Tides of Faith: Travail of The Dark Mage Book Two (63 page)

…he and James running
across the desert, the Star in hand…

I will get the Star. But
how?

…sun rising with the new
day…

Is the sun supposed to be
the Star? Unclear.

The visions grew in
clarity.

…warmth…hope…rebirth…

…families
thriving…

…communities at
peace…

…hope, love, and a dawn of
brotherhood the likes this world had never seen…

…no beggars for all were
fed…

…no sickness…no
disease…

Miko’s heart sang to see the ills of
the world banished. Then the tone of the
visions…changed.

…crops
withered…famine…

…stillbirths…deformities…madness…

…corpses in the street…in
the homes…everywhere…

…Miko wept in the
twilight…bodies and rubble surrounded him for as far as he could
see…he was alone…

…the ground shook…fissures
opened…light erupted from the fissures…blinding light…

The power of the visions began
slipping away.

“That cannot be!” he cried.

Before the visions faded completely,
he envisioned standing with blade in hand, James at his side. Like
in the previous vision, bodies and rubble littered the surrounding
area as far as the eye could see, but this time, they were not
alone; others had survived.

Struggling to hold onto the
visions in the hopes of gleaning further wisdom proved futile. They
slipped away leaving only a sense of great foreboding.
What did it mean?
Often,
Morcyth’s visions left him with a sense of purpose, a sense in
which direction he was supposed to go. This time there was only
confusion.

The part of the visions that remained
steadfast in his mind as a true course of action was of him and
James running through the desert with the Star. In that, he knew
that he would successfully retrieve the Star. Didn’t tell him how
to do it however. Miko had known it would be a longshot in any
event; communicating with gods was never like a regular
conversation. James once commented that the mind of a god could
hardly work like the mind of a man, so any actions predicated upon
that supposition would assuredly be in error.

First thing first; get the Star. There
would be time later for vision pondering. Putting them aside, he
got back to the task at hand.

One thing he had learned that would
help him now was that the tumor-like growth was not an abnormal
extension. Rather, it was the creature itself. Everything else, the
structure rising above them and the conveyance tubes were
constructs it crafted whereby it could propagate and thrive. Like a
plant putting forth limbs and leaves to gather nutrients, this
creature put forth conveyance tubes and stalkers.

A few moments contemplation left him
with the realization that there would be no way in which to
retrieve the Star without coming into contact with the green
ichor.

“There’s nothing for it,” he said to
himself.

After saying a small prayer for
Morcyth to watch over him, he drew his sword and plunged it to the
hilt through the outer skin of the creature several inches above
where the Star lay.

“Have half a mind to go down there and
hurry him along,” James mumbled to himself.

The glowing form of Miko had remained
stationary for some time. Twice he had picked up a stone and
considered dropping it in the hopes of having it land on Miko, thus
knocking him out of whatever reverie might have claimed him. Worry
of damaging the radiation suit stayed his hand.

Then another thought
occurred to him.
What if Miko’s suit had
become damaged? Or what if the radiation down below was of such a
high concentration that the suit failed to shield him properly? He
could be dying or already dead!

James paced back and forth along the
edge, alternating glances to the sun growing ever lower in the sky,
to the surrounding area for any movement, and to the glow down
below. On his fourth pass along the lip, he sent his senses down to
the depths. No sooner had he begun than his skin started to tingle
and tingle hard. A vast shimmering field had sprung to life in the
sky above him. He managed to cancel his spell before it could be
altered.

“Damn!” he cried.

The shimmering field quickly
dissipated as had the tingling. He couldn’t do anything to help
Miko; not without running the risk of making the situation worse.
There was only one option remaining. Crouching down, he sat on the
edge of the lip and made to descend to the first anchor
line.

He set a foot upon it and flashbacked
to gym class; they weren’t pleasant memories. About to continue, he
felt the anchor line shudder; then detach from the side of the pit.
James scrambled back from the edge as the anchor line fell
away.

The entire structure rising out of the
pit shuddered in powerful convulsions. Cracks formed and green
ichor oozed forth; in a couple places it jetted out in lengthy
streams.

A quick glance below showed
that Miko was on the move. Not only that, but the glow had
increased tenfold. James grinned,
He’s got
the Star.

Shudders rocked the structure time and
again. More and more fissures cracked opened, spilling forth more
of the green radioactive ichor. One crack opened directly before
him and only a quick dive to the right saved him from being doused
by a large stream.

Coming to his feet, he noticed tremors
coursing throughout the system of conveyance tubes. A two-foot
crack ruptured in one nearby. James danced back to avoid the
growing pool of green ichor. Another nearly split apart from a
violent series of spasms; green ichor fountained in all
directions.

“What did you do?” James asked,
glancing toward the pit.

Ichor streamed along the sides of the
structure in ever growing amounts. James grew worried for Miko;
feared that he would be unable to avoid coming into contact with
it. Wending his way around the now numerous puddles of the green
stuff, he returned to the edge of the pit.

Miko had worked his way a third of the
way back up the pit. Many of the anchor-lines had come loose from
the tremors wracking the structure. He watched as his friend swung
up to one, grabbed hold then climbed up. As he reached for the
next, the anchor line he stood upon gave way and only quick
reflexes allowed him to grab hold and avoid falling to the green
pool below.

From one anchor line to another, Miko
worked his way nearer to the top. James could see how green ichor
coated much of Miko’s suit; watched as a fissure opened and rained
a deluge upon him. He hoped Morcyth was lending a hand in
preventing his high priest from succumbing to the
radioactivity.

A tug on his boot drew his attention
to several green tendrils that had wrapped themselves around it.
Three feet away a tube had completely broken open and the tendrils
were snaking everywhere. Several others had likewise completely
split apart; each producing dozens of green tendrils snaking this
way and that.

He pulled his boot back to break their
hold but his efforts proved ineffective. Using his assassin’s
spell, he utilized microbursts of magic to form shields and shear
the parts gripping him from the rest.

Each burst caused the sky to shimmer
and his skin to prickle. But being so quick, the shimmering field
had no time in which to alter the spells. Other tendrils moved
toward him and he treated them the same.

After the twentieth time, he could
feel his grip on the spells begin to falter, even though they were
cast and done in less time than it took a heart to beat. Yet still
the tendril came on.

At first, their movements seemed
random, but as he continued “trimming” them, they grew more
focused. It was almost as if they knew he was there. When ten
tendrils shot toward him at once, his doubt was gone. They knew he
was there and were after him.

Each spell utilized only a microburst
of magic. But when a dozen or more were cast nearly simultaneously,
their short durations failed to stave off the effects of the
shimmering field above.

The whole area swarmed with tendrils.
Wherever a conveyance tube had ruptured, they had emerged. Those
nearest James drove toward him as if wielded by some intelligence
bent on his destruction. No sooner would tendrils be severed via
his assassin spell than they would commence to regrow at an
astounding rate before seeking him out once again.

His arms tingled nearly constantly
now. The shimmering field above had grown more pronounced and each
time he cast his spell he had to concentrate just a little bit
harder in order to achieve his desired outcome.

“Come on,” he breathed to Miko
below.

Three vines shot forward at
once.

Snip... tendril
severed…

Snip…tendril
severed…

Snafu…

First spell cast perfectly. The second
felt a little off. The third hemorrhaged magic as its underlying
matrix warped. Dust and sections of tendrils exploded into the air
as a myriad patchwork of assassin spells sundered the ground in an
arcing radius expanding three feet outward from the original point
of impact.

Though unexpected and unnerving, the
mis-fired spell had for the moment, cleared the area of tendrils.
Those beyond the fringe of the devastated area shrank
back.

His skin was on fire. The tingling had
grown to such an extent that it was painful. James glanced into the
pit, saw Miko crouched on an anchor line third row from the top.
Watched him leap laterally to an anchor line on the same level.
Caught his breath when the anchor line shifted at the wall;
breathed a sigh of relief when it held Miko’s weight.

Miko glanced upward, saw his friend
watching, and gave a thumb’s up. He then drew his sword and leapt
to the anchor line just above his head. Tendrils had grown to
nearly completely cover it. As soon as Miko’s left arm hooked it,
tendrils reacted.

Several passes of his blade sent green
tendrils plummeting to the depths below. Once the anchor line was
cleared, he climbed onto it and stood less than eight feet from the
lip beneath where James stood.

The anchor line directly beneath James
was loose; he could see where, though it looked sturdy, it had in
fact detached from the wall. He wasn’t sure if Miko was able to
realize that from his vantage point below. He tried to wave Miko
off, but his friend leapt for it.

Throwing himself to the ground, James
reached into the pit and grasped the anchor line with both hands a
split-second before Miko’s weight came full upon it. Sure enough,
the impact knocked the anchor line from the wall. James’ shoulders
protested vigorously as he strained to keep Miko from
falling.

Miko swung a leg over and proceeded to
scramble up onto the anchor line.

“Hurry!” James yelled through the
mask.

Moving forward along the line, Miko
reached James just as the structure above them gave out with a
groan…then cracked. Green ichor oozed forth. Another violent spasm
split the structure completely asunder.

Miko scrambled over James and out of
the pit just as a green deluge engulfed them. Morcyth’s glow flared
to painful brilliance.

An army of tendrils ranging from six
inches to twice the length of a man infested the green ichor. James
let go the anchor line as he felt them constrict along his entire
body. Pulling, tearing, they split the fabric of the suit apart as
they sought the flesh beneath allowing green ichor to breach its
protective barrier. He screamed as searing pain erupted wherever
the green ichor touched his skin. It filled his suit, tendrils
followed twining around his limbs, his torso. Thrashing, he pulled
off his helmet; tore at tendrils cinching tightly around his
neck.

Then Miko was there; the Star in hand.
Its glow infused him and the pain diminished. Tendrils withered;
Miko pulled them from him until none were left. He opened his eyes,
saw Miko radiating Morcyth’s glow from head to toe, and found his
voice.

“What took you so long?”

“Sorry.” Miko grinned and nodded.
“Need a nap? Or should we get out of here?” The only part of his
radiation suit still upon him was the leggings.

“The radiation…,” James
began.

“Do not worry,” Miko replied and held
forth the Star, “Morcyth is taking care of it.”

James discovered that he, too, glowed
brightly. In fact, the glow extended outward roughly two feet.
Glancing to the right, he saw tendrils approach the fringe of the
glow, wither, and shrink back. All vestiges of pain had vanished
leaving a feeling of contentment and relaxation. He held out a
hand.

“Help me up?”

As Miko took his hand and brought him
to his feet, the structure rising out of the pit gave out with a
groan and imploded, then collapsed into the pit.