“Juiz, what time is it?” I asked. I had set up rough time zones and we were smack in the middle of one, so I could be fairly confident that the time would be moderately correct. At least as correct as my basic setup would allow.
“Current time is Twelve Fifteen,” she replied.
Crap. “Is something wrong?” Aurora asked.
“No, just wondering if we were early enough to head back to Magnimar today if we finished soon, but I guess we’ll probably want to stay at Chadwick’s base camp tonight and head back tomorrow at the rate we’re going.” It was a lie, but I didn’t want to worry her and she seemed to accept it.
Kira, on the other hand, knew what was wrong. “Still haven’t found the answer?” she asked in our brain.
“No,” I admitted mentally. “And it’s afternoon now. So I guess that ship has sailed. Unless Samantha gave you any hints?”
“Sorry. And she’s not letting me into the Dreamlands right now. I think she wants me to be here with you in case you need me.”
I sent a warm feeling towards her, the mental equivalent of a smile. “Thanks, sis. I get the feeling we’ll need all the help we can get if we’re going to make it out of this.” It didn’t matter. We had to do this, no matter the cost. The price of not doing it was far higher than the cost of losing our lives saving everyone.
I’m not a coward,
I’ve just never been tested
I’d like to think that if I was,
I would pass.
As we made our way down the hallway, another image of Karzoug appeared. “You may have slain Khalib, but you will never –!“ He stopped speaking as I shot his image, causing him to cry out in pain as it disappeared.
We entered the next doorway and found ourselves in a room filled with exotic furs. A quartet of lamias appeared from the far door, dressed in sensuous silken gowns. Lenn was excited. “I LIKE HOOKERS!” he shouted gleefully. The lamias were not amused, though it was all I could do not to laugh out loud at the whole thing. Not sure I can blame them for being ticked off.
Personally, I was sad that we dirtied all those pretty furs.
I still can’t get over how used to the craziness and violence I’d become. It hadn’t been that long ago since I’d been freaked out near to the point of catatonia at the home of those ogres. Now? I was upset that we’d ruined some damn furs. Also, they had holy symbols of Lamashtu on them, so killing them was probably a public service.
I’d apparently already pissed the Mother of Monsters off. What’s a few more dead clerics?
The lamias were followed by grotesque, warped creatures that looked like mutated lamias. They died too, but I was sure I’d see them again in my nightmares. I guess some things hadn’t changed. The PTSD was gonna be a bitch when I finally made it home.
The old church bell will peal with joy
Hurrah! Hurrah!
To welcome home our darling boy,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
And we’ll all need Zoloft
When Kyle comes marching home.
Beyond them was what looked like some kind of prison. In sharp contrast to the ridiculous opulence of the rest of the palace, it was simple and utilitarian, with stone walls and steel doors. “I know your scent…” a voice said from the shadows. We turned and faced the astradaemon as it stepped into the light.
Crap. Could he have been talking to me, after the daemons I’d encountered in the afterlife? Guess it really didn’t matter. Ayruzi wasn’t having any of his shit and attacked immediately. Even without us being there, an astradaemon was in no way a match for a planetar. With our help? The angel barely took a scratch.
After we were sure that the daemon was dead, we made our way to what appeared to be a throne room. Inside, we ran across a fierce-looking raven-haired beauty wielding a sword that glowed blindingly in my magic sight. It was more enchanted than Aurora’s armor, which was saying something.
I picked apart the numerous auras quickly, and I was sure of only a few things. First, like I said, this weapon was incredibly enchanted. Second, it was sentient. Third, it was a product of Thassilonian rune magic.
But I wasn’t the only one who had noticed something. Ayruzi, with her telepathy, could sense something I couldn’t. Even as the woman shouted a denouncement of us and charged – backed up by several cloud giant runeslaves – the planetar shouted, “The sword is controlling her! Her actions are not her own!”
Crap. “We have to save her!” Aurora said, moving to intercept the fighter so Lenn could focus on the giants.
“She needs to be separated from the sword!” Ayruzi shouted back. “I’ve already cast two spells to try to break the enchantment, but the magic’s hold is too strong.”
If killing the woman had been our goal, I’m sure it would have been an easy fight. But we had almost instantly decided to try to save her. We were going to need more than normal effort to subdue her.
I need a hero
I’m holding out for a hero ’til the morning light
He’s gotta be sure
And it’s gotta be soon
And he’s gotta be larger than life!
Larger than life
That hero took the form of Geo. With the woman’s attention focused on Aurora, she didn’t see Geo sneaking up behind her. I’m not even sure he had needed to turn his skin camouflage, though better safe than sorry, I guess.
From behind her, Geo’s arm shot out and his tentacles wrapped around her throat. He deftly squeezed, putting enough pressure on her carotid artery to choke off the blood supply to her brain without doing any permanent damage. That was another image for the horror dreams.
The woman’s eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed. The sword clattered to the floor just as Lenn dealt the final blow on the remaining giant. I wish we could have saved them too, but not with Lenn there. Maybe once this was over, we could take the time to try to free any remaining runeslaves without taking Lenn with us.
Ayruzi was cradling the unconscious form of the woman. “Can you help her?” Aurora asked.
“The blade’s hold is too strong. I need to get some distance between them. It may also take time for the influence to wane.”
She was probably right. But we couldn’t send her off somewhere random. Luckily, I had an idea. “We have a base camp down in the main city. If you take her there, my adopted brother can provide a place for her to be held safely and moderately comfortably until you can break the hold on her mind.” Chadwick would make sure that proper precautions were taken.
“What about the sword?” Geo asked. “We shouldn’t leave it lying around, but it might be too dangerous for us to just pick up.” He had a point. We had no idea what the conditions were for the sword controlling someone. We needed to do our best to move it without touching it.
I had an idea for that too. “I’ll take care of it,” I said. I used my blood to fabricate a shell of mithracite around the weapon. At Aurora’s request, Ayruzi healed the damage that had done to me before I used my gun to nudge the mithracite shell into the portable hole I’d laid next to it. The hope was that since the gun’s enchantment was proof against the powers of the Runelord of Greed, it might protect me from the weapon’s influence.
It seemed to work, because even after I had closed up the hole, I felt nothing from the weapon. I would have to figure out how to deal with it later. Maybe I could find a way to fling the damn thing into the sun?
A rune giant stumbled into the room and was met by instant resistance. Juiz shot him in the face with a rocket, hitting at the same time as Paulie’s fireball, Lenn’s axe and Lenntu’s shotgun blast. The giant never had a chance.
“You’ll be okay if I leave to take the girl?” the angel asked us as the smoke cleared.
“We’ll be fine,” Aurora said. “And this is important too.”
“Don’t worry about us,” I agreed. “We’ve got this.”
My wife’s angelic forebear set the woman down and pulled both of us to her in a surprise embrace. “I’m so very proud,” she said. “Of both of you. Be safe.” She then picked up the unconscious woman again and set off towards the exit.
We moved down the hall and found another projection of Karzoug. “Now listen here, you impudent –!” Once more, he was cut off as I shot his projection. I was really starting to enjoy doing that to him. And I think it was beginning to get to him, too, since the next wrinkle in the fabric of reality we encountered, Karzoug wasn’t projecting himself at us.
Didn’t mean I couldn’t strike him from it, though. I felt my gun pulling its way towards the tear. I went with it and thrust the weapon into the distortion. It shuddered and collapsed like it had when I shot Karzoug’s image. I hoped that it hurt him as much as the other times.
Hey, it might have been petty, but it was either that or think about what horrible fate might await us at the end since I had no idea how to fulfill the prophecy and ensure our survival. So I’m allowed to be a little petty.
At the end of the hallway, we found a room with a giant statue of Karzoug made of gold. Because of course that was a thing that existed. Well, not for long. As soon as we were done, I was melting that down to use for something that would irritate Karzoug. Maybe feeding the poor or something.
But first, we had to deal with the demon someone had put there to defend it. It was a shemhazian – a combination of some of the greatest hunters in the natural world – and thus I wasn’t worried. A bound shemhazian is a sure sign that the summoner lacks imagination. It’s a pure expression of brute force.
And if brute force was the currency of the day, well, we could deal with that. We had Lenn. And a rocket launcher. Also, a rail gun. And Paulie was in “Glory!” mode. So basically, you know, we had the advantage here.
It was like lightning
Everybody was fighting
And the music was soothing
And they all started grooving
Once the demon was dead, I patted the statue. “Codpieces for war orphans,” I said decisively.
“What’s that?” Aurora asked me.
“Nothing, dear,” I replied. “I suspect there can’t be much more resistance left. Let’s continue on.”
We reached what looked like the end of the road, which was dominated by a giant floating golden orb of some kind hovering over an altar or a dais or whatever you’d call it. And by giant, I mean it looked to be at least thirty feet in diameter!
Standing on the steps before the sphere was a lamia with a panther as her bottom half. At the base of the stairs was a trio of enslaved storm giants. “You have made it far, so called heroes. But you will never enter the Eye of Avarice! I, Most High Ceoptra, swear it upon my loyalty to the great Karzoug!”
“We’ll get the giants!” Lenntu shouted, as he, Lenn and Geo charged.
“Moving to assist,” Juiz said, drawing the rail gun and taking shots at giants.
“That leaves the priestess for us,” Aurora said, dashing between giants and up the stairs.
“GLORY!” Paulie shouted, unleashing a volley of brilliantly glowing arrows at the priestess. I summoned lantern archons in large numbers to assist all around, but mostly had them focus on the priestess.
The fight was over in less than a minute. How could it not be? Xin’Shalast’s over-reliance on giants had given us an advantage the whole way through, considering our friends’ talents. And that hadn’t changed here. I did feel a little bad for the runeslaves, but at least they were easy enough as opponents.
The giants fell first, allowing the others to move to assist Aurora, though it was unnecessary. “Karzoug! I have failed you!” Ceoptra wailed as Aurora’s final blow sped to meet her neck, severing her head from her body. It hit the steps and bounced three times before reaching the bottom.
As we expended the last of our weaker healing magic – we wanted to save the remaining big stuff for the fight with the runelord – I examined the sphere. Warily, I poked my head inside, and was immediately disoriented. But I could sense Karzoug’s presence, and I did notice one thing. Everything else was blurry within the sphere, even my own body. But not the flames on the dais.
Studying the magical auras confirmed the suspicions I had. Fire was the key. Flame would anchor you, and allow you to enter the demiplane through the gateway within the sphere. The realm that held our final foe.
Lenn went first, unsheathing his wings and stepping through. He appeared to disintegrate as he plane shifted. Next was Paulie, who shifted personalities and entered the sphere in the form of a fire elemental. He also disappeared quickly.
One by one, the others entered, lighting matches I had given them to open the way. Finally, only Aurora and I were left. We stood in the sphere and embraced. “Scared?” my beloved asked.
“A little,” I admitted. “But we’ll get through this.”
“Yes, we’ve managed to survive everything else so far by sticking together. We can do this.”
“That we can,” I agreed. “Ready?”
She nodded, though I had trouble seeing it. We kissed one last time, and both lit our matches. Then the world faded away around us as the flames engulfed us. We knew what it meant.
We’re coming for you, Karzoug. You’ve spent ten thousand years waiting for this day, and when all is said and done, we are going to ruin your plans. We might die for it, but if that was the price of business, then so be it.
Seasons don’t fear the reaper
Nor do the wind, the sun or the rain
We can be like they are.
Koi koi.