Steamforged Sorcery - Chapter 55 (Patreon)

Vanessa’s eyes pleaded silently to Lilian as they all turned to get her take. Lilian bit her lower lip and her brows scrunched together.

“We can’t just let them die,” Vanessa said, her voice little more than a whisper. “We can do something.”

“I fear they’re already dead,” Lilian said, shaking her head. “The blade may not yet have fallen, but their fate is sealed all the same. There is nothing we can do against a buried god and whatever creature is controlling it.”

Vanessa’s hands clenched at her sides. “Don’t any of you have any morals? Any sense of duty? Thousands of innocent people are going to die, helpless and afraid. We’re the only ones who can do anything. Nobody else will know until it’s too late. You’re all strong, aren’t you? Why don’t you put that to use?”

“Strength is relative, girl,” Silver said, his words softening. “Compared to you, yes. I am strong. But a buried god? We’re nothing. Whatever or whoever is running that is almost certainly at the level of a magistrate. Nobody else could command enough power to do a ritual of this strength. We would just die.”

“Better to die for a cause than live like rats,” Vanessa spat. “How can you live knowing that you left so many to die?”

“We’re all rats, Vanessa,” Angel said, putting a hand on her shoulder. The words felt hollow before they even left his lips. “Look around the desert. Do you think the world is thriving? Yes, it’s improving. Magic returns with every passing day, and I’m confident Old Magic will once again become commonplace. But that day is not today. Tomorrow is bright, but we’re still in the shadow of yesterday. Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

“Tomorrow isn’t bright if we get there on a road of innocent people’s corpses,” Vanessa said. “You’ve got the tools to fight that thing. Your arm absorbs magic, doesn’t it? You could shut it down!”

“It’s got a limit to how much power it can take. I interacted with the catacomb’s core, but I was only able to mildly inconvenience it.”

“So what?” Vanessa asked. “This is a ritual that’s barely running. You could make it stop!”

“Until the guy in charge sacrifices another person,” Silver said. “Enough of this. Worry less about the fate of others and more about your own.”

“Hush,” Lilian hissed, her eyes narrowing as she clapped a hand over Vanessa’s mouth before the girl could say anything.

Faint footsteps echoed down the streets, and they were getting closer. Angel flexed his hand and bared his teeth slightly.

“The soldiers,” he mouthed. “Strike first.”

Silver’s blade danced into his hand. Vanessa took several steps backwards and ducked behind the counter as the other three walked towards their door. The warm metal of Angel’s arm tingled against his flesh as he waited, Vanessa’s words ringing through his head.

With ominous certainty, the tap of footsteps grew closer. They were so synchronized that Angel had no idea how many enemies were approaching them, but it was clear that there was more than one.

His heart raced and he drew a deep breath, calming his nerves. Waiting was always the worst part. The drum grew closer. The tubes grew brighter and, with a thought, the cylinder in his arm spun. He felt a canister slide down and into place.

Silver gave him a firm nod and held up five fingers. After a second, one fell. The footsteps were almost upon them, their inhuman rhythmic motion drumming into Angel’s head. Another finger fell.

Angel raised his arm, pointing it at the closed door. The third finger fell. Lilian wrapped her hand around the door handle and positioned out of the line of fire. Two fingers remained. The steps were right outside now, and shadows fell in through the dirty windows.

Another finger dropped. The steps came to a halt. Lilian yanked the door open and dove to the side as lightning crackled down Angel’s arm, tearing through the air and slamming into a heavily armored man.

Through the bright light coming out of his arm, Angel could vaguely make out lightning as it coursed through the soldier’s body and lit up a metal mask that covered his face. The spell hurled the man back, slamming him against the other wall of the alley.

Energy arced of his body, surging into a man beside him and sending him to the ground as well. Silver rushed forward, his blade flashing in the light as he drove it into the next man’s chest.

Angel’s arm whirred as another spell loaded itself and he ran outside after Silver, Lilian at his side. A dozen identical metal masked soldiers had surrounded the alley. Another bolt of lightning kicked out of Angel’s arm, tearing through their ranks and sending three of them spinning before they could react.

The survivors raised their weapons and lunged towards him without a word. Lilian stepped forward, knocking a weapon aside with the thick chain attached to her wrist and driving her palm into a man’s face with such force that his mask bent inwards.

He tumbled backwards, slamming into another soldier and sending them both tumbling to the ground. Lilian advanced, driving her foot into the top man’s chest. His body folded as it punched through both his chest and the man beneath him.

Lilian kicked both of them up, knocking a third man to the ground. Another bolt of lightning ripped out of Angel’s arm, frying all three men and catching a fourth in the blast. He staggered, lunging towards them with no regard for his safety.

Chain whipped through the air and slammed into his head. The man crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut, leaving their half of the alleyway devoid of any moving enemies. Angel spun, but Silver needed no help.

The former bandit pulled his blade from a soldier’s neck, flicking the blood off it as the last man collapsed to the ground, joining the small sea of corpses at Silver’s feet.

Silver kneeling beside one of the bodies. He pulled the man’s mask off and grunted, tossing it to the side and repeating the process with another soldier. “They’re the same person.”

“Buried gods,” Angel muttered, peering over his shoulder. Silver was right. The two dead men were indiscernible from each other.

“The mask reminds me of Cowl’s,” Silver said as Vanessa stepped out from within the building and glanced around nervously. “Something is going on.”

Lilian pressed her lips together and looked away from the bodies, staring up at the enormous head of the buried god in the sky above them.

“Lilian?”

She shook her head. “Sorry. It’s nothing.”

“I didn’t ask if anything was wrong,” Angel said, cocking his head. “And something clearly is – not that we’ve got time to worry about it now.”

“I’ve changed my mind,” Lilian said, swallowing. “I think we should try to do something about the buried god.”

“You’re a fool,” Silver said. “This is our chance. The hulking thing up there clearly isn’t running well if they’re sending these fools for us. We can escape.”

Cowl’s mask seemed to grow heavier against Angel’s hip. He clenched his hands and cursed through gritted teeth. “I’m sorry, Silver. I’m going to do something very stupid.”

The man’s eyes widened. “You too? Fool. You’re going to die and give whatever power source you’ve got to the buried god.”

“Well, I won’t be around to worry about it if I do,” Angel said, a small smirk tugging at his lips. “Vanessa would never let me hear the end of it if we left now.”

“You’ll be hearing the end of everything pretty soon.” Silver shook his head, slamming his weapon back into its sheathe. “Are you really going to die for people you’ve never met?”

“A whole city,” Vanessa said. “We have to try. You handled those soldiers easily enough, so the guy in charge can’t be that much stronger!”

Silver gave her a withering glare. “If we survive this, I’m going to teach you the error of your ways. Every single one of them.”

“You’re coming?” Angel asked, blinking.

“Only to grab that power source of yours the moment you die,” Silver said. “If you’re going to go get yourself killed, I’m not letting you deliver it to whoever is running the buried god. I don’t care about these morons, but if that monstrosity comes back to life, it’s going to ruin my desert.”

“Thank you,” Vanessa said.

“Don’t thank me, girl. If I die, I’m going to find your mother and haunt the shit out of her,” Silver muttered. “Now how in the underrealm are we supposed to get onboard something the size of a mountain?”

Angel’s arm whirred as a new canister clicked into place. “I think I might have an idea.”