Chapter 19
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Notes: There are several.
Attention: Vagabond seems to be having problems (computer-related, I think), so she can't beta-read the remaining chapters right now. However, since I'm horribly impatient and I know you guys are too, I'm posting them anyway. Once she gets things together, I'll replace the chapters with their beta-read equivalent one by one.
Subtitle for this chapter: The Beginning of the End
The subtitle refers to the fact that this is the first of the chapters where things are planned out enough that I feel like I might actually know what I'm doing. So hopefully chapters from here to the end will come quicker than the previous few have been.
Listen up. Bullfrog owns Dungeon Keeper. I own Dungeon Secrets. I also own the weirdy concepts in here like the Darknesses and whatnot. Don't steal, unless it's from Bullfrog, in which case steal, but be nice about it and don't make profit. If you like my fic and want to archive it just ask and I'll probably say yes.
This story contains slash (male/male relationships)! If this bothers you, just leave now, don't waste your time and mine flaming me about it.
For a glossary of terms and concepts, as well as a map of this Realm, go to this address: http://dragonnest.freeservers.com/fics/dungeonviewshelp.html (Note: This page has recently been added to, including several polls. Please go vote and let me know your opinion.)
Pronunciation Key:
Kaelay: [KAY-lay]
Seiat: [SAY-aht]
Tarkasas: [Tar-KAH-sas]
Ramasha: [Ra-MAH-sha]
Mortagui: [Mor-tah-GUY]
Evain: [Eh-VAIN]
Tukash: [TOO-kash]
Kethian: [KEH-thee-un]
Zannos: [ZAHN-nos]
I think that's all, so on with the fic!
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Kaelay
Evain is pacing when I reach him. As I slow and assume my astral form, he stops, crossing his arms and looking impatient. He frowns at me, and his tail swishes nervously. Well? You summoned me?
I nod, now that I have a physical form once more. Yes. I have a plan for facing Mortagui. But I will require your help.
Immediately he seems more interested and alert. A plan? When did that happen?
I smile inwardly. I had a little chat with the new Keeper of the Blue Darkness. I know him from a long time ago, and he's actually a rather decent fellow. He's agreed that if we can get rid of Mortagui, he will leave without further retribution.
And you believe him? Evain sounds skeptical.
I nod again. He has nothing to gain by fighting us. It also takes some time to get used to being bonded with a Darkness. I believe he would want to do that on his own and in peace. I pause. Plus... Zannos and I have history together. I don't believe that he would hurt me without just cause. Of course, a Darkness can drive a Keeper to do strange things. But the Blue Darkness is still recovering from its unconsciousness in the Shadowrealm.
Evain still seems skeptical, but apparently he accepts the logic of my argument. Very well, he says, so what is this plan of yours?
This time the smile actually reaches my lips. One of my researchers was able to analyze that spell that Mortagui used. If I can sneak a creature into his dungeon far enough to get to his Heart, I should be able to use kill him with it.
Evain considers this. Alright. And let me guess. You need me to provide the means for you getting into his dungeon. In the form of a distraction, I assume?
Ah. He is learning. Perhaps I have been a good influence on him. Exactly. It needs to be something that will be serious enough to take all of his attention, while not being too obviously a distraction. I'm going to do it today, around the lightest hour. Can you be ready by then?
Evain nods distractedly, apparently already formulating a plan. I can come up with something, yes.
We'll need a signal of some sort.
There won't be enough time, he says. He looks up at me. You'll just have to trust me.
I stare at him. Trust... trust him? Do I trust him? Should I? All of a sudden the only thing I can remember is him keeping secrets from me. He didn't tell me about that message. He kept it hidden, when he knew very well that he was supposed to report it to me. And yet...
My mind turns to the strange concern in his voice after he saved me. He saved my life. Of course, that was probably out of self-interest. After all, he needs me for this war. But I need him to. ...For more than just the war, maybe.
I'll start the infiltration precisely at the lightest hour.
Evain smiles, a wordless acknowledgement of my trust in him. I will be ready Kaelay.
Good. I move to leave dissolving into my energy form, but something makes me turn back.
Oh, and Evain?
He looks back, already a massless energy, from where he too was just about to leave. Yes Kaelay?
I gently extend him a tendril of my power, a light kiss like that I gave to Zannos. Be careful, I whisper.
He smiles. I will Kaelay.
I leave quickly, before things have a chance to get awkward. Did I really just do that? Have I become so soft?
Maybe this is the force that captured Tarkasas and Ramasha.
Seiat
All my attempts to find someone to do this job for me have failed. There is no other option left open to me.
I will have to kill him myself. I know I'm small. I'm only an Imp, and I can't do much, but I have to try. For Tarkasas's sake.
People always underestimate Imps. They assume that since we are small, we are not dangerous. They forget that they were once small as well. The only difference is that we have not been given the opportunity to train ourselves up as they have.
I remember tales of a Realm Kaelay was in, long ago. They are told by some of the veteran fighters. Of course, they are not told to me, but I overhear them. Once, as an experiment, Kaelay trained a batch of Imps, pushing them beyond their limits, and raising them all to level ten.
One warrior, an old dragon with wrinkled hide whose teeth are missing or crooked and all yellow, tells that they were fierce, strange creatures. Grown to a size double that of a normal Imp, they changed in appearance. Their lower canine teeth became long tusks, and they developed a shaggy coat. Their hand grew long talon-like claws, and their bodies became more defined and well-muscled.
The warrior says that there were no other creatures who would defend the Heart with as much savage ferocity as the Imp warriors. They had a feral intensity in their eyes, he says, which only grew as they looked upon enemies, but did not fade as they gazed upon allies.
He says that Kaelay would have dubbed the experiment a success, but for one factor. The Imps became to wild. Their ferocity was uncontrollable, and with nothing to fight they soon turned on Kaelay's own creatures and each other. Unlike most disgruntled creatures, they refrained from destroying parts of her Dungeon, but they could not suppress their killing instinct.
It always occurred to me, upon hearing that tale, to wonder if that is how Imps used to be. Were we once mighty warriors, bred to docililty and work because we could not be controlled? How is it that we have this potential within us?
And more importantly, can it be summoned again?
I am nowhere near a level ten, of course, but somewhere inside me lies the potential to be a savage beast. If I could only find it within myself, I'm sure I would have to strength to fight the Angel, mentally, if not physically.
I look at my hands and imagine. Talons, no longer delicate enough to hold the shaft of a pickaxe, but great and powerful, designed to rend and tear flesh. I laugh. With these hands I wouldn't need the shovel. I could burrow through the very earth itself, chomping apart any stones that got in my way with the huge fangs protruding from my lower lip.
And respect. Creatures, workers and fighters alike would fear me. No longer could I be forced to take the insults and jeers, to be threatened by Warlocks looking for the next victim on which to test their spells. I would have power.
But as I look, the vision fades, and I see the small hands. My hands are those of a worker, not a fighter.
But that will have to be enough.
Tarkasas
I am beginning to think that perhaps I worry too much. I nearly went running off again this morning when I woke up and Ramasha was gone again. Luckily I asked around before flying out to look for him. A nearby Vampire told me that Kaelay had commandeered him earlier to do some research for her.
I calmed down immediately. It was silly, I suppose, to worry that he would try again to kill himself, but it hardly seemed possible the first time.
Going about my normal business was difficult today. I couldn't concentrate. A fellow Knight almost skewered me in the Combat Pit because I wasn't paying attention. I just couldn't stop thinking about Ramasha.
Is it right for me to move in, when he's only just lost Kethian?
Now I sit on my cot, staring across at his bed and waiting for him to get back. I am just beginning to consider going out to look for him when he strides into the Lair, a thoughtful look on his face.
He sits down heavily on his bed and looks up at me, apparently just noticing that I am here. He smiles. "Good morning. Sorry I had to leave like that."
I wave away his apology. "Not necessary. When Kaelay calls, you jump, end of story. I know. I'm more curious as to what it is that you were researching that couldn't be done by someone else."
Ramasha's face brightens and he leans in towards me, obviously excited. "That attack on Kaelay the other day. The one we all felt. I think I found the spell that did it."
Interested, I raise my eyebrow, inviting him to elaborate.
He does, with hurried gestures. "It's an odd sort of spell, really. It involves conjuring up a Shell Demon to perform a basic energy drain-"
"Hold on," I interrupt. "Shell Demon?"
Ramasha blinks in confusion, then realizes. "Oh yes. You're not a researcher. Well, a Shell Demon is similar to a normal Demon, except without a soul. It's basically a body that you can control in order to do a task that requires demon powers."
"Ah." I nod. "Go on."
"Anyway, you summon a insect Shell Demon, similar to a tick, and use it to drain power from the enemy's Heart. Since the demon is only a shell however, it can't hold the power, so it has to be transferred to another vessel provided by the caster. The mana drains so quickly and effectively that it creates a sort of dizzying weakness in its target, making it hard for the Keeper to pull together enough focus to stop the attack on his or her Heart. Stunningly effective. I don't know why it hasn't been used more before. Possibly Mortagui developed it on his own." His expression momentarily darkens. "He always did pride himself on spells."
"So how did Mortagui get close enough to Kaelay's Heart to cast the spell without her knowing?"
"That's the thing." Ramasha points a finger at me to emphasize his words. "He couldn't. Instead, he found a way to attach it to an object, probably a scroll, or maybe the vessel itself, so that an ordinary creature could simply activate the spell and wait. Then he gave it to a Rogue, sending him in and creating a distraction afterward to obscure the fact that the creature was already within the dungeon, not simply trying to enter."
He sits back. "Ingenious really. I wouldn't have thought him capable of that kind of strategy."
"He's not," I say, thinking back to all the rumors and gossip that I heard around the Combat Pit today.
He looks startled. "What do you mean?"
Apparently he hasn't heard. "There's news going around the Dungeon that Mortagui has found a strong ally, and brought him to this Realm. Apparently he's a good strategist, and it was probably him that was coaching Mortagui's moves. Mortagui's spell, his ally's plan. Get it?"
Ramasha seems taken aback. "Damn. That's the one thing we need. Mortagui's brilliant spells coupled with someone who's actually competent." He puts a hand over his eyes. "This can't be good."
"I know," I say, "but it can't be helped. Kaelay will know what to do."
I'm glad you have such confidence in me, comes a voice from above us.
Ramasha and I both stand and look up.
Ramasha
Kaelay chuckles at our startlement. (AN: Is that a real word?) Greetings. Ramasha, I have something for you.
"Mistress?" I say, unsure as to what it could possibly be.
An object falls onto the bed behind me, and I pick it up. It is the bag that I found on the dead Rogue. To my surprise, it is warm.
I have finished replacing its energy signiture with my own, continues Kaelay. So it should be able to hold someone else's Heart energy now. And this. Another item falls, and this time I catch it. It is a scroll.
That is my version of the spell that Mortagui used on me. It is probably not the exact same thing, but it is as close an approximation as I could come up with and it should work just the same.
I am still rather confused. "Thank you Mistress, but... why give all this to me?"
Because, she says matter-of-factly, you will be the one using them on Mortagui.
For a moment I am stunned. "M-me, Mistress?"
Of course, she says patiently, in the tone of one explaining something to a small child. You are the one creature here who knows the layout of Mortagui's dungeon better than anyone else. And you are the also the one creature who I feel most deserves the revenge.
I bow my head, hiding a smile. "Thank you, Mistress Kaelay. You are most thougtful."
I know. Now, I will be assigning a Rogue to go with you. He can cast an invisibility spell, and will also be able to protect you if things go awry while you are on this mission.
The thought of wandering through the dungeon of my former Master with a complete stranger is unappealing. And also, perhaps, unnecessary. "With all due respect, Mistress, I think that would be rather pointless."
Kaelay pauses, but does not get angry. Explain, Angel.
"Again, with all due respect, My Lady, Mortagui usually keeps some spells set into the very weave of his Dungeon that nullify enemy invisibilities. Any bodyguard would probably be as affective as any other at this point."
I can feel her attention waver from me to Tarkasas. I see, she says eventually. Well then, Tarkasas, you will escort the Angel to Mortagui's Heart. There will be a diversion at lightest hour, so that is when you should enter his dungeon. Go straight to his Heart and activate the spell. I trust you know how, Ramasha?
I hastily open the scroll and glance over the spell. It seems basic enough. "Yes Mistress, I should be capable of this."
Good. I expect you to leave shortly. You have a little under an hour before the diversion begins.
I nod. "Yes Mistress." Across from me, Tarkasas echoes the sentiment.
She departs, and I look across to Tarkasas. He smiles. "Looks like you are going to get to kill him after all."
"Yes," I say. "It look like."
Oh God, that was hideous. Take me back.
or
Oh God, that was hideous. Let me complain to the author.