by Jason Cheek
Tearing my eyes away from the fight, I let out a ragged sigh. Obviously, no one was thrilled about getting into the middle of one of her freak-outs. While Kenzie and I got along, she wasn’t the easiest person to deal with when she was pissed about something, but this was a situation I had no experience with. Even worse, this was going to go over with Domenic like a lead balloon. For those of us watching the fight, this was a lose-lose situation no matter how you looked at it. Climbing to my feet, I offered a hand to Helgath.
“Let’s finish this up,” I said, pulling my soulmate to her clawed feet. “And then we’ll deal with that train wreck.”
There was no wasted time. As soon as the Dwarves were revived, Darkhorse and Zhou jumped in with their Restore spells as Helgath and I moved onto Minor Mend Bones. Everyone else, was too focused on the action going on behind our backs to offer much assistance. Thankfully, this part didn’t take that long. Once we got our patients to half health, I hit them all with a Regeneration spell, before signaling my teammates to follow me as I hurriedly turned around to stop the fight. I wasn’t exactly sure what I’d expected to see, but it definitely wasn’t both of my friends warily circling one another at only half health.
“How are you going to get them to stop fighting?” Mike asked somewhat nervously, as I rolled my eyes.
“Whatever you do, don’t say you think she’s having a PTSD moment,” Darkhorse warned under his breath. “That’ll just make this worse.”
Great, they obviously expect me to deal with this, I sourly thought, letting out an exasperated sigh. How in the hell did I get stuck with this?
For gamers, having friends fighting one another inside a game wasn’t a bad thing. We were gamers and did that on a regular basis. If anything, it was a measure of how much we respected one another and a good way to blow off steam, but this was something very different. I feared that if I handled this badly, it would ruin any possibility of them becoming friends. Not only that, it could cause some major problems with the rest of the guild back at BrokenFang Hold.
“I’m not going to kill them,” I snapped irritably at him, as I considered how best to stop this. Although, that would be one way to get them to refocus their anger. Hell, it might even get them on the same side, I thought, letting the idea roll around in my head. Sullenly pressing my lips together, I glanced back at Mike and muttered under my breath. “Might as well see if I can piss everyone off at the same time.”
“What was that?” Mike asked somewhat concerned, as I began buffing myself up for a fight with Light’s Blessing, Holy Shield, Enhanced Mage Armor, Bone Shield, Bone Fangs, Regeneration, and Ice Barrier.
‘Let me handle this, War Leader,’ Helgath’s mental voice suddenly brought me up short from releasing Light Word of Censor, as Light magic began shimmering around my hands in a golden glow. ‘I know what to do to quickly bring this fight to an end without having them take the blame out on you.’
Her sudden use of my War Leader title had caught me by surprise, but through our connection, I immediately realized she’d only used it due to the seriousness of the situation. For her, it was a term of ultimate respect and a reflection of the promise she’d given to serve me with her life the first day we met. Although, she knew I preferred my name or even a nickname to War Leader. Old habits instilled from birth were hard to forget within the short time we’d been together, so I accepted the title with the respect that she’d intended.
‘You’re not going to kill them, are you?’ I mentally asked, somewhat concerned at the wicked gleam in her eyes.
‘Trust me, I’ve got this,’ Helgath simply replied, as I lowered my hands. Although, a cold chill ran down my spine at the Half-Orc’s next words. ‘Besides, Kenzie needs to learn to fear me.’
Now there was some terrifying words for someone like me to hear, I silently thought, as I did my best to keep my musings to myself. “Trust me,” was a phrase that I had a hard time giving to anyone after Julie’s betrayals. How long had the Half-Orc even been in my life? A part of me sourly thought as I contemplated Helgath’s request.
My first reaction was to have her step back so that I could deal with this in my own way, but there was something inside of me that paused. Even though it was crazy, after everything we’d shared over the last several days, I discovered inside my heart of hearts that I really did trust her. There was no way I could hide that train of thought from our connection, nor did I want to, as she began glowing from the unspoken praise.
‘Do it,’ I mentally said, as I dropped my arms and expelled the breath that I’d unconsciously been holding.
Mike’s head snapped around to look at me in confusion as Helgath reached inside of me to borrow my abilities. Was borrow even the right word? It was more like she had access to the same magic that I had through our connection, I thought, as she began buffing herself with the same stack of buff’s that I’d just cast. As Ice Barrier shimmered around her, Helgath’s hands glowed with a golden light as a rune circle created from light appeared on the ground under the fighting newfar’s feet.
“Fuck my life!” Kenzie had a split-second to curse before the Light Word of Censor’s stun dropped her to the ground like a dropped sack of potatoes.
The look of agony mixed with rage on Domenic’s face was amusing and scary all at the same time. Whatever special skill he was using to reflect the damage back to his attackers was effecting him far less than it did Kenzie. With a grunt of pain, the Arcane Paladin hit the ground in a clank of armor directly across from the Rogue as the Half-Orc’s Ice Barrier flared from the reflections of six hundred percent spell damage. Obviously, Domenic’s shields were fairing much better than either Helgath or I had anticipated, and was wearing her own shields down much quicker than she’d expected.
Nonetheless, Helgath wasn’t done there, her hands were already glowing a bluish-purple with her next spell as she laid into the two downed opponents with her modified Cleansing spell. This spell was even worse than the one that had laid Councilor Achronis low outside the catacombs of the Temple of Light. A horrified scream of agony came from both Kenzie’s and Domenic’s lips as their veins pulsed with black corruption and stood out from under the skin of their faces and black goo ran from their eyes.
Two seconds later, Helgath’s Ice Barrier spell failed as blue shard-like sparkles fell away from her glowing body. Instantly, the Bone Shield flared to life around her as Domenic’s reflection magic hit that next. Another two seconds into the spell, and the stun from the Light Word of Censor released both of the Half-Orcs targets.
With an agonized groan the Rogue pushed herself to her knees, while the Arcane Paladin stood and cast a second shield to further mitigate the corruption spell’s damage that was destroying his body from the inside out. Kenzie turned around to glare at the Half-Orc in hate, knowing who it was that was ripping her body apart, but, by the look on Domenic’s face, this was the first time he’d ever experienced an attack of this nature. It wasn’t just the skin of their faces that was expelling the toxins from their bodies, it was their entire bodies that were oozing out the corruption. The Arcane Paladin cast a Purification spell that momentarily cleared the corruption from his body, but the channeling nature of the Half-Orc’s spell brought the corruption right back.
Helgath’s Bone Shield burst into chunks of black motes as it was blown away in less than a second and a half. Immediately, a golden light flared around the Half-Orc to take its place as the reflection magic activated the Holy Shield. So far, none of Domenic’s reflective protection had affected her as Helgath continued channeling her magic.
The power my soulmate was displaying shocked the onlookers on both sides. Dwarves muttered to one another as they stood back and watched the show. Interestingly enough, none of them seemed particularly worried. I wasn’t sure if that was because even now we were still considered allies or if it signified that this wasn’t something particularly new. If anything, I swore there were bets being placed on the fight as money hurriedly exchanged hands between
the Dwarven spectators. To my surprise, Domenic’s people weren’t the only ones doing this. Zhou, Darkhorse, and Neristhana were doing the same thing. Hell, even Sub-Leader Chuzedros was getting in on the action as Mike looked back and forth between me, Helgath, Kenzie, and Domenic with a complicated look on his face.
Whatever hell Kenzie and Domenic were in, they’d completely stopped looking at one another as enemies while they focused in on their new tormentor, Helgath. Even though Kenzie was an Advance start with only a fifty percent realism enabled, the agony and fury reflected in her eyes made me flinch as she forced her body to move towards the Half-Orc. Domenic with is Nightmare start and seventy-five percent realism was another story altogether. Even so, he was holding himself together far better than I would have expected, considering the amount of Water-Dark magic cast upon him. Regardless of the excruciating pain, he cleansed himself again to counteract the channeling of the spell and refreshed his shields. Nevertheless, his health continued to drop.
From the grim look of determination on Domenic’s face, I swore he was holding out in the vain that the Half-Orc would fold once she was forced to endure the pain from her own attacks, when her shields finally gave out. While that was a solid plan, from the times I’d shared from Helgath’s past, I knew her threshold for suffering was on another level altogether. As the Holy Shield shattered into glowing shards, the white Enhanced Mage Armor instantly glowed around her to take its place as both Kenzie and Domenic cursed in outrage.
“How many … fucking shields … does … that little bitch … have?” Kenzie’s gasping voice demanded in frustration and agony as Domenic wordlessly grunted in agreement beside her.
“She … can’t have … that many more.” Domenic growled in frustration, as he crossed half the distance to the Half-Orc swearing under his breath. “This is worse … than fighting Jay … in Unreal Tournament … when he grabs all of the damn shield power-ups!”
The Enhanced Mage Armor only lasted two ticks of the clock as Kenzie’s body collapsed on the ground as her hit points went into the red. The Rogue’s body spasmed as the Devil Dog uncontrollably projectile vomited black goo with each breath. So as not to kill her too quickly, somehow Helgath managed to reduce the inflicted damage, while keeping the pain in place as she redirected the damage towards Domenic while her last shield spell collapsed in a fizzle of white energy.
Although his remaining hit points were in the mid-hundreds, the triumphant look on Domenic’s face said it all as his special skill was finally able to properly reflect the intensity of the pain and damage back to the Half-Orc. Immediately, black goo began running from my soulmates yellow cat-eyes as the veins of her face popped out from the corruption’s effect inside her body. In the first second of the spell, two hundred and forty points of damage were ripped from her eight hundred points of health.
Domenic’s face fell in disbelief a second later, when Helgath’s hit points shot back up to full health. When on the next tick of damage it did the same thing, he suddenly realized that the Half-Orc had a major HOT ticking in the background. “Two can play that game,” he growled under his breath, casting another shield on himself that slowly began replenishing his health. “You’re not the only one that can stack shields.”
While that was true to a point, it quickly became apparent that healing shield of his wasn’t as potent as the Priest HOT Helgath had cast. Giving Domenic a wicked grin as she flashed him the tips of her pointy teeth, Helgath reduced the damage being inflicted to her body as her accented voice addressed both newfar. “Promise to stop this fighting and I will release you.”
“I fucking yield,” Kenzie screamed, as Helgath’s Cleansing spell instantly left her body. As the Rogue collapsed in exhaustion, Domenic continued toward the Half-Orc with an ominous glare of hatred burning in his eyes.
“You’ll have to kill me first!” My friend spat out hatefully at my soulmate as delight lit up her eyes.
“Then that will be my pleasure,” Helgath shot back without hesitation, as her voice rose in excitement. “I will tear your body apart until you promise to sheath your weapons and listen to reason,” the Half-Orc promised in no uncertain terms.
“Fuck you! I didn’t start this fight to begin with!” Domenic bellowed at her in outrage, before retching a lungful of black goo. It hit the stone floor with an ugly splat as he panted out in agony. “I’m the one being attacked in my own keep by allies, but I’m sure as hell finishing it one way or another. The only way this ends well is if you yield Helgath.”
“That’s the problem,” Helgath replied back unconcerned, as Domenic glared at her hatefully. “Give me your word that you will not retaliate against any of us and I will let you live.”
“Retaliate? Let me catch you up on current events, Half-Orc. Kenzie attacked me, I defended myself, and did not attack back. You attacked me, I defended myself, and did not attack you back. Who the hell are you to tell me what I can or cannot do in my own keep? You are our allies, but you’re the aggressors here!”
“I have been only defensive up till now,” Domenic growled, staring Helgath down. “Press me further and this will end badly for you and your friends, count on it!” The Half-Orc contemplated the Paladins words carefully as Domenic continued. “If you manage to kill me, all of you will die as well. Mark my words on that.” Domenic spat back at the defiant Half-Orc.
He really hadn't fought back, I thought, as I watched the western-style stare down. If she tried to kill him and succeeded, I had no doubt his troops would cut us to pieces. This was the other side of Domenic that Mike and I knew so very well. We were in a no win situation, and he was willing to die to prove it.
They wordlessly glared at one another as pain wracked their bodies. I could tell that Domenic had mentally dug in and wasn’t about to surrender. If he did, he’d look weak in front of his people and that was never going to happen. This had happened, because Helgath had backed him into a corner. This was his only play and he knew it. Now, he was making sure we understood that too.
Then again, Helgath hadn’t asked him to surrender. She’d only asked him to give up his perceived right at retaliation and sheath his weapons, but in his eyes that was acquiescing to her demands and surrendering. She must have been using my memories to read his possible reactions, because it was the smart play and an important distinction for my friend. Domenic would never quit until one of them was dead, or possibly all of us. Raising her hand, Helgath removed the Corruption spell from the Arcane Paladin.
Domenic took a ragged breath as I hit him, Kenzie, and Helgath with a Regeneration spell. During that last twenty seconds of the altercation, my soulmate had been enduring even more damage and pain that she’d been inflicting on the others without batting an eye. That alone spoke to me of the horrors that she’d endured during her past more than almost anything else. Instead of being thankful for the intervention, both Domenic and Kenzie just glared at me as Helgath came to stand by my side. But, then again, that had been the plan all along.
“What the hell is wrong with you, Jay,” Domenic snarled at me in anger. “Even after I apologized, your attack dog decided to jump me out of nowhere and tried to murder me in my own keep! Then, instead of having my back,” his finger jabbed at Helgath, “you send your little green goblin to punk me out. What the fuck were you thinking?”
Domenic had that disgusted look on his face as I noticed for the first time that we were surrounded by his troopers. There might have been almost two hundred soldiers around the damaged workshop silently watching the altercation and awaiting orders. Normally, that wouldn’t have worried me, but I’d just allowed Helgath to beat my friend down inside his own fortress to redirect his anger at me. While that had worked and he was now justifiably angry at me, I sadly realized that this could’ve been handled so much better if I wasn’t so exhausted.
While that was a good way to make sure he and Kenzie wouldn’t be at each other’s throats instead of fighting the enemy, I’d basically just punched all of his buttons
in one go. Even worse, I knew he felt disrespected in front of his own people which was everything for him. Fuck my life, I sourly thought, as Domenic got in my face.
“Tell me one good reason,” he said with an ugly undertone, “why I shouldn’t have my people cut all of you down right here and now? We’re supposed to be allies, yet you allow not only one, but two of your people to attack me, unprovoked. Who the fuck do you think you are?”
“One of your best friends,” I said, stating the simple truth.
“Are you freaking kidding me?” Domenic vehemently roared, “I didn't start this shit. I was only defending myself after that bitch Kenzie backstabs me over an accident. Then Helgath gets involved to try and stop me from defending myself from Kenzie, who attacked me in the first place! To make matters worse, I know you gave Helgath permission to intervene or she wouldn’t have done so. That’s some real fucked up logic Jason.”
“You’d understand why I chose to do it this way if you’d calm down long enough to think about it,” I snapped back irritably. It wasn’t like I could tell him that Kenzie was having a PTSD episode or that I was trying to not have a major blow up with the guild looking after my lands while I came to give him a hand.
“Don’t tell me to calm down!” Domenic bellowed at me, as I turned to the Rogue who had started all of this shit.
“As for you, Kenzie,” I said, not holding anything back. “You fucked up.”
“What do you mean, I fucked up?” Kenzie demanded, glaring at me in exasperation. In a tone that could peel paint from a bulkhead, if I remembered the Marine slang correctly, she distinctly pronounced each of her next words. “Your … friend … blew … me … up!”
