IX.III; The Chaining of the Flesh

  We’d wandered the maze for what felt days—although we could never tell how long had passed, for the clouds of red and crackling lightning never ceased, and it never turned dark. In doing so, we hadn’t slept for days—not really, at least. Jelen had suggested we take turns keeping watch. And we had. But it hardly mattered. It hardly meant something.

  It was impossible to sleep—for when we slept, we dreamt of a dark, terrible place. A creeping malaise of trauma and horror, bereft of any true peace—for you always knew the screams would come again.

  The maze seemingly never ended, the cries of the tormented marked us wherever we went.

  Furthermore, we saw no sight of Aslyn or Telos. The witch had said they were outside—and in our folly, we assumed she meant they were close. They weren’t. Who knows where they were?

  As we rested against the side of a flesh wall—thankfully lacking any tongues, mouths or any such horror—Eldric had kept watch for a bit and now it was my turn.

  I looked at my peers—at us! The greatest magi in the world, and we were hopeless here. They appeared calm, sprouting some comfort such as they were in Cel’s mind for years, yet I did not wish to believe it.

  Would we be here for years, then? Seeking to trap some daemon in a paltry pact simply by the will of a demented old fool repeating his past mistakes? I won’t believe it. I refuse to believe it.

  Who even knows if we’ve traversed the right path? Both Aslyn and Telos are gone—and the only one here who could even try to cast Dispello simply can’t—he never learned it…

  He never fucking learned it. The Chosen of the Fire… unable to cast a simple spell… what a joke—

  “You can’t be here …” a shrill, broken voice cried.

  I looked at the end of the hall and saw an old man in the blue robes of our rank. Gods, it can’t be. Kicking Jelen awake, I rose from the wall and held my wand tight.

  “What is it!?” Jelen roared, rising from the ground. Following my sight, he slowly turned to the end of the hall. “Hil…”

  “What!?” Eldric rose even faster, stepping towards him.

  “You can’t be here!” Hil sobbed, running away.

  The three of us, no words exchanged, ran after him. Through hall after hall, across jagged mouths and gaping holes, we chased the rogue magi.

  And somewhere along the way, the hall broke into a large clearing of pure woe. Red. Red. Red.

  Atop a broken throne, a beast of mismatched arms, legs, heads and tongues gurgled at our sight. By its feet, Hil and Telos were kneeling, whilst above it, on the wall of flesh, Aslyn was hanging by a thousand vines that had wrapped around her bare body.

  Sensing us, Hil rose and turned. “You shouldn’t have come… the nightmares were all it would’ve been… I… I stopped it…”

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  “YOU STOPPED NOTHING!” a voice of blood gurgled as the beast spun off the throne and consumed Hil.

  Snapping out of whatever had happened to him, Telos leapt back to the right of the room and reached for his wand—but he didn’t have it. He’d lost it.

  Roaring a dreadful scream, the beast postured—and its stomach revealed Hil, merged into its chest and strapped in place by red tendons.

  “Celeste, Telos, provide whatever support you can!” Eldric roared, taking a running stance. “Jelen! With me!”

  Eldric flew forward, shards of metal flying off him and leaving a trail of spikes as he flew into the beast, sending it flying against the wall under Aslyn.

  From their left, Jelen flanked with his fiery sword, throwing slash after slash of flame against the left side of the beast. As it burned, he leapt into the air and took off one of its arms with one fell stroke.

  Screaming in pain, the beast struck Eldric with seven arms, sending him flying towards Telos, but he caught himself by summoning a great metal pole which he struck into the ground.

  As Jelen fought the left side of the beast, taking off arm after arm, it now finally turned to him and grabbed him with every arm remaining. Jelen tried to kick it as it lifted him, but the beast stomped his feet down with its own.

  Roaring in his face, the beast stuck out a great, pulsing tongue and licked his face, but right as it was about to bite his head off, I summoned a glacier of purple gemstone from the ground, separating the two.

  With the wand in my free hand, I carved Lancea et Pluvia and augmented it with Manifestum Mora. From the tip of my wand, a great gemstone spear appeared, which I flicked into the sky above the beast’s head.

  Using the hand I’d cast the glacier with, I swerved it to cover Jelen’s head and activated the rune, causing four-score gemstone spears to fall onto the beast, pinning it into the ground.

  As the beast cried in pain and tried to break free of my spears, snapping a few dozen in its first movement, Eldric came from the side and swung a great metal blade at its head—which it just managed to dodge by moving its neck an inch.

  With a free hand, it grabbed Eldric and began to crush his ribs. Yet as it focused on Eldric, a dozen wraiths of shadow charged at the beast and threw themselves upon it, chewing at its flesh and using their bones to stab it.

  Finally free of my spears, which had snapped and shattered, it threw Eldric into the air and spun around, throwing every wraith upon its body away—a few of which crashed and dispersed near me.

  Transmuting himself into pure flames, Jelen disappeared from the protection of my glacier as fire flew towards the beast. From behind it, Jelen appeared and slashed, then disappeared again, appearing at its feet and slashing upwards, slicing straight through one of its eyes.

  “Telos!” Eldric screamed from above. “Free Aslyn!”

  With that, he crashed atop the beast and raised his hands into the sky as hands took hold of his body. Spinning his own, a great rod of bright, grey metal formed from his hands which he struck straight through the body of the creature, properly pinning it to the floor.

  Behind him, skeletons had begun to climb the flesh using picks made of bone, aiming to free the unconscious Aslyn from her confinement.

  Jelen, performing fifty slashes in the span of five seconds, took off every arm and leg of the best, then powered the flame on his bastard blade and stabbed it into the very eye he’d slashed.

  Sobbing bloodful tears, the beast’s mouths trembled as it struggled under the trap of Eldric’s metal rod. “STOP!!!”

  From the belly of the best, Hil stretched his arms out in fear as Eldric jumped off its back and landed next to Jelen. “Stop… you can’t… he’ll kill us all…”

  “Telos!?” Eldric called out, carving a rune onto Hill’s forehead and mouthing something to him. “Is she awake!?”

  Turning to the right, I saw Telos helping Aslyn up, slinging her arm over his shoulder. “Aye!”

  “Celeste! Get here now!”

  I ran towards them and readied my wand. Jelen carved Sigillum under Eldric’s, then I did the same, then Telos, and then the weakened Aslyn. On three, we powered our runes.