Mira came through the portal quickly, whispering the words of her Shadowmeld spell as soon as she set foot in the cobblestone courtyard on the shadiest side of the temple. Her form seemed to blend into the shadow, still present, but very difficult to see for all but the most alert foes. She settled into the darkest shade she could find to inspect her surroundings for herself.
The Temple of the Overgod in Aerie was a very extensive building that was added onto many times over the centuries. Each part of the structure seemed to have its own character as a result. The main sanctuary of the temple was a massive rectangular building that thrust out of the center of the complex and was bordered with columns that were ten to fifteen feet thick on all three sides. Behind the multi-columned rectangular sanctuary was a circular domed building that the other buildings in the complex all radiated from like spokes on a wagon wheel. Although a better description might be like strands on a spider’s web. The place had no feeling of benevolence to it at all. To the contrary, there were stone gargoyles carved with their mouths wide open that would vomit forth the rainwater around the perimeter of each rooftop. The gargoyles were quite a shocking architectural contrast from the white stone and the bright blue roof tiles the temple was built of. There was a dark film on the surface of the temple that, though thin, still gave the shadows depth, and that filth was what provided her with a hiding place.
Mira only superficially took in the architecture of the building, though. She was looking for dark places she could hide while avoiding every living thing in the area. She knew all too well that anyone and everything could be a deadly shapeshifter in disguise. Mira had put on a brave face when agreeing to scout the temple, but secretly she didn’t like this idea at all. She only volunteered for this to keep her friends from harm. The steady rain drenched Mira in a few moments, so she chose her course hurriedly.
Securely wrapped in her Shadowmeld spell, Mira snuck along the perimeter of the central domed building, trying to reach a large doorway ahead of her undetected. Though all the entrances to the temple were unguarded, she didn’t want to run face first into something that was exiting the same time she was sneaking in. She couldn’t see into the building, so she had to pause for a moment outside the doorway to listen carefully. Hearing nothing, she carefully opened the door little by little. It didn’t squeak, nor did she hear anything within, so she opened the door just enough to let her squeeze through. She closed the door behind her and looked around carefully but quickly. The interior of the central building was completely open, empty, and had a dark gray stone floor. The meager light coming from windows higher in the walls was the only illumination on this dim, rainy day. She could hear footsteps and a low-voiced conversation close by and to her left, so she knew she had to move. Mira used a cleaning spell to remove the rain from her dark clothing and boots so a trail of water would not give her away, then crept along the shadowy wall away from the voices to her right. Mira moved along the perimeter of the large room towards the main temple building with all the columns to try to get a peek inside.
There were two large archways going into the main sanctuary from the hub, and Mira peeked around the corner to see what was inside. It was surprisingly empty. There was a large dais to her left between the archways where a gigantic statue of a smiling, benevolent god stood holding its arms wide in welcome to everyone who came in. There was almost no one in the main sanctuary, however. Not seeing anything exciting or dangerous here, Mira looked again at the central chamber. Towards the center of the huge chamber was an opening in the floor that she only now saw thanks to her night vision adapting to the available light. She looked up and saw nothing but the domed ceiling high above. There were many doors in the walls of this room that led into other parts of the complex, but her gut told her that the places that needed to be seen were down below. She swallowed her fear with a nervous gulp and waited for the two conversing men to leave the area. When they disappeared into a doorway on the opposite side of the hall, Mira quickly but silently moved to the central stairway down.
There was no railing to protect anyone from falling into the shaft, so Mira moved right up to the edge of it and peeked over. The opening was around forty to fifty feet across and went down farther than she could see. It was only dimly lit by softly glowing globes here and there that provided a dull yellow light to those who would walk down the ramp that went around the perimeter of the shaft. She activated her favorite magic item, which Whizzbang had made and called a Gravity Adjusting Survival Pendant, or a G.A.S.P. for short, then walked over the edge. Her center of gravity immediately adjusted to keep her upright on the side of the shaft as if she was walking across the level ground. She decided to stay away from the ramp and the lamps to move around with the least possible risk of detection, then began her descent.
Mira thought that the most important places would be the furthest from exterior exits, so down she went. As she carefully descended, she began to hear more activity. She could hear skittering things, scratching things, grinding things, and even some chitinous clacking sounds. The further down she went, the less the stone looked as if it was worked by tools. The ramp and the archways leading off into the darkness around her looked like they were chewed or scratched out of the solid bedrock. Things moved through the dark just out of sight. If she was afraid before, now she couldn’t even label her feelings. Mira began to breathe very quickly and shallowly. Knowing she was in danger of fainting, she stopped and hid in a dark crevice to get a grip on herself. ‘They can’t see me,’ she thought to herself over and over. After a few moments, her breathing slowed to a more manageable rate.
As Mira considered her next move, an antenna with a quivering, feathery tip slowly extended from a tunnel just above her and moved around in a slow circle. Mira saw it and used magic to propel herself through the shadows in the opposite direction, straight down the shaft. She couldn’t travel through the shadows more than fifty or sixty feet at a time, but she could do it quite a few times before she ran out of energy. This was definitely one of those times when she felt it was needed. Deeper down the shaft she went. Looking back, she saw the thing with the antenna came fully out to the ramp and wave two antennae around the place she had just been. Then the antennae both dipped down to point straight at Mira. From somewhere on its undulating, flowing body, it roared, loud and long. Mira froze in fear. For a long moment, there was only silence.
Then the roar of alarm was answered by many others. The sounds of movement Mira heard before were amplified as countless numbers of things began to move towards the shaft. Knowing that to be trapped in the shaft would be the death of her, Mira entered the shadows near her and reappeared inside a tunnel on the opposite side of the shaft. Though she was hidden by the shadows still, the place was lit here and there by some softly glowing fungi, and she could dimly see things with quickly shifting bodies coming towards her from deeper in the tunnel with great speed. Knowing she couldn’t go back to the shaft, she dove into the shadows near her again and went further down the tunnel she was in, emerging on the opposite side of the group of things rushing towards the shaft. Mira didn’t look back. In sheer terror, she delved through the shifting shadows and moved deeper into the unknown.
There was a tunnel entrance to her right, and since it was on the same side of the tunnel she was on, she took the turn. Something else moved down the tunnel towards her, so she entered the shadows again and emerged behind it, moving as silently as she knew how. There were more tunnels going in different directions she saw as she went, and she ended up taking a few turns because of the noise of movement down one tunnel or another. Sometimes she entered chambers and immediately fled, fearing to be trapped in one. Roars, shrieks, and sometimes phrases in the common tongue echoed weirdly through the tunnels as Mira crept along. On the edge of panic, she could hear small sounds from all sides and knew they were closing in.
Mira snuck as quickly and quietly as she could through the darkened passages only to turn a corner and see the shapeshifter with the feathery antennae crouching not ten feet from where she stood. Its antennae were quivering, and it had arms with crab pincers on the ends that were poised to grab her. Mira leapt back around the corner just as it sprung at her. A loud clack sounded by her neck, and she could feel the wind of disturbed air at the close miss. There were more shapes that could barely be seen behind her! She hadn’t even heard them coming! Mira dove into the shadows and emerged a short distance behind the thing with the antennae. She kept moving, barely ahead of the nightmare pursuing her, now hopelessly lost in the barely lit tunnel complex.
-----
Elle, Bran and Jeron watched the view of the temple courtyard intently. Around a half an hour into their vigil, Bran started to shift his weight from foot to foot. I fidgeted on the Throne and tried to focus on Mira directly again. It showed the gray nothingness I didn’t really want to see. I changed the view to scan around the buildings, finally coming to rest on the place where Mira disappeared from view. The minutes slowly crept by, but still Mira didn’t come out of the temple complex as she said she would.
“Something’s wrong,” I said as I tapped my fingers on the arm rest of the throne.
“She may have lost track of time,” Bran said as he crossed his arms.
“Let’s give her a couple more minutes,” Elle said.
We watched and waited, but still Mira didn’t return. I put my gauntlets on and picked up my shield. Bran and Elle noticed the action and shared a look between them. They put their gauntlets on and picked up their shields also.
“Mira wouldn’t wait this long to come out. She’s in trouble,” I said.
I scanned around the perimeter of the entire complex again but didn’t see Mira.
“Uh, oh. There are more people going into the temple than there were, and they’re walking fast,” Elle said.
“And there’s no one coming out,” Bran finished.
“I’m going in. You’ll need to stay far away from me. I’ll provide a distraction so you two can try to find Mira,” Jeron said.
“All right. Put us where Mira went in,” Bran said as he lowered his visor. He drew Vengeance.
“You got it. I’ll knock on the front door. Loudly.”
I really didn’t like the thought of doing something this dangerous without some sort of plan or backup. I brought the point of view to the door that Mira used that went into the main domed building and activated a portal. Bran and Elle wasted no time in passing through it and hugged the wall, crouched and waiting for my distraction. After closing that portal, I brought the point of view to the front entrance of the main sanctuary of the Temple of the Overgod, activated another portal as quickly as I could to distract any enemies from Bran and Elle, then stepped through. I commanded the portal to close immediately and drew my mace. Summoning as much magical power as I could hold, I activated all my personal protection spells and focused them into the diamond embedded into the cuirass of my plate armor. After activating a flying spell, I flew up and hovered twenty to thirty feet off the ground.
There was an immediate and startling response. Vaguely, I could hear something like a set of massive trumpets sounding from someplace deep inside the temple. It was answered by inhuman cries throughout the building and the closest few blocks of the city. Looking around warily, I could see winged shapes lift off from different points of the city, especially around the royal family’s castle. Knowing it would only be a few seconds before they reached me, I closed my eyes in concentration and prepared to summon the fire.
Bran and Elle heard the sound of trumpets from within the domed structure and the answering cries from both within and without the temple complex. A few moments later the ground shook slightly with the footsteps of something massive.
“Oh, boy,” Bran said. He could feel the evil around him closing in, but whatever was inside this building was truly huge with an evil in its heart to match its size.
“Something big’s inside the dome,” Elle said unnecessarily.
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“At least we know where to look,” Bran said. Vengeance glowed with a bright holy light that couldn’t be extinguished. “Lord God, please protect us from harm.” A golden glow enveloped both Bran and Elle, and they could feel God’s blessing settle on them.
Elle looked skyward, heedless of the raindrops getting into her eyes, and saw the winged shapes flying with speed towards where Jeron must be. “Lord God,” Elle prayed, bowing her head, “I don’t know what to pray for. Please help Jeron in his battle against this darkness.”
The clouds above the entire city began to swirl and the rain stopped coming down. Lightning flashed through the clouds and peals of thunder sounded. The air above the temple began to swirl with great force, making flight impossible as chunks of hail the size of a man’s thumb began to pelt the ground around the temple. None of the hail came within ten feet of Bran and Elle, however. They could hear the chaos of much roaring coming from within the domed building as flashes of light and explosions began booming at the entrance to the temple.
“Sounds like Jeron’s getting the party started,” Bran said.
“We’ll go in after they go to the sanctuary,” Elle said over the thunder.
-----
Mira moved as fast as she could through the shadows. She was hopelessly lost and knew that her shortsword and daggers would be meager weapons against the things stalking her. Sweat poured down her face as she concentrated fiercely. She stepped through the shadows once again to try to confuse her pursuit. She knew I wouldn’t be able to see her down here with the throne, so help was not going to come. She was close to despair.
Despite her efforts, that damned Xerith with the antennae crept around a corner on six chitinous legs. It kept its crablike pincers at the ready, and suddenly sprouted a couple of whiplike tentacles, which it flailed around the area. It stalked straight towards the place Mira was hiding, and she knew she had to do something drastic or die there. She looked carefully at the monster, looking for the thickest, most central place on its body. That’s where its core would be.
“Here goes nothing,” Mira whispered.
As soon as Mira whispered that, the Xerith knew where she was and charged. Mira was counting on that and shifted through the shadows to emerge on the monster’s back. With all her strength, Mira drove both blades straight down and into the Xerith’s body. She could feel the blades pierce its tough hide, then muscle, then something harder. The Xerith screamed out in pain and flung itself in a circle to try to throw her off. Mira knew this was coming and held onto her blades with all her flagging strength, causing even more damage. The monster took a few steps rapidly forward, trying to run away, but Mira held on in a crouch. As soon as its inertia passed to Mira, she sprang up slightly, then landed feet first on top of her blades, driving them into the Xerith all the way to the hilts. With a final death scream, the monstrosity collapsed, skidding into a rocky wall. Hearing the sounds of other Xerith closing rapidly, she ripped her blades free and used some of her dwindling energy to shift further down a dark tunnel, trying to sense which direction they’d be coming from. They were everywhere!
Suddenly a sound like a dozen trumpets blared from the darkness. Mira hugged the wall and froze, shrouded by the shadows. The sounds coming from the darkened tunnels started receding, getting further away. Mira actually sobbed in relief, her head resting against the damp stone wall. Only the presence of a powerful wielder of magic would evoke such a strong reaction from the Xerith, and she knew I was there somewhere causing a distraction. Gathering herself, she resolved to get out of here and not let whatever was happening above be for nothing. Mira started looking for a way up and out, preferably away from the sounds of heavy footfalls around her.
-----
I hovered in the rain as the clouds began to swirl above me. Feeling the breeze, I glanced above to see the clouds churning and lightning flashing, knowing that this must be something that Elle asked God to do. The scope of this power was vast, much greater than anything I could ever hope to do. Having already protected myself from fire, I summoned elemental fire around me in quantities that I hadn’t attempted since I nearly met my end in Mithram. The fire around me swirled like a circular tornado that waited to be unleashed. I saw the winged shapes beginning to close in fast, so I began hurling spears of fire at them as fast as I could mentally direct them. Xerith began dropping from the sky to crash in smoking ruin on the cobblestones. I spun round and round, trying to keep them from rushing me. I missed one that came from directly above, but it was burned to cinders almost immediately in my aura of flame, its ashes disappearing on the wet cobbles below me. I channeled more fire, knowing that they were going to come at me from the temple any second now.
Hail the size of my thumb had begun falling a few seconds ago, but now there was hail streaking from the sky that was bigger than a man’s fist and hitting the temple hard enough to break roof tiles. It had a devastating effect on the fliers coming at me from the city and the castle, and very effectively clubbed them all right out of the air to land in broken heaps. I knew that wouldn’t stop them completely, but it would stop them from flying, something I was profoundly thankful for right then. I turned in the air until I could see the entrance to the temple. Only a few seconds had passed, but there were already things of various deadly shapes beginning to erupt from the open doors.
Concentrating, I began to conjure the fire and concussive power into spheres that I hurled into their midst. Those spells exploded with great heat, and though Xerith were somewhat resistant to magic, they couldn’t dodge or protect themselves enough to keep my spells from killing them by the dozens. I hovered in a halo of fire and rained death on them as the shapeshifters flung themselves at me without thought or reason.
Lightning began striking the ground where pockets of Xerith were emerging from the city and the castle behind me, and the sound was deafening. It wasn’t something I was doing, and I thanked God for His help. The flashes of light were intensely bright even though I wasn’t looking at them. I could hear the cries of bestial rage outside my field of vision, and all I could do was to trust that divine intervention would keep me from being swarmed from behind as I concentrated on the Xerith that streamed out of the temple like a lanced boil. The tide of Xerith suddenly stopped at a trumpet blast from within, and the ones still alive near the entrance began crawling back into the building. I hit them with everything I had and scoured the courtyard with flame to make sure none there still breathed as I advanced to the gates of the temple. The deadly hail suddenly stopped. I took a moment to look around me and saw that there was no visible damage to the buildings surrounding the temple complex. All the hail and lightning were confined to the plaza surrounding the temple itself. It made me feel better to know that the citizens were not harmed in all of the destruction.
I brought myself closer to the entrance, still hovering at around thirty feet, and still channeling as much fire around me as I could. I threw a ball of fire into the sanctuary close to the entrance and heard the pained shrieks from those within. I decided I would blast my way in, and knowing how the Xerith could climb and fly, I would hit every square inch of the floor, walls and ceiling of the place before I advanced. Nothing I could see would live. The lives of my friends depended on it.
-----
Bran and Elle stayed close to the doorway outside the temple in a small area that was completely unaffected by the hail and lightning strikes hitting the building. The explosions at the front of the temple kept booming, so they knew I was still fighting. The sounds from inside the building died down considerably after a minute. Bran opened the door a crack to see what was inside waiting on them.
“The place is almost empty,” Bran told Elle. “It’s one huge room without any walls inside, and there are only a few of the Xerith close to the center of the room.”
“So no place for us to hide, and no place for an ambush,” Elle said.
“Yeah. The Xerith in the center may be guarding something. It’s hard to see in there.”
“Sounds like we’ll have to fight them if we want to find Mira,” Elle said.
“I agree,” Bran said. “We can take four of them. Ready?”
“Lord God, please protect us and grant us the strength to defeat Your enemies,” Elle prayed. Both of them could feel a measure of divine strength filling them, which gave them confidence.
Elle took a deep breath, then nodded. Bran opened the door and strode in with Elle close behind him. In the dim light of the domed building, the sudden addition of the golden light surrounding Bran and Elle was instantly noticeable. The four Xerith still in the room turned and charged, brandishing bony blades and spikes at the end of whatever arms and tentacles they had. Unfortunately, there were several more Xerith who were lurking unseen in some sort of central pit that popped up and charged right behind the original four. The lead shapeshifters were extremely fast, and they hit the shields of Bran and Elle at a full run, trying to overrun the two insignificant people invading their sanctum. Bran held firm with the divine strength he wielded, and the one striking Elle rebounded off her shield with a loud clang and skidded back ten feet on the stone floor.
“Better to fight against the wall,” Bran said as he fought.
Elle blocked another attack, which rebounded and slashed open the side of the Xerith facing her. “You don’t say?” Elle gritted out.
Bran and Elle slowly backed up a little bit until they were only a few feet from the exterior wall. The shapeshifters tried their best to flank them or separate them, but both Bran and Elle were wise to their tricks and held their ground side by side. Two of the Xerith fought Bran, pounding at him with club-like tentacles and slashing with scythe-like appendages, but nothing could get through the divine blessing and the adamantine plate armor he wore. He struck back with Vengeance, shearing off limbs with each swing. Elle only seemed to be wearing common clothes, but under them was the adamantine chainmail. With her magic shield, the Reflector, she was quite well protected. Elle’s strikes were measured and effective even if she wasn’t wielding a holy sword like Vengeance. Every time she blocked an attack, the appendage striking her shield would rebound and strike the Xerith instead. The shapeshifter attacking Elle must have realized this, and it switched to attack Bran instead.
The other Xerith had reached the battle by this point, and they pressed in from all sides, attacking frantically. Blows came in at them from every direction, and both Bran and Elle did their best to block each one with a minimum of effort. They knew that the side that tired first was done for. One by one, Bran slew the Xerith with powerful blows from Vengeance, which burned them wherever it touched them because of their demonic origins. After more than two minutes of fighting, only four of the Xerith remained. One of the three Xerith fighting Bran lashed out with tentacles that had serrated barbs on the edges and wrapped around his greaves. The shapeshifter heaved, but Bran swung Vengeance around backhanded and slashed through the tentacles, severing them in a spray of dark ichor and a screech of pain. Bran pressed forward slightly and struck down the three Xerith facing him in short order. Elle finished off the last Xerith before her a second after Bran finished his three.
“Are you all right?” Bran asked as he panted for breath.
“Fine,” Elle said. She was breathing heavily also, and both were covered in the dark ichor that served the shapeshifters as blood.
Sounds of roars and explosions came from the main sanctuary, which they could see looked to be lit by torches on the other side of two large archways. They both knew it wasn’t torches lighting that place up, though.
“Jeron’s in there,” Elle said. “Any idea where Mira is?”
“There are doors leading to multiple wings of the place. Where would she have gone?”
Elle looked around the huge chamber. “She could be anywhere.”
“What if those Xerith we just fought were cutting off her escape?” Bran suggested.
“That makes sense. You think she went down the stairs?”
“It’s the most inconvenient place for her to be, so yeah. I think she went down.” Bran concentrated. I can feel the presence of some of them a little ways below us and over there, but the rest are in the main temple.”
“That must be where Mira is. Let’s go!”
Bran and Elle went down the stairs as quickly and cautiously as possible, with Bran in the lead. He was wary for an ambush from any of the side passages they passed, but he never wavered from his course. For her part, Elle knew he would never let anything sneak up on her, and she was completely confident in Bran’s judgement despite the circumstances.
Halfway down the shaft, Bran entered a passage at a jog. He took a left and a right turn, and both Bran and Elle could hear sounds of movement ahead. That, and the panting of very large things somewhere in the dark. The duo rounded a corner to the left, and nearly ran into a set of jaws twice the size of Bran’s head. Bran yelled in surprise, despite the fact he knew it was close by, and brought his shield up higher to defend. The monster slashed and bit in a frenzy, but it couldn’t get through Bran’s armor. Bran scored a solid hit against it as the beast tried to overbear him. Elle stepped up and flanked it, shield leading, and stabbed at it twice in quick succession. When its head swung Elle’s way, Bran pressed forward and ran it through. Vengeance burned it from the inside out, leaving the shapeshifter in a smoking heap.
Just in time, too. Another of them came running around the corner from behind, trying to attack Elle, as she looked to be the easiest target. She heard it coming, though, and swung the Reflector around to meet its charge. Despite its size and speed, the Xerith was stopped in its tracks, and multiple wounds opened on its body as its own attacks were reflected back on it. It drew back in confusion as Bran quickly stepped forward and hacked it a few times. Soon, it moved no more.
“That way,” Bran said as he began moving again.
Together, Bran and Elle moved quickly through very dark, roughly dug tunnels. With the exception of the eerie fungi, the only light came from the glow of Vengeance and their protective magics, but they advanced as fast as they could anyway. They heard a startled grunt, and Bran took a right-hand turn. About thirty feet down the passage, there was a Xerith that snapped at something in the darkness ahead of it with a massive scorpion’s claw. No one saw it happen, but Mira travelled through the shadows to a point behind where her friends were charging. As Brana and Elle advanced, it seemed to look quickly to the left and right, then turn around and focus on Bran and Elle. It charged. Elle lightly ran ahead of Bran and extended her shield, effectively running straight into the charging Xerith. It rebounded from Elle with all the momentum of both their charges to crash into the left-hand wall with great force, stunning it. Bran was on it in an instant, hacking with abandon. In seconds, it was still.
Mira emerged from the shadows and stumbled towards her friends, looking utterly spent. “Oh, God, I’m so glad to see you.”
