Dark Interim
Morticai von Strauss waited patiently while his manservant opened the door to the fine black lacquered carriage he awaited in.
It was nearing midday, but you would never know it, since dark clouds always covered the skies these days, for which Morticai was glad, though he could never admit it to the mortals that put their hope in him. Many of them were old enough to remember when the sun had still shone over this tiny southern kingdom, though over the past twenty years the skies had gradually darkened until even at midday it was no brighter than dusk.
Now it always looked as if storm could break over the world at any second, yet there was barely any wind.
Hushed it all was… the land always felt hushed.
Still, even as Strauss stepped from his carriage, another servant rushed up to provide a simple sunshade for him. All knew his agitation to sunlight, even as dark as the days were now. Other servants held lanterns to brighten his path toward the stone steps of the great cathedral that loomed over the darkened city all about.
He didn't need the lanterns' light to see, but he could never let his people know that. He had to keep up the pretense of a sickly lord, coughing intermittently into his handkerchief, moving with a feigned limp that necessitated the use of a polished dark cane.
As he stood, the weak light of the day granted his pale skin a slight glow even with the sunshade. He was indeed highborn, dressed in a black greatcoat with dual rows of lapels over a white cambric tunic tucked into black breeches, fine leather boots pulled over his slender calves. The lord's long white hair framed his ashen face, delicately featured; his scarlet eyes just another trait of his family's odd albinism—or so the people believed.
Morticai immediately went into a fit of coughing, pulling his handkerchief from his coat again to cough into it. When he brought it away, there was a smattering of blood on it.
"My Lord, are you well enough for this summons? I can send Ginn to tell Lord Lichtenstein that you cannot attend if it is so," his manservant Struker asked.
Morticai brushed that away with a weak smile. "No, Struker, I appreciate your concern, but this is not a summons I can afford to miss."
The man looked worried, but finally nodded. "As you wish, my Lord."
Replacing his handkerchief, he looked to his faithful servant. "Stay with the carriage, Struker, and keep the rest of the servants out here. I fear I must meet with Lichtenstein alone this time."
Struker clearly didn't like such an order, his jaw tightening, but he merely nodded again.
Then Morticai went off, limping as he went, leaning heavily on his cane. He figured pretending to be sickly around his people was his penance for what he was doing to them. The deception only made it worse, but he could not disobey his master. Still, his people were much better off under him than Camilla's were under her. It was hardly any consolation, but there it was.
Slowly, the pale lord went up the grand staircase that led to the dimly lit maw of the mighty cathedral. Horrid gothic fixtures filled with eerie amber light hung from chains high overhead from the tapered arch of the building's cavernous entrance.
Two armored guards stood perfectly still before the mighty doors that began to creak inward as Morticai approached.
As he stood waiting for the great doors to open, he glanced at the two knights. Fully armored in elaborate black plate-and-mail, he knew that they were not men beneath the metal, but other servants of his master… these ones without any will of their own at all…
Lord Lichtenstein preferred his servants that way, but none such could have kept up the pretense that he and Camilla did, which was why both of them were his lieutenants.
Waiting patiently, Morticai finally stepped into a long dim nave filled with two rows of wooden pews that led all the way to a grand lectern at the other end of the chamber.
The pale lord shook his head. To think this was once a place where members of the Order of the White Staff had provided their healing light to Brikkensburg. Now it was only a shelter for shadows and wraiths of which Strauss could admit he was one.
Morticai waited just at the cusp of the grand nave for the great doors to creak shut behind him, watching the strange tawny light in many fixtures overhead create a phantasmagoria of silent shifting shadows all across the nave.
When the great doors finally boomed shut, a soft whisper sounded in his mind. "Please come forward, my servant. I am eager to speak with you."
Morticai shuddered at the mind touch, but proceeded without delay. Alone in here, he had no need to pretend to be other than he was, and he moved like a pale blur toward the looming lectern and quickly knelt before it. "I apologize for the delay, Master."
A very tall figure moved silently from behind the great lectern. Nearly twenty feet tall, the cadaverously thin creature was draped in long flowing robes that seemed to negate all light. Its voice was eerily hollow, as if it spoke from within the depths of a cave. "Worry not, Morticai, I understand the need to keep up your deception slows you. If I showed impatience before, I apologize. My own foolish master has done something rather irksome recently, but that is no concern of yours. Tell me, does Camilla still keep her covenant with me?"
Where he knelt, Morticai scowled. "Only by a hairsbreadth, Master. Behind closed doors she has become wanton, bathing in blood, her depraved rituals threatening to expose us to the mortals."
"Yes… that is indeed troublesome. You see, millennia ago I had discovered the need for patience and deception among the humans. Certainly I possess the power to dominate them, as I once tried to dominate the Earth Crystal, but that was a mistake. Indeed, the Cataclysm of Earth was my error. I wasn't even a thousand years old then and thought I could crush the Crystal directly, but even weakened by Lord Chaos before his destruction, it was still too strong. I learned then that direct confrontation with my foes brings about unexpected and painful consequences. I learned to avoid advancing my plans openly, as you have Morticai. Camilla, on the other hand, tries my very carefully cultivated patience."
Morticai nodded. "As you have said before, Master, we, the Pale Ones, have nothing but time."
The shadowed face deep in a hooded cowl nodded slowly. "Yes, Morticai, it is good that you remember. The Crystals wither as all living things must. Still, even as my true self is trapped in this blasted cavern with it, even as it has grown sickly and corrupt, there is still a hint of life within the Earth Crystal and I dare not provoke it now, not after what I had learned long ago. Patience, Morticai, patience is a virtue greater than any other. If you can master it, than the greater victory shall be yours in the end."
Morticai dared to look up at the void-black visage before him. "Yes, my Master… still, what shall I do about Camilla?"
The other did not answer immediately, shifting subtly, the darkness about it growing deeper, its inky black robes seeming to recess into an abyss of endless shifting shadow.
The Lich floated free of the earth. "Nothing, servant, I will make a personal visit to the mad woman… and she shall tremble for it."
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
She was lucky to have her mistress's blessing, for none could have survived these smoldering depths without it.
The great black mountain was ever angry, lifting high into the sky over the burning wastes beyond its treacherous slopes.
She came down at the head of a procession of others, changed like her from their once human forms into the creatures they now were. Molten Mount Golug was riddled with many systems of caves and caverns, especially in its burning depths, which the woman and her chosen warriors were currently descending into.
Her tribe was the strongest of the berserker peoples of the Burning Lands. Many tribes, great and small, had always been vying with each other for the limited resources contained in the harsh environment. Her people, however, the Burning Scar, had always won more than it had lost to the others. Only they had gained the favor of the Lady of Fire, their great and wrathful goddess.
The barbarian woman grinned a glowing grin, her face and skin deeply red, her eyes smoldering like burning coals. Her burning hair flowed back from her head as a wreath of flame that lit the black tunnels all about her. She wore the scaly hides cut from the smoldering drakes that stalked the land, killing and devouring the weak as all things did in the Burning Lands.
After some time, her and her cohorts entered the burning heart, a truly prodigious cavern, which was now dominated by a massive outcrop of what looked to be charred stone. It was absolutely colossal reaching from the obsidian floor of the monstrous cavern up to disappear into shadows far overhead. Even the burning pools of magma that defined the circumference of the great cavern could not provide enough light to reach all corners of the mighty chamber. Indeed, for all that light sources were available down here, darkness still dominated.
Respectfully, Cana Carna of The Burning Scar, made her way to be dwarfed by the massive charred outcrop that loomed in the center of the heart. Once close enough, she could still see hints of red-orange crystal burning beneath the rest of the thing's charred surface, and though it was easily still hot enough overwhelm a normal human, Cana actually thought the heart a bit cool. The colossal charred crystal seemed as if it should be greater somehow, as if it should be able to teach the sun how to scorch. Instinctively, she wanted to reach out a hand and touch the charred surface of the thing… to feel a hint of its power. However weakened it seemed, she gained impressions of an inconsolable rage that could burn the world twice over and still not be satisfied.
Yet from the depths of the shadows beyond the column, two burning eyes flared opened, staring down at her with a blazing intensity. A voice sounded, scathing and sheer. "You have taken too long, daughters, I am of a mind to punish you severely! Now, let me see it!"
Cana turned and nodded to the others of her burning sisterhood. Two other heavily muscled women in scaly hides came forth, bearing a large stone vessel, so large that they lugged it between them with difficulty. Putting it down, Cana nodded at the women and they removed the stone lid, setting it gently on the ground.
"Enough! Let me see it now, or I shall carve you all to pieces!" The Lady of Fire roared.
Hastily, the two women brought out a huge chunk of raw ruby from the stone vessel. Reverently, they went forward at Cana's side as she led them toward the deep shadows, lit only faintly by the burning gaze of their towering mistress.
The creature's blazing eyes narrowed. "It will do, daughters, you survive my wrath yet again. Now, place it with the others. They take time to shape appropriately to fit my blades." She paused. "Now, what of the warring tribes? Have you subsumed the Dark Sky yet?"
Cana had to crane her neck back to meet her mistress's immolating gaze nearly thirty feet above her. "We make swift progress, my Lady, but they have united with the horsemen of the Obsidian Steppes. These centaurs were thought to hate all us 'two-legs' but apparently that is no longer the case. Still, they will all be brought low. We need only a little more time."
"More delays!" the creature snapped, but went quiet for a moment. "It is good that your enemies unite against you, daughters, it means you are strong enough to present such a threat that they are willing to put their enmity aside. Your trials will soon increase."
Cana nodded, her eyes burning fiercely. "As you have said, Great Mistress, the greater the heat, the stronger the steel. Through trials of fire and blood, I shall forge all the tribes into your willing army, have no fear of this."
The creature laughed wickedly. "Oh, it is not I that has to fear, daughter. Now, choose one of your sisters and prove to me yet again that you are the one to lead my chosen forces."
Cana had known this was coming. She turned toward her sisters and all of them nodded to her. It was an honor to be chosen for the Duel of Flame. That it was a fight to the death for dominance of the Burning Scar was only right and necessary. Cana pointed a red finger at one of her sisters. "Duranga, I will see your might this day, do not disappoint me."
The other woman's burning eyes grew hotter as she brought forth a wicked greataxe, its dark steel gleaming in the light from her burning mane of hair. "I will die with honor or lead in your stead should you fall to me, Firebrand."
The Lady of Fire chuckled darkly. "Very good, my chosen. Now, clear a space and show me the depths of your devotion."
The group did so, the other eight women forming a wide circle so that Cana and Duranga could face off in their midst.
As Firebrand, the head of her tribe, Cana brought forth twin wicked battle-axes, glaring at her rival with all the fury of her exalted position.
With twin bellows, the two warriors charged each other. Cana came in with twin slashes, being able to attack much more quickly than Duranga with her greataxe. Still, the other woman parried the blows with the haft of her weapon before turning with a monstrous slash of her heavy axe. Blocking that blow jarred Cana's arms something fierce, but she gave a yell and went in, slashing again, getting through the other's defenses and scoring a cut across the other woman's midriff.
The two then parted and circled each other. It seemed the scaled hide of Duranga's vestments had been cut away, but had also absorbed the brunt of the blow, making the slash relatively light. Duranga didn't bother to glance down at the wound, from which flowed molten blood. Instead, she roared and leapt forward with a great overhead slash, which Cana dodged, but the other continued, whirling about with another brutal side-swinging blow. Almost too slow this time, Cana managed to catch the blow with the twin blades of her axes, though one of her weapons cracked from meeting such furious steel.
Cana quickly discarded the cracked axe, knowing it was only a liability now. Clearly at a disadvantage to the other woman, she retreated a bit, knowing she would have to use all of her skill to time a clever blow or else be cleaved apart. Therefore, when Duranga leapt forward again in a killing fury, Cana slung her last axe at the woman. In mid-air the other could not dodge, and the thrown axe bit deeply into the Duranga's right arm, nearly severing it.
Duranga gave a wounded roar as she landed, but Cana gave her no time, rushing in to grasp the haft of the other woman's greataxe and wrenching it from her with all her might. Doing so ripped the other woman's nearly severed arm off, causing her to teeter forward just as Cana smashed her in the face with a brutal head-butt. That released the other woman's grip on the greataxe completely as she fumbled back, molten blood spewing from her shattered nose.
Cana did not hesitate, gripping the mighty axe and rushing up with a great overhead blow. With a mighty roar, she slashed the weapon down and crushed Duranga's skull, continuing downward to cleave her in twain. With great gouts of molten blood spraying everywhere, the corpse slumped down in two halves.
Without a scratch on her, Cana had dispatched yet another of her sisters, all for the continued glory of the Burning Scar—and though she could not see it, Marilith smiled down at her from the shadows. "Very good, servant, you yet remain my Firebrand." She then laughed suddenly, her piercing gales reverberating throughout the mighty black-charred cavern.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Where once there had been warm currents even down here, the Deep Reaches now felt as chill and foreboding as Durante had ever known them.
It was pitch-black this deep down and the King of the Mere was only able to see as he swam through the shadow-tainted depths because of the shimmering blue light globes that the sahuagin around him carried.
It was hard to contain his disgust for the barbed fishmen that escorted him down. His people, the Mere, had long been enemies of the fishmen, but as Lady Leviathan had weakened, the usurper had pushed his spiny followers to conquer the City of Pearls and Durante had had to allow the sahuagin under the dome or his people would have been slaughtered.
Down here, the depths seemed timeless as they swam, the darkness interminable. Very rarely did any of his people come down this far and even as adapted as the king was to the pressures beneath the waves, a headache was beginning to brew between his temples.
As they swam over a ridge of stone, however, the king suddenly saw the ruins in the distance, providing enough blue bioluminescence to light the inky depths around it better than anywhere else in the Deep Reaches.
The ruins were massive, lit in many places with a scintillating blue energy that dispelled the inky shadows. The light meant that the Crystal still shown, however weakened it was. If tears would have meant anything down here, the king would have shed them. If the Crystal of Water still glowed, than the Lady of the Seas still had a chance against the usurper…
But how long would she last before all was swallowed by the black water?
Under a half-broken arch of stone the king swam, his escort guiding him toward two rows of fluted columns sticking up from the thick silt of the seafloor.
The king shook his head as he went into a stationery tread, the six spiny fishmen around him stopping as well, warbling at each other in their garbled tongue.
Dressed in his sleek hide suit of dread sharkskin, the king continued to hover, the golden circlet upon his brow keeping his black hair back even as it flowed about him.
A little more than two years ago, these ruins had been on the surface, perched on an island that ancient surface dwellers occupied millennia ago. Why the ruins had collapsed into the depths of the seas, the king and his people had never discovered, since their priests had been unable to commune with Lady Leviathan for some time.
It seemed a shrine no longer down here, but a great stone ruin, cracked and broken by its deep plummet, many coral plinths and barnacled growths sprouting from it in myriad places.
The king was suddenly prodded forward by one of the fishmen with its trident. He glared at the creature as it warbled at him before prodding again, harder this time. The king growled, but swam toward a great gaping entrance.
Once inside, the water just stopped, and with a great surge forward, the king leapt clear from the sea outside to land on dry stone tiles within. The transition to breathing air disoriented him a bit. His people could breathe both, but the switch was never pleasant. The fishmen had a harder time, but unfortunately endured as well. If only he'd been armed, he could have taken advantage of their weakness… yet now was not the time.
Instead, the king pulled back his soaked shoulder-length black hair, his dark eyes looking down the length of a long stone corridor, sparsely lit along the walls with streaks of cool blue light.
Prodded forward again, the king moved at a brisk pace.
The ruin turned out to be a labyrinth, and if not for his apparently knowledgeable guides, Durante would have easily gotten lost amongst the many branching corridors.
Finally, however, down a massive stairwell, the king was led into a mighty domed chamber that was so huge its ceiling disappeared into shadow…
And there it was, glowing faintly blue, the Crystal itself centered within the massive chamber, but horribly disfigured. It was a great spiny mass, like some twisted coral growth, its shuddering blue depths filled with writhing blackness that threatened to swallow its coruscating blue light.
"Isn't it beautiful, Foolish King?" came a blubbery shrill voice that sounded throughout the mighty cavern.
The sahuagin warbled at him again and prodded Durante closer to the center of the mighty chamber, closer to the twisted and dying Crystal of Water.
Deep in shadows at the edge of the chamber, two huge glowing blue eyes snapped opened, filled with a gleeful malevolence. "My other self battles the Crystal's avatar above, causing the seas to rage endlessly about the surface world. Such glorious destruction we have caused, but the fun is just beginning! What do you think of your great lady's chances, Foolish King?"
Durante lifted his chin. "I think that the power you have stolen will eventually betray you."
"Stolen?!" The creature laughed shrilly, just as a massive mottled blue tentacle slid out from the shadows to gesture at the merman like the waggling of a finger. "No no no, Foolish King, I am taking back what is mine by rights! This world once belonged to us fiends and it was glorious in its disorder. All I want is to devour everything in this disgusting world and sink it all back into the primordial chaos from which it came… is that so wrong?" The creature laughed again, this time so shrilly that it started choking a bit before settling down.
"You will fail, Usurper! The Crystal beneath the waves will shine again, the prophecy speaks of it clearly."
The tentacle gave an agitated shake. "A pox on your prophecy, human! Your great and wonderful Lady will be crushed and I will devour her whole, it is only a matter of time now. In the interim, you and your foolish people will begin to trap and hunt the greatest creatures of the sea for me to snack on. I am ever so famished while fighting this war with the thrice-damned serpent."
Durante narrowed his dark eyes. "We will not kill our sea kin for your pleasure, you disgusting blob!"
The tip of the tentacle swished about limply as if someone shaking its head in disappointment. "Oh please, I will be doing all the killing, Foolish King, you will simply provide the buffet. I have always been partial to seafood you see." The creature cackled again.
In a blink, Durante suddenly moved toward the nearest fishman, managing to wrench its trident from it before skewering the creature. The others quickly converged on him with ululating warbles, but the king moved with uncanny grace twirling his trident to parry several blows before lancing the pronged weapon through one monster's neck and kicking another away before dashing off. He then slid on his knees under a careless slash by another of the spiny fishmen, coming up on his feet to twirl his trident about and stab it through the monster's bulbous red eyes. Brackish blood flowed from the wounds, just as the king kicked the thing off his weapon to meet the charge of the final two minions of the usurper.
They came at him in a straight charge, rather awkward with the creatures so unaccustomed to fighting on dry land. Durante merely flipped over them with a fluid grace and by the time the creatures turned back to face him, he had skewered one and pressed it into the other before running them both through with a final thrust.
Panting slightly, Durante looked up at the tentacle, flipping up the trident in his grip before throwing it with all his might at the thing. It punctured the mighty tentacle, which gave a twitch, but did little else.
"A skillful display, Foolish King, but utterly pointless. I have far more fishmen serving me, and now, of course, I will send them all to destroy your precious pearlescent city."
Durante laughed deep and low. "My daughter Elia is ready for them now, Usurper. You are trapped here; your other form entangled in battle with Lady Leviathan, and with your focus on me, my daughter has rallied much support in secret. You may yet take our city, but it will not be without considerable losses to your filthy fish horde!"
With a quick jerk, the tentacle flung the trident loose and it was slung away to clatter across the stone tiles of the mighty chamber. The tentacle was then drawn back as the Kraken's great mass emerged out of the shadows to dwarf the merman beneath it, its gaping maw twisted upward in some kind of haphazard smile. "Yes, Elia, Maiden of Water, I know of her, Foolish King, and of your little planned rebellion. Why you die here, you precious daughter will die with a knife in her back from the traitor in her midst. Now, if you would be so kind as to keep still, I can make this quick. I do have a meal to prepare for after all."
There was no dodging the massive tentacle as it swiped across the chamber and Durante was struck with full force, launching him across the chamber to be skewered on several of the sharp spines of the deformed Water Crystal.
His last thoughts were of his daughter. The fiend had been wise to her efforts this whole time and now all of his people were in danger. He only hoped some would survive the coming war with the fishmen to see the Crystal he now lay upon shine again.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
The winds should have been fiercer up here, so far above the world below.
They blew strongly, of course, but were still much weaker than they should have been. Weather systems moved more slowly now too. Rain was becoming more rare and the changing of seasons had slowed as well.
For a Celestial Chanter, it was doubly worrisome.
The Celestials were an ancient people that had lived above the clouds since time immemorial, singing the Praises in their melodious tongue in secluded temples scattered about the world. They lived in villages nestled in the highest mountain valleys, shrouded in mists, praising the Dragon Lord for all the blessings he had given them.
And yet their most sacred temple had been defiled by the their lord's dark sister. Jealous and vain, she had occupied the floating fortress, now cracked and crumbling. Still, it bobbed gently on the winds as if it weighed nothing at all. Even the stone shards that had broken free still floated about the mighty stone structure.
Rana'de'yun spotted the fortress in the distance, as she clung to the back of her roc, its iridescent red and emerald plumage sleek as it sheared through the winds. She and Krin had long been companions, ever since Rana had been gifted his spotted egg the day she had been taken to be trained as a Chanter.
All Celestials spoke in their melodious tongue, but some of them could train their voices in the ancient and magical Chants that could give life and stymie sight, curse foes and cause blight. It had been a great honor, but could not be further from Rana's mind right now.
Her long raven hair flowed back in the winds, her oval face like porcelain, titled eyes deeply brown. Her lips were pursed as she thought of the extreme danger her mission entailed, but there was no choice. She had to retrieve a shard of the Crystal of Wind. For ages, her people had sung to the Crystal, and it had communicated to them in its way. The last priest that had gone to the fortress a few weeks before had said that the Crystal was slowly breaking apart, now with many smaller shards orbiting about it in the grand auditorium centered within the floating fortress.
But the five-headed Fiend had taken up residence there now, and word had to be gotten to every one of the Celestial villages or people would die. It was a sad thing to be cut off from the Crystal, to be unable to uphold their sworn duties to maintain every temple to the Lord of Living Breath, but there was no choice now. No one they knew of had the power to slay the Fiend of Wind.
It was just after dawn now, the pastel luminescence of a new day glowing across the eastern horizon. The fortress was backlit by the soft morning light, floating gently in the distance, as peaceful as Rana had seen it the first time she had been there years ago.
She had hoped that coming early might catch the monster inside still asleep, if indeed it needed to sleep. It was small hope to believe that the fiend might have some mortal restraints, a chancy gamble at best and certain death at worst.
Still, if Rana could get a shard of the Crystal and take it back to her temple, she might be able to learn from the artifact itself just what was needed to heal it.
At her current speed, it didn't take much time before she brought her roc down to land upon a large cracked balcony jutting from the western side of the floating fortress.
Getting down from a specially made saddle, she stroked Krin's neck for a time, soothing his agitation at being in proximity to a mighty monster somewhere inside. Even Rana could sense the monster's presence and wished someone were there to soothe her.
The girl then moved off, wearing the thick dark woolen clothes of her people, nice and warm and layered against the cool winds of the heights they lived in. Also, they didn't stifle her movement too much, which was good because she had never been the best at sneaking and hoping to get in and out with her prize before the monster knew she was there was her plan.
She went in under a great archway and then wondered again at just how open the mighty structure was once inside its outer walls. Inside, it seemed the fortress was made of many incredibly tall linked arches, which formed the most delicate looking walls, providing access in any direction from wherever one entered the mighty marble structure. This made navigating the place incredibly straightforward and was only possible because the entire castle was weightless.
Therefore, she just headed through the open walls straight toward her destination at a quick and quiet pace. Shadows were long in the soft morning light and she stayed to them as she tiptoed toward the great auditorium in the structure's heart.
Even with the expansive size of the fortress, its open walls quickened the journey considerably, even as the girl moved on cat's paws toward its great heart.
She felt the heavy vibrations of something immense bellowing somewhere deeper in the fortress as she snuck through. Indeed, the whole fortress seemed to shudder slightly with each great bass exhalation.
Rana's anxiety increased when she entered under another archway into vast domed chamber, stopping poised on a short flight of stairs that ringed the circumference of the room. They led down to a mosaic floor made of many colorful tiles that formed a complex pattern all across it until disappearing into deepening shadows of the far side.
Of course, the centerpiece of the whole open-walled chamber was the Crystal. It hovered silently above the mosaic floor, bobbing gently in place; a large dim green shard that gave off only hints of emerald luminescence across its fractured surface. Smaller shards all floated around the mighty crystal, seeming to slowly orbit the main mass.
The bass vibrations had grown their loudest now, deep shuddering snores coming from a massive creature that lay in the shadows at the other end of the chamber.
In the mixture of early light and fading shadow, Rana thought she could make out the main body of the dragon-like fiend, and she swallowed a hard lump in her throat, seeing one of the monster's mighty heads laying just at the edge of the light below where the Crystal floated.
The dragon's mighty jaws looked large enough to swallow her twice over. Literally quivering where she stood, Rana had to force herself to move another step. She could feel the deep vibrations of the monsters breaths penetrating through her and she found herself placing a slender hand over her mouth in order to stymie her own breath.
She must have been no more than thirty feet from the creature's visible head when she reached up to grasp a rather low hanging shard about the size of her forearm from the air. Strangely, it came down with no resistance, which she hadn't expected, but was thankful for. Just as she turned back to leave the chamber, the beast's head suddenly lifted a bit from the ground, swaying groggily before laying back down with a snort. It then continued to snore again.
Rana's heart was in her throat and she found it impossible to move for several minutes before she turned and tiptoed back out of the chamber as quietly as she could.
It was only when Rana had left the heart of the fortress that she was able to breath normally again, feeling light-headed with her mouth dry as dust.
She did not dare to run, but walked briskly for a time. Only when she believed herself far enough did she break into a sprint, her hair swishing about her as she headed toward the balcony where Krin awaited her.
Breaking out onto the balcony, however, she found that her companion was nowhere to be seen.
Winds teased the girl's hair, as she looked about frantically for her feathered companion. Krin would never have abandoned her.
A lump of bloodied flesh thudded to the ground before her, covered in torn plumage of red and green.
Slowly, Rana's chin lifted, her brown eyes widening as she clutched the crystal shard to her chest. The massive fiend hovered above her, its mighty wings somehow beating silently as a whisper.
No… it was impossible; it had been asleep deep in the heart! How could it be out here before her? How could something so big move so fast?
Two of the monster's heads tore the roc into smaller pieces, spraying blood and gibbets of flesh as they messily consumed it. One of the monster's other heads lowered to spit the tiny human with its piercing gaze, irises narrowing to slits.
Tiamat gave a predatory grin. "Oh, I do so love it when humans are stupid enough to mistake me for a common beast. Now sing for me, Chanter, sing with the fervor you sing with when praising my sanctimonious brother. Sing beautifully enough to thoroughly enchant me, as I do so love beautiful things." Her gaze hardened mercilessly. "Sing and sing soon, human, and I may just let you keep your prize. Sing for all you are worth and I may even let you keep your life." She paused to release harsh guttural laughter. "I would not hold my breath though."
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
He sat at the head of a vast square chamber with walls seemingly carved of smooth milky stone. The floor was made of tiles like glass that glittered like crystal. Four massive pearlescent stone fountains gurgled at each corner of the chamber and the vaulted ceiling overhead was inlaid with designs wrought from a thousand different gems. Fluted columns lined the walls between the fountains, floor to ceiling, with niches between each one where hovered a small shard of silver crystal, each seeming to chime as it slowly rotated.
His massive throne upon a crystalline dais stood out in stark contrast to the serene beauty all around him. It was a huge black thing seemingly woven of dark strands of black web-work, ugly and wicked, having grown to encompass even more of the dais.
He sat in his wicked armor, which had changed yet again. He was nearly twelve feet tall now, sheathed head to toe in abyssal black plate-and-mail. His full closed-helm had a wicked visor that looked molded into the visage of a snarling demon, two great horns sprouting straight out from the sides of the helm to curve up at the tips. Two glowing red eyes burned silently with unending spite. The rest of his armor had become barbed, his clawed gauntlets still gripping the hilt of his tremendous two-handed sword, its long black rectangular blade a foot wide with darkly red tendrils of unearthly energy swirling about it.
Suddenly, the black knight sensed something and tried to stand from his throne for the first time in weeks, but felt resistance.
Quickly enraged, he looked down at himself. Ah, it seemed the dark strands had grown over, fastening him to his throne…
No matter.
With a low shuddering growl, he broke free of the strands, brittle as they were, and stood. Disorienting collages of madness and unholy shrieks reverberated in his mind, but it was little more than a slight distraction now. The chaos had become part of him.
Feeling heavy from having sat for so long, the knight lumbered down the crystalline steps of the dais, dragging his massive sword behind him in one armored hand.
He tried to get a better sense of what had driven him to rise…
Wait, could it be!? Had they finally reached his temple?
Garland looked up at the floating form of Princess Sarah where he had put her. She hovered silently just beyond the throne's right side, her long blond hair floating about her as if she were underwater. Her emerald eyes were closed, her beautiful face serene in suspended animation. Her pale silk dress seemed to shimmer from the light of the crystalline tiles, which illuminated the throne room perfectly.
Beneath his wicked helm, he grinned up at the young woman, his rumbling voice accompanied by a sinister undertone, as if two creatures spoke instead of one. "It would seem your silent prayers have been answered, Princess, the valiant four have come to wrench you from my shadowy grasp. I pray they do not disappoint you…"
Suddenly he laughed harsh and bitter, his own rumbling guffaws mixed with a choir of other voices, some moaning and wailing in a sorrowful dirge while others chortled and shrieked in unending delight.
Waves of distortion flowed throughout the room from these twisted emanations, time and space itself shuddering as pieces of the throne room became a gray ruin devoid of light and life before everything suddenly snapped back into place.
"Come to me, Light Warriors, so that I may bring you low once and for all!"