Wizard's Tower - Arc 3 - Chapter 54

It’s a contradiction, of course: wanting to hold someone you care for, but not wanting them to be in enough pain to need it. A conflict of emotions that I had never truly needed to deal with before now. It was a bittersweet twisting of emotions I felt when Lilly calmed enough and no longer cried on my shoulder.

Yet, that was part of yesterday’s problems. An unfinished part, to be certain. I had created a gateway to the Froom’s plane, and sat with Lilly as we watched the grim soldier march through in an orderly fashion. The royal attendants had prepared a meal fit for a king that the two of us sat, and though the conversation was sparse, I did speak some on how much of a mistake it would be for Lilly to attempt to charm Alred or his mage followers with her magic.

She was disinclined to even join those men, no longer feeling any desire to remain a queen. It wasn’t just her husband’s death, but the death of other soldiers under their command that had been a slow-killing poison to her ambition.

I hadn’t the heart to tell her that she was stuck with the decision. I did inform her that few, if any, could have accomplished the ascension into royalty she had and that she owed it to those who died to try.

I certainly wouldn’t be interested in taking such position if it were offered, though I did mention that if she truly sought to forgo her new title, Queen Eistoni would likely be a good person to discuss it with.

The transport of Lilly and her army had taken the remainder of the day and most of the night. I hadn’t been able to return to my tower until this morning, and was eager to check in on the parasitic mushrooms I had left in the canyon over the mountains. All the plateaus and armies and evacuations were distractions from the things I could do to halt or even reverse the Pestilence.

This is why I was perturbed at finding myself standing at the top of my tower amidst the Heroes of Broken Collars. I had just peeked in on the canyon a few moments ago and hadn’t even the opportunity to record my findings when it happened. A shrieking cry, like a bird dying, pierced through all the enchantments in my tower and caused me to spill an inkwell over the tome. Following that sound, there was a wave of holy magic that made me feel as though something had grabbed hold of every vein and artery in my body and squeezed before letting go.

It was too close in sensation to the effects I felt with the Mirtallean’s slave god fell for me to not recognize it. Somehow, that enormous snake in the Tervan jungles was dead. Just the remembrance of their blood god sent bumps across my skin and fear down my spine. I quickly cleaned the spilled ink, and traveled towards the top of my tower to see if there were any other effects.

[High Priestess] Shaelra was the first to find me, unsurprisingly, entering through the front door to the tower. She would be the person I imagined stood closest to the gods of all those nearby. We shared a look of concern, and she walked by my side as we climbed the stairs to the roof. In ones and two, the other heroes—as well as Kine and some of the higher ranking among my guards—joined us.

The view to the south was unlike anything I had ever seen, and for a moment I wished that Pyl was still here. I imagined that he would have forgone a leg to be present. The new height of my tower allowed us to see further, much further, than ever before and the southern skies were lit with unusual sights. Steams of grey and black flowed like rivers upwards into the clouds. Balls of deep red shot forth into the skies to pop and rain blood back down.

I could hear the wails of souls – a sound that any adventurer that ever fought a ghost or ghast would recognize—faintly in the distance. Yet, those wails weren’t singular, but a chorus of sound. One that left me fearful that if a single black stream were to flow this way instead of upwards, few would survive.

Considering the number of other questions I was receiving from 5th Tier adventurers, I was glad that it was only my elven ears that let me hear those screams.

“So, another god falls,” Leslie said, feigning her courage in front of the others.

“Boss, that looks much stronger than what happened for us,” Mena’s words were directed at me, the unspoken question clear to all.

“It is.” I nodded and refused more details. How was I to know what made one god stronger than another? A high priestess was standing right there!

“What kinda god was it?” Tond asked as he leaned out.

“The Tervan’s god, the blood god, takes—took—two forms. A two-headed snake during the day, and a bird during the evening,” I began. The habits from years of teaching at the Arcanum took over, and I went into detail. I hadn’t planned on giving a lecture, but I also hadn’t had a truly attentive group of students in a long time.

It was several hours later when both the questions and my patience had gone past the point where lunch would revive that I decided to leave. The fall of the blood god had large implications for me. I expected to see waves of Pestilence coming from the south now, and not just the east. The ones coming from holes under the earth were many, but nothing like the density I had seen in the canyon.

I turned to leave, but my way was blocked. Both Meathead and the [High Priestess] Shaelra stood in my way. Meathead looked about nervously, but Shaelra’s face was pale and distraught. Both seemed uncertain but utterly serious. Meathead was shifting his weight from foot to foot, his armor tinkling as he moved. The priestess’s mouth moved as if she were trying to form words that wouldn’t come out.

“Yes?” I asked, to which both spoke at once.

“First boss says—”

“[Wizard] Fargus, there is—”

Neither finished what they intended to say, as a loud hiss echoed from the south. Followed by another. And another. I spun around to look, though there wasn’t much to see. The streams of black still flowered into the sky, and the blood had long since stopped rising. The hisses, though, became an unholy chorus and I had to grit my teeth against the noise.

Around me, the guards fell to the ground clutching their heads. The heroes all showed pained expressions, some more than others. From my vantage point, I saw more than one villager collapse screaming to the ground. Animals across the plateau panicked. Even my gargoyles flapped their stone wings about as if they had been struck.

When the sound faded, no one spoke. Not for several long minutes. The horror that I felt, I was certain the others did as well. Meathead was first to break the silence.

“First boss says we should go south. Before it becomes a god, too.”

I glanced at Leslie and Mena, intending to give them a meaningful look. Yet both seemed to be in their own minds. Mena had a fist clenched and a look of spite on her face. Leslie’s expression was that of worried resolution.

“Elora shared a vision with me. That of a hydra god consuming the entire world. I—I think she wants us to go south as well.”

“This battle, it won’t be like the last.” Tond chimed in, his tone that of warning.

“Aye, there is no holy artifact to stab it with.” Cothram agreed—wait! Had he always been here?! I shook away the thought. Now wasn’t the time.

I spoke next, “I will send my elementals south to see what this thing looks like, and share it with you. It will be much easier to plan if we know what we are facing.”

“You—you will fight, too, Master?” Leslie’s surprised voice seemed to have slipped out. She looked a tad embarrassed by the question.

I pressed my lips together. I was confident in the new defenses I placed around my tower. Should a wave of Pestilence near, I could rain lightning down among the horde three or four times a day for as long as I wanted to. If a broodmother approached, I was more than certain my improved [Finger of the gods] spell could lay it low.

But some unholy Hydra ascending to godhood? Who knew what it would take to defend against such a thing? No, better to slay it far away from my new home and the villagers below. Or worse, it destroyed my library and all the research results I’d recorded over my life? I was so close to a longevity spell! No snake-headed thing was going to take that from me!

I’d die before—well, no. I could restart the research pretty easily, all things considered. I stroked my beard as I considered Leslie’s question more, but it appeared the Heroes lacked the patience to wait for an answer. They had already formed a circle without me, and were discussing what form it likely took and how to trap it. Ungrateful louts! I shook my head and headed down to my laboratory. I’d need to summon a few stronger wind elementals to see what this enemy looked like. I’d not have these fleeing before they served their purpose.