Book 5: Chapter 8 - Entreaties (RAW)

“Those who walk the path of the warrior must make a friend of death the unwanted companion.”

- Unknown.

With Canis leading, we strode into empty streets of the city and storm. The Adventurer’s Guild’s two Anemancers, identical twins with dull brown hair and wild, dead eyes as turbulent and mad, danced around us as we marched toward our designated mission ground. Canis planned to summon the Djinn from the heavens and have the Geomancers temporarily anchor the creature to the earthly plane, grounding it.

It was all mystical gobbledygook to me, but I knew I would get what I wanted either way.

“Hurry!” shouted Guildmaster Canis as we arrived in the Grand Bazaar, now as empty as a grave save for a thin layer of sand over its yellow stones.

Almost in response to his call, the wind began to swell, spurring the others to greater efforts. The adventurers left from the Contest of Knives, or those who had not participated at all, were all here to challenge the storm’s power. Warriors tightened their grips on their weapons, and those who wielded the Mana’s Song clutched their staves and charms, all under the watchful eye of a calm, composed Canis.

The twins whirled into a more frenzied dance, tossing small slips of rune-marked paper into the air, their bodies leaping and twisting as if possessed. The wind seized the papers, lifting them high above, scattering their cryptic message into the churning heavens.

Then I felt it—a tension, heavy and oppressive, pressing down on my senses, thickening with each passing second. The twins let out a sharp, ululating cry, a beckoning to the storm, a call to the Djinn.

At the same moment, the Geomancers knelt, their hands pressed firmly to the stones beneath us, prostrating themselves as if in prayer. About the square adventurers rushed to place bright Zajasite. The stones glowed with an intense, pulsing light. Perhaps these stones were part of the spell—some arcane anchor to bind the Djinn. Or perhaps, they were mere beacons, calling the creature down from its heavenly realm.

And the Djinn descended, lured by the scraps of mortal promise. It emanated a wildness, a need to be free, that resonated with a part of me. It was a creature of ethereal air and shifting sand, its form ever-changing yet hauntingly graceful. Wispy tendrils of wind coiled around it, swirling with particles of desert sand. Its body suggested a feminine shape—curves like the sweep of dunes, with flowing, indistinct features that drift and reform constantly. Eyes, if they can be called that, were glowing embers hidden within its mist, watching with an intense, almost human intelligence. The Djinn exuded both an aura of allure and menace.

A sliver of regret filled me as I looked to Enkidu's spear. Without any imbued magic, this weapon would be useless against such a foe. Reluctantly, I handed it to a wild-eyed clerk Aldina, telling her to keep it for me. It would taste the blood of the coward Canis and the Enchantress Kaila, but against a Djinn, I needed something more powerful.

I drew Bellringer, readying myself. Yet, a strange hesitation held me back. Despite its alien nature, the Djinn felt oddly familiar, as if it was calling to a part of me I had long forgotten.

Curiosity stirred within me, sparking an overwhelming need to understand. I cast Sage's Sight upon it.

Zariyah Al’Abadi  - Wind Mage [Consumed Human lvl.28]

Health: 1190/1190

Stamina: 112/115

Mana: 28/34

Greater Wind Spears (lvl.5)

Relentless Gust (lvl.5)

So I had my answer and with this new clarity my will faltered. For the first time since I had come to this land I did not want to fight. Did not want to fight Zariyah, or whatever it was she had become, no matter the undoubted wealth of experience such a kill would offer.

And a Consumed Human? What was that? I thought to myself as a feeling of dread skittered across my soul.

My hammer felt heavy in my hands, my armor a weight around my shoulders.

Then suddenly a great cry came up from the Earth mages, the Geomancers, as they unleashed their combined and prepared spell. An explosion of earth and raw stone erupted from the ground, rising up and forming a done around the whole area and blocking out the sun. Now, I knew why the adventurers had placed glowing Zajasite about the Grand Bazaar.I had my answer, and with this new clarity, my resolve faltered. For the first time since coming to this land, I found I did not want to fight—not Zariyah, or whatever she had become—despite the undeniable wealth of experience her defeat would offer.

A Consumed Human? The thought sent a shiver of dread across my soul. Was this the end of her Path?

My hammer felt heavy in my hands, my armor a weight pressing down on my shoulders.

Suddenly, a great cry rose from the Earth mages, the Geomancers, as they unleashed their carefully prepared spell. The ground erupted in an explosion of earth and raw stone, rising to form a dome around the entire area, blocking out the sun. Now I understood why the adventurers had placed glowing Zajasite around the Grand Bazaar.

The adventurers let out a great battle cry, echoing up and down their lines. Mages unleashed a torrent of magical energy at Zariyah, the Djinn. In response, the creature summoned a wall of air and sand, deflecting most of the etheric attacks, though a few still broke through, chipping away at its Health.

The Djinn howled in pain and rage, retaliating with a blade of air and sand aimed at the front line. Two adventurers, perhaps of lower rank, were struck down. One was bisected at the waist, her death nearly instantaneous. The other lost both legs below the knee, his cries of agony drawing his comrades’ attention. A quick-thinking Geomancer raised a wall of stone to protect the wounded adventurer, shielding him and his rescuers as they rushed to apply much-needed healing potions.

I realized then that the adventurers couldn’t see the Djinn’s attacks—only their devastating effects. I, however, could perceive them, if only as faint impressions. I saw the shape of a long, thin spear, launched with Zariyah’s fury, drive straight through another would-be slayer, piercing a fist-sized hole in his chest.

Was this due to my spell Sage’s Sight? Interesting.

Even I would struggle to handle Zariyah alone; what hope did these weaklings have against such a powerful creature? I glanced at the Guildmaster, noting that he made no move to join the fray. The answer dawned on me—he was sacrificing his men, feeding them to his mad goddess, almost literally. He was also wearing down the Djinn, its mana reserves depleting with each spell it unleashed to kill.

Noticing my gaze, he turned to me, framed by the cries of the wind and the screams of the dying. “Move, Gilgamesh of Uruk! Did you not promise to aid us?”

His command grated on me. How dare this mere ant speak to me so? I answered him with silence.

“Are you truly without honor? Can’t you see what’s happening? If you don’t help us, we’ll all die here,” he snarled, desperation breaking through. “Do something, damn you!”

Danger threaded each and every one of his words. Nearby, the Gold and Silver adventurers reached for their weapons. I could see in their expressions that things would soon escalate into more violence.

“What did I say about attempts to besmirch my honor, Canis?” I shouted, my voice cutting through the swirling hurricane in miniature under the stone dome. “Did I not say I would end you?” I said undeterred by the threat presented against me.

He closed his eyes, struggling to regain his composure, or whatever passed for self-control. “Gilgamesh... please, I’ll settle accounts with you later… This is the not time!” Canis pleaded.

Aldina glanced between us, clutching Enkidu’s spear as if it were an anchor amid the gathering storm.

“Do you think the Guild can afford another enemy here, trapped as you are? It would be so easy for me to make heroes of you all. Isn’t that what you want?” I smirked, enjoying his desperation. “To die for Her?”

A cruel smile spread across my face. "Beg me," I said, my voice low and taunting. "Get on your knees, Guildmaster, and beg. Let yourself feel the depth of your own insignificance, the futility of you and your little band."

A dark, unbridled laugh escaped me—born of a thousand moments where I’d held my tongue, restrained my power. But here, in this place of madness, where magic and steel clashed under an earthen sky, I could be exactly who I was.

It was liberating.

I watched as he clenched his fists, a storm of emotions warring on his face.

"Do you feel it? The envy?" I sneered. "The weight of your years of devotion, all gone to waste. The pointless sacrifices you made for your goddess. Now kneel, and beg me—the one who has earned the Mother’s favor. Kneel, and know your place."

Slowly, agonizingly, he sank to his knees. The Gold and Silver adventurers around us exchanged uneasy glances, hands slipping from their weapons as a thick silence settled over them.

I shook my head. If there was one thing I had learned from my friend Enkidu, it was that a man who could truly call himself a man should never kneel before another. It was demeaning.

"Help us… I beg of you," Canis shouted, his desperate plea cutting through the shrieking winds. “For Al-Lazar.”

“The Goddess demands sacrifice, Canis. Send everything now, and if they fight valiantly, she will send aid,” I replied, my tone falsely solemn. “Know my words as holy truth.”

“Send everyone now,” I commanded, my voice ringing with conviction. “No more games. She commands it.”

The voices within me roared with glee, crying out in a legion. Let it loose… let it loose. And why not? Together, we unleashed a wave of shadowed, negative energy. Improved Entropic Aura. It radiated from me, lending a dark force to my command.

Fear etched itself across their faces—a fear not just of death, but of a death against which they could not struggle, and the terror of absolute oblivion. Everyone took a step back, eyes wide with growing fear.

To them, even a mythical creature, a Djinn of the Wind and Skies, must have seemed a more manageable foe than the one before them.

“Go now! Take down the Djinn!” Canis commanded, his voice frayed with desperation. “For the Adventurer’s Guild, you dogs!”

“For the Guild!” they echoed, but it was a hollow cry, more a matter of habit than genuine fervor.

At first, they moved at a jog, then broke into a full-blown, frantic charge. I laughed, watching them scramble to the beat of my threats, a twisted dance at my command. Beside me, Aldina stood frozen, her face pale, terror widening her eyes.

I stopped laughing as I regarded her.

“You should stand back… far back. Fifty paces at least,” I suggested with a pleasant smile.

She only nodded, fear swallowing any words, and stumbled away, dragging Enkidu’s spear behind her.

I raised my hands to the caged heavens, shouting into the winds as the adventurers charged forward, clashing and falling in their futile struggle. Each drop of blood that was spilled, I knew to my bones, was an offering to Iasis, feeding her strength.

And that simply would not do.

In a surge of savage defiance, I raised my voice to the heavens, calling out to the Goddess who had brought me to this world of suffering and pain.

For the first time, I entreated the Goddess I hated with all my heart. “Avaria, hear me, if you are not as deaf as you are blind! I offer these followers of your sister—I offer their lives to you! Take them and make this ground sacrosanct; let the Light of Heaven shine upon it! I will bring Justice to the heretics! Let this be our covenant!” My laughter turned wild, an unhinged smile twisting my face.

I chose my own terms of service.

Improved Entropic Aura resisted, pushing against my will, but I was too deep in my glorious rebellion against the powers that bound this world. Binding it with threads of my will, I forced it down and summoned Holy Aura in its place in its place.

A cleansing hymn filled me, washing away a thousand grievances. I shone with Light, with Radiance. I was remade as Holy. I slammed my helmet on, and the world narrowed into a focused slit.

Improved Dash… Improved Dash… I activated the skill again and again, reckless of the toll on my stamina, closing the distance with the adventurers in a blur of holy vengeance.

One of them—a cleric in heavy chain mail, the gleaming Gold badge of rank on his chest—locked eyes with me, and I saw the dawning horror in his gaze. He understood in an instant what I had become: an avatar of their doom. With desperate fury, he swung his heavy, flanged mace at my face.

I let it connect, relishing the solid clang as it glanced off my helm. My armor held; I lost only a sliver of health. A crazed smile twisted onto my face, and laughter—a chilling, unrestrained sound—echoed across the battlefield as I advanced.

Now, I had Justice on my side. Now, it was self-defense.

With righteous wrath, I called forth Holy Strike, a searing reprisal to his audacity. The force of it shattered the layered wards shielding him; they cracked like glass under the weight of divine wrath. The lingering effect of Sage’s Sight allowed me to see the aftermath, the dark power of my weapon hungrily crushing bone and muscle. His life ended in an instant, but I could see Bellringer feeding on something intangible.

It seemed the Divines were not the only ones who could feast on mortal suffering.