‘What?’ asked Nakor. ‘What do you mean, you know it?’
‘It is no god, Nakor, or at least not as we understand such things.’
Magnus said, ‘What is it then?’
‘The Dark God of the Dasati is not of this realm, or of any other we comprehend. The Dark God of the Dasati is a creature of the void. We are looking at a Dreadlord.’
‘What?’ asked Magnus, steering them away from the Dreadlord towards the edge of the vast pit.. Little was known of the dread, but he had heard enough to understand why his father’s voice was forced to calm; his father was frightened, and Magnus had never experienced that before. ‘What is it doing here?’ he asked, his own calm barely maintained.
‘Ah,’ said Nakor. ‘That explains much.’ He sounded surprisingly unfazed by the revelation. Magnus glanced at Nakor and saw the little gambler had his eyes fixed on the Dreadlord, studying it as they moved across the pit.
They could feel a strange heat rising, a heat that was both unnatural and troubling. The red-orange light from below seemed to liquefy, as if the Dreadlord was squatting in a huge lake. Pug had a worrying idea. ‘See that green flame dancing across the surface of the liquid?’
‘Yes,’ answered Nakor. ‘Life trying to escape.’
Magnus said, ‘We can see life?’
‘I’ve seen it once before, when your mother and I helped Calis destroy the Lifestone and set free all the trapped souls within.’
‘Like so many things we can’t see as humans, we can see with Dasati eyes,’ answered Nakor. ‘This monstrous entity is living in a sea of captured life. It is bloated to a massive… thing, huge beyond its original capacity. It has become engorged, like a glutton at a feast that never ends, swollen like a monstrous tick endlessly sucking blood from a dog. Look!’
As they approached the edge of the vast pit, they could see that there was a ceremony underway. A dozen Deathpriests stood arrayed in two rows, behind which stood armed Deathknights wearing orange armour. Pug assumed they were temple guards. A long line of shuffling Lessers came inching towards the edge of the pit, and when each reached the edge, a priest would give a quick benediction and they would be pushed over the edge. The Lessers fell into the roiling surface of the liquid, which Pug now understood was mostly blood, and sank from view.
Those who hesitated were picked up and thrown in by Deathknights. Most wept or had a shocked look of resignation on their faces, but a few revealed wide-eyed panic and some tried to bolt. Those who did were cut down by the Deathknights standing behind the priests, and their bodies were rolled into the mass.
‘Over there!’ said Nakor, and Pug looked to where he pointed. A small raised dais, perhaps used by some high-ranking official, perhaps even the TeKarana himself, had been erected here from which to observe the endless sacrifice.
Nakor said, ‘Magnus, can you remember this place well enough to bring us back here in a hurry if you need to?’
‘I think getting us out of here in a hurry would be a better idea.’
‘That too,’ whispered Nakor. He added, ‘Sometimes the creature seems to sleep but I wouldn’t want to try to sneak in that way again. Last time I was with a bunch of those poor souls who are being fed to that monster so I was unnoticed when I walked in.’
‘How did you get out?’ asked Pug.
‘I used some tricks,’ Nakor said. ‘Come, we need to start back: I don’t want to leave Bek unattended.’
‘Nakor, is Bek the Godkiller?’
‘Maybe, maybe not,’ answered the little gambler as Magnus lifted himself and his two companions into the air. ‘But he has a role to play. When I’m sure it’s safe to leave him, there are some places I must visit.’
‘Where?’ asked Pug.
‘There are rooms all over this temple, many containing scrolls and things that no one looks at any more. These were once a great people, Pug. Magnificent even, and I think it was the Dasati who built these amazing places. That meant they were like the Ipiliac. Much of their creative greatness was drained away by the need to survive between the realms. Here, the Dasati turned all their energies to build, to create, to investigate. They must have had great scholars, poets, artists, musicians, healers, and engineers living here. They must have been almost gods themselves when this horror came to them.’
‘There is so much we may never know,’ said Pug. ‘How a creature of the void came to live at the heart of this world…’
‘Better go faster, Magnus,’ said Nakor. ‘Time is fleeting.’
Magnus used more speed in leaving than he did in approaching, so they rapidly reached the top of the enormous pit. As they descended down to the tunnel leading to the tram, Nakor said, ‘Whatever Bek’s role may be, I believe he needs to try to kill it.’
‘But you said you didn’t know if he was the Godkiller,’ said Magnus.
‘Yes, he may not be, but he needs to try.’