Mark of the Fool

Chapter 875: A Surge of Power

Power poured through the Ravener’s inner pathways, replenishing its strength.

‘Yes. This is the way!’ it thought, drinking inthe power needed for its trials. ‘These mortals will not rob me of what is mine, now they can learn that.’

The Ravener began channelling power.

Claygon split an air blaster’s skull, his war-spear carving through the carapace like dried grass. The creature shuddered once, then fell.

Two spawn knights leapt from behind the massive corpse, back-legs twitching, blades aimed at the golem.

Claygon swung his war-spear again, air hissing around it, both Ravener-spawn dove low, spun and leapt at the golem’s face.

“No you don’t.” He grunted, pulling his neck back and firing his forehead gem at close range.

Both Ravener-spawn shrieked, enveloped in a chaos-laced explosion of flame.

Claygon floated from the flames like an arbiter of death, his gaze passing over the battlefield.

Things were going well, even without the General and the Saint.

Khalik, Najyah, Thundar and the summoned monsters defended the chamber’s entrances effectively. Elder earth elementals kept Ravener-spawn out—the sound of their enormous, stone fists echoing through the thick rock walls—while the prince and minotaur cast spells on spawn trying to break the stone seals from inside…

…their number was plummeting.

“Tasty! Real tasty! Grimloch sank his bloody jaws into a poison spirit’s flank, tearing a chunk from its gelatinous flesh while his gauntleted hands swung his lead maul and Uldar’s warhammer, flattening every spawn within reach.

Bjorgrund was at his side, carving a path of ruin through the Ravener’s servants.

“Hey, Grimloch, that’s gonna give you a belly ache!” the young giant cried.

Grimloch glanced at him, looking skeptical.

“He’s not going to forgive you for that one,” Theresa warned Bjorgrund, streaking past him. She disappeared and reappeared among the Ravener-spawn, six blades carving through Behemoths and Rampart-crushers. Brutus fired his sonic roars, cutting down monsters in three directions.

Together, Drestra and Isolde dropped raging winds, lightning and flame on the hordes below, leaving a path of blackened corpses in their wake, thinning the spawn army further. Alex’s summoned monsters and the living dead he’d reanimated from the Ravener’s own slain spawn, moved through the chamber, pouncing on any spawn the Sage and lightning mage missed.

The Ravener’s army continued to wither.

And the construct itself hadn’t been spared.

With Uldar’s weapons in hand, Cedric and Hart had the orb cornered, like a pair of hungry wolves harassing a stag. The divine battleaxe and enormous sword cleaved through the Ravener’s surface, leaving deep gashes in the construct, getting through its defensive cage.

Each time the Ravener tried focusing its full attention on one of its enthusiastic tormentors, the other one would go for Uldar’s corpse, baiting the construct, anticipating that it would turn its attention to defending its creator’s body and be vulnerable to more attacks.

Its ‘wounds’ were slower to close now.

It seemed desperate, threatening the Heroes, warning them to leave its creator alone.

Yes…things were going well for the companions.

‘So…why do I feel like this…?’ Claygon said.

There was an unease stirring in the golem, despite Army of Heroes.

Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

The Ravener—which had been belittling Cedric and Hart—had suddenly fallen silent. Eerily silent. But there was more to the disquiet than simply that.

Claygon could feel something coming from the Ravener.

An energy both familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time.

‘Something…is wrong!’ he thought.

“Cedric! Hart!” the golem’s voice exploded from his voice box. “Move…away! Now!”

“Wha—” Cedric turned.

Energy within the Ravener shifted.

Claygon raised his hands.

Power poured into his fire-gems.

“Get…away!”

The two young men fled.

Claygon’s beams fired.

A point of blinding light appeared on the black orb, a death beam erupted from its surface.

Three rays of fire crackled through the air.

A beam of darkness swallowed all in its path.

All four beams collided in the centre of the chamber.

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The explosion that followed shook the cavern to its foundations. Cracks split the ceiling. The floor buckled. Spawn and mortals alike clutched their ears against the deafening boom.

Any creature within the blast radius was demolished.

Bjorgrund and Grimloch were thrown from their feet; Isolde and even Drestra were sent flying from the concussive wave.

And as the blinding light faded, a pillar of smoke and smouldering destruction revealed The Ravener, floating through the smoke.

The cavern rumbled again, like beasts growling from the pit of their beings.

“Oi!” Cedric cried. “This ain’t good! Lotsa divinity’s comin’ in! Back up! Everyone, back up! Now!”

The Ravener was silent.

All around, the cavern was rumbling.

The construct’s surface rippled, spitting out a dozen Living Cores.

“What th-” Hart started.

Shrieks cut his words.

Like a chorus from the hells, the maddening screams united, releasing from all twelve dungeon cores at once.

The mortals flinched, clutching their ears, clenching their teeth, even shrieking themselves.

New monsters began pouring from the living cores and the Ravener itself. The first to appear were gibbering legions, behemoths, hives-as-one and poison spirits.

They were followed by the more powerful Ravener-spawn; air blasters, and spawn knights.

Fire clouds came next, heating the air in the cavern by degrees.

“What’s happened?” Isolde cried, righting herself in the air beside Drestra.

“Dunno,” Cedric flew beside them. “But I’s thinkin’ this jus’ got a whole bunch harder.” He raised his weapons, studying the Ravener. “It’s a lot bloody stronger suddenly, an’ I dunno where it’s gettin’ all that power from.”

Claygon watched the other construct closely.

The power coming from the Ravener…there was something about it that intrigued the golem. The energy that pulsed through his core felt similar to what was radiating from Uldar’s construct.

Watching the Ravener brought back a promise he’d made to himself long ago. He’d told himself he would take control of his own destiny, his own evolution.

That he would find a way to push himself beyond his iron body.

This energy…there was something about it that felt right, like it was a key ready to turn in a lock.

But what could he do with it?

‘I am not…smart…like my father…and I can’t manipulate…energy like…he can…but there must be something…’ he thought. ‘Something…I can—’

His thought cut short when the Ravener’s surface rippled.

“Shite!” Cedric cried. “Protect us, Traveller!”

Holy light shot from the Chosen.

“Why do you keep calling that name?” the Ravener said.

It did not wait for an answer.

Ethereal whips emerged from Ravener’s surface, growing by the moment.

Dozens appeared, each over a hundred feet long.

They snapped out, cracking in the air, striking at Alex’s summoned monsters, corpse puppets and the mortals. Everywhere a whip touched flesh, skin split, blood changed from red to green, poison entered blood vessels.

“Agh!” Bjorgrund shouted as the whips snapped through gaps in his armour.

Theresa’s weapons blurred around her as she defended herself and Brutus.

The others grimaced, flinching back, pain and poison seeking to overwhelm them, as Cedric’s divine protection fought to free them from the venom.

“Oi! Cleanse us! Protect us from this poison!” Cedric shouted through clenched teeth as the whips lashed his body. “Protect my friends and protect me!”

His divine light flared brighter, seeming to draw the poison from their bodies, eliminating it, but yet, the whips kept flailing.

Again, and again, they struck the fighters for Thameland.

And time after time, Cedric called on divinity, asking for protection.

But divinity didn’t stop the Ravener-spawn from attacking or tearing through Alex’s summoned monsters and corpse puppets.

“Fight!” Hart shouted, wincing as the Ravener’s whips struck him while Cedric’s divine light healed him. “We can’t let it build up momentum! Fight back, damnit!’

“Brutus!” Theresa cried. “The living cores!”

Growling against the shrieking cores, Brutus reacted, opening his mouths, aiming his sonic blasts at them. They overwhelmed the screams, drowning them out, robbing them of all power.

Claygon blasted the living cores and the Ravener with his fire-gems, setting them ablaze.

‘Father…things are…getting bad!’ Claygon thought. ‘The Ravener is stronger now…we’re holding it off! But…it’s bad!’

As the golem called to his father, he didn’t notice Asmaldestre the Unmaker eyeing the Ravener.

Her hands tightened on her weapons.

A light grew in her eyes.

‘Father…things are…getting bad!’ Claygon’s thoughts came to Alex through their link. ‘The Ravener is stronger now…we’re holding it off! But…it’s bad!’

“Shit!” Alex swore.

‘Just hold on, Claygon!’ Alex thought. ‘We’re trying to do something on our end!’

Alex looked at Merzhin. “Don’t focus on Aenflynn!” he said. “Keep your focus on getting through that ward. We need to end this! I’ll worry about everything else!”

“Of course,” Merzhin paused his prayers. “May the Traveller guide us both.”

“Oh? Are your friends in trouble?” Aenflynn’s effigy asked. “Perhaps my hospitality wouldn’t have been so bad, afterall, hmmm?” He snapped his fingers. “Guards! You can pass through the ward now. Go, maim them. As a matter of fact, you can kill the small one in the white robes if you wish. As for the other? He’s a wizard, but he cannot pierce the ward on his own. He’s yours to toy with. Feel free to simply give him a good breaking. Snap his limbs, break his ribs, or break his jaw, whatever suits you: then it’ll be the dungeon for him.”

“Gladly, my lord,” a knight said, raising a halberd. “Arrows!”

Fae knights readied bows, drawing back the strings.

“Shit!” Alex swore again, raising his staff.

The world slowed.

He turned his streams of consciousness away from their tasks for a moment.

Just for a moment.

Then the world sped up.

He cast haste on himself, and greater force armour, force shield and protective force weapon on Merzhin. Alex already had those protective spells active on himself.

His staff summoned a pair of earth elementals, each only slightly larger than he was.

‘These aren’t the most powerful elementals,’ he thought. ‘But I can’t summon anything much bigger than a human in here. And there’s not much room to manoeuvre, so these guys will have to do.’

“Protect us!” Alex directed.

Bowstrings twanged.

A volley of arrows arced through the air.

The elementals moved their bodies, covering the two humans as much as they could.

But, the arrows passed through the ward then turned in mid-air, swerving around Alex and the elementals, aiming straight for Merzhin’s head and heart.

“What the?” the young archwizard cried.

The world slowed.

His mind raced.

His eyes fixed on the arrows.

An idea formed.

‘I’ll need to get the timing exactly right,’ he thought.

The world sped up.

He cast Mass Shatter with a twitch.

All around them, the swarm of arrows exploded.

Splinters and metal shards rained down, peppering the floor like hailstones.

“Forward!” thefaeknight leader commanded.

As one, the guards marched to the ward, their halberds blazing with magic.

Alex watched them closely.

‘When they go to step through the ward, I’ll cast Wall of Roiling Mana in front of us,’ he thought. ‘It’ll wreck them and buy us some time.’

The guards reached the outer divine ward, lowering their halberds. One group stopped in front of it and two others swept around and began coming through on either side of the General and Saint.

‘Planning on flanking us on three sides, eh?’ he thought. ‘Well, that’s not going to work out too well for you.’

As if on cue, the fae knights in front of the ward lowered their halberds and stabbed ahead.

At the same time the other two groups stepped through the ward.

Alex twitched.

Wall of Roiling Mana sprang to life in front of him.

The fae warriors screamed as the spell ravaged their bodies, breaking them down.

A short whistle came from Aenflynn’s effigy.

The Wall of Roiling Mana shattered.

“What?” Alex grunted.

“Your friend’s interdiction stopped me from harming you with my divine power. It did not say that I couldn’t use it to interrupt your nasty spells.” Aenflynn said, well-pleased. “If you wish to complain to him while he’s still alive, I’d suggest voicing that complaint in the next five heartbeats.”

As the fae lord spoke those words, his knights began their attack.

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