by N H Paxton
We only had twenty-five seconds left.
Anya was on the attack, her blades sweeping through the air, flames dancing across them in unison. Her swords continuously grazed the Dark Collector, her attack speed not quite high enough to catch him with a full strike.
The Dark Collector put a hand out with a small object, primed to crush it, but Eberand stepped to his side in a blur of motion and slapped the flat of his blade against the Collector’s wrist. The object fell from his grasp and vanished from sight before it hit the floor.
“What was...” I trailed off as I watched the Dark Collector look around the room. He seemed caught off guard for the first time the entire battle.
“Vlad, covering fire, bro.” Zeno was back to his feet, pointing a finger at Garret, who was rushing in, his war pick raised high above his head.
“Right.” I triggered Firestorm and Simultaneous Casting, Gamma dropping to hang on the sling.
My hands whipped through the castings. They moved of their own accord, wrists twisting, fingers intertwining, thumbs coming together, then palms slapping. My hands flashed outward, the now familiar great sphere of flame appearing between my palms.
“Incoming!” I hollered as the molten sphere erupted into a hail of millions of tiny flaming spheres, burning through the air at blazing speed.
The balls of flame slammed into a shimmering veil of light that absorbed them entirely. It was a repeat performance of the last time we fought the Dark Collector.
“Pizdets,” I shouted as the flaming sphere came to an end, firing off the final remnants of its payload.
“Got his attention, though,” Zeno said as the Dark Collector turned from Anya and Eberand.
His eyes blazed red as he held up a pair of fingers on his right hand. A dark sphere engulfed Anya, hiding her from sight. I had seen an ability similar to that when he had practically one-shot Garret.
The sound of crunching, grinding metal filled the air. The sphere collapsed, and Anya fell to the floor, her body broken and destroyed. A moment later, her corpse exploded in an unusual green light. It wasn’t the normal appearance of a player sent for respawn.
“See, Vlad? This is what you get when you piss me off. Not once, but twice.” Valstrine held another small object in front of him. It looked like a doll.
“No,” I shouted as I fired off a volley of Shatter Spike, burning through the entirety of what remained of my Spirit.
It left my head feeling like I had just been slammed into a table at high velocity, and I collapsed to my knees. Zeno slapped a Spirit regen potion into my hands and shouted something that was muted due to the severe pain in my head.
The bolts struck the Dark Collector, coating him in a fine mist, which erupted in black flame. He swung his empty hand and the mist dispersed.
Garret appeared behind Valstrine, his axe poised to take the Collector’s head off. He swung the weapon with fervor, the blade rushing toward Valstrine’s neck.
Valstrine crushed the doll he was holding in his taloned hand, and Garret’s entire body went limp, the axe falling harmlessly to the floor. Garret’s knees buckled, and he collapsed backwards, still alive.
“Stop,” Valstrine started as he pulled another item, this one a clock that was broken.
Ken shot through the air, his blades out and aimed at the Dark Collector’s head, but he slammed into a wall of light that knocked him from the air, scattering his daggers.
“Screwing,” Valstrine continued as he flipped the clock over, his Health bar refilling by the second.
Zeno threw his hand forward, launching a sphere of blood, which exploded harmlessly against the same wall of light Ken had bounced off of.
“With me,” he finally finished, his Health bar completely full.
“Is not good,” I said, my head pounding.
Did Not Expect Failure
THE CLOCK IN HIS HAND vanished into thin air, like the object he had dropped. For the briefest flash of time, I had seen a metallic, vaguely humanoid-shaped object appear and vanish.
“The hell.” Valstrine looked around the room, his anger evident.
Eberand took the opportunity to strike him in the back of the head, his greatsword reverberating from the blow. The attack sent the Dark Collector sprawling. He landed on the ground, facedown, the surprise attack taking an unbelievable ten percent from his Health.
Ken jumped back into the air with a flicker, then appeared above the monstrosity, a hidden blade slamming down against the back of the Collector’s head. His Health sank another five percent as Ken stood up, driving the blade into Valstrine’s spine.
Another five percent fell off his Health bar before he could twist his body and punch Ken so hard it launched him several meters backwards. The Rogue landed gracefully, his feet sliding across the stone.
I remembered the Spirit regen potion Zeno had put in my hand, and I chugged it, feeling the blessed ingredients working against the cloud in my mind.
“I’m tired of these games.” Valstrine pulled an object from behind his back before Eberand had another chance to attack.
“Binding Seal!” Zeno shouted over the battle din.
A bright light flared around Valstrine as his body was surrounded by rings of golden light. They tightened on his body, searing the flesh where they touched.
“That should hold him for a bit,” Zeno said with a smile.
They did not.
The rings of light exploded as Valstrine screamed, his voice no longer squeaky and small but now terrifyingly deep and angry.
The timer for Power Overwhelming in the corner of my vision ticked to zero, and my body revolted. My Spirit dropped from just under twenty-five percent down to zero, my vision constricting in a tight black ring.
“Is very not good,” I mumbled as I gripped my head, losing my balance and collapsing to the ground.
“Shit, shit, shit,” Zeno stammered as he waved his staff over me, a soothing white light caressing my body.
Some of my Spirit was instantly refilled, as was the damage to my Health and Stamina. My headache began to soothe.
Across the room, the Dark Collector threw an incredibly powerful uppercut, lifting Eberand from the ground. The Dark Collector followed it up with a roundhouse kick that caught Eberand in the side of the head.
Eberand sailed through the air like a discarded rag doll. He crashed into a nearby pillar, smashing through it and continuing on. His body skidded to a stop and remained unmoving.
Ken flipped through the air, launching a series of dagger volleys at the Collector, who raised a hand. The blades stopped in midair, falling to the ground.
Ken’s body continued on its trajectory and collided with Valstrine’s. Ken wrapped his legs around Valstrine’s neck and repeatedly drove his dagger into the Collector’s face.
The Dark Collector stumbled about, the blows chipping off a small portion of the boss’ Health with each hit. After several strikes, Valstrine snatched Ken by the collar of his armor like a kitten and threw him to the ground.
“Shiiiiiiiiit!” Ken sputtered as his bones broke against the hard stone ground.
“Just us, eh?” Zeno reached a hand down to me, his face a bloodied mess.
Blood dripped from his eyes and his nose as he helped me to my feet.
“Do not know,” I muttered as I struggled to find my feet, even with Zeno’s help. “If we can win.”
I didn’t have time to retry this quest line, and Valstrine’s Health was only down to sixty percent. We had lost Garret, Eberand, Ken, and Anya. Though only Anya was dead so far, the other three were down for the count.
“How far do heals reach?” I asked Zeno as he chugged a Health regen potion.
“Not far enough for that.” He nodded to Ken, Garret, and Eberand.
If they were out of reach of his spells, I would need to do the heavy lifting.
“Think you can distract ass-hat boss?” I pulled a couple grenades from my bandolier, the storm inside them a flowing green wind.
&nbs
p; “Yeah, I can manage.” He smiled as he looked down at the grenades I had chosen.
“Will do healing, you distract.” At the end of my words, Zeno stormed off toward Valstrine, whose gaze had locked on me.
“Hey, dickwad,” Zeno shouted as he leveled the blade of his staff at the Dark Collector. “Let’s throw down.”
“You are a mere nuisance,” Valstrine shot back, his eyes still firmly locked on me.
“No, I’m not.” Zeno tapped the blade of his staff on the ground in three places near his feet.
Blood flowed together from underneath Zeno’s feet in each of the locations. It pooled, congealed, and formed into three creatures, each the size of a large wolf. They snarled and spit, their bodies flowing as they stood.
“Kill.” Zeno narrowed his eyes at Valstrine, leveling his staff again.
The blood wolves launched from their positions and streaked across the open floor, their figures distorting as they ran.
“Always the minions,” Valstrine cried as he kicked at one of the blood wolves.
The wolves circled around him, clawing and biting where they could.
I changed focus to Garret, who was still crumpled on the floor. He was breathing, his eyes looking everywhere. He appeared to be paralyzed.
I skidded to a halt next to him, snagging one of the vials of Antivenin I had on my belt, and I poured it into his mouth. He coughed and gasped before his body regained some rigidity. He clenched his fingers, then his arm moved.
He sat up suddenly, a coughing fit taking over. Once I saw he was doing okay, I realized I was within range of Ken and Eberand. I hurled one grenade at each of them, the glass sparkling in the strange blue light of the cavern as they flew. They shattered, releasing the spell within: Healing Wind.
A cool breeze wafted through the cavern as Ken pushed himself up off of the floor, fighting to gain his feet.
Eberand gripped at the floor so hard that the stone cracked. He clawed at the stone, working himself to a sitting position.
“Phase three didn’t go as planned?” Garret had a frown on his face as he picked up his war pick.
“No, did not expect catastrophic failure. Good chance to collect data, though.” I gave him a half smile as I grabbed Gamma from his place hanging on the sling and aimed him at Valstrine.
“Let’s do this, eh?” Garret shouldered his weapon, shouting.
His body burned a bright red as he charged at the Dark Collector, who had managed to kill off all but one of the blood wolves. The last one was limping hard. It was unable to dodge a swift kick from the Dark Collector, exploding in a shower of blood as it died.
I caught a glimpse of Zeno raising a potion toward me and nodding.
“Need to win,” I said as I came up with a contingency plan. “Will get in Valstrine’s face.”
“That’s a bad idea.” Garret was too late to stop me.
I fired a triple volley of Chaos Bolts. They burned through the air and smacked into Valstrine’s back, exploding in black flame.
“That’s dishonorable!” he shouted as he spun quickly, a candle in his hand.
“Not that shit again,” Garret yelled as he ran past me, his axe raised to smash the Dark Collector’s skull.
Eberand was on his feet and moving quickly, his sword dragging behind him. He swung it overhead like a child with a whiffle ball bat. Ken snapped into view next to the Dark Collector, his foot lashing out and kicking the candle from Valstrine’s hand.
Eberand’s sword crashed down, scoring a direct hit. It sliced down Valstrine’s spine, shoving him forward and causing him to lean down.
Garret’s axe took the Dark Collector in the side of the face, spinning his body around and forcing him to the ground.
Ken spun around in place, his hands flicking out and skewering the Collector with a double dose of his knives. They peppered the creature’s body, the combined attack dropping Valstrine down to thirty percent.
Zeno smacked the butt of his staff on the ground, a dark red bubble surrounding the Dark Collector. It began to constrict, crushing the beast with dark force.
“I will resist.” A flash of white light exploded from Valstrine’s body, the sphere around him popping.
The blast drove Ken, Garret, and Eberand back a few paces.
Valstrine held up an artifact, this one shaped like an upside-down cross forged of black metal. It vanished from his hand an instant later, the unusual metallic shape from earlier appearing with such swiftness that I wasn’t sure it wasn’t an illusion.
“What the hell is going on here? Why didn’t it work? Why aren’t my artifacts working!?” Valstrine looked around as I closed the gap between us, my feet moving without my command.
“You are to perish,” I said. He looked at me and rage filled his already angry face.
“Perish? Perish!?” He lashed out, his clawed hand grabbing my throat and lifting me from the ground.
Darkness crept into the edges of my vision. He was strangling me. My Stamina began to gradually drop, my neck feeling like that time I had died in the sewers under Rowanheath.
When I had lost Ina for the second time.
When I had failed her so terribly that she would never be back.
“Let him go!” Ken struck at the Dark Collector, but a shield had popped up around him, deflecting the blade.
“No, no interference this time.” Valstrine smiled as my Stamina dipped below fifty percent.
My mind started to slow, the gears turning like they were working in a vat of molasses.
“Shit, dude.” Eberand slammed his sword against the shield, but Valstrine only continued to smile.
“Dispelling Shadow!” Zeno’s voice echoed across the room as Valstrine’s shield shattered like glass.
I raised my right hand to Valstrine’s face and put my thumb, index, and pinky fingers out, then squeezed with my middle and ring fingers, triggering my hidden crossbow.
“Da svidanya,” I croaked as the bolt fired from the crossbow.
A smile grew on Valstrine’s face as the bolt hammered home. Nothing happened.
“That was cute, but...” The Dark Collector’s eyes went wide, and I fell to the ground. His body spasmed, driving him to his knees.
I coughed and struggled to breathe, my hands around my throat as I choked on my own phlegm.
Zeno waved his staff in the air, and soothing light covered my body, regenerating my Stamina.
Valstrine’s Health bar began falling quickly but stopped. Everything in the room turned a stolid gray.
“Is this what you desire?” A feminine voice echoed from around me all at once, metallic and sterile, void of emotion.
“Do you desire his death?” A male voice with the same tones followed.
“Will you replace him?” Numerous voices asked in unison.
There was a snap of light as a multitude of beings, made of grey metal, an infinite array of them, appeared before me. They had no faces, and their bodies were blocky, like unfinished characters. The weapons they held were enormous and incomplete, like slabs of unfinished data.
“You will replace him.” The creatures nodded in unison, then time slammed back to normal speed.
The creatures were gone, and only Ken, Garret, Zeno, and I remained. The Dark Collector lay on the ground, his Health bar flashing at a critical one percent.
“Is time to be parting,” I said as I fired a round from Gamma into his head.
The Chaos Bolt exploded, sending chunks of skull in every direction. I sighed heavily as I lowered Gamma, my body trembling from what I had just witnessed. What were those creatures?
“You did it.” Zeno looked down at the broken body of the Dark Collector, whose flesh began to dissolve and change.
“That’s a bit disconcerting.” Garret looked away as the body of the Dark Collector shifted, becoming that of an Accipiter.
Before us lay the corpse of a young man, his wings battered and torn. No longer did the body belong to the Dark Collector. It was instead that
of Valstrine of the Gatherers.
“We released him from his dark bond.” Garret clenched a fist.
“So, need dungeon heart now.” I raised an eyebrow and looked around. “Except do not know where is.”
“Can’t hurt to loot the body.” Zeno leaned down and rummaged through Valstrine’s items. “This is crazy.” He stood up, his face a line of confusion.
“What’s that, dude?” Ken leaned down and rummaged through Valstrine’s belongings as well.
“He’s got coin and a key. No real loot.” Zeno handed me a key that looked similar to the one I had hanging around my neck.
<<<>>>
Key to the Heart of Darkness
This key is the sole entry and exit from the dungeon’s heart. Hold it aloft and it will grant you access.
Darkness, when held at bay, only grows deeper. Remember that a bell cannot be unrung.
<<<>>>
“Have answer.” I looked the key over, watching it spin on the chain it hung from.
A slight tremor shook below my feet, then a light traced across the floor, splitting the stone in an unusual pattern.
“Dude.” Eberand stared in awe as the pattern expanded across the floor, taking over the entire dais in the center of the room.
It grew into an enormous circle, then it filled in details. The symbols were Alchemic runes, magical sigils, and shapes I couldn’t recognize. They hurt my eyes to look at directly and appeared to constantly change shape.
The circles shifted in on themselves, rotating in different directions and at different speeds until they suddenly stopped.
A click, so deep and intense that I felt it in my chest, erupted from below.
Then the floor fell out from under us. Again.
I blinked a half dozen times before the light in the room no longer scorched my nerve endings. It was so incredibly bright after being in the darkness of Valstrine’s hall that it was hard to believe.
The lot of us were in a small room, surrounded by sigils and runes. The walls were made of metal that shifted and flowed like water.
“I’m really getting tired of shit dropping out from under me.” Garret rubbed the back of his head as he collected himself from the floor.
