Friedrich, Marina and Blackjack stood inside the dark stairwell, barely able to see more than two feet in front of them. As best as Friedrich could tell, the staircase let up to a small landing, then curved round, presumably repeating the same pattern until it reached the top of the bridge.

“There may be multiple demons along the way, but our primary goal is to reach the top of the light house. Rather than a beacon to light the way for passing ships, there is an infernal portal leading into the plane of Undying Gloom.”

“What’s the Undying Gloom?” asked Marina.

“Somewhere you would rather not be,” said Friedrich. “It’s a land of demons, ruled by Murkmonger.”

“Murkmonger?”

“You have led a sheltered life,” said Blackjack, “but trust us when we tell you that Murkmonger is a wicked being and his minions are foul vermin that must be eradicated.”

“Yes, I understand,” said Marina, feeling slightly embarrassed.

“What do you want us to do?” asked Friedrich.

“I will clear the way and you are to watch for demons approaching from the rear or any side rooms we may encounter. Dispatch them with utmost haste so that we are not impeded.”

“That’s no problem,” said Friedrich confidently. “Do you need me to lead the way as a fox?”

“Why would I need that?” asked Blackjack, sounding as though she had raised an eyebrow.

“Because I can see better in the…dark…okay, fair enough.”

It slowly dawned on Friedrich that elves like Blackjack could see better in the dark than humans, so transforming into a fox would be redundant for the time being. He put his hand to the mask, wondering if he should use it anyway, but then slowly moved his hand away.

“Let us go,” said Blackjack, leading the way up the stairs.

The party marched their way upwards, moving from landing to landing. Every so often, Blackjack stopped and listened. The first time, Friedrich bumped into her and was scolded, much to his ire, but he was more careful afterwards. Everything was clear all the way to the top, where they could see the very faint light of the night creeping in along the crack between the wooden door and the doorframe. Blackjack put her pointed ear to the thin gap and listened closely.

“I hear the clink of boots,” she said. “There are at least four of them outside. I will take two and you will each take one, do you understand?”

“Yes,” whispered Friedrich and Marina in unison.

“We go now.”

Blackjack, held her bow firmly, nocked an arrow and raised her foot to the door. She suddenly kicked hard, flinging the door open and then stormed outside, turning in the direction of the nearest prowling demon and unleashing an arrow that pierced its foul skull.

There was another demon facing the high elf to the right, while two more were approaching Friedrich and Marina to the left. They were armoured in black metal armour that smelled sulphuric even from a distance. It was gnarled and warped, looking almost painful to wear, but it did not bother the demons. The grey-skinned, red-eyed abominations charged with their twisted blades raised.

Marina thrust her staff forward, pointing it at one of the demons. She focused her mana and sent a crackling bolt of lightning through the air, where it struck the demon’s armour. It shook as it ran, undeterred. Marina leapt backwards as it thrust its sword forward, narrowly avoiding a skewering. She thrust the tip of her staff towards its face, setting off another lightning bolt inches from its face. A rain of purple blood followed as the demon’s head exploded.

Friedrich meanwhile blocked a powerful swing from his own infernal foe. His shield reverberated from the mighty attack, but he held strong and pushed the demon’s arm aside with his rounded guardian. He thrust for the demon’s head, but was blocked by its armoured forearm. The demon shoved him backwards, but Friedrich swung his shield and the edge cut across the demon’s face, breaking its nose.

Infuriated, the demon charged to tackle Friedrich, who was on the backfoot, but the young Mercian swung his blade down through the air where it landed firmly in the skull of his opponent. The demon’s eyes widened with shock and it let out a pathetic grunt as it fell down. Friedrich placed his foot on its head and pulled his blade free, giving the demon a boot to the face for good measure.

“To the lighthouse,” said Blackjack, standing beside her second demonic victim’s corpse; it had the back end of an arrow protruding from one of its eye sockets.

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

The three hurried along the walkway and demons started emerging from the large archway that was the lighthouse door. A dozen of them stormed along the bridge while Blackjack and Marina unleashed a barrage of arrows and bolts, preventing them from coming anywhere close. Friedrich stood before them, his shield raised, ready to fend off any that made it through the relentless assault.

As one of the demons drew close, he lunged forward with his shield held high and his sword held above. The demon took an arrow to the shoulder, throwing it off balance as Friedrich impaled it, then watched it slump to the ground.

Blackjack ran ahead as the last of the demons fell to Marina’s magic. Friedrich and Marina hurried after the Alaurian as she entered the bottom circular chamber of the towering lighthouse. Blackjack made for the stairs, curling around the lighthouse, bringing her to a platform while the Mercians checked the side rooms—all of the demons must have already attacked them on the bridge.

Blackjack climbed an iron ladder with such finesse it was as though she was gliding upwards. Friedrich watched in awe as he ran up the staircase to reach the ladder himself, while Marina continually checked over her shoulder for more approaching demons.

“You go first,” said Friedrich.

“No,” said Marina. “If they come up behind us, I can use my magic.”

“Good thinking.”

With that, Friedrich climbed the ladder as quickly as he could, yet still only half the speed of Blackjack who was already approaching the top.

“Here they come!” called Marina as she started her own ascent.

Friedrich looked towards the circular chamber below and could see three demons barging in and gunning for the stairs.

“Climb higher,” said Friedrich as he tried to pick up the pace to give Marina space to climb.

Marina scrambled up, trying to put as much distance between her and the demons as possible before they reached the ladder to pull her down to their level.

“Nothing else for it,” muttered Marina as she pulled out her staff.

She unleashed a striking spell towards the platform below as the first demon reached for the ladder. It struck his armour, sending a surge of electricity coursing through him. He yelled and collapsed then lay twitching on the ground as one of his comrades trod over him to climb.

The demon leapt as high at it could and grabbed hold of an iron bar, quickly pulling itself within fifteen feet of Marina. She held out her staff and zapped him in the face, sending him flying downwards to the bottom. The third demon held onto the iron bars tightly, even as his ally fell past him.

As Marina readied herself for another spell, the demon yanked the staff from her hands and threw it down below. The young Mercian mage tried to pull herself out of reach, but the demon grabbed her leg, succeeding where his foul brethren had failed. As he tugged, trying to pull her from the ladder, he was struck by a Friedrich-shaped cannonball and fell to the platform.

Friedrich stood up as the demon recovered from his daze. The adventurer drew his blade and stabbed the demon in the throat. He ripped his blade out and kicked the demon from the platform, sending it to the chamber below with a clanging thud.

“That was too close for my liking,” sighed Marina. “Thank you.”

“Don’t worry about thanking me,” said Friedrich. “We need to catch up to Blackjack.”

Marina led the way up the ladder, but Blackjack had already disappeared through the trapdoor at the top and closed it behind her. Every now and then there was a thunderous thud of footsteps across the wooden door, leaving the two Mercians wondering what chaos was happening above them.

As they reached the top, the doorway was opened and Blackjack stared down at them. “You are still alive,” she said.

“Yes,” said Marina, “but we were delayed by a few infernal friends.”

“I surmised as much,” replied the elf. “I was delayed also, but we can finish up and depart shortly.”

Marina climbed through the hole in the ceiling and onto the lantern, followed closely by Friedrich. The young man looked around, expecting to see the bodies of demons, but there were none. There was only an empty brazier and a large set of glass lenses used to cast the light across the ocean.

Blackjack noticed his look of confusion. “The demons wanted to swim in the ocean, so I obliged,” she said, making Marina giggle.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” asked Friedrich. “Or was the plan to simply kill the demons? You weren’t exactly clear with us.”

Blackjack held up an orb made of blackened glass that glowed a faint swirling purple in the middle. She gestured with her free hand to Friedrich, who then took the orb. It was surprisingly light, but he could feel that there was much more to this orb than met the eye. It felt otherworldly and it felt evil.

“What is this?” he asked, looking into it closely.

“It is a portal orb,” replied Blackjack, taking the glass sphere back from him. “This one can open a gateway to Undying Gloom.”

“What should we do with it?” asked Marina, looking uneasy.

“By itself, it is useless, so we have nothing to fear from it now,” said Blackjack. “However, it would be foolish to leave it here lest it fall into the wrong hands. I will take it to Akatfall to be destroyed by someone with the power to do so.”

“I can take care of that,” said Friedrich, twirling his sword in his hands.

“It would shatter that sword before you so much as leave a crack in its form,” said Blackjack. “It takes magic to destroy magic, not steel. If it were that simple, I would have destroyed it already.”

Blackjack put the orb in her pack and made for the ladder once again, but Friedrich walked over to the edge of the lantern and stared across the ocean.

“Are you not coming?” Marina asked him.

“I just want to take this in for a moment,” he said, feeling his heart lighten as the vast sea stretched before him.

Marina walked over beside him and stared into the distance too. “It’s calming, isn’t it?”

“It’s magnificent,” said Friedrich, “but there is more beyond the water than simply more water. There are other lands. Continents. Islands. Places where we ought not to go, but need to go.”

“Kai’roh?”

“Far more than Kai’roh,” said Friedrich, his face starting to fall.

“Is something the matter?” Marina asked, wondering if she had somehow upset him.

Friedrich silently shook his head. He stared for another minute, deep in thought, before walked over to the ladder.

“Let’s go,” he said. “We’ll find somewhere to camp for the night.”