The Threads That Bind
Working together, Valia and Shannon freed the captured beastmen, turning the prison camp on its head. The released prisoners joined in the fighting to assist their saviors, liberate their fellow captives, and exact revenge on their oppressors. Though hunger and darkness had weakened their bodies, the sun nourished their spirits, and the call of battle urged them forward. They took up arms, wielding the weapons dropped by slain guards. Leading the charge was Valia, zooming through the facility and cutting down the fiends like she was hacking her way through the jungle.
Shannon was also engaged in battle, fighting against the spiders hiding from the sun. She carved down those who jumped, splitting the human heads with her sword. Others scurried across the floor, trying to surround her and close in, but crushing them with her hooves was no challenge. Despite her fortune in battle, her heart was heavy. She was clearing building after building, but had yet to find a single member of her tribe. She hollered their names, hoping desperately to hear her own shouted out in return. With each door she kicked down, her anxiety and frustration were growing. Her kin had to be here; they just had to be.
Eventually, the two women crossed paths in the midst of battle, surrounded by beastmen fighting against the fiends.
"Shannon!"
"My Lady!"
"Have you seen Noah? Heard any thunderclaps?"
"No, I was hoping you had. Does that mean he's still in the palace?"
"If he is, then that means he's either fighting or worse. Come on, let's go find him!"
They raced towards the ancient dwarven palace, where Noah awaited their rescue in a large chamber in the depths of Carthace's lair. The room was filled with webbing, lining every surface and stretching across the open space, freshly spun to return her territorial advantage after the alchemy wave. Noah lay suspended in the center of one such web, limbs spread and unable to move like a captured gnat. The threads, though flexible and stretchy, weren't sticking to him with chemical adhesion, but felt more like magnetism, no doubt due to her power flowing like electricity down wires.
Even his fingers had been wrapped in webbing to prevent him from using more monster repellent or similar tricks, so his ring was useless, not that he had much dexterity in his hands after Carthace had stabbed his palms. Those wounds were a testament to her abilities, the speed and strength with which she had managed to subdue him. She was absurdly powerful.
"I hope you know that your death will not come quickly," she said as she dropped down onto the web. Although the tip of each leg was like a dagger, she could step on the narrow threads nimbly as though she was descending a staircase. "It will be slow, agonizing, what you deserve for causing me so much trouble. I'll feed on your pain as I feast on your flesh. But your friends, I'll kill them first, so you can watch the light leave their eyes and hear their dying screams." As she spoke, she patted him down, searching him for weapons.
"Understandable."
"Is your stoicism supposed to impress me?" she asked, removing his sword and tossing it into the corner.
"Well you haven't said anything that I haven't heard others say. This isn't my first time in such a situation. I have no doubts as to your desire to kill me, but after all this time, circumstances like this are rather... episodic."
"It may not be your first time, but it will be your last." She ran her hands over him, pausing repeatedly to reveal hidden daggers.
"Yeah, I've heard that too. I used to keep a mental list of all the threats and dramatic lines people have thrown my way, but I lost count after a while."
She then put her pincers to his throat. "I've already restrained you, need I gag you as well? Or should I just cut out your tongue?"
"I wish you wouldn't. I'm rather enjoying this talk. I'd like to know more about you, about the Profane and what you're doing here."
"You must be a fool if you think I'll explain all our plans to you."
"Maybe not your plans, but the end result. I'd like to know how this all started and where it's headed. Take my life if you want, but at least let me die with my curiosity sated. Let me hear your story."
Carthace gave a mocking chuckle, and after removing everything dangerous, she moved away. "We Profane are dying out. The power of Zyrga is fading from this world and us with it. Regardless of our generation, most of us have lost the ability to create new peerage. It used to be that our venom flowed as bountifully as our blood, enough to raise entire armies, but now it has become a finite resource. Even I can only create a few more servants in my lifetime.
If I were to bite you, you would become one of us, but you would only produce as much venom as I gave you with which to create servants of your own. Split it among two servants, and they would be only half your strength. Every generation gets weaker and weaker, and it won't be long until every member of our race is utterly sterile."
"I saw your children out in the prison. Are they not the result of your venom?"
"No, it is an ability that only I have. Born of my flesh, they are extensions of my will, but none of them even have their own venom. The ghouls you killed were the subordinates of one of my allies, each one a loss of precious venom and technical ability. Their lives were irreplaceable to our cause."
"But is that not the point of the parasites? To replace them and replenish your ranks?"
"Their master, Curcio, discovered an Enochian facility where they experimented and created new forms of life, and used their magical technology to try to clone us. The parasites were the end result; sickly, feeble creatures with defective venom, but every day, improvements are being made. Once they have been perfected and their venom reaches permanence, we'll be able to mass-produce full-powered Profane."
"And I imagine world domination will be your next goal?"
Carthace once more dropped onto the web, bringing her face close to Noah's with a maniacal grin. "I and my brethren have been preparing for exactly that. The nations of man, elf, and dwarf will crumble, and the armies of darkness will march across the globe, ending and corrupting all life. Somerset's dream will come to fruition at long last, and this world will drown in blood and darkness!"
She then reached out and cupped his cheeks. "Our leader said that you will either join us or die. You refused Tysinger and ruined my prison, so I see no reason to extend the offer again. You're going to die in my clutches, slowly and painfully. A shame, really, but at the very least, I'm sure you'll be delicious." She then perked up, sensing something through her web. "Ah, your friends have entered the palace. Soon, the fun will begin."
