Threads Of The Devoured

The shadowfen

CHAPTER 4: THE SHADOWFEN

"Did you honestly believe a simple staircase would lead you straight to her?"

The voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere. It vibrated through the pitch-black water rising to Kael’s waist.

"Show yourself," Kael roared. He slashed his shadow-blade through the grasping, ethereal tendrils wrapping around his thighs.

"I am everywhere," the Architect replied. "And you, Kael, are exactly where you belong. Nowhere."

"Where is Eira?"

"She is bleeding."

"If you touch her, I will end you."

"You will do nothing. You are drowning in the Shadowfen. Your mind is already fracturing."

"I will tear this pocket dimension apart."

"You will tear yourself apart. Look around you, Kael. The Great Devouring is already inside your head."

Kael gripped his temples as a sharp spike of agony pierced his skull. "Get out of my mind."

"I do not need to enter your mind. Your guilt is doing my work for me."

"Bring her to me."

"She is busy fulfilling her purpose. You are merely a discarded pawn."

"I am the man who is going to kill you."

"Empty threats from a broken hero." The Architect’s laughter faded into the dark, oppressive fog.

Kael forced his legs to move. The blackened waters of the Shadowfen felt like liquid lead. The very fabric of reality twisted around him. Shadows morphed into the faces of the people he had failed to save. They whispered his name. They begged for salvation.

He ignored them. He had to find the exit. He had to reach the inner sanctum.

***

"Get your hands off me, Malakor," Eira spat.

The man in the tailored dark suit smiled. His features blurred for a fraction of a second. "Malakor was merely a vessel. A convenient name for a lower realm. I am the Architect. And you, Eira, are my foundation."

"You will get nothing from me."

"I already have everything I need." He traced the edge of a ceremonial obsidian dagger. "Your royal blood is the exact catalyst required."

"My blood is cursed."

"Cursed to you. A master key to me."

"Kael will breach those doors. He will kill you."

"Kael is currently losing his sanity in the Shadowfen. He cannot hear you. He cannot save you." "You are lying."

"Am I? Reach out. Feel the bond."

Eira closed her eyes. She pushed her consciousness outward, searching for the familiar psychic link that tethered her to Kael. "Kael?" she whispered into the void.

Nothing but screaming static answered her.

"You see?" The Architect grabbed her wrist. He dragged her toward the pulsing obsidian altar in the center of the room. "He is gone."

"He is not weak."

"No. But he is guilty. And the Shadowfen feeds exclusively on guilt."

"I will not let you awaken them," Eira said. She dug her heels into the smooth stone floor. The dark magic of the Crimson Spire pushed against her spine, a physical weight trying to force her to kneel. "You have no choice. The dormant army hungers."

"Then let them starve."

"They have starved for a millennia. Today, they feast."

***

"Kael."

Kael spun around. He raised his shadow-blade. "Who is there?"

"Just me, old friend."

Lysander stepped smoothly over the surface of the dark water. He did not sink. He walked on the liquid shadows as if they were solid glass.

"Lysander." Kael squinted through the falling black ash. "How did you get down here?"

"I did not fall into a trap, if that is what you are asking."

"Help me find the exit. We have to get to Eira."

"No, we do not."

Kael froze. "What did you say?"

"I said we do not need to find her." Lysander drew his enchanted steel blade. The metal hummed with a sickly violet light. "She is exactly where she needs to be."

"You set me up."

"I guided you. There is a profound difference."

"You are working for him. You are working for the Architect."

"I work for the survival of this realm. The Devouring is inevitable, Kael. The Architect is the only one who possesses the knowledge to shape what comes next."

"By sacrificing Eira?"

"A small price for a new reality."

"You are a traitor."

"I am a realist. You are the one clinging to a ghost of a chance."

"I trusted you."

"Your first mistake."

"It will be your last," Kael snarled. He launched himself forward.

"You are too slow in this muck," Lysander mocked. He parried Kael's heavy strike with effortless grace.

"I do not need to be fast. I just need to be angry."

"Anger makes you sloppy." "It keeps me alive."

"For how long?" Lysander kicked Kael in the chest. Kael crashed backward into the freezing sludge.

"The Shadowfen is draining your magic. I can see your aura flickering."

Kael spat a mouthful of black water. "It is enough to kill you."

"You cannot even stand. The realm is unravelling your psyche."

"Shut up."

"You failed her, Kael. Just like you failed the others during the Devouring."

"I said shut up." Kael swung his blade in a wide arc. A wave of dark energy surged toward Lysander.

Lysander deflected it, but the impact pushed him back an inch. "Impressive. But futile."

"I am going to rip out your throat."

"You are going to drown in your own regret."

***

"Stop fighting it," the Architect commanded.

"Never," Eira gasped. The magical compulsion of the Spire forced her to her knees. The obsidian altar loomed before her, radiating a cold, ancient hunger.

"Your ancestors built this place. Their magic sings in your veins."

"It is corrupted."

"It is evolved." He raised the obsidian dagger. "Give me your hand."

"Go to hell."

"We are already there,Eira. I am simply redecorating."

"What is the point of this? Why reshape reality?"

"Because this reality is flawed. It is entirely empty."

"And you think a dormant army of corpses will fill that emptiness?"

"They will enforce the new order. An order completely devoid of the chaos of the Great Devouring."

"You caused the Devouring."

"I harnessed it. I learned the forbidden soulcraft. There is a massive difference."

"You are utterly insane."

"I am the Architect. I build. You are merely the mortar."

He lunged. He grabbed her palm with crushing force. The blade sliced deeply across her skin. "No," Eira screamed.

Blood welled up instantly. It was bright and impossibly red in the gloom of the inner sanctum. It dripped onto the obsidian stone.

The altar hummed. A low, vibrating frequency shook the floorboards.

"Yes," the Architect whispered. "The awakening begins."

***

Kael felt the cut.

A searing, phantom pain sliced across his own palm. He dropped his sword. He stumbled backward into the black water.

"What is wrong, hero?" Lysander laughed. "Losing your grip?"

"Eira," Kael gasped. He stared at his perfectly intact, yet agonizingly painful hand. "He cut her."

"The ritual has started. You are far too late."

"I am never too late." Kael reached out with his trembling hand. He did not summon his shadow magic. He reached directly into the telepathic connection. He seized the frayed edges of the soul-bond that tied him to Eira.

*Eira.*

Her voice echoed back in his mind. It was weak but intensely frantic. *Kael. He cut me. The altar is drinking my blood.*

*Hold on. I am coming.*

*You cannot. The Shadowfen will consume you.*

*Let it try.*

"Are you talking to her?" Lysander asked. He stepped closer, raising his glowing steel blade. "How pathetic. Are you saying your final goodbyes?"

"No," Kael said. He slowly rose to his feet. His eyes glowed with a dark, terrifying resonance. "I am asking for directions." "You are delusional."

"I am connected."

Kael slammed his bleeding palm into the blackened water. He did not fight the Shadowfen. He pulled the raw, chaotic energy of the nightmare realm directly into his own veins.

Lysander hesitated. "What are you doing? That energy will shatter your mind." "My mind is already broken," Kael stated.

The water around him began to boil. Thick, inky tendrils of raw shadow wrapped around Kael’s arms. They infused his muscles with horrifying strength. The dimension shuddered.

"You cannot control that power," Lysander yelled over the sudden roaring wind.

"Watch me." Kael extended his hand. The shadows ripped Lysander’s sword from his grip and threw it into the darkness.

Lysander backed away. Genuine fear flashed across his face. "Kael, stop. You will trigger a collapse."

"That is exactly the plan." Kael stepped forward. The water parted for him. "You wanted to be the unseen enemy, Lysander. Let us see how you handle the dark." ***

Eira felt the surge.

The psychic link flared with blinding intensity. It burned away the static. Kael’s raw fury flooded into her mind. It gave her strength.

She opened her eyes. The Architect was entirely focused on the altar. He was chanting in a language that scraped against her eardrums like rusted iron.

Eira curled her bleeding hand into a fist. She stopped the flow of blood onto the stone.

The chanting stopped. The Architect looked down. "Open your hand."

"No."

"The altar requires continuous tribute."

"The tribute is over." Eira channelled the dark energy she felt radiating through her bond with Kael.

She pushed it directly into her cursed bloodline.

The blood already on the altar began to sizzle. It turned from crimson to pitch black.

The Architect took a step back. "What have you done?" "I am reshaping reality," Eira said.

The obsidian altar cracked. A massive fissure split the stone perfectly down the middle. Violet light erupted from the fracture, illuminating the vast, cavernous room.

Below them, the ground began to shake violently. The sound of thousands of stone tombs cracking open echoed from the depths of the Spire.

"You fool," the Architect snarled. He raised his hand. Dark magic gathered in his palm. "You have corrupted the awakening sequence."

"I told you my blood was cursed."

"I will extract it from your heart instead." He lunged toward her.

Before he could reach her, the space between them tore open. A jagged, swirling portal of pitch-black water and raw shadow violently ripped through the air.

Kael stepped out of the rift.

His eyes were entirely black. Dark, liquid shadows dripped from his armor. He looked less like a tortured hero and more like a manifestation of the Great Devouring itself.

He grabbed the Architect by the throat. He lifted the reality-shaper entirely off the ground.

"You wanted a pawn," Kael whispered, his voice layered with a hundred echoing tones. "Checkmate."

The Architect gripped Kael’s wrist. He did not look afraid. He looked utterly fascinated. "You absorbed the Shadowfen. You have damned your own soul." "I did not need it anyway." Kael tightened his grip.

"Kael, wait," Eira yelled. "Look at the floor." Kael glanced down.

The violet light pouring from the cracked altar was not fading. It was spreading. It crawled across the stone, connecting with the dark energy dripping from Kael’s armor.

The Architect smiled through his choking gasps. "Thank you, Kael. You brought the Devouring directly into the core."

The floor beneath them shattered completely.

Eira screamed as gravity vanished. She plummeted into the blinding violet abyss. Kael lunged for her, reaching out with his shadow-drenched hand. Their fingers brushed.

Then the light consumed them both.