A Guide to Kingdom Building

Adaloun tumbled on the cold, stony floor. He looked around and saw the intricate glass portraits on the ceiling. The chamber looked similar to the previous one they ravaged. However, in this particular chamber, it had a huge crystal floating in the middle of an elevated platform at the center of the room. Adaloun felt the strong energy emitted by the huge aetherium crystal and had an idea as to why the deity chose to teleport there.

Just a few footlings away from him was the possessed knight limping. Tristam sat on the floor, writhing in agony as he yanked the arrow from his leg. The possessed knight screamed as he finally took out the magical arrow, then crushing it in his hand.

Tristam tried standing up, but the pain from his wound made it difficult for him to steady himself. Watching him from a distance, Adaloun saw how the possessed knight struggled to cast spells towards him. The once vicious fireballs became so weakened that it faded away as it traveled towards him.

The possessed knight's eyes widened as he felt the huge power decrease, his mouth ajar and was breathing heavily. Tristam scurried away from Adaloun. He crawled himself away from his rival with heaving breath. He made his way through the cold floor and agonizingly climbing the marbled steps.

"You're not going anywhere!" Adaloun stood up and tried to chase him, but the moment he took a step, his foot gave out.

Adaloun fell to the ground. His left ankle was mangled from his tumble earlier and was now causing him some problems. He immediately stood up and did his best to catch the possessed knight, but his injury was hindering him to speed up. Tristam was slowly climbing the ladder. Adaloun limped and chase the possessed knight trying to prevent him from reaching the crystal, but he was too slow.

Tristam crawled to the top and touched the crystal. The crystal glowed letting its power seep into the knight. The light shone shifted its color from its pale blue glow, into the ethereal green energy that  Zaduriel was accustomed to.

He absorbed all the crystal's energy, changing his appearance even further. His horn grew longer, his eyes darkened, and fangs protruded from his mouth. Tristam appeared more like the grotesque god now. His human appearance had faded; his body changed, contorting it into Zaduriel's shell.

Zaduriel grinned. "You should've become my emissary!"

"N-never. Not a chance." Adaloun stood up, braving himself from his injury.

"Even at your dying moment you're still too proud." Zaduriel clicked his tongue.

He raised his arms and created a dark ball of shadow. It hovered on his arm for a while and then he struck it at Adaloun.

"Well then," the possessed knight sighed. "Die." He threw the dark sphere towards him.

The dark sphere enveloped Adaloun. The shadow took away his senses, then slowly, his breathing. He struggled to get out of the dark vacuum, but he wasn't sure if he was moving or not. The darkness that deprived him of his sensations also took out his sense of time and space.

Without his senses, Adaloun's experience with the void was indescribable. He felt nothing as he was slowly deprived of his air. Struggling was just a wasted effort; he was too numb to know if his body had moved or not.

Adaloun wasted away inside the void. He wasn't sure how long he was there. It might've been just a couple of moments passed, but it might've also been an eternity. He couldn't feel anything, but he felt the air slowly being taken away from his lungs. It was a torture knowing that he couldn't do anything to escape the inevitable. He was forced to live his remaining hours in utter despair. He knew death was imminent but there was nothing he could do about it but suffer.

His consciousness was fading drastically fast. He could no longer tell the difference between being wide awake or passing out. Floating in the void, Adaloun was doomed. He was finally about to give up, when a strobe of light appeared in front of him. The light looked like a long thread floating towards him, lighting portions of the void.

It was at that moment that he gained his sensations once again. The light lit up the darkness and took out the despair in his heart. Adaloun knew to whom the thread belonged to; he would've wanted to free himself from the dark hold alone; but it was an impossible feat. With the strength he currently has now, he was nothing more than a mortal—a weak useless mortal.

Adaloun swallowed his pride and pulled the string towards him. The thread of light twirled on his arm before spreading all over his body. The glowing lines became more defined as it embedded on his skin. The twirling patterns spread all over his body. He suddenly felt a surge of power rushing inside of him. He felt his exousia grew exponentially and his strength, a hundred times more.

Using his fist he punched his way out of the darkness, breaking the great void doming over him. He was finally able to blast away the darkness and emerged from the void prison he was placed in. Zaduriel stood in front of him with his eyes wide open.

"I-Impossible!" The deity's voice quivered. "I…I made sure that you were—"

Before he could finish, Adaloun immediately charged and threw the scythe at him. The scythe glowed in a pale blue light and almost took the deity's arm off if he hesitated to move. The scythe lodged itself deep in the marbled steps.

"I missed." Adaloun clicked his tongue. "How about we finish this already, Zaduriel?"

The deity screamed, his eyes were filled with angry and madness. He teleported right in front of Adaloun and swung blades right at him. Adaloun took a step back and evaded the deadly blow. Before the deity could attack, he grabbed his left arm and broke it, disarming the dwarven blade away.

Zaduriel screamed in agony as he dropped the blade on the ground. Adaloun picked the blade up and incorporated his exousia into the weapon. The blade glowed and showed the same spiral patterns he had all over his body.

"Now, we are even!" Adaloun twirled the blade in his hand. "Care for one final dance?"

"Arrgh!" The deity shouted in reply and immediately attacked Adaloun.

Both of them parried each other's attack skillfully. However, as their fight went on, it became more apparent how Zaduriel was losing to Adaloun's relentless attacks. Even with Tristam's abilities incorporated with his, the deity proved to be subpar in combat compared to that of Adaloun.

A lightning bolt suddenly appeared in front of Adaloun. Zaduriel desperately wanted to end the battle and casted the spell on his face. He evaded the spell with only inches away from his face. Adaloun knew at that point that he needed to end it quickly.

The deity tried to strike him down with an uppercut slash. Adaloun moved out of the way, grabbed the deity's hand and in one clean swipe, sliced off his hand. The gladius fell from the deity's hand. Adaloun caught it with his other hand and stabbed the blade into the diety's chest.

"Get off of him!" Adaloun said.

"Y-you…you don't know what you're doing!" Zaduriel spat. "You shouldn't revive…the—"

"Shut up and die already!" Adaloun twisted the blade in the deity's chest. "Goodbye, Zaduriel!"

Zaduriel shouted as the gladius began to suck the god out of the poor knight's body. The deity tried his best to grab hold of the body, but Adaloun along with his long-lost blade was too much for him. He was finally exorcised out of the knight's body leaving the poor knight lying on the ground with a severed hand and bleeding chest.

Adaloun knelt on the ground as he tried to catch his breath. Suddenly, the floor glowed brightly. Swirling lines began to appear on the ground before it glowed even brighter enveloping them with a blinding light. He closed his eyes and held Tristam in his arms.

When he opened his eyes, his comrades were already there with him. They were lying down on the ground near the white stone where they entered before. He looked at them with a baffled, yet relieved expression.

"Touch the stone wall." A voice suddenly whispered from nowhere.

Adaloun recognized the voice, he smiled and touched the stone wall. The wall glowed and crumbled.

"Finally, you set me free." The voice said once again.

"O-oyu—"

"Who goes there?!" Lord Prestonheim's voice echoed from above.

Adaloun and his comrades looked at each other. They never noticed it, but they have managed to escape the labyrinth at last.