Yay for a hundred reviews! Oh how can I ever thank my reviewers! Especially when I'm a member of the underappreciated Diablo fandom. .. It's really good to know that my mushier chapters actually, well, work. I can't do quite a few things even to save my life; one of them is writing romance, whether it be fluff, flust or smut. So for all you perverted readers out there, I'm afraid I can't fulfil my fan service to you. No, I mean this, sincerely.
This chapter might be the last one in a while. Uni is starting again, and my timetable means that I can only work on my writing on Fridays, mainly. So if I don't update, assume that this is on hiatus until late September. If I still don't update then, assume that I'm dead.
I've also changed the storyline regarding the transfer between the first three acts, so don't chew me up about that. And for any Stephen King-readers out there, please do not be inspired by the character of Annie Wilkes.
Disclaimer: Diablo belongs to Blizzard. Annie Wilkes belongs to Stephen King and is not of this world. Thank goodness.
Chapter 22: Arrival and Departure
The aura in the chamber was so aggressive that it physically knocked me back. I steadied myself and realised that I had just narrowly evaded a blow that would have been fatal.
I looked up, and what I saw brought back within me the long-neglected primal feeling of fear. I screamed. It was the most abnormal… deformed thing I had ever seen. The foe we faced was a giant bug, over six feet tall with a tough brown shell coloured a near-red in some places. It was erect from its thorax up, and its large abdomen was an old sickly yellow, from which five pairs of stout, short, segmented legs protrude. It thorax was wide and thick with bony spikes down the back; there was a singular spike in the centre of its forehead, and its face… the horrendous grimace eternally spread across it as the jaw full of razor-like teeth flexed. Its eyes were no more than slits in its skull that may not even see.
But what scared me the most were the arms – the muscles bulged from its shoulders down, and the last segment of the limbs were shaped into huge scythe-like forms, each blade about four feet long and the tips coloured an arterial blood-red.
While I was still recovering from shock, Oread jerked me aside, towards the other side of the chamber, as the monster struck at Falcon. Dusk jumped in front of her, and with a shriek-like yelp and a sharp ringing grind of metal against bone, the wolf was sliced cleanly in half.
Falcon made a face that was both angry and shocked to the extreme, but she held on and also arrived at our side. I began to fire at it; the monster turned around and scuttled, with an amazing speed, towards us, its bladed limbs making alternating slicing motions. I was at the forefront of the group, and I had just made it in time as I abandoned my bow, evaded one limb and parried a strike from the other with my sword.
Instantly I was overtaken by an icy energy, and within a second it began to burn. I collapsed and Oread ran in front of me as the blades came down. She nudged me back with her foot and stepped back, but not quick enough to totally evade the monster's attacks. There were swift sounds of slicing, and Oread collapsed to her knees.
Meanwhile, I had recovered from the chill. I fended off another blow and stole a look at my master; there were three bloody gashes across her torso: one just below her collarbones, the deepest one a little lower than that, and one across her stomach. She was gasping loudly – probably from damaged lungs – as she reached for a potion and drained it.
I picked up my bow and fired, aiming at its joints, where the tough plates of the monster's natural armour would hopefully not cover quite as well. It seemed to work as it made a shrill screech and brought a bladed limb down at me. I focused and hacked at the angled section, where the wrist would have been, and the monster screeched again. There was a gust of wind from behind me and I ducked, the other blade of a limb slicing off strands of my hair.
Then there was a loud, explosive bang, as the ground beneath the monster split apart. The magma beneath spat upwards, searing the underside of the monster's abdomen. Seizing this chance, I fired furiously. Oread came up beside me and readied her spear, before taking a few good hacks at the monster's chest and abdomen. I again ripped my sword from its sheath and stabbed between the plates of the monster's abdomen, the blade buried all the way to the hilt.
Blood the colour of dark olive was pouring onto the ground, but the monster seemed very resilient. With a backward swipe of one of its arms it knocked both Oread and me flying, both of our weapons ripped from its body with a stream of blood.
Oread hit the opposite wall and I was sent tumbling out the tomb via the hole that the Horadric Staff had blown through the wall. My vision regained its function after a few seconds and I hurried back into the tomb, my sword readied.
When I had full view of the battle scene, the great black wolf Soleil had just suffered a blow at the neck, and I noted that Dawn and both ravens had disappeared. Oread's spear crackled with lightning as she planted it through the monster's side. A bluish white was sent up the spear, and Oread lost her grip on it just as she pulled it out. She managed to keep her knees from buckling, and as the monster charged towards Falcon, both Oread and I cried out her name.
Soleil wedged herself between Falcon and the monster, but she was soon ripped into ribbons. Falcon reabsorbed what was left of her spiritual ally as the scythe of a limb came down towards her. She brought up her staff to block the strike –
And the bladed limb sliced straight through the staff and kept going.
Next thing I knew, there was a dull thump as Falcon's right arm and shoulder fell onto the ground.
It had only been about two seconds since I called out her name.
Falcon's scream filled the chamber as I fired arrow after arrow into the monster; I was getting puffed out from overusing my magic and my vision was blurring. The scream intensified as the other limb caught her in the side, through the bottom of her left ribcage and pinning her to the wall behind her.
Oread yelled and leapt up, planting her spear through the abdomen of the monster. Time seemed to have slowed to a crawl as the three of them stayed confined by weapons.
I stole a look at Falcon's fallen arm; there was no blood, as the wound had frozen over and the flesh was beginning to turn black as the extreme chill ate away at it. The hand and fingers, nerves newly detached from the control of the brain, jerked and twitched reflexively.
Grey stars began to take over my vision and I collapsed, panting for breath desperately, my body shaking and out of control. As I fumbled for a mana potion, Oread cried and yanked out the spear, and while the monster flailed her off, Falcon's remaining hand reached for something beneath the armour over her left shoulder.
With a fierce shout, she buried half of her new blade into the monster's chest.
"There's a gap in your armour now." Falcon spoke softly, and I could have sworn that she was smiling, despite the pain that she must have been in.
Then her aura glowed in a particular way, the way it buzzed softly when she used her skill of…
"My armour of cyclone is better than yours!" She shouted, sounding somewhat hysterical and oddly triumphant, as she transferred her power through the blade and into the monster's chest. There were dull ripping and popping sounds that must have come from within the monster, and a huge stream of olive blood poured from its jaws.
It tried to bring a swing of its limb down upon Falcon, but I got there in time to block and divert the blow with my sword. The monster screeched pulled its other limb out from the wall through Falcon and attempted another strike, but not before Oread silenced it with a spear through the throat from the back.
The assaulting bladed limb's descent upon me slowed, and I quickly hopped out of its trajectory. With a few quick movements of the wrist Oread beheaded the monster. Its massive body, frozen in an incomplete stance at first, drooped and grew limp as it finally collapsed.
My knees gave in and I sat there on the ground, stunned by the rapid series of action that had just taken place. The chamber was splattered with blood, both red and green. Then Falcon's pained moan brought me back to my senses.
"Falcon! Oh, dear gods…" She was still conscious! I checked both injuries. The flesh was blackened around the wounds; the chill had spread and ate away up to perhaps an inch or so from the initial cut.
"Oread!" I called for my master; she was behind me, mumbling something. I turned to her as a portal opened beside her.
"I'm sorry. It was all happening too quickly that I didn't have a chance to complete the incantations." She was lying on her side, a pool of blood gradually expanding about her torso. "Take Falcon back as quickly as you can. I'm out of potions. We all are." She gasped as she completed each sentence, then she coughed and blood flowed from her mouth.
"But you –"
"Celadon, this is an order! Just do it!" She screamed, and then her head fell back onto the ground.
"I'm so useless." I wept as I sat beside Oread's bed, my back to her. "I'm so very… very sorry…"
"You've slowed it down a lot with the arrows, you've fought hard. It's not your fault that we had such a confined space." Oread tried to reach for my back with her hand; I could tell with my Inner Sight, but I was sitting a little far from her, and she could not move any further with her injuries, so she gave up. "If you weren't there, we wouldn't even have reached the bug. You fought very well, Celadon."
There was a moment of silence as I tried to absorb the words of comfort, but it just did not work. Just as I gave up trying to think it out and make myself feel better, there was a sharp knock on the door. "Come in." I sobbed.
It was Fara's prepubescent son. "Mother wants to meet you two. She just sent me to tell you that she'll be here in half an hour's time, and that your friend is alive."
"Thanks for letting us know." I replied, sniffing and rubbing my eyes, trying to regain control of my voice and appearance.
"No, thank you all." He smiled, with a bit of reserve. "Drognan said that the curse of the desert has been broken, and Greiz is confident that his men can take care of the remaining monsters around here. You've saved our city." He turned to leave. "I hope your friend can be saved, too." He added before leaving.
Fara arrived right on time, looking worn out and irate, and I suddenly felt extremely guilty for overusing her so much; but her features softened as she swung a chair around and sat in it, beside me. "I tried to come a little earlier, but I had to ask Deckard Cain about Kurast, and the old man wouldn't shut up. Now, before you ask, Falcon is alive, as you know; but she won't be for much longer at this rate. Her kidney, stomach and both lungs are badly damaged. I've managed to stop them deteriorating, but if she doesn't get some help soon her other organs will fail."
"Can't you heal them?" I asked. I knew I sounded naïve, but I had to know how bad this was.
"No. This isn't just restoring damaged tissues; it's not that simple." She sighed and leaned further back in her chair. "This is about regenerating lost tissues. I can't do that. No healer can make something out of nothing. There is, however, one potion that may help. It's known as the 'Elixir of Life'. That's why I was held up by Cain, because such an elixir was rare, and the last healer who knew how to brew it died in Kurast, Cain's birth town. They might still have some there, stored as a batch of potion or the recipe or whatever."
Fara stopped, waiting for our enquiries.
"How long does Falcon have without the potion?" Oread finally asked.
"I'd say about… a week. Maybe less."
"How long does it take to travel to Kurast?"
"The most direct route by sea takes four to six days, depending on the weather. However, the seas have grown rampant for a while now. Corrupted creatures occupy them, especially close to Kurast, for some reason."
"Is someone willing to take us there?"
"The denizens of Lut Gholein owe their lives to you three, Oread. I'm sure someone will be much willing to do so."
The next morning, despite our conditions, we got ready to set sail before sunrise. The captain of the ship, Meshif, was a well-mannered and cheerful man in his fifties, but even his face fell when he realised Falcon's state.
Jerhyn and I had spent the night together, sitting outside the palace, looking at the stars that never offered any answers to the hopefuls who wished upon them. As dawn approached, we kissed again, and when we finally pulled away, he took something off his left hand and slipped it onto my finger.
"This is my family ring." He explained. "With it come my best wishes to your journey."
"I can't take that!" I replied. "This is the ring of the royal family! Your family heirloom! I can't have it!"
"Then consider it borrowed; is that all right, then?" He held my hand between both of his; they were unexpectedly warm. "You can return it to me later."
I shook my head. "I can't guarantee that I can do that." I looked into his eyes, and found both hope and joy in them, overpowering the traces of sorrow. For an instant I was captured by those emotions. "…I'll try."
"Try your best, too." Jerhyn embraced me, and his body heat enveloped me and warmed me. "It's courageous to die in battle, but otherwise, never give up and just keep living, okay?"
"Yes." I managed a smile, but the tears came with it. "Farewell, Jerhyn. I'm so glad that I've come onto this journey and met you."
"Things will be all right in the end." He reassured me once more, and out a hand over my cheek. "Farewell, Celadon."
I stood up and his hand slid down my face and my neck to fall back on his lap. Our eyes met again, and after a few wordless moments, I pulled away and walked towards the dock. Jerhyn stayed in front of his Palace, but I could feel his gaze behind me as I distanced myself from this attachment, this attachment that might hold me back and trap me from living the life of a mercenary.
The horizon was lightening as I arrived at the dock. I was standing in the exact same spot where Falcon and I were first acquainted by names. Now she was aboard, drifting between delirium and unconsciousness.
My eyes stung, but I dismissed it as the effects of looking at the dawning sun. As we silently sailed away from the jewel of the desert, I did not look back.
As Fara said, the seas became wilder as we sailed closer to the tropical regions containing the city of Kurast. It was raining more frequently and heavily, and by the third day, we had sailed pass a storm and Meshif estimated that it would take at least another day-and-a-half to arrive at Kurast.
Oread spent most of her time keeping to herself; she was still badly wounded, after all. Cain had accompanied us, as well as the young girl from the Harems. Cain was teaching her how to read and write as well as sign language. How he managed to communicate with her I was not sure, but I admired him – for once – for his efforts. The girl was learning remarkably quickly, and she was putting on much-needed weight very nicely.
As for me, I kept close to Falcon. She had only enough energy for one short conversation so far, but I was glad that she did not seem like she was fading away. She had other ideas, however.
"My instincts tell me that I won't make it, Celadon." She muttered lowly; I had to move very close to her to hear her. "It hurts to breathe, and I can't take food in. I won't make it."
"Don't say that!" I was trying to sound as convincing as possible. "We have no idea how powerful this potion can be… you've got to hang in there; you can't die before we've tried absolutely everything!"
"I'm at sea now; she's drawing me to her."
"The ocean?"
Falcon blinked once and smiled. "This is where I can happily die. This is where I should be."
"Falcon, no! Listen to me…" I held her face with my hands, and realised that she had lost consciousness again. I sank back, folded my legs up and hugged myself. "We're gonna make it." My voice came out sterner than I felt.
On the morning of the fifth day, Falcon was still alive. There was a thick cloud in the sky, dimming the light of the day and feigning the darkness of twilight. The waves grew stronger with the wind, and Meshif asked for help to secure the things aboard.
I did as he told me to, before I attended to Falcon to clean her wounds and change the dressings, while thinking about how I could secure her to make her as comfortable as possible in case of a wild storm. She was unconscious as I finished re-bandaging her injuries, but as I tried to secure her to her makeshift bed, her eyes snapped open.
"Don't, Celadon." She mumbled as her pupils grew smaller by the dim light of my lamp.
"But Falcon, we can't have you rolling around if the boat –" I was cut off mid-sentence as the boat rocked violently. I grabbed Falcon about the waist and she groaned.
"Enemies are close…" She trailed off into slurred murmurs.
I realised that she was delirious again and was deciding whether to stay or get out and investigate when light footsteps approached. I looked up to the small figure; she squatted down beside me and put a hand over her chest.
"You'll stay with her?" I asked. The girl nodded. "Right. Just hold her still, okay?"
The girl nodded again and calmly knelt down, then sat on her folded legs beside Falcon. I left the lamp with her, grabbed my weapons and headed out onto the deck. It had begun to rain. "What's going on?" I asked.
"We're being attacked by something in the water." Meshif replied just as Oread emerged from the cabin below the deck, adjusting her gears and fully armed.
The boat rocked again, more violently this time. With the strong waves, some water slapped onto the deck. We had just steadied ourselves when something slammed one side of the ship; wood cracked and splintered where the impact was focused, as lightning sliced across the sky overhead.
As thunder bellowed, a huge wave was sent up over the undamaged side of the boat. It crashed down onto us, and when I shook the wet hair out of my eyes, I saw the sight that announced doom and dread –
We were facing a monster. "It's a Tentacle Beast!" Meshif announced. The rain impeded my vision, but to me it looked like a giant viper, completed with horns, acid-green eyes and horns, only its scales were dark and smooth.
Oread fired two arrows at it, and it parted its jaws to spit a clear liquid at her. She sidestepped just in time as the liquid left a dark, rough mark on the wooden deck.
"Acid." Oread muttered, and shot a few more arrows. Inner Sight allowed both of us to see what was going on; but for Meshif, the visibility was too bad, and cleverly, he stayed out of the way and tried to steer the ship against the will of the storm.
We caught the Tentacle Beast in one eye, and it crashed its head onto the deck, crushing a hole through to the cabin space beneath. Before it was out of reach again, Oread stabbed it through the hinge of the jaw. This enraged the beast, and as Oread pulled out her spear and leapt out of the way, she uttered a pained grunt and fell to her knees.
"Oread?"
"Dammit, not this again…" She had obviously overexerted herself and torn up her old injuries.
I fired on, but my supply of arrows were running low; also the scales were remarkably slimy and tough – most of the arrows just slid past. The neck of the beast wavered as it readied itself for another dive, but I got close enough before it could do so, and stabbed it in the neck.
To my shock, the scales seemed to close around my blade and grip on. After that instant of uncertainty I had managed to rip out my sword, but the delay allowed the beast to spit a load of acid directly at my right arm.
I screamed as it burned through layers of skin; fortunately the heavy rain diluted the acid, but my arm was still left painful and raw, and the wound looked as if it would start pouring blood if I somehow jerked it a bit.
The Tentacle Beast was tough, all right. I was running low on the energy department; after all, we had only finished off a colossal bug yesterday.
The storm raged on, and I began to panic as my options ran out. I was not sure if Oread and I could kill this beast in our present conditions.
Then suddenly my mind seemed to scold me for my weakness, as I was filled with energy. The pain grew duller, and adrenalin surged within my body.
"What's that?" Oread asked as she got to her feet. I whipped around to see a golden-orange mass of glowing energy, shaped somewhat like a small portal with the centre filled with the glow, too.
"The Oak Sage."
"Falcon!" Oread yelled. I looked behind the energy mass and saw Falcon, standing there, her eyes ablaze with the same golden-orange glow.
"Spirit of Life." She announced in a flat tone, then she brought her remaining arm forward, her hand held up to face the Beast.
"No, Falcon!" I ran up to try and stop her, but the strong gust of wind knocked me off. This was her skill of Twister, her most mana-consuming skill. "Stop it! You'll die!" I cried out.
Falcon only took another step forward to push the column of wind towards the foe. The Beast tried to retaliate, but both Oread and I fired, and held it back.
Falcon kept walking up, and when she reached the rails on the edge of the boat, she stepped one foot upon them. "Falcon, get back!" I tried to walk forward, but the wind was too strong. As I reached forward with my hand, she turned back and smiled, as blood leaked from between her lips.
"FALCON!!!" I screamed as she jumped off the boat.
The column of wind ripped and soon it was raining blood and flesh.
The aglow Spirit faded out with a deep resonating hum, and I fell onto the deck. I sat there, and as the rain pounded onto me and dripped off me, I felt bits of myself dripping away with it.
Oread walked up and knelt before me. I lifted my head to look at her, my hand reaching for the bear's tooth that was tied about my belt.
I could not see her properly, but I heard her perfectly, and it echoed in my mind.
"Falcon's dead, Celadon."
That was when all the emotions returned and throttled me with full force. I plunged myself into Oread's chest, ignoring her wincing, and wailed into the hammerings of the icy rain.
