Karthen sped through the initial tunnel, gliding just above the stone floor, aided by a spell that kept him aloft.
It took him little time to understand the workings of the blood gateways. He used one of the illuminated ones and stepped through without hesitation.
Inside, he found himself caught in the interstice, where blood spiralled violently like a cyclone – and where a colossal entity loomed, far too vast to be fully perceived.
Karthen moved cautiously, eyes drawn to the abyssal titan. It lifted a limb more massive than the entire college and brought it down towards the arch-maegi.
He recognised it, 'Neohk…the Defiler!'
Though no sound passed his lips, the shroud reacted violently, increasing the force behind its strike.
The impact split the bleak terrain, fracturing the earth. But the arch-maegi was gone from where he had stood. As the Defiler sluggishly turned, its immense body trailing behind, it spotted the man by the portal, hands tucked behind his back as though the escape had cost him nothing.
Karthen passed through the portal and emerged on the far side. Ahead lay the Yawning Tunnel. From where he stood – on a ledge overlooking a massive chasm – he could see countless tunnels, inspecting them with his arcane sense.
The scale overwhelmed him, the grotesque complexity of the pathways hindering his sight slightly.
Shadows of odh particles moved through the tunnels. Though they were innumerable, the arch-maegi could distinguish his own people from those that were not.
'You've breathed your last, Ikshar.'
With clear disdain, Karthen lifted his arms, brushing his sleeves aside as he readied a spell meant to shake the entire tunnel network.
If anyone could succeed at this, it was the arch-maegi. Even Talien would falter under such conditions.
His gaze settled on two maegis pursuing a Gorlean.
With a scowl and gritted teeth, he tightened his fingers, channelling odh across the chasm. To anyone with the gift of sight – which none present but one possessed – a surge of magickal energy spread outward. It seemed the Yawning Tunnel itself had become a fountain of odh, empowered by his spell.
Then, like a bolt of lightning, it struck. The pursuers froze in place as sharpened spikes burst from the ground, impaling them.
Their odh signatures flickered, then vanished. They were dead on the spot.
His focus shifted immediately – more enemies. He pivoted towards them. Though they remained unseen behind layers of stone walls, he knew their nature: Iksharis. Their sickening fiery essence made it impossible to confuse them with his own students.
'Scum…' he muttered.
As before, the ground morphed beneath them, opening traps that seized their limbs and crushed them, drawing them into the earth like molten stone.
Many fell – pierced, smothered, crushed. Some were hired spellblades, others Ikshari disciples. He did not hold back; they had struck first, and so he would not hesitate to bring the entire academy to ruin when the moment arrived.
In mere minutes, every adversary within view had been dispatched. The endangered Gorleans, though saved, remained stunned – horrified still by the brutal deaths of their pursuers.
Karthen calmed them, dispelling their fear. His voice projected into their heads, I am here, my students. Escape this place if you can – or stay and mend your wounds until I resolve this matter.
He noticed some nod and obey, whilst others hesitated before finally understanding they were safe.
'Where's Riniock? Where's Noidron –'
No sooner had the thought surfaced than the latter came into view. He was running – not from fellow maegis, but from a towering odh presence in pursuit.
The creature hurled itself madly through the corridor, crashing into walls with reckless abandon. That Noidron had survived this long was nothing short of astounding.
'Hold on, Noidron!' Karthen shouted, lifting his arms and channelling his odh towards the scene. He shaped the terrain, summoning spikes from the ground to intercept the beast.
They struck the geoseri – but it barrelled through them, snapping each as if they were brittle sticks.
Karthen tried again – no change.
He attempted pit traps, conjured barriers – none halted the relentless creature.
'Damn it!' he spat, diving into the chasm like a dart, then halting midair once he reached the proper depth.
From that vantage, cluttered with obstacles, no spell could reach.
He drove his palm into the rock, shattering it and breaking through layer after layer, closing the distance.
His arcane vision remained active; he could still witness the chase as it unfolded.
Noidron occasionally fought back, but his attacks were either absorbed or dispelled by the geoseri. Nothing he did worked.
His fortune finally ran dry.
Attempting to retaliate, Noidron tripped on a jagged stone and slammed into the floor. Before his senses recovered, he was launched off the ground – hurtling through the air and smashing into the ceiling.
He dropped back down, but his agony had only begun.
The geoseri, locked onto him with savage intent, lunged and drove its claws into the ground, flinging him across the cavern as if he were weightless.
Noidron could barely register the numbness consuming his body. He noticed his spine had locked, legs and arms rendered immobile.
He had been crippled in the crash.
As he lay there helpless, the geoseri pounced, crushing him under its forepaws. It recoiled, then slammed down again – over and over.
On the eleventh blow, a massive boulder crashed into the beast's side, halting the assault.
'Filthy beast…' a voice echoed.
Karthen clapped his hands, generating a shockwave that split the tunnel and ruptured the geoseri's eardrums.
The beast shrieked in pain.
Enraged, it shifted its focus to Karthen, charging with deadly speed.
'Skeletal clutch!' he roared as it closed in on him. A bone-forged hand emerged from the ceiling, striking downward and pinning the beast to the floor.
The geoseri bellowed, twisting beneath the grip. But the skeletal hand, tied to Karthen's will, pressed firmly on its neck, anchoring it.
With his other hand, Karthen summoned a spike from below, aiming to skewer it whilst restrained. Yet the black lizard twisted just enough to evade impalement.
It pushed upward, resisting the magickal force.
'Fuck! I've had it up to here!'
Another skeletal hand burst from the wall. It gripped the beast's lower jaw and yanked downward as the other wrapped around its snout to assist.
With both hands in command, Karthen forced the creature's head downward and at the spike. After an intense struggle, he finally drove its face into it – impaling it clean through the mouth, the tip bursting out from the back of its throat.
It writhed, restrained, as Karthen sweated from the exertion. At last, its resistance ceased – it froze, then died.
'Tenacious thing…' he muttered, collapsing forward from exhaustion.
He paused, drawing breath and regaining strength – then a grim realisation struck.
His gaze shifted beyond the carcass. 'Noidron!'
There lay his employee, awash in his own blood – his body broken, limbs mangled, face crushed. One eyelid trembled faintly.
'Noidron…I arrived too late. Forgive me!'
The injured man's eye met Karthen's. As though finding peace, it finally closed. His shattered lungs stilled.
'Worry not,' Karthen whispered, kneeling over him, eyes fixed on a drifting soul wisp. 'For you and all fallen Gorleans, I will exact vengeance.'
Karthen extended a hand, a dulled crystal cupped in his palm.
'Indulge my selfishness…I will return your soul to the Laith before long.'
Noidron's spirit calmed as it was drawn gently into the crystal, trapping itself of its own volition.
'I will protect you from here on…'