God Mage (22 page)

Sitting up, Bren noticed that Brenda was
already waking the other two, though her eyes were focused on the
darkness and her hand already held her sword. Once everyone was
awake, they formed a tight circle with Faye in the middle. Unlike
the others, Faye was almost useless without her powers, as she had
little real training with a blade. If Bren had known that this
would have happened, he would have brought Hayao with him instead,
though he had to admit that having her nearby calmed his
nerves.

Unlike last time, there were no scraping
noises. This time it was more like a light banging in the distance.
It sounded almost as if someone was tapping on the ground with a
tiny hammer. Before long, it started to sound as if more hammers
had joined in the tapping. It didn’t take long before the tapping
grew louder and louder then it suddenly stopped.

The noise had been bad enough, but when it
suddenly stopped, Bren could feel fear grip his heart. It was so
quiet that Bren could hear his heart beating in his chest. One,
two, three loud beats then a loud screech filled the air, and the
tunnel was suddenly filled with numerous little creatures no bigger
than a foot tall. They looked a little like rats that walked on two
legs. Bren tried to count them, but as more rushed into sight, he
lost count, but he was sure that there were far more than a
hundred. Each creature carried a small sword or other weapon that
looked almost toy-like in their tiny hands.

The small creatures circled around the group
as they snarled and made screeching noises. Once Bren and the
others were completely, surrounded the creatures began to hop up
and down, then they attacked.

Bren swung his sword but the low angle of the
attackers made it a bit awkward, and his sword flew inches above
their heads. He felt the little weapons hit his skin but he knew
without looking that they hadn’t broken the skin, but from the
sounds from his friends, they were not as lucky.

The little creatures passed over them then
came back for a second round. This time Bren bent his knees a
little more and swung again. His sword met with meat, and he cut
through half a dozen of the small monsters. Though the small
creatures were dying by the score, they carried on
relentlessly.

Soon the tiny creatures were crawling all
over, stabbing, and biting wherever they could find a hold. Even
Bren with his iron skin felt their stings as they got ahold of the
more sensitive areas. Bren reached and grabbed one of the creatures
and threw it to the floor and stomped on it. He heard a slight
squeak then a pop as the creature’s body broke. Turning around,
Bren saw one of the creatures pulling at Faye’s hair. Being careful
not to cut her long flowing hair, Bren stabbed the small
creature.

The creatures continued to swarm them, Bren
and the others continued to fight. It looked like there would be no
end to it, then just as quickly as they had appeared, they rushed
off back into the darkness.

“What in the nine hells were those things?”
Cass asked as he slipped his sword away and began to check himself
to make sure one of them weren’t still on his person.

“Talamers,” Phena said in a disgusted voice.
“Little rats love to eat flesh, and they don’t really care where it
comes from.”

“They had weapons,” Bren said as he picked up
one of the small swords that lay on the ground. “Not much of one,
but they had them all the same. That would suggest that they are
not just normal animals.”

“Yes. The rats have brains,” Phena said,
kicking one of the dead creatures. “Long ago, one of the Vathari
mages thought to try and create his own army, but they didn’t turn
out like he wanted. The Talamers were the result, and since then
they have been a plague on everything that lives in the Underdark.
They dig, burrow, and breed without care of anything.”

“You really don’t like them,” Cass said
almost with a laugh.

“They are abominations born of our own
making,” Phena said. “I would be happy if they were wiped from the
world. They offer nothing of value, they only eat and destroy.”

“Enough talking, I think we need to move on
before they decide to come back with more of their friends,” Cass
said as he started packing up his gear. Everyone quickly did the
same, and they were once again walking aimlessly through the
darkness.

His body tired and his mind exhausted, Bren
could do little but watch the back of his friends as he walked. It
was during this time the words, which had seemed a jumble at first,
started to come to order. They called out to him. He recognized the
voice as his mother’s voice. It was the voice she used when she was
mad. She yelled at him about everything he had ever done. She
cursed him for what he was doing now. It didn’t take long before
Bren found himself yelling back into the darkness, though his words
were directed at his mother.

“Yelling at them won’t do you much good,”
Phena said hitting Bren hard on the face. “They aren’t real, it is
simply a spell.”

“If it is a spell then where is the magic?”
Bren asked his face turning red in anger. “I can’t even feel the
slightest hint of magic anywhere.”

“There isn’t any, the spell is cast on the
whole place I believe. I have seen it done before, but not on this
large a scale. You should start thinking of this place like a giant
enchanted item. Somewhere there is a core, and it is what is
controlling everything, including the flow of magic.”

Bren wanted to argue with her, he wanted to
hit her, but one look in Faye’s eyes calmed him. “Sorry,” Bren said
sheepishly. Without any magic, the emotions he had held in check
had run wild, it was almost as if every feeling was rushing him at
once, and Bren was not too fond of that feeling.

Shaking the anger from his mind, Bren thought
about what Phena had said. “A giant enchantment,” Bren repeated to
himself. It was possible if there was a large enough core, though
it would take a gem the size of a house or larger, but considering
how much magical energy was outside, Bren dismissed the thought.
“Knowing that doesn’t really help,” Bren said after thinking
everything through.

“It might not help you get your magic back,
but it will at least let you know what is doing it,” Phena replied,
shrugging her shoulders. “A little information is better than none.
Now, if you’re done yelling at the wall, can we get back to our
walk? The sooner we get out of this hell pit, the better.”

“Sure,” Bren said sourly as his emotions
began to spike again. He thought about apologizing again, but Phena
had already turned and walked away from him.

The voices continued to yell at him, and when
his mother’s calling voice no longer got him to react it changed to
a much darker voice, one that Bren had not heard in a lifetime—his
father’s. It didn’t yell, it spoke calmly, yet with pent up
bitterness as it asked him why he had killed him. It was too much
for Bren to bear, and he hit his knees crying. He pleaded with the
voice to stop, but it wouldn’t, it just kept asking the same
question over and over.

Bren felt a soft touch on his arm and looked
to see Faye smiling down at him. As soon as she spoke, his father’s
voice was lost to his ears, and all he could hear was hers. Bren
found his strength again and began walking, though he didn’t let go
of Faye. He held onto her like a drowning man to a raft.

They walked for ages, but still there was no
sign of an exit. Bren didn’t know how much longer he could take it,
but then he looked to Faye who happily walked beside him, and he
was sure that he would last at least as long as she stood beside
him. Bren wasn’t sure why she had the effect on him, but he was
glad that she did.

When the lantern began to burn low, Cass
called everyone to a halt, so they could refill it with the
monster’s blood. The blood was being used up quickly, but Cass was
sure that it would last them for at least three days, though Bren
was unsure how his friend could tell time in such a place.

Once the lantern was filled, they all took
turns sleeping for a few hours. After everyone was rested, they
returned to their journey through the endless darkness.

T
he passage of time
was impossible to judge as they wandered through the darkness. The
only thing Bren could measure it by was how many times he had been
allowed to sleep. Over the course of what he believed was three
days, they encountered more of the small rat-like creatures, as
well as more of the cave crabs; they also encountered a few other
monsters, but they were not hard to deal with.

The voices still nagged at his mind, but
thanks to Faye, he was able to hold them at bay, but each day they
grew more aggressive. Bren had held strong, but his will was
starting to waiver more and more each day. It was like a small
stream of water eating at the bedrock that was his very soul.

It wasn’t until the end of the third day when
they were starting to prepare for camp that Bren felt a change in
the air. It felt slightly fresher, cleaner than the air he had been
breathing for the past fortnight. “Can you smell that?” Bren asked
Cass, who was pouring some of the cave crab blood into a small bowl
to light the area.

“Yes,” Cass said without looking up at Bren.
“I would guess that we are getting close to an exit. Hopefully, it
will be the exit you are looking for. I don’t relish spending any
more time in this pit than the rest of you.”

“Then why are we stopping?” Bren asked, his
voice holding a slight edge to it.

“We are stopping because we have no clue what
is at the end of the tunnel. If we can smell fresh air, then the
exit has to be close; most likely less than an hour’s walk. I would
prefer it if everyone was well rested…just in case there is trouble
awaiting us.” Cass spoke with a little hitch to his voice, and Bren
could tell that Cass had to force himself not to run toward the
exit.

Everything inside of Bren screamed at him to
run toward the exit. It was a fierce feeling inside of his gut that
twisted his stomach and made him want to vomit.

Bren returned to where Faye waited and took
solace in her company. He was so close to his goal, and yet he was
being forced to wait. That news more than anything ate away at
him.

Bren could tell that Faye knew something was
bothering him, but she didn’t put it into words, it was just the
look on her face, and she gently stroked his back when he sat down.
Bren looked at her and the pain in his chest slowly drained away.
He was uneasy still, but not nearly as much as he had been moments
before.

That night as he slept, Bren found his dreams
as troubled as his waking moments. He dreamed of himself entering
the veil and standing in the middle of it was a large shining
doorway of light, and on the other side was his father banging
against the door his face contorted into screams, though Bren could
not hear what he was saying.

Bren rushed over to the doorway and banged
against it. Small ripples moved across the doorway like a stone
thrown into a lake, but the door of light didn’t budge. Bren tried
to pull in magical energy but nothing came to him. He had made it
to the very doorway that he had searched for, had bled for, and
that his friends had died for, and now all they could do was look
through it to the other side.

Large tears ran down his face as he continued
to bang on the door. “Father,” Bren yelled as he dropped to his
knees, his hand sliding down the golden doorway as the image of his
father slowly disappeared.

Thad sat in the darkness still looking at the
empty space where he had watched his son not long ago. He didn’t
know how much time had passed since the small window into the real
world had disappeared, but he had little care to do much of
anything but watch the darkness where his son had once been.

“It seems that your son will be in the vail
soon,” Humanius said with a mixture of sadness and finality in his
voice. “It seems that he is much more resourceful than I gave him
credit for. That or my children were not as ready for him as I had
hoped.”

“What?” Thad asked slightly taken aback by
the god’s words.

“I am telling you that the abyss is about to
be destroyed. You, me, my sister, and all those wandering the
endless darkness will soon be freed from this prison, and the
doorway between your world and the world I came from will be
opened. Let us hope that not all is lost due to your son’s
decision.”

Thad thought about what the god had said. His
son had made it to the vail or would soon be there, and he would be
free. He had heard the god talk about it more than once since his
son had cost him his source of magic from the other side of the
window, though he let the words slip past him at that those times,
more worried about his son than what the god was saying. That had
changed now that it was coming to pass. He knew that the god was
worried that the world would either end or be thrown into a massive
war with the dissolution of the abyss, and Thad just hopped that
his son’s actions didn’t bring such a thing to pass, but at the
moment there was little he could do about it.

As Thad was thinking about what Humanius had
said, a strange voice called from the darkness, catching his
attention.

“Brother, you don’t look well,” the voice
said as a young woman with silver skin and white hair walked into
Thad’s vision.

“Belaroan, I figured you would be arriving
soon,” Humanius said, looking to his sister. “It would seem that
your plan has come to fruition.”

“Yes,” Belaroan said with a slightly twisted
smile. “No matter how many times I tried, I just couldn’t get
through when one of your toys broke, but once, just once I was able
to make a new god. I had tried many times, but since father never
told us how it was done exactly, I had to try many different
things. I think I have outdone myself though, he has turned out
much stronger than either of us.”