Everyone but Irmeia.
Pangs of sorrow sunk into me, but I pushed them away, and ignored my aching heart. Everyone else seemed a little down too, but said nothing. I looked around the dark pathway we were on, and glanced at the portals of light around us. I had to find the right one to take.
“What do we do?” Freya asked.
“I’m not sure.” I spoke faster to hide my trembling voice. “We need to get away from here.”
She nodded, and I went to search for a portal to take. It seemed natural I would try to get as far away from here as possible, however I knew that was not the best of ideas. Either way the Time Lord and Irmeia were going to come after me.
The farthest place I knew from here was the cave we had been in before, and fighting a battle there was not the best idea. Instead I decided to teleport into one of the forest sections closer to the castle. That way I’d also get a direct view of the enemy lair.
It took me about a minute, but I finally found a portal that led directly to the place I had envisioned — a strip of forest land about five miles from the castle.
“Here.” I pointed at the portal. Everyone walked into the circular image, and disappeared over to the other side. I quickly followed after them, leaving the darkness and walking into the fresh bursts of wind before me.
Leaves and dust spread through the air as the breeze pushed through, and ceased an instant later. The small forest was not dense but had a good number of trees, for it was the exact same stretch of land we’d camped out in last night.
The last night Irmeia had still been my friend.
Nyx sighed. “Zoran, you need to let go of this,” the spirit said. “Any emotions you leave active inside you are only going to hinder your actions later.”
I said nothing, and focused on the task at hand. It was obvious that the Time Lord and Irmeia were going to come after us, and come after us fast at that. It was also obvious that we were hopelessly outmatched with the Time Lord — a man whose race the Analyze skill did not even understand.
“That’s never a good thing.” Acnologia’s voice was quiet
How on earth did my Analyze skill work on him while Polaris’ didn’t? I asked. Surely my skill wasn’t superior to the Star Dragon’s?
“I am unsure of why that was the case,” the Dragon said. “But either way, it has become very clear that there is something deeply mysterious about this man.”
I nodded. And yet I am unsure of how to deal with all of this.
“What are we going to do, Diablo?” Oris held his sword tight in his hands.
“I’m…not sure.”
“Well, we better have some kind of a plan. It’s obvious those two are going to come after us, and when they do, it isn’t in my intentions to stand here like slaughter meat.”
The word shook me, but the Knight was right. That was exactly how the Time Lord and Irmeia were going to treat us if we didn’t fight back.
But how are we supposed to fight back? I asked. We’re hopelessly outmatched.
“I have said this to you before, Diablo,” Nyx said. “What makes you the Phantom Lord are not those nifty skills and powers that you have, but your ability to use them in the face of the most overwhelming of opponents. You have faced enemies stronger than you before. Heck, we had to face one just a while back.”
Even that was nothing compared to what I’m going to have to fight against now, I said. You know that don’t you?
“I do.”
“Do not deter, Diablo,” Acnologia said. “We will fight against this Time Lord.”
The wind howled past us, with the lone breeze carrying nothing within itself. A hand grasped my wrist, and I turned around. Freya stood there, glancing down at the floor. “Are you…okay?” Her voice was soft.
I nodded, looking over her shoulder and noticing that Raffyr and Viola wore similar expressions on their faces — ones of utter worry. I sighed, and then flashed a smile at them. It was time to go instill confidence in these people, and I couldn’t do that unless I myself was clear on the situation.
I calmed my mind, and focused on my thoughts. I leaned into the elf. “Thank you,” I said.
“Listen up everyone.” I walked to the middle, and looked at everyone around before continuing. “It’s become pretty clear that the Time Lord has a power advantage over us, and that was expected”
“Calling it a power advantage isn’t the half of it,” Oris smirked.
“Either way, we need to defeat him,” I said. “The easiest way I can think of is attempting to land a critical hit on him and Irmeia.”
He raised an eyebrow. “And kill them?”
“Immobilizing them is preferred, but if it comes to death, no hesitation on doing so.”
“Won’t they just resurrect if we do that?” Freya asked.
“They indeed will,” I said. “But in a random location. And even if they have a teleportation skill they should have a limit on how often it can be used. We’ll just have to depend on exploiting that cooldown time.”
“Wait,” Viola said. “Wasn’t the Time Lord our only way back to the future?”
“We’re not certain of that,” I said. “He’s one of the ways. But we can’t be sure he’s the only one.”
The faces around me turned uneasy. “Look, this is a pretty complex situation,” I said. “But what seems to have been made painfully clear is that the Time Lord will not hesitate to kill us. Actually, he’s doing all this just so he can kill me.”
“What was that about anyway?” Freya asked. “An Eternal can die?”
“I’m not sure.” I hesitated. “Maybe he was bluffing.”
“I have not heard of any methods to kill an Eternal off, Diablo,” Acnologia said. “The very thought seems quite absurd to me.”
“I feel the same,” Nyx said. “However, something about the whole situation makes me feel like it wasn’t a simple bluff. Moreover, the Time Lord is not in a position where he needs to be bluffing to get things done. He could have just wrecked us all with his strength if he wanted to.”
Thanks for the confidence, Nyx, I sighed.
“Hey, you know it’s true,” he said. “We’re can’t run away from the fact.”
I froze as my senses picked up something.
Something dropped from the sky, and mud flew everywhere. I shielded my face, looking through the gaps between my fingers at what was before me.
A dark-skinned lady stood there, and green eyes looked at me. “Hello, Phantom Lord.” Her tone was bewitching.
“Irmeia,” I said, and glanced around, looking for her companion.
“Horace is not here,” she chuckled. “He granted me a few moments for myself.”
“How nice of him.”
“Well, at least we have a time scale of when he will show up now,” Nyx said.
“You pulled off quite the escape, Diablo,” Irmeia smiled. “I am impressed. I have never seen the Shadow Travel skill up close before.”
“She knows its name?” Nyx blinked.
However, I did not get hung up on that one detail. I kept my gaze on this woman, and tried to discern what she was going to do.
“Why?” I asked. “Why did you betray us?”
“It’s only betrayal if I tried to win your trust in the first place.”
“Which you did.”
“You’re right. I guess it was betrayal then,” she smiled. “Although, I must say, the elf was pretty much onto me immediately. Good thing you didn’t listen to her that much.”
Damn you, I averted my gaze from Freya.
“Why are you on his side, Irmeia?” I asked. “Why are you doing this?”
“You wouldn’t understand, Eternal,” she said. “You are not the type.”
“I am not the type?” I asked. “What do you mean I’m not the type?”
“Enough chit-chat,” she said. “Horace only gave me a few minutes to take out my anger. Let’s not waste it, shall we?”
She shot forward, and sunk her fist right in
to my stomach, sending me surging across the ground. I bounced off the forest floor and thudded to a stop against a wide tree trunk.
What the heck? I thought as I pulled myself back onto my feet. I gazed at her, and used my Analyze skill immediately.
DING!
Name
Irmeia
Race
Eternal
Level
831
She’s much stronger now, I blinked.
“Surprised?” the Eternal walked up to me, and her white robes swayed in the wind as she did. “There are secrets to strength that you do not know, Diablo.”
My eyes widened. “No,” I gasped. “You didn’t.”
She chuckled. “Oh yes.” Her voice was cooled.
Rage surged through me as I realized what she meant. In a moment my mind snapped, going from feeling sorrow to feeling anger. This woman was no different from the Time Lord. She would do anything to gain power.
“Even if it meant absorbing a couple of Dragons,” I muttered.
“Those things you raised from the dead proved to be very useful energy resources,” Irmeia said. “Thank you for that.”
“I did no such thing for you.” My voice was quiet.
“Diablo,” Acnologia said.
I nodded. Let’s do it.
“Ready.”
Nyx, do your thing too, I said. No helmet.
“Got it,” the spirit said.
I put my hand into the air. “Dragon Fusion!” I yelled.
A dark beam surged from the ground, and consumed me. I twisted Dawnbreaker in my hands, and gripped the hilt tight. A moment later the darkness shut off and I felt electricity surge through me, my additional strength coursing through my blood.
I held my sword in front of me, and the purple jewel at the hilt now glowed a shade of soul silver. Energy radiated from the blade of midnight black, and sent unease through the space around it.
A stream of small lights spun around me in a mini-twister, and when it ceased half a second later, I was wearing my armor of midnight-black, with no helmet over my head.
Irmeia chuckled. “This shall be interesting.”
She surged toward me, and I pushed forward as well. We met at the middle, ready to strike, one with a weapon, one without. Irmeia shifted gears and moved with an insane speed, easily dodging my strike and getting uncomfortably close to me.
“Oh, you poor dear.” She placed her hand on my chest, even before I could flinch. “Izrea!” she yelled.
A blast of green energy shot from her palm and thudded into me, hurling me backwards. I smashed me through a couple of trees before cratering against a rock.
I glanced up, just in time to see Freya shoot toward the Eternal. “Freya, no!” I yelled.
The elf shot toward her, and swung her broadsword hard. Irmeia put up her hand and attempted to catch her blade. However, Freya was nifty. She retracted her blade half swing — something that was nearly impossible to do with a sword as big as hers — and spun around. In an instant, her foot landed clean on Irmeia’s chest and the momentum from the kick sent the Eternal flying back. She went crashing through multiple trees before coming to a stop.
I stared at Freya as she dropped to the ground, astonishment all over my face.
“That woman is much stronger than she appears to be,” Acnologia said.
Irmeia sighed as she stood up, and brushed the rubble off her skin. “I knew I should have absorbed more Dragons.”
“Disgusting.” I walked toward her. “What kind of monster are you, Irmeia?”
She smiled at me. "Five thousand years I waited for this, Diablo.” Her voice was raspy. "Five thousand years I waited to crush your weak soul."
She thrust her hand up, and immediately two flames rose into the air on either side of her — one red and the other black.
“Oh gods,” Acnologia said. “This power… It can’t be.”
The flames instantly cut off and in their places stood two Dragons, one of blood-red and another of tar-black, both glaring at me. A low growl escaped their throats and they inched forward, ready to mince my body into their next meal.
“What kind of a monster am I?” Irmeia wore a smirk on her face. “I am Irmeia, the Queen of the Dragons.”
***
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Just great.
I stared at the sight before me, not at Irmeia, but at the two Dragons that stood by her side, bearing their teeth at me. I stood my ground, and used my Analyze screen on these creatures.
DING!
Race
Dragon
Level
1002
The other one’s stats screen was pretty much the same, but something about both screens bothered me.
“They’re not Ancient Dragons,” Acnologia said, confirming my thought. “These things are different from me. They’re almost…lesser beings.”
“Silence?” Irmeia stepped toward me. “Fitting for a man like you.”
She snapped her fingers and the dragons lashed out, jumping onto my form. I twisted my sword and swung, smacking into them with the flat of the blade and sending them into the trees. These things were strong, but with my Dragon Fusion form I was stronger than they were.
“Two are not all that I can make.” Irmeia thrust her hand into the air, and twenty flames formed around me, each one of a different color. A collective roar exploded outward, and sent massive shockwaves through the forest.
“How amusing,” a voice chuckled.
A beam of jade green surged from the ground before me and rose high into the air. When the light cut off, the Time Lord stood before me, basking in his golden glory.
“Good to see you again, Diablo,” he said.
“The feelings aren’t mutual,” I muttered.
“Careful, Zoran,” Nyx said. “We can’t take him on given the level we’re at. It’s best we don’t tick him off unnecessarily.”
“What are you doing here, Horace?” Irmeia asked. “You said I’d have more time.”
“Apologies, Irmeia,” he said. “Unfortunately, it has come to my understanding that Mr. Phantom Lord here has gotten to a stage where you will find it hard to defeat him.”
Irmeia glared at me, and the vein on her neck throbbed.
Wow, she really hates me. My heart throbbed.
Horace sighed. “Irmeia, I am all for vengeance, but I feel you have held a little too much anger toward this man.”
“A man who led the Dragons against the Eternals,” she muttered. “I will never forgive him.”
“Huh?” I blinked. “You’re the Queen of Dragons. Who’s the one who’s siding with the Dragons?”
Horace chuckled. “There is one thing you must understand Eternal,” he looked at me. “All those Dragons you saw in my castle? I did not capture them.”
My eyes widened, watching as Horace turned to Irmeia. “You?” I blinked, disbelief in my voice.
“I can summon Dragons at will, Diablo,” Irmeia said. “I don’t give a damn if a few of them die.”
“You mutilated a hundred!” I yelled.
The Time Lord snapped his fingers and a shock wave surged out of him, striking my body and throwing me to the ground.
“I can’t let this go on for too long, Diablo,” Horace said. “I’ve been quite patient about killing you. It is time for the sacrifice.”
He put his hands to the sky and chanted. The ground around him cracked at multiple spots, and darkness rose from the depths. Tentacles of black rose up and traced motions in the air as he spoke words.
An eerie sight unfolded before me, and I could tell what was going on. A mass spell. This was something special, something that took effort.
And in that moment, I felt the Time Lord really could kill me.
Permanently.
I shot toward the man, activating my spells. “Peliosia. Asgionis,” I said, boosting my agility twice. A flame of red emerged around me, and over it spread a darker flame of jet black. I raced to the Time Lord and spun
around, swinging at him with Dawnbreaker. I was fast enough to catch him off guard, and my blade swung into his arm.
Only to bounce back harmlessly.
I fell back, rebounding from the force of my own strike. I placed my hand on the ground as I came down, and flipped myself back onto my feet. I looked up. Not even a scratch. I glanced at the Time Lord’s spotless armor. He kept chanting, and with it the humming turned louder.
“Diablo,” Acnologia said. “I can make us stronger, but it will come at a price.”
I don’t care. I clenched my fists. Do it.
“Very well.”
I heard him take a deep breath.
And then he spoke.
“Limiter off.”
My eyes widened.
Lightning coursed through my nerves, and I dropped to the floor, gasping. My vision turned white, and the pain rendered my body numb. A voice called out to me — probably Freya’s — but I couldn’t respond.
I bore through the intensity for a few seconds, and my senses returned to me quickly. Anger coursed through my veins, and pure rage flowed into my blood. The elven assassin stood beside me but I shoved her to the side, not a care in the world.
I lifted Dawnbreaker, and gripped the hilt tight. The jewel in the center was now blood-red, and a hazy aura of the same color covered the whole blade.
DING!
You have activated Dragonborn: Rage Mode! For every attack landed, rage will increase and rationality will decrease. A rage overload will have undesirable effects. Proceed with caution.
Don’t give a damn. I looked at the Time Lord, at the man still chanting his spell.
I shot at him, but didn’t use my blade to launch an attack. Instead I curled my free hand into a fist and smashed it into him. The man went flying from my attack, and crashed through multiple rows of trees. I charged after him, keeping up with the pace he flew at.
I watched as he twisted his body, and touched down on the ground, forcing himself to a stop. He stood still, and looked in my direction. I charged in undeterred, and jumped at his form.
The Eternal: A Boxed Set (World of Ga'em Book 6) Page 72
