Chapter Five

Mind Blade

Ember left with ten kobolds in his own impressive kobold body, it was a head taller than the others and covered in white scales with blazing blue eyes. They were armed and armored and scuttled into the trees, the mission would be a good chance for them to learn to use their bodies effectively and even if they all died their soul sparks would just return to Wraith’s core.

Wraith covered the obsidian stalagmite that formed his core room with another layer of common stone to help it blend with the rest of the environment. Wraith then filled his room with a thick poisonous mist. He created iron cages hanging from the ceiling from thick chains embedded into the rock. He worked on the ruins reinforcing the walls filling the rooms with crude furniture based on how Ember had described it to him once. Wraith created treasure chests filling them with weapons, copper, and silver coins. Wraith added a giant stone altar into the center of the cavern where the maze of paths led too. He carved various draconic runes he had learned from the staff he had taken from the wyrm priest, Wraith still didn’t know what the runes meant but they looked interesting. He copied the exact inscription on the staff into an obsidian dagger and created another kobold body for Wraith when he returned, the body was withered with crystal blue eyes. It wore black robes trimmed with silver thread giving it a very mystical theme.

Wraith was working on adding pit traps to the ruins above that would cause adventurers to fall into the cavern onto a sharpened iron stalagmite. There was ringing, and Wraith focused his senses on the iron gate guarding the tunnel where the kobolds had come from. Wraith alerted all his monsters and mentally unlocked the gate. A kobold stumbled forward as if pushed and hesitantly touched the gate and then jumped back. The gate swung open and the kobold was pushed forward again, the kobold sprung the trap and was impaled by a falling stalactite and there was snarling from deeper down the tunnel.

Another kobold was shoved forward but the trap didn’t spring again. There was a marching sound and kobolds in scale-mail armor carrying shields marched forward spears pointed forward. A row directly behind the shield bearers carried long spears. Another row of kobolds with bows, sling or throwing spears. Two kobolds in black robes were in the center of the group carrying bone staffs in their hands. This was twice the numbers as last time and taking up the rear were four large drakes with sleeker bodies and green scales. This was obviously an invasion force to find out what had happened to the scouting party and destroy who or whatever was responsible, well Wraith would have to see about that.

The invasion force marched forward pushing kobold slaves in front of them to check for traps. Wraith was grateful for this, it was very nice of them to bring such easy kills to gain mana from and new soul sparks. The next kobold died on the first iron jaw trap, it stepped on a large oval stone and was cut in half as the jaws snapped closed. The entire force moved out of the tunnel and gave a chuckle and released the portcullis trapping the force inside his dungeon if a creature tried to invade Wraith with an army then they’d best be ready to face the consequences.

Wraith’s kobold ghouls stood from their caves up in the walls lifting short bows made of bone, they let fly and iron-tipped arrows fell on the invaders. The ghouls ducked back behind stalagmites in their caver archways taking cover from any return fire. There were only five kobold ghouls with Wraith against the twenty-five kobolds not including his own rogue monsters or the enemy’s drakes. Three of the arrows struck killing two spear-wielding kobolds and wounding a third in the shoulder the other two arrows bounced off the shields of their targets. The row of kobolds turned and fired on Wraith’s ghoul kobolds of the ten arrows only two of them were able to hit and they barely did any damage to the undead bodies, he had also reinforced their bones with iron since unlike Ember they didn’t need to fly. A kobold in half-plate armor snapped an order in their brutal language and the spear-wielding kobolds rushed forward in a wave hurling themselves at the cavern wall as they scrambled up them.

Wraith was disappointed that he couldn’t understand what they were saying and wondered how he could learn their language, apart from actually spending the time that is, he was a very busy dungeon after all. Three of the kobolds got too close to the spore field of one of the giant mushrooms and they began coughing and gasping one of them made it clear but the other two fell confusing and died. Wraith reached out as normal to cast a net of his mana to capture their soul sparks when an idea caught his fancy. The memories of a creature are left in the part of the soul that breaks off when he netted the soul but what if he tried to capture that part of the soul as well?

Ecstatic at this new line of thought Wraith created another net but the broken off piece of soul passed right through it. Furious he created a sword of dark mana and slashed at the soul in pure frustration and anger, not that he had expected to succeed but the refusal of the soul to obey his was infuriating. There was a flash of light from the soul and he felt his magic rebound back against he causing him spiritual pain but with that pain came snippets of images, sounds, memories. Wraith began understanding a few of the words the kobolds were snarling at each other and laughed in joy.

Ha! Wraith crowed despite the pain. He had discovered a way to learn faster than the years it would normally take him.

The spear-wielding kobolds were fired upon again by the ghoul kobolds again only three arrows hit and again Wraith netted the souls and struck at them with his will gaining more and more insight and knowledge with them, but he could feel his sanity and will fade. Wraith couldn’t keep this up for long. The two wyrm priests were chanting and he remembered very well what had happened last time. The kobold archers fired on his minions again but only two of the arrows hit this time although one of the ghouls was looking more battered than the others.

The kobold spear wielders, at last, reached the cave alcoves and the ghoul archers dropped their bows and pulled out their serrated scimitars. Two of the ghouls killed two spear kobolds but the other three was dragged down by the sheer number of their assailants being attacked by four opponents at once and flung the ghouls out of the alcoves to the ground fifteen feet below. Their iron bones prevented their bodies from shattering but even the brittle iron would break if enough force was applied and several of their ribs broke. Five of the shield-bearing kobolds rushed forward covered in red light from buffs bestowed upon them by their wyrm priests.

The ghouls leaped to their feet and struck at the shield bearer kobolds only one of them able to get off an attack stabbing one of the shield bearers through the chest.

“&*%## undead, #[email protected]# *&## happened @$*& missing &*>~ cursed,” Wraith overheard only getting a few of the words still but able to deduce they thought this place was cursed and that they believed that was why these kobolds were now undead. Wraith supposes they were technically right; this place was a curse to sentient creatures who didn’t serve him.”

The two kobolds still in the alcoves were pinned down as they were stabbed and hacked at by daggers and spears until they were little more than chunks of flesh, bone, and iron. their soul sparks floated out and Wraith initiated the second phase of his plan. The wyrm priest was so focused on their work buffing the next group of shield bearers they didn’t even notice the bubbling under the surface of the water. The ghoul otyugh burst from the swamp in an explosion of water and the fetid stench of rot and decay. It snapped up one of the wyrm priest’s in one bite missed the second wyrm priest with a tentacle but broke the necks of two of the shield bearers. The already buffed kobold warriors turned from where they had crushed Wraith’s minions who had been thrown from their alcoves. They raced back to fight the otyugh and Wraith activated the rest of his traps. One of their legs was caught in a pair of iron jaws, another was cut in half the other three fell into a pit trap but twisted using their shields to bounce off the spiked stalagmites. They landed on the ground and looked back up to the cavern above.

That was a big mistake on their part, five beetles lunged forward with snapping mandibles on the kobolds who weren’t looking at them; their horns lowered the attack was devastating. Two of them were immediately skewered while the third managed to dodge aside, he brought his sword down in a blow that would have certainly cleaved the beetle in two with his magically augmented strength if he hadn’t slipped on a wet round stone and fallen. The beetles descended on him grabbing his limbs in their mandibles and ripping the kobold warrior apart.

Wraith groaned and smiled the pain from attacking their souls was intense but the varieties of mana Wraith was getting was intense, Wraith had just gotten a good dose of wind and light mana something he had never gotten before. Wraith grinned at the soul of the wyrm priest he had just killed and struck at it, he screamed, and the dungeon shook from it. The repaired cracks on his body broke open and death poured out of him even as his subconscious repaired the rents in his body and soul. Pain like nothing Wraith had ever experienced permeated his mind even greater than the physical damage done by the beetle that had cracked his core.

The will of the wyrm priest’s soul had been stronger than any of the other souls Wraith had attacked up to this point. Images came to him but his mind was in so much pain he couldn’t concentrate on anything. Wraith heard screaming and managed to focus his perception enough to see that his wild dark magic had mixed with the mana being released from the dying kobolds and was forming into the shape of a gaunt figure made of shadow in the vague shape of a humanoid, Wraith was dimly aware that his own core was not casting a shadow. There was a ghostly white spark of light that entered his core room and Ember appeared before Wraith’s core.

“What’s going on?” He asked confused and worried.

Used mana to learn from souls…. Something went wrong…. core cracked…..mana created something….. it’s coming, Wraith said weakly having to stop every few words as he regained his senses.

“Is that….” Ember said and made a gulping sound despite not having lungs, “Is that a shadow?”

I think so…how do I kill it? Wraith asked weakly.

“It’s weak but its resistant to everything except radiant damage from light magic which is the one type of mana you don’t have!” he said panicked flying about. “I can try to slow it down, but my poison won’t do anything to it and my claws and teeth will be almost useless!”

Weaken it, I gained a tiny bit of light mana if you soften it up I’ll release it from my core and destroy it, Wraith ordered coming up with a desperate plan.

“You’re too weak, that could kill you!” Ember protested.

Its either this plan or we let the shadow kill me, Wraith replied.

Ember entered his body and sprung at the shadow just as it entered Wraith’s core room. Wraith prepared himself for the pain he was about to inflict on his core. The shadow enveloped Ember whose claws barely caused a ripple in the dark pool of malignant magic given will and the desire to kill. Ember screamed as his own body began to wither away from the shadow’s attack. He bit and clawed but the shadow’s form only dimmed a little losing a tiny fraction of its substance. The rest of his minions were engaged in the pitched battle outside because even if Wraith won one of the battles losing the other would most likely spell his doom.

Ember’s bodies withered more but he stubbornly hung on and continued his attack, ripping out a chunk of the shadows incorporeal form. The shadow let out a moan of hatred and anger and Ember’s body withered away to dust and the shadow turned to me and enveloped Wraith’s core, frost built up over his core and he felt his mana draining away, Wraith snarled and ripped open a crack in his core releasing a bolt of pure radiant light that shot out and the shadow howled but its body melted away, giving him his own power back and with a new twisted form of mana inside it, the pattern of the shadow. Wraith fixed his core for the second time that day and he looked out at the battle and saw that all his minions were down even the otyugh ripped apart by the two drakes the kobolds had brought with them.

Wraith summoned up his dark mana into the battlefield creating another figure of black mana and pushed Ember’s soul spark into it. The shadow moved, and the kobolds attacked it but it enveloped one and sucked the life from its body leaving behind an empty husk. Even as the kobolds slowly whittled away at the magic holding the undead spirit together, Wraith created more pushing his other sparks into them. The kobolds pulled together but one by one the shadows enveloped them. Wraith pulled the soul sparks to his core and watched the rest of the battle with an exhausted detachment. Wraith caused a cave-in the tunnel to prevent anyone else from coming through that way without having to mine through all the collapsed stone and rubble. he then let his mind drift and recover from the pain Wraith had inflicted on himself.