Into the Darkness: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Axe Druid Book 4)

by Christopher Johns

  She grasped my hand gently in her own and held it as she looked into my eyes. “If you will have me?”

  “Zeke.” Yohsuke put a hand on my shoulder and nodded toward Maebe. “Do you have anything you would like to say?”

  “Yes.” I gave him a quick reassuring smile and nodded once as he stepped back. “Maebe, you have been a mystery to me as long as I have known you. You are the single strongest person I have ever met, and simultaneously the most wonderstruck. So in awe of all the world around you that when others see it, they see a little of that wonder, too. I want to experience that with you for as long as my time in this world will allow me. I would be honored to have you, if you will have me?”

  “I will, until the end of time, my heart is yours.” Maebe leaned over, her eyes filled with tears of joy. I held out my hand, and she slid the ring over it onto the ring finger of my left hand. “With this ring, we are bound, our hearts and souls will never be alone again.”

  As we came together in a hug, kissing each other passionately, my heart skipped a beat. I heard and felt Maebe’s breath catch at the same time as my own did. Her eyes widened with mine, and I felt a burning in the pit of my stomach and an itch inside my head.

  “Mae, is this supposed to be happening?” My voice sounded breathless, because it was. It hurt so badly, and as I stared into her eyes, I realized that she had known on some level that this might happen. The tears in her eyes stemming from worry.

  “It will be over soon,” she whispered against me. My friends’ voices were all around us, but they were growing ever softer.

  Then my heart rebounded, and I was stronger than I had ever felt before. There was no longer space in me left to fill, or take up, because just Maebe was there. Right there. Touching my hand and staring at me as if it were the first time that she had ever seen me. At that moment, I was doing the same. I could feel the cool and dark of her being in mine.

  Everything about her was intoxicating. Where her hand touched mine was an anchor, and I could have floated away in that very second.

  “This is weird,” I whispered.

  “This too shall pass.” She pulled me closer, the press of her body lining my own with warmth and magic that spread through my being like air. “Though I wish it would last forever.”

  “I do too.” Her scent was all over me, and I reveled in it more than I cared to ever say. I noted that my friends were smirking, then Yohsuke waved them away.

  “May want to…uh… get a room, you two.” He tried to sound authoritative, but it seemed like what he was witnessing had freaked him out a little. He walked off, joined by the Braves.

  Bonnie watched a little longer, but I pulled my attention from Maebe for a single second to raise a wall of shadows around us in a dome. Same as I had witnessed Maebe do so many times before.

  “Party poopers,” Bonnie grumbled as she stalked away.

  A press of lips against the side of my neck brought me back to the moment. “Thank you,” my now-wife whispered. “You are king now. Let me hold you tonight, my King.”

  And she did. For that night, we stayed in the darkness, separated from the world around us, and I had never felt so in touch with the light as I did in those precious moments.

  Chapter Nine

  My shadow dome had faded at some point in the night. But I could honestly say that I have never been quite so angry to see the sunlight. Fiery bastard.

  Maebe purred as her fingernails trailed down my chest, a matching ring on her finger. “Good morning, my King.”

  “Good morning, My Queen,” I mumbled back, throwing a hand up to ward off the light.

  “Good morning to the king and queen,” a breathier voice purred from above our heads. I looked up to see Bonnie there with plates of food offered out to us.

  I sighed. If she was going to tease us about this, the others were going to be unbearable.

  “Thanks, Bonnie.” I groaned as I went to stand, my hips and legs were killing me.

  Obviously, from sleeping off of the bedroll.

  “Your Majesties,” Bonnie’s voice was light, almost deferential as she bowed her head. She looked back up and caught my eye with a wink. I was naked.

  A cloth of shadow whipped from mine on the ground and covered my nudity.

  “No fun.” She left our plates on the ground and scampered away, almost skipping.

  “That one is odd,” Maebe’s voice brought me back to myself. I turned to find her wearing a yellow sundress with a thick, black belt that sat over her hips and dipped on one side. “Are you ready to be with our friends once more? Or would you like to sit together a little longer?”

  “I think it would be good to see our friends and sit together.” I rushed her and lifted her into my arms. She giggled and kissed my forehead.

  I got dressed swiftly, putting my armor on even more deftly than usual. We joined the others, and it was quiet at first. Eerily so, then a smile crept onto Muu’s scaly mug.

  The party stood, stepping over until they stood about a foot from both of us and knelt down onto one knee.

  They spoke in unison, “Hail the Queen and her King of the Unseelie Fae. Long may they reign.” They each looked up with shit-eating grins.

  My eyes widened, my gaze whipping over to Maebe, who blinked, confusion on her face, then she looked to me. “This is sarcasm, correct? They are not truly wishing us well, just teasing us?”

  The others laughed and came forward with hugs and soft-spoken words of congratulations and affection. By the end, I’d had the fur on my head ruffled so much I thought it would fall out.

  Maebe looked to be truly enjoying herself, her grin was wide as she traded words with each of them.

  “We’re happy for you both.” James returned to his place around the cooking fire. “And we didn’t even have time to get you anything.”

  “And I swear if any of you start calling me ‘king’ or any of that shit, we will scrap.”

  Muu, being the shit he was, had a mouthful of food when he put a hand to his reptilian ear. “What? I couldn’t hear you; your kingliness was deafening.”

  “You sonofa—” I growled and began to rise from my seat, he smiled and made ready, but Maebe stopped me.

  “It is only right that they do.” She shook her head. “In certain company, it’s imperative that they do, so that our position is secure. We come from a place of power, where perceptions of that power are important in maintaining it.”

  “I get that, but these are my brothers. They’re family.” I looked at each of them. “I know we shit on each other, and we play, but I would throw my life on the line for any of them. They’re my equal. They’re my friends.”

  They each smiled, even Balmur, who I still needed to really apologize to.

  “So, I guess if it’s all the same, I’d have them treat me the same unless they have to?” I looked to each of them, and they nodded in turn.

  “You may be a king, but there’s only one true king,” Bokaj stated with seriousness in his gaze.

  “Who is this king?” Maebe’s eyes widened with wonder.

  I knew where Bokaj was going with it. “Elvis, baby.”

  Bokaj strummed his guitar dramatically, doing his best Elvis impersonation. “Thank you very much.”

  The Earthlings laughed, while the others seemed a little confused. Eventually, I had to explain to Maebe that the king had been an exceptionally gifted musician on my world who had many of the people there smitten.

  “He sounds a very gifted bard.” she nodded to herself. However she had to understand it.

  “What’s the plan for today? We want to get there a day later than the messengers?” Bokaj asked as he put his instrument away. “Or do we want to get there the same time and look suspicious?”

  “Why not get there at the same time and be there for an unannounced diplomatic greeting from visiting royalty?” Jaken looked pointedly at Maebe and I. “We could get their permission to possibly use the dungeon as well, because that should go deep enough to
get us close to the Great Below, right?”

  “That is unlikely, but it will help, I’m certain,” Dawn interjected. “The truth may be enough to spark their interest, but letting nobility into their dungeon? Possibly not.”

  “But royalty to a guild?” Manly mused. “They come bearing a big enough tithe, they could let them use their dungeon.”

  “It’s worth a shot.” Yohsuke flipped some more bacon as I let Bea out to play with Kayda. I fed her some of the bacon and scraps of meat from the eagle we had killed. She was looking a little plump. We would need to level her up soon so she could really start growing.

  “We’re going to need to go hunting for Bea soon,” I muttered as I watched her chase after Kayda, the older of the two swatting her playfully with her wings.

  “Sounds like a good idea,” Balmur whispered behind me, making me jump. “Come on, man. We need to chat.”

  I stood and followed him as we walked away from the camp. Once we were far enough away, he cast his hands out, and his own little dome popped up around us.

  “Look, Balmur, I really wanted to apologize for the way I had spoken the other day. You went through a lot, and there was no reason for that.” I hung my head, ashamed. “It was insensitive.”

  “It wasn’t.” He thumped my chest. “It was from the heart and from the hip. All you were doing was trying to prove a point, and you weren’t wrong. I survived, and that’s all that matters. You guys came for me. You all did. And all I want to do is move on. So, I’m doing that. I’ve taken up the wizard class, and I’m going to study magic. And I want to have you help me if you want?”

  I grinned at him and pulled him into a massive hug, “I’d be honored to, bud.” I smacked my forehead. “Shit, let me go ask Maebe about the shadow magic thing!”

  I turned to go out, and Balmur stopped me. “Seriously, Zeke. Thanks. I owe you guys my life.”

  I blinked, taking in the look of haunted shame on his face before I punched his shoulder affectionately. “None of that. You would’ve done the same.”

  Before he could try and deny it, or make things worse for either of us, I stepped out of the dome.

  “Hey, Mae!” I blinked as the light hit my eyes, and she was suddenly just there in front of me, “Woah!”

  “You called, my love?” Her smiling face and green eyes stared up at me expectantly.

  “Uh, yeah.” How the hell had she gotten here so fast? “Would you be opposed to Balmur learning shadow magic with us?”

  “Not in the slightest.” She turned to regard the dwarf next to me. “You received a blessing from the shadow elemental, correct?”

  He nodded. “I did. They made it so that I could pass through shadows easier and farther than before. I also got something called Shadow Friend?”

  “That should be enough to allow you to manipulate shadows.” She thought for a moment, her hand raising to her chin contemplatively. “I think that we should also approach Yohsuke about training as well. It will be good for you to have others to test yourself with.”

  “Yeah, that would be great!” I thought about all the fun we had when we were trying to learn new video games together.

  “Thanks, both of you.” Balmur smiled and melted into the shadows, popping up within the group, scaring the shit out of Muu.

  Maebe was beaming, her smile from ear to ear.

  “How did you get over here so fast?” I was concerned, but mostly curious.

  “The rings.” She held her hand up, the finger with her own copy of the ring I wore waggling. “If we focus on it, we can feel the general state of being the other is in. I could feel that you wanted me, so I came to you.”

  “That’s really fucking cool.” I frowned as I raised the item to my eyes, but no matter how much I concentrated, I couldn’t see the stats of it. “Is there any reason why I can’t see the stats on this?”

  “Because they aren’t needed, you can feel them.” She held her hand out, and I took it without thinking. “The rings bind us together, not just as a form of contract that is marriage, but to the soul. Have you noticed that you feel differently?”

  “I feel…whole right now.” I narrowed my eyes, my eyebrows drawing together in thought as I searched myself. “I also get more of a read on your emotions, I think.”

  “And do you feel like you know where I am when I am not next to you?” Maebe stopped, letting go of my hand and pointed forward. “Walk that way and see if you can feel where I am.”

  I did as she asked and closed my eyes. I focused on the ring, and I felt it pulse in time with the rhythm of my heartbeat, then I felt a pull to my right when I thought about Maebe. I opened my eyes, and there she was, ten feet away to my right.

  “Wow,” I whispered, and held the item up to my eyes. “What else can they do?”

  “After a while or so, we will eventually be able to send each other thoughts.” She meshed her fingers with mine and we continued forward. “Other than that, my grandmother never told me. Though I have noticed that your magic concerning shadows is much more instinctual. I do not yet know whether that is due to the magic of our bond, or confidence on your part. We will know soon.”

  “How soon?” I kissed her hand as we came into the camp.

  “We will train while we move.” The evil grin on her face signaling a really shitty, productive day. “The others will begin their training this evening when the shadows are deepest.”

  “Lucky bastards,” I muttered and got a smack on my ass from the playful Fae queen for my insolence.

  The others had begun to pack things up, and I found Kayda defending our plates from little Bea.

  Thank you, sweetheart, I called to her. She ruffled her feathers and swatted the little raptor away once more. “We’re going into a mainly human kingdom, and they take issue with a lot of non-humans for shit their ancestors did. Do we know how we’re going to hide the fact that the majority of us aren’t human?”

  “I thought items would be a good idea,” I suggested readily while Yohsuke kicked dirt onto the fire to snuff it. “I can enchant some items to make you guys look human if I can get the enchantment right.”

  I thought about the quality of material I might need before reaching into my inventory for a ring of decent make and material. Gold band, simple and effective.

  I was honestly at a loss as to how to engrave the ring to make it so that it would support my enchantment, so I just decided to wing it and engrave the word “human” in cursive so that it flowed well. Once that was finished, I gathered my will and intent before I would normally begin funneling my mana into the item, but Maebe stopped me.

  “Allow me to cast a glamour onto it, it is similar to casting a spell, correct?” Her hand was over the ring already, but I stopped her in turn.

  “It is, but it isn’t.” I took her hand, then began to explain, “When someone else casts the spell, normally I understand the concept of what they would be adding, like Jaken with his holy damage and whatnot. I understand what glamour is meant to do, but not necessarily how it works.”

  “It is meant to bend the light with a shield of magic around the caster that gives them the appearance of something they are not,” her voice was studious and direct as she explained. “A thin barrier of mana reflects, refracts, bends, and molds to the body to give it the almost perfect appearance of what the caster wishes someone else to see.”

  James blinked at her slowly. “So then, how you look right now is covered in glamour?”

  “Yes.” Maebe frowned a second then decided against what she had thought of, likely bending the light to some degree and letting them see her in some way. “Fae do this almost constantly to the point that their glamour is instinctual. It changes with their whim and dependent on who they are with. Pay close attention to me.”

  I stepped back and watched with the others as her body slowly morphed. First, her ears dulled and shifted before our eyes until they were very human, then her angular features and the shapes of her eyes became significantly more rounded th
an they had been. Her nose rounded a little more and the bright green of her eyes seemed to be deeply enhanced.

  “Having one feature, typically the eyes, draw attention from the rest of your features will further assist in ensuring that any imperfections in your glamour are somewhat unnoticed.” She waved her hands in front of us and motioned to herself. “I also stay very close to what I have to work with. I do not change my height, or much of anything else.”

  “That’s amazing!” Muu stepped closer to look at her. “How does it work with your shadow, though?”

  “Well, I am the Queen of the Umber and Frozen Wastes.” Maebe grinned. “But, I admit, it is also a bit of glamour. Younger Fae have issues with that level of control, I am centuries old—I do not.”

  “So then why don’t you just glamour all of us?” Yoh asked politely for once.

  “Because the second I lose even the most minute detail, or one of you says or does something to contradict the glamour, then it will fade and leave us visible.” Her explanation seemed sound, though it was shitty.

  I pointed to the ring I had engraved. “With her intent being an almost perfect glamour, and my intent being for it to be human, we should be able to make sure that you guys are good, but we might need to fine-tune it. Let’s try the first one on Muu, I think his will be the hardest.”

  “Then maybe work on something easier first so that we can perfect it?” Maebe offered with a raised eyebrow that was so cute.

  “God, I love you,” I hissed, and I heard someone gag.

  “Jesus, fuck, get on with it already!” Yohsuke swore a few more times for good measure. “You fuckers weren’t exactly quiet last night, and although I don’t need to sleep, it’s hard to meditate through that shit.”

  “On it!” I barked, more than a little embarrassed.

  Together, Maebe and I cast her spell, my intent, her expertise, and will into the ring while I attempted to meld them all. It shattered in my hand, blowing away to dust.

  “You have got to be shitting me,” I grumbled angrily while reaching into my inventory for a finer ring, the materials used to make it much better this time.