Deserts Of Naroosh

by Bradford Bates

  Walking for hours in the tunnel provided him with a wealth of entertainment, but even Tim had limits for how long he could walk in a straight line without anything happening. Even his pants that encouraged him to have conversations with himself had run out of ideas to talk about. Shit was getting real.

  At least it felt like they were walking upward now. For a while, Tim thought Eternia tricked them into entering the Underworld to fight her sister.

  Of course, the Goddess would never do such a thing, but his mind played out every conceivable outcome whether he wanted it to or not. An overactive imagination had its drawbacks sometimes, but it came in handy when it counted.

  At least he liked to think so.

  Cassie turned her head to look at them. “I think I see stairs.”

  “I can confirm the presence of stairs,” Lorelei added as she pulled her bow free from her back.

  Tim felt his spirits rise instantly. This was their moment. One last boss and Khalid’s army would storm the palace. Eternia would bitch-slap her sister back to the Underworld, and they would have saved the day. Cheerleader not included. He didn’t know if it was the fighting, the partying after, or the fact they were making progress that got his blood pumping, but he was ready to sprint up those stairs and take on the boss this instant.

  Then he saw how many stairs there were.

  Stairs were almost as bad as running, worse if there were a shit ton of them like right now. Stairs were the things that got his calf muscles burning. At least he had better endurance now, and his strength was working its way up from abysmal. JaKobi would be the one who suffered the most, but he had an idea that would help with that.

  “Hey Cassie, do you think you could carry JaKobi up the stairs for us?” Tim couldn’t keep the twinkle out of his eyes.

  The fire mage placed a hand to his forehead and pretended to swoon. “I don’t know what I’ll do about all these stairs. Save me, save me.”

  Tim had been expecting JaKobi to get mad, maybe psych him up a little for the long climb, but instead, he loved it as Cassie scooped him up in her arms as if he was a baby instead of a full-grown man and started running up the steps.

  ShadowLily saw Tim looking at her. “Not a fucking chance.”

  “That’s cold.” He started walking up the stairs.

  Lorelei laughed. “Cold will be when we make it to the top and see you're not there. Then I send Cassie down to drag you to the top by your feet.”

  “Remind me not to get on her bad side,” Tim quipped to ShadowLily as he picked up the pace.

  Lorelei made a sound like a cracking whip. “It’s all about finding the right ways to motivate people.”

  “I could stand to be a little less motivated.” Tim kept pushing himself up the stairs.

  It felt like it took them days to reach the top, but if he was honest with himself, it was probably only an hour. An hour of climbing a steep-ass set of stairs had left them all feeling a little pissy.

  This boss wouldn’t know what hit him.

  He felt the others casting their buffs and reapplied his as he walked toward the wall. “JaKobi, find Waldo for me.”

  The fire mage moved up to the wall and cast a few additional lights. He clearly wasn’t seeing what he wanted so he moved away from the wall blocking their way and searched the sides and floor.

  About ten yards back from the end of the passage, JaKobi stopped and waved Tim over. “This is it.”

  “Are you sure?” Tim slid the key into the lock, and the sides folded down as before. All he had to do was hit the switch.

  The pain wasn’t any better the second time around as the spike pierced his hand, but he felt like one hell of a team player for taking the hit and not asking anyone else to do it for him. He tried to turn the key to the left, but it wouldn’t budge. The abrupt stop shot pain up his arm and down his opposite leg.

  “To the right this time,” JaKobi added helpfully from behind.

  Tim turned the key to the right. Eventually, it clicked in place, and the blade retracted. Now that he was free from the cube, a quick heal fixed his hand. He couldn’t help but wonder who devised this system as he bent to pick up the key. Even if a person found it, there was no guarantee they would ever make it this far. He knew that he wouldn’t have without his friends’ help.

  The doorway rumbled open, and they looked out into an empty coliseum. At least that was what he was calling it although he’d never seen one carved out of solid stone. Instead of the open air, there was a cavern roof. It was unpainted, and he could clearly see the sandstone’s deep golden hue against the onyx columns leading to the sandy floor.

  In all honesty, it could have just been an arena, but it reminded him of the kind or place the Romans watched the gladiators or where the Greeks held the Olympics. It even kind of looked like Soldier Field in Chicago. The only thing missing was the boss.

  “Cassie, this is your show. Remember everything we’ve seen so far.” Tim probably didn’t need to remind her. They all knew the developers liked to build on previous mechanics to deal a wicked knockout punch with the final boss.

  This fight was going to be hectic enough without him trying to control everything. Whatever was coming next, they would have to go with the flow. Tim bent over, stretching out his legs. If he’d learned anything from the previous fights, it was that he was going to be doing a lot of running and couldn’t risk cramping up.

  “All right guys, follow me.” Cassie made her way into the arena.

  The tank froze in place as a breeze moved through the chamber. The light breeze turned into a gale-force wind, pushing them back to the far end of the room. All of the sand covering the floor was pushed aside, then simply disappeared from the chamber, leaving a stone floor in its place.

  Tim noticed that the floor wasn’t solid. Instead, it was sectioned into little six-by-six squares across the coliseum. Looking back on their previous fights, he knew it would come into play, but not exactly how. No statues lined the walls, but the columns could come into play, or the boss could have some kind of other magic at its disposal.

  Speaking of the boss, where in the hell was it?

  Cassie moved to the edge of the first square and tapped her toe on it. When flames didn’t burst up and engulf her, she moved to the next.

  Maybe his paranoia was getting to them, but if this was a boss fight, whatever the squares on the ground did wouldn’t start happening until they were in combat. “I think we can risk it.”

  Cassie stopped checking each square and walked forward at a normal pace. “If we end up sitting in the lobby to meet our caseworkers, I’m going to give you a big fat I told you so.”

  “You might be waiting for a while because if you get incinerated, I’m going to stop moving forward.” Tim couldn’t keep from giggling.

  “What a dick.” Lorelei gave Tim a playful punch to the shoulder. “Of course he should run headfirst into the fire after you.”

  ShadowLily laughed. “Maybe after me, but after Cassie, I’d give him a pass.”

  “I’d run into the fire for you, baby.” JaKobi looked dead serious.

  Cassie started moving again. “At least I know one of you cares enough to follow me into the afterlife.”

  “My guy has cookies.” JaKobi winked. “So it’s no great hardship.”

  Cassie sighed. “Even my boyfriend would only die for me because of the cookies.”

  Hey, everyone loved cookies.

  They were spared from further debate as the doors at the far end of the room opened. Beyond the doorway, Tim saw a rising staircase. That was where they needed to be. At the top of those stairs, they could open Eternia’s portal. All that stood between them and victory was whatever was coming down the stairs to greet them.

  He started having Chamber of Secrets flashbacks when he saw a snake's body, but this wasn’t a basilisk. What was slithering into view must have been the king of nagas or the great serpent of the underworld. The snake-like body had to be at least twenty feet long and stron
g as hell to support the massive human-like torso above it.

  This creature was more like the naga Tim had grown up looking at pictures of and slaughtering in games. Instead of a human torso plunked on a snake's body, it felt more like this monster was born this way. His face was more serpent than man, although you couldn’t quite call it reptilian. The arms were human enough, minus the razor-sharp spurs jutting from the naga’s elbows.

  Tim looked at the boss with no weapons in hand and back at the floor full of squares and knew this would be one hell of a fight.

  “The Tomb of Nemset is to remain closed.” Apep's name flashed briefly across their interfaces as the boss slithered down the final stairs. “Any who dare open the way must be punished.”

  Cassie put a hand on her hip. “You know, if this was Friday night, and you were a little more human, we might have something to talk about.”

  “She does like getting punished.” JaKobi was grinning as if reliving a fond memory.

  Tim smacked his palm against his forehead. He didn’t need to know these things, and neither did the boss. “Any chance I can hand the key over, and you’ll let us go?”

  Hissing laughter filled the coliseum. “The die has been cast mortal. Prepare to live with the outcome.”

  The doorway leading from the arena filled with dark mist, cutting off any chance they had of trying to run around the boss. Behind them didn’t look any better. All they could do was run down a shit ton of stairs right back into the bajillion-mile passage, into a pyramid they couldn’t leave. There was nothing for them to lose. It was time to rumble.

  “Get it on like Donkey Kong,” Tim whispered to himself as he gave Cassie the green light.

  Cassie walked forward again. “Listen here, Apep. I’ve had my fill of snakes, farts, and death for today. I’m going to fucking kick your ass, so I can chill and knock back a few cold ones.”

  “Amen to that.” JaKobi’s robes burst into flames.

  Tim was starting to see why they were perfect for each other. While the two of them got places in different ways, they ended up at the same destination. What more could you ask for from a significant other?

  Cassie started jogging. “So if you're going to bring it, then BRING IT!”

  Apep didn’t need a further invitation. The boss waved his hand in the air and cast a spell.

  Tim noticed a section of blocks to their right receive a faint red outline around them, and a few seconds later they burst into flame. “Watch the floor. Red is dead.”

  Cassie sprinted at full speed, then leapt into the air after pulling the chain from around her belt and tossing the hook at the boss. When the weapon landed, she pulled the chain taut and flew directly at Apep with both feet out. It was like watching a wrestling move executed by Bruce Lee. This shit was epic.

  The only person in the room not thrilled by her attack was Apep.

  Now that she’d thoroughly engaged the boss, Tim cast Curse of Giving and Behold My Power. He followed that up with a round of Healing Orb and started to run as the tile under his feet changed colors. Tim didn’t care where he went next as long as it wasn’t in Cassie’s way and the floor wasn’t red. Ideally, the three ranged players should stay together, but the shapes' randomness wouldn’t always allow that to happen so he simply moved and hoped they’d regroup soon enough.

  ShadowLily was on the boss now, and she immediately started taking periodic damage. She didn’t have a debuff on her, so he didn’t waste time with Cleanse. Instead, he sent a Healing Orb in her direction and looked at the boss to see if it had any buffs. Aura of Reflection. The tooltip only said it returned a portion of the damage received back on the dealer if they were within five yards. There was also a little red line around the icon. Tim guessed this meant his Disturbance spell couldn't remove it.

  Had he always been able to see this information on the boss? It felt like a new development that would make it easier for them to figure things out in the future. It wasn’t the time to think about it, but he loved it when games received good quality of life features in updates and not only things for the cash shop.

  He’d spend time digging into the menus later. For now, he had to worry about keeping ShadowLily alive. Curse of Giving and the reduced damage Cassie put out compared to ShadowLily meant his curse was keeping the tank topped off just fine, giving him the ability to be a little more flexible with his healing.

  “ShadowLily, if you get low on health get away from the boss.” Tim sent out another round of Healing Orb and waited for Behold My Power to take effect.

  A lot was already going on in this fight, but not so much that he was surprised by how far along they’d come. Apep was down nearly twenty-five percent of his health, and he felt as though they were barely scratching the surface.

  Apep hit seventy-five percent health and screamed, “Enough!”

  All of them were swept to the back of the room, and the light slowly faded from the coliseum. Tim looked over at JaKobi. “Lights.”

  “You got it, boss.” The fire mage began to cast.

  The room kept getting darker. “JaKobi?” Tim looked at his friend.

  JaKobi cast again and again but nothing was happening. “The spell is working, it’s just whatever this is,” he waved his hands at the darkness in front of them. “Is eating them up.”

  Apep’s laughter filled the chamber. “My mistress Vitaria welcomes you to the darkness.”

  A beacon of light formed in the middle of the room as Eternia clawed her way up through the stones. “To me, adventurers. Stay inside the light.”

  She didn’t need to tell them twice. The five of them ran for the goddess and the protection of her light. The entire time they were in the dark, all of them took periodic damage. Tim was working on bringing them all back up to full health when Eternia started moving.

  “My sister fights against me. I cannot remain here for long.” Eternia’s voice wavered.

  Apep reached into the light, his skin sizzling from the contact. He grabbed Cassie and tossed her out into the darkness before any of them could do anything to stop him.

  Tim started healing her, then got an idea. “Use your hook.” He felt something tighten around his waist then pull him to the floor as the tank used him as an anchor.

  Cassie landed next to him a moment later and held out her hand to help him up. “Quick thinking.”

  Before Tim could respond, the light around them faded. “I must leave you for now.” Eternia disappeared.

  The darkness closed in quickly, and Tim cast Healing Storm. As the first drops of healing rain landed on them, the light started to return to the room. Apep looked around, startled by the turn of events. Apparently, not many people brought a goddess with them to beat the darkness phase of the fight.

  The fight continued just like their first go-around.

  Cassie had the boss, and the rest of them were dealing damage. Now and again, random segments of the floor burst into flames. Things went on like this until the boss lost another five percent, and things changed.

  Apep smiled as a red circle appeared under JaKobi’s feet.

  “Why is it always me?” The fire mage started running, but the red circle followed him from square to square.

  Eventually, the red circle dropped from his feet and moved to outline the square he was standing on. He jumped into a clear space, and the red square fell away into nothingness. “Holy shit.”

  Tim looked at the gaping hole in the floor, and his mind processed what was going on. More holes, fewer places for them to avoid the fire, and if they fucked up which squares disappeared, no places to stand. JaKobi’s was out in the middle of the room. From here on out, they would have to do better.

  “Anyone but the tank gets targeted, they need to make it to the outer edge, or we’ll run out of places to stand.” Tim looked down in the hole and whistled. “We don’t want that.”

  This phase turned into a battle of wills. They kept hitting the boss, and he made parts of the floor disappear. Other than Cassi
e almost getting flash-fried once, they were handling the new development pretty well.

  When Apep hit fifty percent, the lights went out again. None of them needed to be told what to do. When Eternia appeared they all ran for her, and Tim healed them as they went. He didn’t know if the floor was solid during this phase, but there was no way to see where the missing tiles were so they had to hope for the best.

  The boss reached into the circle and Lorelei squawked as he threw her into the darkness. The ranger rematerialized next to them a moment later. “I have a handy get out of Dodge quick spell.”

  Tim reminded himself if he got tossed out into the darkness that he needed to use Quick Feet.

  Eternia’s light faded, and Tim cast Healing Storm to keep them alive through the transition.

  Apep reappeared looking extremely pissed off. Clearly, no one he’d ever faced had made it this far. His breath was coming in heaves as he glared at them. “Do you have no honor? This is your chance to die with dignity, to spend eternity with the Goddess Vitaria as your master. Why do you resist?”

  Tim glanced at JaKobi and gave him the big balls dance from Major League. This was where he should drop the perfect one-liner. It might have been childish, but it would be fun.

  “Deez nuts!” JaKobi howled with laughter.

  The flat-out disrespect was palpable.

  Their entire group broke into laughter and Apep glared at them, his eyes burning red.

  “You dare to mock me?” Apep raised his arms and cast another spell.

  Bars of blue electrical energy ran from one side of the room to the other. Each of the horizontal lines differed in height. As with their earlier fights, they would have to duck or jump depending on the circumstances.

  This was getting outrageous.

  The floor was fire if it was even there at all. Now they would also have to jump up and down. Might as well ask them to sing a show tune while they were doing it. Tim was starting to understand why the naga’s health was so low. If players had to keep this up the length of a normal fight, they would have lost their minds.