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Chapter 13
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It took a fair amount of time to realize exactly where I was. It was inside the police station, in a room where they apparently stored odds and ends. There was a rough metal table piled with clutter, and boxes of folders and stuff scattered about somewhat orderly, each with a different label. I noticed a somewhat larger box to my side which read ‘hooligan outsiders’. It was tipped over, and appeared as though I had fallen out of it.
A thought occurred, and looking about I saw a box labeled ‘suggestion chip prototypes.’ Seizing the edge of it, I dumped the contents all over the floor of the room, spreading the pile out with my hands until my eyes landed on a spherical silver device with a round cutout portion housing a lens. Holding this object in one hand, I turned my attention towards the box I had spilled from, and pulled out a leather bandolier - Diero’s.
Three of the bullets in the bandolier were marked, and one of these I pulled out and bent the casing of with my shoe. A greenish gas immediately seeped out from it , and I took extra care to direct it into the sphere I was holding lest it decide to enter some portion of my wooden frame.
“Where are we?” A voice spoke from the sphere, the camera inside it gaining a green glow in the middle of the lens. “It’s so dark here. Cold, empty. Being consciously aware of it is, it’s tangible. It is a tasted pain, not one felt.”
I sighed bitterly, trying not to empathize with the fiend. “When you have nothing else, you get used to it.” My tiny figure towered over the little ball nestled in my hands. “And you, Eilrach, have very little.”
“I understand all that.” The monster spoke in strange tones - were those undercurrents of remorse reverberating from his words? “I have been doing a lot of thinking in those bullets - inhabiting multiple places lets me speak with myself, only learned that in recent times. I have no place, no kingdom any more. By now my dominion has been forgotten in history, so far in the past that no mortal left alive contains the slightest memory of its legend.”
“Except me.”
“Yes,” The orb continued. “All except you. I doubt I will ever understand how you could be split so, and I meet you in sequence as I have. Did you… Wish to learn the story?”
“If you boot me out, you’ll likely never get out of this room.” I glared. “Don’t forget it.”
“I have moved beyond that now.” Eilrach replied. “A purpose is all I desire now, and one I shall find, perhaps through your enlightenment.” The green smoke from the sphere snaked up through the air into my eye sockets, and the whole world went dark.
Bold, were the rider! And bold, were his steed! Marching on through the mire, to the realm of the Lost!
The horse splashed the muddy water about on either side as it made top speed through the grime and sludge, bearing forth its host across this murky mire. When dry ground once more was reached, the rider dismounted from his equine escort and cast his eyes about, clothed in shining silver armor which remained spotless in spite of the journey.
He, crowned in majesty, was the King, the regal one, Wilhelmus the Lesser!
Aside him now stood, his legs coated up to the knees in grime, his height at four meters, his face yet hid behind a sheet of steel, the King’s keeper, Lord of the twisted forest, Ghidrius the Endless - named for his inability to be slain, as his armor was full of holes through the chest, a testament both to the poor quality of the suit as well as his continued survival. His eyes cast about suspiciously, with only his left eye being visible through the armor - that is, if you did not ascertain the two hidden behind decorative slots in the side, the pair of peepers affixed to the right side of his head, one above the other, the bleached bone-while skin hidden from the beholder.
Or perhaps the sight of the massive figure carrying what appeared to be a wardrobe on his back simply distracted from it.
“Your majesty, forgive me for yet again speaking out of line.” The King’s guardian spoke, not pausing to allow time for his majesty to actually permit him to speak thus. “Your people are on the verge of rebellion due to your fascination in the elimination of this monarch of the unliving, and their threats have ascended from secession to national revolt.”
“Summarize.” Wilhelmus the Lesser answered.
“You cannot abandon your people any longer.” Ghidrius coldly replied. “I can embark on this travesty in your stead. If this causeless quest is not ended soon, and you returned to your position and throne, your nation may-”
“My nation can eat worms and die.” Wilhelmus retorted, turning towards his emissary with a threatening air. “Ghidrius, I am not a fool of any caliber. The threat this monster, this Eilrach poses to not only my kingdom, but the entire world is not over-exaggerated in any capacity. I have spent the last six years locating the formidable fortress of this arch fiend, and my success here in securing his shattered skull and undoing the curse across our land with the ancient art passed down from my forefathers is of a greater importance than the comforts of a few measly peasant tramps licking the dirt off my garden walk as a sign of blind reverence.”
“Not blind, your majesty.” The sinister voice of Ghidrius calmly slithered out of his mouth, the giant bending down to address his master more efficiently. “With their humbled position, they see and hear everything from inside the palace grounds.”
“Then those same which complain are the first to know of the severity of this mission.” Wilhelmus curtly replied. “And so it must be seen to. The journey is almost over, and Ghidrius: My decision is final. I will not tolerate insubordination or dissent. Remember that.”
The giant said nothing else, returning to his fullest height with an air of contempt. The pair journeyed onward, off into the thick of the woods, the air around them growing green and sickly as I ripped my consciousness from the episode with a rattling snarl.
“Summarize.” I hissed.
“But the journey-”
“My time is precious.” I deadpanned. “Do not make me regret my freeing you.”
Wordlessly the green fog swirled back into my eyes, although this time the scene before me was far more realistic. I could feel the cold wetness of the bricks, coated with moss and muck, as the clash of steel sprayed sparks in every direction. The giant was here, clashing mightily with a foe slightly shorter but far fiercer than himself. While the keeper of the King swung in great, terrible movements, his fiendish foe spun with a flurry of ornamental robes and glowing golden touches, smashing his hefty weapons into the ancient blade of the colossus with enough force to stagger him over and over again.
“I MUST ADMIT,” The shorter foe gloated, now floating above his opponent with a wicked grin in his skeletal features. “I KNEW THE KING WAS A COWARD, BUT THAT HE WOULD FALTER AND FAIL AT THE MOMENT OF GLORY IS BEYOND AMUSEMENT!”
“Sire, this oaf begins to tire me.” Ghidrius replied, his collected voice masking how weary he was from the battle. “I am unsure if it his combat or his rhetoric which is the culprit, but my mind aches with his droning palaver all the same.”
“YOU SO CONDEMN THE WORDS OF EILRACH?!” The malignant monster growled, tossing aside his heavy axe and unveiling two wicked swords which hissed through the air as he drew them. “YOU ARE DEAD WHERE YOU STAND!!” The skeletal entity barreled through the air and skewered Ghidrius on the spot, grinning in satisfaction before Ghidrius slammed himself into the wall.
“Sire, please do not consider me obstinate,” Ghidrius sighed as Eilrach was forced to abandon his two blades or be crushed under the weight of his foe. “but I would not bank on my ability to occupy the attention of this fiend for too much longer.”
Seeing Ghidrius’ goal was not to defeat but simply preoccupy him, Eilrach roared into a fury, pummeling the colossus until he collapsed from the sheer number of lightning blows. “I WILL NOT BE FOUGHT IN UNFAIR COMBAT! YOU WILL NOT PLAY GAMES WITH ME.” Turning his glowing eyes on the unprotected King, he hissed “AND YOU. BRING ME YOUR BEST, OR I WILL CHOP YOU UP AND LEAVE YOU IN THE SUN TO ROT!!”
“And my best you shall receive.” Wilhelmus replied, the sword in his hands glowing with the fury of the sun. “The ritual of my forefathers is complete. Now, feel the sting of a thousand years of steel!”
The heavy blows from Eilrach’s weapons barely moved the blade in the hands of the King. With a roar he left through the air, plunging the weapon into the chest of Eilrach, as the corrupting green fumes around the entire land rushed back towards him and reentered his being. The eyes of the skeletal fiend went dark, and all was quiet.
“The seal.” Wilhelmus breathed, his heart slowing back down from the exertion. “It will be completed only behind the closing of the chamber. Ghidrius, the box.”
The lumbering figure hauled over the wardrobe he had carried on his back to where the figure lay. As Wilhelmus held it open, the giant laid the fearsome foe down inside, immobilized. The King retrieved the sword, and the box was closed.
“‘And the seal will break only when he who sealed it tastes the bitter cup of death.’ Well, now all that’s left is to dispose of this thing where he shall never escape again.” Wilhelmus returned his blade to its sheath and looked about the empty lair. “Do you think the bottom of the sea would be a fine place? Or would the fiend escape from even there?”
“It would be sufficient to crush him entirely, my lord.” Ghidrius said. “But I think of a place even better. There is a black pit in the far north which runs to the center of the world, so they say. Such a fathom could never be ascended by mortal or immortal. I shall take him there and dump him in, where he shall never climb back out.”
“No, I must go along as well.” Wilhelmus sighed, straightening his armor. “It will not bode well if the King returns home and the deed is not complete, nor if the King does not have the honor of destroying the fiend himself. It would sit ill with the people that I was not mighty in this regard, but the location sounds sufficient for our cause, and I will-”
The next second, the golden blade had been drawn from its sheath, and stabbed through the middle of the fine king. His breath choked as the large and sinister head of Ghidrius slowly crept over his shoulder. “I tried, your majesty. But you just couldn’t give up your precious quest and your superficial glory.”
“Ghidrius?” The reply was feeble and confused. "W-why?
“There was never a pit to the north.” The figure’s fingers slowly crept around Wilhelmus’ jaw with an unnerving clicking. “Believe me, your majesty, I tried every other option. Now be a dear and stay alive for a few moments longer.”
The sword was thrust in between two bricks in the wall, and Ghidrius, now with hands free, pulled a silver sliver from his armor and raised it in the air. “Taiepa Rukah!” He cried, and slammed the sliver into the ground, causing a crack through the air which eventually splintered open a hole in the air itself.
Wilhemus could barely crane his head around to see, but just enough to witness Ghidrius speaking to someone on the other side of the newly-formed hole. “I have your prize. But hurry, Volume, for the seal can last no longer.”
Eilrach’s memory of this event faded from view as I staggered back, running into the wall and shaking my head vigorously. The Eilrach smoke had dissipated entirely, and I cracked open a new bullet to fill his robotic host. We both said nothing for a while, and after several attempts to speak I forced out a question.
“Do you regret?”
The orb didn’t answer. I picked it up, and the door flew open with enough violence to knock me back just by the motion. The figure above me looked around, and his green eyes lighted on my tiny figure.
“Ah, I thought you were a robot or something.” The figure shrugged, scratching his head. “Well, come on. I don’t know why, I don’t know how, but Volume has spoken for the first time in eight months - and he wants to see you.”
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