Fairy Opera Chapter 16: Land of Dim Light

 

Land of Dim Light

The serpent licked the air. “This is the land of the dead, of course. But recently dead have been leaking out into the real world. Baphomet does not know how it is happening. Perhaps you can help him sort out this quandary.”

I put my hands on my hips. “I’ll do everything I can. Having the god of the dead owe me a favor would be great.”

“Hm. I like the way you think, technomage.” The serpent disengaged from the ship. “I’ll lead you to the palace, but you’re going to have to go on your own from there.”

“Follow the serpent!” I yelled at Orion.

The helmsman steered the ship towards the serpent. The serpent’s back was just visible as we followed it through the darkness. The air was completely still. The blackness appeared to absorb sound, muffling the voices of the sailors. We followed the serpent for an hour. A gigantic castle appeared in the distance. Its windows were lit with dim red lights, giving it the feeling of a rose.

We docked at the castle’s foot. The serpent lifted its head and faced me. “I have taken you where you need to go. I will be leaving you now.” It slithered away and left the bubble of light around our ship.

I turned to Orion. “We’re going ashore. There’s something important there.”

Orion nodded. “Tae and I will come with you.”

“Me too.” Ruby flew up to me and landed on my shoulder.

“Okay. Our away party is chosen.”

We climbed off the ship and set foot on the docks. A skeleton approached us, its bones clacking as it walked.

“Hello. Welcome Castle Gehenna.”

“We’ve been told to meet with Baphomet.”

The skeleton clacked its jaw. “Very well then. I shall guide you to him. It’s not every day that we get visitors from the corporeal world.”

“Yeah, we weren’t expecting to get here.” We followed the skeleton up a series of steps, reaching a large oak door that was illuminated by two red-burning torches.

The doors opened. The skeleton led us through. The interior of the castle was gloomy, but masterfully decorated. Paintings adorned the walls. A fresco hung from the ceiling. Three chandeliers bathed the room in a soft orange light.

We followed the skeleton up another series of steps until we reached another gigantic wooden door.

“My master is behind these doors.” The skeleton bowed. “I shall wait here for you.”

The doors opened on their own. We walked through. The throne room was gigantic, with high vaulted ceilings and stained-glass windows. The throne was made of pure black stone. On the throne was a dragon. Its black and red scales shimmered in the gloomy light. Its eyes shone with a deep intensity.

“What brings you here, humans?” The dragon spoke.

“We accidentally found our way here through a wormhole.” Orion bowed. “We just want to go home.”

“I am Baphomet, ruler of Hades.” Baphomet shifted slightly on his throne. “People don’t go home from Hades.” He leaned forward. “But perhaps you can help me. I know you accessed the Chaos Box.”

“I think so, yes.” I knelt because I felt like it was the proper action. “What can you tell me about the vision I had?”

Baphomet chuckled. “I do not control the Chaos Box, nor can I see into it. I do not know what others have experienced through it.” He shifted in his seat. “But yes. You can help me, you are very capable of helping me. You see, I’ve been leaking souls as of late. I do not know why, but people who are supposed to be bound for the underworld are escaping in transit and returning to the real world.”

“Like zombies?” Orion bowed. “Your majesty, we’ve already encountered some of these lost souls. The Empire has been experimenting with magic that turns humans into soulless animals.”

Baphomet clacked his claws on the edges of his throne. “That Empire. You’re telling me the God Emperor has decided to snub me? Me, the leader of Hades? By stealing souls that were meant for my realm?” Baphomet blew fire from his mouth. “Very well. If it’s war he wants, then it’s war he gets.” Baphomet slammed his scepter on the ground. “Come forth, my generals!”

Four demon generals stepped out of the shadows and into the red light of the throne room.

“Carnus.” The first general was a fat man wearing heavy plate armor and with black bat wings on his back.

“Burgon.” The second general was a lion demi-human with a thick mane and long teeth. He wore leather armor and held a gigantic pike.

“Arbel.” The third general was a fish demi-human. He wore scale armor and held a trident.

“Muco.” The fourth general was a dwarf with a long beard and golden armor. He held a gigantic hammer.

Baphomet addressed his generals. “The God Emperor has been stealing my souls. We must put an end to this injustice. No one shirks the call of death, not even the God Emperor.” He swept his hand through the air. “Muco and Burgon. You will travel with these humans and assist them in repaying the God Emperor in kind for his theft.”

“Sir!” Muco and Burgon saluted and stamped their weapons on the ground.

“Before you leave, though.” Baphomet tilted his head. “You  must prove to me that you’re capable of handling a quest like the one I’m about to give you.” He clapped his hands. “Summon the dracoline!”

A large cage door started to slide open. Through the door, I could see a beast, about the size of a lion, creeping out of the darkness. Its teeth were gigantic and its claws were the size of daggers.

“You may use whatever technique you wish to defeat the dracoline.” Baphomet chuckled. “If you manage to do it, then I’ll consider you a good ally.”

The dracoline leaped towards Orion. Orion punched it in the chest as it flew towards him. The dracoline flew backwards, but landed on its feet.

Tae drew her sword. I drew mine as well. Orion stood back to back with me.

The dracoline leaped towards Tae. Tae stepped aside, the monster shaving past her by a hairsbreadth. Tae struck the beast with her sword, but the edge bounced off the beast’s hard fur.

Orion attempted to stab the beast as it turned. The sword went in a bit, but the dracoline’s flesh caught the sword, and ripped it out of Orion’s hand.

“It’s got natural armor!” Orion stepped back, hands empty.

I pulled out a scroll. “Null Aqua! Douse, set target one seven two! Cold water!”

A blast of water sprayed all over the beast. The dracoline backed away, its fur dripping.

Orion pulled a dagger from his belt. “This is all I have now, but it’s something.”

“Hurry!” I rushed towards the monster. “Kill it before it dries off!”

“Right!” Tae and I approached both sides of the beast. The beast shook itself, sending water flying everywhere. Tae stabbed it and the sword went through its fur as if it were normal flesh. The dracoline screamed and reared up on its back feet. I got underneath it, grabbed it by its stomach, and slammed it to the ground. Tae stabbed the beast in the jaw as the beast struggled.

Orion leaped towards the beast and drove his dagger into the back of the dracoline’s skull. The dracoline was dead.

Baphomet clapped his hands. “That was impressive! How did you know that dracolines were weak to water?”

I shook my head. “It was an old fairytale that I heard.”

“Good, good.” Baphomet grinned. “You pass the test. Muco and Burgon, board this crew’s ship and guide them out of Hades.”

Muco and Burgon saluted. “Sir!” They led us out of the throne room and back through the gigantic doors. We left the castle and returned to the docks, where the Grand Mahogany was still moored. After climbing on board, we introduced Muco and Burgon.

“They’re going to be traveling with us for some time now.” Orion faced the rest of the crew. “Please treat them as equals.” Orion turned to Muco and Burgon. “Do you two have any sailing experience?”

Muco bowed. “Yes. Both of us do. We will assist with whatever functions you need.”

“First, we need you to guide us out of this darkness.”

Burgon turned to the wheel. “Let me take the helm. I know the currents of Hades like the back of my hand.” He walked up to the wheel.

Orion yelled to the crew. Once the ship drifted off the docks, a slight wind picked us up and pushed us away from the castle. Burgon seemed to know exactly where the wind currents were, steering us along them with an expert touch. We headed straight into the darkness beyond. It surrounded our ship, blocking out everything. Our lanterns were barely enough to light the deck.

The ship bucked. A storm seemed to be approaching. A hail of soot-black rain started falling onto the deck. The rain colored everything with black. It smelled like fire and charcoal.

Muco called out to the crew. “Hold on to something!”

I grabbed the nearest object, a tackle block. Just as I did the ship started twisting and turning, bucking and rocking. It was worse than any storm I’d ever experienced. The ship rode up high air waves, and then plummeted downwards, to the point where my feet lifted off the deck. The soot-black rain continued to fall. In the distance, a small white dot appeared. The dot grew until it was recognizable as a passage out to the open air, out of Hades.

The Grand Mahogany held together long enough to shoot through the portal and back into open sky.

The whole crew cheered. Orion and Tae high-fived. Several sailors howled.

The brightness of day was almost too much to my eyes, which had adjusted to the darkness. But it was light. We were out of the darkness. With two more crew. And I remembered the vision that I had been given. There was something strange about it, an ethereal quality. As if I were watching myself in that picture—though I didn’t know which character was actually me.

Orion approached me. “You played that well. I was afraid that dragon lord was going to kill us.”

“I saw that he was probably a reasonable person.”

“And what made you think that?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I just got that vibe from him. There’s no other way to explain it.”

“Okay. I’ll believe you. The next time I have to talk with a lord of the underworld, then I’ll bring you.” He nodded and walked away.

Ruby kicked her feet back and forth on my shoulder. “That was amazing. Just like Orion said. You kept your cool. Even cute little me was shaking in her boots.”

“You’re not wearing boots.”

Ruby flew up and poked me on the nose. “It was a metaphor, dummy.” She landed on my head. “That lion man looks really powerful.”

“So does the dwarf.” I looked at Muco, wondering about him—it was the first time I’d ever seen a dwarf in real life.

Ruby scoffed. “He looks more wise than strong. I thought you said you could judge people well.”

“Hm. You may have a point.” I turned away.

Jastle walked up to us. “We don’t know where we are right now. We could be anywhere in the world after going through that portal. And we can’t figure out where we are yet until nightfall.”

“Right. So I think we should just stay here until night falls.” I nodded. “Relay that to everyone. We’re sticking where we are until we can figure out exactly where we came out.”

“Got it.” Jastle turned around. “Orion! We need you here!’

Orion approached us. “Yeah. I got the message.” He put his hands on his hips. “I had the same idea.” He leaned against the railing. “But we’ve got a bit of time to kill.”

 

17

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