[TLQ-B2] 8. Point of No Return (Patreon)

VIII

Point of No Return

It was strange. Despite bringing him closer to his death, his steps grew more sure with each footfall.

White clouds filtered into the air with his breath. Sometimes, when he closed his eyes, he could still hear them: the gentle waves caressing that shoreline. When his concentration reached a certain depth, he could smell the salt in the air. And when his belief reached a zenith and he opened his heart, he could hear Her voice like she’d spoken to him a mere moment ago.

‘May everything return to your embrace, our Lady of Light.’ He held his breath and touched his chest with his chin. He could only dive deep enough to hear the waves.

“We should be nearing the drop off point,” Varrick said.

Levi opened his eyes. A light had appeared at the end of their tunnel.

“Have you considered your escape path?” Levi asked.

Varrick’s lips pressed together. “The way we came is the only path we know out of here.”

Levi shook his head. “Then I wish you a hasty retreat.”

Ruelle knew they’d need the well-wishes. There was no way in hell that the demons were letting them escape. From his expression, Varrick knew this. As did the other villagers.

But sometimes, knowing wasn’t enough.

Their tunnel opened into a subterranean chamber the size of a valley. Indiscriminate light made way for a myriad of colours that drew Levi’s gaze down. There was no ground to speak of. Instead, water in the hues of a rainbow covered the area below them.

There were but three landmasses in this place: the platform they were standing on, a massive pillar jutting out of the water in the centre, and another landing strip on the other side of the chamber. A single bridge carved from hard, stone-like material connected them.

The pillar wasn’t deserted. Cluttering the wide base of earth was a legion of horned, four-footed demons.

Varrick and the other villagers swallowed at the sight of them.

Levi couldn’t blame them. They must’ve numbered close to a hundred. But that wasn’t the unnerving part. Until today, Levi had only ever seen demons as raving lunatics, mindless beasts which released blood-curling screams and charged until their bodies were rendered asunder.

The pack in front of them sat on their haunches like obedient dogs. Not one moved an inch nor produced a sound. If Levi hadn’t know better, he would’ve thought them a painting.

The reason he didn’t was because of the man seated in their centre. He was something out of a fairy tale, an artistic rendition of what a male god would look like in the flesh. Fair skin. Hair long and red like a waterfall of blood from the mouth of a giant. Multiple of the demons were stationed underneath him and carried him like he was some king.

The demon smiled at their arrival, stood in his chair, and bowed over his arm. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sir. Levi. This humble servant, Cebas, has been sent to retrieve you.”

Despite the distance between them, Cebas’s voice was clear and carried not the tension of someone trying to make themselves audible.

Varrick stepped up and yelled, his voice echoing through the space. “We’ve brought him as promised. Where is the antidote?”

The demon straightened and produced a vial from his pockets. The contents were a red so deep they eyed black. Cebas wiggled it. “Right here. I prepared it myself, so it won’t get any better than this.”

Levi glanced at Varrick. “Do you know what the antidote is supposed to look like?”

“No,” Varrick grunted.

A sigh. How desperate a gambit he’d decided to take…

“I’ll inspect it for you,” Levi said.

The hunter’s eyes went wide before lowering. “Thank you.”

Levi inclined his head, and Varrick turned back to regard the demon. “How are we doing this?!”

“Just us three,” Cebas said. “We’ll meet halfway. Once the trade is complete, we’ll each go our separate ways.”

Which was the best scenario they could’ve hoped for. He could’ve tried to lure them closer to the horde.

“I’ll be back,” Varrick told his companions, who each gave him a pat on the back and words of encouragement.

They also voiced their thanks to Levi…and their apologies, no matter how little that meant.

Levi cut them some slack.

The strange sense of calm returned to him as he and Varrick crossed the bridge. It was a crossing without handles, but harsh gales didn’t exist down here, so the structure didn’t shake. That said—

Levi peeked over the edge.

—those waters didn’t look particularly inviting. Not because they were rugged or would threaten to sweep one away. There was just…a faint feeling of dread that arose within Levi when he even thought of falling in.

“It’s called Warp,” Cebas said.

Levi turned. The demon had foregone his throne of demons to honour his words and waltzed towards them with his hands linked behind his back.

“It’s my first time hearing of it,” Levi said.

“Because it doesn’t exist on the surface,” he said. “Also, there’s little use for it, nowadays, so time has forgotten it.”

That should’ve ended the conversation. However, Levi found himself drawn to the mystical water. Perhaps because it was one of the last things he would learn about in his life.

“Did it have an important function?” he asked.

“When processed correctly, it served as a method of connecting one’s spirit to other planes.”

“Other planes?” Levi said. “That seems useful…”

Cebas chuckled. “If you want to visit my homeland, perhaps. Part of the reason for it having no use is because the other planes have been lost.”

Levi blinked. “Lost?”

Long, slender fingers shooed him away. “Explaining that to you would take more time than you have left.”

Then they arrived in front of each other.

Varrick didn’t blink and kept his hand on Levi’s shoulder. “You first.”

Cebas shrugged. “Can you catch?”

Before Varrick could respond the demon, he threw the vial. His throw was so on point Varrick had to merely let go of Levi’s rope and hold up his hand.

Varrick stared at the vial in his hands, surprised at the speed and accuracy of the throw, then turned to the demon. “Do you mind if we inspect it?”

Cebas held out his palm. “Go ahead.”

“You’ll have to unbind my hands,” Levi said.

Something Varrick had no qualms about. Keeping Levi tied up was more pretence at this point than necessity.

Levi rubbed his wrists as the ropes fell and spied on Cebas. If the demon cared at all about Levi no longer being bound, it didn’t show on its face.

“Will uncorking it lower its efficacy?” Levi said.

“The medicine is a lot more powerful than required,” he said, “so it should be fine.”

Despite that, Levi didn’t immediately pop the cork. A faint glow suffused his hands as he palmed the container. Demon blood was a foreign concept to him, hence why he’d enlisted the help of his Master in the temple. However, he should at least be able to get a basic idea of what the solution’s goal was. No one created something without intent. A poisoner smirked at imagining their target’s death throes while a maiden giggled as she brewed her love potion, her head in the clouds.

Even the lack of intent, the bored handiwork of a conman about to fool their client, was devisable.

But since this was demon product, his reading wouldn’t be so exact. The response of the solution was…warm. Which meant there was no ill-will involved when it was being made. That didn’t say much—Cebas could believe killing whoever drank this was a mercy—but it was the best he was going to get from his reading.

Uncorking the vial didn’t reveal any weird smells either.

“And?” Varrick asked.

Levi leaned forwards and whispered, side-eyeing the demon as he did so. “It wasn’t made with the intent to harm. Still, I’d use it at your own risk. No matter what, it stays demon magic.”

“I understand. Thank you.” Varrick placed the vial in his pouch, then regarded Cebas. “Does he need to be bound?”

“Not if he promises not to struggle. It’s not like he can go anywhere now that he’s entered this place.”

Varrick frowned.

“We have eyes everywhere,” Cebas said. “It’s how I sent a few of my own to cut off your escape ahead of time.”

Varrick whirled around at the sound of a scream. Red figures that were mere blurs from their distance crawled up the sides of the pillar they’d left the villagers and surrounded them. At the same time, a dozen, tentacles burst from the water and latched onto the platform.

“That’s another benefit of the waters,” the demon smiled.

“You…!” Varrick spun back around. “We had a deal!”

“We did,” the man-thing said easily.

He didn’t continue and merely tilted his head.

“What?” he said. “Don’t tell me you seriously believed demons would honour those? You didn’t even write it in blood.”

Levi closed his eyes. From a mile away.

“Besides,” Cebas said, “we honoured our terms. ‘Give you an antidote and leave your village untouched.‘ Assaulting you here doesn’t violate those rules. Not that we care about them either way—but you should at least specify what you want clearly.”

The demons making up his chair crossed the bridge at frightening speed to once more carry their lord.

“Now—” Cebas took sat down on his throne “—you can either fight to the death, or surrender and come quietly. Which will it be?”

Varrick grimaced. The number of demons was too great to even think of putting up a resistance.

“We should come quietly,” Levi said. “Then at least there’s still a chance we’ll be saved.”

It was a slim one, but it wasn’t zero.

“That’s true,” Cebas said. “A bunch of others have also entered the underground already. If they play their cards right, some of you might make it out.”

“Others?” Varrick said. “Don’t tell me…”

The first image that came to Levi’s mind was that of his sister. More specifically, that of her undead. He wasn’t sure how many of them she had or where they were stationed, but she’d been searching for an entrance into the underground for a while now. They could’ve found one.

Then there was Leah. She’d gone missing a while ago. But what if she had been hiding down here the entire time?

A final image entered his mind, too. That of a kind soul who’d sat with him underneath the moonlight. That one he discarded. She couldn’t possibly be here…he hoped she wasn’t.

It was too dangerous.

Biting his teeth, Varrick called out to his clanmates. “Stand down!”

They’d summoned their golems to ward off the most immediate threats among the demons, but the six or so constructs wouldn’t be able to fight against that many.

From what Levi gathered, the golems were more mount than combatants.

Varrick had to repeat his command another time before the villagers dropped their defences.

Cebas clapped his hands. “Perfect! Well then, follow me towards your doom.” He giggled as his steeds turned him around and marched down the bridge.

Levi sighed and followed behind him.