Chapter 10 – An Illusion of Safety

Adam ran through the chambers of the seemingly endless library within the pyramid. Earlier, Adam had caught a hint of the vanilla scent of Emily’s perfume. However, now that the snarling Roots were getting closer and closer, the stench of copper and uprooted earth was all around him. Their screeches, clicks, and desperate cries reverberated through the chambers. The sounds of falling books and breaking furniture came from all too close behind Adam, as the Roots wrecked everything that was in their way. Adam felt the deep beats of his left heart in his neck as he frantically tried to find Emily.

Soon, Adam stormed through a door to enter a cavernous, dimly lit chamber that reminded him of the ruined temples he used to explore as a relic hunter. The rays of light that cut through a partially overgrown stained glass window revealed rows of giant statues and stone pillars along the sides. At the far end stood a colossal fountain with the statues of Caine, Catherine, and Eric. Although it seemed like a family portrait, there was an odd distance between Caine and Catherine. Only Eric’s statue didn’t show any signs of deterioration.

Although the sight was as welcome as salt in an open wound, Adam moved towards it. He checked for new doors, but the two other passageways clearly had Roots coming by the sounds of it.

“Adam!” Emily cried out from somewhere near the ceiling, on top of a wide stone arch. “Thank Aves, you’re okay… now get your ass over here, quickly!”

Adam grinned and the tension around his head loosened a bit. She hasn’t changed at all. Embracing the nearest pillar with his arms and legs, he climbed as fast as he could. He puffed out his cheeks as cramps flared up in his calves. I swear, shit like this used to be easier.

“Where’s Oliver?” Adam asked through gritted teeth.

Emily sighed. “I hoped he was with you!”

Doors slammed open on the other side of the room; a howling mass of Roots poured in.

Adam climbed even faster. Near the ceiling, each of the alabaster pillars was connected to the pillars next to it with wide stone arches, neatly decorated with chiselled floral patterns. Further up ahead on one of the arches, Emily crouched, frowning at the gathering masses of Roots down below.

The Roots who tried to follow Adam clicked and screeched in frustration, but weren’t able to climb the pillar. Spears, staves, and other thrown weapons bounced off a couple of feet below Adam.

Two other Roots, with long claws at the ends of their arms, climbed a statue of Catherine in a traditional feathered wedding gown, which stood nearly as high as Emily’s arch. Adam couldn’t help but notice that the statue wore a different style of dress than the one Cath had worn on their wedding day. Groaning internally, Adam closed his eyes and focused on climbing instead of lingering on the implications that his wife may have been married to someone else as well.

Emily stood up with a fierce look in her orange eyes. While swinging a rusty metal chain with one hand, she used the Marrow gesture with her other to form a Marrow sickle at the chain’s end. She lashed out with her chain, letting the sharp edge of her pale blade slice right through both the Root’s misshapen arms. The misshapen foe fell with a desperate screech. However, the second Root was able to dodge her second swing and jumped up to her arch.

Adam panted after climbing the pillar. Puffing out his cheeks, he made his way towards Emily as fast as possible.

A peculiar sensation prickled his skin, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up. Even before he looked down, he knew that one of the Shepherds was there.

Surrounded by a mass of grovelling servants, like a true master among his herd, the Shepherd stared up at them. With a single wave of its emaciated, driftwood hand, it silenced its subordinates. It didn’t make another move, however, seeming to watch patiently how Emily decapitated the one Root on her arch.

Emily locked eyes with the Shepherd. With both hands in the Marrow gesture, she conjured a jagged spear of the razor-sharp material. After a hissing battle cry, she threw it towards her opponent.

Devoid of emotion, the Shepherd wrote in the air with its quill, causing one of the symbols on its standard to light up in green. Several vines of the Overgrowth around the Shepherd rose and shielded the Shepherd, stopping Emily’s spear with a soft ‘thunk.’

The Shepherd kept writing, and a curly, jagged symbol Adam hadn’t seen before lit up on its standard. Vines that used to shield the Shepherd intertwined into a new shape and glowed in a greenish-purple light.

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Adam didn’t want to wait for whatever kind of twisted nonsense the Shepherd would cook up and forced his tired body to move across the arches and pillars towards Emily. Hissing in frustration, Emily fought off the Roots that made their way towards her from Catherine’s statue.

Then, a chilling bird-like shriek sounded from below, which reverberated through the ruined chamber. Something moved across the room with incredible speed. Adam squinted to discern the purplish-green haze that ran between groups of Roots, flapped its wings, and flew up. Formed out of the same vines and leaves as the other Roots, the creature’s body was shaped roughly like a peacock, although it stood at least five feet high. Its feet, each equipped with a curved dagger-like claw, were ready to strike. Eyeing Emily, it flew with its sharp, predatory beak forward. Its wings and tail were composed of long leaf-like feathers which glowed in endless, mesmerizing shades of purple.

“Emily! Watch out!” Adam shouted. He scrambled over to Emily’s stone arch as the monstrous peacock soared towards her. Almost there!

Emily ducked beneath a sideways swipe of a big Root in front of her. In the same movement, she nimbly stepped behind her enemy to place it between her and the peacock. Without a sign of hesitation, the peacock swooped down, wheeled around in the air, and sliced the Root clean in half with one of its claws. The Root growled and coughed in what seemed like confusion as its halves fell from the arch. With an otherworldly screech like tortured metal, the peacock came for Emily

Adam gritted his teeth as he ran, not allowing the stinging pain from his cramped calves to slow him down. Finally, he was on the right arch above the temple-like room and dashed towards Emily and the disturbing peacock.

Under the wild cheers of Roots down below, the peacock jumped over Emily’s chain and vaulted towards her. It twisted in the air and raised its claws.

Emily hastily formed an octagonal shield of Ironglass, which blocked the claws with a sound like nails on metal. The sheer force of the impact pushed Emily down, but her shield held, fortunately. Growling, she pushed back to keep the peacock at bay. “Could use a little help around here!” she groaned. “You done touring the place?!”

With a roar, Adam raised his table leg at the peacock. Before Adam reached them, the peacock jumped again and flew high into the air. It opened its tail wide.

The long feathers of the peacock’s tail radiated light in all possible shades of purple. An endless sun of psychedelic, everchanging colours enveloped everything, wiping the ugly world away. All was good, Adam was safe. He smiled and marvelled at the divine beauty displayed before him; a happy, careless world he vaguely seemed to remember from a lifetime ago. One in which he was enclosed, embraced with warmth and voices that cared about him. His woes and worries were long gone now. Forgotten. Why would he even care? No, all Adam desired was for the tail to keep dancing. There was no up, no down, no things he had to do…

Some ugly white feathers shot past the peacock. Adam frowned, how could anyone try to hurt such a beautiful creature? Vaguely, he heard a small voice in the back of his head scream that the current state of affairs might not be exactly normal. An old reflex from the War of the Prophet kicked in; he bit his tongue and the raw pain woke him up from the illusion.

“Stay alive,” his heart hissed.

The world spun around him and he had to crouch with his hands on the pillar to prevent himself from falling off. How long had he been gone?

Somewhere in the distance, Emily screamed. His vision was blurry, but the purple light definitely got closer. Adam stayed low for just a moment, pretending to be too stunned after the illusion. As soon as the light got just close enough, Adam jumped up. He roared like a beast, surprising his prey like a crocodile that vaulted from the water and hit the blurry mass with a two-handed strike of his table leg.

The peacock squawked in pain and scraped across Adam’s chest with one of its claws. It flapped its purple wings to dodge Adam’s second swing. Ignoring the fresh pain, Adam squinted at the peacock. The beast ran towards him, widely swinging its right wing, which glowed in blinding purple.

Adam held up his table leg, ready to block the attack. Wait, its move is too obvious, almost like… At the last moment, Adam bent backwards to dodge the wing. Barely visible behind the brightly glowing wing, the peacock’s claw followed. Just in time, Adam awkwardly blocked it, but his makeshift club was torn from his hands. The peacock cawed and its beak came straight for Adam’s jugular.

Suddenly, it leapt away before the Marrow sickle at the end of Emily’s chain swung past. Adam felt the wind caused by the weapon brush the skin on his face.

Emily’s face was torn with rage. “DIE!” she screamed, raising her hand for a blast of Shrike. The peacock flapped its wings in mid-air to dodge. Only two tail feathers were destroyed by the Invocation. With an elegant flick of its tail, it flew towards the dark corners of the room.

The Roots let the peacock do the fighting for them, and they rooted for it with garbled cries. Except for the Shepherd, who watched in silence. With a shiver, Adam realized just how outnumbered they were by the masses of misshapen monsters gathered below them. He moved closer to Emily, near the middle of the stone arch.

“Back to back!” he exclaimed, and they moved into position. His left heart pounded rapidly. However, the waves of heat that surged to his wounds were relatively dim, as if his heart’s reserves were almost exhausted. Emily panted, holding her chain at the ready.

“Charming place, isn’t it?” Adam murmured.

“Oh, it’s lovely,” Emily said. “I’ve always dreamed of being ripped from the life I know and thrown into some armpit of civilization.”

Adam chuckled. “Where everything tries to kill or capture us. Such a nice break from the everyday routine. Maybe we should run when we get the chance. Surprising, I know, but I’d actually prefer not to get eaten by some overgrown pidgeon.”

She giggled softly and formed an even more savage scythe of Marrow at the end of her chain. “And here I was thinking my knight in shining armour had saved me already.” She sighed dramatically.