by Baron Sord
Just like the rest of this place.
I yanked my wrist free from her hand and hissed in a barely audible whisper, “Ape.”
She stared at me, hurt. “What did you say?”
Just be nice.
“Nothing,” I hissed and tore my gaze away.
Dad was beside me, muttering, “There were too many. There was nothing I could do. If only I’d gotten here sooner. Those Orken shouldn’t have been able to catch him like that. He was too quick. His power attacks should’ve been enough. I don’t understand.” He looked at me, eyes wet. “It doesn’t make any sense, Logan. We should’ve had this. I don’t… Why…” He just stared at me.
I didn’t know what to say. The reality of the moment was overwhelming me too.
A flash of light on the far side of the ridge caught everyone’s attention. As bright as lightning, but quiet and purple hued. The light flickered and I heard a faint buzzing hum.
“That’s a portal opening,” Layna said. “Someone’s coming.”
“We need to get out of here,” I said. “Everybody, call your fliers.” I pulled my amulet out of my fencer’s jacket and thumbed the gemstone. It glowed bright sky blue in the darkness.
“Shit,” Dad spat. “Mine’s gone. I must’ve lost it when I turned into a bear.”
“Fuck,” I grunted. “Qoorie, you have yours?”
She didn’t hear me. Holding Ty was her world.
“Layna?” I said.
“I have mine,” she muttered.
Hating having to be practical, I eyed Ty’s body. His amulet was still around his neck. I couldn’t tell if Qoorie had hers because of how she was leaned over him. It could be inside her elven chain shirt. I wasn’t going to ask right this second.
“How much time do we have?” I asked Dad and Layna.
“Minutes at most,” Layna said. She sounded incredibly tired.
Losing 7 levels will do that to you.
I asked, “Is there any way to close the portal?”
“I don’t know,” Layna said helplessly. It was the first time since I’d met her that she seemed incompetent or weak or uncertain. It was unnerving, honestly.
“Call your flier,” I said to Layna quietly. “We need to get out of here. I’ll ask Qoorie in a minute.”
Layna activated her gemstone. The blue glow illuminated a small area around us, casting strange shadows on everything. “I’ll ask her.” She knelt beside Qoorie, putting a calming hand on her tiger shoulder.
“What do we do about Ty’s body?” I asked Dad. “Do you think we can strap it to one of the fliers? Will those things fly themselves with a dead pilot? Or can we strap him in with one of us? Can they carry two people?” I was trying to problem solve so I could avoid the obvious: my friend Ty was dead.
Fucking dead.
Had his leg chopped off before these stinking Orken did him in.
I hated this place.
Random noises echoed from the other side of the ridge. Whatever was coming through the portal had arrived.
“Where are those fliers?” I hissed. “Dad, see if you can find your amulet. Look wherever you first turned into a bear. But don’t go too far.”
“Right. It’s probably where I was shooting arrows,” he said and jogged up the hillside of the ridge.
Qoorie started to wail. Ty’s body began to flicker then dissolve into shimmering particles. She tried to hold on, grabbing at the air. The particles billowed and puffed like magic dust, but there was nothing she could do to stop them from sinking softly into the ground. She hugged the earth, digging in her claws, her wails fading to sobs. The only thing that remained was his amulet.
Layna activated it and gently encouraged Qoorie to activate hers.
Dad came jogging down the hillside, waving his glowing blue amulet. “Found it,” he said breathlessly as he approached. “Already activated it.”
Something shrieked impossibly loud from the other side of the ridge. The echoes bounced around the valley floor ominously.
“What the hell was that?” Dad asked.
Nobody knew.
“We need to get out of here,” I growled. “Where are those damn fliers?” I searched the sky.
Like a UFO enthusiast’s wet dream, 5 bright blue sail-shaped fliers descended on the night dark valley, coming in for a landing.
Another inhuman shriek behind the ridge made my skin crawl and my teeth clench.
“Qoorie,” I said, resting a palm on her shoulder. “We need to get to the fliers and go.” They had already slid softly to rest about 30 yards away.
She stared at me, eyes empty, confused, hopeless, and infinitely sad.
I tugged on her forepaw. “Please, Qoorie. I don’t want to lose you too.” Using both arms, I tried to pull her to her feet. She was incredibly heavy and I couldn’t do it.
“Lemme help,” Dad said, grabbing her other arm.
With our help, Qoorie stood, but was unsteady on her feet. Dad put an arm around her waist and led her toward the fliers.
“Let’s go,” I said, grabbing Layna’s wrist.
She was somewhat dazed as I pulled her along. Probably the loss of levels and her grief. I saw it in her eyes.
A whirling thrashing sound at the low end of the ridge near the mana cannon caught my attention.
Lights of every color strobed from several objects speeding across the uneven grass, heading on an intercept path toward us and the fliers at about 30 or 40mph.
“Move it!” I grunted.
The four bouncing rolling things spun and tumbled, shooting a kaleidoscope of colored light in every direction, resembling 6-foot spiked sea-urchins with rainbow disco lighting that shot out from their spherical centers.
Minor Minion of Chaos
Level: 15
Health | Stamina: 810 | 680
Mana | Mind: 512 | -
Size: Medium++
Armor: 229
===============
Good | Evil: - | -
Law | Chaos: - | 567
===============
If one of those things hit any one of us, we would be impaled multiple times.
“They’re heading for the fliers!” Dad shouted.
Shit.
Two of the chaos minions suddenly veered off and curved toward the fliers while the other two rolled straight at the four of us. Dad ran to the side, practically dragging Qoorie with him. The two coming at us curved toward the two of them. I pulled Layna in the opposite direction. One minion broke away and barreled toward us. At the last possible second, we dove out of the way. The minion blew past us in a wide arc, skidding across the dried grass, overshooting us by 50 yards.
FWHOOSH!
The two distant rolling minions crashed over two of the fliers, shattering them to pieces in a shower of bright blue mana sparks. That left 3 fliers and 4 of us. Unless a flier could carry 2 people, someone would have to stay behind. If we didn’t kill these chaos minions now, whoever stayed would likely end up dead.
BRA-A-A-A-A-APPP!!!
Sounding like some sort of 400 horsepower power tool, the 2 chaos minions suddenly reversed their rotational direction at high speed and reversed course, grinding back over 2 more fliers. Another shower of blue mana sparks and the 2 fliers were destroyed. There was only one flier left. We were screwed.
“Fuck!” I shouted. “Does anybody have a range weapon?! We need to take those things out!”
“I’m out of arrows,” Layna sighed. “I used them all on the Orken. Try you saber.”
“How? They’re too far away.”
“Cast a lightning bolt.”
“I can’t! I wasted it this morning back at Cliffside!”
“But you have the Thunder Ring. Try anyway.”
“I don’t have enough mana.”
Layna laid her hand gently over my heart. Golden energy glowed from her and drizzled into my chest.
A warm sensation circled inside me, flowing out to my arms and legs.
Layna cast Blessed Body on you.
Regain 50% of your total Heath and Stamina, and +200 Mana over the next 5 seconds. Mana recharges at 2x normal rate for the next hour.
Layna dropped to her knees, exhausted.
I checked her stats.
===============
Health | Stamina: (95)* | (115)*
Mana | Mind: 2 | 1320
===============
Her Mana was down to 2. And her Stamina was dropping unnaturally fast. Probably some after effect of losing all those levels to the Ogren Ghoul. She was out for this fight.
I hoped she was right about the lightning bolt.
I sent a load of mana down my arm to the saber and aimed it at one of the two distant chaos minions, waiting for them to line up. With any luck, the bolt would fork like it was supposed to and hit both.
The whirring spiked balls circled back toward the final remaining flier.
Wait, wait, wait…
Now!
I shot the bolt.
KA-BOOM!
It instantaneously struck both minions.
After the bright blue fork faded, an afterimage tattooed my eyes in the darkness.
The two minions erupted in a blast of sparks and spun out of control, wobbling and rolling away from the remaining flier and losing speed as they tumbled over the uneven ground. Still moving, their spherical shapes unfolded into something vaguely humanoid, but with 7 legs and 4 arms. Or was it 5? No, 6? They kept changing as they crawled through the grass, sparking and sputtering their rainbow colors. One tried to stand but instantly fell to its many knees.
My mana was at 40%. I couldn’t shoot another bolt that big.
The two minions circling Dad and Qoorie wove their way across the valley floor in intersecting S-curves, trying to run them over. Qoorie was now running full out going one direction while Dad sprinted away at an opposing angle. I aimed my saber and charged it. I couldn’t hit both minions. They were too far apart.
“Sorry, Q,” I muttered as I released the bolt at the minion chasing Dad.
KA-RACK!
The night arced blue bright as a jagged bolt seared the center of the minion. Like the other two, it wobbled while rolling and blew apart into a many-limbed thing that tumbled to a stop in the tall grass.
Fortunately, Qoorie was so fast and agile, the minion chasing her was unable to run her down. For now. If she ran out of Stamina…
I didn’t want to think about it.
I wanted to shoot another bolt to help her, but my Mana was down to 10% so I ran toward them, hoping my Mana would recharge before I caught up. I didn’t think my little saber would do much against the minions unless it was charged.
As I sprinted across the gap, Qoorie cut a quick turn and bounded toward me on all fours, the spinning minion rolling right behind her.
“Qoorie!” I shouted. “Use your scourge!”
She was either too far away to hear me, the minion’s 400 horsepower spinning was too loud, or she was too breathless and scared to speak.
KingFarthurT:> Use your scourge!
Qoorie:> My what?
KingFarthurT:> The whip! The one you got at the armory! At the stronghold! It’s good against Chaos minions!
Qoorie:> Yeah.
She didn’t sound like she was exactly on it, but she was probably in all kinds of shock right now.
KingFarthurT:> Run behind me! Put me between you and the minion!
Qoorie:> I’ll try.
Leading with my saber, I ran straight at her as fast as I could. My mana was up to 13%. Only half of what I’d used on the last minion. It would have to do. I slowed to a stop, feeling mana travel down my arm. Pointed at the rolling minion and…
Nothing happened.
“Shit!” It wasn’t enough.
But my sword tip flickered blue-white. Maybe I had enough for a lightning stab like I’d been using on all the Orken and Skeletons.
Qoorie bounded straight at me, getting bigger and bigger. For a second, I thought she was going to trample right over me, but she leapt at the last possible moment and went right over my head.
BRA-A-A-A-A-APPP!!!
The minion following her rolled straight at me, a 6-foot sphere of deadly light-bright spikes and roaring horsepower. The ground shook as it approached. I hoped I’d be fast enough to get out of the way after stabbing it.
Who was I kidding?
There was no way I was gonna pull this off.
Unless I used Snake Strike, which was now level 2.
I had plenty of Stamina to cover it.
I activated it.
Time slowed.
A ticking timer appeared in the corner of my vision, counting down from 10 at half speed.
The rolling minion was suddenly going half speed. 15 or 20mph instead of 40. It seemed doable. Not a slam dunk, but possible instead of impossible. I held my ground, timing it.
As I coiled to strike, the minion hit an unexpected stone or thicket of valley grass or who knew what, and jumped a foot in the air.
Didn’t seem to matter. With the added +10 Accuracy of Snake Strike, I lunged left and stabbed right. My saber point dove toward the spherical center and connected.
CRACK!
Blue-white lightning flickered across its body.
It didn’t blow apart like the others had, but it slowed down. I ran right after it. I only had seconds remaining on my Snake Strike and only enough Stamina for one more. I needed to save it for the other chaos minions. But with four of them still alive and kicking, the odds were not looking good.
The minion I’d just struck unknotted itself and tumbled to its feet. It didn’t turn to face me because it didn’t have to. The sources of the kaleidoscopic light that shone out of these things were dozens of blinking eyes all over the body the projected out every color imaginable. Unlike the others, this one had only one feeble arm. What it lacked in arms it made up for with 13 legs. Each kneecap featured a toothed or fanged mouth. Hundreds of clawed fingers jutted from the torso like spikes. This was easily the strangest creature I’d ever seen.
I didn’t waste any time dwelling on it. Went on the attack immediately, hacking away at the nearest fanged knee-mouth. With my heightened Accuracy and Speed, I had no problem skewering my saber right down the throat.
It squealed agony and bit limply at my blade. The knee collapsed like I’d severed a nerve or tendons or something.
I yanked my saber out quickly, not wanting the weight of the beast to snap the blade in half. I had no idea how rugged magic sabers were, but I wasn’t taking any chances.
When I was ready to hack at another knee, two things happened: time sped back up to normal and the minion’s damaged leg retracted into its torso. Then the one feeble arm thickened with muscle and a lengthened out to a clawed hand that swung at my face. Instinctively, I spun and threw my elbow up instead of using my sword to deflect the attack.
10% of my Health dropped away.
I needed more sword training or something quick. Oh, hello. I was in the heat of battle. No better time to learn than the present.
I danced a circle around the chaos beast and hacked away at another knee mouth, scoring a solid hit. It too retracted and another arm grew from the torso, this one not as large as the first, but still dangerous.
The Chaos Minion was adapting too quickly. My advantage would be gone if I stuck to this strategy. I continued circling away from the flailing arms and lunged in at the first chance, scoring a hit on the torso. But I overstepped and got caught up in the 11 legs. My left hand shot out to stop my forward motion and landed on a mass of clawed fingers on the torso. Inertia carried me forward and my chest and cheek smacked into the torso. Fingers scratched away as I squeezed my eyes shut (didn’t wanna lose an eye). I pushed myself away with both hands.
The minion caught my ankle as I backed up and tripped me onto my ass.
All of that robbed me of another 10% of my Health.
A chomping beak at the base of the torso appeared and the thing skittered over me, knocking me flat on my back.
Clack! Clack! Clack!
The legs repeatedly lowered the biting beak as it tried to tear chunks out of me. It ripped my fencing jacket open and gouged my chest.
10% more Health gone.
This thing was going to nickel and dime me to death if I didn’t do something quick. With it hovering over me, I couldn’t use my saber, so I rolled to the side. But the 11 legs trapped me like a circular cage. I was stuck underneath.
The body dipped and the beak bit.
Clack, clack, clack!
The metal hilt of my saber had a curved bar that protected my fist. Not exactly brass knuckles, but I started punching upward as hard as I could. The thing bounced and sputtered, but I wasn’t hurting it. So I smashed the pommel sideways at the beak, trying to crack it or break it off.
The beast screamed.
I hammered away. “You don’t like that, do you? You piece of shit!”
CRUNCH!
The thing collapsed all its legs and fell on me with all its weight.
My chest exploded with a blast of pain.
Down to 55% health.
It stood and dropped again.
50%.
And again.
45%.
This thing was going to bounce me to death.
I spun onto my stomach and crawled toward the cage of legs, charging my saber. I stabbed into the back of a kneecap, hoping I didn’t get shocked in the process.
CRACK!
The thing dropped at the exact moment I stabbed it.
It screamed as a jolt flickered through it. Then the lightning bolt stabbed into my body because I was in direct contact with the beast. To my surprise, I felt the electric current sucked right into my Thunder Ring. Somehow, it had absorbed most of the shock.
The Chaos Minion took the full brunt.
It hopped up and tipped sideways, falling on its side. I stood up and ran over, stabbing at the base with my saber. I was almost out of mana, but I landed blow after blow. The 11 legs spasmed, trying to grab at me, but with it lying helplessly on its side, it was easy to dodge them.
Using whatever mana I had left, I charged my saber and thrust one final time.
CRACK!
