The party slunk along the treeline, shrouded by Jonathan’s cloaking skill. Even if they hadn’t, the undead were hardly the most vigilant of guards. Most of them stared off into the distance, not bothering to watch the ground.
They reached the castle walls a few minutes later, without any of the undead seeing them. Edgar led them towards a gate, which he had found with a tendril of wind. The gate was shut, but not barred, and it only took a light touch on it from Jonathan to make them swing open. He almost dropped the cloaking skill in shock. Inside the castle was simply nothing. Not an absence of undead or even buildings, but actual nothingness. A chasm stretched down into the earth, so deep that even with his enhanced sight, Jonathan was unable to see to the bottom. In the center of the castle floated a tower, about a hundred feet tall and twenty wide. A door yawned open at the base, leering hungrily at them. It was a normal door as such things went, but it was covered in sigaldry that sparkled in the weak light of the sun.
Jonathan turned towards the others, and then frowned. Their faces were slack jawed and vacant, as if laying eyes upon the chasm had robbed them of their wits.
“Edgar? Hushar?” Jonathan called out. There was no response. Acting on instinct, he turned the two men around, letting them face the treeline once more. Suddenly, they snapped out of their fugue. They tried to turn almost immediately, but Jonathan laid his hands on their shoulder, preventing them from doing so.
“What happened?” Edgar asked shakily. “I don’t remember anything.”
“The inside of the castle is filled with a chasm leading down into darkness. There is a tower in the center. It seems that looking upon it caused the minds of you two to short out. I’m not sure why I can gaze upon it though.”
“Because you are a godling,” a booming voice rang out from the tower. Both Edgar and Hushar paid it no heed though. “Your lot is that of change and strength. Such paltry glyphs such as those that guard me will not drive away one of your ilk.”
“Who are you?” Jonathan asked, confusing the others.
There was only a booming laugh in response.
Jonathan gave the others a look and then shrugged, leaping across the gap towards the tower. There was a small platform in front of the door, which he used as a landing spot.
The door loomed over him, taller than it had seemed from the castle gate. In fact, the tower in general seemed taller than he had first noticed. It looked like a mountain from where he was standing. With a shrug, he knocked on the door. A resonance of Divinity exploded through his body, and the door slammed open, revealing a sight even more improbable than the castle interior itself.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
A massive figure floated in the center of a dark void, bound in chains with links the side of city blocks. The figure constantly changed shape, but there was one motif that it continued to cycle through. That of a classical demon. Horns, hoofs, all the details were perfect down to the last detail. Now, with the door open, the muted aura that Jonathan had felt grew to full force, almost pressing him to his knees.
“What are you waiting for? Come on in.” The pressure suddenly pushed at his back, forcing him through the door. A platform extended from the doorway and into the void, giving him something to stand on. Then the door slammed shut, locking him in with the beast.
“Who are you?” Jonathan asked.
“I am, or rather was, Exal’drin. An Astral Warden. Or what you would call an outer god. The gods of Telvaria imprisoned me here, as the Hells are one of the greatest prisons ever created, at least in such a lowly universe as this.”
“Why are you in Mire of all places? Wouldn’t you be in a much higher plane?”
“Ah, the naivety of youth and weakness. This form you see here is so greatly diminished that if compared to my true self, it would appear as a spark next to the sun. If I was here in truth, in all of my power, this realm would break apart and sink into the Astral Plane.”
“What is the Astral Plane?” Jonathan asked.
“I did not bring you here to play as a talking animal, fooling around with words!” The outer god roared, in a sudden outpouring of fury. “However, it has been eons since I last engaged in conversion. I will answer that one question. The Astral Plane is what you lower beings refer to as the Void, and it separates the universes. I can smell its touch upon you. You are marked down to your very soul.”
“Fair enough,” Jonathan said, concealing his terror well. “What do you want from me though? I doubt there is anything I can do to help you, even if I thought that was wise.”
“Hah, you have a bit of a tongue on you. That is refreshing. However, I summoned you here. The only reason you were even able to find this place, out of the myriad fortresses in this section of Mire, was because I created a beacon for anyone sharing my Divinity. Anyone such as that in the Hells would also share my deep hatred of the gods.”
“So you want me to set you free, I assume? What’s in it for me then?”
“Is revenge against the beings that wronged you not enough? Releasing me will cause untold problems for the gods of this world. If I break free, then the bindings of causality on other such beings will begin to crumble.”
“That hardly helps me here,” Jonathan replied. “What I need over all else is power.”
“Power I can grant,” Exal’drin stated. “What do you want though?”
“I want a System mandated transaction where you offer what is fair recompense for me freeing you.”
“Clever little ant, aren’t you?” The outer god exclaimed. However, he did not look too annoyed about it. “Very well.”
Exal’drin, Lord of the Nightmare Sphere, King of the Astral Dwellers, and Incarnation of Wrath has offered you a deal!
You are tasked with freeing him from his chains, in whatever way you deem fit. Completion will only be registered when he is able to escape his current confines. He will not harm you unless you attack first.
Upon completion of this task, you will be rewarded with a Blessing of Exal’drin’s choice, as powerful as is merited by such a service.