The Darkfire Hold

Etan Za'Darmondiel.

24th of Trescia, 1492.

Redagh, Blighted Woods. 165 km NW of the Feathered Forest, 80 km E of the Ligin Border.

07:42.

***

It was strange. For all but Amun and Iris, sleep was an optional endeavor. Though Iris did not exactly sleep and Amun would receive the same ability in time. Regardless, Sorcerers and Warlocks, he made us all. And it was through that pact- that deal to join the Troupe, that bestowed us with such a blessed curse.

On one blade, it freed us of mundane schedules. No longer did we have to devote a standard time for rest. Work, or play, could be pursued the moment it was decided upon and for however long we desired. We could travel anywhere, and with no need to stress about rations or routes or possible threats that encompassed having to rest.

On the other blade, it made our lives timeless. The days blended together seamlessly. Always on the move, we were. Always planning. Always acting. Always pursuing the desires of our hearts. Despite many of those desires being birthed from Amun.

Never in all of my years, had I heard of such a being. Much less a God. A being so willing to share his bounty freely. A being of cold logic coupled with a kind of orderly chaos any drow could appreciate. Never, did I begin the morning training knowing what the day would hold. But always, I knew no matter how mundane, minute or mad things seemed to be, everything was a piece of Amun's realms-spanning game.

It was during these times, however, that we found order.

Regularly, our days were six hours longer than the rest of the Mortal Plane's. Twice a day, we entered the temporal chambers to conduct three hours of physical and combat training at dawn followed by three hours of learning, practice, and study at dusk. Each was followed by a shared meal that, while I remained uncomfortable about it, was starting to grow on me.

Either from the company or Sam's cooking, I had yet to tell. But I digress.

From our blessings paired with our timeless natures, every being in the Cuttleship has risen by leaps and bounds in all aspects. No longer did they appear like the disheveled beings seen everywhere. Haircuts and other cosmetic operations overseen by Blude had them appearing as the royals their enhanced vernacular implied them to be.

By the hand of my Astrosages, everyone managed to become adept at maintaining proper stances and striking properly and have gone on to pick and choose their favored weapons. The primary members of the Troupe have absorbed as much information about the divine industries, politics, and militaries of his past life while Amun himself, of course, saw hasted progress towards Death's Door.

In doing so, I caught insight as to how he found enlightenment. A combination of many things, he claimed. Therapy. Illusory simulations paired with 'frame jacking.' Drugs. Sacred Geometry. And teachings from an ancient warrior monk culture in some fantastical land called Saturnia. But it was the second to last part that gave him the final key to enlightenment in this life.

What we called Arcane Glyphs, or Magic Sigils, he called Sacred Geometry. And knowing not just their designs, but deeply understanding their meaning was what allowed him to push past the step of enlightenment.

So too did that come into play in the heart of Vruria. Without my instruction, he carved the Glyph of Power- what he called the Tree of Life- into the stone and meditated. Focused on drawing the ambient ki into this glyph to be stockpiled and released into this system in a single, large, burst that shocked his Ki Pond open.

With that accomplishment came little reason to teach Amun the monastic abilities. Walking along ceilings and kicking off the air to maneuver was either a pastime or a short order. And the VoidNet shared all the details of the mutation to his perk. Being immune to poisons and toxins already, the perk was corrupted into becoming Impurity of Body. An ability that would turn his skin toxic and his blood pestilent upon the release of his deathly ki.

I gave him his first set of meditation beads and he placed them around his wrists immediately, but his mind focused more on the improvements to his agility and dexterity. Thus days more, we spent in that temporal domain, training and meditating throughout the ever-present dawn until I was sure his second Ki Pond was to open. But instead, we left.

Into the Cuttleship we went and out we sailed to train and wind down before we landed in Redagh shortly after dawn. What we faced was not the giant forest of elves I read of. Not in the immediate vicinity, at least. Here, not even snow fell. The ground was a field of dust and dirt, broken apart only by the obligatory outcropping of stone or the ever-abundant trees of stone. A place of death and decay that upturned even my nose.

But of course, Amun felt at home.

"I hear there's a hag close to here." He quipped as he turned to face us, smiling.

I offered him the most incredulous gaze I could muster. "Is that why we are here?"

"No." He laughed, pointing towards some ambiguous gloom. "An associate of mine found a dungeon."

My brows rose expectantly, then more in surprise once the several more stepped out of the gloom. Yet, they all had dark crimson eyes and white hair and wore the finest silks I had seen in weeks. And trailing after them was a particularly charming brute of a man with the same prominent fangs and crimson eyes that glowed, even in darkness. But he had something else inside him.

"A true Vampyre Lord." I wowed. "The first I have ever seen."

"I'm honored." The vampire bowed just as the VoidNet pinged him as a comrade. "Elijah of the Blackblood."

"First a monster lair, now a dungeon?" Amun snickered after the introductions were made. "You're on a roll. Not to mention, you're growing." He peeked at those gathered behind the Vampyre and snickered at their wowed visages.

A firm pat on the back punctuated his words. A simple gesture that forced the Vampyre forward a step. But he only laughed proudly. "Oh, how strong we've gotten!" He laughed teasingly before his face uncannily became sullen. "And, yes. However, there are creatures inside that I'm unable to touch. Perhaps knowing this, they won't allow me to get near. It is… vexing."

'A vampire caring about wild animals?' I wondered, eyeing him incredulously, but Amun paid the absurdities no mind. He only stepped down the path to come upon the steps of some underground relic of carved stones concealed by a wall of vines.

Inside and beyond the antechamber was an unimpressive room floored with dust and ash. To my right were disheveled cases filled only with cobwebs and dead insects staring across the room to a charred desk or altar of some sort. Like the rest of us, Iris paid them little mind. But unlike the rest of us, she rushed through the door on the adjacent wall.

Within was an altar of bleached stone, depicting some headless and mostly spineless beast sitting on its hind legs. Only a necklace remained. Wide and jeweled, with dull grayish-purple stones that pulsed the moment the door opened.

With a rush of strange energy, four candles flared at the base of the altar, alighting the room with a purplish-gray that put the few humanoids accompanying the Vampyre spiraling into a slumber. Like me, Amun ignored the shifting stone behind us, allowing Geri and Freki to dart through the passage instead while we scrutinized the statue for all it was worth; only moving when Iris returned with a jeweled ring for him to Appraise and Identify.

"A normal ring." Amun chuckled before handing it over to Elijah. "Keep it in case you need it later. I have a feeling these dungeons are connected in some way."

"As do I." Elijah stowed the ring with a nod, then looked down to his snoring subordinates. "Should I wake them? The door will close if I will."

"Go ahead." Amun turned calmly, walking up to the door just as the snoring ceased and the stone slammed shut. Only for it to open once more by virtue of a swift kick.

With a command of gravitational mana, the dust collapsed to the floor in the blink of an eye, compressing it into a sheet of sandstone and pebbles to reveal a three-way junction.

"This was as far as I was allowed," Elijah said, just before a channel opened up on the Net, allowing Freki's voice to echo in my mind.

"I sense something familiar over here, to your left." He clarified. "But I can't see anything."

"Familiar…" Amun echoed, continuing straight while a squad of undead stepped from the shadows to shuffle down the corridor to the right, following Iris to who knew where.

Following Amun, however, we followed a strongly familiar sensation and came upon a bed of broken wood and stone mixed with a bounty of loot being tainted by Geri's fur. She seemed to be bathing in it greedily. Completely unaware of the spectral wolves tilting their heads at her or leaping up to Amun, only to pass through him.

"Ah, I see." I snorted. "Spectral wolves. Creatures of your domain, born in the Astral Plane. I am surprised to learn Freki cannot see them, however."

Amun and Iris snorted at my quip. Then proceeded to fully laugh when Freki came into the chamber with a disgruntled growl. "I can see them." He barked and looked into the eyes of the nearest specter to prove his point. "They were hiding in the walls, is all. And she's too greedy to care."

Geri didn't see his snout sway towards her but she made sure to growl in response. Then she growled again once Amun lifted her aside to begin picking through the pile of mostly junk and equipment from long-dead adventurers.

"I have begun to wonder," I said, picking up some small talk. "Wolves and creatures of the sea are bonded with the World Weaver, you. Owls, Felines, and… shadow dragons are bonded with your doppelganger, the Owl. Moonlight and Twilight."

"Yes." He nodded, tossing a tome into a pile at his feet after reading through it in seconds.

"And those creatures you spoke to in Shujen. Termites. Ants. Wasps. Bees. Beavers. And… spiders. Are of the Divine Engineer. But. Well, what of mana?"

His hand paused to hover over a broken sword. "That's a good question." He shrugged, then snorted. "Faeries?"

"That is not-" An explosion of crumbling stone forced the words back into my mouth. If only for an instant. "Funny."

Amun jumped from his seat before the final word left my lips. In his place, Lana happily sorted through the loot, uncaring of Geri and her plight two rooms away.

When I arrived at where she had wandered off to, she was still on her back, in human form, clutching a small effigy in her hand.

"There was a sculpture of some dude here, holding a weird pipe in his hand. It was smoking, but not with anything I've smelled before."

"So you tried to grab it and it exploded?" Amun snorted.

"You like to smoke." Geri shrugged innocently.

"Well, it's the thought that counts." He smiled. "What's done is done, and we can still see it on the net; not to mention, bring it back. More importantly, though, it looks like you got something out of it."

After blinking twice, her bright blue eyes fell to her hand and widened before she turned it over in her hands, smelling it, and even licking it before handing it over so Amun could smother it with his mana, in turn activating his Grandmaster Artificing perks.

"The effigy of Ari-Zmon. Formerly sealed within the statue. Now, here." He declared, waving the object in his hand as if it were a mere stick.

"T- that is said to be a primeval being." I stammered excitedly. "A long dead one! Its corpse is said to drift within the Astral Plane."

"Why?" Amun asked.

"That is where the corpses of beings powerful enough to serve the Gods are, for lack of a better word, buried."

"Huh." Amun rocked back, nodding. Then carelessly tossed the effigy to me. "What does this look like to you, Archivist?"

I hesitated, knowing how he felt about browls. But with a great sigh, I began nonetheless. "The legends tell of a type of… griffon-like creature. Born with the head of an owl and the body of a panther or black lion."

As expected, his lips curled up in disgust while his head recoiled and shook in horror. And yet, he gently took the effigy from my hand and brought up its face for all to see.

"Looks like a sphinx to me. Like your stan- true self as well. What do you think?"

"Perhaps it is." I licked my lips, suddenly eager to go to the astral plane. But such a thing was dangerous here. I wanted to leave immediately and found myself excited as we began moving toward the exit with the spectral wolves in tow.

"Many gods are said to have created or otherwise made homes for sphinxes in their divine realms, in exchange requiring them to safeguard their treasures and secrets. They are said to be immortal, however. But then again, gods have killed gods before. So it is safe to presume a sphinx could die and drift in the Astral Plane as well."

"Perhaps it is." Amun tossed his head. "Perhaps. But the idea of having a sphinx is interesting regardless. Tell me more about them on the way. And, as for you, Elijah." He turned at the last step to pat the Vampyre Lord on the shoulder. Gently this time. "Your efforts in building that tunnel have seen you gain a domain of civilians with your own culture, a vampiric industry, and many new riders. That warrants a promotion.

"Congratulations, Elijah of the Blackblood. Imperator of the 11th Legion."

"Thank you, Amun." Elijah solemnly bowed. And though there were no bounties to befall our eyes, I knew there were many boons and rewards just received by the young vampire before another flourishing bow saw him dismissed and retreating towards the gloom.

Rather than enter it, however, three a mob of drakes, blacker than night, crept from the shade to lie down and allow the Vampyre and his minions to mount their saddles. And with a final wave, they took flight.

Worse, no one seemed to notice. Geri and Freki were leading their spectral wolves into the Cuttleship while the others had long since been inside. Leaving me with Amun, watching him casually throw his field of obstacles into the sky. "Were those… shadow drakes?"

"Yeah." Came Amun's distant voice. "Now let's go. Our next stop is some three thousand kilometers away."