by Skyler Grant
“That was awfully fast,” I said.
“I’m a thinker. Walt?” Ashley said.
“Liam, Yvera, Ashley I guess. This is so stupid,” Walt said.
“Stupid and disturbing. Ashley, Yvera, Walt,” I said.
“This is how we settle the most important questions? Now we know Walt is the most deserving to die,” Yvera said.
Walt deadpanned, “And Ashley is the most fuckable,”
“Okay. That made no sense, I mean Goddess of sex everyone?” Yvera said.
“You got two for marry. Maybe you could rebrand as a Goddess of matrimony and the hearth,” Walt said.
I winced. The air surrounding the spider began to get very heated.
“Walt, stop trying to kill us,” I said.
“I just asked about math! She started this stupid game,” Walt said.
That was fair.
“Yvera, you were picked as marry out of the desire to spend far longer than a single episode night in bed. Does the math have an answer?” I said.
“You two are really fucked-up,” Ashley said.
I shot her an exasperated look.
“No. The stupid boring math doesn’t add up for more than two teleports.”
“That was all I wanted to know,” Walt said.
“How close will that take us to shore? The last time we teleported into the water it didn’t work out so well.” I said.
Walt shrugged. “Does it matter? Either it’ll have to be close enough or we don’t go.”
“We’re going,” I said before Yvera could get any angrier. “Do you need any time to prepare?”
“It’s not like I can limber up when we can’t even stretch,” Ashley said.
“Do it,” I said to Walt.
Group Teleport
Our surroundings flickered away and we were in the air on the other side of the wall of water. There was just a moment to appreciate the majestic view as we seemed to be floating in air—then we got busy with the whole falling to our deaths thing.
The wind roared around us as we fell with terrifying speed towards the churning waters. We were seconds away from impact, then the air around us shimmered with magical energy once more.
Group Teleport
We were again above the water, but with the island far closer than before and it was mere seconds until we plunged into the sea. The waters closed above my head and I was struggling for air.
I couldn’t even tell which way was up. Between the fall and the churning water I’d lost all sense of direction, but fortunately I didn’t need one. The water here had one direction—flinging itself again and again against the shore. It carried me right along with it to wash me onto the sand. Exhausted, down the beach I saw the others sprawled out, all looking as dazed and confused.
We had arrived. If things went as they usually did, it wouldn’t be long until something tried to kill us.
I was right in sentiment, but the details got complicated.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
I heard her before I could see her. A song echoed around me and through me like the crashing of those waves that had carried me to shore. It was like the first time I’d seen Yvera. Love and lust. Overwhelming, irrational, maddening.
By the time I saw her rise nude from the waves, her hair a brilliant blue and her skin the white of pearls, I already knew that I would do anything for her. I studied her every curve with rapt attention.
Mellaise
Level 35: Type: Siren HP: 230/230
Mellaise is a daughter of the Goddess Atlantia. Her song can bind men attracted to her to her will, a fact that has doomed many a ship that has approached too near her mother’s isle.
“Fuck. A Siren. Liam, Walt, you with me?” Ashley asked.
“I’m good,” Walt said.
“Liam?”
“I’m fine,” I said.
I was better than fine. Exultant. Love will do that to a man.
Mellaise walked towards us and I marveled at the sway of her hips. Eyes green as malachite studied Walt for a moment before focusing on me.
“Lady, I’d stay the fuck back unless you want to stop singing and start talking,” Ashley said.
Mellaise stopped her song. It was okay, she didn’t need it anymore. I still felt it within me, it was the sort of song I’d never be able to get out of my head.
“We can talk,” Mellaise said. “You’ve come a long way, invaders. You shouldn’t have. Were the sea dragon and the wall of water too subtle as warnings?”
“We were kind of between a bitch and a wet place,” Ashley said.
Mellaise sauntered forward and pressed a kiss to my lips. She tasted of salt and sunlight.
“Seriously?” Ashley asked.
There was a burst of flames and Yvera swirled into being. She was going without clothes this time.
“Why do none of you women wear clothes?” Walt asked.
“I’m wearing clothes,” Ashley said.
“You are a woman of class and good taste,” Walt said.
Yvera and Mellaise both glared at him. They were perfect.
“Liam isn’t in his right mind,” Yvera said.
“Hasn’t been since he met you,” Ashley said.
“Your pets are mouthy,” Mellaise said.
“I’m well aware,” Yvera said. “Liam, you are not to put your lips near any part of that watery tart again.”
“Liam, kiss me again,” Mellaise said.
I loved them both. With Yvera it had always been a heat driving me to madness, but with Mellaise it was like slipping beneath the waves. I couldn’t help myself. My lips again met hers.
“Gross,” Yvera said.
Ashley said, “That’s your response? You’re inside his fucking head and have had him wrapped around your crazy bitch finger since the moment you met him. Do something.”
Mellaise broke away from the kiss looking incredibly smug. “Water beats fire like class beats trash. Why don’t you get busy showing me how you want me more than any woman you’ve ever known, Liam? While my friends try to murder your friends.”
Water elementals were rising from the waves and drifting onto the beach. I threw Intemperance to the ground and Mellaise began to help me out of my armor.
“I don’t want to watch this,” Ashley said as she drew her daggers.
“At least you aren’t inside his head. I am going to murder that entire family,” Yvera said with her voice a near growl.
“You’re much hotter,” Ashley said.
“I knew I liked you. I’m also not sticking around for water elementals so… you know… good luck with that. I’ll be back if you survive,” Yvera said, before she poofed out of existence.
“I kind of hate our friends,” Walt said.
“She isn’t even going to try to snap him out of it?” Ashley asked.
“She did her whole appearing naked thing. Pretty sure she fired all her guns and just didn’t get a hit,” Walt said.
It wasn’t that I suddenly stopped caring about their wellbeing. They were my friends, of course I cared. Mellaise’s song echoing in my head drowned out everything else. A roar pulsing through me that couldn’t be denied.
Backstab
Distortion Field
Shielding Bubble
I was far too interested in kissing along Mellaise’s shoulder to even note the exact start of the fight. I vaguely saw the prompts flickering just out of my vision and caught wafts of conversation.
“Without a tank this is going to suck,” Ashley said.
“I hit and kite, and you take them from behind?” Walt asked.
“Thinking like that’s why you’re my marry pick,” Ashley said.
It was around then Mellaise made the most delicious groan and I lost my awareness of anything else. I don’t know how much time passed until I again became aware of the drifting words of conversation.
“That’s two down. Next time I stealth I’m coming up behind you and I’ll transfer you some potions,” Ashley said.
&nb
sp; “Looks like the elementals aren’t the only thing going down,” Walt said.
“Eyes on the fight.”
“She’s very loud. It’s very distracting.”
“She’s fucking with Yvera, of course she’s being loud. If it were a bit less personal he’d be trying to kill us, so be grateful and focus on the damned fight.”
Right around then Mellaise got very loud indeed and the world seemed to fade around us again.
What might have been an eternity later, while the world tore itself joyfully asunder again and again, I heard Mellaise say, “That’s enough. You can get dressed now.”
Ashley and Walt stood nearby, each looking damp and the worse for wear.
“We going to do this?” Ashley asked.
Yvera swirled into being once more, “We are so going to do this.”
“Tempting,” Mellaise said, “But I think I’ve had enough fun for today.”
“Oh, I don’t think you are going to enjoy what comes next,” Yvera said.
“Trash talking,” Mellaise said with a certain malicious relish to the words. “How appropriate. Let me lay this out simple enough so even the hothead can understand. Mother insists I play defense, I have, you won. You can fight a demigoddess and the boy-toy, or we can each go our way.”
“You’ll let Liam go?” Ashley asked.
“You are not listening to this,” Yvera said.
“We’re beat to hell,” Ashley said. “And I can see she’s not carrying any loot.”
Mellaise leaned in to press another lingering kiss to my lips before pulling away and giving a challenging look at Yvera. “My song never really goes away. Still, out of sight and out of mind.”
“Ashley, you answer to me. Kill her. You know she has it coming,” Yvera said.
“You hired me to keep Liam safe. Way I see it, the best way to do that right now is letting her walk,” Ashley said.
“I agree,” Walt said.
“You two are really pissing me off.”
“I’d offer to go one-on-one,” Mellaise said, and turned back towards the sea. “But really, I just went a few rounds with your better half. Mom is going to love meeting you.”
Yvera let out an incoherent scream and vanished in a swirl of flames.
“She really doesn’t like the ocean,” I said.
Ashley grunted and said, “Yeah. That’s what this is all about. How you doing Liam, head on straight?”
“Yeah. I told you earlier I was fine. I’m feeling amazing. Sorry I didn’t help out in the fight earlier, but you two seemed to have it handled.”
“Does it truly not bother you at all that you were just mind-controlled and ignored your friends fighting for their lives? That you are still mind-controlled?”
“You guys are fine and I didn’t do anything I regret. Why are you making this a big deal?”
“That’s insane. That is completely and totally insane,” Walt said, looking over to Ashley. “I’m not wrong, right? It’s insane?”
“It’s Liam. He thought falling in love with the crazy bitch seemed like a good idea, too. We just need to go with it.”
I was getting tired of being talked about like I wasn’t present. “Listen. We are all in this game and we’ve been here for weeks trusting that our bodies are okay back in the real world. We just did several midair teleports that, if they went wrong, would have killed us. Does it really make sense to get so worked up over who I’m fucking?”
Walt let out a long breath.
“Leave it, Walt. Let’s just get moving,” Ashley said.
For the first time since coming ashore I took a proper look at my surroundings. The edges of the island were a combination of docks and stunning beaches—we’d washed ashore at one of the latter. Ruins began a short distance away.
After getting dressed I led the way and we soon began to pass through the city. The buildings looked to be more grown than built, ornate coral-like structures of vibrant hues.
Skeletons were everywhere, although there were no signs of a battle. It was as if the entire city had simply stopped at one moment in time and those going about their business died.
“We seem to wander into a lot of places filled with dead bodies,” I said.
“These aren’t recent, at least. Remember when we first met, Cobalt said the seas had been going crazy for about twenty years? These bodies have been dead about that long,” Walt said.
“Do you think Atlantia went crazy and killed everybody?” Ashley asked.
“Her family doesn’t exactly seem friendly,” Walt said.
I thought that was unfair. I mean sure, she’d tried to kill Ashley and Walt, but most people tried to kill us. It was kind of our thing.
“Do you know how they died?” Ashley asked as she bent down to loot some remains, slowing our progress.
“Do I look like a forensic anthropologist?” Walt asked.
“Sort of?”
Walt looked taken aback for a moment, no doubt trying to figure out whether to take that as a compliment or an insult. “Thank you. No common signs of trauma, I don’t see where anybody had their weapons drawn.”
“People aren’t clustered inside with their families. I think you’d see that if it were disease,” I said.
“The closest thing we’ve seen to this was back at the castle. Elsora and her mists swept in quickly and killed everyone. Many ended up reanimating as undead,” Walt said.
“Sacred island. Home of a Goddess, this entire place is probably holy ground,” Ashley said.
Coral Smash
I was spared further musing as a massive punch caught me unaware and sent me tumbling down the street.
That was a good twenty percent of my health gone in a single blow. I looked back and caught sight of what had hit me. It stood about ten feet tall and seemed crafted of the same material as the buildings.
Coral Golem
Level 17: Type: Construct HP: 1000/1000
Coral Golems serve as labor for the citizens of Atlantis. Capable of lifting huge loads they can also turn that strength to the defense of the city when needed.
Yeah. I could agree that it was strong. It hit like a truck. I pushed myself back up to my feet and readied my shield, drawing Intemperance.
Another golem was emerging from a doorway behind Walt.
“Walt! Behind you! Try the rooftops. These guys don’t look very vertical,” I said.
Displacement
Coral Quake
Walt shimmered out of existence just a golem smashed at the ground with two fists. I saw him flicker back into being atop one of the nearby structures.
Ashley faded from sight. She didn’t need any instructions.
I drummed Intemperance against my shield to create a racket and then focused to release a smite in a golem’s direction.
Smite
A swirl of flame surrounded it. In the aftermath it barely even seemed singed and had only lost a fraction of its health bar.
“Oh, come on,” I said. “There is no way these things are water-aligned. They’re made of rock.”
The first golem charged towards me and delivered another powerful blow that I caught on my shield.
Backstab
Ashley came into view behind it driving her daggers in deep, “Coral. Totally different.”
“It is not that different! Look at them!”
Special Delivery
A golem picked me up and I was thrown through the air in Walt’s direction. He displaced away at the last second, materializing onto a nearby rooftop. That hurt. I wasn’t yet down to half my health bar, but I was already starting to feel that intoxicating rush of my passives kicking in.
Displacement
“And here I thought they didn’t have a ranged attack.”
“They aren’t even designed for combat. Just get back down there, raise a fuss, and don’t let them grab you. You’re weak against them, but we’re not,” Walt said.
He aimed his staff at one and a pulse of brown-tinted energy blasted
out to catch a golem and send it staggering backwards a step.
I leapt off the building towards it and swung with my shield to bash it in the head. I bounced off it to land on my feet. The golem slowly swung at me and I caught the blow on my shield.
Mark of the Assassin
Backstab
A spot on the golem’s neck began to pulse a deep red and moments later Ashley’s daggers dug deep as she came out of stealth.
Cracks appeared in the golem and with a crunching sound it collapsed to its knees.
Bringing The House Down
Then a house hit me, Ashley, and the golem. Seriously. I briefly saw the golem shattering into fragments before I was crushed against a nearby structure and buried in rubble.
Without even waiting to check her health bar my hand found Ashley and I willed a Lay on Hands. I was becoming all too familiar with the sounds of massive body trauma. Besides, I felt mostly dead at this point despite my armor. Her main defense was in her dodge and I doubted this was something she could get away from.
I had to be buried, everything was dark.
“You alive, Ash?”
“Full health. You must have blown a heal? What hit us?”
“Yeah, and I’m pretty sure it was a house.”
“Seriously?”
“No joke. They really are strong.”
“So are you. I can’t move, can you?”
I strained against the rubble weighing down on top of me and felt it shift slightly.
“I can. But it will take me awhile to get us clear.”
“One golem is still up. Walt should be okay though, as long as he can keep clear of flying houses.”
