“Distract the lich while I perform the ritual.”

As soon as the mage finished speaking, he was gone. He reappeared in a corner and started drawing on the walls with a quick pace. He relied heavily on the studious mage greatly. His summons benefited the party greatly and Serci wouldn't have made this far with out him. In fact, as they journeyed through the labyrinth he started to admire the man. The demon was off putting at first but Arannis showed extreme skill in controlling the beast. Arannis's plans also prevented their demise seven or eight traps ago. He was a smart and practiced man, knowledgeable in his arts. He quickly began scribbling up and down the walls, no doubt, very precise runes and symbols. Serci began his role as diversion as the leagues of undead were shuffling toward him. He had great assistance as Arannis's demon batted down mummy after mummy. Serci played his part too, launching into a horde of the mummies and swung his sword about.

He unsheathed his blade and swung horizontally. A small trail of flames followed the path of his sword as it slowed the approach of the mummies. Taking advantage of the pause, he launched forward and plunged his sword into a mummies chest, letting out a small groan as the life escaped from the monster. As he pulled his blade back, he rushed into a mummy with his shoulder and quickly dispatched of it with a stroke of his sword. Up ahead, he could see the lich king focus his attention on Arranis who was busy scribbling away on the walls of the chamber room. Serci danced around a few mummies, dodging their massive arms, and finished a with a spin attack towards the high priest. His attack fell short, but in its wake sent whirling fire towards the monstrosity. As the flames reached him, they quickly dispersed on his elaborate robes and rotting skin, but served their purpose in distracting the priest. Serci had attracted its attention. It slowly turned towards him and inhaled. Serci braced his self, throwing his shield out, careful to keep his body behind his kite shield. The high priest screamed at Serci, exhaling an endless stream of the flesh eating scarabs. They hit like pellets against his shield, Serci having to brace his shoulder to not break his guard. When the stream finished, he tried casting a fire spell around his feet to dispel of the insects but it was poorly cast and felt the insects crawling up his leg.

He shot a glance towards Arannis who was still writing on the wall. Through the faint green light that his sword produced, he spotted a group of mummies heading towards him. Through the pain in his leg Serci shot forward towards the undead and stabbed his sword through the back of one of the unsuspecting mummies. He lifted it up off the ground and slid it off his blade, moving on to the second mummy. Aware of his presence the mummy turned around and blocked Serci's strike and countered with a massive swing heading towards Serci's head. He threw his shield out and blocked the strike with an audible thud. He loosened the guard slightly and stabbed at the mummy's stomach. It made a shearing sound as it found its way into the flesh and leaked out a horrible smelling, brown liquid.

Dozen of denizens of the dead were slayed as Arannis finished up his ritual. Light began filling the area, Serci searched and found Arannis at the center of it. He shouted at Serci to pray. And pray he did. The runes glowed and the walls were torn apart to reveal the infernos. Screams pounded at Serci's ears as he flinched away from the sight. It was gone as soon as it arrived and Serci was blown away and hit his head on the opposite wall where he once stood. Fire poured out from the gate that Arannis had created and scorched mostly everything in its wake. He felt the beetles on his leg melt and braced as the heat surrounded him. He was protected by a green barrier as the hell fire engulfed the cavern. He could hear Arannis's demon roar in delight as it only made it stronger it seemed. As the hell fire scorched the chamber Serci thought this was his end. Over the burning flames and roaring demon he heard a voice speak to him.

"Serci." It was faint at first, but he eventually pinpointed that he was hearing the voice inside his head. "Serci. Be strong, Serci. Brave these flames. Your end is not now. Fight, Serci. Fight!" The voice shouted encouragement at Serci as he was blown into a corner from the hellfire. He couldn't tell who the voice sounded like, but it sounded female with a lot of passion. "Serci. What are you fighting for?" The voice asked him in a trick question kind of a way. He was here in this position because he was proving to Angela that he could be her champion. The voice responded. "Wrong." It didn't sound angry or upset, but was pushing him to the right answer. The flames were dying down, their intensity diminishing. "You are wrong, because you ARE the champion Serci." An image flashed of a beautiful, frail, blonde women among coral reefs in the ocean. "So I ask you again, Serci. Why do you fight!?" 

"Because it is my task to protect Angela's world."

Something clicked at that moment. The flames died and Serci's faint green aura around his sword began to grow in size as it filled up the room in a brilliant gold. Serci understood the strange voice's questions. He was a fully realized champion at this point. In danger he did not flee. He accepted outsider help and looked forward despite the differences. At this point in time, he was the Divine Artificer. He pushed his self out of the corner and walked through the chaos that Arannis summoned. Small green flames remained, as they clung to flammable cloth of the mummies. The chamber was mostly empty, save for Serci, the ruby, Arannis's demon, and the high priest. From a distant he watched as the demon was about to go for the final bite on the rotting fiend. The demon was suddenly was thrown back as hit some kind of barrier surrounding the lich king. Serci watched in horror as the lich king was slowly damaging demon. When the beast attack, he dodged and would poke it with his staff, causing great pain to the demon. Serci launched his self towards the frey with a new found determination. The tip of his golden sword met the barrier surrounding the lich king. The harder he pushed his sword into the barrier the more recoil was building up in his arm. But with his new found strength, his sword managed to break the barrier, visually breaking and falling onto the floor before dispersing. The sword continued through the non existent barrier and found its way into the lich kings back.

The lich king reeled back in pain and howled as it turned towards Serci. With quick movements the lich king thrust its staff at Serci, but was dismayed at Serci's guard. Serci would retaliate with sword stab towards the enemy and the two were engaged in a battle of life and death. Casting glances at the ruby it was weakened by Arannis's ritual. He couldn't see the mage anywhere but called out between strikes.

"Arannis! We are almost there! The ruby is cracking! I can handle the high priest. You take out the ruby! We can do this!"

Were this not a life or death situation, Arannis would have shaken his head at Serci’s orders and explained the difficulties of their current predicament. Though Arannis had managed to weaken the gem, it had taken all of his power. Even crafting a ritual in the way he did, it still took an incredible amount of energy to tear open a portal to a malevolent plane to steal some of its power. The intricacies of the mathematics and the scope of what Arannis had accomplished was far beyond what Serci could comprehend. The net result was that Arannis had but a trickle of energy left, and he could feel the necrotic curse slowly starting to circumvent his magical tourniquet. He would need healing from one more experienced than he, and soon, lest he lose the leg entirely.

Arannis instead just shouted, voice hoarse, “No, we don’t have the strength!” Arannis couldn’t even muster the spare energy to say so telepathically. Even speaking pained the mage, he resisted the urge to cough once more, trying desperately to save energy. He could feel the curse of death slowly taking a stronger hold on him, Arannis couldn’t take much more.

At Arannis’ words, the situation was made even more dire. The lich cast motes of dark energy in his direction. Searing orbs of inky blackness radiating an aura of malevolence. Arannis dodged as best he could, but one of the missiles impacted his already weakened leg, causing the sorcerer to cry out in pain. Arannis stumbled to the ground. The agony was intense, searing through Arannis’ flesh. Icy needles penetrating through skin and muscle, flesh slowly liquefying and rotting away. It felt like he was dying. Arannis coughed into the dirt, then raised his eyes to scan the room one final time. He did a quick mental calculation. With how much power he had left, he needed to leave immediately to survive. He had just enough to open one final portal to return to the outpost. If he focused a sliver of power to reach the paladin, he might lack sufficient energy to make the full teleportation distance. If he expended too much energy, it could even kill him. With the necrotic curse beginning to spread from his nearly dead leg, Arannis knew he had only one choice. It was the paladin’s fault, after all. Arannis had clearly outlined that they were to complete his ritual, and then escape, but the paladin self-righteously and suicidally charged the lich instead of moving to flee. The paladin violated the plan, and the paladin sealed his own fate.

Arannis concentrated his will, and tore open the rift in space. He caught a glimpse of Serci’s expression just as he vanished away, leaving the man to face his doom. Arannis knew he was betraying the paladin. He knew that this act was an unforgivable one. However, it was far from the most evil thing Arannis had done over the last decade. All things considered, this was the least of his crimes. One more petty betrayal would not blacken his soul any more than had already been done. The people who had suffered as a result of his actions would not be alleviated of their pains if he had risked his life to do the ‘right’ thing. Serci would likely die, but before Arannis left he saw the faintest of auras about Serci. That he survived the hellfire showed he really did have the protection of his goddess. Perhaps he would live. Either way, Arannis’ conscience was clear. Arannis needed to survive. He couldn’t risk his life any more than he did. He honestly should have left when he took the first curse, it had been foolish to risk as much as he had. He needed to survive for his son.

Arannis was pulled through space across miles of desert in an instant. Teleportation was Arannis’ area of expertise. Normally, a journey such as this would have been trivial. It would have been instantaneous and nearly unnoticable. Not today. Arannis’ power was at such a minimum, and his focus so drained, that he felt a nauseating spinning sensation as he was pulled through shortcuts in space and time, ripped through a portal that cheated the normal laws of motion and allowed Arannis to blink to safety. Finally, the journey ended.

The searing desert heat was unbearable, the sudden influx of sunlight nearly blinding the sorcerer. Sand blew in the wind and made Arannis cough again. He spat blood upon the ground, blood tinged with a vile blackness. The curse was spreading. Arannis heard the sounds of people around him, swapping stories and sharpening blades. He heard the relative merriment cease as people seemed to notice him. He had arrived, sprawled upon the ground at Aestas Outpost. He had made it out alive. Arannis glanced up one final time to see people moving hastily in his direction. He hoped there was a healer amongst them. As Arannis’ eyes closed and he began to go limp upon the desert floor, Arannis pictured his son’s smiling face in his minds eye. As soon as he had the power, Arannis would leave this continent, returning to Iria and his son. With that thought in mind, Arannis Falone finally blacked out.

With a flash, Arannis disappeared. His face was twisted in pain a hint of anger behind the facade. He wasn't sure, but in that split second before he disappeared Serci saw Arannis's true colors. Serci's epiphany strengthened his resolve, and his goal was vastly different from when he arrived. Serci wanted to live, for if he died here in the crypts of a pyramid, he could not protect Revaliir as the Divine Artificer. Mustering the strength he engaged the lich king one on one. Arannis's sacrifice was not in vain as the ruby was damaged and the kings's movements were extremely slowed. The king tried to summon dark black orbs but Serci thrust his sword at the rotting corpse and met with howling from the king. Enraged, Rudjek slashed at Serci with his ornate staff but only met Serci's well placed shield. He jumped to the side and slashed downward creating a thin line of fire between him and Rudjek. Startled by the flames, Rudjek back stepped only to meet Serci's golden blade.

The fight was going easier than he expected. Rudjek fell for his feints and Serci easily dealt with the enemy's attack. However Serci had grown careless, thinking he had the upper hand. A pulse of the ruby and three mummies tried to claw their out of the dirt covering the chamber room. Arms popped out scattering dirt everywhere and grabbing onto his legs. He dropped his sword to swipe at the arms but in the split second that his guard was down, Rudjek inhaled deeply and exhaled with a scream of an endless downpour of scarabs. He tried to raise his shield but the insects landed, the force of the impact threw Serci on his back, free from the grip of the mummies. Serci back peddled as the scarabs began biting every orifice of his body. The pain of the insects tearing his flesh made him scream, the first time experiencing pain this real.

Through the pain the goal was achieved. They had managed to leave a scar upon the Rudjek but that scar would be his demise. A party behind him would eventually finish him off. His job was done. He called upon on of his paladin spells, Safe Passage, that would teleport him to the outpost, but it needed to be quick. The scarabs were drawing blood from his body, blood seeping into his eyes. He shut his eyes through the blood and focused on the outpost. He focused on Rosemary's warm touch as the outpost began to visualize in his mind. He snapped his eyes open to see the priest raising his staff over Serci, preparing to strike. In an instant, Serci vanished from the chamber room landed on the sand just outside of the outpost with a hard slam. He began screaming in pain as the scarabs began digging into his skin. As looked towards the out post, members of Angela's clergy began running towards him as they began immediate healing and picking the scarabs off of Serci. After all of the commotion, he lay in one of the healing tents as he awaited Angela's reprimanding.

Every few hours healers would come by do routine sessions of healing to ease the pain. He felt an object placed into his hand as the healers left. He brought his arm up and observed the object. A bottle of wine with a message. "Congratulations."