I turned to the brat, my sword now in my arm, the silver jewel on it glowing bright, the entire blade of night-black glowing with a royal white. I pointed it right at Markus. “Draco meteor!” I boomed.
The earth shook and howls ruptured the skies. A hundred dots of red emerged from the darkness above, and before anyone could understand what they were, the blazing meteors sank into the Dragonborn, striking him a hundred times where he stood.
I watched with cold eyes as massive chunks of rock struck into the man, each one sending a shockwave through the lands, shattering the rooftops around. My gaze remained fixed on Markus’s health bar, watching as it quickly sank down to empty and then disappeared away into nothing.
The final meteor struck the ground, sending a shockwave that crunched through the stone and wood around me. But it served no purpose anymore, for I had accomplished what I had set out to do.
The Dragonborn was dead.
***
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
“Ikarius has turned out well.” Krof smiled as we stood at the village square, taking in everything around us.
About a month had passed since the battle with Markus Goodfield, and with nearly the entire village having been destroyed from that one exchange, it provided the opportunity for a massive overhaul of the infrastructure here. Thus, Ikarius was no longer a village of wood and stone, but one of sophistication, modeled in the image of the Dragonfall I had seen.
Buildings of three and four stories stood all around, mostly built from stone, but with metal and glass accents embedded within. My very own home stood a few yards away from the village square, a simple home of three stories, with enough rooms for everyone I knew to come stay.
The town square, though, remained untouched during this mass renovation. The circular hole from before had closed up again, and now atop it stood the fountain that had always been there, water flowing from it like it always had.
I glanced at the fountain, reminiscing about everything that had happened back then. When the battle had finally ended, the Dark Alliance and the Black Guardians had already made a break for it, and the Alliance of Light had run as well when they’d realized their leader had been killed. Krof and the others had managed to find some people to capture, but they’d all taken their lives immediately.
“What do you think they’re all going to be up to?” Krof asked, looking up at the sky.
“The Alliances?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said.
“I actually don’t know,” I said. “With Markus Goodfield gone, we’ve put Ikarius on the map. It is likely the Alliances will soon turn their attention to this village.”
“It is assured that they will,” he said. “We have crossed paths with many a villain, Diablo. It would be wise to think about what to do if they attack.”
“Yes.” Ijyela walked up to us, Nazu and Freya at her side. “Historically, the Phantom Lord has never settled down in one place. He has always had too many enemies to be comfortable with being easily found.”
“You, on the other hand,” Freya said, “are an idiot, so we need to be careful.”
“Hey, you like this village as much as I do, okay?” I pouted.
“I like it too!” Nazu said, excited, and I smiled at him in reply.
“In all seriousness, Diablo,” Ijyela said, “you must think hard about this. There is a lot that we need to consider to ensure we remain safe here.”
“I know, I know,” I said.
“Zoran, incoming,” Nyx said.
I heard a deep rumbling from above, and gusts of strong wind spun around us. I looked up, watching as wings of black lowered Acnologia down to the ground.
“Sorry, gotta go.” I smiled.
Ijyela and Krof sighed as I ran up to the Shadow Dragon and jumped on his back.
“It is good to see you, Diablo.” Acnologia surged into the air with a few wing strokes and rose high into the sky.
“How was your visit to the Ulhur Mountains?” I asked.
“Well,” he said, “not much has changed since I had been there millennia ago.”
“That’s good to hear,” I said. “And what of the things we had talked about?”
“I spoke to the Guardian,” he said. “She would not tell me much, but I know enough to confidently say there is something big happening soon.”
“How big?”
“If what the Guardian has seen is true, then this very ordeal we just went through will seem like nothing compared to what is coming.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” Nyx said.
“It isn’t,” I muttered. “We need to talk about this.”
“Indeed,” the Dragon said. “There is much we will need to plan for over the next weeks.”
“Life just doesn’t give us a break, does it?” Nyx chuckled.
“We’re beings of the old times,” I said. “That’s how it should be.”
I glanced over the side of the Dragon, down at the small village. Ever since I’d woken up four months ago, I had been a vagabond, a traveling warrior who had no home and no family.
Ikarius had given me a place I could finally call home, a place with people I could trust, people I could depend on. There were hardships and problems that were going to come up over the next few months. Many might die, relationships might fall, and blood would most certainly be shed. That was the nature of battle and conflict.
However, amongst all this, I knew I would feel no fear, no unease in facing these future adversities. I had found people I cherished, and a place I wanted to protect. And for as long as those two things existed, nothing could strike me down.
We are strong.
We are fearless.
We are Dragonfall.
The Eternal: Transcend
A World of Ga’em Novel
By Dhayaa Anbajagane
CHAPTER ONE
The roar of a dragon thundered through the sky, and the leaves and trees around me trembled. Clouds of granite-gray broke apart as the beast of black shot through, splitting them into halves. A strong breeze blew past my face as I ran forward, chasing the shadow of the great Dragon.
“Acnologia sure is active today,” Nyx spoke into my subconscious.
“Zoran, why the heck did we have to run again?” Freya gasped, and her moon silver eyes gazed at me accusingly as we ran. Strands of her black hair flowed down to her waist, and a streak of silver glistened magnificently within them. Pointy ears poked out from under the black, revealing her elven heritage — well, Moon-elf heritage to be more specific. Her chest heaved with every step she took, and the sounds of her rough breathing pulsed through the air.
“I thought it’d be easier to search the forest if we were on the ground,” I said. “It…probably wasn’t the best of ideas.”
“You don’t say,” Nyx chuckled.
“Well.” A deep voice spoke in my mind. “I will confess it seemed a good plan at the time. However, I did not foresee your lack of speed.”
Gee, thanks. I rolled my eyes.
“Can’t you and Freya just run super-fast though?” the spirit asked.
Yeah, but we can’t do that for hours on end, I said. Which is close to how long we’ve been running already.
Quick footsteps came from the right, and my eyes darted in the direction. A dark-furred wolf leapt down to me, baring its sharp teeth. I slid out my sword and slashed at the beast in the blink of an eye.
The creature dropped to the ground in two halves — no sound or breath coming from either of them.
DING!
Congratulations! You have defeated:
Forest Wolf (Lv. 124)!
That thing wasn’t even trying to attack you. Still ended up dead though. Reward: Wolf tooth (x5). Reward: Hide of the Forest Wolf. Reward: 34000 XP.
I turned to the weapon in my hand — Dawnbreaker, the Void Blade. I glanced at the stains of blood that coated its midnight-black surface, and gave the blade a flick, cleansing it of the red shade.
Freya chuckled as
I put the blade back into my sheath. “Look at you have all the fun,” the elf said. “That poor wolf.”
“It was his fault that he attacked me,” I said. “I’m not backing down just because he was being stupid.”
“I know,” she smiled. “It’s amusing when you get competitive.”
I sighed and then we took off, running through the forest once again.
“That was a pretty good sword slash,” Nyx said.
I narrowed my eyes. Thanks?
“Yeah, I really loved the way you swung your hands in the air,” he said. “It was a very intimidating style.”
I groaned, finally noticing the playful tone in his voice. Stop making fun of me, I said.
“I hate to be the spoilsport,” Acnologia said. “But I believe it’s best we keep our focus on the task at hand.”
“Fine,” we both said together.
“You know,” Freya looked at me. “It was odd enough when you had one spirit voice only you could listen to. Now you’ve gone and gotten another one as well. And this time it’s a dragon.”
“I’m sorry about that, Miss Freya,” Acnologia said.
“She can’t hear you,” I mumbled.
No matter how many times I told Acnologia that Nyx and I were the only ones who could hear him, he still tried to speak to the people around me. I felt a little sad for him. Maybe he didn’t want to be stuck talking to just me and Nyx.
“You know, I wouldn't be surprised if he’s had enough of you,” Nyx said. “You’re too snarky.”
That’s amusing, coming from you, I chuckled.
“Hey, what are you implying here?”
“It is true. You are quite snarky, Nyx,” Acnologia agreed, sounding a deep chuckle as he spoke.
Freya sighed, watching my silent conversation with the voices. “Sometimes I wonder why I still accompany you through all this.”
“And I am ever so grateful that you do.” I made a small bow as we rushed in between the trees.
“Anyway,” she said. “What do you think is at this place?”
“I have no idea,” I said. “But an energy signature that huge has to mean something.”
“You’re not thinking…”
“Nah,” I shook my head. “It’s definitely not the third Spectral Spirit.”
She cocked her head to side, alarmed at my words. “Are you sure?” she asked.
“Positive,” I said.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Just a feeling.”
“You’re positive this energy signature has nothing to do with your third Spectral Spirit because that’s what you feel,” Freya repeated my words.
She doesn’t sound too thrilled, Nyx chuckled.
“Look,” I said. “We’ve been through two of these already. I feel like I can tell pretty well now when something is not one of my Spectral Spirits.”
“Either way, we’ll find out soon,” she said.
“How much further, Nyx?” I asked.
DING!
A screen of translucent white appeared before me, and on it was a small map. I could see a cluster of trees around two dots, a blue and green, both moving fast through the landscape. I willed the image to scan out and it did, presenting a bigger picture, which was just a lot more trees cramped into the screen.
Wow this forest is huge, I thought.
“Well, yeah,” Nyx said. “I told you it was massive before, didn’t I?”
Yeah, but I didn’t expect it to be THIS big, I said. It’s quite close to the Viridian forest in size.
“What are you talking about? It’s like a fifth at most.”
“It’s probably a fifth, Eternal,” Acnologia said.
“See?” Nyx chuckled.
Fine, fine, stop ganging up on me, I said. I’m still very surprised a place of this size is a mere day’s travel from Ikarius.
“I agree,” Acnologia said. “It seems to me we should have been more aware of this Oleois forest’s presence before.”
“It’s such a weird name,” Nyx laughed. “Oleois.”
We found out about this forest days ago, I sighed. Just didn’t know it was this big.
“Or that a weird presence could come up within it,” the spirit said, bringing the conversation in my head back to what our main intentions were right now.
“I apologize for changing the topic,” Acnologia said. “But we’re approaching an opening in the forest. And quite a large one at that.”
I looked up and saw that the dragon was about half a mile or so ahead of us. I turned to Freya. “There’s-”
“An opening ahead of us,” she smiled. “I know.”
“Oh,” I blinked.
“When you’ve explored as much as I have, you don’t have to use dragons to figure out when a change in landscape is close by.”
“Oh,” I said once again.
“The soil around us has more moisture now. I’m guessing this opening has a water body. I can’t hear any water flow ahead though, so it can’t be a river. Probably a lake.”
“Huh?” I blinked again.
“She’s right.” Acnologia sounded impressed.
In a few seconds, I dug my heels into the ground and brought myself to a quick halt. Freya did the same and came to a stop beside me, overlooking the view before us.
A large lake stood in a clearing within the forest — a stretch of land about forty yards wide, separating the wild trees and the fresh water.
“Wow.” I looked at Freya. “Exactly what you’d guessed.”
“What can I say?” Freya smiled. “It’s my elvish charm.”
“That is both unfair and logical,” I said, chuckling.
“Unfair?” She raised an eyebrow. “Says the guy who’s basically immortal.”
“Fine, fine,” I waved my hand in the air as we walked closer to the lake. A shade of radiant blue lay within it, a blue I had not seen water possess before.
A roar roamed the skies, and a gust of wind brushed against the surface, kicking up the sand and soil around me. Acnologia lowered himself onto the ground beside us, and planted his large body between the trees and the lake.
The Dragon towered over us even though he stood hunched. He folded his long wings of black and walked up to us, the ground thudding softly with every step he took. The beast looked at me with his eyes of blood-red. “I do not sense anything odd within this place, Eternal.”
“Neither do I,” Nyx replied.
Do you think this is not the place then? I asked.
“I’m unsure.”
When we’d first sensed the high-energy signature, our friends Ijyela and Krof had been able to direct us to this forest, but they couldn't give us any details other than that the signature was definitely within the forest. So, it fell onto us to pinpoint the exact location of this entity, and that was usually time consuming.
Which was why we’d been running through this place for a few hours now.
“What do you think?” Freya turned to me.
I shook my head. “Nyx and Acnologia sense nothing.”
“And you?”
“Nothing as well.”
“Ugh,” she groaned. “I’m getting a little tired of all this running. It’s been nearly four hours since we started searching.”
“We have no choice but to keep going,” I said. “Unless you think we should stop the search.”
“Of course not.” She straightened. “Every time a signature like this shows up it’s always been followed by trouble. And this time the energy signature is extremely close to our village as well. It’s definitely not a good idea to ignore this and just let this be.”
“I feel the same,” I said.
Where is this signature though? I thought as I walked down to the lake. I knelt before the deep blue waters, and felt the cool breeze on my face. The trees around us ruffled in the wind, with leaves of brown and green being pulled into the air.
I looked down at the lake, glancing at a rough image of myself in the wate
r, and the reflection of my eyes looked right back at me.
My body was quite toned now, my emerging muscular frame making itself seen even under my loose tunic. I still had my high cheekbones and a chiseled jaw, which was quite surprising considering my face had been bashed in more than once. My skin tone was a shade between tan and pale and my hair was a radiant silver-grey, with the longer locks now falling softly onto my forehead.
I looked right into the reflection of my eyes. They were a shade paler than my hair and had familiar flecks of grey in them, as if spirits and ghosts were trapped within.
I’m starting to look more and more like a Phantom Lord now, I thought.
“Does that freak you out?” Nyx asked.
I didn’t respond. I glanced past my reflection and looked into the deep blue of the lake. I felt the shade call out to me, stirring within me an urge to touch it. I dipped my fingers in the water, feeling its chill run up my skin as I plunged my hand deeper in.
A sharp sensation cut into my fingers, as though a spark of lightning had sunken into my nerves. I jerked my hands out, and stumbled backward.
“Zoran!” Freya ran to me. “Are you okay?”
I looked at my hands, watching the drops of water fall off my fingertips and onto the dry soil beneath. “I’m…fine?”
“Really? Your face is pale right now.”
“Everything is fine.” My voice was firmer now.
All of a sudden, the ground beneath me began shaking, and in a second the small tremor had amplified to a large earthquake. We rushed to Acnologia, ready to hop onto the dragon.
And then I saw it.
I stopped, sliding across the ground for a moment and coming to a halt.
“Zoran, what are you doing?!” Freya tugged on my arm.
“There,” I pointed.
Out in the middle of the lake, a small speck of land was making its first appearance. The tremors intensified, and as they did, the speck lifted from the depths of the lake, turning from a simple patch into a wide island. Water spilled over the banks as the tides rose from the appearance of the new lands.
The Eternal: A Boxed Set (World of Ga'em Book 6) Page 49
