by Andrew Rowe
Or people.
I didn’t exactly care for the idea of never being able to hug my friends or family again.
The old man who had sent me to this place?
He was a famous scholar of sorcerous theory, and one of the few people who might have had an idea of how to help me.
But there was always a price.
And with that in mind, I continued into the cave. My back still ached from the brush with the razor bat’s quill. I waited until I was several minutes in before pausing, putting down the torch, and digging bandages and ointment out of my bag. The wound was relatively shallow, but not shallow enough that I could ignore it entirely. I applied the ointment and bound the wound, then continued on.
“Turn back.” The voice boomed, and it sounded like it was coming from directly in front of me.
I saw the pair of glowing motes of light — presumably eyes - in the distant mist a moment later.
I waved my off-hand. “Oh, it’s you! I was hoping I’d eventually get to meet you.”
The twin lights blinked.
I walked closer, passing the torch to my off-hand. I wanted my sword arm ready, but I didn’t move it close to the hilt. I didn’t want to appear threatening.
“Leave. This is your final warning.”
I ducked under another low portion of the ceiling as I approached. The cavern walls encroached around me until I could barely fit down the tunnel, then widened again into a massive, almost circular chamber. The mist was the thickest I’d seen so far. I could feel the moisture on my skin, taste it with every breath.
I could vaguely make out the outline of a humanoid figure ahead of me. That was a bit of a comfort, since I wasn’t sure I should expect anything close to human. Plenty of monsters could produce a human-sounding voice.
“I’m sorry to intrude. I don’t mean to be rude.” I grinned, pausing now that I was almost close enough to get a good look at who I was talking to. I could see the outline of hair, almost floor-length. Slender arms and legs...did those hands end in claws?
Yeah, those were definitely claws.
The figure must have been wearing white. They blended in with the mists so thoroughly that I couldn’t make out any other details. I guessed they were probably about ten feet away now, which was about the furthest I could see in the haze.
“Then you should have left when you had a chance.” They raised a clawed hand. “Prepare yourself.”
I raised a hand. “Woah, hold on, slow down. No need to get aggressive. I tried talking to you back in the forest, but I didn’t get any reply. I assume those messages were just stored somehow, maybe enchantments in the rocks, like the ones that were leading me in circles?”
The figure folded their arms. “That is irrelevant. This is a sacred place, and you are trespassing.”
“Sorry, sorry! Didn’t mean to intrude. I was teleported to this forest, and I’m lost. I’m supposed to be looking for a goddess. They call her Selys here, I believe? Are you her?”
The figure tilted its head to the side. “...Are you mocking me? Is that a serious question?”
“Completely serious.”
The person....creature...thing exhaled heavily enough that I felt it. The air pushed me back a step. I steadied myself, bracing for an attack, but realized it had just sighed.
Humanoid or not, this thing really knew how to breathe. “I am not the goddess, but I do serve her. I am the guardian of the Shrine of the Dawnbringer, one of the Six Sacred Swords.”
I nodded. I was finally making some progress here. “Okay, great. If you’re in her employ, could you direct me to where I can find her?”
“If thou dost seek the goddess, thee must climb the Soaring Spires. For the goddess resides in the skies above, and only atop the spires might ye glimpse upon her greatness. But, be forewarned, ere ye have false hope — centuries live and die between the successes of would-be heroes that seek to reach the spire’s summit.”
Yeah, they actually used ‘thou’. Apparently they had penchants for both growling and theatrics. Maybe if I was lucky I’d get a prophecy at some point, too.
“That’s great, thank you for that. So, there are a few of these spires?”
“Six are the spires, as six are the sacred swords.”
“Huh. Sounds like that’s not a coincidence, then?”
The figure lowered its head, as if in prayer. “Atop each spire lays one of the god beasts, ferocious guardians that await those who would dare to seek an audience with the goddess. None would stand a chance against these beasts, save for the sacred swords — one blade forged to survive the power of each beast.”
I considered that. “Okay. Any spires I can go to where the beast has already been defeated, maybe skip the trouble? I do like fighting titanic monsters, don’t get me wrong, but I’m kind of in a hurry.”
The figure ahead of me growled in the most hostile fashion yet. “No god beast has ever been truly defeated. Heroes wielding the blades have earned sufficient respect to pass.”
“Got it, that makes sense. I should have known this wouldn’t be that simple.” I sighed in a somewhat less spectacular fashion than the creature I was talking to. “And you’re the guardian of one of the swords?”
“So I am. Since time immemorial, my people have served here—”
“Wow. You must be really bored. Could I interest you in a different line of work? You seem much more familiar with the area than I am, maybe you could—”
“Insolent creature! My task is a sacred calling, given by the goddess herself. Your banter and jesting is what bores me. Either flee from my sight, or challenge me. Those are your choices.”
I frowned. This was not going where I wanted it to. “I apologize. I did not mean to insult your calling. If you require a challenge for the sword, would it be possible for me to challenge you something other than fighting? I mean this question with the utmost sincerity. I have Crowns pieces in my backpack, for example, and a deck of playing cards—”
“If it is a sacred sword you wish to wield, it is your prowess with a blade that must be proven.”
“What are the terms? Could we have a match to the first successful hit of any kind, for instance?”
“We would fight until one of us could fight no longer. I would not be gentle. Face me and you should expect to lose your life.”
“Would surrender be an option for either side?”
“No.”
“Could I convince you to alter the terms to a middle ground? First blood, perhaps?”
“The terms are set down by tradition, they cannot be altered.”
I nodded sadly. “I expected as much. And the sword is right past you?”
“Indeed. It lays in the grove of three shrines, untouched in the decade since it was last claimed.”
So, someone had tried this a decade ago. Presumably, they’d failed, because the creature I was speaking to had implied it had been hundreds of years since a success. Maybe that had been hyperbole, though. They did seem to have a flair for the dramatic. Worse than mine, even. “Okay. And just to be clear, your responsibility is to guard this specific tunnel?”
“Such is the path to the sword.”
I focused, trying to peer through the mist as best I could. I thought I could just barely make out an exit tunnel on the opposite side of the chamber, maybe twenty feet away.
I picked my torch back up, waved, and shifted my stance as if I was about to turn around. “Okay, thanks for all the information.”
“You’re...leaving?”
I think they actually sounded a little disappointed. “Yep. I’m not going to invade someone’s home and fight them just so I can walk through a particular cavern. I figure now that I broke your little teleportation rune, I can probably just walk out of the forest and find a town. But you’re a great storyteller — that part about the spire was riveting. You’re welcome to come with me if you’d like.”
“You...mock me.”
I shook my head. “Nope. I just don’t think t
hat anyone should have to live their life in a cave because a goddess told them to, and I’m certainly not going to fight you just because a goddess put you here.”
The creature in front of me growled and lowered their stance. “You insult me and the goddess alike.”
“I don’t mean to be insulting.” I raised my off-hand in a defensive gesture. “Just sympathizing. My own life has been largely dictated by the whims of the gods, and I’m tired of it. If you’d like to get out of this situation, I’d be glad to help you.”
No growl that time, which was progress. Just a tilt of the head to the side, maybe a bit of introspection. “I will not leave while my task remains undone.”
“I understand.” I nodded affably. “Well, I’m leaving then.”
“See that you do not return unless you are prepared to face my challenge.”
“Right. That won’t be a problem.”
I shifted to the left as if I was turning around...and rushed forward at top speed.
I’d gone left because the torch was currently in my right hand, and as I sprinted past the creature, I waved it right in front of their eyes. Not close enough to hit them — I was just going for momentary blindness.
They roared, far louder than their body should have been able to, and the entire room shook. Dust and debris rained from the ceiling. Fortunately, I was used to sprinting across uneven terrain, and I maintained my footing. I turned toward the exit tunnel as I moved, finding it easily as I approached.
I was only a couple feet away when a wall of stone shot upward from the ground, blocking the path.
I spun just in time to dodge a spiked tail that was arcing toward my face.
“Coward! Craven! Curr!” The creature roared, lunging at me with clawed hands. As they drew closer, I got a better look. They had a human-looking face and body, but they were covered from head to toe in white scales, and they had a serpentine tail covered in wicked six-inch spikes.
I side-stepped the lunge and the creature missed, stumbling. I realized that it was probably still half-blind from the torch, and they had probably responded to my movements through hearing or another sense.
That didn’t stop them from whipping its tail around the moment they failed to connect with me, though. It was a low sweep, so I hopped over it, backing up and keeping the torch in front of me. “A little redundant there. Coward and craven are pretty much the same thing. I appreciate alliteration, though.”
They just roared at me in reply. They were done talking for the moment, it seemed.
I considered sprinting back toward the entrance, but they were in reach of me now, and faster than I’d expected. I wasn’t confident I could outpace them, especially after it recovered its sight.
Instead, I stepped to the side and began to circle them, moving gradually back to the area that had been sealed by the wall. I wasn’t a master of stone sorcery, but I could use it. If I could find a few moments, maybe I could make a gap big enough to climb through.
“I’d really like to avoid fight—”
They swiped a claw and knocked the torch right out of my hand.
I stared blankly for a moment as the light source clattered across the floor, then punched the scaled creature in the face.
Hard.
The creature staggered back, raising a hand to its cheek. Their expression changed.
To a smile. “Better.” Their blue eyes seemed to shimmer in the dark.
That was not a good sign.
I’d learned to control my swings a long time ago, because I liked being able to spar with humans without crushing their bones to powder.
But I’d taken that swing out of instinct. It wasn’t quite my full strength, but I would have put my fist through the stone wall without any difficulty.
They weren’t even visibly bruised.
Their return punch came a moment later, and I raised an arm to block. The blow carried me off the ground and threw me back a good ten feet. I landed in a slide, my arm aching from the force of the impact.
Motion sorcery, I realized. No amount of pure physical strength would have knocked me upward like that; instead, the strike had carried with it a blast of magic that enhanced and spread out the impact.
I knew what was coming next.
They blurred, flashing forward in a burst of kinetic energy, closing the gap between us in an instant.
But I’d fought motion sorcerers more times than I could count. Even before they landed, I was rotating my hips for a real punch, the kind I used to practice tearing through breastplates.
I hit them dead-on in the solar plexus. That actually slowed them down. They doubled over, clutching their chest and coughing.
For a moment, I was concerned that I’d misjudged and hit too hard.
Their tail whipped over their head, spiked tip arcing toward my throat. I grabbed it just in time, cutting one of my fingers on a spike in the process. They jerked the tail back, but I maintained my grip and stumbled forward.
With my free hand, I tried to throw another punch, but they grabbed my arm with both of theirs. We were practically on top of each other at that point, so I threw a knee upward. They countered by raising their own leg to block, which I hadn’t expected.
They snarled, biting at me with a set of teeth that were just slightly sharper than human ones. I stepped back to avoid the bite, and they finally managed to pull their tail free from my grip. Before they could swing it again, though, I slammed my boot down on their foot.
That got my hands free while they recoiled, and I used that freedom to back off a few feet. My left hand was still bleeding from where it had brushed against a spine, but not badly.
They backed off as well, apparently assessing me. That seemed good, until they kept backing off to the point where they disappeared into the mist.
I glanced around nervously, then headed for where I’d dropped the torch.
It went out before I reached it.
Resh.
I was plunged into darkness. I couldn’t see anything, but I could hear something moving to the side of me.
Something big.
“Can I interest you in calling this a draw?”
I heard a growl, followed by what sounded like bones snapping to my side.
I continued to inch toward where I’d last seen the torch. Since blinding the creature had seemingly worked, it was possible that the creature would have a tough time finding me in the dark, even if its night vision was better than mine.
I was pretty close to where I’d thought the torch was when I ran into something much larger than I was.
I took a step back. I hadn’t remembered a wall there. I raised a hand and ran it across....scales. Large scales, each the size of my fist.
Uh oh.
I stepped back just before something slammed into me the size of my entire midsection, hard enough to throw me almost ceiling-high. I landed hard and fell on my side, rolling a few feet across the floor.
That hurt.
I barely managed to push myself to the side before something landed on the stone where I’d been moments before, smashing the stone of the cavern floor.
Even without the light, I was close enough to get a glimpse of the clawed appendage that landed near my face. It was even bigger than what I’d felt connect with me, probably about the size of the upper half of my body.
I’d been thrown and battered by nothing more than a glancing blow.
I pushed myself to my feet with a cough, raising my left hand.
The darkness wasn’t slowing this thing down as much as I’d hoped, but it was making it impossible for me to evaluate my opponent effectively.
Burn. A sphere of flame the size of a watermelon appeared in my hand, and a chill ran down my spine as the spell extracted its cost. I rarely conjured fire on this scale due to the tax on my body, but I needed this flame for two reasons — both to see, and as a potential detergent to further attacks.
“Foolish human,” they spoke, the room trembling with each word. “Ha
d you chosen to fight me honorably from the outset, I would not have used this form.”
As it spoke, I took in what I was looking at.
A huge, serpentine head with a pair of vicious horns, each of which was large enough to impale me with ease.
A leonine body covered in hardened scales, with four massive clawed hands. Though standing on four legs, it was still twice as tall as I was.
And its wings were vast, at least twenty feet in total span, nearly brushing the ceiling and walls.
It was a creature of legend.
Unfortunately, I had no idea what I was looking at.
They don’t have dragons where I come from.
About the Author
Andrew Rowe was once a professional game designer for awesome companies like Blizzard Entertainment, Cryptic Studios, and Obsidian Entertainment. Nowadays, he’s writing full time.
When he’s not crunching numbers for game balance, he runs live-action role-playing games set in the same universe as his books. In addition, he writes for pen and paper role-playing games.
Aside from game design and writing, Andrew watches a lot of anime, reads a metric ton of fantasy books, and plays every role-playing game he can get his hands on.
Interested in following Andrew’s books releases, or discussing them with other people? You can find more info, update, and discussions in a few places online:
Andrew’s Blog: https://andrewkrowe.wordpress.com/
Mailing List: https://andrewkrowe.wordpress.com/mailing-list/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Arcane-Ascension-378362729189084/
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ClimbersCourt/
Other Books by Andrew Rowe
The War of Broken Mirrors Series
Forging Divinity
Stealing Sorcery
Defying Destiny (Coming Soon)
Arcane Ascension Series
Sufficiently Advanced Magic
On the Shoulders of Titans
Six Sacred Swords (Spinoff; Coming Soon)
