BECMI Chapter 509 – Not a Distraction Carnifex

At the front of the door, a large form rose to its feet, elephantine in size and mass. Burning hellfire eyes opened, glowing spittle fell from great jaws, and a Hell Hound from the deepest areas of Acheron opened its jaws and howled a challenge at us.

Cirru didn’t hesitate an instant, off towards it in a flash of misting feet and crackles of lightning.

The one drew attention. The other should have indicated danger, since ice crystallized on the burning floor behind her, but who was going to focus on that instead of her crackling lightning fists?

Duum and I trailed after her as Cirruluxul charged the Hound, completely unafraid.

It braced itself, and opened its jaws to breathe on her as she came into range. Which was cute, because she opened her mouth and did the same to him.

What came out was not lightning, but frost, a chilling cone of freezing vapor from the upper atmosphere that slammed into and completely negated the fire the massive Hell Hound belched out in response.

There was a swirl of elemental cancellation as the two neutralized one another. The air exploded with water vapor deciding what to do, and then Cirru was on top of it.

The nails on her fingers were talons, her ki made them as effective as her grown form, and if she wasn’t as strong as when she was large, she was still plenty strong, and quite fast.

Also, the Shocking Grasps hurt like mofos when they went off.

The Hell Hound howled again in pain and mounting fear as Cirru crashed into it, nearly breaking its front legs with her opening cuts and sending lightning writhing all over it from the blows.

It clawed at her, bit, and with a great crack its jaw shattered under one punch, one leg was broken with another, and then she tore open its throat in a whirlwind of hands and lightning, sending burning blood spraying everywhere.

It fell heavily and unwillingly, the flames going out of its angry eyes. I scanned the area once perfunctorily, shook my head to Cirru, and pointed.

Her hands hissed on the chariron, but this great set of doors was larger and heavier, and didn’t open so easily. I could see she was considering returning to her real form, but she exerted strength and ki, winds and lightning condensing around her palms, and with a surge of will and power, forced the chariron doors open and back.

I took a moment to memorize the vast shifting mosaic of iron and copper displayed above, running through battles and forces which had looked quite familiar outside. I didn’t know if it would be helpful, but who knew?

There was another hallway beyond, which led to another door, this one of nurbrass.

The next chamber was even larger than the one before, and the dome-like ceiling didn’t even have pillars holding it up. The heat was enough to make lead run, a furnace totally capable of cooking the living, and running about the walls was a very bright moat of acrid, blazing blood, definitely difficult to survive if one were dropped in. A short bridge from our door crossed it on this side, but beyond was a raised platform with a narrow bridge leading up to the landing with the great crimson eldrcopper door there swirling and reflecting the flames of the moat on its far side.

Standing at the front of that narrow bridge was a humanoid figure in bright crimson full plate armor, a good head and more taller than Cirru. The slits in his visor emanated a steady ruby-red glow, too, and the Greatsword he had gripped there had a blade longer than I was tall, and it was flaming nicely, too.

Flames weren’t nothing to worry about at this point. Cirru just looked at me for guidance.

“Let’s see what he has to say. It’s fairly obvious we have to kill him to get past. This whole realm is dimensionally locked, so we can’t ‘port around him,” I told Cirru, who just nodded once, studying the figure.

“He is far more dangerous than the dog,” she agreed coolly. “A Master-class warrior, at the least.”

“Let’s see first.” Side by side with her, we went over our bridge on this side, then marched up the center of the hall.

“Mistress, I smell the blood of the reptile things in here,” Duum sniffed warily. “It has combined with the blood in the air, but it is still here.”

We both paused and looked around, while the knightly warrior over there watched us closely, probably wondering what we were doing and to get with it or something.

“Here’s a pool of blood that has dried out on the iron!” Cirru said, kneeling to touch it and bring it to her lips carefully. She spit it out after one taste. “Foul and poisonous,” she uttered, rising to her feet.

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“Well, let’s see what it came from.”

Origin of Blood whispered out of Dread, and fell upon the splattered blood.

It immediately turned dark crimson, almost black, and then boiled and bubbled as it lurched up and flowed into a semi-transparent form quickly, blood veins first, then shadowy organs, bones, muscles, and finally skin forming around it, giving us a first look at our mysterious killers.

The slitted eyes were more snake-like than reptilian, the skin was a mixture of pebbled hide and protective scales over vital areas, with cranial ridges for the eyes, taloned three-finger hands, and digitigrade legs with claws. The tail was short, stumpy, and obviously vestigial, the creature’s build long, slender, and graceful, obviously not made for combat. The tongue was forked, and the teeth not designed for chewing, only tearing and swallowing.

“The size of its stomach indicates it could eat great amounts of food,” Cirru noticed, staring at it in unfeigned distaste. “Your spell isn’t replicating clothing or ornamentation, unfortunately.”

“Actually, it should be. That means the original either isn’t wearing any, is no longer intact, or it is shielded from divinations attempting to read exactly that,” I replied thoughtfully. “Its Aura fairly screams spellcaster to me, and a very, very skilled one.”

“Why are you summoning up an image of your kind?!” boomed the echoing voice of the crimson knight, who had walked right up behind us as we were studying the image of the creature.

“Because we’ve never seen this kind of creature before, of course,” I answered him without turning around. “Did you kill this one, or merely wound it, warrior?”

“My name is Kalrag!” he boomed back, waving his Greatsword threateningly. “And yes, I made it to this one through his bodyguards, while his spells failed against me! I gutted him and threw him into the moat before the rest of his comrades could stop me!”

I imagine I was supposed to take offense at that. “Well done,” I said simply. “I am the Lady Edge, and this is Cirruluxul, the Storm Dragon of the Rings of Fire. This is my familiar, Duum.”

Duum got up on my shoulder and politely tipped his hat to the knight, who, rather hesitantly, nevertheless politely returned the salute.

“You are… not Carnifex?” he asked, his confusion at his own certainty in his voice.

“I am the Lady Edge, and no other. I cannot be confused for someone else, nor can someone else be confused for me. Cirruluxul is a great wyrm and definitely not a Carnifex… if that is what it is. This is the form Cirru uses for interactions with humanoid bipeds. If you would prefer her in her original form, she will be happy to revert for you.”

The bright ruby light within his visor studied her and her crown of white-streaked indigo hair for a long moment, her half-draconic nature apparent, but definitely not whatever the image behind us was. “I would indeed like to see your true form, then!” he stated, clearly hesitant and having a lot of pent-up frustration.

Cirru calmly stepped away to give us room, turned back to look at him, and exploded.

At least, that’s what it looked like when fifty tons and more of dragon erupted out of the form of a halvyri, going way up into the air, and then lowering her head to stare down at him with the same color of palest blue eyes, but a lot more crackling lightning and dragonfear Aura about her.

He took a step back in pure astonishment at her size and appearance, his Sword coming up, then lowering as she simply stared aloofly at him. “You are indeed like no dragon I have ever beheld, but the aura of your kind cannot be faked by the shapechangers so easily.” He looked at me, then shook his head. “And you are not one of them, either, nor did they try to take your appearance when they came not long ago.”

“You will have to forgive us, Sir Kalrag,” I said to him. “We know nothing of these Carnifex, and I have studied MANY works of lore. They have been mentioned in none of them. What are they, why would they come here, and why are you stopping them?”

“I did not stop them. They vanquished me, though it cost them more of their numbers, and they pressed through to the lands beyond to kill my lord and steal his emblem of office.” He looked us over again, seemed to come to a decision. “The emblems of the Lords of the Seven Realms are the keys that unlock the doors to the dimension the Carnifex were Sealed in long ago. That a force of them escaped, one strong enough to secure the Emblems of Office, is a very worrying event! I can only hope that the others of the Seven Lords did not likewise fall!”

I looked at Cirru, who just looked back. “So, gathering all seven Emblems opens the way. Did a group of humans happen to come through here not long before the Carnifex?” I gestured up a Holo of Daskad’s team of Urtho.

“Oh, they were humans?” The knight seemed astonished. “Given their fervor for battle and slaughter, I assumed they were Carnifex warriors as well! They also won their way past me and out into the battlefields of my Lord Finisli, and secured his Arrow for a time. It returned to him, and then this next batch of Carnifex came, and did not even bother to conceal themselves as they did so!” He shook his Sword angrily at their arrogance.

“They gathered all seven Emblems like proper Delvers, opened the way to the Carnifex, and went in,” Cirru breathed out. “And then they died, and let the Carnifex out.”

“The Carnifex have escaped?!” the knightly Kalrag exclaimed loudly. “That is horrible news! The world entire is in danger! The Carnifex are soulless gluttons and tyrants, beyond any hint of morality or honor! They will kill multitudes for one of their feasts, experiment with living things to make new toys or savage beasts out of them, deal with the vilest of creatures for their own ends, and dominate all living things in service to their overweening egos!”

“There were hundreds, if not thousands, of scents of them on the ground of the Septahenge where the Portals to these seven realms are located,” I informed him. “Are they so dangerous?” I had to ask him.

“The Carnifex are led by their mages, who all are at or near the Apex of that path, the weak having died in their battles or exiles long ago. The least of their priests is an archpriest in mortal terms. Although their warriors and rogues lack the martial fervor of ones such as myself, all Carnifex also bear innate powerful magic, and are the equal of great knights and nobles among such as humans! The least of the Carnifex are often more skilled than the most powerful of the folk who rise to attack them!” he warned us loudly and with great enthusiasm.

I gestured Cirru back to her halvyri form, and she seemed to collapse and implode as her form reverted back to halvyri warrior instead of great wyrm.