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!”

No part of the All-Father responded to that, but then he couldn’t. He was now only one soul among an infinite chorus of fragments. The Lich would have to solve this itself.

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.

This would take time, though. The last thing it wanted to do was flood its entire lair again, now that it had just been cleaned and rebuilt. Given all the work it had done to put this well of darkness to work, though, the groundwork had already been laid, even if accidentally. Slowly, over the course of hours, the plan came together in its vast mind, and as it did, its drudges dutifully got to work.

It would use the disused river entrance that Oroza had entered so long ago, seal off all of the side passages, and construct a tunnel that led to the well of darkness, which it would reinforce at all critical junctions. Up until now, it had largely ignored many of the places where the walls met caverns, but now each of those represented a leak that would divert water off into the darkness instead of its real goal of putting out the forge father’s blasted fires once and for all.

Work was slow in both directions, but then, it was in no hurry now. What it truly wanted was all but within its grasp. There was no one at these depths to trouble it any longer, and the surrounding area on the surface had become nothing but a blighted wasteland. That will only accelerate once the river dries up, it thought eagerly as it surveyed the blight that was everywhere now. It was rare to even see a bird or a rodent at this point, and though the earth around its tower was still stained black, for leagues in every direction after that, it had turned gray on this side of the river.

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Tenebroum missed the days when it had lives in every direction that it could siphon from or snuff out as it willed, but it did not regret the path it had taken. The road to power was long and winding, and though the Lich never imagined that it would have to drill deep into the bowels of the underways, it all made sense in retrospect. Long ago, even before it had crawled from the swamp, it had grafted itself into the world, carving its secret name deep into the stones. So, if the world belonged to it, then surely all the darkness beneath it and all the night sky above it did as well, didn’t it?

Once I have achieved this, the mongrel won’t stand a chance against me, Tenebroum mused. I will flay its soul to nothing. I will torture it until it begs for the sort of kindness I showed to Krulm’venor and Kelvun.

That thought brought to mind its dread tome, and the Lich quickly reoriented to bring its attention back to the book. It had been using it less and less since its phylactery had been sundered, but that didn’t mean it should neglect it entirely. “Show me everything we know about where Krulm’venor’s journey,” Tenebroum commanded the Skoeticnomikos. “After that, I want to see everywhere The Queen of Thorns has been and everywhere she might have gone next. My minions cannot have simply vanished.”

Tenebroum was too weak to seek them out just now, but soon it would have all the strength it would ever require, and it wanted its dark pantheon to be reassembled to witness that crowning moment. While it brooded, the book's pages filled faster and faster, with a long, meandering path deep beneath the world at a depth of almost half a mile. That was the tome’s best guess as to where Krulm’venor was. Since the dwarf required the Lich’s command to do anything at all, it must still be raging away in the Iron City, looking for things to destroy.

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.