Chapter 24 - Trap_Sword of the Godslayer

image [https://i.imgur.com/XNLkG1t.jpeg]

As they were traveling towards the Von Schreiber mansion the second time around, Minos finally convinced Lira to recount how she managed to capture the shadow creature. It was now necessary for her to tell them after all, now that they were about to face the creature once more.

Along the way, Lira told Ashvell to drive first the market square, where they stopped in front of a general goods store which the drow huntress entered into. She exited a few minutes later, holding a bag containing a jar and a quiver of arrows. She placed them at the back of the wagon and motioned for them to proceed.

Minos pulled the jar and examined its contents. “This is your secret weapon? Resin?”

“I never said anything about a secret weapon,” defended Lira.

Ashvell, out of curiosity, turned around to look at what Minos and Lira were talking about, “Is that fir sap?” he asked.

“It is,” answered the drow huntress.

“So, what, are you brewing something? Potion? Elixir? Draught?” Cassana followed up.

“No,” said Lira.

The redhead kept her neck turned towards the back of the wagon, brows furrowed, eyes locked on to the drow, waiting for a clear answer.

“It is not that complicated,” Lira huffed.

“So, what is it?” wondered Robb.

“For fire,” Lira responded.

“Ahh,” Cassana remarked with an audible breath filled with perplexity. “That mansion has lanterns, scores of them, why not just use those?”

“You children,” Lira scoffed, a reaction that was all too familiar for Cassana. It was the same reaction she used to get from several elderly people back in their village. They would react this way right before they go on a rant infantilizing the young generation.

“I wanted something that ignites quickly, burns long, and shines bright,” explained Lira. “These go along with these,” she added, pulling out one shaft of arrow from the quiver she brought.

“So, these arrows are… magical?” Minos asked as his eyebrows knitted together while his mouth drew open wide, its corners twitching along with his words.

“These are flint-tipped arrows. One of these striking a rock or a concrete surface will create a spark. If that spark is anywhere near a pint of this resin, the resin ignites.”

“That’s a roundabout way of creating fire, I could cast a spell for that,” commented Cassana.

“You children and your shortcuts, and your facile attempts at problem-solving. Tell me, what happens if somebody disables your magic?”

Cassana paused to think of a reply.

“I can just throw a torch,” Minos added.

“And then what, you are going to walk to the fire and pick your torch back up again?” questioned Lira. “This is how it is done, back in my day, and it is effective,” she reassured.

Minos and Cassana both shrugged, acknowledging that the old drow huntress may have a point.

As soon as they arrived at the underground chamber, Lira started strewing the resin on the concrete floor. She placed them scattered along the surfaces, keeping them an arm-wide distance apart. She would spread them on a line less than a foot in length, sporadic and random. She then distributed the flint-tipped arrows among Ashvell, Rei and herself. “All you need to do is shoot one of these arrows on a spot near the resin, not the resin itself,” Lira explained.

“We spread out. Soon as you see one of the shadow tendrils move out of its center, you find a resin and shoot at it,” she added.

The other two men nodded, and they moved out to their positions. And as the pylon glowed, they nocked each of their bows and readied their aims.

A dark mass followed the pylon’s early warning. It appeared in the middle of the chamber, right where Minos saw the aberrant creature before. As the mass disappeared, it revealed the same creature back at its former spot, along with Dominic, a little girl, and a man that appeared to be a wizard.

The aberrant was sprawled on the floor, blood and ooze gushing out of its orifices, while the little girl was laying on her back unconscious.

“The girl!” Minos yelled, and Cassana quickly casted a spell that levitated and pulled the little girl away from the center. The young nobleman was ready to catch her mid-air and moved her away towards Robb, who was hiding behind a column.

He listened for her heartbeat after gently placing her down on the cold floor. “She’s not breathing!” he announced to everyone. Rei walked up beside him and placed his fingers on the girl’s neck, then on her wrist. He then glanced up at Minos with a look of consolation.

Meanwhile, Cassana quickly made a study of the situation they found themselves. As she anticipated, Dominic managed to find another wizard to continue the ritual. The middle-aged man was standing with his hips and knees bent, bracing himself. He was holding a short-staff on one hand, topped by a green Focusing stone. His nervous eyes surveyed the room, looking at each person he could see. It was obvious from his face that he didn’t expect to encounter them here.

Dominic was on knees, oblivious to his surroundings. His eyes were fixated on the floor, gazing at something out of Cassana’s view and hidden behind the shadow creature’s amorphous form. The new arrivals were covered by a cascading darkness, like ripples on the water, moving and rotating about. Several tendrils sprouted up along the edge of the mass, bobbing and weaving akin to stalks of grass.

“What have you done?!” Cassana shouted from across the room as her eyes finally met the other wizard’s.

“It’s over!” cried the other wizard, his face filled with shame, “I had no other choice, I’m sorry!”

Cassana casted a spell, and a small bolt of force blasted from the tip of her staff directed at Dominic. One of the shadowy tendrils reached up and blocked the bolt on its path, dissipating it back into nothing. The tendril grew and widened, forming something that resembled a face. It then hurled towards the redhead like a hungry hound.

The young wizard was about to move out of the way, but a projectile suddenly flew by her, hitting the concrete floor two feet in front of her. The fir sap resin that Lira placed ignited into a small but bright, bluish flame. The shadow tendril soon melted away before it reached Cassana.

A disembodied roar reverberated across the chamber, as the creature cursed in anger. Its misshapen body started growing, eating away the dim light reflected on the solid surface of the room while several more tendrils began reaching for each and everyone else in the room.

Lira gave a signal, and together with Rei and Ashvell, they started shooting at the scattered resin on the ground. Each of them ignited into bright flames that repelled the shadow creature’s advances.

Cassana moved about, strafing from behind one flame to another. The resins didn’t burn big, with the tallest flame barely reaching the young wizard’s knee. Stepping over them would be child’s play. Nonetheless, the glow they emitted was brighter than any torch could provide. A segmented, circular arc of light surrounded the shadow creature, making it unable to move out and spread.

“Back away now,” Cassana yelled towards the other wizard one more time, “or the next spell I throw will hit you.”

Her words clearly affected him as he tried to step back from the center, but the shadow creature wrapped one of its tendrils around his legs. “We’re not done here!” screamed the disembodied voice again.

“Yes, we are,” Cassana grunted as she raised her staff. She had been quietly casting a spell and held off its effect, hoping that the other wizard would move away. Now that it was clear that he wouldn’t, she let go by reciting the last syllable of the incantation.

A ripple surged from where her staff hit the concrete floor. The flames surrounding the shadow creature shifted and slid towards the center. From the segmented lines, it coalesced into a large ring of fire. The blue flames illuminated every corner of the cistern, devoiding it of any pall or shadow.

At the center, the monster shrieked and wailed as the light, as bright as the sun, slowly devoured every inch of its body. “You will never see them again,” the shadow spouted in between its cries of pain.

None could see what was happening at the center anymore, as Cassana and the rest closed their eyes or risk getting blinded by the lights. Suddenly, a familiar sound emitted from the center and a wave started basting from within. A billowing wind was roaring from the other wizard’s staff, like a fountain of mighty air, pushing out and up and inwards again. It rendered the flames inert, and the chamber was dim once more.

Cassana cursed as she breathed and huffed. It was no use concentrating on the flames, so she canceled her spell and recited another. Mind Speak. It was the spell Firroth used to communicate with them the last time they were in the mansion.

She channeled her energy and started sending lines of command to everyone. Finally, she tried connecting to the other wizard, and she sent a message that only he could hear.

“Why are you doing this? What do they have on you?”

Cassana sensed some hesitation, but after some prodding, the other wizard answered through his mind. “They have my family. You can’t kill him, or I won’t find them.”

“We can find your family. With the help of the City Watch, and the Tower of the Legate. Please, help us, help end this,” Cassana pleaded.

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The young wizard felt their mental connection break as the other wizard subtly casted a spell to keep Cassana from getting in his head. Nevertheless, it bought Ashvell enough time to sneak up behind him and tackle him off the ground.

As the other wizard dropped and rolled on the floor wrapped around Ashvell’s arms, the spell he was concentrating on melted away. His short-staff spun off his hands into the floor across, and the abated flames burst into potency once more. The shadow creature had just started to regain its size, but it shrank again. The light was not as bright as when Cassana was controlling it with her magic, but it was still effective.

Lira stepped up to the center and was taken aback by what she beheld. From what Cassana and Firroth talked about regarding what Dominic wanted to achieve, she was expecting something horrific. Something unspeakable. Unimaginable. Yet, there she was, standing by the gaunt man and what was in front of him was nothing more than a primordial viscous sphere, like an oversized pomegranate. Its iridescent surface reflected dancing hues of amber and saffron, projections of the flames that surround it.

As the drow huntress moved to grab Dominic, she saw a chunk of the sphere torn off, like an apple’s bite. He had already started devouring it and was presently masticating on a pound of pulpy membrane like a feral dog, savage and crazed. His mind was unhitched from reality, acting only on his hunger.

An invisible shroud prevented Lira from touching the gaunt young man, and her presence didn’t go unnoticed. Dominic reared up his head, and his white, blank eyes stared at her. Suddenly, she felt a force press against her body, yanking her off her feet and tossing her several feet away from where she was standing.

“Lira!” Cassana screamed and quickly casted a spell to prevent her drow companion from hurling hard against a column.

“I guess he has magic now,” Lira grunted.

Cassana was about to step forward when Minos called out her name.

“Nothing is working!” the young nobleman cried from halfway across the room. Him and Robb were doing everything they could to resuscitate the young girl, but their faces revealed them foundering. “We need you,” he added.

Cassana hesitated to think. They needed to stop Dominic from finishing the ritual, and it seemed something was blocking any physical attempt to make him cease. She wondered if a spell would work instead. Meanwhile, the other wizard was knocked unconscious by Ashvell’s fist, and the shadow creature was reduced to a mere circular blob on the floor, as small as a doormat.

As she started sprinting towards Minos, she heard another voice calling out for her name from behind her. It was Lira’s, trying to get up her feet. “Are you casting a spell right now?” she asked the young wizard.

Cassana took a quick glance at the pylon, and it started to glow again. It did so a few seconds ago, when she casted Feather Fall to catch Lira, and multiple moments before that through the various incantations and spells that she and the other wizard threw at each other. But the device’s presence in the room is warranted only by the need of a warning before the shadow creature uses its teleportation ability again to try and escape.

And since nobody else was trying to cast a spell at that moment yet, there was only one explanation why the pylon was glowing. “They’re escaping!” Cassana warned everyone.

Ashvell sprinted towards the center of the room and used the momentum of his movement to push Dominic away from the shadow underneath him. The gaunt man rolled off, stopping only an inch away from the edge of the ring of fire surrounding him. He rose up from the floor and motioned his arms forward. Another unseen force blasted from his palms towards the young driver, throwing him backwards towards the solid wall, before landing face down on the floor.

Cassana was able to reach Minos’ spot and she noticed Robb holding the short-staff that the other wizard dropped moments ago. He faced the redhead with grit in his eyes.

“I doubt you know any healing spells…” Cassana said.

Robb shook his head in agreement. No words were necessary to tell the young wizard what he intended to do. All he needed was her assent.

The redhead knew that she didn’t have time to hesitate, so she nodded at the Little Robin and quickly knelt beside the young girl. She casted Recovery to cleanse her of any blight in her body, before casting another spell to stimulate her heartbeat.

With Cassana now in charge of helping the little girl, Minos turned to look at Robb. He had just finished reciting the incantation for a Binding spell, and the Focusing Stone on the short-staff glowed yellow. Spectral binders appeared on Dominic’s arms and legs, and he was levitated six feet off the floor, fully restrained. A proud smile formed on the young nobleman’ lips.

Lira ran towards the center, and using a torch, pushed the shadow creature into a glass jar, and sealed it shut. Its screams of anguish faded into a whimper.

Moments later, the little girl finally let out a soft grunt, as she started heaving for air. Soon as the color of her skin returned to normal, Minos threw his arm up in the air, cheering for a job well done.

He then tapped the redhead on her shoulder and the two shared a look of relief. “Now, that’s teamwork,” he uttered.

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Cassana sat on a piece of rubble, stretching her legs and catching her breath. A few Watchmen arrived just in time to see the conflict’s outcome. Lira helped some of them fully restrain Dominic, while the rest studied the muck that they caused in the underground chamber.

Minos walked over to Ashvell and Robb, both of his hands raised up in the air. The two acknowledged his gesture and met his palms with theirs. “Good job guys!” he uttered.

Rei went to Cassana, and he reached out his hand. He tilted his head to the side, and the redhead could see the concern in his eyes.

“I’m okay,” she dismissed. “Don’t worry about me. Just catching my breath.”

Rei nodded and stepped back. Cassana glanced at her staff and studied the Focusing Stone on top of it. The amethyst had shrunk significantly, but not so much. Let’s hope you last longer than the last one, she thought to herself.

Minos appeared right in front of her, with his right palm raised up, waiting for her to adjoin. “Really?” Cassana said derisively, raising her eyebrow and shaking her head.

“Come on, just give me one,” Minos insisted.

“Can I have some space, please? I’m exhausted,” she huffed.

“After you give me this one.”

Cassana pressed her temple against her forearm and looked up at the young nobleman, scrunching her nose in embarrassment.

“How about a hug, then?” urged Minos.

“NO!” grunted Cassana with utter disgust. She sighed before standing up, and she reached up to Minos’ palm and reluctantly met it with hers.

“See? We’re not so bad, you and me. We make a good team,” Minos bragged.

“Whatever,” Cassana dismissed. She turned around and started walking towards the stairs leading out of the cistern.

“Where are you going?” asked the young nobleman.

“To get some air,” answered the redhead.

She walked back up towards the guest room where Noah was standing by. She gave him a nod to acknowledge his presence before moving out towards the grand hall. She traipsed aimlessly for a minute before remembering what Firroth said moments ago.

Cassana climbed up the grand staircase, turning to a corridor and towards another set of stairs. She reached the third floor and started checking on every room until she found the one that Firroth mentioned. She casted a spell to detect what she needed to cancel its seal.

After getting the information she needed, she reached into her knapsack and grabbed her father’s grimoire, but not before checking that she was really alone in that corridor. She flipped through pages of magic and lore until she made it to the section discussing magical locks.

She remembered her professors talking about Sealing Spells, but they mostly avoided teaching young people how to unseal magical locks, for obvious reasons. She rummaged through each page of the grimoire, trying to find anything that could help her open the door in front of her.

After a few minutes of reading and searching, she finally found one that closely matched the aura given off by door. She practiced the gesture, and rehearsed the incantation, and once she felt confident enough, she casted it to remove the magical seal. A glimmer appeared and vanished, as the door suddenly gave off a different hue. She touched its knob and turned it, before pushing it open.

The room behind it was another bedroom. Its walls were bare and unpainted and was barren of any other furniture other than the bed. She noticed a figure lying down on it and she carefully stepped closer.

On the small, narrow bed, lay a woman, partly submerged in the soft mattress, wearing a once-splendid but now-faded half-dress. As Cassana’s eyes moved to her face, there was no question left in her mind about who it was: Robb’s mother, Denise. Her head was resting quietly over a pillow, her face serene and peaceful. Instinct dictated that she was dead, but as she moved closer, she felt a warm essence radiating from her body. She was alive.

She reached for her, and she finally noticed something heavy pressing against her body. It was a leaf-shaped blade, about two feet in length. Its hilt was wrapped around both of Denise’s hands, resting over her chest. There was an ineffable hum coming from the weapon, a sensation that she had encountered before.

Cassana inadvertently touched the sword, and an all-familiar feeling washed over her body. She heard a whisper seeping into her mind, along with an image thrusting through her memory. Or was it?

She looked around, and she was no longer standing inside the mansion’s bedroom. Instead, she was at her house, standing in front of her parents’ bed. She looked at the woman lying down and instead of Denise, she saw her mother’s face. She had the same demeanor and the same sword in her hands. Suddenly, she felt her own arms suddenly move and reach for her mother’s face.

Canae opened her eyes and Cassana saw her face reflected on her pupils. She was lost for words.

“I’m feeling better now, love,” Canae said. “Thank you.” She pushed the sword off her body and placed it on the bed, before stepping out and reaching for Cassana. The young wizard felt the tears gushing from her eyes as she basked in the warmth of her mother’s embrace one more time.

“Mom?” Cassana uttered. She and her mother had the same height, but for some reason she found herself one head taller. They broke off and she gave her mother a kiss on the forehead.

The two of them walked side by side towards the door, and as she stepped out, she found herself outside. She was kneeling down the corridor of their inn, playing with a wooden toy, together with Ashvell and Bonnie. The three of them raised their heads to face her and she felt a painful sensation assault her mind.

She opened her eyes, and she was back in the mansion. She was face down on the wooden floor and she felt a hand pulling her body up. She raised her head and found Ashvell.

“Are you okay? What happened to you?” asked her friend.

Cassana suddenly realized that the Ashvell she saw moments ago was younger and smaller. A different Ashvell.

“You disappeared. One of the Watchmen said you went up here...” said Lira, who was also in the room. Everyone else was inside, including Robb, who was stepping in closer to the bed.

“Mom?” uttered the young boy, after seeing who was lying down. He hurriedly went to reach Denise, but Cassana stopped him.

“She’s cursed, don’t touch her!” warned the redhead.

“What?” asked Minos, who was standing behind Ashvell.

“It’s similar to the curse I removed from that bow, the one you stole,” Cassana explained, while pointing to Maeve’s Bow hanging on his back.

Minos stepped forward to take a closer look, but he paused soon as he saw the weapon Denise was holding.

“By Moira, it’s the Sword of the Godslayer!” Minos gasped.