The Crucible of Immortality: Book One: Synthesis

by Leto Blackman

  "Jax, are you alright? You are sweating and look pale?" Sallinda asks me.

  "Jax is trying to ask about the Ceanla seedling. I would also like to hear about The Caste.... they have become violent?" Doc asks walking up. I could kiss him. Sallinda looks at Doc, she seems a bit scared.

  "The Ceanla were one of the major sentient lifeforms of this planet. They were always peaceful and remained neutral. They are sentient plants and took great offense at needless destruction of this planet. I will need to do a lot research, but if I can get this seedling to sprout we will have a real live Ceanla." She tells us with excitement. I'm just grateful to be discussing something else.

  New Quest Alert:

  Return of the Ceanla

  A Ceanla seedling has been found. Help nurture and protect the seedling until it sprouts.

  Quest Type: World Event

  Difficulty: Cruel

  Rewards: 5,000 Experience, Disposition Increase with Ceanla to Ally, Legendary Weapon or Armor Item.

  Do you accept this quest? Y/N

  Everyone grow quiet as we read over the quest. Sallinda gasps, I look at her, she is pale and looks terrified. "J... j... Jax... take this." She hands me the seedling. "I am just a herbalist, I can't be responsible for a whole race of beings." Before anyone can say anything else there is a roar. We all turn towards the sound.

  "Run." I say to Sallinda. I don't have to tell her twice, she takes off at full speed.

  Doc and Kala take positions on either side of me, then we all enter Stealth. We walk through the woods for a few minutes, and then stop at the edge of a clearing. In the center of the clearing is a huge thing. I analyze it.

  Name: Krazlg Uglar

  Title: Blood Fist

  Level: 14

  Synthesis: 41%

  Health: 1,052

  Mental: 225

  Stamina: 700

  Focus: Ravager

  Race: Langhu

  Disposition: Sorrow

  Skills: Hidden

  Loot: Epic

  The thing is twelve feet tall, humanoid in shape with pitch black skin with a red undertone. There are horns on its head and it is wearing blood-red armor around its bulging muscles. It holds a thick club with spikes on it. It turns its head in our direction, its eyes are a beautiful sky blue and twinkle with intelligence. It laughs and then speaks, "You can come out of Stealth little Progenitor, I can see you." He says with a raspy thick voice. I step forward with Doc and Kala. Krazlg laughs again, "I didn't think it would be so easy. I was becoming sad thinking I was going to have to slaughter the whole human village to find you." He looks me up and down. "So you are the reason The Caste are up in arms? Such low level. You look like a human, but you are a Progenitor, I have never heard of that race before." He looks at Doc, "So little progenitor, you made this metal man? Impressive." Then he sighs, "Anyways, come with me and I'll let your companions go. They only want you."

  "Who is The Caste and why do they want Jax?" Kala asks Krazlg.

  He sighs again "I really do not need to answer your questions. I don't want to hurt any of you, but they have my family. Please, I can't stop once blood as been drawn." He says sounding almost defeated.

  "We can help you get your family back. You don't need to do this." I say to him.

  He stares at me for a moment, his eyes conveying sadness. "So be it. They said alive, but gave me permission to kill if you wouldn't come peacefully." He says almost too soft for me to hear. Doc moves with lighting speed and slashes his side. Krazlg looks down with a look of annoyance and then bashes his club into Doc sending him flying into the trees. I hear Kala counting and I see that she has her bow pulled back, the arrow glowing brighter with each second. I raise my hand and begin charging Laser Beam, I immediately feel my head to hurt. Doc is already back, stand a few feet away from Krazlg, firing silver pieces of himself at him. I didn't know he could do that.

  Krazlg takes his club and squeezes his hand on the spikes causing it to bleed. He roars and a red glow surrounds him. He leaps into the air fifteen feet and lands smashing the ground where Doc was just standing. Kala releases an arrow, it flies like at him dead center. At the last second Krazlg twirls around and grabs the arrow out of the air, its energy pluses into him arm causing no damage. He looks at Kala and grins. I let loose my Laser Beam, it slams into him taking away fourteen percent of his health. The red glow surrounding Krazlg brightens in intensity. He roars and leaps towards me. I freeze for the briefest moment, not knowing what to do, and then I activate my Shockwave at the last second to get out of the way.

  I land ten feet away and pull my staff out and fire a dark bolt at him. The bolt harmlessly absorbs into his armor. "Shit." I mumble. He laughs and starts walking towards me, like he's out for a stroll in the park. Suddenly a metal spike is sticking out of his leg, taking twelve percent of his health. "You are becoming a nuisance metal man." He moves with great speed and grabs Doc in his hand and then rips both of Docs arms off. He tosses the arms and Doc to the ground.

  "NO!" I scream.

  I throw my staff down and get my short sword out, I quickly smash one of my mind orbs in my hand, feeling my mental energy return. Then I activate the sword's temporal field, everything around me slows down, like I hit the slow motion button on the world. I run towards Krazlg, behind him I see an arrow slowly moving in his direction. I slash at his exposed areas as fast as I can, I can see a timer in my vision counting down to when the temporal effect ends. I only have five seconds left, I hack at his arm holding the club. I hit bone and can go no further. Suddenly time returns to normal and Krazlg howls in pain and looks down at his hand. At the same moment Kala hits him in the back. I see that he is now at fifty percent health. He smashes his good hand to the ground causing a massive wave of energy to slam into me and Kala.

  We both are knocked back twenty feet and forty percent of my health gone, Kala's health is at nineteen percent. We are both stunned. He looks down at me "I'm impressed you were able to damage me as much as you did. But, this ends now.... I'm sorry." He stomps towards me and then stands over me and raises his club. Before he can swing a figure dressed in all black is on his back with two daggers on his throat and then slices. Blood rains over me, Krazlg looks at me with confusion in his eyes, and then drops down dead.

  The figure does a back flip off and lands on their feet, flicks their daggers removing the blood and then the daggers disappear and then reappear on the sides of the figure in sheathes. I Analyze the figure to find out if they are friend or foe, but nothing happens, no info appears. I try again, still nothing. "The bigger the asshole, the harder they fall." The black clad figure says in a female voice. My stomach drops and I feel lightheaded. It can't be. It's not possible.

  The figure removes their hood and Jill's face is looking down at me with a huge grin. "Jesus Jax, how are you only level six?" She offers me a hand to help me up. I just stare at her, my mind not working.

  "Jill?" I say, feeling tears run down my face.

  "Aww, Jax. Don't get all weepy on me, you know I cry whenever you do." She says as her eyes water up. "Will you take my fucking hand so I can hug you already?" She asks me through a sob. I take her hand and stand up and then I wrap her in a crushing embrace. I feel her body shake with crying.

  "Jax? Who is this?" I hear Kala ask as she walks up. Jill pulls away and looks at Kala.

  "Damn Jax, who's the hottie with the body?"

  I laugh through a cry, "Kala, this is Jill, my little sister. Jill, this is my good friend Kala." I look over their shoulders and see that Doc's arms have formed into balls and are rolling towards him as he stands up. I issue a sigh of relief, "And that is Doc over there behind you."

  Kala, turns around and runs to Doc and hugs him "I'm so glad you are okay, I was scared shitless when that monster ripped your arms off." Kala then walks back and embraces my sister. Jill looks a bit uncomfortable for a moment and then hugs back. "It's so wonderful to meet you, Jill. Jax talks about you all the time and I know his heart was in pai
n thinking you were back on the ship without him."

  I look Jill up and down "Jill that is some freaking amazing gear, how did you get it? And how did you get here? And how did you find me?" I ask her in quick succession.

  Jill laughs "Jax, calm it down, you'll give yourself a panic attack." Jill and Kala both laugh at her comment and then share a look. "How about we loot this asshole and then make a camp? My feet are killing me from running here and I'm starving too."

  "No need to make a camp, I own a house in the village a little way back." I tell her.

  Jill laughs until there are tears in her eyes, "Only you would own a house on a game planet. How am I not surprised. Always the practical one." She smiles at me. "Oh shit! I forgot about Aurelia, in the family reunion." She says. Then she turns around and yells "It's okay Aurelia, you can come out, they are friends." A small girl walks out from behind some trees. A beast walks next to her, it bares its teeth and chirps. Jill picks the girl up, "Aurelia, this is my brother Jax, and his friends Kala and Doc. Everyone, this is Aurelia." Jill then places Aurelia down and picks up the beast. "And this cute little ferocious baby is Thunder Wiger, you can call him Thunder for short." Jill says the last part in baby talk and kisses the creature's nose, it licks her face and then looks at us and growls. "Shhh, it's okay my baby. They are friends." Jill says to it.

  I laugh, Jill was always a sucker for cute animals. We all say hi to the shy girl, she doesn't say anything back. Jill whispers in my ear and tells me what happened to her. I look at her with a heavy heart and I know why Jill appears to be so motherly with her. "Ma'am, eight creatures approach from the south-west." I hear a British mans voice say.

  "Oh yeah, Alfred say hi to everyone." Jill says to her gauntlet.

  "Good afternoon, I am Jill's attendant, it is my pleasure to meet you." Alfred says.

  I look at Jill confused "Ah, hello, Alfred." I say.

  Jill puts Aurelia down and tells her to get behind her. We all line up with our weapons out as a group of people come out of the woods with weapons drawn. It is Farely with the Rangers. "Jax, Sallinda told us you might need some help." He says looking over the situation. His eyes go wide when he sees the dead creature "Wow, a Langhu. We have not had contact with them for years. They look terrifying, but they are an extremely complex race, much like humans in that regard." He looks over at Jill and Kala "Looks like you made some new friends Jax, who's are they?" Farely looks at the ground, "You guys do know that there is a dire wiger behind you?" He tells us.

  Kala giggles, "A dire wiger? Thats adorable!" She says.

  "Uh, yeah, it's with us." I say. Farely looks at me strangely and then shrugs.

  "Actually, this is Kala. You met her yesterday." Farely looks confused, "It's a long story." I say. "This is my sister, Jill. We were about to head back to the village, we will walk with you if you're headed that way." I say to Farely.

  "We are going to scout around and make sure there are no more surprises. I don't like this, this village has been quiet for years, and now two attacks in a row? Something is not right." He says looking around the woods.

  "Well, be safe, and thank you for checking on us." I say. Farely taps his forehead and leads the Rangers off.

  I turn to everyone and then look down at the dead Krazlg. I feel a moment of guilt, he said that they had his family. He really didn't seem like he wanted to fight. "Well, who wants to do the honors?" I say and point to the corpse.

  Kala hops up and down with her hand in the air, "Me me me! I have never looted anything before." She says excited.

  Jill laughs, "Sure, go for it, that was the cutest loot dance I have ever seen." Kala waves her hand in front of the body.

  Langhu Heavy Rage Armor* (Chest, Legs, Arms, Feet)

  Rarity: Set Items

  Quality: Fine

  Durability: 300/300

  Armor: 45

  Chest: 5 to Strength

  Legs: 5 to Endurance

  Arms: 5 to Constitution

  Feet: 15% increase to melee damage.

  Item Set Bonus 1: User gains a 20% boost to Perception.

  Item Set Bonus 2: User movement speed is increased by 15%

  Item Set Bonus 3: User gains the Rage affliction.

  Item Set Bonus 4: User gains the skill Earth Slam.

  *Requires 20 Strength

  Langhu Rage Club

  Rarity: Rare

  Quality: Superb

  Durability: 316/400

  Melee Damage: 25-35

  Effect 1: 5 to Strength

  Effect 2: If the user causes self-inflicted damage with this club Blood Rage will be activated.

  Kala looks over the loot, her face scrunches up in displeasure "Ugh! I can't use this stuff. This is so lame." She picks up a few other items "Well, I'm keeping this Luminous Core." She places the core in her inventory. She holds a small doll in her hands, it looks like a mini female Langhu "What's this thing?" She asks. Then a pop up window appears.

  New Quest Alert:

  Free Krazlg's Family

  You have found the quest item Lamu's doll. Krazlg's daughter Lamu, and his wife are held captive by The Caste. Free his family and make the choice of what to tell them of his death.

  Quest Type: Rare

  Difficulty: Hard

  Rewards: Variable

  Do you accept this quest? Y/N

  We all look at the quest, pain begins to fill my heart knowing that we are responsible for the death of a child's father. But, what choice did he have, and what choice did we have? He had to choose between his family and us, and we had to choose between our lives or his. With all these quests and pop up windows you can forget this is real life, and actions have consequences.

  "Well, are you guys going to share what made you all look like sad puppies?" Jill asks us. I share with her the quest and send her a party invite. "Damn, how was I suppose to know what the situation was? I just saw him about to kill my brother, so I acted." She says sounding defensive.

  "It's okay, Jill, it was him or us." I say.

  I look down at my blood soaked body and clothes. How do I always end up covered in gross stuff? Plus these were new clothes. I sigh heavily "Lets head back to the house and clean up. We can talk after we get settled." I say.

  "Oh! Do you have a shower? I have gone two weeks cleaning myself in ice-cold streams and rivers." Jill says.

  "No shower, but I think we could wrangle up a hot bath for you." I say.

  "Oh my god, you are my hero right now, Jax." Jill says.

  Chapter Eleven: Full House

  We are almost to the house, I switch hands between my staff and sword. "Um Jax? Why don't you just equip you weapons?" Jill asks me.

  "What do you mean?" I ask her. Jill stops and looks at me, and then at Kala holding her bow.

  "Are you seriously telling me you guys don't know how to equip your weapons?" She asks in an incredulous tone. I shrug at her and look at Kala for help, she just shrugs back. "Omg, what would you guys do without me?" She rubs her eyes in mock frustration. "Okay, first open the 3D representation of yourself." She says. Kala and I both give Jill a blank stare.

  "Are you kidding me? Ugh, okay think User Profile." She says.

  "Oh! This is so cool. So, this is what I look like? We have no mirrors in our home, so I haven't looked at myself. Strange.... to see yourself for the first time." Kala says.

  Jill looks at her strangely, "How have you never seen yourself? Was your family in a weird "Thou shall not gaze upon your own image" cult or something? Never mind, I'll hear the story after I get a bath. Anyway.... yeah, so now that you have your profile up all you need to do is think what weapon or item you want equipped, or unequipped."

  I do as she says and my staff disappears from my hand and I feel it equipped on my back. Next I do my sword, it disappears and then reappears in a sheath on my hip. I close the window and think "equip sword" and it appears in my hand. "Wow, that's awesome, and helpful to know. Thanks, Jill." I say smiling at her.

  "No problem bro.
Don't you worry, Jill is here to save the day." She says with a laugh.

  "Sorry about that, Jax, I didn't know that you did not have mastery over your menus. I just though you liked to carry your weapon in your hands or inventory." Doc says behind me.

  "You're cool, Doc, we are all learning as we go."

  "Actually, I maintain an ambient temperature to help mask my presence to thermal detection." Doc says to me.

  Jill laughs, "Hey, that was pretty funny, Doc." She says to him.

  "He was serious, Jill. There are many Earth sayings and terms the beings of this world do not understand." I inform her. Aurelia walks up to the side of Doc and looks at him with curiosity.

  "Hello small human." Doc says and offers her his hand. She looks confused, then she timidly touches his hand. Doc's whole body ripples and he reforms into a unicorn. We all stare in shock, Aurelia giggles and claps her hands in joy. She pets Doc the Unicorn with her hand, and then walk away and holds Jill's hand.

  Doc transforms back into his man shape. "What did you do to me? I had no control over my form.... that was disconcerting." Doc says to the girl. Aurelia hides her head against Jill's side.

  Jill pulls out the chunk of metal from the building she found the girl in. "Do you happen to be made out of this metal?" Jill asks Doc. He walks up and takes the metal from Jill's hand.

  "Yes, although this is an inferior grade and it is dormant." He says, then hands it back to Jill.

  "It seems she is able to control this metal. I don't think she meant any harm, right Aurelia?" Jill asks her. She peeks her head from the safety of Jill's side and nods.

  "I guess we all have stories to tell. Everyone ready to go?" I ask. We make it to the house and I give Jill a tour and then draw her a bath. I strip out of my blood soaked clothes and wrap a blanket around myself. I really need to find out how clothes are washed around here. I sit in the living room with everyone as Jill takes her bath. Forty-five minutes later she comes out, rosy cheeked and grinning ear to ear.