Loreling Karaxa

Part 6, One Angry Elf

Thaylona sped down the corridors of the pale dungeon, a fell look etched onto her face—a terrifying blend of vacant, almost empty eyes, and an unyielding clarity of purpose.
It was as if she had become the very embodiment of murder and loss, an apotheosis of destruction and despair.

A web blocked off the corridor ahead of her. She didn't care. She barrelled through it. Some torn webbing clung to her, but something soft as silk could not resist the irresistible.
In her mind, a single voice spoke to her. Soft, honeyed words, that demanded a blood price.
"They took him from you. They are the object of your hatred. Slay each and every one. For Ayrun... For me..."

"FOR LORD DEAS!" Thaylona bellowed with a thundering cry. A huge spider blocked the path ahead. Thaylona's longsword clove through as if it were butter. When she had first come here, merely out of concern, she was easily overpowered by but two spiders, but now, with her blood reaching a boil...

Spiders leapt from the walls and ceiling all at once—flanking predators poised to take down their prey. Mandibles snapped through the air, and piercing limbs shot out in every direction. Yet none found their mark.
Thaylona had erupted into a whirlwind of steel, her longsword flashing faster than the eye could follow. She had carved the monsters to pieces midair, leaving only a rain of ichor and severed chunks to fall around her. And onto her. She was caked in gore and viscera, and that odour... The bloody smell of vengeance. Sweet ichor rolled down her cheek, and with a feral glint in her eye, Thalylona's tongue darted out to taste it. 

"Good, very good."

Karaxa and N'ga, were in hot pursuit, poised for combat, prepared to encounter any enemy... but there were none. The porcelain white walls were now painted in a sticky, odorous green, and they were met with no foes, only corpses.

"By the First... What the hell is that woman?" Karaxa scanned the room as they ran, trying to make sense of what was plain to see.
"Angry." N'ga shuddered. "Very, very angry."

Thaylona began to slow, encumbered by the accumulation of webbing and parts which clung to her, but her goal was now in sight. A silvery altar lay in the back of the final room. It's glowing runes dimly lit the room, as they lazily swam through its flowing metal.

What relation the thing had to the spiders, she didn't care to ask. A violent voice inside her demanded its destruction, and she had surrendered herself to Lord Deas.

Gripping her blade mordhau, she raised it high and began hammering the altar with its pommel. Each strike rang out violently, but the silvery surface barely dented. Frustration simmered as her pupils rolled back—back—until they disappeared entirely, replaced by a chilling new gaze: twelve black circular pupils orbiting a central diamond, set against burning red sclerae.

"THIS IS TOO IMPORTANT TO TRUST TO YOUR ANGER ALONE, CHILD. I AM BURNING WITH VENGEANCE MYSELF."

'Thaylona' hefted the blade once more and brought the pommel crashing down. The altar bent and cracked with the force, the impact resounding like the tolling of a colossal bell. The sound reverberated through the dungeon, echoing down the halls to Karaxa—and beyond.

Karaxa and N'ga rounded a corner, their steps faltering as they glimpsed her at last. Thaylona stood alone at the altar, but the myriad spiders swarming toward her told a grim tale. Broodmothers, bloated with eggs and venom, scuttled closer.

Karaxa screamed, "WATCH OUT, THAYLONA! THEY'RE BEHIND YOU!"

She lunged forward, desperation driving her, but N'ga quickly cast a spell, conjuring a barrier of force between them and the scene ahead.

"Are you insane? We can't fight all of that!"

"I know, but—"

Their words faltered as they watched in helpless horror. Thaylona hadn't even turned to acknowledge the threat. She must have heard them, must have felt the tide of predators descending on her—so why was she hammering at the altar with such manic fury?

'Thaylona' continued her assault, her pommel pounding with inhuman strength. Each blow snuffed out the glowing runes that swam through the altar's surface, one by one.

"THIS VICTORY IS MINE, AEONS! YOUR PATHETIC ARMY HAS FALLEN, AND WITH THIS ALTAR DESTROYED, THEY WON'T BE COMING BACK!"

The spiders swarmed closer, filling the room until there was no empty space left. They clambered over each other, fangs and limbs lashing out to tear into her. But she only laughed—a maddened, unrelenting laugh.

They surged onto her, burying her beneath a writhing mound of chitinous bodies. Karaxa caught a fleeting glimpse of her figure disappearing beneath the swarm, and then—through the cracks in the chaos—came a light. A terrible, growing light.

The brilliance intensified, accompanied by a shrieking sound that pierced the ears and soul alike.

"RUN!" Karaxa shouted, her voice breaking. She and N'ga turned and fled, heedless of anything but escape.

Behind them came a mighty detonation, a thunderous explosion that hurled limbs—spider and elven alike—against the walls. The dungeon shook, hellfire consuming all as the echoes of Thaylona's deranged laughter rang on amidst the rain of shattered bodies.

"FUUUUUUUUUCK!" Karaxa screamed as they sprinted, the sound of her cry swallowed by the chaos erupting behind them.