MH2 - Chapter 5: Kelzoul's Promise

The wolfkin stopped at the flap to enter the Overlord’s tent and announced his presence. The flap pulled away, revealing a dark hut lit by a large fire at the center. Dolli could only see around the sides of the wolfkin’s head, but took note of the three, even larger, coral-skinned creatures. They were gathered around the fire, looking forward to where the wolfkin’s head blocked Dolli’s view.

The walls were adorned with weapons and armor, show things of conquered heroes—or perhaps dungeons. A ring of wooden benches surrounded the fire where a rotating wild boar grew pink and crispy. Such extravagance helped Dolli better understand the monster she was dealing with. He wanted it all so he could bask in it. So shallow.

The straps to the jar slipped off the wolfkin’s shoulders and Doll’s prison dropped to the ground with a thud. The wolfkin kneeled and dropped his head, revealing the monster Kelzoul on a thrown of bones and leather.

He was the same coral-skinned as the other beefslabs Dolli had seen, but he was unquestionably the largest humanoid monster she’d ever laid eyes on. Silvery hair cascaded down his shoulders in beaded braids and a bone necklace draped his chest. His jaw was wide and square below a thick nose and pale eyes set just a bit farther apart than looked normal.

Kelzoul stood, grinned, and motioned for the wolfkin to rise. The Overlord stepped down the stairs from his throne and approached, towering over the others and the wolfkin by at least four feet. He patted the wolfkin with a heavy hand decorated in rings of every metal, inset with a multitude of stones. There was a sword at his hip that appeared to be something a Dusk Knight would wield, and his leggings were worn black leather studded with spikes. His chest was bare—save for the necklace and a single bright pink pauldron. For all the loot he had, he certainly could use some style tips.

The wolfkin stepped aside and gestured to Dolli with a bow, then backed away. Kelzoul picked up the jar with his oversized hand and pulled it up to his face. He tapped the glass a few times.

“Wispelle proof.” Kelzoul’s voice was muffled through the glass, but Dolli heard him clear enough. “No slipping out the cracks for you.”

Dolli’s mind raced as images of her possible futures ran through her head. The Dungeon Core for Monster Haven was safely stored many feet under her hut back in town, but what if Kelzoul could still extract her yekipyip—her respawn essence, her anima? This could be the end.

“You come to surrender?” the Overlord asked confidently.

“To make an alliance, actually,” she replied. Her voice was loud in the tiny space.

Kelzoul frowned, then looked at the wolfkin. He said something in another language that didn’t sound pleased, and pointed his finger. The wolfkin dropped his head, then backed out of the tent while bowing.

Kelzoul walked to the fire and held Dolli’s jar over the flames. Uncomfortable heat bloomed around the edges and Dolli pulled away from the glass. The flames licked up the side of the jar and passed over harmlessly over Kelzoul’s hands. The air around Dolli felt thick, and the pressure on her body increased.

“You come for what?” Kelzoul asked, then shook the jar. Dolli bounced from side to side, the hot sting of the glass singing her misty Spark body. It was getting harder to breathe.

“I’m offering you a deal. I can summon heroes,” Dolli said with a wheeze.

Kelzoul removed her from the flames and set the jar on a nearby bench. “What use do I have for heroes?”

“Experience, armor, and weapons. We can offer you ten percent of our kills for a mutual understand that we won’t kill each other.”

Kelzoul laughed and the three other coral-skins did too. He gestured about the room and Dolli looked more closely at all the sparkling trophies mounted on the walls. There was a sword glowing blue that sent frost reaching up the wall all around it, a gold helm with tall horns that looked like it had belonged to someone with glorious purpose, an axe with glowing runes on the handle, rings that smoked, on and on.

“I do not need more of their dressings. I do not need the experience. We found a better way,” Kelzoul grinned, then knelt and stared at Dolli with his ghostly pale eyes. “You have what we need. Surrender to us.”

“We’ve only just begun negotiations,” Dolli said with a smile. “What about fifteen percent, and a floor on my dungeon?”

Kelzoul grinned, then said something in his natural language to the others. They chuckled, and unsheathed their weapons. This was not at all going the way Dolli had hoped.

“Twenty and two floors. You’ll have access to our expert crafters, as well. Alchemy, blacksmiths, architects, enchanted tailors, engineers. We could build you incredible weapons,” Dolli said with a flourish of her hands to sell the point.

Kelzoul rubbed his chin in mock thoughtfulness. “What if you keep your twenty percent and I take your core and your crafters? We are short on alchemists… This is the deal I like.”

“Well, fortunately for you, I am the Overlord and the Alchemist. I’d provide you with high quality potions for your escapades. I used to be a Witch of the Wilds.”

“That is too bad for you. Your core,” he said licking his lips as one would when thinking of their favorite food. “It is the only thing I crave.

He didn’t want to know whether she could summon heroes, didn’t want her beneficial potions, or a space in her dungeon. He didn’t care a lick about anything she had to offer, except the two things she didn’t want to give up: her people and her life.

“We can do it easy, or fun. Which way do you want?” Kelzoul asked with a malicious leer.

“I’d really prefer a third option,” Dolli said, then snapped open her menu. She panned to Hero Quests and cursed when she saw the summon button on Keevan was not selectable. Of all the times for him to be unsummonable!

“Oh?” Kelzoul asked with unwavering confidence. Dolli could tell by the way he had patience for the end that he was used to getting his way. He knew a little Wispelle like Dolli wasn’t going to outmaneuver him. Well, Dolli was happy to surprise him.

“How about you leave the valley, and we don’t go to war?” Dolli asked, stalling for more time. The smoke rising from the tent gave her a fraction of a plan, but she needed more.

Kelzoul leaned down. “I promise you can never escape my wrath. I am a God and nothing will stand in the way of my immortality.”

Dolli shook her head with a scowl. “We’re monsters, we’re already immortal. What more do you want?”

Kelzoul laughed and picked up Dolli’s jar. He moved toward the fire again. “Surrender.”

Dolli looked up through Kelzoul’s fingers to the hole above. It was pushing a good amount of air, maybe enough to lift her if she used Vapor Conversion. She could take any shape she wanted, and just the one came to mind. The heat in the jar was already uncomfortable, and Dolli knew the way out was going to be even more uncomfortable, but she would survive to bring back all the information she’d gathered.

Not just information. Dolli needed one more thing before she could leave.

“Surrender!” Kelzoul shook the jar, jostling her and the dirt around.

“Not to a pathetic excuse of an overlord like you,” Dolli said defiantly.

Kelzoul gritted his teeth in a furious leer. “Then it’s the fun way.”

His grip tightened until the glass cracked, spilling heat and smoke into Dolli’s prison. She could escape now, but it wasn’t time, not yet. He needed to be blinded by anger, sloppy. He’d killed hundreds, maybe thousands of monsters by now, and he was confident Dolli would be no different.

She cast Fold Reality at the top of the tent opening and started the twenty second countdown in her mind. If she didn’t cast the second portal by then, the spell would end and leave her stranded.

Dolli gave him a wink and a rude gesture she’d seen the Heroes use, and that was the final straw. Kelzoul twisted the bottom of the contraption open, then reached in for Dolli. She used Bust of Speed to slip past him, following his arm up to his shoulder where a silvery braid lay.

Her body burned and mind raced as she cased Vapor Conversion, dropping her Spark to dangerously low levels as she transformed into a miniature wyvern. She chomped down on the dangling hair and ripped a good chunk free.

Kelzoul roared with anger and turned to swipe at her. Dolli allowed herself to drop and cast the second portal. She dove through headfirst with confidence, then rocketed up into the searing jetstream of bonfire fumes.

The hot air pushed her out through the top of the tent and Kelzoul bellowed commands in his native tongue. The sound of the glass jar shattering followed Dolli into the cold night air, and shards flew past her head. She held tight to the lock of hair while the current of burning heat pushed her higher.

Kelzoul’s voice projected throughout the camp. “The Wispelle is escaping. All flight units, deploy!”

Dolli was a good forty feet above the tent, but her ascent was slowing. She had to do something, and fast. The Spark bar in the corner of her vision filled a fraction—heck yes for Mortmortis! It was just enough for one more spell.

She angled herself upwards and cast Burst of Speed, then flapped her awkward wyvern wings like mad. She left the jetstream of hot air and moved over the camp while creatures took flight all around her. None of them were much bigger than Dolli, but she was completely out of options—or was she?

Dolli summoned one of the Spark potions from her inventory and gripped it in her little clawed hand. If she survived this, she’d remember to maintain a few of her more humanoid features like hands. She switched the lock of hair to her other claw, sacrificing a few flaps and dropping a foot or two.

She downed the potion and her Spark pool refilled to 75%. That would be enough, but would her spells work the way she hoped up in the air? There was only one way to find out.

Two flying rat-like creatures were closing in with their leathery wings, and Dolli cast Gravity Sink right in their path. The monsters crossed into her area of effect and instantly slowed, then dropped out of the sky. Yes! She could do this.

An arrow whizzed past her head and Dolli turned to see a short archer in green atop a big flying reindeer with a glowing red nose. The reindeer pranced on the very air, its feet blasting out clouds of white mist where it “stepped.” Snow rained down on the camp, giving Dolli some much needed cover.

“Hurry!” The archer urged in a hushed voice, then fired another arrow wide past Dolli’s head. Was he purposefully missing?

Dolli turned her head back around front and leaned down into the wind. She stored the lock of hair and the empty bottle in her inventory, then set her sights on the horizon home. She caught the draft, pulling her along and lifting her up as cold air caressed her burnt wings.

They were almost at the edge of camp when another set of flighted creatures whose bodies were smooth and round made chase. Then, another three creatures came out of the trees, coasting on the same wind Dolli had caught. Her Spark was too low for anything amazing, and she couldn’t risk drinking another potion and overload her body.

The round blobs of creatures made sounds like angry ribbits and fireballs belched from their massive mouths. Dolli dipped out of the way and lost her balance, rolling over and over until she straightened again. She’d lost a good twenty feet of elevation with that move, and she couldn’t manage it again without flying into the trees ahead.

The ribbits that preceded fireballs came again and Dolli banked, hoping to get out of their path. One clipped her wing and she roared in pain, spiraling out of the sky. A gush of cold air blew pine needles out of the trees and pushed Dolli back up into the air, face to face with a real wyvern with its jaws open wide. For a split instant, Dolli felt the panic of imminent death, but then she noticed the blue-green speckles across the wyvern’s snout.

“Nubiri!” Dolli cried.

The wyvern dipped her head, scooping Dolli up onto her back, then flapped hard to regain altitude. Dolli heard the wyvern’s massive maw snap shut on flesh and bones, eliciting terrified screams from the monsters below. Dolli turned, canceling her Vapor Conversion and grabbing tight to the spikes on Nubiri’s neck.

The giant wyvern pumped her wings and they rose, getting closer and closer to the cloud cover above and well out of the smaller creatures’ range. When they breeched the tops of the misty white and emerged into the sparkling navy twilight sky, Dolli sighed.

There were a hundred different thoughts running through her mind, but none so important as one. She laid her face against the wyvern’s neck and whispered, “Thank you.”