by Jake Bible
Then I was out in the light and saw my friends up ahead, their backs to me as they stared down at something.
“Guys!” I yelled as ran towards them. “Guys!”
They turned and started to wave me off, but that wasn’t happening. I couldn’t stop. My legs weren’t obeying and my momentum took me right at them.
And right into them.
I don’t know who I hit first, maybe Kip or Trish, but the end result was we became a tangle of collapsed bodies. Except that wasn’t all that collapsed. Turns out the group had been standing on the edge of that canyon that Trish had pointed out to us. It was a pretty steep canyon. A pretty steep canyon with unfortunately soft edges.
Before any of us could do a damn thing, we were falling. Arms and legs flailing in open air. A tangled clump of screaming, helpless people. My head struck something and I saw stars then we hit the bottom, hard, and it all went sort of dark.
Except, I didn’t get the luxury of passing completely out. Someone yanked me up onto my feet, and I could barely make out an angry face yelling into my dazed face. Then someone was yelling at the other yelling someone and hands were helping me sit back down.
The yelling continued, but I didn’t care as Sandra’s face came into soft focus in front of me.
“Drink this,” she said and put a cup to my lips.
I took a sip, coughed, and nearly threw up.
“Don’t stop,” Sandra said. “Drink it all down. It tastes bad, I know.”
She tilted the cup and the rank liquid poured into my mouth. The only reason I didn’t vomit right there was because I would have puked all over Sandra and I didn’t want to do that. I’d embarrassed myself enough for the day.
Instant warmth. That’s what happened as the liquid poured down my reluctant throat and hit my belly. Instant warmth through every part of my body, especially through the icy cold wound in my chest.
“Do you feel better?” Sandra asked once I’d downed the last drop of the liquid.
“A lot,” I said. “Thanks.”
“I don’t know how you survived that,” she said, her eyes going to the hole in my tunic. “A strike by one of the Beast’s claws should kill anyone that is below Level 100. A strike by the Ghost of the Beast is supposed to be instantly fatal, no matter the level. You should be dead, Steve.”
“I am very happy I’m not,” I said. “Thanks for the stank drank.”
The rest of the world came back into focus and I turned towards the source of the shouting. Trish was yelling at Ming and he was yelling back, each of them trying to raise their voice over the other. Coz was yelling for them to shut up, and Kip was standing in the middle, turning in a panicked circle, his hands out and trying to calm the whole situation down. Sandra sighed.
“They won’t stop,” she said.
“What are they arguing about?” I asked.
Sandra blushed and glanced away.
“You’d rather not tell me than lie,” I said. “That’s nice of you.”
She nodded, but didn’t look at me.
“Hey!” I shouted. “Can you be quiet please? Some of us nearly died back there.”
And instant quiet. All eyes were on me. Great.
“What?” I asked then shrugged. “Okay, sorry I knocked everyone down here. Is anyone hurt?”
“That’s what you’re sorry about?” Trish asked. “Knocking us into the canyon that we were going to have to descend into anyway? Are you a fucking idiot or just a regular idiot?”
“Regular idiot?” I replied.
“Knock it off, Trish,” Coz said. “He’s Level 8.”
“Level 10,” I said. “I went up a couple levels, remember?”
“Good for you, dude,” he replied, the sarcasm extra thick.
“Steve,” Ming said in his most condescending tone. “We understand that this Domain, that EverRealm, has never been your favorite.”
Trish snorted and looked away from me, her hands angrily planted on her hips.
“However,” Ming continued and cleared his throat. “However, you are here now and as much a part of this quest as any of us. Personally, despite some disagreement from Trish here, I believe you may be integral to our completion of this quest.”
“Bull and shit,” Trish said.
“However,” Ming said.
“Stop saying however and get to it, dude,” Coz said.
“Yes, quite,” Ming responded and walked over to me. He crouched down and stared me straight in the face. “The problem is that we need you to follow our lead. When instructed not to use the Dark Blade, we would prefer that you actually not use the Dark Blade. It has its…issues.”
“You can say that again!” Trish shouted. “Like nearly getting all of us killed!”
“If you can refrain from using the Dark Blade, then we can allow you to keep it,” Ming said. “Otherwise, we will need you to hand it over. I hope you do understand.”
“Oh, I understand,” I said and struggled to get up.
“Steve, stay down,” Sandra said. “You’re still weak.”
“I’m fine,” I said a lot harsher than I would have liked. “Sorry. Just help me up.”
Sandra refused to help me stand up, but Ming took my hand and I was able to slowly get to my feet. I nodded my thanks then pulled the Dark Blade from its sheath. I held it out to Ming and gave him a huge smile.
“Take it,” I said. “If having a blade like this one is going to cause all kinds of hell for us, then I do not want it. Way too much responsibility. Take it, Ming. You’ll be able to use it better than me anyway. I’m Level 10. What good can anything be in my hands at that shitty level?”
“Steve…” Sandra said, worry in her voice.
“No, it’s totally cool,” I said. “I am gifting this blade to Ming.” I said the last part in a loud, authoritative voice just in case the decree needed to be officially announced. “It is his to take and use.”
Ming studied the blade for a minute then reached out and took it from me. Or tried to.
One second he had his hand on the hilt and the next second he was flying fifty yards across the canyon and slamming into the opposite wall. He collapsed into a heap of robes and pained grunts.
“Damn!” Coz cried.
Everyone hurried over to Ming except for me. I just stared at the Dark Blade that was still in my hands, its blade glowing a weird green and the hilt glowing a strange black. Yeah, it glowed black. Hard to explain. Kind of like a fluorescent tube right as it flickers out. Sort of. Like I said, it’s hard to explain.
“Huh,” I said.
“Is he alright?” Trish asked, pushing Coz out of the way to get closer to Ming. “Sandra?”
“Let me check,” Sandra said and placed a finger to Ming’s throat. “He has a pulse, so that’s good.”
“Stab him with your dagger,” Trish said.
“I can’t,” Sandra said. “When I stabbed the Beast, it took the healing component from the blade. I need to replenish it at the Spring of—”
“Don’t care,” Trish said as she stood and whirled on me. “Jesus Christ, Steve! Why’d you do that?”
“I didn’t do shit, Trish,” I said, shoving the blade towards her for her to take it. “I only wanted this thing out of my hands. It’s yours if you want it. I mean that. I’m done. I’ll hang at the back of the group and try to stay out of the way from now on.”
“Dude, don’t be so melodramatic,” Coz said.
“I’m not kidding, man,” I said. “This blade is bad news for me.”
“Kind of bad news for Ming, too,” Coz said.
“Yeah,” Kip agreed.
“You really didn’t do that on purpose?” Trish asked. Ming moaned and she glanced back at him before refocusing on the Dark Blade. “You were giving it to him?”
“Yep,” I said. “Now I’m giving it to you.”
“Kind of seems like a dumb idea to take it, Trish,” Coz said. “Unless you want to go for a flight across the canyon.”
“I don�
��t know,” Trish said, but she wasn’t talking to me or any of us. All of her concentration was on the Dark Blade. “Perhaps it was his alignment that was the issue.”
“Trish,” Coz warned.
“Yeah,” Kip said.
Sandra was busy trying to revive Ming and wasn’t paying attention to what we were doing.
“Just put it away before anyone else gets hurt, Steve,” Coz said.
“Hold your fucking horses,” Trish snapped. “Let me try something.”
She held her hands over the blade without touching it. After a few seconds, she closed her eyes and began chanting something that I didn’t understand. Being a Ranger, I should have had a good grasp of languages, but I just never bothered incorporating that into my character since I hated EverRealm with most of my being. I’m a really, really bad Ranger.
Trish stopped chanting and smiled at me.
“That should do it,” she said. “You give the Dark Blade freely?”
“I sure as shit do,” I said.
Trish grabbed the hilt then took a flight, collapsing next to Ming and making Sandra jump up and scream.
“Put it away,” Kip ordered.
It was a full-on order. I put the Dark Blade back in its sheath although what I wanted to do was chuck it as far away from me as possible. But, I had a feeling that would be a not so good idea, especially if some bad guy showed up and took it for his, or her, own. If they could pick it up without flying the friendly skies, that is.
“Is she breathing?” Coz asked as Sandra knelt next to both Trisha and Ming.
“She’s breathing and her pulse is strong,” Sandra said.
“Get your fingers off me,” Trish said, “and help me up.”
Sandra helped Trish to her feet. Our eyes locked.
“You’re goddamn bound to it,” Trish said.
“Huh? What does that mean?” I asked. “Bound to it how?”
“This is going to hurt, but it’s worth a demonstration just so we’re all on the same fucking page,” Trish said.
She waved her hands and the Dark Blade disappeared from my belt, sheath and all. Trish screamed and fell to her knees, her hands gripping the sides of her head. Then the Dark Blade, still in its sheath, reappeared on my belt as if nothing had happened. Trish fell onto her side and moaned.
“Any questions?” she grunted as she waved off Coz’s helping hand. “No, let me lie here a second, okay?”
“Oh, my,” Sandra said, her eyes wide with pure terror. “Oh, Steve, I am so sorry.”
“Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on?” I snapped. “This shit is getting old!”
“Who wants to tell him?” Coz asked. No one volunteered. “Great. Thanks, assholes.”
Except, before he could tell me, a very familiar sound echoed down the canyon at us.
The moans of the undead.
Twenty
“Later,” Coz said to me.
“Later what?” I asked. “Later you tell me how screwed I am?”
“Dude, undead,” Coz said, pointing at a bend in the canyon where quite a few undead were shambling into view.
A view that was growing dimmer by the minute. The suns were setting and the Galac moons were about to make an appearance. The problem was that between the suns setting and the Galac moons rising high enough into the sky to be of any use to us, there was going to be some serious twilight and shadow down in the canyon.
Twilight and shadow were the worst conditions when fighting the undead. All it took was for you to lose sight of just one of them and you were done for. I’d watched it happen more than a few times. All of us had, so the tension in the group ratcheted up a few notches, which was saying something considering our lack of calm before the undead came for a visit.
Trish managed to get to her feet, still refusing help from anyone, and faced the approaching undead. She manifested a staff from out of thin air. It was made of black wood with silver lines threading through it.
“A very good idea,” Ming said and manifested his own staff. His was of a dark blond wood with copper threaded through it.
Coz pulled his knives and Sandra drew her dagger while Kip began working some spell that created a ton of bright green spots that floated in the air.
I glanced down at the hilt of the Dark Blade.
“Good idea or bad idea?” I asked Coz.
He glanced at the hilt too then nodded. “It’s yours, dude. You might as well use it.”
“Coz,” Sandra said, her voice sharp. “You know what happens the more he uses it.”
“What happens?” I cried. “Someone tell me!”
“Not now,” Coz snapped, glaring at Sandra. “We kill the undead first then we deal with Steve and his, uh, issues.”
“God, I hate you people so much,” I said. “Almost as much as I hate EverRealm.”
“Shhhh!” Ming said. “Do not disparage the land out loud!”
“Yeah,” Kip said.
“Can we focus, please?” Coz asked.
“I am focusing, dipshit,” Trish said as she walked towards the undead, her staff spinning in both hands like an oversized baton.
“What? Is she going to windmill them to death?” I asked.
Then the spinning stopped and she slammed down one end of the staff into the ground. A streak of lighting roared across the dirt, right at the front wave of undead, and struck five of them at once, setting them all ablaze.
“Oh, yeah, that works too,” I said.
“Pull the stupid blade and come on,” Coz said as he ran to join Trish. “There’s one thing I know you can’t screw up and that’s killing undead!”
He was right about that. EverRealm or not, I did know how to kill me some undead. I was used to a fire axe in the real world, but I was just as good with a machete. The Dark Blade was simply an oversized machete. Probably a cursed machete, but a machete. Sort of. Didn’t matter. If it lopped off undead heads, then it was good with me.
I hurried after Coz with Sandra and Kip by my side. Ming hung back, his lips moving rapidly as he prepared some sort of spell.
The shadows were thick the closer we got to the undead, and I almost missed two of them that were scurrying close to the canyon wall. I say scurrying because they were down on all fours, not up on two feet. I jumped out of their reach, drew the Dark Blade, and hacked a head from its shoulders. The head rolled closer and I realized why the things were down on all fours.
Goblins.
“Goblins!” I yelled and hacked at the second one.
It evaded the attack and scrambled partway up the canyon wall so it was at eye level. That gave me a decent look at its warped face. Goblins were nasty creatures. About the same size as humans, but with thick, leathery skin that was a puke green. Their eyes were yellow and slitted like a cat’s. Pointy ears and long fingernails, with some sharp teeth to go with the rest of the nasty, goblins were fierce fighters and refused to yield even when it was obvious they were going to die horribly.
“Watch the walls!” I shouted as I slashed at the goblin.
It leapt into the air at me and I stepped sideways, slashing once more. The thing howled as I chopped it in two. Its torso fell one way and its legs the other. The legs I didn’t worry about, they were useless, but the torso was still a problem.
I hadn’t pierced the brain.
It scrambled at me, clawing at the dirt with its hands, and gnashed its teeth. Its black tongue kept flicking out like a goddamn lizard. I’d never seen a goblin do that before, but then I’d never seen an undead goblin, so who knew what was possible.
I tried to stab it through the skull, but it rolled away, avoiding the tip of my blade. Its left hand sliced the air and I barely got out of the way of its sharp nails. My blade came down again and I took that left arm right off. The goblin howled again and tried for some leaping attack by pushing off the ground with its right arm.
It totally failed and face-planted. I didn’t waste the opportunity, and instead of stabbing it, I stomped on the
back of its skull with my boot, crushing its head like a disgusting grape.
Then I was tackled from behind by another goddamn undead goblin and the Dark Blade went skittering across the ground.
I rolled over and managed to grab a sharp piece of rock from the ground then stabbed, stabbed, stabbed at the thing’s head as fast as I could while I kept its teeth from biting my face off by jamming my forearm up under its chin. It snapped at me over and over as my blade found its neck, its shoulder, and open air. It wouldn’t hold still long enough for me to get a clear stab into its brain.
So I kneed it in the groin.
It shouldn’t have been an attack that mattered, since the undead no longer cared about their genitals and didn’t feel pain, but it shoved the goblin forward and I kept that momentum going. It tumbled over my head and I rolled up onto my knees, holding the rock in both hands, and came down hard on the back of its skull. That did the trick.
The goblin went still and I scrambled up onto my feet and spun in a circle, hunting for the Dark Blade. I thought I saw it under some scrub brush, but I didn’t have time to go for it as two more goblins leapt at me from the canyon wall.
I ducked under the first one, going to a knee and slashing up, spilling its intestines everywhere. It was a pretty sharp rock. The second one collided with my shoulder, but I knew that was going to happen and went with the impact, rolling across the ground, letting the goblin tumble off me, so I could come back up onto one knee.
That time, I pulled my long sword of Breaking and jammed the tip into the head of the disemboweled goblin as it got tangled in its own guts. I yanked the sword free and brought it around in a swiping arc, lopping the head off the second goblin. I was starting to hit my stride.
Not wanting to get tackled for a third damn time, I got up fast and braced my feet. No more goblins were on the canyon wall as far as I could see, but that wasn’t very far.
Kip’s green spots were flying this way and that, piercing undead heads and returning to his open hands. I could see well enough to tell that not all of the undead were goblins. Most of them were human and quite a few of those were already down and dead, the rest of the team having done a kickass job while I tangled with the goblins.
