by Kaden Reed
Then the world exploded for a second time. I suppose I never learn.
***************
Blinking my bleary eyes, I was only dimly aware of my surroundings. I could make out a handful of blurry shapes near me, which seemed to be talking contentedly.
“Do you know how they got here?” I thought I could recognize the sound of Jax’s voice.
“No,” an unknown speaker sighed, “we just ran into them on patrol. They ambushed us while we were fighting another monster.”
“Jacob here sacrificed himself to give us time to kill the invading creature before facing the Aku,” another unrecognizable voice, “we would have all died if he hadn’t.”
In a somber tone the first unknown voice replied, “aye. This victory is for you Jacob. As he is fond of saying - this one is in the bag.”
“We owe your Hand a lot too,” this voice sounded like Eli, “it was damn good timing.”
Jax grunted, “this is supposed to be the training section of the Dungeon. First we encounter a dual affinity monster and then a group of Aku.” Jax sounded exhausted as he continued, “Kits aren’t up to fighting these opponents. I want to know what is going on.”
“Your Kits seem to be doing alright,” an unfamiliar voice replied, “that one has abilities I’ve never heard of before.”
“He made the Aku explode,” Eli agreed, “damn useful if you ask me. If he can get the rest like that, then this war will be over in a jiffy.”
“He is an Enigma,” Jax spoke in hushed tones, “Akashi’s first since Thorn.”
Silence reigned for several heartbeats before being abruptly broken with the sound of boots walking closer to me. An unknown voice spoke questioningly, “so that is an enigma.”
“Why isn’t he on his feet yet?” Jax asked.
“I’ve cast three spells on him already,” Marty was silent for a moment, “okay, okay! Quit glaring at me like that, I’ll cast another.”
I could hear chanting in the background as one of the unknown voices said, “too bad he is an Enigma.”
Another sighed and added, “aye. It would be too much to ask for a whole army of whatever he is.”
I felt the familiar rush of healing energy enter my core. Shortly afterward I could finally see clearly enough to make out the figures standing above me.
I saw Jax and Eli, both looking a little haggard with pieces of their armor destroyed, but their bodies were whole. The two unknown voices were reasonably tall men, both broad shouldered. One was clean shaven with dirty blond hair and an oval face. The other had black hair with a full beard, trimmed to perfection.
The clean shaven one held out his hand to me to help me up when he noticed I was looking at him, “up you go.” Slapping me on the back as I stood on my own feet, “the name is Jordan.”
“Well fought lad,” the bearded one nodded at me, “you can call me Adam.”
Eli nodded over his shoulder, “and the guy taking the rest of the day off over there is Jacob. You can meet him later.”
Nodding at all of them I said, “so that was the Aku.”
All of us turned to look at the only two bodies that remained of the Aku. Upon closer inspection, I could make out a grayish tint to their complexion and their irises were like dark obsidian pits. But as I thought about it, the odd skin color could just have been because they were corpses.
“Do all Aku have eyes like that?” I asked the group.
“Yup,” Adam answered, “I think it is an affectation of their Dungeon.”
Looking at them, it still filled me with unease. It seemed to make them appear inhuman.
“How did you make them explode?” Eli questioned from behind me.
Turning to address him, “I stabbed them in their core with my mana blades.”
“Details please,” Jordan inquired.
I explained to both Hands what I knew of the new possibilities of my abilities. How I can see mana, the newly learned skill of being able to effect spells, and about how I could penetrate someone’s core.
“Well that explains why they exploded then,” shaking his head Eli turned to me, “we are damn lucky you haven’t blown up half the Dungeon and Glasden above.”
Frowning in confusion, “what do you mean?”
“Don’t you remember what I told you on your first day as a Khanri?” Sighing at my continued lack of recognition, “about the instability of mana? How it sometimes explodes violently enough to destroy half a town when mishandled?”
“Oh, right,” I replied sheepishly, “I forgot about that.”
“You don’t say,” Eli said sarcastically, “well I can’t argue that it is effective though.”
“Hey kiddo,” the voice interrupted our conversation and the sensation of my core being filled to the brim flowed back into me, “you sure have been busy.”
“Akashi!” I said happily to the room around me, “about time! Did you know the Aku have managed to get into this section of the Dungeon?”
“I just did,” he said, “I think they found a pathway through other Dungeons.”
“He can talk with Akashi,” Marty addressed the confused looks on the faces of the three surviving members of Eli’s Hand.
“Well ain’t that something,” Adam said in wonder.
I passed along the information about the Aku finding a way here through other Dungeons.
“It seems that we will have to increase combat patrols in this area too,” Eli sighed.
“Good job on dealing with the Aku Afton,” Akashi sounded smug, “severing their connection with their Dungeon like that was simply brilliant.”
I glowed at his praise until what he said caught up with me, “wait, what? I severed their connection?”
“You destroyed their cores,” Akashi spoke haltingly, like he was unsure about my confusion, “how else do you think a Khanri is connected to their Dungeon?”
I stood in stunned silence, at a loss for words. It was one thing to kill a Khanri or even an invading Aku, they were reborn. Sure, there is a small chance that they might die their true death, but it was unlikely. Besides, without the certainty of killing them for good, it was easy to shrug your shoulders and move on. However, Akashi just told me that I actually killed those two Aku.
I told the Hands about Akashi’s revelation.
“Now that is great news!” Eli crowed in triumph, “finally! We have a weapon we can use against them.”
Clapping me on the back again, Jordan said, “great news indeed.”
Looking at Jax, I saw the first true smile I had ever seen on the gray-haired man. Only Marty and Glazmir appeared to be unsure, just as I was.
“This is a good thing Afton,” Akashi murmured, “hundreds, if not thousands, of Khanri have perished on the blades of the Aku over the centuries.” I got the impression of him encompassing the two Aku I had killed, “this is only a small fraction of the deaths that are owed.”
Replaying the events in my mind, I couldn’t say for certain as to whether I would do anything differently now that I knew it would give them their final deaths. Even the thought of the Aku caused an intense burst of hatred, which quickly dissipated as I reminded myself that I had already killed two of them. And if I was being honest with myself, I had desired their deaths and enjoyed the fact that I had killed them too.
I shrugged my shoulders uncomfortably at this uncharacteristic revelation, “I don’t know how I feel about that.” Despite what I just said, I felt something stir inside of me at the thought. A deep desire to kill all of the Aku that cross my path. Not just to end this reincarnation either, I wanted them to die for real. Trying to change the subject, “Eli brought up a good point, if I pierce a core will it damage you, or anything else?”
“No, it would take a lot more than someone’s core exploding before anything damaged me and, by extension, Glasden above,” he dismissed my concern, “in fact, the energy released from their cores was quite a windfall of mana. I don’t turn any energy from Aku into runestones, instead I direct
the majority to upgrading my Khanri. As it happens, I got enough from the two Aku you dealt with for me to increase your abilities.”
At his words, I searched inside my core and saw that I has now sitting at rank F3. Those two Aku had bumped me up a whole two ranks! Then realization dawned on me about what Akashi had actually said. Sweat instantly beaded up on my forehead as my ever-present level of anxiety rocketed up ten notches. I dropped to my knees and crouched on the floor by pure reflex.
“Umm,” Akashi sounded confused, “what are you doing?”
“The last time you increased my abilities it hurt something fierce,” I remained huddled on the ground, “I’m ready for it this time.”
“Sure, okay,” he sounded like he was trying to placate a child, “whatever you say. Ready?”
Clenching my fists, “do it.”
“Okay,” he paused a few moments, “and done.”
Blinking in confusion, “that was it?”
“That was it,” he answered matter of factly.
I sat up, “I didn’t feel a thing.”
“Yeah, well,” Akashi sounded delighted, “I was just kidding.”
Yelping at the sudden onslaught, my body reflexively went rigid and I slammed backwards to the ground. Pain as bad as the first time screamed through me, lighting my nerves on fire. Body contorted in a pretzel, I was in so much pain that it was difficult to remember to breath, let alone scream. After an eternity, the agony seemed to gradually ebb away.
Panting as I labored to catch my breath, “you are such an asshole.”
“I know,” the damn Dungeon sounded immensely pleased with himself.
Chapter Thirteen
The Assault
Forbidden to use wood, which the Lunasti consider to be a sacred material, to build shelters, the mortal races that call Luna Asari home must fashion what shelter they can by whatever means are available. Often, I found families sharing a common living area under cloth sheets that they hung up to provide some shelter from the elements. Mortals are only allowed within the trees when they are selected for work details, which since the Lunasti count their lifespans by the century and have no sense of immediacy in their daily lives, is hardly what anyone would call consistent. Even with all of the hardship, the people I interviewed that have chosen to make Luna Asari their home were very grateful to the elves for allowing them to live in their presence.
When I brought up the apparent injustice of their treatment, I was met with derision and was escorted out of the town and asked not to return. I considered that I was perhaps mistaken on my opinions, but as I was being hustled out, it became immediately apparent that I had actually misjudged the depth of injustice these people have accepted when one of the dozen people escorting me was suddenly struck by a falling glob of a foul smelling substance. As I exclaimed in outrage when I realized that the elves were relieving themselves directly onto the encampment of the mortals below, the man that had just been bathed in the excrement just shrugged and said nonchalantly, “where else do you expect the Lunasti to go?”
- Excerpt from The Three Nations, by Raine Royce, University of Glasden Historian
Wake in the morning, eat and then go on combat patrol. That was our daily routine. Each day bleeding into the next to form a sort of blur in the mind.
I had a couple of close calls fighting a monster the size of a small house, but no one in our Hand has earned another death in the last several days. What I wouldn’t give for some time off.
Sitting in silence in the mess area surrounded by the Fist, I mechanically ate a random ration bar.
“Afton,” a feminine voice called from nearby, “what is on your mind?”
Clawing myself back to semi-awareness, I saw Niko looking at me with a wry smile, “nothing.”
She frowned at me and raised an eyebrow in response.
I used to see a similar expression aimed at my dad when mom was unhappy with his response. I found it peculiar how women seemed to be able to say so much without saying anything at all.
I smiled at the memory, finally bringing myself back from the depths of mindlessness, “sorry. I think I’ve been lost. Just going through the motions, the past few days.”
“What did your group hunt yesterday?” She smiled at me, “you tell me yours and I’ll tell you mine.”
I was about to tell her about the fight with the giant vulture, or was it the rat thing with scales? Trying to decide which creature it was that we fought yesterday, Akashi abruptly cut into my thoughts, “Afton!”
I flinched so hard by the force of his presence the bar that I had been eating flew over my head to impact with the ceiling, “what? Akashi, what do you want?”
“It is time to round up the Fist,” he said urgently, “there is a large incursion of powerful monsters invading the Dungeon.”
“How?” I was confused and alarmed by what he said, “or where?” Shaking my head, I spoke slowly and deliberately, “what do you need us to do?”
“Tell Jax and Harper to take the Fist to the training section,” he spoke urgently, “I think this is a coordinated assault. Pass the word to all the other Fists and tell them to be on alert. This is too calculated to be random.”
“Do you think it is the Aku?” I asked.
“Probably,” he sounded distracted, “now go. I need to get back to the Dungeon.”
I reiterated everything to Jax and Harper.
They both jumped to their feet immediately. Jax indicated that he will get word to Thorn, while Harper called for everyone to get their gear and gather in the hallway in five minutes.
Everyone was strangely quiet while we ran to our quarters and started shoving on our armor. Only the occasional muted curse indicated the level of anxiety we were all feeling.
Noting Jax’s absence, I stopped and grabbed some of his armor and yelled for Marty to grab the rest.
We were the last ones to assemble, the rest of the Fist watching us somewhat impatiently.
I saw Jax in his customary leather jerkin was joined by Harper in a golden colored robe with black tassels that hung from her waist. In her hand was a staff, nearly as tall as she was, capped with a luminescent pearl about the size of a fist.
Slowing to a stop in front of them, juggling bits of his armor that I belatedly realized were no longer necessary I asked Jax, “how did you do that?”
Jax dismissed my question and pointed at the wall, “throw the equipment over there. I don’t need it.” After we had done as asked, he admonished, “next time do exactly as we say.”
Harper called to everyone, “Jax has got the word out. Thorn said she would send reinforcements to back us up in the training area. If it is as bad as we fear, the Khanri are going to be stretched thin trying to defend the entire Dungeon. So, don’t count on help to arrive for a while.”
Jax gestured as he started running, “we are Khanri. We will kill these monsters or die trying.”
We quickly gained speed until we were near a sprint, heading towards the section of the Dungeon that Akashi indicated. In what usually took about thirty minutes at a casual jog, we made the trip in less than ten. Thankfully, the energy Akashi supplied as combat support had obviously taken effect, I felt only the slightest weariness from the sustained sprint.
Slowing to a jog, Jax activated his sonar ability. After a short time, a strong echo was returned, “up ahead a few hundred yards.” Judging the distance ahead he continued, “it is probably in the hallway.”
I hardly recognized Niko as she moved passed me to take position next to Glaz at the head of the group. Clad in blood red plate with several six-inch spikes jutting from various parts of her armor. She wore a helm shaped in the form of a snarling cat. Tufts of red fur stuck up from her helm and flowed down her back in a mohawk. Hefting a two-handed battle ax in her hands, she nodded at the dwarf, both smiling at each other in appreciation.
As we continued to advance at a casual pace, deep reverberations in the floor were felt more than heard until I could just make out
a shadow that seemed to be moving in the distance. Blinking into mana sight, I saw densely packed red, blue and green mana swirling ahead. It wasn’t until a glowing A2 popped into existence that I realized I was looking at a creature. It was easily large enough to fill the passageway so that I couldn’t see anything beyond, “by the Dungeons, that thing is an A2.”
“What thing? I don’t see anything,” Harper spoke from behind me.
At a loss for words, I gestured emphatically at whatever was ahead of us in the tunnel and I was gratified when I heard Harper issue a sharp intake of breath.
It seemed to finally notice us approaching and appeared to start slinking backwards. Doubt evident in my voice I called to the group, “I think it is running away from us?”
Harper ordered, “now Bog.”
I glanced back to see the unobtrusive orc in a set of smoke gray leather with black steel mesh across his chest and forearms. On his head was a cloth wrap that covered most of his head and face, leaving only a small gap to see through. He hefted a bow that I figured was nearly seven feet tall and fitted an arrow that could have been considered a miniature javelin.
I reflexively ducked as several arrows flew past my head and between Niko and Glaz. Lancing unerringly towards the fleeing creature, the last arrow in the procession glowed a faint green in my mana sight.
The howl from ahead indicated when the arrows found their mark.
Grunting and snarling, the monster gave a final backward lunge and slipped out of the hallway back into the room beyond. There it seemed to unfurl to its full height.
The thing vaguely resembled what the offspring of a fox and bear may look like. Thick tawny brown fur covered every available surface. Short rounded ears stuck up from a broad face about the size of a wagon wheel. A narrow muzzle full of jagged teeth jutted between four brown eyes, each the size of small melons. Standing on its hind legs, each limb ended with three long claws similar to jagged swords. A long bushy tufted tail arched upwards behind the beast.
