For The Guild (Emerilia Book 2)

by Michael Chatfield

  An arrow hit Induca in the side. Suzy ducked; three Air elementals turned and fired, focused hydrogen gas at the archer.

  They screamed out, their aim ruined as their arrow went wide.

  The Air creations rushed to tear the archer apart. Earth golems that Suzy had put down as a protection measure covered Induca.

  Suzy moved to her, seeing her grasping the arrow in her leg, about to pull it out.

  “Don’t!” Suzy said.

  “What?” Induca asked.

  “You pull that out and all the blood could come with it. Leave it in. My Earth golems can protect you,” Suzy said.

  “Thank you, dear.” Induca held Suzy’s hand as she helped her up.

  Suzy’s face went red at those words and touching Induca. They’d slept in the same bed together and semi-cuddled, but Suzy was scared that it had just been the drink. The drink had allowed her to go past her normal bounds, going so far as to sleep with another woman in her bed. She might like the fairer sex, but she had limited exposure to actually dating them and was rather nervous with the whole thing.

  “Any more red and I won’t need to light any fires,” Induca teased.

  “Ahh, yes, umm, sorry,” Suzy said, embarrassed.

  “I think afterward we should have a nice long talk, maybe over a meal with a room to ourselves?” Induca had a sly smile on her face.

  “You do know we’re in the middle of a fight?” Suzy asked.

  “Ahh, distractions.” Induca’s smile widened.

  “Fine!” A smile rose to Suzy’s lips as she felt the air pressure change. Someone called down lightning on the roof, but her metal constructs filled with her soul had turned into grounding poles, the energy flowing away from the two.

  Three of the cores were ruptured from the energy overload.

  “Fucking pricks!” Suzy barked. Her Air creations reacted and searched for the caster.

  She looked to the battle, getting back into her zone, and checked her various constructs were doing as they were supposed to. She saw as Deia charged into the fight between Anna and the PKP guildmaster.

  The three of them turned into blurs, the black blur having to move faster than the white and red blurs that chased him down.

  Suzy tried not to focus on the battle. That speed and coordination, Suzy was nowhere close to it. Only years studying how to fight and knowing their own body to have those reactions had allowed Anna and Deia to fight the black blur.

  “The fuck is he?” Suzy asked.

  “He’s one of the Dark Lord’s Champions. Looks like he blessed him as well.” Induca’s face pulled back in a snarl as a dozen Fire lances were pulled from a flaming building, quenching the Fire and being hurled into the PKP’s lines.

  The rest of the Stone Raiders cut down any PKP in the rear; they were like farmers and the PKP were chickens. Here and there, the sound of alarm went up.

  Guards appeared and started in on the fray. The Stone Raiders might have been strong but the guards, bolstered by being in their own city, took three hits to kill a PKP and move through.

  A whistle made Suzy turn to face it. A beacon appeared in the distance.

  “Malsour, Dave, Suzy, Induca, check it out!” Josh yelled.

  Malsour appeared, turning in a wide loop on a black surfboard, a tether of shadows below him.

  “Ugh.” Dave rolled onto the roof and stopped himself with a chimney—well, the chimney stopped him. “I fucking hate running.” Dave started off in the direction of the beacon.

  Suzy ran and jumped off the roof as Steve ambled over. A metal creation on his back caught her and wrapped around her, creating a harness. Her other creations followed.

  Steve was at just thirty percent armor. He had taken a beating.

  “Dave, is there anything you can do for Steve?” Suzy asked.

  “Gimme a seat and I can see what I can do,” Dave said.

  “Jump over,” Suzy said.

  Dave did so, and was caught by another metal creation.

  “Bloody carriage I am,” Steve muttered.

  “Induca, can you warm up Steve’s legs?” Dave asked.

  “Sure,” Induca, whose feet were covered in flames, lowered herself down to Steve’s leg heights and cast Fire on him.

  “I am so happy I don’t have nerve endings!” Steve said.

  “Don’t move your head.” Dave put his hand on Steve’s head. White light traveled down his arm.

  Suzy couldn’t see anything happening but Steve’s armor level started to increase, restoring strength to him.

  “Move upward, Induca,” Dave said.

  “Oi!”

  “Shut up, Steve. You don’t have anything anyway. I’ve seen you without your cloak,” Dave said.

  “Well, it’s the essence of the matter!”

  Suzy saw Dave grinning, his eyes closed.

  Great, just what I need, these two idiots becoming friends!

  Chapter 16: Not Your Normal Rescue

  Elinar Dosfo watched as her guards and the PKP savages fought one another with everything they had. In their midst, there was a Person of Emerilia. You could tell the Players and the people apart by the way they fought, the way they moved.

  This one had earned the trust and adoration of the PKP.

  All the guards who came near to the PKPs had their enhancements from the city’s strengthening circuits reverted. They were nothing but lowly People of Emerilia with some decent weapons and gear. Their boosts were gone, yet still they were fighting. Elinar was proud of her people, but she knew that they couldn’t win the battle. Already twenty guards lay dead or dying. Necromancers pulled the dead to fight once more.

  She slashed at Belindor, one of the people she had trained with, rising in the ranks of the guard. They had talked about adventuring off once they had become strong enough to fight for Selhi. Now his reanimated corpse was swinging at her, his eyes dead and cloudy.

  She’d whistled but nothing happened; no one came to save her.

  Did they lie? Did that Player just want for them all to die? Did he even give a fuck? Frustration burned at her very core. She wanted to cry at it all, to lash out in anger, but all she could see was Belindor’s face, his neck cut open, his armor punctured.

  “My, my. Such a waste.” The voice was calm but cold.

  The hairs on the back of Elinar’s neck rose in fear. All of the people of the land could feel the auras of those around them. This one was powerful, stronger than any Player or POE Weapon Master she had faced. Even the grand wizards of the college didn’t boast this power.

  Standing there on a pillar of shadows was a man with black eyes. He held a book in one hand; his eyes cut obsidian as he looked at them with disdain.

  “Return,” he said.

  The single word sent a shiver through her body, yet it did nothing to her. She heard something fall. She turned to find Belindor, who had been poised to sink his blade into her side, fall, a puppet with his strings cut.

  “From Darkness, there is Light. Shadow’s speed.” The man’s face stretched, hungry and cold.

  None of the PKPs had made her as scared as this man.

  “Darklings!” He called out the name, as if singsonging to a child.

  Angered, hungry, and pained screams erupted from the early morning shadows, attacking the PKPs and the second Dark Lord’s champion.

  “He has magical suppression!” She yelled, pointing at the Dark Lord’s Champion.

  The man’s eyes thinned as a woman with Fire around her feet raced past him. Her Fire slammed down onto the PKP who fired back up at her.

  “Reaper!” Elinar’s opponent called out. They slashed faster than Elinar could see, cutting through her stomach and up into her ribs. She fell to the ground. Blood pooled beneath her as she looked at her wounds in shock.

  “Fuck this. Throw me in, coach!” a man said.

  “What do you mean?” a screeching and deep voice asked.

  “Throw me, you tin can—right at that grinning bitch in the back!” the man
said.

  She saw a large streak of silver armor slam into the Dark Lord’s minion.

  “Good morning, bitch!” the man yelled.

  Elinar felt Strength return to her. She was on death’s door, but her attacker, thinking her out of the battle, was turning to tear into her fellow guards’ sides. She drove her sword up, through their groin and into their guts.

  Fuck your pretty elegant moves. “Welcome to Selhi Capital, fuck-stain.”

  Elinar passed out, swearing she saw a grinning metal giant running into the fray.

  “Dude, we’re so doing that again!”

  ***

  Dave had pulled all of the magical suppression champion’s attention from messing with the guard’s gear; however, his own armor and rod’s runes were not working. He couldn’t even use simple spells. He straight conjured weapons, drawing from his internal Mana pool. Nothing.

  “You are one of those at Boran-al’s Citadel. My lord will be happy to hear I brought about your end!” The weirdo wore some black cape that didn’t allow Dave to see their face.

  Well, I have the same kind of hood, so I can’t really say much about his style choices without it looking back on me. Just kill the fucker and think about wardrobes and this shadow-hood crap later.

  The suppressor-dick attacked Dave, moving faster than anyone Dave had seen, except possibly Alkao and Anna.

  But those two were freaks of nature.

  The black blade skimmed Dave’s armor, leaving a trail across his chest, cutting the steel easily and scoring the Mithril underneath.

  That shit is sharp and he’s fast. Fuck this!

  Dave swerved out of the next attack. The man was stronger and faster, and his magic suppression fucked with Dave’s mojo. They traded blades, their weapons ringing out. Dave couldn’t see his opponent’s face but he could sense his anger. Dave fought hard, but his opponent was more skilled; every hit was made to hit him in a place where his armor was open.

  I’ve been relying on my runes too much. He let out a hiss of pain as his dragon scale was opened along his right leg, cutting deep into his outer thigh.

  “Leech!”

  Dave felt his power being drained from him; not even his Mana barrier could keep his Strength and power from draining away. Dave saw the red tether that connected them. Dave didn’t know how the man was doing it. He must have held in his magical suppression field everywhere but along his blade and where it hit; it allowed him to use the magical abilities of the sword.

  Dave couldn’t try to understand how long it had taken the cChampion to figure out those abilities.

  He needed to cut off this guy’s feed; he was getting faster, more powerful. Any of the glancing blows Dave had given in order to hurt the little shit were healed in no time. Dave slipped up. A blade slammed into the breach between his torso and armored breastplate.

  Dave yelled out. It fucking hurt. “You little fucking! Holy shit! Oww!” Dave fell backward. The blade’s back serrated edge came free, causing more damage. Dave’s Health plummeted and his armor wasn’t functioning.

  Dave was going to die but he needed to make sure this fucker didn’t get too much of his Stamina and Mana.

  In a burst of energy, Dave grabbed the man and slammed his forehead into him. The man reeled from the hit; the red tether disappeared as he lost his fine control over his Mana suppression.

  Dave tackled him to the ground, mounting him.

  The man beneath him screamed unintelligently. His long fingers tore at Dave’s armor.

  Dave’s barrier didn’t work anymore. His rods were slowly disintegrating, the conjuration and soul gem that powered it failing. Dave swung his rods for all they were worth; if he didn’t win, then his friends would die next.

  Dave’s rods broke the man’s hands; still he continued to attack. He jabbed his fingers into Dave’s wound, making him cry out, and giving Dave an opening. He slammed his rods into the man’s head.

  The man’s crazed smile fell away as he had a dazed look on his face. Dave didn’t dare let up; his limbs got weaker as his lifeblood continued to pump out of his body.

  Dave had underestimated the Champion, but he didn’t care whether he lived or died, as long as he killed or wounded the bastard so he couldn’t use his abilities on anyone else. He kept swinging his rods, denting the man’s head. His barrier came back as his armor tried to keep him alive and fix his internal wounds.

  Dave closed his eyes, feeling lethargic. His hits barely made any impact. The pain left him as he felt himself falling.

  He opened his eyes, looking around a large, empty white room. The pain was gone and he was fully intact.

  You have died in Emerilia

  You have been returned home.

  You have 5:59 hours (game time) until you can respawn at (Alephir)

  Or

  1:59 hours in real life

  Would you like to play a different game while you wait?

  Dave waved the screen away and looked at the blank room. “Well, I’m going to get some damn sleep. After making Steve work and then fighting in Selhi, I need a fucking nap.” Dave accessed his menus, creating a simple bedroom, living room, and television.

  He’d just finished making the television when one of the guild members who was also dead invited him to the Stone Raiders’ lobby house.

  “Fucking right on!” Dave disappeared from his shoddy home.

  ***

  Deia and Anna fought the aberration with everything they had. The damn bastard was so strong, he threw out spells without needing to call out their Actions.

  While he was decent for a Player, he wasn’t to their level. The issue was that his stats were so high that they were unable to land a finishing blow. It was always glancing hits, his Strength and Agility so high as to make up for his lack of skill.

  It was infuriating.

  Still, his Health was slowly declining, bit by bit. Dropping ten percent.

  No others tried to jump in on the battle, the three combatants moving too fast to engage. Anyone who did was cut down by one side or the other in the fight.

  He pulled out a staff; black energy coursed from it and struck Deia’s armor. Her Mana barrier protected her as another snaked out to slam into Anna.

  Her Air attack was unable to shake it. Anna fell back a few feet; the two of them braced themselves against the Dark energies hitting them.

  “Mother fucker!” Deia yelled. The wind whipped around her, throwing her hair up as her eyes blazed with determined fire. She pulled the heat of the surrounding area into her, enough heat to melt metals and set dirt on fire. Heat shimmered off her as she focused the blast through her eyes, willing the heat to follow her sight. Her eyes burned, as if she had not slept in days. She screamed out in pain and defiance.

  The sneer on Hevard’s face turned to confusion and shock as the beam of concentrated heat ripped through his Mana barrier. He was so sure of his new stats that he thought nothing could defeat him. He was showing off with his staff, using it to gain experience with the weapon. He moved, trying to spread the damage out and not lose his staff’s connection with the two ladies. He strained, having to hold the staff against the forces it was spending.

  Deia used her Fire magic.

  A clear liquid fell on and around Hevard.

  He wrinkled his nose, opening and closing his eyes at the noxious fumes. He looked up at Deia, realizing what it was.

  Alcohol is not just good for drinking.

  The heat vision and the concentrated alcohol combusted. A clear flame shimmered over the area where Hevard stood. He tried to get out of the flames. He stepped backward, only to find them following him.

  Deia controlled her flames.

  His fear turned into panic as he couldn’t get away from the flames. His Mana barrier was undoubtedly draining quickly. He made a misstep and stumbled, breaking his staff’s connection.

  Deia and Anna didn’t wait. Anna’s blade whistled through the air as Deia’s blade of Fire rushed toward the bastard.


  He tried to get out of the way, but was slapped by the two attacks. His Mana barrier failed as Deia and Anna kept up their attacks.

  Deia commanded her flames to rush over Hevard’s body.

  He could have tried to extinguish the flames with his Dark magics, but he hadn’t learned that yet. He screamed in rage and pain as Anna and Deia hit him so fast that he couldn’t deal with the flames covering him and both of them at the same time.

  It was a hard battle; both Deia and Anna stayed just out of the guildmaster’s reach, slamming him with spells and blade-focused attacks.

  Finally, he slumped to the ground. His Health hit zero. Anna stabbed him in the neck, making sure he was dead.

  The flames disappeared as Deia and Anna moved on to the few remaining PKP. The majority were fleeing after seeing their leader’s death. They were simple opponents, more focused on getting away instead of truly fighting.

  Deia and Anna cut through them with ease.

  Deia and Anna rested on their knees, the last of the PKP dispatched. They breathed heavily, looking for a new fight or opponent. They panted, sharing a water skin and downing Stamina potions.

  Deia tried to contact Dave, but found she couldn’t. She opened a voice chat with Malsour. “Why can’t I get Dave?” she asked.

  “He’s respawning,” Malsour said.

  Deia’s chest clenched as she forced herself to remain calm. In a few hours, he would be back. “Thanks.” She let out a shaky breath.

  She cut the voice chat and looked around Selhi Capital. There were burnt and broken houses all over the place. Guards and Stone Raiders worked together, moving out to scour the streets and make sure that there were no PKP left behind.

  Wounded were being administered to in the street. Those with healing spells and Health potions got them stable enough to bring them back to the tavern.

  They’d won, but Deia wondered what the cost would be.

  ***

  Jules felt like she did after every battle: tired, overwhelmed, and in need of either a triple shot of espresso or a bed to collapse in.