Darkness and Hellfire

Chapter 5 Of Course It Heals Them!

Ready to leave the cave of his rebirth, the dark mage looked around for an exit. There was only one and it was a roughly circular hole in the wall. The man reached into his Inventory and retrieved the magical compass.

“I guess there is only one way to go.” The compass was pointing towards the exit, at least confirming that it was the direction. He started off on his first adventure.

He looked around for anything interesting but mostly it was just more stone. Dark brown, hard, unyielding, unending stone. He walked for a little while and then finally met his first obstacle.

The passageway started to slope down at an increasingly harsh angle. The ground was getting rougher and rougher as well. He put his compass away after checking it one last time to make sure down was the right direction.

“Yikes that won’t end well if I…” He cut off as the rock he was standing on crumbled under his foot. He went down. Barely catching himself with his hands scraping them on the rock. Luckily he had only managed to slide about three feet.

“Holy shit that was close.” His hands burned from the new cuts and scrapes on them. “Ow. This hurts. At least I can see the bottom from here.” About twenty feet below him the tunnels leveled out again. He pulled himself partially upright so at least his chest was no longer on the ground.

“I guess it’s time for that climbing gear.” He tried something for the first time. Pressing his hand through his Inventory screen and once it was through the screen out of sight he thought about the one climbing spike being secured on his hand.

Pulling his hand out he found the climbing spike mostly secured on his hand. With some light adjustment it was on properly. “That sort of worked I guess. Now to hopefully not die again.” Slowly he repeated the presses on his other hand.

Now, with some grip, he slowly slid downwards on his kneepads. Scraping away leather and crumbling stone as he went. A few more close calls and light scrapes but he made it.

“Finally I can stand again. Noted for next time, climbing gear on before I need it.” He got to his feet and put his climbing gear away. He gently brushed off some dirt from his hands. “Ow, ow, ow, I need to find a pair of gloves” He grumbled and turned to continue on his trek.

After about an hour of walking down the same pathway he was getting bored. Absently he started playing with mana. Bringing his mana into his hands again, he pulled some shadow mana over his fingers. Watching the shadowy substance seep out of his skin he touched his fingers together.

“That’s freakin’ weird. I can’t feel anything.” The shadow stuff didn’t feel like anything nor could he tell it was there when he touched it. It was as if his sense of touch was just a shadow of what it should be while in contact with it.

He tapped his fingernail on the end of his longsword hilt. Hearing nothing he got an idea. Focusing on spreading out his mana across his body he then pulled on the shadow aspect and tried to press it outward to cover him and everything he was wearing.

It took some time but eventually he got it stable enough that he could move around and maybe even fight without it falling apart. Then he noticed something. He was getting tired.

Not the normal kind of tired from walking all day or a lack of sleep. No, this was something else. He felt hollow and cold on the inside. It felt like the very center of his being was empty and needed a rest.

“Damn, I must be burning through my mana. Okay enough playing around I guess.” He absently said to himself and then pulled all his energy back into his core. As soon as he started to pull his mana back in he noticed the passageway opening up farther ahead.

Slowing down he moved closer to the wall. Creeping ahead he peered into the cavern that opened up before him. It was about forty feet across but he couldn’t tell how deep it went. There was a steady uphill incline for about fifty feet and then all he could tell was that it continued down on the other side.

There were some jagged rocks but the slope was gentle enough to traverse safely. “Slow and steady and hopefully alone.” He whispered to himself. He quickly pulled out the compass to check which part of the cavern he needed to go towards.

The compass unfortunately was pointing to the exact opposite side of the cavern. He would have to go over the ridge. There was no other way. He listened carefully for anything that might be up ahead but it was dead silent.

He noticed something else though. During the two or three minutes he was listening and creeping forwards his mana was almost full again. He focused on moving his mana towards his feet and then pressed the shadow aspect out.

His steps became silent in a matter of seconds and he tried to feel if his mana was going down or not. Breathing deeply a few times and focusing inwards he realized it wasn’t dropping any faster than it was refilling. “Nice.” He whispered.

He crept along the left side of the cavern. Keeping his right side towards anything that might be trying to kill him. The cavern remained deadly quiet. He approached the top of the ridge and peered over it.

The cavern floor sloped downward and then the walls closed in towards the center of the far wall. There a hole opened into another passageway. Something about these tunnels just didn’t feel right. He couldn’t place why exactly but they didn’t feel natural.

Not seeing anything he continued forward. A few steps past the ridge he suddenly felt like something was staring at him. He froze. Turning his head he tried to find what had seen him. Then he felt another pair of eyes. Then another. Finally he noticed them.

Three lean yet powerful bodies. Six piercing dull white eyes between them. Snouts low but all eyes focused on him. Their bodies were giving off soft wisps of shadow stuff that seemed to try to float away. Their bodies forged half in shadow and half in flesh began to move as they spread out to flank him.

“Shadow wolves huh? I take it they’re not friendly. I kinda wanna pet one though.” He said to himself. He reached down and drew his dagger. He didn’t really know how to use a sword properly and they looked fast. It was better to have something he was comfortable with than something flashy.

He kept moving forward. Trying to get to a point where they could only come at him from two sides. Glancing ahead he was reminded of the wall’s gentle inward curve and cursed to himself. “Well puppies I don’t wanna hurt you. We’re all shadow users right? Let’s be friends.”

The wolves showed no sign of understanding him and got into position. One on his left, the second on his right, and the third straight ahead. The third one hung back however. It looked to be the leader and was most likely waiting for an opening.

The mage got into a fighting stance and waited. This would be a reactionary battle. There was nothing in his arsenal with range so landing a quick first attack was out of the question and he doubted he could get to one of them before the others could react.

The First one launched towards him and then leapt towards his throat. At that exact moment the second one started forwards and seemed to go for his knife hand. He brought his left forearm up and wedged the hardened leather bracer inside the wolf’s mouth.

The second wolf’s attack was inches from his hand as the impact from the first turned him slightly towards the left. This caused the second wolf’s attack to miss his hand and instead bury its teeth in his other bracer.

He knew he had only seconds before the third went for him while the other two had him pinned. He switched the knife into a reverse grip, careful not to drop it, then pulled towards his chest with the hilt facing him as hard as he could.

Once he felt the wolf start to yank back with its full body he went with it. Using the wolf’s own force to drive the dagger blade hilt deep in its eye. It squealed and tried to pull back. He turned his head towards the third and center most wolf just to see it start to lunge.

He brought his knee up and slammed the wolf’s jaws shut while it was still in mid air. Its nose slammed into his chest. The impact yanked his right forearm out of the second wolf’s mouth and sent the three remaining combatants to the ground.

The first wolf still had his left arm in a death grip. Fortunately for him that one was at least tied down. He stabbed at the third wolf’s head, the one that now ended up on top of him, A few stabs scraped off the side of the beast’s head. It tried to get its feet under it and then go for his throat again. As it lunged he jammed the dagger into its mouth vertically.

The blade pierced downward through the beast’s tongue and out the bottom of its mouth. It thrashed its head side to side in a panic. At this rate it wouldn’t die quickly and he could feel the first wolf’s teeth digging through his bracer.

He coated his right hand in his death mana in an attempt to kill the third one faster. Much to his surprise it stopped thrashing and stopped bleeding as badly. “Fuck. Of course it heals them!” He cried and quickly cut off the death mana.

The beast started thrashing again. He let go of the dagger and let the third wolf thrash and toss its head away from him. The fangs from the first wolf were digging into his forearm. He could tell it was about to draw blood if it hadn’t already.

He punched the first wolf in the nose trying to get it off of him while he tried to sit up. It whimpered but didn’t budge. He punched it again. Then again. Finally he jammed his index and middle finger into the creature’s eye. It yelped and jumped back, dislodging it from his bracer, it pawed at its eye and backed away.

The man drew his shortsword and lunged at the first wolf. He swung down as hard as he could from the wolf’s blind side. The monster noticed but not quickly enough to avoid the blow. The blade cut deep in the wolf’s head and wedged itself in the monster’s brow.

The third wolf was starting to slow by now but at this rate it wouldn’t die quickly, nor soon. “O…kay… listen… you… final… bastard…” He wheezed while trying to yank the shortsword out the first wolf’s head. “I’m… going… to finish… you off…” He swallowed and finally managed to get the blade unstuck.

He walked over towards the wolf who kept thrashing but was coughing. Drool and blood was pouring out of its mouth as it side-eyed him. He coated his body in shadow trying to make it harder for the wolf to read his movements and then lunged.

The blade thrust forwards, it caught the wolf in the eye and drove true. It impacted the inside of its skull and got stuck half an inch deep in the bone. Man and beast collapsed in unison. One alive and one dead. The man heaved and turned off his spell.

“Gods I need a nap… and a bath…” He muttered and passed out as the adrenalin rush ran out.