True North

I never forget where true north is, whether I trudge through a god forsaken tundra, or in a den of demons and heretics, it is the mission that comes first.

I find myself trapped in a cavern with my prey, bunched shoulder to shoulder with the target and a monk of undefined origins. We three stare out at a thick sheet of ice, our backs to the wall, encased in an icy crawl space.

The ice rumbles and threatens to collapse the cavern along with us inside. The orange glow of fire danced on the glistening sheet. “A Hellfire engine stalks us. It can be killed, but it won’t be easy,” said the bald monk, with the almond eyes and the climbing gear.

I didn’t care to fell the beast, in fact, if I managed to find a clear line of sight to darkness topside I could slide from one shadow to the next. If I stranded my prey here perhaps this engine could make the kill for me. As it is, I am just as trapped as these two, meat for the demonic construct.

My target is an unremarkable man (barely a man) to the monk’s direct left. Getting a long unbroken look at him I have no clue as to why his life mattered. It was not my lot to question but to listen and do. My mission required me to stay alive long enough to complete it, and if that means working with the enemy then that is what I must do.

I whispered to the bald headed monk and sharpened my eyes to points so he knew the danger he was in from the likes of me as surely as the thing out there, “When this is over…” I said trailing off. I think he knew that this was a temporary pause not a concession.

The engine growled and the fire dimmed when the beast rolled away. “I can get behind it if you can distract it, “whispered the monk. “I am to draw the creatures ire… convenient, don’t you think?” I whispered. I had no desire to put my own life in jeopardy for the likes of two people I intended to kill anyway.

“I’ve had experience with the beast, I know where to hit it to disable it. You don’t have to trust me but you must believe I know what I’m doing.” “What should I do?” asked my target. “I’d think the stars would have told you as much,” said the monk, as if referencing an earlier conversation I wasn’t privy to. The target looked up. “No stars to see,” he countered. The almond eyed monk nodded. “You are unproven in combat, so do stay out of eye shot and involve yourself only when you know you can.”

The rumbling came back harder and more persistently. The beast may not have been small enough to pass through the crack in the ice, but it was certainly big enough to smash the wall entirely.

I saw the orange of hellfire charging forward as if through diffused glass. I slid to the other end of this crevice while the monk and the boy inched the other way. The huge construct rammed the wall. It collapsed the hidden alcove, reducing it to chunks.

My eyes first went to the darkened sky. I could only see slivers of moonlight. Everything was in abstract darkness so I had no way of passing to the top in a straight shot. I then glanced towards the beast itself. It was huge. It had four jagged wheels that climbed over the destruction it wrought grinding blocks into dust.

It had a metal chassis where theoretical people might sit, yet none did. It was a massive vehicle fueled only by its need to destroy. The fire under its frame was its exhaling breath, proof of its ill intent.

I saw the monk look to me in passing, as if to confirm the course of action he presented, that I myself never agreed to. I nodded. Why not test this fool’s mettle. One of the blessings bestowed on me by my goddess Cyteara was command of darkness, so I was never completely trapped even when I was not aware of how to escape.

I strode out confidently in the center of the cavern. Darkness draped around me as my cloak. The hellfire engine quickly spun. Its wheels grinding ice to powder and slush. The beast turned its attention on me. I smirked, but my emotions were not for people to witness in the blackness only an inside joke between myself and my god.

The hell engine surged forward kicking up debris rattling the ice cavern. I watched the monk get into position. He slid, jumped, and climbed. He defied gravity running on the slippery walls and ultimately pounced on the burning metal. The vehicle stayed its course to grind me into nothing.

I sank into my own shadow and appeared back where I started. As I looked over I could see my target staring intensely at a standing glacier revealed after one of the shifting collapses.

I looked to the monk, his biggest protector. He seemed to be too occupied with the battle before him. His fist moved in a blur beating metal with each blow landed. It was objectively impressive, but he couldn’t be two places at once.

I let a dagger slide from my sleeve. The boys eyes glowed. He wasn’t looking at me, no, he was transfixed with the glacier. The whites of his eyes consumed his irises and they grew so bright they erupted into searing hot dual beams. I sank from my shadow and rose inside of his quietly as death herself.

I rose to strike and in that moment the heat from his blazing eyes cut into the ice, a creature, roughly the dimensions of a man emerged. He was partially held captive by the ice. The heat from the boy’s beam was the only thing pulling his body free. One hand was all it took to put a stop to what otherwise would have been simple. The creature's skin was pale blue yet its finger tips were frost white. They shot forth white missiles of ice.

The first projectile struck my shoulder, but I was ready for the next four that sprung from each finger. I phased through two, fell backwards before the third landed and sank into the shadow and moved to one nearby for the fourth.

I found myself closer to the hellfire engine and the monk. The vehicle was in the middle of a violent spin. It bounced onto its back wheels doing everything in its power to shake the pest. When it saw me it bucked like an unbroken stallion.

The monk punched hard into its metal innards. The construct convulsed. Showing emotion with a face was not possible, so it was nearly impossible to know if it felt pain.

I looked up once again just to see if I could get even the slightest glimpse of the world above so that I might steal away. That option was closed to me, in fact with all the collapses the siege engine made it rearrange the entire landscape of the structure.

The beast skidded at me and once again I slinked into shadow appearing in another several feet from the target and the ice man encapsulated. I glanced at the targets progress and he was in the midst of pulling the man from the glacier. When a boom happened I centered my focus to the construct.

It flipped itself onto its back, like a metal turtle. The monk kicked off with two feet and masterfully rolled onto the powdery snow. The violence of his take off propelled him into a vicious slide.

The ice man spoke… of what, I could not know. Even by the light of hellfire I could see the creature was humanoid. Pieces of him were not encased in ice, but seemed to be born of it. Its limbs were ice. It’s eyes were a swirling deep blue, its hair jagged shards of ice.

The engine twisted in a circle until its tire caught an uneven block of ice and popped itself right ways up.

I had no way to know how much the monk did or did not do to it, so I had no way to gage our effectiveness in battle. The monk attempted to spring onto the beasts back but the flames rose high changing his plan completely. I looked to the monk and he looked back at me as if to silently ask if our plan stood.

I looked away.

I owed him nothing whether it an answer or promise of action.

The hellfire engine took a few heartbeats to decide which of us it despised the most. It turned its monstrous wheels towards the Monk. He set his feet apart, ready to bolt wherever fate dictated.

As the construct surged forward ice grabbed around the flaming tires. Its internal furnace flared, fighting the cold with more intensity, more heat. The ice wrapped around the hull, grabbing it like tendrils, then crashing waves off snow flopped on top of the construct.

I looked over to the man with the blue skin, and realized what exactly it was now. It was a creature of the mountain called shailar, born of and at one with the ice and cold. The creature folded his hands moving the snow, molding it like clay in his hands. The engine stalled, while not completely immovable, its fires ignited and sputtered to turn up the heat.

The target and the shailar moved while the beast thrashed. The monk nodded respectfully. I did nothing, those below me were not worthy of my respect. “I found a friend,” said the target. “Thank you,” spoke the blue man. “I am Amon Till,” declared the monk. “Bargain Belost,” replied the target, which encouraged the strange creature of ice to volunteer his name, “I am called Ustus of shailar.”

One of the constructs front tires melted free and spin violently. “It will not hold for long,” spoke Ustus of shailar. “Finish it, encase the engine completely,” said Amon Till. “It takes too much of myself to do such a thing constantly,” answered Ustus.

The ice man looked to me knowing exactly what I attempted to do to the target. It happened so fast I was unaware if the mark was even aware of how close I came to killing him. “This one, travels with you?” asked Ustus of shailar.

Till and Belost looked to me and shook their heads in the negative with unity. From a right arm that flexed and relaxed as flesh, but was clearly ice, frosty droplets of water dripped down his hand until it reformed into an icy blade.

Hellfire melted and another burning wheel spun in flaming ice. “One threat at a time. We destroy this abomination, then we can go our separate ways,” Amon Till said diplomatically.

I noticed a tattoo on his right hand between his thumb and forefinger, there was a faint shimmer on the black outline, which would suggest he was a warrior Krill. Warriors of Krill were famously slayers of demons and undead, all beasts that Cyteara adored. Warriors of Krill tended to form alliances with many an odd creature when it came to their direct survival, so allying with one creature to kill another was rather common for those of his ilk.

“We work together… “ Amon Till said pausing so that I may give my name. “Petty,” I spoke begrudgingly. “Why did you attack us?” Amon asked. The ice man looked to me as if he too were interested in the answer. “I was tasked to raze a town and all that dwelt there, beyond that I do not know,” I said speaking that half truth with the conviction of a Tyrgothian honor guard.

“Why were you encased in the ice?” asked Bargain to the shailar. The frost laden warrior spoke, and he did it quickly because the beasts fire melted away at his prison rapidly, “I fought the beast and a contingent of other demons. I collapsed this place to give my brothers time to escape. Either my brothers died, or they believed me dead, either way I aim to finish what I started.” It was clear that Bargain and Amon had more questions than time to waste in this moment.

“I can shape the ice and return us to civilization, but you must follow my lead so that we defeat the beast,“ said Ustus of the shailar. “Stay off the front line,” Amon Till spoke to my target. He looked to me in passing as if he was going to give me battlefield tactics, but he seemed to change his mind. He settled for a curt nod.

Ustus ran up the beast and hopped on top of it. The sword that he had formed became a spear. The vehicle hopped, cracking the ice. Amon got to its side, evading the chaotic gouts of fire.

The hellish construct’s back tires completely broke free , pushing itself from the ice. Amon ripped apart panels with his bare hands. The shailar thrust his ice spear, but it broke on its metal shell.

The target was several paces away crouched behind a broken hunk of ice. I jabbed my sword under its axle. Though I had been trained to bring death to anything that once walked or crawled, where exactly did this monstrosity lie? I hadn’t a clue if I damaged the beast at all.

It was at this time the beast’s engines roared and shattered the ice that bound it. The shailar tumbled clumsily from its hood instantly. Amon Till and I managed to hop back avoiding the ceaseless flame.

The target, Bargain, involved himself, despite his lack of skill. The starry white lights of his eyes penetrated into the beast superficially, but just enough to claim its attention. When the boy was in the crosshairs of the beast he turned to run. He tripped on ice and his head pointed to the heavens for a mere moment. In that split his beams cut a swath in the ceiling and a hunk of ice, massive as a man, broke loose. The shard of ice battered the hellfire engine, not downed or dying but hobbled… humbled.

I seized my moment.

I saw the hint of shadow. The shailar rose to his feet, ready to reenter the fray. I stepped into his shadow. With a quiet killing thrust I pierced his lung, out through his chest. Death was sure to occur in 10 to 15 seconds.

I stepped back into the shadows and looked to a patch of darkness up top created by the hole in the ceiling. Without the shailar the target and the monk would have no escape from the cavern, whether the demon claimed them both, or the elements, this was their tomb. They would never escape without his magic, I accomplished my mission.

The Monk and the Target looked at me with confusion even though my intentions were never in question. Their eyes spoke volumes, how could I do this to them, how could you betray us.

Their understanding was not my concern.

I never forget where true north is, whether I trudge through a god forsaken tundra, or in a den of demons and heretics, it is the mission that comes first.