by Wolfe Locke
"I’m not even sure you can get drunk, but I’m offering you a few drinks with me. Actually, all the drinks with me. " Sven said, as he held up the crate and shook it provocatively.
The hydra walked over and gave the crate a sniff. "We find this acceptable. Why have you come, Shatterfist? You lack the usual wards you carry through these halls." The hydra motioned a head towards a suspiciously fresh set of bones. "Ignore those too, but do try to find a place to sit down."
Sven looked around and grimaced. "I’ll stand, it’s alright."
"Suit yourself," The hydra replied as it did something Sven had never seen before. All four of the heads merged into one, and the hydra shrank down. As it did a rickety table and two chairs appeared from the floor of the dungeon. "You really should sit down though."
"What do you know about the undead? Since I’ve been back, I’ve seen a horde of undead just outside the city walls of Woodward bearing the emblems of a king. The guards, not that you would know, seemed like it was common place. Adventurers are going missing, and sovereign undead were allowed to put up an outpost just outside another dungeon. Something is going on."
"Ah yes. That bit of business. The Void King was quite furious about it." The hydra responded gravely. "Ethereum can be a bit… much at times. Let me see one of those."
The hydra may have been smaller, but it still lacked the ability to open one of the honeyed bottles of wine. Sven did it for him, curious about what else the hydra would reveal. "So the void wraith is named Ethereum?" Sven asked. "Does that mean you have a name too?"
"117 times. 117 times you entered my dungeon and killed me. Forcing me to respawn. 117 times, and not once did you pick up on my name? It’s written on the door in the old language. Ergez. My name is Ergez." The hydra responded with a click of its tongue. "But that is enough about my kind."
"There have been mutterings among my kind of great stirring. A demon lord of death and disorder has risen." The hydra admitted. "The rise of demon lords is always a calamity for my kind. Don’t take this the wrong way, but you know. We eat you. Well, not you specifically, though we’ve tried."
"Speaking of which. Thank you for this offering, Sven, but I need you to get going. I seem to have a group of unaware bandits seeking treasure, and I need to get to it. Here" The hydra said, motioning to an object that appeared on the table. "A [Scroll of Return], you know how these things work."
Sven knew that he had learned all he was going to from the hydra. "Thanks for this. It’s more information than I had."
The hydra looked at him with a mix of pity and impatience. "Don’t mention it. Really. If it had been anybody but you, I’d have attacked anyways. I can’t say the others won’t react exactly that way either. But here, take this token." Another item appeared on the table, one that Sven didn’t recognize. A copy of the hydra in miniature.
"If you should need help, make an offering to this image of me, and I’ll appear. But for now, get going." The hydra finished, and Sven took it, nodding thankfully.
"It's been five years since the rise and fall of the Demon Lord Mannon." It's too soon for another to rise. Sven placed his hand on the [Scroll of Return] and in a flash of power, found himself on his back looking up at the stars after having been transported back to the Adventurer’s Rest.
When he was gone, the hydra looked at the spot where Sven had been. "Doesn't he mean closer to ten?"
Sven arrived on the lawn of the tavern grounds. He felt drunk, and though the world was spinning, and all of his honeyed wine was gone, that didn’t stop Sven from having another drink. He reached into his [Spatial Ring] and pulled out something stronger. Something far stronger and took a deep drag. The rise of a new Demon Lord. The undead. All of it. It weighed on him like a cloud. That’s all a problem tomorrow. I’m too tired today. He drank the last of the bottle and sauntered into the tavern and shuffled upstairs to bed.
Authors Comments
Thanks for reading “The Retired S Ranked Adventurer: Volume I”. I hope you liked it. I tried something a little different from what I usually write and pulled a lot from personal experience.
During my time in the military, one of the hardest adjustments was when it was over. It hit hard when I went out for drinks at my favorite bar back home and found my "spot" had been given to somebody else. Life and time had moved on for everyone else, except for me. I was stuck in multiple years at the same time. Time stopped moving, or at least I did.
My time gone wasn’t that long. Five years total, but in that time most of the people I had been close with had passed away or moved on to greener pastures, and our life experiences had diverged so much that it was difficult to relate anymore. I wanted to explore some of those themes that were a little more lighthearted than the actual subject matter.
Life after war.
Purpose after injury.
That sort of thing.
It may not have always been obvious, but Sven’s "tiredness" and feeling of age, comes less from actual age, and more from losing friends. As somebody that's served a couple tours, I can relate to that feeling.
Thanks for reading.
Please take the time to review, follow my author profile on Amazon, sign up for my newsletter at http://tiny.cc/SignUpForMoreBooks, and feel free to share the story.
My co-author, James Falcon has a book coming out soon. “Dragon Chibi Café”. It’s super wholesome. Follow his author profile too for updates.
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Please review the books you’re reading when done. Especially if you like them. Not just for me, but for all authors you want to keep writing. Your reviews and how you review have a direct and immediate impact on our livelihoods. I make just enough off of these books to pay to write the next and at some point; I have to reach a place where I can either earn a little, or give up writing.
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Also included is a short sample chapter of an upcoming story, on another pen name. “Arcane Summoner”
Arcane Summoner “Preview”
Chapter One: Enter Arcadia. The Ancient City
* * *
Like the rest of the world, Arcadia had grown silent. The ancient ruins stood open to all, but everyone livin
g knew to stay away. It was just the way of things since the Sundering. The old cities were home to the Draugr and other monsters of the dark.
Zander knew this and went anyway. He was desperate and had been for a couple of weeks now and had grown tired of carefully trying to etch out a little bit of survival in his village. He was not alone. Rocktooth, his personal summon and guardian, stood by him. A golem towering over him, its face and hands were smooth.
Rocktooth looked down at him, and though the golem couldn’t talk, Zander knew exactly what it was trying to say. This is dangerous for you, do not do this. He ignored the golem’s concern and looked up at the sun to try for an accurate guess of how much daylight was left. Little past midday. Four hours maybe. He could get in and out before dark, but the Draugr in the buildings would still be a problem. They were far more active regardless of the time of day.
Through their connection, Zander could feel the quiet alarm and anxiety building up in his summons’s subconscious. It was not a natural state for one of its kind to lead their master into avoidable danger. Together they walked as silently as they could on the crumbling grey stone path, stained in parts green from the overgrowth on the building, and darker still in others. The thought made him shudder.
Today they would be going deeper, where few if any scavenger parties had managed to breakthrough. If I’m going to put myself in danger, I at least need to be smart about it. He hoped to find something mostly untouched. Eventually, they arrived at the entrance to the Harrow they would be exploring, much of the paint had worn off with time, but part of the title could still be read in the ancient language. “hnologies”.
Notification: Now Entering “The Ancient Ruins – Harrow”
Details: In ages past, humans used to assemble and work in places like these. Now, all that remains of their civilization are the monsters that dwell within these haunted burrows.
The building was old but sturdy with none of the wear or rot he’d seen in some of the other Harrows. He passed through the opening into what had once been a lobby. Half-melted plastic tables and furniture warped from time were thrown about as if something had been in a rage.
“C’mon, let’s go,” He said with a whisper as he poked at the magical core in the middle of the golem’s torso with his staff. The golem’s eyes lit up in response, reaffirming the contract between master and summon. “Follow me.” To fit into the building, the golem started to shrink until he stood no bigger than a man. The magic was simple enough, but He needed more. He needed to learn. He needed a real teacher and that all led back to the sum of most of his problems. Money. But at least today I might be able to find something worth trading.
Zander waited before moving, stopping to listen, hoping he wouldn’t hear the patter of feet that let him know Draugr was coming. We’re good. He nodded at Rocktooth as he tried to open the rusted door to the stairway. He once learned the hard way that the ancient’s had relied on another manner to move about their buildings. The door didn’t budge.
He looked over at the door and imparted a message to Rocktooth. The golem’s eyes flashed green, and Zander smiled cautiously. Here goes. He stepped back, and the golem walked to the steel door. The golem sent a flurry of messages to Zander’s mind, and he stifled a laugh. The golem turned to Zander, and when He nodded, it placed a heavy stone hand on the door and pushed it forward. The door, rusted from age, was torn off of its hinges and fell to the ground, making far too much noise. Zander expected the Draugr or worse monsters to swarm the area immediately but heard nothing. Maybe we’ll be ok to keep searching.
They waited, but nothing came. Rocktooth went in first, and Zander followed behind. The light from his scepter light up the stairway, showing it went up for many floors and down just one. I’ll try down this time.
He opened the door, revealing what seemed to be a large kitchen. Many cans lay strewn about, ripped open, and the contents long since turned to dust. Next, He checked a linen closet, but all the material inside was rotted and moldy. Nothing was usable. Zander went inside. He gestured for Rocktooth to wait outside for him. The golem grumbled; Zander heard it in his head. He frowned at the golem, and Rocktooth looked away. Something scampered past him, and Zander aimed his staff at it, using a quick [Arcane Bolt] to kill it. Just a rat, He realized afterward.
Notification: You have killed a rat. +2 to experience and +1 Gold
Zander sighed in frustration. Nothing yet, and I’m already super jumpy. Maybe Rocktooth was right. We’re risking ourselves for nothing. He was ready to call it and move to another floor of the Harrow when he caught sight of a thick iron door with some boxes placed in front of it. I doubt anyone has been there before. What’s behind that door?
He directed Rocktooth to clear the boxes and opened the door. He found himself in a hallway leading further down. But the smell of something unnatural drifted on the air. The Draugr. He couldn’t see far into the hallway and charged more magic into his staff, commanding it to form into a ball of light. [Illuminate Sphere]. The ball was pushed out from his staff and traveled down the hall. If a Draugr had seen that, it would have attacked me already.
The hallway was long and damp, made of concrete with a single door at its end. The smell of the Draugr drifted closer. Rocktooth, close the door and watch my back. I’m going forward. He could only hope that the summon could keep out the coming Draugr, even if all the golem did was brace the iron door.
Zander walked down the hall, and though the smell of the Draugr faded, the anxiety He was feeling hadn’t. Something is wrong here. A chipped piece of the wall fell down, and Zander looked up, noticing for the first time the holes in the cement ceiling. The light of his illuminated the overhead body of a monster. Far worse than a Draugr.
It dropped to the ground in a humanish mass of spidery limbs, and Zander wasted no time in casting another [Arcane Bolt] before it could get up. The monster turned to her. Half of its face was gone, while the other was contorted into the grimacing face of a woman. How long has it been up there in the dark? The monster looked at him for a moment, curiously studying him as the monster salivated and licked its lips. At the far end of the hall, Rocktooth was no help, the golem was planted firmly in front of the door, and Zander could hear the banging of hungry Draugr on the other side. There will be no escape that way.
Zander pointed his staff again at the monster and used a spell He had seen the Elders of his village use. [Cleanse Abomination]. Amber light shot out of his staff directly at the monster. The effect was instant as it made a wheezing sound and collapsed on the floor.
He pointed the tip of his staff at the undead and said a spell He had heard almost everyone who could do magic say. It was a simple, cleansing spell. The undead snarled at her; it made a wheezing sound like it was going to die again, and then it did.
Notification: You have killed a Darkling. +12 to experience, to 18 Gold.
Zander was looking at the body to see if it had only loot, when He heard another running towards him, He turned, but He was too late. It slammed into him, shoving him against something hard. He groaned. His side dragged with pain.
In the commotion, Zander didn’t hear another of the monsters drop beside his until He stood face to face with another of the snarling abominations. This one was older than the last, weaker. One hand was gone entirely, and its entire face drooped uselessly. A clawed hand reached out, trying to tear at him, but Zander was able to get his staff in place to parry and moved past it.
It’s too soon for another [Cleanse Abomination]. The monster howled, and the Draugr kept locked out by Rocktooth doubled their efforts, and Zander could see the door was starting to buckle. Pieces of both the door and Rocktooth were beginning to flake off from the strain.
Rocktooth, I’ll summon you again. Zander told the golem through their connection as he charged a different spell through him and used a lesser ability. Bright light completely filled the room, blinding the monstrous female and the Draugr that were almost through the door. [Flare]. He slammed his st
aff into the stunned monster and ran past it, straight towards the door He had seen.
Relief flooded his body as the door opened easily enough. Without even waiting to see if the room was safe, He slammed it behind him, feeling an instant sense of gratification when He pulled an iron bar over the door, further securing it. His staff’s light revealed a green circle, and Zander was drawn to it, compelled by it. He touched it. Overhead a row of electric lights turned on, revealing 12 pods. Each as cold as ice.
I need to get Rocktooth back here. Though he’d already used a lot of his magic, Zander knew better than to try and forge ahead without Rocktooth. He reached into a small pouch secured to the base of his staff and pulled out a small river stone, and set it on the ground, aiming the spell [Summon Guardian]. Within seconds, Rocktooth was revived, but the golem looked at him strangely as if to say, Why did you call me back so so early.
Guard the door Rocktooth, He commanded as He moved closer to the frozen pods. He held his staff, using an [Scan] on each. Only one showed any sign of life. He walked closer to the pod. The top surface was made of glass, revealing through the glass the face of a sleeping woman. The door started to thump, it wouldn’t last much longer.
He jumped back. An ancient. Here? A human! He had not seen a human in a long time, not a live one anyway. Zander didn’t know how to open the pod, so He smashed open the pod with his staff. It took six hits, in all, to reveal the blue hair of a woman within. He pulled her out and held her head in his hands as he used a [Scan] to check for life, or at least a strand of it remaining. Zander was sure he felt it. It was faint, but it was there. He closed his eyes and imagined the stream of mana within him, and this time, Zander channeled it all into the woman [Heal].
