Milli hacked up a lungful of yellowish phlegm again as they made their way through yet another of the strange little circular tunnels that made it feel like they were walking through the inside of a tree. The temperature continued to rise and Milli was stripped down to a light jerkin and her braided hair lay plastered to her sweaty back as they continued onwards in the dim environment. The odors were intense like rotten eggs and the air was so heavy that it hurt just to take it into her lungs. Dol seemed oblivious not only to the oppressive heat but also to the noxious fumes, and there wasn’t even a bead of sweat on his brow.
Milli paused for a second to try and catch her breath and watched the strangely bald head of her companion ahead of her. It had happened not far from the volcano’s entrance itself. Dol’s eyes grew in intensity with every step their horses took towards the biggest of the five volcanos. The guards slept around their burnt out fire on the road that led directly to this place.
As Dol’s eyes grew red so also did the apples in his hair and the hammer at his side. Milli seemed to remember that the runes buried deep in the hammer’s head were faint and dull when they started out those months ago but now they burned bright red, and the hammer itself seemed to pulse like a heart beating slowly and steadily. First a few of the apples began to explode as they passed through the fertile farmland that led up to the volcano, and when they neared the entrance they seemed to reach some critical point and dozens of them went off at once with a thunder of little pops that spread seeds all over the ground. Now Dol’s head and face had only little patches of his thick hair here and there and bald spots shone starkly in the strange red light that seemed to suffuse the passages they traversed.
Try as she might, Milli couldn’t catch her breath in the heavy air; put her hand on her knee and bent over to cough a few more times in a futile attempt to clear her lungs. “Wait, Dol,” she gasped but the words seemed to die in the heavy air and Dol continued on without her. “Wait, Dol,” she tried again but with even fainter results than before. She pulled out a flask of water, now more than half empty, and took a swallow, allowing the water to roll around in her mouth before she downed it past her burning throat. It brought some relief and she breathed in through her nose, the horrible stench seeming to pierce every part of her body, and then began to walk after Dol. Her pace continued to slow as her lungs burned and the overwhelming heat sapped her strength. When she next looked up she could no longer make out her companion but she continued to trudge forward nevertheless.
Dol’s eyes shone like the red hot embers of a fire stoked too often and he moved with steady strides down the passageways as if he knew them from a thousand journeys. His thoughts were on the great heartbeat ahead that seemed to move through the tunnels, coalesce in his hammer, and infuse his body with terrible, invincible strength. He turned down another corridor and came into a smallish chamber with rock formations running from the ceiling to the floor, fiery veins of red minerals infused the walls giving this place a deep glow.
“Gazadum!” he called out and swung the hammer from his side. “I, Dol Delius, am here to slay you.”
There was no answer, and Dol advanced further into the room as he spun the hammer around his head. “You cannot hide, great Gazadum. I am Dol Delius from Craggen Steep and I carry Kanoner, the Hammer of Fire. I am here to seal your fate. Come out and meet me!”
“This is a good thing,” said a deep voice that sounded like logs crackling on a fire. “Although you are not the first who has made such claims over the many, many years.”
“Where are you?” said Dol, looking around at the chamber and seeing rocky outcroppings and a thin stream of lava roiling past along a trench in the floor but no sign of a living beast or god.
Slowly, deliberately, like a drizzle of honey from a massive hive, a molten creature seemed to form from the churning lava that poured through the chamber. It took the shape of a dwarf-like beast although rocky in shape and black and purple in color. It stood before Dol who, despite the protection of the hammer, still felt the terrible heat that came off the creature. “I am Gazadum and I have waited five thousand years for such as you to come and slay me.”
“Your wait is over,” said Dol and hefted the great hammer. “This hammer was forged from the essence you left behind at Craggen Steep, and now I will use it to destroy you once and for all so that you might never enslave the dwarves again.”
There was a pause and Dol studied his foe, trying to determine any weakness in the terrible thing. Its exterior was like a roiling river of rock constantly changing but remaining ever the same.
Then Gazadum spoke again, the sound like crackling rocks, “I never meant for the dwarves to think of themselves as slaves,” it said. “I am saddened you think such was your fate. When we came from the stars and shaped the world we dreamed that we could create free-willed creatures and your presence here is proof of our success. We had many dreams, many hopes when we abandoned the freedom of the stars.”
“We?” asked Dol as he paused in his slow advance towards Gazadum, the most ancient of elementals.
“My companions and I, Fafaradum, Glangaldum, and Korakdum. We came to earth together with our dreams. We shaped this place for eons beyond comprehension. We tore off pieces of ourselves to create those you call the elementals and with their help we slowly formed this land from its molten shell. Over the long years it cooled and we crafted the quantum pieces into pleasing forms, dug deep into the earth, and positioned the great plates. Then we waited for many long eons as the earth drifted into form. When all was ready great, sweet Glangaldum with her delicate hands twisted the double-helix of life and with that set in motion events leading to this very moment.”
“Did you create all the stars as well?” said Dol, now fully paused and staring wide-eyed at the creature.
“Yes, although not in a way you would imagine. We did not create this planet, we simply shaped it. The planets shaped themselves from the quantum dust born of starry fire.”
“Did you create the universe then?” asked Dol.
“That I do not know, although when I was young it was a topic of much discussion,” said the molten form slowly shifting into a new shape that began to look like a terrible dragon. “My kind were not first born,” said Gazadum and the flowing energy that made up his form seemed to shrug, although how Dol sensed this he could not exactly tell.
“Who was first born then?” asked Dol.
“Fafaradum and his kind awakened in the universe and they were so numerous as to be beyond counting. He and his kind merged and mingled and Glangaldum and her kind came of this mixing. When countless many of Fafaradum and his kind gathered in too small a space my kind was born of the fiery inferno that resulted. But even this was well before my time.”
“How old are you?” asked Dol. “Why did you create the dwarves if not to enslave them?”
“I shaped this earth for almost three billion years from the early times when much of our work was constantly undone by the bombardments, and then the later years when things became more… settled. But I lived long before that. I was born in a burning star and lived there for many billions of years with those of my kind. We enjoyed power beyond comprehension and saw things of such great beauty that it all seems a dream to me today. The lashings of plasma arms a million miles long, the lakes of a fire bigger than a thousand of your worlds, the explosion of suns, the formation of the great blackness, the swirling of galaxies, all of this I witnessed.”
“Three… three billion years?” said Dol and his arm dropped to his side and the hammer with it.
“Indeed,” said Gazadum and the roiling creature seemed to smile as it became more dragon like yet with fiery red eyes and a long purple tongue. “The shaping of a world is a time consuming process but the result is well worth the effort. You and your kind came of the twisting of Glangaldum, although that too took millions of years.”
“You claim we were not meant to be slaves,” said Dol and raised the hammer back up. “But, the legends of Craggen Steep say we overthrew your rule and took your great citadel for our own.”
“This is all true. Some of my… children, for lack of a better word, did not fully understand our plans or perhaps over the many years we forgot them ourselves. The trappings of power are great, Dol Delius of Craggen Steep, and to be feared more than anything else. No one is immune to power and the greater the more seductive. My children grew arrogant and jealous of the living creatures that arose over the years. They did enslave them and I, to my shame, allowed it to happen. My power, my strength, it was spent in the creation of my children and in the fashioning of this world. I am a shell of what once strode the earth but I do not lament.”
“You claim that you did not want to enslave us so that I might spare your life?” said Dol and turned his head a little to the side. “It seems odd to have such as you begging for your existence.”
“Quite the opposite, Dol Delius of Craggen Steep. I do not beg for more of that which I have had so much. So very much. Looking back it is clear I should have allowed myself to be slain back in Tor Balog when your kind expelled me from my ancient seat of power but I allowed my children, Hezfer the Blue Flame, Shadak the Black Fire, and of course, beautiful Eleniak the Dancing Flame, beautiful, beautiful Eleniak, to sway me. Do not mistake my words for the begging of forgiveness or for mercy; no, indeed, now I welcome you here. For of all the many years I have seen none have been more awful than these last few thousand. Sitting idly and watching. I am a creature of action in self-enforced idleness. There are many of my kind still in the stars and they will perhaps live forever, but we four chose a different road. We chose to come to this planet, to forge it, to birth life, life, Dol Delius, life. We chose our fate all those years ago and we did it knowingly. Perhaps I beg, but I do not beg for mercy.”
“Only you four then,” said Dol.
“Oh no,” said Gazadum and the dragon shape opened its massive maw and laughter boomed like thunder causing the chamber to shake. “There are many stars and many more planets yet. My people of fire, those of air, earth, and water forged into countless billions of little bands. We settled on many worlds, many, many worlds. Our plans were great. My only regret in all of this is that I will not see how the others fared. Did we four shine brightly or are our creations dull and lifeless little things? Someday your kind will traverse the stars and meet the children of the others. I will not see such. I am used up. I am tired. I am sad. After so long I find myself ready for an end. I have spoken long enough. Raise your hammer, Dol Delius of Craggen Steep. Let us see if you are the one who can end my life. But be warned, although perhaps I am ready for death, still I will cling to life. I will fight for more of that which I’ve had so much!” With that the creature suddenly seemed to finish its shifting into the shape of a great dragon, its terrible maw open and striding across the floor with motions that seemed leisurely but covered the distance between the two in a twinkling.
Dol raised his hammer and brought it down towards the side of the creature and connected with a hard blow that did not even slow the beast. Dol felt energy from the dragon shoot up the hammer and into his body, and suddenly his arm stiffened although he felt such power that his head seemed to glow with power. Dol staggered back and away from a swiping blow that missed his head by a few inches. He looked down at his arm, trying to figure out what caused the strange stiffness. First he saw that the hammer glowed even more brightly and seemed to pulse and throb. Then the reason for the stiffness in his arm became clear. His chain armor seemed to have melted into a solid mass and somehow fused with his flesh. Dol felt a presence on his right and ducked away from another strike and lashed out with a blow that landed powerfully on the creature’s lower leg and sent it sprawling to the floor with an ear-bursting roar. This time Dol watched as the energy of the beast flowed into his hammer and although much of it was somehow absorbed, the residual heat tore into him like a bolt of lightning spearing a tall tree. Dol screamed in both agony and ecstasy.
Dol maneuvered to the side of the creature which seemed to be having trouble moving and aimed a blow just as the beast opened its mouth and a ball of molten fire leapt from the beast and engulfed the dwarf warrior. He felt fire in his mouth, nose, ears, and eyes and the ripping, burning sensation pierced his lungs, and he felt his internal organs shriveling from the blast. Somehow he ignored the pain for long enough to continue forward and bring down a killing blow on the head of the beast.
Gazadum managed to squirm or flow or somehow move just to the right and the hammer came down hard on its upper shoulder region and sent it crashing to the ground with the sound of a boulder smashing to the earth after a long fall.
Dol staggered backwards and fell to one knee, his lungs burning and his eyes unable to focus. It took a moment for him to recover enough to rise back to one foot and squint so that he could see Gazadum. The terrible elemental lay in a heap on the floor, most of its dragon form now more like molten rock, and it shimmered and twisted as it tried to regain its feet. “I have you now,” said Dol and moved forward slowly, his legs somehow did not seem to work properly.
“Dol!” shrieked Milli from the doorway as she saw what she could only assume was her friend close in on the beast. His body glowed red where the metal of his armor fused with it. One eye was burned out and the other showed a milky iris. His skin was melted and burnt black where not combined with the armor and his hand appeared melted to the handle of Kanoner whose formerly lily white coloring was scorched black along one side.
Dol turned and saw as the girl collapsed to the ground, lurching forward and trying to reach out to him. Her skin was blue in color and a crusty yellow chalk formed around her lips, nose, ears, and eyes. She tried to crawl once again towards him, raised one hand, but then her head fell and her body stopped all movement.
Dol turned once again to Gazadum and raised his hammer, “Now you die!”
“I am ready,” said Gazadum from the floor, although it still tried to regain its footing.
Dol squinted through his one good eye and saw clearly for a moment that great molten tears were falling from the eyes of the ancient creature.
“You fear death?” asked Dol as he stepped forward.
“No,” said Gazadum. “These are tears of joy for a life well spent. Perhaps I will never see my children reach the stars. I will never see if they were stronger than those created by the others. But, looking at you, I think I know the answer. Dol Delius of Craggen Steep, I thank you. Perhaps you would request a boon before you slay me. Even now in my weakened state there is little beyond me.”
Dol hesitated a moment and the great power of the hammer flowed through his dying body. He suddenly felt shame, terrible, intense shame, and then looked at Milli dying on the floor and pointed at her, “Yes, great Gazadum, my friend. There is a woman in the hills not far from here. Could you send Milli to her? So that she might live a full life, a life like yours?”
Gazadum nodded his head and the girl suddenly vanished. “There is nothing you want for yourself? Your wounds are mortal.”
Dol felt the fire burning in his lungs. “I have lived my life as fully as could be, I think. No, I have nothing… wait, yes, great Gazadum. I wish to die among my people in Craggen Steep, there is something I want to say to them before I pass. Can you do that?”
“I can,” said Gazadum. “Bring down your hammer and it will be done.”
Dol, tears in his own eyes, raised the hammer high and brought it down.