XXXII.

XXXII.

Naught but black smoke and fiendish heat lived in the east wing following Cianas spirited journey through its halls, torching all that she came across.

Heskel followed close behind as they crossed the threshold into the centre hall, where an organised assembly of demon-slaves and imp sentries surrounded a score of Magisters and their students. Before the defence could charge and corner them, as smoke and flames followed eagerly at their backs, the Brute lifted both his palms at the nearly-sixty-strong ensemble.

Stay behind me.

Ciana obeyed dutifully, having no idea what he was about to do. A few impatient bolts of fire and ice flew past them, though, as a whole, the assembly seemed content to let them surrender and beg for mercy, knowing how many of them were sure to die if they challenged the pair in open combat.

A deep hum emanated from Heskel, and, though she did not understand his alien language, she felt the meaning reverberate in her chest as he sung out-loud the words of his spell:

Nwetrou, Dweller of the Deep, I come bearing gifts to the mouth of your cave!

Nwetrou, Devourer of Suns, I have brought to your event horizon a feast for the ages!

Nwetrou, Leviathan of Leviathans, I pray you will gorge yourself upon my offering!

Nwetrou, open thy Devouring Maw!

The air froze in Cianas lungs, and, for the merest of moments, she saw herself and all that surrounded her lifted off the floor, as an instant surge of water flooded the grand hall. When she blinked, she was on the floor again, nothing different than just a second prior. But then she looked up and saw an enormous shadow swim across the floor, cast by some creature that was invisible to her eyes.

A loud slap came as Heskel smacked his hands together, and then the shadow manifested into reality, tearing through the veil that separated everything logical from everything antithetical to reason.

When Ciana witnessed the Entity, it birthed a migraine that felt like ice-cold nails hammered through her cranium, and she felt blood drip eagerly from her nostrils, as well as burning tears running down her cheeks.

Legions upon legions of eyes, each with the complexity of a galaxy, studded the side of the Leviathan as it broke through the floor, its shadowy skin shedding brackens and underwater plants that immediately turned to water upon contact with reality. Large fins covered in strange flexible protrusions ran down its underside and a single giant fin ran down the length of its spine. Below the bottom of its maw, which opened around the entire group of Magisters, demons, students, and imps, were hundreds of tentacle-like feelers that looked almost like a beard. Above its top jaw were even more eyes. She was terrified at how many of them looked upon her and Heskel, an unfathomable intelligence scrutinising them.

With a tectonic blow that sent a devastating shockwave across the entire Academy and environs, the Leviathan snapped shut its great maw, before diving back into the floor again and leaving behind nothing except a dark bottom-less pond where before had stood a formidable defence barring their passage.

Ciana took a single step back, but found all the strength in her body drained and the migraine taking hold

She awoke in the arms of Heskel, who seemed to have travelled far across the Academy grounds since summoning the otherworldly Entity in the centre hall.

What happened?

The Brute came to a halt and set her down on her own two feet, though it took a few minutes for her regain her balance.

Chthonic Hymn, he answered.

You summoned that thing?

Heskel nodded. Nwetrou is the Lord of the Depths. By invoking him, an aperture to his realm is born. Svalberg will be swallowed by water.

Ciana was not sure she truly understood what he meant, though it seemed that he had acquiesced to her selfish demand of destroying the Academy, though not by turning it to ash, but rather by feeding it to some otherworldly Devourer.

If it will be flooded, dont we have to hurry?

The aperture to his depths will be slow to expand. Time is nothing to a Great One.Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

She looked around and realised where they were.

Are we going to check the crypts next?

The Brute nodded and they set off down the northern wing.

Jakob sampled the newest selection of pastries and cakes that Pernille had brought, while carefully sipping the scalding tea she had made over the fireplace.

Thisone is excellent, Jakob remarked, lifting the half-eaten cake in the air.

The right statue caught the Brutes fist and slammed its free hand into his head with such force that, when Heskels face met the stone wall, the stones cracked from the impact. He quickly grabbed the next punch aimed at his mask, and, with a show of his tremendous strength, lifted the statue into the air, before slamming it down on his knee, splitting the dense body in half.

Ciana had only managed to scratch the other statue guardian with her sword and had realised that her skills were no match for a body that could not be cut, so she devoted all of her attention to simply avoiding its devastating attacks.

After breaking the guardian in half, Heskel crushed its head with his heel and, with a series of punches, reduced the one that Ciana was fighting to clumps of inert stone.

She nodded her thanks, before wondering out-loud, What do we do now?

Heskel looked around the dead-end, then began sniffing the air. Ciana quickly imitated him and caught the scent on the stagnant air. It seemed to be coming through the walls.

Can you break down this wall? she asked, pointing to the dead-end.

He walked right up to the wall and slammed his fists into it, though, aside from an echo that travelled down the length of the serpentine tunnel, nothing seemed to happen. Unperturbed, however, he continued wailing on the wall, until the same reddish light that had been emanating from the statue guardians began to appear in a spider-web pattern all over the stones. For a couple of minutes, Heskel pounded on the wall with tireless single-mindedness, before his efforts bore fruit in an explosion of light and the total disintegration of the stone wall.

As the dead-end wall fell apart, a large octagonal room was revealed, within which a solitary figure was chained to the ground with chains of stone covered in demonic script that glowed with an inner light. In the far end of the room, three Magisters cowered behind an overturned desk.

The trio cast a barrage of spells at them, but Ciana quickly moved across the space, giving the central figure a wide berth, before cutting them apart in a masterful display of swordsmanship.

Behind the upturned desk and dead Magisters, stood a handful of bookcases and shelves, which were brimming with strange-looking tomes, crumbled parchment rolls, and pages so ancient they seemed as though a gentle breeze would break them apart.

Ciana had assumed the Brute would immediately join her to study the texts, as this seemed their best bet at finding what he was looking for. Instead, however, he was standing before the chained figure in the middle of the room.

Whats wrong? she called.

He did not have yell for his voice to reach her. Elphin.

Ciana felt a spike of ice pierce her body at the word. She had not even noticed. She set down the leather-covered tome she had been holding and came over to where he stood.

She was unsure how Heskel had realised the figure was an Elphin, as its horns had been torn off, its hands and hooves were removed, and, most crucially, its wing was missing. An Elphin without its wing was a soulless husk, she had seen it enough times to know that the pitiable creature before them was not long for this world.

It was hard to tell if she was looking at a male or female Elphin, given the young age of the chained figure, but she assumed it was female.

Why does she smell like?

A Daemon

Is that what they smell like?

Heskel nodded.

The scent was like a mixture of all the demons she had had the misfortune of scenting over her lifetime, but there was also an underlying fragment of something else. Demons generally smelled according to the Vices they exemplified, meaning those of Pride, like Cianas mother, had a regal and authoritative smell to them, while those of Wrath smelled like blood and ash.

Ciana could distinguish both of these smells, as well as the smells of burnt fat, cloying decay, acrid metal, ozone, lavender and roses, but also that peculiar fragment of something utterly alien.

When the creature opened its eyes, the right one held two pupils that moved independently of each other, red and emerald green, and the left eye was milky-white.

What happened to her? she asked.

Mass possession.

Possession? As in Demons?

Heskel nodded solemnly. Elphin sacred. For this, Nwetrou is too kind a punishment.

What should we do with her?

He shook his head gravely. She understood what that meant.