Devouring Darkness, Page 3

“Let me begin with a question,” Cassandra said softly. “Do you have any idea where in The Nightlands we are?”

  “Not really. Even if I was familiar with the terrain of The Nightlands it wouldn't help. When I was captured, I was knocked unconscious and thrown into some kind of sack. After a few days, they dumped me out of the sack in this cell, so I don't think we're very deep in The Nightlands.”

  “Correct, right now we are about one and a half miles inside Mount Sorrow.”

  “Isn't that the mountain where the bridge between the two worlds is located in The Nightlands?”

  “Yes, that is why it's important. This mountain has seen countless battles and serves as an eternal battleground between the two worlds. Demons from The Nightlands and lightwielders from The World of Light have been killing each other here for millennia with neither side gaining an advantage. No one seemed capable of setting up a foothold either here on Mount Sorrow or on the other side of the bridge in The World of Light.”

  “You mean Fellwater Valley?”

  “I believe that is what it's called, yes. About 200 years ago, however, one of the seven demon princes decided that he was powerful enough to end the stalemate, and he claimed the mountain as his own. With Mount Sorrow firmly under his control, he controlled passage between The Nightlands and The World of Light. He encouraged many demons to cross into The World of Light and thousands of humans were slaughtered.”

  “The demon prince was named Gormum,” she continued, “and he was tremendously powerful even for a demon. By himself, he built a great fortress within the heart of the mountain and ruled over the surrounding lands from within. Other demons were allowed to pass into The World of Light as long as they paid homage to him in the form of slaves and servants. Numerous lightwielders tried in vain to destroy him only to be slaughtered in turn.”

  Garen was completely taken in by the tale and thought of a similar story that he'd been told as a young boy. He had never heard the story told from the perspective of a Nightlander, though, so several of the details were new to him. Many of the other slaves appeared to be interested in the tale as well and Garen wondered how much they understood of what was being said.

  “In time Gormum's success at holding Mount Sorrow drew too much attention from his enemies in The World of Light. An immortal lightwielder of incredible power crossed the bridge into The Nightlands alone and made his way down the mountain. He cut down every demon and demidemon that foolishly crossed him; nearly 1,000 were slaughtered as he descended the mountainside toward Gormum's fortress.”

  “Eventually the demi finally learned that they couldn't stop the lightwielder, let alone kill him, so they let him enter the fortress uncontested. Those few demi that were smart enough not to challenge the lightwielder are the only reason that anyone knows what happened within Mount Sorrow that day when the lightwielder finally met Gormum. After the battle, the demi fled the mountain in all directions spreading the tale of Gormum's demise.”

  Garen was about to say something, but stopped himself. He wanted to hear the end of her story before adding his own knowledge of the event.

  “The tales that the demi told differed wildly except for a few details that have become accepted as fact. Gormum met the lightwielder in his throne room where he had been awaiting his arrival. A fierce, lengthy battle ensued, and it was not going well for the lightwielder. When the clash of power became too dangerous to be around, the demidemons fled, leaving the two warriors alone to battle it out. As they ran from the conflict, it seemed that their master had the upper hand, but at some point during the battle that must have changed.”

  “All of the demidemons that made it out of the mountain ran into the nearby countryside, but didn’t make it far before the battle suddenly ended. They all claimed to see the mountain fill from within with dazzling light. It streamed from every crack and crevice for several seconds and it seemed that the mountain itself would burst. Then the light disappeared completely and the mountain became deathly silent.”

  “Once the demidemons had finally gathered enough courage to approach the mountain again, they found that all of the passages into Gormum's fortress were gone. It was as if the mountain had melted and reshaped to erase their existence entirely. There was no sign of either Gormum or the lightwielder nor would there ever be. They all knew that their master had been slain along with his nameless foe.”

  Garen could no longer hold his tongue and quickly added, “Orlon Rin.”

  “What is Orlon Rin?” Cassandra asked in obvious confusion.

  “Orlon Rin is the name of the lightwielder that you've been talking about. You were wrong earlier when you said that only a few demi survived that day. Orlon Rin not only survived, but returned to The World of Light and was hailed as a hero. He is still held in high regard to this day. People the world over journey to the temple of Anedae just to catch a glimpse of him, though most are turned away.”

  “He survived?”

  Cassandra's expression was a combination of shock and awe. She quickly recovered from her surprise and her face returned to the stoicism that she was obviously more comfortable with.

  “Yes,” Garen quickly answered, “once the demon raids escalated like you said, Orlon Rin took it upon himself to journey to The Nightlands where he defeated the demon controlling the horde. It's said that as he defeated the demon he also sealed away the demon's fortress so that no other could use it to threaten The World of Light.”

  Garen followed with a question of his own, “What does any of this have to do with us digging in this hellhole? Is some new demon planning to rebuild Gormum's fortress?”

  “Nothing quite so noble,” Cassandra said quietly. “We are digging to satisfy greed and a lust for power.”

  “What power? The only interesting things in this mountain are the glowstones, and they're certainly not worth all of this effort.”

  “Are you sure that they are truly the only things of interest in this mountain? Surely you realize that this mountain contains much power including these.” She held up the glowstone on her palm. “Do you even realize what these are?”

  “They're rocks that contain some kind of light; beyond that I don't know. We don't have anything like them in The World of Light.”

  “Neither do we have anything like them here in The Nightlands other than in this very mountain. These stones are the result of the lightwielder's final attack on Gormum; he literally filled this mountain with light.”

  Garen's head jerked back as if he had been struck. He glared at the glowstone lying on Cassandra's palm uncertain of what to think.

  Is that seriously where all of these things came from: Orlon Rin's attack? How can anyone be that powerful? Does anyone in The World of Light realize just how strong Orlon Rin really is?

  Garen thought about the way Cassandra had described the battle between Orlon Rin and Gormum. Though the details had been vague Garen began to wonder about the difference in power between the immortal lightwielder and the demon prince.

  From what she said earlier, the battle itself wasn't going in Orlon Rin's favor, so he must have had to resort to such a drastic attack. Still, how powerful was Gormum that it took a mountain of light in order to defeat him?

  “There may be some power in the glowstones, but that still can't be the reason for us slaving away down here for months,” Garen reasoned and stared Cassandra in the eye. “What else is down here?”

  “A gallovine, or at least that is what is believed to be down here. A bolos demon named Babossa believed the rumors enough to gather an army of demis and human slaves and try to excavate the mountain in search of it.”

  “What exactly is a gallovine?" Garen asked with a frown. "For that matter, what's a bolos demon?”

  “A bolos is a caste of demon that roughly resembles an ox the size of a house crossbred with a muscular human. Imagine a mountain of rippling muscle and patches of thick fur topped by horns and driven by rage and other simplistic emotions. They're full-blooded demons far beyond the pa
thetic demidemons you've seen thus far. While they are not the most powerful caste of demon, they are physically the strongest. Brutal strength and very short tempers make them deadly opponents. It would be certain death for a human to try and fight one of them.”

  Garen tried to distract himself from his rising panic. His imagination was already painting nightmarish scenes in his mind of the terrible demons she described.

  A full-blooded demon the size of a house! Even if I can escape from these demi, how am I going to get past something like that?

  He stared down at his hands as he tried to get his fear under control. Staring at the shadowy lines that crossed his palm in the dim light of the glowstone did little to help. His world seemed to be consumed by shadows at every turn. It seemed as if he was forsaken by the goddess and abandoned by the light.

  Raising his eyes, he found that Cassandra was sitting patiently staring at him with her beautiful blue eyes. Once their eyes met, she smiled casually at him as if they were sitting at a picnic and not in a prison cell controlled by demons.

  Something is definitely not right about her. Knowledge is one thing, I don't understand how she could have gained it, but it is possible that she could've overheard it somehow. I can't, however, figure out how she is so calm about all of this. Why doesn't our situation seem to scare her even a little?

  “Okay,” Garen said at last, breaking the growing silence. “So that's what a bolos demon is, but what about my other question? What is this gallovine thing that we are searching for?”

  “That is a far more complicated question to answer. To fully understand you would need to learn about the blood of Orzyrus and the origin of demonic power itself. That could take quite a long time, so I'll give you the shortest answer I can: a gallovine is the essence of a fallen demon. It bears fruit only once and that can take a lifetime. When the fruit is eaten it grants the vast power that once belonged to the fallen demon unto the one eating it.”

  She paused as if waiting for Garen to say something, but he was having a hard time understanding what she had just said. The confusion on Garen's face must have been quite apparent because Cassandra sighed softly in annoyance and continued.

  “Babossa, the bolos controlling everything here, is searching for a gallovine that contains the essence of Gormum. After acquiring that kind of power, he would certainly be on par with the remaining six demon princes despite being from a lower caste.”

  “That's impossible, though, right? I mean Gormum was destroyed 200 years ago. There shouldn't be anything left of him now except maybe a few bones.”

  “The fact that he has been dead for 200 years is precisely what makes it possible. I told you I'm not going to spend all night telling you about gallovines, but allow me to clarify one misguided belief you seem to have. When a demon dies their body dissolves away feeding their power back to the land, but when a powerful demon dies the power doesn't always return to the world. If a demon is strong enough their essence remains after their death. It collects, condenses, and grows in the form of a tangled, red plant. That is what's called a gallovine.”

  “If something that powerful is seriously inside this mountain, then why hasn't some other demon come to claim it before now?”

  Garen thought that he was finally beginning to understand what she was talking about and he didn't like the sound of it. Babossa, as a bolos demon, sounded strong enough already; with the power of a demon prince added to his own he would be nearly unstoppable.

  “Not only is it rare for a gallovine to grow, the fruit they bear is extremely rare. As I said they only bear it once and that can take many years. In this case, the gallovine that is likely somewhere in this mountain has had 200 years to come to fruition.”

  “I'll admit I don't understand everything you've said or how you could possibly know it, but what I do understand is that there is a gallovine somewhere in this mountain. This particular gallovine contains the powers of Gormum, fallen demon prince and enemy of The World of Light and it's just sitting down there waiting for someone to come and claim it. Does that sound about right?”

  “Mostly, but don't get your hopes up. I have no doubt that a gallovine is down there, Gormum was a demon prince after all and certainly had enough power to leave one after his death. The problem is that the fruit of a gallovine is pure, concentrated demonic power. Touching or even going anywhere near it would be deadly to a human. Only a demon can claim the fruit of a gallovine.”

  That explains why we're the ones digging. Babossa must not want any of the demis to find that fruit and it sounds like he is too large to dig a tunnel big enough to fit in so he's using human slaves to do all the work. That's probably why we have to make the tunnel so big as well, but even still its only about nine feet high: is he planning to slide down to the gallovine on his belly?

  Garen surprised himself with his own attempt at humor. He had thought the constant fear he lived in had killed his humor long ago.

  Maybe I'm just finally losing my mind. Even if I am, I'll still do everything in my power to try and escape. It sounds like the fruit of this gallovine is my best bet. Maybe I could give the fruit to one of the demis and escape while it and Babossa kill each other.

  It sounded nice, but it was hardly practical and Garen abandoned the unrealistic scenario. He knew he needed a much better plan than something so unlikely and dangerous.

  I guess I could at least try to hide it so Babossa won't gain all that power, but how can I reach it without dying?

  “It seems you're already beginning to realize the reality of your situation. Now that I've told you what we're digging for, among other things, I will leave you to your thoughts.”

  Before Garen could think of a response, she turned away and covered the glowstone. Immediately the room and everyone within it were replaced by absolute darkness. Engulfed once more in shadow and filled with questions beyond count, Garen rolled onto his back and tried his best to fall asleep. Hours passed and Garen found little rest; his mind simply refused to shut down despite his body's obvious need for sleep.

  I don't know if I can trust Cassandra, but if what she said is true, then the fruit of that gallovine is at the center of everything. It's also my best chance of getting out of this nightmare.

  A quiet cough momentarily shattered the silence in the pitch black room. Garen had forgotten about the others. His thoughts were ripped apart with a sudden surge of guilt.

  What about them? I don't know any of them, not even a single slave's name except for Cassandra. I can't recall a single one of their faces; it’s never really seemed important, but am I really willing to just leave them all to their fate. If given a chance am I going to abandon them all to the demi and their master? Could I live with myself knowing that my life was purchased at such a price?