“Well,” Kerzin screeched, “that may be, but it was not a complete win for the home team.” She flashed a monstrous grin my way, holding up a hand. She was holding onto something I had not noticed a moment ago.
I squinted to make out what the object was. It appeared to be a weapon of some kind. It was familiar, even. Then, in sudden realization, I looked down at my own hands and saw only half of my decorated blade, its metal broken and splintered like a brittle stick of plastic.
“Oh, fuck,” I whispered.
Her cackling tingled my spine, and she dropped the broken remains of my weapon on the ground. “I’ll be coming for that other one next.”
Thankfully, my primary blade suffered no damage, so far as I could tell. I took a step forward but was given pause by a call from Safira.
“Rixon, wait,” she said. “Binari and I can finish her off from here. She’s helpless to our magic now without spells to absorb or block it.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Binari said, putting a hand on the other girl’s shoulder. “Most spells that absorb mana don’t actually require mana themselves. All she has to do is drain one of our attacks and we’re back at square one again.”
“That is not the case for my absorption spell, dear,” Kerzin said with a smirk. “Mine requires a little mana to use, but you better hurry up and finish me off before I replenish enough to cast it!”
“Like I’d believe that, bitch!” Binari yelled. “Either way, finish her off now, Si1ence! We don’t want to give her any more time to stall!”
“On it!” I shouted.
I charged forward with a blade and a half, ready to chop the witch up into thin slivers. I brought my scimitar down, but she sidestepped it. Apparently, her lack of mana did nothing to hamper her agility. I stopped my sword inches above the grass and swung back up to catch her in the leg. She lifted the targeted leg and stomped down on the flat side of my blade, planting it firmly in the ground.
I was unwilling to let go so soon, so I stayed anchored there as she reached in and tore into my face with claws no less vicious than a panther’s. It stung, but I wasn’t down for the count yet. I heaved my blade up, stumbling backward when she suddenly released it, and dived back in with a stab aimed straight for the solar plexus.
She turned to the side, thinning the area I had to target her, and giggled as my weapon shot past. When my wrist came in from of her bosom, she reached out and slashed me again, this time cutting deep gashes into my arm. I dropped my scimitar—my only functioning sword—to the ground at her feet, wailing with the sudden pain.
She stooped to pick my weapon up and cut through the air as she slowly stepped my way. I held what remained of my decorative blade up to intercept her attack, forgetting in my haste that I did not have as much of it left to block the attack as I had before. The scimitar sailed over my metal nub, and I had to veer back to save my head from being cut clean from my neck.
I jabbed at her several times with the jagged end of my sword, more to slow her approach than with the expectation of doing damage. She only cackled in response, creeping closer ever so slowly.
Fury had faded moments ago, leaving me with less adrenaline-fueled determination and a truckload of uncertainty. I glanced down the hill, hoping to see another deus ex machina moment swoop in and give me the power I needed to overcome this formidable foe, powerful even in her weakened state. There was nothing below but a battlefield still swarming with more and more ghouls. Many of our men had fallen since I last checked and were added to the enemy ranks. The sight of Faun, Henrik, and Horan still fighting off the growing horde gave me a little comfort, but this would all need to end very soon if any of us were going to escape alive.
Suddenly, Kerzin stopped. There was a look of excitement in her decrepit face. “Oh! I can feel it! I have enough mana for a spell!” She dropped my scimitar and pressed her fingers together, shouting, “Immolate!”
The ground beneath me grew hot, and out of pure instinct I jumped forward just before it erupted in a pillar of flame. I decided that this was going to be it—either I was going to kill her or she was going to kill me. I would not stop fighting until I physically couldn’t carry on any longer.
I lunged for her stomach with the tip of my broken sword, and she sidestepped as she had before. I expected it this time, so in the same moment I made my attack, I reached around with my free arm and caught her awkwardly by the neck with my armpit pressing against her throat while she was held back in a leaning position, forced to look up into the sky from behind my shoulder blade.
Then I felt a half-dozen fangs tear into my flesh. Her bite burned worse than the fire enchantment on Dukayne’s blade, as if her saliva contained an acidic venom. Against my body’s insistence, I held her firm, determined to not let go even if she tore a whole chunk out of my arm.
Fighting back a howl of pain, I lifted my broken blade high and plunged it straight into her heart. She withdrew her bite immediately and screamed in agony, this time digging her nails into my arm out of pure shock. I didn’t stop there though. Once the blade was firmly inside her chest, I twisted it 90 degrees to make sure I was grinding up as much of her innards as possible.
“Damn you!” she cried. “Damn your organs and your bones! You filth-excreting maggot! How dare you! How dare you!”
I removed my weapon and watched as black ooze spilled forth, forming puddles on the ground. Only when she stopped screaming did I release her and promptly step away, lest she make a final desperate attack for my ankles.
She fell limp and a burst of energy radiated out from her. I looked to the field below and saw that what Binari had suspected was true: cutting off the head did bring death to the rest of the body. All of the corpses went rigid and dropped where they stood, as lifeless as they should have been the whole time. The few members of our forces that remained looked around confused, hesitant to believe what they were seeing.
There was a long silence as reality began to sink in. Henrik and Horan looked over to those of us standing on the hill and held their arms up in triumph. The other troops burst out in cheer.
I could hardly believe it myself, after having barely missed defeat several times throughout the fight. Yet, there Kerzin lay, still and lifeless like the hundreds of her henchmen scattered about like dead flies. The embers of the wound I had given her still seared into her flesh.
I faced the sky and braced myself to be taken back to my world, my home. I didn’t know what I expected to happen right then—maybe a giant virtual vacuum cleaner would pop into the sky like the user interface did and suck me up into my dimension. Perhaps there would be another dark, pulsing egg around somewhere for me to make use of. No matter what I expected to see, it did not happen. I just stood there for a time as cheers continued to ring out, looking up into a clear blue sky.
I had mixed feelings when I later found out that my time in Circuit World was only just beginning.
Epilogue
We had decided to start a new settlement on that battlefield at the edge of the Evermeadows and the forest, which was rechristened with its old name, Tir’Drun, the City of Leaves. There would be no more suffering within its leafy walls. With the defeat of two prominent figures at the head of the Gray Favor, it seemed that all the others lost their nerve. The forest quickly settled back into the calm that had permeated it before the Gray Favor’s founding.
We had chosen the site of this new settlement not only because it was the turning point in the Zone’s fight against those that wished to usurp its rule, but also because it was near what I was told was a heavily trafficked crossroads that led to several neighboring Zones. I was informed that there was still much work to be done, as many of the Zones still lay in turmoil.
After the victory, I was given the title of Honorary Member of the Presence. The guild’s tune had changed very quickly in light of my demonstrated prowess in battle. I didn’t know how or if I would make use of such a title, but it was nice to at least see the old buggers come around—espe
cially Elder Frey, who turned out not to be such a bad guy once he was actually willing to sit down and have a decent conversation with you.
The girls and I stood atop the hill, much as we had several weeks prior during the fight, though this time Faun was there with us. There was a section of wall being erected along the edge of the woods. The people there were working away happily, proud to be doing something meaningful, it seemed.
I felt the sun beaming down, its energy radiating all over my body. I felt the tingling I had back when Binari and I were at the pool, when I asked the branches to let the sun in and they obeyed. My magic was growing, there was no doubt about it.
Safira came to my side. The aura of her magic seemed to be brightening every day. I didn’t know if it was a sign of her own power growing or if I was simply becoming more attuned to magical energies, like Henrik was attuned to people’s ethical alignments. Whatever the cause, Safira—my Safira—was glowing and beautiful. I would have not wished for another woman to be at my side.
We stood silently for a time, watching the people work away below us in the light of the afternoon sun. There was a gentle breeze, and birds were chirping somewhere off in the forest. I turned back to Safira and thought of the promise I had made her the night before we went to battle.
Safira turned to me and asked, “Where will you go from here?”
I shook my head and said, “We, not me,” then I looked back to Faun and Binari, both of them beaming back at me like the sun high overhead.
Safira took my hand, blushing under her olive skin, and corrected herself, saying, “Well . . . where will we go, then?” She leaned against my shoulder, smelling of sunshine and wind.
I turned to the crossroads off along the horizon and imagined these beautiful women at my side every step of the way, the four of us liberating Zone after Zone. As long as they were with me, there was nothing that would stand in our way.
“Well?” Safira pressed.
“Everywhere. We’ll go everywhere.”
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About the Author
Daniel Pierce lives in Wyoming with his wife Marissa and their two dogs. After fourteen years as an engineer, Daniel decided it was finally time to write and release his first novel.
As a lifelong fan of scifi and fantasy, he wants nothing more than to share his passion.
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