by Jack Crosby
I was really happy for my party. Both of these girls deserved awesome skills; they were incredible fighters with toughness for miles. And they were both hot – not that that’s important or anything, but I just wanted to make the observation clear.
We kept fighting and grinding all the way down the path. It wasn’t pleasant and we had some close calls, but the end was soon in sight. With the end came another problem; a Gibraltar captain and two soldiers were guarding our only way out.
Kira brought to everyone’s attention the detail on the captain’s armor. “That’s just not an ordinary captain, whoever is wearing that plated armor is a direct subordinate to General Victor. He is going to be very skilled.”
“Who’s Victor?” Rico asked.
Oh the bearcat; not that long ago I was asking the same types of questions. “He’s a bad man that kidnapped my uncle.”
“A bad man to Dante is a bad man to me!” the bearcat cheerfully yelled.
Kira looked at me like I may have said too much. Neither Rico nor Alyssa knew who I really was. Hopefully no one asked anymore questions about why a powerful guy like Victor would kidnap a random man living in the Wildlands.
“Shhh,” Alyssa whispered. “We don’t want to give away our position until we’re sure we’re ready.” She took a deep breath. “That’s Kraven, one of Victor’s five lieutenants. He’s young, strong, but not all that seasoned yet.”
“How do you know that?” I asked before my mind could stop me from being so bold.
“Because I’m one of the five, as well.” Before Kira or I had the chance to grab a weapon, “A former lieutenant, mind you. I deserted the army months ago, sick of the way Victor treated both fellow soldiers and those who have no impact on Gibraltar’s plans.”
We definitely needed to discuss this at more length later, but for now, we were stuck with only one way to go. “Can we take this Kraven?”
Alyssa sized him up from our position. “With a proper plan and well-timed uses of our spirit gauges, I think we can put Kraven in his place.”
With spirit gauges being so important, Kira and I hadn’t used ours since teaming up with Zara. With a strong opponent standing in our way, it seemed like the perfect time to break them back out.
“Dante, I hate to say it but using me against this guy probably won’t be wise. I hope you don’t think I’m a chicken.”
“This isn’t your battle, Rico,” I assured him. “However, I think you might be just the ticket to taking out a minion, if you’re up to that challenge.”
“Ready and willing,” he saluted me
Everyone looked set. With our minds made up, I took the lead and marched right down the path, towards Kraven. It didn’t take long for him to see me and motion for his men to flank him. He drew his sword and was in a battle stance once we got within talking distance.
“I didn’t realize there was a toll on this road,” I said innocently.
He pointed his long sword at us and demanded that we stop. “Who are you and what purpose do you have entering Gibraltar territory?”
Kira stepped to the front. “I am a scout, leading Master Yamato’s party to his diplomacy meeting with your king. We ask for safe passage to the nearest village for respite.”
An evil grin crossed Kraven’s face. “I’m sorry, but the Nagano Nation is no longer welcome in these borders. Turn and run like the dogs you are back to your territory. At least while you can still call it yours.”
Wow – this guy was an asshole with a capital A. “That’s not way to talk to an emissary, or a lady, you jerk.”
He lifted his visor, harsh black eyes boring down on us. “Is that you, Alyssa?” he asked. “My God, you really have found yourself with the dogs.”
Alyssa didn’t meet his gaze. In fact, she seemed to cower to Kraven. This wasn’t what I was expecting. Sticking up for my friends, “If all you’re going to do is make ridiculous threats and demean people, we have nothing left to say. Either get out of the way, or take your lumps in combat.”
He flipped his visor back down, but not before saying, “So, it really is you.”
I didn’t know what that meant, but the battle started. Alyssa was going to get first crack and she used her regular attack which instantly turned into: Split shot
The arrows back apart and each targeted one of the henchmen. Both took a pretty good whack, they weren’t near the threats that Kraven was going to be. Kira picked up on the strategy on wiping out the help first and used the tried and true: Uppercut
Kraven beat me to the attack and his first one was a doozy. His sword was aimed directly at me: Knight’s edge
Oh man, I took a nasty swipe. It knocked off a chunk of my health bar, but I was still over fifty percent in terms of remaining health. I’d need to be careful, though. Deciding it was better to focus on defense, I took my turn: Fast reflexives
The skill twinkled around Kira and Alyssa for a moment. Kira got a bump and was granted a follow up, which she returned the favor: Quick step
That was a lucky break and with all three of us under the protection of avoidance skills, it’d make it that much harder for Kraven and his goons to get direct hits and hopefully null the potential for critical shots.
The two knights each attacked with your stand Slash. Neither caused all that much damage and we were back to the beginning. Alyssa wiped out the battered knight from the last round with another: Split shot
With the second knight reeling, Kira picked up the pace and went for it: One-two combo
Her fists of fury put him in his place, leaving Kraven as the only Gibraltar warrior left standing.
Knight’s edge
Damnit, he attacked me again, going in for the kill. Quick step helped, keeping me from taking the full brunt of the damage. It did knock me back, under twenty-five percent. There was no if, ands, or buts about this, I needed a potion.
“Dante, you okay?” Rico asked.
“Yeah,” I gritted. “Sorry, we kind of deviated off course.”
“No, it’s fine.” He reached into the inventory bag. “Allies can use their turn to give their partner a potion or any item. Would you like to do that?”
Hot damn! “You’re the best, Rico.”
“I know.” The bearcat grabbed a potion and threw it up to me. I uncorked it and let the healing juice do its thing. I wasn’t all the way back to one hundred percent, but I was well over eighty percent. I could completely focus on offense at this point.
“Remember, wait for the signal,” Alyssa said to us.
“This battle is going to end poorly, for the three of you,” Kraven taunted.
Instead of intimidating us, his attitude only fortified our resolve. Plus his counting skills sucked, unless he didn’t think Rico was of importance. Alyssa dropped the first hammer on him: Scatter shot
Taking a direct hit, it became clear right away he had a high physical defense score. Just to get him into a position to use our spirit gauges was going to be a long chore. With that in mind, we began unleashing everything we had on him:
Uppercut
Blizzard blade
Scatter shot
One-two combo
Potion
And on and on it went. Kraven countered with Knight’s edge and Shoulder ram each time it came around to him. Seeing as how he had three targets, we were able to withstand more of the punishment he dished out, though it was somewhat fortuitous that Alyssa had only suffered a random Shoulder ram. We hadn’t needed to waste a turn healing her, yet.
Finally, his health bar dipped under fifty percent. It was my turn when Alyssa cried, “Now!”
I wasn’t sure what to expect with all three of our gauges full. The girls fell in behind me and each of our weapons began to glow. The essence traveled to me and a great big flare rushed upward, towards my home kingdom.
The Fury of Skylonus
The skill made it perfectly clear to everyone on the field who I was. I wasn’t just Dante, but I was Prince Dante of Skylonus. I shot skyward
, full of energy and power, peaking my ascent high enough where I could see my former home. With pain, anger, and hate fueling me, I descended downwards towards Kraven.
The Kraken’s Wrath shined with malice and sheer intensity of the attack created a huge doom of crackling energy. Critical after critical hit buried Kraven. When the spectacle of the attack was finished and I returned to my position, the proud knight was on one knee.
“This isn’t over yet…” he growled. The battle ended with Kraven taking the survival way out of this and fleeing. Even with his impromptu retreat, experience points out the ass filled our stat sheet. Plus, we got a bunch of sweet drops to collect.
There was a new sword for me, a set of gauntlets for Kira, and an arrowhead that Alyssa picked up. We each jumped a few levels; I was at nineteen, Kira eighteen, and Alyssa twenty.
::Equipped Bastard Sword::
The Bastard Sword was far and away more powerful than the Kraken’s Wrath. A long, light blade with an angry looking skull on the bottom, this blade was perfect for inflicting maximum damage. Kraven was probably really pissed he dropped this.
“I got Gibraltar gauntlets,” Kira squealed. She couldn’t wait to put them on.
“And I received a piercing arrowhead.”
While they were talking about the new weapons they got, I saw one last thing. It was a small lamp, lying all by itself. I picked it up and examined it.
Rub the lamp?
**Shadow Temple**
“Ah hell, not this again.”
“Dante! It’s been too long,” Zara smiled, appearing right in front of me.
Or should I say, Tiamat? “My memories are unlocked. I remember everything again.”
The dragon mage smiled at me. “I sure would hope so. A girl might get a complex if her favorite guy forgot all about her.”
“A girl?” I chuckled. “You mean an ancient devil dragon with the propensity for destruction, right?”
She batted her eyes like I shouldn’t have said such sweet things to her. “I’m watching you, Dante,” she changed tones. This was a bit more serious. “You have the potential to be the one to break the cycle.”
“What cycle?”
“All in due time.” She brushed something off her red fingernails and that mischievous look returned. “Welcome to the Shadow Temple! This is like a second home to me.” Tiamat walked forward and touched some of the carvings on the cold black wall beside us. “Not much to look at anymore; you can thank Gibraltar for that.”
I tried to take in what I could, but the blackness of everything made it quite impossible to see much. “This place feels different.”
“Of course it does; this is the home to the Shadow Lord.”
“No judgment door this time?” I asked. “And what the hell is a shadow lord?”
“The Shadow Lord,” she corrected me. “And yes, we still have a pesky judgment door to overcome, probably the one that leads to his throne room.” She flicked her fingers and fire appeared. The brightness and the warmth were a welcome change. “You look awful, Dante.”
“It’s this place, it takes it out of you.”
Tiamat came closer and wrapped me up in a very engaging hug. Her ample breasts pressed against me, making everything feel much better. “I haven’t mated in a very long time. Being bound to me comes with certain advantages, but it also puts a mark on you.”
A mark? I didn’t want the world to know if I chose to sleep with her. “What exactly is this mark?”
“Something only the two of us can see, a shared bond that when we see each other, we’ll know.”
I could live with that. What I was still concerned with was giving myself to the dragon that destroyed Skylonus. Granted, she was just as much a victim in all of this as the rest of us, but it still was a hard pill to swallow.
Then she undid her top and her breasts fell out.
Words began to fail me as my lust for Zara (no longer Tiamat to me) took hold. The beautiful black mage was more than a perfect match for me, we both wanted this and the circumstances that Gibraltar had put us both in no longer mattered. My mouth met hers and our tongues danced as pleasure took over.
She grabbed my hand and thrust it on to her exposed breast. I couldn’t believe how soft and perky it was to the touch. I expected things to be harder, rougher, from an ancient dragon summon, but she felt almost waif-like. My other hand jiggled her other breast, enjoying the playfulness that she allowed.
Zara’s hand joined in the action by reaching down and grabbing my cock through my pants. She rubbed it, slowly, with her index finger and thumb. The dragon mage had a gift, one that was delighting me to no end. The more she rubbed me, the more my lust clouded my brain.
“Let go of that feeling,” she hissed.
“I’m on the brink, about to give myself fully to you.”
She was right, I felt so much better! That’s when a loud lurching noise rumbled the entire place. Our embrace was nearly broken as we were jostled around. “He knows we’re here. Sorry, Dante, but this will have to do for now.”
Zara ripped my pants down and stroked my exposed cock as quickly as she could. It didn’t feel nearly as great as I imagined her warm, wet womanhood would’ve felt but I was spurting off streams of cum moments later. She pushed her chest forward, allowing the white fluid to land on her; one rope even caught her on the cheek, nearly hitting her eye. As I slowed down, finished, she stood up and cleaned herself off.
“Look at your forearm,” she soothed. It was hard to take her seriously as she wiped off my juices and then licked them off her fingers. But I did what she asked.
There was a small black T on it, the edges appeared to be glowing. “When I’m near you,” she explained, “that will give you the same protections that I have.”
“I’ll be okay the rest of the way?”
“The Shadow Lord’s energies will no longer stress you.”
That was a relief. I’m sure I’d have other things to worry about here, anyway. Speaking of the Shadow Lord, “What’s this guy’s deal?” She’s avoided the question last time.
“He is old, powerful, and not interested in being bothered. We’ll have to make this quick, or else.”
Or else… why would she end a statement with or else? That’s like telling someone the bacon’s been overcooked. “What’s the plan, Stan?”
“Let’s go take care of that judgment door,” Zara suggested.
::Zara joined the party::
There were no random encounters, just a dark hallway the ended was a large wooden door. Engraved on the door was one of the scariest faces I’d ever seen. The eyes were lopsided, with the one on the right being bigger than the one on the left. The limited amounts of teeth in the thing’s maw were all sharp, like yellowing daggers. It snorted as Zara approached first.
The dragon wasn’t impressed. “Just open for us; you won’t like the other way.”
The door roared in anger. “How dare you talk to me that way insect,” it growled.
“Do you have any idea who I am?”
“I know who both of you are, Tiamat. You’re marked one is none other than Prince Dante of Skylonus,” it answered.
Zara seemed a bit stunned the judgment door was so informed. “I didn’t think the Shadow Lord or his servant would ever pay attention to anything that didn’t concern him.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” it grumbled. “Your return alongside the last scion impacts us a lot. That’s why I have strict orders to kill you, immediately.”
The judgment door engaged us in battle.
Unlike the last one, this one was prepared for a fight. It cast Slow on us before we even had a chance to act.
By the time it was my turn, the door had cast Fira and Smoke. I was hurting and I was blind. With no chance of using physical attacks, I went to my magic skill set – Blizzard blade was there as well as one I’d never seen before, Partial summon.
Curious, I chose the new skill: Partial summon
“Thank you, Dant
e,” Zara said beside me. I couldn’t see her but her excitement was evident.
The smoke blew away from my face just in time for me to see Zara shoot into the sky above us. She was still in her human woman gaze, but I could tell something incredible was about to happen. Her eyes erupted into the deepest red I’d ever seen. When she opened her mouth, a bright glow appeared: Dark flare
The burst of energy fell down and exploded all around the judgment door, engulfing it in dark flames. As Zara reappeared beside me, the judgment door’s health bar was over half depleted.
“Holy shit,” I exclaimed. “How come we’ve never been able to do that before?”
“We’re bound together; not fully but partially. You’ve unlocked the ability to summon Dark flare.”
The door gagged and wheezed. “This power… you must be eliminated!”
It was still faster than us. Even though the partial summon unblinded us, we were still much slower than the door. He got two attacks in on us before we could even get one. Soon, both Zara and I were close to only having a quarter of health left. The Judgement Door was also close to defeat, but we were hemorrhaging life.
Partial summon was still blacked out, not ready to use again. Our spirit gauges were also not going to be of any use, still at only about eighty percent full. “What if I heal you and you blast him with your strongest magic?” I suggested.
“No, if you fall, the battle is over. Use the potion on yourself and I’ll get him to a point where one attack will win the day.”
I did as she said: Potion
My health bar charged back up to a little over forty percent. While I stood there, it was Zara’s turn. She winked at me and unleashed: Firaga
It was her strongest fire spell and depleted the rest of her mana. The door screamed in pain as he was set ablaze one more time. It didn’t kill him, but he went into red. That’s when the expected happened. His next two attacks went after Zara and he knocked her out with his second: Wood spikes
As the oak spires of death retreated back into the ground under us, Zara smiled as she fell. She was right, as long as I was good, the battle could be won. I had enough mana left for: Blizzard blade
