Adder’s POV
“Out of my way, worm!” I snarled as I headed into one of our hidden temples. I was in a foul mood, and taking it out on underlings was doing very little to waylay it. While a certain part of me knew that it wasn’t their fault, the rest of me was more than willing to pass on just a bit of the pain that I knew was going to be coming. Deep in the darkest reach of the temple, I entered the inner sanctum of our Lord. “Leave. I will be in private communication with our Lord. If you value your miserable lives, you will see that we aren’t disturbed. Should five days pass and I fail to exit, you may enter and retrieve my body.” I snarled at the acolytes that were busy cleaning between the scales that adorned the walls. Wordlessly, they complied with my orders. While that was likely the last thing that would go right today, it still felt good to be recognized on sight. I walked up to the altar, this one far more exquisite than the previous one. Carefully crafted of black zircon, the scales seemed to ripple in the minimal torchlight. Carefully set rubies sent a hungry glare in the direction of all supplicants. I pierced the palms of both hands with the exposed fangs before backing away and kneeling down with my forehead pressed against the ground.
“Dread Lord Apophis, I have terrible news that requires your presence.” Message sent, I did my best to await the inevitable. The stone where supplicants knelt was kept purposefully rough, as you were supposed to remain uncomfortable as you asked our god for a favor. What was likely several hours later, he allowed me to feel his presence.
“Risssse, Adder. Tell me of your newsssss.” The altar hissed.
“As you command, my Lord. Several days ago, the people of this world started celebrating. I had to be subtle, as it seems everyone received the same message from their system. My Lord, I regret to inform you that the second calamity is deceased. AAAAAAAHHH!!!” I screamed in agony as the altar launched forward and latched onto my right shoulder, fangs easily piercing my armor and injecting what felt like liquid fire into my veins.
“FOOL! YOU DARED TO WAIT DAYS BEFORE BRINGING ME THIS INFORMATION?” Apophis’ voice thundered in my head.
“I’m sorry, my lord, but I had to. Confirm. It.” I gasped out.
The statue stared at me for a while, allowing me to catch my breath. Eventually, it spoke, “And just what have you confirmed?”
“The swamp. It’s dead. In the center, is a massive crater.” I gasped through the lingering pain. Mustering my resolve, I kept going, “I. Couldn’t feel. The presence. Of your scale.” My head managed to roll toward the statue, and I saw a baleful light glowing in its eyes.
“What. Happened. To. MY SCALE?” The statue thundered, and I flinched at his rage.
“I don’t know, my Lord!” I screamed, terrified, “I could sense your dread presence throughout the swamp, but the central portion was devoid of everything! I swear!”
“Look in my eyes!” The order was one I wouldn’t dare ignore, and I stared into what I hoped would not be a crimson death. My vision telescoped in, until I could see my body writhing in the reflection of the eye. Then my world became pain, as Apophis rifled through my memories. How I moved through the desolation, though it was simply a large muddy field at this point. One saturated in swirling eddies of strange mana. A faint echo of the power that coursed through my blood. I felt the rage as I looked down into that empty basin, claws digging into my mind as my eyes roved over, desperate to find any hint of the power that had been loaned to the creature. I felt Apophis leave my mind, shuddering as the feeling of spectral scales left my body. With no energy left, I simply lay there, awaiting my fate.
“Adder,” Opening my eyes, I saw a much calmer statue staring down at me. If I didn’t know any better, I would say that it actually had a bit of concern. Before I could finish any other thoughts, it continued, “I apologize for lashing out in my rage. You have done well, and proven once again why I can trust your judgement. Not only did you confirm that my scale was missing, but the hints of power around the swamp have led me to the conclusion that it was consumed in some sort of spell backlash. The foolish creature tried to harness my power, and paid the price for it. While the loss of a scale and the possibility of a resurrected calamity has hampered our plans, in the end it is but a minor inconvenience. Rise.”
I struggled to my knees, and felt the statue slither beneath my arms and help support me. Before I knew it, the statue latched on to my neck. Instead of searing agony, I felt strength flowing back into me, restoring me. As I regained my composure, the statue withdrew and faced me once again.
“You are my last, best Viper on Vitae. I need you, Adder. Use your keen intellect to find out anything you can about what destroyed the calamity. If nobody knows anything, we can assume that it destroyed itself. But if you find out that it was killed, you will need to do everything you can to find and destroy the killer. To help you, I will order your rise to the position of spymaster of the Elven nations. We have enough control there that it isn’t a risk, and the information we need will be gathered much easier. To that end, I have given you two gifts. First, I have drastically increased your shadow magic. If there is darkness, you will be able to hide in it. I have also increased your physical abilities. You are far more flexible, and can move much faster without danger to yourself. Take a few days to get used to your new limits, then begin your new duties. Your contact at the Grove will ask you ‘what sings in the empty night?’. Your reply is ‘Rats hoping their information pleases the snake.’ They will have everything you need.”
“Thank you, my Lord!” I said with tears in my eyes, moved by how much he cares about his people. As the statue returned to its normal state, I stood with a new fierceness in my stance.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Valorian’s POV
“T’skaen! Why’s your mug empty? This is a celebration!” Torrence yelled over the din. The party was in full swing, and the people of Snowtop really knew how to party.
“Why, I was wondering the same thing! Perhaps you could help a brother out, and lead on to the keg!” I shouted back, falling into the party. I had to fake it at first, but quickly picked it up that the second calamity had finally been killed. I didn’t have to work too hard to celebrate, as even reading the sanctioned histories of that creature made it out to be a true abomination. Stealing from fallen souls to power itself, I mentally shuddered as I thought about it.
Forcefully shoving aside hideous thoughts, I threw myself into the party at the Thieves’ Guild. Most everyone was throwing themselves into the revelry, as excuses to party were rather hard to come by.
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“T’skaen! How come your nightly prowlings never take you past my window?” I had just filled my mug, and I turned to see the lush figure of Vivian sauntering towards me.
“I’m sorry my dear, but I have yet to find a combination of jewels that matches your splendor! T’would be bad form to drop by without a gift.” I said, smiling as I took a sip of ale.
“Ah, if only that were true. You do have a way of letting a girl down gently, I’ll at least give you that.” She smirked, enjoying the game.
“T’skaen, we really need to leave.” Sten interrupted before I could continue flirting, sending another one of his mental obey impulses and earning me a mocking wink from Vivian.
“Oh my, I had no idea T’skaen! You should have said something, I had no idea you swung that way,” She chuckled.
I leveled a glare at Sten before turning back to Vivian, “I assure you that it isn’t what you are thinking. If you would kindly excuse me, I do believe I need to enlighten my friend with some proper party etiquette.” I quickly followed Sten as he led us out of the party and into the snow covered streets. We wandered around a bit before finding an abandoned alley in the slums. As the snow kept falling gently around us, he cast a quick privacy spell before turning to me.
“What the hell Sten? Are you trying to blow our cover?” I snarled before he could say anything. “Seriously, everyone in this world is partying and you go and pull us away?”
“We should not be celebrating the loss of one of the Master’s allies!” Sten fired right back, smashing into me with yet another blast of mental power. I let my eyes glaze over, though I was in no way affected by his ring anymore. “That’s better. How is your search going? Find anything?”
“There is no way this town has anything that is draining the magic from our world. I told you days ago, we need to head to the capital,” I said, slowly letting some emotion creep into my voice at the end.
“I need a few days.”
“For what?”
“Nothing you need to worry about,” He growled, sending another pulse my way. “Now come. Tonight will be perfect for finishing up one of my projects.” As he turned, I struck. One dagger severed his spine just above his waist, the other struck by his sternum near the neck, traveling down and out. With his right pectoral and legs disabled, his offensive capabilities were crippled. I nudged him as he fell, forcing him facedown into the snow covered alley.
“What in the name of Apophis?” He thundered, but I already had a new silencing barrier up. Ignoring him, I reached around to his left hand and removed the ring that gave him that mental ability.
I sat down on his back, making sure that his hands were where I could see them. “Sten, I do believe it’s time we parted ways. See, I realized you were using something to mentally manipulate me back in Aerie. You really shouldn’t have done that, as I was more than willing to follow Apophis. What I don’t like, is being used.”
“I knew I should have killed you! Traitor! When I let Apophis know of this!” I ignored the next bit of his rant, as I was busy with several things. First, I carved a unique ritual into his back, making sure that there was an empty gem placed in the middle of the ritual. The other necessity was to try on the ring. Smiling a grim smile, I placed it at the base of his skull and let loose a small blast, instantly stunning him.
“And now, we get some answers, yes?” I asked.
“Answers.” Came the drugged reply.
“What were you doing with those explosives?”
“For the invasion. Take out the summit, sliding it down into Snowtop. Blast holes into the underground beneath Aerie. Easier to defeat defenses when we invade.” I smiled at finally getting answers, and how easily they were coming. Just to prevent Sten from recovering, I kept up a gentle pressure.
“Why invade?”
“Apophis hungers. The magic of our world can’t sate him anymore.”
“There never was a draining machine. What was my purpose here on Vitae?”
“Cause chaos so the Vipers could do their work. Weaken the demons so our armies can invade.”
“Right. Sten, the soul binding ritual is carved into your back. You want to activate it on yourself, don’t you?”
“I do.” I got off him and immediately stopped the pressure as I felt him start to activate the ritual. Within seconds, his back was glowing with a dark red light. As the light expanded, it completely consumed his body and swirled into the now full crystal. While this was going on, I washed the blood from my hands with the snow before returning for the crystal.
Brushing the little bit of snow off the crystal, I talked to it, “Well Sten. I guess this ends our friendship. I don’t care if you can forgive me or not, I did this because I can’t have you reporting to Apophis. I’m sure you would have done the same.” While the crystal pulsed an angry red, I slipped it into a pocket and headed back to the party. Perhaps I could convince Vivian to a challenge of skills, and see who was the better hunter? With lusty thoughts in my mind and a smile on my face, I slipped back into the party.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Sean’s POV
Something was wrong. I was laying on the ground, but it wasn’t in the temple with the gods. Slight twitches with no issue let me know that I wasn’t restrained in any way, but I couldn’t reach my magic. The only thing I could hear from my position was a rhythmic rustling sound, what it was I couldn’t quite place. It was sitting there on the edge of my memory, taunting me. Without any more options, I sat up and looked around.
“About time you woke up friend! Came a cheerful voice. I looked over to see an easel with an overhead light, and quite possibly the strangest being I had come across facing me with a smile on his face. His skin was ever so slightly red, with hints of jagged black stripes. Tall and thin, he had pointed ears like an elf. Two tiny horns jutted out and curled slightly upward from his forehead, barely reaching the hairline of his afro.
“Hello.” I nodded, and I swear the light behind him brightened with his smile.
“Hello indeed! I know it’s terribly rude of me, but do you mind if I work while we talk? I’ve a few important things to say and precious little time to say it.”
I shrugged my shoulders and sauntered over with a quick, “Sure. What’cha workin’ on?” As I walked over, I noticed his palette only contained a large swathe of red and a tiny pool of white.
“Glad you asked! You’ll find this place, and discover just how deep your hatred runs.” As I got closer, suddenly I was the painter, looking into the painting. As I merged, my/our hand jerked just a tiny bit, leaving a smudge of red on the canvas.
“Oh, don’t worry friends. Watch, we just spread it out a bit, add a little deeper color here for some depth, and voila! Now that red smudge is a jagged little crag. Remember, in painting and in life, there are no mistakes, only happy accidents.” As we sat back, I took in the incredible detail of the painting. The top was roiling clouds of angry red, some of which were somehow lit from inside with red lightning. On the left side, the clouds had the barest hint of claws and feathers, and seemed to pulse with an inner light. In the deep background were some angry mountain peaks. These were new mountains, ones that the elements didn’t have the time to wear down. Some of the peaks looked sharp enough to cut, and were curled around the focus of the picture. On a pedestal was a strange egg. The only access was a path that zigzagged back and forth, getting narrower as it neared the perfectly circular area around the egg.
The egg itself was nestled perfectly on a pedestal, and there was no chance of it moving despite the air around it seeming to scream past in random directions. How the artist managed to convey this without actually putting in any lines, I had no idea. The shell seemed to be made of red, orange and yellow even though I knew that only red and white had gone into this painting. The base of the feathers on the egg, or were they inside? Either way, the base was a deep red, gently transitioning to orange and then yellow. As my eyes tried to wander, they were inevitably drawn back as I caught movement from the corner of my vision. The lack of an object for scale was playing havoc with my senses. Sometimes it was as small as a chicken egg, other times it was the size of a horse.
“Hmm, still missing just a bit. Ah, I know!” With incredible speed and skill, the brush darted between the palette and canvas, and a series of six vicious looking curved peaks seemed to erupt from the abyss around the egg. The inside edge was smooth and nearly black, while the outside was sharp and splintered, and a bright red. “There we go, it’s perfect! I just hope you remember that like most things, even one sided relationships go both ways. I hope you enjoyed our time, but you have to go. Farewell Sean!” With those parting words, I was gently shoved out of the dream and back into my body. And yet, the image of that painting was seared into my memory.