine to claim.” He slowly clenched his fist in a crushing motion. “Mine to destroy…”

The dungeon keeper examined his fist. “To die by my hand is its own reward, really. The penultimate battle that you have been training for your entire lives has finally come. Rejoice, humans, for I will fight you myself.”

“Our triumph will be our reward!” Nadia declared. “You and your servants are nothing more than a festering blight upon this world.”

“Who are you to claim to be the measure of our destiny?” Aidan asked.

“You disagree?” Basil asked. “Is there any greater test that you could ask for; a more worthy challenge than facing me in glorious combat?” The dungeon keeper dismissed the notion with the shake of his head.

“You should consider it an honor to fall by my hand,” he declared. “Although you might not know it, I am giving you exactly what you have always wanted. I am offering you that which your heart desires the most—a hero’s death.

“There are few things more poetic than fighting against the inevitable,” he declared. “A few days from now I will leave your world a burning ruin and my glorious victory will be immortalized with this battle—the last stand of its finest heroes.

“Or did you actually think that you had a chance of surviving our encounter?” he asked.

Basil once more extended his open palm towards the intruders. “This is my garden of Doom that you have entered,” he said. “Like blossoming flowers, I shall pluck you and preserve the beauty of your strength, if only between the pages of my own life’s story. It is by your last stand here that this world’s legacy will be measured, so do not disappoint me. Let fly your battle cry, for it is the last breath of your civilization. I want to hear the lion’s roar for one last time before the silence settles in and the darkness descends upon your people.”

“You seem to think yourself high and mighty,” Aidan said, “but you are nothing compared to our holy Maiden Solar. That is why you dwell in these dark halls while we, her faithful children, rule the surface world.”

He looked to his sister. “You were right to say that he is nothing more than a foul blight upon the land—one that we shall burn away!”

“That’s where you are wrong,” Basil said. The dungeon keeper once more clenched his fist, illustrating his selfish intent. “My destiny is grand and magnanimous,” he announced. “And you shall be a footnote; a bookmark and nothing more. But I will still have you, no matter how insignificant, for you are the best that this world has to offer. Therefore, by the right of conquest, you are mine to claim.

“So come, deliver yourselves onto me. I am ready to reap what this cruel universe has sown.”

Basil leaned back into his throne. It appeared as though he was finally done talking.

“That thing sure loves the sound of its voice,” Nadia told her brother.

Aidan tried to coerce the demon into leaving his throne for one last time. “If you are so honorable in your intentions then step forward and face us!” he said. “I will show you what a true warrior of Empire Solar can do!”

“Do you honestly think that you can stand up to me?” Basil asked. He picked at his beard in a gesture conveying light amusement. “It is true that you two are special—destined for greatness and blessed by a higher power—but the rabble surrounding you can do nothing to me. The poor fools that you brought along for the slaughter will only hinder us…”

Basil’s gaze passed over the throne room. The dungeon keeper graced every last one of the intruders with his cruel smile along the way. “After all that you have seen on your way here, do you really think that you can defeat me, the master of this dungeon of Doom?”

The dungeon keeper dismissed the intruders with the wave of his hand. “Those among you who choose to leave right now will not be pursued,” he declared. “Go forth and tell your people to give up their futile resistance. Tell them of what you have witnessed here today. Tell of my power that cannot be denied!”

The battle lines of the kith intruders did not buckle.

“And yet, here we stand,” Aidan proclaimed. “We have already denied you this far; all the way into the deep, dark heart of your realm, in fact.”

“You know that you are cornered,” the old priestess proclaimed. “There is nowhere left for you to hide. We have scoured every passage, every chamber of your foul taint! Your servants have all been slain; all of your traps ruined. No one else but you, the demon prince himself, remain to be vanquished.

“We have done our duty to the Empire,” Nadia said. “And now we shall do our Maiden’s bidding by ridding this world of your foul presence. It is time to end this madness!”

She raised her staff and cast an aura of [Mass Blessing] on her party. As the area around them grew brighter so did the expressions of her companions, their morale bolstered by her divine might.

“Come forth and face us!” Nadia commanded. “Climb down from your throne of lies and meet your end, demon!”

The dungeon keeper laughed in response to her threats.

“I’m sorry, but can’t quite make out your feeble words,” Basil said as he leaned forward in his throne. “Come closer, please. Your fear must be muffling your voice.”

“Enough of this,” Aidan said and looked to an elven ranger at the back of their formation. “Evindal,” he addressed his companion, “draw the demon out!”

The tall, lean and pointy eared man nodded. “It will be done,” he replied in a soft voice as he notched an arrow in his golden bow. Once loosened the projectile traveled the distance in a flash and struck the demon square in the chest, but the shaft snapped as the arrowhead failed to pierce the thick armor of the dungeon keeper.

The ranger notched a second arrow and fired it a little higher, aiming for the demon’s head. This time Basil was forced to react. The dungeon keeper grabbed the arrow out of the air just as it was about to strike his face. Having examined the arrowhead—and appreciated its craftsmanship—Basil drew back his arm for the throw.

The ranger was about to try for a third time when the second arrow came flying back at him. In an incredible show of dexterity, he ducked at the very last moment to avoid getting skewered by his own projectile.

Basil taunted the intruders from his throne. “Care to try that again, little elf?” he said. “There is hardly a man among you that can touch me. Not that you won’t try…”

He addressed Aidan next. “I suppose we really should get down to the butcher’s business,” Basil said, “but I don’t really care for staining my lair with that low level blood of your friends. So how about we thin out your ranks a little? Make it more… personal for us, the big shots.”

Basil raised his left hand revealing a scroll to the intruders. At his command the parchment unfurled and a glowing magic circle materialized in front of it.

“Everyone!” Nadia yelled, “Take cover!”

The band of heroes swiftly plunged into cover behind the great stone columns, anticipating an area-of-effect spell to be flung at them.

“That’s right,” Basil said as he was about to release the seal on the incantation. “Stick close to the pillars. Stick to the plan...

“Activate scroll: [Greater Mass Illusion]!”

To the sound of cracking stone the pillars holding up the ceiling lit up with blue veins of mana as Basil used them to amplify the spell. Blue light erupted from the broken arcane seal of the scroll and mixed in with the red glow cast by the fires dancing in the braziers, briefly drowning the chamber in a purple glow. The air throughout the throne room began to visibly fold and warp as the illusion spell took hold of the scene.

Thinking fast, Aidan picked up his sister and carried the priestess out into the open. He tried to distance them from the pillars as much as he could before the demon’s magic had fully manifested.

“[Greater Focus]!” Nadia said and touched her brother’s head, thus conveying the spell’s effects onto him. She herself was already protected against such mind altering magic due to her innate class abilities of a priestess.

Having reached the open most part of the chamber they began searching the throne room for any signs of their companions, only to find that the two of them now appeared to be standing alone in the company of Basil and his mysterious female attendant.

Aidan looked to the dungeon keeper and scoffed. “And you said that there were no traps...”

“It was not a trap, really,” Basil argued, “though you did fall for the spell’s effects quite handily.”

He discarded the spent magic scroll. “Anyway, I am pleased that the illusion did not affect the two of you,” Basil said. “Truth be told, it was only intended for dealing with your weakling friends.”

“What have you done to them?” Aidan demanded to know.

“I can’t see anyone,” Nadia declared after searching the room with her divine vision. “This is at least a Tier 8 illusion spell that he cast. He has managed to warp reality itself!”

“So he has mastery of illusion spells,” Aidan said. “Good to know that I won’t have any crazy fire balls to dodge.”

“He did cast it from a scroll,” Nadia pointed out. “Don’t jump to conclusions yet. It might be that someone else made it for him.”

“Oh, please,” Basil said, “throwing around fireballs is so boorish. Why resort to such simple magic when there are far more entertaining spells to play with?”

“Can you dispel this illusion?” Aidan asked his sister.

Nadia shook her head in denial. “Tier 8 [Mass Illusion] is a battlefield spell. It has a large area of effect, so normally our best chance would be just to leave the area where it was cast, but… we can’t do that within the confines of the dungeon.”

“Is there any other way to break its effects?” Aidan asked.

Nadia drew his attention to the room around them. “See the pillars and how they are glowing? The mana infused stone is feeding the spell, so it is unlikely to expire soon. You would need to bring those down before I could dispel this magic.”

“So?” Aidan asked. “I’ll just smash them all to pieces.”

Basil shook his finger. “Bad idea,” he said.

“That is not something we can do quickly,” Nadia said. “Not that the demon would let us…

“It pains me to say it, but it looks like we will have to face the monster alone.”

“Did you really think that there was any other way this encounter would play out?” Basil asked. “I won’t be denied my satisfaction in slaying you two. Intimately…”

Aidan gritted his teeth in anger. “Alright,” he said and pointed his blade towards Basil. “You will get your wish. Ready yourself, demon, because I am coming for your head. And after that I am freeing my companions from this damned illusion of yours. The brave sons and daughters of Empire Solar will not fail in their holy task today!”

“That’s the spirit!” Basil said. “And to think that all that it took was a magic trick for you to start playing along.”

The dungeon keeper cracked his knuckles. “The stage has been set,” he announced. “The heroes of Empire Solar are finally ready to play their part in the great cycle.”