Persepera

The 25th of Elaphebolion

The Year 4631 in the Era of Mortals

The smell was the first thing Arche noticed. It blasted into him, hot, fetid, and rancid. He had to fight to keep his gorge from rising through it all. The slide took him through a myriad of different turns and drops until he was utterly scrambled and confused. He’d barely managed to hold onto the Tridory without it getting stuck in a wall or accidentally impaling himself on either end of it.

The landing was squishy, which, when combined with the smell, made for a unique revulsion that Arche was sure he’d feel again in his dreams, if he survived the day. There wasn’t much light, only a dim glow from bioluminescent moss, but it was enough to see the truth of things. The floor was covered in bones, some still with rotting flesh attached. More smells mingled in, excrement and other waste. A massacre in a sewer would have been more pleasant.

Arche coughed, trying and failing not to gag. He stumbled away from the mess, toward a dark opening in the rocks, making it only a handful of steps before vomiting, then stumbled on again. A tunnel stood next to the dark recess. When he reached it, the rocks rumbled. A deep, grating rasp, so heavy it made Arche’s chest thrum. He spun, trying to find the source of the noise. From the recess, four yellow orbs appeared, the size of bucklers. They blinked at him, two at a time. Horror crept up Arche’s spine and settled somewhere near the crown of his head.

Not orbs, eyes.

Arche stumbled back and brought the Tridory up defensively. The sound intensified until it became a part of Arche. Bones vibrated across the floor with the force of it and the moss shivered, making the light flicker. The eyes moved closer. Sparks flashed near the ground, revealing monstrous claws scraping against the stone, the sound lost to the bone-shaking growl emanating from two separate heads.

“Whoa, whoa, easy!” Arche couldn’t hear his own voice.

He stumbled on something unseen and fell, landing heavily on his back. The creature advanced, not hearing or not caring about his attempts at placation.

The sound was all encompassing. Even if Arche had shouted, not a word would get through, so he cast his mind toward the creature, trying to get some sense of what he was dealing with. He brushed against a vast consciousness, larger than anything Arche had connected to before. To say a storm of emotions swirled inside the beast would not do it credit, there was an entire world of consciousness, full of agony and hunger and hatred. It swarmed over Arche, threatening to bury him in its immensity. Arche’s mind cried out at the weight of it, the intensity. He tried to project peace, friendliness, but it was like flicking a drop of water into the sun. It would consume him, mind and body.

Another consciousness appeared. If this roiling planet of emotions was the sun, then the new consciousness was the moon. It was sadness and apathy, the spirit of a broken creature that no longer remembered how to hope. It was drops of water, tempering out the flames that beat against Arche’s consciousness, giving him just enough respite together his concentration in a desperate cry.

‘Hekáte!’

The roiling world of pain pulled back a fraction and from it came a thunderous, snarling, echoing voice.

‘WHO ARE YOU TO INVOKE THAT NAME?’

Arche shuddered beneath the weight of the voice. This creature was on a completely different level. It radiated with power and fury.

‘I was tasked by her to free you.’

The beast’s growl intensified, reverberating around his mind in their mental link as easily as it did around the stone walls.

‘YOU LIE.’

‘No! She gave me proof!’

The beast hesitated.

‘DECEIVE US AND WE WILL CONSUME YOU.’

Arche had never retrieved an item from his inventory so quickly. He held the bone high for each of the four eyes to inspect.

‘She gave me this. Said it would mark me as a friend. I’m not here to fight you, I’m here to free you.’

‘MISTRESS GAVE YOU THIS. IT SMELLS OF HER. BUT MISTRESS ABANDONED US, LET US BE ENSLAVED BY THE FOUL ONES.’

Despair flooded the connection, gripping icy fingers around Arche’s mind as the ocean of anger ebbed.

‘She didn’t know. When she found out, she asked me to free you. Let me help you.’

‘YOU CANNOT FREE US. YOU LACK THE ABILITY.’

Arche gritted his teeth. At the same time, a noise echoed faintly out of the tunnel to his side, some sort of explosion.

‘Then tell me how to help you.’

‘YOU MUST FIND THE FOUL ONE WHO ENSLAVED US AND BRING US THE WAND OF HIS CONTROL.’

‘Then you’ll be free?’

‘THEN MY HOME IS A PRISON NO LONGER.’

Arche stood to his feet.

‘All right, I’ll do what I can. Do you have a name?’

A slight growl reverberated from the creature and it took another step forward. Arche caught his first full sight of the creature. A massive hound, three times his height at its shoulder, with two growling heads. Its fur was dark and matted in places, impossible to place the color in the low light.

‘GO.’

Arche didn’t argue, he just went. He picked up his spear and ran toward a conjoining tunnel in the wall. Before he slipped inside, however, he looked back at the massive hound and activated Examine.

Orthrus

Level: ?

Race: Kerberos

Age: ?

Height: ?

Weight: ?

Profession: ?

Trade: ?

Traits: ?

Companions: ?

Adventuring Party: ?

Health: ?

Stamina: ?

Mana: ?

It was the second time his Examine skill had failed to read a creature properly and it was no more reassuring. Vik had felt guarded from his skill but this felt more like the skill simply failed. Like this Orthrus was so far beyond Arche that his skill could not encapsulate it, not at its current level. As Arche severed the link and turned away, he could still feel four golden eyes boring into his back.

The encounter had reinforced the fact that he was still weak. Creatures of immense power dwelled in Tartarus and, as things stood, he had no chance of facing them. The beastmar, however, were a vanquishable foe.

Arche broke into a run. Lyssa and Tess would likely be in the thick of things, as headstrong as both women were. If they hadn’t been attacked in the tunnels, they probably would have continued on with the plan. Arche wasn’t sure of exactly how much time had passed since they were separated, but he hoped they were alive. The darkness of the tunnel gave way as he emerged into a much larger cavern. A chaotic sight met him.

Prisoners wielding crude, makeshift weapons hacked at a few beastmar near the middle of the room. Lyssa was among them, drenched in blood and looking as though she had finished wading through a veritable horde of monsters. Tess was also there, chasing down a few stray beastmar barreling toward Arche at top speed. One of them, wearing a robe, leveled a stick in his direction.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Oh, shit.” Arche slid to a stop over the loose gravel.

The air filled with static charge. Arche quickly switched his grip on the Tridory and threw it, hoping to at least distract the creature. A moment later, lightning flared from the wand. Arche flinched, waiting for the pain, but it never came. Instead, it arced in mid-air toward the Tridory, condensing into the spear point and running along its entire length. The beastmar with the wand stepped to the side and the Tridory sailed past, still crackling with electricity, before sticking the ground and dispersing the lightning. Arche stared at the spear.

“That’s a new one.”

Then the beastmar were on him. There were three in total. The one with the wand—the most humanoid of the three with a snarling wolfish face and dark robes—stood away from him, muttering incantations. The other two were hunched over, with huge, powerful arms like gorillas. One carried a massive bow and tried to shoot arrows at Tess, but clearly lacked Lyssa’s skill in the matter. The other had dropped its bow in favor of trying to pummel Arche with fists the size of dinner plates.

Arche leaned back as far as he could to avoid a right cross that threatened to break bones. Before he could recover, a kick threw Arche to the ground. He grunted from the impact and rolled away. As he came up, a thick, black arrow from the other beastmar sank halfway into his left shoulder. Arche let out a cry of pain as his Health dropped twenty percent.

He grabbed the arrow and snapped it off, a small portion protruding out from his leather jerkin. There was no time to draw his sword. The beastmar was on him again, barking and screaming as it whaled down blows. Arche slipped and dodged, then struck out with the broken arrow. He kept the creature between himself and the other beastmar, using it to give himself cover from more arrows. Every strike left a small puncture in the beastmar’s skin that oozed black blood onto the ground. Arche’s own hands were covered in the stuff as he used his superior speed to stab the beastmar over and over, screaming all the while.

After an intense exchange, the beastmar stood in front of him, roaring in pain and anger. Its arms were covered in small holes to the point it could barely move. Arche stabbed upward, embedding the arrow into the creature’s neck, then activated Divine Body just long enough to plant his foot into its midsection.

The beastmar flew back and collided with the bow-wielding beastmar, who had been waiting for a clean shot. They both went down in a tumble. Arche was now in the open, just in time for the wolf-man beastmar to launch its next attack.

A pale-yellow beam of light extended from the tip of the wand, bathing Arche in a conical glow. He froze, magical weights pressing on him from all sides. Steel bands couldn’t have done a better job, his body simply refused to move. The beastmar raised the wand and Arche was lifted into the air. His stomach lurched, but there was nothing he could do. He couldn’t even blink. The beastmar gave him an evil grin, then turned and made a motion not dissimilar to the casting of a fishing rod.

Arche went flying. He soared well above the ground, toward Lyssa and the prisoners, then over them. The ground was rushing to meet him and he was falling far too quickly. Something whizzed past his face, cutting across the palm of his right hand. He grabbed at it reflexively, fingers closing around a coarse rope. Then he wasn’t falling any longer. He was suspended, still fairly high up, dangling from a rope tied to an arrow embedded deeply into the stone wall. The other end of the rope, angled sharply downwards, was held by Lyssa.

“Lyssa!”

“Hurry up and get down!” she shouted back, clearly straining to keep the rope taut.

Arche reached back with his wounded arm, grimacing at the pain, and grabbed the loose end of his cloak. He flung it over the rope and began to slide. At a manageable height, he dropped, tumbling into a roll as he hit the ground, his every injury crying out in protest. When he came up, Lyssa stood in front of him, drenched in blood and grime.

“You all right?”

“I’m just glad you’re alive.” She gave him a tired smile. “I’m growing weary of these caves.”

“You and I both. What say we finish this and get out of here?”

“Agreed. What happened to the monster through the passage?”

Arche held out his hand and called the Tridory back to him. The trident pulled itself free of the ground and began twirling back toward him, flying across the distance with impressive speed.

“Still there. We have an arrangement. We need to get the mage’s wand.”

“You…what?”

“I need the mage’s wand.”

Arche caught the spear and looked at Lyssa, who already had an arrow knocked to her bow.

“Forget it, I’ll explain later. What’s the situation?”

“A half-dozen half-dead prisoners ready for blood, about the same number of beastmar with another horde on the way behind us. None of us have a way to counter that wandwork.”

“All right, take out the other archer, then see if any of the prisoners can use a bow. Take them and prepare for the horde. The rest of us will clean up here, I’ll take out the mage, then we’ll see about escape.”

“How are you going to get past the mage’s spells?” Lyssa sighted down another arrow before letting it fly.

“Persistence.”

“That won’t work. He’s more than capable of killing you before you get close enough to hurt him. Go get his attention, I have a plan.”

Arche grinned and nodded. They broke into a run, splitting off. Lyssa toward Tess, who was forced to give up her pursuit and deal with the two beastmar hoping to sharpen their blades on her bones, and Arche toward the mage who had relaxed his retreat to cast lightning and bolts of fire at the prisoners, who were doing their best to stay out of the way of the deadly magic.

The mage saw him coming, bearing a wolfish snarl as it leveled its wand toward him. Static energy enveloped the air as a bolt of lightning shot out the end toward Arche. Arche swung the Tridory and the lightning arced into the spear, flashing and arcing down the runework of the shaft. It grew warm under his touch and he felt a burst of energy as a notification appeared before him.

You have discovered a feature of the Tridory.

Lightning Manipulation

Upon contact with lightning, the Tridory will activate Mode 1: Spear. During this time, it can store lightning to be discharged in an attack, dealing bonus lightning damage. Additionally, this lightning can be siphoned by the wielder to induce the Innervated status condition.

Innervated

+50% Reaction Time

+15% Movement Speed

+25% Lightning Resistance

+100% Stamina Regeneration

Innervated: 2:58

Arche’s stride lengthened as he sped over the ground. The lightning filled his veins with energy. It wasn’t painful, despite what little was left of his logical mind saying it should be. Instead, it was like he’d taken a hefty dose of caffeine straight to his veins. He felt amped.

The beastmar, on the other hand, stumbled away from him. Fear danced across its features for the first time. It leveled its wand at Arche again. Spouts of flame flew toward him with impressive speed and frequency, but his new reaction time made them seem slow. Still, it delayed his chase as he zigged and zagged around the fire.

Seeing that the fire was only delaying the inevitable, the beastmar howled a cry of frustration and leveled his wand at Arche once more. A small, golden glow gathered around the wand’s tip and Arche threw himself to the side, grunting in pain as the broken arrow in his shoulder scraped the ground. A golden cone of energy flashed where he’d been standing, disappearing a moment later. The mage snarled and bolted toward the tunnel containing the kerberos.

Arche cursed and gave chase, gaining ground but not quickly enough. At his pace, the beastmar would get to Orthrus and no doubt set it upon them.

That was when Tess came out of Stealth and sank two daggers into the beastmar’s throat. With the speed and efficiency of a professional butcher, she detached the muscles, bones, and tendons connecting the beastmar’s head to its torso. Its hands shot up reactively even as its head fell to the ground, then the corpse toppled, crushing its own skull under the weight of its body.

The prisoners swarmed the remaining two beastmar, burying them beneath angry bodies. The jubilation was short-lived, however, as a howl arose from the far end of the cavern. Dozens of beastmar poured in, all rallied behind one that rose above even the largest of them. It was gargantuan, easily three times Arche’s own height, and shaped vaguely humanoid in that it had the decent number of arms and legs. What set it aside was the two heads growing out of its neck, each craned toward each other and were connected by a crown of black metal that had been twisted to fit around both heads at the same time.

The beastmar formed up in a loose line, all crowded behind the leader. The prisoners yelped and backed away, converging with Arche, Lyssa, and Tess.

“Any ideas?” Arche felt his innervation fade as the electricity dwindled.

“Nothing that would help.” Lyssa pulled out a fresh quiver of arrows. “I don’t have many arrows left.”

“Here, got your wand.” Tess tossed the beastmar’s stick to Arche.

He caught it and looked at it more closely. It was a thin cylinder of dark metal, carved intricately with dozens of different patterns up and down the haft.

“What’s the plan?” Lyssa asked as she drew back her bow.

“Bring the wand to the monster, hope he’s angrier at his captors than he is at us.”

“That’s your plan?” Tess scoffed in disbelief. “Why not just have us fall on our blades? It’d be more efficient.”

“It’s intelligent and Hekáte gave me a quest to free it.”

“The dungeon?” Lyssa frowned.

“We have bigger issues right now.”

Arche planted the Tridory into the ground, staring at the assembling horde on the other side of the massive cavern. The beginnings of a plan took shape in his head.

“Tess, take my bow.”

Tess’s face was instantly suspicious but she held out her hand anyway. Arche removed his bow from his inventory and passed it to her, along with two quivers of arrows.

“All our hopes depend on if the creature will help us. Hold them off for as long as you can, fall back to the tunnel if you have to. I’ll be back.”

Arche hefted the Tridory in one hand, the other grasping the control wand. As he began to move, Lyssa grabbed his arm.

“We need you here, Arche.” She searched his face. “How do you know this monster will help us?”

“I don’t.”

He gestured toward the horde of beastmar. At least forty were arrayed against them.

“But I know we can’t beat them on our own.”

Lyssa’s emerald eyes shot back and forth between the horde and Arche. She released his arm and drew back her bow, ready to fire.

“Be swift.”

Arche didn’t respond, he just ran. Even as the horde howled behind him and he heard the rumbling of their charge, some forty against eight.

He just ran.