The Dark Path (33 page)

“So, which way egg fall?”

Vain shook his head in disbelief. It was like teaching algebra to a carrot. “The egg didn’t fall,” he said eventually. “The rooster just... ate it.”

Another pause. “Ah. This make good sense. You very smart for monkey we think. We stop other monkeys from follow you. Bye.”

“Yeah, whatever. Just make sure you guys leave once all of this is over okay?” Vain said, still taken aback by the sheer idiocy of the moment. 

“We go. You go. Everybody go. Now stop your talk and go.”

“Okay, me go. I mean
I’m
going.” Vain turned and shook his head again. Hurling the huge doors open, he stalked inside.

At once the Souls of Sordarrah froze in their tracks and cried out into the heavens, for they knew they had failed.

* * * *

The sounds of death echoed through the cavernous room as Vain closed the doors behind him. Surprised to find the key in the lock, he turned it, sealing the huge doors.

Removing the key, he placed it into his jacket pocket to ensure he would be able escape back the way he had come if necessary. Nobody else would be able to get in or out. Vain realized such a precaution was largely unnecessary with the enormous Velearstk standing guard in the courtyard, but felt reassured by the action anyway.

His eyes slowly adjusted to the bright light in the entrance hall, Vain examined the room he had just entered. Enormous ceilings towered high above his head, decorated by beautiful frescoes and dotted intermittently with large crystal chandeliers. Directly in front of him two huge staircases curved in a semi-ellipse from the second level balcony to just in front of him. Beautifully woven carpet runners graced the steps, giving the hall an inspired majesty.

Unfortunately the grace and beauty of the place were lost upon the assassin; he saw the room for exactly what it really was: 

A perfect place to be ambushed.

Perhaps reading his thoughts, a solitary figure appeared at the top of the staircase, calmly descending the steps to where Vain stood. Boney limbs protruded from the sleeves of a shirt gathered loosely around his shrunken physique. He could not have been over five feet tall, but the strength that radiated outwards identified him clearly as one of The Four.

“Welcome, Dark Man,” stated the figure, “I am Torresh. I am here to take you to the Avun-Riah.”

A sudden movement out of the corner of his eye distracted Vain’s attention from the demon before him. Throwing himself to the right, an enormous bolt of energy tore through the air from the balcony and exploded exactly where Vain had stood. Instantly, Torresh leapt upon the assassin and pinned him to the ground.

“Dark Man, where is the challenge? I had hoped for more of a fight after all of our fears.”

“Don’t worry,” promised Vain calmly from beneath the demon. “The fight will come soon enough.”

Torresh chuckled. “Oh really! And when might that be? You’d best hurry, Antarsh is not known for his patience.”

Vain saw the second demon–a tall and handsome figure who bore the appearance of conquest like a cloak–rise from behind the balcony railing, a long bow that sizzled with malicious power in his lithe fingers. He moved smoothly down the stairs towards the two figures locked together on the ground. “I was just waiting for your boyfriend to join us,” declared Vain coldly, “and now that he’s here, I guess we can start.”

Torresh’s mouth opened impossibly wide revealing a vast chasm yawning down the famine demon’s throat. Vain swiftly focused the power of the
Glimloche
driving a huge black spike from within him and out through Torresh’s back.

Letting out a scream, the demon released Vain, but remained pinned to the assassin by the spear. Rising to his feet, the Dark Man withdrew the spike, and Torresh slid to the floor with a groan before rising to his knees. A gaping hole shone through the demon’s torso, but as Vain watched, it began to shrink and heal.

“You see now, human–” Antarsh calmly raised his bow “—we cannot be killed so easily. My brother Torresh and I will send your soul screaming to the void before resurrecting our Lord to destroy your world.”

“Blah, blah, blah,” mocked Vain scornfully.

Torresh had finished healing himself and rose unsteadily to his feet. “You will pay for that human,” he grunted through clenched teeth.

The demon leapt once more at Vain. The assassin managed to dive out of the way, but a bolt from Antarsh’s bow hit him in the chest, knocking him across the room.

Gasping for breath, Vain winced, probing his injured ribs. Cursing silently, he vowed to be more cautious. The power of the
Glimloche
had made him feel invincible–and cocky.

Vain waited until the two leapt again and unleashed a huge surge from the
Glimloche
, hurling them to crash heavily against the opposite wall. Stunned momentarily, the two demons rose warily to their feet, once again edging towards him. Vain released another burst, but Torresh sucked the assassin’s power into an impossible yawn–consumed by the famine held deep inside the creature. The Dark Man cursed; his explosive force would be useless if Torresh could absorb it so easily.

Vain continued to retreat, feeling desperation build before an idea came to him. Summoning a huge well of power, he concentrated and steadily released it into his own body, feeling the muscles stretch and grow. More and more energy flowed from the
Glimloche
, and Vain felt himself awash in an ecstasy of power. The demons halted their gradual advance and looked on in awe as Vain swiftly merged into the demon-form he had adopted when he’d first journeyed into the realms of Hell.

Black as ebony, he stretched his new form, flexing his hand and forcing the dagger-like claws to emerge from his fingertips. The
Glimloche
rushed through him and he laughed hollowly, staring down at the now pitiful demons frozen before him. Power still flowed from the
Glimloche
, and he paused to stem the flood before he lost control.

Suddenly, the
Glimloche
surged free of his domination, sweeping Vain away on a river of ebony force. He fought once more to regain control, but the
Glimloche
pushed aside his efforts and surged forward to take full control of his body. Vain felt like a giant blanket was enveloping him, suffocating and cocooning him within its strength.

And then he was gone....

Antarsh released bolts of energy at Vain’s newly emerged demon alter ego. Turning these aside as if merely swatting flies, he pounced forward, piercing Torresh through the chest with the claws of his right hand, batting aside Antarsh with his left. The demon flew through the air, crashing powerfully against the railing of the balcony and tumbling motionless into a heap between the staircases.

Looking into Torresh’s terrified features, demon-Vain wondered why he had ever feared these insignificant creatures. With a flick of his wrist, Torresh exploded into fragments of flesh, splattering around the room. Some quivered and slid to merge with other pieces, but demon-Vain released an ebony blaze that rendered them all to ash.

I am a god
, thought demon-Vain, the power of the
Glimloche
now raging unchecked through his form.
I will destroy these vermin and then this entire world. I will become the only power in the cosmos and crush all who oppose me.

Walking slowly towards the motionless figure of Antarsh, demon-Vain spied movement coming from the staircase. “Ah, Bennael,” he whispered sibilantly. “So nice of the Demon of War to join us.”

Bennael glanced at the scene before him and let out a bellow of fury that shook the very walls. Clapping his hands together, a massive sword appeared, hovering in the air and quivering with intense force. He chanted in a language unknown to demon-Vain; guttural and seeming to pierce deep within his demon mind. The walls of the room began to shake in time to the sword that now spun rapidly in the air.

Flashing across the room, demon-Vain tried to slash Bennael in the same fashion he had attacked Torresh. When his claws surged down towards the Demon of War, however, Bennael merely raised his hands in a warding motion, and an enormous rush of energy from his sword flung demon-Vain helplessly across the room. Gathering himself painfully from the floor, demon-Vain crouched low to the ground and waited for an opportunity to strike.

Bennael ignored him and continued with the spell, raising his voice in pitch and power. Antarsh regained consciousness and moved briskly to Bennael’s side. Firing bolts of intense energy from his bow into the vortex that now spun where the sword had been, Antarsh intensified the force, expanding it outwards until demon-Vain began to back away.

Just as the spell seemed to reach its crescendo, demon-Vain launched forward. He raced towards the two demons, and they threw their hands up, mimicking the same warding motion Bennael had used moments before. Yet instead of attacking directly, Vain’s demon self swerved and leapt at the wall behind the two, caving it in and then flipping high through the air to land back where he had previously stood.

The two demons paused, seemingly confused. Demon-Vain grinned maliciously, releasing a scorching blast from the
Glimloche
into the damaged wall behind them. Instead of exploding out, the wall was sucked backwards, finally collapsing in a flood of enormous grey blocks of stone–crushing the two demons beneath it. Antarsh barely managed a choking scream before they both disappeared beneath the debris.

Demon-Vain instantly leapt atop the pile of rubble. The
Glimloche
responded to his thoughts, and a large ebony sphere of force swelled beneath his feet, swirling and pulsating, gradually opening a dimensional rift beneath the stones.

Concentrating intently, demon-Vain envisioned the realm of Lucifer and willed the sphere to travel there. Muffled wails rose from within the ball as the two demons were drawn from the corporeal realm into the depths of Hell. The roaring laughter of Satan echoed throughout the room before the portal clapped shut and an eerie silence filled the hall.

Nothing can defeat me
, thought demon-Vain, power from the
Glimloche
streaming freely through his limbs.
I will destroy anything that tests me.

This confidence however, was brief. Abstract thoughts began to interrupt his contemplation, and faint memories of a boy he had come to rescue began to resurface. But the thoughts were quickly overpowered.
Such foolishness is not to be fretted now that I am a god.
He roughly brushed aside the image of the child.

The one called Empeth could pose a problem if left unchecked. If he managed to complete the resurrection ritual, and bring Sordarrah into the mortal realm, demon-Vain would be forced to fight a war he could avoid completely if he simply destroyed both Empeth and the boy right now.

Having decided, the enormous black figure moved up the closest flight of stairs to find and kill the Avun-Riah.

* * * *

Sekiel had always served his Lord Sordarrah without question, but the incessant assault on his beliefs left him insecure. Strange random thoughts–

Help him!

—kept invading his consciousness.

A host’s memories were not usually a problem when taking over a new body, but the values the man held in life–combined with the power Priest had possessed–were so intense that Sekiel had been unsuccessful in his efforts at completely blocking them out. Like a tap with a tiny leak, the memories dripped into his consciousness. He found himself dwelling upon them more and more often, and the scariest thing for the demon was:
they made sense!

Utter foolishness. Soon his master would be released, and Sekiel would be by his side as they conquered the cosmos.

Why, then, did he have reservations?