Hazard Online 2: Revenge

by Jaeger Mitchells

  I was there before anyone replied and flew at his back. The tail was there again and darted toward my chest. I slashed the sharp tip away and brought my second claw up. Lopo howled as it connected with his tail.

  You have inflicted 17.221 damage on Lopo

  I’d landed a critical on Lopo, who howled and swung his claws around. Dineth caught his left arm and stopped him a foot shy of my face. From his mouth, fire erupted and hit me straight on.

  You have sustained 2.561 damage from Lopo: You have sustained debuff: Fire.

  You have sustained 399 damage from Fire.

  "Fuck! Put it out!" I cried as my body was lit on fire. I ran around like a headless chicken,to the amusement of the others. A second flame struck me moments after the first, just before a combo of healing spells washed over me and extinguished the flames.

  Dineth charged the lizard and bashed his shield into his groin area. The creature’s eyes went wide as Renee unleashed a devastating lightning strike against Lopo. The spell hit him straight in the head and added a five second stun.

  "Get to it!" I said through clenched teeth. My health might be mostly up, but the pain was there. It hurt like a motherfucker to move my arms and legs. It didn’t stop me from climbing his back and ramming my claws against his neck. Three seconds left and seven strikes in. Two seconds, one, and then zero. When I felt him move, I activated my skill combo. It would buy me a couple extra seconds, I would be invincible during the combo, as well as deal great damage.

  "Die!" Lopo screamed and brought his hands together. An orb of darkness appeared around his hands, and grew larger by the moment. His health started dwindling as well and turned orange at around a quarter mark. The orb spread around his body and enveloped the whole clearing before anyone had the chance to run.

  I looked around at the girls. They were genuinely scared. In all honesty, so was I. A sense of foreboding crept up my spine as I watched what was happening to all of us.

  You have sustained debuff: Eternal Darkness: You have sustained 999 damage from Eternal Darkness.

  I read the debuff and scowled. For every five seconds, we would lose one percent health, without the ability to heal. And what was worse, until he was defeated, the darkness would remain. This wasn’t good. Not at all.

  "We need to kill him or we’re toast in a couple of minutes, tops," I said and circled around him. Dineth had put away his shield, and with that, the enormous defensive capabilities he’d had. No, now it was time to pummel this creep into the ground.

  "What’s a couple more minutes against two full days and nights, no?" Dineth replied and took out his second ax.

  "Wait, what? You’ve been fighting it for two days and nights?" I asked incredulously, and almost got hit as I turned toward the Orc. Arrows struck the creature after which a gust of wind lifted him slightly off the ground. Dineth charged and jumped. With all of his power, he struck the lizard in the face and toppled him again. For some reason, his health seemed to drop much quicker than earlier.

  A wall of fire surrounded his body, allowing him the reprieve to get up and move out of the way. A blizzard struck the clearing moments after he changed from a hot red, to a cool blue. I barely had the time to dodge behind a tree as a shower of ice shards hit where I’d be standing moments before.

  "I’m almost out of mana," Renee called.

  "Me too," Scarlet added. Katya had regenerated enough over time that she could use her skills freely, but the other two were heavy drainers. I had skill cooldown, and so did Dineth, so we had no real use for mana potions.

  "Accept," I said and sent the two a trade window, put in all of my mana potions except for one stack, and closed the deal.

  "Thanks baby, I’ll make sure to thank you properly later!" Scarlet said and chuckled. Renee’s eyes went wide as her face flushed with crimson.

  "Not without me!" Renee blurted and send a lightning bolt our way. It struck Lopo in the back and stunned him in place. Flashes of lightning danced over its skin. I thought twice about running up its back again, and instead pummeled away at its right arm, while Dineth went at the left. The five seconds were over in an instant, and we were nowhere done with it yet.

  "You will never defeat me!" Lopo raged and stomped his feet against the ground, like an angry child that had had its favorite toy taken away. A low rumbling followed, together with an earthquake as he turned brown. I couldn’t hold my balance and fell over, hitting my head against a large piece of rock. It dazed me for a few seconds, which Lopo used to get close to me.

  Vines shot up from underneath, accompanied by a shower of lightning and arrows, dealing massive damage. Finally, his health bar flashed an angry red. It looked like we were down to ten percent.

  The darkness around us evaporated, showering us with rays of heat once more. From behind a tree, two women appeared. One was Larina, while the other had two horns sprout from the top of her head, and black, leathery wings from her back. She looked familiar, but I couldn’t place who she was. One thing was clear though, an icy chill ran down my body as I laid eyes on her. Not lust or longing or even the need for sex, no, one of pain and horror.

  "That’s enough. If you kill him, I won’t be able to ride him anymore. Lopo, come here," the woman commanded. The giant lizard hurried back to the woman and became much smaller, barely a head taller than her.

  "Who the hell are you and what do you want? He owes us his life!" Dineth called and turned back green as he took out the massive shield.

  "Who I am? Our boy Aiden here can tell you all about it. If he dares to remember."

  I frowned and readied myself for another fight.

  "I have no idea who you are lady, and I don’t care. Don’t act like you know me!"

  A high pitched laughter escaped her mouth as she rocked her head back and laughed with all her heart. More shivers ran down my body, but I couldn’t place her in my memory, though my body seemed to be able to.

  "I’ll give you a day. That’s how long it will take you to get to the next checkpoint. If you haven’t figured out by then, I’ll give you back the memories we share together."

  "What the hell is she talking about?" Katya yelled and made her way to me. I almost flinched under her angry glare, but I honestly had no recollection of this woman. Not until she took out a sharp, black knife.

  "Do you remember now?" she smiled.

  Something told me, that the memories we shared weren’t something I’d want to remember if at all possible. Though I couldn’t help it if she wanted me to.

  "No, I don’t."

  She laughed again and turned her back to us. Larina and Popo followed suit.

  "See you soon, lover boy." With that, the three stepped through a shimmering portal that appeared out of nowhere and disappeared.

  I dropped on my back and lay there, heart in my throat. What the hell was it with her and the black knife? And why was she with Larina? So many new questions, and no new answers. What’s more, Lopo was gone. Almost a million health whittled down for nothing. I cursed and put an arm over my eyes.

  I could hear the scuffle of feet. All five of them made their way to me, and I wasn’t looking forward to the conversation. It wasn’t like I had something to hide, no, I had no idea what had happened between the two of us.

  "We need to have a long and hard talk about… everything," Katya said as she sat beside me and ruffled my hair.

  14

  Monica and Renee were busy preparing food as I lay there, bathing in the sunlight. I didn’t feel much like doing anything, especially after telling them all I knew, which was barely anything at all. Once we had dinner, the next point of business would be to check out the village again, but that was a few hours in the future, so I didn’t bother thinking much about it.

  A strange crawling sensation wouldn’t go away, no matter how hard I willed it. The demonic woman didn’t want to leave my mind, her face, her posture, the knife and the smile. Both Katya and Scarlet lay beside me in silence. They understood me better than anyone, and if I w
as out of it, they’d let me be, but showed that they were there for me. Oh god, I loved them both with all my heart.

  Dineth walked past us, carrying a pile of firewood on his shield. Smart man, I thought. And damn fine women, both Monica and Renee, but I wanted to be alone with my core group for now.

  "He might have had his memories wiped, you know? It’s theoretically possible if this really is a bugged area. But for what reason?" Katya said, breaking the long silence. I was sure that she was onto something, as it had crossed my mind as well many times over, but if someone did wipe me, I had no knowledge about it.

  "Possible. We’ll cross that bridge once we get there," I replied and pulled them closer to me. Their warm skin touching mine gave me the necessary comfort. I really was in need of some bonding time. Their eyes full of love, hair the scent of jasmine and spring flowers.

  "I wouldn’t mind staying here for a while longer," Scarlet interjected. "Just look at the beauty. Sure, Hazard has a lot of it, but this feels somehow special."

  "Speaking of this, did Sylvia mention anything of this sort?"

  "No, she only told us that she had no knowledge about this world and what we’d encounter. Told us to be careful and not to die at any price," Katya said.

  "Yeah, you’re lucky Monica was there. My heals weren’t helping you," Scarlet added.

  I went silent again, observing the lake, flora and fauna. There were no clues to be gotten there, but it took some burden off my mind. I sighed and sat up, then dropped down again as I blacked out. A sudden pressure in my head built up and almost knocked me out.

  "Oh fuck!" I cursed and turned on my stomach. Then it was gone again. I could swear that someone was playing with me, just like when we arrived here on Hazard, the way Katya’s sister had played me and Scarlet. At least it felt just like it.

  "What is it?" Katya asked and propped me up. I exhaled and took in a deep breath.

  "I have no idea. Either I must have gotten up too quickly or someone is tinkering with me again. From the company."

  "Wait, no way! She’s gone, and everything’s now under his direct supervision," Scarlet said. But I could hear the disbelief in her voice.

  "Did any of you have any similar situations?" I asked as the two women helped me stand. The pain was gone, but it still felt like something had cracked open my skull.

  "No, not me," Scarlet said, while Katya just shook her head.

  For a moment I felt bad that they hadn’t, but then I cursed myself for being so stupid. If they weren’t experiencing anything of the sort, it meant that no one was playing with us from the outside. Most likely.

  "Dinner’s ready!" Renee called, though we heard her pretty clearly over party chat. It was just a habit of ours. During battles, we yelled rather than spoke normally. Adrenaline, maybe? Who cares?

  No one really talked during dinner. There wasn’t much to say anyway. We’d been done in by that demonic woman, Lopo and Larina. Larina. The rabbit woman doctor. What was her stake in this? I’d never even think her a fighter, yet she’d been ravaging the girls easily earlier.

  "Why the long face?" Dineth asked just after burping so loud, that he could have woken up the whole forest. I shrugged and threw the fish bones into the fire.

  "I’m heading to sleep. Tomorrow is a long day," I said and got up a tree just far enough to hide in the shadows. I didn’t want to think too much about all this, so I shut myself out from the chatter.

  A branch cracked underneath someone’s footstep. That much I felt and could see in the low light. I opened my eyes just enough to see through the slits. It was Renee.

  "Are you awake?" she asked in a private chat.

  "Yeah. Have you come to check up on me?" I replied and sat up.

  She smiled and sat next to me. There was hesitation in her movements, but it didn’t bother me for some reason. I’d much rather be asleep now anyway, but I couldn’t just push her away.

  "Not really," she finally said and put her hand in mine. "I didn’t want you to sleep alone. Mind if I join you?" she whispered.

  "I guess," I replied and put my arm around her. She was warm. Her body, pressed against mine, felt so good. Nothing sexual, just an ordinary good feeling. "You’re here just to… sleep beside me, yes?"

  "Not if you tell me to do something else. Otherwise it’s just sleeping beside you."

  "Then sleeping it is. I’d happily do some more, but not now. I’m not feeling it. So many things have happened that I don’t even know what is real anymore."

  Renee stayed quiet and sat there. Without giving her any choice, I leaned in and kissed her cheek, then laid down next to her. She had her back pressed against my chest and rubbed herself against me more than once before we settled down. I held my arm around her and cupped one of her breasts with it. She didn’t say anything, but spread her legs slightly and slid her skirt up to her ass.

  "Not tonight. Tomorrow if everything plays out well, we can have a replay."

  "Sure thing, Aiden," she whispered seductively and lay there quietly, unmoving. It took me all but a few seconds to drift off to sleep.

  I found myself standing in a dark room. Four lit torches hung in the four corners. A damp, foul smell assailed my sense of smell, while something unknown prickled at my eyes, forcing me to tear up. A horrible scraping noise assailed my hearing. It felt like my senses were being targeted specifically.

  A high pitched chuckle sent chills down my spine. I wasn’t alone in the dark room, yet I couldn’t see them.

  "Who’s there?"

  "Oh you know who. Don’t play dumb. It doesn’t suit you."

  It was a seductive female voice that came from all directions at once. I couldn’t place where she was standing. I tried to look around, but couldn’t as my head was strapped to a wooden board with a belt. More clasps shut closed around my hands, shoulders and legs. I was bound in place as the woman appeared. A shroud covered her whole body, but for one thing: a wicked looking black knife.

  "What the hell do you think you’re doing?" I asked angrily, though she laughed at my question. It came out much weaker than I’d intended.

  "Nothing much. I’m just trying to get you to remember. We had such a good time, you and I. It’s a shame I had to make you forget."

  A dread crawled up my body, as I tried to make sense of what she was saying. There was no way I wouldn’t remember something like this, and no magic would be able to make me.

  "How about you and I sit down and talk about whatever issues you might have with me. Using a blade on my delicate skin would be such a waste of beauty and your time."

  The woman burst into laughter and even dropped the blade. It struck the concrete floor and rang out in the enclosed space.

  "You’re really a handful, you know that?"

  "In what way?" I joked, trying to buy myself some time. She didn’t reply, but I could see a smirk on her face, or what looked like her face. She snapped her fingers. The blade appeared in her hand again as she leaned in close.

  "Every way possible," she whispered and slid the knife across my chest. At first, I barely felt anything, but a few seconds in, I cried out in pain. Blood trickled down my chest and ended up on her tongue as she licked me clean. She shuddered and her eyes rolled back into her head.

  "The fuck!" I yelled and snapped my fangs at her. But I couldn’t reach her. My head was bound with a fucking belt. A second cut followed, then a third, a twentieth. I lost count soon after and drifted in and out of consciousness.

  "See you soon," she whispered and bit down on my earlobe. My eyes snapped open against the backdrop of a lit up forest. It was day. Had all of it just been a dream?

  "Aiden? What’s wrong? You kept screaming for hours on end!" Renee cried as she pressed herself against me. I could see Scarlet and Katya sitting next to me, the worry across their faces mixed with a distaste for Renee. She was the youngest of the three after all, and the latest addition.

  "I had a nightmare," I wheezed as I tried to steady my breathing. The pain linger
ed in my mind. I looked down at my chest, but there were no wounds. "Fucking hell did it feel real."

  "What was it about?" Katya asked as she pushed Renee aside. The young woman scowled but retreated and made place for Scarlet.

  "Me being tortured to death, one slice at a time. I think that woman from yesterday had something to do with it. I saw the… person in question cut me with the same black knife. There was a fog around them, so I have no idea if it was her."

  "That’s some strong magic," Monica whispered, more for her own sake than ours.

  "Huh?" Scarlet asked as she moved past the Dryad. "What do you mean?"

  "Who, me?" Monica asked and backed up a step. I could see Scarlet frown in annoyance.

  "Yes, you! Who else?" she snapped. Monica stepped back some more and hid behind Dinethal.

  "Why are you yelling at me?" she squealed.

  "Enough!" I shouted. "Monica, please. If you know something, now is the time to tell us. This shit nightmare felt like I was being sliced up like a fish, one layer at a time!"

  "Don’t yell at my woman!" Dinethal yelled back at his lover’s behest. Monica started crying for no good reason, which got me angry. What the hell was it with that Dryad?

  "Everyone calm down, okay?" Renee said firmly. She put a hand on her brother’s arm and forced eye-contact on him. "Calm the fuck down, and have her tell us what she knows, okay? Now, pretty please."

  Dinethal seemed to deflate at her words and turned to Monica, then nodded at me. She nodded in turn and stepped out from behind him.

  "I think he’s under a powerful black magic spell. One similar to what turned our land. He reeks of death. I can’t understand how you don’t feel the same, especially you two," she looked at Scarlet and Renee. "You’re magic users as well, you should have felt the same, especially you, Fairy."

  Scarlet looked away, embarrassed.

  "I felt something, but I thought he was just dirty or something," she murmured. I scowled while the rest burst into laughter, all except Monica.