In the Burning Heart, Chapter 3 by Bed_Man

In the Burning Heart, Chapter 3

Story by Bed_Man on SoFurryMay 2021~21 min read

Bed_Man, Anthro, Anthropomorphic, Demon, Fantasy, HMOFA, Human, Kobold, Magic, Reptile, Story, Story Series

Imported from SF2 with no description.

We were in the air almost immediately. After saddling up the griffons, we took flight and headed southward. I'd never ridden a griffon before, so when I looked around, I had a brand-new perspective of Vallis and the surrounding land. Up there in the sky, everything down in the city streets looked like children's toys, from the now almost insect-sized people to the diorama-like buildings. But above it all, the horizon. Seeing the hills and valleys beyond the city walls from high up on the griffon's back, it was a breathtaking sight. It almost seemed unreal, as if I was staring at a painting. Were it not for the wind whizzing by and the feel of the sunlight warming my face, I would have been tempted to think this was but a dream.

The beast beneath me was a powerful one. The hard muscles barely strained from the combined weight of me and my gear. The griffon simply shrugged off any sense of toil. The large wings stretched out to about three men's height in length, and they beat effortlessly against the wind, keeping us aloft. Olan and the other one were atop their own beasts, and the creatures were equally as undeterred by the weights. We were like mice to oxen.

Off to the left, I heard the elf man speak up. "What a wonderful view, wouldn't you say? Can't get this kind of thing down in the streets." As if to emphasize his words, he straightened his back and spread his arms wide, enjoying the sensation of being so high above the rest of Vallis.

Ignoring him, I hunkered down and brought my knees in, urging the griffon to speed up. The beast heeded me and gained significant ground (or...air, I suppose) away from the dragonforged. We were soon beyond the city limits, the stone walls that surround Vallis swiftly becoming smaller and smaller behind us. Pulling forth my map, I directed the griffon in the right direction, noting off the landmarks and such that would be along the way. The griffon was beginning to pick up speed, and we eventually flew so fast, the wind buzzing by actually hurt. On the upside, by moving so fast, it meant we'd be at our destination in good time.

Grabbing the scruff of my cloak, I pulled it in tight, covering up part of my face to protect against the cutting wind. Being ahead of Olan and Folsin granted me the opportunity to pay more attention to the landscape before us. I mentally checked off the towns and villages and other areas I'd circled on the map, counting down the miles until we'd arrive.

Below us, the roads sped by, people traveling them looking up at the three of us as we raced on. Some people waved at us, or at least it looked like they did. There were difficulties in trying to really see anything specific. As we raced through the sky, the air around us changed, becoming noticeably warmer. We were in the more southern regions now, the bite of winter being staved off for the moment in favor of more autumnal weather. Following this thought, I also saw the trees were still in their golden and brown phases, the leaves not yet giving up their fight against mother nature.

Slowly but surely, I realized we would be approaching our target soon. Despite this, there was still no strange tower to be seen.

Olan caught up to me and shouted over the racing wind. "Think we might be getting close?"

"Almost!" I called back. Carefully, I unfurled part of the map, just enough to see the final circle that'd been drawn on by Kahr himself. Near the circle was an indicator of the nearby mountain, which was just now coming up into view. According to the map, the tower should be just on the other side of the great pile of earth. I relayed this information to my dwarven friend.

"Finally!" he said with a yell. "This damn saddle's been riding up my ass this whole time!"

"Careful," I called back, "don't want the griffon to think you don't like him. Might just throw you off." I then made a gesture of him falling to the ground and splatting to pieces.

He just laughed me off and patted the griffon beneath him, rubbing the feathers along its neck. The beast barely even noticed the petting, as far as I could tell. Didn't even shift its gaze. "See that?" Olan boldly said. "This little guy loves me. Wouldn't dream of letting me fall. Maybe once this little survey's good and done, I'll even consider buying this beaut off the stable owner."

"Yea, and put it where? Gonna just keep it as a house pet and let it lounge all day next to the fireplace?" The thought of such a big bastard like a griffon relaxing like a cat on a rug brought a smile to my lips. "I'm sure Moira'd just love to see you come home with a griffon of all things," I added. "Look, honey," I said, deepening my voice to mock Olan's, "the perfect birthday gift for the new baby. Just gotta make sure he won't eat it."

"Bah! This gentle giant ain't gonna go eating no babies. Certainly not mine. One look at my little girl's face, and he'll become like a guardian angel for her."

My eyes rolled almost out of their sockets. "Yea yea. Let's just get this job over with first, then you can argue with Moira about spending half your pay on some thing you won't even bother using after a month."

We were rounding the mountain, riding along its edge in a wide semicircle when slowly, it came into view; the tower. Smooth black stones comprised its exterior, all the way up to the top. It jutted out high, reaching up to about a third of the height of the nearby mountain. Along the roof of the tower were five small columns, looking almost like fingers on a massive hand. From up in the sky, I could see why the locals had claimed the building might have fallen from the heavens; at the base of the tower was a great crater in the earth, forming a large circle around the building itself. What else could have caused this if not the giant structure falling from the sky?

Outside the tower, I could see a few figures standing around. I relayed this information to Olan and the hanger-on.

"Must be local lawmen," Olan guessed. "Probably to make sure no one goes inside and gets hurt."

The elven dragonforged offered his perspective. "Could also be some bandits or other fools trying to ward off others from whatever treasure might wait inside."

I gestured for the three of us to land and said, "Whatever the case may be, let's just all take this nice and easy. Don't want to start any incidents while on official business."

As we took our descent, the people on the ground finally noticed us and gave us a wide berth for a landing. As we grew closer, I could see them more clearly and realized Olan's assumption was more correct. Judging by their outfits, they appeared to, in fact, be lawmen; clothed in a combination of leather and light iron armor, they certainly looked the part of some kind of city watch. At the very least, they dressed quite similar to the ones back home, which was probably a good sign.

When the griffons touched down and we each got out feet back on solid land, the guards approached us. There were four of them, all walking surely but slowly. Their swords remained sheathed, but I could see they all had one hand hovering near their weapons, just in case. Smart men, I thought. One such guard called out to us as they approached.

"Would you state your business, gentlemen?" he asked, but by the stern tone of his voice, it was clearly meant to be more of a demand than anything.

Olan answered before I could. "Conjurer Licht and Wizard Brandth, sent as part of an investigation into this tower by order of the Brunnan High Council of Sorcery." He then pulled forth a slip of paper and handed it over to what I presumed to be the captain.

The man read it over and held up a hand, signaling to his fellow guards to be at ease, all of them moving their hands away from their swords and adopting more relaxed poses.

"Well then, I'm Captain Horn," he introduced himself. "Glad to know the Council responded so swiftly."

He then gave Olan and I a once over before shifting his focus to Folsin. He straightened his back as if preparing to say something, but then the two locked eyes for but a moment before the guard swiftly looked away, apparently realizing who and what the elf was. At the same time, his squared shoulders hunched slightly.

I stepped forward and asked the guards, "So, I hope you haven't had any trouble keeping people away from this thing?"

The captain regained his composure and hurriedly answered, "Oh, aye. None of the villagers have even dared get this close. They're too frightened, murmuring something or other about ill omens and such."

Hm, Lady Ghalestris had mentioned something like that, as well.

I glanced up at the tower behind the captain and asked him, "Anything you might be able to tell us before we begin investigating?"

Shaking his head, he said, "Not much, honestly, other than what you can see with your own eyes. No one can even tell when it actually showed up. One day, a local hunter came out to get some deer and rabbits and rushed back to the village to report a building that'd never been here before."

"So, it just...appeared out of thin air?"

His hands shot up in a defeatist manner. "No other way to describe it. Some say it must've fallen from the sky. But if it did, why didn't anyone hear it?"

"Or feel it?" Olan cut in.

"It just don't add up." Horn scratched at the scruff around his chin and threw a thumb back at the tower behind him. "Might as well get things started, eh?"

Nodding, I walked past the captain, heading towards this mysterious monolith. As I did, I overheard two of the other guards mumbling to each other.

"...a dragonforged?" one of them whispered.

"Thought the mayor sent the letter to the Council, not the Lady," the other said in a hush.

“You know how that dragon is…”

“Probably had one of her little lapdogs run interference.”

I wouldn’t have been surprised to learn their theory might have turned out to be true. Then again, Kahr mentioned Ghalestris had some kind of ominous feeling or vision or something of that nature. She clearly already knew about recent events before the Council did. Either way, we were here for a reason, not to indulge these small-time guards in their fantasies.

As we neared the tower, I spoke up. “Folsin, make yourself useful and circle around the tower. See if you can find anything around the exterior.” I made a point not to make this a question.

I heard the elf grunt from behind me, then watched him from my peripheral as he headed off to do as he was told. I almost felt disappointed he didn’t offer some kind of argument to the contrary. Would have been fun to talk down to him and remind him he wasn’t anyone special to me and Olan just because of his position.

He probably already knew that, though. It wasn’t exactly a secret the way most members of the Council felt towards the Lady’s elites. Judging by the guards’ whispering, this feeling wasn’t exclusive to us mages. This didn’t come as much of a surprise, either. If the Council hated the dragonforged for their blatant disregard for magical law, it only served to reason everyone else felt similar for how often they happily walked all over common laws as well.

When Folsin had departed around the side of the tower, Olan and I walked up to a large door, which was made of the same smooth black stones as the exterior walls. As we had been told, the door was covered in dozens upon dozens of runic symbols. At once, I pulled forth the notebook and began to jot down the runes for the Council to later review.

As I was busying myself with that, Olan started to mumble to no one in particular. “Hm. They look oddly familiar. But where…?”

My eyes darted over to the dwarf, seeing him in deep thought. His arms folded across his chest and his face contorted into a frown as he continued to speak under his breath.

“Recognize anything?” I asked as I nudged his side, getting his attention.

His head snapped up, causing the hairs of his mustache to bounce from the sudden movement. He looked my way before returning his gaze to the runes upon the door.

“I’m not sure,” he said. When he said this, his arms relaxed and found their way to his hips as he craned his head to look towards the top of the tower. “I just have this vague memory of seeing them before somewhere, but I can’t seem to pinpoint it.”

“Well, keep at it,” I offered some encouragement. “Maybe if you can uncover that memory, it might lead us to a translation?”

“I’ll try, but I can’t promise anything. My mind’s fuzzy on this. Possible it isn’t even a real memory and I’m just warping things in my head. Like maybe I just saw some runes that just happen to look similar.”

“Either way, it’s worth a shot.”

I continued to copy down the runes, following their swirling patterns and lines. I did a second copy of each, writing them backwards. Never know, it could provide some insight. Or maybe it would be pointless and prove to be gibberish when written in reverse.

From the corner of my vision, I saw Folsin walk around from the opposite side of the tower. He shrugged as he approached and mentioned he didn’t see anything of note, only more black stone. No dents or missing pieces, no cuts or abrasions in the stone, no holes, no anything.

“Seems like this door’s the only thing around,” he said, ending his report. “Well, that and those things on top.” He nodded his head upwards at the five columns all the way at the summit of the tower. “I’ll take one of the griffons up there and see if I can find anything.”

“No,” I said with a shake of the head. “It’s better to keep together in the same general area. We can go up there as a group a little later, but for now, I say we open this door and check out what’s inside.”

Olan sneered at the door and asked, “Now?”

“Now,” I answered with a nod. And together, the two of us reached out for the large door and began to push at the stone.

Folsin joined in after a quick second, and the three of us strained against the entrance. Slowly but surely, the stone door began to give way and move, opening up to us. From where I stood, I could see inside. Or rather, not see. It was pitch black inside, as black as the stones making up the tower itself. The sunlight pierce through the dark like a blade, but even still, it could not reach very far. The light traveled about a handful of yards before the darkness took back control.

A low, long whistle sounded out behind us, and then Horn poked his head at my side and took a look inside.

“Well, don’t know what I expected, but being empty sure wasn’t it,” he said, his voice falling a bit with disappointment.

Folsin snorted. “Oh, don’t feel so down, Captain. If Lady Ghalestris’s premonition means anything, there’s sure to be something dangerous in there somewhere.”

“Strangely enough, that doesn’t make me feel better,” the captain snarked back.

With the door now fully opened, we were greeted to more utter blackness inside. After taking a moment to collect ourselves, we began preparing to head within. Grabbing our things, we pulled our bags tight, Olan and I began jotting down our notes, Folsin told the captain and his men to stay behind, and then we were ready.

Horn offered us some torches for our survey inside the tower, but I denied the gift. Focusing my will, I breathed out a low exhalation and pushed forth energy into my hand. A small spark of flame bubbled forth from my palm, then grew larger and floated above the appendage. The ball of flame rose higher until stopping in place in the air above my head.

Captain Horn gave an odd look before speaking. “Ah. Somehow, I completely forgot about you boys being mages.”

“Like Folsin told you,” Olan responded, “just stay out here. We don’t know what’s inside, so it’ll be safer for everyone if you don’t come with us.” The group of guards nodded at the dwarf’s words and stayed put as the three of us head inside.

As we walked in, I glanced at the fireball floating before me. Fire magic was one of the easiest forms to use. It’s about breath control and focus. No need for hand gestures or chanting, just breathing and keeping a level head. Because of this, it was usually among the first lessons given to most apprentice mages when assigned to a teacher from the Council. It was certainly the case for myself. I could still see the smile on my master’s face when I first summoned up a spark, not unlike the one now lighting the way in this odd tower.

The light from the spark stretched out as we stepped through the entrance. The blade of light from the sun outside ended at a fine point, at which point the illumination from my spell was snaking out further, showing us more. Not that there was much to see so far. It seemed to be a long hallway, presumably it went to the center of the tower, where a staircase of something similar waited to show us the higher levels of the building.

As we walked, we kept our eyes peeled and our ears tuned to anything and everything we could. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to be about. Only the cold and dark hall. Olan mumbled a bit more about the runes and how he swore he saw them before. Still he could not recall the exact memory.

After walking for a short while, the hallway appeared to open up to a large circular room. There was an archway before we entered the room. Of course, the archway too was made of the smooth black stones.

Thump thump. Thump thump.

We froze in our tracks. The entire walk in, the only noise had been our own footsteps and breathing. This new sound was loud. Louder than even the thud of our boots on the stones.

Thump thump. Thump thump.

The sound of pencil on paper came from my side as Olan took notes. I was about to tell him to stuff it when a new sound sprang forth. It was a soft noise of air moving. But not like normal win. It was the sound of heavy breathing.

Trying to step forward, I found my feet unable to obey my brain, the fear gluing me to the spot. Several moments passed before I was able to get my legs working. When I did, I found them shaky as I moved. The constant thumping noise combined with the breathing was enough to strike terror into even the most valiant of souls. Steadying myself, I eventually managed to keep the shakes from halting my steps too much. Folsin took charge and walked ahead of me, but without the light from my flame, he was effectively blind.

Or so I thought.

Perhaps his draconic eyes granted him some form of night vision, for he walked beyond the boundaries of the light and vanished into the shadows without even seeming to think on it. It was so natural a response, as if he’d done it before hundreds of times. From beyond the shadows, the sounds continued, even when Folsin called out to us.

“You need to see this.”

Walking towards his voice, the light from my flame spell began to illuminate more of the room. The light reached Folsin himself, first his legs, then climbing up to his torso. It was at this point I began to see what he wanted us to see. The light crawled through the room before me and showed off a small raised section of the floor. Upon this sat some…thing. As the light showed more and more of it, I could see it more and more clearly, and I wished I hadn’t.

Sitting on the platform was a large lump of flesh. A mass of skin and muscle formed into a pseudo orb. And it was pulsating. With each pulse sounded out one of those thump thumps. Following those was the unmistakable sound of breathing. Whatever this abomination was, it was alive in a sense. It was also sickening to look at. There were odd hairs poking out from the flesh, and a few smaller mounds of flesh, like boils or pimples, dotting the landscape of its skin.

“By the gods in heaven,” Olan spoke, his tone a mix of fear and awe.

“What is this thing?” I asked aloud, knowing neither of the others would even have an answer. The question hung in the air as we stared on at the wad of skin and muscle and hair.

Just then, a sound like a crash of thunder blared overhead, and from above a bright light shone. It lit up the entire room, showing us to be all alone with the flesh lump, and the only exits to the circular room was the same one we came from and a doorway opposite our entrance. The light above seemed to come from thin air, but then I could see something I’d never seen before.

A group of deep dark clouds appeared there in the air above us. How they could be here inside the tower, I knew not. They spiraled about, spinning faster and faster as the light in the center of the clouds grew brighter. Suddenly, the light beamed as strong as the sun itself, blinding us all and forcing us to shield our eyes. When the light died down enough for us to see, we witnessed a shape coming from the swirling clouds.

Roughly humanoid in appearance, but larger than any of the intelligent races of Valentine. Thick arms budging with muscle, legs in the shape of a dog’s, a head like a boar complete with large tusks jutting from the bottom jaw, and eyes the same eerie green glow as those of a dragonforged but without the diamond slitted pupil. The creature hung in the air for but a moment before falling down, right beside the flesh ball. The beast’s skin was as red as a goblin’s, but most of it was hidden beneath coarse black fur.

The strange creature took not notice of the three of us as it turned to face the flesh lump. One large arm was brought up and it reached out with its hand to touch the ball. The moment the hand made contact, the thump thump heartbeat and breathing both quickened in pace.

“What in blazes is going on?”

All eyes turned to a spot behind the three of us. Captain Horn had followed us in, against our advice. He stared in horror at the beast and skin mass and repeated his question, louder this time, before drawing his sword.

The odd chimeric monster then pulled its large hand back before thrusting it forward into the hunk of flesh before it. Blood spurted from the newly made wound, coating the beast’s arm and part of its furred chest. The mass emitted a high-pitched sound, as if screaming in pain. Then the monster repeated the movement with its other hand, piercing the ball a second time, more blood flying out and spraying onto it. Soon, the whining noise faded out, and not even the heartbeat was left.

“Demon!” Horn yelled.

The creature’s head tilted to look our way, its eyes focusing on the captain.

Back to search