Book 9 Chapter 23

“How did you manage this, Joan?” Penthe asked while she walked around the chamber, lit by a small orb of light hovering off her left hand.

“Just talented, I guess,” Joan said with a shrug. She was still inside the doorway, leaning against the inner wall. “There’s a lot of elementals. Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” Penthe said before turning towards Lord Venom. She walked in front of him. “Will you be okay?”

“Of course,” Joan said. “You uhhh… sure about this?”

“Just don’t lose that sword,” Penthe said.

Joan nodded and glanced down at the silver sword in her hand. The sword that Francis had tried to use against her in prior lives. A weapon that was tied to the Realm of the Gods, which could only be wielded by one who could enter the doorways. Kind of annoying to find out that all this time HE could go into them, but the Hero couldn’t. If she’d known sooner, well… Ifrit wouldn’t be alive. So maybe this was fine.

Joan stepped out from the doorway and time started again.

“I knew you-- who are--” Lord Venom had only a moment to be confused before Penthe’s hand shot out, gripping him by the throat.

She couldn’t hear what Penthe said as a moment later the pair of them disappeared under a swarm of dark elementals.

“Penthe!” Joan yelled, taking a step towards her.

“Be undone,” Penthe’s voice could be heard, despite it not even being that loud. A moment later a ripple spread out from the armored woman, washing over all of them. The elementals collapsed, their bodies dissipating into darkness. Joan fell to her knees, clutching her chest. It felt like there were hooks of some kind, dug deep into her very soul and then bumped and shaken slightly.

“O-ow…” Joan whispered. “W-what… what was that?”

“What have you done?” Lord Venom asked, the fear clear in his voice. “I-I can’t hear him! I CAN’T HEAR HIM!”

Penthe sighed and then threw him, hard, across the room. He struck the doorway and crumbled to the ground besides Joan. For a moment she was scared he was dead, but then he let out a small, pained groan. “W-what… did you do?” he asked again.

“I’ve undone the contracts,” Penthe said. “Dispelled their forms. Joan? Are you coming?”

“T-that hurt,” Joan said. “Like… there were hooks and…”

Penthe paused and glanced back at her. “It hurt? It shouldn’t have. You’re not an elemental. By the gods… you didn’t make any deals with the fae, did you?”

“Uhhhh, no, I don’t think so,” Joan said. “It just felt like it rippled or… something.”

Penthe sighed and shook her head. “We’ll add that to the list of things we’ll need to look at after this, then. Do you want me to deal with this alo--”

“Coming,” Joan said quickly before getting to her feet. It didn’t hurt now, so it was probably nothing. Either way, it wasn’t like she could do anything about it right now. They needed to deal with whatever was behind the seal. She held out the sword to Penthe, who took it.

“When we’re done here, we’re going to talk about that armor,” Penthe said.

“And yours,” Joan said.

“Mine?” Penthe asked.

“You were walking around in the Realm of the Gods,” Joan said. “Your armor couldn’t do that before.”

“Ah,” Penthe said before swinging the silver sword through one of the silver pillars. It crumbled to dust. “That was a different armor. More powerful, but somebody destroyed it.” She slashed through the other pillar and it crumbled, revealing the silver gate behind. “You don’t have to come. This is my agreement, not yours.”

“And miss out on a chance to fight alongside you?” Joan asked.

“You can’t be seriously that excited about something so minor,” Penthe said.

“Wellllll…” Joan said sheepishly.

“They’re all going to kill me,” Penthe said before gripping the handle on the great doors. With a mighty tug, both swung open.

Stale, ancient air washed over them. The chamber itself was massive and hollow, only one thing within it. An ancient corpse. One that had been there for centuries. Likely a demon of some kind, but Joan couldn’t identify what kind. It had at least four legs, though. “See?” Joan said. “Dead.”

“No, it’s not,” Penthe said before flinging her left hand forward. The small ball of light went forward, showing… nothing. The room was empty.

“Well?” Joan asked.

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“Joan…” Penthe said coldly before motioning towards the room.

Joan looked into the room. There wasn’t anything in there. It was just darkness and that body, nothing…

…

The light wasn’t illuminating anything. The walls were just as coated in shadows and darkness regardless of how close the light was to them. Even though there weren’t any torches.

Penthe slowly stepped into the chamber. The darkness tried to climb up her legs, but couldn’t seem to get a grip.

Joan gulped and slowly walked into the chamber after her. It felt like she was walking on sand, the ground shifting slightly beneath each step. Penthe made it to the center of the room before, slowly, she plunged the sword into the ground.

A sound akin to metal scraping against metal shrilly tore into Joan’s ears, making her shriek and reach up, shoving her hands over her ears as best she could. She was starting to really dislike wearing this helmet. Tears welled up in her hand from the sound, but slowly the shadows began to flow up and out from where the ground had been stabbed. Turning into a massive, swirling void of darkness.

“Go!” Penthe yelled. She then leaped back, narrowly avoiding a tendril from the darkness, drawing the sword with her. The tendril then slashed at Joan.

Joan summoned her sword to her hand and slashed, the blade not cutting through it, instead the sound of metal against metal filled the air again and she was driven back by the shadows. More tendrils seemed to spring out from the first, a veritable web of them. Before she could move, they had wrapped around her.

She could hear it in her head, a terrible, horrible voice screaming at her. Telling her to obey. To serve. To do as it willed. Promising her power, strength, all she desired. She shoved the voice away, refusing to give in. As if she’d allow something like that. The tendrils pried at her armor, trying to find a way inside.

Then the tendrils fell from her, crashing to the ground at her feet. Penthe was standing there, the silver blade in her hands. “Joan, get back.”

Joan quickly too a step back, looking down at the tendrils before they--

Were absorbed into her armor.

Oh… that wasn’t a good sign. Armor couldn’t just eat ancient shadow tentacles, could it?

“Ummm, Penthe? I--”

“BUSY!” Penthe yelled.

Joan looked up to see a few of the tentacles had wrapped around Penthe. She was trying to slash at them, but they were coiled around her arm and holding it in place. She dashed forward and gripped her sword tightly in both hands, bringing it down in an overhead swing. The blade cut through the tentacles holding Penthe’s arm with ease, so smoothly she stumbled forward a little. “W-whoa!”

Penthe didn’t slow down, twisting the sword and scattering more of the tentacles. They began to melt into a thick, dark cloud that seemed to coil around Penthe’s body.

Joan flicked her hand against the side of her blade, forming flames across it. A moment later they turned blue and enveloped the cloud, burning it to ash. The shriek of metal against metal once more filled the air, making her cringe.

A moment later, there was silence.

Joan looked over to see Penthe and the darkness. It no longer moved. The silver sword was plunged directly into its center, the silvered blade seemingly absorbing it bit by bit within.

“Is that… it?” Joan asked. “That wasn’t so hard.”

Penthe didn’t say anything until the darkness seemed to have been absorbed fully. Then, the sword itself began to crumble to dust.

Along with the armor over Penthe’s body.

Joan took a step towards her, but Penthe shook her head. “Don’t, I’m fine,” she said, though her voice sounded weak and crackling. “It’s done.”

“That… was easier than I thought it would be,” Joan said softly.

“I didn’t lock it away… who knows how many lifetimes ago, for its health,” Penthe said before she turned and started dragging herself towards the exit.

“Penthe?” Joan asked. “Are you okay? You don’t--”

“Your armor,” Penthe said. “Its bound to your sword, isn’t it?”

“I… guess? Maybe?” Joan said. “I’m not really sure. It just kind of appeared on me.”

“It was devouring the tendrils,” Penthe said, her voice weak and raspy. “I’m going to need… to get another set. I didn’t think it would last much longer…”

“How many suits of armor like that do you have?” Joan asked.

Penthe just glared at her.

“Sorry I asked,” Joan said nervously.

“Let’s just get above ground,” Penthe said before glancing down at the unconscious Lord Venom. “… We should probably bring him. You have an elemental, don’t you?”

“I did,” Joan said. “Not… really anymore.”

“We’ll send someone to get him,” Penthe said. “Chase is with you, right?”

“Somewhere!” Joan said. “I kind of… ran off. Time stopped.”

“I see,” Penthe said. “There’s still things I need to do while here. That was just one of them.”

“Can I help with the others?” Joan asked before she could stop herself.

“Joan…” Penthe said, the exhaustion filling her voice.

“I won’t get in the way! I helped this time, didn’t I?” Joan asked.

“I… suppose,” Penthe said. “But before anything I need to find Dixon. I’m going to need to find an old artifact called the Silver Beetle to--”

“Have it,” Joan said quickly.

“You have Dixon?” Penthe asked. “Chase found him?”

“The Silver Beetle,” Joan said. “Why do we need Dixon?”

Penthe just stopped and stared at her. “You have… the Silver Beetle? How? Why?”

“Was going to use it to find this place,” Joan said. “Didn’t work out, though. They kind of… drew me in. Ohhhhh everyone is going to yell at me…”

Penthe just gave a sigh before muttering under her breath again. Joan couldn’t be sure, but it sounded a lot like ‘give me strength’.

“Are you going to say that all the time?” Joan asked.

“Yes,” Penthe said. “Apparently.”