Swordsman of the Rift

by Brandon Varnell

  Brad and Elric were already on their last legs, it looked like. Brad’s armor was dented and his shoulder pauldrons were missing. Elric was leaning on his mace as he stood on bended knee. He looked almost like a knight kneeling before a queen, save the blood running down his face. His left eye was also squinted shut and blood was running down it.

  Asmodeus, the impossibly tall demon, really did resemble a goliath. I already knew that. However, it hadn’t really struck me, like in the face struck me, until this very moment. He was so freaking big that I really had to wonder how there could be a space large enough to fit him. Where the hell were we inside of this dungeon? How far down had we gone? I tried to put those thoughts out of my mind as I raced past Brad and Elric and prepared to launch my attack.

  Despite claiming I would be the first one to attack, I was not, in fact, the first person who got an attack off. That honor belonged to Adina. She flew straight toward Asmodeus like a bullet, her body corkscrewing around before she slammed her heel into Asmodeus’s unprotected knee. Death Kick was an attack so powerful it had a chance of one-shotting an enemy whose level was the same or lower than hers. I’d seen her kick off a demon’s head before.

  As her foot struck the knee, an explosive bang echoed around the room. Asmodeus roared as his knee undulated. It was like a strange reverberation spread out from inside of his knee, or like the bones inside had been turned into mulch.

  Adina leapt away from Asmodeus as the giant’s knee wobbled. Before he could fall or do anything else, I had leapt up and attacked the exact same spot. Triple Thrust. I impaled Asmodeus’s knee exactly three times, and blood spurted from the wound each time, puncturing a deeper and deeper hole into his knee. More howling echoed from Asmodeus as I leapt back onto the ground.

  And that’s when Michelle performed her finisher.

  I had no idea what to call his attack, but Michelle held her hands out in front of her, and floating between them was a tiny sphere of crackling golden energy. Even from a distance, I could tell how potent this attack was. A shiver crawled up my spine.

  And then she threw it.

  I don’t think I will ever forget the sight. The golden sphere slammed into Asmodeus’s knee, which was already greatly weakened, and tore straight through it. I remember watching a show once where a guy’s leg got chopped off by a hacksaw. This was a thousand times more gruesome. Her attack tore apart Asmodeus’s knee, busting his kneecap apart and shredding everything else to bits. Flesh, muscle, and bones was sliced utterly destroyed. His calf went flying through the air and landed on the ground with a loud rumble. Meanwhile, Asmodeus screamed in agony and rage as he crashed to the ground.

  The earth shook from Asmodeus’s crash, and I nearly lost my footing because his fall actually caused something of an earthquake. Asmodeus landed on his back. His hands went to his stump of a leg as he roared out his frustration for everyone to hear.

  “Gaaa! Gaaaa… fuck you! You cursed angel bitch!” Spittle flew from Asmodeus’s mouth as he snarled at Michelle, who landed on the ground beside me and Adina. “Mark my words, you little fucking cunt! I don’t care how long it takes! One of these days, I will find you again, and when I do, I will tear your body apart! I’ll fuck you so hard your body will split in half! You will regret ever standing against me!”

  As the man swore and threatened Michelle with enough vitriol to fill an Olympic swimming pool, a swirling vortex appeared behind him. I realized only after he dragged himself into it that what had appeared was actually a portal. Did that mean Asmodeus could create portals?!

  “He’s getting away!” Michelle shouted in shock.

  “Damn it! Don’t run away!” Adina snapped. “Release my mother!”

  However, Asmodeus either didn’t hear her or wasn’t listening. Once he dragged himself into the portal, the swirling vortex closed around him, and Asmodeus disappeared.

  After Asmodeus vanished through the portal, Brad set himself up as the master of this world. I wasn’t sure what he did. It didn’t look like anything had changed to me, but Brad assured me this world was now ours. I had shrugged his words off. Without knowing exactly what he was doing, I found myself not really caring.

  We were still located in the deepest part of the dungeon where we fought Asmodeus. The stale air was beginning to get to me, but I didn’t complain as all of us prepared to move out. We would have to make our way back outside and get to a portal that would take us to the Rift Plains. For a long trek like that, we all wanted to be well-rested, so we were recuperating to regain our strength.

  As I sat down on the hard stone floor with Michelle on my left, I found my gaze wandering to Adina. She was floating high above us, hovering around the crystal that her mother was imprisoned in. She had her hand pressed against the glass and it looked like there might be tears in her eyes. I wanted to go over to her, but I couldn’t fly.

  “If you want to talk to her, I can carry you up there,” Michelle suggested when she saw who I was looking at.

  “Will you?” I asked.

  “Of course.” Michelle wore a warm smile as she stood up. “After all, you two are my lovers.”

  Michelle hooked her arms around my waist from behind and flapped her wings. We lifted off the ground and flew over to Adina, who remained silent as we approached. Her eyes hadn’t left the figure inside of the crystal. Adina’s mother was completely visible. It looked like her eyes were open with a look of surprise. I could only assume Naamah, the other two succubus, and Asmodeus had caught her in a surprise attack.

  “When my mom was sealed, Naamah, Agrat Bat Mahlat, and Eisheth Zenunim joined forces with Asmodeus and launched a surprise attack on her. She didn’t even have time to really fight back before they sealed her inside of this crystal.” Adina clenched her hands into fists as tears welled up in her eyes. “After that, Naamah took me prisoner and forced me to become her slave. I had no choice but to do the bidding of that woman… and I hated every moment of it.”

  “You don’t have to do her bidding anymore,” I said.

  “I know.” Adina wiped at her eyes to rid herself of the tears before they could fall. “I have you to thank for that, but now I have to defeat the other two, Agrat Bat Mahlat and Eisheth Zenunim.” She placed her hands on the crystal’s surface. “This crystal is powered by the three succubus queens and Asmodeus. In order to free my mother, I have to defeat the remaining two and Asmodeus. Only when their power is no longer present will the seal on this crystal shatter.”

  “So it looks like we have two goals,” Michelle said. “Figure out what is happening up in Heaven, and free your mother from this prison.”

  Adina looked at the two of us with startled eyes. “You two are going to help me?”

  “Of course we are,” I said. “Aren’t we your lovers?”

  Adina still seemed shocked, but the surprise didn’t last long before she broke out in a warm smile.

  “Yeah, you are. Thank you.”

  After our conversation, Adina came back down to the ground with us. We were just in time too. Once we were standing on solid ground, Brad informed us that we were leaving.

  We made the long trek out of the dark underground labyrinth. There were only a few monsters hanging around, and we killed these stragglers before they could run away. Most of the demons who made this place their home had already fled through a portal. Only a few had been unable to.

  Eventually reaching the area where we had fought against Naamah, our group followed Brad as he let us through a section of the dungeon that was different from the one we originally took when our group first came to this world. It wasn’t long before a massive wooden door sitting on steel hinges loomed over us. The door was quite heavy. Elric, Brad, and Vyra needed to use all their strength to push it open.

  The path beyond the door was a winding dirt road. I glanced up at the crimson sky, which had rolling thunder clouds hovering above us. This desolate wasteland of a place truly looked like a world of death.

  We moved quickly through thi
s wasteland in which nothing lived, and eventually came upon a swirling vortex. All of us walked through it. I blinked several times when I found myself standing in an unfamiliar fortress. The stone walls, floor, and ceiling reminded me of an ancient castle, like something you’d expect to see in medieval Europe. Brad and the others were already walking outside of the fortress, so I followed them with Adina and Michelle by my side.

  Outside of the fortress was an unfamiliar forest. I still recognized this as the forest we walked through to get to the vortex that took us to that other world, but it looked like this was a different section, or perhaps it was a different forest within the Rift Plains.

  “I plan to station some guards around this fortress later, but that’s something for me to do after I get some other matters settled,” Brad said as he turned to us. “Now that we’ve all returned, I believe it’s time to log out. Well, I guess we could have done that after taking the fortress. Anyway, see you all on the other side.”

  I watched as Brad’s avatar flickered and vanished.

  “Well, this has been fun, but I’m heading out too,” Elric said as he turned to Adina and Michelle. “It was lovely meeting you two beauties.”

  “The feeling isn’t necessarily mutual,” Michelle said.

  Elric just laughed as he turned to me. “See you in a bit, Bryan.”

  With that, he disappeared as well. That left just Vyra and Christine. Vyra didn’t say anything as she vanished from sight, meaning Christine, Adina, Michelle, and I were the only people left.

  As we stood there, Adina frowned at me. “You are coming back, right?”

  “I am,” I confirmed. “I just need to find a portal that will take me to the Rift Plains again.” I glanced at Christine. “Isn’t that right?”

  “It is.” Christine confirmed with a nod. “However, finding a portal in our world that will take you to the Rift Plains isn’t easy unless you have someone who can guide you to one.”

  “Would you be able to help with that?” I asked.

  “I can, and I will.” Christine smiled. “I’ll give you the location of several portals that I know of based on your current location on Earth. Where do you live?”

  I told Christine what state I lived in and even the city, which caused her to nod and inform me of where I could find a portal. It seemed there were quite a few, more than I expected at any rate, but they weren’t anywhere close to me. The nearest one would take a few hours’ worth of travel to reach.

  “Okay. Thanks for telling me about those portals,” I said.

  “It’s no trouble.” Christine waved off my thanks with a grin.

  I smiled back before turning to look at Adina and Michelle, the two women who had become my lovers. They were staring at me with pensive frowns. I could tell they were reluctant to part, so I moved forward and pulled them both into a hug. My actions seemed to startle them, but then they were returning my hug, wrapping their arms around me. I relished in the feeling before pulling back.

  “Will you two wait here for me?” I asked.

  “We will,” Michelle said. “We’ll stay right in this spot, so you had better hurry up and come back—with your real body this time.”

  “I want to fuck you in your real body,” Adina added. I could tell she wasn’t joking. The succubus looked on the verge of crying, which I found somewhat amusing for some reason, though I didn’t say anything.

  I chuckled at their words before logging out. The last thing I saw of the three women was Adina looking ready to cry and Michelle comforting the other woman. Then the world went dark, I thought I heard a loud whirring noise, and I opened my eyes to find myself staring at a black screen, which took me aback for a moment before I remembered that I had placed one of those VR helmets over my head. I reached up and removed the helmet, revealing the barren warehouse that Brad, myself, and the others had been inside before the start of this mission.

  The others were already awake and standing up. I removed my gloves, took off the boots, and discarded my suit.

  We had finally returned to our original world. We had returned to Earth.

  Adina sat on the ground in the forest, her legs curled into her chest as she leaned her back against a tree. The scent of fresh earth and flowers filled her nose. Colorful green leaves and brown bark gave the area around her a vibrant, lush aesthetic. It was a truly beautiful sight, one that she wished she could enjoy.

  Sitting beside her was Michelle, the archangel and her friend. She found it weird that she was friends with an archangel. Yet after everything they had been through together, maybe it wasn’t so surprising. They had fought together, slept together, eaten together, and even shared a man together. Adina felt an affinity for this woman with her pure white wings and beautifully pale skin.

  They weren’t alone. Christine was with them. The woman who had joined up with their group later was admiring some flowers a distance away, giving the two of them a bit of privacy.

  “How long do you think we will have to wait?” asked Adina. She didn’t need to elaborate.

  “I do not know.” Michelle sighed and shifted so her legs were spread out in front of her. She placed her hands on her lap and leaned her head back. “I suppose it depends on how long it takes Bryan to get back here.”

  “I hope he comes back soon.” Adina looked at the grass beneath her feet. She had taken off her boots so she could feel the grass. Small blades of soft green tickled her toes as she wiggled them.

  “I do as well,” Michelle said, smiling slightly. “I have never felt this way about someone before, and I probably won’t say this very many times, but I really do love that man.”

  “Me too.”

  Adina thought about her life before Bryan had shown up, of the bleakness that had existed in her life. She had lived hopelessly from one day to the next. As a succubus who possessed the lowest level among her peers, she had been abused by just about everyone. Maliperum hadn’t even been the worst among her abusers. She was just Adina’s handler.

  Her life had changed drastically after Bryan appeared. He created a plan that freed her from Maliperum’s control, helped her level up so she could content with her enemies, and fought against and killed Naamah alongside her. She was in a better place now because of the things he had done.

  “It will probably take him a day to get back,” Christine told them as she wandered over to where they were sitting. The blonde human bombshell squatted next to them and grinned. “Sorry for interrupting. I just overheard your conversation and wanted to let you know. According to where he lives back on Earth, the nearest portal to the Rift Plains is about twenty-four hours away if he drove there. He’ll probably take a bus or railway to get there, so we can assume it will take an entire day.”

  “So we have to wait a whole day?” Adina grimaced. “That doesn’t sound fun at all.”

  Christine’s bright eyes stared into Adina’s as she placed her hands on her cheeks. “So tell me… just how did an angel and a succubus become Bryan’s lovers? I’m really curious.”

  While Michelle flushed pink at being called out, Adina didn’t feel the least bit embarrassed as she regaled Christine with how they met Bryan. She told them about his capture, about how she and Michelle had taken care of his injuries, about their escape and how they killed Maliperum, and of course, she talked about their first time having sex. In fact, Adina was certain she talked more about the sex than she had anything else, despite how their single night together had just been a small footnote in their journey.

  What could she say? She was a succubus through and through.

  “That sounds lovely,” Christine sighed, her half-lidded eyes giving her an erotic appearance. “I’m really curious about this Bryan now. Do you mind if I join you three?”

  “No,” Michelle said.

  “I don’t mind at all!” Adina said at the same time.

  Michelle looked at her. “Adina, I am willing to share Bryan with you because of everything that happened between us, but I do not want to share
him with some random woman we only know because she was with his previous teammates.”

  “But wouldn’t it be more fun if she did join us?” Adina said. “Think of all the kinky things we could do with another woman!”

  “I-I don’t particularly care about such things.”

  “You’re blushing.”

  “I am not!”

  Christine sat on her butt as Adina and Michelle argued. There was no heat in their argument. At the very least, Adina did not feel any ill-will toward Michelle. She actually enjoyed arguing with this woman, who was straight-laced and honest to a fault; it was fun.

  Hours passed by, and Adina eventually fell asleep without realizing it. She woke up with her head nestled on Michelle’s right boob. Blinking several times, she wiped the drool from her mouth and looked around. It was dark now. She hadn’t known the Rift Plains could get dark. For a moment, she wondered what had woken her up, but then a loud gurgling alerted her to the fact that she was hungry.

  “Ugh… but we don’t have any food,” Adina mumbled.

  She wondered if she could find some food, but before the idea could really take hold, the loud snapping of branches alerted her to something coming this way. Adina quickly shook Michelle awake and scrambled to her feet. The other woman reacted more slowly than her, but she eventually heard the sound and stood up as well. Christine, who’d been sleeping on her other side, hit the ground with a thud when he pillow disappeared.

  “What the—!” the orange-tinted woman squawked.

  Just as Michelle was turning toward the source, Adina saw someone step out from the treeline and into the moonlight. His strong jawline and straight nose were complimented by pale blue eyes and sandy hair. He had a strong physique, powerful arms, broad shoulders, and a thick chest. He didn’t have on the armor she’d seen last time. Instead he was wearing jeans and a white T-shirt. However, even without the armor, she recognized his face.