Defenders of the Realm

by Dave Willmarth

  She screamed as the holy spell penetrated her shield, causing it to collapse completely. All six beams from the light cannons immediately focused on her. The symbols on her robes flashed, and the fabric seemed to repel the light magic. But where the beams struck skin, it bubbled and crisped like bacon.

  Alexander cast Wizard’s Fire again, dousing her in the magical flames. Then he added his own burst of Ray of Light directed toward her face. The spell missed as she staggered backward under the onslaught of magic. Her health bar was dropping, and the constant hits were interrupting her casting. Already she was below 50% health.

  Drow Wizard’s Apprentice

  Level 90

  Health 11,300/26,000

  She screamed out a one-word spell and the entire end of the room was engulfed in absolute darkness. Alexander immediately had flashbacks of the disastrous turn in the battle on the bridge when the orc shaman used a similar tactic. He knew the demons would be able to see in this darkness, while his people could not.

  Activating his Mage Sight, he was able to penetrate the spell and see the drow through the darkness. He quickly cast Trap Soul, then Levitate on her and thrust his hand upward. She shot from the floor to slam into the room’s ceiling. Her body went limp as he left it floating.

  Alexander quickly cast Mage Sight on Lugs and the rock trolls. Brick cast it on himself.

  Alexander shouted “Mage Sight!”

  He immediately began casting it on the leaders of each group of archers. He couldn’t grant it to all of his people, but at least those directing the fire would be able to see. He also cast it on as many of the healers as he could.

  The tanks were holding their own, maintaining their line across the breach and containing the demons within the building. The ranged attacks from their people continued, though mostly outside the darkened area. The light cannons stopped to recharge, each of the guards producing the soul crystal that had been given to them.

  A quick check on the drow showed that she still floated motionless. Not dead, just unconscious from the blow to the head. Alexander made a pulling motion with his hand, and her body drifted out through the breach and exited the darkness. With another upward motion he sent her high into the sky until she reached the edge of his spell range. As soon as she did, the spell faded and she plummeted toward the ground. As she fell, Alexander hit her with another burst of Ray of Light. The pain caused her to awaken with a scream in time to see her fate before smashing into the ground. Her head exploded like an overripe melon.

  Level up! You are now level 68!

  Your wisdom has increased by +1.

  Your intelligence has increased by +1

  You have 20 free attribute points available

  With her death, the darkness dissipated and the demons were once again visible to all. And just as the portal became clear again, nearly a score of winged demons burst through two at a time. They were immediately peppered with crossbows, but only the first few were taken down. The others immediately turned and shot through the breach. Two were taken down by quick-thinking rock trolls, and another fell outside the wall as Lugs hurled a spear through its back. But the remaining ten demons quickly rose out of crossbow range and began lobbing dark magic down upon the defenders in the trenches.

  The healers were hard pressed to keep everyone alive. Sasha screamed in battle chat “Light cannons! Take those demons out of the sky! Everybody down a health potion, now!” as defender names began to go grey on Alexander’s UI. He was losing people again.

  The beams of light magic shot up into the sky, each of them targeting a demon and cutting into their wings as quickly as they could. The things tried to dodge, but the cannoneers stuck with them. Alexander produced his Ray of Light wand and handed it to Dawn, who looked confused. He quickly took it back, pointed it at a demon, and fired. The burst of magic tore a hole through its wing and set it wobbling in the air. Dawn snatched the wand back and began to fire with great relish. Molgo was using his superior strength to fire arrows high into the sky.

  Alexander himself hit several of them with bursts of light magic as well as Wizard’s Fire. He had to pause, as his mana was getting low. While he gulped a mana potion, his people worked valiantly at dropping the airborne demons. As each one fell back into range, they were peppered with bolts and arrows. Any still living when they landed were ground into meat by angry dwarves.

  Alexander was watching one of them get stomped into the dirt when a loud roar from above startled him. He looked up in time to see three gryphons smash into the last three remaining demons. They attacked with claws first, latching onto the surprised demons from behind. Braxis’ massive beak cleanly severed the head of his victim and he let the body fall along with the head. He turned to help his pride-mates, but both had already shredded their victims. Braxis squawked once at Alexander, who saluted in return. The three gryphons gained some altitude, then circled in anticipation of more victims.

  Returning his focus to the breach, Alexander moved to try and assist Brick and the tanks. The demons were still coming through the portal every second, and the pressure was mounting as they all tried to escape the light-blessed building through the hole in the wall. Alexander used his Earth Mover skill to raise a wall right in front of Brick and the tanks. It effectively blocked off the breach and gave the tanks a breather.

  All the living defenders went back to targeting the demons inside the kill-box. With particular attention paid to the cluster that had been shoving against the tanks in the breach. The group commanders were no longer trying for coordinated volleys, instead shouting for their archers to fire as fast as they could at specified targets. The light cannons went back to work thinning out the herd inside the room as well.

  The number of demons emerging from the portal suddenly trickled to a stop. There was a cheer among the defenders as they saw some light at the end of the tunnel. There were still a few hundred of the demons trapped inside the room, but if the defenders could hold them in there, they could dispatch them with minimal additional losses.

  They went to work with new enthusiasm. The dwarves began a chant and fired with the rhythm. The two rock trolls, sitting down and resting after their exertion in the breach, hummed along with their gravelly voices. The healers gulped mana potions and focused on bringing everyone back to full health. Alexander began to call out encouragement to his people.

  “That’s it! We’ve got them now! Put those bastards down! They came here to destroy our home! Our families! Show them no mercy!”

  The entirety of the Elysian force shouted back “NO MERCY!”

  A moment later a silence fell over the entire battlefield as a massive head emerged from the portal, a roar that shook the ground announcing its arrival. The demons rushed to far end of the room, hugging the altar and the walls despite the pain it was causing them. The head was followed by a long serpentine dragon’s body. A dead dragon.

  Daginalistros

  Undead Dragon Slave

  Level 100

  Health 130,000/130,000

  The undead beast shook his head in irritation as he registered the power of light gods infused in the stone around him. Another roar shook the stones. He inhaled deeply, held it for a moment, then blasted a stream of black flame forward toward the offending altar that blew out the rear wall of the building. The altar withstood the dark magic attack, but the majority of the demons perished instantly. Some few who were lucky enough not to get caught in the blast cowered on the floor or escaped through the missing wall. Max, Lainey, Lorian and the hunters took off in pursuit. Their arrows wouldn’t be of much use against a dragon.

  The dragon stepped forward, crushing a few of the remaining demons as it made its way toward the altar. Another blast of fire engulfed the stone, but it remained unscathed. The dragon roared in frustration, its tail whipping left and right, cracking the walls on either side and knocking back defenders who’d been too close.

  This time the dragon’s call was answered. Braxis roared a challenge from the s
kies above. The dragon looked upward, then heaved his body up through the stone ceiling. Sasha shouted for the defenders to retreat across the drawbridge as broken chunks of the roof tumbled down into the trenches and crushed a few of them. At the same time, the flow of demons that had resumed emerging from the portal behind the dragon were crushed under the stone. The portal remained open, though partially buried.

  Alexander called out in guild chat. “Kai! The dragon who was killed! Daginalistros. He’s here! They’ve turned him into an undead slave!”

  The entire mountain shook a moment later as Kai and Lia reacted to Alexander’s message. A voice as massive and as angry as a volcano roared across the land. “HOW DARE THEY!”

  Rocky, hearing the rage in Kai’s voice, stuck his head out of the moat to see what was happening. The dead dragon noticed him immediately and reoriented onto him. Spreading its wings it leapt free of the building to land next to the moat. With the speed of a striking cobra its head shot forward, its jaws clamping down on the back of Rocky’s neck.

  Alexander’s moat monster screamed in pain and fear as the much larger dragon easily lifted him free of the water. But the tough little water dragon wasn’t going to go down without a fight. He spat some kind of liquid substance into the dead dragon’s face, causing it to rear back and shake its head in surprise. Unfortunately the shaking was very bad for Rocky, his body whipping back and forth causing the undead dragon’s teeth to penetrate deeper into his flesh.

  As Rocky mewled in pain, his blood splattering across the moat and surrounding earth, Kai arrived.

  Alexander had never seen Kai in his true dragon form. The immense black dragon prince was the size of a stadium. His body blocked out the sun, and the air displaced by his wings bent the nearby trees. Alexander himself was knocked flat by the blast of air as Kai barreled into the corpse of Daginalistros. Kai stomped on the undead dragon’s neck, causing it to release Rocky, who quietly plunged into the moat bleeding heavily. The water where he landed began to turn red in an expanding pool. Sasha and the healers were already trying to help him.

  The dragon struggled, still pinned under Kai’s foreclaw, which was the size of their largest cargo wagon. With a deep growl that roiled up from his gut, Kai leaned down and severed Daginalistros’ head with his jaws. When the zombie dragon ceased twitching, Kai raised his head to the sky and roared. It was a sound of sorrow, and pain. Of anger and vengeance. His voice echoed off the cliff face behind Alexander.

  “Wizards! You shall pay for this! You will be hunted down and destroyed utterly! Even should it require the lives of every dragon on Io! I, Prince Kaibonostrum of the Dragon Kingdom, do vow before Odin and all the gods of the Io!”

  Stone cracked and fell from the cliff face above the keep as the crash of thunder signaled Odin’s acknowledgement of the vow.

  Alexander, the Elysians, and every being of light on Io received a notification.

  Quest Received: World at War!

  The Dragon Kingdom has declared war on the Drow Wizards and their minions. Assist the dragons and allies in the struggle to remove the wizards’ forces of darkness from Io forever.

  Reward: Variable.

  Penalty for failure: Destruction of all life on Io.

  After nosing the corpse of his lost cousin to make sure he was dead for good, Kai turned toward the portal. The flow of demons had resumed, though only half the portal was clear. Those unfortunate enough to emerge from the blocked half were instantly smashed into the stones and obliterated. Alexander and all of his people leveled up again.

  Level up! You are now level 69!

  Your wisdom has increased by +1.

  Your intelligence has increased by +1

  You have 20 free attribute points available

  Kai walked toward the portal, crushing the remains of the building beneath his feet. The demons fled in every direction as he approached, their feet smoking with every step on consecrated ground.

  Putting his nose just a few feet from the portal’s event horizon, he inhaled deeply. When he exhaled, blue dragon flame like that he’d used to ignite the dragon forges streamed from his throat directly into and through the portal. The flow continued unabated as the stone around the portal melted and the orb began to sink. Alexander’s combat log was registering kills faster than he could keep track of.

  Level up! You are now level 70!

  Your wisdom has increased by +1.

  Your intelligence has increased by +1

  You have 25 free attribute points available

  After a solid twenty seconds, the orb began to emit a high-pitched whistle. A moment later it exploded, closing the portal. Everyone present heard the massive gong indicating that the keep had reached level 22.

  Kai sat back on his dragon haunches. Returning to the dragon corpse, he once again breathed fire, turning Daginalistros to a pile of ash and bone. When he was through, he raised his head and let out a long mournful cry that echoed off the cliffs and out through the forest. It was joined by Lady Lia’s answering cry from up in her roost. Alexander imagined they must have heard it in Stormforge.

  After a moment Kai looked toward Alexander.

  “I must report to my father. Please go let Geb and Barin know what happened here.” Alexander nodded his head.

  “Of course. Can I do anything else for you? Would you like us to bury his bones?”

  Kai shook his head. “Give them to your crafters. Dagin would have liked the idea of his bones being made into weapons used against our enemy.”

  With that he extended his wings and leapt into the air. In seconds his massive body was just a dark spot fading on the horizon.

  Chapter 17

  Aftermath

  Sasha and the defenders, who had retreated across the drawbridge, emerged to see to the wounded and the dead. To bring down any remaining demons. More than a hundred had managed to escape the wrath of the two dragons and were now loose in Elysian lands. Braxis and the gryphons were busily hunting down and slaughtering any they spotted. Brick and Lugs each detailed off twenty crossbowmen and guards and went hunting. As did the rock trolls and the minotaurs, and nearly all the players that weren’t healers.

  Alexander ran to the moat and began to call for Rocky. After a suspenseful minute, the moat monster surface and floated listlessly. Blood still trickled from the multiple puncture wounds on both sides of his neck. Alexander cast Healing Light on him twice, watching as the wounds closed. Rocky snorted at the sensation, then looked hopefully at Alexander.

  Realizing what his moat monster wanted, he barked a laugh and reach into his bag. Producing three of the sugar-filled Rapid Regeneration potions, he poured them one by one into Rocky’s waiting maw. The moat monster lapped up every drop of it, and began wagging his tail like a puppy. Alexander patted the dragon’s head. “I’m glad you’re alright buddy. I thought for sure the zombie dragon had killed you.”

  Rocky growled at him as if to say, “it would take more than that to kill me!” and disappeared below the surface for a moment. Alexander fell backward as the water dragon suddenly shot up out of the water, vaulting over Alexander’s head onto the ground behind him. He sauntered over to the nearest pile of cooked demon corpses and scooped several into his mouth. Crunching and swallowing as he made his way back, he lifted one of the toasted dragon bones and held it in his jaws exactly like a dog with a bone. Giving Alexander a sidelong look and snort, he dove back into the water and disappeared.

  Beatrix, Lola, and Jules began to loot the hundreds of demon corpses. Alexander raised the stone floor of the kill box for them, then liquefied all the spikes so that the ladies could loot safely. Brick approached to give him the report.

  “Me ‘n the healers rez’d all what we could. There still be thirty dead. Twenty-one be from Broken Mountain. The rest be ours. Three hunters who got crushed. Two human guards. Four dwarf guards.”

  He left Alexander to go and help the ladies loot the demons. But first he looted the corpse of the dragon. His face lit up at what he
found, and he turned excitedly to shout to Alexander. But one look at his friend’s face, and he decided to keep the news for another time.

  Alexander, not wanting to deal with the loss of so many of his people, teleported himself to Geb’s chamber at the bottom of the mine. The dragons instantly crowded around as Geb sat quietly as if taking a nap. Barin asked “What happened. We received a notification of war…”

  Alexander’s legs felt wobbly, so he quickly pulled up a chunk of rock from the floor and sat. “We fought the demon army. I opened the portal and they poured through by the hundreds. Along with an apprentice drow wizard.” He paused as the dragon’s growled and Geb opened one eye.

  “We killed the apprentice, and were finishing off the army when… when Daginalistros came through the portal. They’d turned him into an undead slave.” Alexander quailed and fell to the floor in a fetal position as the dragons surrounding him roared in anger. The chamber shook, and rocks fell from the ceiling. One of them stomped a foot and a web of cracks shot outward from the impact. The sheer volume deafened Alexander. He whimpered silently, hands over his ears trying to keep his brain from melting.

  A moment later he felt hands on his body. Barin and Geb were lifting him and placing him back on his seat. The ancient guardian waved a hand, and Alexander’s hearing was restored. Barin said “We are sorry, Alexander. We meant you no harm.”

  Alexander nodded in understanding “No harm done. Thank you, Geb.” He continued his story of the battle. “I called to Kai, and he came down from his roost. He put down the undead… he put Daginalistros out of his misery, and declared vengeance on the drow wizards. We all got a quest to help. Then he blasted dragon fire back through the portal. Whatever was on the other side is dead now. He melted the portal stone, and it exploded.”