Chapter 9: Dungeon Showdown
WHOA SO LONG! I figure, you guys wanted more of this story so you guys deserve a twice-as-long chapter full of nice, juicy exposition! (Those of you who listen to the podcast Welcome to Night Vale will recognize the trope of the Smiling God.)
Sorry.
Calythé stormed across the roof of the dungeon, her mages' robes swishing around her feet. "IXIA!" she thundered, her blind eyes furious.
Ixia turned away from the cultist leader, eyes widening. "Cal? What are you do - HURK!" Calythé shot out her arm and balled her hand into a fist, and an invisible force grabbed Ixia by the neck and lifted her off the ground. She squeezed her fist tighter, and the invisible energy constricted Ixia's throat. Ixia gasped for breath.
"Ixia," Calythé hissed. "Going around calling yourself a queen, are you? If I had only known what you were capable of... if I had only known your intentions... I should kill you where you stand," she snarled.
Ixia let out a strangled squawk, her hands scrabbling at her throat. Her huge raven, hearing her distress, plummeted from the sky and dived for Calythé, raking its vicious talons against her arm. Calythé shouted in pain and recoiled, letting Ixia drop to the ground, where she began coughing and sobbing for air.
"You don't understand," Ixia rasped, her voice an oxygen-starved whisper. "I thought you were different. The mages killed my mother, my father, my fiancé... everyone I ever knew or loved. What's to stop me from doing the same thing to you? I hold the throne of the Summoners' Guild, but I was destined for the throne of Terraria. I'm trying to take back what is rightfully mine." She coughed, and then drew herself back up. The raven fluttered down and landed on her shoulder.
"By killing every innocent person in this land!" Calythé shrieked. "If I had known what you were going to try to do, I would never have unsealed that room. I know what you want to do, Ixia. You've been conferring with cultists who are trying to awaken a deity that is powerful enough to destroy all life in Terraria!"
"Not the first time it's happened," Bryn muttered under her breath.
"Nonsense!" shrilled a new voice, high and thin. Behind Ixia was a tiny, masked figure in a dark blue robe, with mysterious sigils embroidered on its borders in golden thread. It couldn't have been more than four feet tall, and it was impossible to tell its gender from its appearance or voice. The mask was pure white, with a pair of eye holes and a long beak-like nose. This was the leader of the cult, and now, the very last member of it.
The cultist leader hemmed and continued. "I said, nonsense," it squeaked. "The Cult of the Blue Moon wants Terraria to be cleansed. When the Great Moon Lord awakens, he will destroy this corrupt world and let a new one grow! He is a benevolent deity, a Smiling God!"
"Yeah, but where does that leave the rest of us?" Bryn snarled. "The Moon Lord, as you call him, is going to destroy all life on this world!"
"No, he will not," said Ixia smugly. "The Great Moon Lord is held at bay by four barriers, four giant pillars. When the summoning ritual is complete, the four pillars will rise, and those who can destroy all four are given unbelievable power!"
"I thought you just wanted the throne," Bryn said.
"Oh, but I don't just want the throne," Ixia said smugly. "I want revenge too. I shall become the first person to ever take down the Great Moon Lord, and ALL WILL BOW BEFORE ME!" She looked up and raised her fists to the sky. "The Summoners' Guild crowned me as their queen. Terraria shall crown me as its GODDESS!"
"Ridiculous!" squeaked the cultist leader. "The Great Moon Lord will never turn you, a mortal maiden, into a goddess."
Ixia turned on the tiny cultist. "Oh, you're mistaken. Surely you, of all people, knows that fragments of the fallen pillars can be used to create some of the most powerful weapons known to man. I shall use this technology to overthrow the Great Moon Lord and become a god-queen!"
"Our only goal in the Cult of the Blue Moon is to have the Great Moon Lord cleanse the world and let it grow anew," the cultist hissed. "Not to provide power at the whims of insane royalty!"
Ixia leaned down and put her face a few inches away from the eyes of the cultist leader's mask. "Enough," she said, in a soft but threatening voice. "You have been of use to me, and now your use has been exhausted. Begone."
With that, Ixia straightened up and gave a queer whistle. The raven on her shoulder fluttered up and settled on the cultist's back, one foot on each shoulder. It stretched its powerful wings, and then, to the horror of Bryn, Calythé, and Eytan, shot up into the air with the cultist leader in tow and dropped it.
