by D. Levesque
“What?” she asks me, tilting her head.
“You have someone from Earth with you who just so happens to have played games that were full of this stuff that we are now seeing, so I understand some of it.”
“You had this in your world?” Bridget pipes up, still standing in Leeha’s arms.
I can’t blame her. When I’m hugging that fantastic body, I don’t want to let go either. The two girls are standing chest to chest, which is a lovely view from here.
“I didn’t have it in my head or in my vision like I do now. It’s hard to explain, but trust me, it’s something I know a bit about. With that Cave Rat we just killed, the only thing that is different is we didn’t get what we would call experience for killing it, which would help us increase in what we would call levels.”
“Hmm, I’ll have to trust you in this, Alex, as I am not sure what you mean,” Leeha says hesitantly.
“It’s all right,” I tell her with a smile. “I don’t think there is a leveling system here anyhow. Though, knowing how strong something is can come in handy.”
“Yes, it can,” Leeha says, nodding her head vigorously. “And knowing how much damage our spells can do is even better. Do you think that the use of, say, the Water Sword or Water Spear would be different in damage?”
“I’m not sure. I mean, the bullets did five hitpoints more than the arrows in damage,” I tell her with a shrug.
“I shall admit, learning how to call up two arrows or other weapons at once is powerful, but the idea of you being able to do six is astounding! I need to increase my power, Alex,” she says, leaving the arms of Bridget and coming to stand in front of me, close enough so that she’s touching my chest, with her ample one pushing against mine. “You need to help me increase my skills!”
“I think we can accommodate that,” I tell her with a grin. I bend down and kiss her.
Just in time I finish the kiss, as we both hear a sound. The three of us turn, and about 30 feet to the left of the tunnel exit, is another Cave Rat. I focus on it, and over its head is the same thing I saw on the first one. I am surprised I heard it as the first one was so damn quiet.
Cave Rat
I grin down at Leeha, who is grinning at me as well. “Shall we hunt?” she asks before I can say anything.
“Let’s rock-and-roll,” I tell her. At her confused look, I chuckle and say, “Yes. Let us hunt!”
Chapter Seven
“Over here,” cries Bridget gleefully.
Both Leeha and I rush over to see what she found, and looking down, I can’t help but cry in pleasure. Water. We had been hunting for water for what felt like half a day. Killing Cave Rats and something else called Cave Bats. The first time we encountered one of those, one had come down from the ceiling and threw Bridget to the ground, trying to bite her neck. Thank God she wasn’t made of blood, bones, and skin, or she would have been fatally injured.
Instead, she reached up and punched it in the head, causing it to get stunned. Which was a neat effect, once we knew she could do that. We used what we could. We had Bridget be the lead instead of us as we continued, and whenever a Cave Bat came out of nowhere and attacked her, she let it take her down. These things were the size of a deer, and once she was down with one and it was trying to bite her, she would punch it and daze it.
That is when Leeha and I would shoot it with Magical arrows. We used Arrows since it conserved Leeha’s power. I usually supplied the finishing touch by shooting the Cave Bat with six Water Bullets. We learned our lesson fast after using Fire Arrows and discovering the Cave Bats smelled even worse burned up. The smell had actually caused me to throw up. Yeah, that bad.
But we had been at it for hours, and well, we didn’t have the supplies we needed. When we were above ground we could get water to drink and plants and such to eat, but down here we couldn’t find even a little stream of water. Finally, I had to get Bridget to turn into a Water Elemental and see if she could find us a pool or something to drink. What she had led us to was a small pool of water.
The only problem is it’s dark, so I can’t tell if it’s clear and clean, even with all the Magical clouds around me. They help me to see, but it’s not like being able to see clearly, more like there’s multicolored fog all around you, so that the shadows you see are all colored differently. It took some getting used to. When we take a break sometimes, I have to turn it off. The Third Eye, I mean. It gets to be a strain. I don’t think the brain was meant to see this way.
“Is it clean? I can’t see,” I ask her.
“The top layer isn’t, but I thought maybe you could use one of those Magical commands to bring the clean water up or to clean the top layer?” Bridget says worriedly.
“Hmm,” I say, thinking it through. “So the top layer is dirty?”
“Yes, with sediment and dirt and well, Cave Bat shit, I am sure,” she says.
“Yeah, if I remember correctly from reading on Earth, bat shit, in general, is not good for you. So I would rather dig deeper. Let me try this.”
Earth. Create a pedestal of stone in the water that is four feet high and starts roughly two feet below the surface, with a column inside that brings clean water to the top. And add a bowl at the top of this pedestal with a lid.
You have used a Complex Spell command. You have used 10,000 points of power.
Shit! And just as I think that, as has happened before, I get a blinding headache that brings me to a knee. Next to me Bridget has turned into her Earth Elemental. She is brown and covered in leaves, dirt, and grass. Her eyes are acorns, and her hair is fine green vines.
She places her hand on the ground and slowly brings it up, and as her hand comes up, a round disk of rock rises from the ground. All this I see peripherally as I am still down on my knee. Leeha is beside me with her hand on my shoulder. She had come to me as soon as it happened, calling my name in worry.
“I’m good,” I say for both of them, as I can feel through our connection that Bridget is also worried. “I ended up doing a complex spell command, and it took a shitload of power. I figured it would just be a regular spell command, but nope. Guess that is the price to pay for it. I hope there isn’t anything higher than complex,” I tell them with a nervous chuckle.
Is there something higher than complex? What kind of spell would that be? I mean, are there actual levels of spells? A standard spell is something like a Fire Arrow, using ten points of power. A Spell Command uses 1,000 points. And then we have Complex Spells, which use 10,000 points. Does that mean there is one that uses 100,000? What the hell would that spell be? Calling up the fucking dead?
I sit back on my ass and lean against Leeha’s leg. I look up and say, “I’m OK, I think. The headache is easing off.”
Leeha bends down and kisses my forehead. “Be careful, Alex. You don’t want to burn yourself out.”
“I know,” I tell her with a grin.
I look back at Bridget, and I see that she is almost done with the four-foot-high pedestal made of stone. Her face has a look of focused concentration on it. Looking at the pedestal, I see it’s a round stone pedestal that rises out of the ground, with the bowl atop of larger. I would say the pedestal is about two feet wide, but the bowl is a good four feet, with what I can see is a large rock dome on top, with a handle that Bridget shaped after it came up.
Once she’s done, Bridget lifts her hand away from it, and changes back into her Elven form. I see is green energy. At least I am not blinded by seeing her anymore. And in the last couple of hours, I have been able to make out her Elven features through the light, but I need to focus on them. Odd, but beautiful.
“Done!” she exclaims, putting her hand out like she is a showman.
“Hmm, wasn’t it Alex who did that?” Leeha says to her, but she has a big grin on her face.
Bridget pouts, but then says “combined effort!”
Leeha laughs at her and steps away, and I almost fall over as I had been leaning against her leg still. Oops. She walks up to the pedestal
to look it over, and then grabs the rock lid and tries to lift it, letting out a grunt. She can lift it, but it takes effort.
“Why so heavy?” Leeha asks me.
“Well, I figured a rock lid would be ideal for keeping animals from getting into it and shitting in it, in case we need it again. Or if someone else comes down here.”
“Yes, but what if it’s some small waif of a maiden,” she says, batting her eyes at me.
I laugh and say, “So what would you suggest?”
“Make it lighter, and maybe add straps going underneath the bowl?” she offers.
“Well, straps will deteriorate in here. The cave is damp. Anything like cloth, leather, or rope would not last long,” I tell Leeha with a shrug.
“What about straps of copper?”
Since I am still on the ground, I look under the bowl, and it’s rounded like the dome.
“Nothing to hold it down. Though, thinking about it, you’re right. I just figured we would want to keep animals out. I guess if it’s too heavy, it would keep people out as well.” I get up and walk over to the pedestal and look it over. Then I grab the handle and lift it. It’s a heavy fucker, but since I am bigger than Leeha, I can still lift it. I look inside and see water.
Clean water! But before I drink, I need to figure this out. I put the lid back down and see that the top is on a lip. Then an idea pops into my head.
“Bridget, can you create something that is like a large pin so that the bowl can swing out sideways? The cover of the bowl would be above the floor, but I assume the thickness of the pedestal can handle the weight of the cover? I want to make it so that if someone wants water, they can just swing it open sideways, uncovering it. Then on the other end, make another pinhole but make it so this one is removable so we can lock it?
“Oh! I think I get what you want. Or the context of it!” she says excitedly.
“Right, the context,” I tell her with a chuckle.
One thing that Bridget has is a lot of context, but no actual experience. At times though, that context has come in handy. Let’s hope it works for this. Because trying to explain it with my hands might make no sense. The look on Leeha’s face confirms that for me. She looks perplexed, as if she is trying to figure out what I’m trying to do.
Bridget puts her hand back on the lid of the bowl and closes her eyes, turning into the Earth Elemental again. Slowly, on one side I see a piece of the rock begin to jut out of the lid and gradually take shape until it’s like a bolt of rock with a hole. Then, the same thing comes out of the bowl itself until there are two matching ones. Bridget then puts her hand on the pedestal and slowly pulls out what looks like a large bolt made of stone. Once it’s long enough she pulls it off, and it comes away with an audible snap of stone breaking.
She places it into the two bolt holes and it fits perfectly, with the top not going through because of the shaped bolt. Then she places her hand underneath the bottom of the bolt and pushes upward, and the rock bolt changes shape until it’s the same as the top bolt itself. Fucking Hell, that is neat.
“Now, for the other side, I will do the same,” Bridget says. “But I will make it longer, so it can be pulled out.” And she proceeds to do precisely that. Once it’s done, she steps back and changes back to her normal form.
“Try that!” she says proudly.
“Damn, that was better than I expected,” I tell her, walking up to her and kissing her as a reward.
I wave to Leeha to go ahead. “Waifs first,” I tell her, causing her to laugh. She slaps my ass as she goes by, making me grin.
Leeha looks at the new configuration and pulls the long pin out. She uses her hand to push the bowl’s lid, and just like that it swings sideways out over the floor, but thanks to the pin and bolt that can’t be taken out, it stays there.
“Wow, that is sweet. So when not in use, we just close it, and lock it with the pin?”
“Yep, to keep any animal shit or debris out of it,” I tell her.
“Alex, you might have to create these elsewhere! A Homestead would kill to have one of these!” Leeha says excitedly.
“Let’s get out of here first, and I will do one at your parent’s Homestead,” I tell her with a grin. “But first, can we please just drink! I am parched.”
“Me first!” Leeha screams, dunking both hands and bringing water to her mouth, before taking a tentative sip. Then her eyes widen.
“It tastes so clean!”
“Yes! Now move over. We can share,” I tell her with a laugh. “Come on Bridget, I know in your Elven form you need water as well, and you have been walking around as much as we have.”
“You don’t need to tell me twice!” she says, coming up next to me with her hip touching mine. I notice that it’s also touching Leeha’s. God, I am so glad they both get along.
Chapter Eight
The explosion of pain in my chest is excruciating. That, and the fact that I am suddenly leaning against a rock cropping over ten feet back from where I had been walking, makes me look around in a daze.
I try to catch my breath while I look over to see what the fuck just hit me. Did anyone get the license of that Mac truck? What I see makes my eyes widen. If I wasn’t already out of breath, I would be now. What I am looking at is a troll. Suddenly its info pops up over its head.
Cave Troll.
I try to yell, Troll! But the only thing that comes out of my lungs is, nothing. I am too busy wheezing. It also feels like I broke a rib or eight.
“Careful! Cave Troll!” shouts Leeha, shooting two Water Arrows at it. The troll bats one out of the way but then gets the second one in the eye, and it screams out in pain.
“Bridget, shoot Air Bullets at its eyes. Blind it at least,” I tell her, since I don’t need to use breathing to talk through our connection.
“Smart,” she says. “Are you OK?”
“Broken ribs, I think. Trying to catch my breath.”
“Alex says he might have broken ribs, and he is trying to catch his breath,” Bridget shouts to Leeha.
“Thank the Gods it’s not worse!” Leeha says, looking my way with worry in her eyes.
“Let’s take this thing down,” Bridget says, and there is anger in her voice.
“You go left, and I will go right,” Leeha responds.
“Alex said to blind it. Aim for the face. I will use Air Bullets,” Bridget shouts at her.
I watch the girls go at the Cave Troll, and I honestly feel pity for it. I try to get up again, but my ribs essentially tell me to fuck off and sit down. This is worse than the time I got pneumonia. I can barely breathe. The girls are taking shots at the Cave Troll.
“Shit, it’s healing itself, so it won’t stay blinded for long,” shouts Leeha in annoyance.
“Fire,” I tell Bridget.
“Why Fire?” she asks me.
“Maybe harder to heal from fire? Think I read somewhere that Trolls detest fire.”
“Oh!” she says. Then she shouts, “Alex says that he thinks trolls detest fire. Maybe it will be harder for it to heal.”
“Worth a shot at this point,” Leeha screams, just as the troll picks up a large rock and throws it at her, although with one good eye, its aim is off slightly. The rock explodes and I hear her grunt in pain as she gets hit by some of the fragments.
The Cave Troll cries out in pain again, and this time I see that it got hit by a Fire Bullet, right into the eye that it can still see out of. Then, just as the other eye heals up enough for it to open it, it gets a second Fire Bullet in that eye, causing it to go blind.
“Keep that up!” Leeha screams. “I will bring it down. You focus on its eyes!”
“All right!” Bridget shouts to her. I can see the troll trying to turn away not just from the Water Arrows that Leeha is shooting at it, which is bringing it down in hitpoints, I am sure, but also from the painful Fire Bullets that Bridget is aiming its way.
There is only one issue with that. Bridget is an Elemental. She essentially zips from one loca
tion to the other, always keeping its face in her view. I can tell that the Cave Troll is getting frustrated and angry. Between the Fire Bullets blinding it, and the sheer number of arrows that Leeha is shooting at it, I am sure it can’t keep up with its healing. Suddenly, with a final bellow of rage, it smashes its enormous hands on the ground, causing a cone of rock fragments to be aimed directly my way. Luckily, I figured out what was about to happen as its hands were coming down.
Earth, Earth Wall, I think quickly, and in a blink of an eye, a stone wall shoots out of the ground. It’s high enough to cover me since I am still down on the ground, leaning against the outcropping. I hear the rock chips hitting the other side of the wall and cracks start forming before the whole wall breaks into a million pieces. But it did its job at least, and none of the chips hit me. And I am just in time to see the death of the Cave Troll. It gets a stupid look on its face, and then it falls down sideways as if its strings have been cut.
You have killed a Cave Troll.
I lie back down, still finding it hard to breathe. Yep, I definitely broke some ribs. Suddenly Leeha and Bridget are next to me, before I can catch a proper breath.
“Where are you hurt?” Leeha asks, as she sits on her knees next to me.
“Ribs,” I breathe out in agony. “More than one.”
“Shit. Can you heal him?” Leeha asks Bridget quickly.
“Yes, I can…” she starts, but then her eyes widen in shock.
“What?” I breathe out.
“Something is wrong with your bones,” she says slowly.
“Know, broken,” I get out through the pain of talking and breathing at the same time.
“No, not that. I see the broken ribs, of which there are six of them. Your bones are doing something else,” Bridget says, sounding concerned.
“What do you mean his bones are doing something else,” Leeha asks her. Thank God, because the pain is getting to be too much to talk.
