Book 2: Chapter 16: Naghelli

Book 2: Chapter 16: Naghelli

“What do you mean you didn’t attack me? Why would you attack me?” Thayla asked after they’d absorbed the Energy from their battle. She squinted at Victor as she jerked her spear out of the monstrous roladii.

“I mean, I was berserk. I’ve totally lost myself in the past when I berserk, but I think I’m starting to get some control.”

“Oh, right. Well, get your axe. Who knows what’s coming next.” She gestured to Lifedrinker, still buried in the back of the roladii’s skull. He nodded and stepped forward, jerking the handle up and down to break the grip of the bone on her blade.

“You said I ‘turned into a giant.’ What do you mean exactly? I know my bloodline does that, but like, when it’s happening, I don’t really feel how big I get.”

“You grew a lot! Like half again as tall as you are now and much bulkier. Not that you’re small normally, heh.”

“That's so fucking wild.” The hoots and growls had died down during their furious melee. Victor and Thayla stood in the quiet misty air, looking up and down the cobbled road. In both directions, it led away into thicker mist and darkness. “This dude was kind of like a boss, don’t you think? I didn’t level, and I don’t see a chest.”

“Yeah,” Thayla grunted, looking around with a scowl. “Well, levels get slower. I told you that.”

“Right. Well, maybe this guy wasn’t a boss. Or maybe not all dungeon bosses give a chest. I guess I don’t have a ton of experience to draw from.”

“More than I do. At least I’m not stuck in a skull this time, hmm?” She punched his shoulder and pointed down the street to their left. “I think that’s the way we’d go on the outside to get to the Ghelli worship hall. Odds are that’s where we need to go.”

“The tether is strongly pulling in that direction, Victor.”

“Thanks, Gorz.” He looked at Thayla and added, “He says that’s the way to go.” She nodded in response, and the two of them advanced down the street, Victor’s light trailing just slightly behind and both gripping their weapons warily. Victor switched his Sovereign Will boost to his agility again, tensing his muscles in anticipation of another surprise attack.

“Victor, what rank, exactly, have you gotten your race to? I’ve never seen someone with a bloodline like yours.”

“I got boosted up to improved, rank one. I found this silvery orb with weird flakes of black floating within. Gorz said it was a delving orb or something like that; it digs through your, I dunno, DNA or something, looking for bloodlines.”

“DNA?”

“Um, I’m not an expert on the subject, but it’s a scientific term for microscopic material in our cells—all our genetic information is stored in it. That’s why I figure that’s what that orb was ‘delving.’”

“That’s ...” Thayla paused and held a finger to her lips. She gestured to a dark alley between two buildings that had come out of the fog on their left. Standing in a cluster, several strange-looking Ghelli were talking in hushed voices. They were tall, thin like most Ghelli, and their dragonfly wings were like black gossamer with streaks and patterns in shades of ochre and red. Victor and Thayla had stopped moving and were quietly staring at the group when one of them turned to regard them with black eyes.

“What the fuck?” Victor’s voice was a low whisper.

“Naghelli!” Thayla hissed, “I thought they were all gone!”

“Here are the new guests. What have they done with Garran?” an extremely tall Naghelli said, his long, spindly arms stretching out to gesture and guide his companion’s gaze their way. As more and more dark, inky, black eyes turned toward them, Victor straightened and moved more to the middle of the street.

“You guys can speak? Nice touch for a dungeon.”

“Hah, the brute thinks he’s stumbled upon a simple dungeon. What’s this, though? Do you feel it, brothers and sisters?”

“I feel it! The master’s aura is so strong here. Could it be?” One of the female Naghelli stepped forward, her long, silvery hair glimmering in Victor’s light. She wore, like the others, a tightly fitted, lacey, black blouse over silky black pants. Her top’s open neckline exposed a large swath of alabaster chest, and Victor couldn’t help noticing the pulsing red jewel dangling from a chain between her breasts.

While she spoke, the others had begun to fan out in a semi-circle, moving slowly toward Victor and Thayla. The tall man, his black, fathomless eyes squinting, held up his hands, making a box with his thumbs and forefingers, and studied Victor and Thayla through the gap. “It’s finally happened. The master’s phylactery is here. Have you come to join us, then?”

“Join you?” Victor didn’t like the looks of things. These creatures, or people, weirded him out. His unease was more because they were weirdly similar to Ghelli than because of how they looked objectively. It also bothered him that they spotted the phylactery so quickly and now mentioned a “master.”

“Of course; there will be room for servants in our Twilight Empire.” The seven Naghelli had stopped advancing, and though they stood in a loose semi-circle in front of Victor and Thayla, none bore weapons. Victor saw jewelry on their fingers, ears, and necks, however, and he knew better than to consider them unarmed.

“Victor, these aren’t real people—they must be constructs of the dungeon. Naghelli are extinct, killed off in a great war just after the worlds merged,” Thayla said, her eyes jerking from one set of dark eyes to another, her spear pointing out in front of her.

“Extinct? Oh, brothers and sisters! I knew our numbers had dwindled, but is it true? The world thinks we’re gone?” A different, shorter woman spoke this time. She had black curly hair, and her voice dripped with venomous anger. The way she clipped off her words made Victor think that if anyone doubted her existence, she was willing to remedy the misconception.

“Nonsense. We aren’t the only enclave, and you know this,” the tall, original speaker said. He turned to Thayla and continued, “Hiding, regrouping, is not extinct. The time is nearly at hand for us to push forth again. You’re lucky—you get to bear witness to our resurgence.”

“Mmhmm, and what about Belikot?” Victor asked. The entire group of Naghelli hissed and stared at Victor, exposing their very human-like teeth.

“Do not speak his name so frivolously, knave!” The silver-haired woman hissed, spittle flecking her lips in her vehemence.

“So that is the, um, ‘master’ you’re talking about?” Victor pressed.

“Yes, fool, and you’d rather he didn’t wake at the sound of his name in this, his demesne,” the tall Naghelli said, craning his neck and tilting an ear toward the darkness down the street. “You’re luck holds—he slumbers, yet.”

“Victor, you remember those children’s horror stories we talked about back in the mine?”

“Yeah?”

“There are a lot of horrifying stories involving Naghelli. They’re not supposed to exist anymore!”

“Well, they’re tough and fast, that’s for sure. They die alright, though.” Victor shrugged, picking up the pace, tugging on Thayla. They passed to the right of the roladii corpse, turning down the short side street and the forest beyond. They walked past the dead pack of zombie hounds and entered the strange forest with twisted trees and black, feathery leaves. The portal’s glimmer was easy to spot in the distance, with no other lights to obscure or drown it out.

Victor hurried even more, still pulling on Thayla’s wrist. He refused to let go of her because he could only imagine shadowy, quick Naghelli coming out of the shadows to take her or strike her down. Thayla was keeping up, though her breathing was ragged. Victor jogged around one last tall, looming tree, and then they were in the clearing where they’d slain the first pack of zombie hounds, and the shimmering gateway sat on the other side, between two gnarled tree trunks.

Victor stepped into the clearing, and movement from near the portal brought him up short. He stepped in front of Thayla and watched as the silver-haired female Naghelli moved out of the shadows. “I bear a message, warrior.” She had eyes only for Victor, staring at him warily.

“I’m listening.”

“I am Vellia, and you’ve slain my mate, Horol. I know he joined the battle willingly and that you fought fiercely and with honor. I thank you for giving Horol a clean death.” She stood straight, pressing both her palms together in front of her chest, and bowed to Victor. Victor wondered what the hell was going on. He looked around, peering into the shadows around the clearing, but he didn’t see any other Naghelli.

“Is that all? You’re not going to threaten us with your master’s vengeance and shit?”

“My master will most likely celebrate you. With his phylactery in hand, he’ll be free to leave this realm and begin working toward our great cause again.” Victor could feel Thayla growing agitated, and he knew she wanted to say or ask something, but she held herself still. Victor wasn’t sure if it was fear, doubt, or respect that kept her quiet, but he knew she was feeling like shit, and he wanted to get her out.

“Alright, Vellia. I’m not cool with you guys jumping me and stealing my stuff, and I’m really not cool with the versions of your master I’ve met outside this place, so I bet we’ll meet again. I gotta get going.” Victor started walking toward her, Lifedrinker swinging menacingly in his fist, and Thayla trailing behind.

“Can I know your name, warrior?” Vellia asked, stepping to the side, out of his path to the portal.

“His name is Victor, and you should mark it well,” Thayla said, suddenly standing up straight.

“Victor. Yes, I agree, little Shadeni. This one is worth taking note of. Until we meet again, then, Victor.”

“Yep,” Victor said, giving her one last look, taking care to remember the details of her face—her thick silver brows, her long, narrow nose, the bluish tint to the skin in the sockets of her dark, black eyes, and the way her lips curled in a slightly crooked smile. Victor nodded at her and then stepped into the portal, still dragging Thayla by the wrist.

Just as before, he felt the portal’s cold Energy drawing him through, and then he was stepping into the dusty, ruined worship hall in the desolate village of Gel Harra. Thayla came through right behind him, and they looked at each other for a minute, and she sighed heavily.

“What a disaster. We did the opposite of what we wanted to do!”

“It is what it is, Thayla. Shit, chica, at least you aren’t dead. I really thought you were dead for a minute!”

“Yeah, thank you, Victor. You saved my life again. I’m sure I’ll never repay you, but ...” she trailed off, her eyes distant like she was looking for the right way to express herself.

“Hey, I’m not keeping count. What’s the difference between saving someone’s life once or ten times? Either way, you can’t pay it back. You’ve saved my life a couple of times, so we both owe each other everything. Cool?”

“Cool?” she echoed, but then she smiled and said, “Yeah, cool, Victor. Cool.”

“You do get me, don’t you?” Victor reached out and pulled her into a hug, and she didn’t resist at all. She felt much smaller than he’d imagined, and he realized he’d built her up in his mind because of her attitude. “You’re alright, Thayla. Let’s go give Tellen the bad news, then let’s get going to fucking Gelica, eh?”

“Alright, Victor. I’m with you, but only because you promised me you’d deal with Belikot. You are still going to deal with him, right?”

“Yeah, of course. You think I can let some assholes steal my shit and get away with it? No, no. I’ll be paying him another visit after you’re safe with your kid, alright?”

“Right,” she said, standing back from him with a smile. “Let’s hurry; I want to see what the hunters are cooking for dinner.”

“Now you’re talking!” Victor followed her to the crooked door of the partially ruined building, walking through a patch of colorful light cast by the stained glass window. Thayla stepped out, and Victor was right behind her when she fell to a knee, clutching at something in her chest. She tugged at it, and Victor saw the feathers of a tiny, dart-like arrow. Thayla fell to the ground, her legs and arms convulsing as her eyes rolled back in her head.

“Thayla!” Victor cried, diving over her, hoping to protect her from whoever had shot at her. Whistling shrieks heralded the arrival of more arrows and darts, and he felt a sting in his forearm and two more in his thigh. Another hit his calf, and several more sank into his back through the rings of his vest, their narrow, round points easily piercing the armor.

Victor felt like someone was operating a dimmer switch on the sun as darkness crept into his vision. He felt sluggish and slow, but something was bothering him. What was it? “Oh yeah, some fucking pendejos are shooting arrows into me!” he coughed, actually chuckling at how loopy he sounded. No, this wasn’t funny—this was bad! Someone was filling him with darts! Someone shot Thayla! A spark of heat flared in his chest at that thought, and Victor concentrated on it.

With a slow, ponderous buildup, Victor’s heart thudded. It sounded like a base drum, and suddenly his vision flared with a red heat, and the darkness fell back. Victor concentrated on that red, terrible fury in his chest, pushed more rage-attuned Energy out of his Core, and cast Berserk.

“He’s not going down!” a gnat’s voice called.

“Now! Throw the alchemical canister!” another deeper-voiced gnat hollered.

Victor surged to his feet, but just as he started to look around for the enemies he needed to kill, some sort of fog filled the air around him. His face felt numb, and his legs were like jelly. He sat down on his butt and laughed. What was he so angry about? Hadn’t he been shot a bunch of times? Oh, the darts! Victor laughed again, a great, deep belly laugh that shook his shoulders up and down and made it hard to breathe. Why was it so funny? He didn’t know, but he couldn’t stop laughing, and then the darkness started to creep into his vision again, and he laid back, still chuckling between deep, slow breaths.