Starbreak (Rise to Omniscience Book 2)

by Aaron Oster

  As soon as they entered the cave, the temperature noticeably dropped. The forest had been cold, but this cave was freezing!

  “Holy shit!” Sarah exclaimed, rubbing her arms and shivering. “What the hell just happened? Aren’t these caves supposed to be warmer than the outside?”

  Morgan frowned.

  Caves normally were warmer, which could only mean one thing: the Arc must be the one causing it.

  They came to the end of the tunnel and stopped.

  “What. The. Hell. Is. That?!” Sarah asked.

  Morgan had to agree with Sarah’s assessment. The monster bear that lay at the center of the cavern was nothing like he’d ever seen before. It was massive, at least half as big again as the dire-flame bear, and nearly twice as broad.

  Its fur was an icy blue color, streaked throughout with white and gray. Its fur also seemed to be coated in frost, and it generated a cold so intense that he was sure it would burn to the touch.

  “You think we can take that thing?” Morgan asked.

  He wasn’t entirely sure the two of them could, at least not now. If he wasn’t mistaken, the bear was most likely an evolved beast, and probably around rank 15. At their current ranks, this would be an extremely dangerous fight.

  Sarah bit her lip for a minute, before eventually shaking her head.

  “No. I don’t think this is a fight we can win right now.”

  “What about if we used our most powerful skills?”

  “Mine probably won’t do much to a beast like that,” she answered. “And I don’t think unleashing your gravity storm in a cave is a very good idea.”

  “Good point,” he replied.

  He could imagine bringing the entire mountain down on their heads if he wasn’t careful.

  “Suggestions?”

  “We go back and fight until we’ve gathered enough energy,” she replied. “We can always use the cores Katherine gave you, but we could have a potential loss of attribute points if we do that.”

  Morgan nodded his agreement and the two of them turned away from the sleeping bear.

  However he looked at it, this was going to be a tough fight. He could hardly imagine what the Arc on the ninth stage would look like.

  They spent the rest of the day fighting the beasts of the third stage, and collected enough energy for Morgan to move up to rank 13, and Sarah to 12. It was nearing nightfall by the time they reached their new ranks, but despite their exhaustion, decided to take on the Arc.

  They could see clouds rolling in and the temperature had taken a significant dip, meaning that they were in for some truly nasty weather. If they killed the Arc, however, they would be able to camp in the tunnel and not have to worry about the intense cold the beast radiated.

  They headed into the tunnel once more, noticing the intense cold as they drew closer to the sleeping monster.

  “Let’s go over the plan one more time,” Sarah said.

  “Why? We’ve already discussed it at length. It seems pointless to rehash it,” Morgan said.

  He already had two condensed wind blades active, one bladed and one piercing. They weren’t sure if the beast had a mage or a super ability, and draining half his RP to find out he’d picked the wrong blade would not be ideal. By now, his RP had fully regenerated, so he was ready to go.

  “Because,” Sarah said, glaring at him. “It never hurts to double-check! Or have you forgotten that we’re going to fight a giant monster bear that’s probably much higher ranked than us?”

  “How could I forget?” he asked with a grin. He’d been looking forward to this all day.

  Sarah just rolled her eyes and continued on.

  “My job in this fight will be to hamper the bear’s movement as much as possible, while you will be the main damage dealer. I won’t waste my mana on attack skills, so you’d better not screw up!”

  Morgan’s grin only widened.

  “You don’t have to tell me twice!”

  They came to the end of the tunnel then and the massive bear came into view. If anything, it looked even bigger than it had before, and if he squinted, Morgan thought he could see the gleam of metal coming from the bear’s claws.

  “You ready?” Sarah asked, already beginning to shiver from the extreme cold radiating from the massive Arc.

  Morgan nodded.

  This fight would have to be quick. If they took their time, the cold alone would be enough to kill them. They were also tired from the day’s fighting, but if they wanted to survive the night, they needed this cave and the only thing standing in their way was that giant bear.

  ***

  Six years ago…

  Pain was the first thing that greeted Morgan as he slowly came out of unconsciousness. He blinked a few times, waiting for his eyes to become accustomed to the dim lighting of the room. He was sitting on a hard wooden chair and his hands were firmly bound behind his back. His throat was parched from the stale air, and his head pounded terribly.

  Those men had really did a number on me, he thought, running his tongue across his teeth. At least they were all still there, though his jaw felt tender enough that something was probably broken.

  “Looks like the little shit is finally up,” a gruff sounding voice called out.

  A moment later, a filthy and morbidly obese man came into view. His right ear was heavily bandaged with a dirty rag and Morgan felt a small sense of satisfaction at having inflicted the wound.

  The man must not have liked the look in his eye, because he snarled, then backhanded him across his face, rocking his head to the side. Morgan winced as he felt his tender jaw flare up in pain, but otherwise didn’t react.

  He knew men like this all too well. Men who had never awakened an ability. Weaklings and cowards who only felt safe picking on someone who couldn’t possibly fight back. Someone like him. He knew how to deal with these types and wasn’t about to be cowed by a coward.

  Morgan turned his face back to the man and casually spat out a wad of bloody spittle.

  “That all you got… bitch?” Morgan asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

  He wasn’t sure why this insult worked so well against these types, but it almost always got a reaction.

  The man’s face twisted up in rage and he pulled his hand back to strike Morgan again, but something in his eyes made the man stop.

  Morgan could almost see what was going on behind those piggy eyes of his.

  Here he was, a big and strong man, but this little boy just sat there, staring him down as though he were completely unconcerned with him.

  The man shook his head and brought his arm back again.

  He would teach this smug little shit who was really in charge here. He would make him beg for mercy and only then would he kill him.

  “Go on then,” Morgan said, eyes burning with an almost manic intensity. “Hit me you, little bitch. Hit the tied up ten year old and show all your friends what a man you are.”

  The man hesitated, turning to see that the other members of his gang had indeed walked into the room and were staring at him with expressions of disgust.

  “What?” he asked, dropping his hand and turning his ire on the others of his gang. “The little shit was asking for it!”

  “We need him alive, Scruff. Kook specifically said to leave him alone until he got back,” one of them said.

  “I wasn’t going to kill him,” the man that Morgan now knew to be named Scruff said, “I was just gonna teach him a lesson, is all.”

  “Yeah, real lesson you’ve taught him,” another man responded with a sneer. “You hit a tied up kid and he still made you look like the little bitch you are!”

  This comment was followed by guffaws from the gathered men, which just made Scruff that much angrier.

  He whirled on Morgan, pulling a rusty looking knife from his belt.

  “I’ll teach you to disrespect me, you little turd! We’ll see who’s the bitch when I slit your throat!”

  He let out a roar and launched himself at the seem
ingly defenseless Morgan before any of the others could intervene.

  Morgan, however, just grinned at the man, feeling the familiar rush of battle overtake him. He waited until the man was practically on top of him before executing his move. He’d assumed that the man actually had no knife skills, and his assumption was proven to be correct when he came in with a clumsy slash, instead of a thrust, as anyone with even a modicum of skill would do.

  Morgan suddenly threw his weight to the side, and the man’s knife neatly cut into the ropes binding his hands to the chair. As the chair came back down on all four legs, Morgan twisted in his seat, slamming a cupped palm into the man’s good ear. This move was designed to stun him while Morgan freed himself.

  Scruff staggered back, off balance, and howling in pain from his burst eardrum. Morgan quickly leaned down, undoing the clumsy knots in a matter of seconds. He then hopped off the chair and kicked out sideways, cracking off one of the legs to form a makeshift weapon.

  He quickly snatched it up, keeping his eyes on the other men to see if they’d interfere. He hadn’t expected them to, but had to double check that none of them were moving in on him.

  All of them were standing back, giving the two of them room to fight. This was normally how it worked in the underground. If you couldn’t hold your own, then you didn’t deserve to live.

  He turned his attention back to the fat man, who had pulled his hand away from his bleeding ear and was glaring at Morgan with so much hatred that he imagined he could see it coming off him in waves.

  “Die!” he yelled, making a clumsy lunge at him, which Morgan was careful to avoid.

  The man might be slow and have no idea how to fight, but he was still a fully grown man. If he got ahold of him, Morgan didn’t doubt for a second that he would win.

  The man stumbled past and Morgan swung out with his improvised club, cracking the man painfully across his knife hand. He howled in pain and predictably dropped the knife. If Morgan was a novice, then he might have been tempted to stoop for the knife, but he knew that would be a mistake. Instead, he placed a foot on the knife and kicked it away, sending it skittering across the floor.

  Scruff turned to glare at him, shaking out his hand and grimacing in pain. He knew that he was embarrassing himself and if he didn’t subdue Morgan in the next few seconds, one of the others here was liable to put a knife in his back.

  He turned his little piggy eyes on Morgan once again and this time slowly shuffled in, arms spread wide to prevent him from escaping. Morgan danced back from him, swiping out with his club whenever he got too close, but the man would not be deterred. Morgan took another step back and stumbled as his foot landed on a loose bit of stone.

  “Ha!” Scruff yelled, using the momentary distraction to lunge at him.

  To Morgan’s credit, he did manage to land a solid blow on the side of the man’s head, but his momentum still carried him forward. He crashed into Morgan, sending him to the ground with his larger frame and superior strength.

  The air whooshed out of Morgan’s lungs as the three hundred and fifty pound man landed on his skinny frame, and he felt his ribs creak ominously under the strain. Then, a heavy blow landed on the side of his head and his vision swam as stars danced before his eyes.

  “There! That’ll teach you!” Scruff shouted.

  He was panting heavily and his eyes roamed around the room until they alighted on his knife. He rose off the prone boy and waddled over to it, bending down to retrieve his rusty dagger.

  Morgan felt precious air flood his lungs as the man got off of him and he rolled quickly on his side to avoid an expected blow. When it didn’t come, he turned his still fuzzy vision towards the lumbering figure, which was now crouched down a few feet away. It took Morgan a few seconds to figure out what the man was doing and when he did, he almost laughed.

  He quickly sprang to his feet, snatching up the wooden club and dashing towards the stupid man.

  His idiocy would cost him dearly.

  Scruff heard a light scuffing sound and half turned on the spot to see what it was. The last thing he saw was a flash of silver and a large brown object approaching at great speed.

  Morgan stood straight, watching as Scruff’s body slumped to the ground, the wooden chair leg protruding from one of his eyes.

  “That was quite impressive.” Morgan’s head, as well as those of the gathered thugs, all whipped around at the sound of the new voice.

  A flamboyantly dressed man emerged from behind what had appeared to be a solid brick wall. His smile was anything but friendly though, and the gleam in his eye was almost a predatory one.

  Morgan didn’t answer, keeping his eyes on the man and tensing his muscles in preparation to either fight, or flee.

  “You’re quite the rare talent,” the man said, approaching at a casual walk. “We could use someone like you in our organization.” He stopped a few feet away and extended a gloved hand.

  “All you have to do is tell us where the girl is and you can join us. Just think about it. Food, clothes, protection, a place to sleep, and a future in our organization. It can all be yours. So… what do you say?” the man asked.

  Morgan stared the man down.

  Truth be told, it was a tempting offer and had he not been so curious about the strange effect Sarah had on him, he likely would have given her up. As it was, he still wanted to figure out if she could help him feel something aside from the numbing emptiness that constantly plagued him, and that was worth more than any amount of food this man could offer.

  He relaxed his posture as though he were considering the man’s offer, but he was slowly inching towards the small exit off to his right.

  The colorful man, whose name he was pretty sure was Kook, wasn’t stupid and his smile vanished in an instant.

  “I was hoping that you’d see sense, but I can see that we’ll need to use more… persuasive measures to get our answers.”

  The men behind him began inching forward when the brick wall behind the man suddenly swung open and Sarah, of all people, came running out, screaming loudly and clutching a dagger tightly in her small fist.

  Kook half turned to see what the commotion was all about, then cried out in pain as Sarah sank the dagger into his side, still screaming incoherently. Everyone stared at her in disbelief; everyone but Morgan. He knew how to capitalize on a moment of weakness and he took his chance.

  Dashing forward, he snatched Sarah’s hand in his and dragged her toward the still open brick wall, hearing the sound of Kook’s agonized cries following a moment later.

  24

  “I’ve already told you that I’m here under Princess Katherine’s orders! She needs the key to get Morgan and Sarah out of that Beast Zone,” Arnold said, for what felt like the hundredth time.

  “So you have,” Gold replied dryly, giving him a good shove in the back to keep him moving.

  Arnold grimaced as he stumbled forward under the force of the shove, but managed to catch himself in time to avoid another face plant. It didn’t hurt, as his constitution was high enough that falling didn’t really cause pain, but it was annoying. Gold always seemed to shove him hard enough that dirt would end up in his mouth.

  They were well outside the destroyed academy grounds by now and he had no idea where they were going. Gold had used some sort of skill to bind his hands and no matter how hard he strained, he couldn’t break free. He’d also found that he couldn’t use his skills, which was what really alarmed him.

  No one had been strong enough to cut him off for years now and he hadn’t even been aware that Gold had the ability to do so.

  “Please! You have to believe me!” Arnold exclaimed.

  He hated begging, but if Katherine showed up, she wouldn’t take being captured as a reason for leniency.

  “No. I don’t think I do,” Gold replied, giving him another shove.

  This one did send him sprawling. He flew forward, landing face first and tearing a five foot furrow in the ground. His mouth had been ope
n when he fell, so the amount of dirt that entered was far greater than the last few times.

  “You piece of shit!” Arnold yelled, spitting out clumps of dirt and glaring at him.

  “I’ll take that as a compliment,” Gold said, then grabbed him by the hair and began dragging him as he kept walking.

  Arnold stumbled awkwardly after him, half bent over, but being forced to keep up all the same.

  “We should arrive by King Herald’s camp in a day or so, so best get comfortable,” Gold said cheerily, continuing to drag the cursing mercenary behind him.

  ***

  Morgan took one last deep breath, activating his supermage shield as he did so, then dashed headlong into the open cavern. He used gale force, feeling the wind instantly pick up as he got his massive speed boost.

  The bear was on its feet in an instant and the temperature dropped by a further ten degrees. The bear snorted once, then roared, sending an icy blast out over the entire chamber.

  “Holy shit! It’s freezing!” Sarah exclaimed from behind him.

  A second later, two sheets of ice blurred past him and slammed into the floor on either side of the bear.

  The bear shook itself, then began glowing a bright blue, signifying a mage ability. It rose to its hind legs just as Morgan reached it and slammed his piercing wind blade into the monster’s hide.

  Morgan cursed as the blade bounced off and he was forced to leap back as the bear took a swipe at him with a glowing blue paw. The bear tried to take a step forward, when two blocks of ice encased its feet. A second later, an icy haze settled around it, signifying Sarah’s bitter frost skill.

  The bear landed back on all fours, then let out an angry roar that shook the entire cavern. Morgan launched himself at the beast, despite the spark of fear that had struck him. He used heavy impact and gale force this time, making sure that he could deliver a blow at maximum power, but he never got a chance to deliver the attack.

  The bear’s icy blue eyes seemed to glow, then it stomped its front paw and a wave of cold spread throughout the room. Morgan felt himself considerably slow down as the wave hit him and the bear’s massive paw slammed into him, shattering his shield and sending him flying into the opposite wall.