Chapter 374 - Beacon of Fire

Chapter ended up very long after the rewrites. Hope you like it!

As Karlac advanced, Hump knew that the fate awaiting him was far worse than death. Death wouldn’t be enough; not after what he did, and certainly while the Book of Infinite Pages was bound to him. The demon needed Hump to name him the inheritor, until that was done, Hump was certain he would not be allowed to die.

So get up.

Hump gritted his teeth, willing his body to move. The moment he shifted his weight, his body betrayed him. A sharp, agonising pain shot through his chest and up his arm, and he collapsed back to the stone floor. The ground was still warm from the fire, and for a brief moment, all Hump wanted to do was surrender to the exhaustion. Gods, he wished he could rest.

But he couldn’t. He had to keep fighting—to survive, not just for him, but Nishari, Celaine, and his friends.

Nearby, Celaine struggled to her feet. Blood streamed from a broken nose, and one eye was swollen shut from the beating Karlac had given her, but she still stood. More than that—she had her bow in hand, an arrow on the string and aimed at Karlac. Her back was to Hump, black cloak draped over her though looking no less defiant from that angle. And there was something else… a shadow that clung to her like a second skin, flowing around her like a breeze, mixing with her cloak. In it, Hump saw a power he had not seen from Celaine, radiating the deadly intent of the huntress.

The sensation grew, shadow expanding from both her and the dagger before it thickened around them.

Hump quickly assessed his injuries. His left arm was completely useless—a mangled, bloody mess that hung limp at his side, feeling more like dead weight than a part of his body. The pain radiated from his shoulder, building down at his hand, which was so damaged he couldn’t even flex his fingers. That wasn’t good. Not good at all. Breathing hurt, so that was at least a rib broken, probably more. The wounds on his neck from where Karlac had clawed him didn’t seem too problematic, but all in all, he was in a bad state. His eyes drifted to where his staff and spellbook lay on the ground, just a few feet away. Through the pain, he dragged himself forward, taking his spellbook and returning it to the sheath at his hip before using his staff to drag himself to his feet.

Hump tucked his staff under his arm and fumbled for his potion pouch, his fingers trembling as he reached inside. His hand closed around one of the powerful healing elixirs Marcela had given him. He tore the cork out with his teeth and downed the contents. Warmth pulsed through him, dulling the pain and giving him a little of his strength back. His left arm was immobile, but a few tentative movements assured him that the rest of his body would obey his commands.

Hump pushed himself to his knees. “Here.” He tossed another of the healing elixirs to Celaine.

The sound of crackling glass snapped his attention back to Karlac. The demon pushed himself up from the shattered remnants of a display cabinet, his single remaining eye burning with malevolent intensity. Hump swallowed hard, fear clawing at him. For all his bravado, he was out of tricks now. He could have destroyed both of Karlac’s eyes and he would still have been screwed.

Celaine downed the elixir without question, letting out a satisfied sigh. “Much better. You got him pretty good there, Hump. His eye’s looking even worse than mine.”

Hump let out a breath of amusement, half in disbelief that Celaine was still willing to poke the demon in this situation.

“Enjoy yourselves while you can,” Karlac said softly. “I will admit, I underestimated your abilities, but I am sure you both understand the disparity between us.”

Hump and Celaine shared a look. They did. They knew it all too well. Yet Hump saw a glint of something else in Celaine’s eyes as they flicked to where Karlac’s throne had been before Hump had burned it. Hump followed her gaze, staring into the dark abyss that had taken the place of the wall.

“I can hear the sound of battle through there,” Celaine whispered, so quietly Hump barely heard it. “Whatever you did, the veil between this world and the Infernal Halls has weakened.”

Hump looked at what remained of Karlac’s throne, the dark abyss of his domain visible through the destruction. In it, he sensed something. Magic that did not belong to any of them. He strained to listen but heard nothing. It didn’t matter. The fact that something had changed was enough. There was still something they could do.

“Get me to it,” Hump said simply. Celaine nodded—they didn’t need to speak more. The plan was already clear. Get to the gap, and burn themselves the rest of the way out.

Hump sensed heat, just as Hellfire erupted from Karlac’s sword. The blazing inferno roared through the chamber. Hump stabbed at it with his staff, using Spell Sculpting as he had practiced, only this time, imbuing it with an additional rune to deflect the demon’s consuming magic.

“Parry Shield,” Hump barked, manifesting the barrier over the focus. It slammed into the blaze and sent it blasting back over Karlac, the flames searching for a new source of food. For a few seconds, they danced around Karlac, catching on his shadowy power and illuminating the well of blood that had been his eye socket before, along with his bloodied cheek. Then the flames dissipated, shadow rising over them and smothering them until the darkness once more veiled him.

“Do not get distracted,” Karlac said, taking a deliberate step closer, the sound of his armoured boot echoing ominously in the chamber. The demon was in no hurry, his single eye fixed on them with predatory focus. A cold chill ran through Hump. Karlac’s utter confidence was a terrifying thing, could he really have missed the breach in his domain? Was this a mistake, or just another way to toy with them?

Hump sensed Nisha’s presence nearby, hidden in the shadows, watching, desperate to come to his aid. Kill. Fight. Protect.

He willed her to remain. He knew what would happen if—when—Karlac got his hands on her. As much as he wanted to honour the old man’s decision to pass the spellbook to him, he knew the moment that happened he would falter. For that reason, she had to remain hidden.

But Hump couldn’t rely on that for long. Karlac was closing in, moving faster than before. His gaze was still on Hump, his massive sword swung with deadly intent. Hump prepared himself to block the magic that followed, but there was no spell attached. This was pure and simple blade-skill.

Celaine acted first, drawing her bowstring back and loosing an arrow at the demon, but Karlac was ready. His heavy swing turned into a quick slash, cutting through the arrow as if it were nothing. Shadows swelled around him, tendrils of darkness surging from his feet and crawling forward.

Fire burned in Hump’s staff as he took aim at the ground, the runes igniting with light, blasting back the darkness with Fire Blast. The dark tendrils recoiled, burned away by the intense flames. But Karlac ignored the inferno, charging through with reckless fury, his armour catching the light of the fire.

Celaine dashed forward, her body a blur of motion as she leapt into the air, twisting mid-flight to plant both feet against Karlac’s chest in a powerful kick. Then, with a burst of energy, she activated Shadow Vault, launching herself off his chest and staggering the demon. It wasn’t much, but it bought Hump a moment to gather his strength.

Seeing an opening, Hump steadied his breath and levelled his staff at Karlac’s chest. Stone formed before him, dust and debris dragged through the air and bound in place as fire consumed it. The searing heat stung at Hump’s face. “Molten Stone.”

A blazing meteor of molten rock shot forward. Karlac snarled viciously, dragging shadow around him like a physical thing, forming it into a barrier atop his own armour. He didn’t slow, charging straight into the spell. The shadow was torn back by the explosion that followed. His chest plate cracked, singed flesh revealed below, but the stone ricocheted off, crashing into the rear wall of the hall, and Karlac closed the gap once more.

Hump barely had time to throw up his Shield when Karlac’s sword struck him like an avalanche. It sent Hump flying. He landed hard on the ground, agonising pain shooting up his arm as it was crushed beneath him. He screamed, desperately clawing for his staff.

In that moment of distraction, Nisha emerged from the shadows, ignoring Hump’s protests and offering her back as support for Hump to rise to his feet. She turned then, facing Karlac. A guttural growl emanated from deep in her throat. Her scales shimmered with gold light like they had before, power rising from her like a volcano about to erupt. a menacing growl rumbling deep in her throat as she hunched forward, ready to pounce.

With a snarl, Nisha unleashed her dragon’s breath, a stream of searing flames erupting from her maw. The heat was so intense that even Karlac, for a brief second, halted, lifting his arm to shield himself from the flames.

“Hurry!” Celaine shouted behind him, just as she loosed another at Karlac. He smashed it aside with a backhanded fist, and then swung at her. Celaine dodged, disappearing into darkness and loosing another arrow from the demon’s rear.

Hump forced himself to turn from the two of them, racing for the abyss behind Karlac’s throne, an icy sense of dread seeping into his bones. Not for himself, but at the thought of losing them, of seeing them suffer under Karlac’s wrath. As the sounds of battle continued behind him, she stumbled up the stairs.

What had once been a throne of finely carved wood, embedded with golden patterns and fine jewels was now a smoking pile of debris. Beyond the throne, the abyss awaited—an endless wall of darkness. Hump stared into it, feeling vertigo grip him as if he stood at the edge of a cliff, ready to fall into the void.

Clutching his staff, Hump poured as much strength as he could muster into the focus. It was far from the strength of his previous magic, but the wisp of Hellfire still smouldering within him responded, its fiery energy igniting the runes along the shaft and filling the heartstone of the Tree of Damnation with blazing light, boiling within the crystal focus until finally it erupted.

Scarlet flames burst forward, spreading out through the abyss. The fire spread, and the veil of darkness peeled back beneath the onslaught. Beyond it, Hump caught a glimpse of the red sky as if staring at it through a screen of black smoke. He heard voices, faint and distant, but certainly there. He sensed the blessings and magic of the raging battle on the other side.

This was their way out. Celaine had been right.

But his relief was short-lived. Celaine’s agonised scream tore through the air, and Hump whipped around to see her thrown to the ground by a savage claw to the stomach. She crashed hard, rolling across the floor, blood staining the side of her leather vest. A bloody streak trailed her, the wound bleeding profusely. She tried to rise, gasping for breath, but her strength failed her and she collapsed in a fit of coughs.

In the abyss, the darkness closed on Hump’s flame. He fought back, willing the fires to keep burning, to consume everything, but Karlac’s mastery over his magic was too great. His darkness smothered his flames, extinguishing them one by one until the glimpse Hump had into the other world was gone. All that remained were the faint shouts and sounds from the citadel.

Karlac erupted with harsh laughter, the cold, grating sound cutting through the chamber like a knife, sending a shiver down Hump’s spine. It was his turn to be confused now.

“You still believe you can win, don’t you?” Karlac’s voice dripped with contempt. “I can see the hope in your eyes. You think victory is possible.”

“Time is on our side,” Celaine retorted, her voice steady and unyielding despite her wound. “Perhaps we cannot defeat you, but that doesn’t mean that you will break us before the dungeon is defeated.”

She was on her feet again, but her wound was still bleeding profusely. They needed this to end sooner rather than later.

“You are so certain you can return from my domain?” Karlac smirked.

Doubt weighed on Hump. Had he been wrong? Had Karlac been toying with them after all? He knew little of the domain Karlac wielded, only that it was a form of magic beyond that of the wizards he knew. The kind that came only from the advancement of the soul, or whatever the demon equivalent of that was.

“There it is,” Karlac said. “Doubt—the bane of all wizards.”

Yet Hump had seen the Infernal Halls. He had heard it. They were tethered to it—he knew that to his bones. Karlac could not drag them to another world as simply as he had.

“I have no doubt,” Hump said, as much for his own benefit as anything else. “You would not go to all this trouble if you could simply keep us here. The Army of Alveron will defeat your allies, and then we will be free. Even if you claim my book, it will not bond to you.”

“There is so much you still do not understand,” Karlac said, his voice laced with dark amusement. “I told you I am not of the Infernal Halls. This dungeon… did it not occur to you that you were advancing too quickly?”

Hump frowned, his mind racing. He had wondered about that—how the demons seemed to hold back, even in defence of their citadel. “So what? What are you saying?”

Karlac’s smile widened, revealing a row of sharp teeth—another distinction from the humans he imitated. “Allow me to give you a glimpse.” With a flick of his wrist, the shadowy aura around him writhed like living smoke, expanding outward to reveal a series of windows into other places.

Hump’s heart nearly stopped as his eyes were drawn to the first window, showing the battle within the Infernal Halls. Emilia lay on the ground, unconscious, a pool of blood spreading across her stomach as Dylan knelt beside her, desperately pouring essence into her wound. Bud stood over them, fighting like a man possessed, his sword carving through the air in wide arcs as he battled the horde of demons closing in on them. His armour was battered and dented, parts of it missing entirely, exposing the blood-stained garments beneath.

Hump’s gaze flicked to the other windows, each one revealing scenes of devastation and chaos—cities in ruin. Fire blazed over countless buildings, smoke rising in thick plumes, blotting out the sun as people ran in terror through the streets. He recognised some of the cities—Elenvine, Malara—they were burning.

“What is this?” Hump asked quietly, his fist tightening around his staff, knuckles white from the force.

“This is what has become of Alveron,” Karlac replied, his smile stretching into something grotesque and inhuman, his bloodied cheeking oozing dark red. “The Order of Ancients—the warlocks you so desperately seek—are no longer here. The Infernal Halls was bait, and you humans, in your arrogance and fanaticism, fell for it gloriously. You think that when the core is conquered and the dungeon is destroyed, you will be free, but the world you left behind is burning as we speak.”

Hump forced himself not to react as the horror of Karlac’s words sank in—the demon wanted to rile him up. To break him, both physically and mentally. Searching the windows again, he noticed Sheercliff City was not amongst them, neither was Fort Nordric. The first had already been defeated, while the attack on Fort Nordric had failed.

“They’re targeting the seals,” Hump said.

“Indeed,” Karlac said, savouring the words like fine wine. “The old gods shall be free once more.”

Perhaps, Hump thought. But he knew the attack on the seal of Fort Nordric had failed. If Karlac did not show it now, then maybe it still stood. Perhaps there was still time.

“You said you did not serve the old gods,” Hump said. “Why do this? Why help?”

“War shall sweep across the land, and in that chaos, riches shall be made. The Pantheon have ruled for too long, wizard. Far too long. It is time for the balance to be restored, and for the era of legends to come again.”

But as his twisted smile grew, it suddenly vanished, replaced by an expression of confusion and fury. His gaze snapped to a spot at the rear of the throne room. Hump followed it, sensing a new essence from the abyss, filled with a warmth that he recognised but could not place. Silver light shimmered, and the very fabric of reality that Karlac had closed on Hump began to tear open once more. The rip in the air widened, silver light eating at it, shredding it back. And through it stepped Wizard Aldric. His chilling blue eyes, sharp and cold as winter, swept over the chamber.

Behind Aldric, Hump caught a glimpse of the red sky of the Infernal Halls and the blocky, imposing buildings of Hell’s Pocket. The wizard leaned heavily on his cane, his brown battle robes stained with blotches of blood. Calmly, almost nonchalantly, Aldric reached into his robe and pulled out a silver flask, taking a leisurely swig as his eyes locked on Karlac.

“I thought I smelled something foul,” Aldric said, his voice laced with disdain. “It was a devil after all.”