Darkness and Hellfire

Chapter 54 FINALLY.

Isaac and Lenna climbed the pile of rubble for the ten feet it took them to enter the hole in the castle walls. Inside there were a few stone buildings and plenty of ancient signs of battle. What had really concerned the pair wasn’t the decrepit state of the inside of the castle or even the undead soldiers that were still walking through the gate in the direction of Safeharbor. No, it was the massive vertical portal that stood thirty feet across in a perfect circle. There was a line in the ground that had been gouged out with magic to allow the portal to rest so its widest point was only a few feet higher than the ground. That was what was allowing the undead to pour out ten abreast in a seemingly endless tide.

The portal shed bright violet light in all directions and in mesmerizing patterns but what was inside of the portal could hardly be seen. All the pair could make out was stone walls, floors, and open space. “AH. FINALLY.” A voice rumbled across mana and air alike. Isaac and Lenna felt the voice in their cores, chests, and feet in equal measure. The pair looked around but felt and saw nothing.

A figure floated out of the portal and looked down at the undead. The figure wore long flowing robes of dyed drider silk adorned with platinum buttons with platinum filled enchantments carved and poured into them. Its skeletal form was adorned with a platinum crown and rings. It carried no wand, staff, or scepter but simply let its arms lay limply at its sides. Even only sixty feet away from it, Isaac couldn’t sense the being at all. Its bare bones were polished to an almost mirror finish that, along with the platinum, scattered the violet light of the portal in all directions. It almost seemed to glow with magical power.

“THE HUMANS ARE DOING BETTER THAN ANTICIPATED.” It spoke. Isaac had no idea why the thing had to speak at such a volume that made everything rumble with its words but it seemed incapable of being subtle, even with its own monologues. Its head suddenly snapped towards Isaac and Lenna without warning. This gave them a clear view of the blazing orbs of perverted death mana that filled its empty eye sockets. He reached out towards them with his palm. “COMMAND: BE UNDONE.” He ordered them, or maybe it was existence itself in their location, and a branch of reality destroying force suddenly appeared.

Isaac and Lenna dove in opposite directions as the Disintegrate punched through the space they had just occupied. Lenna’s invisibility started to fade as soon as they had lost contact and Isaac had no choice but to let it. He let his own invisibility fade as well. Now was his favorite part of every confrontation; villain banter. “What a rude way to greet a guest.” Isaac purred as he appeared, drenched in shadows, with only his eyes visible.

Lenna appeared ten feet to his left at the same time with shadows wafting off of her like steam in a hot spring. “Agreed.” She added and made a show of brushing off her shoulder of any dust that might’ve clung to her.

“HAHAHAHAHA!” The floating skeleton laughed in what would have been a belly laugh had it not been conjured and resonated through magic. “I LIKE YOU.” It told them. “I AM SHAMSHA V’NOVA, LORD OF UNDEATH, RETIRED EXECUTIONER OF CONTANTIS.”

“Lord?” Isaac questioned. “Shamsha?”

The skeleton’s body language abruptly became almost hostile. “MY MOTHER GAVE ME THAT NAME AND I WILL NOT HAVE IT MOCKED!” The skeleton roared.

“I wasn’t mocking you.” Isaac replied calmly. “I was only curious. You called yourself a Lord but you have a Lady’s name.”

“YOU ARE THE ONE THAT KILLED MY GRANDNEPHEW.” The skeleton stated. “WHAT ARE YOU?” He demanded. “I MUST KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR CORPSE.”

“I’ll tell you if you lower your volume down to normal levels like a civilized creature.” Isaac shot back. “You are obnoxious.”

It looked like the skeleton really wanted to immediately attack Isaac but it somehow managed to hold itself back. “Fine.” It spoke at a much lower volume that could still be heard over the sounds of marching skeletons. The skeletons hadn’t taken notice of them at all. “What are you?”

“I am Isaac Wexler, Lord of all that is Dark, the rumored human demigod of Darkness.” Isaac introduced himself. “Now, Shamsha, why have you attacked Safeharbor? Was it for revenge? If it was then why are your skeletons ignoring us now?”

“They have orders to return that cavern to how it once was.” Shamsha replied. “After you fled I gave them the order and they have yet to finish carrying it out. It should not be too long now.”

“Will you withdraw them?” Isaac asked diplomatically.

“Will you kill yourself?” Shamsha retorted. He seemed to be studying Isaac and Lenna closely like he was reading their every weakness but neither of them felt any new stirring of mana.

“How are you hiding from me?” Isaac questioned. “Dark creatures do not simply hide from me. What makes you so special?”

“HAHAHAHA!” Shamsha burst into laughter. “NOT EVEN LUA CAN SEE ME! I made sure of that a long time ago.”

“Some kind of magic shield against divination that is far stronger than anything we have.” Lenna told Isaac calmly. “It would be nice to learn it.”

“If he won’t turn his army back then we must end him or the army or both.” Isaac replied calmly. “Hiding skills or not, this man should be dead. He is a perversion of death and it grates on my nerves.”

“Arrogant, insolent, adolescent, shitstain.” Shamsha said to Isaac. “FEAR ME AND DIE! DIE I TELL YOU!” Three waves of magic rolled out from him in rapid succession. They crossed the distance faster than the speed of sound and slammed into Isaac with the force of a fifth and a ninth level spell. The first ninth level spell was eaten up by Isaac’s amulet, that saved his life once per day, so Isaac had never even felt that one. The second ninth level spell continued to pour more and more mana out until Isaac’s heart was crushed under its force. The Fear on the other hand did the exact opposite of what Shamsha had anticipated. It did exactly what Lenna thought it would. After all, she was the first one to realize that Isaac, the battle junkie, lacked a flight response.

Isaac launched at Shamsha as the fear took hold of his psyche. His heart was quickly put back together, much to Shamsha’s surprise, so the word of power hadn’t even slowed him down. “Isaac!” Lenna called out after him. “Shit.” She swore and took off in a run towards the skeleton and her mate while she spoke the chant for her Armor of Ire.

Isaac’s mind had been entirely overtaken with an instinctual need to kill the being that was assaulting him. His spell had completely overpowered the divination protection of Isaac’s ring and washed through his mind with more intensity than he could deal with. Isaac hadn’t received proper training on dealing with mental attack spells, that was why he had the ring in the first place, but even if he had, the outcome would have probably been the same. The skeleton was simply too old and powerful for Isaac’s mind to put up proper resistance to the spell. It was like trying to stop a flash flood with an overturned wagon, the water just went around even as it pushed it aside.

Isaac was burning power at an alarming rate as his boosting skill started up almost on its own. His sword appeared in his right hand and claws made of shadows on his left. Death flames started to coat both weapons before some part of Isaac’s consciousness managed to fight back enough to cancel the outgoing death flames. He could feel the hold of the spell breaking as his overwhelming magical power tried to shunt it out of the way. If given a few more moments the spell would have broken but Isaac was already right in front of the skeleton.

Lenna watched as Isaac’s berserk state shrugged off the skeleton’s spells. The first was chain lightning that was supposed to catch both of them but Isaac’s armor quickly grounded it. The next was a Reality Bind of some kind but the power pouring off of Isaac and his enhanced strength broke it like a bull running through a glass door. That time the skeleton actually looked surprised and recoiled slightly. It followed up with a Disintegrate that Isaac hadn’t dodged. Instead something she hadn’t even though possible happened. The branch of disintegration was met by a throwing spike in mid air. It looked to Lenna like Isaac’s body had just moved on its own to hit the incoming attack with one of his own.

She watched as Isaac leapt into the air at the skeleton and his sword was met by a small Reality Shield without Shamsha even needing to chant it. Isaac’s claws met the same fate and then suddenly Isaac was flying towards the wall at the speed of an arrow. A near deafening sound of rolling thunder accompanied him. A fireball exploded before Isaac could hit the ground and Lenna was washed in heat that she easily shrugged off.

Isaac was catapulted into the ground without losing very much of his backwards momentum. He hit the stone and tumbled and twisted, skipped and spun, until he finally slammed into the castle wall. “Isaac!” Lenna called out. “Focus!”