The High Priest of Nergal the Radiant had already arrived. First he blessed the ranks of the city defenders, then he covered them with a protective dome.
After that, the priest rose into the air above them all and spread his arms, shouting prayers. His voice carried across the valley, echoing off the mountain range.
“In the name of the light and all things living, Nergal the Radiant, I entreat you! A fowl creature of the Nether threatens all life, and only with your help, our savior, can these courageous heroes, without regard for their own life…”
The priest spent a few more minutes justifying his request to Nergal, then finished and got his answer. The skies darkened, then flashed with a blinding light that outshone even the sun. The god’s voice answered somewhat differently than the crowd expected.
“You are looking in the wrong direction, fools!”
Lightning suddenly lanced down from the cloudless darkened sky. The eyes of all the players, the preventers, the city watch and the high priest moved to where it landed.
To me.
The high priest pointed a finger at me and shouted triumphantly: “Descend, heathen!”
With a plaintive roar beneath me, Storm disappeared and I began to fall—right toward the monstrous Ravager.
Chapter 5. The Nether
WITH JUST a second more, I could have teleported through the depths out of the yawning oven. If I hadn’t dropped like a stone, I would have successfully escaped to Kharinza. Now I was peppered with thousands of spells and arrows, including lightning bolts and a few small meteorites summoned from the skies. The air cracked from the abundance of magic. It seemed space itself was losing its structure and warping.
My cast stopped, but my fall continued.
Amid the chaos forming below, I could clearly see the high priest drawing light into his staff. The world was immersed in darkness. The lights of spells shone particularly brightly, showing the disciplined preventers surrounding the Ravager—and the spot where I would crash down. I could only hope that Destroying Plague Immortality or Diamond Skin of Justice could save me from death, but I couldn’t discount the possibility that a Nergal priest could neutralize the former ability.
Concentrate! I told myself, snuffing out a spark of panic. I’d been so stupid! Curiosity has killed many a cat. Why didn’t I just fly around the battlefield and head to Stone Rib? But beating myself up for it was not only pointless, it was irrational.
Covering my face with my Sharkon’s Mane shield, I tried to make out what awaited me below through the flashes. The Ravager had moved toward the city defenders, but I was still falling within its smoke aura’s area of effect. That might save me—I doubted players would go in there to try to expel a Threat in the ten seconds before their bodies evaporated. As long as the High Priest didn’t have any holy tricks up his sleeve…
My health was melting away rapidly. Even my ludicrous Resilience didn’t help. The players, strengthened by divine buffs, were lit up like Christmas trees. Not all of them were looking at me—many continued to pour toward the Ravager, earning Faith points. After Nergal’s blessing, their attacks had become far stronger. The Nether-spawn’s health fell slowly, but still noticeably.
The instant before I hit the smoky and soot-covered ground, I instinctively braced myself. Diamond Skin took the force of the strike, which meant I was back to my feet the next instant and casting Depths Teleportation. I figured if I couldn’t see anything, then nobody could see me either…
I figured wrong. The High Priest’s staff finally finished charging. It released a massive pillar of light, covering both me and the Ravager. My cast interrupted again. The damage from the divine magic was overwhelming, crushing. The smoke from the monster’s aura dispersed as if it had never been. My Diamond Skin broke with the ringing of smashed glass. Harnathea’s chitinous shell cracked, and the Ravager lost almost all its health in an instant. A deafening scream of victory rose up from the players.
I should have died. I’m sure the priest’s attack would have broken through Immortality. But Diamond Skin took the hit. Immortality activated right afterwards and prevented me from dying to the Ravager’s aura and the players’ attacks.
The light faded, spots danced in my blind eyes. Something careered by me. The enraged shouts of the High Priest echoed like peals of thunder. He had survived the strike from Reflection, but was astounded that all his divine shields had broken.
With only the vaguest sense of direction, I jumped three times and found myself next to one of the Ravager’s legs and grabbed one of the numerous growths on it. Against my fears, the players didn’t rush ahead. It seemed they all knew what was to come after the priest’s attack.
Harnathea was enraged. It emitted three bursts of flame, spreading waves of mist for hundreds of yards around, leaving absolute darkness and death behind it. I survived, but I felt the Ravager’s ability; strips of flesh sloughed from my body, baring bones, and dripped to the ground in smoking goo. Not for the first time, my character transformed into a skeleton without a single ounce of flesh. Fortunately, a lack of eyes didn’t prevent me from seeing, although my \ision worked differently, showing a pale and colorless world of shadows come to life. The largest shadow, which I was still holding onto, turned sharply and ran toward the mountains.
Occasional beams of light shot after us, and with each hit, Harnathea got smaller. I had a death grip on a leg that had started as thick as a tree trunk and ended up a branch. Fearing it might break, I grabbed the thorny leg and climbed upwards, onto the Ravager’s back. No matter
