Azrael leaned on his knees, coughing. The collapse had been closer than he would wish to admit. Yet, only a half dozen had died. Better odds than he would have expected when penetrating the fortress of Vastras.
He glared through his visor. This wasn't a fortress. It was a cave system, not the inside of the city as he had expected. Something was off here. Going upwards should not have resulted in going downwards. Something inside Calis had responded to them, another magical defence. It had transported them to a cave system full of softly glowing crystal lattices.
Azrael frowned, waving a hand. The lattices weren't a defence. They couldn't be. They were draining quickly, but had been used as a source of magical power. Stored magic. This wasn't some new trap of the queen, this was the heart of her network. Something was wrong. Vastras wouldn't have brought him here when she considered him a friend. She certainly wouldn't have now he was an enemy.
The cave rocked, knocking him to his knees. He rolled aside as a gem shattered where he had landed. He stood up, eyes tracing the aura in the air. A huge spell had been triggered. Enough to disrupt the magical matrices in the area. He flinched, glancing at the crystals that were blinking out, one by one. He couldn't afford to have his men stumbling around in the dark. "Move out!"
He ran forward, calling on the goddess. A brief trail of flame followed him, trying to indicate a way forward as the darkness closed in around them. The paladin's feet slapped against the hard rock, the metal clanging as he sprinted, hoping he was heading the right direction in this labyrinth. Moving towards a large explosion of magic wasn't the most intelligent thing to do, but it was as good as anything if Vastras' entire magical network was undergoing a cascade failure.
The queen had plenty of enemies, human and nonhuman. Whatever had attacked might assist him in his task, or it might kill him and his. It wasn't possible to make an assessment with the information he had on hand.
He skidded around a corner, pulling up his shield as light assaulted his senses.
He glared as his eyes adjusted, looking into a cave centred around an enormous gemstone pillar that was shining like the sun. In front of it he could see the source of the magical explosion, the aura still bleeding off.
They were humanoid, fallen to their hands and knees. Male. Rotting.
A ghoul.
How could a mindless beast be capable of summoning that kind of magic?
He drew his sword slowly.
YOU ARE READING
Summer Garden
FantasyTrei died. He got roasted by a mage, for trying to be a hero. Things aren't so bad. At least he didn't stay dead. Summer's life was always difficult. Her world was on the verge of war, a politician threatening to take her crown. Resurrecting Trei wa...
