Chapter 108: From Bad to Worse

If there was one thing I hated, it was fighting a competent enemy that was hell bent on killing me.

I was more than a little screwed, and it didn’t take long for me to figure that out. Outright fighting the squad of soldiers and their Eldritch backup was out of the question, so my opening move was to toss out a few of Elisa’s spitter spheres filled with darkpowder and haul ass in the other direction.

I barely got my shadows out in time to block the two crossbow bolts that would have taken me from behind, too. These guys weren’t messing around, and I didn’t like their complete lack of surprise and confusion either. Either they were hardened vets or they saw my move coming.

Neither option boded well for me.

“Run little Shadowborn, run!” Arthal called into the darkness.

Once again his voice made my skin crawl. Something about his tone set off all kinds of warning bells in my head, but I was a little distracted ducking the barrage of bolts and spells flying my way. Arthal’s men fired into the darkness blindly, but the single, long hallway didn’t exactly give me much room to maneuver. They didn’t have to be that accurate, either. Left to their own devices, my shadows batted away anything that came close to me. All they had to do was get their attacks in the general vicinity and they’d deplete my shadows.In a game of resources, even with the backup potions and gear I always kept in my storage, I wasn’t winning a battle of attrition. Not when I was so outnumbered and when Arthal could summon more reinforcements in at will.

Not for the first time (and hopefully not for the last) [Horde Slayer] kicked in and saved my ass. I booked it through the hallway as fast as my boosted Agility would allow. I passed closed doors without giving them a second glance. Even if they weren’t locked, getting caught in a dead end was a death sentence.

Heat trickled down my spine as [Giant Killer] kicked in. It wasn’t a massive surge, so my enemy didn’t outclass me that much. I still dropped into a slide just in time to avoid the claws whistling over my head. I spun and struck at the Malek that had caught me with a long, thin blade, then with my other hand I summoned and tossed another spitter sphere loaded with Valax silk wire.

The sphere exploded and thin white silk erupted in all directions. The Malek snarled as it tangled with its wings and tail, sending it tumbling when it tried to lunge at me. I left the writhing beast behind and kept running. It would hopefully buy me a little time to put some distance between me and Arthal’s soldiers, and right now I needed every bit of space I could steal.

I wasn’t sure I’d been quite this fucked before.

I hit the end of the hallway and slammed into the door that capped it off, surging forward with my shadows. It was a thick, wooden door, but the door was old and molded. It shattered under my momentum and I went stumbling…

Outside?

I was definitely out of the building. Old, dilapidated buildings narrowly packed together surrounded me on all sides, too close together to fit a horse and cart. But what threw me for a loop was the cavern ceiling above my head, dotted with moss and fungi that glowed enough to cast light on whatever underground city I’d found myself in.

I knew of a few underground, abandoned cities. None of them were anywhere near Amesseria.

I bit back a curse when I realized I was standing their gawking like a moron. I cast [Echoes of Darkness] and sent my shadow double sprinting off in the opposite direction. Anything to confuse my pursuers. No stars or sun meant I had no idea what direction was what or where I might be, so random was as good as it got. I didn’t make it far before I heard the snarls of the Beasts, only they weren’t just coming from behind me.

Of course Arthal would want to surround me. Because that would actually make sense.

I swapped to a weapon with longer reach and summoned some Soul-Essence-Empowered tendrils just in time. A Malek roared as it fell on me above, no doubt summoning reinforcements. I slashed at it’s face while my shadows knocked its tail away. It wasn’t attacking me like the Beasts usually would have. It kept close enough to keep taking swings at me, but never got close enough for me to land any substantial blows.I couldn’t afford to let it hold me up, so I spent another hefty chunk of mana on a second cast of [Echoes of Darkness]. I knew that would cause my other copy to vanish, wherever it might be, but having another copy to dance with the Malek was the smarter move. My shadow copy erupted from me mid swing and got a decent hit on the Malek before it could even react.

I got moving again, but not before catching the Malek struggling to deal with my shadow. It seemed all the beasts struggled to track anything made from my class’s darkness, which was something to keep in mind.You know, assuming I didn’t die here.

My shadows saved my ass from yet another projectile, fired from one of the rooftops above. I went to take cover, only to have another crossbow bolt skid off the building near my head. With one brief glance I spotted three different archers perched above me. How the hell was he deploying his men so quickly?More importantly, why was he so quick to throw so many men at me?

Questions for when I wasn’t having to duck multiple archers. I tossed another darkpowder sphere at my feet and kept moving. I crashed through another rotting door to try and give myself a second to catch my breath, but these guys must have had some kind of communication abilities or items. I’d barely entered before I heard the sound of armored feet pounding and the crash of another door breaking in.

Normally, I’d have a significant advantage in close quarters.

Unfortunately, this situation was far from normal.

The first two in were heavily armored with wide shields and reinforced spears. Their gear was designed to cover as much of their body as possible and their spears were strong enough to withstand even my enhanced shadows.

I had to grab one’s spear and yank it forward to create the opening I needed to get a substantial hit in, and even then his buddy got a deep cut on my leg in before I could do enough damage to take the first one out of commission. While they weren’t strong enough to set off [Giant Killer], I could tell by the feeling of my blade biting into the man’s thick muscle that these guys weren’t your average lackeys.

With a cast of [Shadow Stitching] to staunch the bleeding on my leg and an [Umbral Barrage] to force the man to duck behind his shield I slipped past him and out the gaping doorway they’d entered through.I had to duck pretty much immediately as four more archers took shots at me the second I stuck my head out. I went back to ducking through abandoned buildings, but my pursuers had set up a professional perimeter that I had no choice but to break through.

I knew I was playing right into their hands when I drew the Jailer’s Blade from my inventory, but the trap was laid too well. I’d faced tactics like this before, when Grimsbane’s generals had wizened up to how much of a problem I’d become. They were what we’d lovingly referred to as anti-Zaren tactics, and when I’d had the Seven at my backs and next to no sense of self-preservation, it had been kinda funny.

It wasn’t quite so funny anymore.

I felt twinges of fear when the blade emerged, which meant two things. First, that they knew what it was. Second, they were confident enough to only be a little afraid of it. And those fears vanished worryingly fast. They were prepared for it.

Well, as prepared as anyone could be for a magic sword from another plane capable of imprisoning gods could be, at least. Ash’s power surged through me as I unlatched the blade and I was nearly knocked over by the raw panic that coursed through the Link.

Zaren! This is bad! Bad bad bad bad bad!

“Duly noted!” I grunted, slamming into the nearest of Arthal’s soldiers. Ash’s destructive magic mixed with my shadows and ripped through the enchantments on the soldiers armor. He went down screaming and I hurtled over him, already anticipating another aerial attack. Two Maleks swooped down, hurling spikes at me with their tails. My shadows batted them aside as I sent an empowered [Umbral Barrage] back at them. One swooped away, but the thick barbs tangled up in the other’s wing and sent it crashing into a nearby building.

We’re completely surrounded!

“I noticed.” I banished the scabbard into my inventory, then I sent a wave of crimson shadows at the next nearest soldier. They wisely backed the fuck up, giving me the opening I needed to push through the first line of soldiers. My shadows knocked away more projectiles as I ducked into a tight gap between two buildings that would give me decent cover.

Predictably, my attackers moved to cut me off. I dropped a few darkpowder spitters and bathed the alley in darkness just as they got to me. They tried to back off as soon as visibility went to shit, but I shot another shadow copy behind me and surged towards the soldiers in front.

There are too many! Ash cried. If she had lungs, I was pretty sure she’d be hyperventilating. You’ll run out of Essence before they run out of soldiers.

“Working on it,” I grumbled. I ducked out of the shadows, leaving soldiers behind in heaps, but another line of crossbowman were waiting for me. They fired with no regard for anyone still in the darkness. My shadows caught most of the bolts, but one slammed into my shoulder while another caught my calf. They were hardly aiming, which told me their only goal was to deplete my shadows.

Look out! Ash screamed

The wall next to me exploded as a Rathum burst through it. My shadows couldn’t tell the debris from the arrows being shot at me, trying to block it all. They were stretched thin enough that the Rathum’s swipe sent me ass over tea kettle. My head smashed into something, making the world around me tilt, but I managed to keep moving and somehow end up back on my feet.

I spent the last of my mana on another shadow copy and sent it behind me to deal with whatever the fuck was closest while I threw myself into another building. I pulled potions from my storage and downed them two at a time with one eye shut to combat the way the world spun around me. I spilled a little, but I barely got them down before I was under attack again.

These soldiers ended up with some firespitters under their feet. I don’t care how hardened of a fighter you are, when small silver balls start spitting out giant gets of flame right under your godsdamned feet, you move.

Why are so many of them hanging back? Ash asked. Wouldn’t it be better to rush you at once?

“And let me use the chaos to escape?” I shook my head and sucked down another mana potion while I moved. “Arthal doesn’t care about catching me quick. He’ll take all night if he has to, he’s got me cornered and he knows it. He’s playing it safe.”

That sounds bad. That’s bad, isn’t it?

I didn’t answer, busy fighting off two more spear wielders that had appeared practically from nowhere. I lopped the head off one spear and ran the other through with the Jailer’s Blade, but a sword as large as mine put me at a disadvantage indoors.

I impaled the second spearman on the blade and charged out the door using him as a shield. I felt the impacts of a number of bolts and spells, but my new buddy took them all like a champ. A very dead champ. I chucked a darkpowder sphere around him, landing it right at the feet of the line of crossbowmen and spellcasters who’d set up outside.

One of them sounded a retreat but I was already shucking my temporary shield and closing the distance. I crashed into the line before they could get away and cut down as many of the soldiers as I could in the short moment I’d bought. I managed to at least down a handful with the incredibly destructive magics of the Jailer’s Blade before a line of shieldmen managed to get between me and the crossbows.

Yeah, these guys were definitely trained to handle my brand of chaos, which was really fucking bad.

But in their haste to defend their ranged compatriots, the line of shields had gotten too close together. I threw myself into the chaos with every point of Agility and Dexterity that [Horde Slayer] was pumping into me. They obviously had experience fighting in the dark—further evidence that Arthal had been preparing them specifically to take me out—but no amount of training could replicate my years spent in pitch black caverns nor the edge [Dark Sense] gave me. I was more precise with my other senses than my eyes, which had nearly half a dozen of my attackers sporting injuries that would at least keep them from pursuing me if I could manage to slip away.

But my advantage turned out to be my undoing.

So sure in [Dark Sense], as I’d always been, I was too slow to react when my next target nimbly ducked my swing. A lightly armored figure I’d thought to be one of the mages who’d gotten too close suddenly moved with far too much speed. He slipped my strike and got in close, then blinding pain was tearing through my side.

His blade bit into my ribs and opened up my left side damn near from front to back. I grunted through grit teeth as my left arm lost all its strength. As it was I narrowly avoided losing the Blade. I cast [Echoes of Darkness] with Soul Essence, feeling a sizable chunk of my Essence pulled away to form the spell. I didn’t know exactly how it’d be stronger, and right now I didn’t care.

I cast [Shadow Stitching] as I stumbled out of the cloud of darkpowder cloud. I damn near passed out from the pain, but whatever blade had sliced me open was causing the wound to bleed much more than it should have. Leaving the wound alone would have left me unconscious in minutes.

There was a brief reprieve as I struggled to fill my lungs. The wall I’d stumbled into was the only thing keeping me vertical. I risked glance back and grimaced when I saw who’d attacked me. Arthal, sporting a new arm, tangled with my shadow. I should have guessed Arthal would have a similar skill to mine since he was also a Shadowborn, but it hadn’t even occurred to me that he’d do anything other than send his lackeys after me.

Where my normal shadow copy was just a humanoid shaped shadow, an Essence enhanced shadow looked like a perfect simulacrum of me, just made of inky black darkness. It fought like me, too, giving Arthal a hell of a time.

Unfortunately, while [Shadow Stitching] would keep me from bleeding out, it did nothing to actually reconnect muscles and ligaments. My injury wouldn’t get worse, but my left arm was out of commission without something a hell of a lot stronger than the health potions I was chugging while I ran.

Zaren… Ash said in a tiny, unsure voice.

“Yeah,” I panted, “things aren’t going great.”

You’re hurt. Bad. And I’m not sure you could get out of this if you were whole.

“That makes two of us.”

He can’t get the blade. He can’t get his hands on me. On my magic. I’m not strong enough to resist him like this. If he gets ahold of me, Zaren—

“He won’t.” I’d make sure of it.

The guards had recovered from the confusion of the enhanced shadow copy. Guess that hadn’t been in the briefing. Too bad using another while the Blade was leeching my dwindling reserves of Essence was a dangerous gambit. I took a quick look at what I had left in the tank.

[Health: 107/220]

[Mana: 43/140]

[Soul Essence: 123/270]

I grit my teeth and set off towards the edge of the cavern. I just had to hope there wasn’t a big open space between the buildings and the nearest opening, otherwise I’d be an easy target.

Wielding the Jailer’s Blade one handed wasn’t exactly ideal, but I didn’t have the time or the ability to try and resheathe it, and some gut instinct told me that banishing the blade without sealing it first was a very bad idea, so I dealt with what I had. If it weren’t for Ash’s ever growing control over the strange, otherworldly combination of our magics I probably wouldn’t have lasted more than a few minutes.

What’s the plan here? Tell me you’ve got something!

“Get to a tunnel, use one of the boomgas spheres and try and collapse it behind me.”

What!? What if you end up buried alive?

“Then at least you’ll be lost to them, too,” I said grimly.

I could tell through the bond that she was far from pleased by the idea, but there wasn’t a better option. Not one that I could see, at least. And damn it I was trying. Searching. Racking my brain for any avenue that ended up with me actually walking out of here alive and with the blade.

So far, I was coming up empty.

There was a sick sense of irony that my journey was about to end exactly where it had started. That I was very likely about to bring down a mountain on my head to make sure the damned Jailer’s Blade didn’t fall into the wrong hands. The only difference was that this time I really, really didn’t want to die. There was irony in that, too.

They’re coming, Ash whispered. Gone was her fear and her panic. All that was left was sadness. Resignation. She hadn’t given up, but she didn’t have a lot of hope. For either of us.

I took as deep a breath as I could manage and gripped the Blade for what I realized very well might be the last time. A thousand things ran through my mind in that moment. All the things I wished I could say to those that I loved. My friends. My lovers. My family. If I died, they’d never get to hear them. All the things on that pesky to-do list would go forever unfinished.

I wouldn’t be able to get rid of the Accords like I’d promised Rhallani. I would never track down Allura with Serena at my side. I’d never see the reforms Tiana and I had stayed up all hours of the night talking about. I’d never help Noelle find the mother she’d been taken from. I’d never get to see Jack living a life where she didn’t have to fear touching others. Never see Allie grow old and wrinkled surrounded by the ones she loved. I’d never get to give the twins somewhere they could really, truly call home. I wouldn’t ever help Stella complete her bucket list.

With all of that and so, so much more pushing me forward, I lifted the blade.