Darkness and Hellfire

Chapter 4 I Never Liked You Anyway.

Lenna paused as she was about to walk out of her bedroom. Looking at her bathroom she thought ‘That was close. I wouldn’t want to leave without any of that.’ She walked in and stuffed everything she would need for a while in her pack. It was barely closing at this point but as long as the flap buckled it was good enough.

Packing for a ten day trip wasn’t easy. Luckily there was an underground lake on the way so she could at least stop for water. All packed she left a note on her desk for her family:

Lua came to me and gave me a divine mission. A mission I would be a fool to refuse. Fare well and may we never meet again.

She walked out and took the corridor towards the main hall where she knew her uncle, the current head of the family, would be at this time of day. Pack settled on both shoulders, sword at her hip helm under her arm, anyone who saw her quickly got out of her way.

Entering the main hall she saw the grand table, empty save for a candelabra and a long carpet covering the middle two feet of the table’s entire length. At the one end a gigantic pair of solid elder mushroom wood doors barred and reinforced in iron. On the other end was a wall of stained glass depicting the god Dri’El, a half man half spider monstrosity, locked in mortal combat with El’Gra, the head of the high elven pantheon and the original elf. Sitting in what can only be described as a solid gold throne was a drow man clothed in a silken suit with gold woven into the trim.

“Niece, I didn’t summon you. Why are you here?” A gruff voice to gravelly to be from a noble spoke. He looked both bored and annoyed at her presence. He would have been about six feet tall if he were standing, a full two inches taller than Lenna, and his muscles looked like they were barely contained by his suit.

“No you did not.” She stated as she approached undaunted by the larger man. She stopped two steps in front of him forcing him to stand so he wasn’t craning his neck to look her in the eyes. His annoyance had obviously grown as he was forced to stand.

“You have angered the ancients girl. Explain.” He demanded taking a step towards her. She shifted her elm to her left hand and tucked it under that arm instead as she cleared her throat and looked up at him.

“I have received a divine command and am simply following its directive.” She stated with pride and conviction in her voice. His annoyance dropped and he leaned in with curiosity in his eyes.

She just held his gaze for a long moment and then his curiosity got the better of him. “Well girl spit it out! What did he say?” She took a deep breath and opened her mouth to speak then promptly beat him over the side of the head with her helm.

He staggered back shocked at her sudden burst of violence. She drew her sword and stabbed him in the throat. “She told me to forsake our evil ways uncle and well… I never liked you anyway.” He staggered back reaching for his magic to heal himself. “Have an awful life uncle.” She said and bolted towards the glass wall.

She jumped and tucked her knees in, crashing through the window right where Dri’El was depicted. She landed in a painful roll twenty feet below and took off in a dead sprint towards the east gate. A few people who witnessed her rapid descent were locked in shock until she rounded the corner at the end of the street.

Her uncle was still reeling nearly a full minute later. Still trying to process what all had just transpired. That minute was just enough for Lenna to get too far away to stop. By the time an alarm was raised she was already out of the gate. A few arrows chased her but none came even close at that distance.

For the first time in her life she was free. Free of the chains of drow society. Free from her god’s tyranny. Free from her family’s pressure. Free from the suffering all around her on a daily basis. Thank Lua for her push towards freedom and a better life.

“Thank you… goddess… for your… guidance… and… protection” She wheezed out while sprinting. Her lungs and legs were burning but she pressed on. She needed to make as much distance as possible. Her uncle was a vengeful man and he would not let that insult slide.

She felt a soft breeze from her back for a moment as if Lua was still giving her a gentle push towards her better life. She smiled and pushed on. On and on until she collapsed a few miles down the tunnel from the city. She drank some water and rested for a short while. While resting her poor legs and lungs she wondered about what might be waiting for her where her goddess was guiding her.

—

Over the course of the next four days she walked through the winding caverns. She met a few giant spiders and a few shadow-wolves but nothing she couldn’t easily handle. The journey was going easily. Too easily. She could feel something was about to go very, very wrong.

An hour into the fifth day she walked into the giant cavern where the underground lake resided. The cavern was four hundred feet wide and six hundred feet deep. The ceiling was a hundred and fifty feet high at its highest point. Under the water a glowing moss grew bathing the entire cavern in a soft blue light. It was quiet. Too quiet.

Normally caverns like this were flooded with life. Creatures needed water to survive and the total lack of life or even corpses was unsettling. ‘Something is definitely here. But what could it be to scare off every living thing down here?’ She thought.

The lake rippled and she quickly put on her helm. It still reeked of spider blood from that one that jumped on her face before she could kill it. Slowly she saw it. A large, long, stony back with a hand full of spines protruding down its length slowly drifting towards her.

Then a massive lizard-like head lifted up out of the water. ‘Shit! A basilisk?! Really?!’ She exclaimed internally. She dropped her pack and ran at the beast while unsheathing her sword. She focused on her inner flame and guided it towards her blade, coating it in vengeful fire and pressed outward with her presence.

Paladins had a unique ability granted to them by the nature of their oaths. They could press outward with their soul and blanket a small area near them with their presence. This aura could take any number of forms, almost all of them beneficial to a paladin’s allies. For Lenna, an Oathbreaker, her aura was the exact opposite.

Any creature that was the focus of her wrath would feel a deep instinctual fear of her while within her aura. This fear was still magical in nature so many more intelligent or powerful creatures would ignore it entirely. For the giant, twenty foot long, six legged, stony hided, monster of legend in front of her, it was a toss up on whether or not the fear would take hold.

As it pulled itself up onto the bank its head turned to the side so its side facing eyes could get a better look at her. Channeling its inner magic it focused on her trying to turn her stone. She raised her left hand over her face shielding her entire body from its gaze in steel.

Once she reached it she felt her aura make contact with the monster. Her aura slammed into the creature’s soul and then abruptly halted its assault. The beast was too powerful and too focused on killing her to fall victim to her magically induced fear.

Unfortunately for the basilisk she was well versed in its kind and their tricks. Right as she entered its bite range it turned and tried to snap its jaws around her. She dove to the side and raked her blade across its face hoping to clip its eye.

The creature was smart however. A veteran in its own right. It closed its eye and her blade skipped off its stony eyelid. What the monster did not expect was the magical flames from Lenna’s sword lingering on its body. She had focused a good bit of her mana into her blade for that strike, searing smite coursed through the magically reinforced longsword burning all the stony hide it touched. The beast roared and tried to bite her again. This time she focused her magic into her open left palm and chanted a spell.

“Let my flames consume all before me!” She shouted and pointed her palm towards the creature’s open mouth. A cone of flame poured outward and down the monster’s throat. It closed its mouth but it was too late. Smoke poured out of the monster’s nostrils and it yanked its head to the side.

It yanked its head away and opened its eye. Momentarily forgetting the danger of her sword. She grabbed her sword with both hands and lunged, driving it hilt deep through the basilisk's eye. The monster flailed and thrashed for a few seconds before the flames still coating her blade fried its brain.

Right before it collapsed it kicked out with its front paw and caught Lenna in the side. Tossing her ten feet and sending her sliding across the ground for another seven. She jumped up, her blade still lodged in the monster’s eye, ready to re-engage only to see it collapse in a heap.

‘That took a lot out of me. Half my mana and now even more to heal all the bruising from that hit. I hope nothing else is out here.’ She thought as she carefully walked over to the stony corpse and retrieved her sword.