Resurrected as a Drow 2 Chapter 3

Beady red eyes glared at me out from their place sunken inside a hideous boar’s face, and when the daemon entity snarled like the creature its head resembled, gross wads of phlegm flew from its tusked jowls. The spittle hissed and steamed where it landed, and I found myself leaping back in order to avoid the clearly toxic snot.

However, the head wasn’t the most terrifying part of this beast, because this dark abomination was also a hybrid of some sort, and I barely had time to decide if his huge pincer-like claws were more lobster or more crab before it tried to snap my head off.

If I hadn’t dropped into a crouch, I would have ended this short life as a decapitated head, and I was pretty sure if I ended up back in Drogu’s web so soon after she just cut me free, I would never hear the end of her teasing.

And that would just not do.

“Rooooooaaaarrrr!” the hybrid daemon bellowed and then charged at me.

I leapt up, vaulted back until I was off the platform, and then made a beeline toward one of the trusty braziers that kept me safe in the past.

Only the last time I sought shelter behind one of the large vats of burning oil, I was being pursued by Daria Ozin-Na, who although mad with rage, was someone who could almost be reasoned with.

Almost.

This creature of nightmare, however, was something else entirely, and as I glanced over my shoulder, I saw it rip one of the stone altar benches off the ground. Then the daemon launched the bench directly at the brazier I was heading toward.

Boom.

The vat of burning green flames exploded, and I was forced to dive to the side to avoid being scorched.

“Rooooooaaaarrrr!” the dark daemon roared again as black smoke filled the sanctuary and started to sting my eyes.

Visibility only grew worse after that.

“You must rely on your spiritual senses, Fynn!” Madame Drindessa’s voice echoed from somewhere far off.

“Yeah, no shit,” I grumbled since my eyelids felt like they were starting to swell.

It was easier to just keep them mostly closed by this point, so just like I had done with the invisible orbs, I reached out with my ether and tried to hear-slash-feel where the daemonic entity was…

Then my hearing sharpened as my ether flooded my ears, and I could suddenly hear things reserved for the spiritual planes all around me.

I was slowly learning about the magicks and realms of this universe, and with the guidance of Mother Sevahtra, Tryss, and even Hel and Dag, I was starting to suss out this untapped resource of power and potential lurking inside my soul.

Dual souls, rather.

The two warring halves Drogu-ani saw fit to put inside her little plaything of a vessel she named Fynn Draven.

“Wuffff, wufff, wuufff…” The sound of boar-like snuffling caught my attention. “Rrrrrooooooarrr!”

Suddenly, the beast’s proximity nearly knocked me off my feet because I was immediately assaulted by the stench of burnt and rotting flesh. The scent was so strong it seemed to physically repel me like a magnet, as if the smell had a force field around the entity that was obviously from a plane of existence that reveled in Death, and every spark of my ether recoiled because it was the very essence of Life.

And this was when I realized Drindessa wasn’t fucking around, because given the chance, this daemon would do anything to infect me with its life-sucking sickness.

Another stone bench was ripped from where it was bolted down to the Temple floor and then jettisoned into another flaming brazier to my left.

“Fuck!” I yelled as some of the searing oil landed on my cloak and started to catch the fabric on fire.

I hit the ground and tumbled longways under a few benches back toward the platform in order to put myself out.

The daemon did not like the fact it couldn’t find me, and it suddenly threw a temper tantrum as it thrashed its armored crab-like claws around and damaged a few statues and more benches.

Now that I was below the smoke line, I was able to keep my eyes open for longer and longer fractions of time, and one of the things I was able to spy through my watery sight was the glint of one of the broken bench bolts.

“Reeeeeeoooooorrrr!” the abomination squealed and squalled, and then it tipped forward to land on the other crab appendages sprouting from its armored thorax. When it started to charge in my direction, I realized I needed to act, so I sprinted toward my prize without looking back.

With any luck, I would be able to wield the metal as a makeshift dagger at the very least. Anything was better than nothing at this point, until I could figure out how to Dispel the entity back to where it came from.

Crash.

Another stone fixture was torn free and hurtled toward the center of the Temple, and I froze because I thought it was aimed at me.

But the piece flew over my head and impacted another brazier, and I realized the creature was trying even harder to limit my sight by plunging me into even more darkness.

This salient detail stood out to me like a diamond shining at the bottom of a riverbed, and I understood then that the daemon was actually having a bit of an issue with the bright lights.

Which made sense because if it was from Drogu’s realm or someplace similar, the Darkness pressing in all around me the times I “visited” was probably what this thing was used to.

I scurried over to the piece of metal, and I was still crouched low on all fours while the daemon hiss and thrashed about until the initial blaze of the brazier died down.

Crash.

Another bench torn from its place.

Boom.

Another vat of fiery oil illuminated the Temple, which was actually convenient because it was getting harder to see, and to my knowledge, ether could only help me Detect something otherworldly or enchanted, not some common iron bolt.

When I got a good look at what I was working with, I found I was in luck because the bolt seemed like it had almost been severed through due to the violent treatment. I hoped with a bit of bullying, I could bend and break the jagged metal away fully.

“Roooooaaaaaarrr!” the beast thundered, and despite how close I was to achieving my objective, I had to abruptly abandon my task when the daemon caught sight of me through its beady red eyes.

“Oh, shit,” I cursed, and then I jumped up on the last few benches just as the daemon used its razor sharp boar’s tusks to upend chunks of broken debris out of its way and destroyed three more braziers in the process.

I launched off the last bench in front of me while I had the most light, rolled to the center of the platform, and then slid off the opposite side.

“Tsk, tsk, Fynnie,” Drindessa chortled like watching me scramble for my life was a trifle more interesting than Dead Ass Boring. “Do you really think that little prick can get the job done?”

“Shut up, Drindy,” I growled, but this only made her giggle a little harder.

However, she probably had a point hidden under the layered insults her words and tone implied, because this was something even Mother did when she was trying to educate her own children.

So cutting the wheat from the chaff, it seemed likely Madame Dessa was telling me that weapons were going to be useless and a waste of time.

Fiiiiiiine.

I could tell she was driving me in a certain direction for a solution, and even though there was the very real possibility I would be killed super hard by the daemon she Summoned, I knew she wouldn’t make me face something that would be impossible for me to defeat.

No.

Not defeat.

Dispel.

The second half of the equation I was expected to learn in today’s trial by fire.

Literally.

Boom.

The second to last brazier was destroyed, which left only one to flicker dimly at the farthest end of the Temple.

Darkness was nigh, and I wondered if the daemon would take the time to destroy the last source of light, or if it would just deal with the semi-dimness and come over to pincer my ass. I was hoping for the former because it would give me just enough time to get myself together so I could… could…

Dispel the daemon.

Which really meant… what exactly? To banish it? No… to rid it completely was to dispel something.

And if this thing was the manifestation of Darkness and Death, then the opposite of those things were Light and Life.

Light.

Oh, fuck.

She wanted a demonstration of my light powers. That was probably what this was all about.

Boom.

The last brazier went out in a blaze of glory, and in the rapidly waning light of the flames, I jumped back up on the platform and stood my ground in the center.

“Reeeeeooooorrrrr!” the boar head screamed at me, and the daemon charged at me on its hind hooves just as the Temple plunged into full darkness…

The stench of Death burned my nostrils, and for a split second, I worried about how I could summon my light powers when I’d never consciously done so in the past, but as the sound and smell of the daemon got closer, I found there was a point in which instinct just took over.

With a deep breath, I widened my stance and felt deep down for that familiar hummingbird-like thrum inside my chest…

Zrrrrrt.

“Eeeeeeekkkk!” The flash of the lightning bolts branching out from my raised palms hit the daemon square on and caused it to wail and drop to the ground.

“Ahhh!” I screamed and then brandished my palms at the abomination with even more force.

Another large tangle of lightning erupted from me, and I watched as the thing writhed and squealed some more. Every point of light my power touched seemed to start a white hot fire that I could only view through my Dark Eye because it was much too bright for my regular drow sight.

“Reeeeeeekkkk!” the hybrid beast shrieked as its carcass began to smoke and dissolve before me, and I jumped down off the dais so I could implement more force at a closer range.

My hands grew hot, and sweat poured down my face, but I bore down on the daemon until it was finally nothing more than a pile of ash.

“Guh,” I gasped when it was over, and then I melted downward so I was sitting on my knees.

A brief bout of dizziness gripped me after I called my ether back, and considering I had just recovered from a significant drain on my resources after fighting Daria, it was no wonder I was a little out of breath.

“Well, are you satisfied now, you meddling tart?” Sevahtra’s voice sounded in the darkness of the Temple, and after the sound of someone clapping their hands twice, the large amethyst mounted in the center of the Temple’s circular ceiling started to glow.

I glanced over my shoulder to see the two Matron Mothers headed toward me, and it appeared as if Madame Dessa finally chose to cover her nakedness with a silk robe she got from somewhere.

Which was such a shame because she was drop dead gorgeous for an older woman.

“Hmm, I quite liked that little demonstration,” the buxom Matron Mother said as she finished rolling up the sleeves of her silk robe, and then she sauntered forward on her shapely hips in a way that emphasized all of her womanly curves.

“If you wanted to see me use my light powers, all you had to do was ask,” I said now that I was no longer out of breath.

“Where’s the fun in that?” Drindessa purred as Sevahtra helped me up to my feet. “Besides, he’s fine.”

When I tried to turn in Dessa’s direction, Mother Sevahtra held my head still so she could tilt my chin from side to side like she was taking stock of all the damage I had sustained.

But despite the slight burns and scrapes I could feel, and the weariness of expending such energy so quickly, I felt fine.

Apparently, Sevahtra wordlessly agreed with me because she pursed her lips, gave a barely-there nod, and released my chin.

“I want to know how you even know about Fynn’s light powers to begin with,” Sevahtra said as she turned the full force of her glare on the other woman.

“A little sprite must have whispered it to me,” she responded with a coquettish bat of her eye lashes.

“You mean my big-mouthed First Daughter, Helera Unem,” Mother deadpanned with her arms crossed over her chest.

“Indeed,” Dessa said with a serrated grin. “She is quite the charmer, your unem.”

“Charm… sure, we’ll go with that,” Sevahtra groaned and rubbed the crease between her brows like the long-suffering mother she was. “Next time I see that one, I’m going to demote her to darnem and give Dagwyn the honor of being First. Maybe that will make Helly take her role seriously.”

“Oh, go easy on her, Sevvy,” Drindessa giggled with a certain amount of glee that told me she was one of those people who loved stirring up shit.

No wonder she seemed to get along with Hel.

“I’ll nip the girl’s other ear, I swear to Drogu,” Mother grumbled.

“It might even her out,” I commented, and both older women had to stop themselves from visibly smirking.

After Helera disobeyed Sevahtra and almost blew our cover as the last remaining Warriors from House Claden’Du, she received punishment in the form of the Matron Mother biting a piece off the tip of her long drow ear.

“Fine, it may have been slightly underhanded of me, but I wanted to see what I possibly have to look forward to once Eli and Tasi bear this one’s young,” Drindessa said with her hands planted on her hips. “Especially if Helera’s theory on him being of mage origins is true.”

“Mage?” Sevahtra said with an arched eyebrow. “Who said anything about mages?”

“Don’t do that, Sevvy, playing stupid really doesn’t become you,” Dessa scoffed.

“Do I have Helly to blame for this as well?” she asked as she narrowed her eyes.

“Probably. She was being a major bookfly about mages and all the different types of magicks.” I shrugged and was totally unremorseful about throwing her… um. Under the wolves?

No.

That wasn’t how the long forgotten adage went…

Under the bus, slash thrown to the wolves.

Whatever.

Hel could be such a bitch sometimes, and I was perhaps a little irked about how she hadn’t even come to check up on me in my sickbed.

Not like I was around in my sickbed to be checked upon, but still. Due to all my sneaking and spying, I knew for a fact Helera was consumed with some sort of project down in the dungeons and not wondering if her dear friend was alright.

Bitch.

“As surprising as it might seem to you, I am a person who reads her history as well,” Drindessa responded as she primly stuck her pointed nose in the air. “And there hasn’t been someone around with powers like yours in a long while, sweetness. It’s not a difficult leap.”

“Am I that obvious even without my light powers?” I questioned. “I made sure to cover my strange colored eye with the patch Mother gave me. As far as anyone knows, I’m just a maimed lowly drow slave at first glance.”

“But that is going to change for you, precious,” Dessa cooed as she gently brushed my jaw. “You are now the First Son of Claden’Du. In order to maintain the charade that the Warriors of the Void were not, in fact, decimated by Ozin-Na, you must give any scrutinizers a reason as to why Sevahtra would adopt one such as you.”

“Meaning…?” I tilted my head at her as Mother conjured a crystal goblet and then levitated a decanter of wine toward me from somewhere. Then I gratefully took a drink of the tart blue liquid and tried not to guzzle the whole thing.

“Someone of Sevvy’s clout would never consider adopting less than the most premium of male drow-- why do you think I’ve struggled with finding anyone suitable to fill my Daughters’ wombs?” the owner of the underbelly’s most prominent brothels reminded us. “Therefore, you have quite a bit of training and rehearsing to do. Pity there isn’t a spare wizard lying around. I’m sure if Nodrin were still here, he would make an excellent teacher of these types of magicks. But for anything else, on the other hand, I am glad to offer my services, of course.”

The buxom barely clothed woman smirked at me and widened her sparkling cast bronze eyes.

“Back off you whore,” Sevahtra drawled in a bored tone and shoved her lascivious dominatrix friend aside. “As long as I can trust you not to go spreading this around to your gossip mills, then consider yourself lucky I don’t get rid of you all together. Obnoxious meddlesome thing that you are.”

“That wouldn’t benefit me in the slightest when it comes to my heirs,” Drindessa replied easily. “If the court of popular opinion decides to turn against any suspected mages like they have done in the past, then my Daughters’ children are at risk as well. You have nothing to fear… from me.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sevahtra snapped as she looped her arm through the crook of mine.

“It means I know of this male’s unbound status,” she said, and I felt Mother’s fingers dig into my forearm slightly.

“That’s it, I’m making Hel a Zara,” Sevahtra growled as she demoted her gossipy Daughter now down to Third Rank for her gossipy sins.

“Nonsense!” the other sang out. “You’ve got all your Sons and Daughters right where you need them.”

Bang.

The doors of the Temple flew open, and as if waiting for her cue, Claden’Du’s Second Daughter burst through with a wild look in her eye.

“Dagwyn?” Mother said as she glared sharply at her, and based on her expression, it was clear this Daughter was definitely not where she was supposed to be.

The daughter in question was currently hunched low over her knees as she sucked in great draughts of air.

It looked painful, and when I saw her knees wobble slightly, I couldn’t help but come up beside her with a steadying arm on her elbow as she caught her breath.

“Child, did you really take the stairs?” Drindessa asked disdainfully, and Dagwyn stopped her panting for a moment so she could send the crustiest expression I’ve ever seen on her dark blue face toward the dominatrix.

“Mother… you… must… see!” she gasped out as quickly as she could, and she snatched the floating decanter so she could gulp down the rest of the wine. The moment she had slaked her thirst, she was finally able to blurt out the most comprehensible thing she’d said since she came flying into the Temple. “Helly’s found something!”