Call Me… Doc Ock – Arc One: Origin

Chapter 28: A Divine Intervention

The first thing that hit me on the other side of the portal was the stench. Good God the stench!

"What the fuck is that smell!?" Even with me pinching the bridge of my nose, it was all I could do not to throw up.

"My guess would be that," Azelea answered, pointing a little further beyond the hill. Following his gaze I first spotted several mages of the Kamar-Taj lashing out with spells of fire and blades. Looking past them, it didn't take long for me to find the source of that stench.

"Oh… zombies… well that's just great." Shambling forward in an ever-growing horde, were walking corpses, their eyes glowing that same hateful green.

The Ancient One stepped forward, her sharp eyes taking everything within moments. "There's an expanding necromatic energy intertwined with the miasma coming from the cave." Patterns of light forming at her hand, she looked to me. "Isaac, I would ask that you stay close, given how much they invested into this whole ritual, it is likely that there are several defenses that have been set off that will require your presence to dispel. On that note…" Her gaze turned a bit more severe as she looked over the few surviving members of Logos' cult. "I am going to need you all to come along as well. We did not have much time to look through the entire cave and I suspect that we will need your knowledge to make it back to the main chamber."

The three people who had all been party to my near possession, one woman and two men, shivered under her gaze. Unable to find their voices, they nearly nodded their heads in fearful resignation.

With their cooperation assured, the Ancient One nodded, then began to head into the horde at a quick place. "Right then, let's get going, it would be best to deal with this before the necromatic energy spreads beyond the valley."

We all followed after her, with several mages surrounding me, H2H, and Yaroslav as a vanguard.

Going through the hordes of undead had not been too difficult; with the united front, the mages had mowed through them with relative ease. The only issue had mostly been keeping the still living cultists in our presence from bailing out every once in a while. More than once, they had tried to make a break for it when they thought that we had been to distracted by the zombies coming at us. While I found it irritating, I could understand their growing fear.

As we got closer to the cave entrance the sheer malice from what lay within had set all of us on edge. It somehow felt like a sweltering heat and the kind of pervasive chill that came with a fever. Just being near the place made my stomach churn and I had to fight the urge to just grab something and bundle up.

"We've arrived," the Ancient One eventually said. Just before us stood a large rocky hill. Surrounding it was that miasma of malice and it was all I could do not to shiver. Walking forward a bit, the Ancient One frowned as she performed several spells whose purpose I could not being to identify. "…it would seem that any progress beyond this point will be… inadvisable." She turned to us. "The spells guarding this location have been reinforced by the power leaking out of the monster from below. I… would need more time than we have right now to try and break it." She then looked at me then Yaroslav. "However, I think that with you two here we might be able to break through any barriers more easily."

Rolling my neck a bit, I stepped forward, with Yaroslav doing the same. "Alright, what do we need to do?"

"First I'll need you to step next to me and grab on," she said as she turned and held out her left hand for us. Yaro and I looked at each other before we stood next to her, and each placed a hand in her left.

"Alright, now I need the both of you to channel that energy from before and transfer it to me, from there, I can that energy to bypass the barrier."

"Uhh… that's… that's going to be a problem for me," I said. "I… don't know how to draw that out."

"No need to worry my friend," Yaro replied. "Let me start out and focus on what I do." The chimp then closed his eyes and began to glow. Closing my eyes a bit, I concentrated on the hand laying over my own.

Slowly, I began to relax at the warmth that coursed through me at point of contact. 'This… this is nice…' Despite the dire circumstances, it felt like that previous juxtaposition of sweltering heat and feverish cold began to fade away. The sound of the mages of the Kamar-Taj fighting the undead faded into the background. The smell, awful as it was, became more muted. Somehow it felt like everything would get better. We would get through this and-

Then, much to my surprise, I could feel something well up within me… breathing in and out, I let the pleasant warmth… flow.

Opening my eyes I was surprised to see myself surrounded by a silver-bluish-green… aura for lack of better term. "Huh… well… that's… that's different."

"And…" The Ancient One's voice snapped me out of my own amazement. "Exactly what we need." Her hand gripped ours a little tighter. "If you would just keep that going for a bit." She held up her right hand and it went through so many gestures and signs that it was difficult to track before a circle of magic, glowing in that familiar kaleidoscope of colors appear before her. With a light push it shot forward into storm of malice.

Near instantly, the miasma began to dissipate before its presence.

With a satisfied smile on her face, the Ancient One nodded. "Excellent." She turned to us. "Kaecilius, I need you and the others to keep the tide to a minimum. Vincent, Sol, Sarah, I would ask that the three of you accompany us as we make our way through."

"Yes, Ancient One," they shouted.

The Sorcerer Supreme turned and made her way into the cave, with me, H2H, Yaroslav and the three mages in tow.

As bad as things were outside, the atmosphere inside the cave was so much worse. It was only because of the warmth of the mystic energy within me and Yaro that we managed to make our way through the cave without being crushed under all this concentrated malice. Other than that, the only thing we had to worry about were the undead that hadn't been disposed of during the Kamar-Taj's first sweep of the place. Speaking of which…

"Grraaaugh-trrrk!" Another swing of the claymore, and I finally managed to decapitate the walking corpse's head. Before I could take a breath, another one zombie tried to attack me from behind, but-

"GRAAAUUU-" *BWOOSH* "-kraaaah!"

A shot from one of my tentacles had it burning up into cinders.

This had been what we had been up to through most of the cave. Fighting every single corpse that had been present within these caves for thousands of years, which naturally meant that there were a lot of corpses to get through. By my count, so far, I had probably had to put down at least 50 of the damned things.

Ahead of me, the Ancient One was mowing scores of the undead with rotating conjured blades. She had to be controlling about a dozen spinning blades with such precision. If it wasn't for the current circumstances, I would have been actually somewhat frightening to see just how good she was with magic. As it was, I was just glad that she seemed fine taking down the majority of undead guards that we came across.

"Good heavens! How many more of these affronts to nature are there?!" Some of us were handling this a little less cooly than others. I spotter Sol Rama off to the left lashing out left and right at a horde of undead with whips of gold. Despite his obvious distress in his voice, the man was moving around the aggressive undead with a level of poise that could only come with experience.

Meanwhile, Sarah Wolfe was currently bashing in the heads of any undead that got to close as she pushed forward with mystical shields. "Don't worry about their numbers and just keep pushing forward! We have to get through and stop that monster from breaking into this world with its true self!"

"Keep moving," Azelea shouted. He was currently firing away from afar at any undead within range with bolts of magic. His aim was proved impeccable as each animated corpse was put down with a headshot.

If I wasn't so busy with trying to keep myself alive through all of this, I probably would have taken more time to watch what these guys were doing. A lot of the spells they had slung out would likely prove very handy in the future for any problems that came my way. Sadly, the catastrophe on our hands meant I wouldn't have time to-

"Graauggh-gacck!" Another zombie had tried to hit, forcing me to move. 'C'mon Isaac! Keep your head in the game.' With that self-chastisement, I lifted up my right hand, arm-cannon already charged, and fired.

"This is- this is not- not what was supposed to happen," a voice whimpered, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the whining of the cultists being made to follow in our wake. A glance behind me showed them cowering behind Yaroslav and H2H, who was blasting and smashing away at any undead that got too close for comfort. They looked increasingly haggard and horrified as they began to realize just how dangerous the One-Below-All truly was.

I ignored them and focused on taking out any more undead that came our way. "So how much further are we?"

"Just a bit further, Isaac," the Ancient One responded, somehow seeming serene despite the situation. "In fact, if my memory serves me right, then the doorway to the main chamber should be- oh! Oh dear… that's not good…" She came to a stop around a corner and after taking out the few remaining undead, we caught up to her.

"Ancient One, what's wron- holy shit!" Azelea actually stumbled over himself a bit at the sight before him and honestly, I couldn't blame him.

"Tha- that had not been there before," Yaro pointed with a trembling finger. At the end of the tunnel stood a massive door with intricate patterns. Shrouding it was that same miasma of hate. That was likely expected. What I figured was the real surprise was the man standing in front of the door with what looked like a pair of pickaxes in his hands. He looked relatively healthy compared to the other undead, with his modesty preserved by a loincloth made of grass. His face was completely blank except for the glowing green eyes full of malice. We all tensed as he hefted the pickaxes, eyeing us as if trying to decide which one of us to take down first.

"Wha- who is that?" Wolfe stepped back a bit, fear in her voice and I couldn't really blame her. Where before the thralls had possessed a sense of hostility, their presence hadn't been hard to bear.

This… thing on the other hand… I couldn't help but shiver at the power that he seemed to exude.

"I… I don't believe it…" At the sound of disbelief and awe, my attention snapped to cultists. The female had a strange sense of wonder on her face as she looked over the figure.

"Hey," Azelea shouted, and the woman's gaze snapped to him. When he had her attention, Azelea pointed at the figure. "What the hell are we looking at here?!"

The woman's gaze switched back and forth between Azelea and the man(?) standing before us. She licked her lips for a moment as the atmosphere somehow seemed to grow tense. "There- there had been a story among our- our group, that Logos, in pursuit of his goal, he had- he had by some means… ensnared a- a god!"

"Wait! WHAT?!" Azelea's eyes nearly bulged out of his sockets and almost everyone present, myself included rounded on the woman.

"Horse shit," Wolfe spat. "There is no way that that could be a god." She pointed to the figure.

"I'm afraid it is indeed a god, Sarah," the Ancient One spoke up. We all turned to her. Though she looked calm at a glance, I noticed how tense she looked, her hands had gone rigid at her sides and from what I could see of her face her eyes were had turned hard.

"B-but Ancient One," Rama stepped forward, his eyes never leaving the figure in front of us. "There have been no sightings of the gods for at least several centuries and that would have been somewhere in Europe, surely there must be some mistake."

"Oh no, there is no mistake here," a new voice spoke up.

At once everyone, save the Ancient One began to look around, more wary than before. "Who's there?! Show yourself," Azelea shouted.

"Isaac! Your bag," Yaroslav shouted.

Looking over my shoulder, I noticed the green glow coming from the main compartment and pulled off my bag. Opening it up, I immediately figured out the source of the glow and pulled out the Ofo Rod.

"…huh."

"Shango of the Vodu," the Ancient One greeted, "how kind of you to join us. I take it you making your presence known means you wish to aid us."

"Yes, I have," the god answered. "Before I could not directly intervene in this conflict due to extenuating circumstances. However, in this place where my peers and I have influence, we can now work to stop this devil from entering this world. It is also a personal matter, now that we know that it is behind the disappearance of my twin brother Ogun."

"Extenuating circumstances," I asked.

"There was… a conflict among the deities long ago. Even after all this time we have not fully recovered from it, leaving us with no other option then to act through whatever agents we could."

"I have questions, but I think it would be better if we save that for latter." I held up the Ofo Rod before me.

As if to emphasize my point, there was a sudden major tremor throughout the cave and the sheer raw malevolence within cave seemed to intensify.

"Well, it would seem that we are nearly out of time." With a few gestures, Ancient One conjured several spears and launched them. Rather than try to dodge or block them, the brainwashed god, simply stood there and let took the blows head on. To my consternation, the spears broke upon contact with its skin.

Yaroslav stepped up next to her. "Perhaps this will be more effective." He gathered what energy it could from the air, then converted it into a ball of cosmic radiation, before tossing it at the rogue god.

This time the god moved and before I could even blink it was already in front of the chimp, pickaxe already swinging down on it. Just as quickly, the Ancient One whipped out a mystical chain and used it to grab, then pull Yaroslav out of harm's way.

"Holy shit! That was fast!" Azelea had been preparing to cast several spells but had stopped midway at the display of speed.

"Vincent."

The man straightened up. "Yes, Ancient One?"

"Do you know the spell to eject one's astral form from their body?"

Azelea hesitated at that. "I… I only just learned to do so."

The Ancient One nodded. "That will have to do. I need you and Isaac to head inside. At the center of the chamber is a body. It is currently being used as an anchor for the One Below All. I had intended to break the link between it slowly overtime, but alas, the monster in question was able to break free."

I winced. "Um… sorry about that."

The Ancient One offered me a reassuring smile. "That's quite alright, Isaac. No need to blame yourself for this. That being said, I have a task for you. As you have no doubt seen in your dreams, the soul of that poor boy is being used as an anchor. From what I have observed, the ritual that the cult used was one of invitation."

"Invitation?"

"In other words," Sol Rama spoke up, "this thing could only get through because someone invited it."

My shoulders sagged. "Let me guess, because I'm the one that opened the way for it, I'm the only one who can undo the anchor. This also means that I have to head to the Below Place, i.e., this fucker's home turf."

An apologetic smile crossed the Sorcerer Supreme's face. "I do apologies for this, if there were any other way, I would most certainly take it." A much more violent rumbling shook the caver. "As you can see, we don't have much time left."

I took a deep breath. "Alright. I'm ready to go. Hey, Yaro!" When the chimp turned to me, I tossed him the Ofo Rod. "Take that, for a bit. You're up against a brainwashed god. I figure a divine tool may help you right now. You don't mind, do you, Shango?"

"No, I have no qualms with this," the Vodu answered. "Well met, Yaroslav, may this blessing from Ale serve you in this conflict."

"Let us hope so!" The chimp climbed on to the Ancient One's back then pointed the Ofo Rod at Ogun. "Have at it!"

For the first time in the encounter, the rogue god roared and charged at us. The Ancient One, with both Yaroslav and Shango's aid, successfully parried a blow from the pickaxe.

"Okay, Sol, Sarah let's go." Azelea stepped up.

The two nodded and made for the door. Azelea then turned to the cultists who were distracted by the fight against Ogun. "HEY!" The three jumped at his voice. "As you are partially responsible for this disaster, I'm going to need you to assist us in putting an end to it."

The three looked back and forth between him and where the Ancient One and Yaroslav were facing off against Ogun. After a few seconds they all got up. The woman nodded. "V-very well."

Azelea turned to me. "Alright Isaac let's go."

With that we ran to the main door. Of course, there was the matter of the miasma leaking through the cracks to deal with. Azelea looked it over with a frown. "This is definitely the place. I can definitely feel its presence from behind the door."

I stepped up. "Let me see." I looked over the doorway. It was a massive double door with carvings and patterns that I'm sure mom would have loved to study under different circumstances. What caught my attention were the gems on the doors. There were two for each door with equal distance between them.

I turned to the others. "So, um… you guys know a spell for unlocking doors, right?" When the three nodded, I went on. "How hard is it to learn?"

Azelea scratched his head. "It's… not too difficult, but…"

"But…"

"It would take some time for us to show you." Another rumbling, much stronger than the last shook the cavern. "And I don't think we have enough time to show it to you."

"I can help!" We all turned to the female cultist, who flinched under our gaze. "I- I can help," she repeated. "I- I know how to use some spells and one of them is used for unlocking."

The four of us looked to each other than back to the woman with suspicion. Under such scrutiny she wilted a bit before she began to babble. "I- I know you have no reason to trust me, b-but I- we want to stop this thing, we didn't want this! P-please allow us this."

"Hmm… I'm not too sure about this…" Azelea looked like someone had fed him a lemon and I honestly couldn't blame him. The sooner these people were out of my life, the better. That all being said…

Another, stronger rumbling made my choice for me. Letting out a sigh, I turned to the door and spread out my tentacles. "Alright, fine."

"Isaac," Azelea began but I held up a hand.

"Look, we don't have much time, so let's just let things between us and them lie for now." I pointed to my tentacles. "Each of you grab onto a tentacle and use that unlocking spell on the gems. I channel more of that energy into you, okay?"

The mages of the Kamar-Taj looked between each other before nodding each one grabbed a tentacle and pushed out that same spell.

"Well," I directed the woman. Hesitantly, she approached us and grabbed the remaining tentacle. Once she grabbed on, I felt out for that warmth. Soon it began to build up and flow into my tentacles.

"Oh!" Wolfe perked up. "Oh wow! That… that feels… wow!"

"Huh…" Rama lifted the tentacle up to his face as that same warmth flowed through him. "This is fascinating…"

"Hey!" The two of them jumped at Azelea's voice. "Can we focus please?" He had already conjured up a circle of magic glowing in that ever-shifting sequence of colors.

The two quickly conjured up the same spell and the female cultist followed suit. The four of them pushed their spells into the miasma toward the gems. Immediately the miasma vanished as the gems went from an ominous green to a brilliant collage of colors. The tunnel rumbled as the doors opened under our collective power.

"Good it's opened." Azelea dismissed his spell and pushed forward. "Okay everyone let's go and put an end to this!"

"Right!" We followed after him.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHGGGGGG!"

It didn't take us long to reach the main chamber. Nor did it take long for us to find the source of that screaming. From the top of the stairs, we could see them. Remy (or what was left of him), looked as though most of his flesh was almost completely burnt off. What few layers were left looked like it was cracking in places. The monster in human flesh didn't immediately turn its attention to us. Instead, it was glaring down at the corpse it was griping tightly on the shoulders. Much to our collective horror, we could actually see something resembling life in its eyes as it screamed.

"Oh… oh god!" One of the cultists sounded like they were going to vomit, and I couldn't blame them. Everything about this was so, so wrong!

"So, yOu HavE cOMe," the monster turned its gaze to us, and as frightening as it was, I counted it as a small victory that I didn't flinch. It glared at me in particular, I glared right back. "THeN, I wILl HaVE tO hastEN tHINGs, BuT fIRST!" The possessed Remy took a deep breath then roared. Immediately, several corpses came into view and shambled after us. Then Remy's mouth split open wide before a thick cloud of pure raw destructive hate rushed out and then forced its way into the half-corpse on the slab.

"Shit," Azelea bit out. He then turned to me. "Alright, Isaac, I'm… I'm going to push your astral form out of your body. Once I do that, you need to follow after that thing and figure out how to sever its connection to this world. Everyone else, keep those things off of me!"

"Got it!" "Okay!"

"H2H!" The android, silent until now, turned to me. "I'm going to be out of it for a bit, you are to follow all of Azelea's commands for the time being!"

The android's eyes flashed. "CONFIRMED."

I got into a sitting position and nodded at Azelea. "Okay, I'm ready."

Azelea's lips pressed into a thin line. "Okay, here goes." He kneeled behind me and placed a hand on my back. I felt him pull it back before he rammed it into me and-

"WOAH!" Everything fell away as my current… form shot forward to the corpse. As I approached it, I lifted my hand. As soon as it touched the corpse, there was a sensation like vertigo and then I was falling and falling and falling and…

"GYYYAAAAGH-offf!" Coming to a sudden stop! I lifted myself up with a groan. After getting my bearings, I quickly recognized that I was back at the lowest point again.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!"

Turning towards the sound of that poor mage's screaming, I squared my shoulders and took off.