by Baron Sord
They both nodded at me.
The two Dark Orken on the other side of the mana cannon component dropped it and stumbled onto their butts, but neither was pinned. More arrows from Dad and Layna took out the closest one. Then Layna hit the farthest one, but Dad missed. It dove behind the metallic component, taking cover, still having no idea where the arrows were coming from. Neither did the two Dark Skeletons who were standing on the unfinished base of the mana cannon doing something or other. They were blown to pieces a second later by Layna’s arrows. Their bones flew in every direction and clunked and bonged off the metal base before clattering into the dirt.
For a moment, it seemed like we were going to own these guys. Then the rest of them came piling out from behind the ridge, all of them carrying weapons. Dad and Layna kept firing, but there were too many. A Dark Orken spotted them and roared. All heads turned and they charged.
“Here they come,” I grunted.
Despite the darkness, the horde of Orken instantly spotted the three of us on the ground, as did the skeletons. All of them charged at us in a huge mass. The closer they got, the bigger they got. I felt like the punt returner at an NFL game as giant linemen charged down the field. But these weren’t NFL linemen. The Orken were bigger and the Dark Skeletons scarier. And they all wore non-regulation plate armor covered with jagged edges and spikes and blades. They were going to shred us like a mobile meat grinder.
On the verge of shitting my pants, I swallowed down my fear.
The ground rumbled as the horde approached, roaring with fury, axes and blades held high, ready to cleave the three of us into 300 pieces.
Ty and Qoorie both roared, but they were drowned out by the sound of the Orken and the rattling of the running skeletons.
I kept telling myself, this isn’t real, it’s not real, it’s all fake, you can’t die, you can’t—
“GRAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHH!”
A huge blade bigger than a guillotine swung down in a blinding red arc toward where I was standing. I jumped back and felt wind as the blade sank into the dirt where I’d been a 1/2 second before. A sizzling burst of red energy bled harmlessly into the ground. I lunged and thrust my saber straight at the Orken. Luck must’ve been with me because the Orken was distracted by the task of removing his cleaver from the ground. To my surprise, my saber went right down the neck of his armor. But there was no way my little saber was going to slay this giant beast. I’d be lucky if I sank the tip an entire inch into its leathery hide.
BOOM!
A massive charge of energy shot down my arm and out my sword. A shower of bluish-white sparks exploded from the eyes and mouth of the Dark Orken as it was blown backward, bowling down the two Orken behind it.
The combination of my forked lightning saber and the ring of thunder was clearly a winner.
You fried that Orken like pork sausage!
You earned 1000 XP!
The sound of thunder was so loud, everybody was surprised. I was vaguely aware that I’d used almost 40% of my mana from that single strike.
Dad and Layna didn’t waste any time launching more arrows at the flank of the Orken horde. Ty and Q were tearing up Dark Skeletons, running between swinging rusty swords, and dodging nearly fatal attacks with ease. As long as everybody’s Stamina held out, we had a chance.
The two Orken lying beneath the one I’d killed were slow to get to their feet. I didn’t waste any time slicing them up. This time, I tried to moderate the amount of mana I put into the strike. The charge of energy that shot down my arm was less than before, but it was more than enough to end the second Orken.
Mana down to 50%
The Orken is dead! You earned 1000 XP!
I danced in and skewered the third, putting more mana into it. My blade flashed bright, biting through a hole in the shoulder of his armor. His entire body lit up, flickering from the inside and showing bones.
The Orken is dead! You earned 1000 XP!
My mana was down to 35%.
I was going to run out long before the battle was over.
A sword thrust jabbed hard into my ribs, catching me off guard. If not for my new fencing jacket, it probably would’ve punched between my ribs and punctured a lung, but it held. That didn’t stop it from sending me sprawling. My Health dropped to 75%. The skeleton that landed the blow came in again, swinging his sword down at my neck.
Unable to breathe, I rolled out of the way just in time to escape death. But I slammed into the shins of a huge Orken hovering over me, arms held high as he prepared to bring his chunky axe down on my chest. I flipped myself over and scrambled between his legs before he swung. My plan was to stab him in the back before he knew what hit him, but he stopped himself mid-swing and spun around. I stayed low and threw my weight back, narrowly avoiding his axe.
Level up! Your Dodge skill is now level 5.
His blade cut a glowing red swath through the air.
That’s when I finally realized the Dark Orken were putting mana into their blades like I was, making them twice as dangerous, if not more.
I didn’t wait for him to recover, stabbing as fast as I could. Hoping for a solid strike, I didn’t put any mana into it.
TING!
My sword point glanced right across his armor.
I grit my teeth, frustrated that I’d missed. I was sure my aim was better than that. I went to stab again, but he stopped me in my tracks when he slammed the butt of his axe into my chest, knocking me into a backward roll and taking another 15% of my Health. Down to 60%. If I hadn’t rolled with it, the damage would’ve been worse.
I scrambled across the ground on all fours before getting to my feet and running. The ground was so uneven and rocky, I stumbled and nearly slammed head first into a big rock jutting up from the dirt and dried grass, but I managed to spin before I hit the dirt, landing hard on my knee. Pain rammed straight into my hip. 5% more of my Health gone.
The Orken was right behind me.
The only thing that kept me going was the adrenalin pouring through my system. I spun and cut to the side, my sword out. I poured mana into the strike and prayed I didn’t miss this time.
CRACK!
A bright flash of electrical discharge sizzled across the Orken’s armor. He spasmed and screamed as he fell to the ground in a heap.
The Orken is dead! You earned 1000 XP!
My mana was down to 15%. I suspected I didn’t have enough left to kill another Orken. I needed more mana now. How the hell did you get more mana? I had no idea and I didn’t have time to check the Help menu or read a bunch of manuals about it.
Ty and Qoorie were both busy several yards away, in the thick of melee with Dark Orken and Dark Skeletons. Ty was punching away with his fist blades at the speed of light. I remembered Ty telling me his Tiger Fury power attack would give him crazy bonuses to Speed and damage for 5 second bursts. He was definitely working it. So was Qoorie. She probably had the same power attack. A bunch of Dark Orken corpses littered the field near them. But they couldn’t keep up with the power attacks forever. And they were outnumbered.
I needed to go help them.
And use my power attack.
I’d almost forgotten about mine. I didn’t think I could use Deadly Disembowel on the skeletons (who had no bowels to dis) or the heavily armored Orken, but I could use Snake Strike to better find the holes in their armor so I wouldn’t need to rely solely on the lightning. It would also increase my Speed, which was perfect with the lightweight saber and would improve my dodging while it lasted. I didn’t have a ton of Stamina, but it was holding steady around 85%.
I ran back to the mass of flashing steel and activated my Snake Strike the moment before I reached a skeleton that swung for my face. Rather than fight him, I used my increased speed to duck the blow and go for the Orken behind him. I landed several quick strikes that cut past his armor and drew black blood, but it barely fazed him.
But it did get his full attention and he swung a huge cleaver at my head.
I e
asily dodged the angled arc of the cleaver’s trajectory and moved on to the next Orken, poking him wherever I could with my flashing blade before moving on. I couldn’t afford a direct confrontation with any of these guys. I stayed to the outside of the fray that centered on Ty and Qoorie.
When I was close to a third Orken, I went to stab, but was surprised by yet another Orken who inadvertently backed up into me. He tripped and landed on top of me, slamming me into the ground. The shock of the blow was intense, but I didn’t feel any pain yet. I hated to think what all this damage was doing to my body. I didn’t have time to worry about it.
Health down to 50%.
I was going to die before we killed all these guys, but I had to keep going.
While the Orken on top of me rocked back and forth like an overturned turtle, I clawed at the ground with my free hand and dug the hilt of my saber into the dirt, using it like an ice axe and pulling as I tried to crawl free. As soon as I was out, I sprang to my feet. My ribs screamed with pain, like some had been broken. No time to worry about it. I hoped my adrenalin would carry me through this battle. If it didn’t… I couldn’t worry about it. My first Snake Strike had already run out, taking me down to 60% Stamina. I activated it again and fired several quick shots at the Orken’s neck with the tip of my saber.
Critical Hit! You stabbed the Orken in the throat! He’s bleeding heavily!
He wasn’t dead, but I’d take whatever I could get.
The second Snake Strike faded and my Stamina dropped to 40%.
When I was about 10 yards away from the fray, I turned and yelled, “Hey, assholes! I’m over here!”
Several Orken and Skeletons turned and saw me.
The lead skeleton wore tattered chain armor. It lifted its sword and pointed it at me.
KA-KRAK!
It was blown apart by streaking gold and green arrows shot by Layna and Dad.
That didn’t stop the three Orken next to it from charging at me.
I ran as fast as I could.
After all this adrenalin-fueled running, my Stamina had sunk to 35%.
I sprinted toward the base of the mana cannon. High ground had the advantage. Plenty of games of King of the Mountain on various jungle gyms and random dirt hills had proved that lesson by the time I was 7. When I reached the base, I jumped and grabbed whatever handholds I could with my free hand and hooked the hilt of my saber around a rung of some kind. It tinged against the metal base as I clambered up 6 feet to the top and looked down.
“Come and get me, assholes!”
4 Orken and 2 Skeletons ran toward the cannon, waving swords and war cleavers.
My mana was up to 19%.
Not enough to do another lightning strike.
At least I’d taken some of the heat off Ty and Qoorie. At the moment, they were both running away from the chasing mass of Orken while Dad and Layna rained down arrows. At least nobody was dead. But there were still more of them than there were of us. Things weren’t looking good. And now I had to face 6 opponents with no mana and no stamina.
Was I fucked?
I was fucked.
I tried to calm myself as the lumbering Orken approached. I was barely aware of the red runes that covered the metallic surface of the cannon’s base, and the red gemstones embedded at regular intervals all over it. I was about to take a closer look when one of the running skeletons tripped on a rock hidden in the tall grass and his sword arm flew off.
I laughed at that.
Until he stood up, grabbed his arm, and stuck it back on at the elbow.
Great.
What was I going to do?
They were seconds away from climbing up on the base and hacking me to death.
The Orken bled out from his severed jugular.
You earned 1000 XP!
Welcome to level 6!
+10 Health!
+10 Stamina!
You have 6 points to distribute to your ability scores and skills!
Remembering what Dad had said about building mana, I tapped the roof of my mouth 3 times and threw my 6 points into Creativity, bringing it to 22 as fast as I could before Xing out of the menu.
The Orken climbed up on the mana cannon base with ease. The two Skeletons followed.
I backed up. Caught my heel on what turned out to be another red gemstone, but I caught my balance and took another step.
“Come and get me, motherfuckers,” I hissed.
The 6 of them stalked toward me. The Orken’s blades all flickered and glowed red, charged with their own deadly mana.
My heel landed on air and I lost my balance, nearly falling backward 6 feet to the ground. I would’ve landed on my head, but I bowed forward at the waist and threw my arms forward too, barely recovering my balance in time. My chest fluttered with fear as I swallowed hard.
Thanks to my newly boosted Creativity, my mana had jumped up to 45%.
The red eyes of the Dark Skeletons smoked as their jaws gaped wide. The tiny red eyes of the Dark Orken flickered with chaotic rage. The point of my sword started to sizzle bright blue as I poured mana down my arm.
As the group of them lifted their blades, I spun and jumped down to the ground. The first skeleton leapt after me a split second later.
But my saber struck the side of the mana cannon base before he hit the ground.
KA-BOOM!
A mammoth lightning blast shot into the metal frame and conducted itself right up the legs of the 4 Orken. They lit up like X-rays and I saw their skeletons dance the jitterbug on top of the mana cannon.
The Dark Skeleton’s black skull shot 50 feet in the air and the rest of its skeleton collapsed with a rattle.
You blew that skeleton’s mind!
You earned 500 XP!
Level up! Your Tactics skill is now level 2.
Level up! Your Fight Dirty skill is now level 3.
The intensity of the thunder blast had knocked me onto my ass.
Three of the Orken were on their backs on top of the cannon. The fourth hung half way over the edge.
Fire erupted in my back as the skeleton who’d jumped to safety now cut me open. At least it felt that way. I wasn’t sure if my leather fencing jacket had held. But my Health was now down to 35%.
I was hurting bad.
But I had just enough Stamina for one more Snake Strike. I jumped to my feet and slashed away at him, starting with his exposed wrist bones. Chopped the radius and ulna bones clean through. His sword fell to the ground but he punched with his free hand. I took a shot of knuckles to the side of the head. 5% more Health gone. But I sliced across his wide open neck and his head went rolling.
You earned 500 XP!
Level up! Your Basic Swordplay skill is now level 2.
Level up! Your Disarm skill is now level 3.
Didn’t help my Stamina or Mana any, but I still smiled as I climbed on top of the mana cannon and sliced open the necks of the 3 half-dead Orken.
What happened to the 4th one?
WHOOSH!
I dove forward as the final Orken’s blade flashed past me in a glowing red slash. I did my best to roll when I hit the ground, but I banged my shoulder hard and pain shot across my chest.
SNAP!
My Health dropped to 25% and I groaned.
I was in agony. Something had to be broken at this point or sprained at the very least.
You’ve been Stunned! You cannot move for 10 seconds!
Fuck.
Helpless, I watched as the Orken lowered himself off the cannon carefully. He was clearly feeling the lightning strike, but he wasn’t dead.
In about 10 seconds, I’d be playing that part.
“Hey, dude, how about we go get a beer?” My voice was ragged and weak from the stun, but I pushed as hard as I could with my Suggestion power. Nothing happened.
8 seconds.
The Orken lumbered toward me, his toothed cleaver swinging at his side, his evil red dot eyes glowing dumb hatred.
6 seconds.
�
��Can’t we just talk this out? Fighting never solved anything, man,” I pushed again, watching my Mind drop drastically. It wasn’t working, but it was all I had. The effort gave me a headache, but I barely felt it over the pain in my shoulder.
4 seconds.
At least I’d tried. Next? I’d probably die.
The Orken lifted his cleaver, looming over me. Guy was at least 7 feet tall. He was about to chop down with every ounce of his 400+ pounds.
2 seconds.
He wobbled drunkenly to the side, lowering his blade in confusion. He was hurt. Maybe internally. With a grunt, he tried to steady himself, but his legs weren’t behaving.
0.
My stun was done.
I rolled slowly and crawled away at a snail’s pace.
A bullet of pain exploded in my shoulder each time I put weight on it. Something was definitely broken. I growled loudly in frustration, but that hurt my shoulder worse, so I stopped.
Your right clavicle has been fractured! You need medical attention. -15 to Strength, -15 to Speed, -15 to Accuracy when using your right arm. If you continue to use your right arm, the penalties will increase.
I was screwed.
But I crawled anyway because the task of standing up and walking right now was completely beyond me. Trying to favor my right arm, I switched my saber to my left hand. The flow of power between the Thunder Ring and the saber was instantly severed. Great. I probably needed to switch the ring to my left hand. But it was under my leather gauntlet, so I’d have to take both off before I could switch the ring over. I’d do it as soon as I had the chance. If I ever had the chance. With my right arm tucked up to my chest, I crawled with all my weight on my left.
