Chapter 34: The Dark Lord of Fiorna's Faith

GRYM

The deeper they delved down the hallway to where the bloated necromancer escaped, the more potent smell of rotting flesh, blood, and mold permeated the adventurer's nostrils. Grymlop noticed his dhampir companion shake his head a few times. He didn't envy Alek's heightened senses in this instance. Grym longed for fresh air; as he expected, so did the others. A moment before they entered the large cavern that housed the decaying undeath dealer, an image of his home flashed before his eyes. He longed for the warmth of ale in his belly, the dusty, old tomes that lined the Tempered Library walls. He sighed deeply.

Black candles were littered about and illuminated the dark room. Molded velvet curtains lined the walls, and puddles of blood pooled in small dips on the floor. A large throne behind a small stone table sat with unholy etchings against the furthest wall facing the entryway.

The large figure from earlier laughed manically, his teeth that were left rotted, his clothing tattered and barely clinging to his too stretched skin. The turgid man swings out his scythe. "My master sent me to do a job." He begins. "And well, I have done it. The Whispering Way will not be stopped! To the north, we will go, my friends." He precariously holds his spellbook in his other hand that starts to glow an unnatural color. "In your undeath, you will serve me!" He shouts his last words as two zombies unveil themselves from the curtains.

Unlike most plague zombies Grym was accustomed to dealing with, these were quick. Fortunately for the group, Alek caught on and moved around one of them, but its reflexes were almost on par with the magus. Grym returned his focus to the zombie, quickly slammed back by Mika's shield. Black energy rippled through the air as it hit Kana with such a force as to knock her off balance. Grym grabs a vial strapped to his belt, whispers an incantation, and lets it fly across the room to rupture against the necromancer's overextended belly. The zombie lord drops his book to the ground and grabs his stomach. The amplified holy water burned what was left of the skin on his belly and his hand. Dust rose between his teeth as he seethed in anger. He bent to retrieve his book and issued another harm spell, this time towards Grym. The negative energy bounces off an unseen barrier. Grym looks back to see Kana's outstretched hand. He nods to her and her to him. Alek is slammed by one of the plague zombies. He rolls across the ground as the zombie stomps down, trying to catch Alek with his foot. Alek manages to scramble to his feet. The dark magus shoots a beam of energy from his hand, lancing the creature in the neck. If the look on Alek's face could kill, Grym suspected that the zombie would be done over twice. Rage contorted Alek's face adding to the sharpness of his already sharp elven features. Grym had thought that maybe he was a noble or high elf in another life or somewhere in the lineage. Grym wondered at the bastard who damned him to an existence of loneliness and mistrust. Grym focused on the zombie lord who was spell healing the zombie fighting Mika. She grunts in annoyance.

"Let us keep him distracted, Kana," Grymlop shouts over his shoulder. They shoot several beams at him, but he deflects two.

The zombie lord split his attacks between Kana and Grym, one spell catching Grym in the shoulder.

An explosion to the left and right causes Grym to falter back. Alek flips away to a safe distance. Mika bends and uses her shield to buffet the force. Kana isn't so lucky and takes most of the impact. Green smoke fills the air, and Kana begins to cough uncontrollably. Her skin becomes a sickly green. Beads of moisture slide down her face. She stumbles around, disoriented. Alek and Mika rush to her side.

"No, I'll be fine. We said we wanted to end this." Alek throws down his cloak next to her. Kana falls to the ground, breathing rapidly. Blood seeps from her eyes, ears, and mouth. Without any help, she would soon die and become one of the undead. She sputtered up blood as she continued to have coughing fits. Grymlop Stonebottom gathered his rage and put it all into his subsequent attacks. They all did. Alek leaps into the air, shooting a bolt of energy before landing three feet away from the necromancer. Mika jumped atop the table in front of the throne before coming down to land hard on the dark lord. He blocks her with his scythe. She parries with a thrust of her katana. The dark lord flings another spell at Alek, knocking him down to a knee.

Grym lifts Kana's to bunch Alek's cloak under her head. "I have you now, girl. I got you." He said, his voice calm despite his raging emotions. He breathed in deep, steadying himself. She wasn't conscious. Her skin was gone of its beautiful golden hue. Warm energy left him as her body absorbed all the master dwarf could give.


ALEK

The necromancer absorbs the energy of half a dozen scurrying rats and slashes Alek across the chest. Alek looks down at the gash made in his shirt. As quickly as a laceration appears, it vanishes as dozen several scratches and bruises. He looks back to the bloated necromancer and smiles with a tilt of his head. Surprise and nervousness cause him to shuffle backward.

The bastard means to flee. To hurt his companions and run like the coward he was. "I don't think so," Alek shouts. He commands his blade to multiply. They fly through the air and connect to different parts of the necromancer's bloated body. Alek's own body burned in exhaustion. Relief wouldn't come soon as Kana was the only one of them to have the ability to heal him, and she was down. Dying. Because of this asshole. Rage rolled in him, and he knew he had to calm down. Too much anger would make him reckless and put the others in danger. The metal of Mika's blade clashing with the scythe echoed in the room. The dark lord was backing up. Alek looked past him and noticed some of the stones didn't match the others. It was hidden well and would have been barely perceptible to most. But Alek wasn't like most. With the necromancer's attention on Mika. Alek pivoted behind the monster to block any escape. Alek raises his blade as Mika shoves the monster hard in the stomach and is impaled.

Mika stands toe to toe with the creature. "We will never serve the likes of you," she whispers. Her katana rises to fall swiftly and takes the zombie lord's head. Alek cleans off his blade and rushes back to Kana.

Grym has been healing her for a few minutes, and she doesn't seem to get any better. Her eyes flutter open. And she offers him and Mika a shaky smile. Her breath was still just as quick. Her eyes glaze over, and Alek is familiar with the image. He closes his eyes, and she grazes his hand with hers. Her hand was cold even more than his. "I won't die. I haven't," she gasps, trying to catch her breath. "Been wrong about a vision yet." He stares at her in silence. She breathes quickly. "I'm in your future." She looks at her hand resting gently in his. "I still see you and me."

"Kana…"

She smiles, a tear rolling down her cheek.