With a simple command, a pane of purple mist appeared before Raj. She was truly resplendent, wreathed in dark purple flames that did not emit heat, but rather hummed with barely contained arcane power. Her wings, even tucked by her sides, were glorious. Each feather was dark and iridescent, and any light that touched them created a gorgeous purple sheen.
Such were Sapphire’s observations as the Almiraj woman waited patiently behind the Dark Phoenix as she completed the spell. She was not alone in her admiration of the elegant and effortless display of power.
To her left stood Nadira the recently liberated djinn. The timeless and unfathomable being emitted the same deep and foreboding aura as always from beneath her plain, black, and hooded robe. Two sparks of dark blue light could be seen within the deep shadows of the hood, just hinting at the cosmic energy contained within her.
On her right stood the mysterious and beautiful elf named Thornwhisper. Sapphire knew little about the woman other than the fact that she had been included into their most inner circle by lord Gray himself. Thornwhisper emitted no aura whatsoever, and Sapphire found that to be more disturbing than anything. Beyond that, Sapphire was enchanted by the woman. Her demeanor was intensely regal, nothing short of a queen could manage a posture and expression like that. The emerald gown she wore was of the finest and most exotic silk, and clung to her like ivy overtaking a castle wall.
Sapphire, a woman that worked near the top of this booming nation, felt like a little girl in the company of these three in spite of her own considerable power. She held the reigns of this nation’s economy, was capable of freely transmuting the very elemental building blocks of existence, and could duplicate objects from the mundane to the mythical for a pittance of Soul Energy.
“This way.” Raj’s raspy voice snapped her to attention.
The Dark Phoenix disappeared into the wall of purple mist, and Sapphire followed along with Nadira and Thornwhisper.
The three ladies were the first to view this fabled place, aside from the librarian herself of course. Their faces were stoic and serious as they entered with the weight and worry of their current mission bearing down on them. However, none could maintain their impassive facade here for long. Sapphire, Nadira, and Thornwhisper all involuntarily and slowly craned their necks to look up in unison as though it had been rehearsed.
Mimir’s Library, a vast dimensional vault containing the accumulated knowledge of its namesake sprawled endlessly around them. Shelves that reached up beyond sight extended for hundreds of meters in every direction. The sky was the black of a spilled ink pot, and the floor matched it perfectly. The only light here came from the tomes themselves, and yet it was far from a dark place. Nor was it uncomfortable. Sapphire had the distinct feeling that the danger of this place, was that centuries might be lost in study with no concept of any time actually passing. It was a labyrinth of pure knowledge, and only the librarian could navigate it.
“I have already gathered a list of tomes and any scraps of information I could find about the location.” Raj spoke softly, but any sound traveled almost too well in this hushed place. “I have prepared a place for us to work.”
She guided the small group to a clearing in the maze of shelves, where a fine oak table with four chairs were neatly staged. Stacks of blank parchment for taking notes along with place settings for tea, and some delicious looking pastries and biscuits were also set out. Today’s war was of the quill, and Raj was an unmatched general on that battlefield.
“So, to confirm what we already know.” Nadira’s clear voice held a hint of hesitation. She seemed to be resonating uncomfortably with the energy of the library. “Leza’s report suggests that lord Gray was waylayed by the Nexus Queen herself. Neferthotep the Brood Herald's presence can leave little doubt of that.”
“Who is the Nexus Queen?” Thornwhisper asked, showing not a hint of hesitation or embarrassment. “I am new to this world, so I’ll ask that you indulge my ignorance.” Sapphire was glad the elf woman asked the question she had been about to ask herself.
“She is the living inter-dimensional vehicle, and brood-mother of a race of marauders and mercenaries known to us as astral locusts. As a collective, their existence is a threat equal to an entire hostile world.” Raj gave the explanation as Nadira nodded along in confirmation. “There are hints to be found in history which suggest that the astral locusts have colluded with Kutris, and act as gatekeepers between Blödgard and the mortal world.”
“I’ve heard some conflicting things about Blödgard.” Sapphire spoke up. “Is it not merely the large labyrinth beneath the sands of Rakashi?”
Stolen novel; please report.
“There exists a portal there, within that mortal maze.” Nadira answered. “Blödgard actually refers to the realm of the Shattered God, Polemios the Spirit of Conflict. It was once a place reserved for those beings that outgrew the mortal world, where transcendent warriors of all species might continue to hunt and cultivate their power long after they had outgrown mortality. The very air of that realm echoes with primordial conflict, and stirs the blood of any being with a lust for battle. Now it serves as the private playground of the one who betrayed the old god and usurped him - Kutris the Worm.”
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I could feel the blood leaking into my lungs as I took a ragged breath. It was a horrible sensation, but it passed after a few seconds. I sat flat on my ass in the moist undergrowth as the innumerable wounds on my body slowly closed. Dragonflies the size of my forearm zipped past my head, sounding like little remote controlled helicopters. It was darker than I expected. Unlike the forests back home, every scrap of vegetation was willing to fight hard for sunlight and the canopy was a deep tangle that light could barely fight its way through. Ferns as large and sprawling as oak trees crowded between the sky scraper sized tree trunks, and in the shadow of the ferns grew a thick carpet of clover, moss, and mushrooms with bright red caps. The smell of unbridled life mixed with the cloying scent of decay. Throaty growls and primal roars echoed from unknown distances all around me. These features were mostly lost to the background as I stared blankly at the corpse of the thing responsible for my terrible state, still trying to wrap my head around it.
“A goddamn goblin.” I said it out loud for the fifth time, hoping it would sound less crazy this time.
There was no mistaking it. Wiry limbs, big ears, green skin, long nose, sharp teeth, pot belly. It was just clearly a damn goblin. The only fundamental truth about goblins it betrayed was that it hadn’t been a weakling, or even close to it.
It had been like tangling with a badger on PCP. This one goblin had pushed my limits as much as Ogrun or even Typhon. Even in death, the little psycho gripped its two bone daggers with white knuckles. Those things had punched right through my mythic grade armor and turned my poor organs into pincushions. The freakiest thing? The smile still plastered on its dead mug.
I was just standing up, still reeling when I heard a leaf crunch behind me. I turned, and my heart sank to my feet. Four goblins, dressed just like the first little bastard filtered out of the undergrowth and the moment they saw me their eyes lit up like they were kids on Christmas morning.
I gripped Charon’s Call; the shaft of the spear was already gummy with the blood of both my enemy and myself. A tingle crawled up my spine and spread across my chest and shoulders. I felt my lips pull back, exposing my teeth somewhere between a snarl and a smile. How long had it been since I felt that thrill? The time I finally took a swing at the old man? It was like a splash of cold water, and it reminded me of something I had long forgotten.
“I fucking love this...” It was something I had never really wanted to admit to myself, and it felt as though a pair of heavy shackles fell away from my arms and legs. “I really LOVE this.” The goblins cocked their heads curiously, and actually halted their advance for a moment at my words.
Yes, that’s right. The biggest lie I had ever told myself was that I was the kind of guy that craved peace and quiet. I turned into a slug on earth, not because of some bullshit injury, but because I was terminally bored. Wrestling was a tease. Even dabbling in mixed martial arts had been more of a pointless game of 'win but keep the other guy safe'. Here, dancing on the edge of the blade separating life and death, I was truly free to be myself. My true, and utterly violent self.
Everything seemed to slow down as I embraced the rush of adrenaline and the sheer thrill of the coming dance. They were coming in as fast as any enemy I had dealt with before. I allowed instinct to guide my aim as I hurled my spear with full strength at the leading goblin.
The goblin was clearly going to dodge the weapon, and I clamped my grip down on the last inch of the shaft, stopping it before it could fly. I swung the spear by the butt in a wide arc, making the goblins stutter in their charge. I then turned as I let the spear continue to sweep back around toward my own neck. It stopped with the middle of the shaft resting on my left shoulder. I completed my turn, disguising a vicious thrust with my body, and felt the satisfying resistance of the spearhead punching through a goblin sternum. It died instantly, and Charon’s Call hungrily drank in the goblin’s Soul energy. The spear vibrated, as if in pleasure.
The other three goblins showed no care for their fallen comrade as a dagger stabbed savagely into my back just above my right hip. I growled and stabbed the butt of my spear into the armpit of the attacking goblin. It grunted in pain, but only drove the weapon deeper up into my back, nicking a kidney and sending a fresh wave of burning agony coursing through me.
I released my right hand grip on my spear and growled in pain. I ignored the stabbing pain and took advantage of the tenacious goblin’s unwillingness to give up on his attack. I made to throw a punch, but the goblin reacted like Ogrun, aiming to bite my fist. I opened my hand in mid swing, extending the long claw of my thumb to stab the nasty creature in the eye. My thumb sank into the eye socket all the way to the knuckle, and I was finally rewarded with a shriek of pain as the goblin thrashed and let go of the dagger buried in my back. It stabbed with the other weapon over and over in a frenzy, leaving several more deep punctures in my torso.
I ignored the pain, and the strikes grew weaker. Finally the goblin went limp. I held onto the corpse by digging my four remaining claws into its scalp. I then swung the body to intercept another incoming dagger, catching it with the neck of my new meat shield. Shockingly, the goblin savagely ripped the blade across, decapitating its former ally.
I leaped back and the remaining two goblins faced off with me. I was dripping blood from a score of deep wounds, and they were still relatively uninjured. I took it as a compliment that the excitement had somewhat drained from their expressions.
I spat a bit of blood and resisted the urge to summon a potion. It was a waste, and I didn’t want to tip my hand any more than necessary to anything that might be spying on the fight. The fact that I could use my inventory was comforting, but all of my teleportation abilities were still locked. These thoughts were fleeting, and I saw the goblins come to a decision. One rushed at me, while the other darted into the undergrowth. One was stalling me, the other was going to warn its friends.
Now that the shock of their unexpected strength and ferocity had passed, this remaining single goblin didn’t have any new cards to play. I still took a few painful stabs and lost two fingers to a vicious bite, but the win was mine. I Quickly gathered the bone daggers and stashed them. By the time I set off in the opposite direction from the fleeing goblin, my lost digits had regenerated and I moved through the forest MUCH more carefully than before.
My goal was the mountain top ruin I had spied during my fall. It was the only landmark, and I hoped there would be some hints about this dumpster-fire situation.