Brightblade

by Jez Cajiao

  “Ah, I think my ‘father’ is so overcome with pride at my generosity that he’s unable to speak. Don’t trouble yourself, Baron, I’ll take care of it.” I turned to his servants, along with the two that had been attending me, and instructed them to gather all of it and bring it out, including extra tables if necessary. I then turned back to the Baron and spoke to him again. “And you, of course, want to make sure my orders regarding my property are carried out correctly and fully, don’t you, Baron? Nothing ‘accidentally’ forgotten; you do confirm that everything is to be brought out, correct?” I prodded, getting only a sharp nod from him in response to his servants’ gazes before he returned his attention to me.

  “I’d like a word with you, son,” he ground out.

  “Oh no, father, I think we said all we needed to say already. I know you get too emotional at times like this, but rest assured, I know the feelings you bear towards me. I feel exactly the same about you.” I smiled mercilessly as I held my hands wide, then turned to the assembled nobles and addressed them again.

  “So, my lords and ladies, who is first? Who values their children’s equipment and would like to bargain for it? I will also agree to make an offer on someone else’s children’s equipment, should the original house not be interested.”

  Almost before I was finished speaking, Falco pushed to the front of the gathered throng and stated that he wanted his nephew’s helm and cloak, and that he would trade me a spellbook for it, specifically ‘Undead Servant.’ I pretended to think it over for several seconds before agreeing, and Helena, who had just returned with an armful of gear, dumped it on a newly placed table and scooped up the items requested. She handed them to Falco, and he held them reverently for a second before telling his daughter to give me the book, unshed tears in his voice as he turned and stalked away.

  I slipped the book into my pouch and clapped my hands together loudly. I’d look at the spellbook later. “Righto, then; who’s next?”

  The Baron tried to interject several times, but I managed to shut him down each time and handled each trade as quickly as I could.

  In exchange for the random assortment of loot that the servants brought out, I got several better pieces of gear than I’d had before. In addition to replacing some of the more standard equipment in my bag with higher quality gear, I got a magically updating map that I was assured I’d be able to link to my Pearl, three health and two mana potions, forty gold coins, seventy silver, and four copper. There were two more Spellbooks, ‘Chameleon’ and ‘Featherfall,’ an ‘Ability Memory Stone’ for ‘Darkvision’ that, when linked to my Pearl, would grant me the ability stored within, improving my ability to see in the dark. Last of all, three ‘Skill books,’ tomes that would teach me the basic levels of the included skills: ‘Alchemy,’ ‘Herbalism,’ and ‘Trap Making.’ I knew I’d gotten nowhere near the full value of the items, even with houses bidding against one another halfheartedly.

  The best part of it all, however, was watching the Baron’s face. He’d gone from red to white to blue and then back to red. It was worth the months of pain, the fighting, all of it. I could barely contain myself, but I knew baiting him further could be crossing the line. I could see that he wanted me dead, and the only reason he wasn’t coming for me now was that the other nobles in the room.

  Once everything was gone, even the armor and weapons I’d termed as ‘junk,’ having been sold for copper pieces, the nobles were directed to their places by a man I hadn’t seen before.

  He was old; like really fucking old. He walked with a staff and wore long purple robes down to his ankles, with his bald scalp surrounded by receding hair that reached his shoulders. He muttered at people, coughing up phlegmy bits which he spat onto the floor as he went, until he climbed the last few steps to the portal in the center of the room. As he stood by its side, the various bystanders and guards were made to leave, and soon only the nobles remained, taking their places on the dozens of raised platforms around the outside of the room.

  Once they were all in place, he began to chant. His weak voice was barely audible at first, but as he finished each recitation, he banged the base of the staff into the ground at his feet. With each impact, the staff flared to life, transforming it from simple wood into a masterwork of interlinked symbols and glowing lines. With each impact, the light lasted longer, staying lit for longer and longer each time.

  A movement from the corner of my eye drew my attention, and I saw the Baron raise his hands to shoulder level, a ball of glowing energy appearing in each palm. I flinched, thinking he was about to attack me, until I saw his action replicated dozens of times by the other nobles around me. His eyes were closed and sweat ran down his face as he strained with whatever he was doing.

  At first, I wasn’t sure if it was my imagination, but after a moment, I was sure. Each ball of energy had wisps of multicolored light lifting from it, almost like colored smoke, but rather than heading to the ceiling, they were drawn inexorably to the old man at the center.

  As the light gathered around him, it began to swirl and twist, as though moved by unseen eddies in the still air. Slowly, it formed a circle, then-impossibly-a square. Thin lines snaked from the corners to meet in the middle, forming multiple triangles that split away from each other and gradually revolved faster in the air. As they picked up speed, light was drawn into patterns that in turn were drawn to circle the spinning triangles until the longest sides of the triangles spun together and locked together. The linked triangles created a square in the center with outward pointing triangles. The outermost tips flared with light that began to pulse in unison, and the remaining faint traces of light seemed to be sucked into them, spinning and trailing as they went, until a circle had formed around the outside. Around that circle formed dozens of smaller points that glowed with brilliant magic. As I stood there, stunned, the old man turned to the portal that stood in the center of the room. The outside ring of lights flared once more before their light began to stream away, linking to small points I hadn’t noticed in the twisted doorframe before. Slowly, ever so slowly, the portal began to form. Light seemingly made solid began to pool within the frame, reaching, stretching, and pooling to mix in the center. It looked like water flowing from the edges to meet in the middle, but instead it was light; beautiful patterns of light in a thousand and one colors, many I’d never seen before. Colors I had no words to describe.

  As the doorway filled, the old man stepped forward one last time and slammed the rotating mesh of magic into the pool of light before him. Its disappeared with a ripple, then the portal seemed to explode in intensity. I could barely make out the old man as he gestured to me frantically. I had a split second of hesitation, but I knew I was dead if I made them waste this power. I sprinted forward as fast as I could, my naginata’s base slamming down hard as I used it to propel me forward faster. I had just enough time to flip the Baron the bird, and then I was there. I cleared the last few steps and leapt forward into the light, feeling it envelop me as I passed from the world I’d known all my life into the UnderVerse.

  Chapter Nine

  I fell through the frame, tumbling toward the ground on the far side of the portal. Everything was suddenly made of beautiful, colorful light, and before I could react, my feet reached the floor… and passed straight through it. I fell into the earth, as insubstantial as mist on a sunny day, and plummeted down, deeper and deeper. Picking up speed as I fell through a world of light, I saw concentrations of reds and blues, greens and a dozen colors more, which I guessed to be nodes of minerals and gems. As I passed them, they began to blur together until I couldn’t make anything out beyond a glow that grew brighter from below. As I dropped closer, I realized I was rapidly approaching a giant sea of light. It spiraled up around me in smaller concentrations, fighting to reach the surface, but it was interlaced with reds and pulsing blacks that seemed to sap its brightness. The world once again erupted in light, until I could make out nothing else. I saw dozens of worlds suddenly, all linked to our
own, with the core of one leading to the core of others.

  I slammed into something, a barrier of some kind, at speed. The air was driven out of my lungs with the force, but before I could think, I struck another, and another. The force of the impacts sent me spinning, the world breaking down into a mash of light and pain and impact, until a barrier before me parted like it was made of silken strands. They fell back from me, trailing across my skin as I fell forward into a room that was illuminated by the light of the portal.

  Creatures fled from the light even as I flew forward, my foot catching one of them across the spine as it skittered away on six legs. The things began scrambling back, screaming in pain and anger at the light that filled the room. I tumbled end over end, striking another barrier and coming to rest on the edge of something hard. I shifted, trying to catch my breath, only to find myself toppling backwards. I bounced and rolled down a flight of stairs, pain flaring hot in my face as it collided with the edge of a stair, and I continued tumbling until I came to rest against the far wall, somehow still holding onto my weapon. I raised my free hand to my face instinctively, clutching at my bloody, broken nose, heat radiating outward along with the pain. I forced myself to look past it, trying to bring the room into focus as my eyes watered involuntarily and the light began to die.

  I found myself in a large circular room, with one flattened wall where I had come to a stop. A flight of steps wide enough for a dozen men to walk abreast climbed from the middle of the room upward to a platform that stood suspended in the air with the portal embedded in it. All around me, the walls rose and tapered together to meet a hundred or more feet above in a pointed ceiling. Great windows lined the walls, but all of them were covered by something, preventing even the faintest light from filtering in.

  I could see dozens of eyes staring at me from under the platform, hatred and hunger obvious in them as things watched me from the darkness. As the light bled away, they began to inch outward, spreading out to slowly surround me, snapping jaws that were filled with pointed teeth at each other in warning. They seemed to be creatures of darkness themselves, sections of their bodies appearing insubstantial as smoke, then solidifying a second later. Dozens of eyes peered at me from the darkness, roughly organized in two rows, as the creatures slowly advanced. Six legs spread out from each body that crawled low as they began to stalk me. They moved like spiders, with slow, precise steps, placing each leg carefully, followed by a flash of scuttling movement. They began to move quicker and quicker, spreading out around me in an increasing half circle. I felt myself begin to panic.

  All that was holding them back from attacking immediately was the light. They seemed afraid of it, but as it died, they grew bolder.

  I looked around frantically, spotting an archway a few feet to my left. It looked like a door but was made of solid crystal. I saw it and knew I had no choice.

  I leapt to my feet, aches and pains forgotten in my fear, and rushed to the crystal. I looked back at the creatures, only to find that they were scuttling toward me in response to my burst of speed. I grabbed at the door and frantically tried to find a latch, a handle, anything. I could hear the sound of claw-tipped appendages scrabbling across the floor from behind and all around, and it grew closer as I desperately pounded on the semitransparent crystal.

  I dragged my nails across it, trying to find a latch, a hole, anything. My fear spiked, an internal voice screaming at me to run, to get away, at the door to open….

  I fell forward as the crystal dissolved into mist. One second, I had been shoving at it, and then it was gone. I staggered a few steps forward before catching myself and spinning around in the small room. There was only one door; the one I’d just fallen though.

  I gripped my naginata in both hands and set my stance. There was only blackness showing through the doorway as the last of the light vanished. I wished I’d taken the time to use the DarkVision stone before leaving. The only remaining source of light was coming from the slowly swirling mist that hovered within the entrance to the room in place of the door. I stabbed forward, slashing from side to side, trying to catch the things as they entered. I felt the blade cut into something, slicing through flesh and embedding between bones. The resistance shoved me back a step while sharp claws flailed at me. Suddenly, a pulse of light filled the room, making the creatures scream, and costing me the little night vision I’d adjusted to.

  I felt the creature on my blade begin yanking and writhing around, so I shoved harder. Something gave, and one of the claw-tipped limbs scratching at me went limp. The blade sank in deeper, and a spurt of hot, wet, foul-smelling blood covered my left hand and forearm. I felt the tip of the naginata pierce something that fluttered and beat. Once the blade shredded it, however, it stopped, and the fight went out of the creature. I braced my boot against it and yanked my weapon free, taking a quick couple of steps backward and turning to my right.

  I could hear something thrashing around and growling nearby, but I couldn’t see anything, still blind from the pulse of light.

  I took a chance and began stabbing out. The first blow hit nothing but stone, but the second glanced off something, making it screech in pain and rage. I immediately struck again, hearing its claws scraping stone as it tried to scuttle away. In the distance, I could hear faint screaming and thumping, but the room I was in had become silent, save the scrambling of the creature that I now chased. A last gurgle rose from the throat of the first one I’d killed as its body accepted its death.

  I chased the sound around the small room, stabbing and slashing, occasionally landing a blow, but more often than not, hitting air or stone. I finally got a good hit, feeling a bone break, and I was rewarded with another loud scream. I remembered that the naginata’s solid base was sheathed in metal, so I spun it around, aiming for the sound. It impacted something that gave way with a crunch, all sounds stopping as the creature collapsed. I attacked it again, alternating stabbing and smacking it with the blunt end until I regained control. When I was satisfied that it wasn’t getting up again, I leaned against the wall for support, panting and covered in foul-smelling blood.

  “Okay Jack…Jax, it’s dead. Whatever the fuck it was, it’s definitely dead now….”

  I whispered to myself. It felt right to call myself by my old gamer handle and make it my new name, since I was making a new life for myself here. I wanted to leave everything but Tommy behind. I shifted until my back was against the wall and clutched my weapon tightly, forcing my breathing back down as my heart stopped thundering in my ears.

  I could only hope that whatever that pulse had been, it had trapped the other creatures on the other side of the door, and I took the time to put my bag down and free a torch.

  Looking around as I lit it, I found myself in a small room with a straight wall, which I had been resting my back against, and a curved wall that encircled the space to join the flat wall behind me at each end. I was a dozen feet from the single doorway, and I could see that it was solid crystal again, although there were… bits… of the creatures I’d just fought on the floor around it. I used the light to scan around the room and ensured that the ones that had gotten in were definitely dead. It seemed that when the crystal had become mist and let me through, it solidified a few seconds later, cutting the creatures passing through into bits.

  I shone the light against the crystal and saw movement on the other side. Faint screaming accompanied the creatures as they fled the light. Pleased to have found another weapon that worked against the nasty things, I turned back to the two I’d killed. The first looked as though my blade had gone into its chest between its collarbones. Its own attempts to get at me, combined with my shoving, cut deeply into its chest until it died. The second one, well… I’d really gone to town on it in my fury and terror. The entire room was covered in splatters of blood from my blind attacks, slashing and stabbing. The body was a mess as well, with multiple bones shattered. The head was crushed in on one side, and dozens of other breaks and lacerations were clearly vi
sible.

  As I slowly moved the torch over it, I noticed that the skin was starting to bubble and decay from its caress. Whatever these things were, they must really hate the light!

  I searched the rest of the room again, making sure I was alone, then I turned to examine the room itself. The walls were covered in beaten gold and silver, with patterns inscribed along every surface that depicted animals, men, women, Elves, Dwarves, snake men, centaurs, and a dozen other creatures I couldn’t identify. They were all standing together in a forest glade, with each figure cast in precious gems and metals. Above the trees flew an enormous red dragon. Each scale shone brilliantly as I ran the light of the torch over it in awe. The entire mural was beautiful, and in the center stood a man and a woman. They held their hands out in friendship to the other races around them, but they were also heavily armed. I knew immediately this was both an offer and a threat. ‘We can be friends’ it said, but it also warned against fighting the people in the middle. I liked it.

  Looking at the next mural I found it was a map, it was covered in symbols I couldn’t decipher, but there were a few words I could make out, about a third of the way down from the top of the tower was a floor outlined in gold, with the word ‘Memorias’ written across it. Thinking about it, that might be the Hall of Memories Sintara had mentioned, or it might just me a weirdly similar word. Fuck it, only way is down after all, I’d find out at some point I guessed.

  I took another look around the room, then pulled out some food and water and sated my immediate needs. When had finished, I settled down as far from the corpses as I could. I pulled out the Spellbooks, the skill memory stone, and the map.

  As dark as it was, I decided to use the Memory Stone first. It was a small, creamy white stone, almost like marble, but heavier. It was an inch wide and tall by six inches long, and as I held it, it warmed gently in my palm. After a second or two, a new prompt filled my vision.