by Edward Brody
Eden’s Gate
Book 3: The Sands
Edward Brody
Copyright © 2017 by Edward Brody
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Author’s Notes
Series List
Introduction
Book Three of the Eden’s Gate Series!
With Unity formed, Gunnar feels like he's created a family like he's never had before. All that's left is to grow his strength, continue building in Edgewood, and maybe earn a little affection from Princess Adeelee. Nothing can tear him away from his friends and newly founded guild.
Or can it?
Gunnar still has a lot to learn about his massive, new world. There are eyes and ears everywhere. Deception can come when you least expect it, and in Eden's Gate, sometimes you can lose control of your own fate.
And Rachel? Maybe she's still out there... somewhere.
“Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear.”
-Albert Camus
Chapter One
1/18/0001
I rolled to my side, barely missing the massive, barbwire-wrapped bludgeon that slammed hard into the ground, causing a loud boom to echo all around us.
An arrow flew overhead, piercing into the towering attacker’s neck, and the giant kobold let out loud, low-pitched groan before quickly jerking itself straight. It was huge—at least ten feet tall—and along with its oversized club, it had a tall steel shield, tight chainmail leggings, and a plate helmet that covered everything but its eyes and half-dog, half-alligator-like snout. The rest of its leathery orange body was bare.
Name: Kobold Goliath
Race: kobold
Level: 22
Health/Mana/Stamina: 410/0/180
Status: aggressive
The kobold goliath made all the normal-sized kobold corpses that lay around us look like small children by comparison.
Three more arrows flew towards the kobold, but it simply raised its shield, causing the arrows to ricochet away and fall lifelessly to the ground.
“Hey, fat-ass! Over here!” Ozzy shouted from behind the kobold and then let out his Intimidating Shout, a taunting scream that caused enemies to focus their attention on him.
The kobold turned to Ozzy, and I immediately held out my hand to release my spell, Arcane Missile, at the center of the kobold’s back while another arrow whizzed past and landed at nearly the same point of impact. The kobold grunted and shook its shoulders, quickly spinning back in my direction.
“Shit!” Ozzy spat. “I can’t hold its attention!”
I grabbed my flaming sword with both hands and held it in front of me, then dashed towards the kobold looking for an opening.
“Careful, Gunnar!” Jax shouted from somewhere behind me as the kobold swung its weapon in a sweeping motion, leaving virtually nowhere for me to dodge.
The bludgeon was almost grazing the ground as it rushed towards me, so I had no other option but to jump in order to not take the full force of the blow head-on. I thought I might clear the giant weapon as my feet rose in the air, but it was too big and moving too fast. It clipped my ankles and caused me to roll onto it, the metal from the barbwire piercing the flesh of my torso, hips, and neck as I let out an agonizing scream. My sword fell to the ground.
The pain was dizzying, but as the kobold swung the bludgeon upward and back the other direction, I yanked at my body hard, dislodging myself from the metal thorns. I fell back to the ground, but before I was halfway to landing, something struck me hard in my abdomen, and I jerked reflexively before landing with an awkward thud.
“Shit!” I heard Jax say, and then I could hear Ozzy using his Intimidating Shout again.
My head was spinning, and from head to toe, my body was tormented with pain. I looked at my health bar, and I was down to my last 10%.
You are bleeding and require medical attention. Bleeding is a damage-over-time effect.
I pulled myself up onto one elbow and could see an arrow sticking out of my side. My leather armor was covered in blood.
“Damnit to hell!” Jax cursed as he rushed up beside me. He grabbed a health potion out of his pack and popped the cork. “I was trying to hit the kobold, but he pushed you right into the path of my shot!”
I tilted my head back and groaned as Jax started pouring the fruity red liquid down my throat. I immediately started to feel better and grabbed the vial out of Jax’s hands as he fumbled in his bag for bandages.
“No time for that,” I said as I drank the last drop of potion and tossed the vial to the side. I looked over to where Ozzy was fighting the giant kobold, and while he was successfully keeping the beast occupied, he was barely managing to dodge its strikes. “I’ll fix the bleeding when we’re done with this thing.”
Jax nodded, stood to his feet, and offered me his hand.
I quickly pulled myself up with his help and started scanning the area for my sword.
“Over there,” Jax said, pointing to a patch of leaves a few meters away. He started grabbing another arrow from his quiver and readying his bow.
I quickly rushed to grab my fallen sword, and it lit up in flames as soon as I had it in my hands. I shuffled back to beside Jax, who was steadying his aim for another shot.
“Think I should switch to archery?” I asked.
Jax let the arrow fly, and it landed in the kobold’s lower back. This time, the kobold barely seemed to notice the attack as it swung its club at Ozzy, but ultimately clipped another tree when Ozzy ducked the blow. The tree was split in two, and a half-dozen birds rushed up into the sky.
“Not sure,” Jax grunted with a sigh. “But Ozzy is going to run out of stamina soon.”
I glanced at my party’s stat bars that were right below mine, and Ozzy was down to the last 20% of his stamina.
“How about…” Jax looked up to the treetops and then took a few quick steps back. “Think you can climb that tree?”
I looked up to the tree he was indicating, and it was just thick enough for climbing. It was tall, and there was a strong-looking branch that was jutting out over the clearing where we were fighting. Right away, I knew exactly what he was thinking.
I nodded at Jax and immediately started to climb. “Lure him over here,” I hissed.
“Ozzy!” Jax yelled as he started flanking to the left of the kobold.
“Ugh, yeah!?” Ozzy ducked another blow, rolled forward, and slashed his blade against the kobold’s leg
. The monster’s metal leggings seemed to absorb the entirety of the blow. “I need some help over here!” He started running in a circular motion to prevent the kobold from getting another good opening.
Jax pulled three arrows from his quiver and loaded them all on his bow at once—something I recall seeing him do in Gramora. All three flew true, spreading out ever so slightly as they thudded in the side of the Kobold’s ribs.
The kobold roared and swatted at the shafts with its elbow, breaking them all in two. Its eyes honed in on Jax, and it started storming in his direction, its footsteps rattling the ground.
“Lure the kobold to Gunnar!” Jax shouted as he dashed closer to a group of trees and shot another single arrow.
“Gunnar?!” Ozzy started looking around. “Where the hell is Gunnar?!”
“Over here!” I hissed loudly as I shimmied across the length of the tree branch. I wasn’t sure if the Kobold could understand what we were saying, but I hoped it was as dumb as it looked.
“What the hell are you do—?” Ozzy’s face softened and smiled. “Oh, I get it!” He rushed in my direction, stomped his foot on the ground, turned, and let out yet another Intimidating Shout.
Jax jumped behind the trees, then quickly started shuffling back until he was deep into the thicker part of the forest. At the goliath’s size, it would be difficult for it to fight in any of the dense areas, which it seemed to know as it turned its attention back to Ozzy.
I released my tight grip on the limb and slowly adjusted myself up into a balancing crouch, readying myself for the kobold to come into striking distance. The limb was a little wobbly, but I was pretty sure it was going to hold. I gripped the hilt of my sword but didn’t unsheathe it to avoid its flaming effect attracting the kobold’s attention.
I clenched my teeth as I tried to ignore the strong sting that continued to nag me.
You are bleeding and require medical attention. Bleeding is a damage-over-time effect.
The oversized kobold stomped towards Ozzy, and Ozzy held his shield out in front of him, preparing for a blow—a blow I was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to block.
With the kobold inattentive, Jax jumped back out of the thick trees and dashed closer to the monster from behind. He paused and waited ‘til the kobold was almost directly underneath me before pulling a dark vial from his pouch and throwing it at the kobold’s legs.
The kobold swung its club at Ozzy as the vial flew through the air, and, down to his last sliver of stamina, Ozzy pushed his wooden shield up to block the attack as best he could. His shield virtually exploded as the wood and barbwire crashed together, and he was thrown several meters before slamming into the side of a tree.
The dark vial exploded when it struck the back of the kobold’s legs, and the kobold wailed loudly and dropped to one knee, lowering its head in pain. I unsheathed my sword, and without hesitation, leapt from the tree branch, aiming the tip of my sword for the area right below the kobold’s helmet.
The kobold screamed when the blade sunk deep into the back of its neck, and it jolted to its feet in a panic. It limped wildly on its sizzling leg, swinging its club randomly in the air all around it.
Several trees were destroyed as the kobold wailed. I held on to my sword for dear life as the stench from my sword’s flames searing the monster’s flesh rose into my nostrils. Arrows were flying at the kobold from Jax, but the beast kept thrashing about in a craze.
I heard Ozzy let out another Intimidating Shout—thank goodness he was okay—but the kobold paid no attention as it whipped around chaotically. I held my hand out and shot an Arcane Missile at the giant, and then another, but before I could think of what I was going to do next, the kobold stumbled backwards until its back slammed into a tree, knocking the wind out of me and practically crushing my ribs with the pressure of its large body.
My sword was deep in the spine of the kobold, so I wasn’t sure how it was still alive, but I knew that I sure as hell wouldn’t be able to survive another slam like that. I gritted my teeth through the pain and yanked my sword out, then forced it back into its flesh, an inch lower from the first wound.
The kobold scream was terrifyingly loud.
A bright light appeared out of nowhere, and before I could even look to see what was happening, the kobold’s body started shaking rapidly. Energy coursed up its body, into my sword, and then into my hands—so strong that I couldn’t hold on. After just a couple seconds of incredible shock, I lost my breath, released my grip from the sword, and fell to the ground.
I coughed erratically as I tried get my breathing back to normal and pushed myself up to see what was going on.
You are bleeding and require medical attention. Bleeding is a damage-over-time effect.
I was low on health again—15%—and completely out of health potions.
Standing not too far away was Keysia, and she was unleashing some sort of electric wave onto the beast. Long bolts of energy shot out of her hand and into the kobold. The kobold shook violently, dropped its sword and shield, and after a few more moments, it stopped moving altogether. Keysia ended her electrical attack, and the giant moaned and fell face first onto the ground.
You have gained 3200 XP!
Advancement! You have reached level 15 and gained 3 ability points. To assign your ability points, open your status page. You can also increase any of your known skills by 1 level.
Choose wisely, as your choices cannot be undone.
You have gained 10 MP!
I could see the cuts and bruises on my body mend right in front of my eyes, and my stat bars all shot up to 100%. I couldn’t have leveled up at a better time. Still, leveling didn’t make me any less exhausted.
During a previous passing conversation I had with Aaron, he explained to me that monsters in Eden’s Gate didn’t “respawn” like in traditional roleplaying games, but they did breed and had the ability repopulate or take over an area in the world. Practically the whole world operated under a fluid, working ecosystem. The kobolds that mined in the Edgewood mine, for example, most likely provided their goods to someone higher up the food chain, and there was a good chance that the higher-ups would send someone to investigate when the ore, gems, or whatever else they were receiving suddenly stopped showing up.
And that’s exactly what had happened.
Some of the dark elves in Edgewood had started trusting us more and were mining in order to sell their haul to us at a fair price. It was another win for the dark elves as it opened up more fair jobs for them, and it was a good thing for Aaron as he could spend more time crafting rather than worrying about gathering resources. But after only a few days, a couple of those miners came running, and alerted us that the mine had come under attack.
Jax, Ozzy, and I spent the better part of the day clearing out the numerous kobolds that had attacked the mine, and as we pushed further down the path they had come from, we found a kobold camp that had another ten or so kobolds and the giant that we had just killed.
Along with the random creatures I had killed in Edgewood over the past four days, all the experience had netted me two levels and a couple stat points.
“Need a hand?” Keysia asked as she strolled up to me with a grin on her face.
“Aren’t you supposed to be back home supervising the last half of the road construction?”
“It’s all finished up,” she said, her grin growing wider. She held out her hand and helped me to my feet.
“That’s good news,” I said as I patted myself down. I looked over to the fallen giant. “I think we almost had him.”
Keysia chuckled. “I’m sure you would’ve, but I wasn’t going to sit back and chance one of you getting killed. I had to help.”
“Thanks,” I muttered.
Ozzy limped slowly over to me as he fastened the end of a bandage around his forearm. “That motherfucker hit hard,” he spat. “Aaron had just made me that shield too.”
“He’ll make you another,” I assured him. “You okay?”
He glanced down to his bandage and shrugged. “The bleeding has stopped, so I’ll be fine.”
I heard the sound of steel crunching against something, and when I looked up, Jax was yanking my sword out of the back of the kobold’s spine. He held it up and swung it in a circle a couple times as he looked at the flames dancing around its length. “This is a pretty nifty—Ow!” He dropped the sword and jerked back his hands. The flames went out as it fell to the ground with a clank. “What the hell? That’s hot as fuck.”
I chuckled and shouted, “The rune inside of it has a 10% Fire Magic resistance requirement!”
Jax frowned and raised an eyebrow. “I should have known that.” His eyes scanned the bodies that were littered around us. “Let’s loot up and get out of here.”
“You think they’ll be back?” Ozzy asked.
Jax shrugged. “No telling, but we’ve killed enough of them that they’ll probably stay away for a while. If they come back, we’ll do what we’ve got to do.”
Ozzy nodded and then turned to Keysia and me. “Loot up!”
“Yeah, let’s make it quick,” I said. “Keysia says the road is done.”
“Nice,” Ozzy cooed.
The four of us started sifting through all of the dead bodies. For the most part, the kobolds were all only wearing loincloths and carrying basics spears, swords, and bows, but a few of them had small metal bucklers and a random piece of leather or chainmail here or there. None of it was particularly useful to the group, but I filled my bag with the best pieces that could either be smelted down for crafting or sold in the shop.
