The Eternal: A Boxed Set (World of Ga'em Book 6)

by Dhayaa Anbajagane

  “Wow, talk about a vote of confidence.”

  “Hey, I’m just being realistic, okay?”

  DING!

  The reply came fast, and both of us looked at the screen that emerged in front of me.

  Zoran, I’ve analyzed the image you sent me. Lucky for you, I studied many a scroll about the Dragon Clan before a lot of that material went missing. The sign you saw does indeed belong to the Dragon Clan, but I don’t know anything specific about it. I’m assuming that means it’s a very common sign and so has no special significance to it. However, I would err on the side of caution, given how mysterious the Dragon Clan had been.

  Wow, that’s a lot of useful info.

  “How does she even know about all this?” Nyx asked.

  “Are you just jealous she knows more than you do?” I chuckled.

  “Well, kinda,” he said. “I mean, you and I are beings that have lived ever since the dawn of time, and she knows more than we do.”

  “We were also sealed away for many millennia,” I added.

  “Yeah, but the Dragon Clan showed up for a bit before we went away.”

  “Oh,” I said.

  “Zoran, can you ask her why the Dark Alliance or the Black Guardians would be interested in such a sign?” Freya asked.

  “Already did,” I said, checking with Nyx for a second and confirming he’d sent her the message. It took about five minutes before we got a reply back.

  DING!

  I don’t really know what’s going on with that. It’s not exactly clear why the Dark Alliance or the Black Guardians would pursue of something like this symbol. Doesn’t make much sense to me at all. I would suggest you try to find something out if you can, since this seems like it could be a more serious issue than it looks like at the moment, and I’d like to know more about it so we can take appropriate action.

  “Hmm,” I said looking at the message.

  “So she doesn’t know anything,” Freya said, looking over my shoulder.

  “Yeah, but that’s expected,” I said. “It’d be hard for her to accurately predict the motivations of those two groups.”

  “True,” she said. “What do we do now?”

  “We better head back up,” I said. “We can try to find the two groups and see if that leads us anywhere. Any clue is a good clue at this point.”

  “Mmm, I agree,” she said and turned to look at the staircase we’d come down.

  A gentle draft blew through the air, as though the chamber was bidding us goodbye. I looked at the crystal water and the fresh vines one last time and then turned, heading up the way we had come down.

  The steps of ice creaked as we put our weight on them, climbing back up to the entrance. Freya’s ball of light came in handy once again as we walked further from the chamber, leaving its light and heading into the darkness. I felt chills run along my skin this time, even though we were walking through areas that were warmer than where we had just been. The fact that we knew what was down there added a certain unease to this place now.

  Soon we came upon the door from before and it stood closed, just as we had left it. I tried pushing it open, but like the last time, that did not work one bit. And so I shifted to plan B. I closed my eyes and placed my palm on the door, focusing on its presence and trying to sense the energy within it.

  That’s odd, I thought as I viewed the mental image of flowing purple energy filling up the door. It should be unlocked, I realized, double-checking and confirming there were no gaps of energy within it.

  “Is anything wrong?” Freya asked.

  “The door,” I said. “It’s almost as though it’s been locked in a different way from before.”

  “What?” She blinked.

  “Give me a second.” I stepped back and focused on my fist, letting my energy sink into it. I thrust forward, sending it crashing into the rocky door. A rumbling echo sent tremors through the walls around us, but the door itself never budged. I tried once again, infusing my fist with even more energy and slamming it into the rock, only to have the same result occur once again.

  DING!

  Congratulations! You have learned a new Hand Combat special move:

  Meteor Fist!

  Send enemies and foes into the air with a punch worthy of a meteor. Attack and/or speed may increase by a random amount for every five kills made with the move.

  Mana Cost

  20

  Casting Time

  0.1 seconds

  Cooldown Time

  1 minute

  Range

  N/A

  Effect 1

  At least +2% Attack for every 5 kills

  Wow, I thought. Did not expect to learn a new special move at this point in time.

  “Looks like the door is completely locked, though,” Nyx said. “I’m actually quite impressed it managed to bear an attack like that from you.”

  “Sturdy door,” I said.

  “What do you want to do?” Freya asked. “I’m assuming your Shadow Travel skill hasn’t recovered yet.”

  “Yeah, I won’t be able to use it for the next few hours.”

  “Ugh,” she said. “I don’t know what other options we have.”

  “Let’s head back down for now,” I said. “Maybe we can find another path out of here if we try.”

  “That sounds like a good plan,” Nyx said.

  “I’m still confused about what happened here,” I said to Nyx. “I mean, the door was unlocked before. And now it doesn’t even budge?”

  “I’m more intrigued about how it has been locked this time. It appears to be in the same state. I have no clue what changed within it to cause it to lock in the first place.”

  “Exactly,” I said. “That bothers me a lot.”

  “Likewise,” he said. “I have no clue what exactly happened, but I can tell it wasn’t normal.”

  We headed back down, the creaking steps from before consuming the sounds of the air once again as our feet fell across the ice. I took my time walking down, letting whatever thoughts came into my mind float along. I wondered what exactly was going on here, and how it could be connected to everything else I’d seen recently.

  In the span of a day, I’d been attacked by the Black Guardians, seen the Lumina Knights use some weird machine, had the Dark Alliance attack my village, and had their men kidnap one of my compatriots.

  It was definitely no mere coincidence that all of these events had happened so close together. I knew now that the Black Guardians and the Dark Alliance were working together, so the proximity of the attacks might actually make a lot of sense, but the Lumina Knights were still quite confusing to place within this mess of an event list.

  What exactly are they all after? I wondered as I stepped off the last slab of ice and onto the floor of the serene chamber. The pool of crystal water glittered, reflecting soft light into my eyes. A part of me wanted to dip my feet in the water, just relax and let everything go.

  “Should we try to find another way out?” Freya asked.

  I nodded.

  “Why can’t you just blast out of here or something?” she asked. “Pretty sure you’re strong enough to do that.”

  “I can break through maybe a few feet of solid rock if I try. I doubt I can break through a whole freaking mountain.”

  “Well, never say never.” She grinned.

  I rolled my eyes. “Let’s just try to find another way out for now.” We walked alongside the walls, and I ran my hands along the ice, feeling the burning chill underneath my fingers. I don’t know what exactly I was hoping to find, but I did it anyway.

  We went around the chamber twice and still found nothing to lead us out of here. “Ugh,” I said. “We’re stuck in here.”

  “Looks like it,” Freya said. “Unless, of course, you can break through the ceiling.”

  “I can’t,” I sighed. “And I doubt I’d want to break through this ceiling. Don’t think it’d be a good idea to damage the symbol.”

  “Oh, that’s true,
” she said.

  “Yeah.”

  My mind drifted around, thinking about possible plans to get us out of here. I couldn’t come up with anything for the moment, though. The best option we had right now was to just wait until my Shadow Travel skill activated again and then use it to get us out of here.

  However, I’d really prefer we didn’t do that. At the moment, we were certain the Dark Alliance and the Black Guardians had something planned, and odds were we’d find out what it was very soon. I’d really prefer I had a means of escape if it came to that, and that meant not using my Shadow Travel for something like this.

  Unless, of course, things got much more serious than we expected over the next few minutes.

  “How bad could things get?” Nyx asked.

  “You realize this is me, right?” I asked.

  He chuckled. “Fine. Good point.”

  I smiled to myself. “Nonetheless, we need to get out of here somehow,” I said.

  “Wait a minute.” Freya perked up. “What if you tried to melt the ice around the door?”

  “What?” I blinked.

  “You can use your Fire Arts and burn the parts of the ice sticking to the door,” she said. “If you loosened the structure around the door, maybe you’d be able to bring it down.”

  “Wow,” I said. “How did I not think of that before?”

  She grinned. “C’mon, let’s try it.”

  We headed back up the staircase, in what was becoming a very repetitive movement within the chamber. When we reached the door, I put my hand next to its hinges and tapped on the ice with my knuckles, trying to gauge how thick it was. I couldn’t really tell much, other than that it definitely wasn’t thin.

  But that was also something I’d expected, since it wouldn’t be practical for a massive door like this to rest in a thin slab of ice.

  “Do you think you can melt it?” Freya asked.

  “We can always try,” I said. “However, if I’m going to do this, you should probably step back. Just to be safe.”

  She nodded.

  I took a small step back as well and put my hand out, letting it hover before the ice. I focused on the energy within me, channeling it to my needs. “Oskis!” I yelled, and a burst of flames shot out of my palm and straight into the ice. The transparent solid heated up to a deep red, and my face and skin felt a gentle warmth, sweat quickly forming on my brow.

  Despite all that heat, I couldn’t see any water forming, which bothered me quite a bit. What was going on?

  I cut off the flames and paused for a second. The ice before me was red-hot, but not a single drop of water had been shed. I watched as the red slab slowly cooled, returning to the transparent slab it had been before.

  “Huh?” Freya blinked. “Did that ice just not melt at all?”

  “Maybe it’s special,” I said, wondering if the Ulhur Mountains had ice with special properties. Then again, I’d had no problems melting the ice in the previous chamber.

  “It’s possible this place has multiple enchantments on it,” Nyx said. “After all, this is the door that leads to a chamber with a Dragon Clan sign.”

  All of a sudden I heard a deep rumbling, and the staircase shook violently. I put my hand to the wall, steadying myself against it as the ice beneath me trembled. Freya latched onto my shoulder, and I held her steady as the tremors around us increased.

  The massive door of rock suddenly creaked, and I realized what was going on. I immediately threw myself back, pulling Freya along with me. We fell onto the staircase, the elf in my arms, and slid down a few steps before coming to a stop.

  I glanced up just in time to see the door before us thunder open, slamming into the ice with a blazing speed. Men in dark armor and cloaks stood at the entrance, and there within their ranks, bound in chains, was a young Kobold.

  Nazu. My eyes widened.

  A man in a hooded cloak stepped out in front of the group and stood before them all, a familiarity about his presence.

  “Well, well, well,” Jelal chuckled. “We meet again, Eternal.”

  ***

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “Jelal,” I muttered.

  “You don’t seem pleased to see me, Diablo.” The Dark Commander chuckled, amusement in his voice.

  “Should have figured you were here.”

  “I’m quite surprised you are here, actually,” he said. “What brings you to such a discreet location?”

  “You kidnapped one of my village’s citizens,” I said, annoyed. “I’m here to take him back.”

  “The Kobold?” He glanced at Nazu.

  “That’s right, and I’d like for you to hand him over. Now.”

  He laughed. “Well, this is interesting.” He looked right at me, and his voice went deadpan. “Sorry, but that isn’t possible.”

  I paused for a second, taken aback by his sudden assertiveness. “What do you want with him?” I asked.

  He sighed. “I feel like you don’t understand the whole point of a silent operation,” he said. “There’d be no point to it if I went around telling every person who asked me, now would there?”

  I gritted my teeth. “What do you want with my friend, Jelal?” I asked, more assertive with my tone. “Why did you kidnap him?”

  He chuckled. “You know, you may be powerful, Phantom Lord. But you’re not the brightest of men.”

  I thrust my palm forward. “Osulier!” I yelled, and the shadows beneath Jelal jumped up, swallowing him whole.

  “You’re going to have to do better than that,” he said, and the shadowy bonds around exploded, shattering to bits and dissolving instantly. He stood there as before, only now his hood had been torn clean off.

  He looked at me, his pupils as red as blood, a wicked smile on his face. Jet-black hair flowed down his neck, long and straight. I stepped back, unease spreading through me.

  “Well, I’d have removed my hood at some point,” he chuckled. “I guess it’s okay that it happened now.”

  I quickly realized that the Knights standing behind him were just as uneasy as I was, and that bothered me. If they feared him, then there was definitely something about him to be wary about.

  His appearance did bother me quite a bit. People didn’t have red eyes unless there was something different about them, and the difference might not be something that was comforting to me. My eyes, of course, shifted behind him to Nazu, who was sitting atop a horse, his ankles and wrists bound together with chains. He had a gag in his mouth but didn’t seem hurt otherwise. He looked at me, and I could see in his eyes that he was fearful of everything that was happening.

  I’ll get you out of this soon, I said silently.

  “We need to gauge what Jelal wants first,” Nyx said.

  I nodded and focused on the red-eyed man again. “Jelal, it’s okay if you don’t want to tell me what’s going on,” I said. “Give me the Kobold and we won’t have to meet again.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “And what makes you think that’s a deal worthwhile for me?”

  “Because it’s the only one where you don’t end up injured.”

  He froze for a second and then laughed loudly. “Gutsy, Diablo,” he said. “I have not been threatened like that in a long time now.”

  “I’m giving you one chance, Jelal.”

  He chuckled. “I’m sure you’ve noticed that the Dark Alliance is not here on its own,” he said. “The Black Guardians believe in what we’re doing. They will stand behind us all the way. Do you really think you are strong enough to take both groups on at once? Even you—”

  “Okay, I’m done.” I shot forward, my hand reaching for Dawnbreaker immediately. I planted one foot right in front of Jelal and swung around, pulling my sword out and slashing at him in one motion. I heard some words uttered mid-strike, and a gray shield of light formed between us. My Void Blade, however, sunk right through, cutting the layer and shattering it. Pieces of transparent light dissolved into the air, and Jelal used the distraction to move away, heading to the
back of his pack.

  “You coward,” I muttered.

  The men dressed in black shot forward, wielding their weapons as they charged at me. “Uher!” I yelled, and my dark phoenix rose out of the ground. Its black flames surged into the men, sending screams into the air and dead bodies to the floor.

  However, for every man who fell, another seemed to take his place. I realized that the enemy forces were being quickly replenished by the backup they were receiving. More and more Knights surged in from the sides, probably from a base they’d established close by.

  I could see that the forces were reaching overwhelming numbers. I summoned a few more spells, but I could only take out so many men at once without causing too much damage to the chamber we were in.

  And I most certainly didn’t want to go all out.

  It was too risky.

  “I’ve got this.” Freya tapped my shoulder and walked before me, sliding her sword out. “You go get Jelal. I’ll handle these guys.”

  I nodded, and shot forward without hesitation. These forces were around Level 100, which was less than half of Freya’s level. It was unlikely she could take out all of them at once, but she could certainly hold them back for long enough.

  I ran through the forces, avoiding the blades surging at me. I quickly caught sight of Jelal, just as he was pulling Nazu down from the horse. He jerked around just as I shot to him, my sword pointed at his chest. He threw his hand forward, and as I’d expected, a shield appeared once again.

  But he didn’t stop with just defense this time.

  The moment I struck down his layer of light, a blast of darkness shot from behind the shield, surging into me and throwing me straight up into the ceiling. I crushed through the ice, hearing it crack as my body struck its hard surface. My lungs puffed out as I sucked in air, and I dropped back to the floor two hundred feet beneath me. I cratered the ice on impact, and when I looked up again, Jelal was gone.

  Dammit, I cursed.