Arcane Survivalist: Apocalyptic Fantasy LitRPG

by Deck Davis

  The man looked up. He had a faraway look on his face. There were bags under his eyes; deep, heavy ones that suggested he hadn’t slept in a week.

  What happened to the poor bastard?

  The man stared at Ash.

  “A little help?” he said.

  “Who the hell is this?” asked Tony.

  Ash darted over to the man. He grabbed a manacle and shook it. The metal was thick and heavy.

  “The key’s downstairs,” said the man. “Beele keeps it on him.”

  Ash turned to face Chad. “Fetch it, will you?”

  “Just to check….” Said Chad, nervously., “Beele is the mage, right?”

  The shackled man nodded. “That’s him.”

  “Damn it,” said Ellie. “We come all this goddamn way…”

  When Chad left and then returned with the key, Ash unlocked the manacles and threw them on the floor. Tony was close by to catch the man and make sure he didn’t just fall to the ground. Now that he was free, he glared at Ash.

  “Took you long enough,” he said.

  “Okay, that’s it,” said Ash. “This place has a serious lack of gratitude. First the damn dog, then the woman I rescued from the van. I don’t want a bouquet of flowers, but maybe you could buy me a drink, or something. Who the hell are you, man? And what happened to you?”

  The man got up. He started taking shaky steps toward the staircase.

  “Follow me,” he said.

  They all went downstairs onto the ground level. The man wandered over to a shelf and started inspecting potion vials. He found one with an amber liquid inside it. He uncorked it, and drank back a quarter of the liquid.

  “Is that a health potion?” asked Chad.

  “Nope. Whiskey,” answered the man. “For all his faults, Beele brewed a mean batch.”

  He leaned back against the wall and took another drink.

  “Who the heck are you?” asked Ellie.

  “Haven’t you figured it out by now?”

  “We’re a bit slow on the uptake,” said Ash.

  “Well, let me speed it up for you. I’m Dr. Benny Aitken.”

  “Holy shit.”

  Benny walked over to the mage and started removing his robe so that he could wear it himself. He didn’t seem to show any distaste at wearing the clothes of a dead man, not even a man so despicable as Beele.

  “Is he really dead?” asked Chad.

  “He’s not in the prime of his life, let’s put it that way,” said Benny.

  “He might have jumped somewhere else,” warned Ash.

  “No, he didn’t. Trust me; I’m a doctor.”

  “Well, doctor,” said Tony, “you better explain what the hell is going on.”

  Benny led them to the third level up the stairs, where they found a long wooden dining table. There was a single plate on it with the remnants of an unfinished meal. Benny hungrily gorged on half a steak, some boiled potatoes, and a side of carrots.

  While he ate, he explained everything that had happened, starting with his creation of a dark matter portal, leading up to his imprisonment in one of the Umbra’s dungeons in Rapto.

  After that, he explained, the Umbra had found a way to place their souls into red orbs, and they’d forced Benny to modify the portal to let them through. They’d grilled him for hours about Earth and what it was like. By the end, they were convinced that they would easily be the most powerful people in it. After finding a way to send their orbs through, all they needed were human hosts that they could possess.

  This was where Beele came in. His role was to find suitable hosts for the Umbra’s red orbs to inhabit, allowing them to walk the earth. To that end, he brought Benny back with him to make sure everything went smoothly.

  What they didn’t bank on, was that Benny had created some orbs of his own, and he’d sent these through right before he and Beele left Rapto.

  When he’d finished talking, Benny had a clean plate. He’d even slurped up the steak juice.

  “So, as you can see, I expected that you guys would come. Four orbs, four people.”

  Ash shook his head. “We’ve only found three orbs. Where’s the other one?”

  “I sent them through, but I couldn’t pick exactly where they went. All I know is that they’d land near Pasture Downs.”

  “Why Pasture?”

  Benny shrugged. “The Umbra chose it. God knows why. Seems like a dump to me. Are you telling me that you numbskulls have left an orb laying around?”

  “Who are we, the orb finders? How the hell would we know there were four?” said Chad.

  Ellie glanced at the vial of whiskey next to Benny’s plate. She reached for it and took a long drink. By the time she was finished, it was almost empty.

  “What’s with the broad?”

  “Don’t call her broad,” said Ash. “And you might wanna be a little sensitive. She’ll break your fingers if you aren’t.”

  “My son found a red orb,” said Ellie. “It’s infecting him. We came here to find the mage, ‘cos we thought he might be able to do something, but the fucker’s dead. Damn it.”

  With that, she threw the vial across the room, where it smashed against the wall. Chad put his hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged him off.

  “I might be able to help you,” said Benny. “I learned a lot of alchemy when I was in Rapto, and being modest, I’m probably Earth’s leading expert on Rapto orbs. Where’s the boy?”

  “Back at my ranch. Through the goddamn mountain pass. There’s no way we’ll make it back in time,” said Tony.

  Benny sat up and smiled. He had something of a cocky look to him, but Ash found himself liking him.

  “Maybe I can help,” said Benny. “I can open a portal to get you across the mountains quicker. Only thing is, I can only do it through a portal already used to send a blue orb. Is there one near your ranch?”

  “Better than that. There’s one on my damn ranch!”

  Ellie stood up. “Then let’s go. Doctor, grab your shit. You’re coming with us.”

  Benny nodded. “Got nothing else to do. And I kinda feel like I messed up a little, you know, by creating the apocalyptic portal and all. Seems I should make amends for my little error.”

  “One more thing,” said Ash. He pulled the red gem that he’d taken from Beele out of his pocket. “Any idea what this is?”

  Benny gave a wide smile. “Oh boy. Let me show you something. You guys, stay here a few minutes, okay?”

  Despite Ellie’s protests, Benny led Ash up the crooked spiral staircase and to the top of the tower. There, he opened a hatch on the ceiling and climbed through it. Ash followed him, only to find that they were on the roof.

  Out there, the icy wind swirled around him. The sky had darkened now, and the plains behind him were smothered by a blanket of black. He squinted, but he couldn’t pick out the bodies of the goblins and corrupted.

  Benny touched his shoulder.

  “It’s starting,” he said. “Just as I thought. They must have heard about Beele somehow.”

  “What’s starting?”

  “Watch.”

  He pointed up at the night sky. At first, all Ash could see were a few twinkling stars that weren’t covered by clouds. Then, one of the stars seemed to glow red. It shot across the sky, before plummeting in a trajectory toward the earth. A trail of red flames grew behind it, until it disappeared out of view.

  More of the red stars joined it, showering down on the black horizon and landing in different spots.

  “Those are the red orbs,” said Benny, with a grim tone to his voice. “The Umbra are arriving.”

  Oh, shit. That was all Ash could think.

  “See that red gem?” said Benny.

  Ash held the gem he’d taken from Beele.

  “That,” said Benny, “will lead you to the orbs. Get near one, and it’ll start to glow burning hot. Might take a while to find them, and you’ll never find them all before some poor son of a bitch picks one up, but it’ll help.”

>   “What are you saying?”

  “That you, Ash, are gonna have to find all the red orbs and destroy them before the Umbra can use them.”

  Sub Class gained: Orb Seeker

  You have gained a class secondary to Blood Mage. As an orb seeker, you can find orbs, both red and blue. With practice, you can also destroy them. Some say that even higher levels, you can create orbs of your own.

  “And here was me thinking I could have a rest,” said Ash. “Got any more of that whiskey?”

  Two hours later, after an arcane ceremony involving lots of potions vials and a little more whiskey, Dr. Benny Aitken opened a portal on the ground floor of the mage’s house. It was the size of a dressing mirror, and the edges of it buzzed with a blue energy.

  Tony, Chad and Ellie stood in front of it, Benny to the side.

  “So, we step through this thing and we’re back on my ranch?” asked Tony.

  “I promise you. It might look a little…dangerous… but it’ll take you back.”

  “What are we waiting for?” said Ellie.

  The three of them looked at Ash.

  “You go ahead,” he told them.

  “You’re not coming?”

  “I will,” answered Ash, “But not yet.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “I need to see my folks first.”

  Benny crossed his arms. “You kinda have the destiny of the world riding on you, Ash,” he said. “Maybe a visit to ma and pa can wait?”

  Ash shook his head. “If being with you guys has taught me anything, it’s this; I’m an asshole.”

  “No arguments there,” said Tony.

  “The difference is, I’m not an asshole who’s not gonna flake out on people. Tony, you need to go and see Marg. Ellie, you have to get to Jake. Me? I need to see my folks.”

  “You better get your scrawny ass through that portal when you’re done,” said Ellie. “I still need to give you a beating for taking my money.”

  Ash smiled. “It’s well overdue. You guys go on. I’ll catch up. Benny, will this portal hold while I go see my folks?”

  The doctor scratched his chin. “It’ll stay here for a few days.”

  “Okay then. You guys go., And really, everyone. Thanks for everything. Without you guys, I wouldn’t have been dead a week ago. Especially you, Tony.”

  The old man walked across the room. Without warning, he grabbed Ash and gave him a great bear hug, almost squeezing the life out of him.

  “Stay safe,” he told him.

  Ash nodded. “I’ll try.”

  As his friends stepped one by one into a portal that would take them miles across country to a ranch where they’d cure Ellie’s magically possessed son from an infectious red orb, Ash was going to do the simple thing.

  He was going to go see his parents.

  The End of book one

  Hey, thanks for reading the Blood Mage Bastard! I’m already working on book 2, and I’m excited at where the story is gonna go.

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  Deck