Freedom, At Last

The job came from a client we’d worked with before - a man with too much gold to spend, and an ear inside some of the higher circles of the Nivarian Empire. He claimed he’d heard a rumor about some relic buried in an old desert ruin, recently uncovered by one of the spellstorms that frequent the area. He didn’t know what the relic was, just that it was shaped like a glaive, and very old. 

We didn’t care about the history, just how much gold he put in our pockets.

Tarek was the first to enter the ruins, grumbling about the heat as he always did. Sela followed right behind him, lighting the top of her staff with her magic. She mumbled something about some static feeling from the magic. Irrin kept stopping to admire the old carvings, brushing sand away to reveal the pictures made on the walls. I just wanted to get in and get out.

We moved room to room, making sure to not activate any traps, and checking for any monsters that could be lurking in here. Then, suddenly, a crash filled the halls as outside the sky cracked open. The sound came as a deep vibration, rattling my teeth. The light from Sela’s staff flickered violently, shifting colors as her eyes widened.

“Spellstorm,” she whispered. “A big one.”

As she spoke the words, blue veins of magic shot down the walls like lightning. They crawled along carvings, across the floor, and into the next room beyond. We all silently followed it with our gaze, watching as the veins passed by and sank into several large statues, each standing in alcove. The statues came to life at once, wild magic propelling their movement, turning their heads towards us. They stepped out of the alcoves, their movements unnatural, like they were being pulled along like puppets.

“Run!” I shouted. We all sprinted back towards the entrance, but as we rounded the corner, it collapsed in front of us, sealing the passage. 

“Shit. Shit!” Irrin yelled in frustration, looking around to see if there was still a way past.

“We find another way out,” I said, trying to steady my voice. “Old ruins often have several exits, right?”

No one objected, and we started running back through the tunnels. The ruins around us shuddered, magic surging in violent pulses. Dormant traps seemingly fired on their own, activated by the magic - darts fired, blades swung wildly, fire spewed from the walls. It seemed as if the entire place had awakened, and it was angry.

We tried to the best of our abilities to dodge all these traps, but as we moved deeper in, an arrow shot out from a hidden alcove, piercing Irrin through his throat. He died before he hit the ground. Sela cried out, and Tarek froze in shock. I dragged them both forward. “He’s gone. Move!”

We kept running until we burst into a massive circular chamber, with murals covering the domed roof overhead. In the center of the room stood a pedestal, and hovering in place above it was the glaive. It was elegantly made, with a black wood for its shaft, and its blade almost looked like bone. Cracks in the wood shone with a pulsing red and golden light.

Experience had taught us that usually, artifacts like these weren’t just there for someone to take them without consequences, but before we had time to think about what to do with the glaive, a stone statue, shaped like a long, coiling dragon, stepped from one of the hallways and charged at us. Tarek swung his sword at it, but the statue’s claws slammed into the blade, sending it skittering across the floor. Tarek backed away, panicked as the dragon crept after him. It raised its claws for a killing blow, and as it did, Tarek lunged for the glaive.

As his fingers closed around the shaft, a burst of energy spread out in the room. It extinguished the light from Sela’s staff, and the dragon crumbled, inanimate. Red light made its way up Tarek’s arm, forcing itself beneath his skin, where it twisted both bones and muscles. His spine cracked violently, lengthening. His limbs reshaped and his eyes rolled white, then black, then golden. He dropped to his knees, trembling, as his body stretched, as if remembering a form older than he was.

And then he stood. He was towering, no longer recognizable as the mortal man he had once been. His flesh had been crafted into both a new body and armor, and his eyes shone gold as they looked at me. He - it - inhaled through its newly reshaped mouth.

“Freedom… at last.”

Sela, shaking from fear, hurled her strongest spell at it. A pillar of flame rose to swallow the creature entirely. For a moment, the only things I could sense were the flames, Sela’s ragged breathing and my own heart beating in my chest. Then, as the flames died down and turned to smoke, the creature stepped out. Unburned. 

Sela whispered, “Gods help-” but never got to finish her sentence. The glaive swept through the air, and her body hit the ground in two pieces. I stumbled backwards, clutching the wall for balance. My legs shook so violently that I could barely stand. The creature turned towards me, its molten gold eyes brightening even further.

As I looked at the creature, I could see small damage forming on its body. It wasn’t much, but in several places, small fissures had formed. They glowed from the inside, and it almost looked like they were forming from the inside out - almost like Tarek’s mortal body was barely able to contain whatever this creature was. 

It stepped towards me. The last thing I felt was the hot breath of that thing, and as it looked at me, all that crossed my mind was that we should have never come for that damned relic. Then the glaive rose, and the world went dark.