Empyrean 33: Return to the Sewers (Patreon)

Amelia, here! :) A new chapter of Empyrean is ready for reading. Any and all feedback is welcome. 

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As we walked toward the Devil’s base, we found that Eoman was right. With Cantos’ demise, no one cared much for my presence, and we were mostly left alone when we ran across any leftover Devil’s.

But the streets of the poor quarter were more bloody than usual. From what I could pick up, Devils were blaming each other for his death. Wherever we walked, they were separated into smaller groups that blamed others for their ultimate destruction.

I couldn’t help but chuckle.

It didn’t take us long to reach the Devil’s lair, and as I stared at the familiar entrance, a shiver went down my spine. This is where everything started, and this is where Alon and I would succeed in saving my brother. Now I was here, with Soren, and without my friend.

“Are you okay?” my brother asked.

“I’m fine,” I said. “Just thinking of the last time I was here.”

“We’ll be fine,” he said. “Come, let’s get inside.”

Getting into the Devil lair was easier than I had anticipated. I expected, at least, that some of them would keep watch. But, to my surprise and to our advantage, the lair was standing wide open with no thugs in sight. We walked right in.

It was eerily quiet as we walked down the corridors. Small torches lit the way, mostly, but I could hear nothing but our own footsteps. I called on Adalinda to manifest, and as she did, I walked more confidently in the way I assumed the dungeon was.

My thought was that, if we were going to find the dungeon’s entrance, it would be in the opposite direction of where Alon and I found ourselves last time. The Black Sewers were not terribly difficult to navigate, but anything was challenging when you weren’t sure where to go.

I tried to recall my last visit, leading my companions in the way I imagined the dungeon entrance would be. I wasn’t even sure what it would look like, but I wasn’t about to confess that I did not know what exactly we were looking for.

Until Soren had the same thought. “What are we looking for exactly? A portal?”

“I don’t know,” I started.

“Most likely a portal, yes,” Adalinda chirped. “Dungeons are typically part of their own structure. You won’t find one attached to a building or standing out in the open.”

“Apparently it is a portal we’re looking for,” I confirmed to Soren. “Good guess.”

“So, something like that?” he said, pointing to a strange purple glow coming from a corridor on our right.

I traced my teeth across my lips and looked where he was aiming at. “Probably,” I said. “Let’s find out.”

The three of us turned down the corridor and were met with several twists and turns. Not long after we started approaching the strange glow, I heard the mumblings of people arguing in the direction we were moving toward.

“What are we supposed to…”

“What else can we…”

Their sentences broken, I could only assume we would run into the last Devils who had stayed behind in the sewers. I held my hand up to my companions and whispered, “Be ready.”

We tread slowly down the pathway until we reached a point where our enemies were in sight. There were five Devils, all facing a door where the purple hue was emanating from. I deciphered, from the rest of what I heard, that they were trying to decide whether or not to enter the portal.

“They went through there! We must go after them. They are the reason Cantos is dead,” one said.

They? I thought. He must be talking about the players. About Alastair.

The Devils were all facing away from us, and so had not noticed us yet. I had all the time I needed to ready an elemental surprise.

I turned slowly to Soren. “Give me a moment,” I said, and started chanting my spell as softly as I could manage. The corridor we sat in was dark enough that I thought we had ample time to hide and take them by surprise, but I needed every moment we had spare to cast my spell.

And, to my surprise, it took shorter than usual.

In front of me, a fire elemental raised from the ground. Significantly different from the air elemental I had opted for, this beast was made of rock and embers. Something like a moving hillside that had burning flames for insides.

Before I could command it, the Devils turned to face us.

“Watch out!” one screamed.

“Kill them!” I ordered, moving forward with my arrows at the ready. The elemental, with a roar, stomped forward and swiped what I could only guess were its arms in a long movement across the group of Devils.

You have critically injured a level 15 human!

You have critically injured a level 16 human!

You have set 5 hostile entities on fire.

I followed the elemental, shooting arrows at the Devils, piercing them one by one. Behind me, Adalinda stood up and ran forward with her arms out, and blasted her own breath of fire onto the group.

Now completely engulfed in flames, the Devils screamed, rolling on the ground to try and dampen the fire.

You have killed a level 15 human.

For one, it was too much, and we were down to four thugs. As the fire dampened, two ran away from the elemental, heading my way. They pulled their swords out and, dodging my arrows along the way, reached my position all too quickly.

I conjured light into my hands and held them up. The thugs held their hands in front of their face, blinded by light’s fury, and haphazardly swayed side to side to reach me. Not being able to tell where I was anymore, I grabbed the first by the arm and surged light into his flesh. The rush made him drop his sword, and before I could protest, Soren pushed toward me and plunged his dagger into the Devil’s neck.

A level 14 human has died.

Within seconds of his companion falling to the floor, the second thug rushed toward me with his sword in hand. He slashed at me and cut through my ribs. The cut was shallow, but blood started pouring through my new clothes.

Scrunching my face, and light’s fury still in my hands, I swung my fist at his face. In one punch, I knocked him toward my left hand, which I used to grab his neck. I held on with both hands, choking him with force, and watched him fall down.

You have killed a level 13 human!

Adalinda has sustained critical damage. Her health is at 70%.

At the Game alert, I twisted my head back to the celestial. To my surprise, though, she had not taken damage from the Devils. In a moment of panic, I noticed her flung away by the elemental. In a fiery blaze, it had performed a slam attack on two of the Devils, pounding them into the ground.

But it had also hit Adalinda.

You have killed a level 15 human.

You have critically injured a level 16 human.

Your summoned elemental has dissipated.

As the elemental disappeared, I readied an arrow to shoot at the second-to-last Devil. Still rolling from the slam attack, he made for an easy target. Two arrows toward his neck and head, and he stopped moving, taking his last breath.

I whipped around frantically, looking for the last Devil in the chamber. Standing over Adalinda, he was stabbing his sword down toward the celestial, trying to kill her. But she would not go down without a fight. Rolling deftly out of the way, she caught the legs of the thug and sunk her teeth in. Screaming, he dropped his weapon. Adalinda bared her claws, using them to climb onto his gut, and with a single motion, struck open his flesh.

Adalinda has killed a level 14 human.

You and your companion have gained a level and an attribute point.

Your summoning skill has increased to 29.

Your fire magic skill has increased to 32.

Your light magic skill has increased to 30, reaching rank 3.

Adalinda’s natural armor has increased to 35.

With the last Devil dead, I rushed to the celestial. “Are you okay?” I asked.

“I am fine,” she said. “I just need to be careful of your elementals.”

“Sorry about that,” I said gingerly. I dug in my backpack for a health potion and handed it to the celestial. By my calculations, that would at least help her get to full health again.

“Elana,” Soren said behind me, sounding a little scared. “What was that?”

I whipped around, scanning the room for anything he could mean, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Then I realized he must have been talking about the elemental.

“Right,” I said, standing up. “I got a new ability. I can summon elementals now.”

“Summon…” Soren trailed off, clearly struck by the kind of magic I was capable of now. I had not given much thought to what it would be like for him to see me in action.

“It won’t hurt you,” I said. “Well, as long as you don’t get in the way.”

My brother let out an incredulous chuckle and rubbed his temple with his thumb and index finger. He said nothing more. I couldn’t help but feel a bit bad, but if he was so intimdated by the elemental, that bode well for our journey into the dungeon.

But first, I needed to heal.

“Let’s take a moment to gather ourselves,” I said. “Then we can investigate the portal.”

I sat down and, starting my first new chant, summoned a small wisp to heal me. From my chest, a tiny blue light, almost like a firefly, flew slowly and started circling my head. Almost immediately, my bleeding stopped, and I felt an immense sense of peace. This is something I could get used to, I thought.

Your health has been fully replenished. The wisp has dissipated.

I opened my eyes to see Soren sitting in front of me, taken by the appearance—and subsequent disappearance—of the wisp. “Another new ability?” he asked.

I nodded, a soft smile on my face. “A healing one,” I explained. “Unfortunately, I can’t use it on anyone else.”

He stood up and held his hand out to me. “Come,” he said. “Let’s inspect this portal.”

I took his gesture and walked toward the bolted wooden door. Behind it, the purple hue was as strong as ever. But as I neared, it seemed to grow deeper. What was, at first, a lightish color, had now turned to a dark violet. That’s a good sign, I hoped to myself.

Pulling at the bolts, I sighed in frustration when they didn’t budge. “The door won’t open,” I said.

“Let me try,” Adalinda said, standing on her hind legs. She dug her claws into the back of the door and, in a single pull, was able to break open some of the wood. Her strength, it seemed, had more use than I realized.

I assumed we would need to wait for her to work her magic, so I turned to my brother. “Give me the Claw?” I asked softly.

He looked at me suspiciously and said nothing.

“Come on, you’re here now. I just think I should wear it,” I argued. If anything, I was interested to see if it would help in the dungeon. Soren let out a heavy sigh and pulled the claw out of his pocket, handing it to me. I pulled the worn cord it was hanging on over my neck.

You have equipped The Hatchling’s Claw.

This is a rare artifact passed down through generations to players who go through the Hatchling’s Trial. It does not possess any helpful bonuses, but it may ease your journey through the dungeon…

Interesting, I wondered. How will this help?

The sound of the celestial tugging at the pieces of wood snapped me away from my thoughts and, slowly, the door came off the hinges. I inspected it, only to notice that despite the bolts, the door itself was in poor condition—the wood basically rotted away.

“This has been here for a long time,” I said. “The bolts are new, but this door feels ancient.”

I looked up at what Adalinda had revealed. The portal was more of an archway, and the purple hue only existed on the edges of it. The rest of the entry was pitch black, which didn’t feel terribly welcoming. I looked up and, to my surprise, found myself looking at some words on the top of the archway.

Enter, hatchling.

Prove yourself to the bloodline, or face death.

“Do you see that?” I asked Soren.

“What?”

“Those words,” I said, pointing to what I had read.

“I don’t see anything,” he said.

“I do,” Adalinda said. “Maybe it’s only for players?”

“Adalinda can see it too,” I relayed to my brother. Interesting, I thought to myself. It seemed this dungeon was created for a very specific purpose—and not only something any player could access.

Whatever it was, our time to enter had come. Taking my brother’s hand in mine, we walked through together.