Exalted Champion: Ch 5 (rough draft) (Patreon)

Chapter 5: Forge Cathedral Revelations

I paid no attention to the stares I got as I descended the steps from the main tower atrium to the dungeon lobby below the college tower. I passed quickly through the lobby and into the portal.

I’m never going to get used to being jacked up into a higher framerate of time.

I stepped into the cathedral foyer, the wide arch of the glowing marble leading to the main sanctum. I stepped into the place of sacred labor. Holy anvils sat row upon row, pews for worshippers whose prayers were measured not in words but in the strikes of hammer on anvil. The main altar anvil sat under the feet of the towering bronze and iron statue of Rakthanos, hammer raised high, ready to strike the altar.

Rakthanos, blazed to life and stood on it, a foot-tall homunculus of living flame, a cape of orange and red flame curling off his shoulders, adequately gauche for a god who didn’t believe in moderation.

Rakthanos caught my eye and spread his arms. “Eric! You’re back! The walking testament to the inefficiency of universe-scale system bureaucracy! I was beginning to think you’d forgotten about me. Or died. Or eloped with a lesser god. Welcome back to the cathedral. Did you bring snacks?”

“Of course, though I don’t know how edible it will be.” I paused before I pulled the amulet out, “It’s good to see you again, Rakthanos.”

“Yes, yes. You must have been filled with such sorrow not being able to gaze upon the visage of my magnanimity… Did you find it?” Rakthanos said, losing the cape and sitting on the edge of the anvil, letting his legs dangle.

I took the steps up to the anvil in three strides. “Didn’t want to come empty-handed.” I fished the Ashul’Kai amulet from my spatial storage and set it on the altar. The thing sat there, inert as a dead lizard, until Rakthanos reached out and poked it with a finger of blue-white flame. The amulet snapped awake, runes crawling up and down its surface in a spasm of light.

Rakthanos whistled. “Well, slap my holy elemental ass and call me a miracle. It’s the real deal. The real Ashul’Kai amulet. That’s a load off, knowing you at least have it.” He rotated the amulet with both hands, squinting at it from different angles.

“So, what can this thing do? I get it has something to do with fighting the abyss trying to take over Legion, but…?” I asked.

Rakthanos turned the amulet in his hands, flame fingers flicking across the tangled knot of runes. “A simple enough question, with an answer as subtle as a slap with a hammer,” Rakthanos intoned, rolling the chain of the amulet between his molten fingers. “This artifact is a paradox. It is a weapon and a shield, a leash and a key.” He flicked it upward; the amulet hovered, fat drops of blue flame condensing and running down the chain like molten tears.

Rakthanos fixed me with his eyes, “Channel mana in, get a nice little or big wave of cleansing energy out. That’s the weapon part. It’ll remove the corruption from an area of the dungeon. If you killed a corrupted monster before you purify the area, the monster spawn will be cleansed as well, returning control to Legion. It will also shield the wearer's mind from the abyssal influence and prevent you from being… how shall I put this, recruited to the other team. Yay, that’s a nice way of saying it.”

He let the chain whip around his wrist, catching the pendant. “So, that’s not so bad. I’ve got the feeling there is more, though.”

He sighed and deflated some, handing the amulet back to me, “Yep. But here’s the catch. The second you bond this thing to yourself and light it up, every abyssal thing within a thousand miles will know you have it. You’ll be the prettiest, shiniest target on the whole planet. Once you use it, the race is on, cleanse the dungeon, or get your body and soul eaten by an extradimensional entity that will be solely focused on killing and consuming you…” His little fire face frowned.

“Well, shit.” I put the amulet back in my spatial storage ring.

“Yeah, big old pile of it…” Rakthanos went rigid for a second, then held his hand to his head. “Ouch, right okay, I’ll tell him. Legion would like you to know that the abyss is already pushing at his boundaries. Soon, he will be unable to hold it back.”

“How long?” I said, staring up at the ceiling. Trying to talk to a non-corporeal entity was weird.

“One year, measured by your calendar. Perhaps less, if the abyss finds a breach or you do something monumentally stupid.”

I grunted. “Good to know, but fuck if that is not a lot of time. What about the adamantium coin vault and its guard dog?”

Rakthanos sat back down on the edge of the altar anvil. “Here’s a fun bit of information. My cathedral isn’t strictly a part of Legion’s dungeon proper, not as far as the system’s logic goes. It’s more of a ‘back area,’ like service corridors in a mall, only for gods. The corruption only got into the treasury vault chamber, not the rest of the cathedral. The abyss hit that vault hard as soon as it arrived, because adamantium is one of the few substances that can hurt it, or kill it, or even permanently erase it from existence. You’d be surprised how many universes can’t make the stuff. Most can’t even spell it.”

“The abyss fears it,” I said.

He nodded. “As much as the abyss fears anything. The cleansing pushes it back, reduces its influence, but to kill it, well, that’s where adamantium comes in.”

“Hum, well, I was needing to make a new weapon anyway, lost my spear killing the abyssal monster that came through the rift. Might as well make a good old-fashioned abyss killer while I’m at it.”

“That sounds like a smart idea, but remember, you did not kill the abyssal rift monster, only sent it back home. Sure, its body died, but its energy was sucked all the way back to whatever nasty place the abyssal dungeon calls home.” He said with a shrug.

“Right, so just to clarify. I’ve got less than a year before Legion loses, once I use the amulet, I’m going to be hunted, and I need to make a weapon from or out of some adamantium, which would be a good idea. Can I use the amulet on the vault guardian?” As soon as I asked the question, the cathedral trembled.

Rakthanos screamed, “NO!” and fell back on the anvil. “OW, fuck Legion, yeah, I’ll tell him. No, don’t do that. If you did that, then the abyss would launch an all-out assault and Legion could not stop that.”

“It's not going all out right now?” I asked. That made no sense to me.

“It is. That’s to say it is going all out without consuming itself. Do that, and it’ll feed on itself to grow and twist. Right now, it is as logical as the abyss gets in its combat. If you purged the vault, it would turn into a wild animal, driven into a corner, and would fight all the harder.” Rakthanos said, shaking his head as he regained his composure.

“Okay, don’t try and purify that thing, at least not yet.”

“Yep. Your other ideas are right on track. A year, getting hunted, and making a weapon. Got to get to level twelve first though.” Rakthanos said.

I stared at him, “Is there any way around that? Why do I need to reach level twelve?”

“Nope, I’m afraid you're stuck going level by level. System rules and regulations and all that. Level twelve is the current battleground between Legion and that nasty little rock.” His shrugs were never reassuring.

I stared through the legs of Rakthanos’s statue, and to the hallway that led to the vault, I’m going to have to kill that thing more than a few times. I won’t have to sing nursery rhymes, though, if this amulet thingy works. “I thought level twelve was a rest area, but it’s a battleground?”

The side-to-side waggle of Rakthanos’s hand made my question seem absurd. “Level twelve for regular dungeon divers is just a rest area, a nice bed and breakfast. The back area, much like my cathedral, is another matter. It’s Legion’s last bastion, his stronghold. Once that falls, levels one through eleven won’t be able to hold the abyss at bay for very long. The jig will be up, and the abyss will tear through them like wet paper.”

I wiped my hand down my face, “Fuck, okay, so, I won’t use the amulet till I reach level twelve. I’m surprised I haven’t heard more about the corruption from those in the college seems like it would be pretty big news.”

Rakthanos barked a short, harsh laugh, “Ha, it would be if any of those lazy exalted peacock mages dared to put forth the effort it took to get past level twelve. Most only go that far, if that.”

“But other adventures go deeper. Why have they not reported?” Why was this not big news, at least in the dungeon community?

His all-too-familiar reassuring shrug accompanied his words, “Oh, the real divers know. Well, they know something is fucked down in the deeper levels of the dungeon, but most, if not all of them, are not imperial exalted mages, and I would guess they have a gage order from higher up.”

“Well, shit. I guess tomorrow I’ll be heading to level four and then the vault. Best be heading out.” It was time to go. I had more to deal with before the day was going to end.

Rakthanos hopped off the anvil, brushing his flaming hands together like a man done with work that never ends. “Level four tomorrow, huh? Bold move. Little bit crazy, little bit fun. I like it.”

“I’ll take that as encouragement,” I said, heading down the few steps from the dais altar. My boots clicked against the marble, each one echoing like a clock tick counting down my year.

“Eric,” Rakthanos called.

I turned. He stood there, a hand on his hip, the other lifting in a lazy half-wave. “Yeah.”

The fire god tilted his head, flames twisting into a grin. “Don’t die in some embarrassing way. Fall into a pit, get eaten by a, well, anything, trip over your own feet—that sort of thing. If you die, at least make it cinematic. Big finish. Explosions. Maybe a theme song.”

“Explosions, I can promise,” I said. “Theme song… not so much.”

Rakthanos cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted as I crossed the cathedral foyer. “GOODBYE, MY MORTAL MEATBAG FRIEND. MAY YOUR LOINS STAY LEGENDARY AND YOUR IDEAS BE JUST CRAZY ENOUGH TO WORK.”

I didn’t look back, just raised my hand over my shoulder. “Goodbye, Rakthanos.”

His voice followed me through the marble arch, smug and loud as a marching band. “DON’T FORGET TO HYDRATE!”

I whispered the words that would get me out of the dungeon, “Leave the dungeon now…”

I was yanked into a portal, pulled, and compressed back into a normal frame rate of time.