I bid farewell to my companions, for today I will set forth to the tower. However, now that the time is here, I can feel my resolve crumbling like the bricks of Sungaze Keep as it fell to the Bloodmage's assault. 'Tis the burden of the mighty. But I will not fail. I shall never give up hope.
It's the only thing I have left.
The first thing I noticed as I climbed up was the repulsive, dank odour. I retched reflexively and started breathing heavily through my mouth. I sheathed Rift, which rasped comfortingly. My tongue had acquired a rather foul flavour, so I stopped breathing through my mouth and raised my tunic front over my nose and mout, forming a bandana like mask. I closed the trapdoor of which I emerged, careful to make minimal noise.
Now moderately protected from the smell, I advanced into the long corridor. The entire length was paved with smooth, slate-gray stones. Rusted iron torch brackets lay empty on the walls, contributing to the unsettling atmosthphere.
Well, I didn't expect being in the Dark Tower to be very relaxing, but the entire place just seemed... Wrong. It was almost as if the very tower was from another, darker dimension just beyond our view. No, it was like the very ground didn't belong beneath the spire shouldn't be there, and nothing inside was meant for this world. And of course, even I didn't belong here. Not that the savoir, the Hero, didn't belong in the very place he was supposed to save the universe, but it was something else.
I wasn't the prophesied champion.
I was just a replacement, a mere shadow of what the Hero should have been. True, the Hero had foiled the Bloodmage, but only temporarily. It had been nine years since, and the Bloodmage was set to return on the eighth. He would supposedly spend an entire year in a deep state of meditation, and awaken on the solstice to call forth the great Wyvern. However, the Hero had not returned from his quest. And so they chose me. I was only the 'second choice', a last-ditch effort to preserve us all. To boot, I was only chosen because I was the Hero's brother. There must've been someone more worthy for the burden, but none had the courage to step forward. Actually, I wasn't the second choice. Just the only choice.
And now, here I was, in the Dark Tower, exactly where I didn't belong.
I dispelled all the thoughts of self doubt-I couldn't afford to have my mind clouded. I marched onwards in the half light, grimly treading upwards. I could not fail, not when I still hoped.
I noticed the change immediately-The temperature and moisture of the air, the drop in air pressure. The deeper shadows and the smoother stones. The lit torches and cell doors. I was in a dungeon. The Bloodmage's dungeon.
I peeked through the lichen ridden steel bars of a cell curiously, and immediately regretted it. A pile of bleached, pale bones the color of moonlight sat in a corner, slightly marred by the brown grime of rat excrement. A bucket sat in the corner, presumably a latrine and the source of the dank scent, and scratch marks covered the far wall. A record of the days the prisoner had been incarcerated in the niche. By the looks of it, they'd spend more that four decades in the vile tower, surviving on who-knows-what. I shuddered, revolted at the mere idea.
I continued on, feeling pity for all the prisoners. I guess that's where the bones come from, I thought morbidly. Did the Bloodmage take them out himself, or did he have servants and minions to do such menial tasks? Or maybe he used his arcane powers, transporting the remnants through unknown means.
'Hey! You there!" A voice from my left called out, snapping me out of my reverie. I whirled abruptly, whipping Rift out of its sheath. The sword pulsed strangely once more, lighting up the cell where the voice had come from. I peered into the cage and its occupant, curious yet cautious. A girl stood at the bars, gripping them tightly with pale knuckles. She wore light armor, and an empty scabbard rested in the corner.
"Uh, me?" I asked rather redundantly. After all, it appeared we were the only ones in the entire dungeon. I hadn't conversed with another human for some time, so I wasn't exactly well prepared.
"Of course you," she said, a touch of sarcasm in her tone. "Do ya see anyone else here?"
"Uh... no?"
"Exactly. Now, who are you and d'ya mind getting me outta this prison? The food here is terrible!" She gestured towards a half eaten crust of bread, lying discarded in the corner.
"Who are you? I'll gladly introduce myself, but I think you should go first. I am the one outside the cage, after all." I replied, half expecting a snappy retort. Instead, she simply responded. That was weird.
"I'm Val. I'm from the Central Domain, y'e know? 'Cuz the Hero died? They sent me to stop the Archfiend from summoning the Wyvern and save the world, and stuff." She waved in no particular direction, confusing me slightly. "Now, who are you?" She stared at me intensely with her startling green eyes, like emeralds sparkling in a deep cavern.
"Wait a minute, hold up." I said. "Central Domain? I thought that only the Northern Realm sent a-"
"Well, I thought the Central Domain was the only one who sent someone to deal with the Archfiend. But it looks like I was wrong." Val shrugged nonchalantly, kicking the bread across the chamber. It hit the stone wall with a loud clang, sounding a bit like metal.
"Who's this Archfiend you keep talking about? I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about." I ventured uncertainly. Was I even in the real Dark Tower? That couldn't be!
"You've gotta be kiddin' me," Val's jaw dropped in disbelief. "You don't know the Archfiend? The bloke who's gonna summon the Wyvern?"
"The Bloodmage, you mean? At least, that's what he's called up north." She nodded absentmindedly probably forgetting what I had just said. "Wait. How'd you get in here?" I inquired curiously.
"I crossed the bridge. Didn't you?" Val stared at me quizzically, and for some reason I found her gaze rather unsettling.
"No, the bridge was rotten. I had to go through a labyrinth of tunnels and fight a giant worm thing." I shuddered, reminiscing.
"Oh. Sorry that may have been my fault, I used a Ward of Decay. Must've made that ol' thing rot." She mused. I didn't even bother asking what a Ward was. "Now, are you gonna get me outta this cell or not?"
"Umm, I don't really have keys. I promise to come back when I'm done, alright?"
"Wait what?! You can't leave me here, I can help ya!" She seemed desperate to escape, almost as if it was a ploy. There was a wild, almost feral desire to escape hidden in her voice. I faltered. How long had she been there? No more than a month, judging by her skin, but not less than a week. "You don't know how to kill him, do you? The Trinity must bless your blade for it to work against the Archfiend."
"The Trinity? Did you just fabricate that?" I asked cautiously. I sort of trusted her, but in my experience, it always payed to be careful. She shook her head solemnly.
"Let me out and I'll tell you." Was her only answer.
Sighing, I drew Rift. If it could slice open that vile monster, it could deal with the bars.
"What are ye doing!" Val yelled at me. "Do ya have sawdust for brains?" I ignored her outburst, and swung my weapon. The sword bit cleanly into the steel, parting the bars of the cell. After a few slices, there was a rather large hole in the cage.
"Wow. I did not see that coming." Val said, picking up one of the metal bars from the ground, studying it keenly. "Where d'ya say ya got dat sword again?"
I smiled wanly, as if that had been my plan all along. "I didn't. Now, what is this Trinity of yours?" Val shook her head, hair flapping.
"Not here, not now. We gotta get out of this dungeon first." I sighed. If she was lying, I could always dice her with Rift, or use my amulet. But if she wasn't, that could very well save my life. "Hey, what's ya name anyway?"
"Um, Arcus." I said awkwardly. I hadn't spoken to people much recently.
"Did you just make dat up?"
"No. Why would you say that?" Was my reply. My name was perfectly normal, wasn't it?
"Never mind."
We crept through the silent dungeons, treating each shadow as a Bloodmage's Sliver. Strangely, the sprawling dungeon seemed mostly empty. Why have such a large prison for piles of decomposing flesh and a few rats? Or maybe there used to be more prisoners... If so, what had happened to them? There had been some dry bread back in her cell. The prisoners were more or less fed, weren't they?
"Hey Val." I whispered. "How'd you get fed back in the dungeon?" She paused for a moment, as if trying to recall her experience.
"I've tried to erase dat from my memory. You don't wanna know." Was her only answer. After I waited for a few seconds, she sighed and continued.
"The Slivers came. I didn't think they were real an' all at first, but they are. They only come at midnight, but every day. It's just like da stories." She shivered as if a frosty mist penetrated her bones.
"Could they have been, I dunno, impostors? Men in disguise?" I prompted. Slivers... they aren't real. I couldn't bring myself to believe that Slivers, creatures whose names were invoked to silence naughty children, existed. Val shook here head.
"Their eyes..." she whispered, grimacing visibly. "I could feel them penetrate, drill through my very soul." I guess I'd have to accept they were real.
"Let's go." She said, dispelling all nervousness in her gaze. "We're almost outta dis place." I nodded in silent agreement, following her to the heavy Darksteel door that lay ahead.
The door seemed, strangely, to be unlocked. It slid open with a raspy creak, metal scraping the cold stones underfoot. We proceeded, pushing the door back to its original position. A myriad of doors lined the corridor's walls, and a gold-trimmed crimson carpet graced the rock floor. Then I noticed the shadows. Our shadows had disappeared. Just like the children's rhyme.
When your shade abandons you, run 'cause the Sliver's coming for you.
I drew Rift immediately, the sword's otherworldly luster strangely comforting. "Val! Sliver!" I warned. Her eyes widened and brandished the metal bar from the cell. One of the doors silently opened, then all of them followed. Shadows spilled out of each door, deep blackness congealed by the Sliver. We retreated hesitantly, not sure which direction to go. Then I spotted it. The eyes of the Sliver, iridescent cobalt shards in the shadow mist. I felt the malevolent eyes stare at me, and I could feel an alien presence inside my mind. I tried to open my mouth, to do anything, but my limbs didn't respond. I strained against the force, my mind feeling as it was being shattered like a thin pane of glass. I released a silent scream as he Sliver tore apart my mind. In one last effort, I swung Rift at the eyes. The blow must have missed, for the next thing I knew the blade bit into the stone and fine rug. The creature hissed, and I ducked instinctively. It paid off, for I I felt a woosh of air above my head, ruffling my hair. I yanked Rift out of the stone, stumbling, then snatched Val's arm.
"Let's get out of here!" I shouted. We managed to find our way to one of the doorways, dashing inside, not caring what was inside. Fortunately for us, a great iron bar lay beside the door I lifted it up and pushed it into the wall bracket's sealing the door.
"I told ya they were real," Val panted breathlessly. I shook my head in disbelief.
"I just feel lucky to have escaped it." I replied wearily, rubbing my knee. I bumped it in the commotion in the shadows, and now it stung annoyingly.
"We're not safe yet," Val told me quietly. Our shadows were still gone, signifying that the Sliver was still in the vicinity. Something slashed through the door, spraying splinters at us.
"Run!" I said, and we took off up the stairwell in the chamber, not caring where it led, save away from the rampaging Sliver.
Author's Note: Hey guys! Hope you liked it! Anyways, I was wonderin' if y'all wanted me to make Val as a viewpoint character for a chapter or two. Of course, Arcus will still be the main character.