The Guild Core: The Complete Saga Boxset: A LitRPG Dungeon Adventure

by TJ Reynolds

  He wanted to tell Rhona about his Accolade, and he needed to tell her about Abyssal Apocalypse, the spell that might well be the only way disaster could be prevented.

  Instead, Kai stepped closer to Rhona and took her hand in his. “Rhona, there’s something I must tell you,” he said in a whisper.

  Her eyebrows lifted slightly, but she didn’t speak.

  “I don’t have the tongue of a poet. I don’t know how to tell you how lovely you look to me, or how much you make my heart ache each time I see your bright smile.”

  Rhona pressed her free hand to her mouth. “Oh, Kai…”

  He gripped her hand tighter and smiled, falling as he always did into the dizzying depths of her green eyes. “But I can say that I love you, Rhona Bloodspar. And if you’ll have me, I will be your man.”

  The woman he’d admired for so many months smiled, and her eyes grew heavy with tears. She nodded as one spilled down her cheek. “I’d love that more than anything.”

  Kai’s face spread in a wide grin, and the two laughed at their own predicament. When their nerves had settled, and only the fountains had the courage to speak, Kai ran the back of his fingers across her cheek.

  Then he stooped and kissed her.

  His soul crackled with the kind of fire that only love could bring. They embraced in the half dark, both strangers to this palace in the heart of Hintar.

  And for the first time in his life, Kai felt the fleeting embrace of true happiness.

  28

  All Things Golden, and What Comes After

  Rhona

  Kai’s lips burned against Rhona’s for a fleeting eternity.

  Her heart hammered away, not for an instant caring for her dignity. She was only grateful that Kai couldn’t hear it.

  After a time, they parted.

  Rhona wanted nothing more than to repeat the embrace a thousand times over, and not for the first time since arriving in Arba did she long for the privacy she’d grown used to back at the Sunken Keep.

  As it was, however, she and Kai were forced to keep things sweet and simple.

  And maybe that was for the best.

  Smiling, she wove her arms around Kai’s neck and kissed him again, speaking to him in her mind as she did so. Did you have to wait so damn long?

  He laughed and brushed a lock of her hair away from her forehead. You kidding? When we first met, you would have killed me had I tried.

  “True enough,” she said aloud. “Come and walk with me, dragon boy.”

  The two made their way, ever so slowly, through a series of gardens. Their progress was inhibited a few times. Rhona didn’t mind.

  It wasn’t really her party, after all.

  They did return, though.

  Kai led her back by the arm, and they came in to find the dance still in full swing. Ban had somehow mastered the art of dancing. His movements, though stiff and a little mechanical, were perfectly rhythmic.

  Tirale was the very image of beauty as she spun about with him.

  It was strange to think that the graceful elf was an Earth Core champion. Ban committed more social blunders than a drunken youth, but Tirale’s elven form had been negotiating human life for decades or more.

  Rhona nudged Kai and gestured to the couple. “I think Ban might have fallen in love.”

  “Good,” Kai said. “He deserves it.”

  A half-hour after Kai and Rhona sat back down, the musicians quieted. A servant blew a trumpet, and the Surtirs were summoned.

  Gael and Ganna stood before the gathered crowd and made a short speech.

  Ganna spoke first. “Thank you all for gathering here with us. Though my brother and I are new to Arba, we’ve studied your names and customs from afar.”

  A stray snigger in the crowd caught Rhona’s ear.

  Not all present, apparently, were happy the Surtirs had taken over once more.

  With a tight smile, Ganna continued. “This is our home now, as it always should have been. Some of you may resent that.”

  Ganna glanced around the room, her face suddenly severe and commanding. “I can assure you, we have been tempted by resentment in the past. For who wishes to grow up knowing your parents—along with most of your cousins, uncles, aunts, and acquaintances—have been murdered?”

  The crowd grew still and silent.

  Fiery Yugos, Rhona thought. This woman is much more than sweet smiles. She’s a shivving queen in the making.

  Gael picked up where his sister left off. “We can assure you that, with the guidance of the council, Arba will once again become a beacon of hope in Hintar.”

  He held up his hands and clapped boldly.

  The crowd followed suit.

  “Our success, and indeed our very survival,” Gael continued, “could not have been achieved without the help of a great many people. I thank first Lord Pondu Heathglen for risking everything to raise us in safety.

  “Though he is now passed, his legacy will not soon be forgotten.”

  Another round of applause filled the room.

  Reclaiming the grace with which she’d started, Ganna finished the speech, turning the subject in a most surprising direction. “We owe much also to Kaius Unterinan, the Fundamental Dragon, and his Earth Core Bancroft. Not only have you restored the Sunken Keep, but you’ve raised four fine dragons, all of which are now strong enough to knock down an army on their own!”

  Several in the crowd paled at the mention of the returned dragons.

  Gael’s grin broadened as he bulled forward. “We are eternally grateful for the support Kai, Ban, and Rhona gave us in reclaiming our rightful seat of power. For this, we would like to show our gratitude.”

  The young lord snapped his fingers, and two servants scurried out before him, a large chest carried between them.

  They set the chest down and opened the lid.

  It was Rhona’s turn to be shocked.

  “This is not a gift,” Ganna said as she stared at Kai, who sat dumbfounded at Rhona’s elbow. “This is a responsibility. We wish you to repeat what you have done already. Raise up the next generation of hatchlings, and show them the wisdom you have inherited.”

  Cushioned with piles of white silk, a bounty of dragon eggs sat gleaming in the torchlight of the banquet hall.

  There were dozens in all, every color and texture Rhona could imagine.

  Kai stood up and thanked the Surtirs formally, but Rhona could see the shock written plainly on his features. That, and… something else.

  Behind the fear and obligation, Rhona saw a bright and unbridled hope surging in Kai’s heart.

  She felt the same.

  As the crowd found their feet and cheered the occasion, Rhona rose with them, clapping and grinning like a little girl from Brintosh.

  The night had left them all exhausted, and shortly after the dragon eggs were presented, the banquet ended.

  Rhona slept well until, just before first light, she woke from a dream. She’d imagined herself back in the palace garden again, Kai in her arms, the two of them spending a great deal more time kissing.

  With no chance of falling back asleep, Rhona woke and gave herself a cold bath.

  After her… passions were subdued, she took the opportunity to meditate.

  As the first rays of the sun pierced the sky, Rhona fell deep into herself. With much greater ease than she’d experienced recently, she called up the techniques Palben had taught her long ago.

  And there it was.

  The clarity of Crystal Mind, the protection and security of Iron, and, finally, Gold Mind’s utter and complete surrender.

  All three techniques combined, Rhona finished assembling her altar and burned the incense of her Mandala. The resulting tumult of emotions shook her core again with the same intensity that it had the first time.

  The life she saw herself living had been fundamentally changed, however.

  In all of her imagined experiences, Rhona walked beside Kai, hand in hand.

  She pictured them tending
to the dragon eggs as they warmed above Ban’s heart. The two would walk the grand halls of his father’s dungeon, but it would of course be transformed.

  Ban would inevitably improve on what had once been something glorious.

  What inventions, what designs and sculptures the crafty Earth Core would make, she could only guess and look forward to seeing someday soon.

  In the Halls of the Pristine Mind, Rhona breathed in the promises of a lived experience. She remembered exactly how glorious and wild it was to be a living thing. And she refused to let a single moment pass her by without notice.

  Rhona sat in the shaft of morning sun angling through her room in the palace.

  A faint smile rested on her face easily.

  For the first time since Jakodi’s ascension, Rhona felt no sense of loss. He hadn’t died a tragic or early death. The old master had achieved what few, if any, in history had done before.

  He’d ascended to the godhead directly.

  Suddenly, her skin tingled, and a flush of goosebumps ran up and down her arms and shoulders.

  A presence, so familiar, stood directly behind her.

  Jakodi did not speak to her, and she didn’t bother glancing back or opening her eyes. He was not there in the flesh, after all.

  Rhona grinned, and a few happy tears streaked down her rosy cheeks.

  The immovable pride a master has in a striving pupil filled her bones with a sense of reassurance she’d never experience before.

  When the presence faded sometime later, Rhona opened her eyes and spoke a few gentle words. “I’ll see you again, Jakodi.”

  She stood and moved to the windowsill.

  Her room had a lovely view. It overlooked the terrace where she and Kai had kissed last night. And it overlooked the palace gates, as ornate and appealing as they were stalwart.

  Rhona squinted to see the sprawling city that fell away beyond the gates.

  Arba couldn’t rival Creshon’s dense and chaotic grandeur, but it was still the third-largest city in Anvar. She longed to head out and explore its winding streets, taste its local foods, and meet its people.

  Her daydreams faltered when she noticed a strange warping of the air just beyond the front gates.

  She rubbed her face, unsure if she simply needed to head out and refresh herself with some tea. But when she looked again, the distortion had clarified somewhat.

  Painted in the metallic silver of Sheerda’s Fate ether was a vision of what was to come. A great rift shattered the grassy plain that separated the palace from the city proper.

  It stretched for a mile, and at its center, the rift was wide enough to allow hundreds of monsters to crawl up out of the abyss.

  With twisted and variegated forms, the abyss creatures rose until the field was a blur of silver phantoms. Rhona could sense the hatred pouring from them, polluting the air like clouds of foul smoke.

  Then the vision vanished.

  She was left sweating, heart pounding like a hammer.

  Rhona glanced about her room to find some hint of the goddess who’d granted the vision.

  But she was alone.

  Soon, it will be soon, Rhona told herself, conviction burning in her veins. I have to warn everyone!

  Rhona pulled on her boots and burst out into the hall.

  A nearby servant was startled by her sudden appearance. “Miss… is everything alright?”

  “Fetch Gael and Ganna! Tell them the palace is under attack!”

  “Under a—” the servant began, but words failed the old man entirely.

  Before he could finish, she pointed a finger down the hall. “Go now if you value your Lord and Lady’s lives!”

  Sprinting down to Kai’s room, she pounded on the door. The sound of footsteps followed, and Kai emerged, fully dressed.

  His smile faded when he saw her face. “What is it?”

  “I’ve had a vision! They’re coming! I don’t know when, but they will rise from the ground just outside the palace gates!”

  The olive hues of his face paled. “Who is coming?” he asked in a voice filled with icy dread.

  “The abyss monsters, Kai! Come, we have to rouse the army! They’re coming for us all!”

  29

  Luminous

  Kai

  The palace erupted in turmoil shortly after Rhona’s revelation.

  Gael and Ganna took Rhona at her word, and the garrison was mustered immediately. Then riders were sent to the barracks. Every soldier was recalled to duty, most of which had been placed on leave after returning from the Battle of the Sunken Keep.

  The Surtirs had forgiven all who’d simply followed the orders of the nobles behind the invasion. Their leaders, of the rank captain and up, however, were either executed or permanently relieved of duty.

  By the time the noonday sun was leaning into the afternoon, the palace walls were loaded with soldiers and a standing army of a thousand men stood behind the gate, ready for anything.

  Five hundred cavalry rested outside of the gates on the northern side of the grassy field. They would be called on for flanking maneuvers should Rhona’s vision prove accurate.

  Kai was in dragon form, perched atop the palace itself.

  The building had long ago been designed to house and accommodate dragons. Dozens of roosts jutted out from the palace’s many towers.

  Atros sat beside him, their eyes fixed to the field where the rift was supposed to form. Rhona claims to be Sheerda’s champion? Atros asked suddenly.

  Kai glanced over and saw the dragon’s intense gaze. Yes, she does… and I believe her.

  I do as well, Kai. I see only two outcomes here. The first is that your friend has seen the truth of it, and soon we will be battling forces beyond our comprehension. The second is that her mind has been deceived, either by fear or madness.

  Kai bristled, lifting his head up and baring his fangs.

  Atros didn’t react. Calm yourself, Kai. I simply speak the possibilities. Rhona seems to me to be of sound mind and conscience, and brave as well.

  She is all of those things, Kai responded. And she deserves our trust.

  He released a frustrated breath and tried to relax.

  They were all weary from the tense strain of waiting for the impossible to occur.

  Perhaps trying to amend the mood, Atros gestured to the young dragons perched below them. You’ve done well in training these. I am surprised, honestly. You grew up without a dragon mentor, and yet you learned to fly yourself and then pushed the hatchlings to grow along with you. That is a tremendous accomplishment.

  Thank you. There’s so much I do not know, but our little group will at least be able to make a good showing. I’ve only fought two abyss monsters, Atros. They were incredibly powerful. The first I ended on my own, but the second would have killed me had I not had the dragons to support me. What fighting an army of the beasts will be like…

  Atros took up the conversation where Kai had left off. You won’t be alone now, either. We will do what we can.

  And so the wait continued. Kai thought of Rhona and their brief moment the night before. The feeling of her soft lips and the warmth of her hand in his, regardless of what happened this day, would always remain with him.

  His musing halted when a faint vibration shook his roost.

  He looked over at Atros and found the dragon hadn’t shifted at all. In fact, it seemed he hadn’t felt it at all.

  Seconds later, an undeniable shudder rocked the entire palace.

  Kai lifted up his head and stared at the grassy field. Long moments passed, and then the field tore open precisely where Rhona had indicated.

  They are here! Kai shouted in his mind to the other dragons. Prepare yourselves!

  The chasm that opened in the ground released a dense cloud of Abyss ether. It poured out endlessly, blackening the sky before the gates.

  Wider and wider, the torn earth yawned open.

  After the quaking stilled, Kai leaned forward on his perch, waiting.

&nbs
p; Then the first clawed foot emerged. As with the other Gil’Rahim Kai had seen, it was massive. Horns and obsidian eyes followed.

  The first monster looked like a bull with six horns. It had three tails that lashed the sky and a mouth full of jagged teeth. It craned back its head and roared as dozens of other bulky forms rose up from the depths.

  In moments, the field was covered in Gil’Rahim. Their sizes and shapes ranged dramatically.

  Atros flew in the sky, leading the young dragons to battle.

  Kai soared behind them. One by one, Kai cast Bright Barkskin on the dragons. The transformed spell no longer used Earth ether as it had when it was called Barbed Barkskin. Its effects had changed as well.

  Now, the spell granted additional attack power and spell power in addition to its modest protection and speed increase. The wounding effect it applied to attacking enemies had been removed, however.

  In the hours leading up to the attack, Kai had experimented with his spells, finding each changed and improved.

  When all of the dragons were protected by Bright Barkskin but Freya, Kai started to cast Golem’s Fervor on the green dragon. Her body was coated with thick plates of Lumen armor. Like Golem’s Favor, this spell absorbed all incoming damage, but now it included minor spell reflection.

  With his buffs in place, Kai called on Hazel to target the group with Blessed Breeze, and Atros added a buff of his own a moment later.

  Calamity Aura increased all forms of attack damage, which would hopefully help in the battle to come.

  Kai shouted to the dragons before him, initiating the first aspect of their plan. Move ahead! Make a pass over the southern portion of the field. Follow Atros closely!

  He watched the young dragons fly in a tight knot, keeping close to Atros. His protective instincts screamed inside, but this was what the dragons had been born for.

  It was their duty, along with his, to deny the Gil’Rahim.

  Kai flew to the front gate and began casting Infinite Inferno.

  While charging the two-minute spell, Kai watched in horror as the monsters continued to come up from the abyss. Dozens had turned into hundreds, and the beasts were still coming.