Volume 3 Chapter 39 – Entrance to Darkness (Patreon)

"This is amazing! We should have just done this from the start," Morrigan spoke into Azrael's mind. Both of them had taken the form of a dragon, Morrigan's version looking like a smaller Haku while Azrael's was a larger black dragon.

"I didn't know you already knew how to transform into creatures. You couldn't do it for the longest time," Azrael replied as he sped up, trying to keep ahead of Morrigan. She had no issues increasing her speed as well, keeping up with Azrael's black dragon form.

"I had trouble understanding how to change my limbs. I don't think I could transform into anything that isn't a dragon since I managed to learn a lot about how dragons move and how their bodies work through Haku," she replied. 

"Take your time in mastering dragons first. Each new creature comes with new complexities. Not like I can transform into every creature that exists in Doppelta," Azrael admitted.

"Really? Not even a genius like you?" Morrigan asked. "What can't you transform into?"

"Small creatures like bugs or mice or such. No matter how many times I try I can't squish myself down to their size," the mage said, shaking his dragon head. Morrigan thought about it and she couldn't imagine making herself smaller. In fact, imagining herself being larger was also difficult – that's why her dragon form was relatively small.

Suddenly, before she could realize what was happening, Azrael blocked her path and she nearly flew straight into him.

"Hey, what gives?" she growled at him.

"Shhh. I sense something," Azrael said and pointed toward one of the lava lakes that was underneath them. Morrigan looked at it, trying to discern something in it, but all she saw was bubbling hot lava.

But as she kept looking, the bubbling seemed to grow larger and larger. Morrigan recognized this odd pattern all too well, "Is that one of the good awful lava salamanders?"

Slowly, the lava bubbled and grew until it finally gave way and revealed the scaly creature underneath. It was slightly larger than the one Morrigan had encountered before but it looked just as unimpressive and dopey.

"Seems like we have flown into their territory. That's not good," Azrael grumbled.

"Didn't you say that making loud noises could scare them away?" she asked and was about to give her best draconic roar when Azrael hurriedly shook his head.

"That only works if they have wandered outside their territory or when they are on the ground where they are vulnerable. In a place like this a little scream isn't going to do anything but draw their attention," the mage explained. The salamander underneath had its beady eyes locked on them. They stared at each other for a moment until it looked like the salamander was about to dive back into the lava.

"You were worried for nothing. It's diving back in," Morrigan mused. 

"I don't think it's diving back in," Azrael responded. Just as he said that the lava salamander opened its large maw and spit a giant glob of lava straight at them. Unfortunately for the beast, Morrigan quickly took control of the fiery orb and flung it straight back at it. It collided with the salamander's head and then trickled back into the lake. The monster looked stupefied.

"How rude! Who just flings lava at somebody?" Morrigan grumbled and let out an angry roar at the salamander. It let out a screech on its own and then lava began to bubble in more and more places. One after another more and more fire salamanders rose out of the lava.

"How many of those lava balls do you think we can stop?" Azrael asked, sounding somewhat amused.

"Plenty. But I'm not sticking around to find out," Morrigan grumbled and hurried forward. Azrael followed right after her and the salamanders began bombarding them with lava. It rained upon them like fiery rain, but they had no trouble redirecting it back at the salamanders. At least at first. When they realized that there was no end to either the salamanders or their tenacity to attack them, they switched their tactics.

Morrigan and Azrael tried to fly as high as the cave ceiling allowed them. It wasn't very high unfortunately as it was particularly low in this part of the Underworld. And instead of redirecting the lava, they either blocked it or dodged it since that required less magic. There wasn't much point in pelting salamanders with lava anyway, since it didn't hurt them in the slightest.

"Why are they so persistent?" Morrigan complained as one of the lava balls slammed against her underbelly. It didn't hurt her thanks to her resistance and the draconic scales, but the feeling wasn't pleasant. Like someone had hurled a hot piece of slime at her clothes. Not enough to burn the skin, but it did make her want to scrape it off.

"Because they don't know that we're a threat. I am honestly tempted to freeze this place over," Azrael grumbled.

"Aren't you out of magic by now?" Morrigan asked, noticing how much Azrael was dodging and weaving to avoid the lava.

"Yeah, I'm completely out. The portal and taking dragon form already left me with minuscule reserves."

"How would we even get through here with carriages?"

"We're taking a shortcut now. Carriages would have taken a different path," Azrael replied, one lava glob barely missing him. He let out an angry growl. "Oh, piss off already!"

Morrigan was also getting increasingly annoyed with the salamanders. She stopped flying and turned to face them. As the salamander kept spitting lava, she took control of it and began converging lava together into one large sphere. After a short while, there was a giant sphere of lava floating in the air. 

"Leave us alone!" She let out a booming roar so loud that the whole cave shook as if an earthquake had struck it. At the same time, the giant lava ball began accelerating toward the salamanders. The beasts dove into the lava when they saw the incoming attack. It collided with one of the lava lakes and sent lava flying in every direction. Salamanders flew along with the lava, flopping helplessly like fish out of water.

Morrigan was taken aback by her own power, almost feeling sorry for the beasts. Almost. 

"Damn, Princess. Did you know you have a horrifying amount of power?" Azrael noted.

"Let's just get going before they gather their wits again," Morrigan grumbled.

***

Their journey in dragon form came to an end much sooner than Morrigan had anticipated. As soon as they were out of lava salamander territory, the scenery began to change. The amount of lava lakes decreases drastically, leaving only occasional lava rivers in their stead. Eventually, the number of those dwindled as well and darkness took over again. They were forced to land and return to their demon forms. 

"Don't tell me that we're going to have to walk the rest of the way," Morrigan asked, taking greedy gulps of water from the bottle. She thanked that this particular bottle had a water crystal imbued at the base, meaning that it would never run out. With the amount she was drinking, she likely had already drunk two full bottles.

"Yeah, we're walking," Azrael confirmed, also taking a drink. Morrigan groaned. The journey was supposed to be four more days from when they separated from the main group. For how many days would they have to trek through the dark? "Come on. Less whining, more walking."

Morrigan glared at him, then began to walk. Albeit very unwillingly. She already felt tired from flying in her dragon form. Who knew that flying was so tiring? This was probably the reason why the city pigeons usually walked and didn't fly even when somebody was basically already stepping on them.

"I am sure you can endure. You're a tough princess after all," Azrael snickered. She barely contained the urge to throw a fireball at him. Mostly she held back because she was already tired. But they still had to walk.

They walked and they walked until Morrigan felt a distinct chill pass through her. It wasn't that the air had gotten colder. At least she didn't think that was the case. But there was something distinctly unpleasant in the air.

"Is it colder here?" she asked Azrael.

"No, but I get what you're feeling. We're almost there."

"Wait… Already?"

"Yeah. I told you we took a shortcut. Although I almost wish we hadn't," Azrael said, a visible shiver running through him.

"Why not? Isn't it good that we're getting here faster?" she cocked her head. The unpleasant feeling however seemed to grow stronger with each step that she took. Her body was telling her to turn around and go back. That she wasn't supposed to go there.

"Going in there is never good. I hate that place," Azrael said and pointed towards something in the dark. Morrigan narrowed her eyes, trying to discern anything when she suddenly saw a pair of yellow eyes looking back at her. She conjured a fireball, ready to attack the beast, but Azrael raised his hand. "No need to fight this one."

She put out the fire and slowly walked closer. Soon enough she managed to discern the owner of the yellow eyes. It was the very same sphinx that she met in the maze. 

"Why is it here?" Morrigan asked.

"This place needed a guardian and I couldn't imagine anyone better. These creatures are the best when it comes to tasks like this," Azrael explained.

"But what is it guarding? The last sacred site?" 

"Entrance to the Underdark," the mage replied, and Morrigan looked at him in disbelief. 

Was this the same Underdark that the ancient story talked about? The one that was guarded by the landwyrm before?

"Wait, we're going to the Underdark?" 

"Yes. You cannot become a true ruler unless you've been in here and later returned," Azrael explained.

"Does it require a high amount of magic for entrance?" 

"No. Magic has nothing to do with it. Now listen closely, Morrigan. Underdark is the kind of place where anyone can enter but only those who have been in there before can leave," Azrael said, all of his usual jokes and smiles completely gone.

"Only those who have been there before can leave? Then how am I supposed to leave?" 

"You have to come together with someone who's been there before. I came here together with your mother. I didn't understand why she'd take me to this place. After all, I wasn't royalty or anything like that. Initially, I thought it's because she believed that I'd be the next king by marrying into the position," Azrael said then looked at Morrigan. "But now I believe it's because I am supposed to guide you out of here."

"So if she were alive, she'd be the one to guide me out?"

"Yes," he said, then took a deep breath. "Alright, let's get this over with. Steel yourself."

Morrigan nodded, and then both of them stepped towards the entrance. The sphinx obediently bowed its head and stepped aside, revealing the dark cavern behind it. It was rather small, enough for maybe three people to get inside. But from that cavern came the eeriest, most unpleasant feeling Morrigan had ever experienced. Like she was inside a haunted graveyard, but the ghosts were very much real.

It took all of her willpower to force her body to overcome what she could only call some instinctual fear and take a step inside the Underdark. The moment she did, her senses were assaulted by thousands of voices. But it was nothing like the relatively pleasant jingle of the stars. It was as if she was in the middle of a crowd and everyone was screaming directly in her ears.

"Make it stop!" she screamed out, clutching at her ears, desperately trying to stop the voices. But they only became more insistent and louder.

"You have to be strong! Don't let them overwhelm you," Azrael called out somewhere among the deafening crowd, but she couldn't hear him anymore.

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