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

by Dhayaa Anbajagane

  I turned around and saw Freya backed against a pillar of ice, struggling to fend off the Knights, who were clearly overwhelming her now. In less than a minute, their numbers had effectively doubled, and that was too much for her to handle for the moment. The good news was that their backup seemed to have stopped arriving.

  I picked up my sword and shot forth, cutting through some of the Knights and bunting others when I could. They pressed down on us fast, their numbers playing into their favor. I fought my way to Freya and stood by her side, facing these men.

  “We need to get out of here,” I said.

  “Where’s Nazu?” she asked as she took down a couple of Knights with a carefully planned arc of her blade.

  “Jelal took him and disappeared,” I said, using one of my Fire Arts spells to cut through a line of Knights.

  “Teleportation?” she asked.

  “Possible.”

  “Fine,” she said, pushing a row of Knights back a few yards. “Let’s get out of here. We have a Kobold to find.”

  We shot forward, but not even ten seconds passed before a shudder traveled down my spine, and I immediately froze, even though there was a barrage of Knights charging after us.

  “Zoran!” Freya yelled from ahead of me. “Let’s go!”

  I thrust my hand in her direction. “Oskis!” I yelled. A blast of fire shot out, and she immediately ducked. However, the attack didn’t even reach her. It cut off halfway through, as though something was blocking it.

  The sound of shattering glass echoed, and the air around us folded, revealing Jelal and a bound Nazu hidden within.

  “Dammit,” the red-eyed leader cursed, in what was his first display of annoyance. “Did not think you would find me that easily, Diablo.”

  “You need to step up your tricks.” I shot at him, sword in hand. I slashed with Dawnbreaker, but he simply put his arm up, blocking my blade with the back of his hand. I stood confused as I put pressure on my strike, but I watched him harmlessly hold my sharp blade.

  “What a weak blade,” he said and thrust his hand at me. A blast of darkness emanated from his fingertips and I went reeling back, through the air and down onto the ice.

  “He’s using some kind of physical enhancement skill,” Nyx said. “There’s no way he could have caught your blade otherwise.”

  “How many tricks does this guy have?” I muttered.

  “Probably a lot more than we do.”

  The tap of footsteps came from behind me, and I realized the Knights were charging up to us. There wasn’t much time left. Freya was still behind Jelal, and he hadn’t noticed her presence, or if he had before, he’d certainly forgotten about it now. I decided to keep him occupied and hope that Freya had the presence of mind to get Nazu away from him while I did. All this hopefully before the Knights overwhelmed us once more.

  I surged forward again, slashing at Jelal with my sword. Only this time, I wasn’t afraid to pull out my box of tricks as well. I slid to a stop a few feet from him and sank my sword deep into the ice. “Erkiela!” I yelled, and the ground beneath us trembled for a second, the ice destabilizing from the sheer heat of the attack. Jelal quickly jumped away, falling back out of the range of my attack, but the ice quickly restructured, freezing back to solid in a flash.

  “The Fire Arts,” Jelal said. “I have to say, that’s impressive. The Phantom Lord has traditionally used nothing but the Dark Arts and the Death Arts.”

  “Well, I’m contemporary,” I said. “Oskis!” I yelled, sending a beam of flames right at him. He didn’t put up a shield this time, instead shooting out of the way with a speed I hadn’t been aware he possessed.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Freya running away with a still-bound Nazu, a few fallen Knights behind her. Good, I thought. They were both out of danger. For now.

  “You are interesting, Diablo,” Jelal said, calmly walking up to me. “However, I wonder. You’ve hesitated to use the Death Arts whenever you’ve battled me. Surely those spells are the strongest you possess, and correct me if I’m wrong, but I am definitely one of the stronger opponents you’ve faced.”

  “What’s your point?” I muttered, keeping my eyes on him as he approached me, alert to whatever trick he was planning here.

  “Well, it just almost seems like you’re…” He paused. “Afraid to use the Death Arts.” A smile curled onto his face. He pushed his hands out, and a beam of darkness shot at me. I quickly slashed at it with my blade, my strike causing a pressure wave that cut through his beam and smacked into him. He slid along the ice and came to a stop, a smile still on his face.

  “What are you smiling about?” I asked.

  “You think you’re smarter than I am, don’t you?”

  I froze. What’s going on? I panicked.

  “Zoran!” I heard Freya call out to me and immediately turned around—only to see a large group of Knights pressing her back against the ice, with another group hauling away the bound Kobold. Their numbers had nearly doubled all of a sudden.

  “He planned this all along,” Nyx said. “He must have held back a few of his forces to surprise us with them.”

  “Dammit,” I cursed. I shot towards the second group, slicing through a few of them, but their numbers were too great for me to attack. And I certainly couldn’t use a strong spell here, because I’d end up hurting Nazu and Freya as well.

  I blocked the strikes of the men in front of me and out of the corner of my eye saw Jelal make his way to Nazu’s side. The Kobold thrashed about, smacking the Knights around him multiple times in a row.

  Jelal placed his hand on Nazu’s chest. “Obey us, you stupid creature!” he boomed, and a blast of darkness surged out. The young Kobold flew into the air, smacking hard into the doors of rock that stood in front of us. I froze as he slid down to the ground, his body curling up as he dropped with a thud.

  The ice on the surface went from a crystal blue to dirty red, and I immediately realized his blood was staining the floor. The young one was bleeding, and profusely, at that.

  “What the heck are you doing to him, Jelal?” I yelled, jumping over the men as I shot to the leader of the Dark Alliance. He strode to the young Kobold, who was now desperately crawling up to the large door. His scaly hands touched the rocky surface, his weak fingers only managing to trace a line with his own blood.

  The ruins suddenly shuddered, massive quakes running through the surface, sending the cohort of Knights and men down to the floor in a flash. Ice and rock broke from the ceiling and fell to the ground, crushing many of them in the process.

  A thundering roar struck the air, blasting away any silence within the chamber. Ears went deaf and screams went unheard as the tone echoed through the walls, striking fear into every heart in there. Including mine.

  The earth beneath us cracked, rupturing into two halves. I quickly jumped away, picking up the Kobold in one hand and Freya in the other. The Knights, on the other hand, were not as lucky. The whole cohort was split apart, and they all stumbled into the wide fissure, their screams of pain drowned within the after-echoes of the roar.

  “What the heck was that?” Nyx asked, concern in his tone.

  “No clue,” I said as I jumped to the edges of the chamber, safe from danger.

  “We need to get out of here,” Freya said as I still held her in my arm.

  I looked up at the ceiling of solid ice above us. There was no way I was going to be able to get through that, and Shadow Travel still hadn’t completely recharged yet.

  “Those Knights,” Nyx said. “They were all coming through some entrance around here. If we use the same one, we can try getting out.”

  I surged forward, heading to where I’d seen the backup forces enter, and as expected, there was a moderate-sized tunnel in there. I quickly walked in, not wasting any time.

  My Night Vision skill kicked in immediately, and I rushed through the path. About a minute in, I could see two forks in the route, with one of them showing me a bright light at the end.
/>
  “That one,” Freya said, pointing at the light, and I agreed, pushing right towards it.

  In seconds, we were out in the open, only this open was the calm mountainside, as opposed to whatever snowstorm we’d in before. I’d expected to see a Dark Alliance camp here, but there was absolutely nothing. I looked down the mountain slope and saw that we were still high up on whatever this mountain was. The peak was about a few miles up and had dark clouds around it, which were probably the cause of the snowstorm we’d seen before.

  DING!

  Congratulations! You have completed the quest:

  Save Nazu!

  You have gone to great lengths to pursue the young Kobold and take him out of enemy hands. Reward: 1000000 XP. Reward: 1600000 Sol. Reward: Save Nazu II.

  DING!

  Congratulations! You have obtained the quest:

  Save Nazu II.

  Even out of the clutches of the Dark Alliance, enemy threats loom near. Get Nazu and yourselves out of danger’s way by leaving the Ulhur Mountains.

  I closed the screens as I knelt on the ground and lay Freya and Nazu down. The young Kobold was half-conscious, his eyes not really open, but not closed either. His breathing was rough, but at least he was breathing.

  “He needs to heal up,” Freya said.

  I quickly got out a few health potions and gave all of them to him, even though three or four was what he needed at the most. His health bar quickly went back up to green, and the young one’s breathing steadied. His eyes fluttered open a few seconds later, and he looked at me.

  “Zoran,” he said, his voice still weak.

  “Hello, young one.” I smiled.

  “Where am I?”

  “The Ulhur Mountains, if you know where that is.”

  “You didn’t know where that was till a while ago,” Freya chuckled.

  “Shhhh.” I smiled.

  “What’s going on?” the Kobold asked.

  “You got yourself into quite a bit of trouble,” I said.

  “The men.” He jerked up and immediately caught his chest, pain striking his body.

  “Rest.” Freya pushed him back down. “What happened with those men? What did they want from you?”

  He looked at me for a second, as though he was recollecting everything that had happened. And then he spoke. “They said there was something only I could open,” he said. “A door that led to something important. They said they’d give me wealth and riches beyond my wildest dreams if I played along. And when I said I didn’t care, they bound me.”

  “What the heck?” I blinked.

  “What did they want you to open?” Freya asked. “Was it those rock doors we saw before?”

  “I…I don’t know,” he said. “It could be.”

  “Why are you supposed to be the only one who can open them?”

  He looked at me with an expression that said he was as clueless as I was.

  “Oh my God,” Nyx said, his voice showing he was not as clueless and actually very concerned instead. “It all makes sense now,” he said. “The doors. That roar. The symbol.”

  “What?” I asked, confusion already riling my mind.

  “Those doors of rock were sealed by the Dragon Clan. The sign in that chamber attests to that. The fact that an Eternal, a being stronger than a Dragon, can open those doors is not a surprise. However, there was originally only one way one could open a door sealed by a Dragon. You had to be a descendent of the Dragons themselves.”

  “Oh no,” I whispered, realizing where this was going.

  “That boy,” Nyx said. “He has Dragon blood in him.”

  ***

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  It’s always fun to find out you’ve got Dragon blood.

  Unless, of course, it happens after you’ve been kidnapped, bound and almost killed by someone you’d never met before, for seemingly no reason at all.

  And so it was understandable that, when I told Nazu what Nyx had said to me, the young one’s reaction was to look at me as though I was crazy. Freya, on the other hand, handled it easily, almost as though she’d actually expected this outcome.

  “I’m not a Dragon,” Nazu said, looking at me.

  “You’re a half-Dragon,” I said. “Based on your appearance, you certainly aren’t a full-fledged Dragon, but based on what just happened, it is certain you have Dragon blood in you.”

  “Just because I might be able to open that rock door?”

  “Because you summoned a Dragon roar out of nowhere when you touched that rock door. That door was sealed by the Dragon Clan. The fact that it gave any response at all to your touch is indicative of your connection to the Dragons, and the fact that the response actually saved you and us from the Dark Alliance and the Black Guardians provides an even bigger testament to your connection to the Dragon Clan.”

  “Also, that roar back there was totally a Dragon roar,” Nyx said.

  “I figured that was the case.” I chuckled.

  The young Kobold, however, said nothing in light of my statement. He stared at the ground beneath us, grasping the not-so-cold snow in his hands and crushing it into tiny balls. He thrust them back into the white, the soft, mushy sound entering the silence around us.

  “So, I’m a half-Dragon?” he asked, sounding a tad more receptive to the idea.

  I nodded.

  “And that’s why those men kidnapped me?”

  “Most likely,” I said. “We still don’t know why exactly they wanted you to open those doors for them. We went down those doors ourselves but found nothing more than a symbol from the Dragon Clan. I didn’t see anything of value that they’d have wanted to possess down there.”

  Nazu stared at the floor. “Dragon,” he mumbled softly. “Is that why the Kobold elders tried to kill me? Because I wasn’t one of them?”

  I blinked, taking a few seconds to realize what he was talking about. Honestly, what he said actually made sense. It was possible that, if his colony was strict about being a “pureblood,” someone who didn’t seem to be completely Kobold would be treated as an outsider, and perhaps even a dangerous threat.

  “Maybe,” I said in reply, not wanting to validate any of his worries. I wasn’t sure how he’d feel if I told him that was why he’d been nearly murdered by his own people.

  “We should have seen something odd in him from there on,” Nyx said. “It was such an obvious telltale sign that he wasn’t normal.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “It wasn’t enough to tell us he had Dragon blood, though.”

  “True.”

  DING!

  Congratulations! You have obtained the quest:

  The Purpose of Dragon Blood.

  The Dark Alliance and the Black Guardians seem to have been after Nazu for his Dragonblood heritage. Find out why. Reward: Unknown.

  I’m going to find out regardless of whether I get a quest or not. I sighed and closed the screen.

  “How do you feel, Nazu?” Freya asked, a little worry in her tone.

  “Mmm,” the young Kobold replied, not saying much.

  I silently used my Analyze skill on him, hoping that might give me more insight into who he was.

  Name

  Nazu

  Race

  Half-Kobold, Half-Dragon

  Level

  63

  Sure, now it says Half-Dragon, I thought. My Analyze screen hadn’t been that great at revealing hidden information to me, and to be honest, it seemed like that was how the Ga’em wished to work at this point. Things that were very secret or that no one really knew about weren’t displayed through Analyze screens.

  “Yeah,” Nyx said. “If you’d used Analyze on Nazu before, it wouldn’t have said anything about him being half-Dragon.”

  “Yeah,” I mumbled. “It’s annoying how that happens.”

  “The Ga’em doesn’t reveal any information about a person if that person is not himself aware of the info.”

  “Oh. That actually makes sense,” I said.

  �
�The Ga’em is a lot more thoughtful about these things than it seems.”

  “You don’t say.” I grinned.

  DING!

  Congratulations! You have advanced a skill.

  Analyze Level 14

  Due to your Spirit King ability, the details from the Analyze screen will now be fed directly to your mind. No physical screen will be summoned when you use the skill. A mental image will be presented instead.

  Effect 1

  Screen will generate 140% faster

  Effect 2

  +2% chance of critical right 5 seconds after using Analyze on foe

  Damn. I smiled. I’ve needed something like this for a while now.

  “That’s a pretty neat upgrade to the skill,” Nyx said.

  “It is,” I agreed.

  “We should probably get a move on,” Freya said, looking at Nazu, then at me. “We don’t know how long it’ll be before the Dark Alliance and the Black Guardians decide to come after us.”

  “Mmm.” I nodded, silently making a note that the Black Guardians were a part of this as well. I’d dealt with Jalel so much I’d forgotten there was a group other than the Dark Alliance involved in this too.

  “I don’t get what’s in this for them,” Nyx said.

  “Same,” I said.

  “So,” Freya said, interrupting my conversation with Nyx. “Which way do we go?”

  I looked both ways on the mountain, up and down. A mass of storm clouds stood at the mountaintop, lightning striking the darkness between them and thunder rumbling the air within. Beneath us was a calm slope of snow and nothing else. For now.

  “I think it’s obvious,” I said.

  “Fine, let’s head down,” she said, and we began our way down. I glanced through the tunnel we’d exited as we passed by it, but I heard only silence within. It was almost as though the Knights had all disappeared.