City of the Dead

by Vasily Mahanenko

  “Stop it!” Ka-Do-Gir leaped over to the mage and knocked the device out of his hands. The move burned his paws, but the new bracers kept him mostly safe.

  Note! OG-I marked for disposal.

  OG-I flamethrower removed from circulation.

  ***

  You were awarded compensation for the lost item.

  Analyzing human Tailyn Vlashich and his belongings.

  2 magic cards, Alchemist class, Card Saturation skill detected.

  You received a card: Wave of Fire-I.

  ***

  Wave of Fire-I. Description: an ordinary magic card that can be activated to create a wave of fire in the shape of a right sector with exact edges. Sector angle: Magic Attack degrees, though no more than 45. Range: Magic Attack meters, though no more than 100. Fire does Magic Attack damage every second. Duration: Magic Attack / 10 seconds. Includes 50 charges. Charges remaining: 50. Can be recharged.

  ***

  You own 3 or more cards. Deck functionality unlocked.

  Would you like to build an active deck?

  The boy’s attention was completely occupied by the card in his hand and the god’s messages. A deck? The word was familiar, but what was it supposed to mean in that context? Presumably, it was something good—the god wouldn’t have given it to him, otherwise. Tailyn eventually decided to agree to the offer.

  You built an active deck using 3 cards (maximum: 15).

  Use Card Activation to quickly summon them.

  Combat (status) functionality unlocked.

  A few changes were instantly visible in the surrounding world. First of all, an icon depicting two crossed swords appeared up at the top of the boy’s vision. They were grayed out, almost as if they were behind a gray film. As soon as he focused on them, a message popped up:

  Combat inactive. You can modify your active deck.

  At the bottom of his vision, down where the inventory, status, and audio were, another icon had appeared—there were several gold cards laid over top of each other. The boy tapped them. Immediately, the three cards Tailyn owned appeared in his hand. Another tap, and they disappeared without a trace. Something was also off around his waist, where his inventory was. Looking down, he saw a bulge that hadn’t been there before, and it turned out to be a bag that held his deck of cards.

  “We’re definitely not getting out of here now.” Something in Ka-Do-Gir’s voice pulled Tailyn away from his self-admiration. The fire had almost died out. There in the cave, there wasn’t anything flammable, just sand and rocks. But something had burned up. The ladder. The city carpenter’s beautiful piece of work had gone up like a flare, illuminating the entire cave. And there was nothing left to save—just a few pieces of charred wood were all that was left. The boy’s mouth went dry, and he realized he’d just destroyed their only shot at survival.

  Ka-Do-Gir had realized that the god really did know everything when he saw the fire. As their shaman said, everything in the world strove for equilibrium. He’d been given an incredible gift, turning him into a powerful warrior, but he’d also been stripped of the ability to get back. Just like the mage, he was doomed to spend a couple weeks there in the cave before starving to death. It didn’t even occur to him that he could kill and eat the boy. The mage was a partner, and partners weren’t food.

  The pair stood there mutely for a long time. The fire had died out, embers the only reminder that they needed to do something. Tailyn began going through his inventory in a frantic attempt to find something that could help them survive. He had enough food and water to last the two of them three days. The rope that had been tied to the ladder had burned up. There was firewood, the sleeping bag, a couple torches… As it turned out, he didn’t have nearly as much as he’d initially thought.

  “Could we pile up enough stones to climb out?” the boy said with a hopeful glance at the lix.

  “You’re a terrible helper, and I can’t do that alone,” the latter replied calmly. “We don’t have the strength or the stones. You just need to accept your fate, little mage.”

  “I’m not going to accept anything!” Tailyn barked back angrily, though it came out more like an annoyed squeak. “If it hadn’t been for you, nothing would have happened! Who asked you to jerk on the rope? I would have gone back and asked for a longer ladder!”

  The lix stared in surprise at his partner, who had gone from an intelligent, sensible mage to a whiny child in the blink of an eye. The transformation was so abrupt, in fact, that it really got under his skin. With one quick motion, he leaped over to where the boy was standing and grabbed hold of him.

  “Don’t make me regret partnering up with you, mage!” he growled.

  It was like someone had dumped a bucket of cold water over Tailyn. The anger was gone, replaced by fear of the monster. Barely sure of what he was muttering, the boy replied through the tears that had appeared.

  “But there’s got to be a way out. There has to be!”

  Ka-Do-Gir let go of the boy and thought to himself. He’d spent enough time in the cave that he’d been able to go over every inch of it, and there weren’t any secret passageways out. No weak points, no ancient hiding spots. All he’d found were the two collapsed tunnels, plenty of rocks, and the hole up above them. And they weren’t going to be able to climb up to the latter, nor were they going to be able to get through the wall blocking off one of the tunnels. That left one options. Or rather, two. They could wait to die or…try to dig a hole through the second cave-in and see what was on the other side. It wasn’t much of a shot, but at least it meant they’d go down fighting. And that did it.

  “Grab the pick and shovel, little mage. It’s time to dig.”

  “Dig what?” Tailyn asked through his tears. “You found a way out?”

  “Maybe, hard to say. Over there.” The lix pointed a paw at the cave-in. “Are you coming? Or would you rather sit here and wait to starve to death? Just so you know, before I die, I’m going to have to eat you.”

  The boy leaped to his feet and got to work immediately. Ka-Do-Gir had found how to motivate him, having himself already clambered up to the top of the cave-in and started pulling away the rubble. The large blocks were stuck together with something that looked like dry clay. It was far tougher than dry clay would have been, however. With each blow from the pick, it crumbled and broke, freeing the blocks, though it took the lix quite a while to free just one of them. It was impressive the kind of exact cubes they were. Even thousands of years later, the right angles hadn’t been worn down, and an entire wall of them had broken through the roof of the cave. That was what had opened up the hole. The lix looked sadly at the priceless stone—building a home with them would have been simpler than simple. Even Li-Do-Ga, the most beautiful female in their tribe, wouldn’t have been able to resist a treasure like that. She would have immediately agreed to share the joys of children with him, a commander, if a commander of a small and even nonexistent squad.

  Tailyn couldn’t have cared less about the blocks. Scared half to death, he dug through the earth to get to the stone, caring only about work and the terrifying lix threatening to eat him if he didn’t carry his weight. Every swing of the pick rattled his entire body, but he didn’t think about the pain. The only thing on his mind was what the monster was going to do to him if he paused for just a second.

  It all happened so quickly that even the nimble lix didn’t have time to react. The two partners had dug more than a meter deep, and when Ka-Do-Gir yanked the next enormous boulder toward himself, he heard a bone-chilling roar. The roof dropped right on top of him. His leap was powerful but late—there was no way he was getting out of the hole completely, and he was buried in the avalanche. His limbs exploded in pain as they were crushed by the stone. It became hard to breathe, and warm, salty blood oozed from his mouth, but the lix was still alive. He was even conscious. It was a faded consciousness, but it was consciousness, nonetheless.

  The collapse caught Tailyn outside their little tunnel as he’d been busy carryin
g the rocks down below. Rushing back up, he saw the lix’s head, his body having been completely engulfed by the building blocks. Even though Tailyn was in a group with him, he couldn’t see his status, the functionality not yet available. But even without the god’s status reports, one thing was clear: Tailyn’s partner was a goner.

  Unless someone gave him a hand…

  The boy mentally tapped on his new button, and his deck of cards appeared in his hand. Something told him all he needed was a charge from his Electric Strike-I. The lix was barely breathing, anyway, and a bit of magic would have polished off him and the fear he represented. There would be nobody left to eat the boy. A fire burned in Tailyn’s chest as he imagined finishing off his foe, digging him up, and taking his armor. Even his inventory. Everything the lix had received from the god would be Tailyn’s. Why not?

  Alchemist Tailyn Vlashich.

  The boy blew for all he was worth, filling the lix with magic. Only instead of hurting him, the magic was there to save him—having given up on the idea of betrayal, Tailyn was trying to protect his partner.

  You used Enhanced Shield-I 30 times.

  Lix Ka-Do-Gir’s shield was enhanced by 1020.

  Charges remaining: 20 of 50.

  Hiding his cards, Tailyn went back to digging. It was possible he’d wasted all those charges—the lix looked like he might die, regardless—but it had been his only option. That time, he didn’t carry the rocks away, just tossing them a little further down the incline and going back for the next one. New blocks kept falling down to replace the ones he was getting rid of. Soon, however, they started wedging themselves into place, and the avalanche came to a halt. Ka-Do-Gir groaned and tried to say something. But the boy couldn’t tell what it was, as the lix’s voice was more gurgle than anything else.

  After tossing aside yet another block, Tailyn could barely hold back a wave of nausea. He’d freed one of the lix’s legs only to find that it was no longer in one piece. The bones not covered by the bracer were completely shattered. And while the blood kept oozing out, it just soaked into the earth and sand. The stones above quivered threateningly as if complaining that someone was there to take the treasure they concealed. Everything in Tailyn tensed up, but he wasn’t about to give in. After freeing a few more boulders, the going got easier, as the fallen rock wasn’t wedged together by the force of the millennia that had gone by. But the lix wasn’t even wheezing. Only his labored breathing showed he was still alive, and Tailyn tried to pull him out as soon as he got most of his body free. But it didn’t work. The lix’s legs were still stuck. And to get them out, Tailyn was going to have to crawl forward and shove free a couple more blocks. He was going to have to crawl into the deadfall.

  It took him a while to make up his mind. A couple times, he tried pulling the lix out again but with no more success than he’d had the first time. Time ticked by. Blood kept flowing out of his partner’s body. A little more, and there wasn’t going to be anyone left to save. Not only that, but the loot would all be Tailyn’s. It wouldn’t be tainted with the stain of betrayal, either. Still, driving away those dark thoughts, the boy crawled into the hole. Panic overwhelmed him. His breathing came faster. There underground, there wasn’t much air, and his head began spinning, but he finally made it the last few centimeters and reached the block pinning Ka-Do-Gir’s legs. It just wouldn’t give, however. There were too many of its friends holding on to it from above. The panic intensified, and instead of pulling, the boy started pushing the block away from him. Somehow, it began to move. Unwillingly, the enormous boulder edged backwards. Tailyn crawled further in to completely free the lix’s legs. Like his other four limbs, they were nothing more than a shattered mess. The boy’s vision faded, his chest was bursting from the lack of oxygen, and he took that moment to give the boulder one last shove.

  Warm air hit his face. Suddenly, everything was better. Lighter. Through the haze covering his eyes, the boy could see a wide tunnel lit with a pleasant green light. There were no rocks, no dust, no dirt. Everything looked clean, fresh, cared-for. Stunned by the view, Tailyn forgot how bad he was feeling and wiggled his way forward and out of the hole. Then, he turned and began dragging the lix in with him. The body slid backward. But the rocks above began to tremble yet again, smaller pebbles began raining down, and it suddenly hit Tailyn that there was about to be another cave-in. Forgetting the tunnel behind him, he pulled Ka-Do-Gir as hard as he could.

  The lix just barely made it out. No sooner had his head cleared the edge of the hole, than the latter was filled in with falling boulders. Rock dust and soil covered the boy’s face. There was no getting back through—the pick and shovel were on the other side.

  There was a gasp. The lix was still fighting for its life. Far from a healer, Tailyn had no idea what to do in situations like that, so he just materialized his entire supply of food and water, placing it all right next to Ka-Do-Gir. The lix didn’t respond. The boy had to try something else, overcoming his fear to pour water straight into the creature’s mouth. Then, he tore the roast goose into small pieces and stuck them into his partner’s mouth, too. It looked like it helped—the lix started swallowing. Once half his supply was gone, Tailyn stopped. There was no way of telling how much time they were going to have to spend down there, so they needed to ration their precious food and water.

  A little while later, Ka-Do-Gir fell silent, losing himself in a deep sleep. Tailyn didn’t like his irregular breathing, but there was nothing he could do about it. Everything was up to the lix himself. For his part, Tailyn headed down to the bottom of the incline and froze in a moment of indecision. It was clean. Too clean. There was no dust, no weeds. Really, it was incredible the millennia hadn’t had the least effect on the area. But recognizing that standing in place wasn’t the smartest idea, the boy had to take a step forward, and that elicited a message from the god:

  You’re the first person to enter the City of the Dead location.

  Level +1.

  ***

  Note! Since you haven’t completed the initiation, you cannot level-up.

  Character modification ongoing.

  Enhancement +1 (4).

  Something like a heavy sigh sounded behind the boy as the lix leveled-up, the first green lix to step into the location. Ka-Do-Gir’s thoughts were jumbled, and it took an exertion of willpower to keep himself conscious. The food the mage had jammed into his mouth had helped stop the bleeding, though it hadn’t been enough to heal his body. He needed something more. Something that would let him restore his shattered limbs. Something that… Ka-Do-Gir slipped into oblivion without ever seeing the message the god had sent him.

  Meanwhile, Tailyn had other things to worry about—he was excited to see his attribute leveling-up. But he didn’t have much time to enjoy it as an unpleasant scream shattered the silence a few seconds later. It was the same as the ones Tailyn had heard in the recording. The gray, semi-transparent icon with the crossed swords at the top of his field of vision filled with blood and began to pulse, nearly giving the boy a heart attack when he focused his attention on it.

  Status change. Current status: combat.

  You cannot modify your active deck.

  Opponents remaining: 20.

  Chapter 8

  FEAR CURLED its sticky fingers around Tailyn, tightening his stomach. He wasn’t getting enough air—the boy had forgotten he needed to breathe. All he knew was that his head was starting to spin, though his body got to work on its own. His active deck appeared in his hand. Not even sure how he hit the active cards button, he knew twenty targets was too many to take out using lightning. They would have gotten to him before he had enough time to finish them off. And that meant he needed to try out the card the god had given him. Soon enough, black dots appeared far off, only to quickly approach.

  Alchemist Tailyn Vlashich.

  The boy waited, his breath held. The enemy group was moving too quickly, and soon Tailyn caught a glimpse of who he was up again. Actually, it was good he was just
barely remaining conscious—there was no second wave of fear. They were black blotches, just dark heads with thick appendages replacing their arms and legs. The only difference was that they were practically innumerable. As they got still closer, red eyes and somehow white beaks became visible, especially against the dark background. The creatures were clacking the very same beaks at each other as they came.

  The black avalanche rushed closer, but Tailyn held his fire. He was terrified, he peed himself, and he shook, but he held his fire. Even the boy himself had no idea where the resilience was coming from. Perhaps, it was that he knew he needed to protect his wounded partner. Alternatively, it could have been that he wouldn’t get into the magic academy dead, not to mention the eye roll he knew Master Forian would give whoever told him what happened to his student. But whatever it was, Tailyn couldn’t say. He just stood there and waited until the entire horde of monsters was within range of his ability.

  The screaming was nearly on top of him when Tailyn began blowing as hard as he could.