[TLQ-B2] 5. Pilgrim's Path (Patreon)

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Pilgrim’s Path

Malakai’s blade ripped through the four-footed demon’s flesh and separated the head from the rest of the body.

“Tina,” Malakai commanded. “Deathbolt.”

The undead’s staff hummed, then unleashed a column of black energy which cleaved through three demons at once. Radi’s ghouls clawed another three limb from limb, while Wraith…well, wraith was scything through the monsters as if they were nothing but wheat.

And still the demons kept coming.

‘There’s no end to them.’

When the demon said ‘you’ll never know what you’ll find,’ Malakai wasn’t certain what he should’ve expected, but a horde of bloodfiends was exactly what in hindsight.

‘Can’t believe I was fooled for a moment.’

An underground oasis full of beautiful women…or a hotspring. Was that too much ask?

He glanced over his shoulder, where the shadows beyond his torchlight swallowed the walls and left nothing visible. ‘Should I continue?’ He’d been walking for a while now and had lost contact with the Warden. She said she’d be back but didn’t specify how long she’d be away.

‘Does she even have enough critters?’

The Warden had already explained to him the fundamentals of her powers—that she could only speak with him as long as there were enough undead connected in a ‘chain.’ Malakai had a hard time visualising it, but, essentially, she required a set of postmen. As long as there were enough postmen between him and her, they could carry her ‘messages’ to him and the other way around.

An ear-piercing scream near him dragged him out of his musings. A demon three times the size of the regular ones trampled over its fallen brethren and barrelled forwards.

Malakai sighed. There really was no end to them.

“Can I ask for higher pay?”

After who knew how long they’d spent culling the horde, the demons finally stopped coming.

Malakai let out a sigh of relief. His muscles were burning for three day’s worth of training. What made it worse were the enemies. Give him an army of orcs over these blood fiends.

‘They don’t even give any death energy.’

Which was the very thing the Warden had told him to collect. There was no gain to killing these things.

Malakai and his team of undead paved forwards through the tunnels as he cussed out the universe. Without the demons blocking his path, the voyage was akin to a pilgrim’s holy travel. Quietly, the road spread before them, the walls pushing into the shadows overhead where Malakai’s light didn’t reach. It was…unnerving.

The shadows were deep. The darkness was the unknown. What if the demons had grown smarter? What if they were crawling along the walls, skittering like the disgusting bugs they were to surround them?

He exhaled. ‘Calm down. You’re not alone.’

Wraith stalked forwards without making a sound. The undead wasn’t actually walking but hovering over the floor, though his legs moved as if they were. Wraith was one of the Warden’s most powerful undead. If the demons were surrounding them, he’d notice.

While he was reaffirming himself, Malakai chased away the thoughts of the cold piercing his boots, too. The physical pain of walking on frozen toes remained, however.

‘Please let me reach the end—’

Wraith held out his arm. Their party stopped.

“What is it?”

A weak pulse travelled from the undead into Malakai’s thoughts. Of course, Malakai had no way of understanding what it was saying, so he peeked past Wraith’s shoulder. They’d reached the exit of the tunnel, that much was clear.

Malakai frowned. Clear? He blinked and, indeed, light was coming from the exit.

How was that possible? How hadn’t he noticed it until now?

‘Some kind of spell?’ He was unaware of how powerful a spell would be required to achieve an effect like this. However, facing a sorcerer, no matter how weak, meant trouble.

Unlike the dead with him, he was no caster. He was then also the weak point of this squadron. Anyone a lick smarter than the demons would see that at a glance and aim their attacks at him.

Malakai killed his torch before ordering Wraith to advance and following behind him. Malakai’s eyes strained against the light. After blinking the spots away, a new world revealed itself.

Gushing water struck the earth. The gentle soundwaves from the clash filtered into Malakai’s ears and made his eyelids droop. He would’ve fallen asleep on the spot if he could.

He shook his head. The underground chamber was vast. A rainbow of colours illuminated their party standing at the top of a hill, at the base of which were multiple connected plateaus layered over a declining river. The water was the source of the spectrum of colours.

His head swivelled. “Quite empty for a place this big.”

There was no horde of demons nor orcs awaiting them. Besides the river, nothing moved at all. Then again, that could be part of another spell.

“Wraith, see if you can find anything alive.”

Sending his best unit to do the scouting put them at risk, but it was for the best.

The undead’s feet turned into fog. He flew through the chamber like a ghost. Suspense built as Malakai and the dead (were the undead really paying attention?) watched Wraith cover every inch of the area.

Malakai had grown bored enough to take a nap when the undead returned.

His thoughts pulsed once.

“No enemies, huh?”

In his mind, Malakai replayed the pulse. Though he couldn’t discern the meaning from the pulse alone, the feeling had been slightly different than before. ‘So the meaning is hidden within the pulse.’ He just had to learn to understand it.

Malakai crouched and cupped his chin. “Well, what to do…”

He doubted that this was what the demon wanted them to find, which meant he should continue searching. But it may be best to wait for the Warden to return. There was no telling how long it’d take her to catch up to him if he continued searching. Worse, if anything happened, he wasn’t receiving any backup for a while. Despite saying that, he didn’t want to return empty-handed either. The thousands of steps he took today were worth more than that.

Still crouching, he looked out across the chamber. “Which direction are we even picking?”

There was no other entrance in sight, and the land spread in all directions. Since he wasn’t splitting his forces, he’d need to check every direction for an exit.

“That’ll take too long.”

So he had to guess.

…Or did he?

If a mage had created this place (or at least warded it), then there should be some kind of mana signature right?

‘Would it really be that simple?’

It was worth a try at least.

“Tina,” he said. “Sense anything?”

The woman, who’d been his captor only a while ago, closed her eyes and held out her staff. When a faint glow suffused the tip of the weapon, she opened her eyes again, and their connection pulsed. He didn’t need a translator to figure out what her answer was.

“Lead the way.”

The four of them began the long trek into the middle of nowhere.

Nerya’s senses roved around the desolate chamber and latched onto absolutely nothing.

“Are we in the wrong location, after all?” Jaeger asked. Since he wasn’t a mage, there wasn’t much for him to do. Nor for anyone else in his party for that matter.

Nerya bit her lips. She was the only one who could figure out their current conundrum. The only one who could save Levi.

“I’m sure we’re in the right place,” she said.

The frostguard pressed his lips together but didn’t say anything.

“You’ll have to trust me,” she said. As her words echoed, she added: “Even if I haven’t earned your trust.”

She quickly wiped away the negative thoughts trying to take control of her mind and focused on the task at hand. Though her words lacked evidence, she was sure of them. There was no way a chamber this large was empty or devoid of purpose.

The problem was that she had no idea what the key could be. Spells that hid entrances came in the hundreds. And that was only if one considered the human school of spells. What esoteric magic would demons be capable of? The sheer magnitude of the question was nearly enough to squash all future attempts at figuring out this chamber.

The whispers of the fierce winds ravaging the surface whistled overhead. The guards glanced between each other while Nerya cupped her chin.

“But the demons might not have anything to do with it…” she mumbled.

“Sorry?” Jaeger said.

She held up her hand to request quiet.

‘Think,’ she told herself. Father said the demons had tasked them with creating a network of tunnels. Given their expertise and their golems, she could see why the demons would do so—there was no better clan for working frozen ground.

If they were satisfied with using means outside of their own, could the same not be true for the entrance? Better yet, how old was this mountain? Them using an entrance that was already there or creating their own, which had a higher likelihood?

She’d bet on the former, for it was the only option if she wanted to succeed. But even assuming it was, how did that bring her any closer to finding the entrance? She’d have already if she could. Her senses were too untrained to complete this puzzle.

The throb building up in her mind as she wracked her thoughts was something serious.

She heard her master’s chuckle reverberate through her brain. Kiddo, you’re better off not using your head since you’re not that smart.

Nerya had been sitting in the crone’s living room when Master told her, a mere teen, that.

Her teenage self crossed her arms and pouted. What you mean with that, Master? I’m smart enough! I’ve already improved on the spell’s design!

The spell in question was a circle meant to manipulate the specs of a golem—its weight, size, speed—these were all attributes that could be changed after construction had already completed. It was a valuable spell, since it allowed one to change the worker units after creation to fit specific tasks. It was also complicated. Which was why her Master couldn’t deny her talents after Nerya had found a way to enhance an old design which allowed for more manipulations.

But her Master was not one to let confidence get to her student’s head.

Master Circe pointed an wrinkled finger at her face. You’re stupid, kid. That’s what you are.

Nerya opened her mouth to respond but her Master spoke over her.

Never forget this: no matter how smart you think yourself, you’re nothing compared to the ones above us. So pray for their guidance. Everyday. Even when you think you’ve got it all figured out.

To spite her master, Nerya had of course stopped praying for the remainder of that week. She and her Master were sorcerers, not priests. Prayer wasn’t what fuelled their spells. So the teenage Nerya had thought at the time.

She knew better now. Her most powerful abilities invoked the Wrath of their gods, after all.

“Pray for their guiance…” she mumbled again.

If this place really was an existing phenomenon, what would its purpose be? The road here was hard and nigh impossible to traverse for those without ice magic, so only those of a particular heritage or clan would be expected to come down here. Their clan was the sole one that came to mind, yet she’d never heard of this place…but she’d heard other stories. Tales that spoke of ancient customs, where the members of their clan travelled deep into the earth to make sacrifices to Father Grisha.

Without contemplating it any further, Nerya sank to her knees, linked her hands, and began invoking the prayer for the Earth-Father.

“Oh Great Father, bedrock of our world, please…”

Jaeger glanced at the other frostguards, who shrugged in response.

“…let your divine blessings saturate our land, and not our crops wither…”

The guards chuckled as one of them whispered something.

“…In the end, we will all return to your embrace. Amen.”

She kept her eyes closed as she finished her prayer. Her heart was racing inside her chest. ‘Please. Please. Please let this work.’ If it didn’t, she was well and truly out of options.

When the snickers passing between the frostguards stopped, she knew she had struck the right cord.

The ground rumbled as the ground split apart to reveal a wide set of steps stretching into the dark.

Nerya got to her feet and turned to Jaeger.

Jaeger regarded his men—they pulled their weapons—then the frostguard nodded back, and off they went.