by Jack Crosby
I didn’t possess any fire spills, but the sword skill was the best I had. As ice crystals rushed forward out of my sword, piercing the door, I just hoped it was enough. As the last few belted him, his bar dropped to nothing and the door broke in defeat.
As soon as the battle was over, Zara got up and brushed herself off. “What a fight! Nice way to finish that blasted door.”
Just like before, we didn’t gain any experience for defeating the door, but a large, ghostly white arrow pointed forward. “He’s in there, isn’t he?” I asked.
“Yeah, let’s go meet the Shadow Lord.”
We entered the large room that the Judgment Door was blocking. Sitting on a large throne at the very end was an impressive sized figure, covered in black. The swirls of shadows leaked off of him on to the floor just below. I didn’t feel very good, either.
“Tiamat has returned.”
His voice was deep, low. The hairs on my arm stood on end. “I’ve been summoned back into this world.”
There were no visible eyes to get a feeling just what was going on under the large cloud of shadows. His answer was our first clue. “I see your scion is with you. Darkness will soon fill this world.”
“Why do you call me the scion?”
“Dante, Prince of Skylonus, I should have known better than anyone because you were born under a dark of the moon – under the influence of me.”
I shuddered; born under his influence… “I bet a lot of people were born under a new moon,” I countered.
“Dante, he’s right.”
For the first time since we entered the Shadow Lord’s lair, my attention was off of him. “Wait, you knew?”
Zara sighed. “Not just anyone can be marked by a summon. Only the scions of the summon can be gifted with their protections.”
Wow, just wow. Just when you thought you knew a girl. “Not only do you destroy my home, but I’m your scion? This is unbelievable.”
The Shadow Lord stood up. “I have no time for this squabbling. I was planning on killing the two of you as per the orders of the other Lords, but I’ve decided to let this play out. One of mine as the scion to Tiamat, they never saw this coming.”
“Who’s they?” I asked.
A cold wind blew all around us. “Take your leave from my domain before I change my mind.”
“Zara, what’s happening?”
“I’ll see you soon, okay?”
The harder the wind blew, the harder it was to see. I reached out for her hand and we briefly touched, causing the black shape of a stone to appear. “The second stone is an Onyx,” she whispered.
Then I was blown away, my mind getting all clouded and confused.
::Zara left the party::
****
I shook my head, as if the lamp gave me some cobwebs. That was a weird feeling.
“What’s that?” Kira asked.
“Hmm, it just seems to be an old oil lamp. Nothing really of use.” With that, I placed it into the inventory.
With the boss battle completed, we were finally able to leave the path and returned to the flatness of the plains. I pulled out the map and Gibraltar was highlighted as our next destination. It was going to be a bit of a hike, full of random solider encounters if I had any guesses to give, but it was in range.
I was coming Uncle Rex, don’t you worry.
Before we went any further, there was another save point. I’d be a fool if we didn’t use it.
****
Save Point 3; Disc 1
Dante (lvl 19)/Kira (lvl 18)/Alyssa (lvl 20)
We easily beat off the next two random encounters of soldiers, none of them as tough as Kraven had been. Plus, with the Bastard Sword equipped, the raw power of my physical attacks couldn’t be denied. Even the girls seemed impressed.
“Those idiots didn’t even stand a chance,” Rico smiled.
“Those idiots are highly trained soldiers; we shouldn’t take them lightly,” Alyssa admonished him.
Even Kira, who was generally wary and even respectful to enemy skill, was having a bit of a go. “Kraven must be an exception. So far, the soldiers we’ve encountered have been quite lackluster.”
Alyssa crossed her arms and didn’t say much more. Even with her appreciation for my skill, she still seemed almost defensive of the soldiers. I found it odd, but whatever. If she wanted to take the moral high road and fight for whatever ridiculous honor being a solider to that kingdom meant, so be it.
That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to press the issue. “Why does a hunter see value in these soldiers?”
“As a prince, I’m surprised you don’t have more respect for any man who chooses to fight for his kingdom,” she rebutted.
Maybe it was because this particular kingdom destroyed mine, but the point wasn’t lost on me. “I’ll respect the fact these men fight for their home, but I’m not going to respect their home. What they did to Skylonus is unforgiveable. I’ll only be happy when Gibraltar is in ruins, too.”
“Dante!” This came from Kira. “I thought your plan was to rescue Rex. What’s this talk of seeing Gibraltar in ruins?”
None of them had lost their entire home to a nameless, faceless enemy. I had the name and the faces to that enemy and I wasn’t going to let it slide. “It doesn’t matter,” I grumbled. This wasn’t a conversation for today. “Let’s just focus on getting Rex.”
Alyssa and Kira kept looking at me like I wasn’t quite right. They’d get over it. Meanwhile, Rico was itching to get a move on it. “You guys have been awesome travel buddies. Let’s keep going, shall we?”
Fortunately, more battles occurred making sure that we didn’t have any chances to speak on the subject. At the conclusion on the last battle, we were all in the range of forty to fifty percent health. With no real chance to level up in sight, I pulled the map back out and pointed to a small village that was just a tad out of the way, but close enough where we could rest and continue the journey after a pleasant night at an inn.
“That’s Kaiser Village,” Kira told me.
“Is it a friendly sort of place, or…”
“They’re not known for their warm welcomes, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Alyssa poked her chin with her finger a few times. “Rest isn’t a bad idea. Besides, we should save our tents and maybe farm the village for knowledge. We’re going into Gibraltar rather blind, aren’t we?”
Kira sighed. “Let me place a tracker so the caravan knows we’re stopping. Master Yamato will want to join in the investigation when they arrive later today.”
“It’s settled,” I proclaimed as I put the map away. “We head north to Kaiser Village.”
Kira looked a little uneasy, but kept quiet. I’m not sure if something about the village spooked her or not, but we’d find out soon enough. We had to deal with one last group of soldiers, but we made it to Kaiser pretty quickly and with all of our faculties intact.
There were no guards to greet us as we entered. It was late in the afternoon, so there should’ve been guards. Immediately, I cursed myself for not getting more information from Kira. With no other choice, we continued down the main street, oddly quiet for this time of day.
A few windows snapped shut, jarring me. “Okay, so this is really strange.”
“I haven’t met a lot of humans, but is this reception normal?”
“No, Rico,” I answered. The bearcat jumped up on to my back; I could tell he was on edge, too.
The only one of us who didn’t seem anxious at all was Alyssa. “It’s fine, everyone. Keep in mind that these people have seen their fair share of war. Their greeting to strangers probably isn’t that uncommon.”
“If you say so.”
The inn was the second to last building on the right. As we entered, the innkeeper looked up and pointed to the sign. One hundred gold per night. Drop it in the basket.
“Such service, I should leave a tip, too,” I remarked sarcastically as I dropped the gold into the basket. The innkeeper didn’t ev
en give me the pleasure of a retort. He didn’t even bother looking up.
“Let’s go to the bar, shall we?” Rico suggested.
“I agree with the bearcat, the bar will be the best place to farm for information.”
We dropped our things off in the small room with two beds. We’d have to figure out sleeping arrangements later; something told me I was on the floor with Rico. The bar was two building over from the inn, a weapon shop and an item shop were in-between. I made a mental note to hit up both places before we left. We had a lot of gold and any upgrades would be most excellent.
If I thought the inn was warm and fuzzy, the bar was even fuzzier. It was smoky, dark, and dingy. A bald toothless man behind the counter just glared at us as we found a table. His beady little eyes kept a constant watch on the bearcat.
Apparently small animals were the devil.
The patrons that were inside with us looked more likely to start a fight than give us any real information. It’d be up to either my charm or the beauty of the two girls I was with to win them over.
I was leaning more towards option B. Something told me the men in this place wouldn’t be going for anything smart.
A homely, yet rather busty serving wench waltzed up to the table. She looked like she’d been road hard and put away wet. Something about her though, it began to give me an erection.
“What’ll ya’ll have?” she asked.
“A round of meads and anything you consider edible,” I answered.
She made a noise, like she was thinking. “I believe the nuts are the only thing I’d eat.”
I bet she did love nuts in her mouth, I amused to myself. “Sounds good to us.”
Everyone else was too caught up in the moment for me to give them a good chuckle with my juvenile humor, so I kept it to myself. When the drinks and nuts arrived, I was wondering if we were ever going to attempt to talk to someone, anyone for that matter.
Rico flicked his tail over towards the corner. “That small guy looks kind of harmless. Maybe we should try him.”
Kira and Alyssa began playing rock, paper, scissors to see who would have to go over. While they were fooling around, I got up and snuck over into the back area of the bar. The bartender was too caught up in the idea of a bearcat in the bar to even notice.
In a small room with a stove and bags of suspect looking food, the busty bar wench was sitting with two fingers plunged into her slit. When she saw me walk in, she didn’t even stop. “Why don’t you pull that tool out and help a dame?”
The idea of it should’ve sent me the other way, but before I knew it, my cock was slammed deep into the wench. I’d even pulled down her top to let those big titties free. Everything about her pussy screamed cum inside me and there wasn’t a chance I was going to pull out. It was an addicting feeling, one that exhilarated me.
As we grunted together, my balls began to ache just a bit before they’d blow. “It’s my turn to feed you,” I growled.
“Gimmie tha’ seed,” she purred in her local accent.
The top of my cock twitched once, twice, and that’s when ropes and ropes of cum entered the wench. Hell, I didn’t even know her name! I didn’t want to know her name! I just wanted to keep cumming over and over again, filling her up until it flooded out of her.
All good things come to an end, and this was no exception. When the last bit of cum entered her, I slid myself out and wiped off my semi-erect penis with a cloth that was hanging behind her. She didn’t do anything; just stood up and allowed the thick liquid just to drip. God, I don’t know why, but it sort of turned me on again.
“Thanks for that. By the looks of things, you might be ready for round two sooner than later,” she pointed out.
As much as that would be fun, I did need to gather some information. “My friends and I are looking to get into Gibraltar to show off our talking bearcat. I was maybe hoping you’d have some inside information how to get in on the sly, if you know what I mean?”
She winked. “I do know what you mean; people found out about a talking bearcat and you’d be chased all over. Unfortunately, I don’t know much about getting into the capital. Most people try to avoid getting too close if they don’t really have to.”
“Really?”
“Rumor has it that the regency is experimenting with summons again. After what they did to Skylonus, I’d take your bearcat somewhere else if I was you. Maybe to the other side of the Wildlands to one of those kingdoms.”
It wasn’t a whole lot, but it was good information. Could the Gibraltarian Army have found a way to use another summon? “Thanks for that. I don’t even know your name…?”
She flashed a smile that once again made me a bit hot under the collar. “Meg. For that information, how ‘bout you give me a bit more of the sweet juice? Who knows the next time a handsome fella like you will walk on in?”
You didn’t have to ask me twice. Meg lifted her dress up and I began slamming that chucky pussy again. The lips were so thick and juicy that it was almost like getting a blowjob at the same time. I held Meg close as I slammed myself in her over and over again. The second time took a bit longer but I didn’t care. Her soft plumpness was something I found very comforting. I held on as long as I could before I released again.
She nibbled on my ear as I cummed, coaxing every last drop again out of me. I didn’t know why I enjoyed it so much but I did. I’d have to remember my new friend Meg and come back to this village after everything was done.
With a second load filling her up, we gave each other a kiss and I left the back room to rejoin my friends. Out in the main bar area, Rico was chatting up the bartender while the two girls were at different tables talking to the patrons. I let them be and sat down to my ale. Slowly but surely everyone came back over at given times. Once Rico, the last to rejoin us, returned, we decided to head back to the inn to discuss what we’d learn.
In the relative safety of our room, it was time to spill. “The server wench told me that Gibraltar is experimenting with summons again.”
“I heard the same thing from the farmer. He’s claimed to have heard ungodly noises from the regency at nights,” Kira added.
Rico stopped licking his paw. “The bartender has heard whispers that Typhon might be the one who they’re close to summoning.”
“Does anyone know what Typhon can do?” I asked.
Kira shuddered. “The ancient summon of the storm; he’ll bring havoc from the sky in the form of a hurricane. Typhon’s fury would be enough to wipe out a decent sized village in the blink of an eye.”
“It’s not just the raw power of the storm, but it’s the lightning that comes with it. If Typhon is summoned, no one stands much of a chance of survival,” Alyssa explained further.
The bearcat’s fur was on end. “I say we run for the hills.”
I couldn’t blame Rico for being scared. “No,” I said gently. “We have to make sure no one is able to complete the summoning.”
He didn’t look thrilled but the other two were right there with me. “I must find Master Yamato immediately,” Kira proclaimed. “He will be able to offer some guidance.”
The caravan should’ve been here by now. “Good idea; just let us know if you need anything once you confer with him.”
::Kira left party::
She got up and gave me a peck on the cheek before leaving. “That just leaves tasks for the three of us.”
It took some thought but I sent Rico to tail Kira just in case and Alyssa to go find whoever was in charge of this little village, whether it’d be a mayor or chief. He or she needed to know what Gibraltar was up to and to prepare the people who lived here for a possible evacuation should the time ever come.
::Rico and Alyssa left party::
Now that I was by myself, I felt the overwhelming need to do some research. I didn’t know if this place had an extensive library or not, but I hoped it carried a few old books on the time before. The inn didn’t look like it would have anything of use, so I stepped
out into the evening and began the grueling task of hunting down possible items.
It seemed locked doors in this town weren’t any problem. I had no issues waltzing into either occupied or unoccupied places at my leisure. A few of the villagers were annoyed when I entered, but for the most part, they either ignored me as I searched or gave me nonsensical stories. At least I thought they were crazy stories.
A few of the houses had treasure boxes in them, so I was able to grab a few more items for us, as well as what looked to be the start of a set of armor.
::Acquired – Jericho Gloves (locked set 1/4)::
They were pretty awesome looking, but it was clear I wouldn’t be able to use them until I got all four pieces.
The last place I could explore was a little hut in the way back of the village. It was clear that it was uninhabited; as I walked in a rather funky odor hit my nostrils. Still, the smell was worth it; books upon books were lined against the wall. Many of them looked as if they hadn’t been opened in ages.
However, the most curious artifact was a round, smooth crystal sitting on a pedestal on the second to last bookshelf. It felt like it called me over, that I should look into it…
Look into the crystal?
**The Dragon’s Lair**
I was dropped right into a battle! There was a large reddish crystalline monster in front of me holding a huge crystal axe. Uh oh, this would be a problem.
“Great timing, Dante!”
Zara popped in right beside me. “Where are we this time?” I asked. Each time I found a strange artifact or something, it always brought me right back to Zara.
“This is my humble abode. We’ll talk more after we take care of this intruder.”
Thank the maker that big lumbering crystal monster was slow. Not being prepared for battle and all, at least I got to go first: Quick step
Zara smiled at my defensive take. “I thought you were an all-out attack kind of guy.”
