Chapter 42: Carnage

The wet crunching emanates from the vats of stone being crushed inside a liquid reeking of burnt hair and sulfur. It mimics the scent I associated with the slimes whenever I first entered this cave several weeks ago.I assumed incorrectly then, but I fail in my assumption no longer.

Golems of a higher quality than the previous worker thralls mince through each of these containers with their larger upper bodies allowing for superior balance when carrying heavy loads. The glowing runes glisten with a faint blue just like Aether’s if his dimmed to 1000th of its current splendor. No shadow follows their wake however, and despite their mechanical movements, I spot mistakes in their footing that cause several to stumble in holes or rocks on the ground.

Several workers walk up to me with stares of utter incomprehension as two golems behind them carry large vats of ethanol. A man with a scar across his neck says,

“How...That’s...the golem of the end...”

I raise an eyebrow as I shout, “What do you mean?”

He digs his eyes against my face as he rasps, “This is the first golem. He is the beginning and the end. The alpha and the omega. How can he be walking around here?”

I shout across the flattened floor as I say, “I freed him...What’s going on here?”

They stare at one another for a moment whispering before I shout, “Give me an explanation soon, else I snap upon you with the force of a bear trap crushing your neck.”

The left most of the three men shouts after he squints towards me for a moment, “That’s Jack. Jack Donovan. What the hell is he doing here?”

The first time someone you’ve never known says your name, it fills you with a sense of pride and dread that bash against one another creating a sort of apathetic pulp, so I say ignoring their claims, “I know what lies in these golems. Why do you do this?”

They turn towards one another before the middle man smiles grinning as he says, “We’re just mining the gems in this cave. That’s all. Here, I’ll show you the way out that doesn’t involve facing hordes of man eating slimes.”

I snap my words with the heat of dragon’s fire and the eclipse of my patience, “I am no fool. You face your death if you speak a single warped truth once more.” The men cringe before the middle man taps the edge of his satchel creating the sound of ripping steel once more.

My arms elongate while my shoulders broaden. My hands grow in size before I jerk my hand into the earth shooting my body off to the side. Right after I move, four blocks of earth spawn where I stood with each pillar level with my neck. He aimed to kill me with such a precise, practiced attack. I shall return the favor.

I maul through the softened stone whipping across the short distance between use before a large golem trimmed with gold and encrusted in iron jumps from a stony alcove above me.

He lands on my right arm breaking the limb before its weight drags me to the earth pinning me down. The iron golem swings its foot at my skull using a technique reminding me of Petra’s own maneuvers. I contort my neck backwards dodging its kick.

The top of my head touches my back as wind flows against me while my spine bends beyond the limits of a human. I snap my face back into position as I brace against his left leg that pins my arm down. I jerk my right arm from under its weight flinging me from another four pronged earth trap as I roll across the ground.

After I slow, I perch into a leaning position with my face low to the ground as my back arches while my arms jut towards me sides. The middle man with a scarred throat says,

“It’s good you came here. We couldn’t touch you after you became Petra’s disciple, but if you walk into our den so willingly, we will make you into a fine golem, merry murderer of Tahnar.”

I roar my words bouncing them across the cave walls as I say, “How do you know of me? Who told you this?”

He stumbles back at my inhuman voice and posture as my figure reveals itself under the dull glow of the vermillion torches surrounding us. He snaps moving behind the steel golem as he says, “I see you are the actual demon that Geralt mentioned. Regardless, you can’t beat this golem.”

I lift myself upwards as my hands rest level with my knees. I grin with elongated teeth as I hiss, “Perhaps not, but there is one who can.”

Aether explodes into acceleration from the back of the expanse before he smashes into the other eight foot golem who slides across the earth. The men leap from behind the iron golem ground as I pounce towards the dark skinned man closest to me. The man’s onyx skin and curved horns mimic the appearance detailed in the race catalogs of Geshians. So this is what they are.

I tackle him to the ground slamming him unconscious before I kick my foot against the ground. I fly 5 feet through the air before I land stretching all four limbs outward. I kick my back feet while I outstretch my hands pulling with clawed fingers that grip into the stone.

Electricity fills my veins as the other black skinned man shouts in horror, “What the hell are you? We weren’t told we would be fighting against an abomination.”

I grab him pulling him upwards several feet from the ground as I growl, “You know nothing of me.”

I release him from my grasp before I clench my fist while I step forward jerking my arm into his side. The stiff arm slams him through the air before he lands outstretched while groaning.

I worried of my ability to incapacitate normal humans without killing them. If I hold back, I prevent their utter destruction. Excellent. As I celebrate, a series of four earthen pillars crunches against my neck closing my throat as the scarred man walks up to me saying,

“Your friend over there’s having more trouble than I believed he would. The golem of the end isn’t as intimidating as I believed.”

I glance over as Aether stands still absorbing a series of punishing blows from the golem without even lifting a single finger. I roll my eyes at Aether’s gentleness. This idiot believes in his golem’s victory without any actual evidence. He’s incompetent.

The incompetent attack still required an enormous abundance of precision and technique however. The earthen pillar, block my airway while they drag me up from the ground. This would snap the neck of a normal human while leaving them hanging helpless if they somehow survived.

Yet I am no normal human. I grow a claw before I cut my throat allowing me to breathe from my esophagus. Other creatures tried strangling me before, so I react before pressure mounts this time.

The cocky villain trots upwards as he says, “Even demons need air, though I’m surprised my attack didn’t break your neck killing you instantly.”

As my legs reach the ground, I push my arms upwards creating a blaring thud against the rocks on my throat. The man stumbles back before I lob my arms like clubs upwards once more creating a net of cracks on the stone. He murmurs, “What evil is this.”

I grit my teeth before I kick off my feet jerking my fists into the stone snapping my earthen prison. My arms jut from the stone before I turn them more than is natural as I shorten my frame to its normal size. This suspends me on my hands before I crawl out of the expanse scrambling my feet against the stone.

I squirm from the pillars as two arms rupture out the sides of my rib cage and my shoulders expand to allow the limbs room to move. I crawl across the ground staring towards the scarred man as he scrambles gemchaining with the fluid mastery of years of practice.

My reflexes overcome his training however. I dart under a jet of boiling water before I dig my fingers into the earth beneath. I pull on the ground lobbing me sideways as an eruption of earth explodes from underneath me. I grow a pike from my shoulder before I rip the appendage out slingshotting the shard into the man's foot as he falls howling in pain.

I turn towards the Aether as I say, “Why haven’t you destroyed it yet?”

Aether turns towards me bearing the full brunt of the golem’s attacks with ease as he says, “I did not know if you could absorb his soul if I ended his form as it is.”

I nod saying, “Just crush him before you throw his gem towards me. I can save it then.”

The steel golem grates in a desperate voice saying, “What are you. What is this. I don’t understand.”

Aether grabs the golem’s skull before he lifts the two ton behemoth from the ground with a single hand saying, “I am he who pierces the clouds...I am Aether.”

Aether crushes the golem’s skull with a slow and controlled clench. The iron busts and rips as stone breaks through the plating while the powdering of the substances sounds worse that scraping concrete with a shovel.

The sound of warping metal alters before a stream of boiling water crashes against me, but Deluge’s modifications allow me to shake the substance off before I grow another spike from my palm.

I whip my arm towards the scarred man discharging the projectile into his other scrambling foot. Before he gemchains again, I throw another shard into his left arm jerking him backwards before he falls to the ground. I turn towards Aether watching as he molds the other golem’s stone and metal like a child playing with putty.

The sight humbles me at Aether’s utter might. I theorized he could overwhelm the other golems, but obliterating an iron plated golem with a human soul in it with such ease...It’s awe inspiring.

I shake my head before Aether grasps the stone from the mushed golem with a gentle grasp. He tosses the stone towards me, and my hand clamps the stone before Deluge rips the soul from the container.

The fiery soul channels through my arm before I turn towards the man saying, “You have some explaining to do.”

The man’s pale skin wrinkles as he hisses, “I won’t speak to a demon you filthy-”

I stomp busting stone as I shout, “You use human souls for evil. You can say nothing.”

He grins as he says, “Well now. I suppose killing half a village for nothing is fine as well?.”

I walk towards him saying, “They stabbed spears through my heart and neck. They aimed to kill me, a hapless orphan. I would have died if not for these abnormalities you see now.”

I reach him before I lean towards his face. His throat shifts before I palm the side of his cheek blaring a sharp snap before I say, “Do not spit at me or else I will rip your tongue out and make you eat it.”

The man’s eyes twitch before he spits sideways away from me. He says, “What will it take for me to live through this.”

I grin as I raise an eyebrow saying, “If you had spoken with me instead of trying to snap my neck, I may have almost certainly been merciful, but I have learned one irrefutable fact in my life.”

My voice densifies into granite as I say, “If you leave a person who tried killing you alive, they shall try doing so again. With each word you speak, you decide the level of pain inflicted by your death, not your chances for survival.”

He nods as he says grinning with blood in his mouth, “For a kid, you have a rather experienced head on your shoulders. Well, what do you want to know?” He gasps at his injuries before he says, “I’m in some rather vivid pain at the moment. If you could hurry up, I would appreciate it.”

I say, “Explain the purpose of this place.”

His grin weakens as he says, “We do a lot here. The primary business is in human souls, though not what you think probably.”

I squint my eyes as he says, “We use human souls for a variety of functions. Instead of just putting human souls in golems for labor, we also indoctrinate troops for wars, create hidden gladiators for families, and we even enchant human souls to objects.”

I close my eyes subduing my rage as I say, “So the soul of the iron golem was a gladiator then?”

He nods as he says, “It was one of our finest. He was a member of the Donovan family you share the name of. He was the brother of some forgotten member who ran off with a singer. She was quite the vocalist from what I heard.”

My animosity diffuses out as I rasp, “Was his name Hubrick?”

He nods as he says, “Aye. We were hired as guards for this facility along with him. He chose to have the procedure because he wanted to bring honor back to his side of the family. Few are willing to become golems regardless of circumstance.”

He turns towards Aether as he says, “He handled it without even wincing once. He took the entire process without so much as a scream.”

He turns towards me as his face sweats, “You should be proud of how you and him are related. Your whole family has a will of iron in them apparently.”

Rather kind words for someone who attempted murdering me seconds prior. I say as I squint my eyes, “Are other’s escaping as we speak?”

He shakes his head saying, “Sound don’t travel good through rock. You’ll probably be able to clear this entire cavern and the warehouse above. We barely heard you before you came here...We thought you where some slime coming for early shipments. That didn’t work out too well no did it?”

I nod saying, “That was why you brought ethanol...”

Deluge says, “The slime’s alcoholic base would give them a ravenous hunger for it.”

I refocus my stare as I rasp, “Why did this organization attempt killing me?”

He shakes his head as he says,

“We check the background of each person before we gut them. Whenever we found yours, we discovered a rather excellent forgery, but a forgery nonetheless. Helfeston came in after your first day here saying how you were going to ruin his winning streak with Florence after just a few weeks of gemchaining.”

He grimaces as he says, “That was before Alcott suggested checking your background. After we figured it out, Helfeston even offered doing the deed himself. It seemed like an easy score to attack some child and use you as a powerful soldier. It backfired obviously. Your a hulking monstrosity, not some skinny child.”

I nod as I say, “I’m starting to see the picture from all the pieces. Who composes this organization?”

He frowns as he says, “I don’t know. They keep intermediaries throughout their network. It creates a rather deep rabbit hole in a sense. I know their voices at least, but that won’t do you any good.”

I walk over beside his head as I say, “Thank you for this. You and Hubrick will make excellent friends.”

His expression sours as his face wrinkles while he finches from pain. After a momentary spasm, he says, “I doubt there’s any room left in heaven for someone like me.”

I nod as I say, “I believe there isn't rapture for what you have done, but I can offer an alternative.”

I unsheath my blade slicing straight through the top half of his skull without warning killing him before even the slightest perception of pain. I place my hand atop his skull as a wave of nausea pierces into my gut.

I’ve never killed someone out of choice before. Killing Jase spawned from sheer desperation while Deluge destroyed the rest of my victims. Even the worst of my pains never prepared me for this sickness. Physical pain tolerance shares no relation with emotional fortitude from my experience, and even the most battle hardened veterans weep when their mothers die.

I experienced my fair share of both, yet I never felt a sensation such as this. A piece of me accepts what I did, but another piece writhes at the act. The last fragment of my childhood self I held onto gripping with tenacity and fervor, it cracks. The wonder of this world darkens by only an imperceptible degree, yet that single slither decided much of my outlook.It can no longer.

I gaze at his corpse as his blood darkens the exposed brain and spine from my cut, but I never flinch at the grotesque sight. I did this. I must accept it. Deluge gathers his soul into consolidation as I squirm.

Several minutes pass before I turn towards Aether saying, “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

Aether bends over before he says, “It must be done. This place screams with torment. The ashes of others plague this place like rotting roots. We must stop the perpetrators here.”

I nod before I walk over to each of the geshian warriors cleaving through their skulls using my bloody sword. The blade sucks the sanguine liquid on its edge just as my story to Luke foretold, and I force my body forward through my discomfort at killing these people while Deluge rips their souls into consolidation.

We gather the spirits of the golems before we move onward as we pass into a tunnel. I headbutt the side of a wall as I reel from the sharp trauma while my forehead chips the stone. Aether says, “What happened. Why did you do that?”

I frown as I say, “Because I deserved it.”

Aether stops walking before he says, “You did what you had to do for maintaining your safety. There is no shame in that.”

I frown as I say, “I do not relish in murder. It doesn’t matter the why or when. Even if we save their souls, it still hurts.”

I pace forward silencing further questions with my palpable gloom. I hate this. It disgusts me. As my thoughts dwell on the bleaker aspects of my actions, Deluge says, “I can do this if you care not to.”

I say, “I thank you for the offer, but I don’t want to run from this...I want to know what I’m doing. I found rationalizing the murder of half of Tahnar far easier than I first assumed, so if we are to kill anymore, I wish to carry an appropriate burden for my sins.”

Deluge snaps, “So you wish to face meaningless suffering?”

I close my eyes as I say, “No Deluge. I wish to give my suffering a meaning.”

We pace until we cross a room with the same mine system operating. No people walk through the room, so Deluge and I harvest the souls with ease before a doorway appears in the distance. Aether says, “We must hurry before the others escape. My footsteps will give us away.”

I jump onto his back latching onto his geodes before he leaps forward generating a deep rumble before he lands several feet in front of the doorway. He tramples the blockade and the stone lining around it. Aether crouches in the short room while two security guards generate a series of gemhains in surprise.

Aether blocks the meager assaults before I lunge my sword forward stabbing downwards. The saber punctures through the man's face sliding downwards past his collar bone before I leap from Aether tackling the other guard to the ground. He raises his hands as he says, “I have a family, please show mercy!”

I scowl exposing my teeth as I hiss, “So did I, and so do your victims.”

I lop off his head leaving the blade at the end of his neck as it swallows the torrent of blood that follows. I turn downwards as I grit my teeth. Pieces of my soul wither and die as I grab the side of my face with my right hand. I never wanted this. I never wanted to kill people...Why am I doing this.

I whisper, “Why am I even here...”

Deluge shouts,

“You are here to right the evils of this world. You are here to end this abherration before more lives are crushed for mere gold.You bear the burden of the weak and helpless so that even those without legs may walk hand in hand bathed in light. Do not falter. Do not stop. You are right in this Jack. This is an absolute good with necessary evil.”

My heart aches at his words as my chest constricts. I throw my blade against the stone before I fall to my knees pounding my fist against the stone. After a moment, Aether says,

“You may be strong Jack, but you were never made to be a fighter, let alone a killer. Let your friend do this. I doubt he would mind.”

I breathe several deep, ragged breaths before I stand rolling my shoulders. I look back saying, “It isn’t what you are made to be. It is what you decide to become. I can’t grieve any more. My heart must calcify. My skin must become stone. My mind must steel. I will become more than a man as this world needs me to be. It needs a symbol. An icon. A semaphore immersed in the sun.”

Aether says, “Why in the sun?”

I say, “A semaphore is a method for signalling that needs light for its visibility unlike fire. It was a literal metaphor.”

Aether nods before he says, “That was quick witted.”

I grin before I say, “I’m glad you asked, otherwise I doubt any person could have caught it. Regardless, we need to move forward.”

I leap onto his back before we pass through another set of doorways colliding with stone and wood once more. The faces before me melt together as I kill and slaughter a dozen more guards during our exploration. I attempt speaking with them before I attack, but they use my mercy as a means for using their gemchains or for giving their golems time to position for offence.

The carnage ails me still, but I find the task easier after speaking with Deluge and Aether. Deluge sucks the souls of many members with a somber bearing, but his greed shows through his facade. He revels in the bloodshed. That part of his mind unsettles me, but he represses himself with an ironclad will I trust.

We clear three more large mines as I scout ahead preventing Aether’s footsteps from giving us away. I reach a hallway that ends with a trapdoor showing normal stone. After I pace backwards reaching Aether, I say

“This is the external building they use for moving their products to the surface. I’ll scout through the building before you enter. If I don’t return within five minutes, just smash through the wall.”

He nods as he says, “Be safe Jack and remember. This place is like a weed. We must pull every root up, or else it will return the moment we look away.”

“Of course.”

I slither until I reach the ladder falling from the trapdoor at the end of a dirt hallway with a roof of stone, but right before I open the trapdoor, it shakes. As it pops open, I maneuver to the back of the ladder. What I assume is a man in elegant clothing of red silk interlaced with purple patterns paces down the ladder.

I sweat as I scramble for some means of escape, but each step he takes reveals more and more of the man's frame before he stops saying above him, “Has the new shipment come in yet?”

A gruff voice returns his voice saying, “Here soon. There probably running behind cause of all the gemchainers runnin around the place. They’ll probably wait till after sundown to be safe.”

During their discussion, I placed my palm against the wall behind the ladder before I grew a spike into the earth.The horn extends until it pierces several feet into the wall, and I use it for pulling myself

against the dirt while maintaining a slow, steady motion to not alert the man of my presence.

As I stick to the wall, I remain still until the man paces down the stairway. A drop of sweat falls from my shoulder as the earth cracks under the strain of my weight, but my hold persists until the man turns around while the trapdoor closes. My gray skin and brown pants blended with the soil enough that he never noticed me. Deluge’s foresight strikes yet again.

After I recede the horn allowing me to lay close to the ground, the man lights a crude match before he lights a lamp in his hand while I crawl behind him. He turns around illuminating my form before I grab both his mouth and lamp preventing him from dropping the delicate object on the floor.

I rasp my words using my deepest voice as I say, “Hello there wanderer. Would you mind answering a few questions?”

His eyes dart around him before I say, “I am going to remove my hand from your mouth. If you scream or even speak above a whisper, I will tear your throat out with my teeth.”

I growl while baring my teeth accentuating my point before I swap personas saying, “This doesn't have to be ugly however. You just have to tell me what I want to know. Simple. Can you do that?”

His eyes glaze over as he blinks before he motions his head up and down. I remove my hand from his throat as I say, “Who are your superiors.”

The man breaths several times before he says, “I-I don’t understand what you say. I foreign-”

I snap frothing an icy anger as I whisper, “I heard you speak with the man moments before. If you are going to lie, do so without insulting my competence.”

He gulps before he says, “Ah...Shit. Alright. What are you?”

I grimace as I snarl, “Nightmares have no name. I won’t repeat myself.”

A bead of sweat slides down his forehead as he says, “Ok, ok. We work with several members of HELP!”

I clasp my hand around his neck as I crush his throat before a rumbling appears upstairs. I dash towards the side of the hallway before fire shoots through the entire hallway bathing me in burning agony. The torment only lasts for a few moments before the heat dissipates and Deluge rejuvenates my skin.

I clamber up the side of the hallway before the trapdoor opens a few seconds later. A head peers down the hallway before I grab his face clawing all five of my fingers into his skin before I crush with all my power.

His head resists my grip for a moment as he howls before a sickening squelch stains my ears. The bones crumble in my hand as his brain squeezes between my fingers like a thick, oily paste. I tire of experiencing excruciating misery so that I can offer mercy these tyrants will take advantage of. If they wish to burn me alive, then I shall show them brutality.

Deluge sucks the soul laughing as I jerk the body downwards before I shamble up the ladder revealing the walls of a warehouse with windows lining the edges of the walls. After I crawl upwards, the trees lining these walls reveal the seclusion of the area, while the horrified expressions of four guards grate against me.

After such a sight, I no longer blame them for their horror. The female guard screams before hell breaks loose in the room. The guards lose their sanity as they unleash their most powerful gemchains with all the strength in their bones and blood. Tearing metal and blurs form around me. The air shifts with heat and cold as my ears pop. The taste of copper fills my mouth.

Blizzards of ice and molten maelstroms of iron explode in the room as my skin rips under the might of their fear. My blood jerks out of my wounds while the air in my lungs empties, yet I endure. I cross my arms against my chest before I rip out two shards of enamel slinging the weapons through two of the gemchainer’s chests.

The projectiles pin them against the wall ending their gemchains allowing me to breath, but the super heated air scorches my lungs while the globs of melted metal burn into me. I shake myself flinging the glowing liquid off of me and onto the four guards. The gemchains stop as I stand up from my instinctual crouch with patches of glowing metal attached to my skin and blocks of ice hanging from me.

Two of the mercenaries died from my spikes, but the other two howl in anguish. I step my left foot backwards lifting upwards whipping my sword in an arc as I hold it with both hands. The force torques the sword overhead while removing the iron on it before I cleave through the roof over head. The attack slices through a portion of the wall and the entire body of the mercenary behind my to my left. Blood splats from the gash as I sunder his frame.

I grimace before I pull my right foot backwards against the wall behind me slinging the sword like a club in front of me. The blade whistles through air then crunches through planks of wood before it hacks the female guard in half. The blade hits at an angle causing the edge to smash the corpse more than split it, so a wall of blood spews in every direction. It covers me as I close my eyes before the blood soaks into my skin...

I shake the horror from me as Deluge saps their souls, and I walk away from the edge of the wall. After I pick off several pieces of iron that adhered to my skin, the stone wall at the back of the warehouse explodes launching bricks like cannons through the air as Aether appears right on time.

I frown as I say, “There were only four gemchainers, though they expressed a ferocity like rabid animals.”

Aether looks towards me before his weight snaps the wood underneath him. I say, “Come on. Let’s go back to the university.”