Chapter 395: Battle With The Gate Keeper

Think, she told herself desperately. Normal magic doesn’t work. What will work?

The creature circled her slowly. Playing with her. Enjoying her fear.

"You are weak," it said. "Desperate. Pathetic. You came to the Underworld seeking power you do not deserve. Now you will die here. Alone. Forgotten."

Victoria felt rage spike through the pain.

"I’m not dying here," she said.

"No?" the creature challenged. "Then show me, witch. Show me why you deserve passage."

Victoria made a decision.

She had been researching forbidden magic for two days. Had been preparing to make deals with death gods. Had been planning to use dark techniques to resurrect Lilith.

She knew spells she should not know. Magic she should not touch. Power that would corrupt her if she used it.

But corruption was better than death.

Victoria called up the magic she had read about in Thalia’s journals. The magic her cousin had used to deal with demons and Underworld entities for years.

Blood magic.

The kind that used your own life force as fuel. The kind that hurt to cast. The kind that left permanent marks on your soul.

Victoria dragged her hand across the wound on her arm, coating her palm in fresh blood....and began chanting in a language older than the Morvaine bloodline.

Dark power responded immediately.

Not green like her normal magic. Black. Absolute darkness that felt cold and hungry and absolutely wrong.

The creature stopped circling. "What are you...."

Victoria threw the blood magic at it.

Black light slammed into the creature with the force of divine wrath.

The creature screamed.

Not a sound of pain. A sound of fury. Of rage that something so small and weak and mortal would dare use dark magic against it.

But the magic was working.

The creature’s shadow-flesh was burning where the black light touched it. Dissolving. Breaking apart.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" the creature roared. "MORTAL MAGIC CANNOT...."

Victoria hit it again. More blood. More dark power. More corruption spreading through her magical channels with every spell she cast.

She could feel it. The darkness taking root. Changing her. Making her into something she was not supposed to be.

But Lilith was worth it.

The creature lunged at her with renewed fury.

Victoria barely raised a shield in time. The impact shattered her defensive magic and sent her flying again.

She hit the ground hard. Felt more ribs crack. Tasted blood in her mouth.

The creature was on her in seconds. Claws wrapping around her throat. Squeezing.

She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. Could only feel the life being crushed out of her.

No, she thought desperately. Not here. Not now. Not when I’m so close.

She placed both bloody hands on the creature’s chest.

And released every ounce of dark magic she had left.

The explosion of power threw them both apart.

Victoria landed ten feet away gasping and bleeding. The creature landed near the gate shrieking and dissolving.

But she forced herself to stand.

The creature was dying. She could see it. The blood magic had burned through too much of its essence. It was falling apart. Returning to the darkness it had been made from.

"You...." the creature gasped. "You used....forbidden..."

"I used what I had to," Victoria interrupted. "And I won. So move."

The creature dissolved completely. Nothing left but shadow that faded into the grey stone.

And the gate....

Began to open.

Slowly. The black iron swinging inward with a sound like a thousand voices screaming.

Victoria limped toward it.

Every step hurt. Her ribs were broken. Her arm was bleeding. Her throat was bruised from the creature’s grip.

And inside her magical channels....

Corruption. Dark energy spreading. Changing her. Making her into something that was no longer purely a Morvaine witch.

But she had won.

Had proved herself worthy.

Had earned passage.

Victoria stepped through the gate into the middle realms.

The middle realms were different from the outer territories.

Not grey here. Dark. Absolutely, completely dark except for sources of light that came from things Victoria did not want to look at too closely.

The ground was no longer smooth stone. It was rough. Broken. Made of what looked like bones fused together into a solid surface.

And the air....

The air felt thick. Heavy. Like breathing smoke.

Victoria pulled out the tracking compass with shaking hands.

The silver wire glowed brighter here. Almost painfully bright. The hair twisted and pointed...

Straight ahead. Deeper into the darkness.

Thalia was close.

Finally.

After two days of searching. After crossing into the Underworld. After fighting a demon and corrupting herself with dark magic.

Thalia was close.

Victoria checked the mark on her wrist.

One hundred eight hours remaining.

Four and a half days.

She had spent four hours fighting through the Underworld. Four hours that felt like two in this place where time moved wrong.

She needed to find Thalia. Make the deal. Get the death magic knowledge. And get out before the deadline expired.

She took a deep breath and started walking deeper into the middle realms.

The structures here were more defined than in the outer territories. Buildings that looked almost normal except for small details that were wrong. Doors that whispered when she passed. Windows that showed scenes from other places or other times or other realities entirely.

And everywhere....

Entities.

Not like the gatekeeper. These were different. Smaller. More subtle. Things that looked almost human until you saw the extra eyes or the wrong number of fingers or the way they moved without quite touching the ground.

They watched Victoria as she passed.

Some with curiosity. Some with hunger. Some with something that might have been pity.

But none of them approached.

Not yet.

Victoria followed the compass deeper.

The path....if it could be called a path.....twisted and turned through the dark structures. Led her past places she did not want to look at. Past sounds she did not want to hear.

And then....

Light.

Real light. Not the false illumination of the outer territories or the wrong luminescence of the entities.

Actual warm light coming from a structure ahead.

The compass pointed directly at it.

Victoria approached carefully.

The structure was different from the others. It looked....normal. Almost. A stone building that could have existed in the mortal realm. With actual windows that showed actual light. And a door that looked solid and real.

And carved above the door....

Morvaine family sigils.

Thalia’s work.

This was it.

This was where Thalia was hiding.