Torchlight filled the cavern past the crystal archway. It illuminated the entire section of cave, advertising their trespass to all the creatures within. This clearly had been the last area in the mine to be significantly worked by the miners who’d once earned their coin here.
It was a vast salt deposit whose core had long since been stripped away, leaving a rounded chamber of empty space deep beneath the surface. All around them were the soft pink tones of saltrock, a significant amount of the valuable mineral left in place to allow the room to keep its stability.
Even with that, the wall and ceiling were lined with massive timbers that had themselves been encased in stasis crystal by the Shadowspawn, all for preserving this one chamber at the base of the mine. The crystal path they had been following led directly into the centre of the room, where the creature that had so stolen Casek’s attention sat.
It seemed drowsy, the movement of its head and limbs lethargic, as though it had just now woken and realised the presence of an intruder. The power Casek could feel intensified as it straightened and rose, before truly turning its attention onto them.
The moment those malevolent, crimson eyes found his, his knees buckled beneath the sheer weight behind its power when focused entirely on him. Beside him, Raelynn trembled with the effort of standing, but stand she did—a testament to her still greater strength.
This had been a mistake. The thought raced through Casek’s mind over and over as the creature stood to its full height, revealing itself fully to them. The only thing keeping the strength this monster wielded in perspective was his memories of the Archdemon he’d seen with Tauph. Somehow, the knowledge that something existed more powerful than what he was seeing now was a comfort, if not a very useful one.
It was a being not dissimilar to the Bel’gor and Drau they’d encountered so far. A huge bulbous thorax borne aloft by eight spindly legs. A spider, but for the upper half of its body. This was that of a sickeningly wrinkled woman from the waist up, her ancient skin the colour of ash. Protruding from this part of her were a further three pairs of arms, each tipped with stubby, clawed hands.
Straggly white wisps of hair hung down over an elongated face, her disturbingly human mouth distorted and stretched by the pair of thick spider-fangs bulging from within.
Surrounding it was a nest of stasis crystal, with great spiked pillars protruding outwards in a tight pattern, creating an almost defensive structure around the bed of crystal this creature had turned into its home.
“Idris!”
Raelynn’s horrified gasp made Casek focus his attention upon the structure more closely, and his jaw slid open as he saw each spike holding its own human prisoner within. A man clad in full-steel plate stood suspended in the closest, and a woman that had a foci still strapped to her wrist was beside him in the next. The twisted human statues encircled the creature, creating a grotesque nest lined with its defeated victims.
However, in the centre of the nest rested a crystal separate from the others, not attached to any of the surrounding surfaces. Casek couldn’t clearly make out what the figure inside looked like past the translucent crystal, but it was this one that had caught Raelynn’s attention so starkly.
The creature, too, noticed Raelynn’s attention, and it reared up on its hind legs in front of the crystal, towering over them. It roared, a rasping, guttural howl that issued forth with such force it shook the air around them.
Casek glanced toward Raelynn, looking for some sign she had a plan, only for her to be gone. Her weapons blazed into life as she sprinted towards the Daemon—for that clearly was what this was—her teeth bared in an infuriated snarl.
He swore, and set off after her, only for the Daemon to halt them both with another booming sound that rattled around the cavern.
It was only then that the true reality of their situation settled in. Just on the periphery of his vision, the shadow-drenched roof began to move and shift where the light of their torch didn’t quite reach it. He and Raelynn both halted their charge and craned their neck upward.
The roof was moving.
Only it wasn’t the roof. It was a teeming mass of Shadowspawn, all dormant until called upon by the Daemon in the centre of the room. Like her, they woke slowly, but in moments the ceiling was a swirling black ocean of furious movement. And then they began to drop. Eight-legged, black shapes came tumbling from the ceiling like raindrops, landing around them and springing to their feet.
Drau came at first. These were easily dispatched by the two of them at a manageable rate, before another gurgling cry from the Daemon called a second wave down around them. Then a third. Gritting his teeth, Casek tore a path through the Shadowspawn to reach Raelynn’s side, knowing from experience they’d be better off working as a pair.
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Despite the countless slain, Casek barely noticed a change in the single flickering gem alight on his foci. Now that he was Second Circle, the number of lit gems had changed back to only one. This single gem was far more stable than any had been at First Circle, barely brightening for each Drau slain, and barely dimming when his stamina waned.
Throughout it, the Daemon watched them fight, weighing their strength, calculating. Every so often, the battle would be interrupted by another sound, and the assault of the Shadowspawn would change in pattern. Sometimes they grew more defensive, and other times they attacked only in waves, or became more aggressive. At one point, they even attacked each human from the front and back to exploit blind spots. Casek and Raelynn responded by fighting back to back, covering each other’s weak points and lapses in concentration.
They fought in unison. A storm of thrusting and slashing blades cutting down the Drau standing in their way life chaff, edging ever close to where the Daemon waited. It only continued to watch them with infuriating complacency.
“It’s not even a little concerned about us,” he grunted, running his sword through yet another spider-like Drau.
“That’s probably for a reason,” she said. “We’ll have to think of a plan for getting past it—we won’t be able to beat that thing in a fight.”
“Any ideas?”
Raelynn shook her head as she reduced a trio of Shadowspawn to dust in one smooth movement. “I’ll have to distract it while you sneak around. Once we get Idris out, all bets are off.”
“Will he really be enough to win against that thing?”
“He’s Third Circle, so he’s got a better chance than either of us. If not, then he’s an artificer. He’ll be able to think of something to help get us out.”
Casek tried his best to ignore how full of holes that plan seemed to be. If Idris wasn’t strong enough to beat this thing, escaping wouldn’t be much easier, even assuming the man could think of something immediately after being freed from weeks in stasis. Not to mention the fact both plans hinged on Idris being completely functional on breaking free. Raelynn had been fine, but that didn’t mean that would be the same for Idris. Different people had vastly different tolerances…
He shook his head, cutting off the train of thought as completely as he could. There weren’t any other options—he certainly didn’t have any—and doubt would only make this one less likely to succeed. He had to focus.
The Daemon had other ideas. The creature howled again, an abrupt trio of violent noises different again from any it had made before. Almost immediately, larger shadows began to fall and clamber to their gangly feet, looming above the Drau. Four of them at first, but a glance upwards revealed more on the roof, ready to drop.
“Bel’gor!” Raelynn warned, as the first darted forward, straight at her. Casek barely had time to react before another came crashing toward him, forcing him away from Raelynn and back the way they had come with a flurry of vicious thrusts from spiked forelegs.
Both he and Raelynn were immediately on the back foot: ducking, rolling and diving away from the wave of unrelenting strikes sent their way. The Bel’gor had divided themselves equally, two chasing Raelynn, and two him, and none were allowing them even the slightest opening to go on the offensive.
Despite this, the Daemon had clearly decided enough was enough. It rose from its nest, movements languid and precise. Then, in a heartbeat, it was gone. His eyes failed entirely to track its position—right until it clasped tightly clawed hands around his throat, lifting him high into the air.
It brought him level with its blazing crimson eyes, and Casek felt the magic draining from him faster than it ever had as its grip tightened around his throat. His lungs burned with the effort of trying to drag in air through firmly closed airways, and his vision grew spotty.
He felt Raelynn’s power flare. Saw her barrel past her Bel’gor and throw herself at the outstretched arm bearing him aloft. Her blade shattered against ashen skin, and a second arm struck her across her face, sending her skidding across the floor.
The beast grasping his throat tossed him aside, and Casek hit the stone, spluttering and choking on his first, desperate gulp of air. The Daemon had deposited him beside Raelynn, and she looked down at him with a strange mix of determination and despair. He caught sight of her foci, her reserves down to two glowing gems. His only lit gem glimmered dimly. They were nearly spent.
“Casek,” she said, panting, eyes landing on the approaching Daemon, its suffocating power making it hard to even breathe in its presence.
“What?”
“Come back for us one day.”
“What the fuck are you—”
“I shouldn’t have brought you here. It was stupid—what you can do is too important. I have little left in me that can threaten it, but I think I can buy you the time to get out.”
He opened his mouth to protest, but she stood before he could form the words, turning away from him to face the Daemon stalking towards them.
“When you’re strong enough,” she said, without turning. “Come back for us. Don’t leave us here, not like them.”
There was the briefest hint of a quiver in her voice. Then, without warning, she was running full-blooded toward the mass of Shadowspawn between them and their goal. Her energy exploded from the foci at her wrists as she channelled more power than he’d ever seen into her blades until they burned a blue as crisp as the clear sky.
Casek had only moments to make his choice. Stay or run. He wanted so badly to believe that if he stayed, he and Raelynn would both have a chance, but he was not na?ve enough to fall victim to that temptation. If he stayed, he would be captured and eventually forced to reveal he could escape the crystals. Then he would die.
“I’ll be back, I promise it.”
Casek activated his sword again and turned toward the exit, cleaving through the scattered Drau still guarding it. He ran beneath the arch and sprinted across the crystal pathway as fast as his burning legs would take him. It was odd that nothing gave chase, but the thought was obliterated as a very human scream echoed through the tunnel, assaulting his senses from every direction, and the blazing light of Raelynn’s power disappeared from his senses.
