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

by Dhayaa Anbajagane

  I pushed my palm further down, breathing steady, and thinking clear. The spherical wall I’d imagined before was still in my mind, and contracted, pushing the imaginary red eyes into a tighter space. I felt another throb, and another wave of light shot out of me. The red eyes froze the moment it did, and glared at me, but it wasn’t like I could do anything.

  The wave sunk into it and it immediately convulsed, fighting for a second before turning smaller an instant later. I breathed easy. Well, that’s the end of it.

  But oh, it wasn’t.

  A screech shot out toward us, and an aura of black emerged around the eyes. My mental bonds broke away from the pair in a flash, and I stumbled back on the Dragon, catching the sides of my aching temples.

  “Diablo, are you okay?” Acnologia asked.

  I nodded. The black between the pair of eyes expanded out, now no longer an aura but an actual…form.

  A dark, humanoid being looked back at me—a body of a size halfway between mine and the Dragon’s. Its eyes were colored a bloodier shade of red now, and were also noticeably larger.

  I quickly used my Analyze skill on this thing again.

  DING!

  Warning!

  Subject cannot be Analyzed.

  Damn it. My fist thumped softly onto the Dragon’s back. Just what is this thing?

  “Well, whatever it is, it’s coming right at us,” Nyx said. “Can we please attack it? You’ve let this go on for way to long.”

  Wow, haven’t seen you scared of something before. I pointed my fist down. The Fire Arts didn’t work on it, so maybe something else will.

  “Uher!” I yelled.

  A section of the wall beneath us collapsed, and a large phoenix of black rose out, shooting down toward the red-eyed spirit. The eyes widened the moment the phoenix came out, but the creature still moved towards the bird, not away.

  That can’t be good.

  The two forms of darkness met a few yards beneath us, and a spark arose from the contact point. A second later a blast pulsed through the tunnel, and Acnologia caught the air that rushed up from below, allowing it to lift us up.

  DING!

  Warning!

  Your move ‘Uher: The Dark Phoenix’ has been Cursed! The attack will be unusable for five minutes. A move that is repeatedly cursed in a short span of time begins to take longer and longer to recover.

  WHAT THE HECK?! I slammed my fist into the dragon’s back, harder this time.

  The beast dropped for a second, but regained his stature. “That was not pleasant, Diablo.”

  Sorry, I thought. But look at this curse thing.

  “I did,” he said. “This is most certainly an odd thing. I had not expected this to happen.

  I should hope not. Because if you did know and didn’t tell me, then we have a couple of issues here.

  The Dragon chuckled. “Focus on the situation at hand, Eternal. The red eyes seem eager to make your acquaintance.”

  The black-bodied spirit rose up to me, and the Dragon flapped his wings, moving higher up into the tunnel walls.

  A tunnel. My eyes shone. Acnologia, get ready to dive.

  “What?”

  I thrust my hand at the spirit. “Tritus Oceanus!’ I yelled. A swirl of lively blue water shot out at the spirit. DIVE! I yelled. The Dragon pulled in his wings, and plummeted behind the attack. The spirit’s body smashed into the water blast. A boom sounded from the contact point yet again, and smoke rose from within it as well.

  However, Acnologia kept his form, and we pushed through.

  Only to find ourselves about fifty yards higher than we were before.

  What the heck? I blinked.

  “The spirit,” Nyx said. “It’s controlling the space loop in this tunnel. An aura pulsed out of it right before we teleported back to the top.”

  The red-eyed being rushed up to us now, as if it knew we’d found out it was guilty.

  Screw you.

  The black form was coming in close, and was just thirty yards away.

  How do I take this thing down? My fists clenched.

  “Well, your spells haven’t worked,” Nyx said. “At least the Fire arts and the Dark Arts haven’t.”

  I know that.

  “Maybe you should use something that is more related to this spirit’s element.”

  Acnologia rose higher, giving us a few extra seconds before the creature hit us.

  Spirit’s element? I asked. What element is this thing supposed to have? I really don’t know what I should—

  “Use?” Nyx finished.

  Yeah. I smiled. I thrust my hand down, and spent the few seconds I had staring at the spirit, embedding its form and its movements, all into my mind. I memorized the look in its eyes, the way it was shaded, the way its body had been sculpted.

  Everything.

  “Au Ferah!” I yelled. Let’s see how you like some mind control.

  A thin beam of white light shot out of me, and pierced the being in its chest, right where its heart should have been. It stopped in its tracks, and went silent. It looked at its chest first, then at me, then at its chest again. Its eyes changed color, swirling from red to white like how ink changed water.

  It thrashed about now, smacking into the walls, and screeching out with each hit. Sharp sensations of pain struck my mind, occurring every other second, and cutting into me like kitchen blades. I clutched the sides of my temples, and pressed into them with my palms, trying to ease the feeling.

  My muscles tightened. Just self-destruct already, you stupid spirit.

  “Hold on, Diablo,” Nyx said.

  The pain began to ease up, and the eyes of the enemy glowed brighter.

  “I will help as well,” the Dragon said.

  The spirit’s black body trembled, like a clay statue in an earthquake. Specks of its form cracked, and bursts of white light shot out from within, as though there were something in the spirit desperately trying to get out.

  In a flash, the dark form vanished, and a flash of light surged out from where it had stood. My vision was blinded for a second, and I had to blink a few times before I saw anything. Darkness flowed before me once again, as the runes of the tunnel no longer glowing. I glanced up, but saw no light from above either. The entrance was still up there though. I could feel it. It was just too far away.

  DING!

  Congratulations! You have defeated:

  Spirit Keeper (Level 982)!

  Did you look at that level? How is that thing THAT strong? No wonder Azmuth needed you. Reward: 10,900,000 XP. Reward: Automatic x5 increase to Mind Arts.

  DING

  Congratulations! You have advanced a skill.

  Mind Arts Level 10!

  You now have greater control over your mind waves, and know of better ways to use them.

  Effect 1

  Mana regeneration increased by +6%.

  Effect 2

  Intelligence increased by +1%.

  A Spirit Keeper. I closed the screens. And a high-leveled one too.

  “I guess the species doesn’t have that many benefits,” Nyx said. “It doesn’t seem like its strength was up to what its level was.”

  That’s true. But then again, maybe it just felt that way since the three of us controlled it together.

  “Maybe.”

  “What shall we do now, Diablo?” Acnologia asked.

  Darkness floated beneath us, but it was nothing unfamiliar anymore. With the spirit gone, it was smooth sailing from here.

  Hopefully.

  “Let’s just go down,” I said. “We don’t really have much else of a choice.”

  “I kind of get why no one else made it through this place,” Nyx said.

  “You do?”

  “It took an Eternal, a spirit, and a Dragon to take down that spirit,” he said. “And that’s without considering the fact that you’re the Phantom Lord, a man that’s supposed to have domineering control over spirits.”

  “Well, I could have just controlled him if he was mu
ch weaker.”

  “I know. But I’m just saying. This is why Azmuth needed you.”

  I raised an eyebrow. I’m the one who said that first, you know.

  “Diablo, something is up ahead,” Acnologia said.

  The darkness in the tunnel eased out, turning into a darker grey, the same shade that had been hiding the crevice on the surface.

  “What do you wish to do?” the Dragon asked.

  “Head straight through.” I leaned forward, clutching my knees around his neck.

  “Very well. Also, that hurts.”

  “Oh.” I loosened my grip. “Sorry about that.”

  The Dragon just chuckled.

  We shot into the grey patch beneath us, and the landscape changed. The tunnel had disappeared, and in its place was a…dark sky?

  What is this place?

  Darkness floated around us, and a gray ground sat beneath.

  So this is the sky? I looked around. But that doesn’t make sense.

  There were no stars here. Neither was there a moon or a sun or even any clouds.

  “So it’s not a sky,” Nyx said. “Why are you going around saying it’s a sky then?”

  Well, it feels like a sky to me.

  “Feels like a sky? How does something FEEL like a sky?”

  “Shall we focus on the task?” Acnologia’s voice was firm.

  “Sorry,” we both said.

  Thirty seconds into our flight the ground was still the same. In fact, it was simply a reflection of the Hexel Ruins above, only, instead of black lands these were gray.

  And hopefully less violent too.

  “Really?” Nyx asked. “I thought you wanted to blow off some steam?”

  Against a flock of Night Bats or something. Yeah. I’m not doing that if some giant army—

  “What?”

  Actually, I think I might be okay with fighting a giant army right about now. I grinned.

  He chuckled. “How surprising.”

  “Do either of you sense a presence?” Acnologia asked, his voice unnecessarily gentle now.

  Uh oh, I think we got him angry.

  “No presence. Nope,” Nyx said.

  “That is odd. I sense nothing either,” the Dragon said.

  “Why is that odd?” I asked.

  “The weapon, this Infinity Sword, is supposed to be somewhere here, correct? We are much, much closer to it now I presume and we are yet to find a trace of its presence.”

  Maybe we’re just not close enough?

  “It’s also possible this is the wrong place,” Nyx said. “Maybe there were two crevices here.”

  Great. My fists clenched Something more to worry about now.

  “Getting past that spirit was one of the things we knew we had to do. The Dark Lord’s desperation to use someone like you—”

  “Force.” The memory of the screams echoed in my mind. “Force. Not use.”

  “Uhh…yeah. His desperation to ‘force’ someone like you to help him was most likely because that spirit we just faced was way past his capabilities.”

  “It was almost past ours too.”

  “Well, at least this power-reduced form of yours. It seems to me the Dark Lord was aware that with Acnologia and I inside your head you were more than capable of attaining a mental strength closer to your past self.”

  “True,” the Dragon nodded. “Azmuth is quite the—”

  We all froze.

  “You feel that don’t you?” Nyx asked.

  “It was like a wave of energy,” I said. “Hard to miss.”

  The Dragon shot forward, with its wings powering us through the darkness. The gray lands underneath us stayed stagnant, and their color and tone remained the same however long we flew.

  Are we in a space loop again?

  “We’re moving, don’t worry,” Nyx said. “That presence is getting stronger and stronger with every second now.”

  I nodded.

  We flew for about another thirty seconds before we saw it.

  A beam of twinkling moonlight struck down through the darkness, entering through a engraved hole in the ceiling, and striking down to the ground. A glint shone from where it hit the surface

  There. I smiled.

  A large crystal rock stood at the contact point, glistening in the light that shone onto it. Embedded in its side was a sword of moon-white, buried in the rock halfway in. A purple jewel laid studded where the blade met the hilt and the weapon glowed, reflecting the moonlight, and creating light of its own.

  One look, and we all knew.

  This was the Infinity Sword.

  ***

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  The Dragon descended to the ground about a hundred yards away from the blade.

  My gaze stuck to the object, and I watched the light glisten off the sword yet again, even though I’d seen it ten times already. I could feel its sharpness with just my eyes, and after a few seconds of staring, a throbbing sensation cut into my head.

  I averted my sight. If this blade could cut by just having someone look at it, I wasn’t going to be the one to find out.

  “I doubt a blade has those capabilities,” Nyx said.

  Maybe. I dropped to the ground and strode up to the crystal rock.

  That structure reflected a ton of light, and concentrated the already-bright moonlight into much brighter beams that illuminated the dark ground.

  I stepped forward, unable to resist. A voice emerged in my mind, saying nothing, and humming a low tune instead.

  “Great, you’re delusional,” Nyx said.

  I rolled my eyes. Really now?

  “Swords don’t speak. What are you even hearing?”

  I ignored him and looked at the sword. The purple jewel resonated brightly against the white blade, and glowed brighter as I walked up to it.

  “Diablo, wait.” Acnologia stepped forward. “Something doesn’t—”

  A groan echoed into the air.

  No wait—groans. Plural.

  The sounds echoed around me, coming from all directions and multiple times a second. The darkness however showed me only a shade, and nothing else. I had my Night Vision on and even that showed me nothing.

  Is there something invisible in front of me? I put my hand out, and swung it through the empty air.

  “What the heck was that sound then?” Nyx asked.

  No clue. I moved around, but nothing came into my vision. The crystal rock stood just as it had before, as did the sword buried in it.

  More groans sounded again. Louder than the previous time.

  Okay something is definitely here. I gripped Dawnbreaker’s handle, but didn’t pull the sword out yet.

  I put my free hand into the air. “Ferazin!” I yelled. A wave pulsed out of my head—a white ring that only I could see. It expanded out, disappearing into the darkness. In moments, inverted triangles of red showed up all around us, from where the darkness started to far beyond it.

  There. I lifted Dawnbreaker out of its sheath.

  Shadows emerged from the darkness and my Night Vision skill uncovered them.

  My eyes widened. “Holy hell.”

  Black-skinned bodies stumbled towards me, with solid eyes of many colors and vividly-shaded hair as well. Two pointy ears peeked out from their hair, and they all groaned as they stepped toward me.

  Dark Elves.

  I clutched Dawnbreaker even tighter. “Is this where they all went?”

  “Something is wrong though,” Nyx said.

  The elves moved slowly, with a low groan on their lips, and no weaponry in their hands.

  They seem like they’ve lost their minds. Almost like they’re the undead right now.

  I used my Analyze skill on them.

  DING!

  Race

  Dark Elf

  Level

  452

  I frowned. They’re just normal elves. I checked a few others just to make sure their levels were similar.

  “Looks like it,” Nyx said. “But I still fee
l uneasy for some reason.”

  Wait. My eyes widened. The necklace Heslia gave me should keep us safe. I put my hand down my shirt and lifted the chain up, pulling it over my clothes. I stood for a second, wondering if anything would happen, but nothing did. The elves were still stumbling toward me, groaning with every step.

  This doesn’t make sense. I took a step back. My Analyze skill says these things are still Dark Elves, but if that’s the case then my Necklace of Elven Darkness makes me an ally of all Dark Elves. These things shouldn’t be attacking me.

  Suddenly, an elf broke the enemy ranks and ran towards me. I put my hand up. “Oskis!” I yelled. A blast of fire sunk into him, and his burning body dropped down, writhing under the flames. I stepped toward him and brought my sword down, cutting through his body and ending his pain.

  His head dropped to the side, and his eyes were still open as life left him.

  Wait a second. I knelt down.

  “What?” Nyx asked.

  I touched the elf’s cheek and pushed his head to the side. “That.” I pointed to the back of his neck. A rune of white glowed on his dark skin, and the color made it look as though it were written in milk and moonlight.

  “What the heck is that?”

  I straightened and shot to the nearest Dark Elf, gutting her body and laying her dead form down next to the other dead elf. A rune of white glowed at the back of her neck as well, and what’s more, it was identical to the one I’d found before.

  “Something is controlling these elves,” I said.

  “From where?”

  The Dark Elves hastened, as though my new knowledge proved a threat to them. Their ranks quickly moved towards me, but I had no issues dealing with warriors at such a level.

  Acnologia stepped forward. “Shall I assist?”

  I shook my head, and grinned. “I’m just going to go blow off some steam.”

  “Are you sure?” Nyx asked. “These Elves are clearly not attacking you of their own will. We can find a way to get rid of the rune. Maybe they can be brought back to how they used to be.”