Midnight Bounties 4 - Chapter 23

I walked in slowly with Wolf behind me, and I could feel him shake. He was terrified, the poor thing. I couldn’t say I wasn’t a bit edgy either considering we were about to meet a god and quite possibly die.

Wet, glistening tentacles covered every inch of the dark, gloomy room. Snaking along the walls, meandering over the floors and ceiling. They converged above a large, steaming pool filled with pinkish liquid that was slowly bubbling. Sitting entangled by glistening tentacles above the strange water was a coffin made of flesh and some other strange material that glowed with a faint purple. A soft crackle buzzed through the room and tongues of white lightning sporadically curled along the meaty arms and across the thing hanging in the center. It very much looked like someone tore open the chest of a giant and I was looking at its corrupted heart.

I sheathed my swords and told Wolf to stand back as I approached it. I couldn’t tell whether Morgefah was inside the coffin or whether he was the coffin. The only thing I knew for sure was that he was there. His presence made my whole body tremble with dark energy.

“I’m here,” I said not sure what else to say.

I had never really thought much about that moment. It was so distant, so unreal that my mind wouldn’t even entertain the idea of meeting Morgefah.

A burst of energy crackled along the tentacles and more white lightning snaked along them and into the coffin.

“You have done well, Frank Midnight.”

The voice seemed to come from every corner of the room. A deep, slow rumble that shook my insides and threatened to come out through my mouth.

“I did what you wanted…Lord.”

“Only one more task remains.”

There was urgency in his voice. One unbecoming of a god, but I guess he knew as well as I that time was short. His brother was coming with an army of demons, and I highly doubted I could defend against all of them. Even with his immediate help.

“Come closer.”

I instinctively took a step forward as if his words pulled my body to him but then stopped myself.

“What happens when I free you?”

Another burst of energy coursed through the whole room. The tentacles throbbed and some of them flailed, slamming into the ooze-covered floors. He didn’t like questions apparently.

“Come closer and I will gift you the world, Spellmonger.”

For some stupid reason, I waited for my Deeproot to confirm whether it was a persuasion attempt or not, but the system remained entirely still. I looked to the mangled, glistening meat above that pinkish pool and chewed on my cheek. The idea of it being a god seemed so far-fetched at that moment. There was power there, I could sense that much, but there was also something else.

“My Lord…” I stumbled over the words. “I came further than any other spellmonger. I’ve left everything behind me. I left my family in danger and…I need to know. What will happen when I free you?”

“Insolence!”

The room lit up in purple light and a wave of heat washed over me. The tentacles began to snake towards my feet. I took a step back, but they never really reached me. The room shook. I could hear the rubble of the statues in the gallery rolling across the polished white floors. Alevia was almost at the door.

“I will gift you power immeasurable, spellmonger. The power to destroy Alevia and his demons. The power to rule the world! Is that not enough?”

“To defeat Alevia? How am I supposed to fight a god?”

“He is no god!” The room vibrated with the power of his words. “He is nothing but a creature of betrayal and he is at my door. If Alevia reaches me, Steelheart, Sankta Varath and everything you cherish will be destroyed by the Quinta. You know this, Spellmonger. Now, stop testing me. Step up to my throne.”

“Is it true, Lord?” I yelled, filling the room with my own voice and power. “Are we just entertainment to you? And what are the things in your tanks and laboratory? Did you just use us as toys for amusement? Is that all we are to you?”

Silence met my question and it was only interrupted by the not-so-distant advance of Alevia’s troops.

“My son,” he suddenly said with a milder tone. “You’ve learned more than the others. Much more. It saddens me that you see yourself as such, but there’s truth to it. I won’t deny it. My brothers and I have used your world in ways I now deeply regret. Alevia still clings to those traditions. He would have you all dance to his tune. I want to free you of that legacy, that is all I ever wanted. Have I not been good to you and your kind? Have I not heeded your prayers on your many battlefields?”

He must have seen or sensed the look on my face because he continued his speech taking a different approach.

 “Look at this tomb in which I find myself, Frank Midnight. Imagine what good I could do once you released me? Remember, Spellmonger, Alevia is the Quinta’s God. If he destroys me, the same will happen to the armies of your kingdom.”

I gnashed my teeth, my mind racing, my heart thundering in my chest. What was my choice? To believe this creature who fashioned himself a god and promised to help me no matter how uncertain that future was, or to let the other one destroy us both and Steelheart for sure.

“Promise me, Morgefah. Whatever happens to me today, promise me you’ll take care of Alevia and the Quinta so that my people live.”

“I promise you this, Spellmonger. And much more.”

I looked over my shoulder at Wolf and sighed. Fuck it, I thought. This was what I came for, might as well end it.

I took a step closer as I heard another loud bang coming from the back. This one was close, really close.

I took yet another step and the tentacles around his coffin writhed and crackled with white lightning.

Here we go.

As I stepped up to the coffin, I felt a build-up of force in the back of my head. It all happened too fast to comprehend. A light flashed before my eyes, and I felt as if something was trying to pull my brain out from the inside. Then I screamed as my eye was torn from my skull. Blood exploded from the socket and a small orb flew into the coffin, leaving a trail across the floor.

I felt dizzy. Traitor and Mercy clanked onto the floor, and I dropped to a knee, coughing and grabbing for my face. Blood was gushing out of the wound, and I faintly heard Wolf roar in the back. I also heard the gate in the back being torn to pieces. Demons screeched, hooves clattered, and a horn blared across the prison.

A powerful wave of purple light and energy surrounded me. I held my hand where my eye used to be looking up with the other. The tentacles slapped across the floor, they writhed and squirmed. I felt sick to my stomach. My vision was blurred by blood. I couldn’t keep my head up. Something came loose with a sloppy, fleshy sound as if a demon was giving birth. It wasn’t even far from the truth.

I saw greyish feet in front of me. Two pairs with three thick, glistening toes each. Ugly fucking feet. I chuckled at the thought, then coughed clutching my chest.

A hand landed on my head. Slimy fingers caressing me like a child.

“You did good, Spellmonger.”

The voice wasn’t nearly as deep or commanding as the one before. It was plain, squeaky even.

“You won’t be needed anymore,” the voice said, and the hand pushed me over and I dropped on my side.

I was in and out of it every few seconds. My body weak, my mind barely present.

Then I heard those feet slap against the cold floor, hurriedly, almost maniacally so. He was in a rush, that betraying god of mine. I felt Wolf’s wet nose against my back. He was purring and cooing, trying to shake me awake, but I was lost. Everything was.

The floor suddenly shook again. The demons of Alevia had arrived, their voices shrill and full of fury. A great stampede echoed from the gallery, a clatter, a roaring of hundreds of hate-fueled voices then a sudden, heavy silence.

Lying there in his tomb, bleeding on the floor, I could hear Morgefah speak from outside. His voice was weak, frustrated but commanding. I could hear someone else talk back. Their voice deeper, louder, and bristling with power.

Wolf was close to me still. I heard him unpacking one of the vaultpacks on his side probably using the tentacles from his (Whips of the Black) skill. He poured something onto my face. A potion, hopefully I thought.

“You’re not… pissing on your master now, are you boy?” I said and chuckled as more pain shot through my head.

My body could heal, yes, but this was a wound unlike anything I had ever suffered. He didn’t just take my eye, it felt like Morgefah took my will as well.

As the potion seeped onto my face and into my eye socket, I could feel a slight relief from the pain. I turned on my back with a grunt and let Wolf pour the rest of the potion into my mouth. I coughed again, almost drowning on it.

The demons outside roared again as the conversation fell into the background. Someone was fighting farther out. Perhaps Morgefah’s demons catching up? Who knew.

I rolled on my stomach and pushed up. My muscles burning and my bones feeling like they weighed a metric ton. Perhaps my strength was returning, but damn, there was a pool of my own blood beneath me.

“This can’t be good,” I muttered then backed up into a sitting position.

Wolf licked the side of my face as I reached for the vaultpack, wanting to down another healing potion though I knew it would do little. They healed you over time and chugging down more than one rarely helped, but I was desperate. I needed something, anything.

“What the fu—Tyfus,” I said, feeling the familiar form of a dayburn potion. And not just one.

I grinned, more pain shooting through my face.

“He said he wasn’t addicted to it anymore,” I said, unpacking a good dozen tied with a thin leathery string. “You beautiful drug-addicted alcoholic asshole.”

Wolf raised a judging eyebrow as I downed three at once, then two more. Fuck it, I thought. I wasn’t getting out of there alive anyway. Might as well go out with a bang. I chugged down all twelve and burped, clutching my stomach. It felt like I poured molten steel into my guts.

“Got no defiler’s blood to balance it out, Tyfus. Guess this will kill me…but not before…”

I looked toward the gallery, feeling the dayburn rush through my bloodstream. The pain was disappearing, the strength in my body returning with a wave of fire coursing through my veins. Even one vial of dayburn used to prop me up, twelve however, would probably drive me insane and eventually kill me in minutes.

But that was all I needed. Minutes.

I tore a piece of the shirt under my armor and tied it around my missing eye socket. Back to square one. One-eyed Frank was back, and he was more murderous than ever. I picked up Traitor and Mercy and straightened out. Wolf looked at me with a rather surprised expression. I booped him on the nose.

“Good job, boy. You’ve done real good,” I said and turned my gaze outward to the gallery, seeing Morgefah’s back.

A rather short four-legged, four-armed grey creature with a large head was looking up at a giant.

Alevia was a monstrous two-legged demon larger than Arstemion, larger than any creature I had ever seen. He towered over his own generals in that abomination of flesh and steel. The head alone was the size of two horses with long twisting horns and black tusks sticking out of his maw. Plates of black, spiked armor covered his shoulders, chest, and legs. He held a tree-sized trident in his fat hand.

They were still talking. Angrily so, slinging curses in their strange language. I knew, just by the sound of it that Morgefah was begging. His time had run out. But I wouldn’t have Alevia stop the hourglass. No, it would end differently.

“Gods!” I yelled.

I turned on my (Demon Armor), feeling my skin tighten across my body. I was trembling with anger, with purpose, and with power. I followed up with (Morgefah’s Favor), the irony of the spell’s name not lost on me.

I felt a surge of power so strong I feared I might crush the handles of the swords in my palms. The Dark Lords’ tomb lit up with purple power and the tentacles writhed and backed off as if afraid. Even Wolf took a step back as debris scattered on the floors began to shake. The puddle of my own blood that I was standing in began to steam and evaporate.

I ran out the gallery, leaving a trail of black mist and crackling purple lightning. I jumped, used (Rift Walk) and appeared high in the air above Alevia, activating (Final Contract).

An explosion of power blasted outward. Both Morgefah and Alevia looked up and so did all the demons and demon generals beneath me.

I roared, feeling the transformation destroy me from within and rearrange my muscles, sinew, skull, and bones. My arms and legs, my whole body enlarged to almost twice my size. My skin stiffened and hardened. The swords in my hands felt smaller, lighter, but I gripped them hard, nonetheless. I felt horns grow from my head and finally, two giant black wings erupted from my back. Another explosion of dark energy blasted out of me causing the entire gallery to shake and pieces of the ceiling to detach and rain upon the demons.

Alevia opened his disgusting maw, his burning red eyes glued to his incoming judgement. There was fury in his disfigured demon face, there was hate, but most of all there was fear as he managed to string together a very ungodly “Fuck!”

There wasn’t a second of hesitation or thought. My heart was in complete command, and it screamed death to the gods.

I speared down towards him with my blades to the sides, leaving a trail of ignited air and crackling purple lightning. Alevia raised his giant trident over his head, the three points flashing at me. I swiped it to the side with Traitor, spun, sliced through the god’s weapon at the top of the shaft with Mercy dislodging the head. I spun again to balance myself out, roared some unholy insults through demonic teeth, and finally came down with both swords at the demon god’s head.

A blastwave of light and dark flashed and roared through the gallery blinding everyone. Purple and white lightning thundered and screamed as my steel met his skull. Gods or not, the blades went through. The skull cracked; my muscles strained to a point of blasting through my red burning skin. All I could hear was my own roar, all I could see were flashes of blood, steel and flesh. All I could sense were my blades sinking into a god.

I tore through his skull, down through the armor of his chest and flesh, and out through the tree-sized leg cutting demonic steel and bone, a crater forming where I landed.

Alevia roared and staggered as he tried to catch himself by leaning on his trident. The demons around us stood frozen in shock. Morgefah was covering his face with one hand.

“What…is this?” the God of Light muttered as blood gushed out of his mouth. He dropped to a knee, intestines and blood seeping out the giant opening in his chest, more blood rained from his skull. He still lived, but hopefully not for long.

I flapped my wings and flew up as if I had done it a thousand times before, then came down with both swords cutting through the neck. The giant head dislodged, sinew and bone breaking with a crack. It landed on the floor with a loud sloshy thud. The monstrous demon body keeled over and dropped to the floor, white lightning crackling softly along its length, the flesh steaming. There was a slew of notifications in my Deeproot. Something about slaying Alevia’s Avatar, but I had no taste for any of it at the moment.

“Lord!” one of his generals cried out.

Another ran up to the head, confused and looking toward me. The legions behind us hollered and hissed, some even cried. Whatever battle was going on further back went silent.

“Who are you!” the demon general at his head bellowed, the air around him incinerating. Yet he wasn’t moving an inch. Whatever killed his God wasn’t going to flinch before one of his underlings.

I felt my wings suddenly crack, pull into my back, my jaw, my neck, arms and my legs tightened again, and I almost dropped to a knee as the (Final Contract) ended. I was back to my usual self, but I was still standing.

Still alive and high on dayburn.

“Spellmonger,” the general muttered as if not believing his own words. “Spellmonger,” the legions whispered amongst themselves.

“Let me through!” the familiar voice of Arstemion barked from somewhere behind. Morgefah’s right hand pushed through Alevia’s legions who just stood there, unmoving and confused.

“Arstemion,” Alevia’s commander said.

“Tarnor,” Arstemion replied, acknowledging the demon general of the opposing army. Arstemion first looked at me with a face full of shock, then at Morgefah. He immediately dropped to a knee.

“My Lord, you are—”

“Do not kneel for it,” I barked. “He is no lord of yours or mine. He doesn’t deserve your fealty!”

“The Spellmonger has betrayed me! He betrayed all of us!” Morgefah yelled with his squeaky voice. “Kill it.”

Arstemion seemed utterly confused. He stood, clutching his obsidian spear and looking at me. I softly shook my head.

“You don’t want to try that, Arstemion.”

A sudden sloshing sound coming from the giant dead body of Alevia caught everyone’s attention, and a disgusting fleshy rupture appeared where its crotch was as if giving birth. Another Faydar came sliding out of the meaty crevasse covered in sticky translucent goo. He got up slowly, wiping the ooze off his face and looking up at me and then at Morgefah.

“What have you done!” he squeaked just like his brother. “You have ruined us both!”

“Alevia!” Morgefah snapped angrily. “This is your doing!”

The demon generals and their legions looked to each other and back at their less than dignified gods.

“Tarnor! Defend me! Kill this creature!” He pointed at me then suddenly dashed past me and toward the wall beneath the balcony from where I had entered the gallery in the first place.

“Arstemion! Do your lord’s bidding! Stop Alevia…uhm and kill the Spellmonger. Now!”

He too suddenly shot towards the same place.

The demon generals looked to their troops, then at me and each other. Arstemion flapped his wings, and a powerful fiery aura surrounded him. Tarnor did the same, summoning two black swords to his hands and narrowing his gaze on me. I glanced toward the balcony, where the two squeamish gods were climbing the wall using their limbs like spiders. They were pretty quick and agile for creatures of their age, I had to give them that.

“Don’t fucking do it,” I said, through clenched teeth.

“We serve the Gods first, Spellmonger. No matter what,” Arstemion said with a note of sadness and uncertainty in his voice.

“Watch this,” I said and just before the two gods reached the balcony, I used (Rift Walk) to appear on top. Alevia poked his head up the railing first and I took it with a single swing of Mercy. Yellow-green light gushed out the wound as his body dropped back onto the floor, twitching. A mass of notifications erupted in my Deeproot and they were accompanied by a sudden surge of power. I had gotten several levels, but I’d check it later.

His demons squealed and roared, and his general dropped to a knee.

“What have you done!” Tarnor yelled, his voice croaking. My gaze wandered to the other god hanging below the balcony.

“Don’t do it, Spellmonger!” Arstemion roared in terror. “The Dhozen Fires, our spawning pools!”

Morgefah had seen his brother’s death so he stopped short just before the balcony, unsure whether to climb it or go back down.

“I’ll help you, my Lord,” I said and jumped over the railing, and landed on his shoulders as he clung to the wall. We both dropped down several feet, then fell on the floor. Morgefah rolled over, flailing his thin grey arms and legs. I dashed toward him, grabbed the Dark Lord by the head, and put Traitor to his throat. Arstemion stopped his advance, absolute terror on his face. Alevia’s legions were in disarray behind him, screaming, crying, some squirming on the floor like desperate children. His general Tarnor was on his knees and looking up at me.

“Don’t move, Arstemion.”

“Kill him!” Morgefah said.

“Don’t come closer.”

“Spellmonger,” Arstemion began. “That was not your mission. This is madness. You’ll destroy us all!”

“Will I?” I bellowed. “Look at Alevia’s legions, have they disappeared? Have they been destroyed? It’s all lies, Arstemion! Fucking all of it!”

“My Lord,” the general began desperately. “What is happening?”

“He…he’ll curse us all, Arstemion. My most loyal servant. You…you must stop him.”

“Tell him!” I snapped. “Tell him what this world is! Tell him why his kind has warred for generations? Tell him what your race did to us!”

“Arstemion…” He grabbed onto my other arm but Morgefah was weak and frail. His pathetic attempts to stop me were a fucking insult. I whispered into his ear so only the Dark Lord could hear.

“Tell him or you die.”

“He…I will free you, I will give you gifts—” I sliced across his neck. Traitor crit and the body of Morgefah the Dark Lord exploded like a bag of green and yellow blood, showering me in disgusting puss and intestines.

I stood there, covered in what used to be a God. Pieces of him drooping down my face, arms, and chest. I wiped some of it off my one good eye.

Arstemion roared in agony. He surged forward, his obsidian spear pointed at me. I parried it, pushed it down, and lunged upward to headbut the demon general. He staggered back.

“Enough!” I yelled from the bottom of my lungs.

The boom of my voice and the dark energy behind it shook the gallery and cast it in darkness for a moment. Arstemion backed off, his face frozen in desperation.

“And? Do you feel any different? You feel weaker? Dumber? Dead, perhaps?”

“You…you killed our…you killed our Gods!”

I spat on the corpse of Morgefah.

“Fuck them!” I chuckled. “Look at them. Look at them Arstemion, and tell me what God dies to Frank fucking Midnight, eh?”

“I—” He looked over his shoulder to Tarnor. Alevia’s demon general walked slowly over to his counterpart.

“The Dhozen Fires…What now?” Tarnor asked.

“Nothing. They’ll work the same way they worked before. Except now you won’t use them as often because you don’t need to kill each other all day long.”

I wasn’t entirely sure about that but something told me it was true.

“Then…we don’t need to…we don’t need to war anymore?” Arstemion said and looked around as if searching for approval.

“No. You’re free. For real this time.”

I really hoped I was right. But even if I wasn’t about the Dhozen Fires, they were free of their mad masters. That much was true.

“My Lord!” Arstemion said and fell to a knee.

“My Lord!” Tarnor said and did the same.

The demons behind them, seeing their commanders bowing before me, did the same. Hundreds and hundreds of hellspawn dropped to their knees before me. I watched them for a bit then sighed. Gods, why did everyone have the need to do that lately.

“Get up, you idiots. I’m not your lord.”

Arstemion frowned and looked over at me.

“Then who is? Who will lead us?”

“Nobody, gods damn it. Why do you need to be led? You have places to be?”

The generals shared another confused look.

“I­—I guess not,” Arstemion said and got up. “But…what now?”

Wolf ran up to me and stopped right behind me, almost toppling me over. He licked my face and then shuddered. No wonder, I was covered in stale god-juice. I patted him on the neck.

“I don’t know about you, but I want to go home.”