Time slowed down as the adrenaline pumped through Doevm"s veins and his fatigue washed away. In his squad of twenty-five men and Frey and his squad of eleven men, everyone was going to die at this rate. Behind them was a hole filled with an unknown number of monsters and in front of the were dozens of enemy soldiers. Despite being in the war for a couple of weeks now, this was the first time Doevm laid eyes on the enemy. They wore the typical Vilbarian armor, light grey leather and metallic joints between them. The squad leaders wore armor forged by the ma.s.s amount of their country"s dwarves. "Go down the hole behind us!" Doevm yelled, realizing he had nowhere to retreat to. If they tried to descend the zip-line vine as was originally planned, the enemies would cut it down. If they tried to climb down, they would be too slow. They would become free food for the ghouls with their high speed. Despite saying this, many of his men didn"t respond in time. The ghouls dug their claws and teeth into his men"s necks. How many were bitten, he didn"t know because the ghoul below him pulled him down with its one remaining hand.
Time was still so slow, yet everything was so fast. One second, one eternity, Doevm t.i.ttered over the hole, trying to swing himself back. The Ghoul"s eye light up. If its teeth met his flesh, he would most likely get infected and die. If he focused on staying balanced, he would get bit. If he instead fell inwards, into the abyss, he could have a chance. Frey had noticed his position and reached out for him. An inch, that was the s.p.a.ce left between his outstretched fingers and the falling Doevm when he missed.
While Doevm had his hooks, he first had to deal with the Ghoul. As he fell into the darkness, the sounds of battle faded until only the grunts of him and the Undead wrestling against each other could be heard. Doevm unsealed his magic and stabbed it in the throat with his dagger. Before he had the chance to look around, his head clanged against the wall. A ringing filled his head as he lost all focus. The cold wind wasn"t enough to wake him as he kept falling. His relaxed hand let go of the dagger. In this state of confusion, a skeletal hand grew out of his back and tried to hold onto the wall. Its hand sc.r.a.ped against stone, unsuccessful in its attempt.
The Lich appeared in front of him. He could tell it wanted to say something, but everything grew so distant. Feeling, hearing, even thinking went fuzzy. His eyes and head dropped, still falling after all this unknown amount of both fast and slow time. His bones rattled as he bounced off another wall, tearing some flesh off his arm.
His eyes went wide as his mind returned. Right below him was the ground. "Oh, I"m going to die." His last memory was curling up into a ball and forcing out all the red life essence in his body. He heard a loud splat and a lot of unknown objects spray all around. Everything went dark.
…
"I"m hungry." He thought. Everything was so dark. Even the energy to open his eyes was gone.
"Then you should go eat." Something said.
"But I don"t want to get up." He responded.
"Then you will die."
"Oh, it"s just death. I"ve experienced that before."
"And what about everything you"ve worked so hard for? Will you throw that away?"
"I can rebuild them. It doesn"t matter as long as I achieve my objective."
"What objective?"
With the other"s words, his thoughts went silent for a while until he said, "I"m tired."
"You"ve slept for a long time. You should wake up. Remember your objective."
"Just let me sleep."
"Remember…Remember…Remember!" Doevm"s eyes shot open. He sat up and coughed several times. After taking some deep breaths, his eyes wandered around the cavern. The surrounding cave was dim. The only source of light was a small ray of light on his eyes. The dome-shaped opening had two exits, only one of which he could reach. The long cylinder-shaped pathway leading straight down to him was probably where he had fallen down. At one edge of the room was a large set of double doors. In every inch of it were familiar runes. He looked down, curious as to what was poking his hand only to see a rib. He was on a mountain of bones splattered in his own blood. He tried to stand up, but he ended up sliding down the mountain, getting several more cuts on the way. The thing that gave him the most pain was his leg. His s.h.i.+n had broken in two. The reason he knew this was because both parts of it were sticking out of his body. Luckily, it was a clean break, the two should fit back together like puzzle pieces.
He took several deep breaths and pitied himself for not learning healing magic. He grabbed both edges of the bones and activated his life essence. He m.u.f.fled a scream as he pushed both parts back into himself. Blood gushed out, but he kept going. "Go back in!" Unconsciously he yelled at himself, echoing off the walls. The pieces slid back in. After more deep breaths, he dug his fingers inside his wounds and directed the bones to connect.
"Did the others make it?" he thought. "I remember telling everyone to retreat into the hole, but I didn"t see if anyone followed my orders. Even if they retreated, they still had to deal with the Ghouls." He kept looking up, noticing that there were hundreds of openings in the vertical hallway above him. Each one had a rough and uneven shape, like it was something made after the construction of these ruins. "This shape isn"t made by Dwarves, the Elves, or any race I know if. It"s not regular. Judging by the unnatural smoothness of the dome, this could have been made by an ancient people. The Ghouls probably inhabited it after finding it. I don"t understand why there was a hole all the way at the top of the tree. Why was that there? How long has this place been hiding from the world."
His mind felt so light, but he forced it to run. He sent a ball of black mana into the bone pile which shook around. Various collections of bones flew away and a simple skeleton out. It shrugged itself free of the pile and attended to Doevm. It ripped off part of its master"s pants and grabbed a large and st.u.r.dy bone. Using the materials, it made a basic tourniquet around its master"s leg. Despite being able to hobble around, Doevm ordered the skeleton to carry him over its shoulders.
"Judging by the pile of bones, this is the feeding ground of the Ghouls. While they are Undead and I can control them, they are terrible servants. It will take most of my mana to control them and I don"t even know if they are the worst inhabitant here. I do need to leave, however…" He looked at the large doors. Only magic could get such precision when carving hieroglyphics into steel. He could tell that the Ghouls had tried to open it by the number of broken nails before it, yet not even a scratch was visible. He took one last look at the light behind him. While he could cast night vision or make a light to follow him, he should preserve his mana. "Human eyes are so inconvenient. If only I was still a Lich." He sighed, "Go forward." The skeleton didn"t move. "That"s right, I need to give you a name. After scratching his aching head for a few minutes he said, "Horse."
The skeleton simply looked at him. Its vacant eyes held no emotion nor acceptance for its name, just a vast emptiness. "Forward." Doevm didn"t even have to say his commands out loud. He willed it, and Horse moved. Since he had so much practice commanding skeletons, it was like he was walking on his own legs as he approached the door. Since it had no door handles, he had to take time to read the length description.
"Those that know the origin of magic,
Those that realize she is not everlasting,
Even those that happen to come across this door,
All are welcome.
Confident that no person will find this until long after my demise,
I made this to warn you of the repeating future.
Please hear me.
Even if it takes until every last plant is gone,
Even when the last humans die out,
Even after the G.o.ds have finished their game,
She must be stopped."
As Doevm finished reading the last line, the door"s runes lit up, showering the dome ceiling in a blue radiance. The bone pile was thrown away as a pillar of pure mana shot into the surroundings. In the world, South, East, West, North, all areas lit up. Storms, no matter how fierce, dispersed. Not even the sunlight made it through a field of mana that appeared around the world. Doevm, restricted to the dome, was blasted through the set of doors that swung open.