Phantom Chained

Chapter 24. The Battle of the Gods. Elm.

Almost immediately I am face-to-face with three larvae who have sucked out so much life force that they lost any resemblance of their normal form and instead look like bloated transparent aphids, barely hanging by their thread-like appendage. Gluttonous little shits. First they prod and provoke the bombshell for maximal emotional output and then they stuff themselves until they're almost bursting.

I bite off the threads with disgust and the larvae slowly sink upwards into the sparse astral layers.

I still don't sense the dead soul. Probably hiding. Although I'm sure he had more than enough, too. Maybe still finishing leftovers. Normally the inhabitants try not to completely drain their victims, save some life force for later. In this case, the deadman left them no choice.

The creatures despise dead souls because they destroy precious hosts and the creatures can't do anything about it. How do you fight against a brainless complex of functions whose only goal is to fight chaos, simplify and systemise energy functions and reduce entropy?

How do you fight something whose entire existence is cause for your destruction?

Right now the wormhole shows itself as a double-spiral staircase made of ice crystals. The edges of the wide steps are razor sharp and it takes everything not to slip on the smooth ice. One small misstep and I will plummet down, getting dismembered in the process. And this outcome becomes more realistic with every step: to my right is a sheer drop and to my left are deadly ice crystals that will slice me open in a fraction of a second. Some crystals have grown across the stairs and over the void and I have to duck and weave between them, every movement sending shivers down my spine. Unfortunately, I don't have enough power to change from my human form yet, so I have to work with what I have.

Alas, the wormhole does not allow me to transform and I won't reach the core any time soon.

Dead silence and sheer cold. This is bad, the sleeping beauty is on death's door. With every step, the stairs sink slightly deeper into the icy surface that responds with a painful ringing. The holes slowly fill with a fluid that looks like blood and flows from seemingly nowhere. They mark my journey with a hardening chain of scarlet footprints.

Later they become joined with weaving furrows. This time the blood is mine; black liquid pouring from my left hand which is now missing two fingers. And a half.

White ice, scarlet tracks, black swivels; a hellish classic, beautiful but painful.

It gets worse as I proceed further in. A careless step costs me my heel and an unsuccessful duck leaves me with a shard of crystal sticking through my forearm. The way down seems endless and more impossible with every step. Cavolo! This quest is too high-level...

And a boss battle awaits me at the end. I'd love to save right now but life is not a game... pity.

Almost an eternity passes before the steps begin to become less and less steep until they stop completely, giving way to mounds and pits of dark, damp soil. Here incubates life. The edges of the wormhole morph into intertwining tree trunks covered in moss. I wander through the forest, only stopping to regenerate. Finally, I am close enough for metamorphosis and it doesn't take long for me to lick my wounds away. Through the thick branches, I see a pink glow; it shudders, caresses and tickles with a velvety peach skin.

Begging, hoping.

Waiting.

Fading.

Before me stretches a vast swamp covered in a wooden dome. I scan the area for any enemies. The results show a faint presence of intellect spread all over the swamp.

Seriously? What kind of messed-up joke is this? How? How do fight a bloody swamp? Throw stones at it? Spit in it? Insult its mother?

Well, I throw every stone, spit as much as I can, what next?