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

by Dhayaa Anbajagane

  DING!

  Congratulations! You have advanced a skill.

  Mind Arts Level 2

  They say a sharp mind is the strongest weapon. Let’s see if that’s true.

  Effect 1

  Intelligence increased by +3%

  DING!

  Congratulations! You have learned a new ‘Mind Arts’ spell.

  Ferazin: Mental scope!

  This spell allows you to sense the flow of energy around you and determine what kind of enemies might be in your surroundings. Works better for stronger beings.

  Mana Cost

  4000

  Casting Time

  15 seconds

  Cooldown Time

  30 minutes

  Range

  1000 yards

  Effect 1

  You can have 18 zombies summoned simultaneously.

  Nice, I thought, and closed the screen. Suddenly, I felt something from the right, as though an object had just sent a small shock toward me.

  I quickly stepped toward the entrance, and when I sensed no obvious threat or trap in there I walked in. Another room with three other entrances stood there, perplexing me even more.

  What made me come here? I asked myself. The sensation?

  “Still don’t have access to a map,” Nyx muttered.

  It’s probably because we’re inside an enemy castle, I said.

  “That appears to be the case.”

  I looked at the entrances available to me. Which way do I go?

  “This one,” Irmeia pointed to the one at my left.

  I frowned. “Are you sure?”

  “I can feel something,” she said, and that was assurance enough for me.

  “Wait,” Freya said. “I don’t think it’s safe to head down that path just because you feel we should.”

  I shook my head. “That’s fine, Freya,” I said. “This is how I got through the first door. There’s something weird going on here.”

  The elf looked a little worried but the other three seemed fine and so we pushed ahead, travelling into the door Irmeia had suggested. This door however, did not lead to another room, at least not immediately.

  A long corridor stood before us and we walked along it, all the way till it dropped us off in another room.

  The new room was different, with only two entrances instead of three, and both of them on the same wall. However, between the two of them stood a giant rune, painted in silver colors, glowing even though there wasn’t any light around.

  I walked up to the inscription, scoping out the ground and ceiling as I did. I quietly placed my hand on the rune — only to have it pass through.

  Eh? I blinked, bringing my hand back out and pushing in again, and it passed through the wall, as though it didn’t even exist in the first place.

  An Illusion, I smiled.

  I stepped through the wall.

  And the ground beneath me gave away.

  Colors emerged around me, with rainbow shades swirling through my vision like I was traveling through a painting. My eyes spun in the cacophony of shades, and then they closed, getting rid of the sight altogether.

  I smacked hard into the surface below, and my back ached as I got up. I hadn’t broken any bones though, which I found very odd. Sure, a rock dropping on me fractures my leg, but falling like five hundred yards down onto stone does nothing.

  “You were teleported down here,” Acnologia said. “That rune must have been a teleportation device or something.”

  I heard multiple thuds behind me, and glanced around to see that everyone else had made their way here too. A dull light shone through the chamber, as if a small window lay cut open in the wall. I looked at everyone, making sure they were all conscious.

  “Zoran.” Viola looked at me, her eyes wide, and a tremble within her voice.

  And then I realized she wasn’t looking at me. She was looking behind me.

  I turned around and my heart froze.

  Cages upon cages stood before us, each one massive and stacked in a grid like formation. There were about a hundred of them in total, and within each one sat a carcass.

  Dragons.

  The majestic creatures lay hung upside down or chained to the cage walls, their dead bodies cut, burnt and mutilated in a hundred different ways. My eyes shivered at the sight, my heart confused between beating fast or stopping completely still.

  The Dragons were dead, the walls of black hiding their echoing screams, abandoning their brutalized forms. One hundred cages lay before us. But they no longer contained one hundred dragons.

  Just bones and blood.

  ***

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Screams haunted my mind, echoing for what seemed like hours. I stared at the red-stained bones before me, at the half-decayed carcasses, and I found myself unable to pull away from the toxic sight.

  “Oh my god,” Irmeia gasped, clasping her mouth with one hand, while the other lay trembling at her side. I reached out and grasped her fingers, but I could speak no words.

  No one could speak any words.

  Not in the face of this.

  To me, it was as clear as daylight what had happened. Runes of odd shapes lay dressed on some of the dead bodies, a few of them written in dark ink, and others written in darker blood.

  “Whoever this man is,” Acnologia said, with a sorrowful, yet raging tone in his voice. “He was trying to become a Dragonborn.”

  I nodded.

  The history of this time was peculiar to me, and I knew a little bit of the Eternal Dragon War. Though many Eternals fought clean on the battlefields, there were few that desired to harness the power of the enemy, and thus was born the pursuit to become a Dragonborn. Many Eternals ended up torturing and killing the Dragons, all in the name of ‘research’ for this harnessing of power.

  In the end, the actual way to become a Dragonborn wasn’t any less grotesque. One had to stab a Dragon at its heart and then drink its blood. This was one piece of information I was never going to let slip out here. Of everything I could do that could affect the future, that would be the worst.

  “This is like hell,” Oris said, his eyes aghast. I was surprised for a second, to see someone from the Dark Alliance, someone from the enemy side, show sympathy for a situation like this. I had always considered them all to be murderers, an extension from the Dark Lord. But I realized that was an unfair assumption to make.

  In all regards, Oris seemed a good man.

  Just one with the wrong ideology in him.

  “What do we do?” Freya asked, glancing at the tower of cages, and then at me. She was trembling from the sight too, but she held herself together nonetheless.

  “We move forward,” I said. “There’s nothing we can do by staying here, or by turning back. We have no choice but to meet the man in the castle.”

  “He’s probably very strong,” Viola said quietly, as if she was afraid to utter the words. “He must be if he took out this many Dragons.”

  I nodded. “He will be a formidable opponent,” I said. “But there’s only one of him. We’ve got the advantage here.”

  “He’s also MUCH higher leveled than you guys,” Nyx said. “In fact, it might not be too far-fetched to say he’s still higher leveled than all your levels added up.”

  No way, I said. That’s far too high.

  “Yeah, it probably is,” the spirit said meekly.

  Stop messing with me, I said.

  My eyes scanned through the cages, trying to see if there was a single health bar that would pop up, but there wasn’t. I hadn’t expected one too. All of these Dragons were completely dead, and not a sliver of life was present in a single one of them.

  “We should…move on.” Irmeia squeezed my hand and then let go, her fingers still trembling. The others were pretty shaken too, Oris especially. But they were all much better compared to her.

  “Yeah, let’s get going,” I said, looking down either end of the room. I could see entrances on both sides, with staircases l
eading up from each one. My instinct told me either one should be fine, but I was still wanted to make an informed decision. I looked at them closer, trying to see if there were any tell-tale signs of which one was a better choice.

  “Just go this way,” Freya said, moving to the left.

  “Wait, why?” I asked.

  “Look there.” She pointed at the wall to my right, beside the very last cage on that side. A line of metal clasps lay embedded on the wall, a kind of device to hang weapons from.

  “The clasps are only on that side,” she said. “Meaning the person who used this place, maybe even the man in the castle, came in from that staircase. It might not mean much, but given we have nothing else to go on, this staircase seems safer.”

  “Fine,” I said, impressed with her logic.

  “You’re never impressed with my logic,” Nyx complained.

  Show me some and I’ll be impressed, I smiled.

  “Wow.”

  We walked up the staircase, and the sounds of footsteps echoed through the narrow pathway. Darkness entered our vision once again as we left the dull light of the chamber and headed to whatever was above.

  Acnologia, I said, realizing he hadn’t spoken in a while. Are you okay?

  “I am processing things, Eternal,” the Dragon said. “I remember some things from the Eternal Dragon War, things that caused pain and struck horror, but this is the first time I have seen something of this scale. Even monsters would tremble before the sight of such a grotesque act.”

  I said nothing, for there was nothing I could say in such a situation. I would like to think I understood exactly how he felt, but I knew that wasn’t the case. I was not a Dragon. My kin weren’t the ones I’d seen brutalized before me. This was not my calamity to feel such sorrow for.

  I quietly hoped the Dragon would be okay, just as we neared what seemed to be the end of the staircase. A dull lit room sat before us and we entered it. Freya and I moved in first, and scoped the place out.

  My mind calmed down and I cast my new spell. “Ferazin,” I said, in a hushed voice. A wave of light extended out of me, and expanded in a circle, but too dull to light up the room. The ring expanded till about ten yards and then dissipated.

  Guess it didn’t pick up any enemies, I thought.

  “What did you just do?” Freya asked.

  “A tracing spell,” I said. “That ring of light scans for any enemies around us I guess.”

  “What ring of light? I just heard you utter a word.”

  “Did you not see a ring of light expand out right now?”

  She shook her head.

  I guess only the user can see it then, I thought.

  “Can we come out?” Oris asked, standing on the last step of the staircase.

  “Wait,” I said. “Freya, can you summon a light?”

  She nodded and whispered a word. A ball of bright white emerged above us, lighting up the room. My eyes immediately widened, and I heard Irmeia let out a silent gasp behind me.

  The entire room was splashed with blood. Dark shades of red covered the floors, the walls, and the ceilings, and black runes were inscribed over the gore paintings. I felt unease wash over me at the very sight, and I took a step back.

  “This keeps getting weirder and weirder,” Nyx said.

  Amongst all this blood and mystery however, I noticed an entrance right in front of us, and I decided to immediately take it, given the kind of room we were in right now. We all headed through the entrance of black, and left the room stained in red and death.

  We had not even taken more than a step past the entrance when I heard a hum pass through my mind. I quickly cast my scanning spell once again. “Ferazin,” I said, and a wave of dull light spun out.

  Triangles of red hovered in the air now, above whatever this scanning spell had found. Freya sent her light orb high into the air, illuminating the enemy.

  I froze. Uh oh.

  A massive lion stood before us, with about ten lionesses around him. They all had pitch black bodies, with a mane of lime-green fire. Their eyes were of the same shade and glared at us, with a low growl escaping their jaws as they did.

  Uh oh, I thought, and quickly used my Analyze skill on these things.

  Race

  Cursed Lion

  Level

  956

  Those stats are way too high, even for its level, I said. The lionesses on the other hand were about two hundred levels lower, but that was still pretty high compared to most of us.

  Oris and Irmeia stepped forward, immediately, and stood by our side. Viola and Raffyr kept behind, and that was better, given these things outmatched their strength by a lot.

  Cursed lion, I thought, grabbing Dawnbreaker and sliding it out of its sheath. I thought of calling on Acnologia, but at the moment, I couldn’t really do anything about that. He’d just seen something terrible, and putting him on the spot right now wouldn’t be a nice thing to do.

  The lionesses growled and jumped, all ten off them coming at us from different sides.

  “Ikta!” Irmeia yelled, and a shield emerged above us, two layers of light — both white — blocking the creatures. “I will not let those things get through,” the Eternal muttered.

  I nodded, glad she seemed to be coming out of her slump now. “The lion doesn’t look like it will step into battle for the moment,” I said. “Let’s use that to our advantage and get rid of the lionesses.”

  Freya nodded. Her form immediately flickered and I knew what was coming. Winds swirled in from around us, circling around the shield, and sparks showered the air. The elf instantly changed her appearance, her hair turning blood-red and her eyes changing to a deadlier version of the same shade. Runes of black formed over her body, decorating her skin.

  The longsword in her hand changed form, glowing white and expanding until it was a massive broadsword of jet black, its width the length of my forearm and its height much more than its wielder herself.

  “Let’s go.” She sounded annoyed.

  I nodded. “If any of you get badly injured, step back,” I said. “Irmeia, can you keep this shield up for a bit after we head out?”

  “I can,” she said. “However, I will come fight with you in this battle. I do not wish to be a bystander.”

  “Got it,” I said. “Raffyr, Viola. You both have a lot of support spells. Cast those as you see fit. This shield should keep you safe from the enemy.”

  I could see them feel a little bad that they had to be protected like this, but they didn’t complain.

  “We’ve only got one chance to surprise them,” Freya said.

  “Let’s give it everything,” I said.

  “In three,” Irmeia began. “Two…”

  We all readied our weapons.

  “One.”

  The shield dropped and the lionesses immediately pounced. But we were ready for them. I put my hand in the air. “Tritus Oceanus!” I yelled, summoning a blast of water. The attack sunk into four of the lionesses and sent them crashing into the wall. I glanced at their health bars, and noticed that nearly a third of their health was gone.

  Wow, that did a lot more damage than I’d expected, I said.

  “Well, they seem to be of the fire element, so Water Arts has a superiority over them,” Nyx said. “Plus, I’ve said this before. No matter the level difference, you as an Eternal have a significant advantage because of your race.”

  I know, I said, surging forward and slashing into the nearest lioness. She sprung at me, even though my blade had cut deep into her back, and bared her fangs, ready to sink them into my shoulder. I thrust my fist up, and smashed into her.

  “Meteor Fist!” I yelled.

  My hand crushed into the lioness’ body and she smashed into the roof, cratering the ceiling and then dropping back to the floor. The attack didn’t seem to have done too much damage to her though. Less than a tenth of her health had been taken down with that move, but I’d pretty much immobilized her by striking her vital parts.


  I surged forward before she could even react and slashed hard, cleaving her head off cleanly.

  An instant kill.

  I glanced to the side, at Freya and Oris taking on one of the lionesses. It seemed an even matched battle, even though it was two versus one, with the lioness holding the upper hand. Irmeia was blasting at two of the lionesses on her own, using attacks I had not seen before.

  A growl sounded beside me and I turned around, just in time to see two more lionesses pounce on me, pushing me down to the ground. The beasts had been clever, pinning down both my arms before I could even flinch. They growled as they bared their fangs close to my face, as if they were laughing at my downfall.

  I, however, was not unfazed in the least. I twisted my free palm, and pointed it up at the lionesses. “Uher!”

  A dark phoenix emerged into the air, and it was nearly the size of the whole room. It surged forward and smashed into the lionesses, throwing them against the wall. I went after the beast, ready to follow up with a second attack.

  “Tritus Oceanus!” I yelled, and greeted them with a water blast, the force of the attack cratering their bodies against the wall.

  I noticed their health bar wasn’t at zero yet. “Bladestorm!” I yelled, and shot forward, with my increased agility letting me land multiple strikes on the beasts in a mere second. The lot of them growled weakly and dropped to the floor — dead.

  All of a sudden, a bright green light illuminated the room and I noticed that the lion’s mane had grown a lot bigger, and brighter. It reared up and roared, with the sound sending vibrations through the ground.

  I caught sight of Irmeia finishing up her set of lionesses and helping Freya and Oris defeat theirs. The lionesses were all gone now. The lion was the only one left. However, he was the most formidable opponent of the pride.

  He roared once again and a blast of lime-green fire escaped his mouth, shooting right at us. “IKTA!” Irmeia yelled, summoning the shield once more. The attack however cut through easily, like the shield didn’t even exist.