Chapter 110: Chapter 103 – A Stranger Joins the Fight

Raz looked to his left and saw Iva emerge from a shadow. He couldn’t make her out well, but the fact that she was holding her giant sword with one hand while facing him wasn’t reassuring. “Iva?”

She grunted and the sword slashed through the air where Raz had been moments before.

Raz threw himself into a dive and rolled across the floor, narrowly ducking under another gathering of shadow. He could feel it brush his slippers; hopefully they would be enough protection. He’d avoided being engulfed, but he had been forced farther away from the stairs.

As he rolled to his feet, he saw the shadow disappear back up to the ceiling. Iva stepped slowly towards him, blocking the way to the stairs. Her steps rang against the stone floor.

From behind her, Raz heard a voice he didn’t recognize. “Do you need some help?”

Raz yelled “Yes! Shadows-” as he had to dodge another slow, telegraphed strike from Iva. He was lucky that whatever had taken over her armor couldn’t fight the way she did. He glanced behind him and saw Greyvine holding some sort of magical shield that was being attacked by the man Iva had pushed down the stairs, while Garrett stood at the far end of the room leaning over the throne, swaying a little from side to side but otherwise not moving. For some reason, Garrett wasn’t wearing his chest armor; in fact, it looked like he’d even removed his shirt. Raz wasn’t sure when that happened.

Another step forward by Iva brought his attention back to her. Behind her, he could see that shadows blocked the stairway again. “Don’t get in the shadows! They take you over!”

He barely got the yell out before he had to dive away from Iva again. He was a mage, not a warrior; he wasn’t supposed to have to play keepaway like this! He was supposed to be throwing spells!

The room suddenly seemed brighter than it had. The shadows blocking the stairway were disappearing in a vertical oval shape. Raz had no idea what could do that. A Light mage, maybe? Light would be good for clearing shadows. Whatever the spell was, it was a good one.

Iva snarled and turned away from Raz towards the stairs. Raz took the opportunity to back up, but another snarl from behind him sent him scurrying towards a wall. The broken man was lurching towards the stairs as well. Once Raz was out of his way, he didn’t seem to pay any attention to Raz.

Raz looked back at the two remaining people who had brought him to this excessively dangerous place. Greyvine seemed to be trying to catch his breath as he walked towards the still motionless Garrett. “Garrett? You get hit, too? I thought you had a charm against this stuff.” Greyvine poked Garrett with his bow.

Garrett straightened and started laughing. “I found it! I finally found it!” His voice sounded oddly thin. As he turned around, Raz could see a hole in the left side of Garrett’s chest. Dried blood ran from the hole down Garrett’s chest and leggings, but no fresh blood dripped from the injury. Raz could see something moving inside the man’s chest.

Greyvine stumbled back from Garrett. “What did you find, old man? What legend were we following? What could destroy your ward like that?”

Garrett grinned widely. “I destroyed it. I always knew I would have to when I found this. But it let me use it without it killing me!”

“It? Dammit Garrett. You said this was a legendary treasure that we’d split evenly, but now Iva’s dead and you’re-. What the hell did you find and how are we going to split-”

“Iva’s not dead, she’s mine. You will be soon. We’ll split it evenly, it’s all mine.” Garrett gestured and shadows gathered on the ceiling. It fell down on both of them, but splashed off a shield over Greyvine as he stumbled backwards. The shadows gathered around Garrett and seemed to form armor.

Raz could barely hear Greyvine’s whisper. “What have you done…”

Garrett didn’t answer the question. Instead, he seemed to growl and look at the stairs. As he stepped forward, his voice boomed out. “WHO ARE YOU TO INTRUDE HERE? THESE ARE MY BODIES TO TAKE, MINE! WHO ARE YOU TO THINK YOU CAN STEAL MY POWER?”

Raz turned to look behind himself. Iva was gone, and so was the man she’d thrown down the stairs. He could see a pile of armor and a pile of rags next to each other, but there didn’t even seem to be any bodies left.

Instead, there was a man standing right behind Raz. Raz jumped; he hadn’t even heard the man approach. If Iva had done that, he’d have been dead. The man had silvery wings that reflected the slight light shed by Greyvine’s shield, but other than that it was difficult to make out his features.

The man didn’t seem armed, but the space around him seemed unshadowed in a way the rest of the room wasn’t. He had to be a Light mage, but Raz had never seen a Light effect quite like it; normally, they would emit light, not simply prevent shadows.

“The Deathless, I presume?” It was the same voice Raz had heard from the stairs. “I don’t think I want to let you have them - not the living ones, at least. Why don’t we see which of us is better at Death magic?”

Why would a Light mage challenge a shadow-creature to a Death magic duel?

The Shadow-Knight that seemed to have taken over Garrett keened and Raz fell to his knees. It felt like he was being stabbed all over by the noise. He only had one protective spell that might work, [Enhance Resistances]. It wasn’t really designed for this, but he cast it anyway. The pressure and pain let up a little.

[Death resistance increased]

[Pain resistance increased]

Raz didn’t understand how a sonic ability could be Death-based - or for that matter, why a shadow-creature was using Sonic or Death magic. He didn’t understand this place at all. It was a Dungeon; it had to make sense. Even wild Dungeons made sense! Actually, wild Dungeons usually made more sense than Kept Dungeons!

The winged man stepped closer to Raz and the pain stopped. He could still hear the keening, but somehow he was completely protected. “Stay behind me, kid. You’re not up to this fight. You shouldn’t even be here.”

Raz definitely agreed that he shouldn’t be here. He ducked behind the man and noticed something odd; from behind, his wings seemed mostly dark with a few lighter spots, instead of shimmering silver the way they had from the front.

As he moved, Raz saw Greyvine run past him and escape up the stairs.

Raz was glad the man was gone. He seemed like the type to stab a rescuer in the back to keep him from revealing where they were to other people.

Raz hadn’t forgotten that they weren’t in the sector they were “supposed” to be in.

The thing possessing Garrett stopped keening and threw a bolt of shadows at the winged man. It disappeared before it got close to him. It threw several more bolts, then pulled the sword Garret had carried. It seemed coated in an oily-looking moving shadow.

The winged man was suddenly holding a polearm. Did he have a storage device of some kind, maybe? That would make sense for a polearm, even though any storage device that could hold more than a few items was really expensive. Raz didn’t recognize the weapon. It wasn’t a spear, but it sort of looked like one.

As Garrett’s sword got close to the winged man, the shadows on the blade seemed to evaporate. The winged man deflected the sword strike, but was pushed back a few steps by Garrett’s strength.

Raz heard the man mutter “always an option”, then the polearm vanished and the man froze in place. There was a feeling that Raz could only describe as peace, order, and stasis coming from the winged man. There were no problems; everything was calm. Nothing changed, and that was how it should be.

Raz stepped back, away from the man. The feeling grew weaker slowly. It didn’t feel harmful or like an attack, which made it more dangerous, but at least it felt more like someone telling him everything was fine than something that came from within. It was probably leakage rather than an attack, but Raz had never felt spell leakage like that before.

Garrett shouted in triumph and stepped forward, but Raz could already see the flame-like shadows dying down around him. As he swung, Garrett’s body seemed to shimmer and turn to dust. Raz looked away; he didn’t want to see flesh and bone dissolve.

You are reading story After the End: Serenity at novel35.com

Raz heard Garrett’s sword clank as it hit the stone floor.

When he looked back up, there was a dark wall between the throne and the wall behind it. The man stepped past the pile on the floor and into the wall of shadows. When Raz could no longer see the man through the shadows, he looked down.

Sitting between Garrett’s sword and his armor was what looked like a heart. Raz could see it beating as he watched.

It had to be what Garrett had found - which meant it was probably also what had taken him over.

It was likely to also be the main treasure for the Dungeon, since it wasn’t destroyed when Garrett was, after Garrett used it.

Raz knew better than to touch it before the Dungeon was cleared. That would make it safer, if not exactly safe. He looked up at the dais; the shadows seemed wispier. As he watched, they cleared. All he could see of the man past the throne was his wings. He seemed to stand there for a moment, then he collapsed.

The feeling of calm stasis disappeared at the same time.

[Field Dungeon: Last Refuge of the Deathless (Corrupted) - Unrated Special (Death, Undead, Possessive) Conquered]

[Contribution: Assistant, Distraction/Delay]

[10,000 XP Awarded]

[Reward: Death Affinity or Resistance increase awarded upon Dungeon Exit]

[Field Dungeon: A Rest from Death (Death, Safety) - Unrated Special Created]

[Contribution: Aided in defeat of Conquered Dungeon]

[0 XP Awarded]

[Unique Field Dungeon is Closed until participants in its creation leave or Open it; Customization Available]

[Quest Advanced: Path of the Dungeon]

If he’d gotten 10,000 XP for avoiding getting hit, what had the winged man gotten for defeating the dungeon? Was it even a noticeable amount at the Tier that man had to be?

Also, why was there a new Field Dungeon? Raz knew they worked a little differently from normal dungeons - they existed because of events at a particular location, rather than being tied to a ley line, and they were often very short, like a young dungeon, but could be more powerful at the surface than you’d expect. This one certainly was; it was only a single room and some stairs, but Raz had no idea how a normal group could even take on shadows. Maybe the right sort of mage?

Raz had never heard that even a Field Dungeon could change, and he’d never heard of a dungeon being “Conquered” - they were either “Completed” or “Destroyed”. If you reached the Dungeon Core and killed all the enemies in that area, it was Completed; if you destroyed the Dungeon Core, it was Destroyed. If you were responsible, you’d better have killed as many monsters as possible first, because they’d go feral without a Core. Conquered was new.

Raz hoped the mystery man would explain; learning more about dungeons could only be helpful in the future.

Raz shook his head and looked back down. The beating heart was still there. It had to be a reward. He reached out to touch it so he could [Identify] it.

Heart of the Deathless (Corrupted)

This unique artifact was once the heart of a sorcerer known as the Deathless. His immortality was tied to an enchanted sliver embedded in his heart. When he fell to the forces of Death in the final war for Tzintkra’s World Core, even the forces of Death could not kill him. Instead, they bound him and corrupted him with Death magic until the artifact embedded in his heart merged with the very root of Death and was transformed.

They then locked him in the Hall that was once the seat of his power, which became a Field Dungeon. The loss of power when the ley lines shifted lost him his body, but his mad spirit still existed within the Dungeon Heart, controlling everything within the Dungeon.

The destruction of the Field Dungeon has released his spirit from bondage and sent it on to the destination the Deathless strove to avoid, but his Heart remains.

The Heart still strives to spread Death, and will convert any being who touches it into an undead creature. Replacing your heart with this artifact will - if you survive - grant you the knowledge of the Deathless himself in time.

Raz felt an intense desire to press the heart to his chest and knew that it would take care of everything - it would remove his heart so that it could settle in place. It would speed up the process and give him the knowledge of a great Sorcerer, allowing him to become the strongest-

Raz pulled his hand away from the Heart.

Those weren’t his plans. He wanted to help Aki, not be the strongest Sorcerer in existence. He didn’t trust something that would try to control him.

[Quest Advanced: Path of the Dead]

Raz looked at his left hand. He couldn’t feel anything from it; he hadn’t since he used to touch the Heart. It moved normally, but he didn’t have any feedback and when he touched it with his right hand, it was cool to the touch.

Perhaps the winged man would know something about how to deal with this.

[Quest Available: Dealing with the Heart]

[You have been touched by the Heart of the Deathless. While you have resisted its lure, you must still decide what to do with it. Can you really leave it here, or will it follow you?]

[Goal: Figure out what to do with the Heart]

[Reward: Variable]