Page 107 of Unbinding the Demon
However, my psychotic cackling came to a sudden halt as a thunderous, otherworldly roar bellowed overhead. I shot a panicked glance upward, and terror danced in my eyes. One of the vovin’s monstrous heads loomed like a dark shadow above me. Its colossal jaws gaped wide, revealing a horror show within. Thick strings of drool webbed and dripped between razor-sharp teeth, glistening ominously as it snarled.
My blood froze, and my breathing went into overdrive. A panicked, blood-curdling scream left my lips of its own accord as black flames spewed out from its gaping maw. High above, Azathoth’s fiery gaze sliced through the air, landing on me. His face drained of color, painted with sheer horror and panic. It was clear he wouldn't reach me in time.
This is what I get for accepting free college tuition... aviolent, flaming death caused by an undead dragon in The Abyss.
I flinched, bracing myself for my fiery departure as the black flames poured down upon me. In that fleeting moment right before impact, Azathoth materialized from thin air, swirling in a cloud of obsidian mist as he grabbed hold of me. He spread his massive, seemingly unbreakable wings, creating a shield against the flames. As the torrent of dark fire continued, he held his ground with an unwavering stance. Pain twisted his handsome features as he clung to me tightly with fierce determination.
Valarendrik lunged at the attacking vovin’s head, driving one of his swords into the side of its throat with a heavy blow. As he flipped it over, he artfully navigated around its massive, scaly nape, his blade slicing along the entire circumference of its neck in one graceful swoop. In a gruesome finale, he decapitated the creature, causing a shower of rancid black blood to erupt in a horrific display. He then flipped back down with the elegance of a dancer, landing with poise beside the freshly severed head, his shadows swirling around him.
Azathoth swooped me up in a hurry, kicking the bedraggled spider corpse off to the side, and speedily stuffed me back behind a colonnade. “We’re almost done. Just stay right there.” He held up his hands as though he were afraid I might run out again, then rushed back to the battle.
I tried to calm my frantic breathing and trembling hands as I watched him fly high into the air. He dove down and grabbed the last vovin by its jagged horns, using all his strength to yank its head back. Valarendrik simultaneously jumped up and cross-slashed halfway through its exposed throat. Bones popped and buckets of blood rained down as Azathoth landed on its back, then powerfully ripped the rest of the head off, using both his demonic strength and the momentum from his aerial dive. Azathoth hurled the decapitated head against the wall, cracking it, then it lifelessly plopped to the floor in a bloody heap.
Valarendrik effortlessly flipped back down, once again landing with agile elegance, and Azathoth...stumbled?
My heart pounded in my chest as I stumbled back down to the ground. The lethal poison felt like battery acid in my veins, burning worse than ever before. I could feel its scathing web expeditiously spreading, weakening my body at an alarming rate.
Valarendrik was quick to notice my weakness. “Are you alright, Azathoth?” he questioned with growing concern while retracting his claws back to their usual length.
“Well, the fucking poison in my arm is spreading rampantly because I traversed the shadows. So no, not really.” Quick as I could manage, I grabbed the vovin’s center stump neck and flew up, lifting its heavy weight to reveal its chest. “The axe should be hidden inside its heart. I need you to cut it out for me.” I bit back a hiss of excruciating pain. My wings were stronger than diamonds, but that vovin had managed to singe them raw in my weakened state.
Hollowing denial numbed my mouldering soul from the grim reality I now faced. My time was unexpectedly cut very short. Somewhere in the back of my frenzied mind, I knew I shouldn’t have still bothered with the axe. I didn’t have time. But I was in a state of stubborn negation and determined to complete my task.
Valarendrik sliced the thick, scaly hide of its chest open without any hesitation. With every painful flap of my wings, sweat trickled down my brow and agony laced my body. Meanwhile, he toiled away, excavating the axe from the squishy, repugnant organ with determination. Gwendolyn’s small, disheveled frame approached with careful steps, silently watching with widened eyes. Love bloomed in my heart as I gazed down at her... and then a wave of sudden panic crashed over me.
Fuck! I have to get unbound immediately!
“I’ve got it,” he announced just in time as he pulled out the blackened, blood-covered weapon.
With both relief and hysteria, I released the neck and ungracefully fluttered back down. “Gwendolyn, get the book out. We’re leaving right now!” I tried not to let the panic seep into my voice, but it was there.
Valarendrik’s messy hair draped forward, while he slightly bowed and handed me the slimy axe. The intricately forged weapon glistened with demonic grandeur, as my now veiny, clawed hand swiftly seized it. “Will you ever return after this?” he asked, his eyes betraying his struggle to conceal his sorrow and worry.
My breath hitched. I knew he was terribly lonesome here in this vast land of sorrow and decay, and I was his only source of companionship other than Sagacor. He was a rare soul, too emotionally evolved and brilliantly bright for a world shrouded in perpetual darkness. Yet his curse of being born to undying death unfortunately chained him here. I frowned as I glanced at the lethal black veins growing over my arm, genuinely unsure if I’d live to return.
I latched my hand onto his forearm in a show of brotherly affection, realizing that this might be our final goodbye. His corpse-like hand gripped my forearm in return as my luminescent, golden gaze met his darkened, ruby one. “Valarendrik, you are very dear to me, and I consider our friendship invaluable. I owe you a great deal for all that you’ve saved me from. I promise that if I survive this, I will return. If not, then I wish you only the best, and thank you for being my friend.” My heart ached, wishing I had time to say more.
He smiled at me, his eyes shining with kindness and sorrow. “Then leave now and do what you must to survive, my friend.” He glanced over at Gwendolyn, who had spilled the contents of the bag onto the ground in her urgent search for the book. I could feel her eyes shifting back and forth to the black veins spreading in my arm. Panic and guilt marred her delicate face as she realized what was happening. “She is a good female for you. Take care of her and give her my farewell until we meet again.” We squeezed our hands with brotherly love, then released our grips on one another.
“Azathoth?” she whispered fearfully, with tears brimming in her eyes. Her hands trembled as she offered me the book, almost dropping it on the ground.
My arm was almost half black now, and the web was stretching up to the side of my face. “Don’t worry, Buttercup.” I tried to sound comforting. “I just need to be unbound. Valarendrik says goodbye. Now, let’s leave!” I swiped the book from her shaking hands and began frantically flipping to the page needed to return.
She surged forward and wrapped her arms around Valarendrik’s tall undead frame in a speedy hug, stunning him completely stupid. “Goodbye, Valarendrik,” she muttered with haste, then returned to my side just as I found the right page. His widened eyes shifted around in shocked confusion. If I wasn’t internally freaking the fuck out, I would have laughed. That was likely the first time he’d ever been hugged.
“Goodbye, my friend.” I nodded to him with a smile.
Gripping Gwendolyn close, I speedily uttered the spell to traverse worlds, sounding like one of those voice overs mentioning all the awful side effects in a medication commercial. Black fog engulfed us like a suffocating cloud of death as we dropped into what felt like a rapidly swirling portal. I closed my eyes and held her tight, cherishing the feeling of her body pressed against mine. My heart raced as the icy hand of fear gripped my soul.
When Gwendolyn had agreed to perform the unbinding spell, I was foolishly hopeful and certain that I would actually survive this madness. That the poison wouldn’t kill me. That I’d live to see my family and my homeland again. That I had a good chance of making her my beloved bride and starting a family of our own. But now, with one fatal mishap, things had just taken a very grim turn, and I was suddenly certain of something else...
I am most likely going to die.
45. Unbound
Suffocating black fog swirled furiously around our embracing forms. It felt like we were falling in every direction all at once, while the disorienting portal whirled us across the threshold between worlds. Even amongst what seemed like primordial chaos, my wary eyes stayed fixated on Azathoth’s infected chest. The poison was visibly advancing, weaving beneath his flesh like harrowing threads of death. Anguish distorted his features as he squeezed his eyes shut. This must have been excruciatingly painful for him...and it was all my fault.
My spirit was torn asunder with guilt, and I was drowning in apprehension. I placed my forehead against his chest and squeezed my arms around his torso even tighter. “I’m so sorry,” my weak voice despondently whispered as the burden of this disastrous situation crushed my heart.
