Swordsman of the Rift

by Brandon Varnell

  “I have nothing tying me down back on Earth,” I admitted. “I haven’t spoken to my family in years. I don’t have anyone waiting for me. Ever since my best friend died, I’ve been living, but I was never really alive.” I chuckled a little, but it sounded self-deprecating to my ears. “It might seem weird, but coming to this world and meeting you two has been the best thing that ever happened to me.”

  Adina’s eyes glowed as a smile caused her beautiful lips to curl delightfully, and even Michelle looked happy with my words. I smiled too—or I tried to. Before my lips could fully form one, Adina lunged forward and planted a kiss on my mouth. I groaned as she pushed her tongue inside of my mouth, creating a ceaseless friction as she rubbed our tongues together. When she leaned back, slowly extracting her tongue from my mouth, a string of saliva connected us until she broke it with a swipe of that fleshy pink appendage.

  I was a bit dazed from the kiss. Adina was not as she gazed into my eyes and smiled.

  “When you get here in your real body, we are going to have a lot of sex.”

  “Uh… yeah, sure,” I agreed with a nod. I wasn’t against having sex, but I still felt like my brain had melted through my ears, so that was about all I could say.

  Michelle glared at us, and I thought she was angry at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized she was probably jealous. As my mind returned from limbo, I leaned over to her and placed a kiss on her sweet lips. She was startled at first. Yet as I let my mouth linger on hers, she closed her eyes and leaned forward.

  As I leaned away from Michelle, who had closed her eyes, I realized several eyes were on us. I turned my head. Christine, Elric, and Vyra were staring. While Vyra wore her typical scowl, Christine looked like she was observing us with keen interest. I wondered what sort of thoughts were going through her head. On the other hand, Elric was giving me a thumbs up. I really did worry about that guy sometimes.

  “It’s time to go,” Brad said, turning around and gazing at us. “Everyone, let’s pack up and move out.”

  We all stood up and moved toward the entrance. I peered down as the cold breeze blowing up from this dark staircase hit me in the face. There were no lanterns or torches or anything to light our path. As I wondered how we’d get down without falling, Michelle created a light sword that provided some illumination. Then Christine also created a ball of light that floated gently above her palm. This ball of light created a bright glow that banished the darkness and allowed everyone to see the stone steps leading down.

  “Let’s go,” Brad said as he began walking down the stairs.

  The rest of us followed him, our footsteps causing staccato echoes to bounce back to us. I had no idea how far down this staircase went. Adina didn’t know either. Despite being a succubus like her brethren, she had never been down this way. According to her, Naamah had guarded this entrance zealously.

  As we walked, Elric suddenly came up to my side. Adina and Michelle moved to the front. I didn’t know if they were giving us privacy to talk or if they wanted privacy for some girl talk. However, they walked over to Christine and began speaking with her, so I assumed they had something they wished to discuss with the woman.

  “I’m really glad to see you’re not dead,” Elric said suddenly. “I was pretty worried about you. When you suddenly collapsed after allowing us to break free, I tried to go back, but…”

  “It’s a good thing you didn’t go back,” I said with a shrug. “You would have just been captured alongside me. That wouldn’t have done any good for anyone.”

  “I know.” Elric was silent for a moment, his eyes traveling to Adina and Michelle. A hint of lust appeared in his gaze. He turned back to look at me with a salacious grin. “Though now I’m kinda wishing I was the one who got kidnapped. I think it would be worth it to have two hot lovers, and to think they’re both so different.” He sighed wistfully. “An angel and a succubus. What a combination.”

  I smiled despite myself. “You can’t have them.”

  “I wasn’t gonna ask if you’d share or anything!”

  I chuckled just a little. Elric and I weren’t what I would call friends, but he was probably the person I was closest to back in our world. He was the only one who still spoke to me.

  My parents didn’t call, and I didn’t bother calling them. I suppose you could say we were estranged. They didn’t approve of my desire to join the military. I still remember how they kicked me out after I graduated from high school, telling me that if I joined the military, they would disavow me and never let me return home. At the time, I had been so enraged that I left and never looked back.

  I wondered what they were doing now? Probably getting by just fine without me.

  We reached the end of the staircase eventually, and I nearly tripped as the area around us expanded, revealing a massive room filled with stone coffins. It looked like this place really was some kind of crypt. The stone floor had several symbols carved into it. I glanced at the nearest wall, upon which a relief of a woman bleeding from a chest wound as a knife pierced her heart was engraved. Several columns lined this room, traveling up to the ceiling, which contained a series of complex lattice work.

  “I do not like the look of this place,” Adina murmured as she traveled away from Christine and over to me. Michelle was trailing behind her, eyes warily glancing at the coffins.

  “There is a dark energy emitting from this place,” the archangel said. “I sense the power of death hanging heavily over this crypt.”

  “I’m guessing that’s not a good thing,” I said.

  Michelle shook her head. “No, it is not. There are many malevolent spirits down here, and all of them are fairly powerful, though Naamah was stronger. However, I believe the further down we go, the more dangerous and more powerful our enemies will become.”

  I nodded to show her I understood, but we both knew there was nothing we could do about that. We really had no choice since we agreed to join Brad and his party. Reaching the final boss who controlled this world and becoming the dungeon master was the entire point in coming here.

  As we walked passed the many coffins lining this room in rows of six, we came upon several other passageways. Each passage was marked by an entrance made from columns and an arched ceiling. There were four in total. All of them looked the same, which made choosing a path difficult.

  “Do you think we should split up?” Elric asked Brad.

  “No…” Brad shook his head. “We have no idea what sort of enemies are down here. Splitting up right now will divide our fighting force, which I don’t think we can afford to do. Let’s start from the left. We’ll go down one path. If it turns out to be the wrong one, then we’ll come back and travel down the next path until we find the right one.”

  “I have a very bad feeling about this,” Vyra muttered, the scowl on her face increasing as the claws on her hands extended and retracted.

  “Do not worry,” Christine assured the woman. “Even if we face powerful enemies down here, I am confident in my ability to deal with them.”

  I still didn’t know how powerful Christine was, but she had mentioned she was Soul Bound to a world within the Rift Plains. She had also been trained by Valkyries, which I recognized from Norse mythology as the all-female caste of warriors under the direct command of Odin, though that was sadly the extent of my knowledge. Most of what I knew came from video games and pop culture. I didn’t think Marvel’s version of Odin was all that accurate to the actual mythology.

  Under Brad’s instructions, our group traveled down the leftmost passage, which narrowed into another hallway. With Michelle’s and Christine’s light illuminating the area around us, I was able to look at the stone walls. I found a crack on the wall to my left, which traveled from the bottom to the top before disappearing. Glancing forward, I looked at Brad, Christine, Elric, and Vyra as they warily eyed their surroundings.

  This passage didn’t branch off into multiple directions. We eventually reached the end, which opened into a
massive cavern space with a lake, of all things. It didn’t look like there was anything else. Elric stepped up to the shores of the lake. The murky black water looked incredibly foul as it lapped at the rocky shore.

  “It doesn’t look like this is the right way,” Elric said as he turned around. “Let’s head back.”

  Brad nodded. “We’ll try the next passage.”

  Before we could leave, the water several yards from the shore bubbled. It was the only warning we received before a black shadow shot from the water and grabbed onto Elric’s leg, hauling him off the ground. Elric screamed in fear as the object, which I now recognized was a tentacle, vigorously shook him back and forth. Meanwhile, several more tentacles erupted from the water and came at us.

  “Damn it!” I swore as I pulled my sword from my sheath.

  Everyone else readied their weapons as well. When the tentacles came at us, I dodged to the side and used Fire Slash to hack the tentacle off. As the tentacle fell to the ground, thrashing about like it was still alive, I moved away and closer to Adina, who slammed her fist into another one of the tentacles, which undulated underneath her powerful punch. However, it looked like this thing was resistant to blunt force damage. I spun around and swung my blade upward, hacking off that tentacle too.

  “Thanks for that,” Adina said as she pressed her back against mine.

  “You’re welcome,” I responded.

  The others weren’t sitting idle while I’d been attacking. Vyra was slashing away at the tentacles with her powerful claws. She flapped her wings and flew into the air before descending and slamming her clawed feet slammed into one of the tentacles, crushing it beneath her feet and creating cracks in the ground. Then she used her impressive draconic strength to dig her claws into the tentacle and tore it off. Following this, as what remained of the tentacle tried to retract, Vyra opened her mouth and unleashed a powerful blaze that consumed the tentacle and turned it to ash.

  Damn. I hadn’t realized the woman could breathe fire like a real dragon. That was actually pretty cool.

  As I was admiring the fire breathing Vyra, an orange light suddenly engulfed my body, and a rush of energy spread through me. I blinked as any and all fatigue vanished. I felt… strong. I felt like I could easily take on the entire world right now. This confused me, but then I saw Christine standing back and waving her sword, from which the orange light spread and engulfed myself and the others.

  I see. This woman had some kind of magic that boosted our physical abilities.

  With our strength suddenly increased, all of us rushed forward and hacked into the tentacles. Michelle swung her sword left and right as she elegantly danced across the ground. Several tentacles fell before the might of her swings. Black blood sprayed from the stumps, splattering against the ground. She was like an angel of death.

  While we were battling against the tentacles, Elric managed to free himself by bashing his glowing mace against the tentacle holding him. He fell into the water with a splash, then tried to swim to shore, though I had no idea how he didn’t sink with that paladin armor on.

  As he was trying to get to the shore, something large appeared behind him. It had a bulbous head, large black eyes, and a gaping maw filled with row upon row of sharp teeth. I couldn’t tell what this creature was, though I was vaguely reminded of this movie I saw about a monster called a kraken. A loud sucking sound emerged from its mouth as the monster tried to inhale Elric, who slowly began getting sucked toward its mouth.

  “Holy shit, you guys! This thing is trying to eat me! A little help here?!”

  Brad wore a grim expression as he hacked off several tentacles with his scythe and rushed forward. Black fire spread along his scythe as he raced across the water like he was gliding. I wondered how he was doing that, but I knew now was not the time to contemplate such things. As I hacked off more tentacles, Brad finally made it to the creature and sliced into one of its eyes with his scythe.

  “SCREEE!!!!”

  Vyra and Adina dropped to their knees and covered their ears as a piercing wail echoed from the creature.

  Michelle grimaced, but unlike those two who seemed to have enhanced hearing, she didn’t drop to her knees, and instead tossed her blade into the air. She caught it in her hand, but now she was holding it by the hilt like a football. A golden spark ran along the sword. One spark became two, two became three, and soon sparks covered the entire weapon.

  With a grunt, Michelle threw the weapon like it was a javelin. It flew forward, a golden streak of light that left a trail in its wake, so fast I could barely see it. While I couldn’t see the weapon as it moved, I did see the aftermath as it plunged into the monster in the lake. It stabbed the creature right between the eyes.

  The pained shrieking grew weaker and weaker as the monster thrashed around. Elric, no longer being sucked into its mouth, swam as quickly as he could to the shore, gasping and heaving as he stumbled onto dry land. Meanwhile, the monster’s thrashing lessened as it slowly sank into the depths of the lake.

  “Was that the same attack you used to defeat Naamah?” I asked.

  “It was,” Michelle admitted. “It can be used as either a ranged attack, or I can infuse a weapon with it and attack that way. It’s quite versatile.”

  “I’ll say,” Adina said with a wistful sigh. “I wish I had a power like that, but I still haven’t Soul Bound myself to a world.”

  “You could always Soul Bind to this world,” Christine remarked.

  Adina shook her head. “No thanks. If I’m going to Soul Bond with a world, I’d rather it be a red or pink world. We succubi are emotional creatures who rely on passion and lust to power us, so a world with the power of death would only hinder us in the long run.”

  Christine shrugged as though it didn’t matter to her. While this conversation went on, I helped Elric to his feet. The man coughed and wheezed as I slung his arm around my shoulder and walked further from the lake. Brad also moved Elric’s other side and helped me out.

  “This way is definitely a dead end,” Brad said. “Let’s head back the way we came and try the next passage.”

  All of us agreed. However, as we began moving back down the passage that lead back to the crypt, I couldn’t help but worry about what sort of dangers we would uncover next.

  Chapter 11

  “Haaaaa!”

  As I descended from the air, I swung the two swords fiercely gripped in my hands downward. Blood splashed against the ground as two thick lines were carved into the giant beast before me. The creature was massive but thin. It stood on two skinny legs, had feet the size of a human torso, and possessed a skinny torso that showed off its ribcage, and it carried a dagger in each hand. A head like a beast was matched with equally wild hair. Two horns jutted from this creature’s head and curved backward.

  Alaster was its name. These were the latest demons our group had run into, and they were quite powerful.

  After carving a deep furrow into Alaster’s chest, the creature stumbled backward but didn’t fall. Rage made its eyes turned red as it glared at me. With a sound that was half-screech and half-roar echoing out of its mouth, it lunged toward me, dagger set to impale me.

  “Not on my watch!!” Adina shouted as she leapt into the air, flapped her wings, and used her immense physical strength to punch Alaster’s hand. A strange undulating ripple spread from the point of impact. This was followed by a loud bang as a shockwave spread out. So powerful was this shockwave that even I was pushed back a bit.

  The arm that Adina punched slammed into the ground several feet to my left. I could see a large bruise had formed in the shape of her fist on Alaster’s arm.

  Before the creature had time to recover, Adina landed on its arm, raced up, and reared her fist back. Her next punch was simple, straightforward, and effective. It crashed into Alaster’s face like a hurricane. Several teeth shattered, the shards littering the ground, and blood flew from its mouth. Now more pained than enraged, the demon howled as it stumbled back—right into
Michelle.

  Michelle had moved around to the back and attacked its legs. Her sword of light flashed out as she swung at speeds even I could not keep up with. Several incision lines appeared on Alaster’s legs near the Achilles’ heel, the back of the knee, and the quadriceps. Blood splattered against the stone floor as cuts burst open like overripe fruit being crushed by an iron fist. Its legs no longer able to bear its weight, the demon crashed to the ground, onto its hands and knees.

  That was when I went for the finishing blow.

  Triple Thrust.

  I reached its head and thrust both swords out, first then left, then the right, and then the left again. Three times in quick succession my swords flashed out. The first attacked caused Alaster’s left eye to burst. The second attacked caused the same to its right eye. My third attacked slipped between the eyes and punctured a hole through its skull. As I stepped back and sheathed both swords, I watched as the now eyeless, slack-jawed demon slumped face first to the ground.

  It was over.

  “We did it!” Adina cheered.

  Michelle acted far more reserved, but even she smiled. “We are getting a lot stronger.”

  “Considering how powerful these demons are, we had better be getting stronger,” I muttered as I wiped the sweat from my brow. Alaster burst into dust seconds after, and I heaved a sigh of relief. That had been an intense fight.

  “What is your level at now?” Adina asked as she and Michelle walked over to me.

  With a small sigh, I pulled up my status screen and checked to see my stats.

  Name: Bryan Jenson

  Class: Magic Swordsman

  Level: 69

  Magic: Red/fire

  Attack: 170

  Agility: 170

  Defense: 140

  Magic Defense: 140

  Mana: 150

  Total Status Points available: 0

  Special Skills:

  Whirlwind Slash: Attack +5

  Death by Piercing: Attack +5