but he was mostly glad to be rid of the scent of mildew and rotten flesh. It seemed to him as though perhaps no one had been down here in centuries, but he knew that would not be the case, as some evil was lurking down here, waiting for something… although he knew not what, exactly, it would be waiting for.
He held his sword aloft, trying to get his bearings. The staircase seemed to touch down in the middle of a large room, and in no direction did the blue light reflect off of any structures except the staircase itself.
A red glow caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He whirled to face it, and suddenly realized that he had been lured into a trap.
He could now see the walls, reflecting the glow of the beast that lurked down here. As the glow brightened, it revealed a shape that was not unlike that of a wolf, but larger, stronger, more deadly. Its eyes gleamed brightly with that same dull, angry crimson light that seemed so common in the enemies that he faced, all driven by hatred, anger and corruption to become the evils that they were.
It took a few steps toward him, releasing off puffs of corrupted manna fire as each humongous paw touched the ground. D’Arden took one step back, and then another, and the creature continued its forward stride, closing the gap with each foot it set forward. It bared long, white teeth that gleamed violet in the combined light from them.
“So, the Arbiter has come to visit,” the creature slavered. “I’ve been waiting for you to find my lair.”
As it came further into the light, D’Arden felt his blood run cold. The thing was three times the size of a normal wolf, and its fur was a thick charcoal black, looking as though it had been set on fire several times, and in fact, it still reeked of burnt hair. It began to circle around to his right and the Arbiter sidestepped, making sure that his sword remained between him and the beast.
“What do you mean you’ve been waiting for me?” D’Arden asked, hoping to keep the beast distracted while he studied it, looking for some sign of weakness that he might be able to exploit. His initial once-over did not reveal anything promising. “How could you have possibly known that I was here?”
The beast laughed, a grating, rumbling sound that was only barely recognizable as such – anyone less versed in the ways of the fel beasts would have simply taken it as a warning growl. “Good try, Arbiter. You won’t fool me that easily. My master would not take it lightly were I to divulge his secrets.”
“So you admit to me that you’re not the master here?” D’Arden said, intentionally bear-baiting the beast. “You admit that you’re still little more than the forest creature you once were, but now domesticated and good only for lapping at your master’s feet and chasing bones like some dog?”
The fel wolf started to growl, but it caught in the creature’s throat and turned into a chuckle. “I see your game, Arbiter. I am not simply a beast that can be prodded and goaded into a mindless and thoughtless attack. I am more than what I came from.”
“I’m not sure I see it,” D’Arden said, still circling around the creature as it attempted to circle him. “I think you can be provoked just like any other beast of your nature can.”
“Try me, Arbiter,” the beast said with a hideous grin.
Without breaking his circling stride, D’Arden summoned up some of the manna he’d stored during his trance and focused it into his off-hand. A blue fireball began to build there in his palm, lighting up the room more fully. It grew until it was a blinding white, brilliant focus of purified manna energy that snapped and crackled exactly like real fire, except that no sound issued forth from it at all.
“An impressive display,” the fel wolf growled. “Dare you use so much of your power all at once, Arbiter? I think it would weaken you too far, and if you missed, could you still fend off my assault?”
“Even the splash of this pure energy would weaken you,” D’Arden spat back at him, the light from the manna fire-ball pleasantly warm against his skin. “I believe that we would be on equal footing afterwards.”
The beast snorted. “You know so little, Arbiter. You speak of purity, and yet you have no idea what purity is. Are your stuffy morals and defense of the weak really pure, Arbiter? In my eyes, power is pure. Unfettered, wholesome power that knows no boundaries and no limitations. Power that you could have yourself, Arbiter, if only you would let go of your petty morals and sense of justice.”
D’Arden rolled his eyes, almost losing his concentration on his manna fire-ball. “Really?” he asked. “You, a corrupted and twisted thing that barely resembles its lupine parents for its descent into decay and madness, dare to lecture me on such things? You dare to try and tempt me away from my path? The very thought is ludicrous!”
“Not so ludicrous after all!” the beast roared as it leapt at him through the air.
D’Arden was nearly taken off-guard by its assault, for which he cursed himself inwardly. He had been trying to catch the beast off its guard, but instead he found that he was the one caught. Although his concentration on his manna attack had waned slightly, still he brought his left hand forward in a powerful, open-handed strike motion, throwing the collection of manna at the oncoming beast.
It exploded against the fur with a flash of white light and a sound like thunder echoing in the stone chamber far beneath the earth. The beast was caught fully in the chest by the blast and flung backwards, its forward momentum completely reversed by his powerful counterattack. The fel wolf flew backwards with a howl and slammed against the far wall.
D’Arden watched with satisfaction as the manna flames began to devour the beast.
His satisfaction quickly died as the beast stood up and shook off the cobalt flames, the red glow in its eyes not dimmed in the slightest. D’Arden found his resolve shaken slightly; the beast had weathered a strong blow – not his strongest, certainly, but dangerous nonetheless – without so much as flinching.
“I hope that was not your best effort, Arbiter,” the wolf said with a feral grin. “It was good, but I am stronger than that. My master has given me great power in this place, and has promised me an endless supply of food once he controls the whole city without reservation.”
D’Arden cocked his head slightly. “So all of those bodies up there… those are your food? But you’ve hardly touched them.”
“I no longer hunger for flesh, Arbiter. I have little taste for the stuff. My master has granted me the power to live only on the purest sustenance – raw human blood. I take what I need, and I leave the rest for the crows.”
“Except the crows can’t get to them if they’re lying around inside,” D’Arden said, almost jovially. “So why don’t you leave them outside? Don’t you have free run of the city at night, to do as you please and strike terror into the populace? For all of the people who are dead up there, hundreds more are in the streets right now as we speak, laughing and going about their lives, just like always. They do not fear you.”
“They will,” the wolf growled. “I will make sure that they do.”
“Yes, perhaps,” D’Arden said. “But when?”
The wolf leapt at him again, but this was not the same timed strike that it had executed previously. This was more instinctive, reaching out with its snapping jaws and a rumbling growl that turned into a harsh bark. D’Arden rolled under it as he saw it coming and drew the manna blade along the beast’s belly. The wolf gave a cry of agony and came to its feet a few yards away, and the Arbiter rolled to his feet with a look of triumph on his face.
The wolf was bleeding heavily now, its body nearly gushing in some places that same thick, luminescent fluid that had come from the fel dogs outside the city, and the manna fire was eating away at the blood, seeking to purify the corruption within. The blue flames crept up the trailing fluid, but never seemed to quite reach the fur. It was obviously resisting the purification, but it had been weakened – D’Arden could see that in its eyes.
“So, have you had enough yet?” D’Arden asked with a glint of the manna fire in his eyes. “Do you really want to push this any farther? Give up now and I may let you return to the forest and your cursed brethren there, two of which I slew before I entered this godforsaken city, and another that I will slay now before either one of us leaves here!”
The wolf panted, but still managed to laugh. “You have nowhere to run, Arbiter, and nowhere to hide. This is my lair, and you will die here as surely as you would die if you were to face my master. You must be weakening; there is no chance that you could have found a source of pure manna anywhere near this city. Everything you touched would have only weakened you further, and now I will do the same!”
D’Arden worked hard to hide the smile that sprang to his lips. The wolf had underestimated him and his ability to reach out spiritually for the manna – it thought that he was exhausted.
The wolf’s arrogance would be its downfall.
The Arbiter charged forward and swung his sword in a cutting arc. The wolf leapt aside and came back around swiftly, its jaws closing on the air that D’Arden had been standing in only seconds before. D’Arden used the force from his twisting aside to bring his sword downward in a cleaving strike that would have severed the wolf in half had he caught flesh. Instead, his sword only cleft fur, sending strands of hair floating down to the floor.
