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

by Dhayaa Anbajagane

  “Maybe Jalel retreated after Nazu did the Dragon roar thing,” I said.

  “It’s possible,” Nyx said. “That attack was quite a stunner.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed.

  “Going back to the Black Guardians, though, I’m just as unsure about what they’re doing this for,” he said. “Moreover, the Dark Alliance is not a group that likes collaborating with others. If they’re working with another group in this endeavor, then what’s the motivation behind it?”

  “First thing that comes to mind is that they need the additional manpower,” I said.

  “I was thinking along the same lines. They want the Black Guardians’ strength, but the Dark Alliance is honestly very strong even without them. What exactly are they trying to do that they feel paranoid enough to get the Black Guardians to help them out?”

  “So you’re saying whatever this task is, it’s beyond their capabilities?” I asked.

  “Well, that would be an apt explanation.”

  “That doesn’t make whatever they’re doing sound any better to me,” I said.

  “I should hope not.”

  My eyes turned to the young Kobold at my side. Nazu walked silently alongside me and Freya, keeping his eyes on the ground. I hadn’t really conversed much with him before, so I couldn’t tell what his thought process was. And to be honest, I doubted I could help him even if I knew.

  It was likely he was still trying to process the fact that he was a Dragon. I was sure he had plenty of questions, and not many answers to any of them. A part of me couldn’t help but relate. A few months ago, I’d woken up in a weird forest with no memory of who I was or how I’d gotten there. It had taken me a week before I knew I was the Phantom Lord, and when I had found out, it hadn’t really been as comforting as I’d expected it to be. Rather than be happy I’d finally found out who I was, I’d had a lot more concerns and questions about what my identity meant for me.

  And in a similar vein, I could see the young Kobold questioning his place in the world, especially now that he had a new identity.

  “It took you quite a while to get adjusted,” Nyx said. “In fact, I’d argue you still haven’t completely adjusted.”

  “I know.” I sighed.

  A thundering boom sounded from all around us, as if the sound was being generated from everywhere. We immediately stopped and looked around, but found no source to the sound. I heard the ground rumble an instant later, and in a rush of instinct I pushed everyone away from me.

  The ground beneath me collapsed in a flash, and I dropped down fast. I tried pushing myself off one of the falling pieces of ice, but it crumbled under the force of my jump, leaving me stranded in my fall.

  The walls around me changed from ice to rock as I fell, and I dropped down to the ground. I heard a loud crack as I met with the floor, and when I opened my eyes again, I was lying down in a crater on the ground. The snow beneath me had broken my fall a little, but the speed I’d come down with was too great to be subdued by just snow.

  I could feel that my health had actually decreased from the impact, and that was amusing to me. It’d been a while since something so simple had taken away my health. You’d think the immortal Phantom Lord would be immune to anything, but no. I could die from a vital blow just as easily as the next man. It was just that I had a ton of passive and active skills to call upon to make all of that a lot easier to prevent.

  “You also resurrect when you die,” Nyx added.

  “I’m aware,” I said.

  I heard another rumble, and before I even looked up, a river of snow showered down on me, burying me fast. I pushed to the side, knowing it was the fastest way out from beneath the pile. A few quick steps later, I dropped from the side of the small snow-hill that had formed and filled my lungs with air once again.

  “Well, that was unfortunate,” Nyx said.

  “Tell me about it.” I looked up at the hole I’d fallen through. It was too high up to tell whether Freya and Nazu were looking down onto me.

  “I hope they’re okay,” I mumbled.

  DING!

  You have received a new message from: Freya! Would you like to open it?

  I tapped Yes, and a new screen opened up.

  Is everything okay? Nazu and I are fine. Do you want us to come down, or do you think you can find a way out? You might be able to climb up or jump up on your own, actually. Pretty sure you’re strong enough for it.

  I replied back almost immediately.

  I’m fine, no injuries. I don’t think jumping is an option. The ground here is already cratered from just my fall. I doubt it’d be able to sustain a jump strong enough for me to come back up. And I certainly don’t want to break something down here and end up in a chamber even deeper down. I don’t think I can climb the walls either as long as I can’t confirm how sturdy they are. I’ll try to see if there’s a tunnel I can walk through.

  DING!

  She sent her reply.

  Fine. Nazu and I are going to try heading down the mountain. When you get back to the surface, use the map and find me. We’re still registered as a party, I think.

  “She said ‘when,’ not ‘if.’” Nyx chuckled. “That girl has some mighty confidence in you.”

  “Well, it’s warranted,” I said.

  “Whoa, there, Mr. Hotshot,” he laughed. “Lot of confidence you have there.”

  I smiled quietly and looked around the chamber I was in. I saw a few entrances, but only one of them was large enough for me to fit through—if I crouched, that is. And so I headed in, using my Night Vision skill to look through the tunnel.

  Darkness and rocks greeted me for the mile or so that I walked. The rocks were dry and musty, dust spraying into the air as I moved. A mile and a few sneezes later, I was finally out on the other side of the tunnel.

  The chamber I was now in was a lot larger than the previous one. The ceiling was made of ice, with a rocky covering atop it. The ice itself, though, had a faint glow to it. An extremely dull, but existent, glow.

  A hiss echoed through the air, and I froze up, not making any sudden movements. I alerted my senses and cast my eyes around, keeping my head still. From what I could tell, whatever this creature was, it wasn’t in front of me.

  I heard a snap and I immediately ducked and dived. My body rolled across the rocky surface, and I picked myself up just in time to see a translucent blue snake surge at me. Its eyes were a deep purple, and it glared as it thrust its ten-foot body right at me.

  I put all my force into my legs and pushed to the side, crushing a few inches of rock across the ground as I slid to a stop. The snake seemed confused about my speed, but it surged at me anyway.

  I had enough distance between us to use Analyze on the creature, and what it brought up was quite intriguing.

  Race

  Venomous Tundra Python

  Level

  71

  Health

  610

  “Huh,” Nyx said. “It’s probably a rare creature. I’ve never heard of it before.”

  The snake surged at me once again, but this time I didn’t dodge. I’d seen it jump and push forward enough times to know its movements. I sidestepped and jabbed my hand out at the right time, catching it right behind its head. It thrashed out immediately, its tail coming up to smack me.

  I wasted no time and summoned a spell. “Oskis!” I yelled.

  A burst of flames shot out of my palm, burning straight into the snake. It heated up before me, its body glowing orange and then liquefying in a flash.

  DING!

  Congratulations! You have defeated:

  Venomous Tundra Python (Lv 71)!

  Maybe you should retire and become a Python hunter instead. Reward: Fangs of the Venomous Tundra Python. Reward: Vial of Tundra Poison.

  DING!

  Congratulations! You have obtained a new bonus:

  Exotic Hunter.

  You are the first person to have killed a Venomous Tundra Python! Hunting skill has automatically b
een increased by 4 levels. Fame increased by +50.

  DING!

  Congratulations! You have advanced a skill five times!

  Hunting Level 5!

  You really should become a Python hunter.

  Effect 1

  Agility increased by +10% when hunting

  What? I blinked.

  “Wow, look at you, paving the way for future huntsmen,” Nyx joked.

  “Well, at least I got those sweet buffs,” I said.

  “Sure, you definitely needed that 10% increase in strength and agility to help you hunt better.”

  I chuckled. “We better find a way to get back to the surface.”

  “I already did,” Nyx said. “Look up above you. There’s a section up there that’s made of just ice, no rock. That’s the only thing separating this chamber from the mountain slopes. The ground here is sturdy enough for you to jump off it, so you should be able to head up through that section of ice.”

  I looked up and saw the section he was talking about. There was a bit of light coming through it, but it was very faint, so you had to strain to actually notice the rays of light. I placed myself right beneath it and bounced a few times on the surface, just to make sure it was sturdy enough.

  “You realize a bounce is not a useful sturdiness test when you’re actually going to launch yourself from here, right?”

  “Just let me do my thing, okay?” I chuckled.

  “Fine, fine.”

  I positioned myself properly and crouched. I locked my muscles in place and recoiled, surging high into the air. I pulled my sword out and held it up, letting the sharp point slice through the surface as I crashed through the thick layer of ice and straight into the open.

  I gasped as I pushed up from the pile of snow above me and threw myself to the side, away from the gap I had now created in the surface. I immediately looked around me and saw that the dark clouds at the peak were now much further away than before. I was now on a lower portion of the mountain, just as I’d expected.

  DING!

  Freya had sent me a message.

  Was that you? We just heard a pretty big rumble a few hundred yards down.

  I grinned.

  Pretty likely it was me. Use your map and find me. I should be close by.

  It took about five minutes for me to notice two figures walking in from the distance. Freya had a small smile on her face as she looked at me. “That was quicker than I’d expected,” she said.

  “Tell me about it.” I smiled and looked at Nazu, who still had a pretty solemn expression on his face. I hadn’t expected anything different from him anyway, especially since it hadn’t been more than ten or fifteen minutes since I’d left.

  I heard thunder rumble, this time not from the ground but across the sky. A flash of blazing lightning struck the ground right above us, sending rock and snow flying through the air. I braced my face but kept looking straight through the rain of debris.

  My eyes widened as a man emerged from where the lightning had struck. He was dressed in white armor decorated with golden streaks. A helmet sat on his head, and the armor over his arms and legs had scale-like patterns. A serrated blade of steel peeked out of the sheath on his back, large and deadly.

  “Greetings, Eternal,” he said. “We finally meet.”

  And I could tell immediately that this man was no friend.

  ***

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Who the hell is this? I stared at the man before me, at the pristine white armor he wore. Its golden streaks caught the dull sunlight, reflecting it sharply into my eyes. I tried to gauge what his aim was here.

  “He knows you’re an Eternal,” Nyx said. “That’s never been a good thing.”

  “Who are you, warrior?” I said, keeping my eye on him.

  I heard him chuckle, and he stepped towards me, the snow on his feet sliding off as he made his way forward. I felt a certain unease as he approached me, but I stood my ground, trying to observe anything that could give me an advantage against him. I quickly used my Analyze skill, banking on my new upgrade to give me just a mental image of what the skill had found on him.

  DING!

  The screen popped up in my mind, courtesy of Spirit King and Nyx.

  Name

  ???

  Race

  ???

  Level

  ???

  What the heck? I panicked. This was not good. It was never good. There had only been one time before when I’d been completely denied information about a person, and it was when they had outmatched me horribly in terms of level, strength and skill.

  And I’m talking about like a 400-level difference here.

  “Who the hell is this man?” Nyx asked, fascination in his voice, but great concern beneath it.

  “Freya,” I said, backing up a bit and keeping my voice low. “Take Nazu and head out. You need to leave.”

  “But, Zoran, you need—”

  “Leave,” I said. “Now.”

  She reached out to me, possibly to voice her denial of this plan, but she pulled back immediately. She glanced at the man in front of me and then at the young Kobold. In one fluid motion, she grabbed Nazu by his waist and shot away, disappearing in a flash.

  “Hmmm, the elf left,” the man in front of me said, his tone making it seem he was trying to understand what was going on. However, the fact that he was questioning our moves wasn’t what bothered me. It was the calmness with which he said it that did. It was like he thought of us as a bunch of young kids, running around without knowing what exactly what we should be doing.

  “I hope Freya gets far enough away,” I said. “There’s no telling what this guy can do.”

  “Mmm,” Nyx said. “I’ll monitor your map and alert you about how far away she is intermittently.”

  “Thanks,” I said, just as the man stepped a few feet closer to me.

  “Why are you running away from me, Eternal?” he chuckled.

  “Who are you?” I asked.

  “A friend.”

  “A friend,” I repeated, not believing those two words for an instant. I doubted he did either, given the playful tone they were uttered in.

  “Indeed,” he chuckled. “Now, as a friend, I ask you. Bring back the Kobold.”

  He’s after Nazu too, I realized.

  “That doesn’t sound good,” Nyx said, worry in his tone.

  “What do you want with him?” I asked.

  “Nothing serious,” he said. “I would recommend you bring him back so we don’t have any conflict between ourselves. I’d hate for things to turn sour.”

  “If it’s nothing serious, I’d recommend trying to make do without him.” I gritted my teeth, angered that this man assumed I’d just listen to him regardless of how much information he gave me.

  He sighed. “Well,” he said, “it’s unfortunate that it has come to this.”

  His body moved in a flash, and the next thing I knew, he was right in front of me, fist bearing down on my face. I bent my knees a bit and threw my hands into the air, grasping my palms together and blocking his attack. His fist landed hard, and a terrific boom sounded from the contact point. Just the pressure from the attack was amazingly strong, crumbling the ground beneath us, the surface unable to bear the force of the strike.

  “Impressive.” He smiled. He swirled around, landing a kick straight to my head. I put my hands up to my side in defense, but he smacked right through them, sending me flying through the air and up fifty yards of snowy terrain.

  I picked myself up fast, annoyed about how this exchange was going. “Nyx, get the Berserker out.”

  “On it,” he said.

  The man charged up to me, his fists ready for another blow to my face. I shot towards him, my confidence renewed as I saw specks of light collect around me quickly. Our paces increased in an instant and we met, our fists swinging right at each other. They interlocked, another boom sounding from the contact, only this time, it was much louder, and I had used much less effort.


  I jumped back, the sound of metal clinking along with my movements familiar to my ears. I looked down and saw that my body was now completely covered in a helmetless armor of jet back, the metal woven in sharp angled cuts. The piece looked like the battle version of Death, and that’s exactly what I wanted it to be.

  “You need to be careful,” Nyx said. “Remember, this armor eats up your mana at a rate faster than you can replenish it.”

  “Don’t worry”, I said. “I’ve tweaked it a bit to make it more efficient since the last time I used it. But I get your point. I’ll restrict the time I battle in it.”

  “Impressive,” the man before me said, and I could tell he was trying to gauge my battle equipment. “That is an impressive piece of armor. The Berserker armor.”

  I froze. He knows its name? I asked.

  “Why would he know his name?” Nyx asked, sounding just as confused and panicked as I felt. Just who was this man?

  “We need to take him down fast,” I said, realizing I had to use my armor’s full advantages while I still had them. I slid Dawnbreaker out, holding it tight in my hand. One second I was standing on the rocks between the piles of snow, and the next I was in front of the man, my arm half-swinging, my weapon hurtling down onto his helmet.

  In a flash of silver, something smacked into my sword and I fell back, off balance. The man stood in front of me, still calm, but his sword now in his hand, the serrated steel blade poised menacingly in front of him, the tip pointed right at me.