Dreamer's Throne

Book 3: Chapter 23

Most of the Brass Tiger Syndicate gang members had assumed that Maren was talking about himself and the team he had brought when he had said reinforcements were arriving. But only a few minutes later, another group of Awakened rushed into battle. Recognizing one of the other major gangs in the area, Paskal felt his heart lighten once again. And over the next ten minutes, more and more teams arrived, helping to stabilize the battle line. Gero Twin Blade led a team herself, wielding black swords to cut through the zombies as she joined Paskal in his fight against the undead slug monster. Seeing that all of the reinforcements had arrived, Pax gave the signal and her team drew back.

"Where are you going?" one of the concerned gang members yelled, but Pax just jerked her thumb at the booms toward the explosions in the distance.

"We're reinforcing the other fight," she said. "Keep holding the line here."

Quietly monitoring the situation from the Dreamer's throne, Garrett's gaze seemed to be everywhere at once. He was pulling information from every dream flower in the city, filtering through it at an incredibly rapid pace, just in case anything needed his attention. So far, things had mostly stabilized. The massive horde of zombies pouring over the wall into the royal graveyard was beginning to slow. He had wondered if Agma-Yoth's forces truly were endless, but it was clear as the zombies' numbers began to dwindle that they had nearly emptied out the commoners' graveyard outside the wall. There were still thousands of zombies crowded in the royal graveyard, but the defensive line had largely held, which meant it was time to start pushing.

This was the most risky part of Garrett's plan. Rather than continue to fight the spread-out forces, he intended to sweep through the royal graveyard, using his defensive line in the royal graveyard to push the zombies up and to the north, toward the exit and the waiting gangs. His hope was to avoid having any of the zombies reach his territory, though he knew that this was a long shot. He Knew he needed the city's forces to be concentrated up near the Maragoth, that he had still not figured out how he was going to deal with, to ensure the greatest chance of survival for the Klein family. Commands were sent through the dream flowers, and slowly he began to see the defensive line pushing forward, putting more and more pressure on the enemy necromancers still in the graveyard. He was also monitoring the situation underground very closely.

More and more passages had been collapsed, closing them off to keep the necromancers and their zombies who were underground from advancing. He knew that it wouldn't be possible to block every single passage, but he was doing his best to funnel them into smaller passages where the zombies couldn't fight a dozen abreast, but instead were forced to cram into tight spaces, facing the flower ghouls only a few at a time. When he felt as if his positions on the ground were stabilized, Garrett turned his full attention back to Isabelle, who was continuing to chase Delrisa across the city's rooftops. It was time to deal with her once and for all. With a blink, Garrett felt his vision shift as he took control of Isabelle fully.

It was a barely noticeable change, but as his powerful mental energy radiated through the dire spirit, Delrisa seemed to notice, and with a shriek, launched herself into the air, transforming into mist as hair stabbed through the spot she had just been. In a flash, the Bone Witch reformed, spinning and unleashing a necromantic curse at the dire spirit. It slammed into the hair that had just attacked her, causing it to wither rapidly, and with a slash, Isabelle cut the dying hair loose, causing it to transform into ash that blew away in the storm. She lunged forward, her hair spreading out, trapping Delrisa and forcing the vampire into close combat. As lords of the night, vampires were considered some of the most powerful and dangerous of the undead.

With nearly limitless endurance, incredible speed, and the strength to rip a man apart with their bare hands, they were fearsome fighters, especially in close combat. Yet as Delrisa's long nails tore through Isabelle's form, the wounds she caused healed back up in an instant. As a dire spirit, the evolved form of a pale fiend, Isabelle was entirely immune to physical attacks. Only the necromancer's spells and mental energy attacks could even begin to touch her, making her the worst possible opponent for the powerful lord of the night. With a furious shriek, Delrisa tried to disengage again, transforming into her mist that flowed away faster than the eye could follow, down into the streets below. Yet Garrett was one step ahead of her, and as Isabelle launched herself forward to follow, he was already issuing commands. Down below, a group of people was sprinting towards the Maragoth. Running right behind Pax, Kinsley suddenly pulled up short, causing the entire team to stop.

A confused expression twisted his face underneath his mask, and he scratched his head before thrusting his hand to the side, unleashing a gout of flame that lit up the night. The flame was aimed at a corner of a building nearby, and even as it rolled out, burning the air and unleashing a heat wave that peeled paint from the nearby walls, Delrisa rounded the corner, her body still composed of mist, and ran directly into it. Forced out of her mist form by the fierce flame, she screamed in agony as her flesh began to melt. Vampires had few weaknesses, but fire was chief among them, and she had taken the blast directly to the chest, without the chance to prepare any sort of defense. As quickly as she appeared, she vanished, dashing back around the corner to try to gain some distance, only to find Isabelle there waiting for her. There was a muffled shriek and then silence as the entire party stared at Kinsley in disbelief.

What was that? Marin asked, looking between Kinsley and the corner where he had launched his attack.

Scratching his head again, Kinsley shrugged. I have no idea, he said. I just felt like I should attack there.

Well, whatever that was, it seems to have done some good, Estelle said, patting him on the shoulder.

We don't have time for this, Asher said, his voice low. The adventurers are starting to flag.

Then let's get going, Pax replied, leading the way forward in the jog.

Moments earlier, as Delrisa had retreated from the flame blast around the corner, trying to put some distance between her and Kinsley, she suddenly felt her body stilling as a paralyzing energy washed over her. It was a feeling she was intimately familiar with, and fear raced through her maddened mind.

Her mind was barely able to register fear, and yet this terror was so deep that she found herself shivering. A short scream burst from her throat as she tried to shake herself free, but a strand of hair wrapped around her throat, choking it off as her darting eyes caught sight of a faint reflection in one of the darkened windows in front of her. In it, she could see the hair that ensnared her body, and she saw Isabelle's face appearing behind her shoulder.

Come, the dire spirit said, her lips stretching in a grit-wide smile. The Master would like to speak to you.

With a flash, Delrisa was gone, pulled into the reflection of the mirror that Isabelle held. The binding feeling lifted from Delrisa as she was thrown into one of the empty rooms of the hollow space, and immediately she jumped to her feet, dashing back to the corner of the room and staring around warily.

Her features were badly marred by the flame, and though vampires boasted a tremendous ability to regenerate, her body seemed slow to repair the damage that Kinsley's flames had caused. She looked around wildly, trying to find an enemy, but found that she was entirely alone. Before she could relax, however, she heard a subtle click, and realized the knob of the door was turning. As the door opened a crack, she saw a man in a white mask, standing just outside. With a hiss, she launched herself towards him, intending to rend him limbless. But before she could, she heard half a dozen overlapping shrieks that slammed into her, blasting her back into the wall with a bone-jarring thud. Six pale fiends drifted into the room, their hanging bodies and grotesque expressions staring at her, as if they wanted nothing more than to transform her into one of them. Commanding them to let her be, Garrett walked into the room after them, as she shook free from the stunning influence of the screams.

Just as Delrisa was about to launch herself forward again, trying to attack him once more, Garrett's eyes narrowed and he unleashed his mental power, crushing her to the ground. His feet made soft clicks as he walked forward, never once letting up on the pressure he was exuding. Even the pale fiends who were on his side could feel it, and all of them edged backwards as he passed. The only reason they didn't flee was because he had commanded them to be still, but it was clear from the twitch of their bodies that they desperately wished to be anywhere else but next to him. Garrett's mental energy was a curious thing, heavier than most, and incredibly concentrated.

It carried with it an aura, borrowed from the Dreamer's Throne, that suppressed the mental energy of anyone he came across. It was this aura that kept Delrisa pinned in place, despite the fact that she too was of the Shaper level. Hers was a false Shaper level, however, boosted by Agma-Yoth's power that coursed through her. Still, it was no match for the pressure Garrett exuded, and as he crouched down in front of her, he seemed to have no fear that she might break free and harm him.

Thanks for stopping by to chat, he said, his voice casual. I'm looking forward to what I might be able to learn from you.

Hearing a strangled hiss escape from Delrisas gritted teeth, Garret didnt relax the pressure he was putting on her one bit. Her head was turned slightly, one bloodshot eye glaring up at him, and he could see the deep madness it held. It was clear to him that there was no way he was actually going to have a reasonable conversation with her, so he didn't even bother trying. Rather, he intended to discover what she knew by prying it from her mind. Though Garrett did not prefer direct action, he wasn't afraid to take it when the situation required. And for what may have been the first time since he had awoken in this world, Garrett found himself intentionally engaging in a contest of strength.

It wasn't his physical strength that he was testing against Delrisa, a contest that he would surely lose, but rather his mental strength, a contest he could hardly help but win. Thanks to the support of the Dreamer's Throne, his mental strength in the hollow space was nearly overwhelming. And even though Delrisa had borrowed a considerable amount of power from Agma-Yoth, she wielded it like a toddler, barely scratching the surface of its use as Garrett unleashed a mental blow against her. It slammed into her head, causing her expression to grow dazed. But Garrett was relentless, attacking again and again. His goal was to form a crack in the thick layer of mental energy that coursed through her, hoping to pry it open, gaining her secrets as well as removing a potent enemy.

From around the hollow space, flowers began to gather, crawling in through the open doorway as they made their way to the room where Delrisa was trapped. They had been growing naturally in the dream-rich environment of the hollow space, spreading blooms into every corner and up and down the long, twisting hallways. Now, Garrett called many of them to him. This was a gamble of considerable proportion, as he had no idea how powerful Agma-Yoth's energy truly was, but as he unleashed his tenth mental blow, he saw Delrisa spasm, and faint confusion seemed to gush from deep within her, filling her eyes. It was only a moment, but Garrett seized it. At his command, the flowers that had crawled over to where Delrisa lay latched onto her, pulling and prying at Agma-Yoth's energy that coursed through her, ensuring that the gap remained.

The energy they were consuming was tremendously powerful, even stronger than Garrett's. And rather than flourish as a result, it seemed to burn them, causing the plants to wither away. Yet they kept absorbing it, pulling it in different directions, as they sought to widen the gap in Delrisa's defenses. Garrett went to work as well, wielding his mental energy like a scalpel, rather than the blunt hammer he had been deploying up until that point. His hand reached out, landing on Delrisa's bald head. It was a strange feeling, like touching a corpse that had been dead for a very long time, and he could feel the necromantic energy that shrouded her undead flesh. But he pressed forward, doing his best to work his energy in her mind. He knew that outside, the situation was chaotic and barely stable, but this operation took every ounce of his concentration, as he fought back Agma-Yoth's power and sought to supplant it with his own.

The first flower finally fell, and he felt a slight sting as it crumbled to ash. A second and then a third soon followed, but he was relentless, sending one after another to their death. He couldn't be too fast, otherwise they might accidentally kill the vampire. And so the seconds stretched to minutes, and the minutes began to pile up. If Garrett could have sweated in the hollow space, he would have dripped buckets by now. He kept his concentration firm, despite the exhausting work of prying Agma-Yoth's control from the undead monster. He had been paying careful attention to how the necromancers controlled the zombies, and had been studying the way the flower ghouls operated in depth, and he used that knowledge now as he continued pressing his energy into Delrisa, even as he stripped away Agma-Yoth's mental energy bit by bit. He knew that the dream flowers could infect both nightmares and living beings, and undead, which, like the ghouls existed halfway in between, were particularly susceptible. The question was, how many flowers would it take? He was almost afraid to find out the answer.