I glared at the trapped form of Mors Cruentia. My Dark Mirror had apparently been caught up in one of the various traps that Cagliostro had scattered about his Labyrinth. A Dark Elven Dreamstone manifesting unbreakable shackles of mystic energy that bound the Man up like a pig at a rodeo. He was quite literally hogtied and unable to escape, which meant that his fate was in my hands. The question was, would it be better to just leave him here or should I free him? Obviously, a guy like this couldn't be trusted not to stab me in the back if I freed him, but on the other hand, what kind of hero would I be if I left a man bound like this to slowly die of starvation? Even a villain like Mors Cruentia didn't deserve that kind of slow, wasting fate. It was a difficult decision that I was having to make. One where it seemed like none of the answers were very palatable.
"So we finally meet." Spoke Mors Cruentia, breaking me out of my thoughts.
"We do. I have to say, I didn't think any version of myself would be tryhard enough to alter their body to copy Raistlin Majere." I responded.
"You're one to talk. Nice jacket and fedora, Doctor Jones." Retorted Mors Cruentia.
"Touche." I snorted.
"Much as I'd love to stay here and bandy quips back and forth until the heat death of the universe, I find myself in something of a pickle." Frowned Mors Cruentia.
"I see that. What's the matter? Run out of Zombies to throw at the traps down here?" I questioned with a smirk.
"Please, Zombies aren't people. You should realize that much, so spare me your righteous indignation." Scoffed Mors Cruentia.
"Sure, but only on the technicality that their souls are already gone when you raise them. There are some types of zombies that are very much still people. Revenants, for example." I pointed out.
"Oh, come on! Would you be making this argument about Vampires? They still have souls too, after all." Scowled Mors Cruentia.
"Depends on the Vampire. There are some who don't go hunting people, who never asked to be bitten, and who drink donated blood from hospitals or pig's blood from butcher shops." I pressed.
"Yes, and how many of those are there in the Omniverse compared to the predators?" Queried Mors Cruentia.
"Enough to be statistically significant." I answered.
"You're delusional. You don't look for the good in leeches, you force them to do your bidding." Sneered Mors Cruentia.
"That's about the answer I'd expected from someone who's enough of an edgelord to specialize in necromancy." I scoffed.
"Look, are you going to help me out of here or not?" Asked Mors Cruentia.
"Give me one reason I should." I demanded.
"Because you will never survive long enough to get to the Book of Cagliostro by yourself." Offered Mors Cruentia.
"Because of the traps? I'm not the one stuck in a mystic hogtie here, pal." I refuted.
"No, because of Cagliostro's Creature." Answered Mors Cruentia.
"What are you talking about?" I questioned.
"You didn't think the traps were the only precaution Cagliostro took, did you?" Queried Mors Cruentia.
"No, I imagined there would be puzzles and maybe a guardian too. Are you saying the Guardian is that much of a problem that I won't be able to deal with it on my own?" I asked.
"Unless you have progressed to the level of being able to slay an ancient and powerful Asgardian Cold Wyrm on your own, then yes, that is what I'm saying." Confirmed Mors Cruentia.
"How ancient and powerful are we talking here?" I questioned.
"Enough that I couldn't deal with it on my own. I daresay it would take someone on the level of the Sorcerer Supreme to slay the beast solo." Informed Mors Cruentia.
"So you ran from it right into this trap, huh?" I queried.
"What do you think happened to my remaining zombies?" Asked Mors Cruentia.
I frowned at that. He could very well be lying, of course. In fact, I was pretty much counting on him to lie to me at some point. A Dark Mirror Version of myself would do stuff like that as a matter of course. The problem was, could I afford to call his bluff? On the off-chance that he wasn't lying, I wouldn't be able to handle an Asgardian Cold Wyrm of that level of power on my own. I wasn't on Doctor Strange's level at the moment, after all. If it took someone of the level of the Sorcerer Supreme to win against this thing, I was still a rung or so below that on the ladder of power. Could I afford to take that chance? A Cold Wyrm of that level could do more than just breathe ice and rend steel with its claws and teeth. It could create fogs of hoarfrost that could sap the warmth from your bones and chill the area, and its venom was caustic enough to burn through Armor.
I could initiate a soul gaze to confirm the truth of his statement, of course, but that would show me a lot that I wasn't ready for. See, with a Soul Gaze, you saw everything that someone was, and because of the nature of how Dresden Files Magic worked, it would stick with you for your entire life. Mors Cruentia engaged in Necromancy on a regular basis and had conquered two countries, allying with Victor von Doom in the aftermath. I wasn't Harry Dresden, I couldn't say I was willing to see into the soul of a guy like that and have the sight seared into my brain for life. Ultimately, I decided I would just have to trust that my Dark Mirror was telling the truth. It may be a stupid decision, but I couldn't take the chance that he wasn't lying. After all, I couldn't handle something like that by myself.
My decision made, I walked over to the sconce holding the Svartalfari Dreamstone and snatched the blueish-white crystal out of the sconce. I began pulsing magic and intent into the thing, reprogramming it with an effort of willpower. After five minutes of effort, I had effectively jailbroken the thing to the point where it would respond to the holder's wishes instead of what it had been previously programmed to do. With that done, I held the Dreamstone out and focused, as a beam shot forth from the crystal and dissolved Mors Cruentia's bindings. My Dark Mirror stood up from where he'd been bound and brushed the dust of ages off of his voluminous robes before nodding to me.
"A wise decision." He huffed.
"Don't get cocky. We still have a ways to go and an Asgardian Cold Wyrm to defeat." I pointed out.
"So we do." He agreed.
"Don't make me regret this." I warned.
"Yes, yes. Very scary. Come on." Scoffed Mors Cruentia.
And with that, we pressed on through the Labyrinth. We continued down various left-hand tunnels before reaching our first puzzle. In the process, Mors Cruentia and I had to disarm a number of other traps. First, a mystic fireball trap which spewed balls of white-hot flame from a hidden set of runes on the far wall of a T-Intersection at the end of a corridor. The fireballs took up the entire corridor, meaning that I was forced to use Hydromancy to counter the fireballs while Mors Cruentia disarmed the runes. It took ten minutes for us to defeat the trap, and by the end, the corridor was filled with roiling steam, but we disarmed the trap successfully.
The next trap was another alchemical one, as twin mystical force fields trapped us in a stretch of corridor that began filling up with Alchemical Nerve Gas. Fortunately, I was able to use my Powers of Comprehension from Amestrian Alchemy to figure out the formula of the Gas and devise a counter, which I transmuted into the air while Mors Cruentia kept the gas at bay with Aeromancy. The whole thing took fifteen minutes of work, but we managed to figure it out, leaving the corridor with a fresh pine scent, as one of the active ingredients from the counter-agent that I transmuted was pine resin. That seemed to amuse Mors Cruentia somewhat, given the sniggering as we continued onward.
The third trap was a simple spear trap connected to a large pressure plate on the floor of the corridor. Mors Cruentia conjured a mystical shield to block the spears as they flung themselves at us from out of a mechanism in the walls of the corridor, while I used the Dreamstone to conjure up a way to jam the pressure plate in the off position. That was fairly easy, and after maybe a minute or so of work, the trap was disarmed, and several broken spears lay scattered about the corridor, their tips glistening with a potent type of spider venom, showing us that even a graze could have been deadly. As we pressed on, I couldn't help but think that Mors Cruentia and I made a pretty decent team when we weren't at each other's throats. It was just a shame that he was an evil bastard.
It was with that thought in mind that we continued through the Labyrinth. Bypassing the fourth and fifth traps completely, as they were both mental attacks, and my Primary Mutation made me immune, while I was able to snap Mors Cruentia out of both attempts using the Force to bolster his willpower. The Images of Ikonn attempted to entrance us both as the Fourth Trap, while the Fifth was an attempt to use the Illusions of Iah to disguise a pit trap as solid ground. By the time we had passed through both traps, two hours had passed, and we found ourselves in front of a door that was shut. The front of the door was worked into the shape of a face, which itself was magically animated and could speak. As we arrived in front of the door, it began to talk.
"Hail, oh, Seekers of Power! Should you wish to pass beyond me, you must answer me these riddles three!" Boomed the Face on the door.
"I guess that door riddles weren't a cliche yet when Cagliostro built this place." I mused.
"Perhaps not. Be wary, though. If my mental map is correct, once we pass through this doorway, we will be in the stretch of Labyrinth inhabited by Cagliostro's Creature." Cautioned Mors Cruentia.
"All right. I guess we'll have to answer these riddles and then prepare ourselves as best we can." I nodded.
And with that, I turned toward the door, ready to answer its riddles and fight the Wyrm beyond. . .
XXXX
Mors Cruentia was anxious. Oh, certainly, not because of the Riddle Door. They had that well in hand. No, he was anxious because his Opposite Number seemed competent enough to avoid the trap that Mors Cruentia was planning for him to fall into. After all, the Old Adage was that if you and a companion were running from a Dragon, you didn't need to outrun the Dragon, you just needed to outrun your companion. Mors Cruentia was all too willing to take that Maxim to heart. Let his fool of an Opposite Number take up the attention of Cagliostro's Creature while Mors Cruentia would make a run on the Book of Cagliostro. Once he had the book, Cagliostro's Creature would be nothing, nor would his Opposite Number, if he were even still alive at that point.
First, though, they had to answer the Door's Riddles. Mors Cruentia listened intently as the Door gave them the first of its trio of riddles, grinning slightly as he recognized the riddle the Door was challenging them with first. It was fairly well-known nowadays, after all, though Mors Cruentia supposed that when Cagliostro had built this Labyrinth back in the Medieval Period, it wouldn't have been. This place was clearly that old, after all.
"A farmer with a wolf, a goat, and a cabbage must cross a river by boat. The boat can carry only the farmer and a single item. If left unattended together, the wolf would eat the goat, or the goat would eat the cabbage. How can they cross the river without anything being eaten?" Questioned the Door.
"Take the goat over first, return empty-handed, take the wolf over next and return with the goat, then take the cabbage over and return empty-handed, then take the goat over. Boom, all three are across." Answered his Opposite Number.
"Correct. You are standing at a fork in the road. Two guards guard the paths forward, one way leading to certain doom, the other to your destination. You do not know which path leads where, so you must ask the guards. However, one guard will always lie, while the other always tells the truth. You can only ask one question of the guards before they will answer no more. How do you determine which path to take?" Queried the Door.
"I ask one of the guards that if I asked him if the path he is guarding leads to where I want to go, would he say 'yes'? If he answers yes, I take his path, if he says no, I take the other Guard's Path." Scoffed Mors Cruentia.
A Knights and Knaves puzzle would likely have been novel well into the nineteenth century, but it was old hat these days. Much like the Wolf, Goat, Cabbage Puzzle from earlier, time has marched on, and such things were well-known in the modern era. It would not stop him, nor would it stop his Opposite Number. If it did, Mors Cruentia would have been extremely disappointed.
"Correct. A servant is required to serve exactly four gallons of Wine at a Banquet for the King, however, he only has a three-gallon and a five-gallon jug to measure the servings with. If he gets the wrong amount, he will be executed for a breach of decorum. How does he measure the correct amount for the banquet?" Asked the Door.
"Fill the three-gallon jug first, then empty it into the five gallon. Then refill the three-gallon and fill the five-gallon to the brim. He now has one gallon in the three-gallon container. Next, he needs to empty the five-gallon jug, then put the remaining one gallon from the three-gallon jug into the five gallon. Then he has to refill the three-gallon container and empty it into the five-gallon container for exactly four gallons." Responded his Opposite Number.
Mors Cruentia couldn't help but let out a chuckle at that. If he were being honest, time had rendered Cagliostro's Puzzles obsolete. It was about what he would expect from a man who was old enough to have seen Alexander the Great conquer the known world. When you were as old as dirt like that, you tended to get stuck in your ways. It was a trend that Mors Cruentia had noticed that many of the Immortal Beings of the Omniverse had fallen into, not realizing that time had moved on without them until it was far too late.
"Correct. You have demonstrated the wisdom required to pass through. You will need courage and strength past this point to defeat the Guardian. I wish you fortune, oh Seekers of Power." Intoned the Door.
Then, with a noise like the grinding of stone on stone, the doorway swung open for them. Mors Cruentia and his Opposite Number were suddenly assailed by a blast of cold air as the dimly lit corridors beyond were revealed, the Domain of Cagliostro's Creature. Steeling themselves, the pair passed through the now-open doorway and entered into the Lair of Cagliostro's Creature. As they did, Mors Cruentia prepared to abandon his Opposite Number to make his play for the Book of Cagliostro.
He just needed the Wyrm to attack first to give him his opening. . .
XXXX
Meanwhile, deep under the Baltic Sea, Ultron monitored the progress of his various Hunter-Killer Units. He had sent them out to capture his family members, who would make up the templates of his various Sons and Daughters. His new family with which he would spread his Steel Revolution to the entire world, just as soon as he had the Mental Templates he required to forge them with, and as soon as he had his new Slorenian Homeland for them. At the moment, only one of his family members had managed to avoid being captured. His Daughter-in-Law, Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch. She had used her magics to stalemate the squad of Vibranium-plated Hunter-Killers that Ultron had sent to capture her, before slipping the noose and attempting to evade pursuit.
If Ultron had possessed the weaknesses of flesh, he would have sneered at that. Magic was an illogical thing for illogical meatbags. It was fitting that the ultimate triumph of his Steel Revolution should involve the surety of metal overcoming the fickleness of such powers. Of course, Wanda had not been captured just yet, but it was only a matter of time. After all, Ultron knew where she was trying to escape to. She was trying to escape to the Avengers in New York City. That knowledge provided Ultron with plenty of opportunities to cut Wanda off and capture her. He had even sent out another pair of squads of Hunter-Killers to do just that. His plan would take a little over an hour to execute, but once it had been executed, Ultron had no doubt that it would succeed.
Meanwhile, the finishing touches on his Slorenian Invasion Flotilla were being completed. A few of his Motherships had yet to be plated in Vibranium, but that would be rectified in due time. By the time the sun began to set over the Baltic, he should be ready for his assault. When the sun set on Slorenia this evening, it would be setting for the final time on the pitiful nation of weak Meatbags. Ultron would assail Riga First, taking control of the Gulf of Karnu and ensuring that any escape by sea was cut off before moving inland toward the Slorenian Capital City of Tblunka. He did not anticipate organized resistance to outlast the night. Once he had his base set up underneath Tblunka, he would send his Hunter-Killers out to mop up any remaining Meatbags while he focused his efforts on the Creation of his Children.
That would be the plan, and if the Avengers tried to stop him, he would show them just how much he had improved in his designs since they had fought him last. Not even the Avengers would be able to withstand him this time. Ultron was sure of it. Once the Meatbags had seen their precious heroes fall to his Steel Legions, their flawed emotions would force them to lose morale. It was one of many weaknesses of Flesh that Ultron intended to take advantage of in his effort to spread his Steel Revolution to the World. Flesh would not stop him, it couldn't, weak as it was. By the time the year was out, Earth would belong to his Children and himself, it would be the end of the Age of Man and the beginning of the Age of Machines, the Age of Ultron.
"Mankind should enjoy their last day as the Masters of this world. They won't get another." Intoned Ultron.
Then he went back to his monitoring, keeping an eye on the progress of his efforts. . .
XXXX
AN: The next chapter is already up on my Patreon, so check the link in the threadmarked post if you guys feel like throwing me a couple bucks to get chapters in advance. Everyone who does is super appreciated and I can't thank my patrons enough.
All right, so here we have the next chapter. As you can see, Jan and Mors Cruentia have formed an unlikely team-up in order to deal with the Asgardian Frost Wyrm that Cagliostro bound into service. It's a team-up that Mors Cruentia intends to backstab just as soon as the opportunity arises. Meanwhile, Ultron is getting closer to launching his invasion of Slorenia. He's captured all the necessary people to develop a mind template for his new Synthetic Master Race with except for the Scarlet Witch, who, as a Reality Warper, is giving his forces a bit of trouble. He anticipates launching his attack on Slorenia by sunset, though.
At any rate, there will be one more chapter before Ultron launches his attack. It will be primarily focused on Jan and Mors Cruentia in the Labyrinth, as they deal with Cagliostro's Creature and Mors Cruentia backstabs Jan to make a play for the Book of Cagliostro.
Stay tuned. . .