Path of Dragons

Book 7: Chapter 76: The Chainspeaker

The clink of chains rustling reached Elijah well before he sensed the dungeon. His companions were still back in the storeroom where they’d exited the tunnel, but both he and Dat had insisted on slipping into stealth and scouting the way. Neither of the others objected, but not for the reasons Elijah would have expected. They weren’t overly tired. With the map, they already knew the way. Instead, Elijah suspected that Sadie wanted to confront her brother about his attitude.

Elijah wholly supported that because, if Nico kept pushing his buttons, he was going to end up losing control. When that happened, he would do something he would no doubt regret. Maybe it would be as innocuous as an argument, but something inside of him pushed him to respond to the man’s lack of respect with violence. He could control it, but that control only went so far.

Sadie wouldn’t change the man’s mind over the course of a ten-minute argument, but Elijah hoped she could at least convince Nico to keep his misgivings to himself. Otherwise, things could go wrong in a hurry. They only needed to coexist for the duration of the Primal Realm. After that, Elijah would be on his way, and hopefully, he’d never see Nico again.

In the back of his mind, he wondered what that meant for his budding relationship with Sadie, but he couldn’t allow himself to consider that. It was an unnecessary distraction.

So, even as he padded silently through the hall – it was made all of shiny black stone, which gave the place an alien look that left him uncomfortable – he pushed those superfluous thoughts aside. Instead, he focused on the source of the sound, and soon enough, the edges of the dungeon came into range of Soul of the Wild. A few moments later, he could sense enough to confirm the truth of the old man’s word.

There were hundreds of captives in there, and not a one of them was in great shape. Most were malnourished, with stick-thin arms and legs as well as emaciated and dirty bodies. They all bore signs of torture, with jagged, half-healed wounds, multiple contusions, and even a good many broken bones. They wore the tattered remains of modern clothing, though it was hard to recognize details beneath all the blood and grime.

And some of them were children.

Anger flared in Elijah’s chest, but he restrained himself. If he acted now, he would do so alone. Dat had gone to investigate the other direction. They knew it wasn’t the route to the prisoners, but it would lead them up to the surface, where they would inevitably confront the true purpose of their infiltration.

Elijah came to the door, which was predictably locked. As he did so, he couldn’t ignore that it was wrapped in thick chains, many of which bore jagged shards that looked almost like thorns. And every couple of seconds, they quivered, rustling together as they shifted – not unlike a python constricting its prey.

Instead, he focused on Soul of the Wild, getting a better picture of the interior of the dungeon. It wasn’t as large as he’d initially suspected. Maybe a few hundred feet to each side, and that was divided into a multitude of cells ringing the main room. That central room took up the bulk of the dungeon, and it was filled with all sorts of torture implements. Elijah didn’t recognize all of them, but he could sense every drop of blood – dried or still wet – and all the other evidence of what it was for.

Notably, thousands of chains hung from the ceiling, steadily clinking together like the world’s most gruesome wind chimes. At first, Elijah thought they were rusted, but upon closer inspection, he saw that they were merely coated in dried blood.

Merely.

It said something about what Elijah had seen in the past few years that he could even think such a thing.

As for the prisoners, as he’d drawn closer, he saw that there were more of them than he’d first expected. That was because what he’d originally sensed was just one cell, and there were nearly a dozen identical chambers lining the walls.

And in the center of it all was a man.

Or demon, perhaps.

Elijah had difficulty making the distinction. He didn’t have horns or wings like the lancer, and more than anything, he reminded Elijah of the Head Priest from the Hellraiser movies. Not because the thing had a bunch of nails sticking out of its head, but rather, because he was similarly clad in black leather and had a thin, almost androgynous build. Otherwise, his body was wrapped in thin chains that reminded Elijah of macabre versions of the vines in his thorned sentry form.

And as he idly toyed with one of those thin chains—much like a Catholic fingering a rosary—his gaze fixed on Elijah. He smiled slightly, revealing a mouth full of sharp, bloodstained teeth.

Elijah felt panic rise in his chest as the chains on the door retracted, filling the hall with rattling echoes. In only a second, the door was bare. It was an invitation, and one Elijah would not even consider accepting.

Instead, he backed slowly away. When he was out of range of the figure he knew was the Chainspeaker mentioned by the old man, he turned and ran. It didn’t take long for him to reach the disused storeroom where he’d left the others, and when he arrived, his heartbeat hadn’t slowed at all.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

He shifted back into his human form, startling Nico and Sadie. Upon seeing that it was him, Sadie relaxed. Nico, pointedly, did not. Elijah didn’t care. After what he had just seen, the Healer’s petty grievances were inconsequential.

“We have a big problem,” he stated, forcing some measure of calm into his voice. “A really big problem.”

Then, he explained what he’d seen, ending with, “That thing is powerful. There’s no chance the Chainspeaker isn’t ascended, and what’s more, I think that dungeon is his domain.”

He went on to describe his clash with the warden back in Easton, adding, “That man was lower level than me, and he still almost killed me because I fought him on his home turf. If we’re going to rescue those prisoners, we need to figure something else out.”

Dat flashed into view, sitting on a nearby crate. “I can break the domain,” he said.

Nico flinched. “Where did you come from?”

“Been here all along, bro,” the Witch Hunter stated. He wasn’t interested in elaborating, and Elijah saw it as a warning aimed toward the Healer. Not a mature action, but an understandable one. “I can break the domain,” he repeated before continuing, “But it won’t last long. Maybe a minute. You need to kill him before that.”

“Why can’t you just stab him in the back?” Nico demanded, still flustered.

Dat shook his head. “Won’t do anything without breaking the domain first. And I can’t do that in stealth,” he said. “You get one or the other. Not both.”

“Useless,” Nico muttered under his breath. It was obviously not meant to be heard, but Elijah’s senses were more than acute enough to make out the word.

Elijah ignored the man’s petulance. “So, we have a minute. I don’t know that we have the damage to kill him in that timeframe,” he said. His cooldowns had run their course during their trek through the mountains, so he had all of his abilities available for use. The same was true for everyone else, though Dat’s miracle still hadn’t recharged after using it on the mirror fiend in the third test. He claimed it wouldn’t be available for a week or more.

Faith was odd like that. It didn’t naturally recharge like one’s core. Instead, it was an entirely distinct resource that built according to a person’s actions. So, Dat couldn’t predict exactly how long it would take to recharge enough to power his miracle. Sadie and Nico still had theirs available, but they were both defensive in nature. Good in a desperate situation, but not very useful when they needed to pile on the damage in a hurry.

Oddly enough, Elijah was probably their only viable weapon. So, he was the centerpiece of the strategy. There were other considerations – like the prisoners – but over the course of the next few minutes, they came up with a plan.

“It’s not perfect,” Sadie remarked.

“It’s the best we can do considering the circumstances,” Elijah reminded her.

Sadie shook her head. “I wish we had a real damage dealer,” she complained. Their group composition wasn’t perfect, but that was to be expected. The number of people who could keep up with them was limited, as had been proven by Zhang Yue, Gideon, and the Summoner, Lin Tao.

“It’ll work,” Dat interjected. “Trust me, bro.”

After that, the group set out from the storeroom and traversed the halls on their way to the dungeon. When they reached the doors, Elijah saw that the chains were still retracted, and the Chainspeaker was obviously expecting them.

Still, he’d already taken on the Shape of Venom and dipped into Guise of the Unseen. He wasn’t sure if the Chainspeaker could truly sense him, but he was banking on Dat’s ability to shatter the creature’s domain to keep him hidden. Otherwise, their plan probably wouldn’t work.

Sadie asked, “Is everyone ready?”

Dat and Nico said that they were. Pointedly, the Healer looked more resolved than at any other point. He knew there was a tough fight coming. Hopefully, he wouldn’t hold back. If he did, there was a good chance they would all die. With that context, his unfettered commitment to his companions wasn’t altruistic in nature. Rather, it was entirely self-serving.

But Elijah intended to keep his eye on the Healer as well as his friends’ conditions. He couldn’t heal as well as someone dedicated to the role, but he could make a big difference. All of that flitted through Elijah’s thoughts as Sadie took a deep breath, then pushed the door open.

The first thing Elijah noticed was the smell.

It was blood, body odor, and rotting bits of flesh. Human misery in olfactory form. Then, he heard the Chainspeaker’s voice. Predictably, it was like rustling chains – discordant and abrasive, like rusted metal dragged over concrete – as he said, “Welcome, visitors. Have you come to play?”

“Stand down, fiend,” Sadie announced, her sword glowing as Elijah and Dat – both in stealth – spread out to circle the room. “Release your prisoners and we will leave you unharmed.”

“My toys are mine to do with as I wish. They enjoy being played with as much as I cherish playing with them.”

Sadie’s teeth ground together. Doubtless, Sense of Sin was telling her all sorts of terrible things about the Chainspeaker. Elijah knew that, after she’d advanced her Mind cultivation, she kept the ability confined to its own facet. However, she’d revealed that it sometimes spilled over. Clearly, that was the case with the Chainspeaker. If ever there was a person cloaked in sin, it was the creature in the center of the room.

“Then we have no choice but to destroy you.”

The Chainspeaker’s chains rustled, mimicking the sound of laughter. “Oh, such a joyous occasion. New toys.”

With that, three things happened. First, Elijah used Lurking Swarm, manifesting dozens of phase spiders as he advanced. Second, Dat positioned himself behind the Chainspeaker and, still with Ghost Cloak active, raised his crossbow. And finally, Sadie threw herself at the creature, intent on cutting him in two with a single blow.

Even as Sadie charged, her huge sword held high, the chains in the room broke into a cacophonous rattle that made her stumble. A second later, her blade fell to the ground, too heavy for her to hold upright.

For his part, Elijah felt his own power plummet. He didn’t need to look at his status to know that his attributes had been cut down to almost nothing – at the very least. He wasn’t as affected as Sadie – or Nico, who fell to his knees – but he felt the bite all the same.

That’s when Dat squeezed the trigger of his crossbow, and the room lit up with bright, white light. The Chainspeaker sensed the bolt coming his way, and he tried to block it with chains that suddenly descended from above, forming a pseudo cocoon around him. However, the bolt moved like it had a mind of its own, dodging between the links and slamming into the Chainspeaker.

Instantly, the deleterious effects of the domain fell away, and Elijah felt his power return to normal. He attacked, directing his spiders to do the same.

The battle had begun, and there was no time to waste.