Soulstone: Awakening (World of Ruul Book 1)

by J. A. Cipriano

  A grin crossed my lips as I sprinted forward and snagged the egg. It was warm to the touch, and as I transferred it to my inventory, the entire room began to shake violently. A horrific roar filled my ears and something thudded to the ground behind me.

  The urge to turn and see what it was filled me, but I ignored it as I poured on my speed and leapt across the molten rivers of gold. As I landed on the ground on the far side and scrambled away, I realized I couldn’t see Two’ Manchu and the others through the doorway.

  Another loud thud filled my ears, and this time it was noticeably closer, and worse, it sounded like it was coming for me. The ceiling above cracked, spilling dust and debris down around me as the marble pillars buckled all around me and the thing thudded closer. Part of me wanted to turn and see what it was, but that look might cost me my life, so I sucked in a deep breath and lunged for the exit as the pillars supporting the doorway cracked in two and started to collapse.

  32

  I crashed hard onto the golden tile inches from the doorway, and as I scrabbled toward it, my hand outstretched toward the cracked support pillars as I tried desperately to will them to hold for another moment, the entire wall collapsed into rubble. Panic shot through my brain like an electric lance, arced down my spine, and slammed into my jackhammering heart, causing adrenaline to surge through every inch of my body

  My soul went up in flames of despair as I stared at the rockslide barring my escape. I was fucked. No more than fucked. I was something way, way worse than fucked.

  Behind me, the monstrous thing thudded closer, each step echoing off the walls like a bass drum that caused my stomach to clench in fear.

  “YOU DARE TO STEAL MY EGG?!” snarled a voice that was a raging tempest, a black hole of inevitability, and the pain of a thousand voices crying out as Alderaan was destroyed all rolled into one. “FOOL!”

  “By steal, you mean kept safe from the molten geysers of gold?” I murmured, surprised I was able to speak. Still, maybe I could talk my way out this? I mean, it’d sort of worked before…

  “SILENCE!” The creature shouted and my eardrums popped. I could feel the thing looming over me, feel the heat coming off its body like a hot, warm breath. “WHEN I WANT SHIT FROM YOU, I’LL SQUEEZE YOUR HEAD!”

  Pain exploded between my temples as frozen, white-scaled tree-trunk-sized fingers wrapped around my legs like coils of steel cable and hoisted me into the air like I was a toddler’s teddy bear. I swung there by my legs, my back to the humongous creature as it jerked me roughly upward into the air until my head dangled fifteen feet above the ground.

  “Fair enough,” I almost said but didn’t because I didn’t want to piss it off more. I mean, clearly it was mad about the whole stolen egg thing, but if that’s what it wanted, it could have the fucking egg.

  Only it didn’t want me to talk, so at the risk of being killed without getting the chance to wheel and deal, I hung there trying to keep myself from freaking out. To be honest, I wasn’t sure I was going to manage it. Everything in me was screaming to run away and hide, which wasn’t an option seeing as how I was upside down in a room full of molten metal.

  “WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?” it asked, splattering the back of my head with slimy gobs of warm spittle before punctuating the question with a snort that ruffled my hair.

  “Oh, I can talk now?” I replied, and I’ll be honest, I was pretty happy I managed to keep my voice from cracking.

  “I TOLD YOU NOT TO SPEAK? ARE YOU STUPID?” the thing asked, wringing me out like a wet towel. My head snapped to and fro, causing my teeth to snap violently together and my brain to slosh around inside my skull.

  “You’re making it very hard to comply with your demands,” I muttered, annoyance filling my voice. I had no idea how to do what it wanted. “If you want me to talk, then I’ll talk. If you want me to shut up, then I’ll shut up. But I can’t do both!”

  A throaty roar deep enough to make my stomach clench filled my ears.

  “YOU MOCK ME?” it growled, and this time I literally felt my butthole pucker in fear. I had to do something, anything to get myself out of this jam, but at the same time, as I tried to wriggle out of its impressive grip, I found I could barely move a muscle. Worse, it seemed to bear down harder with each movement I made.

  “No, I wouldn’t dream of mocking you,” I said in my best apologetic voice because the fighting spirit rippling off whatever held me aloft like I was a sack of dirty laundry made me feel like a mouse standing before a fucking Star Destroyer. “I’m sorry if I made you feel mocked.”

  “THAT IS NOT A REAL APOLOGY! YOU ARE NOT APOLOGIZING FOR MOCKING ME. YOU ARE JUST APOLOGIZING FOR HOW I FEEL!” The thing shook me again, and this time, things in my back popped that would most definitely require a chiropractor to fix.

  “I’m guessing you’re a girl monster demon thing, huh?” I said before I could stop myself. As the words left my lips, I inwardly cringed and hoped beyond hope I wasn’t about to get devoured.

  “YES?” the creature said, confusion and curiosity filling its voice. “WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES THAT MAKE?”

  “Um, none?” I said, shaking my head even though I wasn’t sure it could see me do it. I tried to turn so I could look at the thing. I still didn’t want to because I was worried seeing it would make me want to give up the ghost, but there was something about looking someone in the eyes that made it a lot harder for them to kill you.

  As I twisted to try to look at her once more, the creature shifted so I couldn’t actually see her. I definitely got the feeling something large was holding me, but I just couldn’t see hide nor hair of her. I craned my head up to try to get a better look at the hand gripping me, but the lower half of my body was completely obscured by white smoke so thick it looked like I was hanging out of the underside of a cloud.

  “RETURN MY EGG SO I CAN COMMENCE BEATING YOU TO DEATH,” she said, and panic rippled through me. As soon as I gave her the egg, she was going to kill me. It would be better to keep the egg and force a standoff especially since she seemed at least somewhat concerned about smashing it to bits if she bludgeoned me to death while I had it in my possession.

  Still, part of me was pretty sure that if she was going to kill me, she’d have done it. Probably. Hopefully. Either way, there was no way I was just going to give her the egg. No, I had to make a deal for my life. It was the only way.

  As I summoned my inner Billy Mays and opened my mouth to respond, Elizabeth spoke into my ear. “Your party member has initiated an instanced boss fight. The boss will spawn in ten seconds. Would you like to join the fray?”

  Elation exploded through me as I heard her words. In TG, if you accepted the invitation to join a boss fight, you’d be instantly teleported into the boss room the moment the counter reached zero. I was as good as saved.

  Thanking my lucky stars, I accepted the invitation, and a counter appeared in the corner of my HUD. I just needed to last ten seconds. I could do at that. Hell, I could last at least twice that, easy, despite what my ex may have said.

  “What if I don’t want you to commence beating me to death?” I asked, shaking my head. “Because, I’ll be honest, that doesn’t sound particularly fun for me.”

  “NO ONE CARES WHAT YOU WANT, PATHETIC ADVENTURER.” The thing shook me like a Polaroid picture. “NO ONE.”

  “My mom cares about what I want. When I visit her, she still cuts the crusts off my grilled cheese sandwiches.” I crossed my arms over my chest and fought the urge to stick my tongue out at the thing because I was a mature adult.

  “ALL MOTHERS CARE ABOUT THEIR OFFSPRING, WHICH IS WHY YOU WILL RETURN MY EGG.” She snorted again, causing my hair to ruffle once more. “ENOUGH TALK. YOU ARE NOT IN A POSITION TO BARGAIN. YOUR ONLY CHOICES ARE AS FOLLOWS. GIVE ME THE EGG AND I WILL KILL YOU QUICKLY. OR DO NOT GIVE IT TO ME IN WHICH CASE I WILL TEAR OUT YOUR INTESTINES AND SWING YOU AROUND THE ROOM BY THEM.” Her grip on my leg tightened causing excruciating pain to shoot through me. My bones felt like they
were being crushed into powder, and my health bar began to drop. Fuck.

  “Wait, are you a dragon?” I asked, swallowing the lump of panic in my throat as I tried vainly to spin to see the thing. “Because you keep saying it’s your egg, so…”

  “ENOUGH!” she shouted, right before shifting so I hung over a molten pool of gold. “GIVE ME THE EGG.”

  “Look, I—”

  She dropped me. A hysterical scream tore from my lips as I fell toward the ground while flailing my arms in a vain attempt to fly. The golden pool popped and spit below, and even though I knew it wouldn’t do any good, I raised my arms to keep from falling face first into a vat of molten gold. Scalding heat seared my eyeballs and my health bar began to drop in a way that let me knew I was as good as dead the second I touched the magma below.

  Still, I had one last trick up my sleeve. I pulled the egg from my inventory and held it out in front of me toward the lava like it would somehow cushion my fall.

  “NO!” the thing screeched, reaching out toward me as I tumbled toward the molten pool. Her hand grabbed me as I hovered there an inch from the pool and as her other hand came reaching out to snatch the egg from my grip, the boss timer hit zero.

  Agony that was a cross between being twisted into a pretzel, being torn apart by Vikings, and being eaten by fire ants exploded across my body. Actually, all three of those things would have been preferable to the pain erupting throughout my body.

  Light flashed across my eyes and electricity crackled through my hair as my body completely dissolved. The shrieks of the damned filled my ears, and as I tried to orient myself to being dismantled at a molecular level, I was spat out like a dirty loogy.

  I hit the ground in a wet plop and lay there clutching the dragon’s egg as my lungs burned for air. Just sucking in a breath was like trying to gulp down molten lava and broken glass, but I did it anyway

  “Nice of you to make it,” Dark Heart said, glancing at me as I pocketed the egg. She had one hand held out toward me like she was trying to help me up. “We figured you got trapped in the room behind us so we started the boss sequence hoping you’d get teleported here. You’re welcome.” She jerked a thumb at Crash who looked pleased as punch. “It was his idea.”

  “It was,” the priest said, unable to keep the smugness out of his voice. “But I’m sure you can pay me back for it.”

  As I opened my mouth to reply, the lights went out, pitching us into complete and total darkness. Then a burning silver five erupted from the front of the room. As it shifted into a flaming four, neon lights began to flash all around us, and the silhouette of a long-haired man appeared a hundred yards away. He stood with his back to us with his arms outstretched to either side.

  As he spun on one heel to face us, he lifted his hands skyward and geysers of water erupted from either side of him. A metallic red masquerade mask hid his face from view, and his shirt was open revealing so many muscles, I could have sworn even his abs had abs.

  “Finally,” he said in a voice that swept over me like a cat’s tongue. I unconsciously scrunched away from it as he took a step toward us. His single footstep reverberated throughout the room as the ground all around him lit up with neon light like he was playing Dance Dance Revolution.

  “Finally?” I asked in confusion as I got to my hands and knees. The world still felt too woozy from the teleportation for me to stand, but I had to ignore it and focus. I wasn’t sure who this guy was, but since we’d just initiated a boss fight, I wasn’t taking any chances. “Finally, what?”

  “Come on, boss,” George said, nudging me with his nose. “Time to get up. This isn’t the time for a nap.”

  “Maybe he’s glad we finally reached him?” Dark Heart offered as she grabbed me by the arm and helped me to my feet. Even with her help, I stumbled sideways and would have fallen over again if she hadn’t wrapped an arm around my waist and steadied me.

  “Finally we will be able to sacrifice some adventurers to the Skeleton King!” the guy said before malevolent laughter erupted from his throat and spilled across the darkness between us.

  “That doesn’t sound very good,” Two’ Manchu said in the understatement of the year as the counter hit zero, and the lights came on.

  Instantly, my hand went up to shield myself from the sudden, overwhelming glare after being flung out of darkness, but as my eyes adjusted, I realized we stood in a massive amphitheater.

  The grungy dirt floor beneath out feet was littered with dark splotches that made me think a lot of blood had been spilled here. A cheer exploded from all around us, and as I craned my head around, I saw orcs, goblins, elves, and every other humanoid permutation I could think of in the stands above.

  “Maybe we should attack now?” I said, trying to move away from Dark Heart. I managed, but just standing was harder than I’d have liked. While I knew I’d be okay in a few seconds, I didn’t know if I had those seconds.

  “Why don’t we wait until your teleportation sickness wears off,” Crash said, as the flame-haired man with abs of abs sauntered around the far end of the arena. “He doesn’t seem to be in any hurry, so let’s use that to our advantage.”

  I nodded in agreement as the guy who wanted to sacrifice us bent down and picked a rusty sword covered in runes off the rack on the wall next to him.

  “Finally, the Skeleton King will rise and his vengeance will rain down across the entire land.” He turned and fixed us with solid gold eyes. Gilded flames leapt from those soulless sockets as he stood and pointed the sword at us. “You will make history with your deaths!”

  “Who is the Skeleton King?” Two’ Manchu asked, glancing at Crash who just shrugged. “Is it some new boss or something?”

  “Who the fuck cares? Let’s just smoke this fucker and go back to town. First drink’s on someone else,” George said, moving closer to me, and I realized the tenacious bunny was a bit scared of this guy. It seemed a bit odd because while his eyes were a bit weird, and he had more muscles than the Rock, he was just wearing an open shirt and black leather pants. Neither of those said “bad ass” to me. Still, looks could be deceiving.

  “I’m with the bunny,” Dark Heart said, readying her warhammer. “I don’t like the look of this guy.” She glanced at me. “Just stay back until your sickness wears off.”

  “Okay—“

  “You are not prepared!” the guy said, cutting me off as he swung his sword through the air, causing golden flame to leap across the edge and trail behind it.

  “All right, Illidan,” Two’ Manchu said, taking a step forward as he pulled out his axe and readied to attack him. “You’re so 2007.”

  “Come get some!” A grin flickered across the man’s bloodless lips as he charged forward, sword raised high. Then before he could reach us, he stopped, kicking up a cloud of dust that billowed across the air and held out a hand to us. “Or are you scared?”

  “Something’s a bit off with this guy,” Crash said as he flicked his wrist, summoning his spectral blades. The energy swords appeared in front of him with a loud pop that caused the smell of ozone to fill my nose. “Let’s try this from a distance.” He glanced around at us. “Unless there are any objections.”

  When no one said anything, Crash nodded and pointed at the guy. The spectral blades zoomed forward and slashed at the masked red-head.

  His grin widened as he raised his hand and stopped the blades in midair. Sweat broke out on Crash’s forehead and he grunted as the guy stepped calmly past the stationary floating swords and sauntered toward us.

  “Prepare to die!” he cried, raising his sword high over his head. Then he drove the weapon into his own stomach and tore it sideways spilling his own blood out across the dirt. Steam rose from the wound as he fell forward on his knees, both hands clasping bloody the handle. As his blood hit the runes on the blade’s edge, they lit up with malevolent scarlet light and the ground shuddered and convulsed.

  “What the fuck?” I cried as I stumbled, losing my balance and collapsing to the gro
und.

  “Not prepared,” the man gasped, slumping forward onto the ground as his skin began to writhe like a billion cockroaches were scurrying to and fro beneath his flesh. His bones twisted at unnatural angles before snapping and tearing free of his body.

  Blood and thicker bits sprayed in every direction as the broken bones swirled upward into the air trailing bits of torn meat like a macabre tornado. Then a black hole began to form within the bone storm, and out of that hole came a voice that turned the sky to blood. Lightning crashed and thunder roared.

  “The Skeleton King does not accept your sacrifice.” Profound silence filled the air, and as the darkness began to fade, the earth beneath the bone storm and was torn asunder, and a steel box was trust outward amid a torrent of hellfire and brimstone. “More blood must be spilled.”

  33

  The iron box shrieked in agony as a blue fist the size of a bowling ball punched through the metal. Jagged claws the size of daggers, gripped the ragged edges of the steel and pulled, tearing it asunder like tissue paper. As the torn, twisted hunk of metal hit the ground in front of the box with a thud, and the demon inside stepped from the ruins of its cage and unfurled its massive, leathery wings, my stomach tightened in fear and my mouth went dry.

  The thing was enormous, easily eleven feet tall and nearly that wide. Just looking at the demon made me want to roll into a ball and hide, and as its huge veined batwings stretched out on either side of its massive body and its sapphire armor glinted in the bloody light of the sky, I nearly did just that.

  The only thing that stopped me was the look in its molten eyes. That look told me it wanted me to run and hide, that it would take pleasure in the fear it caused me. So instead, I nodded at the thing.