Chapter XXV#
Grim Gameshow#
cause some lights on in an empty pub…
Warning
Chapter illustrations currently WIP.
“You sense any traps?” I asked Arodorros.
He shook his head. “Quiet.”
“Oh relax,” Bia said. “No one’s here.”
I cast my gaze around. She seemed to be right. Even the cultist that led us here was nowhere to be found. Arodorros cast his invisibility and sound spells – probably should have earlier, actually. I maintain that he’s a moron. He and I drew weapons. Bia reserved her scythe – it was annoying to lug around.
“I sense no Presences either,” Arodorros said.
“Might be emplaced defences,” I said. “They’ve clearly had a grand long time putting this place together.”
The room was expansive. By itself, it should be a wing’s worth of space underneath the large building above it. Columns that looked dangerously thin were spread in neat rows, ending at a wall on which sat a large stage, complete with voluminous curtains. Numerous other entrances were arrayed across the walls, several of them large enough to march an army through. Perhaps that was their purpose, and this room was a marshalling yard.
“How long did this take?” Bia gawked at the ornamentation of the walls. “How long have they been here to have done this?”
“Centuries, perhaps,” Arodorros said. “Haelborne plans stretch fae lifespans. They work in units a t-zero could not comprehend.”
Along the walls were arch shaped indents lined with gold and jewel, seeming deep enough to lead somewhere but only ending at walls.
“Portal arches,” Arodorros said as we passed. “This may be where their forces come off of their dimensional ships.”
“Dimensional ships?” I asked.
“How do you think they got here?”
“I assumed they could have just portalled, if they were so advanced.”
“Portals need setup on the receiving end.”
“Ah.”
We continued examining the main room, which remained entirely empty. Eventually after our search turned up nothing, we retreated back to the entranceway to discuss.
“What’s the plan?” Bia said.
“There is no plan,” Arodorros said, a tinge of anger in his voice. “We have nothing to go off except that your friend is ‘somewhere’ in this complex. Perhaps he may not be, judging by how empty it is. Or perhaps that’s part of their little trap.”
“If it is a trap we’ve most certainly fallen in already,” I said, retaliating at his frustrations. “We could just overtly reveal ourselves right now. Provoke a fight and get information that way.”
“You’re so violent,” Bia stuck out her tongue.
“We should be more careful,” Arodorros interjected. “Do more looking first, see if we can get your friend without a fight.”
“You really expect that to work?”
“Why not? If there’s a chance at it we go looking. If not, nothing changes either way.”
I sneered. “Right. I think it’s of course a trap. This place is all empty. They’re tempting us to go explore. A direct confrontation is the best we could hope for because battle is a known capacity and god knows what tactics they’ll kill us with. Could split us up in the corridors, pick us off one by one. We get a fight here and now and get it over with.”
“And you expect to just win against whatever forces they pull out here in the middle of their headquarters.”
“Yes,” I said, and began walking straight into the middle of the room and stood still there. “Uncast that spell.”
“No. You are being stupid.”
“I am being efficient. Do it.”
Bia snorted and walked over to join me. “Finally taking a risk for once, are you?”
“The lesser of two,” I rolled my eyes at Arodorros. “Come on. Or I’ll shred your little notes right fucking here.”
He sighed. “We are doomed.”
[Arodorros Nayirah] has removed spell [Invisibility] from you.
[Arodorros Nayirah] has removed spell [Conversation Lock] from you.
The three of us stood unshrouded in the middle of the room.
Nothing happened.
“Anybody home?” I shouted. “Your lights are on.”
“House is all empty aye?!” Bia joined in. “House? Store, lair, pub? I’m gonna start stealing shit if ya don’t respond! OI!”
Arodorros sighed again. “A waste of time, and now they can track us from where we stealth up again.”
“We needn’t,” I shrugged. “Who cares if they see. They already know.”
“I imagine it will be easier to fight them if they can’t see us.”
“Which would make your argument irrelevant because in such a situation we’d be in close quarters to them anyway, and I doubt tracking could turn up anything more precise than ‘they’re around here’.”
“Oh boy,” Bia said comically.
“Let’s finish this charade and get moving,” Arodorros waved a hand and the spells returned. I rolled my eyes and followed as he strode towards the nearest offshoot passage. Not five paces later –
Spell [Invisibility] has been dispelled.
Spell [Conversation Lock] has been dispelled.
My eyes snapped wide and swung around, searching for the source of the disruption. The room looked still the exact same.
“What…”
“Emplaced ritual defences,” Arodorros snarled. “Should have assumed.”
“Well then, fuck stealth,” Bia said and marched straight into the nearest doorway.
“At least stick to the group,” I called after her and ran to follow.
The hallway branched off into several more rooms that we searched one after the other. There were what looked like lecture halls, storage rooms, conference tables and other normal things for planning world domination. Other rooms held less comprehensible things.
One room was entirely empty except for a red orb covered in chains. Another was spherical itself and laced with runes across every axis. Several others were filled with rows and rows of rectangular towers, also covered in runes. This one, mazelike rather than a simple room, invited us to take a look inside.
Bia ran her hands down one of the towers. “What d’you think these do?”
“I don’t think you should be touching them,” I scoffed.
“Ah, they’re just like fancy rocks or whatever.”
“And my ability ridden conjured dagger is just a fancy piece of metal.”
“Exactly!”
“Stop touching it,” I dragged her away. Raised a brow at Arodorros. “Maybe these are powering the stuff blocking your spells. If we knock them down – ”
“You just told me not to touch it!” Bia whined.
“If these are the workings of a ritual array,” Arodorros warned. “Interrupting the flow of aura through them so imprecisely could cause backlash worse than negating a few spells.”
“Could still help,” I said. “Maybe we could even use it as a combat asset later on. Lure in and blow up. If we ever have to fight too many – ”
The lights went out.
“The hell?”
The runes on the towers were the only light, and they were dim. The hallways had turned off as well. I whipped a lantern out of my dimensional bag but the flame immediately went out.
My hand tensed on my dagger.
“Is everyone here?”
“Right by you,” Bia’s hand swatted and searched into my shoulder.
“Here,” Arodorros said from further and his footsteps moved closer. I noticed a glint of the runes’ light reflected off something – I think it was the ornamentation on his hat.
“My lantern went out. Does any have a glowstone?”
“Already tried,” Arodorros gruffed. “Smoked into nothing.”
“I didn’t even see a flash.”
“They’ve had a lot of time to set these rituals. This wasn’t just a light switch. We should – ”
His footsteps cut off abruptly. Not like he stopped walking, like the noise was simply muted mid stride.
“Arodorros?” I said, straining my eyes to make out any glimmer of light to give away his position. Nothing. “ARODORROS?” Shouted, now. Higher tiers could move fast. Maybe he tripped backwards really badly. No response, though.
“Shit,” Bia’s voice came from my left, a slight quiver overriding her usual snark. “Where did he – ”
“Never mind that. Your hand, please. We do not want to get separated in this… whatever this is.”
“Right.”
We grasped and I began to walk towards where I knew to be the exit of this room. Not even a second later something slammed into my arm and we broke apart. There was yell of pain and I whirled around but still couldn’t see through the dark.
“Bia, where are you? Did you fall?”
“Right here. I think something hit us.”
“Where?!” I stepped forward.
“Hold on… ” there was a clang. “I conjured my scythe. Look for the metal reflection.”
“I don’t see it.”
“You – it’s a massive fucking blade right in front of you!”
“There’s nothing there!” I peered at the darkness. “What the hell is going on?”
“I definitely see the light off the scythe. I think I got a prompt for the hit – give me a sec. Definitely a – wait wha – ”
Silence. What the hell?
“Bia?!” I readied my blade, but no attack came. Bia still didn’t respond. I stepped forward to where she should have been and found empty air. “Where…”
I tried to track her with reality bending. No sigils showed up. I swung my arms blindly, hoping I’d somehow hit her by chance. Turned up nothing.
And now all of a sudden I began to see. Not light. The night come alive in a million different grasping shapes, formed of the absence itself. Some advanced ritualwork. Then the silence broke and the flickering started – the shapes of the dark and the runes on the towers alike. A thousand different songs, like discordant instruments woven into a backwards orchestra. Louder and louder and the towers away from the entrance began to flicker out and the sounds centred there.
I yet felt no Presence. That sensation when you felt a Presence of something powerful, yet saw none nor heard it, now reversed. The rational mind said smoke and theatrics yet still I backed towards the entrance, and quickly found it to be very far away. The runes, my only marker of the environment, extended into infinity. I backed away, further and further from the encroaching noise and shapes, and this tunnel had no end.
Breathing hastened, both my own and whatever was out there stalking me. I heard my own voice reflected over and over without an origin for I was sure I had no spoken. It was asking things of me, questions too painful to answer so I tried to cast them out, but it became angrier and I felt tears forming where I didn’t want them. Hands pulled at my shoulders. I couldn’t tell whether they were real or illusory pushed them all away nonetheless. My dagger caught nothing.
I pulled out more lanterns, all of which winked out instantly. More silhouettes arrived in the brief flashes they gave before death. Wings and claws and tatters and masks and eyes. I stumbled through the maze of runic towers for what felt like hours, running from the thing in the dark.
Eventually whatever was chasing me pushed me into a darkness larger than the others. There were no glowing runes to show walls here and I walked straight into the corner of one.
Timed precisely to the impact, a click heralded the return of the lights. I had run headfirst into one of the atrium’s pillars. Backing to a better vantage point showed that the room now had a second occupant.
Grim warped from the stage, its body cracking unnaturally to zip right in front of me, dress and hair whirling in nonexistent wind. “Welcome,” it slithered.
“Where the hell is Bia?” I conjured my dagger. Grim smiled wide, dancing and circling around me, its form morphing over and over.
“I have no idea,” it drawled. “Who knows where that silly goose could have gone off to? All alone in the dark.” It cackled. “So tragic.”
“You know,” I snarled, louder. “Where is she?”
“Oh, but I really don’t,” Grim giggled. “Could be anywhere! Depends where she decided to go. I would hope she would follow you, but you tend to do a lot of pushing away.”
“What the hell are you playing at?” I narrowed my eyes and readied my dagger. Striding backwards, I entered the circle with Grim, my other hand ready to cast at moment’s notice.
“Nothing at, my friend. Just playing!”
“Where is everyone that should be in this base, then?”
“Gone fishing, or something cleverer. Will think it later!”
I dashed my eyes around the room. “You piss me off.”
“I imagine so! And intend to,” it grinned devious, fingers waving. “Now, Aryon, you know the drill. You have something I need.”
“You are not getting the damn hourglass.”
Its eyes and teeth sparkled.
Its eyes and teeth sparkled.
Its eyes and teeth sparkled.
“Okee,” and giggled.
I stared it down. We continued circling each other. “What the hell d’you mean, ‘okay’?! Where is Bia?”
“I answered that already,” Grim shrugged.
“Where. Is. She. And on that matter, where is Lloyd?”
“Well,” it grinned sanguine. “I can answer that one.”
Red light crackled at the curtains. Several props slid onto the stage. Cardboard cutouts of corpses and bones. Some things that looked like actual corpses. Lanterns and fairy lights and a great big glowing sign descended from the ceiling reading: ‘LIBERATE MR. LIMRIL’.
I turned. Grim stopped circling and glided onstage in a bout of laughter.
“Do you like it?” it crackled, fiddling with a microphone stand before just morphing itself slightly taller. “Pretty clever name if I say myself! Which I does.”
The curtains rolled aside to admit a pair of cultists, who stood to either side of the dysphorium. A third cultist arrived to toss a body on the floor.
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