by D. Levesque
“Good. I don’t want you coming in with us, so you will stay here.”
Trag hesitates. “Can I ask you something?” he blurts out suddenly.
“Sure?” I answer, wondering what kind of question would make him hesitate like that.
“You seem close to those Elves,” he says, but then holds up his hand as I start to glare at him. “Hear me out. I hated doing what I did here, but I did it for the money. To me, it didn’t matter if it was human, Elf, or whatever race you wanted to pick on Boromour. I did things for money. I have killed my share of every race. Pick one. But that wasn’t why I was asking you that. You truly do not find them repulsive as everyone else seems to.”
“You don’t?” I ask him.
He hesitates even more, but then he answers slowly, glancing quickly at Leeha and Bridget, who are looking at him inquisitively. “When I was younger, I had, shall we say, sex with an Elf. Consensual!” he cries out as Leeha’s countenance starts turning purple, likely thinking he meant rape.
“I was young and had gotten lost and found a Homestead. I didn’t grow up in the Cities. So, what the City folk seemed to feel for the monster races, I didn’t feel as much. And also, I was drunk. Actually, we were all drunk. At this party, the girl I had met was drinking with me. One thing led to another, and I ended up waking up next to this beautiful Elf girl. Yes,” he retorts quickly, as if expecting us to call him out on it. I look at my two girls, and I’m not about to correct him. “I found her beautiful. It wasn’t until I was around other humans from the Cities more often that I found other races were to be treated with disgust and as I was around other humans, I followed suit. But that wasn’t my question,” he says, shaking his head.
“Do you really think that what you are doing, as a human, will be well received by the rest of Boromour?”
“You forget Trag, you are not the only race in this world,” I tell him, putting a hand on Leeha, who was about to reply hotly. “You share a world. You seem to think that humans are the dominant race. You might be right for now. But do you think if all of these monster races, as you called them, banded together and fought, that humans would survive?”
“They don’t have leadership,” he says with a grunt.
“Yet,” I tell him with a shit-eating grin. “I was sent by my God to unite the races. And something tells me it can be with the humans or without. Which do you think would survive a full-scale war?”
“Fucking Hell,” he says, with dread in his tone.
But I think he gets it now. I mean, I know God didn’t come out and tell me that was what he wanted, but it seems to all be heading towards that end goal. Otherwise, why make me so powerful? Also, putting me away from the humans, meet an Elf, and then falling for her. I might not have talked to some of the other races yet, but the Rabinis and the Felinis I saw had looked like beautiful people as well, and I’m looking forward to meeting them.
“Now, I can’t have you coming with us, so you will need to stay here,” I tell him.
“I understand,” he says, not arguing, and even readily agreeing.
What has come over him? Leeha must have the same thought, as she is looking at him oddly.
“Shall we?” I say to Leeha and Bridget, heading towards the entrance that Trag had pointed out to us.
Chapter Four
Once we get inside the small cave, all I hear is dripping water. I had sent Bridget in first, invisible, to scout, and according to her there was nothing inside the cave’s entrance. Although I use that word loosely. The entrance was so tight that we had to squeeze ourselves in. Especially Leeha, with her ample chest. She glared at me when I chuckled at her.
I can barely see, but bringing up a light source would not be a good idea right now. I walk forward and trip over a rock, and an arm grabs me.
“You can’t see?” Leeha asks me in concern.
“Blind as a bat,” I tell her with an embarrassed smile. “Wait, you can see well enough to see me fall and grab me?”
“I’m an Elf. We can see in the dark,” she laughs quietly.
“Shit. And I guess humans here on Boromour can’t?” I ask.
“Nope,” she says with a chuckle. “Blind as a bat, as you so eloquently said.”
Once I am standing straight again, thanks to Leeha, I say, “Bridget?”
“Here,” she says from my right, as Leeha was on my left when she caught me.
“Any clue what I can do to see in the dark without a huge light illuminating my way?”
“I am not sure,” she says. “I mean, your second Chakra, The Third Eye, can see Magic in the air, but I doubt that would help,” she says, and I can hear the shrug in her tone.
“Or maybe it will,” I say with a grin.
“How so?” she asks, perplexed.
“Well, let me see if this works first. Can you stay behind me? I don’t need a blinding headache from looking at you,” I tell her with a chuckle.
I think about opening my Third Eye, my second Chakra.
Do you wish to turn on your Third Eye?
With some trepidation, I think, yes. Suddenly, in front of me are clouds of energy. They are all different colors, but predominantly lots of blue and green. Which makes sense since we are in a cave near water, and this place is damp as Hell. But more importantly, what I had figured would happen, has. I can see, thanks to those clouds of Magical power floating all over the place. They are somehow lighting up the area for me to see.
I mean, it’s not like seeing in broad daylight, but it’s enough that I won’t trip over every rock we come across. I turn to my left slowly, and I see the bright outline of a very female body. It’s entirely blue, and while it’s bright, unlike the first time I saw her this way, Leeha’s water Magic isn’t blinding me.
“This might work,” I say, turning to Bridget, but then my head explodes in pain. “Shit! Guess I haven’t gotten used to your brightness.”
“That’s fine,” Bridget says with a giggle. “What if you call me up to use one Magic?”
“What do you mean?” I ask her with my eyes still closed. I pinch the bridge of my nose, trying to reduce the pain, and slowly, thank God, it eases. Leeha is rubbing my back sympathetically. “You think seeing your body as one Magic that I call up will help?”
“Yes,” she says.
“Let’s try that then,” I say, and I try to think of what power I would need instantly in here to fight. Unfortunately, I can’t think of one since I have no clue what I will be battling in here. I decide I want to be quiet, so I go with Wind.
“Now, try looking at me,” Bridget says.
I turn to her with my eyes closed, and then I slowly open them. Thankfully, I’m not blinded by a kaleidoscope of colors as I was before, but that is because now, she only has the color of Wind inside her, which is white.
“Damn, that worked!” I tell her with a grin.
“Yay!” she says, her white outlined body hugging me.
It’s odd, though. Looking at her, I can only see the outline of her body and the white Wind Magic inside her, but when I glance at Leeha, superimposed over her Blue Magic outlined body, I can see her Elven self.
“What?” Leeha asks me, as I am looking at her oddly.
So I explain what I am seeing when I look at her and when I look at Bridget. By the time I am done, Leeha is nodding.
“Makes sense, since she doesn’t have a real Elven body. Don’t worry,” Leeha tells Bridget with a laugh, “You still have an amazing body.”
“She was pouting, wasn’t she?” I ask with a chuckle.
“Pretty much,” Leeha says as she walks over and hugs Bridget, who is still hugging me. “But to me, she is still sexy as fuck.”
“I have to agree,” I say, bending down and kissing Leeha, and then Bridget, putting my lips where I think hers are, and getting it right. “This is annoying. Let me try something,” I tell them.
Sitting down, I close my eyes and focus on my Third Eye. If I can see by the light of the magic, can I focus it m
ore? Right now, it seems like it’s just diffusing the light so I can see. What if I try to focus it so that instead of just seeing by the light of the magic, I can also see things in better detail?
Nodding to myself, I slowly try to think of that. I open my eyes, and the area is still aglow with magic, and looking up at Bridget, all I see is her magic inside her body. Leeha, I can still see her Elven features. So, I somehow force my vision to see past that image of the magic of Bridget’s. Suddenly I feel almost like something gets uncovered from my eyes, like pulling something off of my eyes. Then, looking up at Bridget, I can now see her features better, including the ones for Leeha. The magic inside their bodies seems more muted as well.
“Yes! It worked. I can see better now. I can see your features much clearer,” I tell the girls with a grin.
“Nice!” Leeha says with a smile.
“Yah!” Bridget shouts happily.
“But right now, we have a mission.”
“Right,” Leeha says, nodding. “You can see now?”
“Yes. The clouds of Magical energy are making it so they reflect off the surface of everything, and I can see with that. And now that I somehow changed how I am seeing, I can see much better, even.”
“Damn, that would be handy in places even we Elves cannot see.”
“Like where?”
“Deep underground. Right now I can see because of the entrance. The light coming in from there gives me enough light to see, and I can also see a light up ahead. That way,” she says, pointing further into the cave.
I look, and I don’t see it. So I guess I do have limits. I can see things because of the Magic energy’s light, but that’s it.
I look around, and unexpectedly I see something I didn’t anticipate would be there this soon. Deeper in, I see a light source, and it’s large, as if I am looking at Leeha, but red. I grab the girls and bring them down closer to the ground.
“I think I just saw a Fire Mage over there,” I whisper, letting go of Leeha and pointing deeper into the cave.”
“Are you sure?” Leeha asks.
“Yeah. I only noticed they were there because of the bright red light that is flowing around the rock stone they are hiding behind,” I whisper.
“Think they heard us?” Bridget whispers.
“Maybe,” Leeha says, looking up and around. “The acoustics would be good in here. I would say they are waiting for us to come out so they can blast us. I don’t think they’ve left, or I would have seen them run to get help.”
“What should we do?” I ask.
Leeha turns to me, and I can see the big grin on her face. “Leave it to me. This is what I did for a living, remember? They won’t even see me or hear me coming. Point out that rock again,” she says.
So I try to explain as best as I can which rock I am talking about. It takes a couple of minutes, but once she is able to explain to me herself the rock I mean and I know it’s the right one, she nods.
“Stay here,” she says. And then she is gone. I mean, I can see her, but barely. Damn, is that an Elven thing too? To be able to disappear somehow? I will have to ask her if Elves have a racial ability to hide. The same way they can create that Elven bread of theirs. Though, that might be something different.
As I am staring at the spot where the rock is, I notice right away when the action starts. First there is a flash, then a streak of red across the way, and then slightly to the left of where that red streak hit, I see two blue streaks fly across the air. Next I hear a cry of pain, and then quiet. I am straining to see what is going on, but I can’t since the distance is too far away. And I also can’t hear anything anymore. All I can hear is the dripping of water hitting the rocks below from the cave’s ceiling.
“Done,” Leeha’s voice says suddenly from next to me, making me jump a good two feet into the air.
“Shit!” I say, almost shouting it.
“What did you do?” I ask her. “I saw a Fire spell shoot across the distance.”
“Yes. I threw a pebble at that location, and the Mage took the bait and shot a Fire Arrow. I returned the favor and shot a Water Arrow into her chest, and while she was looking down, I created a Water Blade and cut her head off.”
I stare at her without saying anything, but internally I am thinking, holy Hell, she is good at her job. No wonder she was an assassin.
“What?” she asks me worriedly as I continue to stare.
“I am just thinking I am so glad you’re mine, and that we are on the same side,” I tell her with a smile.
“I am glad you are mine as well,” she says with a big grin.
“Shall we head deeper in? Now we know I will be able to see a Mage, but if there is a soldier or Archer out there, I won’t see them,” I tell her, gesturing deeper into the cave system.
“Then we’d better be quiet,” Leeha says, nodding. “You can see in the dark now, so just let me go first. The good thing is Bridget in her current form, Wind I assume, can’t be seen. If she was in her Fire form, it would be like lighting a bonfire.”
“Yeah. You’re right, she is in Wind form, so I will keep her in that,” I tell her.
With that, Leeha takes the lead, and as quietly as I can, I follow her, using the light from the Magical Energy to see by. What is odd is when I walk through a cloud of Magical energy, I feel a tingling on my skin. Like the little red cloud I went through; it felt warm. When I went through that blue cloud, I felt droplets on my face. The white felt like a breeze hitting my face, and the Earth one was the oddest. It smelled like cut grass.
As we head deeper in, now and then Leeha holds up her hand to stop us. I can barely hear Bridget. I have to look twice to make sure she is behind me, and each time she is. It makes sense since she isn’t really ‘alive’, so she cannot leave a trace on the ground or make a sound. She is in her wind form, and a couple of times I catch her floating above the cave floor slightly. The second time I catch her doing that, she just waves at me, and even though I cannot see her face on the white-colored contoured body, I know she is grinning at me.
“Halt and identify yourself,” says a male voice in the distance. Shit, no Magical outline, so it’s not a Mage.
Deciding to bullshit my way out, I shout, “Trag and Lar send me. I have a message about that Elven Village we were sent to get the slaves from.”
“Crap,” says the voice. “Did they fuck it up that bad? Come on forward. Are you alone?”
“Yes,” I say, motioning to Leeha to hide. “Bridget, can you hide and go see how many there are?”
“I can,” she says.
“Where are Lar and Trag?” the voice asks me suspiciously.
“They ran into a problem with other,” shit what were they called? Right, “slavers. Our group ran into them, and Lar and Trag were able to help us. But some of us died, so they stayed to help move the slaves here. I was sent by them to get the message to you quickly.”
“Good idea. Did Glenda let you through?” he asks me.
“Yes. The one in the red robe? I didn’t know her name. I explained the same thing to her, and she sent me ahead.”
“That bitch. She should have come with you. She probably wants me to take you out of here and leave my post. Come on, let’s go see Brakan. He will wish to know about this. She probably didn’t want to stand in front of Brakan. The man scares her,” the voice says with a chuckle.
“He is alone. Archer,” Bridget says.
“Thank you,” I tell her. Once I am closer to the archer, he stands up with his arrow aimed at me.
“What do Trag and Lar look like?” he asks me, his aim not wavering.
I tell him that I know Trag better, and I explain what he looks like. For Lar, I say I never worked with him and barely saw him before we were attacked by the slavers. At the description of Trag, he visibly relaxes.
“Good. How did you know about this entrance?”
“Trag said he knew about it and that this news needed to get to Brakan fast, so he told me about it,” I bullshit to
him.
He stares at me for a good thirty seconds, making me nervous. Then he nods and brings his bow down. While he is distracted, and there are no weapons aimed at me, I think, Wind Arrow, and shoot it at faster than he can react. The arrow enters his throat and he goes down gurgling with both hands around his throat, his bow and arrow dropping to the ground.
You have used the spell Wind Arrow. You have used 10 points of power.
I look at Leeha and Bridget. “Two down, no clue how many more to go. At least with the fire mage gone, that means only, what? 18 Mages left?” I say with a smile.
“You’re enjoying yourself, aren’t you?” Leeha says with a small laugh.
“What?” I say, surprised.
“You just killed a man, and instead of being sickened by it, you are laughing.”
I look down at the now dead man on the ground, and I think about what she said. I don’t believe I would typically think of taking a life as funny, but now that I think about it? I am enjoying myself. Not the killing part, but the rest of it. The adventuring part. Working towards a cause. Because this is a cause. My motivation right now is to save all those slaves from this Brakan. And honestly, I want nothing more than to be a Hero and to save them. So I guess I am enjoying this.
I nod to her and say with a smile. “I guess I am.”
Chapter Five
“This way,” Leeha whispers.
This cave system is more complicated than I had expected it to be. There are rooms and tunnels off of various hallways. It’s like a damn dungeon dive! I feel like a spelunker. I had assumed that we would go in and it would be maybe a small cave of ten or fifteen feet, not this enormous cave system. The small hill didn’t look that big!
We haven’t encountered anyone else yet. I am hoping that the mage and the archer are the only two in here. But with a cave system this huge, I’m not optimistic.
“How big is this place!” I exclaim softly.
“Yeah, something about this isn’t right,” Leeha says, nodding her head. “It’s not natural.”
“So it’s not just me then? The hill didn’t look that big to get through. I figured maximum twenty feet.”
