By the time Jadis made it to the top of the mountain, the strain of the climb had hammered her muscles until a steady, subtle vibration filled them. There had been a semblance of a path, as gracious as it was to call it even that, and despite the evidence that others had come here it was a desolate journey. Luckily, there were no other demons along her path to disrupt her, so she focused on the climb and blessedly made it in one piece.
The top of the mountain was a flat, circular patch roughly 50 meters wide, ringed with withered pink trees that surrounded the simple wooden temple constructed in the center. It was barely a room wide, but that did not dispel Jadis of the notion that it was dangerous. Demons, cunning and malevolent in their point of view, could twist space beyond human expectation. What might appear as a single room could indeed be endless.
Dua Pria hummed angrily in the Huntress’ mind. The Witch had only two modes by Jadis’ estimation: anger and ridicule. But the Witch spoke quickly. “There is a great well of demonic energy inside that building. It tastes of Kurzo.”
“Kur… The Spider Demon…” Jadis muttered, stopping herself from completing the name. Thinking it between her and her mentor was one thing, but she dared not say the name aloud lest she draw the attention of the Primordial Demon. “How do you recommend that we proceed?“
Dua Pria was silent for a long moment, and Jadis used the pause to study the grounds. Besides the trees, if she was thrown by the demons inside the temple, there would be nothing to stop her from tumbling down the side of the mountain. Dua Pria had taught her some spells which might save her from such a fate, and Jadis tried not to think about the fact that she had not used them once since her lessons. The temple was made of wood and paper, dyed blue panels on the front and sides of the building complimenting the wood under the layers of grime and rot.
Finally, Dua Pria spoke. “There is no telling what waits inside, but if the Spider Demon awaited us then even you would be able to tell. This can mean three things. First, it is an avatar of the Spider Demon which resides inside, protecting whatever piece of this Hell that she has carved out inside the temple. Second, the place was made by the Spider Demon but she is no longer here. Third, and most likely, an agent of Kurzo holds this mountain. If the third one is the truth, then we must go inside and speak to this Kaveris you are so interested in.”
Jadis listened intently to the Witch’s words, making mental notes of the three options and formulating her own opinions. In truth, it was most likely that an agent of Kurzo lie within, lost to whatever devices the malevolent queen had set it to. The name she had followed had led her here, to this small building, and she was not going to turn away now. Even still, it was starting to dawn on her how dangerous this really could be as she imagined fighting the magic of the Spider Demon.
She did her best to tame her inner voice. “This will be my most difficult encounter yet.”
A sharp, condescending laugh pierced through Jadis’ mind and Dua Pria responded vehemently, “That is the opposite of the truth. You have fought Kurzo, child. You have fought Kurzo and won.“
The familiar, icy dread that came with this fact filled her belly, locking her into place with uncertainty. Dua Pria had said this many times. Even the Lord had told her thus after the battle had concluded and she had awoken. Yet she possessed no memory of the fight, and though she still bore the wounds and marks across her back from where the Spider Demon had branded her with the sick, infernal venom, she had not yet come to believe that this had occurred.
“That was the Maelstrom Gem,” Jadis replied quietly in her mind.
“Gem or not, your blade drove the demon back, your magic and command of fire. Even the Lord could not deny your power. Why else give you the Scion of Cinders?” The image of Jadis’ blade flashed through her mind.
As usual, Jadis did not like facing the reality that all of these questions implied. When she thought of the Spider Demon she did not feel victorious. She experienced bowel-shaking terror that made her want to run and hide. She constantly bristled with the idea that if Kurzo truly wanted to, she would find Jadis quickly. Yet… yet she had apparently channeled the Maelstrom Gem and wielded the flame within so effectively that Kurzo was forced to retreat.
If only she could remember! The loss of that fight plagued her at times, for she could not find an answer to conquering her fear.
Dua Pria’s annoyed sigh could have chilled Jadis had she not already been in the throes of doubt. “I allow a certain amount of wallowing as you are of the sensitive variety. But enough is enough. Losing your wits before approaching a demon is a sure way to make our Lord have to choose another to carry the Gem, don’t you think?”
Jadis took a deep breath, instinct taking over at the reprimand in the Witch’s voice. “Yes… yes you are right.” She focused on breathing for a few long moments, pushing out her fears about Korzu until the demon was far from her mind. She focused in on her attunement to divine energy, and though still developing, sifted through the sensorium around her to isolate the unique, wicked vibration of the demon’s energy. It radiated off the temple with subtle, odious waves and images came to her mind. Pincers, impaled thoraxes and scattered parts of eaten prey. It shifted, showing human abdomens and body parts instead. Then it changed, fading to a dark hollow filled with wailing and a tangle of white webs.
She shuddered and closed off her senses, focusing back on her breath. Then Jadis opened her eyes, a renewed sense of steel stiffening her back. Aiming her mind towards thoughts about facing this danger was compelling her body into heightened awareness. Kaveris, whatever they might be, would have answers to the questions central to her goal, she somehow knew it to be so.
“Very good, child,” Dua Pria said warmly. “Control of the mind allows the control of everything else to follow.”
With a deep breath, Jadis began to approach the entrance of the temple. She drew her sword and held it low with one hand. The other reached into a pouch on the back of her belt and pulled out a large, copper-colored metal ring. It was thick and engraved with so many runes that the surface of the metal looked like woven thread. Atop molded mounts that were shaped to look like fangs were two black pieces of obsidian at opposite sides of the bangle. She pushed her hand through the metal and held it in front of her.
She stepped quietly up the wooden steps, the wood surprisingly solid despite its decrepit look. The door was the type to slide to the side, so Jadis reached out to grab the lip of the wooden frame. Her fingers hesitated though as a small spark stung her fingertips. Her hand recoiled and she considered. A curse would react with the magic in her bangle. So might a transportation spell. For a moment she considered asking Dua Pria but decided to answer this question on her own. The Witch had made it known quite a few times what she thought of ‘mindless soldiers who might as well just skip battle and be fertilizer in her garden,’ always in reference to those who couldn’t think for themselves.
She spoke quietly to herself to work through the problem. “If the demon has cursed the door, my bangle should protect me. But if it is imbued with a transportation spell…” She paused, wondering if she had the time to counteract such a complex magical effect. It was easy to discard the thought. “No time, not enough resources. But a waypoint is possible.” In an instant, a plan formulated in her mind.
“You have remembered your lessons well, Jadis,” Dua Pria said quietly. The approval was obvious in the tone, so uncharacteristically soft.
Jadis tried not to let the sudden rush of heat in her face distract her from her attempt to remember her lessons clearly. “Thank you,” is all she replied. Her mind was occupied, going back to those early months. Recalling the books and scrolls was difficult, but remembering the way Dua Pria had spoken in that place as she milled about, dusting the shelves of pouring tea, was much easier.
The memory was fresh. “Remember that Demons can take you places that you do not want to go. There is, unfortunately, no way for someone like you to prevent this as of yet. The Maelstrom Gem may be able to, but as I cannot instruct you in its use, only you can determine that. But what I can teach you is a way to return to a place once you have been taken from it.” She had held up a piece of bone, riddled with runes an sharpened into an incredibly sharp point. “You can use a bonelink to anchor you to a particular space. Though it is not exactly like teleportation, possession of a bonelink will ensure that you can never be trapped without escape.”
Jadis reached into the pouch on her right hip and pulled out a bundle of cloth that she had made in her training so many months ago. She had never used them, barely remembering the bundle of carved bones was there except for when she had to empty and repack her belt and robes. The anticipation to use them flared brightly in her mind and some of her disquieting fear at entering the temple was replaced with excitement. Inside the bundle were six flat pieces of bone, each carved with their own glyphs and spellwork. She sifted through the softly clattering pieces and pulled out the one which was carved with the large, circular spiral of the ‘return’ glyph.
Quickly tucking the bundle back in her belt pouch, Jadis stepped back down from the entrance of the temple and leaned down to draw the appropriate glyphs in the sand a couple meters from the stairs. Once it was drawn to her satisfaction, she held the piece of bone up to the black sky casting its invisible light on her. Speaking the incantation that Dua Pria had taught her, she channeled that latent energy all around her and quickly activated the bonelink. Then she flicked the sharpened tip into the ground so the bonelink pierced the glyph she had drawn in the sand. A sudden, green flash emanated from the glyph before fading, and a resonating sound filled her as the spell took effect. She reached down and withdrew the bone, wrapping it in a separate piece of cloth she pulled from the pouch on her left hip and tucked it in. Now it vibrated with energy, a noticeable hum on her hip that, though inaudible, she could not deny. Her mind could feel it beside her like a hot bubble, and when she prodded it she saw the image of the temple in her mind.
Sighing in relief, she rolled her shoulders and once more approached the door. Shoving any residual shreds of hesitation down, she confidently reached out to grab the wooden frame and flung it open, ignoring the sharp jolt that ran up her arm.
Inside stood a gray skinned demon in a rough, hempen tunic. His eyes were flat red and glowed with malevolent light, and atop his forehead were four sharp, black horns that gleamed in the soft moonlight spilling into the room. Beyond the demon was a hall that disappeared into blackness.
Just as Jadis was going to speak, his hand flashed out, gripping Jadis’ robes and tunic, and he tossed her into the darkness beyond him.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
It was a long, hazy, confusing drop through the dark. The one thought that kept its form in the tumble was that she had been quite grateful to remember to set the bonelink. Also, a glimmer of amazement remained at how quickly the demon had moved. It had grabbed her and thrown her in a fraction of a second, barely perceptible. Terrifying as it might be, she could admire the power of such a thing.
With an unceremonious slam, she landed hard on her back, the air being driven from her lungs. A groan of pain escaped her, low and quiet, and after an agonizing moment a sudden gasp hit her and she felt the replenishing flow of air so sharply that tears came to her eyes. Her amazement at the demon’s strength had diminished greatly.
“Curse the Demons and their bizarre concepts of reality,” she said angrily as she came to her feet, body resonating with the ache.
A laugh emanated in her mind. “The one point of admiration they might get is that they are creative. It is too bad that all of their actions are so vile.”
Jadis took in the dreary sight of her surroundings. Like the exterior, the hallway was build of dark wood, framing intricate paper panels that made up the walls. The hall extended off many hundreds of meters before her, and when she turned around the same sight greeter her from behind.
With a settling breath, Jadis closed her eyes and once more focused on her senses. Demons could trick the passive perceptions of humans, so it was only the intentional observation of things which might break through the facade of reality they wove. The silence of the temple wrapped around Jadis like a cold fist, apprehension causing the muscles in her back to tense as if in preparation for a strike. Inside that silence were occasional noises; a drip of water, the creak of a floorboard, the rustled of a sliding door. The hall smelled of mildew and abandoned places, like wood rotting beneath a cover of soil. Yet there was a subtle fragrance beneath that, a flowery scent that brought the image of honeysuckle to her mind.
The sense that told her the most about what unseen forces moved about her was her sense of touch. Her blade was in her hands, upright and ready to defend, and through it she could feel a shifting buzz through the handle. Her skin, dewed with nervous sweat, tracked a shifting icy surge in the air.
Dua Pria spoke so quietly that Jadis almost ignored the words. “We are being watched.”
Jadis already knew this and was preparing to strike. She also did her best to ignore the presumptive ‘we’ the Witch had used. As far she remembered, Jadis was the only one standing in that hallway who was in any danger.
Despite the small flash of annoyance, the movement of the unseen thing in the air around her was growing more and more obvious under her sharp observation. She breathed steadily, ignoring the tense anxiety that filled her as the icy air coiled closer and closer to her. Inside each breath she said the words of the incantation silently in her mind. Her body was repositioning inch by inch, slowly shifting as she prepared her move. When at last icy scales scraped against the fabric covering her shoulder, she acted.
Her blade flashed outward, sparks spilling off of the metal as the magics within came to life. The Scion of Cinders hissed in her hands, blade beginning to glow a dull orange as it sliced horizontally around her. She let her body propel itself, cutting a circle around her, until she was once more still, blade going cold.
There was nothing there.
The cold had evaporated, as had the pressing weight of her unseen watcher. But as her eyes tracked in a circle around her, they stopped on the image of a small, paper doll that lay smoldering on the ground. She crouched beside it, leaning down to observe it without touching the ruddy red paper. Cut into the shape of an eight pointed star, it had been cut cleanly in half and would soon burn away entirely to ash. At the same time, both Jadis and Dua Pria said, “Simulacrum.”
Surprisingly, this eased some of the tension inside of the Huntress’ stomach. “This is a good sign. A demon who would use a simulacrum over their own power hints to them being much weaker than we’d expect from an agent of the Spider Demon.“
Always hesitant to agree with Jadis, the Witch did not answer.
She sat and waited for the simulacrum to burn completely, then stood and once more examined the hall. Without the projected spirit of the demon, the hall seemed much less menacing than it had before. The dripping, the creaking, the various other sounds trapped in the quiet brought about the feeling of something truly abandoned.
Dua Pria uncharacteristically offered her guidance. “The demon is above us somewhere.“
Jadis nodded, the signs from her attunement forcing her to draw the same conclusion. “I guess it is time to find some stairs.“
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
There were, in fact, no stairs. Moving from room to room, flinging open door after door, had revealed an endless, enclosed space with no exits and no stairs. Each time Jadis had prepared to enter another room, her body had been tensed to fight. Yet each had been empty, silent and moldering and utterly abandoned.
At first this had only added pressure to her nervous tension, expecting after each empty room that the next would have some type of trap or enemy to face. By the time she had passed through the 60th room, she was fuming with anger.
After a long, repetitive lecture by Dua Pria, Jadis finally stopped and sat cross-legged in a broken down tea room, furniture shattered and covered in mold, floor mats torn and decaying beneath her. She ignored the repugnant press of all that rot upon her senses, the aching in her back and legs, and the unsettled fear in her stomach. She honed in on that simple energy above her that represented the demon she sought. The sense was so alien to what she had known before attaining it that it would sometimes pass once more beyond her awareness. But when she was focused, it was obvious enough to work passively. But in moments like this where the sum total of her mind’s power turned towards that attunement, it served almost as a secondary sight. Though she could not claim to be perceiving the hot, burning orange ember of the demon’s aura with her eyes, but as her focus honed in on its true qualities, its features and traits, she felt the pressure of it as if she were staring at an illuminating brightness.
Like all demons she had seen thus far, admittedly few as that might be, they were simply too bright to look at directly. She did not feel the same damage she might when looking at the sun, but the discomfort was almost identical. So instead she observed the coronas that surrounded their burning essence, reading the eddies and flares as she had been taught.
This demon, who she thought was the one named Kaveris, was uncharacteristically calm compared to the Naraka and the panther demon she had met. While those had roiled with unpleasant wildness, this demon was nearly still by comparison. The waves in its energy emanations did not roil with hatred, but sat in a type of harmonic oscillation. The flares took on a shape, one that changed over time as if going through various permutations before returning to the original, primary pattern. Despite the awe that struck Jadis, fear coiled in her as memory flashed in her mind.
Trees. Fire. Chitin. A coiling body crawling through the dark underbrush. Her Lord and her own hand holding the Scion of Cinders. Playing out in slow motion, moments missing in between her movements, she watched a disjointed replay of her and the Lord of the Black Trident charging at Kurzo through the burning underbrush.
Then it was gone and even though it had flashed through her in less than an instant, her heart had begun to race.
“Breathe,” Dua Pria said cautiously.
Jadis did not understand the tone until her eyes tracked over to the floor. A burning halo crawled across the floor mat in a circle around her, so weak and small that a single breath would have extinguished it. The Huntress gave a small gasp and the flames immediately sputtered away, leaving behind a faded grey circle on the ground.
She took a long, steadying breath and let it out, then took another. “The memories…” she started before trailing off.
“I saw them,” Dua Pria said. Jadis’ face scrunched up at the thought, once more disgruntled by the voyeur she had been stuck with.
Dua Pria’s laugh was sharp and condescending. “I promise you, it is a punishment for me as well. Your age is a boring one and makes me glad I left the world while things were still worth caring about.“
Jadis had learned long ago to not argue with her mentor about these opinions. She took another breath and focused on the memories. “Perhaps… you weren’t lying about my fight with Kurzo.” The Witch did not waste her words on responding to this. Jadis sighed and continued. “If The Spider Demon-“
Dua Pria’s voice boomed through Jadis’ mind painfully, causing her to flinch and bring a hand to her temple. “Focus on your task, child!” The words carried with them a mental energy that felt surprisingly fiery. “Your distracting mind will get you killed.”
A frown came to Jadis and she decided that focusing on her breathing was the best thing she could do at that moment. As she did, the Witch did not say anything, instead returning to doing whatever it was that she did while Jadis and her weren’t talking. Perhaps making tea or sweeping the store room, or maybe splitting wood outside her small house. She did her best to let go of her thoughts as they popped up, disengaging from exploring their ‘temporal possibilities’ as Dua Pria called them. The meditation had never came naturally to Jadis, but the practice had its positive effects, especially in clearing her mind.
When her heart had once more slowed to its normal resting pace and she was calm, she did not say anything to Dua Pria but returned to exploring the aura of the demon.
In truth, she had stopped tracking the time after the first hour had passed. Reading energies was vague at best, especially when the demon had a pattern. But one facet of its aura had slowly resolved into her awareness, tendrils of golden light that seemed to sweep through the space around her. At first they seemed to end in a haze, but the longer the focused, the more these numerous, branching tendrils came into view around her.
Making wooden panels and paper doors. Moldy floor mats and broken furniture. The threads of the aura were so thin they were barely perceptible, aligned with the sharp angles of the walls and doors so that even the Witch did not see it.
“We are inside the demon,” Jadis thought, preparing herself for action.
Dua Pria did not respond immediately, the shock of the revelation obviously taking her by surprise. Then she said quietly, “A clever trap. I leave it to you, my student.” The usual derisive arrogance was totally absent from her voice and that alone told Jadis that she was going to be taking on this encounter alone.
She slowly stood, coming to her feet and drawing her sword. Instead of focusing on the demon’s aura, she instead focused on the everpresent weight around her neck. Her mind probed at the hidden spot at the end of her necklace and in an instant, like flipping a switch and turning night into day, the power of the Maelstrom Gem flooded into her.
It was difficult not to give into the overwhelming purity of that flame. As if cut from the chaos to sit specifically in her hands, it beckoned to her with mind-numbing allure. The memory she had just regained from her fight with Kurzo made this feeling intensify, the desire to subsume herself into the fire and become it so great it turned her stomach. But she held back from it, just barely, as the vibrating pulse of its power yanked at the leash to overtake her. Sweat beaded all over her body as the heat washed into her muscles. She did her best to aim it into her blade, allowing the Scion of Cinders to heat as it absorbed the building energy. She began to go through one of her training motions simply so she could move. Though it was not necessary, something about the forms helped ease the growing, painful burning of the Gem’s will.
Then, twirling around to set her feet properly, she swung her blade upwards at a diagonal, focusing on the cluster of threads from the demon’s aura that had been clustered there. The blade, now burning with a white-heat, cut through the aura, leaving behind a cluster of dripping sparks in the air as the Primordial Fire singed the demon.
A shriek filled room, so loud that the paper doors rattled in their tracks. Dust and spores filled the air, dislodged by the quaking, and great rends appeared in the floor around her. She saw no foundation beneath them, only an unassailable darkness. A cold lance of dread slid home into her gut, there would be no returning if she were to fall into it.
From down the hall outside the room, a great clattering shook the ground now. Jadis ran out of the room and turned. From both directions the rooms were collapsing in on themselves and into the hall. The wooden frames splintered, the paper panels tearing into multicolored ribbons and tatters, and all of it was crumbling inwards, tracking from both ends of the hall towards where Jadis stood as it all contracted.
“I believe that this pocket space is done for,” she thought.
Dua Pria hesitated. “It is possible that it is an illusion and that you will be unharmed.“
Jadis nodded, but still her hand slid into the pouch on her hip and she drew out the bonelink she had made. As the hallway continued imploding towards her, the crashing rumble growing louder and louder, she felt the first few splinters the chaos had launched her way.
A large one, the size of a needle, sliced her cheek and the blood welled instantly on her cheek, cold air stinging.
Without a word, she snapped the piece of bone in half. The world twisted around her more violently then. Her body felt out of place and wildly disproportionate as she was tugged through the darkness, thrown this way and that way like she was tumbling down a hill. Then, as if she had always been standing there, she appeared before the temple, body whole and small fragments of wood embedded in her clothing.
She let out a shuddering breath, doing her best to shove away the memory of the transit. “That was unpleasant,” she said to Dua Pria with noticeable disdain in her tone.
“You are alive,” she replied with a wicked type of glee. “Look at the temple.”
Jadis frowned but did as she was bid and took a step back in surprise. Just as she had looked up, the small exterior of the temple had warped and pulsed before sinking into itself and disappearing, not a single splinter or scrap of paper to show for its passing. What remained in the center was a demon, the one she had been sensing. Her blade came up as she tracked forward, ready to strike or fight, and she said with confident assurance. “You must be Kaveris.
The demon was smaller than she expected. No taller than a meter, it was vaguely man shaped though he looked more like a frog than a human. Two large, bulbous eyes were perched on his wide head, overlooking a small, stubby nose and wide mouth. Inside was a serpent-like tongue that flicked nervously. He wore a ragged red-silk robe patterned with black and gold diamonds that draped the round body beneath generously. His elongated hands and feet reminded Jadis of climbing frogs, but his face was quite similar to a toad. Despite this, inked tattoos of lily pads on his face and neck gave it a severe look.
His eyes narrowed and he replied in a gravely, condescending voice. “Kaveris? No you fool! You just killed Kaveris! You must be the damned human pest who just torched my home!” Then, making Jadis freeze in place in surprise, the demon began to slam his fists and feet on the ground in a child-like tantrum.
She lowered her sword, head tilted in confusion. “That creepy place was Kaveris? What does that make you?” Jadis did her best to mask the uncertainty in her voice.
The demon sat up, looking at Jadis with angry eyes. “Currently, that makes me homeless.”
Her eyebrows furrowed and she wondered if this demon was playing with her. But there was an earnest, offended quality to his amphibious expression that told her that he was not lying. Even still, she stepped forward and raised her blade again, pushing the sharp steel up against the demon’s heart. “Unless you wish for me to solve that problem for you, you will tell me your name and how you came to be living inside of that demon.
The frog creature swallowed, raising his hands in a meek display. “Compelling argument. You would fit in well here, human.” He sighed and lowered his hands to sit up fully. “My name is Savis.”
A DARKER ENERGY 
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