Primeval

by Eden Redd

  “Why did you make me relive it? I didn’t want to remember,” Will sighed.

  Stella’s eyes widened to the size of saucers. The dagger should have disrupted his very soul, killing him so she could take it to the next world. There was no way he could have survived it, not even in the dreamscape.

  The witch looked around, the mists shifting and the pair standing outside the slightly ajar metal door. A shadow loomed from behind Will, stepping from the mists. Stella looked up at a tall, serpentine man with fur around his neck looking down with slitted eyes. The head was shaped like a snake as scales ran down, covering its entire body. It put a clawed hand on Will’s shoulder.

  Stella bowed. “I meant no disrespect. My lord respects the boundaries, but William Asher’s soul must move on.”

  Yir and Will stared at the witch with cold, dead eyes.

  Stella glanced to the iron door. In a blink, her hand made arcane symbols. Energies formed into runes and the iron door slammed shut and locked into place.

  Stella looked up to the god Yir in defiance, “I control the lock. If I die in this world, his memories will return.”

  Yir didn’t blink, gazing down on the witch angel with near indifferent eyes. A scaled hand rose up and a long, bent finger flicked. A wall of invisible energy slammed into Stella, sending her hurtling through the dreamscape.

  Will woke with a start, hands up in the light. Looking to his hands, he expected something to be there, covering them, but his flesh held no mark or indent. A sigh fell from his lips as he dropped his hands to his stomach, a body snuggling closer to him.

  “Morning sleepy head,” Stella sighed as she pressed her body to his.

  “Morning,” Will tried to smile, a headache filling his head like a nest of angry wasps.

  “Are you okay?” Stella asked while snuggling to chest.

  “Yea, I think so. I have a headache.”

  “Dehydration might be a thing here in Jova. You were wild last night. I don’t think I’ll be able to walk right today.”

  Will smirked as he put an arm around the voluptuous witch, “I wish I could remember most of it. Feels like I ran a marathon.”

  “You can run a marathon on me,” Stella cooed.

  Will raised an eyebrow.

  “Yes, I mean that,” Stella said with a sultry hiss.

  Will held her close as he looked to the sun streaming in from the balcony. A dark thought curled along his mind, an image of an Idol appearing for a long moment before fading away.

  “I wish it could stay like this forever, but we need to prepare,” Will said with a dark tone.

  “Five more minutes,” Stella whined.

  Will looked down at her orange-red hair, “Do you want to come?”

  “A dozen more times please,” she huffed.

  Will let out a laugh. “You know what I mean.”

  Stella gave a nod against his chest. “I’ll follow you till the end of the world.”

  ***

  Will looked down at the Crafting Bench, pieces of copper and several gemstones on the edges. A brief memory flashed, the group had discussed over breakfast about the journey, taking up duties and getting ready. Afterwards, they split up to make sure they had everything they needed before meeting up again. They would meet in the great hall in an hour before setting out.

  Refocusing, Will tried to plan out what he wanted to craft. The journey to the second Idol was about five days, a Hero Tomb a day just before it. The map indicated the mountain holding the Idol was to the north east and he wanted to make sure they were prepared and had enough supplies for the journey.

  Seeing the number of gemstones he had, Will knew couldn’t build magical weapons for everyone. Val preferred to use her claws and the cloak seemed to be enough for her. Will changed his focus on the others. Morgan, Stella and Sil said they wanted to make the journey, Belle shying away from an answer. Nova wasn’t there at breakfast. The player was okay with the party, but if they were to run into anything nasty, they needed more than just normal weapons.

  Placing pieces of copper in a sword pattern, Will added a sapphire to the hilt. The metal blended together until a copper sword appeared.

  You have created a Copper Sword with Ice Stab ability! The weapon is now magical.

  Will lifted the sword and looked it over before putting it down on another table. Placing several more copper pieces in a line pattern, he added an opal to it. Thinking of Sil, the metal and gem fused into a mass before stretching out into a spear, a gem in the middle of it, glowing.

  You have created a Copper Spear with Lightness ability! The weapon is now magical.

  Will smiled to himself as he picked up the spear and placed it next to the sword. Glancing to his gems again, he made a decision to increase his own power first. When he acquired more gems, he would build magical items for everyone else.

  Slipping off his leather tunic, he placed it on the crafting bench and pressed a quartz stone to it. The leather glowed as the gem sank in, disappearing completely. When the glow dimmed, he picked it up, an alert filling his vision.

  You have upgraded your Leather Tunic with Stone Protection ability! Your armor is now magical.

  Slipping the tunic back on, it fit perfectly against his undershirt. Taking off his leather leggings and boots, he picked up two more gems. In turn, he placed his last two opals, one against each item of clothing.

  You have upgraded Leather Leggings with Swiftness ability! Your armor is now magical.

  You have upgraded Leather Boots with Leaping ability! Your armor is now magical.

  Will dressed and his stats changed to reflect the upgrades and enchantments.

  William Asher

  Hearts: 10

  Armor: 6

  Primary Weapon: Copper Hammer: Gem slot Ruby: Fire Damage

  Secondary Weapon: Copper Sword

  Tunic: Stone Protection

  Leggings: Swiftness

  Boots: Leaping

  Strength: 12 (Apprentice)

  Intelligence: 11 (Apprentice)

  Agility: 12 (Apprentice)

  Will: 5 (Novice)

  Mana: 5 (Novice)

  Path: Beast (Apprentice)

  Forms

  Wolf

  Will eyed his stats. His armor increased with the enchantment, but it gave no indication about the other upgrades. He assumed he would have to see it in the field. As for his attribute stats, they didn’t change. He thought the Swiftness upgrade would affect his agility, but it remained the same. Learning how the upgrades and enchantments worked seemed to be an ongoing challenge he was going to have to understand. The player didn’t even know what the caps were to his stats.

  Eyes gliding down, he looked at his available Beast Form. Remembering his encounter with Yir, he needed to have strength and agility before he could accept the Beast Path. Will figured stats were the requirements to take on any special abilities and powers. The higher he raised his stats, the better he would become.

  Mentally focusing on the Wolf Form, images rose up. The player stared as a miniature version of himself moved with quick fist strikes and kicks. Using the form before caused him to pass out afterwards, but now he wondered if taking on a beast form helped him in normal fighting. Mentally filing it away, he finished packing away extra items in their appropriate chests.

  Picking up the sword and spear, Will exited his private work chamber, stepped through his room and made his way into the corridor. Calling up his inventory, he saw that he left a lot of space except for a few slots, one with ninety-nine stone and another with ninety-nine wood. Cooked beef and mutton filled 4 more slots and his flint and stone took up another slot. Twenty pieces of wool and leather filled two more slots. They would need the materials to build a large enough shelter and beds for the nights. Food would be a priority as was leather and wool to repair clothes and armor. A thought did occur to the player to craft copper armor, but the thought of clunky armor as they tried to move silently through the countryside didn’t sit well with him.


  Turning corners and making his way down stairs, the player basked at the excitement of a long journey. Before, when he had little to nothing, he didn’t feel comfortable leaving, but now, he was armed and well stocked. The castle would offer Milly plenty of protection and a shining beacon for them to return to. It sat well with him even if something itched deep in his mind. Thoughts flowed to last night, the way Stella had played with him. He enjoyed every moment, but the memories grew hazy the more he tried to picture their bodies together. Part of him wanted to say she was simply magical in bed and a deeper part spoke of odd whispers. Pushing it aside, he turned his thoughts to the journey ahead of them.

  Entering the main hall, Will made his way down the length of it, a group of figures standing at the entrance. Milly turned to see Will approach, her smile widening. Val and Morgan looked to the young man with small nods. Stella leaned against the entrance, hat covering her eyes, but a smile glowing. Belle oozed off to the side, a sad smile on her face. Nova stood in leather armor, copper plates connected to her shins, midsection, and shoulders, a copper dagger sheathed at her waist. Sil was behind her, pulling on leather straps and tightening it around Nova’s waist.

  “Tighter,” Nova said, a copper spear in one of her hands.

  Sil had a clawed foot on Nova’s rump, arms straining. “How can you…have it so tight?”

  The Stalker smiled as she looked over at Will as he approached. “The tighter, the better.”

  The kobold tied the leather together and clamped the taut straps into place before letting go.

  “It’s as tight as it will be,” the kobold huffed.

  Will looked to the green-skinned stalker, “I didn’t know you were coming?”

  “She insisted,” Milly, Val, and Sil said in unison.

  Nova bowed, “I couldn’t bear to see you off. I want to come too. With a little help from Milly, we made this armor for me so I could be an asset.”

  Will smirked. “Do you think you can control your hugs…and the boom?”

  Nova stood up straight. “It will be difficult, but I will for you, my lord.”

  Will raised an eyebrow before Morgan spoke up.

  “I may have talked about degrees of royalty,” the black-eyed man smirked.

  “They asked me questions too,” Val said, shadows writhing under her hood and along her cloak.

  “We may have to sit down and write this all out,” Will said as he reached over his shoulder to touch his hammer, making sure it was in place.

  Milly stepped closer, looking on Will with adoring eyes. “Belle and I will stay and keep the lanterns lit for your safe return.”

  The player looked to the beautiful horned woman, leaned in and kissed her. Milly threw her hands around him, savoring the kiss before they parted, heads touching.

  “Please, come back safe,” Milly whispered.

  “I will. We all will,” the young man whispered back.

  Pulling away, Belle oozed closer, taking hold of Will’s arm and leaning against it.

  “Keep each other safe,” Will said soothingly to the clinging slime.

  Belle nodded before she pulled away.

  Will looked to Milly, “We should be back in about two weeks.”

  The player turned and stepped to Morgan. Gaze on the other man’s sword, Will frowned.

  “I’m not sure that copper sword is looking too good,” Will said as he pulled out the new sword and held it out, handle up.

  Morgan gave a razor smile as he drew his old sword and tossed it aside. Taking the new one, he felt magical energy emanating from it.

  “It has an ability called Ice Stab. I’m sure it will be useful,” Will smiled.

  “Thank you, Will.” Morgan smiled as he sheathed the weapon.

  Will turned to Sil. The kobold looked up as the player pulled a spear from his inventory and presented it to her.

  “A spear for a mighty warrior. It’s enchanted so it should make fighting with it a little easier.”

  Sill took the spear and bowed. “Thank you, Lord Asher.”

  Will sighed. “Please, everyone here, call me Will.”

  “Yes, Lord Asher,” the group said in unison with a teasing smile.

  Stella stood up from the entrance side and walked closer.

  Will eyed her, “I didn’t know what to make you.”

  “I’m okay. Maybe with time, I’ll regain some of my abilities, but I think my strength should be enough for our little adventure,” the witch said with a breathy edge.

  “One day soon, you’re going to have to tell us more about your powers,” Will smiled.

  “As I remember them, I will,” the witch said with a small bow, making sure Will received an eyeful of cleavage.

  Will stepped beyond the entrance, sunlight bathing his body in light. He gave a quick glance back to Milly as she and Belle waved to him. The group followed, bodies emerging into the day and making their way down the stone steps, purpose in their hearts.

  Thirteen

  Days droned on as the group made their way through thick forests. The weather remained bright and clear, but the shadowy forests with thick roots slowed them down at times. Nights turned into nothing more than huddling in a stone shelter, big enough to hold all their beds while Val kept watch on the roof, glaring down at the ghouls as they wandered about.

  Mornings were spent breaking down the shelter and equipment before moving on. Talking seemed to come and go, but for the most part, there were long stretches of silence. Senses were on full alert when Val mentioned hydras and a serious edge took root, not wanting to attract any undue attention.

  Morgan remained steadfast, often taking point. Black eyes watched every shadow for any sense of movement.

  Val covered the rear, her sense of smell and hearing ensuring nothing snuck up from behind. The pale beauty often turned her head, hearing a mouse dive into its burrow or a rabbit leaping away, the scent of death filling their noses before the sight of her caused a degree of panic.

  Stella walked casually, arms swinging like she was taking a simple stroll through a park.

  Sil and Nova stayed by Will’s sides, watching the forests. The kobold’s oval eyes drank in every step while her sense of smell caught hints of sleeping ghouls and larger things moving away from them. She would report what she sensed, keeping her nerves sharp as a steel blade.

  Nova marched with an edge. Will often looked to her, noticing she took her role seriously. The player had no idea if she could fight until one evening, Sil confided in him that she was showing her some moves to help her with discipline.

  Three days into the journey, they hadn’t encountered anything beyond scared woodland animals. Bodies began to ease a hair, a small hope that they would reach the Hero tomb without a single incident.

  Middle of the third day, Will was eyeing his map when a small spear bounced off his armored shoulder, turning him to the side and stumbling him back a step. Mystical energy flared along the spot of his tunic where the spear struck him. Hands moving on automatic, he grabbed for his hammer and pulled. Both hands clutched the oversized hammer as the group formed a circle, eyes in every direction.

  Low growls and hisses emerged from the woods around them and before long, small bodies emerged. Reptilian snouts pointed as did wooden spears. Scaled bodies stepped from behind thick trees. Yellow eyes glowed in shadows, some appearing high in the trees. Will took a quick count, seeing about two dozen pairs of eyes surrounding them from all sides. Sil kept her body low, copper spear in hand. Val stood in her shadowy cloak, claws out. Morgan had his sword in hand, mist falling off the blade edge. Stella stood with watchful eyes but her body was relaxed. Nova had two hands on her spear and one hand drew a large copper dagger.

  A kobold stepped from the shadows; its face contorted into a snarl as it eyed Sil. It barked and hissed at the taller kobold.

  “They demand one of you as food and to return me to them,” Sil said in a low hiss, her eyes never leaving the kobold.

  Will stood at the
ready, brow hard. “Tell them we are friends.”

  Sil was silent for a moment before turning her head, one eye gazing on Will. “I don’t think they are going to listen. They still sleep in savage dreams.”

  The group stayed their ground as Will eyed the leader. The player stepped forward, glaring down on the rabid looking kobold. The creature held its spear, eyes like hot coals. The forest grew silent as the young man gave the kobold a sinister smirk.

  “I free you from your savagery!” Will declared as he swung his hammer down instantly, crushing the kobold to foul paste.

  “Kill them all and we will sort them out,” Will shouted as he charged.

  Spears launched at the incoming man. Sharp points bounced off Will’s leather tunic as he swung his hammer. A kobold went flying, it’s body smacking against a tree and sliding down, leaving a trail of blood.

  The group exploded into action, charging in all directions and picking their targets. Kobolds rushed at them, spears in some hands and stone daggers in others. Sil screeched as she leapt into the fray, spear stabbing through a kobold. Planting her clawed feet, she swung the spear wide as four more kobolds launched at her. A blast wave of air shot out, knocking them from their leap and crashing down. The taller kobold came in, driving her spear into a prone throat and kicking another kobold across the snout.

  Val darted forward like a shadow. Claws slashing outwards, heads separated from bodies with ease. Morgan moved in, shifting his stance, he dodged spear points easily before slicing small bodies in half. Nova shouted as she charged into a group of kobolds, spear impaling one and her copper dagger slicing another. Arms moving independently, she stabbed and cut like a whirlwind, her body moving with equal grace.

  Stella stood, watching the carnage and not making a move.

  Will crashed through the kobold line easily, each hammer swing taking a life and sending a corpse crashing to the ground and nearby trees. Within moments, the fight was already over, kobold blood painting tree trunks and the ground, the area a gruesome sight.