“Look out!” Sarien screamed. His warning allowed Lana to jump out of the way of a stable hand, who thrust a pitchfork at her back.
She stumbled and put a little too much weight on her injured leg and went sprawling with a curse. Lana rolled away from a strike and got to her knees. Sarien sliced his spear through the air to cut into the nearest soldier. His body broke in two. It was like cutting through an old vegetable. The stink of decomposing flesh rose, and Sarien gagged. He fought through it and offered Lana his hand.
“What do we do?” she asked, eyes wide, as she took it.
He pulled her up and half dragged, half carried her back a few steps before she could stand on her own. “We go back to the others and hope the way back is clear!” He let go of her small, warm hand. He needed to conserve his strength to deal with the gate later, if they made it that far.
The sound of feet running rose from the other direction, and Kax and Heylien soon emerged from the dark.
“There’s a whole bunch of them!” Kax yelled. A trickle of blood ran down the side of his face, and his scalp shone bright red in Sarien’s light.
“You’re injured.” Sarien said.
“I’m fine,” Kax said, grinning, but his eyes were glassy and he was unsteady on his feet.
Heylien held only his large knife, his bow nowhere to be seen. He clutched his hastily bandaged arm. “Can’t shoot, so I dropped it.”
“This is bad,” Lana said, glancing back and forth between the slowly advancing bodies. “How does it have this many tentacles? It must be huge!”
“Never mind that! What do we do now?” Kax asked. The smile on his face was gone, and he kept blinking.
“Can we fight our way through one of the groups?” Sarien asked.
“There’s too many of them,” Lana answered. “If it was just me, then maybe.”
Sarien nodded. “You should get out of here, then. Return to Goslin and the others.”
“I’m not leaving you here!”
“We don’t have much of a choice,” Heylien said, wincing. “We can go back there,” he pointed to the dead-end tunnel, “and keep our backs clear, at least. You might find someone who can help before it’s too late.”
“Are you sure?” Lana asked, looking at each of them in turn. “You’re going to hold out until I get back?”
“Of course,” Heylien said. “Now go!”
She gave him a quick hug and smiled at Sarien and Kax. “Don’t you dare die!” With those words said, she ran and leapt, soaring over the heads of the moving dead bodies. They raised their weapons in an attempt to catch her, but none succeeded.
Sarien hurried back to the dead end with the others.
“You really think we can make it until she finds help?” Kax asked.
“No,” Heylien said, as the dead approached.
Kax sighed and raised his swords. “Didn’t think so.”
“I’ll try to keep them at bay with the spear,” Sarien said.
“Can’t you wave your hands in the air and destroy them with black flames?” Kax asked. “Or white ones? Whichever you please. Any of the flames, really.”
“The white ones won’t work for that, I think.” Sarien said. “If I had more time, I might be able to open a gate and take us somewhere, but not like this.” He grunted and stabbed with the spear, taking the closest dead soldier in the neck, cutting deep enough to make it flop to the side. There was no blood, only a rotting stench. The soldier did not stop coming for them.
Kax’s sword dug deep through that same soldier’s chest, cutting into the tentacle. The soldier dropped without a sound, and the tentacle that had controlled it shriveled with a screech of pain.
“What do I do?” Heylien asked, his voice frantic. “I just have a knife!”
Kax tossed his longer sword into the air toward Heylien. “I’m going to want that back if we survive this!”
Heylien stepped to the side quickly, and the sword struck into the ground, half the blade disappearing into the stone. He withdrew it with ease.
“You’re crazy, Kax!”
They positioned themselves shoulder to shoulder. The narrow passageway was just wide enough for them to fit and still have room to fight. The dead kept coming in droves.
Black flames enveloped Sarien’s spear. He stuck it in his armpit to avoid the white flame touching the black, then drove it from side to side, cutting through the rotting bodies.
With no room for wide sword swings, Kax and Heylien jumped back and forth to thrust into the dead puppets’ chests. Each dead body that fell to the floor overwhelmed them with a cloud of rotting stink and the screech of the creature controlling them.
No matter how many they downed, more dead appeared, climbing over their fallen brethren to reach the three men fighting for their lives.
To make matters worse, tentacles started appearing amongst the dead. The monster’s limbs dove toward them as if trying to pierce their chests and use them to replace the meat puppets Sarien, Kax, and Heylien had already destroyed.
The fighting soon grew desperate. They were all injured and when Sarien felt the grate pressed up behind his back, he knew it was almost over.
Sarien looked at his white flame and then his black. They were pulling toward one another, as if wanting to be joined together. Perhaps this was the moment to try as anything would be better than dying at the end of a tentacle. He looked at his friends. They were both on their last legs, panting and covered in muck and their own blood.
A wall of rotting bodies had formed at their feet, but more of the dead climbed toward them. Sarien brought his white and black flames closer together. They flickered wildly, reaching for one another.
Just as he was about to join them, a low-pitched whomp sound raced through the tunnel. The tunnel lit up and incredible heat followed as flames burst through the space.
Sarien lost control of both of his flames. If not for the wall of dead bodies, all three of them would have been incinerated. As it was, the flash of heat was enough to drive them to their knees, coughing and choking. Sarien’s throat burned and his eyes stung. He blinked back tears.
Just as quickly as the fire had come, it disappeared. The stench of burned flesh was overpowering.
“What happened?” Kax coughed.
“I found help!” Lana shouted from the other side of the charred wall of flesh.
A warm light appeared. Sarien blinked away tears from the smoke and looked up at the man cresting the top of the heap.
“Hello son,” his father said.
Sarien took his outstretched hand and together they climbed back to the main tunnel, followed by Kax and Heylien.
Lana stood there, looking very pleased with herself. “Saved your asses!”
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“Why are you here?” Sarien asked, looking at his father. Talc Wald, the man who’d raised, then left him at the Karm estate just saved them from a horde of reanimated bodies using an inferno to burn them away. “Why did you leave me?”
His father looked worn out, covered in grime, both his hair and beard longer and scruffier than he remembered. But above all else, he looked uncertain. “It’s a bit of a story, son. I’m glad you’re well, but I wish you would have stayed at the estate.”
Sarien brought out his white flame, blending the cold light with the warmth of his father’s fire. “Hard to stay put when your father sees this and then disappears while you’re unconscious.”
Kax, Heylien, and Lana retreated, giving them space to talk. Each moved to keep a lookout. No one thought they’d seen the last of the monster.
“Son, I should have explained things before I left, but you have to understand. I didn’t have a choice.”
Anger rose in Sarien’s chest. “Of course you had a choice! Are you even my father? I don’t even know your real name! Talc? Trym? Something else? Who are you, really? Tell me!”
The man before him winced but took a step forward, reaching for Sarien.
Sarien stepped back, keeping his distance. “Tell me who you are!”
“I am your father, and you will show me proper respect!”
Sarien paused. He’d never heard him use that tone of voice before, cold anger, not even when Sarien and Ben almost died as kids, trying to fly by jumping off a barn and waving their arms like birds flapping their wings. But Sarien refused to be intimidated. “What is your name?”
His father deflated. “My name is Ein. Here on Maydian I used to go by Ein Tordensson.”
Sarien’s eyes widened. “Ein Tordensson?”
Kax yelled from where he overheard, “Your da is Ein the Slayer?”
The Slayer. A few pieces fell into place and Sarien brought out his black flame. “That’s why it’s called slaying?”
“That’s impossible! Put that out right now!” Sarien’s father cupped his hands and produced a black flame of his own. “Put it out now. And, keep it away from the white flame!” He eyed Sarien’s spear, seeing it clearly for the first time.
Sarien let his black flame wink out. “You’re Ein. That’s impossible. You killed gods?”
Ein shrugged. “I didn’t do it alone.”
“But that was over two hundred years ago!”
“You can age gracefully if you keep out of the sun,” Ein said, smiling.
Sarien rolled his eyes. “So, I inherited the black flame from you, obviously. Why did you raise me at the estate, of all places? If you’re one of the heroes, shouldn’t you live a life of glory?”
“Glory is overrated. All I wanted for you was a quiet, comfortable life. A proper way to earn a living, a wife, and children. You have to understand, I didn’t know you’d manifest, didn’t think you could. That meant you’d grow old while I didn’t.”
His father fell quiet. “When I saw you use your white flame, as you call it, I knew the portals would start returning, like natural waygates drawing other worlds to yours. That’s why I left. Had to see for myself and find a way to stop them without endangering you.”
“To close the gates?”
“That’s right,” Ein confirmed.
“Wait,” Sarien said. “Did they open because of me? Am I to blame for all of this?”
“The way I understand it, your manifestation would have opened them, but it’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything consciously to open them. You haven’t opened any, right?”
So, it actually was his fault, and not. The rhinn, the kozimuz, and the luisons, this thing, and who knew what else, all because he manifested the white flame. He hadn’t asked for it, true, but the knowledge still weighed heavily on him. How could he ever make up for such an atrocity?
“Just the one back from Rhinerien. Closed a few and sent a monster away without one.”
“Good, you must be very careful with that power. I’m sorry to say that I can’t teach you how to use it either. It was your mother’s, and she is gone.”
“Anja. My mother wasn’t really a seamstress, then?”
Ein winced. “No. Couldn’t exactly tell you who she was without revealing myself.”
“But she’s dead?”
“I don’t think so, but I’m not sure. I’d love to tell you all about her, but the Xzxyth is still down here. My blast may have singed it, but it’s not enough to kill the monster. I have to find a way to destroy it before it infects the entire continent. Vile thing. You should return to the surface. I’ll come for you when I’m done.”
Sarien barely heard the rest of the words his father spoke. His mother could be alive. “No. I’m coming to help. We all are. That’s why you’re down here. Is this creature so powerful?”
“It’s a terrible being, the Xzxyth. It’s too dangerous to stay here. You can barely hurt it, even with fire or the black flame, as you so aptly named it.”
“My spear harmed it.”
“So did my swords!” Kax piped up. He wasn’t even pretending not to listen anymore.
Ein frowned. “Really? How were they made? I’ve never seen the like before.”
“You haven’t?” Sarien asked, grabbing the weapon from its sheath. “I made it with the black flame.”
“What?” Ein asked, eyes widening. “You trapped someone’s heart in a weapon?”
Sarien nodded. “Well, not their hearts, but yes. I didn’t want to, but it happened.”
“I’m not talking about a physical heart, but the spiritual one. What governs a person’s state of being and their manifested power, if any. Who did you take it from?”
“This one is from striking the monster,” Sarien said, indicating into the darkness.
“Mine are from a bandit!” Kax yelled. He looked full of energy despite the ordeal they’d just survived.
“You’ve never done that?” Sarien asked his father.
“No.” Ein gave Sarien a strange look but didn’t elaborate. “Fine, you can come. Your mother’s power will certainly come in handy. If you know how to use it.”
“I don’t really know much about it.” Sarien said. “Just what Heradion told me and from my own experimentation.”
“You met Heradion?” Ein shook his head in wonder. “Never mind, we’ll speak of Juoko later. For now, let’s go find a way to destroy Xzxyth.”
They’d walked over to the others, and Lana was the first to react to that name. “Juoko? That old bastard was Juoko the Hydromancer?”
“That’s right,” Ein said, increasing the flame to cast more light as the group walked.
“But he was a pyromancer,” Heylien said. “He burned the luisons.”
“Luisons? Sounds like you’ve had quite the adventure, Sarien.” Ein held out a hand toward the stream of water in the recessed part of the floor. It spiraled upward, moving at his command before he let it drop back down to the ground. “He was known as a hydromancer back then, but he’s decent with fire and air, too. He never took to geomancy, but I’ve found that particular skill set useful.”
“You can use them all?” Sarien asked, stunned.
“It’s possible to learn for some people. Except healing.”
“What?” Lana asked. “I’m an aeromancer, a weak one. You’re saying I could use fire too?”
“That’s doubtful, I’m afraid. In theory, yes, but being born here means you’ve entrenched yourself in this world’s beliefs. The system implemented by your old gods is a mess.”
“I don’t understand,” Lana said.
Ein shrugged.
“Why not healing?” Sarien asked.
“It’s not from here originally. Would have to go to the power’s origin to learn it.”
“My head hurts,” Kax said. “You sound crazy.”
Ein shrugged. “Think about it. What kind of connection would water and healing have? There are so few healers left because the people who carry the art are dying out. Ocea did her best to exterminate them.”
“Never heard of that,” Kax said.
Ein ran a hand through his hair. “It was a long time ago. Now, we need to deal with the Xzxyth. I’ve been looking but can’t find the main body. It slithers and multiplies at an incredible rate and all I’ve managed is to keep it from hitting that critical mass it needs to take over Tyralien.”
“The whole city?” Heylien asked.
“That’s where it would start. I know that the rhinn are here, but they are a minor threat in comparison to a god.”
“That big pile of goo with tentacles is a god?” Sarien asked. They were walking faster now, Ein’s anxiousness infecting the others.
He nodded, then shrugged. “Well, it depends on your definition of a god. Perhaps demigod would be a better term? Or really horrific creature? I don’t know where it’s from originally, or how she got it to the sea around Vatnbloet, but it was Ocea’s pet once upon a time. We banished it with the help of your mother, Sarien, because there was no way to kill it in Maydian.”
“That’s troubling,” Heylien said. “How are we supposed to defeat it now?”
Ein walked on in silence for a moment, then muttered, “I’m still figuring that out, but we have to do something before it’s too late.”
“Can’t we capture it with the black flame?” Sarien asked. “Put it into some object?”
His father shook his head. “No. It does not have a heart. It’s not alive, strictly speaking. You cannot slay that which is not alive.”
The words sounded like a quote from somewhere.
“What about the spear?” Sarien said.
Ein held out his hand. “Let me see.” Sarien handed it over and his father closed his eyes for a moment. A small black flame danced across his hand and into the weapon. He winced.
“What is it?” Sarien asked, taking the spear back.
“The Xzxyth grows by consuming the bodies and hearts of others. They are put in a state where they are not quite dead, but not alive either, while it feeds on them.”
Sarien frowned. “What are you saying, father?”
Ein pointed at the spear. “I’m sorry, son, but what, or who, you have in there used to be a baker. You struck someone as the Xzxyth fed on him. There isn’t much left of the person he used to be, but he’s still clinging on to life in your spear.”
Sarien let go of the spear, pulling his hand back as if singed by fire. It clanked to the ground. “No.”
“I’m sorry, but yes.”
Sarien’s knees buckled beneath him and he sat, staring at the obsidian metal. Having trapped an innocent man hit him harder than anything else he’d done. He couldn’t explain why, but it wrenched his gut and made his chest feel tight, like he couldn’t breathe.
“I’ll release him right away.”
He placed a hand on the haft. Yes, the baker had been inside the creature, but it was Sarien who had doomed him to an existence in the void.
“What do you mean?” his father asked, grabbing Sarien’s wrist and stopping him.
Sarien’s eyes burned. He blinked, pushing the tears away, and pulled free from his father’s grip. “I’ll let him go, of course!”
“You cannot release someone’s heart once you’ve trapped it!”
“Of course you can! I’ve done it several times already!”
“Guys?” Lana said.
“What are you saying?” Ein asked. “You’re able to both capture and release with your black flame?”
“Hey, guys?” Lana said, sounding a little more frantic.
“That’s what I’m saying. You can’t?” Sarien asked.
“HEY!” Lana shouted.
Both Sarien and Ein looked up. Slithering tentacles stabbed through the grates on the walls and floor all around them, and bodies shambled toward them, dead-eyed and lifeless.
Flames erupted from Ein’s hands, burning everything in his path. “We’ll continue this conversation later. For now, run!”