[Severed Divinity] 90. The Lowerdeep

Isen thought his feet would lead them up to the main lift, where they’d entered Eldrassin City. It was the only egress he knew of. He’d expected his ability to be most useful after they left the city’s vast, white walls.

They descended down a flight of stairs and entered the city’s lower level, where Isen had only been once before with Allezin when meeting Welco.

“Are you sure this is the way we should go?” Welco asked.

Isen glanced at him. “I’m not sure about anything, but this is where my feet are taking me.”

Welco’s shadow puppet was expressionless, impossible to read. Isen felt like there was something the puppet wasn’t saying, though.

Isen traveled through the underground for what must have been several blocks before descending down another flight of stairs. The air became progressively colder and almost clammy.

“Are you really sure, Isen?”

Isen halted and faced the puppet. “Is there something we should know?”

Welco was silent for a moment. “You’re heading for the Lowerdeep,” he finally said. “Where the water from the falls flows under the city. It’s how some agents from Dray entered Eldrassin.”

Allezin thumbed the baton in his hand. “Should we expect to encounter drayavin ahead?”

“It’s possible,” Welco said.

Isen felt a general malaise of danger and opportunity, but that had been building since the afternoon. He wondered if that was a blindspot—during times of great danger, he might not be able to sense smaller threats. He didn’t have enough experience to know.

Allezin looked between all of them. “We should be fine as long as there aren’t any tier threes or fours. Besides, can’t you talk to them? You’re supposed to be their ally, isn’t that right?”

Stelia sucked in a breath and stared at the puppet, but didn’t speak. Welco ignored her.

“Drayavin often attack first and ask questions later,” the shadow mage said. “It should be fine to go... the Lowerdeep is expansive. If Isen’s leading us properly, we should be able to avoid encounters.”

Everyone fell quiet as Isen led them deeper, his heart quickening with building unease. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he faced a thick, foreboding door.

“How could Dray open this?” Stelia asked under her breath, shooting the shadow patriarch a probing look.

Because Welco let them in, Isen thought darkly. “Allezin, can you open this door?”

“I’ll try.” The black-armored cultivator approached the threshold. The door automatically opened, revealing a pitch black chamber beyond. To Isen’s eyes, it was nearly white with ambient energy that radiated from a grayish flood of water like steam. The surroundings must have been enchanted to block the noise, otherwise the roaring water would’ve been impossible to ignore.

Allezin patted his shoulders. “All right, up.”

Stelia went first, the flame relocating to the crook of her chin as she hung down Allezin’s chest. Isen clung to the man’s back, Mira’s body bulging out behind him. Welco’s shadow puppet melted down and coated the back of Allezin’s armor, a small, toothy mouth manifesting over the warrior’s shoulder. “The water’s quite deep for most of the channel—can you really run fast enough not to douse the flame?”

Allezin sighed. “I’ll be fine.”

“If you’re sure,” Welco replied.

 “Isen, can you lead me like you did before?” Allezin stared out into the darkness, his eyes faintly glowing with the activation of a perception ability.

“Yes.”

Allezin’s arm whipped out, his baton extending into a spear. Then, he pulled an ovular item from his belt, one Isen had never seen before. Allezin whacked the top and the capsule unfurled like a steel flower, forming a diaphanous board. It looked almost like a shield, but paper-thin.

Allezin kicked it up to his hand, then ran toward the water. He threw the board down on the rushing torrent, hopped on, and sank the spear in the water. Isen couldn’t see under the surface, but he noticed the water frothing up where the shaft disappeared.

Before he could think too hard about it, they exploded forward. The thin metal disk glided over the waves, the spear providing propulsion and steering control. What Isen found most impressive was how Allezin kept his footing with three people hanging off of him.

The only conclusion Isen could draw was that Allezin had used this method to cross bodies of water many, many times.

I guess it would be silly for a man titled ‘the Wanderer’ not to have a method of traversing water.

There really wasn’t much for Isen to do—the wide watery passage, rivaling the size of a lake, only went one way. When they reached the first fork, Isen gave Allezin guidance. They took two  left splits and a right.

“Wait, don’t—take the left. I can sense drayavin up ahead,” Welco said. “We shouldn’t go this way.”

“I’ll go faster to outrun them,” Allezin replied.

“No—turn around,” Welco commanded, voice laced with panic. “Slow down at least!”

“I’m not changing course until you explain what’s going on.” Allezin didn’t slow down, either.

“I’ll explain if you go back, now. There’s no time—”

That was when they nearly ran into a wall of ice, Allezin skirting the disk around the frozen, jagged crystals forming an obvious bulwark.

Isen blinked. Why was there ice?

Suddenly, the energy in the air moved, and Isen felt a terrifying pressure. Allezin staggered, but kept his footing as the metal board continued forward. But as he tried to follow the current away, all the surrounding liquid froze, beaching them on ice. Isen and Stelia dropped to the ground while Allezin grunted and tore his spear free, immediately entering a combat pose.

Welco’s puppet materialized, emulating his real body. It stood next to Allezin, its eyeless face seeing everything at once.

Stelia hid the flame in her hands, while Isen supported Mira, his hands reaching backward under the girl’s thighs to better hold her.

And then they saw it. A path of ice extended over two hundred feet into the distance, walled in by jagged ice, and connecting to a massive white island on the water. Welco’s puppet finally revealed some emotion—it looked grim.

“You should have listened to me, Allezin,” Welco said softly. His tone was difficult to place.

“What have you led us into?” Allezin hissed, his spearhead back to normal, the weapon facing forward.

Isen ignored the tier threes, his eyes drawn to the ice. Welco knew what this was. He’d been afraid as they’d approached. Only one thing could do that. Multiple tier threes, or... a tier four. If something wanted to kill them, it could’ve crushed them between those crooked, spiked walls, rather than waiting patiently for them to traverse the passage.

Isen readjusted Lumina’s body on his back and stepped forward. Stelia followed silently behind him, her expression stoic.

Isen approved of her bravery, following him over the ominous passage while their tier threes bickered behind. Perhaps they thought that they could do something to change how this encounter went. It was arrogance, given what Isen knew. Neither had been able to do anything against the violet-eyed woman in the palace.

Isen had no such reservations. He disliked being at the whims of another, but there was no changing the present situation. They were ensnared.

If the being who had trapped them was who Isen suspected, then he figured the best thing to do was proceed forward with quiet poise, unflinching. And so, he walked.

The tier threes began to call for him. Stelia looked between them and Isen, caught by indecision. In the end, the tier threes joined them only seconds later. Allezin’s face was covered by the helmet, but Isen could tell he was beyond incensed. He went ahead, his spear at the ready. Welco’s puppet trailed behind, expressionless again.

The ice looked like a flower bud, all swooping lines and sharp edges. It dwarfed the connected walkway, which was already broad enough to comfortably permit a monster like Ros. As the icy island grew closer, Isen began to think of it as a nest. It was a sphere with an entrance carved at an angle, preventing them from seeing the interior until they got closer.

Only when they reached the icy orb did they finally see what lay within. At first, Isen didn’t comprehend what he was looking at. The space was cavernous, just going off the height of the ceiling, and the majority of it was covered by layers of coiled fur, almost like a furred snake. It was obscured by the darkness and the rising ambient mist that permeated the ice, but Isen could tell that it was a bit taller than Ros, and that its length was probably several times longer. Wicked spines poked out from the mist along its winding back.

Bright, glowing white eyes, each the size of a child, met the arriving party, and a powerful, genderless voice descended on them. “So these are your new allies.” Standing next to the beast, utterly dwarfed by its size, was another figure ensconced in shadow. It was only visible because the inky energy warred with the ambient white mist.

Even though the form was distant and its features obscured, Isen recognized it.

It was Welco—his real body.