Akisane led the group down the narrow passageway beneath the castle into chambers of ancient traps. Spirit animals roamed the gloomy caves, and with the memory of the boar fresh in their mind, they kept their eyes darting.
Amat slid a hand to the bandage on his thigh and rubbed. With the other, he pulled his cudgel from its loop, even though the weapon would prove useless against most things here.
They followed the path until they stood before the Red Temple.
Akisane touched the warm stone and wondered if this was the right course of action. Was he just raging against the inevitable? Would he die now instead of living a life on the run, a short life that could still be enjoyable where he sailed from land to land and enjoyed food and women? Can I put you back?
The elemental druids constructed the prison. Their designs are overcomplicated, and no one has attempted this before.
Akisane continued to the massive cavern where holding shadow magic was like trying to hold air. “You’ve demonstrated that your carpet can carry us all.”
“For a short distance in still air. You want me to carry you so far with these hot updrafts. Life is full of treacherous roads, but let us take the one furthest from the precipice.”
Hawk began asking the trio questions, mostly personal but sometimes straying to their knowledge of the capital. He seemed to skirt around the subject of Prince Mochikage, the last son of the Good King, but surprisingly, before dropping the topic, he asked directly. “Did you ever meet the Prince?”
Shank seemed nervous and answered questions out of character. No one cared less about politics, but he didn’t tell the scholar to fuck off, and to anyone who knew him well, he was lying through his teeth. “One time from a distance.”
Hawk backed off quickly when the conversation built tension, as Amat and Brahmen kept their mouths shut and glanced at each other. Deftly, he turned the silence into a chat about life in general, but then it became probing again. Perhaps all the man was trying to do was disperse the anxiety of the situation, but it was doing the opposite. “Why are you loyal to Akisane over the Duke? Is it friendship?”
Shank talked more when he was nervous. “A friendship begins when you trust someone not to stab you in the back if you turn around.”
“And that trust doesn’t extend to the Duke?”
“You ask a lot of questions.”
Hawk pushed a finger against his lips in thought. “I am fascinated by the situation. Forgive me, but someday, I want to chronicle the definitive history of what happens here. I have no loyalty to any of your enemies if that’s what you’re worried about.”
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Shank patted the brown-robed shoulder. “Good. Killing always ruins my appetite.”
Lopside grunted and loomed over them. “Let’s not start killing until we’ve left this place. Otherwise, when you have a war mallet, everyone’s a stake to be driven into the ground.”
The look on Shank’s face would only be noticed by someone who knows him, and his hand moved slightly towards a clandestine dagger. Evidently, he didn’t know the man well enough to take a joke.
Lopside looked at each severe face of the trio. “Lighten up. What is this place anyway?”
The pen in Hawk’s hand began to scribble as soon as they’d reached the temple. How did the scholar write away from a desk? It would be much easier to wait and write things down after the adventure, and one wouldn’t be covered in ink stains. “The elemental druids tried to separate spirit energy into elemental partitions. It’s why knights still specialize in water, fire, and other similar elements, though now there are many subcategories allowing for greater specialization. This temple is the culmination of supernatural knowledge. We stand on the overlap of three worlds: ours, a shallow underworld, and a fire realm.”
As they reached the ruins where the medusas dwelt, Akisane repeated what Darksun told him of the history. “The elemental druids grew arrogant. They took the land from the great spirits, and when it unbalanced the natural order and let corruption seep in and blight the land, they thought cultivating ultimate power would solve all their problems. Instead, it led to their demise when the chaos lords came and destroyed everything, resetting civilization once again.”
Hawk looked at him in wonder and scribbled it down.
Darksun rasped against the smoky air, and the medusas withdrew. Even the unnatural light in the ruins recoiled from the black blade.
They reached the hill that overlooked the flat land of hot rock and lava. The largest lake of fire bubbled and spewed as if angered by the intruders' presence. And there stood the one who meant to take Darksun.
Thailoc had been just a skeleton when they’d last seen him, but now sinew of flame wrapped around his massive frame like muscle tissue. The Core Sheild shone like the sun, but it wasn’t complete. The shield collected shining bits from thin air and formed the finishing outline.
It was time to get this over with.
Darksun inched into the space between cube sections held together by blue light. Finally, Akisane would be free. When the blade reached halfway, and just as they closed around it, stones moved.
Stones that seemed part of the rubble around the area gathered into a humanoid form, and from it came a deep voice.“You willfully give the sword to Thailoc?”
Akisane couldn’t stop, though the rock form began to look menacing. “I’m putting it back.”
Stone hands with fingers of stones that one man could hardly carry made fists.“I will kill you and take the sword to the OceanicTemple of Yegoroth. Just because the druids are gone doesn’t mean you can disregard their authority.”
Level: 17
Vertical Rings: 7
Focus: Telekinesis
Secondary focus: Shadow walker, fire walker
Weapons: Darksun Sword - 85% corrupt, decay+12