Page 106 of Unbinding the Demon
I tried to take a step forward, but his hand shot out to block me. “No.” He spoke in a soft voice while keeping his eyes on the ceiling.
In a flash, Azathoth plummeted back down through the ceiling. His wings formed a sturdy shield, bracing himself for impact. He then smashed through the stone floor like a fucking cannonball. A thunderous blast boomed throughout the room, frightening all the skittering spiders back into their dark crevices. Valarendrik ducked protectively in front of me. He used his body and a swirling cloud of wispy black mist to block the large chunks of stone and debris that went flying all around from the explosion.
Holy smokes!
The dust settled, and Valarendrik’s shadowy shield dissipated as we peeked over at the massive, jagged aperture in the middle of the floor. Stone crumbled around the rubble-lined edges while the dissipating dust cloud swirled around it. A large, clawed hand emerged from the hole, gripping the edge. Azathoth’s disheveled, dusty head popped up, revealing a wickedly satisfied grin.
“Alright, it’s open. Let’s go!” He pointed down with excitement. With a brief look of confusion, he reached up and removed a small piece of stone that was impaled on one of his horns. He threw the useless rock aside with little care.
Valarendrik nodded in approval, and I’m pretty sure he said something along the lines of“good work.”He paced over with silent steps, then dropped down in one graceful motion, with his hair and coat swooshing into the darkness behind him. I staggered across the room after him, warily approaching the hole. A small shriek rang from my lips as Azathoth leapt up and swooped me into his arms. He then yanked me down into the darkness with him.
44. Slaying the Vovin
The three of us journeyed down a long, winding corridor. It was exceptionally dark, but I could hear the skittering of those gigantic spiders on the crumbling stone walls. The sound of them made me thankful that Azathoth was still holding me. I was never one to feel arachnophobic, but where's a goddamn flamethrower when you need one?
While trying to take my mind off the revolting gut suckers velcroed to the walls, my meddlesome thoughts drifted back to the incubus thing. I glanced up at Azathoth and softly cleared my throat. “Ehem... So, um, I was just wondering about your heritage...” He shot me a curious look. “If dracrulians are violent warrior demons, then what exactly are incubus demons?” My voice timidly died off, and my mouth fell agape as we entered a massive, arena-like chamber.
Stone colonnades stood guard throughout the chamber, soaring to the rounded ceiling. The expansive floor was a patchwork of cracked stone. Small, loose pieces were scattered all around like remnants of past battles. The space was all but deserted, save for the few broken colonnades... and the stirring vovin.
With a shuddering, sickly groan, the colossal beast stirred, its decaying black scales rippling across tattered its flesh. It arose from what looked like a deathly slumber, filling the room with an ominous presence. From a single body, three fearsome dragon-like heads came forth, all appearing decrepit and insane. Each head was crowned with sharp, formidable horns that exuded power and menace. All three glanced around on their own accord, proving that each one was an individual. Horrendous low growls and hisses echoed across the chamber, as cold, lifeless black eyes malevolently honed in on us.
Yikes...
Huge curved claws designed to lacerate even the mightiest of foes scraped against the ground, while the vovin pushed itself up. Black, spiky, and tattered wings, much like Azathoth’s own, sprawled out behind it. Its long serpentine tail wiped to the side, cracking a colonnade in two with a monstrous boom. A petrifying, alien screech rang from the central head. It shook the chamber walls and caused dust and small stones to rain down from the disintegrating ceiling.
Oh, shit... That’s a zombie dragon!
“Oh fuck. He’s a tri-head? The Gods of Hell really didn’t skimp on size when they chose this bloke, either,” Azathoth muttered while placing me down. “Alright, this shouldn’t take too long. Just stay back and hide behind the colonnades. And whatever you do, do not let the vovin see you,” he stated sternly, leaving no room for argument. “I love you.” His lips surprise-attacked mine with a quick but passionate kiss, leaving me breathless as he pulled away. “Oh, and um, by the way, incubi are sex demons.” With a cocky grin and flirtatious finger gun snap and point, he flew off towards the enraged vovin.
A fucking sex demon!?
“What!?”I squawked, then called after him while shaking my fist. “You sly son of a bitch!”
My arm froze mid-shake, and my eyes cautiously shifted over to Valarendrik. A deep, abyssal growl was rumbling within the hollow cavity of his chest. His claws had lengthened, and his long hair was eerily wisping on its own, turning into a black, shadowy mist along the ends. Bloodlust gleamed in his black and red eyes, and a murderous grin twisted across his face. He zipped past me at an unnatural speed, with both swords pointed down and dust kicking up beneath his swift and agile feet.
Holy shit...
The vovin let out a haunting, abyssal, dinosaur-like cry that sent a shiver up my spine. I scurried behind a colonnade, just as Azathoth had instructed me to do, and peeked out at the fight. One of the ghastly undead heads snapped its jaws viciously up at Azathoth, who was hovering above it. While another released a harrowing hiss of black flames at Valarendrik. The prince dodged them like a shadowy ninja with effortless skill, black mist swirling all around him. The beast rampaged, stomping and shrieking with fierce determination. It lunged at the two otherworldly men like a whirlwind of primal power. It was akin to a raging bull, wild and unstoppable, driven by the madness of abyssal corruption.
Azathoth dove, spinning his wings in a circle like the blades of a blender, slicing into the base of one of its side skulls. The center head growled and tried to chomp down on him, but he jumped out of the way just in time. Heavy muscular flesh and scales rippled as the vovin’s growling center head accidentally bit down on the side of another head’s neck. The victimized head roared in agony as colossal fangs sank into its throat and violently tore away a huge chunk of its flesh. Valarendrik expertly leapt over its tail as it whipped at him. Then he bounced off it and slashed up with his twin blades, severing the injured head with black blood spraying everywhere.
Yes! Gottem!
I inwardly cheered as the first massive head fell to the stony ground with a morbid thud. Its heavy stump neck lifelessly flopped down beside it, causing a cloud of dust to puff up all around. Black blood oozed out and flooded over the crumbling floor. The guys then continued to fight the remaining two heads, and it seemed like this fight would be over soon.
With my hand pressed against the cool stone of the cannonade, I leaned forward to eagerly watched. I found myself enthralled by the unique spectacle. It wasn’t every day that a demon and an undead abyss prince joined forces to vanquish some menacing zombie dragon. The scene unfolding felt more like a page torn from a mythical saga rather than real life.
An unsettling shiver slithered up my spine as a soft skittering noise and a sickly hiss came from behind me. My eyes widened as I fearfully glanced over my shoulder at the source of the alarming sound. To my absolute horror, one of those huge undead spiders was, in fact, right behind me. It bared its grotesque, gnarled fangs and raised two front legs in an attack position.
Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!
With trembling hands, I grabbed the abyssal blades Valarendrik had gifted me, pulling them out of the holster wrapped around my waist. The spider took a lightning-fast intimidation step toward me, causing me to stumble back with a terrified yelp. My hands trembled as I fearfully pointed my weapons up toward it. I knew I had to stab the damn thing and get it over with, but I froze in fear and uncertainty. I had never actually killed something before. I was always a firm believer in the trap-and-release method when it came to pesky bugs in my house. So this was way out of my comfort zone for more reasons other than the fact that I was literally being attacked bya giant fucking abyss spider!
It lunged at me, its fangs glistening like tiny daggers. Heart racing, I stumbled back, escaping the refuge of the colonnades. The heinous thing lunged again, sending me toppling to the ground. I screamed, a terrified sound escaping my lips. In a desperate attempt to defend myself, I thrust both swords forward, impaling it right in the cephalothorax as we tumbled over.
Putrid saliva oozed down its wiggling fangs and onto my horrified face. Its sharp, spindly legs twitched and grasped at me, becoming weaker with every effort. I yelled as I rolled us over in a pathetic flailing scuffle, then I began stabbing the dreadful thing repeatedly like a frantic madwoman.“Die! Die, you stupid thing!”Black blood squirted all over as it hissed and writhed in agony. It then stilled, with its legs abruptly plopping to the ground around us.
“I did it!”I laughed maniacally to myself like a nutty fruitcake. I gave its crumpled corpse a solid thwack with my satchel, just for good measure.“Take that, fucker!”
