The Eternal: Awakening - A LitRPG Saga (World of Ga'em Book 1)

by Dhayaa Anbajagane

  “It was an enchanted beast,” Krof said. “I couldn’t see well in the darkness, but there were runes on the creature’s body.”

  My eyes widened. “The Phantom Lord?” I asked.

  “Not just him,” he said. “That dark aura from before was also characteristic of another kind of enchantment. This golem was caused by both the Phantom Lord and the Dark Alliance.”

  I blinked. “What?”

  “They’re working together now?” Freya asked, more surprised than I was. “What the hell is going on here?”

  “I do not know either,” Krof said. “But what I can say is that the Heartfelt ruins are the best place to go find out.”

  I nodded. I knew it was likely there was a strong adversary in the ruins. But I did not care. I needed answers, and I was willing to go to any length to get them.

  Freya opened up her Ga’em menu and consumed a restoration potion, letting her health bar go back to full again.

  DING!

  Congratulations! You have completed the quest: The mysteries of the Self III! You found he Grand Wizard Krof and gained a lead on finding out what is happening with you. Rewards: 25000 Sol. Rewards: Mysteries of the Self IV.

  DING!

  You have obtained a quest: The mysteries of the Self IV! The Grand Wizard Krof says there have been some mysterious presences roaming the Heartfelt Ruins recently. Visit the ruins and see if you can find any answers to your situation. Rewards: Unknown.

  Nice, I thought, happy that I was advancing with these quests little by little.

  Freya walked up to me. “Are you ready to go?” she asked.

  I blinked. “Are you sure?” I asked. “It’s not going to be safe. I mean, we might end up having to face off a lot of strong enemies.”

  She leaned in. “I was the Queen of Iskaeil. I’ll take them all on,” she whispered, her breath tickling my neck as she walked past me.

  I stood dazed, snapping out of it only when I saw the old man grinning at me.

  “Go on, young one,” he said, smiling, but in seriousness rather than jest. “I hope you find the answers you are looking for,” he said.

  I opened my mouth to thank him but the wizard spoke a word before I could, summoning a bright flash of light and disappeared within it.

  Teleportation magic.

  “Zoran!” Freya yelled from ahead of me. “Come one, we don’t have much time.”

  “Yeah,” I smiled and ran up to her.

  Things moved fast after that.

  We checked the Heartfelt Ruins on our maps, and noticed that it was about half a day’s journey towards the heart of the Dargonian Empire. I’ll admit, that was not a pleasant thing to see, especially since the Dark Alliance had made their intentions clear by sending a golem after me. But it wasn’t like that was going to change any of my plans.

  I’d been waiting for far too long for answers to come to me. It was my turn now. If answers didn’t want to come to me I was going to go after them, no matter what.

  We’d walked quite a distance and were fairly close to the ruins when we saw a small village on the horizon. I personally felt it’d be better to go around the place, but Freya figured we might be able to get good information if we actually went through it.

  And so we did.

  “Here,” the elf handed me a spare hooded tunic she had and I wore it, just in the off chance that the Dark Alliance had also issued a bounty on my head. I didn’t want to have to deal with people trying to capture me here as well.

  “I really don’t get what kind of information you think we’ll get,” I said as stepped into the village, pulling my hood down so it completely covered my face.

  “You never know,” she chuckled, going back to her ‘Frey’ appearance as we walked through the streets.

  The village was built mainly on stone and didn’t really have a name as far as we knew. The streets were empty even though there were quite a few houses built on the sides. The first few forms of people appeared before us when we reached what appeared to be the village square.

  “C’mon,” Freya grabbed my hand, leading me to one of the stalls there.

  The man at the stall smiled as we walked by. I was thrown off for a second and then realized it was because I’d expected everyone in this Empire to be…not normal. And that was clearly not the case here.

  “Can I interest you in something?” the man asked. “Food, toys, dresses, weaponry.”

  My ears perked up. “Weaponry?” I asked, thinking it odd to sell that in combination with the others.

  “Oh indeed young sir!” the man said. “Our little town here doesn’t sell many weapons but we have quite a good collection. Would you like to see?”

  “Yes please,” I said, stepping closer to his stall.

  The man opened up his menu and selected a few options. A screen emerged in front of me. It looked similar to my equipment inventory menu, a grid of small boxes with miniature icons of weapons within each one.

  I looked through them, wondering if I really needed a weapon, and then my eyes fell on an icon towards the bottom - two blades positioned in a cross. I grinned as I tapped on the icon.

  Title

  Imperial Scimitars

  Grade

  Three Stars

  Damage

  155-231 ATK

  Rarity

  Rare

  Durability

  10/10

  Quality

  Great

  Special Eff7ects

  +5% Attack

  +5% Agility

  +1% Health Regeneration

  Value

  87,000 Sol

  Scimitars, a smile curled onto my face, growing wider as I read through its stats. I looked up to the top of the shopping screen and saw that I had about 120,000 Sol with me.

  “Perfect,” I said, tapping on the ‘Buy’ button for the Imperial Scimitars without as much as another thought.

  The man’s eyes widened as he got a notification about my purchase. “Thank you so much young sir!” he exclaimed, happiness radiating from his face. “You will not regret this purchase. I promise!”

  “Thank you,” I smiled, and kept scrolling through the screen. I’d gotten a pretty good deal with the Scimitars but I still needed one more thing.

  Ah, I stopped at a large mace of the silver shade and tapped on it.

  Title

  King’s Mace

  Grade

  Two Star

  Damage

  445-500 ATK

  Rarity

  Very Rare

  Durability

  10/10

  Quality

  Broken

  Special Effects

  +5% Health

  +5% Defense

  Value

  10,000 Sol

  Ten thousand Sol? I blinked, wondering how on earth a weapon that did that much damage was worth only so much. And then I noticed the quality section.

  Broken, I chuckled, a smile curling on my face. Something like that would indeed drop a weapon’s price to nearly nothing compared to its actual price. I turned to the bottom of the info screen and tapped on the ‘Buy’ option.

  “Sir?” the man looked at the screen that emerged in front of them and then blinked at me. “The weapon you’re trying to buy was left here by a man who was adventuring the ruins. He went on and on about how it was not a good weapon at all. Are you sure you want to buy it?”

  “I’m certain,” I said.

  The man nodded politely. “I thank you for your business then.”

  “And this man,” I continued, picking up on something he said. “He journeyed the ruins you say?”

  “Yes sir,” the man said. He leaned in. “The Heartfelt Ruins,” he said quietly, as though it was a demeaned phrase.

  Freya squeezed my hand, and I understood she wanted me to get more information.

  “What can you tell me about these ruins?” I asked.

  The man stared at me. “Are you perhaps…planning to go there?” he asked, his voic
e changing. “I would discourage you from doing that, sir.”

  “Really?” I asked.

  He nodded. “Men from the Empire’s court came to this village a little over week ago,” he said. “Harassed more than half the villagers into leaving. They’ve been shuttling in and out of the Heartfelt Ruins ever since. I do not know what they are doing in there but I would suggest you stay out of it. It does not seem safe.”

  “I see,” I said. “Thank you for the info.”

  “My pleasure sir,” the man bowed. “Have a good day!”

  We quickly made our way out of the village, seeing only two other people as we did so.

  This place really is barren, I thought.

  “What do you think about what he said?” Freya asked, flipping back her hood as we walked clear of the village. “Men from the court heading to the Heartfelt Ruins?” she asked. “That’s the exact same place Krof said he felt the Phantom Lord’s presence too. The Dark Alliance really might be working with him, and I’m not sure how I feel about that.”

  “Mm,” I said, not really paying attention her. My mind was still stuck on that man, wondering how he’d been nothing like what I’d imagined people of the Empire to be like. I realized that I’d generalized everyone in the Dargonian Empire to be like the Dark Alliance when that was never the case. I honestly felt a bit guilty about making such assumptions in the first place.

  “Zoran?” Freya asked.

  “Sorry,” I looked at her. “Was just thinking about something.”

  “That’s fine,” she said. “So do we still head to the Heartfelt Ruins?”

  “Definitely,” I nodded. “All threads seem to lead there,” he said.

  “Fine then,” she said.

  We continued walking, watching as the terrain changed from green and lively to a parched ground. It wasn’t a desert-like place, but it was certainly close enough. Heat coated my skin with every step I took, making me feel hot and torrid. We somehow kept going for about three hours or so before a structure finally showed itself before us.

  Well, structure was probably the wrong word.

  Half broken pillars of marble and stone lay on the ground, dust and sand covering them. The ground inclined up as we walked closer, flattening out at the very entrance of the ruins. A large staircase lay in the middle of the ground, surrounded by cut stone and shattered statues stuck halfway into the ground. I peeked down the stairs before me, but darkness was all I saw.

  Well that’s nothing new, I chuckled and walked down into it without another thought. The smell of dry dust lingered in the air, tickling my nose. I touched the stone at my side, feeling an oddly cool sensation on my skin.

  Lost in thought, I hit my leg on a hard piece of rock and tripped, falling down the stairwell. The darkness spun around and around me before I came thudding to the floor, dust on my skin and sand in my hair.

  “That was not the best entrance,” I mumbled to myself, running my hands over my body and checking to see if I’d been badly injured. There was nothing but a bruise on my wrist, and that was fine. I looked up, noticing a small square of light about a few hundred feet up.

  Wow that fall was longer than I’d thought, I realized.

  “Zoran,” Freya whispered as she walked up to me. She put up her hand, and an orb of light emerged, providing enough light for us to see in front of us. “Are you okay?” she asked, concern in her voice.

  “I’m fine,” I said. “I just need to figure out where we are right now.”

  I stood up and looked around, noticing that we were on some kind of a long, stone bridge, the edges dropping off sharply below us. I looked at the other end but as expected all I could see was darkness.

  “What on earth is this place?” I asked. “It seems like a-”

  A loud hiss sounded, echoing through the air. I froze, as did the Moon Elf. My ears perked up as I heard something big shift in front of us. Red eyes suddenly emerged out of the dark, the color of blood, and a massive body rose from the edge of the bridge, towering over us.

  Dammit, I cursed.

  We’d just woken up a giant snake.

  ***

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Things had taken a turn for the worse so many times now that I wasn’t even surprised anymore. Either that or I really had turned into some super calm monk over the past few days.

  I stared at the creature in front of me, at the red eyes that pierced my presence. I saw Freya in the corner of my vision, freezing up as the snake swayed before us. Her arm hovered over her sword, but she hadn’t pulled the weapon out yet. I kept my gaze on the creature, trying to not to make any sudden movements. The thing was large, but it wasn’t slow.

  I concentrated on its head, and brought up its analyze screen.

  DING!

  Name

  Desert Snake

  Level

  71

  Health

  910

  Mana

  50

  Stamina

  740

  The level of the creature worried me, but not as much as the fact that it had only 910 health at such a level. That meant most of its points were in its other stats, most likely Strength and Agility, and that didn’t bode well for us at all.

  I looked to Freya, but her focus was completely on the snake, watching as the creature still swayed before us. I gently turned my eyes to the ends of the bridge, wondering if there was any way to get out of this without any conflict.

  At the moment, the chance of that happening was getting smaller and smaller.

  The snake suddenly hissed and lunged, taking me completely off guard. I watched as its red eyes shot down to me, much faster than I could move. Freya jumped out in front of me, her reflexes blazing fast, her sword swinging down onto the snake before I could even blink. The beast hissed painfully and threw itself back into the darkness, wary of the elf’s presence.

  “C’mon!” Freya grabbed my hand and tugged me, taking us towards the other end of the bridge.

  “Freya it’s too far away!” I yelled. “We won’t make it in-”

  The snake shot up from the side, jumping into the air about a hundred feet ahead of us. The massive beast sunk down onto the bridge, and then the obvious happened.

  The bridge broke.

  Stone and rock fissured as the desert snake hit the surface and the bridge immediately broke, the rupture quickly running to where we stood.

  “We need to head back!” I tried to turn.

  “It’s too late for that,” Freya tugged me, getting me closer to her and wrapping her arm around my waist.

  “What are you-”

  “Hang on,” she pushed off the floor, sending us into the air and over the side of the bridge.

  I struggled between keeping my eyes open and shutting them close as the chilling wind hit my face, the darkness around it threatening to consume us as well. The sound of collapsing rock and stone came from above us, the signs of the rampant snake.

  “Hold tight,” Freya said, gripping me with one hand and pointing her other one downward. “Lakiri,” she said and a blast of wind surged out of her hand, sinking down to the lost floor.

  Wind Arts, I blinked, a little surprised that the elf could use them as well. The spell she’d cast pushed against our fall, slowing us down and bringing us to the surface a few seconds later.

  Freya let go off me as our feet touched solid ground and I immediately looked up, trying to gauge how far down we were. It took me a second to concentrate and activate my Night Vision skill, but even when I did, I could only vaguely make out the shape of a broken bridge a more than a thousand feet above us.

  That’s a long way from here, I noticed and my eyes slowly drifted to the place we were in now. “Where is here exactly?” I mumbled.

  “A lower section of the ruins I think,” Freya said from beside me, her longsword in her hand, pointed out in front of us. “We need to be careful. The desert snake is still somewhere close by.”

  I silently wondered how massive t
he snake was if it had been able to jump a thousand feet and get back onto the bridge. Maybe there was a ledge somewhere it had climbed onto. Right now I was willing to think of any alternative to accepting instead that this beast was much more massive than I’d expected it to be.

  I need to get ready, I quickly opened my Equipment Inventory menu and equipped my Imperial Scimitars, two scabbards forming quickly over my back. I also noticed the icon of a shield in my Equipment grid and remembered that I’d gotten it as a drop from the Golem battle. I thought about equipping it for a moment but figured my Scimitars were more than enough.

  I slid the weapons out of the X-sheath on my back and held them in front of me, the silver blades contrasting against the gold-plated base.

  Imperial indeed, I smiled.

  A hiss sounded and I heard the rough sound of something scraping the sandy floors. Broken marble and stone clinked as it moved closer to us. And I didn’t need to be a genius to know it was the desert snake.

  I stepped closer to Freya. “We can take it together can’t we?” I asked.

  “Maybe,” she said. “Its health is really low for its level, but that’s expected given it’s a desert snake. What I’m worried about is what its defenses are like. They’re probably quite high and that’s a problem for us.”

  “But even then, can’t we-”

  Freya put her finger to my lips, silencing me immediately. She turned her head, picking up the noise coming diagonally from our right. I looked and saw the familiar red eyes show up once again.

  It’s here, my arms tensed, gripping my blades tighter than I needed to.

  A violet glow suddenly emerged around my body, coming out of nowhere.

  An Agility boost? I blinked. I turned to Freya and saw her speak a word, summoning a similar glow around herself as well. She cast it on me, I realized and nodded at her, receiving a silent nod in return.