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“I HOPE IT ALL works out for you,” Hedgehog extended me a hand with a smile.
I nodded and shook his hand.
“And come back soon,” he reminded me for the umpteenth time. “We have lots to do here. I’m afraid it won’t work without you.”
“As far as I can tell, you’re in good hands,” I chuckled. “You’ll always have your great hero.”
“That drunkard Bream?” Hedgehog shook his head resignedly. “I hope his liver won’t give out before you come back. I know you gave him a good refresher with your magic stuff, but he has hit the wine harder than ever before.”
For the record, Bream was not as useless as I took him for at first. Being the central figure at every drunken gathering, he managed not only to drain all the booze he was offered, but also to carefully listen to and remember every conversation the feasters had. And then he told everything he heard to Hedgehog.
That was how Hedgehog always knew what was going on in his warband. Bream was exactly how we knew that more than half of our army had stayed behind at the walls of Northolm and was trying to storm the capital. For the most part, they were people that had joined us after the first battle with the vampires. In other words, the other half of the army, made up of warriors who had been with Hedgehog since the very beginning of the uprising, had stayed loyal to their leader.
As for plans... Hedgehog had heeded my words. He decided to stop thinking about the throne of Northolm, which reeked of blood and death. A new idea had taken root in his head ― to construct his own city atop his hometown of Pinevale, which would surely make it the new capital of the Lake Country. He looked happy when he realized that all his cohorts supported his idea. And his happiness went beyond all limits when I announced that I wanted to come back to this world to fulfill my dream of a cozy house and a peaceful life. I saw the way he rubbed his hands together on that day. Something was telling me I would only be dreaming of peace.
But the biggest surprise to everyone was that Bream had decided to go back to his hometown of Pinevale along with the others. His drinking buddies from the day before were especially displeased, having planned to get rich as kings after the city fell. After all, Bream had become something of a symbol, a lucky charm. And now that charm was going back to the Lake Country. On that day, many thought twice about trying to take power in Northolm. After all, no significant figures of the uprising wanted to do so. I should note as well that the leading dissenters actually had the nerve to turn to me for help, but they were escorted away with nothing to show for it.
After Gorgie and I exterminated the vampire nest, destroying all the cocoons Atori had mentioned with such hope, I considered my mission complete. Time to go back home.
Only my very closest friends knew that I was going back to my native world: Hedgehog, Badger and Mink. They saw me off. For the rest, I’d come up with a tall tale about a mission to close the portal these vampires had used to get here. And that I would be back in a matter of months. That way, everyone who wished ill upon Hedgehog, both openly and in secret, and there were quite a few of them after the last few months, would think my return was just around the corner. Better just keep their heads down. That would give Hedgehog enough time to reinforce his positions, both in the armed forces and the settlement itself.
Badger and I exchanged a brotherly hug.
“Don’t worry,” he managed to whisper into my ear. “I’ll do exactly as we planned. By the time you’re back, everything will be ready.”
That was in reference to our two houses in Pinevale, which I had left him a few hundred gold to acquire. In Badger’s words, that kind of money could buy half the town. Based on my friend’s pensive look, I was going to have a lot of surprises in store for me when I got back.
When Badger and Hedgehog left, Mink and I were left alone. The sun had just started peeking out from beyond the horizon, softly illuminating my beloved’s anxious face.
“I’m afraid,” she whispered.
“You have nothing to fear,” I hurried to assure her. “Badger and Hedgehog will take care of you while I’m gone.”
“I’m not afraid for me... I’m afraid for you. Your enemies are powerful. So...”
She backed off slightly and took an amulet off her neck. It was shaped like nimble little animal and artfully carved out of dark wood. She came up to me and hung the amulet around my neck. After that, covering it with a hand, she said:
“My father carved this charm for me. It doesn’t have one bit of magic in it like you’re used to, but I’m sure it will keep you safe anyway. And remind you of me...”
At that moment, I wanted to say a lot of things. About tender feelings, hopes, fears, my love. But Mink stopped me. I could read everything I wanted to say in her eyes. Getting up on her tiptoes, she put her hands around my neck and kissed me.
I would not forget the smell of her hair or the sweet taste of that kiss for a long time.
* * *
― WOULD YOU LIKE TO cross over?
— Cost of service: 10000 mana points.
“Ready?” I asked Gorgie, shaking anxiously.
The harn growled back confidently.
We made it to the City of Shadows on dry land. We went straight there. First of all, it was faster than taking a boat down the river, and second, we were hoping to do some mutant hunting on our way. During our adventures in the north, Gorgie managed to kill a few morphs and earn a couple new transformations, so the prospect of getting another few had him seriously excited.
We went very fast but had no luck hunting. As bad luck would have it, we didn’t find anything worth our while on the way or in the ancient city itself.
After once again checking all our preparations in case of sudden attack, I recalled Gorgie. I adjusted the straps of my backpack, which was packed full of various items from this world. I touched my bowstring. Looked over all my arrows.
All good.
Thanks to the new mana crystals I’d gotten from the vampires, my supply was practically twice as large as before. With a heavy sigh, I activated invisibility and muckwalker’s defensive aura just in case. The drak lair on the other side would still be there, and we would have to get to the surface somehow.
Turning my head to the right, I took one last look out the huge hole in the wall. Outside I could see the dark roofs of the dead city’s towering buildings. Soon, this world will be mine. All I have to do is pay back some old debts. Nodding to myself, I agreed to the activation and stepped through the portal.
A brief moment of darkness and I was back in the cavern of the draks.
Despite the fact that I knew where I was going and, before crossing over, I had done my best to conjure up every detail of the place, what I saw surpassed all expectation. The giant head of the Queen of the draks came racing my way with a vile hiss. The only thing keeping me from dying was that the portal spat me out a few steps away from where its square snake nose was poking.
Had the beast been waiting for me in the same place all these months? If so, how did it know when I’d be coming back? And how was such a thing possible?! I quickly looked around. The draks were still hiding among the stones, just like on the day I left. The stone ceiling was still trembling the same way, too. The dust hadn’t even settled. A strange notion popped into my brain like a red-hot needle. Impossible!
The unexpected miss caught the snake slightly off guard. She turned her head in confusion and hissed aggrievedly. That little window of time was just long enough for me to take a long jump toward the beast and touch the tip of her tail.
Despite the canopy of invisibility, the snake sensed me in an instant. A ferocious hiss filled the cave. But it was too late. I was much quicker than before.
Coiling her whole body around a big huge chunk of rock was an unforgiveable error on her part. And I seized on that error.
― You have activated the spell Incineration!
― You have attacked Queen of the Draks (80)!
― Critical hit. You have dealt 129521 damage!
Woah! Good thing I paid a visit to the fireflower meadow!
The pure white snake body went up in a red flame in an instant. The hiss gave way to a loud rasp. In the blink of an eye, the gloomy cave filled with light and unbearable heat. The smell of burned flesh struck my nose.
Wriggling ferociously, the queen of the draks was smashing everything in her path. Her snakeskin was cracking and breaking. Here and there, singed chunks of flesh were slaking off. I squeezed myself into a crack between two stones and looked on transfixed as the once unbeatable master of this lair writhed in mortal agony.
Incidentally, ever since crossing over, a strange system notification had been popping up in front of me about the chaos manuscript, but I just batted it away like a mettlesome fly. I had better things to do...
The Queen’s pre-death rasp changed tonality. As soon as that happened, all the draks in the cave shuddered and turned their ugly heads toward me at once. Even in the last moment of her life, the Queen was trying to exact revenge on her attacker.
Thinking briefly, I jumped out from behind my cover and ran toward the portal. Alas, I did not have the ten thousand mana points required to cross over, but I did have something else.
— Would you like to unleash the spell “Earth Tremor?”
— Attention! Performing this action requires:
— 5000 mana points.
My teeth clenched in anger, I gave permission.
— Select activation point.
— Warning! The element you are summoning knows no mercy! Either take care to provide acceptable defense or try to keep away from the epicenter of the storm.
— Warning! Spell damage radius: 165 feet.
One hundred sixty-five feet would just be the beginning. As soon as everything started collapsing, the radius would multiply in size. Choosing a location away from the portal, I agreed to the activation.
I no longer had the mana for a chaos shield. Running up to the portal, I summoned the Ysh and put up a gulper’s lair. Together with the muckwalker aura, I had more than thirty thousand points of magical defense.
Pressing my whole body up against the plinth, I prepared for the very worst.
The creatures around me ignored the first subterranean jolt, but it was followed by another ― that one an order of magnitude more powerful. And after it came another and another... The much suffering supports of the portal room couldn’t take the abuse and, with a deafening crunch, began to collapse one after the next, burying the wave of attacking drakes. The sharp stones ground and smashed their bodies like defenseless insects.
I remembered from last time that there was something of a protective shield around the portal. It was essentially what had saved my hide before. The huge pieces of stone hurtling down from the ceiling were smoothly curving around the ancient structure and falling to the ground, shattering into millions of sharp fragments.
In a matter of minutes, everything around was enshrouded in an impenetrable wall of dust. My shields were melting away before my very eyes. First the lair, then the muckwalker aura. Just the Ysh was still holding out. Tiny shards of rock were stinging its half-transparent body like mad hornets, testing its mettle. The portal’s shield didn’t react to them at all.
I was just staring at my refilling mana supply and praying to all the gods for my salvation. I was just a hair away from the five thousand mark. My Wisdom pulled it off! The chaos shield came over me several seconds before the Ysh disappeared.
The cavern was feverish in the literal sense of the word. As was the whole mountain, in fact. System messages about local creatures dying were flickering before my eyes constantly. Unbelievably, the Queen of the draks was still alive though. At the very least, there hadn’t been any messages about her death. Now that’s one tough cookie!
Despite the fact that the spell’s five-minute duration had long since passed, the mountain continued shaking and shivering. The portal’s defensive zone did its thing. Around the plinth, there had formed a small sphere that was being pressed in on by fragments of stone on all sides. That was what I saw when the dust had somewhat settled. Looking over the resulting structure with trepidation, I was afraid to even breathe too hard. After all, this whole thing could come crashing down at any moment. I was afraid to even imagine how many feet of stone were currently over my head.
Finally the quakes came to an end and the cavern, which was now more properly a giant tomb, was flooded with a crypt-like silence. Exactly the kind of calm that comes before a terrible storm. I froze, eagerly listening to everything around.
Thoughts flickered through my head at a fevered pace. What to do next? I had an approximate guess that the spell would be destructive, but I didn’t expect quite this much. I was in a trap of my own design. But I didn’t regret what I had done. It was the only good option at the time.
It was starting to get harder to breathe. The stones around me were glimmering menacingly. There will be a cave in any second. As bad luck would have it, my supply wasn’t filling up fast enough. I’d have to go back to Mink’s world and look for more portals there... Because it felt foolish to even dream of getting up to the surface.
I had already started considering how I could get to the neighboring continent in the other world when it suddenly hit me.
The Queen of the draks had not been waiting for me here for months. She didn’t even notice I was gone! To her, my several months in another world went by in the blink of an eye. Just one second! And if that’s right, then... I felt a prick in my chest. I first lurched toward the portal. But then I froze, recognizing the senselessness of my impulse. I wanted to howl in despair and impotence. I closed my eyes and felt hot tears running down my cheeks. My hand groped for the little amulet on my chest. Mink... Forgive me...
My heart was demanding I give in to apathy and grief, but my brain was constantly angrily reminding me that I still had friends who needed my help. And that was what finally forced me to read that obnoxious message.
Paying no attention to the cracking sound over my head, I tried to concentrate on the red words before my eyes. Wiping away tears and spit, after my third or fourth attempt, I finally realized what the Great System wanted.
― Attention! You may only attempt the Unity with Chaos test one time!
― Instructions for contenders:
― Find the nearest portal and activate the manuscript “Unity with Chaos.” You will be immediately brought to the Citadel of Chaos.
― Important! Activation requires 1000 mana points!
― Good luck, future adept of Chaos!
I glanced at my mana supply figures. Not enough to cross over to the other world, but enough to take part in this weird test. The fact that the manuscript had sat dormant until I was next to a portal to the otherworld was a clear sign ― the Citadel of Chaos it was inviting me to was in my world.
I heard more cracks overhead, as if pushing me to the obvious solution.
Wiping away tears violently and clenching my teeth in anger, I forced myself to reach out to the portal.
― Attention! You have activated the manuscript “Unity with Chaos.”
An instant before being transported, I got another message that made me grin maliciously. The Queen of the draks had finally breathed her last.
The manuscript brought me onto the wide observation platform of a tall tower. Relatively tall. But I had climbed taller. I looked around. No matter where I turned, all I could see were towering gray cliffs. I wonder where I am.
After choking on dust in the cavern, the fresh mountain air was invigorating and refreshing. I took a deep breath and looked up. Somber dark clouds covered the whole sky with their ragged shapes. Far off on the horizon, I saw the gnarled arms of a lightning bolt. A thunderstorm was coming this way.
I checked my mana supply, then the cooldowns on all my spells. The only shield I can use is lair. If anything happens, I’ll have to get clever. As for powerful attack spells, I have Oblivion.
I belatedly remembered that my backpack was stuffed full of tablets. The Queen of the draks must have dropped an iridescent. But it was too late to study the contents of my backpack. A formidable warrior had appeared on the viewing platform decked out head to toe in a suit of black armor. The stranger’s level was undefined. Above the giant’s horned helm there loomed a single word: Gatekeeper.
I decided not to summon Gorgie just yet ― let him be a surprise.
The steel titan, clanging his armor, took a few measured steps and stopped. The heavy poleax in his huge hands looked as light as a swan feather.
“If there’s a new contender, one of our brethren must have fallen to his hand!” the big guy started with no preface or greeting.
His voice, muffled by the massive visor, sounded like a roar.
“What do you have to say in your defense?”
“Nothing,” I answered in a flat tone. “I am not planning on defending myself. And a slight correction... Not brethren, it was a sister.”
A loud breath came out from behind the visor.
“And for that matter,” I started to get excited. “That brute needed to be gotten rid of! I’m glad to count myself among those who fought against her!”
The last words I basically roared out. The pain and grief at losing my beloved were looking for an outlet. My apathy gave way to fury.
“Who is she?” asked the gatekeeper.
“In that world, she was called the Lady of the Anomaly, but the Great System revealed her true name to me ― Jorogumo.”
The giant fell silent for a moment. I couldn’t see his face but, based on the noisy wheezing coming from inside his helmet, he was thunderstruck.
“Do you mean to say?” he started, pronouncing each word slowly. “That you killed one of the Primordials?!”
“Let’s say I did. I was among those who had a hand in it.”
“You had help?”
“More like I was the help,” the giant’s sincere curiosity was putting a slight damper on my fighting spirit.
“Who was the Primordial’s other adversary?”
“A being called the Heart of the Forest.”
Muted cursing came out of the helmet in a dimly familiar language. I squinted suspiciously.
“You must be lying. I bet you are,” the gatekeeper then said just like a person.
“You don’t have to trust me ― it’s your right,” I shrugged my shoulders.
It took me effort not to produce evidence, but I wasn’t in the mood to justify myself.
“Why did you activate the manuscript?” the gatekeeper asked in surprise.
“It was either come here or die,” I answered honestly. “To be completely honest ― I’d be perfectly happy to just go on my merry way without any fuss.”
“You agreed to take part in the test,” I heard menacing from behind the visor. “You cannot simply leave.”
“And what does it consist of?”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” the giant cooled my jets. “First I must see whether you are worthy of being granted access to our mysteries.”
After saying that, the giant waved his poleaxe significantly and came at me.
My wounded soul cried out for battle. But my brain was still insistent. The steel titan was already in the middle of the viewing platform when I addressed him:
“Before we get started, may I ask you one final question?”
The gatekeeper stopped.
“Go ahead!”
I had already long since guessed what kind of creature I was dealing with, so I switched to the language of the trolls:
“What do you say, does the fact I have this artifact mean anything?”
After that, I took from my backpack that tusk all covered with intricate lettering Farhas had given me after our battle with the otherworldly beasts. The giant froze. I couldn’t see his eyes, but I was certain he was staring at the amulet in my hand.
Finally, the gatekeeper came to his senses. Deftly hanging the poleaxe on his back, he pulled the horned helmet off his head and I saw the fearsome countenance of a troll staring back at me. In fact, this troll looked to be about the same age as big old Erg. But the gatekeeper looked much more formidable. His whole face was pocked with angular tattoos and scars. And the tip of his right tusk was missing.
Nodding at the Friend of the Trolls Amulet in my hand, he barked:
“Consider yourself to have passed my test! Welcome to the Citadel of Chaos!”
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— End of Book Four —
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Labyrinth of Fright (Underdog Book #5)
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