Keith Baker - The Shattered Land

What is this place?” Pierce said.

The warforged had descended deep below the surface before coming to a large obsidian chamber with rough floors and a smooth, curved ceiling. The walls were filled with the reflections of ghostly flames-and it was these false fires that spread light across the room.

A vault , Harmattan replied. Though Pierce and Indigo had taken the lead, Harmattan and three of Hydra’s bodies were close behind. This land has seen many wars and rebellions. This is a storage facility, holding supplies … though we have come here to rescue a prisoner .

“A prisoner?” Pierce considered the level of brush they’d cut away to reveal the entrance, the thick layer of bone and ash. “How long has he been trapped down here?”

Over thirty thousand years. Our quarry is no creature of flesh and blood. I told you, little brother. Our roots are far older than House Cannith .

Harmattan gestured to Indigo. There was only one tunnel leading away from the entry hall, and she began to creep down it, Pierce at close behind. After a few steps Indigo paused, holding up a hand.

“Look at the ceiling,” she said. There was a fine smattering of fracture lines across the glass. “There is power in the hall-a sentry spirit, as there was above. I believe this hallway is set to collapse.”

Better the treasures be lost to all than stolen, it seems. Little brother, let Indigo show you to the perimeter of the sentry’s watch. Contact it. Tell it to … maintain, and lest you think of giving other instructions-failure in this matter will prove most painful for your dear lady .

Indigo traced a line across the floor with a finger, and Pierce stepped up to it. He looked out into the hall, studying the illusory flames on the walls. As before, the flames grew brighter. There was something, a presence, like a wisp of smoke at the back of his mind. Maintain, he thought, conjuring images of stability. A wall. A block of ice.

“I believe that it is safe,” he said at last.

Hydra, take point once. Indigo to follow .

As one, the three Hydras took a single step forward and turned to face each other. A second passed. “Very well,” they said together, and the one to the left walked toward Pierce. He limped slightly; of the three, he had suffered the most damage when the displacer beasts attacked.

As Hydra crossed the sentry line, Pierce felt the faintest tension, as if a thought was trying to worm its way out of his mind. Maintain, he thought, pushing back against the pressure. Indigo followed the first Hydra, but the ceiling held above her.

Well done. Follow Indigo. I’ll be right behind you .

The passage curved to the east, slowly dropping further below the earth. Finally it came to an end, opening into a large, dark room. There were no flames bound into the walls of this chamber, but Indigo was prepared. She tapped her left shoulder, and a ball of cold fire rose up into the air. This drifted just behind her head, casting a cone of light out in front of her.

They were in a vast, empty hall. The walls and floor were made of a tough ceramic material that absorbed light and sound. It was impossible to judge the length of the chamber; it seemed to be a void stretching off into infinity. There were no objects in the hall, nothing that could be used to judge size or distance … until Pierce saw the guardian.

The sentinel was an enormous man, twenty feet tall. He had a heavyset bulk reminiscent of a dwarf; he was massively muscled, and his shoulders were more than seven feet across. His skin and robe were jet black, as was his spiky hair and bristling beard, and his mouth was set in a permanent sneer, but even as Pierce raised his flail, he realized that the fierce expression was still as stone, and the giant’s eyes were fixed straight ahead. This sentry was an obsidian statue.

Statue or not, it was superlative work. It appeared to have been carved from a single block of glass … or given what he’d seen at the stairs, perhaps it had been shaped instead of carved. It held an immense greatsword above its head, almost seventeen feet in length. Staring into its blank eyes, Pierce thought of the spirits trapped in this vault, and he wondered-could this thing be alive? He reached out with his thoughts, trying to sense the emanations he’d caught before, but he felt nothing.

Just as well, he thought.

Indigo? Harmattan had entered the chamber.

“The chamber appears safe. However, the compartments are warded. Breaking these wards-it will not be a simple task, but it is possible.”

Even as she spoke, Pierce saw the compartments she was speaking of. The walls of the hall were covered with them: square, flat panels recessed into the surface of the walls, each marked with characters in an alphabet he didn’t know. After a moment, he realized that these were the same language as the markings he and Lei had found on the pillars back by the stone map.

“We cannot open these doors with the key?”

No , Harmattan hissed. The key … it is not so much a key as a lock-pick. It was not created by those who made this vault but rather by their enemies. Unfortunately for us, those who built the vault thought to add a second system of defense . He began walking along the edge of the northern wall, studying the panels. Indigo stayed with him; Pierce started to explore the other wall, but once he drifted too far from Indigo the darkness became too deep.

This is the one , Harmattan said. He stood aside, and Indigo produced a series of small tools; Pierce had seen Lei use similar items when breaking down protective wards.

“Our prisoner is in there?” Pierce said, still puzzled.

Yes , Harmattan replied. With his help, we shall unlock the gates of Karul’tash, and then-we shall see what fate has in store for us .

Karul’tash -the name was familiar, but Pierce couldn’t place it. He watched Indigo. She worked in silence, her attention completely focused on the task. A moment later, the sigil in the center of the panel began to glow, and this light spread out in a vertical line. Once the door was bisected, the panel swung inwards with a faint hiss . The chamber within was rectangular, padded with dark fabric. It held one object: a metal sphere two inches in diameter. It was forged from silver or mithral and polished to a mirror finish, its surface studded with red and gold dragonshards.

Yes , Harmattan said. We have found it . He reached forward and drew the sphere out of the vault; it was almost lost in his massive hand.

“This is a prisoner?” Pierce said.

It is a vessel-a housing for sentience, not unlike our own. It -He paused abruptly and raised the sphere closer to his glowing eyes. Something is wrong. I can barely sense the energies within .

Indigo glanced at the sphere. “Perhaps we chose the wrong vault. It would be dangerous, but I could try to open another.”

No. This is the key, and we would not have been sent all this way or found our brother Pierce, if this was not the path of destiny. There must be an answer .

Harmattan looked at Pierce and extended his hand. Perhaps-

And the sword came down.

The glass giant in the center of the room had sprung to life. It had no joints, but it moved anyway, as if obsidian were as flexible as flesh. The massive great sword slammed through Harmattan’s right arm and completely severed it. Whatever force was binding the arm together dissolved, and it disintegrated into a mass of metal shards, falling to the floor. The sphere was thrown from his hand and rolled into the darkness.

Harmattan hissed in rage. Even as the glass giant raised its sword for another blow, Harmattan flew forward, exploding into a whirlwind of steel. The shattered remnants of his arm were swept up off of the floor to join the storm of razors. The maelstrom struck the statue with the sound of a hundred knives on glass, and slivers of stone scattered through the air.