Sword of Stars

Chapter Forty Two. Husk.

"Let's go!" Garek called as he drew his sword.

A horde of Shadowed Ones were at the other end of the hallway and approaching fast. Their black bodies a wave of darkness rolling down the hall like the shadow of a cloud spewing across the landscape.

Aeryn notched an arrow and began firing into the mass, hitting the beasts and downing several. Dezolzen hurled beams of energy. They took off arms and blew away heads. The creatures shrieked in defiance, never slowing in their advance.

"Let us get to the throne room," Jon called without panic as he ran. "We may be able to barricade ourselves in. This way." He took off down a side hall.

Garek and the others followed, Aeryn shooting as best she could while running and Dezolzen using his Heterochromancy, both unrelenting.

A door burst out ahead and one of the creatures leapt out, striking at Jon. The cyborg managed to dodge and Garek roared as he swung the sword mid-sprint, decapitating the Shadowed One without slowing.

"Here!" Jon opened one of the double doors to the throne room and held it open. Garek skidded to a halt just outside and let Aeryn and Dezolzen run in before he too entered the room. Jon slammed the door shut and lowered the large bolt to lock the door a second before the creatures smashed into it, wailing their fury.

"Is that going to hold them?" Garek used both hands to hold the door in place.

"Not for long," Dezolzen growled with glowing eyes. "We need to thin their numbers." He put a hand to the door and fired a beam through the wood, hitting several Shadowed Ones on the way out. Aeryn raised her bow and began firing arrows through the hole in between the assassin's beams.

Garek looked around the room for another entrance when he spotted a large orb in the middle of the room, pulsing with light in the dark room. It sat in a perfectly circular crater, as if it had fallen from above. "Stars," he whispered. "Is that it?"

Jon turned and gazed upon the seal. "That is one of the seals for the Greater Evil's prison."

"Then we can't let this room fall. Are there other doors in this room?" Garek asked.

Jon nodded. "There are two single doors on either side of the room at the back there." He pointed across the room.

"Quick, we have to block them." Garek began running before he had finished his sentence. "You take the one on the left, Jon!"

Signs of intense battle littered the room, worse than any other place in the castle. Garek assumed this was the place where the old heroes had fought the Greater Evil. The ceiling held a large hole that extended up the tall tower above the throne room and revealed the ash consumed sky. A large throne sat atop a high dais in the middle of the room, demonic spikes jutting out in all directions from its high back. He couldn't imagine the sort of monster that could sit upon such a seat.

Garek got to the door and looked around for something to block it off. He saw a strange looking box and dragged it over, covering half the door. He looked across the room and saw Jon pushing a large piece of rubble over the door with his inhuman strength. Before it could make it fully the door crashed open and the Shadowed Ones poured in. Jon abandoned the rubble and his blade of light appeared from his hand. The beasts charged him and fell to his otherworldly dance of death, accompanied by the grating sound of his blade cutting through the air and into dark flesh.

A crash on the door made Garek spin as more of the creatures arrived, screeching and wailing in their bloodlust. Claws racked and scrapped against the wood causing sharp shivers to run down Garek's spine. He gritted his teeth and hefted the sword, preparing himself for what was to come. They had made it to the seal and straight away it needed defending from the Shadowed Ones at all cost.