NOVEL NEXT Chapter 38: The Way Forward
Dominic didn’t have enough time to feel more than a sense of foreboding before pain was suddenly ripping through him. It felt like fingers were digging into his chest, clawed fingers. The pain was excruciating, almost as bad as using the magic scroll had been.
“Just agree to be my guardian, and all this pain will be but a memory,” came the voice of the dungeon master, an uncomfortable amount of pleasure in its tone.
Forcing himself to move, even though that felt like the last thing he wanted to do, Dominic levered his head upwards from where it had automatically curled towards his chest until he could see the dungeon master. The green figure was grinning again, malice easy to read even on the foreign features.
Its clawed hands were reaching out to both Dominic and Leo, twisting golden smoke seeming to surround them, flowing part of the way towards the two lions. In it, Dominic saw a possible route to salvation.
We need to…attack, he ground out, struggling to keep his thoughts together as it felt like the dungeon master was trying to drag his heart out through his chest, without removing anything that was in its way.
I…can’t, Leo replied with a thin growl, like even that was too much. But Dominic couldn’t see any other way out of this situation. The dungeon master was the source of the magic which was causing the pain. Taking him out had to be a way of stopping it.
Letting the magic run its course wasn’t an option either – if Dominic was interpreting its words correctly, it was intended for the purpose of forcing them to consent to being guardians since it hadn’t succeeded in getting their consent willingly. Despite the pain he was currently suffering through, Dominic was more and more certain that rejecting the offer had been the right choice – this creature was not one he wanted to have anything more to do with.
But first, they needed to get out of this bind.
Forcing himself to move, Dominic took first one step and then the next. Each covered only a few inches, but even that was a victory.
The pain in his chest seemed to constrict around his heart, forcing a moan of agony out of his mouth and a shiver down his whole body. It felt like he couldn’t breathe, like his whole body was being starved of something vital. But he would not give up.
I will not give up, he told himself with every step. I survived my own death. I’ve survived everything else so far too. What’s a little pain to that?
His eyes were fixed on the dungeon master who watched him approach first with amusement, then with surprise, and then with a growing sense of concern as the inches between them disappeared one by one. Dominic didn’t know whether the creature couldn’t move, or was just choosing not to, but either way, it took not a single step backwards.
And then suddenly, as he got about four feet away from the dungeon master – a laughably easy distance to pounce were he able to do such a thing right now – it seemed like the creature had had enough.
The pain in Dominic’s chest increased dramatically as the creature suddenly switched to directing both hands at him alone. The increased level stopped Dominic dead in his tracks, all four legs failing to hold up his own weight under the new assault.
He felt like he was drowning under the attack, like he’d been floating a couple of metres below the surface of the water before, but now he’d been shoved a kilometre down. Pressure crushed his body. Pain was the only thing he could think about – it was his world.
And then, suddenly, there was a reprieve. The pain vanished for a moment. Panting, Dominic forced his eyes open: even if the pain wasn’t there, the aftershocks of it flashed through him.
The reason for the unexpected break was suddenly made clear: both of the dungeon master’s hands were now directed at Leo, who was suddenly collapsed on the floor a little ahead of Dominic. Hope rose in Dominic’s breast: if he and Leo could work together….
Forcing himself to his feet, Dominic refused to allow the much-weaker aftershocks of the agony to stop him where the agony itself hadn’t. Taking advantage of his break, he stepped forwards as quickly as he could, a leap to cover the remaining distance still beyond his capabilities.
The dungeon master realised what he was doing and quickly switched to pointing one hand at Dominic again. In comparison to the intense agony that had sent him tumbling weak-limbed to the floor, this was bearable. Once more, Dominic fought through it, a sense of impending victory helping to bolster his spirits.
Leo, even under a single hand’s power, was still struggling to move at all, but that was OK. The dungeon master was looking more and more panicked as Dominic closed the distance on them. He still didn’t know why it hadn’t taken a few steps back, but perhaps that was a limitation on this kind of magic. As matters stood, either Dominic would close the distance himself, or his threat would cause the dungeon master to focus both hands on the closest lion, giving Leo an opening. But that wasn’t what happened.
Instead, the creature seemed to concentrate, the brightness of the golden smoke surrounding them intensifying until it glittered almost too much for him to look at it. The pain inside Dominic – and Leo, if his grunt was anything to go by – intensified with it. Once more, Dominic was rooted in place, unable to force his body to take even a single step.
Suddenly, Dominic wished he’d taken Overdrive instead of Second Wind. Though he didn’t know if he could use abilities in this space, the boost would have been very helpful. Though if this boosting ability the creature’s using has the same limitations of Overdrive or Rage, I just have to outlast it and then there will be an opportunity, Dominic thought, gritting his teeth so hard that he tasted blood.
Whether he could outlast it, though, was another question. The Rage of a trodil mini-boss, or the Overdrive of a warthog Guardian were probably very different things from the resources a dungeon master could bring to bear to force Dominic’s compliance.
Dominic’s mind raced, just as he tried to force his foot forwards with the same willpower he’d needed to get up at the first alarm for his morning shift at the café – 4am had always been the worst start to the day. Or perhaps it was more the will he’d summoned to attack the lion which was already chewing and swallowing parts of his guts.
To no avail. He hit a stone wall, unable to do anything but just lie there and endure it. It was then that he heard something faint.
Take it.
Barely able to identify Leo as the reason for the quiet whisper, Dominic certainly didn’t know what he was talking about. And then he did.
A faint sense of strength trickled into him, just enough for him to be able to push that stone wall forwards by a fraction of an inch. His front right paw shuffled forwards, not even making it a full paw’s length. But progress was progress.
Front left paw.
Back right paw.
Back left paw.
Front right paw again.
Front left paw.
Back right paw.
Back left paw.
Each shuffle was an achievement, the faint touch of strength giving just enough to move in fractions of steps. His whole focus dedicated to this slow progress forwards, Dominic couldn’t spare the attention to find out how Leo was holding up. All he could tell was that the other lion was unmoving, crumpled on the floor once more.
The dungeon master watched his approach with a mix of frustration and fear. It clearly tried to concentrate, perhaps trying to ramp up the intensity again. But this time it came up short, the light around its claws flaring for a moment and then subsiding back to its previous level.
And then Dominic was there. Pressing so closely that he could feel its overheated skin against him, the strange prickly fur spiking him with his movements.
There was no quick attack, no lunge. Instead, he was more a study of inevitability, his jaws descending in slow-motion towards the creature’s body. It tried to twist out of the way, but its feet seemed rooted in place. For all its attempts to writhe and squirm, there were parts of its body it simply couldn’t shift to avoid his bite. Apparently it couldn’t move its feet, for whatever reason.
Dominic’s teeth pierced flesh. There wasn’t any blood. Nor was there a rush of some other vital liquid that this alien might have in place of blood. Instead, it was more a rush of knowledge.
Too quick for him to identify at the time, Dominic felt like his head was suddenly filling with new facts, new memories, an excruciating pain accompanying them. He hoped that at least some of them would stick: this wasn’t the time to explore them, much as he mourned that.
This seemed to be the final straw. The dungeon master made an unholy shriek and then vanished, the pain vanishing with it too. In the same moment, Dominic had the unshakable sensation that he’d forgotten something important. Still, there were other things for him to focus on right now.
As before, there were aftershocks which made Dominic’s limbs feel shaky and weak, but the all-encompassing agony which had been restricting his chest and both crushing and pulling his heart was gone. They were intact. Just.
Wobbling over to the other lion, Dominic found himself collapsing beside Leo.
Leo, are you OK? he asked tiredly. When he got no reply, he lifted a paw with immense effort and prodded at the other lion. His attempt did have a result: Leo growled weakly, as if in complaint.
Why’s Leo so much worse off than I am? Dominic wondered. The other lion had clearly struggled more than Dominic had in general, though why that was, the human-turned-lion wasn’t sure. But he’d fought back even while the pain was going on. So why would he be so badly off now it was gone?
Then Dominic thought about how he’d heard Leo say ‘take it’, before he’d gained enough extra strength to push through the intensified pain himself. Could that have been from Leo?
Hey, Leo, did you give me some of your strength or something? Dominic asked, directing his thoughts at the lion beside him. For a while there was no answer. Then, the other feline managed to summon up the strength to answer him, albeit weakly.
You…needed it more…than I did. I couldn’t…move. You…could. You had to…be the one…to stop it.
Well. That was more strategic thought than Dominic had thought the lion was capable of. Then again, before entering this space, he hadn’t considered that Leo could be capable of thought more complex than survival-driven instincts.
Either way, he was as impressed at the lion’s ability to draw a conclusion as he was at the lion acting on that conclusion in a way that disadvantaged himself. It seemed rather counter-survival to put oneself at a disadvantage and trust in others to do the job instead.
Perhaps we don’t have to fight, Dominic mused. After all, lions had coalitions, right? Two or more males agreeing to rule a pride together? Perhaps Leo would be open to something like that? Thought it would be more than a ‘coalition’ since they were sharing the same body.
For now, though, Dominic just kept Leo company as they both recovered from the ordeal they had suffered through. They could talk about the way forward later.