The dungeon’s heart was black. No light disturbed its darkness, no motion its stillness. And then a golden spark broke both as Xir’ain gasped back to life. What was that? Confusion. He had been in pain, from what? Magic. Enly’air! The black keeper spun around, but he was alone in the chamber. Where had she gone? His thoughts were a jumbled mess of pain, confusion, and something else he could not name. He needed to find her.
The center of the chamber began to whirl and boil, and the dark rock walls were illuminated by the sudden storm of golden lightening that blossomed to life in the heart’s core. A black wall of water pressure cut off the heart from the dungeon main as Xir’ain began to search. It took but moments for him to find her.
--
The runner ripped into the intruder’s flesh, unmindful of the burning that filled its mouth and throat. It was thrown back suddenly, pushed by the giant’s shield, which matched its wielder for size. As strong as the giant was, the runner’s speed was greater. The giant seemed to be in slow motion as the runner planted its four feet against the surface of the shield and pushed off. Faster than the eye could follow, it darted to the tunnel’s ceiling, flipping to push off again. And then it was crouched against the far wall. And then it struck again, suddenly on the intruder’s broad back.
Whip-like tail wrapping around its thick, muscled neck, blade-like tail slashing at its huge face, jaws unhinged to stretch over the top of its head, to let needle-like teeth pierce the intruder’s deathly eyes. Its movements were so fast through the black water that it was already poised to strike again before the giant shield even his the tunnel’s rocky wall. It was the sound of that impact that shook the dungeon and brought the keeper’s attention to where it needed to be.
Kill the intruder. Protect the heart. For the master. The runner’s thoughts were unclouded by reservation or self-preservation. It would fight until either it or the intruder was dead.
--
Enly’air brought up her arms to protect herself from the creature’s gaze, and her arms bore burn marks from where the eye’s curse struck. Only when the burning lessened did she lower her arms and open her eyes. Barely in time to see a spear, huge like its owner, about to end her recently renewed life. The tip was wider than her entire body. It came closer, inches from her chest. The force behind it was incredible. It hadn’t touched her yet and already she could feel the force of it pushing her back. There would be nothing left. There wasn’t even time enough to attempt magic.
The spear was smashed against the side of the tunnel so hard it was embedded in the solid bedrock. Enly’air stood in shock, uncomprehending that she was not dead. A great black hand filled the tunnel before her, made of black water solidified like thread, just like her dress. He had saved her life. Again.
Are you all right?
Xir’ain’s smooth voice slid through her head. She knew that he was nowhere near, but she still looked behind her. He wasn’t there. When she closed her eyes and looked all the way to the end of the tunnel and into the dungeon’s heart, she could see him there. A light filled the chamber, and Enly’air had to force herself to open her eyes or risk blindness so bright was the light of a keeper at work.
“Yes, I am. Thanks to you.”
What is this being? Do you know it? It feels old.
“No,” Enly’air said, “but it started killing the creatures of your domain. I assumed that it would attempt the same should it find you, so I left to try to drive it away.” Xir’ain was quiet for a moment, and Enly’air could feel in her head that he was thinking about something else.
Yes, the runner’s memories and the amount of blood in the waters supports that.
He was distracted by something again.
The water is tainted. The runner is dying from it. Tell me, how did the creature kill the eels? There are no bodies I see.
“It killed them with its eye. Whatever is looks at dies and decays.”
Xir’ain seemed to accept that at face value. A creature with an eye that killed was no more strange than anything else to the keeper. He wanted to do experiments on it, see how it worked. Make it better.
Enly’air thought she heard Xir’ain’s slithering voice say something. “What was that?”
I will protect you from its eye. I will give you strength to fight. You will defeat it. You will bring it to me.
Though the keeper said each as a statement, he also seemed to be asking for her permission. So she replied, “Yes master.”
The black hand of solid water unraveled, and for the first time she saw that all of its watery threads ran back to herself, coming from the black scar over her heart. The black threads retreated into the gash, and then that flowed back out of it, this time flowing outward across her body. It pressed against her skin, covering her front first, down her arms and legs and then over her face. She had just enough time to close her mouth and eyes. She was surprised to find that she could breathe through the material as easy as normally. Though it appeared dense, it was truly just water, and with each breath the black water flowed through. Her eyes being covered and shut was no hindrance, for she saw more with her eyes closed than any other saw with theirs open. The black material flowed around her sides, merging with her dress in the back and strengthening it, working its way up her back and neck, weaving throughout her hair, turning it black as the waters surrounding it.
Strange gold-rimmed gray eyes closed tight, Enly’air saw her transformation from the outside. Her entire body was covered from head to toe in solid black. The features of her face were visible, even her eyes and mouth. It was as if she was wearing a mask of her own face. On the front of her body the black material pressed against her skin tightly, ignoring all thought of modesty, but on the back it retained much of the appearance of her black flowing dress. Her hair floated freely and darkly in the water.
Her appearance was such that she would have been mortified to be seen by another, but the creature before her and the creatures of Xir’ain’s domain where not human. For the same reason one did not feel ashamed to be seen naked by an animal, she did not feel ashamed of her appearance. It didn’t cross her mind that she wasn’t thinking of Xir’ain as being human.
Enly’air stepped forward in the black water. She, who had never fought for anything in her life, was certain that she could kill if she was like this. She reached out one black-clad arm, surprised that her motions weren’t constricted in the least, and pulled the giant’s spear from where it was embedded in the stone wall. Enly’air felt invincible. The slight pressure that was Xir’ain faded from the back of her mind. The last impression she felt was that he was troubled by something.