Tenebroum

Chapter 204: The Forge

Chapter 204: The Forge

The Devourer never stopped chewing deeper into the stone now. There had been some breakdowns at first and the occasional oddity to side-track Tenebroum, but that had been before it had felt the heat. It was getting close. It was certain of that.

The rest of the world fell away as it bored deeper and deeper into the dark. If the All-Father still breathed and his dwarves were still sane, then they would have certainly found a thousand ways to stop this project. They were gone now, though, and nothing stood in the Lich’s way.

Well, nothing except the terrible heat of the All-Father’s forges. For a time, the underground rivers that the Devourer had already intersected were enough to keep it cool while it did its job. Eventually, all of those boiled off, though, and drudges had to be ordered to pour water down the endless well one bucket at a time. It was no longer a straight tunnel, thanks to its meandering search for the heart of the world, but it was over a mile down now, and the work that was being done happened so distantly that it could no longer be heard even when the steam organ wasn’t playing.

None of that distance made Tenebroum stop thinking about it, though, as its reserves dwindled. It found pockets of shadows in the depths sometimes now. It was deep enough for such hungry shades to flock and swarm, but they were nothing compared to the feast it was looking for, and it waited very impatiently for that day to arrive.

Then, one day, it did. The Devour was doing the same thing it has always done, chewing slowly through hard igneous rock that was dense enough to resist even the touch of kobold claws and teeth that the worm of metal and bone wielded so efficiently, when it finally came upon a cavern like any other.

Most of the periphery was filled with lava, and in the center was a forge too large for any man, let alone dwarf, to use. Tenebroum could barely exist close enough to see it because of the light, and in the same way, the Devourer was forced to retreat because of the heat as it began to smolder because of the heat. With a brief command, it pulled back its dark titan as well.

Tenebroum was sure that the stone man could withstand the heat, but it was equally sure that the lead bindings that chained it to the Lich’s service could not. No, only the legion of rust might hope to brave these temperatures, and even then, they might not withstand them forever.@@@@

The Lich withdrew, though it wanted to scream in frustration at the turn of events. “You are dead!” it ragged at the dim memory deep inside its soul. “You are dead, and your forge fires should have long since grown cold!”

Fortunately, after a little thought, it decided that there was a fairly simple way to do just that. It would reroute the Oroza and drain the river into the depths, killing two birds with one stone. It would weaken his escaped pet even further if she yet lived, and it would extinguish the Forge of Creation so that it could get at the darkness of primordial chaos that was sealed somewhere behind it.

The Lich wanted to believe that was true, but it was unconvinced. Such a fate would be too perfect, and nothing had been going right since the Worm had nearly ruined everything.

The Queen of Thorns and even the Voice of Reason were more concerning. They had much more free will than the truculent fire godling, and neither of them had come home. That, more than anything else, indicated a real problem. Either the loss of their connection to it had snuffed them out like a candle, or they had decided that they enjoyed their freedom.

The former would be tragic, as such a fate would indicate that most of its vast armies had all but dispersed in its absence. The latter, though... such a thing would be unforgivable. If it discovered that they yet existed when its current goal was in hand... well, it would devour them screaming and replace them with someone more loyal.

Tenebroum brooded on these thoughts as it stared at the map of all the woods its dark nature Goddess had already subjugated. It noted that there was nothing anywhere close to Constantinal that had not been conquered by her. If those territories no longer belonged to it, and such powers were flowing to her instead, then she might be a mighty foe in her own right. Its concern grew as it began to contemplate various cholorium-based contingencies it could enact in the worst case.

From there, its minds spiraled out into a dozen different directions. With nothing to do but wait, the Lich attended to dozens of minor tasks and half-forgotten experiments, chiefest among which were putting together the many shattered bodies it had so carefully created back together. With any luck, it would never need them, but that wouldn’t stop the constructs from standing there in mute testament to its glory, just as its honor guard had done for so many decades.

Time slowed to a crawl for the Lich as it lost itself in a thousand petty pursuits. It studied its dark titan for some clue as to what its alien, broken mind was thinking, it poured over the Skoeticnomikos for some clue as to where its minions might be, and each night, it studied the stars, looking for weak points in the patterns that separated it from the limitless sea of darkness.

Then, just like that, it was time to open the floodgates. Tenebroum had been so lost in its other thoughts and schemes that it had not noticed the passage of time. The Lich turned and reflected, viewing the entire system one more time and noting how like a living thing its giant earthen body had become. It now had a mind, a nervous system, channels for air and water, and, of course, all of that was built for the single purpose of its own survival.

It had grown too grand in scale for anyone else save another god to understand it, but it did not care. It wanted nothing from mortals except for their bodies and souls, and soon it would have them. With that thought in mind, the Lich opened the floodgates and released an endless torrent of water into the depths. Soon, it would have everything, and it would never go hungry again.