Chapter Thirty-Four: A Deadly Game

  As they trailed the eight-legged undead, they did their best to stay hidden in the shadows. The creatures no longer seemed to be actively searching for them, and with Ell’s Pathfinder ability leading the way, they skillfully avoided any large groups. The winding path eventually led them to a ghastly clearing, where bodies hung like macabre decorations from twisted tree branches.

  Their friends dangled limply above, swaying slightly in the putrid breeze. In the center of the clearing, a massive skeletal spider loomed, its bony limbs stretching outward. The air was thick with moisture, and the unnerving sound of rustling leaves.

  The spider, a king among its kin, was an immense figure of deathly stillness. Its skeletal frame was adorned with dark, oozing ichor that dripped from its mandibles. The air seemed to hold its breath, and the monstrous spider’s presence filled them with a primal dread. It sat motionless, almost as if it was aware of their presence, patiently waiting for them to make a move.

  Jace’s heart pounded in his chest. “We have to get them down,” Jace whispered, his voice barely audible.

  Ell nodded, her gaze never leaving the monstrous spider.

  It twitched, and the slight movement was enough to send a shiver down their spines. It was as if the beast could sense their fear, feeding off it, growing stronger with each passing second of their hesitation.

  “First, we need a plan. Rushing in blindly will just get us killed,” she said. Ell’s sharp eyes scanned the clearing, searching for any advantage. “I can’t even get a read on its rank. It must be at least Gold. How long do you need to sever the connection?”

  “It was hard enough with a Bronze Rank, but that thing? I don’t even know if it’s possible. And when I start juicing up my Soul Sense, it can see me. It’s like we’re linked. Then, game over.”

  “Alright, we split up. You hide where you can see it. I’ll distract it,” Ell said, trying to sound confident. “Just like we did before.”

  “Yeah, except this time it’s like fighting a mountain,” Jace replied grimly. “Okay, what will the signal be?”

  Ell narrowed her eyes, surveying the clearing. Activating one of her abilities, she tried to see its weaknesses. Not much data came back, but then she saw a faint glow. “Its eyes… Jace, give me the locket.”

  He pulled it from his inventory and handed it to her, keeping his hand over it to suppress the light.

  “I’m going to blind it. At least temporarily. That’ll be the signal.”

  “So, you plan to alert every creature in the forest to where you are, and get close enough to flash bomb it? I don’t know how good of a distraction you’ll make if you’re dead,” Jace said.

  “We need to draw its attention and stall it from finding you. This is our best shot, Jace,” she said firmly. “You just wait for my signal, and then get to work.”

  They shared a knowing look and a nod.

  “I know I came up with it but… this plan is insane,” Ell said, her heart racing.

  “Yup,” Jace said.

  “And Jace, try not to die,” she said with a faint smile.

  “No promises,” he replied.

  With a final glance at each other, they split up—Ell moving to one side while Jace took the other. Each step was calculated, their breathing shallow, as the tension grew suffocating.

  Jace looked back to find Ell had already disappeared into the shadows. He was alone now. He could see the monstrous beast in the distant clearing.

  Don’t die, he thought. Definitely no promises.

  Jace pushed deeper into the forest, skirting the edge of a clearing. He spotted a tree with thick foliage and scrambled up, each branch groaning under his weight, the bark rough and unyielding against his hands. He hoped the dense leaves would offer some concealment from the beasts lurking below.

  From his perch, he could see the scene more clearly. He forced himself to breathe slowly, calming his racing thoughts. The forest felt like a living entity, watching his every move, waiting for him to slip.

  Peering through the thick foliage, his eyes widened. His friends hung cocooned in webs, suspended high in the air like grotesque chandeliers. Below them, the giant skeletal spider sat, its bony limbs twitching as it toyed with the web strands. Their bodies jerked and swayed, puppets in a macabre marionette show. The monstrous creature reveled in its power and cruelty.

  Jace couldn’t see Ell, but he knew she would reach her position and give the signal. The plan depended on her, and he trusted her to come through. Hidden among the dense foliage, he strained to hear any sign of her.

  Suddenly, the silence shattered. A rock flew out of nowhere, striking one of the smaller spiders dead on. The creature screeched, a high-pitched wail echoing through the forest. The sound was chilling, a signal of pain and anger that cut through the night.

  The effect was immediate. The boss spider’s many eyes swiveled toward the noise, its attention fully captured. Jace felt the ground tremble with each step as the massive creature began to move, its body a shadow in the darkness. The wait was unbearable, every nerve in Jace’s body on edge as he watched the monstrous spider shift its focus.

  As it grew closer, its maw opened wide, an abyss that could swallow a tree whole—a nightmare given form, hunting for Ell among the shadows. Jace’s heart pounded, adrenaline surging as the monstrous beast moved nearer to her, each moment a slow beat in the deadly dance.

  He waited. And waited. And...

  Suddenly, an intense flash of light burst from a tree directly in front of the spider, illuminating the forest with a blinding brilliance. Jace shielded his eyes as the searing light cut through the darkness, the forest alive with stark shadows and sharp contrasts, every detail etched in harsh relief. For a moment, everything stood still, the world frozen in the aftermath of the explosive light. Then, just as quickly, the darkness enveloped the world again.

  The creature recoiled, disoriented, slashing wildly at the trees and toppling them like mere twigs. It screeched, a bone-chilling sound, as a swarm of smaller spiders surged toward the source of the light. The monstrous creature lashed out blindly, its once-methodical hunt now a frenzied rampage.

  “Alright, showtime,” Jace muttered, taking a deep breath as he activated his Soul Sense. Immediately, he knew something was wrong. The spider’s soul was a spiraling vortex, like a black hole. He felt himself being sucked into it, overwhelmed by endless hate and a desire to end it all.

  There was no mere thread to an unseen puppeteer. No demon pulling the strings. Just a sea of pain and loss whirling within, like ink and fire. But the soul inside did not belong to the creature, of that Jace could be sure. The mind controlling it was a force unlike any he had encountered, save for the rare moments when Hades let a sliver of his aura slip through. This was similar but twisted, darker, and infinitely more menacing.

  He focused on the endless current of burning ink connecting the spider to its malevolent master. It sensed the intrusion and resisted, but couldn’t pinpoint the source. It wheeled in his direction, still blind from the flash. Shouts erupted from the trees behind it—Ell, making noise. She was going to get herself killed.

  Jace couldn’t think about that now. He had to concentrate. The beast turned back to the sound while flashes of amethyst light shot into the air, and the smaller spiders swarmed toward it.

  Jace finally found it—the link between the corpse and the soul. This one was different—solid, tight, like a noose around the beast’s neck. He zeroed in, feeling the bind. With a determined breath, Jace mentally reached out, straining against the viscous energy that held the creature captive. The world around him blurred, his vision fading into the murky depths of the creature’s mind.

  The darkness swirled around him, a malevolent vortex. He stood in that abyss, a lone, glowing light against waves of darkness. Black vines coiled around his arms and neck, resisting his intrusion, tightening with an incredible force. Every move he made met with a violent pushback, the knot of darkness thick and unyielding, threatening to engulf him entirely.

  Each breath a struggle. The connection point came into focus, soldered in its hate and despair. With a deep breath, he reached out and pulled with all his might.

  A thought slithered through Jace’s mind, alien and unwelcome. I can feel you, poking around where you don’t belong.

  The inky blackness retaliated, tearing into him with vicious force. Tendrils of darkness clawed at him, each touch a searing pain, but Jace held on, refusing to surrender. The air crackled with the clash of forces in the void, a deadly game of shadow and light.

  Jace felt, more than saw, the spider’s resistance growing fiercer, its movements erratic and aggressive. It lashed out, tearing through the underbrush in a frenzy. His heart pounded as he struggled to maintain focus. Sweat dripped down his face, his vision blurring as he pushed his limits.

  Where are you hiding? the dark presence whispered in his mind, its voice oily and invasive.

  “Come on, you’ve got this,” Jace muttered to himself, a thin thread of hope snaking through his mind.

  The beast’s eyes swiveled wildly, hunting for the source of the incursion into its soul. Jace focused every ounce of his willpower on the connection point, picturing the dark energy splitting like a rusted chain. He activated Soul Severance, the mental image of a blade slicing through the black tendrils. With a final, desperate push, he felt the connection falter, shaking as if on the verge of breaking.

  Jace felt a sudden, unnerving shift, his vision fracturing into a kaleidoscope of images. For a heartbeat, he saw through the many eyes of the spider, its awareness merging with his own. The monstrous creature moved with a swift, mechanical precision, turning its gaze toward him. Jace’s blood ran cold as he watched himself in the tree, countless eyes locking onto his position.

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  Ah, there you are, the thought dripped with a strange glee.

  Then, with the force of a tidal wave, Jace was thrown back into his own mind, his Soul Sense shattered. His heart raced, the echo of the beast’s gaze lingering, its predatory focus burned into his consciousness.

  And then he heard it: the strangest sound he’d ever encountered. A voice, more like wind moving through bone than speech, intoned from the creature’s mouth, “It has been a long time since I have felt such magic from another. A long time, indeed.”

  Jace’s body froze as he listened.

  “I see you, Chosen of Hades. Do not worry, you can come out. I will not hurt you. I only want to talk.”

  In an instant, with a speed that belied its massive size, the monstrous spider’s legs shot out and snatched Jace into the air. He was tossed high like a ragdoll, only to be caught again in a cruel game of cat and mouse. Smaller spiders, each nearly as large as Jace, swarmed along the giant’s bony limbs, leaping toward him. They swiftly encased him in a cocoon of sticky webbing, binding his arms tightly to his sides, leaving only his head exposed.

  A long thread dangled him upside down, suspending him face-to-face with the beast’s enormous, unblinking eyes.

  “Let me go!” he shouted, thrashing against the webbing that held him tight, his aether reserves dangerously low.

  “Oh, and where would be the fun in that?” the spider purred, its voice a slick, oily caress. “It is ever so rare that I get to converse with my prey. Rarer still that they possess this particular Word of Power. Soul, isn’t it?”

  Jace could almost see a twisted smile behind the creature’s dripping mandibles. He fought to keep his resolve, but the presence of the spider was overwhelming, a crushing weight on his mind.

  Breathe deep. Take a moment. Gather resources, he mentally repeated to himself.

  “Goblin got your tongue, Little Thing? Too scared to speak? They really don’t make heroes like they used to,” the spider bellowed, its voice echoing through the forest like a death knell.

  Jace glanced at his friends, each of them ensnared in the web, their bodies unmoving. Only Ell was still free, hidden somewhere in the forest.

  Stay hidden, he wished. Stay safe.

  “Don’t worry, Little Thing. Your friends aren’t dead... yet,” the spider hissed, relishing the words. “Just paralyzed. Waiting for the full collection. Waiting for me to have this little chat with you.”

  He forced himself to slow his racing heart. What do I have? What do I know? What are my resources?

  Right now, all he had was the briefest breaths of time—time to gather his aether, time to distract the creature so that Ell could come up with a plan. Time, and the slightest, dimming shard of hope.

  “Why are you here?” Jace asked, his voice steady despite the fear and exhaustion eating away at his will.

  “Ah, that is the question, isn’t it?” The spider’s voice oozed. “Let’s play a game. I’ll answer a question for each that you answer. The moment one of us cannot, the game is over. Hmm?”

  It paused, savoring the moment, not really expecting an answer.

  “I am here to end Theon and his mindless followers. They should have been here when I was summoned... but alas, no sign of him or his professors,” it spat the last word. “But all is not lost. I have you,” it said, its eyes glinting.

  “Who are you?” Jace asked, struggling to keep his voice steady.

  “Ah ah ah, not your turn,” the creature hissed, a note of mockery in its voice. “My question first. Judging by your garb, you are a Chosen of Hades,” it growled with palpable disdain. “But what does Hades want with a new Chosen? Why you?”

  “That’s two questions,” Jace replied.

  “Fine!” It shifted, sending a gust of wind that made Jace sway. “Why did Hades choose you?”

  Jace found the question puzzling, its relevance escaping him. He considered his answer carefully, wary of any traps hidden in the question.

  “He chose me to help rebuild his Society,” Jace said, hoping it was enough.

  “Lies!” the spider hissed, drawing closer, its breath hot and foul. “Liessss… He chose you to get to me. But he can’t. It’s far too late for that.” The beast laughed, a chilling sound that seemed to echo from another world. “Hades has never cared for the Societies. He only desires one thing. One thing that I have and he does not. But, perhaps, you don’t know… interesting, Little Thing. Kept in the dark. Ah… I see.”

  “It’s my turn. How did you get in here? The grounds are protected from things like you.”

  “Ah, it thinks,” the spider said, looking at Jace with a twisted amusement. “The grounds are protected from beasts entering, yes… but not from things already here.”

  “What do you mean?” Jace asked.

  “My turn,” it hissed.

  Jace’s aether was slowly recovering, but he needed more time. More time for Ell… He heard a scream pierce the air.

  The beast’s smile widened. “Oh, you weren’t counting on her, were you?”

  A body wrapped in webbing was dragged by a group of smaller spiders. It was Ell. Her form was strung up alongside the others.

  “Now, tell me, Little Thing, how did you come by your Word?” the spider asked, its tone mocking.

  Jace’s mind raced. He honestly didn’t know, but he couldn’t just say that. He needed to keep the beast talking -buy time for his aether to replenish. If he could just get enough, he might have a chance to sever the connection.

  “My parents died when I was very young. Then my foster parents died. Then my brother…” Jace felt a sudden swell of emotion. He hadn’t spoken of this to anyone. Alex had always been his anchor, his confidant. But since Alex was hurt, he’d kept everything bottled up.

  He blinked away a tear, forcing himself to stay focused. “The Word came to me in those moments. Each loss carved it deeper into my soul.”

  The spider’s eyes gleamed with interest, its focus entirely on him now. Jace could feel his aether building, a slow but steady trickle. Just a little more time…

  “Such delicious pain,” the spider purred, rubbing its fangs together in pleasure. “Yes, great loss could explain it. Hmmm. But still… I don’t think that’s all. No, there’s more hidden there, behind the loss.”

  “I don’t care what you think!” Jace spat back, his anger flaring.

  In that moment, he concentrated and forced his growing aether into Soul Sense and Soul Severance.

  Immediately, he was back in the beast’s mind, black waves lapping against his knees. The cold was biting now, and he stood as the only light, casting reflections on the inky waters around him.

  A voice moved through his mind, terrible and unwelcome. It laughed. You think you can use this type of magic against me? The Soul Affinity does not belong to you alone.

  The sea grew turbulent, and waves crashed against him, pulling him under and sucking him downwards. He pushed with all his might, forcing himself deeper into the creature’s essence.

  Little Thing, open a connection and it goes both ways… You asked me a question before… I think I shall answer you. ‘Who am I?’ You want to know… How about I show you!

  It was a battle of wills, and Jace was quickly overwhelmed. Yet, the shared nature of their Words of Power created an unexpected resonance. Their differing understandings of the Soul clashed, manifesting as distinct, vibrant energies.

  The beast’s darkness wasn’t merely an absence of light, but an all-consuming void. Images of desolation and despair flooded Jace’s mind—an abyss so deep it swallowed hope itself. This was a darkness that whispered of finality, where even the memory of light dared not tread.

  Then Jace was hit with a flood of deep, abiding sadness, visceral and endless.

  So much pain, Jace thought.

  Pain? Oh, you naive Little Thing. Pain is just the beginning. Hades took everything from me! Everything. They all did.

  Flashes of color and death, and lights. Green lights. Amethyst lights.

  Theon is blind to the truth. Ask him, Chosen of Hades. Ask him about his past. This world is dripping with deceit. Pain? They will know pain.

  I’m not afraid of you! Kill me. I’ll simply respawn. He screamed in his mind.

  Oh! Are you so sure, Chosen of Hades? Is that the lie they’ve been feeding you? Blind devotion to your god, John Rearden? Hmm? The worst of them all, more rotten than the rest. Because he knew... he knew and he said nothing!

  In the chaos, Jace sensed the tether binding the entity to the undead form. He struck at it with his Soul Severance, but it held firm. His aether was too weak, too depleted.

  A single spiked claw moved slowly towards his still-dangling body. Without hesitation, it began to sink into his chest. “Shall we test your theory?” the creature hissed.

  The claw pressed deeper, and Jace screamed in agony.

  “Or perhaps,” the beast continued, “I should show you how a Soul is truly severed. Rip you apart and let my minions feast on your remains while you watch, my venom coursing through your beating heart. The demons are so very hungry, confined to these rotting bodies. But before I let you die, let’s see what secrets you hold. Maybe you can still serve your King. Show me everything!”

  With that, a torrent of energy burst into Jace’s mind, wrenching it open.

  Images flashed before his eyes: places he had never seen, faces unfamiliar yet hauntingly known. He couldn’t tell if he was glimpsing into the mind and memories of the darkness or if the darkness was delving into his own.

  Suddenly, he was there. A woman cried, then fought with fierce passion and love. An ancient darkness, as old and deep as time. A green light. A face with long ears, both familiar and strange. A flash of light. Then the burst of sound. Cars. Strange images and towering buildings.

  Jace felt his consciousness being pulled, twisted, and torn, but he held on, resisting the invasion with every ounce of his will.

  Then, the presence recoiled with a sudden lurch, and the images vanished like a near-forgotten dream. Jace felt a profound sadness but couldn’t fathom why. The memories drifted away like gossamer in the wind, leaving him with a lingering sense of loss.

  He felt something pushing back, something not of his own making. It was a presence he had felt before, a familiar sensation from his time in the Underworld.

  The boon, Mostly Dead, surged with the power of Hades, pushing back against the darkness that sought to invade Jace’s mind. The creature must have triggered it when it tried to scan his memories. The boon defended him, rebounding the creature’s attempts to delve deeper.

  The world snapped back into focus, and Jace found himself staring, blurry-eyed, at the creature. It stared back, its multitude of eyes filled with confusion and something else—something Jace couldn’t decipher.

  The creature removed its claw from his chest, and Jace grunted in pain. It looked at him appraisingly.

  A long moment of silence and stillness followed. All the creatures had stopped moving.

  Then, in a sudden, explosive release, the silence shattered. The glass dome above them burst apart, sending a cascade of shards raining down.

  Jace, teetering on the edge of consciousness, watched as thousands of glistening shards scattered across the world. The forest below dissolved into a sea of golden sand, yet the spiders remained, their forms twisted and menacing. A blinding flash of light seared the air, and the spiders hissed in agony, their limbs twitching in grotesque spasms.

  The spiders began to melt back into golden dust, their essence unraveling. The giant beast clung to its form longer, its skin sagging as it poured its dwindling aether into a futile attempt to survive.

  In the wake of the flash, four magnificent pegasi descended, each carrying a member of the High Council of Professors. Leading the charge was Archmage Theon Laviette, his staff alive with crackling arcs of arcane lightning. The beast had no time to react as the High Council descended upon it in a maelstrom of light and raw power.

  The giant spider hissed upwards and shot a skeletal arm, now shining with a sinister golden hue, toward the Archmage. The pegasus dodged, and an arc of lightning crashed down on the beast, turning every place it touched back into the dust from which it was formed.

  But still, the creature held on, screeching in fury. It lashed out, striking Theon’s pegasus and sending it crashing into the dome. In an instant, Professor Frost unleashed a blinding wave of sapphire energy from her Shard, searing the beast with raw power.

  The dome shattered further, glass exploding closer to the ground. Jagged spikes of earth erupted violently, forming a treacherous cliff. Charging across the perilous terrain, Professor Blackwood raised his hands, summoning the dust around the spider to rise and swirl like a vengeful storm. The beast thrashed against the suffocating cloud, but without the chamber’s power, its remaining aether was wasted on holding its grotesque form together.

  Another arc of lightning came from the distance, slicing through the spider, which still clung to its strange half-life. Jace sensed the dark connection between the beast and its master wavering, on the brink of collapse. Summoning the last dregs of his aether, he activated Soul Severance once more. This time, it was enough; the connection shattered.

  As he fell weightlessly through the air, Jace caught a fleeting glimpse of the beast beside him, its monstrous visage locked in a bewildered golden grimace. Time stretched, each second an eternity, as the ground rushed up to meet them. He closed his eyes, surrendering to the fall.

  When he opened his eyes again, Jace found himself back in the preparation chamber. The silver pod shivered faintly with light. Around him lay his friends, their faces twisted in the throes of agonized nightmares, dried blood stark against their pallid skin. The air was thick with the scent of fear and sweat, the room dimly lit by the flickering lights of the chamber controls.

  Jace’s vision swam, his gaze dropping to his battered body as waves of pain surged through him like a thousand needles. His limbs were leaden, heavy, and unresponsive, his thoughts a chaotic mess. Shadows encroached on his sight, a creeping tide threatening to engulf him whole. The last thing he saw was the faint, hazy outline of his friends, their forms distant and blurred, before he succumbed to the abyss of unconsciousness.