Chapter Twenty-Four

Blood and Darkness

Wraith assembled all his minions and equipped them all with rank five enchanted mithril plate armor the helms enchanted to help them see better and give them resistance to blinding spells and daylight. Then he equipped half of them with rank fifteen enchanted scimitars and nonmagical shields and the others with rank ten enchanted longbows. His minions stood guard along the entrances to the tunnels and patrolled them regularly. Wraith barred the access to the new entrance to the World Below since he didn’t have the time to deal with exploring it currently.

He reset all the traps and added new ones including ones made of magical glyphs. He began studying his books learning all he could expanding his understanding of magic and undead. His new pattern for undead was incredibly intriguing, the ghost didn’t require any material and was made entirely of mana. Despite the ghost not needing any materials and having no flesh Wraith was disappointed with how weak they were but the idea of the insubstantial undead intrigued him. Wraith closed off his consciousness from anything else and focused on the pattern and began changing it altering aspects of it until he was able to combine bits of the ectoplasm with specs of dirt.

The result of Wraith’s experiment was a figure who looked like they were made of fog as the light bounced off the dust particles. Wraith smiled inwardly and then modified his new pattern to be formed of specs of steel, then mithril, then adamantine and demon bone. The various ghosts milled about aimlessly and wouldn’t do anything until controlled by a soul spark, and their various shimmering colorations were quiet intriguing. Wraith then began experimenting with different shades of clay coating specs of mithril and thickening the ration of dust in the ghost tell they took on a more substantial looking appearance. The result looked very much like the human coloration skin. This excited Wraith as another thought occurred to him and using his various spells of illusion and disguise he poured mana into each spec of mithril coated clay enchanting them until his work resulted with what looked like a human but with no hair or other features. He altered the pattern giving the ghost facial features. He used flecks of yellow amber for the eyes and used the design for the wendigo giving the spirit the same terrifying lantern eyes.

The bald figure was terrifying, but it only stared at Wraith blankly lacking any real living movement. Not discouraged Wraith continued modifying the partially incorporeal creature. He added specks of black demon bone for the hair the head looked good, but he realized that the rest of the body needed a bit of hair and he added some along the chest and arms and legs and only then did he realize the creature didn’t have genitalia. Wraith struck upon another idea and began taking bits of living flesh and using drop after drop of blood and scrap of flesh created a working reproductive system. While a reproductive system was not useful to him it opened up all sorts of possibilities and Wraith began to look upon his creation, not as just something that could look like a human but could function like one. He went through the inside of the creature adding organs and finally a mouth filling it with human teeth apart from two fangs that he filled with the ghouls paralyzing poison. The possesses of the living body turned the yellow eyes to a red as the blood floated through the body along the path where veins would go. The body lacked real muscle, but the blood circulated on its own floating along as if it were functioning in a normal living human.

Wraith had already put as much mana into the creature as it took to make a dragon, but his experiment was too intriguing to give up on just yet. Curious to see what else he could do; he added his spells for speed and strength to the mithril specs. As he moved along, he noticed that the blood in the creature was very slowly drying out and it would need to acquire new blood regularly if he wanted it to do so. This problem was irritating to him, and he remembered that this was why he preferred undead to living creatures. The process of the blood flowing as in all living creatures meant it gathered mana passively on its own which was let all beings continue living. Undead creatures had to eat living creatures to regain their mana and lay dormant in the wild for years as they waited for animals or humanoids to come near them.

Wraith stopped his work for the time being to think and looked at the rest of his dungeon for inspiration. The first-floor fauna had continued to mutate as the result of being inside his dungeon the mushrooms had continued to grow in size, and their caps had narrowed until they looked more like stalagmites with tiny holes in them where bats who had adapted to their poison lived. Whenever something approached them they would then flash a brilliant light that blinded whoever it was, then the bats of the cavern swarmed them and dragged them down ripping at their flesh and devouring them. The guano of the bats fueled the mushrooms completing their symbiotic relationship. Each mushroom had its bat colony which fought each other frequently killing each other by the dozen and breeding so fast that their losses were forgotten by their swarms of offspring by the next day.

The bats also fed on the rats Gnarl and the giant female six-legged rat had interbred and their offspring and quickly filled the cave and began to overrun it and gnawing down the mushroom stalks and consume the bat colonies. This resulted in many battles killing the rats which kept their population down. The rats also fought the giant snails, but Wraith put a stop to that and moved the snails into the Undercity. Free from predators the snails bred and thanks to being closer to his dungeon core, grew in size until there was a few hundred roaming the streets below the city. The cockatrice eggs Wraith had bought hatched, and he quickly copied their patterns and had swarms of the little blighters roaming around in pens that some of the pregnant female soul sparks maintained being careful to avoid being scratched by the little chicks.

The instincts of the monsters would allow them to exist like this even without Wraiths interference. Thinking about the monster’s instincts gave Wraith another idea, and he killed a rat and began examining its brain and then did the same to a bat. Excited by his findings, Wraith returned to his experiment and started adding bits of living brain matter to the creature and sparking them until the creature’s face began to twitch. It stirred and moved and then lunged at one of the captive drakes Ember had kept. Ember’s pet rage drake hissed and jumped back, but the guard drake in the cage was dragged forward as the creature pulled it to the bars and then bit the rage drakes’ neck. The drake went still as the paralyzing poison took effect and the creatures neck surged as it sucked it blood down towards its stomach. Its heart lay inert in its chest the blood only passing through it, and Wraith looked at his creature with a mixture of awe and fear.

Wraith composed himself and spoke into the creature’s mind. Stand up creature, he commanded. The beast turned its faced covered in blood and cocked its head. Wraith sighed realizing the monster had not understood and pushed upon the image of it standing up. The creature did so and looked about with its red eyes. Wraith summoned Ember to his core room; when Ember entered the beast lunged at him, but Wraith impressed on it the image of it standing still and at the same time shouted Stop! Into the creature’s mind.

“What is that?” Ember asked stepping back.

My latest creation. I’m not sure what to call it, a substantial spirit? A blood drinker? Wraith mused as the creature stared at Ember hungrily.

“You gave it sentience?” Ember asked incredulously to watch as the creature turned away and began to pace back and forth.

No, only the instinct to feed and reproduce but since it is undead. I don’t see how that would work, and perhaps I should change that, Wraith said. He began working, quickly added a projection spell to the creature's fangs that would inject the creature's pattern into the body of humanoid it killed and used the energy of a slain humanoids flesh to transform it into the likeness of its killer. He didn’t know if this would let the slain retain their memories or not, but it would be interesting to find out.

“What did you call me for?” Ember asked.

I have been distracted of late working on our defenses, but I wanted to ask you what you think of them, Wraith said turning to his only real friend.

“To be honest no matter what we do we don’t stand much of a chance. Dryad is a rank twenty dungeon with hundreds of years of experience on us and resources gathered from thousands of adventurers. Even if we defeat her she can come again feuds like this have been known to go on for centuries between dungeons. We would need to strike back at her, but I don’t see how we could do so and win,” Ember said.

Our best hope is to whether this and look for opportunities to grow stronger and eventually with the help of some allies do to Dryad what she intends to do to us. I would focus on building more ways to fight whatever force Dryad brings against us,” Ember advised.

I see, Wraith said and turned his attention to the city below them. He began using his mana to reconstruct dozens of buildings establishing turrets and parapets on top of them as well as setting siege scorpions and ballista on top of them so that they could fire on either flying targets or troops in the streets. In the kobold maze, he created several smaller versions of Wyrm-Heart. Turning back to his core room Wraith copied the creature’s pattern so he could more easily create it again, he named it a Stryker and let it loose in the city after impressing on it that it was forbidden from attacking any kobolds.

Only a few of the sparks he had the strength to operate orc bodies, and they guarded the tower over his core room. Ember’s body of the Draco-litch had modified, and Wraith had added protective spells to its bones. The orcs and some of the kobolds whose sparks had the intelligence for it were also learning how to fire and maintain the firearms they had gathered and were teaching it to the other sparks. While not enchanted the guns did about the same amount of damage as an enchanted longbow.

Invasion

The day finally came when Dryad's army came within sight of Castle Eminence. The kobold sounded the drums and kobolds, orcs and all the rogue monsters took up positions. Tall walking trees approached elves sitting in their branches with bows in hand firing upon the ramparts of the castle. The kobolds fired back the galls tips of their arrows shattering on impact releasing the alchemist fire held within and setting fire to the walking trees. Elves in green silk robes with antler headdresses put out the flames with spells that summoned water. Fey dogs teleported atop the ramparts and began ripping into them. A few of the blink dogs were taken down, but the tree ents had already reached the walls and elves started pouring off them in a wave upon the wall silver swords arching through the air and slaughtering Ember’s minions as they went. When the soul sparks tried to fly back to his core elven mages with cages made of woven branches ensnared them and trapped them within the soul cages.

Wraith was enraged and ordered his troops to set the charges they had with them and then to retreat below ground. The kobolds lost almost a quarter of their numbers before they all made it down the stairs and closed the gates behind them. There was a roar of thunder as the explosives went off and the elves and fey creatures in the castle were shredded to pieces, and their soul sparks fled to the south. The tree ents began to climb over the ruined walls, and their roots tunneled into the stone around the gate and weakening its base as they started pulling it from its setting.

The elves began to rush down the stairs. Traps went off one after another, heads were lopped off, bodies severed in two limbs removed and the entire person’s set on fire or dropped into pits filled with acid. The hoard of elves halted, and they began moving forward with caution disabling traps and firing back at the kobolds that popped around corners and fired bows or guns. The elves began dying in higher numbers but for every three elves that were slain Wraith lost another soul spark that was captured by the elven mages and trapped in a soul cage.

After an hour the elves finally made it down the long winding tunnel into the first level of the dungeon. The elves stepped into the mushroom forest and began moving forward growing even more cautious as no traps went off. Suddenly an elf stepped too close to a mushroom and was blinded by a brilliant flash of light that set off every other mushroom until every elf in the dungeon was stumbling around blind. Wraith sent out his psychic order, and there was a subsonic shriek as the bats rose up from every single mushroom and dropped upon the elves and blink dogs. The elves rolled on the ground as the giant bats ripped into their flesh. Rats leaped out of the swamp around them and began dragging the fey folk into the water. The water began to churn red and the ground was covered in thrashing bodies. Elves in the back who hadn’t been in the dungeon when the mushrooms blinded everyone started casting wide arching spells killing the bats and any rats that hadn’t retreated into the water yet.

The elves moved through the first floor keeping a wary eye on the water. They made it to the iron gate and started to push it open. Glyphs along the ceiling lighted up, and strikes of lightning and a rain of fire began falling incinerating elves and leaving them bodies quivering as the bolts of electricity set off the nerves in the dead body. The glyphs ran out of mana, and the swarm of invaders moved down the tunnel into the obsidian kobold maze. The elves tried blasting through the obsidian walls, but Wraith had prepared for this and acid poured out and left pools of bones and metal where the mage had been. The elves began marking tunnels and navigating through the maze.

Wyrm-heart came up behind the elves and plowed through fifty of them her spiked legs leaving elves dead or bleeding out. Other elves gave them healing potions but out of side tunnel appeared dozens of tiny versions of Wyrm-hearts and they began taking out elves that had been wounded. The elves took out a few of them, but they rest darted into side tunnels. The elves moved forward, but Dryad didn’t seem to have any good tank fighters apart from her tree ents which she was forced to leave outside, so there was no force to push Wyrm-heart or the other carrion crawlers.

The elves wore down Wyrm-heart and eventually took her down and left her smoking blackened bones lying on the tunnel floor and caged her soul. They stepped out onto the cliff and looked down on the city. Elven archers lined themselves along the cliff and pulled back their longbows to engage Wraith’s minions in the city below. Suddenly rocks began falling onto the elves as kobolds above them started pushing off the parapet above the stairs below them. The elf mages cast spells on lightly armored elves and began to run up the vertical face of the cliff and then began engaging in melee battle. The elves enchanted blades whistled through the air, and their far superior spells massacred them.

The elves started to line up again until the ballista and scorpions began firing on them the massive bolts smashing into the stone the bits of rock spinning like blades. The elves began rushing down the steps onto the rocky plains around the city. The kobolds rushed forward to meet the elves atop the backs of drakes carrying lances and shields. The two sides clashed, and the first wave of elves was killed to a man as the drake’s superior momentum shoved the lances through the fey enchanted armor.

The rear ranks of the elves pushed through and losing their advantage of momentum they were destroyed and forced to flee back to the city. The elves pursued them and climbed atop the curious spiked boulders that surrounded the city. The berserker snails reared up and began spitting acid and enveloping unsuspecting elves. The elves began cutting into the snail’s shells jumping back from the wave of acidic blood that poured forth. The elves bathed the ground in blue ichor, and their mages were forced to freeze it before they could cross into the city.

The elves began to scale the fifteen-foot city wall, and the kobolds pushed back at them with pikes and halberds knocking the nimble-footed elves down to the ground knock off other elves on the way. The scorpions and ballista began firing on the fey on the walls the massive rocks and bolts throwing them off the wall and impaling them to the ground. The elven mages began channeling high ranked spells raining fire and brimstone on the roofs of the houses destroying the ballista and scorpions. The ranks of elves parted, and a tall elf with stag horns growing from her forehead strode forward carrying a long spear and shield her body clothed in bright green plate armor stylized to look like it was made of giant leaves.

The Lord Spark led the army of elves her bright green armor cutting through the streets as she impaled kobolds and drakes. Wraith ordered all his remaining minions to return to the tower and prepare for their last stand. The elves spread out in the streets harassing the retreating kobolds. Dryads lord spark strutted down the road with a small contingent of guards. She stopped as she heard a sound and watched as the Stryker crawled out on all fours like an ape. She threw her spear, and the weapon passed through the Stryker, and the insubstantial undead hissed and turned on the elf his red eyes glowing and transfixing the fey with his fear paralyzing her and her guards in place.

The Stryker stood up on his feet his muscular naked body rippling with his movement as it shook itself, looking at the elves like a savage predator. Hunger and lust filled the Stryker's blood red eyes as it glided over the ground. Driven only by instinct the Stryker leapt forward and grabbed the elf, Emerald, by the throat. He ripped off her armor and then forced her to the ground. His aura of fear had her guards shaking and left them unable to scream or move as the Stryker began to force itself on the elf. Emerald’s face streamed tears as the beast raped her. Driven by only the instinct to breed and eat the creature continued. No compassion or sympathy existed in the beast, it had been created with two instincts to kill and to reproduce, not even the desire to protect one’s mate or young existed in its mind.

The Stryker latched onto Emerald’s neck and began to drink her blood while impregnating her with the Stryker virus. Emeralds legs began to twitch and kick as her body died and her guards began to twitch as the fear started to lose its effect. Stryker ripped out Emerald’s neck and pulled out of her body. It leaped at the guards raping both the men and women and killing them and infecting them. Other elves finally noticed that their leader was missing and marched down the street and stopped in horror as they saw the Stryker mounting one of Emerald’s guards and biting into the woman’s throat sucking out their blood.

The elves charged and loosed arrows which caused scarcely any harm to the Stryker, but their number of attacks began to dissipate his form. The Stryker hissed and darted into the shadows disappearing down a hole into the sewers below the city. The elves snarled in anger and began to march on the tower rocking it with spells causing rocks to fall from the top of the tower. The elves ran up the steps, and Ember roared out his challenge and blasted the encroaching elves with spectral stone shrapnel. The front line of elves was shredded to bloody scraps, but the others fired hundreds of arrows and spells of radiance blasted into the undead form of the dracolitch eating away at the mana that held the dragon bones together.

Wraiths orcs charged down the steps and began cleaving into the elves drenching the steps with blood that flowed down the steps like a waterfall. The rapids of blood caused elves and orcs to slip and fall still interlocked in combat. Ember’s massive spiked tail swept through the elves impaling them on his spikes and crushing them under his heavy blows. Elves began to swarm over Ember’s body stabbing into his body. Ember swept his wings down and lifted up into the air-breathing out another storm of ghostly shrapnel. Ember rose higher and higher smashing his back into the cavern’s ceiling smashing the elves to a bloody pulp and knocking off chunks of rock that fell and smashed into the ground killing dozens around them as they shattered into shrapnel. The elves on his sides and underside still stabbed into his frame chipping of bits of dragon bone until finally the mana powering Wraith gave out and fell from the sky to the steps of the tower smashing into the battling elves and orcs. His soul was captured and placed in a cage where it blazed like a beacon. Nearly three-thousand elves had marched against them, and only five hundred remained. They stormed into the tower slaughtering the remaining defenders. They tore up the floor of the tower down into Wraith’s core room.

Wraith had taken precautions and hidden the most valuable pieces of his hoard hidden in chunks of lead scattered throughout his dungeon. The elves looted him killing his pets and leaving not a single gold coin behind. An elf stepped up to Embers core looking down at the massive black diamond and sneered.

“You may have fared better than we expected dungeon, but you should know that no dungeon stands against Dryad’s Domain without suffering the consequences. Dryad has a final gift for you,” the elf said, and she placed a metal device on his core. “I don’t think we’ll be seeing you again.”

Wraith let out a physic scream as every once of mana he had gathered dragged out of his core. His mind went white with pain as his essence was stolen from him. The elves then went through the city obliterating any plant or animal they came across as they destroyed every source of mana in his dungeon.

Wraith was left in silence devoid of treasure or power. He mourned inwardly for the loss of Ember and his soul sparks. He wept at the humiliation he had suffered, and his soul burned with anger.

We will see each other again Dryad; he hissed, this I promise. And I shall do unto you all that you have done to me.

End of Book One