Heresy: The Book of Mammon

Chapter 16

Chapter 16



The rumble still rattled Abbadin’s bones. Whatever it was that shook the depths of the earth was massive. Dust still lingered in the dark and choked his breaths as they walked through the black tunnels. He felt his will dwindling as he pushed through. There was not telling what it was that caused the quake, but he did not wish to find out.

It felt as though they walked for an eternity. With each step, fatigue took new holds on him. His calves burned and ached as his feet met with the moldy floors. Green light poured from the vial in Ravenna’s hand. It bathed the walls and floor in an eerie glow. Crimson thread still stringed its way through the dark waters of the sewers and the further they went, the more sharp its smell became. He could only imagine where the blood came from, and he tried hard to push the thoughts from his mind. Fear shrouded his existence, but he had to continue. Jazira dwelled above the surface somewhere in the Cardinal City, and he very much needed her help. A message could very well be all that Lokken needed to survive the coming battles, and he knew she could help him send it.

The green light spewed forth past the corners of the walls into the great room before them. Tall columns stabbed from the floor to the ceiling. Shafts of cold, pale light poured into the darkness from the grating above. He stepped into the pale moonlight and looked up. In the heavens, the moon shined brilliantly amongst the sea of stars. The high, sharp, rooftop of the Basilica Del’ Ordum stood tall in the night sky. He felt a heavy breath escape his lips. They had finally come to the Cardinal City.

Sounds of the night seeped their way through the holes in the earth above. Voices spoke, and footsteps echoed. The turning of wheels, and the hum of machinery bathed the silent sewers in low, solemn symphony. Gentle breaths whispered through the dark. All around him they snaked into the music of the night.

Their hushed whispers echoed in the darkness and fell upon him. He knew, something dwelled in the places that the light did not reach. The corners of his eyes revealed ever more, the darting shadows that plagued his vision. His eyes shot back and forth in the cold green light, but he could not focus on anything.

He saw figures of men cross through the cold light that poured in through the linear holes in the earth above. His eyes darted and strained in the darkness, but found nothing. Still, the shadows moved about in the corners of his eyes.

“What is wrong?” Her voice startled him and he nearly fell backwards.

“There’s something here,” he whispered to her.

She rolled her eyes at him. “There’s nothing here other than us. It’s the darkness playing tricks on your eyes.”

He nodded. Perhaps she was right. His paranoia never faded from the moment the sun sunk below the horizon. That felt like an age ago. Here, there was no sky. There was only a ceiling, and the whispers of the earth. Walls closed in on him as they continued through it all.

Voices echoed through the songs of the flowing water and blood. They fell upon them every so often, but he could not make out the words. He assumed that they came from the streets above, but he couldn’t be sure of anything. His mind was restless in the tunnels. He couldn’t focus his thoughts, or his eyes on anything.

The voices kept coming, and Ravenna’s eyes grew wide at their sound. She turned her ear to the calling, and her breaths grew heavy.
“Benjamin.” She whispered at the nothing.

The voices called every instant, and drowned the silence below. She darted through the darkness, and he struggled to keep pace with her. The light of the moon bathed her in its pale brilliance, and illuminated her hair. It sparkled like fire, and faded out as she ran through its rays. Her feet splashed in the water as she ran.

The figure of a tall man stood behind the white light that spilled in from above. It was little more than a shadow, but he managed to focus on it. He saw eyes, and a mouth. Bright red hair, and skin. He was thankful for that, everything he’d seen before this had been without it. She ran toward the man with her arms open. Her sobs echoed through the tunnels, as he rushed behind.

The man never moved. He stood silent, behind the light of the moon. His arms rose to her. She embraced him, and his arms wrapped around her.
Abbadin’s breaths were like daggers as he slowed his pace. He wanted to collapse in the waters, but the blood kept him from doing so. He was thankful she’d found her husband. At least she could experience some happiness in the cruel world. He looked on as she cried tears of joy. His hands caressed her skin as she stroked his short hair.

Her eyes opened as her hand pulled away. A clump of dark hair stuck in her hand. She stepped back from him, and into the light of the moon. He reached into its cold glow, and smoke rose from his skin. His flesh sizzled as he pulled away from the light. Sharp breaths pierced Abbadin’s ears as the man hunched in agony.

She took another step back and dropped the hair into the water. Her hand rested on the hilt of her sword and she stared at the hunched shadow in the tunnel. The man rose and its breaths were deep and throaty. He growled, and Abbadin’s skin crawled as two eyes glowed yellow in the darkness. He shivered as cackles filled his ears.

Flesh tore as Ravenna pulled her sword from its scabbard. She sobbed and stood ready for it to strike. Skin flew past her and fell at her side. His face lay upon the floor staring up at her, and tears became rage.

Her husband was dead, and his body was skinned. Such an act was unforgivable. Abbadin pulled his sabre and lunged forward. Ravenna’s hand sent shock through his body as it pushed him back. The fire in her eyes was all he needed to hear.

The beast lunged forward with claws forward. Violent intent filled its glowing eyes, but she stood resolute. It came upon her, and she spun to the side, her sword came down at its neck, and the cracking of bones sparked their calls through the air. Blood sprayed across her face, and its head rolled through the waters and came to rest with its eyes looking up at her.

Her rage heated the air around him, and she spat at its face. She kicked the head and it flew past him and crashed against the wall at his back. She, like many others, had lost everything. One could only handle such things for so long before they broke. Ravenna never did. It fueled her.

Howls doused the silence and filled his ears. More were coming. Her eyes fell upon him and he felt his strength surge through him. They would see this through. Shadows spilled through the cold rays of the moonlight, and yellow eyes glowed in the darkness. Claws swiped at the air before them, and jaws snapped.

Abbadin pushed forward, and dodged the claws. His sabre sliced through flesh, and blood sprayed across his skin. Hands and arms fell to the floor as they slashed through. They fell to the floor and twitched. Rage burned within him as visions of his men flowed through his thoughts. He felt the heat of the flames of his burning ship. Her eyes flashed in his mind and gave him strength.

He slammed his fist into the bloody face of one of the beasts. He lunged forward and drove his sabre through its abdomen. Claws raked at him, and he ducked beneath them. He pulled his sword from the corpse and slashed into the dark. More fell upon the floor and splashed the filthy waters upon his skin. Ravenna stood beside him. Blood covered her face.

The last one fell to the floor as her blade ripped through its flesh. Chunks of bone burst through the air and stung his face. It fell lifeless to the floor and her fiery eyes met his. She looked at him, and he felt her anger. Howls and screeches ripped through the heavy blackness about them and her eyes turned to what lay ahead of them. Water splashed, and feet slammed against the ground.

She drew a deep breath, and placed her hand on his chest. He staggered backward from the shove.

“Go.”

He couldn’t. He wouldn’t abandon another. If she were to die here, he would die with her. He’d abandoned his crew and left them to die upon the cold earth of the North. He would not do it again.

“Run!”

He shook his head.

“Damn you! Run! Go to your Jazira! Do what you came to do! Forget about me. I’ll hold them off.”

The world fell upon him as she turned to face the things. She ran forward and slashed at the air. Their cries filled his ears, but he could not move. The visions of his men returned. The army would come to Lokken. The Dirigibles would come. The beasts would come. They needed to be warned, and he was the only one left to do so. He felt his legs move. He stepped back. “Thank you.” He whispered.

He turned and ran. She had lost everything she cared for, and sacrificed herself for him. He grew weary from the death that followed him.
Lights flew by as he ran beneath the grating. He saw his salvation ahead of him. The tunnel ended, and a ladder rose from the floor to the world above. Finally, he would be out of this terrible place – out of this hell.

Her screams echoed down the dark corridor. It brought waves of agony with it. She was gone, just like his crew was. Her shouts called down the tunnels of the sewers, and faded into silence. She wasn’t dead… she was taken.

She told him to run, and he did. She lost everything, just as he. All that remained of him was his life, and she let herself be taken to save his… not anymore. He wouldn’t allow another to die for him. He looked up at the exit of the nightmare that enshrouded him. Her eyes filled his vision. There was a life behind them that he had never seen. It was a life he wouldn’t allow to be taken. He turned away from the exit, and ran back into the hell behind him.

***************
Bones crunched beneath his feet as he stepped forward through the mist of black. Abbadin shivered as he looked upon the skulls that lined the walls of the tunnels. He couldn’t count how many there were, for the tunnel was endless. The warmth and humidity of the air beneath the cold earth was stolen away. He felt cold. It was a cold that he’d never felt before, as though his bones were made of ice and freezing him from the inside.

The grinding of bones made his skin crawl as they slid against one another beneath his feet. Water splashed and frothed over the piles of white and splattered against his pants. He looked down upon the floor and the trail of blood ran as far as he could see. It was difficult to navigate without the green vial that Ravenna carried with her, but the moonlight that spilled into the dark from the grates above offered enough light. He was thankful to see that it was not streaked, but small drips. Whatever injury she had, wasn’t immediately life threatening… if it was her blood at all.

He’d abandoned her just as he’d abandoned his crew. She wished for him to go, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t allow another to die for him. Lokken needed him, but so did others. She’d helped him when he was his most vulnerable. The least he could do is find her and take her back to the world above.
She’d lost her husband and her homeland to Ecclesia, he would not let them take her life. It was not at all a pleasant life to live in the world that dwelled above him, but it was still life. Regardless of how difficult it was, men would continue to fight for it, and he would fight for hers.

The floor dropped to a slight slope as he continued into the bowels of the earth. The tunnel grew wide and pillars of skulls rose from the floor to the ceiling. It felt as though he were walking into the center of the earth. Somewhere below the surface, Ravenna was held in captivity. He’d hoped. It could very well be that he was walking into his doom, but it no longer mattered. He would fight for her. He would die for her. It was the least he could do.
Bones rolled down the tunnel as he walked and they struck notes as they made impact with the floor. He walked through an orchestra of horror as they rolled along. They splashed in the waters below. He couldn’t see it, but he knew it was not far away. Somewhere down in the darkness, the floor leveled and water pooled. Dim light glowed below and illuminated the liquid at the bottom of the tunnel. He could see the ripples flowing in circular waves, but it was not water.

Its crimson fluid bubbled within the walls of the great hall below, and the smell of blood suffocated him. The smell of burning pitch mixed with its scent and burned his eyes. He continued on. Fear and paranoia had left him when she was taken, and something new drove him on. Perhaps it was rage, or honor, but whatever it was left him without emotion.

He stopped at the mouth of the great cavern that spanned as far as his eyes could focus. Pillars stabbed through the scarlet lake and to the high ceiling above. The bone piles scattered about the floor but grew ever more scarce as he walked through the horrors. His feet stepped into soft surfaces. He looked down to see sinewy flesh rippling beneath him. Eyes embedded in the red, bloody walls of meat and stared at him. Still, he did not slow.

Faces pushed through the flesh and called to him. Arms grasped at his limbs, and hands snagged his legs. He heard the breaths again. Within the throat of the world, beneath the shroud of dark light, he could see it.

One of the beasts stood against the wall. It’s back was to him, and its head hung low. The floor spewed blood as he walked. He was not one for stealth, but finally, his footsteps made no sound. He inched toward the thing in front of him, and he pulled his dagger. He crouched low, and hands brushed against his cheeks.

His hand gripped its head and he pulled it back. The blade slid across its neck, and muffled gurgles sprayed blood from its mouth as he lowered its body to the floor. Its eyes looked up at him as it spewed red mist into his face. He rose his foot, and felt its skull crush beneath his boot.

Abbadin rounded the corner to the sound of more beasts. His eyes slithered from behind the wall and they stood in mass. Ravenna hung unconscious in one’s arms, and another one held someone else. Blood poured from the tips of his fingers as his arm hung low to the floor. His black coat was wet with blood and his many weapons dangled as they carried him.

He hadn’t seen Valimaar in months, but he remembered his face. He was the one spoken of in the prophecies, the one that Rakin held in such high regards. He lay lifeless in the things arms, but he was not dead. His eyes twitched beneath his eyelids and his chest rose and fell with shallow breaths.
Shadows behind the beasts moved as they stood. He squinted his eyes and saw the robes of a bishop. He was adorned in scarlet much like the blood that flowed beneath his feet. Two other things stood behind him. They were abominations. Their throaty breaths rumbled in his chest as their eyes glared at the two prisoners. He felt cold shivers flow through him, and his skin crawled.

“Learn everything you can from them.” The bishop’s voice was like liquid darkness. Waves of chilling cold spilled forth as he spoke. “Bring them pain, but do not kill them.”

“Yes, My Lord.” Its voice was like icy needles that stabbed his heart. It was a cold whisper that held jagged spines.

“There is another still here.” The bishop turned to the skinless monstrosities.

He backed away from the walls and melded into the darkness.

“Find him.”

Gurgles echoed down the dark corridors as he ran. He couldn’t help them alone, but there was still hope. Lokken would surely come for Valimaar, but he needed to find Jazira. He needed nothing more than a falcon and ink. He could not do this alone, but he wouldn’t be alone forever. They would come. They had to come.