Published at 22nd of October 2023 9:43 am

Book 3: Chapter 26

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

With a glance after Delrisa and the necromancer who were disappearing around the corner, Garrett commanded Isabelle to follow the other two, looking for a good opportunity to attack. The necromancer who was following Delrisa began gathering his zombies to him as they wove through the narrow alleyways that led between the streets. He favored large, brute-like zombies who had been stitched together from dozens of parts, looking more like flesh golems than actual zombies, and soon there were a dozen of the lumbering monsters following along behind them. Seeing Delrisa stop and run an appreciative eye over the zombies, the necromancer couldn't help but feel a surge of pride in his heart. He turned to command them into ranks, an ugly smile crossing his lips as he watched them fall in.

That smile transformed into a grimace of agony a moment later, as sharp nails pierced through his back into his kidney, and an impossibly strong hand latched onto his neck, choking the breath from him. His automatic reaction was to begin transforming, but before he could, the sharp claws that had removed his kidney pierced through his heart, opening up a large hole in his back as he fell forward onto the ground. With a fierce crack, his spine was severed, and his vision faded away as his life force fled. A fierce grin crossed Delrisa’s lips, revealing her fangs as she looked at the now directionless zombies. They truly were impressive monsters, and would add tremendous chaos to the situation once they started to attack their former companions. A few blocks away, the other two necromancers had just gotten to the end of an alleyway and were about to step onto a main street. Their forces had begun to gather around them, but they paused when they saw a faint glow up ahead.

"What is that?" one necromancer asked.

Before the other could answer, a glowing figure floated around the corner, her face locked in a tortured scream, arms hanging limply by her side. The spirit gave off an unearthly glow, and with a hiss, both of the necromancers stepped back.

"Pale fiend," the other muttered. "This isn't good."

"At least it's only one," the first necromancer said. "We should be able to kill it with spells."

Both of the necromancers took a few steps back, until one happened to glance over his shoulder and caught sight of two more pale fiends floating at the other end of the alleyway, blocking their retreat. With an audible gulp, the necromancer turned to face them. One pale fiend was bad enough, as it was impossible to harm them with any sort of physical attack, but as half a dozen appeared around them, the necromancers knew that they were in trouble.

Garrett watched for a moment longer before leaving the two necromancers to Isabelle and her pale fiends to clean up. He had other important matters pressing on his attention and after taking a brief second to re-center himself, he sent his mind deep into the earth, to the first tomb, where Cynen, Viper, and the others were making their way down a long passage toward the throne room where they would find Agma-Yoth. The passage was brightly lit thanks to the white flames flickering in the torches on the wall, casting jumping shadows across the rough-hewn rock. It was curious to Garrett to notice the various differences between the different sections of the tomb. Parts seemed to be made with exquisite craftsmanship, while other sections seemed much rougher, as if added at a significantly earlier date. As he entered Viper's mind, taking control of his red-masked guardian's body, he turned to ask Cynen her thoughts.

"Why does it seem as if this tomb was constructed in different eras or by different people?" he asked.

"You know, I noticed that as well," Cynen said, looking around. "The front of the tomb, that gate we just passed through, the construction was a lot finer. But this, this looks rough."

Her hand traced along the wall, feeling the bumpy stone protrusions. The entire passage was still constructed from heavy blocks, but its surface wasn't as smooth. It was a rougher cut, as if done in a hurry.

"I'm not sure," she admitted. "The legends we have of the first tomb are few and far between, and all we know is that some sort of powerful figure, said to be the first king, is laid to rest here. Beyond that, we don't know a whole lot, though even that may not actually be accurate."

"I see."

Viper led the way down the long passage, his eyes occasionally glancing up at the burning white flame that illuminated everything. It didn't take long for Cynen to notice his looks.

"Do you notice anything?" she asked, causing Viper to stop.

"The flame in the torches," he said, "seems similar to the flame you used. Not quite the same, but close."

Her brow furrowing, Cynen got as close to one of the sconces as she could. They were all placed about fifteen feet above the ground, close to the ceiling of the tomb, and after looking up at it for a moment, she summoned her own flame, letting it dance across her fingertips.

"Yeah, I can see what you're saying," she said. "It must be another kind of death flame."

Perking up, Garrett leaned forward on the dreamer's throne.

"Death flame? I meant to ask about that," Viper said. "Your flame seems to be anathema to the undead. It consumes their life force, is that right?"

"Sort of," Cynen replied, a faintly uncomfortable look on her face. "And honestly, I don't know a ton about it, so what I can tell you is going to be a little bit hit or miss."

"You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to," Viper said, holding his hand up. "I understand that it's probably a secret."

A look of gratification flashed across Cynen's face, but she shook her head.

"We're in this together," she said. "And if we're going to kill whatever undead monstrosity is causing the undead wave, you probably should know how it actually works."

As they continued to walk along the passageway, heading for what appeared to be a larger room in the distance, the team listened quietly as Cynen explained.

"Death's flame is an ability," she said, "but also an identity. The first Grave Walker was a man named Marius, my master's master, and he gained this ability during the Night of Undead.”

“That was the last march of Lesrak?" Garrett asked through Viper.

"Yes," Cynen replied. "He was part of the group that managed to kill the Hooded Man, the Necromancer who led the Dark Hand. This green flame was seized from the Hooded Man before he fell.”

"Why would a Necromancer have an ability that destroys undead?" Viper asked.

"That's the thing," Cynen replied. "It doesn't inherently. In fact, it can even be used to strengthen undead. And that's how the Necromancer was using it. The flame stores the corrupt life force that animates the undead, and it can be used to either absorb or disperse that life force. This means that it is both bane and boon to any undead creature, as it can rapidly strip their life force from them, which is how I use it, or it can grant life force to the things it burns.

"That's what causes the corrosive effect," Viper said, glancing at Cynen.

"Exactly. If it touches living beings, it becomes a corrosive flame because of the intense energy it contains. If it touches undead, it can absorb their life force, growing stronger, which makes it the perfect tool to fight against undead. Anyway, after Marius seized the flame, he discovered this trait and used it to great effect, wiping out the majority of the undead still plaguing the city. Eventually, however, he grew old and died, passing it on to his disciple, who was my master.”

"I'm a little bit surprised that he didn't take the life force the flame contains for himself," Viper said.

For the briefest of moments, Cynen paused, her face darkening. A moment later, the darkness was carefully hidden behind a neutral expression, and she gestured to the end of the passage they had come upon.

"Look, the construction changes again."

Seeing the smooth stone walls of the room in front of them, Viper was about to step forward when one of the red-masked assassins called out, "There's a trap."

Stopping just before he entered the room, Viper looked down, immediately noticing the faint difference in height in the stone right in front of him. It was a small thing, less than an eighth of an inch, but just enough to cast a slight shadow.

"It’s a pressure plate," the assassin said, as Viper crouched, looking at it more closely.

Lifting his head, he began to scan the room, noting other pressure plates scattered around.

"Looks like it's not the only one," he said. "Can you tell what kind of trap it's attached to?"

After a moment of looking around, the assassin pointed up toward the ceiling, where there were a series of small angled holes, each aimed at different spots in the room.

"Either darts or some sort of flame trap," the assassin said.

"Can you mark the flagstones that are safe?" Viper asked, glancing up at the assassin.

Garrett watched through Viper as the assassin nodded and carefully made his way out into the room, pointing out which of the flagstones couldn't be used. The assassin pulled a piece of red chalk from a pouch at his waist and began to crumble bits of it, letting the powder scatter onto the stones since he had no idea how sensitive the stones were and didn't want to risk tripping them by drawing a mark directly on the stone. By crumbling up the chalk, the assassin was able to leave flecks of red on all the flagstones connected to the trap, marking them so the others would be able to avoid them.

While he was finishing up, Garrett directed Viper to look around. The room was 25 feet by 25 feet, made of solid stone, and had a relief that stretched all the way around the room, depicting various rituals and sacrifices, all seeming to involve bones, blood, or the undead. To the right and left of the entrance they were standing in were two doorways, leading to short halls. There didn't seem to be any sort of indication as to which way the throne room was. Sitting on the dreamer's throne, Garrett grimaced. When he had been pulled into Agma-Yoth's mental world, he had simply walked straight down a long, endless passage before arriving at the great ruler's throne room. Clearly, the dream realm layout of the first tomb was different from the layout of the tomb in the waking world.

"Looks like we're going to have to explore," Cynen said, shaking her head.

"Agreed," Viper replied, his voice heavy. "Do you have a preference on which way?"

"No, I'm following your lead. That way, if it's wrong, I'm not responsible," Cynen said, cracking a smile.

Chuckling, Viper carefully stepped out into the room, making sure to avoid any of the flagstones that had been marked. The passage to the left appeared to lead to some sort of staircase that curved down and to the left after a short passage, while to the right, there was a longer passage that seemed to be blocked by a door at the other end. Thinking for a moment, Viper gestured to the left.

"We'll take the stairs down. It makes sense to me that we would have to go further into the tomb, that the more important things would be lower down."

"That makes sense to me too," Cynen replied, and with one of the assassins leading the way, they began making their way down the left-hand passage.

They soon came to the stairs, which they proceeded down with caution. The entire tomb was well lit, thanks to the bright white flames. When they had walked around what appeared to be an entire circle, they found themselves in a large circular room, about 40 feet in diameter. There didn't seem to be much in the room apart from a waist-high altar and a sealed door across from the staircase. Examining the floor for any traps, Viper didn't see anything, but just to be safe, he had the assassins check as well. When he saw them shake their heads, he proceeded into the room, eyes scanning from side to side just in case there was a threat he hadn't managed to perceive.

No sooner had the last of their group stepped off of the staircase and into the room, than there was a rumble and the entire staircase folded up, shooting into the ceiling faster than any of them could respond. Faced now with a solid stone wall where they had just entered, the group found themselves trapped in a circular room. A few seconds passed as they began to look around, and then one of the assassins gasped.

"Poison," he said, his finger pointing towards the center of the room.

Looking over, the team saw that the waist-high altar seemed to be spewing something from its top. There was no scent to speak of, but the assassin's many years of training had allowed him to recognize what it was, the gas that was being pumped out of the altar.

"Everybody get down!" Cynen yelled, flame appearing in her palm.

Realizing what she was going to do, Viper dove to the ground, taking Gale and Cole with him as the assassins dropped as well. As soon as they had hit the ground, Cynen was only a heartbeat later, and as she hit the ground, she unleashed a flame that roared towards the poison spewing from the altar. Most concentrated poisons were flammable, and this one proved to be no exception. With a roar that shook the earth, the poison that had seeped into the air exploded fiercely, causing a thick cloud of black soot to rise up to the ceiling, and a wave of heat to pummel the team. They did their best to keep themselves sheltered, and after a ferocious moment, the roar faded into a steady crackle as the poison leaking from the altar transformed into a fountain of flame that spat and sputtered into the air.

Taking a cautious breath, Viper felt fine. Back on the Dreamer's throne, Garrett let out a sigh of relief. He had to admit he never would have thought to ignite the poison, but Cynen's quick action had likely just saved all of them. She had acted fast enough that the poison hadn’t yet completely dispersed throughout the room, allowing them to survive the ensuing blast.

"Well done," he said through Viper as Cynen sat up, brushing soot from her cloak.

While the flames rose from the altar, they examined the room once again, especially the door set opposite the spot they had entered, but found it to be sealed, with no way of opening. Completely trapped in the room, Cynen frowned.

"What do you think?" she asked Viper, who just shrugged and pointed at the altar.

"We likely have to wait for all of the poison to disperse," he said. "My guess is that once all of the poison is expelled, the room will open again."

"What if it doesn't?" Gale asked, looking around nervously.

"Then we wait for rescue," Viper replied. "But for now, just hang tight."

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