Noah steeled himself for his next training session. He knew Moali was going to be angry with him, but he resolved to take any amount of abuse without breaking down or running away. Noah had to complete his training if he had any chance of becoming a stronger person for Chastity. He would do it no matter how hard Moali made it for him.
He was surprised, however, when Moali was easier on him than ever before. He was almost friendly.
“We can train as little or as long as you want, okay, son?”
“Uhh, okay? Yes, sir.”
He had already trained hard with Graven today. If Moali was serious, Noah would be glad. But Noah was highly skeptical.
“It’s my job to get you fighting-ready. If you can only train for 15 minutes, we’ll do 15. Then maybe next time we do 20. Got it?”
“Yeah. Sir. Yes, sir.”
“Good. Don’t look so confused, kid. The Emperor was right, as always. I was too hard on you. I am famous for being hard on my recruits, but it’s supposed to harden them up, not break them.”
“Okay,” said Noah. Was he serious? Noah expected him to be bitter and angry, but instead, he was contrite.
“Just don’t hold your breath for an apology. You’re still a pathetic weakling, and it’s my job to change that. Though I guess you must have some balls for trying to kill me with that artifact, if not discipline nor common sense. Speaking of balls, you know I would have given them back eventually, right?”
Noah felt awkward and didn’t know how to respond. He didn’t really believe Moali. But Moali wasn’t being mean to him, so it would be rude to be snappy back. He still hated Moali. If he thought he could get past weeks of rape and abuse with a simple apology, he had another thing coming. Actually, he hadn’t technically even apologized. Noah was glad he wasn’t being an asshole anymore, but Noah still planned on getting his revenge. For now, though, better to play nice. “Yes, sir.”
“Good. Before we train, I just wanna know one thing. What did you do with the pussy, kid?”
“What?” Noah exclaimed.
“I bet you kept it, didn’t you? You did, didn’t you! Ha! I would’ve too, son, if I were as unfuckable and pathetic as you. Ha!” Noah’s face turned red, and he looked away. “So, do you think we should go get Private Claudette and tell her you’ve been using her pussy as a fuck toy? Relax! I’m just joking. Eye above, you’re so serious. Alright, come on. Try to hit me. Don’t miss this time.” Moali put up his gloves, and Noah tried and failed to hit him for nearly half an hour before Noah was exhausted again after Moali had used his Breath of Vitality ability.
“Well done, son. I mean, not really. You were pretty shit, actually, though your technique is okay. But, for someone who I assume didn’t spend their teenage years preparing to join the military, I guess you did okay. Get up!” Noah staggered up. “Hands up!” said Moali, nailing Noah with one last blow to the face. “Always keep your hands up! Alright, son, that’s enough for today. You can go.”
“Yes, sir,” groaned Noah.
Noah walked back to the palace. He was exhausted and sore everywhere. Moali was no longer outright abusing him, but he was still hitting hard, even with the magical gloves.
Noah trained with Moali for days, and each day Moali was hard on him, but ultimately not abusive. Night and day compared to how he was before. Moali must really respect Emperor Antimogne, Noah thought, for his behaviour to change so dramatically from one conversation with him. Either that, or he took Antimogne’s vague threat to “school Noah as he’s due… or beware” to heart. Either way, once he was done his training, he would still kill Moali. Even if it meant another penalty from the Heart. What Moali did was unforgivable. He raped Noah, and he got Katherine killed. Noah wouldn’t forget that just because Moali was finally doing his job correctly.
Katherine was Noah’s fault, too, he knew, but she was also Moali’s fault. Not to mention Antimogne’s. Who executes an innocent young woman to teach someone else a lesson? Noah understood this was a medieval Empire, and things were different here than in his home world, but he had limits to what he was willing to accept. Slavery, sure. It was wrong, but it wasn’t so obviously wrong that even someone raised in a society that accepted slavery should know better. That’s why, for most of human history, everyone unquestioningly accepted slavery. Especially when it was prisoners of war or other foreigners who made up the slave population. But it was one thing to have slaves, and another to mercilessly behead a young girl who had done nothing wrong except dare to wish not to be raped.
Berenice tried to talk Noah down from his anger. “The Emperor hath much to grapple with, Noah. Before he ascended the throne, I heard that a new King or Emperor didst take the throne each year or two. That he’s even still alive is a marvel.”
“So? Why does that matter? It’s wrong! Slavery is wrong.”
“Aye, ‘tis. Yet what would befall him if he suddenly proclaimed slavery illegal? Thou might be against it, Noah, but none else are. The lords and ladies would revolt.”
“Isn’t he supposed to be some kind of genius? But he can’t make slavery legal? He can’t even stop himself from beheading some innocent young girl? Bullshit! He wanted to kill Katherine. He isn’t against slavery at all!”
“Against it or not, it matters not. T’would make no difference if he were.”
“Berenice, come on. You, at least, acknowledge that slavery is wrong, don’t you?”
“Aye, Noah. I was not sure before. Yet I’ll admit, I thought t’would be hard to adapt to life as a free woman. Yet, ‘tis not so. As it so happens, ‘tis much fun not being a slave. Thou canst do as thou pleasest! Yet none are truly free. Slave or not, we’re all bound to our consciences, and to the Eye.”
“Whatever.”
“I did hear joyous tidings relating to Kirsa! She is destined to be released in a few days!”
“Oh, God. I hope she doesn’t come to the Toldenhold.” Noah was happy she wasn’t going to be executed – he had been consumed with guilt when she was sentenced – but she was annoying and crazy, and a reminder of his infidelity. He didn’t need her here.
“Oh? Methought she was thy lover?”
“No! She was not.”
“Ah. ‘Tis mine own error. I can be so fanciful sometimes.”
“Whatever. I should never have met her. I should have stayed with Chastity; now, getting her back is my only goal. I don’t know how I’m going to get her back, but hopefully, I’ll figure it out soon. For now, I need to focus on my training.”
For the next few weeks, Noah dedicated himself to his training. Every night, he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. He pushed himself to his limit. After a few weeks of training with Graven in the early afternoon and Moali in the evening, Antimogne brought Moali and Noah into the throne room.
Noah Turner, I hear thy training hath been tough, And progress fine thou’ve had; Well done, indeed. Thou art selected for a mission dark: To dark deeps thou shalt go to clear the mines Of diggy infestation that’s encroached. Thy mission starts tonight; Thou’ll join the army.
“But, Your Highness, he hasn’t even started his ability training!” protested Moali. “We’ve been training martial arts, nothing more! And you’re sending him on the field mission to the dark deeps?”
They’re but mere diggies; he shall be unscathed. Or mayhaps I leave my throne for thee, And thou canst rule the realm as thou see’st fit?
“Uh-“ started Moali. “Yes, Your Majesty. I apologize. I shall take the boy to Clement.”
“I am hither now, Moali,” said a voice from the sides of the throne room. “I shall take the boy to the rest of the squad now.” Neither Noah nor Moali had known Clement was in the room until he spoke, since they could only see the Emperor.
Noah was guided out of the throne room by Clement, a sheeple wearing half-plate armour and holding a large, curved sword. As usual, Noah relaxed when he left the range of the Emperor’s visual magnetism.
“Wait, so what are we doing? Where are we going?”
“It is as the Emperor hath said: we art to purge an infestation in the mines.”
“An infestation? Of what?” asked Noah.
“Diggies.”
“Diggies?”
“Aye. They art small creatures from the dark deeps. A few feet in height, with large drills upon their faces. They bore through rock as if it were cheese. They have been assaulting our miners and collapsing our tunnels.”
“So we’re going down there to kill them?”
“Aye.”
“How many are there?”
“We shall not know until we descend and find them. If ‘tis a large nest, perchance hundreds. Likely far fewer. Eye willing, they are all diggies of the regular kind, only a few, and naught more nefarious.”
After they stopped at Noah’s room so he could armour up, they left the palace and went underneath the city. As they got deeper, the levels of poverty and filth increased until they descended below the lowest inhabited layers and entered the mines. The city was built on top of a massive blackiron mine, which went deep into the Earth. Below that were the dark deeps.
They walked for a long time through progressively narrower, shoddier tunnels. Noah felt claustrophobic, being surrounded on all sides by tonnes of rock that could collapse at any moment. The dark tunnels were lit only by a dim glow stick that Clement carried. Noah was glad Clement knew the way, because he wasn’t even sure he could find his way back if he had to.
Noah and Clement met with the rest of the squad in a natural opening deep in the mines. It was a small, round cave, with a few inches of water on the ground.
A lit lantern was hanging on one of the walls, allowing Noah to see the group. There were a few sheeple soldiers. One was a muscular sheeple soldier carrying a massive claymore.
The other sheeple looked far more unusual. He was a child, for one thing. He looked only about five years old. His wool was black instead of white, though his skin was black too. His eyes and mouth both glowed bright orange, as if he were filled with hot magma. He had no weapon and no armour.
Aside from the two sheeple, there was another child in the group. He looked more normal. And a bit older. His facial features were pointy, and his ears were pointy. An elf, maybe? But rather than being dark-skinned like Chastity, he was pale. Too pale. Like a corpse. He, too, was unarmed.
The last person in the squad was a woman. She was a species Noah had never seen before. Her skin was made of one-inch bands of black and white quartz. And instead of hair, she had a mess of copper wire, styled haphazardly into a bun. She held no weapons and wore only a loose red gown. It was hardly appropriate attire for a combat mission. Why were most of these people either not wearing armour, or not carrying weapons? Were the diggies really that harmless?
“Alright all, this is Noah. The Emperor hath decreed that he join us on our quest.”
Noah waved his hand to say hello. Noah noticed everyone in the group staring at him, which made him uncomfortable.
“Great,” grumbled the muscular sheeple, “another youth.”
“Be silent, Nymbus.”
The older elf-looking boy walked up to Noah. “Ignore that man. He is merely upset because he skipped breakfast.” The boy smiled, and Noah could see he had sharp fangs, like a vampire. Was he a vampire? “My name is Sven Armond. I am a vampire, if you could not tell. It is a pleasure.” The boy shook Noah’s hand firmly, while making direct eye contact with Noah. He seemed to possess none of the awkwardness of a child, and seemed more sure of himself than Noah.
“Uhh, I’m Noah,” said Noah.
“So I heard,” the boy smiled.
“Natalia Rezai,” said the woman made from striped black and white quartz. “I am the squad’s healer. Though I hope you won’t need me.”
“I haven’t seen your species before. I don’t mean to pry or offend you or whatever, but what species are you?” asked Noah.
“You have not heard of my species because I am entirely unique. I am an Heirloom. I was created to serve the Emperor. I am one of his concubines.”
“Created? Like you weren’t born?”
Natalia laughed. “No. We Heirloom are crafted by master craft mages. I am the magnum opus of a now-deceased craft mage named Wistram Williams.”
“I see.”
“Nymbus,” the muscular sheeple said, and offered Noah his hand. Noah shook his hand, and the man went back to leaning against the cavern wall.
“I do not shake hands,” said the black sheeple with fire behind his eyes and mouth. “I am Jorimont Flameblood.” His facial expression was neutral, and his voice monotone.
“Okay. Nice to meet you, Jorimont.”
“You can call him Jori,” the other child said. “He doesn’t mind.”
“I do mind, actually.”
“He doesn’t mind enough to do anything about it,” smiled the other child, flashing his fangs again.
“So, why are you all fiery like that?” Noah asked.
“I am flameblooded.”
“Do not let him breathe his fire down thy throat, or thou shalt be flameblooded too,” remarked Nymbus from the other side of the cavern.
“I would do no such thing. Unless I thought I could get away with it, perhaps,” Jorimont said. The way he said it without smiling made Noah think he might be serious, though maybe he just had a deadpan sense of humour.
“Can we get a move on? I long to slay some diggies,” said Nymbus, the muscular sheeple. He stroked his claymore with his hand while he said it.
“Aye. We shall proceed. Nymbus is next to me. Noah and Jorimont are behind us. Natalia and Sven in the rear.”
“He said ‘in the rear’, Natalia,” said Sven, smiling, as he moved into position with everyone else. “Did you hear him say it?”
“Yes, I think I did.”
They got into the positions ordered by Clement and walked around a bend to a solid blackiron gate. Clement turned a crank to raise the gate. Beyond the gate lay a stone staircase to the dark deeps. Clement put away his glow stick, and they walked down the stairs.
They were in the dark deeps. Noah was shocked at how open the area was. It was nothing like the mines above them. The ceiling was at least 50 feet high. Noah craned his neck to look up at it. The dark deeps were not a series of normal stone caves. Rather, they were made of a strange, porous, silvery material, which gave off a very faint violet light of its own. The dark deeps were very open, though there were many places where the floor and the ceiling came together in a rounded, organic way. Inlaid in the floor, ceiling, and the weblike pillars that joined the two were shiny, black orbs of various sizes. Some were the size of a basketball, and others were several times Noah’s own size. The pillar next to them was widest at the top, and, at regular intervals from bottom to top, contained progressively larger black orbs. Where there weren’t orbs, the silvery material was not smooth. Rather, it contained thousands of circular indentations. The orbs were embedded in the largest of these concavities.
Noah realized he had been standing still, staring at the bizarre environment, and was holding up Sven and Natalia behind him.
“Sorry,” he said, and started walking again to follow the group that was leaving them behind.
“Do not worry,” said the child vampire Sven. “I remember my first time in the dark deeps. I had hoped it would be my last. Alas, we soldiers rarely get what we want, do we?”
“No, I think not,” said Natalia. “Not if the shadowfolk get their way. I sure hope we do not run across any shadowfolk this time.”
“There shouldn’t be any. I don’t think they will come this close to the Toldenhold. Not since last time.”
“Shadowfolk?” asked Noah.
“People made of living shadow,” responded Sven with a grave expression. “Dangerous beings. It is said they are the reason the demons stay in Hell. Though I’m sure that’s just a legend. They will tear you apart if they find you. They attack your shadow.”
“What?” asked Noah. “How can a person be made out of shadows?”
Natalia responded. “Well, they’re not humanborn. They lack souls.”
“Souls?”
“Yes, all humanborns have souls. It’s what sets us apart from the otherborns, like the shadowfolk,” said Sven. “But worry not. They do not come this close to the Toldenhold. Not anymore.”
One of the shiny, black orbs on the ceiling lit up, becoming bright white for a second before fading to black again. Then, a nearby orb did the same, flashing white before fading. Then another, and another. The flashing orbs made a trail from the ceiling, down one of the pillars. The last orb to flash was on the floor, right next to where they were walking.
“What was that?” asked Noah.
“Who the hell knows?” said Natalia.
“Some say that happens when a soul is on its way down to Hell,” said Sven.
They caught up with the rest of the group. They walked for several minutes, walking in a leftward arc.
“Clement, art thou certain thou know’st whither we go?” complained the muscular sheeple.
“Nymbus, I swear on the Eye. ‘Tis been but mere minutes!” responded Clement.
“Yeah, shut up, Nymbus,” said the flameblooded sheeple, Jorimont, in his usual monotone voice. Nymbus glared back at Jorimont.
“I merely wish to know how long ‘twill take. That’s all.”
“They broke into the mines just up ahead. Be silent.”
They walked past another of the colossal, curved pillars, and came to another region where the silvery material of the dark deeps connected to the natural stone of the mines above. There were dozens of circular tunnels dug into the stone, which stretched into darkness. About two feet in diameter each.
“Well, here’s where they’ve been digging in. But where art the diggies?”
“Eye, Nymbus,” groaned Clement, “We know as much as thee. Hold thy tongue!”
The group stood still and looked around. The faint light of the silvery stone revealed nothing unusual. Only twisting pillars, and the black orbs. The dark deeps were eerily silent and still. They squinted into the darkness, looking for anything unusual to tell them where the diggies were.
“Come on, Clement. Use thy ability!”
Clement sighed and then spoke aloud. “Detect Guilt”. He then looked down at his feet. “Ah. They art right beneath us.”
“How many?”
“I know not?”
Clement got down on his hands and knees and pressed his long, sheeple ear to the ground. “I hear them. Digging. Methinks they’re digging a nest.”
“Oh, Eye,” said Natalia.
“We had better act fast.”
Jorimont spoke up. “Step aside. I will get us in.”
“It is too perilous, Jori. We know not how many there are.”
“Well, we’re about to find out. Step aside.”
Everyone stepped away from young Jori. He stared down at the ground, eyes burning. He leapt into the air. “Meteor Slam”, he spoke while in the air. His body turned bright orange and was pulled instantly to the ground, and left a crater in its wake, breaking through the porous stone. The hole was several feet deep in the silvery material and broke into a cavity below.
Inside, Noah could see an area within the silvery stone that had been hollowed out roughly by the creatures which now inhabited the space. There were holes in the walls that the creatures used to go in and out of the area. And there were the diggies. Dozens of them, each only a few feet tall, but with a giant head the size of half their body, which had a massive, conical drill instead of a face. Besides the drill, the creatures had a vaguely humanoid appearance, though they were bulky, like bears. Their fur was bright yellow. As far as Noah could tell, they didn’t have mouths or eyes.
Most of the drills were still, as were the diggies they were attached to. They were lying down, sleeping. Those around the edges were digging away at the silvery stone, and their drills whirred and screamed as they cut through the stone. Without several feet of stone separating them and Noah, the sound of them digging was deafening.
Jorimont slammed through the ground straight onto the diggies below, crushing one diggy to death. The others around him awoke from their slumber and immediately began a confused counter-attack. Their drills whirred into action, and they faced Jorimont, surrounding him with deadly, spinning drills. He raised his fists, ready to fight.
The hole he had left behind was ten feet wide, leaving enough room for the rest of the squad to join the action. Clement and Nymbus leapt into the hole, each bringing their swords down on the head of a diggy, slaying them instantly.
Natalia materialized some kind of clockwork crossbow from nowhere and fired bolts rapidly into the diggies below. Half of her bolts snapped harmlessly on the metal drills, but those that found flesh dug right in.
Sven stood next to Natalia and held one hand out toward a lone diggy. Noah saw the diggy jerk and turn toward Sven. The hairless flesh on its baggy stomach was being pulled toward Sven. The diggy flailed its arms and spun its drill, but it could do nothing to prevent Sven’s magic from ripping a strip of skin, fat, and muscle from its body. Blood flowed from its body through the air toward Sven, who absorbed the floating blood into his body.
Noah realized he was just standing there, and that he should help. He took his Tesla rod from his hip and stood at the edge of the hole. Clement and Nymbus were fighting to the right of him. Nymbus chopped into the spine of one diggy, but had to run to get away from another diggy whose drill buzzed as it ran toward him. Clement was having more success. One by one, he ran from diggy to diggy, beheading them with a supernaturally fast strike, yelling “Justice” aloud each time.
At the center of the hole was Jorimont, whose fists blazed with fire as he punched diggies hard enough to break bone. “Sundering Blow!” he yelled, splitting one diggy’s drill in two. The diggy’s face and skull split with it, spilling brain matter on the floor.
The left side of the hole had no allies of Noah’s, so he started blasting the diggies with his Tesla rod. Lightning bolts arced to their metal drills, melting them and blasting the diggies apart. Noah saw Natalia lower her crossbow in shock, and Sven stared at him, his eyes glowing red. The fighters in the hole kept fighting, but edged to the right side of the hole to avoid Noah’s lightning.
Noah blasted dozens of the diggies to death. Even with his lightning bolts as likely to arc to a dead diggy as to a living one, Noah managed to quickly slaughter the majority of the infestation on his own. Clement and Nymbus executed the remaining stragglers.
Sven and Natalia just watched. Sven spoke, his eyes still glowing red. There was a hollow, echoey quality to his voice that had not been present previously. “Incredible. I did not know you were an artificer.”
“Eye above, you obliterated them!” said Natalia.
Noah tried to suppress a proud smile. The rest of the squad climbed out of the hole.
Clement spoke. “Well done, Noah. If I had known thy artifact was so potent, I wouldst not have leapt into the hole. Nor would I have wasted my Favor.”
“Sorry,” said Noah.
“Worry not; the failure is mine. At least the mission is complete.”
“Speak for thyself!” yelled Nymbus. “Yon diggy near reduced me to dust! And thy stray lightning bolt almost burst mine eardrum!”
“Stop whining, Nymbus. If you can’t take the heat, stay out of the fire.”
“Damn thee to Hell, Jori.”
“Can you not see I am already damned?”
“Enough! We cleared the nest. ‘Tis all that matters.”
“Clement,” spoke Sven, “Are we sure it was a nest? I see no eggs. Nor any breeding-type diggies.”
“They were clearly still digging the nest,” said Nymbus. “‘Tis well we did annihilate it before any diggies could transmute.”
“Indeed.”
The ground began to shake. It started as a faint rumble, but it grew quickly until the sound was loud enough to drown out their voices. The ground beneath the diggy nest burst open as a giant drill tore through the silvery material like it was butter. A giant diggy emerged from a deeper layer of the dark deeps and climbed out of Jori’s crater. The drill alone was ten feet long and must have weighed a tonne. The creature looked like the other diggies, but its fur was black rather than yellow, though it had sparse yellow spots. Its drill looked sharper and shinier, too, and its hands had big, shiny metal claws.
“Run!” yelled Natalia. “Mega-diggy!”
“Retreat!” yelled Clement.
“What? Surely we can defeat one mega-diggy,” yelled Nymbus. He stood with his sword ready to fight. But the rest of the party, including Noah, started running away. The drill of the mega-diggy whirred briefly, and the wind from the drill alone was enough to almost knock Nymbus off balance. Realizing the foolishness of standing to fight, he broke into a sprint after the rest of the group.
They were running away from where they had entered the dark deeps. The mega-diggy was between them and the tunnel back to the city. And it was after them. It dropped to all fours and launched itself forward.
Natalia reached one hand backward and fired several bolts past Nymbus at the mega-diggy, but they were destroyed by the giant drill. It was spinning so fast that it turned them to sawdust on impact.
“Swifter, Nymbus!” shouted Clement.
“Wait!” Nymbus shouted. The mega-diggy was faster than him and was gaining on him.
Noah tried to help by firing lightning bolts at the colossal diggy. The bolts arced to its drill. A circle of faint orange appeared on the rapidly-spinning drill where it had been struck, but it was not enough to damage it substantially.
“Wait for me!”
They rounded the corner of a pillar. There was a black orb on the ground, about four feet tall, blocking the way. It was faster to go over than around. One by one, the soldiers leapt onto the orb and then jumped off the other side. Natalia struggled to get onto the orb, using her hands to help, before leaping off the other side. Clement had an easier time, running skillfully up and over the orb. Jorimont kicked the ground as he jumped, creating a burst of flame on the ground, which propelled him onto the orb. Sven leapt supernaturally high, clearing the entire orb in one leap. He seemed almost as light as air.
Noah scaled the orb, though not as skillfully as most of the others. He fell onto his stomach while trying to get up the orb. Apparently, his 11 Dexterity wasn’t enough to make him an acrobat. He looked back. Nymbus was right behind him, and the mega-diggy had almost reached him. Noah could see that Nymbus wouldn’t be able to get up onto the orb before the diggy gored him. Noah wanted to help, but there was nothing Noah could do. He clambered to his feet, and looked back again. Nymbus tried to leap onto the orb, but the drill slammed into him from behind, crushing Nymbus’ spine against the hard, black orb. Noah tried hard to steady himself as the mega-diggy pulverized Nymbus and drilled into the black orb, which cracked all over from the force. Noah leapt off the orb and ran with the others.
They gained a few seconds of lead as the mega-diggy drilled through the black orb. They heard the drilling from behind and saw chunks of tough, black glass and red flesh spraying in all directions. Then, the creature emerged. Blood was still smeared on its drill.
“Come on!”
They saw bright indigo light coming from around the next pillar. They turned around the pillar, and there was a giant pool of opaque, dark-blue, glowing liquid in the ground. It was huge – a small lake. The liquid glowed brightly, so they could see much more easily.
“We have to get back to the mines!”
“How are we supposed to do that?”
Noah ran with the group along the edge of the liquid. Whatever it was, they definitely weren’t going swimming in it. Noah saw the creature round the pillar behind them, almost stumbling into the lake itself before righting itself and chasing after them.
Natalia dematerialized her crossbow and turned to face the monster. She held her hands out and made a circle pattern. Noah saw the air in front of her shimmer and harden into a barrier as he passed her. She turned and ran.
The mega-diggy slammed into the barrier. Its drill met with great resistance as it tried to drill through the wall of magical force. Blue sparks flew from the barrier as it drilled for several seconds. Finally, the barrier collapsed, and the diggy broke into a sprint after them.
“Shit!” yelled Natalia. At least it had bought them some time.
“That’s not the only problem, Natalia,” shouted Sven. His eyes were still red, and his fangs looked longer than usual. “Look! Shadowfolk!”
Noah looked up ahead. In addition to the normal shadows being cast on the twisting walls by the indigo light, there were several moving shadows. They looked almost like people made of shadows, but they were very thin in their bodies, arms, and legs, and their heads were all turned sideways, revealing large shadow fangs. They were small, only about two feet tall, and with their cartoonish lack of detail and giant, triangular teeth, they almost looked cute. They ran along the edges of the shadows, leaping from pillar to pillar. They were fast.
“What do we do?” yelled Noah, panicked.
“There is not much we can do,” replied Sven.
“What if we get to a shadow?” said Jorimont.
“We’d be running toward the shadowfolk,” said Sven.
Noah saw the shadowfolk running along the edges of shadows that were cast on the walls. Once they were as close to Noah’s group as they could get, they started reaching out from the shadow. Their feet stayed at the shadow’s edge, but their bodies stretched out along the ground, as they made toward the group.
Noah suddenly realized the shadowfolk weren’t converging on the group itself, but rather on their shadows. The shadowfolk were going to attack their shadows.
“I can make light!” yelled Noah. He swung his Tesla rod, and it shot a cluster of lightning bolts at the shadowfolk. The light caused the shadowfolk to retreat a few feet, but the bolts only lasted a split second, and the shadowfolk quickly continued reaching out toward them, unharmed. Their shadowy bodies stretched along the floor, and their tiny, clawed hands and fanged mouths reached toward them, trying to bite.
The mega-diggy was gaining on them, too. Noah saw some of the shadowfolk leaping from pillar to pillar toward the mega-diggy.
Noah fired his Tesla rod again, but it was barely helping.
Noah saw one of the shadow hands reach the shadow at the base of Clement’s foot. The shadowfolk’s hand pulled on Clement’s leg’s shadow, and a chunk of flesh the size of Noah’s fist was torn off Clement’s actual leg. Clement stumbled, and more hands started pulling chunks from his shadow. He screamed in pain and fell to the ground. Chunks of flesh fell off him, and he sprayed blood everywhere.
The rest of the group was accosted by the shadowfolk. A shadowy hand easily pulled a chunk of quartz from Natalia’s arm, and she screamed. The shadowy head of a shadowfolk reached underneath Jorimont, and it snapped its shadow jaws closed. Jorimont’s leg was severed from the knee down. He cried out. The injury revealed a bright flame inside Jorimont, which caused the shadowfolk to briefly retreat from him, but they came again, their hands taking more pieces of his body via his shadow.
Noah felt something touch his arm, and then pain. A shadowfolk was tugging on his shadow and starting to tear the flesh of his left arm. He had no choice. He couldn’t help the others. He had to save himself. “Ether Walk!” yelled Noah. He went invisible, and the pain in his arm stopped. He no longer had a shadow to attack.
There was another large, black orb embedded in the ground some distance away, and Noah sprinted to the other side of the orb from the glowing, dark-blue liquid so he would be in shadow and his Ether Walk would last indefinitely. As he did, he watched as Jorimont was pulled apart by the shadowfolk, piece by piece, until he was dead. Clement, too, was pulled apart, and not just by the shadowfolk: Sven hovered several feet in the air above Clement and siphoned blood from his body into his own. Noah saw shadowfolk running after Sven’s shadow, which moved as he flew higher.
Noah’s Ether Walk was nearly depleted by the time he reached the shadow, but he was fine once he was in the shadow. He could stay there indefinitely before the Ether Walk would end, thanks to his Shadowwalker ability. He was able to watch the fighting from the safety of the shadow.
He saw the mega-diggy stumble over before it could reach the group. Pieces of fur and chunks of flesh were being torn from its body by shadowfolk. Its drill whirred in vain. The shadowfolk could not be harmed by mere metal.
Natalia screamed. Noak peeked out from behind the orb, and saw that she had run into the blue liquid to escape the shadowfolk. Where she touched it, it clung to her. The liquid was thick, and it climbed her body as though it had a will of its own. Steam rose from her quartz skin as the liquid melted her body on contact. She screamed, and the liquid climbed up her face and down her throat, causing her scream to change to a gurgle. She was finally pulled into the liquid, and nothing remained.
Only Noah and Sven were still alive. Sven was flying through the air. He flew rapidly to the dead mega-diggy, his shadow being chased by shadowfolk. He began absorbing large amounts of blood. With this, his power grew. His entire body began to glow a piercing, bright red, and the air around him swirled with red, magical energy. The shadowfolk retreated from the ground beneath him and shrieked in silent pain.
Shaking off the pain, the shadowfolk chased Sven’s shadow again, climbing and stretching up the walls to reach it. Sven flew too quickly for them. He flew above the glowing liquid, and toward the ceiling. His own shadow moved up the wall and onto the ceiling as he flew above the source of light. He flew close to the ceiling. There, the light from his own red glow eliminated his shadow. She shadowfolk stopped nearby, waiting for his shadow to reappear.
Sven looked down at the destruction the shadowfolk had wrought. He looked confused. He looked around. Where was Noah? He had simply vanished.
“Noah? Where have you gone?” Sven’s childlike voice was powerful and boomed through the dark deeps, echoing off the pillars in the distance.
“I’m back here!” shouted Noah. At once, a bunch of shadowfolk turned and sprinted toward him. He was invisible, but now they knew where he was. They stopped at the edge of the shadow he was hiding in. There, they waited for him, too.
“Good. You are alive.”
“What the hell should we do? I can’t leave the shadow, or I’ll become visible, and then they’ll get me!”
The vampire child responded. “I cannot move either. Or my shadow will reappear, and they will have me. Even if I stay here, in a few minutes, my life magic will run out, and I will stop glowing, and they will tear me apart.”
They were trapped. They had killed most of their group, and one of them had slashed Noah’s arm. It wasn’t bad. Just scratches. But Noah was pinned down, as was Sven. The shadowfolk would get them eventually.
“So what do we do?”
“Look!” shouted Sven, pointing at the ceiling above Noah. He looked up. One of the huge black spheres embedded in the ceiling was glowing white. It faded over the course of about two seconds. Then, an adjacent orb lit up, emitting the same white light. Two seconds later it faded. Then another, and another. The lights were moving down the pillar near Noah.
Shit. He traced the path of orbs the light was following. The light was moving down the pillar to the orb he was hiding behind. The orb he was hiding behind was going to light up. And when it did, his Ether Walk would end in milliseconds, as it was almost out of duration, and he would be exposed.
Noah’s heart raced as the orb next to and slightly above his lit up, and started to fade. This was it. He would have to Ether Walk again, but it would take time for him to say “Ether Walk”, and in that time, the shadowfolk, who were incredibly fast, would start tearing him to pieces. Hopefully, they couldn’t do too much damage in such a short time. He decided he would try to time a swing of his Tesla rod to briefly eliminate his shadow. Maybe that would buy him the time he needed.
The orb Noah was hiding behind lit up. At once, his Ether Walk ended and the white glow gave Noah a shadow on the ground behind him. The shadowfolk that had been waiting for him launched themselves toward his shadow. He began to speak the words and to swing his Tesla rod. But the shadowfolk moved like lightning. Noah felt their claws start to dig into his shadow. He felt his Tesla rod smash into something, and felt something crack, but it still went off. The rod shot lightning in front of him, momentarily eliminating his shadow. It only lasted a split-second, but it was enough time for him to finish saying “Ether Walk”, and become invisible and invulnerable again.
The black orb dimmed, and went black. Noah breathed a sigh of relief. It worked. He was safe again. Noah looked around at the shadowfolk, who were again standing on the edge of the shadow of the black orb, waiting for him. But something was different. One of them wasn’t standing, and it wasn’t moving. It lay motionless on the surface of the shadow. Its back looked like it had been snapped. The rest of them seemed agitated.
How did that happen? The lightning? But it had had no effect on them before. Noah realized he felt a crack when he swung the Tesla rod. He hit the shadowfolk somehow. How? His hand and the Tesla rod were nowhere near the shadowfolk he had killed.
“You killed one of the shadowfolk? With your artifact?”
Noah yelled back to Sven. “I don’t know! I just swung my Tesla rod, and it killed him. But I don’t think it was the lightning. I think I just whacked it with the rod itself.” Noah was wearing Shadowscale. It allowed him to attack his enemies’ shadows with his own. Did that work even on shadowfolk? If so, the shadowfolk would be sorry they ever met him. Noah smiled.
Since the shadowfolk were made of shadow, they had to stay exposed. But Noah could hide in shadow, effectively concealing his own shadow. He was in Ether Walk now, but as long as the black orb behind him stayed dark, it wasn’t even necessary. That was the advantage he had over the shadowfolk. He could conceal his own shadow, but they couldn’t.
Noah whispered, “End Ether Walk”. He became visible again. Since he had no shadow, he couldn’t feel his shadow-self like he normally could with the Shadowscale. But it didn’t matter. He crouched near the edge of the shadow, where shadowfolk were biting and jumping in anger. He punched his fist hard. The shadow of his fist emerged from the edge of the shadow. Momentarily, he could feel not only his fist, but his shadow fist, thanks to Shadowscale. He felt his shadow-hand crack into the shadowfolk, shattering its tiny, spindly body.
One by one, he started killing the shadowfolk by punching them. Their bodies snapped under the weight of his shadow punches. As he killed them, the other shadowfolk understood what was happening, making them angrier. They clawed at the edge of the black orb’s shadow, trying to get to Noah, but it was no use. He killed all ten of the shadowfolk that had been waiting for him.
“How are you doing that?” asked Sven.
“It’s my armour. Shadowscale. I can attack with my shadow.”
“Ah. Well done.”
Noah stepped out of the shadow. It was safe to do so now that the only living shadowfolk were all the way over by Sven. He could run back into the shadow before they got to him if necessary.
“Shadowfolk!” spoke Sven authoritatively. “You have killed two of ours, but we have killed ten of yours.” Two? Hadn’t it been three? Or was he not counting Natalia, since she died to the blue liquid? “If you continue to harass us, the rest of you will die, too.” Were the shadowfolk intelligent enough to be reasoned with? Did they even speak English? Noah assumed Sven must know what he was doing. “As you can see, we are capable of killing you. Flee now, while you still can. And do not stop running. Soon, as you know, the Empire will chase you down as we did before.”
The shadowfolk grew animated at the threat, and bit and clawed at the air.
“Go! You have seen you are no match for the boy and his artifact.”
They did not flee, but they did give Sven more distance. He floated down to Noah, still glowing brightly. He followed along the ceiling and down a pillar to ensure his shadow would not appear, but the precaution was not necessary. The shadowfolk watched them from the shadows, but did not attack.
“It seems you’ve frightened them, Noah. Well done.”
“Thanks. Should we go? They can’t follow us into the rest of the dark deeps, can they? Since there are no shadows?”
“They will be able to follow us if they wish,” said Sven, bending down over Jorimont’s corpse, which was a pile of glowing ashes. “Because of this!” He pulled a flaming heart from the ashes, which still beat slowly. It was a brightly-glowing orange heart made of magma. “With this, Jorimont survives.” He then addressed the heart itself. “Not the first time the shadowfolk have gotten you, huh, Jori? Too bad for them your flaming heart casts no shadow.”
They walked past the mega-diggy. The shadowfolk had stripped it to the bone, and pulled the bones apart. Its skeleton was massive and reminded Noah of a dinosaur or megafauna fossil. Aside from the heap of steel at one end, which had been a drill before the shadowfolk tore it to shreds. Apparently, it didn’t matter what something was made of to the shadowfolk. Shadow was shadow, and shadows were fragile.
They retraced their steps away from the lake of glowing blue liquid. The flaming heart Sven carried glowed brightly, and cast their shadows onto the pillars around them. They spotted the shadowfolk trailing them from a distance, but none dared to attack. Not while Noah was wearing Shadowscale.
They found the exit and left the dark deeps, entering the mines. Noah sighed and sat against the wall. He was tired. Not just physically. He felt Sven’s hand on his shoulder.
“You did very well for your first mission, Noah. Your first mission should not have been this dangerous. We should have taken artifacts to illuminate our shadows. But the shadowfolk were not supposed to come this close. This is troubling.”
Noah nodded. “Yeah. I definitely was not ready for this. Though we’re alive and the older people are all dead, so what does that say about experience?”
Sven laughed out loud. Noah looked at him in confusion, but he kept laughing at Noah, which made him feel embarrassed. “Noah, do you have any idea how old I am? I could be your great-grandfather.”
“What? How old are you? I thought you were like ten!”
“Ha! Ten! I’m over 80 years old. I think 85, but I’m not actually sure. Jori is 35. You thought the Emperor sent children into the dark deeps?”
“Well, he does allow slavery. Why not child soldiers?”
Sven’s face became serious. “Careful who you say things like that to, Noah. The Emperor does not tolerate lese-majesty.”
“What?”
“To criticize the law is to criticize the Emperor, which is a capital offence. Just be careful.”
“Oh. I will. Thanks.”
Sven took a longing look at the entrance to the dark deeps. “I lost a good friend today. And two more fellow soldiers. Not the first I have lost. Nor, I’m sure, will they be the last. But it still stings.”
“I’m sorry,” said Noah. He didn’t know what to say.
“It’s okay. I’ll be okay.” The boy – the old man – put on a smile and looked at Noah. “How about you? Will you be okay?”
“Yeah, I think so. I’ve actually been through worse recently, believe it or not. It was terrifying, but at least it didn’t hurt, or make me feel like a piece of shit.”
“You did well!”
“And I levelled up!”
“Really? What level are you now, if you don’t mind me asking.”
“Six!”
“Old blood, you’re six! You’re a higher level than me. How is this possible?”
Noah tried to stop himself from smiling with pride. “I’m a true human, I think.”
“You think? You don’t know your own species?”
“I just grew up calling myself human.”
“I see.” Sven’s eyes narrowed. He looked curiously at Noah. “Well, congratulations on the level, young man. Even without it, I’m sure the Emperor will throw us a feast in our honour. But this is just more to celebrate. Come, let’s report to the Emperor. He needs to be informed the shadowfolk are encroaching on our territory again. And of the deaths of our comrades.”
They left the mines and headed to the palace.